T t 2014 11 03

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monday november 3 2014 | thetimes.co.uk | no 71344

“I’ve had avery blessed life”

the game The best of the Pages weekend action 46-55

Gillian Anderson on working through tough times Pages 30-31

Block all benefits for migrants, No 10 urged

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Cameron under pressure after German rebuke Sam Coates Deputy Political Editor David Charter Berlin

Migrants from the European Union would no longer have their wages subsidised through tax credits, under plans being considered in Downing Street.

No 10 is examining a further migrant benefit clampdown after a furious Angela Merkel forced a retreat on the imposition of quotas on EU arrivals.

The German chancellor told David Cameron at last month’s EU summit that he was in danger of crossing a “point of no return” with his promise to limit migration from other member nations, it emerged yesterday. If he continued with plans for an emergency brake on migrant numbers, Germany would no longer fight to keep Britain in the EU, Mrs Merkel is understood to have said.

The prime minister has agreed to delay the long-awaited announcement on immigration reform until after the Rochester and Strood by-election on November 20, abandoning hope that the reforms he promised would help to save the seat from Ukip.

No 10 is now being urged to embrace plans to block all benefits for EU migrants, including tax credits, until they have been in Britain and paying tax for two or three years.

Tax credits effectively boost takehome pay by reducing the worker’s income tax bill to near zero. Ending this subsidy would remove one of the incentives for EU migrants coming to Britain.

Tax credits for workers are paid to those with children earning up to about £18,000 or a single person earning up to £13,100. About £5 billion of Britain’s £30 billion annual tax credit bill goes to

foreign nationals, according to analysis by the Migration Advisory Committee.

Of the 13 million low-skilled jobs, 2 million (16 per cent) are held by migrants, the committee said. About 800,000 (40 per cent) of them come from the EU. Until now, Mr Cameron’s proposed immigration clampdown has focused on curbs to child benefit, housing allowance and out-of-work benefits.

Syed Kamall, the head of the Conservatives in the European parliament, said that this needed to change and that tax credits and other benefits should be stopped temporarily.

“One of the problems we face is that we have a universal benefits system, whereas other countries have the contributory benefit system,” he said.

The plan would apply to all benefits, including tax credits, and would cover everyone, so as not to discriminate against EU migrants. “Anyone who wants to get benefits would have to pay in for two years,” Mr Kamall said.

He confirmed that he has discussed the plan with No 10, although he suggested that there was resistance from some Tories at the prospect of changing the welfare system. “I’d like us to say if we win the next election that benefits from the end of 2017 have to be contributory. That gives people now in the system time to contribute.”

Separately, the Open Europe thinktank will publish today a pamphlet by Damian Chalmers and its research director, Stephen Booth, which will say that national governments should be able to limit EU migrants’ access to out-of-work and in-work benefits, social housing and publicly funded Continued on page 2, col 3

Rurik Jutting, 29, with an unknown woman. Police discovered 2,000 images of dead and mutilated bodies on his phone

Briton charged over Hong Kong murders Billy Kenber Leo Lewis Hong Kong

A Cambridge-educated investment banker left his job at Merrill Lynch days before the mutilated bodies of two suspected sex workers were found in his luxury Hong Kong apartment.

Rurik Jutting, 29, who grew up in Surrey and attended Winchester College, was arrested in the early hours of Saturday after calling police to his flat on the 31st floor of a complex popular with expatriates.

Officers discovered the bloodied naked body of a young Indonesian woman who had been stabbed to death, alongside a large knife lying on the carpet. The body of a second victim,

thought to be 25 and of Indonesian origin, was later found in a suitcase on his balcony, where it had been left outside in hot temperatures for several days.

Mr Jutting, who won a scholarship to Winchester and then studied history at Peterhouse, Cambridge, had moved to the US investment bank’s Hong Kong office in July last year. He left his job a week ago, before uploading a message on Facebook on Monday: “Stepping down from the ledge. Burden lifted; new journey begins. Scared and anxious but also excited. The first step is always the hardest.”

Bank of America Merrill Lynch declined to say whether he had resigned or been sacked.

On Friday, he updated his profile to

include a Guardian article asking “Is 29 the perfect age?” and another, from Mail Online, entitled “Money DOES buy happiness: Growing wealth of Asian nations is making their people happier — but women are more content than men”.

Detectives found 2,000 images of corpses on the banker’s phone, including photographs of the women’s genitals and an almost-severed head, local media said. Police also seized weapons, including a large knife, and a small quantity of cocaine, according to reports.

Mr Jutting was put under a “holding” charge on two counts of murder last night and was due to appear at Eastern magistrates’ court in Hong Kong.

Banker covered in blood, page 7

IN THE NEWS Diabetes discovery

Virgin crash inquiry

Celtic noir on the rise

Ukraine poll fraud

Holiday pay bill

Offering gastric bands or gastric bypasses to obese people who are at risk of type 2 diabetes could reduce the likelihood that they will develop the condition. Page 8

Investigators began examining wreckage from Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, which crashed on Friday, as concerns surfaced about earlier safety warnings. Page 11

Nordic television thrillers such as The Killing have helped to inspire the genre of Celtic noir — subtitled crime dramas made in Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic. Page 16

Elections that were intended to legitimise two Russianbacked rebel “republics” in eastern Ukraine were marred by numerous cases of fraud at polling stations. Page 22

Businesses may have to pay billions of pounds after rulings this week in two cases in which workers say they have been underpaid for statutory leave for years. Page 36

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News INSIDE TODAY

Libby Purves

For those wrongly accused of child abuse, there is little chance of redress for what they go through Opinion, page 19

Obituary

Joan Quigley, controversial White House astrologer who advised President Reagan Register, page 28

World

Kremlin plan to silence critics means Stalin memorial may be the last of its kind

Rugby union

Superior education puts New Zealand in a different class — but they are not invincible Sport, page 61

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Opinion 17 Weather 17 Cartoon 19 Leading articles 20 Letters 21 World 22 Register 28 Times2 30 Business 36 Sport 46 Crosswords 45, 64 Please note, some sections of The Times are available only in the United Kingdom and Ireland

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

BBC rehires staff after paying £10m in redundancy packages Alex Spence Media Editor

The BBC has rehired nearly 300 employees after paying more than £10 million in redundancy packages to them.

About 80 returned in the past four years, despite the corporation embarking on a cost-cutting programme.

Concerns about a “revolving door” culture in the public sector were heightened after it was revealed that the NHS rehired about 3,200 staff previously been made redundant, some of them within a year of being let go.

Danny Alexander, chief secretary to the Treasury, said last week that severance payments to officials would be reclaimed in future if they were re-employed in the same part of the public sector within a year.

The BBC was excluded because of its special status as a public broadcaster and because the corporation has already put in place “more stringent” rules than the government, he said.

At the BBC, no individual can be rehired on a fixed-term or continuing contract within a year. They have to

wait for three months before coming back as a freelancer or on a casual basis.

A freedom of information disclosure in The Sunday Express showed that 286 employees who were made redundant by the BBC between September 2002 and August, at a cost of £10.2 million or nearly £36,000 per person, are now back at the corporation. Some 81 employees who were made redundant between January 2010 and August, at a cost of £3 million, are now back.

The BBC said that it was inevitable that over a 12-year period some would rejoin. A spokesman added: “The BBC has undergone a huge restructuring process and now employs about 3,000 less staff than it did in 2002, with a pay bill of £115 million less in real terms, while providing more services. We are on course to make £700 million of savings annually by 2017.”

The revelations came as the BBC faced separate questions over claims of more than £500,000 in tax credits to help fund two TV productions.

Margaret Hodge, the chairwoman of the public accounts committee, com-

pared it to the controversial tax affairs of multinationals such as Google and Amazon. Accounts show that the BBC received £520,000 from the public purse for two crime dramas, The Interceptor and One Child.

The BBC said it was using tax credits as the government intended and that it would be disadvantaged if it was barred from the same incentives as rival British or foreign producers. George Osborne introduced the breaks in 2012 and they have been credited with luring a host of high-end productions to Britain, such as Game of Thrones.

A spokesman said: “The BBC is committed to investing as much money as possible into the shows audiences love, and by applying for tax credits we can invest even more money into our programmes. This in turn delivers wider economic and cultural benefits by ensuring productions are shot in the UK rather than abroad.”

The BBC added that the government was aware of its use of commercial subsidiaries to claim the tax credits and “has voiced no objection”.

Migrants face loss of tax credits Continued from page 1

apprenticeships until after three years.

They argue that this could be achieved without a complicated EU treaty change but by amending existing EU law.

Under the plans, EU citizens would have a right to access public healthcare within their host country, but for the first three years the costs would be borne by their state and private health insurance. Children of an EU citizen would have a right to access childcare and primary and secondary education.

These proposals have also been discussed by senior figures in No 10.

Government lawyers have said that such plans would need treaty change, but supporters are convinced that Britain can raise sufficient political support among northern European countries to get around this.

No 10 did not dispute that these ideas had been discussed but declined to comment further. The final decisions will be made in an announcement after the Rochester and Strood byelection. The timing of the speech will be seen by MPs as a further sign of the

The breakdown How your tax contributed to public spending based on £30,000 salary Welfare £1,663 Health £1,280 Education £892 State Pensions £822 National debt interest £475 Defence £360 Criminal justice £298 Transport £200 Business and industry £186 Government administration £139 Culture £114 Environment £112 Housing and utilities £111 Overseas aid £78 UK contribution to the EU budget £51 Total £6,781

party’s pessimism about the outcome of that vote.

Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, taunted the prime minister yesterday over the comments by Mrs Merkel. Mr

Farage tweeted: “German paper Der Spiegel reports Berlin wants UK EU exit if we try and limit immigration. Still think you can renegotiate, Mr Cameron?”

This comes as 24 million people start to receive their first “annual tax summary” from HM Revenue & Customs, designed to highlight the scale of the money spent by the exchequer on the welfare bill.

George Osborne, the chancellor, has contained “welfare” in a single category, including all the various benefits. This means that it is the largest single item, and typically 30 per higher than the next most expensive area of government expenditure, which is the NHS. Mr Osborne said: “I promised that taxpayers would know much more about how much direct tax they pay and how that money is spent.

“Now we’re delivering on that promise by giving 24 million taxpayers a new personal tax summary.

“It is a revolution in transparency and it will show how hardworking taxpayers have to pay for what governments spend.”

UK beats EU rivals for quality of life Rosemary Bennett Social Affairs Correspondent THE DIGITAL PACK £1 FOR 30 DAYS

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The UK is the most prosperous of all major EU countries, according to a global analysis that has been seized on as evidence that the country could be richer still if it left the union.

The 2014 Prosperity Index, compiled by the Legatum Institute think-tank, placed Norway and Switzerland at the top of its rankings. The index combines economic indicators with quality of life measures such as education and health services, personal safety and freedom.

Neither Norway nor Switzerland is an EU member, although Norway is a member of the European Economic Area and Switzerland is part of the single market. That means that both gain considerable economic advantages while retaining their independence.

The findings will fuel Eurosceptic

arguments that the UK could do well outside the EU. Europhiles argue that the economy would suffer if Britain were no longer part of the group.

The UK came 13th out of 142 countries, up three places from last year. It is below smaller EU economies such as Denmark and Sweden but above Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

The UK’s ranking was boosted by a strong rating in entrepreneurship, suggesting that it is one of the best countries in which to start a business. It costs 0.3 per cent of gross national income per capita to set up a business, or £66, the third-lowest cost in the world.

The UK also ranked highly on governance, personal freedom and social capital, which includes contributions to charity and volunteering. Britons are world leaders in charitable giving: three quarters of the population donate to charity, the fourth highest in

the index, compared with 42 per cent in Germany and 26 per cent in France.

However, the UK did not fare so favourably in personal safety for women. Although ranked 21st on whether people feel safe to walk the street at night, women feel considerably less safe than men: 66 per cent compared with 82 per cent.

Russia was the worst performingcountry in Europe this year, falling seven places to 68th, largely because of its rankings in governance (113th) and personal freedom (124th).

The chancellor declined to comment on the implications for Britain in the EU, however, he welcomed the league table. “Today’s report provides further international support for the government’s longterm economic plan,” he said. “It is fantastic to see Britain leading the way for entrepreneurship, personal freedom, health and education.”

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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News ONEDITION

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, 75, on board his yacht Grey Power before he set off yesterday on the Route du Rhum from St Malo to Guadeloupe. The 3,500-mile journey is expected to take up to three weeks

Solo at 75, Knox-Johnston sets sail for his Atlantic adventure Billy Kenber

At 75, almost half a century after he became the first sailor to singlehandedly circumnavigate the globe, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston might be forgiven for putting his feet up and leaving the challenge of life on the waves to others.

In the early hours of yesterday, however, the grandfather of five set off alone in his 18m Open 60 yacht Grey Power, the oldest-ever competitor in the famous transatlantic Route du Rhum race.

Speaking to The Times before his departure from St Malo in Brittany, Sir Robin insisted that he felt as keen and fit to sail as ever and that age was no more than a state of mind.

“I don’t consider myself old,” he said.

“The French asked me ‘how old are you’ and I said 48 because in my mind I am.

As long as you keep thinking you are young, you stay young. I am just not ready for the slippers, pipe and television. That is not coming in a hurry.”

He was lured back to solo sailing by the thrill of the open seas. “I’m doing this race frankly because I bloody well wanted to,” he said. “I wanted to go racing. I did the Sydney-Hobart [yacht race with a crew] last December and realised how much I’d been missing it. Once you

Robin KnoxJohnston and his yacht Suhaili in the Channel in 1969, at the end of his nonstop round-theworld voyage

get past Cape Finisterre off Portugal, you’re getting into the sun, you’re getting into the trade winds — it’s a wonderful bit of sailing.”

The 2014 race saw 91 boats in five different classes depart yesterday from the north coast of France bound for Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. The fastest vessels are expected to take little more than a week, but Sir Robin estimated his 3,500-mile voyage will last anything from 16 days to three weeks. The

veteran sailor said he viewed the expedition as “my holiday” after organising the Round the World Clipper race for amateur crews.

During the voyage, Sir Robin will eat nothing but freeze-dried food brought back to life with boiling water. His toilet is little more than a bucket on a rope.

Modern sailors often sleep in short bursts of no more than 17 minutes, waking to make small adjustments to the course, but Sir Robin sticks to a more traditional pattern — grabbing a few hours at a time on a bed in front of his navigation equipment. For the first few days, even a short nap will be a luxury as he jostles with competitors and fishing boats through busy shipping lanes.

Technological developments have transformed solo racing since he set off from Falmouth on his record-breaking journey in 1968. “When I went round the world 45 years ago, we had no satellites so the whole thing was different.

Nowadays I can download weather six or eight times a day,” he said.

Sir Robin insisted it was now a “different sort of challenge” rather than simply easier. “When all the boats have got the same weather information you’re levelling it out a bit. Now it’s who is going to interpret that properly and who is going to make the best of it.”

Were you ever a Scout? I’m a frayed knot Nadeem Badshah

You could traditionally tell whether a person had been a Scout by how they tied a knot, but now a tell-tale sign could be their skateboarding skills.

The Scout Association, which has twice as many teenage members as it did a decade ago, has said its recruits no longer need to know how to master a sheepshank or a clove hitch knot.

Activities such as mountain climbing and woodland crafts were not as relevant as new badges covering areas

‘Lord BadenPowell will be spinning in his grave.

He would be outraged’

such as youth work, circus skills, IT, music, public relations and street sports such as skateboarding, officials said.

“Scouting has been around for 107 years,” a spokesman for the association said. “What’s important now is their ability to do youth work — not climb mountains or do knots.”

Tying tight knots has been a proud tradition of the organisation since its founder, Lord Baden-Powell, first wore the woggle to tighten his neckerchief.

His Scouting for Boys guide in 1915 included a section on saving lives with

knots, which detailed how a teenager and his parents were swept to their deaths near Niagara Falls because rescue lines had been poorly tied.

The changes have been met with disapproval by some former members.

GP Taylor, the children’s author, said: “This just shows what a pathetic society we are becoming. Baden-Powell will be spinning in his grave. He would be outraged by this.”

In Britain more than 499,000 boys and girls are involved in the scout movement.

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

News TOBY MELVILLE / REUTERS

On the road again Motorists cross Westminster Bridge in the annual London to Brighton veteran car run. The event, which celebrates the passing of the Locomotives on the Highway Act in 1896, is in its 118th year

Sandwich generation is trapped caring for children and parents Rosemary Bennett Social Affairs Correspondent

Nearly one in five middle-aged adults is caring for elderly parents at the same time as having a child living at home, according to one of the most authoritative studies on the “sandwich” generation. Two out of three 55-year-olds care either for parents or children.

The analysis found that 45 per cent had at least one child still under their roof — largely a consequence of the trend for later parenthood, but also because of student debt and the housing crisis means many young adults cannot afford a place of their own.

The same proportion provides help for an elderly parent or in-law, usually in the form of regular lifts, shopping, house repairs, gardening or cooking. A smaller proportion (15 per cent) does the housework, with 7 per cent helping with personal care, such as dressing, washing and feeding.

Seventeen per cent have to care for

both old and young. Even those whose children have left home and started their own families appear to carry on receiving a considerable amount of help from parents in their fifties. More than a third of 55-year-olds have grandchildren and more than half of those looked after them for eight hours a week.

The study was compiled by the Insti-

tute of Education using the National Child Development Study (NCDS), one of Britain’s richest sources of data.

The NCDS is following more than 17,000 people born in a single week in March 1958.

Since the birth survey in that year, there have been nine further surveys of

the cohort members at ages 7, 11, 16, 23, 33, 42, 46, 50 and now 55.

The researchers concluded that people in their fifties are the most tightly squeezed sandwich generation of modern times, with considerable consequences.

“Caring responsibilities can have a significant impact on people’s lives,” the study said. “They can, of course, be fulfilling. But our research shows that spending more than ten hours a week caring for parents or grandchildren is associated with poorer health and selfrated quality of life.”

Typically, it is women who take on a disproportionate share of the caring responsibilities.

Just over one in five (21 per cent) women in the NCDS survey spent more than ten hours a week caring for others, excluding time taken up by looking after children living at home, compared with 14 per cent of men.

Unlike previous sandwich generations, women in their mid-fifties today

will soon face a new problem because of changes to the state pension age.

Women ten years older than them found it easier to give up a paid job at 60 in order to fulfil caring duties because they were entitled to their state pension.

Women who are now in their mid-fifties will not be able to draw the state pension until they are 66, so that option will not be available to them.

“Future research could look at how men and women in this generation will be affected by the rise in state pension age,” says Professor Alissa Goodman, director of the NCDS. She said that other policy priorities are already clear. “Given the increased pressures on people in their fifties, employers will need to be encouraged to adopt ‘family friendly’ working policies towards older employees,” she said.

“This would make it easier for them to maintain working lives while also helping their own parents or grandchildren.”

Half a million old people will be alone this Christmas Nicola Woolcock Education Correspondent

Nearly half a million older people will spend Christmas alone this year because their family live too far away or they do not want to be a burden on relatives.

Some say that Skype calls have replaced actual visits, with grown-up children using technology rather than wishing their parents happy Christmas in person. Research suggests that

489,800 people aged over 75 will spend Christmas Day on their own this year, a substantial rise on the estimated 300,000 last year, according to Royal Voluntary Service, a charity for older people which conducted the research.

Of those spending the day on their own: 31 per cent said it was because their family lived too far away or even in another country; 45 per cent said they thought that families were fragmented or under a lot of pressure with older people easily forgotten; and 6 per cent

had not been invited to spend the day with anyone.

While services that allow people to talk and see each other online were welcomed if families could not be together, 47 per cent of respondents said technology meant that people made less effort to see each other in person.

Royal Voluntary Service, formerly WRVS, has partnered with a website called Community Christmas at communitychristmas.org.uk to support old-

er people on Christmas Day. Anyone holding events or activities can register them online so that older people or their relatives and carers can find options near them for the day.

The campaign is backed by Felicity Kendal, the actress, who said: “It is heartbreaking to think of half a million older people sitting on their own, hidden away, while the nation enjoys themselves. Let’s show older people we do care and make sure they know there are invites waiting this Christmas.”

We let down the dying, say nurses Chris Smyth Health Correspondent

Only one nurse in ten says they can look after dying patients properly, according to a survey that suggests “profound” problems with end-of-life care.

Nurses say that they do not feel comfortable broaching the topic of death, struggle to find the time to spend long enough with dying patients, or lack private places in which to speak to them, the Royal College of Nursing found.

Peter Carter, the chief executive of the college, said: “The nation and the health service need to be better at acknowledging the importance of a good dying process.”

Previous research has found that one patient in ten dies during their hospital stay. The latest finding supports calls for palliative care to be made a priority.

Dr Carter said that many nurses were “profoundly troubled” by their experiences of trying to deliver care for the dying. “Sensitive nursing can make an enormous difference to the experience of a dying person and a ‘good death’ with expert care can also make the bereavement process much easier.”

Of 7,721 nurses who replied to the online poll, only 10.5 per cent said that they could always give the right care to dying patients. Only 19.3 per cent of hospital nurses said that they could discuss with patients the care they wanted.

A quarter of nurses said that they lacked the training to talk about death.

Anne Cleary, the deputy director of nursing for Marie Curie Cancer Care, said: “We echo the concerns expressed that nurses are not always getting the training, support and resources they need to provide the care that they so obviously want to.”

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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Poppy seller, 15, attacked with a DIY flamethrower James Dean

A 15-year-old army cadet was attacked with a makeshift flamethrower after selling Remembrance Day poppies, marking the second incident involving a uniformed poppy seller in little more than a week.

The unprovoked attack in the centre of Manchester on Saturday came eight days after another teenage cadet was allegedly told that he would be “shot by the Taliban” while selling poppies outside a supermarket in Derbyshire.

The murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich, south London, last year and calls from Islamic State, the jihadist group, to “cause terror right from within” the West have heightened fears of attacks on British servicemen at home.

Last week the Royal British Legion was forced to take additional security advice before London Poppy Day on Thursday, when 2,000 volunteers from the navy, army and air force collected donations outside Tube and mainline rail stations, it is understood.

A spokeswoman said that the charity was “appalled” by the attack on the cadet in Manchester. “It is shocking that a young man who has dedicated his spare time as a cadet to supporting the Poppy appeal could be targeted in this horrifying manner,” she said. “We extend our sympathy and support to both cadets and their families and will be cooperating with the police investigations arising from these incidents.”

The Manchester cadet was waiting at a bus stop at 6pm on Saturday when an attacker sprayed him with lit fumes from an aerosol can. The boy suffered minor burns to his face and singed hairs on his face and right forearm, Greater Manchester police said.

The attacker was described as black or Asian, 5ft 8in and wearing a dark hooded top. Police said he appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and was staggering. He walked away from

the bus stop without saying a word.

Detective Inspector Liam Boden said: “Understandably both [the boy] and his family are in a state of total shock and cannot believe someone would do this.

This is an absolutely appalling attack on a young man who was raising money to help remember all those who gave their lives fighting bravely for their country.

“Given the initial description we have of the offender, it may be that he was under the influence of something but whatever his motivation, his violent actions could have scarred this young man for life.

“Although he has suffered some minor injuries, it is pure luck that he did not sustain more serious burns to his face and body. At this stage of our inquiries, we’re keeping an open mind as to what motivated the offender to commit such an act,” he added.

Lucy Powell, Labour MP for Manchester Central, said that she was “appalled and disgusted” by the attack.

On October 25, an army cadet selling poppies in Belper, Derbyshire, was allegedly threatened by two men in a car who said he was “going to get shot by the Taliban — they are going to kill you”. A 34-year-old man later appeared in court after being charged with using threatening, abusive, insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause fear of or provoking violence.

In 2010, members of the extremist group Muslims Against Crusades burnt poppies in Kensington, west London.

Emdadur Choudhury, from Spitalfields in east London, was fined £50 for committing a public order offence.

Last week the pro-integration thinktank British Future launched a poppy covered headscarf with the Islamic Society of Britain to raise money for the Royal British Legion’s appeal. British Future highlighted the 400,000 Muslims who fought alongside British troops in the First World War.

Returning jihadists could be used to deter others Alex Spence

British fighters who return from Syria after becoming disillusioned may be used to stop others from becoming radicalised, William Hague said yesterday.

The former foreign secretary said that protecting UK citizens from attacks was still the authorities’ main concern, but his comments marked a softening of the approach towards extremists returning from the conflict.

About 600 Britons are believed to have travelled to Iraq and Syria, many to fight with Islamic State, and some are desperate to return after being shocked by the violence. Some went believing they would fight against President Assad’s regime but ended up in conflict against other rival groups.

Mr Hague told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One: “Our top priority has to be the protection of the security of the people of this country, and that is why we will take action where we think people could be dangerous.

“But the Home Office and the police and the health service are also working together on what we can do to assist those people who come back with good

intentions, but of course we have to be sure that they do have good intentions.”

Mr Hague, who is now leader of the House of Commons, suggested that in some cases it could be possible to use those returning to help deter other British nationals who were considering trying to join groups in the region.

“We haven’t had a lot of those people coming back yet and saying they want to be of assistance, but if they do well then of course the government, the police, the national health service, will work with those people and help them to recover and to assist others,” he said.

Last week the family of a 20-year-old British man killed fighting in Syria said he had been desperate to return home and had tried to get out of being sent to the front line.

Fears of radicalised fighters carrying out terrorist attacks on British soil have led to more than 200 arrests relating to Syria this year. Of those who travelled to Syria, about 300 jihadists are thought to have returned. Almost all are known to the authorities.

Academics have argued that not all the returning fighters share the same degree of ideological conviction.

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News TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JACK TAYLOR

Crowds flocked to the poppies installation at the Tower of London yesterday despite calls to stay away until after half-term

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Billions of trees needed to avert climate disaster Ben Webster Environment Editor

Carbon dioxide will have to be extracted from the atmosphere and stored underground to prevent “severe, pervasive and irreversible” impacts of climate change, according to the UN’s scientific advisory body.

The intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) said that within the lifetime of today’s children, net emissions would have to fall below zero to have the best chance of preventing a dangerous temperature rise.

The IPCC’s synthesis report, summing up 5,000 pages of work by 800 scientists published in three previous reports, will underpin efforts by governments to agree on a global deal on emissions by December next year. It said emissions would have to fall by 40 to 70 per cent by 2050 compared with 2010, and be “near zero or below in 2100”.

To achieve “negative emissions”, it would be necessary to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, such as by planting billions of trees that soaked up carbon as they grew, before harvesting the wood and burning it in power plants fitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems. The report said many computer models used to project warming found that building CCS plants was the only way to prevent the global average temperature rising by 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels, the increase deemed to have dangerous consequences.

However, CCS is very expensive and only one commercial-scale plant has been built; the £750 million Boundary Dam project in Canada.

Rajendra Pachauri, the IPCC chairman, said fossil fuels could continue to be burnt on a large scale if CCS were widely deployed. “We have little time before the window of opportunity to stay within 2C of warming closes. The cost of inaction will be horrendously higher than the cost of action,” he said.

Unless there were a much greater effort to cut emissions, the temperature could rise by 4.8C by 2100, resulting in “substantial species extinction [and]

The emissions targets 6 Emissions to fall at least 40 per cent by 2050 6 Emissions to fall to zero or below by 2100 6 Eighty per cent of electricity from low-carbon sources by 2050

The carbon problem Global carbon budget Already emitted 1,900bn tonnes

CO2

2C

1,000bn tonnes available from now on

IPCC limit for global warming

How carbon capture and storage cuts emissions

1 2

6 Phase out fossil fuel emissions by 2100

global and regional food insecurity”, the report said. Delaying action would shift the burden on to future generations, who would have to make much deeper cuts while coping with the impacts of more extreme weather.

Sir Mark Walport, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said: “We can still avoid the most serious impacts. We need to transform the way we power our lives. This will be very challenging, but the challenges for humanity if we do not are likely to be far greater.”

Lord Stern of Brentford, who wrote an influential report on the economics of climate change, criticised Tony Abbott, the Australian prime minister, for refusing to make climate change a pressing issue at the G20 meeting in Brisbane this month. “It is simply outrageous that a discussion about managing the risks of climate change, which is of fundamental importance to the future prosperity and wellbeing of the world’s population of seven billion people, is being shunted to the sidelines because of the local politics of a country of less than 25 million,” he said.

Myles Allen, a climate scientist at the University of Oxford and one of the report’s lead authors, said the writing team had avoided making “alarmist” claims about climate change made by Greenpeace and others.

Jim Skea, professor of sustainable energy at Imperial College, London, and a contributor to the report, said it made the case that, the faster emissions were cut, the lower long-term costs would be.

2,900bn tonnes

amount of CO2 that the IPCC says can be emitted without high risk of severe impacts of climate change

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Trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and are burnt in power stations

Glow-worms, like humans, prefer the lights dimmed to put them in the mood for nocturnal activity, it appears.

The females use their own soft light to attract a male partner, but the fashion for gardeners to use lights to pick out footpaths or draw attention to flower beds is casting a dampener on the creatures’ ability to mate, and populations are in decline.

Lights that have been installed since the summer along a stretch of a popular walking and cycling track in the West Country will now be switched off during the breeding season to help glow-worms attracted to the long grass and nearby woods. Males were trying to The females’ glow is put in the shade by artificial lights

mate with LED lights on the Bristol to Bath railway path at the former Mangotsfield station, and could not see the lights of the females glowing in the grass because of the glare.

South Gloucestershire council has put up signs saying: “This street light column will be switched off from May to September to allow glow-worms to breed. Glow-worms are fascinating creatures suffering decline.

We are committed to trying to safeguard our biodiversity.”

Robin Scagell, who has been running the UK Glow Worm Survey since 1990, said: “Male glow-worms are notoriously attracted to artificial lights.

“If you have glow-worms in your immediate area I would strongly advise you to turn the solar lights and any other garden lights off during the glowing period, usually June to August.”

26%

Increase in acidity of the oceans since pre-industrial times because of the CO2 they have absorbed

North Sea gas field

The CO2 is buried underground and in depleted gas fields in the North Sea

Acker Bilk, the jazz singer and clarinettist whose most famous number, Stranger on the Shore, was the UK’s biggest-selling single of 1962, has died aged 85. Bilk, who was appointed MBE in 2001, had previously suffered from throat cancer. Pamela Sutton, his manager, said he died with his wife, Jean, by his side at a hospital in Bath. “He had a great sense of humour in every way,” she said.

Police officers with the Dyfed Powys force have been banned from chewing gum after complaints that they looked as if they were from American television crime shows.

Christopher Salmon, the police commissioner, said: “The public want me to ensure high standards of professionalism and respect for the uniform is the first part of this.”

Tom Archer ‘deposed’

Porous sandstone

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Sir David Attenborough has called for Africa’s oldest national park and its population of endangered mountain gorillas to be protected from oil exploration.

Soco International, a British company that carried out seismic testing for oil in Virunga this summer, has said that extraction could take place if the park’s boundaries were redrawn to exclude the drilling area. The park, a world heritage site in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is home to 200 mountain gorillas.

Sir David told the The Independent on Sunday: “Areas like Virunga are of great scientific and natural value to the whole world. To encroach upon them, to exploit them for temporary gain, totally contradicts the ideals underpinning the protection of such sites.

“It would be extremely worrying if

Acker Bilk dies at 85

No gum for police

The CO2 is then pumped down wells into porous rock deep beneath the sea bed

Ben Webster

Owners of an iPad can subscribe to The Times iPad edition through the App Store on the device

40% to 70%

The CO2 filters into the porous sandstone reservoir, filling tiny spaces that once held natural gas.

It is trapped by the layers of solid rock above

Dim your garden lights to Save gorilla park from oil put glow-worms in the mood tests, pleads Attenborough Nicola Woolcock

The Times iPad edition

How much global emissions will need to fall between 2010 - 2050

Instead of being released back into the atmosphere, CO2 is captured at power stations and compressed

Matt Ridley, page 17

Monday November 3 2014 | the times

Virunga were to be exploited for oil.

Not only would it threaten a park that is home to a vast range of wildlife, but it would also send a worrying signal for the future of other world heritage sites.”

Soco said in June that it would not drill inside Virunga “unless Unesco [the UN body that designates world heritage sites] and the DRC government agree that such activities are not incompatible with its world heritage status”.

Roger Cagle, the deputy chief executive of Soco, said that the DRC could apply to Unesco to redraw the boundaries of the 3,000 sq mile park to exclude part of Lake Edward, where Soco explored for oil.

There is a precedent for such a move.

The boundary of the Selous game reserve, a world heritage site in Tanzania, was redrawn in 2012 to make way for a uranium mine.

An actor who played one of the central characters in The Archers revealed on Twitter that he has been “deposed” from the role after 17 years. Tom Graham, who was the voice of the sausage entrepreneur Tom Archer, said that Sean O’Connor, the show’s editor, had decided to re-cast the role. He wrote: “My reign as the sausage King of Ambridge has come to an end.”

Rare books legacy A former headmistress has left thousands of rare books to her school. Jean Wilks, who ran King Edward VI High School for Girls, in Edgbaston, Birmingham, from 1964 to 1977, died in August aged 97. Her library included works by DH Lawrence, Virginia Woolf and Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

The school will donate some of them to Glasgow School of Art, which was ravaged by fire in May.

Most read at thetimes.co.uk 1. Who are the true Muslims?

2. Branson: we fell short 3. U-turn is a sign of progress 4. Top banker “asked wife to have sex with client” 5. Scots would vote “yes” now 6. Britain’s largest home: £7m 7. Turmoil as Woolf quits inquiry 8. Miliband embarrassed over feminist T-shirt 9. Morgan’s end-of-term report 10. Protest at US F1 dream

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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Banker ‘opened door covered in blood’

Rurik Jutting had many young Asian women friends on his Facebook page Billy Kenber London Leo Lewis Hong Kong

In the early hours of Saturday, as Hong Kong’s wealthy expat community partied away another weekend, local police received an agitated phone call summoning them to a high-end serviced apartment complex close to the city’s most notorious entertainment district.

Police arrived at the J Residence building in Wan Chai, to the north of the island, shortly before 4am. They passed through the main doors, which were decorated with garish Hallowe’en-themed spiders’ webs, pumpkins and witches, and headed to the 31st floor.

When they reached the apartment in the southeast corner of the building, Rurik Jutting opened the door. The 29year-old British banker was covered in blood. “You can see for yourself,” he said, according to local media reports.

Inside, lying on a blood-soaked carpet, was the naked, lifeless body of a young Asian woman. She had stab wounds to her neck and buttocks, police said.

Eight hours later, officers discovered a second naked body wrapped in a carpet and stuffed in a small black Chanel suitcase on the sweltering balcony, police sources said. The second victim, whose head was almost completely separated from her neck, had been dead for several days and the body was decomposing.

According to friends and staff at local bars, the women were Indonesian and involved in the sex trade. Mr Jutting was seen on CCTV returning to his apartment with one victim just hours before his phone call, police said. Officers reported a large number of weapons at his flat, including a foot-long carving knife.

The Briton, who is being held in custody on suspicion of the double murder, moved to Hong Kong in July last year after transferring from the London offices of the US investment bank Merrill Lynch. Last week he had left his job,

Police search Rurik Jutting’s apartment where they found the bodies of two women believed to be Indonesian sex workers, as well as a large number of weapons

Scholarship student was ‘a bit of a loner’ Profile

W

ith an education at one of the country’s top public schools followed by a place at Cambridge, Rurik Jutting’s parents had worked hard to give their son the best start in life (Billy Kenber, Will Humphries and Leo Lewis write).

Yesterday, his mother, Helen, was back at the counter serving customers at the Shakeaway milkshake franchise she owns and runs in Woking, Surrey, as her eldest son was questioned in a police station 6,000 miles away.

Nearby, at the 19thcentury Grade II listed house in Cobham that has been the family home for more than a decade, his father — an engineer who became an HGV driver several years ago — declined to speak to reporters.

Alan Pickett, 67, who lived opposite the family

for ten years before retiring and moving away, said Mr Jutting’s parents were not particularly wealthy and “spent most of their money on their kids’ schooling”.

The £650,000 family home is said to have been the inspiration for illustrations of Toad Hall, in The Wind in the Willows. In 1994 it was the rented home of a gynaecologist and his wife. After discovering that her husband was having an affair with his secretary, the doctor’s wife went to his office and killed her.

Mr Jutting was born in south London in March 1985 and spent his childhood in the Surrey commuter town of Chertsey before his parents moved to the Cobham house in 2002.

He won a scholarship to Winchester College.

Classmates remember him being a “bit weird” but studious, and he won a place at Peterhouse, Cambridge, to read

Rurik Jutting lived in J Residence, an apartment block in Wan Chai

history. One friend described him as “rather academic” during his university days, devoted to rowing and “definitely not part of the macho, heavy-drinking set”. He tried out for the university’s lightweight eight-man rowing team and later competed for his college in a single scull and at cross-country running.

After graduating, Mr Jutting went to the City.

The fledgling investment banker lived in a smart apartment building in east London where the porter yesterday recalled him as “a bit of a loner”.

He had lived with a “really pretty black girl” for a period, but they had broken up before he moved out.

It is thought that he had begun a new relationship with a woman in Hong Kong, but that this had ended within the past month.

He lived in Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island and took a keen interest in the recent prodemocracy protests. His Facebook page features images from a demonstration.

One of his close friends in the UK said he had discussed the political crisis online with Mr Jutting. “We talked back and forward about politics and what the protesters were asking for,” said the friend. “It really seemed that everything was completely normal.”

which paid a six-figure salary, and on Friday his neighbours — many of them expat bankers and accountants — began complaining about an unpleasant smell.

One said: “This is a pretty respectable building and a lot of the people here are very, very shocked by what has happened. But it is also a place where you know that quite a number of the residents do bring back working girls from the bars around here.”

Police are investigating whether the two dead women, who are thought to have known one another, were sex workers.

The woman found in the suitcase is believed to be Sumarti Ningsih, 25, who had recently been detained for working on a tourist visa. The second victim, named locally as Jesse, 30, occasionally worked as a DJ in bars close to Mr Jutting’s building, according to police sources. Indonesian sex workers in two clubs nearby confirmed that they knew a woman called Jesse and that she had not been seen since Friday.

Police seized Mr Jutting’s phone and are examining 2,000 images including photographs of the women’s injuries and their genitals, local media said.

A small quantity of cocaine was found in his flat and a former colleague said there was a strong cocaine culture among western investment bankers in Hong Kong.

On his Facebook page, Mr Jutting posted a photograph of the view from his balcony two weeks ago.

Many of his Facebook friends were women living in the Philippines and he had also “liked” the page of a southeast Asian model.

Red-light district where expatriates with money lose moral compass Leo Lewis

Just a short walk from Rurik Jutting’s apartment, and from the horrifying bloodstains that cover its walls, the bars and sex clubs of Wan Chai throb away as if nothing untowards has happened.

For decades, the Wan Chai district has been Hong Kong’s most blazing paradox; a seething red-light district a stone’s throw from the world’s biggest banks, the city’s main bathroom furnishings district, the Hong Kong convention centre and the police headquarters. It is a place, say those who

KOWLOON

CHINA Hong Kong

HONG KON G

Victoria Harbour

Aberdeen

Wan Chai

Lam m a I sl a n d

HONG KO N G ISLAND

One mile

know the city, where expatriates with money can rapidly and comprehensively lose their moral compasses. For some newcomers, it is simply an entertainment district; for others, it opens a new world where vices they would not begin to consider at home become part of a regular night out.

Sunday-night drinkers, many taking part in an elaborate, sponsored pub crawl, spill on to the streets from bars where women from across southeast Asia solicit openly from the moment that darkness falls. Cocaine changes hands as you watch. Men are lured from the pavements by the veteran, famously

persistent madams, and bundled through velvet-curtained doors into clubs, where they will surely be fleeced.

“Everyone here has heard about the murders,” says one Indonesian sex worker who gives her name as Leah.

She mimes a throat being cut. “I think that I had seen one of the girls around here before. Of course we are scared — but we are always scared. When you go back to a man’s room, you never know what will happen, really.”

The relentless business of Wan Chai, she adds, is unlikely to stop just because two girls are dead and the police are asking questions in all the bars. There

are, after all, quotas to fill tonight, as on every night.

As midnight nears, expatriates wearing the weekend uniform of chinos and polo shirts emerge from clubs such as Escape, Neptune, New Makati and Amazonia with ruthlessly mini-skirted sex workers on their arms. Many are frogmarched by the girls past kebab shops and convenience stores to the nearest cash machines, where they will withdraw the HK$1,500 (£120) that the next hour will cost.

Some of the men seem mildly embarrassed; others hold their heads high and engage their prostitutes with pride.

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

News GETTY IMAGES

World domination? It’s in the bag for the chihuahua

P

aris Hilton started it when she popped her chihuahua, Tinkerbell, into her handbag — possibly sounding a death knell for some bigger, more traditional breeds (Nicola Woolcock writes).

Small dogs, with little legs that need only short walks, have become so fashionable that some larger breeds have declined at an alarming rate, and could die out, breeders have said.

Old English sheepdogs and English setters are among those most at risk.

The economic downturn is also blamed: the Irish wolfhound, a yard high at the shoulder and weighing up to 12 stone (76kg), needs huge amounts

of food and two hours of exercise each day. Caroline Kisko, the secretary of the Kennel Club, said that larger dogs were “at risk of disappearing from our streets and parks . . . dogs are not immune from our fickle tastes”.

The number of

chihuahuas — a breed thought to have originated in China — registered in Britain rose by 215 per cent between 2009 and 2013, as registrations of old English sheepdogs declined by 27 per cent. The English setter’s numbers fell by 32 per cent over the same period, and Irish wolfhounds by 26 per cent.

Jean Entwistle, of Wigan, changed from breeding border collies to chihuahuas when she spotted the trend. Roz Croft, from Preston, said: “It would be such a pity if our heritage was allowed to die due to short-term fashion trends.”

Heidi Ancell-Day, of the Kennel Club, urged prospective owners to “consider all factors when choosing a canine companion”.

Leading article, page 30

At risk: the English setter, Irish wolfhound and old English sheepdog.

Left: Paris Hilton and Tinkerbell

Weight-loss surgery can cut diabetes risk Kat Lay

Hundreds of thousands more people could benefit from weight-loss surgery, according to research which found that going under the knife reduced obese patients’ risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Guidelines currently recommend gastric bands or gastric bypass for obese people who already have diabetes, but offering them to those at risk of the disease could help to save millions of pounds from the health budget, the study suggested. The NHS spends around 10 per cent of its budget — £2.2 million a day — on diabetes.

Weight-loss surgery, known as bariatric surgery, cuts the risk of developing the disease by about 80 per cent,

researchers found. However, using surgery for weight loss remains controversial, with critics arguing that it is a drastic solution to a problem that could be solved by diet and exercise.

The study, published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, found that about six in every 1,000 weight-loss surgery patients would develop diabetes each year, compared with 30 per 1,000 in obese people who did not have the operation.

The surgery has grown in popularity in recent years, in part thanks to highprofile gastric band patients including Fern Britton, Sharon Osbourne, Anne Diamond and Vanessa Feltz.

Martin Gulliford, from King’s College London, who led the research, said: “Our results suggest that bariatric sur-

gery may be a highly effective method of preventing the onset of new diabetes in men and women with severe obesity.

“We need to understand how weightloss surgery can be used, together with interventions to increase physical activity and promote healthy eating, as part of an overall diabetes prevention strategy.”

His team compared 2,167 obese adults without diabetes who had surgery for weight loss with a control group of 2,167 who did not have surgery, following them for several years. While 38 of the group who had surgery had diabetes diagnosed, 177 of the control group developed the disease.

In England, 26 per cent of adults were classified as obese in 2010. Up to 3 per cent of people with severe obesity (a

body mass index, or BMI, of 40 or above) develop diabetes each year.

More than 80 per cent of adults with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese.

Currently weight-loss surgery is offered to people with a BMI of 40 or more, or those with a BMI of between 35 and 40 if they also suffer from a potentially life-threatening disease such as type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure that could be improved if they lost weight.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended expanding the pool of eligible patients by tens of thousands to include people with a BMI between 30 and 34.9 diagnosed in the past decade with type 2 diabetes. People of Asian origin could be considered with an even lower BMI

because they are known to be vulnerable to diabetes complications.

Weight-loss surgery can cost up to £15,000, but Professor Gulliford said that cutting obesity rates could lead to longer-term savings.

Simon O’Neill, from Diabetes UK, said: “It must be remembered that surgery carries risks and so bariatric surgery should only be considered if serious attempts to lose weight have been unsuccessful.

“But looking at the bigger picture, as a society we also need to focus more on stopping people becoming overweight.

We need to look seriously at how we can make sure people are getting support to lose weight through access to the right services to encourage them to make healthy choices.”

Doctors told to admit their mistakes Adverse drug reactions are Chris Smyth Health Correspondent

Doctors and nurses will be told they must confess and apologise to patients if they make a mistake, even if no one has been harmed.

Training in saying “sorry” will be given to frontline staff who “do not feel able to apologise” under joint guidance to be issued by regulators today.

After a report into the Mid Staffordshire NHS scandal criticised doctors and nurses for keeping quiet about appalling care, a “professional duty of candour” has been introduced by the General Medical Council (GMC) and the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

“Every healthcare professional must be open and honest with patients when something that goes wrong with their treatment or care causes, or has the potential to cause, harm or distress,” it states. Staff are told to use their

professional judgment in deciding whether to tell patients about “near misses” that could have caused injury.

Niall Dickson, the chief executive of the GMC, said: “Patients deserve a clear and honest explanation if something has gone wrong with their care. This is why, for the first time, we are collaborating on this new joint guidance. It will ensure that doctors, nurses and midwives are working to a common standard and will know exactly what their responsibilities are.”

Under the guidance, which is out for consultation, staff must speak to patients as soon as they can when they realise that something has gone wrong.

Apologies must include an explanation of what happened, what can be done to deal with it and how staff will stop it happening to anyone else. If patients want it, apologies should be in writing.

Mark Porter, the chairman of the

British Medical Association’s governing council, insisted that most doctors already apologised promptly and that problems were often the result of an oppressive culture and poor systems created by bosses. “Any suggestion of an enforced apology where there is a dispute over where fault lies would be inappropriate,” he said.

Peter Carter, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, added: “In too many organisations there has been a culture of blame, fear and secrecy which makes it very hard for staff to admit when things have gone wrong and to learn from mistakes.”

Mr Dickson said: “None of this will work without an open and honest learning culture, and we know from the Mid Staffordshire inquiry and from our own work with healthcare professionals that too often such a culture does not prevail.”

filling 8,000 hospital beds Kat Lay

Thousands of NHS beds are taken up by patients suffering from adverse drug reactions because of a shortage of medicines specialists, senior doctors have warned.

Increasing the number of “clinical pharmacologists”, doctors who specialise in how drugs interact with each other, could free up NHS beds and cut the £14.3 billion drugs bill, according to a report.

Launching it, Lord Winston, the fertility specialist, said: “Evidence shows that clinical pharmacology is going to be vital if we are to meet this challenge, but the specialty has perhaps been a little too shy in coming forward.”

The report, published today by the

British Pharmacological Society, says that 8,000 NHS hospital beds are taken up at any one time by patients suffering from adverse drug reactions.

Professor Munir Pirmohamed, one of the authors, said: “One of the main issues we are facing . . . is the fact many patients will be on multiple drugs. That increases your risks of having side effects or drugs interacting adversely.”

Consultant pharmacologists are trained to look at all the drugs someone is taking and decide which are in fact necessary — and if all are necessary, what might alleviate the problems caused by combining them, he said.

There were only 77 clinical pharmacology and therapeutics consultants in Britian in 2012; the Royal College of Physicians recommended 440.

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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May is accused of holding back 1980s child abuse report Sam Coates Deputy Political Editor

Theresa May has been accused of delaying publication of a report into the Home Office’s failure to act on child abuse claims, as more lawyers turned down the opportunity to lead the inquiry into child sex abuse.

In the middle of last month Peter Wanless, the NSPCC’s chief executive, completed a review into the way the Home Office dealt with an investigation into allegations of child abuse between 1979 and 1999.

However, the Home Office is still considering the findings and no date has been set for the report’s release.

“The home secretary also needs to demonstrate complete transparency to restore confidence in the government’s approach,” Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said. “She must publish the Wanless review, which she has had for several weeks, and provide some answers.”

Last night Mr Wanless told The Guardian that he wanted the report to published as soon as possible.

Ministers have insisted that the work of the child abuse inquiry would continue without a chairman after Fiona Woolf resigned on Friday over a conflict of interest.

Lord Carlile of Berriew, the Liberal

Democrat and barrister, rejected suggestions that he might take over as chairman of the inquiry, which will examine the way in which decades of allegations of child sex abuse were ignored.

His rejection came after Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws and Lady Justice Hallett were “sounded out” but declined.

Lord Carlile said there were two prerequisites — that he or she was not a parliamentarian and that they had expertise in dealing with evidence involving child protection or child abuse.

He told Murnaghan on Sky News yesterday: “The politics has to be taken out of this. If the lord chief justice could be persuaded to release a senior judge to do this job I think that would be ideal.”

Asked about judges’ status as part of the establishment, he replied: “You would be surprised how independent judges are to politics. There are plenty of people to choose from. They must be asked the right questions to ensure there is not a conflict of interest.”

Ms May will give a statement in the Commons later today.

Ms Cooper said that the most important thing was to rebuild the credibility of the inquiry. She also called on Mrs May to meet survivors of abuse and to establish a survivors’ forum to run alongside it.

Former male carer ‘living with girl, 16, and her baby’ A male care worker allegedly began a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl while she was being looked after by a county council.

Somerset council received an anonymous letter about the relationship in January which also said that care service managers had failed to respond to staff concerns.

An independent inquiry found that most of the allegations in the letter were true. Police are investigating the case but no one has been arrested. The

PABLO PICASSO / SOTHEBY’S

inquiry report concluded that there had been a significant failure in safeguarding at least one young person and described inappropriate sexual boundaries.

The carer allegedly involved left his job before the independent investigation and is said to be living with the teenager, who has recently given birth.

Avon and Somerset police said: “A formal police investigation into an allegation of abuse of position of trust has now started but is at an early stage.”

Don’t ignore sex crimes, urge Muslim professionals Andrew Norfolk, Imran Azam

Modern masters Picasso’s Homme assis, above, and his painting of a musketeer, below, will be sold along with a still life by

Vincent van Gogh, left, at Sotheby’s auction of modern and impressionist art in New York tomorrow

Pakistanis in Britain must confront “the evil in our midst” by publicly condemning sex grooming crimes committed by men from their community, Muslim speakers have demanded.

The call was made during a passionate debate in Bradford, West Yorkshire, at which Islamic professionals criticised “community sensitivities” that had fuelled a culture of silence.

Shaista Gohir, of the Muslim Women’s Network, said crimes against girls of all ethnicities had gone unchallenged for too long. “Nothing will change unless we start talking about taboo issues such as child sexual exploitation,” she said. “I’m Pakistani and Muslim. How can you ignore all these cases? We mustn’t allow community sensitivities to lead us to disregard it.”

She was speaking at Child Sexual Exploitation: the Muslim Community’s Response, organised by the Professional Muslims Institute.

Ansar Ali, from the campaign group Together Against Grooming, said that although most men convicted of child sexual abuse in Britain were white, there was evidence that Pakistani Muslims were “disproportionately represented” in street-grooming sex crimes.

“There’s no simple link with culture or religion, but we can’t sit back and say this isn’t an issue that’s relevant for us.

This is our community and we have a duty to do something about it.”

However, some in the audience challenged these views. One said that “secular, liberal values” should be “in the dock” instead of Pakistani Muslim men.

Iftikhar Ahmed, the Tory parliamentary candidate for Bradford East, was even more sceptical. “I’m Pakistani and I’m not a sex groomer. Why are we putting the focus on Pakistani men and on Islam? There are thousands of white paedophiles in this country. We don’t put the same focus on Christianity.”

Nazir Afzal, chief crown prosecutor for northwest England, said that by speaking out he had previously been accused by fellow Muslims of handing racists “another stick to beat us with”.

David Aaronovitch, page 18

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Miliband ‘putting minimum wage at risk’ Sam Coates Deputy Political Editor Philip Aldrick Economics Editor

Ed Miliband’s plan to raise the minimum wage to £8 could politicise and undermine the issue for future generations, the head of a leading poverty charity has said.

Julia Unwin, the chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, warned Labour not to allow the minimum wage to be “subject to political whim”. Her comments echo remarks by Jon Cruddas, who heads Labour’s policy review.

The minimum wage rose to £6.50 on October 1, the first above-inflation in-

crease since 2008. Last year the chancellor backed away from a confrontation with the Low Pay Commission, the body that sets the rate, over the issue.

Mr Miliband promised in September that he would increase the minimum wage to £8 by 2020.

Writing in The Times today, Ms Unwin said: “Establishing the minimum wage was a long and hard-fought battle, which should not be subject to political whim. It achieved support from employers and unions, as well as being based on evidence.”

She added that Mr Miliband had undermined the “carefully crafted” approach to setting the national mini-

mum wage, but had “also ignored the evidence that living costs for low income households often far exceed the general rate of inflation”.

Her remarks came as a study by KPMG found that the number of people on low pay — earning less than the living wage, which is £8.80 an hour in London and £7.65 elsewhere — rose by 147,000 in a year, to 5.3 million. More women are trapped in working poverty than men, a fifth of all employees are struggling to makes ends meet, and the number is rising, the study found.

A new living wage rate is set today.

John Cridland, director-general of the CBI, also sounded a warning. “I am

disappointed by any attempts by politicians to interfere in setting the level of the minimum wage,” he said. “Setting the rate should be left to the independent experts at the commission.

Attempting to fix future levels now takes no account of future economic realities, nor the ability of firms to pay.”

The Labour leader’s approval rating has dropped to an all-time low, according to a YouGov survey for The Sunday Times. It found that 18 per cent of voters thought Mr Miliband was doing a good job, while 73 per cent said he was doing badly. His minus 55 rating is one point worse than Nick Clegg’s.

Meanwhile Lord Prescott, the former

deputy Labour leader, has attacked the “pointy-heads” in Labour — a reference to Mr Miliband and his team — for a failure to run sucessful election campaigns. Writing in The Sunday Mirror, Lord Prescott said: “ To be frank, our campaigns have not been very successful. From the 2010 general election to local and European elections and byelections, it seems strategy is driven by the pointy-heads not the lionhearts.”

Hilary Benn, the shadow communities secretary, denied suggestions that Labour had been “lumbered with a loser” in Mr Miliband but acknowledged that the party faced a tough fight.

Julia Unwin, Thunderer, page 18

This is what a row over a feminist T-shirt looks like Sam Coates

A women’s rights charity has sought to blame a high street chain over claims that a feminist T-shirt worn by Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg was made in sweatshop conditions.

The Fawcett Society was seeking to limit the damage after reports that their shirts, branded “This is what a feminist looks like”, were produced in a factory in Mauritius that pays machinists, who sleep 16 to a room, 62p an hour.

Before the latest controversy, David Cameron refused to wear one, prompting Harriet Harman, the Labour deputy leader, to put one on at prime minister’s questions last week.

Dr Eva Neitzert, deputy chief executive at the Fawcett Society, said she had been assured by the chain Whistles that the shirts were made to “ethical standards”.

She said the society had originally been told the garments would be produced ethically in the UK, and when it received samples it noted they had been made in Mauritius.

The charity was assured that the factory was fully audited and socially and ethically compliant.

“We have been very disappointed

to hear the allegations that conditions in the Mauritius factory may not adhere to the ethical standards that we . . . would require of any product that bears our name,” she said.

“If any concrete and verifiable evidence of mistreatment of the garment producers emerges, we will require Whistles to withdraw the range . . . and donate part of the profits to an ethical trading campaigning body.”

Whistles, which sells the shirts for £45, said the claims were “extremely serious” and promised an urgent investigation. A spokesman told The Mail on Sunday: “We place a high priority on environmental, social and ethical issues.

The allegations regarding the production of T-shirts in the CMT factory in Mauritius are extremely serious and we are investigating them as a matter of urgency.”

The company said the factory had an accredited certificate for the supply chain which conformed to the “highest standards in quality and environmental policy”.

Regular audits of suppliers were carried out in line with its high standards of corporate responsibility.

Ed Miliband wears one of the T-shirts

Murphy risks Scots’ tax backlash Lindsay McIntosh Scottish Political Editor Sam Coates

Scotland should not get full control over income tax, Jim Murphy, the Scottish Labour leadership candidate has said.

In a gamble that risks alienating voters who want powers transferred from Westminster to Holyrood, the MP said by voting “no” in the referendum, Scots had endorsed both the Union and the cross-border tax system.

Like Gordon Brown, he is concerned that full devolution of income tax would “drive a wedge” between Scotland and England.

Mr Murphy told Pienaar’s Politics on BBC Radio 5 Live: “One of the important things about a tax system — and we saw this in the financial crisis and crash of 2008 — is how across the UK . . . you have a tax system that supports one another, that spreads wealth around the UK, and those are the sort of tests I want to have.”

In a further potential blow to Scottish

Labour, Alistair Darling, the former chancellor and head of the campaign against independence, said last night that he was to stand down as an MP. Mr Darling, 60, said he wanted to go while he was “still relatively young” and said that he was backing Mr Murphy.

“Jim has the enthusiasm, the energy, and above all he’s a fighter. For too long we have sat back when we needed to fight,” he told The Financial Times.

SNP-commissioned research from Panelbase found 66 per cent of Scots back “devo max”. A YouGov poll for The Times, published last week, showed 67 per cent in favour of increased powers to set and collect income tax.

Mr Murphy’s position appears to create a faultline between him and his leadership rival, the MSP Neil Findlay, who has called on Labour to consider full devolution of the levy. Labour proposes to give Holyrood greater control over tax bands, short of full devolution.

Mr Murphy has said he is standing down as shadow international development secretary.

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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News RINGO H.W. CHIU / AP

Wreckage of SpaceShipTwo is spread across five miles of the Mojave desert. Investigations may centre on the unusual mix of fuel that the craft was using and whether a long delay to Friday’s flight was relevant

New fuel theory to rocket disaster

Jacqui Goddard Miami

Investigators began examining wreckage and data from Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo yesterday, as concerns surfaced about the craft’s safety and earlier warnings of disaster.

As 15 officials from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived in the Mojave desert, where debris was scattered across a five-mile area, evidence suggested that the vehicle may not have exploded during Friday’s test flight but possibly broke up after a structural failure.

Initial reports that the flight had been delayed by three hours because of concerns about fuel temperature, and claims that there had been an explosion in mid-air, suggested that the fuel may have combusted. Images of the wreckage, which showed the motor apparently intact, suggested otherwise.

“There was clearly a break-up but we don’t know if maybe that was caused by an explosion, or rather was caused by something the engine did that changed the mass of the spacecraft and caused the vehicle to flip because the structure was not designed to take those aerodynamic forces,” said Rand Simberg, a former space shuttle engineer, said.

The decision to change the fuel may have been behind the crash. Experts questioned whether pressure from investors might have been a factor in decisions by Sir Richard Branson and Scaled Composites, the spacecraft’s designers, to pursue what many considered to be a flawed design.

“If Sir Richard wants to move forward with his business, he needs to go back to the drawing board,” said Mr Simberg, the author of Safe is Not an Option. “Many in the industry, including me, have been concerned about Virgin’s propellant system for years.”

Michael Alsbury, 39, the co-pilot, was killed and his colleague, Peter Seibold, 43, who landed with a parachute, has had surgery on his injuries.

The accident is likely to set back for years, if not shatter altogether, Sir Richard’s dreams of flying paying passengers to the edge of space, 62 miles above the Earth, for $250,000 a ticket.

The project has already cost $500 million and more than 700 people had signed up for seats, including Princess Beatrice, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Justin Bieber. There had been talk

Pilot’s survival without an ejector seat hailed a miracle

The survivor

T

he two pilots were rocketing towards the stratosphere in a pressurised cockpit at an altitude of at least 50,000ft when their spacecraft began to break apart around them.

Neither was wearing a space suit, both were strapped in to their seats. Photos suggest that they were upside down and travelling close to the speed of sound (Will Pavia writes).

While Michael Alsbury, 39, the co-pilot of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, died, the survival of Peter Siebold, 43, the pilot, is being seen as little short of miraculous.

“There are no ejector seats,” said Carolynne Campbell-Knight, a British rocket engineer who has been critical of Virgin Galactic’s safety record. “You can’t eject through a solid roof.”

Scaled Composites, partners in the project, described the cockpit of SpaceShipOne, on which the stricken rocket was based, as a

pressure vessel akin to a submarine, with a space-worthy cockpit surrounded by a second outer space-worthy shell that eliminated the need for a space suit. It had to be capable of withstanding tremendous forces.

How Mr Siebold escaped from the cabin remained unclear yesterday. “It is a complete and utter miracle,” Ms CampbellKnight said. “He was still in his seat, but he managed to deploy his chute on the way down. How the hell did he do that from 50,000ft?”

She said it seemed clear from pictures that the vehicle had blown up. “There are huge amounts of stored energy on board, once something goes awry it’s a question of what is going to let rip,” she said.

Ken Brown, 49, a photojournalist who has followed the progress of SpaceShipTwo, believes that Mr Siebold may have been thrown free as the vehicle came apart. He may have been higher than 50,000ft at the time, as the rocket engine had engaged and the craft appeared to be ascending fast.

Mr Brown, one of the first to arrive at the crash site, saw the copilot still strapped into his chair.

He had watched the aircraft blow apart through the lens of his camera. “It went from flying straight up to being upside down in less than a second,” he said.

“Going about the speed of sound, you flip it and there is no way it can hold together.”

Mr Siebold was said to be awake and talking with his family yesterday.

Sir Richard Branson paid tribute to Mr Alsbury as an accomplished and experienced test pilot.

Peter Siebold, who was awake and talking with his family yesterday

before the accident that Aabar Investments in Abu Dhabi, which holds a 32 per cent stake in Virgin Galactic’s holding company, had been growing impatient for results as the project stretched beyond Sir Richard’s original pledge that the first passengers would fly in 2007.

There had also been criticism within the aerospace industry of the decision to use an unconventional hybrid engine, which relies on solid and liquid propellants, rather than only liquids.

Friday’s launch was the fourth powered test flight for SpaceShipTwo but the first to fly with a plastic rather than a rubber-based fuel, mixed with nitrous oxide, in order to give it more thrust.

A nitrous oxide (N2O) test conducted

by Scaled Composite’s engineers in 2007 caused an explosion that killed three people. An investigation said the company had exhibited “either a lack of due diligence in researching the hazards surrounding N2O or a wilful disregard of the truth”.

On Friday, witnesses said that the engine appeared to sputter after ignition. “It looks like it may have started and then stopped and then started again,” said Doug Messier, of the aerospace website parabolicarc.com. “I didn’t see an explosion but it definitely broke into pieces.”

Other issues being examined yesterday were why three executives associated with safety and propulsions at Scaled Composites had quit over the

past year. Jim Oberg, a former Nasa scientist, said: “What happened in the Mojave desert on Friday could be down to something completely new. It could be something no one could have anticipated, but most tragically it could have been a mistake that some people worried about at the time and were overruled.”

Sir Richard stopped short of saying that he would continue to push ahead with the project when he arrived at Mojave Air and Space Port at the weekend.

“It’s fair to say that all 400 engineers who work here, and I think most people in the world, would love to see the dream living on,” he said. “I would say we owe it to our test pilots to figure out what went wrong.”

He added: “We do understand the risks involved and we are not going to push on blindly — to do so would be an insult to all affected by this tragedy.”

Sir Richard says he owes it to Michael Alsbury to find out why he died

Bigger engine, more vibration Jacqui Goddard

When Burt Rutan, the founder of Scaled Composites, first drew up his design for SpaceShipOne, a prototype spacecraft intended to fly to sub-orbital heights, he steered clear of a traditional liquid engine, thinking them too complex and unreliable.

Instead, he came up with a hybrid that used nitrous oxide to burn a rubberbased fuel — the first time such a system had been used in manned flight.

After winning the $10 million Ansari X Prize, for being the first to get a privately funded aircraft to the edge of space, he reasoned that the design could be scaled up to create SpaceShipTwo, a larger model. However, the larger the

engine, the more vibrations and instability it caused.

“I think it was a terribly designed system,” Rand Simberg, an aerospace engineer, said yesterday. “A hybrid is a poor engine for human space flight because we don’t have much experience with them, we don’t really understand their safety characteristics, they have mostly been used by hobbyists for highpowered liquid rocketry in the desert and they don’t scale well — that is, when you make them bigger, they don’t perform as well. If they had begun with liquid propulsion, had a workable engine and designed the vehicle around it, Branson could have had a passenger ship flying by now. They just got stuck in a deep groove and couldn’t get out.”

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

News

Juries need forensics lessons, warn judges Hannah Devlin Science Editor Frances Gibb Legal Editor

Judges are calling for controls on the use of science in criminal courts, amid concerns that flawed DNA evidence has been used to secure murder and rape convictions in the past year.

Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, the lord chief justice, said that forensic evidence needed to meet approved standards if juries were not to reach “perverse decisions” that resulted in miscarriages of justice.

His remarks come after an admission by the Home Office in September that courts have been increasingly relying

on qualitative assessments of complex DNA evidence rather than robust statistics, which it said risked juries being misled about the strength of the prosecution case.

Delivering the Criminal Bar Association’s Kalisher lecture in London last month, the most senior judge in England and Wales highlighted the possibility that murderers and rapists may now have grounds to appeal. In many serious cases, the “credibility of the criminal justice system depends on the quality of the science underpinning the forensic evidence”, he said.

Lord Thomas is calling for the government’s forensic science regulator to

be given powers to make scientific experts comply with quality standards.

He is backed by Lord Woolf, a previous lord chief justice, who agrees that statutory regulation is needed to avoid problematic evidence creeping into court.

“What is required is to raise the standards of experts to ensure their evidence is objective and comprehensible,” Lord Woolf said.

Lord Thomas wants “primers” — plain English explanations — in forensic science to be given to jurors to help them to understand “the basics” so they can focus on the evidence before them.

There was a challenge for judges and lawyers to “manage the presentation

and testing of forensic evidence in such a way as to avoid fatally undermining confidence”, he said. As forensic science becomes more complex, there is a risk of “testing the science, rather than the evidence, in front of a jury”, he added.

“This risks undermining juries’ and public confidence in forensic science, with highly undesirable consequences, resulting either in less use of forensic evidence, or less use of juries,” he said.

Peter Gill, a forensic scientist at the University of Oslo, welcomed the judges’ intervention. “At last there is a growing recognition that the use of ‘subjective reporting’ by forensic scientists is an unacceptable practice that is prosecution biased,” he said.

Professor Gill alerted the Home Office in April to a series of cases involving complex DNA samples in which the Court of Appeal ruled that it was helpful for experts to give juries a subjective view based on their professional experience. Until these cases, DNA evidence was typically ruled inconclusive unless scientists could pin a statistic on the likelihood that a suspect had contributed to a sample.

The Forensic Regulator has since warned that qualitative assessments of DNA evidence can be misleading.

“The next step is to recognise that miscarriages of justice may have occurred as a result,” Professor Gill said.

“There is a moral obligation for the authorities to identify and to review cases that may be affected.”

Alice’s mother tells of anger at her murder The mother of Alice Gross, the murdered teenager whose disappearance prompted a mass of yellow ribbons to be tied around her neighbourhood, spoke of her continued anger at her loss but pride in her kindness and talents.

Rosalind Hodgkiss spoke at a packed memorial service for Alice, 14, leading tributes to her “fizzy and fun” girl. She thanked the army of “ribbon fairies” in Hanwell, west London, adding that they had “showed love, acts that nurtured us”. While not making “the loss of Alice more bearable, it has restored some of our faith in humanity”.

She told the congregation at GreenAlice Gross “never realised how talented she was”

ford, west London, that she felt “outrage and anger at the loss of her life”.

Alice disappeared on August 28 and her body was discovered a month later in the River Brent. The prime suspect, Arnis Zalkalns, a convicted killer from Latvia, was found hanged in a park.

As her mother spoke yesterday, pictures were shown on a screen, including Alice at Disneyland, playing piano and with her sister, Nina. Ms Hodgkiss said: “She was a dynamo of energy. I loved to watch her dance. Alice could be shy and insecure — I don’t think she ever realised how talented she was.”

The service included Alice singing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, recorded at her father Jose’s studio. Mr Gross told the service: “For five or so weeks the area became emblazoned with yellow ribbons. When they found Alice I was struck by how respectful everyone was by taking the ribbons down. I say thank you to all of them.”

Body found in river is missing MS sufferer The body of a woman with multiple sclerosis who went missing on October 21 has been found in the River Test on the Broadlands estate, the former home of the late Lord Mountbatten, in Romsey, Hampshire. A search involving frogmen was launched when her wheelchair was found on the riverbank two weeks ago.

An estate worker spotted a body in the water on Saturday morning. Although she has not been indentified, police say they are satisfied that the clothing and description match that of the missing woman. The death is not being treated as suspicious.

Tornado rips off roofs

Cars, shops and homes were damaged when a tornado tore through the Leicestershire town of Coalville. The roof of the Belvoir shopping centre was ripped off and fences were brought down. Theresa Bowron said that part of her roof was blown off. “There is a guy down the road who is picking up parts of his greenhouse,” she said. The Met Office confirmed there had been “tornadic activity”.

Weekly e-cigarette fires The use of electronic cigarettes is being blamed for starting one fire a week, according to figures from the UK’s fire brigades. Since 2012, firefighters have attended 113 fires linked to e-cigarettes, which are now used by an estimated 2.1 million people in Britain.

Devices “exploded” while being charged, batteries ruptured or overheated and fires broke out after e-cigarettes were plugged into computers or DVD players.

Four hurt in boat blaze Two men and a woman were taken to hospital with burns after a houseboat caught fire on the Thames in the centre of Oxford.

The three, who were sleeping on the 20ft cabin cruiser, jumped into the river and were helped to safety by a neighbouring boat owner, who suffered from smoke inhalation. A pet dog died on the boat, which drifted from its moorings and later sank. Police are investigating.

Mein Kampf falls short Hitler’s personal copy of his book Mein Kampf, found in his apartment in Munich in 1945, has fetched less than $30,000 (£18,800) at auction, far short of the $100,000 that Craig Gottlieb, the American dealer who sold it on his website HistoryHunter.com, had estimated. “The book is far more important than mere signed copies,” he insisted. A signed copy recently sold for £48,000 at a British auction.

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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News

Hidden mortgage fees ‘trick owners into expensive deals’ James Hurley

The government should intervene to end “sneaky” additional fees on mortgages that result in homeowners unwittingly paying over the odds for their loans, a consumer group has said.

Lenders are hiding the true cost of home loans through a vast array of fees and charges that leave borrowers unable to find the best deal, Which? has said.

The group has called on George Osborne and City regulators to force lenders to simplify how they present the true cost of mortgages to make it easier for borrowers to shop around.

Consumers could save thousands of pounds if they took additional fees into account rather than simply choosing the product with the lowest interest rate, Which? said.

Its research found that only 3 per cent of people could correctly rank the cost of five mortgage deals based on the standard costs presented by lenders.

There are more than 40 fees and charges across the mortgage market, Which? found, and lenders are confusing borrowers further by using different names for the same or similar fees.

Many hidden costs have risen markedly, with the average arrangement fee almost doubling during the past five

years, from £878 in 2009 to £1,588 this year.

Significant variation in fees between lenders suggests that they do not always reflect the true cost that the lender incurs, the group suggested.

Richard Lloyd, the executive director of Which?, said: “The chancellor must act to end mortgage confusion for consumers. The government and the regulator should also explore better ways of presenting the total cost of mortgages.”

Additional costs can be hidden at all stages of a mortgage, including administration and completion fees at the beginning, and “exit” and redemption fees at the end.

Lenders are obliged to display the annual percentage rate of interest (APR) under EU rules. Which? wants other common fees to be displayed alongside APR so that “consumers can make better decisions”.

Which? warned that APR was a poor indicator of the overall costs of a mortgage. It said using APR alone assumed that people would keep the same mortgage for the whole term, typically 25 years. However, on average borrowers remortgage every five years.

Which? has also criticised opaque fees on car insurance, overdrafts and credit cards with its Stop Sneaky Fees and Charges online campaign.

ANNA GOWTHORPE / PA

Ice screams Thousands flocked to Whitby Goth Weekend, in North Yorkshire, where the bands included Lesbian Bed Death

Wealthy widow cleared of £27,000 benefits fraud The wealthy widow of a controversial NHS chief has been cleared of falsely claiming £27,000 in benefits. Lady Ackers, 56, had been receiving widowed parents allowance from March 2008, after the death of her husband, Sir James Ackers, 72.

One of the conditions of the benefit was that she did not live with anyone else. However, she began cohabiting with James McMaster, 58, in October

2010, magistrates in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, were told.

During her trial she was shown an information booklet similar to one that would have been sent to her at the time her claim began. She said: “I was reading so much at the time that I must have skim read it. I Lady Ackers claimed the benefit despite cohabiting

remember reading about remarriage and thinking that won’t be happening.”

Lesley Gilman, chairwoman of the bench, said: “Although she failed to declare information to the DWP we don’t consider she did it knowingly.”

Sir James resigned as chairman of West Midlands regional health authority in 1993 amid financial scandals.

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

News Britain sets up three ebola testing labs in Sierra Leone Three laboratories are to be set up in Sierra Leone by Britain to help to check the spread of the ebola virus.

The government has pledged £20 million for the facilities, which will test blood samples and swabs for the virus. They will also be used to give patients the all-clear.

The first laboratory opened next to a UK-funded ebola treatment centre in Kerry Town last week, doubling the country’s testing capacity. Two more are being built at UK treatment centres in Port Loko and Makeni.

When all three labs are open the number of tests carried out every day is expected to quadruple, with results delivered within 24 hours compared with five or more days at present.

Justine Greening, the international

development secretary, said: “Tackling ebola at the source is key to beating it and stopping the spread.

Some of Britain’s best scientists will be at the forefront of our UK-funded testing facilities ensuring that people with ebola are isolated and then treated as soon as possible.”

About 50 volunteers from the NHS, Public Health England, universities and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory will serve as lab technicians.

Britain has now committed £225 million to fight ebola. A Disasters Emergency Committee appeal has raised £4 million from the public; the government has pledged to match the first £5 million raised.

Times2, pages 6-7

BEN ANDREWV / REX FEATURES

Gone fishing Ben Andrew captured this cormorant feeding on a perch in London

Michelin chef fined for using wrong kind of pot The head chef at a Michelin-starred restaurant grew cannabis alongside his tomatoes. Richard Leonard, 43, who has resigned from the Cat Inn, in West Hoathly, Sussex, was caught growing the drug in a greenhouse at his home. He said everything he did was “organic and self-sufficient, including the home-grown cannabis”.

Police found 21 plants, heat lamps and blackout blinds. Leonard said he used the drug to unwind after working up to 70 hours each week.

He admitted producing the class B drug when he appeared at Crawley magistrates’ court and was fined £340 and ordered to pay £119 costs. He told the bench he wanted to stand up for thousands of cannabis users.

Parisian who lived with les rosbifs roasts ‘insular’ English Many British successes are down to the French and other foreigners, and London is more akin to a French border town than a foreign metropolis, a Parisian living in London claims. The French taught our best chefs and some of the Premier League’s best footballers are from France, Josselin de Roquemaurel, 35, writes in a book detailing his life in the city (James Dean writes).

Having spent 13 years living in London, the finance executive warns aspiring expats that the British are “Germanic, insular, protestant”. The language can be a hazard for the

French. “Happiness” is often spoken as “appiness”, which sounds rather like “a penis”, he said. There are also problems with the word “sheet”.

The English, meanwhile, cannot speak French properly and study the language “as though it were Latin”.

London is expensive and its services poor, with Frenchmen preferring to see French doctors rather than brave the NHS. Solace can be found, however, in the parks. “Les communal gardens,” he writes in La Reine, la City et les Grenouilles (The Queen, the City and the frogs), are “one of the greatest joys of London life”.

Do the math: four-letter word secured Scrabble win After all those complicated words, it was “math” that secured the national Scrabble title for an Australian student last night (Alex Spence writes).

Christopher May, 30, deployed the four-letter word for 46 points to leap ahead of his opponent towards the end of the final of the National British Scrabble Championship, in Milton Keynes.

The musicology student from the University of Oxford defeated Theresa Brousson, the reigning

champion, from Malta, by 410-376 in the last game to claim the £2,500 first prize. Mr May had already cemented his place in Scrabble folklore, securing the world record last year for playing the greatest number of games simultaneously.

Mr May and Ms Brousson were neck-and-neck through most of the contest, deploying words such as “torii” (the gateway to a Shinto shrine), “estrone” (a hormone), “koa” (a type of Hawaiian tree) and “bagh” (a garden).

Concert pianist asks for right to forget bad review

Two missing, one dead as trawler search continues

A concert pianist has asked a newspaper to remove a review from its website in one of the most startling cases since the European “right to be forgotten” ruling in May. Dejan Lazic, a Croat who has performed at the BBC Proms, contacted The Washington Post last week to complain that a review of a recital in Washington in 2010, in which he was said to have detracted from the music with “playacting gestures”, marred his reputation. The paper said it would not comply and that Mr Lazic’s complaint highlighted a troubling development for free speech in Europe.

A fisherman has died and two crewmen are missing after a Scottish trawler with a British skipper went missing in the North Sea (Nadeem Badshah writes). The Ocean Way was last heard from yesterday morning about 100 miles east of the Farne Islands, off Northumberland, when it transmitted an emergency beacon.

Three people were recovered from the sea by an RAF helicopter but one was pronounced dead. The missing men are understood to be of Filipino origin.

Mike Puplett, the Humber coastguard watch manager, said the search would continue as long as necessary.

Carey Mulligan reveals her moments of theatre shame She has won a Bafta and much critical acclaim, but the actress Carey Mulligan was once so ashamed of a performance in front of Hollywood stars that she burst into tears and went home.

After learning that Kate Winslet, the actress, and Sam Mendes, the director, had watched her in Chekhov’s The Seagull, Mulligan dashed out of the theatre’s back door rather than join the rest of the cast in meeting them.

In an interview with

Harper’s Bazaar magazine, she said: “I didn’t want to go anywhere near them, I was so ashamed. I just got into a cab, went home and cried.”

Mulligan revealed that this was not the only stage moment to have made her squirm. While appearing in Skylight at the National Theatre this year, Steve McQueen, the Academy Award-winning director, dropped in unannounced to watch what Carey, 29, described as “the worst show of the entire run”.

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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News

Pupils are exploiting needy teachers, says head Nicola Woolcock Education Correspondent

Too many teachers are emotionally needy and seek popularity from their pupils, according to the head of the world’s largest international school.

Vicky Tuck, the former principal of Cheltenham Ladies’ College, said the job was intellectually and emotionally complex, and sometimes attracted “people who need to be needed” and had not themselves finished maturing.

Four years ago she also criticised British attitudes to private education, saying that she had been made to feel as if running a private school was some-

thing “slightly immoral”. Mrs Tuck, who is now the director-general of the International School of Geneva, which has 4,400 pupils of 140 nationalities, said that teaching required people with robust personalities, who could work collaboratively with each other.

She said: “We need people coming into the profession who care a lot and are interested in students, but aren’t needy themselves. Some people have another career first before coming into teaching, and they have a certain mental and emotional maturity that’s brilliant for the profession.

“Sometimes [it] can attract people who need to be needed, and haven’t DAVID CAVAN / CATERS NEWS

With bended knee Peter Stewart, 30, and Fiona Bannon, 27, from Coleraine, braved the cold of the River Bann to celebrate their engagement by wakeboarding

Schools urged to dish out more broccoli and cabbage Ben Webster Environment Editor

Children should be served more cabbage and broccoli and learn to eat what is in season in Britain, according to a farmers’ leader.

Schools should also be required to buy British produce even if it is more expensive than other food, Minette Batters, deputy president of the National Farmers’ Union, said.

She is leading an industry body that is helping the government to implement its public procurement plan, introduced by David Cameron in July, to increase the consumption of British food in the public sector.

Ms Batters, a beef farmer from Wiltshire, said that purchasing food carrying the red tractor logo, denoting British produce, should be a minimum requirement for schools, as it had been at the London Olympics.

She said this would mean children eating what was available. “In winter they would eat more broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower,” she said, adding: “I am

not saying we should force-feed our children cabbage. Of all vegetables, broccoli is the easiest one to feed children. If you start them off with that you can gradually go on to [other greens].”

Britain’s ability to feed itself had fallen sharply, she said, with only 60 per cent of food consumed last year produced in Britain, down from 78 per cent 30 years ago. Ms Batters added: “We have got another ten million people to feed in the next decade and we have got to be looking at self-sufficiency, which is plummeting, and getting back to [eating according to] the seasons.

“In primary education, this means having a basic understanding of how your food is produced.”

She pointed to a survey commissioned by the NFU which showed that three quarters of parents (76 per cent) agreed that food should be sourced from Britain when possible.

The YouGov survey of 1,100 parents also found that 88 per cent thought it very important that their children were taught how food was produced.

necessarily completed their maturing themselves. That’s going to be the case in all schools from time to time.

“Teaching is an assault on your personality — you need emotional sensibility but also need to be self-effacing.

You can’t worry about whether people like you, or whether you’re popular.

“If you’re someone who’s very needy then maybe you’ve come into the profession for the wrong reasons. Adolescents will quickly spot vulnerabilities and you have to assume you’re not going to know everything, but you need a level of self-confidence when a student challenges you.”

Mrs Tuck’s school runs its own

teacher-training programme, designed in part by academics at Durham University. Many of its intake have left other careers to retrain; they include a media-relations manager, an opera singer and a pharmacological scientist.

The school has also published its own principles for learning, written in collaboration with Unesco’s International Bureau of Education, and which include an understanding of plagiarism.

Its report says: “All students, teachers and parents should understand the concepts of plagiarism, collusion, malpractice and intellectual property.

These concepts need to be repeated from the first years of schooling up until

the final examinations.”

According to the report, other key skills that should be taught in schools include information literacy, critical thinking, creativity, and learning focused on concepts.

Mrs Tuck would like to establish coaching for head teachers to help them to cope with the stresses of the job. She said: “What you need is someone who can be there once a fortnight, listening to heads and coaching them to work out their own solutions.

“Parents can be unforgiving and governing bodies can lose faith in their appointment, and you can end up with a downward spiral.”

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News

How Celtic noir is set to make a killing Thrillers in Welsh and Gaelic are blossoming after the success of Nordic TV dramas, Jack Malvern writes After the snow-flecked landscapes and Faroese jumpers of Nordic television thrillers such as Wallander and The Killing comes an altogether more familiar squad of investigators.

The latest batch of inquisitors with flawed private lives are equipped not with Scandinavian snow-boots and knitwear but waterproofs to repel the rain of Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

The genre of Celtic noir has established itself with a collection of subtitled series including Y Gwyll (Hinterland), made in both Welsh and English in Ceredigion in mid-Wales, Bannan (The Ties that Bind) in Scottish Gaelic from the Isle of Skye, and Corp & Anam (Body & Soul) in Irish Gaelic shot in Galway. Ireland is also about to release An Bronntanas (The Gift), a thriller about a lifeboat crew in Connemara who chance upon a valuable cache of drugs. The Irish Television and Film Academy has submitted it for next year’s foreign-language Oscar.

The shows’ producers say that Scandinavian thrillers not only inspired an appetite for slow-burning crime drama, but created an international market that justified making subtitled programmes with higher budgets.

In each case, the main language of

the drama is spoken by a minority of the audience, even in the programme’s home nation. The proportion of Welsh speakers in Wales is 19 per cent. In Scotland, Scottish Gaelic speakers account for 1 per cent of the population, while in Ireland 11 per cent of people describe themselves as fluent in Irish Gaelic.

Richard Harrington, who plays detective chief inspector Tom Mathias in Y Gwyll, shot each of his scenes twice so there would be English and Welsh versions. S4C broadcast the series in Welsh, BBC Four showed it in English and BBC One Wales used a mixture.

Harrington’s two performances dif-

The Killing, starring Sofie Gråbøl, right, helped to inspire the Irish drama Corp & Anam, above ve

fered depending on which language he was speaking. “I found myself gesticulating a lot more in Welsh,” he told The New York Times.

Times “It’s a more melodramatic language.”

Ynyr Williams, a BBC Wales executive ve

who began shooting the second series of Y Gwyll in September, said that subtitled programmes were anathema to the BBC before programmes such as The Killing, which starred Sofie Gråbøl as the detective Sarah Lund.

“I remember trying years ago, before I joined the BBC, to pitch a subtitled drama. The reaction was, ‘Our viewers prefer to watch than read’. The Norwegians and Swedes and Danes broke the sudden, once somemould. All of a sud Scandinavia gets sales where like Scandina into mainstream channels in the UK, the US and Netflix, the opened up to subtitles.” world opene Y Gwyll was watched by people on BBC One 350,000 peop Wales, more than double the audience for any competing programme. The promise of intersales, which have innational sale cluded a DVD release in America in July and a Americ Netflix debut in SepNe tember, meant its te makers were almak lowed a budget of low £4.2 million.

Chris Young, best known as a profor The ducer Inbetweeners, agreed Inbetweeners that “the Scandinavian was very helpful” in thing wa pitching Bannan. Canadian television companies have already expressed an interest in it. “People think, ‘Oh, we could do that’. You get this chain reaction,” he told the Radio Times.

Monday November 3 2014 | the times

BBC listeners in revolt over Brand’s book Alex Spence Media Editor

Loyal listeners to Radio 4 have accused the station of “shameless” promotion of Russell Brand’s new book.

Days after Newsnight broadcast a chaotic interview with the comedian, Brand appeared on Radio 4’s Start the Week to debate the anti-establishment ideas in his book Revolution. That prompted complaints from listeners angry that Brand was given such prominence six years after he quit the BBC in a row over leaving an offensive phone message for Andrew Sachs, the actor.

One listener said: “[Brand’s] latest foray into ‘serious politics’ is only the latest in a long line of self-serving populist roles where he gets to practise long words in order to sound like a workingclass hero. His contribution was abysmal and embarrassing.”

Roger Bolton, the presenter of Feedback on Radio 4, said: “Many listeners were unhappy that Russell’s brand of revolutionary politics and the book in which they are contained were given so much airtime on Radio 4’s flagship discussion forum.”

Some listeners were also upset that Brand was allowed to talk over the top of other guests on Start the Week.

Rebecca Stratford, the programme’s editor, said: “We invited Russell Brand because his book Revolution is being discussed everywhere at the moment.

He does seem to have the ear of a certain generation.”

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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comment pages of the year

Sympathy for jihad is a monster we have fed Melanie Phillips Page 18

Opinion

Spare me the selfishness of the eco-toffs

Greens believe they occupy the moral high ground of politics. But their policies deny the poor the chance to succeed disproportionately hailing (when male) from Eton, Stowe and Westminster, shopping (especially when female) at the most expensive of organic shops, and speaking (when of either sex) in the countiest of accents. (A bit like me, in fact.)

Despite these social and economic advantages, eco-toffs put their selfinterest to one side and campaign selflessly for the greater Gaian good, worry about the effect that climate change will have on future generations and yearn for a more holistic version of economic growth.

But is greenery really quite so selfless? Take climate change. The “synthesis report” of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, published yesterday, warns of an increased “likelihood” of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts if emissions continue. But when you cut through the spin, the IPCC is actually saying that there is a range of possibilities, from no net harm at all (scenario RCP 2.6) through two middling scenarios to

Matt Ridley

@mattwridley

A

confession: I voted for the Green party in 1979 — one of fewer than 40,000 people in the whole country who did so. It was then called the Ecology party and I knew the local candidate in Oxford, which is some excuse. But mainly I wanted to save the planet, and thought the greater good should trump self-interest. I was definitely on the moral high ground. Or was I? Hold that thought.

The latest opinion polls show that the Green party is doing to the Liberal Democrats what Ukip is doing to the Conservatives, and could even relegate the Lib Dems to fifth place in next year’s general election in terms of vote share. Peter Kellner of YouGov has analysed today’s typical Green voter and found that she is almost a mirror image of the Ukip voter. Where Ukip voters are older, maler, more working-class, less educated and more religious than the average voter, Green voters are younger, femaler, posher, much better educated and less religious than the average voter.

In Downton Abbey terms, Greens are a lady upstairs in the dining room; kippers are a footman downstairs in the servants’ hall.

Indeed, my experience of fanatical Greens at conferences and antifracking demos is that many are often very grand indeed,

PETER NICHOLLS

dioxide (starkly lower than the outof-date ones still used by the IPCC), the most probable outcome is that the world will be respectively just 0.8 and 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than today by the last decades of this century.

Most of that warming will be at night, in winter and in northern latitudes, so tropical daytime warming will be less. Again, on the best evidence available, it is unlikely that this amount of warming, especially if it is slow, will have done more harm than good. The chances are, therefore, that climate change will not cause significant harm in the lives of our children and grandchildren.

The OECD economic models behind the two scenarios project that the average person alive in 2100 will be earning an astonishing four to seven times as much money — corrected for inflation — as they do today. That’s a 300 to 600 per cent increase in real pay. This should enable posterity to buy quite a bit of protection for itself and the planet against any climate change that does show up. So we are being asked to make sacrifices today to prevent the possibility of what may turn out to be pretty small harm to very wealthy people in the future.

By contrast, the cost of climate policies falls heavily on today’s poor.

Subsidies for renewable energy have been trousered mostly by the rich and raised costs of heating and transport disproportionately for the poor. Subsidies for biofuels have raised food prices by diverting food into fuel, tipping millions into malnutrition and killing about 190,000 people a year. The refusal of many rich countries to fund aid for coal-fired electricity in Africa and Asia rather than renewable projects (and in passing I declare a financial

Opposition to GM food is a middle and upper class obsession one where gathering harm from mid-century onwards culminates in potentially dire consequences by 2100 (scenario RCP 8.5).

This latter scenario makes wildly unrealistic assumptions about population, coal use, trade, methane emissions and other things; RCP 2.6 is equally unrealistic in the other direction. So let’s focus on the two middle scenarios, known as RCP 4.5 and RCP 6. In these more realistic economic projections, if you use the latest and best estimates of the climate’s “sensitivity” to carbon

prevent the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people a year from vitamin A deficiency, but has been stymied for 15 years by opposition organised by western Green groups, especially Greenpeace. They are entitled to think that this philanthropic project is a bad idea, but they are buying their reassurance at the expense of the poor’s health.

Other examples are organic farming and renewable energy, both of which require more land than the conventional alternatives. Most conservationists now recognise that “sustainable intensification” is a key ingredient of environmental

Greens are like a lady in the dining room of Downton Abbey The Green party MP Caroline Lucas led anti-fracking protests at Balcombe

interest in coal mining) leaves more than a billion people without access to electricity and contributes to 3.5 million deaths a year from indoor air pollution caused by cooking over open fires of wood and dung.

Greens think this harm is a price worth paying to stop the warming.

They want (other) people to bear such sacrifices today so that the people of 2100, who will be up to seven times as rich, do not have to face the prospect of living in a world that is perhaps 0.8 to 1.2 degrees warmer. And this is the moral high ground?

It is not just climate change. The opposition to genetically modified food is mostly a middle and upper class obsession, but the people who would benefit from such foods are often the poor. Golden rice could

protection — that is, using as little land as possible to grow crops and make energy, so as to spare more land for nature. Fortunately, this plan also means cheaper food and cheaper energy so it helps the poor.

By all means go organic and use wind power if you insist, but don’t pretend there is anything morally superior about it.

Just as Ukip’s rise could deliver some Conservative seats to Labour, so the rise of the Green party could possibly deliver a few Lib Dem and Labour seats to the Tories. That may be the most selfless thing about it.

Red Box For the best in political analysis, comment and exclusive YouGov pollingg thetimes.co.uk/redbox

Today Largely dry with sunny spells, but thundery showers over central southern Europe. Max 31C (88F), min -3C (27F) Noon today

Today’s temperatures forecast for noon

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

Majorca, Menorca, Ibiza, western Spain, the Alps, Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, Malta A mix of patchy cloud and sunny spells, but the chance of isolated heavy showers and thunderstorms throughout the day.

Maximum 26C (79F), minimum 0C (32F).

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Finland, Sweden, Norway, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, western Russia Rather cloudy but some sunnier intervals over Sweden. Most areas will remain dry but the chance of some patchy drizzle, and some heavier rain over western Norway.

Maximum 17C (63F), minimum -3C (27F).

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France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Belarus Mostly dry with long sunny periods and just a little patchy cloud, feeling warm in southwestern France. Maximum 26C (79F), minimum 4C (39F).

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British Isles A band of rain and cloud will drift over southern Scotland, northern England and Ireland.

Elsewhere, largely dry with sunny spells but quite breezy. Maximum 21C (70F), minimum 4C (39F).

Outlook Feeling cooler with a band of rain drifting over northwestern and central Europe. Heavy showers over the Balkans, but drier in the northeast.

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Portugal, eastern Spain, Turkey, Cyprus A fine and dry day with long spells of sunshine.

Maximum 31C (88F), minimum 5C (41F).

Slovakia, Hungary, Greece, the Balkans Rather cloudy to start, but with the cloud breaking up later to give some sunny intervals, although the chance of scattered heavy showers.

Maximum 24C (75F), minimum 4C (39F).

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

Opinion

Sympathy for jihad is a monster we have fed Hand-wringing in the West over Islamophobia only serves to confirm the Isis world view Melanie Phillips

@melanielatest

A

ccording to a Populus poll, no fewer than one in seven young British adults harbours sympathies with the Islamic State (Isis) terrorist group. The pollsters asked 2,000 adults how “warmly and favourably” they felt about several countries and terrorist organisations on a scale of one to ten.

Although 88 per cent gave Isis a low score, 5.2 per cent of 18 to 34year-olds gave it nine or ten; overall, 14 per cent of under-25s and 12 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds scored it between six and ten. These statistics help explain the hundreds of young British Muslims who are thought to have joined Isis in Syria.

Such support for fanatical beheaders is shocking. So of course it’s no surprise to find academic researchers hastening to reassure us that we don’t really need to worry about it at all. According to Jonathan Githens-Mazer, associate professor in Arab and Islamic studies at the University of Exeter, it’s just another expression of deeply ingrained scepticism towards Westminster politics and the media among the under-35s.

The idea that British Isis sympathisers are just Ukip with prayer mats displays a remarkable detachment from reality. The

evidence suggests that the core Isis aim of restoring the medieval Islamic caliphate or empire has ignited radical sympathies among British and other western Muslims.

A poll of European attitudes by ICM for the Russian news agency Rossiya Segodnya revealed that 16 per cent of French citizens have a positive opinion of Isis, rising to 27 per cent for those aged 18-24.

The Dutch intelligence service AIVD recently reported a sudden growth of Islamic radicalism in the Netherlands inflamed by the Isis declaration of a caliphate. Dutch jihadists are convinced that the caliphate is not some utopian dream but an achievable reality.

Following radical preachers on social media enables these Dutch Muslims to identify themselves as jihadists without having to go and fight. But then, says the report, such

Islamist radicals view their own murderous aggression as defence passive followers evolve very quickly into front-line jihadists who go to Syria to fight for real.

In other words, there is a lethal continuum from the kind of support recorded by Populus to acts of religiously-inspired murder. While most Muslims recoil from the barbarism of Isis, its appeal to impressionable young people lies in its deployment of the powerful message of religious idealism as an apparent antidote to the lethal cocktail among many young Muslims of resentment, alienation

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has called on all Muslims to build a new Islamic state

and spiritual emptiness. David Kilcullen, the Australian-born former US counterinsurgency adviser, has noted that unlike Osama bin Laden, the Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is an Islamic jurist who claims to be a Qureshi from the tribe of Muhammad. When a man such as that declares a caliphate and calls on all true Muslims to build a new, triumphant Islamic state, it stirs huge excitement and a sense of historical purpose among fundamentalists worldwide.

Prospect magazine reported that most British Muslims it interviewed accepted the concept of a caliphate and some wanted to see it reestablished. Some saw it as a way of redeeming Islam from its perceived stagnation, poverty and tyranny.

For 20-year-old Amer Deghayes

from Brighton, who has been fighting against President Assad in Syria with various rebel battalions — but not Isis, which he says is too extreme — the caliphate is a utopian corrective to an unjust world.

“Fighting has been prescribed for us in order to get peace and justice, to push this oppression and have our Islamic rights,” he said.

This surely gets to the heart of the problem. Islamic extremism invites young Muslims to fight injustice and defend Islam and even God himself against attack.

Muslims fighting the Islamist holy war against the West are, however, not victims but aggressors. Yet because Islam represents unchallengeable perfection, its faithful adherents can do no wrong.

So they view their own murderous aggression as defence and any measures taken by their targets to defend themselves as aggression.

Instead of telling them that their their entire world view thus reverses reality, Britain confirms them in their delusion by telling them repeatedly that Muslims are victims of Islamophobia at home and American imperialism and Israeli barbarism abroad. Then it sits back while radical Islamic preachers proceed to hook the young who have thus been offered up to them; and when these British boys flock in droves to Syria, it expresses its astonishment and repeats that all this has absolutely nothing to do with Islam.

The result of such a profound and fearful error of understanding is not just a British social emergency but, as David Kilcullen has said, the failure of the West’s entire counterterrorism strategy.

David Aaronovitch Notebook

The public menace of a modern-day Gladstone

I

t didn’t take long for some guy in New York to try and show that all that stuff about sexual harassment of women was feminist phooey.

He donned a tight white T-shirt, which showed every tin in his sixpack, and went off around the edge of Central Park. And, sure enough, one or two women and gay men did say “Daaammn!” loudly enough to be heard, and a woman briefly approached him on behalf of her friend.

The problem was that his video proved the opposite of what he thought it did. He received a third as many comments of any kind and none of the threatening harassment that the woman who had done the same thing, Shoshana Roberts, received.

He also unwittingly proved how badly some men want to believe that there really isn’t a problem. Hannah

Betts demolished that argument on these pages on Saturday and I just wanted to add a recent experience of my youngest daughter, who’s 17, which illustrates a related psychology.

She was on a London Undergound train in the middle of the day, wearing a jacket and leggings over which she had a pair of shorts.

Opposite her was a man in young middle age — probably a Muslim — in a shalwar kameez and a small cap. She got off the train at Finchley Road and walked up the stairs, followed by the man. At the top, he approached her. In a calm voice he told this young woman, whom he had never met before, that she should not be wearing leggings like that since they were “too tight”. She disagreed and walked away. He called after her: “Think about it!”

This may or may not be a religious thing, but it is definitely a male thing. I have managed a lifetime in London without once having a Muslim woman come and tell me what I ought to be wearing. Or any

other woman, come to that. Yet here is this born-again Gladstone, saving fallen teenagers from the sin of tights. It may not be “sexual” but it certainly is “harassment” based on gender.

Behind the smile

S

omething like this happened in The Archers this week. For those of you un-British enough not to listen to the longest-running soap opera on radio, I will set the scene.

Helen, a single mother in her early thirties and a member of the fairly feminist branch of the Archers dynasty, has taken up with Rob. Unknown to her, but kinda known to us, Rob is a domestic abuser. But his shtick is not violence or temper — it is control. He has gradually persuaded Helen that she should become the Stepford wife of his fantasies. She has stopped working and now, bit by bit, he begins to disapprove of her socialising and making contacts outside the nest.

This week it was the hunt ball and first Rob finds fault with what Helen wants to wear — too revealing —

and then, despite her changing into a more dowdy costume, proceeds to disapprove of everything she says to anyone else at the ball. He wants to control her clothes, her speech and, eventually, her thoughts.

It is a brilliant storyline. What is so clever about it is that Rob is made tender and solicitous enough for the listener to be able to understand what Helen sees in him. There is more than one way to keep a woman in her place.

Over-dramatic fall

I

am relieved that there’s still a BBC around to make The Archers.

Popping into the corporation last Friday I learned that, because of cutbacks, morale is at an all-time low.

When I first went there in the late Eighties it was also at an all-time low. Another all-time low was recorded in 1992, another in 1998, again after the Hutton report in 2004, and separately in 2007, 2012 and now in 2014.

There are two possibilities. The first is that each claim has been true and that morale has been continually descending from a pinnacle in, say, the 1970s, to the abyss of today. The other is that BBC staff have a tendency to over-dramatise. I know which I believe.

@daaronovitch

Miliband shouldn’t meddle with the minimum wage Julia Unwin

I

t’s a rare person who earns the national minimum wage and does not consider himself (or more likely, herself) to be underpaid. Faced with this predicament, politicians tend only to offer half-answers such as hikes in the minimum wage or tax allowance giveaways.

Establishing the minimum wage was a long and hard-fought battle, and it should not be subject to political whim. When Ed Miliband unilaterally proposed that the minimum wage should reach £8 an hour by the end of the next parliament, he undermined the careful tripartite approach under which the Low Pay Commission — made up of three trade unionists, three employers and three labour market relations experts — sets the minimum wage according to what the economy and businesses can actually afford.

He also ignored the evidence that living costs for low income households often far exceed the general rate of inflation. Childcare costs, for example, have risen 42 per

Politicians tend only to offer half-solutions to complex problems cent outside London since 2008, while the high cost of housing has pushed an extra three million people into poverty.

The Living Wage, set at £1.15 above the minimum wage outside London and £2.30 inside it, will protect some of the lowest earners from rising bills. If employers who can afford it paid their workforce at this rate, it would help half of all working poor households. Yet tackling low pay is only one of the routes to reducing poverty. Zero-hours contracts, shortterm work and self-employment are all on the rise. These new forms of casual work — too often described as “self-employment” in statistics — are often low-paid jobs taken as a last-ditch option.

Precarious work may contribute to rising employment but it does little to create a more prosperous or stable future. As the government’s independent budget watchdog warned recently, it drains the Treasury of much-needed tax revenue. It also means that taxpayers pick up the tab for tax credits and holds back the potential of our entire workforce.

Good businesses are alive to the problems caused by working poverty.

It’s time that politicians caught up with them. In our short-term political cycle, we risk ignoring the worst-off. The Living Wage, as part of a poverty reduction package, is a good start.

Julia Unwin is chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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Opinion

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

After years on bail, sorry just isn’t enough

For those wrongly accused of crimes such as child abuse, there is little chance of redress for what they go through Libby Purves

@lib_thinks

S

ome outrages against justice are so routine that indignation burns slowly, reaching home secretaries years after the rest of us. I have long been concerned about the way police bail runs into years even without charge; notably in cases of “historic” child abuse. You can be arrested (often showily, with a dawn raid), publicly named and deprived of work and reputation. OK, you aren’t “rotting in jail” but it can be just as distressing (and far more expensive) to rot in freedom. Thousands do.

Some have killed themselves.

In 2011 when the bail law changed, the Law Society protested that “the police sometimes use their power of arrest and pre-charge bail when it is unnecessary, and the fact that they can re-bail people means they do not carry out their investigations expeditiously.” The Association of Chief Police Officers argued that advances in forensics mean officers need more time to work

“appropriately and thoroughly” (remember that as you read on).

Now Theresa May, the home secretary, promises a review into prolonged bail. Maybe this was triggered by embarrassment at the thought of next year’s 800th anniversary of Magna Carta (“We will not deny or delay to any man justice” — ha!) Or maybe it was by celebrity cases: Freddie Starr and Paul Gambaccini bailed in limbo for 18 and 12 months respectively, then dismissed with an official shrug.

My own interest intensified because of a teacher I knew. Arrested in December 2012 and (improperly) named on local radio, Simon Warr was repeatedly re-bailed, charged

A teacher was finally tried 650 days after his arrest — and acquitted

nine months later, called for trial after another six months, and had that postponed for a further six because the prosecutors didn’t have the papers ready. He was finally tried — and acquitted in barely 40 minutes — 650 days after arrest. The accusation was an indecency described even by the prosecutor as at the lower end of such offences, over 30 years old and bolstered by a

police trawl for other (not entirely willing) complainants, whose evidence evaporated.

Remember that line about police needing to work “appropriately and thoroughly”? In his arrest interview nearly two years ago, Mr Warr pointed out that he could not have been involved in the alleged changing-room incident because he never taught PE, or juniors. He’d have been teaching Latin and French to senior pupils as usual. He gave names of former staff members who could confirm that role.

When the officer leading the investigation was asked which of those colleagues the police had sought evidence from, she was forced to admit that, er, none were ever contacted. Yet with nothing but his own resources, the defendant had no trouble finding them. One tutor travelled 600 miles to explain that the accused never taught PE. Hard not to agree when Mr Warr says: “We naively think it is the police’s duty to try to ascertain the truth . . . From experience, I can safely state that they seem to view their job as trying to nail down the accused.”

Enough of that sorry saga. Mr Warr happens to be a minor media personality, education commentator and participant in Channel 4 documentaries, so has had the

satisfaction of blowing his top on local and national radio, and making it clear that he is as horrified by sexual predators as anyone else. His indignation at least helps publicise the general problems: extended bail, police overstretch, and the triggerhappy post-Savile climate of shame and atonement for society’s past tolerance of child abuse.

Plenty of similar cases are pending.

Juries frequently acquit. But now

Money and jobs have been lost and people’s reputations trashed

consider the difficult question: what can victims of this prolonged injustice do? If your life has been torpedoed, money and years lost, job and home gone and your reputation trashed? If accusers lied or were grievously mistaken, police failed to seek truth and prosecutors pressed incautiously ahead, would you just shut up and forget that you suffered?

There will still be libellous socialmedia snarking, which authorities seem powerless to stem. There is financial loss, eroded confidence, distress. To want redress is only human.

But what? Some say “name the accuser, sue the liars!” but there is no

joy in that. Who wants real, sad victims made fearful of coming forward lest their case fails? Some adults really do suffer after childhood molestation, even of the lesser varieties, and they have the right even decades later to get their day in court and tell some horrible old groper how he hurt them.

Complainants are probably, on balance, less likely to be lying than misremembering and misidentifying.

OK, how about suing the police for using up two years of your life in an incompetent investigation (if you believe it was)? A depressing prospect: there is already evidence that the landslide of historical abuse cases is overwhelming some forces to the detriment of today’s child protection work. Put specialist officers in the dock and you make that worse. What decent innocent teacher would want to do that?

That leaves the terrifying option of suing crown prosecutors themselves, if you believe they nodded through a prosecution without noticing a huge hole in the evidence. Misconduct in public office, according to the CPS website, includes “neglect to perform [a] duty, to such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public’s trust in the office holder”. I shudder.

Who has the stomach or nerve to bring a case like that? And prolong the whole nightmare?

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

Leading articles Daily Universal Register

Miliband’s Malaise

Labour has complacently followed a strategy of reassuring its core vote and confronting business. It suddenly faces the risk not only of failure but of disaster “To be frank, our campaigns have not been very successful,” wrote John Prescott, Labour’s former deputy leader, yesterday. He can say that again.

Six months ahead of the general election, the principal opposition party faces a huge task merely to stand still. It is a measure of Labour’s malaise that neither Lord Prescott nor any other leading party figure will state what is obvious to the electorate: the party has a problem of leadership.

Ed Miliband’s poll ratings have fallen below those of Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister. Mr Miliband has a negative approval rating of 55 per cent, compared with Mr Clegg’s minus 54 per cent.

The reason that Mr Miliband has failed to impress is neither caprice by the voters nor some personal characteristic of his. It is that he has so far shown scant conception of the qualities of leadership.

Mr Miliband needs to show an understanding of the challenges of responsible economic management. It is not enough merely to hope that continued pressure on households’ living standards will deliver the election to Labour. Yet, scarcely credibly, Mr Miliband has shown no urgency in acknowledging Labour’s errors in government or presenting a credible plan for recovery. In his party conference speech in September, he literally forgot to mention the budget deficit.

At the 2010 election, Labour under Gordon Brown won just 29 per cent of the vote. Under Mr Miliband’s leadership, the party has been labouring under the misapprehension that all it needs to do is shore up this core of support, and count on voters to peel away from the Liberal Democrats in protest at the party’s role in the coalition government. On this reasoning, Labour would be able to form a government with about 35 per cent of the vote. The key to this strategy would be to reassure its base of support that there were sound social democratic reasons to turn out and vote.

That cynical strategy deserved to fail. Yet Mr Miliband appears to have been counting on the idea that Labour’s base of 29 per cent would stick, and that another six per cent of the voters would desert the Lib Dems. In practice, voters cannot be taken for granted in this way. Some of Labour’s support in 2010 has evaporated, and the party has barely increased its poll rating at all.

In retrospect, Labour’s 2010 result — under a prime minister who did not command public warmth, and whose economic programme was incredible — was higher than the party had any right to expect. By assuming that it marked the base of its fortunes, Mr Miliband has put his party in a weak position even against a government that

has had to take tough decisions in cutting public spending. The Conservatives face an incursion on their right flank, from Ukip; yet Labour has suffered a collapse in its support in Scotland, where polls suggest it is set to lose most of its seats to the Scottish Nationalists.

Labour coasted complacently on the expectation that the quirks of electoral arithmetic would put Mr Miliband in Downing Street. Quite suddenly, it faces the serious risk not just of failure but of disaster.

Mr Miliband has little time to salvage his position. He needs to realise, above all, that there is not a natural left-of-centre majority in Britain. Labour must demonstrate that it can earn broader support than in its heartlands and among its natural supporters in the public sector. And to do that requires abandoning Mr Miliband’s urge to confront, rather than co-operate with, the only constituency that can secure economic recovery.

That is the wealth-creating sector, which needs to have the confidence to invest and thereby generate gains in productivity and in real incomes.

That in turn requires a credible strategy for cutting the budget deficit and for reining in the bigspending, high-taxing instincts that Mr Miliband as yet shows no sign of abandoning.

The wintering thrushes have been arriving in large numbers on the east coast. These are fieldfares, redwings and blackbirds.

Most of them fly at night from the Continent, and come in off the North Sea at dawn. They often appear in flocks of 100 or more, dropping out of the sky on to the beach. On a clear day many of them rest briefly and then fly on west. However on some days, especially when there is fog, they are slow to leave, and they swarm in the trees and bushes along the coast, looking for food. The juicy orange berries of sea buckthorn in the dunes often give them comfort. At Spurn Head on the Yorkshire coast last Thursday, 7,415 redwings, 3,578 blackbirds and 2,715 fieldfares were counted by a team of dawn watchers. By the next day they had all gone, and there were very few fresh arrivals. The fieldfares, which are like mistle thrushes with a bluish-grey head and rump, and the redwings, which are like song thrushes with a scarlet patch under the wing, will spread throughout farmland. The visiting blackbirds can often be distinguished from our native blackbirds by the way they stay together in treetops, constantly quarrelling with each other. derwent may

Birthdays today

The region of eastern Ukraine already has its own police force, driving resprayed patrol cars, its own courts, its own chauffeur-driven ministers and its own bank. Soon it intends to draw up its own eastern frontier line with Russia.

The fate of the Donetsk People’s Region can be read from the miserable precedent of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russian enclaves carved out of Georgia. Voters yesterday may have thought they were opening the way for a prosperous separation from Ukraine but they were actually choosing utter dependency on Moscow and the whims of the Russian president.

It was tempting for some EU states to see last week’s gas export deal between Russia and Ukraine as the first sign of a thaw. Certainly the EU-brokered deal on gas pricing means western European households will not struggle to stay warm this winter. Two tactical gains were decisive for Moscow, however. Russia wanted to demonstrate that Gazprom, the Russian energy concern, was still a credible supplier to the West. And it wanted to head off any western attempt to impose further energy sanctions on Russia.

Lord (Kenneth) Baker of Dorking, pictured, education secretary (1986-89), 80; Adam Ant, singer Stand and Deliver (1981), 60; Roseanne Barr, comedian, 62; Crawford W Beveridge, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise (19912000), 69; Professor Jennifer Clack, curator of vertebrate palaeontology at the University of Cambridge, 67; the Earl of Caithness (Malcolm Ian Sinclair), foreign minister (1990-92), 66; Violetta Elvin, ballerina, 89; Susan Gibson, professor of chemistry, Imperial College, London, 54; Viscount Linley (DavidArmstrong-Jones), furniture designer, 53; Lulu, singer, Shout (1964), 66; Dylan Moran, actor and comedian, Black Books (2000-04), Shaun of the Dead (2004), 43; Kenneth Morgan, director of the press council (1980-90), 86; the Hon Sir Michael Pakenham, diplomat, 71; Alison Williamson, archer, Olympic bronze medallist (2004), 43; Anna Wintour, editor of US Vogue, 65.

Some form of tightened sanctions must nonetheless follow from Russia’s active encouragement of the partitioning of Ukraine. If it again moves troops into Donetsk then arms deals must be broken off with Moscow, not merely suspended.

Russia, all too aware of the costs of a plunging oil price, is nervous and has chosen bluster and subversion as a diversion from its problems.

That is a dangerous, reckless game. Ultimately too, it is self-defeating. Alarmed by Russian overflights, by a suspected submarine in their waters and by brazen provocation against the Baltic republics, Swedes have started to consider abandoning neutrality and seeking some form of Nato alignment. That is the opposite effect desired

by Moscow. There is a blundering primitivism to Mr Putin’s actions.

At a recent meeting with western commentators, Mr Putin made a crude comparison between Russia and the bear that inhabits the taiga, the Siberian snow forests. “It is the master of the taiga,” he said. “It will not let anyone else have it.” Mr Putin needs to be reminded that Ukraine is a sovereign state and not an ursine stamping ground.

On this day

Dog Days

Smaller breeds are rapidly gaining popularity as household pets Britons’ captivation with canines is constant, yet has been expressed in different ways across the ages. Tastes are changing again as small dogs, such as chihuahuas, gain popularity at the expense of Old English sheepdogs, English setters and Irish wolfhounds. The pressure on space in modern households makes it more practical for dog lovers to give house room to less expansive pets.

While some may fear for the survival of larger breeds, it is essential to the flourishing of domestic dogdom that it can adapt to human needs. Dog breeding, which brought the animal to an urban environment, does not stop.

Nature notes

Voting in Limbo

Putin is seeking confrontation by slicing up Ukraine. It is a dangerous game The vote in eastern Ukraine yesterday was a pastiche of democracy. Its purpose was solely to allow Vladimir Putin to create yet another Russian subsidised mini-statelet and thus hinder any progress of the Ukrainian government towards membership of Nato or the European Union.

Mr Putin’s strategic purpose, if it is worthy of such a grand designation, is to keep Ukraine in permanent, exhausting limbo. With Moscow’s pinprick testing of Nato’s defences in northern Europe, its intensified espionage activities and its nuclear exercises in the Barents Sea, Mr Putin is on the road to confrontation. The days when Russia could be offered “strategic partnership” with the western alliance have long gone.

The so-called election in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic was clearly illegitimate. Apart from the cases of fraud, there was no electoral roll and the process was monitored by representatives of far-right and far-left parties. The election contravened the Ukrainian constitution and breaks the Minsk protocol, which set out the terms of a ceasefire on September 8. It was a one-horse race, and the horse came from a Russian stable.

UK: The funeral of Lynda Bellingham is held in Crewkerne, Somerset; new rates for 2014-15 are announced by the Living Wage Foundation; the official Poppy Appeal single, No Man’s Land (Green Fields of France is released; home secretary Theresa May briefs MPs following Lady Woolf’s resignation as chairwoman of the public inquiry into child sex abuse; the HSBC banking group gives its third-quarter statement.

The popularity of dogs is historically fairly recent. Only one book devoted to dogs is known to have been published before the 19th century (Of Englishe Dogges by Johannes Caius, in 1576) and its scheme of classifying dogs would be unrecognisable to modern breeders. Bequests to domestic pets, which sometimes happened, tended to be hidden in secret provisions of wills for fear that the devoted owner would be subject to derision.

All that changed with the emergence of the middle classes and the growth of cities in Victorian Britain. Dogs had long been part of the life of the aristocracy on country estates. As social

conditions changed, dogs became companions of choice for newly affluent households. Intentional breeding for certain traits became a feature of the canine world, whereas previously it had been applied mainly to horses.

In more modest domestic and financial circumstances, pet owners sought status instead through their dogs. The physical variation of dogs is greater than for livestock species, and dogs, unlike cows or sheep, are not typically required to earn their keep.

That is just as well for modern dogs, whose capacity for companionship is what we value — in whatever size they come.

In 1534 England’s parliament passed the Act of Supremacy making King Henry VIII head of the church; in 1706 an earthquake in the Italian town of Abruzzi killed 15,000 people; in 1839 the first Opium War between China and Britain began; in 1936 Franklin D Roosevelt was re-elected US president; in 1957 Laika, a Russian dog, was sent into space in Sputnik II; in 1992 Bill Clinton was elected US president, defeating Republican incumbent George Bush.

The last word “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”

John F Kennedy, 1961

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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Letters to the Editor

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

Can we have a rational debate about drugs?

Dfid aid waste Sir, Both main parties are to blame for the appalling financial waste in overseas aid in the past 16 years (“Corruption stops British aid from reaching poor”, Oct 31).

From 1997, the Labour government stopped the well-proven method of channelling a large proportion of project funds through UK specialist development consultants. It was argued that even their modest fees for holding the purse strings and managing projects was wrong.

Wherever possible, the recipient countries should “learn budget responsibility” and project cash be paid directly into their exchequers.

Many UK organisations warned that this was a recipe for massive waste through corruption and inefficient project management.

The Department for International Development (Dfid) has neither the staff nor the power in-country to ensure funds are properly spent. This limp-wristed approach has to stop.

We should limit substantial aid to the places where funds are correctly spent and ration the worst offenders. colin adams Chief Executive, British Consultants and Construction Bureau (1995-2005) Arundel, W Sussex

Meaning of religion Sir, Matthew Syed (“Who are the true Muslims — all or none”, opinion, Nov 1) attributes the problems in our attempts to counter the deadly extremism of religious violence by Isis with “religion itself”.

While acknowledging the awesome hatred engineered by others who are part of the so-called Abrahamic faiths, the real enemy is that of fundamentalism. One’s religion, whatever it may be, demands a code of behaviour towards one’s fellow human beings. Only by fulfilling such a simple requirement is one entitled to the description “religious”. Hillel’s inspired words, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” say it all. jack lynes Pinner, Middx Sir, In the Christian faith, Jesus gave us a test to find out who the “real believers” are, “by their fruits you shall know them” Matthew vii, 15-20.

Also, men would know we are His disciples “by our love for one another” John xiii, 35. The “fruit test” may be more reliable than the “truth test”. Could it not be applied to other faiths? the rev paul howard Stoke-on-Trent

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, The Home Office minister Norman Baker presented the latest review of effective policy across the world as though it was a “seminal” report (“Drug laws don’t work, ministers admit”, Oct 30). It is not.

The charity the Police Foundation previously did a detailed and robust assessment of UK policy and evidence from elsewhere.

Regrettably, the debate was not taken forward and the lessons from what is working are often set aside.

For the past 15 years, there has been a welcome trend (with the exception of legal highs) in the consumption of drugs (from Class A to Class C), and a switch away from criminalisation into treatment.

This is not about “decriminalising” dangerous drugs.

It is about a common sense approach which ensures that where treatment is sought, it is available. A decade ago policy was adjusted to ensure that those apprehended by the police as users (as opposed to dealers) would be offered treatment as an alternative to imprisonment.

This has worked.

Perhaps if people did not take rigid positions so quickly, it might still be possible to debate these matters more rationally. rt hon david blunkett mp House of Commons Sir, You contend (leading article, Oct 31) that UK policies on drugs are working and cite a substantial decrease in cannabis use over the past decade. The reality is that since the UN Conventions and the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act enshrined prohibition as the policy orthodoxy, drug use in Britain has soared.

Remembrance Day Sir, Michael Binyon wonders about the changing nature of remembrance (Military Matters, Nov 1). I am old enough to have known men who were still coughing up their guts after the First World War and have listened to the careful remarks of my parents about friends and relations who had died in the Second World War. My generation also lived with the fear of nuclear war and those of us who saw the film The War Game, had no illusions about war.

on this day november 3, 1914

TRENCHES STORMED AT HEAVY LOSS The German Emperor ordered his troops to take Ypres at all cost. He came in person to the firing line to see them do it. The enemy opened the attack on our lines with furious artillery fire. The infantry came into action, and for one of the few times during the campaign charged our trenches with the bayonet. The fighting has been desperate, the losses very heavy. What is the outcome or whether the battle has

Abuse of prescription drugs has become a serious problem. Some 280 new psychoactive substances (NPS) have been recorded by the European Monitoring Centre.

The costs of prohibition are prodigious in public spending, policing, corruption, social exclusion, violence and suffering. As a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, David Cameron said, “Politicians attempt to appeal to the lowest common denominator by posturing with tough policies and calling for crackdown after crackdown. Drugs policy has been failing for decades.” Legalisation, strict regulation, honest provision of information, education and sustained help for addicts would mitigate the harms caused by drugs. lord howarth of newport House of Lords Sir, Laws prohibiting drug use have created a raft of criminality which does far more harm to society than the drugs themselves. Take hard drugs out of the hands of gangsters and put them back into the hands of pharmacists and doctors. In so doing, we will be helping addicts who will be properly supplied and monitored in their drug-taking and, as a result, will stop committing crimes to feed their habit. At the same time, we will be putting out of business the murderous thugs who run the illicit industry. Finally, we might put a modest tax on popular drugs to fund drug rehabilitation clinics. stephen porter London NW6 Sir, There is talk of “evidence” from Portugal that drug use there had not On Remembrance Day, I will seethe at the disregard that our politicians show towards our injured servicemen and women and their families. Most of all, I will wish for the impossible: no more wars. iain slinn Dingwall, Highlands

Wartime witch Sir, Ben Macintyre is wrong to link the cases of Alan Turing and Helen Duncan, the woman prosecuted under the Witchcraft Act of 1735 had a definite result is not yet known. But this I have good reason to believe — last night we still held Ypres.

The London Scottish fought well and gloriously. They gave for their country all that they could give.

The order came to move out to Ypres. They were transported in motor vehicles, glad to be at last in the forefront of the battle. Here the enemy had renewed their attempt to break through our lines, in great force, strong in artillery.

At Hollebecke and at Messines, between Ypres and Warneton, our lines were hard pressed. The Territorials went to support the Cavalry Brigade holding the trenches there. They were formed up under the crest of a hill. They advanced over the hillcrest right into the battle line. Down the slope they went, over heavy ground and beet crops, coming at once under a fierce artillery fire.

On they went into an inferno of shot and shell. They advanced in short rushes. Many fell. In such a hell it seemed impossible that any

increased after recent liberalisation.

Portugal is a country of ten million people. Britain has a much larger, richer population. Of course Portugal is a less interesting market for drug dealers. Politicians abuse the word “evidence” too much. peter demetriadi Diss, Norfolk Sir, I doubt Hugo Rifkind (Ssh . . . lots of top people believe in drug reform”, Nov 1) is aware of the true dangers of cannabis.

Eighty per cent of the cannabis smoked in the UK is skunk with an average THC (the psychoactive ingredient) content of 16.2 per cent.

THC persists in the cells of the brain for weeks. This affects the chemical messaging system. Vital connections are not made in the learning and memory processes. Few children using cannabis achieve their full potential. They are more likely to suffer from mental illness, move on to other drugs or become addicted.

US rehab experts have told us that teenage cannabis dependence is the most challenging addiction to treat. mary brett Chairwoman of Cannabis Skunk Sense, Amersham, Bucks Sir, I struggled not to laugh when I read that cannabis offenders “will be given advice by officers” (“Tougher penalties to replace cautions”, Nov 1) .

Where will this “advice” be recorded? If someone is caught several times in possession by different officers, how are they linked? This is decriminalisation in all but name. nigel price Lisvane, Cardiff (“Churchill was right. Let’s pardon the witch”, Opinion, Oct 31). Prosecuting Turing for being homosexual was clearly wrong. The act referred to under which Duncan was prosecuted was designed to expose false witches.

No one can doubt that Duncan was such a thing; nor, more importantly, that she also conned money from vulnerable, frightened and bereaved people at a time of war. Fraud might have been a more appropriate charge, but why should such a person be pardoned? robin bowman Woodbridge, Suffolk of them could live. Two shells burst close to one of these brave men. He was unscathed by bullet, but will be stone deaf for life. Two others had their clothes torn by shrapnel. On they went. Then both were struck in the arm. All day they lay in the beetfield, in the shelter of a narrow ditch. Until nightfall it was too dangerous to move. The battalion did not falter. On they went to the enemy’s trenches. Then the enemy came at them in overwhelming numbers, with bayonets fixed. It was an awful moment.

The London Scottish fixed bayonets, too. They did not wait for the attack. They charged the advancing enemy. The impact was terrific. Overcome by numbers our men recoiled, then reformed and charged again and again. And then the German infantry turned and ran. The day was won. sign up for a weekly email with extracts from the times history of the war ww1.thetimes.co.uk

Sci-fact Sir, As you say, science-fiction writers have a record for prescience (“Future shock”, leader, Oct 31). After some years of research, I wrote three linked novels about a planet called Helliconia. The system has a small sun, much like our Sol, but all this is ruled by a much larger sun, known sometimes by the planetary inhabitants as Freyr.

Some astronomers regarded this as an impossibility. However, in 2011 Nasa’s telescopes discovered precisely a Helliconian system in space, containing two suns. This system is now known as Kepler 16B — not, alas, as Helliconia.

I should add that I undertook two years’ research before embarking on the writing of this trilogy. brian w aldiss Oxford

Decline of Radio 3 Sir, It is sad to read of Radio 3’s decline (“‘Populist’ Radio 3 has worst ratings for 15 years”, Oct 30). As a music teacher, I extolled the virtues of a station which could break down prejudice, open ears and stimulate minds. My children drove to primary school alongside Radio 3 explorations of Haydn’s string quartets and Mozart symphonies.

Latterly, attempts to turn presenters into personalities, cringeworthy phone interviews with listeners, the monotonous incantation “live on Radio 3”, and constant trailers of what awaits, combine to form a severe test of allegiance in this household.

Production of a fresh statement of Radio 3’s mission and vision should be the first task for the newly appointed controller. robert gower Egleton, Rutland

Fight to be heard Sir, Churchill was 23 in 1897 (“We shall not fight”, letter, Nov 1). How many 23-year olds have ever been listened to; let alone taken seriously? judy macdonald Newport Pagnell, Bucks

Van of few words Sir, Lynn Hale (letter, Nov 1) would have enjoyed enjoyed a Van Morrison concert I attended in Glasgow two years ago. Van was about 12 songs into his set when he spoke for the first time, uttering “two, three, four” then launching into Jackie Wilson Said. danny friel Edinburgh Sir, The Dubliners were once playing at the Albert Hall and at the end of the concert a voice from the gods requested Carrickfergus. (“Play Up, there’s nothing wrong with giving people what they want”, leader, Oct 30). There was a long silence then Ronnie Drew looked up and in his wonderfully gravelly voice said ‘You’ll get what you’re ****ing well given’. jeffrey box Shalford, Surrey

TBPT Sir, I wonder if David Brown (“Afghan Army slang that will come home with the troops”, Nov 1) came across my favourite?

The mountainous hideout of Bin Laden was known to the troops as Tora Bora Palmer-Tomkinson. bill bewley Stranraer, Dumfries & Galloway

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

World

Cheating mars poll that poses threat to Europe MAXIM ZMEYEV / REUTERS

Ukraine

Ben Hoyle Donetsk

Through the red gauze curtain of the voting booth the man could clearly be seen filling out two sets of ballot papers.

The official who had handed them to him denied it at first, but not for long.

“So what?” she said. “His wife couldn’t come.”

The fraud at polling station No 371, a grand, Soviet-era House of Culture in a village outside Donetsk, was one of numerous irregularities observed in elections held yesterday in east Ukraine’s two Russian-backed rebel “republics”.

The votes were intended to legitimise their leaders, fill their parliaments — or “people’s soviets” — and add a veneer of respectability to pseudo-states formed after an armed revolt backed by the Kremlin began in April.

Russia has already said that it will recognise the results, despite warnings from western leaders that the elections are illegal and violate the terms of the region’s threadbare ceasefire agreement. Further sanctions against Russia may follow as a consequence, undermining hopes of a breakthrough in the worst stand-off between the Kremlin and the West since the Cold War. In six months, more than 4,000 people have been killed and thousands have fled, while rival warlords have carved up the region. Now some rebel leaders are threatening attacks on other parts of Ukraine. They include Alexandr Zakharchenko, a former mine electrician who was appointed prime minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic in August and was almost certain to be elected as its leader yesterday.

An armed voter leaves the polling booth in Novoazovsk after casting his ballot

Exit polls said he would win 81 per cent of the vote.

The September 5 ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, never fully adhered to, looks more fragile than ever.

Over the weekend, several convoys of Russian military equipment rumbled into Donetsk. One, made up of more than 50 lorries without number plates, towing Grad rocket launchers, antiaircraft guns and other supplies, took seven minutes to pass by on the main road from the Russian border.

Despite an international outcry, the elections are likely to entrench the partition of Ukraine.

A few miles west of Donetsk, Ukrain-

ian soldiers are digging fortifications.

The electricity cables sagging from battle-damaged pylons serve as their washing lines. On the other side of the front line, months of fighting have disfigured the landscape of the rebel territory: there are almost no election posters outside Donetsk, but there are foxholes, trenches, mangled buildings, burnt-out homes and scared people.

In Alchevsk, a metal-working town in the neighbouring Luhansk People’s Republic, one of the most feared rebel commanders said: “War is continuing”.

Aleksei Mozgovoi, the leader of the Ghost Brigade, looked forward to a referendum on joining Russia once

France revives Russian carriers deal France

Charles Bremner Paris

The two sister ships are towering displays of French military capability but for the moment they are tormenting François Hollande.

The notoriously indecisive French president is vacillating over the fate of the Vladivostok and the Sevastopol. The powerful assault ships that France is building for Russia under a £1 billion contract have turned into a deep embarrassment in the light of Moscow’s involvement in Ukraine, and calls for a united approach to applying sanctions among the Western powers.

In early September, Mr Hollande caved in to pressure from President Obama and David Cameron and suspended the scheduled handover this autumn of the Vladivostok, the first of the Mistral-class command and transport ships, which carry helicopters, as part of sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine.

The ship’s Russian crew has been invited to sail from Saint-Nazaire with the 600ft vessel after a handover ceremony on November 14. Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s deputy prime minister, posted on the internet an invitation from DCNS, the French state ship-

A protest in Saint-Nazaire opposing suspension of the vessels’ handover

building company, apologising for the delay and asking the Russian admiralty to attend festivities that would end with the “transfer of ownership and delivery act signature on board the Vladivostok”.

An embarrassed French government issued a half-hearted disclaimer, saying that while there were positive signs from Russia over Ukraine “the conditions have not today been met” for delivering the vessel. The invitation had arisen from a misunderstanding, said Michel Sapin, the finance minister.

But Hervé Guillou, head of DCNS, said that the vessel was ready to go, along with the officers and sailors who had been training on her since June.

The confusion reflects Mr Hollande’s

dilemma over a toxic contract bequeathed by his predecessor. After Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008, Nicolas Sarkozy negotiated the deal with Vladimir Putin, signing it in 2011.

The French defence ministry remains determined to deliver the ships quickly, despite the annexation of Crimea, fighting in Ukraine, the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17 and the provocative incursion of Russian military aircraft into western European airspace, diplomats say. Construction of the Sevastopol, due for delivery next year, continues at full pace.

Failure to honour the contract would cost some 2,000 shipyard jobs plus full reimbursement and €200 million in penalties as well as damaging France’s reputation among its defence clients.

The resolve of the Socialist president is being stiffened by support for the transfer from the conservative opposition, who see national pride at stake. Yet Mr Hollande knows he will incur the wrath of allies, especially Poland and the eastern states, who fear Russian aggression. Paris could lose orders for modernising the Polish armed forces.

Mr Hollande was taunted this week

by Mr Rogozin: “It’s up to President Hollande now to make a political decision,” he said.

rebels control the entire region of “Novorossiya” — New Russia — including the Ukrainian cities of Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk, Mariupol and Kharkiv.

Local people are so terrified of his fighters that the Ghost Brigade has printed posters insisting that it is “not as frightening as they depict us”. A local policeman turned pale at the mention of their name.

Mr Mozgovoi sat smoking in his office at the back of a disused printing house, surrounded by gunmen, pot plants and Orthodox religious icons.

Flags of Novorossiya. The skull-andcrossbones banner of a Tsarist regiment hung behind him. A sword, two rifles, bullets, a pistol, a Cossack whip and a slice of cream cake lay close to hand.

Last month, he held a “people’s court” in Alchevsk where an alleged rapist was sentenced to death by a show of hands from the audience of several hundred people. A video of the hearing posted online provoked disgust around the world. “Society needed it,” he said.

The alleged criminal is on death row for now, as immediate execution is not “normal international practice”, he explained. “We are fighting for democracy.”

If President Poroshenko of Ukraine came to talk to him, he would “let the people judge him, then shoot him”.

A Russian imperialist, Mr Mozgovoi was doing “nothing” and living in St Petersburg before he returned home to east Ukraine to oppose pro-European protests earlier this year. Now he claims to have several battalions of foreigners fighting under his command, including men from France, Spain, Brazil, Serbia, and Slovakia. He would dearly like to add a few bearskin-wearing British guardsmen, he said.

He shrugged off as “just my opinion” a rant in the video in which he promised to “arrest all girls who spend their time in bars”, because women should sit at home, be wives and mothers and knit.

His militia’s newspaper condemned yesterday’s polls as badly organised “elections without choices” but he said that it was important to hold them anyway, for “legitimacy”, to provide a negotiating platform with Kiev and “so that we can declare war on the United States”. He paused. “That was a joke.”

The elections were monitored by “international observers” including representatives from European farright and Stalinist parties and the disputed pro-Russian republic of South Ossetia. They raised no objections to the presence of gunmen at polling stations, or to rules that allowed people not named on polling lists to vote anyway, if the presiding officer called the central commission afterwards.

In Donetsk, a brisk flow of mostly elderly voters began as soon as the polls opened at 8am. Turnout appeared high.

Many hate the government in Kiev after months of bombardment that has killed many civilians. Overwhelmingly, they said that they were voting “for peace”, would back Mr Zakharchenko and did not mind that they knew little or nothing about the other candidates. Anyone who did not agree with the rebellion could stay away, they said.

Leading article, page 20

Bodies are lined up in the car park of a

Pakistani Pakistan

Robin Pagnamenta

At least 55 people were killed and dozens injured after a suicide bomber struck a popular tourist attraction at the only functioning land border crossing between India and Pakistan.

The explosion outside a restaurant on the Pakistani side of the Wagah border post near Lahore took place at sunset, only minutes after an elaborate flag-lowering ceremony, which is a major draw for Indian and Pakistani families and foreign tourists.

Khurram Shahzad, a medical officer at the nearby Ghurki Hospital, said many of the dead and wounded were women and children — weekend daytrippers who had come to watch the famous spectacle in which Pakistani and Indian troops seek to out-stomp each other in a lavish daily military parade.

The attacker, whose suicide vest was

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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Colosseum may get back its blood-soaked arena Page 25

RAHAT DAR / EPA

Memorial to Stalin’s victims may be last of its kind Page 26

Obama drags down Democrats even in liberal heartlands US Midterm Elections the battle for capitol hill Devika Bhat New Hampshire

The diner that has fed US presidential hopefuls past and present is easy to miss. Tucked away on a side road far from the bustle of Manchester’s most lively street, the Red Arrow’s location and modest size belie its unique place in American politics.

Step inside, though, and there’s no mistaking that this little corner of New Hampshire is ground zero in the march towards Washington. Lining the walls are photos of visiting candidates, from Bill Clinton to Mitt Romney, and a rising star then known as Senator Barack Obama.

The most recent addition is a picture of the smiling Republican Scott Brown, who has visited twice as part of his campaign to oust Jeanne Shaheen from her Senate seat. Now, the day before America goes to the polls, Mr Brown has just cause to smile: his surprise candidacy has triggered one of the biggest headaches for the Democrats this election cycle. It has also forced a vicious battle whose outcome will be seen as a sign of the road ahead for 2016.

“This race has been very cut-throat,” said Tim Kierstead, a New Hampshire resident. “It’s the worst I’ve ever seen it.”

Mr Brown raised eyebrows when he announced this year that he would try his luck in New Hampshire, having moved here last year after a short spell as senator for Massachusetts.

A former lawyer who once posed nude for a Cosmopolitan centrefold, his popularity ratings are, according to some pollsters, lower even than President Obama’s. In contrast, Ms Shaheen,

who has been in New Hampshire politics since the 1990s, enjoys a high approval rating. Yet her lead has narrowed from double digits to an average of 3.4 percentage points — and the blame, say analysts, can be placed firmly in the White House.

Mr Brown’s campaign has fired off blistering attacks linking his rival to the unpopular Mr Obama, citing her Senate voting record as evidence that she backs his much-criticised policies.

Ms Shaheen has tried to keep the race focused on local issues, but Mr Brown has had some success in shifting the spotlight to the administration’s handling of the ebola crisis and the threat from Islamic State, as well as the thorny question of immigration.

Critics have accused him of being alarmist, but the message has resonat-

Forecast to swing Republican Alaska

New Hampshire

Colorado

Iowa

Louisiana

N Carolina

Now Democrat Republican

53 45

Forecast

47 53

Source: Washington Post

ed among voters. Analysts believe that if the Democrats lose New Hampshire, it will truly signal how vicious the political climate is for them.

Voters here are well aware of their importance as an early voting state.

“We reflect where the US as a whole is,” said one, Kevin Koechel.

Ms Shaheen is not looking to Mr Obama for assistance. Instead, it is the Clintons who have provided Democratic star power, with Hillary due to make an 11th -hour appearance with Ms Shaheen last night. The 2016 frontrunner’s intervention was welcomed by many. “She has more guts and more experience [than Mr Obama]. She won’t take any crap,” Mr Kierstead said.

hospital near Lahore after a suicide bomb killed at least 55 people yesterday, including many women and children

on standby as bomber kills 55 on Indian border Lawyers key votes go to the wire

packed with ball bearings, had tried to huge bang. I rushed out of the shop and gain access to the event. Unable to pen- saw people crying. There was blood and etrate a final security cordon, he waited limbs of people scattered everywhere,” until tourists were filing out on the said one, adding that at least two people Pakistani side before detowere killed in front of nating his device beside an him. arcade of shops and cafés.

“According to Dr Shahzad said he exinitial informapected the death toll to tion it was a rise because many of the suicide attack,” said injured were in a critiMushtaq Sukhera, cal condition, adding inspector general of that the small hospiPunjab police. tal did not have “When ... security enough beds to cope. was a bit relaxed, the “We have put some suicide attacker blew bodies in the parking spahimself up near a resces and corridors,” he said. taurant.”

Witnesses told Pakistani Tahir Javaid, the diTV channels that the rector-general of Ranmajority of those killed gers Punjab, told reThe daily military were from surrounding porters that three parade is a big villages. “I was inside paramilitary army tourist draw my shop when I heard a rangers had been

killed and five injured in the attack close to their parade ground.

Last night the banned Jundullah militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said was in retaliation for Zarb-e-Azb, a Pakistani military operation to crush Islamist militants in the province of North Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan.

Last week, the army said 1,100 militants had been killed in the “successful” operation, which began in June. It followed an attack by the Pakistani Taliban on Karachi airport which killed dozens of people and scuppered the plans of Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s prime minister, to negotiate a peace deal with the terror group. Wagah is an important conduit for trade between India and Pakistan, countries that have fought four wars since partition following Britain’s withdrawal in 1947.

Additional reporting Aoun Shahi, Islamabad

Behind the story David Taylor

D

emocrats and Republicans are gearing up for legal battles as crucial midterm races go to the wire and rumours abound of dirty tricks in store on US election day. With the Republicans in need of a six-seat swing to take control of the Senate, legal teams are heading into Iowa and Alaska where vital Senate races might go to recounts after tomorrow’s vote.

In Louisiana, Democratic party organisers have 3,000 paid staffers and 5,000 volunteers monitoring waiting times for irregularities and helping people to cast their vote.

Republicans have 1,000 lawyers trained to tackle potential legal issues on polling day.

The Republicans have tried to turn the midterms into a referendum on President Obama.

Mitt Romney, the Republican 2012 presidential candidate, said: “This is really the last chance for American to pass judgment on the Obama administration and on his policies.”

Mr Obama insisted: “Republicans are good people, they’re patriots. They love their country. They love their family . . . but they’ve got bad ideas.”

Polls suggest that the Republicans will win in four Democrat-held states, but they are struggling to get the two other gains they need and may lose a seat in Kansas. If run-offs are needed, the final result may not be known until the new year.

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World MATTHIAS SCHRADER / AP

US plans for Syrian rebel army in crisis Syria

Tom Coghlan Sara Elizabeth Williams Amman

Reflective mood A lone rower takes to the water at the Sylvenstein barrier lake near Lenggries, in southern Germany

Monday November 3 2014 | the times

American plans for a western-backed Syrian rebel army were under threat last night after a militia aligned to alQaeda launched a surprise offensive against them.

The assault, in the north of the country, leaves the moderate rebel groups fighting on three fronts.

Commanders of the Syrian Revolutionary Front (SRF) and Harakat Hazm, both of which have been supplied with US weaponry, accused the al-Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front of treachery after it seized a swathe of their territory last week. The moderate rebels now face an onslaught from the Assad regime, the jihadists of Islamic State (Isis) and Nusra.

The SRF and Harakat Hazm form the nucleus of plans for a US-backed army of 15,000 fighters that Pentagon strategists hope to train over the next three years to tackle Isis.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported yesterday that the SRF had been driven from its bases in Idlib province, with fears that its arms and tanks had fallen into the hands of Nusra. “Some of the rebels swore allegiance to Nusra, others fled,” it said.

Nusra claimed that it had captured USsupplied advanced systems.

Moderate Syrian factions have previ-

ously maintained cordial relations with Nusra, which had made the struggle against the Assad regime its priority — unlike Isis, which has carved out a fiefdom by attacking other rebel groups.

However, Jamal Maarouf, the commander of the SRF, issued a furious video denunciation of the group, comparing Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, its leader, to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the commander of Isis. “You have tarnished the name of Islam, and you have tarnished religion,” he said. “Why do you fight us? Go away, fight the regime!

You are nothing; you are just like Baghdadi — you bastard.”

Western analysts said that Nusra’s move appeared to be a land grab, after it lost control of lucrative oil fields around the city of Deir Ezzor to Isis.

Joshua Landis, associate professor in the School of International and Area Studies at the University of Oklahoma, said that Nusra had moved against the Western-backed groups for fear that the US would unleash them against it.

In Iraq, Isis militants were accused yesterday of fresh atrocities against a Sunni tribe that had opposed them in Anbar province. Leaders of the Albu Nimr tribe said that more than 200 tribesmen had been massacred in the past week.

Another 40 men, six women and four children were killed yesterday in a village near Ramadi, they said.

Melanie Phillips, Opinion, page 18

Israel closes Gaza border Gaza

Gregg Carlstrom Jerusalem

Israel has shut its border crossings with Gaza, all but sealing off the strip from the outside world, after Egypt closed its frontier with the territory last week.

The closure came after militants in Gaza fired a rocket into southern Israel on Friday and will last until further notice, according to the Israeli army.

Only “urgent humanitarian cases” will be allowed to cross.

Apart from marooning Gaza’s 1.8 million inhabitants, the closure will further delay the arrival of much-needed reconstruction materials to repair tens of

thousands of homes destroyed during this summer’s war between Israel and Hamas. The United Nations recently brokered a deal to allow cement and other goods to enter the besieged strip.

“We closed the crossings due to security reasons, and we can’t say right now when they will be reopened,” said Hadar Horen, a spokeswoman for the army division that oversees the border.

Hamas called the move a violation of the ceasefire that ended the war. “Closing the crossings . . . is a childish act,” said Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas leader. “The actions taken by Israel on the crossings are contrary to what was agreed under the ceasefire.”

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the game Sport, pages 46-55

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the times | Monday November 3 2014

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World SALOM GOMIS SEBASTIEN / SIPA / REX

Riots in Paris over dam demo death

P

olice were braced for more violence last night after clashes with radical ecologists protesting against plans for a dam in southern France (Adam Sage writes).

Dozens were arrested in Paris and other French cities as demonstrators fought police after an activist’s death last month.

Rémi Fraisse, 21, died during a protest at the site of the Sivens dam in southwest France. Traces of explosives were on his clothes, suggesting that he may have been hit by a police stun grenade, said investigators.

The first death during a protest in mainland France for almost 30 years turned a local row into a major confrontation with the ecology movement’s ultraleft wing. Shops were ransacked in Nantes on

Vatican urges poll delay until after papal trip Sri Lanka

Robin Pagnamenta Mumbai

Police clash with eco protesters in Nantes, where shops were ransacked. Trouble has flared over the Sivens dam project

Saturday and there were running battles with police, who replied with tear gas. A total of 21 arrests were made and five people were

injured, including a police officer, who was hit with acid. There were 13 arrests in Toulouse in similar violence. Activists in Paris

defied a ban yesterday and were met by officers in riot gear. Police said 31 people had been arrested, some in possession of hammers and

explosive devices. The dam is to provide irrigation for the region’s farmers, but protesters say it will destroy the ecosystem.

Sarkozy and Trierweiler teens grip France with Twitter feud France

Adam Sage Paris

It has the trappings of a classic French political duel, with rivals trading personal insults against a presidential backdrop.

However, the war of words on Twitter between Louis Sarkozy and Léonard Trierweiler is provoking a mixture of mirth and exasperation — not to mention embarrassment in their illustrious households.

The former is the son of Nicolas Sarkozy, the centre-right leader seeking to reclaim the presidency. The latter is the son of Valérie Trierweiler, President Hollande’s former partner.

The two 17-year-olds have become embroiled in a very public row that has left France agog and done nothing to help either Mr Sarkozy or Mr Hollande.

Both leaders are being ridiculed for their inability to put a stop to “le tweetclash”, as the dispute has been dubbed.

Critics say the teenagers appear to have taken it on themselves to fire the first shots in the 2017 presidential

Léonard Trierweiler, top, and Louis Sarkozy. Le Parisien said their mothers should call an end to play time

election, which may see a re-run of the 2012 poll when Mr Hollande defeated Mr Sarkozy.

Their argument dates from this summer when Ms Trierweiler’s son took to Twitter to defend the judge who had placed Mr Sarkozy under formal investigation in a corruption inquiry.

It has taken a vitriolic turn in the past week after Mr Sarkozy’s son used his account — @Sarko_Junior — to share a press article claiming that Léonard Trierweiler still lives in the Élysée Palace, even though his mother was dumped by Mr Hollande in January.

Léonard Trierweiler used his account — @trierweiler3 — to deny the claim and to suggest that his teenage rival was “arrogant and rubbish at French”, an allusion to the numerous spelling mistakes in Louis Sarkozy’s tweets.

Mr Sarkozy’s son replied by suggesting that Ms Trierweiler was arrogant.

“In your education @Sarko_Junior, as well as missing out on the French language, didn’t anyone teach you to respect Mums?” wrote Léonard.

Louis Sarkozy hit back: “@trier-

weiler3, tell us, do you still live in the palace? I admit that the beds are just great.” The row initially provoked hilarity on the internet and in the French press. “This duel is magic,” said one Twitter user.

The comments have becoming increasingly hostile, however, as the row has continued, leaving both France’s current president and his predecessor looking impotent.

The newspaper Le Parisien called on their parents to “signal the end of play time”, while another Twitter user said: “Their mothers should send them both to bed.”

Commentators pointed out that both Mr Hollande and Mr Sarkozy had complicated private lives, which hindered their authority at home.

Louis Sarkozy followed his mother, Cécilia Attias, to the United States when she divorced his father in 2008.

He now studies in the Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania.

Léonard Trierweiler lives with his mother in Paris after she moved out of the Élysée when she was dumped by Mr Hollande. He is in secondary school.

Colosseum may get its blood-soaked arena back Italy

Three levels of Colosseum now open to public

Gladiator battles have not been held at the Colosseum in Rome for 1,500 years, but if the Italian government gets its way the ancient amphitheatre may once again include a sandy arena for staging grisly shows.

Dario Franceschini, the Italian culture minister, has backed a plan to resurface the arena at the Colosseum, covering over the corridors and cells that were built beneath it but now lie exposed. “All it will take is a bit of courage,” Mr Franceschini tweeted.

The Colosseum, the largest Roman amphitheatre, hosted crowds of 35,000

Third floor Plebians and slaves sat in this area; lower floors were for senators and VIPs

Tom Kington Rome

Arena Where fights took place

Hypogeum Slaves and animals held in this subterranean network

for fights, executions and animal hunts after it opened in 8AD, before being turned into housing and workshops in the Christian era.

Old photographs show the arena intact, but at the end of the 19th century excavations revealed a labyrinth of corridors stretching under the arena in which wild animals and scenery were kept. Today visitors can see straight down into the excavated basement area, but without the arena floor they can struggle to get a sense of where the fighting and executions took place.

The proposal comes as restorers work their way around the external arches of the Colosseum, scraping away decades of grime left by car exhaust.

Pope Francis is likely to go ahead with a visit to Sri Lanka in January, despite the Vatican’s fears that President Rajapaksa may use the trip to score political points before elections.

The Vatican has expressed concern about the visit taking place in the same month as the presidential vote and has asked for the election to be delayed.

About 6 per cent of Sri Lanka’s 20.5 million people are Roman Catholics, making them an important minority in the Buddhist-majority country.

President Rajapaksa has held power for nine years. He has faced criticism for failing to order an investigation into war crimes against Tamil separatists.

Although he retains strong support among working-class Sinhalese, the Buddhist ethnic group that makes up 75 per cent of the population, his share of the vote has fallen.

The snap election is being held four years into a six-year term, in part because many believe that Mr Rajapaksa’s popularity is in inexorable decline.

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FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT Kremlin plans to silence its critics mean a Moscow memorial to victims of Stalin’s brutality may be the last of its kind

Ben Hoyle M O S COW

O

n a pretty pedestrian street next to Red Square, a dilapidated three-storey house is undergoing renovation.

It is an unremarkable building except for one thing: at the height of Stalin’s Great Terror, 31,456 people were sentenced to death inside it.

The proceedings of the military tribunal based there in the 1930s and 1940s each took between 10 and 15 minutes, with no defence lawyers and no right to appeal.

Execution would usually follow immediately.

Ordinarily, there is nothing to signify 23 Nikolskaya Street’s grim

past, but a few days ago a small, deeply moving installation appeared in front of it. Passers-by, some in tears, inspected the 30 placards, each bearing the sepia mug shot and biography of a victim.

Antonina Shemeleva, doctor, born in 1897, shot in 1937, rehabilitated in 1957; Vsevolod Meyerhold, theatre director, actor, teacher and People’s Artist of the USSR, born in 1874, shot in 1940, rehabilitated in 1955; Matilda Pramnek, director of a sweet factory, born in 1904, shot in 1938, rehabilitated in 1956; Isaac Babel, writer, member of the Union of Soviet Writers, born in 1894, shot in 1940, rehabilitated in 1954.

Some were famous, some not. All were casualties of an orgy of paranoid mass murder during the Stalin era that claimed, at a conservative estimate, about one million victims, not counting the many millions whose lives were destroyed in the gulag network.

You might think this legacy would dominate discussion of Stalin’s place in history, but it does

not. You can buy Stalin calendars in mainstream bookshops and, when the respected Levada Centre asked Russians to identify their favourite 20th-century leader, Stalin came third, narrowly pipped by Brezhnev and Lenin. After a year of martial propaganda glorifying Russia’s struggle against supposed “fascism” in Ukraine, I suspect the victor of the Great Patriotic War might do even better now. Gorbachev, lauded in the West but blamed at home for the collapse of the empire and the economic chaos that followed, trailed in last.

Last week a poll suggested that 16 per cent of Russians believe that there were no “mass political repressions” in the Soviet period; twice as many as in 2001. Nearly half of those who did acknowledge that repressions took place think they could happen again in their lifetime, but 17 per cent believe that such a step could be justified. The Kremlin has never opened the archives of political repression to the public, as some eastern European governments have.

Officials linked to past crimes have not been fired, as in the former East Germany and Czechoslovakia.

Moscow has nothing to match Budapest’s aweinspiring House of Terror, which Joseph Stalin, still a pin-up on calendars

commemorates totalitarian abuses in Hungary. Instead, Memorial, the organisation that has done more than any other to expose Soviet outrages, faces closure. The Justice Ministry has applied to the courts to “liquidate” it, with the hearing scheduled for November 13.

Memorial, which organised the Nikolskaya Street exhibition, is accused of infringing rules on registering its members, but supporters say it has been singled out for criticising the Kremlin over its actions in Ukraine and at home, and because of its reminders of the oppression of the past.

Human rights campaigners have long warned about the danger of Russia’s failure to explore its past crimes — dangers that have never seemed more acute than they do now, when men schooled in the Soviet-era secret police lead the country. Over lunch in Moscow last week, Yevgenia Albats, editor of a liberal political weekly and author of a 1991 book on the KGB, said that Putin, himself a KGB veteran, “no longer relies on advice from anyone other than the KGB”. It is a frightening development, made possible by popular amnesia or ignorance, she said. “That I am going to die in a country run by the KGB makes me sick.”

Monday November 3 2014 | the times

Chicago holds its breath for tightrope walk United States

Will Pavia Chicago

Steel cables were looped between the tops of skyscrapers and workmen were laying out barricades below last night as a man prepared to take a walk over downtown Chicago on a steel tightrope 600ft (180m) above the pavements.

Nik Wallenda, 35, whose previous jaunts on a wire have carried him over the lip of the Niagara Falls and across the Grand Canyon, was due to walk without harness or net on an inclining cable over the Chicago River and a four-lane street to the roof of a 671ft tower block. He then planned a shorter walk between the roofs of two 588ft towers, which he was seeking to make more exciting by wearing a blindfold.

The stunt was to be filmed by the Discovery Channel and broadcast live in 220 countries, but with a ten second delay — allowing the channel to cut away should Mr Wallenda fall.

His great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda, died on live television in 1978 while on a wire strung between two skyscrapers on a windy day in Puerto Rico.

Mr Wallenda has said he had deliberately chosen America’s “windy city” for the stunt, although he said he would call it off if the wind rose above 55mph.

Officials, hopeful that it might promote the city, have disregarded a state law requiring performers to wear safety devices at heights over 20ft.

Updates at thetimes.co.uk/americas

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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Knives out for only white leader in Africa Zambia

Ruth Maclean Lusaka

The son of Zambia’s recently deceased president has joined senior politicians in criticising the country’s new white leader for taking power.

Michael Sata died while receiving medical treatment for an undisclosed illness in London last week. His son, Mulenga, who is mayor of the capital, Lusaka, said yesterday that his father had not wanted the vice-president, Guy Scott — one of only 40,000 white Zambians in a country of 14 million people — to succeed him.

Michael Sata, once a porter at Victoria railway station in London, left Zambia in the hands of Edgar Lungu, the defence and justice minister, before travelling to London.

Asked if he intended to run for president, Mulenga Sata said: “You have heard my name being suggested left and right. I was mentored in the school of Sata not to shy away from challenges, so why not?”

He is one of a number of senior politicians who have said that Dr Scott should not have taken power, although most analysts agree that the constitution dictates

that the vice-president becomes leader in the event of the incumbent’s death. Dr Scott, a Cambridge-educated economist, told reporters: “I may be white on the outside, but my blood is black.” That, however, is not good enough for many Zambians, who argue that the constitution requires the president’s parents to have been born in the country. Dr Scott’s parents were Scottish.

He must call an election within 90 days, and has said that he will not stand.

“Power is in the wrong hands,” Mr Lungu said yesterday outside the building where Mr Sata’s body is lying in state. He said, however, that he “gave away” power to preserve the peace.

“Suppose I had my own power centre and the forces put their weight behind me and the other guy didn’t have it, what would have happened? Blood,” he said.

The situation remains tense. Soldiers guard the state broadcaster, and troops stand on every street corner in the capital.

Dr Scott cut a lone, white figure on the tarmac during Mr Sata’s repatriation on Saturday, embracing his widow, as she emerged weeping from the aircraft carrying her husband’s body.

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World SILVIN MORGAN / MERCURY PRESS

Boardroom to board A GoPro camera catches Neil Dana, who has a $120 million stake in the company, surfing off Mexico

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

Register Obituaries

Joan Quigley

Lives remembered

White House astrologer who advised President Reagan until her role was exposed by the press No one could have foreseen the impact that Joan Quigley, an astrologer from Nob Hill, San Francisco, would have on the White House of President Ronald Reagan and his fiercely loyal wife, Nancy. When the serendipitously named Donald Regan took over as the president’s chief of staff in 1985, he was shocked to discover that Mrs Reagan regularly consulted Quigley and that, following the failed attempt on his life

by John Hinckley Jr, on March 30, 1981, her husband — previously a mere dabbler in the occult — had become a fellow devotee.

Though she only met the president once, at a state dinner in 1985, Quigley was arguably as influential in the administration as any member of the cabinet and probably enjoyed greater access and trust. The first lady would consult the seer on all aspects of policy, especially if it required her husband to meet the public. The president, for his part, came to rely on Quigley to come up with the optimum schedule for visits and initiatives, thus giving rise to the title of the astrologer’s memoir, What Does Joan Say? “I had to convince myself that it was possible to protect the president,” she said.

If Quigley’s claims are to be believed, she “cast” the most propitious timings for Reagan’s speeches, public appearances, doctors’ visits and trips abroad. She insisted: “I was the Teflon in the ‘Teflon Presidency’.” She even took credit for persuading the commander-in-chief that the “Evil Empire” — his characterisation of the old Soviet Union — had under Mikhail Gorbachev become a state with which he could properly negotiate on such key issues as nuclear disarmament.

A summit between the two leaders, which took place in Geneva in November 1985, held, she said, “breathless possibilities”. Tied in with the Geneva talks, Reagan’s controversial Star Wars proposal — his second nod to the George Lucas fantasy movies — was a “visionary” project, properly known as the Strategic Defence Initiative, that allegedly moved to the drawing board only after being cleared on Quigley’s astrological charts.

“Not since the days of the Roman emperors,” she wrote, “— and never in the history of the US presidency — has an astrologer played such a significant role in the nation’s affairs of state.”

As it happens, this is not true. All of America’s founding fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,

ERIC RISBERG/AP, HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY

She hid her interest in astrology from her father, who disapproved

Quigley hoped to protect Reagan after the attempted assassination, below

Reagan had the most brilliant horoscope Quigley had ever seen James Madison and Benjamin Franklin, were freemasons, which at the time was steeped in astrology. Washington, it was said, somewhat fancifully, had been handed his chart by Archangel Gabriel.

Franklin, meanwhile, devised his own form of astral charts using the true alignment of planets corrected by astronomical observation.

Nor was Nancy Reagan the only first lady to place reliance on the stars.

Florence Harding, wife of the luckless 29th president, Warren Harding, read her and her husband’s charts on an al-

insisted. The whole astrology thing was “only a hobby”.

Both Nancy Reagan and the president ended their ties with Quigley. According to the astrologer the last time she spoke to Nancy Reagan she asked for advice on talking to the press. The first lady replied: “Lie if you have to.”

Long afterwards, during her widowhood, Mrs Reagan observed ruefully: “Nobody was hurt by it — except, possibly, me.”

For Quigley, the severance of her White House link was a body blow. No other leader since Macbeth had been so closely tied to prophecy. “Ronald Reagan,” she wrote, “has a brilliant horoscope. . . I went to work for his campaign in 1980 because he had the most brilliant horoscope I’d ever seen in this country this century. He could have been a great general. His sun is in the mid heaven, which is the part of the United States horoscope that rules the president. His stars are very lucky for a country. And he has three planets in the sign of the exaltation, which you almost never see.”

Joan Ceciel Quigley was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on April 10, 1927, at 4.17 pm. Her father, John Quigley, a successful mid-West attorney, moved

most religious basis. She was, however, taken aback when the president died, suddenly, of a heart attack in 1923 while on the campaign trail in San Francisco.

In modern times, the Reagans were almost certainly the only western leaders who sought guidance that was neither Christian nor scientific, let alone political. Regan, who resigned as chief of staff in the wake of the Iran/ Contra scandal, later wrote: “Virtually every major move and decision the Reagans made during my time as White House chief of staff was cleared in ad-

vance with a woman in San Francisco who drew up horoscopes to make certain that the planets were in favourable alignment for the enterprise.”

Church leaders, who up to then had seen Reagan as a simple man of faith, immediately sought clarification. Some even presented demands that the president and first lady abandon their “ungodly” reliance on Quigley. Embarrassed, the Reagans issued a denial that they, unlike Caesar’s wife, believed in predestination. No decisions or policies were based on horoscopes, they

the family to San Francisco in 1942 following his purchase of the prestigious Drake-Wilshire Hotel. Joan and her sister Ruth — the “Quigley Girls” — were raised by their mother, Zelda, to be socialites. They were driven from party to party in limousines and encouraged to mix only in the best of Nob Hill society.

But after graduating from Vassar, intrigued by her mother’s interest in horoscopes, Joan interned with a West Coast astrologer, Jerome Pearson (not to be confused with the American scientist who came up with the idea for a space elevator). While concealing her interest from her father, who disapproved, she quickly became an expert and began submitting weekly charts to the girls’ magazine, Seventeen.

It was in the mid-1970s that Nancy Reagan — who preferred the company of society girls — met Quigley through the TV host Merv Griffin, a long-time client who frequently invited the seer on to his show. The relationship blossomed quickly, so much so that Reagan, according to Quigley, delayed his inauguration as governor of California on January 2, 1967, by ten minutes just to get the alignments exactly right.

Quigley — who never married and always referred to herself as “Miss” — wrote three books on astrology, all of which sold well, no doubt helped by her White House connection. But, true to her upbringing, she never stooped to conquer. “I only take on people I find extremely interesting,” she told the New York Times. “I don’t take on ordinary people.”

Joan Quigley, astrologer, was born on April 10, 1927. She died on October 24, 2014, aged 87

Sir Ronald Grierson Lady Ritblat writes: Ronnie’s many friends were inordinately fond of him (obituary, October 27). His warmth, enthusiasm and joie de vivre, his charm and acute intelligence, and also his willingness to help were the abiding memories we will have of him. We do not have a word in English for a man so supremely well educated but the French would say he was cultivé. He loved music and the opera and was devoted to the Salzburg Festival. We also admired his seemingly boundless energy and his many public roles until so late in life. If I have one qualifying remark to make it is that we were all relieved when the mobile phone became ubiquitous enough to make it unnecessary for him to arrive at one’s home and immediately ask to make a telephone call. You had to marvel at a constitution that made him appear to be in several places at once, flying, for example, from Megève where he had a flat for 40 years, to Hong Kong to Normandy to New York in that order all in about five days. The term frequent flyer was invented for him. He was hospitable and generous spirited and had extremely good judgment for people.

He was also very amusing — never a dull moment with Ronnie.

Sheila Gunn Lord Lexden writes: Sheila Gunn (obituary, Oct 30) joined the press department in Conservative Central Office in the spring of 1996. Her close relationship with John Major, whom she hero-worshipped, sprang from a successful twoweek nationwide tour on which she accompanied him and Norma Major. She did not get off to good start, letting slip to journalists that Norma thought Tony Blair would win the forthcoming election. However, by the time the election came the following year, she had won their complete trust. She dealt firmly with a journalist who tried to intrude on Norma’s privacy at a time when her mother was seriously ill. She travelled some 10,000 miles at Major’s side during the 1997 campaign, exuding cheerfulness in the blackest moments.

Sir John Hoskyns Andrew Duguid writes: As Sir Keith Joseph’s private secretary, I was interviewed by Sir John Hoskyns (obituary, Oct 21) in 1979 to work as a civil servant in the No 10 policy unit. We established a rapport immediately. When my wife gave birth, she and others in her ward were amazed as a huge, beautiful and unexpected bunch of flowers were delivered to her bedside, with a personal note from John.

To add a recollection to a published @ obituary, email tributes@thetimes.co.uk

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Ilsa Yardley

One of publishing’s most admired copy editors who began Jilly Cooper’s career but could not speak a word of English as a girl Ilsa Yardley once went to a funeral during which she grew increasingly agitated at the sanitised eulogy being delivered by the priest. When the lately departed was described as spiritual, she could contain herself no longer.

“Spirituality?” she said in a loud stage whisper. “Sensuality more like it!”

The right words mattered to Yardley, and that concern for them made her one of the best copy editors in British publishing. Combing proofs for mistakes and polishing prose are skills which generally pass unacknowledged by readers, but they are much valued by writers and editors.

Seated at her kitchen table in Kentish Town, north London, Yardley would mark up typescripts in her neat hand, surrounded by reference books and sticky notes on which she would make shrewd criticisms. She never entered the digital age, but her work on a portable typewriter was fast and accurate, and she charmed her librarian into looking up queries for her online. Every proof was read twice, and the corrected manuscript delivered by hand.

Copy editing was for her, she said, “like being a round peg in a round hole”, and for 30 years it brought her happiShe loved champagne and smoked dozens of cigarettes Ilsa Yardley Yardley, pictured with her husband Maurice en route to Ghana, liked holding long and boozy working lunches

ness. She continued to work through her final illness until two weeks before she died, her last commission being Martin Amis’s recently published novel The Zone of Interest.

Providing hidden support to creative types was something of a family business. Ilsa’s mother made high-class lingerie, including undergarments for the singers of the Volksoper in Vienna, where Ilsa Meryn was born in 1928.

However, her father — a Russian Jew — died when she was four and her mother when she was eight. After a

time in an orphanage, she went to live with an aunt in Cricklewood, north London, arriving without a word of English and virtually penniless.

She was sent to a boarding school in Hove, where Jewish refugees were fined every time they spoke in German.

From there she was dispatched to a Quaker school in Somerset and so acquired a cut-glass English accent.

Her uncle was a milliner, but trimming feather hats held little appeal for Ilsa, and she ran away to live with a school friend. A chance meeting then led to a

job as an au pair for a family in Denmark, a period of her life that she said later “taught me how to live”. In England, she took a secretarial job at The Financial Times and then at History Today, the magazine founded by the FT’s publisher Brendan Bracken. She married an architect, Maurice Yardley, whom she described as “a naughty man but a honey bun” — tendencies revealed when his work took them to live in Ghana. There, Yardley became assistant to Conor Cruise O’Brien, the Irish intellectual and vice-chancellor of Accra University.

Back in London in the mid-1960s, the Yardleys took a flat which let her walk to her favourite haunts, among them the Royal Opera House, the Wigmore Hall and Ronnie Scott’s jazz club. She later became a great supporter of St John’s Smith Square. Despite the meagre salary she was now earning as a publicist for André Deutsch, the publishing house, she entertained frequently. It was at one of her dinners that Jilly Cooper met Godfrey Smith, the editor of the Sunday Times magazine, and began her writing career by regal-

ing him with tales of the domestic chaos in her house.

Yardley’s abundant charm often made up for the shortfall in her publicity budget, but after a final falling-out with the mercurial Deutsch she jumped ship in the early 1970s to Elaine Greene’s literary agency. As well as allowing her to indulge her liking for long and boozy lunches, her new job enabled her to encourage into print musicians she admired, such as the tenor Nigel Douglas and the baritone Sir Thomas Allen. Among the authors whose talent she spotted was Valerie Martin, who won the Orange Prize in 2003.

One editor was enchanted when at a first meeting Yardley turned up with three black cat’s whiskers painted either side of her nose: she had just had a mole removed and had used mascara to conceal the strips of plaster. Such chutzpah was familiar to Yardley’s many friends and, after her divorce, boyfriends. She had no children, nor any immediate family, but her unquenchable sense of fun, love of champagne, and interest in politics and opera, meant that she never lacked for company.

She smoked dozens of cigarettes a day and once wrote to The Times, “On my way into Charing Cross underground station a day or two ago I stopped to admire Maggi Hambling’s evocative memorial bronze of Oscar Wilde and was gobsmacked to find that the cigarette he held between his fingers had been filed off. It seems that the ban on smoking has spread to works of art. What, one wonders, will be the next target? Will someone, in order to discourage alcoholism, paint out the bottles in Le Bar aux Folies-Bergère?

Above all she liked to give, and it was not uncommon for her guests to receive a postcard thanking them for coming to dinner before they had had a chance to thank her. “She was,” said Jilly Cooper, “like a glowing fire on whom we all warmed our hands.”

Ilsa Yardley, copy editor and literary agent, was born on December 28, 1928. She died on September 23, 2014, aged 85

Nando Orfei

Impresario of Italy’s oldest circus and noted animal tamer who once wrestled with a lion and spoke to elephants

Nando Orfei was the patriarch of Italy’s oldest and most celebrated circus family, which has drawn audiences to its big top for more than a century and a half. His conviction that the circus remained the greatest show on earth was shared by his friend the director Federico Fellini, in several of whose films he also appeared.

As well as being the impresario of his own circus, Orfei was fêted as an animal tamer. His menagerie included scores of elephants, lions and tigers, many of whom he had raised himself. Indeed, from boyhood he played with the show’s cubs, and claimed to have no fear of the big cats.

“My uncle Orlando taught me that the most important thing,” he recalled, “is not to beat them. They are like dogs.

If you treat them well, they will love you.” Even so, he bore the scars on one leg from a tiger’s claws, and a panther left its mark on his arm.

Only once did he have to kill one of his animals, when during a show for schoolchildren a lion leapt into the audience when a cage was not readied in time. Without hesitating, Orfei threw himself on the lion and killed it with a knife — “but I wept afterwards,” he said. He liked to recount the time when a jealous male knocked him down because he had stroked its mate.

He had a particular fondness for elephants. “You have to talk to them,” he said, “and they talk to you.” Orfei knew that when an elephant laid its trunk along his arm it meant that it was suffering from constipation, and he would prepare his infallible remedy: three bottles of cognac.

In his last years, he would visit his two favourite elephants, Gully and Lanka — aged 82 and 64 respectively and long in retirement. “Gully used to let me sit on her trunk like a swing when I was small,” he remembered. “The moment she sees me, she starts to trumpet and flaps her ears. And I am a boy again.”

The son of a clown, Ferdinando Orfei was born at Portomaggiore, near Ferrara, in 1934. His family had been involved with the circus since the mid19th century when his great-greatgrandfather made an unusual career change, throwing up the priesthood to become an acrobat.

Nando started his training for the ring at an early age, as did his younger siblings Rinaldo and Liana, who made her debut as a clown soon after her second birthday. Having shown early promise as a juggler — he was also a talented trumpet player — Orfei made his reputation as an animal trainer.

In the early 1960s, he and his brother and sister, who had been working with

Orfei, as seen in a poster for his circus, played with tiger cubs as a boy

their uncle Orlando, broke away to set up their own business. Encouraged by Fellini, who had loved the circus as a boy, they staged ever more elaborate productions. The first which they devised was one of Italy’s first three-ring shows (meaning that acts were appearing simultaneously in three adjacent arenas). This evolved into Circorama, in which elaborate parades featuring dozens of elephants and performing

liberty horses were staged against a backdrop of film projections. In the early 1970s, they put on an Arabianthemed revue entitled 1001 Nights, which used more than 500 costumes by the Oscar-winning designer Danilo Donati.

After his brother enjoyed success in film cameos, Nando Orfei made his own cinema debut in an action drama in 1966, but it was Fellini’s documentary I

Clowns (1970) which gave the family circus top billing, helped by the presence of Anita Ekberg. Three years later Orfei took a bigger role in Amarcord, the director’s masterly recreation of his childhood in Rimini. Orfei played the idle uncle of the young protagonist, proud of having never worked a day in his life.

In recent years the protests of animal welfare campaigners had forced Orfei to give up working with wild beasts.

Instead, he presented a show with human performers, dogs and rabbits.

He battled on in the face of a dispute with another branch of the family over the rights to the Circo Orfei name, and latterly against illness.

Although he had suffered the indignity of seeing audiences that had once been in their thousands dwindle to a few dozen, he continued at the end of each evening to take a bow in his red coat as master of ceremonies.

As tradition demanded, the circus closed for three nights after his death.

Then his wife Anita, son Paride and daughters Ambra and Gioia, all of whom are in the family business, declared that the show would go on.

Nando Orfei, circus performer and impresario, was born on July 29, 2014. He died on October 7, 2014, aged 80

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

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‘I don’t see the end of my relationships as failures’

A tough separation and the death of her brother led to a hard 18 months for Gillian Anderson. She has a steely streak, though, she tells Andrew Billen, and puts it to good use in her return as uncompromising DI Stella Gibson in The Fall

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he world’s greatest Gillian Anderson fan was in the row next to mine to see the actress star in A Streetcar Named Desire this summer. At least I assume she was. Her left calf bore permanent witness to her adoration. It was covered with large tattoos of Anderson. On one side was Scully from The X-Files and on the other Stella Gibson, the detective who Anderson played last year in The Fall, a controversial serial-killer drama set in Northern Ireland, which, as she puts it, is “amazing, disturbing and coming back soon”.

“I think there was a third too,” Anderson says of the tattoos when we meet at the Young Vic. She had spoken to their owner at the stage door afterwards. “Or was she just talking about getting a third? I didn’t even realise we have three sides of a calf.”

If Anderson is blasé about the stardom that is driving women to the tattoo parlour, it is probably because she has known fame for two decades, almost from the start of The X-Files.

For the past dozen or so years she has been living in London, where the Chicago-born actress spent half her childhood, and we Brits have ever since been quick to claim her as one of our own outstanding classical actresses, on television in Bleak House and Great Expectations and on stage as Nora in A Doll’s House and, most recently, as Blanche DuBois

in A Streetcar Named Desire.

In her mid-forties, this tiny, weightless woman is also regarded as an almost classical English beauty, although her sexual magnetism, which in her youth leered over in magazines such as FHM, is what directors are currently playing on. In the case of DuBois, her desirability is a kind of lethal question mark: is her beauty faded or still threatening?

In The Fall, DI Gibson’s is in no dispute: the policewoman’s effect on the patriarchal Northern Irish cops she is parachuted in from Scotland Yard to help is electrifying and sometimes paralysing.

Upon this subject, Anderson, grungily dressed for me in an oversized T-shirt and full skirt, becomes combative, as I soon discover. We do agree, I think, that Gillian Anderson in A Streetcar Named Desire

Gibson is a female detective unlike any on television before: cynical but humane, tough but empathetic, remote yet sexually commanding. Her quarry is Paul Spector (played by Jamie “Fifty Shades” Dornan) the serial murderer of women. You might even compare Gibson’s arrival in Belfast to the manner in which DuBois falls into and disrupts the marriage of her sister in Streetcar. Both find themselves in a war on women. DuBois is destroyed by a misogynist brute; Gibson is the avenger of such women.

The Fall has more humanity than other shows about killers “I love her,” Anderson says in a London accent that catches me by surprise. When I saw her in 2000 in Los Angeles, where she was promoting her movie The House of Mirth, she spoke with a north American accent. Her upbringing, divided between upbrin Crouch End, London, and Grand Rapids, evidently allows her to make these choices.

She loves Gibson? “Yes, I do, I really do. She was

my favourite. That was previous to playing Blanche. And not to take anything away from Scully at all, but I had a sense before I did The Fall that she’d be good for women. It would be good for women to have someone like her out there in our contemporary social consciousness.”

Gibson certainly has sex on her terms, not society’s. “Well, that’s not the most interesting thing about her.

She’s so clearly comfortable with herself and all aspects of herself, not just her sexuality. I’m admiring of her, the way that she articulates things in the feminist realm.”

Anderson says she does not obsess about women’s status in our culture, but when she is asked about it finds she has things to say. She talks about revenge porn, the trolling of articulate women, the abuse of teenage girls on social media. “If this is where it’s at today, where is it going? Is it going to take legislation? You know, it might have to at some point. Is there an epidemic of misogyny? Or is there now just this modern outlet for something that has always existed but, because of social media, is more visible than it has ever been?”

Yet The Fall’s first season was problematic to feminists too, with some feeling it was guilty of the misogyny it sought to dissect.

Viewers witnessed Spector’s stalking, rapes and murders (his victims all young, all brunette, all attractive, all professional) through his eyes. In the Daily Mail, the critic Christopher

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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COVER: JENNIFER S ALTMAN/CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES. BELOW: GETTY IMAGES

Anderson with Mark Griffiths, the father of her two sons, in London in 2011 way? She’s not lonely. She’s not sad.

She’s not depressed. She’s not suicidal.

She’s not an alcoholic. She’s gets her needs met in her life.”

A senior police officer who was one of her one-night stands asks her at one point if she has any idea of the effect she has on men. Does she? “I think she has an understanding that that is the case and there is an equal and opposite reaction that takes place.

She’s not dressing for men.”

Perhaps, I suggest, Gibson’s fitted blouses make the point that a woman has a right to wear what she wants to wear without being sexually abused?

“Stella is not wearing skirts that are up to her panty line. If she were, we could be having that conversation, but the fact is, she’s wearing pretty much sensible clothes that just happen to be chic. None of them are particularly overly tight or overly exposing. Should she be wearing

I had a sense that Stella Gibson would be good for women Stevens called it “the most repulsive drama ever broadcast on British television” and “an invitation to share an extended rape fantasy”.

What did Anderson think of the Mail’s attack? “It’s ridiculous. I mean, if you’re really paying attention, there’s more humanity in The Fall than in a lot of the other shows that are about killers that are on TV.” Doesn’t she agree that there are too many TV shows that have women’s corpses in them? She pauses. “There are too many corpses of women in life.”

I tell her how uneasy I was during last year’s finale, when a woman about to be attacked by Spector was seen from his visual perspective on the lavatory with her knickers around her ankles. Wasn’t she?

“No. I mean, obviously the level of her vulnerability is going to add tension, but is it somehow less worrying if somebody gets murdered or raped in their house when they have a three-year-old child in the room next to them? Is that somehow less vulnerable, less intimate, less over the top than seeing a woman sitting on the loo?”

At a press conference to launch this season — whose first episode indeed features one of Spector’s victims alone in her house with her daughter — creator Allan Cubitt said that if people thought The Fall was misogynistic, he would have failed “abjectly”.

His surest alibi is, obviously, his creation, Gibson, yet she too has proved a divisive figure: a career woman with no clear hinterland or family, irresistible to men but apparently indifferent to them except as sexual partners. I quote Anderson the cultural critic Lisa French who thought Gibson a “male character in women’s clothing”.

“The show carries an implicit message that women shouldn’t really be like Stella Gibson,” she wrote.

“There is danger for women in this message. It implies that success requires a choice, a life with personal relationships or a successful career.

The latter is depicted as leaving the woman alone, hardened and driven.”

“Do you think she comes across as being unsatisfied?” Anderson responds. “An unsatisfied human being? That she’s unhappy in some

Anderson as Stella Gibson in The Fall

sweatshirts and sweatpants so that some man doesn’t get hard?”

It is the way the programme is directed though, I insist. In the first of the new season, Gibson gets changed in the police loos in front of a lesbian officer who is her junior. “But you don’t see anything.” No, but it is awkward, uncomfortable. “Yes,” she says, as if I am once more missing the point.

And then there is the press conference in the first run where a button pops from Gibson’s shirt. What is that saying? “Well, I think that that is pointing to her vulnerability.

They’re talking about the fact that they have now come to the conclusion that it is a serial murderer. And the tension, not just sexual tension, but the human tension, the awkwardness tension, the embarrassment, all of that, is heightened to the nth degree because of the unfortunateness of that moment.”

Gibson, in fact, must be the least vulnerable woman cop ever on television. Compare her to Scott & Bailey or even Prime Suspect’s Jane Tennison. Anderson says there will be

a couple of moments in this run where she will show more vulnerability and “there’s something that happens that just completely pulls the rug from under her”.

Vulnerable is hardly a word I would apply to Anderson today, but, oddly enough, our previous encounters did leave me protective towards her. The first time was 19 years ago near the start of The X-Files. She had suffered postnatal depression on set, she told me and did not seem to have wholly recovered. In fact, her first marriage, to an assistant director on the series, Clyde Klotz, was heading for divorce.

During our next encounter, the Los Angeles one, I was a little horrified that, having spent months ruling out making more X-Files, she had signed up for more nevertheless.

In the 14 years since, every now and again a headline has made me wince on her behalf. In 2006 she divorced again, after a two-year marriage to Julian Ozanne, a documentary film-maker. Her relationship with Mark Griffiths, a businessman and the father of her two young sons ended in 2012, a year after her brother, Aaron, had died of a brain tumour aged 30.

She is 46 now and, I observe, it has not been an easy life. Has it hardened her? “Haven’t I had an easy life? Why do you say that?”

I recite why.

“I’ve had a very blessed life. I don’t see the end of my relationships as failures. Certainly, the times I’ve had with any of the partners that I’ve been with have been majoritively joyful and pleasant and I have some beautiful children to show for it. And I’m friendly with everybody, very friendly,” she says. When she is filming away, her sons stay with Griffiths, much as her daughter, Piper, did with Klotz before the pair relocated to London a dozen years ago.

“I mean, around the ending of the last relationship and my brother’s death, it was a very, very tough year and a half, but on the whole, other than that, if you’re talking about since the last time I saw you, I’ve had an extraordinary life.”

I feel all in all, that although I admire Anderson enormously — almost to tattoo point — I have spent a vigorous hour being bettered in an argument. Never mind Stella Gibson, she is a tough cookie, I say.

“I am a tough cookie,” she confirms.

The Fall starts Thursday, November 13 on BBC Two

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Professor Tanya Byron My ten-year-old granddaughter’s blood phobia is so bad that she faints at the sight of it

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My 10-year-old granddaughter has a serious phobia of blood. She has always been very anxious and cries when she sees it on herself or others. The blood drains from her face and she says that her eyes go funny as if they were going back in their sockets. She recently fainted at school after falling and grazing her knees. Her hands were still blue and freezing cold at the end of the day when I picked her up from school. She is developing at a fast rate and I fear how she is going to cope when her periods start. She is a very sporty child; loves football, netball, trampoline etc. No one can remember exactly when this phobia started and everyone tries to play it down and deal with it calmly, but it doesn’t get any better and if anything it seems worse. Please can you give any advice.

Felicity

Q

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A phobia is developed in response to a situation that elicits significant anxiety.

Being phobic literally means avoidance at all costs as the brain perceives a threat and acute anxiety is triggered. This results in immediate physiological, psychological and behavioural changes that lead to fight, flight or freeze — a primitive in-built survival response.

Hemophobia is the extreme and irrational fear of blood, a condition in which a person is likely to faint at the sight of blood, physical injury, or the anticipation of an injection, which is why it is called a blood-injury-nee y-needle phobia, because those are the panic triggering cues.

While it is estimated that about 44 per cent of all 6-8 year olds ds and 27 per cent of 9-12 year olds are mildly anxious in the face of blood or injury, only 2-3 per cent of children and adults will show phobic avoidance. oidance.

There is a strong genetic inheritance for blood phobics, approximately ely three to six times higher than other phobias, which also indicates a learnt behaviour if a parent shows panic in the face of blood.

While most phobic responses sponses are triggered by an increase in heart rate when faced by the phobic stimuli, for blood phobic ics the response is a sudden drop in heart rate, which can often lead to fainting. It is thought that this is a protective factor, as it reduces the chance of bleedingg to death and enables faster clotting.

The main treatment for any phobic reaction that is extreme treme and potentially life-limiting (eg, for a blood phobic avoiding all health care situations) is a process of “deconditioning” called systematic desensitisation training, where phobics train

A

Expose her gradually to stimuli such as cartoons depicting blood

themselves to react in a less catastrophic manner.

Systematic desensitisation is achieved by a process called gradual exposure, whereby a phobic is gently and regularly exposed to what they fear, and so becomes less sensitive.

Clearly a phobic individual avoids their feared situation at all costs and this avoidance both denies any opportunity to learn to manage that fear and reinforces the belief that the situation is totally unmanageable.

The process would begin with a gradual exposure to similar stimuli such as cartoons depicting blood or pictures of slight wounds in a medical book.

Alongside this, a phobic person will be taught to manage the panic that is triggered. For most phobias this would involve teaching relaxation strategies.

However, with blood phobia where the physiological response is a drop in heart rate, the techniques taught are those that increase blood pressure.

Your granddaughter should practise this by sitting in a comfortable chair and tensing the muscles in her arms, legs and trunk for about 10 to 15 seconds until she starts to feel a warm sensation in her head. Then, she should relax her body to a normal state for about 30 seconds and then repeat five times.

Within supportive families who understand the principles of systematic desensitisation, a personal training programme can be drawn up and managed without the need for outside professional support.

This is best imagined as a series of steps taken to reach the top of a steep staircase. This means working out what they can do now, deciding what they want to be able to do at the end, and fittingg as many “exposure” steps in between as needed. The first step can be as simple simp as staying in a situation that can jus just be managed now, but for longer than before. For a good video explanation, lanation, search the internet for “systematic matic desensitisation” and kidsinthehouse.com.

In your granddaughter’s programme ogramme she should draw a ladder and label the challenge lad at each step. Do some exposure work daily and don’t expect her to be completely anxiety free as comp she progresses from one step to the next. She should rate her anxiety from 0-10 as she starts each step and once her levels drop to five she should progress to the next.

Finally, most blood phobic women I work with do not wo show acute fear in the face sh of their menstrual blood as they und understand it is not associated with injury and associat because ause the blood is a different colour to that from a wound.

For more information, search for “phobia leaflet” leaflet at bps.org.uk If you have ve a family problem, email proftanyabyron@thetimes.co.uk proftanyaby

Monday November 3 2014 | the times

You’re in luck.

A growing number of ‘preppers’ are stocking up for a pandemic in Britain.

Tom Whipple joins them in the aisles selling protective gear and crossbows

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t is, says Lincoln Miles, “only a matter of time” before ebola arrives in Britain. When it does it might be contained. Or it might not. “The worst-case scenario is that it spreads and people start dropping like flies,” he says. In that case, he has a plan. “I will bunker down in the house, lock the doors and stay contained.” He has enough food and water to last a month. He also has something else that’s just as essential — something that he somewhat euphemistically calls “defence supplies”.

The purpose of these supplies? To keep away you: the people who haven’t got a month’s water, the people who laughed at people like Miles — the people who, like a lazy cat to his industrious machete-hoarding red hen, blithely assumed that the summer of civilisation would continue indefinitely, even as they ignored the signs of its approaching winter. “If things turn bad,” says Miles, “and there is no food or water, people are going to do whatever they can for their families.”

It is difficult to say how many people there are like Miles in the UK. “Preppers” tend not to advertise their presence for precisely this reason: come catastrophe their well-stocked basement will contain the most valuable commodities in the world — food and water. “They keep it secret,” says Miles. “It could be your neighbour or someone you pass in the street; you wouldn’t know.”

They are the people who are ready for the end of society’s safety net. A safety net that for all we take it for granted, is in the history of humanity both an oddity and, where it existed, fleeting. They are the people who have a shovel in their car in case of snow, a needle and thread in their pocket in case of a button falling off and a month of bottled water in their shed in case of a global pandemic of haemorrhagic fever.

While Miles might not know who is a prepper, what he can tell me is that their numbers seem to be increasing.

He knows this because as well as being a prepper himself, he is also a supplier to others. His small warehouse outside Bedford is, depending on your point of view, either the greatest apocalypse supply dump in Britain or a mid-life crisis in shop form. Or possibly both.

There are crossbows with laser sights and machetes with serrated edges. There are wood-burning electricity generators and water purification tablets. There is a zombieshaped target for air rifles. And, taking me into a room round the back, there is what is currently Preppers Shop UK’s (preppersshop.co.uk, if you’re thinking of stocking up yourself) bestselling item: NBC suits. The initials stand for nuclear, biological and chemical, the three attacks they supposedly protect you from, of which the “B” is presently the most pertinent.

“In the last few weeks we’ve sold 300,” says Miles. As best he knows, the few suits that remain are the last in the UK — and probably Europe. “We can’t get them from anywhere.

Everyone seems to be sold out.” The government might still be assuring us that Britain is safe from ebola, but there are at least 300 people who think differently.

The prepping community is well aware of what the rest of the world thinks of them. “Idiots, running around the woods hunting zombies,” says Miles. They themselves have a different definition. To be a prepper could perhaps be best described as a mix of a wish to be self-reliant and to have a practical insurance policy, whether for natural disasters such as flooding or the electricity getting cut off in a storm or, in extremis, for the day when the other sort of insurance policy does not even exist.

On the Facebook page of UK

The fear of ebola has proven even more infectious than the disease Preppers, the timeline links to news articles that read together like a countdown to (a somewhat eclectic) apocalypse. “Energy firms threaten brownouts.” “Japan could be destroyed within the next hundred years in giant volcanic eruption.” “North Korea calls South’s president a prostitute.” “Deadly MERS virus spreading out of control.”

“Massing Ukrainian troops.” And, a little incongruously, last April, “Happy Easter!” In the disparate communities around the world and in Britain, there is one apocalyptic worry that has taken precedence over all these other horsemen — and that is ebola.

The disease is, health officials assure us, facilitated as much by poor infrastructure as by the virus itself. It spreads slowly, requires direct contact and the surest way of defeating it is rapid and efficient reporting and quarantine, just the sort of thing that Western public health organisations are extremely good at facilitating.

Even so, the world has been manifestly unprepared for its spread.

When the outbreak was first detected, most researchers thought it would fizzle out — like it had done every time before. When it resolutely refused to do that they thought it would at least be contained. In the months that followed, though, it has not just been the members of the UK Preppers page who have been using apocalyptic language. Dr Thomas Frieden, director of the US Centres for Disease Control says, “The level of outbreak is beyond anything we’ve seen — or even imagined.” Dr Joanne

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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I’ve got one ebola biohazard suit left PAUL ROGERS FOR THE TIMES

Left: Tom Whipple tries on an ebola suit and gas mask. Above, from top: Lincoln Miles at his Bedfordshire Preppers Shop; crossbows in the store

Liu, president of Médecins Sans Frontières, says, “Riots are breaking out. Isolation centres are overwhelmed. Health workers on the frontline are becoming infected and are dying in shocking numbers.”

Officially, 14,000 people are now infected — the majority of them will die or are already dead. The true figure is believed to be a multiple of that. It now no longer seems absurd to talk in the hundreds of thousands.

The fear of ebola has proven even more infectious than the disease. A US health worker returning from the region found herself forced into an isolation tent despite not having the disease. At an American conference on tropical diseases that started yesterday, organisers warned people who had been to the region to stay away, worried that the world’s experts on treating the condition could find themselves the epicentre of a US

outbreak. Ebola might not be physically in the West yet, but its emotional effects clearly are. So although the people Miles supplies may have started the summer on the fringes, to them at least it feels they are better described as the vanguard.

Few more so than Luke, who describes being a prepper as “being ready for a situation before it comes”.

Luke is better known to his YouTube fans as XbowMax. In April he posted a video in which he acted out what might happen come a pandemic. “It’s a ‘shit hits the fan’ scenario,” he tells his viewers gruffly, while slogging through some woods. “The towns are in chaos.

There is rioting, looting and the food network has broken down. Society is on a knife edge.”

The scenario starts after he has spent a few weeks locked in his house working through supplies and has now “bugged out”. He has taken the

I always stay within the law. I don’t have cannons or anything

rucksack of essentials he always has ready in his house (he has another in his car in case he gets stuck in traffic while fleeing London) and gone to camp in the woods. A friend (in the real world his brother) has come to meet him at an arranged place, but it turns out he is sick. XbowMax keeps him in quarantine and, after a hearty meal of pigeon and mashed potato cooked over a campfire, leaves him to die. “I said if we make another video I’ll try to make sure he is not killed,” he tells me.

There are a few responses to this.

You can dismiss it as paranoid subBear Grylls machismo. You can believe it is a bit silly but that there are worse hobbies a man can have as he enters middle age. Or you can think all that and still have that small niggle at the back of your mind: what if he is right?

What if there is even a tiny chance he is right? “Every civilisation has had its comeuppance at some point,” he says.

“Look at Greece or Rome or the Indian Empire. At some point all these places have their time of glory and then ruin.”

Luke knows that the end of the world is unlikely to be nigh — “There are worse things to worry about, I ride a motorbike every day” — but, equally, he has enough food in his house for him and his wife to last six weeks — and the means to defend it. “I always stay within the law though,” he explains. “I don’t have cannons or anything.” He knows how to hunt, as the pigeon demonstrates. “Ninety per cent of people wouldn’t know their

arse from their elbow when it comes to skinning a rabbit,” he says. He also knows that the same 90 per cent of people would probably mock him.

Is the idiot, though, the one hunting pigeons in the woods in an NBC suit, or is it the one who hasn’t stocked up on canned goods, bottled water and a gas mask? “Obviously I get a bit of teasing. The interesting thing is that it happens when people are in a group.

When people are on their own they are interested, they ask questions.

I get a lot of stick at work, but also a lot of respect.”

On the UK Preppers forum (sample post: “What are you dehydrating?”) they are also wary of mockery and ask anyone from the media to declare themselves. When I comply, a moderator gets in touch. I get the strong impression it is to discourage me from representing them as the zombies-in-wooded-area kind of preppers. “Although we try very hard to keep this site and its content directed at the average person, and to help them prepare for everyday problems such as harsh winters, unemployment, etc, the odd person does make it through and have desires on more conspiratorial topics,” he says.

Nevertheless, some of the busiest threads on the forum are about ebola, about when it is time to “bug out”, about whether we are being told the truth, about whether it is a secret attempt by “global elites” to eradicate the population and (to be fair) about whether the sort of people who post the latter sort of comment should really be on the forum.

In Lincoln Miles’s Bedfordshire warehouse business is brisk. So much so, in fact, that he is already planning ahead to Christmas. Looking for something for that difficult-to-buy-foruncle? How about a pre-packed bugout bag? “It’s your basic bag,” explains Miles. “There’s something to sleep in, hexi burners, a mess tin, torch, fishing kit.” Or maybe you fancy getting him something more advanced. Well for that you’d want the weapons kit — complete with knife and machete, naturally, but also a crossbow that Miles promises will shoot straight through your garden fence and that of your neighbour’s as well.

“These are our Christmas packages.

Hopefully we’ll have them flying out.”

Get them while you can.

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arts

Why Modern Family is this decade’s Friends

It has won Emmys and President Obama’s affection and is a hit around the world. Hermione Hoby joins the Dunphy clan on the set of the latest series

I

t’s Modern Family’s weekly script read-through at Fox Studios in Los Angeles. As Sofia Vergara, the highest-paid actress on US television, who earns a reported $325,000 an episode, speaks her first words in her thick Colombian accent, they elicit a particularly loud and welcoming laugh from the room of writers and directors. Then Ed O’Neill, who plays paterfamilias Jay Pritchett, delivers a seemingly mild line about “not overthinking things” and everyone creases up.

That, as the show’s co-creator Steve Levitan explains later, was an in-joke about O’Neill not liking to waste time in rehearsal. “Ed loves to get it,” — Levitan snaps his fingers — “and be done. He is a consummate professional but when he feels like you’re beating a dead horse, he wants to move it on: ‘Don’t we have this?’

So they wrote that in to his character and he got a big kick out of it. Another actor might go, ‘How dare you?’

Ed thinks it’s hilarious.”

Modern Family is this decade’s Friends. For the past half decade, the show — which follows the fortunes and misfortunes of Jay’s extended family — has won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy series every year. Eric Stonestreet, the straight actor who plays Cameron, the gay character married to Jay’s son, has won two Emmys, as has Ty Burrell who plays Phil Dunphy, Jay’s other son-in-law.

It also has other high-profile fans: in 2012 both Michelle Obama, the first lady, and Ann Romney, wife of Mitt

Romney, the former presidential candidate named it their favourite TV show. “So that was a surreal time for us,” Levitan laughs. He in fact met President Obama at what he describes, with modest vagueness, as “a breakfast thing”. He had. he says, “my little handshake moment”, but felt too embarrassed to tell the president that he was co-creator of the first family’s favourite show.

The crucial difference, though, is that the programme isn’t just about the laughs. It’s also quietly progressive.

The extended family depicted includes a mixed-race marriage, and Cameron and Mitchell, the gay couple, adopt a Vietnamese baby. That socially liberal message is important to Levitan. “If we are promoting a more accepting and tolerant society, that’s a wonderful thing.” he says.

The Pritchett-Dunphy clan is

The general make-up of the Dunphys was loosely based on my life

headed by the lovably grumpy Jay Pritchett in his second marriage to a younger woman, a firecracker Colombian called Gloria, played with ardent excess by Vergara. Jay and Gloria have a baby son and she has a teenage son from her previous marriage. This is Manny, who likes to dress in Hugh Hefner-esque dressing gowns while partaking in dainty cups of espresso: a 14-year-old who appreciates the finer things in life.

Then there’s Jay’s adult son, Mitchell, a lawyer married to his doting husband, Cameron. Together they are daddy and daddy to Lily, their adopted daughter.

The “straightest”, but also the silliest couple of the three are the Dunphys, who comprise Claire, Jay’s adult daughter, and her husband Phil, a self-professed “cool dad” whose nuggets of self-help have been christened “Phil’s-osophy” (“Success is 1 per cent inspiration, 98 per cent perspiration and 2 per cent attention to detail.”).

Together, they’re parents to two girls, Haley and Alex, and one boy, Luke, the youngest. Like The Office before it, Modern Family is shot as a mockumentary, allowing for cut-aways from the “action” to seated, direct-tocamera “interviews” that tend to deliver precision-perfect one-line zingers.

Like Phil, Levitan has three kids, a son and two older daughters who are now college age, “so the general makeup of the Dunphys was loosely based on my life”, he says. Unlike Dunphy, though, Levitan is not a hapless estate agent, but one of the most successful men working in television. The 52year-old moved to Hollywood in 1989 and rose rapidly up its ranks of TV

Steve Levitan, the co-creator of Modern Family. Above left: the series’ gay couple Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron (Eric Stonestreet)

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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BARRY J HOLMES

The cast of Modern Family and, below, Sofia Vergara, who plays Gloria and is American TV’s highest-paid actress

Find out what our critics think of the latest TV shows — from Homeland to The Missing thetimes.co.uk/tvreviews

comedy writers, winning an Emmy in 1996 for his work writing Frasier.

He and his business partner, Christopher Lloyd, met in 2006 and formed the production company Picture Day. They created Modern Family five years ago, inspired by how their conversations kept returning to the silly things their kids had done over the weekend. When it first aired in 2009, Modern Family was watched by 12.6 million people and now the show is a hit in 26 countries.

Not everyone is so enamoured, or so convinced that it is as socially accepting as Levitan says. Many viewers have perceived racial stereotyping in Vergara’s character, who spends most of her time yelling. In 2012 Levitan dismissed this: “We’re not going to try and represent every version of the Hispanic person in the world. It’s impossible and would be offensive to try to do so.”

There have also been complaints that Mitch and Cam, the family’s gay couple, are less physically affectionate than the two straight couples, as though there were some vague homophobic squeamishness on the part of the show’s producers. Yet a recent episode, not yet screened in the UK, in which Cam showers his “hugsband” with love post-honeymoon, was filled with public displays of affection.

Was that a deliberate response to these criticisms? “No. We tend not to take what we hear online

too seriously,” Levitan says. “If we noticed a big general trend then we might stop and take notice, but you’re always going to have people criticising.”

Nevertheless, that Claire Dunphy now works (at a construction supply warehouse) certainly seems like a response to criticisms of sexism, specifically that the show’s women were homemakers while the men all had careers. “Not so Modern Family” ran the headline of an article in The Christian Science Monitor.

A short walk across Fox Plaza is the vast hangar that houses the sets of the three families’ homes. Levitan looks the epitome of “expensive casual” in blue jeans and a crisp white shirt as he strolls between the sets with a bottle of kombucha (a faddish health drink) in one hand and a natty little orange-cased MacBook Ma in the other.

As the cast continue the read-through, the atmosphere seems idyllic — but the show has had its tensions between actors. In 2012, te the entire adult cast attempted to renegotiate their contracts for higher per-episode fees. O’Neill had already been earning more than the rest of the cast, at reportedly more than $100,000 an episode, but supported his cast-mates in seeking raises and got a smaller raise so his salary had parity with theirs. The actors sued 20th Century Fox Television and the stalemate was eventually broken in July 2012 when the five br

adults’ salaries were raised to a reported $150,000 an episode that would increase as the series went on.

“That was a blip,” Levitan says.

“That could have and should have been handled quietly, in the background, more quickly and it would have been fine. Everybody gets what they’re worth to the show.” He shifts uncomfortably at Jay and Gloria’s kitchen counter. “I don’t want to talk about it too much, but everybody’s happy. And certain people have certain . . . There’s a certain hierarchy.”

Happy or not, at some point all good things must come to an end.

The show’s young characters are now growing up and going to college, which, Levitan admits, makes him sad.

“Just like when I’m watching home movies with my own kids and I see my son with that little high voice and he’s tiny and so adorable and then I see him now and he’s still, in my mind, adorable, but he’s got a low voice and he’s taller than me. Watching the kids grow up is very bittersweet.”

The question of exactly when the show does end, Levitan admits, is one that bothers him all the time. “They always say wait till you feel like it’s the right time and you’re probably a season past it. I don’t know when exactly that will be. We’ll keep it going as long as we feel like we’re doing good shows.

“Every week, without fail, on Twitter, one person will say, ‘Well that’s it, that’s the worst Modern Family ever.

I’m done watching the show, it’s off the rails.’ And then the next tweet is: ‘Best episode ever of Modern Family. These guys are hitting it out of the park.’ So . . .” He shrugs and smiles. “Go figure.”

The sixth series of Modern Family begins tonight on Sky1, 8pm

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

Black and white issue

Tesco titan talks tough

Page 39

Page 40

Directors to resist ethnic quotas

Terry Leahy rattles his sabre again

Passing the invention test

Motor industry looks to future Page 43

BRYN LENNON / GETTY IMAGES

Low rates reflect depth of crisis business commentary Patrick Hosking

I

t’s not so long ago that this Thursday was being pencilled in as crunch date for the economy.

As recently as June, analysts predicted the day after bonfire night would be the moment policymakers would grit their teeth and push up base rate for the first time in six years.

Amid the appropriate whiff of gunpowder, a whole generation of younger borrowers who have never known the traditional switchback ride of the interest rate cycle would discover that mortgage bills can indeed go up.

Another generation — of mostly older savers — would be given the first sign that the long agony of rockbottom annuity rates and savings returns might at last be ending.

But it wasn’t to be. The warning in June from Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, that rates might rise sooner than markets expected has long since been overtaken by events. There is more chance of a catherine wheel spinning into outer space than the Bank this week lifting base rate from 0.5 per cent.

Inflation is quiescent, real wages are sinking, the housing market is beginning to cool and our biggest trading partner, the eurozone, is as sickly as ever. While America is shutting down its money creation scheme, Japan is cranking up its one. The era of super-lax monetary policy is not over by a long chalk.

Businesses will cheer, not least those dependent on Christmas trade. Any rate rise is now seen as at least six or nine months away, far enough into the future not to dampen December spending spirits.

Consumer confidence is improving.

But the failure even to be able to embark on a return to more normal levels of interest rates underlines just how deep the world’s economic problems remain.

New plan needed

T

hose encouraging auguries for Christmas come too late to help Marks & Spencer, which reports its interim figures on Wednesday (report, page 47). It’s a critical moment for Marc Bolland, who after five years in the job has yet to convince investors that his investment in infrastructure, subbrands and the website is paying off.

The warm weather is bound to have depressed recent clothing sales. And the intensification of supermarket price wars may have hit margins in the food departments.

M&S has been a disaster for the kind of patient, long-term investor who believes that there has to be value in such a dominant and even now well-loved British institution.

Over 15 years, shares in Next are up 1,033 per cent. Primark’s owner, Associated British Foods, which also reports this week, is up 341 per cent.

M&S shares are down 2 per cent.

Patience and nurturing haven’t worked. Unless Mr Bolland delivers very soon, shareholders will demand something more radical.

Not so simple

T

he £3 billion added to the value of Barclays on Friday afternoon gives a pretty good clue as to who blinked first in negotiations between banks and regulators over the new calibration of the leverage ratio. Banks will be a little safer and taxpayers a little more protected by this toughening up of minimum capital levels, but not as much as some had hoped — or banks had feared.

Purists won’t much like the huge complexity built into the new rules either. The point about a crude leverage ratio was its simplicity and the fact it could not be gamed by reckless bankers or ducked by timid regulators. Instead the Bank of England has introduced human judgment into the calculations. An element of the perceived riskiness of bank assets will be built into the supplementary capital requirements for large banks, while the additional counter-cyclical supplement will depend entirely on judgment.

Other rules on capital already, rightly, allow subjective opinion to play a part in bank regulation. But one lesson of the financial crisis is that human judgment can be way off beam. The beauty of a raw minimum leverage ratio was that it was a simple, uncheatable backstop.

The sheer complexity of the new regime is a backward step. While the high priests in Threadneedle Street debate the alphabet soup of G-SIBs, TLAC and RWA density (don’t ask), the danger is they miss the wood for the trees. Not for the first time.

All clear for banks?

H

SBC is forecast to set aside about £400 million in its third-quarter figures today to pay fines for alleged rigging of the foreign currency markets. If so it will bring to £3 billion the total earmarked by banks for the scandal.

After Libor, PPI, swaps, mortgage-backed securities mis-selling and forex, could this be the end for bank misconduct revelations? Possibly not.

HMRC has been asked by German regulators to examine dividendrelated trades. In a nutshell, these helped clients improperly to gain tax credits on dividends across multiple jurisdictions.

There is no evidence thus far that British investment bankers engaged in this activity. But given their appetite for regulatory arbitrage and complex deal structuring in every other corner of the securities industry, would anyone bet on it? patrick.hosking@thetimes.co.uk

Staying ahead of the peloton

S

ales at Wiggle, the online retailer of cycling, running and

swimming gear, rose 19 per cent to £168 million in the year to February (Richard Fletcher writes).

However, the company, which claims to be the largest online tri-sports

retailer in the world by sales, reported a small fall in earnings to £13 million, as the strong pound hit overseas business.

“The underlying performance . . . has been

strong, with fast growth in Europe and clear evidence of further market share gains in the UK. The . . . offering continued to evolve,” Stefan Barden, the chief executive, said.

Bosses on edge over holiday pay rulings James Hurley

Businesses are facing a bill running to billions of pounds from employment law rulings this week in which workers claim they have been underpaid for annual statutory leave for years.

Employers fear that the outcome of two potentially explosive cases before the employment tribunal could force businesses to upgrade holiday pay by including a calculation on voluntary overtime and commissions.

The rulings, which are due tomorrow, could also leave them with enormous liabilities on backdated claims going back to the last century.

Business leaders are warning that the rulings could force some companies to the wall. There is evidence, too, that the issue is also holding up some takeover deals.

Holiday wages normally are calculated on basic pay, but workers and trade unions argue that overtime and commission should be included, too, as these can regularly form a large proportion of total take home pay.

The British Chambers of Commerce warned that employers could be facing “significant financial losses which could force them to close their doors altogether”.

Marcus Mason, policy manager for employment and skills at the BCC, said: “The government must intervene to protect British businesses from the potential damage this ruling could cause — or many British companies and jobs could be put at risk.”

The cases — Wood v Hertel UK and Fulton v Bear Scotland — hinge on how the European Union’s Working Time Directive is interpreted in Britain.

While workers are entitled to four weeks’ holiday pay, there is little guidance on how it should be calculated.

Officials are understood to be making contingency plans to help businesses to manage the implications if the Employment Appeals Tribunal upholds an earlier decision that overtime should be included in holiday pay.

A separate judgment, expected next year, will deal with the inclusion of sales commissions. Lawyers are warn-

ing that the ruling could see claims backdated as far back as 1998, when the European Working Time Regulations were implemented into British law.

Sarah Henchoz, a partner at Allen & Overy, the law firm, said that the issue was causing such concern among businesses that it was holding up M&A deals: “This is potentially a very big problem for employers. Buyers of UK companies are asking for indemnity clauses from the sellers in case they have to go back and settle a huge bill.

Whatever you put in, will the indemnity be wide enough? It’s an unquantifiable liability.”

Employment experts have warned that a claims industry that helps workers to seek retrospective holiday pay could spring up to exploit the ruling.

The government has intervened in the cases to side with employers. “We understand the deep concern felt by many employers and have intervened in the Employment Appeal Tribunal cases to make our views clear,” a spokesman for the business department said.

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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Need to know Your 5-minute digest The week ahead today Is Michael O’Leary, to use his own vernacular, still p***ing off the passengers? The chief executive of Ryanair is trying to make Europe’s largest budget airline more touchy-feely by offering reserved seating and business class-style packages. Mr O’Leary has not suddenly become one of the great Irish philanthropists, for he knows there is money to be made charging marginally higher fares to passengers who will pay them — easyJet has been doing this for years. The fruits of the charm offensive will be apparent in Ryanair’s half-year figures. In the first quarter, profits were up 150 per cent on revenues 11 per cent better.

Interims: Ryanair, e2v technologies AGM/EGM: HSBC Holdings, New World Resources, Plutus PowerGen, Telecity Group Trading Statements: HSBC Holdings, International Ferro Metals Economics: UK: PMI manufacturing. US: Non-farm payrolls

tomorrow Associated British Foods, owner of the discount fashion chain Primark, is expected to reveal a rise in profits for the retailer when it releases its trading statement. Brokers at Credit Suisse expect the chain to report a 28 per cent lift in adjusting operating profit to £659 million as it continues to pull in customers and open new stores across Europe. As well as Primark’s continued success, AB Foods has been strengthened by growth in its grocery division, despite the impact on its sugar division of falling prices because of the expiration of European Union sugar quotas in three years.

Interims: Banco Santander, DCC, Alpha Bank, Advanced Computer Software, 888 Holdings Finals: Associated British Foods; Imperial Tobacco AGM/EGM: Premaitha Health, Mobile Streams, Monitise, Romgaz, DX (group), Akers Biosciences; Powerflute Trading Statements: Legal & General, Weir, PPHE Hotel Group, Persimmon, Unite, Jardine Lloyd Thompson, Biome Technologies Economics: UK: PMI construction

wednesday A first-quarter update from JD Wetherspoon is unlikely to diverge too far from the pub company’s usual combination of rising like-for-like sales — by at least 5 per cent — and falling margins in the face of higher rates, gaming machine duty and carbon levy costs. As the Aldi or Lidl of the pub trade, the company has proved itself reluctant to compensate

A question of taking responsibility Gary Parkinson Trade Secrets

A

couple of times a year, a letter drops into the pigeon holes of many of those business hacks still clinging to their jobs with bleeding fingernails across what used to be called Fleet Street.

It’s an invitation from a big market research firm to take part in a survey about and for the financial services industry.

Arrange a time and a place, usually a handy coffee shop, and a nice, polite lady turns up with a dictaphone and a questionnaire thicker than your average day trader.

For the next two hours, said hacks bluff and bluster in a shamelessly transparent attempt to paper over yawning chasms of ignorance about the industry, through multi-guess questions uncomfortably reminiscent of barely scraped O levels and silences that ache like gout when the tape is switched on and some kind of elaboration is expected.

There are two reasons that the opinion-shapers and thought-leaders of Her Majesty’s Fourth Estate acquiesce readily to such discomfort. Front and centre is the 205 quid payable to a favourite charity, usually their own wine bill now that expenses are too tricky to diddle. A close second is that the survey offers a terrific platform to duff up, disparage and otherwise stick the slipper into those firms and their public relations apparatchiks — all those idiot sons and carb-starved velociraptors with the High Street Ken whinnies, rictus smiles and cold, dead eyes who get paid thrice the amount the hacks do (and then some) to stonewall, smarm, browbeat, flirt and fib, and call it work.

World markets FTSE 100 6,546.47 (+82.92)

6,650

FTSE 250 15,501.37 (+203.05)

15,600

6,450

15,200

6,250

14,800

6,050

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

5,850

Dow Jones 17,390.52 (+195.10) 17,600

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Nikkei 16,413.76 (+755.56)

14,400

16,600

17,200

16,200

16,800

15,800

16,400

15,400

16,000

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

15,000

The week’s biggest movers Company St James’s Place Funds under management jump TUI Travel Merger is approved Smith & Nephew Sales rise Barclays Less onerous rule changes ARM Holdings Positive broker comment Royal Mail Further broker caution Capita Misses out on a big contract Randgold Resources Unrest in Burkina Faso Fresnillo Cheaper precious metal Standard Chartered Profits tumble

Plus, the hacks get to be nice about their few mates who still pick up the odd lunch tab and spoon-feed them the occasional bit of goss.

Half a dozen or so big firms commission the survey. The quizzer doesn’t tell the quizzed, but it doesn’t take Woodward and Bernstein to sniff out who’s paying.

Alongside the the usual brand perception guff — how could Company A improve its image? Erm . . . cease trading?

— a thick thread runs throughout the questioning, about something called “corporate social responsibility”.

The stock response from any hack out of short trousers is to cough latte over the nice lady with the dictaphone,

Change 9.3% 8.6% 7.5% 6.9% 6.8% -4.2% -5.0% -8.6% -9.3% -16.1%

laughing so hard the stitch kicks in. Quoted companies concerned with anything other than rinsing customers as thoroughly as possible to maximise profits to inflate bosses’ own take-home?

Ahahahahaha . . .

Not just financial services, either. Traditionally, mining and oil and gas companies have been the problem children of CSR. Try this for a business model. Find yourself an asset somewhere bone-grindingly poor. Raise some money flogging shares on AIM. Bribe the local big men and government bigwigs with Mercs and brown envelopes, refurb the president’s office, get the nod to exploit your project. Kick the locals off it. Employ them

only for menial or dangerous jobs. Ship in a load of ex-pats to do the clever, well-paid stuff. Ship in hookers to keep the miners happy. Blight the local environment, poison the water, nick the gold.

By the time the local government works out how much dough you’re pinching and renationalises your mine, you’ve enough for your yacht and those daft investors still in are left holding the baby.

The mine chuggs on uneconomically for another five years before getting mothballed.

A decade later, the country’s economy is still in the toilet. It needs external investment, so the new government offers tax holidays for rights to the same mine. Some other bandit in another expensive suit raises more money on the London market. Off we go again. Neat, eh?

Even MPs, “surprised” that Jo’burg has tougher quality control than London, are waking up to the idea that this sort of thing might not be too clever for the City’s reputation. Last week, a group of them chivvied the financial regulator to better police resource companies and introduce a social responsibility index, covering environmental and social conduct, to help investors to weigh risk generally.

Actually, there is already a CSR index of all miners and oil and gas companies quoted in London. Launched last month by CSR 21, a British-based consultancy, it shows the big boys making an effort, but the mid and small-cap companies, traditionally the bandits, still doing little or nothing. They should. For their shareholders, CSR is no joke.

What the papers said THE SUNDAY TIMES 6 Anglo American: The mining tycoon Mick Davis has tabled a multibillionpound offer for a big chunk of Anglo’s empire in the latest attempt by the former boss of Xstrata to a launch his new vehicle, X2 Resources 6 Pinnacle: A consortium led

by Axa, the French fund manager, is in talks to revive the City of London Tower, known as the Helter Skelter, on which construction stalled eight years ago 6 Gordon Ramsey: The celebrity chef is working with advisers at BDO to find an investor willing to buy half his restaurant empire in a deal that may value it at £80 million to help fund its expansion

6 Standard Chartered: Peter Sands, the bank’s troubled chief executive, has received public backing from its second-largest shareholder, Martin Gilbert, the chief executive of Aberdeen Asset Management 6 Camelot: The National Lottery operator enjoyed a surge in profits last year while ticket sales and the amount awarded to good causes fell. Profits rose from £54.6 million to £58.5 million 6 CSR: Hedge funds have been building stakes in the microchip designer amid speculation that there could be a £1.5 billion-plus bid for the Londonlisted company.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

MAIL ON SUNDAY

6 Fever Tree: The upmarket tonic water maker is looking to put some fizz back into AIM, London’s junior stock market, when it presses the button on a £150 million flotation this week 6 United Biscuits: The maker of McVitie’s is at the centre of a fierce bid battle involving companies from three countries. American cereal giant Kellogg’s, Turkey’s Ulker and Britain’s Burton Biscuits have all lodged bids 6 Ikea: Britain’s love of flat pack furniture is so great that £1.4 billion was spent in the Swedish company’s UK stores in the past year 6 Lloyds Banking Group: An internal investigation into foreign exchange rigging has found no evidence of manipulation.

6 Topshop: Sir Philip Green will open a big store on New York’s Fifth Avenue this week, days after signing a deal with Beyoncé, the singer, to produce a clothing range 6 HSBC: Britain’s largest bank is expected this week to put aside hundreds of millions of pounds to cover an expected fine for rigging foreign exchange markets.

Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland between them have announced provisions of £900 million for fines 6 Southeastern: The London to Kent railway line, which was rated worst for customer satisfaction recently, has recorded a fivefold jump in pre-tax profits to £12.8 million, triggering a £5 million dividend for Govia, its only shareholder.

by pushing up the price of its food and drink. Tim Martin, its founder and chairman, is not about to change the habit of a lifetime by raising prices.

Interims: Marks & Spencer, Lancashire Holdings, Wincanton, Smurfit Kappa, First Derivatives, Avocet Mining, FirstGroup Finals: Applied Graphene Materials AGM/EGM: Quoram, Jupiter European Opportunities Trust, Schroder Japan Growth Fund; Infrastructure India, Africa Oilfield Logistics, Haynes Publishing Trading Statement: Old Mutual, JD Wetherspoon, Aer Lingus, Meggitt, esure, Hunting, Moneycorp Economics: UK: PMI services

thursday After a weak first half as the result of an increase in Polish duty, third-quarter trading from Stock Spirits, the vodka maker, is expected to meet forecasts for a 2 per cent rise in organic volumes. While activity in Poland remains soft, the second half should benefit from the rollout of the Beam Suntory distribution agreement. The group, which floated a year ago, will be questioned about progress in its search for acquisitions in its central and eastern European heartland.

Interims: Coca-Cola HBC, Shanks Group, AstraZeneca, Tate & Lyle, Randgold Resources, Cable & Wireless Communications, Hellenic Carriers, Halfords, Inmarsat, Dairy Crest, Experian Finals: Hangar8 AGM/EGM: Afi Development, Thor Mining, Daniel Stewart Securities, Hansard Global, New Star Investment Trust Trading Statement: Schroders, RSA Insurance, Stock Spirits, Synthomer, Rightmove, Beazley, Cobham, Intu Properties, Gem Diamonds, Croda International, Promethean World, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Wm Morrison Supermarkets Economics: UK: Industrial production, manufacturing production, Bank of England rate announcement & asset purchase target. EMU: ECB rate announcement

friday Admiral Group reports on trading for the third quarter. In August, the insurance company that owns Confused.com said there were signs that motor insurance premiums were no longer falling, but no firm evidence that they were yet on the rise.

Investors will want to know if that has changed.

Interims: National Grid AGM/EGM: Weatherly International, Ark Therapeutics, Alpha Bank, Galliford Try, Drax Trading Statements: Capital & Counties Properties, Admiral Group, Tullow Oil, SpiraxSarco Engineering, RentokilInitial, Bovis Homes Economics: UK: Trade balance US: Non-farm payrolls

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Business

Carbon tax threatens power stations with early closure, claims coal lobby JOHN GILES / PA

Robert Lea Industrial Editor

A week after National Grid warned of power shortages from this winter onwards, the chancellor is about to be told that he is risking losing a quarter of the country’s power-generating capacity because of his carbon tax.

Research by Nera, an economics consultancy, suggests that George Osborne’s carbon price floor is inflating the cost of power by 7 per cent and, if it remains in place, could lead to two thirds of Britain’s coal-fired power stations, which together produce about 35 per cent of the nation’s electricity, being closed because they are commercially unviable.

With the autumn statement due next month, representatives of the British coal industry will meet Mr Osborne this week to urge him to think again about the carbon price floor, which taxes the users of fossil fuels.

The chancellor effectively admitted in his spring budget that the carbon tax was too aggressive when he agreed to cap it at £18.08 per tonne of CO2 emitted from next year. That is almost double the £9.55 it is running at now, but significantly less than original plans to increase it on an escalator to £30 per tonne by 2020.

The coal lobby is arguing that if the chancellor continues to levy the carbon tax against power plants, it will hasten the closure of most of them.

While environmental campaigners will argue that the point of the carbon price floor is to wean the country off fossil fuels, Coalpro, the Confederation of UK Coal Producers, argues that not only will that leave the economy without a significant amount of its baseload generation, but also it will prevent the industry in investing in carbon capture and storage technology, which could enable clean coal power stations to exist into the 2030s and beyond.

While many of Britain’s deep coalmines have closed or are scheduled to close, several open-cast facilties continue to supply significant amounts to the nation’s coal-fired power fleet.

Coalpro will say that British industry is being taxed at four times the rate of its

Oxford is set to get yet another new rail line as plans are on track to further reverse the Beeching cuts around the university city.

Chiltern Railways will unveil plans this week to reinstate passenger services along the Cowley branch line to the south and east of the city and to connect it directly with London.

The Cowley line is a freight-only line servicing the city’s BMW Mini factory.

Chiltern, however, believes that with both a science park and a business park situated close to the line and with big housing estates on the wrong side of the city for the mainline railway station, it should reopen the Cowley branch to the public for the first time in 50 years.

The move could have the side-effect of opening up factory capacity at the Mini plant, which houses several car parks for the use of workers otherwise unable to get to the plant.

“There is poor connectivity and huge potential in southeast Oxford, a city which suffers with congestion,” Rob

Oil industry told to buy British or miss out Tim Webb Energy Editor

Coal-fired power stations, such as Eggborough, provide 35 per cent of the nation’s electricity but most could close by 2030

counterparts on the Continent. They are penalised via the European Union’s emissions trading scheme, which is running at about £4.70 per tonne of carbon. British industry has to pay the European ETS plus the chancellor’s carbon price floor tax.

John Campbell, of Coalpro, said that the body would tell the chancellor that unless this changed many of the coalfired generators would “close in the early 2020s, but there is a real risk that

many could close before the end of this decade, adding significant pressures to energy security and affordability”.

Scrapping the carbon price floor would mean the chancellor forgoing a net £500 million in tax revenues.

Mr Campbell says that the prize is bigger: “The carbon tax is a tax on household energy bills, on industry, on economic growth and on jobs. It does nothing to support low-carbon investment nor reduce emissions. The UK

will reap huge net economic rewards in the short, medium and long term by removing it. CCS with coal is a ‘must do’ in tackling global emissions. If the UK is to take a lead role in developing CCS over the next decade and deploying it as part of a balanced energy mix, then we need to ensure continuity and a bridge from old coal to new clean coal with CCS in the full coal industry chain of skills, capabilities, resources and infrastructure upon which it will rely.”

Big plans for Mini railway Bosses point to potholes in as Oxford gets connected planning for road network Robert Lea

Monday November 3 2014 | the times

Brighouse, the managing director of Chiltern Railways, said.

Chiltern’s plan is to run services down the Cowley branch into and through Oxford’s station in the west of city. With Chiltern and Network Rail building a new rail link at Bicester connecting Oxford around its northern suburbs to the main line into London Marylebone — to open next September — effectively it will provide a direct connection between the innovation hubs of the science and business parks and the capital.

Chiltern is also party to a third plan to open up services around Oxford, the resurrection of the so-called Varsity Line, cutting across the Home Counties to Cambridge.

The Cowley branch proposals have the support of both the city council and the local enterprise partnership.

FirstGreatWestern runs the existing mainline services to Oxford from London Paddington. It said that it was aware of the Cowley plan but was concentrating on the electrification of its services to the capital.

Marcus Leroux

Business leaders are voicing increasing concern over the deteriorating state of Britain’s roads and inadequate access to broadband internet.

The CBI and the EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, will release strikingly similar findings today, having consulted their members on the state of the nation’s infrastructure.

Both bodies highlight concerns over clogged motorways and local roads above higher-profile infrastructure challenges, such as high-speed rail and airport capacity.

The findings will give rise to concern that Britain’s creaking infrastructure is hampering the rebalancing of the economy away from financial services and towards high-tech industries and manufacturing.

According to the EEF, two thirds of companies would put investment in motorways and A-roads in their top three priorities, with 30 per cent citing road transport as their top investment priority. The CBI says that 77 per cent of

its members expect local roads to get worse and 86 per cent expect motorways to deteriorate over the next five years.

Terry Scuoler, chief executive of the EEF, said: “These results highlight widespread concern that the quality of business-critical infrastructure is declining rather than improving, with the deterioration of the road network of particular concern. Roads are the backbone of the economy,” Britain’s digital infrastructure was also a concern. Fifty-five per cent of CBI members said that access to superfast broadband was inadequate, with 67 per cent saying that coverage of mobile broadband was insufficient.

Forty per cent of EEF members rated broadband networks as poor.

Katja Hall, deputy director-general of the CBI, said: “We’re at a crossroads.

We need to see bold thinking and a renewal of the politics of infrastructure, finding a new way to agree upon and then consistently deliver the improvements we’ll need over the next fifty years — not just the next five.”

Oil companies will be awarded tax breaks to develop North Sea fields only if they buy offshore platforms that have been made in Britain, according to government plans.

Ministers want to tie breaks to populist measures that will boost the oil services industry and create jobs, particularly as most of Britain’s remaining construction yards are in depressed areas such as Tyneside and along the east coast of Scotland.

The Treasury has been consulting over its review of the tax regime and will publish the results in early December with the autumn statement.

With the general election barely six months away and after Scotland came close to voting for independence, the Conservatives are keen to improve their ratings in regions where traditionally they have struggled.

Oil companies oppose the plan, arguing that platforms and other offshore installations built in British yards are more expensive and in some cases are of poorer quality than those made in Asia and the Middle East.

Companies claim that the benefit from the tax break would be cancelled out and are warning that the proposal could drive away investment from the North Sea. Alex Brooks, an analyst from Canaccord Genuity, the stockbroker, said: “A tax break to develop a field may save you 20 or 30 per cent of your overall project costs, but having to build a

440,000

Employed in the oil and gas industry across the UK in 2012

Source: Oil & Gas UK

platform in the UK might end up twice as expensive as doing so overseas . . . it does not seem a compelling offer.”

Matthew Hancock, the new Conservative energy minister, has been meeting oil industry executives to discuss the Treasury plan.

The move is reminiscent of the industrial activism championed in the 1990s by Michael Heseltine, the former Conservative trade minister, and more recently by Lord Mandelson in the dying days of the last Labour government.

At the moment, the government encourages oil companies to place contracts with British fabrication yards, but there is no legal obligation to do so. In Norway, there is an informal requirement from the authorities to buy domestically, which is deeply unpopular among offshore operators.

Many of the world’s platforms, rigs and vessels for the oil industry are now built in giant yards in Singapore, South Korea, Dubai and Indonesia.

In Dubai and Indonesia, labour costs are estimated at £15 an hour compared to £50 in Britain.

As oil projects become more specialised, so must their installations, and developers often have to source components from different countries.

In 2009, SeaDragon, which builds deep sea rigs, triggered a furore when it scrapped plans for two rigs in Tees Valley shipyards and moved construction to Singapore. The project would have created 1,000 jobs in Britain.

The incentives were introduced after the chancellor levied a windfall tax on operators in 2011.

the times | Monday November 3 2014

Ethnic quota plan rings alarm bells in FTSE boardrooms James Hurley

Targets for ethnic representation in company boardrooms — often seen as clubby bastions of the “male, pale and stale” — have come under fire from business leaders.

Corporate chiefs have criticised a government demand that one-in-five board seats at blue-chip companies should be held by minorities by 2020.

The Institute of Directors said that a target for more FTSE 100 representation for non-whites was “likely to prove counter-productive and to hurt precisely those they pretend to help”.

Simon Walker, the IoD’s directorgeneral, said: “Businesses seek to appoint board members on the basis of competence and their ability to do the job. They may not always make good decisions, but there is little sign of systemic racial prejudice at the top of British business.”

Vince Cable, the business secretary, is expected to formalise the plans in December. He hopes to repeat what he sees as the success of his campaign for more women to win board seats at Britain’s biggest listed companies.

More than half of FTSE 100 businesses have no non-whites at board level and two thirds no full-time executive directors from ethnic minorities, a study revealed in February. Dr Cable has asked Trevor Phillips, the former head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and Lenny Henry, the comedian, to come up with a plan to promote ethnic diversity.

A one-in-five target would be greater than the estimated 15 per cent of the population that is non-white. However, Dr Cable is understood to be keen to set

a “forward-looking target”, since ethnic minorities are expected to make up 20 per cent of the nation by 2020.

A source close to the business secretary said: “We are future-proofing British business . . . Companies that embrace diversity will be at an economic advantage because they will understand the cultural differences that underpin trade.”

The plan is likely to involve voluntary targets rather than quotas.

Mr Walker agreed that “forwardlooking businesses recognise the benefits” of boardroom diversity, but he added: “Whereas with mining companies, an entire sector has historically appointed directors from too narrow a social pool, shareholders — not politicians — are forcing change in the interests of better business.

“Government proposals to force female, black, gay or other individuals on to boards will have the sole effect of downgrading the achievement of the many directors in all of these categories who reach the top on the basis of their outstanding business leadership.

“Ultimately the pressure has to come — and will come — from managers, shareholders and existing directors.”

The diversity target would follow the goal to increase the numbers of women on boards. As of July, there are no allmale boards in the FTSE 100 and female representation has doubled from 12.5 per cent in 2011 to 23 per cent, close to the government’s 25 per cent target.

Katja Hall, the CBI’s deputy directorgeneral, said: “Having made good progress so far on getting more women on boards, it’s right to look at increasing the number of black and minority ethnic people in senior roles.”

Property is no longer the must-have for British visa Kathryn Hopkins

Wealthy foreigners will no longer be forced to buy property in Britain in order to obtain a visa as concerns grow that they are blocking Londoners out of the housing market.

Those applying for a so-called Tier 1 investor visa have to invest £1 million in the UK and in return the applicant and his or her family are allowed to live, work or study in the country with relatively few restrictions.

Three quarters of that sum has to be invested in government bonds or shares and bonds in British companies, while the remaining £250,000 can be put into other permissible assets, such as property.

However, from Thursday the overall amount will be doubled to £2 million and all of it has to go into bonds or shares and none will be allowed to be put into property. This is the first increase in the amount that such immigrants have to invest since 1994.

A spokesman for the Home Office, said: “Removing the property allowance maximises the benefits to the UK rather than adding pressure to the property market.”

The move to block these investors from snapping up British — largely London — property will be viewed as politically motivated, as concerns grow that wealthy foreigners are buying homes in the capital and leaving them

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6 House prices in London’s most exclusive areas have failed to grow for the first time in four years (Kathryn Hopkins writes).

According to Knight Frank, the capital finally started to run out of steam in October after surging by 40 per cent over the period. One of the biggest effects on central London’s pricier homes has come from Labour’s pledge to introduce a mansion tax on property worth more than £2 million if it comes to power in May. The estate agency expects no growth in central London prices next year, but says that could change if the prospect of a mansion tax recedes after the election. empty, making it harder for Londoners to enter the property market.

Katie Coles, a solicitor at Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co, said: “It is unlikely to have any real impact on the UK property market, especially because investor visa migrants will continue to see UK property as an attractive investment and will still be entitled to buy it.”

Around 818 people applied for Tier 1 visas in the year to the end of June. Provided the relevant visa conditions are met, after five years the investor and their family may apply for permanent residency. After a further year, they may apply for British citizenship.

Business TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER, RICHARD POHLE

Another capital gain for Qatar

Q

atar has added a stake in the Savoy Hotel to its British assets.

Lloyds Banking Group said last night that it had sold its 50 per cent stake in the London hotel to a Qatari controlled joint venture led by Katara Hospitality, for an undisclosed price.

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

Business

Leahy offers reminder of what Tesco did best Philip Aldrick

Tesco’s lauded former chief executive has claimed that the supermarket chain ran into trouble because it forgot its sense of purpose.

Addressing analysts in a private call last week, Sir Terry Leahy said that the group had “focused too much on what it isn’t, rather than remembering what it is and working with that”.

His comments will be seen as a veiled swipe at Philip Clarke, his successor, who took over in 2011 and was ousted this year after presiding over a couple of profit warnings — the first in two decades.

Dave Lewis, the new boss, is reviewing all options to pay for a strategic overhaul of the group’s core retail division, which has been losing ground to rivals. One option being explored is a sale of a stake in Tesco’s successful banking business. Bankers reckon a partial float of the unit could raise between £500 million and £1 billion.

There has been a flurry of interest in challenger banks this year, with sales priced generously at between one and a half and two times book value. OneSavings has floated and both Aldermore and Virgin Money hope to follow.

Aldermore had to pull its plans after the stock market panic last month.

Analysts reckon that Tesco may need

Losing its way 450p

Tesco share price

400 350 300 250 200 2011

2012

2013

2014

150

to raise as much as £3 billion to fund a turnaround strategy, which has yet to be unveiled.

Mr Lewis has been in the job for a mere eight weeks and has been contending with the fallout from a £263 million profit overstatement.

Eight directors have been suspended and the Serious Fraud Office is investigating.

A rights issue is being considered.

Other options on the table include a disposal of Tesco’s Asian businesses or a private equity sale of Dunhumby, the division behind its Clubcard scheme.

Tesco has already decided to sell Blink-

box, its failed video streaming service.

Lepe Partners, a corporate finance boutique, has been hired to handle the sale, although it is unlikely to raise a significant sum.

Sir Terry, who chairs B&M Retail, the discount chain, said that Tesco could surprise investors by recovering quickly. “It’s very responsive to the right leadership and the right marketing strategy,” he said. “What it is, is a very big brand in the centre of the market, and clearly if you are weak in the centre you can get attacked from all sides. But if you’re strong in the centre and doing what you do well, it’s a good place to be — you can attract customers from all parts of the market.”

He added that the business was at its best when responding to customer trends. “It’s interesting, listening to Dave Lewis . . . to the extent he’s had an opportunity, he’s emphasised the need to focus on customers.” The improving economic backdrop could mean retailers “may have seen the worst” already.

Tesco paid nearly £1 billion to buy Royal Bank of Scotland out of its banking partnership in 2008. It has since launched a current account and built its own IT systems, making it a proper contender to the established high street lenders. Tesco Bank made £194 million of trading profits last year.

Tesco declined to comment.

Gems from the past: In 2012, the Olympic year, Mo Farah fails to get over the line

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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Business

COURTESY JOHN LEWIS

AllSaints is on the march again after fallout from Iceland Deirdre Hipwell

ahead of the snowman and from top left the Long Wait in 2011 and last year’s acclaimed Hare and Bear spectacular

John Lewis treads softly through the blizzard of Christmas TV ads Andrew Clark Deputy Business Editor

No razzamatazz, no celebrity guests, no speeches — in pointedly low-key fashion, John Lewis is preparing to reveal its Christmas advertisement.

The department store chain’s seasonal television spots have become a keenly awaited tradition, although Andy Street, the managing director, admitted recently that hype surrounding the launch went over the top in 2013.

Last year’s commercial, The Bear and The Hare, featured a small mammal rousing a hibernating bear to enjoy snowy festivities, accompanied by Lily Allen singing a schmaltzy version of Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know, which promptly shot into the Christmas top ten. The campaign cost £7 million and was warmly received, although Mr Street, speaking last month at the World Retail Congress, expressed some regret about the excessive puff.

“We had a West End London cinema screening to launch our advert and people said: ‘I’m not quite sure about this — after all you are just a shop — please don’t get above your station,’ ” Mr Street said.

The criticism obviously hurt. This year, there will be no cinematic preview: the ad will be released on social media on Thursday, with its first television airing on Friday.

The contents are secret, but there are a few crumbs of information: the commercial will contain real people rather than animation. Campaign, a trade magazine, also reported recently that it would incorporate a pastiche of Gogglebox, the reality television programme that films peoples’ reaction to watching TV. David Reviews, an industry website, said that John Lewis was “definitely the

How the company captured the spirit 2007 Shadows The original. Subtle and simple, the shadow of a handful of possible Christmas presents are piled up carefully and project the image of a woman with a dog.

A solid start (5/10) 2008 From Me to You A shot of a person, a shot of their present, repeat several times and tell viewers that if you know someone you’ll find them the right present. Throw in a dog and a baby and it’s a Christmas ad.

Dull (3/10) 2009 Sweet Child of Mine Excitable children marvelling at presents clearly meant for their parents — a young boy jubilant about a pair of fluffy old-man slippers is a highlight. At first it’s baffling, until a message appears reminding you

this is what Christmas used to be like when you were younger and that youthful promise can be rediscovered through John Lewis.

Nostalgiatastic (6/10) 2010 Tribute To Givers A tug at the nation’s heartstrings. We see kindly characters tackling the subterfuge we employ to sneak presents past our partners, parents or children. With Ellie Goulding singing Elton John’s Your Song, this is the year the “John Lewis Christmas Ad” became a part of the ritual.

Heartstrung (8/10) 2011 The Long Wait We all thought the boy was wishing his advent away so that he could open his long-coveted Christmas present. In a twist that brought a tear to living rooms across the land, the young lad

daddy” of Christmas advertisements, ahead of Marks & Spencer’s, which will go online on Friday. An effort by Tesco will follow in early November, with J Sainsbury’s airing on November 12.

The site said: “We have a strange relationship with advertising in this country. People tend to resent it —

springs out of bed on Christmas morning to give his parents the gift he had hidden.

Classic (9/10) 2012 The Journey A steely eyed snowman makes another instant jump on a journey to John Lewis. He crosses rivers and roads to get his snow-partner a hat and scarf. How he conquers the blasting heaters by the store’s front doors we never discover.

Surreal (7/10) 2013 Hare and bear Last year’s tale of a hare that leaves an alarm clock to wake a sleeping bear on Christmas Day was launched with much fanfare. The bear duly emerged from his cave bleary-eyed in time for a jolly Christmas with all the other woodland creatures.

A little grizzly (7/10)

they’ll fast-forward through it. Yet there’s this nostalgia, or love, for really good ads from the past.

“Somehow, some of these Christmas ads break past that resentment towards admiration straight away — in a way advertisements usually don’t until they’re remembered with nostalgia.”

The sins of the past are finally behind AllSaints, which has drawn a line under the Icelandic banking collapse with a strong set of sales and earnings.

The fashion retailer renowned for its hip and fervent followers revealed in its annual accounts that its sales have jumped from £197 million to nearly £219 million in the year to February 2.

In a report filed at Companies House, the retailer owned by Lyndon Lea’s Lion Capital group also disclosed that its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation had leapt by 750 per cent to £17.2 million from just over £2 million in 2012.

Its operating loss has dropped to £1 million, from £19.7 million the year before, while its pre-tax loss has halved from £35 million to £18.2 million during the same period The company entered the recession heavily indebted after its former owners — Kevin Stanford, the entrepreneur and former husband of Karen Millen, and Baugur, the Icelandic investment fund that built up a huge array of British retail investments — over-expanded. As AllSaints became engulfed in the crisis that followed Iceland’s banking collapse in 2008, Lion Capital stepped in to provide emergency funding and eventually secured full control.

AllSaints’ healthier figures also suggest that the turnaround programme introduced by William Kim, the chief executive who joined two years ago from the luxury retailer Burberry, is on track. Since he joined, Mr Kim has undertaken a “painstaking” analysis of the business, closing stores, ending partnerships and streamlining distribution. The number of its suppliers has fallen from 400 to 55 and its website has been improved.

“We are a unique brand and we know that our customers [on average] come to our stores at least 11 times a year,” Mr Kim said. “Everything we do is absolutely consistent, so a shopper anywhere in the world can enter an AllSaints store and enjoy the same customer experience [as they would in a London store].”

More than £130 million of sales last year came from Britain, with just over £67 million generated in the United

Rock chick has matured Commentary Carolyn Asome

I

t’s 20 years since AllSaints sprang on to the fashion-scape. If previously it attracted women with a predilection for “rock chick” dressing, gothic draping and deconstructed jackets, style fans might be curious to find out how much has changed.

Of course, the rock chick hasn’t disappeared, but in the past decade she’s had something of a rethink. Wil Beedle, creative director for the past nine years, ensures that those slouchy, relaxed silhouettes are still present and correct, but there’s also an unashamed nod to luxury via thick, shearling coats, snappy tailored blazers and dresses that elegantly skim the body rather than hang in messy folds.

This may be the brand that proudly hails from Shoreditch, east London, but style-wise it’s got that French insouciant schtick in spades. Those 22 to 34-year-olds may be the target audience, but there are women in their forties and fifties who will happily snap up the flattering cut of slim-fit sleeve, Crombie-style coats and leather biker jackets.

States. AllSaints is present in ten countries and plans to expand further in Europe, Hawaii and the Middle East. It will open a flagship store in Seoul, next month and has further ambitions in Asia. It sells online in more than 200 countries.

Mr Kim said that there was enormous potential to diversify AllSaints’ product categories and that the group could also consider branching into selling wholesale.

“There has not been a [retail] brand that had really scaled up [in the past few years] and we think this is our opportunity,” he said.

M&S prepares for further cuts to the bottom line Philip Aldrick

Pressure is set to rise on Marc Bolland this week, with new figures expected to confirm that Marks & Spencer has continued to lose market share to Next and that it has suffered slides in both first-half profits and sales. Its normally resilient food business is also expected to have slowed sharply.

M&S’s chief executive is under scrutiny after 13 consecutive quarterly falls in like-for-like sales in the chain’s core general merchandise operations and four falls in first-half profits.

Mr Bolland’s turnaround strategy is to focus on profit margins rather than sales, but analysts are forecasting profits to have slumped by 3.4 per cent to £252 million for the six months to September. Like-for-like sales in gener-

al merchandise are expected to have dipped by 3.7 per cent, while food sales are thought to have managed only weak growth of 0.2 per cent.

Mr Bolland is likely to blame the unusually warm September weather, which prompted a rare profit warning from Next last week and was cited by the Office for National Statistics for a sharp 0.3 per cent fall in retail sales volumes for the month.

Kantar is expected to disclose that M&S’s market share in clothing in the 12 weeks to September 28 fell by 0.7 per cent, with 0.6 per cent fall in the key womenswear category. Next, by comparison, is expected to have achieved a 0.2 per cent rise in fashion market share.

Mr Bolland may point to his strategy of protecting margins to explain the fall, as M&S is discounting less.

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Business

Ian King

Treaty ‘adds to price of trading in Europe’

Political divide leaves big business dazed and confused in the middle

‘‘

Ian King is business presenter for Sky News. Ian King Live is broadcast at 6.30pm Monday to Thursday It is difficult to remember a time when big business has been so disillusioned with, and despairing of, the political classes.

The choice at the general election is turning out to be a hard one for the big beasts of commerce. On one side, there is a Labour party openly hostile to several industries and proposing the most left-wing policies since Michael Foot presented the nation in 1983 with a manifesto later dubbed the “longest suicide note in history”.

On the other, there is a Conservative party that has pledged to clamp down on immigration and to hold a referendum on European Union membership that is expected to create huge uncertainty. Many business leaders are torn.

It should not have been like this for the Tories. Amid frustration with Gordon Brown’s government, business leaders were unusually vocal in their support for David Cameron in the run-up to the last election, with the likes of Justin King, then chief executive of J Sainsbury, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyJet, Sir Stuart Rose, then the executive chairman of Marks & Spencer, and Paul Walsh, the chief executive of Diageo at the time, among those signing an open letter criticising Labour’s plans to raise national insurance. The letter, arguing that “cutting government waste won’t endanger the recovery — but putting up national insurance will”, was particularly embarrassing for Mr Brown because both Mr Walsh and Sir Stuart were

KALPAK PATHAK / HINDUSTAN TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES

Nick Clegg was part of the government’s trade delegation to India in August

on his Prime Minister’s Business Council.

When the coalition government was formed subsequently, business was again supportive, welcoming in particular an initiative to add commercial acumen to Whitehall via the appointment of top business figures as non-executive directors to government departments. Bringing in Sir Ian Cheshire, the chief executive of Kingfisher, to the Department for Work and Pensions, and Sir Andrew Witty, GlaxoSmithKline’s chief, to the Department for Business was seen as making a real difference. Also applauded were the trade delegations led by Mr Cameron, Nick Clegg, George Osborne and Vince Cable to overseas markets.

Now the mood is different. The government’s clampdown on

immigration has caused deep anxiety among many employers, who fear being deprived of the opportunity to hire people with skills not available in Britain. Their fears were encapsulated by John Cridland, the CBI’s director-general, who wrote recently: “I am extremely concerned about the direction the debate on immigration is heading. On my travels up and down the country and overseas, I know business leaders share this sense of unease.”

These concerns are being articulated to ministers. It is understood that on the government’s trade delegation to India in August, the British visitors were assailed by Indian politicians and business people raising their concerns about Britain’s apparent hostility towards migrant workers and foreign students. It is

Property drama is played out on West End stage

Y

ou know prime West End property prices have got toppy when one of the country’s premier commercial property companies decides it is time to leave.

Hammerson will bid adieu to its home in Grosvenor Street in April next year and relocate staff to two offices, one at King’s Cross and one in Reading. David Atkins, the chief executive, observes that there will be a substantial saving as a result, noting that, in the present building, it costs the company more to provide some

colleagues with a desk and office space than it does to employ them.

Mr Atkins notes that Hammerson’s move shows a market working efficiently: the high cost of prime West End office space forces some businesses to go elsewhere, benefiting other towns and cities — in this case, Reading. The same applies to City rents, too, with Deutsche Bank, for example, relocating 2,000 staff to Birmingham last year.

While the rents are too high, another factor may be encouraging

some businesses to leave. Just over a decade ago Grosvenor Street and its environs were full of companies involved in property and its best-known restaurants, such as The Chalet, crammed with property folk.

Since then, the likes of Drivers Jonas and CB Hillier Parker have moved out, their places taken by hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds and Russian oligarchs. Any benefits of clustering have long gone.

It’s probably a lot less fun for those property folk who have remained, too.

Monday November 3 2014 | the times

also understood that Mr Osborne is well aware of the potential damage being done to the economy. One Cabinet source confides: “The Treasury totally gets it. But, on this issue, even they won’t take on Theresa May and the Home Office.”

If the clampdown on immigration is seen as bad, regarded as potentially even worse is the likelihood of an EU referendum. One business leader says: “Think of the uncertainty that the build-up to the Scottish independence referendum created in the investment climate there. The EU referendum would be that, to a power of 100.”

Another very senior business figure notes: “The prime minister has looked me in the eye and said: ‘I will keep Britain in the EU.’ I believe him — although obviously we are very nervous about what the uncertainty of a referendum will do to investment in Britain in the run-up. We would rather it was not happening.”

Labour strategists know the government’s pro-business credentials are vulnerable on this point. Those business people and lobbyists who bothered attending Labour’s recent party conference in Manchester were struck by how often they were told by shadow cabinet members: “We know you don’t like many of our policies, but the one thing we can guarantee is that we will not sow uncertainty by calling for an EU referendum.”

Possibly the last time things were this bad was in 1980, when Sir Terence Beckett, the director-general of the CBI, went to war with the Thatcher government, expressing at that year’s CBI conference his anger at its apparently relaxed approach to the over-valuation of sterling: “We have got to take our gloves off and have a bare knuckle fight [with the government]. We have got to have lower interest rates and a lower pound.”

What is less well-remembered is that, after his speech, a number of leading companies, including Trafalgar House, Babcock and European Ferries, left the CBI in protest.

By contrast, it is hard to see many CBI members falling out with Mr Cridland for flagging concerns over either Labour’s antibusiness policies or Tory proposals on immigration and the EU referendum.

’’

Philip Aldrick

Trade rules introduced under the Lisbon Treaty that came into force across the European Union five years ago have cost British business at least £7.8 billion so far, according to an analysis of official estimates.

Using the government’s own impact assessments of the costs of 44 regulations introduced or modified under the treaty, Business for Britain has calculated that companies have shouldered between £7.8 billion and £18.3 billion of additional costs.

The eurosceptic lobby group also estimates that the average annual cost of the new rules from now on could be between £3.54 billion and £6.71 billion.

Business for Britain has timed the release of its study to coincide with the latest change introduced under the treaty, which came into effect on Saturday. A redistribution of the voting weights of the 28 European Union members will make it “much harder for the UK to block decisions”, according to the group.

“Costs to business are up, but the ability to block legislation is down,” it said. The most expensive regulations have been around climate change, including the emissions trading system.

Business for Britain is pushing for a referendum on whether Britain should remain in the EU in 2017, as proposed by the Conservatives. Neither Labour nor the Liberal Democrats have made an equivalent pledge.

The Lisbon Treaty was agreed in 2007, came into force in December 2009 and has not been without controversy. It replaced a proposed but unpopular European constitution and was rejected by the Republic of Ireland in a referendum. Ireland later ratified the treaty in a second referendum.

Business for Britain’s analysis comes on the back of the outcry over the European Commission’s demand that Britain pay an extra £1.7 billion to the European Union’s budget. The UK is being asked to pay up after recalculations show that the country’s economy is bigger than previously thought.

The business community is divided over Europe, with big companies generally keen to remain part of the union but their smaller cousins often less sure. Research by the CBI has found that free access to the European single market is worth £80 billion per year to the economy and supports millions of jobs.

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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British inventors lead world in carmakers’ drive for efficiency Robert Lea Industrial Editor

Though addressing diverse parts of the automotive landscape, the six companies shortlisted for the annual innovation award of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders are all aiming at the industry’s biggest issue: making vehicles more efficient.

Two of the entries have technologies for cutting the cost of running refrigerated lorries. State-ofthe-art car sound-cladding is about helping to make cars lighter, too. The new Ingenium engine from Jaguar Land Rover is aimed at meeting EU emissions regulations. Formula One flywheel technology is being harnessed to make fuel savings for buses. A vehicle transmission consultancy in Warwickshire is trying to ensure that driving a fuel-saving hybrid does not have to be dull.

The winner of the award, sponsored

by GKN and supported by The Times, is to be announced at the SMMT annual dinner on November 25.

The Dearman Engine from Dearman Engine Company The brainchild of a classic British inventor, Peter Dearman, working in his garden shed in Bishops Stortford, the Dearman engine is a piston engine powered by liquid air.

While its applications could be manifold, the Dearman Engine Company is concentrating on the cold supply chain. It is estimated that 15 per cent of the nation’s energy is used to keep things cold. In a refrigerated lorry, the cold trailer consumes 20 per cent of its diesel.

The plan is to put the Dearman engine, powered on cylinders easily available from the likes of Air Products, in the refrigerated unit.

Toby Peters, the managing director and a professor at Birmingham University, said: “The cold economy needs fuel-efficient, zero-emission solutions.”

Xlite from Automotive Insulations When a Bentley or top-of-the range Jaguar glides by, much of that soundlessness is down to a small Rugby-based insulations company.

Automotive Insulations, under Jim Griffin, its owner-managing director, has responded to the demand from the motor industry to take weight out of cars to hit fuel-efficiency targets.

Sound insulation is everywhere in a car from the wheel arches to the dashboard to the doors. Mr Griffin’s task is to block out high-frequency sound and low frequency noise with a light product as thin as 6mm and with thermal properties included.

“The challenge is to bond materials for production and it is the adaption

of that technology that we have patented,” Mr Griffin said.

Ingenium from Jaguar Land Rover The new four cylinder Ingenium petrol and diesel engines from Britain’s biggest automotive employer are not only part of Jaguar Land Rover’s strategy to be self-sufficient — it currently buys from Ford and PSA Peugeot Citroën — but have led to the construction of a new factory in Wolverhampton.

“We lost the ability to manufacture engines for ourselves about ten years ago,” Paul Whitwood, the chief engineer on the Ingenium project, said. The work centres on efficiency gains from reducing friction in the engine, he said.

The best Ingenium engine will reach 70 miles per gallon, the company claims. The first engines are to go into the new Jaguar XE model.

OGeco from Vocis Vocis, a Warwickshire automotive consultancy, has worked with Oerlikon Graziano, the Italian gearbox maker, to produce an automated manual transmission unit for hybrids with an integrated electric motor to maximise power.

The OGeco aims to bring a multispeed gearbox to hybrid cars and to address “torque infill”, to flatten out the interruption in power between gear shifts. Mike Everitt, the managing director of Vocis, claims that the system can cut carbon dioxide emissions by 6 per cent.

“This will be suitable for massmarket plug-in hybrids and extended range electric vehicles,” he said.

Flybrid Kers from Torotrak At the Renault grand prix team a decade ago, Jon Hilton investigated the possibilities of flywheel kinetic energy recovery systems or Kers.

When Formula One changed its rules, Mr Hilton took away the lessons learnt and set up Flybrid.

The flywheel he has developed for buses stores the energy as if coiling a spring when the brakes are applied, and releases it when the bus moves off again. His system is claiming a 35 per cent increase in bus fuel efficiency.

“This part of the path is to get this technology into the car as well,” said Mr Hilton. Flybrid was bought by Torotrak, the listed automotive group, this year.

NaturaLine from Carrier Transicold and Sainsbury’s Carrier Transicold, part of United Technologies, the US giant, has been testing the use of carbon dioxide refrigerated containers in the

They topped the podium 2010 Gordon Murray Design’s iStream is a simplified operation that is aimed at massproducing cars in an area the fraction of the size of a conventional assembly plant. The first fruits of the project are the Yamaha Motiv concept city car launched last year.

2011 The Range_e from Jaguar Land Rover is a project from the West Midlands carmaker to

build a 4x4 with carbon emissions of less than 90g/km. The commercial production of a plug-in hybrid Range Rover is expected in the future.

2012 The Optare Versa EV electric bus was developed by the Indian-owned, but Yorkshire-based bus builder. The 50 seat, zero-emission buses have been ordered by Manchester and

Nottingham city councils and by operators such as FirstGroup.

2013 The Ford ecoBoost three cylinder engine was developed at the US group’s global research and development centre in Essex. An extremely efficient and powerful small engine, the ecoBoost is in hundreds of thousands of Fiesta and Focus models

shipping industry since 2012. When Sainsbury’s came along looking for a way to meet its target of cutting carbon emissions by 30 per cent by 2020, Carrier began developing containers suitable for road transport.

Lionel Pourcheresse, Carrier’s marketing chief, says that the refrigerated containers take the strain off the truck’s diesel engine to cool the trailer and that the natural refrigerant CO2 being used is nonozone depleting.

Business JAGUAR LAND ROVER

Jaguar’s new fuel-efficient Ingenium engines will go into production next year

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

Television & Radio/Announcements Births, Marriages and Deaths

Today’s television BBC ONE

6.00am Breakfast 9.15 The People Remember 10.00 Homes Under the Hammer 11.00 Call the Council 11.45 Close Calls: On Camera 12.15pm Bargain Hunt 1.00 BBC News; Weather 1.30 BBC Regional News; Weather 1.45 Doctors 2.15 Perfection 3.00 Escape to the Country 3.45 Holiday of My Lifetime with Len Goodman 4.30 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 5.15 Pointless 6.00 BBC News 6.30 BBC Regional News Programmes 7.00 The Passing Bells 7.30 The One Show 8.00 EastEnders 8.30 Panorama 9.00 Gareth’s All Star Choir 10.00 BBC News 10.25 BBC Regional News; Weather 10.35 Have I Got a Bit More News for You 11.20 Citizen Khan 11.50 The Graham Norton Show 12.35am FILM: Soul Men (2008) 2.15-6.00 BBC News

BBC TWO

6.00am Homes Under the Hammer 7.00 Call the Council 7.45 Close Calls: On Camera 8.15 Sign Zone 10.30 Race to Kamina, Togo: World War 1, Beyond the Trenches 10.35 Click 11.00 BBC News 11.30 BBC World News 12.00 Daily Politics 1.00pm Restoration Roadshow 1.30 Cash in the Attic 2.15 The Rockford Files 3.00 Cagney & Lacey 3.50 Who Do You Think You Are? 4.50 Great British Railway Journeys Goes to Ireland 5.20 Flog It! 6.00 Eggheads 6.30 Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two 7.00 Tom Kerridge’s Best Ever Dishes 7.30 Children’s Hospital: The Chaplains 8.00 University Challenge 8.30 Only Connect 9.00 Intruders 9.45 Some Boffins with Jokes 10.00 Never Mind the Buzzcocks 10.30 Newsnight 11.15 Trust Me, I’m a Doctor 12.15am-1.15 Sign Zone 4.00-6.00 BBC Learning Zone

9.00 Frasier 10.00 Daily Brunch 11.00 Come Dine with Me 12.00 Channel 4 News Summary 12.05pm Come Dine with Me 1.40 Small Animal Hospital 2.10 Countdown 3.00 Fifteen to One 4.00 Deal or No Deal 5.00 Come Dine with Me 5.30 Coach Trip 6.00 The Simpsons 6.30 Hollyoaks 7.00 Channel 4 News 8.00 Rice: How Safe Is Our Food? Channel 4 Dispatches 8.30 Sarah Beeny’s How to Sell Your Home 9.00 Make Leicester British 10.35 Toast of London 11.05 The IT Crowd 11.35 NFL: The American Football Show 12.35am The Secret Millionaire USA 1.25 FILM: Kaksparsh (2012) 3.55 Location, Location, Location 4.50 Kirstie’s Vintage Gems 5.05 Win It Cook It 5.35-6.20 Countdown. Word game

Sky1

6.00am Football Gold 7.00 WWE: Bottom Line 8.00 Goals on Sunday 9.00 Ford Football Special 10.30 Football’s Greatest Teams 11.00 Football’s Greatest Players 11.30 Football Gold 12.00 Goals on Sunday 1.00pm FL72 Review 2.00 Football’s Greatest Teams 2.30 Football’s Greatest Players 3.00 Ford Football Special 4.30 Fantasy Football: The Highlights 5.00 Soccer AM: The Best Bits 6.00 FL72 Review 7.00 Live Ford Monday Night Football: Crystal Palace v Sunderland (Kick-off 8.00) 11.00 Football Gold 11.30 FL72 Review 12.30am SPFL Round-Up 1.00 Football Gold 1.30 Ford Monday Night Football 4.00 SPFL Round-Up 4.30 FL72 Review 5.30-6.00 Football League Gold

BBC World

6.00am The Ashes 2005 6.30 The Ashes Regained 7.00 Ashes Fever 8.00 One-Day International Cricket 9.00 Ashes Fever 11.00 One-Day International Cricket 12.00 NFL 2.00pm PRO12 Rugby Union 4.30 Top 14 Rugby Union Highlights 5.00 WWE: Raw 7.00 One-Day International Cricket 8.00 NFL 10.00 Top 14 Rugby Union Highlights 10.30 Sporting Greats 11.00 UK Poker Championships 12.00 NFL 2.00am National Badminton League 4.30-6.00 Australia’s Best Ashes Days

6.00am Dog the Bounty Hunter 7.00 Emergency with Angela Griffin 8.00 Futurama 9.00 NCIS: Los Angeles 11.00 Hawaii Five-0 1.00pm NCIS: Los Angeles 3.00 Greatest Little Britons: Cheerleaders 4.00 Emergency with Angela Griffin 5.00 The Simpsons 5.30 Futurama 6.30 The Simpsons 8.00 Modern Family 8.30 Trollied 9.00 Micky Flanagan’s Detour de France 10.00 Arrow 11.00 NCIS: Los Angeles 1.00am Hawaii Five-0 3.00 NCIS: Los Angeles 4.00 Stargate Atlantis 5.00-6.00 Airline USA

6.20am The King of Queens 7.10 3rd Rock from the Sun 8.00 Everybody Loves Raymond

6.00am BBC World News 6.30 World Business Report 6.45 BBC World News 7.30 World Business Report 7.45 BBC World News 8.30 World Business Report 8.45 BBC World News 9.30 HARDtalk 10.00 BBC World News 10.30 World Business Report 10.45 Sport Today 11.00 BBC World News 12.00 GMT 1.00pm Impact 2.30 World Business Report 2.45 Sport Today 3.00 Global with Matthew Amroliwala 4.30 HARDtalk 5.00 Outside Source 5.30 Focus on Africa 6.00 Outside Source 6.30 World Business Report 6.45 Sport Today 7.00 World News Today 8.30 World Business Report 8.45 Sport Today 9.00 Business Edition with Tanya Beckett 9.30 HARDtalk 10.00 BBC World News America 11.00 Newsday 11.30 Asia Business Report 11.45 Sport Today 12.00 Newsday 12.30am Asia Business Report 12.45 Sport Today 1.00 Newsday 1.30 Asia Business Report 1.45 Sport Today 2.00 BBC World News 2.30 Asia Business Report 2.45 Sport Today 3.00 BBC World News 3.30 Asia Business Report 3.45 Sport Today 4.00 BBC World News 4.30 HARDtalk 5.00 BBC World News 5.30 World Business Report 5.45-6.00 BBC World News

Radio 4

BBC World Service

ITV London

6.00am Good Morning Britain 8.30 Lorraine 9.25 The Jeremy Kyle Show 10.30 This Morning 12.30pm Loose Women 1.30 ITV News; Weather 2.00 Dickinson’s Real Deal 3.00 The Alan Titchmarsh Show 4.00 Tipping Point 5.00 The Chase 6.00 Regional News 6.30 ITV News; Weather 7.00 Emmerdale 7.30 Coronation Street 8.00 Countrywise 8.30 Coronation Street 9.00 Grantchester 10.00 ITV News at Ten and Weather 10.30 Regional News 10.40 The Agenda 11.20 The Jonathan Ross Show 12.25am Jackpot247 3.00 Uefa Champions League Weekly 3.30 ITV Nightscreen 5.05-6.00 Jeremy Kyle

Channel 4

Today’s radio 5.30am News 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 Farming Today 5.58 Tweet of the Day 6.00 Today 9.00 Start the Week 9.45 (LW) Daily Service 9.45 Germany 10.00 Woman’s Hour 10.45 Writing the Century 11.00 The Grace of Jeff Buckley (r) 11.30 Kerry’s List 12.00 News 12.01pm (LW) Shipping 12.04 Witness 12.15 You and Yours 1.00 The World at One 1.45 Voices of the First World War 2.00 Archers (r) 2.15 Afternoon Drama (r) 3.00 Counterpoint 3.30 The Food Programme (r) 4.00 The Battle for the Art of Detroit 4.30 The Digital Human 5.00 PM 5.54 (LW) Shipping 6.00 News 6.30 The Museum of Curiosity 7.00 Archers 7.15 Front Row 7.45 Germany: Memories of a Nation (r) 8.00 The Map That Made Manhattan (r) 8.30 Analysis 9.00 Shared Planet (r) 9.30 Start the Week 10.00 The World Tonight 10.45 Book at Bedtime 11.00 Wireless Nights 11.30 Today in Parliament 12.30am Germany: Memories of a Nation (r) 12.48 Shipping 1.00 As BBC World Service 5.20-5.30 Shipping

Sky Sports 1

5.00am Newsday 8.30 Business Daily 8.50 Witness 9.00 News 9.06 The Arts Hour 10.00 World Update 11.00 News 11.06 Outside Source 12.00 News 12.06pm Outlook 1.00 News 1.06 HARDtalk 1.30 The Food Chain 2.00 Newshour. The stories behind the latest headlines 3.00 News 3.06 Business Daily 3.30 Sport Today. Round-up 4.00 The Newsroom 4.30 The Conversation 5.00 The Newsroom 5.30 World Business Report. Financial news 6.00 World Have Your Say 7.00 The Newsroom 7.30 Discovery. Insights from leading scientific figures 8.00 News 8.06 HARDtalk. With Stephen Sackur 8.30 The Conversation 9.00 Newshour. The stories behind the latest headlines 10.00 The Newsroom 10.30 World Business Report 11.00 News 11.06 Outlook 12.00 News 12.06am The Newsroom 12.20 Sports News 12.30 Discovery 1.00 News 1.06 Business Matters 2.00 The Newsroom 2.30 The Documentary 3.00 News 3.06 Outlook 4.00 Newsday 4.30-5.00 Discovery

Sky Sports 2

Sky Sports 3

6.00am Sporting Heroes 7.00 International Rugby Union 8.00 NFL 10.00 Top 14 Rugby Union Highlights 10.30 Red Bull Air Race 12.00 The Sky Sports Years 2.00pm NFL 4.00 Mini Game Changers 5.00 Show Jumping 7.00 Sporting Rivalries 7.30 Live National Badminton League. Matchday two of the inaugural staging of the contest 10.00 WWE: Late Night: Bottom Line 11.00 WWE: Late Night — Afterburn 12.00 WWE: NXT 1.00am Live WWE: Late Night — Raw. Wrestling action 4.15 WWE From the Vault 4.30 WWE Slam City 4.45 WWE From the Vault 5.00-6.00 The Sky Sports Years

British Eurosport

7.30am New York Marathon 8.30 Motorsports Weekend 8.45 Motorsport 9.45 FIA World Endurance Championship 10.45 British Rallycross Championship 11.45 World Superbikes 1.45pm Snooker: International Championship 3.45 Figure Skating 5.45 Eurogoals 6.30 NFL Round-Up 7.30 British Rallycross 8.30 World Superbikes. From Qatar 10.30 Motorcycling 11.30 Sports Insiders 12.00-12.30am Eurogoals

Radio 3

6.30am Breakfast 9.00 Essential Classics 12.00 Composer of the Week: Alessandro Stradella. The life and work of the Italian Baroque composer 1.00pm News 1.02 Live Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert. The pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk plays Schumann and Brahms 2.00 Afternoon on 3. The BBCSSO performs Vaughan Williams, Sibelius, Mozart, Wagner, Strauss and Elgar 4.30 In Tune. With Platinum, Odaline de la Martinez and Willard White 6.30 Composer of the Week: Alessandro Stradella (r) 7.30 Opera on 3: Strauss 150.

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra in Strauss’s Die ägyptische Helena 10.00 Free Thinking Festival.

Anne McElvoy chairs a discussion on conciliation in an age of uprisings 10.45 The Free Thinking Essay: New Generation Thinkers.

Tiffany Watt-Smith unearths the 19th-century fascination with imitation 11.00 Jazz on 3. Big band Arkestra and guests celebrate the centenary of Sun Ra’s birth (r) 12.30am-6.30 Through the Night

the times.co.uk/announcements

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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Games Bridge Andrew Robson

Word Watching Paul Dunn Dealer: East, Vulnerability: Both Teams

♠ KQ 8 ♥K 9 6 4 ♦K 3 2 ♣A 6 2

♠ J 10 7 ♠4 N ♥10 7 3 W E ♥AQ J 8 ♦Q J 10 8 S ♦7 4 ♣J 10 4 ♠ A 9 6 5 3 2 ♣KQ 9 8 7 5 ♥5 2 ♦A 9 6 5 ♣3 S(Klinger)

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In the run-up week to the start of the World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand, I shall be giving significant victories by both contenders. Today’s game, a stunning victory by Anand, demonstrates both the profundity of the former champion’s preparation and the brilliance of his tactical flair. If Anand can recapture this form during the imminent contest for the world title, then he will stand an excellent chance of regaining his laurels.

White: Levon Aronian Black: Viswanathan Anand Wijk aan Zee 2013 Semi-Slav Defence 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 e6 5 e3 Nbd7 6 Bd3 dxc4 7 Bxc4 b5 8 Bd3 Bd6 9 0-0 0-0 10 Qc2 Bb7 11 a3 Rc8 12 Ng5 c5 13 Nxh7 13 Bxh7+ is also possible, a sample line being 13 ... Kh8 14 Be4 Nxe4 15 Ngxe4 Bb8, when ... Qh4 is coming and the Rc8 and the black bishops are perfectly placed.

13 ... Ng4 14 f4 cxd4 15 exd4 If 15 Nxf8 Bxf8 16 exd4 Ndf6 17 h3 Qxd4+ 18 Kh1 Nh5 is very promising for Black.

15 ... Bc5!!

An incredible move.

16 Be2 After 16 dxc5 Nxc5 17 Nxf8 Nxd3, Black stands well but maybe not enough to win the game. A possible line is 18 h3 Qd4+ 19 Kh1 Ndf2+ 20 Rxf2 Nxf2+ 21 Kh2 Kxf8 22 Qh7 Nd3 23 Qh8+ Ke7 24 Qh4+ f6 25 Qg3 Kf7 26 Be3 and the game levels out.

T2 CROSSWORD

No 6548

Times Quick Crossword 1

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________ á Dr1 4kD] à0bDnDp0N] ß D DpD D] ÞDpg D D ] Ý D ) )nD] Ü) H D D ] Û )QDBDP)] Ú$ G DRI ] ÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈ 16 ... Nde5!!

Another extraordinary thrust.

17 Bxg4 17 fxe5? runs into mate: 17 ...

Qxd4+ 18 Kh1 Qg1+! 19 Rxg1 Nf2.

17 ... Bxd4+ 18 Kh1 Nxg4 19 Nxf8 f5 The basis of Black’s strategy is that the queen will go to h4 or f6, capture the knight, and leave White defenceless. The tempting 19 ... Qh4? fails to 20 Qh7+.

20 Ng6 Qf6 Threatening 21 ... Qxg6 and then ... Qh5 or ... Qh6. There is no good defence.

21 h3 Qxg6 Although Black’s attack with ...

Qf6, ... Qxg6, ... Qh5, etc is very slow, White is defenceless because of the strength of Black’s bishops and knight on g4.

22 Qe2 Qh5 23 Qd3 Be3 White resigns This interferes with the queen’s defence along the third rank and threatens 24 ... Qxh3 mate.

Wins this week are based on the new books Anand: Move by Move

by Zenon Franco and Carlsen: Move by Move by Cyrus Lakdawala (both books are published by Everyman Chess).

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1 Demand an explanation of (someone) (4,2,7) 8 Carved printing design (7) 9 Reject with contempt (5) 10 Friend (3) 11 Surprise, confuse (8) 13 Dish of meat cooked in its own fat (6) 14 Large star system (6)

Killer No 3984 8

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Solution to Crossword 6547 ANGER MUS I CA L R L U O P A A ROADS EN S E MAN A S H R E E T YOG I GOODHOP E O N E W R C OWP A T S A L OON O P S Y T MO N MO U T H C R OW R I L O A A I A RM EMO T I ON A L D E O G D T D E S S ENCE ANODE

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1 Ice to reduce fever (4,4) 2 Grease on sheep’s wool (7) 3 Muscular twitch (3) 4 On stage (6) 5 Usual (9) 6 Direction reversal (1-4) 7 Shade of colour (4) 11 Small sausage (9) 12 Brief summary (8) 15 Bidding sale (7) 16 Common tranquilliser (6) 18 Savoury jelly (5) 20 Convert (a document) to a digital form (4) 23 Church vestment (3)

Check today’s answers by ringing 09067 577188. Calls cost 77p per minute.

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How you rate 12 words, average; 17, good; 19, very good; 22, excellent

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Within each dotted line ‘shape’, a digit CANNOT be repeated.

Codeword

No 2232

Numbers are substituted for letters in the crossword grid. Below the grid is the key.

Some letters are solved. When you have completed your first word or phrase you will have the clues to more letters. Enter them in the key grid and the main grid and check the letters on the alphabet list as you complete them.

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Synesis (b) In grammar, the “rule of attraction” whereby the inflection of a word is conditioned by meaning rather than syntax, for example the plural form have with the singular noun group.

Reft (c) Past tense of the verb reave, to carry off by force, cf bereft.

Hetaira (b) One of a class of professional independent courtesans in Ancient Greece.

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Saturday’s answers airdrop, damp, diapir, diploma, dipolar, dopa, dorp, drip, drop, impair, impi, impro, lamp, limp, limpid, lipa, lipid, lipoid, lipoma, opal, pail, pair, palm, pard, parlor, parol, parr, pial, plaid, plod, polar, pram, prial, prim, primal, primo, primordial, prior, proa, prod, prom, ramp, rapid, romp

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Polygon From these letters, make words of three or more letters, always including the central letter. Answers must be in the Concise Oxford Dictionary, excluding capitalised words, plurals, conjugated verbs (past tense etc), adverbs ending in LY, comparatives and superlatives.

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Gentle 5min

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17 Reddish-brown wood (8) 19 Dove’s call (3) 21 Dried coconut kernels (5) 22 Sloping font (7) 24 Insurance benefit (2-6,5) Down

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Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9 Solutions tomorrow, yesterday’s solutions below

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Easy

3 6 8 2 9 6 1 8 2 5 2 3 7 8 4 3 3 6 4 8 4 3 8 6 1 2 8 6 5

No 6548 6

Contract: 4♠ , Opening Lead: ♦Q

winning the diamond and drawing two rounds of trumps would lead to a quick claim), but 3-1 spades is far more likely than 5-1 diamonds.

West could do nothing of significance after finding himself still on lead a trick two. He continued with the jack of diamonds, but declarer could now win dummy’s king, cash the king-queen of spades (East discarding) then, leaving West’s third spade outstanding, crossed to the ace of diamonds and ruffed a fourth diamond. He cashed the ace of clubs, ruffed a club, drew West’s trump with his ace and led up to dummy’s king of hearts for the overtrick. As expected (from East’s opening bid) the king lost to the ace, but that was ten tricks and game made. andrew.robson@thetimes.co.uk

________ á 4 D DkD] Winning Move àDpD Dpgp] ß ) ) D D] White to play. This position is from CarlLinares 2009. Þ0 ) DpD ] sen-Grischuk, White’s mass of pawns are very powerful Ý D DpD D] but he needs to find a way to allow them ÜD D D D ] to complete their advance to the back Û ) DBDP)] rank. What did he play? ÚD DRD DK] For up-to-the-minute information follow ÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈ my tweets on twitter.com/times_chess.

Solution right

Synesis a. Hearing in colours b. The rule of attraction c. A chemical bond Reft a. Threaded, like a block-and-tackle b. Happy c. Carried off by force Hetaira a. A Muslim festival b. A courtesan c. A lyre-like instrument

E

1♣ 1♠ Pass 4♠ (1) end (1) Admirable brevity, although many would begin with a 2♣ unassuming cue bid (good spade raise); perhaps the partnership belong in a 4-4 heart fit or in 3NT (although the ♣Axx holding in the opposing suit argues against the latter).

Chess Raymond Keene Epic win

Sudoku No 6927

1 Ba6! crashes through, e.g. 1 ... Bf6 (1 ... bxa6 2 c6 wins) 2 Bxb7 Rxb7 3 c6 Rxb6 4 Rc1 Bxb2 5 d7 and wins.

Few people have given back so much to the game than Australia’s Ron Klinger, with countless books, flippers, videos, worldwide master class tours and more: all with the aim of entertaining, enthusing and simplifying the game to the masses. He’s really funny too. [I hope he won’t mind saying that you wouldn’t necessarily know how amusing he is from his videos, but as he says himself: you can’t put a joke on a video, for it would surely irritate on the twentieth viewing].

Klinger is a great player too. On today’s deal from the Australian Summer Festival Senior Teams, he was the only successful declarer in this 4♠ . Most declarers won the queen of diamonds opening lead and tested trumps by playing the king-queen. There was no way home now – if declarer gave up a diamond, hoping they were 3-3 (but with the chance of ruffing the fourth diamond with dummy’s small trump on a 4-2 split), West could win the diamond and lead a third trump.

Another line is to play king, ace and third diamond after just one high spade from dummy. However when West wins the third diamond (East discarding) and leads a fourth diamond, declarer must guess whether to ruff high in dummy (playing for trumps to be 2-2) or to ruff low (playing for East to have just one trump and two diamonds).

It’s a guess that you’d want to avoid, and Klinger found the way to do just that. He let West’s queen of diamonds win the first trick (key play). Now admittedly that would be the wrong play if diamonds were 5-1 and spades 2-2 (such that

9 16

15

L

A

20 3

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

2

3

4

14

15

16

17

L

5

6

7

18

19

20

K

8

9

21

22

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10

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26

Sudoku, Killer and Codeword solutions 7 1 5 8 6 9 4 3 2

9 2 8 3 4 1 6 5 7

3 4 6 2 7 5 1 8 9

4 3 1 6 5 7 2 9 8

No 6926

8 7 9 4 3 2 5 1 6

5 6 2 1 9 8 7 4 3

1 8 3 7 2 4 9 6 5

6 9 7 5 1 3 8 2 4

2 5 4 9 8 6 3 7 1

3 1 7 2 6 5 4 8 9

2 4 9 8 3 7 5 6 1

8 5 6 1 9 4 7 3 2

9 2 4 3 5 1 8 7 6

No 3983

1 6 3 4 7 8 2 9 5

5 7 8 9 2 6 3 1 4

7 9 2 5 1 3 6 4 8

6 8 1 7 4 2 9 5 3

4 3 5 6 8 9 1 2 7

MU S HRO O Q I C L UMP H A E A X L E R I P K I DNA P E V T I NK L I C E O H OWE V E U E A P URR A

No 2231

OM J AD E U A R Q T AB L E AU L A N A A I N F A L L Y D L ROS AR Y S N L NG AGE D O Z E O R EMB E D E R R G D VOCA T E

46

Monday November 3 2014 | the times

FGM

the game 6 Results and fixtures

T

Sky Bet Championship

Barclays Premier League P W W 1 Chelsea...............................10 5 W 2 Southampton...................10 4 W 3 Man City.............................10 3 Y 4 Arsenal................................10 2 Z 5 West Ham..........................10 3 W 6 Swansea.............................10 3 W 7 Liverpool............................10 2 Y 8 Tottenham.........................10 2 1 W 9 Everton...............................10 Z10 Man United.......................10 3 Y 11 West Brom.........................10 1 Y 12 Newcastle..........................10 2 Z 13 Stoke....................................10 2 Z 14 Hull.......................................10 1 1 W 15 Aston Villa.........................10 1 W 16 Crystal Palace....................9 1 W 17 Leicester.............................10 1 W 18 Sunderland.........................9 W 19 QPR.......................................10 2 W 20 Burnley...............................10 0 Arsenal

(0) 3

Burnley

(0) 0

60,012

Aston Villa

Tottenham

Weimann 16 32,049

(0) 2

Chadli 84 Kane 90

(1) 2

QPR

(0) 1

Oscar 32 Hazard 75 (pen)

Austin 62 41,486

Everton

Swansea

(0) 0

A W 3 3 1 3 4 3 6 2 6 2 3 1 4 2 6 2 11 2 5 0 8 2 7 1 5 1 8 1 8 2 5 1 9 1 6 0 6 0 9 0

Hull Leicester

Away D L F A GD 2 0 13 7 16 0 2 6 4 16 1 1 11 6 10 2 1 8 5 7 2 1 11 8 5 2 2 5 7 3 0 3 8 9 0 2 1 7 8 -1 2 1 9 6 2 3 2 6 9 2 1 2 3 5 0 2 2 4 8 -4 2 2 5 7 -2 3 1 6 6 -1 0 3 2 8 -11 2 2 9 11 -3 0 4 1 7 -5 2 2 2 11 -9 0 5 2 14 -11 2 3 2 10 -14

Southampton (1) 1

(0) 0

West Brom

Wanyama 3

(0) 0

Sent off: J Shelvey (Swansea) 72

(0) 1

Cambiasso 47 (og)

(0) 1

Man United

(0) 0

Agüero 63 45,358 Sent off: C Smalling (Manchester United) 39

Newcastle

(0) 1

Pérez 73

39,149

Pts 26 22 20 17 17 15 14 14 13 13 13 13 12 11 10 9 9 8 7 4

(0) 0

31,819

Man City

Sent off: C Benteke (Aston Villa) 65

Chelsea

F 13 15 9 10 8 8 5 6 10 10 10 7 5 7 3 4 10 6 7 3

22,828

Sánchez 70, 90+1 Chambers 72

(1) 1

Home D L 0 0 1 0 1 1 3 0 0 2 1 1 2 1 0 3 2 2 1 1 3 1 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 3 1 2 3 1 3 1 1 2 2 3

Stoke Moses 33 Diouf 56 27,174

Liverpool West Ham

Kick-off 3.0 unless stated Saturday: Barclays Premier League: Burnley v Hull; Liverpool v Chelsea (12.45); Manchester United v Crystal Palace; Queens Park Rangers v Manchester City (5.30); Southampton v Leicester; West Ham v Aston Villa.

F 9 18 10 10 13 11 9 11 6 8 5 6 9 10 5 6 6 6 8 13 8 7 4 4

A 7 8 6 9 8 5 11 11 9 10 8 11 6 14 16 11 9 11 16 24 11 12 15 13

GD 13 15 10 6 11 11 3 6 1 4 3 -2 0 -3 -7 -4 -6 -1 -6 -6 -4 -16 -12 -16

Pts 29 27 27 27 26 26 25 24 23 22 22 22 20 20 18 17 17 16 16 15 13 12 11 6

P W W 1 Bristol City.........................16 6 W 2 Preston................................15 5 Y 3 MK Dons.............................14 5 Y 4 Rochdale.............................15 3 Y 5 Swindon..............................15 3 Z 6 Notts County.....................15 3 Z 7 Peterborough..................16 4 Z 8 Sheffield United...............15 4 Z 9 Oldham...............................16 5 Y10 Fleetwood Town.............16 4 Z 11 Chesterfield......................16 3 Y 12 Barnsley..............................15 2 Y 13 Port Vale.............................16 3 Z 14 Bradford City....................16 2 Z 15 Crawley Town..................16 4 Y 16 Walsall.................................16 3 Y 17 Doncaster..........................14 1 Z 18 Colchester.........................16 2 Z 19 Coventry.............................16 4 Z20 Leyton Orient...................16 0 Y 21 Scunthorpe.......................16 2 Z22 Gillingham.........................16 3 Z23 Yeovil...................................16 1 Z24 Crewe...................................16 3

Sky Bet Leagues, non-League, Scotland and Europe

3: Á Di María (Man United) 3: M Biram Diouf (Stoke) 3: N Dyer (Swansea) 3: C Eriksen (Tottenham) 3: S Eto’o (Everton) 3: E Hazard (Chelsea) 3: A Hernández (Hull) 3: M Jedinak (Crystal Palace) 3: Oscar (Chelsea)

Blackpool

(1) 3

FA Cup: First round: Barnet v Wycombe; Barnsley v Burton; Basingstoke Town v Telford; Bromley v Dartford; Bury v Hemel Hempstead Town; Cambridge v Fleetwood; Cheltenham v Swindon; Crewe v Sheffield United; Dagenham & Redbridge v Southport; Dover v Morecambe; Eastleigh v Lincoln City; Gillingham v Bristol City; Grimsby v Oxford United; Hartlepool v East Thurrock United; Havant & Waterlooville v Preston; Luton v Newport; Mansfield v Concord Rangers; Northampton v Rochdale; Notts County v Accrington; Oldham v Leyton Orient; Peterborough v Carlisle; Plymouth v AFC Fylde; Port Vale v MK Dons; Southend v Chester; Tranmere v Bristol Rovers; Walsall v Shrewsbury; Weston-superMare v Doncaster; Wrexham v Woking; Yeovil v Crawley; York v Wimbledon.

Vanarama Conference: North: Chorley v Boston United; Colwyn Bay v Bradford Park Avenue; Gloucester v Harrogate Town; Guiseley v Lowestoft Town; Hednesford v Barrow; Hyde v Gainsborough; Oxford City v Stalybridge; Stockport County v Brackley; Tamworth v North Ferriby United. South: Boreham Wood v Wealdstone; Ebbsfleet United v Bath City; Hemel Hempstead v Staines Town; Maidenhead United v Basingstoke; St Albans v Whitehawk; Sutton United v Eastbourne Borough.

Scottish Premiership: Dundee v St Johnstone; Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Hamilton; Kilmarnock v Ross County; St Mirren v Partick.

Scottish Championship: Alloa v Livingston; Cowdenbeath v Hibernian; Heart of Midlothian v Raith; Queen of the South v Dumbarton; Rangers v Falkirk. League One: Airdrieonians v Stenhousemuir; Brechin v Stirling; Morton v Forfar; Peterhead v Dunfermline; Stranraer v Ayr. League Two: Arbroath v Queen’s Park; East Fife v Albion; East Stirling v Berwick; Elgin v Annan Athletic; Montrose v Clyde.

Sunday: Barclays Premier League: Sunderland v Everton (1.30); Swansea v Arsenal (4.0); Tottenham v Stoke (1.30); West Bromwich Albion v Newcastle (1.30).

FA Cup: First round (2pm unless stated): Halifax v Bradford City (12.0); Blyth Spartans v Altrincham; Braintree v Chesterfield; Coventry v Worcester City; Forest Green v Scunthorpe; Gosport Borough v Colchester; Portsmouth v Aldershot; Stevenage v Maidstone United; Norton United v Gateshead.

Scottish Premiership: Aberdeen v Celtic (12.30).

Reading

Rochdale (1) 1

Murray 44 14,237

(0) 0

Ipswich

(1) 2

10,918

McGoldrick 26 Murphy 61

Bournemouth (2) 3

Brighton

Greer (og) 25, Pugh 38 Kermorgant 76 (pen)

Colunga 28, Baldock 60 10,166

Brentford

Derby

(0) 2

Gray 49 Dallas 90+4

Cardiff

Sky Bet Championship: Birmingham v Cardiff; Brighton v Blackburn; Derby v Wolverhampton Wanderers (12.15); Fulham v Huddersfield; Ipswich v Watford; Leeds v Blackpool; Middlesbrough v Bournemouth; Millwall v Brentford; Nottingham Forest v Norwich; Reading v Charlton; Sheffield Wednesday v Rotherham.

8: C Jerome (Norwich) 8: D Murphy (Ipswich) 7: M Antonio (Nottm Forest) 7: B Sako (Wolves)

Sky Bet Championship Blackburn

(0) 3

Ecuele Manga 61 Macheda 67 Jones 83

Charlton

(0) 1

Vetokele 70 16,850

(1) 1

(0) 0

Millwall

(1) 1

Woolford 12 17,000

Fulham

(2) 3

Christensen 30 Ruiz 36, 88 (pen) 12,084 (Fulham) 77, Barnett

(1) 1

(0) 2

Oldham 12,696

Yeovil

(0) 0

Port Vale

(0) 2

6,462

(0) 1

Marshall 56 Daniel 60

Crawley Town (0) 1

Crewe

McLeod 68 2,329

Cooper 19

Mansfield Tn (0) 1

Southend

Palmer 78 2,719

Leonard 17 Worrall 69

(1) 1

Gillingham 2,951

Leyton Orient (0) 2

Coventry

Cuthbert 54 Simpson 70

O’Brien 35, 90+1 5,464

(0) 2

Swindon

(0) 0 (1) 2 (1) 1

Obika 6 9,494

Notts County (1) 1

Walsall

Thompson 31 5,884

Jones (og) 16 Bradshaw 64 (pen)

Peterborough (0) 1

Scunthorpe

Washington 57 6,275

Williams 14 Santos (og) 64

(1) 1 (1) 2

(1) 2

AFC Wimbledon(0) 0

Mohamed 32 Nicholls 90+4

4,548

Oxford United (1) 1

Wycombe

Hylton 37 (pen) 7,552

Hayes 53 Murphy 62

Portsmouth

Carlisle

(2) 3

(0) 2

Stevenage

(0) 2 (0) 0

(1) 2

Ihiekwe (og) 14 Barnard 64

AFC Telford U (0) 0

Bristol Rovers(0) 1

2,860 Clarke 50 Sent off: Monkhouse (Bristol Rovers) 87

Aldershot

(0) 1

Holman 66 1,679

Gateshead

(0) 2

Ramshaw 49, 90+1

(0) 0

Alfreton Tn

(1) 1

960

Graham 20

Braintree Tn (0) 0

Woking

(0) 0

Chester

(0) 2

876

Fleetwood Tn (1) 1

Alli 51 Kay 59

(0) 2

Northampton (1) 2

Altrincham

Hitchcock 3

MK Dons

Newport Co

(0) 2

Walker 80 Zebroski 38 Duckworth 87 O’Connor 57 3,172 Sent off: Sandell (Newport County) 66

(1) 1

Vanarama Conference (0) 0

Chesterfield (0) 0 Colchester

Hartlepool

Doncaster

Agard 57

Sears 79 3,571

Luton

Griffiths 3

Jennings 66 Ihiekwe 90+6 5,456

Wabara 59 Main 69

(0) 1

(0) 1

Shrewsbury

Nichols 72 (pen) 5,400

Tranmere

Stead 45+4 13,348

Bristol City

Exeter

(1) 1

Westcarr 2, Storey 26 15,533 Hollands 74 Sent off: White (Carlisle) 90

League One Bradford C

Dag & Red

Birmingham (0) 0

25,135

(1) 2 (1) 2

Welling Utd

3,421

3,704

Eastleigh

(1) 3

Strevens 26 McConville 78 Fleetwood 60 (pen) James 90+3 McAllister 65 1,306 Sent off: Beckwith (Eastleigh) 38, Hughes (Chester) 38

Forest Green (0) 3

Lincoln City

Norwood 69 (pen), 71 Bennett 90+4 1,379

Sam-Yorke 9 Ledsham 40 Burrow 62

Grimsby

(2) 3

Magnay 13, Arnold 38 John-Lewis 87 (pen)

Dartford

(2) 3

(0) 0

3,116

Kidderminster(2) 2

Torquay United(0) 1

Johnson 4 Nicholson 26

Downes 89 2,081

(2) 2

Marsden 11 Connor 17

Cambridge U (0) 0

(1) 1

(2) 3

Southport

Reid 70 (pen)

(2) 2

Bingham 6 Mangan 70 1,698 Lawrence 90+5 (pen) Sent off: Grandison (Shrewsbury) 49

Middlesbro

Macclesfield (0) 1 Turnbull 50

MacDonald 32 3,083

(0) 1

Sheff Wed

Nuneaton Tn (0) 1

Healy 44 906

Leeds Mowatt 77 24,220

Bamford 8 Wildschut 19 Tomlin 87 Sent off: Bowery (Rotherham) 31

Wolves

F 16 17 17 10 17 11 13 9 14 11 11 14 13 9 8 9 5 10 12 6 7 9 5 8

Away D L 4 0 1 2 2 2 0 2 2 2 3 0 0 4 1 3 5 2 0 6 2 4 3 2 2 4 3 2 3 4 3 4 0 3 3 3 3 5 4 1 2 4 2 6 1 5 2 5

A W 7 4 9 4 7 3 6 5 11 4 10 4 10 4 6 4 9 1 6 2 10 2 16 3 12 2 13 3 12 1 5 1 10 4 13 2 12 0 13 3 14 2 8 0 12 2 16 1

8: M Done (Rochdale) 8: I Henderson (Rochdale) 8: C Hourihane (Barnsley) 8: F Sears (Colchester)

Dawson 90+2 853

Plymouth

Bury

(0) 1

14: E Doyle (Chesterfield) 11: J Forte (Oldham) 10: J Garner (Preston) 9: A Wilbraham (Bristol City)

Burton Albion (1) 1

York City

Rotherham

(1) 3

(0) 1

De Girolamo 43

11,282

Forshaw 9 (pen) Espinoza 54 Maloney 82 Sent off: McCormack (Wigan) 85

Barnsley Winnall 56

Cheltenham (0) 0

Nottm Forest (0) 0

Wigan

Sheffield Utd (0) 0 24,495

2,469

15,317

(2) 3

(0) 0

Martin 27 10,608

Huddersfield (2) 3

Vydra 36, Tozser 45+4 Munari 64

Preston 6,102

Adams 13, Rose 28

Lynch 1, Wells 20 Holt 54

Watford

(2) 3

O’Connell 28 Henderson 32 Done 61

League Two (1) 2

Drenthe 27

(0) 0

Home D L 2 0 3 0 1 1 2 3 3 1 2 3 2 2 1 2 2 1 4 0 3 2 1 4 2 3 1 5 1 3 3 2 3 3 2 4 2 2 3 5 1 5 3 2 4 3 0 5

F 17 11 12 19 14 11 12 13 9 7 12 9 9 11 7 5 9 12 8 11 12 5 7 5

A 10 7 9 9 8 4 9 13 9 10 14 8 12 9 13 11 11 11 15 9 16 14 14 16

GD 16 12 13 14 12 8 6 3 5 2 -1 -1 -2 -2 -10 -2 -7 -2 -7 -5 -11 -8 -14 -19

Pts 36 31 27 26 26 26 26 26 25 22 20 19 19 19 19 18 18 17 17 16 15 14 14 14

leading scorers 7: I Vetokele (Charlton) 7: M Vydra (Watford) 6: L Grabban (Norwich) * 3 others have scored 6 goals

(0) 2

Valencia 60 Downing 73

Fixtures Kick-off 7.45 unless stated Today: Barclays Premier League: Crystal Palace v Sunderland (8.0).

Scottish Premiership: Ross County v Aberdeen.

Tomorrow: Champions League: Group A: Juventus v Olympiacos; Malmö v Atletico Madrid. Group B: Basle v Ludogorets; Real Madrid v Liverpool. Group C: Benfica v Monaco; Zenit St Petersburg v Bayer Leverkusen (5.0).

Group D: Arsenal v Anderlecht; Borussia Dortmund v Galatasaray.

Sky Bet Championship: Birmingham v Watford; Bolton v Cardiff (8.0); Brighton v Wigan; Derby v Huddersfield; Ipswich v Wolverhampton Wanderers; Leeds v Charlton; Middlesbrough v Norwich; Millwall v Blackburn; Reading v Rotherham (8.0); Sheffield Wednesday v Bournemouth. League One: Swindon v Preston.

Vanarama Conference: Braintree Town v Grimsby; Lincoln City v Altrincham.

Scottish Championship: Cowdenbeath v Rangers.

Wednesday: Champions League: Group E: Bayern Munich v Roma; Manchester City v CSKA Moscow. Group F: Ajax v Barcelona; Paris Saint-Germain v Apoel Nicosia. Group G: Maribor v Chelsea; Sporting v Schalke. Group H: Athletic Bilbao v Porto; Shakhtar Donetsk v BATE Borisov.

Sky Bet Championship: Fulham v Blackpool (8.0); Nottingham Forest v Brentford.

Thursday: Europa League (8.05 unless stated): Group A (6.0): Apollon Limassol v Borussia Mönchengladbach; Zurich v Villarreal. Group B (6.0): Copenhagen v Club Bruges; HJK Helsinki v Torino. Group C (6.0): Asteras Tripolis v Tottenham; Besiktas v Partizan Belgrade. Group D (6.0): Astra Giurgiu v Celtic; Dynamo Zagreb v Red Bull Salzburg. Group E: Dynamo Moscow v Estoril (5.0); Panathinaikos v PSV Eindhoven (6.0). Group F: Karabakh v Dnipro (5.0); SaintÉtienne v Inter Milan (6.0). Group G: Feyenoord v Rijeka; Seville v Standard Liège. Group H: Everton v Lille; Wolfsburg v Krasnodar. Group I: Napoli v Young Boys; Sparta Prague v Slovan Bratislava. Group J: Dynamo Kiev v Aalborg (5.0); Rio Ave v Steaua Bucharest. Group K: Fiorentina v PAOK Salonika; Guingamp v Dynamo Minsk. Group L: Legia Warsaw v Metalist Kharkiv; Lokeren v Trabzonspor.

Friday: Sky Bet Championship: Bolton v Wigan (8.0).

FA Cup: First round: Warrington Town v Exeter (7.55).

Scottish Premiership: Motherwell v Dundee United.

Away D L 2 2 2 2 1 2 4 1 2 2 1 2 1 3 4 2 4 2 4 2 4 3 1 4 4 1 2 3 2 5 3 4 3 3 2 4 2 5 2 5 3 4 4 3 0 7 2 5

A W 9 3 8 3 6 5 6 2 6 4 8 4 10 3 5 2 7 1 9 2 10 0 9 2 6 3 11 2 10 1 8 1 12 1 7 1 5 1 4 1 8 1 16 1 11 1 11 0

leading scorers

Gestede 17, 68 Marshall 55 5: N Chadli (Tottenham) 4: R Lukaku (Everton) 4: S Naismith (Everton) 4: N Jelavic (Hull) 4: P Cissé (Newcastle) 4: W Bony (Swansea) 4: M Diamé (Hull) 3: F Campbell (C Palace)

F 20 13 12 11 12 13 15 11 11 15 16 12 3 12 14 9 9 11 7 9 7 5 10 4

(0) 0

leading scorers 10: S Agüero (Man City) 9: D Costa (Chelsea) 7: A Sánchez (Arsenal) 7: S Berahino (West Brom) 6: G Pellè (Southampton) 6: D Sakho (West Ham) 5: L Ulloa (Leicester) 5: C Austin (QPR)

Home D L 3 0 1 2 2 2 2 1 3 1 4 1 3 1 2 1 4 0 3 1 0 2 3 1 4 2 3 2 1 2 2 2 2 3 5 1 2 2 1 3 4 2 2 4 2 3 1 6

10: C Martin (Derby) 9: B Assombalonga (Nottm F) 9: C Wilson (Bournemouth) 8: R Gestede (Blackburn)

52,166

(1) 2

P W Y 1 Watford...............................15 5 Y 2 Bournemouth...................15 5 Y 3 Middlesbrough................15 3 Z 4 Wolves.................................15 5 Z 5 Derby...................................15 3 W 6 Norwich..............................15 3 Y 7 Blackburn...........................15 4 Y 8 Ipswich................................15 4 W 9 Charlton..............................15 4 Z10 Nottingham Forest.........15 3 W 11 Cardiff..................................15 6 Y 12 Brentford............................15 4 Z 13 Sheffield Wed...................15 1 Y 14 Huddersfield.....................15 3 Z 15 Reading...............................15 4 Z 16 Millwall................................15 3 Z 17 Rotherham........................15 3 Y 18 Wigan...................................15 2 Z 19 Leeds....................................15 3 W 20 Fulham.................................15 3 1 W 21 Brighton..............................15 Y22 Birmingham......................15 1 Z23 Bolton..................................15 2 1 W 24 Blackpool...........................15

Sky Bet League One

Wrexham

Dover Ath

(1) 2

Payne 1, Francis 70 1,398

(1) 1

Barnet

(1) 2

Akinde 25, 90+1

(0) 0

Halifax Town (0) 0

P W D L F A GD Pts Barnet.................19 13 3 3 43 14 29 42 Gateshead...........18 9 6 3 30 22 8 33 Halifax ................ 18 9 5 4 30 18 12 32 Bristol Rovers.....18 9 5 4 21 16 5 32 Woking................17 9 4 4 30 17 13 31 Forest Green.......18 8 7 3 25 18 7 31 Grimsby .............. 18 8 6 4 32 14 18 30 Eastleigh.............17 8 5 4 30 24 6 29 Kidderminster.....18 8 5 5 24 18 6 29 Macclesfield ....... 18 7 8 3 21 15 6 29 Wrexham............18 8 4 6 22 20 2 28 Torquay...............17 8 3 6 30 21 9 27 Lincoln City.........18 6 5 7 29 31 -2 23 Chester ............... 18 7 2 9 20 30 -10 23 Braintree.............18 6 3 9 20 21 -1 21 Aldershot............18 5 6 7 19 21 -2 21 Southport ........... 18 5 4 9 19 30 -11 19 Welling ............... 18 4 6 8 23 27 -4 18 Dover Athletic....18 5 3 10 20 29 -9 18 Altrincham..........18 5 3 10 17 34 -17 18 Dartford..............18 3 7 8 17 27 -10 16 Alfreton Town....18 5 1 12 17 36 -19 16 Nuneaton............18 4 3 11 14 31 -17 15 AFC Telford Utd..18 2 4 12 22 41 -19 10 North: Barrow 1 Guiseley 0; Boston United 3 AFC Fylde 1; Brackley Town 1 Colwyn Bay 1; Bradford Park Avenue 2 Tamworth 4; Gainsborough Trinity 3 Chorley 4; Harrogate Town 2 Stockport County 1; Leamington 2 Worcester City 2; Lowestoft Town 0 Gloucester City 3; North Ferriby United 4 Oxford City 3; Solihull Moors 3 Hyde 0; Stalybridge Celtic 0 Hednesford Town 5.

Top of the table P W D L F A GD Pts Barrow................14 10 2 2 32 14 18 32 AFC Fylde............14 10 1 3 35 11 24 31 Solihull Moors....15 8 3 4 35 19 16 27 Chorley................14 8 3 3 26 18 8 27 Hednesford Tn....16 7 4 5 25 17 8 25 Boston United .... 15 7 3 5 25 24 1 24 South: Basingstoke Town 1 Chelmsford City 2; Bath City 2 St Albans City 0; Bishop’s Stortford 1 Hemel Hempstead Town 3; Concord Rangers 2 Weston-super-Mare 0; Eastbourne Borough 1 Bromley 4; Farnborough Town 1 Gosport Borough 4; Hayes & Yeading 1 Sutton United 1; Staines Town 0 Ebbsfleet United 2; Wealdstone 1 Maidenhead United 1; Whitehawk 0 Havant & Waterlooville 0.

Top of the table P W D L F A GD Pts Basingstoke Tn...13 9 0 4 22 12 10 27 Boreham Wood...13 8 1 4 31 13 18 25 Ebbsfleet Utd ..... 14 7 3 4 21 9 12 24 Bromley .............. 13 7 3 3 26 17 9 24 Havant & W........14 7 2 5 23 14 9 23 Maidenhead Utd.15 6 4 5 26 25 1 22 FA Trophy: First qualifying round: AFC Totton 1 Hereford United 2; Arlesey Town 2 Wingate & Finchley 1; Aylesbury 1 Merstham 2; Barkingside 3 Kingstonian 1; Bedford 4 Brightlingsea Regent 0; Belper Town 2 Histon 3; Bideford AFC 3 Didcot Town 3; Bognor Regis Town 2 AFC Sudbury 2; Brentwood Town 1 Biggleswade Town 1; Burgess Hill Town 2 Chesham United 0; Burnham 2 Hitchin Town 2; Bury Town 1 Hendon 3; Buxton 2 Ashton United 0; Canvey 1 Leatherhead 1; Carlton Town 1 Stourbridge 1; Chasetown 2 Newcastle Town 1; Chippenham Town 3

8: M Smith (Swindon) 7: K Agard (Bristol City) 7: B Alli (MK Dons) * 2 others have scored 7 goals

Frome Town 1; Clitheroe 0 Workington 2; Corby Town 0 Redditch United 1; Cray Wanderers 3 Faversham Town 0; Curzon 0 Northwich Victoria 0; Dereham Town 1 Enfield Town 0; Dorchester Town 1 Wimborne Town 3; Dulwich Hamlet 3 Chalfont St Peter 0; Evesham United 2 Banbury United 2; Farsley AFC 0 Blyth Spartans 2; Folkestone Invicta 3 Thurrock 2; United of Manchester 2 Padiham 0; Frickley Athletic 0 Marine 2; Gresley 3 Romulus 1; Halesowen 1 Matlock Town 1; Hampton & Richmond 0 Grays Athletic 3; Hornchurch 2 Harrow Borough 0; Horsham 1 Ware 0; Hungerford Town 1 East Thurrock United 1; Leek Town 2 Spalding United 2; Leiston 2 Leighton Town 2; Lewes 1 Harlow Town 0; Loughborough Dynamo 3 Grantham Town 1; Maidstone 3 Walton and Hersham 2; Mangotsfield United 5 Bishop’s Cleeve 1; Margate 0 Slough 2; Market Drayton Town 2 Kings Lynn Town 2; Merthyr Town 2 Cirencester Town 0; Metropolitan Police 1 Billericay 0; Mickleover Sports 3 Kettering 2; New Mills 3 Mossley AFC 2; Northwood 1 Guernsey 1 (aet; Northwood won 5-3 on pens); Ossett Town 2 Trafford 2; Paulton Rover 3 Fleet Town 0; Poole Town 3 North Leigh 1; Prescot Cables 2 Goole AFC 4; Royston Town 1 Witham Town 2; Rushall Olympic 2 Cambridge City 0; Scarborough Athletic 0 Darlington 1883 4; Sheffield 0 Witton Albion 1; Sholing 1 Tiverton 0; Skelmersdale United 0 Nantwich Town 2; South Park 1 Heybridge Swifts 4; Spennymoor Town 3 Bamber Bridge 1; St Neots Town 2 Ilkeston 1; Stamford AFC 0 Barwell 1; Stratford Town 1 Stafford Rangers 0; Thamesmead Town 3 Three Bridges 1; Truro City 3 Egham Town 0; Uxbridge 6 Hythe Town 1; VCD Athletic 0 Tonbridge Angels 2; Walton Casuals 2 Peacehaven & Telscombe 4; Weymouth 1 Shortwood United 0; Whitby 1 Ramsbottom United 2; Whyteleafe 3 Dunstable Town 1; Worthing 1 Chatham Town 1.

Scottish Premiership Celtic

(0) 1

Guidetti 49

Inverness CT (0) 0 42,553

Dundee United(1) 3

St Mirren

Paton 45, Ciftci 56 Telfer 73

6,808

Hamilton

Partick Thistle(1) 3

(2) 3

MacKinnon 22 Redmond 23 Andreu 90+4

Kilmarnock

(0) 0

McMillan 32 Craigen 68, Elliott 72 2,855

(0) 1

Eremenko 76 4,481 P W Dundee United....12 8 Hamilton.............12 7 Celtic...................11 7 Inverness CT.......12 7 Kilmarnock..........12 6 Dundee................12 5 Aberdeen ............ 11 6 St Johnstone......12 4 Partick Thistle....11 3 St Mirren............12 2 Motherwell.........12 2 Ross County........11 1

Dundee

(1) 3

Stewart 44, 90+4 Clarkson 51 D L F A GD Pts 1 3 22 13 9 25 3 2 22 10 12 24 2 2 23 7 16 23 2 3 15 9 6 23 2 4 15 13 2 20 4 3 17 14 3 19 1 4 17 15 2 19 1 7 9 15 -6 13 3 5 16 16 0 12 2 8 10 21 -11 8 1 9 7 21 -14 7 2 8 9 28 -19 5

William Hill Scottish Cup Third round Annan Athletic(2) 3

Livingston

Weatherson 20, 41 McColm 58

Jacobs 13, Mullen 83 560

Arbroath

(1) 2

McManus 22 (pen) McBride 66

Ayr United

(1) 1

Donnelly 34 784

Dumbarton 1,878

(1) 2

Nairn County (0) 1 Webb 88 682

Alloa Athletic (1) 1 Buchanan 29

(0) 0

Rangers Boyd 45+1

(1) 1

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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the game 6 Results and fixtures Sky Bet League Two P W Y 1 Wycombe...........................16 4 Z 2 Luton Town.......................16 5 Y 3 Shrewsbury.......................16 7 Y 4 Bury......................................16 7 Z 5 Burton Albion...................16 5 W 6 Plymouth...........................16 6 Y 7 Southend............................16 3 Z 8 Newport County.............16 4 Y 9 Portsmouth.......................16 5 Z10 Morecambe......................16 3 Z 11 Exeter City.........................16 2 Y 12 Accrington Stanley........16 5 Z 13 Cheltenham......................16 3 Z 14 Cambridge United.........16 4 Y 15 Northampton...................16 4 Z 16 Stevenage..........................16 5 Z 17 AFC Wimbledon..............16 3 Z 18 Mansfield Town...............16 4 W 19 Oxford United..................16 3 Y20 York City.............................16 0 W 21 Dag & Red..........................16 2 Z22 Carlisle.................................16 3 1 W 23 Tranmere............................16 1 W 24 Hartlepool..........................16

Home D L 3 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 1 2 1 1 3 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 4 2 1 2 3 2 0 4 1 3 0 3 3 2 1 3 2 3 6 2 0 6 2 3 4 3 3 4

F 10 10 19 16 10 13 8 14 15 8 10 13 8 16 16 12 14 9 10 6 8 14 8 5

A W 6 5 4 4 3 2 5 2 7 4 2 2 5 4 9 2 6 1 10 4 10 4 9 2 7 3 9 2 12 2 9 1 11 2 8 1 8 1 8 2 13 2 14 1 10 1 11 2

Away D L 2 1 3 1 2 4 3 3 1 3 2 4 1 3 3 3 3 4 0 4 1 3 1 5 1 4 3 3 2 4 3 4 2 4 3 4 2 5 3 3 3 3 1 6 2 5 0 6

F 13 9 6 10 11 5 8 6 3 10 9 11 7 10 9 9 8 5 8 8 11 6 7 7

A 6 7 9 12 13 7 9 7 10 7 9 18 11 11 11 15 14 11 15 12 14 16 12 16

GD 11 8 13 9 1 9 2 4 2 1 0 -3 -3 6 2 -3 -3 -5 -5 -6 -8 -10 -7 -15

Pts 32 31 30 30 29 27 25 24 23 23 23 23 22 21 21 21 20 19 16 15 15 15 12 12

leading scorers 10: D Hylton (Oxford United) 8: M Cullen (Luton) 8: M Richards (Northampton) 8: M Tubbs (AFC Wimbledon)

East Fife

(2) 2

7: A Akinfenwa (AFC Wimbledon) 7: P Hayes (Wycombe) 7: P Murphy (Wycombe) 7: R Reid (Plymouth)

Berwick Rgrs

(2) 3

Smith 12, Walker 45 Dargo 10, 36 477 Currie 56 (pen) Sent off: Beaton 75, Walker 89, McAleer 90+1 (all East Fife)

East Stirling

(0) 1

Dunfermline

El Bakhtaoui 37, 62 Byrne 76 Millen 84 (pen)

Edinburgh City (1) 2

Brora Rangers

(3) 3

McFarland 2, Dunn 72 Williamson 6 601 Morrison 23, Greig 43 Sent off: Allum (Edinburgh City) 63

(3) 4

Nicolson 16 Cameron 25, 36 Sutherland 71

Bo’ness United (0) 4

Anderson 53, Walker 59 Gribben 61, Scott 82 858

Forfar Athletic (1) 1

Cowdenbeath

Hilson 30 592

Hughes 11, Higgins 26 Milne 64

Hurlford

(1) 1

Stirling Albion

Kean 10 Smith 78 551 Sent off: Wedderburn (Stirling Albion) 76

Linlithgow Rose (0) 0

Raith Rovers

2,250

Conroy 68 (pen) Watson 86

Morton

(0) 0

Airdrieonians

1,420 Sent off: McKee (Morton) 64

Peterhead

(0) 0

Stranraer

430 Longworth 61 Sent off: Donaldson (Peterhead) 63

Queen’s Park

(0) 1

Burns 90 438

Spartans

Albion Rovers

(2) 3 (0) 1

(0) 2 (0) 0 (0) 1 (1) 2

Gemmell 45, 51

(1) 2

Clyde

Motion 14, 72 (both pens) 611 Sent off: Sivewright (Spartans) 90+2

Stenhousemuir (1) 1

Brechin City

McCormack (og) 34 451

McAusland 52 Barr 83 (pen)

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(1) 4

Greenhill 79 991

Elgin City

7: D Rose (Bury) 6: K Ellison (Morecambe) 5: K Appiah (Cambridge Utd) * 8 others have scored 5 goals

(0) 0 (0) 2

Spanish league: Athletic Bilbao 1 Seville 0; Atletico Madrid 4 Cordoba 2; Barcelona 0 Celta Vigo 1; Elche 2 Espanyol 1; Granada 0 Real Madrid 4; Levante 2 Almeria 1; Real Sociedad 0 Malaga 1; Villarreal 1 Valencia 3.

Top of the table P W D L F A GD Pts Real Madrid.............10 8 0 2 37 10 27 24 Valencia...................10 7 2 1 23 9 14 23 Atletico Madrid.......10 7 2 1 19 9 10 23 Barcelona.................10 7 1 2 23 4 19 22 Seville......................10 7 1 2 17 10 7 22 Celta Vigo................10 5 4 1 17 11 6 19 Italian league: AC Milan 0 Palermo 2; Chievo 0 Sassuolo 0; Empoli 0 Juventus 2; Napoli 2 Roma 0; Parma 2 Inter Milan 0; Sampdoria 3 Fiorentina 1; Torino 0 Atalanta 0; Udinese 2 Genoa 4.

Top of the table P W D L F A GD Pts Juventus..................10 8 1 1 18 4 14 25 Roma........................10 7 1 2 16 6 10 22 Sampdoria ............... 10 5 4 1 12 6 6 19 Napoli ...................... 10 5 3 2 19 12 7 18 Genoa.......................10 5 3 2 14 10 4 18 Lazio .......................... 9 5 1 3 16 9 7 16 German league: Bayern Munich 2 Borussia Dortmund 1; Borussia Mönchengladbach 3 Hoffenheim 1; Cologne 0 Freiburg 1; Hamburg 1 Bayer Leverkusen 0; Hanover 1 Eintracht Frankfurt 0; Mainz 1 Werder Bremen 2; Paderborn 3 Hertha Berlin 1; Stuttgart 0 Wolfsburg 4.

French league: Bordeaux 2 Toulouse 1; Guingamp 1 Bastia 0; Lille 1 Saint-Étienne 1; Lorient 1 Paris SaintGermain 2; Marseilles 2 Lens 1; Metz 3 Caen 2; Montpellier 2 Evian 0; Nantes 1 Rennes 1; Nice 1 Lyons 3.

ON THE BOX Today: 7.45pm: Ross County v Aberdeen, Scottish Premiership, BT Sport 1. 8pm: Crystal Palace v Sunderland, Barclays Premier League, Sky Sports 1.

Tomorrow: 5pm: Zenit St Petersburg v Bayer Leverkusen, Champions League, Sky Sports 5. 7.45pm: Real Madrid v Liverpool, Champions League, ITV. 7.45pm: Arsenal v Anderlecht, Champions League, Sky Sports 5.

7.45pm: Borussia Dortmund v Galatasaray, Champions League, Sky Sports 1.

Wednesday: 7.45pm: Manchester City v CSKA Moscow, Champions League, Sky Sports 5. 7.45pm: Maribor v Chelsea, Champions League, Sky Sports 1.

Thursday: 6pm: Asteras Tripolis v Tottenham Hotspur, Europa League, ITV4. 6pm: Astra Giurgiu v Celtic, Europa League, BT Sport 1. 6pm: St Etienne v Inter Milan, Europa League, BT Sport 2. 8.05pm: Everton v Lille, Europa League, ITV4. 8.05pm: Napoli v Young Boys, Europa League, BT Sport 1. 8.05pm: Seville v Standard Liège, Europa League, BT Sport 2.

Friday: 7.45pm: Motherwell v Dundee United, Scottish Premiership, BT Sport 1. 7.55pm: Warrington Town v Exeter City, FA Cup, BBC Two. 8pm: Bolton Wanderers v Wigan Athletic, Sky Bet Championship, Sky Sports 1.

Saturday: 12.15pm: Derby County v Wolverhampton Wanderers, Championship, Sky Sports 1. 12.45pm: Liverpool v Chelsea, Premier League, BT Sport 1. 5.30pm: Queens Park Rangers v Manchester City, Premier League, Sky Sports 1. 7pm: Real Madrid v Rayo Vallecano, Spanish league, Sky Sports 5. 7.45pm: Sampdoria v AC Milan, Italian league, BT Sport 1. 9pm: Celta Vigo v Granada, Spanish league, Sky Sports 5.

Sunday: Midday: Halifax Town v Bradford City, FA Cup, BT Sport 1.

12.30pm: Aberdeen v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, Sky Sports 4. 1.30pm: West Bromwich Albion v Newcastle United, Premier League, Sky Sports 1.

2pm: Wrexham v Woking, FA Cup, S4C. 2pm: Juventus v Parma, Italian league, BT Sport 1. 2.30pm: Wolfsburg v Hamburg, German league, BT Sport 2.

4pm: Swansea City v Arsenal, Premier League, Sky Sports 1. 4pm: SaintÉtienne v Monaco, French league, ESPN. 4.30pm: Borussia Dortmund v Borussia Mönchengladbach, German league, BT Sport 2. 5pm: Fiorentina v Napoli, Italian league, BT Sport 1. 6pm: Valencia v Athletic Bilbao, Spanish league, Sky Sports 5. 7.45pm: Roma v Torino, Italian league, BT Sport 2. 8pm: Real Sociedad v Atletico Madrid, Spanish league, Sky Sports 5. 8pm: Paris Saint-Germain v Marseilles, French league, BT Sport 1.

Two-horse race for the title is least surprising thing about this season

have not trailed at all in the second half.

They are the first top-flight team to do this since Arsenal in 1990-91.

SEEING IT FROM BOTH SIDES In the past two weeks Harry Kane, of Tottenham Hotspur, has scored direct from a 90th minute free kick (against Aston Villa yesterday) and conceded a goal direct from an 89th-minute free kick (as an emergency goalkeeper against Asteras Tropolis).

Bill Edgar Chelsea and Manchester City seemed vastly superior to their Barclays Premier League rivals before the season started and the campaign so far has done little to dispel that notion.

Despite widespread claims that as many as five or six sides had a chance of becoming champions, the title has only ever looked destined for Stamford Bridge or the Etihad Stadium.

Should that assessment prove accurate, it would only continue the usual predictability at the top of the table. A survey of pre-season odds covering 20 years — a search of the William Hill and Ladrokes archives dug up complete prices for every Premier League season apart from 1993-94 and 2002-03 — suggests the title battle has, realistically, almost always been no more than a twohorse race.

In those 20 seasons, the eventual title winner was among the top two in the pre-season betting on 17 occasions (nine times first, eight times second). The exceptions have been Manchester United in 1992-93, Manchester City in 2011-12 (both third in the betting) and Arsenal in 1997-98 (fourth).

Last night Chelsea and City filled the top two places in this season’s betting, just as they did before the season began.

Only by bucking this trend could a third party muscle in by the end of May. At least there is more uncertainty at the other end of the table. Of the 20 teams that finished bottom of the table, only six had been placed in the bottom two by bookmakers in their pre-season odds. Another six were as high as eighth bottom or above in the list of prices.

The odds suggest that overall the table has become more predictable since the Premier League was launched in 1992. In the first ten seasons of the survey the average team were almost four places away from their position in the betting; in the subsequent ten years they have been only three places out.

HAZARD LIGHTS WAY Why are Chelsea doing so well? At his present rate, Eden Hazard is on course to achieve 205 dribbles in the Premier League this season, 73 more than any player has managed in a full season since Opta’s records began in 2003.

Cesc Fàbregas is on course to record 34 assists, 14 more than the most in a full season since these figures were first kept (2002).

BLUES CONTROL Not only are Chelsea unbeaten in their first 15 games of the season in all competitions, they

T

5 6 10 th

th

th

BILLY’S BRAINBUSTER Manchester United have had a player sent off in their fifth, sixth and tenth league games this season — and so have Swansea City. United’s miscreant trio, in order of their dismissals, have the initials B, R and S – and so do Swansea’s (Blackett, Rooney and Smalling; Bony, Rangel and Shelvey).

B

WHEN SATURDAY NEVER COMES Tottenham are in a 14-month period (late September 2013 until early December 2014) during which they are playing at home only twice on a Saturday.

SILVERWARE TO SILVER TITLE DROUGHT Manchester United equalled the record for the most league titles (seven) in 1967, but then went 25 years without adding another one. Liverpool extended their title record to 18 in 1990, but then (short of a most unlikely six-month charge from now) will have gone 25 years without adding another one.

MERSEY MISSES Aside from their goalless draw in the derby in 2013, Liverpool and Everton failed, on Saturday, to score on the same day for the first time in nearly seven years.

RED REDS United have received red cards in the space of six league games for the first time in six seasons (Chris Smalling yesterday, Wayne Rooney against West Ham United and Tyler Blackett against Leicester City).

TRAVEL TRAUMA United have not won in nine away matches in all competitions — and their next two away games are against Arsenal and Southampton, both unbeaten at home in the league this season.

BOXING CLEVER For the second time in less than a fortnight Real Madrid enjoyed an easy victory in Granada territory. On Saturday they triumphed 4-0 away to Granada in the Spanish league; previously they won 3-0 away to Liverpool in the Champions League — in the Granada television region.

S

R

BRITISH ISLES BURNLEY Burnley are on course to be the least foreign team (non-British or Irish players) in the Premier League since 1994-95. Only one of their 20 players used this season is categorised as foreign: Ashley Barnes, born in England but a former Austria Under20 player via the grandparent qualification rule.

SAINTS ALIVE On All Saints’ Day, on Saturday, Southampton (The Saints) and Paris Saint-Germain won, while Sánchez (meaning saintly) was outstanding in scoring twice for Arsenal.

0 Bill Edgar is the author of Back of the net: 100 Golden Goals, published by Yellow Jersey

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

the game 6 Barclays Premier League What we learnt this week

rory smith

The mask slips but Hazard’s guile keeps run going rory smith

The claim game Much debate this week about the scourge of “grappling” in the penalty area. There is, though, an even bigger danger to football: falsely claiming for throw-ins, corners and goalkicks when you clearly know it touched you last. So we are launching a do-gooder campaign to stamp it out: Where There’s A Claim, There’s Blame.

Stevie G to NY? Let’s look on the bright side of Steven Gerrard’s in no way transparent threat to leave Liverpool. Maybe he could join New York City FC, allowing him to end his career as he spent so much of it: trying to work out if he can play in midfield with Frank Lampard.

Pardew’s pearls Alan Pardew, below, was full of similes this week.

First Newcastle as Andy Murray, then IKEA. “I’ve [assembled] a few of their [flatpack furniture items] because my wife’s Swedish,” he humble-bragged, even though you don’t have to be married to a Swede to go to IKEA.

Law of the West “West London is ours, West London is ours,” sang the QPR fans at Chelsea on Saturday.

Not with property prices these days, it’s not. West London actually belongs to a curious mix of the super-rich, Foxtons and the evil.

Cover image: Times photographer, Bradley Ormesher

Chelsea

Oscar 32, Hazard 75 (pen)

QPR

Austin 62

Referee M Jones Attendance 41,486

2 1

The imperious run goes on. Chelsea remain unbeaten, unbowed and, with every triumph, the blue vice tightens on all those who would pretend to topple them. José Mourinho has the Barclays Premier League just where he wants it.

And yet, victory notwithstanding, seeing Chelsea labour to victory against a spirited Queens Park Rangers should have brought the slightest, slenderest sliver of hope for the chasing pack.

Not because Stamford Bridge’s quiet certainty of their eventual superiority seemed to irk Mourinho so; there is surely no prospect of a rift between manager and fans, no chance that their title charge will be derailed by a schism between deity and worshippers. No, there is hope for the others because this was the third game in succession in which Chelsea have made something of a panic out of a procession.

When Oscar flexed his right foot to curl Cesc Fàbregas’s pass artfully past Robert Green’s dive after half an hour on Saturday afternoon, this game really should have been over. There is a gulf in league position between these sides, and there is a chasm of ability too; indeed, QPR’s team-talk before the game had extended not a vast amount further than, “Try to make sure it’s not embarrassing.”

Chelsea, though, could not find the second, let alone the third. They toiled so badly that Mourinho was forced to lose his cool with them at half-time.

“He was not happy,” Willian said.

Berahino wants chance to repay adopted nation ian baker

Leicester City West Brom Cambiasso (og) 47

Referee S Attwell Attendance 31,819

0 1

Saido Berahino, the West Bromwich Albion striker, can do no wrong at the moment. Even though he failed to score for the first time in four league matches, he still produced Saturday’s

“He told us we had not played well and had to do better. He said it was dangerous for us only to be one goal up, so we had to improve. He was right.”

He was indeed. Charlie Austin equalised after an hour and for a while it looked as though this would be Chelsea’s first real stumble, the instant when their air of invincibility evaporated a little. Only Eden Hazard’s composure, and Eduardo Vargas’s lack of it, ensured that it did not.

But add this to what happened at Old Trafford last Sunday — when Robin van Persie, deep into stoppage time, rescued Manchester United a point — and even away to Shrewsbury Town, admittedly with a scratch team, on Tuesday night. Three games in which Chelsea failed to kill off their opponents, failed to shut the game down and had to find another gear, just as their legs were tiring, in order to win.

There is a school of thought, of course, which states that it is the hallmark of champions to win when you are not able to play well.

Mourinho’s dissatisfaction — both in private at half-time and in public at the final whistle — would suggest he knows that is a risky path to take.

There is no shame in a draw at Old Trafford, of course, but he knows that if Chelsea cannot rumble through lesser teams, eventually someone will make them pay for it.

Indeed, for a while here, it looked as though QPR might be the team to do just that. Richard Dunne and Sandro were outstanding as Chelsea swarmed forward in the early stages; Vargas, on the right, fizzed and flitted around the pitch, a little lax defensively, but a threat going forward. Even when Oscar put the hosts ahead, a goal of extraordinary vision, QPR did not wilt.

“This performance has given us encouragement to come away from home and play so well,” Harry Redknapp said. “You have to have a team who are hard to beat. That has been the difference: Sandro and Karl Henry in midfield. I brought Sandro here to do that defensive work. [In the 4-0 defeat] against Tottenham, we stood off the ball. You cannot do that.”

They got their reward, Austin instinctively flicking a leg at Leroy Fer’s mis-hit shot and directing it past Thibaut Courtois. Mourinho was forced to throw on Didier Drogba, alongside Diego Costa, to try to force a winner; it would come not through power, though, but through guile. Hazard drew a foul from Vargas on the edge of the area — characterised by Redknapp as

crucial moment, crossing for Wes Morgan to head against the leg of Esteban Cambiasso two minutes after the break to give the visitors victory.

Roy Hodgson names his England squad on Thursday for matches against Slovenia and Scotland and there is growing belief that Berahino has now done enough to make it.

That would represent quite a rise for the 21-year-old who arrived in Birmingham as a refugee after fleeing his native Burundi as a ten-year-old with his family. Now Berahino is desperate to repay his adopted country for turning his life around.

“I have had no contact with England but a call would mean the world to me,” he said.

“England and the UK as a whole has given me a second chance in life. I have come here, I have had a better life, I am helping my family out and we are living a good life so it is great.

“It would be a chance to repay the nation. It would be great for me to repay them in that way and if I could represent them in the seniors it would be great.

“I am going out there training and if the call does come then it is great for everybody back at the club.

“If it doesn't then I still have to work hard and carry on and push myself to get in the squad.

“I am waiting patiently just like everyone is. We will see what Roy’s decision is.”

Berahino, who has played for England at all levels up to under-21, is certainly being targeted by defenders in the Barclays Premier League and Marcin Wasilewski, the Leicester City centre back, could face FA action today for using an elbow to stop him in his tracks as both men ran for the ball in the second half.

“It was a clear elbow but I am not

going to comment on it, the ref didn't see it,” he said. “My face is not hurting so that is the first sign it was OK. I just get on with it. I will let the FA take care of it.

“I enjoy those type of challenges going to games knowing it is not going to be easy. It gives you extra motivation to put in extra work. It is great I am being marked that like and I am enjoying it.”

Nigel Pearson, the Leicester manager, insisted that Wasilewski had done nothing wrong and described his ratings

Leicester City (4-4-2): K Schmeichel 6 — R De Laet 6, M Wasilewski 5, W Morgan 7, P Konchesky 6 — M James 6, E Cambiasso 5, A King 6, D Drinkwater 7 (sub: N Powell, 81min) — J Vardy 7 (sub: C Wood, 81), D Nugent 5 (sub: L Ulloa, 68 6). Substitutes not used: D Hammond, L Moore, R Mahrez, A Smith.

West Bromwich Albion (4-2-3-1): B Foster 6 — A Wisdom 6, C Dawson 7, J Lescott 7, S Pocognoli 6 (sub: C Gamboa, 90) — C Brunt 7, C Gardner 7 — J Morrison 7, S Sessegnon 7 (sub: C Yacob, 81), G Dorrans 7 — S Berahino 7 (sub: V Anichebe, 88). Substitutes not used: B Myhill, Y Mulumbu, G McAuley, G Samaras. Booked: Gardner.

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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the game 6 Barclays Premier League

Group G: Maribor v Chelsea (Wednesday, 7.45pm) Live on Sky Sports 1 Maribor have failed to win any of their past three home games in the Slovenian league after going down 1-0 to Domzale, the leaders, whom they trail by nine points. Maribor, beaten 6-0 at Stamford Bridge, conceded a fourth-minute goal to Sascha Aneff. ratings

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): T Courtois 6 — B Ivanovic 7, G Cahill 6, J Terry 6, F Luis 6 — F Fàbregas 8, N Matic 7 — Willian 6 (sub: D Drogba, 64min), Oscar 8, E Hazard 8 (sub: Ramires, 90) — D Costa 6 (sub: A Schürrle, 77).

Substitutes not used: P Cech, K Zouma, N Aké, M Salah.

Queens Park Rangers (4-3-3): R Green 7 — M Isla 6, S Caulker 6, R Dunne 7, Yun Suk-Young 5 — K Henry 6, Sandro 6, L Fer 6 (sub: A Traoré, 84) — E Vargas 7, C Austin 5, D Hoilett 5 (sub: R Zamora, 60 6). Substitutes not used: B Murphy, C Hill, M Phillips, S Wright-Phillips, N Kranjcar.

Extraordinary vision: When Oscar artfully curled in the first goal, the game should have been over, but QPR refused to give up FRANCESCA CECIARINI/REX FEATURES

“two tiny little men challenging each other” — and stood up to convert the penalty. It was a cigarette paper of a call, but it was probably right.

That was all Chelsea needed. They would not let their lead slip a second time. Mourinho will know, though, that they cannot afford to keep giving their rivals a chance. They cannot afford to keep giving them hope. actions as a tactic he employed when he was a defender, “clothes-lining”.

“It was really good defending,” he said. “I’ve seen it and it was not a problem at all.

“Saido is wrong, I’ve seen it, course I have, it was good defending. Centre backs get their arms up, it was fine. He’s not gone to elbow him. It’s called the clothes line.

“If I have a player who wants to run across me I’m going to put my arm up.

If he runs into it it’s his own tough luck.”

Only six weeks ago Leicester beat Manchester United 5-3 but have now gone five games without a win to leave them contemplating a harsh winter, even if the manner of this loss was harsh.

“We did not perform badly and were slightly unfortunate,” Pearson said.

“You have to be able to deal with it and we will.”

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Mourinho tells fans to sing up for the team rory smith José Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, has hinted that his side suffer because of the lack of atmosphere at Stamford Bridge, suggesting the problem has grown worse over the past decade and claiming that his team “get less support” at home games than any of their peers.

Speaking after the 2-1 victory over Queens Park Rangers on Saturday, Mourinho said: “It is getting worse.

When comparing to my previous time [between 2004 and 2007] I think it is getting worse. I do not question the passion and the love: I am nobody to question that and I know clearly it is not true. Chelsea fans show their passion for this club every day, but there is a certain [way of behaving at] matches at Stamford Bridge. I can clearly say we are the team to get less support in home matches.”

He had previously said: “At this moment it’s difficult for us to play at home, because playing here is like playing in an empty stadium. The team then starts playing like it’s a quiet, soft game at home. It’s difficult to get that strong start where the players, team and fans [are all together].”

Invited to expand on why that might be, Mourinho refused. He said he did not know if it was complacency among supporters used to victory, a surfeit of corporate fans or ticket prices.

Tim Rolls, of the Chelsea Supporters Trust, said that lack of atmosphere “is a problem across the Premier League”, but did acknowledge that some would take issue with Mourinho’s comments.

“I think the manager’s criticisms were slightly ill-advised because the fans pay good money to watch highly paid footballers,” he said. “Mourinho will have alienated some people. Others will have agreed with him. No one will hold it against him long term — he’s there to win games, and that’s what he’s doing — but I don’t think criticising the fans when the team is top of the league helps.”

Having a ball: Brunt celebrates West Brom’s good luck after Cambiasso, of Leicester, deflected a clearance into his own net for the only goal

Leboeuf discovers a new stage to display his cultured talents Rick Broadbent speaks to the former Chelsea defender about his acting career and views on John Terry’s future

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s Chelsea continue to flex their muscles in the Champions League this week, a former club stalwart will be baring his chest and sparring with his gay maid. “Acting is what I dreamt of as a child,” says Frank Leboeuf as he considers the leading men of Paris and London.

When he leaves the stage at Comédie Caumartin on Wednesday the first thing he will do is find out the Chelsea score. He is still “crazy” about his former club but wants to reinvent himself, knowing footballers are oft pigeonholed as shallow oafs who might regard thespian life as a top-shelf magazine. It is why the 46-year-old is doing it the hard way, taking a role in the French farce, My Mother-in-Law, My Ex and Me, in Paris after spending two years as the oldest understudy at the world-renowned Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in Los Angeles. Strasberg famously created method acting and coached Marilyn Monroe and Robert De Niro.

“When I was still at Chelsea, I had a role in a film called Taking Sides and that was the day I decided that, after my career ended, I would learn the process of acting,” Leboeuf says. “I was the oldest on the course, older than the professor. Nobody knows me in the USA and that’s great.”

His latest film, an independent World War Two drama called Allies, had its premiere in Derby this weekend. For a man who was a rock of the pre-Roman empire after playing in France’s 1998 World Cup triumph, it sounds a humbling restart.

“Casting is very, very stressful,” he says. “You get two minutes to show you are different. You are in a room, talking with the other actors, in competition with them, and then you get called and you have ten seconds to be ready. It’s incredibly intense.”

There is a similarity with the ten minutes France had to wait in the tunnel before the World Cup Final in 1998. “Two billion people ready to watch.” Leboeuf was a stand-in for the suspended Laurent Blanc. The three days since the semi-final had been “the worst of my life”. Aimé Jacquet, the coach, had not spoken to him. It was, he says again, “very, very stressful”.

Now he is putting himself through more stress. “For Allies I was in the Grand Canyon when my agent rang

Leboeuf, who equates the stress of acting to playing in a World Cup final, is still “crazy” about his former club

and said you need to shoot this part for me. She sent me the script, I read it in two hours and recorded it on my iPhone. The hotel staff were helping me to pretend I had a gun. The quality was poor and I did not think I would get it.

When they rang I thought, ‘Oh, my God.’ ” There has also been a small part as Stephen Hawking’s doctor in the muchgarlanded The Theory of Everything, and he talks with similar admiration for young actors such as Eddie Redmayne, tipped for the Oscar for his portrayal of Hawking, and old lags such as John Terry, the most divisive figure in modern Chelsea history.

“You have to take your hat off,” he says of Terry. “I felt when I left that he would step up. He can stay for another two years, retire and stay to keep the club’s position as one of the greatest in the world.

“The human species is pretty weak and sometimes people only want to remember the bad stuff in the world. If you like John Terry, you will only remember the good; if you don’t, you will always bring up what he did wrong.

I think he’s a great person, I know he’s everything but racist, he was like my son at Chelsea, along with Marcel Desailly.”

For the moment, Leboeuf is content to shoot Nazis, misdiagnose Hawking and tread the boards in his small comedy theatre. “I play every night in Paris,” he says. “My mother-in-law comes back because she needs money, my wife has dumped me for another man and I have a gay guy at home working for me. It’s very funny.” Funny new game.

6 Allies is on DVD and digital download from November 3 courtesy of EONE.

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

the game 6 Barclays Premier League The Tony Awards

tony cascarino’s pick of the week

Ivorian tower

YAYA TOURÉ

The Yaya Touré we saw at the Etihad Stadium — albeit against a Manchester United reduced to ten men — is the Touré we have been waiting for, the one who terrifies opponents as he drives through midfield. It is good to have him back.

What a comeback . . .

RYAN TAYLOR

I saw Ryan Taylor in Las Vegas in 2013. He had a second cruciate injury, had been out for a year and faced another 12 months. But to return for Newcastle at Manchester City and play 90 minutes was extraordinary. What a comeback.

Time for starting role HARRY KANE

Harry Kane may have got a bit lucky with his goal at Villa Park yesterday but he has been desperately unlucky this season.

He has seven goals in his past seven games and he has played well either from the start or as a substitute. It’s time to give him a run.

Going nowhere slowly LIVERPOOL’S DEFENCE

Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren touched the ball 232 times against Newcastle.

John Terry and Gary Cahill managed 126 against QPR. That speaks volumes: too much possession is meaningless, getting them nowhere.

Forward thinking ALEXIS SÁNCHEZ

Whatever you think of Arsène Wenger, whatever his other flaws, it’s hard to argue that he has impeccable taste in forwards, as Alexis Sánchez proves.

He might have got one or two wrong, but there are not many who can spot a striker quite as well as him.

Kane suggests he is leagues ahead of his Spurs rivals gary jacob

Aston Villa Weimann 16

Tottenham Hotspur Chadli 84, Kane 90

Referee N Swarbrick Attendance 32,049

1 2

A last-gasp winner for Harry Kane and all the vindication he can ever have imagined as the Tottenham Hotspur striker milked the applause. His deflected free kick felt all the sweeter for the frustration of finding himself again on the bench for a league game.

He came on for the last 32 minutes, half the amount he had played in his past five Premier League appearances as a substitute, and exited with the man-of-the-match award and an undeserved victory against ten men.

There will be plenty who will snigger

at some travelling fans expressing their disappointment at his initial absence, but whatever the ability and merits of Kane, the inescapable statistic is that he has scored seven goals in as many games and eight in total this season.

His fellow strikers, Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado, have a combined four.

Kane’s name rang out when Soldado shot horribly over in the first half and again early after the restart when Tottenham were going nowhere.

Mauricio Pochettino spoke about fans favouring home-grown talent and almost justified his team’s victory by taking credit for his selection. Kane placed the inviting free kick just outside the penalty area like more illustrious players, but a tame shot clipped Nathan Baker and wrong-footed Brad Guzan in the Aston Villa goal.

The Tottenham head coach suggested that Kane had taken the ball from Érik Lamela. “At this moment Kane has confidence and took the ball and scored,” Pochettino said.

“It was a good decision. His attitude is very good. It was a great goal and I am happy for him.”

Kane will feel that if he starts against Asteras Tripolis in the Europa League on Thursday, he is unlikely to get the nod when Spurs meet Stoke City three days later.

“It is true the performance like in the last game and today, he maybe deserves to play in the Premier League more,” Pochettino said. “He had a big impact.

He is an important player. We have a lot of very good players.”

It was not a joke. This is a poor Tottenham side without much quality and ingenuity and Pochettino still searching for his best XI and a plan B. His argument that Spurs suffer from a small pitch at White Hart Lane evaporated at Villa Park, one of the biggest fields in the top flight, and some Tottenham fans chanted for Daniel Levy’s departure as chairman for a second week.

“I understand the fans and our position was not good and now we are three points off the Champions League places,” he said. “In football it changes a lot. I am strong and don’t feel the pressure.”

Villa deserved plenty of sympathy for a battling performance that

Milking the applause: Kane, left, has scored eight goals this season; Benteke, below and second right, is shown a straight red card PA/EMPICS

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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the game 6 Barclays Premier League Benteke was Clyne shines in provoked, says Southampton’s angry Lambert mean machine to stake claim gary jacob with Hodgson Aston Villa maintained that Ryan

merited at least a point while ending a goal drought stretching back 547 minutes. Instead, a sixth consecutive defeat is their worst run in 47 years.

They defended stoutly, but the turning point was Christian Benteke’s contentious dismissal with 25 minutes left, before they made defensive slips to concede twice in the final six minutes.

Carlos Sánchez’s silly foul on Andros Townsend led to Kane’s set-piece six minutes after Andreas Weimann failed to track the arcing run of Nacer Chadli as he converted a corner at the far post to equalise. Weimann earlier stretched to redirect the ball into the corner of the net after Charles N’Zogbia beat off a weak challenge from Danny Rose.

Younès Kaboul had a torrid first half and struggled to cope with the aerial ability and physicality of Benteke. The Belgium striker got between the centre backs and glanced Matt Lowton’s excellent cross wide, then combined with Aly Cissokho and curled at the angle of post and bar, and then beat Kaboul to a cross and headed inches wide just before the interval.

Soldado and Adebayor also had wretched afternoons. The Spain striker headed wide from four yards and, although his pass released Adebayor, the Togo forward was too deliberate with his shot to the right of Guzan, who parried the ball, leaving Pochettino to throw down his water bottle in disgust.

Perhaps even he realises he made the wrong selection.

exclusive video highlights Watch all the weekend’s goals including a magnificent strike from Victor Wanyama for Southampton, on website, tablet and phone thetimes.co.uk/sport

ratings

Aston Villa (4-3-3) B Guzan 6 — M Lowton 6, R Vlaar 6, N Baker 6, A Cissokho 6 (sub: D Bent, 90min) — A Westwood 6, C Sánchez 5, T Cleverley 6 — A Weimann 6, C Benteke 7, C N’Zogbia 6 (sub: G Agbonlahor, 75). Substitutes not used: S Given, C Clark, J Cole, P Senderos, K Richardson. Booked: Cissokho, Weimann, Sánchez. Sent off: Benteke.

Tottenham Hotspur (4-4-1-1): H Lloris 6 — K Naughton 4, Y Kaboul 4, J Vertonghen 4, D Rose 4 — C Eriksen 4 (sub: É Lamela, 46 5), É Capoue 5, R Mason 6, N Chadli 5 (sub: A Townsend, 72) — R Soldado 5 — E Adebayor 5 (sub: H Kane, 58 6). Substitutes not used: M Vorm, M Dembélé, F Fazio, B Stambouli. Booked: Eriksen, Vertonghen, Chadli.

Mason should also have been dismissed for provoking Christian Benteke into retaliation that led to the dismissal of their striker yesterday.

Benteke lost his head and slapped Mason after the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder had stuck his forehead into the face of the Belgian midway through the second half.

It was a senseless act after Benteke’s most powerful display since returning from a torn Achilles, but the seeds of his departure were sown a little earlier when Villa were irate that Jan Vertonghen was only booked for a high tackle on Ashley Westwood.

That challenge raised the temperature and led to the first of three separate fracas between the players. Moments later, Benteke barged into the back of Érik Lamela as they competed for a ball and the Argentina winger pushed him back.

Mason intervened and, after another bout of scuffling between the players, Benteke saw red after Lamela waved an imaginary card at Neil Swarbrick, the referee.

Paul Lambert, the Villa manager, said that he could not defend Benteke, but that Mason should also have been dismissed. “I understand why he done it, because I was a player myself, so I understand the emotion and the adrenaline rush of it,” Lambert said.

“It’s a blow and I can’t condone what Christian done, lifting his hand, but also he was provoked, if you go back a frame in the video, you see the lad putting his head in Christian’s face.

“Mason should have gone as well.

If somebody puts their head in your face, your natural instinct is to push them back, but in football you won’t get away with it. I know football is a game of emotion. I understand why Christian did it, but it is not like he threw a Mike Tyson punch. My daughter can punch harder than that.”

Benteke will miss the matches against West Ham United, Southampton and Burnley at a time when he is returning to fitness and sharpest. This was his most threatening display, bullying Younès Kaboul. “It’s a setback for him and for us,” Lambert said. “He’s only 23, he’ll learn that when he gets older. I don’t think they could cope with the way that Benteke was playing. Slowly but surely he’s getting back to what he can do.”

Lambert said Vertonghen should also have been dismissed. “It was really high, throat heigh,” he said. “The game started to overspill and it became more feisty. I thought we were playing really good football, the tempo was great, we could have been two or three up at half time but that sending off definitely changed the course.”

Villa have lost six league games in a row. “We’ve played the top six teams from last season, it’s been relentless but we didn’t look like a team low on confidence,” he said.

arindam rej

Hull City Southampton

Wanyama 3

Referee M Atkinson Attendance 22,828

0 1

Southampton’s attack has a cosmopolitan feel to it but there is an English defensive core that is being noticed by Roy Hodgson.

The England manager was at the KC Stadium and watched the full backs, Nathaniel Clyne and Ryan Bertrand, plus Fraser Forster, the goalkeeper, help Southampton to maintain their record as the English league’s most miserly defensive unit.

Clyne was the most impressive player on the pitch, during another highly effective Southampton team performance, in which there were no apparent weak links. Hull City managed just one shot on target — a tame effort from Hatem Ben Arfa — during the 90 minutes.

Many teams struggle to contain Hull’s threat from wide areas but Steve Bruce’s side created little and Abel Hernández, the striker, had scant service. Hull were given a taste of their own medicine in some ways, as Clyne and Bertrand — both often inclined to attack — tested them out wide.

England’s senior right backs, Glen Johnson and Kyle Walker, are now being challenged by a handful of promising players in their position and Clyne is making his case stronger as each week goes by, at present.

Clyne was called into Hodgson’s squad for the first time for the recent matches, against San Marino and Estonia, and the 23-year-old has even higher aspirations, with England facing Slovenia and Scotland later this month.

“I think I’ve got the ability to play for my country,” he said.

Clyne missed out on a starting place for injury-hit England last month when Calum Chambers, formerly of Southampton, was picked ahead of him.

Hodgson’s presence at this match was

an opportunity for Clyne, which he responded to admirably.

“Roy Hodgson being here was a surprise to me,” Clyne said. “Hopefully I can receive my first cap. I definitely feel this has been the best season of my career so far.”

The chance to work under a former defender of international distinction, Ronald Koeman, is helping. “We work hard on our defensive shape in training and it shows during games,” Clyne said.

“With the centre backs [Toby Alderweireld and Jose Fonte] covering me, I’ve got the ability to go forward.”

When asked, by an over-excited inquisitor, about whether Southampton can challenge for the title, Koeman did not rule out his second-placed team.

The players themselves are also feeling ambitious, with Clyne admitting “a few of the lads are talking about Europe”.

The time to judge Southampton’s prospects more clearly will be after their challenging run that starts at the end of this month. They face Manchester City on November 30 then, over the following six weeks, they take on Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton and Manchester United twice. Their transfer window activity in January will also be interesting to monitor.

The fixture list has been relatively kind to them so far, but Hull should have been a test. Bruce’s team were exposed here, though, because of their goalkeeping crisis. With Allan McGregor and Steve Harper both not fit, Eldin Jakupovic — the third-choice goalkeeper — played again and made the early error that led to Southampton’s goal. Jakupovic produced a careless clearance and Victor Wanyama took advantage expertly with a long-range finish.

“That’s the life of a goalkeeper,” Bruce said. “If you make a mistake there, you usually get punished then you want your mates to pull you out of the crap. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do that. It was a difficult afternoon.” ratings

Hull City (3-5-1-1): E Jakupovic 5 — J Chester 6, P McShane 6 (sub: S Aluko, 64min 7), C Davies 7 — A Elmohamady 7, T Huddlestone 6, M Diamé 7, J Livermore 6, R Brady 7 (sub: S Quinn, 83) — H Ben Arfa 6 (sub: A Robertson, 72) — A Hernández 6. Substitutes not used: R Watson, L Rosenior, D Meyler, H Maguire. Booked: Diamé.

Southampton (4-3-3): F Forster 7 — N Clyne 8, J Fonte 7, T Alderweireld 7, R Bertrand 7 — S Davis 7, V Wanyama 8, M Schneiderlin 8 — S Long 7 (sub: S Mané, 62 7), G Pellè 7, D Tadic 7 (sub: J Cork, 81). Substitutes not used: K Davis, M Yoshida, F Gardos, E Mayuka, H Reed.

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Wanyama celebrates the long-range strike that proved Southampton’s winner NIGEL RODDIS / GETTY IMAGES

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

the game 6 Barclays Premier League

Van Gaal alone in keeping composure James Ducker Northern Football Correspondent Manchester United’s manager did not see red over the dismissal of his centre half but rashness is unlikely to be tolerated for long Louis van Gaal’s rueful smile and shake of the head said it all. A manager can prepare all he wants. He can drill the players to within an inch of their being.

He can leave almost nothing to chance.

There is little a manager or coach can do about stupidity, though.

Van Gaal had spent much of last week stressing the need for Manchester United to keep their heads, to keep their composure, to ensure the numbers remained even. “That is a main point in our preparation because you know that this is more than an emotional game,” the United manager said on the eve of yesterday’s derby against Manchester City. “We don’t want a red card because when it is 11 versus ten it shall be very difficult to win this game.”

It took just eight minutes in the first half for Chris Smalling to ignore all of the manager’s instructions and, in doing so, obliterate his team’s game plan. Van Gaal resisted the temptation to throw his clipboard at Smalling as he left the field in the 39th minute after collecting the second of two idiotic bookings — the manager, unlike his centre half, knows when to keep his cool — but few would have blamed the Dutchman had he done so.

If Smalling’s initial yellow card for needlessly blocking Joe Hart as the City goalkeeper attempted to kick the ball out was avoidable, his second for a harebrained lunge that poleaxed James Milner was more than a rush of blood to the head. It should be pointed out that the poor positioning of Antonio Valencia had not helped Smalling but there was simply no excusing the rash, reckless challenge that followed.

The concern here was not just what damage it inflicted on United but what it said about Smalling as a defender in the wider sense. This was not a classic case of a split-second decision gone wrong. The England defender had a moment — a brief one, yes, but still enough time — to size up the situation, to realise that if he stood up he would have had a chance of denying Milner.

£241M

Cost of United’s starting XI — most expensive in a Premier League match

Yet his natural instinct was to charge in.

There was no thought, no consideration, and that, beyond the costly nature of the red card, is what may trouble Van Gaal — not to mention Roy Hodgson, the England manager — the most as he weighs up what to do with a player who continues to look out of place in a United shirt.

He has the height and athletic frame but, a poor injury record aside, too often Smalling resembles a rabbit in the headlights when pressure is on, and if this United team are to go places under Van Gaal, there is no place for that.

In a very different sense, Van Gaal

TALKING TACTICS Agüero’s winning strike Man City v Man United 63min Chris Smalling’s dismissal left Manchester United with a back four comprising two midfielders and two teenagers – and Manchester City capitalised on the ensuing chaos to produce the only goal. Yaya Touré’s pass found Gaël Clichy, left free by the ball-watching Ángel Di María, and the cut-back gave Sergio Agüero plenty of space B to score Clichy

De Gea McNair

C Carrick

Agüero Valencia

Fellaini

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Di María Touré

Path of ball Run without ball

will have been similarly disappointed to see Marcos Rojo diving pointlessly into a challenge midway between United’s penalty area and the halfway line early in the second half from which the Argentina defender dislocated his left shoulder.

Indeed, at times during that first hour, Van Gaal must have wondered if his players were going out of their way to ignore him — Wayne Rooney seemed in danger of boiling over, Marouane Fellaini momentarily lost his head and United were giving the ball away cheaply in dangerous areas. Yet there was much to admire in United’s defensive resistance and, despite their numerical disadvantage, the way they took the game to City in the final 20 minutes when, but for two excellent saves from Hart, they might have nicked a point.

Had United found an equaliser, Manuel Pellegrini, the City manager, might have been less tolerant of Michael Oliver’s failure to award any one of three clear penalties to the home team, but while the Barclays Premier League champions almost paid a heavy price for not killing off this game, United’s resilience in defence was remarkable given the personnel who ended up manning it.

Two 19-year-olds, Luke Shaw and Patrick McNair, who was Rojo’s replacement and just back from a hamstring injury, Valencia — a winger — at right back, and Michael Carrick, a midfielder who had the dubious honour of being asked to fill in at centre half in a derby at the Etihad Stadium on his first appearance after three and a half months out. Carrick was excellent — a model of composure amid the chaos.

Smalling should take note. These are strange times for United, though.

Indeed, in almost any other scenario, the situation would constitute a crisis.

Van Gaal has officially presided over the club’s worst start to a season since Ron Atkinson was sacked just 13 games into the 1986-87 campaign and his team have half the points tally of Chelsea, the leaders. The manager also has another defensive crisis on his hands.

Rojo could be out for months, Smalling will miss the visit of Crystal Palace on Saturday, Rafael Da Silva was absent after picking up an injury in training on Thursday and Phil Jones and Jonny Evans are sidelined.

Yet the mood is not nearly as bleak as painted by those disconcerting facts.

Van Gaal has good cause to be worried about United’s poor ball retention but there was a togetherness, doggedness and determination on show against City that was simply not evident during the abysmal 4-1 and 3-0 defeats by their rivals last season. Still, the league table does not lie. United need to start picking up points, and quickly.

Kompany is left oliver kay Chief Football Correspondent Vincent Kompany hailed a “massive” result for Manchester City yesterday afternoon but expressed bewilderment at the way they were left hanging on for victory over Manchester United during a nervous finale.

Sergio Agüero’s second-half goal gave City their first win in four matches in all competitions, keeping them within six points of Chelsea, the Barclays Premier League leaders. Kompany, the City captain, believes the result will serve as a welcome fillip before their crucial Champions League match at home to CSKA Moscow on Wednesday.

“To win the derby is massive,” the Belgium central defender said. “For a minute, the league does not matter. It is a boost for us and we will do our job again in the Champions League on Wednesday.”

Kompany was mystified by the way that City allowed United, a man short, back into the game in the final 20

Kompany keeps Van Persie in check, despite United’s late revival

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the game 6 Barclays Premier League CHELSEA SUPPLY TOTAL CONTRAST Injuries and red cards have led Manchester United to use ten central defensive combinations in their first ten league games, including those used only in part of matches. They have tried systems with two and three centre backs. In contrast, Chelsea have used only one combination throughout their campaign — Gary Cahill and John Terry.

Man Utd centre-back combinations in the league: Jones, Smalling, Blackett (against Swansea, Sunderland) Keane, Jones, Blackett (Sunderland ) Evans, Jones, Blackett (Burnley) Smalling, Blackett (Swansea; Leicester) Evans, Blackett (QPR, Leicester) McNair, Rojo (West Ham, Everton) Jones, Rojo (West Brom) Smalling, Rojo (Man City, Leicester, Chelsea) Carrick, Rojo (Man City) Carrick, McNair (Man City)

Given his cards: Smalling condemns his team-mates to a considerable uphill struggle with his second bookable offence after bringing down Milner TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER, BRADLEY ORMESHER

mystified by loss of control minutes. “There is no real explanation for that,” he said. “They played well towards the end. We had most of the chances, but you miss a couple and you can seem to lose control of the game.

Ultimately we stood strong for a clean sheet and a good derby win.”

Manuel Pellegrini, the City manager, suggested that his team had almost paid a price for playing contrary to their strengths by dropping too deep towards the end.

“I think we played very well until we scored the goal,” he said. “After that we lost possession of the ball and we dropped back too much because we don’t know how to play in that way, but I understand the moment and I understand it in a game of that importance. Maybe it can happen once, but I think it’s not the way we must finish games.

“Before that, I think we played really well and we had chances to score and had penalties [appeals] that it was unbelievable not to whistle for.”

Pellegrini’s main gripe was over the

penalty appeal shortly before half-time, when he felt that Marcos Rojo, the United defender, should have been dismissed for his challenge on Yaya Touré.

“That should have been a penalty but it should also have been a red card because he was the last man,” the manager said. “There were two others against Sergio, but we are not talking about that because the referee made his decisions and the important thing is not to be confused in that moment.

“I don’t want to repeat about the referee because I did it just once at Arsenal and it’s not the way to do it. It’s a very difficult job to be a referee. The important thing was to win despite those things.”

Pellegrini played down Agüero’s unhappy reaction to being replaced by Fernandinho in the closing stages.

“I can understand that can be the reaction when it’s such an important game as this derby, but I don’t think there was any importance about that,” he said.

Group E: Manchester City v CSKA Moscow (7.45pm) Live on Sky Sports 5 CSKA have taken only one point from their two league games since their home draw against Manchester City. At the weekend they were beaten 1-0 in Moscow

by Zenit St Petersburg, their fellow Champions League entrants, which leaves them second in the table, seven points behind Zenit.

Downing’s deft touch revives West Ham and boosts hope of England recall james masters

Stoke City

Moses 33, Diouf 56

West Ham United Valencia 60, Downing 73

Referee C Foy Attendance 27,174

2 2

There are unlikely comebacks and then there are unlikely comebacks.

West Ham United’s refusal to be cast aside at the Britannia Stadium was just one such example but the second, which involves a player seemingly forgotten and left to wander in the wilderness, could yet provide one of the more unlikely stories of the season.

Some two and a half years have passed since Stewart Downing, the architect of West Ham’s impressive fightback, last pulled on an England shirt after appearing in Roy Hodgson’s first game in charge.

The 30-year-old has been revitalised

by Sam Allardyce, the West Ham manager, whose decision to convert Downing into a central midfielder has proved inspired.

Hodgson has already watched Downing this season and is seriously considering a recall for the player who has won 34 caps for his country before the European Championship qualifier against Slovenia and the friendly away to Scotland.

“If he picks me it would be unbelievable,” Downing said. “I’d love to play for England. I think the main thing is that I’ve got to keep playing well and if I can nick goals and create, it gives him a problem to think about.

“We’ll see what happens next week.

There are a couple of injuries and I’ll look at the squad, see what he does and who he picks. I know he’s been to games and is watching us, so we’ll see.

That’s my attitude at the minute. If he picks me, great. If not, I’ll just carry on.”

Downing’s second-half display ensured West Ham secured a point from contest in which for the opening 59 minutes, they had been run ragged by a high-octane Stoke City side.

Stoke, led by the hugely impressive Bojan Krkic, should have wrapped up all three points long before the visiting team launched their comeback courtesy of Enner Valencia and Downing’s fine strike.

Victor Moses, taunted by the visiting fans for his alleged penchant for diving, scrambled home his first goal for the club just after the half-hour mark as Stoke’s dominance finally prevailed.

Mamé Biram Diouf should have added a second moments before the interval when his exquisite turn left James Collins, the West Ham defender, bamboozled but his close-range effort was brilliantly saved by Adrián.

Yet, there was nothing either could

Downing, who cracked in West Ham’s equaliser, has thrived in central midfield

do when Aaron Cresswell’s horrendous mistake allowed Jonathan Walters, a thorn in West Ham’s side all afternoon, time and space to pick out Diouf, who headed home the second goal for Stoke.

West Ham had barely threatened and yet they somehow conjured a response of which they had barely looked capable during their wretched showing.

While Stoke were appealing for a rash challenge on Diouf by Alexandre Song, the visiting team took advantage with Downing racing down the right and his cross to the far post was met by Valencia, who directed his diving header into the far corner.

What followed was a frantic finale in which both teams threw caution to the wind and yet Stoke, so dominant throughout, were caught out once more

by Downing and Valencia.

Having wasted a glorious opportunity to win the game when Diouf somehow headed wide of the far post, Stoke were undone with 17 minutes remaining.

Valencia, whose close control and ability to hold up the ball caused Stoke’s defenders all kinds of problems, delivered the perfect pass from the left and Downing met it with a fierce effort which flew into the corner.

Mark Hughes, the Stoke manager, refused to blame his players for losing a two-goal lead and instead, on his 51st birthday, focused on the more pleasing aspects of the performance.

That would be the form showed by Bojan, the former Barcelona wonderkid, who having struggled in the opening weeks of the season, produced a performance which showed plenty of encouragement.

“I think you saw the potential that he has,” Hughes said. “I thought he was excellent by virtue of demanding the ball in tight areas. He caused them a real problem and will get better with the more games he plays.” ratings

Stoke City (4-2-3-1): A Begovic 6 — G Cameron 7, R Shawcross 6, M Wilson 6, E Pieters 7 — S N'Zonzi 7, S Sidwell 7 — J Walters 8, B Krkic 8 (sub: C Adam, 82min), V Moses 7 — M B Diouf 7. Substitutes not used: M Muniesa, S Ireland, M Arnautovic, D Teixeira, O Assaidi, T Sorensen. Booked: Sidwell.

West Ham United (4-5-1): Adrián 8 — C Jenkinson 7, W Reid 6 (sub: J Tomkins, 24 6), J Collins 9, A Cresswell 5 — R Amalfitano 5 (sub: C Cole, 46 6), M Noble 6 (sub: K Nolan, 68 6), A Song 6, C Kouyaté 6, S Downing 7 — E Valencia 7. Substitutes not used: M Jarvis, M Zárate, A O'Brien, J Jaaskelainen. Booked: Collins.

T

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

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City lesson for ‘stupid’ Smalling oliver kay Chief Football Correspondent

Manchester City

Agüero 63

Manchester United Referee M Oliver Attendance 45,358

1 0

Defeat in this fixture has been severely chastening for Manchester United in the recent past. If it felt a little less so yesterday, it is perhaps because the sense of inevitability that hung over the Etihad Stadium for much of the afternoon was replaced in the closing stages by an unexpected air of doubt.

As the match entered its closing stages, the only mystery had been about how Manchester City had taken until the 63rd minute, through the excellent Sergio Agüero, to breach a United defence that was depleted farther by Chris Smalling’s red card and Marcos Rojo’s dislocated shoulder.

Then, without warning, the ten men of United improved and threatened to the extent that City were left clinging on in desperation in the final minutes.

It was a strange game but, then again, these are strange times for both Manchester teams. City have still not found the verve and intensity to underpin their obvious talent and could very feasibly have ended up dropping points yesterday from a dominant position. United have taken just 13 points from ten Barclays Premier League matches, their worst start to a league season since the one that triggered Sir Alex Ferguson’s appointment 28 years ago this week, but Louis van Gaal is not alone in claiming there is some cause for hope.

With more composure in front of goal, United would have claimed at least a draw, but by the same token there had been a succession of missed chances and unsuccessful penalty appeals at the other end of the pitch. As for the Smalling red card, yes, United were let down by the actions of one player, whom Van Gaal described as “stupid” for committing two bookable offences in eight minutes as half-time approached, but that only underlined, not for the first time, the weakness of their options in central defence.

It was not that, Smalling apart, United defended badly yesterday. It was just that, before and after the losses of Smalling and Rojo, they looked certain to crack if subjected to the type of pressure that City usually apply. It would have been a profound shock if, with their team unable to establish control in midfield, a back four of Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick, Paddy McNair and Luke Shaw had succeeded in keeping City at bay.

At £241 million, this United starting line-up was the most expensive to have

started a match in the Premier League — and that with Carrick, Ander Herrera and Juan Mata on the bench.

You would not have guessed so based on their performance, but neither would you have guessed that City had several big-money signings of their own; Agüero apart, their performance lacked the highest quality.

In this form, though, Agüero looks unstoppable. The goal was exquisite, but his all-round contribution was extremely good, which perhaps accounted for his frustration at being substituted late on. The most serious of City’s penalty appeals, surrounding Rojo’s desperate challenge on Yaya Touré late in the first half, stemmed from Agüero’s pass.

Perhaps it was asking too much of United, embryonic in their development under Van Gaal, to get a result yesterday, even against a City team who are not firing on all cylinders.

United made the more assured start, though. It was not until midway through the first half that City began to threaten, with David De Gea making good saves to deny Jesús Navas, who was played onside by Valencia from Agüero’s pass, and Agüero, sliding on to Fernando’s cross.

Then came Smalling’s two acts of idiocy. For his first booking, he needlessly impeded Joe Hart as the City goalkeeper tried to kick the ball upfield. For his second, he showed poor judgment and even worse timing in diving into a rash challenge on James Milner. Given how Van Gaal had preached beforehand about the importance of keeping 11 players on the pitch, it was extraordinarily stupid; United already had their work cut out with 11 men, never mind ten.

City grew in urgency after half-time, with Touré starting to enjoy himself — not the case often enough this season — as the dominant figure in midfield.

They began to overload on the

right, where Shaw, the United left back, needed more help against Navas and the overlapping Pablo Zabaleta, both of whom came close early in the second half.

When the breakthrough finally came, though, it was from the other flank.

Touré’s clever pass eluded the stretching Ángel Di María, allowing Gaël Clichy to reach the byline unopposed. Clichy’s cross was precise and Agüero’s finish was even more so, a rising first-time shot swept past De Gea with his left foot.

Navas hit a post shortly afterwards, but something — quite possibly Pellegrini’s replacement of Milner and Stevan Jovetic with Samir Nasri and Edin Dzeko — brought a drop in City’s intensity. They seemed to offer United a way back into the game and, driven forward by Wayne Rooney, who was belatedly getting to grips with his deeper role, Van Gaal’s team sensed vulnerability in the opposition ranks.

A wonderful run from Rooney culminated in an opportunity for Di María, who was denied by Hart. The City goalkeeper made a similar stop to frustrate Robin van Persie, who was replaced by James Wilson shortly afterwards. United’s best chance came with 14 minutes remaining, when Di María’s free kick found Fellaini unmarked, but the Belgium midfielder connected with shoulder, rather than head, and missed the target.

The final 20 minutes were arguably the most encouraging of United’s season so far, though it does reflect the diminished expectation of the past year or so that, after such an expensive facelift, satisfaction can be drawn from a willingness to have a go. Defeat leaves them 13 points adrift of Chelsea, seven behind City and stuck in that mid-table cluster of teams who can only be grateful that their inconsistencies are being matched elsewhere. Strange season, strange game.

Fellaini was shouting and not james ducker Northern Football Correspondent Marouane Fellaini is likely to escape action from the FA after the Manchester United midfielder was caught up in an alleged spitting storm for the second successive derby.

Television footage appeared to show spit coming out of Fellaini’s mouth while he ripped into Sergio Agüero as the striker lay on the ground at the end of the first half, moments after the Argentina striker was denied a penalty for a foul by the Belgian.

Fellaini had been at the centre of a similar controversy during United’s 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford in March only for the FA to clear him of spitting at Pablo Zabaleta, whom he had appeared to elbow moments earlier.

Manuel Pellegrini, the Manchester City manager, said he been unaware of the incident but Louis van Gaal insisted his player had no case to answer. “I have heard that it is a question on social media but the TV has shown that he [Fellaini] is shouting and sometimes when you shout there’s a little bit of saliva [that comes out] with it.”

Van Gaal was less sympathetic with Chris Smalling, whom he branded “stupid” after the England centre half was sent off in the 39th minute for a second bookable offence when he lunged at James Milner after receiving a yellow card for obstructing Joe Hart.

“The sending-off is not one of those things,” said Van Gaal, who had stressed the importance of keeping composure. “As a player you have to control your aggression. I didn’t see the first yellow but the second — you know you are on a yellow card so you have to handle it differently. I said that to the

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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the game 6 Barclays Premier League Man City (4-4-2)

Man United (4-1-4-1)

james ducker

spitting, insists Van Gaal players — you have to be careful. The second yellow card was stupid.

“He [Smalling] said it [sorry] very humbly [to the players]. You can only accept it. But nevertheless it was, in my opinion, not so smart. What can I say?”

Van Gaal praised the “unbelievable willpower” his team showed in the final 20 minutes as they almost equalised, but was left to bemoan another injury crisis. Marcos Rojo is likely to be out after he dislocated his left shoulder and required oxygen as he left the field on a stretcher in the 56th minute.

Phil Jones and Jonny Evans, the

Fellaini was at the centre of controversy once again

centre halves, are sidelined, Rafael da Silva, the right back, picked up an injury in training and Smalling misses the game at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday through suspension.

“I have seen a willpower in this team that is fantastic but we still only have 13 points out of ten games and that is not so much,” Van Gaal said.

“We have a lot of injuries in defence but I don’t think that’s the problem.

Our problem is that in the first half we gave too many unnecessary balls away in positions that we can hold the ball easily.”

james ducker

joe hart Made crucial saves from Van Persie and Di María in the final 20 minutes to secure the three points.

8

david de gea The Spaniard continued his fine form with excellent saves to deny Navas and Agüero early on.

8

pablo zabaleta Much better after indifferent form of late — diligent defensively and dovetailed well with Navas down the right.

7

antonio valencia Looked every inch a winger playing at full back in the first half.

Improved but positioning suspect for City goal.

5

vincent kompany Endured a momentary fright against Fellaini late on but Van Persie got short change out of the formidable Belgian.

8

chris smalling His first booking for blocking Hart was needless, his second for hacking down Milner was plain stupid.

3

martín demichelis Booked for scything down Di María but the Argentinian was otherwise composed for the most part.

7

marcos rojo There is a slightly chaotic air about the Argentinian but he put his body on the line before dislocating his left shoulder.

6

gaël clichy Set up the goal and one of the much-maligned France’s defender best performances of the season.

7

luke shaw This was another tough examination for the England left back but he coped manfully.

Improving all the time.

7

jesús navas Should have scored in the 21st minute and hit post in second half, but the Spain winger was a threat down the right.

7

daley blind Was guilty of giving the ball away too easily at times in the first half but the Dutchman recovered and dug in well.

6

yaya touré A great improvement on his recent performances, although was he had to backtrack towards end to quell the United tide.

7

adnan januzaj One of United’s better players against Chelsea last week but he barely got into the game here.

Disappointing.

5

fernando Dogged and determined in the first half but had a tougher time trying to keep Rooney quiet in the final half an hour.

6

marouane fellaini Fortunate not to concede a penalty and was caught up in a spit storm involving Agüero but also made positive impact.

7

james milner May not possess Silva’s creative gifts but he gave City more defensive cover down the left.

Worked tirelessly.

7

wayne rooney Looked ring rusty early on before becoming central to United’s near fightback in the final 25 minutes.

7

sergio agüero Denied two clear penalties and was also thwarted by De Gea in the first half but always looked dangerous.

8

ángel di maría The Argentina winger drifted in and out but he almost equalised and he became a threat on the break late on.

6

stevan jovetic The Montenegro forward was lively in bursts before being replaced by Dzeko with just under 20 minutes left.

6

robin van persie It was tough against Kompany but he worked tirelessly throughout.

Almost scored after a good solo run.

7

substitutions Samir Nasri (for Milner, 70min) 6 — came on just as United were gaining a foothold in the game Edin Dzeko (for Jovetic, 71) Fernandinho (for Agüero, 84) not used W Caballero, B Sagna, D Boyata, Sinclair. booked Demichelis, Fernando, Zabaleta.

substitutions Michael Carrick (for Januzaj, 43min) 8 — excellent on his first appearance of season at centre half Paddy McNair (for Rojo, 56) 7 — impressed again James Wilson (for Van Persie, 82) not used A Lindegaard, J Mata, A Herrera, D Fletcher. booked Blind, Smalling. sent off Smalling.

56

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

Sport

England point the finger after home rule denies Hall Cardiff City Australia

Campbell, 21

West England Ham United

C Cole 42, Noble 90+3

Rugby league

16 0 2 12 1

Christopher Irvine

A fingertip from knocking Australia out of the Four Nations, England endured familiar last-minute heartache at the hands of the Kangaroos, for whom Australian officials came to the rescue in a dramatic finish yesterday.

The contentious abandonment of neutral officials for the game in Melbourne haunted England as Ryan Hall had a last-gasp effort disallowed

by Gerard Sutton, the referee, who provisionally ruled that it was not a try.

His verdict was endorsed after six replays by his brother, Bernard, the

video official, even though television pictures confirmed the wing got a finger to the bobbling ball in what has been dubbed “Pinkygate”.

In a race to reach a grubber kick to the left corner by Liam Farrell, Hall somehow got over the top of Greg Inglis at full stretch to get a vital touch, although insufficient to satisfy Bernard Sutton. Had a try been awarded, Gareth Widdop would have had a touchline conversion to win the match and eliminate Australia early from a tournament for the first time in 60 years.

“He got a finger to it as the ball was rising,” the referee explained to disbelieving England players. Steve McNamara, the England head coach, said: “Maybe he should have got up and celebrated because his finger certainly looked as if it was applying some pressure to the ball whilst it was on the ground. It’s disappointing.”

MATT KING / GETTY IMAGES

Fine line: Hall, of England, gets his hand to the ball ahead of Inglis, of Australia, but the last-minute effort was ruled out

Australia’s relief was palpable. “Given that Gerard Sutton ruled it a no-try on the field, I was pretty confident that it was going to stay that way but I must admit it was pretty close,” Cameron

Four Nations details N Zealand England Australia Samoa

P 2 2 2 2

W 2 1 1 0

D 0 0 0 0

L 0 1 1 2

F 44 44 28 38

A Pts 24 4 42 2 42 2 46 0

Final fixtures: Saturday November 8: New Zealand v England (kick-off 6.30am).

Sunday November 9: Australia v Samoa (5am).

Results: England 32 Samoa 26; Australia 12 New Zealand 30; New Zealand 14 Samoa 12; Australia 16 England 12.

Scorers: Australia: Tries: Jennings, Hunt, Inglis. Goals: Smith 2. England: Tries: Watkins, Hall. Goals: Widdop 2.

Australia: G Inglis; J Mansour, M Jennings, D Walker, S Mata’utia; D Cherry-Evans, C Cronk; A Woods, C Smith (captain), S Thaiday, B Scott, G Bird, C Parker. Interchange: B Cordner, B Hunt, D Klemmer, J Papalii.

England: S Tomkins; J Charnley, K Watkins, D Sarginson, R Hall; G Widdop, M Smith; G Burgess, J Hodgson, J Graham, L Farrell, J Tomkins, S O’Loughlin (captain). Interchange: D Clark, B Ferres, T Burgess, C Hill.

Referee: G Sutton (Australia).

Smith, the captain, said. “It was a tough decision to make.”

Defeat leaves England needing to beat New Zealand by a margin of at least ten points in Dunedin on Saturday if they are to qualify for the final in Wellington on November 15. It will be the first meeting between the countries since the Kiwis won the 2013 World Cup semi-final in the last seconds at Wembley. “We owe the them a bit from last year, there’s a bit of vengeance there,” Hall said.

England have little time to nurse any grievances over the denouement at AAMI Park. They also have a worry about Farrell’s availability to face New Zealand after a dangerous challenge on Inglis, and the match review panel will also scrutinise a trip by Sean O’Loughlin on Smith as ill discipline got the better of McNamara’s side at times.

When the ball was shifted wide at pace, England posed a substantial threat, supported by Matty Smith’s accurate kicking game. Why they went into their shell for much of the second half is anyone’s guess, while an inspired introduction of Ben Hunt at dummy half in the 53rd minute, transformed the game for a revitalised Australia after they had trailed 12-4.

Opposite Smith and Hunt, Josh Hodgson made precious little ground at hooker. Daryl Clark was far more of a handful but curiously remained on the bench for much of the second half.

Clark hung on in blowing a three-ontwo advantage after a coruscating dash from defence by Hall, although England immediately responded with a well-worked try by Sam Tomkins for Kallum Watkins, in reply to Michael Jennings’s opening score from Australia’s one line-break of the half.

Hall added a second try six minutes later from Dan Sarginson’s sumptuous flicked pass. Widdop curled over the conversion from the touchline and England looked set fair. They were still in control when Australia abandoned their attempts to match England’s physicality with Hunt’s introduction and Smith’s switch to loose forward.

The pair combined within three minutes, Hunt seizing Smith’s kick in catching England napping by their posts.

Inglis had a try disallowed for obstruction but produced the decisive score after Hunt had forced a drop out with a towering kick fumbled by Josh Charnley. Daly Cherry-Evans sent Inglis clear, and Australia held out by the full back’s outstretched fingers.

Siem puts wind up rivals to win play-off Golf

John Westerby

A windy final day in Shanghai scattered the favourites at the BMW Masters yesterday, enabling Marcel Siem, the world No 152 from Germany, to emerge as the winner after a three-man play-off.

Siem, 34, who had started the day in Shanghai five shots off the lead, clinched the fourth European Tour title of his career by beating Ross Fisher and Alexander Lévy at the first extra hole, chipping in from the fringe of the green.

Lévy, from France, had held a fourshot lead overnight after scores of 65, 66 and 63 in his first three rounds, but was unable to tame the windy conditions yesterday, finishing with a sixover-par 78. Despite starting the final day 11 strokes behind Lévy, Fisher made his way into the play-off with a fiveunder-par round of 67 yesterday to join Siem and Lévy on 16 under par. Siem had missed a six-foot putt to win the title on the 72nd hole, but then chipped in at the same hole in the play-off to earn himself a bumper payday of €1,666,600 (about £1,300,000).

“A chip-in is always cool, but to have it in a play-off is even cooler,” Siem said.

“I knew with the windy conditions that

Positive approach: Siem chips at the 14th on his way to victory

it might give me a better chance to win the tournament. The course was a real monster and I’m super pleased. You try not to think about the prize money, but it’s crazy prize money here.”

Lévy had still been two strokes clear of Siem until he pulled his drive into the water at the par-five 13th and finished with a double-bogey seven.

Jamie Donaldson, the Ryder Cup hero, had played his way to within a putt on the 18th green of joining the three leaders in a play-off, but left himself short. He finished in joint fourth place with Justin Rose on 15 under par for the tournament. “I had a perfect line and just left it short in the middle, which is dreadful,” Donaldson said.

The conditions were summed up by Miguel Ángel Jiménez on the par-four 9th, where the Spaniard took 13 shots, straying into the water four times.

In Kuala Lumpur on the PGA Tour, Sergio García finished tied for second place in the CIMB Classic, three shots behind Ryan Moore, of the United States, who successfully defended his title. García was left to rue a double bogey at the par-five 10th, finishing three shots behind Moore on 14 under par, and level with Kevin Na and Gary Woodland.

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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Sport

Left haunted by the special ones that got away WITOLD KRASOWSKI / GETTY IMAGES

Scratch any one of my pals and he will bleed.

I have been fortunate to know and fish with some of the greatest anglers of modern times. One of them, a famous and vastly experienced specimen hunter, hooked a pike so large in size and painful in the loss that even now, in his 80s, he finds it difficult to talk about.

I knew one of the greatest salmon anglers of the 20th century, a man who had lost a 50-pounder, a fish of almost unimaginable size, while struggling alone to land it on a Scottish river. He told me about it

shortly before he died, said that he had never spoken of it to anyone before and never would again. It was almost as if, in telling me, he wanted his experience and the fish to go on living, wanted to open a valve on his bottled-up hurt.

Lots of writers have mused on such things. Yes, we know it’s barmy; yes, we can see the preposterous irrationality of it and yet such hurts are still there, dormant, ready to be awoken and to stab again.

One possible difference between those who live with such hauntings and those who do not is that the latter came to fishing in adulthood.

An adult is conditioned by reality. He brings a worldliness and common sense to events. An adult taking up fishing will have learned at least something about it. He will likely know the kinds of fish he is pursuing, how big each species can grow, very possibly the size individual specimens can reach in the water he is fishing.

Yes, he is human and yes, the loss of a big fish will disappoint him, but he will know that whatever his pulse and the blood surge tell him, the fish cannot have been bigger than 5lb if it was such and such a species in this river, bigger than 7lb if it was in that lake.

In childhood, though, we inhabit the imagination and in that wideeyed place there are no limits. The world and its possibilities reach over the horizon and what we do not know we can readily invent. We go fishing.

We are here on the bank, there is the water. In those shifting deeps anything might live — monsters, even. We are not filled with practicalities but with excitement and

4.25

Results

Brian Clarke

fishing correspondent

T

here is not an angler alive who doesn’t lose fish.

Losing fish is as much a part of angling as landing them, though hopefully it happens less often.

Fish of all sizes can come off, for all sorts of reasons. Most come unstuck because they haven’t been properly hooked. Some get the line snagged and we find ourselves pulling not against a trout or a chub but a tree root or a submerged rock. Sometimes there is a weakness in the tackle, or a badly tied knot gives way, and so on.

The loss of a small fish is neither here nor there. Big fish are lost most seasons and the experience can take the edge off a day. But there are big fish and there are big fish and then there are the others. There are some fish, a very few in a lifetime, that are in a category of their own; fish that leave us not only disappointed or frustrated but haunted — even emotionally scarred.

I have hooked plenty of big fish and lost my share, but only four lost fish haunt me. One was an enormous pike that I hooked on the Tees at Croft when a boy, the second a trout that I never once managed to bring to the surface after it sipped down a mayfly on Lough Sheelin in Ireland. The third fish was a tarpon of 100lb-plus that took a fly as big as a pullet off the

Rob Wright

1.45 Logans Lad 3.50 Burma Bridge 2.15 Climaxfortackle 4.25 Tayma (nb) 2.50 Invincible Ridge 4.55 Cerutty 3.20 Expose (nap) 5.25 Elegant Ophelia Going: standard Tote Jackpot meeting Draw: 5f-6f, low numbers best At The Races

Handicap (£2,264: 5f 216y) (13)

1 (7) 51032 LOGANS LAD 17 (T,V,CD,BF) D Loughnane 4-9-7E J Walsh (5) F Tylicki 2 (12) 01600 LE LAITIER 13 (P,D) S Dixon 3-9-7 P Mulrennan 3 (10) 46500 YPRES 20 J Ward 5-9-7 4 (9) 1d003 JOLLY RED JEANZ 16 (B,D) T Dascombe 3-9-6W A Carson Luke Morris 5 (4) 00026 TANGO SKY 17 (C) J Unett 5-9-5 6 (11) 30000 LOOK HERE'S AL 19 (C,D) A Hollinshead 3-9-5 G Gibbons 7 (2) 30000 WHIPPHOUND 15 (C,D) W M Brisbourne 6-9-5 G Baker 8 (5) 16400 SEVEN LUCKY SEVEN 31 M Herrington 3-9-4 T Eaves D Swift 9 (8) 55000 INVIGILATOR 17 (T,C,D) D Shaw 6-9-4 R Havlin 10(13) 42160 GOADBY 70 (D) J Holt 3-9-3 11 (1) 40000 NEW DECADE 15 (T,C,D) J M Bradley 5-9-2 R Winston S Drowne 12 (6) 16030 CAMINEL 32 (B,D) J Gask 3-9-1 P Makin 13 (3) 60531 SEWN UP 10 (P,C,D) K Dalgleish 4-9-1 7-2 Sewn Up, 4-1 Logans Lad, Tango Sky, 6-1 Jolly Red Jeanz, 12-1 Caminel, Whipphound, 14-1 New Decade, 16-1 Le Laitier, 20-1 others.

2.15

Florida Keys and the fourth a shark that, before slipping the line, showed me every caught-breath foot of itself over the Great Barrier Reef.

The sizes of these fish, the circumstances in which they were hooked, the special nature of each breaking away, trouble me still. Here I am, after a lifetime’s angling, and I can still lie awake in the night replaying each of them; spooling through every moment of the action and of the sickening inaction that followed, reliving the pain.

I am not alone in this. Lots of anglers are in the same queasy boat.

2.50

Wolverhampton

1.45

Sense of loss: many anglers are devastated by the failure to land a particular fish

Handicap (£2,264: 5f 216y) (13)

D Tudhope 1 (2) 150-0 OMANOME 17 (D) D O'Meara 3-9-7 R Winston 2 (13) 20400 MEDAM 16 (C,D) Shaun Harris 5-9-7 30026 RED CAPE 17 (B,C,D) Mrs R Carr 11-9-7 J Sullivan 3 (12) R Havlin 4 (4) 50104 FOXTROT PEARL 16 (D) J Holt 3-9-6 G Baker 5 (1) 66550 VOLITO 114 (D) Anabel Murphy 8-9-5 6 (5) 20400 CLIMAXFORTACKLE 19 (C,D) D Shaw 6-9-5 J Fanning S W Kelly 7 (10) 000-0 SCATTY CAT 60 (T) D Loughnane 4-9-5 8 (3) 00000 AVONMORE STAR 46 (P,D) A McCabe 6-9-4 B A Curtis A Kirby 9 (9) 13403 KODAFINE 13 (C,D) P D Evans 3-9-4 S Drowne 10 (7) 640 KINGS CHAPEL 28 J Gask 3-9-3 11 (8) 00541 METHAALY 13 (B,CD) M Mullineaux 11-9-2A Hesketh (7) 12(11) 20432 DANCING MAITE 109 (B,C,D) S R Bowring 9-9-1E J Walsh (5) Luke Morris 13 (6) 05165 PEARL NOIR 13 (H,B,C,D) S Dixon 4-9-0 11-2 Kodafine, 13-2 Medam, 7-1 Pearl Noir, 8-1 Climaxfortackle, Foxtrot Pearl, 10-1 Dancing Maite, Methaaly, Red Cape, Volito, 12-1 others.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Selling Stakes (£2,264: 5f 20y) (7)

A Hesketh (7) (1) 00031 FITZ FLYER 31 (V,C,D) D Nicholls 8-9-6 Thomas Brown (3) (7) 40326 HAMOODY 6 (C,D) J Tuite 10-9-6 R Winston (3) 41650 JOYOUS 16 (D) D Ivory 4-9-6 (4) 46406 PROFILE STAR 37 (C,D) Miss A Stokell 5-9-6 T Hamilton J Hart (2) -0346 INVINCIBLE RIDGE 64 (T) E Alston 6-9-0 J Fanning (6) 03000 JIROFT 39 (H,T) Miss A Stokell 7-9-0 R Tate (3) (5) 33000 THORPE BAY 163 (D) M Appleby 5-9-0

11-4 Fitz Flyer, Invincible Ridge, 3-1 Jiroft, 13-2 Hamoody, 7-1 others.

3.20

Handicap (£4,852: 5f 216y) (12)

D Nolan 1 (6) 51100 EXPOSE 9 (C,D) Shaun Harris 6-9-7 2 (7) 00000 SECRET WITNESS 37 (P,D) R Harris 8-9-7 Luke Morris F Norton 3 (4) 40010 TAGULA NIGHT 17 (T,P,D) D Ivory 8-9-7 G Baker 4 (8) 1141 SLEEP WALK 61 (D) R Charlton 3-9-6 S Sanders 5 (3) 56032 DIAMOND CHARLIE 75 (D) S Dow 6-9-5 G Lee 6 (2) 40350 ORIENTAL RELATION 42 (V,C,D) J Given 3-9-5 G Gibbons 7 (9) 10053 ZAC BROWN 24 T D Barron 3-9-3 8 (1) 46204 DRIVE ON 50 (V,D) Eve Johnson Houghton 3-9-1 J Fahy C Beasley (3) 9 (11) 16144 DISSENT 45 (B,C,D) J Given 5-9-0 10(12) 30201 SALVATORE FURY 13 (P,D) K Dalgleish 4-8-13 J Fanning 11 (5) 61036 SOLAR SPIRIT 16 (C,D) Miss T Waggott 9-8-11R Winston S De Sousa 12(10) 14355 SHAMAHEART 20 (V) G Harker 4-8-7 11-4 Sleep Walk, 5-1 Zac Brown, 6-1 Salvatore Fury, 8-1 others.

3.50 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Maiden Auction Stakes

(2-Y-O: £2,264: 1m 141y) (9)

0 SPACE SHERIFF 13 (B) J Osborne 9-1 A Kirby (3) C Hardie (3) (8) 022 BURMA BRIDGE 18 (BF) R Hannon 8-13 QUEST FOR WONDER J Tate 8-13 M Harley (4) 00 RESOLVE 37 D Simcock 8-13 D Sweeney (2) Luke Morris (9) 602 TWICE CERTAIN 19 E Walker 8-12 5 MISSANDEI 19 M Botti 8-9 P Sirigu (6) 0 CALLENDULA 20 Clive Cox 8-8 R Tate (3) (7) 0 RUM SWIZZLE 19 H Dunlop 8-8 Thomas Brown (3) (1) D Brock (3) (5) 22463 EDGE OF HEAVEN 13 J Portman 8-7

5-2 Twice Certain, 3-1 Burma Bridge, 5-1 Edge Of Heaven, Quest For Wonder, 13-2 Callendula, 10-1 Missandei, 20-1 Rum Swizzle, 25-1 others.

Blinkered first time: Plumpton 3.30 Vinnieslittle Lamb.

Kempton Park 1.00 Medal Of Valour. Wolverhampton 1.45 Caminel. 3.20 Drive On. 3.50 Space Sheriff.

Handicap (£2,911: 1m 1f 103y) (13)

1 (8) 36315 EXCLUSIVE WATERS 17 (BF) Miss T Waggott 4-9-7 R Winston P Makin 2 (13) 13236 TECTONIC 5 (P,D) K Dalgleish 5-9-6 S De Sousa 3 (9) 05024 MOCCASIN 14 G Harker 5-9-6 S Donohoe 4 (10) 05531 COILLTE CAILIN 6 (CD) D Loughnane 4-9-6 5 (1) 00360 IDOL DEPUTY 6 (P,C,D) J Bennett 8-9-5 Racheal Kneller (5) T E Durcan 6 (3) -0202 ZE KING 13 C Wall 5-9-4 Kevin Stott (5) 7 (2) 40221 TAYMA 3 (C) S Bin Suroor 3-9-4 G Baker 8 (4) 42354 ALDEBURGH 186 Miss C Dyson 5-9-3 T Eaves 9 (7) 20421 SOLID JUSTICE 17 J Ward 3-9-2 G Gibbons 10 (6) P4000 PIVOTMAN 10 (T,B) M W Easterby 6-9-2 C Hardie (3) 11(11) 46-56 HERE FOR GOOD 14 R Hannon 3-8-13 12 (5) 45000 BOBOLI GARDENS 10 N Quinlan 4-8-13 T Atkinson (5) 13(12) d3200 MATRAASH 16 (E,B,C,D) D Loughnane 8-8-13 S W Kelly 5-2 Tayma, 5-1 Coillte Cailin, Ze King, 8-1 Solid Justice, 10-1 Exclusive Waters, Moccasin, Tectonic, 14-1 Here For Good, 16-1 Aldeburgh, 20-1 others.

4.55 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Maiden Stakes

(£2,588: 1m 4f 50y) (7)

DIRECT APPROACH 250J Miss L Siddall 10-9-10 P Aspell (3) M Harley (4) 6533 CERUTTY 19 M Botti 3-9-4 0 HONEY BADGER 24 A Hutchinson 3-9-4 R Havlin (5) G Lee (2) 65262 MASTER DAN 60 J Given 3-9-4 00 RENEWING 15 R Brotherton 3-9-4 T Eaves (6) F Tylicki (1) 04322 PANATELLA 13 (BF) J Fanshawe 3-8-13 55 SAIL WITH SULTANA 19 M Rimell 3-8-13 P Mulrennan (7)

15-8 Cerutty, Panatella, 3-1 Master Dan, 12-1 Direct Approach, 14-1 others.

5.25

Handicap (£2,264: 1m 4f 50y) (12)

A Kirby (1) 14206 ELEGANT OPHELIA 13 (T,D) D Ivory 5-9-10 S Sanders (11) 35540 DARK AMBER 33 (T) B Powell 4-9-7 J Hart (6) 62230 KING OF PARADISE 6 E Alston 5-9-7 (9) 55232 ROYAL TROOPER 49 (C,D) W M Brisbourne 8-9-6 B Brisbourne (7) S De Sousa 5 (10) 06000 DABUKI 16 (P,D) G Harker 4-9-6 6 (5) 61425 HARRISON'S CAVE 16 Mrs S Watt 6-9-5 J Haynes (3) D Sweeney 7 (7) 05636 ANGUS GLENS 9 (P) D Dennis 4-9-5 8 (4) -4505 DANCING PRIMO 9 (D) W M Brisbourne 8-9-5 G Baker T E Durcan 9 (3) 00625 DIRE STRAITS 47 (P) C Wall 3-9-4 G Lee 10 (8) 43540 FLYING CAPE 20 (P) A Hollinshead 3-9-3 J Fanning 11(12) 00005 ENZAAL 16 (C) P Kirby 4-8-13 G Gibbons 12 (2) 00434 SAKHRA 9 W M Brisbourne 3-8-11 1 2 3 4

4-1 Dire Straits, 6-1 Royal Trooper, 7-1 Dancing Primo, Enzaal, 8-1 others.

Yesterday’s racing results Carlisle Going: soft

1.00 (2m 4f hdle) 1, Otago Trail (Aidan Coleman, 15-8); 2, Bandit Country (11-8 fav); 3, Uisge Beatha (15-2). 12 ran. NR: Duncomplaining, Mr Hopeful. 15l, 1Ol. Miss V Williams.

1.30 (2m 4f ch) 1, Big Water (Paul Moloney, 4-1); 2, Son Of Suzie (22-1); 3, Straidnahanna (6-1). Shantou Magic (f) 11-4 fav. 11 ran. NR: The Last Samuri. 2Nl, Kl. G A Swinbank.

2.05 (2m 1f hdle) 1, Spanish Fleet (B Hughes, 3-1 jt-fav); 2, Obistar (9-2); 3, Willie Whistle (100-1). Scimon Templar (pu) 3-1 jt-fav. 12 ran. 20l, 14l. J Wade.

2.35 (3m 2f ch) 1, Ballyoliver (L Treadwell, 14-1); 2, Global Power (3-1 fav); 3, Settledoutofcourt (12-1). 11 ran. 7l, ns.

Miss V Williams.

3.10 (2m 4f hdle) 1, One For Harry (Brian Harding, 9-4 fav); 2, Phoenix Returns (5-1); 3, Flicka Williams (22-1). 9 ran.

NR: Alaivan. 9l, 1Nl. N Richards.

3.45 (2m 4f ch) 1, Many Clouds (L P Aspell, 5-2); 2, Eduard (9-4 fav); 3, Holywell (5-2).

6 ran. 1N, 15l. O Sherwood.

4.15 (1m 6f flat) 1, Virnon (J Corbett, 20-1); 2, Coup De Vent (9-2); 3, Milly Baloo (7-1).

10 ran. NR: Bleu Et Or, Micklegate Run, Parkie Boy, Verona Opera. 3l, 19l. S Corbett.

Jackpot: not won (£17,432.48 carried forward to Wolverhampton today).

Placepot: £37.20.

Quadpot: £11.60.

Huntingdon

Going: good to soft (good in places) 12.45 (2m 110yd hdle) 1, Nyanza (W Hutchinson, 5-4 fav; Rob Wright’s nap); 2, Officer Drivel (8-1); 3, Ravenous (9-2).

11 ran. 11l, Kl. A King.

1.15 (2m 4f 110yd ch) 1, Un Ace (J M Maguire, 11-4); 2, Chris Pea Green (11-10 fav); 3, Paradise Valley (9-4). 5 ran.

NR: A Tail Of Intrigue. 3Kl, 38l.

K Bailey.

1.50 (2m 110yd hdle) 1, Short Takes (J M Maguire, 6-1); 2, Gud Day (5-1); 3, Hawdyerwheesht (8-1). Admiral Hawke (pulled up) 9-4 fav. 13 ran. NR: Street Entertainer. 3Nl, 2Ol. D McCain.

2.20 (2m 110yd ch) 1, Doctor Ric (Tom Cannon, 9-4 fav); 2, Topthorn (6-1); 3, Unforgettable (12-1). 8 ran. NR: Star Presenter. 16l, Kl. N Gifford.

2.55 (2m 4f 110yd hdle) 1, Ordo Ab Chao (W Hutchinson, 1-4 fav); 2, Pyrshan (66-1); 3, Cloonacool (14-1). 12 ran.

4Kl, 12l. A King.

3.30 (3m 2f hdle) 1, Giveitachance (Nick Scholfield, 5-1); 2, Flash Crash (5-2 fav); 3, Helamis (25-1). 11 ran. NR: Roc De Guye, Vendredi Trois. 1l, 18l. Miss C Dyson.

4.00 (2m 110yd flat) 1, Barters Hill (D Bass, 25-1); 2, Simply Rouge (3-1); 3, Cochinillo (6-1). Towering (4th) 2-1 fav.

11 ran. 1Ol, 7l. B Pauling.

Placepot: £9.70.

Quadpot: £7.70.

American football NFL Cincinnati 33 Jacksonville 23; Cleveland 22 Tampa Bay 17; Dallas 17 Arizona 28; Houston 21 Philadelphia 31; Kansas City 24 New York Jets 10; Miami 37 San Diego 0; Minnesota 29 Washington 26.

Basketball

BBL Championship Cheshire 92 Bristol 72; Durham 81 Glasgow 83.

Cricket

Second Test match Pakistan v Australia

Abu Dhabi (fourth day of five): Australia, with six second-innings wickets in hand, need 460 runs to beat Pakistan Pakistan: First Innings 570-6 dec (Y Younis Khan 213, Azhar Ali 109, Misbah-ul-Haq 101) Second Innings (overnight 61-2) Azhar Ali not out 100 Younus Khan lbw b Smith 46 *Misbah-ul-Haq not out 101 Extras (b 23, lb 4, w 1, nb 1) 29 Total (3 wkts dec, 60.4 overs) 293 Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-21, 3-152.

Bowling: Johnson 7-1-45-2; Lyon 183-48-0; Starc 11.4-2-56-0; Siddle 14-448-0; Smith 6-0-54-1; Marsh 4-1-15-0.

Australia: First Innings 261 (M R Marsh 87) Second Innings C J L Rogers c Shafiq b Babar 2 D A Warner c Shah b Hafeez 58 G J Maxwell lbw b Babar 4 *M J Clarke b Babar 5 S P D Smith not out 38 M R Marsh not out 26 Extras (b 4, nb 1, p 5) 10 Total (4 wkts, 48 overs) 143 Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-31, 3-43, 4-101.

Bowling: R Ali 5-4-1-0; Imran 5-113-0; Hafeez 12-1-33-1; Babar 17-165-3; Shah 8-0-21-0; A Ali 1-0-1-0.

Umpires: R A Kettleborough (England) and N J Llong (England).

First one-day international India v Sri Lanka

Cuttack (Sri Lanka won toss): India beat Sri Lanka by 169 runs India (balls) A M Rahane c Jayawardena b Randiv 111(108) S Dhawan b Priyanjan 113(107) S K Raina lbw b Randiv 52 (34) *V Kohli c Perera b Randiv 22 (21) A T Rayudu c Perera b Gamage27 (20) †W P Saha not out 10 (8) A R Patel not out 14 (4) Extras (lb 5, w 7, nb 2) 14 Total (5 wkts, 50 overs) 363 R Ashwin, U T Yadav, V R Aaron and I Sharma did not bat.

hope and maybe, Ted Hughes, the poet, once mused, a little dread. That bright red float is our connection with a netherworld and if it tilts or sidles or plunges out of sight, or if we feel a yank on the rod top, it pulls our heart up by its roots.

In later life, just sometimes, by virtue of place or need or circumstance or whatever, it may just be that the loss of a fish can tap again into that child world subliminally remembered: imagination has given us the reference points for it — references that a later, more worldly start to angling quite possibly deny.

And so what was special about my own haunting fish? It was that the sheer size of the three I saw — the pike, the tarpon and the shark — left me less with a sense that I had lost them, than that they had let me go.

‘I am not alone in this.

Lots of anglers are in the same queasy boat’ The trout, the one that had sipped down the fly so gently that it might have been pulling it down by its legs, and that then fought so hard and deep that in 20 minutes it never once showed itself at the surface, was different. I have no sense of the size of that fish, only of its awesome strength. And so I fret. I mean what manner of fish could do that? I mean what manner of fish? That is how imagination leads us — and beaches us high and dry.

6 Brian Clarke’s angling column appears on the first Monday of each month.

Fall of wickets: 1-231, 2-247, 3-299, 4-314, 5-344.

Bowling: Prasad 9-0-60-0; Gamage 9-1-59-1; Mathews 4-0-33-0; Perera 7-0-51-0; Randiv 10-0-78-3; Prasanna 6-0-47-0; Dilshan 3-0-19-0; Priyanjan 2-0-11-1.

Sri Lanka (balls) W U Tharanga c Dhawan b Ashwin 28 (53) T M Dilshan c Saha b Yadav 18 (22) †K C Sangakkara c Saha b Sharma 13 (13) D P M D Jayawardena c Kohli b Patel 43 (36) S Prasanna c Rahane b Patel 5 (13) *A D Mathews c Patel b Raina 23 (32) S M A Priyanjan c Saha b Sharma 12 (21) N L T C Perera c Sharma b Yadav 29 (27) S Randiv b Sharma 5 (8) K T G D Prasad c Saha b Sharma 0 (4) P L S Gamage not out 0 (8) Extras (lb 4, w 13, nb 1) 18 Total (39.2 overs) 194 Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-61, 3-84, 4-109, 5-130, 6-144, 7-167, 8-175, 9-175.

Bowling: Yadav 6.2-2-24-2; Aaron 4.1-0-26-0; Sharma 8-1-34-4; Kohli 0.5-0-6-0; Ashwin 9-0-52-1; Patel 6-0-24-2; Raina 5-0-24-1.

Umpires: V A Kulkarni and B N J Oxenford (Australia).

6 India lead five-match series 1-0

Golf European Tour BMW Masters Shanghai: Leading final scores (Great Britain and Ireland unless stated): 272: R Fisher 70, 67, 68, 67; M Siem (Ger) 68, 66, 65, 73; A Lévy (Fr) 65, 66, 63, 78 (Siem won play-off at first extra hole). 273: J Rose 72, 65, 64, 72; J Donaldson 68, 68, 62, 75. 274: R Wattel (Fr) 66, 67, 71, 70; N Colsaerts (Bel) 66, 64, 73, 71. 275: E Grillo (Arg) 66, 68, 69, 72; R Palmer (US) 70, 67, 68, 70. 276: M Ilonen (Fin) 70, 66, 69, 71; F Zanotti (Par) 70, 68, 69, 69; G Coetzee (SA) 71, 67, 67, 71.

US PGA Tour CIMB Classic Kuala Lumpur: Leading final scores (United States unless stated): 271: R Moore 68, 69, 67, 67. 274: G Woodland 71, 70, 66, 67; K Na 69, 68, 67, 70; S García (Sp) 69, 68, 68, 69. 276: C Smith (Aus) 70, 69, 69, 68; Bae Sang Moon (S Kor) 71, 68, 68, 69. 277: J Senden (Aus) 72, 68, 69, 68. 278: R Sabbatini (SA) 70, 72, 70, 66; D Love III 68, 71, 71, 68; P Meesawat (Thai) 68, 71, 70, 69; A Que (Phil) 67, 72, 69, 70; W Hurley III 67, 67, 71, 73.

Fubon LPGA Taiwan Championship Taipei: Leading final scores (South Korea unless stated): 266: Park In Bee 64, 62, 69, 71. 268: S Lewis (US) 67, 68, 64, 69. 271: L Ko (NZ) 69, 65, 71, 66.

272: A Muñoz (Sp) 68, 66, 69, 69. 274: A Yang 70, 68, 68, 68. 275: Feng Shanshan (China) 64, 65, 70, 76. 276: P Lindberg (Swe) 69, 71, 69, 67, Ryu So Yeon 66, 70, 68, 72.

Ice hockey

Rapid Solicitors Elite League Cardiff 1 Nottingham 2; Coventry 5 Belfast 1; Dundee 4 Sheffield 2; Fife 5 Edinburgh 2; Hull 6 Braehead 2. Saturday: Braehead 3 Dundee 0; Sheffield 10 Edinburgh 2; Fife 8 Hull 3; Nottingham 3 Coventry 1.

Motorcycling

World Superbike Championship Losail, Qatar: Leading positions: First race: 1, S Guintoli (Fr, Aprilia) 33min 46.738sec; 2, L Baz (Fr, Kawasaki) at 2.650sec behind; 3, T Sykes (GB, Kawasaki) 3.955. Other British: 4, J Rea (Honda) 4.805; 7, C Davies (Ducati) 8.991; 9, E Laverty (Suzuki) 15.978; 10, A Lowes (Suzuki) 21.456; 11, L Haslam (Honda) 25.977. Second race: 1, Guintoli 33:41.803; 2, Rea at 3.568sec; 3, Sykes 5.092. Other British: 5, Davies 8.390; 9, Lowes 13.478; 10, Haslam 25.471. Leading final championship positions: 1, Guintoli 416pts (champion); 2, Sykes 410; 3, Rea 334. Other British: 6, Davies 215; 7, Haslam 187.

Rugby league

Gillette Four Nations series: Australia 16 England 12; New Zealand 14 Samoa 12.

Alitalia European Cup: Wales 14 Ireland 46 (at Racecourse Ground).

Rugby union

International matches: Barbarians 36 Australia 40; United States 6 New Zealand 74.

LV= Cup: Bath 47 London Welsh 7; Exeter 28 Gloucester 27; London Irish 16 Leicester 17; Northampton 37 Newcastle 23; Sale 32 Wasps 29; Saracens 25 Harlequins 20.

Guinness PRO12: Cardiff Blues 24 Munster 28; Scarlets 28 Zebre 13; Ulster 23 Newport Gwent Dragons 6.

Snooker

International Championship Chengdu, China: Final: R Walden (Eng) bt M Allen (N Ire) 10-7.

Tennis

ATP BNP Paribas Masters Paris: Final: N Djokovic (Serbia) bt M Raonic (Can) 6-2, 6-3.

WTA Qatar Airways Tournament of Champions Sofia: Final: A Petkovic (Ger) bt F Pennetta (It) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.

6 Today’s football fixtures are in the game, page 18

58

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Monday November 3 2014 | the times

Sport

Moores calls on Ramprakash to keep batsmen strictly focused Cricket

Exclusive Richard Hobson Deputy Cricket Correspondent

Mark Ramprakash is set to be named as England batting coach after impressing during his time with the squad during the summer. He will replace Graham Gooch, one of the casualties of the Ashes whitewash last winter.

The appointment depends on Ramprakash being able to commit to the number of days required around other personal commitments, but he will lead the batting department under Peter Moores, the head coach, during the seven-match one-day series in Sri Lanka that begins in Colombo on November 26.

England have not formally advertised the position and Graham Thorpe, potentially the strongest internal candidate, was reluctant to move from his job as the lead batting coach based at Loughborough because of the heavy demands of touring. Thorpe will also be in Sri Lanka later this month, but with the batsmen on the Performance Programme.

Route to the hundred club 1988 Aged 18, is named man of the match for Middlesex in the NatWest Trophy final 1991 Test debut against West Indies 1998 Scores 154 against West Indies in Barbados, his highest Test score 2002 Makes his 52nd and last Test appearance 2008 Becomes 25th player to record 100 first-class hundreds 2012 Retires with more than 50,000 runs in total across all competitions 2013 Appointed MBE for services to sport

Ramprakash, 45, was the most gifted England batsman of his generation with a near-flawless technique. He believes that the problems he had in transferring his prolific county returns with Middlesex and Surrey to Test levels will help him with the manmanagement side of coaching.

He may prove to be the last player to reach the landmark of 100 first-class hundreds. Although he reached three figures on 114 occasions, only two of those innings were played during his 52 Test appearances between 1991 and 2002. His overall average of 53.14 is almost double his mean of 27.32 at the higher level.

After retiring in 2012 he signed a twoyear contract as the Middlesex batting coach, which has expired, and worked as a media pundit on Sky Sports. He may be better known to the world at large as a former winner of the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. Ramprakash said that victory in 2006 showed that he was able to conquer nerves on the big stage.

He was the batting coach with the Lions last winter and announced his interest in the vacant position within days of the sacking of Gooch, who was thought in some quarters to have lost his impact as the tour of Australia disintegrated. England compiled only four totals above 180 in their ten innings across the five matches.

Ramprakash stepped up on an ad hoc basis for the first home series of 2014, versus Sri Lanka, and spent more time with Alastair Cook during the subsequent India series as the captain gradually returned to a semblance of form. The returns of the batting unit as a whole showed a huge improvement with Gary Ballance, Joe Root, Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler all contributing early in their careers.

Moores has a good track record of bringing coaches in to the fold having appointed Andy Flower to look after the batsmen and Ottis Gibson to work

MATTHEW IMPEY / PA

Snooker Ricky Walden achieved two notable hat-tricks by winning the International Championship in Chengdu yesterday with victory in the final over Mark Allen (Hector Nunns writes). Walden’s 10-7 success means that he has won all three ranking-tournament finals in which he has appeared, and all of those successes have come in China. The £125,000 first prize, the biggest of the season to date, will give Walden a boost in the world rankings, the positions for which are now dictated by winnings, and reward him for a three-week road trip in the Far East in which he also took part in events in Hong Kong and Haining.

“I am very, very pleased with that,” said Walden, below, who produced his best when it mattered most, with the score at 7-7, surging over the winning line with breaks of 85, 103, 54 and 62.

“It was a tough game and I was so happy to get that winning frame. I played really well in the second session after being 5-4 down. That is three ranking titles for me in China now. It is a very lucky place for me.” Allen, from Northern Ireland, will rise to a career-high No 6 this week.

Watching brief: Ramprakash failed to replicate the runs he scored at county level on the Test stage even if there were few doubts about his technique

with the bowlers, during his first stint with the national side. Flower enjoyed great success with England before a swift decline while Gibson went on to lead the West Indies, and both will be in Colombo with the Performance Programme.

The 16-man squad for Sri Lanka will assemble at Loughborough tomorrow for a camp ahead of the trip, which marks the last opportunity to stake claims on World Cup places before the party for the tournament in Australia and New Zealand is named in early January.

As with last season, Moores is keen to

take no more coaches than he needs to Sri Lanka. Bruce French, the wicketkeeping coach, and Chris Taylor, who works on the fielding, will split duties between the senior players and the Performance Programme while Peter Such, the spin coach, is due to remain with the second string throughout.

However, a team spokesman said that Flower is not scheduled to join the full squad. Although he has worked with some of the younger players on leadership issues in his new role as the technical director of elite coaching, Flower has stayed away from the group as a whole.

Misbah ensures Richards is no longer without equal Richard Hobson

Misbah-ul-Haq, whose position as the Pakistan one-day captain is under threat because of poor form and slow scoring, equalled the 28-year-old record of Viv Richards for the fastest Test hundred on another depressing day for Australia in Abu Dhabi.

Racing to the landmark from 56 balls, Misbah had already established a new record outright by reaching 50 from 21 balls, three fewer than the previous best by Jacques Kallis. Australia were set 603 to win and level the series, but slipped to 143 for four by the close on the penultimate day of the second Test.

Misbah is nicknamed “Tuk Tuk” by critics in Pakistan, an unflattering comparison with the sluggish vehicles that pack the roads. To put his style in context, his one-day strike-rate of 73.70 from 151 games is slower than that of Alastair Cook (77.57).

He asked to be dropped for a 50-over

game against Australia earlier this month after his run-scoring dried up.

However, at the age of 40, the tortoise became the hare yesterday. Misbah slogged his first ball to the boundary and soon hit Steven Smith for three sixes and a four in succession. In all, he Misbah reached 100 from 56 balls

Walden has the final word again in China

hit four fours and four sixes in his fifty, with 11 fours and five sixes in the hundred. He reached the second landmark with successive fours against Mitchell Starc, the second edged through third man.

He took 74 minutes to reach his

Fastest Test centuries In terms of balls faced: 56 balls Viv Richards West Indies v England, Antigua, 1985-86; Misbah-ul-Haq Pakistan v Australia, Abu Dhabi, 2014 57 balls Adam Gilchrist Australia v England, Perth, 2006-07 67 balls Jack Gregory Australia v South Africa, Johannesburg, 1921-22 69 balls Shivnarine Chanderpaul West Indies v Australia, Georgetown, 2002-03; David Warner Australia v India, Perth, 2011-12

hundred, four minutes slower than Jack Gregory’s hundred for Australia against South Africa in 1921. These days, records measured in terms of balls rather than minutes are considered to be a fairer guide because over-rates are far more tardy.

Misbah had already scored 101 in the first innings and Azhar Ali, too, completed his second hundred in the game.

Things would have been different — for statisticians if not for the outcome of the contest — had Peter Siddle not dropped a relatively comfortable catch when the batsman mistimed his second ball yesterday.

The series could not have gone much worse for Australia who hoped to displace South Africa at the top of the ICC rankings. And it has been a personal failure for Michael Clarke, the captain.

Not only has he scored 57 runs from four innings, but he has been untypically vulnerable against spin. Victory will propel Pakistan to third in the ratings, pushing England down to fourth.

Ireland unable to halt Scotland’s coronation Rugby league Scotland were crowned European champions in their absence in Wrexham yesterday after Ireland fell agonisingly short in their brave attempt to overhaul them. Ireland, who needed to win by more than 40 points to take the title, rounded off the tournament with a 46-14 win over Wales to draw level with France and the Scots, who take the first title in their 20-year history by points difference.

Sri Lanka put to sword

by Rahane and Dhawan Cricket Ajinkya Rahane and

Shikhar Dhawan put on 231 for the first wicket, including a mid-innings blast of 96 runs from eight overs, as India thrashed Sri Lanka by 169 runs in the first one-day international in Cuttack.

India amassed 363 for five in their 50 overs, with Rahane (111) and Dhawan (113) both reaching three figures. Ishant Sharma claimed four for 34 as an underprepared Sri Lanka were bowled out for 194.

Kipsang adds New York victory to his collection Athletics Wilson Kipsang, of

Kenya, took the men’s title at the New York City marathon in a time of 2hr 10min 59sec. The former world record-holder has now won in Berlin, London and New York in just over 13 months. Lelisa Desisa, of Ethiopia, was second.

Mary Keitany made it a double for Kenya by claiming the women’s title in 2:25:7, beating Jemima Sumgong, her compatriot, by just three seconds.

the times | Monday November 3 2014

59

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Itoje shows the maturity to suggest he will make grade Cardiff City Saracens

Campbell, 21

West Harlequins Ham United

C Cole 42, Noble 90+3

Rugby union

STEVE BARDENS / GETTY IMAGES

25 0 2 20 1

TMO (the monday overview)

Compiled by Alex Lowe

Foreign affairs Scott Spedding, Bayonne’s South African-born full back, reacted with emotion upon learning that he had been called into the France squad for their autumn internationals as an injury replacement for Brice Dulin, but not everyone will have been so pleased with his selection. Émile Ntamack, who won 46 caps for France, has criticised the policy of

selecting foreigners for the national team. “I do not know if at any time I could feel represented by these players,” Ntamack said.

Spedding, the former South Africa Under-21 international, has been eligible since 2011 and he acquired French citizenship earlier this year.

“I already know La Marseillase,” he said. “I am French.”

62,000

Nik Simon

Maro Itoje is already a high achiever, one of those who seems to succeed at whatever he turns his hand to. The straight-A student from Harrow School is studying for a degree in politics and can add a winning start as Saracens captain to his growing list of accolades.

In June 2013, Itoje captained England Under-20 to victory at the Junior World Championship in New Zealand and, if yesterday’s performance at Allianz Park is anything to go by, that will not be his last taste of international rugby. A place at next year’s World Cup may be too much to ask, but a ticket to the 2019 competition in Japan would be a safe bet.

Saracens outscored Harlequins by three tries to two in this LV= Cup tie, with Itoje at blind-side flanker. He is equally adept in the second row and took charge of an experienced scrum that included Jacques Burger, Mouritz Botha and Jim Hamilton.

“It was a special moment,” the 20year-old said. “To do it [captain the side] alongside such experienced players added a little bit of pressure, but they were fantastic in helping me through it.

It made the transition a little easier.

“I captained a team that wasn’t too dissimilar in the A League, so I really broke those initial fears and worries then. As a young person you feel as if you have to earn their respect and hopefully I’ve done that.

“The last few months have been pretty surreal for me. I’ve enjoyed it a lot and hopefully it continues.” He said he is “working towards breaking into the [England] first team and when I achieve that then I can look onwards”.

The softly spoken youngster, of Nigerian descent, led by example and started the game like a man intent on proving his worth. He made the first big hit, won the first turnover, ripped the ball out of opposition hands and — after a fourth-minute penalty goal from Ben Spencer — almost scored the first try of the game within the first ten minutes. Only the intervention of Sean Davey, the television match official, denied him the perfect start. Itoje was deemed to have been held up after Jim

Sport

The capacity of Soldier Field, Chicago, which was sold out for the United States v New Zealand match.

2

The number of rugby union matches Sonny Bill Williams had played before being recalled by the All Blacks and the number of tries he scored.

28-23

Score by which the Championship XV, a composite team taken from the second tier of English professional rugby, defeated Canada at Sixways.

Graduating with honours: Itoje, who led England Under-20 to victory at the 2013 Junior World Championship, tests Harlequins’ defence at Allianz Park yesterday

Hamilton had won a lineout to set up a peeling driving maul.

The LV= Cup has found its place as a competition for nurturing new talent and Itoje was not the only youngster on show. Louis Grimoldby, the Harlequins fly half, is also 20 and was caught out in the 25th minute. Duncan Taylor charged down his clearance kick and touched down under the posts. Spencer Scorers: Saracens: Tries: Taylor (25min), Ellery (28) Wilson (62). Conversions: Spencer (2). Penalty goals: Spencer 2 (4, 71). Harlequins: Tries: Lambert (58) Walker (64). Conversions: Swiel (2): Penalty goals: Grimoldby (33), Swiel (76).

Scoring sequence (Saracens scores first): 3-0, 10-0, 15-0, 15-3 (half-time), 15-10, 22-10, 22-17, 25-17, 25-20.

Saracens: B Ransom; M Ellery (rep, J Wilson, 43), N Tompkins, D Taylor (rep: M Bosch, 52), C Fercu; N Mordt, B Spencer; R Gill (rep: R Barrington, 61), S Spurling, J Figallo (rep: B Alo, 52), J Hamilton (rep: N de Jager, 53), M Botha, M Itoje, J Burger (rep: M Hankin, 64), E Joubert.

Harlequins: R Chisholm; C Walker, G Lowe, J Turner-Hall, O Lindsay-Hague; L Grimoldby (rep: T Swiel, 46), K Dickson; M Lambert (rep: D Marfo, 68); R Buchanan, W Collier (rep: K Sinckler, 41), G Merrick, S Twomey, J Trayfoot, L Wallace, J Chisholm.

Referee: L Hodges. Attendance: 7,012.

was on target with the conversion and he was back on kicking duties when Mike Ellery broke to add another try minutes later, his first senior score since his switch from England Sevens.

Grimoldby kicked a penalty to trim the half-time deficit to 15-3, and Mark Lambert’s try in the 58th minute, converted on his debut by Tim Swiel, set up a tense closing quarter.

Jack Wilson added another score for Saracens but it was quickly cancelled out when Charlie Walker touched down in the corner. The scoreboard kept ticking over but a 65th-minute yellow card for Ollie Lindsay-Hague did little to help his side’s comeback.

With the Harlequins wing in the sin bin, Itoje ordered Spencer to kick for goal and the scrum half extended the advantage. Lindsay-Hague returned to the field and the impressive Swiel added another penalty for the losing bonus point. Quins kept pushing but no one was going to ruin Itoje’s party.

LV= success for the Chiefs Exeter Chiefs launched the defence of their LV= Cup title with a 28-27 victory over Gloucester. The Cherry and Whites had a chance to win it at the death but Aled Thomas’s penalty goal attempt bounced back off a post.

Bath collected a four-try bonus point by half-time of their 47-7 victory against London Welsh.

Leicester Tigers snatched a 17-16 win at London Irish and Nick McLeod’s late penalty goal sealed a 32-29 win for Sale Sharks against Wasps. Northampton scored five tries in a 37-23 win over Newcastle Falcons at Franklin’s Gardens.

Try of the week Patrick Tuipulotu New Zealand From a vast number of candidates this weekend we have gone with the lock’s brilliantly executed try for New Zealand against the United States, which began with Israel Dagg fielding a kick 15 metres inside his own half. Cory Jane collected the inside pass and offloaded to Charles Piutau, who returned the ball to Dagg. TJ Perenara burst on to the pass and Ryan Crotty sent Tuipulotu, above, in under the posts.

Te’o KO Ben Te’o, a team-mate of Sam Burgess at South Sydney Rabbitohs who has also moved to European rugby union, suffered a broken arm on his first-team debut for Leinster in their Guinness PRO12 match against Edinburgh. Te’o has undergone surgery and will be sidelined for about six weeks.

US eh?

The bizarre idea of an RBS Six Nations match being played in the United States, which was proposed over the weekend by Brett Gosper, chief executive of the IRB, has been shot down at the earliest opportunity.

A spokesperson for the Six Nations

Championship committee said the idea never been discussed and would not happen.

Home matches in the competition generate too much income for any union to consider taking one to neutral territory.

Imperious Djokovic secures top billing for London finale Tennis

Ron Lewis Paris

Novak Djokovic brushed aside Milos Raonic in the final of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris yesterday to underline his position as world No 1 and continue a remarkable run of success playing indoors that will make him a red-hot favourite for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals that begin in London on Sunday.

Djokovic, right, has not lost a match indoors since Paris in 2012, a statistic that is perhaps slightly misleading because, apart from a few Davis Cup matches, Paris and the ATP finals are the only competitive matches he plays indoors. Still, the 6-2, 6-3 win over Raonic at Bercy stretched his unbeaten run to 27 indoors, a run that includes two titles in Paris and London.

“The outdoor hard court, that was

my most preferable surface, and now I guess it’s an indoor court,” Djokovic said. “I do feel very comfortable playing, returning, serving in these conditions.

“Two successive titles in London in the last two years gave me reason to believe that I can do well. I will have a week off to recharge my batteries, recover a little bit, spend some time with family and get on the court. I’m excited to be there, because I think it’s one of the most spectacular tennis venues that we have.”

Paris is the only Masters 1000 tournament played indoors, while there are only three indoor events on the ATP 500 Series. There used to be more, but the oor early season US Indoor

Championships was downgraded, while the Madrid Masters, which was played indoors during various incarnations, is now played outdoors on clay.

“The only periods of the year where you can play indoor tournaments are after Asian swing,” Djokovic said. “I like playing indoors and I enjoy it. If there should be more or not, I’m not so sure.”

It took the Serb, who had not lost a set all week, just 82 minutes to beat Raonic and seal his sixteenth Masters 1000 event since the tour was restructured in 2009.

Raonic’s big serve, that had given him such control against Federer, did not have the same effect on Djokovic, who broke at the start of each set. At times the Canadian contributed to his downfall, failing to finish off points and playing loose

ATP World Tour Finals Novak Djokovic (Serbia) Roger Federer (Switzerland) Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) Kei Nishikori (Japan) Andy Murray (GB) Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) Milos Raonic (Canada) Marin Cilic (Croatia) 6 Draw for the finals, which begin on Sunday, takes place today at 3pm 6 Players are drawn into two groups of four and play three round-robin matches, with the top two in each group advancing to the semi-finals 6 Murray will be grouped with Djokovic or Federer, Wawrinka or Nishikori and Raonic or Cilic Words by Ron Lewis

forehands, but meeting Djokovic in this form is an unenviable task.

“The key points were to get as many returns back in play,” Djokovic said. “It’s easier said than done when somebody serves regularly around 220km an hour. I knew if I can make him play an extra shot, maybe he’s going to drop the percentage of first serves and I can step in and maybe take initiative on the second. That’s what happened.”

Raonic, however, could reflect on a successful week that saw him reach the London finals for the first time. “I think the toughest thing to adapt to is not having those early-round matches where you find your way into the event,” Raonic said. “You can’t be really expecting to play your best tennis your first match, but you will have to find a way to search for a certain level of tennis.” Not being drawn against Djokovic is likely to be a big help too.

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Sport Rugby union

Hansen hints Carter will be on bench at Twickenham Alex Lowe

Steve Hansen, the New Zealand head coach, has indicated that Dan Carter will not start for the All Blacks against England in the opening QBE international at Twickenham on Saturday.

Carter returned to the international stage after almost a year in the 74-6 victory over the United States on Saturday but Hansen is not willing to rush him back into the No 10 jersey.

The fly half’s appearance off the bench in Chicago came 50 weeks after he won his 100th cap, against England at Twickenham last November. He took a six-month sabbatical after that tour, broke his leg in the Super Rugby final and then suffered a calf injury.

Aaron Cruden, who was dropped by the All Blacks for missing the team flight to Argentina after a drinking session, made an impact on his return to the side, and Hansen also has the exciting talent of Beauden Barrett at his disposal.

“I thought Crudes was very good,” Hansen said. “DC [Carter] was nervous.

You’d expect it when he’s been out for so long but he’s played himself back into a Test match and that’s good.

“This soon, against someone like England, we might be better off giving him another opportunity against someone like Scotland. We’ll wait and see. [the Scotland match is on November 16.] “[England will bring] physicality.

They’re looking to grow their game and run the ball with players with pace and they’re looking to turn Twickenham into a fortress. They’ll be there full on.”

Sonny Bill Williams is confident of being available after limping off with a hip injury having delivered a star turn at Soldier Field, including two tries.

Williams has spent the past two seasons playing rugby league in Australia but the All Blacks bent their own rules to bring him on tour with less than a year until the World Cup. “It was awesome to be back in an All Blacks environment,” he said. “I didn’t realise how much I had missed it. There is talent everywhere and that’s what makes the All Blacks so good. You can’t let your foot off the gas for one second or someone’s going to take your spot. I got a cork near my hip but the doctor is pretty upbeat about it.”

Cory Jane, the wing, and Nathan Harris, the hooker, have been ruled out of the tour with hamstring and ankle injuries respectively.

FGM

Monday November 3 2014 | the times

Launchbury’s name added to list of Lancaster’s walking wounded Lock withdraws from England squad with neck injury

BEN HOSKINS / GETTY IMAGES

Owen Slot Chief Rugby Correspondent

Forward planning

The injuries keep coming. England are now hobbling towards an international match against the All Blacks on Saturday without the services of Joe Launchbury, the Wasps lock forward, who withdrew from the squad yesterday suffering from a neck injury. Launchbury will miss all four of the QBE autumn internationals.

He follows a veritable troop of Red Rose frontliners into the rehab department. England are now without two of their three first-choice locks. Ideally, there would be a healthy competition between Launchbury, Courtney Lawes and Geoff Parling. But with Parling also being rested after a sequence of concussions, Lawes is the last man left standing.

In Launchbury’s place will step up Dave Attwood, the Bath lock, who has only ever started two internationals for England. Attwood, though, has been around the England squad for some time and is equipped with the kind of hardness that England have arguably been ignoring for too long.

However, Attwood’s elevation means that there will be a place on the bench for a complete newcomer. On paper, Attwood is England’s fourth choice lock, fifth in line would be Leicester’s Ed Slater, but he is on a long-term rehab from a knee injury. So the likely beneficiary is Saracens’ George Kruis who had never been in an England senior squad until last week. England could also opt for Graham Kitchener, another Leicester lock, who was called up into the squad as cover yesterday.

Besides Launchbury, other bumps and bruises have meddled with the

6 Likely England pack against New Zealand on Saturday: Joe Marler, Dylan Hartley, David Wilson, Courtney Lawes, Dave Attwood, Tom Wood, Chris Robshaw, Billy Vunipola.

6 Likely pack if everyone was fit: Alex Corbisiero, Hartley, Dan Cole, Lawes, Joe Launchbury, Wood, Robshaw, Vunipola.

6 A handy pack, all of whom are injured: Corbisiero, Tom Youngs, Cole, Geoff Parling, Launchbury, Tom Johnson, Croft, Sam Burgess.

Words by Owen Slot

Inside today

New Zealand rugby is still in another class Stuart Barnes, page 61

High flyer: Lancaster could turn to Kitchener, the Leicester lock, who was called into the England squad as cover for the game against New Zealand on Saturday

planning of Stuart Lancaster, the head coach. Luther Burrell was a confirmed absentee from the squad due to a hand injury, which had been expected. Not expected was the absence of Stephen Myler, the Northampton fly-half, who will miss out due to a mild hamstring strain.

Neither Burrell nor Myler had been expected to start. Yet the trimmed-

down squad that was announced last night was also revealing in that it excluded their Northampton teammate, Ben Foden. Foden is battling for one of the most competitive spots in the England team and not only is he behind Mike Brown and Alex Goode in the pecking order, but he would appear to have dropped behind Anthony Watson, the young Bath wing who is so gifted

that his skillset extends easily to cover full back too.

Four other forwards who had trained last week were not called back, though this was only as expected.

They were: Dave Ewers and Thomas Waldrom, of Exeter Chiefs, and Matt Kvesic (Gloucester) and Alex Waller (Northampton).

Launchbury’s neck problem is an irri-

tation to a nerve that has been an issue for some time. At Wasps, he was managed through the start of the season and had seemed to be through it, but he started complaining of it again recently and a decision was taken yesterday, by England and Wasps, that he should be rested for six to eight weeks.

Lancaster said yesterday: “It’s obviously disappointing but it’s important for Joe, England and Wasps that he has the appropriate rest and recovery period and we are confident that he will be back in the new year.”

He will be returning at around the same time as a number of other England players. It may work in the long run for so many players to be absent now in the greater likelihood that they will be fit for next year and the World Cup. However, injury crises in the England squad are now such a normal part of affairs that that may just be wishful thinking.

The present crisis is almost entirely in the forwards, and particularly the front five. In the front row alone, England are missing four Lions: Alex Corbisiero and Mako Vunipola, the two looseheads, Tom Youngs, the hooker, and Dan Cole, the tighthead who has been out since February.

One natural consequence of all these injuries is that it forces other players into the front line and gives England a greater strength in depth. However, for so many injuries to attack one part of the team can only considerably weaken England, no matter how deep the resources, and it now gives the autumn campaign an acute sense of calamity.

England show cultivates respect for Hartley down on the farm Alex Lowe

When Dylan Hartley returned to the family farm in Rotorua for a holiday after England’s summer tour of New Zealand, he knew he would have friends in Mrs Brown, the cow, and Meg, the dog. What he did not expect to receive was such a warm welcome from the locals.

The rugby public in New Zealand are extremely knowledgeable about a game that is part of their national DNA but, as Hartley hinted, they also have a tendency to be rather one-eyed when it comes to their precious All Blacks.

Perhaps it was easier for them because New Zealand had won the series 3-0 but the majority of people Hartley encountered in Rotorua were generous in their praise of England for the manner in which they had pushed

the All Blacks in the first two internationals.

New Zealand required a late try to win at Eden Park, Auckland, and they took the second match by a point in Dunedin before puttingg England to the sword in Hamilton, but Stuart Lancaster’s men had made their mark on the field and been positive ambassadors off it, avoiding the kind of scandals that had tainted previous trips.

“I chilled out on the farm for a couple of weeks,” Hartley said.

“The cool thing about it was that whenever I have been back to Rotorua before I have been able to go about

anonymously but that time was different because of the hype around the tour and the games that we played.

“I am not used to getting recognised but people kept on coming up and saying, ‘Your team is really good. Jeez, you pus pushed us close. You guys are going to be a real threat come World Cup time.’

“For the Kiwi public to appreciate these things was nice to hear. Off the field as we well, the way we conducted ourselves, we left that country Hartley is relishing the rematch

with our heads held high — if we forget about that last game.”

Can England afford to forget about it with the All Blacks due at Twickenham on Saturday fresh from another Rugby Championship success, a Bledisloe Cup win and a tune-up against the United States in Chicago? The timing, according to Hartley, is perfect.

“We are lucky to play them again so soon,” he said. “We can take lessons from that game: we were caught napping in the first 20 minutes and conceded three tries. If you don’t front up against the All Blacks they are going to run riot but losing that game is not my overriding memory of the tour.

“The first two games we performed really well and came within a whisker of getting a result. That is what sticks out in my mind, knowing that we can compete with the world’s No 1 team and

give them a good game when we are on our game.

“We performed really well in the first two games and there is no reason why we can’t do that on Saturday. They have been together for two months so they’ll be a well-oiled machine but they are not invincible. People have run them close just like we did and beaten them.”

England also face South Africa, Samoa and Australia in the arguably the toughest QBE autumn series they could have asked for. “It is getting to crunch time now,” Hartley said. “It would be nice to win all four matches but performance is the key word and hopefully results come with it.”

The significance of claiming a southern-hemisphere scalp or two this close to the World Cup would be lost on Mrs Brown and Meg, the dog, but not on the people of Rotorua or the All Blacks.

the times | Monday November 3 2014

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NAM Y HUH / AP

Rugby union Sport

Cheika places enjoyment at top of agenda for Wallabies Alex Lowe

Gripping yarns: Savea makes a break during the 74-6 victory over the United States on Saturday that underlined the strength in depth among New Zealand’s ranks

Education holds key to Blacks supremacy Stuart Barnes Commentary

T

he All Blacks are not invincible. The Springboks beat them in Johannesburg and Australia were one New Zealand error from beating them in Brisbane. They are human.

That is the good news for the rest of the world and the encouragement England will take into Saturday.

The bad news is that despite the odd loss and close call, New Zealand rugby remains in another class to the rest of the world. On Saturday a predominantly second XV side put more than 70 points on the United States with a first-half sequence of seven sublimely executed tries.

New Zealand Maori scored 60-plus points against Japan, coached by Eddie Jones and ranked eleventh in the world, and the Wallabies were almost undone by a Barbarians XV for whom a host of neglected Kiwis starred.

The strength in depth of New Zealand’s player basis is unparalleled.

The excellence of their rugby players is based upon a profound grasp of the rudimentary. Taught the basic skills from an early age, the better players are streamlined into a rugby education that is the equivalent of MIT, Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge rolled into one.

The rest of the world, in contrast,

suffers from second-rate rugby schooling. Until we can match New Zealand in terms of rugby intelligence they will continue to dominate as they have done since the inception of the world rankings and before.

Rugby is a way in which the country identifies and defines itself and with this comes an integrity that goes with the black shirt. It is hard to match but Wales, England, Ireland, Australia and South Africa are also proud nations. Yet year in, year out they struggle to compete with New Zealand.

One of the short cuts to challenging them is to appoint coaches from the bottom of the world.

Wales, the Lions and Ireland have all recognised the intellectual influence of the Kiwis. But there is only so much a coach can do with players who arrive at international level with an inferior understanding and set of skills (compared with their Kiwi counterparts). That Mike Catt is England’s skills coach is an indictment of a system that prepares players for the highest levels of the game without the requisite expertise.

That is not to say that England will not win at Twickenham on Saturday but it does guarantee that England, along with the rest of the world, will celebrate victories as glorious exceptions to the usual rule of All Black supremacy.

One of the ways in

which New Zealand’s hegemony as a rugby nation manifests itself is its capacity to tear up those tedious old clichés that hang around far too long elsewhere. One of the dullest of them, “going through the phases”, should be dismissed as coaches and players unthinkingly “going through the phrases”.

What do the words actually mean?

That there exists some woolly-headed (non) thinking that believes in a rugby utopia where the ball can be kept in possession ad infinitum until the score is achieved. The reality is that against the best and most biting defences the longer the ball is shuffled sideways, backwards, forwards, the more likely a powerful tackle or defensive play will either dislodge or turn tur over the ball.

I have never heard a New Zealander use the mind-numbing phrase.

They are well aware that the chances of scoring tries are maximised maximise by turning ball over against teams who play rigid patterns to ensure the treasured ball remains in their safe hands. An overly structured and patient attack is a potentially disorganised pot defence.

Hence in Chicago, the American commentators were we stunned when they were informed that the US had won Dagg has proved himself a master of the offload

63 per cent of first-half possession but were 43-6 behind. New Zealand will happily kick the ball to the opposition away from their posts and pray for opposition “patience”.

They turned the US inside out and delivered a masterclass in finishing.

While much of the world praises the traditional virtue of “carrying the ball in two hands” (include me in that choir until of late), New Zealand have shifted the emphasis to the one-handed offload. Five of the seven tries in the first half were direct results of exquisite offloading skills.

Israel Dagg is a master at the art.

He knows the basics well enough to understand how to draw two defenders into his space via running lines; as the tacklers zoom in on him he slips the ball away and a two-on-two situation wide out becomes a two-on-one and, more often than not, a try. Sonny Bill Williams is a spectacular offloader but the best of them all is Kieran Read. His left-handed reverse flip from the scrum for Julian Savea’s try should be the benchmark for every other No 8 on the planet.

The offload is most effective as late as possible to lure defenders out of position and leave no time to react.

This means the support players have to wait and hit their lines at the last second. No one gets those lines right as often as New Zealand.

The All Blacks have an 80 per cent win record against England and England have by far the best record against them of the four home nations. They possess an aura but the New Zealand rugby intellect is what sets them apart from the rest.

Three years ago, after the 2011 World Cup, Stuart Lancaster took over as England head coach and embarked on what the RFU snappily entitled a “reputational damage rebuild plan”. He jettisoned the old guard, began to bed in a new culture with a young squad of players and sought to regenerate a sense of national pride in the team.

Michael Cheika, the Australia head coach, is now embarking on a similar project with the Wallabies, having inherited a team with a reputation tarnished by a series of disciplinary scandals, the latest of which led to Ewen McKenzie, his predecessor, resigning a fortnight before the tour.

While Lancaster rebuilt the England team virtually from scratch, Cheika has neither the time nor the resources to take that route. His plan is to evolve Australia’s style of play and reconnect the Wallabies with their public through the power of their performances.

Cheika’s reign began on Saturday with an entertaining if not entirely convincing 40-36 victory over the Barbarians at Twickenham and he now has just seven full internationals before the World Cup in which to achieve it, starting on Saturday against Wales.

“The win helps but the issue is about the players and the team taking the initiative and getting them [the supporters] enjoying the game,” Cheika said. “Forget about all that other stuff, just start enjoying footie.

“Sometimes it will be great, sometimes it won’t be perfect, but it is about Tevita Kuridrani scores for Cheika’s side on Saturday

getting on the ride and being proud of the team. We can do that by showing our commitment to the game on the field the best we can.”

With Australia returning to Twickenham to face England on November 29 and again at next year’s World Cup, Cheika is acutely aware of the impact Lancaster has had.

“He has good respect from the rugby public as a guy who said he was going to do something and he has done it,” Cheika said.

“He has brought the team up to a level where the English people love watching the team play and they are playing quite good footie. They are definitely going to be a challenging team.”

Australia’s players have already credited Cheika with bringing the squad “on to the same page”, an implicit criticism of the culture that existed before. One player suggested that was why the Wallabies had lost their past three internationals at the death.

Nevertheless, they proved in McKenzie’s last game, a 29-28 defeat by New Zealand, that they too have the ability to be a challenging team. Cheika will base his selections for the Wales game on the team who pushed the All Blacks to the brink.

“I need to get to know the guys well so I can understand how to get the maximum out of them,” he said.

Nick Cummins, the Australia wing at present playing in Japan, scored for the Barbarians and then said that he is looking to “get creative” in his bid for a Super Rugby loan deal that would make him eligible for World Cup selection.

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FGM

Monday November 3 2014 | the times

Sport Motor racing

Mansell overtaken and Rosberg kept at bay in show of power Hamilton sweeps to record for most race wins by Briton Formula One

Kevin Eason Motor Racing Correspondent, Austin

Never mind the winner’s champagne that Lewis Hamilton sprayed into the applauding throng below him at the end of the United States Grand Prix, Bernie Ecclestone should have been distributing smelling salts to the huge crowd that encircled the Circuit of Americas. After three days of backbiting, bickering and shenanigans that had Formula One in the last chance saloon, a motor race broke out in Texas yesterday.

Everyone seemed to have forgotten

why F1 was here, such was the overwhelming cacophony of complaints that swamped every corner of this magnificent circuit in Austin. The good citizens of the capital of Texas could have been forgiven for thinking that F1 only turned up for a public scrap after Lotus, Force India and Sauber held a pistol to the head to Ecclestone, F1’s chief executive, to demand more money or they would refuse to race.

There was no sign of a peace pipe but Hamilton did enough to remind the American public that F1 remains the pinnacle of motor racing and he is the man most likely to be crowned its champion. The Americans love a win-

Results 56 laps: 1, L Hamilton (GB, Mercedes) 1hr 40min 4.785sec; 2, N Rosberg (Ger, Mercedes) at 4.314sec behind; 3, D Ricciardo (Aus, Red Bull) 25.560; 4, F Massa (Br, Williams) 26.924; 5, V Bottas (Fin, Williams) 30.992; 6, F Alonso (Sp, Ferrari) 1min 35.231sec; 7, S Vettel (Ger, Red Bull) 1:35.734; 8, K Magnussen (Den, McLaren) 1:40.682; 9, J-E Vergne (Fr, Toro Rosso) 1:43.863; 10, P Maldonado (Ven, Lotus) 1:47.870; 11, R Grosjean (Fr, Lotus) at 1 lap; 12, J Button (GB, McLaren) 1 lap; 13, K Raikkonen (Fin, Ferrari) 1 lap; 14, E Gutiérrez (Mex, Sauber) 1 lap; 15, D Kvyat (Russ, Toro Rosso) 1 lap.

Not classified: 16, N Hülkenberg (Ger, Force India) 16 laps completed; 17, S Pérez (Mex Force India) 1 laps; 18, A Sutil (Ger, Ferrari) no lap.

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1min 41.379sec (lap 50).

Qualifying positions 1, Rosberg 1min 36.067sec; 2, Hamilton 1:36.443; 3, Bottas 1:36.906; 4, Massa 1:37.205; 5, Ricciardo 1:37.244; 6, Alonso 1:37.610; 7, Magnussen 1:37.706; 8, Raikkonen 1:37.804; 9, Sutil 1:38.810; 10, Maldonado 1:38.467; 11, Pérez 1:38.554; 12, *Button 1:37.655; 13, Hülkenberg 1:38.598; 14, Vergne 1:39.250; 15, Gutiérrez 1:39.555; 16, Grosjean 1:39.679; 17, @Kvyat 1:38.699; 18, ‡Vettel 1:39.621. * five-place penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change @ ten-place penalty for using seventh engine of the season ‡ to start in pit lane because of complete power unit change

Championship positions

Drivers 1, Hamilton 316pts 2, Rosberg 292 3, Ricciardo 214 4, Bottas 155 5, Vettel 149 6, Alonso 149 7, Button 94 8, Massa 83 9, Hülkenberg 76 10, Magnussen 53 11, Pérez 47 12, Raikkonen 47 13, Vergne 23 14, Grosjean 8 15, Kvyat 8 16, J Bianchi (Fr, Marussia) 2 17, Maldonado 1 Constructors 1, Mercedes 608 2, Red Bull Racing 363 3, Williams 238 4, Ferrari 196 5, McLaren 147 6, Force India 123 7, Toro Rosso 31 8, Lotus 9 9, Marussia 2

Remaining Grands Prix Nov 9: Brazilian (São Paulo).

Nov 23: Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina).

ner and Hamilton, and here they would call the lad from Stevenage “Britain’s most winningest driver” as he notched up victory No 32 and passed Nigel Mansell for the record.

They also love a fighter and this grand prix was about the will to win.

Nico Rosberg, his team-mate, had put the brakes on the Hamilton bandwagon of four victories in a row with a quite sensational pole position in qualifying.

It seemed the pendulum might swing back towards the German again as he blasted off into the lead with Hamilton on his tail.

For 23 laps, Hamilton watched and waited, carefully lining up his teammate in his gunsights until they hit the long, 195mph back straight. Hamilton opened up his DRS overtaking wing and steered inside the twin silver Mercedes as they entered the tight, 90degree left-hander. It was a squeeze . . . my goodness, it was a squeeze as the pair teetered around the corner desperately trying to avoid contact.

They made it safely but Rosberg lost this duel. He may now have lost this championship after 17 epic races fought over nine gruelling months around the world. There is still much to play for with two grands prix remaining and 75 points still on offer but Hamilton now has the whip hand over his valiant team-mate. The title is his to lose as he takes a 24-point lead over Rosberg to Brazil next weekend.

Perhaps there was an omen in the date: it was this day — November 2 — in 2008 that Hamilton clinched his maiden world championship. Perhaps the United States, a country he loves so much, has set him on his way.

There is no one but Rosberg to stop Hamilton, particularly since the challenge of Daniel Ricciardo faded. The Australian with the big smile has been having a ball here in Texas, even growing some Western whiskers to add to the merriment of the occasion. When it comes to it, though, Ricciardo gets his head down for the hard yards and third place was just reward for the Red Bull driver.

Other than that, this was a fairly uneventful US Grand Prix. There were a few decent midfield scraps and determined performances, not least from Sebastian Vettel. The last time the United States saw Vettel in action, he was a triple world champion and dominated this grand prix from pole.

Things were somewhat different yesterday as he started from the pitlane because of a penalty forced when he had to change all of the components in his complex hybrid engine. This has been a nightmare of a year for the champion as he has watched Ricciardo soar while he has struggled. Vettel will be at Ferrari next year and hoping a fresh start will yield better than a hardwon seventh place here.

He was a highlight but it seemed a pity that a season that has yielded so much entertainment and drama should lead to such a placid race in a nation that craves excitement. A boycott would have added spice to the show but that was ruled out 90 minutes before the start and would have been tantamount to taunting the poor Americans.

Remember 2005 and that infamous US Grand Prix at Indianapolis when seven teams peeled into the pitlane in a protest over tyre safety? No matter how grievous the financial pain inflicted on the rebel trio, F1 would have been flirting with disaster in this country had protest been put before the interests of the sport.

As Hollywood’s Keanu Reeves and Pamela Anderson mingled on the grid with Ecclestone, there was a full complement of cars. Well, as full as the grid could be with only 18 cars here thanks to the absence of the financially stricken Marussia and Caterham.

Losing another six to a rebellion would have made the grid look like a halfempty car park.

As it was, the mutineers did not need a boycott as they sabotaged themselves.

Sergio Perez started it when he blundered into the rear of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari on the first lap and then careered into the Sauber of Adrian Sutil.

That was one Force India and one Sauber off the roster before the first lap was out.

Then Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India expired after just 18 laps. So, the chief conspirators were packing up early anyway.

Esteban Gutiérrez took a five-second penalty for speeding behind the safety car, relegating his Sauber to 14th and second to last, so no joy there either. Lotus fared better with Pastor Maldonado finished tenth for his first point of the year.

It comes to something when a single point is cause for celebration, though.

No wonder the rebels are up for a scrap.

the times | Monday November 3 2014

63

FGM

Motor racing Sport

DARRON CUMMINGS / AP

Shackled Ecclestone has lost control of monster he created Formula One needs to have dealmaker back in the driving seat, and soon, writes Kevin Eason

B

Chequered career: Hamilton crosses the finish line at the Circuit of the Americas to become the most successful Briton in terms of races won in F1 history. Along the way he had the pleasure of overtaking Rosberg, his team-mate, right

JIM WATSON / GETTY IMAGES

ernie Ecclestone walked slowly into the spartan white room. A wide picture window looked out on to the paddock where fans were star-spotting and mechanics scurried backwards and forwards preparing Formula One for the show.

Ecclestone was 84 last week; he looked every day of it in Austin as his world unravelled into a bickering, angry shambles. The ringmaster was pale and jaded, the whip had lost that threatening snap that used to bring errant performers to heel to keep the circus on the road, gathering lucrative dollars as it went.

There was a queue waiting for an audience yesterday morning — an anxious promoter worried that he won’t be able to sell tickets for a sport so publicly imploding, one of his trusted acolytes checking details for the race and Fabiana, his Brazilian wife, ensuring her husband was not overdoing it.

“I am running out of patience,” he told me, a rare admission from a man whose trademark has been his almost supernatural energy and attention to detail. He has been through the wringer plenty of times before, not least this year when he spent £60 million buying himself out of a criminal court in Germany.

This is different, though. The stakes are higher for F1 and even he acknowledges that the sport is driving at high speed towards the precipice. Two teams — Marussia and Caterham — were missing from the Circuit of the Americas and who knows how many more will have gone by this time next year.

Lotus, Sauber and Force India fear it will be them, which is why they plunged F1 into chaos with their threat to boycott the United States Grand Prix.

No wonder Ecclestone was weary.

Years ago, he said, teams would get into financial trouble and knock on his door asking for help. Before Frank Williams became Sir Frank after winning a basketful of world championships with British drivers such as Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill, he was a struggling team owner, using telephone boxes to make business calls and begging and borrowing around the paddock.

“Frank would come and see me and ask if he could borrow £5 million. He told me he would pay me back in a week — and he did. Of course, he then asked for me to lend him £10 million,” Ecclestone said with a chuckle.

It was so simple then when Ecclestone ran everything, from the handouts to the teams to where the sponsor signs would be placed. This is the man who created F1 as we see it today: the glitz, ars the 200mph cars, the stars and politicians on the grid, the vast circuits around the world.

Like Dr Frankenstein, Ecclestone has created a monster beyond his control. He candidly admitted that so much of the chaos that disrupted the Circuit of the

Americas paddock was his doing. “The problem is there is too much money probably being distributed badly; probably my fault,” he said. “Like lots of agreements people make, they seemed a good idea at the time.”

Ecclestone created a two-tier F1, with the top tier inhabited by leading corporations already rolling in extravagant handouts. The big four teams — Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren — take home the most money, as much as £100 million a year, even though they are linked to huge corporations pouring money into what they call their “branding exercise”.

If you are Marussia, the world is very different. They were paid £7.5 million last year just as F1 introduced new hybrid engines, the most expensive power packs ever made for F1. Their engine bill jumped from £3 million for a season to nearer £18 million; it simply bust their budget.

Force India, Sauber and Lotus face the same dilemma of spiralling costs and limited income because the Big Four get 60 per cent of the team reve-

How The Times has led the way in reporting the F1 cash crisis, with Kevin Eason revealing the threat of a walkout and Ecclestone’s response

nues. It is hopelessly inequitable — and Ecclestone acknowledges that.

“I would tear all the contracts up.

Take all the money, pay all the teams’ debts so people haven’t suffered because of Formula One,” he said. “We can’t all sit back nicely, relaxed and think the problem will go away.”

The FIA, the governing body, is effectively neutered with control held by the “Big Four”, plus Williams, on something called the Strategy Group. They call the shots for all the teams and that means they make the rules they like.

Ecclestone is no longer the ringmaster; he is chief executive of the F1 business controlled by CVC Capital Partners, a private equity group that has notoriously fleeced F1 for billions while taking almost no interest in the sport, save for enjoying the parties in Monaco.

The big teams, like greedy mercenaries, will not give up their cash for the good of the sport, while CVC is uninterested, leaving Ecclestone handcuffed and powerless.

The dealmaker, arguably one of the greatest Britain has ever seen, is, for the first time in his working life, at a loss. If ever F1 needed Ecclestone back at his imaginative best, it is now . . . before it is too late for the sport he created.

Ecclestone has been left weary by events

Sport

Monday November 3 2014 | the times

10 pages of pure football Blue rules in Manchester derby, but Benteke sees red as Villa lose Turn to pages 46-55

thetimes.co.uk/sport

british press awards — sports team of the year

Hamilton charges towards title MIKE STONE / REUTERS

Kevin Eason Motor Racing Correspondent, Austin

Lewis Hamilton cut through the atmosphere of anger and political skulduggery overshadowing Formula One to win the United States Grand Prix yesterday and underline his claim to the world championship.

His tenth win of the season means he is now 24 points clear of Nico Rosberg, his Mercedes team-mate, in the race for the title. Rosberg had started from pole position but had to settle for second place after the Englishman swept past him after 24 laps of the race and went on to victory.

With 32 career victories, Hamilton now holds the record for the most wins by a British F1 driver, overtaking Nigel Mansell.

Although the grand prix in the Texas capital of Austin failed to set pulses racing, it came as a relief after three days of political infighting among the teams that almost led to a boycott by Force India, Lotus and Sauber.

They called off their threat to pull out of the race just 90 minutes before the start, after Bernie Ecclestone, F1’s chief executive intervened.

The rebels are complaining bitterly about the financial inequality in the sport after Marussia and Caterham, the sport’s two smallest teams, were forced to abandon the US Grand Prix and stay at home. They are now in the hands of financial administrators.

Hopes are high that a new financial deal can be done in the few days before the next race, in Brazil next weekend.

“It has been acknowledged that there is an issue,” Bob Fernley, Force India’s deputy team principal, said. “The question is whether that issue can be resolved. The fact that our issues have been acknowledged is progress.”

Texas hold ’em: Hamilton keeps Rosberg at arm’s length during the US Grand Prix in Austin to take another step towards his second world title. Report, pages 62-63

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1 Place for the suits, despicable bank behind it (6,3) 6 Bum heading for detention, locked up? (5) 9 Charlie’s Manhattan Tavern? (5) 10 Lacking strong grip, perhaps, keeping nothing quiet? (9) 11 A couple of matching shiners?

(6,3,6) 13 Drink uniting two areas in golf, one said? (5,3) 14 Artist’s nebulous clouds (6) 16 Hillbilly getting through to simpleton (6) 18 Provide staff to train monkey (8) 21 Locos racing off around rail system the wrong way, not entirely successful! (5,3,2,5) 23 Lancaster flying past? (9) 25 Spitting feathers, buccaneer wipes mouth (5) 26 Become more exciting as the sun is in the sky (3,2) 27 Extra weight in the boot? (5,4)

1 Some cappuccino served up extra quick (5) 2 A disarmingly beautiful work?

(5,2,4) 3 Set out what ducks both do and have? (3,4) 4 Exposed flesh seen in grass (8) 5 Love tied up, one bound to be a creep (6) 6 Base seen underneath red smoke (7) 7 One spotted rolling over — to do this? (3) 8 Stereotypical female planting kiss on soldier: strangely, lesser hugging (5,4) 12 Field dismal without boy, top player (7,4) 13 Barge in deep cut loaded with damaged crate (9) 15 Getting up, I stretched in the morning, a pale colour (8) 17 Anarchist claims to understand uprising in party (5-2) 19 Christmas trade in recession (7) 20 Focus on danger ignoring conclusion — that’s overconfidence (6) 22 Thread on subject of first female (5) 24 Percentage dropped (3)

Prize solution 25,927 A C C U R A T E

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R E T H A N E U A C R S K N A V E S E D B E N T EMU L H M S L I E S I N C E T B R A S S I E L K T E K E E P E R A E A RMA N D E R Y X A C H E A L T H

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