http://www.guardian.co.uk Latest news and features from guardian.co.uk, the world's leading liberal voice en-gb &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:01:11 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds 15 http://image.guardian.co.uk/sitecrumbs/Guardian.gif http://www.guardian.co.uk http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/06/phone-hacking-home-office-police/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/2848?ns=guardian&pageName=Phone-hacking+inquiry+was+abandoned+to+avoid+upsetting+police%3AArticle%3A1448266&ch=Media&c3=Guardian&c4=News+of+the+World+phone-hacking+scandal%2CPress+and+publishing%2CNewspapers%2CNews+of+the+World%2CNational+newspapers+UK+%28media%29%2CMedia%2CPolitics%2CUK+news%2CPolice+and+policing%2CJohn+Yates%2CBob+Quick%2CAndy+Coulson+%28Media%29%2CTheresa+May&c5=Press+Media%2CSociety+Weekly%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CMedia+Weekly&c6=Nick+Davies%2CNicholas+Watt%2CVikram+Dodd&c7=10-Sep-06&c8=1448266&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Media&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FMedia%2FNews+of+the+World+phone-hacking+scandal" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">• Leaked memo warned Met police would 'deeply resent' probe<br />• Ex-officer Bob Quick says new claims must be investigated<br />• Senior Tories start to voice doubts over Andy Coulson's future</p><p>The Home Office abandoned plans to establish an independent inquiry into the News of the World phone-hacking scandal last year after a senior official warned that the Metropolitan police would "deeply resent" any interference in their investigation, according to a leaked government document.</p><p>As Alan Johnson came close today to accusing Scotland Yard of having misled him over the scandal, a leaked Home Office memo shows that the last government decided against calling in Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary after intense internal lobbying.</p><p>Stephen Rimmer, the Home Office director general for crime and policing, warned that Scotland Yard would "deeply resent" a review of its investigation by the inspectorate and that it would send a message that "we do not have full confidence" in the Met.</p><p>The leaked document emerged on one of the most dramatic days of the phone-hacking scandal which saw pressure mount on Andy Coulson, David Cameron's director of communications and former editor of the News of the World, and on Scotland Yard.</p><p>As the government was forced to answer questions about the scandal in the Commons, there were further developments:</p><p>• John Yates, the senior Met officer in charge of investigating the scandal, said he was prepared to interview Sean Hoare, a former News of the World journalist who told the New York Times that Coulson knew about the hacking. Coulson, who denies the allegation, said he would be happy to talk to the police.</p><p>• Alan Johnson questioned the conduct of Scotland Yard after senior officers told him last year that every individual whose phone may have been hacked into would be informed. The former home secretary spoke out after his former government colleague, Chris Bryant, said that police took no action when it became apparent his phone might have been targeted.</p><p>• Bob Quick, a former head of specialist operations, expressed concerns about allegations in the New York Times that the Met might have been reluctant to investigate the claims because of its close relationship with News International. "If officers felt the investigation was being inhibited or suppressed, that must be a source of concern," Quick said.</p><p>• Senior Tories started to voice doubts about whether Coulson will be able to withstand intense media pressure. "This is like a long gunpowder fuse," one said.</p><p>Scotland Yard is facing renewed pressure after the leaking of a Home Office document which suggested that the Met was highly sensitive about any outside interference in its investigation. Officials raised objections when Johnson asked last year whether the inspectorate of constabulary should be asked to examine Scotland Yard's handling of the case, after the Guardian published fresh evidence.</p><p>This challenged News International's central defence: that just one rogue reporter was involved in phone hacking.</p><p>In an email on 13 July 2009 to Richard Westlake, Johnson's private secretary, Rimmer wrote: "My own advice on this remains that there are insufficient grounds to do so … and that the Met would deeply resent what they would see as 'interference' in an operational investigation which could, of course, be revived at any given time."</p><p>Rimmer also showed there was acute sensitivity about Yates, who was responsible for the police investigation into whether Labour had traded peerages for donations to the party. In formal written advice to Johnson on 14 July 2009, he said that calling in the inspectorate "could lead to accusations that … following recent exchanges with John Yates, we do not have full confidence in the MPS". A spokesman for Johnson said he would not comment on a leaked document.</p><p>The leaked memo appeared as Johnson stepped up the pressure on the Met. He told MPs: "Last year I was assured that the Metropolitan police service had not received any allegations in respect of other News of the World journalists. I was also told that the Metropolitan police had taken all proper steps to ensure that where there was evidence of phone tapping or suspicion of phone tapping the individuals concerned would be informed."</p><p>Chris Bryant, the former Europe minister, claimed police did not keep him properly informed after it became clear that he may have been targeted. Bryant told MPs his phone company said his phone had been hacked into.</p><p>"I told the police about this months ago and they have done absolutely nothing about it," he said.</p><p>Theresa May, the home secretary, dismissed calls for a judicial inquiry, though she voiced support for the Met.</p><p>"Any police investigation is an operational matter in which ministers have no role. The Metropolitan police have indicated that if there is further evidence, they will look at it. That is the right course of action and it is right for the government to await the outcome."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/news-of-the-world-phone-hacking">News of the World phone-hacking scandal</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pressandpublishing">Newspapers & magazines</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/newspapers">Newspapers</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/newsoftheworld">News of the World</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/national-newspapers">National newspapers</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/police">Police</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/john-yates">John Yates</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/bob-quick">Bob Quick</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/andy-coulson">Andy Coulson</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/theresamay">Theresa May</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/nickdavies">Nick Davies</a></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/nicholaswatt">Nicholas Watt</a></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/vikramdodd">Vikram Dodd</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/F-0nSYHUc-K3VIwsjcw0cGfIyQk/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/F-0nSYHUc-K3VIwsjcw0cGfIyQk/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/F-0nSYHUc-K3VIwsjcw0cGfIyQk/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/F-0nSYHUc-K3VIwsjcw0cGfIyQk/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> News of the World phone-hacking scandal Newspapers & magazines Newspapers News of the World National newspapers Media Politics UK news Police John Yates Bob Quick Andy Coulson Theresa May The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/06/phone-hacking-home-office-police Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:18:23 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/06/new-free-schools-next-year/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/34080?ns=guardian&pageName=New+wave+of+free+schools+set+to+open+next+September%3AArticle%3A1448270&ch=Education&c3=Guardian&c4=Free+schools%2CEducation%2CSchools%2CMichael+Gove%2CPolitics%2CEducation+policy%2CUK+news&c5=Policy+Society%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CSchools+Education&c6=Jeevan+Vasagar%2CJessica+Shepherd&c7=10-Sep-06&c8=1448270&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Education&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEducation%2FFree+schools" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Just 16 schools have won approval from the education secretary as part of a radical experiment in English education</p><p>Schools offering training in etiquette and fine dining in Bradford, compulsory Latin in London, and lessons for all children in a musical instrument in Bedford were approved today by the government as part of a radical experiment in English education.</p><p>A new wave of free schools founded by parents, teachers or private firms will open in England next September, under plans announced by the education secretary, Michael Gove.</p><p>While the number who won initial approval today was small – just 16 – Gove welcomed them and said they were all a response to local demand.</p><p>The government backed plans for the West London Free School, which includes the journalist and author Toby Young on the steering committee. The school will have compulsory Latin for pupils aged 11 to 14, and a choice of either Latin or classical civilisation at GCSE.</p><p>The group behind the King's Science Academy, a free school due to open in Bradford, is driven by a vision of liberating inner city children from "ghettoisation". Sajid Hussain, a science teacher and assistant head who hopes to lead the new secondary school, said: "We hope to teach good manners. We're looking at a sense of responsibility, social conduct, sitting down and dining. Independent schools are quite good at this kind of stuff."</p><p>Hussain said: "I come from a working class background, my father was a bus driver and we really struggled in getting a good education. I've been working in inner city schools for the last 13-14 years, and children are still facing very similar challenges. Parents are looking for a particular dimension in schooling for their children, to ensure their children are safe from social vices. At the same time they want excellent results.</p><p>"Both of these areas are not being fulfilled by education in Bradford at the moment."</p><p>The new school will raise literacy standards by "collapsing the humanities subjects into English", Hussain said. "Instead of having three to four hours of English we will have eight to 10 hours. All subjects such as RE or history will have a literacy focus."</p><p>Mark Lehain, an assistant head and maths teacher who is a spokesman for Bedford and Kempston free school, said one aim was to create an intimate atmosphere in which teachers dealt with small, familiar groups of children across a range of subjects. "We want to be flexible in how we employ our staff, we're looking at a longer school day … a small team of teachers for each [age group]. We've got to completely rethink how a teacher is. If you go to most countries, teachers teach two or three main subjects."</p><p>It is also the aim for every child at the Bedford school to play an instrument, an idea drawn from Venezuela's <em>El Sistema</em> under which many poor children have been taught music.</p><p>There is a distinctly religious strand to the first wave, with seven of the 16 having faith affiliations. Among those expected to open next September will be two Jewish schools in London, a Hindu school in Leicester, a Sikh school in Birmingham and three with a Christian ethos.</p><p>Andrew Copson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association, said he was concerned this would lead to wider social divides.</p><p>"Since the government has made only token gestures to limit religious discrimination in the admissions criteria of free schools, we will see greater segregation and deeper divisions within communities."</p><p>The new schools, many more of which are expected to be approved in coming years, could also pose a challenge to the teaching unions because they emphasise raising standards through longer hours and more flexible teaching. Both methods could prove contentious.</p><p>Uniting the schools is an emphasis on improving academic results through longer hours, mandatory homework clubs, and stripping down subjects such as history if it is needed to focus on literacy.</p><p>Many of the groups want to focus pupils' minds on how their schoolwork translates into getting into the best universities and getting good jobs.</p><p>Two schools in London will be run in partnership with Ark, an academy sponsor backed by hedge fund money – and at least one of these will also be backed by the Sutton Trust, set up by the millionaire philanthropist Sir Peter Lampl.</p><p>James Turner, projects and policy director of the trust, said the group was aiming for a school which is "very academically focused" and encouraged pupils to apply for elite universities.</p><p>"We want to be clear that coming from a poor background does not preclude success – students from these areas can get good qualifications in valued subjects and gain access to top universities. We're addressing the inverse snobbery which says that 'people like you' don't go to certain universities or follow certain career paths or achieve at the highest levels."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/free-schools">Free schools</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools">Schools</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/michaelgove">Michael Gove</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/education">Education policy</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jeevanvasagar">Jeevan Vasagar</a></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jessicashepherd">Jessica Shepherd</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/L_aLnnPcbvdcmdSykvKBavkapuY/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/L_aLnnPcbvdcmdSykvKBavkapuY/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/L_aLnnPcbvdcmdSykvKBavkapuY/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/L_aLnnPcbvdcmdSykvKBavkapuY/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Free schools Education Schools Michael Gove Politics Education policy UK news The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/06/new-free-schools-next-year Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:37:06 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/06/obama-mid-terms-campaign-economy/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/96662?ns=guardian&pageName=Obama+enters+mid-terms+campaign+with+%2450bn+infrastructure+plan%3AArticle%3A1448189&ch=World+news&c3=Guardian&c4=Obama+administration%2CBarack+Obama+%28News%29%2CWorld+news%2CUS+politics%2CUS+news%2CDemocrats%2CRepublicans+%28US%29%2CUS+economy+%28Business%29%2CEconomics+%28Business%29%2CBusiness&c5=Credit+Crunch%2CBusiness+Markets%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CUS+Elections%2CUS+Economy&c6=Ed+Pilkington&c7=10-Sep-07&c8=1448189&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=World+news&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FObama+administration" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">President on the road to persuade voters economy is safe in his hands, ahead of elections expected to be tough on Democrats</p><p>Barack Obama is launching a campaign to persuade American voters that the ailing US economy is safe in his hands. He unveiled a $50bn (£32bn) infrastructure package last night as the countdown began to the mid-term elections in November, in which the Democrats are expected to receive a drubbing.</p><p>The president chose the manufacturing town of Milwaukee, home of Harley-Davidson, to announce the scheme which is designed to boost jobs by investing in roads, railways and airport runways. White House officials said the package would run over six years but would be "front-loaded" so that it would jump-start the economy by putting building workers and other manual labourers back to work.</p><p>"We're going to rebuild 150,000 miles of our roads – enough to circle the world six times. We're going to lay and maintain 4,000 miles of our railways – enough to stretch coast to coast," Obama said.</p><p>The speech, made on the Labor Day holiday that honours American workers, is an indication that Obama intends to focus his efforts almost exclusively on the economy over the eight weeks that remain until the 2 November elections.</p><p>His critics – including several representatives of his own Democratic party struggling to hang on to their seats – say this is not before time, accusing the president of having dispersed his energies too widely on healthcare and foreign policy rather than concentrating on voters' fears about their livelihoods.</p><p>Obama said that Republicans were hoping Americans would forget the economic policies they put in place that led to the recession and that they had opposed nearly everything he has done to help the economy, and had proposed solutions that had only made the problem worse.</p><p>"That philosophy didn't work out so well for middle-class families all across America," Obama told a cheering crowd. "It didn't work out so well for our country. All it did was rack up record deficits and result in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression."</p><p>He said Republicans had consistently opposed his economic proposals and seemed to be running on a slogan of "No, we can't," playing off his 2008 presidential campaign mantra of "Yes we can."</p><p>"If I said fish live in the sea, they'd say no," Obama said.</p><p>Today marks the unofficial start of the campaign season, and there are signs of growing urgency, if not panic, in Democratic ranks. The <a href="http://cookpolitical.com/" title="Cook Political Report">Cook Political Report</a>, which monitors congressional races, predicts the Republicans stand to gain at least 35 seats in the House of Representatives – within spitting distance of the 39 needed to regain control – and they are also threatening to recapture the Senate.</p><p>A recent Gallup poll gave Republicans a 10-point lead, the largest for the party ahead of the midterms since 1942 and double the advantage it held at the same time in 1994, when it snatched back Congress from Bill Clinton's Democrats.</p><p>The infrastructure plan promises to rebuild 150,000 miles of roads, restore 4,000 miles of railway and improve 150 miles of airport runway. It would also pay for the installation of a new air traffic control system and set up a permanent infrastructure bank to channel private and public money into projects.</p><p>Obama will announce further job-creating schemes tomorrow in Cleveland, Ohio, including a plan to extend tax incentives for research.</p><p>In his weekly speech at the weekend, Obama said that "to heal our economy, we need more than a healthy stock market; we need bustling main streets and a growing, thriving middle class. That's why I will keep working day by day to restore opportunity, economic security and that basic American dream for our families and future generations".</p><p>Hilda Solis, the labour secretary, told CBS yesterday that the infrastructure plans would "put construction workers, welders, electricians, back to work – folks who have been unemployed for a long time".</p><p>The problem for the Democrats is that none of these initiatives is likely to make a discernible difference before 2 November to the current unemployment rate, which last month crept up to 9.6%.</p><p>The White House may even find it impossible to get the new infrastructure scheme passed through Congress before members head back to their constituencies for the vote. Officials admitted yesterday that the first jobs that would be created under the package would not be seen until next year at the earliest.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Obama administration's $862bn stimulus package, introduced in the wake of the global economic meltdown, has largely worked its way through the system.</p><p>There is also an element of damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. While Democratic candidates complain that Obama has not focused enough on the economy, Republicans suggest he has done too much, portraying him as an insatiable spender of public money.</p><p>As an indication of the likely campaign ahead, the <a href="http://drudgereport.com/" title="Drudge Report">Drudge Report</a>, the influential conservative website, led on Monday with the infrastructure package under a picture of Obama and the headline: "Addicted to stimulus – $50,000,000,000 more".</p><p>With Obama's presidential approval rating languishing at minus 23%, according to <a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration /daily_presidential_tracking_poll" title="Rasmussen">the Rasmussen reports</a>, many Democratic incumbents are openly avoiding any link with him. Some are barely mentioning their Democratic credentials on campaign literature.</p><p>The Obama administration says it will avoid piling any further burden on to the national debt as a result of its new economic measures, by balancing the costs with increased tax revenue to be achieved by closing tax loopholes for oil and gas companies and multinationals.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/obama-administration">Obama administration</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/barack-obama">Barack Obama</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-politics">US politics</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa">United States</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/democrats">Democrats</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/republicans">Republicans</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/useconomy">US economy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics">Economics</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/edpilkington">Ed Pilkington</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/m3H4QmcCxWVAR7V1Nyf968nc85E/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/m3H4QmcCxWVAR7V1Nyf968nc85E/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/m3H4QmcCxWVAR7V1Nyf968nc85E/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/m3H4QmcCxWVAR7V1Nyf968nc85E/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Obama administration Barack Obama World news US politics United States Democrats Republicans US economy Economics Business The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/06/obama-mid-terms-campaign-economy Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:15:00 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/06/sinn-fein-eta-ceasefire-gerry-adams/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/49095?ns=guardian&pageName=Sinn+Fein+%27heavily+involved%27+in+push+for+Eta+ceasefire%2C+says+Gerry+Adams%3AArticle%3A1448250&ch=World+news&c3=Guardian&c4=ETA+%28Euskadi+Ta+Askatasuna%29%2CSpain+%28News%29%2CGerry+Adams%2CSinn+Fein%2CTerrorism+-+international%2CWorld+news%2CPolitics%2CUK+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful&c6=Giles+Tremlett&c7=10-Sep-07&c8=1448250&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=World+news&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FEta" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Writing in the Guardian, Gerry Adams says his party held a series of meetings with Basque separatists</p><p>Sinn Féin's leader, Gerry Adams, said today his party had been heavily involved in pushing the Basque separatist group <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/06/eta-ceasefire-weak-attack-spain" title="Eta towards calling a ceasefire">Eta towards calling a ceasefire</a> at the weekend.</p><p>As the Spanish government ruled out negotiations and claimed Eta had announced the ceasefire because it was now too weak to carry out terrorist attacks, Adams, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/06/eta-ceasefire-basque-group-political-shift" title="writing in the Guardian">writing in the Guardian today</a>, said the move had been the result of months of talks among Basque separatists.</p><p>"This dialogue also involved senior Sinn Féin representatives, including myself," he said. "Sometimes the discussions were held in the Basque country, sometimes in Belfast and on a number of occasions in recent years Sinn Féin representatives travelled to Geneva for meetings with Basque representatives." It was not clear whether the meetings were with members of Eta, or only with other radical separatist groups from the Basque country.</p><p>Eta had responded by calling a ceasefire that, Adams hoped, would be grasped by the Spanish government as an opportunity to start a peace process that might follow some of the principles used in Ulster.</p><p>The Sinn Féin leader's words contrasted, however, with the reaction of prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's government in Madrid, which said it would not talk to Eta.</p><p></p><p>"Eta kills in order to impose itself, that means one cannot [have] dialogue," said the interior minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba. "The word truce, as the idea of a limited peace to open a process of dialogue, is dead."</p><p>Zapatero's government last tried negotiating with Eta when it called a ceasefire four years ago. That truce ended nine months later when a bomb at Madrid's Barajas airport killed two people. Rubalcaba agreed that Eta had effectively been observing a ceasefire for months, but said this was because it wanted to reorganise and escape intense police pressure in Spain and parts of Europe.</p><p>"What they do not say is that they decided to stop months ago because they were so weak," he said. "Eta has stopped because it cannot do anything, and also in order to rebuild itself."</p><p>He claimed the ceasefire announcement was also an attempt by Eta to keep control over the increasingly tired and fractious radical Basque separatist groups that have traditionally backed a terrorism campaign that has claimed more than 800 lives over four decades.</p><p></p><p>These are the same groups, headed by former leaders of the banned Batasuna separatist party, that Sinn Féin has been helping.</p><p>"The aim is to try to cover up their weakness," said Rubalcaba. "Because if Eta is weak those groups in the separatist worldwho are rebellious against them grow in strength."</p><p>One of Eta's founders, Julen de Madariaga, said that the group's current weakness was more the result of a loss of support among ordinary Basques than due to police action.</p><p>"The main reason for Eta's weakness is that over the past 12 to 15 years the people who used to support it have abandoned it," Madariaga, who distanced himself from the group's tactics years ago, told the Guardian by telephone. He said the decision by leaders of the banned Batasuna party to stop bowing to Eta's line and to push for peace was more than overdue."It was time that Batasuna made things clear to Eta and took charge of itself," he said.</p><p>Analysts pointed to a double bind for Eta as it was squeezed by police on one side and by its own supporters on the other.</p><p>"The ceasefire statement aims to give political meaning to a strategic rest decreed by Eta's leaders six months ago in order to reorganise internally to cope with police pressure," wrote Florencio Dominguez, an Eta expert, in La Vanguardia newspaper.</p><p>Dominguez pointed to the arrest in February of Ibon Gojeaskoetxea, a senior Eta commander, as a key moment. That arrest was hailed as the fifth time in two years that police had detained the person directly in charge of Eta's handful of remaining armed units.</p><p>At the same time, police had prevented new units from being formed in several parts of Spain, and discovered Eta's latest bombmaking laboratory. It had also dismantled its new bases in Portugal, to where Eta had hoped to move its support infrastructure that historically had been based in France.</p><p>It was in February, too, that Batasuna leaders won the support of thousands of local activists for a proposal for a new process of talks over the future of the Basque country that would require Eta to give up violence.</p><p>"Sunday's statement did not come out of the blue," said Adams. "I believe it has the potential to bring about a permanent end to the conflict with the Spanish state."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/eta">Eta</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/spain">Spain</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/gerryadams">Gerry Adams</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/sinn-fein">Sinn Féin</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/terrorism">Global terrorism</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/gilestremlett">Giles Tremlett</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/L3jRrLH3az7yHV6mPiPnxHsjDLU/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/L3jRrLH3az7yHV6mPiPnxHsjDLU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/L3jRrLH3az7yHV6mPiPnxHsjDLU/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/L3jRrLH3az7yHV6mPiPnxHsjDLU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Eta Spain Gerry Adams Sinn Féin Global terrorism World news Politics UK news The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/06/sinn-fein-eta-ceasefire-gerry-adams Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:28:51 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/06/bp-oil-spill-fishing-fears/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/451?ns=guardian&pageName=BP+spill%3A+White+House+says+oil+has+gone%2C+but+Gulf%27s+fishermen+are+not+so%3AArticle%3A1448209&ch=Environment&c3=Guardian&c4=BP+oil+spill+Deepwater+Horizon%2COil+spills+%28Environment%29%2CPollution+%28Environment%29%2CFishing+%28Environment%29%2CMarine+life+%28environment%29%2COil+%28environment%29%2CEnvironment%2CLouisiana%2CUS+news%2CWorld+news%2CBusiness%2CBP+%28Business%29&c5=Environment+Conservation%2CBusiness+Markets%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CEnergy%2CEthical+Living&c6=Suzanne+Goldenberg&c7=10-Sep-06&c8=1448209&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Environment&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEnvironment%2FBP+oil+spill" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Counsellors and lawyers are busier than seafarers in Louisiana, as some experts warn that fishing industry will never recover<br /></p><p>High tide, and the remains of a late summer storm, and it is hard to tell on this strip of land between the Mississippi and the marsh where land ends and water begins. It was here – in the most southerly reaches of Louisiana on terrain that is slowly sliding into the sea – that <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/30/gulf-oil-spill-conservation" title="oil from BP's Macondo well first started coming ashore">oil from BP's Macondo well first started coming ashore</a>, about a week after the 20 April explosion on the Deepwater Horizon. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/21/deepwater-horizon-oil-rig-fire" title="Eleven men were killed">Eleven men were killed</a> when the drilling platform blew up.</p><p>And it is here where local people will take the most convincing that the worst of the oil spill is behind them and that recovery is under way.</p><p>Barack Obama's point man on the spill, the US Coast Guard's former commander, Thad Allen, said at the weekend that the well no longer posed any threat to the Gulf. Crews will begin the last few remaining operations needed to abandon the well this week.</p><p>People here live and die by the water. On a fine day the docks in Venice empty out, with seaworthy boats and able-bodied crew off to look for oil contamination, at sea and in the marsh grass.</p><p>No one, it seems, believes the assurances from the White House or government scientists that the oil is largely gone. And no one really believes BP when oil company executives say they will stay in Louisiana for the long haul.</p><p>They have seen one exodus already, just before <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jul/23/tropical-storm-bonnie-bp-well" title="Tropical Storm Bonnie blew through">Tropical Storm Bonnie blew through</a>, about a week after the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/16/bp-oil-spill-leak-stopped" title="well was capped in mid-July">well was capped in mid-July</a>. BP evacuated work crews and boats; many have not returned.</p><p>"Oh, the oil's out there," said a captain of one of the air boats chewing through the marsh. When the water is clear the oil pops out like a giant black teardrop. He said the air boats were carrying away up to 3,000 white plastic trash bags of oiled sand from a nearby section of marsh each day. "We'll be here for at least a year – if they still want us, that is."</p><p>The autumn shrimping season opened on schedule on 16 August and the authorities have steadily been opening up more of the Gulf for fishing. About 83% of US waters in the Gulf are now open for fishing. The first tests on shrimp, swordfish and tuna hauled out of the Gulf showed no traces of oil.</p><p>But Acy Cooper, who wears a shrimpers' white rubber boots even on days when he is not fishing, is possessed by a powerful sense of dread. How can we know for sure that the shrimp is safe from crude or its toxic components? He has seen oil in certain shrimping areas.</p><p>"We are only going to get one shot at this. If we don't do it right, we are going to be in big trouble if any tainted shrimp gets on the market," he said. "We don't want to get anything on the market that is going to kill us in the long run."</p><p>Not even the most stringent testing can ensure that fishermen stay out of oiled waters – not when some fishermen have been out of work since late April. "Some people are so hungry they are going to do what they can to survive," Cooper said.</p><p>Already the local economy is being transformed. On noticeboards, cards for mental health services and lawyers offering to sue BP are tacked on top of advertisements for fishing guides. It is getting harder to find a market for fish.</p><p>The other day George Barisich, the head of the United Commercial Fishermen's Alliance, had to drive all the way into Mississippi before he could find a processor who wanted his shrimp. He said he was reduced to selling for just $1.40 (90p) per pound.</p><p>Officials from the <a href="http://www.noaa.gov/" title="National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency</a> have been on local radio shows, such as Talk of the Bayou, trying to persuade fishermen like Cooper they have nothing to fear.</p><p>"So far we haven't seen a bit of evidence the oil is getting real deep in the marsh," said Jacqueline Michel, a NOAA biochemist.</p><p>Only 22 of the 2,000 water samples taken from the Gulf contained traces of oil, and none has permeated deep into the wetlands, which are breeding grounds for shrimp.</p><p>The callers were not buying it, and neither was Cooper. He worries that the last few months may have ruined the fisherman's life for some.</p><p>Although local people complain that BP gave too many jobs to outsiders rather than locals for cleanup work, some taken on have become used to earning good money – even when they were waiting around at the marina – on the oil company's "vessels of opportunity" programme for the cleanup.</p><p>Cooper is worried they may give up on shrimping, now that it's such an uncertain occupation.</p><p>"We are on the verge of losing this industry," he said. "The chain is broken with the vessels of opportunity."</p><p>For Al Sunseri that chain stretches back to 1876 when his family set up the P&J Oyster Company on the edges of New Orleans' French quarter.</p><p>He still turns up for work at 4.30am, but there are no workers shucking oysters on the loading dock. Eleven people have been let go.</p><p>Premium oysters are a vanishing commodity. Those oysters not killed by the oil were finished off by the Louisiana government's decision to flood the Gulf with fresh water to try to keep the oil offshore.</p><p>Sunseri now occupies his time taking orders on a clipboard, trying to mollify the desperate chefs who are his main customer base. He is running dangerously low on shucked oysters.</p><p>He asks callers if they could get by with a smaller order. "I am just going to have to tell people I don't have them and that is not something that I am used to doing," he said.</p><p>The shortage has pushed the price of oysters in the shell up 40% since the spill. That is too rich in the depths of a recession – even for a luxury product. Sunseri also worries that what oysters he can find are of variable quality.</p><p>"I know they say about 40% of the oyster growing area is open but as far as productive areas, it is maybe about 15%," he said. "We don't have babies, and we don't have the market-sized ones."</p><p>He moves over to a tabletop display of oyster shells. Those that are being harvested are about half normal size. "These would ordinarily not be harvested for another year," he said.</p><p>"They really should be in there developing. The few little oysters that I am selling right now are really inferior."</p><p>Even industry cheerleader Mike Voisin, who chairs the Louisiana Oyster Task Force, admits it will be three years before the oyster beds resettle. Until then, he says, the harvest will probably fall to half of the usual 113,000 tonne annual take.</p><p>The timespan is depressing for Sunseri. He said he is telling his children: "Your daddy does not care if this business fizzles away. Don't feel the burden of carrying this on."</p><p>For Ryan Lambert, who once counted himself the biggest fishing charter operator around Venice, such acceptance is unthinkable. He is much too angry to be resigned.</p><p>The spill left him with a calendar showing week after week of cancelled bookings, gutting a business that once brought in $1.3m a year.</p><p>By BP's reckoning though, his losses were just $66,000. Lambert is furious. He said he has paid his accountant hundreds of dollars to meet BP's demands for documentation. "I shouldn't have to fight for the money that is owed me," he said. "I am not the bad guy here. They are the ones who ruined it for me, not vice versa. For me to have to fight for them to pay me for what they did makes me sick."</p><p>He is also worried sick that the fish will start disappearing, as they did in the years after the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, and that his business will be dealt a slow, painful death.</p><p>He built his company from scratch, starting from his love of bass fishing; now his clients troop into his fishing lodge from all across the country. He rebuilt once before, after Hurricane Katrina. He is not sure he can do it again, or wait for the Gulf to make a full recovery.</p><p>"I am 52 years old. I can't wait 20 years for them to clean things up."</p><p>He feels certain BP will pull out much sooner. "The well will be stopped, and then they will hang around until the oil stops coming up on the beaches, and then they will be gone," he said.</p><p>"Anything they don't clean will be left to me and the microbes and Mother Nature until all of a sudden we won't be America's best fishery any more.</p><p>"This will be history some day, and I will still have that problem."</p><p></p><h2><strong>Voices on the ground</strong></h2><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>'On television they are saying all the time that there is no oil. What BP did is that they succeeded in buying off the White House and Congress and most of the senators, and now they are buying off the networks'</p><p><strong>Dean Blanchard, shrimp magnate</strong></p><p></p><p>'The oil is still very in the coastal areas, it's still coming up along the beaches, and it's in the bottom offshore as well as in the bays and estuaries. A lot needs to be addressed before BP says it has all been attended to'</p><p><strong>Wilma Subra, chemist</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>'The only silver lining that is going to come out of this is that the goverment and the country are going to understand the importance of the Gulf'</p><p><strong>George Barisich, president, United Commercial Fishermen's Association</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>'</strong>Ironically, this catastrophe may in the end run have more impact on oil leasing programmes than<strong> </strong>on the Gulf of Mexico ... We recognise now that we have something much more like a nuclear reactor on our hands than a wood-burning stove and that is an awreness that is new to the federal government, new ot the public, and new to Congress'<strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Oliver Houck, environmental law professor at Tulane University</strong></p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bp-oil-spill">BP oil spill</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/oil-spills">Oil spills</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/pollution">Pollution</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/fishing">Fishing</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/marine-life">Marine life</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/oil">Oil</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/louisiana">Louisiana</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa">United States</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/bp">BP</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/suzannegoldenberg">Suzanne Goldenberg</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/jhf-GQL64JI-s8DhP61cs_oJ6Z8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/jhf-GQL64JI-s8DhP61cs_oJ6Z8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/jhf-GQL64JI-s8DhP61cs_oJ6Z8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/jhf-GQL64JI-s8DhP61cs_oJ6Z8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> BP oil spill Oil spills Pollution Fishing Marine life Oil Environment Louisiana United States World news Business BP The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/06/bp-oil-spill-fishing-fears Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:33:37 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/06/iran-accused-un-hampering-nuclear-inspections/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/55347?ns=guardian&pageName=Iran+accused+by+UN+watchdog+of+hampering+nuclear+inspections%3AArticle%3A1448271&ch=World+news&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Iran+%28News%29%2CNuclear+weapons+%28News%29%2CMiddle+East+%28News%29%2CUnited+Nations+%28News%29%2CWorld+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CCharities&c6=Julian+Borger&c7=10-Sep-06&c8=1448271&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=World+news&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FIran" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">IAEA report repeatedly complains about failure of Iran to respond to inspectors' requests for information</p><p>The United Nations' nuclear watchdog today accused Iran of hampering inspections of the country's nuclear programme, banning some inspectors and breaking UN seals on its uranium stockpile.</p><p>In its quarterly report on Iran's programme, the International Atomic Energy Agency repeatedly complained of Iran's failure to respond to its inspectors' requests for information about its plans and activities. In particular, the report said that Tehran's repeated objections to the accreditation of UN inspectors "hampers the inspection process and detracts from the agency's ability" to monitor Iran's nuclear work, which is already the subject of several UN resolutions and international sanctions.</p><p>The IAEA noted that Iran had the right to block inspectors on some criteria – several countries vet inspectors on the basis of nationality for example – but objected strongly to an Iranian claim that two recently-blocked inspectors had made "false and wrong statements" in an earlier report. The report was about the removal of sensitive laboratory equipment under IAEA surveillance, which can be used for separating uranium or plutonium from spent nuclear fuel.</p><p>The IAEA said it had "full confidence in the professionalism and impartiality of the inspectors concerned, as it has in all of its inspectors".</p><p>The UN agency also pointed out that some of its seals on Iran's stockpile of low enriched uranium (LEU) had been broken. The seals are intended to ensure that Iran is not diverting LEU and secretly enriching it further to weapons-grade purity. Iran told the IAEA the seals had been broken accidently, but the agency said it would have to verify in a stocktaking exercise due next month whether any nuclear material had been diverted.</p><p>A source with knowledge of the agency's Iran file said: "Seals are there for containment. Once one seal is broken there is no containment."</p><p>A series of UN resolutions has demanded Iran cease the enrichment of uranium, on the grounds that it can be used in weapons as well as power plants. Iran insists that its programme is for entirely peaceful purposes, and claims it has a right to enrich its own uranium for that programme. Iran has now amassed 2.8 tonnes of LEU, although it does not appear to have increased the rate of enrichment. It is also continuing to build up a stockpile of uranium enriched to a higher level of purity, also in defiance of UN resolutions, which it says is required for a medical research reactor in Tehran.</p><p>David Albright, a former nuclear inspector, who is now head of the Institute for Science and International Security said: "We have to worry now whether the Iranians are weakening safeguards to the point that if they do 'break out' [try to build a bomb covertly], if won't be noticed for a longer period of time."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iran">Iran</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/nuclear-weapons">Nuclear weapons</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middleeast">Middle East</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/unitednations">United Nations</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/julianborger">Julian Borger</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8EtMlvyPBND3JLQy29rGpwCzYk8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8EtMlvyPBND3JLQy29rGpwCzYk8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8EtMlvyPBND3JLQy29rGpwCzYk8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8EtMlvyPBND3JLQy29rGpwCzYk8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Iran Nuclear weapons Middle East United Nations World news guardian.co.uk News http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/06/iran-accused-un-hampering-nuclear-inspections Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:41:02 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/sep/07/young-gay-men-hiv-epidemic/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/80423?ns=guardian&pageName=Young+gay+men+fuelling+HIV+epidemic%2C+study+warns%3AArticle%3A1448256&ch=Society&c3=Guardian&c4=HIV+infection+%28Society%29%2CSociety%2CSexual+health+%28Society%29%2CHealth+%28Society%29%2CUK+news&c5=Society+Weekly%2CUnclassified%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CHealth+Society&c6=Sarah+Boseley&c7=10-Sep-07&c8=1448256&c9=Article&c10=&c11=Society&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FSociety%2FHIV+infection" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Researchers say that rising rates of syphilis along HIV among young gay men suggests risky sexual behaviour was to blame</p><p>The HIV epidemic in Europe, including the UK, is being fuelled by the risky behaviour of young gay men, according to research published today.</p><p>Public messages and campaigns about the dangers of unsafe sex do not appear to be getting through to men who have sex with men, the researchers say – particularly the young ones.</p><p>By investigating the genetic profile of the virus in more than 500 newly screened patients over nine years, scientists in Belgium have identified clusters of people with type B virus – not the one that is most prevalent in Africa.</p><p>Those infected are almost all white, male, gay and young, they say. These men also tend to have other sexual diseases, such as syphillis, which suggests that they are involved in unsafe sexual behaviour and are not using condoms.</p><p>The research was carried out by scientists at Ghent University in Belgium, and there is every indication that their findings hold true for the UK. Nick Partridge, the chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust, said that gay men were the group most at risk of HIV infection in the UK.</p><p>The Health Protection Agency (HPA), which monitors HIV numbers in the UK, warns every year of the rising rate of infections among men who have sex with men (MSM). In its last full report, for 2009, it said that the rate of infection among gay men remained high, even though there had been a slight overall drop.</p><p>HIV infection can go unnoticed for years, but the HPA report said one in five of those diagnosed had become infected within the previous six months – suggesting recent risky behaviour was to blame.</p><p>A 2008 report specifically on HIV among men who have sex with men said there were around 32,000 living with HIV in the UK. Just under half of all new diagnoses were among men who had sex with men, and 82% of the infections were probably acquired within the UK.</p><p>The Belgian researchers, Kristen Chalmet and colleagues from the Aids Reference Laboratory at Ghent University, found one "striking and alarming" cluster of cases. Over the nine years of the study, 57 men acquired genetically very similar viruses, they say. Eight of them did so in the last year. "Members of this cluster are significantly younger than the rest of the population and have more chlamydia and syphilis infections," they write today, in the open access journal BioMed Central Infectious Diseases.</p><p>Even excluding that group from the study, there was still a relationship between HIV infection and contracting syphilis, which suggested risky sexual behaviour.</p><p>The study found two main types of HIV, but their analysis found that those infected with the two sub-types were "significantly different populations". The vast majority of cases of infection within Belgium were sub-type B cases, and those infected were most often men who have sex with men. The non-B cases were more likely to be in heterosexuals and to have been acquired abroad.</p><p>"We clearly demonstrate that, despite the existence of prevention programmes, easily available testing facilities and a supposedly broad public awareness of the infection and its possible routes of transmission, MSM still account for the majority of local onward transmissions," they write.</p><p>"Continuous efforts to sustain prevention programmes targeting MSM are definitely needed."</p><p>Nick Partridge echoed the call for targeted campaigns. "Gay men are still the most at risk of HIV infection in the UK. We also know that more than a quarter of people with HIV in the UK are currently undiagnosed, and they're far more likely to pass the virus on than those who know they have it." "Targeted HIV prevention programmes are key to reducing the numbers of new infections each year. But we'd also argue for innovative testing services to better diagnose men who've been at most risk."</p><p>Professor Pat Cane, head of the HPA's antiviral unit, said work done in the UK with the Medical Research Council, "has shown that there are two predominant sources of HIV circulating in the UK at the moment – one in men who have sex with men (HIV1, sub-type B) and the other associated with sub-Saharan Africa (non B, HIV1)."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/hiv-infection">HIV infection</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/sexual-health">Sexual health</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/health">Health</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/sarahboseley">Sarah Boseley</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/WrX894TSOefs6SmQd5UPCK0oEIM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/WrX894TSOefs6SmQd5UPCK0oEIM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/WrX894TSOefs6SmQd5UPCK0oEIM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/WrX894TSOefs6SmQd5UPCK0oEIM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> HIV infection Society Sexual health Health UK news The Guardian Editorial http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/sep/07/young-gay-men-hiv-epidemic Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:00:45 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/06/mi6-death-gareth-williams-cctv/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/35666?ns=guardian&pageName=Police+issue+CCTV+footage+of+dead+MI6+worker%3AArticle%3A1447976&ch=UK+news&c3=Guardian&c4=Crime+-+UK+%28News%29%2CLondon+%28News%29%2CMI6+%28News%29%2CUK+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful&c6=Caroline+Davies&c7=10-Sep-06&c8=1447976&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=UK+news&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FUK+news%2FCrime" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Gareth Williams is pictured at tube station nine days before body was found, as police seek man and woman seen at flats</p><p>The last known images of the MI6 code-breaker <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/25/british-spy-mi6-gareth-williams" title="Guardian: MI6 worker murdered">Gareth Williams</a>, found dead in a padlocked holdall in his bath, were released by detectives today, as they made a public appeal for information about his death.</p><p>CCTV pictures show the Cambridge-educated mathematician, seconded from the government communications headquarters (GCHQ) to MI6, shopping in central London, including at Harrods, shortly after returning from a holiday in America.</p><p>The images were released as police appealed for witnesses who may have seen Williams, 30, from Anglesey, before his body was discovered at the MI6-owned flat where he was living in Pimlico on 23 August.</p><p>They also wish to trace a mystery couple, said to have visited the Alderney Street premises where he had the top-floor flat, in the late evening on an undisclosed date in June or July. Said to be "of Mediterranean appearance" and in their 20s or 30s, the two were buzzed in through the communal door to the house.</p><p>Postmortem results have so far failed to establish a cause of death, other than to find that Williams does not appear to have been shot or stabbed. There are also no obvious signs of strangulation.</p><p>Scotland Yard revealed that he was unclothed when discovered inside a zipped and padlocked red holdall in the empty bath in his ensuite bathroom.</p><p>Toxicology test results show no traces of alcohol, or of routine or recreational drugs. A Metropolitan police spokesman said: "Testing for other substance continues."</p><p>There was no sign of forced entry to Williams's flat or of any disturbance inside. Nor did it appear that any property was missing. "There is no suggestion the items within the flat were specifically posed," said the spokesman.</p><p>The mystery surrounding the death, which the police so far have refused to classify as murder, has led to intense speculation ranging from theories relating to his work as a ciphers and code-breaking expert, to rumours about his private life.</p><p>Described as 5ft&nbsp;7in tall with short hair and of muscular build, Williams, who was not married and was said to be a "very private person", was days away from completing a one-year secondment to the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/mi6" title="Guardian: MI6">MI6</a> in Vauxhall, London, when his body was found.</p><p>He had returned to the UK from a holiday in the US on Wednesday, 11 August, said police. In one CCTV image he is seen, wearing a red T-shirt, beige trousers and white trainers, entering Holland Park underground station at about 3pm on Saturday, August 14.</p><p>The next day he is shown shopping in Brompton Road, where he visited a cash machine and Harrods department store. Later, at about 2.30pm, he is seen just outside Harrods in Hans Crescent before heading towards Sloane Street, near the Dolce and Gabbana store. This was the last known sighting of him.</p><p>Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire, who is leading the investigation, said: "This remains a complex, unexplained death inquiry." She appealed for anyone who may have seen or had contact with Williams between 11 and 23 August to contact the incident room on 020-8358 0200, or Crimestoppers on 0800-555 111.</p><p>In a statement shortly after his body was found, Williams's family described rumours suggesting his sex life might hold the clues to his deathas "very distressing".</p><p>They paid tribute to him as a "generous, loving son, brother, and friend" and a very private person, who was "a great athlete, and loved cycling and music".</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/ukcrime">Crime</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/london">London</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/mi6">MI6</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/carolinedavies">Caroline Davies</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/9YAoUGd_2mx5imxR45BqEQtmY_M/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/9YAoUGd_2mx5imxR45BqEQtmY_M/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/9YAoUGd_2mx5imxR45BqEQtmY_M/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/9YAoUGd_2mx5imxR45BqEQtmY_M/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Crime London MI6 UK news The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/06/mi6-death-gareth-williams-cctv Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:54:00 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/06/vladimir-putin-hints-presidential-run/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/67784?ns=guardian&pageName=Vladimir+Putin+hints+at+another+long+stint+as+president%3AArticle%3A1448247&ch=World+news&c3=Guardian&c4=Vladimir+Putin%2CWorld+news%2CRussia+%28News%29&c5=Not+commercially+useful&c6=David+Hearst%2CLuke+Harding&c7=10-Sep-06&c8=1448247&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=World+news&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FVladimir+Putin" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Russian PM says he's 'still deciding' whether to run in 2012, as he draws comparison with long-serving Roosevelt</p><p>Vladimir Putin, Russia's combative and increasingly confident prime minister, today made clear he was here to stay and the world would have to come to terms with his authoritarian system of government which stifled political dissent.</p><p>Drawing an ominous comparison with the US president Franklin Roosevelt, Putin claimed he had not yet decided whether to run in Russia's 2012 presidential election, but suggested that a further long stint in office was entirely possible.</p><p>Speaking before the Valdai discussion club, a group of experts on Russia, Putin said that he would decide whether to stand closer to the event.</p><p>Neither he nor Russia's existing president, Dmitry Medvedev, would act against Russia's constitution, he added. Putin said he would continue to "share power" with Medvedev and they would work together until the next election.</p><p>"We have not decided what will be the best for Russia," Putin said, speaking at his residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Putin's latest comments failed to clarify whether – as most experts now assume – he will elbow Medvedev aside during the presidential poll in spring 2012.</p><p>But they come against what looks suspiciously like a re-election campaign that has seen Putin take command of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/02/russia-heatwave-wildfires-deaths" title="Russia's forest fire">Russia's forest fire</a> crisis over the summer and embark on a media-friendly road trip across the Far East in a bright – if somewhat breakdown-prone – yellow Lada. Today Putin suggested there was nothing wrong with presidents who spent several decades in office, citing the example of Roosevelt, who clocked up a record stint in the White House. "Roosevelt was elected four times in accordance with the US constitution," Putin pointed out.</p><p>Under Russia's constitution Putin was obliged to step down as president in 2008 after two presidential terms. He then became prime minister. But there is nothing to stop him serving two more terms – now extended to six years – raising the prospect that he could still be running Russia in 2024.</p><p>In reality, Putin has remained Russia's supreme political arbiter, ranging well beyond his domestic prime ministerial brief. Today Putin praised the US president, Barack Obama, as "sincere". The improvement in US-Russian relations has been one of the few real foreign policy achievements of Obama's presidency.</p><p>But Putin was scathing about opposition protesters, who have been holding meetings both in Russia and abroad – including in London last week – on the 31st of each month. Picking up from an interview with Kommersant newspaper, when he said demonstrators deserved a "whack on the bonce", Putin dismissed those rallying as a marginal force.</p><p>He said everybody had a right to express their views, but added that some people deliberately provoked a police beating to capture the media's attention. "Some people want to be beaten by truncheons. They lack patience. They hold private ambitions," Putin said, adding: "Those groups are behaving in such a way that they are not a political force in the country."</p><p>Putin also defended Russia's strong vertical political system and his contentious decision in 2005 to abolish gubernatorial elections. The Kremlin now handpicks governors.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/vladimir-putin">Vladimir Putin</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/russia">Russia</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/davidhearst">David Hearst</a></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/lukeharding">Luke Harding</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8wAj1P23gc6B0wXlbmoL4vED0OU/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8wAj1P23gc6B0wXlbmoL4vED0OU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8wAj1P23gc6B0wXlbmoL4vED0OU/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8wAj1P23gc6B0wXlbmoL4vED0OU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Vladimir Putin World news Russia The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/06/vladimir-putin-hints-presidential-run Mon, 06 Sep 2010 19:08:55 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/06/archbishop-to-meet-pope-protesters/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/3018?ns=guardian&pageName=Archbishop+of+Southwark+to+meet+anti-pope+protesters%3AArticle%3A1448217&ch=World+news&c3=Guardian&c4=Pope+Benedict+XVI%2CCatholicism+%28News%29%2CChristianity+%28News%29%2CWorld+news%2CUK+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful&c6=Paul+Lewis&c7=10-Sep-06&c8=1448217&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=World+news&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FPope+Benedict+XVI" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Peter Smith to tell campaigners to show respect to Catholics celebrating Pope Benedict XVI's visit to London</p><p>An archbishop is to meet leading campaigners against the pope this week to tell them to "show respect" to Catholics celebrating his visit to London.</p><p>Scotland Yard has brokered the meeting between the Archbishop of Southwark, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Smith_(archbishop)" title="Wikipedia: Peter Smith">Peter Smith</a>, a senior figure in the Catholic church, and the organisers of a campaign against <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/pope-benedict-xvi" title="Guardian: Pope Benedict XVI">Pope Benedict XVI</a>'s visit.</p><p>Smith said today he had no intention of infringing the rights of those intending to protest against the papal visit. But he said he planned to use the encounter to encourage them not to become overly confrontational.</p><p>"I've always said, thank God in this country we have free speech," he said. "They are perfectly entitled to protest. What I would ask of all of them is to do so in a dignified way, which does not disrupt the joy of the Catholic community in welcoming the pope. I hope they would show respect to those of us who do have [religious] convictions."</p><p>Smith denied that he requested the meeting. But a Metropolitan police memorandum seen by the Guardian states that the request came from Smith.</p><p>"At the request of Archbishop Smith, the Metropolitan Police Service will provide a room for the meeting between members of the Protest the Pope Movement and the Roman Catholic Church," sergeant Nicholas Williams, the Met's head of the Communities Together Strategic Engagement Team, said in a letter to protesters.</p><p>"Can I stress this is not a Metropolitan Police meeting. We are simply acting as the 'middle man' in order to bring you and the Roman Catholic Church together for a discussion."</p><p>High-profile members of the campaign group <a href="http://www.protest-the-pope.org.uk/" title="Protest the Pope">Protest the Pope</a>, an umbrella group of organisations opposing the visit, will meet Smith on Wednesday. They have planned a march on 18 September to coincide with his visit to the capital, which will culminate in a vigil in Hyde Park.</p><p>Organisers meeting Smith include the gay rights campaigner <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/peter-tatchell" title="Guardian: Peter Tatchell">Peter Tatchell</a>, Andrew Copson, the chief executive of the <a href="http://www.humanism.org.uk/home" title="British Humanist Association">British Humanist Association</a>, and Terry Sanderson, president of the <a href="http://www.secularism.org.uk/" title="National Secular Society">National Secular Society</a>. He said he would not be "lectured" by the archbishop. "There is a defensive tone in what [Smith] is saying," he said. "It is an indication of the church's fear that something will happen to bring the pope into disrepute. I think something should happen to embarrass the pope into, for example, confronting the child abuse scandal. We're not going to be kind to the Pope because he does not deserve to be respected."</p><p>Although there is a rainbow coalition of groups opposing the papal visit, they have agreed a strategy that will focus on the stories of sexual abuse survivors.</p><p>Organisers are planning to to fly abuse survivors into London from across the world for a press conference on 15 September, the eve of the visit.</p><p>They include <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/world-youth-day/popes-secret-mass-inflames-row/2008/07/21/1216492356990.html" title="Sydney Morning Herald: Pope's secret Mass inflames row over abuse">Mark Fabbro</a>, an Australian who says he was sadistically raped by a priest at a Jesuit school in Melbourne in 1971, when he was 11. Also planning to speak is Sue Cox, who recently broke a 50-year silence over the sexual abuse she endured from a priest, detailing her trauma in a public letter to the Archbishop of Westminster.</p><p>"As an abused child, I knew nothing of 'orders' or 'dioceses' or anything hierarchical – all I knew was that a priest, of the kind I had been brought up to revere, seriously sexually abused me when I was 10 years old, on the eve of my confirmation, then raped me when I was 13, in my own bedroom in my own home," she wrote.</p><p>"I can hardly believe," she added, "that the church is so stupid that it cannot see that there is a real opportunity here to show some of the compassion and humility that it preaches so fervently."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/pope-benedict-xvi">Pope Benedict XVI</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/catholicism">Catholicism</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/christianity">Christianity</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/paullewis">Paul Lewis</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Vyu57cSoCtb57jQK1AaytLY2djI/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Vyu57cSoCtb57jQK1AaytLY2djI/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Vyu57cSoCtb57jQK1AaytLY2djI/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Vyu57cSoCtb57jQK1AaytLY2djI/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Pope Benedict XVI Catholicism Christianity World news UK news The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/06/archbishop-to-meet-pope-protesters Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:05:55 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/06/electorial-reform-bill-conservative-critics/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/15224?ns=guardian&pageName=Electoral+reform+row+grows+as+senior+Tories+plot+revolt%3AArticle%3A1448263&ch=Politics&c3=Guardian&c4=Electoral+reform%2CPolitics%2CConservative+and+Liberal+Democrat+cabinet%2CLiberal+Democrats%2CConservatives%2CCoalition+Liberal-Conservative+coalition%2CDavid+Davis+%28Politics%29%2CNick+Clegg&c5=Not+commercially+useful&c6=Patrick+Wintour&c7=10-Sep-07&c8=1448263&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Politics&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FPolitics%2FElectoral+reform" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">MPs warn they will try to defeat bill introducing referendum on alternative vote</p><p>The scale of the challenge the government faces in pushing through a bill for a referendum on electoral reform, and a major redrawing of constituency boundaries, emerged yesterday as senior Tories warned they will try to defeat key measures.</p><p>The critical voices, including the influential backbencher David Davis, emerged during the second reading of the bill to introduce a referendum on 6 May next year, which was passed last night by 328 votes to 269, a government majority of 59. The bill – seen as the centrepiece of the coalition – is likely to come under serious pressure during its committee stages in October.</p><p>One Tory MP Anne Main warned her whips there was deep unhappiness on both sides of the house, adding "we will swallow some, but only so much". She warned she was not lobby fodder, adding many of the measures stuck in her throat.</p><p>She was particularly furious that the referendum will be on the alternative vote – a preferential voting system – describing it as "the least sensible and palatable solution", adding she was surprised it was suported by the Liberal Democrats.</p><p>Another Conservative MP, Gary Streeter, suggested there was a "raging" lack of interest among voters on the topic and it would be a "referendum that nobody wants". He said he feared it would mean an "outright Conservative government" would never be voted in again.</p><p>Davis said the government should be open about the "party advantage" implicit in the plans.</p><p>He also warned that the withdrawal of the right to hold a public inquiry into the redrawing of boundaries might lead to a spate of constituency judicial reviews. He said: "The deputy prime minister [Nick Clegg] presented this bill as something designed to increase the respect of the people for the political system that we work under.</p><p>"I think the people might respect us more if we admitted some of the real reasons for what we are doing. Of course there is party advantage implicit in what we are talking about."</p><p>Most Conservative MPs, including David Cameron, are opposed to reforming how MPs are elected, but the party conceded a referendum in the coalition agreement, linked with a boundary review.</p><p>Clegg claimed the plans to hold a referendum would help "restore people's faith in the way they elect their MPs", and represented "the bare minimum necessary" to achieve long overdue political renewal. "At present on the broken scales of our democracy, 10 voters in Glasgow North have the same weight as 17 voters in Manchester Central," he said.</p><p>The bill proposes an average constituency size of 76,000, plus or minus 5%.</p><p>Jack Straw, the shadow justice secretary, said the plan for boundary changes was "one of the most partisan proposals we have seen in recent years".</p><p>He said the proposals were nothing to do with the "high ideals" that Clegg had claimed and were instead "the worst kind of political skulduggery for narrow party advantage".</p><p>He claimed it was quite wrong to withdraw the right to stage public inquiries into proposed plans to redraw boundaries, and experience showed these inquiries led to adjustments to the original proposals.</p><p>Straw also expressed doubts about a referendum being held next May, saying the government would be "entering a period of … deep unpopularity" then. "I suspect it would be far better to have the referendum as a single-issue referendum on a separate dedicated day".</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/electoralreform">Electoral reform</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/conservative-and-liberal-democrat-cabinet">Conservative and Liberal Democrat cabinet</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/liberaldemocrats">Liberal Democrats</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/conservatives">Conservatives</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/liberal-conservative-coalition">Liberal-Conservative coalition</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/daviddavis">David Davis</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/nickclegg">Nick Clegg</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/patrickwintour">Patrick Wintour</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/6r2kq3IQGGsigUDWxVxnEabnQ9Q/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/6r2kq3IQGGsigUDWxVxnEabnQ9Q/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/6r2kq3IQGGsigUDWxVxnEabnQ9Q/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/6r2kq3IQGGsigUDWxVxnEabnQ9Q/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Electoral reform Politics Conservative and Liberal Democrat cabinet Liberal Democrats Conservatives Liberal-Conservative coalition David Davis Nick Clegg The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/06/electorial-reform-bill-conservative-critics Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:29:00 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/06/natascha-kampusch-autobiography-austrian-kidnap/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/17303?ns=guardian&pageName=Natascha+Kampusch+autobiography%3A+Austrian+kidnap+victim+tried+to+slit+wr%3AArticle%3A1447943&ch=World+news&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Natascha+Kampusch%2CAustria+%28News%29%2CWorld+news%2CBiography+%28Books+genre%29%2CBooks&c5=Not+commercially+useful&c6=Adam+Gabbatt+%28contributor%29&c7=10-Sep-06&c8=1447943&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=World+news&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FNatascha+Kampusch" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Kidnapped Austrian schoolgirl Natascha Kampusch's autobiography reveals details of her 3,096 days in captivity</p><p>Natascha Kampusch, the Austrian woman who was kidnapped and held captive for more than eight years, has told of how she tried to kill herself after being beaten up to 200 times a week by her captor.</p><p>In her forthcoming autobiography Kampusch, 22, said Wolfgang Priklopil called her "my slave" and demanded she perform household tasks semi-naked after he kidnapped her as a 10-year-old in 1998.</p><p>Kampusch escaped from Priklopil's house in August 2006 and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/tvandradioblog/2008/jun/02/nataschakampuschthecaptive" title="">became a talk show host</a> in Austria less than two years later, although a year ago she spoke of having almost reverted back to the life she had as a prisoner – suffering from anxiety attacks and spending most of her time in her Vienna flat.</p><p>Priklopil killed himself hours after Kampusch managed to escape while he was cleaning his car.</p><p>In her autobiography, 3,096 Days, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1309296/Natascha-Kampusch-autobiography-Girl-snatched-stranger-held-8-years.html" title="">which is being serialised in the Daily Mail</a>, Kampusch told of how she was bundled into a van by Priklopil on 2 March 1998.</p><p>"Everything happened very fast. At the very moment I lowered my eyes and started walking past, he grabbed me by the waist and threw me through the open door of his van," Kampusch writes.</p><p>"Did I scream? I don't think so. Yet everything inside me was one single scream. It pushed upwards and became lodged far down in my throat."</p><p>Kampusch says during the early days of her captivity she was treated well by Priklopil, but in the book she reveals for the first time the violence to which she was later subjected. She talks of how after she reached puberty around the age of 12 her captor "started treating me as if I were dirty and disgusting", and would kick her in the shins or punch her when she walked past him.</p><p>"He also subjected me to minor sexual assaults as part of my daily harassment," she writes.</p><p>Priklopil began allowing her upstairs to do housework from the age of 14, Kampusch says, but she would be subjected to beatings if her work was deemed to be of poor quality.</p><p>"He hated it when the pain made me cry," Kampusch remembers. Priklopil would push her head underwater in the sink and throttle her when she sobbed.</p><p>In the extracts published today, Kampusch insists Priklopil's relationship with her "wasn't about sex" – although she says he would tie her to him and force them to share a bed.</p><p>"When I was 14, I spent the night above ground for the first time. I lay stiff with fright on his bed as he lay down next to me and tied my wrists to his with plastic cuffs.</p><p>"But when he manacled me to him on those many nights, it wasn't about sex. The man who'd beat me and locked me in the cellar had something else in mind: he simply wanted something to cuddle."</p><p>Priklopil also insisted that Kampusch shave off her hair, and used food deprivation to keep her under his control, she writes. The book also reveals that she was "never fully clothed" while working in the house – a strategy Kampusch says was designed to prevent her from running away.</p><p>"Usually, I wore just a cap and knickers – though when he eventually started letting me work in his garden, it was always without my knickers," she writes.</p><p>After two years of regular beatings, Kampusch "began a kind of passive resistance", punching herself in the face before Priklopil was able to. When she reached 15, the beatings became even more frequent: "… repeated punches to my head that made me nauseous, sometimes more than 200 blows to my body in a week", Kampusch writes.</p><p>The 22-year-old also documents her attempts to kill herself, saying the efforts provoked fear in her captor. Kampusch attempted to strangle herself with items of clothing, slit her wrists with a needle and later lit a fire in the cellar, but said "the will to survive kicked in".</p><p>The book also tells of how Priklopil manipulated her psychologically, potentially hinting at why she did not attempt to escape earlier.</p><p>"He told me my parents had refused to pay a ransom," she writes. "'Your parents don't love you at all … they don't want you back … they're happy to be rid of you.'"</p><p>"These statements were like acid. Systematically, he was undermining my belief in my family."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/natascha-kampusch">Natascha Kampusch</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/austria">Austria</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/biography">Biography</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/adam-gabbatt">Adam Gabbatt</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/LN0cxO9jqyY5STTnP8MKNuwzjUM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/LN0cxO9jqyY5STTnP8MKNuwzjUM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/LN0cxO9jqyY5STTnP8MKNuwzjUM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/LN0cxO9jqyY5STTnP8MKNuwzjUM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Natascha Kampusch Austria World news Biography Books guardian.co.uk News http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/06/natascha-kampusch-autobiography-austrian-kidnap Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:13:09 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/06/tony-blair-cancels-london-book-signing/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/79934?ns=guardian&pageName=Tony+Blair+scrapped+London+book+signing+to+avoid+protest+%27hassle%27%3AArticle%3A1448139&ch=Politics&c3=Guardian&c4=Tony+Blair%2CWaterstones%2CBooks%2CPolice+and+policing%2CPolitics%2CUK+news&c5=Society+Weekly%2CNot+commercially+useful&c6=Alexandra+Topping&c7=10-Sep-07&c8=1448139&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Politics&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FPolitics%2FTony+Blair" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Former prime minister worried BNP might have caused trouble, and says he wanted to prevent 'extra strain on police resources'<br /></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Tony Blair yesterday took a last-minute decision to cancel his key book signing in central London because of security fears, after unrest at a signing in Dublin saw the former prime minister pelted with eggs and shoes.</p><p>Blair said he was cancelling the event, due to take place tomorrow at Waterstone's bookshop in Piccadilly, central London, "to avoid the inconvenience to the public it would have caused".</p><p>He said in a statement: "I very much enjoyed meeting my readers in Dublin and was looking forward to doing the same in London. However, I have decided not to go ahead with the signing as I don't want the public to be inconvenienced by the inevitable hassle caused by protesters. I know the Metropolitan police would, as ever, have done a superb job in managing any disruption, but I do not wish to impose an extra strain on police resources, simply for a book signing."</p><p>Blair called for understanding from those who were hoping to attend the event. He will sign copies of his memoir, A Journey, for the bookseller, which will be available from the store from 9am on Thursday.</p><p>A spokesman for the former PM had earlier said that the majority of the people who had gone to the book signing in Dublin on Saturday had wanted to meet Blair and get their books signed, but a small and vocal minority had grabbed the headlines. Blair met with a hail of shoes and eggs at the event, his first public signing, at Eason's bookshop on O'Connell Street. Four men were arrested.</p><p>Blair added: "I'm really sorry for those – as ever the majority – who would have come to have their books signed by me in person. I hope they understand."</p><p>Blair first raised the possibility of cancelling the planned appearance during an interview on the new ITV morning show Daybreak, saying that he feared it could cause unnecessary "hassle and cost" for police. Anti-war protesters had planned to rally outside the Piccadilly bookstore. Blair said he was also worried the far right British National party might attempt to cause trouble.</p><p>Waterstone's confirmed that the scheduled book signing had been cancelled, "according to the wishes of the author". The managing director, Dominic Myers, said: "Our job as a bookseller is to bring books to our customers, and where possible enable them to meet authors as well. It is a matter of regret that because of the likely actions of a minority, our customers are now not able to meet a three-times elected prime minister of the United Kingdom, whose book has become our fastest-selling autobiography ever."</p><p></p><p>The Stop the War Coalition (StWC) said it was planning to protest at a launch party for Blair's book at the Tate Modern in London tomorrow night. Lindsey German, convenor of StWC, said: "It's a stain on the reputation of Tate Modern, to host a gathering of war criminals."</p><p>The limited number of signed copies of A Journey will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis, one copy per customer.</p><p>Waterstone's is also having to cope with a number of anti-Blair protesters moving his memoirs to the crime area of their stores, after thousands joined a group entitled <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/05/tony-blair-memoirs-facebook-group" title="">"Subversively move Tony Blair's memoirs to the crime section in bookshops"</a>.</p><p>The Facebook page, which now has almost 8,000 members, urges them to "make bookshops think twice about where they categorise our generations [sic] greatest war criminal".</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/tonyblair">Tony Blair</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/waterstones">Waterstone's</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/police">Police</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/alexandratopping">Alexandra Topping</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/mvr_EydE0tiYzzBb9mMoFhY8F8E/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/mvr_EydE0tiYzzBb9mMoFhY8F8E/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/mvr_EydE0tiYzzBb9mMoFhY8F8E/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/mvr_EydE0tiYzzBb9mMoFhY8F8E/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Tony Blair Waterstone's Books Police Politics UK news The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/06/tony-blair-cancels-london-book-signing Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:22:00 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/06/david-blunkett-miliband-labour-leadership/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/70171?ns=guardian&pageName=David+Blunkett%3A+If+Labour+chooses+a+Miliband%2C+it+has+to+be+David%3AArticle%3A1448268&ch=Politics&c3=Guardian&c4=Labour+leadership%2CLabour%2CPolitics%2CDavid+Blunkett%2CDavid+Miliband%2CEd+Miliband%2CUK+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful&c6=Patrick+Wintour&c7=10-Sep-06&c8=1448268&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Politics&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FPolitics%2FLabour+party+leadership" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Former minister questions brother Ed's credentials, adding that a grasp of global challenges is 'crucial' for party's next leader<br /></p><p>David Blunkett, the former Labour cabinet minister, has strongly questioned Ed Miliband's leadership credentials, saying he cannot recall a single thing the younger Miliband has said in the past three months that has represented a "challenge" to the party or the country.</p><p>In an interview with the Guardian Blunkett also criticised the 2010 Labour election manifesto for which Miliband junior had responsibility, saying it looked as if it had been written on Sunday morning and was "deeply uninspiring ... it is a bit rich for those that were in what they amusingly call the Brown bunker to claim it was nothing to do with them, and it would be nice if we suddenly became radicals".</p><p>Blunkett, the former home secretary and one of Labour's most senior MPs, has nominated Andy Burnham as his first preference in the contest, saying he wanted his authentic working class voice in the campaign. But Burnham is thought to be trailing the Miliband brothers.</p><p>Blunkett said: "I am very strongly in favour of people casting their second preference for David Miliband. It is absolutely crucial for the future of the Labour party and the country that someone with the experience and grasp of global challenges should lead the party, and that clearly would be David."</p><p>Ed Miliband's campaign said at the weekend it was picking up the bulk of second preference votes. "I know Ed Miliband would vehemently object to being painted as a left-leaning comfort zone, since I have put it to him," Blunkett said.</p><p>"But I have to ask the question, what difficult challenge has Ed put to the party, or to the electorate during the last three months, and I cannot think of one."</p><p>Blunkett also urged the party to recognise the scale of the challenge it faced: "It is a delusion to think that the coalition will collapse even if as many as 10 Liberal Democrat MPs defect to Labour or go independent." He added: "We have to be brutally honest with ourselves about what it will take to beat the coalition that may well stand as a national progressive coalition at the next general election, whether Simon Hughes [the leftwing Lib Dem deputy leader] likes it or not."</p><p>Blunkett is concerned that the process of the leadership election has led some candidates to think too much in terms of what the party, as opposed to the country, thinks.</p><p>In further criticism directed at Ed Miliband he said: "It was decisions such as the 10p tax rate that had far more to do with the disillusionment with Labour in the 2010 election than the Iraq war, or a too -casual approach to civil liberties or graduates paying back their fees.</p><p>"There is a very real danger that we have seen terminology used in the campaign that is reminiscent of Alice Through the Looking Glass, with phrases like 'the comfort zone of New Labour'. I don't want any comfort zone and I don't want to benchmark us against New or Old Labour.</p><p>"I want us to benchmark ourselves against the challenges of 2015 and 2020, but if anyone thought New Labour was a comfort zone, they did not live through it. We were constantly being challenged to debate and to take decisions with which we were deeply uncomfortable and that is the job of a leader.</p><p>"A leader is not someone who tests the water about how people feel in a party and then articulates the loudest voice at that moment. It is someone who looks ahead and then does his upmost to persuade and cajole his supporters to look ahead."</p><p>Blunkett added: "Take a constituency like Reading West, where many people live on £20,000 a year. You have to ask yourself what made them vote Conservative – their concerns were not necessarily the concerns of the most active members of the Labour party and that is the terrible historic dilemma for the Labour party.</p><p>"What we feel and what the key swing voters feel is not always the same, and in a democracy you ignore that at your peril. For instance, if you turn away from the electorate on issues like crime and terrorism, the voters will turn away from you. It was not the electorate that got it wrong, and it took the Conservative party at least two or three attempts to learn that lesson."</p><p>He said that, before the election and in the manifesto: "We should have been challenging about how we deal with the deficit whilst still massively reforming the welfare state, retaining universality but asking the question whether people on very high incomes can surely afford to have their winter fuel allowance or their child benefit included in taxable income. That is something that would have resonated with people, difficult as it is.</p><p>"So we missed an opportunity to say this is a very difficult moment when we are asking you to help us face the biggest challenge since wartime but we are going to do it with a radical bent with a vision for the future."</p><p>He said Labour initially had an understanding of the defeat but "there has been a drift away as they have gone to meetings where the pressures of the faithful are slightly different to the electorate as a whole".</p><p>He added: "You would have thought the centre-left in politics would have been the beneficiaries of the global meltdown, the collapse of financial markets, especially since it was politics that saved us from the worst outcome, yet it has been the opposite.</p><p>"Collectively across the world there has not been a narrative from the centre left. The Democrats in the US are in virtual meltdown and only two left parties govern in Europe, so the outlook is that we have to rebuild a belief in politics."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/labourleadership">Labour party leadership</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/labour">Labour</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/davidblunkett">David Blunkett</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/davidmiliband">David Miliband</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/edmiliband">Ed Miliband</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/patrickwintour">Patrick Wintour</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/_U79wh_ZhgFCwF5o-5y9mGeVxDI/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/_U79wh_ZhgFCwF5o-5y9mGeVxDI/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/_U79wh_ZhgFCwF5o-5y9mGeVxDI/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/_U79wh_ZhgFCwF5o-5y9mGeVxDI/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Labour party leadership Labour Politics David Blunkett David Miliband Ed Miliband UK news The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/06/david-blunkett-miliband-labour-leadership Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:20:17 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/sep/06/green-shoots-trees-in-leaf/print <p>We asked for your pictures to mark the launch of our new nature photography project</p><br/><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/2nwWLv-UN36lEApIjRj9v3IrtnQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/2nwWLv-UN36lEApIjRj9v3IrtnQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/2nwWLv-UN36lEApIjRj9v3IrtnQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/2nwWLv-UN36lEApIjRj9v3IrtnQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Environment Conservation Photography guardian.co.uk Editorial http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/sep/06/green-shoots-trees-in-leaf Mon, 06 Sep 2010 14:03:17 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/06/womens-rugby-team-plaits/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/4527?ns=guardian&pageName=The+England+women%27s+rugby+team+know+the+value+of+plaits%3AArticle%3A1448146&ch=Life+and+style&c3=Guardian&c4=Beauty%2CLife+and+style%2CSport%2CWomen%27s+rugby+union&c5=Unclassified%2CFashion+and+Beauty%2CNot+commercially+useful&c6=Emine+Saner&c7=10-Sep-06&c8=1448146&c9=Article&c10=Feature&c11=Life+and+style&c13=Shortcuts+%28series%29&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FLife+and+style%2FBeauty" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Simple hair braids can make anyone feel like a warrior</p><p>"Most of my time is spent in my room, French-plaiting other girls' hair," said Rachael Burford, centre player in the England women's rugby team, in the Sunday Times over the weekend. No snide comments about this being what all girls do when they get together, please – Burford, and her braided friends then go out on the rugby pitch where, if you caught any of the recent world cup, you will have noticed that the women are just as fearless as their male counterparts.</p><p>"It has got to the point now when I feel a bit weird if I don't do someone's hair before a game," said Burford. "Some of the girls look really tough with their hair plaited, so it's also a psychological thing – a&nbsp;victorious thing."</p><p>Sadly, victory wasn't tied up in those braids – the team lost to New Zealand in Sunday's final – but many of the players, including Danielle Waterman, Sarah Hunter and Katy McLean, looked fierce, like warrior women going into battle.</p><p>"Plaits are the earliest of hairstyles because before haircutting and hairdressing, people obviously had long hair and plaits were the simplest way of keeping it out of the way," says fashion historian Caroline Cox. For that reason, she says, we associate plaits with both women and men, and particularly those who are involved in athletic pursuits, such as war. Think of Legolas in The Lord of the Rings, or the super strong Obelix in the Asterix cartoons. "For women, Boudicca or Valkyrie plaits seem to enhance their ferocity," says Cox.</p><p>"It was a practical hairstyle until we get to the 19th century, when it begins to be associated with female children. Even now, plaits on the whole have the meaning of the youthful schoolgirl." Not an image you will associate with England's nearly victorious rugby&nbsp;team.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/beauty">Beauty</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/womens-rugby-union">Women's rugby union</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/eminesaner">Emine Saner</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/RBH4LhHzAo4mHVa0UbcQ5hekG4A/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/RBH4LhHzAo4mHVa0UbcQ5hekG4A/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/RBH4LhHzAo4mHVa0UbcQ5hekG4A/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/RBH4LhHzAo4mHVa0UbcQ5hekG4A/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Beauty Life and style Sport Women's rugby union The Guardian Features http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/06/womens-rugby-team-plaits Mon, 06 Sep 2010 19:00:45 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/06/meat-production-veganism-deforestation/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/59085?ns=guardian&pageName=I+was+wrong+about+veganism.+Let+them+eat+meat+%28but+farm+it+right%29+%7C+Geor%3AArticle%3A1448133&ch=Comment+is+free&c3=Guardian&c4=Veganism%2CLife+and+style%2CMeat+industry+%28environment%29%2CFarming+%28environment%29%2CFood+%28Environment%29%2CEnvironment%2CAgriculture+%28Science%29%2CScience%2CDeforestation+%28environment%29%2CConservation+%28Environment%29%2CForests+%28environment%29%2CCarbon+emissions+%28Environment%29&c5=Environment+Conservation%2CWildlife+Conservation%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CEthical+Living%2CFood+and+Drink&c6=George+Monbiot&c7=10-Sep-06&c8=1448133&c9=Article&c10=Comment&c11=Comment+is+free&c13=&c25=Comment+is+free&c30=content&h2=GU%2FComment+is+free%2Fblog%2FComment+is+free" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">The ethical case against eating animal produce once seemed clear. But a new book is an abattoir for dodgy arguments</p><p>This will not be an easy column to write. I am about to put down 1,200 words in support of a book that starts by attacking me and often returns to this sport. But it has persuaded me that I was wrong. More to the point, it has opened my eyes to some fascinating complexities in what seemed to be a black and white case.</p><p>In the Guardian in 2002 I discussed the sharp rise in the number of the world's livestock, and the connection between their consumption of grain and human malnutrition. After reviewing the figures, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/dec/24/christmas.famine" title="I concluded that veganism">I concluded that veganism</a> "is the only ethical response to what is arguably the world's most urgent social justice issue". I still believe that the diversion of ever wider tracts of arable land from feeding people to feeding livestock is iniquitous and grotesque. So does the book I'm about to discuss. I no longer believe that the only ethical response is to stop eating meat.</p><p>In <a href="http://www.permaculture-magazine.co.uk/articles/articles_65.html" title="Meat: a benign extravagance">Meat: A Benign Extravagance</a>, Simon Fairlie pays handsome tribute to vegans for opening up the debate. He then subjects their case to the first treatment I've read that is both objective and forensic. His book is an abattoir for misleading claims and dodgy figures, on both sides of the argument.</p><p>There's no doubt that the livestock system has gone horribly wrong. Fairlie describes the feedlot beef industry (in which animals are kept in pens) in the US as "one of the biggest ecological cock-ups in modern history". It pumps grain and forage from irrigated pastures into the farm animal species least able to process them efficiently, to produce beef fatty enough for hamburger production. Cattle are excellent converters of grass but terrible converters of concentrated feed. The feed would have been much better used to make pork.</p><p>Pigs, in the meantime, have been forbidden in many parts of the rich world from doing what they do best: converting waste into meat. Until the early 1990s, only 33% of compound pig feed in the UK consisted of grains fit for human consumption: the rest was made up of crop residues and food waste. Since then the proportion of sound grain in pig feed has doubled. There are several reasons: the rules set by supermarkets; the domination of the feed industry by large corporations, which can't handle waste from many different sources; but most important the panicked over-reaction to the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/bse" title="BSE">BSE</a> and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/footandmouth" title="foot and mouth">foot-and-mouth</a> crises.</p><p>Feeding meat and bone meal to cows was insane. Feeding it to pigs, whose natural diet incorporates a fair bit of meat, makes sense, as long as it is rendered properly. The same goes for swill. Giving sterilised scraps to pigs solves two problems at once: waste disposal and the diversion of grain. Instead we now dump or incinerate millions of tonnes of possible pig food and replace it with soya whose production trashes the Amazon. Waste food in the UK, Fairlie calculates, could make 800,000 tonnes of pork, or one sixth of our total meat consumption.</p><p>But these idiocies, Fairlie shows, are not arguments against all meat eating, but arguments against the current farming model. He demonstrates that we've been using the wrong comparison to judge the efficiency of meat production. Instead of citing a simple conversion rate of feed into meat, we should be comparing the amount of land required to grow meat with the land needed to grow plant products of the same nutritional value to humans. The results are radically different.</p><p>If pigs are fed on residues and waste, and cattle on straw, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stover" title="Wikipedia: Stovers">stovers</a> and grass from fallows and rangelands – food for which humans don't compete – meat becomes a very efficient means of food production. Even though it is tilted by the profligate use of grain in rich countries, the global average conversion ratio of useful plant food to useful meat is not the 5:1 or 10:1 cited by almost everyone, but less than 2:1. If we stopped feeding edible grain to animals, we could still produce around half the current global meat supply with no loss to human nutrition: in fact it's a significant net gain.</p><p>It's the second half – the stuffing of animals with grain to boost meat and milk consumption, mostly in the rich world – which reduces the total food supply. Cut this portion out and you would create an increase in available food which could support 1.3 billion people. Fairlie argues we could afford to use a small amount of grain for feeding livestock, allowing animals to mop up grain surpluses in good years and slaughtering them in lean ones. This would allow us to consume a bit more than half the world's current volume of animal products, which means a good deal less than in the average western diet.</p><p>He goes on to butcher a herd of sacred cows. Like many greens I have thoughtlessly repeated the claim that it requires 100,000 litres of water to produce every kilogram of beef. Fairlie shows that this figure is wrong by around three&nbsp;orders of magnitude. It arose from the absurd assumption that every drop of water that falls on a pasture disappears into the animals that graze it,&nbsp;never to re-emerge. A ridiculous amount of fossil water is used to feed cattle on irrigated crops in California, but this is a stark exception.</p><p></p><p>Similarly daft assumptions underlie the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's famous claim that livestock are responsible for 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, a higher proportion than transport. Fairlie shows that it made a number of basic mistakes. It attributes all deforestation that culminates in cattle ranching in the Amazon to cattle: in reality it is mostly driven by land speculation and logging. It muddles up one-off emissions from deforestation with ongoing pollution. It makes similar boobs in its nitrous oxide and methane accounts, confusing gross and net production. (Conversely, the organisation greatly underestimates fossil fuel consumption by intensive farming: its report seems to have been informed by a powerful bias against extensive livestock keeping.)</p><p>Overall, Fairlie estimates that farmed animals produce about 10% of the world's emissions: still too much, but a good deal less than transport. He also shows that many vegetable oils have a bigger footprint than animal fats, and reminds us that even vegan farming necessitates the large-scale killing or ecological exclusion of animals: in this case pests. On the other hand, he slaughters the claims made by some livestock farmers about the soil carbon they can lock away.</p><p>The meat-producing system Fairlie advocates differs sharply from the one now practised in the rich world: low energy, low waste, just, diverse, small-scale. But if we were to adopt it, we could eat meat, milk and eggs (albeit much less) with a clean conscience. By keeping out of the debate over how livestock should be kept, those of us who have advocated veganism have allowed the champions of cruel, destructive, famine-inducing meat farming to prevail. It's time we got stuck in.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/veganism">Veganism</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/meat-industry">The meat industry</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/farming">Farming</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/food">Food</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/agriculture">Agriculture</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/deforestation">Deforestation</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/">Conservation</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/forests">Forests</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/carbon-emissions">Carbon emissions</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/georgemonbiot">George Monbiot</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/cBsHsXALOjA6lneJlli5fre7Kwc/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/cBsHsXALOjA6lneJlli5fre7Kwc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/cBsHsXALOjA6lneJlli5fre7Kwc/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/cBsHsXALOjA6lneJlli5fre7Kwc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Veganism Life and style The meat industry Farming Food Environment Agriculture Science Deforestation Conservation Forests Carbon emissions The Guardian Comment http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/06/meat-production-veganism-deforestation Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:59:43 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/06/blitz-night-fire-new-war/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/11885?ns=guardian&pageName=Blitz+70th+anniversary%3A+Night+of+fire+that+heralded+a+new+kind+of+war%3AArticle%3A1447735&ch=World+news&c3=Guardian&c4=Second+world+war+%28News%29%2CUK+news%2CThe+blitz+%28News%29&c5=Unclassified%2CNot+commercially+useful&c6=Stephen+Bates&c7=10-Sep-06&c8=1447735&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=World+news&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FSecond+world+war" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">London Blitz: 7 September 1940 was the first day of the German bombardment of London that lasted 76 consecutive nights<br />• <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/sep/06/london-blitz-bomb-map-september-7-1940">Datablog: See how the first day's attacks looked. Full list</a><br />• <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2010/sep/06/blitz-second-world-war-map">The first day: hour by hour. An interactive map</a></p><p>It was late in the afternoon of an early September Saturday 70 years ago when the German bombers came, flying low, in formation, up the Thames, their engines roaring as they headed for London to start eight months of bombing the capital.</p><p>"It was the most amazing, impressive, riveting sight," wrote Colin Perry, a lad cycling that afternoon on Chipstead Hill, Surrey, in a memoir years later. "Directly above me were literally hundreds of planes … the sky was full of them. Bombers hemmed in with fighters, like bees around their queen, like destroyers round the battleship, so came Jerry."</p><p>Mavis Fabling, now 80, remembers that afternoon of 7 September 1940 just as clearly. She said: "I can still remember it very vividly. We lived in Abbey Wood, three miles from Woolwich Arsenal. My mother was baking in the kitchen, I was playing outside and my father was digging in the garden. Suddenly he rushed inside. He'd seen the planes overhead. 'Quick, quick, quick, get into the air raid shelter.' We ran down into the shelter in our garden.</p><p>"There were awfully frightening sounds, of bombs dropping and then there was one ghastly, thunderous sound. It was a direct hit on our neighbour's shelter. They were all killed, the whole family, except the father who was out. My mother had taken his wife shopping the day before to buy clothes at the Co-op. I can remember looking out of the window at the coffins being brought out and my mother very distressed.</p><p>"Then my father got the car from his work and took us down to my grandfather's house in Kent and I can remember looking back out of the window and seeing the sky glowing red behind us."</p><p>The records of the London fire brigade for that day, now kept in the metropolitan archives office in Clerkenwell, tell the story of the first major raid of the blitz in meticulous and sober detail. Neatly typed official green slips record each incident and a separate bound volume lists all the fires attended.</p><p>There had been scattered, small-scale raids for weeks, but this was the first concerted attack, ordered two days before by Hitler in retaliation for an RAF raid on Berlin a fortnight earlier.</p><p>The fire brigade's day started quietly enough but by late afternoon the records show, minute by minute, incidents coming thick and fast. First the East End, then the docks, both sides of the river, then the City and – more sporadically – the West End.</p><p>Trivial fires – 6ft by 4ft patch of grass burned in the garden of 207 Waller Road, SE14 at 6.40pm – are listed alongside the major: 24-48 Dee Street, Poplar E14, explosive bomb; Culloden Street School; 50-68 and 41 to 71 Aberfeldy Street; and 2-36 and 1-37 Ettrick Street – a whole neighbourhood flattened.</p><p>On Telegraph Hill, one of the highest points in south London, St Catherine's church was hit by an incendiary bomb: "Nave severely damaged and most part of roof off." It took 10 years before the church was rededicated. "We've just redone the rest of the roof," said the current vicar, Zambian-born Francis Makambwe. "So we're ready for another war."</p><p>The communities beside the docks got it worst: Silvertown on the north side was cut off for hours, its roads and terraces ablaze, Deptford too. At 6.07pm Childeric Road off New Cross Road was hit: 21 to 61 and 10-40 inclusive, 37 private houses severely damaged. At nearby Ruddigore Road, 13 private houses were damaged by explosion and fractured gas main. At Childeric Road today, the west side of the road still stands: a neat Victorian terrace of all the odd numbers. But the other side of the road is now a park.</p><p>Stacey Simkins, then 16 and an office boy enrolled as a fire brigade messenger – sometimes allowed to hold the hose when other firemen were busy – was off duty that night, at home with his family in East Ham. "When the bombers came over that night, most of us stood outside in the road, watching the fires down on the docks. It sounds ridiculous to say it now, doesn't it? We didn't think about the bombs, it was just that old cockney thing: 'Woss goin' on?' "</p><p>The fire brigade was nearly overwhelmed. At the start of the war, London had just 120 red fire engines and 2,000 motorised pumps. That night's records repeatedly say "Extinguished by handpump" or "Extinguished by strangers with sand."</p><p>Historian Francis Beckett, who has written a history of the fire brigade's union in the war, quotes one officer from the docks: "There were pepper fires loading the surrounding air heavily with stinging particles … so it felt like breathing fire itself; a paint fire, white-hot flame coating the pump with varnish. A rubber fire gave forth black clouds of smoke … sugar burns well in liquid form as it floats on the water.</p><p>"Tea makes a blaze that's sweet, sickly and intense. It struck one man as a quaint reversal of the fixed order of things to be pouring cold water on to hot tea leaves. A grain warehouse … brings forth banks of black flies, rats in hundreds and the residue of burnt wheat, a sticky mess that pulls your boots off."</p><p>By 6.30pm there were nine fires out of control in the docks. Timber stacks on Surrey docks were so fiercely alight that a fireboat had its paint scorched off in seconds. A rum warehouse went up, its contents spilling into the water and setting the Thames ablaze "like a Christmas pudding". There was a 1,000-metre wall of flame below Tower Bridge.</p><p>At 8.30pm, a second wave of bombers arrived, using the fires to guide them up the river. By 3am the next day, the exhausted firemen were gaining control. At 5am the all-clear was sounded.</p><p>The first night's raid left 430 killed, including seven firefighters, 60 boats sunk and the docks destroyed. Beckett quotes a fireman: "A man who returned from leave the following day found colleagues in shock, convinced they would not live for more than another week. Men who were old enough to have fought in the first world war said the western front offered nothing worse than they had seen."</p><p>The next night, the bombers came again, killing another 400. On 9 September 200 bombers came by day, 170 by night and their bombs killed 370. They came for 57 consecutive nights between mid-September and mid-November and then regularly for another six months until May 1941. Two years later, there would be doodlebugs and V2 rockets.</p><p>"Somehow, we just carried on," said Mavis Fabling. "I think it was worse for our parents than for us. I got used to doing my homework in the shelter. The teachers still expected you to learn your Shakespeare sonnet for the morning."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/secondworldwar">Second world war</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-blitz">The blitz</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/stephenbates">Stephen Bates</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8yQm23nUA_JdPUKepZQFFo99osQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8yQm23nUA_JdPUKepZQFFo99osQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8yQm23nUA_JdPUKepZQFFo99osQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8yQm23nUA_JdPUKepZQFFo99osQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Second world war UK news The blitz The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/06/blitz-night-fire-new-war Mon, 06 Sep 2010 06:30:38 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/sep/06/facebook-twitter-account-hack-ipad/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/6421?ns=guardian&pageName=Facebook+and+Twitter+user+accounts+hacked+with+%27free+iPad%27+scams%3AArticle%3A1447924&ch=Technology&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Hacking+%28Technology%29%2CFacebook%2CTwitter+%28Technology%29%2CTechnology&c5=Digital+Media%2CCorporate+IT&c6=Charles+Arthur&c7=10-Sep-06&c8=1447924&c9=Article&c10=Blogpost&c11=Technology&c13=&c25=Technology+blog&c30=content&h2=GU%2FTechnology%2FHacking" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Kirstie Allsopp among those affected as spammer exploits weaknesses in passwords and in Facebook code to try to tempt people to 'free' gadgets</p><p>A spammer has exploited a serious vulnerability in Facebook's photo upload system to spam both Facebook and Twitter with photos promising "free" iPads and iPhones.</p><p>The photos, which were posted to peoples' walls by exploiting a flaw in which it was not checked whether a photo could be posted to someone's profile, pretended to be from the profile owner and promoted schemes promising cheap or free gadgets - particularly iPhones and iPads.</p><p>Among those affected were a friend of Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg - who responded, says the security company Sophos; Zuckerberg responded to the picture by asking his friend "Is this real or did your account get hacked?"</p><p><a href="http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/security/3238291/facebook-fault-let-spammer-post-unwanted-messages-to-walls/">Robert McMillan for IDG</a> was the first with the detail, which he says let the spammer post "thousands" of messages on peoples' Walls. </p><p>People who saw the fake postings appear on their Wall, and knew they hadn't put them there, would assume it was their own account which had been hacked and change their password - but this made no difference, because the flaw is in Facebook's basic photo authentication code.</p><p>As the company told McMillan, "Earlier this week, we discovered a bug in the code that processes photos as they're uploaded. This bug caused us not to make the correct checks when determining whether a photo should be posted to a person's profile... We quickly worked to resolve the issue and fixed it shortly after discovering it. For a short period of time before it was fixed, a single spammer was able to post photos to people's profiles that they hadn't approved."</p><p>It remains to be seen whether that's the last of the problem. Meanwhile, Twitter users have had their own problems: property doyenne Kirstie Allsopp was among a number of people whose accounts were hacked at the weekend to send out (yet more) "free iPad" and "OMG free iPhone" tweets.</p><p>Sophos notes that Allsopp has since removed the offending tweets, which would have led anyone who followed them to webpages where they were encouraged to apply for "free" iPads in exchange for personal information and sign up for scams that charged £4.50 per week.</p><p>"Interestingly, the spam messages were sent 'via web', suggesting that it wasn't a third party application or linked website that was used to send the messages," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant, Sophos. "It seems likely that Kirstie Allsopp's Twitter password was stolen via a phishing or spyware infection on her computer, or that she was using the same password on multiple websites – which is never a good idea."</p><p>Allsopp isn't pleased: "Hacking is a pain in the bum" she <a href="http://twitter.com/KirstieMAllsopp/status/23095144540">observed pithily</a> after changing her password, profile picture and deleting the offending tweets. Yup - which only makes the case for better passwords stronger.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/hacking">Hacking</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/facebook">Facebook</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/twitter">Twitter</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/charlesarthur">Charles Arthur</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Ogf2IihClwIns8DHD5fO5EqRtOQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Ogf2IihClwIns8DHD5fO5EqRtOQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Ogf2IihClwIns8DHD5fO5EqRtOQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Ogf2IihClwIns8DHD5fO5EqRtOQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Hacking Facebook Twitter Technology guardian.co.uk Blogposts http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/sep/06/facebook-twitter-account-hack-ipad Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:02:20 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/sep/06/machete-lindsay-lohan/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/34107?ns=guardian&pageName=Machete+proves+Lindsay+Lohan+can+cut+it+...+but+for+how+long%3F%3AArticle%3A1447913&ch=Film&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Lindsay+Lohan+%28Film%29%2CFilm%2CCulture+section&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CFilm+Reviews&c6=Stuart+Heritage&c7=10-Sep-06&c8=1447913&c9=Article&c10=Blogpost&c11=Film&c13=&c25=Film+blog&c30=content&h2=GU%2FFilm%2Fblog%2FFilm+blog" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Lindsay Lohan's success in Machete is great timing for the troubled actor. But if she wants her professional star to keep rising she must pick future roles carefully</p><p>If you look at the US box office this morning, you might think Machete's successes have been modest – it opened at No 3 behind George Clooney's The American and the week-old The Takers, grossing roughly a tenth of what Toy Story 3 took in its opening weekend – but for Lindsay Lohan, it is a massive victory.</p><p></p><p>Commercially, Machete is Lohan's biggest film since Herbie: Fully Loaded five years ago. Nothing she's done since – not Just My Luck or A Prairie Home Companion or Bobby or Georgia Rule or I Know Who Killed Me or Chapter 27 or the direct-to-cable comedy Labour Pains – has come close to matching Machete's $11,300,000 opening.</p><p></p><p>But, even better, people don't actually seem to hate her in it. Admittedly this might be because she's playing an exaggerated version of herself – a gun-licking, drug-obliterated party girl in a nun's outfit – but reviews have been favourable, none the less. What's more, Lindsay's co-star Jessica Alba has repeatedly found room in her promotional schedule <a href="http://www.metro.co.uk/film/839910-jessica-alba-lindsay-lohan-is-a-brilliant-actress" title="">to call her a "brilliant actress"</a> and director Robert Rodriguez was so impressed by her performance <a href="http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/popcornbiz/Robert-Rodriguez-Lindsay-Lohan-Could-Have-Her-Own-Machete-Break-Out-Movie-102133659.html" title="">he's hinted at an entire spin-off movie for her character</a>.</p><p></p><p>This professional upswing couldn't have come at a better time for Lohan. Her recent stints in jail and rehab have hopefully acted as a full stop to years of troubled behaviour, both on and off set, which have blighted her career, and now she seems genuinely ready to put everything behind her. Just last week Lohan appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair <a href="http://blog.mtvasia.com/2010/09/01/lindsay-lohan-tells-vanity-fair-i-want-my-career-back/" title="">telling everyone how determined she was to make a success of herself again</a>. And now that Machete has reminded us she's an actor, Lohan has never had a better chance to seize upon this newfound momentum.</p><p></p><p>This, however, will require a lot of work on her part. To become the serious actor she's always wanted to be, Lohan should forget about everything – Machete and jail and the slow-motion car crash that is her family life – and just start from scratch. Starring in a play, with its rehearsals and routine and scheduled performances, might be the perfect way to help her regain some discipline. And then, following that, Lohan would be best advised to clock on as a supporting actress for a while. Machete has already proved what an effective scene stealer she is, so a few years of well-picked bit-parts should be enough to prove she's reliable and talented enough to handle her own vehicles again.</p><p></p><p>Of course, role selection needs to be at the heart of everything. Lohan will only ever be as good as the parts she plays, so she and her advisers need to seriously consider every professional decision she makes from now on.</p><p></p><p>Then again, the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70lwALlvTx8&feature=player_embedded" title="">trailer for her next film, Underground Comedy</a> – written, starring and directed by a man primarily known for advertising kitchen products – contains defecating supermodels, a character called The Naked Asian and two scenes of necrophilia. So, on reflection, maybe we shouldn't hold our breath for a complete revival just yet.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/lindsay-lohan">Lindsay Lohan</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/stuart-heritage">Stuart Heritage</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/vcl3Lv7rff4h-hDBTrOfOJwWjN8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/vcl3Lv7rff4h-hDBTrOfOJwWjN8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/vcl3Lv7rff4h-hDBTrOfOJwWjN8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/vcl3Lv7rff4h-hDBTrOfOJwWjN8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Lindsay Lohan Film Culture guardian.co.uk Blogposts http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/sep/06/machete-lindsay-lohan Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:35:12 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/sep/06/al-gore-rachel-carson-school/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/47697?ns=guardian&pageName=Naming+a+school+after+Al+Gore+and+Rachel+Carson+is+a+mistake+%7C+Leo+Hickm%3AArticle%3A1448123&ch=Environment&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Environment%2CEducation%2CAl+Gore%2CWorld+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CClimate+Change%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CEthical+Living&c6=Leo+Hickman&c7=10-Sep-06&c8=1448123&c9=Article&c10=Blogpost%2CComment&c11=Environment&c13=&c25=Environment+blog&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEnvironment%2Fblog%2FEnvironment+blog" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">A new elementary school in Los Angeles named after giants of environmental movement is courting needless controversy</p><p>Here's a problem for any new school: what to call yourself. Do you opt for an iconic figure from history? Or what about a name which reflects the school's location? The first rule, however, should be not to choose a name that can in any way be deemed controversial. In other words, avoid any name that even has a passing whiff of politics about it.</p><p>Bottom of the class, then, for the governors of a <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gore-school-20100906,0,719678.story">new school set to open this month</a> in Los Angeles. Not content - and who can blame them - with the name "Central Region Elementary School #13", as their new school was being described by <a href="http://www.jdba-arch.com/cres.htm">architects</a> and the local board of education, the school-naming committee decided to pick one of six possible suggestions.</p><p>The first suggestion - the Pete Seeger Community School, in honour of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Seeger">folk singer</a> - was rejected because the singer had "affiliations with the Communist party".</p><p>Such a decision suggests that the committee members were astute enough to avoid controversy. But this conclusion crumbles to dust when you hear what name they finally settled on: the Carson-Gore Academy of Environmental Sciences.</p><p>To name your school after one controversial figure might be judged careless by some. But to name it after two just seems positively reckless. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/mar/16/climate-change-al-gore">Al Gore</a>, the former US vice-president and force behind <a href="http://www.climatecrisis.net/">An Inconvenient Truth</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Carson">Rachel Carson</a>, the author of the seminal environmental text <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/27/50-books-sustainability-cambridge">Silent Spring</a>, are deemed by many to be giants of the modern environmental movement. But they are also among its most divisive figures.</p><p>The school-naming committee surely must have known that by picking such an eye-catching name they would be casting an unnecessary spotlight on their new school?</p><p>Don't get me wrong: personally, I think it is refreshing that a public elementary school wishes to give such a heavy emphasis in its curriculum to environmental science. But, equally, there will be many out there – not least, the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/aug/31/tea-party-candidates-climate-change">Glenn Beck/Tea Party contingent</a> – who will think this is nothing less than the devil's work, with or without reference to Carson and Gore. (Just as I was writing this sentence, I noticed that the rightwing site NewsBusters had got hold of the news and <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/09/06/school-named-after-al-gore-and-rachel-ddt-carson-built-toxic-soil">reacted with predictable results</a>.)</p><p>Spin it round the other way: would environmentalists be happy if a school was named after Glenn Beck? It doesn't even bear thinking about. That's my point.</p><p>The Los Angeles Times, which <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gore-school-20100906,0,719678.story">broke this story earlier today</a>, is not really focusing on the naming of the school. It says the source of a bigger controversy is that the $75.5m school has been built on contaminated soil. It quotes a letter from a local environmental group called the <a href="http://www.calisafe.org/">California Safe Schools</a> coalition which says the site has not been cleaned up properly:</p><blockquote><p>Renaming this terribly contaminated school after famous environmental advocates is an affront to the great work that these individuals have done to protect the public's health from harm.</p></blockquote><p>I don't know the ins and outs of this particular clean-up operation, but I would have thought the rules in California for cleaning up brownfield sites, particular if they are to be used to build schools, must be pretty exacting. Therefore, this is possibly the one time when Rachel Carson's name might actually seem appropriate for a school. But I can also understand why these parents are concerned that the site be unequivocally cleansed of the benzene, ethylbenzene, naphthalene, tetrachloroethylene, vinyl chloride and trimethylbenzene which California's <a href="http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/">Department of Toxic Substances Control</a> said (<a href="http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/SiteCleanup/Projects/upload/CRES_13_PN_dRAP.pdf">pdf</a>) it had detected in soil at the site before the clean-up began.</p><p>Meanwhile, the LA Times reports that the school principal <a href="http://www.friendsofkurtlowry.com/">Kurt Lowry</a> says he intends to invite both Al Gore and members of Rachel Carson's family to the school's official opening in October. It adds:</p><blockquote><p>Lowry said the school's environmental emphasis will do Gore proud, including recycling projects and research and beach cleanups. Cross-curriculum efforts will include environmental speeches and presentations in English, topsoil measurements in math and climate study in science. The principal also envisions an organic garden that could produce a student-led farmer's market.</p></blockquote><p>No word yet on whether the pupils will get to watch An Inconvenient Truth in class. If they do, the school best prepare itself for a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/may/28/rightwing-group-climate-change">fresh round of outrage and controversy</a>.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/algore">Al Gore</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/leohickman">Leo Hickman</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/ydACSX-DiDtnSuz_uQoVSJ-T4yo/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/ydACSX-DiDtnSuz_uQoVSJ-T4yo/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/ydACSX-DiDtnSuz_uQoVSJ-T4yo/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/ydACSX-DiDtnSuz_uQoVSJ-T4yo/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Environment Education Al Gore World news guardian.co.uk Blogposts Comment http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/sep/06/al-gore-rachel-carson-school Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:29:09 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/06/mediaguardian-10-years-change/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/29983?ns=guardian&pageName=Mediaguardian.co.uk%3A+a+constant+over+10+years+of+change%3AArticle%3A1447185&ch=Media&c3=Guardian&c4=Digital+media%2CThe+Guardian+%28Media%29%2CMedia&c5=Press+Media%2CDigital+Media%2CMedia+Weekly&c6=Emily+Bell&c7=10-Sep-06&c8=1447185&c9=Article&c10=Comment%2CBlogpost&c11=Media&c13=&c25=Organ+Grinder+blog&c30=content&h2=GU%2FMedia%2FDigital+media" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">How a simple concept has survived and blossomed in a changing media landscape</p><p>When MediaGuardian.co.uk started a decade ago it was underpinned by a simple concept; to tell desk-bound people in the media industry what was going on, on a minute-by-minute basis.</p><p>Sceptics were dubious of its appeal. A web-based wire-type service for the media industry would, they confidently predicted, have no traction in a market already drowning in trade press.</p><p>But, like so many of the first wave of content websites, it surpassed some expectations and undershot others. Its audience figures and page impressions took off at a trajectory and speed that would not have shamed Concorde. As with every website at the time, audience estimates were dramatically under-forecasted and revenue modelling was wildly over-optimistic. Some things, it seems, have not changed that much, except now we are used to much higher reach and readership figures coming from the web.</p><p>The major changes to the industry and its coverage have been acute in the past decade; nearly every quality national newspaper supported a media section, now only a couple do. MediaGuardian.co.uk had the web frontier pretty much to itself for the first few years. It was probably protected by a mixture of trepidation from others and the ferociously energetic editing of Lisa O'Carroll who made sure that no story went uncovered and built a reputation for the site which meant that few people in the industry were immune to its allure. Some of the same arguments rehearsed 10 years ago are being advanced now. In 2001 and 2002 there was a brief flaring of popularity for paywalls and registration systems, and mediaguardian briefly went behind a registration wall. Apart from the dramatic impact on traffic, the key result was the number of PAs to senior media executives who would ring up to complain their boss was unable to access the site or had forgotten their password.</p><p>In terms of how best to manage advertising inventory and audiences, not much has changed about websites. But just about everything else relating to audiences, habits and consumption has. Most of us now, I suspect, turn first to a social filter on our media news; Twitter or another aggregated feed, before following links to stories or bookmarking individual sites. The trade press and media sections which courted the industry in print are dramatically diminished; Media Week and Press Gazette, for example, have both abandoned weekly printing. The Financial Times used to have a separate media section, now has no dedicated media space, ditto the Times. Money for recruitment has drained away from the sector and with it much advertising supported coverage.</p><p>But two changes have overshadowed all others - the availability of free publishing software to anyone who wishes to start a blog or gain a web presence, and structural convergence necessitating a different sort of coverage. Websites from Techcrunch to journalism.co.uk, the social media site Mashable and the Beehive City blog inject new ideas on how to reach the increasingly mobile and socially informed industry. Real-time coverage really is now.</p><p>The next wave of journalism picking through the communications revolution's entrails could be yet more fragmented, only available on certain devices, or totally networked through whatever social media phenomenon comes next. But even those keen to read the last rites over journalism would find it hard to look at how things were 10 years ago, and the chaotic, vibrant mix of new voices now, and conclude the coverage is diminished.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/digital-media">Digital media</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/theguardian">The Guardian</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/emilybell">Emily Bell</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/fCPueBKcdWdQEcEXaUxFkfNOh3c/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/fCPueBKcdWdQEcEXaUxFkfNOh3c/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/fCPueBKcdWdQEcEXaUxFkfNOh3c/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/fCPueBKcdWdQEcEXaUxFkfNOh3c/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Digital media The Guardian Media The Guardian Comment Blogposts http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/06/mediaguardian-10-years-change Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:59:41 GMT