T t 2014 11 01

OF LONDON

saturday november 1 2014 | thetimes.co.uk | no 71343

Cheap and chic

The off-season Riviera need not break the bank Pages 50-51

PIXEL 8000

IN THE NEWS

Jerusalem holy site opened after rioting Israel reopened the most holy site in Jerusalem after it was closed by unrest over the shooting of a Palestinian man.

Mutaz Hijazi was was killed by police searching for the gunman who seriously injured Rabbi Yehuda Glick, a prominent campaigner for Jewish prayer rights on the site known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Page 34

Modi snubs Gandhi Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, missed a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the assassination of his predecessor Indira Gandhi in favour of honouring a nationalist known as the “Ironman of India”. Page 31 Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo came down on a test flight yesterday. Sir Richard Branson, below with a prototype in 2008, had intended to create a space tourism industry

Virgin space flight crashes

One pilot killed, another critical after $500m rocketship explodes over Mojave desert Will Pavia New York

The $500 million rocketship on which Sir Richard Branson had hoped to fly a host of rich passengers into space exploded and crashed during a test flight over the Mojave desert in California yesterday. One pilot died and the other was seriously injured.

Virgin Galactic said its SpaceShipTwo had “experienced an in-flight anomaly” during a flight from its base in California to test a new type of rocket fuel. The crash is a setback to Sir Richard’s project and threatens wider ambitions of commercialising space travel.

Observers described the spacecraft exploding in the sky. Both pilots were said to be equipped with parachutes and one chute was said to have been seen opening over the Mojave Air and Space Port amid debris falling from the sky.

However, a blogger who was cover-

ing the test flight said that he had driven to one of the crash sites and seen the body of a pilot amid the wreckage.

“Body still in seat,” said Doug Messier, who writes for the site Parabolic Arc, in a post on Twitter. He said that SpaceShipTwo, had trouble with engine bur burn, blew up, came down in pieces near Koehn Lake”, a dry lake 100 miles north of Los Angeles.

Virgin Galactic said that the powered test flight was being conducted by its partner, Scaled Composites.

The company, run by the American aerospace engineer Burt Rutan, won the Ansari X-Prize in 2004 by becoming the first private enterprise to send a shuttle into space twice within the space of a fortnight.

Sir Richard sought to develop the world’s first commercial space airliner on the back of that success, building a passenger space rocket that was designed to hang beneath the wing of a

“mothership”, a more conventional aircraft with twin fuselages. Once the “mothership” reached 48,000ft, the shuttle would detach and its rocket engine would fire, blasting it up past the Karman Line 60 miles above the Earth, which many take as the boundary of space.

After five minutes in orbit, the shuttle would then glide down again, its wings folding back to slow its return, coming back to land at the spaceport in New Mexico where Virgin Galactic was to be the first carrier of the new age of space tourism.

Sir Richard sold more than 700 tickets for up to $250,000 each, persuading celebrities and scientists to sign up and garnering extra publicity and promising customers that his shuttle would begin blasting them into orbit within the few years — a deadline that crept back as the company experienced a series of Continued on page 7, col 5

Migrants ‘put in danger’ Thousands of migrants making the treacherous sea crossing from Africa to Europe are in danger of drowning as a limited EU patrol fleet goes into action in the Mediterranean today, the Vatican has warned. Page 33

Sons sue over MH370 The Malaysian government and the country’s national airline are being sued by two children for the loss of their father on flight MH370, which mysteriously vanished without trace almost eight months ago. Page 35

Inside today

The children shunned after survivingg ebola Pages 30-31

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News INSIDE TODAY

Opinion

Why can’t those in power discuss real drug reform?

Hugo Rifkind, page 18

Weekend

Will I let others create Paddington stories? Over my dead body!

Michael Bond talks to Alex O’Connell, pages 42, 43

World

Man may wipe out Africa’s wild lions within 40 years Jerome Starkey page 33

Sport

‘Guardiola is a genius, but Bayern’s greatness stems from Van Gaal’ Karl-Heinz Rummenigge talks to Oliver Kay, pages 92, 93

Opinion 17 Weather 17 Leading articles 20 Letters 21 Cartoon 22 World 30 Business 62 Markets 70, 71 Weekend 37 Register 72, 73 Sport 76 Crosswords 60, 96 Please note, some sections of The Times are available only in the United Kingdom and Ireland

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Police sweep up phone data with secret snooping device Sean O’Neill Crime & Security Editor

Tens of thousands of innocent people are having their mobile phones snooped on by police officers using secretive and controversial surveillance technology.

The Times can disclose that the Metropolitan police, the country’s largest force, uses devices called IMSI Catchers that “hoover up” the identity, call and message data of mobile phones.

The latest and most powerful IMSI Catcher models can also intercept and listen to phone calls, collect and read text messages and emails and block phone signals in a specific area.

The devices are deployed to uncover the phone activity of suspects but automatically capture information from all active mobiles within their range.

There is no automatic deletion of material gathered through “collateral intrusion” and police are thought to have stored details of many thousands of innocent people’s phone activity.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) and other larger police forces are also thought to deploy IMSI Catchers, the use of which can be authorised by an officer of chief constable rank without having to seek permission from a judge or government minister.

The use of an IMSI Catcher by law enforcement agencies falls under the Police Act 1997 as “interference with property”. That legislation was drawn up to cover intelligence agencies planting bugs in houses or cars but is now deemed to apply to interfering with “wireless telegraphy”.

Neither Scotland Yard nor the NCA will discuss how often, why or when they use the devices, nor will they comment on what material they collect or the cost of buying and using the machines. Sources have confirmed that

The threat to your privacy 6 IMSI catchers are known as “manin-the-middle” technology because they intercept the pathway between a phone and the nearest mast 6 They trick mobiles into latching on to them. Data is transferred from the phone to the catcher in seconds 6 The devices are named after the basic identity material they first collected: the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) 6 They can jam signals, eavesdrop on calls and read texts 6 They have also become smaller, with some models now handsets 6 IMSI catchers, known as Stingrays in the US, are made in Britain, the US, Switzerland Israel and Germany 6 Sales are controlled, but some have fallen into criminal hands

they are deployed regularly in largescale investigations.

One police source said: “We only used them when we had no idea who our target was in contact with. We’d sit outside and pick up everything. To be honest, I was always uncomfortable about them because you are looking at everyone’s information.” A second source said: “There is a genuine question to be asked about whether the legislation is really up to date and covers their use at all.”

Disclosure of the use of IMSI Catchers will heighten unease about the extent of secret surveillance by police and

the lack of transparency about the methods being used.

The use of interception techniques against journalists’ phones in media leak investigations is already the subject of an inquiry and is seen as undermining the police’s call for enhanced powers to gather data.

Privacy International said yesterday that police had to be open with the public about surveillance. Matthew Rice, the group’s advocacy officer, said: “You cannot maintain this level of secrecy and claim that we have policing by consent. This technology is not capable of targeting an individual.

“It is astonishing to see a continued reluctance by the police to discuss its use. The latest IMSI Catchers can unmask entire groups involved in protests, intercept all their messages and block all their calls.”

Oversight in Britain is conducted

by Sir Christopher Rose, the part-time chief surveillance commissioner, whose office refused to answer questions about his inspection regime.

The exact number of times they were used in the past two years is hidden in the overall “property interference” statistics, which show that 2,689 authorisations were granted over the year.

Home Office sources insist that agencies go to great lengths to minimise the “collateral intrusion” of collecting data from innocent people’s phones. The use of the devices is said to be authorised only in preventing or detecting serious crime. It is understood that large amounts of “collateral” data are not automatically deleted.

Scotland Yard said: “The Metropolitan police can neither confirm nor deny if such equipment is held or used.”

A spokesman for the NCA said: “We do not confirm or deny the use of specific technology.”

Tougher penalties to replace cautions Richard Ford Home Correspondent

Cautions are to be dropped in England and Wales in a revamp of out-of-court punishments for low-level offending.

Ministers are planning to replace six punishments with a more punitive twotier system. The move will bring the end of the police caution, introduced in the early 19th century as a “slap on the wrist” to young and low-level offenders.

Under the new system, first-time offenders, including those caught with small amounts of cannabis, will be given advice by officers or required to

apologise to their victims. More serious offending will be dealt with by a suspended prosecution with conditions.

Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, said the two-tier approach would ensure that all crimes had a consequence: “Offenders will face prosecution if they fail to comply with the conditions set by the police, so that no one is allowed to get away with the soft option.”

Police officers will have discretion in deciding which penalty to impose.

Out-of-court disposals have fallen in recent years, with the number of cautions in the year to the end of March

reaching 235,000, plus 77,000 cannabis warnings and 77,000 penalty notices for disorder, both of which will be dropped.

Chief Superintendent Gavin Thomas, vice-president of the Police Superintendents’ Association, said: “We need to see whether victims find [this pilot scheme] effective, whether it reduces bureaucracy and demand on police and the court system.”

Adam Pemberton, assistant chief executive of Victim Support, said: “These proposals have the potential to make it easier for victims to understand how [offenders have been] dealt with.”

Ticket price warning over air delay verdicts Billy Kenber

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

Airlines could face vast bills for compensation after a legal decision confirmed that passengers can file claims up to six years after a delay.

The Supreme Court yesterday rejected an application by two airlines, Jet2 and Thomson Airways, to appeal against rulings that forced them to pay compensation for travel delays in two cases.

The Thomson Airways case dates back to 2006 when James Dawson and his wife were delayed for 6½ hours while attempting to fly from Gatwick to the Dominican Republic on Christmas Day. In refusing to hear an appeal, the Supreme Court confirmed that passen-

gers in England and Wales have six years to bring a claim for flight compensation as set out in European law.

In a separate case involving Jet2, a passenger had successfully challenged the airline’s refusal to pay out after a 27hour delay in October 2011. Jet2 had claimed that a technical fault that had caused the delay was “unforeseeable” but judges had rejected this, ruling that it was not an “extraordinary circumstance” outside the airline’s control.

Passengers who are delayed by more than three hours can claim up to£470 plus expenses if the delay was the airline’s fault.

A law firm specialising in flight compensation suggested that the Supreme Court’s decision could lead to claims

worth billions of pounds. Bott & Co said the Jet2 case could lead to claims of about £880 million a year, while the Thomson case could prompt claims for a further £3.9 billion in compensation.

Nathan Stower, the chief executive of the British Air Transport Association, said the Supreme Court’s decision would ultimately lead to an increase in ticket prices.

6 Britons travelling abroad are being warned that they could be targeted by terrorists seeking revenge for UK air strikes against Islamic State extremists.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has updated its travel advice for all destinations across the globe, saying that British nationals face a “heightened threat” of attack.”

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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News

Britain’s largest home a snip at £7m . . .

BARRY MORGAN / ALAMY; LORNE CAMPBELL / GUZELIAN

. . . but with 365 rooms its proud new owners could face a £42m repair bill Francesca Steele, Anne Ashworth

If you would like a room for each day of the year and want to own the longest country-house façade in Europe, one seen in many a cherished period drama, your luck may be in.

The largest privately owned home in the country has been put up for sale and, given there may be an issue with subsidence and that it is somewhat closer to Rotherham than Chelsea, it could be yours for a relatively skimpy £7 million.

Wentworth Woodhouse, with 365 rooms, 1,000 windows, a façade twice as wide as the Queen’s London home, and an illustrious list of previous owners including a former prime minister, will be put on the market early next year.

It will become familiar this weekend to cinemagoers catching Mike Leigh’s acclaimed film of the artist JMW Turner’s life. The magnificent interiors seen in Mr Turner are from the South Yorkshire house, which masquerades as the real home of the Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House.

Wentworth Woodhouse, four miles from Rotherham, has previously been the stage for the 1999 adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel Wives and Daughters, and will be used in the forth-

Clifford Newbold, the current owner, bought the house in 1999 for £1.5million

coming BBC series based on the Susanna Clarke novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Built in the early 18th century, the house is the former seat of Charles Watson-Wentworth, the second Marquess of Rockingham, who was twice prime minister. Later that century, the

estate was inherited by the Fitzwilliams, who retained ownership until 1989 with an interlude during the Second World War when it was requisitioned by the government.

According to the owners, there is a section of the house known as “The

Village” because it is so far to walk to.

Alongside the historical pedigree and grandiose scale of the building there is a blot on the landscape.

The current owners — Clifford Newbold, a retired architect, and his wife who bought the property with their three sons in 1999 and have been living in small section of it — secured the property for only £1.5 million. The reason? Well, given its location, there has some tapping of the coal seams that run under the estate.

The family has been seeking compensation of £100 million from the Coal Authority, claiming that mining works carried out in the area until 30 years ago had caused “extensive subsidence damage” over the past decade. The claim is continuing.

The Newbold family said that it had spent £5 million on repairs, including work to the plumbing, heating and electrical systems. Detailed reports suggest that a further £42 million needed to be spent over the next 12 to 15 years to meet the backlog of repairs and subsi-

The grand façade of Wentworth Woodhouse.

Left, Timothy Spall as Turner the artist

dence damage. This figure could not be verified by the family. The Newbold family said that the project to restore the estate had been a “labour of love” and that it was “with deep regret” that they were moving on.

“We fell in love with Wentworth Woodhouse 15 years ago, buying it to save it from neglect and to try and find a sustainable future for this wonderful piece of history. Our father, who lives there, is nearly 90 and he does not have the energy he once had; it is his and our greatest wish to find someone to carry on our work. The most important thing is to see the house in safe hands and secure the preservation of the finest Georgian interiors in the country for future generations to enjoy.”

Savills, the estate agent handling the sale, said that no asking price had been set. There has been speculation, however, that the price will be at least £7 million.

In history of pride and prejudice, the inspiration for Mr Darcy

W

entworth Woodhouse has five miles of corridors, through which guests once had to follow different coloured confetti to find their way back to their bedrooms.

The estate has housed three illustrious aristocratic families: the Wentworths, the Watsons and the Fitzwilliams, the last of whom are thought, along with the house, to have inspired the character and

home of Fitzwilliam Darcy in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

There was previously a Jacobean house on the site, which belonged to the local nobility, the Wentworths, and which was at one time inhabited by Thomas Wentworth, a hugely successful adviser to Charles I, who later signed his death warrant.

The current baroque house was built by Thomas WatsonWentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham, in 1825, who gave it

the name Wentworth House. A small part of the original house can still be seen.

When Charles WatsonWentworth, the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, lived in the house it became a Whig party stronghold.

Lord Rockingham was prime minister twice, once between 1765 and 1766 and again in 1782. He died during his second term.

In the late 18th century the estate was inherited by the Fitzwilliams, who retained ownership until 1989,

although it was used by the military during the Second World War. The Fitzwilliam family at first benefited from the mining of estate lands. However, the nationalisation of their coal mines in 1947 reduced their wealth greatly and the house was let as a teacher-training college. The house and 90 acres of land were then bought by Wensley Haydon-Baillie, a pharmaceuticals millionaire with Spitfire and RollsRoyce collections, who ran up huge debts. In the 1990s artworks from

the house’s treasure trove collection were sold at auction.

They included Whistlejacket, a painting by George Stubbs that sold for £11 million and which is now on show in the National Gallery, as well as a first edition of The Canterbury Tales, printed in 1477 by Thomas Caxton, and acquired by the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam in 1776. The book sold at Christie’s for £4.6 million in 1998.

The current owners bought the property in 1999.

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

News NATIONAL TRUST

Vigorous climbers National Trust workers clear cotoneaster from cliffs on the Gower Peninsula. The plant, which was brought from China by enthusiasts 200 years ago, is smothering endangered species

Anglers face EU limit of one sea bass per day Ben Webster Environment Editor

All at sea Seabass spawning stocks biomass (tonnes)

17,000 15,000 13,000 11,000 9,000 7,000

2004 06

08

10

12

14

5,000

Commercial landings 2013 (tonnes) France UK Netherlands

2,770 804 369

Source: ICES

Anglers face being fined if they catch and keep more than one sea bass a day, under European proposals to address a rapid decline in the species.

The European Commission is recommending the first catch limits for recreational anglers despite strong evidence that commercial fishermen, particularly French trawlers, are responsible for the decline. The onefish limit would apply to more than 200,000 anglers who fish from boats around Britain’s coast.

Sea bass is the most popular fish among sea anglers because it puts up a lively fight and tastes delicious.

The Angling Trust said that the proposed limit was “grossly disproportionate” and would threaten thousands of jobs, including people employed on charter boats, in fishing tackle shops and at seaside pubs and guest houses.

The number of adult sea bass has been declining for the past decade because of overfishing, including by trawlers operating in pairs and towing giant nets. The spawning stock of the slow-growing species has fallen by 40 per cent since 2010.

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, a scientific body that reviews fish stocks, has recommended an 80 per cent cut in the sea bass catch in the EU next year.

In a report due to be discussed by EU fisheries ministers next month, the commission says that national measures have failed to protect sea bass and

regulation is needed because of “the worrying situation of this stock, which could be on the verge of collapse”.

The trust said that the commission was wrongly claiming that anglers were responsible for 30 per cent of the sea bass caught. Martin Salter, the trust’s

campaigns co-ordinator, said the true figure was half that. tr “[The commission] is targeting the people least responsible for bass mortality. It’s a bit like trying to reduce road deaths from speeding by targeting cyclists rather than drivers.”

He said the trust could support a limit of two or three sea bass per angler per day as long as there were much tougher restrictions on commercial fishermen.

The trust is calling for the minimum legal size for sea bass caught and killed to be increased from 36cm to 45cm. It said that the present minimum was below the size of sexual maturity, adding in a briefing note: “It is self-evident that allowing the harvesting of a species before it has had an opportunity to breed is completely unsustainable.” It wants a ban on commercial fishing for sea bass in its spawning grounds.

The trust said that sea bass caught around the coast of the Republic of Ireland, which banned commercial sea bass fishing in 1990 and has a two-fish limit for anglers, were twice as large as those caught in English waters.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs declined to say whether Britain would support a onefish limit. A spokeswoman said: “We recognise the social and economic value of recreational angling — and need to do more to ensure a reduction in commercial catches too. We will be considering options that strike the right balance to deliver our shared goal of a thriving fishing industry, sustainable fish stocks and a healthy marine environment.”

Brussels bill billions more than expected Michael Savage Chief Political Correspondent

David Cameron faces renewed pressure over the money Britain contributes to the EU after it emerged that the country had paid billions of pounds more to Brussels than expected.

Official figures showed that the UK handed over net contributions of £11.3 billion to EU institutions in 2013, some £2.7 billion more than had been anticipated by the Treasury.

The revelation could scarcely come at a worse time for the prime minister, who is under pressure to refuse to pay a £1.7 billion surcharge imposed by the EU this year. Brussels has demanded payment by the start of December.

Mr Cameron has described the demand as “completely unacceptable” and has vowed to fight it. However, Britain is short of allies, with several countries that were asked for more money declaring they would pay up.

Nick Clegg has said that the UK “can’t and won’t pay” by the deadline, while George Osborne has suggested that a far lower figure would eventually be handed over.

The new figures will play straight into the hands of Ukip during the final three weeks of the Rochester and Strood byelection, called after Mark Reckless, the local Tory MP, defected to Ukip.

The £11.3 billion paid to EU institutions in 2013 means that Britain’s contributions have quadrupled since 2008, according to data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). Last year the Treasury had estimated a net contribution of £8.6 billion for 2013.

The amount paid by Britain in 2013 was £2.7 billion more than in 2012 — an

increase of a third. In 2008, the UK’s net contribution stood at just £2.7 billion.

However, the ONS said that the UK’s rebate from Brussels increased from £3.1 billion to £3.7 billion in that time.

Analysts said that the big increase was partly down to a deal to increase the EU’s budget for 2013 in return for an agreement — secured by Mr Cameron — to cut its budget from this year.

Treasury sources said it was no surprise that Britain’s contributions were increasing, adding that Britain’s recovery was partly behind the bill. Each country’s contributions are calculated in line with the size of their economies.

Others blamed Tony Blair for agreeing to give away part of Britain’s rebate.

“This figure isn’t the full picture of the UK’s net contributions as it doesn’t include the 2013 rebate,” a Treasury aide said. “But despite that, the major reason our contribution is rising is that the previous government gave away more than £7 billion when it gave up nearly half the rebate.”

Pawel Swidlicki, from the Open Europe think-tank, said the increase would “only increase the political pressure on David Cameron not to give into the commission over its demand for an extra £1.7 billion for this year’s budget”.

A spokeswoman for Downing Street said the prime minister had been “clear that there has been an increase in the UK’s net contribution to the EU budget, reflecting the way that the rebate was amended under the last government”.

She added: “The prime minister’s views on the EU budget are well known.

He is absolutely clear that we should be doing all we can to bring down EU spending and get control of the overall EU budget.”

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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News

‘Drug-fuelled banker asked wife to sleep with client’ colleague and took drugs, including cocaine, with Jefferies employees, among them Ben Lorello, the head of global investment banking. All the claims have been denied.

Richard Handler, the chief executive of Jefferies, which poached Mr Kelly from UBS in 2009, said in an internal memo yesterday: “We cannot express how deeply we regret the agony and distraction that this has caused all of us, not to mention our clients, each of whom has categorically denied the allegations.

“In an effort to deal with these matters, Sage Kelly has requested a voluntary leave of absence. Sage is embroiled

Deirdre Hipwell

A Wall Street investment banker has taken a voluntary leave of absence after allegations that he encouraged his wife to have cocaine-fuelled sex with a client.

Sage Kelly, head of the healthcare investment banking team at Jefferies bank in New York, stepped down to “deal with these matters”, his employer said after the claims emerged during a divorce fight.

Mr Kelly, 42, who earns about $7 million (£4.4 million) a year, is going through a bitter divorce from his wife, Christina, who claimed in a court filing last week that he was a habitual user of cocaine, magic mushrooms and “molly” — a powdered form of Ecstasy — and that he was frequently unfaithful.

Mrs Kelly said that her husband was once so disorientated after snorting heroin at The Tavern, a club in New York, that he tried to walk home without his shoes on. She alleged that he stored drugs in bags or nasal spray bottles, and that once after taking ketamine, a horse tranquiliser, he became so “discombobulated and depressed” that he went into a “k-hole” where he “desperately clung” to his daughter, Cameron, for several hours, “causing her to have palpable feelings of fear for her father’s wellbeing”.

Mrs Kelly, who used to plan events for Ralph Lauren, said that her husband encouraged her to have sex with Marc Beer, the chief executive of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, and his girlfriend to win business.

She states in her affidavit: “Mindful of [Sage’s] goal of securing business from Marc, I felt responsible not to disappoint Marc. So his girlfriend and I had sexual contact for a few minutes, while Marc and Sage watched.

“Then, Marc’s girlfriend joined Sage on our bed, and Sage and she started to have sexual relations. Then, I joined

Christina Kelly and her husband, Sage, who she claims was a habitual user of

drugs including cocaine and Ecstasy, and was often unfaithful to her

Marc on his bed and he and I engaged in sexual relations. Following that evening, Marc Beer has been an important client of Sage.”

Mr Beer strenuously denied the allegations. He said: “All of the allegations which Mrs Kelly has made regarding me and my girlfriend are ridiculous, baseless and grossly irresponsible.” He also said that he did not use cocaine or any other illegal substance.

The board of Aegerion said that it “fully supported Marc” and had “confidence in his leadership and his character”.

Mrs Kelly also claimed that her husband had an affair with the wife of a

Woman sues New flats are Google for ruled to be on cleavage view a sticky wicket James Dean Technology Correspondent

John Simpson

A woman has been awarded £1,250 after a court in Montreal ruled that she had suffered a “significant loss of personal modesty and dignity” after her cleavage was published on Google’s Street View.

Maria Pia Grillo was photographed on the steps of her home in Canada in 2009 by one of the many cars that Google uses for its mapping project.

Five months later she went on Street View, which is part of Google Maps, to find out what images had been taken of her home. What she found was “deeply shocking”, according to the ruling. The image of her house showed her sitting on the top step, wearing a dress that exposed “part of her chest”. She was, according to the judgment, subjected to derogatory comments and jibes at work, which harmed her reputation.

In a letter to Google, which the company said it never received, Ms Grillo said the image, which also showed her house number and car numberplate, put her “at the mercy of potential predators” and should be properly blurred.

Google said the operation in Montreal had been well documented in the press and on the internet in May 2009.

The court ruled that, despite flaws in Ms Grillo’s evidence, there was no doubt she was shocked and hurt by the image. Google declined to comment.

A High Court judge who did not understand the basics of cricket has blocked a development near a village ground because of the risk of injury from stray balls.

Mrs Justice Beverley Lang, who asked what “fours” and “sixes” were during the hearing, ruled in favour of a conservation group in East Meon, Hampshire, that had challenged a planning decision by East Hampshire district council.

The council had granted permission for an extension with a residential firstfloor flat over East Meon Forge, a former blacksmith’s workshop.

Robert Fookes, representing the East Meon Forge and Cricket Ground Protection Association, told the judge that the forge was very close to the club’s pitch and “sixes and fours are frequently hit by batsmen on to forge land”.

Handing down her judgment, the judge said that anyone using the flat and the decking outside would be vulnerable and that the cricket club would be liable for damage. In addition, “the occupants and visitors to the flat will be at risk of injury when entering or leaving the premises during matches”.

The judge added: “In consequence, the proposed development creates unacceptable risks for its future occupants and for the cricket club.”

in a deeply personal and painful situation. Ben Lorello, in addition to leading our global investment banking effort, will directly oversee our healthcare sector team. Ben, who himself has been falsely and unfairly maligned, has continued to demonstrate leadership, integrity and character in helping us deal with these matters.”

Jefferies added that it was “not happy to be in this unfair position”.

Mrs Kelly, who is seeking $7 million in damages, admits to her own substance abuse problems in the affidavit.

Mr Kelly denied her claims in his affidavit, filed in August, and said that he did not abuse alcohol or any illegal sub-

stances during their marriage. He alleged that his wife had a substance abuse problem and that she had been filmed snorting cocaine in their New York apartment in July.

The banker also referred to his wife’s charge for driving while under the influence after crashing her Range Rover in 2010 into a telephone pole while both her children were in the vehicle.

Mr Kelly, who has won temporary custody of their two children, said in his affidavit: “While [she] and I used recreational drugs on occasion at certain social events in the past, the Wolf of Wall Street tales she tells this court are a work of fiction.”

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

News

GP receptionists join war against ebola

Chris Smyth Health Correspondent

In the fight against ebola Britain has deployed isolation units, experimental drugs, airport screening and even warships. Now, a new weapon is being mobilised in the battle against the deadly virus: GP receptionists.

Everyone calling surgeries with a fever, headache or muscle pain will be asked whether they have been to West Africa, under guidance issued to the gatekeepers for family doctors by the Royal College of GPs. Professional leaders acknowledge that it is highly unlikely that any GP receptionist will ever speak to anyone

with ebola, but says it is worth asking millions of patients about their holidays just to be safe.

The aim of the guidance is to stop sick patients who have visited Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea from coming in to the surgery, allowing them to be assessed over the phone without putting others at risk. If they do come to the surgery, receptionists are told to immediately put them in an isolation room.

GPs will be expected to decide with the help of local infectious disease experts whether the patient needs to be taken to a hospital isolation unit.

Maureen Baker, chairwoman of the college, said: “The threat of ebola to the

UK remains low but GPs and practice staff are on the front line of dealing with contagious diseases and they need to be fully aware of what steps to take in order to protect patients and themselves, should an incident or potential incident arise.”

Doctors and nurses are already expected to ask patients with symptoms such as fever, vomiting and diarrhoea about their recent travel, and the latest guidance extends that to receptionists for the first time.

“It doesn’t take very long to ask, ‘Have you been to Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea?’ so I don’t really think asking the question is a burden,” Dr Baker

said. “The main thing you’re trying to do is stopping people with symptoms and a travel history coming into the surgery. They should be assessed, but you don’t want them in the surgery. If someone did have symptoms, and did have ebola and was sick in the surgery you’d have to close down the surgery.”

She acknowledged: “We would hopefully have very few, if any, cases of ebola in British general practice. What we do have is people who have been to these three countries who may have flu, or malaria, or gastro-intestinal problems and you do have to exclude ebola.”

However, Dr Baker said the “common sense” guidance would “reassure all members of the GP practice team and should make all frontline health professionals feel more confident about handling any potential incident”.

The guidance includes a note for patients who are quarantined in GP surgeries after coming back from West Africa with a fever. It includes advice on how to take their own temperature and a plea not to use the lavatory.

So far almost 5,000 people have died in an outbreak centred on West Africa, which has overwhelmed the health systems of the affected countries. The World Health Organisation tightened its guidance yesterday on protective equipment for health workers at risk.

Two sets of gloves and better covering for the eyes, mouth and nose are now recommended to prevent the virus reaching the bloodstream.

More than £6 million has been donated through web, phone and text donations and the UK government to the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal to help people in West Africa affected by the ebola crisis. The committee said it had been overwhelmed by the generosity of the public. The government has promised to match these funds, plus the next £2 million raised.

Ebola orphans’ plight, pages 42-43

Doctor had 1.2m images of child sex A junior doctor who admitted a series of child sex offences yesterday had more than 1.2 million images and videos of himself engaging in sexual acts with a child stored on his computers.

Raza Laskar, 32, of Ashton-underLyne, who worked in paediatrics at hospitals in Greater Manchester, pleaded guilty at Manchester Minshull Street crown court to 31 charges, including sexual activity with a child and possessing extreme pornography. None of the charges related to his work.

Greater Manchester police said that the offences were against 12 boys under the age of 16, at home and abroad.

Detectives tracked Laskar down after 1,600 files suspected of containing indecent photos of children were relased on a file-sharing website. They linked the IP address to Laskar’s home and a search was carried out on May 2.

Seized computers contained numerous images of Laskar engaging in sex with a child in a hotel room. Hundreds of chat logs allowed police to identify more children being groomed by Laskar.

Detective Inspector Theresa Carter told the court that Laskar was like Jekyll and Hyde. “He is vastly different in moral character depending on the situation, going from caring for and treating children to deliberately targeting, grooming and abusing them,” she said.

She stressed that there was no evidence that he committed any offence during the course of his employment.

Laskar will be sentenced on January 9.

Bulger’s killer ‘hurt by newspaper stories’ Two tabloid journalists are being prosecuted because the feelings of Jon Venables, one of the killers of James Bulger, had been hurt, the Old Bailey was told yesterday.

A jury in the trial of the journalists, who are accused of paying a prison officer thousands of pounds for stories, was told that the case was based on an intelligence report that Venables had been left “down in the dumps” by stories in the News of the World and Daily Star. John Butterfield, QC, defending the News of the World reporter, who cannot be named, said his client’s stories addressed legitimate issues of concern.

The reporter said they were unaware the source was a serving prison officer because he used a false identity when contacting the newspaper. The trial continues.

Medal is home at last

A man who found a First World War medal down a well in Inverness has given it to the grandson of the soldier who won it after a 30-year quest to find him. The British War Medal was awarded to Private William Hogg, of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

Peter Carson, who found the medal in 1984, finally managed to trace the Rev Iain McDonald, from Dawlish, Devon, a grandson of the soldier, who died in 1984.

Schools of science Independent schools spend more than three times as much on science practicals as state schools, according to the Campaign for Science and Engineering. It said that funding for experiments averaged £8.80 per student per year in state schools, compared with £27 in private schools.

Experiments could ignite pupils’ curiosity but more investment was needed, the Times Educational Supplement reported.

Boy, 9, hanged himself A boy aged 9 who witnessed years of “chronic domestic violence” between his parents died nine months after hanging himself, a serious case review has found. The boy, known as Gavin, a British junior wrestling champion, was found unconscious at his home in Stockton-on-Tees in August last year. He died on May 16. The review concluded that nothing could have been done to prevent his death.

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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News PTIONVIRGIN GALACTIC / EPA

Sir Richard Branson was on his way to the Mojave Desert last night to help with the investigation. He planned to be on the first commercial flight made by Virgin Galactic, but it has been repeatedly delayed

Branson dream is distant as ever Giles Whittell, Jacqui Goddard

He is a pioneer for space tourism, one of only a handful willing and wealthy enough to take on the challenge of flying paying passengers to the edge of space to enjoy a view that only 500 or so astronauts before them have seen.

Sir Richard Branson had always vowed that he would be on board Virgin Galactic’s first commercial flight with his two children, Sam and Holly, and that he expected that to be Christmas Day 2013. Then in September this year, he said he expected it to be this Christmas. Yet the start date has been postponed time and again.

Yesterday’s accident will have caused another delay at best, and a very protracted one. At worst, Sir Richard’s dream might have died with one of his pilots in the Mojave Desert, to where the Virgin owner was heading last night to help with the investigation. “Thanks for all your messages of support. I’m flying to Mojave immediately to be with the team,” he said last night.

Since testing of his chosen spacecraft began six years ago, talk has circulated within the space exploration industry that despite Branson’s optimistic boasts, Virgin Galactic was farther from lift-off than he was ready to admit.

Before last night’s crash, the project, joint-owned by the Virgin group and an Abu Dhabi investment fund, was thought to cost at least $500 million and budgeted $100 million more before commercial flights.

From its inception the idea of firing high-rollers to the edge of the atmosphere in a lightweight lozenge made mostly of carbon fibre was space tourism at its most whimsical. It has been a miracle of public relations that the Virgin Galactic story has not been dominated by talk of crashing and burning.

Space flight has always been lifethreatening and, in terms of risk, Galactic was by the nature of its ambitions operating on unproven engineering.

The fatal flight

2 The mothership releases the spaceship at an altitude of about 46,000 feet. It begins test firing its rocket engine, which is burning a new fuel mix

3 Virgin reports an anomaly and the spacecraft crashes into the Mojave desert in California. One of the two test pilots is believed to have baled out, the other dies in the crash NEVADA CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara

Mojave Desert Los Angeles

1 White Knight Two, a jet-powered mothership, lifts SpaceShipTwo into the air for a test flight

San Diego PACIFIC OCEAN

Celebrities and singers head for the stratosphere With an entry fee of $250,000, the passenger manifest of Richard Branson’s spaceship reads like a Who’s Who of business and entertainment.

Among the stars hoping to head for the stratosphere are Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, below, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ashton Kutcher, Russell Brand and Katy Perry. Stephen Hawking and James Lovelock, the environmentalist, will add some gravitas. When Professor Hawking was offered a free ticket, he did not hesitate.

Las Vegas

“I don’t think we will survive another 1,000 years without escaping beyond our fragile planet,” he said. “I therefore want to encourage public interest in space and I’ve been getting my training in early.”

Long before the spaceship lifts off, wannabe

astronauts will have to complete three days of pre-flight preparation.

Virgin says they will learn “how to make the most of microgravity”, the brief period when they will feel weightless.

Lady Gaga will be singing for her ticket, and her performance will be beamed to Earth.

Another free-rider is Kate Winslet, whose husband, Ned Rocknroll, is Mr Branson’s nephew and was “head of marketing and astronaut experience” for Virgin Galactic.

Vasily Klyukin, a Russian banker, bought his ticket at a charity auction for $1.5 million.

100 miles

ARIZONA

MEXICO

Last night’s reminder of the appalling risks of experimental space travel will cast a pall not just over the Virgin group and its multimillion-dollar spaceport in New Mexico, but over an entire private sector space industry.

However far off its commercial start might have been, Virgin Galactic was the leader in the quest to get ordinary people to extraordinary heights.

Sir Richard has no other rocket — not one that could be simply wheeled out of a hangar and pressed into action.

Virgin Galactic does not have the experience of Nasa, bringing questions as to how public confidence could be restored after the crash.

Yesterday spacecraft took 45 minutes to reach almost 50,000 feet, at which point it released its payload, which is designed to complete its climb into space using the rocket engine and then glide to Earth folded for most of the descent like a shuttlecock.

Until yesterday, 700 wealthy prospective passengers, six at a time, had expected to soar, weightless, 60 miles above the planet for $250,000 a ticket.

Test flight explodes and crashes

Continued from page 1

technical problems and delays. In May this year the company announced that it would begin experimenting with a new type of fuel, replacing the solid, rubber-based propellant, which had caused engine instabilities, to a plasticbased fuel named thermoplastic polyamide, which was said to be both more reliable and more powerful, allowing the shuttle to achieve a higher altitude.

Tom Bower, author of Branson: Behind the Mask, told The Sunday Times this year that the new fuel would lead to a longer delay. “They spent ten years trying to perfect one engine and failed.

Now they are trying to use a different engine and get into space in six months.

It’s just not feasible.”

Sir Richard remained bullish. He told Fox News that he would be “bitterly disappointed” if he were not personally in space by the end of the year, on board its inaugural commercial flight. In September, apparently against the pleas of the management of Virgin Galactic, he insisted that the shuttle would be in space by Christmas, while adding that he wished to be “completely confident” about the safety of the spacecraft.

While the shuttle exploded, the “mothership” WhiteKnightTwo, was said to have landed safely yesterday.

“We will work closely with relevant authorities to determine the cause of this accident,” the company said.

The Federal Aviation Administration said that the Mojave Spaceport had lost contact with the pilots shortly after the space shuttle vehicle separated from WhiteKnightTwo. It said that it was investigating the incident.

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

News Sex abuse inquiry

Turmoil at the Home Office as Sam Coates, Frances Gibb, Richard Ford

Theresa May’s authority as home secretary was left badly damaged yesterday after the lawyer asked to lead a far-reaching inquiry into historical child sex abuse was forced out.

Fiona Woolf, the lord mayor of London, became the second chairwoman to abandon the helm of one of Britain’s most ambitious, wide-ranging public inquiries over a conflict of interest that the Home Office had failed to spot.

Mrs Woolf’s position became untenable after details emerged about how the Home Office rewrote private letters in an attempt to limit the fallout from her ties to Lord Brittan of Spennithorne, the former home secretary who is connected to the investigation and who may be called to give evidence.

Only hours before she quit, victim groups had called for her to step down.

Her decision to resign comes three months after Baroness Butler-Sloss stepped down because her late brother, Sir Michael Havers, was the attorneygeneral in the 1980s.

The departure triggered a vicious Whitehall blame game between ministers and civil servants, amid incredulity that Home Office failures had left the inquiry without a chairman since July.

The inquiry, which could last three years, is investigating whether alleged abuse by politicians and other powerful figures between the 1970s and 1990s was swept under the carpet.

Senior government figures acknowledged that the Home Office had failed to do sufficiently robust background checks into Mrs Woolf, who attended dinner parties with Lord and Lady Brittan and lived in the same street.

In an interview with The Times Mrs Woolf admitted that she had not mentioned her dealings with Lord Brittan because she did not regard him as a “close” friend, nor had she appreciated that he would even be part of the inquiry.

It was only later when speculation over her links emerged in the media that counsel to the inquiry told her that Lord Brittan had been questioned over a missing dossier of child abuse allegations in the 1980s when he was home secretary. He robustly denies failing to

Fiona Woolf, left, at an awards ceremony with Martin Lewis and Lady Brittan

deal with the claims properly at the time.

The Times understands that it was John O’Brien, director of safeguarding at the Home Office, who had approached her to take on the inquiry — and that she was given the opportunity to declare any potentially compromising associations.

“But I did not mention Lord Brittan as I did not think about him as a friend and I did not think he would be a focus of the inquiry,” Mrs Woolf said. She

Inside today

Inquiry must pioneer new attitudes to victims Leading article, page 20

warned last night that it could be difficult to find a suitable replacement who was willing to take on the role in the face of media scrutiny. “It is really going to be hard to find someone with no connections. A hermit?” she said.

The affair is likely to anger Downing Street, which has repeatedly defended the efforts by the Home Office to assess the suitability of Mrs Woolf.

Just last week Home Office officials were saying the appointment had to be made to work in order to protect the reputation of both the home secretary and the department.

It comes after a difficult week for the

44 years under scrutiny Behind the story

T

he inquiry was set up to look at how various organisation failed to protect children from sex abuse and to highlight further action needed.

The Independent Panel Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, announced on July 7, will operate along the same lines as the inquiry that looked into the Hillsborough disaster, with a chairman assisted by a panel of experts and victims.

Under its terms of reference the inquiry will look at the extent to which state and non-state bodies failed to protect children, look at whether their failings have been addressed, highlight further action needed and publish a report with recommendations.

It will be comprehensive, covering government, parliament and ministers, police, the prosecuting authorities, schools, private and state-run boarding

schools, children’s service and prisons in England and Wales.

Churches, political parties, the armed forces and the BBC are also within its remit and the inquiry is expected to last three years.

Initially the panel will consider cases from 1970 onwards but if it receives relevant evidence it can look further back. It will be able to call for documentation including reports into previous allegations of child sexual abuse as well as testimony from witnesses but it does not have the power to compel anyone to give evidence. This power might be granted, however, if there is seen to be a need.

It will hold sessions in public and private and intends to travel around England and Wales to take evidence.

The chairman will be assisted by Ben Emmerson, QC, and a panel of eight, including experts and victims’ representatives.

home secretary following a serious of reports highlighting a shambolic immigration system, sham marriage trials collapsing because of errors by border staff and chaos in attempts to remove foreign offenders.

One Whitehall official said yesterday: “This is terrible for the Home Office. On operational matters such as immigration, which are complicated issues, things will go wrong. But appointments like this are the sort of stuff senior civil servants can do and should get right.”

Details of the links between Mrs Woolf and Lord and Lady Brittan were available by typing both names into the Google search engine.

There was astonishment in Whitehall that more care was not taken by ministers, with Mrs May only meeting Mrs Woolf after her appointment.

Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee, said: “For this kind of inquiry it was essential that ministers should have spoken directly with Fiona Woolf themselves.” His committee will be given the opportunity to hold a pre-appointment hearing when the Home Office selects the third candidate for the job.

Mark Sedwill, the top civil servant at the Home Office, is likely to be asked by the committee whether he authorised officials to rewrite the letter between Mrs Woolf and Mrs May outlining her links to the Brittans.

One source who knows Mrs May well lay the blame at the door of Mrs Woolf, however. “You would have thought a lawyer such as her would be more than aware of what a conflict of interest in such a situation looked like.

I’m astonished she didn’t volunteer information about the relationship.”

Mrs Woolf said that she was standing aside after it was made clear to her that she did not command the support of victims. She needed, she said, to “get out of the way so that this important work can proceed”. She made her decision after a meeting yesterday between victims’ groups and inquiry panel members from which she received feedback that was “very negative”.

“Sadly it’s become clear that the inquiry as chaired by me will not have widespread victim support and I am particularly sensitive to the views of victims, many of whom have demonstrated immense courage,” she said.

Alison Millar, head of the abuse team at Leigh Day solicitors that represents some of the victims, welcomed her decision to go.

As Mrs Woolf quit, Mrs May was again starting a trawl for a suitable candidate to lead the inquiry. The home secretary will hope that her officials carry out better “due diligence” on the background of future applicants than they appear to have on her first two choices.

Fiona Woolf said the furore over her links with Lord Brittan had left her “battered

‘I did not think of Exclusive interview Frances Gibb Legal Editor

Fiona Woolf had no idea that Lord Brittan of Spennithorne would come under scrutiny when she was approached for the job of leading the child abuse inquiry, she told The Times.

She said that she had not mentioned her connection with the former home secretary because she did not regard him as a “close friend”, nor had she realised that he might be a focus of the inquiry.

Mrs Woolf revealed that she stepped down because of the “very negative feedback” from victims’ groups. She had been asked by Home Office officials if she had any associations that she ought to declare.

“I did not mention Lord Brittan as I did not think about him as a friend and I did not think he would be a focus of the inquiry.”

Speculation about her links with him — she invited him and his wife three times to dinner and went to his house twice — fuelled mounting concerns among victims’ groups that she could not be seen to be independent. She was in South Africa

at the time and on her return, counsel to the inquiry, Ben Emmerson, QC,told her that Lord Brittan had already faced inquiries by the Home Office over a missing dossier of child abuse allegations during his time as home secretary in the early 1980s. He denies any allegations that he did not deal with the claims at the time.

She believed it was unhelpful that her dealings with Lord Brittan were set in a “framework of innuendo and comment”. “What I have not been able to get over is that this is a huge inquiry about a lot of institutions, with a lot of failures, not just across government but local government, the police, CPS and Church, schools and so on,” she said.

“So rather than that, it was my ability to chair it that became the focus of attention.” Mrs Woolf, 66, felt “battered and bruised” and “deeply sorry” that the furore had overshadowed her last few weeks as Lord Mayor of the City of London.

“I don’t take any of this easily and lightly and it has been the most worrying period of my life; something I have never encountered before. I am not a politician so I am not used to dealing with these things.”

Mrs Woolf, a corporate lawyer who was only the second woman president

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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Sex abuse inquiry News

Woolf quits child abuse inquiry TIMES PHOTOGRAPHY CHRIS HARRIS

Another top official is mired in scandal David Brown

and bruised”. She also regretted that the row had overshadowed the end of her tenure as Lord Mayor of the City of London

Brittan as a friend’ of the Law Society before she became only the second female lord mayor, has made a personal campaign of equality for women and deeply regrets not being able to ensure justice for the victims.

“They have shown great courage and fortitude in pressing not just the government but society to address these shocking and serial failures of child protection. They are at the heart of the inquiry but I felt if I couldn’t get them behind it on a widespread basis, then I needed to get out of the way.”

She decided that if a meeting of victims and panel members yesterday produced “negative feedback” she would step down and told the home secretary this. “She [Theresa May] understood where I was coming from.

She said that if I wanted to stay, then she and the prime minister had confidence in me and in my integrity and impartiality but at that stage neither of us knew the outcome of the meeting.”

Mrs Woolf had tried to be open and transparent and to “reassure everyone that I was going to run a very efficient rigorous inquiry absolutely impartially with a brilliant panel”.

She regretted she could not command sufficient confidence to

overcome a perception of bias.

The home secretary had appointed her for her ability to run rigorous inquiries strategically and as an outsider who could “challenge panel members as coming in cold [with no background in child protection].”

She accepted, however, that it was an error to describe herself as “not a member of the establishment”, insisting that she had understood the question to mean whether she would ever condone a “cover up.”

As for the seven drafts of her letter to the home secretary detailing her dealings with Lord Brittan, Mrs Woolf said that her job was busy with 12 engagements a day and it was normal for others to do initial drafts “I felt it right to send my letter to the Home Office because there was a lot in it and they might have thought me unsuitable for the job at all”. She was also mindful of pending judicial review proceedings over the inquiry.

The reason she did not walk away sooner was the support from people in the City. “My greatest regret is that I have unsettled the victims,” she added. “I hope there is someone out there who is as passionate as I am about getting to the bottom of serial institutional failure to address child sex abuse.”

Who’s next in line?

Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws Forceful leading civil liberties lawyer, broadcaster and prominent voice on the Labour benches in the Lords who has long experience of acting as a barrister in cases of domestic violence and child abuse Sir Alan Ward Recently retired and widely respected Court of Appeal judge with long experience of family disputes. Humane and humorous — helped the novelist Ian McEwan with his latest book on The Children Act Lady Justice Hallett Court of Appeal judge, below, who won plaudits for her skilful and sensitive handling as coroner of the 7/7 inquests. A policeman’s daughter with a downto-earth touch, good people skills and extensive criminal experience.

However judicial bosses might be reluctant to lose a serving judge to an inquiry whose duration is uncertain Lord Carlile of Berriew Leading barrister and Lib Dem peer who served as the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation from 2005 to 2011. He is prepared to speak out against the authorities

The most senior member of the investigation into historical child sexual abuse after the resignation of Fiona Woolf has previously warned people not to give evidence to inquiries.

Barbara Hearn was the first person to be appointed to the panel to assist Mrs Woolf and it was announced that she would help to “finalise membership of the panel and agree terms of reference for the inquiry”.

The former social worker faced calls to resign last night after it was revealed that when she was criticised by an investigation into the death of a young girl, she said that she “would never go through an inquiry again”.

Two key whistleblowers who have exposed the organised sexual abuse of children called for Ms Hearn to resign and said that they would not give evidence if she remained on the panel.

Ms Hearn was criticised in an official inquiry into the death of Lucy Gates, two, in Bexley, southeast London, after neglect and abuse by her mother.

Ms Hearn had been the family’s newly qualified social worker from 1976 until a year before Lucy’s death in 1979.

After the inquiry published its findings in 1982, Ms Hearn said: “I would never go through an inquiry again. It’s about hurting people, not about analysis of professional processes. My message to others is don’t involve yourself unless you feel you absolutely have to and you feel it will have a negative effect on your career if you don’t.”

Ms Hearn, 61, does not mention her involvement in the Lucy Gates inquiry in her letter to the home secretary detailing any relevant issues.

She had been nominated for the present inquiry panel by Tom Watson, the Labour MP with whom she had

been working as an unpaid adviser for the past two years.

The whistleblowers also highlighted concerns about Ms Hearn’s connections with social work managers from the Labour-controlled Islington council in north London when there was widespread sexual abuse in the borough’s children’s homes.

Ms Hearn was appointed to the National Children’s Bureau in the 1990s

by John Rea Price, who had been director of social services at Islington council.

She later became deputy chief executive of the organisation, where she worked closely with Sara Noakes, who had been in charge of child protection in Islington at the time of the paedophile abuse. The two women wrote a book together about child protection for social workers.

In her letter to Theresa May, Ms Hearn says she is aware of “allegations” of sexual abuse at Islington children’s homes and that she was appointed by Mr Rae Price, but does not mention Ms Noakes.

Liz Davies, who exposed the abuse in Islington and is now a lecturer in child protection at London Metropolitan University, said she was appalled by Ms Hearn’s description of well-documented abuse in the north London borough as mere “allegations”. She said: “Barbara cannot have credibility when she so casually dismisses the evidence of inquiries and investigations about the Islington child abuse scandal.”

Peter McKelvie, a retired child protection manager who raised the alarm two years ago about establishment involvement in child abuse, also called for Ms Hearn to resign yesterday at a meeting of victims’ representatives and the inquiry panel’s secretariat.

Ms Hearn did not respond to requests to comment.

A shambles before it has even begun, says victim Andrew Norfolk

A survivor of childhood sex crimes who led a legal challenge to Fiona Woolf’s appointment welcomed her decision to stand down.

Ian McFadyen said that he was pleased that Ms Woolf had “seen sense” but criticised the Home Office for turning the inquiry “into a complete shambles before it’s even begun”.

“I didn’t doubt Mrs Woolf’s credibility. It was her suitability that was in doubt. She didn’t understand family law or child protection issues, nor the impact that her links with Leon Brittan would have on survivors. That’s only been reinforced in recent days by the way she’s allowed herself to be handled by the Home Office,” he said.

His comments were backed by many organisations representing abuse victims. Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, called on the government to “get a grip” and talk to survivors about the best way to move forward.

Mr Saunders said that the meeting held yesterday between victims’ groups and

Home Office officials should have taken place months ago.

Mr McFadyen, a victim of violent sexual abuse as a schoolboy in the late 1970s at Caldicott prep school in Buckinghamshire, where he was a contemporary of Nick Clegg, called for the inquiry to be led by a High Court judge.

“This needs to be turned into a statutory inquiry and we need new terms of reference. It’s no good requesting people to answer questions. They must be required to do so,” he said.

Concerns over the inquiry’s structure and leadership had merely added to the distrust already felt by many abuse survivors towards public institutions and those in positions of power, he added.

Satisfaction at Mrs Woolf’s resignation was not universal among abuse survivors. A man who was sexually abused by a teacher when he was a pupil at a leading public school said that he had hoped she would resist calls for her resignation.

“Anyone with the intelligence, experience and standing to lead a huge inquiry like this is inevitably going to have some links to the establishment,” he said. “The idea that she might be biased because she went to a few dinner parties with someone was absurd.”

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

News NIGEL RODDIS / GETTY IMAGES

Awkward Ed digs deep for ‘fistful of coppers’

L

abour has denied that Ed Miliband gave a beggar a handful of coppers yesterday after he was photographed stopping to give money in Manchester.

Mr Miliband was on his way to a speech when he passed the woman, who was

begging on the street.

He dropped money into a paper cup, but was attacked by some on Twitter for looking awkward in photographs of the exchange.

A Labour source immediately rebuffed suggestions that Mr Miliband had only given coppers. “It was a handful of coins,” he

Ukip extends lead in the contest to secure second MP Michael Savage Chief Political Correspondent Lucy Fisher Political Correspondent

Ukip is on course to secure its second MP after a poll showed that it had extended its lead over the Tories in the Kent seat of Rochester and Strood.

Nigel Farage’s party now leads in the campaign for the November 20 byelection by 15 points according to a Survation poll released last night. Ukip’s popularity has surged by eight points since the start of October.

Despite selecting a candidate and sending an army of activists, MPs and ministers to campaign in the seat, the Conservatives have fallen two points behind since another poll last week, while Labour is languishing on 16 per cent.

Losing the seat would be a disaster for Downing Street. It would risk encouraging further defections to Ukip and increase nerves on the Tory benches.

Some are already keen to form local pacts with Ukip in an attempt to unite the right-wing vote.

The poll will frustrate the Labour party, which was celebrating yesterday after fighting off Ukip in the South Yorkshire police and crime commissioner by-election. Ukip came a distant second.

Alan Billings, a former deputy leader of Sheffield city council, won 50.02 per cent of the vote in the first-round ballot, narrowly avoiding a second round count. He had campaigned on a ticket of rebuilding trust between the police

and community after the child sexabuse scandal in Rotherham. A senior Labour source said the party “took Ukip on and won”, despite Mr Farage’s claim that he was putting the “people’s army’s” tanks on Labour’s lawn.

The Ukip candidate, Jack Clarkson, a retired police officer and a Ukip councillor in Sheffield, came second with 31.7 per cent of the vote. Ian Walker, a Conservative, won 12.5 per cent.

Fewer than three in 20 people voted in the by-election, which cost £1.7 million. The turnout for the South Yorkshire region, which comprises Rotherham, Sheffield, Barnsley and Doncaster, was 14.88 per cent — higher than expected, but down from 14.92 per cent in 2012.

In Doncaster, one ballot box was reported to have contained only three votes, while in Barnsley only 14 votes were cast at one polling station.

Labour avoided the embarrassment of a Ukip win in Doncaster, Ed Miliband’s backyard, recording 45 per cent of the vote, compared with Ukip’s 34 per cent. Labour also won in Rotherham, despite the shadow cast over the party by the Labour council’s failings over the child sex abuse scandal there.

It was the resignation of Shaun Wright as the Labour police commissioner that triggered Thursday’s byelection. He succumbed to a campaign against him, having been the councillor responsible for children’s services in Rotherham between 2005 and 2010, a period that covered many of the sex abuse cases.

Most Scots now support separation from the Union Lindsay McIntosh Scottish Political Editor Sam Coates Deputy Political Editor

Scots would back independence if another referendum was held today, according to a new poll for The Times.

The majority of Scots, or 55 per cent, rejected independence six weeks ago, but the mood of Scotland appears to have shifted since then. YouGov now puts support for separation at 52 per cent, compared with 48 per cent who want to remain in the Union. By including those who would not vote or do not know, the split is 49 per cent for “yes” and 45 per cent for “no”.

This week, Johann Lamont quit her

role as Scottish Labour leader amid concern at London’s treatment of the party north of the border. The research found 58 per cent agreed with the move.

The research shows 43 per cent of Labour supporters now back separation. Among Scots overall, 22 per cent think the party represents Scotland’s views and interests well, while 65 per cent think it represents them badly.

There is significant support for another referendum, despite almost half, or 48 per cent, saying that the one in September had left the country divided. A second vote should take place within the next decade, according to 45 per cent of respondents, although 16 per cent never want another one.

said. “We can’t say exactly how much, but a handful of money he had in his pocket.”

Mr Miliband has faced ridicule over photo opportunities in the past, notably an awkward pose while eating a bacon sandwich earlier this year.

He has since said that he is not “a politician who thinks that a good photo is the most important thing”.

Handing money to beggars is an issue that divides opinion.

Matthew Downie, of the

charity Crisis, said it was “a personal decision”. He said politicians could do “much more” to help the homeless by boosting their legal rights.

On its website, Manchester city council, which is run by Labour, requests that residents report instances of street begging to the police, as it has been illegal since 1824.

It says police will then “attend to see if the beggar needs any support and help them get the most appropriate services”.

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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News

Please look after this bear when I’m gone -- or else Alex O’Connell, Fiona Wilson

The creator of the Paddington Bear books is planning on giving a very hard stare from beyond the grave to anyone who doesn’t respect his famous request to “Please look after this bear”.

Michael Bond, 88, who wrote the first book in the series in 1958, has spoken of his fear of Paddington falling prey to the trend for continuation novels, where known authors take on established fictional characters.

In an interview with The Times, Bond, who has a new book, Love From Paddington, out this month, revealed that he had been in legal talks to try to prevent other authors from putting on the bear’s dufflecoat.

It would happen “over my dead body (but it would be!)” he said. He said he would “hate” his creation to become the plaything of another writer, as has been the case with Ian Fleming’s James Bond, Agatha Chris-

tie’s Hercule Poirot, PG Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster and many more.

“I have just made a will and gone to a lawyer in the City who specialises in that very thing of stopping people doing it — it’s quite difficult,” he said. “It is dreadful and I don’t trust anybody from that point of view. I think it’s quite wrong when they [new writers] do James Bond . . . I think they [the characters] are sacred.”

Continuation novels have become a cash cow. Charlie Higson’s five Young Bond books, set in the 1930s and showing how Bond matured into Fleming’s hero, have been translated into more than 25 languages. The first in a second series by Steve Cole is out next week.

Sophie Hannah has taken on Poirot in The Monogram Murders, Anthony Horowitz wrote the Holmes pastiche, House of Silk, three years ago and was sanctioned by the Conan Doyle estate to write Moriarty, and Emma Thompson was asked by Frederick

WESTMINSTER DIARY

ANN TRENEMAN ago by Ed Miliband. Now the tables are turning. Someone should lock up the knives.

Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

This more or less sums up the Scottish Labour party, which has been imploding ever since winning (sic) the referendum campaign. It was, therefore, perfect timing that the party’s great and good gathered at the reborn Central Hotel in Glasgow (a city won by the SNP, of course) on Thursday for a gala dinner of champagne and steak just as polls predicted an electoral wipeout. Since the victory (sic), the knives have been out for Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont, who duly resigned a week ago. No one was surprised when her old friend, the shadow Scottish secretary, Margaret Curran, who has been accused of being a backstabber herself, announced that the knives on the dinner tables were there for one purpose only.

If there was one happy person at the dinner, it would be a man named Murphy. There was huge relief last week when Jim Murphy, above, a streetfighting star of the referendum campaign, became a leadership candidate. I am a fan of Mr Murphy, an intriguing personality who is a football-mad vegetarian teetotaller.

At the dinner Mr Murphy, above, was all smiles as he sipped his Irn-Bru and tucked into his woodland mushroom and ale chutney puff pastry.

And why not? For Mr Murphy, a Blairite, was demoted a year

Actually, Ed Miliband is becoming a living example of Murphy’s Law. It seems he cannot do anything right (except win the occasional by-election, of course). Yesterday in Manchester to make a speech on his subject-du-jour (buses), he passed a beggar in the street and gave her some money. A camera revealed that the coin in his hand looked as if it might be 2p which, frankly, did seem a little cheap even in this era of austerity.

Within an hour, a Labour spokesman insisted that there had been “a handful of change you can’t see”. Ludicrous.

The good people of South Yorkshire have voted with their feet in the police and crime commissioner by-election and stayed at home. In Doncaster, one ballot box contained three votes.

In Barnsley, a polling station recorded 14 votes in 13 hours. Still the Labour win (sic) was a blow for Nigel Farage, who had hoped for an upset. The publicity-mad Ukip leader was rumoured to be in the region but, strangely, was impossible to find.

David Cameron refused to wear a “This is what a feminst looks like” T-shirt this week but, it seems, he is not against other random gifts. We learnt yesterday from official documents that he liked a pair of Oliver Sweeney shoes that he was given so much that he decided to buy them — for £267. Then there was the watch that came from Interpol, purchased by the PM for £150. I do hope he was wearing both at Chequers where we also learnt that he entertained Claudia Schiffer, left, the German model, the Queen and Marc Bolland, the top man at Marks & Sparks.

Warne and Co, the publisher, to write three new tales about Peter Rabbit.

Karen Jankel, Bond’s daughter who runs Paddington and Company, the merchandise business, said: “I think my father wants to protect me, so that when people ask I can say, ‘No, sorry. My father put his wishes in a legal document.’ I don’t know how watertight it will be but the copyright of the character has been established and is owned by the company I own and run.

Nobody else would be

able to write a Paddington book now.”

John Sutherland, the emeritus professor of literature at UCL, says it is an old complaint. “It was done with children’s literature in the 19th century — Sexton Blake ripped off Sherlock Holmes.

But franchised fiction or literature is a late 20th-century phenomenon,” he said.

Andrew Motion, the former poet laureate who has written sequels to Treasure Island, said: “My view is that when books enter the world, their connection with their author is bro-

ken in some important respects. I have nothing but admiration for Michael Bond, but I think he should probably relax and accept that his bear, like any significant creation, is likely to lead multiple lives, over which it’s unrealistic to think he might exercise control.”

“There are two schools of thought,” Professor Sutherland said. “[One is that you should] let 1,000 flowers bloom, the other is that authors put a lot into creating their property and want to protect them. It’s a Canute-like hope that you can, as it were, seal off something as iconic even as dear old Paddington.”

Leading article, page 20 Weekend, pages 42-43

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

News

Handbags are out as jewels sparkle again Carolyn Asome

The It Bag is dead, long live. . . diamond bracelets, and Tiffany earrings, gold necklaces and gem-encrusted friendship bracelets. Retailers including Boodles, Harrods and Bentley & Skinner have reported a surge in demand from women buying jewellery in the £1,500 to £2,000 bracket, the same price as statement bags, such as Saint Laurent’s Sac du Jour or Prada’s galleria tote.

“Women don’t want to be seen with last season’s ‘must-have’ bag,” says Omar Vaja, of Bentley & Skinner, “but that jewel will last forever.”

Online shops, such as Stylebop.com and Matches.com, confirm the trend: sales, they say, have tripled as women opt for precious metals with expensive stones. Buying a stylish piece of fine jewellery, they believe, is now seen as a better investment than a bag.

“Women are investing in precious jewellery that can be worn everyday, whether with your best cocktail dress or jeans and a T-shirt.” says Bec Astley Clarke, the founder of the jewellery website, Astley Clarke.

“We find our delicate rose and yellow gold pieces in 14 carat with a sprinkling of diamond pavé are especially popular — they have a strong design aesA Monica Vinader Ava disc pendant sells for £525

thetic but are classic enough to be worn with everything.”

Monica Vinader, a designer, has seen a 25 per cent increase in women buying jewellery for themselves. “What is different is how women are increasingly turning to jewellery to transform their wardrobes,” she says. For Vinader it is bracelets, specifically “friendship” styles, that are flying off the shelves.

Of course it helps that fine jewellery is back in vogue. Leila Yavari, the fashion director for Stylebop.com believes that this is “largely due to the emergence of extremely talented young designers who are working with precious metals and stones but lending their own fashionable twist”.

Jewellery designers continue to push the boundaries, doing ever more innovative things with precious stones: bashing them, chipping away at the edges to create a stealth wealth badge.

In many ways, jewellery has become less ostentatious than an expensive itbag. Nothing confers hip status on women as readily as a Repossi ear cuff or an Ileana Makri evil eye ring.

Sheherazade Goldsmith, of Loquet London, agrees. “A classic piece of jewellery is something that transcends time and trends.

Bespoke pieces . . . are part of your history, they are part of your life and tell that story forever. I’m not sure a handbag can do the same.”

THE PHOTOGRAPHERS’ GALLERY

Behind the veil An image of Gloria Swanson taken by Edward Steichen in 1924 for Vanity Fair features in an exhibition at The Photographers’ Gallery in London

Sailor forced packed ferry to change course A yachstman who forced a packed passenger ferry to veer off course has been fined £200.

Andrew Humble, 59, from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, was competing in a yachting regatta when he crossed into the path of the Irish Ferries passenger service from Pembroke to Rosslare in August, magistrates in Haverfordwest heard.

The captain of the Isle of Inishmore, which holds 2,200 passengers, sounded his horn but, in a breach of bylaws, Humble ignored the warning, forcing the ferry to take “evasive action”, the court was told.

According to sailing rules, small noncommercial boats must not obstruct larger vessels and should not move in a way that causes danger or inconvenience to other users.

Bill Hirst, the harbourmaster, said: “Humble’s yacht could have hit the ferry if it had not changed its path.

Humble would have had little time to react to a potential collision if the ferry had not altered course and left the navigable channel.

“This prosecution highlights an extremely important issue of safety of which all users of the river need to be aware.”

Humble, who was taking part in the Dale Regatta at the time, admitted obstructing the ferry as he raced his yacht Selukwe in Milford Haven port.

He was fined £200 and ordered to pay £795 costs.

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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News

Gum disease threat inflated to sell mouthwash Chris Smyth Health Correspondent

Gum disease is as normal a part of ageing as wrinkles and its threat has been exaggerated to sell mouthwash and expensive treatments, a dental expert has claimed.

Bleeding does not mean teeth will fall out, and proper brushing will cure the problem, said Paul Batchelor, senior lecturer in the dental public health unit at University College London.

Brushing regularly with fluoride toothpaste is the only proven way to protect your teeth from the more serious problem of decay, he insisted. Expensive scales and polishes offered by

dentists to treat gum disease are backed by little evidence and will not help if people are not looking after their teeth, he argued in the British Dental Journal.

About 10 per cent of people will need treatment for gum problems, but the rate does not vary around the world and is often inherited, suggesting dentists should target smokers and others with real needs, Dr Batchelor said.

“It’s an overstated problem. If you don’t brush your teeth you will tend to get some inflammation and bleeding, but that will not have the impact that has been suggested,” he said.

“Most people regard wrinkles as simply part of the ageing process. There are PETER SUMMERS / NEWSTEAM / SWNS

Striped surprise Millie, a cavachon dog, has been given a makeover in the style of a tiger by her owner, Jackie Simmonds, 44, from Burntwood, Staffordshire

Big babies grow up to be healthier than little ones Big babies suffer from fewer diseases as they grow up than their slimmer peers, according to research which could help scientists to prevent age-related diseases while babies are still in their mother’s womb.

However, before mothers-to-be simply reach for the cream cakes and biscuits, there is more to it than that.

Researchers suggested that differences in DNA patterns and long-term variation in gene activity established in the womb supported the link between birth size and disease risk, Dr Cllaire Quilter, of the pathology department at the University of Cambridge, who is one of the study’s authors, said: “These findings support the hypothesis that common long-term variation in the activity of genes established in the womb may underpin links between size at birth and risk for adult disease. If confirmed, these could be important markers of optimal foetal growth and may be the first step along a path to very early disease prevention in the womb.”

The study, published in the journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, set out to de-

termine whether there was any truth to the theory that conditions in the womb, that lead to a high or low birth weight, could affect the genes in the baby, which could lead to effects that persist into adult life. To do this, the team looked at DNA derived from the cord blood of newborn babies from mothers with raised glucose levels during late pregnancy and in those babies born following relatively slow growth in the womb that later caught up after birth.

Researchers looked for differences in DNA methylation patterns where the results showed differences in these methylation changes, which were specific to boys and girls and to each of the two groups, although changes were also identified that were common to both groups of babies.

Gerald Weissmann, the journal’s editor in chief, said: “In the age of epigenetics, prenatal care is moving beyond infant survival and into optimising the health of the baby for his or her entire life. Understanding the epigenetic factors that play a role in a baby’s birthweight will eventually help doctors give the best care and advice to their pregnant patients.”

some people who rush off to have injections and what we’re seeing with gum disease is that any deviation from the ideal is seen as disease. For many people it is simply part of the ageing process: as you get older, your tissues are not as elastic.”

Defining periodontitis as gaps opening between gums and teeth, encouraged needless treatment of something that may cause no problems, he argued.

“If you define gum disease as a clinical measure alone, everybody has gum disease and you’re going to spend a fortune trying to treat something that actually makes very little difference. As long as the pockets (between teeth)

don’t affect your life . . . what’s the problem? To say it will end with all your teeth falling out if you don’t do something about it, that’s overegging the pudding . . . You’re creating a problem, and then people will buy something.”

He warned that bleeding gums should not be ignored because they are a sign of poor brushing, which might lead to tooth decay. It was not necessarily true that the condition, known as gingitivis, would automatically lead to more serious problems. “What we do know is many people will have bleeding gums at some point,” said Dr Batchelor.

Nigel Carter, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, said

Dr Batchelor was “a bit extreme” in dismissing gum disease. “There are two schools of thought on whether gingivitis causes gum disease. The general consensus would not agree with him.”

However, he said: “Do we need to worry about it as much as we do? The answer is possibly there’s too much emphasis and we should be targeting better.” He also agreed that the case for scales and polishes had not been proven, saying: “It is a sad fact that the evidence for a lot of what we do isn’t there.”

Dr Carter added that fluoride toothpaste was the key to avoiding problems but argued there was no harm in buying brands with antibacterial elements.

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News

Dawn breaks at Oake Manor golf club in Somerset, right, on what would become the hottest Hallowe’en since records began.

Sun-seekers flocked to Brighton beach, above, while Rose Bishop, left, enjoyed the unseasonal spell at Great Yarmouth beach

Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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IVISTAPHOTOGRAPHY / BARCROFT, HUGO MICHIELS/LNP, JEREMY DURKIN

News

Chains and hidden cameras keep plants rooted Tom Whipple Science Correspondent

You can put down poison for slugs and you can spray for aphids. But there is a persistent pest against which Britain’s gardeners have few remedies: the unscrupulous plant collector.

Now one botanic garden has admitted that the only way it can stop its rare plants being stolen is to chain them down or monitor them with motion sensor cameras. Barry Clarke, a botanist at Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Hampshire, expected better from his fellow gardeners. “It’s these specialist nuts,” he said. “They’re like stamp collectors. They just have to have the next one for their collection.” He estimates

Spooky . . . a record 24C for Hallowe’en Paul Simons

Forget ghouls, witches and zombies — the spookiest thing this Hallowe’en was the weather.

It was the warmest Halloween on record, with the highest temperature of 23.6C (74.5F) recorded at both Kew Gardens, in London, and at Gravesend, in Kent. The previous record Hallowe’en temperature of 20C (68F) from 1968 was easily broken, with Britain warmer than Barcelona and Athens.

“This is exceptional — high temperatures at the end of October are usually in isolated areas but this Hallowe’en the warmth was widespread across the UK, with 19C in Edinburgh, which is ridiculous,” said Laura Young, of the Met Office. “Had the high temperatures happened just 24 hours later, it would have easily been a new temperature record for November.”

Almost every day last week the highest temperatures nudged 20C (68F) as a feed of warm air was drawn up from the Canaries, Portugal and Spain. According to Met Office figures, this warmth also pushed up the whole month’s average temperature to around 11C (52F).

This didn’t beat the October record of 12.2C (54F) set in 2001, but last month may end up warmer than May. Perhaps even more remarkable is how warm this year has been so far — the first 10 months of 2014 have been the warmest since records began.

The autumn heatwave will not last long, however, and next week is all change as colder air originating from around Iceland hits the UK. This will send temperatures sliding to 11C (52F)

by Wednesday. As for the outlook this winter, it is still too far off to make predictions but there are signs that early

Feeling the weather Retailers in the cold Debenhams, Next and Marks & Spencer have cut stock prices as the warm weather deterred shoppers from buying coats and knitwear. However, DIY stores saw an increase in sales of BBQs and garden furniture.

Gas prices cool Wholesale gas prices in the UK have hit a record low with homeowners reducing pressure on energy companies by keeping the heating off.

Farmers milk the heat More sunshine hours have helped maize growers, while dairy farmers are seeing greater yields. Aphid populations have also been growing, threatening cereal crops.

Hedgehogs go hungry Exceptionally dry soil has resulted in fewer worms and insects. However, the heat has led to breeding hedgehogs having three rather than the usual two litters this summer.

City cycles Bicycle hires in London are up 29 per cent on last year.

winter could be mild although possibly wet and windy. If so, this will come as a huge relief for the National Grid, which has warned of little spare capacity in power supplies during any cold winter spell, when demand is highest.

Any stormy weather will boost wind generated power, which achieved record output in last winter’s gales.

Forecast, page 17

that they lose up to 20 plants each year, despite attaching chains to rare saplings and installing hidden cameras.

At the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in Surrey, an African water lily that is extinct in the wild was stolen and never recovered. Madeleine Groves, Kew’s expert on the trade in endangered plant species, believes that it was taken to order.

While the number of plants Mr Clarke has had stolen may not sound many for a garden that covers 180 acres, the ones that are taken are almost always the most valuable, often given as donations.

“Each year we plant 30 to 40 rare plants,” he said. “Of those it is the most

unique that go missing. These are definitely specialist collectors.”

Mr Clarke gave an example of a tree that had only just been planted. “It had no label, just looked like a stick — a ruler-length stick. It went.”

He said that his staff felt powerless to stop persistent thieves — even with the precautions in place — and hoped that by appealing, gardener to gardener, they would see the error of their ways.

“We’re going to continue planting, and going to keep going. That’s all we can do,” he said. “We’re about rare plants — we can’t stop.”

He added: “These are great plantsmen, they certainly know their plants.

But I have no respect for them.”

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comment pages of the year

Shh . . . lots of people at the top believe in drug reform Hugo Rifkind Page 18

Opinion

U-turn if you want to – it’s a sign of progress

Nicky Morgan should be praised for changing her mind on gay marriage. But we need unchanging stick-in-the-muds too Matthew Parris

H

ow ready are politicians to change their minds? I’ve some research to share.

But first, how ready do we want them to be? You might think that when times and attitudes change, our MPs should be admired for noticing; but Nicky Morgan MP could be forgiven for despair at the reaction she got from some quarters when in an interview this week, then a speech, she made clear that her views on gay marriage had been altering.

From the left she was heckled by a graceless Labour MP and from the right next morning sneered at by The Daily Mail as “U-turn Morgan”.

A depressing reminder of the new barbarism surfacing in our politics.

Mrs Morgan, who had voted against gay marriage in the free vote in the Commons last year, had been influenced at the time (she said) by a heavy preponderance of critics over supporters, among constituents who had contacted her about the issue; she wishes now she had heard more from the other side.

It is not wrong for an MP to listen to her constituents. It is not unreasonable to be sensitive to apparent evidence that public opinion was hostile. It is not outrageous to believe that social change should not run too far ahead of public opinion. But every step in this argument involves judgments.

Mrs Morgan was entitled to make the judgments she did then, and she is entitled to reconsider them now.

What’s not to admire in keeping an open mind?

Without claiming to be sure of the answers (I’m not), the same applies to another issue that has surfaced this week: the law on drugs. And to two dilemmas that trouble our age: at the beginning of life, the status of the embryo, foetus and unborn child; and at the end, the law on assisted suicide. When we feel an MP has honestly opened his or her mind to the possibility that they’re wrong, we place more weight even on a decision to maintain their opinion.

It’s so important that we do not judge MPs’ worth, and MPs do not judge their own worth, by their unwillingness to revisit earlier conclusions. It’s always a wrestle, always a balance. I respect Mrs Morgan for wrestling honestly.

Forty-seven years ago MPs agonised in a very similar way when by a clear majority on a free vote, parliament decided that homosexual acts between consenting adult males in private should cease to be a criminal offence. Public opinion was

MPs mustn’t be valued for their unwillingness to revisit their decisions unclear. Many MPs thought criminal sanctions should remain. A greater number followed the Wolfenden Commission’s argument that they should be lifted.

They were lifted. The sky did not fall, public opinion appeared to be shifting, the shift continued, and parliament was never disposed to revisit that reform.

One hundred and seven MPs voted against. I’d love to survey their opinion now but almost all are dead.

I’m sure most came quietly to the conclusion that their opposition should not be maintained.

But that’s surmise. As it happens we can do better when it comes to a more recent change. Ten years ago this month, the Civil Partnerships Bill received royal assent. I’ve been examining how MPs’ opinions have moved over the decade since.

Thirty-eight Conservative MPs voted against the bill, and a number abstained. I approached them, asking what they would do today. We have responses (they were able to remain anonymous) from 19 Tories who say they voted no, or abstained.

Of these 19, only three would today vote against civil partnerships.

Some of the noes have moved straight to ayes, others have moved to abstention; and some abstentions have moved to ayes. Not one has moved the other way.

These findings lend weight to an observation I’ve made on these pages about MPs (and many of my own readers) who have argued against gay marriage. A very common remark during that debate was that civil partnerships were fine, but why should gay couples want more?

Some MPs who said so turned out to have voted against civil partnerships. I doubt they’re dishonest. More often, the individual has overlooked the shift in his own opinion. This is because the opinion has been moving with a social tide.

When people say they’ve changed their mind, an idea is winning. When they forget they ever thought otherwise, it has won.

Will the same happen with gay marriage? I hope that a decade hence a successor-columnist may try a similar exercise. My guess is that the same shift will be observable; and

favour of parliament putting down anchor, dragging its feet, blocking its ears to the cry from the streets.

I don’t think it’s wrong for MPs to lag behind attitudinal change. You do need outriders among them (the Lib Dem minister Norman Baker was magnificent on drugs this week) and as an MP I tried to be an outrider on subjects as diverse as gay rights and road pricing. But a nation and its legislature need a keel, a dead

Amid much talk about momentum, we must not overlook inertia

Many Tory MPs who voted against gay marriage have altered their opinions

in her plain speaking, Nicky Morgan will be shown to have been a little ahead of her cohort.

But when it comes to social and cultural attitudes, change does not lack a reverse gear. We liberals should check our irritating habit of assuming a culture can only move “our” way: the way we call progress.

It can’t have felt like that in Germany in the 1930s, or perhaps in Russia now. In the present obsession with immigration gripping our nation you get some inkling of how currents can change; and when they shift in a direction we consider adverse, we fall silent in our cry that MPs get with the drift of modern thinking and spur on the pace of social change. All at once we’re in

weight. A solid cohort of stick-inthe-muds — inert, slow to take the colour of their times — can provide it. Perils undreamt-of lurk in “direct democracy”; in the age of the internet we should be alert to the danger of flash mobs.

Amid much chatter about momentum, we should not overlook the importance of inertia. Alongside our admiration for MPs who change their minds we should retain respect for those who don’t change them too fast.

Nicky Morgan, then, is perhaps our ideal. Warily, on reflection and after a disappointing delay, she has begun to lead the doubters into acceptance. For an idea to make headway and stick, Mrs Morgan is worth a dozen of the likes of me.

Morland animation Our cartoonist takes a satirical look at the ty scare Cameron security thetimes.co.uk/animations

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Helsinki Innsbruck Istanbul Lanzarote Las Palmas Lisbon Madeira Madrid Majorca Malaga Malta Milan Moscow Munich Naples

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Sunny Rain Drizzle Sunny Fair Rain Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Rain Thunder Sunny Sunny Fair

Sicily, Malta, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus A mix of sunny intervals and patchy cloud, but with scattered showers and feeling quite breezy.

Maximum 20C (68F), minimum 3C (37F).

Norway, Sweden A dull and cloudy day with rain and drizzle in the far south, heavy at times, with snow farther north. Maximum 12C (54F), minimum -3C (27F).

Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, eastern France, Majorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Formentera Rather cloudy with hazy sunshine in the east, the risk of scattered showers, possibly thundery.

Remaining dry elsewhere, with long sunny spells inland, but some patchy cloud around coastal areas. Maximum 25C (77F), minimum 1C (34F).

Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, western Russia, the Baltic states, Finland A few bright intervals, but mostly cloudy with the chance of a few showers over Poland and Russia.

Maximum 13C (55F), minimum -5C (23F).

Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, western France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Balkans A fine and dry day with long sunny spells, although high cloud will turn the sunshine hazy across northern parts of Europe.

Maximum 19C (66F), minimum -3C (27F).

British Isles A mix of patchy cloud and sunny intervals in eastern and southern Britain. Rain over Ireland, moving east, into western and northern Britain later. Maximum 17C (63F), minimum 4C (39F).

Outlook Most areas becoming cooler. Rain over western and northern Europe. Dry and sunny in the east.

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thetimes.co.uk

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

Opinion

Shh . . . lots of top people believe in drug reform The prime minister should stop being weedy, take a deep breath and tell us what he really thinks about legalisation Hugo Rifkind

@hugorifkind

T

he Liberal Democrat Home Office minister Norman Baker is the sort of person who often sounds like he’s on drugs, even though he probably isn’t. Before he was in government, for example, he kept asking the Ministry of Defence about UFOs, which is certainly what some people think politics is for, but normally only bearded men you meet around beach fires at 4am, who are called Warlock.

This week, however, he was loudly agreeing with the Warlocks of the world in a manner not mad at all.

Which is to say, he was suggesting that Britain should review its entire approach to illegal drugs, then rip it up and start again.

“Sounds mad,” you might think. If so, however, this is a madness that has been shared by a long list of notmad people. They include a former drugs minister and defence secretary (Bob Ainsworth), a former head of MI5 (Eliza Manningham-Buller), a former assistant chief of MI6 (Nigel Inkster), a former chancellor, health secretary and justice secretary (Ken Clarke), a former head of the Royal College of Physicians (Ian Gilmore), a former chief inspector of prisons (David Ramsbottom), a former secretary of state for Northern

Ireland (the late Mo Mowlam) and a former ambassador to Afghanistan (William Patey). All people more likely to be found passing the port than the dutchie. Whatever that is.

And whichever way it goes.

They are also, you might have noticed, all “former”. So what is it, do you suppose, that makes people who have been in positions of power, and then aren’t, suddenly open-minded about drugs reform? Time on their hands, maybe? Finally taking that overdue gap year? Is it a bit like Robbie Williams, perhaps, when he left Take That, and turned up five days later at Glastonbury, with red eyes and a missing tooth? Or could it be, just possibly, that they thought this stuff while in office, too, but didn’t quite like to say it?

David Cameron is an interesting case study in this respect. As a new

The drug economy of today is the worst of all possible worlds MP, still relatively fresh from that “normal university experience” of his, he declared it “baffling” that Labour wouldn’t consider the decriminalisation of cannabis and even concede the logic of arguments in favour of one day legalising heroin. And, once he’s gone, I bet he’ll talk like this again. Not now, though. To talk of drug reform from Downing Street, he clearly believes, would be weak, Lib Dem-ish and the public would call him a hippy.

Except, would we? This week The Sun — not a notoriously tie-dyed

Breaking Bad: in a sane, well-regulated market who would sell crystal meth?

publication — carried a YouGov poll showing that two thirds of people believe in reviewing the law. This seems to be typical of attitudes across the developed world, but the difference between here and almost everywhere else is that their politicians seem to care. America, Uruguay, Switzerland, Portugal; drug laws almost everywhere are being radically overhauled. So what’s holding us back?

“Our strategy is working!” bleats the government, noting that drug use in the UK is falling. It’s rubbish.

For one thing, drug use has been falling pretty much everywhere across the western world, whether laws have been liberalised or not. For another, the whole thrust of the report that Baker has been trumpeting

is that tough penalties simply don’t make a difference. For a third, there’s decent evidence that quite a lot of illegal drug activity is shifting over to “legal highs”, which are often worse for you, but are considered a health problem rather than a criminal one.

And for a fourth, look to the badlands of Afghanistan, or the blood-drenched streets of Mexico where the drug cartels murdered more than 16,000 people in 2013 alone. How well did our strategy work out for them?

“Decriminalisation”, at any rate, is a namby-pamby, half-arsed concept.

Often, I think policymakers use the word in much the same way that Hyacinth Bucket talks about her “smallest room”, and without ever really thinking about what it means.

Because, what it does not mean is “legalisation”, which is in fact a far better idea. For, in this “war on drugs” of ours, decriminalisation is very much a surrender. Sure, it allows treatment of addicts and prevents casual users from spiralling into criminality. With the iceberg of drugs, though, users are only the visible tip. Below the surface, dealers keep dealing and traffickers keep trafficking. Mexico stays as Mexico is.

Legalisation is something else. It doesn’t roll over for the criminal world that already exists. Instead, it shoves it to one side to wither, and builds everything again, more nicely.

Simply reversing every British drug law tomorrow would be bad, which is probably why almost nobody has ever suggested it. Instead, you do what Uruguay and much of America are doing, which is start slowly with the drugs you can manage, and

where the whole chain of supply is clear. By all means discourage use at the same time — “SMOKING THIS WILL MAKE YOU BORING,” sort of thing — but don’t ever fall into the trap of presuming it all ends with your kids buying heroin in Boots.

Because maybe we don’t ever legalise heroin. Maybe we don’t need to.

The drug economy, today, is the worst of all possible worlds. The drugs themselves are often a product of this. Crack cocaine from coca, heroin from opium, skunk from the stuff that middle-aged politicians always pretend they didn’t quite smoke at university; all are the result of perverted criminal market forces.

Take crystal meth, for example, the drug at the heart of the TV hit Breaking Bad. Or rather, and for God’s sake, don’t. Online, you can find sequential photographs of people who do, and quite what it does to them over time. Start as Harry Styles and you’re Norman Tebbit within a year. Horrendous. In a sane, regulated market, who would ever have sold this? And who would buy it, when they could freely and legally buy something else?

Sure, this latest fuss is probably confected. They like their little spats, our deputy and actual prime minister, because it gives them a riskfree way to stand apart. Clear blue water on the one hand, if you like, and cloudy bong water on the other.

It is a strange ritual, nonetheless, that leaves a prime minister so clearly pretending to think something that he doesn’t, to impress voters who no longer even agree with the pose. And one day, like I said, I bet he’ll say the opposite. Again.

Jim Dixon Nature Notebook

No one had twigged our ashes were at risk here

M

ost of the last golden yellow leaves have fallen from the ash trees, especially after the first fierce blows of winter. I learnt at school how to identify ash in winter by its pale grey bark and tight black buds. Ash is our most elegant countryside tree. Wherever more fertile limestone rocks and soils replace acidic gritstone, ash will dominate the Pennine landscape. A Dictionary of British Place Names lists more than 100 ash-derived names. I was brought up in Ash Vale and now live near Ashbourne, Ashover and Ashford-in-theWater.

As a youngster, I watched Dutch elm disease wipe out that

characteristic tree from our lowlands and today I fear for the ash woodlands of the west of Britain. A range of fungus-like Phytophthora species threaten larch, alder, beech and juniper. The chestnut blight fungus and a bacterial disease menace chestnut and oak. Scariest is the newly identified species of Chalara specific to ash that causes dieback. Early cases in eastern Britain were alarming, suggesting they had originated from spores blown in on continental winds as much as through infected nursery stock. Since then, the disease has spread but mercifully more slowly than feared. Scattered ash trees on farms or in mixed woods may be less susceptible.

Add to this potential for resistance and there may be hope for many British ashes.

My worry stems from the Continent’s experience of ash disease. It spreads fastest and is more devastating when trees grow close together in ash woodlands. Larger quantities of fungal inoculum are more deadly and, just as human diseases spread fastest with proximity, so it is in forests. In the limestone dales of western Britain, a woodland type with a unique concentration of ash is particularly at risk. Of all the places where these woods are found, such as the Wye Valley, Wales, the Yorkshire Dales, Cumbria and Scotland, the Peak District lies farthest east in the country and has the highest area and concentration of this woodland type.

In our ravine woods on limestone screes, ash make up 90 per cent of the trees, with only small numbers of lime, wych elm and hazel. We thought complacently for decades that there were no threats to these habitats because they are perilously steep, protected by conservation designations and largely in the hands of sympathetic owners. Now the risk of ash dieback has turned their prospects around. We are playing a deadly serious wa waiting game.

moorlands stretch almost endlessly, interspersed only by a few dykes and farmsteads. The southern horizons reach to the arable Tyne Valley. The low sky was darkening rapidly, even though it was early afternoon. This winter landscape lacks the distractions of summer but presents a compelling story of our land.

Ore inspiring pathways

Hadrian’s Wall: a compelling story

Gloom with a view

L

ast week I set off from Steel Rigg to walk the Whin Sill escarpment along one of the best-restored stretches of Hadrian’s Wall. The wall defined one of the northern frontiers of Roman Britain.

It links us directly to a time when strict control of our borders was governed by a European superpower.

When Hadrian’s migrant workers built this line of defence, it was to protect military forces that would go on to launch futile attacks on the Caledonians. Resting at one of the wall’s loftier points above Sycamore Gap, we were high on a geological ridge. The work of ancient volcanic eruptions, it is ideally suited for a defensive bulwark. North, the broad

J

ulius Caesar invaded Britain to impress friends and enemies and to plunder mineral treasures.

Pliny’s AD77 Natural History describes the mineral wealth of Britain as being so great that laws were introduced to restrict production. The most important mineral to the Romans was galena, or the ore from which lead or plumbum was garnered.

The Pennine lead-ore field probably yielded more than three million tonnes of lead and five million ounces of silver in the course of millennia. Radiating out from the centre of my village of Winster, gritstone paving slab paths crisscross the wetter valley bottoms.

Generations of lead miners’ hobnail boots have worn our pathways.

Today, volunteers are mapping, restoring and putting a new value on these lines in our landscape.

Jim Dixon is a writer on nature and landscape who lives in the Peak District

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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Opinion

Who are the true Muslims – all or none?

Moderate believers argue that Isis has misinterpreted the Koran. But no one can determine who is right or wrong RAJ K RAJ/GETTY IMAGES

Matthew Syed

@matthewsyed

W

ho are the real Muslims? Who are the bona fide, authentic, true-tothe-core followers of the Islamic faith? Now, that might seem like an easy question. Surely, the people who are Muslims are those who say, when asked: “I am a Muslim.”

But there is a problem with this approach. As you may have noticed, Sunnis, many of them, tell us that they are the real Muslims and that the Shias are impostors. The Shias tell us the exact opposite. The Sufis have a quite different perspective: they reckon that both the Sunni and Shia brigades have it wrong, and that they have it right.

Some Muslims are pretty ecumenical. There are moderate Muslim groups in the UK who say that Islam is a broad church. They say they don’t really have a problem with Sunni or Shia. But guess what?

They don’t extend this embrace to Islamic State (Isis). They describe its approach as “a perversion of Islam”.

Barack Obama and Tony Blair have it in for Isis, too. Blair said that Isis possesses “an ideology that distorts and warps Islam’s true message” while Obama went even further, saying: “[Isis] is not Islamic.

No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of [its] victims have been Muslim . . . [it] is a terrorist organisation, pure and simple.”

But what is their evidence for this?

Members of Isis say that they are real Muslims. They say that they are inspired by the Koran. They say that they are killing and maiming people

In Bob Dylan’s last hurrah, the voice of a generation is finally revealed Paul Dunn

I

n the slow week after this year’s August bank holiday, there seemed only one arts story in town: the return to the stage of Kate Bush after 35 years. But that week also came news that an even longer, much more important wait was finally over for popular music fans: after 47 years, Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes were being officially released.

If you accept Dylan as the most significant figure in pop — turning it from cheap entertainment into art — then this is like finding a full text of Sappho’s fragments, or a finished version of Leonardo’s painting St Jerome in the Wilderness.

IThe problem with religion is the idea of received wisdom, the notion that “I have heard the truth, but you are deluded”

because that is what Allah wants them to do. They talk about their love of God and the glories of martyrdom. I reckon that, if we are going to take other Muslims at their word, we should take members of Isis at their word, too.

You see, the idea of “real” and “false” Muslims is ephemeral. With something like science, people who disagree with each other examine the evidence. They debate, they argue, they perform experiments.

Sadly, this approach is not available for religious disputes. People with theological differences tend to appeal to divine revelation and differing interpretations of manuscripts that were written centuries ago. This is a problem when it comes to resolving differences, particularly when those The songs that will emerge tomorrow, in a 38-track double CD for fainthearts and a 139-track sixCD set priced at over £100 for true believers, were recorded in 1967 by Dylan and members of his backing group (later the Band) at a house near Dylan’s home in Woodstock.

To understand how they attained their legendary status, you have to remember Dylan’s meteoric rise, over five years and seven albums, from being just another Woody Guthrie impersonator, through being the protest-song darling of the civil rights movement, to his position as prophet of the 1960s counterculture.

When he played with an electric band at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, Dylan was booed off stage. A year later, playing in Manchester, his new non-protest rock sound was greeted with the shout of “Judas” from the audience.

Just as he was being It’s been a 47-year wait for these songs

manuscripts contain passages that seem, on a cursory reading, to condone violence.

It is no good Blair or Obama, or anyone else, saying that Isis has got it wrong, or that it is distorting Islam’s “true message” because, when

The fundamental problem in the Middle East is religion itself it comes to religious truth, there is no such thing as “wrong” — unless, of course, you happen to be the one person, one group, one faction, that is wired up to God. And think of the hypocrisy, too. Blair is a Catholic. He doesn’t believe in Allah (unless he is hated by the folkies, Dylan was embraced by fanatical new fans, who saw holy writ in his every utterance.

As he recalled in his memoir, Chronicles Volume One, they were outside his door and on his roof day and night, searching through his garbage for enlightenment.

Then, after a near fatal motorcycle crash, everything had to stop. The songs recorded in the basement of the house at Saugerties, New York State, mark his first steps back into making music after his recovery.

When news began to emerge of this trove of unreleased songs, first on a bootleg double LP titled Great White Wonder, these fans too were outraged. Dylan’s words belonged to them. They had a point — these were great songs, many of which became classics: I Shall Be Released, This Wheel’s on Fire, Quinn the Eskimo, Tears of Rage.

But others remained strangely unacknowledged; the haunting I’m Not There was not even

the same as Jehovah/Yahweh/the God of Moses). Nevertheless, he feels entitled to rule on the question of who are Allah’s chosen people. In other words, he is happy to second guess the views of a deity he thinks is fictional.

Other western politicians are engaged in the same duplicitous charade, as the philosopher Daniel Dennett has noted.

Senator Rand Paul, of Kentucky said: “I think it is important not only to the American public but for the world and the Islamic world to point out this is not a true form of Islam”.

David Cameron and Ed Miliband have also jumped on the bandwagon, claiming that jihadists are motivated, not by Allah, but by hatred. This is surely untrue. To a man, the listed in Dylan’s comprehensive 2004 collected lyrics, until it was eventually tacked on the soundtrack of the 2007 film of the same name.

So why were they never released?

Some were recorded by other artists and maybe Dylan did not wish to revisit them. But we should not underestimate his anger at having his music stolen. Once asked about

The Basement Tapes show a genuine genius at a point of transition

releasing the tracks, he was reported as saying: “I thought everyone had them already.”

I think the main reason was that Dylan was still moving fast but in full flight from messiah status. His next official releases eschewed hard rock for the stripped-back Old Testament songs of John Wesley Harding. Then came a pure country album, Nashville Skyline, and then his most controversial album, Self Portrait, a defiant two-fingered salute to the

jihadists say they are motivated by faith.

Instead of pontificating on who are the real Muslims, isn’t it time to acknowledge that the entire debate is senseless?

Moderate Muslims would not like such a stance, of course. They would hate to be told that their interpretation of Islam is no more legitimate than that of Isis. But the alternative is far worse because it perpetuates the idea that there is a rational means of figuring out which of the subgroups has a hotline to God. This takes us to the elephant in the room. The fundamental problem in the Middle East today is not with the Sunni or the Shia or even with Isis.

The problem is with religion itself. It is the idea of received wisdom, divine revelation, the notion that “I have heard the Truth” and that everyone else is deluded. This is the corrupting, anti-rational, distorting engine of religious violence in the Middle East, just as it once triggered Christianity into a bloody civil war.

Truth divorced from evidence (or anything that counts as evidence) is perilous. Religion is not the only cause of violence, of course, but it has a particular virulence.

Members of my family have argued for jihad, not because they are crazy or unsympathetic, but because they think this is the will of God. They think this because the Koran, a bit like the Bible, has elements that can (rather easily) be interpreted as authorising violence.

Christianity has improved its record on violence in recent centuries, but only because it has become less religious. The farther it has retreated from the idea of revealed truth, the less it has killed people who take a different view.

Most Christians today associate truth with evidence, reason and other Enlightenment ideals.

For all the debate over foreign policy, this is the only solution to the bloodshed in the Middle East, too. bootleggers that sounds like the sweepings from his studio floor.

Much later he said: “I thought that was what people wanted.”

So what will The Basement Tapes reveal? I’m looking forward to See You Later, Allen Ginsberg and we can hope for more unacknowledged gems. Versions of Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues, the Canadian folk standard Four Strong Winds and She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain will underline the deep love of American music revealed in his Theme Time radio shows.

Above all, we will see the creative process of a genuine genius at a point of transition. The Basement Tapes is the last hurrah of Dylan as voice of his generation. He would go on to make more great albums but the best would be works of raw emotion like Blood on the Tracks, chronicling the breakdown of his first marriage, or the series of albums of old age that began with Time Out of Mind in 1997. But he would never again command the same position. And that surely was what he wanted.

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

Leading articles Daily Universal Register

Victims First

Fiona Woolf’s resignation offers a chance to reappraise the abuse inquiry.

It must pioneer new attitudes to the rights of children in Britain Fiona Woolf was right to step down as head of the child sex abuse inquiry. Above all, the victims of historical sexual misconduct deserve better than further months of confusion. The crimes against them must be investigated thoroughly, with integrity and with no hint of political bias or concealment. David Cameron voiced support for Mrs Woolf, the lord mayor of London, and the home secretary has been stalwart in her defence. But by Friday night it had become inevitable that she would have to abandon her task.

Both Mrs Woolf and her equally ill-starred predecessor, Baroness Butler-Sloss, were defeated not by doubts about their competence but by worries surrounding their family and their friendships. The brother of Lady Butler-Sloss was the late Sir Michael Havers, who according to some abuse victims had as attorney-general in the 1980s narrowly drawn the terms of reference for an inquiry into paedophile activity at the Kincora boys’ home in Northern Ireland. The independence of Mrs Woolf was put in question by her acquaintanceship with the former home secretary, Lord Brittan, and the assistance afforded to her by Home Office officials in dealing with the accusations.

The victims, many of them traumatised, have a

right to insist on an independent investigative process. Nothing could be more destructive of confidence in British institutions than a sense that a culture of abuse is being covered up.

The mishaps dogging the inquiry are due, however, more to its encyclopedic breadth than the quality of its leadership. Its scope, as defined by Theresa May, include probing the behaviour in the past 45 years of government departments, parliament, individual ministers, the police, private and state-funded schools, children’s services, hospitals, prisons, church organisations, political parties and the armed services. Any allegation of abuse submitted to the inquiry would be referred to the police; all those who testified would be protected. Only a highly competent person could hope to tackle such an unwieldy brief, yet many victims’ groups object to it being under the helm of anyone close to the establishment.

The government must return to the origins of the inquiry and think about how to narrow its remit. In July Mrs May initiated two processes. The first was a review, headed by Peter Wanless of the children’s charity NSPCC, into how police and prosecutors had handled information given to them on child abuse allegedly committed by powerful figures. The second was what has be-

come Mrs Woolf’s inquiry, modelled on the much more modest Hillsborough inquiry. In its emphasis on victim testimony, the inquiry appeared as ambitious as South Africa’s post-apartheid truth and reconciliation committees.

The failure of the state to protect its most vulnerable children must surely be the centrepoint of this inquiry. It should be led by a human rights rather than a corporate lawyer who must submit a timetable and a more manageable agenda. It has to report at regular intervals, present its findings in public and encourage all victim testimony, written as well as oral.

The aim, though, has to be more than historical.

There can be no suspicion that the question of child abuse is being parked for political convenience. And it should be accompanied by a campaign to inform and alert British society to dangerous behaviour. Police officers now receive training in how to recognise child sexual exploitation. That awareness should spread: bus drivers, hoteliers and pharmacists must be alert. Spot checks at children’s homes must become the norm. Too few recorded child sexual offences lead to prosecution. If the inquiry is to be effective then it must prompt a sea-change in attitudes towards the rights of children.

Lions at Bay

The mightiest predator on the savannah is at mortal risk from humans The African lion is under threat. Worse than that, it faces extinction in the wild by 2050 if it continues to decline at its current rate. That is the conclusion of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, arguably the world’s most influential wildlife organisation with law enforcement powers.

Millions care deeply about the fate of Africa’s wild animals but most of the energies of those dedicated to saving them have been devoted to elephants and rhinoceroses. Both have suffered catastrophic population declines in the past halfcentury. The black rhino is now critically endangered, with fewer than 5,000 left in the wild.

Less noticed but just as ominously, the lion is being driven to a point where its numbers will cease to be self-sustaining. The west African and Asiatic sub-species are already all but extinct, with wild populations down to about 400 animals each.

The dominant species, Panthera leo, has declined by 80 per cent since the 1950s, and by half since 1980, to around 34,000.

Campaigners say lions have vanished from eight tenths of their historic range, which used to encompass all of east and southern Africa. At the

same time they are increasingly seen and shot on farms and the fringes of growing cities as they compete with humans for habitat. “Lions tell us a story about what’s happening on our planet,” says Dan Ashe, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service. So far it is not an uplifting story, yet nor is it one whose ending has been written.

The American classification of lions as threatened was officially proposed this week. Assuming it is approved after a three-month public consultation, it will mean tough new rules and permit requirements for hunters seeking to import lion trophies into the United States.

In refusing to outlaw such imports altogether the Fish and Wildlife Service is courting controversy. It attracted the outrage of conservationists last year by allowing the import of a black rhino shot in Namibia in 2009 by a hunter who paid $175,000 (£110,000) in fees to local government agencies. Yet the official American position remains that such payments can help to fund conservation and there is evidence to support it.

Hunting on special reservations is legal in South Africa, where lion, leopard, elephant and rhino

populations are stable or growing. It is illegal in Kenya, where all four species are under acute pressure.

Experts warn that trophy hunting of lions can weaken whole prides by removing dominant males and leaving cubs and females unusually vulnerable. Even so, there is little doubt that the greater the value local human populations attach to animals with which they co-exist, whether for hunting or conventional tourism, the more effort they put into preserving sustainable populations.

The worst-case scenario is a future in which competition for habitat between lions and the only predator above them in the African food chain — homo sapiens — becomes a zero-sum game. That is all too likely. The savannah on which lions have roamed for millennia is shrinking. The human population of sub-saharan Africa is expected to double by 2050. A steady loss of wildlife habitat will be an inevitable result.

It is right to classify lions as threatened but we humans must give ground as well as write new rules if we are not to lose these magnificent creatures altogether.

Bear Necessity

Paddington’s reputation would not be harmed by new stories from fans Elizabeth Bennet, Sherlock Holmes, Peter Pan, Bertie Wooster, Hercule Poirot, James Bond and Asterix the Gaul: all have had a fictional afterlife unimagined by their creators. The vividness and popularity of these characters have so inspired admirers that a genre of “fan fiction” has developed out of the stories of the original authors.

One literary hero has yet to undergo this fate — a protagonist of Peruvian extraction and pragmatic sartorial taste. Paddington Bear’s first adventure appeared in 1958. His latest will be published this month. Michael Bond, Paddington’s creator, is 88, and he is concerned lest future

authors appropriate his creation and write new stories about him. Mr Bond seeks to ensure that the ursine adventures do not outlive their author.

His concern is understandable. Paddington’s mix of curiosity and haplessness has delighted readers of all ages. In any situation, whether as guest at the opening of a marmalade factory or testing a hammock, Paddington is assured of a series of accidents. While Paddington’s mishaps are never-ending, it would be hard for any author to replicate, let alone improve upon, the skills with which they have so far been narrated in more than 150 titles in various formats.

Yet a literary creation stands beyond its author.

The literary critics WK Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley famously argued in their book The Verbal Icon (1954) that it was a mistake (which they termed the “intentional fallacy”) to assume that a work is properly interpreted by knowing the intention of the author. A work of fiction is in the public domain, and its characters belong in the minds of its readers. Paddington resides in the public imagination as stubbornly as his paws stick to a jar of marmalade. It will be a natural development, and by no means necessarily a travesty, if new adventures are realised and recounted.

Today: EU federalist Jean-Claude Juncker takes over as president of the European Commission; The EU’s Frontex border agency begins its Triton operation, with the aim of managing migration in the central Mediterranean; Premier League matches include Chelsea v QPR. Tomorrow: The New York marathon takes place; Manchester City play Manchester Utd in the Premier League; the Formula One United States Grand Prix is held in Austin, Texas; highwire performer Nik Wallenda attempts his highest skyscraper walk, with no net, in Chicago; the Dance Proms are at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Birthdays today The Ven Dr Audrey Elkington, pictured, Archdeacon of Bodmin, 57; Mark Austin, news anchor, ITV News at Ten, 56; Toni Collette, actress, Muriel’s Wedding (1994), Hitchcock (2012), 42; Sharron Davies, swimmer, Olympic silver medallist (1980), 52; His Honour George Dobry, international arbitrator, 96; Tazeena Firth, stage designer, 79; Jeremy Hunt, health secretary, and Conservative MP for South West Surrey, 48; Lady (Sylvia) Jay of Ewelme, chairwoman, L’Oréal UK and Ireland (2011-13), 69; the Rev Dr Michael Lloyd, principal, Wycliffe Hall Oxford, 57; Roger Kellaway, composer, Inside & Out (1995), 75; Anthony Kiedis, singer, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Freaky Styley (1985), 52; Andrew Knight, chairman of Times Newspapers, 75; Nick Owen, TV presenter, 67; Aishwarya Rai, actress, Bride & Prejudice (2004), 41; Gerald Ratner, chairman, Ratners Group (1986-92) 65; Jim Steinman, songwriter, Total Eclipse of the Heart (1983), 67; Bill Woodrow, sculptor, Regardless of History (fourth plinth, Trafalgar Square, 2000) 66; Lucy Yeomans, editor-in-chief, Net-A-Porter.com, 44.

Birthdays tomorrow Matthew Syed, pictured, Times sports journalist, and three-times Commonwealth tabletennis champion, 44; Lord (John) Ashburton, chairman of BP (1992-95), 86; Nick Boles, skills minister, Conservative MP for Grantham and Stamford, 49; Danny Cipriani, rugby player, 27; Mark Florman, chairman, Centre for Social Justice, 56; Maggie Gee, novelist, My Driver (2009) and vice-president of the Royal Society of Literature, 66; Sir Simon Gass, UK special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, 58; Paul Johnson, journalist and author, Socrates, 86; kd lang, singer, Barefoot (2001), 53; Baroness (Pauline) Neville-Jones, special representative to business on cyber security, 75; Sir Peter Newsam, educationist, 86; Emma Reynolds, Labour MP for Wolverhampton North East, 37; Lord (John) Sainsbury of Preston Candover, president of J Sainsbury, 87; David Schwimmer, actor best known as Ross Geller from Friends (1994-2004), 48; Leon Taylor, diver, Olympic silver medallist (2004), 37; Bruce Welch, guitarist, the Shadows, 73; Rosalind Wright, chairman of the Fraud Advisory Panel (2003-14), 72.

The last word “In the corridors under there is nothing but sleep.

And stiller than ever on orchard boughs they keep Tryst with the moon, and deep is the silence, deep On moon-washed apples of wonder.”

John Drinkwater, English poet (1917)

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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Letters to the Editor

1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF Email: letters@thetimes.co.uk

Migrants like our humanity, not just our cash

Red moat Sir, Yesterday I was privileged to join thousands of volunteers to plant the ceramic poppies in the Moat at the Tower of London (“Cameron defends ‘toothless’ poppy tribute,” news, Oct 30). There were also thousands of spectators looking on — I have never been in such a large crowd of wellbehaved, interested and caring people from all cultures, nations and ages.

There were mums and ex-soldiers, grannies and strapping young men, able-bodied and some not so. People called to us from above the moat saying how much they thought of us and the job we were doing.

After my stint, I walked around and listened to parents explaining the significance of all that their children were seeing. At 5pm in the growing dusk and dark, names were read out of those who fell (and they weren’t all British names) and the Last Post was played by a lone soldier. A hush fell and I have never been more proud to be British. ailsa craddock Defford, Worcs

Perpetual light Sir, A major factor holding back the development of new electricity generation (Report, Oct 29; letters, Oct 31) is a lack of confidence among investors, driven mainly by uncertainty about the direction and consistency of UK policies.

Repealing the UK Climate Change Act, as advocated by five Conservative MPs, would further exacerbate policy risk for investors, increasing the cost of alternatives to fossil fuels. It would also damage efforts to reach an international agreement on cutting carbon emissions. bob ward Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London, WC2

Prostate cancer Sir, I was delighted to read of Mr Fawson’s successful prostate cancer treatment (letter, Oct 28). However, simply trading anecdotes with simplistic messages does not help. The PSA test has poor sensitivity and specificity, so management decisions which take it into account are personal and complex.

What is right for one is wrong for another. My suggestion for anyone worried about prostate cancer is to find a good GP and discuss it with them. dr jon dickson GP and clinical lecturer, Sheffield

Corrections and clarifications The Times takes complaints about editorial content seriously. We are committed to abiding by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (“IPSO”) rules and regulations and the Editors’ Code of Practice that IPSO enforces.

Requests for corrections or clarifications should be sent by email to feedback@thetimes.co.uk or by post to Feedback, The Times, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF

Sir, Being mayor of Calais does not make Natacha Bouchart an expert on the motivation of refugees and economic migrants (“Calais goes to war over ‘soft touch’ UK benefits”, news, Oct 29). Most UK immigrants are inspired by the fact that there is already a community from their own country established here, usually in London. It is the network of support and comfort they can receive from their fellow Somalis, Ethiopians, Syrians and Libyans, rather than any cash benefit, that drives them. They may also be aware that Britain is one of the few EU countries where no racist mass round-up and murder of any minority ethnic group has occurred. ralph lloyd-jones Nottingham Sir, The UK’s generous benefit system is a great magnet for migrants, and equally attractive is the NHS. We can never eradicate the human desire to migrate. What Britain can do is help other nations to provide their citizens with healthcare and social benefits.

For example, Camp Bastion should be converted into a kind of basic healthcare facility for the Afghan people rather than left as a ghost town.

This will reduce pressure on Afghan people who might be considering migrating to the UK. This would be beneficial to the UK economy as well as support Afghans as they emerge from the devastating effects of war. nikhil kaushik Wrexham Sir, Migrant movement would not be stopped by UK departure from the EU. Nor would the problem be

Moral taxation Sir, David Cameron considers cutting taxes to be a moral duty (leading article, Oct 30) and I can imagine voters rubbing their hands together at the prospect of being £3,800 a year better off. However, is it not also a moral duty for the government to ensure that less fortunate members of our “civilised” society are adequately provided for? I refer particularly to the disabled and the mentally ill who, according to recent reports, are not

stopped by statutory attempts to cut off state support from migrants.

The courts would not enforce governmental attempts to allow migrants to starve and become ill.

The state’s obligation to provide support and subsistence to protect those whose life and health would otherwise be seriously threatened does not depend on governmental aims. It depends on what the courts have called “the law of humanity, which is anterior to all . . . laws” (R v Inhabitants of Eastbourne 1803). roger mccarthy qc London, WC1 Sir, I am sure that I am not alone in feeling pride in the fact that so many immigrants regard Britain as a “soft touch”. It implies generosity and kindness. I am proud of the many voluntary organisations which help immigrants. Of course there are bad apples, but most are just ordinary people simply trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. It would be naive to suppose that all can be accommodated in our overcrowded island, but the recent denigration of immigrants and the use of the word “swamping” is a cause for shame.

Where are the brave, idealistic politicians appealing to our values of tolerance and decency instead of the grubby votecatchers playing to our lowest instincts? kathryn dobson Liverpool Sir, Those of us opposed to present levels of immigration are not antiimmigrant. I for one oppose further large-scale immigration on the grounds that England, the recipient of 90 per cent of immigrants to Britain, is overpopulated. France getting a fair deal. Mr Cameron would stand a better chance of getting my vote if, rather than giving me an extra £3,800 a year, he promised to use that money to provide frontline staff in the NHS wherever the need is greatest. john stock Hadleigh, Suffolk

Likely bedfellows Sir, Labour’s imploding support in Scotland (news, Oct 31) looks set to have a dramatic impact on the men are mustered. The loss of the vessel is of small military significance.

on this day november 1, 1914

HERMES TORPEDOED IN THE STRAITS The Secretary of the Admiralty made the following announcement on Saturday night. The old cruiser Hermes, Captain CR Lambe, which had been recently used as a seaplane-carrying ship, was sunk today by a torpedo fired by a German submarine in the Straits of Dover as she was returning from Dunkirk. Nearly all the officers and crew were saved, but the exact loss cannot be ascertained until the

An eye-witness account from our special correspondent, the northern coast of France, Oct 31.

I was a witness this morning of the sinking of the Hermes. It was a strange experience, strangely encountered.

Walking along the seashore with a friend, enjoying the bracing morning breeze which swept up the Straits of Dover, trying for the moment to forget the things of war and the horrors I had seen in France — trying vainly, it is true, for the roar of the great guns at their deadly work farther up the coast was for ever in one’s ears — I blundered into a tragedy of the sea.

The cruiser was well out from land, the shipping in the Straits was bathed in a delicate mist, and what I saw was with the unaided eye. My impressions, therefore, were vague and elemental. I heard no great explosion when the torpedo found its target, although I saw a great

with a land area of 210,000 sq miles has 66 million people. England, with a land area 50,000 sq miles has 50 million. We do not have the land area, infrastructure or resources to accommodate millions more people.

As long as we remain part of the EU, under present arrangements we shall be swamped by numbers.

A responsible government would put the welfare of our population before the wishes of would-be immigrants. An even more responsible government would plan future taxation and benefit policies aimed at reducing the present unsustainable population growth. richard english South Petherton, Somerset Sir, It is always important that teachers are given the resources to support children starting school who do not speak English as a first language (“Schools need help to cope with migrants,” Ofsted says, News, Oct 31). The government must also invest in improving English language for migrant families so that parents can reinforce their child’s learning at home and work with teachers to raise attainment. julian stanley Chief executive, Teacher Support Network Group, London N5 Sir, My son has recently moved to work in Bulgaria. Thanks to EU rules, he has been able to do this with a minimum of fuss. He has been cordially received and no-one has accused him of swamping them or stealing their job. What a wonderful thing is the free movement of people. andrew neame Faversham, Kent outcome of May’s general election.

There is almost no chance of an outright majority for Labour or the Tories. This leaves us with the prospect of government by one of three “inconceivable” coalitions. The least inconceivable option may well be a Con-Lab pact. Given that many voters find the two almost indistinguishable already, this option may come as less of a shock to the British public than it will to the political establishment. philip hamilton-grierson Frittenden, Kent pillar of smoke shoot into the sky; but, with guns firing — so in the distance it seemed to me — I saw the great vessel finally give herself up to the deep. It was a weird and moving spectacle, but the allprevailing fact as she disappeared was the majesty of the sea.

The Hermes made a gallant struggle before she went down. Her funnels belched forth volumes of coal-black smoke, and she even appeared to be moving slowly when her waterline was far below the surface.

People I met afterwards told me that they had seen the German submarine which did its work so effectively going leisurely away. It is possible they may have done so, for the attack itself was, having regard to the locality, to say the least, audacious. But other craft in the Dover Straits are equally fearless. sign up for a weekly email with extracts from the times history of the war ww1.thetimes.co.uk

Feminist make-up Sir, I too, have just picked up the December issue of Elle (“Take off your feminist T-shirt, Nick, I’m with Dave”, Oct 30). I was wondering how Deborah Ross came up with the idea that eyeliner and an apparently naked Emma Watson are perceivable as antifeminist or at least conflicting with this being called a feminist issue? This magazine is a celebration of women.

Can Emma Watson not be pretty and political? Surely wearing eyeliner to look feminine is nothing compared to the inability to speak out about your country due to fear of backlash? If eyeliner makes women feel more empowered and more confident then what is the harm? Why can we not have both? Feminism is about being a powerful woman, not about becoming a man. emily castles Fallowfield, Manchester

Starch collared Sir, When I joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) in 1960, our standard-issue uniform included white shirts and detachable collars, heavily starched by the laundry. Not only were the collar studs uncomfortable, but the razor-sharp folded collar scratched our necks, leaving unsightly red marks. This could be neutralised by the application of candlewax along the collar edge. fay hepworth Chelmsford, Essex

We shall not fight Sir, Politicians love quoting Churchill.

Why did they not heed the words he wrote in 1897 on military action in Afghanistan? “Financially it is ruinous. Morally it is wicked.

Politically it is a blunder.” lord lexden House of Lords, London

Moonstand Sir, I am surprised by your leader (“Play up, there is nothing wrong with giving people what they want,” Oct 30).

Van Morrison’s Albert Hall performance — part of the annual BluesFest — was dazzling. No, it did not include Moondance, but this was not a jazz event. Running to less than two hours, the set might have seemed short, but we should not confuse quality with quantity.

Van Morrison did not squander time on banter, introductions or tunings and he delivered an evening of pure blues magic.

It is refreshing when the artist does not feel obliged to deliver the now seemingly obligatory, self-indulgent, encore. We left feeling satisfied and uplifted. lynn hale Woodmansterne, Surrey

Southern discomfort Sir, Michael Pean would like Londoners to acknowledge that “the North” is Tyneside rather than Manchester (letter, Oct 29). I moved from Manchester to Edinburgh many years ago and when I took a holiday cottage in the Western Highlands, a neighbour asked me where I came from. “Edinburgh,” I proudly replied in my new found Scottish accent.

“Och, a Southerner” he said dismissively. dr john burton North Perrott, Somerset

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

Opinion

Buy prints or signed copies of Times cartoons from our Print Gallery at timescartoons.co.uk

I’m a whore and a slut. And all in a few metres The video of a woman harassed on New York streets is a sharp reminder that male attitudes never seem to change Hannah Betts

@hannahjbetts

T

his week a video unassumingly entitled: “Ten hours of silent walking through all parts of Manhattan in jeans and a crewneck T-shirt” went viral. In it, a woman ploughs her way through the streets of the Big Apple, microphone in hand, while a comrade records her from a camera hidden in his backpack for the anti-harassment campaign Hollaback.

During this time she was assailed by 108 catcalls. These ranged from the time-honoured “How you doin’?” to my personal highlight, criticism of her manners: “Somebody’s acknowledging you for being beautiful. You should say ‘thank you’ more.” The actress involved has now received the rape threats that are the inevitable consequence of the contributory negligence of being female and doing something.

The only surprise in all this is how shocked many men have been by this material. “But I walk around all the

time and I don’t experience this,” one comrade remarks. “Does this really happen?”

Er, yes, from last night when men endeavouring to engage my professional interest solicitously reminded me I have breasts, via this morning when someone asked me to “cheer up and f***” him at 8.43am as I took the two-minute walk to purchase a paper. The first time an adult passer-by demanded I have sex with him I was eight. This behaviour has already been inflicted upon my nine-year-old niece and continues to be a burden to my 69-year-old mother. Welcome to our world.

For these routine abuses start in childhood — school uniform, as we

Being approached to have intercourse was ‘part of everyday life’

know, being the ultimate provocation. In the wake of this week’s lacerating report by the Labour MP Ann Coffey, commissioned in the wake of the Rochdale rape atrocity, its author observed: “In some neighbourhoods child sexual exploitation had become the new social norm . . . fuelled by the increased sexualisation of children . . .” Schoolgirls reported that

being approached in public by men urging them to have intercourse was not the exception, but merely “part of everyday life”.

Damn it, I have even been verbally, then sexually assaulted by children — marauding prepubescent boys — on four separate occasions; some males needing no schooling in the notion that females out in public are theirs to molest. Meanwhile, in multicultural areas such in my native Birmingham, one can be criticised for being frigid and unresponsive by some street antagonists, declared a slut and a whore by others, all in the course of a few magical metres.

No woman who reads this will be surprised. Moreover, if I look at the online comments after this is published, there will be several men telling me I “should be grateful” for such attentions. If I’m really lucky, I may be announced “whiny woman of the month” by a misogynist site, as I have been in the past. Still, I’m in good company: the first whiner was Laura Bates, founder of Everyday Sexism, the harassment reporting project that defamiliarised quotidian misogyny for men (and jaded women) across the world. Rape threats can be taken as read.

We women are supposed to shrug off this sort of thing as a meaningless irritation, despite its being the

irritation that makes up the daily fabric of our lives. Yet meaning is all too easy to discern. As a woman, one’s identity is effectively that of a mobile vagina. Whatever our brains, personalities, bodies, age, to be at large in the world is to be gratuitously exhibiting one’s sexual availability.

Historians note with incredulity the way in which female Venetian aristocrats of the Renaissance found

Female aristocrats of the Renaissance were confined to the home

themselves largely confined to the domestic sphere, unless they wanted to be treated as roving courtesans.

Polite society expresses horror over laws in less enlightened parts of the world that insist women be covered and accompanied to protect themselves and their menfolk from masculine desire. However, the street-up experience of 21st-century western women suggests that our culture is not much different. As one Everyday Sexism correspondent puts it: “I committed the terrible crime of being female and out in public on my own.”

Before anyone starts protesting about compliments, flirtation, the

expression of sexual attraction and the like, flirting implies interaction, a playful complicity, consent — not being treated as a sexual opportunity waiting to happen. In her book based on the Everyday Sexism project, Bates remarks: “Screaming a judgment about someone’s fanny is never a ‘compliment’ . . . It’s an exertion of power, dominance and control.” But, hey, we’re the lucky ones because in less “liberal” countries, these assaults may not only be verbal, but physical. Go us.

My favourite insight into the daily onslaught that women face occurred in an edition of Channel 4’s student satire Fresh Meat, in which a female character was asked by a male housemate whether she ever felt sexually objectified: “No way. Well, not me. I mean, when I was at school men in white vans always beep at you when you’re in school uniform.

But only when I’m walking home alone late at night, or going past a building site, or wearing a short skirt, or on a beach. Sometimes a club maybe? Oh, and once, I was in Florence and there was a strange man who put a hand on my arse and showed me his willy . . . But, other than that, it’s not really a big deal.”

I look forward to this weekend’s rape threats.

Janice Turner is away

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

We know where British hostage was filmed, say analysts Deborah Haynes Defence Editor

Video analysts used by the British police have examined footage this week of John Cantlie, the British journalist held hostage

by Islamic State, and claim that they can pinpoint the locations in northern Syria where he was filmed.

His latest video, part of a series called Lend Me Your Ears, appeared online on Monday. In it, he says to the camera that the viewer can see the northern Syrian town of Kobani in the background.

The footage of Cantlie is presented in two locations: on a street and from a rooftop. The experts claim that they have been able to identify those positions.

The analysts, commissioned by The Times, said that by studying details involving lighting and shadow in the 5 min 35 sec recording, it appeared that Cantlie was in the northeastern part of Kobani while speaking on camera. “Whilst cutting edge A video showing John Cantlie in Kobani is genuine, the analysts say

TURKEY SYRIA

KO BA N I

Locations believed to be in the Cantlie video

Kobani SYRIA

CGI/green screen technology may be able to construct this footage with John in another location, and I’m unable to rule out that possibility, there is no obvious indication that this kind of manipulation has taken place,” one expert said.

The analyst, who declined to be named, noted that grain silos seen in the distance of a shot of Cantlie on a rooftop looked to be consistent with those on the Turkish border to the north of the city.

“The second rooftop sequence may be in a different location as the area seems to be less affected by battle damage,” the expert said. “However, it is still in the same general area as the first rooftop location, in the northeast corner of Kobani.”

An audio analyst who also studied the video concluded that it was more likely than not that the footage was authentic.

Kobani has been the focus of US-led airstrikes over the past fortnight. No date is given for when the footage was taken, but Cantlie refers to a BBC news report from October 17.

Cantlie, 43, was kidnapped in 2012 while working as a freelance reporter in Idlib province. He was held with fellow British and American hostages in Raqqa, northern Syria, where it is believed that four of the others were beheaded. Their deaths were recorded on video.

Over the past few weeks, he has appeared in other videos, apparently under duress, in which he describes the mistakes of western intervention in the Middle East. He appears to show a degree of resignation that he too may be killed by Islamic State (Isis). It is impossible to judge whether the videos are a reflection of his own views.

In the most recent video, Cantlie’s appearance was different from in the previous ones. He had previously appeared dressed in orange robes, sitting at a table in a dark room. In the latest footage, he is dressed in black and his beard has grown in thickness, though his moustache has been shaven in the style of a Salafist, an extreme sect within Islam.

Afghan war slang that will come home with the troops David Brown

Slang from the trenches of the First World War led to the adoption of words such as cushty, Blighty and scarper into general English, which we still use today.

After British soldiers completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan, the BBC has compiled a lexicon of slang from the 13-year war which could prove a useful guide to future language.

While soldiers of the 1914-18 war were fighting “Gerry”, the men and women serving in Afghanistan described the enemy as Terry, as in Terry Taliban.

A century ago soldiers in the trenches described enemy shells as “wizz bangs”; in Afghanistan the main cause of death and injury were IEDs (improvised explosive devices).

Julian Walker, co-author of Trench Talk: Words of the First World War, said that troops in Afghanistan were following a proud tradition of “slangalisation” of foreign place names. In France, Ypres became Wipers while the British headquarters in Afghanistan at Lashkar Gah was known as Lash Vegas.

In Afghanistan — or Ganners as it was

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known — troops were described as “Ally” (rhyming with sally) if for some reason they were considered a battlefield fashionista, such as having a beard, a different rifle or obscene amounts of tattoos.

The First World War equivalent was the K-nut, although there were few opportunities for individualising kit beyond the patterns for doing up puttees.

In Afghanistan the forward air controller was abbreviated to FAC while on the Western Front they referred to them as sausages after the balloons in which they flew. “Merts”, the medical emergency response teams that rescue injured soldiers, are the modern equivalent of the “Vads”, the voluntary aid detachment.

The guide to Afghanistan expressions was compiled by the BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale and his colleague Thomas Martienssen.

It reveals that a “crap-hat” is an army unit considered inferior while “crow” is a derogatory term for a soldier recently out of training. An impressive piece of equipment is described as “Gucci”.

Walker said: “You see the same gallows humour, simplification of place names and abbreviations in both conflicts.”

News CHRIS JACKSON / GETTY IMAGES

Can one join in? The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall watch a colourful display outside the Museo del Oro Zenu in Cartagena, in Colombia. The theme of the visit, which continues to Mexico, is peace and reconciliation

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

News Saturday interview

‘MPs should be paid a lot more . . .

Sol Campbell has views on racism, the NHS and the mansion tax — and wants to be in the Lords, Alice Thomson and Rachel Sylvester write

S

ol Campbell meets us in his wife’s interior design shop in Chelsea. The former England defender looks huge among the delicate sofas and chandeliers, but he likes contradictions. The youngest of 12 calls himself “shy” but was not afraid to ring the Today programme when he was being bullied on the terraces.

He left his boyhood club, Tottenham Hotspur, for their rivals Arsenal and likes to wear brogues with his gold chain and jeans. He would prefer, he says, to be misunderstood than stereotyped.

Even at 40, he looks like he would need only a set of studs to play again.

“I’d probably need a month to get into shape,” he says, but it’s politics he’s considering now. His homes — a £25 million pad on Cheyne Walk overlooking the Thames and his mini stately home, Hallington Hall in Northumberland — are under attack.

Labour has proposed a mansion tax and Campbell is determined that they

won’t score on this one so he has offered his support to the Tories.

“I love Labour, I love their mentality, but I don’t like the policies.

I don’t like the mentality of the Conservatives as much, but the policies are conducive to me,” he says.

“I’ve got a lot to offer. I’m from the working class, I’ve gone through the whole spectrum and at each stop I’ve been quite diligent and not forgot things on the way.”

Where would he like to start, in the Lords perhaps? “Who knows, why not,” he says. “It might be a better apprenticeship than the Commons although it’s meant to be the other way round. I could start off with sporting, media and cultural areas. It might be quite fun to have a footballer [in the Lords]. It’s meant to have people with different opinions and backgrounds, whether it works out like that is another thing.”

Becoming an MP would be trickier, he believes. “You’d want to be voted in because of your views not because you have been a footballer.

“Footballing is so different, you are in or out based on a single game or on your team, whether you score or don’t score. I don’t want people to judge me just on that.”

Campbell, with 73 caps for England, could make an imposing mayor of London, “I’m not sure I could do that.

I understand the frequency of London but it would be huge. I need to test the water, I don’t want to be scalded.

Hallington Hall would attract the mansion tax, as would Campbell’s Chelsea home

Maybe I could just be an ambassador for the Tories at the moment. I love debating, standing up for people, it’s natural for me but I am not sure I want to return to the abuse of being too high-profile.”

He must have a thick skin now.

“There aren’t many sportsmen or athletes or people like me in politics so it would still be difficult.” Although Campbell doesn’t need a large salary, he thinks the pay puts off many people from his background.

“I don’t know that they should be paid as much as footballers but I do think MPs should be paid a lot more,” he says. “You would then get a different type of person going for the

job. Now, you need some private wealth to do it. That means MPs from Harrow, Eton, Oxbridge, all great finishing schools, but quite old fashioned or people who have made lots of money. Ethnic minorities, working class and female numbers are too low. Paying MPs more would attract a far broader spectrum.”

How much should they earn? “You could get £300,000 a year for being prime minister — you are running the country after all — £130,000 for being an MP maybe, £150,000 for the cabinet. That seems about right and you would get a different type of person.”

Sulzeer Jeremiah Campbell grew up

in east London, his father Sewell was a railway worker and his mother Wilhelmina worked in a factory. “I don’t think they would ever have thought about me being an MP.” It is the proposed mansion tax that has made him consider politics. “I’d helped out encouraging sport in schools but when the mansion tax came along it was personal. I thought: if Labour introduce that I would have to sell up and go back to Stratford because I have worked too hard. Your home is your castle, you already have inheritance tax, stamp duty, income tax, capital gains tax, but this is what I have earned, my house.” Labour, he believes is targeting super-rich foreigners in London, but forgets that the rest of England will be affected too.

“You have £2 million homes in Northumberland, Cumbria, Yorkshire, Harrogate, York, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, north Wales, Birmingham and in the South. This affects lots of British people who have done well for themselves, made something of their lives, risked a lot setting up companies, or trained hard for years as sportsmen or actors. Sometimes you have to say well done, not just keep hounding them.”

Others, Campbell says, bought houses in rundown areas. “They helped bring up areas like Hackney and might now have a £2 million house but not be able to pay thousands more a year. What if

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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Saturday interview News

just not as much as footballers’

TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER PAUL ROGERS

Sol Campbell says it would be fun to have a football peer: “I’ve got a lot to offer. I’m from the working class, I’ve gone through the whole spectrum and I’ve been quite diligent and not forgot things on the way”

people want to live in their homes until they die, or give it to their grandkids to start their lives? It might be their only investment. They have paid their dues, why do you want to almost dip into the grave and take more money out.”

Campbell has never met the leaders of any parties, but he has other issues he would like to raise. “Politicians shouldn’t be using the NHS to scare people either — it’s not fair on the ill or elderly to keep saying the NHS is at risk or not working. It frightens many people unnecessarily. If it needs more money they should go after the big tech companies that are not paying taxes, Amazon and Google.”

Politicians should also stop “scaremongering” about immigration.

“If immigration hadn’t happened I wouldn’t have been here, played for England. I would have been in Jamaica. My parents came over at the time of the Windrush [a ship that brought the first West Indian migrants to Britain] to work. Most are doing services the British don’t want to do. It’s a cycle: when the British got rich they imported people in for the trains and buses, then those people moved up and we imported more people. Without immigration there would be a huge hole in services.”

He won’t, however, call Ukip fruitcakes. “They’ve been very clever in the way they evoke a perfect England before the war, but this is all about balance, too much past is as bad as too much future, and bad things did happen in the past.”

Like racism? Having played more

than 500 times for top-flight clubs, he says there is still a huge problem.

“You need to change the mindset, you need to change the colour of the bench, the physios, the coaches, the people around the managers, you need more people at the top who reflect the game,” he says. “About 25 per cent of the footballers are ethnic minority but it is not reflected in the coaching.”

I

t still rankles that he was never made England captain. “As I got better and better I was considered less. You still have the banana jokes. It’s not just colour, fans talk about gas chambers. They think they can get away with it and at the moment they can. The homophobia is worse. You still couldn’t come out as a footballer, they have to wait until afterwards. That’s really sad.”

While playing, Campbell had to contend with untrue taunts that he was gay. “I wasn’t a guy who wanted to show who I am around the football club all the time,” he says. “I was dating and had girlfriends, but I wanted to keep football separate.”

The FA, he says, has its head in the sand. “Football allows more unacceptable behaviour than other sports. When the fans pick on an individual player that’s not nice. We need to get to the stage where people in the crowd tell other fans it’s not acceptable.”

As a child he didn’t understand about racism. “But you slowly notice it — getting a job, getting out there,

your colour does matter. Who knows if you could have a black prime minister? If someone comes along who is authentic, real, it could happen. It’s amazing how quickly things can change at the right time and with the right person, but it would be hard. It would be even harder if you were Muslim. In Britain we pretend it’s not really happening and life is changing slowly, but it is still not a walk in the park for ethnic minorities, gays, women. Some do punch for it and make the grade, most

don’t. You have to work much harder.

I had to prove myself repeatedly.”

He did consider quitting. “There were moments when it became too much. West Ham at home with Arsenal I couldn’t come out in the second half. It was a chipping effect over the years. I suddenly couldn’t face it.” The abuse after he left Tottenham for Arsenal was the worst.

“It went to a different galaxy, stratosphere. I wasn’t prepared for the length of time it went on and no one stepped in until I stepped in finally.

Sulzeer Jeremiah Campbell Curriculum Vitae Born Sept 18, 1974, east London Family Youngest of 12 children. His father, Sewell, was a railway worker; his mother, Wilhelmina, worked in a factory.

Married to Fiona Barratt-Campbell, an interior designer.

They have two children, Isabella and Ethan Career Played 500 times in Premier League. Capped 73 times for England. Captained Spurs to victory in the 1999 League Cup final. Won two Premier League titles and three FA Cups with Arsenal; one FA Cup with Portsmouth

Quick fire Cameron or Johnson? Johnson Ferrari or Fiat? Fiat Upstairs or Downstairs?

Downstairs Nelson Mandela or Winston Churchill? Mandela Commons or Lords? Commons X Factor or The Bake-Off? The Voice Linley or Ikea? FBC London, my wife’s Defence or midfield? Everywhere, you can depend on me Oscar de la Renta or Alexander McQueen? McQueen

The FA allowed it. When I needed it most no one said, ‘This is wrong’. We are young guys with very pressurised jobs and they don’t help us.” “[Politics is] similar in the way that you become a character rather than a person and people forget who you really are, just what you stand for.” As captain of his club, he tried to help others. “Being a defender is different.

You have to depend on each other.

You care about the team. You have politicians who are strikers and defenders too. The centre forwards get the glory, but maybe we should be looking at the defenders in politics, those that are really getting things done, keeping the team together.”

He learnt empathy as a child. “In a big house, you grew up very fast and learnt to appreciate and look after your things. Space was hard. You work out when someone is sad, happy, you learn emotions or you would clash every day.”

What of the future? “I am doing my coaching badges now — I’d like to be a coach.” What about becoming the England manager? “I’d love to be, but I will look at politics. I think whatever I do though, I would like to do it properly. I am one of those people who likes to go all the way.”

Most of all he would still like to be playing football. “Winning my first cup for Tottenham. Playing beautiful football for a couple of seasons.

Playing for England for the first time.

Nearly scoring one of the most amazing goals against Colombia in 1998 — that was amazing. I wish I could play football until I’m 70.”

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

News

Internet child abuse ‘voyeur’ is spared jail Fariha Karim

A father who downloaded nearly 2,000 indecent images of children has been spared jail after a judge accepted that he was “not a paedophile” but a voyeur.

Christopher Gilland was sentenced to a two-year community service order for downloading 1,834 obscene photos of children as young as two or three, to the dismay of campaigners.

Gilland, a father of two who lives at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, where his wife works for the US air force, was also caught in possession of 34 videos, including material involving animals.

He admitted six offences of possessing indecent images of children and two of possessing extreme pornography.

When his home was raided by police in October last year, Gilland refused to answer questions, Ipswich crown court heard. When he was interviewed in April, he claimed he had only intended to download adult pornography and had planned to delete the child images.

Delivering sentence on Wednesday, Judge John Holt told the court that he had read a report produced by an expert that said that Gilland was a voyeur rather than a paedophile.

“I am quite satisfied that you are not a paedophile,” he told Gilland. Judge Holt added that Gilland’s wife, who sat in the public gallery, had written a letter supporting her husband.

Gilland will remain under probation service supervision for two years and be

required to participate in an internet sex offenders’ programme.

Charities including Kidscape and the NSPCC questioned whether the sentence was appropriate.

Jon Brown, from the NSPCC, said: “Whether this man intended to delete the images or not is partially irrelevant.

By viewing and downloading them he is potentially fuelling the trade in indecent images of children, which encourages more to be created. These are not victimless crimes. Even if he did ‘accidentally’ download them, he has a duty to report them to the police or the Internet Watch Foundation.”

He added: “Anyone who downloads indecent images of children should be considered capable of posing a risk and a custodial sentence is usually appropriate.”

Claude Knights, of Kidscape, said: “The sheer number of images downloaded would certainly lead one to conclude predatory tendencies exist.

We have to ask what message this sentence sends out to other internet sex offenders. We also have to question whether this individual’s sentence reflects the severity of his crimes against the sanctity of childhood.”

Hugh Rowland, in mitigation, told the court that Gilland had no previous convictions and that the majority of the images found had been graded at the lowest level of seriousness. Gilland was now unemployed as a result of the case, he added.

Next generation An artist’s impression of how Battersea Power Station, London, will look after its £8 billion redevelopment

Phone app will monitor speech for depression James Dean Technology Correspondent

A smartphone app that detects the onset of depression by monitoring speech for acoustic changes is being developed by scientists in the United States.

Researchers at the University of Maryland have found that people’s vocal characteristics change as they

become depressed. At its worst, depression makes speech breathier, slower and rougher, they found.

Carol Espy-Wilson, the lead researcher, said that the technology could prove useful for doctors treating teenagers and young adults.

“Their emotions are all over the place, and that’s when they’re really at risk [of] depression,” she said. “We have

to reach out and figure out a way to help kids [at] that stage.”

The University of Maryland team used information gathered in 2007 that also investigated the relationship between speech patterns and depression. The team is to repeat the study in a larger group, comparing the speech of people with no history of mental illness with that of those with depression.

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

Teachers are rude and lazy, says head of failing school Nicola Woolcock Education Correspondent

A “superhead” parachuted into a failing school has accused teachers of laziness and unions of confrontational behaviour. Rory Fox said that some senior teachers at the school — some on top rates of pay — had turned up late for classes, or not at all, opposed lesson observations, bullied junior staff, refused to set homework and were petty, rude and aggressive.

Ofsted rated the Ryde Academy, on the Isle of Wight, as inadequate in a report last year, describing it as having serious weaknesses and problems with bullying. Children start at the school with average ability but leave with below-average GCSE results.

Dr Fox, who has taught at a prison and turned around other underperforming schools, has now written to the union representatives at his school.

One teacher told him that his working day ended at 2.40pm and that he could not mark children’s work because he was going sailing, he said in the letter, which was leaked by a teacher, who described Mr Fox as exceptional.

Previous problems at the school included teachers spilling coffee over children’s books, marking routinely ignored, poor staff attendance, teachers turning up late for lessons and child protection issues handled badly.

While some of these issues had been tackled, Dr Fox said that the school was slow to improve because of union resistance to lesson observations, resulting in “significant numbers of children

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being let down”. He added: “We are finding practices in classrooms that could easily lead to disciplinary action, but I am choosing not to go down that route.

“To have children’s education put at risk, and their life chances blighted because of avoidable union-related activity is unfair and unacceptable. It is a form of educational abuse. The bottom line is that 50 per cent of the teaching at Ryde Academy is not good enough.”

On investigating why this had not improved, Dr Fox found “unions disquieting staff with claims about what they can and can’t do with lesson observations . . . [and] tying us up in timeconsuming correspondence.”

Union leaders had complained about “excessive burdens” being placed on teachers, he said, adding: “We have teachers complaining about being asked to set homework . . . It is clear to me that there are some very odd views about what is ‘excessive’.”

While the situation had improved earlier this year, Dr Fox said: “As we go into autumn 2014, new fresh union militancy is once again starting to put improvement at risk. We have some 22 teachers who need to improve their performance . . . In reality, their teaching is requiring improvement’.”

Teachers who supported the leadership were “terrified” of being seen to oppose the union position, in case they turned on them, Dr Fox added. “I have staff who are union members saying they feel their own unions are acting in a biased, extremist and confrontational way.”

Decline of the ‘Adaptable’ pub ‘making Morgan rejects Gove ideology men lonely’ Kaya Burgess

Matt Dathan

The decline of local pubs and the rise of short-term employment contracts has left many men feeling “lonely” and with “very few friends”, according to Alexander McCall Smith, the novelist.

McCall Smith, who wrote The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, is known for creating strong female characters and explained that women are better than men at creating friendships.

Speaking at a literary lunch hosted by the Wellbeing of Women charity, held at the Fortnum & Mason department store in London, he said: “An awful lot of men are actually very lonely and that is true because they need structures for their friendships, which women don’t need so much.

“Social habits have changed, people don’t all go to the same pub and meet the boys. And work patterns have changed as people don’t have longterm colleagues in the same way as people are on short-term contracts. So there are an awful lot of men who, as a result, have very few friends.”

McCall Smith, 66, who has written a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma, said that men interact with other men in a very different way from women, adding that men had to overcome the notion that it is taboo to be “emotionally close” to other men.

“Men’s conversation, if you listen to it, is often about the external world, like politics or sport. And that’s a great pity.”

Nicky Morgan has declared she is “not terribly ideological” as she sets out a different course to her predecessor as education secretary, Michael Gove.

In an interview with The Times, she revealed how different she is to Mr Gove, saying that she is “into the practice of what works, what makes a difference to people’s lives”.

The ex-City lawyer, who was promoted to the cabinet in David Cameron’s reshuffle in the summer, makes clear how adaptable she is on points of principle. She stressed that as the most senior person in charge of equalities in government, she was “absolutely proabortion, pro-choice”.

Asked to justify why she voted for Nadine Dorries’s amendment in 2011 to ban Marie Stopes and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service from providing abortion counselling, Ms Morgan suggested the two abortion-providing bodies could not be trusted to give impartial advice.

Ms Morgan also explained she has “moved on” from her opposition to same-sex marriage. She was one of 175 MPs to vote against gay marriage last year, but pointed to her approval last week of couples in civil partnerships being able to convert to same-sex marriages. However, when questioned, she stood by her decision to vote against the original gay marriage bill. thetimes.co.uk/magazine

News HEMEDIA / SWNS GROUP

Our kinder people Altruistic students show off their “kindness pledges” at Boroughmuir High School, in Edinburgh, which has been named Britain’s kindest school by the charity Kindness UK. Kindness Day takes place on November 13

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

News

My Week Ed Miliband* Monday I don’t think I’ve seen Ed Balls looking this cheerful since that intern he didn’t like slammed her thumb in a drawer.

“Great news!” he says, high-fiving Chuka Umunna. “The Scottish party is in absolute meltdown after the acrimonious resignation of its leader Johann Lamont!”

“Doesn’t sound like great news,” I say.

Ed says he hadn’t noticed I was there. Then he says that it’s part of a complex election-winning strategy he might not have explained yet. And totally doesn’t involve him wanting me to lose the election so that Labour elects a new leader. One with lots of experience, for example, who is actually quite a lot nicer than many people presume.

“Or who is terribly good looking,” says Chuka. “Albeit not with much hair.”

“Or anything,” agrees Ed. Although I do see an upside, because Lamont has been

saying I treat Scotland like a branch office. And to be honest, if people want to think of me as a completely perfectionist mastermind who is always totally in control of everything, then I suppose that’s fine by me.

“And I’ll tell people that,” I say, “at my Edinburgh fundraiser tomorrow.”

“It’s in Glasgow,” says Ed. “On Thursday.”

“Bugger,” I say.

Tuesday Chances are, people in Scotland will vote for me anyway, though. I mean, they always do, don’t they?

So today, the main thing we’re worrying about is the fallout from Ed’s mansion tax. Which all of our London supporters hate.

“We should totally call it that,” says Ed. “Officially. ‘Ed’s Mansion Tax’.”

“Brilliant idea!”

It’s funny, I say, because he obviously hasn’t realised. But if we call it that, people will think it’s mine.

“Mate,” says Ed. “That’s fine.”

Wednesday We’re playing that fun office game, where everybody tries to knock an apple off my head by throwing a paper knife, when the poll results come in. Turns out that people in Scotland aren’t still going to vote for me after all. Ed looks at the figures and goes a bit pale.

“This is bad,” he says.

“And thus good?” I say.

“No,” he says. “So bad it’s definitely bad.”

After that, we shout at each other for not paying attention to Scotland.

Then Ed says we need to get somebody Scottish in, such as whatsisname, to find out what’s going on. So I say that’s a great idea, even though I don’t know who he’s talking about, and then Chuka sends off a SpAd to get Danny Alexander and the SpAd comes back and says he isn’t in our party.

Then we remember it’s Douglas Alexander we want, and send somebody to get him, and then we’re a bit confused as to why he isn’t ginger. And then we ask him why people think we don’t care about Scotland. He doesn’t know.

Thursday Now Maureen Lipman has said she’s deserting Labour because she doesn’t like me, either. Which Ed says is more good news.

“But she says she doesn’t like you, either,” I point out, studying the newspaper. Ed goes red, and says it definitely is bad news then.

“Or Chuka,” I say.

“Although not all bad,” he says, perking up considerably.

Friday So I had that Labour fundraising dinner last night. Didn’t really do so well. Checking the hat this morning, I see I’ve made 47p.

“Hold on,” says Ed, peering into it.

“There’s a tenner in here.”

“Nah,” I say. “It’s foreign. From somewhere called Clydesdale.”

There was another poll this morning, and Ed is morose. Turns out we really are going to get wiped out in Scotland. Maybe we really should have spent more time with Johann Lamont. Although to be honest, I don’t even remember meeting him. *according to Hugo Rifkind

Rail ticket machines hide cheap fares Billy Kenber

Rail travellers could be missing out on cheaper tickets because some companies’ machines do not display rivals’ fares or a full range of off-peak options.

Self-service ticket machines are used by travellers to buy more than a quarter of all rail tickets but machines run by some operators, such as Northern Rail, do not display all of their off-peak fares, meaning that passengers who are looking to travel outside of the morning rush hour may not realise that they can make significant savings.

A first-class anytime return from Leeds to Birmingham was £271 with Northern Rail, while an off-peak version of the same journey was £145.70 at a nearby machine operated

by East Coast, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Other self-service ticket machines

fail to display fares for cheaper, slower routes that are run by rivals.

At King’s Cross station in London, a first-class anytime fare from nearby Euston station to Liverpool was £133.50 cheaper for passengers prepared to endure an extra hour and a change at Stafford by travelling on London Midland services.

However, this option was provided only to passengers who used a Thameslink & Great Northern machine rather than one operated by East Coast. East Coast said it had not been aware that London Midland fares were not displayed and had since changed this.

On some journeys, passengers can find that it is less expensive to buy a ticket for a stop after the one at which they intend to alight. Passengers are not informed of this on self-service machines because it breaches the National Rail conditions of carriage, and they risk being charged the

Puppy farm killer will die in prison

A woman whose mother and sister were shot by a dog breeder described her relief yesterday after he was told he would die in jail (David Brown writes).

Stacy Banner wept in court as she watched John Lowe being told he would be jailed for a minimum of 25 years for murdering Christine Lee, 66, and her daughter Lucy, 40.

Lowe, who will turn 83 in two weeks, told police that his victims “had to be put down” as “they’ve been giving me s*** for weeks”.

Surrey police had taken seven guns from Lowe a year earlier after he threatened to kill Ms Banner.

They were returned to him following a “flawed” review.

Mark Dennis, QC, for

the prosecution, said the starting point for a sentence for double murder with the use of a firearm was a jail term of 30 years.

Ian Lawrie, QC, in mitigation, said Lowe was “highly likely” to die during his sentence and perceived his victims as “his jailers”.

Lowe had accused the women of starving him and of trying to put him in a home so that they could take his land.

He met Ms Lee when she went to buy a horse for one of her daughters and they started a relationship.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating why Lowe’s guns were returned while Surrey police are reviewing all similar decisions made over the past three years.

difference between their ticket and a walk-up fare by inspectors.

It can also be cheaper for travellers to split a journey into a series of single tickets for different legs. Smartphone apps are available to calculate whether or not this is the case but ticket machines do not calculate it.

Ticket machines in many stations do not display cheap off-peak tickets until after the peak period, meaning that passengers buying a ticket early could miss out, while savings for travelling as a group or with certain types of railcard are often available only at a ticket office.

Louise Ellman, chairwoman of the Commons transport select committee, said the system was unfair and should be overhauled. “The industry needs to put things right and if it does not, the government must get involved. Passengers are being treated unfairly and being forced to spend more than they should,” she said.

Times graduate trainees The Times graduate trainee programme for news reporters is a two-year scheme.

It involves working on different desks within the paper alongside the country’s finest journalists and writers.

The scheme is based in London and includes a six-month placement in our Edinburgh office. We are looking for candidates with originality, talent, commitment and a love of journalism.

You will initially spend time as a news reporter with the home news desk and after that you will do placements with departments across the paper.

Apply at thetimes.co.uk/timesgraduates

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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After 15 centuries, churches find the words to end split on nature of Christ

News

Anglicans ‘take lead from Pope’

BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY

Oliver Moody

Oliver Moody

For more than 1,500 years, a theological row has festered to become one of the biggest and bitterest schisms in Christian history.

While the two wings of the faith may never be fully reconciled — it is hard to persuade bishops to give up a good schism — the boil was lanced this week.

The ink is drying on a document that brings together the Anglican Communion and its counterparts in the Middle East in an agreement on the nature of Christ. Fifty years of negotiations in venues from Cairo to Woking have resulted in a statement that could begin to heal centuries of wounds around the heart of Christianity.

Diarmaid MacCulloch, the professor of the history of the Church at Oxford, said the accord between the Anglicans and the Eastern Orthodox churches was historic.

The Orthodox bishops represent a group of churches, including the Copts, the Armenians and the Syrians, that broke away from the rest of Christianity after an esoteric but ferocious battle over the mixture of humanity and divinity in Jesus at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Often called the Miaphysites because of their belief that Christ had one nature, the churches’ remnants face persecution throughout the Middle East today, in particular at the hands of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

“For Anglicans to come to a common understanding about this mad mystery is really significant. It’s a delight that there’s these two sides coming together.

It is, tragically, almost too late, because so many of these churches are being destroyed by Isis now.”

Theologians are fond of characterising the original dispute as a wrangle over language so recondite that, in the words of one, “it robs the man in the pew of not one of his forty winks during the sermon, and outside the universities is greeted with an ‘Er, what?’”.

The main sticking point at Chalcedon was how Christ could be both man and God. Was he one person, or two?

The bishops hammered out a compromise that Jesus was one being “in two natures” but the Oriental Orthodox held out for “of or from two natures” and then left in disgust. The churches

Anglicans are increasingly looking to the Vatican to take the lead in standing up for Christians around the world, a prominent bishop has said.

The Right Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the former bishop of Rochester, also called on the West to put an international force of soldiers on the ground in Iraq to safeguard its religious minorities against Islamic State.

In an address to the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, a body set up in 2011 allowing Anglicans to join the RomanCatholic Church, Bishop Nazir-Ali said the Holy See was the main voice defending Christians under threat.

As Islamic militants grew in power and Christians were driven from their homes in many countries, he said, large numbers of people in the Church of England who had previously been wary of the Vatican now regarded it as the strongest bulwark protecting the future of the faith. “The Catholic Church has both a great opportunity and also a great responsibility,” he said.

The bishop said that the West should put boots on the ground to defend Christians, Yazidis and other persecuted religions in Iraq, in one of the most outspoken calls for action by a leading Anglican. He echoed the Archbishop of Canterbury’s call for Britain to take more refugees from the conflict, but said that alone would not be enough.

“Taking that step does not answer the problem of the persecution of Christians by the [Islamic State] in Iraq,” he said. “It would be a great tragedy if the entire Christian community were to be exiled in the way that the militants want.”

The ordinariate has been a controversial organisation, with several Anglican clergy publicly describing it as provocative and insensitive at a time when the Church of England was riven with divisions over social and theological questions.

Bishop Nazir-Ali, who was one of the most senior evangelical figures in Britain and is now the visiting bishop in the diocese of South Carolina in the US, praised the ordinariate and said a lack of discipline had “caused havoc” in his own Church.

Another dispute at the Council of Ephesus in 431AD, depicted in this Cypriot wall painting, was resolved only in 1994

have arrived at a solution where neither side loses face: Christ has “one incarnate nature” that contains “two natures, distinguished in thought alone”. The delicate architecture of the agreement involves words such as “hypostatic”, “commingling” and “Eutychianism” as well as gobbets of Patristic

Greek, but even if the text is baffling, the symbolism is potent.

The terminology of the agreement may seem obscure to many readers,” said the Rev Canon Jeremy Worthen, secretary for ecumenical relations and theology to the Church of England.

“But its central concern is to speak

truthfully about Jesus Christ as the son of God who became incarnate for our salvation.” Andrew Davison, Stanbridge lecturer in theology and natural sciences at Cambridge, said there was still some way to go before the churches ratified the document, but the auguries were good.

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

World

Orphaned, rejected and afraid: plight of the ebola children Survivors are ostracised, reports Anthony Loyd from Northern Province, Sierra Leone

T

he child survivors in the orphanage carried in their hearts a personal cemetery of grief. The luckier ones had lost only their parents.

Others had siblings, uncles, aunts and cousins killed by the ebola virus too.

By its nature ebola, which infects along the transmission lines of human love and kindness, decimates whole families and kills across the generations. As a result, most of the survivors at the Don Bosco Interim Care Centre — a temporary orphanage set up in Sierra Leone’s Northern Province in response to the crisis — had suffered multiple simultaneous bereavements.

One little boy, Stevie, aged four, could barely speak after the trauma of his experience in an isolation unit, where more than 70 per cent of patients die.

His supporting documents had been lost along the way to the orphanage, so workers at the centre had no way of identifying his family.

“He is very young and very traumatised,” said Francis S. Kamara, the head social worker at

Don Bosco, one of 21 interim centres in Sierra Leone to cater for orphaned ebola children.

“So much so that he is only just beginning to speak. His documents are missing so we aren’t sure where he is from, or what happened to his family. We are sure of just one thing: he is an ebola survivor.”

Many children in the care centre are classed as “double orphans”, having lost their parents and then had their foster parents killed by ebola too. However, having survived so much already, the children now face a final injustice common to ebola survivors throughout West Africa: stigmatisation.

Victoria, 16, watched eight of her nine siblings die of the deadly virus alongside her guardian aunt, one after another, in their home. Her entire family was wiped out over a period of only four weeks. Yet she had been completely disowned by her extended family.

“My surviving aunts and one sister call me by phone,” she told me, weeping in a sudden burst of uncontrollable anguish. “But I cannot go back to the village as the community won’t accept me, so I am completely alone.”

Mr Kamara explains that communities do not understand the science behind ebola and why those who suffered it can, in fact, be an asset rather than a Victoria was shunned after losing eight of her nine siblings

danger. “Survivors have a strong resistance to the infection, probably immunity, and could serve their community in this crisis. Yet communities don’t know how the virus works and still believe that ebola survivors can pass it back to others. So they exclude them.”

The most fortunate child in the orphanage exemplified the tragedy of stigma. Hanatu, 11, was the only child there whose parents were still alive. Yet repeated attempts by her mother to bring her home after she survived ebola in a treatment centre were foiled by her village, which refused to have the girl back.

Staff from Don Bosco, a Silesian institute of Roman Catholics founded in Italy in 1876, mediated twice on Hanatu’s behalf, but to no avail.

“Hanatu was treated for ebola, survived and was reunified with her mother and went home,” explained Father Paul AbuBakarr Turay, the orphanage’s chaplain. “But her village would not accept her. I mediated and tried to sensitise the community to the facts around ebola. But still they would not accept her and she came here. The very next day I went back with her to the village and mediated again. Two days later Hanatu arrived back here with her mother. Both were crying bitterly. The community just refused to accept her, so we took Hanatu in. What more could we do?”

Terror over ebola, which in the United States has led to medical staff such as Kaci Hickox being treated as a social pariah by the local authorities

Ebola orphans Fatmata and Stevie, both four, at the Don Bosco centre. Stevie was

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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Boys, 11 and 13, sue over father’s death on MH370 Page 35

Row as Navy Seal who killed Bin Laden prepares to break his silence Page 61

TIMES PHOTOGRAPHY, ANTHONY LOYD

Even volunteers in the fight against the virus are viewed with fear and suspicion

badly traumatised and could barely speak after his experiences in an ebola ward. His identity papers were also lost in transit

Indian PM snubs Gandhi dynasty India

Robin Pagnamenta Mumbai

India’s new prime minister delivered a snub to the country’s most famous dynasty yesterday, refusing to attend a service to mark the 30th anniversary of Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

The country’s first and only female prime minister served for 17 years before being shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984.

As Gandhi’s grandson, Rahul, her daughter-in-law, Sonia, and President Mukherjee gathered at her memorial at Shakti Sthal in Delhi yesterday, Narendra Modi was conspicuous by his absence.

Instead, he spent the day inaugurating “National Unity Day” to honour Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a nationalist hero who was born on October 31, 1875, and is known as the “Ironman of India”.

The snub illustrated the hostility felt

by Mr Modi, a former tea seller, and many Indians towards the dynastic politics that has dominated the country and which he claims has held it back. It

drew a furious response from traditionalists. Shashi Tharoor, a senior leader from the Gandhis’ Congress party, described it as disgraceful and claimed that the government “is ignoring the martyrdom of our only prime minister who was killed in office in the line of duty”.

Zoya Hasan, a political scientist at Delhi University, said that Mr Modi’s attempt to superimpose a new national day was “very dirty politics” by Mr Modi’s Bharatia Janata Party, which stormed to power in May after a decade of Congress rule.

Indira Gandhi was killed in retaliation for ordering a military assault on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, a Sikh shrine, in June 1984 to flush out militants who had occupied the complex.

Her death triggered Indira Gandhi was shot dead 30 years ago

anti-Sikh riots in which thousands of people were killed.

Although he did not attend her memorial service, Mr Modi did offer a modest tribute on Twitter. “I join my fellow countrymen and women in remembering former PM Indira Gandhi on the anniversary of her death,” he wrote to his 7.4 million followers.

Mr Modi placed his attack on the Gandhi family at the heart of his election campaign, lambasting Rahul Gandhi as a “Shahzada”, or prince.

However, it is his attempt to replace Gandhi with Sardar Patel, India’s former home minister, as a national icon that is perhaps the most aggressive assault on the dynasty.

On October 31 last year Mr Modi laid a foundation stone for a statue of Mr Patel, a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, who stitched together a united republic out of a series of fragmented princely states.

“It’s part of a concerted effort to bury the legacy of the Gandhi dynasty,” Professor Hasan said.

rather than a returning heroine, has affected almost every individual exposed to the virus in Sierra Leone.

Staff from burial teams and doctors and nurses working in treatment units are frequently ostracised by their families, to the point that some management officials are considering building special hostels to accommodate them.

A study on public knowledge and attitudes to ebola in Sierra Leone, funded

by Unicef in August, confirmed that serious misconceptions over the virus were endemic among local communities; 76 per cent said they would not welcome ebola survivors back into their community.

More than 1,100 of Sierra Leone’s 4,333 confirmed ebola cases are believed by Unicef to be children and, with the rate of infection now doubling in the country every three weeks, as many as 28 per cent of the final death toll are likely to be children under 16.

Already as many as 7,300 children there are personally and directly affected by the virus, a definition that includes those sick, orphaned or in quarantine.

“The stigma facing survivors is enormous,” said Matthew Dalling, Unicef’s child protection chief in Sierra Leone.

“We see survivors as heroes, critical to the battle to respond to ebola through their potential role as support staff working with quarantined families. Yet nine out of ten survivors face discrimination in terms of reintegrating home.”

Though it has yet to be conclusively

proven that ebola survivors have total immunity against re-infection, common medical understanding and trials on monkeys suggest that the level of antibodies among survivors does indeed protect against catching the virus again. As a result, many survivors work in isolation and treatment centres.

“When I was first discharged from isolation I faced a lot of discrimination,” said Bilkisu Alfreda Koroma, 23, a nurse working in the isolation unit in Con-

Exclusive to members

Times guide to ebola How it spreads and the search for a vaccine On tablet and at thetimes.co.uk/health

naught hospital, Freetown, alongside William Pooley, the British ebola survivor. She survived the virus after 11 days as a patient in Connaught, though it killed seven of her siblings and her father among a total of 15 family members who died of ebola in her home.

“Even in a new home after I recovered, being looked after by an aunt, people refused to sit next to me or touch me, even though they wanted to help,” she said. “It took a long time for them to become confident with me.”

Isis seek manager for ailing oil plant (it’s a job to die for) Iraq

Hugh Tomlinson

For one daring and zealous oilman, the jihadists of Islamic State are offering the job opportunity of a lifetime.

After a string of fatal accidents at Iraqi oilfields seized by Isis in June, the Islamists are seeking a manager to run their refineries and arrest the slump in its once-lucrative oil business. For the right applicant, combining experience and unshakeable devotion to the Islamist cause, the post commands a salary of $225,000 (£140,000) a year.

The refineries manager position is the most senior of several vacancies that Isis is seeking to fill as it haemorrhages skilled staff from its Iraqi oil fields. The group’s black-market oil revenues, estimated at up to $3 million a day earlier in the summer, are thought to have collapsed by more than two thirds and are still falling.

Oil workers in Iraq say that black

market agents in the country’s northern Kurdish region have been quietly advertising the posts. The call has gone out via jihadist networks as far afield as North Africa.

“They are trying to recruit skilled professionals who are ideologically suitable,” said Robin Mills, at Manaar Energy, a consultancy firm in Dubai.

“The money is good but it’s not that good. A western oil exec posted to Iraq right now, let alone working for Isis, would expect to earn a lot more than that.”

After plundering oil and gas facilities in Syria since 2012, the Islamists struck out across Iraq in June, seizing wells on the northern Ajeel and Hamrin fields.

Officials at Iraq’s North Oil Company, which has lost one field to Isis and another to the Kurds, said: “With each round of fighting, more staff drift away.

Initially they [Isis] coerced staff, threatening to kill their families. Now they’re offering the carrot instead.”

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

World US midterm elections Seats Democrats could lose

Independent

Republicans Democrats

+18

Senate overview Election battleground

21 Democrat and 15 Republican seats up for election Up for grabs

11 Safe seats

+16.6

Safe seats

10

3

12

Rep. likely gains

+12

Seats not up for election 30

32

House races

2

+5

All 435 House of Representatives seats are up for grabs. Projections put Democrat losses at between 8 to 10

Current House makeup

+4.5

218 needed for majority 199

233 3 vacancies

Montana

+0.9

ND

WA

Republican Steve Daines holds a commanding lead

Republicans need a net gain of 6 Senate seats to take control of the chamber

Seats Republicans could lose

MT MN

SD

OR

ID

West Virginia

NV

UT

CO

IL

KS

AZ

OK

NM

TX

Arkansas

Louisiana

VA NC

TN MS

AL

SC GA

FL

+2.2

Alaska

Mark Begich faces a tight race against Tea Party Republican Dan Sullivan

PA

NJ MD

ME MA

+0.5

CT DE

+4.4

Kansas

A one-on-one race between Republican candidate Pat Roberts and popular Independent Greg Orman

Georgia

Democrat Michelle Nunn is hoping for victory despite the state’s Republican reputation

Kentucky

Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell faces a strong challenge from Alison Lundergan Grimes

President Obama may face two years with a hostile Congress.

AK

Mark Pryor faces a strong challenge from Tea Party congressman Tom Cotton Mary Landrieu is fighting for her political life against Republican Bill Cassidy

LA

OH WV

KY

AR

South Dakota

Polls show Republican Governor Mike Round holds a strong poll lead

IN

MO

CA

NY

MI

IA

NE

Democrat Jay Rockefeller is leaving the Senate after 30 years. Republican Shelley Moore Capito is on course for victory

VT

WI

WY

NH

+2.1

Iowa

Republican Joni Earnst may be on the cusp of unseating Congressman Bruce Braley

Democrats sink in Louisiana’s political swamp US Midterm Elections the battle for capitol hill David Taylor Port Allen, Louisiana

The man wearing camouflage combat gear had fried chicken in a crawfish sauce on the table in front of him and a Glock semi-automatic handgun in a holster on his right hip.

Terry Perilloux and his hunting friends had killed eight squirrels in the morning and before they went back out for deer, they were taking advantage of the savings promised by the sign at Bergeron’s Boudin and Cajun Meats, which read: “Thank you for carrying your gun today — 10% Discount.”

Since the owner, Kevin Cox, began his new offer for gun-toting customers six weeks ago, there has been so much extra trade that he has had to take on

four new staff. He also found that his Louisiana restaurant became an essential stop for politicians in one of the strangest election races in the country.

One of those politicians is Rob Maness, a retired US air force colonel who is standing as one of three Republican candidates whom the right-wing vote can pick on Tuesday in the midterm election. Mr Maness, flush with Tea Party funds, is working the tables at Bergeron’s, expressing the strong views he has on just about everything from abortion to immigration.

The Louisiana Senate seat that is up for grabs is the last one held by the Democrats in the Deep South but the polls indicate the Republicans could win it. They must win a handful of seats to seize control of the Senate and Louisiana needs to be one of them. A swing of six seats would be enough to leave President Obama facing a Republican majority in both houses of Congress.

Yet the Republicans are struggling to close the deal, even though most of their targets are states won by Mitt Romney in 2012. Many states are too close to call, partly because the Repub-

lican vote is so split. In Louisiana it is the “One of Us” populist campaign of Mr Maness that is upsetting the maths.

The official Republican party candidate is a rather colourless gastroenterologist called Bill Cassidy. But Mr Maness is running on issues such as gay marriage, abortion and immigration and has the backing of the conservative grassroots. The electoral fight between the two of them in Louisiana lays bare the ugly rifts within the party.

Mary Landrieu, the Democrat senator facing them, has taken extraordinary measures to distance herself from Mr Obama and make herself palatable to voters. If no one exceeds 50 per cent on Tuesday, the top two will go into a run-off next month, which means that control of the Senate is likely to be left in limbo as the Republicans edge towards a majority.

Mr Maness, 52, has travelled 84,000 miles in his pick-up truck to all 94 counties during his campaign. He has met an alligator and Sarah Palin, winning the endorsement of one and wrestling the other to the ground in an eye-catching campaign video. Over lunch at Berger-

on’s, where the souvenir T-shirts proclaim “God, guns and gumbo”, he insists that the polls are wrong — as he would do, for they say the favourite to take the seat is actually the low-profile Mr Cassidy, 57, who, like many Republicans in tight races this year, offers voters almost nothing in the way of policies and is simply trying to lash his Democrat opponent to Mr Obama’s record.

The three main candidates faced each other in a televised debate this week at Louisiana State University. Ms Landrieu sought again to distance herself from all things Obama, including his policies on ebola, Isis, healthcare and air pollution. Mr Maness painted both his opponents as out-of-touch career politicians.

This is a tough state for a Democrat, yet Ms Landrieu, 58, whose father was mayor of New Orleans and whose brother currently holds that position, has survived three close races since 1996. Travelling south of Baton Rouge, past miles of petrochemical plants and refineries on the sludgy-looking Mississippi river, I found her in the town of Donaldsonville, a Union

stronghold in the Civil War and one of the first places where freed black slaves fought as soldiers. A good place for the embattled senator to stand her ground.

She chairs the Senate energy committee and her selling point is that she is a powerful voice for Louisiana’s oil and gas industries — a claim supported

by President Putin’s decision to target her for sanctions.

So why is Mr Obama so unpopular in Louisiana? “There are any number of reasons. But one of the main reasons is his energy policy is really different than ours,” Ms Landrieu said. While the president wanted to cut emissions, “we want to drill almost everywhere. We might not drill in a public park in New Orleans, but just about anywhere else.”

Instead of defending him, she chooses to promote Hillary Clinton, who will campaign with her today in a state where Bill Clinton won twice. The polls suggest Ms Landrieu would lose in a run-off, but she’s not giving up. “We lovingly call her Landslide Landrieu,” said her husband, Frank. Squeezing his fingers together, he added: “Because she always just gets there, by this much.”

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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World

Man may wipe out lions in Africa within 40 years

INFPHOTO.COM

Burkina Faso

Jerome Starkey Africa Correspondent

Kenya

Jerome Starkey Africa Correspondent

When a pride of African lions slipped into the suburbs of Nairobi beyond the area’s national park, rangers shot them dead instead of relocating them.

Conservationists say there are few, if any, places left where a lone lion or a young pride can be relocated and survive — a problem that they say could render the big cats extinct by 2050.

“Relocating them is the same as giving them a death sentence,” said Charles Musyoki, the head of species management at the Kenya Wildlife Service.

The human population explosion in sub-Saharan Africa has led to growing competition with lions for land. The number of African lions in the wild has dropped by more than 50 per cent in the past three decades, with about 30,000 remaining today.

Approximately 70 per cent of those live in only ten regions in southern and eastern Africa. Lions in other regions, such as west Africa, have been almost wiped out.

Last week the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing lions under the American Endangered Species Act, with analysts warning that they were in danger of extinction in the foreseeable future. “Demographers believe the human population in sub-Saharan Africa will double by 2050,” Daniel M Ashe, its director, said. “Unless things improve, lions will face extinction. It’s up to us and not just the people of Africa to ensure that lions will continue to roam.”

Where lions thrive, they face another threat — from conservationists trying to protect endangered species such as the rhino and Grévy’s zebra.

Dr Musyoki said Lions could be protected under US plans

Lion range Historical Current

that lions had killed five rhino calves in the past ten years, which could threaten the species’ survival. As a result, he said, Kenya Wildlife Service was considering “birth control, like with humans” to shrink the size of the prides.

“We have thought about vasectomising male lions so they stop breeding,” he said. They also looked at giving lionesses contraceptives, but ultimately, he said, it was wrong to prioritise one species over another. While cultural killings — as part of traditional manhood rituals — have decreased, cattle farmers still regard the big cats as a pest to be poisoned, shot or speared, to protect their herds from attack.

If the proposals to make lions endangered are approved, it would make it illegal for Americans to kill or hunt captive lions without a permit or to sell lions or lion parts.

It would also get much harder, but not impossible, for big game hunters from America to import lion trophies from Africa. They would have to prove that the lions had been killed in an area with a “scientifically sound” approach to managing lions.

Conservationists said that could hit legitimate hunting operations, which often generate large amounts of money for preserving wildernesses.

They suggested that the US proposals were the result of lobbying by animal welfare organisations, rather than by conservation organisations. Leading article, page 20

President is forced to flee after uprising

Red alert The pop star Katy Perry arrives at Kate Hudson’s Hallowe’en party in Los Angeles dressed as one of her favourite snacks — a Flamin’ Hot Cheeto

The western-friendly leader who ran Burkina Faso for 27 years stepped down yesterday and fled the capital after he was overthrown in a violent uprising.

President Compaoré, who seized power in a coup after the killing of Thomas Sankara in 1987, pledged to hold elections within 90 days, but then left the capital Ouagadougou. French diplomats said he was heading for the city of Po near the Ghanaian border.

Opposition protesters gathered in a square in the capital burst into cheers when they heard the announcement of his resignation on hand-held radios.

They had been massing for a second day to force Mr Compaoré to quit after the unrest had already persuaded the longtime leader not to run again for election.

“I declare that I’m leaving power in order to have a free and transparent election in 90 days,” Mr Compaoré said in a statement read out on television and radio stations. “For my part, I think I have fulfilled my duty.”

Honoré Traore, the army chief who announced on Thursday night that he was taking over, was named as interim leader. The army stepped in after protesters stormed the parliament, the ruling party’s headquarters and the national television station as MPs were due to vote on proposed amendments, which would have allowed Mr Compaoré another term.

Vatican and Italy split over boat people Italy

Tom Kington Rome

The Vatican has warned that thousands of migrants making the dangerous sea crossing from Africa to Europe are in danger of drowning as a limited, British-backed, EU patrol fleet goes into action in the Mediterranean today.

The Triton operation, which will patrol Italy’s territorial waters 30 miles out to sea, replaces a larger Italian naval mission called Mare Nostrum, which sailed in international waters and had picked up 145,000 migrants arriving

from North Africa on packed, rickety boats.

“Even with Mare Nostrum, over 3,000 people drowned, and now the danger of death at sea is greater,” said Cardinal Antonio Maria Vegliò, the president of the Vatican’s pontifical council for the pastoral care of migrants and itinerants.

“Mare Nostrum has saved survivors from shipwrecks near the Libyan waters, while Triton will not,” he told The Times. “We must do more.”

Yesterday Angelino Alfano, the Italian interior minister, said the coun-

try’s navy would phase out Mare Nostrum over the next two months after spending €9 million each month over the last year, arresting 728 traffickers and recovering 499 migrant corpses.

The EU mission will have fewer vessels patrolling closer to shore and cost a third as much, but Mr Alfano denied more migrants would die as a result.

“The number of deaths is not relative to the money spent.” He said vessels sailing in international waters would continue to respond to distress calls.

“From tomorrow morning, Mare Nostrum is no more,” he said.

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World MAJDI MOHAMMED / AP

2am burial halts Jerusalem rioting Israel

Gregg Carlstrom Jerusalem

Two Palestinians were injured during protests in Qalandiya, north of Jerusalem

Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

The Palestinian suspected of shooting a right-wing Jewish leader was buried in the middle of the night in Jerusalem yesterday, as Israel reopened the city’s most sensitive holy site with more than 1,000 police patrolling the streets.

Mutaz Hijazi, 32, a resident of the mixed Jewish-Arab district of Abu Tor, was shot dead during a night-time raid

by Israeli police as they hunted the man who shot Rabbi Yehuda Glick the night before.

Mr Glick, who was seriously injured, is a prominent campaigner for Jewish prayer rights on the site of the holy

compound known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Sha’are Tzedek hospital in Jerusalem said yesterday that his condition was improving.

Amid growing tension in the city, Israel closed the compound completely on Thursday in a move described by the Palestinian leadership as a “declaration of war”. The al-Aqsa mosque, which is located on the site, was reopened for Friday prayers, but only to men aged 50 or over.

Hundreds of people gathered for Mr Hizaji’s funeral, which was held at 2am after the police released the body following a post-mortem examination.

It is thought that the police agreed to release the body to the family in exchange for a promise that the funeral would take place late at night to avoid further bloodshed.

Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the Jerusalem police, said that Mr Hijazi had opened fire on the officers, although neighbours disputed the official account.

In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, thousands turned out at the call of the militant organisations Hamas and Islamic Jihad to honour Mr Hijazi, who Islamic Jihad claimed as one of its members.

Demonstrators burnt Israeli flags.

The streets of east Jerusalem, which

Drones buzz nuclear sites Paris Police are

trying to find those responsible for flying drones over nine of France’s 19 nuclear power stations. Two were spotted on Thursday above plants at Penly in the north and Golfech in the southwest. Aircraft are banned from going near nuclear sites. Greenpeace was suspected but has denied involvement.

Tourist dies in island crash Sydney A German

woman was killed when an SUV carrying tourists overturned on a bush track on Fraser Island, Queensland.

Seven other passengers were admitted to hospital.

Greek lesson in tax evasion Athens An inquiry

into £1.7 billion syphoned out of Greece by 5,260 civil servants to avoid tax has found that half the evaders are teachers. The average amount sent was £234,000.

Hungary web tax scrapped A proposed tax on internet usage in Hungary has been shelved after mass protests. Viktor Orbán, the prime minister, had to withdraw his plan to charge citizens for transferring data.

has been occupied by Israel since 1967, were mostly quiet yesterday, despite fears of further unrest. Palestinian leaders had called for a “day of rage” over the closure but only scattered demonstrations materialised, in part because of the first heavy rains of winter.

Two Palestinians were injured in a protest at the Qalandiya checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

It was the first time that the al-Aqsa mosque had been closed since the outbreak in September 2000 of the second Palestinian uprising against Israel. It is the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

Jews revere it as their holiest spot.

A number of right-wing Jews, including Mr Glick, have called for Israel to lift its ban on Jewish prayer at the complex and for a third temple to be built.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has said repeatedly that he will not change the arrangements, fearing religious violence.

“We took this step [closing the mosque] to prevent riots,” Yitzhak Aharonovitch, the public security minister, told Israel Radio yesterday. “I will not allow the Temple Mount to be damaged and I will not change the status quo.”

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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World

Afghan leader has no time for slackers

VAUGHN RIDLEY / GETTY IMAGES

Suu Kyi holds talks to run for president

Afghanistan

Burma

The new Afghan president has brought with him a radical change of style to government in Kabul — and a newfound respect for time-keeping among government officials.

Ashraf Ghani, a former senior World Bank official who was sworn into office last month, has stunned Kabul’s political class and delighted many ordinary Afghans with a series of public humiliations for officials.

Umer Daudzai, the country’s respected interior minister, was astonished to find himself barred from a cabinet meeting, according to officials, after turning up a few minutes late.

In another incident Dr Ghani toured a hospital for wounded soldiers and after being told that it was staffed around the clock paid an unannounced midnight visit to check. Finding no one on duty, he fired senior staff.

However officials say they worry about whether Dr Ghani can deliver the national unity government he has promised with Abdullah Abdullah, the rival presidential candidate. “There is a tension between the brusque decisionmaking versus giving it time to filter through the system,” said one senior official, who declined to be named.

Aung San Suu Kyi may be allowed to run for the Burmese presidency following next year’s elections, as the country comes under American pressure to advance democratic reforms.

President Thein Sein met Ms Suu Kyi, the democracy leader, yesterday to talk about changes to the constitution which would enable her to run. “They agreed to discuss the issue of amending the constitution in parliament, according to the law,” Mr Thein Sein’s spokesman, Ye Htut, said.

Ms Suu Kyi was less positive. “I do not know how they stated the meeting was a success,” she said. Many Burmese suspect the meeting was in order to give the impression of flexibility before a visit next month by President Obama.

According to the White House, the president has “underscored the need for an inclusive and credible process for conducting the 2015 elections”.

Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace prizewinner who spent 15 years under house arrest, is by far the most popular politician in Burma. In 2012 her National League for Democracy won 43 out of 44 by-election seats. Under the constitution she is barred from the presidency because her sons are British.

Tom Coghlan Foreign Correspondent

Richard Lloyd Parry Asia Editor

Game of two halves Ice-hockey players from the Ottawa 67’s watch from the bench in Ontario, oblivious to the advert below

Boys sue airline after father’s death on MH370 Malaysia

Richard Lloyd Parry Asia Editor

Two Malaysian children are suing the country's government and its national airline for the loss of their father on flight MH370, which mysteriously vanished without trace almost eight months ago.

Jee Kinson, 13, and his brother Jee Kinland, 11, are seeking unspecified damages for the disappearance of their father, Jee Jing Hang, one of 239 passengers on the Boeing 777 which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

They are demanding damages in the Kuala Lumpur High Court for the loss

of parental support, for mental distress and pain, and exemplary damages for gross neglect and breach of duty.

In the first such case concerning MH370, the boys accuse Malaysia Airlines of breach of contract for failing to transport him to his destination, and the Malaysian civil aviation department of negligence for not trying to establish contact with the plane in the early hours after its take-off.

They also complain that the Royal Malaysian Air Force failed to take action despite detecting the plane’s change of course on military radar. The immigration department is also named, because it allowed Iranian passengers with stolen passports to board the

flight, although the two men are not suspected by investigators of having played a part in its disappearance, “Our clients are after the truth,” said a statement by the lawyers representing the family of Mr Jee, 41, the owner of an internet business.

“We have confidence in our judiciary system that this suit will be heard and dealt with fairly.”

Arunan Selvaraj, one of the lawyers, said: “We have waited for eight months.

After speaking to various experts, we believe we have sufficient evidence for a strong case. A big plane missing in this age of technology is really unacceptable.”

MH370 vanished on March 8, soon

after take-off from Kuala Lumpur international airport.

Despite an international effort, no traces of the plane have been found, nor any conclusive explanations as to its fate.

Satellite signals picked up after it disappeared from radar screens indicate that the northbound plane inexplicably turned around and flew south, where it is assumed to have crashed into the southern Indian Ocean, more than 1,000 miles southwest of the Australian city of Perth.

A search effort involving the Australian navy, and supported by the Malaysian and Chinese governments, is continuing, but could take more than a

year. Until it concludes, and in the absence of any material evidence, some lawyers are sceptical of the chances of success.

“So many questions are left unanswered, so many theories have been uttered and opinions (warranted and unwarranted) are uttered,” said the statement by the boys’ lawyers.

“These have caused nothing but anguish, doubts and misery to them.

“We have spoken to various experts relating to this industry. Having carefully analysed and weighed their expert opinions, we believe that our clients have sufficient grounds in establishing such a case against the named parties.”

Weekend

Saturday November 1 2014

Travel starts on page 50

Please look after my bear Michael Bond on Paddington’s latest adventure

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Vegetable tumbet

Sautéed spinach

Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

Roasted vegetables with black olives

Autumn tapas recipes Six quick and Tomato bread From miniature jacket potatoes to fried aubergines with honey, try these seasonal recipes from Spanish chef Josep Carbonell Roasted vegetables with black olives

Serves 4 Ingredients 2 large red peppers 1 large aubergine 1 clove of garlic, peeled 8 black Aragon olives, stone removed 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil Maldon sea salt and black pepper

Method 1 Make a small cut in the side of the aubergine and insert the garlic.

2 Brush the peppers and the aubergine with olive oil.

3 Light the barbecue — or use the raw flame of your cooker — and place the vegetables directly over the fire and grill, turning frequently until the skin blackens and the vegetables are tender inside. If you don’t have a gas flame you can use a normal grill instead on a very high heat, turning regularly.

4 Place the vegetables on a plate and cover with a clean, dry kitchen cloth.

Leave for around 30min, allowing them to steam and cool. Gently peel away the black skin.

5 Discard the skin along with the stems and seeds of the peppers but keep the garlic clove from inside the aubergine.

Cut each into strips lengthways.

6 Put the aubergine, pepper and garlic in a bowl and arrange the black olives on top. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.

Mini jacket potatoes with spiced herb relish

Serves 4-6 Ingredients 1kg small to medium potatoes, not bigger than a small egg (purple Albert Bartlett potatoes if you can find them) 100g coarse sea salt For the relish 1 tsp ground cumin 2 cloves of garlic ½ Italian sweet green pepper 20g coriander 20g flat parsley 100ml olive oil 10ml white vinegar

Method 1 Before cooking the potatoes carefully wash them to remove any soil — don’t peel them.

2 Place the potatoes in a large saucepan; add the salt and just cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat. Cook for 20-25 min, until cooked.

3 Meanwhile, make the relish. Put the cumin, garlic, green pepper, coriander, parsley and vinegar in a processor and blend to create a paste. While blending, gradually add the olive oil.

4 When the potatoes are cooked, drain off any excess water.

5 Put the pan back on the heat and shake the pan until the potato skins become wrinkled. Serve warm, with the relish.

Serves 6 Ingredients 6 slices of country bread 1 clove of garlic, cut in half 6 penjar tomatoes, halved Olive oil Sea salt

Method 1 To make the tomato bread, toast the bread until it is medium brown.

2 Rub one side with the garlic, followed by the tomatoes. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkling of sea salt.

Fried aubergines

Mallorcan vegetable tumbet

These recipes are by executive chef Josep Carbonell at Brindisa Tramontana. Many of the Spanish ingredients can be found online at brindisa.com

Serves 4 Ingredients 3 cloves garlic, unpeeled 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped 1 large aubergine, sliced into 1cm rounds 1 large courgette in 1cm slices 4-5 potatoes, skin on, cut into 1cm rounds 2 Italian green peppers, cut into thick strips 1 large red pepper, cut into thick strips 1 onion, cut into thick strips 4 or 5 tomatoes, grated 50ml olive oil Salt and black pepper Sugar, pinch Flour, to coat Method 1 Place the aubergine slices in a bowl and lightly salt to expel any bitterness.

Leave for an hour and brush off with kitchen paper.

2 Heat a saucepan with a glug of olive oil and cook the chopped garlic and the grated tomatoes until the water has evaporated, adding a pinch of sugar and salt to taste. Set aside.

3 Pour the olive oil into a frying pan and fry the cloves of garlic to flavour it.

Remove the garlic when the oil starts to spit. In sections, fry the vegetables one by one and place on a kitchen towel.

4 The courgettes and peppers take 3-4 min, onions 2-3 min. Cook the potatoes until they are golden brown and cooked through. Finally, dip the aubergine slices in flour before frying for 4-5 min.

5 Heat the oven to 180C. Layer the vegetables snugly in a small baking tray.

Start with a layer of tomato sauce, followed by potato, aubergine, onion, pepper, and finish with tomato sauce.

Bake for 10 min. Enjoy hot or warm.

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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VLADIMIR STUDENIC

Mini jacket potatoes with herb relish

Salmorejo soup

easy weekend dishes Salmorejo soup Spinach sautéed in with pipirrana salsa garlic, pine nuts and raisins

Serves 4-6 Ingredients For the salmorejo soup 1kg tomatoes 1 clove of garlic 50ml olive oil 20ml sherry vinegar 2 slices of white bread Salt and black pepper For the pipirrana salsa ½ Italian green pepper, cubed 1 medium tomato, skinned and cubed 5 chive stalks, chopped 1 medium shallot, cubed Olive oil

Method 1 First, make the pipirrana. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and dress with a little olive oil, salt and black pepper.

2 For the salmorejo bring a large pot of salted water to the boil.

3 Using a sharp knife, slice a shallow line around the tomato. When the water is boiling, add the tomatoes for 10 sec.

Remove immediately and place in a bowl filled with ice and cold water for a minute.

4 Remove the skin of the tomato — it should peel off easily — and cut it in half.

Over a strainer and a large bowl, squeeze out the seeds of the tomatoes and remove the core. Chop the rest of the tomatoes and add to the bowl with the garlic, 10ml olive oil and the bread.

5 Mix all the ingredients with a spoon, cover and keep in the fridge for 2 hours.

The bread will absorb all the juices.

6 Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor, including the vinegar and olive oil. Purée until smooth and thick, season with salt and black pepper and keep refrigerated for about 1 hour.

7 Serve the salmorejo soup cold, with a little of the pipirrana over each bowl, and some hot toast with olive oil drizzled on it.

Serves 4 Ingredients 2 tbsp olive oil 1 small banana shallot 30g pine nuts 35g golden raisins 350g baby spinach leaves Salt

Method 1 Heat the olive oil in a large wok, add the shallots and pine nuts. When the pine nuts start to golden, add the raisins and cook on a low heat until the raisins start to inflate. Add the spinach and cook for 30 sec to a minute, stirring constantly. Do not overcook the spinach.

Serve warm.

Tomato bread

Fried aubergines with chestnut honey and hazelnuts

Serves 4 Ingredients 2 medium aubergines Chestnut honey 40g cornflour 50g plain flour 1 egg 50ml sparkling water Salt 500ml olive oil 30g of crushed toasted hazelnuts

Method 1 Slice the aubergines into rounds approximately ½cm thick.

2 Place the slices on a large platter.

Lightly salt the aubergines on both sides. Cover with a clean, dry kitchen cloth and leave for 1 hour to draw the moisture out. Dry with a paper towel.

3 Mix the cornflour, egg, plain flour and the sparkling water in a deep bowl to make a light batter.

4 Pour the olive oil into a frying pan and heat to around 160C. If you don’t have a thermometer, test the heat by dropping a little drop of the batter into the pan — if it sizzles it is ready.

5 Dip the aubergine slices in the mix and use tongs to place them in the oil. Fry until golden, then place on a platter with kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil.

6 Before serving, drizzle with honey and sprinkle with hazelnuts.

eat!

Donna Hay’s 20-minute meals Online

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

maps

The chart show: the greatest hits and misses of the 20th century From a 1914 propaganda map hailing bulldog Britain and an early plan of the London Tube through to a 1982 guide to gay London, a new book shows how maps reveal our turbulent history, says Richard Morrison

T

here are many ways of looking at the 20th century, and most of them leave me feeling profoundly depressed.

Yet I was enchanted by a new book published by the British Library, A History of the 20th Century in 100 Maps. That’s odd, because it doesn’t flinch from examining the worst episodes in that turbulent epoch. Indeed, wars and massacres, their uneasy preludes and catastrophic aftermaths, generate almost half the maps included and superbly deconstructed by the authors — antiquarian bookseller Tim Bryars and British Library curator Tom Harper. Yet a medium that seems quirky and tangential at first proves to be deeply revealing as well as hugely entertaining.

Of course, maps have always been a lot more than diagrams to get their user from A to B. They can be statements of military intent or national pride, tools of propaganda, coercion, subversion, resistance or satire, or ways of concealing or falsifying information instead of revealing it. Maps intended only for a few privileged eyes can reveal to us the gulf between what political or military leaders say in public and think in private.

Maps that look like models of objectivity turn out to be gross distortions of reality. Harry Beck’s 1933 London Underground map, jettisoning scale and geographical accuracy to turn the tangled spaghetti of London’s Tube lines into a crystalclear electrical circuit, is the most famous instance of that. And maps that seemed accurate, reliable and unbiased to their original users now strike us as disclosing more about the conscious or subconscious prejudices of those who created them than about the world as it actually existed.

Bryars and Harper call the 20th century a “golden age of mapmaking”.

Perhaps it will be the last golden age — at least until we become disenchanted with sat-navs that say they are taking us to Birmingham but land us in Crewe.

If this book is a “hail and farewell” to the printed map, however, it could not have been done with more verve or variety. It ranges from a 1980s Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament guide to disrupting military convoys on Salisbury Plain to a 1957 map of Alicante for early package-holidaymakers; from Tolkien’s map of Middle-earth to a 1907 educational atlas charting, for the benefit of schoolchildren, the main trading-routes for opium (described as “a pleasant narcotic”); from Ernest Shackleton’s pencil map of Antarctica, sketched on the back of a menu to impress an MP at a fundraising dinner, to a nostalgia-inducing map of all the Happy Eater restaurants

maps and chaps Top, A 1914 British cartoon depicts Europe as feuding dogs in need of control; above, a guide to gay London, 1982; right, a 1931 map recording women in the workplace

along the A-roads of Great Britain.

Mapmaking has always been something of a conjuring-trick: a way of squeezing three-dimensional complexity into two dimensions with a lot of squiggly lines. Yet here it sometimes seems as if humanity was deliberately retreating into cartographic certainties and simplifications as a

way of coping psychologically with the horrors lurking round every corner in the 20th-century’s moral maze. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the 1945 map of the Berlin U-Bahn, produced to coincide with its reopening after 25km of tunnels were deliberately flooded (with unknown loss of life) just before the Russians took control. It shows a transport system in impeccable order, as if the cartographer was deliberately blocking from his mind the food, power and water shortages, the rapes and looting, the devastated buildings and the mass homelessness. As Bryars and Harper observe: “The very existence of this map is quite profound in its efforts to return to a semblance of normality.”

Time and again the authors tease out revealing subtleties in the maps they explore. An Edwardian board-game map called Trip to the Continent, for instance, tells us not only that the British middle classes were aspiring to foreign travel as early as 1900; it also reveals that the destination of choice was not Paris, Tuscany or the Med — but Berlin. Indeed, most Edwardians would have agreed with Jerome K Jerome’s words: “The Germans are a good people . On the whole, perhaps, the best people in the world; an amiable, unselfish, kindly people.” Fourteen years later, those same Edwardians were dispatching their sons to blow the amiable, unselfish, kindly Germans to smithereens.

Some maps included here are horrible documents devised by horrible people. A 1901 map from a book called The Jew in London hugely magnifies a tiny part of the East End to whip up antisemitic outrage about the extent of Jewish immigration in the wake of Russian pogroms. Racist fearmongering like this probably pushed the government into passing the 1905 Aliens Act — the first time that a British government put a control on immigration. How wonderful that, a century on, the same prejudices, posturings and knee-jerk government reactions still dominate the same debate.

That nasty map almost makes the Nazis’ tourist guide for the 1936 Nuremburg Rally look benign. It’s fascinating to learn that the Nuremberg city authorities, far from kowtowing to Hitler and his thugs, bravely banned the rallies for two years in the early 1930s — though on grounds of traffic disruption rather than ideological aversion.

The two world wars inevitably produced a huge crop of memorable maps. For public consumption there were propaganda maps: bellicose, boastful efforts such as the 1914 cartoon Hark, Hark the Dogs do Bark, reducing Europe to a series of feuding canines with the British bulldog inevitably lording it at the top; or the 1943 depiction of the Battle of the Atlantic, printed in Arabic to persuade Britain’s Middle Eastern allies that the U-boat menace had been repulsed and convoys now sailed unimpeded into British ports.

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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THE BRITISH LIBRARY; BRUNO GMÜNDER VERLAG

Then there are maps designed for combatants. Poignantly, the authors exhibit one of central London (or “Mayfair Square” as the Germans called it) used by the first Luftwaffe crews involved in the Blitz, alongside a map used by the London County Council to record bomb damage in the same area. They reveal two things: that, at this early stage anyway, the Luftwaffe tried to avoid bombing certain areas (such as Belgravia, full of “neutral” embassies); and that this effort made not the slightest difference to where the bombs actually fell. The LCC Blitz damage map is still used by surveyors, incidentally. As the authors wryly point out: “subsidence in modern London is not always caused by tree roots”.

Even more revealing is the map retrieved from a captured Japanese midget submarine during the raid on Pearl Harbor. How did the Japanese acquire so much detailed information about an American military base? To add fuel to the conspiracy theories about America’s entry into the Second World War, the map mysteriously vanished from FBI files. The authors reproduce a cropped photograph of it here.

Equally chilling is a secret British government map from 1957, showing the predicted effects of two nuclear explosions (or leaks) in Southampton. It shows massive shockwaves and radiation spills for miles around. No wonder the government kept

that map under wraps. The civil servants knew what Southampton’s citizens didn’t: that one of these hypothetical nuclear leaks was placed at exactly the place where Britain’s nuclear submarines secretly berthed.

Thank goodness that there are plenty of maps on lighter subjects. A 1963 British Railways poster joyously invites punters to “Explore Yorkshire’s Coast” by train, its creator clearly unaware that Dr Beeching was about to axe nearly all the little sta-

spaghetti junctions Top, the London Tube map from 1908; above, The Times’s 1964 general election map

tions lovingly listed. Just as escapist, but infinitely more bizarre, is an obsessively detailed 1918 Ancient Mappe of Fairyland, which Bryars and Harper are surely right to interpret as a pathological retreat from the horrors of the First World War. A 1960s Ordnance Survey map of Buckinghamshire has a huge area of villages and farmland ringed off with an ominous blue line: this is the first official record of a plan to build the paradise-on-earth now known as Milton Keynes. And the childhood haunts of John, Paul, George and Ringo are meticulously plotted on a 1974 map catering for the millions of Beatles fans making the pilgrimage to Liverpool.

That map will surely trigger nostalgia in many older readers. For me, however, it’s an old graphic from this very newspaper — The Times map for the general election, 1964 — that brings back vivid memories.

Bryars and Harper claim that this map denotes a new “populist, youth-oriented edge” creeping into political coverage.

They aren’t wrong. I recall the excitement as our primary-school teacher read us the entire election results the next day, and we all coloured in each of the 650-odd constituencies on the Times map with red, blue or yellow crayons. Harold Wilson’s Labour won by five seats. Try as I might, I have never found a general election since then remotely as enthralling.

A History of the 20th Century in 100 Maps is published by the British Library (£25)

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

film

‘Will I let others create Paddington As the bear returns to page and screen, Michael Bond tells Alex O’Connell why he must protect his furry star

‘P

bear pack The cast for the Paddington film with Michael Bond, centre, creator of the fiftysomething bear, below

Paddington’s big day out 32 Windsor Gardens, London W2 Letter No 7 Dear Aunt Lucy, You will never guess what happened to me last week. Mr Gruber took me to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. He had his camera with him and he gave me a Union Jack flag on a stick in case I saw the Queen.

I tried waving it through the railings, but I think she might have been out doing her shopping because nobody waved back and a policeman moved me on in case I

PEGGY FORTNUM AND HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS LTD 2008

lease look after this bear. Thank you.”

They’re the famous words on the tag around Paddington’s neck, but also a sentiment, one hopes, that has been taken on board as the world prepares to go bonkers, again, for the duffle-coated visitor from Darkest Peru.

Next week a new book comes out, Love from Paddington, the Peruvian immigrant’s letters home to his Aunt Lucy in Lima. It’s the first time that his creator Michael Bond has written about him in the first person, or, should I say, the first bear.

Then there are the piles of reissues of his books, published for Christmas, including board books for toddlers, rainbow-coloured paperbacks and a very classy £35 box set that Bond admits, “you really can’t imagine a child reading”.

Also creating loud growls of anticipation, however, is the first feature-length film of the Paddington stories, from superproducer David Heyman, who made Gravity and all eight Harry Potter movies. With an all-star, real-life cast — Hugh Bonneville (Mr Brown), Sally Hawkins (Mrs Brown), Jim Broadbent (Mr Gruber), Nicole Kidman (the taxidermist) — and a CGI bear (now voiced by Ben Whishaw after Colin Firth got the Wellington boot), it opens here later this month and in the US on Christmas Day. Bond, now 88, who has all of Paddington’s politeness, drollness and tendency to go off-message, is exhausted by it all.

“It’s a dreadful year, actually,” he says.

“Unfortunately, if the film is a success, which I think it will be, they are thinking of doing another one, or perhaps even three.”

As things stand, Bond’s success-radar is finely tuned. He had not seen the whole film at the time of going to press, but, like me, he had watched a few finished scenes and he will star in one of them, albeit with Hitchcockian brevity.

The hacks who attended a 15-minute taster in Soho of Paddington emerged with that rare complaint: smiles on our faces.

The film looks great and suggests a sharp script and a whizzy plot — there’s the sort of madcap humour that you might expect from director Paul King (The Mighty Boosh), and a cracking chase scene through the streets of London.

First, though, the new book. This collection of letters is a jolly ride through the best of the Paddington tales. You feel that you get to know the young bear better and even the most dedicated fans may find a new perspective. Bond admits that it wasn’t his idea, but his publisher’s, and that after a time he enjoyed revisiting the old stories and seeing them afresh through Paddington’s eyes.

It also feels like a period piece. These missives home are sent by snail-mail on headed paper bearing the address: 32 Windsor Gardens, London, W2 (inspired by the Victorian terraced streets off the Portobello Road

got my head stuck.

The Palace is much bigger than the Home for Retired Bears. Instead of having a caretaker like ours who’s away most of the time and as you sometimes say needs changing when he is there, this one is so good I don’t see why they want to change him.

Mind you, there are a lot of them and they wear big black hats called a busby. People come from all over the place to see them, especially when the band plays and they march up and down. It was so crowded I had a job to see, so I tried crawling between people’s legs and a small boy mistook me for a busby. Luckily he didn’t try to put me on his head otherwise he would have had a shock.

But the best time of all came after the ceremony was over and

where Bond lived when he wrote the first book in ten days in 1958). “I don’t think anyone writes as many letters now,” says Bond. “I wanted to get some headed notepaper recently and I rang up Smythson’s [the royal stationers] and they quoted me for 50 sheets with envelopes, £59! Sometimes if I make a mistake I use 59 sheets of paper to put it right.”

Bond has invited me to his home, a pretty period semi in Little Venice in northwest London, a hop on the bus from Paddington station where he lives with his wife Sue (he has three children and three grandchildren; his youngest daughter Karen, born the same year as Paddington, runs the merchandise business).

It’s cosy and unpretentious, a world away from the Smallbone kitchens, basement

most of the crowd had gone. I was invited into the Palace courtyard so that Mr Gruber could take my photograph alongside one of the guards.

He thinks perhaps the Queen likes bears and she had seen me out of one of the Palace windows after all, but we shall never know.

Before I went to bed that night I put my Wellington boots on and tried marching up and down my bedroom, but it wasn’t the same without a band. Then someone — I think it might have been Mrs Bird — began knocking on the ceiling below me whenever I came to attention, so I had to pretend I was looking for my pyjamas, but it had been a very lovely day.

Love from Paddingt ddington Taken from Love from Paddington © Michael Bond 2014

excavations and tech-tastic refurbs that I can see through the windows of some of the neighbouring palaces. We are holed up in his office with coffee and biscuits, served on a 1980s Paddington tray. The study is piled with the new books (“I could open a shop”) and the walls are laden with Paddington memorabilia. I point to a very familiar bear on the shelf. It’s the one from the 1970s TV series, he tells me, and launches into a by now familiar tale of Paddington’s genesis which, like good marmalade, only gets better with age.

“I had a toy bear the size of this one,” he says, taking him gently off the shelf and offering him to me. “It sounds like a sob story but I was desperate for a last minute present. I was outside Selfridges and it started to snow so I went inside to shelter and went into the toy department.” It was 1957 and Bond was looking for a Christmas present for his first wife, Brenda. “And there was just one small bear sitting on the shelf.” He had to have it.

“There is something about bears.

Children feel that they can tell bears their secret. People don’t get rid of their bears.”

Quite. Sometimes, when those children become adults, they lobby to buy the film rights to their favourite bear’s life story. I wonder what he thinks of the big screen incarnation of his beloved PB. Bond narrows his eyes, stopping just short of a hard stare. “I watched it and expected not to like it but I think they have done a very good job,” he says, slowly. Still, he has a few reservations, including the treatment of the famous scene where Paddington lets the bath overflow.

“They had him getting some sticks with cotton wool on the end and sticking them in his ears. I thought it was very distasteful for Paddington, because he then licks them and throws up in the loo.

“People either hate it — I hated it — or they think it’s terribly funny,” he says, matter-of-factly. Not all his complaints were quashed. In an early script, Paddington was taken to the immigration office on arrival in London. “I kicked up a fuss about it because I said I hate writing about things that don’t exist: there is no immigration office in Paddington. I said what would you do if you found a bear at Paddington station? You would call the zoo or the RSPCA. They got rid of that scene.”

‘Unfortunately, if the film is a success, they are thinking of doing another’ Bond says he gave the green light this time because “it was the one thing that hadn’t been done and I liked the people I was dealing with. He’s [Heyman] terrific because he is so careful about everything down to the very last whisker.”

And the author’s star role? He is in the scene where Paddington takes a taxi from the station to Windsor Gardens for the first time. “They had a camera in a taxi on a trailer and I was sitting by myself with a glass of wine in a restaurant looking rather glum. As the taxi came round I had to do a double take and raise my glass and smile in the direction of the bear — who I couldn’t see!” (With a CGI Paddington, the cast had to act to a stick.)

I ask Bond if he was consulted before Firth jumped ship at the eleventh hour.

“They don’t communicate, actually,” he says, of the producers. “They are a lot like publishers, the last thing they like me doing is getting together with the artists.

“I had never heard Colin’s voice [in the film]. But he’s a very nice guy, he came for lunch . . . he got lost on the way. He’s not short of work, is he?”

Bond, a BBC cameraman for 19 years, was shocked during a day-trip to Elstree studios. The pace was unbearably slow compared with television. “The parents [Mr and Mrs Brown] were arriving home.

I sat there for an hour and a half and they hadn’t even got in through the front door.”

He didn’t meet Kidman, who has said that she wouldn’t let her children watch the movie because it’s “too scary”. Does he have a view on her remarks? “There is no point in having views on it,” he says, resignedly. I thought Broadbent would go down

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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Choose the best books for your children All the latest titles reviewed at thetimes.co.uk/books

stories? Over my dead body!’ question of what Bond Jr would do from early on. “When I first came out of the army I had my first short story published and I thought, ‘That’s what I want to be, a writer.’ ” He left school at 14, which was just as well because he makes it sound dreadful. “I went to a Catholic school because my mother liked the colour of the blazer,” he says. “The war was on and as a day boy you were subject to bullying and the brothers all had rubber straps. I can remember one of the brothers, the English master, suddenly lost his temper with a class and knocked me to the ground.

“There was a lot of bullying. I can remember a brother inviting me up to his room. I went up, he lost his nerve and we chatted — but we had nothing to say to each other and I came home.”

But you sensed he had other motives?

“Yes. But I think too much is made of these things really,” he says, quickly.

I wonder if he’s tempted to give Paddington grittier issues to deal with? “No. People have asked me . . . [the newspaper editor] Geordie Greig rang me up about Scotland [the independence referendum] and I said ‘I’m against it.’ He said, ‘Can you do a column of Paddington’s views?’ But I wouldn’t do that because I don’t think it’s right.” But what would Paddington think, I ask? “I think he’d be anti it,” he says.

When I go, he will return to his next

‘Children feel they can tell bears their secrets. People won’t get rid of them’

well, but Bond just can’t see him as his beloved Hungarian antiquarian, Mr Gruber. “He is a wonderful actor but not my picture of Mr Gruber. But with a film you have to accept that it is going to be different.” He hasn’t met Whishaw, but likes what he’s heard so far (“It was a nice voice”).

I wonder if Paddington will become a political hot potato if the film becomes huge. The general election might coincide with the DVD release and the bear is, after all, an illegal immigrant. Bond corrects me.

“He’s not, actually. Aunt Lucy would never have let him come without a passport.”

He has a passport, but what about a visa?

“That’s true!” says Bond, laughing.

And Ukip would have him out in two seconds . . .

“Yes, I think David Cameron has batted himself into a sticky situation,” he says. As the man who put marmalade sandwiches on the map, Bond should know. “I am pro being European myself. That’s because I really like Europe.” The writer, who was born in Newbury, Berkshire, is based in

west London but, for the past 35 years, has spent long stretches in Paris where he writes in a rented flat that overlooks a square, ten minutes from the Gare du Nord (he is downhearted that the lease will soon be relinquished).

“I am old enough to have remembered us going into Europe, which Churchill was very keen on doing. So David Cameron can talk his head off about anything, but he does lots of U-turns quite happily, or hopes problems go away.

“On the other hand,” Bond says, now on a roll, “I don’t want Labour to get in and put a tax on this [he looks around his study].”

The mansion tax? “Yes. This house. I bought it in two parts. The woman who was living in it had bought it to sell on. Then [the other bit] belonged to the Church of England and they sold the lease a year later. It was a pittance compared to what it’s worth now.”

Bond has found himself on a street that,

below his station The CGI star of Paddington; below, Jim Broadbent as shopowner Mr Gruber

during the 35 years he’s lived there, has become one of the most coveted in London.

Adam Clayton, the bassist with U2, lives opposite (he’s got a swimming pool in his basement, Bond’s wife tells me), just across the Regent’s Canal; the actor Edward Fox is a few doors down (“very friendly”).

Bond’s is likely to be the only house on the road where the basement, rather than being turned into a “media room” or a spa, is a giant run for his two long-haired guinea pigs, Olga and Roxana (he started writing about the creatures in the 1970s in The Tales of Olga da Polga). These are pigs in real estate clover; nibbling the curtains and scurrying through old cardboard boxes. “I feel sorry for other guinea pigs who don’t have this,” his wife tells me when we are introduced.

Bond’s fortune is self-made (his father, “the politest man I knew” and a model for Mr Brown, worked in planning for the Post Office). There was little

book. He refuses advances, as they weigh too heavily, but has written five of the seven chapters. “I started assembling them this morning and I am frightened to death that I am going to press the wrong key.”

You’ll write until you drop, I say. “That’s not saying much!” he replies. “I’m 88. Publishers don’t expect you to die anyway, they want another book, if you say ‘. . . if I’m still around’, they say, ‘You’ll live for ever.’ I can’t think of anything worse than living for ever. But if I had to give up writing I don’t know what I’d do, really. I write every day of my life.”

I ask whether he would consider letting others write books under the Paddington title. Enid Blyton, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ian Fleming; it is the fashion for dead authors to have their characters “developed” by living writers for a new audience.

“No, I hate that actually. I have just made a will and gone to a lawyer in the City who specialises in that very thing of stopping people doing it — it’s quite difficult.

“It is dreadful and I don’t trust anybody from that point of view. I think it’s quite wrong. I was going to say, ‘Over my dead body!’ . . . but it would be,” he cackles. Perhaps he should merely remind future generations of his original motto: “Please look after this bear. Thank you.” It’s a legal request that would melt the heart of the steeliest lawyer.

Love From Paddington by Michael Bond, illustrated by Peggy Fornum and RW Alley, is published by HarperCollins Children’s Books on Thursday; hardback, £12.99 * £11.69; ebook, £6.49. Paddington is released in UK cinemas on Nov 28

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

opera

Abu Ghraib, Fritzl, Mozart and me

ROBERT FISCHER

Director Martin Kusej loves to shock with his edgy stagings. So what will he bring to Idomeneo in London? Neil Fisher finds out

Y

ou can forget about the sea monster. The tentacled beast sent by Neptune to threaten the people of Crete in Mozart’s Idomeneo has been given his marching orders (or perhaps his slithering orders).

When, on Monday, the Royal Opera revives Mozart’s 1781 opera for the first time since 1989 the director hired for the job is adamant that the only monster on stage will be man. “My primary thesis,” explains the director Martin Kusej, “is that I don’t believe in gods. Religion, ideology — it’s all a fake.”

Kusej, 53, is one of the great standardbearers of radical, interventionist opera.

Look no further than two of the Austrian director’s most recent productions for the Bavarian State Opera in Munich: Verdi’s La forza del destino, set in a post 9/11 apocalypse, featuring torture scenes reminiscent of Abu Ghraib, and Rusalka, in which Dvorák’s aspiring mermaid was turned into one of Josef Fritzl’s children and incarcerated in a cellar. These productions have won Kusej plaudits but have also incited ferocious criticism: German audiences are notorious for hurling boos at curtain calls, and he has been on the receiving end of a fair few. Is he worried about what the London crowd might think of him? “I don’t care. You can’t imagine what I’ve already survived.”

Kusej is certainly planning to shake up Mozart’s drama. Idomeneo, often regarded as the composer’s first mature masterpiece for the stage, is, at least normally, the story of a ruler caught between faith and family — the eponymous king returns home from the Trojan war having vowed to sacrifice the first living creature he sees; it turns out to be his son, Idamante, who has been ruling in his stead.

The director began the creative process fascinated by Idamante (he also insisted the role was performed by a male singer, not a mezzo-soprano — at Covent Garden it will be the rising Italian counter-tenor Franco Fagioli) but soon switched his attention to the title character. “He’s a man of war, a man of power, someone quite sure in his conservative, patriarchal habits. And he’s falling apart completely. And when I feel something like that, I turn the screw as tight as I can.”

As he turned the screw, Kusej decided something. There was no vow to a god at all: it’s all just realpolitik. “Idomeneo knows from the very first moment that it’s going to be his son he has to kill. Because,

in the long absence of the old king, Idamante has established a new kingdom, a new system, and that’s a huge danger to Idomeneo. So he has to kill his political enemy — and at the same time that’s his son.”

That’s all very rational, but is Kusej really suggesting that religious zeal isn’t a credible motivation? Today’s headlines from the Middle East suggest otherwise.

“It’s never relevant! I’m not criticising belief in itself, but whenever power and religion work together, then the consequences are terrible, and manipulative.” While the point is debatable, Kusej’s argument is ferocious: in a society dominated by false gods, power corrupts and the tragedy of Idomeneo is that the cycle of tyranny will continue, even after the (normally happy) finale, in which Idamante and his betrothed, the virtuous Ilia, are put on the throne instead. “But I cannot imagine Idamante staying humane and peaceful after everything that’s happened.”

It will be, Kusej decides, a “very interesting” ending to the opera, but for the fact that what follows is a long ballet sequence much beloved by today’s conductors (it used to be cut) and Kusej doesn’t seem overly thrilled that the Royal Opera is including it. “Everyone’s expecting some revolutionary idea about the ballet music — but it’s an appendix. I will work on it, but there are no words, no action, just some music which is . . . partly interesting.” If Kusej were allowed to, he says he would cut much more of the music from his opera productions and update some of the text, too. “I can’t bear it when singers on stage

gunning for mozart Martin Kusej doesn’t care about critics: “You can’t imagine what I’ve already survived”

‘I don’t even know what director’s theatre is.

I know I’m often accused of it’

opera unexpurgated Kusej’s stagings in Munich of La forza del destino, below left, with Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros; below, Kristine Opolais in Rusalka

say ‘I see this or that person coming’. It’s complete nonsense.”

Opera still suffers, in Kusej’s opinion, from too many conventions that have had their day. “But with knowledge, respect — and with some freedom — we could really bring it out of the 19th century”.

In German-speaking countries Kusej is normally lumped in with the other members of the so-called “regietheater” brigade (literally: “director’s theatre”), although he says the label is mystifying. “I don’t even know what it is, or who invented it. I know I’m often accused of it.” In fact, while several of the regietheater pack are happy to jettison the actual synopsis of an opera altogether, favouring wacky sets, dominant subplots and singers often left to devise their own rehearsals, Kusej insists it is collaboration that inspires him.

“I can’t imagine how I’d fight through a concept that no one wants — that’s no fun.

You have to enthuse the singers, then they will follow you. You do it together.”

WILFRIED HÖSL

Exciting theatre and remorseless logic are his two watchwords, and if the Fritzlinspired Rusalka was strong meat, the result (captured on DVD) was compelling.

Again it came from turning the screw.

“I thought, ‘OK, why would somebody really think they are a nymph except in a fairytale’ — and I’m not a fairytale director.

So, maybe it’s somebody who’s been told they are really special. And if that somebody is captured or kept in a cellar, and there they play at being water nymphs and everything is OK, but then one of them wants to go out and it’s not allowed . . . and suddenly it all fit.”

Kusej has been working in Germany for some 25 years and has a complicated relationship with his homeland. His name is Slovene and he grew up in Carinthia (Austria at its most rural and conservative) as part of a marginalised minority. “So I always had this question: what am I? It was very important for me to be brave enough to say I am Slovene.” A keen handball player, he enrolled at university to study German and sports science (“I had no idea what I should do, I so I started with something that I knew I could do”) before meeting a friend who was studying directing. “And I thought ‘Wow, they have cool parties, why shouldn’t I do that?’ ” Kusej now combines opera directing with his day job — running the Residenztheater in Munich, where he sits on a budget of €24 million and a staff of 460. And here he says he has worked out that punters need to be brought carefully but firmly out of their comfort zone. “It took me three years. But I’m convinced that you have to teach people how to watch theatre.

And what I want is that they come and try to understand, that they are open.” In return, he promises he won’t bore you. “It has to be an interesting evening — that’s for sure. In my theatre you cannot sleep.”

Idomeneo, Royal Opera House, London WC2 (020 7304 4000), from Monday

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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How the English won life’s lottery GETTY IMAGES

Book of the week

This celebration of England and its historical greatness lacks a key attribute — English humility, says Gerard DeGroot

The English and Th their History th

by Robert Tombs Allen La Lane, 1,012pp; £35 * £31.50

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he phrase “warts and all” is said to have come from Oliver Cromwell’s instructions to Sir Peter Lely, his portraitist. Cromwell probably didn’t say anything of the sort, but that hardly matters since the sentiment was genuine. He was so confident of God’s grace that physical representation hardly mattered. An instrument of divine providence does not need to worry about the odd pimple on his nose.

The English and their History — the first serious single-volume history of England for the general reader since the 1930s, or so the publisher claims — is rather like Cromwell’s portrait. Robert Tombs is so confident in the greatness of the English that he doesn’t worry about occasionally exposing an embarrassing foible or odd bit of cruelty.

This is a “warts and all” portrait of England, but Tombs has trouble finding warts.

The author, a professor of history at the University of Cambridge, accepts that injustice has occasionally flourished in England’s green and pleasant land.

A century before the Norman conquest, for instance, there was already a legal system heavily weighted to wealth. Brutal punishments were doled out for crimes euphemistically termed “breaking the king’s peace” — such as petty theft.

“Taking the king’s wheat led to arrest,” Tombs notes, “but braining one’s mother with a candlestick brought only a religious penance”.

Tombs is, however, a moral relativist.He insists on comparison before judgment: English governance was occasionally unjust, but less so than in most other countries. That’s a theme that runs steadily through this book. For instance, he recognises that Puritans in the 17th century left England because of religious intolerance, but in North America they “establish[ed] a godly ‘city on a hill’ where they could persecute to their hearts’ content”.

Every negative is countered with a more profound positive. Tombs accepts that the empire was occasionally exploitative, but then asks, if it was so bad, why did Ethiopia, Mexico, Uruguay, Sarawak, Katanga and Morocco all want to join? Looking to the First World War, Tombs admits that “mistakes were certainly made, some of them stupid or wishful, which destroyed

well-played An Edwardian village cricket team exemplify the quirks of Englishness; below, Oliver Cromwell, who represented what the English don’t like

thousands of lives”. But British mobilisation was a model of bureaucratic efficiency instrumental to Allied victory. As for the Second World War, he agrees that the British bombing campaign was barbaric, but also necessary.

The contentious issue of immigration arises repeatedly in this massive book.

Tombs argues that the English are a mongrel race peppered with the genetic characteristics of those who have come to this island. He points out that, before 1066, the English were widely regarded (not just by themselves) as a special and glorious people “civilised . . . well-dressed, long haired and beautiful, much given to combing their locks”. That fine English stock was then polluted by their “thuggish, illiterate conquerors” from France.

Within a few generations, however, the conquerors were assimilated thanks to their desire to be English. Thugs were transformed. That, Tombs feels, has been a characteristic feature of immigrants, the willingness to shed their past and embrace a better English future. Who can doubt the Englishness of Rio Ferdinand, Jessica Ennis and Rita Ora, he asks. Is that willingness to assimilate evident in the latest waves of immigrants from Poland, Somalia and Afghanistan? Tombs isn’t sure. Nigel Farage will love this book.

So what is this Englishness to which so many foreigners have aspired? It is, Tombs feels, a capacity for moderation, calmness, aplomb. Those characteristics were especially evident in the way that the English

The English were said to be well-dressed, beautiful and ‘much given to combing their locks’

dealt with their revolution. They emerged from the tumult of the 17th century with “suspicion of Utopias and zealots; trust in common sense and experience; respect for tradition; preference for gradual change; and the view that ‘compromise’ is victory, not betrayal”. This prevailing attitude has ensured that reforms — universal suffrage, civil liberties, the NHS — were secured through peaceful evolution, not violent confrontation.

The English enjoy comfort but don’t like to struggle to achieve it. They rejected Cromwell because his Puritan certainties were too repressive. Swearing, fornication and drunkenness were severely punished.

Prostitutes were deported to Jamaica.

Racehorses were confiscated. “Revelling” at weddings was outlawed and pubs (“dens of Satan”) shut down.

Susan Bounty, convicted of adultery in 1654, was allowed to give birth to her illegitimate baby, and then hanged.

All this was too much for the English, who rejected the idea that every little pleasure should come with a hundred-weight of guilt. Salvation was not worth sacrificing all that beer. They therefore ditched Cromwell and restored the monarchy — a very good thing, Tombs feels. The new king, Charles II, was a rascal who believed that “God will never damn a man for allowing himself a little pleasure”. That should be the English motto, printed on the back of the £10 note.

This is a book for those English who don’t want questions asked or doubts raised. “By the standards of humanity as a

whole”, Tombs argues, “England over the centuries has been among the richest, safest and best-governed places on Earth, as periodical influxes of people testify.”

I’m sure that’s true, but do we need a 1,012page book to tell us that? The same argument is delivered with more economy and verve every week in The Spectator. In any case, the English are also great because of their capacity for ironic self-deprecation — they’re not addicts of congratulation like the French. Sadly, there’s not much English humility in this book — it’s about England, but not very English.

We read history to be entertained, fascinated, or informed. This book, sadly, does none of those things very well. It’s an incredible achievement, but mainly for its size, not for what it reveals. It’s supposed to be about the English, but is, in fact, about England — her wars, laws, leaders and government. Tombs admits that he gives “extra weight to what is unusual in England’s history”. That’s unfortunate, since the mundane often defines a people.

Yes, the English were shaped by the Glorious Revolution and the Great War. But their Englishness is a composite of a million quirks that make them wonderful and unique. That’s what’s missing from this book — the essence of Englishness. There’s a lot of politics and war, but not enough Marmite, cricket and Coronation Street.

*

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

nonfiction

From Babbage to the hi-tech age The real digital heroes aren’t mad inventors but big corporations, says Ed Conway

W

ho invented the computer? Or, for that matter, the microprocessor or the internet? If you’re after a straightforward answer, you are likely to be disappointed. In technology, more than most other fields, the romantic image of the mad inventor locked away in his basement simply doesn’t chime with reality. The tablet you might be reading this on, the computer in the office and the smartphone in your pocket — all are the product of many thousands of minds stretching back well over a century.

The Innovators: How a Group of Inventors, Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution

by Walter Isaacson Simon & Schuster, 528pp £20 * £16; ebook £9.99

One needs to journey all the way back to the gilded salons of 19th-century England to find the origins of the programmable computer. Even at that stage its authorship was hardly definitive. Charles Babbage devised an analytical engine in 1837 — a clanking mechanism of cogs and levers based on the industrial looms developed in the previous century and aimed at solving mathematical puzzles. It was only when Ada Lovelace, the disarmingly confident daughter of Lord Byron, started writing him letters from her country estate in Surrey that the idea of a general-purpose machine that could just as well work out musical scores as prime numbers became fleshed out.

It took another century for technology to catch up with the concept and for the first true computers to be built. Even then, authorship was shared at best, disputed at worst: during the 1940s you could find the German engineer Konrad Zuse in Berlin, working away, mostly alone, on his Z3, the first fully automatic computer. Over in Iowa, John Atanasoff toiled, alone but for an assistant, on a similar project — this time electronic rather than mechanical.

At Bletchley Park, Britain’s codebreakers, including Alan Turing, the conceptual godfather of the modern computer, were creating Colossus, the world’s first electronic programmable machine.

The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (Eniac) from the US, though, was faster and more complete — the embodiment of the programmable computer of which Turing had dreamt.

You get the idea — this is a complex subject, rendered trickier by countless disagreements between the inventors. For every engineer happy to have inspired another’s work, there was another convinced that the patent system had betrayed him. That was as true of the computer, the transistor and the micro-

Bill Gates was lifted into a rubbish skip to find a competitor’s source code printouts processor as it was for software (think Microsoft, Apple etc) and web products (for instance Facebook).

The upshot is that we are living through the greatest industrial revolution since, well, the Industrial Revolution, and yet few of us understand how it actually came about. Don’t assume, though, that the saga is a dreary one. Happily, Walter Isaacson has come along to prove otherwise.

If there is anyone capable of meeting such a challenge it is Isaacson, a former editor of Time magazine. He is most famously the biographer of the Apple founder Steve Jobs and, in one sense, Isaacson could rightly describe himself as the Apple of nonfiction writers. As with the computer giant and its merchandise, he is rarely the very first to tackle a particular genre, but you can be assured that when he gets round to it, his finished product will be slicker, more intuitive and will sell better than its rivals.

The Innovators is about as delightful as one could imagine any history of the computer age. It is, for one thing, a story of ideas — but these ideas aren’t static. In their struggle to compete, the contestants scrap, they fight and they cheat.

Witness a young, 110lb Bill Gates being lift-

computer club Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs of Apple; below, the Eniac in 1946

ed by his Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen into a rubbish skip to find a competitor’s source code printouts “among the coffee grinds and garbage”. Or John Mauchly’s vicious description of his one-time collaborator on computer architecture, John von Neumann: “He sold all our ideas through the back door to IBM,” he said. “He spoke with a forked tongue.”

As Isaacson’s largely linear story travels from 1830 to the turn of the millennium, each of the protagonists, from Babbage to the Twitter co-founder Ev Williams, is introduced with a glossy pen portrait.

Their discoveries and deductions are described with such clarity that, if nothing else, you will surely come away from this book understanding the difference between microchips and microprocessors.

Pure tuition isn’t really Isaacson’s point, though: he is trying to express something more profound. What makes the computer age so difficult to explain in a single sentence — the complexity, the many hands, the promiscuousness of ideas — was precisely what enabled it to happen in the first place. “Innovation is usually a group effort,” he writes, “involving collaboration between visionaries and engineers, and that creativity comes from drawing on inventions. Only in storybooks do inventions come like a thunderbolt.”

The real heroes of Isaacson’s book, then, are the government departments and big (often publicly funded) corporations and research labs where so many of these ideas came together — whether that was the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), Bell Labs or IBM. Only such institutions had the staying power not merely to lay the first stone in the “cathedral” of technological development, but to

finish it off over decades. Even Gates, that arch-capitalist, benefited from using Harvard’s military-supplied computer to create his BASIC software.

Isaacson’s narrative is, by its nature, more disparate than his biographies of Jobs or Benjamin Franklin, or The Wise Men, in which his six characters spanned the course of most of the book rather than disappearing within a few pages. In Silicon Valley, few figures cross over different disciplines or generations (Gordon Moore and Vannevar Bush are perhaps two exceptions). But whether it’s the spiky prose of Ada Lovelace or the image of a caffeinated Gates speeding through New Mexico in his Porsche, somehow Isaacson has found enough anecdotes to allow his cast’s personalities to shine through.

There are two lessons we might do well to dwell on today.

First, that the intellectual promiscuity that fuelled the technological revolution is under threat. In 2011, for the first time, Apple and Google spent more on lawsuits and payments involving patents than they did on research and development of new products.

Second, the chances are that our governments are spending too little supporting technological innovation. Most of the big leaps in innovation took place either during wars or thanks to military support.

Even in the 19th century, the British government ploughed more than £17,000 — twice the cost of a warship — into Babbage’s difference engine, an abortive attempt to create a prime number-calculating machine. Can you really imagine anything like that happening today?

Ed Conway is the economics editor of Sky News

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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WARNER BROS / REUTERS

Killing with confidence Bob Baer, the public face of the CIA, has some hair-raising stories but less interesting theories, says Michael Burleigh

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econd only to Homeland’s basketcase Carrie Mathison, as played by Claire Danes, the real former agent Robert “Bob” Baer is the public face of the CIA, CNN’s answer to the BBC’s excellent security correspondent Frank Gardner.

Baer spent 21 years as a field agent, serving mainly in Lebanon, Iraq and the wilder parts of the Soviet Union. He exploited this background in the semi-autobiographical See No Evil, which loosely became the film Syriana starring a bearded George Clooney as Baer himself. Since you have to see the film at least three times to work out what the hell is going on, it is probably an accurate rendition of the life of an American spy in the Middle East. Predictably enough, the big villains are Texan big oil, for the subtlety one assumes Baer brings to the Middle East does not extend to his own country.

His latest book, on political assassination, attempts to fuse memoir, thriller and philosophical treatise. Rather disconcertingly his mother makes random appearances, as feisty exemplar in getting her own way. You have to know his earlier books to grasp that it was her hippy travels in a campervan that gave Baer the adaptability to foreign parts that suited him for his CIA career, after he graduated from Georgetown and Berkeley. Bits of historical assassinations, from Henri IV of France in 1610 to the 1984 Brighton bombing of the Conservative conference are intruded into a

Th Perf The Perfectt Kill — 21 Laws for Assassins: A Personal History of Assassination

by Robert Baer Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 336pp £20 * £16; ebook £9.99

Assassins should take on an impermeable façade of poverty and banality

narrative whose disjointed, jerky feel may also be attributable to CIA censors at Langley. The result? Think Frederick Forsyth’s Day of the Jackal in commercial ambition, but without that novelist’s self-discipline or gift as a storyteller, plus some CIA penpusher excising entire parts of the original.

The memoir element involves Baer’s “hunt” for the infamous Hezbollah master terrorist Imad Mughniyah (1962-2008) who, in 1983, bombed the US out of Lebanon with attacks on American (and French) barracks and the US Embassy, which killed 350 people in total. Mughniyah’s killing career included attacks on the Israeli embassy and a Jewish cultural centre in Buenos Aires in 1992-94 which wiped out 114 people in total, and the kidnapping, torture and murder of Beirut’s CIA station chief William Buckley. Baer claims that Mughniyah may have been responsible for the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 and the assassination of the Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.

Baer uses Mughniyah’s life story to make a series of rather obvious points — dressed up as Sun Tzu aphorisms — about the assassin’s craft. These boil down to not making a public spectacle of yourself, and never to have predictable routines. In Baer Speak these translate into “Owe and own nothing to push back against. Never wear your beliefs on your sleeve. In assuming an impermeable façade of ignorance, poverty, and banality, you blind the enemy to your true strength and intentions.”

In the end, Mughniyah succumbed to a life of comfort, acquiring a younger wife and hobnobbing with governmental murderers in his new home in Damascus. One night in 2008 he left a party at the Iranian embassy, got into his car, and had his head blown off by a bomb that Mossad had built into the headrest. “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer fellow,” was the sole comment of a friend of mine in those circles.

who me? George Clooney in Syriana, loosely based on Bob Baer’s CIA exploits

The thriller element in Baer’s book is what will probably attract most readers, and here the book becomes a page-turner.

His preferred pose is as the hoary field agent, perpetually thwarted by knownothing bureaucrats in Washington or corporate suits at Langley. Posted to Beirut, Baer spends $120,000 on a dozen rat-infested apartments, and ten bashedup cars, some of which have spidery bullet holes in the windows to help Baer blend into this environment.

The agent’s working days and nights consist of lunch and dinner outings to delightful village restaurants, often for assignations with a cast of chancers and fantasists offering this or that, from which Baer hopes casually to fish out intelligence on his quarry. Shells and missiles periodically flash across the Beirut skyline. There are occasional droll moments, as when FBI agents arrest Baer for plotting the assassination of Saddam Hussein while he was operating with Kurdish rebels, whom he does not much trust either. A sombre note is added by his recollection of the slaying of an entire CIA team at Khost after they were duped into receiving — with a birthday cake — a Jordanian double agent within al-Qaeda, who blew them up on exiting his car.

Which brings us to the value of the book as philosophical treatise on assassination.

Midlife without the crises

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or most of their lives women do not lack for advice. There is a ceaseless barrage of guidance on how to be a success at everything from applying eyeliner with a Bardot flick to securing a pay rise. We are tutored on how to date and mate, with or without Tinder.

Then there are volumes on how to bear children and raise them, without being either a helicopter or a tiger mother. In the few minutes when we are not crowdfunding finance for a start-up we are enjoined to bake or practise mindfulness.

At a certain point, though, when some sage counsel would come in handy, this onslaught of admonition slows and becomes less useful. You are growing older and either in denial, or scared witless and suddenly willing to lend credence to every pseudo-scientific claim of the cosmetics industry. Your parents are “getting on a bit” or “not as young as they were” (there is no shortage of silly and demeaning descriptions of the ageing process) and you are worrying as much about them as you do about your teenage or twentysomething kids who still need support.

Just when you need an app to show you the way forward, those guys in Silicon Valley have become blind to your need for direction on how to hang on to your looks

In Yo Your Prim Prime: Older, Wiser, Happier

by India Knight Fig Tree, 272pp £16.99 * £14.99 ebook £8.49

soft soap Positive affirmation, 1950s-style

and your sanity. The books that do exist inform you that “You are woman, you are invincible”, but add little except to stress that positivity is a good thing. True, but how do you achieve this happy state?

Luckily, India Knight, a Sunday Times columnist, has come forward with a route map for the midlifer woman: In Your Prime: Older, Wiser, Happier. What could be more reassuring than that title?

Brad Pitt at 50 acts as if he believes the best is yet to come. Women should feel entitled to the same belief and the contents of this book make it seem possible.

Knight tackles every issue — beauty, menopause, laser eye surgery and your personal distress at the failing health of elderly parents, the event that forces many people to grow up for the first time and which can be a painful process in your fifties. She is not held back by the fear of laying down the law: I like that in a book. Tell it like it is and allow me to disagree with you. For the record, I am in accord with Knight on most issues, including teeth, MOTB (mother of the bride) dressing, shoes, running and teaching your child manners. Poor attention to dental hygiene adds years, almost as many as MOTB clothing — that is, too carefully matched blocky suits in shades such as eau de nil.

Wearing uncomfortable shoes is another way to appear antique before your time as the pain causes you to grimace.

Feet are the foundation of the Knight code for holding back the years. “Don’t f*** with ’em!” she recommends. The same applies to knees, which may be ruined if you must exercise by running.

Teaching your child manners comes from the chapters on family relationships to which some may turn first, being, for some reason, determined to ignore Knight’s advice on why you should never skimp on skincare, or why you shouldn’t cling to that waterfall cardigan, a drapey piece of knit-

Most of its lessons are banal: “It’s all in the timing.” Other studies show that when there is deep, real-time intelligence (as the Israelis often have) then it is possible to degrade a terrorist organisation by killing the leaders and key figures, such as expert bomb-makers, provided there is a basic domestic consensus behind that strategy.

After all, the Israelis got to Mughniyah, and, in Dubai in 2010, they killed a key arms dealer in his hotel room, with a big team using cloned passports. The Israeli agents did not even bother to obscure their faces from hotel CCTV cameras; Baer suggests they “culturally’”underestimated the locals’ sophistication. When I made that same point to someone with reason to know, the response was, “How do you know they were their faces?” conjuring up images of prosthetic masks.

Baer also takes a dim view of drone strikes, claiming that “complicated, nuanced, political murder is beyond Washington’s grasp”. “Bare knuckle reality will always trump an algorithm,” Baer says.

Maybe. But western societies are not going to pay for armies of field agents who, manifestly, failed to identify the advent of al-Qaeda or Isis. At least drones put fear in the hearts of our enemies — and are a good enough option for countries that no longer have the will to send in massed B-52s. wear that neither flatters nor keeps out the chill.

Knight argues that “manners turn into charm”, which is “more precious than gold”. But it is not only advantageous to instil habits of courtesy in your children, it is also the “fair” way to treat them.

Fairness to yourself, to your family, to your friends and other people is a governing principle of the Knight doctrine.

Under this do-as-you-would-be-doneby method, you apologise to your offspring if your anger at some misdemeanour has been excessive.

At the same time, you do not stand for any nonsense, being ready to cull a “vampire” friend who diminishes your joie de vivre. It is possible to meet new mates via social media; you could also find a new love online: Knight’s words of wisdom on internet dating would probably be useful for all generations. Being over-prescriptive in your requirements for a partner is a mistake: “Specificity is incredibly off-putting, not just to men, but to human beings.”

On one subject, however, I would have liked Knight to be more specific: money.

Midlife is the moment when financial planning for your seventies and eighties becomes essential. If you are lucky enough to get there, you will be grateful that your feet are not failing you, that you are still shunning eau de nil and that your retirement pot is not empty.

Anne Ashworth

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times SARAH LEE / THE GUARDIAN

fiction paperbacks nonfiction A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal

by Ben Macintyre Bloomsbury, 368pp; £12.99 * £11.69 A Spy Among Friends is an extraordinary book about a sordid profession in which the most important attribute is the ability to lie. Espionage has too often been cleansed and glorified by the comic-book iconography of James Bond. It is, in truth, a refuge for rather twisted individuals: sociopaths who masquerade as patriots. What distinguishes Macintyre’s book is the attention given to friendship. Kim Philby had a few close friends who loved and protected him but, in truth, never knew him. The focus on friendship brings an intimacy here that is missing from the cardboard stereotypes that populate conventional espionage histories and spy novels. Gerard DeGroot Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography

by Alex Ferguson Hodder, 448pp; £8.99 * £8.54 Ferguson’s work ethic is astonishing.

“I would be up at six, maybe quarter past six, and be in the training ground for seven,” he writes. “That was my habit.

The routine never changed.” Like most successful leaders, Ferguson is a man of deep, sometimes irreconcilable complexity. We will, however, remember his drive, his passion and the winning mentality he inspired in his players.

Others will dwell on the darker aspects of his character and methods. As so often in football, camps will divide along tribal lines. But as long as football is played, Ferguson will be remembered.

Matthew Syed

fiction Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon Vintage, 496pp; £8.99 * £8.54 The novel’s base idea is that 9/11 (the event around which Bleeding Edge revolves) released the biggest explosion of paranoia in history. Why, the novel ponders fictionally, did shares in the two airlines whose planes were involved start jumping around before the attack? Why did “Ay-rab” taxi drivers seem to be jabbering about a conspiracy the day before? Who was really behind it — the Russian mafia? The CIA? The Israelis?

Bush and his puppet master Dick Cheney, desperate to get their Patriot Act on the books? My advice: read it, but don’t try to follow it. It’ll make you giddy.

John Sutherland Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett Corgi, 480pp; £7.99 * £7.59 In Pratchett’s 40th Discworld novel, Ankh-Morpork continues its evolution from quasi-medieval settlement to bustling industrial metropolis, and over a wider canvas and longer time frame than previous books. Raising Steam is certainly less pacey than the earliest books, and its diversions on social history, the threat of new technology to traditional industries (and even terrorism and sabotage) can be fairly dark. There are fewer truly tremendous verbal pyrotechnics here than in others in the series. Some of the humour is rather laboured, but Pratchett fans will find plenty to like. Andrew McKie

The worm that invaded America Peter Carey updates his Australian history with a cyber-terrorist tale, says Paul Dunn

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wo anglophone nations separated by an ocean whose “special relationship” has been fraught since the Second World War, when one nation’s soldiers were despised by the other as “overpaid, oversexed and over here”. Yes, America and, er, Australia.

Peter Carey’s latest novel is a radical history of that relationship from the so-called Battle of Brisbane in 1942, a prolonged riot between US and home troops, through the “coup” of 1975 when the left-wing Labor prime minister, Gough Whitlam (whose recent death is a timely reminder of the issues) was forced from office, to the present cyber-attacks on US security If that sounds earnest, it is only background to a twisting thriller-ish tale, sketched through the lives of mother and daughter Celine and Gaby Baillieux. It begins on the day that a computer virus attack launched by Gaby opens the locks on Australian prisons and detention centres, freeing countless prisoners and asylum seekers. Because the security systems are US-built, American jails are affected too and Washington seeks to extradite Gaby.

(There are obvious echoes here of Julian Assange — also, don’t forget, Australian.)

The story is told by Felix Moore, the self-styled “last left-wing journalist in Australia”, who has just lost a career-ending libel case. So when Woody Townes, once a

country boy Peter Carey says his writing is “as Australian as a mallee root”

Amnesia

by Peter Carey Faber and Faber, 357pp £18.99 * £15.99

This is a sharp riposte to those who say fiction can’t cope with the cyber age

fellow leftist, but now a millionaire property developer, offers him a huge sum to write Gaby’s life story and prove her innocence, he clutches the lifeline.

Celine, Felix and Woody met at Monash University (the Aussie version of the University of Sussex in its radical reputation), and are active in the anti-Vietnam politics of the Whitlam era. Celine was born after her mother is raped by a GI during the Battle of Brisbane and becomes the darling of the Monash set, pursued by Felix, Woody and Gaby’s father, Sando.

But their youthful enthusiasm is dashed by the fall of the government. Carey has made clear that he accepts that the US was to blame, prompted by Vietnam and by Labor Party plans to close a secret listening station. Felix and his friends are shamed by their failure to fight back: “We were naive of course. We continued to think of the Americans as our friends . . . It never occurred to us that they would murder our democracy. So when it happened in plain sight we forgot it right away.” That’s the amnesia of the title. And, as ever with the left, there is the question of betrayal: is one of the group a CIA stooge?

Gaby grows up overweight in the wreckage of Sando and Celine’s relationship.

Overshadowed by her mother’s beauty she is drawn to the world of computer hackers

women, often the daughters of close friends. One was the eminent author, Rebecca West who said “he smelt of walnuts and he frisked like a nice animal”. But readers of both sexes will be gripped by the brilliant man’s extraordinary appetite for life. Lodge gives generous consideration to Wells’s prolific literary output and his shifting but always ardent political views. Steven Crossley voices Wells perfectly.

audiobooks

The Butterfly Isles: A Summer in Search of Our Emperors and Admirals

by Patrick Barkham read by Simon Shepherd Audiogo via audible.co.uk download, 10hr, £19.69. Whispersync available City-dwelling audiobook listeners need distraction from the hubbub around them.

The Butterfly Isles magically transports you around Britain as Patrick Barkham attempts to track down all 59 of the known native butterfly varieties in a single summer. The book offers both the thrill of the chase in some of the loveliest parts of the British Isles and a rounded summary of butterfly life. Simon Shepherd varies the pace of the narrative beautifully.

Tweet of the Day, written/narrated by Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss John Murray Press via audible.co.uk download, 12hr 53min, £24.99 Tweet of the Day, a 90-second morning gift of birdsong and eclectic facts, has been one of Radio 4’s big successes. The creators of the programme, Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss, read from their delightfully varied and quirky scripts, full of cultural and ornithological facts. From May, they tell you what to

expect each month, ending with an epilogue on the great auk. A wonderful companion on a long drive or walk, this is an eye and ear-opening book. Good while gardening too.

A Man of Parts by David Lodge read by Steven Crossley Whole Story, 20hr, 18 CDs, £30.62 or audible.co.uk download. Whispersync available Reactions to David Lodge’s biofiction life of HG Wells will vary according to the alignment of the listener’s political and moral compass and sense of humour. Men n may find it funnier than women, especially the invented sexual detail which may say as much about Lodge as Wells. The confusingly numerous affairs that Wells called “passades”, were described in a postscript to his 1934 Experiment in Autobiography which was suppressed until 1984: we’re talking thoughtfulness but also an irresistible desire to boast. His excuse for what was “mainly a story of greed, foolishness and great expectation” was that its insights into “the misfit of male and female desires” made it worth telling. He was particularly drawn to clever young

and the environmental movement.

Her generation sees “that the enemy was not one nation state but a cloud of companies, corporations, contractors, statutory bodies whose survival meant the degradation of water, air, soil, life itself”. And where her parents caved in, she is determined to stand up and be counted, so Gaby’s hackers whisk Felix off-grid to make sure their version of the truth prevails, while Celine and Woody hunt him down.

Carey has twice won the Booker prize for his excavations of Australian history in the 19th century in Oscar and Lucinda and with True History of the Kelly Gang. Amnesia carries that forward into this century, while providing a sharp riposte to those who say fiction can’t cope with the cyber age. Just as The Kelly Gang found its author immersed in Australian vernacular, here he is deep into the arcane language and hardware of hackers and coders.

Carey’s writing is, in his own phrase, as “Australian as a mallee root”, both in dealing with his country’s cityscapes and the wild lands lurking just beyond. Perhaps the denouement is a little rushed, and Carey will certainly be accused of being naive about conspiracy theories (and journalism). But he has written another intriguing version of a history about which we British know shamefully little.

winged wonder The Red Admiral, featured in The Butterfly Isles

When Last I Died by Gladys Mitc Mitchell read by Patience Tomlinson Soundings, via To audible.co.uk download, 7hr 44min, £15.09. Whispersync available I have a weakness for vintage whodunnits.

Gladys Mitchell died aged 82 in 1983 after writing more than 60 novels, most of them centring on Mrs (later Dame) Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley, a witchlike psychoanalyst. Her books are both funny and learned. Her books also keep strictly to Detection Club rules, providing what she called “a true and just battle of wits between reader and author”. In When Last I Died (1941), read with verve by Patience Tomlinson, Bradley is on peak form. “Why don’t you leave well alone?” asks her exasperated son. “So said the ghost of Joan of Arc to George Bernard Shaw,” Mrs Bradley replies with a cackle.

Christina Hardyment

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

49

FGM

Listen online

Hear Audible extracts of all of the audiobooks reviewed this week by visiting thetimes.co.uk/books

A slow swing through the Sixties SILVER SCREEN COLLECTION / GETTY IMAGES

Dominic Maxwell enjoys (eventually) Nick Hornby’s first novel for five years

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t the Cheltenham Literature Festival last month, Nick Hornby suggested that readers shouldn’t feel bad about giving up on difficult books that they were not enjoying. “Every time we pick up a book from a sense of duty and find that we’re struggling to get through it,” he said, “we’re reinforcing the notion that reading is something you should do but telly is something you want to do.”

I kept this quote in mind as I struggled my way through the first half of Funny Girl, Hornby’s first novel for five years. It’s not a difficult book — from his football memoir, Fever Pitch, through to his novels High Fidelity and About a Boy and the decreasingly effective follow-ups, Hornby has always traded in an invisible, amusing, apparently effortless prose that is far easier to read than it is to write. And this is very much a comic novel.

After his fine screen adaptation of the journalist Lynn Barber’s memoir An Education, Hornby has retained the setting of 1960s London for his first period novel.

And in chronicling the lives of the creative team behind an imaginary groundbreaking sitcom, Barbara (And Jim), he signposts his inspiration so overtly that it’s hard to suspend your disbelief in his characters.

Our protagonist is Sophie Straw, a blonde beauty from Blackpool who also happens to have the sharpest comic timing this side of Lucille Ball. Some characters say she looks like the big-breasted Sixties starlet Sabrina: so we get a mental picture of Sabrina. The sitcom’s writers, Tony and

what’s my line? Hornby’s protagonist has Lucille Ball’s comic flair

Funny Girl

by Nick Hornby Viking, 342pp £18.99 * £15.99 ebook £10

Bill, sound a bit like Ray Galton and Alan Simpson (whose work on Hancock and Steptoe and Son they admire), so we get a piccie of Galton and Simpson. The producer, Dennis Maxwell-Bishop, sounds just like the legendary BBC comedy producer Dennis Main Wilson, so . . . yes, a pic of him too. Cameos of real Sixties figures, such as Harold Wilson, Terence Stamp and one of the Yardbirds, sit alongside these fictionalised figures.

Far from making Funny Girl feel authentic, these glimpses of Hornby’s mood board make you imagine the pile of biographies on the desk next to where he sits fictionalising them. Can we really believe that Barbara (and Jim) was “fast, funny and

real, and it said things about England that Tony and Bill had never heard on the BBC”? Only with a lot of goodwill.

Had I given up on Funny Girl, though, it would have been my loss. Hornby needs firmer editing, yet, once the characters get some momentum behind them, his writing starts to take off, the humour starts to breathe. Sophie falls for her less-talented co-star Clive, a shagabout who discovers that “being an actor was like having a system for the horses that actually worked”. And, within various dysfunctional relationships — not that anyone was using phrases like that in a 1960s setting switching bumpily between the straitened and the swinging — Hornby gives us a world in which malfunctioning emotional connections, infidelities and obsessions sit alongside sitcom success.

Sophie at first appears too good to be true, but Hornby makes her credible and interesting by nailing the way success gives her sex and money but emotional connections remain at a premium. Best of all is the portrait — the self-portrait? — of the creative push-pull between the reliable and the adventurous. Tony is a family man who wants security and to do what he’s good at; Bill is a countercultural homosexual who wants respect for his adventurousness. Tony is the more sympathetic character.

Hornby has written in praise of the middlebrow before, and here his characters argue fiercely for the virtues of intelligent populism, be it in a televised debate with a nasty intellectual or in a brilliant passage that is an unusual ode to the life-affirming nature of the sitcom.

Funny Girl is not Hornby’s most inspired book, but its flashes of form grow more and more frequent. After a sticky start its pages start to turn with enough pace so that it never seems like an onerous alternative to the telly. I’m glad I stuck with it.

Rose blossoms with age

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The American America Lover

by Rose Tremain Chatto & Windus, 232pp £16.99 * £14.99 ebook £8.49

To order books at discounted prices call 0845 2712134 or visit thetimes.co.uk/ bookshop

he prospect of a new Rose Tremain book beckons like a favourite armchair. Which is not to damn this fiercely bright writer with the faint praise of being merely a fragrant decoration to the canon: her decades-old career may have made her part of the furniture, but her work is never safe. However, the literary summer of 2014 has been characterised by difficult, edgy work, from Will Self to Richard Flanagan, so the time is right for Tremain’s mellow fruitfulness to guide us into winter.

Most famous for glorious historical novels such as Music & Silence and Restoration, this is nonetheless Tremain’s fifth collection of short fiction, and from the first page she demonstrates the effortless magic of the seasoned storyteller in transporting the reader into another world. Unlike much of her work, however, this is very much a 20th-century landscape. Specifically, it seems, those times and places Tremain herself has inhabited, which lends a realism to stories such as The American Lover, in which a young woman travels to Paris in the 1960s (as did the author, a graduate of the Sorbonne) to be intoxicated by the beautiful clothes, heavy black eyeliner and sexy, paint-spattered artists of the Left Bank.

Extra Geography is a racy tale of oversexed lacrosse-playing gels at a very English private school who fall in love with their teacher, and The Closing Door spans one heartbreaking day when a 1950s mother, widowed by the war and who “loves her daughter more than life” must put her crying, pleading child on the train to boarding school for the first time.

There’s a palpable sense of anger at a generation who sent their children away “to become responsible adults” and, “No matter if these children suffered a bit. Who in the world has not suffered?”

English country houses and sapphic erotica combine in The Housekeeper, a moody reimagining of how Daphne du Maurier came upon the story of Rebecca, and other stories reprise the theme of unusual things happening in pretty gardens. All genteel life is here: houses in France, posh girls planning weddings, retired couples rediscovering romance. Yet there is a pulse of dark desperation running beneath these pretty pictures.

Again and again Tremain returns to the idea of parents separated from children: families “bent down by the gravity of love”, like in the brilliant study of loss, Gaston and Lucy,

in short Prince Lestat

by Anne Rice Chatto, 458pp; £18.99 * Ch £15.99; ebook £9.50 £1 Listen, children — long before the Twilight be books, with their wet bo “vegetarian” vampires “v who wh only drink animal blood, there was the one and only Lestat. Incredibly, it is nearly 40 years since this princely blood-drinker made his first appearance in Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire. Prince Lestat is volume 13 in her Vampire Chronicles — and, strange as it may sound, the Undead are struggling to keep up with modern technology. The vampire world is in turmoil and running out of control. What is the mysterious Voice that the semi-retired Lestat hears inside his head, and what does it want?

He’s a relatively new vampire, having only been “in the blood” since 1780.

Does he have the power to unite the dark forces? Rice is a superb storyteller with a rich imagination, and such ringing authority of tone that you’ll believe vampires really exist.

The Age of Magic

by Ben Okri Head of Zeus, 287pp He £10 * £9.50; ebook £7.99 £1 Eight people are on a tr train from Paris to Basle.

Their names are Riley, Sam, Propr, Jute, Husk, Sa Mistletoe and La Lao, which instantly puts Mistleto the reader on the alert for some serious symbolism, because things never happen to people with normal names.

They are a film crew, making a documentary about a journey to Arcadia, in Greece. What is the modern meaning of Arcadia? They put this question to their fellow passengers, and they’ve already stopped off in Paris to look at that famous Poussin painting of the Arcadian shepherds. Lao, presenter and poet, thinks it’s “the place where life is renewed”. The crew arrive at a Swiss hotel on the shores of a lake, where they are all drawn into the reflection of Mt Rigi in the dark waters. By the end of it all, each person in this dreamlike modern fairytale has undergone enlightenment, or transformation. Strange and poetic.

which locates and unites the lifelong sadness of an English war widow and a bereaved Frenchman in a muddy field in Caen.

Tremain, who is 71, has told interviewers that her project now is to make sense of the last third of life, where one cannot look forward so much as back, and this time of reflection has clearly uncovered a deep fascination with familial and erotic love. Just as in his late plays Shakespeare returned obsessively to separated fathers and daughters and unwelcome journeys having to be made, so too this author is swept up in the sea-changes of the family romance.

There is only one failure in this collection, a cringeworthy Bridget Jones-style diary piece about a young woman shagging and taking drugs (and, rather confusingly, taking a drug called “shag”), which is strained and awkward and shows the folly of attempting the vernacular of a person 40 years younger than oneself. Otherwise, The American Lover is a triumph and shows that one of our best-loved writers is showing no sign of losing pace.

A Brief History of Seven Killings

by Marlon James Onewo Oneworld, 688pp; £18.99 * £16.99; ebook £21.99 Brief ? The title is ironic; Br this seething, hot, violent novel is enormous in nov every sense. At its centre is an iconic event in the life of Bob Marley. In 1976, seven men stormed Marley’s home in Jamaica and opened fire with machine guns; he took the hint and left the country for two years. James uses the incident as the jumping-off point for a novel thronged with shady Jamaican politicians and gangsters, CIA agents, drug dealers, ghosts, murderers — the ambition is huge, but he pulls it off with style, confidence, imagination and wit. James’s portrait of his native land (he was born in Kingston), captures the poverty and corruption of a place where people are “so poor that they can’t even afford shame”. And at the centre is “the sufferah who turn big star, but who don’t forget them sufferah who still sufferin.” Extraordinary.

Melissa Katsoulis

Kate Saunders

the times Saturday November 1 2014

50 Travel France

Cheap and chic: winter on the Riviera Five-star classic hotels are quiet, the rates are low and the temperatures tempting in the off-season, says Tristan Rutherford

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n the winter of 1882 Queen Victoria sojourned in the South of France. As the French Riviera receives more offseason sun than Athens, her stay turned into one long Indian summer.

She returned five times until 1899, bringing 100 servants in her private train from Calais. Every lord, prince and minor aristocrat followed her footsteps south, trailblazing the winter warmer we know today.

Alas, with the advent of paid two-week holidays for the French in the 1930s, the high season flipped from winter to summer. “But autumn and winter are now back in fashion,” says Marc Leveau, manager of the ritzy Grand Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat. “By welcoming guests with quiet beaches, shopping tours and off-season rates, it now makes commercial sense to open virtually year-round.”

The hotel’s off-season rates are attractive too. In summer, suites hover at about £3,500 a night (the presidential suite is £12,500 with a 15-night minimum stay).

But in winter doubles start from £225, a saving of £325 on the summer rate (60 per cent off). Low-season guests can still luxuriate in the Club Dauphin beach club and the hotel’s seven hectares of Mediterranean gardens. You get 200 days of sunshine a year here; like the rest of the French Riviera, Cap Ferrat is enveloped by the AlpesMaritimes mountains, so it basks in a microclimate where palm trees and wild parrots flourish (it was 26C in late October).

Gustave Eiffel designed the Grand Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat’s foyer. Stella McCartney learnt to swim in the hotel’s Olympicsize pool. To cater for an off-season clien-

tele, the hotel also offers reduced prices in its restaurants, which are overseen by the Michelin-starred chef Didier Aniès. A gourmet set dinner costs £75, down from £195 in summer. The house cocktail is £14.

If you think that’s expensive, just imagine what previous guests such as Bill Clinton and Beyoncé forked out in peak season.

What’s on the menu for off-season sightseeing? The Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild lies midway along Cap Ferrat. Work started on this bright pink stately home in 1905, four years after Victoria’s passing, when her son Edward VII — “Prince Bertie” — rocked the Riviera each winter. If this wedding-cake mansion ever came on the market it would be among the most expensive properties in the world (one claimant to that title is the nearby Villa Leopolda, once owned by the head of Fiat, Gianni Agnelli, which sold for half a billion euros in 2008). The publicly owned villa has Sèvres porcelain, Louis XIV carpets and 8m-high ceilings. On my visit in October there wasn’t a soul there, despite the million-dollar panoramas over the Mediterranean. Yet the uper-rich pay thousands for private viewings here after closing time during the summer.

The villa was once owned by Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild. The Lady Gaga

Above: Menton.

Below: The Grand Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat. Below right: the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild

meets Tamara Ecclestone of her day, she had antiques from Paris railroaded to Beaulieu station nearby. She would then rifle through them — car-boot style — on the platform edge. The leftovers would be dumped at her apartment in Monaco, ten minutes down the line. It helped that the Rothschild family owned shares in the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée railway.

An empty carriage whisks me along that very train line to Nice, five minutes in the other direction. Before the railroad arrived in 1863 it took two weeks to travel from London to the French Riviera. After the train arrived, London to Nice took just 21 hours, rendering the South of France “doable” (the TGV from St Pancras to the Mediterranean now takes six hours).

The stroll from Nice-Ville station to the Promenade des Anglais elicits memories of Victoria’s day. The seaside boulevard is sun-kissed and smart. Street artists and dance classes still fill the promenade, although it was Matisse and Picasso, plus Sarah Bernhardt and Isadora Duncan, a century ago. Back then, Nice’s three-mile public beach was frequented only by fisherwives. Now it’s rammed in summer, but is quiet in winter today.

For added colour, step one block back from the promenade to the daily Cours Saleya fruit and flower market. Each winter it becomes a south-facing suntrap. You can linger for two hours over a morning

macchiato then stock up with local oranges, lemons, lavender and squid from the stalls that line the street.

Come February, shoppers will also buy a bunch of winter blossoms and carry them back to the promenade during Nice’s family-friendly Carnaval. This three-week street parade culminates in the Battle of the Flowers, where performers lob mimosas into the crowd, who lob them back with a vengeance. Queen Vic loved the scene — the Mayor of Nice provided her with a private stack of blossoms to chuck.

Such scenes are remembered in the Nice history museum inside the promenade’s Villa Masséna. Period exhibits in this publicly owned mansion include sleeper train tickets from London to Cannes, costumes from masked balls during Carnaval and printed menus — soupe An-

It’s 100 per cent Riviera with 10 per cent of the tourists for 30 per cent of the price

the times Saturday November 1 2014

Travel 51

DAVID C TOMLINSON / GETTY IMAGES

Need to know Where to eat Menton Menton, on the Italian border, was a favourite of Queen Victoria. Hit the sunniest town in France to find frutti di mare, scallops à la Provençale and gambas grillade in restaurants such as Le Cirke (www.restaurantlecirke.com; mains from £11). Just along the coast, On a sun-kissed terrace the Cap Ferrat classic Capitaine Cook (00 33 493 76 02 66; set menus from £22) serves bouillabaisse and grilled bream.

Nice The newest restaurant in Nice is the locally run Bar des Oiseaux (00 33 493 80 27 33; mains from £9) in the old town. It pairs Niçoise specialities such as petits farcis stuffed vegetables and panisse chickpea chips with ravioli from Barale, the city’s famed pasta maker.

Cannes The ritzy restaurant Mantel (restaurantmantel.com; set menus from £27) sources its ingredients from the nearby Forville market. The head chef Noël Mantel’s locally inspired menu includes Provençale beef stew and rabbit with rosemary. Most restaurants on the Riviera — including all the ones listed here — are open year-round.

What to see Both the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild (villa-ephrussi.com; entrance £10) and the Château de La Napoule (chateaulanapoule.com; entrance £2.50) are open daily year-round.

Getting there EasyJet (0843 1045000, easyjet.com) offers year-round daily flights from London Gatwick, Luton and Stansted to Nice from £28.99 one way. Great Rail Journeys (01904 527181, greatrail.com/grj-independent) offers tailor-made TGV rail packages in the footsteps of Queen Victoria from London St Pancras to Nice, with a three-night stay in Nice’s Belle Époque Excelsior Chateaux Hotel, from £489pp.

Winter hotel deals on the French Riviera Room rates at some of the Riviera’s grandest hotels are routinely 70 per cent less than in the summer.

The Grand Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat The choice of royalty and celebrity.

Classified as a five-star palace by the French authorities, it’s perched on the end of Cap Ferrat, one of the world’s most expensive pieces of real estate.

Low-season packages include two nights for two with grand buffet breakfast plus two treatments in the hotel’s Carita spa for £690.

Details From £225 per double per night.

The hotel is closed in January and February (00 33 493 76 50 50, grand-hotel-cap-ferrat.com)

glais, rosbif à la moutarde — from Victoria’s stay. One street map divvies up the promenade’s villas to show who is staying where for the season. British royalty, American tycoons and Russian oligarchs rented chichi villas — Airbnb-style — before the Riviera’s grand hotels set up shop at the turn of the century.

Another empty train carriage takes me west towards Cannes. There are blue skies and turquoise seas as we putter past Antibes and Juan-lesPins, each a rococo resort that’s discovering its winter mojo. Indeed, why pay £650 for a summer night at the landmark Hôtel Martinez in Cannes when the same room costs from £120 in low season, room only?

I alight at Mandelieu-la Napoule, one stop past Cannes, to visit another stately home that sums up the off-season Riviera. The Château de La Napoule was a party pad a century ago, a castle rebuilt by the artist and banking heir Henry Clews with his debutante wife Marie. Maquis herbs slow roast in the château’s public gardens.

Two snorkelers skindive in the warm

autumn Mediterranean, a sport that hardy locals partake in until Christmas. Private jets from Cannes’s tiny airport fly out to sea then curve towards the north. The only other visitors are a school group from the local bilingual primary who stumble round the garden treasure hunt shouting “boff”, “oi” and “oh la la”.

There’s time for one final homage to a place that’s just invested in the Riviera winter. A private car whisks me to the nearby Tiara Miramar, a new hotel with Moorish modern décor that will be open all year round. “Guests from northern Europe are using year-round flights to enjoy the Riviera sunshine through winter,” says the general manager Jérôme Montantème. “And to be frank, I don’t blame them.”

To corner this 12month market Montantème offers food foraging in autumn, guided hikes in winter and sailing in spring, plus bargain off-season rates.

As with my other stops in the South of France, it’s 100 per cent of the Riviera with 10 per cent of the tourists for 30 per cent of the price. Like Queen Vic, I’m sold.

The Tiara Miramar, Théoule-sur-Mer A new Mediterranean idyll, the open year-round Tiara has three Provençal restaurants overseen by Fabrice Giraud, late of the Shangri-La in Istanbul. His MoYa seaside eatery is like a Turkish beach club with searing hobs, spinning rotisseries and red-hot pizza ovens. The order of the day is the 12 tartare tasting menu that runs from lamb with mango to raw shrimp.

Details From £128 B&B (00 33 493 75 05 05, miramar-beachspa.tiara-hotels.com) Hotel Victoria, Roquebrune-cap-Martin One of the hippest design hotels on the coast, Hotel Victoria is open year-round and is styled with the designer lines of Le Corbusier and Eileen Gray, both of whom lived on the Roquebrune-Cap-Martin peninsula.

Monaco is an hour’s walk away along a beach-lined coastal path.

Details Doubles from £63 a night (00 33 493 35 65 90, hotel-victoria.fr) Le Napoléon, Menton A sister establishment to Hotel Victoria, Le Napoléon reopens at Christmas after a renovation. Its decoration is an homage to the writer and film-maker Jean Cocteau, whose new museum opened a five-minute stroll away in 2013.

Details Seaview doubles from £69 a

night (00 33 493 35 89 50, napoleon-menton.com) Hotel Martinez, Cannes This five-star favourite with stars during the film festival is in a prime position on the Croisette and has a spa and a swimming pool.

Details Doubles from £120, room only (00 33 493 90 12 34, cannesmartinez.grand.hyatt.com) Fairmont Monte Carlo With the Hôtel de Paris now closed for a four-year renovation, the place to stay in the principality is the Fairmont Monte Carlo, below. In 2014, the hotel launched an outpost of the sushi restaurant Nobu.

Regular rooms top £650 in summer.

Details Doubles are from £205 (00 377 93 50 65 00, fairmont.com/monte-carlo)

Riviera apartments For the best off-season bargain, book a villa, or at least a rental apartment. The Côte d’Azur’s leading holiday letting agency, Riviera Pebbles (+33 (0)497 20 27 30, nicepebbles.com), has more than 180 prime properties from Antibes to Cap Ferrat. Each designer apartment boasts wi-fi, L’Occitane toiletries and a welcome basket with wine. The grand apartment Serenity (from £140 per night for six) behind Nice’s Le Negresco hotel has a balcony and three luxurious bedrooms. More humble Nice properties such as Amandine (from £50 per night for two) offer heaps of old-town charm.

the times Saturday November 1 2014

52 Travel Switzerland

My favourite ski holiday . . . I didn’t even hit the slopes

After two unsuccessful family ski trips, Damian Whitworth packs up his skis and enjoys the views

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have gone off-piste and am working my way slowly down the mountain, taking my time, stopping regularly to look around, relishing my solitude on a dazzling day. Occasionally the shouts of skiers in the distance, carried on the breeze, emphasise how quiet it is here beneath the gaze of the Matterhorn, the great god-Alp towering above me and my guide. In the space of more than an hour we see only a handful of people. This is my kind of ski holiday.

What makes it such a great ski holiday, apart from the scenery and the serenity and the exhilaration of skimming over the snow, is that it doesn’t involve any skis.

Today I am wearing snowshoes. And I might be tomorrow as well. Or I might be on a toboggan, or a chairlift, or hiking, but for the entire week I won’t put on skis. Not once. And, for me, that is exactly what a winter break in the Alps should be.

I’ve tried skiing. I’ve spent two separate holidays failing to learn to ski. The only things I learnt were how to curse with a mouthful of snow and that there is no Trying a toboggan in Rotenboden

Need to know Damian Whitworth was a guest of Inghams (01483 791 114, inghams.co.uk) which has seven nights’ B&B at the two-star Hotel Atlanta in Zermatt with flights and rail transfers from £559pp. Lift passes for skiers cost £299 per adult and £159 per child, with a no-skiers peak pass from SwFr190 for three days.

downhill slope, however gentle, that does not look terrifying when you have 2m laminated strips strapped to your feet.

Unfortunately, the rest of my family love skiing. In the two years since their first ski experience in Austria, my kids haven’t stopped banging on about the wretched trip.

I am not alone in facing this difficulty. I keep meeting like-minded souls who have never really enjoyed skiing, or have given up on it, but who have families who have taken to it with a zeal normally reserved for Minecraft. One friend used to pack his wife and kids off to the Alps once a year and stay at home, until he discovered that he could go too and hit the winter hiking trails. It is on his recommendation that I am here now.

I knew I’d done the right thing earlier on this first morning when everyone was clomping off to ski school in awkward, snowbooted, slow motion and I hopped on the train up to Gornergrat, drank a coffee in the sunshine gazing across at big Matt and then took the train down to Rotenboden to pick up snowshoes for the hike down to Riffelberg. My fury at my incompetence as a skier was always exacerbated by being surrounded by so many people on the slopes. Now all I can hear is my own breathing and the light scuffing of my snowshoes as I head, with a guide, to Riffelberg and lunch at Restaurant Simi. I feel I have earned, as much as anyone skiing this morning, my steak and a glass of something red and deliciously fruity from the Italian side of the mountains.

You don’t need snowshoes to get around as a non-skier. I enjoy some spectacular hikes on cleared trails — or, as they are wonderfully signed, winterwanderweg. I particularly recommend heading out of Zermatt, away from the wood and glass chalets (one has just been sold to an oligarch for a reputed €20 million — about £15.7 million) and along the wooded valley towards Stafel. There are periods when I feel quite alone in the woods. In places the trail is icy but winter is drawing to an end and the snow is melting and soon

I feel like a bit of a wintersportenwimpen (that’s a German word right?)

The centre of Zermatt; below, a rope used by mountaineer Edward Whymper at the Matterhorn Museum

the sun is warm and I am in shirtsleeves.

You can have a very enjoyable week in a ski resort as a non-skier but I would recommend going earlier in the season if you want to enjoy all the other winter sports on offer. I am disappointed to find that, although Zermatt, at 1,608 metres, is high, the crosscountry skiing (which I was considering trying because the trails are flat enough probably even for me) is over for the year and that the ice rink has a marquee on it for the Zermatt Unplugged music festival. The festival adds a relaxed feel when you are in town but scotches my hopes of spending a chunk of my week unlocking the mysteries of curling.

The long toboggan run is open and provides an exhilarating ride.

Unfortunately, no one warned us about the dramatic bend towards the finish that violently unseats two of the younger members of the party and brings this activity to a premature end.

We have travelled with friends, another family of four, including a non-skiing mother. Together she and I ride chair lifts and cable cars, relax on sunny terraces of mountain cafés and restaurants around Zermatt, drinking Europe’s most expensive espressos. By the middle of the week her husband is crocked, and joins us, leaving my wife as the only adult skier.

the times Saturday November 1 2014

Travel 53 Where to take it easy on the slopes Ego Bowl, Whistler, Canada Whistler may have many challenging runs but it also has a network of easier slopes at the top of the mountain. Ego Bowl is excellent, a wide gentle run designed to be good for your skiing ego.

Details Frontier Ski (020 8776 8709, frontier-ski.co.uk) has a week at Fairmont Château Whistler, with a free room upgrade if booked by November 15, from £1,069pp, with flights Rif Nel and Les Jeux, Alpe d’Huez, France Alpe d’Huez, with some of the best nursery slopes in Europe, has a wide selection of green-rated runs of slightly different gradients. When you master one, you can move on to another without too big a leap to another level.

Details Ski Solutions (020 7471 7700, skisolutions.com) has a week’s stay with chalet board at Chalet Le Manoir from £999pp, including flights and transfers The Gschwandtkopf, Seefeld, Austria The Gschwandtkopf mountain may be a bit of a mouthful, but it’s renowned for its network of slopes suited to beginners and those who just want to take it easy. There are challenging runs in other parts of the resort.

Details Crystal Ski (020 3468 6009, crystalski.co.uk) has a week’s half board at Hotel Tyrol from £514pp in January, with flights included The glacier at Les Deux Alpes, France This resort is particularly strong for those after easygoing slopes that make you look better at skiing than you really are. There is a series of wide-open slopes near the village as well as gentle runs up on the glacier.

Details Pierre & Vacances (0870 0267145, pierreetvacances.com) has a week’s self-catering from £188pp, based on four sharing in January Valle Nevado, Chile If you want to cruise the snow like a pro, Chile’s modern ski resort, Valle Nevado, above, offers the perfect terrain. You’ll find the piste classifications slightly misleading compared with European destinations, meaning intermediate skiers will have no trouble exploring the full area.

Details Seven nights’ full-board at the Valle Nevado Hotel, in August, is from

OK, so I feel like a bit of a wintersportenwimpen (that’s a German word, right?).

And the mad bloke who went to Zermatt and didn’t ski. One afternoon, as I am inching on foot down a snowy trail, my wife and her eager junior ski team pass overhead on a chair lift, waving and shouting. Then they disembark and speed downwards. I don’t feel jealous exactly. But I am in awe of their speed and ease on skis. Then I find a café, order a beer and bury myself in Killing Dragons, Fergus Fleming’s excellent book about the great early Alpinists.

Edward Whymper, the British climber who conquered the Matterhorn for the first time in 1865, lost four of his men in the process when one of the team slipped and a rope broke. There were later claims that it had been cut. In the Matterhorn Museum in Zermatt a frayed piece of the original rope is displayed on velvet cushion along with other “relics” from

early climbs, including Whymper’s ice axe.

I spend a lot of time staring at the Matterhorn. Not enough to want to worship it, but enough to start to feel a little bit under its spell. I find myself going out first thing in the morning to see what the weather is like up there, how the light is playing on it. The Matterhorn is captivating because it stands alone, a jagged, upturned incisor dominating the region and the mortals below. One afternoon I sit in the hot tub, gazing at it for for about an hour. Maybe I’m going a little crazy. Not crazy enough to want to climb it, but crazy enough to see how crazier people would become obsessed with attempting to do so.

Perhaps you think I’ve spent too much time looking at the mountain. Maybe you think that if I’d spent time skiing I wouldn’t have gone down with this case of mountain madness. But I tell you what: I’d rather be looking at the mountains than skiing down them.

£1,898pp based on two sharing, including transfers and lift passes, with Momentum Ski (020 7371 9111, momentumski.com) Tourmaline and Méphisto, Flaine, France Flaine is great for beginners — and those chasing a gentle ski — with its

selection of easy-to-handle slopes. The Tourmaline blue run is one of its most popular, weaving all the way from the top of Grands Vans into the resort.

Méphisto does the same.

Details Erna Low (020 7584 2841, ernalow.co.uk) has a week from £199pp, with flights and transfers, departing on January 17 Tom Chesshyre

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

55

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Games Samurai Sudoku No 427 — Medium

3 1

4 8 7

7 5

2 3

5

8 1

8 3

9 8

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8 1

2

2 4 6

1 4

7

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1 6

The Listener solution No 4315

2 3

The winners are D & N Aspland of Pontefract, West Yorkshire, CN Dixon of London SE10, and Nigel & Meg Mann of Bovey Tracey, Devon.

8 8

9

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4 6 1 8 9

2 5

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1

35 min

Solution to last week’s Samurai Sudoku

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3

5 3

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2

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9

6 4 2 1 7 8 5 3 9

9 3 1 5 6 2 4 7 8

8 7 5 9 3 4 1 6 2

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3 6 8 7 2 1 9 5 4

4 1 7 3 5 9 2 8 6

4 5 9 3 2 1 8 6 7

3 6 7 8 5 9 4 2 1

8 1 2 7 6 4 5 3 9

6 8 4 1 3 7 9 5 2

7 2 5 9 8 6 1 4 3

9 3 1 5 4 2 7 8 6

1 9

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3 5

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22

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1 8 6 2 4 3 7 9 5 6 8 2 1 4 3 2 7 8 6 9 5

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26

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5 3 1 2 7 4 9 8 6 2 1 7 4 3 5 7 6 8 9 1 2

6 8 2 9 1 3 4 5 7 9 3 8 6 2 1 3 4 9 5 8 7

7 9 3 8 6 2 5 4 1

2 1 6 4 5 9 7 3 8

8 5 4 7 3 1 6 2 9

3 4 8 6 2 7 1 9 5

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8 5 4 9 1 2 6 7 3

2 1 3 8 7 6 4 5 9

5 6 2 4 9 1 7 3 8

1 4 7 6 8 3 2 9 5

3 9 8 2 5 7 1 6 4

Sudoku No 6921

15

19

7 2 3 8 9 5 6 4 1 7 5 3 2 9 8 6 1 5 3 7 4

Yesterday’s solutions 21

20 8

7

Stuck?

Call 0901 322 5005 to receive four clues for any of today’s puzzles.

Calls cost 77p from BT landlines.

Time to solve

1

7

Stuck on Su Doku or Killer Call 0901 322 5005 to receive four clues for any of today’s puzzles. Calls cost 77p from BT landlines.

Su Doku/Killer ©Puzzler Media Puzzle content © 2008 Gakken Co. Ltd.

5

20

2 4

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Killler No 3983 - Deadly (56min)

8 1

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Sudoku No 6926 - Fiendish

5 8

Homer by Dysart Four prisoners escaped from Colditz Castle on 14 October 1942: Captain Patrick Reid, Lieutenant-Commander William Stephens, Major Ronald Littledale and Flight Lieutenant Howard Wardle. The cells containing the letters of Wardle are cut from the grid; the other three surnames are erased (cutting out was also allowed).

More details at listenercrossword.com.

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Our five-grid Su Doku will test your powers of logic and elimination — against the clock.

Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9. Where the puzzles overlap, the rows and columns do not go beyond their usual length but the interlocking boxes give you more clues — and more complexity!

Remember — don’t try to solve each Su Doku grid in turn, the puzzle has to be tackled as a whole.

10

20 15

Follow standard Su Doku rules, but digits within the cells joined by dotted lines should add up to the printed top left-hand figure.

Within each dotted-line “shape”, a digit CANNOT be repeated.

For solutions to Su Doku & Killer see Monday’s newspaper

5 1 2 7 6 8 3 4 9

4 7 9 3 5 1 2 6 8

6 8 3 9 2 4 7 5 1

1 6 4 2 8 9 5 3 7

9 5 8 4 3 7 1 2 6

3 2 7 6 1 5 8 9 4

7 9 5 8 4 3 6 1 2

2 4 1 5 7 6 9 8 3

8 3 6 1 9 2 4 7 5

4 5 1 6 3 9 7 2 8

8 6 2 7 1 5 9 3 4

2 8 6 9 7 3 4 1 5

5 4 3 1 2 6 8 7 9

7 1 9 5 8 4 2 6 3

Killer No 3982

3 7 4 2 6 8 5 9 1

6 2 5 4 9 1 3 8 7

1 9 8 3 5 7 6 4 2

9 3 7 8 4 2 1 5 6

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

57

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Win a Collins Dictionary & Thesaurus For your chance to win, call 0901 292 5274 (ROI 1516 415 029) and leave your answer (the 3 numbers in the pink cells) and details or text the 3 numbers to TIMES followed by a space and then your answer and your contact details to 83080 (ROI 57601) by midnight tonight. You can leave your answer numbers in any order.

6Winners will receive a Collins English Dictionary & Thesaurus Calls cost £1.02 from BT landlines (ROI € 1.50).

Other networks and mobiles will cost more.

Texts cost £1 (ROI € 1.50) plus your standard network charge. Winners will be picked at random from all correct answers received. One draw per week. Lines close at midnight tonight.

If you call or text after this time you will not be entered but will still be charged. Terms and conditions thetimes.co.uk/sudoku-comp. SP: Spoke, W1B 2AG. 0333 202 3390 / 01437 8815 (Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm).

Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x2 box contains the digits 1 to 6.

Developed by Sudoku Syndication D E M A G N E T I S E H A N D I C A P P E D P R I N C E S S I D A S T E R E O T Y P E D

O R I C C A R E H R E E R R I M E N T U L W R E N E T I C O E U C DWA R D T H E R N D R O N H O R S E U U W L G I NM A R B H D N O E T E R O D O X E A W C O A I A D S N S M O O N A H A N D E R N P P R I O R I M L A A E O P L E C A R S U A I A T E P A L M S A I R S O N T V N T R O V E E U R U R A T O R H U H A R E A N R A N C A R N A H T V C A D E M I I D A E C O N D R E Y M B O S S A S D U R O H O B M G E A R O O M R T A A I N I N T S O I O M I N I C

I B R A S B S F C O U N D L E R Y T R Y P L E S I C R R I P T

O U N D V E E R I N F I E E D S C B A R Z A V B A N A S E E R A H I

O V E R S L E U R E X E N T U R E S O C P S N V E T R A P E I W R F A E S S O R T N R T D E D R E V E W V M M A L E V O L E R R T U N T AMWE I G I C E S U N D OWN Y N I RMO U S T A C P N R S O E X O R D S A L R I N T E L L E U E E A AM I N D E M

N G O I N G H A O N R U R T C L E A R A O O E R WO M A N L Y A P P D S H A R E A L I T R A E T E A L C O C K B E T C A L L Y M E R L E H R A T E C O N N I E H N B R O O K E C A E M S H W D O E S T H A T C B I O M I C R O N C N O M H E N E C K A E A M E I A N A C R Y L I

M A N D R A K E W I N N E R G A S T R I C

F I R C E F E U L E E F R R T O N G T H E E S R A F T E S L I D E

S T R S A G T E D S I A A N C O R B A N G

E P R M E S Z E N S T M R E N N T

Solution to Cryptic Jumbo 1115 The winner is Alan Ward of Ipswich, Suffolk

change FIIUGIM

E: ERTABIN

(E)ldar:

HEJRA

O6a 50 208

RETAINED

A5a 77 282

QAT

J10a 32 240

CHAINE

K7a 37 319

FET

B6a 31 271

O: E?AFMOQ E: ACEHIIN O: E?FMOTT E: EILPTWY

WEY C7a 30 349 Note that was the last E played.

O: ?MOTDLN DOM

N5a 19 290

GIST

L15d 30 379

TOeNAIL

M3a 80 370

DOORN

B11a 15 394

VANG

L2a 26 396

UNPLuG

A15d 27 421

OI

L8a 13 409

WARE

K14d 16 437

E: ILPTDGS O: ?TLNAIO E: LPD?DNR

change DGJLPQ

0

0

O: AGINOUV

change OOO

0

20

E: LP?DGRU

VOXEL

D11d 30 30

O: IOUAINP

OUTSEES

B13d 76 96

E: DRAW

ZOBU

E10d 43 73

COKE

F9d 30 126

LITERARY

H12d 80 153

O: OSEOOOS E: TEIOVXY

O: OSESETU E: TIYABOZ O: CEFIIOU O: FIIUEII FIRIE

N10a 32 158

DOME

A12d 36 189

E: DEEMORT

158

M13d 16 205

E: ERTAINE

H8a 20 20

DGJLPTQ

0

BI

O: AEE?HJR

(O)’Laughlin: KLLOSSU SKULL

Chess Raymond Keene

O: IIUFGIM

Top UK player David Webb has been experimenting with live commentary of online games. The most recent example was with a series of games from a match between three UK and three North American experts. Webb’s excellent commentary gives you an insight into the thinking of the players and the move options available. Viewing the videos afterwards allows you to pause at any time to consider what you might play.

There follow details of one of these games between John O’Laughlin (USA) and David Eldar (UK). This, and others from the series, can be seen at: youtu.be/-I_AJzGx7yQ

E: TIYAERR

H T H E R E H E M I A S C T E U R

E D Y L E R R S R L O C C K E R A T O W E R D U I S M L O Y O U R L T H E A G U S G I Y P T

Scrabble ® Allan Simmons

UAINP

With only seconds left, O’Laughlin plays UNPAGeD H5d (20) and loses after Eldar plays out. Could he have won?

Definitions ABRI wartime bomb shelter DOORN thorn (S. African) HEJRA emigration escape ZOBU male Himalayan cattle

What bonus is missed through a floater of LITERARY?

Collins Scrabble Words is the word authority used.

Word positions use the grid reference plus (a)cross or (d)own.

2L

double letter square (dl)

A

3W

1

Solution to Quick Jumbo 1115 The winner is Mrs A Follows of Widdington, Essex

B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

2

3

4

triple letter square (tl)

3L

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double word square (dw)

3W

triple word square (tw)

10 11 12 13 14 15

retained u fet 3L doorn 2W wey mu p 2L 2W 2L vet l 2W zo s U 3L 3L cox e 3L g 2L 2L obe e 3W 2L skulls 3W 2L 2L e i 2L 3L 3L qat 3L 2W chaine w 2L vang oi r ag to E nail abri 2W dom firies 3W 2L hejra y t 2L

2W

Letter values 1 point:

AEIOU LNRST 2 points:

DG

3 points:

BCMP 4 points:

FHVWY K=5 JX = 8 QZ = 10

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark of J. W. Spear & Sons Ltd ©Mattel 2013

Solution to Friday’s Codeword S J W P ROP E L E I R CON T E X K L AW W I E O O F OR E N Q D UN L I T A A O RUN GR T D A

G I B L E D OP U O O T L A T C E L NGS P AN E C AME EG F F E S T I V A I R I Z Z L I N R E S

I T C H Y F O R E I G N

Word Watching: Janissary (b) A member of the Ottoman emperor’s personal guard, often a eunuch.

Gamp (c) After Mrs Sarah Gamp, in Charles Dickens’s Martin Chuzzlewit, who carried a faded cotton umbrella. Mallee (a) A low shrubby eucalyptus tree growing in desert regions of Australia. Plage (a) A bright patch in the Sun’s chromosphere. Polygon ankh, ankle, anklet, hake, hank, kale, kelt, kesh, khan, khat, lake, lakh, lank, latke, leak, sake, shake, shank, skat, skate, skean, slake, snake, sneak, stake, stalk, steak, take, talk,

tank, tankless, task, teak, thank, thankless. Two Brains 1 Of the 150 Psalms in the Bible, Ps. 119 is the longest with 176 verses, and Ps. 117 is the shortest with just 2. 2 Julian Fellowes, Chapman Pincher, Thomas Mann. They all contain references to males: fellow, chap, man. Scrabble Missed bonus: TREMORED L7a (62). Endgame: Eldar can only play his D at G14 so if O’Laughlin blocks this he can win by maximising the score for his remaining tiles over several plays, providing he doesn’t give a spot for Eldar’s D. One winning sequence of plays is: ENG F13a (6), YU C9d (5), AGeD K5d (10), PAGeD J5d (8), PI J5a (6) which after adjustments for Eldar’s unused D gives O’Laughlin a win 446-435. Literary quiz 1 Canteen Anna of Mother Courage (Brecht). 2 Mitya, Vanya and Alyosha of The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoyevsky).

3 Olga, Masha and Irina of The Three Sisters (Chekhov). 4 Philip Henry and Edmund of Father and Son (Edmund Gosse).

Polygon Roger Phillips

Using the given letters no more than once, make as many words as possible of four or more letters, always including the central letter. Capitalised words, plurals, conjugated verbs (past tense etc), adverbs ending in LY, comparatives and superlatives are disallowed.

How you rate: 19 words average; 26, good; 35, very good; 44, excellent.

Answers to Friday’s Polygon are to the left. Today’s answers will be published in Monday’s newspaper

Puzzles online

For more of your favourite puzzles and crosswords go to thetimes.co.uk/puzzles

Twitter: @times_chess

In exactly one week’s time former world champion Viswanathan Anand will challenge Magnus Carlsen for the world title in a 12 game match to be held in Sochi, Russia. A year ago Anand was massacred by the young Norwegian star in a match which overshadowed the cricket results in Anand’s home country of India and was also for a while the top trending item on twitter in that cricket-mad country. Meanwhile, in Norway, Carlsen’s progress caused a media furore and become the top good news story in Scandinavia.

True to their instincts regarding timely and top rate publications, Everyman (everymanchess.com) have brought out two superbly explanatory books about the contenders.

These are Anand: Move by Move by Zenon Franco and Carlsen: Move by Move by Cyrus Lakdawala. This week’s game has comments based on those in the book Anand: Move

by Move.

very strong, e.g. 29 ... Nb6 30 e7+ Nc4 31 Qf8+ Kh7 32 f4 Qa8 33 Rf3 Qxe4 34 f5 gxf5 35 Rg3 and White wins.

28 f4 Qa7+ 29 Kh2 Be8 30 f5 gxf5 31 exf5 f6 32 Re1 White plans to attack using the fourth rank and now threatens Re4-h4 or Re4-g4.

32 ... Nc7 32 ... Nb6 33 Re4 Nc4 is refuted by 34 Nf8+!, which wins after 34 ... Kg7 35 Rg4+ Kxf8 36 Qxh6+ Ke7 37 Rg7+ Bf7 38 Rxf7+ Kxf7 39 Qh7+.

33 Rc1 Bd7 34 Rc3 e4 35 Rg3 Nxe6 36 dxe6 Be8 37 e7 The fastest, planning 38 Bg8+.

37 ... Bh5 38 Qxd6 Black resigns

White: Viswanathan Anand Black: Magnus Carlsen Morelia/Linares 2007 Ruy Lopez

Winning move

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 h3 Na5 10 Bc2 c5 11 d4 Nd7 12 d5 Nb6 Black prepares an eventual ... f7-f5, and at the same time controls a4, to slow down White’s thematic a2-a4 break.

13 Nbd2 g6 14 b4 cxb4 15 cxb4 Nac4 16 Nxc4 Nxc4 17 Bb3 Nb6 18 Be3 Bd7 19 Rc1 Rc8 Black contests the c-file, but now his position will suddenly become uncomfortable. In view of the course of the game, it was preferable to play 19 ...

Qb8, intending 20 ... Qb7 and only then ... Rac8.

20 Rxc8 Bxc8 21 Qc2 Bd7 22 Rc1 This forces the knight to retreat to the awkward square a8 since Black must prevent Qc7.

22 ... Na8 23 Qd2 Qb8 24 Bg5 White needs to exchange this bishop to speed up his attack on Black’s king.

24 ... Bxg5 25 Nxg5 Rc8 26 Rf1 h6

________ án1rD DkD] àD DbDpD ] ßpD 0 Dp0] ÞDpDP0 H ] Ý ) DPD D] ÜDBD D DP] ÛPD ! )PD] ÚD D DRI ] ÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈ

27 Ne6 This pretty sacrifice formed part of White’s calculations and was the reason why he chose 26 Rf1. Instead, 27 Nf3? would allow Black to solve his problems after 27 ... Kg7.

27 ... Kh7 Best. After 27 ... fxe6 28 dxe6 Be8, then 29 Qxh6! is

The World Championship games, with instant computer evaluations, can be followed in real time every playing day via the 2seeitlive link on the header of The Times twitter feed @times_chess. For regular updates direct to your twitter account just click on the “follow” button.

White to play. This position is similarly themed to the variations after 27 Ne6 in today’s main game. It is Carlsen-Ponomariov, Moscow 2009. How did Carlsen power through?

________ á DbD DkD] à4 D g 0n] ßpD DP1 D] ÞD D DND ] Ý 0 DQD )] ÜDBD DPD ] ÛP)PD D D] ÚDKDRD D ] ÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈ

The first correct entry drawn on Thursday will win a copy of

The Collins English Dictionary & Thesaurus, also available from The Times Bookshop on

0845 271 2134. The two runners-up will receive a book prize. Answers on a postcard to: Winning Move, The Times, 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF, or email to: winningmove@thetimes.co.uk.

The answer will be published next Saturday.

Solution to last week’s puzzle: 1 ... Rf3+! leads to mate, e.g. 2 Bxf3 (2 Ka4 b5+ 3 Ka5 Bd8+ 4 Ka6 Qb6 mate) 2 ... Qc4+ 3 Ka3 Be7 mate.

The winner is Mike Lane of Ilmington, Warwickshire

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

59

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The Times Crossword is on the back page Codeword No 2231 20

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Numbers are substituted for letters in the crossword grid. Below the grid is the key with some letters solved. Completing the first word or phrase will give clues to more letters. Enter them in the key and main grid and check the letters on the alphabet list as you complete them. Yesterday’s solution on page 57

Stuck on Codeword? To receive 4 random clues call 0901 322 5000 or text TIMESCODE to 85088. Calls cost 77p from BT landlines plus network extras. Texts cost £1 plus your standard network charge. For the full solution call 0907 181 1055.

Calls cost 77ppm from BT landlines. Other networks and mobiles may vary. SP: Spoke, W1B 2AG, 0333 202 3390 / 01437 8815 (Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm).

Quick Crossword No 6547 1

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Across 1 Wrath; annoy (5) 4 Pleasant-sounding (7) 8 Driving skill (4,5) 9 Adult human male (3) 10 Hindu ascetic (4) 11 Cape of — — (4,4) 13 Bovine dung (6) 14 Large public room (6) 17 Town in Wales (8) 19 Boast; bird (4) Solution to Crossword 6546 CR I CYC O I W I N C ARM T O CAN H S ERO R O N

AN E L O N D R L E V B E R DE N U T

K SH T NE W RE S D T R C RRA A T Y E CRA

A D M I T T E D E P I C

F T O P YRRH N E RA I N D O FORM E RA I N B O HOON D K ER

I am often asked to what degree bluffing plays a part in Bridge. Being quintessentially a partnership game, you should be wary of bluffing in many situations, for fear of fooling partner. However there is plenty of scope of bluffing when declaring (partner is dummy and irrelevant); or when bidding and partner has no further role to play (eg they’ve preempted).

I pulled off such a tactical coup in the Icelandair Festival earlier in the year. Holding: ♠K10xx, ♥-, ♦Q10xx, ♣AKJxx, I heard partner Zia Mahmood open 3♦ (very suspect as we were non vul v vul) and righthand opponent overcall 3♥. I expected to make 5♦, but if I bid it straight away, left-hand opponent would surely bid on to 5♥.

So I (smoothly) passed 3♥!

Left-hand opponent bid the expected 4♥ – there were 13 hearts out there after all – and the bidding came back to me.

When I now bid 5♦, it sounded like a sacrifice bid and, instead of bidding on to their (making) 5♥, they doubled. Zia made it.

NowthisfromanARBCDuplicate: Dealer North N-S Vul

16 1

22 Limb (3) 23 Arousing intense feeling (9) 24 Intrinsic character (7) 25 Positive terminal (5) Down 1 Impressive display (5) 2 Scottish city (7) 3 Marsh plant; hurry (4) 4 Marilyn —, actress (6) 5 Motorcycle stadium (8) 6 Small role (5) 7 Portable lamp (7) 12 French emperor (8) 13 Colleague (7) 15 The Castle of —, Gothic novel by Horace Walpole (7) 16 Comedian’s straight man (6) 18 French city after which denim is named (5) 20 Author of The Portrait of Dorian Gray (5) 21 Verdi’s Egyptian opera (4)

Need help with today’s puzzle? Call 0906 757 7188 to check the answers. For help with possible words to fit a specific clue text TIMESCROSS followed by a space and the letters that you know, replacing the unknown letters with full stops, to 85088 to receive a list, eg, TIMESCROSS P.P..R to 85088. Calls cost 77ppm from BT landlines. Other networks and mobiles may vary. Texts cost £1 plus your standard network charge. SP: Spoke, W1B 2AG, 0333 202 3390 (Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm).

© PUZZLER MEDIA

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Senders of the first three correct entries drawn will each receive a copy of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Write your name and contact details in the space provided and send to: Listener Crossword No 4318, 63 Green Lane, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL3 6HE, to arrive by November 13.

listenercrossword.com

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1

Bridge Andrew Robson

Solution to Listener Crossword No 4315 on page 55

23 11

The Listener Crossword No 4318 Wordplay by Schadenfreude

More information about Chambers books can be found at chambers.co.uk

Name .....................................................................................................................................................................................

Address ................................................................................................................................................................................ .................................... Postcode ....................................... Phone number..............................................................

In 12 clues the wordplay leads to the answer with a single letter omitted. In row order these letters spell out an appropriate word, which can also be read as an instruction that solvers must follow by changing two letters in the grid. This will reveal a definition of the five answers whose clues consist of wordplay only (including one of the above 12) and a word that has a definition confirming the way in which across answers are entered. This definition (4,8) must be written beneath the grid. The Chambers Dictionary (2011) is the primary reference.

Across 1 A letter plate that is German (6) 6 A dye turned brown after a time (6) 11 A pair of European countries (7) 13 Material in book in conflict (8) 14 Fire-power once encountered by the French in retreat (5) 15 Spot unit of length (6) 16 Young animals were running round a northern square (7) 18 Fish caught in this year (4) 19 Spain’s tenor to settle (4) 21 Moderation at English county dancing party (7) 23 Wavy set’s popular for sex appeal (7) 25 American accommodating line dancer (4) 27 A bird about to return to Norway (4) 29 Noon train out of Reading maybe derailed opposite platform (7) 31 A spirit is able to return on small boat (6) 33 Tropical tree and oil-producing plant (5) 35 Sister, thin and athletic, touring Italy (8, two words) 36 Shellfish I see stopping behind (7) 37 Fish are dipped in soft cheese (6) 38 Protection department holding tide checks (6) Down 1 Play actor suffered (6)

2 Arboreal creature died climbing a tree (4) 3 The other soldiers advanced following the Queen (7) 4 A confused group sheltered by us (5) 5 A woman, secure, retired, about fifty-one (6) 7 Weary soldiers in trap with navy (8) 8 Forward in perfect condition (4) 9 Breathing problem apparently almost finished (5) 10 Member of embassy staff abandoned by European associate (6) 12 An artist to contend with Virginia’s broad latitude (6) 17 Dodgy PR on loan without separated charges (8) 20 Quiet northern pasture strip (6) 22 Issue bridge player with instruction to discard diamonds (7) 23 Nurse having a diseased person under cover (6) 24 Special corps withdrawn from northbound covert units (6) 26 Australian ship’s carrying British officials from China (6) 28 Weary unionist enthralled by endless game (5) 30 Home help turned up (5) 32 Goddess turning silver to gold, not for all to see (4) 34 Each new boy’s name (4)

Two Brains Raymond Keene

Word Watching Paul Dunn

Literary Quiz Paul Dunn

Question 1 If the longest of 150 has 176 and the shortest has 2, what are they and what are their numbers?

Question 2 What is the name connection between the writers of the following pairs?

Gosford Park/Downton Abbey; A Web of Decep tion — The Spycatcher Affair/The Truth About Dirty Tricks; The Magic Mountain/ Death in Venice Answers on page 57

Janissary a. A bouncer b. A bodyguard c. Two-faced Gamp a. Lame b. Fried mince and beans c. An umbrella Mallee a. A eucalyptus tree b. Gobbledegook c. A sugary fondant Plage a. A sun spot b. To trim tree branches c. Copied material in a thesis

Relative values Who were: 1 Canteen Anna?

2 Mitya, Vanya and Alyosha?

3 Olga, Masha and Irina?

4 Philip Henry and Edmund?

Answers on page 57

Answers on page 57

Thanks to David Trapnell of Forest of Dean for this week’s first question, and J Jones of Ilford for the second. Please send your puzzles to keenebrain@aol.com. All readers who have contributed to this

♠A8652 ♥AQ97642 ♦6 ♣♠4 ♠N W E ♥J83 ♥ K 10 5 S ♦AQJ875 ♦ 10 4 3 2 ♣KQ3 ♣A87642 ♠ K Q J 10 9 7 3 ♥♦K9 ♣ J 10 9 5 Table One E

S

W

2♦ Pass

4♠ Pass

5♦ 7♦

N 1♥ 6♠ Dbl [end]

North thought (rightly) he could make 6♠ after he heard his partner jump to 4♠, so he bid it. However this provoked West in to the sacrifice of 7♦ – if North thought he was making 6♠, who was West to think otherwise? North could but double 7♦ – holding a diamond loser.

East played 7♦ doubled elegantly. Ruffing South’s king of spades lead (yes a club works better but...) in dummy, declarer crossed to the ace of diamonds (no finesse), then played out king-queen of clubs, over to dummy’s ace and ruffed a club.

He now exited with a second trump. South won the king but his forced spade exit enabled declarer to ruff in dummy shedding one of his losing hearts, then discard the other two on dummy’s two long clubs. Just down one: N-S +100.

Table Two E

S

W

2♦ Pass

4♠ Pass

5♦ 6♦

N 1♥ 5♠ 6♠ [end]

By bidding only 5♠ (which, if left to play there, he thought would score better than defending 7♦ doubled) over 5♦, then 6♠ over 6♦, North let E-W think they had chances of beating 6♠ (otherwise why didn’t he bid 6♠ straight away).

They did not save.

6♠ was easy. West led a diamond to East’s ace and declarer tabled his cards. 12 tricks and slam made. N-S +1430. andrew.robson@thetimes.co.uk

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

For more crosswords and your favourite puzzles go to thetimes.co.uk/puzzles Jumbo crossword No 1117 Cryptic clues Across 1 Person gets in amount of wine — tons — for stew à la française (9) 6 Dead clever, securing university starts for numerous classicists (7) 10 Fish in traps, wriggling (5) 13 Kind of railway engineer and guard stuck in coach (8,5) 14 Bring from abroad a foreign plague (9) 15 A rebel joins me in learned environment (7) 16 Single policeman going round Victoria area and eastern part of Kentish Town (7) 17 Torment over power given to newspapers (7) 18 Expert’s skill, reversing to right in showroom car (12) 20 Businessman maybe works for RADA, ignoring industry for a start (10) 23 Seaman heads for tavern in ancient port (5) 24 Drink spirit and trouble, we hear, will follow (6,3) 25 Receding water’s carrying quaint unfortunate people (7) 26 Keep framing for eg Monet original depicting flower (6-2-3) 28 Munch, consuming assortment of Easter eggs ultimately, and savoury snack (6,5) 30 Far from rude joke about educated girl, one with short name (11) 32 Champion in a sport got trounced (11) 34 Trendy youngsters going around for all to see: it’s a nightmare (7) 36 Garment being worn could be ace on its own? (9) 38 Difficulty in Feydeau play, run coming to end? (5) 39 Football League team has problem wearing cotton (10) 41 Method of painting inside local church shows lack of restraint (12) 45 Person flouting rules spoilt the race (7) 46 Follow alternate parts of film by retired English movie director (7) 47 Law court backing 2014 World Cup volunteers? (4,3) 49 Unknown number at posh gathering, of course (9) 50 Bit of poetry by Sassoon, perhaps, in defence of war (9,4) 52 Top journalist backing Democrat was of assistance (5) 53 Lackey cross about friend being contracted (7) 54 Coppers will arrest couple hiding head in shame (9)

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Down 1 Fruit half-starving kid consumes (7) 2 Flipping mad at maestro, forgetting second hymn (6,5) 3 An octogenarian, perhaps you’ll drive only every now and then (5) 4 Series of popular gestures, most generous (7) 5 Name children’s game (3) 6 Carpets slashed behind entrance to discount shop (9) 7 Enemy sergeant ultimately going over name and rank (6) 8 In the middle of nowhere? That’s not important (7,4,3,5) 9 Controlled from above, party’s under pressure in place like Harrogate (3-4) 10 Dump slogan used by supporter of metric system? (9) 11 I urge one to reshuffle, beginning to resume card game (5,2,4) 12 “Hair” part for actresses (5) 16 A Gershwin song? Maybe, maybe not (2,4,11,2) 19 Close family members are accommodated in home (7) 21 Delicate wine with high tea, right? (4-5) 22 Crazy plan to cross a part of the US (6) 23 Child looking forward to summer, presumably? (9) 24 Mischievous girls at home involved in pranks (7) 25 Daily paper enlists mostly steady support (7) 27 Unit of currency in, say, parable (New Testament) (6) 29 One derides sister swigging endless drink (7) 31 Remembered prayer when in a rush (11) 33 Tourist initially visiting old South American country for a spell (11) 35 Surgeon confined to base, troubled by burns (9) 37 Revolutionary met Lenin hiding a distinguishing feature (9) 40 Incoherent old actress briefly took the lead (7) 42 Share drink I’ll get addicted to (7) 43 Old-time soldiers lacking moderation (7) 44 Chinese food, not very light quantity, say (3,3) 45 Conspirator, wrongdoer getting picked up (5) 48 Rumour about Piaf being unclothed? (2,3) 51 “Dedicated Follower of Fashion” — loud musical work (3)

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Name......................................................................................................... Prizes Address..................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................................... ............................................................ Postcode.....................................

Phone number......................................................................................

The prize for each of the first correct solutions to the Cryptic and times2 Jumbo clues to be opened will be a collection of Times reference books — including The Times Universal Atlas of the World, Collins English Dictionary & Thesaurus, and Bradford’s Crossword Solver’s Dictionary published by HarperCollins — worth £110. Entries should be marked “Cryptic” or “times2” and sent to: Jumbo 1117, The Times, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9FG, to arrive

by November 13. The winners and the solutions will be published on November 15.

Quick clues Across 1 Oblong attractor (3,6) 6 Like a length of pipe (7) 10 Firmly fastened; tense (5) 13 Believing in the supernatural (13) 14 Early astronomical instrument (9) 15 Famous waterfall (7) 16 Possibly dangerous or false (7) 17 Deadlock (7) 18 Marlon Brando film (3,9) 20 Compulsive toiler (10) 23 Prevent, ward off (5) 24 To a tiresomely excessive degree (2,7) 25 Give authority to (7) 26 Area of SW Brazil (older spelling) (5,6) 28 Holy Island (11) 30 Disturb an existing situation (4,3,4) 32 Be destroyed by fire (2,2,2,5) 34 Mad, crazy (7) 36 Coquettish female comedy role (9) 38 Unfasten (5)

39 Situated immediately over the stomach (10) 41 An award in recognition of a loss (12) 45 Teaching, instruction (7) 46 Offensively vulgar (7) 47 One on a protest walk (7) 49 Help out (4,1,4) 50 Excessively likely to be upset (13) 52 Strange, frightening (5) 53 River of North Yorkshire (7) 54 An earlier example serving as a guide (9) Down 1 Light steel helmet (7) 2 A substitute (11) 3 Main artery of the body (5) 4 To an extreme degree (3,4) 5 Very young child (3) 6 Bride’s clothes and linen collection (9) 7 Woven container (6) 8 LCM in fill (5,6,8) 9 Consider again (7)

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Military transport vessel (9) Former of bottles, etc (5-6) Subject (of a talk) (5) Make necessary reforms (3,4,5,2,5) Furthest away (7) Wine variety (9) Online record of personal opinions (6) Deserving respect and approval (9) Lacking ventilation (7) Imposing building (7) Production (6) Surgically made passage (7) Hair application (11) Burying one’s head in the sand (7-4) Completely destroy (9) One of two US presidents (9) Beer mug (7) One whose name is put forward (7) Direction (3-4) On land (6) Fine net material (5) Elevate (5) Eat a late meal; sip (3)

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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World

Navy Seals are told to honour code of silence on Bin Laden United States

Will Pavia New York

After Seal Team 6 killed Osama bin Laden, President Obama addressed the nation and thanked the men of America’s elite fighting force. “The American people do not see their work, nor know their names,” he said. “But tonight they feel the satisfaction of their work.”

Americans were not kept in the dark for long, and officials at the Department of Justice are investigating one of those heroes for writing an unapproved book, amid increasing dismay at the Pentagon over the indiscretions of that supposedly silent band of brothers.

The investigation of Matt Bissonnette, a highly respected former Seal who in 2012 published an unapproved book that detailed the Bin Laden raid, comes as another member of the team, who claims to have fired the shots that killed the al-Qaeda leader, prepares to give an interview on national television.

At the Pentagon, Commander Amy Derrick-Frost warned that “if in fact this individual was associated with the military unit that carried out the raid, which is yet to be determined, he is still bound by his non-disclosure agreement to not discuss classified information, especially in a nationally televised interview.”

She added: “We urge any former Seal to abide by the Seal ethos, particularly the core tenet: ‘I do not advertise the nature of my work, nor seek recognition for my actions.’ ” Seals are meant to adhere to that ethos so diligently that even fellow members of the navy are unaware of their status — a discretion celebrated in the film Under Siege, in which Steven Seagal plays a former Seal working as a cook aboard a warship.

“People want to know what went on and how it went on,” said John McGuire, a retired Seal who runs the physical training company SEAL Team PT. “The problem is our enemy wants to know too. My opinion is we should not share these things. I don’t know what this guy is going to say in this in-

terview but it could put people’s lives in danger.”

Other former Seals have expressed concern at Mr Bissonnette’s book, asking those who killed Bin Laden had “the maturity to handle their own success”. A group of veterans said it was well known that “the team that executed the OBL operation was openly celebrating at an establishment called Afterburners, a local Virginia beach bar.”

Mr Bissonnette published No Easy Day under a pseudonym, and changed the names of his colleagues, but he later gave a television interview.

His lawyer, Robert Luskin, said that Mr Bissonnette had seen Leon Panetta, the former defence secretary, encouraging members of the Seal team to cooperate with the makers of the Hollywood film Zero Dark Thirty. “Matt’s view was, ‘Wait, this is our story, not their story’,” he told The New York Times. “And why should that story be told through the mouths of others?”

A long account, full of inside information, had appeared in The New Yorker and its author was about to publish a book when Mr Bissonnette’s account was rushed to press. Mr Luskin said that his client had apologised for not seeking the approval of the Department of Justice, and had not spent any of the book’s proceeds, pending an expected settlement with the government.

6 The Freedom Tower, which has been a monument to America’s slow but determined recovery from the September 11 attacks, will become an office block on Monday, when its new occupants start turning up for work.

Staff of the media conglomerate Condé Nast, publisher of Vogue and The New Yorker, will be the first to clock on at the new 1 World Trade Center, which rises 1,776 feet over a plaza of swamp oaks and two vast “reflecting pools” marking the footprints of the old twin towers.

A museum commemorating the 2001 attacks opened in May but large parts of the complex are still under construction and 40 per cent of the Freedom Tower has yet to be let.

FRITS DE BRUYN

Behind you Andy Johnston had to paddle for his life when a great white shark stalked him at Esperance, southeast of Perth

Protests over spa days for five-year-olds Spain

Graham Keeley Madrid

A Spanish company that runs spa days for girls as young as five has brought protests about the sexualisation and gender stereotyping of children.

Princelandia offers massages, manicures, pedicures and hairdressing services, after which the children can take part in a catwalk show in front of their parents.

The chain, which has 25 branches across Spain, also offers girls a service called Princess Forever in which they can dress up and “indulge their princess fantasies”.

Boys are welcome to attend but the company admits that its main clients are girls aged between 5 and 12. Prices start at €10 (£7.85) per hour.

When branches opened in Sabadell and Granollers, two towns near Barcelona, dozens of people protested outside.

“This place makes the girls think they must fulfil the role of the pretty, submissive girl who has to be perfect for her prince, not for herself, but for

others,” Judit Terés, of Project Her, a feminist group, said.

“Little by little it is sexualising girls and making them think that they must be like their mothers before they really have a chance to grow up. They say it is educative but is this how girls should be educated?” claimed that Sociologists Princelandia was helping to men’s traditional reinforce women’s role in Spain’s’s macho society, which is slowly dying out.

“These centress do not help to socialise girls in an egalitarian way,” Silvia Casola, a sociologist, said.

Princelandia rejected the criticism, claiming that it was offering a fun and educational service. gel Parra, the Miguel Ángel owner of Princelandia, said that the concept had been devised by his daughter. u“Though education is primarily

the choice of parents, Princelandia tries to help to develop the intellectual capacities of children,” he said.

Monitors in all Princelandia branches were qualified teachers or psy had qualifications in psychology or special needs education, he added.

Cristina Cruz, owner of the Princelandia franchise in Sabadell, rejected claims that the spa was sexualising children. She simp a “place to said that it was simply create a little fantasy and magic for children”.

“There are girls who want to paint their nails and others who want to dress up as pirates. We don’t try to create stereotypes,” she said.

Last year 250,000 girls went to Princelandia centre centres in Spain.

The company has plans to expand the spas into Britain, the United States, Portug tugal and An Angola.

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RBS goes on the attack

Business

Rivals are told to improve behaviour

Page 65

Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

Japan turns on the taps

SuperGroup made to sweat

Page 66

Page 69

Central bank vote lifts global markets

Indian summer blamed for decline

RICHARD DREW / AP

Walsh flies high on BA’s profits business commentary Alistair Osborne

N

ot everyone has the same pain threshold as Willie Walsh, a man who once wagered a “knee in the groin” to settle one of his many spats with Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin king.

So, it’s no surprise to hear the boss of British Airways-owner IAG goad his rivals yesterday with the claim that they’re just not hard enough (report page 54). A right bunch of pansies when it comes to axing costs was the drift from “Slasher” Walsh, who sold the paintings off the Aer Lingus boardroom wall to save the Irish airline before taking BA’s controls in May 2005.

How come IAG was at cruising altitude when it was oxygen-mask time at Lufthansa and Air FranceKLM, thanks to their regular profit warnings? “Others are struggling to gain traction while a lot of the work we’ve done is paying off now,” breezed Mr Walsh.

You can see it, too, in the thirdquarter figures. Fresh from cutting 4,500 of Iberia’s 21,000 staff, IAG has just raised its full-year operating profits forecast to as much as €1.37 billion, up to €600 million more than last time. Iberia’s at last looking vaguely sensible, with profits more than doubling to €162 million, while BA rose 27 per cent to €607 million.

Only Vueling, the low-cost Spanish outfit, had a flat €140 million.

No real argument, then, that January 2011’s BA-Iberia tie-up is working, with the £5.7 billion market value at the merger now up to £8.4 billion. Except for one thing: all the profits have come from BA. The UK carrier has chipped in €2.8 billion profit, while Iberia’s contribution has been €548 million losses, plus €514 million of restructuring costs.

So, why did BA shareholders get only 56 per cent of the combined company? True, Mr Walsh could point to synergies from the deal, a net €429 million in 2013 and a likely €490 million this year. Iberia has also brought fresh airport capacity from which to expand — vital, too, if Mr Walsh is right and Britain again ducks an extra runway.

Yet, he did give rather a lot away.

What pain the merger ratio must still cause BA shareholders even if it’s not as bad as a kick in the nuts.

Bomb disposal

D

efusing “the biggest time bomb in history”. That was how Ross McEwan’s predecessor at RBS, one Stephen Hester, characterised running the bank. Mr McEwan may have a more subtle problem: managing expectations. Whisper it quietly but RBS’s third-quarter results (report, page 53) looked rather promising, as the 6 per cent jump in the shares implied. True, there was a £780 million provision for all the bad stuff the bank used to specialise in. And Mr McEwan stressed that

£400 million for alleged forex rigging won’t be enough, while there’s more legacy stuff to come, including a big fine for mis-sold US mortgage-backed securities.

Yet, that aside, there were useful signs of progress. The workout in the “bad bank”, RBS’s capital resolution wing, is probably a year ahead of schedule, with problem assets down from £38 billion to £17.9 billion. Impairments are getting written back with the recovering economy. And tier one capital is up 2.2 percentage points since the year end to stand at 10.8 per cent.

True, the shrinking corporate bank still has its problems. But, maintain the overall progress, and what about a dividend at the bank 80 per cent-owned by the taxpayer?

Mr McEwan made that sound as likely as re-employing Fred Goodwin, ruling out any payout until RBS was litigation-free and with 12 per cent tier one capital. His hint was no earlier than 2017. It could be sooner than that.

Debt of honour

R

emembrance Sunday looms.

So, nice of George Osborne to pop up with a plan to redeem £218 million of debt, the “4% Consols” that helped to fund the First World War effort (report, page 53). It’ll only make a tinsy dent in the national debt, what with the gross gilt stock totalling £1.45 trillion. Why, though, has he waited this long? A government gilt paying 4 per cent a year does look generous in an era of QE, not least when the consols were trading at just above par, or £100.22.

True, as the Debt Management Office pointed out, the chancellor had to weigh up replacing a perpetual bond with a fixed-term gilt that would require refinancing.

Yet, he’s right to take the risk.

The holders, who have received £1.26 billion in interest, will now get their £100 bond back, having rather eroded their capital, worth £5,208 in 1927, after adjusting for RPI. As for the chancellor, he’s still got £2 billion of WWI debt, with a 3.5 per cent coupon, now trading at £92.18. Time to pay that back too.

Fashion victim

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arly proof that even the new chief executive of SuperGroup has limited powers. A week ago, Euan Sutherland kitted himself out in the company clobber, even dousing himself in the aftershave.

He still couldn’t stop the sun shining, though. The upshot is a profit warning that took a chunky 10 per cent off the shares (report page 57). After Next’s wardrobe problems, how big a tip-off did the market need? alistair.osborne@thetimes.co.uk

Trick or treat The New York stock exchange can be a scary place even when it is not Hallowe’en, so it seemed a reasonable idea for Hershey’s, the chocolate company, to send a scarecrow on to the trading floor as part of a promotion yesterday

Candy approach puts FT back on the table Deirdre Hipwell, Andrew Clark

Nick Candy and his brother Christian made an audacious attempt to buy the Financial Times in a development that will once again prompt questions about the future ownership of the newspaper.

The brothers, who are best known for their role in creating the luxury One Hyde Park development in Knightsbridge, are understood to have approached Pearson, the listed owner of the FT, within the past 12 months and held initial discussions.

They are among several potential buyers that have contacted Pearson about the newspaper which, according to City bankers, could be valued at £790 million if a competitive auction were to be held.

Mukesh Ambani, one of the richest men in India, also contacted Pearson about buying the FT. Bloomberg, the US financial information empire, has looked closely at the newspaper, as have several private equity firms.

Sources said that the Candy brothers, who have a wide array of business investments from property to finance and mining, were motivated both by the

prestige of owning the FT as well as a potentially lucrative “property play”.

The newspaper’s office is on the South Bank of the Thames, occupying “prime river frontage” and could potentially be converted into expensive flats.

The brothers have no significant publishing interests. Nick Candy, 41, is married to Holly Valance, the Australian actress and singer, and is well known on London’s social scene. His brother Christian, 40, lives in low-tax Monte Carlo.

Pearson has owned the FT since 1957 and, until two years ago, the group was adamant that the paper’s ownership was not negotiable. Dame Marjorie Scardino, Pearson’s former chief executive, declared that the FT would only be sold “over my dead body”.

However, John Fallon, who succeeded Dame Marjorie last year, has been more equivocal. In a recent interview with The Times, he said that Pearson’s board “constantly reassesses whether Pearson is the best possible owner” for the newspaper.

He said that he believed the answer was “yes”, although he stressed that this would be regularly reviewed. His

ambivalence has prompted an upsurge in activity among possible buyers.

Largely focused on education, Pearson produces textbooks, educational software and teaching aids as well as operating English language schools in developing countries. Its FT division generated profits of £55 million on sales of £449 million last year, accounting for just 8 per cent of the group’s overall revenue.

It is also understood that a separate approach to Pearson was recently made by a top City investment banker representing the Ambani family, of India.

Headed by Mr Ambani, the family made their wealth in the oil and gas sectors. They were rebuffed by Pearson. A spokesman for Mr Ambani denied any interest in the FT. One investment banker who declined to be named said: “The Financial Times is not a large driver of profits for Pearson and in many ways it would make sense to sell it, but it is a nice asset to own as it has such a strong brand.

Whenever we have tried to interest them in a sale they have always said no.”

Management at the FT recently Continued on page 66, col 4

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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Business

Need to know Your 5-minute digest economics Japan: Stock markets across Europe and in the US surged after the Bank of Japan ramped up efforts to head off economic slowdown.

Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid and Milan all gained more than 3 per cent, tracking still more impressive gains in Tokyo, while the Dow Jones industrial average climbed 1.1 per cent to 17,376 by lunchtime. In London, the FTSE 100 rose 83 points to 6,546.5 as the move by Japan’s central bank helped to soothe concerns about the end of the US Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing programme this week and the European Central Bank’s reluctance, thus far, to embark on one. The Tokyo stock market rose to its highest in seven years and the yen fell further after the Bank of Japan set out new monetary easing measures. Page 66 Consumer confidence: British morale edged down for a second month in October as households showed less faith in the outlook for the economy, a survey by researchers showed. GfK’s headline consumer confidence index fell last month to minus two from minus one in September.

banking & finance 2.87% War bonds: Savers whose grandparents bought a few hundred pounds of government bonds at the Post Office decades ago should start rooting around in their attics to see if they hold any certificates for these investments. The chancellor said that the government would redeem the entire £218 million of debt on its 4 per cent Consolidated Loan, which will pay back part of the country’s wartime debt. Page 65 HSBC: A board member of the global lender has unleashed a new wave of wrath from prodemocracy protesters in Hong Kong after suggesting that they should wait patiently for fully free elections in the same way that emancipated American slaves had to wait more than a century for the right to vote. Laura Cha, who sits on the bank’s conduct and values committee, drew the explosive comparison during an event in Paris. Page 67 Royal Bank of Scotland: High street bankers need to “clean up their act” and “stop offering products you need a PhD to understand”, the RBS chief executive of Scotland said in a fierce attack on his rivals. Ross McEwan, who took over at the state-owned bank last year, also accused other banks of “trapping people in debt” by offering interest-free periods on credit card balance transfers. RBS, which owns the NatWest and Ulster Bank franchises, recently abandoned interest-free periods and also so-called teaser rates on savings products. Page 65 Bank of England: Shares in Barclays soared by 9 per cent after the central bank

announced laxer rules than expected on capital across the industry. The keenly awaited regime on leverage ratios was greeted with relief by banks, some of which could have been forced to raise new capital or sell assets. Virgin Money, which postponed its planned flotation two weeks ago, seized on the new rules as a welcome development and rushed out third-quarter figures last night in a move suggesting that it hopes to resurrect its £2 billion listing within weeks if market conditions allow.

Page 65

City Index: Michael Spencer, a former Conservative party treasurer, is $82 million richer after selling City Index, his spread-betting company, to a New York rival. The entrepreneur best known for his role as founder and chief executive of Icap, an interdealer broker that facilitates large trades between big banks, said City Gain Capital, an online foreign exchange trader listed in New York. Mr Spencer will remain a shareholder but have no executive role. Page 65 BNP Paribas: France’s No 1 bank said that third-quarter net income rose 11 per cent from a year ago as gains in fixed income trading and international retail offset a lacklustre economic environment in its core European markets. The results mark a return to profit for the bank, which posted its first net loss since the 2008 financial crisis in the previous quarter, the result of a $8.9 billion fine from American authorities for breaking sanctions against Sudan, Cuba and Iran over a ten-year period.

Standard Chartered: The bank is under pressure to speed up plans to replace Peter Sands as chief executive after three earnings alerts in less than a year and a sharp drop in the value of its shares. Directors on the board of the emerging markets lender will hold a private meeting with the chairman, Sir John Pease, next week in Singapore to discuss potential replacements for Mr Sands, whose leadership has been called into question by leading shareholders, according to reports. Page 65

consumer goods 0.03% Anheuser-Busch InBev: Third-quarter beer volumes at the world’s biggest brewer fell by 2.6 per cent, due mainly to a sharp decline in Russia and Ukraine, while volumes in Britain of brands including Stella Artois and Budweiser fell by 9.8 per cent amid unfavourable comparisons with the hot weather and the boost provided by the World Cup in July last year.

Danone: The dairy group will buy 25 per cent stake of Yashili International Holdings, a Chinese milk powder maker, for $550 million (£344 million) as it seeks to increase its footprint in China’s fastgrowing dairy sector. The tie-up will focus on China’s infant milk formula market,

which is set to be worth $17.8 billion this year.

leisure 1.26% Hallowe’en: Bars and clubs throughout the land are gearing up for one of the busiest nights in recent memory as revellers flush with their monthly pay cheques celebrate. Luminar, Britain’s biggest nightclub operator, said that Hallowe’en had overtaken New Year’s Eve to become “the biggest single footfall day of the year” as clubbers don devil outfits and zombie suits to dance the night away. Page 64

World markets FTSE 100 6,546.47 (+82.92)

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Quote of the week

‘I’m proud to be gay and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me’ Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple

Graph of the day UK wholesale gas prices for delivery in November fell 1.5 per cent yesterday on news that Ukraine and Russia have finally signed a deal that will lead to Moscow resuming gas supplies to its neighbour this winter, easing fears of Europe-wide shortages UK wholesale gas price

Pence per therm 62p 60 58 56 54 52

Jul

Aug

Source: Thomson Reuters

2014

Sept

Oct

50

Results in brief Name

Pre-tax figure Profit (+) loss (-)

1Spatial (technology HY) Coms (technology HY)

-£0.7m (-£0.4m) -£0.4m (-£88,645)

Dividend 0p 0p

6 Results in brief are given for all companies valued at more than £30 million. f = final p = payable

The day’s biggest movers Company Ceramic Fuel Cells A tax refund Barclays Less onerous rule changes Regus Debt worries ease RBS A third consecutive quarterly profit IAG Confident about growth Direct Line Gross insurance premiums slip SuperGroup A profit warning Centamin Cheaper gold Bwin.party Worries about tax in Germany ULS Technology A profit warning

retailing 1.21%

15,000

Fri

Brent Crude $85.62 (-1.64)

$

natural resources 0.27% ENRC: The miner secured a victory in its legal battle against Sir Paul Judge, a former ENRC director whom it is trying to sue for leaking confidential information. An application to have ENRC’s claim struck off was rejected

by Mrs Justice Swift at the High Court. The judge, in her written judgment, said the chronology of events over ENRC’s claim “strongly suggests” that ENRC was primarily concerned with ensuring Sir Paul did not hand over privileged documents to the SFO, which is investigating the group.

Kazakhmys: The copper producer officially became KAZ Minerals as it completed a restructuring that will spin off its older mines into a separate company owned by Vladimir Kim, the former Kazakhmys chairman.

14,400

Fri

Commodities

media 0.88% Pearson: Nick Candy and his brother, Christian, recently made an audacious attempt to buy the Financial Times in a development that will prompt questions about the future ownership of the newspaper.

The brothers, who are best known for their role in creating the luxury One Hyde Park development in Knightsbridge, are understood to have approached Pearson, the listed owner of the FT, within the past 12 months and held initial discussions. They are among several potential buyers who have contacted Pearson about the newspaper, which, according to City bankers, could be valued at as much as £790 million. Page 62 WPP: Sir Martin Sorrell, the chief executive of the world’s largest advertising group, said he “can’t remember a time when there have been so many” geopolitical threats making businesses nervous.

Sentiment among chief executives is not nearly as bad as in the depths of the financial crisis, but corporate titans are nevertheless more inclined to keep their powder dry than to invest freely, Sir Martin said as WPP reported an 8 per cent rise in like-forlike revenues to £2.8 billion for the third quarter. Page 69

FTSE 250 15,501.37 (+203.05)

6,650

Exxon/Chevron: Surging refining profits boosted quarterly results for the two American oil groups helping to offset lower oil and gas output and slumping crude oil prices. Both reported better third-quarter profits than expected with executives touting the importance of owning massive refineries alongside oil and gas wells.

Change 16.4% 8.2% 6.8% 6.2% 4.7% -2.0% -6.2% -6.7% -10.2% -24.0%

SuperGroup: Indian summer weather has had a brutal impact on Superdry hoodies and jackets, forcing a profit warning that the City fears is a portent of things to come for fashion retailers. SuperGroup, which has installed Euan Sutherland, the former Co-op boss, as its chief executive, said that the warm weather of the past two months had hit sales of the coats, jackets and hoodies for which it is best known. Shares in the Cheltenham-based company fell 55p to 833p. Page 69 Tesco: The chain’s debt could be downgraded to “junk” status unless it outlines plans to cut borrowing and improve trading, Moody’s said, raising the prospect of higher financing costs for Britain’s biggest grocer. Tesco, already facing a severe slowdown in sales said last month it had uncovered what has become a £250 million accounting hole, resulting in the suspension of eight senior executives and a Serious Fraud Office inquiry.

Marks & Spencer: The department store group is set to report a 13th straight quarterly fall in underlying non-food sales, with trading hurt by Britain’s warm autumnal weather, the continuing “settling in” of a new website and a sluggish economic recovery.

technology 3.40% Sony: A smaller operating loss than expected was hailed by the finance chief as proof that the Japanese group’s restructuring is paying off. The company said the reduced second quarter loss of 85.6 billion yen (£477 million) partly reflected rising sales of image sensors to smartphone manufacturers, though the poor showing from its own Xperia phones weighed heavily on results.

transport 1.67% International Airlines Group: A black hole of more than £140 million is opening up in the accounts of the BA owner after it emerged that the government in Venezuela is blocking access to revenues running back more than a year from the South American state. At third-quarter results for the airline group, Willie Walsh, the chief executive, was unwilling to expand on how much the group was likely to affected. Page 64

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

Business

Headwinds over Caracas but BA soars higher Robert Lea Industrial Editor

A black hole of more than £140 million is opening up in the accounts of IAG, the British Airways group, after it emerged that the post-Chávez government in Venezuela is blocking access to revenues from the South American state going back more than a year.

In the latest accounts of International Consolidated Airlines Group, the parent company of BA and its Spanish sisters Iberia and Vueling, the group admits that it “has unrepatriated funds of €184 million recognised by Venezuela’s central bank which relate to sales from 2013.” At the third-quarter results

for the airline group, Willie Walsh, IAG’s chief executive, was unwilling to expand on how much the group is likely to be out of pocket.

The group’s accounts say that the €184 million stuck in Venezuela relates to last year’s revenues, and the company has taken an exceptional charge of €82 million in its cash balances relating to Venezuela.

It is understood that IAG has received monies this year and that negotiations with the Venezuelan central bank continue. Mr Walsh suggested: “The situation there is generally difficult because of the economic climate.”

It is understood that payments last

year ceased in the political turmoil after the death of its leader, Hugo Chávez, 18 months ago.

The money relates to the three to four flights a week that Iberia runs to Caracas from Madrid. BA, which used to fly the route servicing the oil industry there, stopped going to Venezuela a decade ago.

The Venezuela issue took the shine off otherwise strong results, which Mr Walsh claimed was down to his costcutting and redundancy programme under which 4,500 mainly Iberia workers were taken out of the business.

With a recovering global economy working to IAG’s strengths flying to the

Americas, underlying operating profits in the first nine months leapt by 70 per cent to €1.13 billion as revenues rose more than 7 per cent to €15.1 billion. The airline said that it expected underlying operating profits of between €1.32 billion and €1.37 billion for the year.

The figures look especially good because of the troubles and profit warnings from Lufthansa and Air FranceKLM, its rivals on the Continent. Mr Walsh said: “We are in a different position because of the significant restructuring of the past few years. It’s not been easy but it is a difficult job that is paying off. Lufthansa and Air France-KLM are still facing up to that challenge.”

He said that restructuring had enabled the group to expand again, though comparable figures show that its aircraft were no nearer to being full and the yield — the income per passenger — was not growing. Seat factor for the IAG airlines was down 7 basis points at 80.7 per cent while revenue per available seat was down more than 1 per cent.

IAG reported that BA accounted for two thirds of the group’s profits and was up by more than 25 per cent. Iberia’s profits grew 120 per cent while Vueling, the budget brand, was flat at €140 million as margin was hit by its expansion around Europe. IAG shares rose by 18½p, or 4.7 per cent, to close at 409¼p.

KZENON / GETTY IMAGES

Bars and clubs set for a monster Hallowe’en

I

t has been dubbed Super Saturday.

Bars and clubs throughout the land are gearing up for one of the busiest nights in recent memory as revellers flush with their monthly pay cheques celebrate Hallowe’en in ghoulish style (Dominic Walsh and Alexandra Frean write).

Most town centre pubs expect the Friday before Christmas to be the busiest trading day of the year as workers get in the festive spirit, but some of Britain’s top nightclubs and latenight venues are predicting that tonight could set a

record. Luminar, Britain’s biggest nightclub operator, said that Hallowe’en had overtaken New Year’s Eve to become “the biggest single footfall day of the year” as clubbers don devil outfits and zombie suits to dance the night away.

This year, its advance ticket sales

are up fourfold on last year.

Peter Marks, the Luminar chief executive, said: “We are expecting the biggest weekend of the year so far as we have Hallowe’en falling on a pay weekend rather than midweek. We’ve been planning for months so we have the right entertainment and pricing to maximise

the business.” Ben Robson, of Boopshi’s, an Austrian cocktail and schnitzel bar in London, is also forecasting a big night. “Usually we don’t expect to see this kind of spike until December but the confluence of Hallowe’en, Guy Fawkes Night and payday means weekend revellers will be out in force on November 1. We predict record sales.”

Across the Atlantic, Christmas is coming early to American high streets, with Walmart launching 20,000 Christmas shopping special deals in its 11,000 stores and online from today.

US retailers usually wait until “Black Friday”, the day after Thanksgiving, to begin their Christmas shopping deals, but this year Walmart has acted a month early.

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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Business GETTY IMAGES

Osborne begins to repay war debt someone might have bought years ago, put away in the attic and simply forgotten about.”

Savers used to be able to buy government stock over the counter at the Post Office, but that option ended years ago.

So those who bought Consols 4 per cent that way may have felt reluctant to sell because the transaction would have to be carried out through a stockbroker.

The gilt was first issued in 1927 by Winston Churchill, the chancellor at the time, but, as the name implies, it consolidated earlier government loans, including National War Bonds from the First World War and other loans to finance the Napoleonic and Crimean wars.

Some of the debts date back to the South Sea Bubble of 1720.

Consols 4 per cent is an undated gilt, because, unlike almost all other

Winston Churchill issued Consols 4 per cent in 1927 when he was Conservative chancellor, partly to refinance bonds from the First World War

War bonds Source: Bloomberg

S

avers, or more likely their grandparents, who bought a few hundred pounds of government bonds via the Post Office decades ago should start rooting around in their attics to see if they hold any certificates for these investments (Mark Atherton writes).

The chancellor said yesterday that the government would redeem the £218 million of debt on its 4 per cent Consolidated Loan, which will pay back part of the country’s First World War debt.

More than 7,000 of the 11,200 registered holders of this government bond, or gilt, hold less than £1,000 of the issue.

Andrew Ramsbottom, of Tilney Bestinvest, a wealth manager, said: “Many of these people may not even be aware that they hold this gilt.

It’s the kind of thing that

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government loans, it does not have a specified redemption date so there is no obligation on the government to redeem the loan.

The Treasury said that it was doing so because it made sense to repay a

loan on which it was paying 4 per cent interest, when it could finance other long-term debt at an interest rate of about 3 per cent.

A spokesman said: “We are redeeming the full amount of this loan

RBS boss launches scathing attack on rivals for ‘trapping customers in debt’ Patrick Hosking Financial Editor

High street bankers needed to “clean up their act” and “stop offering products you need a PhD to understand”, the chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland said yesterday in a fierce attack on his rivals.

Ross McEwan, who took over at the state-owned bank last year, also accused other banks of “trapping people in debt” by offering interest-free periods on credit card balance transfers.

“It’s just time the industry stopped doing it,” he said, and it was up to the banks, not regulators, to change things.

RBS, which owns the NatWest and Ulster Bank franchises, recently abandoned interest-free periods and “teaser rates” on savings products — where customers were left to languish with very low interest rates after an initially attractive introductory period.

NatWest is running a mainstream advertising campaign featuring the song So Long, Farewell from The Sound

of Music to back up its slogan “Goodbye Unfair Banking”. It claims to publish the main terms and conditions of each retail product on a single piece of paper.

Interest-free periods are commonly used by most credit card providers, with Barclays, Lloyds, Halifax, TSB, Tesco Bank and Santander all involved.

The call for a more ethical approach to banking came as RBS had to admit a fresh scandal of its own. The bank set aside £400 million to pay expected fines for attempts to rig the foreign exchange markets and made plain that the bill would get larger.

It earmarked the cash as part of £780 million it set aside in its thirdquarter results for past misconduct, with Mr McEwan emphasising that fines and other litigation costs for past misconduct would continue to plague the bank in the coming quarters.

As well as the forex scandal, it is bracing for big fines over mis-sold mortgage-backed securities in the United States and an IT failure in Britain and

6 Shares in Barclays soared by 9 per cent yesterday, adding £2.8 billion to its market value, after the Bank of England announced laxer rules on capital than expected across the banking sector. The keenly awaited regime on leverage ratios was greeted with relief by banks, some of which could have been forced to raise new capital or jettison assets.

According to the Bank, most institutions will be able meet the new requirements in the normal course of capital accumulation, though it estimated that £9.6 billion of additional capital might need to be raised by 2019 — equivalent to 3 per cent of their capital stock.

Ireland that shut customers out of their accounts for weeks in some cases.

The forex provision is only in respect of discussions with authorities that are close to settlement. Mr McEwan said: “There will be others that will follow on

from that.” RBS, along with other global banks including Barclays, is being investigated for attempts to rig the $5 trillion-a-day global forex market. Dozens of traders have been dismissed or suspended and a multibank settlement with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority is expected within weeks.

Mr McEwan declined to give any reassurance that the cost would fall on staff rather than shareholders, including taxpayers, though a “process” was under way to examine that.

Third-quarter profit before tax at RBS was £1.27 billion, the third successive money-making quarter. That compares with a loss of £634 million in the corresponding quarter of 2013 and a £1.01 billion profit in the second quarter.

RBS, as expected, released £801 million of previous provisions because the assets in its “bad bank” and its Ulster Bank offshoot were looking healthier than previously thought. It also set aside another £100 million for misselling payment protection insurance.

Tycoon lands $80m payout with spread-betting sale Deirdre Hipwell, Gary Parkinson

Michael Spencer, a former Tory party treasurer, is $82 million richer after selling the spread-betting company City Index to a New York rival.

The entrepreneur, who is best known for his role as founder and chief executive of Icap, an interdealer broker that facilitates large trades between big banks, said that City Index would be sold to Gain Capital Holdings, an online forex-trader listed in New York.

Mr Spencer, right, will remain a share-

holder in the new group but have no executive role in the company. The total value of the deal is $118 million as it includes $36 million of cash on City Index’s balance sheet. It will be funded by $20 million in cash, $60 million of convertible notes and about 5.3 million shares in Gain.

City Index was founded in London

in 1983 as one of the UK’s first spread-betting companies and today provides more than 10,000 products including contracts for difference, foreign exchange and UK spread betting.

Mr Spencer became involved in City Index in 1994 by buying a £6 million stake before securing full control during the next decade.

City Index suffered when the fi-

nancial crisis broke in 2008, with many of its City clients unable to meet their obligations. Mr Spencer put about $80 million into the business to help it to weather the storm.

Since then he has been recouping that investment by selling down his holdings in Icap to about 16 per cent — a stake worth £430 million today — as well as other investments held by IPGL, his private holding company for investments.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods acted as the adviser to IPGL.

and there will be no option to hold on to it.

All holders of the loan will receive notification eight weeks before the planned payout date in February and will be free to reinvest the proceeds as they wish.”

Sands’ time is running out amid dissent Miles Costello

Standard Chartered is coming under pressure to speed up plans to replace Peter Sands as chief executive in the wake of three earnings alerts in less than a year and a sharp drop in the value of its shares.

Independent directors on the board of the emerging markets lender will hold a private meeting with the chairman, Sir John Pease, next week in Singapore to discuss potential replacements for Mr Sands, whose leadership has been called into question by leading shareholders, according to reports.

Several of the bank’s leading institutional shareholders have said privately that they believe it is time for Mr Sands to go.

“It is not if, it is when,” a senior shareholder told The Times recently.

The talks precede a scheduled investor trip involving British and Asian investors in Standard Chartered, at which the bank is expected to come under huge pressure to provide clarity about its future leadership and strategy.

Investors have been concerned about the leadership since 2012, when it was hit with a $667 million fine in the United States for alleged sanctions busting in dealings with Iran.

Mr Sands’s leadership has been called into question as speculation mounts that the US Department of Financial Services has reopened its investigation into Standard Chartered to establish whether it withheld documents during the original enquiry.

Some investors have also raised questions about the future of Sir John.

As chairman of Burberry, he became embroiled in a dispute over pay at the luxury fashion retailer this year.

Shares in Standard Chartered shed 4p yesterday to close at 939½p.

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Business ANDREA PUCCI/GETTY IMAGES

Gherkin in the can for Brazil

T

he Gherkin in London is set to fall into Brazilian hands after the country’s Safra banking family tabled a £700 million bid for the skyscraper. Safra Group is understood to have blown its rivals out of the water with a bid that trounces the £630 million paid by Evans Randall, the private equity firm, and IVG, the German investment bank, in 2006, according to EuroProperty.

Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

World stocks surge after Bank of Japan ramps up stimulus Gary Parkinson Richard Lloyd Parry Tokyo

Stock markets across Europe and in the United States surged after the Bank of Japan ramped up its efforts to head off economic slowdown.

Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid and Milan all gained more than 3 per cent, tracking still more impressive gains in Tokyo, while the Dow Jones industrial average climbed by 181.35 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 17,376.77 by lunchtime.

In London, the FTSE 100 rose 82.92 points to 6,546.47 as the move by Japan’s central bank helped to soothe concerns about the end of the US Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing programme this week and the European Central Bank’s reluctance, thus far, to embark on one.

The Tokyo stock market rose to its highest level in seven years and the yen fell further after the Bank of Japan set out new monetary easing measures.

The Nikkei average surged 4.8 per cent to its highest close since November 2007, after the BoJ narrowly voted to pump more money into the economy in an effort to boost inflation after two decades of deflation and slump.

“Today’s step shows our unwavering determination to end deflation,” Haruhiko Kuroda, the bank’s governor, said.

“This is a pretty drastic step, so I think

there will be a significant effect. We don’t think there is an immediate need to do anything further . . . but we will make necessary policy adjustments looking at upside/downside risks.”

Mr Kuroda said that the bank would increase its purchases of assets by 10 trillion yen to 20 trillion yen (£56 billion to £112 billion) to an annual total of about 80 trillion yen.

The bank will buy more shares of exchange-traded funds and property investment trusts, and extend the duration of its holdings of Japanese government bonds. The decision comes at a moment when the US Fed is adopting the opposite approach and winding down quantitative easing.

The move is part of the effort to salvage “Abenomics”, the ambitious project by Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, to jolt the economy out of its pattern of low consumption and low growth, and to promote exports by weakening the yen. The BoJ has been successful in the latter but, despite a programme of public spending, spending and growth have slowed.

The bank’s target of 2 per cent inflation was looking increasingly unrealistic and a new round of stimulus measures was expected in the next few months. Mr Kuroda’s announcement came earlier than the markets expected, increasing its impact.

Candys attempted to buy FT Continued from page 51

submitted an annual business plan to Pearson, which called for substantial investment in the newspaper to build on recent improvements in readership.

Taking in both print and digital, the FT’s figures show an 8 per cent increase in circulation to 652,000 last year, including a 31 per cent increase in digital subscriptions.

It has also been rumoured recently that Pearson was considering offloading its 50 per cent stake in The Economist Group, another of its esteemed assets.

A Pearson spokesman said: “We do

not comment on speculation about our portfolio.”

A perennial name mentioned as a possible buyer for the FT is Bloomberg, which branched out into publishing in 2009 by buying Businessweek. The US financial information provider’s founder, Michael Bloomberg, teasingly stoked rumours about his interest last year by describing it as “my second favourite financial news outlet.”

Attending a party to celebrate the FT’s 125th anniversary, the former mayor of New York joked: “People are always telling me I should buy the FT. I buy it every day.”

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the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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Business

George Magnus

Be like the slaves and wait, HSBC tells activists

The spectre of deflation hangs over Europe - and we should all be scared

‘‘

George Magnus is a senior independent economic adviser to UBS

The spectre of deflation is haunting Europe.

Political spectres have haunted Europe for a long time. Karl Marx espoused communism, Churchill fought fascism and the baby boomers feared the Soviet “menace”.

Now we also have an economic spectre in the form of deflation. It may not scare people like inflation did in the 1970s, but we should fear it for good reasons.

The term deflation is often used incorrectly to refer to phenomena that are quite benign. For example, oil prices have fallen since the summer from $110 per barrel to about $85 to $90. New technologies have cut the costs of transportation, communications and data storage and transmission. But these are relative price changes, in which some prices fall while others rise. Deflation, on the other hand, is about a general decline in the level of prices that reflects a chronic deficiency of aggregate demand in the economy.

Left unchecked, deflation has dangerous consequences and demands urgent resolution.

Falling prices make it uneconomic for companies to invest and stymie personal consumption. Both lead to high unemployment or underemployment of both capital and labour. Deflation adds to the pressure to freeze wages or make workers redundant, aggravating the longrunning stagnation or fall in real wages. Government tax revenues suffer. The monetary or nominal value of GDP stagnates or declines, pushing up the proportion of debt.

Governments tighten budgetary policies to compensate, adverse underlying economic trends are exacerbated and countries can succumb to so-called debt deflation, which can end up in a sovereign default, financial crisis and possibly severe political instability.

This outline of deflation describes the shocking economic and financial

AYHAN MEHMET/GETTY IMAGES

Boarded-up shops in Greece highlight the dire state of demand in the eurozone

conditions in the 1930s, assumed widely to have been consigned to the history books. And yet, most western economies have experienced some or all of these conditions since 2011, especially in the eurozone and some other EU countries.

The UK has been spared the worst largely because it has its own central bank that has conducted an aggressive form of quantitative easing, it stabilised its dysfunctional banks earlier, it has a flexible currency and it has conducted a fiscal policy whose bark has generally been worse than its still painful bite. Even so, UK inflation in September fell to 1.2 per cent, revealing a mix of price increases and declines but confirming a downtrend that has become widespread and sustained by the stagnation of wages and salaries.

So long as the economy keeps growing, and there is every prospect that it will, even if it is at a slower pace next year, the UK should be able to sustain “lowflation” and keep deflation at bay. However, success is not a shoo-in, and this is a propitious time to implement different types of policies designed to keep demand in the economy from wilting over the

medium term, including a significant increase in the minimum wage, corporate tax and governance reform to encourage companies to invest, and accelerated public investment programmes financed at record low borrowing rates.

Spare a thought, though, for the more troublesome conditions prevailing in mainland Europe.

Consumer prices in September were lower than a year ago in Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal, and also in Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia. In Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Denmark, they were about 0.2 per cent to 0.5 per cent higher than a year earlier, while in Germany they were 0.8 per cent higher. For the eurozone as a whole, the annual change was 0.3 per cent, meaning that for nearly two years, the European Central Bank has been failing to meet its only goal, which is an inflation rate of less than but close to 2 per cent. The dire state of demand and the stagnation or decay in income formation do not look likely to change unless some sort of crisis erupts, forcing politicians to consider alternatives to the policies that have demonstrably failed to

spark economic recovery. The ECB is trying to build up its balance sheet by buying private sector assets and allowing the euro to decline, but no real relief is likely from deflation unless it is willing to embrace openended QE — that is, sovereign bond purchases — and preside over a substantial fall in the euro.

Legally it can do these things, and ultimately it might if conditions deteriorate enough, but it is in a political minefield. Mario Draghi seems to recognise that having Germany’s support for a limited role, compared with, say, the Bank of England, is preferable to losing it and ending up in a more subordinate role than France and others might assert.

In a nutshell, the eurozone has fallen victim to a destructive cocktail of economic stagnation, creeping deflation, political and economic orthodoxy and a one-sided relationship between Germany, its principal creditor, and France and the periphery of Europe, its principal debtors. This relationship has emphasised the single-minded demand for austerity adjustment by debtors, which is taking them farther away from debt sustainability and ever closer to debt default or restructuring. With no nominal growth, Italy’s debt-to-GDP growth has climbed from 120 per cent in 2011 to 137 per cent. In Spain, Greece and Portugal, the increase has been of the order of 20 to 30 per cent of GDP. In the absence of an urgent and radical change in economic thinking, deflation will take a stronger grip, perpetuate appallingly high unemployment and social hopelessness, and accentuate the political fracture that favours nationalistic and anti-EU sentiment.

The Balkanisation of European politics in favour of those seeking populist and poorly informed answers to complex problems is, of course, not confined to the other side of the Channel.

’’

Leo Lewis Beijing

A board member of HSBC has unleashed a new wave of wrath from pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong after suggesting that they should wait patiently for fully free elections in the same way that emancipated American slaves had to wait more than a century for the right to vote.

Laura Cha, a senior executive at HSBC who sits on the bank’s conduct and values committee, drew the explosive comparison during an event in Paris this week.

“American slaves were liberated in 1861 but did not get voting rights until 107 years later. So why can’t Hong Kong wait for a while?” she was quoted as saying at an event where she was representing the former British colony.

Her comments, protest leaders said last night, echo the true fears of Hong Kong’s business elites, who are increasingly anxious for the protests to end, for Asia’s biggest financial centre to return to normal, and for Beijing’s rising irritation to subside.

Thousands of protesters involved in the month-long occupation of central Hong Kong signed an online petition condemning Ms Cha and demanding an apology. “We, the Hong Kong public, will not stand these remarks likening our rights to slavery, nor will we stand the kind of voter disenfranchisement her and her associates attempt to perpetrate on the Hong Kong public,” read the petition directed to HSBC. Ms Cha’s comments, said prodemocracy activists, were the latest revealing gaffe. Last month, Leung Chunying, Hong Kong’s chief executive, let slip his fear that full democracy in Hong Kong would dangerously empower millions of low-income citizens.

In a belated attempt late yesterday to calm the storm brewing back home, she assured protesters that she did not mean any disrespect.

As HSBC pointed out, Ms Cha was speaking in France while serving in her role as a member both of Hong Kong’s policy-making executive council and of a trade development body promoting the city’s financial services.

68

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

Business

Insurer in search of bigger picture PHOTOGRAPHY FOR THE TIMES/MATTHEW LLOYD

The chief executive of Legal & General shows a rare enthusiasm to take on politicians, writes Miles Costello

Who is your mentor?

Paul Reichmann, the late Olympia & York property developer, and Lord Kalms of Edgware, the former boss of Dixons Does money motivate you?

It’s the role rather than the remuneration that matters to me What was the most important event in your working life?

The failed IPO of Guinness Peat Aviation Which person do you most admire?

William Beveridge and Nye Bevan What is your favourite television programme?

Match of the Day, below What does leadership mean to you?

Sponsoring success How do you relax?

Running and rock’n’roll

U

nusually for the boss of a blue-chip British company, Nigel Wilson is not afraid to talk politics or use phrases such as “social justice”.

The chief executive of Legal & General peppers his sentences with references to “doing the right thing” and “fairness”, and in conversation moves swiftly from assessing the aspirations of the older generation to how to revitalise the undernourished regions of northern England.

His unashamed attraction to big themes, almost always with a sociopolitical flavour, is rare in a FTSE 100 chief executive. The bosses of Britain’s biggest businesses tend to run a mile when the subject of Westminster or Whitehall comes up, almost never daring to put their name to a comment that could spark controversy, or has even a smattering of ideology.

Not so, Mr Wilson, who has vocally got under the noses of the coalition government and official opposition.

Among his favoured topics of the moment are the inequalities of the tax-relief system for pension savers, the cap on annual charges for fund managers, and the dreaded proposed mansion tax on high-value homes.

In fact, our meeting on the eighth floor of Legal & General’s modernist headquarters in Moorgate is barely five minutes old and Mr Wilson is off on another subject close to his heart: how the “slow” investment money of pension funds and insurers could be used to help to rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure of roads, hospitals and schools.

“We need more slow money to come forward,” he says, in reference to the lengthy investment periods for companies such as his, which can easily run to decades to match returns better with the long-term nature of insurance and pension liabilities.

“We live in a capitalist society; part of that is long-term financing, using markets to provide and raise equity and debt,” he says. “We often forget that, being driven by short-term earningsper-share targets and having to please shareholders with returns every couple of months. Doing it that way would never have got the M25 built.

“The world is awash with a lot of people with slow money but they are not making their voices heard.”

For the record, though, Mr Wilson believes that the government should make saving less financially cosy for the rich by introducing a flat rate of tax relief on pensions contributions of 25 per cent. He thinks that L&G was a firstmover in calling for a cap on fund management charges of 0.5 per cent, and that it is unjust to levy a tax on homes worth more than £2 million.

“High-rate pension tax relief should be abolished, we are not in favour of the mansion tax, and our average fee is 11 basis points [0.11 per cent] — that’s the coffee bill for a hedge fund in the West End, but we think it’s the right thing to do,” he says.

So why the big mouth and all the fervour? Simple, he says: “We want to do things that are economically and socially useful. We are the biggest investor in UK plc, and when the economy does well, we do well too.”

Mr Wilson became L&G’s chief executive in June 2012, assuming control of

Q&A

CV

Nigel Wilson says that his 30-year career has informed his business ethics and his enthusiasm for “intellectual honesty”

the fourth largest life insurer and the biggest investor in the stock market, claiming ownership of, on average, 4 per cent to 5 per cent of every listed company.

Having originally joined as finance director in 2009, when L&G was battling to convince investors that its finances were sustainable and it had no need to embark on an emergency cash call, he replaced Tim Breedon, who pursued a similar (albeit quieter) campaign of promoting social good while he was in charge.

Yet where Mr Breedon was an L&G lifer — spending most of his career there and effectively establishing the fund management division, Legal & General Investment Management — Mr Wilson’s career is considerably more varied. As well as retailing and media, through stints at Dixons, Halfords and United Business Media, his background includes time served as a consultant at McKinsey, and at Stanhope Properties, where he was part of the development of the sweeping Broadgate complex in the City.

He was also corporate chief executive for Guinness Peat Aviation, at one time the world’s biggest aircraft leasing business and on its way to a multibillion-pound stock market listing, before crashing on the rocks of financial turmoil and effectively breaking itself up.

He says that it was his experience at all of these businesses — meeting and

working with the likes of Paul Reichmann, the man behind Canary Wharf, and Mark Souhami, the inspirational retailer who led Dixons — that informed his business ethics and his enthusiasm for “intellectual honesty”.

It’s tempting also to point the finger at his modest upbringing in the north, which may well be behind some of his scepticism about the powerful elite and

Nigel Wilson received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

his apparent sense of being an outsider.

“It takes many, many years to become the chief executive of a company like Legal & General. I’ve had 30 years’ experience,” he says. “Who would have thought it, growing up in a two-bedroom council house in the north of England, and being lucky enough to go to a grammar school, then university and after that MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology]?

“That boy from a very, very workingclass community in Newton Aycliffe [Co Durham]. I was the first PhD [achiever] they had at McKinsey.”

He has put his money where his mouth is. Mr Wilson believes that there is a desperate need to build new homes and create affordable communities where retired people can move (having realised some money from selling a family home they no long need) to live an active and comfortable old age.

So last year L&G spent £210 million buying a near-50 per cent stake in Cala, the Scottish housebuilder, so that the insurer could start building those properties itself. He says: “Our cities are not overbuilt; they’re underdemolished. It’s not the first-time buyer we should be thinking about, it’s the last-time buyer.

We need to be building at least 250,000 new houses a year.”

There is not enough affordable rental accommodation, particularly for students, he says. So L&G has ploughed hundreds of millions directly into new

Age 57 Education Ferryhill Grammar School; University of Essex; MIT, PhD Career: 1983 McKinsey & Co; 19862002 includes Dixons Group, commercial director; Stanhope Properties, managing director; Guinness Peat Aviation, chief executive, corporate; Viridian Capital, managing director; 2002 United Business Media, chief financial officer 2009 Legal & General, finance director; 2012 chief executive Family Married, five daughters

projects at universities. Britain’s infrastructure needs an upgrade: L&G has committed to invest £15 billion — it has already spent £4.6 billion — on a string of projects, including joining the consortium building the new Royal Liverpool University Hospital at a cost of £335 million.

In July, L&G took a 40 per cent stake in Pemberton Asset Management and committed €250 million to lend directly to mid-sized enterprises here and on the Continent. If it all sounds a little evangelical, Mr Wilson is clear that he expects all of this to be profitable.

Mr Wilson says that he knew that he would be in the running to be chief executive when he joined as finance director. There is no better place than L&G for him to make a difference, he says, dismissing any suggestion that a career in politics could be a prospect at some point. He says: “You don’t have enough real influence. You get too constrained by the time frame [of a fiveyear electoral term], and by the idealogical diktats of the focus group.”

Besides, there is plenty more to do at L&G, not least an ambitious expansion drive at LGIM, particularly in the United States.

“The elevator was in the basement in 2009, and now we’re on the second floor,” he says. So what counts as the top floor? There isn’t one, he says, quipping that Legal & General will be building the floors on the way up.

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

69

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SuperGroup issues warning as sales dry up Marcus Leroux

Made to sweat

The Indian summer has had a brutal impact on Superdry hoodies and jackets, forcing a profit warning that the City fears is a portent of things to come for fashion retailers.

SuperGroup, which has installed Euan Sutherland, the former Co-op boss, as its chief executive, said that the warm weather of the past two months had hit sales of the coats, jackets and hoodies for which it is best known.

Shares in the Cheltenham-based company plunged 55p to 833p yesterday.

Mr Sutherland insisted that the profit warning did not presage a return to the chaos of 2011 and 2012, when gaffes and glitches rocked the City’s confidence in what had been a stock market golden boy since its flotation in 2010.

“I don’t think it’s a crisis — it’s a bit of unseasonal weather,” Mr Sutherland said. “The reasons for joining were that there is huge global potential here.

Clearly there are some short-term impacts that you sometimes get — it’s 21 degrees here in Cheltenham today.”

Next, one of Britain’s biggest sellers of clothing, has warned on profits as a consequence of the warm start to autumn. A warm autumn is more problematic for retailers than a poor spring,

Since Sep 1 Marks & Spencer

8%

1,700

Debenhams

1,600 1,500

Next

11%

1,400

French Connection

1,300

20%

1,200

N Brown

26%

1,100

Ted Baker

1,000

Unchanged

because winter clothing is typically more expensive and carries a better profit margin than summer clothing.

Mr Sutherland added: “I cannot predict who’s doing what, but if you look at what’s happening at a large number of retailers, there are very

Eurozone inflation rose slightly, but not enough to ease fears of Japan-style deflation. Consumer prices inflation in the 18strong region rose at an annual rate of 0.4 per cent. The figures are a blow to Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, who has almost exhausted his options to ward off the threat of deflation.

Russia raises rates as rouble plunges since the start of the year and lost 9 per cent against the greenback this month.

Last month the central bank spent more than $20 billion backing the rouble. The Bank of Russia said that it would be ready to ease its monetary policy if inflation fell back.

Ferrari pays $3.5m over missed reports Ferrari has agreed to pay a $3.5 million civil fine for failing to file “early warning reports” about safety issues with American regulators. Fiat Chrysler’s Ferrari sports car division admitted breaking the law by failing to submit reports to the highway safety authority for three years, and not reporting three incidents with fatalities.

Supreme Court rules out BSkyB appeal BSkyB has suffered a blow in a long-running legal dispute over the provision of wholesale access to its premium sports channels after the Supreme Court declined to hear its case. BSkyB has spent five years fighting a ruling by

1,800p

9%

Inflation creeps up in the eurozone

Russia’s central bank raised its key interest rate to 9.5 per cent from 8 per cent yesterday in an attempt to curb rising inflation and halt the weakening of the rouble because of international sanctions. The rouble has plunged more than 20 per cent against the US dollar

SuperGroup share price

Ofcom that it must offer its sports channels to rivals, such as BT, at a price set by the regulator.

BSkyB lost the case in the Court of Appeal in February and the Supreme Court has denied it permission to challenge that decision.

Q1 2014

Q2

Q3

Q4

900

aggressive discounts.”

Like Next, the company aims to resist the price-cutting elsewhere on the high street, largely because consumers simply are not being prompted by the weather to go in search of winter clothing.

Nick Bubb, the retail analyst, said:

“SuperGroup probably won’t be the last fashion retailer to guide down full-year profits.” Among the initiatives targeted

by Mr Sutherland is Superdry’s first line of ski-wear. It is opening a store in Kitzbühel in Austria to showcase the range.

Bethany Hocking, an analyst at Berenberg bank, said that she had “significant concerns” regarding trading at Marks & Spencer, Britain’s biggest seller of clothing, which updates the market on its trading next week.

The appointment of Mr Sutherland has allowed Julian Dunkerton, the founder, to focus on product.

Freddie George, a Cantor Fitzgerald analyst, said: “We continue to believe it was right for Julian Dunkerton, a genius on product, to channel the majority of his time into strengthening the ranges. The ranges may be less fashionable than in previous years, but they retain a compelling mix of good-quality competitively priced practical leisurewear that appeals to all ages.”

SuperGroup said that like-for-like sales at its stored fell by 4.2 per cent in the second quarter. Including new stores, sales rose by 4.5 per cent to £122 million.

The company cut its profit guidance for the year to £60 million to £65 million from £67 million to £72 million.

Business

WPP on the march despite global tensions Alex Spence Media Editor

The Scottish referendum, the ebola virus and the protests in Hong Kong have made business leaders jumpy, Sir Martin Sorrell said yesterday.

The chief executive of WPP, the world’s largest advertising group, said that he “can’t remember a time when there have been so many” geopolitical threats making businesses nervous.

Sentiment among chief executives is not nearly as bad as in the depths of the financial crisis, but corporate titans are more inclined to keep their powder dry than to invest freely, Sir Martin said as WPP reported an 8 per cent rise in like-for-like revenues to £2.8 billion for the third quarter.

Sir Martin, long bullish on China, said that the situation there was his biggest concern: “When China sneezes, we all catch cold.” He was optimistic that Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, would find an effective way to deal with the tensions in Hong Kong. “I don’t think he has much choice,” he added.

The shares closed up 10p at £12.18.

Tempus, page 71

70

Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

FGM

Business Markets Wall Street 21st Century Fox 3M Abbott Labs AbbVie Accenture ACE Actavis Adobe Sys Aetna Inc Aflac Agilent Tech Air Prods & Chm Alcoa Alexion Pharmas Allergan Alliance Data Sys Allstate Altria Amazon Amer Elec Pwr Amer Express Amer Tower American Int Ameriprise AmerisrceBerg Amgen Anadarko Petrlm Analog Devices Aon Corp Apache Apple Applied Mats Archer Daniels AT&T Auto Data Proc Autozone Avago Tech Ltd AvalonBay Baker Hughes Bank NY Mellon Bank of America Baxter Intl BB&T Becton Dickinsn Berkshire Hath Biogen Idec Blackrock Boeing Boston Props Boston Sci Bristol-Myrs Sq Broadcom Capital One Fin Cardinal Health Carnival Caterpillar CBS Corp Celgene CenturyTel Cerner Chesapeake Engy Chevron Chipotle Mex Grill Chubb Cigna Corp Cisco Systems Citigroup CME Coca-Cola Cognizant Tech Colgate-Palm Comcast Conagra Foods ConocoPhillips Consd Edison Constellation Brs Corning Costco Whole Covidien Crown Castle CSX Cummins CVS Caremark Danaher Davita Deere&Co Delphi Auto Delta Air Lines Devon Energy DirecTV Grp Discover Financial Dollar General Dominion Res Dow Chemical DTE Energy Du Pont Duke Energy Eaton eBay Ecolab

Major indices

Oct 31 midday

wkly +/-

Oct 31 midday

wkly +/-

Oct 31 midday

wkly +/-

34.74 153.69 43.54 63.57 81.14 109.49 243.62 69.92 82.01 59.81 55.30 134.60 16.57 192.92 191.09 283.12 64.87 48.20 303.86 58.44 90.27 97.82 53.29 125.85 85.85 163.54 90.93 49.64 85.50 76.63 107.65 22.20 46.82 34.71 81.07 551.50 86.13 155.05 52.82 38.77 17.17 70.28 37.96 129.18 140.00 322.20 339.93 125.36 126.16 13.30 57.50 41.83 82.90 78.68 40.12 101.53 53.70 108.00 41.39 63.43 22.04 119.08 641.89 99.33 99.19 24.39 53.31 83.66 41.57 48.92 66.75 55.00 34.35 71.47 63.29 91.10 20.49 133.33 92.38 76.64 35.72 146.13 86.80 80.49 78.23 85.46 68.95 40.27 59.15 86.41 63.87 62.49 71.01 48.96 82.06 68.88 81.88 67.72 52.61 110.17

+1.39 +5.10 +1.08 +3.28 +2.79 +2.59 +3.29 +2.91 +3.32 +1.27 +1.25 +3.10 +0.02 +2.63 +6.88 +9.62 +2.30 +0.71 +16.80 +1.97 +3.87 +1.65 +1.13 +8.20 +7.57 +16.28 -0.05 +2.79 +3.12 +0.82 +2.43 +1.21 +1.24 +0.84 +4.87 +15.45 +4.28 +3.82 -0.67 +1.65 +0.45 +0.45 +1.30 +3.45 +0.60 +0.53 +15.06 +3.12 +4.31 +0.31 +3.87 +2.13 +3.63 +1.58 +1.60 +2.09 +0.18 +4.76 +1.46 +2.31 +0.44 +3.17 +26.11 +2.90 +6.36 +0.61 +1.51 +1.35 +0.54 +3.82 +1.40 +0.74 +0.15 +1.40 +0.79 +2.82 +1.69 +2.89 +2.74 -8.11 +0.42 +8.88 +2.51 +2.53 +1.50 +0.03 +2.17 +0.83 -0.76 +2.26 +1.53 +0.24 +0.29 +0.75 +1.86 -0.12 +1.58 +4.66 +1.49 -2.55

Edison Intl 62.29 Eli Lilly 66.30 EMC Corp 28.74 Emerson Elec 64.00 Entergy 84.48 EOG Res 93.13 Equity Res 69.10 Estee Lauder 75.13 Exelon 36.60 Express Scripts 77.01 Exxon Mobil 95.96 Facebook 74.92 Fedex 167.29 Fifth Third 19.98 FirstEnergy 37.26 FIS 58.72 Fiserv Inc 69.41 Ford Motor 14.11 Franklin Res 55.52 Freeport-Mcm 28.36 Gap 37.84 Gen Dynamics 140.00 Gen Electric 25.78 Gen Growth Props 25.75 General Mills 51.82 General Mtrs 31.29 Genuine Parts 96.80 Gilead Sciences 112.92 Goldman Sachs 189.71 Google Inc 557.48 Google Inc Class A 567.66 Grainger (WW) 247.39 Halliburton 54.49 Harley-Davidson 65.62 Hartford Financial 39.47 HCP 43.78 Health Care REIT 70.60 Hershey 95.53 Hess 84.03 Hewlett Packard 35.73 Home Depot 97.87 Honeywell Intl 96.26 Host Hotels 23.30 Humana 139.09 ICE Group 207.78 Illinois Tool 91.13 Ingersoll-Rand 62.68 Int Business Mach 163.96 Intel 33.77 Intl Paper 50.69 Intuit 88.14 Intuitive Surg 499.52 Invesco 40.42 Johnsn & Johnsn 107.45 Johnson Cont 47.07 JP Morgan Chase 60.40 Kellogg 63.94 Keurig Green 153.01 Kimberly-Clark 113.95 Kinder Morgan 38.76 Kraft Foods 56.07 Kroger 55.71 L Brands 72.07 Lincoln National 54.69 Lockheed Martin 190.68 Loews 43.39 Lorillard 61.57 Lowes Cos 57.23 LyondellBasell 91.06 Macy's 57.82 Marathon Oil 35.00 Marathon Petroleum90.27 Marriott Intl 75.71 Marsh & McLenn 54.18 MasterCard 84.07 McDonald's 93.30 McGraw Hill Fin 90.11 McKesson 204.46 Mead Johnson 99.11 Medtronic 68.20 Merck & Co 57.92 Metlife 54.01 Michael Kors Hdgs 78.41 Micron 32.99 Microsoft 46.77 Mondelez 35.20 Monsanto 114.38 Monster Beverage 100.60 Moodys 98.67 Morgan Stanley 35.04 Mosaic 43.92 Motorola Sols 65.10 M&T Bank Corp 122.06 Mylan 53.67 Natl Oilwell 72.14 Netflix 390.82 NextEra Energy 99.76 Nielsen Holdings 42.54 Nike 93.10 Noble Energy 56.86

+1.64 +0.25 +0.57 +1.61 +2.34 +1.03 +1.36 +0.78 +0.87 +3.36 +1.47 -5.75 +3.41 +0.86 +0.99 +2.95 +3.37 +0.33 +2.11 -2.45 +0.95 +7.50 +0.14 +1.10 +0.79 +1.25 +3.61 +2.21 +6.36 +17.70 +18.76 +9.61 -1.29 +2.27 +1.92 +0.91 +1.74 +1.40 +1.68 +0.80 +2.88 +1.56 +0.61 +5.98 +1.19 +3.15 +2.42 +1.88 +0.59 +0.77 +3.18 +21.51 +2.36 +4.32 +3.50 +1.66 +2.00 +7.77 +0.85 -0.27 -0.77 +1.52 +2.06 +4.09 +9.35 +0.89 +0.90 +1.90 -1.33 -1.16 +0.50 +4.48 +6.42 +2.55 +10.07 +1.63 +6.06 +3.63 -4.28 +1.64 +0.31 +3.22 +2.67 +1.93 +0.64 +0.83 +1.10 +2.71 +1.73 +0.72 +0.56 +2.53 +5.69 +2.45 -1.38 +5.80 +1.40 +0.24 +2.20 -0.57

Norfolk Sthn 110.45 Northeast Utilities 49.32 Northern Trust 66.29 Northrop Grum 137.53 Nucor 53.73 Occidental Petr 88.45 Omnicom 71.88 Oracle 38.83 O'Reilly 175.52 Paccar 65.05 Parker-Hannifin 127.02 Paychex 46.92 PepsiCo 95.95 Perrigo Company 161.86 Pfizer 29.99 PG&E 50.16 Philip Morris Intl 88.81 Phillips66 77.89 Pioneer Ntrl Rscs 186.90 PNC Finl 86.21 PPG Inds 194.11 PPL 34.97 Praxair 124.63 Precision Cast 221.05 Price T Rowe 81.73 Priceline.com 1196.02 Principal Fin 52.14 Procter & Gmbl 87.13 Progressive Cp 26.30 Prologis 41.46 Prudential Finl 88.25 Public Serv Ent 41.37 Public Storage 183.40 Qualcomm 78.39 Raytheon 103.66 Regeneron Pharm 395.75 Reynolds Amer 62.97 Rockwell Auto 111.93 Roper Inds 157.87 Ross Stores 80.76 Salesforce.com 64.31 SanDisk 93.92 Schlumberger 97.96 Schwab (Charles) 28.50 Seagate Tech 62.10 Sempra Energy 110.12 Sherwin-Williams 228.73 Sigma Aldrich 135.60 Simon Prop 178.70 Southern Co 46.13 Spectra Engy 39.05 St Jude Medical 64.13 Stan Blk & Dkr 93.12 Starbucks 75.83 Starwood 76.79 State Street 75.08 Sthwest Airlines 34.43 Stryker 87.78 SunTrust Banks 38.97 Symantec 24.85 Sysco 38.66 Target 61.65 TE Connectivity 61.05 Texas Insts 49.51 Thermo Fisher 117.87 Time Warner 79.71 Time Warner Cab 146.38 TJX 63.23 Travelers 101.05 Tyco Intl 42.80 Union Pacific 116.14 UPS 105.23 US Bancorp 42.55 Utd Health 95.38 Utd Tech 107.22 Valero Energy 49.52 Ventas 68.08 Verizon Comm 50.23 Vertex Pharma 111.59 VF Corp 67.66 Viacom 72.96 Visa 240.23 Vornado Realty 109.06 Walgreen 64.14 Wal-Mart 76.71 Walt Disney 91.15 Waste Mgt 48.86 WellPoint 126.07 Wells Fargo 52.95 Western Digital 97.82 Weyerhaeuser 33.80 Whole Foods Mkt 39.19 Williams Cos 55.31 Wynn Resorts 189.21 Xcel Energy 33.54 Xerox 13.24 Yahoo 45.96 Yum Brands 71.70 Zimmer Hldgs 110.88 Zoetis 37.26

+1.06 +0.73 +2.65 +6.74 +0.94 -1.07 +1.69 +0.10 +5.04 +3.65 +10.45 +1.43 +1.35 +6.71 +0.88 +2.99 +0.75 +1.40 +5.79 +3.69 -1.74 +0.44 -3.09 -2.42 +3.89 +57.59 +1.79 +1.97 +0.43 +0.73 +3.67 +1.80 +7.43 +2.39 +5.54 -6.75 +1.42 +2.62 +6.69 +0.26 +4.74 +5.16 +0.72 +1.81 +3.74 +2.26 -0.18 +0.53 +5.84 -1.29 +0.15 +3.66 +3.00 +0.02 -3.23 +3.20 +0.56 +3.56 +1.56 +0.87 +0.62 +0.08 +4.78 +1.94 -0.03 +0.94 +3.40 +1.15 +3.32 +1.21 +1.56 +4.64 +1.64 +3.74 +3.40 +0.90 +1.11 +1.46 +1.68 +1.16 +1.35 +26.75 +1.64 +1.49 +0.33 +2.54 +0.90 +5.86 +1.75 +6.14 -0.09 +1.48 +2.07 +4.49 +0.64 +0.69 +2.46 +1.82 +5.59 +0.68

London Financial Futures Long Gilt 3-Mth Sterling

3-Mth Euribor

3-Mth Euroswiss

2 Year Swapnote 5 Year Swapnote 10 Year Swapnote FTSE100 FTSEurofirst 80

Period Dec 14 Mar 15 Dec 14 Mar 15 Jun 15 Sep 15 Dec 15 Dec 14 Mar 15 Jun 15 Sep 15 Dec 15 Dec 14 Mar 15 Jun 15 Sep 15 Dec 14 Mar 15 Dec 14 Mar 15 Dec 14 Mar 15 Dec 14 Mar 15 Dec 14 Mar 15

Open 115.16 99.430 99.340 99.210 99.040 98.860 99.895 99.905 99.905 99.900 99.880 100.03 100.06 100.09 100.10 111.53 127.27 147.17 6459.5 6480.0 3924.5

High 115.40 60.500 99.430 99.340 99.220 99.060 98.890 99.905 99.910 99.915 99.910 99.895 100.03 100.07 100.09 100.11 111.54 111.56 127.44 100.00 147.17 100.00 6539.0 6482.0 3924.5

Low 115.03 53.420 99.410 99.320 99.170 99.010 98.840 99.890 99.900 99.905 99.895 99.880 100.02 100.05 100.07 100.09 111.53 111.55 127.27 100.00 147.06 100.00 6453.5 6463.0 3924.5

Sett 115.10 115.10 99.420 99.320 99.190 99.030 98.850 99.900 99.905 99.915 99.910 99.890 100.03 100.05 100.08 100.10 111.54 111.54 127.40 127.40 147.08 147.08 6505.5 6450.5 4096.0 4097.0

Vol 164604 806 36392 48598 35332 38042 39990 26226 25390 29574 17351 20437 3387 5601 4824 1996 33 104 1916 3 61 3 119836 4 1

Open Int 402958 424053 364001 472076 312309 336853 475919 392918 341750 294499 298895 66632 72404 46614 25995 22379

Eurotop 100

New York Dow Jones Nasdaq Composite S&P 500

17367.85 (+172.43) 4626.17 (+60.04) 2014.27 (+19.62)

Tokyo Nikkei 225

16413.76 (+755.56)

Hong Kong Hang Seng

23998.06 (+296.02)

Amsterdam AEX Index

411.32 (+7.61)

Sydney AO

5505.00 (+47.90)

Frankfurt DAX

9326.87 (+212.03)

Singapore Straits

3274.25 (+39.94)

Brussels BEL20

3157.15 (+36.44)

Paris CAC-40

4233.09 (+91.85)

Zurich SMI Index DJ EURO Stoxx 50

8837.78 (+118.75) 3113.32 (+77.42)

London FTSE 100 6546.47 (+82.92) FTSE 250 15501.37 (+203.05) FTSE 350 3565.39 (+45.40) FTSE Eurotop 100 2743.95 (+51.75) FTSE All-Shares 3503.46 (+44.55) FTSE Non Financials 4063.33 (+41.20) techMARK 100 3252.33 (+40.61) Bargains 1344412 US$ 1.5994 (+0.0000) Euro 1.2760 (+0.0076) £:SDR 1.08 (+0.00) Exchange Index 87.8 (+0.5) Bank of England official close (4pm) CPI 128.30 Aug (2005 = 100) RPI 257.00 Aug (Jan 1987 = 100) RPIX 256.50 Aug (Jan 1987 = 100) Morningstar Long Commodity 831.04 (-9.22) Morningstar Long/Short Commod 4497.36 (+28.75)

Commodities ICIS pricing (London 6.00pm) Crude Oils ($/barrel FOB) Brent Physical Brent 25 day (Jan) Brent 25 day (Feb) W Texas Intermed (Jan) W Texas Intermed (Feb)

84.85 85.85 85.30 80.00 80.15

-1.25 -1.35 -1.40 -1.25 -1.30

Products ($/MT) Spot CIF NW Europe (prompt delivery) Premium Unld 785.00 785.00 Gasoil EEC 746.25 748.25 3.5 Fuel Oil 444.50 448.50 Naphtha 680.00 682.00

-9.00 -4.75 -4.75 -12.00

ICE Futures Gas Oil Nov Dec Jan

742.25-742.00 742.00-741.75 742.50-742.25

Brent (6.00pm) Dec 85.11-85.10 Jan 85.59-85.57 Feb 86.25-86.09

Feb Mar

759.25-758.25 760.75-759.75 Volume: 270941

Mar Apr

87.30-86.30 92.50-86.78 Volume: 694050

unq unq unq

LIFFE Cocoa Dec Mar May Jul Sep Dec

unq unq unq unq unq unq

Mar May Jul

RobustaCoffee Nov Jan Mar May

unq unq unq unq

Jul Sep

White Sugar (FOB) Reuters Dec Mar May

unq unq unq

Volume: 19137 unq unq Volume: 9179 Aug Oct Dec Mar

unq unq unq unq Volume: 8481

London Grain Futures LIFFE Wheat (close £/t) Nov 118.50 Jan 122.25 May 127.00 Jul 128.60

Mar 124.20 Volume: 374

AHDB meat services Average fatstock prices at representative markets (p/kg lw) Pig Lamb Cattle GB 106.23 164.63 192.14 (+/-) +16.99 +6.43 +8.21 Eng/Wales (+/-) Scotland (+/-)

106.23 +16.99

164.79 +5.72

191.11 +10.19

unq

163.72 +9.81

196.53 -2.11

London Metal Exchange (Official) Cash

3mth

15mth

Copper Gde A ($/tonne) 6834.5-6835.5 6765.0-6770.0

7310.0-7320.0

Lead ($/tonne) 2014.5-2015.0

2023.0-2024.0

1980.0-1985.0

9535

Zinc Spec Hi Gde ($/tonne) 2334.5-2335.0 2323.0-2323.5

1943.0-1948.0

5295

Tin ($/tonne) 20100.0-20125.0

561184 8837 76

20100.0-20105.0

Alum Hi Gde ($/tonne) 2056.5-2057.0 2036.0-2036.5 Nickel ($/tonne) 15810.0-15815.0 15890.0-15900.0

20125.0-20175.0 2280.0-2285.0 18770.0-18870.0

AP Moller-Maersk A Dn Kr AP Moller-Maersk B Dn Kr ABB Ltd S SF Air Liquide Fr ¤ Allianz G ¤ Anglo American UK p Anheuser-Busch InBev B ¤ ASML Holding Nl ¤ Assicurazioni Generali SpA AstraZeneca UK p Atlas Copco A Sw Kr Atlas Copco B Sw Kr AXA Fr ¤ Banco Santander Es ¤ BBVA Es ¤ Barclays UK p BASF G ¤ Bayer G ¤ BG Group UK p BHP Billiton UK p BMW G ¤ BNP Paribas Fr ¤ BP UK p British Am Tob UK p BT Group UK p Centrica UK p Christian Dior Fr ¤ CS Group S SF Daimler G ¤ Danone Fr ¤ Deutsche Bank G ¤ Deutsche Post AG Deutsche Telekom G ¤ Diageo UK p EON G ¤ EDF Fr ¤ Enel It ¤ ENI It ¤ Ericsson B Sw Kr EADS Fr ¤ GDF Suez Fr ¤ GlaxoSmKline UK p Glencre Xstrata Heineken NV Nl ¤ Henkel KGaA G ¤ Henkel KGaA Pref G ¤ Hennes & Mauritz Sw Kr Hermes Intl SCA Fr ¤ HSBC UK p Iberdrola Es ¤ Imperial Tobacco UK p Inditex Es ¤ ING Nl ¤ Intesa Sanpaolo It ¤ Linde G ¤ Lloyds Bkg Gp UK p L'Oreal Fr ¤ LVMH Fr ¤ Munich Re G ¤ Natl Grid UK p Nestle S SF Nordea Sw Kr Novartis S SF Novo Nordisk B Dn Kr Orange Pernod Ricard NV Fr ¤ Philips Elect Nl ¤ Prudential UK p Reckitt Benckiser UK p Repsol SA Richemont S SF Rio Tinto UK p Roche Hldgs S SF Rolls-Royce UK p Royal Bank Scot UK p Royal Dutch Shell A UK p Royal Dutch Shell B UK p SABMiller UK p Sanofi-Aventis Fr ¤ SAP G ¤ Schneider Electric Fr ¤ Siemens G ¤ Societe Generale SA Standard Chartered UK p StatoilHydro No Kr Swatch Gp BR S SF Swatch Gp Reg S SF Swiss Re AG S SF Syngenta S SF Telefonica Es ¤ Telenor No Kr TeliaSonera Sw Kr Tenaris SA It ¤ Tesco UK p Total Fr ¤ UBS AG S SF UniCredit It ¤ Unilever UK p Unilever NV Nl ¤ Vinci Fr ¤ Vivendi Fr ¤ Vodafone Group UK p Volkswagen G ¤ Volkswagen Prf G ¤ Volvo B Sw Kr Zurich Fin S SF

FTSE volumes Close

+/-

12mthhigh

12mthlow

Yield

P/E

13490.00 13840.00 21.06 96.25 126.70 1316.50 88.11 79.45 16.34 4547.67 213.10 195.00 18.41 7.03 8.91 231.75 70.24 113.45 1042.35 1614.93 85.32 50.14 447.71 3501.68 367.50 302.50 141.15 25.58 62.03 54.22 24.88 25.06 12.02 1838.00 13.73 23.55 4.07 17.00 87.00 47.60 19.36 1414.00 319.90 59.59 72.51 78.78 293.70 247.10 639.69 5.64 2716.37 22.42 11.41 2.34 147.15 75.93 125.10 135.35 156.85 922.00 70.40 94.70 89.30 268.70 12.72 90.83 22.29 1442.50 5252.93 17.82 80.95 2968.41 273.75 843.00 388.00 2235.50 2312.50 3545.79 73.66 54.24 62.88 89.91 38.42 939.60 153.00 455.60 81.30 77.70 297.80 12.00 151.60 51.05 15.70 173.60 47.42 16.70 5.76 2514.00 30.95 45.48 19.48 208.16 169.70 170.05 84.95 290.80

+240.00 +170.00 +0.36 +1.13 +2.50 -4.00 +0.95 +2.43 +0.49 +47.67 +3.10 +2.40 +0.54 +0.19 +0.22 +9.20 +1.67 +3.50 +15.85 -0.57 +2.29 +1.68 +3.71 +35.18 -0.40 +2.70 +1.80 +0.61 +1.42 +1.52 +0.58 +0.67 +0.35 +28.50 +0.41 +0.61 +0.16 +0.43 +1.25 +1.70 +0.43 +16.00 +2.80 +0.27 +1.44 +1.20 +1.80 +3.15 +10.59 +0.10 +42.37 +0.61 +0.34 +0.09 -3.75 +0.76 +2.90 +2.65 +3.40 +8.00 +0.95 +1.45 +1.60 -2.70 +0.35 +1.02 +0.53 +13.00 +57.93 +0.35 +1.30 +21.91 +0.50 +27.50 +22.70 +8.00 +5.00 +58.29 +1.75 +1.58 +2.18 +2.55 +1.25 -4.00 -1.20 +5.20 +0.55 +1.35 +4.40 +0.31 +1.60 +0.45 +0.21 +0.30 +0.43 +0.41 +0.24 +39.00 +0.71 +1.56 +0.36 +1.71 +3.95 +4.90 +1.15 +2.80

14660.00 15220.00 24.75 106.85 138.45 1648.00 89.15 15220.00 17.43 4823.50 213.10 213.10 20.50 7.89 9.93 296.50 87.36 113.65 1351.50 2096.00 95.51 60.85 523.90 3633.50 418.10 363.90 153.50 30.08 70.44 56.95 39.95 27.93 13.12 2030.00 15.31 29.73 4.46 20.40

11710.00 12140.00 19.16 89.68 117.00 1226.50 69.55 12140.00 14.79 3267.00 186.40 186.40 16.94 6.04 8.21 207.90 65.61 94.73 1008.50 1610.50 77.41 45.45 416.70 2881.00 356.20 286.60 127.35 23.77 56.01 48.83 23.34 22.30 10.35 1709.50 12.56 21.56 3.02 15.86

1.53 2.07

22.24 22.82 20.85 19.69 9.25 288.83 21.63 25.71 16.56 48.39 21.78 19.93 8.68 16.09

55.91 21.09 1690.50 377.50 60.75 77.10 86.52 314.90 271.60 703.00 5.75 2774.00 121.00 11.95 2.61 157.30 86.30 130.00 146.25 166.45 926.00 71.70

0.00 16.17 1324.00 297.00 44.96 67.00 67.74 262.10 226.90 589.00 4.43 2182.00 19.89 8.95 1.65 144.60 70.94 115.20 122.50 143.00 746.00 63.10

90.15 284.00 12.81 92.09 28.10 1455.00 5495.00 20.88 94.35 3627.50 283.80 1289.00 388.00 2453.00 2592.00 3740.00 89.56 61.12 71.37 100.25 48.38 1519.00 194.80 107.90 600.50 83.70 367.00 12.99 151.60 52.60

67.80 230.50 8.55 79.36 20.98 1204.00 4537.00 16.33 75.20 2946.50 233.40 779.50 295.50 2013.50 2096.00 2661.00 69.40 50.90 54.73 82.34 34.39 939.60 146.00 75.80 429.50 71.05 283.50 10.87 129.60 45.81

368.00 54.52 19.10 6.85 2729.00 32.59 56.85 21.25 252.30 194.95 197.55 102.50 290.80

168.75 41.56 14.50 5.02 2306.00 27.16 41.41 17.35 184.50 150.70 150.25 72.70 241.50

2.71 3.21 3.76 1.79 0.65 2.25 3.69 2.61 2.86 4.50 6.92 0.71 2.70 3.82 1.84 1.78 4.26 3.12 3.06 4.01 2.69 5.62 1.69 1.79 3.61 2.73 2.11 3.26 3.19 2.67 4.47 5.43 2.61 5.29 3.49 1.61 7.92 5.64 3.02 1.30 1.27 1.17 3.31 1.12 4.39 2.17 4.29 1.43 1.75 1.56

3.27 13.07 25.78 19.81 10.63 9.29 18.52 14.99 23.32 16.41 69.47 8.89 29.43 14.49 22.04 19.85 12.13 11.55 11.79 20.38 19.77 16.55 19.40 24.76 17.93 19.49 24.55 30.98 13.13 16.83 37.89 29.30 223.28

2.33 2.61 4.38 0.84 3.82 2.89 2.61

20.91 234.44 25.15 19.77 7.73 14.02 23.28 12.83 22.86 27.01 21.21 23.25 30.15 17.31 20.28 18.41 17.30 15.27 21.62 6.97

5.25 4.93 1.75 3.78 1.35 3.73 3.41 2.66 5.24 3.56 1.09 1.87 5.05 3.42 5.05 4.79 4.17 1.43 8.50 5.37 1.49

14.23 14.72 28.11 24.00 19.82 18.52 15.35 13.25 9.24 10.31 13.41 11.97 7.59 18.76 12.15 33.33 15.86 16.12 16.45 10.92 18.31

3.46 3.34 3.98 5.25 9.24 1.81 1.80 3.58 5.94

17.46 16.83 9.88

2.04 2.34 3.54 4.41 2.02 4.19 2.93 1.23 6.43 1.88

4.96 7.87 7.89 30.74 11.73

3I Group 2,106 AB Foods 906 Aberdeen Asset 4,333 Admiral 1,022 Aggreko 736 AMEC 1,434 Anglo Amer 5,697 Antofagasta 3,335 ARM Hldgs 8,644 AstraZeneca 3,026 Aviva 7,462 BAE SYS 7,384 Babcock 1,162 Barclays 184,917 BG 8,505 BHP Billiton 10,809 BP 40,266 Brt Am Tob 3,465 Br Land 3,633 BSkyB 3,700 BT Group 22,351 Bunzl 608 Burberry Group 1,763 Capita Group 1,887 Carnival 906 Centrica 12,967 Coca Cola HBC 563 Compass 3,851 CRH 2,080 Diageo 4,562 EasyJet 1,908 Experian 3,053 Fresnillo 3,072 Friends Life Gp 6,548 G4S 3,301 GKN 6,413 GlaxoSmKline 10,277 Glencre Xstrata 30,775 Hammerson 1,886 Hargreaves Lans 1,326 HSBC 23,238 IMI 843 Imperial Tob 1,759 InterCont Htls 688 Intl Cons Air 18,868 Intertek 489 ITV 11,474 Johnson Math 522 Kingfisher 8,673 Land Secs 2,193

(000s)

Legal & Gen 11,888 Lloyds Bkg Gp 235,081 London Stock Exch 860 Marks Spr 7,187 Meggitt 1,944 Mondi PLC 1,435 Morrison (W) 12,387 Natl Grid 8,760 Next 600 Old Mutual 16,638 Pearson 2,433 Petrofac 2,315 Persimmon 1,588 Prudential 3,352 Randgold Res 1,136 Reckitt Benck 1,244 Reed Elsevier 3,146 Rio Tinto 4,945 Rolls-Royce 12,202 Royal Mail 3,645 Ryl Bk Scot 39,509 Ryl Dtch Sh A 5,200 Ryl Dtch Sh B 4,561 RSA Ins 4,205 SABMiller 2,872 Sage Gp 3,013 Sainsbury 10,408 Schroders 593 Svrn Trent 945 Shire 3,080 Smith & Neph 3,464 Smiths 1,556 Sports Direct 1,201 SSE 2,508 Std Chartd 16,926 St. James's Place 2,553 Standard Life 4,783 Tate & Lyle 1,860 Tesco 27,433 Travis Perkins 633 TUI Travel 5,201 Tullow Oil 5,230 Unilever 4,220 Utd Utilities 2,017 Vedanta Res 424 Vodafone 61,990 Weir 1,010 William Hill 8,431 Whitbread 605 Wolseley 1,043 WPP 4,758

European money deposits % Currency 1mth Dollar 0.10 Sterling 0.51 Euro -0.15

3mth

6mth

12mth

0.15

0.23

0.48

0.55

0.69

1.01

-0.06

0.04

0.22

Gold/precious metals Bullion: Open $1200.20 Close $1171.00-1171.80 High $1202.58 Low $1161.84 AM $1173.25 PM $1164.25 Krugerrand $1159.00-1230.00 (£724.51-768.89) Platinum $1235.20 (£772.14) Silver $16.12 (£10.08) Palladium $793.75 (£496.18)

Dollar rates Australia Canada Denmark Euro Hong Kong Japan Malaysia Norway Singapore Sweden Switzerland

1.1367-1.1369 1.1281-1.1284 5.9370-5.9390 0.7978-0.7979 7.7548-7.7557 112.04-112.06 3.3073-3.3103 6.7488-6.7510 1.2848-1.2853 7.3864-7.3914 0.9619-0.9622

Other Sterling Argentina peso

13.597-13.600

Australia dollar

1.8180-1.8189

Bahrain dinar

0.5994-0.6070

Brazil real

3.9265-3.9424

Euro

1.2760-1.2763

Hong Kong dollar

12.404-12.406

India rupee

98.124-98.328

Indonesia rupiah

19110-19697

Kuwait dinar KD

0.4630-0.4655

Malaysia ringgit

5.1815-5.3857

New Zealand dollar

2.0535-2.0550

Money rates %

Singapore dollar

2.0548-2.0564

S Africa rand

17.637-17.665

Base Rates Clearing Banks 0.5 Finance House 1.0 ECB Refi 0.05 US Fed Fund 0-0.25

U A E dirham

5.8738-5.8801

Halifax Mortgage Rate 3.5

Exchange rates

Treasury Bills (Dis) Buy: 1 mth 0.32; 3 mth 0.40. Sell: 1 mth 0.31; 3 mth 0.36 1 mth

2 mth

3 mth

6 mth

12 mth

0.5069

0.5290

0.5546

0.6908

1.0062

Clearer CDs

0.58-0.43

0.60-0.45

0.65-0.50

0.80-0.65

1.08-0.93

Depo CDs

0.58-0.43

0.60-0.45

0.65-0.50

0.80-0.65

1.08-0.93

Interbank Rates

Eurodollar Deps

0.14-0.24

0.19-0.29

0.22-0.32

0.32-0.42

0.60-0.70

Eurodollar CDs

0.15-0.08

0.18-0.12

0.22-0.15

0.36-0.21

0.52-0.38

Sterling spot and forward rates Mkt Rates for Copenhagen Euro Montreal New York Oslo Stockholm Tokyo Zurich

Range 9.4107-9.5143 1.2782-1.2688 1.7889-1.8089 1.5951-1.6010 10.699-10.846 11.567-11.836 174.66-179.52 1.5292-1.5416

Close 9.4977-9.5002 1.2763-1.2760 1.8042-1.8052 1.5994-1.5997 10.793-10.800 11.816-11.822 179.21-179.24 1.5385-1.5391

1 month 40ds 4pr 8pr 4ds 84pr 37ds 9ds 7ds Premium = pr

3 month 138ds 11pr 28pr 12ds 251pr 115ds 34ds 26ds Discount = ds

Australia $ Canada $ Denmark Kr Egypt Euro ¤ Hong Kong $ Hungary Indonesia Israel Shk Japan Yen New Zealand $ Norway Kr Poland Russia S Africa Rd Sweden Kr Switzerland Fr Turkey Lira USA $

Bank buys Bank sells 1.980 1.730 1.950 1.700 10.160 8.910 12.640 10.050 1.390 1.210 13.360 11.750 430.690 354.340 22361.900 17837.100 6.620 0.000 188.850 163.560 2.290 1.940 11.710 10.120 5.910 4.840 72.290 60.200 19.360 16.390 12.570 11.180 1.680 1.450 3.950 3.160 1.750 1.530

Rates for banknotes and traveller's cheques as traded by Royal Bank of Scotland plc yesterday

Data as shown is for information purposes only. No offer is made by Morningstar or this publication

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

71

FGM

Markets Business JONATHAN HORDLE/REX FEATURES

Tim Webb Tempus Buy, sell or hold: today’s best share tips

On track in spite of the swans

L

andlords across the country breathed a sigh of relief after the Supreme Court rejected

Appeal ruled in the landlords’ favour, but Game contested the case.

The ruling yesterday effectively closed a loophole allowing companies in administration to trade for three months without paying rent if administrators were appointed the day after

the “quarter rent” was due.

Mathew Ditchburn, of Hogan Lovells, the law firm, said: “It ends the limbo period created by the threatened appeal with landlords waiting to receive unpaid back rents and administrators not sure whether to pay when the law was up in the air.”

Accelerating claims slam brakes on Direct Line Gary Parkinson Market report up its efforts to stimulate the The FTSE motored but Direct Line economy. Dax and Cac, Mib and Ibex shares never made it out of first gear were all sharply higher as the surprise after gross premiums written by the largesse from Japan’s central bank car and contents insurer went into went some way towards soothing reverse. concerns about the end of the Federal In the three months to the end of Reserve’s huge QE3 programme this September, they fell 5.4 per cent. week and the reluctance of the Direct Line, behind the Green Flag and Privilege motor insurance brands, European Central Bank to embark on quantitative easing of its own. blamed fierce competition in the In London, the FTSE 100 jumped market — and plenty of pressure from 82.92 points to 6,546.47, up more than politicians — for a drop in policy 236 points on a week, according to prices. Sensibly, perhaps, with costs touching rock bottom, it had balked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, of “Dip bought!”. Michael Hartnett, writing unprofitable business.

Merrill’s chief investment strategist, Unlike some of its rivals, though, wrote of “massive equity inflows” of Direct Line did not suggest that $20.4 billion as stock markets premiums were on their way back up wobbled. “Even European stocks saw again, saying only that, similar to the inflows,” he added. second quarter, prices had stabilised.

Yesterday, it was banks that led The cost of household cover has London higher after the regulator continued its steady decline, the gave lenders longer to cap the size of insurer said. their businesses at about 20 times the If that was not enough, Direct Line values of their equity. Barclays added said that large bodily injury claims — 18¼p to 240¾p, while Royal Bank of read those above £5,000 or £10,000 a Scotland advanced 22¾p to 388p pop — had been “higher than after reporting a profit for a expected”, prompting analysts third consecutive quarter for to predict some hefty payouts the first time since the were on the horizon. follow us financial crisis began.

Ben Cohen, of Canaccord on twitter IAG’s profits were better Genuity, told clients that for updates Direct Line shares were no @timesbusiness than expected, too, and the owner of British Airways and longer worth buying and Spain’s Iberia climbed a further pared his price target for them 18½p to 409¼p. Aggreko gave a from 282p to 255p. Eamonn date when its new chief executive Flanagan, of Shore Capital, a longstanding bear, declared the rise in would start and the temporary power supplier improved 15p to £15.22. large claims “disappointing” and There was the usual wedge of reiterated his “sell” rating. “The claims broker research to chew through. environment is deteriorating with Investec pushed ARM Holdings, and upwards moves in both claims the Cambridge microchip designer frequency and, we suspect, average added 36½p to 875p. Société Générale claims costs,” he said. suggested Tullow Oil’s recent fall was Direct Line shares that changed overdone and the FTSE oil explorer hands for 304¼p in August fell 5½p to rose 1¾p to 485¾p.

276p even as stock markets across Precious metal miners, often Europe made good ground after the bought and sold as proxies for gold Bank of Japan unexpectedly ramped

and silver, classic havens sought by nervous investors, were friendless.

Fresnillo, of Mexico, lost 19p to 697½p, while Randgold Resources, of South Africa, further unsettled by unrest in Burkina Faso, where it operates, fell 101p to £36.78.

Another clothes retailer, SuperGroup, blamed the warm autumn weather depressing demand for winter wear for its profit warning.

In response, shares fell 55p to 830p.

Three short months after floating on AIM, there was also a profit warning from ULS Technology,

Wall Street report Shares on Wall Street rose sharply, with the Dow Jones industrial average hitting a record intraday high, after the Bank of Japan significantly ramped up its stimulus programme. At midday, the Dow stood at 17,376.77 points, up 181.35. which provides software for brokers, solicitors and estate agents, among others. Shares placed with investors at 40p each through Numis at the end of July tanked 24 per cent to 35p, cheaper than ever.

Finally, scorched digits among dafter private punters who, breathless, tried to talk up a bid for Bwin.party Digital Entertainment on Thursday.

Surprise, surprise, no bid emerged.

Instead, research by Simon Davies, a Canaccord Genuity analyst, highlighted legal opinion from Germany, a country that accounts for 24 per cent of Bwin’s revenues, predicting online gaming operators would be clobbered by new European VAT laws on cross-border services next year. Shares tumbled a painful 10¼p to 89¾p.

I

Riding the storm WPP share price

£14.00

Sales by region in third quarter North America

UK

13.50 13.00 12.50 Source: Thomson Reuters

Game Group loses unpaid rent appeal

Game Group’s appeal over having to pay rent while in administration (Kathryn Hopkins writes).

British Land, Intu, Hammerson and Land Securities took the video games chain to court over £3 million in unpaid rent when it fell into administration in 2012. In February the Court of

the shape of ebola and Hong Kong’s pro-democracy street protests.

Add in the assorted swans represented by the weak eurozone, the US deficit and a slowdown in China — not to mention the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine — it’s no wonder that WPP’s clients were cautious in the third quarter. Against this backdrop, underlying sales rose by 3 per cent compared with the third quarter last year, slightly missing consensus wpp targets and lower than the 4.4 per Revenue £2.8bn Buybacks £499m cent of the second quarter this year.

Mr Sorrell expects the slowdown to continue into the fourth quarter t’s been almost a decade since as clients remain risk averse.

Martin Sorrell, the chief The group insisted, however, that executive of WPP, came up it is on track to hit its full-year with his memorable “bathguidance of growing sales by 3 per shaped recession” analogy. cent while margins are up 4 per The recovery from the recessions cent, above the 3 per cent guidance. in the US and Europe of the early Shares closed up 10p at £12.18.

Noughties, he predicted, would be Investors are not convinced. bath-shaped — starting with a The global ad agency peer steep drop (from the tap end) group is trading at 14.7 followed by a flat bottom times forecast earnings for and a gentler rise. follow me next year, yet WPP is These days, it’s all about on twitter trading at 13.2 times. black and grey swans for updates M&A could buoy the (now helpfully defined as @Tim_Webb_ sector with the collapse of “known knowns” and the $35 billion merger of “known unknowns”).

Publicis and Omnicom, leaving Yesterday, the advertising a sense of unfinished business but guru was at it again, identifying all WPP is more likely to be the the global threats that influence predator than the prey. how confident companies feel and whether they will hand their cash to one of WPP’s myriad agencies, such as JWT and Ogilvy & Mather.

MY ADVICE Hold First, the good news. The grey WHY May struggle to swan of Scottish independence has outperform given economic flown away, removing uncertainty for British businesses. However, new and geopolitical risks black swans have been hatched in

12.00 11.50

Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe

£345m Western Continental urope

11.00 2014

J F M A M J

J A S O

10.00

regus Q3 rev £413.6m

S

£848m

Locations 2,076

hares in Regus raced to the top of the FTSE 250 leaderboard, and it’s not hard to see why.

The office and workspace provider is in furious growth mode, and the worry among investors had been that it might start flinging excessive amounts of capital at a multitude of new locations and drive its debt bill to unsustainable levels.

In a trading update covering the three months to the end of September, however, Regus confirmed its plans to open 450 locations during the year but at a net capital cost of £210 million, comfortably below most analysts’ forecasts.

At the same time, it said that it had generated £18 million of net cash during the period, all of which went into cutting the debt, which stands at £144 million. Relief all round and the shares leapt by 6.8 per cent to close at 197¼p.

£745m

£480m

You can now hire a Regus office by the hour, or less, at motorway service stations and airports, and busy travelling executives can log on to “virtual” workstations at some locations.

It has doubled in size since 2011 with an estate of more than 2,000 sites. Nearly two thirds of revenues come from 1,360 “mature” office centres, where it has been in situ for at least 18 months and has pushed up occupancy and learnt how to keep the overheads down.

The remainder comes from 716 new locations, which are getting up to speed on efficiency and so make less of an initial return. The shares are richly valued, trading at more than 16 times earnings and yielding barely 2 per cent. Worth a gander nevertheless.

MY ADVICE Buy on weakness WHY The high-growth business is careful with costs

72

FGM

Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

Register Obituaries

Warren Anderson American businessman at the centre of the Bhopal chemical disaster Warren Anderson was the head of the US chemical giant Union Carbide when its plant in the Indian city of Bhopal leaked 40 tonnes of toxic gases into the homes of its one million inhabitants as they slept.

The accident at the pesticide-producing factory, which became the world’s worst industrial disaster, happened in the early hours of the morning of November 3, 1984. On the other side of the world, the 63-year-old Anderson had been at a ceremony in Washington with his wife and was nursing a cold at home when the first phone call came through.

He was told 60 people had died. “I couldn’t comprehend it,’’ he later said.

“We thought it couldn’t be that bad, that when the next call comes through it will be better, not worse.’’ He spent the day taking more calls and watching the mounting television coverage.

In fact 3,000 people were found dead in the next few days and 10,000 more were later estimated to have perished.

Tens of thousands have subsequently suffered disabilities. In India Anderson was vilified for never facing trial over the disaster and was accused of spending the rest of his life in hiding from justice as babies of survivors continued to be born with serious illnesses.

Most of the victims had dwelt in the crowded slums that had grown up around the factory on the outskirts of the city. It was said many had thought it manufactured medicines and did not understand the concept of gas. The scale of the catastrophe became apparent as helpers broke down doors to find households full of dead bodies. As the cloud of methyl isocyanate smothered the city, cramped homes had turned into gas chambers. Panic broke out as thousands tried to escape. “We were choking and our eyes were burning. We could barely see the road through the fog, and sirens were blaring. We didn’t know which way to run,” recalled one survivor.

In the aftermath the Union Carbide plant was closed and an inquiry ordered. The streets were deserted apart from the carcasses of dead buffaloes and goats. Leaves on the trees turned yellow and turnips and spinach lay scorched in the fields. Hospitals were swamped by 20,000 people with breathing difficulties and swollen eyes,

Anderson rose through the ranks at Union Carbide to become its chairman

many frothing blood at the mouth. As reports emerged of the stacks of dead bodies, overflowing mortuaries and vultures wheeling in the air above mass graves, Anderson boarded a flight to India. But, arriving in Bhopal on December 8, he was immediately arrested, detained in a guesthouse for several hours and, after paying bail, sent back to Delhi for his own safety. He never returned, despite years of campaigning

by Bhopal survivors and activists and calls for his extradition.

Known as a quiet and unassuming boss who had risen through the ranks, Anderson had spent the years immediately before Bhopal restructuring the chemical conglomerate to make it the third largest in the US. He breakfasted each morning in the company café on a roll and coffee alongside his employees and generally shunned the limelight.

As the disaster in Bhopal grew in scale, the world’s media descended on his doorstep near the Union Carbide headquarters in Connecticut. He spent the rest of his career managing requests from reporters, diplomats and lawyers rather than business, and the company’s fortunes declined.

Having always “slept like a baby”, he said in a rare interview that he and his

Anderson’s effigy was burnt in Bhopal on the anniversary of the disaster in 2010

wife — they had no children — now spent the evenings reading press cuttings to each other and the nights lying awake. “It must be like when someone loses a son or a daughter,’’ he said. “You wake up in the morning thinking, can it possibly have occurred? And then you know it has and you know it’s something you’re going to have to struggle with for a long time.’’

He spent a week hiding in a hotel with his wife and elderly mother ordering room service. He told the New York Times that he did not take his wife out for dinner for the next five months: “I kind of felt that if somebody caught me laughing over in the corner over something they might not think it was appropriate.’’ Instead, he said, they lived quietly, gardening and fishing, but his wife, Lillian, a former teacher, said “We can’t get away from Bhopal.’’

Although his handling of the disaster was praised in business circles, in India his effigy was burnt in the streets and the deserted Bhopal plant became a focus of demonstrations. Anderson laid the blame on the Indian plant operators who he said had failed to follow procedures — although he admitted the company had moral responsibility.

Several years after his retirement in 1989 Union Carbide — later bought by Dow Chemicals — paid $470 million (£281 million) in compensation to the

Rotting carcasses of dead animals littered the streets of Bhopal Indian government, and eight Indian plant staff were later convicted. Anderson continued to face charges of culpable homicide in India where an arrest warrant was issued and he was labelled a fugitive and absconder.

One of three children, Warren M Anderson was born in 1921, the son of a carpenter who had emigrated from Sweden. As a boy he helped his father to fit floors but he was good at maths and football and won a scholarship to study chemistry. He joined the US navy in the final years of the Second World War but never saw action.

He got a job with Union Carbide as a chemical salesman and studied law by night. Promoted regularly, he became president in 1977 and devoted himself to phasing out some areas of the business, including brain scanners and shrimp fishing. Instead, he concentrated on plastics, batteries and antifreeze. On his office desk a paperweight bore the proverb: “Leader is best when people barely know he exists’’.

In retirement he kept a low profile.

The US government claimed not to know his whereabouts but a Greenpeace activist found him in 2002 washing his car at his holiday home in Long Island. His lawyer said: “Warren Anderson is not dodging due process. He leads a normal retired life. . . He plays golf every day, he socialises with people.”

Warren Anderson, chairman and CEO of Union Carbide, was born on November 29, 1921. He died on September 29, 2014, aged 82

Hauser, third from left, with Manhattan Transfer, the band he formed and took to

Oriel Malet Writer whose friendship with Daphne du Maurier produced 30 years of sparkling correspondence Oriel Malet wrote her second novel, My Bird Sings, when she was just 20. It won the 1946 John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize for young writers and with her £50 prize she bought a motorbike. “Not very common for women to have in those days,” she recalled. When she met Daphne du Maurier — 16 years her senior — at a literary cocktail party in the early 1950s, du Maurier’s novels Rebecca and Frenchman’s Creek had long since been snapped up by Hollywood film-makers.

Without the benefit of introductions, the two of them “plunged almost at once into congenial subjects — books, the theatre, Paris, life — about all of which, at the time, I thought I knew a good deal,” Malet said. The collection of letters she received from du Maurier

during their ensuing 30-year friendship was published in 1993 as Letters from Menabilly: Portrait of a Friendship. It was glowingly reviewed in The Times: “The empathy is clear throughout and du Maurier emerges as a natural, warm personality, deeply rooted in her beloved Cornwall, fond and loving of the profoundly depressed husband she called ‘Moper’.”

It was not until Malet was attempting to leave that first cocktail party that she was made aware of the identity of the “tall, slim, blonde, with a skin bronzed by sun and sea air” to whom she had been giving the benefit of her worldly wisdom. “That we became, and remained, friends was due to Daphne’s patient and tolerant nature,” Malet later wrote.

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Changing face of remembrance Military matters thetimes.co.uk/life

Tim Hauser Founder of Manhattan Transfer who struck gold with Chanson D’Amour

international stardom, at Radio City Music Hall, New York in 1981

As the Francophile Malet lived mostly in Paris and Normandy, their 30-year-long correspondence was largely conducted across the Channel.

Letters from Menabilly affords a glimpse into the two women’s lives and du Maurier’s conscientious mentoring of the frequently well-reviewed, but decidedly less successful, younger writer.

When Malet enlisted her help with her synopsis for Beginner’s Luck (1952),

The letters reveal how du Maurier mentored the younger writer du Maurier offered advice in her first letter to her: “I do implore you to bring [the child character] James in sooner. . .

If you are writing an exciting book, it should move swiftly from the word go.”

Yet child characterisation was never a problem for Malet. Two of the sharply drawn young characters portrayed joining a pantomime company in Beginner’s Luck were based on her teenage niece, Amanda , and her eightyear-old nephew, Mark, who was the

inspiration for the mischievous James.

When Malet was writing Jemima: A Novel of Paris, du Maurier advised her: “Listen, first of all, don’t get all hot and bothered about this thing you insist on calling ‘a plot’,” she wrote. “You don’t have to have a ‘plot’; it sounds like Guy Fawkes in his old cloak, creeping with a lantern . . . But you must have a reason for the things you want to say. . .”

Malet regularly stayed with du Maurier at Menabilly in Cornwall, the house that had been the inspiration for Manderley in du Maurier’s Rebecca.

And when du Maurier was invited to New York in 1952, to launch an American edition of My Cousin Rachel, Malet accompanied her, even going with her to a performance of The King and I at the St James Theatre on Broadway, starring Gertrude Lawrence, another close friend of du Maurier’s.

As a result, 40 years later, she found herself drawn into a controversy surrounding the existence of alleged love letters between du Maurier and Lawrence.

Speaking from her home in Normandy, Malet told The Times: “I don’t believe these letters exist at all.”

What the du Maurier letters to Malet

Tim Hauser’s vision to fuse the energy of contemporary pop music with nostalgia for the ritzy elegance of the jazz age found glamorous expression in Manhattan Transfer, the multimillion selling vocal group he founded and led for more than 40 years.

The music he created with the fourpiece spanned pop, jazz, doo-wop, swing, R&B and gospel. In Britain they defied the punk explosion to reach No 1 for three weeks in the spring of 1977 with Chanson d’Amour, a typically polished reworking of a song by Art and Dotty Todd that had been a minor hit in the United States in the 1950s. It was a success all over Europe but, oddly, made no impact in their homeland where a version of The Boy From New York City remained their biggest hit.

Manhattan Transfer’s songs were all cover versions, but Hauser transformed them with sassy, stylish four-part harmonies. Their vocalese style was distinctive but almost impossible to categorise and it was no coincidence that in 1982 they became the first act to win Grammy awards in the same year in both pop and jazz categories; their music was neither and both at the same time. The refusal to be pigeonholed only enhanced the group’s eclectic appeal and their extravagant harmonies, razzle-dazzle costumes and slick choreography made them the most commercially successful vocal group of their generation.

Taking the name from the title of a 1925 novel by John Dos Passos, Hauser formed the first Manhattan Transfer in 1969. They were hardly an overnight success and to make ends meet he drove a New York taxi. His band’s first album, Jukin’ in 1971, adopted an arch, almost satirical approach to songs by the likes of Fats Waller and Ira Gershwin. But the following year he reformed the group with a new line-up that had the confidence to celebrate the music of a previous era with unashamed nostalgia. They exchanged did cover was everything from her novels and other books to her husband’s drinking, and his death in 1965. “The thing that maddened me this week, on TV,” she wrote to Malet in 1973, “was that writer called Margaret Drabble, who went to Haworth and had a programme on the Brontës. It was obvious that she had only read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights . . . I could have hit her! ” She sympathised with Malet in 1955 over the younger woman’s breaking off of an engagement : “I wonder if poor old Princess M [Margaret] went through all these same problems; probably she did,” du Maurier wrote. “I think she clung to her independence, in the same way that you do.”

Lady Auriel Rosemary Malet Vaughan, born in 1923, was the youngest child of the 7th Earl of Lisburne and his wife, Regina de Bittencourt. She grew up on the family’s Crosswood estate in Aberystwyth, and was taught at home by a French governess before being “uneducated” — as she later described it — at various schools. She never married and is survived by her sister.

Lady Honor Llewellyn.

“I had been writing stories ever since

their hippie threads for the tuxedos and tails that adorned the cover of their breakthrough album in 1975.

Of his new recruits, he met Laurel Massé when she hailed a ride in his cab, Janis Siegel was recommended by another passenger and Alan Paul was found singing in the musical Grease. The group’s trademark line-up of two male and two female singers proved extraordinarily stable and the replacement of Masse, who was badly injured in a car crash in 1978, by Cheryl Bentyne was the only change in the group’s personnel between 1973 and Hauser’s death.

Hauser cited seeing the doo-wop group Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers in 1956 as the moment he decided he wanted to sing. “That was my turning point,” he recalled. “That was God’s

Exclusive to members

Listen to the music of Manhattan Transfer thetim.es/obituaries

way of saying, ‘Here’s your gig, son, and if you don’t get it, it’s not my fault’.”

He is survived by Barb Sennet Hauser, who was his third wife, their son Basie, who works as a record producer in Los Angeles and was named after the jazz band leader. Their daughter Lily is a student.

The success of Chanson d’Amour took the band by surprise and later they could not even agree on who had sung the lead vocal on the record. Paul said that Massé suggested they record the song and took the lead vocal.“We’d been recording all day and we hadn’t gotten that far,” Paul recalled. “Just as we were about to leave the studio, Laurel shouted, ‘Hey, wait a minute, I’ve got an idea.’ She used an Edith Piaf sound in

Malet was told not to worry about plot

I could hold a pencil,” Malet said, “and it had seemed only natural to send my first completed novel to a publisher.”

Having drawn up a list of potentials, she had simply “seized a pin, and stuck it into Mr Faber”.

In 1961 Malet published a memoir of her “Marraine” — her godmother, the pianist and actress Yvonne Arnaud. “I

her voice and we recorded it in one take.” Massé’s version of events, however, is that Siegel sang the lead, and TV appearances of them miming the song seem to support that view.

Away from music, Hauser followed the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, collected and restored vintage cars and manufactured his own pasta sauce, which he spent five years developing and marketed under the brand name “I Made Sauce!” He explained: “When Manhattan Transfer got popular in Italy, I started going over there a lot and I’m going, ‘Man! I never tasted sauce like this, this is incredible’. I had this idea in my head that I was going to try and make it at home for myself.”

Timothy DuPron Hauser was born in Troy, New York, in 1941 but moved to New Jersey with his family when he was seven years old and attended St Rose High School. When the school was badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, he immediately arranged for Manhattan Transfer to perform at a benefit concert.

His first teenage group, the Criterions, appeared on Alan Freed’s television show and, at 17, he produced Harlem Nocturne for the Viscounts, which made the American charts. At Villanova University he sang in a folk group with Jim Croce and graduated with a degree in economics. After briefly serving in the US air force, he became a market analyst with a New York advertising agency, where his accounts included Pepsodent toothpaste.

He left Madison Avenue, a world graphically portrayed in the TV series Mad Men, to pursue his dream of a musical career in 1969. “I almost went wacko,” he recalled. “I was 28 and figured if I wanted to be a musician, it was now or never.”

Tim Hauser, musician, was born on December 12, 1941. He died of cardiac arrest on October 16, 2014, aged 72

wrote for three successive nights at white-hot speed . . . This was Marraine, as I remembered her at home — not merely Yvonne Arnaud, the actress.”

A popular aunt, she enjoyed introducing her nephew Mark to the sights and delights of Paris, where for five years she lived on a houseboat on the Seine. She also became godmother to du Maurier’s grandson Ned Browning, later cofounder of Du Maurier Watches.

When, in 1965, a friend absconded with the proceeds of her houseboat sale, Malet moved to the attic of a Normandy cottage, owned by friends to whom she was unable to pay even a modest rent.

She took on translation work, a treadmill which left her with no stamina for seeing any more books through to publication, but she was delighted in 2000 when Persephone Books reprinted her 1946 fictionalised biography of Marjory Fleming, the 19th-century child poet and writer.

Oriel Malet, novelist, editor and translator, was born on January 20, 1923.

She died on October 14, 2014, aged 91

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

Register Births, Marriages and Deaths

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Collecting

Raising a glass to political conflict Huon Mallalieu

Last year’s government defeat over intervention in Syria was the first on a war motion in 231 years, since Lord North lost a vote to continue the war against the American rebels. It is unlikely that August 30, 2013, will have been commemorated by any ceramic plates or engraved glasses, but the parliamentary struggles of March 1782 are remembered in a wine glass to be offered at this month’s Olympia Art & Antiques Fair.

British political commemoratives go back to at least 1660, when the Restoration was marked by delftware chargers decorated with naive figures of Charles II — a year ago a particularly good one sold for more than £120,000 — and there are a few plates and mugs with electioneering slogans from the early 18th century, but things become more lively after about 1750.

Most Jacobite drinking glasses date from after Culloden, when a disloyal toast was safer than outright rebellion, and many other political battles have left their marks.

John Wilkes’ 1763 attack on George III’s favourite Lord Bute, in issue No 45 of his journal The North Briton, is remembered on many “Wilkes and Liberty” plates, as later Sir Francis Burdett’s “Beef and Liberty” campaign against governmental corruption.

The Norfolk glass dealer Brian Watson will have two unusual parliamentary examples at Olympia, which runs from Monday to Sunday next week. The Lord North wine glass

is engraved March “th 14” 1782, which seems to indicate the number of MPs who deserted him after he had won closely contested no-confidence and censure votes, rather than a day.

Seeing defeat as inevitable, he actually tendered his resignation on the 18th. This led to the end of the American War. Mr Watson’s other glass marks the 18th century’s most expensive contest, the Spendthrift Election or Election of the Three Earls for the two Northampton Commons seats.

For years these had returned nominees of Lords Northampton and Halifax, but in 1768 Lord Spencer decided to upset this arrangement and put up his own man, the Hon Thomas Howe. There were considerable disturbances and vast sums were spent by the three earls on food and drink for electors — 300 of whom were illegally registered.

Although initially defeated — with the help of the returning officer — on petition and after the toss of a coin Howe secured one of the seats. He never spoke in the House, voted just once, and died after less than two years as an MP. Lord Halifax was ruined and abandoned his interest at Northampton; Lord Northampton, already in debt before the election, retired to the Continent; and even Spencer, one of the richest men in England, is said to have been seriously embarrassed.

Mr Watson’s glass (left) is engraved “Spencer and Howe”, and like the Lord North glass is priced at £895.

Court Circular

Buckingham Palace 31st October, 2014 The Lord Popat of Harrow (Lord in Waiting) was present at Heathrow Airport, London, this evening for the Repatriation of the remains of Michael Sata (President of the Republic of Zambia).

Clarence House 31st October, 2014 The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, accompanied by Mrs María Clemencia Rodríguez de Santos, this morning toured an exhibition of indigenous crafts at the Gold Museum, Cartagena, Colombia.

Their Royal Highnesses later visited the National Coastguard and received a briefing on counter-narcotics initiatives.

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall this afternoon attended a ceremony commemorating the Battle for Cartagena de Indias, at San Felipe Fort, Cartagena.

His Royal Highness afterwards attendedtheHealthoftheOceansconference at the Naval Museum, Cartagena.

The Prince of Wales, Admiral, and The Duchess of Cornwall, with The President of the Republic of Colombia and Mrs. María Clemencia Rodríguez de Santos, later attended a Ship’s Reception and viewed the Sunset Ceremony onboard HMS Argyll (Commander Paul Hammond) and were received by Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Republic of Colombia (His Excellency Mr Lindsay Croisdale-Appleby).

Buckingham Palace 31st October, 2014 The Earl of Wessex, Chairman of the International Council, The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Association, today chaired the International Council Meetings at the Novotel Seoul Ambassador Hotel, Seoul, the Republic of Korea.

His Royal Highness, Trustee, The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation, this evening attended the International Gold Event Closing Ceremony and Gala Dinner at the Novotel Seoul Ambassador Hotel.

Kensington Palace 31st October, 2014 The Duke of Gloucester, representing The Queen, this morning presented condolences to Mrs Sata and her family following the death of The President of the Republic of Zambia (His Excellency Mr Michael Sata).

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Television & Radio

Today’s television BBC ONE

6.00am Breakfast 10.00 Saturday Kitchen Live 11.30 James Martin: Home Comforts 12.00 BBC News; Weather 12.10pm Football Focus 12.50 Saturday Sportsday 1.00 Bargain Hunt 2.00 Homes Under the Hammer 3.00 Escape to the Country 4.00 Final Score 5.25 BBC News; Regional News; Weather 5.40 Pointless Celebrities 6.30 Strictly Come Dancing 8.15 Doctor Who 9.00 Casualty 9.50 The National Lottery Live 10.00 BBC News; Weather 10.20 Match of the Day 11.45 The Football League Show 1.10am-6.00 BBC News

BBC TWO

6.15am FILM: Sons of the Musketeers (1952) 7.30 FILM: The Quick Gun (1964) 9.00 The Private Life of Plants 11.30 Map Man 12.00 The Little Paris Kitchen: Cooking with Rachel Khoo 12.30pm Puttin’ on the Ritz: The Genius of Fred Astaire 12.45 FILM: That’s Entertainment Part Two (1976) 2.45 FILM: Show Boat (1951) 4.30 Coast 5.30 Flog It! 6.30 Gardeners’ World 7.00 Restoring England’s Heritage 7.30 The Greatest Knight: William the Marshal 8.30 Dad’s Army 9.00 Frankenstein and the Vampyre: A Dark and Stormy Night 10.00 Formula 1: United States Grand Prix: Qualifying Highlights 11.15 QI XL 12.00 TOTP2: Halloween Special 1.00am-3.05 FILM: Silkwood (1983) Fact-based drama 4.30-7.30 Live Rugby League: Four Nations. Australia v England (Kick-off 5.00)

ITV London

6.00am CITV 9.25 The Hungry Sailors 10.20 Murder, She Wrote 11.20 ITV News; Weather 11.25 Storage Hoarders 12.25pm Surprise Surprise 1.25 The Unforgettable Sid James 2.00 Doc Martin 3.00 Keep It in the Family 4.00 FILM: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) 6.00 Regional News 6.15 ITV News; Weather 6.30 New You’ve Been Framed! 7.00 The Chase: Celebrity Special 8.00 The X Factor 10.15 Jonathan Ross Show 11.20 ITV News; Weather 11.35 FILM: Bloody Sunday (2002) 1.30am Jackpot247 3.00 Jeremy Kyle Show USA 3.40-6.00 ITV Nightscreen

Channel 4

6.05am Beauty and the Beast Marathon 7.00 Cycling: Revolution Series 7.55 The Morning Line 9.00 Weekend Kitchen 10.00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10.30 Frasier 11.00 The Big Bang Theory 11.55 The Simpsons 12.30pm Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD 1.30 Live Channel 4 Racing. Coverage from Ascot, Wetherby and Down Royal

4.00 Come Dine with Me 6.35 Channel 4 News 7.05 Speed with Guy Martin 8.00 Walking Through History 9.00 FILM: Red (2010) Action thriller 11.10 FILM: Babylon AD (2008) 12.55am Rude Tube 1.50 Hollyoaks 3.55 Location, Location, Location 4.50 Phil: Secret Agent Down Under 5.45-6.40 NFL: The American Football Show

Sky1

6.00am Are You Smarter Than a 10-Year-Old? 7.00 Glee 8.00 The Fantasy Football Club 9.00 Football’s Funniest Moments 10.00 Soccer AM 12.00 WWE Superstars 1.00pm WWE: Smackdown 3.00 Inside RAF Brize Norton 4.00 The Middle 5.00 Greggs: 6.00 The Simpsons 7.00 NCIS: Los Angeles 8.00 Hawaii Five-0 9.00 FILM: Miracle on 34th Street (1994) 11.10 An Idiot Abroad 3: A Commentary 12.10am NCIS: Los Angeles 1.10 Road Wars 3.05 Nothing to Declare 3.35 Brit Cops 4.30 Road Wars 5.00-6.00 Nothing to Declare

BBC World

6.00am BBC World News 6.30 Click 7.00 BBC World News 7.10 UK Reporters 7.30 HARDtalk 8.00 BBC World News 8.10 Football Focus 8.30 Horizons 9.00 BBC World News 9.10 Reporters 9.30 100 Women 10.00 BBC World News 10.10 Africa Business Report 10.30 Newsnight 11.00 BBC World News 11.30 Our World 12.00 BBC World News 12.10pm UK Reporters 12.30 Spirit of Yachting 1.00 BBC World News 1.15 Sport Today 1.30 Travel Show 2.00 BBC World News 2.30 Dateline London 3.00 BBC World News 3.10 Africa Business Report 3.30 Cybercrimes 4.00 BBC World News 4.30 BBC Pop Up 5.00 BBC World News 5.30 Final Score 6.00 BBC World News 6.30 Travel Show 7.00 BBC World News 7.15 Sport Today 7.30 Click 8.00 BBC World News 8.10 Africa Business Report 8.30 Dateline London 9.00 BBC World News 9.10 Reporters 9.30 100 Women 10.00 BBC World News 10.30 BBC Pop Up 11.00 BBC World News 11.10 UK Reporters 11.30 Middle East Business Report 12.00 BBC World News 12.10am Africa Business Report 12.30 Spirit of Yachting 1.00 BBC World News 1.30 Dateline London 2.00 BBC World News 2.10 Reporters 2.30 100 Women 3.00 BBC World News 3.30 Click 4.00 BBC World News 4.30 Newsnight 5.00 BBC World News 5.30-6.00 India Business Report

5.30am News 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 iPM 6.07 Open Country (r) 6.30 Farming Today This Week 7.00 Today 9.00 Saturday Live 10.30 The Frequency of Laughter: A History of Radio Comedy 11.00 The Week in Westminster 11.30 From Our Own Correspondent 12.00 News 12.01pm (LW) Shipping 12.04 Money Box 12.30 The News Quiz (r) 1.00 News 1.10 Any Questions? (r) 2.00 Any Answers? 2.30 Saturday Drama: Lanark 4.00 Weekend Woman’s Hour 5.00 Saturday PM 5.30 The Bottom Line (r) 5.54 Shipping 6.00 News 6.15 Loose Ends 7.00 Profile. The British film-maker Christopher Nolan 7.15 Saturday Review 8.00 Archive on 4: Tears of a Clown. Robin Ince examines the relationship between stand-up comedy and mental health 9.00 Classic Serial: The Searchers (r) 10.15 The Moral Maze (r) 11.00 Counterpoint (r) 11.30 Cold War Poet (r) 12.30am Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to Europe (r) 12.48 Shipping 1.00 As BBC World Service 5.20-5.30 Shipping

12.00 Live FL72: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Birmingham City (Kick-off 12.15) 2.30pm Football Freestyler 3.00 NFL: A Football Life 4.00 Ringside 5.00 Live FL72: Bournemouth v Brighton & Hove Albion (Kick-off 5.15) 7.30 Football’s Greatest Teams 8.00 SNF: Game of the Day 10.00 SNF: Match Choice 11.30 Football’s Greatest Teams 12.00 Ringside 1.00am SNF: Match Choice 4.00 The Fantasy Football Club 5.00-6.00 Ringside

Sky Sports 2

6.00am How the ICC World T20 Was Won 8.00 Sporting Rivalries 9.00 Sporting Heroes 10.00 Ashes Fever 11.00 Sporting Greats 11.30 Best of ICC WT20 12.30pm Sporting Greats 1.00 Sporting Rivalries 2.00 Live International Rugby Union: Barbarians v Australia (Kick-off 2.30) 5.00 Live PRO12 Rugby Union: Cardiff Blues v Munster (Kick-off 5.15) 7.30 Live International Rugby Union: USA v New Zealand (Kick-off 7.30) 10.00 International Rugby Union 11.00 PRO12 Rugby Union 1.30am International Rugby Union 5.00-6.00 Sporting Rivalries

BBC ONE

6.00am Breakfast 7.30 Match of the Day 9.00 The Andrew Marr Show 10.00 Sunday Morning Live 11.00 Sunday Politics 12.15pm MOTD2 Extra 1.00 BBC News 1.15 Bargain Hunt 2.00 Holiday of My Lifetime with Len Goodman 2.45 Lost Treasures of the Sikh Kingdom 3.15 Escape to the Country 4.00 Points of View 4.15 Songs of Praise 4.50 Life Story 5.50 BBC News; Regional News; Weather 6.20 Countryfile 7.20 Strictly Come Dancing: The Results 8.00 Antiques Roadshow 9.00 Death in Paradise 10.00 BBC News; Regional News; Weather 10.30 Formula 1: United States Grand Prix: Highlights 12.00 The Apprentice 1.00am FILM: Girl from Rio (2001) 2.40-6.00 BBC News

BBC TWO

7.30am Countryfile 8.30 Gardeners’ World 9.00 The Football League Show 10.20 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites 11.50 James Martin: Home Comforts 12.20pm Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure 1.20 FILM: Waterloo (1970) 3.30 Flog It! Trade Secrets 4.00 Inside the Animal Mind 5.00 Rugby League: Four Nations Highlights 6.00 Britain’s Classroom Heroes 2014 7.00 Human Universe 8.00 Wonders of the Monsoon 9.00 Afghanistan: The Lion’s Last Roar?

10.00 Match of the Day 2 11.05 Russell Howard’s Good News 11.35 The Fall 1.35am Sign Zone: Countryfile 2.30-3.30 Holby City

7.00 WWI’s Forgotten Heroes: Secret History 8.00 Speed with Guy Martin 9.00 Homeland 10.00 FILM: Shame (2011) 11.55 Alan Carr: Chatty Man 12.50am The Simpsons 1.20 Live American Football: Pittsburgh Steelers v Baltimore Ravens (Kick-off 1.30) 4.45 NFL: Rush Zone 5.10 Win It Cook It 5.35-6.20 Countdown. Word game

Sky1

6.00am Hour of Power 7.00 Are You Smarter Than a 10-Year-Old? 8.00 Glee 9.00 Modern Family 10.00 WWE Superstars 11.00 WWE: Experience 12.00 Ashley Banjo’s Secret Street Crew 1.00pm The Middle 2.00 Bite Size Brainiac 2.10 Futurama: Welcome to the World of Tomorrow 2.20 FILM: Miracle on 34th Street (1994) 4.30 Simpsons 7.00 Futurama 7.30 The Flash 8.30 Simpsons 9.00 Hawaii Five-0 10.00 NCIS: Los Angeles 11.00 Hawaii Five-0 12.00 Big Trouble in Thailand 1.00am NCIS: Los Angeles 2.00 Road Wars 3.00 Kumars 4.00-6.00 Nothing to Declare

BBC World

6.00am Football League Gold 7.30 Ringside 8.30 Barclays Premier League Preview 9.00 The Fantasy Football Club 10.00 Soccer AM

7.30am Live Snooker: International Championship. The second semi-final at the Chengdu Eastern Music Park in China 9.30 Yorkshire Marathon 2014 10.30 Sports Insiders 11.00 Snooker: International Championship 11.30 Live Snooker: International Championship. Futher coverage 2.30pm Snooker: International Championship 3.50 Best of Bikes 3.55 World Superbikes 4.55 Live World Superbikes. The Superpole session from Doha, Qatar 7.00 Motorcycling: Oliver’s Mount Races 8.00 Motorcycling 9.00 Live Porsche Supercup. The opening race at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas 9.45 World Superbikes 11.15 Motorcycling 12.00-1.00am World Superbikes

6.40am How I Met Your Mother 7.30 Everybody Loves Raymond 8.25 Frasier 9.30 Sunday Brunch 12.30pm The Simpsons: Bart 1.00 The Simpsons: Lisa 1.30 The Simpsons: Moe 1.55 The Simpsons: Marge 2.25 The Simpsons: The Rolling Stones 2.55 The Simpsons: Mr Burns 3.25 The Simpsons: Ned 3.55 The Simpsons: Maggie 4.20 The Simpsons: Homer 4.50 FILM: The Simpsons Movie (2007) 6.35 Channel 4 News

6.00am BBC World News 6.30 The Travel Show 7.00 BBC World News 7.10 Reporters 7.30 Spirit of Yachting 8.00 BBC World News 8.10 Africa Business Report 8.30 Dateline London 9.00 BBC World News 9.10 UK Reporters 9.30 Cybercrimes With Ben Hammersley 10.00 BBC World News 10.10 Reporters 10.30 BBC Pop Up 11.00 BBC World News 11.30 Newsnight 12.00 BBC World News 12.10pm UK Reporters 12.30 Talking Business with Linda Yueh 1.00 BBC World News 1.15 Sport Today 1.30 Click 2.00 BBC World News 2.30 Horizons 3.00 BBC World News 3.10 Reporters 3.30 100 Women 4.00 BBC World News 4.30 India Business Report 5.00 BBC World News 5.10 Africa Business Report 5.30 Our World 6.00 BBC World News 6.30 Talking Business with Linda Yueh 7.00 BBC World News 7.15 Sport Today 7.30 Spirit of Yachting 8.00 BBC World News 8.10 UK Reporters 8.30 Horizons 9.00 BBC World News 9.10 Reporters 9.30 Cybercrimes 10.00 BBC World News 10.30 Our World 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

BBC World Service

Radio 3

Radio 4

BBC World Service

Sky Sports 1

Today’s radio

Radio 4

Tomorrow’s television

5.00am The Newsroom 5.30 The World This Week 6.00 Weekend 9.00 News 9.06 The History Hour 10.00 Sports Hour 11.00 News 11.06 The Newsroom 11.30 Trending 11.50 Over to You. 12.00 News 12.06pm The Arts Hour 1.00 Newshour 2.00 The Newsroom 2.30 The Why Factor 2.50 More or Less 3.00 News 3.06 Sportsworld 4.00 News 4.06 Sportsworld 5.00 News 5.06 Sportsworld 6.00 The Newsroom 6.30 In the Balance 7.00 News 7.06 The Inquiry 7.30 100 Women: The Conversation Continues 8.00 News 8.06 Outlook Arts 9.00 Newshour 10.00 News 10.06 The History Hour 11.00 The Newsroom 11.20 Sports News. The latest stories 11.30 The Why Factor 11.50 Over to You 12.00 News 12.06am The Newsroom 12.30 Heart and Soul. 1.00 News 1.06 From Our Own Correspondent 1.30 Global Business. 2.00 News 2.06 The History Hour 3.00 News 3.06 The Newsroom 3.30 In the Balance 4.00 The Newsroom 4.20 Sports News 4.30 Trending 4.50-5.00 More or Less

Sky Sports 3

6.00am Sporting Heroes 7.00 Tight Lines 8.00 Max Power 9.00 Mini Game Changers 10.00 WWE: Smackdown 12.00 WWE: Bottom Line 1.00pm Sporting Greats 1.30 Live ATP Masters Tennis: The BNP Paribas Masters 6.00 Sporting Rivalries 6.35 Live Eredivisie Football: Feyenoord v PEC Zwolle (Kick-off 6.45) 8.45 Ringside 9.45 WWE Slam City 10.00 WWE: Late Night — Superstars 11.00 WWE: NXT 12.00 WWE: Late Night — Smackdown 2.00am WWE: Late Night — Bottom Line 3.00 Max Power 4.00 Tight Lines 5.00-6.00 Mini Game Changers

British Eurosport

7.00am Breakfast Live from the Free Thinking Festival. With Tom McKinney 9.00 News 9.03 CD Review Live from the Free Thinking Festival. With Andrew McGregor 12.15pm Music Matters Live from the Free Thinking Festival 1.00 News 1.02 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert. 2.00 Saturday Classics Live from the Free Thinking Festival.

The rock-music journalist David Hepworth chooses classical pieces in his CD collection 4.00 Sound of Cinema Live from the Free Thinking Festival 5.00 Jazz Record Requests 6.00 Jazz Line-Up. An interview with the pianist Kenny Barron and concert music by Brass Jaw 7.30 Live Radio 3 in Concert.

The BBCSO in the world première of Thomas Larcher’s A Padmore Cycle 10.00 Hear and Now. Tom Service talks to Peter Maxwell Davies about his prolific composing career 12.00 Geoffrey Smith’s Jazz.

Highlights from Duke Ellington’s classic session in Fargo in 1940 1.00am-7.00 Through the Night.

Including music by Schumann

ITV London

6.00am CITV 9.25 Dickinson’s Real Deal 10.25 Murder, She Wrote 11.25 ITV News; Weather 11.40 FILM: Carry On Jack (1963) 1.30pm All Star Family Fortunes 2.15 The X Factor 4.30 Downton Abbey 5.30 My Tasty Travels with Lynda Bellingham 6.30 Regional News 6.45 ITV News; Weather 7.00 Keep It in the Family 8.00 The X Factor Results 9.00 Downton Abbey 10.05 ITV News; Weather 10.25 Harry’s South Pole Heroes 11.25 LV= Cup Rugby Union 12.15am The Store 2.20 Motorsport UK 3.10 The Jeremy Kyle Show USA 3.55 ITV Nightscreen 5.05-6.00 Jeremy Kyle

Channel 4

Tomorrow’s radio 5.30am News 5.43 Bells 5.45 Profile (r) 6.00 News 6.05 Understood 6.35 Living World 7.00 News 7.07 Papers 7.10 Sunday 7.55 (LW) Appeal 7.55 Appeal 8.00 News 8.07 Papers 8.10 Worship 8.50 Point of View (r) 8.58 Tweet (r) 9.00 Broadcasting House 10.00 Archers 11.15 Desert Island Discs 12.00 News 12.01pm (LW) Shipping 12.04 Museum of Curiosity (r) 12.30 Food 1.00 The World This Weekend 1.30 America’s Ballot Battles (r) 2.00 Gardeners’ Question Time (r) 2.45 Listening Project (r) 3.00 Serial 4.00 Bookclub 4.30 Fishing 5.00 File on 4 (r) 5.40 Profile (r) 5.54 Shipping 6.00 News 6.15 Pick of the Week 7.00 Archers 7.15 Write Stuff 7.45 Under My Bed 8.00 Feedback (r) 8.30 Last Word (r) 9.00 Money Box (r) 9.26 (LW) Appeal (r) 9.26 Appeal (r) 9.30 Analysis (r) 10.00 The Westminster Hour 11.00 Film Programme (r) 11.30 Something Understood (r) 12.15am Thinking Allowed (r) 12.45 Bells (r) 12.48 Shipping 1.00 As BBC World Service 5.20-5.30 Shipping

5.00am Newsroom 5.30 The Why Factor 5.50 Sporting Witness 6.00 Weekend 8.30 Outlook 9.00 News 9.06 From Our Own Correspondent 9.30 Heart and Soul 10.00 News 10.06 Assignment 10.30 Global Business 11.00 News 11.06 Newsroom 11.30 Healthcheck 12.06pm Inquiry 12.30 100 Women: The Conversation Continues 1.00 Newshour 2.00 News 2.06 Science Hour 3.00 News 3.06 Newsroom 3.30 Boston Calling 4.00 News 4.06 Sportsworld 5.00 News 5.06 Sportsworld 6.00 News 6.06 Sportsworld 7.00 News 7.06 Newsroom 7.30 Heart and Soul 8.00 News 8.06 World Book Club 9.00 Newshour 10.00 News 10.06 From Our Own Correspondent 10.30 Food Chain 11.00 Newsroom 11.20 Sports News 11.30 Trending 11.50 More or Less 12.00 Newsroom 12.30am Food Chain 1.00 News 1.06 World Business Report 1.30 Outlook 2.00 Newsroom 2.30 Conversation 3.00 News 3.06 Forum 3.50 Over to You 4.00 Newsday 4.30-5.00 Food Chain

Sky Sports 1

6.00am SNF: Match Choice 7.30 Football Gold 9.00 The Sunday Supplement 10.30 Goals on Sunday 12.30pm Live Ford Super Sunday: Manchester City v Manchester United (Kick-off 1.30) 3.30 Live Ford Super Sunday: Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur (Kick-off 4.00) 7.00 Live Formula 1. The United States Grand Prix (Start-time 8.00) 10.30 Ford Football 12.00 Sunday Supplement 1.30am Goals on Sunday 2.30 Ford Football Special 4.00-6.00 Premiership Years

Sky Sports 2

6.00am Cricket Classics 7.15 Best of ICC WT20 7.45 Live One-Day International Cricket. India v Sri Lanka 4.00pm Sachin Tendulkar: One in a Billion 4.30 NFL 5.30 Live NFL: Dallas Cowboys v Arizona Cardinals (Kick-off 6.00) 9.00 Live NFL: New England Patriots v Denver Broncos (Kick-off 9.25) 12.30am International Rugby Union 1.30 One-Day International Cricket 2.30 Best of ICC WT20 3.00 The Ashes: Australia’s Best Days 5.45-6.00 Cricket Classics

Sky Sports 3

6.00am Sporting Rivalries 6.30 International Rugby Union 7.30 This Week in WWE 8.00 WWE Vintage 9.00 WWE: Afterburn 10.00 WWE Slam City 10.30 Sporting Greats 11.00 Sporting Rivalries 2.00 Live ATP Masters Tennis. The BNP Paribas Masters final 4.00 Sporting Greats 5.00 Sporting Rivalries 5.30 WWE Slam City 6.00 WWE: Experience 7.00 One-Day International Cricket 8.00 Sporting Rivalries 8.30 ATP Masters Tennis 9.30 Top 14 Rugby Union Highlights 10.00 One-Day International Cricket 11.00 WWE: Late Night: Afterburn 12.00 WWE: Late Night Vintage 1.00am Sporting Rivalries 2.00 ATP Masters Tennis 3.00 Top 14 Rugby Union Highlights 3.30 Sporting Rivalries 4.30 International Rugby Union 5.30-6.00 Top 14 Rugby Union Highlights

British Eurosport

7.30am Live FIA World Endurance Championship. The 6 Hours of Shanghai 9.00 British Rallycross Championship 10.00 Motorsport: Goodwood Revival 11.00 Snooker: International Championship 11.30 Live Snooker: International Championship. The final at the Chengdu Eastern Music Park in China 2.30pm World Superbikes 3.15 Live World Superbikes. The final round of the season from Qatar 8.15 Motorcycling 8.45 Show Jumping 9.45 World Superbikes 11.45 Motorcycling 12.15am12.30 Motorsports Weekend

Radio 3

7.00am Breakfast Live from the Free Thinking Festival. With Tom McKinney 9.00 News 9.03 Sunday Morning with Rob Cowan. Taneyev’s Second Symphony and music inspired by the National Anthem 12.00 Private Passions. 1.00pm News 1.02 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert. (r) 2.00 The Early Music Show. 3.00 Choral Evensong. (r) 4.00 The Choir at the Free Thinking Festival. A celebration of choirs from the North East 5.30 Words and Music Live from the Free Thinking Festival. Poetry, prose and music exploring the limits of knowledge 6.45 Sunday Feature: New Generation Thinkers. 7.30 Live Radio 3 in Concert. Gianandrea Noseda directs Elgar, Beethoven and a new choral work by Sally Beamish 10.00 Drama on 3: Imo and Ben. Mark Ravenhill’s play about the creation of Britten’s Gloriana (r) 11.30 Prince of the Pagodas. The BBCSO in music from Britten’s ballet 12.30am-6.30 Through the Night. Penderecki, Maliszewski, Mozart, Mendelssohn

76

FGM

Sport Motor racing

Title-chasing Hamilton set to end deal with Fuller

Kevin Eason Motor Racing Correspondent, Austin

Lewis Hamilton is scaling back his management deal with Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment agency after just three years in the stable that looks after some of Britain’s biggest sports and music stars.

Neither side have confirmed the end of the relationship, but a highly placed source said last night that the Mercedes driver, competing to win the United States Grand Prix this weekend, has decided to play an increasing role in his own management. That could mean renegotiating his new contract with Mercedes, for which talks are expected by the end of the season.

The deal with Fuller was billed as the partnership that was going to catapult Hamilton into the top division of global brands, alongside David Beckham and the Spice Girls. Hamilton followed Andy Murray on to the Fuller roster and Sir Bradley Wiggins has also joined XIX. Fuller helped to manoeuvre Hamilton into his drive at Mercedes in what was seen inside Formula One as a controversial move. It has proved to be a masterstroke, though, as well as highly lucrative, thought to be worth about £75 million. Hamilton is living up to his billing, leading the way in practice for the US Grand Prix yesterday and on course for a second World Championship title.

With the pop-star girlfriend — Hamilton is chasing a fifth successive win

Nicole Scherzinger, the former Pussycat Doll — and Hollywood lifestyle, Hamilton is F1’s one bankable star. He appeared on NBC’s Today, one of the most popular morning shows in the US, this week and lists a number of high-profile rappers among his friends.

Hamilton even met President Obama this year.

He is bound to be approached by some of sport’s biggest management agencies, but there seems little chance that Hamilton will rejoin Anthony, the father who managed him from the start of his karting career to his first world title and a fortune estimated at £68 million.

At the same time, representatives of XIX have faded from the F1 scene. Tom Shine, who was Hamilton’s regular minder, has not been seen for months and Fuller, the XIX founder, has barely attended a grand prix, even with his client leading the World Championship.

There seems little rancour on either side and Hamilton appears as happy as at any time in his career. He leads the World Championship by 17 points and is confident that he is on course for the second title he craves, starting with a win in Austin on a track he loves and in a country he adores.

Hamilton has suffered his trials and tribulations this season, but victory in Texas would be five in a row with only two races remaining this season.

“It has been amazing,” Hamilton said.

“The last few races I have really felt great. It is almost like there was a wall in front of me and I was trying to climb it and I couldn’t quite get over it. But I am over it now.”

Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

How to blow your money in F1 Have-nots of the grid ponder protest £74.18m that could wreck American dream 1. BUY A CAR

What it costs an average team to race at 19 grands prix in a season

Hybrid engine, including battery packs and energy recovery systems

Windtunnel and computer manufacturing

£11.5m

£17.4m

Chassis production/ manufacturing

Electronics

£1.2m

£12m

Dissatisfaction over the division of spoils could put brakes on progress made across the Pond, Kevin Eason writes

T

he mood was a mixture of despair and anger as talk of rebellion blew through the paddock at the Circuit of the Americas. In the state freed by the heroes of the Battle of the Alamo, Formula One was facing its own fight to the bitter end in Austin, Texas. Marussia and Caterham have gone and now the rest of the sport’s strugglers are trying to decide whether they should make their last stand against what they perceive to be financial injustice on an epic scale.

The three rebel teams of Lotus, Sauber and Force India believe that they could have a global platform on Sunday night from which to draw attention to a plight caused by F1’s skewed financial values and owners who appear to have little regard for the health or future of the sport.

They could also avoid sanction or penalty by fulfilling the letter of their contractual obligations by simply sending out their cars to drive the parade lap — but then pulling them into the pits and refusing to race. They are required to do no more than that.

It would be an extraordinary echo of the 2005 US Grand Prix, when seven teams withdrew after the parade lap, leaving only six cars in the field. The aftermath of that demonstration punished F1 for years as American fans turned their backs on the sport and abuse rained down from the stands at Indianapolis, the nation’s home of motor racing.

But the United States is a nation whose default setting is to get behind the underdog and it could provide a sympathetic audience this time when the story becomes clear.

The demonstration may not happen because the three teams will need the courage of a Davy Crockett to stand up to the massed forces of Bernie Ecclestone, F1’s tyrannical chief executive, and CVC Capital Partners, the controlling shareholders. But there is a whiff of cordite around Austin that must have reached the nostrils of the

formula for track trouble The problem Cost F1 costs too much. Teams who have no corporate backer cannot hope to compete with Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes Money is too skewed in favour of the biggest, who take 60 per cent of the prize money Investors take too much. Led by CVC Capital Partners, the controlling shareholders, it takes about half of revenues without investing anything The victims Small teams whose costs are way ahead of their budgets. None of the bottom seven teams make money and now Marussia and Caterham are in administration The circuits who pay huge fees — £18 million in the case of Austin — to Bernie Ecclestone’s Formula One Management but who make money only on the gate. Most struggle to survive without state support The fans who have to pay massive ticket prices to help circuits to pay fees. Hotel and transport costs are also jacked up. A typical fan from England is paying £1,000 for four nights in a downmarket hotel in Austin plus £200 in transport costs to get to the Circuit of the Americas before buying a ticket, which costs from £50 for a seat for practice and £625 for the best seat for three days

Tyres

£1.1m

Gearbox

£3.1m Fuel and lubricants

Utilities and factory maintenance

£930,000

£1.2m

IT

£1.8m

Salaries

Freight

£12.4m

£3.1m

Human resources and professional services, including legal

£950,000

Investors should cut their take from the sport. CVC is estimated to have made between £3 billion and £5 billion from F1. Or the investors could . . . invest in tracks and teams Words by Kevin Eason

high-rollers milling about the paddock at the circuit yesterday.

F1 lives in a parallel financial universe with billionaires and private jets at one end of the paddock and redundancy notices and distressed families thrown

£7.5m

2. HIRE A DRIVER Lewis Hamilton earns

Top teams hire drivers Sebastian Vettel is said to be moving to Ferrari for a £31m salary

per year

But small teams need drivers to pay As many eight drivers started this season paying for their seats or bringing substantial sponsorship to their team

£18m

Earning

£31m

Pastor Paying Maldonado is the £29m biggest payer, giving as much as £29m to Lotus

The solution Money distribute cash equally among teams with a surplus for performance pay Fees cut circuit-hosting fees and allow them to bring in own sponsors so that they can cut ticket prices and make a profit to invest in tracks

Travel and trackside facilities

out of work at the other. One wag observed that Marussia, with 130 employees, could have run for 18 months on the £70 million price tag attached to the 57-room mansion in London’s West End owned by Tamara Ecclestone, Bernie’s daughter.

A sport that earns £1 billion a year cannot support 11 teams and will field 18 cars tomorrow, the lowest number in a decade and hardly an advert for a flourishing business in the land of the free, where capitalism thrives but sporting self-interest is quelled by the quest for fair competition.

American fans arriving in Austin are baffled by F1’s arcane rulebook and its desire to squeeze every dollar. The

average cost of a ticket to an American football game is £48, not enough to get you a day watching practice yesterday.

Meanwhile, Texas taxpayers meet an annual bill of $29 million (about £18 million) to pay F1’s extraordinary hosting fees when the sport should be grateful that it has finally found a foothold in a market where it has proved spectacularly unsuccessful.

F1 hardly helps itself by choosing to arrive in Texas on the same weekend when, 100 miles away in Dallas, the Nascar series is holding a crucial playoff race.

The National Football League may be the world’s richest sport but — unlike F1 — the spirit of competition is

Fixtures Today Football Kick-off 3.0 unless stated Barclays Premier League: Arsenal v Burnley; Chelsea v Queens Park Rangers; Everton v Swansea; Hull v Southampton; Leicester v West Bromwich Albion; Newcastle v Liverpool (12.45); Stoke v West Ham. Sky Bet Championship: Blackburn v Reading; Blackpool v Ipswich; Bournemouth v Brighton (5.15); Brentford v Derby; Cardiff v Leeds; Charlton v Sheffield Wednesday; Huddersfield v Nottingham Forest; Rotherham v Middlesbrough; Watford v Millwall; Wigan v Fulham; Wolverhampton Wanderers v Birmingham (12.15).

P W D L F A GDPts Derby ................. 14 7 5 2 24 12 12 26 Watford.............14 7 5 2 26 15 11 26 Wolves...............14 7 5 2 21 15 6 26 Bournemouth .... 14 7 3 4 28 14 14 24 Middlesbrough .. 14 7 3 4 19 12 7 24

*Norwich...........14 6 5 3 22 12 10 23 Nottm Forest.....14 5 7 2 23 16 7 22 Blackburn...........14 6 4 4 21 20 1 22 Charlton.............14 5 7 2 16 15 1 22 Ipswich .............. 14 5 6 3 20 16 4 21 Cardiff................14 5 4 5 18 17 1 19 Sheffield Wed ... 14 4 7 3 11 11 0 19 Brentford...........14 5 4 5 16 19 -3 19 Reading..............14 5 3 6 18 23 -5 18 Millwall..............14 4 5 5 14 16 -2 17 Rotherham.........14 4 5 5 15 18 -3 17 Huddersfield......14 4 5 5 19 25 -6 17 Leeds ................. 14 4 4 6 14 18 -4 16 Wigan ................ 14 3 6 5 14 15 -1 15 Fulham...............14 4 2 8 19 25 -6 14 Brighton.............14 2 7 5 13 16 -3 13 *Bolton..............14 3 2 9 13 24 -11 11 Birmingham.......14 2 5 7 12 28 -16 11 Blackpool...........14 1 3 10 8 22 -14 6 * does not include last night’s match League One: Bradford City v Doncaster; Bristol City v Oldham; Chesterfield v Yeovil; Colchester v Port Vale; Crawley Town v Crewe; Fleetwood Town v Gillingham; Leyton Orient v Coventry; Milton Keynes Dons v Swindon; Notts County v Walsall; Peterbor-

ough v Scunthorpe; Rochdale v Preston; Sheffield United v Barnsley.

P W D L F A GDPts Bristol City........15 9 6 0 32 17 15 33 Preston..............14 9 4 1 28 13 15 31 Swindon.............14 7 5 2 30 17 13 26 Notts County.....14 7 5 2 21 12 9 26 Peterborough.....15 8 2 5 24 17 7 26 Sheffield Utd.....14 8 2 4 22 18 4 26 Oldham..............15 6 7 2 23 17 6 25 MK Dons............13 7 3 3 27 15 12 24 Rochdale............14 7 2 5 26 15 11 23 Fleetwood Town15 5 4 6 17 16 1 19 Chesterfield.......15 5 4 6 23 24 -1 19 Bradford City.....15 5 4 6 19 20 -1 19 Crawley..............15 5 3 7 14 24 -10 18 Colchester..........15 4 5 6 21 22 -1 17 Barnsley.............14 4 4 6 22 24 -2 16 Port Vale............15 4 4 7 20 23 -3 16 Coventry............15 4 4 7 18 25 -7 16 Walsall...............15 3 6 6 12 15 -3 15 Leyton Orient....15 3 6 6 15 20 -5 15 Doncaster..........13 4 3 6 12 20 -8 15 Gillingham.........15 3 5 7 14 21 -7 14 Yeovil.................15 3 4 8 12 26 -14 13 Crewe.................15 4 1 10 12 31 -19 13 Scunthorpe........15 3 3 9 17 29 -12 12

League Two: Burton Albion v Plymouth; Bury v Cambridge United; Cheltenham v York; Dagenham & Redbridge v Shrewsbury; Exeter v Luton; Hartlepool v Newport County; Mansfield v Southend; Northampton v AFC Wimbledon; Oxford United v Wycombe; Portsmouth v Carlisle; Tranmere v Stevenage.

P W D L F A GDPts Luton ................. 15 9 3 3 18 10 8 30 Wycombe...........15 8 5 2 21 11 10 29 Burton................15 9 1 5 20 19 1 28 Shrewsbury.......15 8 3 4 23 11 12 27 Bury...................15 8 3 4 24 17 7 27 Plymouth...........15 8 2 5 17 8 9 26 Newport County 15 6 5 4 18 14 4 23 *Morecambe ..... 15 7 2 6 17 15 2 23 Southend...........15 6 4 5 14 13 1 22 Exeter................15 6 4 5 18 18 0 22 Cheltenham.......15 6 4 5 15 17 -2 22 Cambridge ......... 15 6 3 6 26 18 8 21 AFC Wimbledon 15 5 5 5 22 23 -1 20 Portsmouth.......15 5 5 5 15 16 -1 20 Stevenage..........15 6 2 7 19 22 -3 20 *Accrington.......15 6 2 7 22 26 -4 20 Mansfield .......... 15 5 4 6 13 17 -4 19 Northampton.....15 5 3 7 23 23 0 18

Oxford Utd.........15 4 4 7 17 21 -4 16 Carlisle...............15 4 3 8 20 27 -7 15 Dag & Red..........15 4 3 8 18 25 -7 15 York ................... 15 1 9 5 13 20 -7 12 Tranmere...........15 2 5 8 13 20 -7 11 Hartlepool..........15 3 2 10 10 25 -15 11 * does not include last night’s match Vanarama Conference: AFC Telford v Bristol Rovers; Aldershot v Gateshead; Altrincham v Alfreton Town; Braintree Town v Woking; Eastleigh v Chester; Forest Green v Lincoln City; Grimsby v Dartford; Kidderminster v Torquay; Nuneaton v Macclesfield; Southport v Dover; Welling v Barnet; Wrexham v Halifax. North: Barrow v Guiseley; Boston United v AFC Fylde; Brackley v Colwyn Bay; Bradford Park Avenue v Tamworth; Gainsborough v Chorley; Harrogate Town v Stockport County; Leamington v Worcester; Lowestoft Town v Gloucester; North Ferriby United v Oxford City; Solihull Moors v Hyde; Stalybridge v Hednesford. South: Basingstoke v Chelmsford; Bath City v St Albans; Bishop’s Stortford v Hemel Hempstead; Concord Rangers v Weston-super-Mare; Eastbourne Borough v

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

77

FGM

Sport

C

ia ss u

ar M

Khan doubles the pain to leave Australia in trouble

at h er am

ss o R o s

£1

er b u Sa

£6

m 0

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5m

£3 2.

m 0 £7

m 6 3.

£3 2m m 4 5.

m 0 £9

£3

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m 0 £9

£3 m 9 £1

m

2 5.

m 0 0

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m

£1

1 7. £5

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Earned

£1

2 7. £9

6

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0 m

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What they earned and spent (2013, estimated)

35 £2

Ferrari Red Bull McLaren Mercedes

60%

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of money paid

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40%

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Lotus Force India Sauber Williams Toro Rosso Caterham Marussia

Richard Hobson Deputy Cricket Correspondent

m .2 £7

m ia

ill W

The top earners are Ferrari, who were paid almost £100 million last season even though they were not champions.

Marussia were paid just £7 million even though they were not bottom

ro To

3. WATCH THE BIG BOYS WALK AWAY WITH THE CASH

TOTAL

£505.1m (earned) £1.4bn (spent)

4. THE BOTTOM LINE There should be 22 cars on the grid, but the American public will see a maximum of 18 race this weekend, with Caterham and Marussia in administration and not fielding teams. Here are the championship standings – a true picture of inequality 1 2

Lewis Hamilton Nico Rosberg

Mercedes Mercedes

291 274

12 13

3 4 5

Daniel Ricciardo Valtteri Bottas Sebastian Vettel

Red Bull Racing-Renault Williams-Mercedes Red Bull Racing-Renault

199 145 143

14 Romain Grosjean 15 Daniil Kvyat 16 Jules Bianchi

Lotus-Renault STR-Renault Marussia-Ferrari

8 8 2

6 7 8 9

Fernando Alonso Jenson Button Nico Hülkenberg Felipe Massa

Ferrari McLaren-Mercedes Force India-Mercedes Williams-Mercedes

141 94 76 71

17 18 19 20

Sauber-Ferrari Caterham-Renault Lotus-Renault Sauber-Ferrari

0 0 0 0

10 Kevin Magnussen 11 Sergio Pérez

McLaren-Mercedes Force India-Mercedes

49 47

21 Max Chilton 22 Kamui Kobayashi

Marussia-Ferrari Caterham-Renault

0 0

Kimi Raikkonen Jean-Éric Vergne

Adrian Sutil Marcus Ericsson Pastor Maldonado Esteban Gutiérrez

Ferrari STR-Renault

47 21

Little more than a month ago, Younus Khan dared the Pakistan selectors to drop him from the Test side after omitting him from the one-day fold to give younger players a chance. To the disappointment of all Australians, they opted to stick with their man.

Since Khan’s fit of pique, he has scored 106 and 103 not out in the first Test against Australia in Dubai, which he followed yesterday by hitting 213 in the second and closing game of the series in Abu Dhabi, passing 8,000 runs in the format along the way.

Pakistan had started the second day on 304 for two and Khan stretched his third-wicket stand with Azhar Ali (109) to 236 before putting on 181 with Misbah-ul-Haq (101), perishing only when he sought quick runs, dancing down the pitch to the pace of Peter Siddle. Pakistan declared on 570 for six and Australia lost Chris Rogers in reaching 22 in the brief time remaining before the close.

There is a long history of volatility in Pakistan cricket, and Khan refused merely to accept the decision to omit him for the 50-over games versus Australia last month. “I am saying a simple thing,” he said. “If youngsters are the future of ODIs, then where is the future of Pakistan in Test cricket?

“Don’t select me in Test matches and make them the future of Pakistan in Test cricket, too.”

Instead of rising — or sinkingg — to that challenge, Shahryar Khan, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, simply told the player to “show some

There was some hand-wringing over the demise of the two teams but no one here believes for a second that the financial model devised by CVC and Ecclestone will change. The FIA, the supposed regulators of this fiasco, finally issued an opinion late on Thursday but it was no more than a statement of the obvious with no signal of intent.

“These failings once again acutely raise the question of the economic balance of [F1] and justify the position, expressed many times by the FIA, in favour of any initiative that will help reduce costs in order to ensure the survival of the existing grid or attract potential new entrants,” it said. That should solve it, then.

That leaves action as the only viable alternative for the smallest three teams, beleaguered and wondering whether their future will be a lifetime of wandering the world’s tracks as permanent also-rans, living on tick and trying to juggle soaring expenses against falling income. Or worse, becoming victims, as Marussia and Caterham have.

Will they do it and go ahead with their mass demonstration of dissatisfaction in front of 100,000 fans in Austin? Why not? One executive said last night: “We haven’t got anything to lose, have we? No one listens, so the only thing we can do is take action that CVC will understand. It would be painful but it would make the point.”

Khan celebrates again, having scored two hundreds beforehand

Westwood proves ace in pack Golf

Sam Munnery

fed by the common sense of survival.

Each of the 32 teams are paid exactly the same £117 million from revenues from broadcasting and merchandising.

The result of such a democratic distribution of the NFL’s riches is in the record books: the past ten Super Bowls have been won by eight different teams.

In F1, shareholders take four in every ten pounds generated, but it is the way that Ecclestone distributes the team prize money that rankles. The four biggest teams — Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren — account for 60 per cent of the pot, even though they are already the richest in the paddock. The rest are left with the begging bowl and now two have gone, perhaps for ever.

maturity” and try to hold his tongue.

Pakistan duly lost the one-day series 3-0.

Khan is one of the best operators against spin in the world, as England realised during their series in the United Arab Emirates in 2012. Andy Flower, then the team director, urged his own players to note how infrequently Khan allowed himself to be hit on the pads by slow bowlers.

Australia are being given a similar lesson, and their problems were compounded when Brad Haddin, the wicketkeeper, hurt a shoulder in a fall.

David Warner took the gloves and soon missed a stumping opportunity when Khan made a rare error against the expensive Nathan Lyon.

Khan went on to join Rahul Dravid, Donald Bradman, Sunil Gavaskar and Kumar Sangakkara in following two single hundreds with a double at Test level. Sangakkara, Graham Gooch and Garry Sobers have all hit two hundreds and a triple in some or other order.

Australia have not lost to Pakistan in a series since 1994-95, but the prospect of maintaining that record having succumbed in Dubai is very remote.

Although suggestions of a decline since the Ashes whitewash last winter may be premature, England can take some early encouragement for next year’s rematch.

Ryan Harris is missing the series because of injury, and they still have a problem at No 3. Alex Doolan was replaced

by Glenn Maxwell for rep this match, forcing a reshuffle.

Lyon has struggled on pitches that should suit. In contrast, the slow pace has blunted Mitchell Johnson.

Lee Westwood moved to within three shots of the lead at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia after a hole in one ignited his challenge during the second round.

The Englishman used a hybrid club off the tee on the 225-yard par-three 11th at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club, the ball pitching ten feet from the hole before rolling in.

Westwood is unsure how many times he has recorded a hole in one in his career. “I don’t know exactly,” he said.

“Someone asked me walking to the green how many I thought I’d had. I think somewhere around 14.

“You remember the ones that you won something for. I had a hole in one in Germany once and won a bar of gold,

and that’s the only time I’ve ever won anything. Occasionally there’s been a bottle of champagne.”

Westwood, 41, who won the Maybank Malaysian Open on the same course on the European Tour in April, had already picked up three birdies on the front nine and added two more on the 16th and 18th to complete a flawless round of 65.

It took him to seven under par, three shots behind Billy Hurley, the leader, who recorded his second consecutive 67. Kevin Streelman, Hurley’s American compatriot, is two shots back after two rounds of 68, and Westwood shares third place with Sergio García, who added a 68 to his opening round of 69, Korea’s Noh Seung Yul and the American quartet of Jeff Overton, Ryan Moore, Kevin Na and Kevin Chappell.

Results Bromley; Farnborough v Gosport Borough; Staines Town v Ebbsfleet United; Wealdstone v Maidenhead United; Whitehawk v Havant & Waterlooville.

Scottish Premiership: Celtic v Inverness Caledonian Thistle; Dundee United v St Mirren; Hamilton v Partick; Kilmarnock v Dundee.

William Hill Scottish Cup: Third round: Annan Athletic v Livingston; Arbroath v Nairn County; Ayr v Alloa; Dumbarton v Rangers; East Fife v Berwick; Edinburgh City v Brora; Elgin v Boness United; Forfar v Cowdenbeath; Hurlford United v Stirling (2.0); Linlithgow Rose v Raith; Morton v Airdrieonians; Peterhead v Stranraer; Queen’s Park v Albion; Spartans v Clyde; Stenhousemuir v Brechin.

Rugby union Kick-off 3.0 unless stated Killik Cup: Barbarians v Australia (2.30, at Twickenham).

LV= Cup: Bath v London Welsh; Exeter v Gloucester; London Irish v Leicester; North-

ampton v Newcastle (4.0); Sale v Wasps (2.0).

SSE National League One: Blackheath v Macclesfield; Coventry v Esher; Ealing Trailfinders v Hartpury College; Fylde v Blaydon; Loughborough Students v Cinderford (2.0); Old Albanian v Wharfedale; Rosslyn Park v Richmond; Tynedale v Darlington Mowden Park (2.0).

Guinness PRO12: Cardiff Blues v Munster (5.15); Scarlets v Zebre (6.0); Ulster v Newport Gwent Dragons (7.35).

Principality Building Society Welsh Premiership (2.30): Bridgend v Llandovery; Carmarthen Quins v Cardiff Rugby; Ebbw Vale v Aberavon; Neath v Cross Keys; Newport v Llanelli; Pontypridd v Bedwas.

BT Scottish Premiership: Edinburgh Academicals s v Melrose (2.0); Gala v Ayr; Glasgow Hawks v Heriot’s; Hawick v Currie; Stirling County v Boroughmuir.

Ulster Bank Irish League: First division (2.30): Section A: Ballynahinch v St Mary’s

College; Cork Constitution v Young Munster; Lansdowne v UCD; Old Belvedere v Dolphin; Terenure College v Clontarf.

Tomorrow Football Barclays Premier League: Aston Villa v Tottenham (4.0); Manchester City v Manchester United (1.30).

Vanarama Conference South: Hayes & Yeading v Sutton United.

William Hill Scottish Cup: Third round: East Stirling v Dunfermline.

Rugby league Alitalia European Cup: Wales v Ireland (2.30, at Racecourse Ground, Wrexham).

Rugby union LV= Cup: Saracens v Harlequins (1.0).

American football NFL: Carolina 10 New Orleans 28.

Basketball NBA: Cleveland 90 New York 95, Dallas 120 Utah 102, Los Angeles 93 Oklahoma 90, Minnesota 97 Detroit 91, Orlando 98 Washington 105.

Cricket Second Test match Pakistan v Australia

Abu Dhabi (second day of five): Australia, with nine first-innings wickets in hand, are 548 runs behind Pakistan Pakistan: First Innings (overnight 304-2) Azhar Ali c Warner b Starc 109 Younus Khan b Siddle 213 *Misbah-ul-Haq c and b Smith 101 Asad Shafiq b Starc 21

†Sarfraz Ahmed not out 19 Yasir Shah not out 1 Extras (b 10, lb 11, w 1, nb 4) 26 Total (6 wkts dec, 164 overs) 570 Zulfiqar Babar, Rahat Ali and Imran Khan did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-57, 2-96, 3-332, 4-513, 5-537, 6-561.

Bowling: Johnson 25-7-59-1; Starc 27-3-86-2; Siddle 31-8-75-1; Lyon 37-1-154-1; Marsh 12-2-32-0; Maxwell 16-2-78-0; Clarke 6-0-24-0; Smith 10-0-41-1.

Australia: First Innings D A Warner not out 16 C J L Rogers c Ahmed b M I Khan 5 N M Lyon not out 1 Total (1 wkt, 5.2 overs) 22 G J Maxwell, *M J Clarke, S P D Smith, M R Marsh, †B J Haddin, M A Starc, M G Johnson and P M Siddle to bat.

Fall of wicket: 1-21.

Bowling: Imran 3-0-18-1; Hafeez

2-0-4-0; Babar 0.2-0-0-0.

Umpires: NJ Llong (England) R A Kettleborough (England)

Golf

US PGA Tour CIMB Classic Shanghai: Leading second-round scores: (US unless stated) 134: B Hurley III. 136: K Streelman. 137: Noh Seung Yul (S Kor), J Overton, K Chappell, R Moore, S García (Sp), L Westwood (Eng), K Na (S Kor).

138: J Blixt (Sw), D Lee (NZ).

European Tour BMW Masters Shanghai: Leading second-round scores: 130: N Colsaerts (Bel).

131: A Levy (Fr). 133: R Wattel (Fr).

134: B Grace (SA), M Siem (Ger), E Grillo (Arg). 135: T Bjorn (Den).

136: M Ilonen (Fin), J Donaldson (Wales), S Lowry (Ire), G McDowell (N Ire). 137: E Els (SA), R Palmer (US), D Fichardt (SA), J Rose (Eng), R Fisher (Eng).

Snooker International Championship Chengdu, China: Semi-final: R Walden (Eng) bt R Milkins (Eng) 9-2.

Tennis

ATP BNP Paribas Masters Paris: Quarter-finals: M Raonic (Can) bt R Federer (Switz) 7-6, 7-5; T Berdych (Cz) bt K Anderson (SA) 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.

WTA Garanti Koza Tournament Of Champions Sofia, Bulgaria: Round robin, group B: C Suarez-Navarro (Sp) bt T Tsvetana Pironkova (Bul) 7-6, 6-1.

WTAYinzhouBank International Open Ningbo, China: Quarter-finals: P Kania (Pol) bt Wang Yan (China) 7-6, 4-6, 7-5; M Linette (Pol) bt Zheng Saisai (China) 1-6, 7-5, 6-3; Wang Qiang (China) bt Zhu Lin (China) 6-3, 6-1; Duan Yingying (China) bt E Bychkova (Russ) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

Sport Rugby league

Burgess twins can be history boys Christopher Irvine

And then there were two. For twins George and Tom Burgess, life without their brother Sam, now at Bath, starts in the furnace of an encounter in Melbourne tomorrow with Australia that looks anything but routine for the home side. England can eliminate the Kangaroos from a tournament final for the first time in 60 years.

History has weighed heavily on England and Great Britain since a 1972 World Cup success at Australia’s expense, amid a litany of near-misses and crushing defeats over five decades.

Sage or siren voices, perhaps, but some Australians are talking up England’s chances. The trouble is the national side have been this way before and faltered, sometimes embarrassingly.

The Victoria capital has witnessed a couple of comprehensive losses since Garry Schofield and Martin Offiah starred in a one-off 33-10 victory over Australia in 1992 — one of six 2-1 overall Ashes series defeats for Britain between 1988 and 2001. England were mauled 52-4 indoors in Melbourne in the 2008 World Cup and swamped 34-14 in a storm during the 2010 Four Nations series at AAMI Park, venue for

the latest clash. An England victory would be the first on Australian soil since Great Britain won in Sydney in 2006 and would inflict the first early knockout blow to Australia in a tournament since they failed to qualify for the final of the inaugural 1954 World Cup. New Zealand bullied the Kangaroos off the field in a 30-12 upset last Saturday, with an emphasis placed on whether the Burgess brothers and James Graham, in particular, can do the same.

“Obviously for Australia, everything is on the line, so they’re going to be coming out with nothing to lose,” Tom Burgess, a member of an England pack

THE BEST FOR RUGBY

RUGBY SPECIAL

with a nearly six-stone weight advantage, said. “They have to get a win and so do we. As a young kid you dream of playing for your country, and obviously to beat Australia in their own backyard has not been done for so long.”

The raw power of the brothers and their clever footwork near the line, in harness with Graham, has Australia worried. Had Sam Burgess been available, who knows? But George, like his identical twin, is hardly short of confidence. “Australia are fighting for a place in the final,” he said. “Things in the past are out of our control. So long as we focus on what we can do with the team on Sunday and in the future, we’re on the way to creating a little bit of our own history.”

Sean O’Loughlin is expected to return from a thigh injury to lead the side against opponents without nine of the side who won the World Cup last November and whose new caps struggled to contain the vengeful Kiwis last week. Sione Mata’utia, at 18 Australia’s youngest international, is the latest call-up on the wing after only seven NRL appearances. As strong as the Kangaroos look across their back line, their forwards dare not perform as poorly again. “You’ll see a better side out there Sunday,” Cameron Smith, the captain, said.

Steve McNamara, the England coach, has publicly sidestepped the controversy of doing away with neutral referees and placing an Australian official in charge, Gerard Sutton.

“They’ve deemed he was the best referee last weekend and he’s got the game, which is probably of the biggest importance this weekend,” McNamara said. “I’ve got no issue with it. That’s the path the international game has gone down in this tournament. We’re happy to roll with it.”

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EIGHT2PAGE GUIDE TO QBE AUTUMN INTERNATIONALS

PLUS: GRAEME SOUNESS ON THE MANCHESTER DERBY

George Burgess believes England can surprise the Australians in Melbourne

Stuart Cummings, the director of 2013 World Cup match officials, was less diplomatic. “What the hell has happened to international referee appointments?” he asked. “The World Cup had neutral referees in every game.

We’ve gone backwards. And what is the criteria that decided that Gerry Sutton performed better than Phil Bentham [the English refereeing representative in the tournament]? I and many others over here can’t see it.”

The Australian official position is that it is more important to have the best referee for the most important game than give the impression of neutrality. Jon Sharp, the English official on the three-man selection panel, wanted Bentham but lost out to his two southern hemisphere counterparts. “Jon may as well come home as he will be outvoted each week,” Cummings said.

6 Ryan Bailey, the former Great Britain prop, who has made more than 300 appearances for Leeds Rhinos, is to leave the club after 14 years and take up a two-year contract with Hull Kingston Rovers as a replacement for Justin Poore, who has been forced by injury to retire. Rovers’ opening 2015 Super League game is at home to Leeds on February 8. “I’ve won some great finals with Leeds, but want to bring some of that experience to Rovers,” Bailey said.

Key clash The real dazzle in both teams is provided at full back. Sam Tomkins was a defensive rock against Samoa, however England will also look to his predatory instincts to unsettle the Kangaroos, who are without several star acts but still have their leading light in Greg Inglis, who has recovered from the virus that restricted him to 40 minutes in the opening loss to New Zealand. Ball in hand, there is no greater threat in the sport than that provided by Inglis.

Words Christopher Irvine

ENGLAND

AUSTRALIA G Inglis J Mansour M Jennings D Walker S Mata'utia D Cherry-Evans C Cronk A Woods C Smith S Thaiday B Scott G Bird C Parker

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Interchange: Four from B Cordner, R Farah, A Guerra, R Hoffman, B Hunt, D Klemmer, J Papalii

S Tomkins J Charnley K Watkins M Shenton R Hall G Widdop M Smith G Burgess J Hodgson J Graham L Farrell J Tomkins S O’Loughlin Interchange: D Clark, B Ferres, T Burgess, C Hill

Referee G Sutton (Australia) Television BBC 2 tomorrow 4.30am (5am kick-off)

FOUR NATIONS Round One: Samoa 26 England 32; Australia 12 New Zealand 30. Round Two: today, New Zealand v Samoa; tomorrow, Australia v England. Round Three: Nov 8, New Zealand v England; 9, Australia v Samoa. 15, final (Wellington)

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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Murray thinking of home after Djokovic hits the accelerator DEAN MOUHTAROPOULOS / GETTY IMAGES

Tennis

Ron Lewis Paris

Friday nights are no fun for Andy Murray in the City of Lights. His winning run came to a stuttering end in the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Masters as he was beaten 7-5, 6-2 by Novak Djokovic last night.

It was the fifth time he was beaten at this stage of this tournament as he added to the two semi-final defeats on a Friday in the French Open, at Roland Garros.

After a gruelling six weeks of play, the tank ran dry for Murray. There were moments of brilliance, notably when he broke at the start of the second set. But after a close first set drifted away from him, from 2-1 up in the second set, he lost five straight games, three on his own serve to go down to defeat.

Still, the main aim of this week, which was securing his place at the Barclays ATP London Finals was secured. And with at least eight days’ break before his first match at the O2 arena, he can approach that with some confidence.

Murray lost the first six points of the match, but he soon found his feet, scrapping his way to hold his opening service game, despite Djokovic having two break points.

Progress to this point had been smooth for Murray, as neither Julien Benneteau nor Grigor Dimitrov pushed him too hard, and he warmed into the match well. He began the seventh game in fine style, burying a forehand winner, but a loose backhand gifted Djokovic a break point, that Murray rescued with an ace. When he sent a forehand fractionally long, however, Djokovic had another break point. This time Murray needed a referral to the video replay to save it, after Djokovic’s shot that was called in actually went just beyond the baseline.

That might have been a bullet dodged, but Murray could not have been more impressive in his next service game, at 4-5, starting with a

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Sport Presentation on hold after Jeptoo fails test Athletics Rita Jeptoo has failed an

out-of-competition test for erythropoietin, the banned blood-boosting drug, according to Kenya Athletics, her national federation. Jeptoo, below, the winner of the Boston and Chicago marathons for the past two years, was due to receive $500,000 (about £313,000), the biggest payout in the sport, for winning the 2013-14 World Marathon Majors series. The awards ceremony in New York tomorrow has been postponed.

Jeptoo, 33, could not be reached yesterday, but after a meeting with senior officials on Thursday, said that the accusation was false.

“Those are lies,” she said.

England fall short Netball Geva Mentor, the England

A stretch too far: Federer attempts a low forehand during his defeat in Paris, which ended his 14-match winning sequence

brilliant winner down the line and concluding with two aces, one off a second serve, to win the game to love.

And there was no mistaking the Scot’s fighting instinct. As Djokovic closed in on a 6-5 lead, he chased down a drop shot to win a point that had seemed a hopeless cause.

The next game did not go to plan. Too loose shots put him in a hole and, as he prepared for a second serve, he was distracted by a noise in the crowd, and promptly double faulted, handing Djokovic two set points. He won the next point, with an excellent reflex volley, but he was dragged into a rally on the second and fired into the net.

Murray made a poor start to the second set too, three unforced errors leading to three break points in his opening service games. The Scot found his battling instincts, though, sticking firm in the rallies and saving the third break point with a bold forehand down

final contenders Already qualified: Stanislas Wawrinka, Novak Djokovic, Marin Cilic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych. Rafael Nadal qualified but has withdrawn.

Nearly there: Kei Nishikori would qualify if he won last night.

Also battling: David Ferrer will qualify if he reaches the final, Milos Raonic must win the Paris title to be sure of qualifying, but a David Ferrer defeat last night would also ensure that he qualifies.

the line. When Djokovic struck a loose shot into the net on the next point, he hurled his racket into the floor, before making an overelaborate apology to the packed crowd. Perhaps it was a sign that the match was turning.

Two roaring forehands set up a break point for Murray in the next game, which he blew when sending a backhand into the net. A double fault gave the Scot advantage, though, and he did not waste this opportunity as he took a 2-1 lead.

He was instantly in trouble, however, handing Djokovic two break points.

The first was saved in battling style, the second saw a forehand drop into the net. Things started to go wrong quickly.

He lost the next game to love and served two double faults in his next service game that ended in another break of serve as defeat came quickly.

Milos Raonic put a serious dent in Roger Federer’s ambitions to become world No 1 again at the age of 33.

The Canadian served 22 aces, 11 in each set, as he blasted out a 7-6, 7-5 win to reach the semi-finals and keep alive his own hopes of earning a place in London.

defender, turned in a superb display in her 99th international at the venue where she made her debut, but it was not enough to prevent her team from going down 52-38 to New Zealand in Palmerston North. After the Silver Ferns had lost by four goals in the first match, they bounced back to winning form to retain the Taini Jamison Trophy on aggregate.

Mills boon for Sussex Cricket Sussex have signed Tymal

Mills after he left Essex. The 22-year-old left-arm fast bowler, below, has signed a two-year contract after Sussex beat a number of rivals to his signature.

Mills rejected an offer from Essex after an injury-hit 2014 in which he played in 12 games in all first-team cricket. Mills toured Sri Lanka with the Lions in February and spent time with the senior England side last winter.

Walden continues quest for all the trophies in China Snooker

Hector Nunns Chengdu

Ricky Walden is targeting a n unusual hat-trick in tomorrow’s final of the International Championship.

The world No 11 brushed past Robert Milkins 9-2 in the first semi-final, and one more win would give him the third ranking-event success of his career, all recorded in China.

Walden is also keen to maintain his record of never having lost a leading final, given that he won the Shanghai Masters in 2008 and the Wuxi Classic two years ago.

“I have never had to stand there in a ranking final and watch someone else pick up the trophy, and long may that continue,” Walden said. “I have not

been in that situation and hopefully never will be, even though it has happened to the best. My goal is to maintain that record, and if I play like I have in the last couple of matches then I have a good chance.

“To get to three ranking finals anywhere would be great, but it has gone well for me in China. It is really good to be in another big final though, it has been a while and I have had semi-finals at the UK Championship and World Championship since then.

“This event started off with 128 lads in Barnsley (where qualifying took place), so to be in the final two on the final day is special and means the world.

Whoever wins out of Mark Williams and Mark Allen it will be tough.”

Meanwhile, Williams, who faces

Allen in the other semi-final today, hopes to use his long-awaited victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan to kick-start his season and help ensure a place at next year’s World Championship.

As usual only the top 16 will be Walden has also been victorious in Shanghai and Wuxi

guaranteed a spot at The Crucible in Sheffield, but this year those ranked 1732 will have to win three qualifiers and not just one. Williams missed the World Championship in April and May for the

first time in 18 years, and does not want that to happen again.

“It hurt a lot when I lost my qualifier to get to the World Championship because I had been there every year for almost as long as I could remember,” the world No 22 said. “Once it started on TV I had got over it, but of course I want to be back there this season.

“It used to be if you were ranked 17-32 it was one match to get there, this year it will be three so it will be a scramble in March and April. Being in the top 16 when it matters next year and not having to qualify for Sheffield is probably more important than ever.

“Just by getting to the semis here I will go up to 18 I think and if I beat Mark Allen it would be 14, so that in itself is a massive incentive and extra pressure.”

Khan’s Grand billing Boxing Amir Khan will top the bill at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas’s most prestigious boxing venue when he faces Devon Alexander, a two-weight world champion from St Louis, Missouri, on December 13 (Ron Lewis writes). Khan, the former IBF and WBA light-welterweight champion, beat Luis Collazo there in May on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather’s first bout with Marcos Maidana.

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Sport Rugby union

New boy can look on sunny side with Williams’ All Blacks return PHIL WALTER / GETTY IMAGES

John Westerby

Just as English rugby works itself up into a state of giddiness about the codecrossing potential of Sam Burgess, so New Zealand have promptly raised the stakes by wheeling out their own highprofile convert. The difference being that the code-hopper who will start for the All Blacks against the United States today has already discovered his preferred position, played 19 times for the All Blacks and picked up a World Cup winners’ medal.

While the debates have begun in earnest about whether Burgess should play in the backs or forwards for Bath, and just how long it will take him to learn the game, two brief appearances as a replacement in club rugby were enough to convince Steve Hansen, the New Zealand head coach, that Sonny Bill Williams should return to the All Blacks’ squad for their tour to the US and Europe. At Soldier Field in Chicago this evening, Williams will start in the centre in an experimental New Zealand line-up, six weeks after playing his final game of rugby league for the Sydney Roosters, for the time being at least.

That last outing for the Roosters was a defeat by the South Sydney Rabbitohs, featuring Sam Burgess. Over the next few months, there will be no shortage of speculation about whether the next meeting of the rugby league greats will be in the 15-a-side code World Cup final in Twickenham next October.

First things first, though. Williams will be appearing today in a mainly second-string side, likely to bear little relation to the team who will face England at Twickenham next Saturday. He is not the only notable returnee, however, as Dan Carter is back on the bench, having recovered from the fractured leg injury he suffered playing in the Super Rugby final three months ago. Starting at fly half will be Aaron Cruden, making his first appearance for the All Blacks since he was dropped after missing the team’s flight to Argentina in September, having “made a poor decision regarding the limits of my alcohol intake”, as his official apology memorably recorded.

A sellout crowd of 62,000 is expected at Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears, for what is billed as the biggest game in the US Eagles’ history. There has been scepticism about the moti-

How they line up United States: C Wyles; B Scully, S Kelly, A Suniula, B Thompson; A Siddall, M Petri; E Fry, P Thiel, O Kilifi, S Manoa, H Smith, T Clever, S Lavalla, D Barrett.

Replacements: T Coolican, N Wallace, M Moeakiola, T Tuisamoa, L Stanfill, B Tarr, F Niua, T Hall.

New Zealand: I Dagg; C Jane, R Crotty, S B Williams, C Piutau; A Cruden, T J Perenara; J Moody, N Harris, C Faumuina, J Thrush, P Tuipulotu, V Vito, S Cane, K Read. Replacements: K Mealamu, W Crockett, B Franks, B Retallick, L Messam, A Pulu, D Carter, J Savea.

Referee: C Joubert (South Africa).

Television: Sky Sports 2, kick-off 8pm.

in a league of his own

Cheika sees Hodgson as right man to restore order Alex Lowe

Matt Hodgson’s surprise selection as Australia captain for today’s game against the Barbarians says as much about the Wallabies’ present predicament after a series of disciplinary scandals as it does about the Western Force flanker.

Michael Cheika, the new Australia head coach, rewarded Hodgson for his performances in Super Rugby by selecting him ahead of James Horwill and Will Genia, both of whom are former Wallaby captains. “The discipline and the belief they [the Force] showed in the way they played the game, that has to come from good leadership,” Cheika said.

It was the absence of good leadership, according to Robbie Deans, the former Australia head coach, that precipitated the recent Kurtley Beale scandal and led to Ewen McKenzie’s resignation a week before the team left for London.

Deans had promoted Beale, James O’Connor and Quade Cooper in an attempt to overhaul New Zealand, but all three have found trouble in a Wallaby team environment apparently not strong enough to keep them in check.

“Off-field challenges are par for the course, every side has those but because of the profile of our group, the age of our group, we lacked the leadership within to really manage that effectively,” Deans said. “Culture is what is there when the coach is not.”

Cheika now has eight matches, including today’s, in which to establish the right environment before the Wallabies face England and Wales in the pool stage of the World Cup. As the only coach to have won Heineken Cup and Super Rugby titles he is widely respected as the right man to do it and he took heart from Australia’s performance in their most recent match, a 2928 defeat by New Zealand.

“That’s a good signal of where the team spirit is at,” Cheika said. “It’s not complete but we can build on it.”

Cheika plans to focus on Australia’s traditional strengths.

“When Australians teams have been successful, they have been creative and smart,” Matt Toomua, the centre, said.

“You think back to the Stephen Larkhams and the George Gregans, it’s something we’d love to bring back.”

Sonny Bill Williams Born: August 3, 1985, Auckland 2004-2008, rugby league, part I: becomes a star forward with Canterbury Bulldogs, winning Grand Final in his first season 2008-2012, rugby union, part I: joins Toulon in 2008, then makes his All Blacks debut against England in 2010; part of the World Cup-winning squad in 2011.

2013-14, rugby league, part II: wins NRL Grand Final in first season back with Sydney Roosters.

2009-2013, boxing: remained unbeaten as a heavyweight in six professional fights.

vation for the visit, given that the two teams share a sponsor, AIG, while New Zealand have only recently agreed to play an international in nearby Samoa for the first time next year.

There is no doubting the benefits for the home team, though, even if Richie McCaw’s appearance on the ice at a Chicago Blackhawks game this week, wearing a red No7 shirt of his NHL hosts, was greeted with quizzical looks.

McCaw is among the frontline players rested today as Hansen keeps his powder dry for the visit to Twickenham.

The All Blacks will be facing a home side whose squad of 23 includes only 12 full-time professionals, among them Samu Manoa, who has been such a force in the Northampton pack in recent times. Manoa will take his place in the second row alongside Hayden Smith, the Saracens lock who spent one season in the NFL with the New York Jets, while Smith’s Saracens team-mate, Chris Wyles, starts at full back.

To the wider rugby public, though, the next step in the remarkable career of Williams, 29, could carry the greatest significance this month, with the All Blacks due to face England, Scotland and Wales after their game in Chicago.

Having made his name in rugby league, he won 19 caps between 2010 and 2012, a stint that included an appearance as a replacement in the 2011 World Cup final. He then returned to rugby league for two seasons and won an NRL title with the Roosters before agreeing a two-year contract with the NZRU, which could mean him playing in the World Cup next year and the Olympic Sevens tournament in Rio in 2016. It did not take Williams long to shine in the 15-man game last time and the expectation is that he will hit the ground running in Chicago.

He will remain on tour with the All Blacks despite the imminent birth of his first child. Expectancy certainly abounds for Williams this month.

Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

teams Barbarians: T Nanai Williams; F Halai, J de Jongh, F Saili, N Cummins; C Slade, T Cubelli; M Stevens, J Parsons, A Ta’avao, D Bird, A Kellock, A Thomson, M Todd, S Luatua.

Replacements: M Schwalger, S Pretorius, L Adriaanse, H Brussow, M Alemanno, J Tuculet, M Boshoff, T Du Toit.

Past master: Williams, who has already played 19 times for New Zealand, will line up against the US tonight after spending the past few years playing rugby league

Australia: I Folau; H Speight, T Kuridrani, M Toomua, R Horne; Q Cooper, W Genia; B Robinson, S Fainga’a, B Alexander, S Carter, J Horwill, S Higginbotham, M Hodgson, B McCalman. Replacements: C Leali’ifano, S McMahon, J Hanson, J Slipper, S Kepu, W Skelton, N White, B Foley. Referee: J Peyper (South Africa).

TV: Sky Sports 2 from 2pm (kick-off 2.30pm)

match-by-match guide to the weekend’s lv= cup ties Today Sale Sharks v Wasps, 2pm Dan Braid, the former New Zealand flanker, makes his first start for Sale since the opening weekend of the season, having returned from injury as a replacement during the defeat away to Clermont Auvergne last week. Alex Lozowski, son of Rob, the former Wasps centre, starts at fly half.

Bath v London Welsh, 3pm A rare outing for Gavin Henson at fly

half for Bath, for whom Charlie Ewels captains the side from the second row after impressing in his first start against Toulouse last weekend. London Welsh, Henson’s former club, include Tom May, the former England centre, as captain at No 12.

Exeter Chiefs v Gloucester, 3pm Exeter begin the defence of their title by welcoming Dean Mumm and Luke Cowan-Dickie back into their starting pack, both making their first starts of the season after injury. Gloucester

have chosen a young side, with five players making their first starts, including Aled Thomas at fly half.

London Irish v Leicester Tigers, 3pm Richard Cockerill, the Tigers’ head coach, has chosen a number of younger players, although the threequarter line includes plenty of experience, with Miles Benjamin and Adam Thompstone on the wings and Matt Smith at No 13. Topsy Ojo will be captain for London Irish from the fullback position.

Tomorrow Saracens v Harlequins, 1pm (live on Sky Sports 4HD) Juan Figallo, the Argentina prop, signed from Montpellier in the summer, will make his debut for Saracens, joined by Scott Spurling and Rhys Gill in the front row. Rob Buchanan, the hooker, makes his first start of the season for Harlequins.

How it works: teams in the LV= Cup are split into four pools, comprising three Aviva Premiership clubs and one

Welsh region. Pool 1 teams play the sides in pool 4, pool 2 teams face their counterparts in pool 3. Pool winners qualify for the semi-finals.

Pool 1: Bath, Gloucester, Newport Gwent Dragons, Saracens. Pool 2: Cardiff Blues, London Irish, Northampton, Sale Sharks. Pool 3: Leicester, Newcastle Falcons, Scarlets, Wasps. Pool 4: Exeter Chiefs, Harlequins, London Welsh, Ospreys.

Words by John Westerby

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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Comment Sport

Generation that carried on regardless Paul Ackford

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crum pox was a particularly virulent and nasty virus that hit rugby in the 1970s. One Cambridge University student is reputed to have taken to his bed in a darkened room for a week when he caught it, doubly devastated by the accompanying lethargy and the sight of his own face having erupted in a mass of suppurating sores. It was a forwards’ disease, contamination brought about by skin on skin contact as the front rows packed down against each other.

In December 1979, an article on the outbreak appeared in the British Medical Journal. “During 1979 seven of our St Mary’s Hospital first XV developed facial lesions, five of them caused by herpes simplex virus,” the Journal reported. “All were forwards. The lesions were difficult to diagnose, mainly because two of the first three patients had particularly severe and extensive eruptions.”

The sufferers were not a pretty sight. In those days a Universities select side used to tour the West Country clubs at Easter. I played for that team and invited a couple of props and a lock back to my parents’ house for a feed after a fixture. They stayed the night. One of the props, a scrum-pox carrier, his face a weeping mess after some serious scrummaging on a sandy pitch, slept in my sister’s bed. She wasn’t best pleased when she found out. Looking back now, it

taking on the All Blacks two decades ago, those unavailable for selection with “minor” injuries would have been counted on the fingers of one foot (ie, none). It simply didn’t happen.

That wasn’t because there weren’t any.

The sport is not that much tougher. Men used to turn up for England training on the Sunday after a club match, disguise their hobble around Twickenham, plead with, or bribe, the physio to play down whatever niggle, tweak, or pull they had, and declare themselves fit and available to play.

That might still be the case today. I don’t know. The moment you leave the dressing

room, evidence becomes at best anecdotal.

Maybe with the various medical protocols in place and the measurements that are taken before and after games and training sessions, it is just not possible to hoodwink coaches or team doctors. On the other hand, maybe everyone is getting a little too melodramatic over strains that are not worth missing caps for.

For all its advances in athleticism and grace, rugby, among the forwards at least, is still a sport where you can muddle through physically. Richie McCaw, the New Zealand captain, made a virtue of that fact, limping through the latter stages of the World Cup

in constant pain from the screws in his foot.

You don’t have to be tip-top to make a difference. McCaw on one leg was better than most on two.

No one, especially my sister, is advocating a return to those scrum pox-infested games that were clearly antisocial as well as unethical, or to do anything that may prejudice chances of a healthy old age. But there is a World Cup coming down the line and matches against the top two sides in the world are scheduled over the next fortnight, matches that, I’m sure the British Medical Journal would concur, can be classed as “important fixtures”.

WILLIAM WEST / AFP / GETTY IMAGES

‘Players are conditioned to play today only when they are butcher’s-dog fit’ all seems a bit crazy. But that was what it was like. The compulsion to play whatever the circumstances was very strong, a point that the British Medical Journal corroborated. “Some players concede that the ‘gentleman’s agreement’ that prevents them from playing if they have skin trouble tends to be forgotten before important fixtures,” it opined.

As England gathered this week to prepare for their four autumn fixtures, 17 players were listed as injured, some long term, others with knocks that kept them out of the initial training sessions.

It is not just an English phenomenon.

Wales had seven casualties, Scotland 12 and Ireland 13. England’s ailments (in the walking wounded category) comprised three concussions, one ankle, one thigh, one virus (not scrum pox, thankfully), one hand and one ribs.

Now, I’ve got to be careful what I write here, because I do not for one moment want to suggest that the modern generation is soft. The sport is faster, harder, the collisions more brutal and more debilitating than at any time.

Nor do I want to encourage players to go against prevailing medical advice. Nor do I think players are less patriotic than their predecessors. However, I do believe that the sensitivity to injuries has increased, and that players are conditioned to play only when they are butcher’s-dog fit, which hasn’t always been the case. Had England been

Best foot forward: McCaw leads a break against Argentina during the 2011 World Cup despite carrying an injury that would cow many players

Southern cousins prove the game is about art as well as heart

T

here is a lot of smug satisfaction associated with the RBS Six Nations Championship. Administrators will invariably respond “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” when changes are suggested around its place in the calendar, or when the introduction of a bonus points system is mooted, as if it is beyond improvement.

Others revel in the size of the crowds; the

raucous, patriotic, partisan nature of the support; the significant viewing figures it gets on terrestrial television; the revenuegenerating capacity of the tournament generally, all the while glancing in a rather complacent, over-the-shoulder way at its under-supported, underwhelming, underfunded southern-hemisphere cousin, the Rugby Championship.

What nobody dares mention, however, is the quality of the rugby, which is nothing like as good as that played across New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and (increasingly of late) Argentina. The next month will provide a true picture of where European rugby stands.

The games come back to back as they do in the World Cup knockout stages and will

have none of the claustrophobic, frantic excesses that the Six Nations mistakes for intensity. In the Six Nations you can sometimes get by on heart alone. In the Rugby Championship head and heart are required to prevail. It’s what makes this the most compelling time of the year rugbywise, and better, so much better, than that junket in the spring.

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Sport Rugby union

Brown aims for his brawn to become all the rage once again England full back tells Owen Slot that the team must send a message to the All Blacks next weekend

T

his interview has hardly started when my phone rings.

What follows is the brief, inevitable fumbling to switch it off before Mike Brown says: “Roy Keane would have had you for that.”

In just that statement, a few colours are nailed to the mast: Brown’s admiration for Keane and the way he conducts himself, Brown’s acknowledgement that he shares some of the Keane DNA and Brown showing that he at least has the capacity to laugh about it.

“I love Roy Keane,” the full back says.

“I think he’s brilliant. Aggressive, in your face, great leader. I’d love to be led out by someone like that.”

That is not a slur, by the way, on Chris Robshaw, it just reflects Brown’s per-

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sonality. With England starting the QBE autumn international series against the All Blacks next Saturday, you wonder to what extent Brown and his notorious Keane streak will influence the outcome. Brown was one of England’s genuine world-class players last season and for England to be successful these next four Saturdays at Twickenham, it requires him to be meeting those high standards again.

There is a simple equation that some apply to sport: Performance = Capability + Behaviour. It is fascinating how this works with Brown because 1) in few rugby players do you see their behaviour so visibly integral to their success, 2) unlike Keane, that stroppy aggression is switched off away from the pitch. You may be disappointed to hear that off the field, Brown doesn’t growl at you. As he says: “There are two sides to me.”

Where does the spikiness come from? I ask him about his parents’ divorce, when he was 12, and, yes, he says: “Maybe that had an effect. Your parents splitting up would make any young kid angry, maybe makes you more determined. I don’t really know.

It’s deep inside you.”

Actually, Brown can pinpoint the very day where he became the aggressive competitor that people see before them today. He was 14, he was being bullied and did not handle it. He was playing for a joint under-14 team, Melksham and Corsham, in Wiltshire against the perennially strong, feisty rivals, Chippenham. “At that time I was playing at 10,” he says. “I was never a big kid, quite skinny, and obviously there were bigger guys trying to get into the 10, which they did to me too easily.

“There was a bit of off-the-ball, the normal, pushing your head in the dirt. I think my game collapsed a bit on that

Storm warning: Brown’s aggressive streak was discovered at an early age, but it is something the Harlequins and England

day. I got bullied a bit, didn’t really fancy it and afterwards I thought, ‘That’s not what I am about, if people think that’s going to be a weakness, I’m going to give a bit back, stand up for myself.’ ” So thanks are due to Chippenham RFC. Brown very quickly found that he quite liked the “new me”. “Being aggressive,” he says, “I enjoyed that side of the game more and I found it just brought out more from me on the rugby field.”

Two-a-penny are kids who get their

overcompetitiveness on the playing field drummed out of them by their parents. Brown’s father, Mick, used to play when he was younger and in the fire service and he used to coach the Salisbury mini and junior sides that Mike played in until his mid-teens. “I thought he was an outstanding coach,” Brown says. Clearly he found a way of letting his son’s anger simmer nicely.

When Brown goes through the mental preparation before playing, at some point he switches from one

personality to the other. “You are aware of it,” he says. “But there’s not a moment when you suddenly think, ‘Right, I am changing.’ It just happens.”

There are times, he says, when he will be reviewing a game, watching himself and cringeing. “The worst are when you are having a little spat with the referee,” he says, “and you think, ‘Will you just shut up?’ ” Yet when it comes to squaring up to a man of the stature of Brian O’Driscoll, as he did in the last RBS Six Nations

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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Rugby union Sport

fifteen to one Full back is the most competitive position in the England squad.

Mike Brown (Harlequins) — 29 years old, 29 caps, 5 tries. Was played by Stuart Lancaster out of position on the wing until 2013 when he took the shirt from . . .

Alex Goode (Saracens) — 26, 16, 0.

Stylish runner, can play first receiver. Was full back from summer 2012 when he took it from . . .

Ben Foden (Northampton Saints) — 29, 34, 7. Became the first-choice 15 in Martin Johnson’s team. His run was brought to an end by injury in September 2012.

Mathew Tait (Leicester Tigers) — 28, 38, 5. Probably the form No 15 of the season. Knocking on England’s door but failing to be heard.

Anthony Watson (Bath) — 20, 0 caps. Looks like the future, but wants to be the present. Gifted athlete.

Words by Owen Slot

full back restricts to the pitch. “You are aware of it,” he says. “It just happens”

Championship, he stands by his every challenge. This is how he saw that one: “He is a legend and I have the utmost respect for him. But you have to remember that we are a young England team; Ireland were a team that had been together a long time. O’Driscoll, in my eyes, came across my chin with a little shoulder, just to test me, to see if I am going to let that go. At that point, you have to let them know that they are here for a game, and you are not going to let the Irish legend push you around.”

At the same time, you suspect that Brown was buzzing with selfconfidence. Throughout last autumn and then the Six Nations, he seemed infallible, he made half-breaks with almost every involvement. What England fans would like to know is: can you repeat that? His answer is: I can actually do better.

“Definitely,” he says. “Looking back, there is so much more I could do with my positioning in attack, which would allow me to have more impact, more

carries. I’ve gone through that with Faz [Andy Farrell, the England backs coach] and Catty [Mike Catt, the attacking skills coach] and when they point all these things out, it’s exciting.”

He could not maintain his form into the summer tour to New Zealand. “We didn’t have a great tour down there,” he says. “If you asked every single player, they wouldn’t be happy with the way they left New Zealand. So we have to put it right in front of our home fans on our patch. We don’t want them rocking up thinking, ‘We’ve done them three times, we can do it again.’ ” As for his own early-season club form, Brown acknowledges that he “could have done better in a few games”.

He says that the 22-16 defeat by Leicester Tigers three weeks ago was “probably the worst game I’ve had in a couple of years”.

How did he get that out of his system?

“By sulking for a week.”

Clearly he has to wait for confirmation, but his selection is surely inevitable for next weekend, an opportunity he relishes. His father now suffers from multiple sclerosis, but Brown says: “He comes to games when he can. It’s always special when you have your dad there.”

In the England full back, he will no doubt recognise a certain rage first spotted at under-14 level. England need it again now.

Clark keen to cap his rehabilitation Alex Lowe

Calum Clark is determined to end three years of frustration and break into the England team during the QBE autumn internationals after taming his inner chimp in sessions with Dr Steve Peters, the renowned sports psychiatrist.

Clark, recalled to the 33-man England training squad, is one of Stuart Lancaster’s originals. The Northampton Saints flanker was included in Lancaster’s first England squad at the start of 2012 but his international prospects were hit by a 32-week ban for breaking the arm of Rob Hawkins, the Leicester hooker, in the LV= Cup final. He has been on the fringes since.

It was after that gruesome incident that the RFU referred Clark to Dr Peters, who has worked with Dylan Hartley and Ronnie O’Sullivan as well as the Liverpool and England football teams. Peters has developed the chimp model as a way of identifying and managing a person’s emotional thinking.

The diagnosis for Clark, who was sent off for a head-butt while playing for England Under-20 in the final of the 2008 Junior World Championship, came as little surprise. “He [the chimp] was pretty aggressive, he was unwilling to listen and unwilling to learn,” Clark said.

To have it spelt out so clearly helped Clark to address it. He read Peters’s’s imp book, The Chimp Paradox, and also applied the research on leadership that he was undertaking for his business management degree.

“It started with a bit of work with Steve Peters and I took a lot from it,” Clark said.

“I did my degree at the University of Leeds in business management and my dissertation was on leadership. Reading and researching and looking at things like that really helped me mature and understand more about what it means to be a leader.

“From that, I have been able to hone in on improving mentally and getting

stronger in that area. You look at all the good players and leaders in rugby — Tom Wood, Chris Robshaw, Richie McCaw — they seem to be emotionless on the field.

“That doesn’t mean they play any less hard and that is what I didn’t really understand when I was young, the difference between playing hard and being emotional. Watching people like that has helped me to separate the two, being able to be just as aggressive, just as competitive, just as effective, but you can keep emotion out of it.”

In writing his thesis, Clark interviewed Jim Mallinder, the Northampton director of rugby, and studied the club’s leadership structure. He saw how Mallinder would use each setback suffered by the team or by individual players as a way to strengthen the collective will.

That process led to Northampton winning the Aviva Premiership title last season and it helped Clark to deal with the frustration of injuries ruling him out of England contention in 2013 and being overlooked for the summer tour of New Zealand.

“I had a summer reflecting on that,” Clark said. “I am absolutely desperate to play for my country, so to be outside the squad has been tough. I have had to be patient and find what works for me.”

Lancaster has known Clark since he was a 14-year-old in the Leeds academy and he has always remained a fan. Briefly, Lancaster considered Clark to be a second-row option, but he is now in the squad as a player who can operate on both flanks. “This year I have really slotted into ye that role and I think it is most effective for me,” Clark said.

“I’m not here for a meal ticket, to make up the numbers. I have not got any caps, I have not played for England, I have not been selected. There is a long way to go.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to be in the environment, I want to make the absolute most of it.”

Eyes on the prize: Clark is keen to show he has learnt his lesson and win first cap

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

Sport Barclays Premier League Netbusters

The ultimate Premier League guide 2014-15

Club top goalscorers this season

9

TONY CASCARINO

Newcastle v Liverpool

St James’ Park can be daunting for Newcastle players if they’ve endured some bad results but, on the other hand, it’s a fantastic place for them to play if they are doing well, so they should relish today after recording three wins in a row. However Raheem Sterling (main picture) will test their new-found confidence with his outstanding dribbling and strength. This season has been a tough ask for him, given that Luis Suárez has left and Daniel Sturridge has hardly played because of injury. I expect Sterling to become one of Liverpool’s greats, but if they don’t have a team to suit his ability they will lose him to another club.

7

West Brom Berahino

6

Southampton Pellè West Ham Sakho

5

Arsenal Sánchez Leicester Ulloa

4

Man City v Man United

Manchester City’s difficulties have been overplayed a little. They are still a very good side. In the second half at West Ham they were fantastic, as they were in the first half against CSKA Moscow.

If City put in a 90-minute performance I can’t see Manchester United being able to live with them, although David Silva’s absence is a big blow. One of City’s problems has been that they can’t quite establish a central defensive partnership.

Eliaquim Mangala is the latest to be tried alongside Vincent Kompany but he’s been at sixes and sevens.

But while City have one defensive weakness, United have three. Chris Smalling and Marcos Rojo doesn’t look like a long-term centre-back pairing, and Rafael Da Silva is too erratic at right back

Hull v Southampton

I really think Southampton aren’t far off being a Champions League team, although November will be a testing month. There is so much to like about them. They have lots of technically gifted players and they could beat

How they stand P

W D

L

Newcastle still miss Cheik Tioté with a calf problem.

Papiss Demba Cissé and Mike Williamson are doubts.

Liverpool are without Daniel Sturridge, Mamadou Sakho, Jon Flanagan and José Enrique. Liverpool’s goalless draw at home to Hull City last week was their first 0-0 in 58 matches in all competitions

F

A

GD

Pt

1

Chelsea

9

7

2

0

24

9

15

23

2

Southampton

9

6

1

2

20

5

15

19

3

Man City

9

5

2

2

19

10

9

17

4

West Ham

9

5

1

3

17

12

5

16

5

Arsenal

9

3

5

1

15

11

4

14

6

Swansea

9

4

2

3

13

10

3

14

7

Liverpool

9

4

2

3

13

12

1

14

8

Man United

9

3

4

2

16

13

3

13

9

Everton

9

3

3

3

19

17

2

12

10

Hull City

9

2

5

2

13

13

0

11

11

Tottenham

9

3

2

4

11

13

-2

11

12

Stoke City

9

3

2

4

8

10

-2

11

13

West Brom

9

2

4

3

12

13

-1

10

14

Newcastle

9

2

4

3

10

15

-5

10

15

Aston Villa

9

3

1

5

4

14

-10

10

16

Crystal Palace

9

2

3

4

13

16

-3

9

17

Leicester

9

2

3

4

11

15

-4

9

18

Sunderland

9

1

5

3

8

17

-9

8

19

QPR

9

2

1

6

8

18

-10

7

20

Burnley

9

0

4

5

5

16

-11

4

Everton Lukaku, Naismith Hull Diamé, Jelavic Newcastle Cissé QPR Austin Swansea Bony Tottenham Chadli

3

Crystal Palace Campbell, Jedinak Liverpool Sterling Man Utd Di María, Rooney, Van Persie

2

Stoke Adam, Crouch, Diouf Aston Villa Agbonlahor Sunderland Fletcher

1

Burnley Arfield, Boyd, Ings, Kightly, Wallace

Could face former club this weekend Fraizer Campbell for Crystal Palace against Sunderland Shane Long for Southampton against Hull Chris Wood for Leicester against West Brom Gareth McAuley for West Brom against Leicester Darren Bent for Aston Villa against Tottenham

Liverpool Forward

TODAY 12.45pm THE GOALS Live goal updates

Newcastle (4-2-3-1) T Krul – D Janmaat, S Taylor, F Coloccini, P Dummett – V Anita, J Colback – G Obertan, M Sissoko, Y Gouffran – A Pérez

Liverpool (4-3-3) S Mignolet – J Manquillo, M Skrtel, D Lovren, A Moreno – J Henderson, S Gerrard, E Can – R Sterling, M Balotelli, A Lallana Ref A Marriner (2 games)

Chelsea Costa Man City Agüero

anybody on their day.

Graziano Pellè’s ability to hold the ball up in attack reminds me of Mark Hughes. I can’t believe he wasn’t in the Italy squad at the World Cup this year.

There are unsung heroes, such as Steven Davis in midfield, while Nathaniel Clyne is an athletic full back. Steve Bruce has done well as Hull manager by improving his team steadily, making a few changes every so often, but without spending so much that he puts the club in financial peril.

Touchline Tony

Liverpool TV Live, BT Sport 1 RADIO BBC 5 Live

BY BILL EDGAR

Raheem Sterling

Newcastle v

10

0

Burnley Arsenal are likely to be without Jack Wilshere with a knee injury. Kieran Gibbs is a doubt and Laurent Koscielny is out. Burnley have Dean Marney fit again. Danny Welbeck’s first nine league games this season will have included two each against Burnley and Sunderland (he also faced them with Manchester United)

Rooney (Everton, Man Utd) 105

Arsenal v TV Highlights, BBC One, 10.20pm RADIO Absolute

Sterling, who turns 20 early next month, already has plenty of Premier League experience Most Premier League appearances by a forward as a teenager

Owen (Liverpool)

TODAY 3pm THE GOALS Live goal updates

Arsenal (4-2-3-1) W Szczesny – H Bellerín, n, C Chambers, P Mertesacker, N Monreal – M Arteta, M Flamini – A Oxlade-Chamberlain, S Cazorla, A Sánchez – D Welbeck

Sterling (Liverpool)

Burnley (4-4-2 T Heaton – K Trippier, M Duff, J Shackell, S Ward – S Arfield, D Marney, D Jones, G Boyd – L Jutkiewicz, D Ings Ref C Pawson (6 games)

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69 22

2

Chelsea v QPR TV Highlights, BBC One, 10.20pm RADIO BBC 5 Live

Diego Costa returns after four games out for Chelsea, who will be without the suspended César Azpilicueta and injured Loïc Rémy. QPR are without Joey Barton and Jordon Mutch. Three of the past six top-flight games where both sides had a player sent off were London derbies: Fulham v Arsenal, West Ham v Tottenham, Crystal Palace v Chelsea

TODAY 3pm THE GOALS Highlights 5.30pm

Chelsea (4-2-3-1) T Courtois – B Ivanovic, G Cahill, J Terry, Filipe Luíss – N Matic, C Fàbregas – Willian, Oscar, E Hazard – D Costa

QPR (4-4-2)

R Green – M Isla, S Caulker, R Dunne, Yun Suk-Young – E Vargas, Sandro, K Henry, L Fer – R Zamora, C Austin

Ref M Jones (5 games)

Everton v

23 Sterling (Liverpool)

Swansea TV Highlights, BBC One, 10.20pm

Everton have Kevin Mirallas and John Stones injured.

Swansea can pick Federico Fernández after his suspension for a red card against Liverpool was overturned. Gylfi Sigurdsson and Ki Sung-Yueng should be fit. This is Swansea’s fourth top-flight campaign in a row, which has trebled their total number of top-division seasons

TODAY 3pm THE GOALS Highlights 5.30pm

Everton (4-2-3-1)

20 Silva (Man City)

Swansea (4-2-3-1) L Fabianski – Á Rangel, F Fernández, A Williams, N Taylor – Ki Sung-Yueng, J Shelvey – W Routledge, G Sigurdsson, J Montero – W Bony Ref K Friend (6 games)

26 0

Southampton Hull still without Allan McGregor, Steve Harper, Michael Dawson, Nikica Jelavic and Robert Snodgrass.

Gastón Ramírez cannot face his parent club. Southampton, without James Ward-Prowse and Jay Rodriguez, are aiming, along with Newcastle, to become the second side to win the League Cup having only played away before the semi-finals

21 Tadic (Southampton)

T Howard – S Coleman, A Alcaraz, P Jagielka, L Baines – J McCarthy, G Barry – S Naismith, S Eto’o, L Osman – R Lukaku

Hull v TV Highlights, BBC One, 10.20pm

Sterling does not tend to take set-pieces but still tees up regular chances for his team-mates Most chances created from open play in Premier League this season

TODAY 3pm THE GOALS Highlights 5.30pm

Hull (3-5-1-1) E Jakupovic – J Chester, A Bruce, C Davies – A Elmohamady, J Livermore, T Huddlestone, M Diamé, R Brady – H Ben Arfa – A Hernández

Long and short haul fliers Tottenham Hotspur have been involved in the most and least athletic Premier League matches this season, in terms of distance covered. Their 2-1 home defeat by Newcastle United last Sunday was a big test of stamina, whereas their 2-2 draw away to Sunderland in September was more of a chess match. While

some teams will run significantly farther than others over the course of a season – thus indicating an underlying trend – each side’s distances will differ from match to match according to the circumstances, such as the identity of the opponents or the state of the game (which team is leading).

Southampton (4-3-3) F Forster – N Clyne, J Fonte, T Alderweireld, R Bertrand – S Davis, M Schneiderlin, J Cork – D Tadic, G Pellè, S Mané Ref M Atkinson (8 games)

34 0

EXCLUSIVE

Combin Premie

Greates

Totte

7

Smalles Sund

58.8

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

Barclays Premier League Sport Stat attack Today

31 9

Newcastle v Liverpool Liverpool games since they picked the same full-back pairing in successive starting line-ups

6

Arsenal v Burnley Percentage of Percentage Arsenal league Arsenal passes passes hit long (one in 16), to Burnley’s 19 in per cent (one every five)

3

Chelsea v QPR Chelsea failures to win this season, all 1-1 draws in which they led: against Man City, Man Utd, Schalke

1

Everton v Swansea Game in Everton’s past 21 in league where didn’t score: but hit two own goals in 2-0 loss to Southampton

5

Hull v Southampton Southampton goals let in after nine league games. Same stage last term: three goals.

Previous season: 26 goals

10

Leicester v West Brom Leicester league games to start season with same goalkeeper/back four if retain them today. West Brom did same last term

27

Stoke v West Ham Years since a player previously (before Sakho) scored on first seven starts for top-flight side in all competitions (Aldridge, Liverpool)

Tomorrow

ance covered by all players in a e match this season Average 90-min player Newcastle 152 miles

v

85

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76 miles

6.9 miles

Tottenham 117.0 miles 58.2 miles

5.3 miles

8

Man City v Man United United away games without a win in all competitions, their worst run since 1936

24

Aston Villa v Tottenham Percentage of attempted dribbles past Vlaar (Villa) to succeed, smallest proportion in top flight this season

Monday Watch all the goals on your mobile, tablet and online

3

Crystal Palace v Sunderland Away wins among past 23 Premier League games televised live

Leicester v

Predictions

West Brom

Arsenal v Burnley 77%

TV Highlights, BBC One, 10.20pm

Leicester still without the injured Matthew Upson, Zoumana Bakayogo and Ben Hamer. Jonas Olsson and Silvestre Varela are the only absentees for West Brom, who have Claudio Yacob back after compassionate leave.

West Brom’s past two league games finished 2-2; their past two top-flight meetings with Leicester also finished 2-2

TODAY 3pm THE GOALS Highlights 5.30pm K Schmeichel – R De Laet, W Morgan, L Moore, P Konchesky – D Hammond, D Drinkwater – R Mahrez, D Nugent, J Vardy – L Ulloa

B Foster – A Wisdom, C Dawson, J Lescott, S Pocognoli – G Dorrans, C Gardner, J Morrison, C Brunt – S Sessègnon – S Berahino 0

Ref S Attwell (0 games)

0

TODAY 3pm THE GOALS Live goal updates

25%

Stoke (4-3-3) A Begovic – G Cameron, R Shawcross, M Wilson, E Pieters – S Sidwell, S N’Zonzi, C Adam – J Walters, M B Diouf, V Moses

West Ham (4-3-1-2) Adrián – C Jenkinson, J Collins, W Reid, A Cresswell – M Noble, A Song, M Amalfitano – S Downing – D Sakho, E Valencia Ref C Foy (5 games)

11

3

47% 27% 26% H

TOMORROW 1.30pm THE GOALS Live goal updates

44%

Manchester City (4-4-2) J Hart – P Zabaleta, V Kompany, E Mangala, G Clichy – J Navas, Fernando, Y Touré, J Milner – E Dzeko, S Agüero

H

Manchester United (4-2-3-1) D De Gea – Da Silva, C Smalling, M Rojo, L Shaw – D Blind, M Fellaini – A Januzaj, W Rooney, Á Di María – R van Persie Ref M Oliver (7 games)

D

A

25% 31% D

A

Newcastle v Liverpool

34%

43% 24%

29 0

D

A

Stoke v West Ham 54%

TOMORROW 4pm THE GOALS Live goal updates

25% 21%

Aston Villa (4-3-3) B Guzan – M Lowton, R Vlaar, C Clark, A Cissokho – T Cleverley, A Westwood, C Sánchez – A Weimann, C Benteke, G Agbonlahor.

H

D

A

Aston Villa v Tottenham

Tottenham (4-2-3-1)

H Lloris – E Dier, Y Kaboul, J Vertonghen, D Rose – R Mason, E Capoue – E Lamela, C Eriksen, N Chadli – E Adebayor Ref N Swarbrick (4 games)

22

33% 29% 0

H

D

38%

DANIEL FINKELSTEIN

It's looking up for Leicester ... or is it?

W

hat sort of season is this proving to be for Leicester City?

Any newly promoted team who pick up a few points and are not automatically stuck in the relegation zone for the whole of the season are regarded as doing surprisingly well. Is this fair?

Dr Henry Stott, Dr Kostas Paraschakis and Dr Mark Latham have been looking at Leicester’s performances to make an assessment.

And it turns out that whether their fans regard the outcome as encouraging or dispiriting depends on their starting point.

Many supporters of a team who have just come up merely aim for survival. If this is the standard, Leicester fans should be pretty content. The chance of going down is only 21 per cent; in other words, a 79 per cent chance of retaining top-flight status.

That, however, is the optimistic way of looking at things. Here’s another way. Leicester started with a 9 per cent chance of relegation, so their chances have sharply deteriorated. We originally expected them to gain 47 points,

Sunderland Crystal Palace (4-4-1-1) J Speroni – M Kelly, S Dann, D Delaney, J Ward – W Zaha, M Jedinak, J McArthur, Y Bolasie – J Ledley – F Campbell

Sunderland (4-3-3) V Mannone – A Réveillère, J O’Shea, W Brown, P van Aanholt – S Larsson, L Cattermole, J Rodwell – W Buckley, S Fletcher, A Johnson Ref P Dowd (6 games)

26 1

6.3%

Hull 2012-13

D

4.3%

Southampton 2011-12

3.9%

D

A

-0.8%

West Ham 2011-12

-1.8%

Cardiff 2012-13

-2.4% -3% -12.9%

24% 22%

Percentage strength change

West Brom 2009-10 0.1%

A

54%

5%

Reading 2011-12

Crystal Palace v Sunderland

H

7.5%

QPR 2010-11 Crystal Palace 2012-13

21% 18% H

19.6%

Newcastle 2009-10

A

62% MONDAY 8pm THE GOALS Live goal updates

So far, then, it hasn’t been a good campaign at all. And will the decay, having started, continue?

Test of strength

Man City v Man United

Crystal Palace v

Palace hope Scott Dann and James McArthur will be fit to return. Steven Fletcher is over a foot problem for Sunderland but Billy Jones, Emanuele Giaccherini, Ricky Álvarez and Sebastián Coates are out. Sunderland have conceded ten goals in a row in the Premier League, still three short of Aston Villa’s present run

19%

Leicester v West Brom

Tottenham

TV Live, Sky Sports 1 RADIO BBC 5 Live

A

H D A Hull v Southampton

Aston Villa v

Alan Hutton and Fabian Delph are out for Villa and Philippe Senderos is a serious doubt.

Tottenham are still missing Kyle Walker and Nabil Bentaleb through injury.

Kieran Richardson is the second midfielder named K Richardson to play for Villa during the past 20 years, after Kevin Richardson.

D

4%

56%

H

TV Live, Sky Sports 1 RADIO BBC 5 Live

A

Everton v Swansea

Manchester United David Silva, of City, will be out injured for three weeks and Frank Lampard is a serious doubt. United have Wayne Rooney and Antonio Valencia back from suspension and injury respectively. Radamel Falcao, Phil Jones and Jonny Evans are injured. City could lose to three Uniteds in nine days – West Ham and Newcastle beat them

D

10% H

Manchester City v TV Live, Sky Sports 1 RADIO talkSPORT

H

8%

87%

West Ham Stoke miss the suspended Peter Crouch and Phil Bardsley and injured Glenn Whelan, Peter Odemwingie and Robert Huth. Diafra Sakho and Mauro Zárate are doubts for West Ham, who miss Andy Carroll and Guy Demel. James Tomkins and Matt Jarvis are fit. Stoke have not been in the bottom three beyond August for four years

15%

Chelsea v QPR

West Brom (4-4-1-1)

Stoke v TV highlights, BBC One, 10.20pm

Fink Tank

Leicester (4-2-3-1)

six above the relegation zone. Now we expect them to gather 42 points, only two above relegation. There isn’t much room for error.

The real problem has been in defence, where they now rank 26th in our all-team ranking. In other words, they are Championship quality at the back. They are 13th in attack, allowing them to be 17th overall, only very marginally better than Hull City and Burnley, and only 27 per cent as good as Manchester City.

The decline in Leicester’s underlying strength has been sufficient to prompt a Fink Tank question – is this just what you expect when a good Championship side get promoted? Or is it worse than that? If the former, all we may be learning is that we in the Fink Tank are overestimating the strength of Championship sides.

The graphic below tells the story. We looked at the changes in strength of all promoted teams in the past five seasons between the end of the season that they were promoted and October 12 of the next Premier League season.

Six improved, seven declined and two stayed pretty much the same, at least hinting that we haven’t been making a systematic error about the strength of the Championship.

Leicester’s decay has been the worst of all the 15. Indeed, theirs is the most dramatic of all the changes we note.

-14.2% -16.7% -20.6%

Blackpool 2009-10 Norwich 2010-11 Swansea 2010-11 Burnley 2013-14 QPR 2013-14 Leicester 2013-14

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

Sport Football

Pardew’s rebuild is back on track Goals!

Goals!

Goals!

SERENA TAYLOR / GETTY IMAGES

George Caulkin Northern Sports Correspondent

When a maelstrom engulfs them, when their ability, tactics, motivation and, occasionally, parentage are questioned, managers revert to what they know.

They go back to basics, to a form of DIY. “You’ve got to box it down,” Alan Pardew, the Newcastle manager, said.

“It’s a bit like one of those IKEA furniture packs you buy. You can’t try and get to the end, you’ve got to do all the little bits to get there. It takes time.”

Pardew would know. “I’ve done a few of them because my wife’s Swedish,” he said, but that experience of starting anew has been drawn upon at Newcastle United, a club who turned on themselves a few weeks ago, when the 53-year-old was the subject of banners, placards, chants and campaigns. Three successive victories have quietened the storm, if not stilled it, but a different atmosphere will pervade today’s home match against Liverpool.

If it is too early to talk about the rebuilding of relationships, wins against Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur in the Barclays Premier League and over Manchester City in the Capital One Cup have restored some direction to a listing club. Some unlikely protagonists — Gabriel Obertan, Rolando Aarons, Ryan Taylor — have emerged and Pardew’s approach has been to treat each match in isolation.

No long-term strategy, no lofty goals, just the nitty-gritty of 90 minutes and back to IKEA. “It’s about doing that little bit first and if you get that wrong, the second bit doesn’t work,” Pardew said. “If you get the second bit wrong, the third bit definitely ain’t working and the table top is all . . .

“It’s very important, if you’re in the coaching or managerial world, that you segment it down and say, ‘Right, what’s our problem, what do we need to do, what needs to happen at this club to turn us from what we are to a better team?’ The last international break was important for us so we could do a review of how we were getting at teams and how they were getting at us. That helped. We’ve put some blocks in place that give us something to hinge on to.”

Teams still need that spark, that goal, that piece of fortune, that transformative episode and Pardew identified Newcastle’s 2-2 draw with Hull City last month, when Papiss Cissé scored twice, as pivotal. Since then, they have been

Can Newcastle United continue their revival against Liverpool at St James’ Park?

Watch near-live clips on your smartphone from 12.45pm today

Smiling again: Pardew, the Newcastle manager, has seen the likes of Aarons come to the fore in the resurgence of his side

beaten once in all competitions. “If you don’t believe you’re strong enough as a character to find a solution, then don’t do the job,” he said.

“I’m confident I can do this job and I was always confident I could turn it around. But you still hinge on critical moments and for me, this season’s critical moment was Hull.

“People might talk about the win over Leicester, but Hull, when the two goals went in and we went from a defeat to a draw, was the key. Suddenly, we were feeling good about ourselves and Papiss had come back. We got two goals, so it was a case of, ‘Right, here we go, now we can kick on.’ I’m not saying that was a game-changer, but I think it was a significant moment.”

There are examples elsewhere.

“Momentum is the key to success in sport,” Pardew said. “I give the example

Newcastle fans have not been shy in voicing their displeasure this season

of Andy Murray. He’s entered tournaments that might not normally be on his agenda, but he wants to win them because there’s a big one coming up at the end of the season and he wants to be in form. That’s how managers approach every game. You want to build momentum.”

Sir Bobby Robson once said: “The highs are higher at Newcastle and the lows are . . . well, sometimes I could have done with my old pit helmet to explore those depths,” and Pardew understands that a return to positivity is fragile.

“I do think there is a ‘law of our land’ in the north east,” he said. “I’ve tried to cut through that a little and keep a consistency with what’s going on. Really and truly, we’ve had two great results away from home and that’s our season.

Let’s keep it in perspective and fight like hell against Liverpool.”

Don’t miss a minute of the action Tomorrow See all the moments that matter from City v United and Aston Villa v Spurs Free with a Times subscription thetimes.co.uk/goals

the times | Saturday November 1 2014

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Football Sport

Lambert enjoys the pressure of living in fear Ian Baker

Paul Lambert, the Aston Villa manager, admits that he lives in constant fear for his job, despite signing a lucrative fouryear contract in September, but he is adamant that he thrives in that pressure-cooker environment.

The Scotsman has seen his side lose all five matches since putting pen to paper on his new deal, a sequence that has yielded no goals, Villa’s longest Barclays Premier League drought.

Lambert, though, claims to enjoy the environment as he prepares himself and his team for a huge test against another under-fire side, Tottenham Hotspur, at Villa Park tomorrow.

“I know what the game is like,” he said. “I have never felt comfortable as a manager. I always live in fear. That’s what I like. I was like that as a player. It’s professionalism and that kicks in.

“If you look at teams like Tottenham and Liverpool, who spend a bit of money, the pressure probably intensifies because they were in the top six last year. We’ve played nine games and this will be our sixth game against last year’s top six. Pressure does that to you and you have to handle it.

“You have to come through it. It goes from one manager to the next. If you look at which manager is under pressure, it is one guy one week, the next the next and another the following week. Everyone gets a hit at it.

It’s just the way football works — you just have to turn it around.

“I’ve been in this position loads of times, even as a player. But you can’t wilt under the pressure. If you are not being criticised, people don’t talk about you. You take it. I’m not one to sit on my back-

side doing nothing. It’s not about monetary things or anything like that, I just want to do my best for this football club.

I want to drive it on. I’m not one for sitting comfortably. Never.

“I enjoy living on the edge. There are two ways of going about it: you can come in fighting or run. And I’m never going to run. I was never like that as a player, so I won’t do that now. I love being here and want to do my best. If you live under fear you perform better.”

The issue of goals is the obvious weakness for Villa. In addition to the drought, they are also the lowest scorers in the top flight, finding the net four times, the last coming from Gabby Agbonlahor’s early winner away to Liverpool way back on September 13.

Christian Benteke, the Belgium striker, is back after a seven-month injury, but in his first three matches has yet to look anywhere close to the player who threatened England’s elite defenders during Lambert’s first two years at the club. Yet Lambert maintains a sense of humour about his side’s offensive problems.

“Have we done anything different?

Aye, trained without goalkeepers,” he said. “We do finishing and crossing every day. You can’t put everything on Christian’s doorstep as he’s just coming back and he’s getting better every game. There are goalscorers there.

We will score. We have to get the creativity firing, but we’re doing everything we can. We do shooting every day, crossing and finishing every day.

“Once a player is over the line, they are playing the game and they just need to go and produce it.

After the first four games of the season we’ve then had the top teams with the exception of Queens Park Rangers. It has been relentless.”

Lambert says Villa will turn around their recent form

GLYN KIRK / GETTY IMAGES

Striking contribution: Kane, who has scored seven goals this season, is hoping he will start against Aston Villa tomorrow

Pochettino sympathetic to Kane’s plight Alec Shilton

Mauricio Pochettino, the Tottenham Hotspur manager, says that he understands calls from supporters to pick Harry Kane over the club’s other strikers, but has suggested that he will not do so just because he is a homegrown talent.

Kane has scored seven goals in cup competitions this season and there has been an increasing clamour for the Walthamstow-born 21-year-old to get his first Barclays Premier League start of the season away to Aston Villa tomorrow.

Kane’s latest strike came against Brighton & Hove Albion in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday, three days after Pochettino had opted to put Kane on before he introduced Roberto Soldado in the 2-1 home defeat by Newcastle United. If Pochettino continues to set his team up with one striker, Kane and Soldado will have to displace Emmanuel Adebayor, who will expect to start after scoring against Newcastle.

When asked if he sympathises with supporters’ desire to see Kane in the team, Pochettino said: “I understand because he is an English player. He scored the last game against Brighton and Asteras [Tripolis] and I understand he is a special player for our supporters.

“My decision is always about my analysis on the training pitch and after, to give balance to the team and our performance. I understand and I know that [Kane] is special for our supporters.

“Today if we were in Argentina and he was an Argentinian player and playing with two foreign strikers, it would always be a sensitive situation.

“He is English, he is young and from the Tottenham academy so it is normal.

We understand he is a special player for Tottenham and for our supporters.”

Adebayor and Soldado have scored just two goals each this season and Kane’s success in the cups, including a hat-trick against Asteras in the Europa League, has furthered his prospects of a league start, although Pochettino admits he is pleased that Kane prefers

to stake his claim on the pitch rather than in the manager’s office.

“I prefer, like Harry, that they talk on the pitch,” he added. “This is the good thing, a good situation for them and for me, too.

“We have had a lot of games and we have a lot of games ahead. In every competition, we need to win and sometimes you decide to pick different players in different competitions.

“It’s true that the competition up front with Adebayor, Soldado and Harry Kane is very tough but I am very happy with Harry, I am also very happy with Roberto and Ade. It’s true that they need to improve like the other team-mates, but I think we are in a good way.

“Harry is young, Roberto and Ade have a lot of experience and I think the energy Harry brings to the squad is important — it is good for him to prove from learning with Soldado and Adebyaor, sharing the training sessions and when they are in the team.”

Irvine prepares for Albion encounter with one that got away Around the grounds

Sport Staff

Alan Irvine, the West Bromwich Albion head coach, has revealed that Leicester City “jumped in” ahead of him to sign Leonardo Ulloa.

The Scot wanted to take the Argentine striker to The Hawthorns from Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer but Ulloa moved to the east Midlands for £8 million and he has already scored five times.

Instead, Irvine went for Brown Ideye for a club record £10 million and the Nigeria forward has yet to find the net in the Barclays Premier League in an injury-ravaged campaign.

“Leonardo was a player who was definitely being considered but Leicester jumped in very quickly,” Irvine said before the trip to the King Power Stadium today.

“Mervyn Day, our head scout, was at Brighton so he knows him really well.

We talked about him and looked at him and made inquiries, but we didn’t make

an offer. Time will tell who ends up being the best buy. From our point of view we hope Brown ends up being a great signing for us.

“Ulloa’s had a great start. He is a threat and his headed goal against Manchester United showed he is very good in the air.”

Steven Fletcher has finally presented Gustavo Poyet, the Sunderland head coach, with some good news after a difficult month that has resulted in them dropping into the bottom three in the Barclays Premier League.

Poyet believed that he might lose the Scotland forward for several months after he suffered a foot injury in last Saturday’s defeat by Arsenal.

“I feared he had broken his metatarsal,” Poyet said yesterday. “Luckily it was not, which is great news. He is back and has been training without any problems, so he’s OK.” While Fletcher is certain to play in the game away to Crystal Palace on Monday, Wes Brown, the defender, and Vito Mannone, the goalkeeper, are

expected to pay the price for making mistakes against Arsenal.

Brown is likely to be replaced by Anthony Réveillère, who will be making his debut after being released

by Napoli at the end of last season.

“I’m prepared to play him,” Poyet said. “He’s had an extra week in training and an extra week to understand what we want.” Costel Pantilimon, signed Ulloa has got off to a flying start since his Leicester move

from Manchester City in the summer, is in line to take over from Mannone.

Poyet said: “There are decisions which I’m not afraid to make. It’s going to be my decision, which is why I’m in the job.

I like these big decisions.”

Alex Bruce, the Hull City defender, plans to emulate Steve, his father, by

moving into management when he retires as a player.

Bruce, 30, will retain his place in the team for the visit of Southampton today after helping Hull to keep a clean sheet and collect a point against Liverpool last week. He believes that his best football has come during his two-year spell working under his father but says that he is already considering his next career move.

“It’s definitely something I want to get into,” Bruce said. “It’s all about opportunity, though, when you come out of playing.

“You have to study hard to get the badges and things, so when you get your first job you’ve got to make sure it’s the right one.

“It’s a short career, football, so you have to look at what happens afterwards. It’s definitely something I want to do.

“You take the highs and lows with management, but it’s the same as a player. You have good times and bad times, it’s just about riding them

through.” A more immediate goal for Bruce is to earn a new contract with Hull. His present deal expires at the end of the season, meaning that he must persuade his father to offer him new terms.

“I’m not sure what it will take — maybe get him in a headlock,” Bruce said. “I don’t want to leave. I feel like I’ve played the best football of my career here.

“I’ve really enjoyed it and when you’re enjoying something and doing well, you don’t want to disrupt that.

We’ll just have to see what happens. If the club feels I merit a new one, we’ll have to wait and see.

“When you go into contract negotiations, it’s all about what’s happening now, the situation you’re in.

“It’s pointless me saying ‘I deserve a new one, I’ve done well over the last couple of years’. It’s all about now and how you’re playing at the moment.

“I’ve got to earn a new contract in the coming months and I’ll be doing my damnedest to do that.”

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Saturday November 1 2014 | the times

Sport Comment

Clattenburg puts Poll position at risk Giles Smith

S

Tweet little mystery leaves Redknapp riled

adness. That’s the overwhelming feeling that we’re left with as we contemplate the suspension of Mark Clattenburg from this weekend’s round of Barclays Premier League fixtures.

And that sadness — let us quickly stress — has nothing whatsoever to do with the detail about Ed Sheeran. Snobbery about musical taste is always to be resisted and if an elite list football referee’s idea of a storming night out is a concert by the tween-friendly smash-hit troubadour, that’s entirely his business and all power to him in his choice.

No, what deflates us is contemplating the offence Clattenburg committed — leaving a ground after a match on his own, in his own car, rather than with the other officials in the car provided — and realising what this so unpleasantly implies about where we all are in relation to referees: which is to say, in a world so antagonistic towards them that they are not deemed to be safe leaving grounds in their own transport, for whatever reason, and whoever they happen to have tickets to see.

Graham Poll, now retired as a referee, provided some valuable insight into the protocol this week, and also made the additional claim that the present system of safeguards had been put in place as the consequence of an incident in which he and his wife, who was pregnant at the time, were menaced while leaving a match at Middlesbrough in 1996.

Poll wrote in the Daily Mail that he was obliged to fend off a blow with his

In an unprecedented victory for the Caribbean slang department of the FA’s Twitter compliance unit, Rio Ferdinand has received a three-match ban for hashtagging the term “sket”. It seems a bulky price to pay for (in a high number of cases, surely) expanding people’s vocabulary in an exchange that a vanishingly small number of us would have had the chance to get offended by if the FA hadn’t offered it to us.

To put this in some perspective: to prompt the governing body to similarly punitive outrage with an action on the pitch, Ferdinand would have had to produce a two-footed tackle, all studs showing. So at least one of these punishments must be out of scale, and it’s probably not the one for the two-footed tackle.

Harry Redknapp ends up sounding hopelessly fumbling and out of touch for a man in his position when he says he doesn’t know what Twitter is, that he has no desire to find out (which is less forgiveable than not knowing what it is) and that (despite not knowing what it is and not having any desire to find out) he thinks it would be better if nobody were using Twitter at all.

But when you look at Ferdinand’s punishment, it’s hard not to feel that the Queens Park Rangers manager’s ability to have an opinion while being entirely confused is shared by the FA.

‘That sadness has nothing whatsoever to do with the detail about Ed Sheeran’ kitbag, although the version of this encounter in his 2007 autobiography, Seeing Red, omits that detail and has the assailant throwing a punch that misses Poll and hits his car.

Either way, we arrive at today’s situation, wherein the referee and his assistants are obliged to assemble at a hotel a set number of hours before the game, before being taken to the ground together in — as Poll very precisely specifies in his column — a “people carrier”. No question of cramming the four of them into a Toyota Yaris, clearly, nor even a minicab.

In his book, Poll is even more specific about it, describing the officials’ transport as “an unmarked people carrier”. Fair enough.

If discretion is the plan, stickers on the sides saying “Referees” would most likely defeat the object.

The same “unmarked people carrier” returns the officials to the hotel afterwards — on pain, it now emerges, of suspension.

Depressing, isn’t it? One knew, of course, that we had long outgrown that simpler age when a footballer could catch a bus to the ground along with the fans. But the realisation that this was an age in which the referee cannot be suffered to make it to and from the match in his own car had somehow passed us by.

How ironic, then, to consider that, in the 1970s (routinely produced as a darker time for violence in football), Roger Kirkpatrick, for example, would have been entirely free to slip away in his Austin 1100 to catch Mud at the De Montfort Hall in Leicester. What’s more, none of us would have been any the wiser, nor remotely concerned about it had we known.

More innocent times, clearly. Or certainly for referees. And perhaps also for pop music.

Mud’s Tiger Feet v Ed Sheeran’s The A Team: discuss. But without recourse to snobbery, obviously.

Student of the game: Savage, the former Leicester, Derby and Birmingham City journeyman, returns to his home town to collect his fellowship of the Gylndwr University in Wrexham

Savage’s star rises in the yeast Whose week wasn’t magnificently brightened by the ceremony at Glyndwr University this week, conducted with due solemnity in full academic regalia and bestowing an honorary fellowship on Robbie Savage?

About time, too. The former Leicester City and Derby County journeyman has been knocking on the door for academic honours for ages. Few people in our time have done so much in the disciplines that nowadays tend to be loosely gathered together under the term “Marmite Studies”.

As a committed visiting researcher in the field of televised punditry and a keen toiler at the pitch-side desks of all the main broadcasting outlets, the excitingly dressed Welshman has been responsible for a number of pioneeringly divisive breakthroughs. Journals record, for example, that Savage was the first to be hit by a flung sandwich in this area.

Beyond that, in the field of the radio phone-in, he has done game-changing work on verbally swatting angry Bolton Wanderers fans who have called in from a

wet layby on the M62. And surely nobody has devoted so much professional time and energy to the development of experimental banter with Mark Chapman.

Glyndwr University knew what they were doing.

Cynics and the mean-spirited in general often scoff at these celebrity honorifics, maintaining that they are calculatedly handed out with, first and foremost, a view to generating some lively publicity for the institute concerned. But there can’t be any question of that in the case of Savage, who was not only born in Wrexham and earned 39 caps with Wales but also went on Strictly Come Dancing. (Where, unless memory is deceiving us, he also wore academic robes. Or was that a cape?)

Better, then, to set cynicism aside and instead ask exactly how far up the academic chain Savage, with an honorary fellowship already in the bag, can take this “Marmite” thing. Doctor Marmite?

Whisper it, but some people are backing him to go all the way to Professor Marmite before the decade is out. And if the will is there, why not?

No expanse spared in quest for glory-glory Mauricio Pochettino thinks that the pitch at White Hart Lane is too small for the expansive football he and Tottenham Hotspur have in mind. But wasn’t that the constant cry of Bill Nicholson in those parts as long ago as the 1960s? Indeed, didn’t the greatest manager in the north London club’s history say as much in 1958, after his first game in charge at the Lane, when Spurs had beaten Everton 10-4?

“It’s so frustrating to be hemmed in, the way we are here,” the widely hymned Nicholson would always be standing up in front of the media and complaining, after his players had dispatched Manchester United or someone 4-0 with a Jimmy Greaves hat-trick and a 25-yard volley from Bobby Smith.

“It’s just stifling. A couple of extra feet at each end . . . then I’d be able to show you this so-called ‘glory game’ that Danny Blanchflower is always cracking on about.”

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Journey of hope and humility that defines the inner Valencia From poverty to the Premier League, the Ecuadorean is happy to shun designer lifestyle, writes Rory Smith

H

arvey Nichols has set up shop on the artificial pitch at West Ham United’s training base. At first glance, it looks a little like a bring-and-buy sale, a dozen or so trestle tables garlanded with row upon row of shoes and a vast array of clothes hanging from portable racks. It is not, of course. It is significantly more exclusive than that. A handful of designer-clad players and their glamorous partners saunter through the displays, casting their expert eye over the wares.

This is the world — where the boutiques come to you — in which Enner Valencia now finds himself. He has not had chance to browse, and nor will he. There is a rather more prosaic sort of shopping preoccupying him.

He and his wife are expecting their second daughter in December. A trip to Mamas & Papas is in order.

That will come later; for now, he is sitting in an ante-room at Chadwell Heath, separated from the pop-up department store by a glass partition. He watches it all with an air not of disdain, but certainly of detachment. The Ecuadorery an, after all, is really very new to all of this: the pastt ten months have brought a whirlwind of change, sweeping him from his homeland to Mexico, to Brazil and now here, to the gilded balloon of the Barclays Premier League.

“Life has changed a lot in such a short space of time,” he says.

“It has been crazy. So many important things have happened. Thankfully [every step of the way] I have had people around to advise me, especially my wife. I have just been trying to enjoy each moment.

“I won the title in Ecuador with Emelec, the club where I first started my career [in December 2013]. Then I went to Mexico, and finished as the leading scorer there. Then my first World Cup, where I had a good tournament and scored three goals; that was an amazing experience. It was unique, incredible.

The only sad thing is that my goals did not help us qualify for the knockout rounds.

“And now I am here, at this marvellous club, in the Premier League, the most important league in the world, and I think things are going well. There are always things to improve, of course, but I think it has been good.”

Valencia has no need for such humility. The 24-year-old’s start to life in England has not been too shabby at all.

He has scored twice and struck up a productive partnership with another new arrival, Diafra Sakho, as Sam Allardyce’s side have risen to fourth in the nascent table.

That would be impressive enough for any player attempting to adapt to a new life in a new league, but in the context of Valencia’s career, it borders on astonishing. So much has changed, so fast, over the past 12 months, but that should not create the illusion that his rise has been meteoric when, in fact, it has been anything but.

Valencia grew up in the countryside town of San Lorenzo, in the province of Esmeraldas, not far from Ecuador’s border with Colombia. It is, Valencia says, “the country’s football zone”.

“Most of the national team is from Esmeraldas, and it always has been,” he says. “The big clubs are in the main cities, Quito and Guayaquil, but the players come from Esmeraldas.”

He says that he cannot quite explain why that may be, but acknowledges that the grinding poverty, particularly in rural areas, makes football one of few avefo nues of escape. Valencia grew up on a farm and his duties ranged from milking cows to cleaning out the family canoe. His days were long, his life hard but, he insists, happy.

It is a subject he is, perhaps understandably, reticent to dis-

TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER, ALAN WALTER

Sign of the times: Valencia’s thoughts are never far from home, where his extended family maintain their rural traditions

cuss, but once it is broached he eases into it. “I come from a big family,” he says. “I have two brothers and three sisters, and a much bigger extended family. We lived on the farm. We had pigs, fruit, everything really. There is a lot to do, but for me the days went very quickly. I would go to the farm [in the morning] with my dad and then in the afternoon, when everything was done, go and play football.”

You get the impression that he is not seeking sympathy for his upbringing.

“The people where I live are used to this life,” he says. “They live well. My family are still on the farm. They do not want to leave it. I try to do what I can to help.

There is a tradition of giving out games and sweets at Christmas, and on holidays, and this will be the third year I am able to do that.” Valencia’s life changed

at 15, when he was spotted playing in a local village tournament by a scout from Caribe Junior, a club in Lago Agrio, some 350 miles away.

Esmeraldas’s reputation as a forge of talent meant that the journey was worth it. “We discussed it with my family and decided to take the risk,” he says. “Those first two months [away from home] were tough. I cried every day because I missed my family so much. It never even crossed my mind I might play professionally, but the effort was worth it.”

Emelec, one of the country’s powerhouses, known as “the Blue Ballet” for their technical style, spotted him at Caribe Junior, but even then, he had to wait. “I was in the youth teams for two years,” he says. “But it cost me a lot to make my debut. There is a rule in

Ecuador that you have to have one under-18 in the match-day squad. So I was on the bench for a year, but I never played. Every game, the bench, the bench. Every time you think you will play, and you don’t. It was tough.”

Jorge Sampaoli, now coach of Chile, gave him his break, in 2010. “From then on, things got better every day,” he says.

They have not stopped, not yet. When the interview is finished, Valencia will offer all present a lift back to the train station.

That is, safe to say, certainly a first and possibly a last for a Premier League player. This is his world, now, but for a long time it was not. He does not seem to have forgotten.

6 West Ham United half-season tickets are on sale. Visit whufc.com or call the ticket office on 0871 529 1966

Hughes defends Shawcross and claims Stoke are easy target Ian Baker

Mark Hughes, the Stoke City manager, has sprung to the defence of Ryan Shawcross and insisted that the club will not stand for criticism of the player.

Hughes has complained to Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PMOL), the FA and the PFA after Shawcross was singled out for criticism of the way he man-marks opponents in the penalty area. The 27-year-old Stoke captain has been accused of “grappling” after the controversial penalty given against him when he tangled with

Shawcross was accused of “grappling’’ in the match against Swansea City

Wilfried Bony in the match against Swansea City two weeks ago.

Stoke are at home to West Ham United today and Hughes said: “We are upset at being highlighted about Ryan.

We’re an easy target and don’t want our message diluted.

“The fans have to know that we are not going to stand for it. Ryan has been viewed as the main perpetrator. It is clear that he certainly isn’t. He’s a defender who is trying to go about his business.

“PGMOL try to justify their actions and placate you. It’s not good enough.

With the FA we asked them questions for reassurance to make sure referees are aware of their duties. And the PFA — we made contact that we were concerned that one of their members was getting highlighted more than most.”

Hughes is also upset that Garry Monk, the Swansea City manager, escaped without sanction after his accusation that Victor Moses “cheated” to win a penalty in the same fixture.

“We’re disappointed in the FA that they did not pursue it,” he said. “The word used was very emotive and deserved a sanction.”

In the magazine

Interview: How Neymar became a megastar

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Sport Comment

Blue corner yet to punch their weight Oliver Kay Chief Football Correspondent

T

here is a line in the updated edition of Sir Alex Ferguson’s autobiography that cuts to the quick where the modern Manchester City are concerned.

“There was no question that City possessed the best group of players,” the former Manchester United manager wrote, “though the fact that they have twice won the league so narrowly leaves a question mark. Why is that?”

It is a question that did not vex City’s supporters too much after their Barclays Premier League title triumph last May, when they finished two points ahead of an unfancied Liverpool and, for that matter, 22 points ahead of United. It troubled them even less two years earlier, when the skinof-the-teeth nature of their first title success in 44 years, snatched from United’s grasp on goal difference with the final kick of the season, only heightened feelings of euphoria and achievement.

What Ferguson said, though, is undeniable — even if, when he was still in charge of United, he preferred to deny that City had the better players. City have had a far greater depth of individual talent than any other English team in recent years, yet the Premier League successes in 2012 and 2014, by small margins, came either side of a miserable title defence in 2012-13. Now they have begun another campaign in strangely indifferent fashion, with six wins from 15 matches in all competitions. So, again, why is that?

Take your pick from individual errors, World Cup hangovers, the Yaya Touré problem, the difficulty in integrating new signings, a tough start fixture-wise and the laissez-faire nature of their tactical approach. While the rest can theorise, though, Manuel Pellegrini needs answers — starting against United at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow and continuing against CSKA Moscow on Wednesday in the Champions League, where they are at risk of a third group-stage elimination in four years.

Dropping points in either match, let alone both, would be a serious blow to City’s ambitions for this season. This team and squad has been built, at great expense, to dominate in England and compete in Europe, but rarely, even in winning those two Premier League titles, have they truly punched their weight — and certainly not in the Champions League, where, for all reasonable sympathy over some unfavourable draws over these past few years, the real damage has been inflicted by second-tier teams, such as Napoli, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax and Roma, rather than Real Madrid or Bayern Munich.

This view never went down well among City’s fanbase, but it often felt that City were undermined, rather than strengthened,

by Roberto Mancini’s turbulent managership. Strained relations with his squad, which were frequently close to

IVAN SEKRETAREV / AP

Stretching a point: James Milner seeks to make his mark on the game in Moscow, which provided another setback in City’s start to the season

breaking point, certainly served as a leveller when it came to competing with Ferguson’s less extravagantly gifted but more united team across town. The argument went that if you removed the Mancini factor and the Ferguson factor, it would cease to be a level playing field in Manchester — and last season illustrated that.

City improved considerably last term, benefiting from a newfound calmness and unity post-Mancini, without truly giving the impression of a team being led to new heights under inspired leadership. There was a period of quite scintillating form between mid-November and the end of January (18 wins, two draws and 69 goals from 20 matches in all competitions), but that was at a time when, mostly against inferior opposition, they were simply able to play their A-game and blow the opposition away. Against the stronger opponents (Bayern, Barcelona, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool), they were frequently outmanoeuvred.

None of this, by any stretch, should be interpreted as “Pellegrini out”. It is more a suggestion that the Chilean, wrongly maligned over his lack of trophies in Spain,

has an awful lot to prove if he is to be the man for the long haul at City. Winning the Premier League last season, when the only sustained challenge, came, unexpectedly, from Liverpool, cannot be classed as an outstanding feat. It is certainly not comparable, for example, with his achievement in taking Villarreal to a Champions League semi-final.

The City hierarchy, both in Manchester and in Abu Dhabi, are about as sensible as a club could wish for, but they know what is and is not acceptable and achievable for a squad containing Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta, Fernandinho, David Silva, Sergio Agüero, Touré and so on. They have not, over the past four years, faced a domestic opponent as strong as the Chelsea squad that has taken shape under José Mourinho.

To be left adrift of Chelsea would be profoundly disappointing, particularly if it was accompanied by further underperformance on the European front.

For his first year at City, without a domestic rival of the highest class and with a squad that was happy to see the back of Mancini, Pellegrini had it easy. Now, after an uncomfortable start to his second season,

Ince must step up after going to Hull and back

E

ven before he signed professional terms with Liverpool as a 16-year-old, there was a considerable buzz around Tom Ince. That buzz increased last January when, towards the end of a highly encouraging spell at Blackpool, he attracted serious interest from Inter Milan and Monaco.

A little anticlimactically, he ended up on loan at Crystal Palace and then this summer, with Inter still keen, he signed a two-year deal with Hull City, saying that he had done so “to be educated” rather than “go to a status club and pick up five

or six times more money than you could in the UK.” If the idea was to establish himself as a Barclays Premier League regular, it sounded reasonable enough in principle, with his famous father, Paul, in full support. However, this week, struggling to make the breakthrough at Hull, Ince Jr found himself dropping back down to the Sky Bet Championship to join Nottingham Forest on a two-month loan.

Perhaps it will be a welcome case of one step back, two steps forward, but he will be 23 in January and so far he has just 11

Premier League appearances to his name — eight for Palace, three for Hull. Amid all the careful weighing-up of who may be the right club at the right time, there has been a lack of conviction when it has come to taking opportunities at the higher level. That is what he went to Hull to do and that is what he has to do both now, at Forest, and when he returns to the Premier League.

There is a very good player in there somewhere, a player capable of thriving in the top flight, but we are still waiting for that player to break out.

he must rise to new challenges. Can he keep pace with Mourinho’s Chelsea? Can he overcome a poor start to reach the Champions League knockout stage? Can he rotate his squad more successfully and find a Plan B for those games — and they are growing in number — where City are not being allowed to play on their own terms?

Can he, indeed, resolve the Touré conundrum? For all the goals, the vicecaptain produced far more lethargic, indifferent performances last season than the he-should-have-been-Footballer-of-theYear brigade would acknowledge, but the drop-off this term, after a summer of personal trauma and professional disillusionment, has been alarming.

Pellegrini must either help him back to form or look for alternatives, because neither Fernandinho, one of those showing the symptoms of a World Cup hangover, nor Fernando look comfortable alongside him.

Beyond that, there is the challenge of trying to reinvigorate the squad, in keeping with the long-term philosophy that the club continue to espouse, but for now Pellegrini’s overriding priority is to keep City where they need to be — top dogs in Manchester, clinging Chelsea’s coat-tails, at the very least, and still in the Champions League.

Should he fail to deliver in those respects, doubts will grow. It is no secret that the City hierarchy wanted Pep Guardiola, who is approaching the halfway point of a threeyear contract at Bayern, and thought at one stage that he would take over from Mancini.

It would be naive — actually, it would be plain wrong — to think that deference to Pellegrini has stopped them casting covetous glances towards Munich.

The question is less whether they would hire Guardiola, should the opportunity arise, than whether faith in Pellegrini might dwindle to the point where they lower their sights to another coach. The rest of the season will dictate that, but the next few days will go a long way towards dictating the rest of the season.

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Mourinho aims to stick around for at least the next 20 years Alyson Rudd

José Mourinho was in the middle of a passable impersonation of Manuel Pellegrini. He looked as a manager who had suffered in his past three matches might do rather than one who remains unbeaten in the league, ebullient in Europe and is part of an enthralling quarter-final line-up in the Capital One Cup. But then he announced he might never give it all up.

It is something of a theme with the Chelsea manager that he dismisses triumph and refuses to bask in glory so perhaps a good way to chart the club’s success is to monitor his demeanour. A touch of ennui from the 51-year-old probably means his side are poised to win a treble.

Another indicator is that Mourinho says he plans to be in football management until he is 71, the age at which Sir Alex Ferguson called it a day. He would prefer to do so at one of Europe’s leading clubs, but so strong is his desire to keep going that he would consider a mid-table outfit, or worse.

“For me the situation is clear: I want to work, 15 or 20 more years in round numbers,” he said. “If, during this time, I do well enough to stay in a top-level club, I will. If I don’t do well enough, and my market changes and I only have smaller clubs waiting for me, I will.

Because I repeat, I want to work if I’m physically and mentally strong enough, which I expect to be, for another 15 to 20 years.”

Mouirnho took charge at União de Leiria in 2001 and led the Portuguese club to their highest league finish, a feat that garnered Europe-wide attention, and he says he would, if reluctantly, return to the non-elite level.

“But I don’t think anyone likes to change from big to smaller,” he said.

Chelsea face QPR today with a few,

JED LEICESTER / PA

Tony Barrett

Brendan Rodgers has dismissed criticism of Liverpool’s summer transfer policy, describing it as premature and not reflective of the long-term potential of the nine players recruited after Luis Suárez’s departure to Barcelona.

Having taken overall responsibility for Liverpool’s transfer strategy, despite being part of a committee that oversees player recruitment, Rodgers accepts that the new signings have yet to flourish, but maintains that it is a matter of them needing more time to adapt to their new club rather than an indication of a lack of quality.

Rather than move for established stars, as was the case with Chelsea, who are thriving after signing Cesc Fàbregas and Diego Costa, Liverpool recruited players who they expect to improve with the benefit of Rodgers’ coaching, an approach that the Liverpool manager admits is at odds with football’s culture of instant gratification.

As his side prepared to face a resurgent Newcastle United today, Rodgers said: “We are where we are at. I think it

small, black clouds hovering over Stamford Bridge. Mourinho was perplexed by the individual performances of his players against Shrewsbury Town. Gary Cahill, Didier Drogba, Oscar and Filipe Luís had all played two days earlier at Old Trafford yet while he anticipated they would be jaded, they were the four players who stood out.

“The reality was Cahill, Drogba, Oscar and Filipe were some of the best players on the pitch for us,” he said. “It looks like, instead of them controlling their energy and the situation of having played 90 minutes a couple of days before, it was the opposite way. They led the team.”

André Schürrle and Mohamed Salah

golden age for managers Sir Alex Ferguson Retired in 2013 aged 71 after 1,500 games in charge of Manchester United He won 49 trophies in his career, including 13 Premier League titles with United Sir Bobby Robson Was also 71 when sacked by Newcastle United in 2004. The former England manager employed José Mourinho as a translator at Sporting Lisbon and the Portuguese was soon compiling dossiers on tactics for his mentor Zdenek Zeman Now 67 but has taken on his 20th managerial job with Cagliari. A cult figure in Italy and an advocate of total football Ivor Powell Played alongside Stanley Matthews at Blackpool and was the world’s oldest football coach. He remained in football management until 2010 when, at the age of 93, he retired from his role as a coach of Team Bath.

Words by Alyson Rudd

new boys report card Handle with care: Costa trains before Chelsea’s match against QPR today but Mourinho says the striker’s hamstring problem needs to be carefully managed

had come in for criticism from Mourinho in the immediate aftermath of the trip to New Meadow but he had mellowed by yesterday. The pair were poor, he said, but “improved in the second half” during “a very difficult match; it’s the only country where you have, in the quarter-final of a cup, three teams from lower divisions. It’s really difficult to play against them.”

Mourinho has never before faced QPR and disputed that Harry Redknapp, their manager, is under pressure.

“Harry is perfectly calm and steady and knows his place does not depend on results,” Mourinho said, while praising Tony Fernandes, the QPR chairman, for his public support of his manager.

Diego Costa is available after missing

the past four games for Chelsea but the club-versus-country row over the Spain striker keeps bubbling along with Vicente del Bosque, his national coach, stating he will remain “stubborn” when it comes to selecting Costa for the coming European Championships qualifier against Belarus.

Mourinho, though, insists the player needs to have his hamstring injury managed more carefully.

“Now he’s available again, but he needs obviously to be again under special care,” Mourinho said. “We are going to do that. It’s the only thing we can do, nothing else.”

The murmurings of Chelsea as potential invincibles continue but Mourinho does not play along. “We are not perfect,” he said. “But I’m happy with what we are doing.”

Ferdinand returns to Twitter to bemoan his FA ban James Masters, Gary Jacob

Rio Ferdinand has appeared to endorse a tweet sent yesterday accusing the FA of applying double standards in handing him a three-match ban.

The Queens Park Rangers defender was hit with the suspension and a £25,000 fine on Tuesday after using the slang term “sket” — taken to mean a promiscuous woman — on Twitter.

The FA deemed that the tweet was abusive and that the breach of conduct was aggravated given that it contained a reference to gender.

A tweet from the account @flowingmindset sent yesterday afternoon accused the FA of a “double standard” in its treatment of Ferdinand compared with its handling of a textmessage exchange involving Malky Mackay, the former Cardiff City manager, and Iain Moody, the Welsh club’s former head of recruitment, which contained sexist and racist terms, and also its treatment of a disciplinary case involving David Elleray, the former referee.

Ferdinand tweeted “preach!!” in reply to the message posted by @flowingmindset and sent another in which he appeared to suggest the FA’s punishment had “baffled” him.

The FA has yet to announce whether Mackay or Moody will face any action over their text message exchange, although it has been reported in the media recently that the pair may escape censure if the messages are deemed to be private correspondence. Elleray, who is the chairman of the FA’s referees committee, was ordered to go on an equality and diversity training course by the FA after making racist comments to a black delegate at a refereeing event at St George’s Park in the summer but faced no further punishment.

A minute before his tweet to @flowingmindset, Ferdinand wrote: “Is humour even allowed....I’m baffled!

Ludicrous.... & I don’t mean the rapper.”

He is set to miss the games against Chelsea, Manchester City and Newcastle United, although he has been out of the side recently anyway.

Joey Barton, his team-mate, also took

Rodgers looks to long term over Liverpool new signings

to Twitter to criticise the punishment.

He wrote: “Surely a person has the right to be offensive? Especially if someone offends you?

Shambolic that @rioferdy5 misses 3 games and loses £25k. I understand the need to reprimand him. He’s a human being who has reacted to some unfair criticism. But the punishment isn’t fitting of the crime in my opinion. 3 games is violent conFerdinand could still appeal against £25,000 fine

duct. Terry only got 4 games for racial abuse?”

Harry Redknapp, the QPR manager, revealed yesterday he once spent four hours in a hotel at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris trying to persuade Eden Hazard to join Tottenham Hotspur.

The midfielder later turned down a move to White Hart Lane when Spurs

were deprived of a Champions League place by Chelsea’s victory in the 2012 final. At the time of the meeting, Spurs looked certainties to qualify for the Champions League, but they blew a 13-point lead over Arsenal to finish fourth and lost their place in the following season’s competition to Chelsea.

The 67-year-old had received a glowing endorsement of Hazard from Joe Cole, his former midfielder who played with the Belgian at Lille.

“I tried to get Hazard at Tottenham,” Redknapp said. “I spent four hours talking to him about coming and he wouldn’t come. He went to Chelsea not long after. I think he was dead keen to come at that time. Joe said he was the best player he ever played with. We just couldn’t get it over the line. It was the Champions League [that swung it].”

Redknapp believes his side have turned the corner this term after an encouraging performance in the 3-2 home defeat by Liverpool and a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa on Monday.

After Chelsea, they play Manchester City a week today.

Adam Lallana Flashes of quality but still to establish himself 6 out of 10 Lazar Markovic Youth on his side, but little sign of his talent yet 4 Dejan Lovren Recent improvement after a shaky start, but still some way short of his best 5 Mario Balotelli Not at all prolific, but nowhere near as bad as some have made out 5 Alberto Moreno Arguably the most promising of Liverpool’s signings.

Has talent and character 7 Emre Can Injuries have reduced his impact. Needs a run of games 5 Rickie Lambert No goals, but not given too many opportunities to make an impression 4 Javier Manquillo An industrious and combative right back, but lacks quality in the final third 5 Words by Tony Barrett

is what was expected. The players we brought in were not really established.

With young players, you get mistakes.

Then there is the lifestyle. You have adaptation, new players coming into a different way of life. When they play on the field, then it is different.

“It may be difficult for other people to understand it because of where we were last season. As I said, the natural progress of the team was halted a wee bit because we lost a world-class talent [in Suárez]. We needed the squad rebuilt. That decision was made knowing that players might struggle a bit initially, but that in the future they would be big players for the club.

“Are we playing as fluently as we were last season? No. But is there big potential in the team? I believe there is.

At the moment, without being anywhere near our best, we are in the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup, our Champions League fate is still in our own hands and we are a couple of points off the top four.

“If it hadn’t been for a dramatic equaliser in the Merseyside derby, we would be in fourth. The expectancy has grown here to a level that it wasn’t at two and a bit years ago. We have to deal with that. I am quite relaxed about it. It is just going to take time.”

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Sport Football

‘Guardiola is a genius, but Bayern’s greatness stems from Van Gaal’ Oliver Kay speaks to Karl-Heinz Rummenigge about his experience of working alongside the Dutch coach in Munich

I

n 40 years since he first joined Bayern Munich, from a “bloodyoung 18-year-old” among football royalty to the eminent executive chairman of today, KarlHeinz Rummenigge has seen it all: the glory days of the mid-1970s, the turmoil of the 1990s, the rise and fall, the return to greatness and now a pursuit of perfection under Pep Guardiola, whom he calls a “genius”.

Over coffee in Munich, Rummenigge suggests that his club is now being run in a “close to perfect way” both on the pitch and off it. One of the most significant acts in the creation of the modern Bayern, he says, was Louis van Gaal’s appointment as coach in 2009.

“If you see our ball possession today, I would say the first steps were the benefits from Louis van Gaal,” Rummenigge says. “We hired him to bring a new philosophy and I believe — I still believe — that from the technical and tactical point of view, he’s a very good coach.

“He changed the system here and I’m convinced he will do it as well at Manchester United.”

So far, so reassuring for those looking to Van Gaal to sow the seeds of evolution at Old Trafford, but there is unmistakably a caveat in the air.

“Sometimes the person is difficult,” Rummenigge says. “So that, especially in the third year here, caused a kind of a problem.

“My colleague Ed Woodward [the United executive vice-chairman] asked me in the summer, ‘What’s Louis about?’ I told him: ‘First of all, you get a very good coach. Second, you have to be prepared that some difficult things can happen. Third, you have to be patient because he needs time to

Rummenigge on Van Gaal the coach

“If you see our ball possession today, I would say the first steps were the benefits from Louis van Gaal. From the technical and tactical point of view, he’s a very good coach” . . . on clashes with Van Gaal

“Maybe he was believing he could take over the whole club regarding the power, whatever. Then came a . . . I wouldn’t call it a crash, but a bad discussion over who was more powerful” . . . on Guardiola

“I believe he’s a genius.

Even now, I have learnt a lot from how he interprets football, which is totally different to what I had in my mind before” . . . on Bayern’s domination of the Bundesliga

“If a team is always leading the classification, then at the end maybe we pay a negative price in terms of emotion. But I believe our strength reinforces the whole league”

change from the old to the new.’ It was always called the Van Gaal system.”

Difficult things? “His mind is very offensive,” Rummenigge says. “He didn’t care so much about the defence.

His mind is that the midfielders and the attackers are the most important players on the pitch. Sometimes his overall global view of the tactics looked a bit arrogant, but it was successful, especially in the first year, when we won the Bundesliga, the German Cup and reached the final of the Champions League. All that in 12 months — and then, after that, we had certain difficulties.”

A power struggle? “Maybe he was believing he could take over the whole club regarding the power, whatever,” Rummenigge recalls. “Then came a . . . I wouldn’t call it a crash, but a bad discussion over who was more powerful, he as the coach or the club, the general manager and the president.

“It was very difficult for us to handle.

I always tried, when he and our [former] president, Uli Hoeness, was having some, let’s say, not-so-sympathetic talks or discussions. I often invited them to dinner as a mediator. Our wives helped a bit, with me as a mediator to try to bring them a bit back on earth.

“Everything at the end depends on performance and the third year wasn’t very good from that point of view.

We were in danger of not qualifying for the Champions League when we fired him. I d believe he was a bit prepared for that.”

Since those days of Van Gaal and Hoeness locking horns over dinner — the latter is now serving a prison sentence for tax evasion — internal tension at Bayern has given way to an air of relative serenity.

Note the word “relative”; even with a team unbeaten in the Bundesliga,

Mixed outcomes: Van Gaal celebrates during happy times at Bayern,

where they have lost only three times in 77 matches since the start of the 2012-13 season, and on course, they believe, for a fourth Champions League final in six seasons, Bayern still face criticism, more on which shortly.

If Van Gaal laid the foundations for the recent success with a team te built around Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Sch Thomas Müller,

Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry, it has been fine-tuned by Jupp Heynckes and now Guardiola.

“First of all, I believe he’s a genius,” Rummenigge said of Guardiola. “Even now, I have learnt a lot from how he interprets football, which is totally different to what I had in my mind before. He has a fantastic philosophy.

The main basis is the midfield, ball possession, controlling the ball in midfield. He is doing that, I would say, in a different style to how he did it at Barcelona. Here we come a bit quicker to the conclusion, which maybe takes in part of our culture in Germany.

“He is a fantastic guy. I believe he is the key, actually, to the success, especially when it comes to the ‘hot phase’ of the Champions League, where there’s perhaps only two or three

Dortmund on their way from Klopp to bottom Rory Smith

Jürgen Klopp may have seen his side slip to four straight league defeats. He may be in charge of a team hovering above the Bundesliga relegation zone.

He may have the rather daunting prospect of Bayern Munich awaiting him this evening. He may have been so enraged by one performance this season that he suggested his players were indulging in “pointless football”.

At least, though, he can count on the unswerving loyalty of one ardent fan.

After Borussia Dortmund had beaten St Pauli in the German Cup this week, Klopp was cornered by a

Dortmund fan working for St Pauli’s catering staff. “You led us to triumph,” she said, imploringly. “Now we will lead you through the crisis.” Klopp squirmed. “If these declarations of affection are necessary,” he said, “then the s*** really has hit the fan.”

It is not quite at that stage, but there is no question that Klopp is facing the most exacting challenge of his time at Dortmund, the sort of crisis that makes Manchester City’s toil pale into insignificance. After five years where he has become the darling of the football world, suddenly everything is going wrong for Klopp.

More troublingly still, no one seems

quite sure why. Dortmund have been imperious in the Champions League — they top Arsenal’s group and have won all of their games — and have not played especially badly in the league.

As Klopp has said, it is just that they have developed a habit of “shooting ourselves in the foot”. He has said: “We create a lot and score a little. Our opponents create a little and score a lot.”

For the time being, his superiors have accepted that. He is under no pressure from the board, and retains the very public support of Hans-Joachim Watzke, his chief executive, and Michael Zorc, the technical director.

With good reason, too: the most

logical explanation for Dortmund’s struggles this season is that the constant loss of their best players to Bayern has finally caught up with them.

Robert Lewandowski was the most recent of their stars to head south and his replacements, Ciro Immobile and Adrián Ramos, are yet to convince that they can make up the shortfall. Then there is the raft of injuries that plagued them in defence last season and midfield this; their high-intensity style seems to come at a cost. This is what their coach must deal with if he is to maintain his reputation.

Klopp built Dortmund’s empire once.

His task now is to stop it falling apart.

Hardly upwardly Immobile: the Italian has yet to convince for German side

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above, but Rummenigge, below, also dealt with the manager’s “difficult” traits

per cent difference between the big clubs and you have to carry that two or three per cent in your favour. I’m totally happy with him. I believe he’s probably the most important employee in the club.”

Not everyone in Munich has been so glowing about Guardiola. Some former players claim that he has taken the possession-based approach to an extreme. Franz Beckenbauer has perhaps been most critical of all, describing Guardiola’s Bayern as “boring” and “unwatchable”.

“I was a bit angry about when he [Guardiola] first arrived because some former players were very critical of him,” Rummenigge says. “Sometimes I called them and said, ‘This is not right, what you’re doing’ because this [Guardiola] is a fantastic gentleman

and a superstar regarding his coaching.”

Is it not strange, though, when one of the main critics is Beckenbauer, the club’s honorary president? “It’s part of our culture here,” Rummenigge says.

“Maybe in England or Spain, it wouldn’t be accepted, but Franz has, let’s say, a special image and is sometimes doing the criticism in a kind of jokey way, I would say.

“Maybe people are paid to criticise and maybe it’s because they think we are too strong in Germany because two seasons ago we won the Bundesliga by 25 points, last season it was 19 points and this year Borussia Dortmund, normally our No 2 club, is something like 14 points behind.”

There is a wider issue here, though. If Dortmund’s much admired progress of

recent seasons has stalled, is it not in part because of the difficulty of losing Mario Götze and Robert Lewandowski — and possibly Marco Reus next — to their rivals in Munich? Dortmund visit the Allianz Arena today amid growing concerns that Bayern’s dominance, shored up by Uefa’s Financial Fair Play regulations, is weakening the Bundesliga as a competition.

“If I ask myself, ‘What is football?’, then immediately I would say emotion,” Rummenigge says. “If a team is always leading the classification then, at the end, maybe we pay a negative price in terms of emotion. But I believe our strength reinforces the whole league. If you look at the Champions League and Europa League results, all the German teams are winning. If there is any kind of domination, I see it in a positive light because other teams have to follow and in the end it makes football better in the country.”

In the age of the super club, though, a lack of competitive balance across European football is a concern. In Germany, where Bayern are so much stronger, one-horse title races could become the norm.

“I believe you’re lucky in England because you have five teams who could win the Premier League,” Rummenigge says. “In Italy this season, it’s two or three. In France, maybe just one. In Germany, maybe two or three. We lead and then three or four teams are four points back, which isn’t so much. If you have a team in the lead by seven or eight points, yes that can be a bit boring, not so good for emotion, but nobody can criticise Spanish football for the domination of Barcelona and Real Madrid over the past ten years.”

If there is a difference in the Bundesliga, it is not only that Dortmund and others cannot compete financially but that Bayern finally appear to be moving forward with a clear, unified long-term vision.

German football, undeniably, was more competitive when Bayern were less well run, but these days the club’s objective is perfection: a flawless team, made up of the best German and international talent and coached by Guardiola, and a unified club off the pitch, with legends continuing to drive the operation — Rummenigge, Matthias Sammer, Paul Breitner all prominently involved and Beckenbauer, albeit a little off-message at times, in the background.

“That’s a big part of the culture here,” Rummenigge says. “I believe the fans like it when former players are involved. It would be perfect for us if that can continue in the future with guys like Lahm, Müller, [Manuel] Neuer, Schweinsteiger and some of the foreign players like Arjen and Franck.”

Rummenigge could never have imagined in 1974, when he left his home town of Lippstadt, that his relationship with Bayern would endure so long. “I said to my girlfriend, now my wife, that I would go there for two years, have a good experience, earn some money and then maybe have to come back,” he says. “However, it worked.”

Platini and Dyke to discuss Qatar World Cup Exclusive James Masters

Michel Platini, the Uefa president, will hold talks next week with Greg Dyke, the FA chairman, over timings for the 2022 World Cup, third-party ownership and a potential candidate to challenge Sepp Blatter in the Fifa presidential election.

The Frenchman is set to meet Dyke, along with representatives from the other home nations and the Netherlands, to address a number of issues ranging from Financial Fair Play through to grassroots football.

The meeting in London on Wednesday will also allow Platini to discuss the

latest announcement from the European Club Association, which has stated that its preference would be to hold the 2022 tournament in Qatar between late April and early May. It is understood that Platini would prefer the competition to take place in January, while Blatter, the Fifa president, is keen for it to run between November and December.

Platini and Dyke have already spoken of their dissatisfaction with Blatter’s leadership, but Uefa has yet to confirm whether it will put forward a candidate to challenge the Swiss.

Blatter, 78, has held the position for the past 16 years and both men have

been outspoken in their desire to witness change, while it is thought that Uefa could lend its support to a nonEuropean candidate.

England is the latest venue for Platini, who has already held similar meetings in Turkey, Greece and Finland as he tries to ensure he is abreast of any concerns held by member countries.

The 59-year-old is set to arrive in London on Tuesday, when he will watch Arsenal’s Champions League game against Anderlecht before meeting Dyke at St George’s Park the next day. He is also expected to meet David Gill, who will stand for the Fifa vicepresidency next year.

Sánchez’s success has Wenger wishing for street fighters Rory Smith

Arsène Wenger has claimed that the death of street football in western Europe has led to a chronic shortage of strikers across the Continent and hinted that, despite millions of pounds of investment by leading clubs, stateof-the-art academies could be stymying the development of young forwards in a way the dusty barrios of South America do not.

The Arsenal manager, like so many of his peers, has turned to South America to bolster his attack this season, paying Barcelona £30 million for Alexis Sánchez, the Chile striker.

Wenger was effusive in his praise not just of the 25-year-old’s energy but the dash of devilry in his play, too, a trait that the Arsenal manager believes his forward shares with Luis Suárez.

“He has a natural level of energy that is unbelievable,” Wenger said. “Every day, he does not walk out [to training], he runs out. You would love everyone to have that energy, but it does not work like that. There are similarities [with Suárez]. Yes, exactly, [he has a bit of devil]. Suárez sometimes gave the ball to the opponent, but got it back straightaway. Sánchez is the same.

There is no time between offence and defence. They are very quick as well.

“But I have said many times: when you see where [Sánchez] comes from, where he was born, and you think that he has finished [up] at Barcelona and then Arsenal, you know he needed something special, or it does not work.”

That something special, Wenger feels, in the Chilean’s case came from playing football on the streets of Tocopilla, the mining town not far from the Atacama desert where Sánchez grew up. His childhood was one of crushing deprivation: he was forced to go out and work at the age of six to help to support his family after his father deserted them.

Such a difficult background is a common trope among many South American players — Carlos Tévez had a similar upbringing in Fuerte Apache, one of Buenos Aires’s most dangerous neighbourhoods — and Wenger believes that helps to explain why South America can continue to produce forwards when Europe, particularly in fluent its affluent west, seems to struggle. It is also somethingg he feels must be addressed if Europe is to address its reliance on imported forwards.

“Society has changed,” he said. “We are much more protected than we were 30 years ago. We have all changed. We have k all become a bit softer. If you look across Europe, South America is the only continent that develops strikers.

At least 80 per cent of the strikers across Europe are South American. They played street football, park football, football with friends. [For them], outside training [with their clubs], there was football as well.

“Maybe in our history, street football

continental drift South America Luis Suárez (Barcelona, Uruguay) True street fighter. The former Liverpool player will do anything — often too much — to win.

Diego Costa (Chelsea, Brazil/Spain) The £32 million striker’s muscular, menacing style was formed in Brazil.

Sergio Agüero (Man City, Argentina) Like Carlos Tévez, Agüero is cast in the mould of the pibe, the prodigiously talented player who honed his skills on the streets of his barrio.

Radamel Falcao (Man Utd, Colombia) Known as El Tigre, but in many ways a classic English striker: good in the air, calm in front of goal.

Europe Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich, Poland) Probably the best all-round striker Europe has to offer, despite a fairly low-key start at Bayern.

Robin van Persie (Man Utd, Holland) Dutchman credits his deadly left foot to a childhood spent playing “cage football” in Rotterdam.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG, Sweden) Vain, arrogant, preening and quite impossibly brilliant, the Swede rose from the ghetto of Rosengard.

Wayne Rooney (Man Utd, England) Grew up in a poor area and has long been seen as one of the last of the street footballers.

Words by Rory Smith

has gone. In street football when you are ten years old, you play with 15-yearolds, so you have to be shrewd, you have to show that you are good, you have to fight, to win impossible balls. When it fi is all a bit more formulated, then it is less developing your individual skill, le your fighting attitude. We have lost yo that a little bit in football.

“If you look at the 1960s and 1970s in England — even when I arrived in 1996 — in every club you had strikers, and I mean [actual] strikers, who headed the ball, who were present on every cross.

We have less now.

Germany went to the World Cup with [Miroslav] Klose, who is 36.”

Wenger will, at least, have one of the very few high-calibre European forwards fo around ound available to him more quickly than expected: he revealed that Olivier Giroud, expected to be out until the new year with a broken leg, is “miles ahead of schedule” and will rejoin normal training after this month’s international break. “He is three weeks ahead,” his manager confirmed.

Sánchez’s energy in training has impressed the Arsenal manager

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United eager to take emotion James Ducker believes Louis van Gaal will be pragmatic in selecting his team tomorrow in contrast to City’s likely all-out attack

L

ouis van Gaal would probably consider himself a football romantic. The Manchester United manager likes to give youth its chance and strongly favours attacking football.

There is a practical streak running through the Dutchman, though, and as United prepare to visit the Etihad Stadium tomorrow, it would be little surprise if he opted to reprise the role of arch-pragmatist against Manchester City that he indulged at key moments as Holland coach at the World Cup finals in the summer.

Amid the praise lavished on Van Gaal for ultimately guiding a modest Holland team to third place in Brazil, it is easy to forget that, for periods in the tournament, the 63-year-old’s cautious approach and five-man defence drew plenty of criticism in his homeland and elsewhere.

Jorge Sampaoli, the Chile coach, had accused Holland of “only defending” in his team’s 2-0 group B defeat in Sao Paulo, a view echoed by his players.

Gary Medel, the defender, argued that the Dutch set up with “nine of their players in their own half”.

In the semi-final against Argentina, it was a similar story. It was not until late in the game that Holland showed much in the way of attacking adventure. Van Gaal was unrepentant, though. Against Argentina, he had been unwilling to give Lionel Messi the space in which to weave his magic. Against Chile, he claimed “the cleverest team won”. “You have to allow your squad to play according to the qualities they have,” Van Gaal said. “If I had tried to play 4-3-3, we would have been overrun by them. It’s all about winning.”

It all sounded very José Mourinho, but then Van Gaal may well take a leaf out of the Chelsea manager’s book as he plots a way to pick off a City side who, for all their own defensive troubles of late, have the firepower to blow holes in United’s flaky back line if given half the chance as they chase a fourth successive derby win for the first time in 44 years.

Manuel Pellegrini accused Chelsea of playing like a “small team” in their 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium in September and likened their approach to Stoke City, who had defended in numbers and looked to hit on the counterattack three weeks earlier en route to claiming a hard-fought 1-0 victory. Yet Van Gaal would probably have no issue with inviting similar condemnation if it meant that United follow up their last-gasp 1-1 draw against Chelsea last Sunday with a win.

With David Silva ruled out for three weeks because of knee ligament damage, City could actually benefit defensively if his absence results in more

Inside today

City’s powerful squad failing to punch weight Oliver Kay, page 90

key clashes

Gaël Clichy v Ángel Di María Clichy has been caught out against Arsenal, Hull City, Roma, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United this season and it would be no surprise to see Ángel Di María charged specifically with targeting the City left back, whose positioning and reading of the game leave much to be desired.

Yaya Touré v Daley Blind With David Silva injured, City will need Touré finally to return to his best form of last season, but if United defend in numbers, keep compact and restrict the space in which the Ivorian can work, the game could suit Blind at the base of his team’s midfield.

Sergio io Agüero Agüer v Marcos Rojo Rojo is making a smoother transition to English football than City’s own new left-sided centre half, Eliaquim Mangala, but the United defender will face his toughest test yet against the speed and movement of Agüero, his Argentina team-mate and friend.

Words by James Ducker

cover on their fragile left-hand side, but Van Gaal will be well aware of his opponents’ vulnerability down that flank and his game plan may revolve in part on exploiting just that. It would be no surprise to see Ángel Di María switched to the right and instructed to run at Gaël Clichy or Aleksandar Kolarov whenever United break on the counter, much as Arjen Robben was primed to do for Holland.

Van Gaal was keen yesterday to stress the importance of taking emotion out of the game. It may help on that front that there is unlikely to be a single Mancunian in either starting line-up, but as Van Gaal prepares to welcome back Wayne Rooney after the United captain’s three-match suspension for his sending-off against West Ham United, there was a clear message to his players to keep their heads. Composure will be the buzzword for United.

“That’s also a main point in our preparation, because you know that this is more than an emotional game,” Van Gaal said. “And we don’t want a red card because when it is 11 versus ten it shall be very difficult to win this game. I have to analyse what the atmosphere is and then I shall say things that are adequate, but for me it’s always the tactical way which is most important.”

Plenty of City supporters would like to see Pellegrini show greater flexibility, if only to tighten up a midfield that remains too open, but if the Chilean’s address yesterday was anything to go by, he has no intention of tailoring his tactics. The accent will again be squarely on attack as he tries to keep pace with Chelsea, who will move nine points clear of the champions if they overcome Queens Park Rangers at Stamford Bridge today.

“It’s the way we must play and we will continue playing the same way,” Pellegrini said. That attitude could play into Van Gaal’s hands, although given that the two teams have managed only five clean sheets in 24 matches between them this season, there may be few wagers on a goalless draw. City will need Yaya Touré finally to step up to the plate in the absence of Silva, but Van Gaal has important decisions to make around his midfield. A counterattacking game might suit Michael Carrick, but will Van Gaal drop Marouane Fellaini, who performed diligently against Chelsea?

Still, few United fans will have forgotten how immobile the Belgian was in the 4-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium last season, when he looked as though he was running into a gale-force wind with a ball and chain. It should be intriguing — romantic-turned-pragmatist against fully fledged romantic.

Nose for trouble: David de Gea clatters Vincent Kompany during last season’s

Defiant Pellegrini says his men will still James Ducker Northern Football Correspondent

Manuel Pellegrini has warned Manchester City’s critics to write them off at their peril and backed his players to hunt down Chelsea at the top of the Barclays Premier League.

City will go into a potentially pivotal derby against Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow trailing Chelsea by nine points should the league leaders beat Queens Park Rangers at Stamford Bridge this afternoon.

Pellegrini’s troubles before the visit of United and CSKA Moscow for a critical Champions League clash three days later were compounded yesterday by the news that David Silva, his best player this season, has been ruled out

Something to shout about: City’s form in the past week has led to mounting criticism but Pellegrini is adamant that he can inspire a victory against United

for three weeks with ligament damage to his left knee.

Yet the City manager, who admitted yesterday that spending restrictions imposed on the club for flouting Uefa’s Financial Fair Play rules ended any prospect of a bid for Ángel Di María, the Argentina midfielder United signed from Real Madrid for a British record £59.7 million, is convinced that his side will come through their present woes.

City have lost four of their past 12 matches, including two of their past three, and also have some concerns over the fitness of Yaya Touré, the Ivory Coast midfielder who has a tight groin.

“I don’t think that because Chelsea have three points more than last year that you can be sure it will continue for the whole of the year,” he said. “We are

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out of the ‘Madchester’ derby DARREN STAPLES / REUTERS

IAN FASSBENDER / REUTERS

Di María, left, celebrates a goal for Argentina with Zabaleta, centre, and Agüero

Argentine friends vow to put sentiment aside James Ducker

derby, and United will be hoping to land the knockout blows in Sunday’s rematch, Van Gaal’s first taste of the fixture

be big players in the title race

not just fighting against Chelsea. We are fighting against all of the big teams and everyone has their chance to win the Premier League.

“I don’t know what pressure is. I think it’s very difficult to analyse the season when you are only in October and have only played nine games in the Premier League.

“I think you always have better moments and bad moments in a season. If you review last year [and compare it with] what we are doing at the moment, we were not playing better than today and the criticism was exactly the same, but we won the title.”

Louis van Gaal, the United manager who spent £150 million on six new signings last summer, insisted yesterday that he was “not jealous” of City’s

squad, although Pellegrini could be forgiven for looking enviously at Di María.

The Chilean would not be drawn on whether City would have moved for the player but for the Uefa sanctions — “That’s supposition, I don’t think it is good today to answer those things,” he said — but claimed it was an option that was out of their hands. City were restricted to a net spend of £49 million last summer.

“I think it is very easy [to answer],” he said. “We have an important restriction on the budget this year. We cannot spend the money that United paid for Di María. We had the restriction and we had to do [observe] it.

“I think he is a very good player — not the only good player United has — but he is a very good player.”

Van Gaal admitted that City had looked vulnerable in recent matches but has urged his players to keep their heads. Radamel Falcao has not recovered from a thigh injury that ruled the Colombia striker out of the 1-1 draw against Chelsea on Sunday but Wayne Rooney, the captain, is available again after a three-match suspension.

“I think he [Rooney] is very fit to play and I don’t have any doubt to play him,” Van Gaal said after dismissing suggestions that the striker had picked up a knock in training this week.

“Nobody expected that result [against Chelsea] but for me it was not enough and maybe the result against Manchester City shall give us that boost. When we play like a team, we have a big chance to win.”

Off the field, it is all very cosy and goodhumoured. Pablo Zabaleta has not taken Ángel Di María out for fish and chips yet but there have been barbecue nights together and jokes about opening up an Argentine restaurant in one of the Cheshire suburbs that the players and their three compatriots, Sergio Agüero, Martín Demichelis and Marcos Rojo, now call home.

On the field, though, there will be no place for pleasantries when the Manchester City of Zabaleta, Agüero and Demichelis square off against Di María and Rojo’s Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow. There is unlikely to be a Mancunian in either team’s starting line-up, but there are bragging rights of two very different kinds up for grabs for that posse of Argentinians.

“We’ve got good friendships over the years and no matter what the colour of your shirt, you still see each other socially,” Di María said yesterday. “But once you’re on the field, you forget all that. Everyone, no matter which side you are on, is fighting for the shirt.

“There are no friendships once you get out on the field. If you win, there will be plenty of stick given out [to the others] and banter post-match. But the real reason you want to give everything in a game like this is so that your own fans go away happy.”

Depending on who you believe, Di María pitched up at Old Trafford either because Real Madrid were forcing him out, the Spanish club were unwilling to foot the wage demands that United were only too happy to meet as part of their £59.7 million British-record purchase, or Paris Saint-Germain could not get a deal over the line. Di María

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was also offered to City, but while Manuel Pellegrini said yesterday that signing the Argentina midfielder was never an option given the restrictions imposed on the club last summer after their failure to meet Uefa’s Financial Fair Play criteria, the player insisted that he only had eyes for United.

If Di María was spinning a yarn there, he did so very convincingly. He did not feel unloved at Real, whom he had just helped to an unprecedented tenth European crown with a man-of-thematch performance in the 4-1 win over Atletico Madrid, but the feverishness with which United pursued him and the subsequent adulation of supporters has clearly made its mark.

“There was never any contact anywhere else,” Di María said. “The people showing real eagerness to sign me were United. As soon as I heard of their interest, there was no question of me going anywhere else. If a club really want to sign you and show willing by putting that amount of money on the table, it would be hard for any club to turn that down, even Real Madrid. I felt from the word go that I was going somewhere where I would be really loved.”

If Di María was a very good player amid superstars at the Bernabéu, he has become the main man at Old Trafford, a series of impressive early performances serving only to cement that status, but listening to the 26-year-old, it is easy to see why he has a reputation as a team player. “I don’t like to talk about star players, I’d rather talk about the 11 who are out on the pitch,” he said.

He is a superstar, though. So good that Zabaleta is convinced that Argentina would have beaten Germany in the World Cup final had Di María not succumbed to injury in the quarterfinal against Belgium.

“It would have made a big difference if he had been fit for the final,” the City right back said. “We needed quick players on the counterattack. Ángel is one of those players who never stops running, never stops going forward, attacking the space. You need the perfect day to stop players like him.”

Zabaleta will hope that City have one tomorrow. Otherwise the wisecracks and barbecue will be on him, Agüero and Demichelis.

6 First-team players from both clubs were on hand to take part in a Premier League Kicks session between City in the Community and the Manchester United Foundation.

sport

Saturday November 1 2014

Look who’s back

Wayne Rooney aims to try to put one over on City in the Manchester derby tomorrow Pages 94-95

Federer’s winning run ends in Paris Quarter-final defeat halts Swiss maestro’s 14-match streak Page 79

All Blacks Williams’ looks on sunny side Kiwi takes Centre stage in experimental line-up Pages 80-81 Times Crossword No 25,933 Times Crossword 25,933 1

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Across 1 Better use of computers — a tip for businessman? (10) 6 Measure from Tories ultimately preferred to the Left? (4) 9 Revised EU tolls better in the marketplace (7) 10 Primate can put round a Gospel (abridged) (7) 12 Obsession about fine chest for sport (4,6) 13 A plea for peace remains after conflagration (3) 15 Ploughs it all back? Some, leaving a bit behind (6) 16 Copy, outside church, part of minute religious scene (4,4) 18 Steer, perhaps, but not straight, and without permit (8) 20 Important figure in battalion rings GP up periodically (3,3) 23 Black coat: one paid for it to be shortened (3) 24 Agent raising commotion back with graduate at college (6,4) 26 Lead analyst, perhaps, in Yesterday’s solution 25,932 B U E SWA I A L A D R E C R R I M N E GG

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S C L A S S I I H F G A R D E A Y R E F U S A T E R I RO I R M OO L Y E A G C A R I A C H A T A E N OU C D L H G E B L U E

N E N R I H

Speaker’s role? (7) 27 Out of pride, perhaps, one resolved to stop row (7) 28 Fast one hardly observes at Xmas, first of all (4) 29 After something sticky, in jam?

(2,1,3,4)

Down 1 Chef taking care of punch conclusively tipped (4) 2 Piece of slating from sink’s over piping (7) 3 Victories mean billions: zero parts they play (3,7,3) 4 See election is coming up in spring (6) 5 What’s become hard to run through without rehearsal initially? (3,5) 7 Undecided over hiding publicity howler (7) 8 Appropriate to get on train where congestion’s likely? (5,5) 11 Disturbance in field scattered old fragments in two minutes (8,5) 14 What’s following land, conveniently, with height? (6,4) 17 Advocate with very little to drink, one making a scene? (8) 19 Girl’s gone off rails when upset (7) 21 Try radius divided by diameter line that is more than pi? (7) 22 A good word for world body that’s cut off from power (6) 25 Jump from plane with foot on parachute (4)

The recycled paper content of UK newspapers in 2013 was 83.5%

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