OF LONDON
monday october 6 2014 | thetimes.co.uk | no 71320
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Green light for relatives to spy on care homes
Wenger and Mourinho clash the game Pages 48-50
Pages 40-41
GEORGE PIMENTEL / WIREIMAGE
John Simpson Alex Christie-Miller Istanbul
Two British jihadists are understood to have been among scores of militant prisoners handed back to Islamic State by Turkey in return for the release of diplomats held by the group. British counter-terrorism officers are investigating Shabazz Suleman, 18, a grammar school pupil, and Hisham Folkard, 26, who are both thought to be among as many as 180 fighters traded with Isis as part of a deal to secure the release of Turkish consular staff. The diplomats, including 46 Turkish citizens and three local Iraqi staff, were captured five months ago when Isis stormed the Iraqi city of Mosul. The Britons were on a leaked list of names passed to The Times and confirmed by Isis sources. Details of the secret deal, which included ten EU citizens held by Turkey, have been confirmed by Syrian rebels and Turkish
Support for secret filming in wake of scandals Rosemary Bennett Social Affairs Correspondent
Families who are worried about the treatment of their relatives in care homes are to be given official advice for the first time on how to film them secretly. A public information sheet setting out the factors that they need to consider when carrying out covert surveillance will be issued at the end of the month by the health watchdog. The controversial guidance from the Care Quality Commission will be seen as official endorsement of using secret cameras and comes after a series of care-home scandals have been uncovered by the method. Critics said, however, that such filming was not the answer to poor standards of care and would create a “Big Brother” culture. Andrea Sutcliffe, the chief inspector of adult social care, told The Times that covert surveillance should be used only as a last resort. “There have been a wide range of views on this subject, from those who think that cameras should have been installed years ago, to those who think I am the devil incarnate for suggesting it,” she said. The guidelines will be aimed at protecting the dignity and privacy of residents at a home and will also be provided to care-home managers who are considering the installation of cameras to monitor staff. “We have decided that the best way to proceed is to issue guidance so those providers and relatives who feel the need to do it know what the issues are that they need to take into account,” Ms
Sutcliffe said. “Respecting the dignity of people is central.” Several cases of abuse at care homes have been revealed by filming with secret cameras. Most recently, the BBC’s Panorama programme filmed covertly at the Old Deanery, a 93-bed home in Essex after being tipped off by a whistleblower. The footage showed residents’ cries for help going unanswered, call bells being unplugged and the taunting and mocking of elderly people by care workers. Several staff were subsequently dismissed. In June this year, a care-home worker was jailed after admitting ill-treating a 79-year-old dementia sufferer. Gladys Wright was pushed, shoved and pulled on a number of occasions, while being verbally abused. The maltreatment came to light only after Mrs Wright’s son James placed a camera in the room. The watchdog’s decision to endorse surveillance will divide opinion. Some campaigners, including Jenny Moore from the Your Voice Matters group, have called it “the only way to expose care failings for the most vulnerable”. Others fear, however, that it could have an impact on the privacy of carehome residents. “Whilst safeguarding is vital, so too is dignity and privacy,” said Davina Ludlow, director of the care-home directory carehome.co.uk. “Not only will covert surveillance impact on residents’ freedom, it may also have a knock-on effect on the motivation of staff,” Ms Ludlow said. “We need to train, support and inspire the next generation of carers, not create a big-brother culture Continued on page 2, col 3
UK jihadists were traded by Turkey for hostages
Isis must be defeated through military action Leading article, page 20
Raising awareness Elizabeth Hurley has told in an exclusive interview of her anger at being unable to do more to stop her grandmother dying of breast cancer. Page 6
security sources cited in local media. A recent report said that the agreement included Isis fighters held in Turkish hospitals and prisons, as well as others in the hands of moderate Syrian rebels. Britain’s policy of flatly refusing to enter into any such negotiations with terrorists has come under attack after Isis beheaded David Haines and Alan Henning, whose brother-in-law criticised the government’s inaction during his nine-month captivity. Memorial services for the taxi driver turned aid worker, whose murder was revealed in a video released last week, were held at churches and mosques yesterday. Along with Folkard and Suleman, three French citizens, two Swedes, two Macedonians, one Swiss and one Belgian are all thought to have been released as part of the deal, brokered through complex talks with tribes and rebel militias. The EU citizens appear on a list thought to have been leaked by a Turkish government source. Folkard’s devout Roman Catholic father, who has asked not to be named, Continued on page 5, col 1
IN THE NEWS Ebola risk to Britain
McCann troll dead
President leads polls
Lloyds to cut jobs
Racing driver critical
There is a 50 per cent chance of a traveller bringing the ebola virus into Britain in the next three weeks, according to predictions based on recent air-traffic patterns. Page 7
A 63-year-old woman who was part of an online hate campaign against Madeleine McCann’s parents has been found dead in a Leicestershire hotel room. Page 9
President Rousseff was leading in Brazil’s election, followed by the Social Democrat Aecio Neves, polls indicated. The environmentalist Marina Silva was in third place. Pages 22-23
Lloyds Banking Group will cut thousands of staff and close more branches as it embraces a “digitisation” strategy and automates its entire business. Page 27
The rising Formula One star Jules Bianchi, 25, of France, underwent brain surgery after suffering severe head injuries in a crash in the Japanese Grand Prix. Pages 62-64
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News INSIDE TODAY
Libby Purves
Business
That’s enough excuses from whingeing mums
No-frills chain gives boss a £1.9m interest free loan for country mansion
Opinion, page 19
Page 29
Times2
How a quarter-life crisis turned the founder of Paypal into a billionaire Pages 36, 37
Obituary
Robert Miller, the dapper detective who helped to convict a notorious killer Register, page 44
Opinion 17 Weather 17 Cartoon 19 Leading articles 20 Letters 21 World 22 Business 27 Times2 36 Register 43 Sport 47 Crosswords 46, 64 Please note, some sections of The Times are available only in the United Kingdom and Ireland
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Prescott attacks ‘too timid’ Miliband as support shrinks Michael Savage Chief Political Correspondent
Ed Miliband’s leadership of Labour came under attack from former cabinet ministers, MPs and donors yesterday as another poll suggested that the party’s poll lead had evaporated. Lord Prescott, the former deputy prime minister, was among those to warn that Mr Miliband’s strategy for the election was “far too timid”. Many are also concerned that Labour has no response to David Cameron’s vow to phase in tax cuts for the low paid and middle classes if the Conservatives win the general election in May. A second YouGov poll published yesterday suggested that the policy, announced in Mr Cameron’s conference speech, was having an effect. It gave the Tories a two-point lead, with a 36 per cent share of the vote. The Lib Dems registered only 7 per cent. Frustrations within Labour are now squarely focused on concerns that Mr Miliband has adopted a defensive plan to appeal to core supporters and leftleaning Liberal Democrat voters — the so-called “35 per cent strategy”. Lord Prescott said that Mr Miliband appeared to have given up on winning an overall majority at the election in fa-
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vour of pleasing its “core vote”. He called on him to “go all out for the win” but warned that “time is running out”. “He might as well have said at the end of his conference speech, ‘Go back to your constituencies and prepare for coalition’,” he wrote in the Sunday Mirror. “Come on Ed. Ditch the pollsters, the focus groups and US-style politics. Be bold, be brave and let’s go all out for the win. “Labour’s approach is far too timid. I fear shadow cabinet ministers aren’t delivering new policies because Ed Balls won’t approve them if they involve spending commitments.” He was joined by the donor Lord Noon and by Lord Levy, Tony Blair’s former fundraising chief, who criticised Labour’s plan for a mansion tax on high-value homes. Party insiders expressed exasperation at Mr Miliband’s conference speech yesterday. “It was as if to say, ‘I’m going to carry on as I am, a north London liberal view, and you can either buy into it or not — I don’t really care, because the electoral process is stacked in my favour’,” said one. “That’s how it came across. Bizarre. Amazing. Who’s advising him? I don’t think we’ll win. We’re now on a trajectory which will end in the Tories winning. It’s sad
because we need a decent Labour government in 2015 to help people who are really up against it.” Another Labour figure added: “We’re not going to make any attempt to win over defectors to the Tories in 2010 and we’re going to let Ukip try to do the work for us. It is very unambitious and it’s also not very likely to work. It’s not very pleasant to say, but I think it is as sad as that — Labour may struggle to even do that much better than it did in 2010, which in many ways was a very poor performance.” Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, defended Mr Miliband’s speech, saying that the Labour leader had already said that forgetting a key passage about the deficit had been a “mistake”. He said the speech scored “ten out of ten”. However, he admitted that with just months to go before the election, voters were “still getting to know” Mr Miliband. “He has got to show himself and the policies of the next Labour government. He has got seven months to do that. When it comes to the TV debates, he will be right up there head-to-head with David Cameron,” he told Sky News. “I think people know David Cameron, the prime minister, for all his faults. With Ed Miliband, people are still getting to know him.”
Queen would be forced to pay mansion tax Michael Savage
of LONDON
Monday October 6 2014 | the times
The Queen and the royal family would have to pay Labour’s mansion tax on their properties should the party win the election, Ed Balls confirmed yesterday. The shadow chancellor said that they would be treated the same as any other wealthy homeowner under his plans to apply annual levy on all houses worth more than £2 million. Labour has said it would spend the
funds raised from the tax, which would be levied at 1 per cent of a property’s value above £2 million, on boosting NHS spending. Mr Balls said yesterday that only residences that were open to the public would be spared the tax. It would mean that the charge would apply to properties such as Balmoral. “There has always been a cross-party consensus that we have fair and tough rules for the financing of the royal
household, but members of the royal household pay taxes just like everybody else and rightly so,” he told the Murnaghan Show on Sky News. “There aren’t different rules for anybody. That’s the nature of our society.” Labour believes that billions of pounds could be raised from the tax, but have pledged to ensure that cash-poor elderly homeowners who have enjoyed huge increases in the value of their properties would be spared.
Worried relatives get advice Minister calls for filming in care homes for quotas on Continued from page 1
where people are afraid to do this vital job.” Guidance on surveillance is part of a new approach to inspecting England’s 18,000 care homes and 7,000 providers of domiciliary care to try to rebuild pubic confidence in the sector. From this week new consumerstyle inspection reports will start to replace the much-criticised registration system, which simply stated whether a home had met certain standards. Homes will be awarded one of four ratings ranging from outstanding to inadequate. A pilot programme of the new regime conducted on 700 homes found that fewer than 10 per cent achieved the top “outstanding” rating, Ms Sutcliffe said. Slightly more, although still fewer than a tenth, were given the lowest “inadequate” score. Ms Sutcliffe said that she wanted each inspection summary to give families the “nitty gritty” on a home to help them to make a judgment on whether it was right for their relative. Everything from reports of a smell of urine to what time elderly residents are given a bath will be included. She said that she was aware that there were few sources of information for families needing care for their loved one, a gap the watchdog must fill. New research for the regulator from
the Mumsnet forum found that looking for a care home or home-based care for a relative ranked alongside getting divorced and moving house in terms of the stress and upset it caused. “It is really important that people using services have a reliable source of information in language that is clear. People want to know if the service is safe, is it effective, is my loved one going to be cared for and is it responsive to their needs? Ultimately, people want to know are they going to be looked after as well as they would be if I was doing it,” she said. Not everyone in the care sector believes that approving covert surveillance will work. Stephen Burke, who runs the Good Care Guide, said that it was “not the answer” to poor care and a more rapid response from the watchdog to concerns from families would be more effective. “Ensuring care is well inspected and regulated and staffs are properly trained, supervised and managed to deliver better care [is most needed]. Cameras really are the last resort. We need a much better-funded care system to provide respect and dignity that everyone in care needs.” Norman Lamb, the care minister, has said that he would support in principle the use of surveillance if the watchdog approved and “it may expose something dreadful”.
EU migrants
Sam Coates Deputy Political Editor
Iain Duncan Smith has become the first cabinet minister to suggest that quotas for EU migrants may be a red line in the renegotiation of Britain’s membership if the Conservatives are re-elected. The work and pensions secretary said that the prime minister wanted to “fix the number of people you want to come in”. His remarks go beyond David Cameron’s comments at Conservative conference last week and are widely regarded in Europe as an impossible demand. He told The Daily Telegraph that individual EU countries should be able to impose “general limitations, so you could fix the number of people you want to come in”. He added that “control needs to be in the hands of individual nations if they remain in Europe”. Mr Duncan Smith added: “We should leave it to countries to resolve some of these matters themselves, and have general limitations, so you could fix the number of people you want to come in. The Germans, for example, may want to have more if they are short on labour, so they could have more. But we don’t, and we wouldn’t want [to], so we would then say, ‘We are going to restrict that’.”
the times | Monday October 6 2014
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To er is human, but only for the elderly Um is increasingly the word for those who find themselves caught in a linguistic crisis. Oliver Moody reports In Gulliver’s Travels, the land of Lilliput has been shaken by six vicious rebellions after a controversy over which end of a boiled egg should be broken first. It seems that real life is out to compete with satire. A growing body of linguistic evidence points to a faultline emerging between two tribes in western society: the ummers and the errers. Separate studies in Glasgow, the US, Germany and the Netherlands over recent months have all shown that women and young people are much more likely to use “um” when waiting for the next thought to come along, while men and older people go for “er”. And, in the battle of the disengaged brains, “um” is winning. Josef Fruehwald, lecturer in sociolinguistics at the University of Edinburgh, examined 25,000 examples of people in the US city of Philadelphia saying “um” and “uh” (as er is known among our transatlantic friends). He said that women were at the vanguard of a shift in what the Englishspeaking world says in the gaps between its thoughts. “In the Philadelphia data, women’s preference for ‘um’ instead of ‘uh’ ranges somwhere between being 400 per cent and 120 per cent stronger than men’s,” he said. “Both men and women are shifting their preferences towards using ‘um’ more, but women are slightly ahead, and in more recent dates of birth, it looks like that [gender] difference is narrowing. It’s actually the case that when language changes women lead the way.” The Times carried out its own deeply unscientific analysis of celebrity interviews that indicated the rule holds true, up to a point. Men of the old school overwhelmingly resort to “er”. Appearing on the US chat show Late Night With David Letterman in 1988, the comedian John Cleese managed 24 ers and eight ums in ten minutes. The princeling of the modern-day errers, however, is Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, who used a positively Victorian 15 “ers” (88 per cent) and just two “ums” (12 per cent) on The Andrew Marr Show in March this year.
A difference of sex and age ummer
Taylor Swift
71% um
ummer
Lena Dunham
errer
79% um
At the other end of the spectrum was Steven Gerrard, the captain of Liverpool Football Club. In the immediate aftermath of his side’s 1-1 draw with Everton last month, Gerrard trundled out nine “ums” and one “er” in two and a half minutes. Lena Dunham, the writer and star of the sitcom series Girls, used 79 per cent “ums” on Letterman this year, while the Harry Potter actress Emma Watson hit 58 per cent on the same show. There was also a general preponderance of “likes”, “y’knows”, “sort ofs” and “I means”, which are apparently very different linguistic beasts. “We usually call like and y’know ‘discourse markers’ because they do things like help speakers negotiate turn-taking in conversation,” Dr Fruehwald said. “We usually call ‘um’ and ‘uh’ ‘filled pauses’, because they are pauses that we fill by saying ‘um’ and ‘uh’.” Why the “um/er” divide? Theories abound. Some people point their fingers at the tentacular influence of Hollywood, while others suggest that “um” and “er” perform different functions in our speech — “um” marking
John Cleese
75% er
betweener David Beckham
67% um
errer
Brian Blessed
82% er
longer pauses, and “er” denoting a shorter break. Mark Liberman, professor of linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania, said: “[It could be that] hesitation sounds with and without final nasals have different functions, retained across Germanic languages and dialects, which are differentially useful to speakers of different ages and genders — like uncertainty about what to say versus uncertainty about how to say it.” Another explanation would be that different wo people say “um” or “er” more peop just because they do. “The age and sex associations of hesitation sounds are purely conventional, like the different lateralisation of male and female shirt buttons, but have somehow been retained or reinforced over thousands of years and thousands of miles,” said Professor Liberman. Michael Erard, author of Um . . . , a book on inadvertent speech habits, said English speakers tended to reach for the “er” and “um” sounds because they were the most “neutral” and so came most naturally to the tongue while the brain was working out what to say next. Leading article, page 20
The best in tents: feuding writers come close to happy ending Jack Malvern Arts Correspondent
In an era when most combatants of bookish feuds have either reconciled or died, there is one that continues to rustle the flaps of writers’ tents at literary festivals. AA Gill and Mary Beard have avoided one another since they first exchanged barbs in print two years ago, prompted by Gill’s remark in a television review that the historian “should be kept away from cameras altogether” because she was perilously close to “being the subject of a Channel 4 dating documentary”. Professor Beard retorted that The Sunday Times critic’s lack of a university education meant that “he never quite learnt the rigour of intellectual argu-
Mary Beard attacked sexist attitudes
ment and he thinks that he can pass off insults as wit”. The prospect of more blood on the literary canvas seemed inevitable yesterday when it became apparent that both authors would be spending most of their day in the writers’ tent of the Cheltenham Literature Festival, which is sponsored by The Times and The Sunday Times. The first round went to Professor Beard, who used the first of three events to discuss sexist attitudes to women on television and the pressure to have plastic surgery. “What I look like, AA Gill, is what a 59-year-old woman looks like when she hasn’t had the work done,” the classicist said, to cheers. Gill, who was not at that event, appeared to be conciliatory. “I’m a jour-
nalist and a critic — how can I silence others’ right to free speech?” he said. “I have no personal animosity towards her. What I do notice is that since my very small and helpful criticism — my style advice — is that she has dressed much better when she goes on television.” Professor Beard said that her choice to change her coat had nothing to do with Gill’s criticism, but she would be
Inside today
All the news and views from Cheltenham News, page 11 Times2, pages 40-42
prepared to have a joint photograph with her adversary. Gill also expressed interest in meeting the professor, raising the prospect of a rapprochement. The location would be apt. Two years ago Salman Rushdie used the festival to declare regret about his public battle with John le Carré, ending a 15-year row over free speech but ended with accusations of arrogance, pomposity and self-canonisation. In 2011 Paul Theroux and Sir Vidia Naipaul shook hands at the authors’ tent of the Hay Festival, ending 15 years of venomous accusations. The moment of resolution for Gill and Professor Beard passed, however. The academic was ready but the critic, oblivious to the photo-opportunity, went home. Perhaps next year.
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
News Islamist terror
Police alert for attack by homegrown lone jihadist Sean O’Neill, Deborah Haynes Michael Savage, Robin Pagnamenta
Counterterrorist police activity is at its highest level since the London bombings because of fears that lone jihadists will respond to calls from Islamic State to launch attacks in Britain. Police have stepped up armed patrols and searches of people, homes and cars, while specialist officers have been visiting extremist sympathisers and those who have been to Syria and returned. Counter-terrorism police have even been analysing reports of violent attacks on pets and wildlife, including a number of mutilations, to see if they might be a sign of terrorist intent. An Islamic State video, released online last week of a British jihadist, unusually with his face unmasked, calling on “all the brothers in the UK” to rise up, has provoked alarm. The militant, believed to be Omar Hussein, a former security guard at a Morrisons supermarket, urges fellow Muslims to travel to Syria and Iraq to join the extremist group in its self-proclaimed caliphate. For those who cannot make the journey, Hussein, from High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, tells them to wage jihad at home. “Unlike us, you are blessed in that
Inside today
Henning murder shows the worst of humanity Leading article, page 20
you can cause terror in the hearts of the kufar [non-believers], right in the centre,” he said, sitting against a wall next to an AK47, dressed in military fatigues and with his left arm in bandages. “You can cause terror right from within.” Security concerns are most acute in London, where the majority of British jihadists in Syria have been recruited. They include the masked man who appears in four videos depicting the murders of Alan Henning and David Haines, two British aid workers, as well as Steven Sotloff and James Foley, two American journalists. The militant, whose identity is known by the security service and the FBI, has threatened to kill another American hostage. Intensive efforts to locate the killer and his gang were discussed when the prime minister met intelligence, defence and security chiefs at Chequers. British and American special forces have been on standby for months to launch a rescue operation. The US military has already had one failed attempt. Asked about the prospects of such a mission, Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, former head of the armed forces, said: “Very, very difficult.” Speaking on
The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One, he said: “As good as the SAS are, they also are — very rightly — very cautious, and I think to expect them to do that is a tall order.” RAF jets are ready to resume sorties in support of local ground forces in Iraq after a pause in respect of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, but Lord Richards said it was a “no brainer” that they should also be operating over Syria. An expansion of the British role in the US-led combat mission against Islamic State appeared increasingly unlikely after Nick Clegg indicated he would block the move. The deputy prime minister said he was opposed to RAF airstrikes in Syria until there were troops in place capable of winning the ground war. For security and intelligence officials, the priority is to avert a terrorist attack on British soil and both Scotland Yard and MI5 are monitoring activity to disrupt the threat. There are still suspected al-Qaedatype plots — including potential bomb and gun attacks — being driven from Syria and elsewhere. The more present danger is of a lowtech assault, carried out by a lone terrorist, or two or three, similar to the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich in May last year. Police believe they have already thwarted one such attack when a man was arrested in August. The upsurge in police actions is aimed at this threat which is much more difficult to track or intercept through intelligence channels. The number of searches in London carried out under Section 60 orders, which allow officers to stop and search in a defined area because of the threat of serious violence, rose from 15 in July to 68 in August. The rise coincided with the raising of the terrorist threat level to “severe” meaning an attack is “highly likely”. Olivier Guitta, a counter-terrorism expert, said that the threat to western Europe of a home-grown attack had risen tenfold since Britain and its allies joined the US in airstrikes. “They should be very worried not only of returning jihadists but of people who are here,” Mr Guitta said. “They will say, ‘I am not going to go all the way to Syria, I can just do it here’.” Extremist groups from across the world appear to be mobilising to support Islamic State, which controls of swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria and has recruited thousands of foreigners, including hundreds of Britons. The Pakistan Taliban has urged jihadists from South Asia to unite to build a global caliphate. “Oh, our brothers, we are proud of you in your victories,” said Shahidullah Shahid, a Taliban spokesman in a message to Islamic State that was designed to mark Eid. “We are with you, we will provide you with Mujahideen [fighters] and with every possible support.”
Alan Henning’s widow, Barbara, with their children, Lucy and Adam, at a service at Eccles Parish Church yesterday to mark
Faiths unite to mourn murdered father
M
ourners of all faiths gathered at a church service in Greater Manchester last night to remember Alan Henning, the most recent British hostage to have been beheaded by Islamic State (Deborah Haynes writes). Yellow ribbons in memory of the taxi driver, 47, were put up across the town of Eccles, while flowers were placed outside the minicab company where the father-of-two worked. The service at Eccles Parish Church marked the life of Mr Henning, who was kidnapped last December while travelling on an aid convoy to help families affected by the war in Syria. “Within the Greater Manchester area, it’s part of our tradition to come together at times of tragedy,” said the Right Rev David Walker, the Bishop of Manchester. “This won’t divide us, it will simply reaffirm us in our commitment to one another and to the future of the world of which we are a part.” A video of Mr Henning’s final moments was posted online last Friday. It followed the same format as three previous beheading videos of western hostages by the extremist group. At the end of the clip, a masked jihadist, who is believed to be British, holds a fifth western hostage by the scruff of his neck. He warns that Peter Kassig, a former American soldier turned aid worker, will be the next to die. Mr Kassig’s parents yesterday called upon his captors to show mercy as they released a video explaining how he had converted to Islam since his capture. Ed Kassig said that his son came from a long line of teachers and humanitarians and had been drawn to Syria by his desire to help people.
Hundreds of Muslims at Makkah Mosque in Leeds were
among those taking part in prayers for Alan Henning, below
In further evidence of the kidnap gang’s brutality, details have emerged about the suffering of another British hostage. John Cantlie, a freelance journalist who was kidnapped in Syria two years ago, has been waterboarded and given electric shocks, court documents claim. Cantlie, 43, was hit with blunt
instruments and made to stand for three days at a time, leaving him so delirious he didn’t know where he was, according to the testimony of a Belgian man who was held between August and September of last year with Cantlie and James Foley, an American hostage who was later beheaded. One of his torturers was a British man who was nicknamed “Pinocchio” because he always lied, Jejoen Bontinck, 19, told Belgian police in an interview. “He had dark skin — he was of Pakistani or Bengali origin,” he was quoted as saying by The Mail on Sunday, which has seen the documents. The description could fit the masked jihadist in the beheading videos. Mr Bontinck said that Cantlie and Foley were kept together in a cramped cell, where they were left starving and given dirty water to drink. Imam Asim Hussain, of Manchester Central Mosque, said those responsible for Mr Henning’s death were “the most misguided individuals”. He told BBC Breakfast: “They are not Islamic in any way, nor are they a state. Neither do we as Muslims . . . consider them to be Muslims.” Rugby union fans at the AJ Bell Stadium in Salford observed a minute’s silence in tribute to Mr Henning before Sale Sharks played London Wasps. A friend and fellow aid worker has set up a fund with the aim of raising £20,000 in his name. Shameela Islam-Fulfiqar said that the Alan Henning Memorial Fund was set up for his daughter and son so that “their father’s death was not in vain and that the work that Alan was so committed to will also continue”. She added: “A project will also be set up in Alan’s name eventually . . . to ensure his legacy continues long after he was taken from us.”
the times | Monday October 6 2014
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Islamist terror News
English teacher is released by Libyan terrorist group ‘after prisoner exchange’ Bel Trew Cairo
the life of the taxi driver killed by Isis
Isis Britons released in hostage deal Continued from page 1
said that they last had contact in early August, after officers from the northeast counter-terrorism unit called to inquire about his elder son, Omar. “I’m not surprised. I see the stories about these boys on TV every week. Of course it’s different [that it’s my son], but I hardly knew either of them. Their mother took them away. When she let them go to Yemen to study Islam I cut them off completely.” Omar Folkard’s passport surfaced in Mali, and it is understood that he is known to the security services. Detectives trying to find Hisham have not ruled out that his passport was being used by his elder brother in Turkey. Friends of Suleman, who was confirmed missing by the Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe last week, said he had expressed support for what he called “the Islamic caliphate”. He has not been seen since taking study leave in May before his A-levels. His mother, who said that he travelled out to assist aid efforts, could not be reached for comment. The deal with Isis, trumpeted by President Erdogan of Turkey as a successful “covert operation” in which no shots were fired and no ransom was paid, also involved relatives of Abu Bakr al-Iraqi, a senior Isis member killed by Syrian rebels in January, a spokesman for a group involved in the deal said.
The suspected Britons Shabazz Suleman, 18,and Hisham Folkard, 26,
A British teacher held hostage in Libya since May was “safe and well” at home in Shropshire last night amid reports that his release may have resulted from a prisoner swap. David Bolam, 69, was abducted at gunpoint during a shopping trip in Benghazi by a group called Jaish al-Islam. It is led by a former inmate of Guantanamo Bay who is a suspect in the 2012 killing of Christopher Stevens, the US Ambassador toLibya. Yesterday, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that Mr Bolam had travelled home on Thursday. He had worked as an English teacher in Libya for seven years and was headmaster of an international school in Benghazi. After his capture he was held in the Libyan Islamist stronghold of Derna. Jaish al-Islam — which means the Islamic Army — is a secretive organisation and one of the most extreme in the east of Libya. It is part of a network of Islamic militants who took control of the coastal city of Derna in the middle of 2012. It is affiliated to a faction called the Islamic Youth Shura Council that declared its allegiance to Islamic State (Isis) at the weekend. Jaish al-Islam is led by Abu Sufian bin Qumu, who was held in Guantanamo Bay until 2007 and is believed to have been part of the attack two years ago on the American consulate in Benghazi during which Mr Stevens was killed. The group first appeared in March 2013 and is considered the Derna faction of Libya’s Ansar al-Sharia, which was designated a terrorist organisation by the US State Department in January. It was initially thought that local political factions secured Mr Bolam’s release and that money changed hands through unofficial channels because the British government does not pay ransoms. It is believed from sources in Benghazi and Derna, however, that a prisoner swap was more likely. In the same month that the Shropshire school teacher was abducted, one of Jaish alIslam’s leaders — known only as Abu Taleb — also disappeared. “It is a murky picture but sources both in Derna and Benghazi told me there is a possibility that Mr Bolam might have been taken to then swap for Abu Taleb, or other prisoners within Libya in a deal brokered by the British,” said Mohamed Eljarh, of the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Centre, who is based in Libya. Mr Eljarh did not believe that the swap would involve any prisoners held by the British, but rather that British officials would have acted as interlocutors to speed up negotiations. Mr Bolam mentioned a potential prisoner deal himself in a 50-second clip published online by his kidnappers in August, in which he begged the British government to help secure his release. “I understand the Americans have released some prisoners to allow an American citizen to go home. I ask the British government and Prime Minister David Cameron please, please, please, do the same to allow me to go home back to my family,” said Mr Bolam, dressed in a tattered white T-shirt. Libyan Islamist militias, including Jaish al-Islam, have been fighting progovernment forces led by a rogue general called Khalifa Hiftar since May. The former Gaddafi military commander, who launched “Operation Dignity” to rid the east of Libya of insurgents and militias, declared that he had captured a number of jihadist leaders earlier this year. There have been several prisoner exchanges
Londoner may have lured teenager to Syria A British woman from an all-female Islamic State police unit could have recruited a teenager from Bristol who is feared to have travelled overseas to become a jihadist bride (Deborah Haynes writes). Yusra Hussien, 15, is
thought to have been in contact with “Umm Ubaydah”, the online alias of an 18-year-old woman from London who has joined the alKhanssaa brigade based in Raqqa, before she and a 17-year-old friend from London left Britain, according
to The Sunday Times. Ubaydah was approached by a 15year-old girl for advice on travelling to Syria. Posting anonymously on August 22, the girl wrote: “I so badly want to go to raqqah [sic] and live under the sharia.”
between the warring sides during the course of the fighting. Yesterday Mr Bolam’s Tory MP, Philip Dunne, told the BBC he was delighted that Mr Bolam had returned to his family in Craven Arms. “David is a dedicated English teacher who had returned to Benghazi to help rebuild the international school of which he was a director, after he had been evacutated during the Arab Spring. He was trying to help young people in Libya gain a good education.”
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News IVISTA PHOTOGRAPHY / BARCROFT
Golden days end as storms sweep in
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fter a very warm and dry month, stormy conditions are set to hit parts of the UK today, with strong winds and heavy rain bringing the risk of travel disruption and flooding. The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for rain and wind. Exposed areas in Wales, northwest England, eastern parts of Northern Ireland and western and northern parts of Scotland could experience gusts of up to 70mph, forecasters warned. Winds could reach speeds of 60mph in southwest England, where all was peace and calm
yesterday at Oake Manor Golf Club near Taunton, Somerset, left. The conditions could pose problems in affected areas in the morning rush hour. Issuing a yellow “be aware” alert for wind from midnight last night to midday today, the Met Office said: “The public should be aware of the potential for travel disruption from the strong winds as well as standing water on the roads and reduced visibility from spray and driving rain.” Up to 50mm (2in) of rain could fall on higher ground in Northern Ireland. Forecast, page 17
Ebola ‘may reach Britain in three weeks’ Will Pavia New York
There is a 50 per cent chance of a traveller bringing the ebola virus into Britain in the next three weeks, according to scientists in Britain and America. Their prediction is based on recent patterns of international air traffic. There is a 75 per cent chance that France will have its first case during the same period. Although a predicted fall in air travel to the west African countries at the heart of the epidemic may reduce the probability of ebola arriving in Britain this month, the scientists stressed that such a fall would only postpone the likely arrival of a passenger carrying the virus. Alex Vespignani, from Northeastern
University, in Boston, warned of a “substantial possibility” that ebola would reach Britain at the start of the flu season, complicating attempts to contain the virus. Professor Vespignani said that a predicted fall in air traffic could reduce the probability of a passenger arriving with ebola to between 10 and 15 per cent. “But by the end of November the probability becomes really substantial again,” he said. “November is the month in which we will also start to see a lot of flu cases and the symptoms are very similar.” While the Department of Homeland Security in the US is reported to be considering more aggressive screening of arriving passengers, Professor Vespignani said that restrictions in air travel
could prove counter-productive in the fight to contain the virus, by limiting the response. “Unless we are able to tame the virus in west Africa this is going to be knocking at our door more and more,” he said. He spoke during a weekend in which health workers in hazmat protection suits boarded an aircraft at Newark airport, New Jersey, to remove a sick passenger and two people were placed in isolation units in Washington DC. None of the three was found to have the virus, but the swift response came after questions were raised about the handling of Thomas Eric Duncan, who travelled from Liberia to Texas last month and was found to be carrying the virus. Mr Duncan was initially turned away
Let’s end breast cancer taboo, urges Hurley Actress tells Fiona Hamilton how her grandmother’s death from the disease spurs her to help fight it Elizabeth Hurley has spoken of the anger she felt at being unable to do more to prevent her grandmother’s death from breast cancer and how it remains a driving force behind her 20year campaign to fight the disease. The actress, who is urging women to share their breast cancer stories to raise awareness, described how her grandmother showed her the scars from a double mastectomy but then changed the subject because it was taboo. Hurley, the face of Estée Lauder for two decades, said: “At that time, there was so little written about breast cancer. The pink ribbon had yet to be
invented and the words ‘breast cancer’ were only whispered.” The death in 1992 of her grandmother, who “taught me to walk on stilts and used to take her false teeth out to make me laugh”, was still raw when Evelyn Lauder asked Hurley to help with the Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign (BCA). Hurley, 49, said: “I asked her to tell me more about it and she told me that women all over the world were dying of breast cancer but no one was talking about it and she wanted to change that. “This struck such a chord with me because my late grandmother hadn’t told anyone about the lump she’d found in her breast for some time as she was frightened. Finally, she plucked up courage to tell her doctor but by this time it had grown significantly and the cancer had spread. She underwent a double mastectomy but it was too late and she died soon after. “It wasn’t until I started to learn about breast cancer through Evelyn Lauder that I began to feel so angry that
Elizabeth Hurley posted a photo of herself having a mammogram
I hadn’t known more at the time, when perhaps I could have helped her.” Speaking at the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Hurley highlighted the importance of speaking about the experience of the disease. She said: “We know that if a cancer is found and treated early, there is a 95 per cent chance of recovery. If only my grandmother and countless other scared women could have known this.” Her comments came as Michaela Strachan, the host of Springwatch, has
from a hospital in Dallas, despite showing mild symptoms of the virus, and health workers have been trying to trace everyone who came into contact with him in the three days that followed, before he was brought back to hospital and placed in intensive care. He is now in a critical condition. Up to a hundred people are thought to have had at least minimal contact with Mr Duncan, although the list of those thought to be at risk was later narrowed to nine people. Yesterday a county judge in Dallas said that sheriff’s deputies and police patrols were searching for someone who had been in contact with Mr Duncan and who had apparently gone missing. Judge Clay Jenkins described the person as a “low-risk individual” who
had not been displaying symptoms of the virus. “We are working to locate the individual and get him to a comfortable, compassionate place where we can monitor him and care for his every need for the full incubation period,” the judge said. Those deemed most at risk of catching the virus from Mr Duncan include his partner, Louise, her 14-year-old son, a relative and a family friend who lived in the flat where he had been staying. They have since been moved to a residence in a gated community — a process that took several days because few places were keen to accommodate them. Judge Jenkins told a press conference yesterday that a local faith leader had “found a home for Louise and the three young men”.
revealed that she had breast cancer diagnosed at the start of the year and had both breasts removed. She told the Mail on Sunday’s You magazine: “The tears started to roll as my doctor tried to tell me what would happen next, but I only took in every fifth word or so. The one word that registered was ‘cancer’.” Research released today by the BCA underlines the importance of sharing stories about breast cancer. It shows that 41 per cent of woman are driven to examine their breasts more frequently when they hear about others’ experiences. However, while 83 per cent of women surveyed believe that talking about breast cancer helps those who have the illness to come to terms with it, many still hold back. The YouGov survey found that two in five women, or 39 per cent, would not tell others about a breast cancer diagnosis for fear of upsetting them. This figure rises to 50 per cent among 18-24-year-olds. Hurley posted a photo on Instagram this year when she was undergoing a mammogram, telling her followers that it was “nerve racking” but important. “I bully all my friends and families to check their own breasts every month and to have an annual mammogram if over 40. I have given mammograms to friends who can’t afford one for their birthdays.”
More womb transplant babies on way Oliver Moody
Two more women with womb transplants are likely to give birth by the end of this year as Britain prepares to sanction its first five such operations. It emerged at the weekend that a 36year-old Swedish woman had given birth to Vincent, the world’s first baby born after a womb transplant. The mother had been born without a womb but received a transplant from a friend, aged 61, who had been through the menopause. About 5,000 girls are born with no womb in Britain each year. Mats Brännström, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Gothenburg, who carried out the operation, said that future recipients could include women who had lost their wombs because of disease, suffered damage to the organ during a difficult birth, or had repeated and inexplicable miscarriages. “I have had emails from ladies with all these conditions from all over the world,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
the times | Monday October 6 2014
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Sexist insults bring disgrace on student rugby club Tom Ough, Rosemary Bennett
The London School of Economics has become embroiled in a row over sexism and homophobia, with the college rugby club at its centre. The club has caused outrage by handing out leaflets at the LSE freshers’ fair that referred to women as slags, trollops and crumpets and stating that “homosexual debauchery” would not be tolerated. The row comes as student leaders across the country have been complaining that universities have allowed a “lad culture” to take hold on their campuses, with harassment and un-
wanted sexual advances towards female students now commonplace. Some colleges at the University of Cambridge have now instructed freshers to attend sexual consent workshops as they arrive for their first term. Oxford is reported to be following suit. The LSE rugby club leaflet urged prospective players to “do your utmost to pull a sloppy bird”, while a “glossary” of LSE rugby chat explains that the term “gary”, used in the leaflet, means “to chat up a trollop, Eg; ‘I’m putting in the ‘gary groundwork’ with this netball slag’.” It also states that female sports JUSTIN TALLIS
City farming A flock of sheep replaced cars, bicycles and buses to cross London Bridge yesterday, as freemen of the City of London exercised one of their rights
Briton, 69, is imprisoned in Morocco for being gay Catherine Philp
A British man in his 60s has been sentenced to four months in jail in Morocco after being convicted of homosexual acts. Ray Cole, 69, a retired magazine publisher, was arrested last month along with Jamal Jam Wald Ness, a local man, whom he had gone to Marrakesh to visit. The pair were approached at a bus stop by police officers who detained them on suspicion of being homosexual — a crime that carries a maximum sentence of three years’ jail in Morocco. Both were sentenced to four months in prison on Thursday when police searched Mr Cole’s mobile phone and found a photo of the two men together. Mr Cole’s son Adrian told the British website, PinkNews, that Moroccan authorities had failed to notify his family or the British consulate of the arrest. The family feared he was missing for nearly a week before he was finally able to contact them using a prisoner’s mobile phone. Adrian Cole called Thursday’s trial “a complete farce”. He said: “They’ve gone through his phone and found photos that they’re using as evidence for a
homosexual act,” he said. Mr Cole said his father was being kept in an overcrowded cell in “bleak” conditions, and was sleeping on a concrete floor. “It’s really rough, he’s in with paedophiles and murderers and people who have committed shocking crimes.” “The consulate tried to visit him but were initially turned away and told he had refused to see them. But when we spoke to him, he didn’t know anything about it.” He also expressed concern for his father’s health. “He’s had a couple of minor strokes before and has a minor heart condition. He has also been suffering with depression, which the court didn’t take into account,” he said. “Why they haven’t just deported him no one seems to be able to explain.” A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: “We can confirm the detention of a British national in Morocco. We are providing consular assistance.” The family say they are planning to appeal against Mr Cole’s conviction. But Adrian, who is also gay, said he could not travel to Morocco to oversee things because authorities could not guarantee that he would not be prosecuted as well.
players are “beast-like women who play sports just so they can come out with us on Wednesdays”. The leaflet was withdrawn on the second day of the freshers’ fair after protests from students. Craig Calhoun, director of the LSE, made clear his disapproval in an email to a student who complained. He said that he had alerted the student union to the leaflet and it was investigating as a matter of urgency. “In any case the school does not tolerate sexist, racist or homophobic behaviour or publications,” he said. “I hope this is an isolated incidence.” A statement from the LSE student
The rugby club’s leaflet outraged other students at the LSE freshers’ fair
union feminist society condemned the leaflet’s “rampant hate speech”. A University of Oxford rugby club was criticised last year when it advised players to select a female fresher and spike her “with a substance of your choice”. Woo Kim, social secretary of Pembroke College rugby club, resigned. For the LSE, which has a tradition of political liberalism, the episode is particularly embarrassing. It was founded by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, members of the Fabian Society, and George Bernard Shaw, the playwright. At times it has been a hotbed of student activism. The LSE rugby club did not respond to a request for comment.
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House prices to fall next year as tougher mortgage rules bite Danielle Sheridan
House prices are set to fall by 0.8 per cent across the country next year, after growing by almost 8 per cent in 2014. Price declines in some regions, a drop in inquiries by new buyers and properties staying on the market for longer are said to be the main indications of a dip. Questions over affordability have prompted those looking to buy in the more expensive regions to baulk at high
Inside today
Snowdonia tops the affordability charts Business, page 27
prices, according to the study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research. The centre added that the mortgage market review guidance, which was introduced in April, led to a weaker outlook for mortgage approvals, as eligibility criteria became tougher, potentially curbing demand for property. Scott Corfe, head of macroeconomics at the centre and the main author of the report, said: “Tougher mortgage eligibility criteria, high deposit require-
ments and concerns about rate rises are starting to take the steam out of the housing market.” He said that price falls next year would be modest, reassuring homeowners that “we are not anticipating a crash”. He said: “The market is adjusting after getting ahead of itself at the start of 2014.” The centre believes that house-price growth should cool in the short term as the Bank of England finally starts to increase interest rates. Although rises are expected to be gradual, with rates remaining much lower than before the financial crisis, prospective buyers may be startled by the first such increase — leading many to hold off from making purchases, resulting in lower prices. The latest figures released from the Bank of England showed that the housing market had slowed as mortgage lending slipped back for the second month running in August. Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, defended the Help to Buy scheme last week, saying that it had not driven up house prices and did not pose a risk to financial stability. In its first assessment of the scheme, the Bank decided against lowering the £600,000 price cap on eligible properties or raising the fees charged.
Monday October 6 2014 | the times
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A horseman riding by This picture, reputed to be a nawab of Bengal, will be auctioned by Sotheby’s on Wednesday as part of its Art of Imperial India auction
1 German universities scrap fees 2 Body found in search for Alice Gross murder suspect 3 Threat to Christmas deliveries 4 Thirty great poems 5 Man rescued after trying to ‘zorb’ across sea 6 Hired thugs attack Hong Kong democracy protesters 7 British teacher freed in Libya 8 Fears of massacre as Isis tanks lead assault on Kurds 9 Bianchi crash overshadows Hamilton’s victory 10 Cameron ‘presses for SAS raid on Isis kidnappers’
the times | Monday October 6 2014
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diary@thetimes.co.uk | @timesdiary
Psychological family warfare It is one thing to be an expert on parenting, another to apply your ideas to your own children. The child psychologist Professor Tanya Byron, right, told Cheltenham Literature Festival that her two teenagers rarely followed her edicts. “They say they are going to write a book called Great with other people’s kids, but s*** with her own,” she said. “There have been times when they’ve waved a book I’ve written in my face and said, ‘That’s what you tell other people to do. It’s so sad you can’t do it yourself’. ” Her solution? “I am really anti-smacking but I just take the book and beat them with it.” The children’s author Michael Rosen says he gets his self-confidence from his Jewish mother, but it cannot have been an easy upbringing. His mother once bought him two shirts and he dashed off to put one of them on. When he reappeared, she told him: “Oh, so you didn’t like the other one?”
hague the elder William Hague was booed at the Tory conference last week when he said that this would be his last one after 25 years as an MP. The former
party leader has been interviewed by The House magazine, whose reporter spotted a bust of Pitt the Younger in Hague’s office and asked if he might emulate his hero and return to high office three years after stepping down. “It killed him,” Hague said. “I will not be following his illustrious example.” Paul Merton couldn’t resist a little dig at Ian Hislop, Earl of Grantham to his Barrow on Have I Got News For You, when he spoke at Cheltenham. Noting that Hislop hated it when Bruce Forsyth, a light entertainer (you can feel Hislop’s disgust), was HIGNFY’s guest host, Merton said: “Ian has never watched ITV. When he bought his television, Harrods had the ITV button removed.”
a boris connection ’Tis the season for literary festivals and at one in Henley on Friday, Earl Spencer talked about the men
who caused the death of Charles I. Of one, Henry Marten, he said: “Unusually for a puritan, he was a frantic womaniser [King Charles called him a whoremonger] and a drunk, but a brilliant speaker. People flocked to hear him because he was so funny. He reminds me in his features of a former MP of yours.” Lest we think, though, that Marten was reborn as the mayor of London, Spencer clarified: “Not that Boris is a drunk.”
cameron is the punchline Gerard Baker, editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal, told an after-dinner joke last week that’s doing the rounds in Washington. God summons the leaders of the US, China and Britain and tells them the world will end tomorrow and they must prepare their people. So Barack Obama goes on TV and says: “My fellow Americans, I have good and bad news. We were right about the existence of God, but the world is about to end.” Xi Jinping then tells the Chinese: “Bad news and worse news. We were wrong about the existence of God and the world is about to end.” Finally, David Cameron goes on the BBC. “I have great news,” he says. “God thinks I’m one of the three most important people in the world.” patrick kidd
McCanns’ web troll found dead in hotel Gabriella Swerling
A 63-year-old woman who was part of an online campaign of hate against Madeleine McCann’s parents has been found dead. Brenda Leyland’s body was discovered in a Leicestershire hotel room on Saturday after she was identified as one of dozens of people accused of trolling Kate and Gerry McCann under the alias Sweepyface. Her death came days after she was tracked down to her home in Burton Overy, Leicestershire, and confronted by a Sky News correspondent. A spokeswoman for Leicestershire police said that the death was not being treated as suspicious. When she was asked why she used Twitter to attack Mr and Mrs McCann, who live in Rothley, Leicestershire, with their nine-year-old twins, Ms Leyland replied: “I’m entitled to do that.” After telling her that she had been reported to the police, she added: “That’s fair enough.” Martin Brunt, Sky’s crime correspondent, said that he was later invited into Ms Leyland’s home, where Ms Leyland said she “had questions for the McCanns” but “hoped she hadn’t broken the law” after tweeting her malicious comments. Neighbours reported that Ms Leyland, who had lived in the village for 15 years, had fled her home after the encounter was broadcast. According to
the Leicestershire Mercury, one neighbour said: “Somebody took a photo of her on Thursday afternoon and then she was gone. I haven’t seen her since.” The police spokeswoman added: “Police were called at 1.42pm on Saturday October 4 to reports of a body of a woman in a hotel room. “Officers have attended the scene and a file is being prepared for the coroner. “Identification of the deceased is a Brenda Leyland was confronted by a Sky reporter
matter for the coroner. The death is not being treated as suspicious.” She added that the police were unable to comment any further. Scotland Yard is investigating a dossier of online abuse directed at the McCanns that has been compiled by members of the public. The file contains tweets, Facebook posts and forum messages aimed at the couple, including suggestions that they should be tortured, injured or killed. Madeleine went missing in Portugal aged three in May 2007. Mr and Mrs McCann were cleared by police from having any part in the disappearance of Madeleine in 2008.
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
News Cheltenham Literature Festival: royal paintings, Ishiguro’s experiment and a children’s favourite TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER GARETH IWAN JONES; DUKE OF EDINBURGH / ROYAL COLLECTION
carey inspired curtis If you thought Love Actually was a bit twee, there could be an explanation: the screenwriter’s muse was a song by Mariah Carey, left. Richard Curtis said that the 2003 film, starring Hugh Grant as a prime minister who falls in love with his tea lady, was “a stab at getting as good as Mariah”. He said that her song All I Want for Christmas “completely says how we want to feel”. The inspiration for Notting Hill, another Grant film, was a version of Downtown Train, the Tom Waits song, performed by Everything but the Girl. He added that songs were “like a hardcore drug, a perfect distillation like a perfect poem can be”, while the writing he did was clumsier.
eton’s a doddle
Festival hit The adventures of Angelina Ballerina, a cartoon mouse, were brought to life by her creator Katharine Holabird in Cheltenham yesterday with a little help from Laura Day of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. First published in 1983, there are now more than 20 Angelina books, which have also been turned into a TV series
Tricky moment when the duke canvassed opinion about his art
Jonathan Yeo breathed a sigh of relief when the royal paintings turned out to be good, writes Jack Malvern
Being asked to comment on an amateur artist’s work is often a social minefield, but when that artist is the Duke of Edinburgh the test is especially acute. Jonathan Yeo, who was commissioned to create a likeness of Prince Philip, told an audience at the festival of the awkward moment when the duke brought in a selection of his work for Yeo’s appraisal. The portraitist, whose subjects include Tony Blair and Sienna Miller, said that the duke spoke very knowledgeably about painting during his sittings in 2008. “He was asking so many precise questions about painting, I said after a
while, ‘Well, have you ever done any painting yourself?’ And he was like, ‘Well, I’m glad you asked. I’ve just taken it up again recently.’ And then, at the next sitting, he brought along some of his works. “That’s always a heart-stopping moment when someone says, ‘Oh, can I show you some of my painting?’ Anyway that’s a difficult thing, and when it’s someone like that, you think, ‘What am I going to say?’” He said he was relieved when he saw the art, which Yeo said reminded him of Pierre Bonnard, the French painter active in the 19th and 20th centuries. “Luckily, it wasn’t terrible. Some of them were OK. There were actually some good pictures. They were very much of a kind of early 20th century, almost Bonnard sort of style. I didn’t have that terrible thing of going, ‘Wow, they’re amazing,’ and then, ‘Oh, look at that interesting thing over there.’” Yeo, whose father Tim is a Conservative MP and former
The duke’s study of the Queen at breakfast, above. Left, Jonathan Yeo, who painted the duke
member of the shadow cabinet, said that he was pleasantly surprised by how the duke differed from his public persona as a man who is “always saying silly and inappropriate things”. He said that while some sitters, such as Jamie Oliver, were just as they appeared in public, the duke was misunderstood. “I think he surprised me by having this incredibly energetic intellect. His public persona is being a figure of fun and always saying silly or inappropriate things [which] was very different from my experience of him, which is of someone who has a raging intellect and gets bored very easily. “So, to make things interesting for himself he is provocative — and he’s funny. If you are easily offended, most of the things he said to me would have been easy for me to react badly to. [But] I grew up with a politician so I’m used to banter and someone wanting to see what position you take on anything and then taking the opposite one for sport, which is what he mostly did.”
How Remains of the Day fooled critics Jack Malvern Arts Correspondent
The Remains of the Day won Kazuo Ishiguro a Booker prize and the film, starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, reinvigorated the British film industry. The author has now disclosed that it was also an experiment to expose the prejudices of literary critics. Ishiguro said that his story of a butler who sacrificed his personal life for his job was essentially the same as his previous book, but in a different setting. “I had written An Artist of the Floating World, which was set in Japan, and everyone had said, ‘Oh, isn’t it fascinating how the Japanese behave and it gives a real insight into the Japanese mind’,” he told an audience at the festi-
val. “I was frustrated because I thought I was writing about universal themes.” Ishiguro, who moved to Britain when he was four, said he had little idea of what life was like in Japan and was surprised that his book was recommended for travellers who wished to “understand the Japanese mind”.
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“I thought, ‘I’m going to write the same thing again, but I’ll change the setting to Britain and see how they like it.’ I thought, it’ll be more English than anything they’ve ever encountered, and let’s see if they still think this is an insight into [Japanese thinking]. “And so they said, ‘Oh, this is profound universal truth.’ ” He said that The Sleeping Giant, out next year, was set in a fantastical world so that readers realised that the story was universal rather than of its setting. “If you set your story in France in the 1950s then people think that it is a book about France in the 1950s,” he said. “It’s hard to get them to think it’s metaphorical. I’ve almost had to retreat into nonrealist settings to make people think
Being a state school governor requires greater technical understanding than running Eton College, its head master has said. Tony Little, who is also a governor of three state schools, said that governing bodies should employ a paid official to “ferret through or whittle out the thickets of legislation” to which state schools are subjected. Earlier Mr Little said that Britain was peculiarly uninventive in its assessment of pupils’ abilities, and criticised the “remorseless rigour” of testing in the “Victorian system”, describing GCSE exams as a false hurdle.
burnt out before age 11 Children from “aspirational” backgrounds are increasingly turning up at clinics with “executive stress burn-out” because of hothousing and relentless testing at schools, Tanya Byron said. The psychologist and Times columnist said that superbright kids were falling apart. “You see these kids who are coming in like middle-aged executives who have just put their heads on the desk one day and can’t pick it up any more.” She warned that there were dangers with the intensive tutoring of primary school children to get into grammar or independent schools.
nhs demeaning staff NHS directives can be “demeaning, humiliating and damaging”, a leading neurosurgeon has said. Henry Marsh, the author of Do No Harm: Tales of Life, Death and Brain Surgery, said he had been ordered to do “mandatory training, to be lectured by some young person about showing empathy with patients and how to lift cardboard boxes”. He added: “If you are treated stupid, you make stupid. If you get people doing silly paperwork, it demeans the rest of us.” He also attacked the “unholy conspiracy” between manufacturers and NHS officials who order new equipment.
peer’s proud moment
Hear Ranulph Fiennes, Trevor Brooking, Chris Bryant and Digby Jones talk about their books at the festival today For tickets and information go to cheltenhamfestivals.com/booking
Lord Browne of Madingley, the former boss of BP who resigned after his homosexuality was made public by a male escort, has told of how parents have asked him to help their gay children to come out. He said that he had been approached at book signings by people who hoped that his book The Glass Closet, about the benefits to business of employees who can be open about their sexuality, would provide encouragement for their children. “I’ve had a lot of parents come to me and say, ‘Can you sign this book for my son or daughter, who we want to come out’,” he said.
the times | Monday October 6 2014
If you want to be a scientist, you must be more creative Greg Hurst Education Editor
The head of Britain’s foremost specialist university will look to encourage greater creativity among undergraduates taking science-based courses. Alice Gast, the president of Imperial College London, said that more structured teaching in maths, engineering and science degrees could sap students’ independence and curiosity. She plans to offer more opportunities for undergraduates to work across academic disciplines on research or design projects, or to develop ideas for businesses or social enterprises. Professor Gast said that students aiming for highly selective universities such as Imperial, where entry tariffs range from A*A*A to AAA at A level, could have worked so hard to achieve a place that they did not enjoy learning as much. Her answer is to make courses more like postgraduate study, with students given greater independence, encouraged by world-class researchers. She also wants more emphasis to be placed on developing graduates with broader skills, so they are equipped to be leaders and not just subject experts. Such plans reflect an approach that is common in America, where four-year degrees offer broader study and many universities seek to nurture civic leaders. Having worked at Stanford and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she spent eight years running Lehigh University, in Pennsylvania, before joining Imperial last month in the new post of president. It was vital, Professor Gast said, for world-leading researchers to teach undergraduates and to excite a passion for learning and discovery. “All over the
world students come into university perhaps more focused and driven, having had to compete very hard to get in and then having to focus and continue that narrowness and perhaps not learning for the love and sake of learning,” she said. “To instil that curiosity is really important, so fundamentally I think that research excellence is at the heart of excellence.” Students’ demands were becoming more globally focused and more concerned with their careers, she said, while universities needed to “create the whole student and make sure they are educated to be thinkers and leaders and not just able to answer exam questions”. Her appointment comes after the leadership roles at Imperial were restructured, which divided its previous post of rector in two. As president, Professor Gast will have an outward-facing role talking to governments, business, donors and alumni. A provost, Sir James Sterling, is in charge of academic matters but reports to her. Asked if she would like the £9,000 tuition fee to be raised, she said that it did not cover the costs of Imperial degrees, which were subsidised via corporations and philanthropy, but that her priority with government was to protect and, if possible, increase funding for science and research. “Singapore has done a tremendous job in a short period of time growing an incredible research base very much leveraged with international talent and now you are starting to see homegrown talent there,” she said. “The UK needs to think hard about that model and how we are supporting both home-grown and international talent in this country.”
Rise in foreign Schools shown students to slow how to boost down next year poorer pupils Greg Hurst
Fewer foreign postgraduate students will come to Britain next year, slowing a growth trend from 4.1 to 3.5 per cent, according to research conducted by the British Council. The slowdown will be largely because students from India, the fastest expanding market, are opting to study elsewhere. Foreign postgraduate students, who pay high uncapped fees, are vital for the future of British universities, not only as a source of income but as a recruiting pool for academic staff. Overseas students make up three quarters of full-time students studying for a master’s degree, and more than half of students on science, technology, maths and engineering courses. Vice-chancellors fear the number of British postgraduates could fall even lower next year as undergraduates finish their degrees with debts of £50,000 or more and shun further study to get a job. Britain is the second most popular destination for overseas postgraduate students, behind the US. The research said British universities could expect more students from Nigeria, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Russia.
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Rosemary Bennett Social Affairs Correspondent
The “shocking” gap in exam results between disadvantaged and well-off pupils could be reduced, a report says. The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission said that while some schools had “cracked the code” with high numbers of poor students gaining five good GCSEs including English and maths, others were falling further behind. Teachers having lower expectations of pupils from disadvantaged homes was partly to blame, it said. Only two out of five disadvantaged children in England leave school with at least five C grades at GCSE compared with more than two thirds of their richer classmates. “The consequence for these children is a lifelong struggle to . . . find and hold down a good job,” Alan Milburn, the commission’s chairman, said. The commission suggested steps that schools could take, including creating a culture of high expectations for all pupils, focusing heavily on the quality of teaching, engaging parents and using extra money from the Pupil Premium to tackle barriers to high attainment among poorer students.
News RICHIE HOPSON
Peak fitness About 500 runners competed yesterday in the Red Bull steeplechase, a 21-mile race across the Peak District
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
News
Alice suspect’s body missed in police hunt Fiona Hamilton Crime Correspondent
A review of the police handling of the Alice Gross investigation will examine why it took so long to find the teenager’s body and that of the prime suspect when they were within two miles of each other in public spaces. Concerns emerged again yesterday when the Metropolitan police confirmed that they had found what Half mile
Her route River Brent
August 28 Alice leaves home on foot October 1 Alice’s body found in river
M4 Saturday Arnis Zalkaln’s body found hanged in park
Boston Manor LONDON
appeared to be the badly decomposed body of Arnis Zalkalns, a convicted murderer, in a west London park. The Latvian’s body was found hanged less than two miles from where Alice’s body was discovered, submerged in the river Brent last Tuesday, more than a month after she went missing, and just over a mile from where the 14-year-old girl disappeared. The body presumed to be that of Zalkalns, 41, was found in dense woodland in Boston Manor Park on Satur-
day. Residents said that the area was searched a week ago in the largest operation since the July 7 bombings in 2005. Peter Bleksley, a retired Met detective, said he had been told that the body had been there for some time, raising serious questions about the effectiveness of the search. “I wonder if these specialist police search teams . . . need to be reminded that sometimes they’ve got to look upwards,” he told Sky News. The last known closed-circuit television footage of Zalkalns is thought to be on September 2 — five days after Alice went missing — when he was seen taking cash out in Isleworth, northwest London. Linda Massey, 59, who heads Friends of Boston Manor Park, said it was not surprising that the body was not found sooner, as it was in a secluded area. “The woods are so thick, anything in it would be very well hidden,” she said. The Met’s review, begun after concerns were raised that police were too slow to categorise Alice as a potential murder victim rather than a runaway, will now investigate the search itself. It will also examine whether police were quick enough to link Zalkalns to Alice when he was reported missing on September 5. Its database should have shown that he was arrested in 2009 over the indecent assault of a girl aged 14. Investigators were unaware that he had murdered his wife in Latvia until Europol was contacted some time into the investigation.
SCOPE FEATURES
New faces Cate Blanchett and Ewan McGregor are the latest celebrities to appear in adverts for IWC Portofino watches
Baby is mauled to death by ‘pitbull-type’ dog Fiona Hamilton Crime Correspondent
A six-month-old girl has died after being attacked by a “pitbull-type” dog while being looked after by a relative. Neighbours said they had complained to the council about two dogs in the home in Daventry, Northamptonshire, where the attack took place.
Police tried to resuscitate the baby. She was taken to hospital, where her death was confirmed. The animal was destroyed at the scene. Northamptonshire police said the baby, who has not been named, was in the care of a relative when the attack took place. The relative, who is thought to have been her grandmother, was bitten as she tried to save the child.
Detective Sergeant Gary Baker said: “This was a deeply distressing and tragic incident and our thoughts are with the family, who have been left devastated by the events of last night.” A couple who did not want to be named and who live on the same street said that neighbours had been complaining to the council since May about two “pitbull-type” dogs at the house.
the times | Monday October 6 2014
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Husband tells of shock over wife’s nights with bishop Alexi Mostrous
The husband of a woman who formed a close relationship with a senior Roman Catholic bishop has spoken of his “devastation” for the first time. Simon Hodgkinson’s wife, Olivia, became close to Kieran Conry, the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, during a period when their marriage was breaking up, according to the Mail on Sunday. Bishop Conry, 63, denied having a sexual relationship with Mrs Hodgkinson, 43, but last week resigned because he had been “unfaithful to my promises as a Catholic priest” in an affair with a different woman six years ago. Questions have now been raised about how much Catholic authorities knew about the behaviour of Bishop Conry, who became a bishop in 2001 and is sworn to celibacy. A City executive, Mr Hodgkinson described how he first discovered that his Bishop Conry resigned after admitting an earlier affair
wife had apparently spent the night at the bishop’s residence last April. “I thought it was odd when she didn’t arrive at choir practice because normally she would never miss one,” he said. “By then it was about 10pm. I went up to the bishop’s residence and her car was there. I checked and it was there all night. I was devastated.” Bishop Conry also wrote a series of love letters to the mother of two, according to The Mail on Sunday. One allegedly said: “It’s all right to say that Simon did bad things, but you knew that he didn’t love you. You know (I hope) that I did. And I did, and do.” Mrs Hodgkinson, who also denies any sexual relationship with Bishop Conry, is said to have spent nights at the bishop’s home and the couple visited
the British Museum, a Matisse exhibition and the ballet together. When Mr Hodgkinson examined mobile phone records, he discovered that the bishop had been exchanging many calls and texts with his wife. “The sheer volume of calls was extraordinary,” he said. A private detective employed by Mr Hodgkinson is understood to have discovered that his wife had spent the night with the bishop on eight occasions in April and May 2013. The Mail on Sunday said that she had stayed overnight a further three times. Bishop Conry technically remains both a priest and a bishop even though he is no longer responsible for Arundel and Brighton. Mr Hodgkinson’s legal team is now considering pursuing the church through the High Court in an attempt to find out what it knew about his past relationships with women. Damian Thompson, the author and religious commentator, wrote in The Spectator last week: “I don’t know how many Mrs Conrys there have been over the years: the rumours date back decades. But I have it on good authority that several English bishops, a former papal envoy to Britain and the Congregation for Bishops in Rome were concerned about the stories.” “The power imbalance is obvious”, Mr Hodgkinson said. “Bishop Conry was in a position of authority within an institution she loves and adores. He can justify just about any action to her because of who he is.” Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, is under pressure to investigate allegations that the Catholic authorities knew about Bishop Conry’s behaviour and turned a blind eye to it. Four months ago, The Mail on Sunday confronted the bishop and Mrs Hodgkinson about their relationship, but both denied it. Bishop Conry said that women had stayed at his house in Pease Pottage, West Sussex, but insisted that none had been sexual relationships.
Lighten up and listen to the people, Pope urges priests Tom Kington in Rome
The Pope has warned clergy not to stick too closely to rigid rules. Speaking at a Mass at the start of a two-week synod that will focus on family themes, he told nearly 200 bishops and cardinals that “evil pastors lay intolerable burdens on the shoulders of others, which they do not lift a finger to move”. As senior clergy gathered in Rome to debate why churchgoers are ignoring Church diktats on sex and marriage, Francis said: “Synod gatherings are not meant to discuss beautiful and clever ideas, or to see who is more intelligent,” rather, they were an opportunity to “work generously ously The Pope is holding a synod in Rome
with authentic freedom and humble creativity”. The Pope’s comments were the latest sign that he wants the church to respond to a survey of believers which showed that Catholics ignore rules on birth control and ig want the church to minister to gay wa couples in civil unions. In an address on Saturday evening to tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square, he urged the synod participants to listen to “the call of the people”, to “lend an ear to the rhythm of our time” and to smell the scent of modern life. A key question for the synod is the church’s ban on giving communion to divorced Catholics who have remarried. Moves to drop the ban have le to criticism from led conservatives in the church.
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News PAUL KINGSTON / NNP
Let there be light Fountains Abbey, near Ripon, lit up the sky on Saturday. It will be illuminated every Saturday this month
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
News News Liberal Democrat conference
Clegg facing collapse in youth vote at election Study shows party has never recovered from tuition fees policy, write The Times Data Team and Sam Coates
First-time voters are shunning the Liberal Democrats, according to a Times data analysis that shows the scale of the long-term challenge facing the party. Using electoral roll data and the latest polls, the Times Data Team projects that the party will have about 84,000 first-time voters in the general election next year, down from 414,500 in 2010. The research suggests that this key demographic — which supported the Lib Dems more than any age group in 2010 — cannot be relied upon to support the party in significant numbers. This change is likely to make it harder to rebuild the party after 2015. The Lib Dems will be the only party to lose firsttime voters between 2010 and next year while all the others are expected to make gains. The Lib Dems still have an active
First-time voter intention
Lib Dem Labour
How first-time voters who chose Lib Dems in 2010 will vote in 2015 000s Lib Dem 450
Ukip 2010
17
24 300
Ukip
Conservative Other
Conservative
%
4 23
150
0 2015 Projection
Source: The Times Data Team
youth wing with a stand at this year’s conference in Glasgow, but the party has faced a lot of criticism over its tuition fees policy, which saw it break an election campaign pledge to abolish them. That opinion was still divided was demonstrated at a closed session by Nick Clegg with younger activists yesterday. He told them: “I’m torn about whether or not I should say this or not in my speech when I say, ‘Look, take your pick — you either judge us with one thing
Other First-time voters 2010 election 976,000
32 Labour
2015 election 1.1m
that we couldn’t do, right, or you judge us on the hundreds of things that we’ve done which have made a big difference to the country’. It’s your choice, but I can only be completely open with you. “I think we can legitimately be judged on the latter, and we haven’t hidden from the former, but I suppose there are some people who just want to fixate on that one thing and say, ‘It’s so unfair’ ”. The Lib Dems will fare only marginally better than Ukip at attracting first-
time voters. The Times research projects that Ukip will gain around 74,000 first-time voters in 2015, up significantly from the 14,000 in 2010. This is partly due to the growing presence on university campuses of “Young Independence”, the Ukip youth wing. The Conservatives will gain the biggest share of first-time voters, adding about 69,900 and taking their total to 306,700, according to the projection. Labour will add fewer, 13,300, but will still have 366,200, more than any other party. These findings are a reflection of the wider picture of the collapse of the Lib Dem vote. The party received 23 per cent of the vote in the 2010 election, but has been hammered since going into coalition with the Tories. A poll in yesterday’s Sunday Times put them on only 7 per cent. Membership has dropped from 65,038 in 2010 to 43,451 last year. However, the Lib Dems appear to have been hurt more in the 18-24 age group than any other. Under-25s in 2010 were more likely than any other group to vote Lib Dem. Now the Times Data Team projects that the Liberal Democrats are also on course to lose more than 270,000
Nick Clegg shows a touch of pinball
second-time voters. These are people who were first-time voters in 2010, likely to be aged between 22 and 26 in 2015. Only 24 per cent of first-time voters
the times | Monday October 6 2014
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News Liberal Democrat conference News JEFF J MITCHELL / GETTY IMAGES
Conference Diary
Patrick Kidd desperate for a drink A party conference is normally good news for pubs in the vicinity but Worldpay, a credit card processing company, found that when the Liberal Democrats hit Glasgow last year, takings fell compared with a normal weekend by
wizardry during a brief break at the Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow
who voted Lib Dem in 2010 are likely to vote for the party again in 2015, while 32 per cent are migrating to Labour and 17 per cent to the Conservatives. Ukip is capturing 4 per cent of the young voters who are leaving Lib Dem. The collapse in first-time voter support could have an impact at the general election. There are eight parliamentary constituencies held by the Lib Dems in which the expected number of first-time voters is greater than the the margin by which the seat was won in 2010. In five seats they are being challenged by the Conservatives, and in three by Labour. The Times analysed historical electoral register figures, birth rates and YouGov voter-intention polling data to predict total and first-time votes
for 2010 and 2015. The turnout rate for first-time voters was based on a recent YouGov poll that indicated 41 per cent of eligible first-time voters would “definitely cast their vote”. The Times Data Team: Stefano Ceccon, Megan Lucero, Zsolt Kiss and Callum Jones Leading article, page 20
Red Box
For full analysis and list of seats where young could scupper Lib Dems, sign up to thetimes.co.uk/redbox
U-turn on human rights is price of a new coalition Michael Savage Chief Political Correspondent
David Cameron will have to drop plans to ignore rulings from the European Court of Human Rights if he wants to form another coalition with the Lib Dems, Nick Clegg has warned. The deputy prime minister described the pledge, made by the Tories last week, as “trashing human rights” to win Ukip votes. The proposal, to be included in the Tory manifesto, would give Westminster the right to veto judgments by the court that MPs found unacceptable. On a day when a number of Lib Dem ministers tore into their coalition partner, Mr Clegg indicated that the Tories would also have to dilute plans to cut benefits. The Lib Dems also confirmed that they had moved away from their mansion tax proposal — a 1 per cent annual levy on all homes worth more than £2 million. Instead, it was now advocating new council tax bands on high-value properties, that could mean those owning homes worth well over £2 million paying even more. Mr Clegg said that his opposition to the Tory plan to curb the European Court of Human Rights represented a
red line in future coalition negotiations. “No [we would not sign up to that]. Absolutely not,” he told the BBC. “Trashing human rights basically to cater for or to go after Ukip votes is a legally illiterate thing to do and is not in keeping with fine British tradition.” He added that he was “not persuaded” by the need to lower the benefits cap to £23,000 a year, adding that his party would not be signing up to the Conservatives’ plan to freeze all working-age benefits for two years. In another move to win back voters who abandoned the party after it entered the coalition, Vince Cable will announce today a series of proposals designed to strengthen workers’ rights. It will include a plan to raise the minimum wage for first-year apprentices by more than £1 an hour, to £3.79, putting them on the same rate as teenagers on the minimum wage. He will also announce a wider review of workers’ rights aimed to help one million people on “workers contracts”, that do not provide key rights such as unfair dismissal protection. Jeremy Browne, a former Lib Dem minister, warned that voters would punish the party if it tried to be “half in and half out” of the coalition government as the election approached.
almost 8 per cent — extraordinary for a party that includes Charles Kennedy. Maybe all the locals had left town? One pub tried to entice this year’s delegates by making fun of the prop used in Boris Johnson’s speech last week. A sign outside the Pot Still had a cartoon of the London mayor and the words: “We know more about whisky than Boris knows about bricks.”
paying the price Nick Clegg is really not popular with his party. The conference had barely started when a stall selling memorabilia advertised
that mugs featuring the leader’s grinning face were now reduced to half price.
pining for success Monty Python’s dead parrot sketch is a staple of party conferences. Margaret Thatcher performed it to mock the Liberal Democrats in 1990 (“Is this Monty Python ‘one of us’?”, she asked an aide) and eight years later The Sun superimposed William Hague’s face on to a dead Norwegian blue. So you have to admire Lib Dem optimism in selling parrots on the fringe, draped in a ribbon that read “alive and campaigning”.
norman who? A recent poll found that people are a third more likely to be a fan of Doctor Who if they vote Lib Dem. With many members travelling up during the show on Saturday, a repeat was shown on a big screen last night. It was expected to attract more people than most platform speeches. Some Lib Dems fantasise about one of them playing the Doctor. Lembit Öpik is a UFO expert, while Ming “The Merciless” Campbell could be a second Peter Capaldi, but Norman Baker is the favourite: he shares a surname with two actors to have steered the Tardis.
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
News
MP defected after secret survey of Ukip voters Laura Pitel Political Correspondent
Ukip commissioned a private poll weeks before the defection of Mark Reckless , the Tory MP, to reassure him that he was not committing “career suicide.” The survey at the start of September asked voters in Rochester and Strood if they would support Mr Reckless in a by-election if he switched to Ukip. Mr Reckless was given a boost yesterday as a poll by Survation gave him a nine-point lead over the Conservatives. The telephone survey of 1,012 adults for the Mail on Sunday put Ukip on 40
Mark Reckless has a nine-point lead over the Tories
per cent, with the Tories on 31 and Labour on 25. The Liberal democrats were on just 2 per cent. Mr Reckless, who announced his defection the day before the Conservative party conference, has previously said that he began thinking seriously about switching sides in June. He and Douglas Carswell, a close
friend who defected at the end of August, concluded that the prime minister was not serious about EU reform after he spoke at a meeting of backbench MPs, he said. It is well known that Ukip has taken to conducting polling in favourable seats to put pressure on vulnerable MPs. However, the fact that the party questioned Mr Reckless’s Kent constituents so soon before he defected suggests that he may have been having last-minute doubts. Mr Carswell had already set the bar high by announcing that he would put his decision to change parties to the electorate by triggering a by-election,
but his Clacton constituency has a more promising demographic for Ukip than Rochester and Strood. A Ukip source said that there was never any doubt that Mr Reckless would also seek the consent of voters after defecting, adding that he simply wanted reassurance: “Mark was always going to have a by-election. He just wanted to make sure that he wasn’t committing career suicide by doing so.” Mr Reckless declined to comment on the claim. Ukip hopes that if, as expected, Mr Carswell wins the Clacton by-election on Thursday, the victory will provide momentum to Mr Reckless.
The Conservatives, who will set the date for the contest, still believe that they can win. They are planning to allow as much time as possible in between the two votes in order to allow any “Clacton effect” to fade. A win for Ukip in Rochester would be devastating for the Conservatives, and could prompt other MPs to jump ship. Mr Carswell claimed yesterday that “many” of his former colleagues were angry with the Tory leadership and could follow in his footsteps. He told the Sun on Sunday: “With lots of patience, I think a lot of those people can be won over. Politics is the art of persuasion. Let’s see who follows.”
BBC gives iPlayer users more time
Cricketer grew cannabis plants
Glastonbury sells out in minutes
The BBC is extending its iPlayer service for TV and radio programmes from seven to thirty days to give users more time to catch up on shows they missed. The move was introduced in time for the autumn schedule, one of the most popular times of the year to watch TV.
A former cricketer has been given a suspended jail sentence after admitting growing cannabis. Nottingham crown court heard how John Birch, 59, from Selston, Nottinghamshire, who played for his county between 1973 and 1988, grew the plants from seed.
Tickets for next year’s Glastonbury festival sold out in 26 minutes. Thousands of fans were left disappointed after the 150,000 tickets, costing £225 each, were snapped up. The line-up has not been announced, but it is thought to include Queen and Fleetwood Mac.
the times | Monday October 6 2014
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comment pages of the year
Opinion
We’re the voyeurs in this nasty marital mess Melanie Phillips Page 18
Brussels and its busy bees are a perfect pest
An EU pesticide ban that was supposed to protect insects has done no such thing. All it does is damage farmers’ crops that’s what the word “insecticide” means. Yet large-scale field studies and real world evidence consistently demonstrate that rape pollen does not contain a high enough dose to have an impact on bee colonies. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs report on the subject concluded that lab studies used to justify the EU ban severely overdosed their bees and that bees are not affected by neonics under normal conditions. Australian regulators claim that neonics have actually improved the environment for bees by replacing older pesticides. And in the US, the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency have so far resisted calls to ban neonics for much the same reason. Even though there was literally no good science linking neonics to bee deaths in fields, they were banned anyway for use on flowering crops in Europe. Friends of the Earth, which lobbied for the ban, opined that this
Matt Ridley
@mattwridley
T
he European Union’s addiction to the precautionary principle — which says in effect that the risks of new technologies must be measured against perfection, not against the risks of existing technologies — has caused many perverse policy decisions. It may now have produced a result that has proved so utterly foot-shooting, so swiftly, that even Eurocrats might notice the environmental disaster they have created. All across southeast Britain this autumn, crops of oilseed rape are dying because of infestation by flea beetles. The direct cause of the problem is the two-year ban on pesticides called neonicotinoids brought in by the EU over British objections at the tail end of last year. The ban was justified on the precautionary ground that neonics might be causing the mass decline of bees. There is, by the way, no mass decline of bees, as I shall explain. Neonics are primarily used as a seed dressing: seeds are soaked in the chemical so that the plant grows up protected from pests and — crucially — often does not need to be sprayed. The beauty of this is that it targets pests, such as flea beetles, that eat the plant, but not the bystanders such as other insects. In the laboratory, bees exposed to high doses of neonics do indeed die or become confused. So they should —
Lab studies used to justify the ban severely overdosed their bees would make no difference to farmers. Dave Goulson, a bee activist and author of a fine book on bumblebees called A Sting in the Tale, was widely quoted as saying that farmers were wasting their money on neonics anyway; though how he knew this was not clear. Presumably he thinks farmers are stupid. Well, the environmentalists were wrong. The loss of the rape crop this autumn is approaching 50 per cent in Hampshire and not much less in other parts of the country. Farmers in Germany, the EU’s largest
GETTY/PETKO DANOV
producer of rape, are also reporting widespread damage. Since rape is one of the main flower crops, providing huge amounts of pollen and nectar for bees, this will hurt wild bee numbers as well as farmers’ livelihoods. Farmers are instead reluctantly using pyrethroids. These older insecticides are less effective against pests (flea beetles are becoming resistant to them), more dangerous to other insects, especially threatening to aquatic invertebrates when they seep into streams and less safe to handle. So the result will be more insect deaths. In a panic, Defra has just announced that it will allow the use of two neonics, but — and here you have to laugh or you would cry — both are sprayed on the flowering crop, rather than used to dress seed! So they definitely can harm bees. The ban was brought in entirely to placate green lobby groups, which have privileged and direct access to unelected European officials in policymaking. They hotted up their followers, using the misleading lab studies, to bombard politicians on the topic. The former health commissioner, Tonio Borg, felt so inundated by emails that he had to do something. Owen Paterson, as environment secretary, received 85,000 emails to his parliamentary address alone. Yet he warned colleagues that a ban was unjustified and would be counterproductive. He was right. Back to bees. What decline? The number of honeybee hives in the world is at a record high. The number in Europe is higher than it was in the early 1990s when neonics were introduced. Hive mortality in Britain was unusually low in the year before the neonic ban. It’s a myth that honeybees are in dire straits.
Rape seed, which provides pollen and nectar for bees, has been damaged
That’s not to say beekeepers don’t have problems. There was a severe problem eight years ago caused by the mysterious colony collapse disorder — a phenomenon that has happened throughout history and seems once again to have disappeared. Greens tried to blame it on genetically modified crops, but it happened in countries with no GM crops. The battle against the varroa mite continues to be hard. A newly virulent strain of tobacco ringspot virus has made the rare leap from infecting plants to infecting bees. What about wild bees, and bumblebees in particular? Having read again and again of the terrible decline of bumblebees, I set out to find some graphs or tables. I came away empty-handed. In Britain some species contracted their ranges and some expanded during the 20th century. The specialist species seem
to have suffered while the generalists have thrived. But claims of a continuing fall in the abundance of bumblebees over the past 20 years seem to be entirely anecdotal. As Dr Goulson recounts in his book, it’s hard to study bumblebee nests because so many get destroyed by badgers. The huge expansion of the badger population in recent years cannot have helped the populations of their favourite prey. Full disclosure: I have a farm. My oilseed rape is looking all right this year, but the farmer is not happy at having to use pyrethroids and nor am I. The local beekeeper is hopping mad about the neonic ban, which he thinks has done more harm than good. And he’s genuinely worried about a new threat to honeybees from the small hive beetle, which is spreading in Italy, a major source of honeybees and queens for Britain. Currently there is free movement of potentially contaminated bees from Italy into the UK. In short, nobody’s taking any precautions about the real threats.
The Times Live
Insider’s Guide: hear Matthew Parris and Philip Collins give their post-conference verdict on the three main party leaders Thursday, October 9 cheltenhamfestivals.com Tel: 0844 880 8094
Today Scattered showers and thunderstorms in the southern Balkans, with a risk of flooding. Max 27C (81F), min -1C (30F) Today’s temperatures forecast for noon
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Helsinki Innsbruck Istanbul Lanzarote Las Palmas Lisbon Madeira Madrid Majorca Malaga Malta Milan Moscow Munich Naples
Portugal, Spain Many places will be dry with some hazy sunshine through thick high cloud. However, it will be cloudier with rain across northern areas. Maximum 27C (81F), minimum 10C (50F).
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France, the Low Countries Southern and eastern areas will be dry with some sunshine, albeit rather hazy through thick high cloud. Meanwhile, heavy rain and strong winds will spread into northern and western parts. Maximum 23C (73F), minimum 10C (50F). Sicily, southern Italy, the Balkans Northern areas will be mainly dry with sunny spells, but scattered showers and thunderstorms will affect southern parts, with prolonged downpours giving a risk of flooding to parts of Albania, Montenegro and Apulia. Maximum 24C (75F), minimum 5C (41F).
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Nice Nicosia Oslo Paris Prague Reykjavik Rhodes Rome Salzburg St Petersburg Stockholm Tenerife Venice Vienna Warsaw
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Central Europe, eastern Europe Rather breezy with sunny spells and variable cloud. Maximum 19C (66F), minimum -1C (30F). British Isles A band of rain and strong winds will sweep eastwards, clearing to sunny spells and showers. Maximum 16C (61F), minimum -1C (30F). Outlook Wet and windy across many parts of northwest Europe, further showers in the south east.
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Corsica, Sardinia, northern Italy Mainly dry with sunny spells, a few showers. Maximum 23C (73F), minimum 6C (43F). Scandinavia Windy with showers in the south, dry in the north. Maximum 13C (55F), minimum -1C (30F).
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Forecast for noon today. Wind speed in mph. Temperatures maximum for day, degrees C
Speak directly to one of our forecasters on 09065 77 76 75 6am to 6pm daily (calls charged at £1.50 per minute plus network extras) For more information on the services we can provide, visit our website: quest www.weatherquest.co.uk weatherq
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
Opinion
We’re the voyeurs in this nasty marital mess The film Gone Girl betrays the deep anxiety that exists today about trust within relationships Melanie Phillips
@melanielatest
T
he holy grail of the publishing world is the mysterious factor that turns a novel into a blockbuster. Gillian Flynn’s thriller Gone Girl possesses that magic ingredient. The film of her bestselling novel opened at the weekend in America and the UK and became an instant talking point on both sides of the pond. The plot revolves around a young married couple, Nick and Amy Dunne. On their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy disappears and Nick becomes the prime suspect for her presumed murder. The plot is taut, ingenious and with clever twists. It is also pretty silly. So where does its immense pulling power lie? When I read it, I was reminded of Erich Segal’s 1970 novel Love Story, which stayed for 41 weeks on the bestseller list. Love Story was about a romance doomed by fate and illness to end in tragedy. Gone Girl is its antithesis. If Love Story was saccharine, this is acid. While Segal’s novel embodied the eternal fantasy of star-crossed lovers, Flynn’s thriller dissects the impossibility of a loving relationship between characters who are between them self-obsessed, manipulative, cruel, heartless, lying, cheating and, well, pathologically twisted. So
with whom are readers identifying? Gone Girl took off because, just as Love Story was perfectly in tune with a more innocent time, Flynn’s novel resonates with today’s darker issues, anxieties and fantasies. Peeling off layers of deception by characters who conceal their true personality, the story feeds into widespread unease that even married couples don’t really know what each other is thinking. A previous age didn’t obsess about this kind of thing. But with individual freedom and autonomy now emphasised even within marriage, whose permanence has been eroded as a result, people no longer know how to trust. The novel also panders to a related morbid voyeurism about relationships. People seem reassured to be shown, below the surface of a marriage, the endless negotiations that go on between couples and the
If Love Story was saccharine, Gillian Flynn’s novel is acid rows over money, looking after frail parents or just who gets to impose upon the other their wishes about how or where to live. The core of the book’s appeal, however, lies in its treatment of gender roles. The novel (more than the film) enshrines the contemporary fantasy of the tough, controlling and amoral Cool Girl. This persona is described by Amy Dunne as “a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, dirty jokes and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer,
Amy Dunne, played by Rosamund Pike, vanishes on her wedding anniversary
loves threesomes and anal sex and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth while somehow maintaining a size 2”. So not quite the home life of our own dear Queen, then. But a recognisable version, surely, of the “lifestyle choice” feminism that apes male libertinism in the interests of “equality” and is considered modern and progressive. It is unclear what Flynn herself thinks about the Cool Girl persona. Amy Dunne denounces it as a male fantasy that creates women in men’s image. She herself, however, is hardly a poster-girl for feminism. Indeed, Flynn has been accused of misogyny through her creation of morally depraved female characters. She says she merely wants to show
that women aren’t innately good and nurturing but can be “just pragmatically evil, bad and selfish”. Well, yes, women are human. But Flynn is surely showing something else. As she says, she doesn’t create “psycho-bitches” who can be dismissed as inexplicably crazy and thus of no consequence. Her writing brings to mind another troubled fictional character: Lisbeth Salander, the heroine of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, whose dysfunctional aggressiveness, sexual confusion and eponymous bodily disfigurement are all a response to abandonment and abuse. The key to Gone Girl is similarly the portrayal of people who are damaged by troubled family backgrounds. Nick hates his mean, mother-abusing father. Amy’s parents grossly exploited her by turning her into a children’s book character, “Amazing Amy”, whose standards she could never reach. The only people who are not despicable or contemptible are single women: Nick’s decent, sensible sister and the shrewd, cynical detective. Gone Girl’s message might therefore seem to be that we damage each other through relationships. This dystopian vision may strike a chord among the increasing numbers from abusive or shattered family backgrounds who find it difficult to form relationships of love and trust. Such people are very receptive to examples of extreme or transgressive behaviour that seem to validate their own troubled lives. Maybe Gone Girl’s appeal reflects a bleak reality beyond the pages of an entertaining fiction.
David Aaronovitch Notebook
Echoes of empire fade beside the pound shop
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laques. The nearly forgotten statues of purely local heroes. The residue of long-demolished mansions and dead aristocrats in street names. Trees, first planted on vanished estates, that are older by far than the semi-detached houses around them. A sudden tragic bouquet of withered flowers beside a road. The trick, for me, in urban walking, is to only look at the guidebook or the internet afterwards to help to explain what you’ve seen. If you consult them in advance then you plan the serendipitous out of your journey. Back in Cheltenham for the literary festival, with an hour or two to spare and the rain holding off, I walked a dog-leg from my hotel, the Queens on Imperial Square. Holst waves his baton in the centre of Imperial Gardens, where many of the white festival marquees cloud together.
Down the Promenade, in order, are first the statue of Dr Edward Adrian Wilson, who died with Captain Scott and was the subject of Scott’s last diary entry; then the obelisk commemorating the 1914-1919 Cheltenham war dead (many memorials end at 1918, so the question arises of why others finish the Great War a year after the armistice. Wounds, perhaps?); and finally a magnificent bronze soldier of the Boer War and the list of the significant number of Cheltonians who perished even in that limited fight. If you turn left at the end of the Promenade and walk up the High Street something odd happens very quickly. The Regency, stucco or stone four-storey buildings shade, within a block or two, to three storeys. Another 200 yards and they’re two storeys and brick. Department stores and banks are left behind, and Tesco’s marks the last ATM. A Poundland appears. And then a series of cheap fast-food shops, a slot machine arcade and, abruptly, Polish shops. There are two kinds of Polish
shops — food shops and hair salons. Through a barber’s window I can see a little boy having the buzz-cut that all the Polish dads appear to wear, and his face tells me immediately that he is a Kamil or a Mateusz. It is a Saturday and the families who originated in Kielce, Katowice or Krakow — and who will have been working like dogs all week — are out now in their tracksuits, shorn or dyed hair, and today Polish is the language of the High Street. One day the boy in the barbers may do the walk in reverse, stop in front of Edward Wilson, and wonder at the empire that loved its failures more even than its successes.
Dark thoughts
B
ack in the Queens and my cold — threatening me the night before — is becoming vicious. As I lie in bed trying to sleep, feeling that prickly hotness that, for me, means illness, I have that same feeling of anxiety that often comes over me when I’m alone in a hotel. It’s the “middle-aged man found dead in hotel room” blues. Suppose that this is the moment —
3am in room 321 — that a vein blocks, an artery begins to collapse, a fragment of blood-vessel lining detaches and makes its way brainwards. No wife or partner to nudge awake and say “I think I may need an ambulance”. Indeed, no very good idea in the dark where the phone is. “Reception? Yes. I’m afraid I unngghhggh . . .” The chance of survival already cut from 50 per cent to 5 per cent. On the internet I come across a news story illustrating the dangers. A middle-aged man found asphyxiated when the folding hotel bunk bed he’d slumped on to after an evening on the juice folded with him inside. Murdered by a bed. The risks I run.
Near-birth experience
B
ut room 321 didn’t kill me. Or hasn’t yet. Instead, my chest rasping, a nasty cumulonimbus of tissues beside me, I finally, after five years, finished the first draft of my new book. Now my bed can kill me if it wants, and they’d still be able to publish. Columns and reviews and interviews are written by deadline. Books are “delivered” to publishers. Delivered because (and forgive me) a book is a huge baby, gestated over years and born to someone without a womb or a vagina. They hurt.
@daaronovitch
The NHS bidding war is a patronising fraud on voters John McTernan
A
re you an adult? Pay taxes? Vote in elections? Drive a car? Me too. And that’s why the party conference season has left me angry. Every political party is treating me like an infant. It’s not the condescension of quoting real people in your keynote speech, though that’s bad. Nor even the promises made only to be broken, though that’s even worse. No, it’s the outright lies about the National Health Service. There is a bidding war going on in politics at the moment. It consists of two mutually contradictory impulses. One is the ambition to be the most eye-wateringly austere economically, driving the deficit down the fastest; the other is to be the greatest protector of the NHS budget. Of course, you cannot be both. And it leads to colossal mendacity. Look at the claims of the three main parties. The Conservatives will ring-fence the NHS budget for the next five years. That is no real protection at all, just a repeat of what has happened so far — a cut of
Something will have to give and it will be taxes, not services £20 billion in real terms over the period. The Liberal Democrats are offering a billion more on top of that. And Labour trump everyone with £2.5 billion funded by a mansion tax. So if it’s an auction Labour have won hands down. But remember where we started? The NHS has had a cut of £20 billion in this parliament and is facing the same again. Even allowing for heroic efficiency savings we have a gap of some £30 billion to fill. No one is even coming close. But they are pretending to. That is an infantilisation of political discourse, and a futile one at that. The UK has the best informed electorate in its history. One quick search on our smartphones reveals the truth that mainstream politicians think they’ve hidden — that the spending gap facing the NHS is too big to fix with a sticking plaster. Why are they lying to us? It’s because they can’t square the circle. Austerity and deficit reduction are incompatible with protecting the NHS. Labour lifted health spending from 5 per cent of GDP to 8 per cent. It’s now falling to 6 per cent. That way lies long waiting lists and winter flu crises. It’s politically and socially unsustainable. Something will give — and it will be taxes, not services. Why will no politicians level with us? Don’t they understand? We don’t trust them because they don’t trust us. Time they became grown-ups like us. John McTernan is a former adviser to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown
the times | Monday October 6 2014
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Opinion
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That’s enough excuses from whingeing mums Having children is not a sick note for women. They are perfectly able to gain fulfilment in other areas of life as well Libby Purves
@lib_thinks
I
t is cause for genetic regret that Tracey Emin, former Young British Artist, Turner prize nominee, Royal Academy professor of drawing and Margate’s most famous daughter, is childless. For all the drunken swearing on telly, confessional installations such as My Bed and general enfant-terriblery, she’d be an inspiring mother. Energetic, entrepreneurial, always learning and exploring new media from embroidery to neon tubing; big-hearted, funny, never boring. Her proposal for the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square was a group of meerkats, on the principle that every time Britain is in crisis or mourning, TV wisely shows a film about meerkats to calm us down. That’s the sort of mum-perception you need after a bad day at school. On the other hand she claims that motherhood would have stopped her making any art at all. “I would have been either 100 per cent mother or
100 per cent artist. I’m not flaky and I don’t compromise.” And with a fine sweeping generalisation: “There are good artists that have children. Of course there are. They are called men.” Easy to point out that our Tracey is merrily talking through her hat. Even within her own sphere of contemporary fine art we can mention half a dozen contradictions. Rachel Whiteread, who won a Turner prize, has produced major work since having two sons and says the opposite: “I’m sure motherhood has changed me. I think there’s a playfulness that wasn’t there before . . . it’s made me feel whole.” Jenny Saville’s experiences of childbirth inspired new vision in her series of physical, fleshy oils. Nor is this just a phenomenon of our liberated age: Barbara Hepworth had four children — a son in 1929, triplets in 1934. Her son’s death in the RAF, aged 24, inspired a lovely memorial to him which you may see in St Ives parish church. Go back further and there’s Berthe Morisot, acclaimed among French Impressionists, whose daughter Julie became a successful collector. Of course there are fewer women at the top of the art world: that phenomenon applies in most fields of human endeavour, for shameful cultural reasons. And it is reasonable
to assume that for Emin the rule might feel true, because most of her work is autobiographical and selfabsorbed (not the same, by the way , as selfish). And children are interesting, and need time and thought. Your focus changes. But, as Whiteread and others discovered, it also widens. Compromise means enrichment, like discovering a new colour or a new medium. But Emin’s professional fear of maternity provides an opportunity to reflect on what, in the age of contraceptive choice and long
There are wails of ‘empty nest syndrome’ and ‘boomerang kids’ lifespans, is the effect of motherhood on female creativity in all areas. We talk a lot, rightly, about the workaday issues of equal pay, discrimination, flexible working and glass ceilings; but leave those aside and reflect rather on what motherhood can do to the inwardness of women: the springs of creativity and formation of ideas. We don’t discuss this enough. Despite labour-saving domesticity and an increased fashion for paternal sharing of childcare, there has grown up a defensive quirk — fortified by literary writers like Rachel Cusk and
Naomi Wolf — in which women make heavy weather of the pretty basic biological business of procreation and keeping babies alive. It can be related as a monstrously unfair affront: a permanent grudge, a sick-note excuse for every failure of nerve or energy. The practical task of keeping a normal infant clean, safe, cuddled and amused lasts very few years, unless you have half a dozen and space them out. But the profession of motherhood can follow Parkinson’s law, expanding to fit a whole life of intrusive helicopter parenting, ceaseless angst, hysteria over exams. And then a plea that you are emotionally crippled by “empty nest syndrome”, and another wail when “boomerang children” come back. This is not a necessary or realistic account of the experience. It is an upmarket modification of the old washtub-and-mangle, drudgewife idea that once you’re a mum that’s all you ever will be. The old idea and the new neurosis feed into the idea that for a woman (not a man) having children means a permanent dilution not only of your time but of mental capacity, motivation and imagination. Having produced and fed these marvellous creatures, as any mother-cat efficiently can, you are excused any higher form of growth and creativity. Quite a relaxing idea: “I’m a
good mum, that’s all that matters.” In times of short lifespans and no contraception, that perspective was excusable. Today a woman might hone her talents till she’s over thirty, raise two or three children and still have forty years to follow her talents wherever they lead. In literature, art, music and performance there are towering examples wherever we look: decent, dutiful mothers “compromising” but also deepened and excited, connected to primal feeling and to a rising generation. Sharpened by practicality, humbled by the impossibility of perfection in a messy world, they get on with it. The aesthetic rewards can be great. As for the need to be “100 per cent artist”, suspect it. As Grayson Perry does, writing yesterday: “The identity [of artist] has become very aspirational . . . a level of backstage access at Latitude festival, a free pass to piss about.” He prefers those who say they need to “make art”, and do. And — since I have left the wombless sex out of these musings — let me add that some male artists, real ones, have always dutifully earned a family’s living at dull jobs and created art in whatever spare time they can claw back. And the poor chaps don’t even have the buzz, the excitement, the glory and pain and primitive terror and proud fascination of giving birth . . .
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
Leading articles Daily Universal Register
Heart of Darkness
Alan Henning’s murder is an act of the worst of humanity. There can be no security for this country, its allies and its citizens without extirpating Isis militarily The theocratic fanatics of Islamic State (Isis) are keen on invoking the notion of self-sacrifice. How wrong can they be? Their targeting of western nationals and Muslims of the supposedly “wrong” variety is murder, not martyrdom. Alan Henning, the British aid worker who was pitilessly killed by these forces last week, never sought danger, nor does his death hold any wider redemptive meaning. Yet, in a purely secular sense, he is much more of a martyr than his nihilistic killers will ever conceive of. Mr Henning, a Manchester taxi driver, travelled to Syria several times for no other reason than to help people suffering the depredations of a brutal civil war. His life exemplified the best of humanity. His murder was the handiwork of the very worst of it. A microcosm of the evil of Mr Henning’s murder, redolent of the show trials mounted by Stalin or Saddam Hussein, was the recitation by the condemned man of the accusations mounted by his killers. Thus Mr Henning was forced to say to camera that his death was retribution for the decision by Britain’s parliament that this country should join a military campaign to bomb Isis positions in Iraq. Isis’s claims are false and morally corrupt. The reason that Britain is part of the actions
against Isis is that western security, to say nothing of the stability of the Middle East, requires that Isis be extirpated. It is a struggle that Britain and its allies did not seek but cannot now shirk, in Syria as well as Iraq, for that is where Isis has filled a vacuum. It aims to establish a caliphate in a vast swathe of territory and to rule it by suppression and barely conceivable bloodshed. This is a criminal conspiracy of extortion, piracy, abduction, bigotry, hatred and slaughter. Barbara Henning, the widow of Alan Henning, has spoken with a quiet dignity of his death and their family’s numbness with grief. What was nobly absent from her statement, yet would have been entirely justified, was a call for retribution. For the sake of justice and self-defence there must, however, be a response and an integral part of that protest must be, globally, from Muslims. It is not part of the task of secular governments to state what is authentically Islamic; that is for Muslims themselves to determine. It is, however, crucial that the forces of tolerance and charity within the Muslim world vanquish the barbarous absolutism of Isis. Hence British Muslims have vocally expressed their horror and anguish at Mr Henning’s murder, as well as the killing of three other civilians at the hands of Isis.
David Cameron has rightly made it a priority for the security services to find the terrorist — apparently British — who has wielded the knife in these foul deeds. Yet there can be no delusion that the murders are specific crimes whose repetition can be avoided if only the West is sufficiently nonprovocative. Isis targets no remediable injustice and has no transitional demands. Its objection is to what this country and our allies represent: pluralism, secularism, democracy, religious liberty and sexual equality. A pragmatic objection to a military campaign to hit back at Isis is that this will merely embolden its forces and provide a stream of recruits. Unfortunately, that is going to happen anyway. There is literally no course that the West can take, short of abject submission, that will not be taken as a provocation by those who believe they know the will of God and wish to hasten the annihilation of their enemies. The least that Britain and its allies can do in response is to recognise that we are indeed the enemies of Isis. This is not a battle from which this country, or any other western democracy, can afford to opt out. It is salutary that regional players are involved but the murder of Alan Henning shows us that we are, too, whether we like it or not.
Talking to the Nation
The Liberal Democrats should avoid the temptation to insult their coalition partner When Nick Clegg took the fateful decision in 2010 to take the Liberal Democrats into government he lost, in that instant, the two things that had sustained his party. The first pillar of support was that the Lib Dems were not the government. The second was that they ceased to be representatives of the anti-politics mood of the time. The early signs, from the opening exchanges of the Lib Dem conference in Glasgow, were that the party might have forgotten what it did in May 2010. Addressing his party faithful, Mr Clegg called the Tories “the nasty party”. Echoing Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, the party’s former leader and election campaign manager, Mr Clegg castigated the Conservative party as a collection of heartless knaves who did not care that their policies were further impoverishing the poor. He was followed by Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the treasury, who accused the Conservatives of wanting to “take an axe” to schools and wishing to make the working poor bear the burden of austerity. This is a deliberate plan for the Lib Dems to separate themselves from their coalition partner
in anticipation of the 2015 general election. It is a foolish plan, for two reasons. The first is the narrow, political calculation that it makes no sense for the Lib Dems to start denigrating a government of which they are a part. One of the main reasons that Lib Dem support has collapsed from 24 per cent in 2010 to around 7 per cent today is because plenty of their erstwhile supporters regarded the decision to join the coalition as an act of moral betrayal. To throw out a series of insults about that government endorses that criticism; it does nothing to counter it. At a more elevated level, the Lib Dems need to remember that there is an audience beyond the conference hall. They need to bear in mind not just the large part of the nation that has found something better to do with its week than spend it on the Lib Dem fringe in Glasgow, but the interest of the nation. The Lib Dems are a party of government and there is still work to be done before that general election. It is damaging for the already poor regard in which politics is held if the two governing parties have a sevenmonth quarrel.
It would also be indulgent at an important moment. This is a nation at war. It is a country that is still carrying substantial debt. Many of its public services have survived austerity rather better than the professional lobby groups predicted but it would be complacent to suppose there are not areas of provision that need a lot of work. Care for the elderly, as we report today, is one example, as is mental health and prison places. It would be better to hear the Lib Dems behaving like a responsible party of government and telling the country what they would do, rather than drawing a caricature of their coalition partner. The transition to government has been traumatic for the Lib Dems. The temptation to revert to insults and cat-calls must be great but there is no popularity to be won that way. It is reasonable to claim that the Lib Dems have, in their view, curbed Tory excesses in office, but if they gain any reward for being in government at all — which they may not — it will be by claiming deficit reduction, economic growth and taking poor people out of tax as their own. It is not an uplifting message but it is the best they have.
Ah
ject, though. The word “like” (as in “we were, like, about to turn to this subject . . .”) has lately become a ubiquitous filler for almost every native English speaker under the age of 20. There are times in the use of “I was, like,” when the word “like” is standing in for a real verb such as “said”. Some of the time, however, “like” is just another filler word. Every generation believes that linguistic standards are in retreat and that English speakers are doomed to communicate eventually only in unintelligible grunts. Fillers may not be prominent in the dialogue of Jane Austen, George Eliot, Dickens, Conrad or other great novelists in
Nature notes A few of the summer wild flowers are still lingering on. One is chicory, a tall plant with large, bright blue, daisy-like flowers that sometimes grows on wasteland at the edge of cornfields. It stands out among tangled grass and old farm machinery. Its root is roasted and used as a substitute for coffee, or mixed with it. A cultivated variety provides leaves for salad. Several of the other surviving flowers are yellow. Common, or yellow, toadflax can often be seen from trains, growing among deserted railway lines. It is a snapdragon, with a mouth that opens when a bee lands on the lower lip. It has two orange bulges in the throat, and a long spur behind. Another yellow flower of railway tracks is Oxford ragwort, a small scrubby version of the tall ragwort of the fields. It is thought to have been brought to Britain from Mount Etna, and it escaped from the Oxford Botanic Gardens in the late 18th century. Since then it has flourished. St John’s wort, which grows in grassy places, has five yellow stars with black spots on them. If you hold its leaves up to the light you will see translucent dots on them. These contain fragrant oils. An extract of St John’s wort is sometimes used to help depression. derwent may
Birthdays today Penny Junor, pictured, writer, Prince William: Born to Be King (2012), 65; Gerry Adams, president, Sinn Fein, 66; Jarvis Astaire, deputy chairman, Wembley Stadium (198499), 91; Richie Benaud, former cricketer and sports commentator, 84; Lord (Melvyn) Bragg, author, The Adventure of English 500AD-2000 (2003), Grace and Mary (2013) and controller of arts, London Weekend Television (1990-2010), 75; William Buford, editor, Granta (1979-95), 60; Lord (Bob) Edmiston, chairman, IM Group, 68; Britt Ekland, actress, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), 72; Ioan Gruffudd, actor, Under Milk Wood (2014), 41; Sir Michael Hardie Boys, governor-general of New Zealand (1996-2001), 83; Admiral Sir Derek Reffell, governor and commander-inchief of Gibraltar (1989-93), 86; Robert Seabrook, barrister, 73; Professor Geraldine Van Bueren, QC, professor of international human rights law, Queen Mary University of London, 59; Timothy Young, director, Rank Foundation School Leadership Award and the Rank Fellowship, 53.
On this day
Sounds to signal hesitation are part of our linguistic heritage What is the most common word in the typical English speaker’s vocabulary? Is it, perhaps, “the” or “a” or “an”, or an interjection such as “oh”? Um, er, let’s see now . . . In fact, it’s probably some variant of the first two words of the previous sentence. They don’t mean anything, but every English speaker uses them, or an equivalent vocalisation, because everyone, however fluent, sometimes wonders what to say next. Linguists call them “filler words” and they appear to go in fashions. In current usage, “um” is overtaking “er” as the filler of choice. “Um” won’t be, ahem, the last word on the sub-
UK: Vince Cable, the business secretary, gives a speech at the Liberal Democrat party conference in Glasgow; David Cameron and the Prince of Wales attend the Pride of Britain Awards; publication of the CBI and PwC quarterly financial services survey; Public Health England launches its national seasonal flu campaign.
English, but they emerge ineluctably in everyday speech, for every conversation has its silences. The interjection of a filler word discreetly tells the listener that the speaker hasn’t finished but wants a little extra time to think of the next thought. When interviewed on television, some unscrupulous politicians have even been known to resort to an aggressive form of “um” when determined not to cede airtime to their fellow panellists or interlocutor. Fillers are an umbilical part of the English language, which carries on just fine. We may err but it is not necessarily a mistake.
In 1890 the Mormons in Utah renounced polygamy; in 1927 Warner Brothers showed the first feature-length talking film, The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, at the Warner Theatre, New York; in 1928 Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) became president of China; in 1991 Elizabeth Taylor married her eighth husband, Larry Fortensky.
The last word “An impersonal and scientific knowledge of the structure of our bodies is the surest safeguard against prurient curiosity and lascivious gloating.” Marie Stopes, birth control pioneer, Married Love (1918)
the times | Monday October 6 2014
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Letters to the Editor
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Should the UK cut ties with European court?
Islam and Isis Sir, Young men and women are reported to be running away to join the caliphate (“Girl, 15, ran away ‘to join Isis fighters’ ”, Oct 1). We hurry to label them as jihadists and fear their return to the UK as potential terrorists. Yet young men, and sometimes women, have run away and joined an army or a movement throughout history. They went to fight in the Spanish civil war, join the Foreign Legion, and in India became Maoist rebels. We need to treat the runaways as a social problem which we have to solve. To cast them all as terrorists is to fail to understand that they are idealists. If we cannot share their idealism, let us at least learn how to find out what it was that led them to choose Islamism rather than other ideals. The Home Office should initiate serious research. lord desai House of Lords Sir, The Muslim Council of Britain would like to make clear that we have opposed — and continue to oppose — extremism (“Ministers urged to work with Muslim ‘extremist’ groups”, Sept 22). We are a democratic, broadbased body, with affiliates belonging to most traditions of Islam: Sunni and Shia, Sufi and Salafi. We are all concerned about the extremism that is blighting our communities. nasima begum Muslim Council of Britain
Dental dedication Sir, Helen Rumbelow is a little unfair in confusing the dedication of dental professionals with the zealotry of moral crusaders (Notebook, Oct 3). Under-resourced and overregulated, our dentists are walking a tightrope, trying to provide the best care for their patients while trying to hold back the sometimes debilitating (but nearly always preventable) disease that is tooth decay. Now we discover that one in eight three-yearolds has decayed, missing or filled teeth. The dentist chair is no pulpit, but it offers one of the precious few opportunities to emphasise the key messages that simply are not being delivered elsewhere. But yes, that script does need changing. Dentists would welcome a new relationship with a focus on prevention — something which the current dental contract does not fully allow. mick armstrong British Dental Association
Corrections and clarifications 6 We incorrectly linked energy drinks to iron deficiency (News, Sept 30). Iron-binding polyphenols in tea and coffee can inhibit iron absorption: energy drinks do not contain polyphenols. The Times takes complaints seriously. We are committed to abiding by the Independent Press Standards Organisation rules and regulations and the Editors’ Code of Practice that IPSO enforces. Requests for corrections should be sent to feedback@thetimes.co.uk or to Feedback, The Times, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF
Sir, Leaving the European Convention on Human Rights would make it even harder for the UK to justify retaining its permanent seat on the UN Security Council (Oct 3). All UN members pledge themselves to promote “universal respect for, and observance of, human rights”. Telling Strasbourg that either we pick and choose which judgments we like, or we leave, would undermine the rule of law and the protection which international law gives individuals. Leaving such a major human rights treaty, because we do not like its court’s decisions, would weaken the authority of the UK to criticise (and take) UN Security Council action on grave human rights violations that threaten international peace and security. geraldine van bueren, qc Professor of international human rights law, Queen Mary University of London Sir, The Lord Chancellor’s proposal to replace the Human Rights Act with a new British bill of rights should be carefully considered, particularly in the light of the Scottish independence referendum. The current Human Rights Act applies to the whole United Kingdom. It cannot be amended or repealed by the Scottish parliament. This could cause problems if, as would seem likely, the Scottish parliament decided to “opt back” into the Human Rights Act in Scotland. Paradoxically, the new bill of rights would have two options.
JPs and diversity Sir, Richard Monkhouse of the Magistrates’ Association says: “On diversity, I don’t think we have a problem” (Law, Oct 2). He rightly points out that magistrates are more diverse than other parts of the system (such as senior judges) — but they should be representatives of the people and are not. They are less representative today than in 1989. Eighty-five per cent are over 50, and some areas have no magistrates under 40. Ethnic representation is way behind the population. Our research found that sitting magistrates were particularly concerned that working-
on this day october 6, 1914
PRESS BUREAU AND A TIMES LEADER The following statement was issued by the Press Bureau last night: “The views expressed in a leading article in The Times of October 3 with regard to Italy and Rumania are unauthorised and do not represent the attitude of His Majesty’s Government.” We fail to understand the above communication. The leading articles of The Times express its editorial opinions and are never
First, it could remove the power to “opt back” from the Scottish parliament — this would be politically unacceptable given promises made during the referendum, in my view. Alternatively, the new bill could create a new two-tier system of Convention rights for UK citizens. This might well lead to a scrabble, as citizens outside Scotland would find ever more ingenious ways to bring claims in Scottish courts. Similar issues would arise in Wales and Northern Ireland, no doubt. david gottlieb Thomas More Chambers, London WC2 Sir, The Conservatives’ proposal to scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a bill of rights is of deep concern. When the bill of rights was proposed in 2011, the Law Society questioned its necessity and emphasised the need to promote the existing Act, not replace it. The society stands by its initial response. The Human Rights Act ensures that the rights included in the European Convention on Human Rights are enshrined in UK law. The convention was established following the Second World War to protect the rights of the people, over the powers of governments. Human rights should never be used as a political tool. andrew caplen President, the Law Society Sir, What Chris Grayling’s threat to remove the UK from the European
Convention on Human Rights amounts to is the strengthening of the powers of the state, the weakening of the powers of the judiciary and consequently a more secretive and malign state more inclined to act in its own interests than that of the citizen. Those who believe in a free press and accountable government should fight the Grayling proposals with all their energy. martin roche Canterbury Sir, I have a clear recall of receiving firm instruction to judges that there must be no criticism of the human rights legislation sent to us in the 1990s by the Lord Chancellor’s Department at the time of the debate and its subsequent introduction into the criminal system. Nor can the part played in its imposition by Lord Irvine of Lairg and his disciples in Doughty Street, together with the influence of a small band of judges in the Administrative Court, be underemphasised. It is refreshing, therefore, to note that the misgivings recently expressed by the president of the Supreme Court, and the former Lord Chief Justice, are now being taken up by David Cameron and Chris Grayling, and that hopefully the rights of society as a whole, together with the true wishes of the British electorate, will be restored to the precedence which they deserve. his honour barrington black London NW3
class JPs were few and far between. The system relies on public trust in judgment by peers. If magistrates become less representative, that trust may be undermined. penelope gibbs Director, Transform Justice
examined by European countries seeking to counter it. michael stannard Verbier, Switzerland
Tax avoidance
Sir, I notice from your report (Oct 3) that contestants in the semi-final of The Great British Bake Off were making baklava, German schichttorte and entremets. Perhaps the next series should be renamed? alan mcloughlin Manhay, Cornwall
Sir, What is the difference between Ireland seeking to attract business through corporation tax incentives and the UK chancellor’s introduction of the 10 per cent tax rate on “patent boxes” in the UK (“Osborne to stamp out ‘double Irish’ tax avoidance”, Sept 30)? The latter is already being “authorised,” nor do they contain “authorised” statements except when the “authority” is indicated. The Times expresses views which its information leads it to believe to be accurate and necessary, though in view of special circumstances arising from the war, additional care is taken to ascertain that the expression of its views will not endanger any national interest. The article in question provides no exception to this rule. items of war news A postal van in a down express on the Highland Railway on Friday was destroyed by fire, and the bulk of the mail, 60 sacks of letters and 100 packages for the Fleet in the North Sea, was consumed. The train was running at 50mph between Perth and Pitlochry. The communication cord had broken, and the blazing train rushed along for five miles. The van was detached at Pitlochry, where it was left to burn itself out. The postal officials nearly collapsed from the effect of the smoke, and one of the guards was badly scorched.
Foreign bake-off?
Letters to The Times may be edited.
Mr William Slade, of Reading, has six sons serving in His Majesty’s forces, several of whom served in the South African War. Yesterday Mr Slade received a letter expressing the King’s gratification and sending his congratulations, together with his “best wishes for their success, health, and happiness in the noble career they have chosen.” Six hundred Belgian refugees arrived at Folkestone from Ostend yesterday. Many of them are in very poor circumstances. The Empress of Russia has ordered a large quantity of Dr J. Collis Browne’s chlorodyne to be sent to Russia. A German soldier who died from his wounds at Devonport was buried with military honours yesterday morning at the Corporation Cemetery. sign up for a weekly email with extracts from the times history of the war ww1.thetimes.co.uk
Learn more about ‘the quiet hunt’ Sir, The British may know their onions but they definitely don’t know their mushrooms. I have lived here for 40 years but have only ever read about the negative side of mushroom collecting, never the pleasure these jewels of nature bring (“Mushroom poisoning cases soar as clueless foodies answer call of wild”, News, Oct 3). For 26 years I prepared wild mushrooms and truffles in my Neal Street restaurant, which was the mecca of this delicacy. Britain needs its schools, nature trusts, television companies and other establishments to bring clarity and expertise to the subject. Fungi, by their very nature, are one of the most important elements in the ecological chain — without them life literally would be impossible. Why cannot Britain educate its population — as the rest of the world does — so that they can enjoy “the quiet hunt”, as Mikhail Gorbachev calls it? antonio carluccio London SW18
Imperial majesty Sir, David Cameron showed how out of touch he is when he said he would “still go for pounds and ounces” (Oct 1). Adopting the metric system was discussed in parliament as early as 1818. Attempts at metrication by science and industry followed, but political weakness scuppered the system being rolled out nationally. Nonetheless, half a century ago Britain and France jointly built a fully metricated supersonic passenger jet: Concorde. In 1965, the then Federation of British Industries informed the government that its members favoured adopting the metric system. Today every major industry in Britain is metricated. The Conservatives are obviously not in the 21st century. john redman Heathfield, E Sussex Sir, Further to Janice Turner’s remarks on metrication (Notebook, Oct 2), I started with the imperial measures in the 1960s as a chartered engineer, then spent the rest of my design career using the metric system. But when it comes to something really important like buying carpets, curtains, or putting up shelves, I always measure in feet and inches. That way I know I get it right — and we all know that carpets are much cheaper by the square yard than by the square metre. melvyn kay Rushden, Northants
Stick of doom Sir, Apropos your report “Poor sense of smell signals death is near” (Oct 2), the study found that 430 people had died within five years of using Sniffin’ Sticks. What’s in the sticks? deb atkinson Southport, Merseyside
Still going strong Sir, While your 45-year-old correspondent Alexandra Brown (Oct 4) gets a “bounce” when she sees she is often younger than many of the people in the “Birthdays today” list, I (at 85) get a similar but somewhat more rueful “bounce” when I see all the people in your obituary columns whom I have outlived. roy selwyn Selborne, Hants
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
World
Turkey has failed us, say Kurds trapped in Kobani Syria
Hannah Lucinda Smith Kobani
Islamic State militants continued to shell the town of Kobani on the SyrianTurkish border yesterday, apparently undeterred by US-led airstrikes on their positions overnight. The besieged settlement, populated mostly by Kurds, has been ringed by Islamic State (Isis) forces on three sides and pounded mercilessly by tank rounds and mortar fire. Yesterday the Kurds struck back when a woman suicide bomber blew herself up at an Isis position on the town’s eastern fringe. Among the crowds watching the town’s plight from the fourth side, along the Turkish border, despair has turned to anger with violent protests. Turkish forces responded by firing tear gas into the crowd. Arin Mirkan: named on social media as a suicide bomber
President Erdogan of Turkey has promised to prevent the town falling to Isis whatever the cost, but there has been no sign of any assistance on the ground for the Kurdish YPG forces defending Kobani. The airstrikes at Mistanour hill, a strategic position overlooking the town, forced Isis troops to ease their bombardment — but only for a short spell. “Overnight there were new airstrikes. They struck three or four times in the vicinity of Mistanour hill,”
Turkish troops wait near the Syrian border as the Kobani bombardment continues
Biden gaffe infuriates US allies
U
S diplomats were scrambling yesterday to appease America’s coalition allies after Joe Biden accused them of helping Islamic State (David Taylor writes). The gaffe-prone vice-president made remarks at Harvard University last week that unpicked months of careful diplomacy, accusing Turkey and the United Arab Emirates of abetting the rise of Isis. He told students that “our biggest problem is our
allies”, and said Isis had been inadventantly strengthened by actions taken to help opposition groups fighting against the Assad regime in Syria. “They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad. Except that the people who were being supplied were Nusra and al-Qaeda, and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world,” Mr Biden said.
“We could not convince our colleagues to stop supplying them.” Mr Biden’s remarks came during unscripted answers to students’ questions. President Erdogan demanded an apology, and the White House confirmed on Saturday night that Mr Biden had complied, making a telephone call to the Turkish leader. However, the fallout continued yesterday as the UAE condemned the comments as being “far from the truth”.
Jordan traps 4,000 refugees in desert Jordan
Sara Elizabeth Williams
The slice of no man’s land separating war-torn Syria from the comparative stability of Jordan has, for more than two years, been a thoroughfare for refugees. More than a million people have staggered out of Syria and over an earthen berm into Jordan, clutching toddlers, suitcases and whatever documents they could carry. Last week, however, for the first time since this war began, they apparently stopped coming. An internal email from a leading humanitarian organisation reveals that, in the last five days of September, not a single refugee was admitted into Jordan. The email, seen by The Times, noted that during this time about 4,000 Syrians became trapped in the no man’s land between the two countries; unwilling to return to the war they fled and unable to reach the sanctuary they sought. Most are women, children and the elderly; the typical refugee demographic. It is not known what supplies they have, nor how they are coping, unsheltered, in the heat of the desert by
day and the increasingly chilly nights. Between 500 and 750 displaced Syrians are arriving at the border each day, the email noted, with nowhere to go. The Jordanian government has denied closing its border. “Jordan maintains an open border policy. Injured people, women, children and others are allowed in. Sometimes due to security situations delays happen but this is left to the judgment of border guards on the ground,” Mohammad al-Momani, the minister of information, said. Jordan has long advocated a political solution to the Syrian crisis, and has balanced humanitarian obligations with its own security priorities. This has meant maintaining diplomatic relations with Damascus at the same time as it quietly works with the Free Syrian Army rebels along the border to facilitate the crossing over of well over a million refugees. “We didn’t ask for this war but we’re stuck with it,” Mr al-Momani said. “We are bearing the consequences of this conflict. You can’t just change neighbours.” Jordan’s border is tightly managed by thousands of border guards, a network
of cameras, an air force that is quick to scramble and, reportedly, drones. The kingdom’s well-known rules of engagement call for warning shots to be fired above any intruders and, if those intruders do not stop, they are eliminated. Petra, Jordan’s state news agency, has reported that an increase in the number of attempted infiltrations was a compelling reason for the country to take part in US-led airstrikes on Isis, but insiders said that few of those attempts had succeeded. Mr al-Momani called the border “one of the best-protected in the world”. Every move is choreographed. Syrian refugees typically enter Jordan through any of 45 unofficial crossing points, where Jordanian troops reportedly liaise with rebels on the other side by satellite phone, confirming who is crossing and when. Refugees and aid workers say that Jordanian security services are present throughout the process, underscoring Jordan’s commitment to security. With Jordan’s two big Syrian refugee camps running well below capacity, the country has space for more. Whether it has the appetite is another matter.
Parwer Mohammed Ali, a translator with the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, in Kobani, said. Idris Nassan, a Kobani resident, said: “We are grateful for the airstrikes, but they are not enough. We need strong forces on the ground to finish Islamic State. “We have been sending requests for military assistance for months, because we are fighting this battle for the whole world. But we have received nothing.” Several thousand people have travelled to the border to watch the events unfolding in Kobani. Some are refugees who fled from the Isis advance on the town. During the day they can see smoke billowing over their neighbourhoods; by night red tracer bullets draw wide arcs across the sky, and flashes of tank fire light up the horizon. Many of the men are in tears as they watch their homes and businesses burn. Alongside them are members of Turkey’s Kurdish community who have travelled from across the country’s southeastern region to show solidarity. They are angry at their government for failing to help, and many have volunteered to fight with the YPG. “We can see the suffering of the people in Kobani, and we have to help them,” Kessam, a middle-aged Kurd from Sirnak, said. “We believe Islamic State is supported by the Turkish government. We don’t think the army will fight them.” As the fighting intensified on Saturday morning, large groups of young men began gathering 50 metres from the border, ready to sprint towards the barbed-wire fence and evade Turkish forces to enter the besieged town. “Fifty people have managed to get into Kobani today,” said a man in his early twenties, as he co-ordinated the illegal border-jumping operation. Some were well below fighting age. Murat said he was 17 but looked several years younger; a tough, chain-smoking teenager in shabby clothes who was taken to Turkey two weeks ago after being shot by a sniper. His left arm was still heavily bandaged, but he was adamant that he wanted to rejoin the fight. He and three young friends were the bravest of the bunch. They bolted towards the fence in full view of an armoured police vehicle 20 metres away, retreating as it sounded its horn, and then trying again minutes later. Just after 1pm a cheer went up: the YPG had scored a rare success, with one of their rockets landing directly on the Isis position to the east of the town. There was still no sign of Turkish intervention, although by dawn yesterday security at the border was tightened. The patch of farmland where hundreds of people had gathered in the previous two days was sealed off. All the while Islamic State was drawing closer to Kobani, its message of terror underlined by a picture posted on Twitter of an Isis fighter somewhere in Syria holding up the severed head of a woman: a shockingly repugnant image even by their brutal standards.
Leading article, page 20 Letters, page 21
Aecio Neves, the Social Democratic
Challenge
Brazil
James Hider Sao Paulo
The most dramatic Brazilian election in a generation was heading for another twist yesterday as Marina Silva, the radical environmentalist pushed to pole position by the death of her running-mate, appeared to have slipped to third place at the last minute. President Rousseff was in the lead with 44 per cent, according to opinion polls. As Brazilians voted yesterday, Ms Silva, 56, who began life as an illiterate rubber-tapper’s daughter in the Amazon and who would be the country’s first black president, was trailing in opinion polls to Aecio Neves, the Social Democrat candidate she had eclipsed a month ago. Ms Silva, an evangelical Christian who was once a close ally of Chico Mendes, the murdered Amazon conservationist, had slipped to 24 per cent
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Tehran’s young elite flaunt their wealth Page 25
PEDRO VILELA / REUTERS
Woman digs up her father in search of his will Page 26
Oktoberfest drinkers lose more than their balance Germany
David Crossland Berlin
Millions of beer drinkers managed to find their way home from Oktoberfest in Munich yesterday, even if they couldn’t find everything else. By the end of the annual festival yesterday, the lost property office had recorded 3,646 items, including 900 identity cards and passports, 770 items of clothing, 530 purses and wallets, 330 phones, two wedding rings, one empty cat carrier, an iron ball and chain and one set of false teeth. In the past, dentures were regularly handed in to the office, because their owners had lost them while chewing bratwurst, and were often too drunk to notice, staff said. However, the number had fallen in recent years — possibly because of improvements in adhesive technology. The head of the lost property office said that a pensioner once tried several sets of dentures after the festival, before finally accepting that his missing set was not among them. The office, he added, had a regular customer: the director of a lost property office in Dortmund who had left his jacket at the Oktoberfest for three years in a row. The festival, which is the world’s bigPep Guardiola, the Bayern Munich manager, drinks up
candidate, with supporters in Belo Horizonte yesterday. He will face President Rousseff in a second round on October 26. One Neves voter said: “He can bring change”
fails from nun who sought to run Brazil in a Datafolha poll released just before the vote, falling behind the centre-right Mr Neves, who had 26 per cent. President Rousseff had surged to 44 per cent. While none of the candidates appeared likely to win the 50 per cent needed to avoid a run-off on October 26, the polls predicted a stunning setback for Ms Silva. She had been leading Mrs Rousseff in opinion surveys in the days after Eduardo Campos, her Socialist party running-mate, was killed on August 13 in a plane crash while campaigning. Her swift rise upended what had been seen as a relatively easy win for Mrs Rousseff, who was forced to run a largely negative campaign while fending off accusations of corruption in her party and defending an economy that is stagnating for the first time in a decade. With the president receiving far more television time and having a powerful party machine behind her, Ms Silva had pinned her hopes on the election run-off, when air time is
Slum vote directed by touts Analysis James Hider
T
he pavement outside the Sao Paulo favela voting centre was strewn with cards from all parties telling people how to vote yesterday, despite a law preventing any canvassing at polling stations. Burly party touts handed them out to harassed mothers
carrying babies, obliged by law to cast a ballot. Tatiana Santos de Miranda was one of those young mothers, juggling a sleeping baby in her arms with the card she had just been given. Asked who she had voted for, she had to consult the card to check. Occasionally the two police officers on duty would step outside the primary school where voting was underway in Vila Nova de Jaguare slum, and the touts would hide their cards in their pockets and wait for them to go.
All the parties were represented in the litter of cards that covered the pavement: the man handing out the cards for President Rousseff ’s party said he worked for the local mayor’s office. “Brazilians have a value today for one day only,” said Arlindo da Silva, a furniture maker disillusioned with the whole political process. “Today there are police on the streets, tomorrow there won’t be any. We are only voting because we have to.”
distributed equally between the two finalists. That hope seemed to be on the brink of collapse yesterday as Mr Neves enjoyed a final surge in the polls. “I’m voting for Aecio Neves, because he can bring about change,” said Paula de Freitas, 47, an economist voting at a school in the wealthy district of Morumbi, in the west of Sao Paulo. “Not that he can bring miracles, but there has to be some change.” Lorenza Miguita, 62, said that crime levels and allegations of corruption were so bad that she wanted to leave Brazil. “It will never change, not for 100 years,” said Ms Miguita, who was also voting for Mr Neves, 54, a former governor of Minas Gerais, a wealthy mining and farming state. Whoever faces off against Mrs Rousseff, a former Marxist guerrilla who was tortured by the military dictatorship in her youth, they will face a tough battle, as both Ms Silva and Mr Neves lag five points behind in second-round polls.
gest, attracted 6.3 million people this year, and dates to the wedding in 1810 of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The public festivities went on for five days and proved so popular that they have been re-enacted ever since, except in war time and during two cholera epidemics. The festival is a celebration of culture in this Alpine state of baroque towns and fairytale castles, home to half of Germany’s 1,350 breweries. This year it coincided with renewed calls for independence, a notion that Angela Merkel’s spokesman described as “absurd”. Even the Christian Social Union party, which has ruled Bavaria since 1957, rejects the idea, although few doubt that the state of 12 million people — one of the richest of Germany’s 16 states, which often tops national rankings in terms of education, crime fighting and quality of life — could go it alone. Beer served in the 14 tents, the largest of which held up to 10,000 people, was specially brewed for the occasion and was stronger than ordinary lager, which took many visitors by surprise. This year, they drank 6.5 million litres in two weeks and ate 112 oxen, 48 calves and more sausage than the city’s authorities could count. Security guards manning the tent doors seized 112,000 beer glasses that visitors attempted to smuggle out as free souvenirs — a 38 per cent rise on last year — but police said the number of brawls fell sharply, to a mere 36.
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Feuding protesters give some ground as deadline looms Hong Kong
Leo Lewis
Roar emotion An adult male tries to give this cub a fright after its games interrupted an afternoon nap in the Maasai Mara
Monday October 6 2014 | the times
Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrators spent last night fortifying barricades and bracing themselves for a final stand, amid fears that police will try to clear the streets today. The sense of apprehension, fuelled by fatigue, and disagreement among the protesters, has grown after a series of ominous government statements at the weekend. The chief executive of Hong Kong, Leung Chun-ying, appeared to set a deadline at some time before the start of the workday today for the roads to be returned to normal, and the demonstrations to be squeezed into a much smaller area. It appeared yesterday that some protesters were prepared to yield ground, particularly in the densely packed Mong Kok commercial district, where resistance to their demands has been spearheaded by gangs of hired thugs. However, leaders squabbled over whether to give up ground they have held for days, and some decided to hold their positions. The city’s leadership warned that the situation could turn into “a state beyond control” if the action was prolonged. In what appeared to be a strategically placed interview with local media, the police officer who gave the order to use tear gas last weekend said that he had “no regrets”, and would do the same again if he faced “a serious threat to public safety”. The vice chancellors of Hong Kong’s eight universities issued statements on Saturday recommending that students leave the protests for their own safety; comments echoed by a prominent Buddhist organisation and the city’s Catholic leader, Cardinal Joseph Zen. For many students — and especially for the parents of schoolchildren who have joined the throng in recent days — the high level from which those warnings emanated was enough. “These are people who are connected to the government, so they will know what is
being planned,” said a college teacher. “That has scared a lot of the protesters.” The main demands — that Mr Leung stand down, and that Hong Kong be allowed free elections with no interference from Beijing — have not changed, but leaders are believed to have resumed tentative negotiations with the government. The unrest was triggered by an announcement in Beijing that it would vet all candidates for an election in 2017. Preparations last night for a possible confrontation became more frenetic as the crowd’s numbers dwindled, with many leaving to catch the last train home. Leaders gathered at the barricades on the two highways that have
A protester uses a loudhailer to get his message across in central Hong Kong
been occupied for more than a week, creating a protest area one kilometre in length through some of the most expensive office properties on the planet. “These are the front line, the line we will protect if it comes to it,” said Danny, a student from the University of Hong Kong, as he strapped wooden planks to the metal barriers. “Of course, our resistance will be peaceful. We don’t want to fight, but we know we could be hurt.” Police sources said that there was a balancing act between those eager to prolong the protests and local business owners keen for the city to be returned to normal. Many objections to the protests come from parents of children whose schools have been closed for a week.
Bored monks drew the first ‘smileys’ to get ink flowing Netherlands
David Crossland Berlin
The smiley face goes back a millennium, according to a Dutch historian who has delved deep into ancient doodles. To alleviate boredom and get their nibs working, medieval scribes drew them in the margins of books they were copying, along with a host of scribbles and drawings such as stick men. Erik Kwakkel, a historian at Leiden University, said the scribbles were “the closest we can get to the users of these books and their lives”. There were two types of doodle: idle scribbling and pen tests. Scribes had little choice but to use the margins of books because parchment and paper were so expensive. Legal manuscripts were often enlivened by smiley faces, and pen tests could take the form of eleaborate doodles but sometimes were simple phrases, such as “probatio
pennae” (I test my pen). Dr Kwakkel said they were accidental signatures, reflecting not only the scribes’ state of mind but also their movement around Europe, and the life of writing rooms. “In general there is hardly any book that doesn’t have at least one addition to the text. Some books have lots from different scribes, opening a window on the scriptorium [writing room].” Dr Krakkel studied copiers who moved from the Netherlands to Kent and adapted their handwriting. “But when you look at their pen trials, they switch back,” he said. Doodles, he said, turned manuscripts into “living organisms we can use and learn so much from”. He is well-known in the Netherlands after he found a rare medieval bookmark, which dates from the 13th century and has a clear thumbprint on it. It had been lost for at least a century inside the pages of a manuscript at the university.
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Brussels squabble puts British post in doubt European Union
Charles Bremner
Brussels chiefs may be forced to go back to square one as point-scoring among rival MEPs threatens to derail the appointment of new commissioners. Five nominees, including Lord Hill of Oareford, are being delayed by the big centre-left and centre-right political groups in the European parliament. Jean-Claude Juncker, the presidentelect of the European Commission, spent the weekend trying to settle the stand-off. The European parliament must vote later this month to endorse
the 27-member team that he is to lead from November 1. The feuding has embarrassed both the parliament and Mr Juncker: he was anointed by EU leaders in July thanks in large part because he was nominated by MEPs under a controversial procedure contested by David Cameron. The dominant centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) has witheld approval of Pierre Moscovici, the Socialist former finance minister of France. They acted mainly in retaliation for a rough ride that Socialists and Greens gave the previous day to Miguel Arias Cañete, Spain’s nominated com-
missioner for energy and climate change. Mr Cañete was contested on the ground of conflict of interest involving his past shareholding in oil companies. The parliament is awaiting a legal opinion before deciding on his case. Mr Moscovici, designated to head the powerful economics portfolio, was challenged largely by German conservatives on the ground that as President Hollande’s finance minister he was responsible for France’s breach of eurozone fiscal rules. His main task at the commission would be to enforce those rules. Mr Moscovici, who gave a tech-
nically strong performance, must answer further written questions to satisfy MEPs. The same committee declined to approve Lord Hill, a Tory, as the commissioner for financial services. His party is outside both big European groups and he alone is to be subjected to the indignity of a second hearing, tomorrow, as well as a second written questionnaire. Despite his success in charming the committee with his diffident, English style, the former leader of the House of Lords suffered from Britain’s position outside the euro, suspicion on the con-
tinent of the City finance industry which he is to police, his background as a lobbyist and a poor grasp of the detail of EU economic and financial policy. Mr Juncker might be asked to reshuffle the portfolios of the more controversial nominees or their home governments could be asked to replace them. Further delays could also mean an extension of the life of the outgoing commission of José Manuel Barroso. However, support for Mr Juncker in the parliament makes it more likely that the stand-off will be resolved peacefully after more grandstanding by MEPs, commission officials have said.
Sarkozy return stymied after aide is charged
Anger at poor little rich kids of Tehran
France
Charles Bremner Paris
A
Nicolas Sarkozy’s hopes of a return to frontline French politics have collapsed in the face of rivalry within his party and corruption charges against one of his lieutenants relating to the accounts of his 2012 re-election campaign. The arrest on Saturday of Eric Cesari, who was known as “Sarkozy’s eyes and ears” in the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), his centre-right party, was a blow to the former president’s claims to know nothing about €18 million of alleged over-spending. Despite four criminal investigations into his actions, Mr Sarkozy cast himself as a saviour who could galvanise an opposition that has failed to exploit the weakness of an unpopular socialist administration held responsible for the country’s economic distress. In rallies and interviews, “Super Sarko” has outlined plans to deregulate
new Instagram account showcasing the lifestyles of wealthy young Iranians has provoked both amusement and anger in Tehran, lifting the lid on a rarely seen side of the Islamic Republic (writes Hugh Tomlinson). With its parade of women sporting identical nose jobs and men in European supercars, “Rich Kids of Tehran” has attracted more than 20,000 followers in a month. The unabashed celebration of life among
Nicolas Sarkozy: struggling to maintain credibility
Aware of criticism, the account managers of Rich Kids of Tehran brazenly told critics: “Every country has the wealthy and the poor”
Iran’s nouveau riche, many of them children of the country’s ruling elite, is a world away from the common view of Iran. While the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, took a swipe at the perfidy of Israel and America this weekend, the rich kids of Tehran spent their time by the pool or at the usual house parties where contraband whisky and vodka flow freely. The photos have attracted plenty of compliments but the ostentatious displays of wealth have also caused
resentment. Despite rallying in recent months, Iran’s economy remains constrained by sanctions imposed to curb the country’s disputed nuclear programme. Beyond the neighbourhoods of north Tehran, unemployment is soaring — as high as 50 per cent among women. Aware of the criticism the account has attracted, the managers issued a suitably brazen response at the weekend. “Every country of the world has the wealthy and
the poor. I know it can be emotionally draining for some people that might not have such lives as the pictures we portray but you don’t need to follow us.” they said. Despite Iran’s austere image, sex,
drugs and alcohol are freely available to the youth of Tehran. Fearful of the authorities, however, most tread carefully. Last month, six Iranians were sentenced to 91 lashes for posting an online video of themselves dancing to Pharrell Williams’ hit song Happy. With hardliners launching a crackdown on civil society, there is irritation that the elite can party with impunity. “Everyone knows these guys. Most of them have fathers who are
untouchable. If they get in trouble it will disappear. Others are not so lucky,” said Sara, a young IT consultant in Tehran. As Rich Kids of Tehran makes clear, the Islamic Republic is one of the strongest markets in the Middle East for sports cars. When Porsche unveiled a limited edition model of its classic 911 sports car in 2012, two companies linked to the Revolutionary Guard requested 1,400 vehicles to meet the huge demand. Since only 1,911 were being made, Porsche declined.
Woman jailed for watching men goes on hunger strike Iran
Hugh Tomlinson
A British-Iranian woman held for more than three months in a Tehran jail after attempting to watch a men’s volleyball match has gone on hunger strike to protest against her treatment by the regime. Ghoncheh Ghavami, 25, has spent 100 days in Tehran’s notorious Evin
Prison and faces charges of spreading “propaganda against the regime”. She launched her hunger strike last week after being denied visits from her family, her mother said in a statement yesterday. After being granted the first visit with her daughter in almost three weeks, Soosan Moshtaghian said she would launch a hunger strike in solidarity with Ms Ghavami. “Yesterday I finally saw
Ghoncheh. She told me she has been on hunger strike since Wednesday. “She said [she] is fed up with not knowing what’s happening for 100 days now . . . She was banned from visits for 19 days for no good reason,” Ms Moshtaghian said. “My lips will not touch food either until Ghoncheh stops her hunger strike. May God be my witness, I kept silent for 82 days so that my innocent
girl returned home. She didn’t, and now her life and wellbeing is in danger. I will not be silent any more. God please end this nightmare.” Ms Ghavami was arrested in June during a peaceful protest as she and several other women tried to enter a Tehran stadium to watch the Iranian national volleyball team, defying a national ban on female spectators at male sports events.
France, raising the retirement age and ending the privileges of the vast civil service. However, he has faced stronger-than-expected opposition from Alain Juppé, his main party rival, and insubordination from youngsters in the UMP who say that he is a tainted has-been. While polls show that Mr Sarkozy enjoys the support of 51 per cent of UMP voters, French voters back Mr Juppé by 43 per cent to 28 per cent. Mr Sarkozy is struggling to maintain his credibility after he declared on television that he had never heard of Bygmalion, the events-organising company that is alleged to have masked the UMP’s alleged breach of presidential campaign spending limits. “I have not betrayed you. I did not lie to you,” Mr Sarkozy told supporters at a rally on Thursday. However, the arrest of his UMP lieutenant, who along with Bygmalion executives faces false accounting charges, has weakened his denials. On Friday François Fillon, Mr Sarkozy’s former prime minister and a rival for the party leadership, said: “Everyone knew of the existence of this company.” Libération, the left-wing newspaper, said: “Almost nothing remains of the script for reconquest written in the summer by Nicolas Sarkozy.” L’Est Rébublicain said that Mr Sarkozy had been defeated like Napoleon in his doomed 1812 campaign against Russia.
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FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
MARK PETERSON / REDUX
LOS A N G E L E S
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eneral Dogon, a social activist who walks the mean streets of downtown Los Angeles, stops in front of a new arrival to his neighbourhood: a grooming salon for dogs. “Pussy & Pooch,” he grimaces, reading the sign. “You got one of those in your community, you know you been gentrified.” Close by, a swanky off-licence sells hundreds of brands of craft beer, and an estate agent offers a three-bed apartment for $4 million (£2.5 million). A placard says that you are standing on “Gallery Row”. It’s a deft piece of rebranding.
Until recently, this area was abandoned to the city’s destitute, and, strictly speaking, it is still part of what experts say is the last true Skid Row in America. The name is a legacy of the logging industry of the Pacific northwest. The first skid rows were places where lumber was hauled, and, over the years, the term was attached to the most desperate parts of several cities. A brisk, five-minute walk east from Pussy & Pooch, the lost souls of Los Angeles — perhaps 2,000 people — still sleep rough. Tents made from shopping trolleys and tarpaulin line the pavements, and dozens of disabled men and women sit around in wheelchairs. As evening approaches, the crowds outside the Christian missions that offer food and shelter evoke images of third-world refugee camps. It would be easy to see this and to despair, but Kevin Key, an organiser for a local NGO, believes that this Skid Row is as much a ladder as a pit. Drugs are everywhere, he says,
Woman dug up dead father to find will United States
Gentrification is depriving homeless people in California of the one thing they can call their own — Skid Row
Rhys Blakely
Monday October 6 2014 | the times
Will Pavia New York
Skid Row, Los Angeles, long a magnet for the city’s homeless, is experiencing a slow reinvention, with three-bed apartments selling for as much as £2.5 million
but if you decide to get clean, you can find counselling and cheap housing here. The hungry are fed. As a former crack addict, he says he speaks from experience. LA’s Skid Row is the last of its kind, and it is shrinking. Across America, cities are growing faster than suburbs, for the first time in generations. What were once no-go urban zones are being reclaimed by the wealthy. In LA the past is being erased: the district’s fire engines no longer have “Skid Row” written on them, and the term is disappearing from maps as decrepit flophouses become expensive loft apartments. For veterans such as Mr Dogon, gentrification feels like betrayal. In the 1970s a deal was struck between city politicians, business leaders
and the churches to create a “containment zone” that would concentrate the poor in this area. In the 1980s manufacturing industries collapsed and an epidemic of crack cocaine took hold of LA. The Skid Row population boomed, but few public resources were ever supplied, says Gary Blasi, an authority on homelessness at the University of California, Los Angeles. Now, after years of neglect, it seems to Mr Dogon that the city’s elite would like to wipe out Skid Row. “They created it to hide the people they didn’t want to see,” he says. “And now they’ve decided they want the land back.” He gestures towards Pussy & Pooch. “When it treats dogs better than people, a society’s got problems.”
A woman accused of ransacking her father’s grave in search of his last will told police she felt certain that her father “would be OK with it”. Melanie Nash, 52, from Colebrook, a small town in New Hampshire, faces multiple charges after the concrete vault in which her father, Eddie, had been laid to rest in 2004 was found cracked open earlier this year. His metal casket had been removed and someone appeared to have “disturbed” the body of Mr Nash, police said. Chief Stephen Cass, of the Colebrook Town police department, said Ms Nash had surrendered to police in June and was later charged, along with three others, with breaking into the grave. “The main reason for digging up Mr Nash was that Melanie was looking for the ‘real will’ ,” Mr Cass said. “She feels that she was left out of the will. I don’t have an idea if there ever was a will; I don’t believe there was one.” Ms Nash gave a written statement to police saying that she and the others had dug up the coffin “with respect”, but had apparently found only a packet of cigarettes clasped in her late father’s hand. Her lawyer, William Albrecht, has filed a motion arguing that such statements were made before she was advised of her Miranda rights, and must therefore be excluded from the case.
the times | Monday October 6 2014
A bargain buy for Aldi boss
Company gives him £1.9m home loan
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They think it’s oil over
Is British best all over again?
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Pages 34, 35
Apache expected to quit North Sea
Business
Why offshoring is out of date
BRIAN LAWRENCE / GETTY IMAGES
Mental block will lead us all to gridlock business commentary Robert Lea at the Paris Motor Show
U
rban mobility has become a cliché even before it has become reality. Not a readily understood concept, urban mobility means that if you live in a city, you should leave your car at home. Or not have one at all. Instead, whizz around on an e-scooter, invest in a single-seater electric vehicle, car share in a four-seater plug-in hybrid. Your mayor will regulate the traffic and install the infrastructure. Happy days. None of this appears to be happening, but that has not stopped car executives at the Paris motor show, stuck in first gear, droning on about it as their main priority. These are the same executives who look longingly at the industry statistics — and the potential value of their stock options. The economists reckon global car sales will race up to 110 million vehicles by 2020, from 85 million in 2013. That translates as an extra $1 trillion of annual sales, from $2 trillion to $3 trillion. What really drives home the impact of these car industry spiels on urban mobility in a place such as Paris is that they have been delivered by executives who have been delayed for an hour, sitting in their 4x4 or stretch executive saloon in the Parisian gridlock. Seeing the wood for the trees? These folk can’t see the road for the vehicles.
Collision course
I
f anyone is allowed to do a U-turn, it’s a car company at a motor show. So it was that Vauxhall admitted that, contrary to previous boasts, it did not expect to be overtaking its long-time rival Ford in the battle for British market leadership. But here’s the postscript: don’t be fooled. Britain is a top-five market for both companies. Market share, per se, is not the goal, both say. Rather, they want and need sustainable profitability. Having lost hundreds of millions of euros in Europe in recent years, they could do with getting on with it. Yet chief executive careers are made or broken by sales success: you’re made if you gain the No 1 spot, broken if you lose it. Ask Phil Clarke at Tesco. Ford, as it happens, privately refuses to be taken in by Vauxhall’s white flag. Vauxhall is beating itself up as to what its brand actually means. It wants to be seen as a carmaker of premium quality, with vehicles available at a value proposition. Which looks like a lot of corporate navel-gazing. Vauxhall still accounts for one in nine cars sold in Britain
and, with Ford, has 25 per cent of the market. When it revives the Viva brand next summer as a £7,000 entry-level small hatch, Vauxhall, with the bestselling upgraded Corsa and the snazzy Adam, will have three vehicles in the all-important small car market. Ford has the phenomenally successful Fiesta and an ageing Ka. Ford will not give up its 38 years of market leadership lightly, which ultimately translates as good news for the car-buying public used to bargains from the No 1. Yet do expect Vauxhall, now that it has managed expectations down, to give Ford a proper run for its money.
Scorn in the USA
E
ngland and America are two nations long divided by a common language. While we here and indeed in the much of the rest of the world are regulating our polluting car manufacturers by the (incomprehensible) amount of carbon dioxide their vehicles emit by kilometre travelled, American legislation measures pollution by how many miles their motors take to guzzle a gallon. Led by the Japanese, the rest of the world is embracing — admittedly costly — hybrid, pure electric and now hydrogen fuel cell technology. The Yanks’ response? “Hell, we will only build cars that our customers want and can afford.” It is no coincidence that Japan remains a resource-poor economy in fuel terms while the United States, via shale developments, is bang in the middle of its new energy Klondike.
Going it alone
J
ohn Redwood, of course, speaks in Vulcan and so gets away with his tosh demanding that business stay out of the debate on membership of the European Union. After the Scottish referendum debacle when big institutions — and especially some twerpish retailers such as John Lewis and Tesco — threatened price rises and indulged in general calumny, big business appears to have signed a self-denying ordinance on Europe. In Paris, car bosses simply are refusing to talk about the effect of a possible UK withdrawal from the EU. Have a beer with them, though, and they will tell you straight: why would they invest in a country with the slightest hint of a trade barrier that has annual car sales of 2.5 million, when across la Manche there’s a market that will be 20 million-strong in the next decade. robert.lea@thetimes.co.uk
Park life comes at a price you can afford
H
ouse prices in Snowdonia are the cheapest of all the
national parks in England and Wales (Danielle Sheridan writes). Despite its mountains and beguiling stretches of coast that draw thousands of visitors every year, Snowdonia commanded the smallest premium for buying homes, with properties priced only
5 per cent higher than the average home in the surrounding area, according to Lloyds’ research. Buyers in national parks typically pay more than £125,000 extra for a home, but this corner of North Wales proved to be the only national park with an
average price below £200,000 — at £173,779. Homes in the New Forest, Hampshire, were found to be the least affordable in the national parks, commanding the highest price premium, with an average price starting at more than £500,000.
Thousands of jobs to go in Lloyds revamp Harry Wilson
Lloyds Banking Group will cut thousands of staff and close more branches as Britain’s largest retail lender embraces a “digitisation” strategy and automates its entire business. Jobs are expected to go in areas such as mortgage processing and new account opening as work completed manually at the moment is computerised to reduce costs and improve customer service. The digital strategy will form the centrepiece of a three-year plan to be unveiled alongside the bank’s thirdquarter financial results on October 28. According to City sources, António Horta-Osório, the chief executive of Lloyds, believes that complete automation of the bank is essential to modernise the business and ensure that it retains a cost advantage over rivals such as Barclays and Santander UK. A digital division was established by the bank last year to prepare for the overhaul, which is expected to cost several billions of pounds over the next couple of years as it invests in new computer systems. Thousands of Lloyds workers will
lose their jobs, although the cuts are not expected to be on the same scale as those that hit the bank in the aftermath of the financial crisis, which led to more than 30,000 redundancies. Call centres are likely to suffer significant redundancies as customers switch from using telephone services to dealing with their banks largely through smartphone apps and websites. There will also be more branch closures, but, according to investor briefings, the bank thinks that its market share of British branches will grow as other lenders shut even greater numbers of high street sites. A report last month from Deutsche Bank pointed out that the number of customer visits to branches was falling by 10 per cent every year and that the country’s largest banks could more than halve the size of their networks and still provide nationwide coverage. As well as the focus on cutting costs, Lloyds is likely to emphasise the growth of product lines such as consumer finance, in particular car loans, and a significant expansion of its credit card business, which it believes are underrepresented. Final details of the strategy and its
costing are still being debated and will be crystallised in the next two weeks, before the bank’s investor day at the end of this month. Analysts believe that Lloyds’ thirdquarter results could mark a post-crisis record. Ian Gordon, at Investec Securities, said that he was forecasting an underlying profit before tax for the last three months of £2.2 billion. Announcing the plans will mark the second phase of Mr Horta-Osório’s overhaul of Lloyds since he took over as chief executive in 2011. In August, the Lloyds boss said that the bank had achieved the aims of his initial threeyear plan ahead of schedule and that work had begun on a new strategy. Mr Horta-Osório has committed himself to another three years at the bank, where he is credited with a turnaround in which the share price has more than doubled and the taxpayer’s stake has been cut from 49 per cent to just under 25 per cent. Although thousands will lose their jobs, Lloyds will also be hiring to build up its digital services and some staff might be able to transfer to the new operations. Lloyds declined to comment.
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
Business
Need to know Your 5-minute digest The week ahead today After winning approval from the European Commission last month, removing the threat of competition concerns, shareholders in BSkyB will meet today to vote on the company’s proposed acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s 100 per cent stake in the Italian pay-TV provider Sky Italia and its 57.4 per cent interest in the German pay-TV company Sky Deutschland in a deal valued at nearly $9.3 billion. Shareholders in Fresnillo, the precious metals miner, will meet today. They are due to vote on the company’s proposed acquisition of Newmont Mining Corp’s 44 per cent stake in its Mexican Penmont joint venture for $450 million. This deal would give Fresnillo, the world’s largest primary silver producer and Mexico’s second largest goldminer, an even bigger presence in Mexico’s goldmining industry. Interims Bankers Petroleum Finals Waterman Group; Proactis Holdings AGM/EGM British Sky Broadcasting Group; Fresnillo
tomorrow Industrial production figures for August will be released this morning. Analysts at HSBC expect that, after two months of solid growth, manufacturing output will be flat. Globally, manufacturing activity appears to be slowing and the output component of the UK PMI fell fairly sharply in August (although it remained over 50, signifying growth). They expect total industrial production to fall, reflecting a decline in both electricity output and North Sea oil and gas extraction. Interims Next Fifteen Communications; Robert Walters AGM/EGM Matomy Media Group Economics UK: industrial production (Aug); UK: manufacturing production (Aug); UK: Bank of England credit conditions survey (Q3)
wednesday The Aberdeen-based FirstGroup, with transport operations in Britain and North America, publishes its pre-close trading update. The company won the contract to provide transport services for the recent 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles. It was announced last month that John McFarlane would be stepping down as FirstGroup’s chairman at its annual meeting next July to become the chairman at Barclays. A successor has yet to be announced. Miserable weather in August, notably the bank holiday washout, will not have helped fourth-quarter trading
If you want the truth, spell it out Gary Parkinson Trade Secrets
D
oug Ware has got the hump. Doug’s the chief executive of a little company you probably haven’t heard of: Worthington Group. Just lately, Worthington’s been on a tear. Since a year-long suspension on trading its shares was lifted at the end of August, they’ve roared from 3¼p to 198½p, before rattling back again to a mere 130p on Friday. Back-of-the-beer-mat maths and that still looks like a rise of more than 3,600 per cent in barely a month. Three thousand. Six hundred. Per cent. Over the same period, the FTSE All-Share index has roared 4 per cent. Lower. The “British investment company that celebrates its 60th anniversary as a London Stock Exchange main market listed company this year” has pumped out news of fresh investments, investments guaranteed to set the sort of bug-eyed private investor who trawls micro-caps for the next ten-bagger foaming at the mouth — rare earth minerals, digital media and Nigerian oil. Rare earths are 17 chemical elements that you won’t have heard of, either. From scandium to promethium, samarium to ytterbium, europium to terbium, London Palladium to Ibrox Stadium. Okay, the last couple aren’t rare earths, but those that are turn up in any manner of clever kit. Wind turbines, hybrid vehicles, laptops, mobile phones, plasma tellies. Demand’s going nowhere but up. Roughly 95 per cent of rare earth supply is controlled by China. Find them elsewhere, it’s off to the races. Worthington, back from suspension for a day, backed something called Greenland
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The week’s biggest movers Company easyJet Lifts profit forecasts AB Foods Positive broker comment Compass Group A reassuring update TUI Travel Trading update Royal Bank of Scotland Doing well Anglo American China worries Tullow Oil Cheaper oil Wm Morrison Supermarkets friendless J Sainsbury Dividend policy review Tesco A litany of woes
Rare Earth Projects, working in Paatasuq in Greenland. Even as private punters waded in, a fair few old pros were suspicious. They Googled “Paatasuq”, came up blank. By the time Worthington had updated the City three weeks later, sending its shares to a 6,000 per cent premium to their price a month earlier, it had learnt how to spell Paatusoq, where survey work had begun. “Photographs and reports from the field are now on the GREP website, www.greenlandraeearth.com,” it declared. Trouble is, they weren’t and the shares began a sharp pull back (the pix were found at www.greenlandrareearth.com). Aside from sloppy spelling, the market has been leery of
Change 4.7 % 3.1 % 2.3 % 1.3 % 1.1 % -6.7 % -7.6 % -7.8 % -9.1 % -10.2 %
Worthington for the speed its investments were made, its stratospheric price rise, its lack of a broker and board with only two directors. But mostly it’s distrustful of Worthington’s connection to Craig Whyte, the former owner of Rangers FC. In April last year, Worthington bought 26 per cent of Law Financial, one of Mr Whyte’s companies and the book and film rights to his takeover and subsequent financial collapse of the club. At that time, Mr Whyte held a 7.6 per cent stake in Worthington through Liberty Capital, his British Virgin Islands-registered firm. Worthington continues to pursue a claim through the courts on nearly £3 million that Rangers’ administrators
seized from Mr Whyte’s lawyers. Last week, Mr Whyte was banned from being a company director for 15 years. The 43-year-old was handed the biggest ban possible after a judge heard that his conduct in dealing with Rangers was “shocking and reprehensible”. On Friday, Worthington responded. Its investments aren’t made quickly, it said, but were carefully teed up while its shares were suspended (at its own request, while it sorted a pension problem). More are on the way. Expect its board to be bolstered any time now. Doug Ware is no longer on Law Financial’s board, a position he took only to oversee Worthington’s interests. Neither is Mr Whyte, who Mr Ware didn’t know previously and met for only a quarter of an hour. And Mr Whyte is no longer a Worthington shareholder. That’s that, then. Not quite. Liberty Capital, Mr Whyte’s vehicle, may no longer appear on Worthington’s share register, but Regenesis Holdings does. According to Bloomberg, it’s Worthington’s biggest backer, with 12.5 per cent. Regenesis’s majority shareholder is Wulstan Earley, brother of Aidan Earley, both business associates of Craig Whyte. At the end of last week, Worthington’s chief executive warned that he’s called in lawyers to go after the “worst offenders” posting unsavoury stuff about his company in the chatrooms of financial websites. Other bosses have tried the same thing, and failed. When it comes to silencing critics, transparency and engagement with the City work better. That, and accurate spelling.
What the papers said THE SUNDAY TIMES 6 Aston Martin: James Bond’s carmaker of choice, below, crashed to a £25 million loss last year, despite a surge in sales. 6 Supermarkets: Tesco is set for a boardroom clearout after a string of profit warnings and the discovery of a £250 million hole in its first-half accounts. 6 Steel: auditors at the Redcar steel plant warned of a “significant doubt” about its financial viability after accounts published for Sahaviriya Steel Industries UK, its Thai owner,
showed 2013 pre-tax losses of $309 million. 6 Interest rates: the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee is set to leave rates unchanged at 0.5 per cent this week, amid indications of a slowdown in economic growth. 6 Cinemas: Odeon may have to overhaul its debt pile, Standard & Poor’s has warned, after cutting its credit rating to CCC+. 6 Tunstall: Charterhouse Capital Partners has been forced to inject £20 million into the healthcare technology company.
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
MAIL ON SUNDAY
6 Pizzas: the Kaye family plan to reunite three Italian pizza chains — Prezzo, Ask and Zizzi — in a £500 million deal. 6 Cyber: the House of Commons Treasury select committee is examining the threat of cyber crime after JP Morgan’s admission last week that 76 million households and seven million businesses had their private information compromised in an online attack. 6 Jobs: latest figures for the banking sector show a small annual rise in high street banking jobs in 2013. 6 Films: Netflix is preparing its first original British television commission, an historical epic called The Crown, following the life of the Queen.
6 Baby: Marks & Spencer has launched a department for mothers called M&S Baby, due to begin trading this week across nine stores, as well as selling stock online. 6 Energy: Ovo Energy is to unveil a deal with Plymouth city council that could make local councils across the country energy suppliers. 6 Fashion: Hugo Boss wants to double its womenswear sales in the next three years to £500 million after recruiting Jason Wu, the fashion designer, to head the luxury brand last year. 6 BP: shrimps are thriving in the Gulf of Mexico despite the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, with researchers at George Mason University in Virginia finding stocks had returned to normal by 2012.
at Marston’s, while tough comparatives from this time last year also will have made life difficult for the brewer and pub operator. However, the fundamental growth story remains intact and like-for-like sales for the year as a whole should be comfortably ahead. Its strong portfolio of ales should stand it in good stead, as demand for real ale and craft beers continues to soar. Trading statement FirstGroup; Marston’s; Fidessa Economics US: Federal Reserve open market committee minutes (Sep 16-17 meeting)
Marston’s strong portfolio of ales should help the company
thursday The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee will announce its latest interest rate decision at midday. The MPC decided at its last meeting in September to maintain Bank Rate at the historic low of 0.5 per cent, unchanged since March 2009, and the size of its quantitative easing asset purchase programme at £375 billion. Minutes of the meeting showed that seven members of the committee voted to hold interest rates at their present level, while two members voted to raise them. Interims N Brown Trading statement Hays; Victrex; John Wood Group Economics UK: RICS house price balance (Sep); UK: BoE rate announcement and asset purchase target (Oct); EMU: ECB publishes monthly report
friday The boards of governors of both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group hold their annual meetings, to discuss the work of their respective organisations, in Washington. These meetings bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development and aid effectiveness. Trading statement XP Power Economics UK: construction output (Aug); UK: trade balance (Aug)
the times | Monday October 6 2014
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Watchdog: spill the beans on supermarket abuses Alex Ralph
The supermarkets watchdog has called on suppliers to raise complaints about potential breaches of the industry’s code of conduct. The Groceries Code Adjudicator is trying to reassure suppliers after a survey it commissioned found that less than 40 per cent of those polled would complain to it. Of those polled by YouGov, 58 per cent feared retribution from the big supermarkets and 41 per cent thought that the adjudicator “wouldn’t act”. The industry-funded watchdog has come under scrutiny in recent weeks in
The six-bed
the wake of the Tesco accounting scandal. Established in June 2013, it oversees the ten grocers with annual sales of more than £1 billion. Despite 80 per cent of suppliers saying that they had issues that could involve a breach of the code, it is yet to launch an investigation. It also delayed adjudicating on two requests for arbitration until the end of March because it had not published its arbitration policy. In its first year in operation, the adjudicator did clarify the code on two occasions after concerns were raised by suppliers and a trade body. One case regarded Tesco requesting payment from suppliers for better shelf
house bought by Roman Heini, below, using a £1.9m Aldi loan
No-frills Aldi chain gives boss £1.9m interest-free loan for country mansion Alex Ralph
It is the go-getting German discounter that tapped a credit crunch-inspired zeitgeist of austerity to challenge the old order among supermarkets. However, Aldi’s own brand of parsimony — of charging for shopping bags, refusing credit cards, self-packing away from tills and not providing lavatories — appears to be in stark contrast with its executive perks. The company has handed its comanaging director in Britain a £1.9 million interest-free relocation loan for a country home, which doubles the length of his commute to head office. The loan helped Roman Heini to buy a £1.7 million six-bedroom property in the Warwickshire countryside, southeast of Stratford-upon-Avon. His new home, with its long, lime-tree-lined drive, coach house marketed by Savills as “ideal for staff” and a terrace overlooking a paddock, is about an hour’s drive from Aldi’s head office, close to an industrial depot northeast of Birmingham. The property is near Ettington, birthplace of William Croft, the composer. Mr Heini, who was paid £1.3 million last year, sold his former home, about half an hour’s drive from Aldi’s head office, for £1.2 million just over a month after he bought his new house. The £1.9 million loan was buried on the last page of Aldi’s annual accounts, filed at Companies House
last week the day after the retailer had briefed media that its profits had risen by 65.2 per cent to £260.9 million. The loan echoes the £200,000 allowance given to Miles Roberts, the boss of DS Smith, Britain’s biggest cardboard box manufacturer, for a 27-mile office move when it relocated from Maidenhead to central London. Relocation benefits are more controversial at public companies, as investors may rebel against perks that potentially clash with corporate governance rules. Moya Greene, the chief executive of Royal Mail, handed back a £250,000 allowance given to her when she moved from Canada to London after Vince Cable, the business secretary, raised concerns. A spokesman for Aldi said that the loan had been used to “facilitate a home move that fitted business and personal requirements . . . Roman spends approximately half the week away from the head office, visiting Aldi operations round the UK. The loan has been repaid.” Aldi’s accounts also reveal that Mr Heini had a separate £169,722 loan outstanding at the end of 2013 with no set repayment date and with interest at 3.5 per cent. Matthew Barnes, his fellow UK managing director, has a £24,361 loan. The interest was reduced from 5.5 per cent in 2012 to 4 per cent last year.
positioning of their products. The adjudicator said this was “contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of the code”. Tesco was said to have told suppliers that the request had been an “error” and that it had reminded its buyers of the code. Tesco’s relationship with suppliers has come under the spotlight since it revealed an estimated £250 million shortfall in its interim profits forecast. The grocer’s preliminary investigation found it was bringing forward income from suppliers and deferring costs. The adjudicator has asked Tesco to examine its behaviour towards suppliers as part of the investigation Tesco
has commissioned from Deloitte and Freshfields, the law firm. Tesco intends to disclose findings from the investigation on October 23, when it announces its delayed interim results. In the meantime, it is said to be close to clearing out its boardroom with the appointment of new non-executive directors, including Patrick Kennedy, the outgoing boss of Paddy Power, the bookmaker. Mr Kennedy and Tesco declined to comment yesterday. Tesco was the most complained about supermarket, accounting for 12 per cent of issues raised in the adjudicator’s first year. Morrisons was joint top. Christine Tacon, who was appointed
adjudicator by Vince Cable, the business secretary, and is a former boss of the Co-operative Group’s farms business, has told suppliers: “Give me the tools and I can do the job. “The GCA needs to know of practices and issues which could be in breach of the code. Anyone can bring me information. Confidentiality will be protected.” One supplier told the adjudicator that the practice of supermarkets “disputing or delaying payment of genuine invoices for greater than 120 days and then looking to trade them away in year-end negotiations has become commonplace”.
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ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP / GETTY IMAGES
Apache prepares to ride away from its North Sea oilfields Alex Ralph
One of the biggest oil producers in the North Sea is considering selling its oilfields, raising fresh concerns about the future of a key British industry. If a deal is done, Apache, a Texan energy group, could leave Britain 11 years after it began to buy and reinvigorate mature North Sea assets. The move comes amid uncertainty surrounding the prospects of the offshore oil industry and before Westminster outlines greater tax and spend powers for Scotland. Estimates of the North Sea’s reserves, which became a key part of the Scottish independence debate, differ widely. Oil & Gas UK, the industry body, has forecast that between 15 billion and 24 billion barrels remain, while Sir Ian Wood, who undertook a report for the government on the future of North Sea oil, puts the number at between 15 billion and 16.5 billion. Apache, which is the North Sea’s third biggest producer after BP and Royal Dutch Shell, has come under pressure from Jana Partners, a hedge fund and activist investor, to concentrate on the more lucrative shale gas industry in the United States. Steve Farris, the chief executive of Apache, said: “Apache continues to evaluate the separation of its international business through capital markets or strategic transactions.” The oil group has sold $10 billion in assets in the past 12 months, including
operations in Argentina. Its international business owns assets in Egypt, where it is the biggest oil producer, and gas operations in Australia. Goldman Sachs has been hired to find a buyer for Apache’s North Sea fields, which include Forties, the largest in the UK, The Sunday Times reported. An insider at Apache last night said that it had “working relationships with different investment banks”. A spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs said: “We don’t have any comment.” Apache entered the North Sea in 2003, buying the Forties field for $1.3 billion from BP, and it deepened its commitment in 2011 when it paid $1.75 billion for ageing fields from ExxonMobil that boosted its production by 54 per cent. A new oil rig, made in Tyneside by OGN, was developed for the Forties field last year. Amid falling prices — last week Brent crude fell to its lowest level in more than two years — other oil companies are looking to exit the North Sea. In July, BG Group was understood to have appointed Rothschild to advise on a restructuring, having sold a gas pipeline in the region. The industry is pressing the government to speed up the formation of a new regulator for the oil industry to help to maximise the recovery of the North Sea’s remaining reserves. A potential exit from the North Sea by Apache could be a blow to Scotland, where “yes” campaigners talked up oil prospects in the referendum debate.
Lego already has designs on London at Legoland Windsor but is now considering taking a stake in commercial property
Lego owner sets sights on real bricks and mortar
T
he secretive Danish family who made their fortune from plastic bricks are turning their focus to the real thing (Kathryn Hopkins writes). Kirkbi, the investment company that manages the Kirk Kristiansen family’s money, has its
sights set on investing in commercial property in London as well as in a number of companies. Lego Group was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter who started by making wooden toys. The private company is owned by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, his grandson and Denmark’s richest man, and the Lego brick remains its most important product. Last year Kirkbi, based in Billund in Denmark, was handed DKr4 billion (£400 million) to invest,
up from DKr3 billion in 2012. This year’s sum is widely expected to be higher. The investment company, which does not have a preferred property agent in the capital, already has a building on New Fetter Place, near Holborn Viaduct in central London, and has snapped up another one a stone’s throw away on Plough
Place. Lego will occupy four floors at New Fetter Place. Kirkbi, which owns two estates in Scotland, is on the lookout for more property. Soren Thorup Sorensen, the chief executive of Kirkbi, said: “We’re looking to invest in more commercial property assets in London. We’re also looking at long-term equity investments [in companies] as well.”
HP set to split its PC business from corporate hardware Alistair Osborne
Hewlett-Packard, the American computer group embroiled in a legal bust-up over its ill-fated $11 billion purchase of Autonomy, the British software developer, is planning to break itself into two. The Californian company is proposing to split its personal computer and printer businesses from its corporate
hardware and services operations. The move, which could be announced today, is likely to be via a share distribution next year to existing shareholders. A separation would mark the second big American technology break-up in the space of a week, after last Tuesday’s announcement from eBay that it had bowed to pressure from Carl Icahn, the activist shareholder, to split its auction business from its PayPal payments
operation. That was backed by the markets, with the shares jumping 7.5 per cent. Companies are coming under pressure from shareholders to concentrate on a narrower range of businesses in the belief that such focus leads to higher stock market ratings. HP toyed with the decision to spin off its personal computers operation in 2011, when it accompanied its purchase of Autonomy with news that it was
weighing up a demerger. It changed its mind after the shareholder coup that led to the departure of Léo Apotheker as its chief executive. Meg Whitman, his successor, has restructured the company to combine the PC business with the more profitable printer operation. She is expected to chair the demerged PC and printer business, while becoming chief executive of corporate hardware and services.
Sales are split broadly between the two arms of the business, with the printer and PC activities contributing almost $56 billion in revenues last year. Last year HP lost its position as the world’s leading player by shipments in PCs to Lenovo, of China. An HP spokeswoman declined to comment on a report in The Wall Street Journal that the company was on the brink of announcing a break-up.
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Business
Ian King
Profit rises pave way for finance hiring spree
A country where we all contribute means paying low tax, not no tax
‘‘
Ian King is business presenter for Sky News. Ian King Live is broadcast at 6.30pm Monday to Thursday
Leave aside for a moment, if you will, the odd way that normally sensible people, who rightly would attack the Labour party if it unveiled £7.2 billion-worth of unfunded increases in public spending, are applauding the Conservatives for promising £7.2 billion worth of unfunded tax cuts. Just as troubling is the make-up of these tax cuts and in particular the prime minister’s pledge, matching that of his Liberal Democrat coalition partners, to raise the personal tax-free allowance for most earners from the present £10,000 to £12,500. Politically it is neat, as it will lift at least a million workers out of paying income tax. It is the perfect riposte for those who say the Tories are toffs uninterested in helping low-paid workers. In fiscal terms, though, it is an enormously expensive commitment that will cost the Treasury £5.5 billion per year. Every £100 by which the allowance is increased costs the exchequer £615 million, unless the cost is clawed back from taxpayers higher up the income scale. Fiscally, it is also extremely hazardous. At present the economy is booming, with GDP growth likely to exceed 3 per cent this year, while — as David Cameron pointed out last week — 1.8 million jobs have been created since the coalition took office. Yet, while these new jobs are being created, the deficit stays stubbornly high. During the first five months of this financial year, underlying public sector net borrowing was £45.4 billion, up £2.6 billion on the same period last year. The Office for Budgetary Responsibility forecast last March that the underlying fiscal deficit would fall by £11.6 billion this year. That is unlikely now. Instead, as Michael Saunders, the chief UK economist at Citi, notes: “A sizeable deficit overshoot for this year (perhaps £10 billion or so) now seems plausible.” You do not need to look far to establish why, in spite of the economy outperforming expectations, the pace of deficit reduction is underperforming them. During the first five months of the current financial year, receipts of income tax and capital gains tax were down 0.8 per cent on the same period last
PETER MUHLY /AFP/ GETTY IMAGES
Ireland’s cricketers gave RSA a boost, but now they need a new shirt sponsor
Opportunity begging to be hit for six
R
SA’s problems in Ireland not only cost Simon Lee, the insurer’s former chief executive, his job; it also deprived Ireland’s national cricket team of its shirt sponsor. As yet, no replacement has been found. This is a mystery, because cricket is Ireland’s fastest-growing sport. Participation has more than trebled in the past eight years and there are more than a thousand cricket teams across both Northern Ireland and the Republic. As a business, too, the sport is thriving, with Cricket Ireland’s turnover having grown by an extraordinary sixteenfold in that period. The men’s national team have qualified for three consecutive World Cups, an achievement in
stark contrast with Ireland’s footballers, who have failed to qualify for their last three. Ireland is pushing to join the world’s elite by receiving Test-playing status and has a strong case. The women’s side has already won Test status and Ireland will host the next Women’s Cricket World Cup. Last year’s one day match against England attracted 4.1 million television viewers on Sky Sports, Fox Sports and ESPN, while live streams of sold-out clashes with Pakistan in May this year were viewed in 145 countries. It is hard to see why a business keen to build its brand in Ireland, Britain and cricket-mad emerging markets such as India, Bangladesh and Pakistan would not be attracted.
year — yup, in spite of all those new jobs. Why? Because the government has already raised the personal allowance sharply — from £6,475 when it was elected to £10,000 now — and because many of the jobs being created are low-paid and therefore contribute little in the way of tax revenues. So that’s the fiscal reason why raising the personal allowance like this is so harmful. There are also sound political and social reasons. For a start, the government has already raised the personal allowance way above the
level where it helps the low-paid: the Institute for Fiscal Studies observed this year that, with one in six workers lifted out of paying income tax, more rises in the personal allowance would be “poorly targeted at helping the low paid”. The IFS estimates that only 15 per cent of further rises in the personal allowance would help workers in the bottom half of the earnings scale. If the government genuinely wanted to help the low-paid, it is argued, it would do far better to raise the earnings threshold, presently £5,885, at which people start
to pay national insurance, that form of income tax that dare not speak its name. Raising the personal allowance like this also may act as an incentive for large numbers of relatively low-paid workers to stay in their existing wage bracket, where they pay no tax, but — if they need to earn more — to take on work in the black economy that may be cash-in-hand and therefore out of the taxman’s grasp. Alternatively, entrenching Britain’s unwanted status as a low-wage, low-skills economy, it may also disincentivise them from winning pay rises by taking on training that would give them more skills and make them more productive. Worse still is that, in lifting so many people out of paying tax, the government is creating a group of millions of people who have no vested interest in taxes being kept low because they do not pay them — and who therefore may be seduced into voting for a high-spending government, such as Gordon Brown’s, on the basis that it will not cost them anything. This hollowing out of the tax base is doubly harmful because it means that those who continue to pay income tax must pay more to make up for it. One per cent of taxpayers pay almost a third of all income tax, up from a fifth a decade ago. That may sound desirable, in terms of the richest bearing the greatest share of the burden, but is less so in an age of greater global labour mobility. Many of that 1 per cent could go elsewhere remarkably easily. However, there is a wider point. Societies are more cohesive when everyone makes a contribution. Sweden often is hailed for its greater social cohesion than other western countries. This is usually put down to the fact that it is less unequal than many other countries. It is also worth noting, though, that the personal allowance is exceptionally low in Sweden — all income over £1,600 a year is taxed. Everyone mucks in. The benefit of such an approach is that everyone has a vested interest in the government being run efficiently and in taxes being kept at bearable levels. In Britain, under the Tories, we are in danger of going in the opposite direction.
’’
Miles Costello
The financial services sector grew at its fastest rate since the onset of the credit crunch in the third quarter as profits rolled in and companies embarked on a hiring spree. According to the CBI and PwC, banks, insurers, asset managers and brokers overcame a surge in costs to increase their overall business volumes during the three months to the end of September. Moreover, they believe that growth over the next three months will continue at the same pace, against a backdrop of sharply improved confidence in Britain’s economic prospects. Although the financial sector continues to fret about red tape and industrywide competition, worries about the level of demand for its services have dropped off sharply, the CBI and PwC say in their 100th quarterly survey of the sector’s health. Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI’s director for economics, said: “The UK’s financial services sector is enjoying the strongest run of growth since 2007, with activity rising across all customer categories and profitability bouncing back. “With competition one of the top concerns for the coming year, the sector could be moving to a new phase in the recovery, where firms are feeling more assured about the level of demand and are shifting their gaze to competing for customers and business.” Kevin Burrowes, UK financial services leader at PwC, said that, after staying away from the jobs market during the previous quarter, businesses in the sector had begun hiring again as banks increased investment in new products and technology. Almost 1.2 million people are likely to work in financial and insurance-related jobs by the end of the year, about 28,000 more than at the end of 2013, he said. The CBI and PwC surveyed 109 financial sector businesses between August 18 and September 4. Sixty per cent of respondents said that business volumes had risen, while 11 per cent said they had fallen, giving a net reading of 49 per cent, the strongest since 2007, when it hit 51 per cent. A further 63 per cent said that business would continue to increase during the fourth quarter, offset by 8 per cent who expect a drop. The findings were backed by research by Astbury Marsden, the recruitment firm, showing City hirings up 34 per cent month-on-month in September, with 3,470 new jobs created.
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Investors to cash in on dividend delight Miles Costello
The leading 350 listed companies are expected to shell out £74.5 billion in ordinary dividends to shareholders this year, despite Tesco slashing its payout and fears that other retailers will follow. Total dividends will be 4.4 per cent higher than last year, according to calculations by Markit, the financial information company. Factoring in special dividends — not including Vodafone’s £16.6 billion handout after selling its stake in Verizon — raises the total to £84.1 billion, up 18 per cent on last year. Although that will be a boon to investors, particularly small shareholders, Markit is warning of future pressure on payouts. As well as worries about the sustainability of dividends at the big supermarkets, it cites the potential impact of a strong pound on companies with significant overseas operations. In its UK dividend outlook, being published today, Markit notes that 53 companies in the FTSE 350 report results — and set their dividends — in dollars. These businesses account for 37 per cent of the total payout, it says. In spite of this, Markit is predicting that next year ordinary dividend payouts will increase by 9.3 per cent, compared with this year’s expected awards. Tesco stunned investors in August by cutting its first-half dividend by 75 per cent after warning about profits for the second time in two months. Last
month, Tesco admitted that accounting irregularities meant that it was likely to have overstated interim profits by £250 million, prompting investigations by the Financial Conduct Authority. Like its peers, Tesco has been fighting discount retailers such as Aldi and Lidl, with pressure on sales, profits and payouts to shareholders mounting across the sector. Analysts believe that other retailers will follow the supermarket group and cut their payouts. Markit expects J Sainsbury to cut its half-year dividend by 20 per cent when it reports its interims next month. Marks & Spencer and Next are thought likely to improve their dividends this year, but Wm Morrison is expected to cut its payout in 2015, Markit said. “Tate & Lyle has warned profits are likely to be 20 per cent lower than analysts had expected. Associated British Foods has also cautioned about the impact of lower prices for its sweeteners,” Markit said. “Balfour Beatty [the construction company] has said the dividend will be reviewed following the sale of its US design business.” Market expects the biggest dividend payers for the year to be HSBC and Royal Dutch Shell, followed by BP, GlaxoSmithKline and Vodafone. Lloyds Banking Group is expected to declare a final dividend for the year when it reports its annual results in February, its first payout since its taxpayer rescue during the financial crisis.
Royal Mail is thinking bigger in small parcels Alistair Osborne
It’s Easy when you know how
W
hen Stephen Greene led a £1.75 million buyout of Ed’s Easy Diner five years ago, he believed that the Soho institution could
work well in shopping centres and railway stations. He wasn’t wrong (Dominic Walsh writes). The chain of three 1950s American diners has expanded to 31 outlets and Mr Greene has secured a further £10 million of debt funding to take it to 50 sites and a likely sale to private equity. Mr Greene, who
bought Ed’s from the family trust of Barry Margolis, its late founder, said that he had secured a £14 million facility from NatWest. Previously it had a £4.5 million loan. Mr Greene said that it had seven openings in the pipeline, with another 12 or 13 sites “in legals or advanced negotiations”.
A package of bigger parcels and lower prices is being wrapped up by Royal Mail as it tries to fight back in an increasingly competitive market. The company, which listed on the stock exchange a year ago in a controversial flotation, is Britain’s biggest parcel delivery company, yet its volumes have been under pressure as smaller rivals have cut prices. One, UK Mail, warned only a fortnight ago of a “challenging” market, with “volumes below expectations”. Royal Mail plans to increase the dimensions of what counts as a small parcel from October 20, almost doubling the size. From the same date, in a promotion running until January 18, the delivery company will also cut prices for all stamped second-class small parcels of up to 2kg . That equates to a £1 saving on a previously separate weight category of 1kg to 2kg. Nick Landon, the managing director of Royal Mail parcels, said that the changes would benefit consumers over Christmas and companies “selling gifts online”. Shares in Royal Mail, which were floated at 330p, shot up in day-one trading and peaked at 615p in January. Vince Cable, the business secretary, has refused to apologise for the company’s listing price, claiming that the subsequent rise in the shares was because of speculative “froth”. The shares closed at 394½p on Friday.
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Business Shirts and ties get the Joe Boxer treatment
H
e built his reputation by adopting the title “chief underwear officer” (Andrew Clark writes). Two decades on, the founder of Joe Boxer is making a comeback with a range of menswear intended to
teach Americans how to dress with British style. Nick Graham, below, a Canadian entrepreneur with British parentage, was one of the most colourful figures in male fashion during the 1980s and 1990s, when he built Joe Boxer into a quirky, colourful name in the underwear industry. He hopes to pull off a similar trick with shirts and ties through a new venture that he described as
“Thomas Pink on speed”. Talking at the World Retail Congress in Paris, Mr Graham revealed that clothing under his Nick Graham brand went on sale in the United States last week at Macy’s and Lord & Taylor. “It’s post-prep,” he said. “My background is British and I’ve always wanted to do a British collection. British men dress far better than Americans.”
Count on us to win big audit contracts, says Grant Thornton Miles Costello
Grant Thornton is taking aim at winning the audit accounts of more blue-chip businesses as an expected overhaul of the market takes effect, its UK chief executive has said. Scott Barnes said that Grant Thornton already carried out advisory and tax work for 40 per cent of companies in the FTSE 100 and was well-versed in handling complex businesses, including in financial services. Although traditionally it has set its sights on Britain’s mid-market corporates for audit work, forthcoming rule changes offer an opportunity that Grant Thornton will try to exploit, Mr Barnes said. “It’s been a deliberate strategy not to focus on audit in the large corporate sector,” he said. “If you’re asking can we do FTSE 100 audit work, yes we can, and we are doing FTSE 250 audits. It would be wrong of me to say we will likely win one of the four big banks as an audit, but I’d say that most of the FTSE 100 once you get outside the top 30 are fair game.” Grant Thornton is Britain’s fifthlargest accountant but has only one audit client in the FTSE 100 — Sports Direct, the retailer whose rapid growth propelled into the heavyweight index last year. However, it is seen as the most likely beneficiary from the change in European Union rules that mean companies
will have to put their audits out to tender at least every decade. The changes, due to come into effect in 2016, are expected to open up a market that is dominated by the Big Four — PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG. Mr Barnes said that it could take five years for the effect of the new rules to filter through, but the audit market for the largest companies would “loosen up” over the next few years. He was speaking as Grant Thornton reported a 9 per cent rise in revenues to £512 million for the year to the end of June, beating its £500 million target a year early. Turnover in the advisory division grew by 15 per cent against last year, with audit revenues up 4 per cent and income from tax work flat. Grant Thornton’s 192 partners generated an average of £402,000 each in pre-tax profits, 15 per cent higher than the previous year. That meant that, once tax-related rule changes were taken into account, each of them took home an average profit-related payout of £385,000 for the year. Over the year, 42 new partners and directors were appointed and 276 trainees, both graduates and school-leavers, joined the firm, it said. Grant Thornton remains considerably smaller than the Big Four. Last week EY, formerly Ernst & Young, reported annual revenues at just under £1.9 billion. PwC’s turnover is £2.8 billion, Deloitte’s annual revenues are £2.55 billion and KPMG’s £1.8 billion.
Cargiant to step on the gas after record results Danielle Sheridan
Cargiant, the used-car dealership embroiled in a row with Queens Park Rangers football club over a plot of land, has posted record results for 2013, suggesting a growing confidence in consumer spending. Pre-tax profit rose by 69 per cent to £30.2 million, on sales 31 per cent ahead at £398 million, as the number of used cars sold increased by 16 per cent to 47,600. Figures for the first eight months of this year show further growth, with turnover up 20 per cent. Tony Mendes, the managing director of Cargiant, said: “We are pleased sales in the first eight months accelerated ahead of what was a very strong per-
formance in the same period last year. We are bursting at the seams, and have plans to grow even bigger.” The company has been at odds in recent months with QPR over a 30acre plot of land on the Old Oak Common site in west London. QPR wants to build a 40,000-seater arena by 2018, but Cargiant said it was not “in negotiations” with the club. “We own the land. QPR may have aspirations to build a stadium, but a stadium can be built elsewhere,” Mr Mendes said. It would “sterilise the area completely” if the club built its new ground there, he added. Cargiant said it priced its vehicles keenly by “conducting extensive daily price comparisons against the used car market”.
His range largely comprises shirt, tie and bow tie sets in bold colours — a similar approach to Joe Boxer, which added bright colours to the generally monochrome world of mens’ underwear and eventually was sold to Iconix, the owner of Umbro and Lee Cooper, for $40 million. “The shirt department in department stores is very much like the underwear department used to be 25 years ago,” Mr Graham said. “Big, important and boring.”
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Business Working life
How bringing it all back home PASSING THE BATON Trends that are changing the face of British manufacturing
The attractions of basing production overseas have waned as costs and complications have increased, reports James Hurley
I
n 1978, armed with little more than a £50 loan from her mother and a sewing machine, Anne Walker started making leotards for her dance pupils in an attic bedroom. She was on to a winner. International Dance Supplies, the business that grew from such humble beginnings, now exports to 54 countries and has sales of £9 million. Leotards were, she recalls, “hideous at the time and didn’t fit the children. I made my first costume based on a drawing of a pupil, a girl called Hazel. The design is still in our catalogue.” The company’s leotards and ballet dresses are still made in Britain, too, but some of its other dance costumes are produced in eastern Europe and China. That, however, could change. IDS is part of a growing army of mid-sized companies aiming to bring more of their production back to the UK. In recent years, business has begun to “reshore”, moving manufacturing and other outsourced activities back to Britain, as everything from wage inflation to rising shipping costs erode the advantages of production abroad. A quarter of mid-sized companies are considering bringing some, if not all, of their business activities back to the UK within the next three years, according to research from GE Capital and Warwick Business School. However, as Ms Walker can testify, returning can be easier said than done. Many companies that make the leap are blighted by a lack of skilled workers and a thinned-out domestic supply chain. “We’d love to do more in the UK — but we can’t find the production,” she says. When the company looked into making more of its products in Britain, she found that its small manufacturing suppliers were not always up to the task. “They either can’t find the trained machinists, or are concerned about taking on staff and having to train them. Because they’re small companies, they feel they can’t invest the time or the money. You need to be able to find someone who wants the skills — and it’s not sexy to learn to sew.” The Crosby-born Ms Walker wonders if the example of a textile business run by a fellow Merseysider
could point the way forward. Tony Caldeira’s eponymous cushion company has brought manufacturing back to its Kirkby factory in response to rapidly rising wages in China. The early days were tricky: slow needleworkers proved a drag on orders, warehouse staff called in sick, Darcey Bussell is an IDS customer
or, worse, quit. Machinists proved especially hard to hire. Undeterred, and supported by local chambers of commerce, Mr Caldeira is investing in training young workers in the skills that the industry lost when the textile industry raced overseas in the 1980s and 1990s. “We’re getting big orders from retailers wanting British-made products, so we have the demand for the staff. When you’re hiring, you might find some people who have left the industry and have the skills, but only if you’re lucky. If you’re unlucky, you start from scratch. But in the long term, building a training plan is the only way that reshoring will be viable.” IDS, which supplies the American Ballet Theatre and counts Darcey Bussell, a former principal of The Royal Ballet, among its customers, has a familiar set of gripes about working offshore: it can be slow, inflexible and deceptively expensive. “We can’t get our products made fast enough,” Ms Walker says. “The minimum orders you have to make are too big and it’s slow. It’s hard to predict demand six months ahead, so we find ourselves running out of stock. And if we could do more in the UK, our cashflow would be better.” She does not want to build her own factory to resolve the issue, but she would invest to help her suppliers to set up training schemes. “It would be nice to see some manufacturing start-ups emerging. The demand is there.” Others, though, are building their own facilities. Seaglaze, a Norfolkbased glass manufacturer for the marine industries, has just spent £1 million on a British manufacturing facility, so that it can put the “draining” experience of overseas production behind it. It’s a huge investment for a company with a turnover of £2 million, yet Richard Clayton, who acquired the business 25 years ago, argues that it’s been worth every penny. “We found we couldn’t get the glass quick enough. And we’d get faulty glass. So do you use a damaged piece? Or wait another eight weeks? If you’ve got production in-house, you say what you need and tell them ‘do it now’.” The investment, supported by a £140,000 grant from the government’s Manufacturing Advisory Service, has
Anne Walker opened her own dance school while she was a teenager, but it was her decision
to make and sell costumes at that time that inspired the rise of International Dance Supplies
greatly improved the company’s efficiency and is leading to increased demand from overseas customers and domestic businesses eager for a local manufacturing partner. While Mr Clayton says he was “long in the tooth” enough to manage the reshoring project himself, the MAS money comes with advice. Along with UK Trade & Investment, MAS has developed Reshore UK, an
initiative designed to encourage more companies to bring production home. Reshoring could create 126,000 jobs and a 14.8 per cent increase in mid-sized companies’ sales, GE Capital suggests, in areas such as manufacturing, research and development, customer service and procurement. As Caldeira has shown, reshoring is unlikely to be an easy option for many, but when the benefits of being overseas become marginal, entrepreneurs are likely to feel the pull of the shorter lead times, smaller order quantities, lower fuel prices and reduced complexity that come with the “Made in Britain” label.
sme news
Taxpayer-funded guarantees prop up small firms James Hurley
Chuka Umunna says that use of the EFG scheme by banks is worrying
High street banks are being given taxpayer-funded guarantees to underwrite loans to small companies in financial difficulties, The Times has learnt. The business department acknowledged that government-backed loans had been granted that reduce banks’ exposure to businesses in lenders’ contentious “turnaround” divisions. Chuka Umunna, the shadow business secretary, said that the practice raised “serious questions”. The admission adds to concerns that
a government-backed scheme intended to encourage small business growth is being used instead to improve banks’ positions at the taxpayer’s expense. At the heart of the controversy lies the Enterprise Finance Guarantee, which gives a 75 per cent government guarantee to lenders willing to aid viable small businesses that lack the security needed for a bank loan. The scheme has helped more than 25,000 companies to secure more than £2.2 billion since 2009. However, it has been subject to claims of mis-selling and allegations
that it has been used to replace companies’ unsecured overdrafts with taxpayer-backed loans. The Serious Fraud Office is understood to be looking into how these guarantees were used by banks’ turnaround divisions for companies experiencing financial difficulties. The government admitted that it allows EFG to be used “in association with the restructuring of existing borrowings . . . to customers being managed by specialist units where appropriate, if that approach offers the business the best opportunity of survival”. Mr Umunna said: “It’s worrying that
EFG — which uses taxpayers’ money to guarantee loans — is being used by bank restructuring divisions. This is not the original purpose of the scheme and raises serious questions which Vince Cable urgently needs to address.” A business department spokesman said: “While EFG-backed loans are permitted for refinancing to help a business return businesses to health, using EFG to refinance is capped at 20 per cent [of a bank’s loan book] to prevent lenders just using the scheme to transfer risk to the taxpayer.”
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Working life Business
is music to entrepreneurs’ ears JIM WILEMAN
Mind the gap in the North-South divide Mid-sized companies expecting to relocate business activities back to Britain predict that they will enjoy an average increase in revenues of 15 per cent — or £3.8 million per annum — over the next three years (James Hurley writes). This would add a combined
LIFESTORE Essential listening and the best business reading James Hurley
week ahead on tv Robert Peston and the House of Debt BBC Radio 4, tonight, 8.30pm The BBC’s economics editor, famed for his role in reporting the banking sector’s role in the financial crisis, meets two men who insist that lenders were not solely to blame, after all. Atif Mian and Amir Sufi, authors of a new book on the subject, say that the real problem was the doubling between 2000 and 2007 in total American household debt to $14 trillion. Two sides of the same coin?
Inevitably, Mr Peston gives the authors’ assessment a rough ride as he examines whether future downturns should be tackled by helping households instead of bankers.
book of the week The Innovators Walter Isaacson “We live in the age of computers, but few of us know who invented them.” Walter Isaacson, biographer of the late Apple boss Steve Jobs and of Albert Einstein, profiles some of the lesser-known “geniuses and geeks” behind the digital revolution. The story begins with Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron’s daughter, who pioneered computer programming in the 1840s, as Mr Isaacson attempts to explain the “teamwork” between scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs that led to the creation of the computer, the internet and the microchip.
£27.6 billion to mid-market turnover each year, according to GE Capital and Warwick Business School. In an economy reliant on financial services and hampered by a poor trading performance, “reshoring” appeals to the government. Traditional wisdom gives it
a handy fit with that other buzzword: rebalancing. However, the research has found that 41 per cent of mid-sized companies considering relocating activities to the UK are based in London, and would add activities there. Stephen Roper, Professor
of Enterprise at Warwick Business School, said: “This suggests that rather than acting as an agent for rebalancing the regions, reshoring may exacerbate the growing disparity between the London economy and the rest of the UK.”
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times2 GETTY IMAGES
A £3 pill to stop you boozing? Try a baby instead Kevin Maher
I
t’s the oldest cliché in the doomsday science fiction handbook. A grim dystopian future in an autocratic state, defined by unthinking, unfeeling, homogenous hordes, marching through the streets with blank expressionless faces. And here, in this oppressively hellish conformity any deviation from the norm, any flicker of feeling, of excitement or irascibility, or the tiniest whiff of recalcitrance is greeted with the ominously uttered phrase (usually by a quasi-fascistic law enforcer), “We’ve got a pill for that!” From Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (the “soma” tablets), to the pills of suppression in George Lucas’s pre-Star Wars effort THX 1138 to the “mood stabilisers” handed out to the entire population in the recent Hollywood blockbuster The Giver, it seems that the nightmare depiction of our collective future is one in which the surety of chemical control replaces the messy realities of actual human behaviour. Well, thanks to the arrival of the new anti-booze wonder drug Nalmefene we are now, it seems, a mere hop, skip and a jump away from the total mind control of sci-fi freak shows, and are perilously close to placing all concepts of personal responsibility into the benign and caring hands of the pharmaceutical industries. Yep, Nalmefene, at a mere £3 a pop, promises to neutralise the
OK, I was speeding, but . . . Grrrrrr, don’t get me started on speed cameras. Apparently a single speed camera in Cardiff has caught
My quarter-life
PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel invests in space rockets and dodging death. But conquering complacency is the final frontier, he tells Giles Whittell
initial sensory effects of alcohol consumption (according to human guinea pigs on the weekend news, it takes the kick out of beer drinking, and transforms “going out for a pint” into just that — singular) and thus help target the wobbly will power of up to 600,000 people in the UK who are drinking more than three pints of beer or half a bottle of wine every night of the week. I have, however, a better solution. Instead of lining the pockets of Big Pharma, and transforming yourself into an experimental drone, why not just have some little kids instead. You won’t last a second on three pints a night with a 6am wake-up every morning, or some small hours bedwetting, nappy changing or croup. My own boozing certainly died a death the minute the little ones arrived in our house. You just can’t do it. Facing into a baby nappy brimful of liquid green rejectamenta for one night alone is worth an entire year’s supply of Nalmefene. And while we’re at it. As all the boozers know, as we all know, it’s not about the booze. We’re not drinking because of the booze. Or, put it this way, after cutting out midweek boozing I soon found myself craving that delish sugar hit at night, once the kids were all asleep. I’d stumble downstairs, crash into the food cupboards, and get busy with the honeycomb and milk chocolate delights, the jar of maple syrup, the bag of caster sugar. Anything. But then, gradually, I noticed my belly starting to sag over my belt line. So guess what? I stopped. Although, I’m pretty sure that there’s a pill for that too. I’ve moved on to junk TV now. Even fifteen to twenty minutes a night, usually You’ve Been Framed. Which tells me, ultimately, that what I’m doing is trying to plug an existential hole at the core of my being. And I’m pretty sure that there’s no pill for that. Yet.
more than 1,300 drivers and collected £800,000 in just six months. I’m not at all surprised. In the space of a fortnight last year I went from being a conscientious, incidentfree, safety-aware driver with zero points on his licence to a furious loony with nine points.
To my chagrin, on two consecutive weekend visits to sunny Devon — on a deserted stretch of morning road that was apparently adjacent to a long deserted driveway, connected to several deserted school buildings (it was Saturday) — I was thrice clocked
Even film stars can’t afford flats
On any other day I would’ve been mildly sceptical about yet another research survey on the seemingly fascinating subject of “failed fledglings” (adult children living at home with their parents). This new one, from MetLife UK, claims that a quarter of British people over 50 still have adult children living with them. Yeah, sure, I might have carped, they’re probably just weekend visits or popping over to do the laundry. However, recently I interviewed the up’n’coming Londonbased actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster, straight from one of the summer’s biggest blockbuster smashes, The Maze Runner. Sangster, at 24, has just signed up for a Maze Runner sequel as well as a new Thunderbirds adaptation. He is effectively raking it in. Yet when I asked him about moving out of his parents’ south London home he balked. “Oh no. Property prices in London are ridiculous right now.” If a Hollywood hot-shot can’t afford it, who can? in the high thirties. Thanks to that I must now spend the next three years of my driving life cursing the inequities of the system and saying sarcastically, “Thank you, speed cameras, for keeping deserted country roads safe for nonexistent pedestrians everywhere”.
Monday October 6 2014 | the times
P
eter Thiel is a year younger than me and worth $2.2 billion. “I’ve done well,” he says, and you can’t really argue with that. But still, waiting for this interview, to which he flies by private jet and I walk from the Tube, you can’t help wondering. What does it take? In the quarter of a century since both of us left university, what has he done that I haven’t? Here’s what: Thiel co-founded the PayPal online payment website and made his first fortune when it was sold to eBay 12 years ago. His share was worth $55 million. He then sunk $500,000 of that into a social networking site called Facebook. When Facebook went public last year, his holding was worth $1.25 billion. He has a venture capital firm whose investment in a rocket company called SpaceX has risen in value from $20 million to $500 million in a decade, and he has an 11 per cent stake in a secretive and privately held data-mining business called Palantir Technologies, which is reputed to have helped the CIA catch Osama bin Laden. Palantir’s estimated value has risen from $2.5 billion to $9 billion in the past 20 months. Along the way Thiel, who is 46 but looks about 37 and lives alone in San Francisco, has also lost money, at least on paper. Like any brass-balled businessman he has his own hedge fund, whose assets under management have fallen by about $7 billion since the crash. (Not that anyone who’s stayed with him on this particular roller-coaster from the beginning is actually out of pocket, you understand. They’ve made an average annual return of 12 per cent. It’s just that they could have made an awful lot more by cashing out in 2008.) Why focus on the money? Awe and envy, mainly, but there’s also this: Thiel is not just a rich man. He’s an ideas man. Many of his ideas are either revolutionary or mad, depending on your view — broadly speaking, he’s against death, government and higher education — and you can’t help thinking that he might not be taken as seriously as he is had he not turned several of his hunches into billion-dollar companies. As it is, he’s taken very seriously indeed, not by everyone and not every time he opens his mouth, but by enough people of high ambition and IQ to suggest he deserves a hearing. We meet in a Mayfair hotel, where he’s promoting a book. It is based on
notes from a course on high-tech start-ups that he used to teach at Stanford University. The notes were posted online by one of his students and quickly downloaded by 300,000 readers. Polished up and wrapped in an old-fashioned dust jacket, they are intended as both inspiration and a hearty kick in the pants for anyone hoping to follow him into ultra-highrisk entrepreneurship. “Some of the things I’ve done people think are very extreme,” he admits. (Funding research on reversing the ageing process, paying to have his body frozen when he dies.) “What I find strange is always the complacency that we have instead, where we’re accepting the way things are.” Thiel hates complacency. He thinks the way things are is absolutely, dangerously not good enough. Within the world of business his disdain, always veiled in thoughtfulness, is aimed mainly at a baby-boom generation that coasted through the second half of the 20th century taking fewer and fewer risks and doing less and less that was genuinely new, until it was brought up short by the crash. Then people suddenly realised
Some of the things I’ve done people think are very extreme that “you cannot have a better future if nobody’s working towards it, if everybody’s just counting on everybody else to build it”. More broadly, he’s angry that the so-called technological revolution has delivered so little in the way of new technology. Not just information technology of the kind that has helped to make him who he is. Big, brave, tangible, world-changing technology of the kind America used to specialise in. “You know, in the US you had the Manhattan Project, you got an atomic bomb in three and a half years,” he says. “You had Apollo [and people on the Moon] in the 1960s. And now you cannot build a website for the Affordable Care Act.” Thiel is referring to the healthcare reforms better known as Obamacare, whose site notoriously kept crashing for the first crucial months of its existence. He’s exaggeratedly polite and low-key but his exasperation — with incompetence, with stupidity, with small-mindedness and big, expensive, gridlocked, flabby government — is still palpable. He is Silicon Valley casual on the outside, seething radical on the inside. If you’ve heard about a German-born libertarian dotcom billionaire investment genius who wants to live for ever and build floating city states in the middle of the ocean (and who happens to be a practising gay Christian), well, this is he. His counterintuitive line on the great tech slowdown will be familiar to long-time Thiel followers. Indeed, his venture capital firm’s slogan — “We were promised flying cars, and instead
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crisis turned me into a billionaire ROBYN TWOMEY/CORBIS OUTLINE
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competition as being a proxy for value,” he says. “So the more intense the competition is, the more valuable something must be, sort of like in the former Soviet Union — if there was a long line of people you would get in line with no idea what you were queueing for.’’ The natural response to this is “ouch”. The Wall Street Journal achieved the same effect when it excerpted a section of the book last month under the headline “Competition is for losers”. Thiel has a knack for presenting as grand theory musings that are in fact autobiographical. The son of German parents who came to California in the Sixties for his father’s work, Thiel competed furiously through school and university. With no TV at home till he was 12, he became a chess prodigy instead of a couch potato. He went to Stanford, then Stanford Law School, and was poised to win the ultimate accolade for an American law school graduate — a Supreme Court clerkship — when he didn’t. He got two interviews and flunked them both. It was “incredibly traumatic”, he says, and it triggered “a rolling
You cannot build a better future if nobody works towards it
what we got was 140 characters” — has become a mantra for Silicon Valley types peering over the tops of their screens in search of the Next Big Thing. What’s interesting is his analysis of why the slowdown has happened. Partly he blames the overpriced, underachieving edifice of western higher education. To wit: “ ‘What are you going to do with your life?’ ‘Don’t know. I’ll get a college degree.’ ‘What’ll you do once you get a college degree?’ ‘Don’t know. I’ll get a grad school degree.’ ‘What will you do once you have an MBA?’ ‘Don’t know. I’ll work as a consultant.’ “And so, in all these ways, education has become a substitute for thinking about the future,” Thiel says. Now, in his book, Zero to One, he takes a machine-gun to another great shibboleth of capitalist striving, namely competition. Want to fail? Do something others are already doing, like flying people around in aeroplanes. Compete with them and see your profits shrink to nothing.
Peter Thiel and, left, with fellow members of the “PayPal mafia”
Want to succeed? Do something different. Build yourself a benevolent and insanely lucrative monopoly, like Google . . . or PayPal. (Google’s profit margin was more than 100 times that
of the average US airline in 2012.) “The way we’re trained and educated involves outperforming people in all these competitive contexts and so we come to think of
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters is published by Virgin Books, £16.99
quarter-life crisis” that lasted for much of his twenties. Looking back, of course, he’s glad. He binned law, dabbled in investment banking in New York, then moved back west to ride the tiger that was the dotcom boom. That boom ended with a market crash on April 3, 2000. Three days earlier, by luck or good judgment (Thiel suggests it was the latter), he and his PayPal confrères closed a deal to raise $100 million that secured the company’s future. He was liberated to think big and unquestionably seized that chance. Whether he has fulfilled the obligations informally heaped on America’s billionaires by an admiring public is open to debate. He questions the value of “social entrepreneurship” and prefers funding young tech tycoons to conventional philanthropy. He insists on time for creativity rather than cramming his diary in the headof-state style of Bill Gates. This much is clear: he knows something most of us don’t about picking winners. Most of us, that is, except the rest of the PayPal mafia — a group that after the eBay buyout went on to found seven more billiondollar companies including YouTube, LinkedIn and Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Thiel is counting on his good buddy Musk to do nothing less than reopen the space age by designing a new generation of reusable rockets. Musk is well on his way and Thiel foresees space travel costs falling ten to a hundredfold as a result. But aren’t space rockets still a bit old-fashioned, I ask? A bit back to the future? Maybe, Thiel muses. “But that’s not the worst place to start.”
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
‘Sometimes I feel Shakespeare is Phyllida Lloyd, director of Mamma Mia! and The Iron Lady, is turning her hand to an all-female Henry IV — with the Bard’s blessing, she tells Nancy Durrant
I
t takes me a moment to understand what Phyllida Lloyd means when she describes today’s generation of young actresses as having “an extraordinary feeling of entitlement”. You mean they’re spoilt? No, she explains, “I mean they believe they can do it, so that if you say, ‘Would you like to play the role of Hotspur in Henry IV?’, [the response is] ‘Yes, I can do that.’ I’m sort of dazzled by their can-do attitude.” Oh, right, of course. That makes much more sense, coming from a director who is known for championing strong female roles (Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia!, Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady — both played on film by Meryl Streep) and who, last year at the Donmar Warehouse, staged the first all-female production of Julius Caesar. It was set within the frame of a women’s prison, the actors playing inmates rehearsing a production of the play, with a racially mixed cast ranging in age from 21 to 63. Now Lloyd is repeating the experiment with Henry IV, with Harriet Walter (who played Brutus in Julius Caesar) as the titular king, Jade Anouka as Hotspur and Clare Dunne as Hal in a version that conflates parts I and II (a not-unprecedented move; the first known production of this type
was in 1622) into a fast-paced, twohour show without an interval. The prison set-up also remains. We meet at the Donmar’s airy new rehearsal space in Covent Garden, early in the morning. She has run in and her dead-straight, straw-blonde hair is still damp from the shower. It’s a critical time, she says: “You’ve caught me at that penultimate week in the rehearsal room — not only can I not
When have we seen women being funny in a classical play? see the wood for the trees, I can’t really see the trees for a small cluster of insects that are crawling up the bark.” She laughs and adds, “My partner [Sarah Cooke] was saying to me last night, when I was saying ‘I’m questioning all the fundamentals of what we’re doing, I’m full of apprehension,’ she said, ‘I think I’ve heard some of this before.’ ” Lloyd says that behind the production there is “a mission to give some of our greatest actresses material. The classical repertoire is very limited for women.” So why
Henry IV in particular? “The idea with Julius Caesar was to choose an ensemble play where most of the actresses would be liberated from the domestic and the romantic sphere to which they are mainly confined in Shakespeare. [This time] we wanted to further that,” she says. “We chose Henry because [it asks the question] ‘Who owns our history? How has our history been dramatised, for whom and about whom?’ “Also, because we were setting it in a prison, we wanted a play the themes of which chimed with that world. Henry is a play about shame and anger and family and broken family and these are ideas and themes that really do speak to people who have lost their freedom.” The company has tested it in a prison, she says. “Of course,” she continues, “it’s also a chance for a great female comedian. How many times have we really seen women being funny in a classical play? I mean, Dawn French has played Bottom but it’s a very rare thing to give the opportunity to a great female clown to play an enormous role like Falstaff.” Ashley McGuire, recently seen as the hilariously surly café worker Shakira in the Channel 4 comedy series Man Down, will take on the role of the vain, cowardly knight, who for Lloyd represents one side of a “triangle — the battle for Hal between those two fundamentally Protestant and Catholic forces [of his father the king and Falstaff]”. We are speaking on the day of the Scottish referendum (with two Scots in the company, Karen Dunbar and Sharon Rooney, the team will later have “a special lunch for them and one is going to recite Robert Burns’s Tam o’Shanter for us to consecrate the day, whichever way it
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hovering above, going: Go, girls!’ TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER BETHANY CLARKE, HELEN MAYBANKS, MARK ELLIDGE, PETER MOUNTAIN
goes”), which she thinks is apposite. “The play reminds you that there was a time when kings and queens weren’t necessarily posh and actually England was up for grabs and that resonates extraordinarily at the moment. Borders were porous and fought over and clans and warlords and powerful forces that didn’t actually speak English as we understand it were battling for power. So by hearing all these regional and foreign accents in the roles of earls and knights and sirs, it does underscore what we’re made of and where we’ve come from,” she says. Dunbar is also a popular comic (The Karen Dunbar Show ran for four series on BBC One Scotland) and Rooney is the star of the series My Mad Fat Diary on Channel 4. Lloyd says they’re having “immense fun” with the comedy of the play. “Sometimes we feel like we’re in a script session at the BBC, sitting around going, ‘How are we going to make that joke land, we’ll never land the punchline if that set up isn’t correct, are we going to cut it, are we going to replace it, what are we going to do?’ Sometimes I feel Shakespeare is hovering going, ‘Go, girls! I never thought that joke worked’.” Julius Caesar went to New York after its Donmar run. For Henry IV, the plan is to take it to Tower Hamlets — to the tiny theatre attached to Mulberry School for Girls, a state
secondary school in east London with about 1,400 mainly Bangladeshi Muslim pupils, a large proportion of whom are on pupil premium (extra money given to schools for educating disadvantaged children). It was hatched following a workshop the school did with the Julius Caesar cast, after which, as Lloyd tells it: “This girl stepped onto the stage in her veil. She was 14 and her teachers had never heard her speak, ever, in class. She turned to the full audience and just said, ‘I am the prime minister’. And everyone just burst into applause.” Having grown up in the minute
From top: Harriet Walter (Henry) and Jade Anouka (Hotspur) in rehearsals for Henry IV; Opera North’s Peter Grimes; Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia! Right: Streep as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. Above left: Phyllida Lloyd
village of Nempnett Thrubwell, in Somerset, Lloyd’s own introduction to theatre came early, at a now defunct, rather eccentric school where pupils were encouraged to put on their own productions and perform at local festivals. She went on to study English and drama at the University of Birmingham and briefly worked as little more than a skivvy in live studio drama at the BBC (working on The Battle of Waterloo, her job was to reload the Brown Bess muskets) before jumping ship to theatre. She has since carved out a reputation directing both that and opera — her 2006 production of Peter Grimes was described in this paper as “genius”. I ask her reaction to “Rosenkavaliergate”, when a young female singer was criticised in the press for her appearance while playing a young man in the Glyndebourne production of Strauss’s opera. “You direct La Bohème and you want the audience to believe that Mimì is dying of a wasting disease. It’s a conjuring trick and of course you’re going to heat-seek those people who can combine the physical attributes and the musical ones.” However, she continues, “I saw Rosenkavalier and I thought that what Richard Jones, the director, was doing was so heightened, treading this line between absurd and slaughteringly moving, that I really didn’t see what the critics . . . I did feel that [what they said] was inexcusable.” It hasn’t all been roses for Lloyd. Her Ring cycle for ENO, with Brünnhilde’s self-immolation reimagined as a suicide bombing, was not wellreceived. She says now that it was “a matter of great agony” that the four operas
weren’t ever performed as a cycle (sponsorship was not forthcoming). “On the other hand, taking the last act of Valkyrie to the Glastonbury festival was one of the greatest experiences of my theatre life. When a mobile phone rang in this gargantuan crowd and the crowd went ‘Ssshhh!’ it was just the most amazing moment. And when Wotan was trying to lash Brünnhilde to the rock, which was just a hospital trolley in the middle of the stage, someone shouted out: ‘Leave her alone, you pervert!’ We thought people would be slow hand-clapping or walking away to the beer tent.” Any bumps in the road must be softened by the cushion of Lloyd’s biggest hit, Mamma Mia!, which she first directed for the stage with the support of the producer Judy Cramer. It is now one of only five musicals to have run for more than ten years both on Broadway and in the West End and in 2011 it became the first western musical to be staged in Mandarin in China. To date it has been seen by more than 54 million people in 39 productions in 14 different languages and the film version is the worldwide highest-grossing live-action musical film. Which is hard to argue with and certainly gives her a comfortable platform from which she can help others to realise their potential. Does she feel a responsibility to support other women? “Of course. You try to give a leg up to as many people as you can fit on the wagon at any moment.” Her next major project is to take to New York Josephine and I, the one-woman piece she directed at the Bush theatre last year. Written and performed to devastating effect by Cush Jumbo (Mark Antony in Julius Caesar), it tells the parallel stories of the AfricanAmerican dancer Josephine Baker and a modern-day mixed-race British actress trying to make her way in the business. Lloyd says: “Since Julius Caesar I’ve tried to think, ‘I’m not going to do anything unless at least 50 per cent of what’s happening on the stage or screen is a woman’s experience.’ Of course there’ll be Rubicons to be crossed having made that pledge, but that’s the audience: 50/50. If you’re repeatedly reinforcing presentation of stories in which women are at the margins it just doesn’t help.” Would that preclude a film of the opera Peter Grimes, which Lloyd has said she’s keen to do? She pauses. “I don’t know. We might have to have an entirely female crew. We’d have to somehow find a way. That would be the challenge actually; it’s a very good one. An all-female orchestra and an all-female crew, female conductor.” Go on, I say, do it. She laughs, but I think I see a spark of determination. As Shakespeare might say: “Go, girl!” Henry IV is at the Donmar Warehouse (donmarwarehouse. com), until Nov 29
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
Cheltenham Festival Special 2014 times2
From Casanova’s condoms to Lolita’s lovers, just how well read are you?
John Sutherland tests your literary knowledge — from the cradle to the grave
Beginnings 1 What famous literary character do we first meet as a homunculus, at the moment of his intra-uterine conception? 2 On what date are Midnight’s Children born and what is special about them? 3 Who said, “The pleasure is momentary, the position is ridiculous and the expense damnable”? 4 Who, or what, was “ditch-delivered by a drab”? And what’s a “drab”? 5 What were Casanova’s condoms made of and what did he call them?
Childhood 6 Which author described his childhood as “fair seed-time” and in what literary work? 7 David Copperfield is born with a “caul” (an amniotic sheath) round his head. What will it protect him from in later life if he keeps it? And does he? 8 Into which of his novels does Ian McEwan introduce a snapshot of his father? 9 Is Humbert Humbert Lolita’s first lover? 10 What, for a parent, is “sharper than a serpent’s tooth”?
Lower education 11 For a handful of bonus points, on which actual one-eyed Yorkshire school proprietor did Dickens base Wackford Squeers, proprietor of Dotheboys Hall? 12 In which novel is the Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge savagely depicted? 13 Which school does Tom Brown attend, who is his headmaster and which modern novelist, in which comic novel, turns Thomas Hughes’s pious plot upside down? 14 Which pupil, irritated by a jape at her school-leaving prom, slaughters the whole of her senior class? 15 Who teaches the crème de la crème at the Marcia Blaine School and on which actual academy was it based?
Higher education 16 The institution at which Kingsley Amis’s “lucky” Jim Dixon teaches is based on which unfashionable university? 17 Which literary critic is David Lodge’s Morris Zapp poking fun at? 18 Which eminent Oxford don, some argue, inspired George Eliot’s Edward Casaubon? 19 Which novel begins with the Bullingdon (“Bollinger”) Club on the rampage and the merry sound of the nation’s upper-class youth smashing glass?
20 Who said, “Books are my university”?
Love and marriage 21 What does “Desire” primarily mean, in the title of Tennessee Williams’s play A Streetcar Named Desire, and where does “Desire” take the heroine, Blanche? 22 Whose marriage, in what novel, is ruined by a doormat? 23 What is the name of a poem in celebration of marriage and who is the author of the most famous poem by that name in English literature? 24 How old is Juliet when she marries Romeo? Is she the youngest bride recorded in the play? 25 Who dies with the words “Husband, I come!” and is she said husband’s wife?
Extramarital 26 Who discovers in adultery “all
the platitudes of marriage” and with whom? 27 What novel reaches its climax with a cricket match, a thunderstorm, discovered adultery and an uprooted poisonous weed? 28 Whose adultery breaks a table? 29 Who, other than Hester Prynne, has a scarlet “A” for adultery on their chest in Hawthorne’s novel and what is the difference between the two? 30 How many times is Connie described as committing adultery (“bouts”, as they were described in the 1960 trial) with the gamekeeper Mellors in Lady Chatterley’s Lover?
The world of work 31 What is Mrs Warren’s Profession in the play of the same name? 32 Who called work “the curse of the drinking classes”? 33 Where does Philip Larkin’s Mr Bleaney work?
34 Who, in what famous poem, works in Gaza? 35 What Party-corrupted institution employs Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four?
Middle years 36 At what age, precisely, does the most famous Italian poet take his first Underground journey? 37 Who wrote the novel Senilità, in what second language did he write it and, when it was translated into a third language, who suggested the title As a Man Grows Older? 38 How old are Edward Casaubon and George Knightley when they marry their 19-year-old and 21-year-old brides? 39 Who suspects his young wife may have betrayed him because he is “declined into the vale of years”? 40 Which hero discovers he is past it when he can no longer erect himself on water-skis?
The reaper calls 41 Who, in what famous poem, has been “a fortnight dead”? 42 Which poet, in what poem, says of dying, “I do it exceptionally well”? 43 Which novelist won the Booker
Matthew Macfadyen as Jeeves and Stephen Mangan as Bertie Wooster. Above left, from top: Tony Curtis and Marisa Berenson in Casanova & Co, and the BBC adaptation of David Copperfield. Above far left: Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire. Left: Nicholas Clay and Sylvia Kristel in Lady Chatterley’s Lover
For Q&As with Michael Faber, Karen Joy Fowler and more go to
thetimes.co.uk/cheltfest
the times | Monday October 6 2014
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times2 ULI WEBER, SILVER SCREEN COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES
Q&A Howard Jacobson Who are your favourite Booker prize-winners of the past few years? Haven’t read them all and it’s invidious to name any. But all right, I very much admired Coetzee’s Disgrace. What is the most unusual thing you have come across while researching a book? Discovering it’s been written already. I stopped researching after that. Do Americans write better novels? No. How do American novels differ from British ones? They’re longer. What are you reading at the moment? Shakespeare. Ha Have you been to Cheltenham before? If so tell us about it and suggest where to go. wh Countless times. I like time staying at Hotel Ho du Vin. As for eating I just fo follow the crowd, which invariably takes me to Pizza Express.
Cheltenham bonus questions 1 Cheltenham can claim to be Britain’s first great literary festival. When, so to speak, was it “born”?
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What Nobel prize-winning novelist recalled his alma mater, Cheltenham College, smelling of “crushed ants, smoke rising from twigs and bark kindled in the open, bread and mushrooms frying in biscuit tins on a school-room stove, hot darkness, and spilled semen”?
What, it was revealed last year, is the connection between the immortal Jeeves and Cheltenham?
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What teacher at Cheltenham College, later a poet laureate, entertained what other now-famous poet (then a lowly teacher at Malvern) at his cottage in Charlton Kings? And what did the other poet bring with him to eat as the two of them discussed their work in progress?
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Who reported in her diary hearing a friend say: “The streets of
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Who wrote to her dearest correspondent: “I am very glad you find so much to be satisfied with at Cheltenham. While the waters agree, everything else is trifling”?
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Complete the following doggerel by “Anon”: “Here lie I and my four daughters/ Killed by drinking Cheltenham waters . . .”
Who wrote, and where, “Who is there who has not jeered at the House of Lords, the military caste, the Royal Family, the public schools, the huntin’ and shootin’ people, the old ladies in Cheltenham boarding houses”?
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Who, in his rural rides through England, called Cheltenham “the resort of the lame and the lazy, the gormandizing and guzzling, the bilious and the nervous”?
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Cheltenham are notoriously unsafe . . . It is the rarest thing to motor through without being asked to take a corpse to the doctors”?
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Who said “I’ll live anywhere except Bournemouth, Torquay and Cheltenham”? And where did he live, in his last 25 years of life?
Who is your perfect reader? The one who likes humour hellish, pauses to take notes and doesn’t judge a novel by how quickly he gets through it. Which books are by your bedside? Reading and the Reader by Philip Davis. Grace and Mary by Melvyn Bragg. Shylock is Shakespeare by Kenneth Gross. Which book changed your life? All books do, a bit, if they’re any good. When did you know you were going to be a writer? From the minute my mother read to me about bunny rabbits and I knew I wanted to tackle more adult themes. Which literary character is most like you? Coriolanus in temper, Falstaff in action, Jane Eyre in nervous disposition.
Whi Which hero finds he is past it when he can no longer erect himself on water-skis?
Who would you most like to sit next to at a dinner party? Coriolanus, Falstaff and Jane Eyre. But I don’t doubt it would be an excruciating night. Which book do you wish you had written? À la recherche du temps perdu — then at least I would have finished it. What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given about writing? The great Australian painter Sidney Nolan once told me he thought I tried too hard. He meant at everything. “We don’t all have your effortless genius, Sid,” I told him. I didn’t have the courage to say: “You’d have been an even greater painter had you tried a bit harder yourself.” Think of this as advice I didn’t heed. Which book last made you cry or laugh? Aharon Appelfeld’s Blooms of Darkness made me cry; Cynthia Ozick’s The Puttermesser Papers made me laugh; both made me think. What does your perfect working space look like? If it’s perfect I’m too busy to notice. Fiona Wilson Howard Jacobson is at Cheltenham Literature Festival on Oct 12, cheltenham festivals.com
prize on his deathbed and for what novel? Which Booker winner won his prize after his death? 44 Who wrote about the death of a moth, who wrote about the death of a fly and when, according to Tennyson, does the swan die? 45 Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying has the shortest chapter on record in classic literature. What, in its entirety, is it?
Endings 46 What, in HG Wells’s The Time Machine, are the last living things in the solar universe? 47 How does the universe end in Slaughterhouse-Five? 48 In which of TS Eliot’s poems will you find the line about the world ending not with a bang but a whimper? 49 According to Shakespeare’s Jacques, one ends life sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste and sans what else? 50 There is no copyright on titles. In his 2011 Man Booker prize-winning novel The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes paid a gracious tribute to a critic who wrote a monograph under the same name. Who was he? See overleaf for answers W
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
Cheltenham Special 2014 Television &Festival Radio/Announcements
‘I do shockingly little research’ Q&A Mark Haddon
Who are your favourite Booker prize-winners of the past few years? Hilary Mantel’s separated double by some distance. Before that I’d have to go back to Coetzee’s Disgrace. What is the most unusual thing you’ve come across while researching a book? I do shockingly little research. I did talk to a fireman last year who terrified the living daylights out of me. Never return to a burning building. What are you reading now? David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks (fast) and Proust in French (slow). Have you been to Cheltenham before? If so tell us about it and suggest where to go. I’ve been to the festival on a number
Answers How did you score? Beginnings 1 Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy 2 August 15, 1947, when India became independent. In Salman Rushdie’s 1981 novel, Indian children born at that precise midnight moment have an extra-sensory interconnectedness 3 Lord Chesterfield 4 “Finger of birthstrangled babe”, for the witches’ brew in Macbeth. A drab is a whore; a term littleused nowadays by the escort industry 5 Fine lambskin. In his memoir he calls them redingotes d’Angleterre — English raincoats Childhood 6 Wordsworth, in the opening of The Prelude 7 Drowning. It is raffled off years later. Two major characters, Ham and Steerforth, die by water in the novel. No caul for them 8 Atonement, in the Dunkirk debacle, riding a motorcycle. A little Ian is yet to be born by seven years 9 No. It was Charlie Holmes, at Camp Q
When did you know you were going to be a writer? I’m still unsure whether I’m going to be a writer. What is the strangest thing you’ve done while researching a book? I was officially banned from Peterborough. It’s a long story. Which character is most like you? In my mind I sit somewhere on the continuum between Mole and Badger. Who would you most like to sit next to at a dinner party? It’s dangerous to meet your heroes but Oscar Wilde might be worth the risk. What is your worst habit? Procrastination is the worst I’m willing to admit to in public. Which book do you wish you had written? Bleak House. What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given about writing? “Stick to writing children’s books.” There is nothing quite like the angry determination to prove someone wrong. What was the last book that made you cry or laugh? I seldom do either when reading but A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride came close to making me cry. What is your perfect working space? At the moment it’s the far corner of a local café basement where Fleetwood Mac’s The Dance is playing on repeat. Not my choice but it seems to work. Fiona Wilson Mark Haddon is at Cheltenham Literature Festival on Oct 12, cheltenhamfestivals.com
of occasions and never yet escaped its bounds. It looks very nice out there. What are your top tips for getting the most out of a literature festival? Be an author, spend a long time in the green room, talk to your friends and heroes and get free biscuits. Who would be your fantasy pairing on stage at a literature festival? Shakespeare and Jonathan Bate. Do Americans write better novels and how do American novels differ from British ones? These are the adult versions of the ridiculous questions my sons used to ask, eg, “Who would win in a fight between Batman and a tyrannosaurus?” Who is your perfect reader? I’m grateful to have satisfied readers at all. Making more demands seems ungracious. Which books are by your bedside? Just finished: In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman (five stars). Loaded in the barrel: The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth (omens are good). Which book changed your life? Voss by Patrick White, the first that made me realise what extraordinary things could be done with language.
near Lake Climax. Don’t ask her age 10 As King Lear complains (he’s not the only parent), to “have a thankless child” Lower education 11 William Shaw, the owner of Bowes Academy. He was not as evil as Dickens has immortalised him 12 Jane Eyre, as Lowood school for girls 13 Rugby, under Dr Thomas Arnold — credited with inventing the English public school system. George MacDonald Fraser burlesques Thomas Hughes’s novel in Flashman 14 Carrie White, in Stephen King’s first published novel Carrie. Mr King himself did not have a happy time at school, one is told 15 Muriel Spark’s Miss Jean Brodie. Marcia Blaine is based, as close as libel laws allowed, on James Gillespie’s High School for Girls in Edinburgh, where Spark received her own excellent education Higher education 16 Leicester University. Amis’s pal and the inspiration for Jim, Philip Larkin, was a grumpy librarian there 17 As the author himself verifies, and the satirised (and hugely eminent)
professor himself is amused by, Stanley Fish 18 Mark Pattison. It was the eminent Oxford don John Sparrow who pushed the thesis most persuasively 19 Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall. Plus ça change 20 Maxim Gorky, supposedly, although I would welcome confirmation of this from any Russianist Love and marriage 21 The “Desire” streetcar line, named after Desire Street, was opened in New Orleans in the 1920s. Ominously, it is taking the newly arrived Blanche Dubois to catch another streetcar headed for the city’s “Cemeteries” destination 22 Tess Durbeyfield’s, in Tess of the D’Urbervilles, when her confessional letter to Angel slips under the mat and isn’t read, with disastrous consequences 23 Epithalamion. Edmund Spenser wrote a poem by that name to commemorate his second marriage 24 Thirteen years old. Her mother, Lady Capulet, married even younger. It creates casting difficulties in modern productions 25 Cleopatra, as she puts the fatal asp to her breast. Yes and
no: her marriage to Mark Antony was considered legal in Egypt but not in Rome Extramarital 26 Emma Bovary, with her lover Léon 27 LP Hartley’s The Go-Between 28 Guinevere and Launcelot’s adulterous affair, in Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, precipitates the dissolution of King Arthur’s “Knights of the Round Table” compact 29 The Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Unlike Hester’s his is invisible, a tattoo of shame 30 Seven. The number had mystical significance for Lawrence The world of work 31 Brothel-keeping — as respectable as middle-class marriage, in Shaw’s ironic opinion 32 Oscar Wilde, inevitably 33 The “Bodies, till/ They moved him.” Obscure until you realise it’s Coventry, Larkin’s home town, where they build cars. Not the morgue 34 The blinded hero in Milton’s Samson Agonistes, where he grinds corn with the slaves. Well known from Aldous Huxley’s allusive title to his novel Eyeless in Gaza
35 Oops. The Times newspaper Middle years 36 Dante was 35 years old: Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita 37 Italo Svevo. A resident of Trieste, he spoke Triestine but published the novel in Italian and, at the suggestion of his friend James Joyce, accepted the inspired English title for the translation into that language 38 47 and 37 39 Othello 40 Dick Diver, in Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night The reaper calls 41 Phlebas the Phoenician in Section IV, “Death by Water”, of The Waste Land 42 Sylvia Plath in Lady Lazarus 43 Paul Scott, for Staying On, in 1977. J G Farrell, who won a Booker for The Siege of Krishnapur in 1973, won a second — for the “lost year”, 1970 — for Troubles in 2010. Farrell died in 1979 44 Virginia Woolf, William Blake, “after many a summer” 45 “My mother is a fish.” Don’t ask what it means. No one knows. Possibly even Faulkner Endings 46 Gigantic crabs. And the time traveller
himself if he’s dumb enough to stick around eating crabcake 47 A Tralfamadorian test pilot testing new fuels presses the wrong button and the universe disappears. So it goes 48 The Hollow Men 49 Everything 50 Frank Kermode, who died a few months before Barnes’s novel saw print and prize Cheltenham bonus questions 1 1949 2 Patrick White — not, it would seem, the proudest of Cheltonians, as graduates of the school are known 3 Jane Austen to her sister, Cassandra, September 8, 1816. It raises an image of the author of Pride and Prejudice emerging from the baths like Colin Firth, damp clothes sexily clinging. Away with such thoughts, sir! 4 William Cobbet. Mutter “plus ça change” at your peril, festivalgoer 5 Virginia Woolf. Present, in memory, every year at the festival 6 “Had we but stuck to Epsom salts/ We wouldn’t be lying in these here vaults.” Cheers, festivalgoers 7 Strolling round the Cheltenham College cricket grounds, on August 13 1913, PG Wodehouse watched
Gloucestershire play Warwickshire. The bowling exploits of Percy Jeeves caught his eye. Wodehouse ditched the name “Jevons” for his butler in favour of that which is now immortal. The beautiful cricket grounds are still only five minutes away from the festival tents and worth a visit. They are surrounded by trees, commemorating centuries and fivewicket hauls by school cricketers. No tree, alas, for Jeeves 8 George Orwell, in The Road to Wigan Pier. If you’re at the festival, you’ll find the lodging, AD 2014, excellent 9 Cecil Day-Lewis and WH Auden. Auden brought large quantities of bananas with him for sustenance. The roof of the cottage leaked and Day-Lewis wrote his first detective novel (as “Nicholas Blake”) to pay £100 for its repair. Thus is literature born 10 EM Forster. His prejudice against Cheltenham is mysterious. He chose to spend his last quarter of a century of life, not writing novels, at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was an esteemed fellow. He died in 1970 never, as far as we know, having visited the Cheltenham festival
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Detective who helped to convict Jeremy Bamber Robert Miller Page 44
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Obituaries
Jean-Claude Duvalier
Former president of Haiti renowned for his corruption and venality who was forced into exile in 1986 but returned home three years ago
At 3.37am on February 7, 1986, an American C-141 transport plane lumbered down the runway of the François Duvalier international airport in Port-auPrince, Haiti. It was carrying Duvalier’s son, Jean-Claude, his wife, Michele, 19 other family members and three bodyguards into exile. After nearly 30 years, the Duvalier dynasty was finally over. After three decades that had turned Haiti into a byword for terror, corruption and venality, the rule first of “Papa Doc” and then of “Baby Doc” was finished — curtailed by an uprising of a people they had kept in penury and suppressed through brute force and fear. The Duvaliers left with a final defiant flourish. The president’s wife ordered a voodoo priest to conduct a ceremony over the presidential bed that required the corpses of two unbaptised babies, so that the next occupants would die in it. He ordered the execution of three aides he blamed for his downfall — though the order was never carried out. The couple threw a midnight party at the presidential palace for their closest friends at which champagne flowed. As they partied, truckloads of their Gucci and Louis Vuitton luggage were delivered to the waiting plane. The Duvaliers’ departure for France triggered an orgy of revenge. Longoppressed Haitians ran amok, attacking and looting property associated with the regime, killing and torturing Duvalier’s henchmen, destroying even the Duvalier family mausoleum in a process called “dechoukaj” — Creole for “uprooting”. Nobody would have dreamt that a quarter of a century later, Duvalier would return to Haiti. It is a measure of the present-day wretchedness and despair of the western hemisphere’s poorest country that some older Haitians felt nostalgia for his dictatorship, and that he managed to escape prosecution for the horrors that he and his father perpetrated. Between them they and their infamous “Tontons Macoutes” — a force of several thousand paramilitary thugs — are thought to have killed at least 20,000 Haitians and driven tens of thousands more into exile. Jean-Claude Duvalier was born in Port-au-Prince in 1951. His father, a doctor, became president six years later. At school he was called the “fat potato” because he was so overweight. He was an academic failure except on one occasion when the education ministry arranged for him to see the exam papers in advance and various officials coached him in the answers. He grew up a pampered and indolent playboy, a young man with a prodigious appetite for girls and food and a love of parties, fast cars, hunting, music and motorbikes. He was appalled at the prospect of assuming the presidency when his father died in 1971, and failed to attend the funeral because he was so full of Valium that he could scarcely walk. At 19 he became the world’s youngest head of state. In the first years of his rule Duvalier relied almost entirely on his forceful mother, Simone, to run the country, and took Family dynasty: “Papa Doc” with “Baby Doc” Duvalier
AP. BELOW: STR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Duvalier with his bride, Michele Bennett, during their lavish 1980 wedding, which reportedly cost more than $3 million
little interest in politics or administration. Curiously, given the brutality of his father’s 13-year rule, he was relatively popular among ordinary Haitians, and under the tutelage of his advisers he learnt to court international favour too. He visited Haiti’s provinces, launched a reforestation programme, released some political prisoners, eased press censorship, offered an amnesty to political exiles. American tourists began flocking to the Caribbean island. Cruise ships arrived. A Club Mediterranee opened. Rooms at the Oloffson Hotel, a gingerbread creation that features in The Comedians, Graham Greene’s novel about the Duvalier era, still bear the names of celebrities who stayed there — Truman Capote, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Mick Jagger. Bill and Hillary Clinton honeymooned in Haiti in 1975. Duvalier’s regime even introduced a law permitting foreigners to obtain “quickie divorces”. The “liberalisation” was largely cosmetic, however. Haiti’s dreadful prisons were sanitised for human rights inspectors. Statistics were massaged,
lobbyists were employed in Washington and visiting US politicians were pampered. The regime presented itself as a bulwark against communism — especially that of nearby Cuba — at the height of the Cold War. All the time the Tontons Macoutes continued to terrorise the population and crush opponents. The strategy worked. US aid to Haiti rose steadily and by the mid-1980s comprised 70 per cent of Haiti’s revenues. Duvalier had no real interest in helping his five or six million countrymen, however. As Elizabeth Abbott wrote in her book Haiti: A Shattered Nation, they were “merely props in the charade, visible objects of misery that the Duvalier government peddled to the world in return for the gigantic handouts that could then be stolen . . . Haiti’s reforms, real, attempted or fake, were all part of the new government’s strategy to extract money from foreign donors.” Only President Carter, with his focus on human rights, threatened to cut assistance to Haiti, and Duvalier celebrated with another wild champagne party when Carter failed to win re-election in 1980. What motivated Duvalier was his own enrichment. He plundered not only foreign aid but the government’s domestic revenues. He offered US companies handsome tax breaks, and cheap labour without troublesome trade unions, if they set up assembly plants in Haiti –
provided they paid hefty kickbacks. He and his cronies even sold blood to US clinics and cadavers to US medical schools — Haitian corpses having the advantage of being thin, so there was less fat to slice through. In 1980 Duvalier married, though his family and advisers all opposed his bride. She was Michele Bennett, the daughter of a coffee baron; her avarice and sexual appetite exceeded even his own. The wedding cost more than $3 million. She flew in a hairdresser from Paris and wore a Givenchy gown; the cathedral was refurbished to order and fireworks lit up the night sky during the reception. Some attribute Duvalier’s downfall to his wife. She waged a vicious (and successful) campaign to banish his mother, arresting dozens of her relatives and allegedly installing a parrot outside her door so that she woke each day to the sound of the bird saying ‘F*** you! F*** you!” Though Michele liked to present herself as a Haitian Eva Perón, promoting projects to help the poor, she indulged in spending sprees of stunning excess. She lived in opulent quarters and reportedly paid herself a monthly salary of $100,000, and regularly imported $50,000 of fresh flowers from Florida. She and her acolytes shopped in Paris and New York for jewellery, artworks and the finest clothes. She bought fur coats galore, and a huge refrigerator to protect them from the tropical heat. Her
relatives exploited her position to become big-time drug runners. By the time Duvalier fled he and his wife had looted an estimated $300 million from their country. “They behaved as if Haiti was their feudal kingdom and the coffers and revenues of their state their private property,” a New York law firm charged with recovering that stolen money reported. In July 1985 Duvalier staged a referendum to make himself president-for-life, and claimed to have won 99.98 per cent support. Within seven months he was gone. The economy was deteriorating. Hunger was spreading. The revolt that finally toppled Duvalier may have been inspired by the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1983, with the pontiff declaring: “Something must change here.” Change erupted two years later with street demonstrations and raids on food warehouses in the city of Gonaives, which quickly spread to several other cities. As Duvalier’s support crumbled, the Reagan administration began pressing him to go and offered to assist his departure. On the night of January 30, 1986, he and his wife headed for the airport, only to change their minds and return to the presidential palace. “If I have to leave, I want to walk in blood from the palace to the airport,” she allegedly declared. A week later they really did go, leaving behind a destitute nation. The Duvaliers settled in France, Haiti’s former colonial power. They lived a lavish lifestyle but kept a low profile. In 1993, however, Duvalier divorced his wife and lost most of his remaining wealth. Thereafter he lived in a small Paris apartment with Veronique Roy, his longstanding companion and public
At school he was called the ‘fat potato’ because he was so overweight relations adviser, depending on the support of his followers. He is survived by Ms Roy and his two children from his marriage to Michele Bennett — a son, François Nicolas, and a daughter, Anya. He might have died in Paris had Haiti not been hit by a huge earthquake in 2010. On January 16, 2011, in the midst of a chaotic presidential election campaign, Duvalier flew back to his homeland, declaring: “I’m not here for politics. I’m here for the reconstruction of Haiti.” Some Haitians were appalled. Others preferred to remember the relative stability of his years in power and forget the horrors, or were simply too young to remember this ghost from the past. Many suspected the real reason for his return was to try to gain access to some $4 million frozen in a Swiss bank account, but a week later he was arrested and charged with theft and corruption. For whatever reason, the cases against him stalled. He lived in a private residence, ate at fancy restaurants in the wealthy enclave of Petionville in the mountains above Port-au-Prince, and was even invited to events by Michel Martelly, Haiti’s current president. He died of a heart attack, having never admitted or apologised for the egregious excesses of his rule. Jean-Claude Duvalier, former president of Haiti, was born on July 3, 1951. He died on October 4, 2014, aged 63
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Robert Miller
Cricket-mad detective who set up a police force in the South Pacific and helped to convict the murderer Jeremy Bamber ESSEX CHRONICLE. BELOW: ASSOCIATED NEWSPAPERS/REX
Softly spoken, keen on the poetry of TS Eliot and the whimsy of PG Wodehouse and often to be found wearing a bow tie, even when on duty, Bob Miller did not fit the stereotypical image of a 1970s police detective. He happily admitted, however, that the portrayal by the BBC drama series Life on Mars of some of his contemporaries as harddrinking, reckless womanisers was accurate. “We are in much greyer times now,” Miller once said, reflecting on more than 30 years in the police; at retirement he was a detective inspector in the CID. His career had begun as a cadet aged 16. He left school with few qualifications and a reputation for ill-discipline, particularly when it came to obeying uniform regulations. Ironically, one of Miller’s hallmarks as he rose through the ranks was his insistence on smartness; he often ticked off juniors whose boots were unpolished or whose car needed cleaning. After spells as a bobby and an instructor, Miller was appointed in the
He formed a team for the PG Wodehouse Society named the Gold Bats early 1970s to the south-east regional crime squad, based in Brentwood, where he came under the command of Leonard “Nipper” Read, the man who had put away the Kray twins and with whom he shared an interest in boxing. Miller, who was known as “Dusty”, was involved in some of the so-called “supergrass” trials of the period. He also worked on the team that secured the convictions of the criminal associates of George Davis, the armed robber whose conviction for a robbery in Ilford sparked national protests, including one that disrupted a Test match at Headingley when the pitch was dug up. It led to the common graffiti “George Davis is Innocent, OK”. Davis’s initial conviction may have been deemed unsafe, but two years after his release from prison in 1976 he was jailed again after pleading guilty to involvement in another armed bank raid. In 1980, looking for a fresh challenge, Miller applied for a posting in the South Pacific, where he set up a new police force on the archipelago of Vanuatu, which had just won its independence. He was involved in most areas of the force’s creation, from drill routines to
Miller formed the Bow Tie Club for an “eclectic mix of eccentrics”. Below: Jeremy Bamber, the White House Farm killer
designing the uniform. Returning to Britain a year and a half later, Miller began work with Essex CID, again dealing with the most serious crimes. He came to national attention when he led the investigation that secured the conviction of Jeremy Bamber for the White House Farm murders. Five members of Bamber’s family were found dead at their home near Tolleshunt D’Arcy in Essex in 1985. Bamber was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Robert Edward Miller was born in Dagenham in 1947. He was proud of his
family’s Romany roots, using “Romany Bob” for his email address and acting as a government adviser on travellers. After passing his 11-plus, he attended Dagenham County High and boxed with Graham Moughton, who competed at the 1972 Olympics. Roy Greenslade, the former editor of the Daily Mirror who was at school with Miller, recalled a “special character with the most recognisable voice of anyone there — loud, grating and uninhibitedly Cockney. He was supremely confident without a hint of arrogance.” The tone of Miller’s voice softened as he
got older, but not his use of it: “He genuinely loved people and enjoyed conversation and argument.” An English teacher put him forward aged 14 for an audition for the National Youth Theatre. He performed an extract from Shakespeare’s Henry V in front of Alec Guinness and received an offer in the post. However, his father opened the letter and refused to let Miller take up his place. “He ripped the letter up and
told me there was no way I was going to hang out with a ‘load of poofs’, ” Miller recalled. In the 1980s Miller took a sabbatical from the police force to read English literature at Wolfson College, Cambridge. He had left school with few qualifications, but was keen on educating himself. He later won a Churchill fellowship to study the poetry of TS Eliot in the US. On his return he founded the Eliot Society at Little Gidding, Huntingdonshire, scene of the last of Eliot’s Four Quartets. He worked as an Ofsted inspector in the 1990s and often argued for prisoners to be offered schooling as a way of reducing repeat offenders. With his wife Maureen, whom he married in 1973, he had two daughters, Claudia-Jane and Candice. Both became teachers. In the past 20 years he developed a passion for cricket — a sport he had barely played in his youth. He preferred eccentric matches in which the spirit of the contest — and the tea — was more important than the result. He founded the Gents of Essex CID team in 1993 and led the George Sherston’s XI — named after Siegfried Sassoon’s alter ego — in an annual match against the village of Matfield in Kent, a re-creation of the Flower-Show Match described by Sassoon in Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man. He also formed a team for the PG Wodehouse Society, named the Gold Bats after his 1904 novel. Splendid in their baggy maroon caps, the Gold Bats played the masters of Dulwich College, Wodehouse’s alma mater, in a fixture noted for what Miller called “a proper Billy Bunter tea”. He also played the Sherlock Holmes Society who operate under 1894 laws and Victorian protocol by requiring players to sport cravats, facial hair and avoid playing strokes on the leg side. Even while living with cancer, Miller liked to create clubs. In 2013 he announced in Country Life his plan to form the Bow Tie Club. It had its inaugural meeting on November 30, Churchill’s birthday, with a lunch at the Ritz for what Miller called “an eclectic mix of eccentrics”. He was happy to count himself among them. Robert Miller, detective inspector, was born on October 25, 1947. He died on August 16, 2014, aged 66
Will Radcliff
American entrepreneur who launched the Slush Puppie soft drink that turned a generation of British children’s tongues blue Brightly coloured iced syrup churning around transparent plastic tanks mesmerised a generation of British children after the US entrepreneur Will Radcliff brought the Slush Puppie to UK shores in 1974. Radcliff candidly admitted that the simple concept of different flavoured syrups mixed with water, frozen and then churned into slush, may not have been the best-tasting soft drink, but there was a certain magic to its dispensing. “We have people who buy it because they say they love to hear that ice hit the cup,” he said. Children loved the sugar rush and especially the fact
that their tongues turned the same colour as the flavouring. The drink also gained a cult following among students as a hangover cure. Slushed drinks had been invented in the 1950s, but as a young entreprenuer in 1970 Radcliff believed that they could make him a major player in soft drinks through marketing. He bought a machine, developed five flavours (cherry, grape, orange, lemon-lime and blue raspberry), and created the popular logo of a refreshed hound wearing a bobble hat and licking its face. He used his knowhow in distribution learnt while persuading grocery stores to sell hot peanuts — an enterprise that had already earned him a six-figure sum. He ploughed the money into
buying a controlling interest in a tobacco and sweet distributor. This gave him the opportunity to market the Slush Puppie across the US from 1971. The drink was launched in Britain in 1974. It took off in the UK in 1977 when sales quadrupled and the ice-churning Will Radcliff ‘We have people that buy it because they love to hear that ice hit the cup’
machines became a familiar sight at seaside resorts. Over the following 30 years, nearly 200 billion cups of Slush Puppie were sold in Europe. Will Lawson Radcliff was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1939 and grew up in a poor household where the rent was $19 a week and there was no phone. He
honed his sales skills as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman; his daughter later said that he was a natural who “could sell anything to anyone”. When he saw a slush machine at a trade fair in Chicago in 1970, he believed that the drink would make him a millionaire. He hit upon the idea of calling it Slush Puppie while writing down potential brand names on a brown paper bag with his sister and his mother one evening in 1970 on the porch of the family home in Cincinatti. Having started the business from his home, the profits of slush enabled Radcliff to open a hilltop headquarters in Cincinatti, which became known as “Mount Slushmore”. The business went on to achieve annual sales of £25 million in 62 countries. He developed other drinks in a bid to maintain profitability all year round and tried to break into the schools market with a healthier juice-based
slush drink called VitaPup. However, Slush Puppie had probably passed its heyday when Radcliff sold it to Cadbury Schweppes in 2000 for $16.6 million. He enjoyed his wealth, driving a Mercedes 5000 with the numberplate “1 SLUSH” , and piloting his own Learjet. He spent his retirement transforming a cattle ranch in Florida into a wildlife sanctuary. Visitors were surprised to find that he watched a black-andwhite television. He is survived by his daughter, DeeAnn Radcliff Harmon, and a son, Chris Radcliff. The running joke among the Radcliff family was that Will Radcliff “could sell ice to Eskimos”. He could at least claim that the Slush Puppie became a popular drink in Iceland. Will Radcliff, drinks entrepreneur, was born on December 20, 1939. He died on September 20, 2014, aged 73
the times | Monday October 6 2014
45
FGM
Television & Radio/Announcements Births, Marriages and Deaths
Today’s television BBC ONE
6.00am Breakfast 9.15 Rip Off Britain 10.00 Homes Under the Hammer 11.00 Saints and Scroungers 11.45 Break-in Britain: The Crackdown 12.15pm Bargain Hunt 1.00 BBC News; Weather 1.30 BBC Regional News; Weather 1.45 Doctors 2.15 Perfection 3.00 Escape to the Country 3.45 Home Away from Home 4.30 Antiques Road Trip 5.15 Pointless 6.00 BBC News 6.30 BBC Regional News Programmes 7.00 The One Show 7.30 Inside Out 8.00 EastEnders 8.30 Workers on the Breadline: Panorama. Documentary 9.00 New Tricks 10.00 BBC News 10.25 BBC Regional News; Weather 10.35 Have I Got a Bit More News for You 11.20 Room 101: Extra Storage 12.00 The Graham Norton Show 12.50-6.00am BBC News
BBC TWO
6.05am Homes Under the Hammer 7.05 Saints and Scroungers 7.50 Break-in Britain: The Crackdown 8.20 Sign Zone 10.35 Click 11.00 BBC News 11.30 BBC World News 12.00 Daily Politics Conference Special 1.00pm A Taste of My Life 1.30 Ready Steady Cook 2.15 Cash in the Attic 3.00 The Life of Mammals 4.00 Coast 4.45 Great British Railway Journeys 5.15 Flog It! 6.00 Eggheads 6.30 Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two 7.00 Celebrity Antiques Road Trip 8.00 University Challenge 8.30 Only Connect 9.00 The Kitchen 10.00 Never Mind the Buzzcocks 10.30 Newsnight 11.20 Today at Conference 11.50 Long Shadow 12.50-1.20am Sign Zone: Scrappers 4.00-6.00 BBC Learning Zone
ITV London
6.00am Good Morning Britain 8.30 Lorraine 9.25 The Jeremy Kyle Show 10.30 This Morning 12.30pm Loose Women 1.30 ITV News; Weather 2.00 Dickinson’s Real Deal 3.00 The Alan Titchmarsh Show 4.00 Who’s Doing the Dishes? 5.00 The Chase 6.00 Regional News 6.30 ITV News; Weather 7.00 Emmerdale 7.30 Coronation Street 8.00 The Undriveables 8.30 Coronation Street 9.00 Grantchester 10.00 ITV News at Ten and Weather 10.30 Regional News 10.40 The Agenda 11.20 Billy Connolly’s Big Send Off 12.15am Jackpot247 3.00 Uefa Champions League Weekly 3.25 The Jeremy Kyle Show USA 4.10 ITV Nightscreen 5.05-6.00 The Jeremy Kyle Show
Channel 4
9.00 Frasier 10.30 Undercover Boss Canada 11.30 Four in a Bed 12.00 Channel 4 News Summary 12.05pm Four in a Bed 2.10 A Place in the Sun: Summer Sun 3.10 Countdown 4.00 Deal or No Deal 5.00 Four in a Bed 5.30 Come Dine with Me 6.00 The Simpsons 6.30 Hollyoaks 7.00 Channel 4 News 8.00 Jamie’s Comfort Food 8.30 Gadget Man 9.00 24 Hours in Police Custody 10.00 8 Out of 10 Cats 10.50 Bouncers 11.45 NFL: The American Football Show 12.45am FILM: Miss Lovely (2012) 2.35 Mammon 3.45 FILM: Double Indemnity (1944) 5.35-6.20 Countdown
Sky1
6.00am The Real A&E 7.00 Harrow: A Very British School 8.00 Futurama 9.00 NCIS: Los Angeles 11.00 Hawaii Five-0 1.00pm NCIS: Los Angeles 3.00 Airline 3.30 Emergency with Angela Griffin 4.30 Harrow: A Very British School 5.30 Futurama 6.30 The Simpsons 8.00 Duck Quacks Don’t Echo 9.00 An Idiot Abroad 3 10.00 An Idiot Abroad 2 11.00 NCIS: Los Angeles 1.00am Hawaii Five-0 3.00 NCIS: Los Angeles 4.00 Stargate Atlantis 5.00-6.00 Airline USA
BBC World
6.00am BBC World News 6.30 World Business Report 6.45 BBC World News 7.30 World Business Report 7.45 BBC World News 8.30 World Business Report 8.45 BBC World News 9.30 HARDtalk 10.00 BBC World News 10.30 World Business Report 10.45 Sport Today 11.00 BBC World News 12.00 GMT 1.00pm BBC World News 1.30 World Business Report 1.45 Sport Today 2.00 Impact 3.30 HARDtalk 4.00 Global with Matthew Amroliwala 5.30 World Business Report 5.45 Sport Today 6.00 Outside Source 6.30 Focus on Africa 7.00 World News Today with Zeinab Badawi 8.30 World Business Report 8.45 Sport Today 9.00 Business Edition with Tanya Beckett 9.30 HARDtalk 10.00 BBC World News America 11.00 Newsday 11.30 Asia Business Report 11.45 Sport Today 12.00 Newsday 12.30am Asia Business Report 12.45 Sport Today 1.00 Newsday 1.30 Asia Business Report 1.45 Sport Today 2.00 BBC World News 2.30 Asia Business Report 2.45 Sport Today 3.00 BBC World News 3.30 Asia Business Report 3.45 Sport Today 4.00 BBC World News 4.30 HARDtalk 5.00 BBC World News 5.30 World Business Report 5.45-6.00 BBC World News
Sky Sports 1
6.20am The King of Queens 7.10 3rd Rock from the Sun 8.00 Everybody Loves Raymond
6.00am Football Gold 7.00 WWE: Bottom Line 8.00 Goals on Sunday
Radio 4
BBC World Service
9.00 Barclays Premier League Legends 9.30 Football Gold 9.45 Ford Football Special 11.15 Football Gold 11.30 Barclays Premier League Legends 12.00 SPFL Highlights 1.00pm FL72 Review 2.00 Ford Football Special 3.30 Fantasy Football: The Highlights 4.00 Soccer AM: The Best Bits 5.00 World Grand Prix Darts. Highlights 7.00 Live World Grand Prix Darts. The opening day. Coverage of the session at the Citywest Hotel, Dublin, featuring eight first round matches 12.00 English Roses 1.00am SPFL Round-Up 1.30 Soccer AM: The Best Bits. Highlights 2.30 Ford Football Special 4.00 Football Gold 4.30 SPFL Round-Up 5.00-6.00 FL72 Review
Sky Sports 2
6.00am Super League Gold 7.00 NFL 9.00 World Grand Prix Darts 5.00pm SPFL Round-Up 5.30 FL72 Review 6.30 Super League Fulltime 7.30 Live Elite League Speedway. Swindon Robins v Coventry Bees or Poole Pirates v King’s Lynn Stars 10.00 FL72 Review 11.00 NFL 1.00am Super League Fulltime 2.00 Elite League Speedway 4.00 SPFL Round-Up 4.30 Super League Fulltime 5.30-6.00 SPFL Round-Up
Sky Sports 3
6.00am Live ATP Masters Tennis. The Shanghai Masters 3.00pm Rugby League Championship 4.00 Sporting Rivalries 4.30 WWE: Raw 6.30 ATP Masters Tennis 7.30 Live National Badminton League. Coverage from matchday one of the competition, in which the fixtures are MK Badminton v Surrey Smashers and Birmingham Lions v Team Derby 10.00 WWE: Late Night — Bottom Line 11.00 WWE: Late Night — Afterburn 12.00 WWE: NXT 1.00am Live WWE: Late Night — Raw. Wrestling coverage from the States with the stars, featuring the likes of Randy Orton 4.15 WWE Slam City 4.45 WWE From the Vault 5.00-6.00 NFL
British Eurosport
7.15am Pass Sport 7.30 Cycling: Ras na mBan 8.00 Triathlon 8.30 Cycling: Tour of Lombardy 9.30 Extreme Kayaking 10.30 FIA World Touring Car Championship 11.30 Motorsport: Sebastien Loeb Special 11.45 World Superbikes 12.45pm British Superbikes 1.45 Cycling: Tour of Lombardy 2.00 ITU World Triathlon Series 3.15 British Superbikes 4.15 World Superbikes 5.15 Eurogoals 6.00 NFL Round-Up 7.00 Champions League Twenty20 Cricket. Highlights of the final from Bengaluru in India 10.35 NFL Round-Up 11.35 Eurogoals 12.2012.35am Motorsports Weekend
Today’s radio 5.30am News 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 Farming 5.58 Tweet of the Day 6.00 Today 9.00 Start the Week 9.45 (LW) Daily Service 9.45 Germany: Memories of a Nation 10.00 Woman’s Hour 10.45 Book of Strange New Things 11.00 The Year of the Drone 11.30 Kerry’s List 12.00 News 12.01pm (LW) Shipping 12.04 21st Century Mythologies 12.15 You and Yours 1.00 The World at One 1.45 An Eye for Pattern 2.00 The Archers (r) 2.15 Afternoon Drama 3.00 Counterpoint 3.30 Food Programme (r) 4.00 In Praise of Limestone 4.30 Beyond Belief 5.00 PM 5.54 (LW) Shipping 6.00 News 6.30 The Museum of Curiosity 7.00 The Archers 7.15 Front Row 7.45 Germany: Memories of a Nation (r) 8.00 The Philosopher’s Arms 8.30 Analysis 9.00 Shared Planet (r) 9.30 Start the Week 10.00 The World Tonight 10.45 Book at Bedtime: The Bone Clocks 11.00 Fresh from the Fringe 2014 12.30am Germany: Memories of a Nation (r) 12.48 Shipping 1.00 As BBC World Service 5.20-5.30 Shipping
5.00am Newsday 8.30 Business Daily 8.50 Witness 9.00 News 9.06 HARDtalk 9.30 The Why Factor 9.50 More or Less 10.00 World Update 11.00 News 11.06 Outside Source 12.00 News 12.06pm Outlook 1.00 Newshour 2.00 Newshour 3.00 News 3.06 Business Daily 3.30 Heart and Soul 4.00 The Newsroom 4.30 Sport Today 5.00 The Newsroom 5.30 World Business Report 6.00 World Have Your Say 7.00 The Newsroom 7.30 Discovery 8.00 News 8.06 HARDtalk. With Stephen Sackur 8.30 World Business Report. Financial news 8.50 News About West Africa 9.00 Newshour. The stories behind the latest headlines 10.00 News 10.06 Outlook. Perspectives on important issues 11.00 News 11.06 The Newsroom 11.30 World Business Report 12.00 News 12.06am The Newsroom 12.20 Sports News 12.30 Heart and Soul 1.00 News 1.06 Business Matters 2.00 The Newsroom 2.30 Discovery 3.00 News 3.06 Outlook 4.00 Newsday 4.30-5.00 The Documentary
Radio 3
6.30am Breakfast. With Petroc Trelawny 9.00 Essential Classics. With Rob Cowan 12.00 Composer of the Week: Johannes Brahms. The story of Brahms’ volatile friendship with Clara Schumann 1.00pm News 1.02 Live Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert. Baritone Henk Neven and pianist Hans Eijsackers perform Wolf and Mahler 2.00 Afternoon on 3. The BBCSSO performs Holst’s suite The Planets 4.30 In Tune. With the Northumbrian piper Kathryn Tickell and the violinist Viktoria Mullova 6.30 Composer of the Week: Johannes Brahms (r) 7.30 Live Radio 3 in Concert. The Skampa Quartet and Robert Plane play Brahms 10.00 Brahms Experience: NGA. New Generation Artists perform a Brahms sonata and a selection of his lieder 10.45 The Essay: Brahms Experience. The first of a week of programmes about the German composer 11.00 Jazz on 3. Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and his quartet at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival (r) 12.30-6.30am Through the Night (r)
the times.co.uk/announcements
46
Monday October 6 2014 | the times
FGM
Games Bridge Andrew Robson Dealer: South, Vulnerability: East-West Teams
♠Q J 4 2 ♥Q ♦Q 8 2 ♣A J 6 5 4
♠A 9 8 7 ♠ K 10 5 3 N ♥10 7 3 W E ♥A 8 ♦10 9 5 ♦A J 7 6 4 S ♣10 8 7 ♠ 6 ♣9 2 ♥K J 9 6 5 4 2 ♦K 3 ♣KQ 3 S
W
N
Today I continue the debate concerning the question of the greatest tournaments of all-time. This was triggered by the claim that the recently completed Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis should merit that accolade. When I first broached this topic I was pleased to receive follow up from Daniel Johnson, editor of Standpoint Magazine. One of his excellent comments was to draw attention to the mighty tournament at Nottingham in 1936. Containing no fewer than five past, present or future world champions, whose reigns extended almost seven decades from 1894 to 1963, Nottingham could claim to have boasted the strongest line up ever. The sole drawback was that the four British players who provided the tail, considerably reduced the average strength. In the following celebrated game Botvinnik, famously, sacrificed a piece to force a draw when apparently under
Contract: 4♥ , Opening Lead: ♦10
advised to cross to a top club to lead the king of hearts and drive out the ace. Nervous this might lead to a second-round club ruff on a 4-1 split, declarer reasonably opted to lead a potentially communicationcutting queen of spades. This ran to West’s ace, who returned the nine of diamonds, East overtaking with the jack and following with the ace. Declarer ruffed the third diamond (low) and led the king of hearts, but East could now win his (bare) ace and follow with a fourth diamond. Whether or not declarer trumped low or high, West’s remaining ten of hearts was promoted into a trick. Down one.
andrew.robson@thetimes.co.uk
pressure and was later proud of this defensive idea. However, modern computer analysis may cause this opinion to be revised. White: Alexander Alekhine Black: Mikhail Botvinnik Nottingham 1936
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Capablanca Botvinnik Fine Reshevsky Euwe Alekhine Flohr Lasker Vidmar Tartakower Bogoljubow Tylor Alexander Thomas Winter
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Common form of pasta (9) Rule (3) Green like damp forests (5) Line around the earth (7) Shut (6) Old Roman date (5) In the previous speed (1,5) Strange thing (6) Chilled shivering often a
Solution to Crossword 6523 T
G A R D E N I A
B L K E FO S C DOCK M E T S T B HORS N U L F S I S URRE E D
B L D RAR I DE T N M T I K K A E G URGEON Y D E E J US T D C I E A B A S S N T E C T I ON E R
10 10 9½ 9½ 9½ 9 8½ 8½ 6 5½ 5½ 4½ 3½ 3 2½
A E
DO U NS T
Polygon From these letters, make words of three or more letters, always including the central letter. Answers must be in the Concise Oxford Dictionary, excluding capitalised words, plurals, conjugated verbs (past tense etc), adverbs ending in LY, comparatives and superlatives. How you rate 13 words, average; 18, good; 23, very good; 28, excellent
1
Killer No 3940 8
Gentle 5min
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symptom of disease (5) 19 Rain draining from an area (3-3) 21 Raised on maize (4-3) 22 Large wading bird (5) 23 Attach, fasten (3) 24 Sea south of the US (9)
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1 An unspecified number (4) 2 Declare free from guilt (7) 3 Dried grass (3) 4 Very fashionable (6) 5 Large dinosaur (9) 6 Airport north of London (5) 7 Idle (4-3) 11 Inducing sleep (9) 13 Orange fruit (7) 15 Operative (2,5) 16 Road-building machine (6) 18 Yellow-flowered shrub (5) 20 Soon, shortly (archaic) (4) 22 Wheel’s centre (3)
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Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9. The digits within the cells joined by the dotted lines add up to the printed top left hand figure. Within each dotted line ‘shape’, a digit CANNOT be repeated.
Codeword
No 2208
Numbers are substituted for letters in the crossword grid. Below the grid is the key. Some letters are solved. When you have completed your first word or phrase you will have the clues to more letters. Enter them in the key grid and the main grid and check the letters on the alphabet list as you complete them. 2
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Winning Move solution
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Geggie (c) Glaswegian slang for the mouth. Cruft (b) Redundant material, particularly superseded electronic hardware and superfluous elements in computer software. First used at MIT around 1958-59. Kumara (b) A type of sweet potato from New Zealand.
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Word Watching answers
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Saturday’s answers acme, back, beck, bedsock, bocage, bock, boscage, cadge, cage, cake, came, cameo, case, cask, coda, code, coke, coma, comb, combe, come, dace, deck, dock, dockage, ecad, gecko, gobsmacked, mace, mack, mock, sack, scab, scad, scag, scam, smack, smock, smocked, soca, socage, sock
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Check today’s answers by ringing 09067 577188. Calls cost 77p per minute.
A
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Across
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Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9 Solutions tomorrow, yesterday’s solutions below
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16 ... Nxg4 16 ... Bxf5! 17 gxf5 Rad8 18 Bd3 Qh4+ 19 Ke2 Qxb4 gives Black two pawns and a dangerous attack for the piece. 17 Bxg4 Qg3+ 18 Rf2 Qg1+ 19 Rf1 Qg3+ 20 Rf2 Qg1+ Draw agreed
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 ½1 ½1 0 ½1 ½½1 1 1 1 ½½½½½½1 1 1 1 1 1 ½ * ½½½½1 ½½1 1 1 ½1 ½* 0 1 ½1 1 ½1 1 1 1 ½ ½1 * 0 ½0 1 1 ½1 1 1 1 ½0 1 * 1 ½½1 1 ½1 ½1 ½½½0 * 1 1 ½1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 ½0 * ½½1 1 1 1 1 ½0 0 ½0 ½* ½1 ½1 ½1 ½½0 0 ½½½* ½0 0 1 1 0 0 ½0 0 0 0 ½* 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 ½1 0 ½1 0 * ½½½ 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 ½* ½½ ½0 0 ½0 0 ½0 0 ½½* ½ 0 ½0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½½½*
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No 6524 6
________ árDbD 4kD] à0pD 0pgp] ß D D hpD] ÞD D DPD ] Ý G D DPD] ÜDNH D D ] ÛP)PDBD 1] Ú$ DQIRD ] ÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈ
________ á D D D D] Winning Move à0pD D 0p] ß DpDk0 D] White to play. This position is from Nottingham 1936. Þg D D D ] Lasker-Euwe, With his c4-knight attacked, Black has Ý Dn) D D] countered by threatening White’s knight ÜD DKD DP] on e1. This is a natural idea, but is also a ÛP) D )PD] horrible blunder. Can you see why? ÚD G H D ] For up-to-the-minute information follow ÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈ my tweets on twitter.com/times_chess. Solution right
1
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C H A R I S M A T I C
Nottingham 1936 1 2 * ½ ½* ½½ 0 ½ ½½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½½ 0 0 ½0 ½0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½
T2 CROSSWORD No 6524 Times Quick Crossword
Easy
E(Szeszycki)
1♥ Pass 2♣ Pass(1) 2♥ Pass 2♠ Pass 3♥ Pass 4♥ (2) End (1) Might double for take-out but (a) he is vulnerable v not and (b) opposing two-overone auctions suggest strength with no assurance of a fit; enter such auctions at your peril. (2) The queen of hearts is looking bigger and bigger.
Chess Raymond Keene Great tournaments
Geggie a. Unpleasantly slimy b. Crazy c. The mouth Cruft a. Well groomed b. Left overs c. A climber’s spike Kumara a. A dug-out canoe b. A sweet potato c. An embroidered tunic
1 b4! Bxb4 2 Nc2 wins a piece.
My friend Dominic Connolly reports a really nice defensive play by his teammate George Szeszycki from a Bridge Base Online deal, in which a seemingly impregnable 4♥ was defeated. At both tables West led the ten of diamonds, the lead passing to declarer’s king (East encouraging with the seven). At trick two declarer led a heart to dummy’s queen. At one table East made the normal-looking play of winning his doubleton ace, then switching to a spade. West won the ace and reverted to diamonds. East overtook his nine of diamonds and tried to cash the ace, but declarer could ruff (with the nine), cash the king-jack of hearts drawing trumps and claim his game. At our featured table, trick two went ♥2, ♥3, ♥Q, ♥8. Ducking the ace, the key play, looks risky. If declarer holds ♥K10xxxxx, might he not follow with a low heart on the second round, robbing your partner of his jack, sure to make (from ♥Jxx) if you win the queen with the ace? Not really. Won’t declarer play the king next, hoping to pin an initial ♥Jx (reasoning that no one would duck from ♥ Ax...). And if declarer holds ♥ K9xxxxx and partner ♥ J10x, partner is supposed to play the ten/jack on the first round, not the small card, to give declarer a losing option of playing to pin ♥J10 doubleton. When your (expert) partner plays low, he cannot hold ♥J10x. In short East’s duck cannot really lose – and just might gain... After dummy’s queen of hearts held, declarer would have been well
Sudoku No 6863
Word Watching Paul Dunn
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Sudoku, Killer and Codeword solutions 8 5 6 4 1 9 7 2 3
2 4 9 3 5 7 6 8 1
1 7 3 8 2 6 4 5 9
9 8 4 5 3 1 2 6 7
No 6862
7 1 2 6 8 4 3 9 5
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5 9 7 2 6 3 8 1 4
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No 3939
1 4 5 9 7 6 3 8 2
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NO E W I E RU
B O N A N Z QUA U AD J F U F A I E C DU E
I L E C E K T D V E N U S I N T Y L
I T H O R P A X R N T E A E R L S Y
No 2207
Y
E M V E R N RA L C R EG D D T G AB L L L A
P I C A O RUN T T Y S E X R E T H UBA B N ACK R L B L E
the times | Monday October 6 2014
47
FGM
Point to prove Lancaster must beware wounded All Blacks after South Africa power play
Sport
Driving lessons Bianchi accident puts Hamilton’s latest win into perspective
Stuart Barnes, page 59
Motor racing, pages 62-64
Treve bows out at top of her game with second successive Arc victory ALAN CROWHURST / GETTY IMAGES
Andy Stephens
Paris is one of the most romantic cities in the world but no script writer would have dared dream up the earth-moving events that occurred at Longchamp yesterday. Hindered by injuries and written off in most quarters, Treve produced one of racing’s great comebacks to gain a second successive spectacular success in the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Just as 12 months previously, the filly powered through Europe’s richest turf race as if propelled by invisible wings, although this time Thierry Jarnet, her jockey, stuck to the rail rather than the outside. Once the 47-year-old invited her to put her stamp on the €5 million (about £3.9 million) contest, about two furlongs from home, the response was instant and what had looked the most open renewal in the near 100-year history of the race — the bookmakers bet 8-1 the field in the morning — had been turned into an exhibition. Treve dashed four lengths clear of her 19 rivals and, although her margin of victory was reduced to half that by the staying-on Flintshire, the result was never in doubt. Taghrooda, the Oaks and King George winner, was a gallant third, with Kingston Hill, the St Leger hero, fourth from a wide draw on ground that would have been plenty quick enough for him. Jarnet burst into tears after crossing the line and many in the packed grandstands, who deserted Treve and allowed her to go off at 14-1 on the PariMutuel, must have felt like doing the same. The only person who, seemingly, had not lost faith in the winner’s powers was Criquette Head-Maarek, the trainer, who has nursed her star through leg and back problems this year. She
Stratford Rob Wright
2.00 Honey Pound 4.00 The Selector 2.30 Go Odee Go 4.30 Unwanted Gift 3.00 Decimus 5.00 Canicallyouback 3.30 Princess Caetani Thunderer’s double 3.00 Fitandproperjob (nap). 4.00 Speed Check. Going: good to firm (good in places) At The Races
2.00
Maiden Hurdle
(£2,599: 2m 110y) (6)
1 2-320 HONEY POUND 118 T Vaughan 6-11-0 30-6 KUBLAI 151 P Hobbs 4-11-0 2 23F- LAWSONS THORNS 207 D Skelton 5-11-0 3 4 55B1/ NORDIC RUN 869P B Powell 7-11-0 5 40-64 BUS NAMED DESIRE 27 K Frost 6-10-7 6 MY TREASURE 27 M Gates 7-10-7 6
R Johnson M Nolan (3) H Skelton B Powell J Hodson (7) M Hamill (7)
2-13 Honey Pound, 8-1 Kublai, 16-1 Bus Named Desire, 22-1 Lawsons Thorns, 40-1 Nordic Run, 50-1 My Treasure.
O’Brien left to rue costly error aboard Gleneagles Andy Stephens
fantastic turn of foot and has shown that again.” Treve had suffered odds-on defeats in her previous three races this season — having begun the campaign unbeaten — and Head-Maarek jocked off
Frankie Dettori after the second of those reverses at Royal Ascot. The Italian, who finished ninth on Ruler Of The World after racing prominently, must have had mixed emotions as he saw her disappearing into the distance. Japan’s three challengers never figured, with Harp Star, anchored in rear early on, doing best of the trio in sixth. The connections of Taghrooda and Kingston Hill took pride in the efforts of their challengers. Paul Hanagan, the rider of the former, summed up the thoughts of most when he said: “I just saw a flash [Treve] on the inside. She’s some horse.”
Joseph O’Brien was back in the firing line at Longchamp yesterday. Three weeks after admitting he was to blame for a damaging defeat aboard Australia, the young jockey let another group one prize slip from his grasp. O’Brien swept to the front about a furlong out aboard Gleneagles in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere but his mount, trained by his father, Aidan, then hung right and his rider made no attempt to straighten him up, hampering the finishing efforts of his closest pursuers who became squeezed on the rail. France’s strict rules regarding interference, which had been brought into focus by Cirrus Des Aigles’s demotion in the feature race the previous day, left disqualification inevitable. Full Mast, trained by Criquette Head-Maarek, was awarded the spoils. Earlier, a luckless run for Sole Power in the QNB Prix de l’Abbaye opened the door for Move In Time, trained by David O’Meara and ridden by Danny Tudhope, to spring a surprise. There were no such hard-luck stories in the Total Prix Marcel Boussac, in which the O’Brien-trained Found was a commanding winner. The daughter of Galileo surged clear under Ryan Moore and is now favourite with several bookmakers for the Qipco 1,000 Guineas and Investec Oaks. Moore also won on High Jinx, for James Fanshawe, in the Qatar Prix du Cadran, while Frankie Dettori capped a great day for Sheikh Joaan al-Thani, his employer, by conjuring an unlikely victory aboard Olympic Glory in the Qatar Prix de la Foret after the Richard Hannon-trained colt had trailed for much of the way.
3.30
4.30
5.00
Jarnet, left, punches the air in delight after the victory of Treve in the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp
revealed afterwards that she had pleaded with Sheikh Joaan al-Thani, the owner, to resist retiring her, when others were suggesting that another run — and defeat — would only damage her reputation before she went to the breeding sheds. Now, as one of only six back-to-back Arc winners, and the first since Alleged 36 years ago, she retires as one of the all-time greats. “Everyone was saying she shouldn’t run, she should go to stud, she’s cooked,” Head-Maarek said. “I’m so proud. She wasn’t 100 per cent — perhaps 95 per cent — but today she proved she’s back. She’s got that 2.30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Novices' Hurdle
(£3,119: 2m 3f) (7)
24-21 CARN ROCK 128 (C) M Gates 6-11-5 Peter Carberry (3) 004-5 CLOONACOOL 133 Mrs P Robeson 5-10-12 B Powell 2542- GO ODEE GO 195 (BF) D Skelton 6-10-12 H Skelton 03-60 GREY MESSENGER 10 (T) Miss E Baker 5-10-12 J Banks (5) 00-33 PERFECT POISON 15 D McCain 6-10-12 J M Maguire -0B41 SEAVIPER 30 (C) R Phillips 5-10-12 R Johnson F1P0- SHADY GLEN 164 G McPherson 5-10-12 R Hatch (5)
Big-race result 3.30 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe 1 Treve (T Jarnet, 14-1) 2 Flintshire (20-1) 3 Taghrooda (11-2 fav) 20 ran. Dist: 2l, 1 1/4l. Trainer: C Head-Maarek
1 2 3 4 5 6
11-4 Grimley Girl, 100-30 Recway Lass, 7-2 Mystery Drama, 9-2 others.
4.00
3.00
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
1 2 3 4 5 6
(£3,898: 2m 7f) (6)
131-1 DECIMUS 29 (P,C,D) J Scott 7-11-12 Matt Griffiths (3) 52104 GIANT O MURCHU 1 (T,P,C) Mrs L Hill 10-11-12 N Scholfield /0625 PRINCE DES MARAIS 9 (T) Mrs C Bailey 11-11-7 A Thornton 23P-P NOM DE GUERRE 118 (P) B De Haan 12-11-5 Jack Doyle 36222 FITANDPROPERJOB 6 (T,V) A Middleton 8-10-5 C Deutsch (7) 3-046 LE GRAND CHENE 6 (T,P) Mrs S Leech 8-10-5 P Moloney
13-8 Decimus, 7-2 Giant O Murchu, 4-1 Prince Des Marais, 6-1 Fitandproperjob, 9-1 Nom De Guerre, 12-1 Le Grand Chene.
(£3,249: 2m 110y) (6)
123- MYSTERY DRAMA 30F (D,BF) A King 4-11-12 T Bellamy (5) 323-F PRINCESS CAETANI 16F (BF) D Dennis 5-11-4 R Johnson 21134 TENDER SURPRISE 42 (D) N King 5-10-9 T Whelan (3) 00331 RECWAY LASS 76 (T,P,D) Mrs S Leech 6-10-0 Killian Moore (5) 2P0P- GRIMLEY GIRL 470 H Oliver 8-10-0 T Scudamore 5-04P HERMOSA VAQUERA 29 (P) Miss A Newton-Smith 4-10-0 A Wedge
11-4 Go Odee Go, 3-1 Perfect Poison, 4-1 Seaviper, 9-2 Carn Rock, 6-1 Cloonacool, 12-1 Grey Messenger, 40-1 Shady Glen.
Handicap Chase
Mares' Handicap Hurdle
Handicap Hurdle
(£1,949: 2m 6f 110y) (11)
644/F TOOT SWEET 42 H Daly 7-11-12 R Johnson 55400 FLAMINGO BEAT 26 Mrs C Dunnett 4-11-7 T Whelan (3) 4-630 IKTIVIEW 39 (T,B) M Sheppard 6-11-7 C Poste 11O21 SPEED CHECK 6 (P,CD) D Cantillon 7-11-6 C Shoemark (3) 44432 THE RIGHT TIME 39 (T) A Carroll 6-11-5 L Edwards 4-404 LA MADONNINA 135 Mrs C Keevil 6-11-3 I Popham 440-4 FLASHY STAR 18F Paul Henderson 5-11-0 N Scholfield -P205 THE SELECTOR 30 C Gordon 5-10-10 S Bowen (7) 6-223 DAZZLING RITA 15 (T) N Twiston-Davies 8-10-10 David England 30P/2 BALTIC BEN 38 (T) J Farrelly 7-10-6 A P Cawley 4-000 PHOTOGENIQUE 39 B Summers 11-10-0 B Powell
11-8 Speed Check, 5-1 Toot Sweet, 6-1 Baltic Ben, Dazzling Rita, 12-1 The Right Time, 14-1 Iktiview, 16-1 The Selector, 20-1 others.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Handicap Chase
(£2,274: 2m 4f) (12)
3653- VINNIESLITTLE LAMB 179 D Bridgwater 6-11-12 A P Cawley 13F0- MIDNIGHT CHARMER 208 (D) Miss E Baker 8-11-7 J Banks (5) 32222 ZAMA ZAMA 46 (D) E Williams 7-11-7 P Moloney F5305 FAUSTINA PIUS 39 (P) M Sheppard 6-11-6 C Poste 42046 RED SOLO CUP 10 (P) Fergal O'Brien 6-11-6 C Shoemark (3) 212-5 LITTLE JIMMY 130 (P,CD,BF) T Gretton 7-10-13 Felix De Giles 0-000 GIZZIT 75 J S Mullins 8-10-12 A Thornton 02652 UNWANTED GIFT 10 A Phillips 9-10-12 S Bowen (7) 45-02 CROCO MISTER 38 (D,BF) Mrs R Gasson 7-10-7 B Poste (5) 410P5 CAPTAIN KNOCK 17 (D) P Gundry 11-10-6 N Scholfield 06-43 WALLS WAY 75 (D) Mrs T Barfoot-Saunt 10-10-1 J Stevenson (7) P6-45 POD 109 (P) Mrs C Keevil 6-10-0 J Best (3)
7-2 Croco Mister, 11-2 Zama Zama, 7-1 Little Jimmy, Unwanted Gift, 8-1 Midnight Charmer, 10-1 Pod, Red Solo Cup, Vinnieslittle Lamb, 14-1 Captain Knock, Gizzit, 16-1 Faustina Pius, 25-1 Walls Way.
Rob Wright’s midday update thetimes.co.uk/sportsbook
1 2 3 4 5
National Hunt Flat Race (£1,559: 2m 110y) (5)
4- CANICALLYOUBACK 315 E Williams 6-11-0 P Moloney 3- I'M A JOKER 277 Mrs S Humphrey 5-11-0 J Quinlan 400- KNIGHT'S REWARD 198 (T) T Vaughan 4-11-0 R Johnson 5 PATAVINUS 28 A G Newcombe 5-11-0 A Tinkler THE WESTERN FORCE D Skelton 4-11-0 Miss B Andrews (7)
3-1 Canicallyouback, I'm A Joker, 100-30 Patavinus, 4-1 Knight's Reward, 5-1 The Western Force.
Course specialists Pontefract: Trainers C Appleby, 4 winners from 14 runners, 28.6%; W Haggas, 12 from 44, 27.3%. Jockeys W Buick, 6 winners from 32 rides, 18.8%; F Norton, 16 from 88, 18.2%. Stratford: Trainers D Skelton, 6 from 20, 30%; A King, 10 from 39, 25.6%. Jockeys T Scudamore, 16 from 80, 20%; R Johnson, 36 from 185, 19.5%. Windsor: Trainers W Haggas, 15 from 55, 27.3%; J Noseda, 21 from 84, 25%. Jockeys R L Moore, 61 from 255, 23.9%; A Atzeni, 21 from 91, 23.1%.
Yesterday’s racing results Huntingdon Going: good
1.50 (2m hdle) 1, Chesterfield (A P McCoy, 2-11 fav); 2, King’s Request (7-1); 3, Langham Lily (50-1). 7 ran. NR: Harlestone Times. 14l, Ol. J Ferguson. 2.25 (2m ch) 1, Chestnut Ben (J E Moore, 7-1); 2, Saddlers Deal (9-4 fav); 3, Larteta (15-2). 6 ran. 7l, 8l. G Brown. 3.00 (2m hdle) 1, Gimme Five (W Hutchinson, 8-15 fav); 2, Witch From Rome (8-1); 3, Appellez Baileys (66-1). 6 ran. Ol, 19l. A King. 3.40 (2m ch) 1, A Tail Of Intrigue (W Kennedy,
5-1); 2, Lysino (10-11 fav); 3, Town Mouse (10-1). 4 ran. NR: Knight Of Pleasure. 9l, ns. Ian Williams. 4.10 (2m 4f hdle) 1, Deadly Sting (Sam Twiston-Davies, 4-1); 2, Triumphant (13-8 fav); 3, Occasionally Yours (10-1). 9 ran. Kl, 12l. J Butler. 4.40 (3m 2f hdle) 1, Oscars Way (Charlie Deutsch, 9-2); 2, Combustible Kate (17-2); 3, Spanish Fork (3-1 fav). 7 ran. NR: Cubism. 6l, 1Kl. D Cantillon. 5.15 (3m ch) 1, Abbeygrey (Adam Wedge, 9-4); 2, Rogue Dancer (6-5 fav); 3, Orfeo Conti (6-1). 4 ran. NR: Ballyvoneen. Ol, 40l. Evan Williams. Placepot: £318.10. Quadpot: £70.10.
Kelso
Going: soft (good to soft in places) 2.00 (2m hdle) 1, Sleep In First (Dale Irving, 3-1); 2, Mason Hindmarsh (25-1); 3, Snowed In (7-2). Endeavor 85-40 fav. 7 ran. NR: Aficionado, Amilliontimes, Dynamic Drive, Muwalla, Push Me, Time Of My Life. 1l, 9l. J Ewart. 2.35 (2m hdle) 1, Mr Gallivanter (D C Costello, 1-3 fav); 2, Al Musheer (11-4); 3, Cape Arrow (33-1). 4 ran. NR: Fillydelphia. 21l, 30l. J J Quinn. 3.15 (2m 7f ch) 1, Big Sound (D C Costello, 11-4 fav); 2, Wakhan (5-1). Only 2 finished. 6 ran. NR: Generous Chief, Shady Sadie. 3Nl. M Walford. 3.55 (2m 6f hdle) 1, Landecker (Lucy Alexander,
11-4); 2, Gold Chain (15-8 fav); 3, Spirit Oscar (2-1). 4 ran. NR: Mo Rouge, Rare Bob. 3Nl, 2Ol. N Alexander. 4.25 (2m 1f ch) 1, Simply Ned (Brian Harding, 15-8 fav); 2, Scotch Warrior (3-1); 3, Swift Arrow (12-1). 5 ran. NR: Toledo Gold. 2Kl, 2l. N Richards. 5.00 (2m 7f ch) 1, Local Present (D C Costello, 9-2); 2, Sendiym (11-10 fav); 3, Runswick Relax (9-4). 4 ran. NR: Foot The Bill. Kl, 17l. C Grant. 5.35 (2m 2f hdle) 1, Burnt Sienna (Steven Fox, 7-1; Rob Wright’s nap); 2, One For Hocky (11-8 fav); 3, Catchthemoonlight (5-1). 8 ran. NR: Velocity Of Light. Kl, 5l. N Kelly. Placepot: £476.70. Quadpot: £53.30.
Uttoxeter
Going: good 2.20 (2m hdle) 1, Area Fifty One (A Tinkler, 5-4 fav); 2, Andi'amu (4-1); 3, Arty Campbell (28-1). 10 ran. NR: The Flying Column. Hd, 19l. N Henderson. 2.50 (2m 4f hdle) 1, Minella Present (Martin McIntyre, 11-10 fav); 2, Derrintogher Bliss (17-2); 3, Dr Dalwhinny (6-1). 5 ran. NR: Golden Calf, Longshaw, Tims Crusader. 4Kl, 26l. N Mulholland. 3.20 (3m hdle) 1, Chill Factor (Rachael Green, 2-1 fav); 2, Fighter Jet (7-2); 3, Dragon's Den (16-1). 7 ran. NR: Sentimentaljourney. 10l, 3l. A Honeyball. 4.00 (2m 4f ch) 1, Sergeant Mattie (N D Fehily,
8-13 fav); 2, Romeo Americo (11-1); 3, Ballybogey (16-1). 5 ran. NR: Armedandbeautiful, Solstice Son. Ol, 2Nl. C Longsdon. 4.30 (3m ch) 1, Famousandfearless (T Scudamore, 2-1 fav); 2, Gallery Exhibition (9-2); 3, Favoured Nation (11-4). 6 ran. NR: Mohi Rahrere. 4Kl, 3Nl. D Pipe. 5.05 (2m hdle) 1, Agapanthus (A P McCoy, 8-13 fav); 2, Straits Of Messina (6-1); 3, Almowj (33-1). 8 ran. Kl, 25l. N Mulholland. 5.40 (2m 6f ch) 1, Allerton (P J Brennan, 6-1); 2, Typical Oscar (2-1); 3, Boosha (25-1). 5 ran. NR: River D'Or. Kl, 32l. F O'Brien. Jackpot: £90.10. Placepot: £8.30. Quadpot: £5.70.
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
the game 6 Barclays Premier League
Goals! Goals! Goals! Online now: watch all the action from the weekend on your computer, tablet or smartphone
When push comes to shove, it’s the same old story for Wenger oliver kay Chief Football Correspondent
Chelsea
Hazard 27 (pen), Costa 78
Arsenal Referee M Atkinson Attendance 41,607
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For once, Arsène Wenger and Arsenal seemed ready, in more ways than one, to take the fight to José Mourinho and Chelsea, but that new-found belligerence was not enough to spare them from the all-too-familiar disappointment of defeat at Stamford Bridge. Wenger’s unedifying shove of Mourinho on the touchline will be the enduring image from an ill-tempered afternoon in west London, but once the dust settled last night, it was the same old story: another victory for Chelsea, now five points clear at the top of the Barclays Premier League table; another loss for Arsenal away to a rival team; another victory for Mourinho over Wenger, against whom he remains unbeaten in 12 encounters. Wenger and Arsenal are entitled to feel that they had acquitted themselves well — even Mourinho admitted that — and that refereeing decisions went against them, notably when Gary Cahill stayed on the pitch for the wild lunge at Alexis Sánchez that preceded the touchline flare-up. There was a strong penalty appeal, too, but the hard-luck story loses its appeal when Chelsea’s reliably assured defending is supplemented by the game’s two outstanding pieces of attacking skill. The first came on 27 minutes when Eden Hazard, barely seen to that point, embarked on a mesmerising dribble past Santi Cazorla and Calum Chambers before being upended in the penalty area by Laurent Koscielny. Hazard converted the penalty himself to open the scoring. The second came with 12 minutes remaining when Cesc Fàbregas, the former Arsenal player, produced a superb through-ball for Diego Costa, who finished in a way that lived up to Wenger’s description of him as a “killer”. “You need your top players to pick magic cards out of their pockets in games like this,” Mourinho said. Too often last season, Chelsea were found to be a little short of match-winning quality, but, with Fàbregas and Costa on board, they have looked a far more formidable proposition this term. Chelsea go into the season’s second international break with a nearimpeccable record in the Premier League: played seven, won six, drawn
one, lost none. All six of those wins have been by at least two goals. “We have only reasons to be happy, but it’s only October,” Mourinho said. “There’s a long way to go, but we have a team who can adapt to different moments in the game — good when we have the ball, good on the counterattack, comfortable when we have to be compact and defend.” They had to perform well yesterday against Arsenal — “a good Arsenal,” as Mourinho called them. This was not an Arsenal team walking blindly into a disaster zone, as they did on so many of their trips to the Premier League’s leading clubs last season. They were not out-thought or outmuscled by a Mourinho team, as they have been before. Ultimately, it seemed to come down to Chelsea’s superior quality in
Matic, of Chelsea, moves in to challenge Welbeck, the Arsenal striker, at Stamford Bridge yesterday as the home side won to open up a five-point lead at the top; main picture, Costa shows his class by chipping Szczesny for his team’s second goal of a rumbustious encounter TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER, GRAHAM HUGHES
various positions: not just those incisive contributions from Hazard and Fabregas but their strength across the back four, in front of the back four and of course at centre forward. Arsenal started brightly. When they came to Stamford Bridge in March, for Wenger’s 1,000th game in charge, they were 3-0 down and a man down to Chelsea inside 17 minutes. This time they were much more structured and purposeful both with and without the ball. Perhaps it was in a bid to disrupt that rhythm that Cahill flew over the ball and caught Sánchez with an ugly challenge in the 19th minute. Like Danny Welbeck later in the game, Cahill should have been sent off. On the touchline, tempers flared. Shortly afterwards, Chelsea lost Thibaut Courtois, their goalkeeper, who had been concussed in diving at the feet of Sánchez. The rules have been tightened to avoid situations such as this, where a player continues when suffering from concussion, but it took another 12 minutes before he made way for Petr Cech. It is a growing problem. Little had been seen of Chelsea’s attacking players, but Hazard, given space, has the talent to change a game in an instant. Receiving the ball midway through the Arsenal half, he glided away from Cazorla and Chambers and into the penalty area, where Koscielny’s only answer was to bring him down crudely. Hazard was not to be denied his goal, rolling the penalty past Szczesny to put Chelsea in front. Arsenal had plenty of the ball after that, but Chelsea’s resistance grew. Cech dived at the feet of Wilshere shortly before the interval after a heavy first touch from the Arsenal player.
TALKING TACTICS Costa goal Chelsea v Arsenal The Premier League’s most prolific assist-provider and goalscorer this season combined for Chelsea’s second goal against Arsenal. Cesc Fàbregas’s high,
defence-splitting ball was his seventh assist, and Diego Costa controlled the pass on his chest and flicked home his ninth goal of the campaign Pass Fàbregas
Flamini
Flamini
Mertesacker Costa S
Run with ball
Early in the second half Wilshere saw a shot blocked by Fàbregas’s outstretched arm. No penalty, Martin Atkinson said. Wenger was left to seethe on the touchline. Chelsea are difficult to break down at any time and they proved obdurate in the extreme, particularly once Mourinho had sent on John Obi Mikel alongside Nemanja Matic, another layer of security on top of John Terry and Cahill, who were also served well by their full backs, Branislav Ivanovic and César Azpilicueta. The winning goal was made by a Fàbregas-Costa combination, but the full backs played a part, too. Ivanovic won the ball and it was quickly moved via Azpilicueta and Mikel to Fàbregas, who floated a perfect pass over the Arsenal defence for Costa to chase. Costa controlled the ball on his chest and barely broke stride before lobbing it over Szczesny to send Chelsea five points clear at the top of the table. On this evidence, they will take some catching.
the times | Monday October 6 2014
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the game 6 Barclays Premier League What we learnt this week rory smith
Brain strain a pain for Wayne
Roy Hodgson’s latest attempt to topple Boris Johnson in the running for Merseyside’s most popular man has given us an idea for a TV show. Rooney at Uni will see England striker Wayne try to get to grips with higher education. It will be like Educating Yorkshire, but with a Scouse accent.
Don’t ask me, I didn’t see it “I was trying to go from A to B and someone confronted me,” Arsène Wenger said of his shoving match with José Mourinho at the Bridge. This, we think, is the French equivalent of: “I’ll be walking, punching as I go. If you walk into my fists, it’s your own fault.”
Dog-free night at the Emirates
No regrets or apology for spat on touchline matt hughes Arsène Wenger refused to apologise for shoving José Mourinho in the chest as they squared up on the edge of their technical areas. The Arsenal manager conceded that he had given his opposite number a “little push”, but claimed that his actions were justified as he was seeking to get to the pitch to check on the health of Alexis Sánchez. Wenger had been angered by Gary Cahill’s ugly challenge on Sánchez
moments earlier, for which the England defender was fortunate to escape with only a yellow card. The Frenchman claimed that he had not administered a proper push and argued that Mourinho was equally responsible as the Chelsea manager had blocked his path. “You would see if I really tried to push you,” Wenger said. “Come on. What is there to regret? I wanted to go from A to B and somebody confronted me before B without any sign of welcome. I was going to see Sánchez, to see how badly he was injured. “I trust you to teach me all the moral lessons in the next two weeks, and I can accept that. I’m long enough in the game to see things the right way.” Mourinho insisted that he had done nothing wrong and pinned the blame on Wenger, although did not seek to inflame tensions further. The Portuguese praised the actions of Jonathan Moss, the fourth official, who threatened to send both managers to the stands if they continued to be aggressive, and excused Wenger’s loss
of control. “There is no problem,” Mourinho said. “A football pitch is a football pitch. Jonathan Moss did well and [referee] Martin Atkinson did well too. But to be fair, I do so many wrong things in football and sometimes lose emotion, but not this time. This time I was just in my technical area and it was not my problem. “It becomes heated because it’s a big game, with big clubs, big rivals, and an important match for both teams. I think these conditions make a game of emotions. After that there are two technical areas. One for me, and one for him. He was coming into my technical area, and not for the right reasons to give some technical instructions. He was coming to push the referee for a red card, and I didn’t like that. But I think Moss did a good job.” Mourinho’s match analysis was less diplomatic, however, and his claim that Chelsea had no problems controlling Arsenal and had the game in their pocket after taking the lead irritated
Wenger. “Arsenal played a good game, they gave us a difficult game, but we could deal with it without problems, which is fantastic,” Mourinho said. “We were ready for them to have the ball. They like the ball, and we were ready for that. “We were compact between the lines, controlled [Mesut] Özil and Alexis coming inside, put pressure on [Mathieu] Flamini and [Jack] Wilshere. Defensively we played very, very well. At 1-0 up the game is in the pocket, almost. We controlled it. We were always dangerous on the counter. And I think we deserved the victory.” Wenger also expressed frustration at some of Chelsea’s tactics, and accused Oscar of deliberate and persistent foul play. “Oscar was lucky to stay on the pitch with the repeated fouls in the pitch,” he said. “He was booked in the 88th minute, but he was purposely fouling. Branislav Ivanovic as well was making bad fouls. The result was down to little things, which went on their side, but it was a very even game.”
Bad week for Arsenal’s sniffer dogs, which let in those Galatasaray flares. In our experience, these dogs are mainly spaniels. We wonder if this is another time when Arsenal needed a terrier in the middle.
A mis-hit is as good as a goal
Definition of the week Assist (noun): of 99 per cent of players — a deliberate pass or cross played to a team-mate to create a goalscoring chance; of Ángel Di María — a mis-hit shot.
Managing to communicate
“There are some people I think are very eloquent who do not get messages across well.” Yes, Roy Hodgson, there are. Cover image: Times Photographer: Graham Hughes
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
the game 6 Barclays Premier League Chelsea (4-2-3-1)
matt hughes
thibaut courtois Should not have stayed on after being knocked unconscious. Decision should have been out of his and Chelsea’s hands.
6
branislav ivanovic Given plenty to think about by Sánchez, but coped admirably, even if his attacking surges were restricted as a result.
6
gary cahill An uncompromising performance, but fortunate not to be sent off for his horrendous challenge on Sánchez.
7
john terry Kept Welbeck in his pocket all afternoon without breaking sweat, as his nous enabled him to dominate.
7
césar azpilicueta Did not give Özil an inch in which to play, and the German’s head dropped, an all-too-familiar sight for Arsenal fans.
6
cesc fàbregas Shrugged off abuse from the visiting fans in a brilliant display, topped off by his through-ball for Costa’s goal.
8
nemanja matic Arguably the game’s pivotal figure, his tough tackling and tireless running ensured that Chelsea stayed in front.
8
andré schürrle Worked the flanks diligently without ever really threatening. Avoided any fresh embarrassing misses.
6
oscar Showed his battling qualities by shrugging off a nasty clash of heads, but this contest was not suited to his subtle skills.
6
eden hazard Changed the game with a moment of brilliance, but there was far more to admire about his overall performance.
8
diego costa A quiet afternoon by his standards until scoring his ninth goal in seven matches with a wonderful chip.
7
substitutions Petr Cech (for Courtois, 24min). Quick off his line to deny Wilshere. 6 Jon Obi Mikel (for Schürrle, 69). Helped to assert Chelsea’s midfield dominance. 6 Willian (for Oscar, 87). His injection of energy was barely required. Substitutes not used: Filipe Luís, Kurt Zouma, Mohamed Salah, Loïc Rémy. Booked: Cahill, Ivanovic, Schürrle, Oscar.
Wenger no closer to cracking blue code
Matt Dickinson Chief Sports Correspondent Arsenal manager’s frustration a result of worrying imbalance Arsène Wenger came down from the moral high ground yesterday with his arms raised and his blood boiling. For years the Arsenal manager has fought José Mourinho from his high horse, armed with his lofty principles of football artistry and prudent economics. This was the day when he dropped the philosophising for something closer to a bar brawl. “A little push,” Wenger said, downplaying the force of his shove on Mourinho by telling one reporter that “you would see if I really wanted [to push you]”. True, this spat will not have Don King offering to promote the next confrontation. In their suits and club ties, they could have been two bankers arguing over who spilt the Château Lafite. The FA disciplinary department is unlikely to follow up the argy-bargy given that Martin Atkinson, the referee, dealt with it, ticking off both managers like bickering schoolboys, yet that clash told its own story. Wenger can say it was a spontaneous reaction to finding Mourinho in his way as he sought to remonstrate over Gary Cahill’s vicious tackle on Alexis Sánchez. “I wanted to go from A to B and somebody confronted me before B without any sign of welcome,” he said. He can argue that this was about one tackle and a momentary coming together, in which Mourinho repeatedly told Wenger to “f*** off” back to his own technical area, but it was also about years of frustration and an absolute determination not to be subordinate any more to a rival who has so long been his provocateur-inchief. The enduring problem for Wenger, and Arsenal, is that his resolve not to be pushed around did nothing to change the outcome. Defeat felt inevitable long before Diego Costa’s clinching goal to make it 2-0 to Chelsea. We might call Wenger-Mourinho one of the great managerial rivalries if it were not so one-sided. It has personal antagonism, philosophical differences, but make that 12 games in which the Frenchman has failed to beat the
Portuguese. Even those who prefer Wenger’s approach, and make allowance for his budgetary restraints, must acknowledge the imbalance that maddens the Arsenal manager more than he was letting on yesterday as he talked of “a strong performance, a strong spirit”. Wenger argued that this loss “was just down to very little things”, but still his team are no closer to finding the code to beat Chelsea, even with Sánchez, Danny Welbeck and Mesut Özil added to the attack. The latter demonstrated all the staying power of vanishing spray. With memories of their 6-0 humiliation last season, Arsenal did play with more collective fight but still they find themselves lacking against the division’s best. Three wins, and 12 defeats, in 19 games against the top four is not just a revealing statistic but a mental block. Wenger cannot find a way past Mourinho, whose summary of the game — “at 1-0 up, the game is in the pocket” — could not be disputed. The Frenchman denied that this record against Mourinho made him extra tense in the dugout, and he does have pushing “form” with other managers.
MANAGERS WITH FORM WHEN IT COMES TO TOUCHLINE TROUBLE Arsène Wenger’s shove on José Mourinho yesterday was his latest contribution to managerial spats on the touchline. April 2006: Arsène Wenger (Arsenal) v Martin Jol (Tottenham) Arsenal have two players lying injured but Jol orders his team to play on rather than kicking the ball out. When Tottenham score, Wenger confronts Jol and the pair argue with faces almost pressed together. Nov 2006: Alan Pardew (West Ham) v Arsène Wenger (Arsenal) Pardew’s wild celebration after his West Ham side score a late winning goal provokes Wenger to approach him. Pardew stands his ground and is pushed twice by the Frenchman. The Arsenal manager then refuses to shake his counterpart’s hand at the final whistle. Mar 2010: Roberto Mancini (Man City) v David Moyes (Everton) When Moyes holds on to the ball with Everton leading near the end of the match, Mancini rushes over to retrieve it. He pushes Moyes, the ball falls to the floor and Mancini grabs it. Aug 2011: José Mourinho (Real Madrid) v Tito Vilanova (Barcelona) As several players and staff argue on the touchline, Mourinho strides towards Vilanova, the Barcelona assistant manager, and pokes him in the eye. Vilanova responds by slapping the Portuguese on the side of the head.
There was a fracas with Alan Pardew. Sir Alex Ferguson once described how, during the notorious “Battle of the Buffet” ten years ago, Wenger “came sprinting towards me with his hands raised saying: ‘What do you want to do about it?’ ” “Old vinegar face,” Ferguson called Wenger and that sourness has been seen often enough in defeat, but it is Mourinho who has a particular knack of bringing out the worst in his rivals, and provoking the angry brawler even in measured men. Mourinho had Frank Rijkaard swinging blows after a game at Stamford Bridge; found Manuel Pellegrini’s boiling point; even managed to draw a four-letter tirade from Pep Guardiola. He could probably wind up the Pope. Those nasty insults about Wenger being a “voyeur” and “a specialist in failure” have undoubtedly left their mark, but what must really infuriate the Arsenal manager is that unshakeable Chelsea defence. Mourinho’s teams tend to offer as much vulnerability as a brick wall, and this Chelsea XI is typically obdurate. Knowing that Arsenal would dominate the ball in the second half caused no anxious tremors around Stamford Bridge. Chelsea simply dropped back, played tight, closed down space. They would not be caught on the counterattack — they never are — through defensive organisation and tactical fouling if necessary, with even a lightweight such as Oscar contributing his share of blocks, interceptions and the odd trip. When Arsenal rushed to take a quick throw-in, Mourinho beckoned to the ballboy, who dutifully lobbed the ball over Kieran Gibbs to the Chelsea manager to waste precious seconds. Wenger will say that he is above such antics and as certain as ever that his team play a superior style of football, but that is five draws and seven losses against Mourinho (scoring six, conceding 21). “Arsene Wenger, we want you to stay,” Stamford Bridge crowed. As he was baited, the arguments continued on the touchline where Steve Bould, Wenger’s assistant, could be heard shouting over to Rui Faria, Chelsea’s fitness coach, to “shut your gob”. On the Chelsea bench, they cackled at Arsenal’s rising frustration. They were in control, and Mourinho could even afford to be magnanimous to Wenger about their touchline row. “Game over. Story over,” Mourinho said. “It’s no problem.” As if losing (again) was not bad enough, Wenger had to endure his rival laying claim to the moral high ground, too.
Over and out: Courtois, the Chelsea goalkeeper, collides with Sánchez but played on for some minutes after seemingly losing consciousness TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER, GRAHAM HUGHES
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the game 6 Barclays Premier League Arsenal (4-3-2-1) matt hughes
Courtois in hospital after concussion matt hughes José Mourinho defended Chelsea’s decision to keep Thibaut Courtois on the pitch yesterday despite the club appearing to ignore the Premier League’s newly introduced Concussion Protocol. The Belgium goalkeeper played on for 14 minutes, having seemingly lost consciousness after his collision with Alexis Sánchez before being taken to hospital as a precaution. Under guidelines introduced at the start of the season, the Premier League confirmed that club doctors have the final say on substitutions in the event of a head injury, although recommend that any player suspected of losing consciousness should be removed immediately and not allowed to return.
There is also a Premier League doctor in the tunnel at all matches, although they are often reliant on a television monitor for information and played no part in the decision-making yesterday. Mourinho claimed that he was not involved either, with Courtois’ substitution controlled by Chelsea’s medical director, Dr Paco Biosca. He was initially allowed to continue after just 56 seconds’ deliberation, despite a source close to the player later confirming that he had been temporarily unconscious. It is believed that the blood seen by fans was caused by a cut to the ear. “On the bench I don’t communicate with the doctors,” Mourinho said. “I just get decisions. Can he stay? Yes. He has to leave? OK. There’s no time to discuss, no medical qualities to discuss.
Mourinho said he trusted the club doctor to decide if Courtois could continue
They said yes at first, then after that no. I was just worried for the kid. “We have Dr Biosca, the head of the medical department, and he has his people. I just want them to give me a decision.” Courtois spent last night in hospital because of light concussion and he is expected to be available for selection after the international break. The 22year-old may join up with the Belgium squad for further tests this week, but will not play in their European Championship qualifiers against Andorra and Bosnia and Herzegovina and is likely to be sent back to Chelsea. Taylor Twellman, a former Major League Soccer player who retired after head injuries, criticised the Premier League’s process when he tweeted: “Courtois wasn’t evaluated properly.”
wojciech szczesny Made few memorable saves as Arsenal defended solidly for the most part, but he could not be faulted for either goal.
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calum chambers Had a difficult afternoon and fortunate to stay on the pitch for a foul on Schürrle when on a yellow card.
5
per mertesacker Had seemed to be edging a bruising battle with Costa, but lost it at the last after failing to track the Spaniard’s run.
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laurent koscielny Another who was fortunate to avoid a sending-off when he brought down Hazard with a late challenge.
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kieran gibbs Helped Arsenal to keep a better defensive shape than usual as he restrained himself from bombing forward.
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mathieu flamini Brought some bite to Arsenal’s midfield with his trademark sliding tackles that just about stayed within the law.
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mesut özil Produced some eyecatching passes, but bundled off the ball too easily and his head dropped.
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santi cazorla Busy and inventive, but nothing to show for it in an ultimately disappointing display, shooting tamely wide.
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jack wilshere Relished his freedom in a more advanced role and attacked with purpose, but let down by a poor touch in his best chance.
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alexis sánchez Blameless in the Courtois collision, but troubled Chelsea in other areas with his pace, trickery and movement.
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danny welbeck Found the going far tougher than against Galatasaray last week. Lacked physical presence up front.
5
substitutions Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (for Cazorla, 69min). Produced the odd probing run. 5 Lukas Podolski (for Sánchez, 79). Not the man for a crisis. Tomas Rosicky (for Wilshere, 83). Made one robust challenge on Fàbregas. Substitutes not used: Damián Martinez, Nacho Monreal, Joel Campbell, Francis Coquelin. Booked: Chambers, Koscielny, Welbeck.
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
the game 6 Barclays Premier League The Tony Awards
tony cascarino’s pick of the week
Look of invincibility
CHELSEA
We could be watching a new “Invincibles”. Chelsea look so powerful. They have negotiated a couple of awkward away games and it’s easy to believe they could go through the season undefeated. It’s early days but who’s going to beat them?
Window winners WEST HAM UNITED
West Ham United and Queens Park Rangers showed how a transfer window can affect you. West Ham bought well and the new boys have contributed. It’s the opposite for QPR. Yesterday showed the importance of getting it right in the market.
Back in the groove FORM PLAYERS
A few players who did well last year but have had slow starts to the campaign woke up this weekend. Wilfried Bony, Conor Wickham and Adam Lallana — among others — showed why they caught our attention last season. Expect more from them.
Shrewd manoeuvres MICK MCCARTHY
Ipswich Town’s draw with Nottingham Forest yesterday shows what a great job Mick McCarthy has done. They are a team of loan players and free transfers. McCarthy has taken them from the relegation zone to sixth in the table.
De Gea saves United in late Everton siege james ducker Northern Football Correspondent
Manchester United Di María 27, Falcao 62
Everton
Naismith 55
Referee K Friend Attendance 75,294
2 1
For the second game running at Old Trafford, Manchester United were clinging on for dear life by the end. Against West Ham United, they had been indebted to some robust defending and an eagle-eyed official for safeguarding the three points. Yesterday, in the face of a late siege from Everton, they owed victory to a stupendous performance from David De Gea, their goalkeeper. “He saved us,” Louis van Gaal, the United manager, said. There was no other way to describe it. Those days when De Gea was struggling to adapt to English football, flapping at crosses, spreading panic and, in the words of Eric Steele, the club’s former goalkeeping coach, “training poorly”, eating “too many tacos” and exhibiting a general reluctance to learn the language seem a very long time ago. The Spaniard was probably the only player who could hold his head high during last season’s tumultuous campaign and he was quite brilliant yesterday, a fine penalty stop to deny Leighton Baines at the end of the first half bettered only by two breathtaking saves to frustrate Leon Osman and, most impressively, Bryan Oviedo in stoppage time. United had been much the better team in the first half, De Gea’s penalty save preserving the lead deservedly
given to them by Ángel Di María’s smart finish, but the frustration for Van Gaal was that his team again made life difficult for themselves after the interval. Against West Ham, there were mitigating circumstances, Wayne Rooney’s red card leaving them a man short for the final half-hour. Van Gaal preferred not to use that as an excuse, though, and he was also unforgiving about the loss of collective defensive cohesion against Everton in the period after Radamel Falcao’s first goal for the club had cancelled out Steven Naismith’s headed equaliser. The truth is that it may be this way for some time yet. United remain very much a work in progress and a tough streak of fixtures comprising Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal over the coming weeks may offer a more accurate measurement of where this team are at. But for all of Van Gaal’s second-half frustrations, this still represented another step in the right direction. There was pace and purpose at times going forward, a doggedness to their defending, typified by Marcos Rojo and Patrick McNair, who impressed again, and a determination to work harder for each other, few of which were in evidence last season. Indeed, they were largely unrecognisable from the team who lost home and away to Everton last term, although Roberto Martínez’s side are going through their own difficulties. When the mood takes them, Everton can be a dazzling sight on the attack, but their defending remains a cause for growing concern and an ankle ligament injury to John Stones that is expected
TALKING TACTICS Falcao goal Manchester United v Everton
Radamel Falcao showed great anticipation to record his first goal in English football yesterday. The Manchester United striker was alert enough to divert into the net a shot by Ángel Di María Pass
Lennon loss clear CELTIC
Celtic are in a mess, Neil Lennon is looking for a job. He might still be manager at Celtic Park if the club had offered him a longterm contract instead of the one-year rolling deal he was on. A three-year show of belief could have kept Lennon at Celtic.
Hibbert
Stones Falcao Howard
Di María
Besic
Baines Barry Jagielka
to rule the England centre half out for several weeks will only add to their worries. They have shipped 16 goals in seven league matches and are two points above the relegation zone. By Martínez’s admission, Everton paid for a sluggish start. Rafael Da Silva had swung over a dangerous cross from the right that Phil Jagielka did well to hook away, only for Juan Mata to roll the ball across the edge of the penalty area to Di María, who dispatched a lovely sidefooted finish into the corner. Van Gaal had talked about his attacking talents needing to muck in more and from the off it was notable how eager Robin van Persie, captain in the absence of the suspended Rooney, and Falcao were to harass their opponents. Their overexuberance actually got the better of them at times. Van Persie was booked early on for a foul on Gareth Barry and Falcao, in his desperation to impress, had been guilty of snatching at chances before the Colombia striker underlined his predatory instincts shortly after the hour mark to put United 2-1 in front, Naismith having capitalised on the home team’s susceptibility to crosses. Baines hit a quick free kick into the feet of Barry, who returned the ball. Falcao might have been quicker to snuff out the danger but it was not spotted. Baines swung over a cross, and with Rafael guilty of failing to step up, Naismith was able to head home. But for De Gea, Everton would have scored before then. Latching on to Steven Pienaar’s clever back-heel, Tony Hibbert got a toe to the ball first and went down under a challenge from Shaw, who took both man and ball. Baines had scored all of his previous 14 penalties in the Premier League but De Gea dived low to his right to save. Despite that setback, Everton were greatly improved after the restart, although the disappointment for Martínez was that his team conceded so soon after scoring. The Everton manager was angry that Kevin Friend, the referee, failed to stop play when Pienaar pulled up injured, but there was a substantial passage of play between that incident and Falcao tapping home Di María’s intended shot. Martínez might have been better training his frustration on Tim Howard, whose poor clearance enabled United to start the move that led to the goal. Everton threw everything they had at it in the final ten minutes, only to encounter a brick wall in the form of De Gea. Having already denied Osman once, the Spain goalkeeper made a stunning diving save to palm away the Everton midfielder’s shot from Naismith’s defence-splitting pass in the 90th minute, although there was better to come. Four minutes into stoppage time, Wilson had pushed over Baines on the edge of the penalty area, allowing the England left back to whip over a free kick that was headed down to Barry by Stones. Barry had time to take a touch but perhaps mistakenly opted to shoot first time. His thumping drive was blocked by Tyler Blackett but bounced out to Oviedo, who appeared to have scored. A partially unsighted De Gea appeared from nowhere and, demonstrating incredible athleticism, tipped aside the Costa Rica player’s blistering effort. United had endured another narrow escape.
Winning feeling: Falcao celebrates his first goal for United, who were forced to hang on again to claim the three points in an Old Trafford nailbiter TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER, BRADLEY ORMESHER
ratings
Manchester United (4-3-1-2): D De Gea 9 — R Da Silva 7, P McNair 8, M Rojo 7, L Shaw 6 (sub: T Blackett, 71min) — A Valencia 6 (sub: M Fellaini, 79), D Blind 6, Á Di María 7 — J Mata 6 — R van Persie 6, R Falcao 6 (sub: J Wilson, 73). Substitutes not used: A Lindegaard, A Januzaj, D Fletcher, T Thorpe. Booked: Van Persie, Blind. Everton (4-2-3-1): T Howard 6 — A Hibbert 6 (sub: T Browning, 77), J Stones 7, P Jagielka 6, L Baines 7 — M Besic 6, G Barry 6 — A McGeady 6 (sub: L Osman, 77), S Naismith 7, S Pienaar 5 (sub: B Oviedo, 63) — R Lukaku 5. Substitutes not used: J Robles, D Gibson, S Eto’o, A Alcaraz. Booked: Besic, Piennar, Howard.
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the game 6 Barclays Premier League Stones setback forces England into reshuffle with Chambers making step up james ducker
Van Gaal excited by future promise james ducker For Louis van Gaal, it was a mixture of exasperation and excitement. Exasperation at watching Manchester United make life difficult for themselves after the interval for the second successive match, but excitement at the prospect of what lies in store when his team start to click for a full 90 minutes. The United manager did not attempt to hide his disappointment at his players for their second-half performance against Everton, but with his team now fourth in the Barclays Premier League despite a fitful start, the Dutchman was licking his lips at what might unfold when they dazzle for the duration. “I am always honest when I analyse the game and it is now our second
game that we are not good in the second half,” said Van Gaal, whose team had narrowly escaped with a 2-1 win at home to West Ham United eight days earlier, albeit having played the final half an hour with ten men after Wayne Rooney was shown the red card. “Maybe last week [against West Ham] we had an excuse, but I said to my players it is not an excuse playing 11 v 10,” Van Gaal said. “It is easier to keep your organisation then because it allows you to play compact. We didn’t do that last week and now we didn’t do it this week. I have changed things to improve that organisation, but in spite of that it was not like that. I have told the players that. “We have to play for 90 minutes. I am responsible for the team and I have tried to improve [the organisation], but I couldn’t do that [today]. You can say I have failed in
my tactics, but I don’t agree it is always like that. “I’ve also told the players that we are not playing good but we are already fourth in the table. So what is coming when we are playing well [for 90 minutes]? “We have played very good for 45 minutes already, sometimes for 50 or 60 minutes, but we have to do it for 90 minutes.” Van Gaal paid tribute to the performance of David De Gea and admitted that the United goalkeeper was ultimately the difference between the teams. “He was fantastic today,” the manager said. “He stopped a penalty at the end of the first half and he did very well in the last 15 minutes. “When you stop those kind of shots, you are very good. It is always good when a goalkeeper has such games — it shall improve his confidence.”
Van Gaal leaves the arena with mixed feelings after his side laboured for a win
Roy Hodgson suffered another setback yesterday with John Stones likely to miss England’s forthcoming European Championship qualifying matches against San Marino and Estonia because of an ankle injury that could keep him sidelined for several weeks. The Everton centre half fell awkwardly after challenging for a header in the final seconds of his team’s 2-1 defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford and was taken off on a stretcher. Roberto Martínez, the Everton manager, expressed concern that Stones had suffered ligament damage, but while his anticipated absence spells trouble for Hodgson, who was already without four defenders, it could also have repercussions for the England Under-21 team before their critical two-legged European Championship play-off against Croatia. With Stones expected to be out and Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Glen Johnson and Kyle Walker also injured, Hodgson is now likely to call up Calum Chambers, the young Arsenal defender, from the under-21s as cover for the visit of San Marino to Wembley on Thursday and the trip to Estonia three days later. The loss of Chambers would be a severe blow to Gareth Southgate, the England Under-21 manager, who also has injury concerns over Luke Shaw, the Manchester United left back, before the first leg of the play-off against Croatia at Molineux on Friday. The return leg is in Vinkovci four days later. Shaw was substituted in the 71st minute after complaining of a “dead knee” suffered during a first-half collision. The defender will undergo tests in the next 48 hours, although he expressed hope that he would be fit to face Croatia. “It’s not a bad injury,” he said. “I spoke with the doctor and obviously the manager as well and both feel it’s best that I do go [with England Under21] as it’s not an injury that is going to keep me out. Hopefully, I should be training in the next couple of days and can get another two games of 90 minutes.” The forecast on Stones, who played at right back in the 2-0 win away to Switzerland last month, was less optimistic. If he is unavailable, Nathaniel Clyne, the Southampton defender, is almost certain to make his debut at right back against San Marino. “It is a ligament problem in his ankle,” Martínez said. “It is such a massive blow because, as you saw today, he plays with an incredible arrogance and a great maturity. We need to get the medical department to assess it, but I don’t expect John to be fit for next week.”
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
the game 6 Barclays Premier League Leicester left with questions after Wallace helps Burnley find answers rick broadbent
Leicester City Sclupp 33, Mahrez 40
Burnley
Kightly 39, Wallace 90+6
Referee P Dowd Attendance 31,448
2 2
How do a team score five against Manchester United, then fritter away a potential home win to Burnley? It is the Barclays Premier League conundrum and Nigel Pearson, the Leicester City manager, could not answer it when a journalist asked about whether those differing challenges summed up the top flight. “You’re asking me a question and want me to give an answer so that you can write a story that you’ve already made up in your head,” he said with undue incredulity. “As far as I’m concerned I know that already. It’s a rhetorical question and it’s ludicrous.” It was a more impassioned response than that shown by his side postUnited. A cynic might deem it ludicrous that Leicester could not turn their first-half advantage into a win, or that Pearson saw fit to say: “I think we’re better than last year and they’re not as good as they were last year.” Maybe, but this was Burnley without the benefit of a Thai billionaire owner and a string of first-choice players. Sean Dyche, their manager, said that they had no recognised midfielders. Their strikers remain absent. Still, they snaffled a draw with a 96th-minute equaliser. Would Leicester have shown more energy and desire to see things out against Manchester United? That’s another rhetorical question. The good news for Leicester is that Pearson clearly knows what he is doing and has put together a team who are making a good fist of not looking out of place in the Premier League. In Jamie Vardy, they also have a player with a modicum of class and a bucketload of commitment. When Martin O’Neill’s team were
promoted in 1996, they did not make as good a start as Pearson’s men have done. Yet that side would become a perfect amalgam of solid but unspectacular parts, from Robbie Savage playing like a man in tireless search of his limitations to Steve Claridge’s scruffy scuffer shtick. Vardy has a bit of both in him, while Jeffrey Schlupp and Riyad Mahrez are also impressing. It is hard to imagine Leicester breaking into the top five, as their owner has publicly hoped for, but it is hard to see them being embroiled in relegation trouble either. O’Neill’s side finished ninth on their arrival to the big time; Leicester are good enough to have higher ambition than 17th place. As for Burnley, they are doing survival the hard way, hoping that hunger and minimal investment can somehow add up to something other than festering disappointment. “Everyone outside our club thinks we’re doomed since a minute after we get promoted,” Dyche said. “I don’t think that. We will go every minute that’s played.” They did on Saturday. Ross Wallace’s deft free kick from 20 yards came after 96 minutes. “If that was a different club than Burnley, it would be shown 1,000 times,” Dyche said. “It’ll probably get four.” He has a point. There is a deepseated snobbery in the Premier League where people begrudge the wages earned by players while mocking clubs that do not pay them. Burnley are a club steeped in tradition and with a noisy fanbase, but with no Leighton James now and little to cheer. They had gone nine hours without a goal when Michael Kightly slid in to cancel out Schlupp’s neat finish from Mahrez’s trickery on Saturday. Parity was brief, Mahrez heading in a cross from Vardy after more good work from Schlupp. The result left Burnley still looking for their first win, while Leicester have not won since their indelible humbling of Louis van Gaal et al. Questions remain, rhetorical and otherwise. ratings Leicester City (4-4-2): K Schmeichel 5 — R De Laet 5, W Morgan 6, L Moore 5, P Konchesky 6 — D Hammond 5 (sub: M James, 78min), R Mahrez 8 (sub: A Knockaert, 72), J Schlupp 7, D Drinkwater 5 — J Vardy 8, L Ulloa 5 (sub: D Nugent, 63 5). Substitutes not used: A King, B Hamer, M Wasliewski, C Wood. Booked: Schlupp, Nugent. Burnley (4-4-2): T Heaton 6 — K Trippier 5 (sub: M Keane, 86), J Shackell 5, M Duff 5, B Mee 4 — M Kightly 7 (sub: R Wallace, 79), S Arfield 7, G Boyd 5 (sub: M Sordell, 67 6), S Ward 5 — A Barnes 5, L Jutkiewicz 7. Substitutes not used: M Gilks, D Lafferty, K Long, S Hewitt. Booked: Ward, Arfield.
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Tottenham tempo puts the smile on Pochettino’s face gary jacob
Tottenham Hotspur Eriksen 40
Southampton Referee M Jones Attendance 35,564
A satisfied smile, a puff of the cheeks and even some kisses from Mauricio Pochettino for his former Southampton staff. His public emotion was saved for the final whistle on an afternoon that began for the Tottenham Hotspur head coach with light boos that led Ronald Koeman to rebuke the Southampton fans for their disrespect. A first win in five league games moved Spurs above Arsenal and put a healthier gloss on their start, but there were plenty of other positives, including signs of increased output from Nacer Chadli and Emmanuel Adebayor and stronger defensive solidity. Adebayor woke up after half an hour and worked tirelessly to produce the only goal and create what should have been a second for Chadli. After the flat starts in recent displays, Tottenham had a healthy tempo and energy. “The table is not important, I know it’s important for confidence, we need to improve,” Pochettino said. “We have started to look like a team. That’s important. This was a very good performance.” Adebayor’s neat play on the left flank allowed Christian Eriksen to drift along the penalty area and cut a shot into the near post shortly before the interval. It became Tottenham’s best display in some time and unexpected given that Southampton started quickly and Sadio Mané unsettled the defence with his pace. Mané’s chances bookended
alyson rudd Onuoha (og) 5, Sakho 59
QPR Referee A Taylor Attendance 34,907
LAURENCE GRIFFITHS / GETTY IMAGES
Great Dane: Eriksen fires home the only goal of the game as improving Tottenham overcome Southampton at White Hart Lane yesterday IAN WALKER / GETTY IMAGES
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Vibrant West Ham increase West Ham United
Making a point: Wallace celebrates after scoring Burnley’s equaliser in stoppage time
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Southampton’s display, which was not as cohesive and slick as of late. The winger’s cross-shot was blocked by Kyle Naughton in the opening moments and he got his legs in a terrible tangle as he tried to convert Ryan Bertrand’s cross from six yards in the last five minutes. Southampton fans mocked Pochettino for the whereabouts of his translator, a permanent fixture at the south coast club, but it was muted stick that Pochettino shrugged off. “It was an emotional game for me, I still love Southampton and the people,” Pochettino said. “It doesn’t change my feeling. It changes nothing. I can understand this. I am happy with the performance. I have no regrets about my decision. Southampton made many changes but they invested a lot of money, more than us, more than a lot of clubs in the summer. I am happy they started the season well. I love a lot of people there, a lot of players.” Hugo Lloris continued his excellent form from the 1-1 draw with Besiktas on Thursday, plunging to his left to deny Victor Wanyama’s firm drive and rescue Younès Kaboul for his sloppy overhead clearance out of his penalty area. Kaboul was largely resolute but there were questions about the decision to hand him a booking in the second half. The centre back was the last defender when he went shoulder-toshoulder with Mané as the winger burst clear and toppled over. It was debatable that it was a foul, but once a Southampton free kick was awarded, it was unclear why Kaboul was shown only a yellow card. Naughton will need a scan on his ankle after the right back limped off in the first half upon a strong challenge from Bertrand, who
2 0
Tony Fernandes slumped, brow furrowed. The Queens Park Rangers chairman usually manages to muster a smile but his club are bottom of the Barclays Premier League without a point away from home and another tough season beckons. There was little in the way of spark, fight or even indignation for the club’s owner to fasten on to as offering a
glimmer of hope. At Loftus Road there is passion but on their travels Harry Redknapp’s team are very ordinary. “Just not good enough,” was Fernandes’s tweeted response. The contrast with West Ham United could not have been more starke. Sam Allardyce cut a relaxed figure as his players appeared to have been told just one thing; have some fun. In their previous home game, against Liverpool, West Ham had been uninhibited but disciplined. Yesterday they needed only to apply freedom of expression. QPR did not present them with anything much to worry about. As against Liverpool, Allardyce’s team took an early lead. It was a curious goal as Stewart Downing’s corner kick evaded, just, the flailing arms of Enner Valencia and assorted heads to land on
ratings
West Ham United (4-3-1-2): Adrián 6 — C Jenkinson 7, J Tomkins 6, W Reid 5, A Cresswell 6 — A Song 6, S Downing 7 — D Sakho 6, M Amalfitano 6, M Zarate 6 (sub: K Nolan, 76min) — E Valencia 7 (sub: M Jarvis, 84). Substitutes not used: J Jaaskelainen, D Poyet, C Cole, R Burke, E Lee. Booked: Tomkins, Cresswell. Queens Park Rangers (4-4-1-1): R Green 4 — N Onuoha 4 , S Caulker 4, R Ferdinand 4, A Traoré 4 — D Hoilett 4 (sub: R Zamora, 46 6), Sandro 5 (sub: A Taraabt, 67 5), K Henry 5, N Kranjcar 6 (sub: J Mutch, 76) — L Fer 5 — C Austin 6. Substitutes not used: A McCarthy, M Isla, R Dunne, E Vargas. Booked: Sandro, Henry.
the times | Monday October 6 2014
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the game 6 Barclays Premier League Robertson steadies the ship by making Hull more watertight arindam rej
Hull City
Diamé 60, Jelavic 89
Crystal Palace Referee M Dean Attendance 24,281
appeared to show his studs. “It was a big hit,” Pochettino said. Naughton played a part in Southampton’s early chance. Dusan Tadic and Graziano Pellè combined to expose Danny Rose and, after Naughton missed the cross, Mané lacked composure at the far post. Mané was direct and dangerous, squeezing a low cross for Morgan Schneiderlin who seemed distracted by Pellè as he stabbed wide. Tottenham pressed harder and Southampton temporarily lost fluency. Eriksen nudged Erik Lamela clear and he drifted inside and unleashed a drive that shaved a post, after the faintest touch from Fraser
Forster. Similar saves helped the Southampton goalkeeper into the England squad recently and he deserved fortune when Eriksen’s shot slipped through his fingers and wide. After Forster was beaten by the Dane, Adebayor released Chadli, but a heavy touch left him with a more acute angle than he might have wished and his shot rebounded off a post. “I am disappointed with the result, not performance,” Koeman said. “It was a pity they scored before half-time. I don’t agree with the reaction of the fans. Everybody deserves respect. I respect Mauricio very much and he did a great job at Southampton.”
ratings
Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1): H Lloris 7 — K Naughton 6 (sub: E Dier, 33min 6), Y Kaboul 7, J Vertonghen 6, D Rose 6 — E Capoue 5, R Mason 6 — E Lamela 6 (sub: H Kane, 90), C Eriksen 6 (sub: M Dembélé, 82), N Chadli 6 — E Adebayor 7. Substitutes not used: M Vorm, A Townsend, F Fazio, R Soldado. Booked: Kaboul, Lamela. Southampton (4-2-3-1): F Forster 6 — N Clyne 6, J Fonte 6, T Alderweireld 6, R Bertrand 7 — M Schneiderlin 6, V Wanyama 6 (sub: S Long, 76) — S Davis 6, D Tadic 6, S Mané 7 — G Pellè 6. Substitutes not used: K Davis, F Gardos, J Cork, E Mayuka, H Reed, M Targett. Booked: Tadic.
Redknapp’s away-day blues the knee of Nedum Onuoha. Everyone it seemed, bar Downing, was unsure what had happened but the own goal stood and if the visiting team had been brimming with positivity, they lost most of it right there and then. Redknapp seems unable to see beyond his squad’s overall lack of fitness as the root of the problems. “We need to get them fitter,” he said. “I put a lot of faith in Sandro, but at the moment he’s short of fitness.” Just as QPR exhibited some ability to pester, at the start of the second half, West Ham scored again. After Mauro Zarate’s shot was blocked, the ball was scooped back in by James Tomkins and met by Diafra Sakho, although Rob Green was already beaten by Tomkins’s accuracy. Redknapp denied that his players had
let him down, but Gary Neville, in his role as a Sky Sports pundit, labelled it a diabolical QPR performance, to which Redknapp responded: “It wasn’t great, that’s for sure.” His side’s next four games are against Liverpool, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Manchester City, which hardly bodes well, but at least three out of the four fixtures are at home. Allardyce is proud of how West Ham ensure that overseas players and their families are comfortable in their new surroundings and the likes of Valencia and Sakho play as if they have found paradise on earth in east London. The West Ham fans and board demanded entertainment and a return to the pass-and-move philosophy they believe underpins the club. In a flash, Allardyce has given it to them.
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Steve Bruce is one man who has not given up on the concept of nurturing young British talent. Despite all the multimillion pound deals that Hull City completed for international players from Uruguay, Senegal and France in the transfer window, their man of the match was a young player who was featuring in the Scottish third division for Queen’s Park only two years ago. Andrew Robertson, a 20-year-old Glaswegian signed from Dundee United, had an important role to play against a Crystal Palace team containing potentially creative wide players. Hull were returning to a wingbacks system, having been too open in preceding games, and the challenge was to be more solid while maintaining a threat from out wide. Robertson, the left-sided wing back, helped Hull to earn their first clean sheet since the opening day and delivered the pass that broke the deadlock. The assist was struck at pace and with spin, making it difficult to defend against, and Mohamed Diamé met the ball with a headed finish. “There’s all this nonsense that we’re not producing players,” Bruce, the Hull manager, said. “Sometimes they need a stage to play on. I have to say, though, he’s totally shocked me with his ability to step in. To be 20 years old and play like that at the highest level, he’s going to have a big future. “We needed some young players. I didn’t envisage we were going to go out of Europe. I wanted to make sure we had enough people so that, if we did progress in the Europa League, we had a chance. “We’ve now got a very good nucleus of young players. I include Tom Ince and Harry Maguire in that. Jake Livermore is only 23. You think of him as a seasoned professional.” Livermore had the vision to unlock ratings Hull City (3-5-2): S Harper 7 — J Chester 7, M Dawson 7, C Davies 6 — A Elmohamady 8 (sub: A Bruce, 90min), M Diamé 7, T Huddlestone 7, J Livermore 6, A Robertson 8 (sub: L Rosenior, 81) — A Hernández 6 (sub: G Ramirez, 76), N Jelavic 7. Substitutes not used: E Jakupovic, R Brady, S Quinn, H Ben Arfa. Booked: Livermore. Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1): J Speroni 6 — M Kelly 6, D Delaney 7, S Dann (sub: A Mariappa, 12 5), J Ward 5 — M Jedinak 6, J McArthur 5 (sub: D Gayle, 70 6) — Y Bolasie 6, J Ledley 6, J Puncheon 5 — F Campbell 6 (sub: M Chamakh, 67 6). Substitutes not used: W Hennessey, A Guedioura, K Doyle, W Zaha. Booked: Campbell, Mariappa.
Hammer head: Sakho nods home West Ham’s second to seal the win
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Earning his stripes: Diamé celebrates scoring Hull City’s opening goal in the victory over Crystal Palace JOHN CLIFTON/ACTION IMAGES
Palace with a clever pass late in the game, playing in Nikica Jelavic. The Croatia striker advanced confidently before calmly finishing with impressive technique. Diamé and Jelavic had both continued their recent scoring runs and Hull’s poor recent record against Palace was ended. An added bonus was the clean sheet, achieved without Allan McGregor, their reportedly injured goalkeeper. McGregor was replaced by Steve Harper, the 39-year-old, who made a good save to deny Yannick Bolasie. Palace offered little in attack, though, and Fraizer Campbell, the former Hull forward who was jeered, had a tough afternoon. Neil Warnock, the Palace manager, claimed that Michael Dawson, the Hull central defender, could have been sent off for a first-half elbowing of Campbell, but pictures suggested otherwise. It was an especially important victory for Bruce’s team, considering that their next two matches are visits to Arsenal and Liverpool. Curtis Davies, the Hull captain, hopes that those clubs’ distractions and possible tiredness will take their toll. “We need to be wary, but we play them around the time of the Champions League,” Davies said. Hull’s young players will need to step up. Bruce is not the only manager who is aiming to get the best out of British talent and Warnock is hoping that Martin Kelly will continue his progress. Kelly, who left Liverpool in the summer, will hope to recreate the form that has earned him England recognition. He started this game at right back but when Scott Dann, his fellow Merseysider, was injured early on, Kelly switched to central defence. Dann looked dejected as he hobbled on to the team bus, on crutches and wearing a knee brace, so Kelly could be featuring at centre back for some time. “There’s more to come from Martin Kelly,” Warnock said. “Kenny Dalglish thinks his best position is right-sided centre back, and I don’t think he did anything wrong. We are getting better. This is a difficult place to come.”
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
Sport
School’s out as Wilson proves more than merely a nearly man
World No 792 holds off McIlroy to triumph at St Andrews
LEE SMITH / ACTION IMAGES
Golf
Ron Lewis
After 11 years as a professional, Oliver Wilson’s day finally arrived yesterday, as he held off a challenge from Rory McIlroy to win the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews. Having waited so long to celebrate, he admitted that the party could last for some time. The 34-year-old from Mansfield went into the event ranked 792nd in the world, but a closing round of 70, two under par, put him on 17 under par, one shot ahead of McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, his compatriot, and Richie Ramsay, of Scotland. The win also meant Wilson claimed a first prize of £500,000 and a two-year exemption on the European Tour, and his season is now likely to finish at the World Tour Championship in Dubai, rather than with a trip to the qualifying school. He had finished second nine times in his 227 previous tour events, lost his card three years ago and needed an invitation to compete this week. “I don’t have words for it,” Wilson said. “It’s been ten, 11 years coming, nine runners-up and I hadn’t done a whole lot wrong to lose those but nothing has really gone my way. “I could be drunk for a while. I’ve got a lot of champagne on hold from over the years. It will be a good party.” Victory was confirmed for Wilson
Final leaderboard Alfred Dunhill Links Championship St Andrews (GB and Ireland unless stated): 271 O Wilson; 272 R McIlroy, R Ramsay, T Fleetwood; 273 C Doak; 274 S Lowry, L Oosthuizen (SA), R Sterne (SA); 275 B Koepka (US), C Wood; 276 RJ Derksen (Ned), M Siem (Ger), M Foster; 277 R Karlsson (Swe), D Howell, R Palmer (US), B Wiesberger (Aut); 278 P Uihlein (US), S Hansen (Den), P Lawrie, R Green (Aus), T Pieters (Bel), R Jacquelin (Fr), P Harrington; 279 R Bland, J Parry, M Warren, B Grace (SA), D Fichardt (SA), G Coetzee (SA), A Levy (Fr); 280 L Bjerregaard (Den), MA Carlsson (Swe), G Stal (Fr), P Larrazabal (Sp), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), S Gallacher, E Els (SA), J Kruger (SA), N Elvira (Sp), M Hoey; 281 C Lee , M Nixon , B Stone (SA), E Grillo (Arg) , J McLeary , R Evans, G Bourdy (Fr), P McGinley , G Havret (Fr); 282 J Scrivener (Aus), F Molinari (It), P Casey , M Kieffer (Ger), A Sullivan , A Canizares (Sp), O Fisher; 283 R Gonzalez (Arg) , T Olesen (Den), N Dougherty; 284 R Fisher , A Otaegui (Sp) , E Molinari (It), G Storm; 285 F Aguilar (Chi); 286 A Saddier (Fr), R Rock, T Aiken (SA), S Kapur (Ind), N Fasth (Swe); 287 H Otto (SA); 291 G Porteous
Phelps to take a break after drink-drive arrest Swimming Michael Phelps has announced that he will take a break from the sport to deal with personal issues after his arrest for drink driving last week. The American, the most successful Olympic athlete in history with 18 gold medals, was charged in Baltimore, Maryland after failing a series of sobriety tests in the wake of his arrest on Tuesday. In a statement on his Facebook and Twitter accounts, Phelps said: “I’m going to take some time away to attend a programme that will provide the help I need to better understand myself. Swimming is a major part of my life, but right now I need to focus my attention on me as an individual.”
Kiyonari keeps pace with Byrne in title race Motorcycling Shane Byrne and
Ryuichi Kiyonari each won a race in the penultimate round of the British Superbike Championship at Silverstone yesterday to ensure their duel for a record fourth title will go down to the wire. Byrne, on a Kawasaki, held off Kiyonari in the first race, in which the lead changed hands six times on the final lap. The positions were reversed in race two to leave Byrne holding a 12-point lead before the final round of races at Brands Hatch on October 19.
Second best: McIlroy admitted that he needed to recharge his batteries after a round that began and ended unhappily
when Fleetwood missed a putt from ten feet for a birdie on the final green to force a play-off. Ramsay had led the field by two shots after his eighth birdie of the day on the 15th hole, only for his chances fade with bogeys on the 16th and 17th. Wilson, who had led overnight, dropped a shot on the 4th before three birdies in his inward nine turned around his fortunes. He effectively sealed his victory thanks to fine shots on the 16th and 17th holes. His approach to the 16th green landed a few feet from the flag and he had his nerve tested when he needed to get up and down from 90 yards short of the 17th to save par. “The shot I hit into 16 was probably the best shot I’ve hit in my life,” Wilson
said. “I know so many people had written me off and that hurt, but I just kept believing and a lot of people around me helped. “I slept awful last night, I thought about a lot of things that this could do for me but to be honest I probably didn’t genuinely believe, then I got on 17 when I holed that putt and started thinking what were the possibilities, tournaments that I am now going to be able to get in. I don’t have to go back to qualifying school and I can’t tell you how pleased I am about that. I don’t know all the implications yet but it will be fun to work out.” McIlroy had a poor start to his round, when he dropped two shots on the 1st hole when his approach shot ended up in Swilcan Burn. He worked his way
back into contention with six birdies, but his chance went on the 17th, as he tried to putt around a bunker, only for the ball to find sand, leading to a bogey. “Where I feel like I cost myself the tournament today was probably in the space of about 20 yards at the front of the green at the first and over at the Road Hole bunker,” McIlroy said. “Not too far away from each other. They are the two things, the only mistakes that I made all day. “I’m not 100 per cent. My excitement level didn’t get above about three at any point during the round. I’m ready for a break. But I love this golf course. I feel like I play well here every time I tee it up so I am looking forward to coming back here in July and defending the Open Championship.”
Martin continues ascent with prestigious victory Cycling Dan Martin, of Ireland,
timed a sprint to perfection to win the Tour of Lombardy for the first time yesterday. The Garmin-Sharp rider, who was fourth in the race in 2013, beat Alejandro Valverde, the Movistar rider from Spain, to win the 108th edition of the one-day race in northern Italy. Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) was third. “I love this race,” Martin, above, said. “I planned to attack on the last climb but I couldn’t get through. Once I got the gap, I just had to go as hard as I could.”
Robertson believes streamlined format will produce net gains Badminton
Alyssa Lim
A new era for English badminton starts tonight when the first professional national league gets under way. Six franchise teams will battle it out in the National Badminton League (NBL) on Monday match-nights as organisers look to create an entertaining spectacle for fans at the venues and for viewers watching on television and online. A new scoring system and innovative in-play features have been introduced to create a more lively form of the game and matches will be broadcast on Sky Sports and also streamed online. Nathan Robertson, the Olympic silver medal-winner and an NBL ambassador, believes that the changes will be a success. “We are producing a completely different product,” he said. “It’s still badminton, with a few twists on the rules, but we will now have top-quality badminton on TV and at the location.”
Birmingham Lions, Team Derby, Loughborough Sport, MK Badminton, University of Nottingham Sport and Surrey Smashers make up the NBL and will play each other over the course of the season, each tie comprising five matches (men’s singles and doubles, women’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles). Tonight, Birmingham Lions take on Team Derby at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, and MK Badminton face Surrey Smashers at the centre:mk shopping centre. The NBL has some of the country’s best talent, including Chris and Gabby Adcock, the world No 5 mixed doubles pair, who will play for University of Nottingham Sport and Surrey Smashers respectively. Team Derby boast Rajiv Ouseph, the European silver medal-winner, and Gail Emms, the 2004 Olympic silver medal-winner, and Birmingham Lions have Heather Olver, the double Commonwealth medal-winner, in their squad.
Keeping it short and sweet 6 Each of the five matches (men’s and women’s singles, mixed, men’s and women’s doubles) is played on a first-to-nine-points basis. All five must be completed inside two and a half hours for television scheduling. 6 Monday match-nights will start at 7.30pm, with one tie live on Sky Sports, and a second streamed online with a 24-hour delay in the UK. 6 The six franchises are Birmingham Lions, Team Derby, Loughborough Sport, University of Nottingham Sport, Surrey Smashers and MK Badminton. For ticket information go to badmintonengland.co.uk/NBL
Some of Europe’s top players will play in the league, including Eefje Muskens, the world No 12 women’s doubles player from the Netherlands who is in the Surrey Smashers team. Young and homegrown prospects have been signed up to teams as Badminton England looks to the NBL to continue to boost youth development. boos “My motivation for helping to set it up was that if you are a 16year-old developing player it’s hard to envisage yourself on TV unless you made the Olympics,” Robertson said. “Now we’ve got a lot of talented players in the under-19 age groups. To be playing live on television will give them a real incentive.” With little media coverage and few Emms will be one of the stars on show
opportunities to watch the sport live, badminton has struggled as a spectator sport. The NBL has been created by the national governing body, Badminton England, as it has worked to reshape the sport to attract regular fans as well as a new audience, in an effort similar to the introduction of Twenty20 cricket. Twenty20 has led to cricket increasing in popularity and Chris Adcock believes that the NBL can have a similar effect. “It is such a privilege to be a part of this great new league, which I am hoping really changes the way people see our sport,” he said. Carissa Turner, the Welsh No 1 and University of Nottingham Sport player, said: “When I heard about the NBL last year I thought it was a great idea and would be of huge benefit to badminton in the UK, so naturally I was keen to be a part of this step forward.” 6 Alyssa Lim is part of the Great Britain set-up and will be playing for Birmingham Lions in the NBL.
the times | Monday October 6 2014
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Sport
Pleasure follows pain in pursuit of the grey ghost Brian Clarke Commentary FISHING correspondent
R
ummage through your De Sade, my dodgier friends tell me, and you will find no mention of it. Once the children are abed, reach behind the cushion, consult Anaïs Nin and I gather you will find — or, rather, not find — the same thing there. Same again with Fifty Shades of Grey and the rest, it seems: not a reference, not a word, not a dicky. It’s no wonder the masochists among my readers are feeling short-changed. Where they might have expected whole chapters on the pain to be derived from it, with graphic descriptions, there is not even an index note on the subject. I refer to mullet fishing. Now, the mullet is not the most common fish in the sea and nor is it the most widely
pursued, but it is, by a million miles, the most humiliating. No fish is harder to catch. I know because I have recently been trying. In a dozen outings last summer I caught three. In half a dozen sessions this summer I have had two. True, I’ve been trying to catch them on an artificial fly, which, given the near-impossibility of catching them on real baits such as bread and worms, is barmy, I know — but even then it has not been a great return. A recent survey by Defra found that there are about 880,000 sea anglers in England and they catch some 4.4 million fish in a typical year. How many of this army of anglers are hardcore mullet men — those, let us say, who are members of the National Mullet Club (NMC)? Just 150 of them. And how many mullet of all species did these troubled souls catch in the whole of England and Wales last year? They caught 1,353. For those who fish for mullet, it is this very difficulty, combined with the fish’s explosive power, that is the drug. Steve Smith, the NMC chairman, says: “The fact that they are such a
Mullet now flourishes in the Thames
challenge makes them the thinking man’s quarry. You have to keep thinking what is this fish doing, why is it behaving this way, what can I do to keep one step ahead?” There are three mullet species in Britain, the thick-lipped, the thinlipped and the golden grey, of which the first is much the biggest. The alltime national, shore-caught record for the thick-lipped stands at 14lb 2oz and the biggest caught by an NMC member weighed 11lb 6oz. All three species are primarily fish of the south coast and Wales. All are metallic silver-grey, their scales so reflective that even in water inches
deep they can dematerialise before the eyes. The mullet’s nickname, the grey ghost, is well chosen. It is because fly-fishing is my main interest and because the challenge is so great that I, like that growing band of others, have devoted so much time to it for such modest success. I find myself within driving distance of a narrow creek that reaches a mile or so inland off a wide shallow bay. On a high spring tide the water fills the entire creek. The mullet — hundreds of them, thousands — run through the creek to feed on algae, shrimps, dead animal matter and other delights on the innermost marginal shallows. But big tide in, big tide out. At low spring tide, the creek drains to a trickle and the fish are forced to retreat to the seaward side of its narrow neck, where they bunch up in great shoals. That is where I fish for them, wading the silt-queasy bottom, casting tiny nymph-like imitations from a trout rod — and that is where I got this year’s two. The first, landed and put back after a 20-minute fight that left my arms aching and my
nerves in shreds, turned out to be something special. We were unable to weigh the fish precisely, but a dithery spring balance and long experience told us that it could not be less than 9lb. It was only a couple of days later, when I sent a photograph to a local mullet expert, that we learnt the significance of such a weight. It turned out that even mullet of 7lb and 8lb are exceptional and that only ten fish of 9lb and more have been landed by NMC members, anywhere in Britain, in the past 21 years. I claim no special credit for the fish because it was simply the one in a shoal of scores that happened to attach itself to my line. Moreover, it was hooked just outside the mouth and not in it, so for me it doesn’t really count. But still it was a notable specimen in its own right and one well worth recording. So yes, I’ve got the mullet bug and I’ll be out as often as I can manage — taking part again in a pain game that is troublingly enjoyable. 6 Brian Clarke’s fishing column appears on the first Monday of each month
Results Rugby league Kingstone Press Championship 1 Grand Final: Hunslet 17 Oldham 16
Rugby union
The Rugby Championship
Argentina 21 Australia 17 Argentina: Tries: Senatore, Imhoff. Con: Sanchez. Pens: Sanchez 3. Australia: Tries: Kuridrani, H’tham. Cons: Foley 2. Pen: Foley. HT: 8-14. South Africa 27 New Zealand 25 South Africa: Tries: Hougaard, Pollard 2. Cons: Pollard 3. Pens: Pollard, Lambie. New Zealand: Tries: Fekitoa, B Smith, Coles. Cons: Barrett 2. Pens: Barrett 2. HT: 21-13. Att: 61,261.
Aviva Premiership Rugby
Sale 25 Wasps 14 Sale: Tries: Arscott, Cusiter, Brady. Cons: Cipriani 2. Pen: Cipriani. Drop goal: Cipriani. Wasps: Tries: Hughes, Wade. Cons: Goode, Miller. HT: 12-7. Att: 3,000.
Newcastle 29 Exeter 24 N’tle: Tries: Sinoti, Catterick, Cato. Con: Socino. Pens: Socino 4. Exeter: Tries: Yeandle, Miller, Slade. Pens:Steenson 3. HT: 14-15. Att: 4,216. Saturday Gloucester 33 Leicester 16 Gloucester: Tries: Wood, Sharples, May. Cons: Laidlaw 3. Pens: Laidlaw 4. Leicester: Try: Mele. Con: O Williams. Pens: Tait, O Williams 2. HT: 30-9. Att: 16,100. Harlequins 52 London Welsh 0 H’quins: Tries: Brown, Care, Yarde 2, Hopper, Pen, Dickson. Cons: Evans 7. Pen: Evans. HT: 17-0. Att: 12,150. London Irish 12 Northampton 19 London Irish: Pens: Geraghty 4. Northampton: Try: Burrell. Con: Myler. Pens: Myler 3, L Dickson. HT: 0-10. Att: 7,000.
Guinness PRO12
Treviso 23 Glasgow 40 Treviso: Tries: Campagnaro 2. Cons: Carlisle, Hayward. Pens: Carlisle 3. Glasgow: Tries: Sey-
Pontefract Rob Wright
2.10 Oceanographer 4.10 Pigeon Pie 2.40 Use Your Filbert 4.40 Chivers (nap) 3.10 Dream Spirit (nb) 5.10 Fallen In Line 3.40 Statutory Going: good to firm (good in places) Draw: low numbers best Racing UK
2.10
Maiden Stakes
(2-Y-O: £5,175: 1m 2f 6y) (11)
BIG BAD JACK D Brown 9-5 P Mulrennan 1 (2) DONT TELL CHRIS J J Quinn 9-5 P Makin 2 (7) 00 EGMONT 38 G M Moore 9-5 D Tudhope 3 (1) 4 OCEANOGRAPHER 24 C Appleby 9-5 Martin Lane 4 (10) F Norton 5 (9) 4245 OREGON GIFT 65 M Johnston 9-5 66 PASSIONATE APPEAL 19 Mrs A Duffield 9-5 G Lee 6 (3) 53 VENTURA CASTLE 13 (BF) R Hannon 9-5 C Hardie (3) 7 (11) 00 ALMOST NOWHERE 11 M Appleby 9-0 A Mullen 8 (4) 06 LA VIEN ZEN 43 Mrs A Duffield 9-0 T Eaves 9 (5) 5 MYTHICAL CITY 17 M Johnston 9-0 J Fanning 10 (6) 0 POLITICO 14 J Gosden 9-0 W Buick 11 (8) 11-4 Ventura Castle, 7-2 Oceanographer, 4-1 Mythical City, 7-1 Oregon Gift, 10-1 Dont Tell Chris, Politico, 12-1 Passionate Appeal, 14-1 others.
3.40 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
mour 2, Holmes, Eddie, vd Merwe, S Lamont. Cons: Weir 3, Russell 2. HT: 16-19. Att: 2,000. Scarlets 26 NG Dragons 13 Scarlets: Tries: Owen, K Phillips. Cons: Priestland 2. Pens: Priestland 3, S Shingler. Newport Gwent D’gons: Try: Rees. Con: O’Brien. Pens: Tovey 2. HT: 13-3. Att: 7,124. Leinster 23 Munster 34 Leinster: Tries: Fanning, Penalty. Cons: Gopperth, R Kearney. Pens: Madigan 3. Munster: Tries: Cronin, Copeland, Keatley. Cons: Keatley 2. Pens: Keatley 4, H’han. HT: 9-28. Att: 43,817. P W D L F AB Pts Glasgow 5 5 0 0 167 8921 23 Ospreys 5 5 0 0 157 6917 22 Ulster 5 3 1 1 127 6715 18 Munster 5 3 0 2 113 7113 15 Connacht 5 3 1 1 85 9610 14 Scarlets 5 2 2 1 133 10717 14 Leinster 5 2 0 3 131 10114 12 Newport Gwent D’gons5 1 0 4 85 1077 7 Cardiff Blues 5 1 1 3 109 14610 7 Edinburgh 5 1 1 3 60 1395 7 Zebre 5 1 0 4 71 1267 5
Conditions Stakes
5.10
(£7,762: 2m 1f 216y) (7)
D Nolan (7) 65241 ALMAGEST 62 (P) D O'Meara 6-9-3 Luke Morris (6) 00600 BIG THUNDER 24 Sir M Prescott 4-9-3 /0-12 BRIGHT ABBEY 169 Mrs D Sayer 6-9-3 E Sayer (5) (1) D Tudhope (3) 20000 REPEATER 16 (H) D O'Meara 5-9-3 F Tylicki (4) 50644 STATUTORY 34 (CD,BF) S Bin Suroor 4-9-3 Rosie Jessop (3) (5) -1600 ALWILDA 24 Sir M Prescott 4-8-12 (2) -5141 HELL HATH NO FURY 18 (C) M Appleby 5-8-12 A Mullen
4.10
Wright choice: Use Your Filbert overcame inexperience to win at Haydock Dangers: Fingal’s Cave, Scarlet Bounty
3.10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Handicap (3-Y-O: £9,337: 1m 4y) (7)
G Lee (3) 115 DREAM SPIRIT 16 (D,BF) W Haggas 9-7 M Harley (1) 61130 MOOHAARIB 45 (D) M Botti 9-5 A Subousi (7) (7) 2151 MOMAYYAZ 21 (D) S Bin Suroor 9-4 F Norton (6) 04005 IFWECAN 9 (D) M Johnston 9-3 T Eaves (5) 01210 TOP OF THE GLAS 16 (D,BF) B Ellison 8-13 (2) 32114 POTENT EMBRACE 9 (CD) M Johnston 8-11 J Fanning K Fallon (4) 11204 LIBRAN 93 G A Swinbank 8-8
3-1 Momayyaz, 7-2 Dream Spirit, 9-2 Potent Embrace, 11-2 Moohaarib, Top Of The Glas, 8-1 Libran, 10-1 Ifwecan.
Wright choice: Dream Spirit could never land a blow after being hampered early on at Newmarket Danger: Moohaarib
Maiden Stakes
1 2 3 4 5 6
(3-Y-O: £3,234: 1m 4y) (6)
(2) 10234 MR MCLAREN 8 (BF) D O'Meara 9-3 (1) 43514 RANGI CHASE 13 (D) R Fahey 8-7 (4) 03204 SOLID JUSTICE 17 J Ward 8-7 (5) 33351 PIGEON PIE 8 (B) M Johnston 8-2 (6) 33114 ROUGH COURTE 5 (D) M Channon 8-2 (3) 62115 STRICTLY GLITZ 47 (D) J J Quinn 8-2
D Tudhope F Norton J Garritty (5) J Fanning P Pilley (7) C Hardie (3)
4.40
Handicap
(3-Y-O: £3,234: 1m 4f 8y) (14)
A Morgan (3) (2) -0451 LUCKY JIM 16 (D) C Wall 9-7 P Makin (11) -0440 CRYSTAL PEARL 26 M Tompkins 9-6 D Allan (9) 53103 CHIVERS 13 (P,D) T Easterby 9-6 00400 GANNICUS 24 B Powell 9-6 K Fallon (8) G Lee (13) 10042 WESTERLY 31 (P,CD,BF) W Haggas 9-5 A Mullen (10) 1F634 HESKA 14 (T,P) M Appleby 9-5 F Norton (4) 4-00 TRENDSETTER 9 J Butler 9-4 (12) 65312 WHERE'S TIGER 43 (BF) Jedd O'Keeffe 9-3 R Kennemore T Eaves 9 (1) 12542 MISTER UNO 14 (P) Mrs A Duffield 9-3 D Tudhope 10 (7) 34354 FLYING CAPE 16 (P) A Hollinshead 9-3 W Buick 11 (3) 006-2 THUNDER PASS 11 (BF) H Morrison 9-1 P Mulrennan 12 (5) 66406 CAPE KARLI 19 K A Ryan 8-13 F Tylicki 13(14) 03000 TIPTREE LACE 23 (V) W Knight 8-13 J Fanning 14 (6) 53436 POWER UP 16 (V) M Johnston 8-8
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9-2 Thunder Pass, 13-2 Lucky Jim, 7-1 Westerly, Where's Tiger, 8-1 Mister Uno, 9-1 Chivers, 10-1 Power Up, Trendsetter, 12-1 Flying Cape, Heska, 16-1 Gannicus, 20-1 Crystal Pearl, Tiptree Lace, 25-1 Cape Karli.
Wright choice: Chivers was unsuited by a slow early gallop at Newcastle Dangers: Westerly, Where’s Tiger Blinkered first time: Windsor 1.50 Oscars Journey, Speedy Rio. 3.20 Cabin Fever. 3.50 Festival Theatre. 5.20 Malicho.
Windsor Rob Wright
1.50 Pharoh Jake 3.50 Norway Cross 2.20 Rocky Rider 4.20 Lady Brigid 2.50 Dannyday 4.50 Rio Ronaldo 3.20 Cabin Fever 5.20 Donncha Going: good (good to firm in places) Draw: 5f-6f, low numbers best Tote Jackpot meeting At The Races
1.50
L 0 1 1 0 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 3
F A Pts 85 27 23 98 46 20 47 61 20 55 40 14 97 76 14 40 72 13 71 77 11 81 59 11 81 72 10 41 67 9 26 52 3 47 121 2
hull 27 Sedgley Park 29; Chester 32 B’street 20; H’gate 26 Otley 25; Hull 52 Stockport 15; Leic Lions 12 Huddersfield 19; Luctonians 20 Hull 23; Preston G 9 Ampthill 57; S’bridge 29 Caldy 30. SSE National League Two South: C’bridge 27 Dings 17; Canterbury 10 B Stortford 22; Clifton 31 Shelford 32; L’ston 22 Henley 32; Lydney 30 Chinnor 24; O Elthamians 13 Redruth 12; Southend 13 Dorking 18; Worthing 27 Taunton 29. Scottish Premiership: Lenzie 22 N Stewart 15; Glasgow Acads 49 H’burgh 7; Allan G 12 Carrick 35; Kilmarnock 8 GHK 22; Annan 28 Garnock 33. All-Ireland League Division One - Section A: B’hinch 14 Lansdowne 10; Dolphin 0 Terenure College 47; St Mary’s College 15 Cork Const 26; Young Munster 26 Old Belvedere 19. Section B: Belfast H’quins 13 Garryowen 24; Bucc’s 25 Galwegians 29; Corinthians 7 Shannon 30; Dublin Uni 26 Malone 17; Bohemian 23 Ballymena 30.
Amateur Riders' Handicap (£1,871: 5f 10y) (8)
1 (4) 45434 OSCARS JOURNEY 39 (V,CD,BF) J Jenkins 4-11-10 Mr Q Foulon Mr D Zucca (2) 40000 QUALITY ART 13 (CD) S Hodgson 6-11-4 55613 PHAROH JAKE 25 (D) J Bridger 6-11-4 Miss Eilidh Grant (7) (1) 54531 FIRST REBELLION 5 (B,D) A Carroll 5-11-3 Miss M Nicholls (3) 43000 PRINCE OF PASSION 6 (V) D Shaw 6-11-0 Miss M Blumenauer 6 (8) 46653 GREEK ISLANDS 5 E Creighton 6-10-11 Mr P Sonsteby 7 (5) 00-40 WARM ORDER 103 A Carroll 3-10-10 M Garcia-Dubois Mr V Schiergen 8 (6) 40000 SPEEDY RIO 5 (T,B) L Dace 3-10-10
2 3 4 5
5-2 First Rebellion, 3-1 Pharoh Jake, 7-2 Greek Islands, 4-1 Oscars Journey, 14-1 Prince Of Passion, Quality Art, 16-1 Warm Order, 25-1 Speedy Rio.
1 (9) 2 (3) 3 (2) 4 (6) 5 (7) 6 (1) 7 (11) 8 (4) 9 (10) 10 (5) 11 (8)
Kick off 7.45
Full football fixtures in The Game, page 18
Maiden Stakes
(Div II: 2-Y-O: £2,911: 1m 67y) (11) AMOUR DE NUIT Sir M Prescott 9-5 C Catlin 0 DANNYDAY 25 Sir M Stoute 9-5 R L Moore 4 FIRMAMENT 19 J Noseda 9-5 J Fortune INTRUDE D Simcock 9-5 J Crowley 06 KITTEN'S RED 11 E Dunlop 9-5 James Doyle 32 MASTER APPRENTICE 24 (BF) A Balding 9-5 D Probert PUTTING GREEN R Hannon 9-5 R Hughes 0 ST GEORGES ROCK 52 Clive Cox 9-5 S Drowne 400 STORMING HARRY 103 R Dickin 9-5 W A Carson WONDER LAISH W Haggas 9-5 A Atzeni MUSCADELLE Eve Johnson Houghton 9-0 J Fahy
Claiming Stakes
(£2,587: 1m 2f 7y) (10)
J P Spencer 1 (9) 32236 DALGIG 38 J Osborne 4-9-4 2 (2) 63060 HENRY THE AVIATOR 16 M Johnston 4-9-2 R L Moore Dane O'Neill 3 (7) 30000 SKYTRAIN 20 (V) M Johnston 4-9-2 R Hughes 4 (6) 02003 DESERT SOCIETY 20 (B) R Hannon 3-8-11 J Crowley 5 (8) 50005 I AM NOT HERE 36 T Jarvis 3-8-11 Martin Dwyer 6 (1) 00-61 ROCHELLE 18 W Muir 3-8-10 R Kingscote 7 (5) 5000 CABIN FEVER 38 (T,B) R Beckett 3-8-8 8 (10) 0-000 DESERT ISLAND DUSK 28 J Bridger 3-8-5 W A Carson H Crouch (7) 9 (4) 00536 DARK TSARINA 49 M Madgwick 3-8-3 R Powell (3) 10 (3) -5000 MOVIE MAGIC 12 J Bridger 3-8-0 9-4 Dalgig, 3-1 Henry The Aviator, 6-1 Cabin Fever, Desert Society, Skytrain, 8-1 Rochelle, 20-1 I Am Not Here, 25-1 Dark Tsarina, 100-1 others.
3.50
Football
China Open Beijing: Men: final: N Djokovic (Serbia) bt T Berdych (Cze) 6-0, 6-2. Women: final: M Sharapova
5-2 Master Apprentice, 5-1 Dannyday, Firmament, 11-2 Putting Green, 8-1 Wonder Laish, 12-1 Intrude, Kitten's Red, St Georges Rock, 16-1 others.
3.20
Fixtures
Tennis
Chivers (4.40 Pontefract) Stays well and, on this stiffer track, can improve on his Newcastle third 2.50
(Russ) bt P Kvitova (Cze) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. ATP Rakuten Japan Open Tokyo: Men: final: K Nishikori (Jap) bt M Raonic (Can) 7-6, 4-6, 6-4.
Vanarama Conference North: Hyde v Chorley. South: Boreham Wood v St Albans City, Chelmsford City v Concord Rangers, Wealdstone v Havant & Waterlooville.
Bet of the day
(3-Y-O: £3,234: 1m 4y) (10)
Wright choice: Fallen In Line is worth another chance after a poor all-weather run Dangers: Isabella Bird, Dubai Star
Claiming Stakes
D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
SSE National League One: B’heath 12 Blaydon 29; Coventry 53 W’dale 26; D’ton 41 Macc’ld 12; Ealing 28 C’ford 12; Fylde 43 L’boro Students 25; Hartpury College 30 Esher 19; Rosslyn Park 38 Old Albanian 3; Tynedale 19 Richmond 30. SSE National League Two North: B’ham & Soli-
9-4 Fallen In Line, 11-4 Isabella Bird, 3-1 Guesshowmuchiloveu, 6-1 Dubai Star, 12-1 Tayma, 20-1 Archipeligo, Astrocat, Tornesel, 100-1 others.
Wright choice: Pigeon Pie won when fitted with blinkers at Musselburgh and can follow up Danger: Rough Courte
9-2 Use Your Filbert, 11-2 Qatar Road, 6-1 Scarlet Bounty, 13-2 Arthur MartinLeake, Russian Heroine, Steal The Scene, 9-1 Fingal's Cave, 10-1 others.
L F AW 0 110 53 2 0 78 23 2 0 132 69 1 2 65 62 2 1 37 72 2 1 57 69 1 1 40 62 1 2 46 55 1 2 36 58 2 2 66 78 1 2 64 113 0 2 39 55 0
Wright choice: Statutory won this by 14 lengths a year ago and should be able to stage a repeat Dangers: Alwilda
2.40
(2-Y-O: £4,528: 6f) (11)
D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
9-4 Statutory, 3-1 Repeater, 7-2 Big Thunder, 11-2 Alwilda, 13-2 Almagest, 16-1 Bright Abbey, 33-1 Hell Hath No Fury.
11-4 Mr McLaren, 100-30 Pigeon Pie, 4-1 Rangi Chase, Strictly Glitz, 5-1 Rough Courte, 12-1 Solid Justice.
Doubtful 1 (9) 3561 BEST DRESSED 15 (D) D Brown 9-7 C Bishop (3) 2 (7) 22221 FINGAL'S CAVE 35 M Channon 9-5 3 (1) 32105 ARTHUR MARTINLEAKE 23 (D,BF) K Burke 9-4 D Tudhope 1 USE YOUR FILBERT 32 (D) R Cowell 9-3 G Lee 4 (2) 5 (3) 53036 FIRGROVE BRIDGE 20 (C) K A Ryan 9-2 Kevin Stott (5) D Allan 6 (6) 6410 HONEYSUCKLE LIL 17 (D) T Easterby 9-2 P Mulrennan 7 (10) 4013 GOLDEN SPUN 20 (D) B Smart 9-2 51 QATAR ROAD 33 (D) M Botti 9-2 P Sirigu 8 (5) C Hardie (3) 9 (8) 315 STEAL THE SCENE 11 (D) R Hannon 9-2 G Gibbons 10 (4) 224 RUSSIAN HEROINE 43 Sir M Stoute 8-12 11(11) 34331 SCARLET BOUNTY 14 (D) R Fahey 8-10 J Garritty (5)
PW Bristol 5 3 Worcester 5 2 London Scot 5 3 Doncaster 5 1 Rotherham Titans5 1 Nottingham 5 2 Bedford 5 1 Jersey 5 0 Yorkshire Carnegie5 0 Cornish Pirates5 1 Moseley 5 0 Plymouth Albion5 0
46 ARCHIPELIGO 14 I Jardine 9-5 D Nolan 1 (8) DUBAI STAR J Gosden 9-5 R Havlin 2 (10) W Buick 3 (3) 020 FALLEN IN LINE 61 (T) J Gosden 9-5 4 (4) 555 GUESSHOWMUCHILOVEU 34 C Fellowes 9-5 F Tylicki J Sullivan 5 (6) 2-4 TORNESEL 77 (T) B Rothwell 9-5 ASTROCAT M Tompkins 9-0 J Fanning 6 (9) C Bishop (3) 7 (2) 45-02 ISABELLA BIRD 163 M Channon 9-0 T Hamilton 8 (7) 005 SEA WHISPER 18 Miss A Stokell 9-0 40 TAYMA 34 S Bin Suroor 9-0 A Ajtebi 9 (5) WISKEE LIL E Tuer 9-0 Kevin Stott (5) 10 (1)
Rob Wright’s choice: Oceanographer shaped well when fourth at Sandown Dangers: Ventura Castle, Mythical City
Nursery Handicap
Treviso 5 0 0 5 61 1816 0 Greene King IPA Championship: Bedford 25 Jersey 20, Doncaster 22 C’sh Pirates 24, L Scottish 64 P’th Albion 16, Moseley 14 Bristol 59, N’ham 26 Yorkshire C’gie 20, R’ham 7 Worcester 47. HOME AWAY
Handicap (£7,439: 1m 3f 135y) (12)
4.20
Maiden Stakes (£2,587: 6f) (15)
PROMINNA A Carroll 4-9-6 R Tart 1 (7) 64 KINGS CHAPEL 22 J Gask 3-9-5 S Drowne 2 (14) D Probert 3 (5) 6-305 KNOCKROON 150 A Balding 3-9-5 6 MAN OF MUSIC 20 A Carroll 3-9-5 L Keniry 4 (4) SIR BILLY WRIGHT P D Evans 3-9-5 G Baker 5 (2) J Crowley 6 (10) 04300 SUITSUS 32 (P) P Makin 3-9-5 00 ADUVEE 20 R Harris 4-9-1 W Twiston-Davies 7 (6) R L Moore 8 (1) -2224 ANNA'S VISION 51 J Noseda 3-9-0 0 ELHAAM 47 G Margarson 3-9-0 T Queally 9 (15) GREAT STORM G L Moore 3-9-0 D Sweeney 10 (3) P Dobbs 11 (8) 025 LADY BRIGID 122 O Stevens 3-9-0 12(11) 52322 PERSIAN BOLT 14 (B) Eve Johnson Houghton 3-9-0 G Downing (5) O Murphy 13(13) -0225 POSH BOUNTY 16 J Tuite 3-9-0 14(12) 302-4 QATAR PRINCESS 9 J Jenkins 3-9-0 Jenny Powell (5) 35 SATELLITE EXPRESS 9 P D Evans 3-9-0 C Catlin 15 (9) 7-2 Lady Brigid, 9-2 Anna's Vision, 11-2 Persian Bolt, 8-1 Knockroon, 9-1 Suitsus, 10-1 Elhaam, Qatar Princess, 12-1 Satellite Express, 16-1 others.
4.50
Nursery Handicap
(2-Y-O: £3,752: 5f 10y) (14)
R Hughes 1 (10) 10133 EXPENSIVE DATE 37 (D) P Cole 9-7 R L Moore 2 (8) 100 EFFUSIVE 16 (D) W Haggas 9-7 J Fortune 3 (7) 4221 FIELD GAME 12 (T,D) H Morrison 9-7 J P Spencer 4 (11) 20413 LA CUESTA 10 (D) J Osborne 9-7 D Probert 5 (5) 10610 MAJESTIC HERO 30 (D) R Harris 9-5 D C Costello 6 (6) 521 EQUALLY FAST 30 (D) W Muir 9-3 L Keniry 7 (1) 13401 IVORS REBEL 13 (D) D Elsworth 9-2 R Winston 8 (2) 32343 AUSSIE RULER 22 R Harris 9-0 Dane O'Neill 9 (13) 0104 GOLDCREST 38 (H) H Candy 8-13 10(12) 215 MARIGOT BAY 37 (D) Miss G Kelleway 8-13 D Muscutt (5) S W Kelly 11(14) 531 RIO RONALDO 25 M Murphy 8-11 0031 TECUMSEH 21 (H,D) K Burke 8-9 J Crowley 12 (4) A Atzeni 13 (3) 0054 STONE ROSES 35 Michael Bell 8-3 J Quinn 14 (9) 20444 STINKY SOCKS 13 C Hills 8-0 5-1 Ivors Rebel, 6-1 Equally Fast, Field Game, 7-1 Effusive, 10-1 Expensive Date, Rio Ronaldo, Stone Roses, Tecumseh, 12-1 others.
5.20
Handicap
(£4,851: 1m 67y) (14)
Dane O'Neill J Fortune R L Moore R Hughes Doubtful P Dobbs A Atzeni J Fahy J Crowley James Doyle H Bentley
1 (7) 0-145 CHRISTOPHER WREN 121 (CD) N Gifford 7-9-12 J P Spencer R Hughes 2 (1) 04002 TOBACCO ROAD 5 (C,BF) R Hannon 4-9-10 L Keniry 3 (6) 3106- EMERGING 373 (D) D Elsworth 4-9-9 Dane O'Neill 4 (11) 40000 BUSATTO 16 M Johnston 4-9-8 5 (2) 62102 JUPITER STORM 20 (P,CD) G L Moore 5-9-8 H Crouch (7) W A Carson 6 (4) 11160 PUZZLE TIME 10 G Bravery 4-9-8 P Dobbs 7 (3) 312-4 STOCK HILL FAIR 17 (D) B Powell 6-9-7 A Atzeni 8 (10) 1-263 NORWAY CROSS 37 (D) L Cumani 4-9-5 03151 RED RUNAWAY 30 (D) E Dunlop 4-9-4 James Doyle 9 (5) G Baker 10 (9) 10541 PLACIDIA 18 (D) D Lanigan 3-9-4 11(12) 11114 RAGGED ROBBIN 12 (T,D) D Lanigan 3-9-3 T E Durcan 12 (8) -4005 FESTIVAL THEATRE 33 (V) Sir M Stoute 3-8-13 R L Moore
1 (9) -6450 MELVIN THE GRATE 127 (BF) A Balding 4-9-5 O Murphy 2 (3) -0306 SOARING SPIRITS 91 (B,CD) D Ivory 4-9-4 R Winston 3 (5) 213 SHAMA'S CROWN 19 (CD,BF) J Noseda 3-9-4 R L Moore J P Spencer 4 (11) 12010 HOSTILE FIRE 9 (P,CD) E De Giles 3-9-3 A Atzeni 5 (12) 631-2 DONNCHA 150 (D,BF) R Eddery 3-9-3 J Crowley 6 (8) 50501 KILLING TIME 14 (B,CD) R Beckett 3-9-3 S Drowne 7 (2) 12100 UNISON 10 (CD) P Makin 4-9-3 D Sweeney 8 (13) 30000 SET THE TREND 18 (P,D) D Dennis 8-9-1 S Donohoe 9 (7) 10640 ICE SLICE 61 (D) J Eustace 3-9-1 10 (1) -2112 WORDISMYBOND 45 (CD,BF) P Makin 5-9-1 R Hughes T Queally 11 (4) 61432 RAYOUMTI 44 (CD) G Margarson 3-9-1 W A Carson 12(10) 64064 SUBTLE KNIFE 19 G Bravery 5-9-0 J Quinn 13 (6) 04134 CRAFTSMANSHIP 63 (D) R Eddery 3-9-0 S Sanders 14(14) 1-006 MALICHO 24 (H,E,D) D Ivory 5-9-0
9-4 Harbour Patrol, Rocky Rider, 8-1 Carnival King, Magic Dancer, Topsy Turvy, 10-1 Step On It, The Cashel Man, 16-1 Envisioning, 25-1 others.
4-1 Placidia, 5-1 Festival Theatre, Norway Cross, 15-2 Red Runaway, 10-1 Christopher Wren, Ragged Robbin, 11-1 Stock Hill Fair, 12-1 others.
4-1 Shama's Crown, 9-2 Donncha, 6-1 Wordismybond, 7-1 Killing Time, 10-1 Hostile Fire, Rayoumti, 12-1 Melvin The Grate, 14-1 others.
2.20 1 (8) 2 (1) 3 (5) 4 (9) 5 (10) 6 (3) 7 (4) 8 (2) 9 (7) 10 (6) 11(11)
Maiden Stakes
(Div I: 2-Y-O: £2,911: 1m 67y) (11) 0 BASOCO 27 H Dunlop 9-5 30 CARNIVAL KING 25 B Meehan 9-5 05 ENVISIONING 23 R Hannon 9-5 033 HARBOUR PATROL 16 R Hannon 9-5 00 LIONEL JOSEPH 5 G Baker 9-5 MAGIC DANCER R Beckett 9-5 4 ROCKY RIDER 32 A Balding 9-5 0 STEP ON IT 24 Eve Johnson Houghton 9-5 THE CASHEL MAN D Simcock 9-5 TOPSY TURVY J Noseda 9-5 60 SAINT HONORE 11 P Phelan 9-0
58
Sport
Murray slips back in finals countdown Tennis
Ron Lewis
Andy Murray has three tournaments to secure his place at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London next month after he lost more ground in Beijing on Tomas Berdych, who was in eighth place in the rankings going into China Open and reached the final. Berdych lost the showpiece 6-0, 6-2 to Novak Djokovic, the man who had ended Murray’s seven-match winning run in the semi-finals of the tournament on Saturday. Murray is ranked ninth in the Race to London standings and will play at the Shanghai Rolex Masters this week, where the eight players ahead of him will have the luxury of a first-round bye. He has qualified in the past five years for the London finals, but did not play at the O2 arena last year after undergoing back surgery. “I know what’s going on around me,” Murray said after Kei Nishikori beat Milos Raonic in the Japanese Open final. “They’re both winning so that’s not good. Tomas is on a run here. But I’ve not got my calculator out just yet.” Djokovic swatted Berdych aside in yesterday’s final to continue his remarkable run of success in the Chinese capital. The Serb has won the China Open in each of the five years he has taken part since the event moved to the National Tennis Centre. “It was probably my best performance in a final,” Djokovic said. Maria Sharapova beat Petra Kvitova, of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in the women’s final.
Hearn maps out future for Warrington Boxing
Ron Lewis Boxing Correspondent
Josh Warrington could become one of British boxing’s biggest stars with a fanbase to rival Ricky Hatton, according to Eddie Hearn. The promoter was speaking after the 23-year-old won the European featherweight title in Leeds in what Hearn described as “one of the most mental atmospheres I have ever witnessed”. Warrington stopped Davide Dieli, of Italy, in four whirlwind rounds on Saturday night and while Hearn will resist the temptation to rush back to the 13,500-capacity First Direct Arena before the end of the year in favour of giving Warrington a rest, he believes Warrington has such star potential that he could be boxing outdoors at Elland Road, the home of Leeds United, by next summer. “It is wonderful to see such passion,” Hearn said. “When you have got that kind of support we can bring the big fights here. This is the type of support Ricky Hatton had.” Just a year ago, Warrington, who has a day job as a dental technician, was largely unknown, but his European title win came after victories for the Commonwealth and British titles and will move him to the fringes of the world rankings. “The plan is to come back early next year and fill this place, then move up from there,” Hearn said. “People will want him to shoot ahead now, but we have to make sure he learns his trade. We have got something major here.”
FGM
Monday October 6 2014 | the times
Heroic Burgess defies pain on memorable day for the family Inspirational forward plays 80 minutes with fracture
MARK KOLBE / GETTY IMAGES
Rugby league
Christopher Irvine
Perhaps only England winning the rugby union World Cup could top a euphoric NRL Grand Final triumph for Sam Burgess, who burnished his rugby league legend in an unforgettable farewell yesterday. Union will have to wait a little longer while he undergoes surgery for a depressed fracture of his right cheekbone — an injury he suffered in the first tackle of the match, yet somehow defied, in a historic 30-6 victory with South Sydney Rabbitohs over Canterbury Bulldogs. Burgess was the unstoppable force and the head of James Graham, his England team-mate, the immovable object as the British “poster boys” of the Australian game’s showpiece collided in the opening seconds. Burgess immediately clutched at his face, having felt the bone crack. As for going off, not a chance. “It’s f***ed, it’s gone,” he mumbled in a half-time interview, his face swollen, one eye blackened and lips bloodied. But for 80 minutes Burgess was heroic in shrugging off the pain, leading from the front, getting back to pull off try-saving tackles and exhorting his team-mates to greater efforts. “Breathe,” George Burgess, who alongside Tom, his twin, pushed his elder brother for the man-of-the-match award, reminded him as he addressed the team. Until last night in the sport’s Sydney cradle, no non-Australian had won the Clive Churchill Medal. Churchill was the last South Sydney coach to win an Australian Premiership, in 1971, and the medal was presented by his widow, Joyce, who was dwarfed by Burgess as he bent down to receive it. A few minutes earlier, with victory ensured by the fourth of the Rabbitohs’ five tries, the Bath-bound Burgess had been on his haunches in floods of tears. Joy, relief, agony, ecstasy: the emotions poured out. “He might just be the toughest human being on the planet,” Ray Warren, the veteran Channel 9 commentator, said in the build-up. Prophetic words, because Burgess’s defiant act of bravery defined this final and arguably his entire league career. At 25, he enters union in his prime, despite misgiving in some quarters over which position he will play. If he failed to adapt, Australia would have him back like a shot, such is his standing there. Russell Crowe, the Hollywood actor and the Rabbitohs’ co-
Battle-scarred: Sam Burgess, far left, shows off the NRL trophy with his mother Julie and brothers Luke, George and Tom
owner, summed it up best. “I met him when he was 20 and he just had this ambition,” he said. “I recognised what that level of ambition was. I described him as the sparkly-eyed man, the guy who can be as hard as he needs to be on the field and gracious as he is off the field. He’s carved his name deep into the history of rugby league.” There were shades of John Sattler breaking his jaw but inspiring South Sydney’s 1970 Grand Final win. Sattler was there to greet Burgess at the end of his epic contribution and finish of a league career that took him from Dewsbury Moor amateurs, Bradford Bulls and halfway round the world. If English rugby league’s standing in Australia is at a low ebb, the admiration for its handful of leading lights in the NRL is boundless, not least for boundle Burgess’s face told a story of pain
the remaining Burgess boys and Graham. The “British Bulldog” was his brilliantly belligerent self in captaining Canterbury in the key absence of Michael Ennis. However, the former St Helens prop could barely summon the words to describe his disappointment. Graham and Burgess embraced afterwards, the pair of them unaware of the extent of Burgess’s injury. “It felt like I cracked my eyeball,” Burgess said. “I just played on adrenaline and my teammates got me through it. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be sore tomorrow, but I’d do it all over again. It’s a feeling you can’t replicate. I’m just very lucky to be in this position.” Burgess finished with almost 200 metres gained, 30 tackles, three offloads and nearly a sideline conversion at the end. All squinting out of one eye. The only Burgess try went to George, a sidestepping charge beneath the posts to beat five Bulldogs defenders. The twins and brother Luke will continue flying the family flag for the “Bunnies”, but for “Slammin’ Sam” it is a case of getting his face fixed and head right for a whole new ball game.
Broken but unbowed Alan Prescott Broke an arm in the third minute captaining Great Britain against Australia in 1958, in the days before substitutes. Shaun Edwards Played on with a depressed cheekbone and double fracture of an eye socket after a high tackle ten minutes into Wigan’s Challenge Cup final win against Warrington in 1990. Kris Radlinski Rose from his hospital bed after a bout of blood poisoning to give a man-of-the-match display as Wigan beat St Helens 21-12 in the 2002 Challenge Cup final. Paul Wood Ruptured a testicle during Warrington’s 2012 Grand Final defeat by Leeds and kept going for another 20 minutes. Words by Christopher Irvine
O’Loughlin inherits Sinfield’s leading role with England Christopher Irvine
Sam Burgess may be off to rugby union, but there is a new Burgess on the block. Although not related to the Dewsbury clan, Joe Burgess, at 19, has made similarly startling progress to his namesakes. The Wigan Warriors wing, whose late try last Friday steered the club into this Saturday’s Grand Final against St Helens, is among nine newcomers to England’s squad for the Four Nations tournament in Australia and New Zealand next month. Dan Sarginson, Burgess’s centre partner and a product of Hemel Stags, who joined Wigan from London
McNamara’s band of brothers England squad: Backs: J Burgess (Wigan), J Charnley (Wigan), R Hall (Leeds), Z Hardaker (Leeds), S Ratchford (Warrington), D Sarginson (Wigan), M Shenton (Castleford), M Smith (Wigan), S Tomkins (New Zealand Warriors), K Watkins (Leeds), G Widdop (St George Illawarra). Forwards: G Burgess (South Sydney), T Burgess (South Sydney), D Clark (Castleford), M Cooper (St George Illawarra), L Farrell (Wigan), B Ferres (Huddersfield), J Graham (Canterbury Bulldogs), C Hill (Warrington), J Hodgson (Hull KR), S O’Loughlin (Wigan, captain), J Tomkins (Wigan), J Westerman (Hull), E Whitehead (Catalan Dragons). Four Nations itinerary: Oct 25: Samoa (Brisbane); Nov 2: Australia (Melbourne); Nov 8: New Zealand (Dunedin); Nov 15: final (Wellington).
Broncos this season, earns a call-up along with Joel Tomkins, who was playing rugby union for England 11 months ago, and is reunited in the squad with his brother, Sam. With James Roby requiring surgery after the final at Old Trafford, Steve McNamara, the head coach, has overlooked the rest of his St Helens team-mates. George and Tom Burgess are two of 13 survivors from McNamara’s 2013 World Cup squad, with Sean O’Loughlin, one of seven Wigan representatives, taking over the captaincy from Kevin Sinfield, who recently announced his international retirement. “Sean is a great leader and has been
left a positive legacy by Kevin,” McNamara said. As well as Roby, Michael McIlorum, of Wigan, has a cheekbone injury, which means the hooking duties will be shared by the uncapped Daryl Clark, of Castleford Tigers, and the Canberra Raiders-bound Josh Hodgson, one of the NRL-based players selected by McNamara, who has spent the past year as an assistant coach at Sydney Roosters. “There were some close calls, but we chose the players who will give us the best chance of winning a major tournament in Australasia for the first time since 1990,” McNamara said.
the times | Monday October 6 2014
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Comment Sport
Pollard helps Springboks punch above their weight DAVID ROGERS / GETTY IMAGES
Stuart Barnes Commentary
S
outh Africa’s 27-25 victory against New Zealand in Johannesburg on Saturday was not quite the epic encounter witnessed at the same Ellis Park venue a year ago, but it was still this year’s best game of rugby by a considerable distance. The Springboks have a habit of blasting out of their blocks at this particular stadium. So they did this weekend, with the most overwhelming display of power rugby in 2014. Allied to the punch was the precision that has been missing from most of their international performances this season. It was traditional South African rugby at its most potent, all the more formidable for the smart back play that turned possession into points. In Handré Pollard, the 20-year-old fly half who scored two tries, they have the rounded No 10 for whom they have been searching for a long while. His ability to function on the gain line was illustrated with his fine pair of tries. His aggressive game also created space for a Springboks back line that will be an even more dangerous beast when they become used to playing flat. It has been a frustrating year for South Africa, with last year’s development seemingly stopped, but the last 20 minutes in Cape Town, where they put a poor hour behind them to batter Australia, and Saturday’s mighty win, have arrested their 2014 hiatus. They will arrive in Ireland for the international on November 8 as the clear second-best team in the world. Joe Schmidt, the Ireland head coach, will have to find something exceptional to check their momentum. If South African impetus is Ireland’s immediate problem, then New Zealand’s hatred of losing is England’s. If there was ever any doubt that the All Blacks would turn up at Twickenham next month with anything but the most serious intentions, that preposterous thought was squashed on the high veld.
they will have reignited their progress towards the 2015 World Cup after a naive summer tour to New Zealand. If one from two will be a decent return on the first fortnight, England must win their final match against the Wallabies. Australia’s scrum was on the point of collapse during their 21-17 defeat by Argentina on Saturday. Against the Pumas and Springboks, the Wallabies have done little but tackle and concede penalties. Their pool rivals in the World Cup have to hammer home the psychological and physical point that Australia cannot survive against a decent set-piece. When Australia muddle their way through the scrum weakness, Ewen McKenzie’s team are a danger. The first two scores against Argentina emphasised their football skills. But if they play without ball, territory or a front foot as they finished playing the Rugby Championship, they are there for the taking. Even Wales might fancy finally laying that Australian bogey to rest. In the first week of British and Irish action, Wales are the best bet for a win, on the strength of what we saw at the weekend. The fourth of the contingent in action, Scotland, cannot have enjoyed events in Argentina. The Pumas broke their duck in the Rugby Championship at the 18th time of asking.
A High standards: Victor Matfield, of South Africa, takes a lineout ball in the impressive win against New Zealand at Ellis Park
New Zealand were not bad, it was just that the All Blacks needed to be nearer their best to win against their inspired enemy. To lose by two points to a South Africa team playing with such intensity at their favourite venue does not suddenly make them vulnerable, just mortal. They still move so quickly that if their Achilles’ heel is to be exposed, it takes a hell of a marksman to hit it. Their pride is wounded, beware. The quality of their performance
against Australia in Auckland in August was a benchmark for the season, while their finishing against Argentina nine days ago was as deadly a display of accuracy near the tryline as we have seen for a very long time. At Ellis Park on a couple of occasions, that precision was lacking, and that was the difference between winning and losing. They remain the best team, arguably a great team, and will land in London with a point to prove to
themselves more than anyone else. If England take them to the limit, Stuart Lancaster will have shown the world why the RFU thinks that its head coach is worth a six-year contract. England played some superb rugby in last season’s RBS Six Nations Championship, but the Six Nations is the second tier compared with the southern-hemisphere equivalent. If England win one of their first two internationals this autumn, the second being against South Africa,
rgentina’s scrum and lineout were strong, as usual, but in this tournament they have played with greater pace and ambition around the park. The drudgery of defeat after defeat robbed them of the asset required to make such a game succeed — confidence. In many ways the Pumas remind me of England, a team with traditional conservative strengths striving to add an innovative element to beat the best. This victory will give them the requisite belief. There was some smart attacking play from them — as there had been throughout the tournament — but the silly errors were eradicated on Saturday. Their triumph was good news for the global game, great news for Argentina but a terrible result for Vern Cotter, the new head coach of Scotland, who are Argentina’s first port of call this autumn. Before the Six Nations party comes the November pain.
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
Sport Rugby union
Cipriani stands firm to ensure Young pays for shuffling pack Cardiff Sale Sharks City
Campbell, 21
Wasps West Ham United
C Cole 42, Noble 90+3
25 0 2 14 1
Owen Slot Chief Rugby Correspondent
Wasps could have won this. Arguably should have. You suspect that if they had not let key men — such as James Haskell, Joe Launchbury and Elliot Daly — sit this one out, they probably would have. But rugby is not that simple, as the evidence of every week seems to show us. Instead, the outstanding virtues in this game were tenacity, doggedness and the defence of Sale Sharks. They want to be hard to beat at home and they are. They have a No 10 who used to be better known as a fancy-Dan attacker, but can now contribute to the rearguard effort too. Danny Cipriani had a howler of a day with his placekicking, but it is becoming increasingly hard to find holes in his defence. Wasps certainly struggled to. Wasps made mistakes too. Loads of them that Sale gorged on. Yet this was a game, as Dai Young, the Wasps director of rugby, suggested, that Sale stopped them from winning rather than went out and grabbed for themselves. Maybe a bit more class, a Haskell or a Launchbury, would have made the difference. Steve Diamond, the Sale director of rugby, said of Wasps that it was “their choice” to come here Scorers: Sale Sharks: Tries: Arscott (6min), Cusiter (36), Brady (76). Penalty goal: Cipriani (50). Conversions: Cipriani 2. Dropped goal: Cipriani (43). Wasps: Tries: Hughes (27), Wade (69). Conversions: Goode, Miller. Scoring sequence (Sale Sharks first): 5-0, 5-7, 12-7, 15-7, 18-7, 18-14, 25-14. Sale Sharks: L McLean; T Brady, J Leota, M Jennings (rep: M Cueto, 73), T Arscott; D Cipriani, C Cusiter (rep: W Cliff, 73), R Harrison (rep: E Lewis-Roberts, 70), M Jones, V Cobilas (rep: A de Marchi, 72), J Mills (rep: J Beaumont, 58), M Paterson (sin-bin 26-36) , M Lund (rep: V Fihaki, 58), D Seymour, M Easter. Wasps: R Miller; C Wade, A Leiua, C Bell, W Helu (sin-bin 32-42); A Goode (rep: A Masi, 67), C Davies (rep: J Simpson, 2-8, 54); J Yapp (rep: M Mullan, 50), C Festuccia, J Cooper-Woolley (rep: L Cittadini, 61); J Gaskell, J Cannon (rep: B Davies, 54), A Johnson, G Thompson (rep: S Jones, 54), N Hughes. Referee: L Pearce. Attendance: 5,065.
without their big-name players. “You’ve got to be putting your best side out every week,” he said. The problem with modern professional rugby, though, is that you cannot. There was a glimmer of a suggestion in Diamond’s words that Wasps had thought this a fixture with which they could sneak a soft win. Maybe somewhere in Wasps’ planning department in Acton (yes, they do still reside there, but that’s another story), this had been lurking somewhere. Young, however, insisted that playing Haskell and Launchbury would have been madness. “If it was a cup final they would have played,” Young said. However, he explained, both are battered, Launchbury has a neck strain, Haskell did not train all week. It is a cliché among rugby players that you never play fully fit; the skill of a director of rugby is to decide at what stage to give those bodies a rest. As Young said, to play Haskell, Launchbury and Daly would have been to accept the law of diminishing returns. Yet even in their absence, Wasps could have won this. They gave themselves an 18-7 deficit to chase and in the last half-hour they looked capable of doing it. To their huge credit, Sale did make it hard, but after waves and waves of attack, when Christian Wade finally broke a couple of tackles in the 69th minute to score under the posts, the momentum appeared to have swung decisively. With the conversion, Wasps were then just four points behind, but that was as close as they got. What Sale did so well was to frustrate them and Wasps’ mistake was when they then started forcing the issue. A couple of loose passes were chucked at Nathan Hughes, one of their best forwards on the day, one bounced off his shoulder and there was another from Rob Miller that he did not expect at all and spilt. From the mess that followed, Sale swept downfield to the left corner, recycled and spun it right where Tom Brady had the overlap to score. That was it; three minutes left, contest over. Sale had grabbed the upper hand
ALEX LIVESEY / GETTY IMAGES
Taking a dive: Arscott scores the opening try after Sale had forced an overlap on the left against a depleted Wasps team
Aviva Premiership table Northampton Bath Saracens Exeter Chiefs Gloucester Harlequins London Irish Sale Sharks Wasps Leicester Newcastle London Welsh
P 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
W 4 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 0
D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
L 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 5
F 154 172 160 157 141 111 101 137 120 95 92 44
A 72 88 100 88 131 113 112 125 119 137 150 249
B Pts 4 20 3 19 2 18 3 15 2 14 1 13 4 12 3 11 3 11 2 10 1 5 1 1
from the kick-off, electing to kick an early penalty for the corner rather than take the three-point option, which was a good decision given the travails that Cipriani would face from the tee. It paid off anyway because after intense
pressure Sale forced an overlap on the left for Tom Arscott to finish. Wasps then edged ahead. Michael Paterson was shown a yellow card and from the resulting penalty, Hughes burrowed over. But Chris Cusiter put Sale ahead again when he charged down Charlie Davies’s box-kick and touched down the ricochet. Wasps will not enjoy watching that again because in-between the ricochet and Cusiter touching down was an awkward cameo from Wade who was first to the ball and fumbled and spilt it before Cusiter’s arrival. This was pretty much what happened to Wade two weeks ago when Chris Robshaw scored at home for Harlequins against Wasps. That try gave Sale the lead they would never lose. They could have stretched it farther had Cipriani had anything like the kind of accuracy he
Wasps fans unhappy that they may be sent to Coventry Alex Lowe
Wasps would be prepared to share the Ricoh Arena with Coventry City if their bid to buy the stadium goes through, The Times understands. The Aviva Premiership club would also look to build a state-of-the-art training complex as part of their plans to relocate fully and integrate into the city. The deal for Wasps to take control of the stadium’s operating company, Arena Coventry Limited (ACL), could be given the green light as early as tomorrow if the city council puts the issue to a vote. The council co-owns ACL with the Alan Higgs Trust. Wasps have made it known to local councillors that they would be happy to work with Coventry City, who recently returned to the Ricoh Arena after a
season playing at Northampton Town FC, to ensure the football club could stay in the stadium. Derek Richardson, the Wasps owner, identified the need for the club to own their own stadium when he rescued them from the brink of bankruptcy last year. His initial plan was to find a site closer to the club’s roots in London than their rented home in Wycombe. However, with stadium options limited in and around the capital and with Wasps losing £3 million a year, Coventry has emerged as the leading
Inside today
South Africa punch above their weight Stuart Barnes, page 59
option. It presents the club with an opportunity to establish themselves at a stadium that already operates as a healthy business in its own right and in a city with a rugby history. “They have been looking for a permanent home,” a source close to the deal said. “They would exist in the city, train, play and be part of the fabric of the city.” All of this, of course, is on the basis that the Coventry deal goes through and other options remain on the table. But wherever Wasps end up, they plan to build a training base that would be the envy of clubs in Europe. Initially, Wasps would continue to train at their Twyford Avenue base in Acton while the facility is built. The staggered move would give players and staff, who have not yet been told anything concrete, the time to relocate.
Paul Breed, chief executive of the Coventry Sports Foundation, said the city is excited by the prospect of Wasps moving in and that talks have been held with Coventry Rugby Club, who have objected to the idea. “This is a real opportunity to develop a positive and collaborative approach in the sport,” Breed said. “To have sporting heroes in the city would create a buzz. Coventry has a rich DNA in rugby and I am confident they would build a following.” However, many Wasps supporters are furious at the prospect of the club becoming a Coventry-based franchise and severing all ties with their history. An online petition has been launched to keep the club in or near London. Wasps have declined to comment, saying they are bound by confidentiality agreements.
would want if he is to press his case for England honours. Cipriani had one of those mixed games, missing a good ten points from his kicks yet impressive enough in every other facet of his game. He said afterwards that he had been lifted by the experience of touring with England in the summer. “I’m really happy with the way I’m going,” he said. Sale clearly are too.
Tries! Tries! Tries!
Watch video highlights All the best action from the Aviva Premiership this weekend online, on tablet and on smartphone now Times Sport Download our new app for near-live clips from every game this season, including alerts every time your club scores a try Plus All the latest news, comment and analysis. Free for members in the App Store or Google Play thetimes.co.uk/ rugbyunion
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Cato brings welcome end to Newcastle’s losing streak Cardiff City Newcastle Falcons
Campbell, 21
West Exeter Ham Chiefs United
C Cole 42, Noble 90+3
Chris Hamilton
NIGEL RODDIS / GETTY IMAGES
29 0 2 24 1
Dean Richards was grinning from ear to ear after this momentous Newcastle victory, and why not? His side had ended a wretched 20-match losing streak in the Aviva Premiership dating back to October last year, which was significant enough, but the manner in which they did it — scoring two late tries in three minutes before keeping Exeter at bay during a fraught finale — was no less memorable. The Newcastle director of rugby was a relieved man. “I’m delighted for the players more than anything because this will be a real confidence boost and the dressing room is a very different place today,” Richards said. “It wipes the fears away and gets the monkey off our back. And I thought we deserved it against an outstanding Exeter side.” Newcastle do nothing the easy way, though. They were hanging on for dear life with Exeter camped inside their 22metre line with seconds left. Ally Hogg, whose performance epitomised Newcastle’s spirit and who had been named as man of the match on the publicaddress system, collected possession from the base of a scrum. The crowd at Kingston Park held their breath as the No 8 attempted to run the ball out of defence rather than simply hoof it into touch. He was tackled but fortunately the final whistle sounded moments later to spark joyous celebrations. Richards, whose side travel to relegation rivals London Welsh on Saturday, said: “I think Hoggy had heard the man-of-the-match announcement and thought he would pick the ball up and go the length of the field for a bonuspoint try. Had he done that it would have been fine.” Exeter’s progress since they were promoted in May 2010 has been staggering and they had beaten Newcastle in their previous six league meetings. But there was a spirit about the Falcons yesterday, a collective desire that carried them to victory as Tom Catterick, a second-half replacement, and Noah Cato, the wing, scored within the space of three minutes.
Richard Cockerill, the Leicester Tigers director of rugby, reacted angrily to suggestions that the club’s training methods are stuck in the past and have contributed to their injury crisis after his team lost 33-16 to Gloucester. Leicester’s defeat at Kingsholm was their third in as many weeks, after the 45-0 thrashing away to Bath and a first home loss to London Irish in 11 years. The Tigers have been without Dan Cole, Tom Youngs, Ed Slater, Geoff Parling, Louis Deacon, Tom Croft, Manu Tuilagi and Anthony Allen, all senior players. Cockerill admitted that the situation has gone beyond bad luck or coincidence, but he rejected suggestions that Leicester have not modernised their approach to training since the days when he played and was put through brutal sessions on a weekly basis. “The lads probably play too much rugby at the top end, but the training bit I would like to nip in the bud,” Cockerill
TMO (the monday overview) Try of the week
Team of the week
Kyle Eastmond Bath against Saracens
A Goode (Saracens); S Rokoduguni (Bath), J Joseph (Bath), K Eastmond (Bath), J May (Gloucester); J Hook (Gloucester), G Laidlaw (Gloucester); N Wood (Gloucester), R Hibbard (Gloucester), D Wilson (Bath), M Paterson (Sale Sharks), D Attwood (Bath), A Fa’osiliva (Bath), D Seymour (Sale Sharks), B Morgan (Gloucester).
George Ford launched a counterattack from inside his own 22. Alafoti Fa’osiliva charged upfield and Jonathan Joseph cut a wonderful angle before releasing Eastmond, below, on the inside for the try that sealed Bath’s victory over Saracens.
20 50 10
Newcastle ended their long losing streak in the Aviva Premiership by beating Exeter Chiefs yesterday
Premiership
Up for grabs: from left, Tiesi, Tait and Sinoti show the teamwork and desire that helped to put an end to Newcastle’s 20-game losing run by ganging up on James
Rob Baxter, the Exeter head coach, was gracious in defeat. He said: “Newcastle have won a Premiership game for the first time in a while and they merited it. Rugby union is a game where you tend to get what you deserve.” Exeter had made a flying start when Damian Welch collected possession from a lineout and Thomas Waldrom, Scores: Newcastle Falcons: Tries: Sinoti (23min), Catterick (67), Cato (69). Conversion: Sochino. Penalty goals: Sochino 4 (9, 13, 27, 42). Exeter Chiefs: Tries: Waldrom (5), White (20), Slade (39). Penalty goals: Steenson 3 (52, 56, 65). Scoring sequence (Newcastle first): 0-5, 3-5, 6-5, 6-10, 11-10, 14-10, 14-15 (half-time); 17-15, 17-18, 17-21, 17-24, 24-24, 29-24. Newcastle Falcons: A Tait; S Sinoti (rep: T Catterick, 50), G Tiesi, A Powell, N Cato; J Socino, R Tipuna (rep: M Blair, 63); K Brookes (rep: A Rogers, 63), S Lawson (rep: R Hawkins, 63), S Wilson (rep: O Tomaszczyk, 63), C Green, D Barrow (rep: J Furno, 66), M Wilson (rep: R Mayhew, 66), W Welch, A Hogg. Exeter Chiefs: P Dollman; T James (rep: C Botha, 71), H Slade, I Whitten (rep: S Hill, 63), M Jess; G Steenson, W Chudley (rep: H Thomas, 71); B Moon, J Yeandle, T Francis (rep: M Low, 71), D Armand, D Welch (rep: R Caldwell, 60), D Ewers, B White (rep: K Horstmann, 71), T Waldrom. Referee: T Wigglesworth. Attendance: 4,216.
the No 8, emerged from a group of players to ground the ball. Two penalty goals from Juan Pablo Socino, the fly half, gave Newcastle a foothold but midway through the opening period Exeter scored their second try when Alex Tait, the Newcastle full back, knocked on, allowing Ben White, the open-side flanker, a simple score. Newcastle were soon back in it when Hogg embarked on a marauding run and sent Sinoti Sinoti, the wing who was running in support, over in the right corner. But Henry Slade, the centre, collected Gareth Steenson’s pass to plunge over in the left corner before half-time and three second-half penalty goals from Steenson put the visiting side in control. Newcastle, though, had other ideas. In the 67th minute, Gonzalo Tiesi’s neat pass sent Catterick over and two minutes later Rob Hawkins produced a stunning pass to Tait, who similarly offloaded out of a tackle to send Cato scampering clear in the left corner.
Cockerill denies being stuck in dark ages Alex Lowe
Rugby union Sport
said. “I have had some pretty average accusations pointed at how Leicester train. We’ve got a really good strength and conditioning team and we monitor everything with GPS. The old days of beating each other to crap on a Wednesday morning, that was in 1998, 1999, 2000. It’s a long time ago, and the uneducated comments that are made by people are unwarranted. “We’ve got a great system with really Cockerill believes some of criticism has been unjust
good people and chucking mud at that whole environment is wrong. You can look at just the results or you can look around at the circumstances we are operating under at the moment and have some understanding with it, or not. I can’t control that.
“We got beaten. We didn’t play as well as we could have done or should have done, and you get punished. I understand the pressures this club comes with. I am always under pressure for results.” Gloucester were as good as Leicester were poor on Saturday and it could prove a coming-of-age performance for the West Country club, who had appeared so disjointed in the opening weeks of the season under David Humphreys, the new director of rugby. Nick Wood, Charlie Sharples and Jonny May scored the tries for Gloucester. James Hook pulled the strings magnificently at fly half and Ben Morgan was back to his best at No 8, but Gloucester missed out on a bonus point when a late attack foundered and David Mélé was able to score a consolation try for Leicester at the other end. “We’ve said all along to give us the first six weeks to see where we are as a team,” Humphreys said. “We have definitely shown improvement.”
Northampton returned to the top of the Aviva Premiership table with a Luther Burrell try and 14 points from the boot of Stephen Myler helping them to a 19-12 victory over London Irish in a forgettable match at the Madejski Stadium. If thrashing London Welsh last week was just the result Gloucester needed after a sticky start to the season, then Harlequins will hope the effects are exactly the same for them. Conor O’Shea’s side scored seven tries in a 52-0 win at the Twickenham Stoop. On Friday, they face Leicester at Welford Road.
Mike Brown scored his 50th try in the top flight for Harlequins in their win against London Welsh
Leicester Tigers’ unaccustomed position in the Aviva Premiership table after three consecutive defeats
Foreign fields South Africa ended New Zealand’s 22-match unbeaten run when Patrick Lambie kicked a 55-metre penalty goal with two minutes remaining at Ellis Park. The Springboks led 24-13 after a try from Francois Hougaard and two from Handré Pollard, the fly half. New Zealand hit back with Ben Smith and then Dane Coles adding to Malakai Fekitoa’s try to put the All Blacks ahead with nine minutes remaining. But when Wayne Barnes, the referee, was alerted to a high tackle from Liam Messam he awarded a penalty to South Africa and Lambie struck to inflict a first defeat on the All Blacks since they lost to England at Twickenham in 2012. Argentina claimed a historic first win in the Rugby Championship when they rallied from 14-0 down to beat Australia 21-17 in Mendoza. The Pumas have been building towards this result and it was achieved by tries from Leonardo Senatore and Juan Imhoff, right, plus three penalty goals from Nicolas Sánchez, the
Toulon-bound fly half. Australia scored twice in the first 12 minutes, through Tevita Kuridrani and Scott Higginbotham. Bernard Foley missed two late kicks but refused to blame a laser beam that was shone in his face.
What we learnt this week TV deal done European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), the body set up to run the new Rugby Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, has finalised French television deals worth about £64 million over four years, which will boost its income from all broadcasting rights to £173 million over the period, an increase of 60 per cent. The two events start next week. EPCR, which is looking for a stable of commercial partners rather than one title sponsor, has agreed a deal with Heineken. England’s Lions? The new six-year contracts awarded to the England coaching team allow for them to be seconded by the Lions for the 2017 tour to New Zealand, if
requested. Graham Rowntree and Andy Farrell were part of Warren Gatland’s triumphant management team in 2013. If Stuart Lancaster were to be asked to lead the Lions he may be reluctant to step out of his role as England head coach for the preceding Six Nations, as Gatland did with Wales last year. Te’o too Sam Burgess is not the only member of the triumphant South Sydney Rabbitohs to be heading for European rugby union this autumn. Ben Te’o, the dynamic and hugely physical Rabbitohs forward, has signed for Leinster, who intend to play him in the centres. Brian O’Driscoll has agreed to mentor Te’o and help him get to grips with the new code.
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Monday October 6 2014 | the times
Sport Formula One
Hamilton’s brilliance swiftly overshadowed by Bianchi’s injuries Crash puts Englishman’s win into perspective John Westerby Suzuka
In normal circumstances, the celebrations of Lewis Hamilton’s victory at the Japanese Grand Prix yesterday would have been a picture of joy. On a track where he had craved success, he drove brilliantly to secure a third consecutive win and extend his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship with four races remaining, coming from behind to edge Nico Rosberg, his Mercedes team-mate and closest rival, who had started in pole position, into second place. There was no champagne sprayed on the podium, though, and the mood in the post-race press conference was
sombre. Standing in a corridor before they fielded questions from the media, Sebastian Vettel told Hamilton in hushed tones the details of Jules Bianchi’s accident. The look of horror on Hamilton’s face spoke volumes. As the three podium drivers took their seats at the top table, each spoke with clear concern for Bianchi’s wellbeing. “The race didn’t finish the way we had hoped and my prayers are with Bianchi and his family,” Hamilton said. The sort of incident that befell Bianchi yesterday reminds Formula One drivers very quickly of the perilous path that they have all chosen. The week-to-week business of their job
Race results Positions after 44 Laps (race stopped): 1, L Hamilton (GB, Mercedes) 1hr 51min 43.021sec 2, N Rosberg (Ger, Mercedes) at 9.180sec behind 3, S Vettel (Ger, Red Bull) 29.122 4, D Ricciardo (Aus, Red Bull) 38.818 5, J Button (McLaren) 1:07.550 6, V Bottas (Fin, Williams) 1:53.773 7 F Massa (Br, Williams) 1:55.126 8 N Hulkenberg (Ger, Force India) 1:55.948 9 J-E Vergne(Fr, Scuderia Toro Rosso) 2:07.638 10 S Perez (Mex, Force India) at 1 lap behind 11 D Kvyat(Russ, Scuderia Toro Rosso) 1 lap 12 K Raikkonen (Fin, Ferrari) 1 lap 13 E Gutierrez (Mex, SauberFerrari) 1 lap 14 K Magnussen (Den, McLaren) 1 lap 15 R Grosjean (Fr, Lotus F1 Team) 1 lap 16 P Maldonado (Ven, Lotus F1 Team) 1 lap 17 M Ericsson (Swe, Caterham) 1 lap 18 M Chilton (GB, Marussia) 1 lap 19 K Kobayashi (Japan, Caterham) 1 lap Did not finish: J Bianchi (Fr, Marussia) 41 laps, A Sutil (Ger, Sauber-Ferrari) 40, F Alonso (Sp, Ferrari) 2. Fastest lap: Hamilton 1min 51.600sec (lap 39) Qualifying 1, Rosberg 1min 32.506sec; 2 Hamilton 1:32.703; 3 Bottas 1:33.128; 4 Massa 1:33.527; 5, Alonso 1:33.740; 6, Ricciardo 1:34.075; 7, Magnussen 1:34.242; 8, Button 1:34.317; 9, Vettel 1:34.432; 10, Raikkonen 1:34.548; 11, Vergne 1:34.984; 12 Perez 1:35.089; 13 Kvyat 1:35.092; 14, Hulkenberg 1:35.099; 15, Sutil 1:35.364; 16, Gutierrez 1:35.681; 17, Maldonado 1:35.917*; 18, Grosjean 1:35.984; 19, Ericsson 1:36.813; 20, Bianchi 1:36.943; 21, Kobayashi 1:37.015; 22, Chilton 1:37.481 *Maldonado received a ten-place grid penaly for using a sixth engine. Five places will be carried over to the Russian Grand Prix. Drivers’ World Championship 1, Hamilton 266pts; 2, Rosberg 256; 3, Ricciardo 193; 4, Vettel 139; 5, Alonso 133; 6, Bottas 130; 7, Button 82; 8, Hulkenberg 76; 9, Massa 71; 10, Perez 46; 11, Raikkonen 45; 12, Magnussen 39; 13, Vergne 21; 14, Grosjean 8; 15, Kvyat 8; 16, Bianchi 2; =17, Sutil, Ericsson, Maldonado, Gutierrez, Chilton, Kobayashi, A Lotterer (Ger, Caterham) 0. Constructors 1, Mercedes 522pts; 2, Red Bull 332; 3, Williams 201; 4, Ferrari 178; 5, Force India 122; 6, McLaren 121; 7, Toro Rosso 29; 8, Lotus 8; 9, Marussia 2; 10, Sauber 0; 11, Caterham 0. Remaining races Sunday: Russia Nov 2: United States Nov 9: Brazil Nov 23: Abu Dhabi
involves the creation of rivalries that lead them to take ever greater risks. At the front of the grid, there is the fraught pursuit of glory, as embodied by this season’s battles between Hamilton and Rosberg. Farther back, there is a Darwinian scrap to hang on to one of the 22 precious places coveted by drivers the world over. After the race in Suzuka yesterday, though, they had become a brotherhood again. Suddenly, those rivalries did not seem quite so important any more. “My thoughts are with our colleague, Jules, because it seems quite serious, so I really wish him all the best,” Rosberg said. For the present generation of drivers, the shock seems all the more acute because of the vast improvements to driver safety in recent years. Jenson Button, 34, is the most experienced driver on the grid. His first grand prix was in 2000, six years after the death of Ayrton Senna. Since then, death has not stalked F1 drivers quite as closely as it had previous generations. The likelihood of wet conditions for this grand prix had been under discussion all week, because of the possibility that Typhoon Phanfone would work its way on to the Japanese mainland on the day of the race. In the end, the typhoon remained offshore but heavy rain fell before the race, leaving standing water on the track. Although there was a prompt start, there was a stoppage after only two laps behind the safety car because of poor visibility, with spray clouding the track, as Hamilton experienced behind Rosberg. “Make sure Nico doesn’t do any dramatic stops because I can’t see him,” Hamilton said on his race radio. Heavy rain had not affected a race since the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2012. Conditions eased considerably after a 20-minute stoppage and, once the safety car had been withdrawn after
Driving rain: behind an unseen safety car, Rosberg leads Hamilton through the
nine laps of the circuit, the race began in earnest, with drivers soon switching from wet to intermediate tyres. It soon became apparent that Rosberg was experiencing problems with oversteering, although Hamilton
flirted with danger more than once, slipping off the track on the 14th lap and again 13 laps later. These minor slips did not compromise his attacking instincts, though, and on lap 29 he spotted his moment. On the right-hand corner at
Japan’s rain an occupational hazard John Westerby
Held at the height of the typhoon season, the Japanese Grand Prix is an event at which turbulence is not uncommon. Ten years ago, the qualifying session on the Saturday was washed out and postponed until the morning of the race the next day. In 1976, another typhoon left the track at Fuji covered in water, persuading Niki Lauda to withdraw after two laps, despite starting the race three points ahead of James Hunt at the top of the drivers’ championship. “My life is more important than the title,” he said. Earlier that season, Lauda had come close to death in a crash at the notorious Nürburgring in Germany, suffering severe facial burns and inhaling toxic fumes. Now the non-executive chairman of the Mercedes team who employ Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, Lauda was present at Suzuka yesterday to witness the aftermath of Jules Bianchi’s horrifying crash. Once again, the heavy rain on the track at Suzuka was part of a weather system that has been threatening to
unleash another typhoon on this part of Japan. Although Formula One has become a dramatically safer sport since Lauda’s crash in Germany — there have been no fatal accidents since Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger’s deaths at Imola in 1994 — Bianchi’s accident was a reminder of the inherent dangers.
“We get used to it if nothing happens and then suddenly we’re all surprised,” Lauda said. “We always have to be aware that motor racing is very dangerous.” The most recent serious injury in F1 had seemed relatively freakish, the blow sustained by Felipe Massa when he was hit by a suspension spring that ACTION IMAGES
Staff at Suzuka inspect the rescue tractor in the aftermath of Bianchi’s accident
the times | Monday October 6 2014
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TORU HANAI / REUTERS
The Mercedes rivals’ run-in Russian Grand Prix Sunday The great unknown on a new track constructed around the Winter Olympic park in Sochi. The weather should at least be warm and dry. United States Grand Prix November 2 Hamilton won the inaugural race in Austin, loves the track and the country, and must start favourite. Brazilian Grand Prix November 9 Not a favourite Hamilton track — his best at Interlagos is third. Could be a cliff-hanger and may well be wet. Abu Dhabi Grand Prix November 23 The Big One, with double points on offer. Hamilton won in 2011 but the track is a Mickey Mouse theme-park one, where pole is crucial (Rosberg leads 8-6 in pole positions this year). Words by Kevin Eason
early stages of a race that started in appalling weather and ended in tragedy
the bottom of the first straight, he was close enough to the leader to employ his drag-reduction system and, when he noticed Rosberg oversteer, he surged past on the outside. “I had a lot more pace than Nico
for drivers had become detached from another car at the Hungarian Grand Prix five years ago. Massa required life-saving surgery and had a titanium plate inserted in his skull. He was one of the strongest critics of the race organisers yesterday, saying that organisers should have waved the red flag before Bianchi’s accident when heavy rain returned. When Michael Schumacher sustained serious head injuries this year, it was seen as an irony that skiing had proved a more dangerous pursuit than F1. As Schumacher continues his recovery at home, the cars driven by Hamilton and Rosberg now carry the message #KeepFightingMichael. After a grim echo of F1’s more dangerous days, similar sentiments were being extended to Bianchi. 6 Andrea de Cesaris, one of the most colourful drivers of his era, was killed in a motorcycle crash yesterday. De Cesaris drove in 208 grands prix, with a variety of teams, including McLaren, Brabham, Tyrrell and Jordan, without recording a victory. De Cesaris, 55, was reported to have lost control of his motorcycle on a ring road near Rome.
today,” Hamilton said. “This was not a very easy circuit to follow, but I think he had a small oversteer moment out of the corner and I didn’t. I was fairly confident with the balance of the car, so I put it there and stuck it out. Once I was
past, I was able to manage the gap and enjoy the ride.” The rain soon started to fall heavily again, though, and on the 42nd lap, Adrian Sutil, the Sauber driver, spun off at the Dunlop curve, the seventh corner on the figure-of-eight circuit. The German was unhurt, stepping out of the cockpit, and a tractor was summoned to remove his car from the edge of the run-off area. On the next lap, Bianchi spun off in the same place at more than 100mph, his car travelling uncontrollably across the run-off area and smashing into the back of the tractor, causing the serious head injuries that led to the French driver undergoing brain surgery last night. Immediately, the red flags were waved to signal an early end to the race. Hamilton, at the front of the field, was declared the winner from Rosberg, with Vettel in third place, having announced over the weekend that he would be leaving Red Bull for Ferrari next season. Vettel’s surprising defection, along with the rivalry between Hamilton and Rosberg, had been the subject of feverish discussion in the paddock in the build-up to the race, but last night those matters had become mere trivialities. Multimillion-dollar deals and world championships could wait. As the sun went down in Suzuka, the drivers had rather more important things on their mind.
F1’s recent track record with tragedies son of John Surtees, the 1964 world champion, he was competing in a Formula Two race in 2009 when he was hit on the head by a flying wheel from a car crashing ahead of him.
Massa is carried from his car after a freak accident in Hungary in 2009 Felipe Massa The Brazilian was driving at 160mph in the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix when a spring broke free from Rubens Barrichello’s car. It bounced down the track and hit Massa in the face. Surgeons put the Brazilian into an induced coma and operated to save his left eye. Massa returned to his Ferrari team for the 2010 season and now drives for Williams. Henry Surtees Surtees was a budding star when his life was ended at the age of just 18 in a freak accident at Brands Hatch. The
María de Villota De Villota suffered severe facial and head injuries when she crashed into a stationary lorry after carrying out a straight-line test for Marussia at Duxford Aerodrome in 2012. She was found dead in a hotel room last year, coincidentally the same Japanese Grand Prix weekend. She is thought to have died from her injuries. Michael Schumacher The German is the most successful F1 driver of all time, winning 91 races and taking part in 308 grands prix. He survived unscathed after two decades of high-speed sport, only to suffer severe head injuries in a skiing accident at the turn of the year. Ten months on, he is now coming slowly out of a coma in a special medical facility at his home in Switzerland. Words by Kevin Eason
Improvements in safety have yet to eliminate one key area of weakness Kevin Eason explains that, for all the pioneering work the governing has done, F1 still has an Achilles’ heel
I
t seems the cruellest of ironies to befall Formula One. A year ago, the sport was preparing for the Japanese Grand Prix when news filtered into the Suzuka paddock that María de Villota had been found dead in her hotel bedroom in Spain. The finger of suspicion pointed straight at the injuries she suffered when she drove a Marussia car into a stationary lorry at a test session in 2012 at Duxford Aerodrome. And now this, Jules Bianchi, a bright star for the future, is fighting for his life in hospital today after a crash in a Marussia car almost on the anniversary of De Villota’s death. A pall hangs over Suzuka. There is no blame attached to Marussia, as honest a bunch of racers as exist in F1, but the agony of two appalling accidents in two years will scar the team deeply. Graeme Lowdon, Marussia’s sporting director, was at Bianchi’s bedside late last night awaiting the outcome of surgery on the 25-year-old’s severe head injuries. When Lowdon returns to his team, he will be charged with lifting spirits and morale to face another harsh twist in this story: the Russian Grand Prix — Marussia’s home race and the inaugural race on Russian soil — is next weekend. As many as 70,000 fans will turn out to watch the car in Russian red, perhaps not knowing or understanding that the team have been robbed of their young star, the driver who achieved the seemingly impossible at Monaco this season. That was where he drove to ninth place and earned the first points for a hard-up team who had signally failed to get on the scoreboard in four seasons and seemed to exist on financial fresh air. There was no champagne celebration in Monte Carlo’s poshest bars, just pints of lager because of cash constraints. That one result, though, could yet be worth a bonus of about £25 million for the team if they hang on to ninth place in the constructors’ table this season. Marussia owe Bianchi much. It is a measure of Bianchi’s stature that Lowdon was joined at the hospital by Marco Mattiacci, Ferrari’s team principal. Bianchi is one of the stars of Ferrari’s driver academy, a young man being groomed at Marussia to step up into the brilliant red of the famous Scuderia. If Bianchi gets out of this with his life — never mind his career — we will all be thankful. It has become too easy to forget that driving at
200mph is dangerous. We have seen so many drivers clamber from the wreckage, shake themselves down and start all over again that they appear indestructible. In the 20 years since Ayrton Senna died at Imola, there has not been a driver fatality in F1. Safety — of cars and circuits — has improved by leaps and bounds and far outstrips any other form of motor racing. Cars are designed to be survival cells, yet there is a single weakness, a weakness so devastating and underlined so horrifically yesterday. Senna was not crushed or mangled in the wreckage of his Williams car on that awful day in May 1994; he was hit on the head. It was a single blow from a piece of suspension that killed him. The nearest thing to a fatality came in 2009 when Felipe Massa was struck a single blow on the head by a bouncing metal spring. When De Villota suffered devastating injuries
‘In single-seater racing the one vulnerable part of the body is the head’ in a low-speed accident testing in Duxford, her head took the blow. And now doctors are working to save Bianchi from severe head injuries. F1’s governing body, the FIA, has pioneered safety in the past 20 years and Dr Ian Roberts, the sport’s British chief medic who treated Bianchi at the track yesterday, is working on a series of projects that will continue to track down risk and eliminate it. But it is a fact of single-seater racing that the only vulnerable part of the body is the head and this accident will quicken the debate over whether cockpits should be designed into future F1 cars. The argument may be settled by events in Suzuka. The investigation is to come but F1 has no time to ponder Bianchi’s fate. Bernie Ecclestone’s flying circus moves on today. The freight is ready to be shipped and the performers are packing for Sochi and will have to put from their minds the sight of Bianchi’s stricken car at Suzuka. The highwire act of highspeed racing has claimed a victim — but the show must go on. Hamilton reacts to Bianchi’s crash
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Rising F1 star left fighting for life GETTY IMAGES
John Westerby Suzuka
Lewis Hamilton’s third consecutive race victory was overshadowed yesterday by a life-threatening accident suffered by Jules Bianchi at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka. Bianchi, the 25-year-old Frenchman driving for Marussia, was in intensive care last night after undergoing brain surgery, having suffered severe head injuries when he span off the track in wet conditions and crashed into a tractor that had been attempting to remove the Sauber of Adrian Sutil, who had hit a tyre barrier only minutes earlier. With heavy rain falling for much of the day, the race had begun under safety-car conditions and it was declared over promptly after Bianchi’s accident. The FIA, the sport’s governing body, was left facing a number of questions about safety at the race. Some drivers felt that it should have been aborted earlier in such treacherous conditions and others felt that it had become too dark when Bianchi crashed. There is also the issue of why the tractor that was moving Sutil’s abandoned vehicle was left exposed to Formula One cars straying off the track at high speeds. Despite the severity of the accident, officials from neither the governing body nor the race organisers were made available for comment last night. “This particular corner was a very tricky one the whole race through, but especially in the end when it was dark,” Sutil, the Sauber driver, said. “You just couldn’t see where the patches were and that’s why I lost the car.” Felipe Massa, the Brazilian who drives for Williams and suffered a serious head injury himself at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix,
Medical staff and track officials at Suzuka attend to Bianchi, below, after the crash that ended his involvement in the Japanese Grand Prix
said: “I was screaming on the radio five laps before that there was far too much water on the
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track. But they took too long and it was dangerous.” In a chaotic period after the accident, the helicopter designated to take injured drivers to hospital was not used and Bianchi, who was unconscious, was transported to Mie General Hospital by ambulance instead. His surgery was
reported to have lasted three hours before his transfer to intensive care. Bianchi is in his second season in F1 with the Russian-backed team based in Banbury, Oxfordshire. He scored the first points of his career when he finished ninth in the Monaco Grand Prix this season.
Once the race had been cut short, Hamilton was declared the winner, stretching his lead in the drivers’ championship to ten points over Nico Rosberg, his Mercedes team-mate, who finished in second place after starting in pole position.
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Prize solution 25,903
1 Calling up during holiday, getting nothing for an answer (10) 6 Fail to mention old US university (4) 9 Group of dancers refrain, in front of band (6,4) 10 Italian novelist enclosing hard copy (4) 12 Personal stake evident, and setter’s possibly (6,8) 14 No longer burning to shed tears in protest (6) 15 Shoot a troublesome person in capital (8) 17 Treated a gory leg, grotesque (8) 19 What to wear for cricket club? (6) 22 Horse-drawn vehicle she got into spoils London rec (7,7) 24 US state, Connecticut (a huge part thereof) (4) 25 Hare and hounds shown in daily — Charles ecstatic, initially (5,5) 26 Stop learner driver opening bonnet? (4) 27 Contestant boxing former railway worker (10)
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Report and reaction, pages 62-63
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