The Independent 21 February 2016

2
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THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

21 FEBRUARY 2016
NEWS | EXCLUSIVE
CONTENTS
21|02|2016
NEWS
Hospitals are missing

basic targets, while
expanding private care
P11
WORLD NEWS
Violent student protests

erupt as Indian government
cracks down on dissent
P30
COMMENT
Grown men need to realise

that chasing teenage girls
is no longer acceptable
P36
TRAVEL
Great holiday ideas from

Kent to Japan ... via Vienna,
New York and Chamonix
P43-51
SPORT
All the reports and

analysis from the fifth
round of the FA Cup
P1-7
Harry Potter grows up, plus

Turkish food, Dutch design
and a Californian cowboy
Arts
Books
Mr Sunday Night Telly,

Tom Hollander, on how
Trollope is his Mad Max
WEATHER
CROSSWORDS
Cold. Milder in
the South P41
Prize and
Concise P41
Beelzebub,
The New
Review P37
LOTTO
2, 17, 35, 41, 57,
59. (B)42
Recycled paper made up 78% of the raw

material for UK newspapers in 2012
Key British railway stations

earmarked for privatisation
Sale of up to 18 landmark sites nationwide would raise billions for cash-strapped Network Rail
By Mark Leftly
DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR
State-backed Network Rail is considering selling its biggest stations

to developers and shopping centre
landlords in its rst substantial act
of privatisation since moving on to
the Governments books nearly 18
months ago.
Bankers at Citigroup have been
hired to look at options for 18 major
stations, such as London Waterloo,
Reading, Leeds and Edinburgh
Waverley, which most eyecatchingly include either outright
sales or the handing of concessions
to big rms that would last decades.
Any sales, which could raise billions according to industry sources,
would help to reduce Network
Rails crippling debt, estimated to
top 50bn by 2020, as well as
streamline what is considered an
overly complicated organisation.
Ministers want to overhaul Network Rail, which runs and maintains
20,000 miles of track and 40,000
bridges and tunnels, at a time when
its largely Victorian-era infrastructure struggles to cope with the
highest number of passengers travelling by train since the 1920s.
Officials were shocked to discover
the extent of Network Rails problems when it moved from being a
semi-autonomous body to a formal
part of government in September
2014, on the recommendation of
the Office for National Statistics, to
meet European accounting rules.
The Transport Secretary, Patrick
McLoughlin, forced Network Rail
to pause two major electrication projects on the Trans-Pennine
and Midland Mainline routes last
year following fears over spiralling
construction costs. There have also
been embarrassing engineering
over-runs that have led to chaotic
scenes during rush hours at London Bridge, Kings Cross and
St Pancras station in London already has retail premises AFP/GETTY
Paddington, and the organisations

chairman, Richard Parry-Jones, was
axed and replaced by the Transport
for London commissioner Sir Peter
Hendy last summer.
Network Rail, the Treasury and
the Department for Transport have
commissioned a series of reviews of
the organisation and have asked advisers to raise money by selling
chunks of a vast property portfolio.
Space under railway arches is rented
out to businesses such as motor
workshops and nightclubs.
A review by Nicola Shaw, the highly regarded chief executive of the
High Speed One link that runs from
St Pancras in London to the Channel
tunnel in Kent, is considering
privatising the whole of Network
Rail. The forthcoming report could
also recommend it remains in
the public sector, but allows
infrastructure projects to be partnanced through private money.
Privatisation looks likely to start

earlier through the sale of a number
of large stations, though the candidates ripe for private ownership have
not yet been identied. Birmingham
New Street, Bristol Temple Meads,
Manchester Piccadilly and Charing
Cross in London are among the
properties in this portfolio of bigger
stations. Experts and ministers think
that managing these stations has distracted Network Rail from its main
task of making sure the track works
properly and safely.
Not all stations would be sold,
with several of them unavailable as
they are undergoing substantial
expansion work over the next ve
years. Options will also include
asking rms to run just the shops
in the stations, grouping several
together for sale, or offering individual concessions.
The concession model has been
used at St Pancras station. This is
run by HS1, which in turn is managed

by Canadian pension funds on a 30year concession, having paid 2.1bn
for the privilege in 2010.
A Network Rail source told The
Independent on Sunday that Citi has
been asked to pull together options
to realise best value from our stations. The source added: It could
be just the retail; it could be a concession option like St Pancras. It
could be some, could be all. It might
be same answer for all or treating
them individually.
The point is there are lots of possibilities. Citi is testing the market
so there will be lots of opinions out
there and none of them right, as our
board will make that decision some
months down the line from now.
But rms that bid against Citi for
the work pointed out the hiring of a
heavyweight US bank in Citi meant
that sales were inevitable, given it
tends to specialise in outright divestments rather than reviews. They
will gauge investor interest [in
sales], said a source.
A second source said: Any concessions would have to be more than
10 years in order to attract companies to invest. Some of the older
stations would need them to put in
quite a lot of investment.
This source added that Citi could
see if train-operating companies,
such as Virgin, would like to manage
stations. The bankers could woo developers such as British Land, which
owns the Broadgate office complex
in the City of London, and shopping
centre owners, such as Californiabased Westeld Group.
A Network Rail spokesman said:
Generating funds to invest in building a bigger, better railway is at the
core of our disposals strategy. Were
taking a long hard look at our assets,
ensuring we keep what we need to
grow and expand the railway, but then
looking at ways we can realise best
value from the rest to reinvest.
Hundreds to be evicted in Calais camp clearance

By Henry Austin
Hundreds of migrants could

be forcibly removed from a
camp in the French port of Calais known as the Jungle, unless
they voluntarily leave by Tuesday night, prompting an outcry
from charities and activists.
The local authority has issued
a decree ordering the southern
part of the camp to be cleared
by 8pm. After this deadline, if
they have not left the area, the
evacuation of the occupants of
this area will take place, if necessary by force, it said.
Temporary shops, cafs,
churches and mosques will also

be razed. The migrants, many of
whom are Syrian or Iraqi, have
previously said they would resist
the move, despite promises from
officials that heated shipping containers would be provided as an
alternative.
The authorities said up to 1,000
people could be affected, but
volunteers on the ground estimated that at least twice that
number lived in the area. Eight
associations working in the
camp, including Doctors of the
World, warned the alternative
accommodation is very far from
answering the needs of the prob-
lems encountered in a letter to

the French interior minister.
Help Refugees also claimed
that essential services including a clinic, a mental health
centre and an aid distribution
centre would also be destroyed.
Philli Boyle, the charitys Calais
manager, told LBC Radio that if
people were forced out it was a
distinct possibility that they
would form smaller camps along
the coast. The French authorities
dont appear to have provided for
enough people, she said. Who
is going to look after them?
The southern part of the Jungle is
to be cleared by 8pm on Tuesday AFP
EU DEAL PAGE 8

21 FEBRUARY 2016
MMMM
NEWS
Lift,
the universe
and everything
For 24 hours, Shia LaBeouf invites onlookers to squash into an elevator and talk, then he gives Katie Grant a hug
s the Hollywood actor

Shia LaBeouf emerged
bleary-eyed from a
nondescript building
in Oxford yesterday
he extended his arms and gave me
a hug. Nice to meet you, said the
29-year-old star of the Transformers franchise before strolling away,
trailed by a crowd of admirers.
LaBeouf had spent the previous
24 hours inside a lift at an English
language college. He wasnt trapped:
he was showcasing a new piece of
performance art, a eld he has been
exploring with remarkable gusto in
recent years.
Dubbed #ELEVATE, the act of
enforced intimacy called for LaBeouf and two artistic collaborators,
Nastja Ronkko and Luke Turner, to
inhabit the tiny lift. Members of the
public some of whom queued for
12 hours for the privilege were then
invited to join the trio in the elevator and ask questions.
LaBeouf, whose forays into performance art include an appearance

at the Berlin International Film Festival wearing a paper bag on his head
bearing the words I am not famous
anymore, left the lift for an hour on
Friday evening to address Oxford
Universitys debating society. He was
inside the lift for the other 23 hours
and forbidden to sleep.
The performance began with little
fanfare on Friday morning when
eight people gathered outside the
lift for a chance to squeeze in with
the actor. Word spread quickly and
by Friday afternoon hordes had congregated outside the college. As the
hours passed, some gave up and
slipped away, but plenty more prepared to bed down for the night.
I was pissed after I left a club but
I had to stay, said Conor, a student,
who spent an uncomfortable night
waiting to meet the star.
Another student in the queue, 19year-old Ellie, compared LaBeouf
LaBeouf after
24 hours in the
lift (top). Above:
waiting to talk
to the actor
TOM PILSTON
with musics great attention-seeker,

Kanye West. However, she insisted,
LaBeoufs stunts are more meaningful than the hip-hop stars antics.
Its like Marilyn Monroe, she
mused. She wanted to be more than
an actress. Shias gone from being
an actor to something else .... Hes
this weird gure now.
The pair denied they were fans

of LaBeouf, though, a sentiment
echoed by the majority of the crowd
lined up to meet him.
At 8am two more students, Cameron, 24, and Joshua, 23, came out of
the lift having enjoyed a lengthy
theological discussion with LaBeouf
after a 12-hour wait.
Hes such a genuine, awesome
guy, Cameron enthused. He kept
stressing we are all equals.
Joshua nodded, but added: Im
not a fan.
When LaBeouf nally left the lift
at 9am he paused momentarily by
the doors, allowing those outside to
capture the moment on their phones.
Then the elusive star quickly turned
and climbed a ight of stairs to fetch
his belongings.
As the crowd awaited his return,
Conor remarked: I dont know why
he didnt just get the lift.
BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL PAGE 22

21 FEBRUARY 2016
NEWS | EU REFERENDUM
he battle over Britains

future in the European
Union exploded into life
yesterday after Michael
Gove attacked David
Camerons central claim that the
countrys national security would
be endangered by a vote to leave.
In a strongly worded statement
released minutes after yesterdays
emergency Cabinet meeting, Mr
Gove warned that the EUs policies
were allowing terrorists to roam
freely on the Continent, fuelling the
rise of neo-Nazi parties and opening
up historic tensions between rival
European powers.
It came after Mr Cameron, addressing the country outside No 10,
warned that leaving Europe was a
threat to national security. He also
conrmed the in/out referendum
would take place on Thursday 23
June ring the starting gun on a
four-month campaign.
The Prime Minister was backed
by Theresa May and George Osborne during yesterdays historic
Cabinet meeting the first to be
called on a Saturday since 1939 exposing a rift over national security
at the heart of the Government.
Mr Goves intervention came on
a day of fast-moving events after Mr
Cameron secured his landmark EU
renegotiation late on Friday night
after 31 hours of talks in Brussels.
After brieng the Cabinet on his
agreement for just over two hours
yesterday morning, Mr Cameron suspended collective government
responsibility to allow ministers to
campaign against his reforms.
Five full Cabinet ministers John
Whittingdale, Theresa Villiers,
Michael Gove, Chris Grayling and
Iain Duncan Smith immediately
took advantage, leaving Downing
Street by the back entrance and boarding a waiting car which took them to
the Vote Leave campaign HQ.
They were joined by the employment minister Priti Patel tipped as
a future leadership contender. However, the London Mayor, Boris
Johnson, was last night refusing to
reveal his position leaving the Prime
Minister to sweat until he reveals
proposals to guarantee Parliaments
sovereignty over Brussels.
Mr Johnson is understood to
be leaning towards backing the
Leave campaign and could make a
statement tonight.
During Cabinet, Mr Duncan Smith

made a plea for Tory unity admitting his own leadership had been
torn apart by rows over Europe.
However, in an exclusive interview with The Independent on
Sunday an hour after Cabinet nished, Energy Secretary Amber Rudd
took a swipe at the Mr Johnson suggesting he had a responsibility to
back the remain campaign so as to
maintain the capitals position as the
worlds leading nancial centre.
Ms Rudd said, as London Mayor,
Mr Johnson needed to consider the
economic security of the capital. I
hope hell think about what is best
for families, for consumers, for
London, for businesses.
It came as doubts emerged over
Mr Camerons EU reform package.
The IoS can reveal that the German
Chancellor, Angela Merkel, warned
the Prime Minister that his pledge
to change the EU treaties to lock in
his reforms may never happen.
A leaked diplomatic report of the
Brussels talks reveals that Ms Merkel told fellow EU leaders not to be
overly concerned about Mr Camerons demand for treaty changes
because on the question of amending the Treaties, we do not know if we
ever will have a change of them. The
revelation undermines a key claim of
Mr Camerons renegotiation.
The Prime Minister boasted that
Britain would get a special exemption from ever closer union and
protections for the City of London
guaranteed in treaty change.
It also emerged yesterday that Mr
Camerons success in negotiating an
REMAIN CALM
Amber Rudd:
Yesterdays
Cabinet meeting
was emotional
JUSTIN SUTCLIFFE
emergency brake on benets for

EU citizens which is unlikely to
come into force until mid 2017
could lead to a spike in migration as
workers attempt to move to the UK
before the new rules apply.
Speaking outside No 10 at 12.10pm
yesterday, the Prime Minister insisted the deal gave Britain a special
status in the EU and urged voters
to back Britains continued membership. He announced that the Cabinet
agreed that the Governments official
position was to recommend that
Britain remain in the EU.
Mr Cameron described the choice
as one of the biggest decisions this
country will face in our lifetimes.
He said: The question is, will we
be safer, stronger and better off working together in a reformed Europe
or out on our own?
I believe we will be safer in a reformed Europe, because we can work
with our European partners to ght
cross-border crime and terrorism.
He added: Let me be clear. Leaving Europe would threaten our
economic and our national security.
Those who want to leave Europe
cannot tell you if British businesses
would be able to access Europes free
trade single market or if working
peoples jobs are safe, or how much
prices would rise. All they are offering is risk at a time of uncertainty a
leap in the dark. But he added:
The choice is in your hands.
Mr Camerons warning about
the threat to national security of
pulling out of the EU was echoed
by a series of senior Tory gures.
Rob Halfon, deputy chairman of
the Conservative Party, said
he supported the in
campaign because
of the threats of Islamism, terrorism,
Syria and the emergent Russia. Former
Fo re i g n S e c re tary Sir Malcolm
Rifkind, claimed
they would be
dancing in the
Kremlin if Britain
left the EU.
But Mr Gove,
the Justice Secretary, insisted
Britains national security was
under threat
from the EU. He
Tories start their

stand-off over
national security
The jostling for position begins, with the Justice Secretarys claim that EU
policies allow terrorists to roam freely, and the Energy Secretarys belief that
greater safety comes from sharing. Tom McTague and Mark Leftly report
Jeremy Corbyn
Reluctant
EU supporter
Nicola Sturgeon
First Minister of Scotland
George
Osborne
Leaving
the EU is
"a huge leap
in the dark"
David Cameron
"My recommendation is clear:
I believe that Britain will be
safer, stronger and better off
by remaining in a reformed
European Union"
Nicky Morgan
Education Secretary
Sajid Javid
Business
Secretary:
a pragmatic
decision
about what
is best for
business
and jobs

21 FEBRUARY 2016
MMMM
THE MARATHON FINAL LAP, P6 | NEWS
WHOS IN AND WHOS OUT

John Rentoul looks at the balance of opinion
for and against Britain's membership of the
European Union in the campaign for the
referendum, which the Prime Minister
announced yesterday would be on 23 June
REMAIN
LEAVE
CABINET
17
Priti Patel
Employment Minister,
attending Cabinet
Chris Grayling
Leader of the House
of Commons
Michael Gove
Justice Secretary: "Leave
an EU mired in the past and
embrace a better future"
5
CONSERVATIVE MPs
65 undeclared
122
142
BRITISH ELECTORATE
54%
46%
SOURCES: IOS RESEARCH; AVERAGE OF FOUR MOST
RECENT OPINION POLLS: TNS, ICM, IPSOS MORI AND
COMRES (TWO ONLINE AND TWO PHONE POLLS)
Boris Johnson
"I'm going to wait until
the PM does his deal
and then I will come
off the fence with
deafening clat"
Nigel Farage
Ukip leader:
"This is a truly
pathetic deal"
said the EU had been a failure on so

many fronts, including the euro and
migration. He added: Far from providing security in an uncertain world,
the EUs policies have become a
source of instability and insecurity.
Razor wire once more crisscrosses the Continent, historic
tensions between nations such as
Greece and Germany have resurfaced
in ugly ways, and the EU is proving
incapable of dealing with the current
crises in Libya and Syria. The former
head of Interpol says the EUs internal borders policy is like hanging a
sign welcoming terrorists to Europe,
and Scandinavian nations which once
prided themselves on their openness
are now turning in on themselves.
All of these factors, combined
with popular anger at the lack of
political accountability, has encouraged extremism to the extent that
far-right parties are stronger across
the Continent than at any time since
the 1930s.
But speaking to The IoS, Ms Rudd
dismissed his claim and said national
George
Galloway
Former
Respect
MP: the EU
is a "corrupt
austerity
machine"
security would be a key issue in the

campaign. That wider impact on
security in an unfriendly world,
where there are groups who really
want to attack our values, who want
to try and bomb us on the streets of
London what does the EU do for us
there? I would say quite a lot.
Ms Rudd revealed that every member of the Cabinet spoke at yesterdays
meeting. Over Murray Mints and
water, Mrs May, the Home Secretary,
told her colleagues that security was
a paramount issue and that the UK
beneted from the European Arrest
Warrant to extradite wanted criminals from other member states.
Ministers spoke without notes
and, largely, without pre-prepared
speeches to make sure their arguments were seen as heartfelt.
Ms Rudd, whose PR supremo
brother Roland is one of the main
architects of the Remain campaign,
said the meeting was respectful, with
the Government trying to make sure
the Tories do not risk the sort of
splits over Europe that blighted John
Majors premiership in the 1990s.
She said: It was affectionate and
quite emotional really The tone
was unequivocally supportive.
Ms Rudd also insisted that Mr Cameron retains sufficient support among
even his Eurosceptic colleagues that
he would not resign in the event of
losing the referendum, saying, hes
hugely respected by both sides.
LEADING ARTICLE PAGE 37
MMMM

21 FEBRUARY 2016
The 31-hour
marathon B
destined to
save the day
Powered by pizza and coffee, David Camerons

efforts paid off. Political Editor Tom McTague
was at the leaders meeting in Brussels
y 4pm on Friday, David

Cameron was finally
starting to fade. Twentyfive hours of talks had
failed to wear down the
hardline bloc of east European leaders working in a pack to stop the
Prime Minister taking away child
benefit from immigrant families.
Retreating to the UKs drab, airconditioned conference room deep
in the heart of Brussels Justus Lipsius building, the Prime Ministers
entourage fell silent to let him rest.
Mr Cameron had hoped to be back
in Britain by this point, addressing
the nation from outside No 10, but
had been taken aback by the Polishled resistance to his plans.
He had made progress on three of
his four baskets of demands, but
was still some distance from agreeing a deal to reduce child benet and
impose an emergency brake on
European Union migrants access to
tax credits. Aides ordered pepperoni
pizza from a nearby takeaway, resigning themselves to another late-night
round of talks with no end in sight.
Until then, the Prime Minister had
sustained himself on a diet of Haribo
sweets, wine gums and coffee, after
an early morning breakfast of scrambled eggs at the British residence.
Outside, delegations from the awkward squad of countries opposed to

21 FEBRUARY 2016
THE IMPACT ON MIGRATION | NEWS
his plans began to emerge ltering

into the giant press pit in the middle
of the building to brief against the
British demands. The Polish head of
the European Council, Donald Tusk,
arranged a fresh round of meetings
between Mr Cameron and the leaders refusing to back down.
A working breakfast to resolve the
dispute scheduled for 10am had
already been put back six times. At
5.30pm, news flashed on to big
screens around the conference hall
that the English breakfast would
be an English dinner and would go
ahead at 8pm with a nal draft deal.
Britains place in Europe was resting
on whether or not 34,000 children
of east European migrants could
carry on receiving full child benet,
at a cost of 25m a year to the taxpayer about 0.2 per cent of Britains
11bn annual payment to the EU.
British demands for the EU to become more competitive had been
agreed early on, and the Belgian government had been appeased over its
concerns about the rejection of ever
closer union. The UK would get a
special opt-out while every other
EU country was still expected to
move towards deeper integration.
Franois Hollande had also been
paid off after kicking up a fuss about
Mr Camerons demand for special
protection for the City of London.
The French president was given assurances Britain would not be able
to veto eurozone integration. But the
Polish-led group of four east European countries also the Czech
Republic, Hungary and Slovakia
were still digging in their heels.
In the opening discussions on
Thursday, Mr Cameron called for an
emergency brake, allowing him to
reduce in-work benets for EU migrants, to last 13 years with an initial
period of seven years which could
be twice extended for three years.
Downing Street always knew this
would be knocked down and were
happy as long as it did not fall below
seven years. We had done quite a
lot of work in the run up, building up
support for our proposal. The Commission and the Council were on
board but we decided to bid high to
start with, a senior source said.
A couple of hours before the dinner, Mr Tusk agreed to put forward
a compromise proposal for one
seven-year brake, but it was still unclear whether the Poles would agree
to it, having originally demanded
that it be limited to ve years. In faceto-face talks the Polish PM Beata
Szydlo had refused to compromise
either on the brake or on cuts to child
benet. Weary No 10 aides said the
V4 groups hardline approach was
in contrast to what they had indicated in private beforehand.
The Poles had agreed to the principle of indexing child benet based
on each countrys living standards,
but were not prepared to allow a cut
for anyone already getting the payment. Mr Cameron said this was
unacceptable because it would mean
full child benefit still being sent
abroad in 2031.
Mr Tusk suggested a transitional
period during which migrant workers could carry on claiming child
benet until 2020. In private meetings with Mr Tusk, the PM had made
clear he would not be prepared to
accept a transition period lasting any
longer. When the deal was put on the
table over a dinner of veal llet and
passion fruit bavarois, the east Europeans gave way, sparking a series of
relieved tweets from European leaders that the drama was over.
As journalists began streaming upstairs to wait for Mr Camerons 11pm
press conference, a group of diplomats assembled in the downstairs
press bar. Led by Jonathan Faull, the
British director general of the European Commission Jean-Claude
Junckers chief negotiator they
clinked glasses to celebrate. Asked
whether or not the deal would be
supported in Britain, Mr Faul seemed
unsure, saying: It shows Europe listened and responded. I hope people
in Britain understand that. That, of
course, remains to be seen.
Franois
Hollande
(above); Donald
Tusk (right);
David Cameron
in talks
WHATS IN
THE DEAL?
1) IN-WORK BENEFITS
Conservative 2015 manifesto

We will insist that EU migrants who
want to claim tax credits and child
benet must live here and contribute
to our country for a minimum of
four years.
Draft deal Agreed, but: a) as
an emergency provision for an
unspecied length of time; b) rights
to benets must phase in over the
four years; and c) the change to
EU law has to be approved by the
European Parliament.
Final deal Emergency brake
would last for seven years (David
Cameron wanted 13), benets
would phase in (UK Government to
propose how), but Martin Schulz,
President of the European
Parliament, said he that could not
guarantee approval.
Verdict David Cameron has broadly
got what he promised, but has
to phase some benets back in

and the deal isnt as watertight as
he wanted.
2) CHILD BENEFIT
Conservative 2015 manifesto

If an EU migrants child is living
abroad, then they should receive no
child benet or child tax credit, no
matter how long they have worked in
the UK and no matter how much tax
they have paid.
Draft deal Child benet would
continue to be paid, but at the rate
applying in the childs country.
Final deal This reduction would apply
to new claimants straight away, but
to existing claimants only after 2020.
Verdict David Cameron has conceded
ground, partly because he accepted
that cutting child benet altogether
would increase the incentive for
EU workers to bring their children
with them to the UK.
3) PROTECTION FOR NON-EURO

COUNTRIES
Conservative 2015 manifesto We

will protect our economy from any
further integration of the eurozone.
Draft deal Measures taken by euro
countries shall respect the competences, rights and obligations of
member states whose currency
is not the euro.
Final deal Despite last-minute
French objections, Cameron
secured
additional right for just
one country, such as the UK, to
raise objections
at EU Council.
Verdict Promise delivered.
4) EVER CLOSER UNION
Conservative 2015
manifesto We want an end to
our commitment to an ever
closer union, as enshrined in the
treaty to which every EU country has

to sign up.
Draft deal It is recognised that the
United Kingdom is not committed
to further political integration into
the European Union. And EU leaders
promise that this exclusion will be
written into future treaties.
Final deal Just to be sure, it adds:
References to ever closer union do
not apply to the United Kingdom.
Verdict It was never clear
whether this would have any
legal effect, but the promise
has been delivered.
5) MORE POWER FOR
NATIONAL PARLIAMENTS
Conservative 2015
manifesto We want
national parliaments to
be able to work together
to block unwanted
European legislation.
Draft deal Red card system

whereby national parliaments
representing 55 per cent of EU
population can block new EU law.
Final deal Conrmed.
Verdict Hardline Outs wanted a veto
for the UK Parliament, but that was
never possible. Promise delivered.
6) SOVEREIGNTY
Separately from the Brussels

negotiations, the Prime Minister has
promised a Sovereignty Act that
would grant the UK Supreme Court
the power, like that of the German
constitutional court, to assess
whether EU law lies within the scope
of EU treaties.
Draft deal Boris Johnson (left) met
Cameron on Thursday and was
said to be not yet convinced by the
proposal.
Verdict Waiting for Boris.
John Rentoul

21 FEBRUARY 2016
EU deal may
attract more
migrants
Those who knew little of the welfare system

before may now hurry to the UK, say critics
of the new deal. Ian Johnston reports
avid Camerons success in negotiating an

emergency brake on
benets for European
Union citizens could
actually lead to a short-term spike
in migration to the UK, followed by
staff shortages for industries heavily
reliant on Eastern European workers, critics of the Prime Ministers
EU deal have said.
Commentators on both sides of the
Brexit debate have said that the brake
in which new arrivals from the EU
will have to wait four years before
they can claim in-work benets will
have little effect on migration. This
is because the majority of migrants
know little about the British welfare
system and are attracted by the wages
on offer. University College London
research found that EU immigrants
were 45 per cent less likely to receive
state benets or tax credits than native Britons between 2000 and 2011.
Jonathan Portes, a former Downing Street economic adviser, said the
benets part of the EU deal was primarily symbolic, with pretty much
universal consensus that it would
have little effect on migration. But
he said one of the real ironies was
it could slightly increase migration
ahead of the application of the sevenyear brake, expected next year.
We have quite a bit of research
that most people in Eastern Europe
dont know very much about the benets system in the UK. Well, they do
now, said Mr Portes, principal
MP Frank Field said the deal could

affect the timing of new arrivals GETTY
research fellow at the National Institute of Economic and Social

Research. The Prime Minister has
spent the last six months engaging
in the biggest, most publicised
awareness campaign about the UK
benets system in Poland [and other
countries]. So its possible some
people will come in advance of the
brake because they know after that
theyll be missing out.
Stressing that welfare payments
were not a major driver of immigration, he welcomed the prospect of
the EU referendum nally putting
an end to the rather tedious political debate about whether the British
electorate had been able to pass

judgement on free movement of people within the 28-nation bloc.
Heres your chance: if you vote to
stay in, well have a clear decision on
free movement. Theres no question
that a vote to remain is a vote on free
movement, he said. In that sense,
it will lance the boil about this unpleasant debate about whether British
people have given their consent.
Labour MP Frank Field, a cochairman of the Parliaments
Cross-Party Group on Balanced
Migration and a reluctant Brexit
supporter, said it would be amazing
if there wasnt a spike in immigration before the brake is applied.
I dont think overall it will make
any difference. It will just change the
timing of when people come. People
thinking of coming will say better
get in now, in case things are difficult
over jobs, he said.
Don Flynn, director of the Migrants Rights Network, said 60 per
cent of EU migrants already had a
job in the UK before coming and the
remainder usually found work shortly after arriving.
He said migrants working in social
care might be most affected by the
changes as they have been encouraged by their employers to make sure
they get all the housing benets and
whatever in-work benets they are
entitled to, because the employer
knows they are paying them effectively the minimum wage for what
is a very demanding job.

21 FEBRUARY 2016
MMMM
JANE MERRICK, P13 | NEWS

COUNTDOWN
TO POLLING DAY
TODAY
should be around six weeks long.
David Cameron will appear on

the BBCs The Andrew Marr Show
this morning. Although the Prime
Minister will be interviewed
separately from the Ukip leader,
Nigel Farage, and Scottish First
Minister and Leader of the SNP,
Nicola Sturgeon, the future of the
EU is certain to be the hot topic. Mr
Farage staunchly supports the
Out campaign, but Mr
Cameron will receive
some support from
Ms Sturgeon,
who is backing
the In camp.
Following the
announcement of
the referendum
date, she said:
[The EU is] not a
perfect institution
and while I believe
it would be best for
Scotland to be in the
EU as an independent
member state,
I believe it is
better for us in all
circumstances to stay
in.
23 MARCH
21-22 FEBRUARY
Uefa Euro 2016

xtures means many
British football fans will be
travelling to France. If home
nations make it through the group
stages, supporters will have to
decide whether to stay in France
or head home to vote. Its now
too late to choose a postal vote
.... Group B teams England and
Wales are playing Slovakia and
Russia respectively on 20 June,
but they could still be in France at
the end of the week if they make
it through to the last 16. Northern
Ireland, in group C, play Germany
on 21 June and will remain in
France if they also progress. The
rst knock-out stage matches of
the tournament are scheduled for
25 June.
The House of Commons recess

begins. The Commons reconvenes
on 11 April.
14 APRIL
The referendum period, which

must last at least 10 weeks, is
likely to begin. This is when the
formal campaign takes place. The
designated Remain and Leave
campaigns can spend
up to 7m each on
campaigning.
5 MAY
The UK heads to the

polling stations for
the London mayoral
election, local elections,
the Scottish Parliament,
the Northern Ireland
Assembly and the
National Assembly
for Wales.
8 JUNE
The deadline
for postal vote
applications.
10 JUNE
Boris Johnson is expected to

announce his allegiance to either
the In or Out capaigns. It will be
a coup for either camp to win the
support of the current Mayor of
London. Bookmakers have said that
despite the odds being in strongly
in favour of Britain staying in the
EU, they could change dramatically
if Mr Johnson decides to back the
opposing campaign.
22 FEBRUARY
Mr Cameron will deliver his

statement to Parliament, in which
he will set out the case for EU
reform. Under the European Union
Referendum Act 2015, a number of
regulations must be passed by both
the Commons and the Lords. These
include setting the date for the
referendum announced yesterday
as 23 June the designation
period, in which lead campaign
groups that will have access to
public funds should be selected by
the Electoral Commission, and the
length of the referendum period,
during which lead-campaigner
spending will be regulated.
3 MARCH
If Parliament
decides to follow
the Electoral
Commissions
recommendation
for a
referendum
campaign
lasting a total
of 16 weeks, it
will begin on
this day with
the designation
period. The
Commission has
recommended that
this stage, in which they
call on campaigners to
register with them and then
select the ofcial Remain
and Leave campaigns,
22 JUNE
Music fans head for Glastonbury

(below) for ve days. Despite a
petition calling for a polling
station on the Somerset
festival site, organisers
say no. It wont be
possible to have an [EU
referendum] polling
station at Glastonbury
2016, they tweeted.
You can register
for postal vote.
23 JUNE
Voters in the
UK will answer
the question:
Should the United
Kingdom remain
a member of the
European Union or
leave the European
Union? Pro-EU
voters will tick to
Remain a member
of the European
Union, while
Eurosceptics will
tick to Leave
the European
Union.
10

21 FEBRUARY 2016
NEWS
Vernon Coaker
(near right); a
1939 march to
mark the Easter
Rising GETTY
Shadow minister
to attend Sinn
Fein conference
Labours Northern Ireland spokesman will go to
Dublin after the Easter Rising commemorations
By Tom McTague
POLITICAL EDITOR
The Labour Party has risked a fresh

row over Irish Republicanism after
agreeing to attend Sinn Feins annual
party conference in Dublin on the
centenary of the Easter Rising.
The shadow Northern Ireland
Secretary, Vernon Coaker, will travel
to the Irish capital on 22 April to
attend the partys special Ard Fheis
gathering, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. However, he will not
be involved in any of the commemoration services for the uprising and
has also been to the other Northern
Irish political party conferences this
year, including the DUP, UUP and
SDLP. He will be attending the Alliance gathering in March.
The Sinn Fein conference marks
the anniversary of the bloody 1916
uprising, which was put down by the
British Army at the cost of 450 lives
and sparked an armed insurrection
that eventually led to Irelands
independence from the UK. Mr
Coakers attendance at the event will
raise fresh concern among Loyalists
in Northern Ireland about Jeremy
Corbyns leadership of the Labour
Party. After he was elected leader
last year Mr Corbyn was condemned
in Parliament over his support for
Sinn Fein during the 1980s, when the
IRA carried out bombing campaigns
in mainland Britain.
In 2003 John McDonnell, now the
shadow Chancellor, said members
of the IRA should be honoured for
their bravery in bringing the government to the negotiating table. He
has a copy of the iconic 1916 proclamation of Irish independence,
Poblacht na hEireann, on his
constituency office wall.
The commemorations for the 1916

uprising began in Ireland last year
and will continue until August but
the main event takes place on Easter
Sunday outside the General Post
Office in Dublin. It will begin with
the reading of the 1916 Proclamation
by a Defence Forces officer.
The Irish president Michael D
Higgins will lay a wreath on behalf
of the people of Ireland, followed by
a minutes silence for all those who
have died taking up arms against
Britain. The national flag will be
raised to full mast and the national
anthem played before a parade led
by the Defence Forces in full military
display. The ceremony will end with
an Air Corps ypast and a 21-gun
salute. On 23 April, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams is due to deliver
a televised address to the Irish nation
followed by a ceremonial reading of
the proclamation of independence
from Britain.
The Easter Rising, which has been
described as the foundation stone of
Irelands independence, lasted for
six days before being crushed by British forces. It led to a landslide victory
for Sinn Fein in the December 1918
general election to Westminster, the
war of independence against Britain
and the creation of the Irish Free
State in 1922.
Mr Coaker said: As shadow Secretary of State I am invited to and
attend all the party conferences of
the main political parties in Northern Ireland.
DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson said
it was a matter for Mr Coakers judgement. He added: The DUP has made
its position clear: we will not be
attending this event but we will be
at events of a discursive rather than
celebratory [nature].
Royston lazy? New MP defends his

silent record in the Commons
By Mark Leftly
Tory MP Royston Smith is the

least active among the 177 MPs
elected for the rst time last year,
parliamentary research reveals.
The Southampton Itchen MP
has made only ve speeches
and asked two questions since
May. Labours Louise Haigh is
the busiest, making 90 speeches
and asking 471 parliamentary
questions.
Mr Smith said: Being bottom of the list is not ideal, but
I wouldnt want to neglect
my constituents just to push
myself up the rankings.
You cant just get up whenever you want in the House of

Commons. In order to speak, you
must rst write to the Speaker
and inform him (or her) you
would like to catch his eye. You
then need to sit throughout the
debate, bobbing up and down, in
the hope you will get called.
I have surgeries every week,
often twice a week, and they are
still full. I was expecting it to tail
off. If and when it does, I will
spend more time on the things
that interest me and perhaps
spend more time sitting in the
Chamber in the hope of catching
the Speakers eye.

21 FEBRUARY 2016
11
MMMM
NEWS
Private care
increases in
lower-rated
hospitals
MISSING TARGETS
Charing Cross
Hospital is part
of the Imperial
College Trust
NHS Trusts are expanding their paid-for

work while missing their quality targets.
By Paul Gallagher and Tom McTague
HS hospitals in
England have been
accused of putting
prot before public
service after a surge
in income from private patients
over the past ve years coincided
with falling standards.
Aggregate income from private
patients jumped from just over
408m in 2010 to 526m last year
a rise of almost 30 per cent according to a parliamentary written
answer by the Health Minister Alistair Burt. And requests sent to
specic trusts revealed that hospitals serving the constituents of the
Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and
his team were among those leading the charge.
Private patient income at Chelsea
and Westminster Hospital, which
serves the Health Minister Jane Ellisons constituents, rose by 88 per
cent, from 8.18m in 2010 to 15.4m
in 2015. The hospital trust received
a Requires Improvement rating
after its last inspection. Although
the regulator found staff to be caring and compassionate, inspectors
said there was potentially an underreporting of patient safety incidents
resulting in death or severe harm.
Medical staffing levels did not meet
recommended standards in A&E
and palliative care.
A spokesperson for Chelsea and
Westminster Hospital said: In
2014/15, our private patient income
was 15.4m, which represents 4.1
per cent of our income that year.
Private patient income allows us
to provide services which we would
be unable to afford with income
derived solely from the NHS.
Royal Surrey County Hospital,
which serves Mr Hunts constituents, increased its private patient
income from 3.16m in 2010 to
4.03m last year. Of the five
trusts that responded to requests for nancial information,
it was the only one to get a
Good CQC rating the others
had Requires Improvement.
Maidstone and Tunbridge
Wells NHS Trusts income from
private patients went up by 81
per cent in the ve-year period
from 3.9m to 6.9m. Imperial
Our private arm

provides valuable
income which is
used to improve
services for all
This is the worst
of marketisation:
focusing on a quick
buck while the
system collapses
JOHN ALEX MAGUIRE
College Healthcare NHS Trust increased its income from private

patients from 31m in 2010 to 43m
in 2015 the largest amount earned
by any acute trust from private patients that year.
The trust has a private arm, Imperial Private Healthcare, which has
facilities at Hammersmith Hospital,
where the A&E department closed
in 2014, and at Charing Cross Hospital, where there has been a campaign
to stop the A&E department being
downgraded. The trust treated 75
per cent of patients within the fourhour target in November and was
given a Requires Improvement rating from the CQC in December 2014.
A trust spokeswoman said: Our core
focus will always be providing NHS
services. Our private arm accounts
for around 4 per cent of turnover. It
provides valuable income which is
used to improve services and
facilities for all.
A late amendment to the 2012
Health and Social Care Act allowed
foundation hospitals to raise 49 per
cent of funds from non-NHS work.
The then Health secretary, Andrew
Lansley, said lifting the private
income cap would benefit NHS
patients. Campaigners said switching to private patients in the face of
huge debts was not the answer.
A spokesman for the Keep Our
NHS Public campaign said: This
shows the worst aspects of the marketisation of the NHS: focusing on
a quick buck while the system around
you collapses. The NHS needs to be
rid of this vampiric spectre once and
for all: healthcare is not about prot,
it is not about competition. Public
funding and public accountability
are what matters. Although the
income from private patients in
English NHS trusts as a percentage
of provider income has barely
changed since the cap was lifted
from 0.71 per cent in 2010 to 0.72
per cent last year shadow Health
Secretary Heidi Alexander (left)
said patients who wait months
for treatment or hours in A&E
will be alarmed: The public
has a right to know what impact
private work has on waiting times.
TRUST IN CRISIS PAGE 18

21 FEBRUARY 2016
13
JANE
MERRICK
ON POLITICS
Those other matters
Whos pulling
Camerons levers?
In defence of
grey Britain
Lithuania
hits the spot
Browns attack
dog returns
Gulping water and in need of an emergency

dispatch of Halls Mentho-Lyptus, David
Cameron merited a prescription from Boots
as well as an award for long service after
reaching a deal with fellow EU leaders.
The Prime Ministers marathon slog on
the issue of Europe has lasted longer than
his 10-year leadership of his party. His
exhaustion on Friday evening was not only
the result of a two-day EU summit, but a
decade of trying to please the Tory right
rst, making concessions on Europe in
order to secure the leadership and, later,
year after year, giving away more ground:
on the triple lock and then the referendum.
And still the sight of a croaky PM having
struck an agreement is not enough for the
leavers but then any deal Cameron negotiated would never have been good enough.
The PM has secured a good deal. Forget
the people who on 23 June will vote to leave
no matter what. Cameron can say to the
rump of undecideds, who feel an instinctive scepticism in their bones and want
some reform in Britains relationship with
Europe, that this is indeed change.
The PM has slayed the beast of evercloser union, ensured the EU is more competitive for British workers and agreed fair
rules on benets for migrants. Now the
referendum battle will dominate the next
four months. Ministers and Whitehall officials, particularly in the Treasury, Home
Office and Foreign Office, will spend time
on the referendum, as well as preparing for
possible Brexit.
Yet, despite Cameron securing reform in
the EU, just think what he could be doing
if the referendum wasnt happening at all.
Having announced that he will not seek
a third term as prime minister in 2020,
he could be free to push ahead with bold,
progressive and radical policies and tackle
the biggest challenges facing Britain without fear from any wing of his party.
Camerons foreign policy agenda has
never been so urgent, with the refugee and
geopolitical crises in Syria the top priority. Back in the UK, the shortage of affordable homes is only getting worse, despite the
PMs new year announcement to relax planning rules to build new houses. The NHS
creaks under strain, and social care continues to be the biggest problem for local government and the health service. There is no
big second-term vision for education.
The most exciting reform this Government has introduced since the election
has been on prisons and rehabilitation. It
is ironic, then, that this policy that could
shore up Camerons legacy as a compassionate, One Nation prime minister comes from the same man who could
end up destroying his premiership. If
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, star of the talks in Brussels last week JULIEN WARNAND/EPA
Justice Secretary Michael Goves endorsement of the Brexit campaign is successful,

surely Camerons resignation will follow,
whatever the PM has said about remaining in post. Eurosceptics will be powerful enough to demand Camerons head.
After all, they have held him in an armlock
for a decade.
National treasures?
It should come as no surprise that I am a supporter of the In campaign, but my fellow
traveller Emma Thompson tested my loyalties last week when she said Britains status as a cake-lled misery-laden grey old
island was why we had to remain in Europe.
Even though she later claimed her
remark was classic British self-deprecating
humour, I felt pangs of defensive national
pride. On the day she made her initial comments, I was walking across the Yorkshire
Wolds, a stunning part of Britain where
even in February there is nothing grey
about the landscape: purple, green, brown
and yellow unfolding under a blue sky.
Thompson later described the reaction
to her remarks as that strange nationalism I dont like. Nationalism can have ugly
connotations, particularly in Britain, but
there is nothing ugly about feeling love for
your country. The point is, I dont see a love
for Britain and wanting to stay in Europe
as mutually exclusive in fact, you can be
proud of this countrys leading EU role.
But heres the problem for the remain
camp: this summer, Britain will be awash
with national pride. In May, there will be
celebrations for the Queens 90th birthday.
In June, England, Wales and Northern Ireland will play in the Euro 2016 tournament
in France. Later in the summer we will be
cheering on Team GB at the Rio Olympics.
The Out campaign will use the ubiquity of the Union ag to harness a sense of
national pride and translate that into why
Brexit makes sense: the challenge is for the
Stronger In camp to capture that same
sense of Britishness for a reason to stay in
the EU.
The Mae West of the Baltic

Angela Merkel is the dominant force in
EU politics but the breakout star in
Brussels last week was Lithuanias
President Dalia Grybauskaite, who had
an almost sardonic take on proceedings
that reminded me of Mae West, declaring:
I think everybody will have their own
drama and then well agree.
Grybauskaite is an old hand at EU
negotiations, having been a European
Commissioner before becoming president
of her country in 2009. She is also
renowned for her black belt in karate.
What is less well known is her love of the
US rock band Aerosmith, tweeting a
picture of herself meeting lead singer
Steve Tyler in 2014. It is not known
whether, during the endless hours of
negotiations, Grybauskaite broke into a
rendition of the Aerosmith/Run DMC hit
Walk This Way.
McBride is back
The return of Damian McBride to frontline politics, as shadow Defence Secretary
Emily Thornberrys adviser, shows that
anyone can be rehabilitated.
McBride, branded the most hated man
in Westminster in 2009 when (as Gordon
Browns spin doctor) he attempted to smear
senior Tories, has one of the sharpest political brains in the business. But is he past his
muck-raking days?
Last week it emerged that Nicholas
Soames, the Tory MP, had sent a rude letter to Thornberry dismissing her request
to meet him for lunch. Will the onetime attack dog be able to resist snapping at the ankles of Winston Churchills
grandson in retaliation?
Twitter: @janemerrick23
14

21 FEBRUARY 2016
NEWS
Hunters retain
lead shot despite
danger to food
After the
shoot, careful
butchering may
lower the risk to
consumers GETTY
Exclusive Children who eat game may become

ill but steel might inict cruelty on wildlife
By Mark Leftly
DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR
The Government is set to ignore

recommendations to ban the use
in guns of lead bullets and shot on
health and environmental grounds,
following a divisive review lasting
six years.
The Lead Ammunition Group
(LAG) passed a report to the Government last year which, sources
have conrmed, advised the phased
replacement of lead ammunition
with other materials. Set up by the
last Labour Government in 2009,
the LAG ended up split on its recommendations, with the
Countryside Alliance among those
that pulled out as the report was
completed, accusing it of bias against

the shooting industry.
In a letter to the Environment
Secretary, Liz Truss, last year, LAG
chairman John Swift said that one
school of thought believed there was
a compelling body of evidence for
the impacts of lead as a toxic
substance. He warned that lead
fragments in game meat were at
levels sufficient to cause signicant
health risks to children and adult
consumers.
Mr Swift added: For small game,
no proposals have been made to the
group for any measure, short of lead
shot replacement, that would ensure
that small game entering the food
chain do not have elevated lead
concentrations.
About 6,000 tons of lead are red

from shotguns and ries every year,
with about 2,000 tons of lead fragments left on the soil which could
be ingested by birds. Mr Swift also
said there were at least 10,000
children living in households where
they could be regularly ingesting
sufficient game shot to cause
neurodevelopmental harm and
other health problems.
Minister are due to meet Mr Swift
next month to discuss their response
to the report, but a Department for
Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
(Defra) source said: Theres no
appetite from Liz and George [Eustice, the farming minister] to do
anything like that [ban lead ammunition]. This review was one of the
last acts of the Labour government

and was hijacked by anti-lead
ammunition groups.
Were struggling to nd time to
work out when we tell the world
what were going to do, which is
nothing. It will get parked somewhere. No action will be taken.
The Countryside Alliance chief
executive, Tim Bonner, said his
group and others, including the Gun
Trade Association, had sent an alternative report based on the same
evidence. However, this concludes
that there is not sufficient reason to
introduce such draconian restrictions, while some Defra officials are
known to believe that replacing lead
with steel could, in fact, be crueller
to wildlife.
Mr Bonner said: We recommend,

for instance, people consider how
to butcher game meat before it is
eaten so as to reduce lead to limit
the risk. LAG was hugely overcomplicated, especially during the last
Parliament in what appeared to be
the hope that a government of a different hue [that would be sympathetic
to LAGs ndings] would be in power
after the 2015 general election.
Asked about his report possibly
being ditched, Mr Swift said he would
cross bridges when I come to them
and insisted the Government was
still considering his ndings ahead
of next months meeting.
A Defra spokeswoman said the
Government would respond soon
to the report.

21 FEBRUARY 2016
15
NEWS
odern cocktail was how

J W Anderson chose to
describe his
autumn/winter 2016 collection.
Really? Does Anderson imagine
women would wear his pile-ups of
green neoprene frills and furbelows,
puffed out like the vocal sacs of a
fat, enraged toad, for a quiet soiree?
Or was he being provocative, combative and challenging?
I suspect the latter. Anderson
enjoys getting peoples hackles up
making us, metaphorically, puff
out and frown at his ying-saucer
hems and zip-ribbed tunics. We also
tut when Anderson pontificates
about abstract themes rather than
tell us why he decided to show rufes and where the leaf studding his
satin tops originated. I suspect some
of that is for effect, to emphasise,
perhaps, how ridiculous it is for us
all to rush backstage and beg explanation of the whys and wherefores
rings of coloured leather about the

knee. Coupling those saturn rings
with the wide-cut puritan collars and
those ribbity frog ounces, and it felt
like Anderson was trying physically
to distance his wearer from her
surroundings. Perhaps protectively,
perhaps simply misanthropically. Perhaps also to allow a woman to exist
in her own space, without intrusion,
behind heavy-duty metal grommeting as armour. Anderson mentioned
that he likes to be confrontational
backstage: maybe he didnt just mean
in terms of cocktail attire.
I cant help but think Andersons
often steadfast refusal to engage in
the inspirational nuts and bolts of his
design (Whats that fabric? Why that
fur?) and willingness to wax lyrical
on the state of modern society is
because, simply, there isnt an explanation behind what he chose. He saw
a ruffle, liked it, stuck it on a skirt,
thought other people would like it to.
Simple as. And simply, you could imagine women wearing the stiff cotton
PUFFED UP
J W Andersons
frills and Emilia
Wicksteads
1960s-style look
(far right) AFP/
GETTY; REX
Hackles and ruffles

and (gasp) fur ...
J W Andersons autumn/winter show was provocative and challenging, while Emilia Wickstead
was all about posh frocks for posh girls. Alexander Fury reports
of puff sleeves and puffball skirts.
But I also think Anderson is trying
to grapple with ambitious ideas to
keep his audience interested.
Thats a vital thing for designers
to accomplish in the physically and
technologically packed hypermarket that is contemporary
fashion. A multitude of names are
jostling for both attention and consumption. Anderson is in his early
thirties, acutely aware of the demands of the new age. So he gives
us shows animated with endless
novelty and frivolity, easily consumed both visually and at sales
tills. He talked about his outfits
being snapshots, after an iPhonewelded audience spent his show
doing little other than snapping,
and said he wanted each observer
to wind up immersed in a look.
Pulled close in to the models on a
narrow catwalk, you did wind up
buried, near physically, in the details
of embroidered leather bodices,
ruched leggings, sh-scale paillette
shoes and munched-up ruffled
skirts. It was tough to see them as an
entity, but rather as abstracts perpetual motion. Its to get a sense of
clothing, mused Anderson grandly.
Its ne if its not commercial.
But it isnt ne, and this was commercial, despite Andersons
protestations. A designer has to sell
their clothes to survive, and the current rejigging of catwalk calendars
in favour of a model dubbed see
now, buy now underlines the demands of commerce. Andersons
snapshots trained your eye to focus
on particular facets of the clothes: a
studded handbag, sequinned shoes,
shirt-dresses kicking into stiff saturn
dresses and lightly draped sweaters.

For cocktails, and beyond. So why do
we care about a hidden depth, especially if there really isnt one?
Theres no danger of hidden
depth with Emilia Wickstead,
whose posh clothes for posh girls
going to posh dos tick pretty basic
boxes. Her style can be neatly summarised as Lee Radziwill in radzimir:
clean sixties-tinged couture gowns,
straightforward coats, skinny gowns.
Occasionally theyre muddled, such
as by Wicksteads predilection for
jumpsuits so pronounced it amounts
to a fetish that, like splooshing, say,
or yiffing, is entirely inexplicable
unless likewise inclined. This time,
she let godet-hemmed trousers get
the better of her in a valiant attempt
to challenge the ubiquity of the cigarette trouser. To paraphrase the
words of Abbas Agnetha Faltskog,
whom many of the models wound
up resembling, Wickstead was defeated, the slender leg won the war.
However, this was otherwise a
sharp, decisive, well-executed show
full of engaging ideas. Confrontation, perhaps, for Wickstead quietly
so as it challenged the niche shes
been placed in as party-frock purveyor. Many of the ideas felt new if
not entirely, then certainly for Wickstead. Few felt prim or precious,
which has marred previous outings.
The tailoring was great in giant boxy
shapes with strapped sleeves; her
knitted dresses deserved special
mention and merit. Long and lean
and body-hugging, even when shown
as a potentially lumpen combo of
knit pinafore dress over sweater. A
cable-knit version, uted at the hem,
was lovely. Very modern cocktail.
16
MMMM

21 FEBRUARY 2016
NEWS
Sean Connery as
Brother William in
the lm adaptation
of The Name of the
Rose, by Umberto
Eco (far right)
AFP GETTY
Tributes paid to
great scholar
Umberto Eco
The Name of the Rose author, who has died at
84, believed readers wanted to be challenged
By Henry Austin
The Italian Prime Minister, Matteo

Renzi has lead tributes to Umberto
Eco, the Italian scholar, journalist
and author of best-selling novels author of The Name of the Rose, whose
death at the age of 84 was announced
yesterday.
Mr Renzi described Eco as an outstanding example of a European
intellectual, a single intelligence
with an untiring ability to anticipate
the future. He said, Its a huge loss
for culture, which will miss his writing and his voice, sharp and vivid
thought and his humanity.
Eco, who died on Friday after suffering from cancer, was one of the
great novelists and scholars of our
time, said Bruce Nichols of Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt, which published
some of the writers works. The author would be remembered for his
exuberance, his vitality, his intense
loyalties, and his wonderful
company.
Born in 1932 to Giulio and Giovanna, Eco spent his formative years in
his birthplace, Alessandria, a small
city in Piedmont, northern Italy,
before moving to a village on the Piedmontese mountainside when his
father was drafted into the armed
forces in the Second World War.
His father urged him to study law,
but Eco enrolled at the University of
Turin to study medieval philosophy
and literature. During the course of
his studies he lost his early faith in
God and the Roman Catholic church,
he told Time magazine in 2005.
After nishing his doctorate in 1954,
Eco began working for the recently
established national broadcasting
network RAI. He prepared cultural
programmes and gained a lasting
interest in mass communication. He
also lectured at Turin.
Two years later he published his
rst book, Il problema estetico in San
Tommaso, or The Aesthetics of
Thomas Aquinas an extension of
his doctoral thesis.
In 1962 Eco married the German
academic and art teacher Renate
Ramge, with whom he had a son and
a daughter.
He went on to become a leading
gure in the eld of semiotics, seeking to interpret cultures through their
signs and symbols, be they words,
religious icons, banners, clothing,
musical scores, even cartoons. While
teaching at the University of Bologna,
Europes oldest university, he published more than 20 non-ction books
on these subjects.
He was one of those people who
actually brought in the study of popular culture, one of the inaugurators,
said Dr Alan OLeary, an associate
professor in Italian at the University
of Leeds. He was able to do this
because he was recognised already

as a tremendous intellectual, an expert on medieval culture and
philosophy. So he had that kudos
which meant he couldnt be ignored
by the Italian and international academic world even when he was
talking about things that were perceived to be trivial.
While articles had been written
before about popular culture, Eco was
one of the rst to analyse it critically
and structurally, Dr OLeary said.
He added that one of the ways Eco
was able to institutionalise the study
of popular culture was by offering it
as a kind of scientic framework, and
this was semiotics.
Eco also lectured at institutions
worldwide and was a fellow at Oxford
and Columbia universities. By 2000,
23 institutions had awarded him honorary degrees. But he only became
an international celebrity in middle
age, when at 48 he published The
Name of the Rose, his rst novel.
Eco was one of those who

actually brought in the
study of popular culture
Its only publishers and
journalists who believe
people want simple things
The unorthodox detective story
set in a medieval monastery follows
Brother William of Baskerville as he
investigates a series of suspicious
deaths. Combining a detailed
description of gloomy life in a 14thcentury monastery with accounts of
the philosophical and religious disputes of the time, its clever plotline
captured imaginations.
It sold more than 14 million copies
worldwide, was translated into dozens of languages and was later turned
into a lm, released in 1986, starring
Sean Connery as Brother William.
Eco would go on to pen other novels, including Foucaults Pendulum in
1988. His most recent work, Numero
Zero, was published last year and recalled a political scandal from the
1990s that helped lead to the rise of
media mogul and three-times Italian
prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. A
nal novel will be released later this
year. None of Ecos books were as
successful as The Name of the Rose
and the writer acknowledged he was
not an easy read in a 2011 interview
with The Guardian, admitting that
he wrote for masochists.
Its only publishers and some
journalists who believe that people
want simple things, he said. People
are tired of simple things. They want
to be challenged.

21 FEBRUARY 2016
17
NEWS
Laser
UNDER ATTACK
More than 100

incidents last
year involved
lasers and police
helicopters ALAMY
alarm
Disabling attacks on pilots have more than
doubled within a decade, prompting calls to
change the law. Jonathan Owen reports
olice helicopter pilots

are to be equipped with
protective eyewear
amid concern at a steep
rise in laser attacks on
aircraft. Incidents have more than
doubled in less than a decade.
In an effort to stop the rising use
of lasers against planes and helicopters, government ministers will
hold talks this week with the Civil
Aviation Authority (CAA), Public
Health England, the Metropolitan
Police and Trading Standards. They
will discuss calls to restrict the sale
of lasers, and demands by pilots
unions and the police for the law
to be changed to classify them as
offensive weapons.
A government spokesperson
said: The Government is aware of
the issue and is meeting stakeholders, including the Civil Aviation
Authority, to determine what more
can be done to protect the public
from the potential dangers of
certain laser products.
Last Sunday, a Virgin Atlantic
passenger jet bound for New York
was forced to return to Heathrow
airport when the co-pilot fell ill
after a laser was shone at the cockpit shortly after take-off. Earlier this
month, the Popes plane had been
targeted by a laser on its approach
to Mexico City. And on Friday, sentencing Philip Houghton, 25, from
Hull, to ve months in jail for shining a laser at a police helicopter,
District Judge Frederick Rutherford

warned: It is only a matter of time
before a tragedy is caused by this
type of behaviour.
About 1,800 incidents were reported to the CAA last year, according
to the Police Federation of England
and Wales. In contrast, there were
only 746 incidents reported in 2006.
The surge in use of lasers against
aircraft equates to five incidents
a day.
The National Police Air Service
(Npas), which has 17 bases in England and Wales, is to equip its pilots
with protective eyewear this year.
This comes after a successful trial
carried out last month in conjunction with the Ministry of Defence
(MoD) and the Health Protection
Agency. Lasers were directed at the
crew of a helicopter wearing different forms of protection, based on a
dye coating which absorbs light, or
a mirrored coating that reects it.
Police helicopters can pinpoint
where people are directing the lasers
from, but this carries a risk to pilots.
There were more than 100 attacks
against police helicopters last year.
Ollie Dismore, director of operations for Npas, said: Where youve
got big airports Stansted, Birmingh a m , M a n c h e s te r, G a tw i c k ,
Heathrow that are being consistently targeted, we are then invited
to put aircraft up to be targets and
encourage laser attacks which Im
not prepared to do unless theyve
NEWS
IN BRIEF
:: TELEVISION
:: ACCIDENT
Magician Daniels
has brain tumour
Pedestrian killed as
4x4 mounts pavement
The veteran magician Paul Daniels

has been diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour, his publicist has
announced. A statement read: On
behalf of Paul, Debbie [his wife] and
their families, we thank you for your
kind concerns and support at this
sad time and ask that their privacy
continues to be respected. Daniels,
77, born in Middlesbrough, found
fame in 1979 with his BBC1 series,
The Paul Daniels Magic Show.
A woman died and two people were

injured when a 4x4 car left the road
and hit shoppers in Guildfords town
centre yesterday. The driver of the
Land Rover Defender was also taken
to hospital with reportedly minor
injuries. Surrey Police said a woman
in her thirties was pronounced dead
at the scene and her family has
been informed. A man in his forties
suffered severe pelvic injuries, and a
woman in her thirties minor injuries.
It is only a matter of time

before a tragedy is caused
by this type of behaviour
One website sells laser
pointers so powerful they
have a range of 100 miles
got some form of mitigation of the

risk of attack on themselves.
Laser specs will allow us to be
proactive in supporting other airspace users, for example where
airports are reporting multiple attacks on airliners. Then with the
specs we will be able to send the police helicopter prepared for an attack
so we can catch the perpetrators.
It is illegal, under the Air Navigation Order, to shine a light at any
aircraft in ight with the intention
of dazzling or distracting the pilot.
People can face a prison sentence of
up to ve years if found guilty of endangering the safety of an aircraft.
But the British Airline Pilots Association is calling for laser pointers
to be classed as offensive weapons,
which would give the police more
power to arrest people for possessing them if they had no good reason
to have them. Mr Dismore said: A
quick win would be to classify lasers
as offensive weapons, not making
them illegal to buy, to sell or own, but
actually if they are misused to give
the police the power to arrest people
Meet Private
Derby XXXI,
the Swaledale
ram reporting
for duty as the
new mascot
of the British
Armys Mercian
Regiment. Picked
by the Duke
of Devonshire
from his ock
at Chatsworth,
Derbyshire, he
was on parade
yesterday at an
infantry base
in Licheld. The
tradition of a ram
mascot dates
back to 1858.
as a result. At the moment, the only

legislation for most offences is aviation legislation which isnt necessarily
within the normal understanding of
bobbies on the beat.
There have been more than 10,000
incidents targeting civilian aircraft
in the UK in the past seven years.
British military aircraft have also
been targeted, with 250 laser-related
defence air safety occurrence reports in the past ve years, according
to the MoD.
There is no law preventing the sale
of lasers which are far more powerful than ones up to 1mW which can
be bought by the general public. The
website of one company, based in
London, describes how people can
buy laser pointers so powerful they
can burst balloons, melt plastic and
have a range of up to 100 miles.
A spokesperson for the Professional Pilots Union, said: There is
massive concern about the increase
in misuse of high-powered lasers
within the aviation industry. Restrictions on the use of such high-powered
lasers must be introduced.
:: HISTORY
Murder pub closes

over lease renewal
The pub at the centre of one of the
UKs most famous murder cases has
suddenly closed. The Magdala, near
Hampstead Heath, was known for
the supposed bullet holes in its walls
made when Ruth Ellis shot her racingdriver boyfriend David Blakely there
in 1955, and remained an unlikely
sight-seeing spot. Ellis was the last
woman to be hanged in the UK. The
pubs management said negotiations
over a new lease had broken down.
18

21 FEBRUARY 2016
NEWS
Staff (far right)
at St Georges
are regulars
on TV screens
CHANNEL 4/GETTY
Home of A&E
documentary has
a 46m deficit
St Georges, star of Channel 4, is criticised for
bad management, poor rotas and too few beds
By Paul Dinsdale
A high-prole NHS teaching hospital that was given Foundation Trust

(FT) status early last year, is set to
have the second largest decit of all
NHS Trusts in 2015-16, according to
a team of independent experts.
St Georges University Hospitals
NHS Foundation Trust in south-west
London, in which the Channel 4
series 24 Hours in A&E is set, suffers
from poor nancial controls and a
lack of accountability and expertise
by managers, the report says. It is
heading for a decit of around 46m
in 2015-16, despite being given a clean
bill of health by the regulator, Monitor, which assesses hospitals nancial
management and performance before granting coveted FT status.
The FT status was awarded last
February, giving nancial autonomy.
But a few months later accountants
from PricewaterhouseCoopers, in a
study commissioned to examine the
trusts deteriorating nances, found
there were signicant weaknesses
in nancial controls, and that management had failed in their
responsibility to identify them.
The report says that with better
nancial and operational information and significantly improved
nancial management and control,
the trust could have identied the
drivers for decline earlier and taken
more appropriate action.
It says there was a failure to understand and control the trusts cost
base and that managers missed a
number of red ags in pay, leading
to an overspend of 10m on staff,
particularly expensive agency staff,
and there was also a lack of effective
workforce planning. The Trust also
failed to deliver all the extra capacity
169 new beds planned.
The report says that there was a
lack of ownership and accountability
for budgets by the 371 budget-holders in the trust and inadequate
capability of staff at a number of
levels and across divisions.
In a telling comment, the report
says: It is difficult to understand

why the deciencies in the systems,
processes and controls have not been
identied prior to this review.
The report also says that the lack
of performance management culture
across the trust means there is little
incentive to deliver budgets, nor are
there repercussions when they are
not delivered. The report was handed to the trust board in October, but
it has not yet published it in full and
an executive summary only appeared
on its website in January.
A spokesman for St Georges said:
It is difficult to understand
why the deficiencies have
not been identified before
The regulator did not have
enough staff with NHS
experience as clinicians
The report acknowledges that operational pressures last year drove
increases in costs, and reductions in
income for hospitals like St Georges.
The board accepted all 75 recommendations for improved systems and
nancial management.
Our decit is reducing and we
are taking the action required to return to nancial balance. We have
worked hard to ensure the savings
have not come at the expense of quality and patient experience.
Monitor has faced criticism before
from the all-party House of Commons
health committee, which said in a
report that the regulator did not have
enough staff with NHS experience,
either as managers or clinicians, to
carry out hospital assessments.
Monitor carried out its own review
of how St Georges was granted FT
status. Its explanation is that the
Trust had given them financial
projections which proved to be
wrong, and their auditors had based
their views on these.

21 FEBRUARY 2016
19
MMMM
NEWS
Slow-the-flow
flood plan for
York has the
royal approval
Natural ood defences on the Yorkshire Dales
received a boost last week when Prince Charles
visited a similar scheme. Geoffrey Lean reports
WET AND DRY
20 miles
North Sea
Wensleydale
PA; REX
Leyburn
The Ure
YORKSHIRE DALES
atural ways of
slowing river flow
after heavy rainfall
are to be installed
above York to try
to help relieve one of Britains
most ood-prone cities. Similar,
but controversial, measures managed to keep the Yorkshire town of
Pickering safe during downpours
over Christmas.
The measures, planned as part
of a programme to manage the
river Ure, will be launched upstream in Wensleydale tomorrow.
The 74-mile-long Ure whose
name is thought to derive from an
early British word for strong river
changes into the Ouse at Aldwark
and becomes the main source of
ooding in York.
The programme by the Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust and the
Yorkshire Dales National Park
Authority is believed to be the
biggest of its kind yet planned in
Britain. The Wensleydale Project
Catchment Plan will investigate
techniques for holding water on
moorland to prevent flooding
downstream that proved effective
in Pickering, and similarly plans to
involve local people in designing
and implementing them.
On Wednesday, Prince Charles
visited the Pickering Slow the
Flow scheme the effectiveness
of which was reported exclusively
by The Independent on Sunday
and saw it working in very wet
conditions. The scheme ensured
that the market town which was
ooded four times between 1999
and 2007 escaped over Christmas
despite some two inches of rain
falling in 24 hours.
After being approached by academics at Oxford, Newcastle and
Durham universities, local people
helped to work out details of the
scheme to hold water back on the
North Yorks Moors by building 167
leaky dams in local becks. These
are built of logs and branches and
let through normal ows of water
but restrict and slow down excessive ones. They also built 187
(Clockwise):
the Ouse bursts
its banks in
York; the Ure in
Wensleydale;
Prince Charles at
Stamford Bridge
Pickering
The Ouse
York
Hull
YORKSHIRE
Humber
Estuary
smaller obstructions, made of heather, in smaller drains and gullies,

planted 29 hectares of woodland and
built a bund to store oodwater, releasing it slowly through a culvert.
Last week, Andy Brown, the Secretary of the Yorkshire Dales Rivers
Trust, said the plans for the Ure were
developed on exactly the same principles as at Pickering and involved
blocking ditches, constructing leaky
dams and planting trees. He stressed
that they would not by themselves
solve the problem of ooding downstream but could make a big
contribution by helping to reduce
peak river ows.
Helen Keep, the National Park
Authoritys senior farm conservation officer, said: Recent events have
reminded us that the speed with
which water flows out of upland
areas like Wensleydale can contribute to major problems further
downstream. Something needs to be
done to slow the ow.
Gary Smith, director of conservation and communities for the
authority, added that ooding could
not merely be addressed by building ever higher barriers and that it
was sensible to start using moors
for upland ood management.
As in Pickering the programme
aims to involve local people, starting
with a public meeting in the Wensleydale town of Leyburn tomorrow
evening aimed at gathering suggestions on how to improve the Ure.
Water-flows out of upland

areas contribute to major
problems downstream
Rewetting the moors
can increase the insects
on which grouse feed
Even grouse moor owners widely

blamed for exacerbating ooding
over recent decades by draining uplands were coming round to the
idea, Mr Smith said, because they
had realised that rewetting the
moors by obstructing ditches increased the numbers of insects on
which the birds fed.
The Ure programme, and Prince
Charless visit, provide support for
the Pickering scheme which has
come under attack in recent weeks
from traditional hydraulic engineers
who have said it would not have been
sufficient to have prevented ooding from the record levels of rainfall
suffered in some other parts of the
North over Christmas.
But it was never designed to do so,
and nor do its proponents suggest
that it should replace more traditional ood barriers. It did, however,
fulfil its objective of preventing

ooding in the town under conditions that would otherwise have
caused it after the authorities had
refused to build a 20m concrete
wall on cost grounds.
Dr Jeremy Biggs, director of the
Freshwater Habitats Trust, contended that the town was saved not by
the scheme but because it did not
rain much at Christmas in Pickering, with precipitation only a
modest amount above the average.
He based his argument on total rainfall gures for the area for the whole
of December, which do not reect
particular events: most of the rain
could fall in a short period after a dry
spell, which is what happened.
The nearest weather station to
Pickering recorded 47mm (more
than 1.85in) over 24 hours, while a
family in the town measured 51mm
(2in) over 20 hours, enough to have
caused an inundation in the past.
Mike Potter, the chairman of the
Pickering and District Civic Society,
commented: The town would have
ooded. Fact.
20

21 FEBRUARY 2016
NEWS
Westminster
flies the
rainbow flag
With almost 40 LGBT MPs, things have changed
over the past 20 years, as this exclusive
landmark photograph shows. By Mark Leftly
ne of the most remarkable, yet pleasing, statistics that fascinated

political n u m b e r c r u n c h e r s at last
years election was that the House of
Commons ended up with 32 lesbian,
gay and bisexual MPs.
Then last month, the Scottish Secretary and divorced father of three,
David Mundell, became the first
openly out Tory cabinet member.
His son Oliver said he admires
[him] today as much as yesterday,
and David Cameron said he was
pleased and delighted for him.
The Independent on Sunday can
now add a further two to that number,
with the SNPs business spokeswoman, Hannah Bardell, and Labours
shadow Welsh Secretary, Nia Griffith,
coming out for our special photoshoot celebrating Parliaments
growing diversity.
LGBT History Month is celebrated
in February and this photograph
of 28 MPs and peers is a bit of history
in itself, as it is the largest number
of publicly out parliamentarians
pictured together at one time, from
a parliament with more gay members than any in the world.
Ms Bardell, who previously worked
for the then First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, said: I only
came out to myself and to my family
during the election. I then chose
not to say anything publicly because
I had just got elected and I didnt
want it to be one of the rst things I
said about myself as an MP.
When David Mundell came out,
it must have been very difficult for
him, but it got me thinking about saying something myself. I felt this was
the right moment Im very proud
to be out and Im very happy.
Ms Griffith, who has been an MP
since 2005, said her sexuality had
been known among friends, family
and colleagues since the mid-1990s,
but she hasnt made any great fuss
about it in Parliament.
Lord Chris Smith is in the picture
o:KHUH
DUHWKH
JD\V"p
DVNHG
RQH
RIWKH
SHRSOH
DERYH
1 Hannah Bardell
The SNPs business, innovation and
skills spokeswoman came out to
herself during the general election last year.
2 Angela Crawley
The 28-year-old was the national
convener of the SNPs youth wing
before winning Lanark and Hamilton
East in 2015.
3 Cat Smith
Jeremy Corbyn can count his shadow
minister for women as one of his few
true supporters among MPs she
used to work for him.
4 Mike Freer
Parliamentary aide to Chris Grayling,
the Leader of the House of Commons,
since June, he previously resigned
from the Government over a vote to
recognise the Palestinian state.
5 Ben Howlett
After winning Bath last year, the 29year-old said the Conservatives were
more open on equality issues than
when he joined the party in 2004.
6 Ray Collins, Baron Collins of
Highbury
The Labour peer praised David
Cameron for being prepared to stand
up and be counted for supporting
equal marriage.
7 Jonathan Oates, Baron Oates of
Denby Grange
Chief of staff to Nick Clegg during
the coalition years, Lord Oates has
been a regular on The Independent on
Sundays Pink and Rainbow Lists.
8 Gerald Jones
The Merthyr Tydl and Rhymney
MP started campaigning during the
miners strike, aged 14, and joined
Labour in 1988.
9 Joanna Cherry
The Edinburgh QC is considered one

21 FEBRUARY 2016
21
NEWS
FOR THE RECORD
Most of the 32
gay MPs and
peers managed
to get to the
IoS photocall
TERI PENGILLEY
10
21
13
16
15
14
12
11
17
18
20
19
22
of the true stars of the SNPs 50 new

MPs, having set up the Lawyers for
Yes pro-independence group.
10 Iain Stewart
The Milton Keynes South MP is a
former deputy chairman of LGBTory,
and won plaudits for a speech during
the last parliament on how he was
bullied at school for being gay.
11 Chris Smith, Baron Smith of
Finsbury
As plain Chris Smith in the 1980s,
he made history by being the rst
openly gay man in the Commons. He
was made Culture Secretary in 1987.
12 Chris Bryant
The shadow Leader of the House
of Commons is one of the wittiest
Labour MPs in the Commons and has
written two volumes of the history of
the UK Parliament.
13 Stuart Andrew
Parliamentary private secretary
23
24
25
to the Transport Secretary, Patrick

McLoughlin, he told the Commons
three years ago of how he was once
beaten unconscious in a homophobic attack.
14 Margot James
The rst openly lesbian Conservative
MP has said her party took far too
long to accept greater equality, but
insists those days have passed.
15 John Nicolson
The former BBC and ITV journalist
joined the SNP aged 16 and was
nominated as a parliamentary candidate by Alex Salmond, the former
Scottish rst minister.
16 Brian Paddick, Baron Paddick
of Brixton
The two-time Liberal Democrat
candidate for London mayor
was previously famous for being
the countrys most senior openly
gay police ofcer.
26
27
28
17 Peter Kyle
The 45-year-old Labour MP for Hove
is a former chief executive at the
charity leaders group Acevo and sits
on the Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee.
18 Crispin Blunt
The Commons Foreign Affairs Select
Committee chair recently stunned
Conservative colleagues when he
announced during a Commons debate
that he uses the party drug poppers.
19 Waheed Alli, Baron Alli of
Norbury
The 51-year-old is an openly gay
Muslim who made his fortune in the
media industry before becoming a
peer in 1998.
20 Wes Streeting
Long destined for political stardom,
the former NUS president signalled
his political leanings in January by
stating hed happily snog Tony Blair.
21 Martin Docherty
Something of an extrovert, the SNP
MP for West Dunbartonshire arrived
at this photoshoot asking, loudly,
Where are the gays?
22 Nia Griffith
The shadow Welsh Secretary was
married once, but is publicly coming
out through this article, although her
friends and family already knew.
23 David Mundell
The Secretary of State for Scotland
became the rst ever openly gay
Conservative cabinet minister last
month, a decision he said was one of
the most important of his life.
24 Angela Eagle
The formidable shadow First Secretary of State brilliantly bested George
Osborne at Prime Ministers Questions, when the two stood in for their
leaders in December.
25 Alan Duncan
The former international development
minister was the rst leading Tory to
enter a civil partnership in 2008.
26 Stewart McDonald
The Glasgow South SNP MP, a
member of the Commons Transport
Select Committee, declared his party
to be the gayest group in Westminster last year, with 12 per cent out.
27 Jenny Hilton, Baroness Hilton
of Eggardon
The 80-year-old former Metropolitan Police commander joined
Labours red benches in 1991 and
sits on the Sexual Violence in
Conict Committee.
28 Liz Barker, Baroness Barker
of Anagach
The 55-year-old Lib Dem came out
during a debate on equal marriage in
2013, citing the fact that she had to
declare an interest.
he was the rst openly gay MP in

the 1980s and also the first to be
appointed to the cabinet when he
became Culture Secretary in 1997.
Chris Bryant, the shadow Leader of
the House of Commons who got the
MPs and peers together, said: Its
amazing how things have changed
in 20 years. For years, Chris was the
only one. But for some of the
MPs now, their sexuality is just a
mundane part of their lives rather
LGBT young people still

face stigma and bullying,
and suicide rates are higher
Chris Smith was the first
openly gay MP in the 1980s,
and the first in the cabinet
than [as it is to outsiders] the only
interesting parts of their lives.
It is understood that parliamentary clerks have also been asked
to look into commissioning a painting of LGBT MPs, to recognise this
as the most diverse parliament in
British history.
In a joint opinion piece for The
IoS, Mr Mundell and Mr Bryant note
the improvements in Parliament, but
warn: LGBT young people in Britain still face stigma and bullying.
Rates of suicide and depression are
signicantly higher among members
of the LGBT community.
Sadly, some MPs turned up after
the shoot was over. This means they
missed the questionable treat of Ben
Bradshaw, a former Labour shadow
culture secretary, stripping down to
his white underpants on a chilly February day in front of Parliament, as
he swapped cycling gear for a suit to
pose for his own portrait to commemorate the great strides that
British politics have made.
COMMENT PAGE 39
22

21 FEBRUARY 2016
NEWS
Four-day week
attracts PhD
graduates
into teaching
STARRY AIMS
Nicola Loaring,
at the Southern
African Large
Telescope, runs
an astronomy
club for sixth
formers
But one day in ve must be spent in aiding

targeted pupils or improving their own skills
BASIE VAN ZYL
By Richard Garner
EDUCATION EDITOR
A government-backed scheme
which guarantees that recruits will
only spend four days a week in
the classroom is helping to solve
the teacher shortage in maths
and science.
The Researchers in Schools programme works along the lines of
the TeachFirst scheme, which lured
some of the brightest graduates in
the country into teaching. Its
unique angle is that the Researchers project only recruits graduates
with a PhD.
On their fth day, the teachers
can do their own research, go to
conferences to improve their teaching skills, or work with small groups
of students possibly from disadvantaged communities.
The project has three key aims
for teachers on their fth day: increasing their subject expertise,
championing the idea of students
aiming for university, and carrying
out research in their eld.
Simon Coyle, co-founder of the
Brilliant Club, which devised the
scheme, believes a similar approach
adopted elsewhere in the system
could make teaching more attractive, thus helping to tackle the

workload problem that has bedevilled the profession.
Figures show that the scheme attracted 629 applicants in 2015 and
placed 77 trainees in September of
that year, the majority teaching
maths or physics. Of those who applied, 81 per cent said they were not
applying through any other route to
enter the profession.
Long term, it might be applied
elsewhere in the sector, possibly to
address the workload issue, Mr
Coyle said. It does mean, though,
that their teaching is more compressed into the four days to get the
one day a week off.
The scheme, government-funded
until 2020, targets non-selective
schools, and is operating in London,
Kent, Somerset, Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester and Luton.
Dr Richard Branch, who completed a PhD at Oxford University, is now
a science teacher at Lampton School,
Hounslow, in west London. He is
supported by GlaxoSmithKline.
He arranges enrichment classes
for his pupils on his fth day, which
have involved a trip to the companys
headquarters. A highlight of the
On their fifth day, the

teachers can work with
disadvantaged students
It is a great feeling when a
light bulb comes on for a
child who is struggling
trip was a Q&A session with laboratory users including Formula One
drivers Jenson Button and Kevin
Magnussen, he said. I look forward
to organising further enrichment
activities with GSK in future. He is
also researching the effect of science
teachers degree outcomes on the
performance of their students.
Dr Nicola Loaring, who also completed a PhD at Oxford, now teaches
at Ivybridge Community College in
Devon and runs an astronomy club
for her Year 12 pupils when she is not
in the classroom. I enjoy teaching,
and working with the children is
really fun, she said. It is a great feeling when a child is struggling with
something and suddenly they get it
and the light bulb comes on.
Mr Coyle is adamant that far from
being a day off for teachers, it actually condenses their teaching and
preparation into four days, while
adding specific projects to their
schedule. He has compiled a list of
what the rst cohort have achieved
on their fth day. It includes:
M887 hours spent helping targeted
pupils, such as those on free school
meals, prepare for university;
MOrganising 21 university trips for
targeted pupils;
MSpending 677 hours on university
research and 932 on preparing research for publication.
Christine Blower, NUT general
secretary, welcomed the governmentbacked projects adoption of the
unions long-held policy aim of giving teachers 20 per cent of their week
away from the classroom.
Italian film scoops top prize at Berlins tribute to refugees

By Adam Sherwin
MEDIA CORRESPONDENT
A lm charting the rush of

desperate African migrants
risking sea crossings to reach
Italy won the prestigious
Golden Bear for best lm at the
Berlin Film Festival last night.
Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea)
was made by Italian director
Gianfranco Rosi, who shot on
the tiny island of Lampedusa
over the course of a year to tell
the story of how local people
deal with the arrival of 150,000
migrants. The winning choice
follows a tradition at the
festival, now in its 66th year, of

celebrating socially conscious
lms. This years Berlinale has
been described as a tribute to
refugees and its director, Dieter
Kosslick, said many of the
nominated lms had shed light
on acts of humanity during times
of international conict. Meryl
Streep and Clive Owen were
among the jury judges.
Rosi said he hoped his lm
would help raise awareness of
refugees drowning at sea.
Other lms up for the Best Film
prize included Hele Sa Hiwagang
Hapis (A Lullaby to the Sorrowful
Mystery), an eight-hour historical
Gianfranco Rosi last night said he

hoped his lm would raise awareness
drama about the Philippines from

director Lav Diaz. Its screening
started at 9.30am and ended
shortly before 7pm, with an hourlong break for lunch.
Diaz said: Were labelled
slow cinema, but its not slow
cinema its cinema. I dont know
why every time we discourse
on cinema we always focus on
the length. Its just like poetry,
just like music, just like painting
where its free, whether its a
small canvas or its a big canvas.
His lm is set in the late-19th
century during the Philippine
revolution against Spanish rule
and focuses on Andres Bonifacio
y de Castro, considered one of the

main instigators of the uprising.
Kosslick said the Berlinale
celebrated diversity with lms by
African-American directors such
as Spike Lees Chi-Raq and Don
Cheadles Miles Ahead, as well as
contributions by Asian, Middle
Eastern and African directors.
Actor Grard Depardieu used
his appearance to mock George
Clooney, who met Chancellor
Angela Merkel to discuss the
refugee crisis. I worry that it
went badly, he said. Its good
that now you can be an actor and
an ecologist and a politician. You
can do everything.

21 FEBRUARY 2016
23
NEWS
Gillams
Lussmans Fish & Grill
Yeo Valley Canteen
The Gallivant
Super food:
your favourite
restaurants
Cast your vote in the Food Made Good Awards
choose from the shortlist of ve from across
the UK. By Serina Sandhu and Susie Mesure
he people have spoken!

We asked you to suggest the restaurants
that look good, taste
good and make you
feel good for the Peoples Favourite
category in the Food Made Good
Awards and received more than
600 nominations. The Independent
on Sunday is the media partner of
the awards.
Now a shortlist of ve has been
selected by the judges, including
Mark Linehan, managing director
of the Sustainable Restaurant Association, which runs the awards.
The nalists have been chosen because of the positive impact they
make on the local community, the
environment and, of course, peoples stomachs. Public interest in
this award reects the ever increasing importance diners place on
value and the story behind their
food, Mr Linehan said.
Lisa Markwell, IoS editor and restaurant reviewer, added: It was
difficult to narrow down the list, as
there were some fascinating stories
of inspiring community spirit
and fantastic initiatives about
cutting waste and sourcing
produce in clever, sustainable ways. Even better, the
nominations came from all
over the country.
George Vezza, managing director of Nestl
Professional, headline
sponsor of the awards,
said: The many meanings
of good food out of home are all
associated with a better life and
that is what we stand for.
PICK A
WINNER
HOW TO VOTE
Diners can vote for their

favourite restaurant until Sunday
13 March by visiting http://www.
foodmadegood.org/awards/
or tweeting using the hashtag
#SRAfavevote and the name of
their chosen restaurant.
The winner will be announced
in The Independent on Sunday on
20 March and will receive their
award at the Food Made Good
Awards on 22 March.
Yeo Valley Canteen

Caf in the Park
Lussmanns Fish & Grill

Andrei Lussmann is on a mission to
deliver sustainable food at an affordable price. Since 2004, he has opened
three restaurants in St Albans, Hertford and Harpenden which serve
around 3,000 people each week. The
43-year-old said he was humbled to
be shortlisted. He is trying to make
sustainable and ethical eating accessible to everyone. The restaurants
offer a 12.50 lunch deal seven days
a week, and refuse to hike up prices
for Valentines or New Years Eve.
Weve never been fashion driven.
[Sustainability] has been an integral
part of the business since day one,
Mr Lussmann (inset, below) said. Ive
always believed it only works if you
make it accessible and value-driven,
and you make it non-elitist and
classless. Lussmanns also supports
the local community: last year it
backed 30 initiatives including the
Women in Leadership programme.
Caf in the Park

Look at the signature park salad,
complete with British-grown quinoa,
to understand the ethos behind the
Caf in the Park, Rickmansworth,
Hertfordshire. Its fairly simple but
the impact is huge it embodies
what we do here, said owner and
self-proclaimed ideas person Carly
Trisk-Grove (inset left). Since the caf
opened in a hut in 2005 and moved
to its current building four years
later, the 38-year-old has made
every decision with the greater
good in mind. She tries to look
after the environment, invest
in suppliers and even look after
their animals by making sure
they have dignity in their life.
And the goodness isnt
conned to whats served on
the plates. The restaurant is
furnished with upcycled pieces,
and offers volunteers with
learning difculties valuable
opportunities to work. Its just
looking at anything you need to do

and thinking about the way you can
do it by having the most positive
impact from the way you treat staff
to the paint you buy. Its considering
the world around you in every decision you make.
Yeo Valley Canteen

Located in the grounds of the largest
family-owned organic business in the
country, the Yeo Valley Canteen in the
Mendip Hills, Somerset started out as
a staff canteen before it opened ve
days a week to the public in 2015;
the large tables encourage visitors to
interact with the staff.
Executive chef Paul Collins said
they had set out to buy food seasonally, locally and organically and use
only meat reared and slaughtered on
site. We are basically self-sufcient
in energy. We grow Miscanthus on
the farm [similar to bamboo] which
is turned into fuel to heat our boilers.
We have almost an acre of solar
panels on the dairy shed. None of our
waste goes to landll.
But cooking sustainably needs a
cool head in the kitchen: Youve got
to be condent with whats in the
garden at any time of year we wont
just order baby carrots because they
will look nice on the plate.
Like many chefs, the 47-year-old
said he was enchanted by awards and
Michelin stars when he was younger.
Thats all very well, but if youre not
sustainable, theres not an innite
source of products so we need to
address that.
The Gallivant
The Gallivant in Rye is a local affair.
The East Sussex establishment
sources 95 per cent of its fresh ingredients from within 10 miles, its sh
are caught by a local sherman, the
meat is from a local farmer, and a
local forager delivers wild spinach
and garlic three times a week.
Nothing comes out of a packet, not
even the breakfast granola. The
restaurant with rooms even cures its
own bacon. And the wine, gin, cider
and beer are all British. Being shortlisted for this award is an enormous
validation for everyone involved,
said owner Harry Cragoe.
Our local tradespeople keep things
running on an even keel, and our
customers make a special journey
to reach us. He said the high cost
of sourcing the highest quality, local
ingredients dictated the price, adding
that it was a perverse fact that
buying the air-freighted ingredients
from supermarkets from around the
continent was a cheaper option.
Mr Cragoe is committed to looking
after his customers and makes sure
his staff get a fair deal, too. The Gallivant was the rst restaurant in the
UK to raise its minimum wage to 9
an hour for its 30 members of staff.
Gillams
This 10-year-old vegetarian restaurant and tearoom in Ulverston,
Cumbria, is just as popular among
non-veggies, because the food is so
tasty. Im a vegan, said Dave Gillam,
the owner, but I dont believe the
way to reduce meat consumption
is to harass people. We get people
who come who arent vegetarians,
but theyre quite happy to eat here
because the food is so good. When
you harass people with nasty leaets
it doesnt quite work and sometimes
is counterproductive.
The fact that the restaurant
opened just before the recession
and managed to survive and build
a loyal customer base is testament
to local peoples appreciation of the
fully organic, locally or regionally
sourced ingredients that are served
up every day. The family-run business offers fresh cakes made on site,
organic teas and has a small deli. Mr
Gillam, one of many generations of
the family that has been serving good
food to the community since 1892,
uses his knowledge of permaculture
an ethical framework inspired by
local ecosytems and common sense
energy use as the foundations for
his establishment. Its nice to have
recognition, because its not all about
the bottom line. Its a family business
here money doesnt come rst.
24

21 FEBRUARY 2016
NEWS
We are hooked on
sugar, and its killing us
Syrupy sweetness is the stuff of treats and pick-me-ups,
but as long as it lurks in savouries and so-called healthy
choices, what hope for the newly diagnosed diabetic?
Do you care? Are you searching

for that something more?
The Wildlife For All Trust is a
pioneering conservation charity
with a unique approach.
The key to our success is attitude.
We have nature reserves in
Sussex and South Africa.
We will be holding interviews
on Tuesday 22nd March.
See www.wildlifeforall.org
for further details.
British Registered Charity No. 1006174
Cole Moreton
IN DEPTH
y name is Cole and I

am a diabetic. Well,
you may say, so
what? Four million
of us are, even if half
a million of those dont know it yet.
You may have guessed my state before I did, if you had seen my weight
and the unhealthy diet of a reporter
on the road, grabbing meals between
deadlines; not to mention the habits of a comfort eater. But I have only
known the truth about myself for the
past week, and in that time I have
suddenly been made aware of the
tsunami of sugar, the great sweeping
wave of sweetness that threatens to
overwhelm us all.
Not only the diabetics, but the
two-thirds of Britons who are
overweight and the quarter who are
obese.
There is nothing worse than the
zeal of a convert, to paraphrase Oscar
Wilde, so Im sorry about this, but I
feel as if my eyes have been opened
to something horrifying. Sugar, sugar
everywhere, nor any drop to eat.
As I stumble around the supermarket, peering at the labels, looking
for something safe to put in my
mouth and seeing red warnings on
everything I like, I am suddenly
struck by a thought. Is this what it
was like to be a 60-a-day smoker in
the Seventies and discover that the
habit that the doctors used to say
was good for your throat had
actually been killing you the
whole time? Is sugar the new
smoking?
It does seem that way, to
judge from the rising tide
of campaigns against the
stuff, with the likes of
Jamie Oliver calling for
a hefty tax on sugary
drinks, while health reformers want
cigarette-style labels
to warn us against the
obesity, rotting teeth
and diabetes that
may follow if we
down too many cans
of Coke. The Government is about to
publish a plan for
tackling obesity in
children which will
focus on sugar. Its as
if we are all waking
up to this.
Take the astonished
reaction in the past few
days to research by the
campaign group Action on
Sugar, which found that those innocent, reviving coffee shops at the
station are secretly serving up great
mounds of the stuff. But is it really
a surprise to discover that a bucket
of hot mulled fruit and chai drink
from Starbucks with a cinnamon
stick and a slice of orange contains
the equivalent of 25 teaspoons of
sugar? Well, yes, actually, when you
put it in context. Thats not just a bit
sweet its like eating 20 chocolate
digestives in one go.

Costa Coffees Chai Latte Massimo
contains 20 teaspoons of sugar,
which is nearly three times more
sugar than the NHS says we should
be eating in a day, just in that one big
cardboard cup. Dont your teeth ache
at the thought?
Starbucks, for one, says it is committed to cutting out a quarter of the
sugar from its drinks over the next
four years, but doesnt that sound a
bit feeble or disingenuous? Doesnt
it make the coffee giant sound like
one of those tobacco companies that
reluctantly agreed to put warnings
on their packs in the Seventies, knowing that what they were selling was
deadly but still went on promoting
Marlboro Man on billboards or
plastering John Player Special liveries
on exciting racing cars?
Sugar is the new tobacco, said
Professor Simon Capewell of the
University of Liverpool two years
ago, when Action on Sugar called for
a 30 per cent cut in the amount added
to products. Everywhere, sugary
drinks and junk foods are now
pressed on unsuspecting parents and
children by a cynical industry
focused on prot not health.
Professor Capewell, who had
advised the Conservatives in opposition, said: The obesity epidemic
is already generating a huge burden
of disease and death.
A week ago, I knew
something was
wrong I was
waking in

21 FEBRUARY 2016
25
NEWS
The obesity epidemic is

already generating a huge
burden of disease and death
The NHS is to slap a tax on
sugary drinks in hospitals
raising a useful 40m
the calories you eat every day, which

for most people means about 30g or
seven teaspoons of sugar. But were
not stupid, are we? Its obvious what
we have to avoid, right? Sugary drinks,
chocolate, sweets, biscuits, puddings
and breakfast cereals, which are notoriously bad for you, with a big bowl
of Crunchy Nut corn akes containing three teaspoons, nearly half the
daily quota. Maybe you already know
that a carton of healthy-looking Tropicana orange juice is the equivalent of
two Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
What shocked me, though, as I
wandered through the supermarket
aisles, was the hidden sugar. I have
to eat low-fat ingredients now, because of the cholesterol, but so many
of those are loaded with sugar. That
is where our problems have multiplied over the
past
few years: weve all fallen for the idea

of a low-fat diet without seeing the
harm of the sugar that has been put
in our food to compensate for the
loss of taste.
So lets imagine what might be a
relatively healthy diet for a day. A
bowl of fat-free vanilla yoghurt in
the morning with half a banana and
a handful of blueberries. Heinz tomato soup for lunch with a salad
sandwich, no butter but a smear of
low-fat mayonnaise. Its important
to stay hydrated so lets reach for a
bottle of Glacau Vitaminwater, full
of good things. Then, for dinner, a
small bowl of pasta with basil and
tomato sauce and a side salad with
a dollop of low-fat dressing.
That all sounds like a healthy way
to eat, but it is hugely deceptive. The
low-fat yoghurt contains a couple of
teaspoons of added sugar. There are
four more teaspoons in the soup, two
in the slices of bread and another
in the mayo. The innocentlooking drink (made by a
subsidiary of Coca-Cola)
contains a staggering
eight teaspoons of
sugar. There are a
couple in the
pasta and sauce
and another
two in the
salad dressing. So this
nice, healthy
day involves
21 teaspoons
of sugar, three
times the recommended
daily amount,
without even a
sniff of a Mars
bar.
How alarming.
ILLUSTRATION: ANDRE CARRILHO
the night with a raging thirst, and

experiencing other symptoms but
I thought I was winning. I had lost
three stone in three years, coming
back down from a period of emotional trauma that had seen me
reaching for the biscuits as a way of
dulling the pain, telling myself it was
okay because it wasnt booze or
drugs. But it wasnt okay, there were
consequences and now I am at much
greater risk of having a stroke or a
heart attack. Its time to accept what
is really going on in my body and
change.
Being diabetic is not only about
eating too much sugar: thats a myth
I have discovered in the past week.
But responding to the disease does
mean becoming more aware of
what you are eating and cutting
down drastically on fatty foods and
added sugars.
I am learning to make an important distinction. The sugars you nd
in fruit, vegetables and milk are apparently okay to eat, even good for
you, because the body absorbs them
more slowly. But the so-called free
sugars the ones added to food are
not good at all, if you have too much.
They cause weight gain and dangerous spikes in your blood sugar.
The NHS says added sugars should
not take up more than 5 per cent of
In an attempt to tackle this situation, Cancer Research and the UK

Health Forum have called for a 20
per cent tax on sugary drinks, as well
as a ban on junk food adverts on television before 9pm and new targets
for reducing the amount of fat and
sugar in food. They say the tax would
prevent 3.7 million people from
becoming obese and save the NHS
10m by the year 2025. Jamie Oliver
supports it and says that if the Government does not agree he will go
Ninja on David Cameron and campaign to unseat the Tories as soon
as possible (although he threatened
something similar with Labour and
never got his nunchucks out).
Not surprisingly, senior Tories
have said they are not going to have
their health policy dictated by a celebrity chef. And although the Prime
Minister and the Health Secretary,
Jeremy Hunt, have shown support
for a sugar tax in the past, it may not
be in the childhood obesity plan.
There are doubts about whether
it works and is fair. Middle-class
families wont balk at an extra 14p
on a can of Coke at Waitrose; theyll
pay it anyway. But the poor will be
penalised for wanting the same.
Meanwhile, the companies that
peddle sugary snacks are well placed
to take advantage of this crisis. Unilever, for example, has promised to
cut the size of single servings of ice
creams such as Magnum and Cornetto, but whats the betting the price
will stay the same, or go down and
creep back up again? Boxes of Quality
Street and Cadburys Roses have
shrunk in recent years, but the prices
have not.
The thinking is so muddled. The
NHS is to slap its own tax on sugary
drinks for sale in hospitals and health
centres, raising up to 40m. But if
theyre that bad, why not ban them?
Because theres a buck to be made.
We seem unwilling to wean ourselves off sugar, somehow regarding
it as an essential part of modern life,
as smoking once was. That took an
age to change. Lucky Seven cigarettes were being sold as cleaner,
fresher, smoother in the mid-Fifties
when the rst large-scale study linking smoking to lung cancer was
published. It was not until 1971 that
the government slapped health
warnings on all cigarette packets
sold in Britain.
The evidence that smoking kills
mounted during the following decades until passive smoking was also
accepted as a cause of lung cancer
and heart disease in the late Nineties. By then tobacco companies
were being sued for millions by
people who had been made sick or
left bereaved by smoking.
Finally, half a century after we rst
knew smoking was bad for us, it was
banned from public places in
England in 2007.
With sugar, it is even easier for the
Government to push the problem
on to the next generation. Were
going to stop the kids getting fat,
ministers say, when in fact it is the
adults here and now that are affected. Ministers, health advisers,
doctors, millions of us eating far
more sugar than we should be. Personally, it feels like a matter of life
and death. We waited half a century
to give up fags, but there is no excuse
with sugar. We know its killing us.
This has to stop now.
26
MMMM

21 FEBRUARY 2016
NEWS
OMKAAR KOTEDIA
By Richard Jinman
The job advertisement was highly

specic: applicants had to be passionate about computer games and
live in the UK. Oh, and they also
had to be amputees who were interested in wearing a futuristic
prosthetic limb.
James Young knew straight away
he had a better shot than most.
After losing an arm and a leg in a
rail accident in 2012, the 25-yearold Londoner had taught himself
to use a video-game controller with
one hand and his teeth. How many
amputee gamers can there be? he
asked himself.
In the end, more than 60 people
replied to the ad, which was looking for a games-mad amputee to
become the recipient of a bespoke
high-tech prosthetic arm inspired
by Metal Gear Solid, one of the
worlds best-selling computer
games. Designed and built by a
team of 10 experts led by Londonbased prosthetic sculptor Sophie
de Oliveira Barata, the 60,000
carbon-bre limb is part art project,
part engineering marvel.
For Mr Young, who unveiled the
new prosthetic yesterday at BodyHacking Con 2016, a conference in
Texas devoted to human augmentation, the synthetic limb is likely
to be life-changing, both in terms
of its functionality and the levels
of attention it will bring him. Ill
be on stage in Texas talking about
it, he said before boarding his
ight to the United States. That
will be a different level of attention
Ill have to get used to it.
The limb is tted with a 3D-printed hand that is controlled by
sensors that detect minute muscle
movements in Mr Youngs back.
Designed by Bristol firm Open
Bionics, it is substantially more
dextrous than the rudimentary
NHS prosthetic he acquired
following his accident.
Dexterity the ability to grip a
bottle, give a thumbs-up signal or
offer a handshake is only part of
the story. The arm also features a
torch, a laser and banks of LED
lights that can be programmed to
display different colours or synchronised with Mr Youngs
heartbeat. There is a USB port in
the wrist for charging phones or
James Youngs new

arm was designed
and built by a
10-strong team,
led by prosthetic
sculptor Sophie de
Oliveira Barata
Question:
Is Jamess
futuristic
arm art,
science, or
marketing?
Answer:
all three ...
His new limb, inspired by a video

game character, has a 3D-printed
hand controlled by back muscles
uploading data to a display panel,

and a mount for a miniature quadcopter a tiny drone that can be
controlled using one hand from a
panel mounted on the forearm.
Mr Young wont suffer from a lack
of data either. A miniature screen
mounted in the arm will display his
Twitter feed and email. The unusual
project was inspired by the release
of the latest edition of Metal Gear
Solid, a game that has sold more than
40 million copies worldwide. In
The arm features a torch,

a laser, and banks of lights
synchronised with the heart
I dont think Im Snake.
His team are bitter and
vengeful. Thats not me
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom

Pain, the games protagonist, Snake,
awakes from a coma to learn his
shattered left arm is to be replaced
with a synthetic limb capable of
detecting minute vibrations, unleashing bolts of electricity and
punching out adversaries.
Mr Young, an account executive
at a medical communications company, admits he has little in common
with Snake, a tough-as-guts former
Green Beret who is uent in six lan-
guages and specialises in solo spying

missions. But the young Londoner
was familiar with Metal Gear Solids
retro-futuristic aesthetic. During his
rehabilitation he spent hours using
a games console, learning to use the
controller with one hand, his chin
and, occasionally, his teeth.
Although he was fascinated by the
project, Mr Young didnt want to end
up looking like a sci-fi killing
machine or becoming a walking,
talking advertisement for a computer game a kind of cyborg billboard.
Fortunately, Ms de Oliveira Barata
and Konami, the games publisher,
didnt want him to be.
No one has made me sign a contract saying I have to make a certain
number of appearances or anything
like that, said Mr Young. If I wanted
I could do the big reveal [in Texas]
and disappear.
Ms de Oliveira Barata, who has
created a series of artistic prosthetics including a crystal-studded leg
for the model and amputee Viktoria
Modesta, said the idea of a company
sponsoring a body part is clearly a
bit tricky. But, she said, Jamess arm
is completely bespoke, and it was really important for all of us that it
encapsulated his idea of what he
wanted from a prosthetic.
A spokeswoman for Konami
described the project as a kind of
social piece that shows how a
disability can be overcome in a
positive way.
So, unlike Snake, Mr Young wont
be able to fell an antagonist with a
rocket punch or an electric shock.
His arm is a different colour from
the prosthetic featured in the computer game, and its contours are
considerably smoother. I dont think
Im Snake, said Mr Young. Pretty
much everyone in his team has had
some sort of terrible accident and
theyre all very bitter about it and
embarking on a big revenge spree.
Thats denitely not me.
Radio 4 Extra enters another dimension: The Twilight Zone!

By Adam Sherwin
MEDIA CORRESPONDENT
You are about to enter another

dimension. A journey into a
wondrous land of imagination.
Next stop, the Twilight Zone!
The cult sci- show which
exposed the paranoia of Cold
War America is to return with a
series of unheard radio dramas
broadcast by the BBC.
Incorporating elements of
horror and suspense, and heralded by a nerve-jangling theme
tune, The Twilight Zone, created
by Rod Serling, electried the
nascent medium of television
when it launched on CBS in 1959.

Running for six years and
adapting stories by leading
authors, including Ray Bradbury,
The Twilight Zone entranced
viewers with morality tales that
touched on greed and hysteria,
as well as on topical issues such
as McCarthyisms witch-hunts,
racism and nuclear catastrophe.
Each of the 156 episodes ended
with a shocking plot twist.
Now classic episodes from the
series, based on original scripts
from Serlings archive, will be
broadcast as 40-minute dramas
on BBC Radio 4 Extra.
Stacy Keach, who played the
Actor Burgess Meredith in an original

TV episode of The Twilight Zone
TV detective Mike Hammer,

voices Serlings famous narrations in the radio dramatisations,
which feature Jane Seymour, Jim
Caviezel, Michael York, Malcolm
McDowell and Don Johnson
among the cast.
The Twilight Zone episodes
will run at 6pm on Fridays,
beginning next month with An
Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,
by Ambrose Bierce, a short story
set in the American Civil War.
The radio episodes are adapted
by the American producer Carl
Amari, who licensed the rights
from CBS and the Rod Serling
estate in 2002 after pledging to
recreate the episodes with an Alist cast, music and sound effects.
There are 10 episodes in the initial 4 Extra batch, which the BBC
said had never been broadcast
in the UK. A number of episodes
rst broadcast by BBC 7, the digital stations predecessor, will also
be rebroadcast under the deal.
The series, which inspired
Charlie Brookers dystopian
Black Mirror dramas, has been
revived twice for television, in
1985 and 2002. A 1983 feature lm,
co-directed by Steven Spielberg,
was marred by the death of actor
Vic Morrow and two child actors
in an on-set helicopter crash.

21 FEBRUARY 2016
MMMM
Patrick Cockburn
Students revolt
US elections
The problems with alliances

are starting to show in Syria
P29
Violence erupts on Indian

campuses over dissent laws
P30
Trump hit by backlash against

the loss of the Confederate flag
P33
WORLD
NEWS
SPOILS OF WAR
A government
soldier relaxes
after the
recapture of
Salma from IS
AFP/GETTY
This is Syrias
midden. The
bedlam that drove
people to despair
The road to Aleppo is a stark reminder of why
thousands of refugees are streaming into Europe
Robert Fisk
IN ALEPPO
ou can drive these

days from Damascus to
Aleppo, but the road is
a long one, it does not
follow the international
highway, and for almost 100 miles you
whirr along with Islamic State (IS)
forces to the west of you and, alas,
scarcely three miles to the east of you.
The moral of the story is simple: you
will learn a lot about Syrias tragedy
on the way, and about the dangers of
rockets, bombs and IEDs, and you

must drive fast very fast if you
want to reach Syrias largest and still
warring city without meeting the sort
of folk who would put you on a videotape wearing an orange jumpsuit and
with a knife at your throat.
The old road north as far as Homs
is clear enough these days. Syrian
air strikes keep the men from IS away
from the dual carriageway. But once
youve negotiated the Dresden-like
ruins of central Homs the acres of
blitzed homes and apartment blocks
and shops and Ottoman houses, still
dripping with broken water mains
and sewer pipes you must turn
right outside the city and follow the
signposts to Raqqa. Yes, Raqqa, the
Syrian capital of Caliph Baghdadis
IS cult-kingdom where every man
or Westerner, at least fears to
tread. And then you drive slowly
through Syrian army checkpoints

and past 30 miles of ruins.
These are not the gaunt, hanging,
six-storey blocks of central Hama.
They are the suburbs and the surrounding villages where the
revolution began almost six years
ago and where it metamorphosed
from the Free Syrian Army of
which David Cameron still dreams
all 70,000 of them into the alQaeda-affliated Jabhat al-Nusra and
then, like a Victorian horror novel,
into IS. For all of those 30 miles perhaps 40 if you count some outlying
hamlets in the dust-storms that blow
across the desert I saw only feral
children, two makeshift sweet stores
and a few still-standing homes.
The rest is crumpled concrete,
sandwiched roofs, weed-covered
P28
28
MMMM

21 FEBRUARY 2016
WORLD NEWS
P27
FRONTLINE
TURKEY
al-Hasakah
Aleppo
Raqqa
Deir ez-Zor
SYRIA
Hama
Homs
Palmyra
LEBANON
IRAQ
Damascus
50 miles
IS
IS, al-Nusra and opposition
JORDAN
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Opposition and al-Nusra

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and abandoned barricades from

wars that no reporter witnessed
and of which there is apparently
no visual record. They are the
homes of the poor, those who
had no chance of salvation in their
own country.
It is strange how the visual disconnect interrupts you as you
speed down the bumpy, potholed
road. Where have all the people
gone, I kept asking myself. Why are
those who live here not rebuilding
their homes? And then I remembered the thousands of Syrian
refugees I saw and met streaming
through the hot cornelds of northern Greece last summer, en route
to Macedonia, and the pictures of
those tens of thousands walking
the frozen railway tracks north to
Germany, and of course it made
sense. This is the midden which
those people left, the Ground
Zero they abandoned. This is the
empty bedlam which drove them
to despair and to Europe. These are
not the homes of the internally displaced. They are the homes of those
who have abandoned all.
Raqqa 240km reads the official
blue road marker which flashes
past us, and I look at my driver his
name is Mohamed and he casts
me a look of both humour and
palpable unease. Straight north of
Hama is the international highway
we should have been travelling on,
but I missed all reports of this IS
has cut this road in several places.
So we head north-east on this uneasy road, in near silence.
Then the wreckage starts. A
burnt-out bus on my side of the car
Thirty-eight passengers were
killed in that bus, Mohamed says,
but he cant remember if it was hit
with rocket-propelled grenades or
drove over a hidden mine left for
the army. Mohameds wife is in the
back of the car and points east
across the grey desert to a swaddle
of concrete two miles to the east.
Thats al-Mabouji, she says quietly. Isis [IS] went in there six
months ago and massacred 65 civilians and took eight women away as
slaves. No one has seen them since.
Another road sign: Raqqa 219km.
So now we know that IS is to the
west of us on the old highway, and
scarcely three at the most eight
miles to the east of us. I begin to
count the Syrian army checkpoints:
teenagers with AK-47s and the
Syrian ag ying over their concrete huts. This is how the
government keeps the road open
conscript soldiers and a series of
ying columns, open-top trucks
mounted with heavy machine guns
and soldiers cowled behind scarves
to protect them from the desert
wind. Most of the transport trucks
are travelling in convoy patrols
at both ends and a military column races down the road towards
Homs, trucks and armour with
ries pointing like hedgehog quills
from the military vehicles.
Theres another village close by
Khanaifis which IS shelled
several weeks ago in an attempt to
cut our road, killing 45 civilians,
mostly women and children.
The next infuriating sign: Raqqa
167km. And I remember that
somewhere over there to the east,
on grey sand looking identical to
WAR ZONE
A Syrian army
soldier on the
outskirts of
Raqqa; Homs in
ruins AFP/GETTY
the stony earth around us, IS put

to death those poor Western men in
the videos with knives to cut their
heads off. The Syrians have built little fortresses beside the highway now,
tiny castles of sand and concrete
sprouting with machine guns, a few
Katyusha batteries and an occasional
tank. It becomes an obsessive task to
count these little protective ramparts. Could they really disgorge a
Syrian version of the US Cavalry if
the black flags of IS suddenly appeared on the road? The black ags
did appear, about a month ago, but
the Syrians drove to the road-block
and killed every armed member of
the worlds most fearful cult.
One of Syrias top soldiers, General Suheil al-Hassan, known to most
Syrians as The Tiger, blasted our
two-lane highway open two years
ago and relieved the then siege of
Aleppo, and now it trails across the
desert like a single spiders thread,
a lifeline for the government and its
supporters. Thats why its called the
Military Road. Theres another
burnt-out, overturned bus on the
right and a scattering of rusting oil
tankers hit by rockets. The passenger coaches that now race past us
have their curtains pulled, just like
the old buses in Afghanistan.
Then and I need not describe the
sense of relief we turn left towards
I begin to count the Syrian

army checkpoints:
teenagers with AK-47s
The Syrians have built
little fortresses, tiny castles
of sand and concrete
ancient Aleppo and there are bomb
racks from Syrian jet aircraft and discarded extra fuel tanks and then a
series of black smudges far to the east
where the Syrian army is beginning
a series of military operation against
al-Nusra. One appears to be an oil
re. Five chimneys of a power station
loom through the mist like a goliath,
over-funnelled Titanic. A thousand
people have been killed by violence
on this road in two years. IS desperately wants to take it back.
We pass a village where there were
four suicide car bombs the place is
now swamped with armour and police cars and then the countryside
lights up and turns green, and the
elds are dark with fresh earth and
women working in the strawberry
elds and an old railway track with
all but 20 feet of track stolen by
theives. And we drive into Aleppo,
the place still thumped by the sound
of shellfire outgoing, from the
Syrian army, which is now winning
ground around the city and I see a
railway bridge behind which I hid
with Syrian soldiers two years ago
from night-time snipers.
No longer. The city is reborn.
There are smart military policemen
in red berets on the checkpoints, new
shops opened beneath crushed
apartment blocks, and the sound of
incoming shellre and ambulances
driving painfully through traffic
jams. Who would believe we could
be so happy to see this dangerous
old city and its charred medieval
market and decrepit hotels? Now
that tells you something about the
war in Syria.

21 FEBRUARY 2016
29
WORLD NEWS
The trouble
with forming
alliances
Turkish threats of intervention after the Ankara
bombing are being taken seriously by America
Patrick Cockburn
WORLD VIEW
he war in Syria is reaching a climax. The Syrian army, supported

by Russian bombers,
is advancing north of
Aleppo to cut off the Syrian armed
opposition from the Turkish border. The Syrian Kurds, backed by
US air strikes, are closing in on
Islamic State (IS) and non-IS supply lines in the same area. In the
wake of the bomb in Ankara on
17 February that killed 28 people,
Turkey is threatening military intervention in Syria in retaliation
for the attack. On Friday, President
Barack Obama spent one hour and
20 minutes on the phone to Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
urging restraint.
The Turks and the Saudis are
always trying to nudge the US into
sending ground troops to Syria, but
they are not going to launch a largescale military intervention on their
own, said a former senior diplomat in the Middle East. Turkish and
Saudi policy on Syria has hitherto
been full of threats and bombast,
but it is dangerously mercurial and
some form of military action cannot be ruled out, even if it is opposed
by the US or Russia.
The US knows that Turkish military action would be directed
primarily against the Syrian Kurds
and the Peoples Protection Units
(YPG) that have been Americas
most effective ally ghting IS. In his
conversation with Mr Erdogan, Mr
Obama is reported to have said that
the YPG should not seek to exploit
recent gains by the Syrian army
north of Aleppo to take more territory. But at the very moment that
the two men were speaking, the success of US-YPG co-operation was
underlined by a little-reported victory in north-east Syria, where the
Syrian Democratic Forces, a proxy
for the YPG, captured the important IS stronghold of Shadadeh with
the help of US air strikes.
There is a further reason why the
US would be loath to give up its
military alliance with the Syrian

Kurds. Over a year ago, the Americans realised that the Turks were not
going to close their border with Syria
to IS and other jihadis on its northern, Turkish side, said the former
diplomat. So the Americans decided to close the border on the southern
side, with the help of the Syrian
Kurds. It is this plan which is now
close to fullment.
President Obamas policies in
Syria since the rise of IS in the summer of 2014 have always made more
sense than critics supposed. Prior to
the fall of Mosul, the White House
had miscalculated the degree to
which the Syrian war could left to
fester without destabilising the rest
of the region. Mr Obama unwisely
compared the movement that became IS to a junior basketball team
seeking to play in the big leagues.
But Mr Obama has a far more acute
sense than most other politicians
about the ease with which the US,
or any other foreign power intervening in Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan, can
become plugged into local confrontations and disputes. I once asked
General David Petraeus, the commander of the 101st Airborne
Division in Mosul in 2004, what was
the most important advice he could
give to his successor. He said, after
reecting for some moments, that
his advice would be not to align too
closely with one ethnic group, political party, tribe, religious group or
social element.
This approach is sensible, though
scarcely feasible, because a foreign
power under pressure acquires local
allies where it can nd them without
inquiring too closely into their character and motives. For instance,
Turkey has pushed for the US to support safe havens for displaced
people and moderate armed opposition in northern Syria. This sounds
benign and even humanitarian until
one realises that the idea is directed
primarily at stopping the Kurds from
controlling more territory, and that
the Turkish denition of moderate
appears to include extreme jihadis
such as Ahrar al-Sham that usually
ght in alliance with the al-Qaeda
affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra.
It is right to be sceptical of tailwags-the-dog explanations in which
big powers shift the blame for their
more culpable actions to local allies.
But it also true that one of the main
reasons for the disastrous outcome
of foreign interventions in Libya, Iraq
HINDSIGHT
Obama knew
that a 2013
gas attack in
Damascus was
not a missed
chance to back
a moderate
opposition to
Assad AFP/GETTY
They are always trying to

nudge the US into sending
ground troops into Syria
Obama has an acute sense
about the ease of being
drawn into local disputes
Foreign
Reporter of
the Year
SOCIETY OF
EDITORS
P R E S S AWA R D S
and Afghanistan since 2001 is that

they have been justied as actions
against a much-demonised enemy
and in favour of an over-praised,
moderate, secular opposition which
did not exist.
In Iraq in 2003, the US dissolved
the Iraqi army; this is often recalled
as a foolish and unnecessary act by
the head of the US occupation, Paul
Bremer, which had the disastrous
consequence of alienating the Sunni
officer class and promoting the rise
of al-Qaeda in Iraq. But I was in Baghdad at the time and, in reality, the
dissolution of the army was being
recommended to the Americans by
the Kurdish and Shia leaders, representing 80 per cent of Iraqis, who
rightly saw the Iraqi security forces
as the most important institution
through which the 20 per cent Sunni
minority had traditionally held
power. The Americans and allies
such as the British were unwittingly
presiding over a sectarian and ethnic revolution which was bound to
have explosive consequences.
Skip forward 10 years to the poison gas attack in Damascus in August
2013, when the US and Britain almost
intervened militarily against the Syrian government. In retrospect, this
is recalled as the moment when a
chance was lost to back a moderate
armed opposition in overthrowing
President Bashar al-Assad. In fact,
the Syrian army controlled most of
the populated parts of the country
at the time, so any foreign air campaign would have had to be sustained
along the same lines as Libya. And
the outcome would have been similar to Libya as well, since IS, al-Nusra
and other jihadis already dominated

the armed opposition and would
have taken power.
Mr Obama evidently realised this
at an early stage, and has shown understandable impatience at what
became almost conventional wisdom among politicians and the
media. He said in 2014 that the idea
that there was ever a moderate opposition in a position to suddenly
overturn not only Assad but also
ruthless, highly trained jihadists if
we just sent a few arms is a fantasy.
And I think its very important for
the American people but maybe
more importantly, Washington and
the press corps to understand that.
It would be interesting to know if Mr
Obamas thoughts on David Camerons famous 70,000 moderate
ghters, whom Britain supports,
are equally scathing.
The Syrian uprising or war has
passed through three phases: a short
period in 2011 when local forces determined what was happening in the
country; 2012 to 2014 when regional
powers such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran played a dominant role;
and 2014 to 2016 when the conict
became internationalised. Three
events marked the last period, in
which the US and Russia became
the decision-makers: the rise of IS in
2014; the consequent start of the US
air campaign; the beginning of the
Russian air strikes a year later.
Americans and Russians are today
crucial military players in Syria and
it is becoming too late for Turkey and
Saudi Arabia to buck the trend successfully, though this does not prove
that they will not try to do so.
30
MMMM

21 FEBRUARY 2016
WORLD NEWS
The arrest of student leader

ignites campus protests
There are calls for dissenting universities to be shut as undergraduates rebel against a crackdown
on dissent. Meanwhile, a colonial-era sedition law is invoked. Leila Nathoo reports from Delhi
wanish Kumar waves an

Indian ag in the midst
of a massive crowd
assembled on one of
Delhis wide boulevards. We will not go along and let
the state crush our voices, says the
30-year-old, one of thousands who
have taken to the streets across India
in recent days to protest at the arrest
of a student union leader.
The man who now nds himself
at the centre of a political storm is
Kanhaiya Kumar (no relation of
Awanish). The 28-year-old student
leader was detained under a colonialera sedition law for shouting slogans
at a university rally that authorities
claimed were anti-national.
His arrest elevated him into a hate
gure for some and a symbolic victim of injustice for others, pitching
India into an increasingly polarised
debate about patriotism, freedom of
expression and the autonomy of
universities under the countrys
Hindu-nationalist government.
As tensions boiled over, a court
hearing for Mr Kumar in the capital
descended into chaos last week
when he was physically attacked
inside the building by a group of
lawyers. Outside, journalists were
pelted with stones.
In the days since, thousands have
attended demonstrations against
what they see as the latest example
of a government crackdown on
dissent and the attempted control of
educational establishments.
Awanish Kumar, a neurobiology
PhD student, was one of those jolted
into action. We are against this type
of state-sponsored oppression of
students and delegitimising an
institution of higher learning that
is a shameful thing, he said, clutching a 10ft bamboo agpole. If our
institutions are in danger, then the
country is in the wrong hands.
The controversy began at an event
earlier this month at Delhis
Musevenis opponent denounces results of Ugandan election

By Edith Honan
IN KAMPALA
President Yoweri Museveni of

Uganda has extended his 30year rule, winning an election
that international observers
said lacked transparency and
that his main opponent, who
was placed under house arrest
on Friday, denounced as a sham.
One of Africas longestserving leaders, Mr Museveni
won 60.8 per cent of the vote,
while the main opposition candidate, Kizza Besigye, secured
35.4 per cent, according to
the results released by the
electoral commission yesterday.

We have just witnessed what
must be the most fraudulent
electoral process in Uganda,
Mr Besigye said, calling for
an independent audit of the
results. This has not been
an electoral process. This is
a creeping military coup.
Mr Besigye was under house
arrest as Mr Museveni was
declared the winner, with heavily
armed police standing guard near
his residence on the outskirts of
the capital, Kampala.
Mr Museveni, 71, has presided
over strong economic growth,
but faces mounting accusations
Supporters of opposition leader Kizza

Besigye claim the vote was a sham
at home and abroad of cracking

down on dissent across the
nations 37 million people.
Mr Musevenis ruling National
Resistance Movement party
said the veteran leaders victory
showed that opponents failed
to offer any alternative.
Earlier, the EU observer mission said Thursdays election
was conducted in an intimidating
atmosphere, while Commonwealth observers said the poll
fell short of meeting some key
democratic benchmarks.
Eduard Kukan, chief observer
for the EU mission, said: State
actors created an intimidating
atmosphere for both voters and

candidates, adding that opposition supporters were harassed by
officials in more than 20 districts.
Many opposition voters accuse
Mr Museveni of being increasingly autocratic and wanting to
rule for life. The opposition had
tried to tap into anger among
young voters, especially in urban
areas where unemployment is
high and many are frustrated by
the state of schools and hospitals.
We are disappointed, said 23year-old Brenda in Kampala. I
have never seen another president, and it seems it will be like
that until he dies. (Reuters)

21 FEBRUARY 2016
31
MMMM
WORLD NEWS
ON THE STREETS
Protesters in
New Delhi:
Kanhaiya Kumar,
centre, arrives
at court (left)
REUTERS; AFP/GETTY
Critics have also questioned why

the matter was not left to the university to investigate internally. They
claim that the government of the
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is
using the antiquated sedition law to
silence opponents and that it meets
any criticism of its policies with the
charge of being anti-national.
The government might be doing
Any education institution

should remain a democratic
and autonomous space
If our institutions are in
danger, then the country
is in the wrong hands
prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), organised to mark the

anniversary of the execution of a man
convicted of a deadly attack on the
Indian parliament in 2001. Mohammad Afzal Guru, who was hanged in
2013, always maintained his innocence. Many believe he did not
receive a fair trial, especially in his
native Kashmir a region divided
between India and its bitter rival Pakistan but claimed by both and which
has a history of separatist violence.
Police were called to the JNU campus after a complaint from a student
group aligned with the ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who
objected to the chanting of slogans
that reportedly expressed support
for Guru, Pakistan and a Kashmir
free from Indian rule.
Officers are still searching for
CASTE PROTESTS
OVER BENEFITS
Hundreds of army and paramilitary

soldiers moved in to a northern
Indian state try to quell protests
by groups demanding increased
government benets.
Protesters burned several railway
stations in Haryana state yesterday,
and a number of people have
reportedly been killed in clashes
with security forces since Friday.
The protesters are members of the
lower-caste Jat agricultural community, who are demanding benets
including guaranteed government
jobs or university places. (Reuters)
other students they believe were involved, but Kanhaiya Kumar was
detained on charges of sedition,
which carries a maximum penalty
of life imprisonment.
If anyone shouts anti-India slogans and challenges [the] nations
sovereignty and integrity while living in India, they will not be tolerated
or spared, Home Minister Rajnath
Singh wrote on Twitter, conrming
that he had asked Delhi police to take
strong action against the anti-India
elements at JNU.
What Mr Kumar actually said at
the rally is disputed. His supporters
deny he made inflammatory remarks. Various videos and texts are
circulating that purport to be the accurate account of his speech,
triggering a row over which versions
could have been doctored.
something unconstitutional and I

can protest the government is not
equivalent to the nation. There is an
attempt to block voices of dissent,
said JNU student Rajdeep Konar at
the Delhi march demanding Mr
Kumars release.
Police say they are condent they
have enough evidence in their case
against Mr Kumar, and rival student
groups at the university have staged
their own protests denouncing him.
The BJP has also rejected criticism
of his arrest.
The students did not raise just
one anti-India slogan on the JNU
campus but many such slogans. The
constitution guarantees freedom of
speech, but such freedom does not
mean people can support secession,
a party spokesman, MJ Akbar, told
local media.
Some BJP parliamentarians and
their supporters have called for JNU,
with its strong tradition of left-wing
student activism, to be closed down,
while others want its public
subsidy withdrawn.
But there has been an outpouring
of support from staff and students

at universities across India, as well
as from intellectuals worldwide, demanding the protection of spaces
where any opinion can be formed,
aired and challenged.
If the state is coming to your university campus to decide how you
talk, what you discuss, what you
think, and want to control that, thats
a very dangerous trend, said Dr
Sreerekha Sathi, a lecturer in
Womens Studies at Delhis Jamia
Millia Islamia University, demonstrating in the capital in solidarity
with colleagues at JNU.
Any education institution should
remain an autonomous democratic
space, she added.
This is not the rst time that discontent has erupted on Indian
campuses in recent months. In
January, Hyderabad University was
paralysed by protests against caste
discrimination triggered by the
suicide of a student who had been
suspended after being branded
anti-national.
And in the southern city of Pune
last summer, students at Indias top
film school boycotted classes for
months and went on hunger strike
in protest at the appointment of a
Hindu nationalist and government
ally as the academys chairman.
Now, amid the latest protests, the
government has ordered that more
than 40 major universities including JNU must fly the nations
tricolour flag on huge masts in
prominent positions, to try to instil
a sense of national pride.
But there is little sign of the anger
abating while Kanhaiya Kumar
remains in custody. His bail hearing
is expected to go ahead tomorrow.
Kanhaiya is our leader and our
representative said the ag-waving
Awanish Kumar in Delhi, making
clear that support for Kanhaiya
Kumar would continue. We are on
the street. We will ght.
Two Serb hostages killed in US air strikes on IS training camp

By Aleksandar Vasovic
IN BELGRADE
Two Serbian embassy staff

members abducted in Libya
last year were among at least
40 people killed in US air strikes
on a suspected Islamic State (IS)
training camp, Serbias Prime
Minister has said.
US officials said the targeted
site in Sabratha, western Libya,
was a camp used by up to 60
ghters, including Noureddine
Chouchane a Tunisian linked
to two attacks in Tunisia last
year, the second on the resort of
Sousse where 30 Britons died.
Sladjana Stankovic, a Serbian

communications officer, and
Jovica Stepic, a driver, were taken
hostage on 8 November 2015 after
their diplomatic convoy, including the ambassador, came under
re near Sabratha, a coastal city.
It is officially conrmed that
the two embassy staff were killed
in air raids, the Prime Minister,
Aleksandar Vucic, said yesterday. He described the deaths as
terrible collateral damage and
said that Serbia had been close to
securing their release.
The Serbian foreign minister, Ivica Dacic, said Serbia had
known the exact location where
the Serb hostages were being

held for a while, and had been
working to get them back, adding
that Libyan troops were considering an operation to free them.
He added that the kidnappers
demands had been impossible
to meet by either the families or
the government.
We will seek official explanations from both Libya and the US
about the available facts and the
selection of targets, Mr Dacic
said. No one had informed us
that the attack would take place.
US officials have said they gave
advance warning of the strikes
to Libyan authorities, without
Ivica Dacic: No one had informed us

that the attack would take place AFP
specifying who they contacted.

On Friday, Peter Cook, a Pentagon spokesman, said the US
is determined to stop IS from
gaining traction in Libya.
Since the 2011 overthrow of
Gadda, the sprawling nation has
fractured into warring camps,
with the government forced out
of the capital, Tripoli, and now
operating out of the eastern cities of Tobruk and Bayda. Another
government, backed by Islamistaffiliated militias known as Libya
Dawn, controls Tripoli and much
of the west. The chaos has provided fertile ground for extremist
groups such as IS. (Reuters)
32

21 FEBRUARY 2016
WORLD NEWS
Reality bites
for Colombias
ghost army
STREET LIFE
Only a third
of those who
have joined the
reintegration
programme have
found jobs in the
formal sector
RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP
Thousands of Farc rebels have quit the ght but

decades at war has left them ill-equipped for
civilian life, reports Anastasia Moloney in Bogota
eep in the Colombian

jungle, child ghter
Yeimi Diaz feared
for her life as members of Latin Americas oldest guerrilla group held a
meeting to decide whether to order
a ring squad to shoot her.
In the 14 years she fought for the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (Farc) rebels, Ms Diaz
had faced two such councils.
A war council is almost always
a death sentence, she said, recalling the way the Farc punished
ghters who broke its rules. I got
lucky. A guerrilla commander who
knew my mother stepped in at the
last minute and voted to save my
life, she said.
After years of skirmishes with
government troops, long mountain
treks and rationed food, Ms Diaz
escaped and turned herself in to
the army in 2009, after nding a
leaet dropped by its helicopters
urging rebels to surrender.
Around 18,000 former rebels
have quit the Farc ranks since 2003
and joined the governments reintegration programme.
A further 8,000 Farc members
may hand in their weapons over
the coming months, if peace talks
in Cuba result in an agreement with
the government to end their 51-year
war, which has killed 220,000
people and displaced millions.
With the deadline of 23 March
for a peace accord looming, negotiators are discussing how best to
reintegrate former ghters, while
Colombians consider how far they

will accept former combatants back
into society. Demobilised ghters,
who may have spent 20 years or more
in rebel ranks, face signicant obstacles to reintegration.
Ms Diaz said it has taken her six
years to rebuild her life. Under the
state reintegration programme, she
is paid a monthly allowance of up to
$140 (100) provided she attends
school or university, takes free psyc h o l o g i c a l co u n s e l l i n g a n d
vocational training schemes and
does community service.
After learning to read and write
and completing secondary school,
she found work as a cleaner. You
have to stay positive. Its not easy,
Ms Diaz said. The government provides opportunities and grants to
start small businesses, but its up to
you to take advantage of them. Some
people dont. Some complain and
dont stick it out.
Boris Folero, 48, joined the Farc at
18 because he sympathised with its
Marxist ideology, but today works
with the reintegration programme.
He said nding his own identity after
decades with the rebels was a struggle. Leaving was painful. My
personal identity was shaped there.
I was formed as a man in the Farc,
Folero said; he left the group in 2005.
Before, it was us: the collective.
Now its just me. You have to reconstruct yourself, nd a new identity,
nd out who you really are. I had to
grow up its been difficult.
At one government-run centre for
demobilised fighters in a poor
I was formed as a man in

the Farc. It was us, the
collective. Now its just me
If we dont provide job
opportunities, the cycle of
violence will repeat itself
neighbourhood in south Bogota,

Johanna Diaz is one of 860 state psychologists helping former ghters
get used to civilian life. Many are
from poor rural backgrounds and
adapting to a new life in the capital
is hard. She helps them nd a place
to rent and get job interviews, but
her duties also extend to showing
them how to use a knife and fork,
take escalators and lifts and buses.
We have to see ex-combatants at
least once every month and form a
bond with them, to make sure they
stay on the straight and narrow, said
the psychologist, adding that years
of ghting can led to mental trauma,
including post-traumatic stress disorder and paranoia.
Joshua Mitrotti, head of the governments reintegration agency, said
integrating thousands of ex-ghters
hinges on long-term provision of
education and on rural communities

agreeing to give them a second
chance. This is about the transition
of people who once held arms to
becoming citizens in a democracy,
Mr Mitrotti said.
Around 650 companies in Colombia offer jobs and training to former
combatants in exchange for tax
breaks. But only one-third of those
who have joined the reintegration
programme have found jobs in the
formal sector. The lack of work
means some give in to the temptation to earn money working for
criminal gangs. If we dont give job
opportunities the cycle of violence
will repeat itself, Mr Mitrotti said.
Just signing a peace agreement
doesnt mean the drug trafficking, the
organised crime, will go away. The
offer of that kind of work will remain.
(Thomson Reuters Foundation)

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21 FEBRUARY 2016
33
MMMM
US ELECTIONS |
| WORLD NEWS
Hillary Clinton
edges ahead in
Nevada caucuses
The battle for the Democratic presidential
nomination is turning against Bernie Sanders
By Tim Walker
IN LAS VEGAS
Republican voters turn out to back Texas senator Ted Cruz in the South Carolinan primary JOSHUA ROBERTS/ REUTERS
Cruz supporters force

Trump to face the flag
The Confederate banner was one of the issues Republican candidates
had hoped to avoid in South Carolina, and they almost made it
By David Usborne
IN CHARLESTON
Republicans in South Carolina had

hoped they would make it to voting day without aggravating the
states biggest political sore spot,
the proper place for the Confederate ag. After a mass shooting at a
black church in Charleston in June,
it was removed from the grounds
of the State Capitol in Columbia.
That was that.
But as the candidates for the Republican nomination wooed voters
all across the Palmetto State ahead
of yesterdays primary election,
the fate of the rebel banner was always simmering just beneath the
surface. Finally the issue burst into
the open in the nal hours before
voting, as an outside political action group, or super PAC, unleashed
a tirade against Donald Trump, accusing him of supporting the
ags removal.
The barrage of radio spots on Friday and pre-recorded phone calls
to about 180,000 homes were funded by the Courageous Conservatives
PAC, which has been supporting
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, just as
he was showing signs of catching
up with Mr Trump in the state.
People like Donald Trump are
always butting their noses into
other peoples business, an announcer says over ominous music.
But Trump talks about our ag like
its a social disease. There is a snippet of Mr Trump answering a
question about the ag. Put it in a
museum, he says. Let it go.
People like Donald

Trump are always
butting their noses in
What I object to is
everyone running the
flag into the ground
Ironically, it is to Mr Trump in particular that South Carolinians,

angered by the ags removal from
a memorial outside the Capitol building, have mostly flocked. The
lowering of it, after a contentious
vote in the state legislature, came in
July, one month after nine people
were killed at a historic black church
in Charleston, including a State senator and a pastor.
In spite of his comments about the
ag, Mr Trump has drawn support
in part because of his derision for
political correctness, which is exactly
what defenders of the ag blame for
its demise. That was part of our history that really has nothing to do with
political incorrectness, said Edwin
Sanders, 60, attending a Trump rally
in Myrtle Beach. I wasnt opposed
necessarily to the ag going down,
but what I object to is everyone running it into the ground.
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida,
who, like two others in the race Jeb
Bush and Ohio Governor John Kasich has strived to emerge as the
preferred establishment alternative
to Mr Trump and Mr Cruz, has kept
well away from the ag debate. Before the vote, Mr Trump, Mr Cruz
and Mr Rubio were the top three in
the South Carolina polls.
Hollice McCollie, who is black,
was doing brisk business with Trump
supporters in Myrtle Beach selling
political otsam. That ag should
have come down as soon as the Confederacy was over, thats what should
have happened, he said. But this is
South Carolina and you know how
they are. This state is still racist.
Hillary Clinton was a nose ahead

of rival presidential hopeful
Bernie Sanders last night, as the
results rolled in from the latest
Democratic caucus in Nevada.
At one caucus location, a
cavernous conference room just
yards from the slot machines of
the Caesars Palace casino in Las
Vegas, the blue T-shirts of Ms
Clintons supporters among
them many low-income and
minority workers from the citys
hospitality industry outnumbered Mr Sanders by more than
two to one. But it is a margin she
was unable to replicate across
this unpredictable state.
Ms Clintons once-unassailable
lead here had been demolished
in recent weeks. Nevada polls
remain notoriously unreliable,
but in December she looked to be
as much as 20 points ahead of Mr
Sanders; by Friday, the two were
neck and neck.
Nevada has only held its early
slot in the primary calendar
since 2008, but now acts as a bellwether for the western US, with
a diverse population seen as
more reective of the nation at
large than Iowa and New Hampshire, which precede it in the
presidential process. Now, for
the rst time, it has been thrust
into the electoral limelight by the
unexpected narrowness of the
Democratic race.
The former secretary of state
had hoped to gain some momentum in the Silver State, after her
paper-thin win in Iowa and a
thrashing from Mr Sanders in
New Hampshire. But with the
Vermont senator taking a slim
lead in a national poll for the rst
time in recent days, the Nevada
race came down to the wire
until now.
Ms Clinton won the popular
vote over Barack Obama when
they faced off here in 2008, and
the state is almost one-third Latino a group thought to favour
her candidacy. At a Vegas campaign event on Friday night, the
crowd of around 500 was serenaded by a Mariachi band before
Latina actresses America Ferrara and Eva Longoria introduced
Hillary, Bill and Chelsea Clinton.
But there are plenty of prospective Sanders supporters here, too.
The Vermont senators attacks
on inequality and his call for a
$15 (10) minimum wage may
have attracted the states burgeoning young population, not
to mention its unemployed and
low-income workers. Nevadas
unemployment rate is still more

than 2 per cent higher than the
US average.
Pepper Mashay, 62, a Hillary
supporter who attended Fridays rally, and who performed
as a backing singer at both of Bill
Clintons presidential inaugurations, said she wasnt pleased
with the young voters ocking
to Mr Sanders. Young people
were not there during the midterms when we needed them, like
in the Obamacare ght, she said.
They only show up for presidential elections.
As images emerged this week of
Mr Sanders being arrested during
a civil rights protest in Chicago
in 1963, Ms Mashay, who is black,
said she remained sceptical of
the senators credentials on race
issues: He says he was involved
The state now acts as an

electoral bellwether for the
western United States
In December, Hillary was
20 points ahead; by Friday,
they were neck and neck
in the civil rights movement, ne.
But there are no black people
living in Vermont, and that is a
problem for me.
In her stump speech, Ms Clinton invites her supporters to
imagine a tomorrow where
women nally get equal pay ...
where we ght climate change
... where we nally pass comprehensive immigration reform...
and so on. Right now, however,
the only tomorrow worth imagining for Ms Clinton is one in
which she beats back the Sanders
surge. The rest can wait.
Democratic chiefs feared
Republicans would attempt to
disrupt the Nevada caucuses by
registering falsely as Democrats
and taking part. The party vowed
to pursue legal action against
anyone who participated in what
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada
called trickery and gimmicks.
Some gimmicks are part of the
fun: Nevadas 250 caucus locations included several casinos.
And in Nevada, if a caucus is deadlocked, the result can be decided
by a card draw; the rules state
that the pack must be fresh and
shuffled seven times. At least one
was decided that way yesterday,
with Hillarys ace card beating Bernies six at a precinct in
Pahrump. The Clinton campaign
must hope its luck will hold.
34
MMMM

21 FEBRUARY 2016
WORLD NEWS IN BRIEF

:: TURKEY
:: FIJI
:: AFGHANISTAN
Security to be tightened
after Ankara car bomb
Cyclone Winston flattens

houses across Viti Levu
Kabul to get electricity

round the clock
Turkey is to tighten security across

the country, especially in the capital,
after a car bomb killed 28 people in
Ankara last week, Prime Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu said yesterday. He
urged the US, a Nato ally, to regard
an attack on Turkey as an attack on
the US. Kurdish militant group TAK
has claimed the bombing. (Reuters)
A ferocious cyclone with wind speeds

of up to 180 miles an hour tore
through the Pacic island chain of Fiji
yesterday, prompting authorities to
declare a curfew and a month-long
state of disaster. Cyclone Winston, a
Category 5 storm, hit the main island,
Viti Levu, and tracked west. Many
houses were reported destroyed. (AP)
Ofcials in Kabul say they hope to

restore full electricity supply to the
Afghan capital now insurgents have
been cleared from Baghlan province in the north, where cables from
Uzbekistan were damaged during
heavy ghting last month. Most of the
citys ve million residents have had
just two hours electricity a day. (AP )
:: CHINA
:: SYRIA
:: UNITED STATES
Regulator quits after

stock market turmoil
Opposition still talking

of possibility of truce
Modest funeral for

author Harper Lee
Months of turmoil in Chinese stock

markets has forced the resignation
of Xiao Gang, the top securities
regulator. The departure of Mr Xiao
may help assuage public anger
at the dramatic boom and bust.
The ofcial Xinhua News Agency
reported that Mr Xiao would be
replaced by Liu Shiyu, chairman of
the Agricultural Bank of China. (AP)
Syrias main opposition group said

yesterday it had agreed to the possibility of a temporary truce in the
country, after a deadline set for a
cessation of hostilities passed.
The Saudi-backed group, known
as the High Negotiations Committee,
said any truce would rst require the
government to lift blockades from
rebel-held communities. (AP)
A private church funeral for To Kill

a Mockingbird author Harper Lee
was held yesterday in Monroeville,
Alabama, attended by a small group
of relatives. History professor Wayne
Flynt gave the eulogy for the 89year-old. He said Lee had asked him
to repeat a speech he wrote in 2006,
when she won the Birmingham Pledge
Foundation Award for racial justice.

About 3,000 couples from around the world have taken part in a mass
wedding at the South Korean headquarters of the Unication Church.
Many of the newlyweds had met just days before and had been matched
by church authorities before the ceremony near Seoul REUTERS
Once we
were on the
ground,
amid the
samba on
the shores
of Ipanema,
Zika was
not even
a distant
concern

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ABTA No. V4744

21 FEBRUARY 2016
MMMM
Fiona Sturges
Katy Guest
DJ Taylor
It may be legal, but men

chasing teenagers is suspect
P36
There is no market value to

a loved ones welcoming hug
P37
The inane nostalgia behind

Frank Spencers rebirth
P38
COMMENT
UNION BLUES
Up to half
of Tory MPs
may come
out in favour
of Brexit
John Rentoul
t is not often that you see a
party of government splitting
before your eyes. What is extraordinary is that the last time it
happened, in 2003, we werent
fully aware of it. When the House of
Commons voted in favour of military
action in Iraq all attention was on
the strength of Tony Blairs mandate
across the House. With the support
of the Conservative leadership, MPs
supported the Government by a comfortable majority of 263.
We realised that 139 Labour MPs
had voted against their own Prime
Minister the biggest parliamentary
rebellion since 1846 but we hadnt
fully appreciated that the Labour Party
had split down the middle. It was a
whipped vote: ministers voted for military action unless they were one of
the few who resigned with Robin
Cook. But exactly half of backbench
Labour MPs voted against.
Unlike Iraq, there will be no vote in
Parliament on David Camerons
reformed EU. But the vote in the
country on 23 June will be just as divisive and MPs will not be able to avoid
declaring where they stand.
Blair stayed on in the top job for four
years after the Iraq vote, so it wasnt
terminal, and David Cameron only
wants to stay for another three and a
bit. But the division now opening up
in the Tory party doesnt augur well.
I got the great split among Conservative MPs wrong. I thought that only
a few more than the hard core of
known Outers would oppose Camerons deal in the end. There were
surprisingly few of these publicly
declared anti-EUers until the past couple of weeks, not more than 30.
On the other hand, there were lots
of MPs who called themselves Eurosceptics and who said they would wait
to see what the deal was before deciding on In or Out. I thought they were
like Cameron himself. He had long
GETTY
Whatever happens in
the EU referendum,
Cameron is finished
The Prime Minister wasnt the only one to call the split in
his party wrongly, but he will be its first casualty
been impatient with the EU as a special adviser to ministers and thought
of himself as a Eurosceptic, not least
because he was staunchly opposed to
Britain adopting the euro. For him,
leaving the EU was not unthinkable.
On the contrary, it was quite tempting. But he had never actually gone
over the brow of that hill.
It turns out that a lot of Tory MPs
are not like Cameron at all. They were
not waiting and seeing so that they
could stay in, they were waiting and
It turns out a
lot of Tory MPs
were waiting
so they could
announce they
wanted to
get out
seeing so that they could finally

announce that they wanted to get out
without automatically terminating
their ministerial careers.
Instead of a small minority of Tory
MPs arguing for Leave, it could well
be half. The numbers are quite nely
balanced: there are 330 Tory MPs, not
including the Speaker, John Bercow.
Last night the running tallies kept by
Guido Fawkes and The Spectator had
identied 144 of them as Outers. Some
of them may be persuaded, as some of
their Cabinet colleagues such as Sajid

Javid have been. But some of the undeclared will join them many of them
are ministers and have so far been limited in what they can say. But it looks
as if the Leave total will be close to
half of the Parliamentary Conservative Party. Thats 165 MPs.
This is not how Cameron hoped it
would be. He thought his party and
the country was looking for excuses
to stick with the status quo. Instead
one of the unintended consequences
of renegotiation has been to remind
people who think of themselves as
vaguely pro-EU of the things about
EU membership that they dont like.
The European Parliament, the Brussels bureaucracy and Michael Gove
telling us that hundreds of new EU
rules cross my desk, none of which
were requested by the UK Parliament,
none of which I or any other British
politician could alter in any way.
Oddly, most of Goves ministerial
colleagues dont share his frustration
enough to want to turn their desks over.
The split in the Conservative Party
does not run in a perpendicular line.
The top leans towards staying in the
EU, MPs are split down the middle and
the grassroots want to leave. That is
the fault line with consequences.
If Cameron wins this referendum
he will be hobbled by his party. Within
moments of the result, the anti-EU
Tory party will be looking towards the
next referendum. At some point the
EU treaties will have to be rewritten
and it will be hard to resist demands
for another referendum. Far from settling the European question, this
referendum could ensure that Europe
will dominate the Tory partys choice
of Camerons successor. Which is at
least partly why Boris Johnson is making such an extended song and dance
about his fence-dismounting: he wants
to be the more Eurosceptic candidate
if he faces George Osborne in the vote
between the nal two.
If Cameron loses the referendum,
forget all his hints about staying on. His
time would be over. His party would
not countenance Brexit negotiations
being handled by a leader who wanted
to stay in. One way or the other, this is
the end of his premiership: we just dont
know how or exactly when.
Twitter: @JohnRentoul
36

21 FEBRUARY 2016
COMMENT
Men in pursuit of girls is more than just icky

Fiona Sturges
remember what it was like to be

young and on the cusp. When
I was in my early to mid-teens,
this meant, to some of the men
I encountered, I was not quite
legal or, as many preferred, jailbait.
I knew back then that this made me
attractive, and being attractive to
grown men made me feel good.
I didnt think much beyond this fact,
or why these men wouldnt prefer to
hang out with women their own age.
I was more preoccupied with what
I saw: worldliness, sophistication, a
gateway to adulthood.
None of these interactions became
physical, which, looking back, was
probably because I liked the idea rather
than the reality. Other girls I knew went
considerably further. My interest in
older men started to wane when one
of my parents friends tried to grope
me behind a door at a party. I was 14.
I look at my daughter now and I
know what lies ahead. Long before she
is 16 and thus, in the eyes of the law,
legal, shell be leered at on the bus

and chatted up by men ve, 10, perhaps
even 15 years her senior.
Post-puberty, her school uniform
will prompt heckling from louts in vans.
It wont stop once she is of age either,
though I can only pray that this will be
the extent of her dealings with creeps
who are old enough to know better.
Its only when we are older that we
begin to understand these exchanges
between young girls and older men,
the power play at the heart of them
and the damage that can be done. This
is why the responsibility lies with the
older party: the man looking at the
luminous esh of a teenager and wondering if he or she is worth the risk.
It clearly seemed worth it to the 28year-old England footballer Adam
Johnson, who has pleaded guilty to
two counts of sexual abuse of a 15-yearold girl. He would have known what
he stood to lose when he began sending lewd texts and arranging meetings
with her, but still he followed his impulses. Now everyone is agreed that
what he did was wrong. We know this
because the law says so.
But what about the old days, when
David Bowie was deowering Lori
Maddox, one of the so-called baby
groupies of the era? The law didnt
sanction that. Since Bowies death last
month, commentators have asked
whether we should be celebrating a
man known to have had sex with a
What are we
to think of
these men
who pursue
teenagers so
fresh out of
childhood?
minor, and whether its possible to

separate the art from the artist. Bowie
wasnt alone, of course. Iggy Pop,
Jimmy Page, Steven Tyler, Jerry Lee
Lewis they were all at it.
Those were different times, we are
told; to a point, its true. Those where
the days when few were familiar with
the word paedophilia, and when the
repercussions on a young girl of sleeping with an older man were not much
considered, because the welfare of
young girls wasnt considered at all.
Those were the days when men joked
about bedding teenagers and the concept of consent was rarely discussed.
Lori Maddox, who lost her virginity
to Bowie when she was 15, still maintains it was the greatest night of her
life, though Mandy Smith, who was 14
when she began dating the Rolling
Stone Bill Wyman, has talked about
depression and having had her childhood stolen.
Perhaps the difference is that now
these things have been thought about,
the repercussions have been felt and
the language has been developed to
unpick these relationships. Most importantly, the law is now frequently
(but not always) being enforced.
There is, of course, a world of difference between a man who grooms and
abuses children and one with a predilection for younger women. The law
has provided a line in the sand, and that
line is 16. Even so, what are we to think
of these men who pursue young people so fresh out of childhood? Theres
the thrill of a beautiful young body, of
course, but theres more to it than that.
Theres the ego trip of being with
a teenager who is so easily impressed
that a car, or a at any signier of independence can seem dazzlingly
mature. What I remember most about
the girls I knew who dated older men
was how condent they were among
their friends, and how passive they
were around their boyfriends.
The recent nausea that accompanied
49-year-old Simon Danczuk, the
Labour MP who sent sexually explicit
texts to a 17-year-old, telling Newsnight:
I prefer young women. Different people have different preferences, would
suggest that attitudes are changing and
that there is a sense that, when an older
man pursues a much younger woman,
somethings not quite right. Even his
interviewer used the word icky.
Even so, I still hear male friends
defending these partnerships, which
always makes me wonder: what if it
were your daughter? If its within the
law then its OK, they say. Well, yes, in
one sense it is. But its also emotionally and intellectually unbalanced and
potentially exploitative.
We still have a long way to go before
grown men stop seeing teenage girls
as ripe for the picking.
Twitter: @FionaSturges

21 FEBRUARY 2016
37
COMMENT

2 Derry Street, London W8 5HF
Telephone 020-7005 2000
The Independent online: independent.co.uk
Base your vote on hope not fear
t would be a pity if the European referendum campaign

were to become a contest
of fear. The Prime Minister
used the words safe, safer
and security nine times in
his short statement after yesterdays Cabinet meeting to describe
the benets of staying in a reformed
European Union. Michael Gove, the
Justice Secretary, newly liberated to
speak his mind on the subject, contradicted him by saying: The EUs policies have become a source of instability
and insecurity razor wire once more
criss-crosses the continent.
Everyone always says that they dislike negative campaigning, and yet
politicians continue to use fear as a
motivator because it works. It would
be unrealistic, therefore, to hope that
the referendum would be fought
between competing soft-focus visions of European harmony or bucolic
British insularity.
We should, however, try to be clear
what there is to be afraid of. David Cameron, somewhat to his credit, seemed
uncertain. First he suggested that leaving the EU was a perfectly reasonable
decision that he might have arrived
at himself if he had got out of bed on

the other side. I will never say that
our country couldnt survive outside
Europe, he said. We are Great Britain we can achieve great things. But
then he said that to leave would be a
leap in the dark, a risk at a time of
able to work with our European partners to ght cross-border crime and
terrorism. Up to a point. The European arrest warrant is certainly an
effective instrument, which is why
Theresa May, the Home Secretary,
who is no open-borders dreamer, has
Life outside the EU would

not be frightening, but it would
be smaller. We would be a
poorer, less important country
uncertainty and a threat to our national
and economic security.
The Independent on Sunday supports our continued membership
of the EU not because we are fearful
of a life outside the bloc but because
we are optimistic about the prospects
for European unity. Life outside the EU
would not be frightening, but it would
be smaller. We would be a poorer, less
important country.
Many of the arguments about
security are unconvincing. Mr Cameron spoke yesterday of being better
opted back into it. But we are not in

Europe to ght crime.
Nor would we be less well-defended
against our enemies if we left. Mr Cameron is trying to conate an argument
about our long-term geopolitical interests with one about national defence.
Rather to our surprise, it was an argument that the hesitating Hamlet of last
weeks drama, Boris Johnson, made
well. Writing recently about how the
arguments for In and Out were contending in his tousled head, he said:
Leaving would be widely read as a very
negative signal for Europe. It would

dismay some of our closest friends,
not least the eastern Europeans for
whom the EU has been a force for good:
stability, openness, and prosperity.
The Mayor of London was so persuasive that it would be most embarrassing
for him to come out for Leave now.
When it comes to scaremongering,
however, Mr Cameron is no match
for the strange bedfellows of the Out
cause. Mr Gove, who can be an intelligent and compassionate Conservative,
and whose ambition to reform our
prison system we have praised, sounds
too much like Nigel Farage, the leader of Ukip, in conjuring up a vision
of a continent teeming with desperate refugees from which we must cut
ourselves off. (In passing, it is worth
noting the irony that the anti-EU cause
has reunited Mr Gove with his muchrepudiated predecessor as Justice
Secretary, Chris Grayling.)
Europes refugee problem is one that
demands co-operation, not separatism.
It should not be the basis on which you
make your decision on 23 June. The
question of Britains membership of
the EU should be decided not by fear
but by hope for a better future.
Hey, pollsters, you cant put a price on a hug

Katy Guest
ts even more bad news for

the poor and sentimental, Im
afraid: the best things in life are
not, after all, free. So says a survey of married couples by the
cashback website Quidco, which presumably aims to demonstrate that the
best things in life can be really quite
affordable if one simply takes advantage of its eclectic range of online
cashback offers.
The good news from this survey of
internet bargain hunters is that 84 per

cent of those polled claimed to be in
a happy marriage. The downside is
that a happy marriage will supposedly cost you 267,357 over a lifetime.
Thats partly because you have to lay
the foundations of a happy marriage
by blowing upwards of 21 grand on a
wedding and honeymoon, according
to 52 per cent of those surveyed.
Then theres the regular gifts of
jewellery, at 477 a year for the
happiest couples; the date nights
(three per month at 39 each); the getting dolled up for the date nights (267
a year); and the romantic nights in
at 15.50 a pop.
But thats not all, husbands! Because,
according to Quidco, happy wives
receive one bunch of owers on average per month. So, if you dont mind
having a bitter and resentful wife then
by all means skip a month and see what
The survey
reports that
a happy
marriage
will cost you
267,357
over a lifetime
happens, but dont say that Quidco

didnt warn you.
This will all come as a great relief
I am sure to single people, who tend
to believe that living alone is more
expensive than a happy marriage.
Now, whenever they order a takeaway
for a solitary evening at home, they
will remember not to click on that
pricey, romantic pizza. Presumably,
Netix will offer a special Quidco discount if you only ever watch the
Bridget Jones movies.
And, when paying for a taxi home
from a night out that lacked smooching, singles should remember that all
those poor couples are forking out
1,404 a year for their rare opportunities
to sit face to face and talk to each other.
Whats more, those people who have
no happy marriage to pay for can be
condent that theyll never face the
expense of a messy divorce.
Of course, if a happy marriage really

had anything to do with money, no
celebrities would ever split up. There
are those that would be offended if
they knew that their shiny engagement
ring came with 4.5 per cent cashback
off the internet, while others would
beat their husband about the head with
cut owers if he ever wasted money
on them.
What fortunate couples really know
is that its not the 15.50 for the
supermarket ready meal and the
downloaded movie that makes a happy
marriage; its coming home from a
horrible week at work to find that
somebody has a hug ready and your
tea on the table. As the philosopher
Tammy Wynette once wrote: When
you add it all up, the full cost of my
love is, no charge.
Twitter: @katyguest36912
38

21 February 2016
comment
Some things are

best left dead
and bereted
The BBCs one-off revival of Frank Spencer
is up against the lessons of artistic history
DJ Taylor
he news that veteran actor

Michael Crawford will
shortly be reprising his
celebrated comic role of
Frank Spencer he of the
gormless grin, the tightly clasped
mackintosh and jammed-down
beret in a one-off special for next
months Sport Relief Night stirred
mixed emotions.
On the one hand came the recollection that Some Mothers Do Ave Em,
in which Frank cack-handedly starred,
was quite funny back in its mid-1970s
heyday. On the other lurked the
thoughts that 1978, the date of the
shows final airing, was rather a long
time ago, that Mr Crawford is a ripe 74
and that re-animating an entity that
supposedly breathed its last in the
world of Callaghan, Thatcher and the
Winter of Discontent may trickier than
it seems to the hopeful BBC executive
who commissioned the piece.
Naturally, no such qualms occurred
to the principal members of the cast.
Crawford professed himself thrilled
and delighted at his small-screen renaissance. Michele Dotrice, who
portrays his on-screen wife Betty,
remarked that it would be an absolute
joy to be reunited with her fictive
swain. Olympic cycling champion Sir
Bradley Wiggins, also roped into the
proceedings, has declared himself a
huge fan of Michael, so its an absolute
honour to be asked to be involved
alongside such an icon. As to the
sketch, we are promised that the
eternally disaster-prone Frank
will be embroiled in a series of
awkward situations, culminating in an encounter with Sir
Bradley in Londons Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Hilarious as this may potentially be, anyone who
remembers the original
production can be forgiven for thinking that
the most awkward
situation of all will
involve the undermining of the comic premise
on which Some Mothers
was originally built. Certainly the jokes

tended to focus on such comedy staples as misunderstandings or
straightforward physical ineptitude
(Frank falling over things, clutching
ladders as they fell away from windows, riding motorbikes into ditches
and so on), but they were projected
out of the relationship between Frank
and his wife, a kind of twisted motherson affair founded on the Franks
extraordinary naivety.
The original Frank, it might be said,
grew out of a time-honoured variety
hall character: the gauche and inexperienced young man whose destiny is
now being shaped and directed by
a firm wifely hand. But a pensionable Frank? How is that
emotional chemistry going
to work?
None of which will matter
in the slightest to the audience
of Sport Relief Night, or to
Crawford and Dotrice who are
clearly itching to reboot
their range of surprisingly
durable catchphrases
(interestingly, the
phrase Some Mothers
Do Ave Em survives in
a lowlife-baiting Viz
cartoon strip entitled
Scum Mothers Whod
Ave Em?).
At the same time,
comedians themselves
occasionally note the
aesthetic difficulties
involved in transporting
Do you go to
see a band of
70s rockers
for the music
or to slide into
a warm bath
ofnostalgia?
something so precisely located in time

and milieu as a comedy routine into
another era. The sight of the reformed
Monty Python team sailing through
the Four Yorkshiremen sketch a
couple of years ago was not to
everyones taste: age and absence not
to mention the baying of a nostalgiahungry audience had done something
to the originals charm.
Stephen Fry once offered a convincing explanation of why the cast of
Blackadder, whose first series hit the
screen only half a decade after Frank
Spencer was retired, was unlikely to
reconvene. Much of the humour, he
said, arose out of the spectacle of youth
masquerading as age, of young men
and women crammed into exaggerated historical costumes and playing
venerable and stately figures whose
dignity they were constantly sending
up. Doubtless a middle-aged Stephen
Fry playing Queen Elizabeths adviser
Lord Melchett would still be funny but
he would probably not be as funny as
his 30-year-old predecessor. The same
goes for Hugh Laurie in knee-breeches
and waistcoat taking off the Prince
Regent or Miranda Richardson in an
expansive Tudor skirt threatening to
cut off somebodys head.
There are, of course, excellent
reasons for the winching up from the
vault and attempt to breathe new life
into something presumed to have
expired several decades before. One
of them, inevitably, is economic but
another is based on the optimistic
conceptual thought that something that

21 February 2016
39
comment
party rainbow
MPs and peers of

all persuasions
celebrate
parliaments
diversity
Teri Pengilley
Weve come a long

way but weve still
got a long way to go
The UK Parliament has more LGBT members than
any in the world. Elsewhere, the challenges are huge
reunion dues
Michael Crawford
and Sir Bradley
Wiggins (inset)
go where the
Blackadder cast (left)
feared to tread PA/sky
worked well in the past may possibly

work well in the future. Much of the
evidence from art and literature, alas,
suggests this isnt the case and that the
prudent operator leaves the bygone
character squarely on the shelf.
When Anthony Powell, having
finished his 12-volume A Dance to the
Music of Time (1951-1976), resisted the
siren voices urging him to create
further opportunities for his characters
he probably had at the back of his mind
his friend Evelyn Waugh, whose Basil
Seal Rides Again (1963) is a largely
unsuccessful attempt to transfer the
rakish neer do well of his 1930s novels
Black Mischief and Scoop into the age
of Harold Macmillan.
Martin Amis sped down exactly the
same creative dead-end in his efforts
to carry forward some of the characters from his early novels Dead Babies
(1975) and Success (1978): the baggage
was too heavy, the difficulties too great
and the project was abandoned. As for
the writers who goad their characters
on from one sequel to another, few
have the tongue-in-cheek circumspection of Anthony Burgess, who gave the
final volume in his Enderby series the
larky sub-title No End to Enderby. More
common was the critical response to
the 1980s James Bond novels of John
Gardner which, had to skate over the
unwelcome fact that Bond first
recruited to the Secret Services in 1938
was by now well into his seventies.
Nowhere is the attempt to prolong
something beyond its natural artistic
lifespan more transparently a bad idea
than in contemporary music. Do you

go to see a band of reformed 1970s prog
rockers to enjoy a musical experience
or to slide luxuriously into a warm bath
of nostalgia where the performers
involved are, however well preserved
and exuberant, in danger of becoming
their own tribute act? The exemplary
figure here, you always suspect, is Paul
Weller. Once quoted to the effect that
only the sight of his wife and children
starving in the gutter would prompt
him to reform The Jam, when further
questioned on this point by a wistful
interviewer in the recent About the
Young Idea film tracking the groups
all-too-brief career, he clarified,
Categorically fucking no.
As someone who bought each Jam
single on the day it came out and spent
my undergraduate days attempting to
replicate the Weller look, I reluctantly
accept the wisdom of this judgement.
The Jam were a young persons band.
The spectacle of a trio of late-fiftysomethings singing a number like
When Youre Young would be too
ironic to be borne.
On the other hand, the best rock concert I ever saw was the 2009 reunion
of inimitable post-punk ensemble
Magazine. Here, for some reason, the
fact that the singer was 57 and the keyboard player in sight of his bus pass
seemed not to matter. I was as ecstatic
as any 17-year-old hollering for Taylor
Swift. Who knows? Perhaps, against
all expectation and aesthetic precedent, the world has been waiting for
Frank Spencer to ride again.
Chris Bryant and

David Mundell
GBT History Month is a

good time to reflect on
how far we have come and
how far we still have to go
in building a society with
respect and equality at its heart.
When both of us were born, sexual
relations between men were a criminal offence. Two years ago we both
walked through the lobbies of the
House of Commons to give same-sex
couples the opportunity to get married. Within our lifetimes there has
been a huge and welcome transformation in public attitudes towards
equality generally, and LGBT issues
in particular.
LGBT people in Britain now rightly
have legal protections and freedoms
which would have been unthinkable
in the recent past. That did not happen by accident, but thanks to
courageous campaigning by generations of LGBT activists and allies over
many years.
It almost seems strange to recall that
only a decade and a half ago we still
had an unequal age of consent, you
could be sacked or refused a tenancy,
a meal or a hotel room solely because
of your sexuality. We we now both sit
in a Parliament which has more LGBT
members than any in the world. The
Rainbow Europe survey ranks the United Kingdom as the best place for LGBT
rights in Europe because we embraced
an old principle that everyone should
be treated equally under the law.
But as we celebrate success, we also
have to face up to the challenges we
still face.
LGBT young people in Britain still
face stigma and bullying. Rates of

suicide and depression are signif
icantly higher among members of
theLGBT community. Discrimination
in the workplace and wider society
may be less visible but it has not
disappeared.
There is much work still to do. The
campaigning activities of groups such
as Stonewall, Diversity Role Models
and Schools OUT continue to make a
vital contribution in changing attitudes and supporting LGBT people
to live full and happy lives.
Looking around the world, the challenges are even starker. In many
countries the human rights of LGBT
people are still afforded no respect.
Legal persecution remains common
in many jurisdictions, and public
attitudes in many societies are a long
way from being accepting. The horrors of Islamic States treatment of
LGBT people shows the extremes
which still exist. Shockingly, as the
Kaleidoscope Trust has pointed out,
90 per cent of those who live in the
Commonwealth live in the 40 out of
53 countries with anti-gay laws.
Improvements in the lives of LGBT
people in developing countries will
depend on local attitudes changing
and a greater political respect for
human rights. The UK has a major international role to play, as a member
of the Commonwealth, and as one of
the leading donors of international
aid, in doing all we can to improve the
protections and freedoms of LGBT
people around the world.
The simple fact is that LGBT rights
are human rights. Everyone should
have a right to freedom, safety and
happiness, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. We have come a long
way, and we have further still to go.
But with a shared belief in equality,
we can be confident that we can
achieve more in the future.
Chris Bryant MP is the shadow
Leader of the House of Commons;
David Mundell is Secretary of State
for Scotland
40

21 February 2016
comment
Letters, emails
& online postings
Yugo Kovach
Winterborne Houghton, Dorset
...
I have just read that the projected

cost of revamping the Palace of
Westminster is between 4bn
and7bn (Westminster revamp
faces three-year delay, 15 February). Even more amazingly, it is
thought by some that this could be
reduced to 1bn which apparently
would be a more palatable figure
for the public.
In what parallel universe, in which
1bn is a trivial amount, are these
people living?
Surely this is a unique opportunity
The missile
delivery system
of Trident and
itsproposed
successor has
Made in the
USA stamped
all over it
Yugo Kovach
Winterborne Houghton, Dorset
getty
Our so-called independent nuclear

deterrent has an interesting history
(Nato and US admit to anxiety
over Corbyn, 15 February).
It would have been irresponsible of President Kennedy, having agreed to supply the UK with
submarine-launched ballistic missiles, not to have ensured that they
incorporated an electronic lock
mechanism. After all, what is there
to distinguish a British Polaris
launch from an American one? A
desperate Harold Macmillan, keen
to acquire a deterrent on the cheap,
was easily fobbed off.
Bear in mind that the missile
delivery system of Trident and its
proposed successor has Made
in the USA stamped all over it.
The Yanks design and manufacture thedelivery system. Missiles
have to be sent back to the United
States for periodic overhaul and
modifications. Even submarinelaunched test firings are conducted in American waters near
Cape Canaveral under, needless to
say, US Navy supervision.
The nearest thing nowadays to a
Potemkin Village is Trident.
to rebalance our country at a stroke.

If the new Houses of Parliament
were built in the North, it would
suck jobs and prosperity out of the
South-east and demonstrate that the
government was serious about the
so-called Northern Powerhouse.
Incidentally, it could also be built
on a brownfield site, there are plenty
from which to choose, and it would
set a good example by not rebuilding
on a flood plain.
Having the political and financial
capitals in separate cities seems to
work for many countries including
Germany and the United States, so
why not here?
Rod Auton
Greenfields, Middle Handley, Chesterfield.
...
You speculate on where the

Commons and Lords might
HAVE YOUR SAY

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2 Derry Street, London W8 5HF
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online: independent.co.uk/
dayinapage/2016/February/21
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move to when the Houses of

Parliament are closed for repairs
(Spies andthirsty MPs: the latest
obstacles to repairing Westminster, 7 February).
In his futuristic novel News from
Nowhere William Morris saw
Parliament as being replaced by
aneco-friendly dungheap with
power residing instead directly
with the people.
In these austere times that
would certainly save a considerable sum ofmoney.
Keith FLett
London N17
...
In her article Muslim rape myths

fit a neo-Nazi agenda (14 February), Nabila Ramdani argues that
the Cologne attacks are being used
unjustifiably to scapegoat both
Muslims and immigrants.
I am sure that most Independent
on Sunday readers (including me)
agree with this.
However, Ms Ramdani uses her
own stereotypes in mounting her
argument stating that Cologne
was full of Caucasian drunks acting with macho abandon and citing racially pure Aryans, many of
them beer-swilling Christians.
Reducing individual human
beings to types is something we
all need to be careful of.
Jim COnwell
London NW3
...
Spot on, Joan Smith (This is about

more than pay. Its about what the
NHS is for 14 February); I could
not have put it better myself!
There needs to be a public
debate about how the National
Health Service can survive in
the 21st century (for times have
changed since its inception in
1948) which politicians dare
notdiscuss for fear of having to
abandon party dogma and, so,
losevotes.
Malcolm MOrrison
Retired surgeon
Swindon, Wiltshire
My long and winding road to forsaking meat

Andrew Martin
ne in three people has

reduced meat consumption in the past year, according to the British
Social Attitudes survey.
Reading that, I recalled an article I
wrote for this paper in December 1994,
which began: In the all-time rankings
of bad jobs to have, that of turkey masturbator must come fairly high.
The piece concerned a campaign
against the practice whereby a male
turkey is manually stimulated to obtain his semen for breeding. After

publication, I received a message from
Britains most famous vegetarian: Paul
McCartney. Would I like to write
something about my own vegetarianism for his fanclub magazine? I had to
admit that, in spite of turkey masturbation, I was not a vegetarian, but it
was agreed I would write about how
I was thinking of becoming one.
I am still thinking about it. The
arguments on health grounds are getting stronger, but I resist them out of
superstition. (The excessively clean
eater is inviting a piano to fall on her
head, I think.) I do find the humanitarian and environmental arguments
highly persuasive, but while they dictate the direction of travel, its smaller
things that nudge me forwards.
Twenty years ago I read an article
by Craig Brown in which he described
In 1994
Sir Paul asked
me to write
about how I
was thinking
about it. Im
still thinking
consuming a full English breakfast as

being like eating a carpet. The sheer
rightness of this prompted me to begin
asking, when breakfasting in hotels,
You dont have a kipper, do you?
which has the added benefit of making me feel like a rather epicurean
character. I still eat bacon, but less of
it after spending a week in France, eating oeufs au plat every morning. This
came with a sliver of ham and two or
even three fried eggs. So now there
are more eggs than bacon rashers on
my plate, an inversion of the formula
I had thought set in stone.
Ive also veered away from pt ever
since the proprietor of the deli where
I used to by my lunch diagnosed my
tastes. You like soft things, dont you?
she said, after years of serving me liver
pt sandwiches. It seemed a damning verdict, especially since I was
being advised, for unmentionable rea-
sons, to eat more roughage; so I began

to buy paper cupfuls of three-bean
salad. A few years later that shop
closed, but it occurred to me that the
nearby kebab shop was open at lunchtimes, and that you dont have to be
drunk to eat a kebab as long as its a
vegetarian kebab. I now frequently
have hummus and salad in pitta, although I dont think the kebab man
approves. He always has to ask his colleague the price, and he never calls
me boss, whereas any bloke who
walks in and asks for a large doner is
rewarded with a Coming up, boss.
I speculate, Sir Paul, that I will be
vegetarian within a decade which is
a fat lot of good, I know, to the animals
I will eat in the meantime.
Andrew Martins latest novel is The
Yellow Diamond, published by Faber
Dom Joly returns next week

21 February 2016
41
crosswords & weather

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26
DOWN
2 Pinny (5)
3 West Indian song (7)
4 Unspoken (5)
5 Spartan (7)
6 Reside (5)
7 Low wall (7)
13 Sri Lankan capital (7)
14 Windpipe (7)
15 Fencers warning (2,5)
17 Famous (5)
18 Additional (5)
20 Signified (5)
TODAYS WEATHER
Last weeks solution

F R I L L
I
M O
S U P PO
T
E
S
B R I E
F
I
N
AMA Z E
I
L
D
ROME
Y
E M
L I A B I
I
S
N
GA UN T
H
R
E
T R E ND
10
11
12
14
15
17
18
19
21
24
25
26
ACROSS
1 Finish filling crack with it (6)
4 Top general introduced to head of
free church (6)
8 Defect with Miles, Dicky and Henry
after start of back-stabbing (7)
9 Hint of residue found on each
model bird made of clay (7)
11 Novel set of beliefs (10)
12 Transported in carriage with tenor
from start to finish (4)
13 Rent collectors first to quit (5)
14 Sheik oddly neglected to call
about the Spanish mercenary (8)
16 Poor editing spoiled gripping
opening of novel (8)
18 Illegal activity of gangster not
about revenge at the outset (5)
20 Nettle rash at first seen on priest
from the east (4)
21 Successfully manages to secure

bolt in steering device (10)
23 Protective screen placed in
position around most of royal
family (7)
24 Right to be uncertain about
accepting ecologists earliest
fieldwork (7)
25 Bit of hogweed found in
uninspiring section of river (6)
26 Object to revolutionarys restless
desires (6)
DOWN
1 Tradesman not entirely concealing
Dutch accent (5)
2 Solidaritys leader embraced by
distressed seamen all at once (2,5)
3 Pull apart largely depressing
books on the French (9)
5 Have an inclination to ring rector
EXTREMES
HIGH
LIGHTING UP
AIR POLLUTION
RURAL TOWN ROADSIDE
London....................1...............1..............2
S England...............1...............1..............1
Wales.......................1...............1..............1
C England...............1...............1..............1
Midlands................1...............1..............2
N England..............1...............1..............1
Scotland..................1...............1..............1
N Ireland................1...............1..............1
E Anglia..................1...............1..............1
Low (1-3) Moderate (4-6) High (7-9) V.High (10)
HIGH
984
1000
1024
1016
976
HIGH
992
1008
LOW C
1016
1024
HIGH
HIGH B
1024
LOW
HIGH
High B will decline slightly to the south-west over the coming 24 hours.
Low W will gradually fill and drift east towards central Norway. Low C will
develop and drift its way east, towards the UK.
HIGH TIDES

Wettest...............Tulloch Bridge 0.79ins

Sunniest.............Aberdeen 4hrs
TRAVEL IN BRITAIN
AM HT(M) PM HT(M)
Avonmouth............... 7.04 12.9 19.27 13.0

Cork...............................4.19 4.1 16.36 4.1
Dover.........................10.54 6.4 23.12 6.6
Greenock.....................0.19 3.3 12.20 3.5
Harwich.....................11.37 4.0 23.54 4.0
Holyhead................. 10.14 5.6 22.34 5.4
Hull (Albert Dk)........6.12 7.0 18.21 7.4
Liverpool...................11.06 9.4 23.28 9.2
London........................ 1.34 6.8 13.55 6.9
Milford Haven.........6.05 6.9 18.24 6.8
Newquay....................4.57 6.9 17.15 6.8
Portsmouth.............10.57 4.5 23.22 4.6
Pwllheli....................... 7.58 5.0 20.16 4.9
SEA FORECASTS
POLLEN COUNT
North Sea: Fresh south-west winds.

Drizzle. Mod visibility. Rough seas.
Dover Strait, English Channel: Fresh
winds. Cloudy. Good visibility.
Rough seas. St Georges Channel:
Strong south-west winds. Drizzle.
Mod visibility. Rough seas. Irish Sea
Channel: Strong south-west winds.
Rain. Mod visibility. Rough seas.
Southern England:
Low
Midlands/E Anglia:
Low
Wales:
Low
Northern England:
Low
Southern Scotland:
Low
Northern Scotland:
Low
Northern Ireland:
Low
M1 J18-20 northbound and

southbound: Delays of up to
10 minutes, due to roadworks.
Expect disruption until 28
November 2017.
M6 J1 northbound and
southbound: Between the M1
and J1 of the M6, there are
delays of 10 minutes due to
roadworks. Expect disruption
until 28 November 2017.
A1 southbound: Between the
junctions with the A68 and the
A684, delays of 10 mins due to
roadworks until 11 May 2017.
Information from the Highways Agency
SUN & MOON

Sun rises 07.01
Moon rises 17.25
Last Quarter
Sun sets 17.27

Moon sets 06.42
1 March
AROUND BRITAIN
FOR 24HRS
TO 7PM FRIDAY
1000
1024
Warmest............Exeter 13C (55F)

Coldest............... L. Glascarnoch 0C (32F)
LOW W
HIGH X
Belfast.................5.44pm......to....7.28am
Birmingham......5.32pm......to....7.08am
Bristol..................5.37pm......to....7.09am
Glasgow..............5.35pm......to....7.24am
London................5.27pm......to....6.59am
Manchester.......5.32pm......to....7.11am
Newcastle..........5.26pm......to....7.11am
(for 24hrs to 2pm yesterday)
992
1008
E DC A R
X
A
E
C A S T S
E
H O
E S I A N
D
N
A
MOON
S
N
T
K N E L L
I
S
Y
S A C K
L
H
A
OM I S T
P
P
I
E R S E T
to find out (5)

6 Ralph managed without parking
close to hospital department
entrance (7)
7 Watch Frank about to turn up
something revealing (3-6)
10 Using darts primarily to capture
small brown bear (9)
13 Quite happy to eat at home when
exercising self-restraint (9)
15 Call to mind even parts of Greek
prayer (9)
17 A disinclination to move in time to
cover it up (7)
19 All the rage to possess my book
about bagpipe music (7)
21 Heroin discovered by border
guard (5)
22 Originally pinched from superb
cryptic puzzle (5)
THE ATLANTIC NOON TODAY
Tomorrow, some rain will affect

parts of the south. Brighter 976
cold but chillier
further north,
984
with a few wintry showers
warm
992
in the far-north.
Rain and
sleet
pulling
away
from
occluded
the south-east on Tuesday, 1000
joining the rest of the UK
1008
with sunny
spells. However, there
front line
will be a few wintry showers1016
in
northern Scotland and along North
Sea coasts. Chilly on Wednesday
1024
with isobar
sunny line
spells. Wintry showers in
northern Scotland will spread1032
south
later though. Chilly but mainly fine
on Thursday with just a few 1040
wintry
showers. Rain spreading east on
Friday, becoming confined to Scotland
and Northern Ireland
LOW X
LOWon Saturday.
I E S
R
A
B
R T E R
E O
RHOD
K
B A L L S
M E
D E A T H
R
L I T Y
C
E
A N A T
N
R
Y
UND
How to enter: include your name and address, mark your envelope
OUP Sunday Prize Crossword, and send it to Independent on
Sunday, 2 Derry Street, London, W8 5HF. The first correct entry
drawn from the sack on Friday will win a shelf of books from The
Oxford University Press comprising: Concise Oxford Dictionary;
Concise Oxford Thesaurus; Oxford Crossword Dictionary; Oxford
Dictionary of Etymology; Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar.
Five runners-up will win a copy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary.
Please note there are no alternatives to the prizes offered. Prizes
will be sent to you within 28 days.
Last weeks winner: Vera Isherwood, Wokingham, Berkshire.
Runners-up: John S Stewart, Glasgow; Ian Sharrocks, , Swinford,
Leicester; Kenneth Alwyn, West Chiltington Lane, West Sussex;
Stefan Sanan, Liverpool; Mrs Grace Scott, Bridge of Earn, Perth.
22
23
OUTLOOK
NE England, Yorks, NW England:

Overcast with spells of rain. Brisk
south-west winds. Max temp 10-13C
(50-55F). Tonight, rain easing away.
Min temp 1-4C (34-39F).
SW Scotland, SE Scotland, N Ireland:
Cloudy and dull with spells of light
rain. Max temp 6-9C (43-48F).
Tonight, dry. Min temp 0-3C
(32-37F).
NW Scotland, W Isles, N Isles, NE
Scotland: Cold with wintry showers.
Brisk winds. Max temp 3-6C (3743F). Tonight, wintry showers. Min
temp -1 to 2C (30-36F).
No 1357, 21 February 2016
20
22
Solution for last Sunday

Across: 1 Three cheers, 8 Sombrero, 9 Bury, 10 Near, 11 Trinity, 12 Bottoms up, 17 Scorpio,
20 Rung, 21 Trio, 22 Chin-chin, 23 Wellingtons.
Down: 2 Hooker, 3 Embargo, 4 Cheat, 5 Egotism, 6 Rabbi, 7 X-rays, 13 Typical, 14 Utrecht,
15 Usury, 16 Ensign, 18 Ozone, 19 Onion.
General situation: Mainly cloudy

with rain for southern Scotland,
Northern Ireland and northern
England. Wintry showers in northern
Scotland where it will be cold.
London, SE England, S Wales, E
Anglia, Cent S England, SW England,
Channel Is: Lots of cloud. Some
drizzle. Breezy. Mild. Max temp 1215C (54-59F). Tonight, localised rain.
Min temp 5-8C (41-46F).
N Wales, E Midlands, W Midlands,
Lincs: Spells of rain. Brisk winds. Mild.
Max temp 12-15C (54-59F).Tonight,
rain. Min temp 4-7C (39-45F).
16
19
Answers to ? clues are suggested by words forming the puzzles title: TC FOR 11
ACROSS
1 Cured Italian bacon (8)
6 Deceive (4)
8 Gambol (6)
9 ? (5)
10 ? (4)
11 See title (3,4)
12 Trappings (13)
16 Ancestry (7)
19 ? (4)
21 ? (5)
22 Clan design (6)
23 Precious metal (4)
24 Almond-flavoured liqueur (8)
13
24
25
15
17
20
The Prize Crossword By Poins
No 1357
SUN RAINFALL
(HRS) (MM) C F
Aberdeen..................1.0......... 2.0..... 6....43

Aberporth................ 0.0......... 0.4..... 9... 48
Aviemore..................0.1......... 3.0..... 6....43
Barrow in Furness 0.2........ 4.0..... 8....46
Belfast....................... 0.0......... 0.0..... 9... 48
Bexhill....................... 3.7......... 0.2..... 9... 48
Birmingham............. 1.9......... 0.2..... 9... 48
Bognor Regis.......... 4.4......... 0.0... 10....50
Bournemouth......... 3.2......... 0.6... 10....50
Bristol........................ 2.5..........0.1... 10....50
Camborne................ 0.0......... 2.2... 10....50
Cardiff....................... 0.7......... 3.0..... 9... 48
Cromer....................... 6.1......... 0.0..... 9... 48
Durham..................... 2.6......... 0.4..... 7....45
Edinburgh................ 0.5..........1.2..... 9... 48
Falmouth.................. 0.0......... 0.9... 10....50
Gatwick..................... 5.4......... 0.6... 10....50
Glasgow.................... 0.0..........6.8..... 8....46
Guernsey...................1.4......... 0.8..... 9... 48
Hereford................... 0.8......... 0.0..... 8....46
Holyhead................. 0.0......... 0.8..... 9... 48
Hull............................. 5.2......... 0.6..... 8....46
Ipswich......................7.3......... 0.2..... 8....46
Isle of Man.............. 0.0......... 0.2..... 9... 48
Isle of Wight............ 3.1......... 0.6..... 9... 48
Jersey....................... 4.7......... 6.0..... 9... 48
Kirkwall.................... 0.5......... 5.8..... 6....43
Leeds..........................2.1......... 0.0..... 8....46
Lerwick..................... 0.5......... 8.0......5.... 41
Lincoln...................... 5.3......... 0.0..... 9... 48
Liverpool................. 0.5......... 0.0..... 9... 48
London.......................5.8......... 0.0... 10....50
Manchester............. 2.2......... 0.0..... 8....46
Margate......................7.1......... 0.4..... 9... 48
Northallerton......... 3.0......... 0.4..... 7....45
Nottingham............. 3.8......... 0.2..... 8....46
Okehampton........... 2.5..........0.1... 10....50
Oxford....................... 4.3..........0.1... 10....50
Peterborough.......... 6.1......... 0.2..... 9... 48
Plymouth................. 0.3......... 2.0... 10....50
Prestwick................. 0.0......... 2.0..... 8....46
Shrewsbury.............1.4......... 0.2..... 8....46
Skegness...................4.1......... 0.2..... 8....46
Southend...................7.0......... 0.2... 10....50
Stornoway............... 0.0..........7.0..... 8....46
Tiree............................0.1........11.0..... 9... 48
Yeovil........................ 0.0......... 0.0... 10....50
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Dordogne, Albi and Carcassonne
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21 February 2016
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getty images
TRAVEL
A spring fling
with Shikoku
Michael Booth is seduced by one of
Japans smallest and most serene islands
44

21 February 2016
travel
Japan
Make your
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... if you can
Way off the tourist trail, this Japanese island rewards
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Holidays Ltd.
n Shikoku they have a

drinking game called
Bekuhai. I am no longer
entirely sure of the rules,
or that there actually are
any rules, but I do remember the
special sake cups designed for the
game feature booby traps to make
you drink more and faster. Some have
holes in their bottoms so the sake
runs out if you put them down, others
are shaped like faces with grotesque
long noses so that you cant put them
down even if you want to. But I do remember that when the sake is as good
as it is on this relatively unvisited island in the Japanese Inland Sea, you
dont complain.
I first encountered the cups in the
smoky chaos of Hirome Ichiba, the
main food hall of the island capital,
Kochi, and later in numerous characterful izakaya (pubs) across Tosa
and Tokushima prefectures (the
southern and eastern of Shikokus
four regions), and again at the
otherwise refined environs of a traditional ryokan during a multi-course
kaiseki meal.
I drank a lot on Shikoku I blame
the locals, who are infamous drinkers, renowned throughout Japan
for their thirst and capacity. In
fact, a survey of friends in Tokyo
confirmed drinking as their primary characteristic.
At 140 miles long, Shikoku is the
smallest of Japans four main islands,
about five hours by train from Tokyo,
or an hour by plane and, since the
1980s, it has been connected to the
main island of Honshu by suspension
bridges. Despite this, many of those
same surveyed Tokyoites had never
visited, and even fewer foreigners
make it here. It still has the feel of the
remote hideaway it once was, cut off
by the ever-churning whirlpools of
the Inland Sea, its forested mountains
home to pirates and exiles, now inhabited by people who still consider
themselves slightly other.
If youve done Tokyo and Kyoto
and are perhaps on your second or
third visit to Japan, I recommend it.
The landscape is bewitching and the
so-called Black Current which
flows past the spectacular southern
coast supplies some of the best seafood in Japan, served as sawachi-ryori,
the Japanese equivalent of a plateau
de fruits de mer; or katsuo no tataki
scarlet-fleshed bonito lightly seared
over a straw fire and, unusually for
Japan, with lashings of garlic.
The people are pretty chilled by
Japanese standards too, although
their dogs are less so: Tosa, the old
name for Kochi, is famed for its local
breed of fighting dogs. More happily,
the local Sanuki udon is fantastic: a
bowl of thick, soft, white wheat noodles, served here with a sauce rather
than in a soup as udon usually is in
Tokyo (such distinctions being of
great importance to the Japanese).
Id been told there was an udon taxi
operating in the town of Kotohira
which, if you were lucky enough to
hail it, would take you to the drivers
favourite restaurants. One morning,
I struck out from the gorgeous ryokan
where I was staying and was almost
immediately passed by the udon taxi.
It disappeared out of sight before I
had registered the plastic bowl of
udon on its roof, but I managed to
find it, parked, a few hundred yards
up the street. I climbed in, said the
magic word, and a few minutes later
I was sitting in Nishikiya Udon eating the most delicious bowl of
Spiritual path
Clockwise from
main: Part of
Shikokus Temple
Route; Kochi
market; Sanuki
udon; a waiter
serves the dish;
Ayano Tsukimis
life-size dolls in
Nagoro JTB/UIG/
Getty; Seongjoon
Cho; Oliver Strewe;
Takehito Miyatake
noodles I think I have ever had, for

We
less than the equivalent of three quid.
Afterwards, a few yards down the
high street, I stopped to watch
Cros
another udon chef, Kiyotaka Iwasaki,
who was writhing strangely behind
Letters | social net
his counter. It turned out he was
kneading his fridge-cold dough with
his feet to make it more malleable (it
was in plastic bags).
Iwasaki had been making udon for
23 years, he told me, and asked where
I was from. I love Paul McCartney!
he exclaimed, and began to sing the
opening bars of And I Love Her.
This kicked off a kind of Beatles
tennis match in which I would sing
one of their songs and he would reply
with another. Now, that wouldnt
happen in Tokyo.
Shikoku is also known for its
88 Temple Route, a pilgrims trail
upon which many retirees embark
once they have finished their
careers (it takes 40-60 days), but has
plenty of other historical sites,
including castles (Kochis is a stunner) and museums.
I had really come for the food,
though. Kochis Sunday market is
the perfect showcase for the bounty
of the island. The largest market of
its kind in Japan, it was founded in

21 February 2016
45
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Eagle
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Travel
50 miles
TRAVEL
ESSENTIALS
HONSH U
Kotohira
JA PA N
Nagoro Tokushima
SHIKOKU
Tosa
Getting there
InsideJapan (0117 370 9751;

insidejapantours.com) offers a 14night tour of Shikoku from 1,660pp
excluding flights. The nearest big
airport is Osakas Kansai International, served by Air France,
Emirates, KLM, Lufthansa or Qatar
Airways via their respective hubs.
Umaji
Kochi
PACIFIC OCEAN
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Staying there
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Kotohira Kadan (kotohira
-kadan.jp). A 400-year-old ryokan
with doubles from 136, Crossword
half board.
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Sunriver Ooboke Onsen Hotel
(oobokeonsen.jp). Doubles
from
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97, half board.
Umaji Community Centre (umaj.
gr.jp). Rates from 30pp.
Hotel Iya Onsen (iyaonsen.co.jp).
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A stunning onsen (hot spring bath)
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ryokan overlooking the Iya Valley.

Doubles from 200, half board.
Richmond Hotel Kochi (kochi
.richmondhotel.jp). Doubles from
57, including breakfast.
The Palace Hotel, Tokyo (palace
hoteltokyo.com). Doubles from
325, room only
more information
seejapan.co.uk
the 1690s, and still runs for almost a

mile through the city centre, with
stalls selling local produce and products, fruits and vegetables, some I
had never encountered before. They
eat Japanese knotweed in this part
of the island, for instance, which
could be one way to solve the epidemic in our own isles.
There were citrus fruit galore at
the market. The king of them all is
the yuzu, which arrived in Japan
from China via Korea in the 800s.
These days it is beloved of patissires, mixologists and chefs in the
West, though still rare and costly in
Europe in its natural state. Around
half of Japans total production of
this super-fragrant lemon-like fruit
comes from Shikoku, and a good proportion of that is from the region
close to the town of Umaji, listed as
among Japans most beautiful.
I travelled there along the road
beside the Yasuda River up into the
mountains (yuzu trees like a bit of
chill in the air, it seems). At the Umaji
yuzu information centre, I learned of
the myriad products that they make
from this little fruit: the juice, of
course, but also tea, jam, ponzu, miso,
vinegars and various beauty unguents.
The Japanese put the squeezed hulls
of the fruit in their baths to release

its heavenly perfume, and they even
sell the pips, toasted. My favourite
yuzu product is yuzu kosho, a pungent condiment made from salted
rinds and chilli. Its perfect with fish
or rice and I reckon it could be the
next big thing in terms of Japanese
food products.
I visited a yuzu farmer, Hiroyuki
Shimota. Now in his sixties, Shimota
turned to yuzu farming when the
rice paddies became too strenuous.
He explained that it takes 15-20 years
before a yuzu tree bears fruit. Watch
out for the thorns, he said, just as I
impaled a finger. The thorns do not
deter Shimotas greatest enemies:
deer which chew the bark, and wild
rabbits which devour the saplings.
I dont make much money from
yuzu, he told me. But 85 per cent
of the land here is forest, and it is
very satisfying when you see these
yellow fruit defeating the forest.
Further inland, the character of
Shikoku changes. Here, gruesome
legends of spirits and ghosts are told
to children to keep them away from
white water and perilous precipices.
In the autumn and winter the brooding mountains are often shrouded
in mist but it is still a great time to
visit. In autumn, and again in spring,

the changing foliage renders the
views riotously captivating. The
cherry trees blossom a week or so
earlier here: a good way to avoid the
crowds and high hotel rates on the
mainland in late March/early May.
My final stop before heading back
to Tokyo was at the village of Nagoro.
A victim of Japans urban migration
and depopulation, this small town
straddling a river in the Iya valley
has been revived by improbable
means: local woman Ayano Tsukimi,
66, has repopulated it with around
180 kakashi, or dolls life-sized figures too sophisticated to be called
scarecrows which she has placed
in the fields, bus stops and even a
disused school over the past few
years, turning the town into a tourist destination in its own right.
I didnt really intend to repopulate the village, she told me, as we
sat in front of a diorama of a dozen
or so of her figures in the village hall.
But Ive been so happy to have all
these new visitors. Tsukimi tells me
that she often talks to her dolls and
that they come alive. At night, she
says, they dance.
Dancing dolls? On Shikoku, it
would not surprise me in the least.
46

21 February 2016
travel
the hotel
the flights
the outing
Martinhal Lisbon Cascais opens on

18 March. In the coastal resort of Cascais,
west of Lisbon, the 84-room hotel is
aimed at families, with three pools and a
Kids Clubhouse (martinhal.com/cascais).
Jet2 has added new year departures to

its New York flights. Take off for Newark
from Leeds Bradford or Newcastle on
29 Dec, or from Manchester on 30 Dec;
return 2 or 3 Jan respectively (jet2.com).
Tickets are on sale for Open Garden

Squares Weekend, 18-19 June, allowing
access to more than 200 London
squares, gardens and green spaces,
many usually private (opensquares.org).
stay the night
Not just smoke

and mirrors
Grtzhotel is turning Viennas commercial spaces, including an
old tobacco shop, into sleek suites, says Christopher Beanland
OFFERS
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iennas distinct neighbourhoods are its beating

heart each alluring in its
own way. Grtzlhotel is
about enjoying those districts as a local (or at least as close to
a local as you can get on a weekend
break). The group converts former
retail and commercial premises
into sleek flats packed with piles of
hipster magazines, iMacs, and posh
picnic baskets in lieu of minibars.
In December 2015, it opened its
new clusters of apartments, each
grouped around a local caf or bar
that acts as an ad-hoc reception. But
the original Belvedere apartments
(formerly known as Urbanauts) the
first of which opened in 2011 are
well worth a look too; theres a
former tailors, an old blacksmiths
and a converted art gallery.
The Tobacconist is one of these.
Yes, its a former fag vendor, which
opened in 2013 as a retro one-room
place to stay in Viennas 4th district
the Wieden neighbourhood. Its a
mere five-minute walk from the citys
newly finished, white-roofed, international Hauptbahnhof station, to
which those who prefer slow travel
can catch a train from London in two
stops and around 10 hours.
The rooms
In Austrian German, a tobacconist
is called eine trafik which is apt as
your head is about 15ft from the road

in this ground-floor bolt hole. Luckily very few cars pass along this part
of Belvederegasse, and when you
open the blinds in the morning you
look right out on St Elisabeths
Church, which rises from a pretty
square like a blooming flower.
The decor inside is minimal: plain
walls, some 1950s-style tiling in the
bathroom. Everything is clean, simple, and well chosen: Grtzlhotel is
run by architects and designers, and
it shows. The bed is comfortable, the
shower room is utilitarian but pleasant. Theres a desk with a computer,
kettle and teas, and a basket of treats
(for a price) such as Austrian wine
and crisps.
To get in, youre emailed a code to
access a safe outside the door which
contains your key, and if you need
help, theres a mobile number on a
piece of paper. Theres not much to
Light up
Bedroom (above)
and bathroom
(top right) at
The Tobacconist;
Karlskirche
Wolfgang
Kaehler/Getty
remind you that this used to be a

shop, but a great treat is to sit in the
giant window and simply observe
life passing slowly by in this civilised,
residential district.
Out and about
Vienna is a flneurs city the joy of
simply strolling its neighbourhoods
is huge. If you want art, youre
spoiled; take a five-minute walk to
the east and youll find the celebrated
Schloss Belvedere (00 43 1 7955 7134;
belevdere.at) where, among other
works, is Gustav Klimts The Kiss.
Ten minutes north is Karlsplatz,
with its weirdly Baroque Karlskirche.
The old Karlsplatz station buildings,
by Frei Otto, are among the worlds
most impressive examples of Art
Nouveau, with rich ornamental gold
decoration, and leafy motifs.
Much more famous is The Secession Gallery (00 43 1 587 53 07;
food miles Aoife ORiordain
Have we reached the tipping

point for optional gratuities?
When Danny Meyer, one of New
Yorks most influential restaurateurs,
calls time on tipping, people take
notice. Last November, Meyers Union
Square Hospitality Group decreed it
would completely overhaul its service
culture, increasing some menu prices,
distributing the profits equally among
front and back of house staff, and
dropping tipping. The practice was
introduced at the groups fine-dining
restaurant The Modern at the Museum

of Modern Art, and next week,
Maialino, an Italian-inspired spot in
the Gramercy Park Hotel, follows suit.
Meyers worker-friendly innovation, Hospitality Included, was
broadly welcomed by the industry;
a few other restaurants announced
they would do the same. But this
move is still very much the exception to the rule; ditching the time-
A little extra: Maialino in New York is to join the campaign

21 February 2016
47
Globejotter
great getaways
travel
something to declare
Thai break
carnival fever
Fly off to Thailand for under 400

this spring. Travelbag is offering
the chance to spend 10 nights
on the coast of Phuket at the
four-star Banthai Beach Resort
on a room only basis for 399pp,
based on a 17 June departure. The
price includes Gulf Air flights from
Heathrow to Phuket, via Bahrain
(travelbag.co.uk).
A performer at
the Sambadrome
last month ap
Greek getaway
Spend a week in one of Greeces

lesser-known islands with Sunvil
for 451pp, departing Gatwick
on 13 or 20 May. Accommodation is at the beachfront Thassos
Dolphins Studio resort located
in the village of Kinira on the
verdant east coast of Thassos.
The price also includes return
charter flights and transfers
(sunvil.co.uk).
Even Zika cant knock Rios

revellers off their stride
Spa quality
secession.at), just across the other

side of Karlsplatz square, which
houses paintings from the turn of
the century.
Theres a bike that you can use, for
a charge, which is parked outside the
flat a nice touch if you prefer getting around on two wheels.
The food and drink
Theres no kitchen at the Tobacconist, and although the team
recommends breakfast at the nearby
Cafe Goldegg (00 43 1 505 9162;
cafegoldegg.at), it would be even better to include a coffee and a Viennese
pastry in the room rate. There is,
however, a cute map in the room,
showing other eateries nearby.
For a true taste of Vienna its clichd but still delicious visit
Gasthaus zur Oper (00 43 1 512 2251;
plachutta.at) which is up beyond
Karlsplatz and has been recently
honoured American practice will be a

huge cultural shift.
For many holidaymakers, tipping
continues to be confusing; no one
wants to leave a restaurant thinking
they have short-changed the waiter.
As a general rule, tipping is not
optional in the United States and you
should only withhold tips in a case of
outrageously bad service. If service
charge has not already been added,
its customary to leave about 15 to
20 per cent of the total bill (before
tax). In Canada, Seetorontonow.com
advises leaving about 15 per cent
of the pre-tax bill, or a little more in
high-end restaurants.
r efurbished. Its warm and modern

yet incorporates elements of a much
older wooden building, with nooks
and crannies. It is, simply, a homage
to the Wiener schnitzel and the star
dish comes in bubbling breadcrumbs
with a potato salad and enough bread
to feed a regiment. They brew their
own pilsner here too, which is really
rather nice.
The essentials
The Tobacconist, Belvederegasse 22,
Vienna, Austria (00 43 1 208 3904;
graetzlhotel.com). From 85 per
night, room only.
The writer travelled with Railbookers (020 3780 2222; railbookers
.com) which offers three-night breaks
in Vienna from 429pp, including
B&B accommodation, outbound rail
travel from London St Pancras via
Brussels and Cologne, and a flight
back to London.
On this side of the Atlantic, things

are also confusing. In the UK, many
consumers struggle to understand the
difference between service charges
and tipping for good service. Generally service charges are distributed
to all staff, although some restaurant chains have attracted negative
publicity for pocketing the money.
In France, there are no hard and
fast rules for tipping; it is entirely at
the discretion of the diner. There is no
pressure to leave additional cash, as
service is included in the final bill.
Similarly, in Italy, tipping is not
compulsory and service is included
in the bill. Staff are contractually
Indulge in a little R&R on one of

the last winter weekends, with
a spa break in North Yorkshire.
A one-night package at the
Swinton Park country house
hotel costs 147.50pp on any
Sunday in March, including B&B,
a 50-minute spa treatment,
champagne afternoon tea, and
use of the spa, which features
a hot tub, sauna and relaxation
area (spabreaks.com).
Sunshine state
May is a much better time to

visit Florida than July and
August, with temperatures and
prices lower than during the
peak summer months. Western
& Oriental is offering a weeks
holiday in Fort Lauderdale,
with room-only accommodation at the W Hotel and nonstop flights from Gatwick with
Norwegian, for 1,235pp.
The price is valid for
departures throughout May
(westernoriental.com).
forbidden to ask for a tip, but if you

want to leave something for exceptional service, you can.
According to Jon Warren, founder
of San Sebastian Food, in certain
parts of Spain it could be perceived
as disrespectful to leave a big tip. A
gesture of five or 10 per cent is about
right if you have had a particularly
fantastic experience, he says.
The Greek hospitality industry has
had a hard time recently, so most
restaurant staff are grateful for any
extra cash. Tipping is optional but is it
is common practice among locals and
foreigners to leave anything up to
about 10 per cent of the bill.
Nick Boulos
I can still taste the caipirinhas. Its
a week since I returned from the
worlds biggest party, a five-day
marathon of music, dance and
potent cocktails on the streets
and beaches of Rio de Janeiro. Its
annual carnival was everything
I expected it to be a raucous
a city-wide celebration of life,
love and samba with lashings of
feathers, glitter and sequins. But
scaremongers would have you
believe that this years event was
uncharacteristically subdued,
overshadowed by the threat of
the Aedes aegypti mosquito and
the Zika virus.
Zika may be causing panic
across Latin America but you
wouldnt have known it in Copacabana, where 30,000 bronzed
beauties paraded down Avenida
Atlantica at 10am on a Saturday
morning. Hips were shaking,
horns were blaring and there
wasnt a whiff of Deet in the air.
In fact, the only passing reference to the crisis I noticed was
a fellow reveller dressed as a
mosquito, a move encouraged
by charities to raise awareness.
I, meanwhile, opted for a purple
sparkly skirt. Well, when in Rio ...
Events were decidedly more
serious in the weeks prior to
carnival. Heavily criticised for
its sluggish, lacklustre reaction,
the government of Brazil, which
could lose up to 5bn in tourism
revenue, swooped into action.
We won the war against yellow
fever and were going to win
the war against Zika, declared
resident Dilma Rousseff. And

P
the open-air, 90,000 capacity
Sambadrome, where the citys
big samba schools battle it out to
be crowned the carnival victor,
was swiftly fumigated. Even the
military was drafted in, with
200,000 troops deployed to do
battle with Zika by handing out
leaflets on the crisis, complete
with its own hashtag (#ZikaZero).
With the virus being blamed
for a spike in microcephaly in
unborn babies, the World Health
Organization has advised pregnant women against travel to the
region. Expectant mothers are
right to stay away but the risk to
other travellers remains proportionately low.
That doesnt stop people
worrying, though. My friend and
carnival companion, Rebecca,
called me days before our departure in a state of mild panic. Was
it safe for her to go? However,
once we were on the ground, in
the hills of arty Santa Teresa and
on the shores of Ipanema, where
the samba played loudly and the
caipirinhas flowed freely, Zika
was not even a distant concern.
Carnival has ended for another
year but just like the cachacafuelled hangovers, a big question
lingers. Is the party over for the
worlds most fun-loving nation?
Over sundowners on Copacabana
Beach, I talked to British expatriate journalist Beth McLoughlin.
Dressed as Wonder Woman and
clutching a caipirinha, she spoke
candidly. Zika could not have
come at a worse time. Olympic
ticket sales are slow and the
country is in the middle of a
recession, but carnival proves
that no matter the chaos, Brazilians know how to throw a party.
Indeed, and as another big
occasion looms, cariocas will
welcome the sporting elite to the
Marvellous City in just a few
months time.
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21 February 2016
49
travel
Eagle
Weather p2 puff
walk of the month
Striding into the sunset on Thanet

Crossword p2 puff
Eagle | social network | emails

Letters
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From Margates contemporary makeover to Broadstairs Victorian appeal, Mark Rowe is captivated by the Kent coast
Crossword p2 puff
Navigation
Eagle
harles Dickens features

heavily in Thanet, but
this walk between Margate and Broadstairs is a
tale not just of two towns
rather than cities but of two
installations. Margate has certainly
been lifted, not just by the Turner
Contemporary gallery but by the
reopening last year of Dreamland,
the retro-theme park.
In their very different ways both
are well worth visiting, but standing on Margate sands I cant help
feeling that there has been a magical seascape here all along, and it
just needed some bold building or
rebuilding to enable the wider
public to take that on board.
The sands stretch out invitingly
from the front door of the Turner
Contemporary, Margates stately
lampposts are ornately entwined
with dolphins and sturgeon in an
echo of the Victoria Embankment
in London. At the end of the harbour
arm stands the Shell Lady, a quirky,
doll-like sculpture of Sophia Booth,
Turners long-standing mistress.
Unlike many coastal paths, this
route is almost entirely flat, with
none of the ups and downs you can
find elsewhere, so its pretty easy
going. This is partly thanks to squat
bridges that traverse the chines; the
man-made gaps dug out by farmers
to access seaweed but which were
quickly exploited by smugglers.
The Kent coast is not short of
Weather p2 puff
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Navigation
Navigation
Getting there
Travel
Southeastern trains
(southeasternrailway.co.uk) run
between London St Pancras/
London Victoria and Margate.
staying there
Travel
stirring walks, but this trail, starting

amid the seaside paraphernalia of
Margate and striking east along the
banks of the Thames Estuary, skims
along less travelled clifftops before
winding south to Broadstairs. The
coastal scenery is often strikingly
beautiful and is a reminder that while
the White Cliffs of Dover hog the
headlines and the wartime melodies,
the same stirring geology runs
unbroken along this coastline.
The coastal path runs across the top
of Walpole Bay offering the first clear
views of Kents striking chalk cliffs.
The chalk runs along the sea bed too,
and can give the shallow waters a
milky, translucent appearance.
Mark Rowe stayed at the

Sands Hotel, Margate (01843
228228; sandshotelmargate.co.uk).
Doubles from 130, B&B.
The chalk soil and beaches are fantastic for many plants and birds, and
all year round you can expect to
see the black-and-white flash
of an oystercatcher with
its luminous orange bill
and plaintively mewing
call. In places, the sea
spray has splattered
the path, attracting
lichens that turn the
soil a fetching shade
of pea-green. Down in
the sands, as the tide
retreats you can
still spot overwintering and
passing birds,
such as the
curlew. And
towards the
end of this
month you
Coast along:
(from top) Joss Bay;
Kingsgate Castle;
North Foreland
lighthouse
alamy
THAMES ESTUARY
Bathing
Sea Pool
WALPOLE BAY
FORENESS POINT
PALM BAY
AV
E
Cliftonville
BOTANY BAY
RD
NG
RC
DA
VE
LAN
Kingsgate
Castle
AR
IP
RD
S
ES
EN
OL
Northdown
Park
IT
WN
BER
DO
ER
IDI
TIV
Dreamland
Dane
Park
RTH
UM
NO
RTH
RD
EATON RD
Westbrook
Margate
station
Margate
TH
PALM
BAY A
VE
The Oval
BA
TH
T
HS
START
HIG
WESTBROOK BAY
M A R G AT E
SANDS
Turner
Contemporary
NO
Bathing
Sea Pool
PE
The Harbour
Kingsgate
JOSS BAY
Lido
MA PRINC
RGA ES
RET S
AVE
Winter
Gardens
TRAVEL
ESSENTIALS
Travel
VE
KA
CO
VE
RD
EL
OO
NORTH
FORELAND
E
AV
Pumping
station
Broadstairs
station
HS
T
FINISH
AM
SG
E
AT
RD
RD
NORTH SEA
EAST CLIFF
Broadstairs
HIG
IFF
STONE RD
AVE
CL
KINGS
Distance: 9km/ 5.5miles

Time: Three hours
OS Map: Explorer 150, Canterbury & The
Isle of Thanet
Directions: Initially follow the Viking coastal trail
signs from the Turner Contemporary and then
the coastal trail, which sometimes dips inland but
rarely strays far from the sea.
To return from Broadstairs to Margate, either take
the five-minute train journey (nationalrail.co.uk)
or bus No 56 (Traveline; 0871 2002233). Sunday
and Bank Holiday service routes are operated by
the Thanet Loop, route 32 and 8/8A8X.
More information: visitthanet.co.uk
FO R N O R T
ELA H
ND
R
North Foreland
Lighthouse
may even see the vanguard of spring

returnees, such as the stiff-winged
fulmar, smaller and more acrobatic
than your standard seaside gull.
The path loops out around a large
expanse of grassland past a pumping station at Foreness Point, and the
first uninterrupted views of the sea
stacks of Botany Bay. Huge lumps of
chalk pockmark the beaches and are
proof that nature can create sculptures as impressive as anything on
display in the Turner Contemporary.
The sea stacks here, shaped like giant
oil drums, reach 40m in height.
Ahead, jutting its flint turrets and
defences out into the estuary is the
imposing Kingsgate Castle, built in
1760. Looking towards the castle
across Kingsgate Bay you realise just
how vulnerable the chalk coastline is:
cracks and crevasses some of them
quite dizzying rupture the cliffs
while a zig-zag staircase wobbles its
way unevenly down to the beach.
Kingsgate Bay is a hauntingly scenic
beach, bookended by cliffs that act
magically like a whispering wall,
bouncing the echoes of waves from end
to end. The northern end of the beach
is marked by a delectable arch that has
been whittled away by the tides.
Beyond Joss Bay, the path dog-legs
across North Foreland Hill to pass
North Foreland lighthouse. The hexagonal building looks as though it
was painted yesterday in the trademark Trinity House sparkling white
and green colour scheme. Theres
been a warning light here since 1499,
though the foundations of the current building were laid in 1791.
The path edges slowly through the
genteel suburbs of Broadstairs, with
its gated mansions and manor
houses. The path slips between
houses and the coast, past Bleak
House , both the former home of
Charles Dickens (and where he
wrote David Copperfield) and a
smuggling museum, before depositing me in Viking Bay, where the grand
faades of Broadstairs seafront glower down at the coastal hiker.
I return to Margate late in the day.
The sun, unexpectedly, is setting over
a beach that I thought faced east but
actually looks west. The honeyed glow
is almost warm: the terrace of the
Sands Hotel conveniently overlooks
this spectacle. Of all the sundowners
in all the world, Margate, surprisingly,
punches above its weight.
Bleak
House
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Classified feature
Spring getaways to savour

Relax in tranquil Barsham or enjoy the natural beauty of the Jurassic Coast: heres our selection of ideal breaks
the park, mawgan porth
The Park in Mawgan Porth is a

secret huddle of distinctively
chic, self-catering homes, hidden
in a tranquil valley garden just
yards from a stunning beach on
the north Cornwall coast. Every
home is unique, from lodges with
hot tubs and dog friendly, to yurts
and retro trailers with log burners
and campfires. Dine in the caf,
swim in our heated pools, explore
the gardens or dip your toes at
Mawgan Porth beach. Please quote
InD16 for a complimentary taste
of the west hamper when booking.
Contact: 01637 860322;
mawganporth.co.uk
welCome to tranquIl BarSham
We have two luxury tented lodges that

sleep a family of 6-8 in style! Each has
hot running water, electric sockets and
wood burning cooker, complemented by
an electric stove, private toilet and shower.
Or why not hire one of our shepherds huts
for that romantic retreat, family getaway
or somewhere to put your head down,
after long walk or bike ride. These are fully
heated and insulated, so whatever the
weather youll be warm and cozy. They all
have their own showers and toilet, so no
running across the fields at night.
You will delight in the space, fresh air and
from seeing how a working farm is run.
Contact: 01502713152;
dawnchorusholidays.com
fIt for Sport
During the holidays we

understand how important
it is to keep children active.
Our experienced and fully
qualified team will be
delivering a range of
activities this Easter, from
sports and games to arts
and crafts for children
aged four to 12 years old.
Book your place before
14 March, and quote
eaSter16 for your
10% discount.
Contact: 0845 456 3233;
fitforsport.co.uk
greenwooD grange
Greenwood Grange is a collection of

beautiful stone-built luxury holiday
cottages, bordering vast Dorset
woodland in the heart of Thomas
Hardy country. Perfect for couples,
families or groups the cottages
range from cosy units sleeping two
to larger properties sleeping up to
12 with log burners and many dog
friendly. Swim in our heated pool,
explore the grounds or venture to
the Jurassic Coast only a few miles
away. Please quote InD16 for a
complimentary taste of the west
hamper when booking.
Contact: 01305 268 874;
greenwoodgrange.co.uk

21 February 2016
51
travel
peak season
Instructor Rachel
(left); Amazon
Creek, outside
and in (right)
Sarel Jansen
winter sports
An exclusive opportunity in the Alps

Would a new, luxurious, women-only ski break in Chamonix offer Sally Newall the chance to conquer her fears?
ve always loved skiing; the

sparkling mountain views;
the fresh, clean air; the thigh
burn you just dont get from a
gym session. In recent years,
Ive been with friends to the Alps
and the Austrian Tyrol, but its
become more about the aprs and
the deckchair sunbathing than the
white stuff. These are big, mixed
groups last year, men made up
three-quarters of our number and
Jgermeister was a staple.
So, you could say the retreatstyle, women-only ski break I was
previewing was a bit of a departure.
Based in the quiet Les Bosons area
of the sprawling Chamonix valley,
the five-day trip with luxury specialist Amazon Creek is aimed at
girls who want to up their ski game
in a supportive environment as
owners Tim and Lisa Davis see it
without the pressures that can
come with large, testosteronefuelled groups or the parenting
distractions of family holidays.
I was dubious on both counts; I
love the buzz of a busy resort. And
I enjoy the camaraderie of a boisterous mixed group , even if it does
mean I occasionally find myself
being pushed to go down steep and
bumpy off-piste routes against my
better judgement and beyond my
ski abilities. After all, I went to an
all-girls comprehensive and I go
on a lot of hen dos, so given the
choice I generally wouldnt opt for
a single-sex environment.
My worry about the appeal of a
Eagle
Eagle
Weather p2 puff
more tranquil location melted away
Weather p2 puff
as soon as we entered the wooded
10 miles
Lake
Crossword p2 puff
corner that houses Amazon Creek
Crossword p2 puff
Geneva
(the companys original and flagship
SWITZ.
Eagle | social network | emails
Letters
Geneva
chalet) and its sister buildings
Baloo
Letters | social
network | emails
and Baby Bear (the three together,
FRANCE
Weather p2 puff
sleeping 26, are known
as AmazoChamonix
nia). With views of the Aiguille de
Bossons
Crossword p2 puff
Navigation
Midi, they are picture perfect chalets
Navigation
Aiguille du Midi
from the outside; built out of warmLetters
| social network
| emails
toned wood with
huge
windows
so
Mt Blanc
breakfast comes with a side of mounI TA LY
tain vista, while outside theres a hot
tub on the deck.
Once through the door,
you can Travel
TRAVEL
Navigation
hear the log fire crackling before you Travel
ESSENTIALS
see it in the open-plan living space
thats furnished with slouchy leather
sofas and zebra-print chairs. Art is
mountain-themed, and a big model
boat in a glass cabinet reflects
Amagetting there
Travel
zon Creeks other going concern
Sally Newall flew to Geneva
(along with two Sardinian villas).
with Swiss (0345 601 0956; swiss
Suddenly those industrial-looking
.com), which flies from Gatwick,
Val dIsre party houses Im used to
Heathrow and London City. Fares
seemed less appealing.
start from 34 one-way
So the chalet ticked all the right
Eagle
boxes, but what about the skiing?
skiing there
Amazon Creek selects its instrucThe Womens Ski Break at
Weather
p2
puff
tors carefully. Rachel Kerr took the
Chalet Amazon Creek (01865 865 456;
lead; a Scot, shes been living in the
amazoncreek.co.uk) runs 9-13 March,
Crossword p2 puff
Alps for 11 years and got misty-eyed
from 1,700pp full board, with daily
as she talked about Cham and its
ski tuition and guiding, yoga, spa
epic couloirs and steeps.
treatment, and in-resort chauffeur.
Letters | socialShe
networkregu| emails
larly leads off-piste and backcountry
The chalet can be booked exclusively
sessions, as well as helping more
from 14,320 per week for up to 10.
novice skiers work on improving
their technique. She out-skis Navigation
pretty
more information
much anyone, but she is a passionchamonix.com
ate advocate of what women can
achieve in a specialised group: We
!!
want to unite like-minded women

to explore the mountains, she told
me, explaining that, in her experience, women feel pressure to keep
up with the pace of the boys and take
a back seat in a mixed group. Id like
women not to be afraid to voice their
opinions and share their experiences
so we can target exactly the skills to
improve, she said.
Her passion for the idea and the
mountains was infectious, so I was
excited when three of us headed to the
central Brvent area to get our ski legs.
On this bluebird day, the views were
at their sparkling best. Rachel listened
to what we wanted to get out of the
session. For me, it was improving my
technique when things get steep
which meant going back to basics.
On a cruisy blue run, there were
drills to make sure my weight was
mainly over my downhill ski (anyone who tells you skiing with any
part of a ski off the snow is easy, is
lying). Then, noticing my posture
on planks was a bit static, she had
me working on bending and flexing
my hips on turns. She gave detailed
feedback, while still managing to
keep the group together. Our number
included a mum-of-two who was
nervous after a seven-year break. I
watched as Rachel gently coaxed her
to keep looking ahead, and as her
confidence and stability improved,
encouraged her that it was OK to go
that bit faster. With Rachels encouragement, we all made it down the
black run from Le Brvent cable car
(2,525m). Not too shabby.
As well as the on-mountain instruction, those on the womens ski break

receive evening video analysis and
are encouraged to work on technical
terrain, such as moguls and icy routes.
Towards the end of the week, theres
the option to try Chamonixs lauded
off-piste route, the Valle Blanche.
It was after a hard day on the
mountain that Amazon Creeks
nothing-is-too-much-trouble approach came into its own. Guests are
picked up wherever they are in the
valley, relieved of skis and poles and
escorted back to the chalet. Back at
base, the log fire is primed, with the
sauna, hot tub and hamam all cranked
up and a free massage waiting.
Food and drink are a big deal, too.
Ive been to chalets staffed by 18-yearold unseasoned seasonnaires theres
none of that here. You get four courses in the evening and food is hearty
but with flair; quality, slow-roasted
meats, locally sourced fish and inventive sides such as carrot and
wasabi pure, finished off with moreish desserts and a cheeseboard.
Buoyed by my session with Rachel,
I joined a group of more experienced
skiers, including three men. As we
went up the lift, they started eyeing
up what looked like a steep, scraped
and prohibitively narrow rocky
chute. Discussion turned to whether
we should give it a go. I missed our
all-girl gang already. As they headed
off, I ducked out and went to practise my new skills on the red run,
throwing in a few off-piste moguls
for good measure.
ONE OF LONDON THEATRES

ALL TIME CLASSICS
Metro
Starring
SHAUN
WILLIAMSON
KINGS CROSS THEATRE

Goods Way, Kings Cross, London N1C 4UR
UNTIL OCTOBER 2016!
RailwayChildrenLondon.com

21 February 2016
Who wants wages?

Companies lay on lavish
perks for their workers
P54
Wealth check
On a mission to pay off

the mortgage in 15 years
P56
Home run
The crowdfunding route

to buying a property
P58
MONEY
Nurseries and
the myth of
free childcare
The Government says affordability will no longer
be an issue. Others disagree, says Felicity Hannah
orking parents of
young children
in Britain face
some of the highest childcare bills
in Europe and yet it is still not
enough, apparently, to make the
sector sustainable.
Last week, stark figures emerged
pointing to an industry in crisis.
Labour warned that the number of
childminders in England alone has
dropped by 10,000 in the past five
years as workers abandon the profession, and the National Day
Nurseries Association (NDNA)
claimed that 45 per cent of nurseries cant afford to provide the
30 hours of free childcare a week
that the Government has promised
from next year.
As parents digest warnings that
the childcare sector is imploding
due to a lack of funds while they
battle for limited places for their
children many will wonder how
it is that we pay so much in the UK
and yet its still not enough.
The Childcare Cost Survey 2015,
published by the Family and Childcare Trust, pointed out that over
the last parliament the cost of a
part-time nursery place for a child
under two increased by a third, at
a time when wages have largely flatlined. The survey found that 25
hours a week will cost an average
of 6,000 a year, and some families
have more than one child in nursery or are paying for after-school
clubs for other children meaning
the costs can easily exceed their
mortgage or rent.
Meanwhile, a study published by
Gingerbread, the charity for single
parents, and the Child Poverty Action Group found that if childcare
fees were included in the household

bills when measuring poverty, an extra
133,000 children would be considered
to be living on the breadline.
Childcare costs became a key issue
during the last election and the Government announced it would double
the number of free, state-funded hours
from 15 to 30 a week during term time,
for children aged three or four. That
policy will be rolled out nationally
next year but trials begin in certain
areas from September. On the surface,
that should be good struggling parents, but only if they can secure a
funded place for their child and thats
starting to look a lot harder.
The NDNAs finding that almost
half of nurseries will be unable to
afford to provide the additional
hours is a worrying sign. A report by
the association showed that 89 per
cent already make a loss on the free
places because the state funding is
inadequate an amount that they
then claw back by charging more for
additional hours. Doubling this entitlement to 30 funded hours,
therefore, is going to increase the
shortfall further.
Even when the Conservatives first
pledged 30 hours in their election
manifesto, industry experts expressed concern that this would
place the sector under unsustainable
pressure. Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning
Alliance, an educational charity,
warned then: Government funding
does not cover the cost of delivering
15 hours of childcare for three and
fouryear-olds, and so it has been
left to providers and parents to make
up the shortfall.
It is difficult to see, therefore,
how plans to double the current
offer without addressing this
Play is hard to get: how it is that we pay so much for childcare in the UK, and yet its still not enough? Getty images
Underfunding must be
addressed or the sectors
sustainability will be at risk
We all want to make 30 free
hours of childcare workable.
But the sums have to add up
istoric underfunding can be imh

plemented without leading to even
higher childcare costs, or risking
the sustainability of the sector.
So how is it that these childcare
services can be so stretched when
British parents pay so much? Research from the OECD shows that
among 34 countries, the average cost
of full-time care is highest in the UK
and Ireland. Industry commentators
say this is partly because of high demand and rising rents, as well as the
relatively strict staff-to-child ratios
demanded in the UK where one
nursery worker can look after no
more than three children under two,
four over two and eight children aged
three or above.
And the cost to providers will only
rise in April when the national living wage is rolled out; the NDNA
says this will increase the average
salary cost of nurseries by 10 per
cent. At the moment, the Government pays childcare providers just
3.88 an hour per child to provide
those 15 hours.
However, the Chancellor has
taken steps to address this, pledging
at least 50m to boost available nursery places and more than 300m a
year to increase the average rate paid
to providers. From 2017, nurseries

will receive 4.88 for three and fouryear-olds, which George Osborne
said meant a total 6bn childcare
commitment to working families.
The news has been received with
relief by the sector, although with
some reservations. Mr Leitch said it
was a welcome step but added: Ensuring the sustainability of the sector
means more than just a one-off increase; it means a mechanism that
ensures funding continues to cover
costs in the long term, in the face of
rising business costs such as rent
increases, pension contributions and
the national living wage.
And the research from the NDNA
shows that many providers are still
anxious about affordability.
The nursery sector and the Government want the same thing. We
all want to make 30 free hours childcare workable and sustainable. To
achieve this, the sums have to add
up, warns the organisations chief
executive Purnima Tanuku.
Urgent steps must now be taken
to bring about the funding reform
promised by the Government, so an
economically viable hourly rate for
high-quality childcare reaches the
front-line.
54

21 February 2016
MONEY | workplace
A new breed
of perks, from
frozen eggs to
a free massage
Companies are laying on benefits such as extra
time off and fertility services. But would staff
rather have the money? asks Felicity Hannah
orks little perks.

They range from
free tea and coffee to crche
facilities and
death-in-service benefits. Now,
though, some of the worlds leading employers are starting to offer
British workers increasingly extravagant extras more familiar to
employees across the pond.
In the US, both Apple and Facebook now offer female employees
an egg-freezing service, allowing
them to store their best eggs in
their 20s as a form of insurance policy against fertility difficulties later
in life. Its an opportunity that
would cost 4,500 in the UK, plus
annual storage fees on top of that.
Meanwhile, if a Google employee
dies, the tech behemoth will pay
their families 50 per cent of their
total salary for the next decade.
And Netflix employees enjoy unlimited holiday and no restrictive
core hours, plus a full year of paid
parental leave for both fathers and
mothers if they choose to take it.
Now there is evidence that such
largesse is slowly making its way
to the UK, with some companies
particularly in technology and
recruitment spending increasing
amounts on innovative perks in a
bid to boost staff retention and
loyalty.
Of course thats just for certain
industries and professions; at the
other end of the employment spectrum, the number of workers on
zero-hour contracts has increased
by 19 per cent to 744,000, according to the Office for National
Statistics.
At the same time, almost 6 million workers are paid less than the
Living Wage, reports the accountancy firm KPMG a figure that has
risen for three consecutive years.
The employment market seems
to be polarising more than ever before, with the haves counting
benefits from desk-based massage
to company-funded holidays, while
the have nots struggle to get by
on their income with precious little job security.
While few companies can match
the spending power of Silicon Valleys tech giants, thats not stopping
them looking for innovative ways to
boost staff morale and save money
on employee attrition.
Unlimited holiday
Inspired by Netflix, Virgin Group
boss Sir Richard Branson allows his
170 personal staff, including the UK
team, to take as much holiday as they
want. Explaining his decision in 2014,
the billionaire said it was about trusting staff to only take time off when
their absence will not damage their
careers: We should focus on what
people get done, not on how many
hours or days worked. Just as we
dont have a nine-to-five policy, we
dont need a vacation policy.
The policy works remarkably
well and serves as a productive example for 21st-century staff
retention, notes Ben Moss, managing director of the business
psychology consultancy Robertson
Cooper. The idea of no-tracking encourages self-discipline, organisation
and, above all, a culture of trust.
As a working society, weve moved
away from the command-and-control style of micro management to
focus on benefits or factors that
allow employees to thrive and be
happy in their roles, he adds.
These include the flexibility to
do the job from anywhere at any
time, and increased levels of trust
from employers. So as an employer
its more important to focus on the
quality of work rather than how
many hours a person spends in the
office.
The digital strategy company BIO
Agency told us it has a policy of unlimited holiday and yet staff end
up taking less time off than the national average.
Six days off to study anything
Its not just the chance for staff to set
their own holiday opportunities,
other employers offer a fixed number
of duvet days, or extra time off, to
have fun and pursue outside interests. The market research company
Join the Dots encourages its team to
take six additional days leave, on top
of their standard holiday allocation,
Focus on the quality of

work, not how many hours a
person spends in the office
Perks that are style over
substance can fail to have
a real lasting impact
as learning days. These can be

spent doing training, but also on any
subject the employee wants to pursue, perhaps simply reading a
book.
Managing director Quentin Ashby
says: Its a win-win for us. We stand
or fall by the quality of our people
and their level of motivation, and we
do everything that we can to ensure
they receive benefits which are relevant and which motivate them.
We believe that people are motivated by what makes them happy.
Happy people are more resilient,
creative and healthy. As a peoplecentric business, we believe that
happy staff means happy clients and
happy shareholders.
Ski trips
One company told us it routinely
spends well over 500,000 taking its
entire 430-strong workforce skiing,
from entry-level admin assistants to
the best-paid executives. Its an incentive offered by Snow Software if
the annual growth target is met, and
the team is just back from its reward
trip for 90 per cent growth in 2015.
Matt Fisher, vice-president of marketing, explains that the company
takes staff away for a full week, with
four days spent reinvigorating and
three dedicated to networking with

colleagues. He is clear its an investment that benefits Snow Software
and the team.
We spent between half a million
and a million pounds this year but
growth in that past 12 months was
well in excess of 10m, so the return
on investment is strong, he says. It
is also a key part of our recruitment
strategy.
Free bar
Some employers feel the way to
achieve happier, more productive
staff is a more pleasant working environment rather than extra time
away. Increasingly, staff could be offered quirkier perks such as at-desk
massages and meditation classes.
The recruitment agency Stott and
May even provides a free bar for its
staff, which opens around 5pm one
or two evenings a week. Precautions
are taken to ensure its not abused
or dangerously used, and chief executive Stephen Stott says: Your
employees spend the majority of
their time in the office, so the least
you can do is make it a fun place to
be. The bar obviously helps with this.
Its somewhere for staff to relax and
socialise with each other.
We always invite new staff in to

21 February 2016
55
comment | MONEY
Not every road is

a dead end for the
beaten generation
The under-35s feel priced out of everything, but
pensions offer just one way of springing the trap
Kate Hughes
personal finance editor
unlimited surf
We dont need a
vacation policy
said Sir Richard
Branson of Virgin
afp/getty
have a drink with the team before

they start, and well usually get caterers in to put on a party for
someones birthday in the bar area.
Its also great for entertaining clients and candidates will often come
to the office for a game of air hockey
or table tennis and enjoy a drink with
the team.
Quirks, perks and what really
works
Some of the more extreme workplace perks may engineer feelings
of loyalty and being valued, but it
seems that cash is still king. The job
site CV-Library surveyed more than
2,400 employees and found that almost a quarter receive perks but
around 85 per cent would rather
have more money. Not only that,
but more than seven out of ten respondents felt that employers often
refer to basic staff necessities as if
they were perks.
For those employers relying on
novelty rather than perks that offer
real, measurable value to their team
it is likely that their scheme will
fail to keep staff motivated in the way
they hope.
Perks such as unlimited holidays
can be a great way to establish a
more mature psychological contract
between employers and employees,

when used as part of a wider focus
on creating environments that prevent stress and help people to
flourish, adds Mr Moss.
This kind of perk can really work,
as it is aligned with the overall cultural message and creates a genuine
feelgood factor. Others that are style
over substance can fail to have a real
lasting impact.
Linda Marshall, people director
at the recruiter Reed, agrees: While
quirky perks may generate some
short-term buzz around a companys recruitment drive, graduates
and first and second-time jobbers
tell us they want to progress their
career quickly. That means the key
to retention is to offer them opportunities to learn on the job and take
advantage of external training
opportunities.
It seems that ultimately the best
way to retain staff is to pay them well,
ensure a good work-life balance and
provide opportunity for development. Employers can offer all the
massages and break-out rooms they
want, but its little substitute for what
really matters.
For the majority, what really matters remains the figure in their
payslip.
would entirely understand if

the under-35s were tempted
to just give up and hide under
the duvet at this point.
Theres little doubt that the
nations millennials are facing an
affordability crisis across almost
every aspect of their lives like no
generation that came before them
as a result of accumulating legacies and decisions ranging from
right-to-buy to university fees.
The news last week that raising
a child just one, mind you - now
costs more than buying a house
cleanly marries one funding nightmare with another. Its no wonder
that many young adults are putting
off starting a family for the sole reason that they dont think they can
afford it. Theyre right, although,
as the saying goes, if you wait until
the numbers work out then it will
never happen. But thats just one
side of the everyday cost of modern British life.
Add in the statistics that suggest
todays workers will have to continue to work until their mid-70s
to be able to afford retirement,
along with the suspicion that their
parents friends small buy-to-let
empire is the reason they cant afford a postage sized flat within an
hours commute of work, and it can
seem that theyre priced out of
everything.
Except there are options.
The first is without doubt the
workplace pension. Its not sexy or
fun, but slotting away money that
both your boss and the Government will top up is an obvious step
that could lift hundreds of thousands of people out of the kind of
poverty in old age that entails making daily decisions about whether
or not to turn on the heating.
Its true that 20 and 30-somethings dont have a lot of cash to set
aside, but unlike their retired selves
in around 40 years time, they have
the potential to earn more. A few
extra shifts, some freelancing or
even a couple of hours behind the
local bar are much easier to come
by for them than for the elderly.
The minimum 8 per cent contribution to a pension scheme just
wont cut it, though, and the general consensus is that youll need
to put away 12 per cent of your salary

to have any hope of a reasonable life
when you stop working.
Another is easier to put into practice pay attention. Most young
adults dont actually fall into the
Bank of Mum and Dad category. Indeed, the startling reality is that
even most junior Isa owners the
18-year-olds with dreams of backpacking the world, a posh starter
home and a few carefree years at
university are more likely to add
to the savings that their parents
built up on their behalf, rather than
deplete them.
It turns out, though, that its a different story when it comes to
everyday details. A third of millennials are now finding that missing a
little payment on money owed just
7.60, on average has resulted in
being refused a loan further down
If you wait until the

numbers work out, starting
a family will never happen
A million 18- to 34-year-olds
have ignored a bill and a
quarter feel it doesnt matter
the line, according to the credit-reference service ClearScore.
It describes the problem which
could have significant effects on
long-term aims such as buying a first
home as a full-blown credit crisis
for this band of the population.
Two in five millennials have failed
to pay small amounts on financial
commitments such as utility bills
and mobile phone contracts which
are the formal financial agreements
most likely to fall by the wayside,
However, 2 per cent those lucky
few who have managed to get on the
housing ladder are now risking it
all by defaulting on their mortgage
payments.
A million 18 to 34-year-olds have
ignored a bill completely and a
quarter of them believe it doesnt
matter. It does.
And unlike the hothouse property
market, or the lamentable gestures
that pass for entry-level salaries, this
problem is easy to fix.
56
llll

21 February 2016
MONEY | advice
WEALTH CHECK Esther Shaw
THE patient
awn Montrose is sick

of big household
bills. Her goal, even
though
sheCorbyn
and her
Jeremy
familyReluctant
moved to a
much bigger and more
expensive
EU supporter
house two years ago, is to be mortgage
free within 15 years.
Nicola
Sturgeon
Keen
to enjoy the benefits of a
First Minister
of Scotland
full-time salary without the constraints of the monthly home-loan
repayments, the 34-year-old who
lives in Broughton, Preston, with
her husband, Andrew, 50, and Joshua, 12 also hopes to help her son
out with university costsGeorge
when the
time comes.
Osborne
Dawn qualified as a teacher
in
Leaving
2004 and has worked in her
current
the EU is
job at a college in Burnley
for the
"a huge leap
past 11 years, teaching history
and
in the dark"
sociology.
[The move] means we now spend
a lot more on the mortgage and bills,
and have less money to slot away
into savings, she says, adding that
her current account balance of 1,500
is her sole financial buffer. I do think
about saving, but other things always
seem to take priority.
David Cameron
Dawn
and Andrew paid around
"My recommendation is clear:
320,000
for the family home, a
I believe that Britain will be
four-bedroom detached property,
safer, stronger and better off
in July 2013. They have a mortgage
by remaining in a reformed
for 280,000
and there are 19 years
European Union"
left to
run.
We have a fixed-rate deal with
Yorkshire bank at 4.5 per cent, arranged on a repayment basis,
Dawn explains. We pay just under
1,600 a month.
Ideally, we would love to have
cleared the mortgage
by the
time I
Nicky
Morgan
turn 50.
Education Secretary
But Dawn has other items on her
financial wish list not least a 12month sabbatical so she and Andrew
can go travelling.
I missed out on the chance to do
this while I was younger because I
had Joshua when I was 22. But I will
only be able to take the time off work
to explore the world once the mortgage has been paid off.
She does not have any credit card
debts but does pay 350 a month towards a personal loan with M&S
saving bank, which she took out to buy a car.
Im on a mission to get the home

loan off my back when I turn 50
Dawn Montrose has set her sights on clearing the mortgage early. But she also needs to start
From buy-to-let to second homes: how the changes in stamp
Sarah Pennells
savvy money
re you a buy-to-let
investor or thinking
of buying another
property? If so,
youre probably
aware of an impending rise in
stamp duty. The increase is
aimed at buy-to-let investors but
it could sweep others into its net,
from owners of second homes to
couples whose pre-romance
properties now put them in the

taxation firing line.
if you dont complete until after

1 April.
New stamp duty rates

The new stamp duty rates will
be 3 per cent higher than the
ordinary (residential) duty. And
whereas you only pay stamp
duty if a property you buy to live
in costs more than 125,000, the
threshold is 40,000 on second
homes.
If you want to avoid the increase, you will have to move
quickly on a purchase as it takes
effect on 1 April.
The only exception is for
those who exchanged before last
years Autumn Statement (on
25 November). In that case you
wont pay the higher stamp duty
rate on a second property, even
How the rise adds up

The higher rates of stamp duty
could make quite a difference to
your overall purchasing costs. For
example, if you buy a property for
200,000, you will pay 1,500 in
stamp duty. Because the duty
rates are tiered, part of the purchase price is charged at 2 per
cent and part is free of the duty.
So the effective stamp duty rate
on the whole purchase price is
0.8 per cent.
If you buy a second property,
you will fork out 7,500 in stamp
duty, with an effective rate of
3.8 per cent.
On a 400,000 property that is
your only home, you will pay
10,000 in stamp duty, with an effective rate of 2.5 per cent. If it is a

second property, the stamp duty
bill will rise to 22,000, with a rate
of 5.5 per cent.
Accidental landlords
If you end up owning two properties because you decide you
would rather hang on to your first
one than sell it, you may be
charged the higher rate of stamp
duty when you buy the second
property.
The rules are a bit complicated
but if you own the home youve
been living in and another you
rent out, and you decide to sell
the property youve been letting
and buy another to replace it, you
will have to pay the higher level
of stamp duty on that purchase.
Sajid Javid
Business
Secretary:
a pragmatic
decision
about what
is best for
business
and jobs
There is a new property window for

21 February 2016
57
in brief | MONEY
The rate is 3.6 per cent and there are

32 months remaining, she says.
Meanwhile,
Dawn
been disciWHOS
INhasAND
WHOS OUT
plined about saving for retirement.
John
looks
at the balance of opinion
She has
beenRentoul
paying into
a workplace
forsince
and against
Britain's
membership of the
pension
2004 and
currently
European
Union in the campaign for the
sets aside
400 a month.
referendum,
which that
the Prime
Minister
That said,
she is worried
in
announced
would
other respects
sheyesterday
is financial
vul- be on 23 June
nerable. I think I should have life
insurance to cover Joshua. I also
REMAIN
LEAVE
wonder if I should draw up a will.
CABINET
THE CURE
Our panel of independent financial
17 agree that as Dawn has a
advisers
number of financial objectives, she
needs to decide which
is her priority.
CONSERVATIVE
MPs
They urge her to build65savings,
and
undeclared
to look into making overpayments
on122
the mortgage.
142
Get saving
Right now Dawn and
Andrew
arent
BRITISH
ELECTORATE
saving anything, so they need to
come
54%up with a combined strategy
46%
to reduce their borrowings and build
funds, suggests Danny Cox of Hargreaves Lansdown.
SOURCES: IOS RESEARCH; AVERAGE OF FOUR MOST
They should make useRECENT
of theOPINION
tax- POLLS: TNS, ICM, IPSOS MORI AND
COMRES (TWO ONLINE AND TWO PHONE POLLS)
free benefits on offer via Isas, he
says, and build an adequate cash pot
to cater for short-term emergencies.
Ideally this should be equivalentBoris
to Johnson
"I'm going to wait until
around three months salary.
the PM does his deal
They should then continue to slot
and then I will come
money into savings on a regular
off the fence with
basis to help towards longer-term
deafening clat"
goals, such as taking a sabbatical.
With so many demands on their
money, saving for Joshuas university fees may have to take a back
seat, adds Mr Cox.
Make overpayments on the
mortgage
Having the ambition to repay the
mortgage more quickly is a good one,
says David Hollingworth at London
& Country. It will also have several
benefits. For example, overpaying
by 100 a month on a 280,000 repayment mortgage over 19 years
would cut the total interest payable
by just over 12,000, and the mortgage would be repaid one year and
six months early.
In fact, if the couple overpaid by
400 a month, they would hit their
15-year loan-free target.
DO YOU NEED A
FINANCIAL
MAKEOVER?
Write to Kate Hughes at
kate@fitforprint.co.uk, or
The Independent
on Sunday,
2 Derry Street,
London W8 5HF
Paying off the debt would also

mean the couple are better off than
they would be if their money was
Priti Patel
in a savings account, adds Mr
Employment Minister,
Hollingworth: A basic-rate
taxpayChris
Grayling
attending Cabinet
er would need to earn
a gross
Leader
of the House
savings rate of 5.63 per cent
to get
of Commons
the same return as overpaying a
mortgage at 4.5 per cent.
Michael
Gove
Address protection
needs
Justice
"Leave
Mr Cox urges Dawn
andSecretary:
Andrew to
an EU mired
in the
think about protection
policies
as apast and
embrace a better future"
priority.
The obvious and urgent issue is
that of life insurance, to protect the
family in event of death or serious
illness, he says.
But before taking out any cover,
the couple should check on what insurance they might already have
including any death-in-service benefits from their employers.
In an ideal world, a combination
of life cover, critical illness cover and
income protection insurance would
provide a good umbrella, Mr
Hollingworth explains. But their
budget needs to be considered.
Equally, an element of cover may be
better than none and many policies
will also offer cover for children. Nigel Farage
stamp duty getty images
Buying jointly
The Government has been consulting on its proposals and, in
particular, how they affect married couples and other joint
buyers. It is not due to announce
the final rules until the Budget in
the middle of March just weeks
away from the introduction of the
new rate.
:: credit
Work until youre 77 to be

comfortable in retirement
Millions fear rejection if

they applied for a loan
Todays workers will have to work

into their late seventies to enjoy
the same income as their parents in
retirement. With the minimum 8 per
cent contribution under the Governments automatic enrolment scheme
for workplace pensions, the insurer
Royal London has found that someone
earning the average wage of 26,500
would need to start saving at 22 and
work until 77 to get two-thirds of
their working income in older age.
Almost a quarter of Britons think

they would fail a loan, credit card or
mortgage application if they didnt
improve their spending habits. With
two in five people embarrassed
to show anyone their bank statement, most of the nation say they
would have to go on a credit detox
to have any hope of being accepted.
AA Financial Services also found
that almost half would return to bad
habits afterwards.
:: property
More than 1.6 million homes will be worth 1m by 2030
The number of UK properties worth

at least 1m is set to triple to more
than 1.6 million by 2030, Paul
Cheshire, professor of economic
geography at the London School of
Economics, has predicted in a study
for Santander. One in four London
George
properties are expected to
be worth
Galloway
Former
Respect
MP: the EU
Ukip leader:
is a "corrupt
Write a will
"This is a truly
austerity
As part of her planning for the future,pathetic deal"
machine"
Dawn needs to draw up a will, says
James Antoniou at Co-op Legal

Services.
This will ensure that her wishes
are clear in respect of how she
wants her estate to be distributed
in the event of her death, he explains. If Andrew has similar
wishes, they should consider drawing up mirror wills.
Within these documents, the couple can appoint a legal guardian for
Joshua, adds Mr Antoniou. This
provides peace of mind that he would
be looked after in the event that both
of them were to pass away.
In addition, both Dawn and Andrew should consider putting a
lasting power of attorney in place.
This would allow them to appoint
each other to make decisions about
each others financial and health affairs should they become unable to
make their own decisions, due to old
age, illness or accident.
Under the plans as they stand,

married couples and civil partners will be treated as one unit
for stamp duty purposes.
So, after these changes, if you
and your spouse or civil partner
own more than one property between you when you complete
your purchase, you may have to
pay the higher rate of duty.
However, this isnt set in stone
and it could change in George
Osbornes Budget.
The stamp duty changes will
add to upfront costs for second
home owners, but there is more
financial pain on the way for
buy-to-let investors when the
rules on mortgage interest tax
relief change in April 2017.
SavvyWoman.co.uk
1m or more within 14 years. But that

proportion drops to less than 1 per
cent of properties in the North-East,
Yorkshire and Humber, North-West,
Scotland and the East Midlands; these
will command the same prices as the
geographical divide in the housing
market continues to widen.
PARTNERS
Avoid NHS waiting lists

with AXA PPP healthcare
duty will affect you

But if you sell your residence and
buy another property to live in,
you wont.
You do get some leeway if
youre trying to sell your property
but cant you can avoid the
higher charge if you sell within 18
months. Although you would
have to pay the higher rate of
stamp duty upfront, you would be
able to apply for a refund.
:: pensions
With private healthcare insurance from AXA PPP healthcare

you are able to get speedy access to diagnosis and eligible
treatment when you need it.
z Tailor your cover to suit your needs and budget
z A wide choice of hospitals and specialists
z Access to the latest licensed medication and proven treatments*
z 24-hour telephone health information from qualified
healthcare professionals
Terms and conditions
apply. *Out-patient
medicines are not covered.
Get an instant quote:

Visit independent.co.uk/healthquote
or call 01202 544 034
Lines are open 9am to 8pm weekdays. Calls may be recorded and/or monitored for quality assurance, training and as a record of conversation.
The Independent are an Introducer Appointed Representative of AXA PPP healthcare limited. The Independent are introducing customers to
AXA PPP healthcare to provide affordable health insurance to The Independent customers. AXA PPP healthcare limited is authorised by the
Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.
58

21 February 2016
MONEY | property
road to a home
If the price isnt

right, there is
a new way of
getting on the
ladder getty
Priced out? You can buy in fractions

Crowdfunding sites are selling stakes in investment properties where the proceeds can go towards a deposit, says Kate Hughes
hat to do if you
cant quite scrape
together the cash
for the property
youve got your
eye on. Save a little longer? Search
for something more affordable?
Or just buy a slice of it?
The idea isnt a new one. For
years, friends tumbling out of university have been clubbing together
to get on the property ladder, because that is the only way they
could possibly bridge the yawning
affordability gap.
Todays Generation Rent faces
the same obstacles, only set still
higher. The online recruitment firm
Monster calculates that an employee with less than a years experience
could expect to earn an average of
20,000 if they secured a new job
this week. But that only rises to
30,600 when they have up to a decades work under their belts.
Meanwhile, UK house prices
now average 288,000, according
to the Office for National Statistics,
and are still rising by almost 7 per
cent a year. Add in brutal lending
criteria and the chances of getting
on that first rung become remote;
you will now need an average deposit of 80,000 to make it.
But trying to save for a deposit
after paying the rent currently
around 750 a month on average
nationwide, and 1,560 in the capital is a very tall order.
The double hit of paying someone elses mortgage and missing
out on a property of their own has

created a market for a new breed of
financial products that take the concept of pooling resources with
college friends to another level.
Among the new entrants is the
crowdfunding site Property Moose,
which is now offering the chance
to own a slice of a house for as little
as 10. Carefully picking prices that
chime with the young renting population, such as those for a cinema
ticket or music-streaming subscription, the platform cites typical
investment returns of 10 per cent a
year, including income from rent and
capital growth or the increasing
value of the property.
To make this scheme available
Property Moose has been buying up
homes mainly in the North-West,
where prices are relatively affordable
at around 100,000.
Its a tempting deal and one that
has attracted a tiny, but growing
number of investors. The fledgling
business had increased its property
portfolio from only two in 2014 to 41
at the last count.
But before you dive into this kind
of investment, a health warning. First,
if someone else is doing all the work
then they will have to be paid for it
and property crowdfunding is
becoming well known for astronomical fees. Property Mooses charges,
for example, are upwards of 30 per
cent including VAT, and they are
taken from the initial investment and
the net capital growth to cover rent
admin, further fundraising and what
the platform describes as aligning

Property Moose with investors. Other
property crowdfunding platforms
have similarly high costs.
Then theres the fact that you have
no say over who rents the property
and how much for, and its also a nightmare to get your money out according
to reports from the likes of the Coun-
Property Moose cites

typical investment returns
of 10 per cent a year
If the capital value goes up,
the fractional owners share
of the pie also rises in value
cil of Mortgage Lenders (which, of
course, has its own agenda).
And then there is the small matter
of property values. Warnings about
the overpriced nature of the British
housing market from authoritative
organisations such as the OECD
shouldnt be ignored. There are parts
of the country, such as the North-West,
where prices are more realistic but
experts are becoming increasingly
uneasy about the divergence between
underlying values and prices paid.
A slice of paradise?
Perhaps that, along with punitive tax
changes and the strong pound, is why
so many property buyers are looking
overseas. But when it comes to
international ownership, for Britons

at least, the part-purchase concept
is dogged by one word timeshare.
Based on the concept of several
buyers clubbing together and splitting the amount of time they can
each spend by the pool, timeshare
is now so infamous it has become a
shorthand for scam. The legitimate
outfits sell holidaymakers a fixed
number of weeks per year in a resort
with a range of facilities, at a fraction
of the cost of owning a property in
these locations outright.
But thousands of investors in socalled holiday clubs and floating
timeshares have found themselves
subject to massive fees that the
scheme owners seem prepared to
pursue to their death and beyond.
However, while the court cases
are still continuing, the pipedream
of owning a little piece of paradise
without the hefty price tag attached
to an entire home, 365 days a year,
persists. As a result, there is a new
trend in the holiday homes market
fractional ownership, where buyers own a share of the property,
rather than time in it.
The key difference between a
fractional investment and a timeshare is the way equity is distributed.
In a fractional-ownership scheme,
the buyer owns a piece of equity in
the property, says Kim Goddard,
sales director at Royal Westmoreland, a high-end resort in Saint
James, Barbados where owners include Wayne and Coleen Rooney
as well as a host of other prominent
but private individuals. If the propertys capital value goes up, the
fractional owners share of the pie
also increases in value.
Timeshares are often a lease for
a fixed period, whereas fractional
ownership is freehold and can be sold
or left in a will.
She says British buyers dominate
the Caribbean islands market, particularly in established resorts, and
that at Royal Westmoreland the fractional ownership proposition is
attracting different types of buyers
from business-owning retirees purchasing custom-built homes starting
at 4m, to 40-something parents investing between 37,000 and 215,000
for two weeks in a specific season
and property every year including
full access to resort facilities. This
can also be exchanged for time in affiliated resorts.
Working out the value of a partbuy isnt really that different from
the number crunching for a normal
home purchase. At home or abroad,
buyers will need to research the viability of the property market in
which they wish to invest along
with the restrictions, obligations and
protections in place for people purchasing international property. And
thats even if they are only buying a
small piece of the pie.
But theres just no getting away
from affordability. With mortgage
lenders only dealing in purchases of
entire properties, you will need to
have ready cash to go, whether youre
putting down 10 or 300,000.
el

21 February 2016
59
property | MONEY
five to view
derby
in association with
Q A
1
1 Heanor
1.175m
Six-bedroom detached house with
driveway, gardens, conservatory
(Scargill Mann & Co)
2 Belper
995,000
Six-bed property with extensive
gardens and double garage
(Gadsby Nichols)
3 Etwall
750,000
4
Five-bedroom home with gardens,

terrace and double garage
(Scargill Mann & Co)
4 Burton Road
500,000
Four-bed detached home with
gardens, garages, conservatory
(Hannells)
5 ALVASTON
249,950
Three-bedroom semi-detached
house with garden (Hannells)
Auctions
Auctioneers & Valuers

Antiques | Jewellery | Watches
The Watch Sale

Tuesday 23rd February at 11am
Browse over 400 lots and
register to bid www.fellows.co.uk
Inviting entries for auctions of

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VIEW THE FULL CALENDAR OF AUCTIONS WWW.FELLOWS.CO.UK

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| 0121 212 2131 | 19 Augusta St, Birmingham B18 6JA
Mayfair Office | 0207 127 4198 | 2nd Floor, 3 Queen St, London W1J 5PA
Lot 110 featuring in

the February auction
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2

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Key British railway stations

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Hundreds to be evicted in Calais camp clearance

Hundreds of migrants could

churches and mosques will also

lems encountered in a letter to

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

s the Hollywood actor

LaBeouf, whose forays into performance art include an appearance

with musics great attention-seeker,

The pair denied they were fans

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

he battle over Britains

During Cabinet, Mr Duncan Smith

emergency brake on benets for

Tories start their

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

THE MARATHON FINAL LAP, P6 | NEWS

WHOS IN AND WHOS OUT

said the EU had been a failure on so

security would be a key issue in the

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

Powered by pizza and coffee, David Camerons

y 4pm on Friday, David

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

THE IMPACT ON MIGRATION | NEWS

his plans began to emerge ltering

Conservative 2015 manifesto

to phase some benets back in

Conservative 2015 manifesto

3) PROTECTION FOR NON-EURO

Conservative 2015 manifesto We

treaty to which every EU country has

Draft deal Red card system

Separately from the Brussels

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

Those who knew little of the welfare system

avid Camerons success in negotiating an

MP Frank Field said the deal could

research fellow at the National Institute of Economic and Social

electorate had been able to pass

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

JANE MERRICK, P13 | NEWS

should be around six weeks long.

David Cameron will appear on

Uefa Euro 2016

The House of Commons recess

The referendum period, which

The UK heads to the

Boris Johnson is expected to