The Independent 30 November 2015

ISSUE NO.
9,093
1.60
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7 7 1 7 4 1
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WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK
MONDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2015
How your money will revolutionise medical care of children

Roisin OConnor Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Robert Fisk
CHARITY
APPEAL P.20
Karen Wright
Steve Bunce
Im fed up with being

groped at rock gigs
Bombing Syria means British

Blairite MPs loathe
Muslims will reject moderation Corbyn more than Isis
Gilbert and George are

past their sell-by date
Tyson Fury: boxings

song-and-dance act
NEWS P.11
VOICES P29
ARTS P.40
SPORT PULLOUT P.12
VOICES P30
C LI VE BR U N SKILL/ GE T T Y
Game, set and history
Andy Murray is overcome with joy after Great Britain beat Belgium to win the Davis Cup for the first time since 1936 SPORT PULLOUT AND NEWS P.7
McCluskey warns Labour

MPs against ousting Corbyn
Leader of Unite says Britains biggest trade union could be mobilised in support of embattled leader
Divisions over Syria widen as Shadow Cabinet members demand free vote from former serial rebel
ANDY M C SMITH
The leader of Britains biggest

trade union vowed last night
to defend Jeremy Corbyn
against an attempted coup
by Labour MPs, as the partys
divisions over Syria air strikes
deepened.
Len McCluskey, the general
secretary of Unite, warned
that the entire union move-
ment and the broader party

membership would strongly
resist pro-war Labour MPs
seeking to force through a
change of leadership.
The thought that some
Labour MPs might be prepared to play intra-party politics over an issue such as this
will sicken all decent people,
he said.
Mr McCluskeys bullish
backing for Mr Corbyn came
after the Labour leader told
his increasingly rebellious

Shadow Cabinet that he
alone has the power to decide
whether to order Labour MPs
to oppose any British involvement in Syrias civil war or let
them vote according to their
consciences.
Mr Corbyns unbending
opposition to war could yet
prevent British warplanes
from attacking Isis targets in
Syria, because David Cameron has said he will not seek
Parliaments approval to begin

bombing unless he is sure of
a majority.
The issue has split Labour
MPs, with some threatening
to vote with the Government
even if Mr Corbyn tries to
whip them to vote against.
Leading members of the
Shadow Cabinet have pleaded
with Mr Corbyn to defuse the
row by giving them a free vote,
but yesterday he appeared
ready to try to whip them
into line, saying they should

listen to the voices of party
members who oppose going
to war. Its the leader who
decides, he said.
This show of authority has
infuriated old hands in the
Labour Party who remember
those years when Mr Corbyn
voted against the party whips
on hundreds of occasions.
This is not Jeremy Corbyn,
Continued on P.4 >
MONDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2015 THE INDEPENDENT
News
Contents
30.11.15
NEWS
MPs crank up pressure for

introduction of sugar tax
David Cameron is under intense
lobbying to reverse his opposition
to a levy on sugary drinks
P.6
Police fire tear gas at Paris

climate change protest
As rallies were held across the
world ahead of the UN summit, a
march in Paris turned violent
P.8
WORLD
Washington wants Isis

escape route cut off
The US is demanding that
Turkey close a 60-mile stretch of
its border with Syria
P.23
SECTION 2
Lords of the dance

Leila Guerriero attends the
Festival Nacional del Malambo
in Argentina, where the winners
are treated like demigods
P.33
The police who reach out

to bereaved families
Behind the scene of every murder
case are family liaison officers
who offer relatives support
P.36
BUSINESS
Bottom line for banks
SPORT
Milner makes the difference
Britains banks will find out

tonight whether they have
passed tough Bank of England
stress tests
P.51
Liverpool were the only winners

in four Premier League games
yesterday; a James Milner penalty
defeating Swansea at Anfield
16-page pullout, P.7
Editorials
Going into Syria

If Mr Cameron wins a vote on Syria, it is vital that the end
goal of intervention a peace settlement is not forgotten
David Cameron has learned lessons since the
debacle of 30 August 2013, when he rushed a
vote in the Commons on air strikes in Syria only
to lose it narrowly but humiliatingly by 13
votes. This time, the Prime Minister is preparing the ground much more carefully and the
outcome of the next vote on this issue in the
Commons looks more predictable.
It helps that the enemy this time is Isis. Two
years ago, when the target was forces loyal to
Bashar al-Assad, many MPs felt misgivings.
In an effort to woo wavering MPs, the draft
motion being prepared for a vote this week also
makes pointed reference to the UN resolution
recently passed against Isis as well as to the
need for a political settlement in Syria. The
message is: this is not about regime change
and it is not about bombing for the sake of it.
While no vote will be called until the Tory
whips have carefully totted up the figures, the
wind is clearly blowing in Mr Camerons direction. Thirty Tory MPs defied his leadership in
2013. The number of Conservatives opposed to
extending air strikes from Iraq to Syria is now
down to 10 or even less. The mood in Parliament has changed since the shocking attacks
in Paris on 13 November. It is no longer solely
a question of whether strikes will work, and
against whom, but whether we are willing to
snub an explicit request for backup in Syria
from our wounded ally, France.
Divisions inside the Labour Party over Syria,
meanwhile, are so deep that a free vote on the
Labour side looks like the only option. Jeremy
Corbyns close ally, the shadow Chancellor,
John McDonnell, has already conceded as
much. Yesterday, Mr Corbyn repeated his
threat to whip Labour MPs into the No camp,
saying it was the leader who decides. However, trying to force a No vote on them when up
to one hundred are known to support air strikes
on Isis would be a perilous move.
With British air strikes on Isis in Syria now

more of a when than an if, one danger now
is hubris an inflated notion of the probable significance of our contribution. Bombastic talk of
Britain going to war in Syria disguises the fact
that what the UK is offering is the engagement
of eight Tornado fighter jets based in Cyprus in
support of a far larger French fleet based on an
aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean.
The number of British jets is due to be augmented by two to four and they have targeting
capacities that American and French jets are
said to lack, so they may fill a niche. Still, compared with France, let alone the US or Russia
which is rapidly increasing its engagements
in Syria Britain is never going to be more
than a minor player in this conflict, in purely
military terms.
We have also long been part of the air campaign against Isis in Iraq. The deployment of
air power by the US and its allies against Isis
in Iraq since August 2014 has certainly raised
the morale of the Kurds the most effective
anti-Isis fighters in the region and may have
stalled Isiss advance on Baghdad. However,
given how hard it is to draw up a balance sheet
of 15 months of dropping bombs on Isis territory in Iraq, it is curious how uncontroversial
the Iraq campaign has become.
There are warnings here. If British jets do
start taking part in the air war against Isis in
Syria, it is vital that the end goal of this military intervention the hastening of a political
and diplomatic settlement to the conflicts in
both Iraq and Syria is not forgotten. It would
be tragic if, after all the bitter arguments over
military intervention in Syria, the whole business got pushed to the sidelines following a
vote in the Commons. Mr Cameron has staked
his reputation on getting his way on bombing
Syria. If he wins this gamble, it is up to him also
to ensure that his victory is not an empty one.
The Tories dark heart

The party must root out bullies if it is to prosper
VOIC ES
DILEMMAS
ECONOMIC VIEW
Ian Birrell
Virginia Ironside
Ben Chu
A Minister for the Future:

thats forward planning
P.31
My wife is threatening to divorce

me because of my dirt phobia
P.37
Mao Zedong and his

economic legacy
P.53
PLUS TV&Radio 44 Puzzles&Games 46 Cryptic Crossword 47 Weather 50 Business 51

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Monday 30 November 2015. Registered as a newspaper with the Post Office
The Tory partys attempt to bury the row over

Elliott Johnsons suicide by forcing Grant
Shapps out of his ministerial post looked desperate from the start and has predictably
backfired. Resignations often feed a sense of
unfinished business rather than bringing about
closure, and in this case both Mr Shappss allies
and Mr Johnsons family feel equally dissatisfied. Both suspect that Mr Shapps was forced
to fall on his sword to protect the position and
reputation of more important figures in the
Tory partys inner-circle, starting with the party
chairman, Lord Feldman.
If it is established that Lord Feldman was
party to much the same information that Mr
Shapps received about the behaviour of Mr
Johnsons alleged persecutor, Mark Clarke, he
should go as well. But the same goes for others
who brought Mr Clarke back into the fold of the
Conservative election campaign, long after it

was clear that he had questions to answer.
Beyond individual resignations, there is also
the matter of the inquiry. An investigation conducted mainly by figures within the party, even
if its findings are subjected to external validation, can hardly be termed independent.
If David Cameron wants to resolve the arguments about what happened to Mr Johnson conclusively, he must push for an unambiguously
independent inquiry, led by someone with no
connection to the party, which is precisely what
Mr Johnsons father has demanded.
At a time when the Conservative Party is losing members and has little support among the
young, it appears to have allowed a culture of
bullying and sexual harassment to take root at
the very heart of its youth wing. It must remedy
this or face the consequences of its inaction.
THE INDEPENDENT MONDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2015
The Monday Cartoon
BRI E FI N G
PAY
535
HERITAGE
Churchill archive one of the

worlds most important
British executives now

earn more than 1m a year.
Research shows that pay at
the very top rose by 8.1 per
cent in the past year
The Winston Churchill canon

of speeches and writings
has been placed on a United
Nations list of humanitys
most significant records
P.12
P.1 6
DIARY
687
TODAY
UN CLIMATE CHANGE
SUMMIT IN PARIS
ST ANDREWS DAY
HOLIDAY IN SCOTLAND
TOMORROW
JUNIOR DOCTORS ON
STRIKE FOR 24 HOURS
Members of the cast and

production team for a
new RSC production of A
Midsummer Nights Dream
P.19
First I was born

in Bangladesh, then
I was born in Italy,
then I was born in
England
A young immigrants view on nationality P.14
BUSINESS
1.2bn
Extra investment in robots
required to boost the
economy by as much as
60.5bn over the next
decade, Barclays bank says
P.54
News
Unite backs
Corbyn in
face of revolt
on Syria by
senior MPs
< Continued from P.1
one highly placed source said.
He is one who has always
believed in more internal
democracy, not less. He has
always believed in reducing the power of the party
leader; now hes being the
most centralising leader in
Labour Party history. This is
a small cabal within the leaders office.
But Mr McCluskey, whose
Unite union is Labours biggest source of funds, said in
an article for The Huffington
Post website: He [Corbyn]
has been denounced for writing to MPs and party members
making his views on Syria clear
as if his huge mandate, which
included support for his longstanding anti-war record, had
simply earned him the right to
be seen but not heard.
Yet at the same time members of the Shadow Cabinet are
making their own pro-bombing views plain, either publicly
or in off-the-record briefings.
And backbench MPs are even
calling on him to quit for having the temerity to maintain
his values and principles. The
thought that some Labour
MPs might be prepared to
play intra-party politics over
an issue such as this will sicken
all decent people.
And he warned: Any
WEAPO N OF CHOICE
B RIMSTO NE MISSILE S
If MPs do vote for air strikes

in Syria, Brimstone missiles
are likely to be the weapon of
choice. They are radar-guided
weapons that can seek and
destroy armoured targets at
long range, with remarkable
accuracy. The supersonic
missiles have been used by
the RAFs Tornado GR4
and Typhoon F2 fighter jets
on missions in Afghanistan
and Iraq, and are capable of
hitting tanks and vehicles
moving at up to 70mph. The
missiles cost 100,000 each.
attempt to force Labours

leader out through a Westminster Palace coup will be resisted
all the way by Unite and, I
believe, most party members
and affiliated unions.
On the other side of the
argument there are Labour
MPs who say they will vote
for military action against Isis
even if Mr Corbyn imposes
a whip telling them to vote
against. The latest to put her
head over the parapet, Siobhain McDonagh, is a former
government whip. I would
do the right thing, and I think
the right thing is to support
the Government in bombing
Syria, she said. I wouldnt
do it lightly, because Im the
loyalest of the loyal.
The former shadow cabinet
member Chuka Umunna, the
former cabinet minister Liam
Byrne and the new MP Jess
Phillips also indicated that
they were prepared to defy the
whip, if Mr Corbyn imposed
it. Mr Umunna told Sky News:
On these issues you have to
do what you believe is right.
Labours deputy leader,
Tom Watson, the shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn,
the shadow Justice Secretary
Lord Falconer and the shadow
Chancellor John McDonnell
have all urged Mr Corbyn to
allow a free vote.
That position is likely to
be supported by a majority
of the Shadow Cabinet when
they meet today, but Mr Corbyn will come to the meeting
armed with the feedback from
an email he sent to party members canvassing their views,
which had prompted 70,000
replies by yesterday morning.
His supporters are also seeking to organise a Twitter storm
to coincide with the start of
the weekly meeting of Labour
MPs. The membership of
the Labour Party must have a
voice. Labour MPs need to listen to that voice, Mr Corbyn
told the BBCs Andrew Marr
programme.
This open conflict between
the leader and the Shadow
Jeremy
Corbyn
(left on the
Marr Show)
and Dame
Vivienne
Westwood
join
campaigners
in London
yesterday
calling for
action on
climate
change PA
DEFI ANT CORBYN LABOUR LEADER DISM ISSES CALLS TO QUIT
Jeremy Corbyn dismissed calls

for him to quit yesterday, saying: Im not going anywhere.
Im enjoying every moment.
When it was put to the
Labour leader (right) by the
BBCs Andrew Marr that it
had been a terrible week for
his party, Mr Corbyn replied:
It hasnt been terrible at all.
He said Labour had forced
the Government into retreat
Cabinet is so unusual that

there is confusion about who
has the authority to decide
whether or not to whip Labour
MPs. But members of the
Shadow Cabinet believe that
it is written into the partys
standing orders that the power
rests with the Shadow Cabinet, not the leader alone.
The Defence Secretary
Michael Fallon said he had
been briefing Labour MPs on
military action over the weekend but stressed the Government does not yet have a
guaranteed majority to back
air strikes.
The Defence Secretary
rejected claims that bombing
on tax credits, police cuts and

a Saudi prison contract.
Party membership has
gone up, he said. Weve got
a great candidate in Oldham,
weve got a great campaign
going in Oldham. Im very confident Jim McMahons going
to be elected MP for Oldham
on Thursday. Asked if he
expected to be prime minister,
he replied: I hope so.
Any
attempt to
force him
out will be
resisted all
the way by
Unite
Isis-held cities could lead to a

large number of civilian casualties as the terror group retreats
into tunnels or uses the local
population as human shields.
He claimed the RAFs
precision air strikes had not
claimed a single civilian life
during action taken against
Isis in Iraq, and that Britain had very strict rules of
engagement, and warned that
the UKs reputation would be
damaged and the population
less safe if action were not
taken in Syria.
Pressed on the nature of the
70,000-strong force in Syria
Mr Cameron referred to, Mr
Fallon said: We do know who
they are and this is an independent Joint Intelligence

Committee assessment, its
not ministers making this figure its their assessment and
its supported by academics.
Mr McDonnell told Pienaars Politics on BBC Radio
5 Live that Mr Corbyn would
take a decision on which way
to whip in the morning, and
make a recommendation to
the shadow cabinet meeting.
I want on these sorts of
issues an unwhipped vote,
because they are above party
politics, he said. I am hoping hes taking my view into
account the same as other
party members.
ON OTHE R
PAGE S
Ian Burrell:
The leftwing media
resisting
the lure of
Corbynmania
P.38
THE INDEPENDENT MONDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2015
Unity is the watchword

as Labour fights the Ukip
threat in vital by-election
Corbyn activists join the campaign in Oldham West, where a safe Labour seat is
in danger of being seized by Ukip this week, reports JOSE PH C H A R LTON
Mother who joined Isis

in Syria hints she will
become suicide bomber
ROSALIND NEWMAN
A mother-of-two from Kent

who left Britain to join Isis
has hinted she may be planning to blow herself up after
her husband was killed in a
drone strike.
S a l l y Jo n e s h a s i n d i cated she could be about to
become a black widow suicide bomber. A recent post
by Jones on a social media
account quotes a Muslim
woman who killed herself and
27 Russian soldiers in a truck
bombing in 2000.
Jones, 47, who moved to
Syria with her 10-year-old in
2013, quoted the last words
spoken by Hawa Barayev,
20, to her family, The Sunday
Times reported.
I know what Im doing.
Paradise has a price and I hope
this will be the price for Paradise, Jones wrote. If Jones
follows through on her threat,
Sally Jones, 47, took her son,

then 10, with her to Syria
she would be Isiss first known
female suicide bomber.
Barayev is widely thought
to be the first black widow
a group of Chechen Muslim
women who lost their husbands and attacked Russia in
a wave of suicide bombings.
Joness message followed
the death of her husband,
Junaid Hussain, 21, killed by
a US drone strike on Raqqa
in August.
Outside Ukip HQ in the

small town of Royton, in the
Oldham West and Royton
constituency, a skirmish is
breaking out between proCorbyn Momentum activists
and a group of ardent Ukippers. Think about the future
of our NHS before voting on
Thursday! calls Sandra, a
middle-aged Londoner wearing a Santa cap emblazoned
with Vote Jeremy badges.
She may as well be shouting
into the wind. U-kip, U-kip,
U-Kip, chant a group of teenagers all too young to vote
in reply. Jeremy Corbyn is
a threat to our national security, an older resident chips in,
echoing the message on most
of Ukips campaign leaflets for
Thurdays by-election.
The Momentum-ers move
off. At Rumours, the pub next
door (2.50 a pint, happy hour
10am-8pm daily), Sandra has
better luck convincing a
drinker outside that the only
vote for the NHS is a vote for
Labour. Corbyn doesnt come
up in conversation and neither does Labours Oldham
West and Royton candidate,
Jim McMahon.
Sandra is one of 150 activists
put on the ground in Oldham
West and Royton this weekend by Momentum, the grassroots network formed out of
last summers Corbyn for
Leader campaign. Coaches
from London, Birmingham,
Bradford, Leeds and Sheffield have been organised by
Momentum, and the Labour
Party mothership has another
300 volunteers arriving from
around the country.
The shadow Chancellor John
McDonnell arrived on Saturday and has been on the doorsteps with McMahon since.
Have anyvoters raised McDonnells Little Red Book incident,
I ask Andrew Gwynne, who is
organising Labours by-election campaign. Not one, he
says. Its not much of an issue
for Oldham.
This looks suspiciously like
something approaching Labour
Party unity. Momentum activists are subordinate to the main
office and given strict instructions on where to knock on
doors. Were here under the
banner of Labour, not Momentum, says Deborah, an activist from Croydon. In Royton,
however, the Ukip faithful are
I have no idea if Im to
the left, the centre, or
shaking it all about. But
Jeremy has my support
Labours Jim McMahon goes door-stepping STEVE MORGAN

keen to paint this squarely as a
battle against Jeremy Corbyn.
Ukip candidate John Bickley
is a by-election veteran, having lost both Wythenshawe
and Sale, and Heywood and
Middleton (more narrowly),
to Labour last year. Bickleys
chances this time, says Ukips
party director and campaign
organiser Paul Oakden, are far
improved.
People in the community
think a vote against Labour is
a vote against Corbyn. Security is a big concern to people
here, and Corbyns comments
on shoot-to-kill landed very
wide of the mark.
Despite the narrowing odds
on a Ukip victory bookies
are now offering 2/1, from
20/1 last week Bickley has
struggled to convince on local
issues. He called for Oldhams
historic but derelict town hall
to be saved from a 35m conversion into a cinema and restaurant complex, despite the
renovations popular appeal
to voters.
Its such an own goal its
untrue, Jim McMahon tells
The Independent while taking
a break from door-stepping in
the rain. Oldham town centre
has never before had its own
cinema and McMahon, currently leader of the council,
was instrumental in securing
funding for the regeneration
of the towns high street. Its
the naivet of someone who
doesnt know the area.
Johns OK, hes a reasonable guy. Ultimately I wish him
well going back to Cheshire
on December 4.
Cheshire is a byword for
posh in Oldham, and McMa-
hon, born and raised in nearby

Miles Platting to a father who
drove lorries for a living, is
keen to establish himself as
the local candidate. Before
Michael Meacher died and
this by-election was called
Id never been to the Houses
of Parliament, says McMahon. I think people see the
way I run the council here and
count me as no-nonsense, geton-with-it kind of guy.
McMahon, 35, is certainly
an eye-catching candidate. A
councillor at 23, he was later
made the spokesman for every
Labour councillor in Britain,
and this year was appointed
OBE for services to Oldham,
as well as being tipped to
become mayor of Manchester. Under his direction the
council has tried to put an end
to all-white schools desegregation has been of massive
importance here since Oldhams race riots in 2001 as
well as establishing the first
tramline between Manchester and Oldham.
Dressed in a long coat, sharp
suit and leather gloves, he
has the robust presence of an
ascendant football manager,
or a particularly well-heeled
bouncer.
He voted for Liz Kendall
in the Labour leadership
election, so the big question
today is where he stands on
Corbyn.
At Eastern Pavilion Banqueting Hall, a PakistaniBangladeshi curry house
hosting the Corbynistas who
have been out-door-knocked
that day, McMahon takes the
stage, a garish red-and-white
Momentum banner flying
behind him. I have no idea

whether Im to the left, the
centre or shaking it all about,
he says, but you can mark my
words, Jeremy has my absolute full support.
There is a big cheer from
the audience and a palpable
sense of relief. I ask McMahon afterwards for his views
on Syria, and again he opts
to take the Labour leaders
if not the Shadow Cabinets
line. I totally agree with Jeremy that David Cameron has
not put forward, as it stands, a
compelling enough case to say
whats going to happen after
military intervention.
Noting Oldham voters
apparent concerns over security, he does, however. add:
I havent got a principled
objection to this. I think as a
government you have to protect your citizens. But we cant
just embark on a folly.
Afterwards, McDonnell
takes to the stage and heaps
praise on McMahon, calling
him the socialist candidate
an epithet the councillor himself would probably
reject. But it is clear, speaking to McDonnell post-curry,
that hopes are high of making
McMahon a poster boy of new
Labour Party unity.
What I find very impressive about him is that he
accepts that the leadership
of the Labour Party has been
determined by the democratic processes of the party,
says the shadow Chancellor.
Hes willing to work with Jeremy closely and I think hes a
good reflection of where the
Parliamentary Labour Party
is going to be.
News
Mosque targeted in suspected arson attack

ROSALIND NEWMAN
Police have released CCTV

footage of a man suspected of
an attempted Islamophobic
arson attack on a mosque in
Finsbury Park, London.
The footage shows the
white man attempting to set a
jerrycan of petrol alight before
hurling it into the mosque
compound on Friday evening.
The man, who was wearing a
white hooded top, white baseball cap and jeans, then fled on
a moped.
Staff discovered the can,
which did not ignite, when
they opened up the mosque
on Saturday morning. Police
are treating the incident as a
hate crime.
The Metropolitan Police
urged anyone who recognises
the man in the footage to get
in touch. A spokesman said
high visibility patrols were
Police released
this image of a
man suspected
of an arson
attack on a
London mosque
MPs join fight

for sugar tax to
cut 5bn-a-year
cost of obesity
operating in the area following

the incident.
The mosques chairman,
Mohammed Kozbar, told
The Independent: This was a
barrel not a bottle. Whoever
threw it was determined to
cause huge destruction. Luckily it was raining so it didnt
explode. The mosque had
received a threatening letter
the week before, he added, but
he did not know if it was linked
to the attack.
PAUL PEACHEY
David Cameron is under

intense pressure to reverse his
opposition to a sugar tax after
MPs and campaigners called
for bold and urgent action to
reverse the 5bn annual cost
of obesity to the NHS.
A cross-party group of MPs
said a 20 per cent tax on sugary drinks could raise 1bn to
spend on tackling childhood
obesity, while health groups
called for supermarket food
recipes to be rewritten wholesale to halve sugar use.
The Prime Minister ruled
out a tax on sugar last month,
despite a report from the
Governments own advisory
body backing the move. The
Government came under fire
over a delay in the reports
publication.
The drive for a 20 per cent
sugar tax has been joined by
a wide range of medical and
campaign groups who claim
that inaction will be disastrous
for the nations health.
Children eat more than
three times the recommended
amount of sugar, and a third
are overweight or obese by
the time they leave primary
school.
Poor diet has been linked
to 70,000 premature deaths
a year along with high rates of
tooth decay, and contributes
to soaring levels of Type 2 diabetes which costs the NHS
almost 8.8bn a year. The
Government is due to publish
its strategy next year.
Dr Sarah Wollaston, a GP,
who chairs the health select
committee, said: We believe
that if the Government fails to
act, the problem will become
far worse.
A full package of bold measures is required and should be
implemented as soon as possible. We believe that a sugary
TV chef
Jamie Oliver
championed
a drive
for labels
indicating
spoonfuls of
sugar in fizzy
drinks
T R ISTAN
FE W IN GS/
GE T T Y
drinks tax should be included

in these measures with all
proceeds clearly directed
to improving our childrens
health.
The report stressed that
physical exercise alone cannot solve the obesity crisis and
called for a package of measures to change how sugar is
consumed in the British diet.
It also demanded an end to
television advertising of highsalt, high-sugar and fatty foods
until after the 9pm watershed,
and supported using graphic
warnings on the side of bottles
showing how many spoonfuls
of sugar the drink inside contains an idea championed by
celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.
The MPs highlighted the
role of the food industry in
actively promoting sugary
products. The industry spent
256m last year promoting
unhealthy foods, while one
sugary soft drinks firm was
sponsoring park activities for
children to replace the gap left
by local authorities facing a
spending squeeze.
The committee also called
for controls on two-for-one
promotional sales and said
the use of cartoon characters
and celebrities in childrens
advertising should face tighter
restrictions. Rules that claim
a breakfast cereal which is
22.5 per cent sugar is not
a high-sugar food must be
changed, the report said.
Other campaigning groups
have called for a tax on all highsugar food and drink, but the
MPs favoured targeting drinks
as they represent about 29 per
cent of sugar consumption
among children aged 11 to 18.
A coalition of up to 20 groups
has been formed to push for the
sugar tax, including the British
Heart Foundation, the British
Medical Association, Cancer
Research UK and the Faculty
of Public Health.
THE INDEPENDENT Monday 30 November 2015
Barmy Army joy as Britain

triumphs in Davis Cup
VEronica Lee
in ghent
Kim Murray (centre) joins the Barmy Army of fans as her husband, Andy, helps to power the GB team to a historic win g etty/ lta
Tory chairman to be questioned

over bullying suicide scandal
City law firm hired to oversee process amid calls for independent inquiry
ANDY M c SMITH
Lord Feldman, the barrister

hand-picked by David Cameron to chair the Conservative
Party, is to be questioned by
staff investigating the bullying
scandal that has engulfed the
partys youth wing.
He is among more than 40
witnesses who will be asked to
give evidence to party officials
investigating the affair.
A leading City law firm,
Clifford Chance, has been
instructed to prepare a report
on the issues raised, with a
remit to assess whether complaints were handled properly
and identify any individuals
who were at fault.
The firm will also consider the integrity of the evidence-collecting process and
whether the right people have
been interviewed.
Party officials hope the law
firms involvement will go
some way to placating those
including the father of a
young activist who committed suicide calling for a fully
independent inquiry.
The allegations forced the
former party chairman Grant
Shapps to resign his ministerial post on Saturday, while
the person at the centre of
the allegations, Mark Clarke,
has had his party membership
cancelled for life.
Mr Shapps quit his post as
international development
minister, admitting that he
should have set alarm bells
ringing sooner about reports
of bullying and bad behaviour
during his time as the partys
co-chairman.
In September, a 21-year-old
Tory activist, Elliott Johnson,
was found dead on a railway
line in Buckinghamshire. A
coroner revealed that he had
left a note complaining of
being bullied.
In the month before his
death, Mr Johnson was
involved in an angry confrontation with Mr Clarke in
a pub. Mr Clarke has denied
allegations of bullying, and has
said he will speak about what
happened after the coroners
inquest has been completed.
Mr Clarke was known as
the Tatler Tory because
of a magazine article that
tipped him as a future cabinet minister. He stood as the
Tory candidate in Tooting in
the 2010 general election,
but lost the seat to Labours
Sadiq Khan, and his political
ambition was then thwarted
when he was denied a place
on the candidates list for the
2015 election, apparently
because reports of his personal behaviour had reached
party headquarters.
Cut off by Conservative
HQ, Mr Clarke took it upon
himself to organise RoadTrip
2015, which bussed young
Conservative Party chairman

Lord Feldman g etty
root o f the scandal
a young mans sui ci de
Elliott Johnson was a member

of Conservative Future, the
partys youth wing, and of the
campaigning group Conservative Way Forward.
He helped out during the
general election, but afterwards became disturbed by
Mark Clarkes behaviour.
On 12 August, Clarke learnt
that Johnson was complaining, and confronted him in
a pub, in front of witnesses.
In Johnsons words: Mark
pinned me (literally in a seat)
and bullied and interrogated
me. There were complaints
to party headquarters, but
Johnson seemingly felt they
were prepared to do nothing.
The 21-year-old took his
own life in September, leaving a note accusing Clarke of
bullying him.
Conservative volunteers into

marginal seats. His energy
impressed Mr Shapps, who
brought him back into the official Conservative campaign.
One of many allegations
published in the Mail on Sunday claimed that Mr Clarke
resorted to blackmail in his
determination to get back on
to the candidates list, using
information he had obtained
about illicit sexual relationships at head office. He has
denied these allegations. The
partys deputy chairman, Robert Halfon, has since admitted an affair with the woman
who headed the Conservative
youth wing, Conservative
Future. Mr Halfons female
assistant is also reported to
have been having an affair
with a married Tory MP who
threatened the paper with
an injunction to avoid being
identified.
One question likely to
be raised during the internal investigation is why Mr
Shapps, who has had no role
at head office since May, has
had to resign while Lord Feldman, who has been co-chairman of the party since 2010,
is still in his post.
Lord Feldman has been
a friend of David Cameron
since they were fellow students at Brasenose College,
Oxford, in the 1980s.
Editorial, P.2
Tennis fans reacted with rapture as Andy Murray powered

Great Britain to a historic triumph in the Davis Cup final in
Ghent yesterday, where they
beat Belgium 3-1. Britain last
won the team competition
in 1936, when Fred Perry led
them to the world title.
Jamie Leith from Perth, who
was in Ghent as part of the Stirling University Barmy Army,
a group of fans who travel
around the world to support
the British tennis team, said
the country owed a huge debt
to the Murray family. Andy
Murray won three matches
in the tie, including Saturdays doubles rubber with his
brother, Jamie.
Two members of the [fourman] team and this from the
tiny town of Dunblane to being
the world champions its so

impressive, he said.
This was Britains first
appearance in a Davis Cup
final since 1978, when they
lost to the United States, and
was played at Flanders Expo, a
hangar-like space thats usually
home to trade fairs. Normally
its a soulless place but the British fans allocated just 1,000
of the 13,000 seats on each of
the three days of competition
played their part in creating
a joyous, even raucous, atmosphere. The Barmy Army had
drums and a small brass band,
and a DJ played loud rock
music during breaks.
Queen Mathilde of Belgium
looked on as the British team
were presented with the trophy. Thats sport royalty on
court, said fan Sally Burgess
from Woking in Surrey. We
want a knighthood for Andy.
Sport pullout
Monday 30 November 2015 THE INDEPENDENT
News
news in
b r ief
PEOPLE
politic s
Irish police began a

desperate search for Sinad
OConnor yesterday after
a suicide note appeared
on her Facebook page.
However, police sources
reported that the singer,
best known for her version
of Princes Nothing
Compares 2U, was safe
and sound and receiving
medical help.
A 100,000-name petition
will be handed in to
10Downing Street today
by campaigners against a
trade deal being negotiated
between the EU and the
US. Activists are pressing
the Government to make
sure the NHS is not
affected by the Transatlantic
Trade and Investment
Partnership.
Sinad OConnor safe

after overdose message
100,000 sign petition

against TTIP trade deal
Tear gas used

on protesters as
world leaders
arrive in Paris
UN Climate
Change Summit
CAHAL MILMO
AND TOM BAWDEN
Placards warning the worlds

leaders that there is No
Planet B were waved. People dressed as polar bears or
angels to demand climate
justice. And the Pope, among
others, sent a pair of his shoes
to symbolise the marchers
forced from the streets of
Paris by terror.
Organisers said more than
half a million people marched
across 175 countries in one of
the largest demonstrations
calling for action on climate
change, ahead of the start
today of the United Nations
summit in the French capital
to thrash out a legally binding
agreement to curb emissions.
The gathering, which will
be attended by 150 heads
of government, including
David Cameron and Barack
Obama, is seen by many as
the last opportunity to strike
a global deal that would bring

the UNs long-term goal of
limiting global warming to
2C within sight.
Mr Cameron said he was
travelling to Paris to press
for a robust deal that would
allow the tightening of goals
every five years to meet the
2C target above which climate
change becomes progressively
more catastrophic and held up
Britains own legislation as a
model for other countries.
There were about 2,300 different protest events across
the world. Organisers of the
main demonstration in London claimed an attendance
of 50,000 and declared it was
the biggest climate march in
British history.
In Paris, where the authorities had banned a planned
march on public safety
grounds following the 13
November atrocities, protesters laid out hundreds of
pairs of shoes in the Place de
la Republique to represent the
missing demonstrators.
Among the symbolic ranks
of high heels and sandals on
the square that has been a
gathering point for Parisians
since the attacks was a pair of
creased black shoes sent by
UK banks
Forger says Da Vinci is Sally from the Co-Op
face threat
before experts concluded it
his new memoir to describe
was by the Italian master.
how he based the portrait
from global
But Shaun Greenhalgh,
on Sally, a co-worker at the
A renowned British forger has
who was jailed in 2006 after he
Co-Op where he worked in
warming
claimed that he is the creator
was revealed as the creator of
Bolton. Greenhalgh writes:
CAHAL MILMO
Tom BAwden
Environment editor
Pope Francis, a vocal campaigner for action to prevent

climate change. UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon provided a pair of jogging shoes.
Elsewhere in the French
capital, some 10,000 joined
arms to form a human chain
along the route of the planned
march. But the call for a
peaceful demonstration from
organisers was defied by a
small group who clashed with
riot officers near the Place de
la Republique. Police, who
responded to the violence
with tear gas, said they had
arrested 100 people.
Campaigners warned that
failure to reach an agreement
that locks in action to slash
carbon emissions would mean
that the last opportunity to
prevent the most extreme
consequences of global warming had been lost.
The warnings were backed
by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as he spoke to marchers
in Hyde Park, where campaigners were joined by actor
Emma Thompson and fashion
designer Vivienne Westwood.
Addressing leaders attending
the summit, Mr Corbyn said:
Do what you are sent there to
do. Do what you have been sent
there [to do] on our behalf.
The main challenge in Paris
is to agree a process known
as a ratchet mechanism
that would require countries
to step up their pledges to cut
emissions every few years
until they are sufficient to
limit global warming to 2C.
Developing countries have
warned that even at 2C, global warming will cause huge
problems.
Speaking before he arrived
in Paris, Mr Cameron said governments alone could not deal
with climate change and business and private donors had a
role to play in enabling investment in clean technology.
Policemen
fight with
climate
change
activists
at the
Place de la
Republique
in Paris
yesterday
Lau r ent
Cip r ia ni / a p
On othe r
pag e s
When Paris
police turned
on Algerian
protesters
and why
it matters
today
P.26
Climate change poses such a

threat to Britains banking sector that the Government must
introduce mandatory stresstesting of City institutions to
determine which are most vulnerable, a new report warns.
The risks posed to banks solvency would remain high even
if a robust deal was reached at
the UN climate change summit
in Paris over the next fortnight,
said Joss Garman, a co-author
of the IPPR think-tank report.
Financial institutions are
threatened with climate-related
losses on several fronts. Banks
and pension funds stand to lose
billions of pounds of loans and
investments in fossil fuel companies if, as seems increasingly
likely, they have to leave huge
amounts of their coal, oil and
gas assets in the ground.
Local-authority pension
funds alone are understood to
hold 14bn of fossil fuel assets,
while 19 of the FTSE 100 list
of the biggest companies are
in the natural resource and
extraction business, according
to the report, co-written by the
IPPRs director of strategy and
engagement, Diana Fox Carney, the wife of Bank of England Governor Mark Carney.
Meanwhile, insurance
companies face huge payouts
as global warming increases
the frequency and severity
of floods and storms. And the
rise in extreme weather will
hit the economy well beyond
the financial services sector
as uninsured losses hits businesses and households for
example ruined crops and
damaged buildings.
A thorough examination of
financial institutions balance
sheets, to determine their
exposure to precarious fossil
fuel investments and insurance liabilities, could help
to avert a huge crisis further
down the line by identifying
where the weaknesses were
and attempting to remedy
them, Mr Garman said.
Modelling techniques
pioneered in the insurance
industry could enable the
risks to be disclosed to investors and would make it possible to stress-test banks,
pension funds and listed
companies against different
climate change scenarios,
he said. This would expose
where investments could be
vulnerable to financial losses.
MPs should consider mandating stress-testing of this
kind because ultimately it
could help us to avoid another
financial crisis.
of a 100m drawing attributed

to Leonardo Da Vinci and that
he used a supermarket cashier
named Sally as his model.
The portrait of a young
woman with a ponytail, entitled La Bella Principessa, was
thought to have been a 19thcentury German creation
a succession of forgeries that

duped some of the worlds
leading art institutions, has
now claimed he knocked off
the masterpiece in 1978 using
an old vellum council document and wood from a Victorian school desk.
The self-taught artist uses
Despite her humble position,

she was a bossy little bugger
and very self-important.
But experts have cast doubt
on the British fakers claims. A
French laboratory this weekend released evidence that
shows the picture is at least
250 years old.
Shaun
Greenhalgh says
he drew the
work in 1978 on
an old vellum
document
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11
Teens call on
music venues
to get a grip
on groping
ROSALIND NEWMAN
Its a menace that will be familiar to many women who attend

gigs and rock concerts.
But now a group of teenage
girls are taking action to stamp
out groping at venues in a
drive to make live performances safe spaces for music
fans of both genders.
The five girls aged 15 to 17
Hannah, Ava, Anna, Anni
and Bea launched Girls
Against last month to raise
awareness of sexual assaults
at concerts.
Their ultimate aim is to
eliminate mosh-pit groping
for good. In the short term,
they want to see the perpetrators identified and stopped
from entering future gigs.
With several indie bands
including Peace, Slaves and
Wolf Alice backing the campaign, and more than 7,000
Twitter followers, the girls
are already claiming practical
results in their drive to create
a zero-tolerance approach.
On Friday night the group
tweeted: Just heard that a man
was escorted out of the crowd
at The 1975 in Swindon tonight
for attempted groping! Things
are finally being done.
Anna, 16, told The Independent that the group has so
far mainly focused its efforts

on indie and alternative bands
as were fans of them. But
they now want the support of
more high-profile musicians
as well as feminist activists
and politicians.
Wed really love some bigger bands to get involved now,
and bands from other genres,
she said.
The teenagers, who
describes themselves as just
some intersectional feminists
fighting against sexual harassment, say they are standing
up for all victims of gig groping, male and female.
Girls Against was formed
after 17-year-old Hannah was
assaulted while watching the
band Peace in Glasgow in
October. She tweeted about
her experience, and the bands
lead singer, Harry Koisser,
reposted her tweet.
Dozens of other victims
began sharing similar personal accounts. The girls
realised how widespread the
problem was, and the group
was born.
One Twitter user, Leia
Shearer, posted: My night
seeing the @TheFratellis
was ruined after I was groped
repeatedly by an older guy. This
campaign is so important.
Another, Jasmine Hodge,
tweeted: Such a shame that
I love going
to gigs but
not being
harassed
Comment
ROISIN
OCONNOR
Wed really
love some
bigger
bands to
get
involved
now
someone thought it was ok to

put their hand up my back and
undo my bra as The Vaccines
came on stage.
As awareness of the campaign grew, other indie bands
followed Peace in offering
their support. Foals frontman
Yannis Philipakkis posted
a tweet calling for an end to
shady macho behaviour at
music venues. He told DIYmag.com: Theres a difference between a mosh-pit and
just groping somebody.
However other bands targeted by the girls have been
less responsive.
Wed really love Catfish and
the Bottlemen to get behind us
and its been really frustrating
because weve been tweeting
them loads and other people
who know them have said they
would tell them about us,
Anna told The Independent.
She had been to one of the
bands gigs in March and it
[groping] was really bad,
she said. I think that has
something to do with the fact

that they have a wide range
of fans.
While Girls Againsts efforts
have largely been welcomed
by music fans, the girls like
many feminist campaigners
have received their share of
online abuse.
We have received a bit
of backlash, Anna said. To
be honest, we find most of it
quite funny. We just brush it
off and laugh at it because the
people who are tweeting us
calling us names and things
like that are just looking for
attention and were not going
to give them it.
Hannah,
Anni, Anna,
Ava and
Bea have
launched
a drive to
make live
gigs safe
for music
fans g i rls
against
I was 15 when I went to my

first big gig, and the rush I
got from being in that stadium
remains the same today.
But in the last two or three
years of attending and reviewing several gigs a week, there
is one conversation that always
begins the same way.
You alright love? What are
you doing here by yourself?
a random guy will ask. Im
working, I explain over the
noise. What? they shout. I
try again: Im here to see the
band. Their response: Are
you a groupie? Im left burning with rage and embarrassment. This has happened nine
times in the past year.
Then theres the time I got
a guy kicked out because he
wouldnt stop touching me.
The time I got a guy kicked
out because he wouldnt stop
touching my friend. And the
drummer who suggested we
should conduct an interview in
a dark corner somewhere.
THE MAGICAL CHRISTMAS TRADITION FOR ALL THE FAMILY
NUTC RACKE R
Schoolgirls conditioned to
expect to earn less than boys
Sarah Cassidy
Low career ambitions are

ingrained in women at a young
age, according to new research
showing teenage girls expect
to earn 7,000 a year less than
boys in their future careers.
The survey of more than
3,000 14 to 19-year-olds found
that girls predict they will
be earning 36,876 within
10 years of leaving education,
while boys expect 44,124
16 per cent more.
While both girls and boys
overestimated their likely
future salaries, young people
predicted the likely pay disparity fairly accurately as according to the National Office for
Statistics the gender pay gap in
the UK is 19.2 per cent.
The research for City
& Guilds, which provides

vocational qualifications
and apprenticeships, also
revealed the vast majority
of young people still believe
university is the only route to
a good career, with more than
two thirds (68 per cent) of
14-19 year olds planning to
go to further education. This
is despite a third of them not
knowing what they would
study and only 30 per cent of
available jobs forecast to be
graduate roles.
The research found young
people had been misinformed
about how to secure their
dream job and often had little
understanding of the best route
to take. Although 70 per cent
of young people claimed they
have the information needed to
pursue their future career, only
28 per cent thought previous
19
The gender pay

gap in Britain,
according to the
National Office
for Statistics
work experience was important. In contrast, recent City

& Guilds research found most
employers (78 per cent) see
work experience as essential.
Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society,
said: This research paints
a worrying picture. It is not
surprising to see girls aiming
lower than boys when it comes
to salary. This is a product of
years of conditioning. Even as
adults at work women asking
for a pay rise are labelled
as pushy whereas for men
thats expected.
But we also need to properly
value those careers which are
dominated by women such as
childcare and social care. They
are vital professions which
most of us will rely on at some
point in our lives, yet they are
extremely poorly paid.
HHHHH
DAZZLING
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
16 DEC 2015 10 JAN 2016

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12
News
in t he m on ey britai ns bes t-pai d ex ecutives
The top 20 earners at the biggest

companies listed on the London
Stock Exchange last year were:
O n other
pag es
David
Prosser:
Small Talk
P.55
1 Sir Martin Sorrell (WPP), 42.978m

2 Tony Pidgley (Berkeley), 23.296m
3 Ben van Beurden (Royal Dutch
Shell), 19.510m
4 Jeremy Darroch (Sky), 16.889m
5 Erik Engstrom (RELX Group), 16.176m
6 Peter Long (TUI Travel), 13.333m
7 Rob Perrins (Berkeley), 12.357m
8 Tidjane Thiam (Prudential), 11.834m
9 Breon Corcoran (Betfair), 11,627m
10 Antonio Horta-Osorio, (Lloyds Banking
Group), 11.544m
11 Mike Wells (Prudential), 11.393m
12 Rakesh Kapoor (Reckitt Benckiser),
11.237m
13 Paul Richardson (WPP), 11.219m
14 Christopher Silva (Allied Minds), 9.658m
15 Bob Dudley (BP), 9.289m
16 Andrew Griffith (Sky), 8.861m
17 Johan Lundgren (TUI Travel), 8.423m
18 Simon Borrows (3i), 8.278m
19 Michael Dobson (Schroders), 8.155m
20 Hendrik du Toit (Investec), 8.130m
Source: A nalysi s o f co m pan y reM U Neration
reports by the L abour Re search Departm ent
With a 43m
annual pay
packet, Sir
Martin Sorrell
is Britains
top-paid boss
g ett y
Gap between
bosses pay and
average wage
gets even wider
Andy m c smith
It is a
disgrace
that top
execs are
taking an
even bigger
share
The gap between average

wages and the pay Britains
top company executives
receive is still widening year
by year, despite David Camerons mantra that were all
in this together.
New research shows that
remuneration at the very top
rose by 8.1 per cent, with at
least 535 company executives
now receiving 1m a year or
more.
The highest paid was Sir
Martin Sorrell, chief executive of the advertising and
PR group WPP, whose latest
43m remuneration package
included 274,000 worth of
flights paid for so that his wife
could accompany him on business trips, plus 50,000 he is
reckoned to save the company
on hotel bills by saying in his
New York flat and other homes
during business trips.
Sir Martin weathered a
shareholders revolt at WPPs
annual meeting in June, when
20 per cent voted against his
pay package which was
actually an improvement on
previous years. In 2014, 30
per cent voted against his pay
packet, which was 30m that
year. Sir Martin has said that
his pay should not be directly
compared with that of other
city bosses, because he built
his company from scratch.
One other executive
had a pay packet of more
than 20m. Tony Pidgley,
founder of the house builder
Berkeley, benefited from a
long-term bonus scheme
introduced after the financial crisis, in 2009, which

entitled him to 19.8m in
share options on top of his
basic salary of 850,000 a
year plus other benefits.
The Labour Research
Department, a trade-unionbacked think-tank not connected to the Labour Party,
surveyed company reports
published by the top 350 companies ranked on the London
Stock Exchange, which publish
an audited figure for the remuneration of each director.
Listing them by the size of
pay packet, they discovered
that the director at the midpoint of the list was being paid
2.04m, a slight increase on
the previous year. At least 52
executives had seen their pay
packets more than double
in a single year. The average
increase of 8.1 per cent was
less than the previous year,
when the LRD calculated that
it was 9.2 per cent.
According to official figures, the rise in weekly earnings from September 2014 has
ranged between 1.1 per and 3.1
per cent.
The widening pay gap was
condemned by the TUC
general secretary, Frances
OGrady, who said: With
top bosses now earning 183
times more than the average
full-time worker, inequality
is reaching stratospheric levels. After years of falling living
standards it is a disgrace that
top execs are taking an even
bigger share of the rewards of
growth. We need a recovery
that works for the many and
not just the few.
13
I quit! Apprentice contestant storms out of show

Scott
Saunders
(second
from left)
has walked
away from
a chance
to win
250,000 in
investment
from Lord
Sugar
Scott Saunders
leaves the set
after Lord Sugar
tore apart
everything he
had ever done
PAUL PEACHEY
It might have lacked the

brusque finality of his tormentors catchphrase, but at
least Scott Saunders parting
shot as he walked out on The
Apprentice had the advantage
of originality.
After a savage attack on
his business abilities from
Lord Sugar, the 27-year-old
reportedly walked off the set
to become the first contestant to quit in anger during the
shows 11-series history.
With his walkout went
any opportunity of winning
a 250,000 investment that
he had declared himself
supremely confident of winning before the start of the
shows run. Mr Saunders, a
B B C / PA
self-described entrepreneur,
speaker, mentor and model,
had been belittled and criticised by the peer in the boardroom before he decided that
he had had enough and walked
out, according to The Sun on
Sunday. Thank you for the
opportunity, but I quit, he is
reported as saying allegedly

sparking a renewed verbal
attack from Lord Sugar.
While contestants have left
for family and other reasons
during the 10-year history of
the show in the UK, Mr Saunders is the first to do so after
taking offence at the abrasive
approach of Lord Sugar, who

ends each episode by telling
one or more of the contestants: Yourefired.
He had previously
described himself as a one
hundred million per cent
confident that he could win
the show, which perhaps
pointed more towards his

supreme selfassurance than
his grasp of the nitty-gritty of
accounting realities.
The entrepreneur, who runs
his own payroll-services company for the self-employed,
had at the start of the series
s o m ew h a t mys t i f y i n g ly
described his motto as: To

be the best you need to be the
best, and I am the best.
Mr Saunders various social
media outlets gave no hint of
upheaval after The Sun on
Sunday quoted a source as
saying that Lord Sugar tore
apart everything that Scott
had done from start to finish and called him a waste
ofspace.
The BBC declined to comment on Mr Saunders apparent departure yesterday. We
never comment on upcoming
episodes because it spoils
viewer enjoyment, a spokesperson for the show said.
Mr Saunders had told
his local newspaper that he
loved the show. I was seeking investment at the time, I
thought this would be a perfect opportunity for me to
secure advice from someone
big in the UK, he told the
Hertfordshire Mercury.
I have always strived hard
to succeed and achieve in anything I have done. So I have a
lot of respect for anyone who
takes those steps needed to
get them where they want.
14
News
The capitals
new ethnic
minority:
Italian
Bengalis
Children should not get records

for trivial offences, MPs say
We know
teenagers
are being
added to
police
databases
for sexting
Go to: Independent.co.uk/apps
Children should not receive

criminal records for trivial
misdemeanors such as sexting
and fighting, a committee of
MPs has urged.
Police should be given more
freedom to respond differently
to low-level crime-related
behaviour to stop children
receiving criminal records
unnecessarily, a report by the
All-Party Parliamentary Group
for Children (APPGC) found.
It calls for an overhaul of
police procedures to improve
the relationship with children
and combat mutual mistrust.
It warns that Home Office
rules give police officers only
limited options when recording criminal behaviour. Many
children receive out of court

disposals for minor misdeeds
that needlessly give them a
criminal record.
Baroness Massey of Darwen,
the co-chair of the APPGC,
said: The rules that dictate
how the police record their
response to criminal behaviour
mean that many young people
end up with a criminal record
for trivial offences. We know
that teenagers are being added
to police databases for sexting
with their peers.
In cases such as these,
police should have the discretion to refer the child to
another agency for support
their school, social services
or counselling, for example
without it forming a permanent part of the record held
against their name and undermining their future.
DOWNLOAD OUR FREE INDEPENDENT APP
SARAH CASSIDY
EDUCATION CORRESPONDENT
Tower Hamlets is the landing place of choice for

a new wave of migrants who have spent a number
of years in Italy but now want to try Britain.
Hilary Clar ke went to meet some of them
The melting pot that is East
London is gaining a distinctive new flavour thanks to
the arrival of thousands of
Bangladeshi-Italian migrants
fleeing economic stagnation
in southern Europe.
An estimated 6,000 such
families have come to the UK
from Italy over the past three
or four years, the majority settling in East London.
They might be a drop in the
ocean compared with the estimated 250,000 white Italians
resident in the capital, but they
are making their mark in the
Tower Hamlets Bangladeshi
community and beyond, opening coffee shops and forming
their own welfare associations
to help new arrivals.
They have brought a
refreshing change to the
community here, Anser
Ahmed Ullah, a community
activist, told The Independent. These people are truly
European. It is much easier
for them to integrate but
they need the opportunity
to do that and if they just end
up mixing with Bangladeshis
that wonthappen.
On the predominantly
Bangladeshi Cannon Street
Road in Whitechapel,
squeezed between East London Hairdressers and Sylhet
Newsagents, Caffe Italia
with its green, white and
red hoarding looks like one
of the old-school Italian coffee
bars that opened in London in
the 1950s.
It has become a meeting
point for Italian Bengalis, as
well as white Italians who
appreciate an authentic cappuccino at the reasonable
price of 1.70. The small shop

has been lovingly furnished
with smart black tables and
designer red chairs, imported
from Italy. Downstairs, the
brick walls of the courtyard
have been painted with
the green and red Bangladeshiflag.
Further East in Stepney
Green, the British-Bangladeshi owner of the popular
Caf Fresh says his business
has boomed since his Italian-Bangladeshi sister-inlaw arrived from Milan and
showed them how to make
proper Italian coffee.
According to the most
recent census, there were
110,000 Bangladeshi immigrants living in Italy in 2013.
Many were skilled graduates
who left their homes in South
Asia attracted by jobs in Italys
industrial north. But as manufacturing work has evaporated, thousands are deciding
to make a second migration,
to the UK.
Dressed in a smart Barbour jacket and leather cap,
Swopon Homiedis story is
typical of the new wave of
immigrants. A chemist by
training, he worked at a large
chemical factory in Mantua,
Lombardy for two decades
These people are truly

European. It is much
easier for them to
integrate but they need
the opportunity to do so
before being made redundant

last year and moving with his
wife and two daughters to the
UK. When there is no work,
it is really hard in Italy, he
said. Here you can at least
find something. Even so,
he makes sure his family
continues to speak Italian at
home, because you never
know what will happen in
the future.
Tipu Golam Maula, 43, one
of the 18 elected UK members
of Comites, the Italian government-sponsored organisation
for Italians resident abroad,
said: People in the north of
Italy got their passports earlier than those in the south
because they had regular jobs
in factories. That is how they
were able to come here
Mr Maula first came to
Europe on a students visa to
Austria. He crossed into Italy
illegally, on foot across the
Alps, in the early 1990s, eventually gaining citizenship. He
now lives in Ilford and works
as a minicab driver while he
sets up a business importing
Italian marble tiles.
Zakir Hussain, a middleaged Italian Bengali who has
a masters degree in economics from Dhaka University,
says British education is the
main reason Italian-Bengalis
are drawn to the UK, rather
than Germany or elsewhere
in Europe. Bangladesh used
to be a British colony, and it is
still under English influence.
That is why we want to give
our children a British education, he said.
Mr Hussain, who runs a
Japanese restaurant on Commercial Road, is also president
15
connecti ng cultures
Continental flavour
The Ahad family from Bow,

east London, came to the
UK from Italy two years ago.
Muhamad Ahad, who has a
Masters degree in chemistry
from the National University
in Bangladesh, lived in Brussels for several years before
moving to Rome in 2000. His
wife, Syeda, is also a graduate, with a degree in social
welfare. Both their children,
Maliha, 13, and Muzadin,
seven, were born in Italy.
Mr Ahad, who speaks fluent Italian, French, English
and Arabic, opened an Indian
restaurant in Rome, before
working as a waiter for
several years in the Vatican
City branch of the popular
LInsalata Ricca restaurant.
In London, he is working
as a delivery driver for a pizza
chain. Mrs Ahad is training to
be a teaching assistant. She,
like her daughter Maliha, is
also a singer, performing both
Bengali and Italian songs as
well as hip-hop. Mr Ahad said:
With the children it is not
always an easy matter managing all the different cultures,
which is why we organise Italian cultural evenings as well
as Bangladeshi activities.
of the Bangladeshi Italian

Family Welfare Association of
Tower Hamlets, one of a growing number of organisations
being set up for second-wave
Bangladeshi migrants.
The cacophony of excited
children at an Eid celebration
at the Blue Moon social club
on Whitechapel Road a few
weeks ago was so loud even
the Imams opening prayers
could not silence the room.
The event, attended by
more than 200 people, was
organised by another Italian Bangladeshi group the
Bangladesh Italian Welfare
Association UK. The organisations banner reflects
the eclectic identity of its
members. To the left, the
Colosseum in Rome, in the
middle the pyramid-shaped
National Martyrs Memorial
in Dhaka, and to the right,
Tower Bridge.
Perhaps the biggest challenge for Italian Bangladeshis
arriving in London is housing,
with rents for a run-down twobedroom former council flat
in the borough now costing
around 1,800 a month.
Integration with British
Bengalis is not always smooth.
The day before I visited Caffe
Italia, some local boys had
thrown eggs at the menu
board on the wall outside.
I think they are jealous,

said Belal, one of the baristas.
They dont like it that we have
all kinds of people coming in
here; that we are different.
Thirteen-year-old Maliha
Mazumbder came to Tower
Hamlets with her parents
and brother from Rome two
years ago. She says she has
been consistently bullied at
her school in Bow, where the
vast majority of the students
are of British-Bangladeshi
heritage. She said: They call
me Freshy and other things
I cant repeat. I have never
faced this bullying before in
Italy. I was shocked.
As life in London becomes
harder, many Italian-Bangladeshi are already moving on
to the Midlands, others back
to Italy or Bangladesh. Most,
though, hope to stay.
Mr Hussain said: My
children were born in Italy.
They are European. They
dont know Bangladesh, even
though we sometimes go there
for the seaside.
They are studying here,
after that they will get a job,
after that they will marry
here. It would be hard to go
back to Bangladesh and stay
there with our children living
here. So we need to stay here.
We have nowhere to go. Oneway ticket.
16
News
C HURCHI LL PAPERS HIG HLI GHTS
Letter to Mamma (1882)

The earliest-surviving letter
written by Churchill was to his
mother. Aged seven, he wrote
to thank her for presents of
soldiers, flag and castle. He
ends the letter with great
many kisses.
Boer War bravery (1899)
The archive contains a report
from a Captain Aylmer Haldane praising Churchills actions as the armoured train on
which he was travelling was
attacked. Haldane wrote: He

was frequently exposed to the
full fire of the enemy. I cannot
speak too highly of his gallant
conduct.
Finest Hour (1940)
Delivered in the House of
Commons, this is considered
one of Churchills most important wartime speeches as he
exhorted Britons to face the
reality that they stood alone
against Hitlers Germany.
As was his habit, Churchill
continued to edit the speech

up to and including its
delivery.
Letter from Clemmie (1940)
Barely a week after Churchill
had delivered his Finest
Hour speech, he received an
extraordinary letter from
his wife, Clementine, rebuking
the statesman for his
rough, sarcastic and
overbearing manner with
his colleagues and
subordinates.
Winston
Churchill
makes a radio
broadcast to
the British
public from
the White
House
in 1943
K e ys tone /
G ett y
Letters, writing
and speeches by
Churchill given
heritage status
CAHAL MILMO
CHIEF REPORTER
The draft of
Churchills
Finest
Hour
speech is
covered in
annotations
The Winston Churchill canon

of his speeches and writings
is to join the Magna Carta
and the Bayeux Tapestry on a
United Nations list of humanitys most important records.
The vast archive of the
former Prime Ministers
papers, including his wartime
speeches, has been added to
the International Memory
of the World Register run by
Unesco to highlight the importance of the worlds historic
documents.
The Churchill Papers, which
are held at the Cambridge University college named after
the politician once voted the
greatest-ever Briton, chronicle
the development of his most
famous speeches as well as his
voluminous correspondence
with public figures from Joseph
Stalin to Laurence Olivier.
The archive joins more than
450 other collections and items
on the Unesco register, which
includes material ranging from
the worlds first comprehensive census in Iceland in 1703
to Bachs handwritten score for
his Mass in B Minor.
Established 20 years ago,
the register aims to safeguard
records from public and private
collections across the world by
categorising the most valued
and helping to preserve documents where they are at risk of
damage or dispersal.
The Churchill Papers, kept
in a state-of-the-art archive,
contain more than a million separate items charting
the life of Britains wartime
leader from a letter home to
his mother written at the age of
seven to a seating plan from the
Potsdam Conference to decide
the shape of the postwar world

which was signed by Stalin and
Harry Truman.
Allen Packwood, director of
the Churchill Archives Centre at Churchill College, said:
The archive of Sir Winston
Churchill is unique and irreplaceable. It is the evidence
that underpins the story of one
of the most remarkable leaders
of the modern era, whose stand
against fascism in 1940 helped
shape the world of today.
The documents recognised
by Unesco, the UN body dedicated to promoting education,
culture and science, include
papers that show the drafting
of Churchills Finest Hour
speech, written in 1940 to steel
Britain as it stood alone against
the Nazi onslaught following
the surrender of France.
The annotated copies of
the speech include the final
version typed out in a similar
style to that of a poem, allowing
Churchill to deliver his words
with his trademark deliberation and ponderous diction.
Mr Packwood said: The
page is covered with his handwritten annotations in red and
blue ink. It highlights how
much care and attention [he]
put into this speech
The collection, which
includes the postwar speech
where Churchill coined
the phrase iron curtain
to describe the communist
domination of Eastern Europe,
also contains the former Prime
Ministers letters to a broad
range of the movers and shakers of the 20th century.
British documents already
on the Unesco list include
the First World War diary of
Field Marshal Douglas Haig
and a registry of slaves from
British-owned islands in the
Caribbean.
17
Private hospital treatment

puts NHS patients at risk
Paul gallagher
NHS patients sent for treatment at smaller private hospitals are being put at risk
because of unsafe staffing
and facilities, according to a
report by an anti-privatisation
think-tank.
Nurses without specialist
training, high levels of agency
staff on post-operative wards
and hygiene weaknesses were
among the alleged risks identified by the Centre for Health
and the Public Interest.
Analysis of 15 Care Quality
Commission investigations
into hospitals from each of
Englands six main private
chains found serious problems even in hospitals rated
good by the regulator.
For example, Care UKs
Barlborough NHS Treatment
Centre in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, was given an overall
rating of good, and also a
good rating for surgery. Yet
in the previous 12 months there

had been four never events
serious patient safety incidents
that should not occur. Similarly
Londons Harley Street Clinic,
run by HCA International, was
rated as good overall, even
though it requires improvement for both safety and the
treatment of children.
In these cases safety risks
appear not to have been prioritised in the overall ratings, said the report from the
think-tank, which was set up to
challenge the growing role of
competition and markets in
the health service.
Co-author Brian Toft, visiting professor of patient
safety at Brighton and Sussex
Medical School, said: This
Government has prioritised
transparency as a key to safety.
But although more and more
NHS patients are treated in
private hospitals, there has
been no concurrent commitment to bring private hospitals
into the same transparency
Safety
risks dont
appear to
have been
prioritised
in these
cases
regime. NHS patient admissions to private hospitals for

surgery last year totalled nearly
500,000, or more than a quarter of all surgeries at private
hospitals.
Last night the private chains
named in the report dismissed
any suggestion that patient
safety was at risk.
Care UK said: The report
lets its political slant distort all
the available evidence in a way
that is potentially misleading
to patients. Barlborough Treatment Centre was rigorously
inspected and found to be
good in four of five areas and
outstanding in the fifth. All
the evidence is that the service
has excellent outcomes.
The Harley Street Clinic
said: The Care Quality
Commissions overall rating
of good reflects the care we
provide for complex medical
conditions. We have acted on
the recommendations made
by the Care Quality Commission where appropriate.
Give us a
big wave
A windsurfer braves the rough seas and winds off

West Wittering beach in West Sussex yesterday,
as snow was expected in northern England PA
URGENT CHRISTMAS APPEAL

Whats it really like to be homeless at Christmas? Facing a
bitterly cold Christmas without a home is much worse than most
of us can imagine.
Youre frozen to the bone, blasted by the wind and rain, never able
to get warm and dry. Theres nowhere safe, nowhere to keep your
things, nowhere to go out from or come back to. Your health can
crumble and theres nothing you can do about it. Some people
think its a laugh to abuse you or be violent to you, just because
they can. Its nothing short of brutal.
Did you know that the average age of death for someone
whos homeless is just 47 years old?
Thats why Crisis at Christmas is so important. Crisis is the
national charity for single homeless people. Were dedicated to
ending homelessness and changing lives, and for us Christmas is
crucial. If we can welcome homeless people with the offer
of a good meal and good company, it can be the start of getting
them off the streets and out of homelessness for good.
Please reserve a place for someone whos homeless at

Crisis at Christmas. Your help could change someones life.
Visit www.crisis.org.uk, call 0800 999 2060 or return the form.
Reserve a place for just 22.29 per person and
youll provide more than just a hot meal. Youll also
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We need your help today. Please can you reserve a

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This Christmas, we want to be ready to welcome more guests
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To reserve one place costs just 22.29; two places 44.58; and
222.90 would pay for a whole table, giving ten people a day to
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Crisis at Christmas must open on 22 December.

Please reply as soon as you can. Thank you.
Be part of our plan for Crisis at Christmas 2015

Heres what you helped us
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Give 22.29 today and youll

enable us to welcome one more
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start of a whole new life.
Hot Christmas dinners for

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someone in from the cold this
Crisis at Christmas:
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19
An earlier
Royal
Shakespeare
Company
production
of A
Midsummer
Nights
Dream, a
new version
of which will
be touring
the country
next year
with a cast
of 700 from
amateur
dramatics
groups all
over the UK
A l as tai r
Nick clark
arts correspondent
It is a project with a grand scale

and ambition that would have
impressed the Bard.
The Royal Shakespeare
Company is to take A Midsummer Nights Dream on
the road next year for one of
the biggest projects it has ever
staged with a cast of almost
700 from amateur theatrical
groups around the country.
The deputy artistic director, Erica Whyman, who has
been working on the project
for a year, said that the RSC
had never tried anything on
the scale of Dream 2016.
The production has a core
cast of 18 professionals who will
perform alongside actors from
14 am-dram companies. The
amateurs will take the roles
of Bottom and his fellow
mechanicals (who, in Shakespeares play, are themselves a
group of inexperienced actors
hoping to stage a play for the
wedding party of Theseus and
Hippolyta).
Altogether, 687 people will
be involved; the professional
cast, musicians, amateurs and
schoolchildren brought in to
play the fairies.
The shows will be performed around the country
before returning to Stratford
for midsummer, when each of
the amateur companies will
perform at the RSC.
Ive always loved touring
and care very much about
having a proper relationship
with regional theatres, said
Ms Whyman, who is direct-
ing the show. Ive done a fair

bit of participatory work with
young people and adults. But
no one has ever attempted to
bring this all together in a professional production.
The project, to mark the
400th anniversary of Shakespeares death in 1616, has
been a logistical challenge for
Ms Whyman, who has used
Skype-style technology to
rehearse all the different amateur companies at the same
time. The production will
travel to nine English regions,
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland before returning
to Stratford. The challenge
for me is making sure those
regional voices really are in
the play, she said.
This version of A Midsummer Nights Dream will be set
in the Britain of the late 1940s.
Its about the country coming together after surviving
a traumatic time and about
the post-war austerity, Ms
Whyman said. It will have
a Dads Army quality. That
sense of an ill-equipped group
of people.
With RSC associate directors Kimberley Sykes and
Sophie Ivatts, Ms Whyman
travelled the country from
February inviting amateur
It will have a Dads

Army quality. That sense
of an ill-equipped
group of people
theatre companies to propose

a cast of six for the mechanicals and Bottom. They met
almost 600 people and put
them through their paces.
Companies include the
Belvoir Players in Belfast, the
Peoples Theatre in Newcastle
upon Tyne, and the Canterbury
Players. Amateur actors range
from pub landlords to nurses
and estate agents. They go to
work and then pitch up in the
evening and I tell them how
the scene works, the director
said. It is quite like the challenge set by the mechanicals
in the play; a carpenter, tinker
and a weaver suddenly having
to put on a play.
Among the 14 Bottoms
is Peter Collett, a primary
school teacher in Truro in his
twenties, and Barry Green
of Bradford, who is quite a
lot older, Ms Whyman said.
Two women will also play the
part: Lisa Nightingale in Canterbury and Becky Morris in
Nottingham.
Professional rehearsals start
in January ahead of the first
performance in Newcastle
in March.
Ayesha Dharker, who plays
Titania, said: Theyre saying
the professional company
will have to make it as comfortable as possible for the
amateur actors, but its the
other way around. They have
been preparing for months in
a Shakespeare boot camp.
The actress, who has been
in Coronation Street and
Star Wars, said: This is like
running away with the circus and I think it is going to
be amazing.
Dream come true

for amateur actors
as Bard hits the road
Muir/REX
shopping
news in
br ief
Cyber Monday expected

to bring in up to 1bn
Shoppers are expected to
spend almost 1bn online
today as retailers unleash
yet more bargain deals on
Cyber Monday.
Spending is predicted
to soar by 31 per cent on
last year, as stores offer
discounts exclusively on the
hea lth
internet following the Black

Friday weekend.
Some of Britains biggest
retailers will be hoping to
avoid a repeat of Fridays
problems when a number of
websites struggled to cope
with the volume of online
traffic. Cyber security
expert Dave Whitelegg
urged shoppers seeking
bargains online to be
vigilant, as hackers targeted
people all the time.
poli ce
Cancer sufferers cant

afford to celebrate
No calls, but a force

phone bill for 560,000
Thousands of people with

cancer will feel cold and
lonely this Christmas
because they do not have
enough money to celebrate
or heat their homes, a
charity has warned.
Macmillan Cancer
Support said almost 170,000
people in the UK with
cancer are suffering because
of a lack of cash.
North Wales Police spent

560,000 over two years
on a mobile phone service
that it never used before
the mistake was spotted.
Details emerged at an audit
meeting held jointly by the
police force and the crime
commissioner, Winston
Roddick. Mr Roddick said
steps were being taken to
recover the money.
20
News
Christmas Appeal 2015: Give to GOSH
At Great Ormond Street Hospital, Professor Martin Elliott is pioneering procedures to help young patients. By jam i e merri ll
How your money can help revolutionise

the future of paediatric care in the UK
Success stori es pi oneering t re atment
Layla Richards was diagnosed

with leukaemia when she was
14 weeks old, in June 2014.
After chemotherapy was
unsuccessful, it looked like
end-of-life care was the only
option left for her. However,
a new gene-editing treatment was being developed
at GOSH. It had never been
tested on people, but with
her parents permission, Layla
(right) became the first. She
was given a small infusion of
specially designed immune
cells programmed to hunt out
and kill her cancer. Several
months later, to the delight of
her parents and everyone at
GOSH, she was declared free
of cancer.
Christmas Appeal
The rise of big data, gene
therapy and advances in tissue
engineering are set to revolutionise the way doctors treat
children, says one of Britains
leading paediatricians.
Professor Martin Elliott, 64,
has been involved in groundbreaking research and treatment at Great Ormond Street
Hospital (GOSH) for more
than 30 years, including pioneering stem cell procedures
and advances in heart transplant surgery.
In a wide-ranging interview
the former medical director
of the hospital said doctors
would be learning from big
data and mastering tissue
engineering for 100 years,
but that new advances would
transform the treatment of
heart failure and a host of
genetic disorders. He said
that paediatric care was on
the threshold of an enormous shift as doctors moved
towards an era of more personalised medicine.
Professor Elliott bridges
the gap between surgery and
research with skills ranging
from heart-bypass surgery
to correcting congenital lung
give
to
gosh
Professor Martin Elliott is helping to bridge the gap between surgery and research M icha T heiner
disorders. Most recently, he
combined research into stem
cell therapy and new surgical
techniques to carry out the
first stem-cell supported tracheal transplant.
The operation, which was
performed on a critically
ill 13-year-old boy in 2010,

replaced the patients trachea with a donor windpipe
laced with the patients own
stem cells so it would not be
rejected.
Essentially, tissue engineering allows us to take donor
Please make your cheque/postal order payable to
Great Ormond Street Hospital Childrens Charity.

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tissue, strip off the donors

cells leaving a scaffold we can
add cells from the recipient to,
then marinate and stimulate
with a variety of chemicals,
said Professor Elliott.
In another world first, Professor Elliotts team inserted
At no extra cost to you, increase

your gift by 25p for every 1 you
donate using Gift Aid.
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(this includes tax on your savings or pension) or Capital
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DMC1316IM
Doctors
are moving
towards an
era of
more
personalised
medicine
Kieran Sorkin was born without ears due to a rare condition called microtia. When
he was little, he wanted to
be able to wear sunglasses
like his friends. As a baby, he
came to GOSH, which performs more ear reconstructions than any other hospital
in the UK. In 2014, surgeons
a biodegradable stent into the

patients airway while the cells
within the trachea regrew over
the following six months.
More recently, Professor
Elliott has been at the centre
of GOSHs adoption of 3-D
printing techniques, using
a CT scan and 3-D printers,
including one at the Royal
College of Art, to create accurate models of hearts and tracheas. This allows surgeons to
practise complex procedures,
reducing the time a child
spends under anaesthetic.
The days of basing operations
on snowy images on screens
are long gone, he said.
Professor Elliott, who calls
on readers to give generously
to the Give to GOSH appeal,
said advances at GOSH came
about because of the unique
combination of clinical practice and research science, supported by charitable funding
from the hospitals charity.
The striking thing about
GOSH is that there is almost
[always] somebody just down
the corridor who knows the
answer to the question you
are searching for and almost
every single speciality there is
took cartilage from his ribs,

and sculpted them into a pair
of ears, using the shape of his
mothers as a template.
Ciaran Finn-Lynch was born
with a narrow windpipe and
had difficulties breathing.
In March 2010, his windpipe
was removed at GOSH and
replaced with a donor windpipe laced with Ciarans own
stem cells so it would not
be rejected. The pioneering
technique is now being developed to create other organs,
including the bladder.
Max Benwell
to do with children [who are]

in the building. You never see
the same thing twice.
He admitted that there
were huge ethical obstacles
to overcome and that the NHS
hadnt always been good with
data, but he said once the business world and government
got to grips with the issues of
privacy and big data, medicine
should be ready to take advantage of the benefits.
He said: As we move into
an environment where we
are able to collect information electronically simultaneously with the development
of sensors, its not hard to see
how the next generation of
Apple Watch will collect not
just your pulse rate, but also
a whole load of stuff we are
interested in.
Professor Elliott said data
from sensors on those sticky
bits could be linked to computers to help give earlier
diagnosis and decision making
in paediatric care. If an algorithm can tell us how and when
to intervene with a patient,
why does that patient need to
be in hospital? They can lead a
normal life outside it.
21
Dog-sized dinosaur fossil shows divide

in America 100 million years ago
CLAIRE HAYHURST
TOM BATCHELOR
Sandi Toksvig has revealed

that she received death
threats and was forced into
hiding after coming out as gay
in the 1990s describing the
reaction of the tabloid press as
genuinely frightening.
The Danish-born broadcaster said she went through
some very dark times and
worried about the effect it
would have on her three young
children.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4s
Desert Island Discs yesterday, she told presenter Kirsty
Young: People say when did
you decide you were gay?
and you think when did you
decide you were heterosexual?
Its not a decision, its something you gradually begin to
realise about yourself.
I didnt have a problem.
Society seemed to have a
problem. None of my friends
had a problem, my family
didnt have a problem.
The author and presenter
went public with her sexuality
in a Sunday Times interview
in 1994 to avoid being outed
by the tabloids. She married
wife Debbie last year after
entering into a civil partnership in 2007.
Recalling the frightening aftermath of the article,
Toksvig said certain newspapers went a bit crazy and

whipped up a little bit of a
media storm. They usually
pass very quickly, but when
youre in the middle of them,
theyre frightening.
We got quite a lot of death
threats at the time. And we had
to go into hiding we were in
hiding for about two weeks and
of course during that time, I
was terrified that I had done a
terrible thing to my children,
I would give my life for my
three children. It was truly,
genuinely frightening.
Toksvig, 57, chose an endless supply of the Daily Mail
as her luxury desert island
item, saying newspaper was
fantastic for clothing, terrific for insulation and could
also be used as a substitute for
toilet paper. At some point,
Im going to need to go to the
loo, she joked.
The award-winning comedian was recently announced
as the new host of BBC quiz
series QI, replacing Stephen
Fry who has stepped down
Sandi Toksvig said
she was forced
to go into hiding
and went through
some dark times
in the 1990s
after 13 years. Toksvig, who cofounded the Womens Equality

Party, also batted away suggestions she was planning to run
for Mayor of London, saying
she was tired of the battle
between left and right.
She added: How do these
rumours get started, do you
suppose? Can you imagine
anybody more inappropriate to be Mayor? Oh yes, the
current Mayor.
It is absolutely not my
intention. I am too busy and
it isnt my skill set.
Toksvig, who was born in
Copenhagen but moved to the
UK as a child, also spoke about
losing four stone in weight,
saying she was inspired to get
fit after developing problems
with her feet and possible high
blood pressure.
I would not be able to keep
going at the pace that I do if I
had continued at the weight
that I was. I feel so much better; I eat better, I sleep better,
I actually enjoy exercise.
Among the records chosen were Barbra Streisands
Dont Rain On My Parade
and Good Morning from the
Hollywood musical Singin In
The Rain.
Toksvig chose The Ashley
Book Of Knots by Clifford W
Ashley as the one book that
she would be allowed take to
her desert island.
I received death threats

after coming out as gay,
says Sandi Toksvig
A dog-sized dinosaur roamed eastern North America in the Late Cretaceous period pa
A British scientist has uncovered the fossil of a dog-sized

horned dinosaur that roamed
eastern North America up to
100 million years ago.
The fragment of jaw bone
provides evidence of an eastwest divide in the evolution
of dinosaurs on the North
American continent.
During the Late Cretaceous
period, 66 to 100 million years
ago, the land mass was split
into two continents by a shallow sea. This sea, the Western
Interior Seaway, ran from the
Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic
Ocean.
Dinosaurs living in the
western continent, called
Laramidia, were similar to
those found in Asia.
However, few fossils from

the eastern lost continent of
Appalachia have been discovered as the areas are densely
vegetated, making it difficult to discover and excavate
fossils.
Dr Nick Longrich, from the
Milner Centre for Evolution
based at the Universitys of
Baths Department of Biology and Biochemistry, studied
one of these rare fossils.
The fossil, kept in the Peabody Museum at Yale University, turned out to be from a
member of the horned dinosaurs, the Ceratopsia.
Dr Longrich was unable
to identify the exact species
accurately but it had a strange
twist to the jaw, causing the
teeth to curve downward and
outwards in a beak shape.
The jaw was also more
slender than that of Ceratopsia found in western North

America, suggesting the dinosaurs had different diets and
evolved along distinct evolutionary paths.
Just as many animals and
plants found in Australia today
are quite different to those
found in other parts of the
world, it seems that animals
in the eastern part of North
America in the Late Cretaceous period evolved in a completely different way to those
found in the western part of
what is now North America
due to a long period of isolation, Dr Longrich said.
His study, published in the
journal Cretaceous Research,
highlights it as the first fossil
from a ceratopsian dinosaur
identified from this period of
eastern North America.
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22
News
Hammond accepts 2,000 watch from sheikh

ROSALIND NEWMAN
The Foreign Secretary Philip

Hammond accepted a watch
worth almost 2,000 from a
Saudi sheikh despite a ban on
ministers taking gifts worth
more than 140.
Mr Hammond has argued he
accepted the 1,950 watch in
his capacity as a constituency
MP, which meant the minis-
terial rule did not apply, The

Sunday Times reported.
The watch was given to
Mr Hammond by Sheikh
Marei Mubarak Mahfouz bin
Mahfouz after an event in the
ministers constituency of
Runnymede and Weybridge
this summer. Mr Hammond
said the event, an unveiling of
a statue of the Queen, was a
local commemoration and
he had sought official advice
Philip Hammond
took the gift
despite a ban on
ministerial gifts
worth over 140
on how the gift should be registered. However the unveiling

was part of the Magna Carta
celebrations, which Mr Hammond had also been involved
with as Foreign Secretary.
Last week the former Liberal Democrat leader Lord
Ashdown said British foreign
policy was being influenced
by the closeness between the
Conservative Party and rich
Arab Gulf individuals.
Full steam
ahead: Flying
Scotsman voted
most famous
DAVID HIGGENS
Flying Scotsman has topped a

poll of the worlds best-known
trains and locomotives.
People across four continents were asked to name
five trains or engines they
had heard of and the famous
green-and-black locomotive
topped a league table that
also included the Japanese
bullet train, Indias Rajadhani
Express and the fastest-ever
steam locomotive, Mallard.
The National Railway
Museum commissioned the
worldwide survey, by YouGov,
and released the result to coincide with the 81st anniversary
of Flying Scotsman being the
first locomotive to break the
100mph barrier. The museum
is gearing up for the engines
return to the tracks early
next year after a decade-long,
4.2m renovation.
It topped the poll just ahead
of the the Rajadhani Express
the pride of the Indian railway
network the Orient Express
and the Ghan, Australias
1,800 miles pan-continental
service.
Other entries in the top 25,
which was based on responses
from members of the public in
UK, United States, India and
Australia, included the real
and the fictional.
Harry Potters Hogwarts
Express sneaked in at number
25 and Thomas the Tank
Engine was at No 11.
And the pioneering Puffing
Billy and Stephensons Rocket
are at 17 and 14, respectively.
The Doncaster-built Flying
Scotsman reached 100mph
on a London-to-Leeds run,
driven by William Sparshatt,
on 30 November 1934. The

final touches of its restoration are ongoing at the works
of Riley & Son Ltd in Bury.
Its inaugural run from
London Kings Cross to York
is planned for February.
The museums director Paul
Kirkman said: Along with all
our generous supporters for
this complex project, we have
all been looking forward to the
day when Flying Scotsman is
once again running on Britains tracks.
Our survey, carried out
across four global markets,
backs up the claim that it is
probably the most famous
locomotive and express train
service in the world.
We are thrilled to offer a
unique opportunity to experience the essence of Flying
Scotsman, first-hand at our
museum, through a series of
innovative and colourful exhibitions and events
The heritage minister
Tracey Crouch, said: After
a decade of regeneration,
the anticipated return of the
world-famous and muchloved Flying Scotsman is
almost upon us.
From early 2016 the Scotsman will tour the UK as a working museum exhibit, educating fans of all ages about the
wonders of the engineering
behind its steam traction.
This is a wonderful way to
tell the story of this iconic and
well-travelled locomotive and
will ensure that people now and
in the future understand why
it is such an important part of
Great Britains heritage.
The museum is planning
a series of exhibitions and
events to welcome Flying
Scotsman back to steam.
PO LL RE SULT S M OS T FA MOUS T RA INS
1 Flying Scotsman
(left)
2 Rajadhani Express
3 Orient Express
4 The Ghan
5 Shatabdi Express
6 Amtrak
7 Indian Pacific
8 Mallard
9 Duronto Express
10 Bullet Train
11 Thomas the
Tank Engine
12 Garib Rath
13 Chennai Express
14 Stephensons
Rocket
15 Overlander
23
New India, new Bollywood Pariss forgotten attack

Muslim actor Aamir Khan criticised after
highlighting culture of fear in Modis nation
An attack by police on Algerians in 1961

resonates as the city again faces fear
Sick behind the wall
Building bridges
25
26
27
27
Cystic fibrosis patient in Gaza stopped from

accessing Israeli hospital after illness flare-up
Pope visits refugees in Central African

Republic, where religious strife simmers
World
Turkish soldiers overlooking the Syrian town of Kobani. Kurdish forces have captured regions near the Turkish frontier, but Ankara says it will resist a further Kurdish advance with military force A F P/ Gett y
Seal the border with Isis

Obama demands that Turkey close the stretch of its frontier with Syria which serves as a crossing point for Isis recruits
and oil sales, as Ankara is accused of tolerance of if not complicity with the terrorists. PAT RI CK CO CK bUR N reports
The US is demanding that
Turkey close a 60-mile stretch
of its border with Syria which
is the sole remaining crossing
point for Isis militants, including some of those involved
in the massacre in Paris and
other terrorist plots.
The complete closure of the
550-mile-long border would
be a serious blow to Isis, which
has brought tens of thousands

of Islamist volunteers across
the frontier over the past three
years.
In the wake of the Isis attacks
in Paris, Washington is making
clear to Ankara that it will no
longer accept Turkish claims
that it is unable to cordon off
the remaining short section
of the border still used by
Isis. The game has changed.

Enough is enough. The border
needs to be sealed, a senior
official in President Barack
Obamas administration told
The Wall Street Journal,
describing the tough message that Washington has
sent to the Turkish government. This is an international
threat, and its coming out of
Syria and its coming through

Turkish territory.
The US estimates some
30,000 Turkish troops would
be needed to close the border between Jarabulus on
the Euphrates and the town
of Kilis, further west in Turkey, according to the paper.
US intelligence agencies say
that the stretch of frontier
most commonly used by Isis

is between Jarabulus, where
the official border crossing has
been closed, and the town of
Cobanbey.
It has become of crucial
importance ever since the
Syrian Kurdish forces known
as the Peoples Protection
Units (YPG) captured the
border crossing at Tal Abyad,
60 miles north of Isiss capital

of Raqqa in June. Turkey had
kept that border crossing open
while Isis was in control on the
southern side, but immediately closed it when the YPG
seized the crossing point. The
Turkish authorities are refusing to allow even the bodies of

Continued on P.24 >
24
World
This is an
international
threat,
entering via
Turkey
YPG fighters, who are Turkish
citizens and were killed fighting Isis, to be taken back across
the border into Turkey.
The US move follows
increasing international criticism of Turkey for what is seen
as its long-term tolerance of,
and possible complicity with,
Isis and other extremist jihadi
groups such as al-Qaedas
branch in Syria, Jabhat alNusra and Ahrar al-Sham. Not
only have thousands of foreign
fighters passed through Turkey on their way to join Isis,
but crude oil from oilfields
seized by Isis in north-east
Syria has been transported
to Turkey for sale, providing
much of the revenue of the
self-declared Islamic State.
Last week a Turkish court
jailed two prominent journalists for publishing pictures
of a Turkish lorry delivering
ammunition to opposition
fighters in Syria. President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed
that the weapons were destined for Turkmen paramilitaries allied to Turkey fighting
in Syria, but this was denied by
Turkish political leaders close
to the Turkmen.
Turkey is now under heavy
pressure from the US and Russia, with President Vladimir
Putin directly accusing Ankara
of aiding Isis and al-Qaeda. In
the wake of the shooting down
of a Russian aircraft by a Turkish jet, Russia is launching
heavy air strikes in support of
the Syrian armys advance to
control the western end of the
Syrian-Turkish border.
The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said a Russian air strike
on the town of Ariha yesterday
killed 18 people and wounded
dozens more. Meanwhile Turkey said it had now received
the body of the pilot killed
when the plane was shot
down and would repatriate it
to Moscow.
The US demand that Turkey
finally close the border west
of Jarabulus could, if Turkey
complies, prove more damaging to Isis than increased air
strikes by the US, France and,
possibly Britain. The YPG has
closed half the Syrian frontier
over the past year and defeated
S UP PL Y LI NE TURK EYS BORDER WITH I SIS

miles
EU de a l on ref ugees
3bn pa id to Turk ey
Gaziantep
TURKEY
Cobanbey
Y PG
CO N TR O L
Afrin
R E BEL
CO N T RO L
Kobani
Jarabulus
Kilis
Stretch of border
US is urging Turkey
to cordon off
Aleppo
Area of
concern
YPG
CON TROL
Euphrates
SYRIA
IS IS
CONTROL
Idlib
an Isis assault aimed at taking

another border crossing at
Kobani.
Syrian Kurdish leaders say
they want to advance further
west from their front line on
the Euphrates and link up with
a Kurdish enclave at Afrin. But
Turkey insists that it will resist
a further YPG advance with
military force. Instead, it had
proposed a protected zone
on the southern side of the
border from which Isis would
be driven by moderate Syrian
opposition fighters.
The US has opposed this
proposal, suspecting that the
Turkish definition of moderates includes those the US is
Raqqa
The game
has
changed.
Enough is
enough.
The border
must close
targeting as terrorists. It also

appears to be a ploy to stop
the YPG, heavily supported
by US air power, expanding
its de facto state along Turkeys southern flank. US officials are quoted as saying that
there could be significant
blowback against Turkey by
European states if it allows Isis
militants to cross from Syria
into Turkey and then carry out
terrorist outrages in Europe.
Meanwhile in Iraq, officials
said three more mass graves
had been found in the northern town of Sinjar, which
Kurdish forces backed by USled air strikes recaptured from
Isis earlier this month.
On other
pag es
Editorial
P.2
Yasmin
AlibhaiBrown
P.29
The EU clinched an agreement with Turkey last night

giving Ankara 3bn (2bn)
and a pledge to renew its
membership bid in exchange
for help holding back refugees trying to make their way
to Europe.
The deal, agreed at a special EU summit in Brussels
with Turkish Prime Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu, is a key
part of the strategy to manage the migration crisis that
has seen around 850,000
refugees seek sanctuary in
the EU this year.
European Council President Donald Tusk, chairing
the summit, insisted that
the agreement was not
about getting someone else
to guard Europes borders.
But we expect a major step
towards changing the rules
of the game when it comes to
stemming the migration flow
that is coming to the EU via
Turkey, he said.
Turkey is home to 2.2million refugees. The agreement
requires Turkey to crack
down on people smugglers
and co-operate with the EU
on the return of migrants who
do not qualify as refugees.
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25
Muslim actor rounds on the

obscenities of Hindu critics
Bollywood gets
caught up in the
inter-faith
tensions now
rampant in India.
By Lei la Nat ho o
in Delhi
Fans of Indias Bollywood
megastars, accustomed to
scouring the showbiz columns for juicy details of their
favourite celebrities, have
been taken aback to find one
of the film industrys biggest
icons splashed across the front
pages for talking politics.
In a controversy that is
absorbing the nation, Aamir
Khan has been catapulted into
the headlines since he intervened in the raging debate
about intolerance under the
Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi.
Khan is one of the nations
best-loved and most successful actors, brand ambassador
of the official Incredible
India tourism campaign
and a Muslim in a majority-Hindu nation. In remarks
that provoked the debate, he
admitted that recent violent
attacks against Muslims and
intellectuals, coupled with the
absence of swift or strong condemnation from politicians,
had left him with a sense of
insecurity and fear.
It had led his wife, Kiran
Rao, a Hindu film director
with whom he has a threeyear-old son, to question
whether they should remain
in the country, he told an audience at a journalism awards
ceremony. For the first time,
she said: Should we move out
of India?, he said. She fears
for her child, she fears what
the atmosphere around us will
be, she feels scared to open the
newspapers every day.
Khans comments, which
echo the feelings of dozens
of leading writers, artists and
scientists, have provoked a
furious backlash, with many
critics questioning his loyalty
to India.
Hardline Hindus urged him
to move to neighbouring Pakistan, a sedition case was filed
against him for anti-national
statements, and the ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
accused him of tarnishing
Indias image. He is defaming
the entire country. I feel it is a
moral offence, its spokesperson told reporters. The rightwing Shiv Sena Hindu party
announced a reward of one
million rupees (10,000) to
anyone who slaps the actor.
Until now, Bollywood the
worlds biggest film industry
united states
news in
br ief
Alleged gunman at clinic

said no more baby parts
The man alleged to have
killed three people, including
a police officer, and injured
nine others in a shooting at
a Planned Parenthood clinic
in Colorado, reportedly
saidno more baby parts
as he was arrested, it
emerged yesterday.
Though police have yet to
reveal a motive for Fridays
attack, witnesses said 57year-old Robert Lewis Dear
made clear his opposition
to abortions, which the
clinic offers alongside other
womens health services.
All 15 employees of the
ca m e r oon
Bollywood actor Aamir Khan with his wife, film director Kiran Rao, and
three-year-old son Azad earlier this year A F P/ Getty
had largely avoided the
inter-faith tensions that surface repeatedly elsewhere.
Many leading men are Muslims, a fact that has been no
apparent impediment to their
success, and mixed marriages
are not unusual. But now Khan
has been pointedly reminded
of his religion and, as one veteran actor cautioned him to
remember: This country has
made you.
Since Mr Modi and the
BJP came to power last year,
critics say affiliated conservative Hindu groups have been
emboldened to claim India as
a Hindu nation, with a corresponding definition of what is
a true Indian and patriot. The
Prime Minister has been too
slow to condemn a series of
violent attacks against Muslims, his critics claim, and
some say BJP members have
been instrumental in fanning
communal flames.
My wife
fears for
her child
and asks if
we should
move out
of India
The explosion of outrage at

Khans remarks, and equally
vocal outpourings of support,
highlight the ferocity of the
debate surrounding intolerance in a country proud of its
pluralist traditions. The opposition Congress party, which
prides itself as the guardian
of Indias secular foundations, has seized on the row.
Instead of branding all those
who question the government
and Mr Modi as unpatriotic,
anti-national or motivated,
the government would do better to reach out to people to
understand whats disturbing
them, said its leader Rahul
Gandhi on Twitter.
Khan has now been forced
to clarify that he has no intention of leaving India, a country
he says he loves. But he added:
To all the people shouting
obscenities at me for speaking
out, it saddens me to say you
are only proving my point.
clinic survived. Politics

and mourning mingled at
a vigil for victims where
Vicki Cowart, Planned
Parenthoods regional
president, said: We will
square our shoulders and
we will go on, vowing to
reopen the clinic soon. A
woman in the congregation
left after loudly objecting
to the vigil becoming a
political statement.
Mr Dear, who is due
to appear in court today,
is said to be an eccentric
recluse. He previously lived
in a cabin without running
water or power, and once
advised a neighbour to get
a metal roof to prevent the
government spying on him.
TIM WALKER
Syria
Female Boko Haram

suicide bombers kill five
Russian air strike

kills at least 18civilians
Two female suicide

bombers have killed at least
five people and injured
another 12 in an attack
in a town in the north of
Cameroon.
The two attackers, both
teenagers, were said to have
entered the country from
Nigeria as refugees before
they targeted a family and
local shop in the town of
Dabanga, said Colonel
Jacob Kodji, who is leading
the Cameroon forces
fighting against the Boko
Haram extremist group. AP
Air strikes believed to have

been carried out by Russian
warplanes on Ariha, a town
held by rebels, killed at
least 18 civilians yesterday,
Syrian opposition media
reported. If Russia carried
out the attack, it would
be one of the deadliest
incidents since Moscow
began air strikes. A Russian
jet recently penetrated
Israeli airspace but was
not shot down thanks to
an open communication
system between the
twocountries. A P
26
World
When police turned on Algerian

protesters and why it matters today
A crackdown in 1961 resonates as troubled times afflict Paris once again. yasm i ne ryan reports from Algiers
It was an unfamiliar role
reversal for Algerians when
Paris came under terrorist
attack earlier this month.
While the French capital was
thrown in to chaos and confusion, the streets of Algiers
were quiet and many of its
inhabitants were anxiously
trying to telephone their loved
ones in Paris, in fear for their
safety.
For what became known
as the black decade of the
1990s, Algeria suffered horrific attacks and massacres
by Islamist insurgents, sometimes almost daily, aimed at
undermining its military government with a heavy civilian death toll. In contrast, it is
currently one of the calmest
countries in a region beset
by mass shootings and bomb
attacks, even if that calm is
sometimes uneasy.
But while the Paris attacks
remind Algerians of their own
relatively recent struggles,
they also evoke earlier and still
unresolved historical grievances, magnified by the rise
in xenophobia and support for
the far right in France.
Makhlouf Aouli, 76, is now
a retired civil servant who
lives in the well-to-do Hydra
neighbourhood on the crest
of a hill just above Algiers and
was dressed in green corduroy
jacket and jeans, with a tartan
scarf against the rain, when he
met The Independent.
He is sympathetic to Parisians and what they are now
enduring, but like many of his
generation remembers only
too clearly an earlier Paris
massacre one which, he
says, was a defining moment
of Algerias struggle for independence, and one which
renders inaccurate the claim
that the Paris attacks were
the deadliest violence in the
French capital since the Second World War.
On 17 October 1961, French
police massacred between 200
and 300 unarmed Algerian
protesters in the heart of Paris.
Algerians were drowned,
strangled and dropped from
planes into the sea, said Mr
Aouli. At the time, he was
among those involved in
efforts by the National Liberation Front (FLN) to take
its war of independence on to
French soil. In the late 1950s
he was a top co-ordinator in
Paris for the outlawed FLN,
and had been arrested shortly
before the massacre which
meant, perhaps fortunately,
that he was in prison when the
terrible events unfolded.
French police
observe the
march of
between
20,000 and
30,000
pro-FLN
Algerians
in Paris in
1961. They
would later
massacre
hundreds
of the
protesters
af p/g ett y
In 1961 Maurice Papon, a

Nazi collaborator who had
willingly played a key role in
the deportation of more than
1,600 Jewish French citizens
to concentration camps during the Second World War,
was head of the Parisian
police forces and imposed a
curfew on all French-Algerians. Denouncing this as
racist, the FLN called on its
supporters to hold a peaceful
protest. A quarter of French
A l ge r i a n s p a r t i c i p a te d ,
with the support of many
French citizens of European
descent.
Acting with Papons blessing, and his explicit promise
that they would enjoy impunity, police responded with
an orgy of violence. Many
removed their badges, to make
them less identifiable. Anyone
with olive skin became a target; not only French-Algerians but many people of Tunisian, Moroccan, Spanish and
Italian origin were also beaten
and murdered.
Some 11,000 Arabs were
rounded up in the crackdown
that day, many of them taken
to the Vlodrome dHiver, the
same stadium used to hold
Jews 20 years earlier before
they were sent to concentration camps. Others were
deliberately drowned in the
Seine, a method that had
already been used quietly to
dispose of FLN activists.
Mr Aouli, along with thou-
sands of other prisoners,

participated in a 20-day hunger strike in protest at the killings. Some of the prisoners
died. Some foreign journalists witnessed the scenes, and
Mr Aouli believes the killings
pushed the then President
Charles de Gaulle to conclude
negotiations paving the way
for Algerias independence
the following year at which
point Mr Aouli and others
were released.
Now he is part of a continuing campaign to win official
recognition of the massacre
by the French, and justice for

all Algerian victims of state
violence during the colonialera.
Papon himself was finally
convicted of his role in the
Second World War deportations in 1998, but attempts
to prosecute him for the 1961
massacre foundered. The
French authorities are still
reluctant directly to confront
or condemn the countless
abuses committed during the
colonial era.
French courts maintained
that the terms of the 1962
the far right boost for Front national
A surge of support in the

provinces following the
Paris terrorist attacks has
put Marine Le Pens far-right
Front National on course
to govern two and maybe
three French regions for the
first time.
Ms Le Pen is now favourite
to capture north-western
France and the MarseilleNice region in elections over
the next two weekends,
according to polls published
yesterday. The far right is also
running neck and neck with
Nicolas Sarkozys centreright party, Les Rpublicains,
in the eastern BurgundyFranche-Comt region.
A series of regional polls
by BVA showed the Front
National gaining between
4 and 7 per cent compared

with similar polls before the
attacks in which 130 people
died. The FN has never won a
regional government before.
The elections are the first
under new boundaries agreed
last year, which reduced the
number of regions in mainland France from 22 to 12.
The polls show a slight improvement in the centre-left
vote but not the wave of
approval President Franois
Hollande hoped for from his
handling of the crisis.
Pollsters said the far right
is milking a non-metropolitan,
blue-collar and rural vote
which blames immigration
and Islam (not Islamism) for
the attacks.
JOHN LICHFIELD
They
should
learn
lessons
about their
own
history
Evian Accords, which led to

Algerian independence, protect French officials from any
legal action. Papon died in
2007, unrepentant, and taking
his Lgion dhonneur medal
with him to his grave, defying
critics to the end.
In 2012, President Franois
Hollande acknowledged the
massacre for the first time.
Yet many in France are either
ignorant of the massacre or
refuse to acknowledge that it
took place.
For Mr Aouli, the failure to
confront such aspects of its
colonial history means France
is still struggling to comprehend past errors of foreign
policy and its own history of
institutional racism.
They want to go around
teaching other people lessons,
but they should also learn lessons about their own history
and show a bit of humility, Mr
Aouli said. There are some
[political] currents in France
that today still consider Algerians, or French citizens of
Algerian origin, as a colonised
people, and that continue to
treat them as such.
Most upsetting for Algerians like Mr Aouli is the
growing strength of the farright Front National, led by
Marine Le Pen, since this
years two horrific attacks
on French soil. That party,
founded by Ms Le Pens
now estranged father, JeanMarie le Pen, has its roots
in the darkest elements of
Frances 20th-century political history, the same roots as
Papon.
The older Le Pen has admitted using robust interrogation methods, though he has
denied using torture in Algeria, and like Papon, has never
faced charges for this.
The far-right today is
exactly like it was back then,
Mr Aouli said.
True to the partys roots,
the Front National has continued to view French citizens
of North African descent as
outsiders. French politicians from across the spectrum have backed Ms Le Pens
calls for mosques to abandon
prayers in Arabic and switch
to French.
Her estranged father,
meanwhile, is arguing for
the guillotine to be brought
back. It does not augur
well for Algerians living in
France, Mr Aouli fears nor
for France to recognise those
uncomfortable elements of
its own history that Algerians
cannot forget.
27
Popes message of peace

to war-torn African nation
NICOLE WINFIELD
IN BANGUI
Pope Francis visits a refugee camp in Bangui, Central African Republic, yesterday A P P h oto /Andr ew Medi c hini
Pope Francis appealed from

the altar of Banguis cathedral
for all the fighting factions in
Central African Republic and
elsewhere to lay down their
weapons and instead arm
[themselves] with justice, love,
mercy and authentic peace.
The city itself is awash with
weapons as a result of more
than two years of sectarian
violence between Christian
and Muslim militias that has
forced more than a million
people to flee their homes.
In a Mass after he arrived
in the war-torn state, the
Pope said Christians had as
their primary vocation love
for their enemy, which protects againstthe temptation of
revenge and against the spiral
of unending retaliation. He
said that priests andnuns, in
particular, must be first of
allartisans of pardon, special-
ists of reconciliation, experts

in mercy.
Earlier Catherine SambaPanza, the interim President, thanked Pope Francis
for his lesson in courage in
coming, saying his presence
showed the victory of faith
over fear.
Speaking at the presidential
palace, she said that all Central Africans need forgiveness
and pardon, starting with herself. In the name of the entire
governing class of this country, and also ... of all those who
have contributed in some way
to its descent into hell, I confess all the evil that has been
done here over history and ask
forgiveness from the bottom
of my heart, she said.
Bangui has long been under
a nightly curfew of 8pm, as gun
battles have rung out after dark
in flashpoint neighbourhoods.
United Nations peacekeepers
sought to assure the Vatican
that security was under control as the Pope arrived. AP
Palestinian patient suffers as Israeli crackdown

on exit permits keeps him away from hospital
Nearly a third of applications to travel for medical treatment have been denied this year as unrest bubbles up
donald macintyre
in gaza city
Since he was diagnosed in

infancy with cystic fibrosis,
Mahmoud Kuweifi, 24, has
been allowed out of Gaza for
regular treatment at Israels
world-class Tel HaShomer
hospital, for whose medical
staff he and his family have
nothing but praise.
I like them very much,
says Mr Kuweifi, adding only
half-jokingly: If I could claim
asylum there, I would.
According to his mother,
Suzanne, 50: The doctors
there have become really good
friends. They raised him.
The warmth with which
Mr Kuweifis parents describe
the Jews who have cared
for their son would be striking even if they didnt live in
the eastern Gaza City neighbourhood of Shejaiyia, scene
of perhaps the worst death
and destruction during the
2014 war.
His father, Mohammed
Kuweifi, 53, a tailor, talks
volubly about the kindness
and professionalism of Tel
HaShomers doctors in treating his sons incurable, but
manageable, disease. During
the war, he got a call from the
hospital to check on how his

son was doing.
Which is why he is so upset
that the young man had to
miss two appointments last
month because the Israeli
military didnt grant him a
permit to cross into Israel.
Especially when his fluctuating condition worsens, as
it did last Wednesday when
Mr Kuweifi suffered stomach pain and vomiting. With
his immune system compromised, any infection could be
a major threat.
Mr Kuweifi said: I was
doing relatively well before
but now Im worried I might
be getting flu.
Saying he feels so confused about the refusal, he
added: I am not in any of the
factions. I feel helpless.
I dont want to say Im desperate, but I am being careful
not to get infections. If I get
ill, I might die.
Overshadowed by the
2,131 Palestinian deaths and
11,000 injuries inflicted by the
war, Mr Kuweifis problem is
just another detail of a dismal
aftermath. There remains
devastation: only one of the
7,000 totally destroyed housing units for which the UN
refugee agency UNRWA is
responsible has been rebuilt,
Cystic
fibrosis
sufferer
Mahmoud
Kuweifi
was refused
permission
to cross into
Israel for
treatment
there are daily power cuts, a

dire shortage of clean water,
the unemployment rate is
the highest in the world, and
Gazas 1.8 million population
remains effectively imprisoned in the enclave.
But Mr Kuweifis experience is also part of a pattern.
While Israel almost trebled
the number of exit permits
from Gaza after the war to an
average 13,832 per month, that
number has started to decline
again. And the proportion of
permits refused for hospital
treatment in the West Bank,
East Jerusalem and Israel has
also risen.
The Israeli military declined
to say why Mr Kuweifi had
been refused but insisted its
criteria remain unchanged.
Demand for exit permits
has grown this year after
Egypt closed the southern
Rafah crossing for all but

19 days, yet only 69 per cent
of medical applications were
approved, with 11 per cent or
255 patients denied permits
and 19 per cent receiving
no response.
Reasons are seldom given.
Last week the Palestinian
civil-affairs committee was
told that companions aged
16-55 would not be allowed
to accompany patients without often protracted security
checks, including interviews
with Israeli intelligence.
Its tempting to see the rise
in denials as a security measure triggered by the recent
violence in Israel and the West
Bank. But in fact it began in
August. Many referrals result
from shortages of drugs and
equipment in Gazas hospitals, which are also unable to
offer either radiography or
PET cancer scans.
Mahmoud Daher, the senior World Health Organisation official in Gaza, says
equipment repairs are often
impossible because necessary
spare parts fall foul of Israels
dual-use list of items which
could be used for militants
weaponry or because to
send the machines out of
Gaza would contravene parallel export restrictions. Of
Security
concerns
should not
hamper
access to
health
services
six haemodialysis machines

which have broken down, we
could repair six for the cost of
buying one new machine, he
said. But we cant do that.
With most referrals being
to hospitals in the occupied
West Bank and East Jerusalem,
Mr Daher says that preventing
patient transfers from
one part of occupied territory to another violates
Israels international humanitarian obligations.
We respect Israels security concerns, he said, but
they should not hamper access
to health services. They have
installations which can detect
a paper in your pocket, let
alone weapons.
Mahmouds next appointment is more than a month
away if he gets a permit.
Frightened his illness will
undergo a crisis before then,
his mother said: I am preparing myself to bury him.
Such fears are surely premature but Mr Kuweifi wants an
earlier appointment, as he
says hes run out of the antibiotic he needs.
Mrs Kuweifi added: In
Gaza they dont know how
to treat cystic fibrosis. They
always say: You have to go to
Israel... Please find out why
he has been denied.
28
Stargazing
December
Best meteor shower of year
to light up our winter skies
by h e ath e r co upe r and n ig e l h enbe st
OVERHEAD
MAGNITUDE
SCALE
CASSIOPEIA
Capella
AURIGA
CEPHEUS
First
Radiant of
Geminids
Polaris
Deneb
URSA
MINOR
CYGNUS
Third
DELPHINUS
LYRA
Castor
URSA
MAJOR
(PLOUGH)
Second
Pollux
GEMINI
CANCER
DRACO
Vega
LEO
Regulus
LOOKING NORTH
Fourth
OVERHEAD
Path of
Moon &
planets
Andromeda
Galaxy
PERSEUS
ANDROMEDA
AURIGA
Full
Moon
The TRIANGULUM
Pleiades
ARIES
TAURUS
Aldebaran
PISCES
PEGASUS
Dec
Half
Moon
Betelgeuse
GEMINI
Procyon
Sirius
CETUS
Rigel
ORION
Planet
Dec
CANIS MINOR
CANIS
MAJOR
AQUARIUS
ERIDANUS
LOOKING SOUTH
SOURCE: HENCOUP ENTERPRISES
On the nights of 13 and 14 December, look out

for what promises to be the best meteor shower
of the year. The shooting stars appear to emanate
from the constellation of the Heavenly Twins,
which is how they get to be called the Geminids.
If youre lucky, and have a very dark location, you
may be able to spot 100 meteors an hour. Theyre
best seen after midnight so wrap up warm. You
dont need a telescope or binoculars.
Meteor showers are caused by comets shedding dusty debris as they tramp around the solar
system. When the tiny grains plunge into the
Earths atmosphere at high speeds, they burn
up as shooting stars. The Orionid meteors
in October are debris from Halleys Comet;
Augusts Perseid meteors are fragments from
Comet Swift-Tuttle. But where is the comet
that produces the Geminids?
That was a mystery until 1983, when astronomers at the University of Leicester using a new
satellite spotted a fast-moving object. Followup observations from the ground confirmed
that it was an asteroid: a rocky chunk of debris
left over from the building of the solar system.
Just five kilometres across, it was the first
asteroid to be discovered by a spacecraft.
For an asteroid, its orbit was wild. While most
of these space-rocks orbit the Sun in serene,
circular orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars
and Jupiter, this newly discovered beast careens
inwards to swing past the Sun at less than half the
distance of Mercury. It was named Phaethon,
after the son of Helios, the Greek Sun god.
It passes closer to the Sun than any asteroid
in the solar system. As astronomers analysed its
path, they realised two things: its orbit matched
the path of the Geminid meteors; and that it bore
a close resemblance to the orbit of a comet.
Phaethon has now been confirmed as the
parent body of the Geminids. But is it an asteroid or comet? Like an asteroid, Phaethon is a
dark rocky body, apparently different from a
comet that emits jets of gas from its icy nucleus.
But when Phaethon passed by the Sun in 2009,
it doubledin brightness distinctly cometlike behaviour. The smart money is on Phaethon
being a dead comet: one whose icy covering has
boiled away under temperatures of 1,000C.
Being more rocky than a fresh comet,
Phaethon yields the chunkiest meteors of all. So
look out for some beautiful, brilliant, slow-moving shooting stars on 13, 14 and 15 December.
Whats Up
In recent weeks, people have been asking us

about the brilliant object theyre seeing before
sunrise. Its Venus, brighter than any star. At the
start of the month, youll find Spica, a star, on
its right, with Mars lying above them. The giant
Jupiter the second brightest object after the
Moon and Venus is much higher in the sky.
As the mornings roll by, Venus drops towards
the horizon. Mars converges on Spica, passing
it on Christmas Eve: note the striking colour
difference between the reddish planet and the
blue-white star (spectacular with binoculars).
And we have a comet! This rare visitor was
discovered in 2013 during a routine sky survey
based in the Catalina Mountains of Arizona. We
believe it is on its first visit to the inner solar system, but on its inward journey Comet Catalina
has been visible only from the southern hemisphere. After rounding the Sun on 15 November,
it is now moving upwards in our morning sky.
You have a great chance to spot it as it passes just
to the left of Venus before dawn on 7 December,
with the Moon to Venuss right. Comet Catalina
travels straight upwards, to skim past the bright
star Arcturus on New Years Eve.
Youll probably need binoculars to be sure of
seeing this fleeting visitor. Through a telescope
it should be impressive: in late November, it was
displaying two appendages: a chunky tail made
of dust and a narrower gas tail. Arizona amateur
astronomer Chris Schur remarked: With its
twin tails, Im reminded of a soaring eagle.
Back in the evening sky, watch out on
23 December as the Moon moves in the bright
star Aldebaran in Taurus. Depending on your
location in the UK, the star disappears some
time between 6.05pm and 6.25pm; and it pops
back into view between 7.05pm and 7.20pm.
Finally, you may catch Mercury hugging the
south-western horizon after sunset during the
last few days of the month.
W H AT TO LOO K FOR
3 December 7.40am: Moon at last quarter

11 December 10.29am: New Moon
19 December 3.14pm: Moon at first quarter
13 - 15 December: Geminid meteor shower
22 December 4.48am: Winter Solstice
25 December 11.11am: Full Moon
29 December Mercury at eastern elongation
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29
Sean OGrady on the Commonwealth Robert Fisk on Syrian moderates Ian Birrell on the future
Monday 30.11.15
Voices
Not one Muslim I
know thinks war in
Syria is justified
yasmin alibhai-brown
The Government, hawkish MPs and journos

are ready to go. Come Wednesday, the PM
will have his legacy: our boys will again take
to the skies, drop bombs and watch them
go off. Better than any computer game.
Isis guerrillas are depraved and evil. Blood
is their drug of choice. Massacres induce
highs: a sense of power and a craving for
more. They are now beyond the reach
of reason, morality or virtuous human
emotions.
So too, it seems, are many Western
leaders. Since the Paris attacks, they have
abandoned common sense, in part because
they are so caught up in the eddies of
vengeance, Western supremacy and rage.
They cant think straight, and are clueless
about what they are about to unleash in
Syria. Or in Britain. Patrick Cockburn
painstakingly describes every week in
these pages how Assads army, marauding
militias and competing foreign interests
are despoiling that poor country. Most
of the players care little about ordinary
Syrians, who for almost five years have been
traumatised, terrorised, tortured and slain.
The award-winning photojournalist Kai
Wiedenhfer has taken pictures of injured
men, women and children trapped in Syria.
There is no drama in these pictures, just
acceptance of never-ending pain and grief.
Do Cameron and his war cronies care about
them? Most certainly not. They just want
to show off, to react to a violence they cant
control with more of the same. They have
unexpected allies. The novelist Robert
Harris is keenly promoting this repugnant
cause; so too is Hilary Benn and other
Labour grandees who want to back the big
guns, whatever the consequences.
Those beating the drum will not lose
their children, brothers or sisters in this
campaign. But blameless Syrians being
Protesters against British military involvement in Syria outside Downing Street af p/ g ett y
forced to share space with Isis will. And
Britain will not take any responsibility for
the new wave of dispossessed people forced
to flee their homes. We care so much about
Syrians that we give them no refuge when
they come here. They do not matter at all in
the calculations being made. Non-European
lives were devalued over many centuries
and remain so today. Islamists and Western
militaries between them have killed and
injured hundreds of thousands of people in
Africa, Asia and the Arab world.
The allies want to obliterate Raqqa
because it is an Isis stronghold. Mona, who
fled the place, has this to say: How can I
condemn the killing in Paris, but stay silent
about the bombings in Syria? Are we cheap
and their lives valuable? The locations could
be wrong; they could kill civilians. It could
be my family. Yassin Haj Saleh, a writer and
intellectual born in Raqqa, is also against
Britain going into Syria: A quarter of a
million of my people have been killed. Are
they saying British lives are more important
than our lives? Answer these people,
Hollande and Cameron, before you go and
add to the chaos.
Promises come in thick and fast, as
unreliable as all those made before on
Iraq, Libya and the war on terror. Every

single one of those propagandised military
strategies failed and created a more
unstable Middle East. Camerons claim
that the bombs will give new courage to
70,000 moderates is as fantastical as those
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Once again nobody is speaking to
Muslims or Arabs at home. I have not heard
a single British Muslim or Arab voice calling
for this bombing campaign. OK, some Isis
expert called Hassan Hassan thinks it would
be smart for Britain to get into the fray.
The importance of Britains involvement in
the US-led international campaign against
the Islamic State should not be in doubt,
he says. Well, sir, millions of us are filled
Promises come in thick

and fast, as unreliable as
all those made before
on Iraq, Libya and the
war on terror
with doubt and fear. Isis exploits the idea

of a crusade and Western governments
and commentators are giving them fodder
for this dangerous narrative. Could we
not collectively have mourned the poor
murdered victims of Isis in Paris without
resorting to ugly culture wars? Europe has
great art, science and enlightened politics,
but also its horrible histories. I do not think
the West is responsible for the death cults,
the barbarisms and political putrefaction
across the Muslim world but its policies
and interventions have only ever made the
nations there more unstable and brutal.
And migrants from these places feel caught
between these forces of darkness.
To my surprise, I find myself agreeing
with the maverick columnist Rod Liddle
on this: Whenever we take military action
in the Middle East, we make things worse.
For them and us. Radical Islam, now
spread across our isles and every nation in
the western hemisphere, will only become
more appealing and more potent when the
bombing starts.
Here is what one British Muslim primary
school teacher a woman tells me: You
know if I was a young Muslim guy, I could
get that angry that I would turn away from
democracy and all that. This Prime Minister
takes no refugees, and is still a friend of
Arab dictators. Now bombs. Why? Do
they even know? They are encouraging
radicalisation. Their de-radicalisation
programmes, which I am supposed to push,
will fall apart. The UK will get more Isis
recruits. I am so worried. I also fear that
some of the most effective programmes
which were tackling extremist ideologies
will lose all credibility.
Will Cameron heed these voices or
does he think Muslims are so stupid and
gullible that they will chant the mantras
of democratic accountability while not
questioning the actions of the Government?
This call to bombs is insane. Drones and
missiles will add to the suffering of ordinary
Syrian families and increase the death toll
immeasurably. And more British Muslims
will reject moderation and turn against
the state they live in. Is that what gung-ho
politicians want?
Twitter: @y_alibhai
30
Voices
Robert Fisk
70,000 moderate fighters
in Syria? Its another
Cameron fallacy
Not since Hitler

ordered General
Walther Wenck
to send his nonexistent 12th Army
to rescue him from the Red Army in
Berlin has a European leader believed in
military fantasies to the degree that David
Cameron did last week. Telling the House
of Commons about the 70,000 moderate
fighters deployed in Syria was not just
lying in the sense that Tony Blair lied
because Blair persuaded himself to believe
in his own dishonesty but something
approaching burlesque. It was whimsy
ridiculous, comic, grotesque, ludicrous.
It came close to a unique form of tragic
pantomime.
At one point last week, one of Camerons
satraps was even referring to this phantom
army as ground troops.
I doubt if there are 700 active moderate
foot soldiers in Syria and I am being very
generous, for the figure may be nearer 70
let alone 70,000. And the Syrian Kurds
are not going to conquer Isis for us; theyre
too busy trying to survive the assaults
of our Turkish allies. Besides, arent the
moderates supposed to be the folk who
dont carry weapons at all? Whos ever
heard before of a moderate who was
wielding a Kalashnikov?
The Syrian regimes army who really are
ground troops and who never worried about
the moderate rebels because they always
ran away are the only regular force that is
deployed in Syria. And thanks to Vladimir
Putin rather than our Prime Minister,
theyre beginning to win back territory. Yet
after losing at least 60,000 soldiers killed
largely by Isis and the al-Nusra Front the
Syrian army would be hard put to fight
off an assault on Damascus by Camerons
70,000 moderates. If this ghost army
existed, it would already have captured
Damascus and hurled Bashar al-Assad
frompower.
Yet in the Commons last week, we were
supposed to believe this tomfoolery all in
the cause of launching a handful of fighter
bombers against Isis in Syria.
It wouldnt make us more vulnerable,
Cameron told us. In fact we were already
vulnerable because we were bombing Isis
in Iraq. Yet Cameron knows and we
all know, dont we? that Isis will most
assuredly try to commit an atrocity in
Britain to revenge his latest schoolboy
adventure. Then la Blair after 7/7
Cameron will insist that Isis are killing
us because they hate our values. Then
will come the inevitable video of a suicide
killer saying he killed our innocents because
Cameron sent his miniature air force to
bomb Isis.
The odd thing about all this is that most
Brits I come across and most Arabs I talk
to in the Middle East are well aware of
the above. So is the Labour Party. But the
Blairite MPs in the Labour Party are going
to vote with the Tories because while they
loathe the evil cult of Isis, they hate the evil
cult of Corbyn even more. Do they too
believe as we are all supposed to believe
that the so-called Joint Intelligence
Committee is telling the truth about
The Kurds cant defeat Isis because they face bombardment from Britains ally Turkey af p/ g ett y
the mythical 70,000 moderates? Is this
unspeakably valiant committee so stupid
that it does not tell the Prime Minister
about the Saudi Wahabi death cult, which is
the direct religious and sectarian inspiration
for Isis? And if it did tell Cameron such a
thing, why didnt he talk about the Saudis in
the Commons last week?
No, we are not at war. Isis can massacre
our innocents, but it is not invading us. Isis
is not about to capture Paris or London as
we and the Americans captured Baghdad
and Mosul in 2003. No. What Isis intends
to do is to persuade us to destroy ourselves.
Isis wants us to hate our Muslim minorities.
It wants civil war in France between the
The Blairite Labour MPs are going

to vote with Cameron because
they loathe Corbyn more than Isis
elite and its disenfranchised Muslims, most
of them of Algerian origin. It wants the
Belgians to hate their Muslims. It wants us
Brits to hate the Muslims who live here. Isis
must have been outraged by the thousands
of fine Europeans who welcomed with love
the million Muslim refugees who reached
Germany. The Muslims should have been
heading towards the new Caliphate not
running away from it. So now it wishes to
turn us against the refugees.
To achieve this, it must implicate
hundreds of thousands of innocent Muslim
refugees in its atrocities. It must force
our EU nations to introduce States of
Emergency, suspend civil liberties, raid
the homes of Muslims. It wishes to destroy
the European Union itself. It wishes to
strike at the heart of the European ideal

by liquidating the very foundation of the
union: by persuading us to tear up the
Schengen agreement and to close our
frontiers. And we are doing exactly that. Are
we, in some auto-panic, actually working
for Isis? If that gruesome institution did
not ban alcohol, their members would
be toasting with champagne our political
leaders for their vacuity, their sophistry, the
abject fear with which they now regularly
try to inject us under the dangerous old cry
of Unify the nation.
Vladimir Putin comprehends this. He
knows that Turkey is helping Isis this
is why he is going to destroy the Isis oil
smuggling route to Turkey and, as a
former serving KGB officer, he understands
the cynicism of any crisis.
If an American aircraft had strayed into
Turkish airspace, he asked at his Kremlin
press conference with Franois Hollande
last week, does anyone believe that Turkey
would have shot down the US pilots? We all
know the answer to that.
If Turkey wished to destroy Isis, why
does it bombard Isis Kurdish enemies?
Why does it imprison two of Turkeys top
journalists for reporting how the Turkish
intelligence service smuggled weapons
to Islamist fighters in Syria? And Putin is
hardly going to object if the EU is bent on
suicide-through-fear.
Amid all this, Cameron raves on. And
why not? Having Photoshopped a fake
poppy on to his lapel to honour Britains war
dead, why shouldnt
he get away with
Photoshopping 70,000
fake moderates on to
a map of Syria?
Sean
OGrady
The Commonwealth is
liberal, lefty and more
needed than ever
Ian
Birrell
A Minister for the

Future would keep
Britain on course
31
Theres a lady who

lives in a big old house
just outside Valetta,
the capital of Malta,
who seems to have had
quite a few visitors from the British media
these last few days. For she her identity
seems to have eluded Fleet Streets finest
is the present owner/resident of Villa
Guardamangia. The curiosity about the
place is because it was once the home of the
Queen, when she was a mere princess and
newlywed navy wife, her future consort
stationed on what was then an important
British naval base.
Now Her Majesty has been back on the
island, accompanied by the press for the
Commonwealth Summit, and the house
and its occupants promised a story for
one enterprising reporter. Well, a bit of
one. From an upstairs window the current
chatelaine tells her inquisitive British
visitors, in polite terms, to sod off. After all,
if she doesnt want Her Majesty the Queen,
Head of the Commonwealth and former
sovereign lady of Malta, to drop by for a
poke about, then a reporter from the Daily
Mail hasnt got much chance of getting in.
Taking shabby genteel a bit too far,
the villa, in the Queens words, looks a
bit sad now. So President Marie Louise
Coleiro Prec of Malta presented her with a
nice painting of the old place in its heyday,
instead. Unlike a lot of the knick-knacks
offered to her by her former realms over the
years, she seemed genuinely pleased with
the gift. Another diplomatic triumph.
In rather better shape is the other
old structure the Queen has been
associated with since she was a girl the
Commonwealth of Nations.
It is a remarkable institution, invented
as a sort of substitute for the Empire,
especially when all the non-white colonies
gained their freedom.
The British Empire had a real political
and economic point to it. When Britain
declared war, so did the old Dominions.
Until the 1920s and 1930s there was more
Sweden is far from
a nirvana, but it
remains an innovative
nation when it comes
to politics and the
problems confronting society. No one
exemplifies this better than Kristina
Persson, a cheerful 70-year-old with a
long and varied record in public service.
Last year this former trade union official,
member of parliament and deputy governor
of the central bank was given a new mission:
to head up a Ministry of the Future.
The idea is brilliant in its simplicity: to
force politicians to confront long-term
issues facing their nation, rather than
focusing on short-term problems driven by
electoral calculations.
She has set up working parties of experts
to examine three challenges: the threat to
jobs from new technology, the transition
to a green economy and the impact of
globalisation. These are tough issues with
potentially unpopular solutions: after all, if
unemployment rises thanks to robots and
computers, can Western societies afford
expensive welfare systems? And tackling
climate change demands policies that look
half a century ahead from politicians more
used to looking nervously at voters current
utility bills.
What a sensible concept this is
especially bearing in mind a Comprehensive
Spending Review that raised more questions
than it answered on big issues such as
benefits, health and social care. Just think
about immigration: the influx powers our
economy and props up the National Health
Service, yet politicians stupidly focus on
keeping numbers down. Or witness the
The Queen visited Malta for a Commonwealth

summit last week PA
or less free trade across the Empire, Joe
Chamberlains dream of imperial unity
challenging the economic power of America
made real. And, until 1961, any subject of
the Commonwealth had an unfettered right
to come and settle in the mother country,
Britain. The Crown represented a natural
sense of political unity across continents
hard to conceive of today.
But does the Commonwealth it ceased
to be the British Commonwealth in 1971
have much point? Yes, and in a strangely
subversive way. So far from being a watered
down continuation of Empire, with all
the racism, violence and condescension
associated with that, it has in fact evolved
into rather a liberal, easy-going, multiracial and multicultural organisation of
equals. The principles contained in its 1991
Harare Declaration no hint of irony there
myopic debate on health and social care, the
fudging of infrastructure decisions and the
minimal discussion of critical issues such as
the future of theworkplace.
As Persson says, politics must experiment
with new solutions to retain support in a
world that is changing rapidly. So should
Britain follow suit by appointing a pointy
headed political veteran such as Andrew
Adonis or David Willetts to be our first
Minister for the Future? Or perhaps we
should mimic Finland, which for more than
two decades has had a Committee for the
Future in parliament to discuss trends and
the impact of new technologies, while also
insisting that governments deliver a detailed
statement setting out how they see the future.
Certainly there can be no doubt that
short-termism bedevils British politics.
Nowhere is this more evident than in
the health arena, with costs rising fast
in an aging society, a system offering a
and the 2013 Commonwealth Charter

are impeccably modern and enlightened
human rights, tolerance, green stuff,
gender equality, rights of small states, the
rule of law and so on. The new SecretaryGeneral, our own Baroness Scotland, has
told The Independent on Sunday that she
will absolutely be fighting for LGBT
rights in the majority of Commonwealth
states where imperial-era laws against
homosexuality persist. You may be sure the
Queen is supportive of this right on agenda.
When she visited Amritsar in 1997 and
the Irish rebels cemetery in Dublin in
2011 she signalled an almost Corbynesque
renunciation of the old Empire and its
worst excesses. Indeed, much of her
personal diplomacy, though surrounded by
symbols and trappings of imperial grandeur,
is a blatant exercise in the repudiation
of the Empire built in the names of her
forbears. The Commonwealth, and its
head, is a slightly lefty enterprise, though
unacknowledged as such.
And so it is a small force for good in a
fractured world, and its informal, loose, soft
diplomacy may well achieve some results.
In recent years the Commonwealth has set
its bounds wider still, accepting nations
with little or no colonial link to Britain
Mozambique, Cameroon and Rwanda and
maybe more. Burma, Ireland and Palestine
would surely be welcome, too.
The environment and terrorism have given
the Commonwealth more to do, with at least
two members the Maldives and Bangladesh
whose very existence is threatened by
climate change. Kenya, Nigeria and Malta
have found themselves in the front line of
Islamist terror and the Syrian refugee crisis.
They all deserve international support. Today
the British no longer wish to rule a quarter
of the world but hope
to be liked by it. Maybe
even that lady with
the villa in Valetta will
come round to the idea.
Twitter: @_SeanOGrady
comparatively poor treatment record,
and social care provision on the brink of
collapse. Similar failures are evident on
other long-term problems from energy
security to pensions. Unfortunately it is
the classic political failure to only think
about the next couple of years ahead, one
veteran Downing Street adviser said.
The appointment of an official
futureologist would be in keeping with
the current drift of politics. Both parties
reacted to public distrust of Westminster
by contracting out power to agencies
and officials. Labour asked the Bank
of England to set interest rates, the
Coalition established the Office for Budget
Responsibility to analyse public finances.
Such a move might ensure focus on
neglected issues, too. It could provide
valuable political cover for unpopular
but necessary measures. Imagine a new
Chancellor wanting to confront the welfare
bias towards pensioners, who have kept
free television licences and bus passes
amid austerity for fear of upsetting the
section of society most likely to vote. How
much easier if there was a report by the
state future-gazers insisting this should be
done? Or to permit housebuilding on the
green belt in order to unblock the planning
logjam? Or to wriggle out of the absurd aid
target placed in law?
The Prime Minister is a fan of Nordic
government as well as
its drama. This focus
on the future feels like
an idea whose time
hasarrived.
Twitter: @ianbirrell
32
Letters to the Editor

If not for our NHS, I would be dead
Got so m et h i n g to say?
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Britains mainstream
media is complicit
in an unofficial
Establishment
offensive
The NHS deserves much

more thanks than it gets.
Last month, my husband
and I were given the
news that all pregnant
couples dread. At a routine
antenatal appointment,
it was detected that our
much-loved and muchwanted baby was very
seriously poorly.
We were guided through
more scans, tests and
MRIs by a compassionate
and skilled team of
midwives, sonographers,
consultant obstetricians and
neurosurgeons. But they
only confirmed our worst
fears; our precious baby
would not survive and there
was no science or treatment
that could change that.
And to take the pregnancy
further could directly
impact on my life.
We are still in the
darkness of our grief. But I
do remember the endless
support we received
throughout the challenges
of birth from staff, family
and friends. My placenta
didnt deliver, so while I
had precious time holding
my daughter, I received
emergency interventions
to stop the bleeding. I
later needed to go to
the operating theatre to
complete the delivery under
a general anaesthetic with
intravenous antibiotics to
prevent infection.
I do not have the words to
express our loss. However,
I am conscious of the things
we must remain grateful
for, especially with the
awareness of how many
women suffer in childbirth
over the world. Countries
such as South Sudan
have a devastatingly high
maternal death rate, with an
estimated one in 50 women
dying due to pregnancy.
When I worked there (for
Mdecins Sans Frontires)
I saw first-hand that except
for aid agencies there
were no hospitals, trained
midwives and doctors,
quality antibiotics or safe
blood transfusions. There
was no hope of seeking
help when the worst-case
scenario happened, as it did
for me.
In just one week, the
NHS saved my life in no

fewer than four different
ways. For that I remain
in a sense of gratitude.
Although the staff were
not giving us the news we
wanted, their knowledge
and skills stopped my
pregnancy becoming my
death sentence. We also
received specialist midwife
bereavement support,
guidance from the multifaith chaplaincy and help
to arrange our daughters
funeral in those first hours
when our world had seemed
to implode.
My husband and I are
slowly picking up the
pieces. But I am alive, I am
recovering with the help
of those around us, and I
know we gave all we could
to our daughter in her short
life. For all those involved,
thank you.
Anna Kent Alam
Hinstock, Shropshire
attac k on c orbyn
disappointing
our behalf. Who knows?

Perhaps one day Labour
MPs will even summon up
the courage and unity to
fight the Tories?
Chris Webster
Abergavenny
it, with a bomb for a bomb.

Camerons logic of divideand-conquer violence, as
with Blair, Bush, Reagan,
and Thatcher before him,
is the moral equivalent of
self-harming in a globalised
interconnected world.
Sarah J Lloyd
St Leonards-on-Sea,
East Sussex
Your editorial Jeremy

Corbyns Labour isnt
working (28 November)
is disappointing to
those who sensed The
Independent might be
moving progressively
leftwards. Witness the
extraordinary language:
shambolic management;
Corbyn described as
isolated, impotent, weak;
feeble representation; a
crumbling Labour Party...
To a committed Labour
member, this is fiction and
could be straight out of the
Mail/Telegraph stable.
What is becoming clear
is that all of Britains
mainstream media is
complicit in an unofficial
Establishment offensive
wittingly or otherwise to
destroy any possibility of
real change.
Dr Richard House
Stroud, Gloucestershire
In the past few weeks
Labour MPs have been
fighting hard against
each other and their own
elected leader. Now they
are preparing to send other
people to fight Isis on
t here are bet ter

tact ics t han bombing
Simply sending two or

three Tornados into the
already overcrowded skies
over Syria is a pointless
exercise. Surely it would be
far preferable for the UK to
overtly embed its special
forces and advisers with
Peshmerga and any other
elements in Syria that our
intelligence services know
are opposing Isis to assist
them in their fight. Yes, its
boots on the ground, but
far more would be achieved
by advice, state-of-theart communications and
intelligence to help those
doing 99 per cent of the
fighting and dying.
Bob Fennell
Bromley, Greater London
We mock Isis for its
medieval perception of an
eye for an eye, then we
practise our own version of
After months of bullying

tactics the Government
has agreed to meet junior
doctors to discuss contract
reforms via Acas. However,
We have not yet done

anywhere near enough to
stop the supply of arms to
Isis or to cut off its ability to
sell the oil which finances it.
Why not impose sanctions
on those supplying arms
and purchasing oil? Only
when we have tried this will
we be able to say we have
tried everything and war is
now the last resort.
Jehangir Sarosh
Bushey, Hertfordshire
Bombing kills innocent
people and absolves the
politicians, sitting safely at
home, from more intelligent
moves to solve conflict. Its
time to move out of the Dark
Ages to more enlightened
ways of achieving foreign
policy aims.
Stephen Goldby
Wilmslow, Cheshire
the doctors have not

immediately withdrawn
their plans to strike.
Why? Mr Hunt, who is
not actually attending the
talks, has maintained his
threat that he will impose
contract reforms anyway
should talks fail.
If this contract is
imposed, it will change the
way doctors work and are
paid, and the way patients
are cared for forever.
Patients will be cared for
by overworked and unsafe
clinicians. Doctors will
leave the NHS and future
intakes of medical students
will no longer be the
brightest and most hardworking students anyone
with a brain will have been
very much put off medicine.
Doctors are justified in
continuing with plans to
strike until either a deal
can be reached or the
Government drops its
threat of imposition; and
if we, the public, want to
have an NHS that continues
to offer excellent value
for money, state-of-theart treatments and high
productivity, we should
all actively support our
doctors.
Jonathan Barnes
London N4
Will David Camerons

70,000 moderate opposition
troops be ready for
deployment in 45 minutes?
Clive Butcher
Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
has ever got everything

right, and Osborne is no
exception, but getting rid of
the deficit would transform
our finances, and the sooner
the better. By the way, the
smallest amount, at just
over 0.5 per cent, was our
contribution to the EU.
Colin McPhie
Croftinloan, Perthshire
When we hold our inquiry

into the 2015-2020 Syrian
war debacle, can we please
hire someone who works
faster than Chilcot?
Barry Tighe
Woodford Green,
Greater London
we a r e all payi ng
f or th e def ic i t
A few days before the

Autumn Statement, I
received my tax statement
from HMRC. It shows my
total tax paid for 2013/2014,
breaking it down into 15
categories, from highest
amount to lowest.
I was surprised to see that
the amount to pay interest
on the UK deficit is the
sixth-highest amount and
five per cent of my tax bill.
This will be the same for
millions of other taxpayers.
Imagine what we could
do with this money if we
did not have to spend it
on interest. No politician
No wonder the NHS is

so short of money. The
MRI scanner in our local
hospital is owned by a
private company. The NHS
pays the owner every time
someone uses the scanner.
The local NHS Trust has
said in the past financial
year the scanner was used
nearly 8,500 times. A doctor
told me each scan costs
at least 110. Annually
about 935,000 is going
out of NHS hands into
private hands just with this
one piece of equipment.
The trust has said that a
new scanner would cost
790,000 plus VAT.
We are paying almost
as much as a new scanner
would cost every year to
this company. What other
important pieces of NHS
equipment are under
similar arrangements?
Nigel F Boddy
Darlington, County Durham
sc o tti sh tv c u t is
c ultural va ndalism
In the Autumn Statements

small print was the
scrapping of Government
funding for BBC Alba, the
Gaelic television channel.
This means BBC Alba will
become entirely reliant on
the BBC and the Scottish
Government. The decision
is cultural vandalism. This
TV station serves 700,000
people.
Scotlands TV licencepayers pay in 335m
every year, but just 35m
is spent on Scottish TV
production. This misguided
plan, detrimental to the
development of the language
and the creative sector,
should be abandoned.
Alex Orr
Edinburgh
33
l
l
Emotional rescue
Ironsides dilemma
Grumpy old men
Glove is in the air
36
37
40
41
The police family liaison officers who offer

a lifeline to murder victims families
Should a reader with a dirt phobia leave his

wife for three months, to give her a break?
Gilbert and George fail to excite or even

shock with their controversial banners
The ingenious Imogen Heap just waves

her hands to make electronic music
Section
2
30.11.2015
THE big read
Lords of the dance
In Argentina, only the fittest

can take part in the Festival
Nacional del Malambo; and
winners, however humble, are
treated like demigods in their
compulsory retirement. Its a
spectacle Le i l a G u e r r i e ro
felt she had to see for herself
On Monday 5 January 2009, the Argentinian
daily La Nacin ran an article in its arts supplement, written by the journalist Gabriel Plaza,
with the headline: The folk athletes line up.
Comprising two small columns on the front
page and two medium-sized columns a couple of pages in, it included the following lines:
Considered an elite corps within the world
of traditional folk dance, past champions, on
the streets of Laborde at least, are treated with
all the respect of ancient Greek sporting
Footloose: a norteo quartet perform at Labordes malambo festival, but the most feverish attention is reserved for the Senior Soloist category
Continued on P.34 >
34
Section2/The Big Read
The malambo a man

dances to win will also
be one of his last: the
summit scaled by a
Laborde champion
is also the end

legends. I hung on to the article, and then found
that years had elapsed and still I was thinking
about it. Id never heard of Laborde before, but
once Id read this piece of red-hot information,
the joining together of elite corps and sporting
legends with traditional dance and a town in the
middle of nowhere I couldnt stop thinking
about going and seeing for myself.
Malambo consists of a joust between men
who take turns to dance to music. A dance the
gauchos would challenge one another with, trying to best their opponents in feats of stamina
and skill. Its origins are unclear, though people agree it probably arrived in Argentina from
Peru. Sets of tap dance-like movements, each
associated with a certain musical metre, combine to form the figures. Composed of taps
of the toes, soles and heels, pauses on the balls
of the feet, and lifts and twists of the ankles, a
malambo performance at the highest level will
include more than 20 such figures, divided up
by repiqueteos toe taps at a pace of no fewer
than eight per second requiring enormous
responsiveness in the muscles. Each side has
to be mirrored, a right-foot figure immediately
repeated, identically, with the left foot, so that
a dancer of malambo needs equal precision,
strength, speed and elegance on both sides.
This strictly masculine dance, which began
life as a crude kind of gauntlet-throwing, had by
the 20th century been strictly choreographed
into performances lasting between two and five
minutes. Though best known for the versions
seen in for export spectacles including
hopscotch between candles and the juggling
of knives some traditional festivals in the
country still stick to malambos essence. But it
is in Laborde, this town in the middle of pampas
flatlands, where malambo in its purest form is
preserved: since 1966 a prestigious and formidable six-day competition has been held here,
one that places fierce physical demands on the
participants and concludes with a winner who
is given the title of champion.
Unlike the festivals in Cosqun and La Sierra,

malambo is the only featured dance in Laborde;
and, also unlike other venues, where two or three
minutes is the allotted time, here the dance lasts
for five minutes. Now, five minutes is hardly
an eternity. A negligible amount of time when
compared with a 12-hour flight, a mere breath
in a three-day marathon. But not so if the right
comparisons are applied. The fastest 100-metre
runners in the world aim for sub-10 second
times. A malambo dancer in full flow moves his
feet just as quickly as a 100m runner, only he has
to keep it up for five minutes. A malambo dancers preparation therefore involves not only the
sort of artistic instruction a ballet dancer would
undergo, but also the physical and psychological
preparations of an athlete. They dont smoke
or drink, and they never go out late. Long-distance running and time in the gym are standard,
and the aspiring malambista also has to work to
perfect his concentration levels and develop
the correct attitude: a keen sense of conviction

and self-confidence is vital. Though some train
alone, most employ a coach, usually a past champion, at considerable expense.
Add to this the gym membership fees, the
consultations with nutritionists and sports scientists, healthy food, and of course the attire
which can cost up to $800 (530) for each
outfit. A pair of the norteo boots alone costs
$140 and, given the punishment they receive,
needs replacing every four or six months. There
is also the annual trip to Laborde itself, which
often means a stay of two weeks. Most of the
contestants are from working-class families.
The more fortunate give dance classes, but
there are plenty of part-time electricians, bricklayers and mechanics among them. A few will
win the first time they enter, but for almost all it
is a question of coming back, year after year.
As for prizes, winners can expect neither
cash nor a holiday, neither a house nor a car,
but simply a rather plain trophy crafted by a

local artisan. Labordes true prize cannot be
seen with the eyes: uppermost in everybodys
thoughts are the prestige and recognition,
the endorsement and respect, and the huge
honour that comes with being one of the best
among the select few even able to perform this
murderous dance. In the small, courtier-like
circle of traditional dance devotees, a Laborde
champion becomes a demigod.
And yet in order to preserve Labordes
prestige and affirm its elite nature, a tacit pact
has been in place between Laborde champions
since the festivals inception: though they may
go and compete elsewhere, they may never enter
the Laborde festival again, or dance the solo
malambo at other festivals. Should anyone break
this pact there have been two or three exceptions theyll suffer the contempt and scorn of
their peers. So the malambo a man dances to win
will also be one of his last: the summit scaled by
a Laborde champion is also the end.
In January 2011, I went to Laborde with the
simple plan of telling the story of this festival,
and of trying to understand why people take
part in such a thing: fighting your way to the
top, only to come straight back down again.
Backstage, in a space with an untiled floor
and hollow brick walls, stand the changing
rooms. Four of these are monastic cells with
sheet metal doors and a single cement table
inside, nothing more. The fifth is off in one corner, with a gap between the top of its walls and
the ceiling, and in this case with no table and
no light of its own. There are two toilets whose
doors dont shut properly, and a long mirror
lining one of the walls. The eye-watering aroma
of muscle balm fills the space, a hive of comings
and goings, people in various states of undress,
putting make-up on, stretching muscles, applying sprays, braiding hair, trimming beards all
of them on edge, waiting. There are numerous clothes racks bearing dresses and gaucho
costumes, there are men in underclothes, and
women demurely manoeuvring bras off or on.
In advance of their stage-calls, dozens of people
35
do their warm-ups as the adrenaline pounds,

blasting electricity into their inflamed hearts.
No, I cant get it off, idiot. This ring! Im
gonna kill myself.
A girl with impeccable braids, wearing a
charming flower print dress with voluminous
shoulder ruffles, is wrestling with an enormous,
fuchsia pink ring. One swollen finger, and five
minutes before shes due to dance. The ring
would mean automatic disqualification.
Youve used soap?
Yes!
And your spit, and washing-up liquid?
Yes, yes, its not coming off!
Ninny.
On a bench to one side, a young guy is using a
plastic bag to help slide his foot into his pointedheel boots. Its to make them slip in, he says.
You cant do it otherwise. We always use boots
two sizes too small it gives us better control
to have them so tight.
On the floor in front of the wall-mirror is a
long wooden plank. Four dancers, the members
of a norteo quartet, are standing side by side on
the plank, jutting out their chins and rehearsing
haughty, defiant glares. Four chests rise up like
the breasts of four cockerels preparing to fight.
What follows resembles nothing so much as a
section of the North Korean army on parade:
astonishingly synchronised strides, and eight
heels catching, stamping and scraping the floor
as though they were one single heel. An interested circle forms around them, other dancers quietly contemplating the moves. When
the quartet comes to a stop, theres a sudden,
frozen moment of rapture, before the circle
disbands as though it had never been there,
as though what just happened was a sacred, or
secret, ceremony, or both.
An hour later, at midnight, the doors to the
five changing rooms are all shut and, on the
other side of these battered metal sheets, noises
can be heard, now drums, now guitars, now the
most unalloyed of silences. There, standing to
attention, are the men that all of Laborde is
waiting for. Five of the dancers in the Senior
Rodolfo became the

countryside, the taut
pampas horizon, the
smell of horses, the
sound of the sky
Soloist category. So much goes through your

head. You feel so many different things. You
never forget it. You have to go up there thinking of yourself as champion. To represent my
province is already success for me. People say
the most amazing things to you.
The way the malambistas talk is somewhat
similar to professional footballers when they
speak to journalists: Weve got a great group.
Team spirit is amazing. They were the better team. When it comes to specific questions
what do they think about while they dance,
what memories do they have of the night they
won? they all come out with the same set
phrases: they make reference to the huge
amount that goes through their heads, or to how
wonderful it all was, but rarely will they go into
specifics. If someone pushes them to describe
at least one of the wonderful things that happened to them, theyll tell the story of how, for
example, the champion from 1996 came and
gave them a hug and said, Now you have to
show youre worthy of that trophy; or about
the little child, in a school in Patagonia, who
trembled with emotion on being given an autograph. Maybe these things seem insignificant.
For them children from large families, raised
in remote villages, living in the most strained
economic circumstances, and with no famous
forebears such things mean everything.
If the daytime temperature can rise above
40C, it also drops at night without fail. Today, a
Friday, at half-past midnight, it must be around
13C, but backstage its carnival time. There
are half-dressed bodies, sweat, music and the
sound of corridas being sung, the ubiquitous
ballad songs. The La Rioja representative,
Daro Flores, descends the stage in the usual
manner: his vision blurry, his body crucified, he
stares around, keeping his arms outstretched
to encourage air back into his starved lungs.
Someone hugs him, and he, seemingly coming
out of a trance, simply says: Thank you, thank
you. Then I hear a guitar being strummed out
on the stage. The notes contain something
something akin to an animal inching along
low to the ground, about to pounce that grabs

my attention. So I hurry back out, crouching as
I go, and take a seat behind the jury.
Its my first sighting of Rodolfo Gonzlez
Alcntara. And what I see strikes me dumb.
Why, if he was like many of the others? Beige
jacket, grey waistcoat, one of the wide-brimmed
hats the chirip in red, and a piece of black
cord for a tie. And why, if I didnt yet know the
difference between a very good dancer and
a mediocre one? But there he was: Rodolfo
Gonzlez Alcntara, 28 years old, representing
La Pampa, towering over everyone and there
I was, sitting on the grass, speechless. When he
finished his dance, the announcer declared in her
deadpan voice: Time: four minutes and 52 seconds. And that was the precise moment when
this story became something else. A not-at-all
simple story. The story of a common man.
When Rodolfo Gonzlez Alcntara came on
that Friday evening, he moved to centre stage
like a strong wind or a puma, like a stag or a thief
of souls, standing still for two or three beats,
frowning as he fixed his gaze on something
behind us, something no person could see. The
first movement he made with his legs ruffled
his cribo trousers like some delicate underwater
creature. Then, for the ensuing four minutes
and 52 seconds, the night became a thing that
he pounded with his fist: he became the countryside, the dry earth, the taut pampas horizon,
he was the smell of horses, the sound of the
sky in summer, and the hum of solitude. Fury,
illness, and war, he became the opposite of
peace. He was the slashing knife, the cannibal
and a decree. At the end he stamped his foot
with terrific force and stood, covered in stars,
resplendent, staring through the peeling layers
of night air. And, with a sidelong smile like
that of a prince, a vagabond, or a demon he
touched the brim of his hat. And was gone.
And that was it.
This is an edited extract from A Simple Story:
Dancing For His Life by Leila Guerriero (9.99,
Pushkin Press), out now.
Eyes on
the prize:
Malambo
jousters,
including
(far left)
2011
champion
Rodolfo
Gonzlez
Alcntara;
below left,
contestants
focus on the
test ahead
Dieg o
Sa mper e
36
Section2/Life
i put
myself
in their
shoes
Behind the scenes of every murder case are family liaison
officers who offer a lifeline to victims relatives. Its harrowing
work, but also rewarding, they tell simo n usborne
It was a measure of the horror of the case that
the judge began to cry while he sentenced the
murderers. Mr Justice Dingemans had just
told Nathan Matthews that he would serve at
least 33 years in prison for killing his stepsister, Becky Watts, and dismembering her body.
Matthews partner, Shauna Hoare, received
a 17-year sentence for manslaughter after the
trial this month.
Finally, I should like to pay public tribute to
the family of Becky for the dignified way in which
they have conducted themselves throughout
these proceedings, the judge, a father of teenage girls, said when his voice began to tremble.
Hearing the evidence during the trial has been
difficult for anyone but it is plain that it has been
an immense burden for the family.
It had been, and on the steps of Bristol Crown
Court after the guilty verdict two days earlier,
Beckys uncle, Sam Galsworthy, was quick to
express the familys gratitude to the police. He
named two officers, using their first names. The
women stood behind him, where they had been
for several months. We would like to thank our
Solicitors
Medical
Negligence
is no joke
Were serious
about helping
you
Medically Qualified Solicitors
For a free consultation
0800 019 3460

www.specterpartnership.co.uk
Specter Partnership | 49 Britton Street | London | EC1M 5UL
family liaison officers, Ziggy and Jo, who have

been amazing throughout this whole process.
Weeks later, Detective Constable Sigrid
Ziggy Bennett is back at Avon and Somerset
Polices major crimes unit in Bristol, still reeling
after the biggest case of her career, to talk about
a critical, yet misunderstood, side of policing.
She joins Tim Copik, a veteran detective who
now coordinates the forces team of family liaison officers, known in the trade as FLOs.
People think family liaison is all pink and
fluffy, Copik says. People have said to me, all
you do is make the tea, Bennett adds. And thats
from other investigators in the team. Copik continues: And thats the way it used to be we were
a shoulder to cry on, someone to put the kettle
on and help take the kids to school.
The Becky Watts investigation, known to the
police as Operation Bicton, and a new documentary on Channel 4 throw new light on a specialised, pressurised form of policing. Copik and
Bennett describe a role that can be as stressful
and traumatic as it is rewarding and a transformation in the past decade or more in the way
police deal with the living victims of murder.
Copik features briefly In The Murder Detectives, which starts tonight and continues for
three consecutive days as it follows a murder
case from the inside the stabbing in Bristol last
year of a teenager called Nicholas Robinson. In
this case, the FLOs had the additional pressure
of liaising with filmmakers. But for the force, it
was worth the effort as an opportunity to show
what they do.
Cases gone bad often compel the police to
reform, and the Stephen Lawrence murder had
a major role in changes to family liaison. The
1999 Macpherson Inquiry into the Metropolitan Polices investigation of the 1993 murder in
south-east London revealed widespread failings, not least in the way police dealt with the
teenagers family. Race was central, but so was a
lack of proper training and professionalism.
The reports recommendations included an
overhaul of family liaison. Avon and Somerset
Constabulary, which investigates roughly seven
murders a year, was the first force in the country
to formalise its FLO training 15 years ago. Copik
now manages around 80 detective constables
who have FLO training and voluntarily do family liaison between regular detective work.
Two FLOs are assigned to a family after a murder or when a child goes missing, which is how
the Watts case started when the 16-year-old disap-
37
Something that seems

innocuous, with the
strain of grief, can send
someone over the top
Emotional
rescue:
Tim Copik
co-ordinates
Avon and
Somerset
Polices
family
liaison
officers, who
helped the
family of
Becky Watts
(left) ti m
mossford/
uNP; epa
peared last February. (FLOs are also dispatched

as part of international responses to disasters or
terror attacks abroad.) For the past five years they
have also been able to work with a caseworker
from the National Homicide Service, part of the
Victim Support charity. They take on much of
the support, dealing with anything from probate
to employers, or finding the right counselling.
They do all the things we used to do our best to
pick at, Copik says. Families now get a much
better and more joined-up service.
Bennett joined the Watts investigation as a
detective and interviewed Shauna Hoare. When
a colleague retired, she switched to a liaison
role with the Galsworthys, the family of Beckys
father, Darren (he and Beckys mother, Tania
Watts, were separated. Darrens current partner is the mother of Nathan Matthews). Arriving with deep knowledge of the case increased
the biggest challenge for a FLO balancing a
familys natural appetite for information with
the need to progress and protect the investigation. If that balance is tipped, trust or even the
future trial can be jeopardised.
There was a lot of evidence we couldnt go
through with the family, including the way Becky
was murdered, Bennett says. They didnt know
that until the day it was due to come out in evidence. That was tricky because you want to know.
Darren had been imagining even worse ways and
when we told him how it had happened, he said
hed wished hed known sooner.
FLOs make it clear they are detectives, not
counsellors, and will feed everything into the
investigation while assisting senior officers in
every aspect of the case. But they must also
be trusted figures who can give a family representation when their feelings and concerns
might have been neglected. As a result, they
can also become sitting ducks for frustration or
anger. A lot of families have never dealt with
the police or the law before, Copik says. You
also have to be non-judgemental, Bennett says.
I always put myself in the familys shoes... what
would I expect from the police?
Old and new media can be useful in a missingperson case, but also a distraction and threat.
We just cant keep up with social media, Bennett says. When Becky was still missing the
family would ring us and ask why they hadnt
been told about something that had been found.
If we told them every time wed discovered a
bit of discarded clothing not related to the incident, wed be ringing them every hour.
Then come the hungry reporters bearing big
cheques. The choice to sign a deal is the familys, but sometimes the drive to do your job as
a journalist blinkers you from the misery people are suffering, Copik says. Its a fine line.
Something that seems so innocuous it wouldnt
cause anyone to flinch can, with the strain of
grief, send someone over the top and FLOs are
the ones who can take the brunt of it.
Families can also turn on each other as well
as the police, and FLOs can witness fracturing
relationships or mental breakdowns or even
suicides. Children may suffer the most. Sometimes, family members can become suspects
during an investigation. The hours can also be
punishing and FLOs are offered counselling.
The goal is to reach a trial and justice. For six
weeks in Bristol, Bennett and her colleague sat
with the family through a harrowing trial, briefing them before each day and taking them home
to discuss what had happened, before returning
to their own families. Then came the verdict. I
took a deep breath and swallow because above all
it was the result the family needed. Bennett says.
They can now move on and grieve.
The Murder Detectives starts tonight
on Channel 4
Dilemmas
Virginia Ironside
Virginia says...
Dear Virginia
I suffer from a phobia
about dirt, and although
I have tried to keep it
under control, and my
wife has done all she can
to help me, its getting
worse. Now my wife says
shes come to the end of
her tether and unless I
leave for a few months to
give her a break, shell
divorce me. I have very
few friends and I couldnt
afford to go to a hotel.
The only person who
would have me is my
sister, who lives miles
away in the country,
away from everything
familiar. And her house is
very messy and dirty.
What shall I do?
Yours sincerely,
Paul
Sorry as I feel for you, Im afraid my heart

does also go out to your poor wife, who
must find it incredibly stressful living with
someone who is phobic about dirt.
Presumably this involves a lot of handwashing and carpet-cleaning and constant
worrying about germs and obsessing about
food and so on. Its difficult enough living
with anyone normal, without coping with
someones phobia as well. And its not as if
your phobia is something entirely private,
which wouldnt have any impact on her.
Because you live in the same house, your
wife must be tremendously affected by this
and its no wonder shes come to the end of
her tether, however much she loves you.
However, it isnt she whos writing to me,
its you, and my advice to you is not to
dream of leaving your home. Stay put,
whatever you do! You have what amounts to
a serious illness and, as you say, youll find it
virtually impossible to find anywhere to live
except a flat on your own, which you could
keep as clean as you liked. And presumably,
since you cant afford a hotel, youd find
buying property a financial difficulty, too.
No. If your wife cant stand your phobia,
then its she who should leave for her three
months of respite. Not having an illness, her
options are far wider she could stay
anywhere, however scruffy and anyway, it
is she who is fed up with the marriage, not
you. Dont go anywhere.
Consider, after all, the worst scenario:
Im not saying this would happen, but it
could be that the moment you leave, your
wife will change all the locks, pack up all
your belongings and deliver them to your
new address.
If you feel you absolutely have to move
out, then at the very least consult a solicitor
before you set foot on the front path, and
perhaps get a letter drawn up saying that
you are only leaving to save your marriage.
Get your wife to countersign this so you
cant be accused of desertion, which might
affect the outcome were it all to come to a
divorce in the end.
I would first of all consult a lawyer
anyway, to find out exactly what your
rights are, and be sure to have a doctors
letter available, which will describe your
illness in detail. Having a phobia like this,
if its really severe, is completely disabling,
after all. It presumably makes going out to
work difficult if not impossible, and it may
be that you find difficulty even in getting
to the shops.
I would then suggest marriage counselling
of some kind again, if you initiate it, you
will be the one seen to be making an
attempt to save this marriage, which, of
course, is what you want. If your wife hasnt
got some hidden agenda in persuading you
to leave, then you never know: this might
really help both of you.
Readers say...
Getting help could change your life
I can relate to your phobia, having lived
with this for most of my adult life. I have
had a lot of help, though, and there appears
to be two schools of thought. The
traditional view is that this can be helped
with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
The other view, I think, is that the phobia is
a persons minds way of distracting itself
from the thing that is really troubling one

a sort of self-defence mechanism, perhaps.
I was diagnosed with OCD when I was 20
terrified of dirt, among other things. I
would advise you not to move out, but to
commit to getting some help. In this way,
you will be able to move forward together
with your wife. If you leave, you may
become very low, which might make things
harder in relation to your phobia. Perhaps
your wife would be willing to give this a try
also, and may feel some hope based on your
comittment. For my part, a combination of
acknowledging the real problem in my mind
(which may not be easy to comprehend, and
may not be neccessary, depending on how
you feel) coupled with some CBT, has
worked miracles. My wife has read my
letter, and agrees, being able to relate to
your wife. Paul, I promise, the brain is
elastic, and you can learn new ways to think.
But you need some help. Good luck, mate.
David
by email
Let your fears go
Your wife is a saint. And your sister very
forbearing. But however much your family
tries to help you, this is a problem you have
to face and now is the time to face it. An
irrational fear of dirt and contamination is a
well-known obsessive-compulsive disorder,
as Im sure you know, but it can be treated.
Phobias may require only a few sessions
with a qualified mental health professional.
Cognitive behavioural therapy may help
you to reframe intrusive and phobic
thoughts and can be extremely beneficial.
Desensitisation is also effective. Your
doctor may prescribe anti-anxiety
medication to help you cope with any fears
during treatment or to enable you to
function in public. Hypnotherapy also
works for many people.
So pick up the phone and book an
appointment to see your GP in the first
instance. Make an inward resolution to do
all that it takes. Your wife will be hugely
relieved, and I would bet that all talk of
divorce will be lifted. No need to hug your
fears. Let them go.
Rosemary Pettit
London W6
NE X T W EE K S DI LEMMA
For the last 18 months Ive supported my

mother a widow through very unpleasant
operations and chemotherapy. She has had to
go back and forth to the hospital and has felt
very rough for a lot of the time throughout
her treatment. She has braved it all with
remarkable stoicism and made friends with
the nurses even giving comfort to other
sufferers who havent coped nearly as well.
But a month ago, she was given the all-clear,
and since then she has been in a deep
depression, crying all the time. Is it a delayed
reaction? I dont know what to do.
Yours sincerely,
Hattie
What would you advise Hattie to do?
To answer this dilemma, or to share
your own problem, write to
dilemmas@independent.co.uk, including
your address. Anyone whose advice is quoted
or whose dilemma is
published will receive
a Finest Bean Mini
Bar Gift Pack from
Prestat (prestat.co.uk).
38
Section2/Media
The Media
Column
Ian
Burrell
The Only Way is Ethics

w i l l g o re
Whats in a name? That

depends on the accusation
Three years ago there was
a striking change to the
British criminal justice
system, when teachers
accused of an offence
against a pupil were granted
anonymity until such time
as charges were brought.
It had long been said that
teachers are particularly
vulnerable to false even
malicious allegations by
students. And it is certainly
true that teachers careers,
and reputations, have been
tarnished beyond repair
by unsubstantiated claims
being aired publicly.
Yet it always seemed to
me a dangerous precedent
to set. If teachers could
have a legal right to
anonymity, why not other
people? There has, in
particular, been a longrunning question about
whether individuals
accused of rape or sexual
assault ought to be granted
the same protection. Again,
the basis for suggesting
they should is the degree
to which public knowledge
of such allegations affects
the accused, even if they
are not brought to trial (let
alone found not guilty).
On the other side of the
argument are those who
point out that publicity
often encourages other
victims to come forward.
In the case of anonymity
for teachers, there is the
specific absurdity that even
if allegations are true and
for instance the teacher is
sacked they cannot be
discussed, by the media or
anyone else, unless a charge
has followed.
This plays to the most
compelling argument
against anonymity for people
accused of crime, which is
simply that transparency is
vital to a well-functioning
criminal justice system.
Unless it is necessary to
withhold it, surely we should
be allowed to know, for
example, when the police
are arresting people.
With all this in mind, I
was surprised to find myself
on the fence last week in
relation to a report about
a woman who had killed
herself after the acquittal
of a man alleged to have
raped her. The womans
mother had spoken of her
daughters despair at the
verdict; her suicide clearly
raised important questions

about the way witnesses are
treated in the court process,
especially in cases involving
sexual attacks.
But should we have
named the acquitted man?
There was no legal or
regulatory reason not to; and
the outcome of the trial was
made clear. Yet in light of
the not guilty verdict, was it
right to implicate him in the
death of his accuser? I felt
uneasy about it, but in the
end we like most outlets
included the name. And in
the name of transparency,
perhaps on balance that was
the right call.
Why the left-wing New Statesman is

stubbornly resisting the lure of Corbynmania
Dawkins and the

sleep of reason
Richard Dawkins caused a
kerfuffle last Tuesday when
criticising the American
boy who came to public
attention after being
arrested for bringing what
teachers believed was a
bomb to school. In fact, it
was a clock. Depressingly,
the boy and his family are
now suing for $15m (9.9m)
over the incident.
In challenging those
who defended the boy
on account of his age,
Dawkins suggested that
he was old enough to
take responsibility for the
decision to sue and then
tweeted a link to a child
carrying out an execution
for Isis. The implication
seemed to be that neither
boy could be absolved by
reference to their youth.
Regrettably, when
embedding Dawkins
tweets in our web report,
the image to which he had
linked of a boy holding
a knife to the throat of a
prisoner was visible on
our site. Among the many
perils of Twitter, this was a
new one: we re-embedded
the tweet in a different
format post-haste.
As for Dawkins, if the
core feature of atheism
is (supposedly) reason,
then he is becoming a bad
advertfor it.
Will Gore is Deputy
Managing Editor of The
Independent, i, Independent
on Sunday and the Evening
Standard
Twitter: @willjgore
Surely we
should be
allowed
to know
when the
police are
arresting
people
Jason Cowley still

lives in hope that
he might one day
publish the poetry
of Jeremy Corbyn.
The editor of Britains most-established,
left-leaning periodical, New Statesman,
might have a long wait. Earlier this year,
Corbyn promised Cowley the verses he
unsuccessfully submitted to the magazine
in 1968.
Cowley agreed to print the material if
Corbyn won the Labour leadership race.
But Cowley has made clear in print he is
unconvinced by Labours new leader, whom
he likens to a 1970s sociology lecturer, and
Corbyn is probably now looking to place his
poems somewhere else.
With Labours grassroots re-energised
in a way unimaginable the day after the
General Election, it might seem misguided
editorially and commercially for a
title founded in 1913 with the intention of
permeating the educated and influential
classes with socialist ideas to so resist the
lefts new messiah.
We were and are deeply sceptical of
Corbyn, insists Cowley in an interview
at New Statesmans offices near St
Pauls Cathedral. Theres a sense from
some readers, I think, that we should
be cheerleaders for Corbyn because he
represents a challenge to the establishment.
I see a guy who has been on the
backbenches since 1983 hes as much
a career politician as George Osborne or
Ed Miliband. Hes run nothing beyond his
constituency office.
Corbyn, he says, has to demonstrate that
he can manage and lead the great national
institution that is the Labour Party. Any
support has to be earned.
New Statesman has changed greatly
during Cowleys seven-year tenure. His
re-positioning of the once-imperilled
magazine alongside a vibrant website, has
extended its audience and restored the
Staggers to profitability.
He is not about to deviate from his
clearly-defined course for the easy win of
embracing Corbynmania.
I have got a consistent editorial line and
its a process rather than a single event, he
said. It would make us look ridiculous if we
suddenly reversed many of our positions.
Its a year since New Statesman broke
rank on Ed Miliband, as the editor puts
it. On its cover it depicted Mr Miliband as
Doctor Who in a fez, surrounded by former
Labour leaders similarly dressed as Time
Lords. Six months before an election, the
headline must have appeared heretical to
some Labour loyalists: Running Out of
Time Is it too late for Ed Miliband to

regenerate Labour?
The accompanying article by Cowley
criticised Miliband for being out of touch.
I called him an old-style, Hampstead
socialist who doesnt understand Essex
man and woman and I called him a quasiMarxist phrases that resonated for months
afterwards, he says.
Cowley was raised in Harlow, Essex, and
attended a comprehensive.
The piece led to senior Labour figures
seeking to persuade Alan Johnson to lead
the party into the election. When Miliband
stayed it meant that New Statesman
was frozen out during Labours election
campaign. Cowley was passed the message
that Ed felt personally hurt and let down.
But he is unrepentant, saying the events
demonstrated the titles influence and that
the Statesman has to occupy another space
than being the house journal of the Labour
Party. He adds that the Statesman had
wanted Labour to win and that it remains
a publication of the left, for the left. It
runs columns from young, left-wing writers
including Owen Jones and Laurie Penny.
In his early days as editor he fought hard
to counter lingering perceptions that the
magazine was a voice for either the hard
left or the Brownite wing of Labour. He
was given the opportunity to reform by
new owner Mike Danson (who bought out
Brownite Labour MP Geoffrey Robinson).
Danson has given him complete editorial
independence and an excellent editorial
budget. He has also brought the leftwing title into a portfolio of unlikely sister
publications that includes World of Fine
Wine and Elite Traveller. The Statesmans
turnover is 4.5m and Danson is convinced
it can treble that. He would also like to see
it have an international edition.
Hes such a good businessman himself
he has made it run as a business, says
the editor.
Cowleys model for change has been the
venerable American title The Atlantic, which
has been reborn as a print-digital hybrid and
has launched several specialist microsites,
including the business-based Quartz. The
Statesman has its own microsites; May 2015
was a graphics-filled election site done in
partnership with The Independent, City
Metric specialises in urban data and social
trends, and the pop-culture brand Srsly is
set to expand from a podcast into a written
format. Cowleys deputy, Helen Lewis,
drives the digital strategy and the website
registered 20 million page views last month,
a new record.
The trajectory is only upwards for us,
he says. New Statesmans circulation is at
39
Jason
Cowley
says his
magazine
is sceptical
about
Labours
new leader
C ha r l ie
F o r gh am
Ba i l e y
Wading through the

climate change spin
The worlds media descends on Paris once
more today to cover another alarming story
of critical and global importance.
Days after the Isis attacks, more than
3,000 journalists are expected to report on
the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, and it
wont be an easy assignment.
The state of emergency declared by the
French government after the 13 November
atrocities means there will be none of
the usual demonstrations that give a
visual sense of the urgency and passion
surrounding this issue. The high security
will be a distraction from the crucial
matter at hand. Journalists must negotiate
unprecedented spin from delegates over
an issue thats highly politicised. Scientific
jargon becomes a weapon in obfuscation for
mealy-mouthed politicians and their PRs.
Maybe its time to look at climate change
differently? American title The Atlantic
has started a newsletter dedicated to the
subject, with the less-than-apocalyptic title
Not Doomed Yet. Founder Robinson Meyer
realised news organisations were trying
to make an abstract and slowly-evolving
subject conform to the headline-driven
rules of the news cycle.
I saw that a lot of coverage goes straight
for the we are 100 per cent doomed
jugular, he told the NiemanLab website.
The vein in a lot of mainstream climate
coverage is to intone anxiety.
This subject will be with us all our lives
and we desperately need the more considered
approach that Meyer is embracing.
A hard-hitting debut
from Vice UKs chief
33,000 (with 25,000 paid-for at 3.95 a

copy), a notable increase from the 23,000
sale he inherited.
The magazine had been in decline since
the 1970s and even now it envies the
marketing budget of its old, right-wing rival
in the periodical market, The Spectator.
But Cowleys strategy has been to create a
stable of new writers from George Eaton
on politics to Kate Mossman on art and
pop culture. The Statesman has built
a reputation in detailed analysis of the
growing threat of Isis, deploying the likes
of Shiraz Maher (a former Hizb-ut-Tahrir
member who has been at the forefront
of chronicling the activities of Western
jihadists) and John Bew. Both work in the
war studies department at Kings College,
London and contributed essays to a special
issue in the wake of the Paris attacks.

Through American-style long reads, strong
coverage of domestic politics and a revival of
the magazines original mission as a literary
review, Cowley is broadening readership.
I wanted the Statesman to be read by
people who werent on the left as well as
people interested in progressive politics and
the Labour Party, he says.
This weeks edition contained an homage
to old-fashioned Englishman Sir Ian
Botham, at 60. The Spectator published
a piece calling the cricketer and countrysports enthusiast an arse.
Cowley who formerly worked at
Guardian Media Group for The Observer
claims The Guardian is limited by an
Oxbridge, liberal, bourgeois mindset, the
kind of outlook shared by Ed Miliband.
I still live outside of London, he says. I

have never wanted to be part of that world
of Islington and Hampstead, the Guardian
dinner-party circuit.
He maintains that if Labour is to return
to political power, the party will have to
start winning over the kind of people
who have a different set of expectations
and aspirations from the north London
liberal intelligentsia.
But winning votes is not his motivation.
Above all, I see myself as an independent
journalist, says the
New Statesman editor.
And Ive never been
a member of the
Labour Party.
Twitter: @iburrell
Chemsex, a feature documentary about a

trend in drug-fuelled gay orgies that have
been linked to a rise in HIV, is released in
cinemas on Friday. This exploration of a gay
subculture is classic Channel 4 territory,
but has been made for cinema and online
audiences by Vice UK, the British-arm of
the New York-based youth media brand.
The film examines a craze for weekend-long
sex parties, sustained by disinhibiting drugs
such as crystal meth.
Rebecca Nicholson has made the film
her first commission as editor-in-chief of
Vice UK. She said the film, supported by
a Chemsex Week of related editorial,
would mean the scene was not dismissed
as a faceless problem. She said: There
are parts of the story that will be familiar
to many young people: how to cope when
partying goes too far; how to find love
and sex in the digital age, when apps are
commodifying romance; and where to turn
when it all gets too much.
40
Section2/Arts
growing old
disgracefully
In their new exhibition Gilbert and George once avant-garde, now part of the art establishment attempt
to shock with a set of wilfully crude, very expensive banners. Art has moved on, argues kar en w r i g ht
Jay Joplings sizable White Cube outpost in
Bermondsey, south-east London, is home to
Gilbert and Georges latest exhibition, The
Banners. Entering the space I am confronted by
a wall-mounted sign offering signed posters for
10 or a set of 10 for 50. Christmas presents,
perhaps? With slogans that read Fuck the
Planet or Burn that Book, probably not.
This is not the work of some disaffected
youth in the depths of the East End, but of the
performance duo Gilbert and George. Gilbert
Gilbert Proesch was born in Italy in 1943 and
grew up with Ladin as his first language. George
George Passmore was born in 1942 and grew
up in Portsmouth. They met at Saint Martins
School of Art on 25 September 1967 and it was
love at first sight, they say. They claim to have
married in 2008. They are perhaps most famous
for their sartorial smartness, matching suits
and their walks around London, in particular
around Fournier Street in East London, where
they have done up a townhouse in exquisite
taste to hold themselves and their work.
I give this biography as it is necessary to put
all of their artwork into context. These are
no young men but have been making work
together for over 40 years, determined to
shock far longer then their descendants, the
group destined to be called Young British Artists forever.
These banners were first unveiled at the
recent Serpentine Marathon 2015, the theme
of which was transformation. The duo stood
silently holding up the banners, facing the audience. A photograph in the catalogue (a steal for
5) captures the moment with the audience
seemingly rapt, many recording the moment
for posterity on their mobile phones. A short
preface by Michael Bracewell, now the designated Gilbert and George interpreter, explains
that the banners were first shown in the presence of Hans-Ulrich Obrist, another fierce supporter of the duo, and extols the beauty of the
crudely signed banners with their rude and, one
feels, deliberately offensive slogans.
In order to make it all historically correct,
he draws an historical analogy with a Gilbert
and George magazine sculpture from 1969,
in which photographs of the duo are entitled
George the Cunt and Gilbert the Shit.
Another of their early works saw them as
living sculptures, sprayed bronze and singing Underneath the Arches in the Nigel
Greenwood Gallery, the then small gallery
that represented them. Art for all was the
slogan that they invoked. Then there were the
huge charcoal drawings, allegedly done on the
boat from England to Germany, because they
werent at all ready for their show with Kasper
Knig, their first gallerist in Dsseldorf.
Post-Paris, can we really

stand by a banner saying
simply Ban Religion?
Fast-forward and the two men, now in their

seventies, are inextricably woven into the art
establishment. Their large signature, now
almost a tag, instantly identifies these latest
works as their own. Their show at Tate Modern
in 2007 occupied the entire floor, the first to do
so. They are enmeshed into the star curatorial
web of Obrist and the international clientele of
the White Cube gallery, and is the work better
for it? Does the crudeness of the slogans on
the banners, proclaiming some of their own

concerns fuck him indicate their boredom with making yet another show? Sadly, yes.
It feels as though the show were dreamed up
over breakfast in their local greasy spoon caf,
where they stoke up daily with a full English,
to satisfy the needs of both the Serpentine
and their gallery.
White Cube has chosen to show the duo
alongside Tight Rope Walk, a painting show
Double
trouble:
Gilbert
Proesch
(left) and
George
Passmore
have worked
together for
40 years;
two of the
works from
their new
show (right)
A F P/ gett y;
g i l b er t and
g eo r ge /
w hite c u be
41
curated by the New York critic Barry Schwabsky,

a long-term advocate of painting. Drawing on
the galleries enormous resources, none of the
works are borrowed from museums, but come
from private collections, and all bar a few are for
sale. The title is drawn from a quote by Francis
Bacon: This image is a kind of tightrope walk
between what is called figurative painting and
abstraction. It will get right out from abstraction,
but will really have nothing to do with it.
Bacons contribution to the show is an
intense study in orange for a 1982 portrait of
Isabel Rawsthorne. There is a stunning Matisse
portrait, a scatter of Picassos, a Morandi, a
few wonderful Phillip Gustons, some earthy
Lucian Freuds, a Francis Picabia and a group
of younger artists exploring the theme of the
transition from abstraction.
There are discoveries to be made here. A
work by Rafael Ferrer, an artist born in 1933 in
Puerto Rico, whose work is now hanging in the
Whitney Museum in New York. Intervention
2015 speaks of its place in a way that only painting can: ramped-up tropical colour infuses the
canvas and a strange hooded figure imbues the
work with menace.
The small-scale, labour-intensive works of
Ellen Altfest, a White Cube artist, also manage
to stand up to scrutiny, and to their proximity
to Double Sarah B, 2011, the large, seemingly
effortless work of Alex Katz, one of the stars
of the show.
Women do well here, with socking colour in

Dana Schutzs compressed figures in Fight in
an Elevator 2015. In the opposite colour corner
is Gillian Carnegies almost monochromatic
and courageously restrained canvas, Section
2011. Rosa Loys Buch 2015 depicts a woman
lost in her book beneath a large book bound
in blue a wonderful antidote to Gilbert and
Georges crude banners.
Leaving the sanctuary of the paintings behind
I visit Gilbert and Georges 30 banners again.
There are only 10 slogans, so each is an edition of
three (but unique, we are told, as they are handsprayed), priced at 22,500 each. In the past,
Gilbert and George have utilised headlines from
the London Evening Standard in their work, as
well as bodily fluids, faeces and cards pinned up
by rent boys. Why does this work make me so
angry? In a world transformed forever by the
events in Paris, can we really stand by a banner
saying simply Ban Religion?
Is this art of our times dealing with the issues
of our times or work to be hung on the walls of
the rich to look prescient and cool? Over to you,
viewer. At least if you come to Bermondsey, you
can also look at the work of a true revolutionary
Pablo Picasso.
Magic and
Mittens
The singer and Harry Potter composer Imogen Heap has
invented a pair of gloves that makes music. By em i ly jupp
Box of
tricks:
Imogen
Heap in the
studio at
her Essex
home
M IC H A
T H E I N ER
Gilbert and George: The Banners and Tight

Rope Walk, curated by Barry Schwabsky,
continues at White Cube, Bermondsey,
London SE1 until 24 January (whitecube.com)
Someone asked me the other day, How do you
make money? because unless youre Adele you
dont make much from record sales these days.
But every year something comes up thats totally
unexpected and I always rely on it.
Imogen Heap is in one of the living rooms
of her beautiful 18th-century round house in
Havering-atte-Bower in Essex, where assorted
helpers are decorating her garden shed in preparation for her daughter Scouts first birthday.
Heap bought the house she grew up in in 2007
when her father, who owns a construction business, suggested that she buy it from him (he is
a businessman after all, she smiles). The round
walls in this room are painted red, overlaid with
a gold bird and tree motif; it has two pianos and
various mismatched antique furniture. At our
feet is a play mat and lots of cardboard childrens
books. Heap, tall and elegant in leggings and a
black wool dress, is explaining how serendipity
provides her with an income.
This year she worked with Taylor Swift, who
mentioned that she was a fan of Heap in an interview Heaps manager saw. After their people
spoke to each other, Swift flew to Heaps home
and recorded a demo of her hit Clean in Heaps
pink-walled basement studio, with Heap incorporating the interesting sounds of her mbira
(thumb piano) and Boomwhackers (percussion
tubes) on to the track. Next year, Heap is composing the musical score for a new play written
by JK Rowling and the playwright Jack Thorne,
called Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. That
should keep her in pocket money for a while,
then. But her enduring labour of love, one yet
to turn a profit, is her musical gloves.
The mi.mu gloves have been a work in
progress for the past six years. They enable
Heap to control her music through gestures,
either for a live show, or for recording tracks
in her studio. We go down to the basement and
she logs on to her computer, displaying her
music software. When she lifts her palm, the
corresponding volume switch on her computer
display raises simultaneously and the volume
increases. She moves her hand back down and
it goes quiet. Instead of typing on a keypad or
clicking a mouse, the gloves contain sensors
that recognise her hand movements.
Used alongside her Box of Tricks, a piece
of software that replicates the sounds of all the
instruments in her basement, the gloves enable
her to produce and record her music. She can
also use them in performance, whereby the different hand gestures are programmed to play
different sounds. It started to feel like a second
skin when I was using them, and thats when I
realised this is amazing, this is not just for me

but its a big decision to make them user friendly
enough for anyone to use, she says.
Two of the people milling about the house
today work on research and development for the
gloves, which are currently available for 5,000.
Eventually we can drop the price, but at the
moment were all slogging away and working on
the gloves in our spare time, says Heap. Only
about 25 people own a pair, and they are all finding new applications for them.
Last year, the gloves team started bringing in
other collaborators. One of them, whose life has
been changed by the gloves, is Kris Halpin, who
works with the music technology organisation
Drake Music, which helps musicians with disabilities. He thinks the gloves may be the most
important breakthrough in accessible music
technology so far. A year ago, he visited Heaps
house to experiment with the gloves and immediately saw the implications.
I have cerebral palsy and my right hand is a
bit shaky, he says. His condition was affecting
his career as a musician and he was considering
a future where he wouldnt be able to play live.
I was a very skilled guitarist at one point, but I
found songs I was used to playing were having
to be cut from the live set because they were too
complicated. It was very frustrating, especially
when you remember what it is supposed to be
like and suddenly you cant do it. Then, at the
height of that frustration, I found the gloves.
They are a massive leap forward in music
technology, far ahead of anything else that currently exists. The first time I tried them, I was
just air drumming with them and it felt really
emotional. The beauty of it for me is that even
though my dexterity isnt great, the gloves can
still map to my movements.
The gloves can adapt when his condition
changes. I can just take a snapshot of my hand
that day, explains Halpin. I dont know what
I would be doing if they hadnt come along. It
has invigorated my career.
In July this year, he played the gloves on
National Paralympic Day. I developed an invisible guitar effect so that I could strike a power
chord out of thin air.
So what groundbreaking project will Heap
work on next? Everything I work on, it is always
because I see a gap I want to fill. So whether
thats a musical gap or I want to be able to not
be tethered to a computer, its all really about
the same thing. Its breaking down barriers and
getting closer to human connections. l
drakemusic.org; imogenheap.co.uk
42
Section2/Arts
T H E M ONDAY BOO K
A beguilingly surreal
slice of South
African satire
POP
T H EA T RE
Prophets of rage
kick off with the
rockets of rave
The Folly
By Ivan Vladislavi
And Other Stories Publishing, 10
r e v ie w By Jo natha n Gi bbs
If Ivan Vladislavi isnt the most important

writer to have come out of South Africa
since JM Coetzee, then hes certainly the
one to have made the greatest impact over
here. His cool, sophisticated books mix
fiction, architecture and photography to
show his country very much according to
the lights of the global literary zeitgeist.
Having given British readers some of his
more recent novels and stories, publisher
And Other Stories now reaches back to 1993
for Vladislavics debut novel. For a dozen
or so pages I was worried theyd made a big
mistake. I was wrong to doubt.
The Folly opens with a man,
Nieuwenhuizen, arriving at an empty and
overgrown housing plot carrying nothing
but a suitcase and some spare change. His
coming is noticed by his neighbours, Mr and
Mrs Malgas usually styled simply Mr and
Mrs he with interest, she with suspicion.
Nieuwenhuizens behaviour is, indeed,
bizarre. He sleeps in a tent and cooks on
a campfire, but tells Mr, when the latter
ventures over to introduce himself, that he
has great plans for a mansion, no less.
Mr, who owns a hardware store, offers
to help, and together they start clearing
the land of vegetation, heaping it into a
great mountain. If this all sounds somehow
reasonable, then be assured: its not.
The Folly is as absurd as they come,
its serious demeanour undercut by the
sense that any eruption of common sense
will be fallen upon as if by wolves and
comprehensively shredded of its dignity.
Here is Nieuwenhuizen, physically divining
the layout of his house-to-come:
He stepped off with his right foot and
took six stiff paces. The earth felt unusually
firm and steady. When his left foot came
down for the third time, in the middle of
IE, he flung the hammer in his right hand
forward with all his might, pivoted on his
heel, toppled sideways, flew in the air,
flapped after the hammer like a broken
wing, went rigid as a statue in mid-air, hung
motionless for a long, oblique instant, and
crashed to earth with a cry of triumph.
Nieuwenhuizen is a Pied Piper figure,
well able to mesmerise Mr into seeing
and even inhabiting a house that isnt there,
while remaining darkly ambiguous about
his own intentions. But Vladislavi, too, is
a weaver of spells, and I read his book at
once captivated and cautious as to how it
would cap off its vaunting fantasy. There is
an allegory for apartheid here, if you want it,
but equally its a satire on and a love letter
to human gullibility, and, as such, quite
strange, and as special as it is strange.
Order for 9.50 (free p&p) from the
Independent Bookshop: 08430 600 030
Maritime romance
goes down a storm
Pericles
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London
re vie w By paul tay lo r
The lowered chandeliers, candles flickering,

swing through a drifting arc when the
boat bearing Pericles, with his wife and
new-born daughter, finds itself tempesttossed in Dominic Dromgooles beautifully
judged studio-sized production. The play,
containing some of Shakespeares most
haunting speeches, is an episodic drama
with a sundered-apart family, resurrections
and redemptive reunions. Directors tend to
over-produce or over-interpret it.
Not so Dromgoole. His cast do rich, racy
justice to the heterogeneity and quirkiness
of the characters, from threatening,
incestuous monarchs to simple fishermen
and haplessly venal brothel-keepers. He
trusts the pulling-power of the story and
mines its emotional truth. At one point
James Garnons melancholy, heartfelt
Pericles has to give up his motherless baby
daughter to the temporary care of others
and, in his grief and distress, struggles to
find the right parting words for Lychorida,
her nurse. Its intensely touching, just as the
comedy is full of wily warmth. And when
characters come round from the sleep of
supposed death, the production glows.
To 21 April (020 7401 9919)
Firestarter: Prodigy still have the high energy levels of their heyday afp/ g etty
The Prodigy/Public Enemy
Hydro, Glasgow
r eview By DAVI D PO L LOCK
Some may have viewed this arena double

bill as a novelty package tour of headline
controversies from years gone by. Footing
the bill and representing hazy memories
of raps early days in the 1980s are Long
Islands Public Enemy, mostly in their 50s
now, but still a stark reminder of the days
when angry, socially conscious lyrics were
the genres norm. Alongside them, Essex
rave icons the Prodigy, fondly remembered
for the cartoonish but cobweb-clearing
punk aesthetic which frightened so many
parents during the bands heyday in the
Nineties.
Their time at the cutting edge of culture
may be behind them, but both groups
are still admirably active and fiercely
uncompromising. In July, Public Enemy
released their 13th studio record Man Plans,
God Laughs, and the title track fitted in
here as a bullishly confrontational classic
in the vein of Bring the Noise, Fight the
Power and Shut Em Down, all played in
the set. Am I a radical? / am I a pacifist?
/ am I scared to fight? / I aint askin, spat
Chuck D, laying his cards down.
Against a backdrop of blood-red lights
and DJ Lords screeching mixes, the
unlikely dynamic at the core of the group
retained perfect balance: on the one hand,
Chucks learned, heads-down agit-prop; on
the other, the clock-wearing Flavor Flavs
visceral party-hard style. They may have
been inadvertently off-message with one
another when Chuck declared he would
have voted for Scottish independence
and Flav said he was against all forms of
separatism (although the comment was

aimed at racist motherfuckers in his own
country), but their lively set was enhanced
by the firmness of belief that is at the
musics heart.
After Public Enemy, the fact that the
Prodigy could be placed in the same bracket
was the real surprise of the evening. In
their glory days they were viewed as a loud
and lairy party band, with their simplistic
lyrical edge regularly causing tabloid furore
(the pyromaniac Firestarter here sounds
almost childishly snotty, although Smack
My Bitch Up is even harder to like or
understand after two decades of feminist
advance). Yet if programmer
Liam Howlett and MCs/
If the
hypemen Maxim and Keith
Prodigy
Flint are out of step with
current fashion, its only to
are out
benefit.
of fashion, their
Under a stunning
lightshow and before
its only
a heaving crowd, the
to their
thundering sonic assault of
guitar, drums and electronic
benefit
bass sounded more fiercely
punk than anything that
had gone before or since, a
take-no-prisoners challenge
to get off the sidelines and get involved.
From classic such as Voodoo People
and Everybody in the Place to the more
recent Invaders Must Die and The Day
is My Enemy the title track of this years
sixth album theyre a thrillingly resolute
experience, and more nakedly political
than might be remembered in the everfresh free party anthem Their Law. The
billing is a perfect match, and a pleasingly
exciting arena experience on the politely
commercial contemporary landscape.
POP
Primal riffs energise

slaves to the system
Slaves
Anson Rooms, Bristol
re vie w By OLIVER HURL EY
Theres something about this Kent twopiece that means you cant quite take
them seriously. Whether its the bovver
boy get-up, the faux edgy name or the
primitive garage-punk that would have been
considered derivative in 1978, they seem
more like a comic book pastiche of a punk
duo than a band whose top-10 debut album
has been shortlisted for the Mercury Prize.
Not that this bothered the first-night
audience of Slaves sold-out UK tour.
Singer/stand-up drummer Isaac Holman
and guitarist Laurie Vincent may consider
their band to be as much about social
commentary as anything else, but for the
excitable crowd a bouncing mass from
opener White Knuckle Ride onwards
this is pure jump-up-and-down catharsis.
Sure, the lyrics may touch on the
mundanity of the nine-to-five or, in the case
of Do Something, aspire to be anti-apathy
rallying cries, but Slaves are no Sleaford
Mods. Indeed, a new song about television
is built around a chorus of hypnotise,
which is about as insightful as it gets. Its all
gumption over craft yet this live act is an
object lesson in how far an energetic stage
presence and primal riffs will take you.
43
THE INDEPENDENT Monday 30 November 2015 l
THEATRE GUIDE
TO ADVERTISE CALL 0203 615 2244
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London Palladium 0844 811 0059
STOMP
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Until 2 Jan 2016
Thu, Sat & Sun 3pm, Sun 6pm
SEE IT PRIOR TO BROADWAY
CATS
Cambridge Theatre 0844 412 4652
DONT MISS OUT THIS TIME
MATILDA THE MUSICAL
www.catsthemusical.com
Dominion Theatre 0844 815 6121
Mon-Sat 7.30pm / Thu & Sat 2.30pm
miss-saigon.com
Or visit www.thelionking.co.uk
ELF
Disneys THE LION KING
PRINCE OF WALES 0844 482 5110
The Smash Hit Musical
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Wed, Sat & Sun 2.30pm

elfthemusical.co.uk
WINNER! 4 OLIVIER & 9 TONY AWARDS

Christmas 2.30pm shows 24 & 26 Dec
including Best Musical

Haymarket 020 7930 8800
LYRIC THEATRE 0330 333 4812
SIMON RUSSELL BEALE in
MR FOOTES OTHER LEG
THE BOOK OF MORMON
THRILLER LIVE!
www.bookofmormonlondon.com
By Ian Kelly | Directed by Richard Eyre
Tue-Fri 7.30, Sat 4&8, Sun 3.30 & 7.30
Marvellously entertaining D.Telegraph
Flyingmusicboxofce.com
Mon-Sat 7.30pm, Wed & Sat 2.30pm
QUEENS 0844 482 5160

Day seats 15 in person only
NOVELLO 0844 482 5115

The Musical Phenomenon
MrFootesOtherLeg.com
MAMMA MIA!
HER MAJESTYS 0844 412 2707
THE BRILLIANT ORIGINAL
Mon-Sat 7.45pm, Thurs & Sat 3pm
LES MISRABLES
www.Mamma-Mia.com
Eves 7.30, Mats Wed & Sat 2.30
THE PHANTOM OF
THE OPERA
Piccadilly Theatre 0844 871 7630
Mon-Sat 7.30, Thu & Sat 2.30
JERSEY BOYS
www.ThePhantomOfTheOpera.com
Tue-Sat 7.30pm, Tue & Sat 3pm, Sun 5pm
Fascinating ants take centre stage in

Attenboroughs exceptional show
MISS SAIGON
MatildaTheMusical.com
LYCEUM call 0844 871 3000
The Weekends TV
Amy Burns
www.LesMis.com
t he hu n t SunDAY, bbc1 j eky ll a n d h y d e SunDAY, itv
I think Ive finally

figured out how Disney
does it. The incredibly
cute yet lifelike
animated creatures, I
mean. Theyve obviously been studying the
same fancy slow-motion cameras as used on
The Hunt all along.
This exceptional piece of kit, as explained
by the operative during last nights
episode, actually slows down the footage
as it captures it, allowing for a much more
detailed, intricate sequence. The end result
was that every creature captured looked like
a perfectly animated version of itself. Slowed
down and close-up even the ants as they
tackled wind, sand, soaring temperatures
(up to 70C) and a variety of sneaky predators
were cute. Their strong, writhing bodies
were exactly like a scene from A Bugs Life
and the daily battle they faced just to get
food was worthy of a film in itself.
Last nights action narrated by the
brilliant Sir David Attenborough took
place in the plains, deserts and grasslands
that make up half of the land on our
planet. They also offer little cover for those
struggling to survive there. But if theres no
cover for the hunted, theres no cover for the
hunters either. As Sir David explained, in
this exposed landscape 60 per cent of hunts
end in failure and success comes down to
strategy, not strength. Scenes around the
watering-hole, filmed during the hottest
part of the day when the animals know the
lions will be too tired to attack, could have
come straight out of The Lion King. Even
the cheetahs looked like cuddly toys albeit
cuddly toys that can run like the wind and
tear you to pieces.
Less Disney-friendly however, was a pack
of lions pursuit of a lone buffalo these
guys were less Simba, more Satan. More
incredible than their sheer strength however,
was that despite being outnumbered threeto-one the bull dripping with blood and
peppered with wounds was able to right
himself again, gore one of the exhausted,
over-heated lions and escape with its life.
This BBC series has billed itself as an

intimate and detailed look at the remarkable
strategies employed by hunters to catch
their prey and the hunted to escape. And
it couldnt be more intimate or detailed.
Footage during last nights episode, subtitled
Nowhere to Hide, included close-ups of a
caracal a wild cat with incredibly beautiful
giant ears. So intricate was the portrait of
this extraordinary bird-catcher, that I swear
I could see how its nose turned up ever so
slightly at the end. And the slow-mo footage
of it jumping up to catch a guinea fowl was
spellbinding. When nature is this good, who
needs Disney?
Even the cheetahs looked like cuddly

toys albeit cuddly toys that can run
like the wind and tear you to pieces
Over on ITV, Jekyll and Hyde continued
to defy nature with more shape-shifting
fun. This week poor Robert (Tom Bateman)
finally managed to track down a distant
relation, only to discover (*spoiler alert*)
that she too was part monster and she
appeared to be exercising a little less selfrestraint than he usually does.
Jekyll and Hyde has taken a while to find
its feet. But now that its in full stride, its
a great example of suspense-filled, fantasy
television. There has been much suggestion
that it is too scary for its pre-watershed
slot. And it is man-eating dogs, dark
forests, flashbacks and nightmares and an
incredibly sad death scene all featured in last
nights episode. But its fast-paced, actionpacked compelling stuff. The characters
are establishing themselves as increasingly
ridiculous yet increasingly likable week-onweek and the storyline has become much
more focused. And while it might be a little
far-fetched, all that
death, destruction and
flesh consumption is
nothing that doesnt go
on in nature.
ST MARTINS 020 7836 1443
63rd year of Agatha Christies

OFFERS
Henry V: 10 off
selected tickets
From 23 November 3 December 2015

at the Barbican, London
THE MOUSETRAP
Mon - Sat 7.30pm, Mats Tue 3pm & Sat 4pm
TO BOOK: call 020 7638 8891 or visit barbican.org.uk

and quote promo code 986565
Terms and Conditions Promotion closes at 23:59 on 28 November 2015.
Offer valid on B and A and B seats on all performances Monday Thursday
from 23 November to 3 December 2015 at The Barbican. This offer doesnt
apply to tickets already purchased and can be withdrawn at any time. Offer
cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. Barbican box office
opening times: 10am8pm MondaySaturday, 11am8pm Sunday. Subject
to availability. Promoter: Royal Shakespeare Company.
www.the-mousetrap.co.uk
Sting in the tail: The Hunt beautifully highlighted natures cruel power Si lv er bac k Fi l ms
44
Section2
Television&Radio
Critics choice
By G ERARD G I L BER T
Simply Nigella
8.30pm BBC2
Different days require
certain types of food,
reckons Nigella. So, down
to the nitty-gritty and were
talking a salad of salmon,
avocado, watercress and
pumpkin seeds, and a
chicken shawarma.
Tomorrows Food
9pm BBC1
It doesnt answer back, it
doesnt call in sick and its
never late, coos Angela
Hartnett as she invites a
robot into her kitchen.
Hartnett also jets off to
Canada to visit an insect
farm, while Dara O Briain

hangs out at Ocados main
warehouse in Warwickshire.
London Spy 9pm BBC2
In the penultimate episode
of Tim Rob Smiths thriller
we discover just why all
those rival intelligence
agencies have expended
so much care in order to
kill Alex and frame Danny
(Ben Whishaw, left, with
Jim Broadbent).
murder investigation as
police try to discover who
stabbed to death 19-year-old
Bristol student, Nicholas
Robinson, in March 2014.
The Murder Detectives

9pm Channel 4
A new documentary series
unfolding over the next
three nights follows one
Britains Outlaws:
Highwaymen,
Pirates and Rogues
9pm and 2.50am BBC4
The difference between
a pirate and a privateer is
apparently that the latter
was a pirate licensed by the
British Crown to raid ships
belonging to His Majestys
enemies. This enlightening
series continues with the
true stories of Captain
Kidd and Blackbeard.
Film choice
By Lauren c e Phel a n
Indiscreet 2.45pm Film4

(Stanley Donen, 1958)
Having lit up the screen
in Hitchcocks Notorious,
Cary Grant and Ingrid
Bergman were paired
for a second time in this
romantic comedy adapted
from a Broadway play. Hes
an American diplomat who
pretends to be married;
shes a famed actress
offended by the pretence.
American Sniper
8pm Sky Movies Greats
(Clint Eastwood, 2014)
US Navy Seal sniper Chris
Kyle (played by Bradley
Cooper, left) shot and killed
Monday 30 November
BBC1
BBC2
ITV
Channel 4
Channel 5
6.00 Breakfast (S). 9.15 Fake Britain

(S). 10.00 Homes Under the
Hammer (R) (S). 11.00 Oxford Street
Revealed (S). 11.45 Rip Off Britain:
Food (S). 12.15 Bargain Hunt (S).
1.00 BBC News at One; Weather (S).
1.30 BBC Regional News and
Weather (S). 1.45 Doctors (S). 2.15
The Doctor Blake Mysteries (S). 3.10
Escape to the Country (R) (S). 4.15
Flog It! (S). 5.15 Pointless (R) (S).
6.00 Escape to the Country (R) (S).

6.45 Oxford Street Revealed (R) (S).
7.30 Len and Ainsleys Big Food
Adventure (R) (S). 8.15 Sign Zone:
Caught Red Handed (R) (S). 8.45 Sign
Zone: Thief Trackers (R) (S). 9.15
Victoria Derbyshire (S). 11.00 BBC
News (S). 12.00 Daily Politics (S). 1.00
Live Snooker: UK Championship
Coverage of round three from York (S).
6.00 Good Morning Britain (S). 8.30

Lorraine (S). 9.25 The Jeremy Kyle
Show (S). 10.30 This Morning (S).
12.30 Loose Women (S). 1.30 ITV
News; Weather (S). 1.55 Regional
News; Weather (S). 2.00 Judge Rinder
(S). 3.00 1000 Heartbeats (S). 4.00
Tipping Point (S). 5.00 The Chase (S).
6.00 Countdown (R) (S). 6.45 3rd Rock

from the Sun (R) (S). 7.35 Everybody
Loves Raymond (R) (S). 9.00 Frasier (R)
(S). 10.30 Undercover Boss USA (R) (S).
11.30 Come Dine with Me: Celebrity
Christmas Special (R) (S). 12.00 Channel
4 News (S). 12.05 Come Dine with Me:
Celebrity Christmas Special (R) (S). 2.10
Deal or No Deal (S). 3.10 Countdown (S).
4.00 Posh Pawnbrokers (S). 5.00
Couples Come Dine with Me (S).
6.00 Milkshake! 9.15 The Wright Stuff

11.25 FILM The Christmas Shepherd
(Terry Ingram 2014) Drama, starring Teri
Polo (S). 1.10 5 News Lunchtime (S).
1.15 Home and Away (S). 1.45
Neighbours (S). 2.15 NCIS: New
Orleans (R) (S). 3.15 FILM A Christmas
Visitor (Christopher Leitch 2002) Drama,
starring Reagan Pasternak (S). 5.00 5
News at 5 (S). 5.30 Neighbours (R) (S).
6.00 BBC News at Six; Weather

(S).
6.00 Eggheads Quiz show, hosted

by Jeremy Vine (R) (S).
6.00 Regional News; Weather (S).
6.00 The Simpsons Homer is

paralysed by a venomous spider (S).
6.30 BBC Regional News

Programmes (S).
6.30 Strictly Come Dancing It

Takes Two Zoe Ball chats to the
latest couple to be voted off (S).
6.00 Home and Away Hannah

warns Nate about getting too close
to Ricky (R) (S).
7.00 The One Show (S).

7.30 Fake Britain Investigating
substandard bike helmets. (S).
8.00 EastEnders (S).
8.30 British Bribery Exposed
Panorama Richard Bilton reports
on corruption in one of Britains
biggest companies (S).
9.00 Tomorrows Food
See Critics Choice, above (S).

10.00 BBC News at Ten (S).
10.25 BBC Regional News and
Weather (S).
10.35 Have I Got a Bit More
News for You (S).
6.30 ITV News; Weather (S).

7.00 Emmerdale Chas sinks into
emotional turmoil (S).
7.00 Grand Tours of the Scottish

Islands Paul Murton visits Islay (S).
7.30 Coronation Street Sarah

returns to Weatherfield (S).
7.30 Only Connect The Athenians

take on the Bookworms in the last
second-round match (S).
8.00 The Martin Lewis Money

Show News on help for first-time
buyers (S).
8.00 University Challenge The

second round continues (S).
8.30 Im a Celebrity Get Me

Out of Here! Ant and Dec present
highlights from the past 24 hours as
the famous faces spend another day
collecting firewood and tucking into
rations, as well as performing the
odd task (S).
8.30 Simply Nigella See Critics

Choice, above (S).
9.00 London Spy See Critics

Choice, above (S).
10.00 Live at the Apollo Romesh

Ranganathan hosts, with guests
Jason Byrne and Stewart Francis (S).
10.00 ITV News at Ten; Weather

(S).
10.30 Regional News; Weather (S).
10.30 Newsnight (S).
10.40 Travel Guides (R) (S).
11.20 Doctor in the House

Dr Chatterjee tries to get to the
bottom of a mans back pain (R) (S).
11.15 Snooker: UK Championship

Highlights from the Barbican Centre,
York (S).
11.45 Murder, She Wrote Jessica

impersonates a friend (R) (S).
12.25 BBC News (S). To 6am.
12.05 Snooker: UK Championship

Extra (S). 2.05 Sign Zone: The
Apprentice (R) (S). 3.05 Sign Zone:
The Great Pottery Throw Down (R) (S).
4.05 This Is BBC Two (S). To 6am.
12.35 Jackpot247 3.00 The Jeremy

Kyle Show (R) (S). 3.50 ITV
Nightscreen 5.05 The Jeremy Kyle
Show (R) (S). To 6am.
6.30 Hollyoaks Louis takes out his

stress about Joanne on Simone, and
Tegan is jealous when Ziggy treats
Leela for her birthday (S).
7.00 Channel 4 News (S).
8.00 The Worlds Most Famous
Train Documentary following the
lives of staff and passengers on the
Venice Simplon-Orient-Express as
the train makes its way through
Europe, with some customers
having paid more than 2,000 for
the privilege (S).
9.00 The Murder Detectives

See Critics Choice, above (S).
10.15 Fargo Lou and Hank head to

Fargo as they continue their
investigation, the King of Breakfast
visits Betsy and Molly, and Bear
questions the loyalty of one of his
family (S).
11.25 The Worlds Most Expensive
Food The luxury food suppliers who
cater to Britains growing number of
billionaires (R) (S).
12.25 Ramsays Hotel Hell (R) (S). 1.10
The Undateables (R) (S). 2.05 FILM Of
Horses and Men (Benedikt Erlingsson
2013) See Film Choice, above. 3.25 Four
Rooms (S). 4.15 Location, Location,
Location (R) (S). 5.10 Deal or No Deal
(R) (S). To 6am.
6.30 5 News Tonight (S).

7.00 The Gadget Show Jon
Bentley finds out if the iPhone 6S
really is a must-have for Apples
millions of devotees (S).
8.00 Ultimate Police Interceptors
Highlights of the series following the
work of a pursuit team using an array
of high-performance cars equipped
with technology for catching lawbreakers. Last in the series (S).
BBC 4
7.00 World News Today; Weather

(S).
7.30 Railway Walks Disused train
tracks in the heart of the Peak
District (R) (S).
8.00 Railway Walks Julia Bradbury
visits the Mawddach estuary in
Snowdonia, a popular destination for
holidaymakers in the 1860s (R) (S).
8.30 The Quizeum From the
Museum of Science and Industry in
Manchester (S).
9.00 Britains Outlaws:

Highwaymen, Pirates and
Rogues See Critics Choice,
9.00 Dino Autopsy: T-Rex

This groundbreaking programme
features the worlds first full-size
reconstruction of an anatomically
complete Tyrannosaurus rex. The
model is lifelike inside and out,
giving a team of veterinary surgeons,
anatomists and palaeontologists the
chance to touch it, smell it and cut it
open from head to toe (S).
10.00 Storyville: FBI Undercover

Documentary following an unfolding
counterterrorism operation involving
an FBI informant who is told to
befriend a white Muslim convert
who has made pro-terrorist
statements (S).
11.00 Cant Pay? Well Take It Away

Two agents face a web of deceit in a
delicatessen (R) (S).
11.20 Lost Land of the Tiger Gordon

Buchanan captures footage of a snow
leopard cub. Last in the series (R) (S).
12.00 Law & Order: Special Victims

Unit (S). 12.45 Criminals: Caught on
Camera (R) (S). 1.15 SuperCasino 3.10
Loch Lomond: a Year in the Wild (R)
(S). 4.00 Wildlife SOS (R) (S). 4.25
HouseBusters (R) (S). 4.45 House
Doctor (R) (S). 5.10 House Doctor (R)
(S). 5.35 House Doctor (R) (S). To 6am.
12.20 Empire of the Seas: How the

Navy Forged the Modern World (R) (S).
1.20 Botany: a Blooming History (R)
(S). 2.20 The Quizeum (R) (S). 2.50
Britains Outlaws: Highwaymen,
Pirates and Rogues See Critics Choice,
above (R) (S). 3.50 Close
above (S).
Regional
variations
45
160-plus people in Iraq, with

an apparently untroubled
conscience and unshakable
faith in US foreign policy
and military values. This
film is similarly competent;
visceral and thrilling; less
jingoistic than some critics
think, yet more troubling
than it cares to admit.
dance of empowerment
and subjugation, mutual
economic exploitation, selfdelusion and colonialism,
while holidaying in Kenya
with the explicit intention
of paying for sex.
Radio choice
By GERAR D GI LB ERT
Paradise: Love
1.20am Film4
(Ulrich Seidl, 2012)
In the first part of Seidls
Paradise trilogy, a lonely
50-year-old Austrian woman
(Margarethe Tiesel) enacts a
fascinating, disturbing and
increasingly desperate
Of Horses and Men

2.05am Channel 4
(Benedikt Erlingsson, 2013)
This highly idiosyncratic
film presents a series of
interlinked vignettes about
the people and horses of a
small Icelandic valley. The
characters relationships
with each other and their
animals are drawn with a
graceful visual economy.
More 4
E4
Film4
8.55 Grand Designs (R) (S). 10.00

Building the Dream (R) (S). 11.05
Jamies Super Food (R) (S). 11.40
Hughs 3 Good Things: Best Bites (R)
(S). 11.55 FILM The Big Blockade
(Charles Frend 1942) (S). 1.25 Time
Team Special: the Bone Cave (R) (S).
2.30 Time Team (R) (S). 3.35 Nazi
Megastructures (R) (S). 4.40 A Place
in the Sun: Home or Away (R) (S).
5.45 A Place in the Sun (R) (S).
6.00 Revenge (R) (S). 6.45 Charmed

(R) (S). 8.30 Hollyoaks (R) (S). 9.00
Rules of Engagement (R) (S). 10.00
Melissa & Joey (R) (S). 11.00 Charmed
(R) (S). 1.00 How I Met Your Mother (R)
(S). 2.00 The Big Bang Theory (R) (S).
3.00 Melissa & Joey (R) (S). 4.00
Marvels Agents of SHIELD (R) (S).
5.00 How I Met Your Mother (R) (S).
11.00 23 Paces to Baker Street (Henry

Hathaway 1956) Thriller, starring Van
Johnson (S). 1.05 The Son of Robin
Hood (George Sherman 1958) Adventure,
starring June Laverick (S). 2.45
Indiscreet (Stanley Donen 1958) See
Film Choice, above (S). 4.50 Demetrius
and the Gladiators (Delmer Daves 1954)
Historical drama, with Victor Mature (S).
6.50 Penelope Keiths Hidden

Villages The actress travels through
Royal Deeside, a remote part of
Aberdeenshire (R) (S).
6.00 The Big Bang Theory

Howards stag party leads to a
problem (R) (S).
6.55 The Secret Life of Bees

(Gina Prince-Bythewood 2008)
A 14-year-old girl who accidentally
killed her mother when she
was a toddler flees her home,
accompanied by the familys
housekeeper. While searching for a
location from her mothers past,
they find solace with three sisters
who run a bee-keeping business.
Drama set in the deep south of
America during the Sixties, starring
Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah,
Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys (S).
7.55 Grand Designs Colin

Mackinnon and Marta Briongos take
on an ambitious project to build a
bespoke metal home next to an
airfield runway, but their plans are
hit by bad weather (R) (S).
9.00 Aldis Supermarket Secrets:
Channel 4 Dispatches An
undercover investigation of the
supermarkets practices, examining if
its promises to provide amazing value
are delivered without compromising
on quality and service (R) (S).
6.30 The Big Bang Theory (R) (S).

7.00 Hollyoaks Leela makes Tegan
choose between her and Ziggy (S).
7.30 A to Z New series. US
romantic comedy (S).
Sheldon and Penny bond (R) (S).
Leonard and Sheldon go through an
adjustment period (R) (S).
The Incubator 11am Radio 4

Clare Jenkins presents a
personal insight into the
world of premature babies
(left). Its something she
knew nothing about until
Christmas 2013, when her
twin nephews were born,
four months early.
Sinatra in the UK
10pm Radio 2
Bill Kenwright tells the
story of Frank Sinatras 1953
UK tour. Smarting from his
failed marriage to Ava
Gardner and tax problems,
Sinatra spent two months in
England and Scotland, often
playing to small audiences.
RADIO 1
6.30am The Radio 1 Breakfast Show with

Nick Grimshaw 10.00 Clara Amfo 12.45pm
Newsbeat 1.00 Scott Mills 4.00 Dev 7.00
Annie Mac 9.00 The Internet Takeover 10.00
Huw Stephens 1am Friction 4.00 Adele
Roberts. To 6.30am.
RADIO 2
6.30am Chris Evans 9.30 Ken Bruce 12noon

Jeremy Vine 2.00 Steve Wright in the
Afternoon 5.00 Simon Mayo 7.00 Paul Jones
8.00 Jo Whiley 10.00 Sinatra in the UK. See
Radio Choice, left. 11.00 Jools Holland
12mdnt After Midnight 3.03 Johnnie
Walkers Sounds of the 70s 5.00 Vanessa
Feltz. To 6.30am.
RADIO 3
6.30am Breakfast 9.00 Essential Classics

12noon Composer of the Week: CPE Bach
1.00 News 1.02 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert
2.00 Afternoon on 3 4.30 In Tune 6.30
Composer of the Week: CPE Bach 7.30 Radio
3 in Concert 10.00 Music Matters 10.45
Between the Essays 11.00 Jazz on 3 12.30am
Through the Night. To 6.30am.
Incubator. See Radio Choice, left. 11.30 The

Missing Hancocks 12noon News 12.04 One
to One 12.15 You and Yours 12.57 Weather
1.00 The World at One 1.45 A Walk of Ones
Own: Virginia Woolf on Foot 2.00 The Archers
2.15 Drama: When Last I Saw You 3.00 Round
Britain Quiz 3.30 The Food Programme 4.00
Tales from the Stave 4.30 Beyond Belief 5.00
PM 5.57 Weather 6.00 Six OClock News
6.30 Im Sorry I Havent a Clue 7.00 The
Archers 7.15 Front Row 7.45 Greater Love
8.00 Changing Climate 8.30 Crossing
Continents 9.00 The Secret Lives of Carers
9.30 Start the Week 10.00 The World Tonight
10.45 Book at Bedtime: Dark Corners 11.00
Wireless Nights 11.30 Today in Parliament
12mdnt News and Weather 12.30 Book of
the Week: The Railways: Nation, Network
and People 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.00 As
BBC World Service To 5.20am.
RADIO 4 LW
9.45am Daily Service 12.01pm Shipping

Forecast 5.54 Shipping Forecast
RADIO 5
6am Today 9.00 Start the Week 9.45 Book

of the Week: The Railways: Nation, Network
and People 10.00 Womans Hour 11.00 The
6am 5 Live Breakfast 10.00 5 Live Daily 1pm

Afternoon Edition 4.00 5 Live Drive 7.00
5 Live Sport 9.00 European Football Show
10.30 Phil Williams. News, entertainment
and guests. 1am Up All Night 5.00 Morning
Reports 5.15 Wake Up to Money. To 6am.
Sky Atlantic
Sky Arts
London Live
6.00 Seinfeld (R) (S). 8.00 Stargate

Atlantis (R) (S). 9.00 Star Trek:
Enterprise (R) (S). 10.00 The West
Wing (R). 11.00 Cold Case (R) (S). 12.00
Without a Trace (R) (S). 1.00 Blue
Bloods (R) (S). 3.00 Star Trek:
Enterprise (R) (S). 4.00 Micro
Monsters with David Attenborough (R)
(S). 5.00 The West Wing
6.00 Happy Prince (S). 6.30 Ladies &

Gentlemen, Miss Rene Fleming (S).
8.00 FILM Tosca (Benoit Jacquot 2001)
Adaptation of Puccinis opera, starring
Angela Gheorghiu. 10.20 2Cellos (S).
12.00 Tales of the Unexpected (S). 1.55
Othello (S). 5.00 My Shakespeare (S).
6.00 Natural Born Dealers 7.00

Made in Chelsea 8.00 Desmonds
8.30 London Live News (R). 10.00
Desmonds 11.00 Londons Burning
(R). 12.00 What to Watch 12.30
London Live News 2.00 FILM
Trouble Brewing (Anthony Kimmins
1939) 3.45 FILM My Learned Friend
(Basil Dearden, Will Hay 1943) 5.15
Movie Talk Shorts: Ludivine Sagnier
5.30 Movie Talk: Martin Scorsese
6.00 Without a Trace An ice

dancer disappears (R) (S).
6.00 Cirque Berzerk

A performance by the Los Angelesbased alternative circus troupe that
serves up a mysteriously sinister
and thrilling display of fire-eating,
hula-hooping and trampolining (S).
6.00 London Live News
7.00 Cold Case Two bodies are

unearthed (S).
8.00 Blue Bloods Emotions run
high for Danny when a woman he
promised to help following the
deaths of her parents commits
suicide. Meanwhile, the Reagans
suffer a devastating loss (R) (S).
9.00 Mr Sloane Jeremy must
choose between pursuing Robin and
giving his marriage with Janet
another go. Meanwhile, his friends
reveal dark secrets on New Years
Eve. Last in the series (R) (S).
9.35 How to Stop Your Nuisance

Calls: Channel 4 Dispatches
A report on the tactics used by
cold-callers (R) (S).
9.00 Made in Chelsea After being

shut out of Jamies life, Jess is
desperate for a reconciliation, while
Toff decides to make her move and
ask Richard out (S).
10.05 24 Hours in A&E A rail

worker is airlifted in after being hit
by a high-speed train (R) (S).
10.00 Scream Queens The sorority

girls make a shocking discovery
during a slumber party (S).
9.00 Immortals (Tarsem Singh

2011) A power-mad ancient Greek
king raises an army with the
intention of not only conquering the
known world, but using a mystical
weapon to unleash the legendary
titans and overthrow the gods. The
immortal deities are unable to
interfere directly, so select a mortal
man to be their champion and defeat
the tyrant. Mythological adventure,
starring Henry Cavill and Mickey
Rourke (S).
11.15 24 Hours in A&E An 86-year-old

woman is found to have lost five pints of
blood (R) (S).
11.00 Gogglebox Commentary on

Jamies Cracking Christmas and The
Royal Variety Performance (R) (S).
11.10 Wanted (Timur Bekmambetov

2008) Action adventure, starring James
McAvoy and Angelina Jolie (S).
11.10 Thought Crimes: the Case Of The

Cannibal Cop Exploring the case of
former NYPD officer Gilberto Valle (S).
12.20 Embarrassing Bodies (R) (S).

1.20 24 Hours in A&E (R) (S). 2.25
Salvage SOS (S). 2.55 Salvage SOS (S).
3.20 Salvage SOS (S). 3.45 Close
12.00 The Big Bang Theory (R) (S).

12.35 The Big Bang Theory (R) (S). 1.00
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (R) (S). 1.30 Made
in Chelsea (R) (S). 2.25 Scream Queens
(R) (S). 3.10 Rude Tube (R) (S). 4.05
Marvels Agents of SHIELD (R) (S).
4.45 Revenge (R) (S). To 6am.
1.20 Paradise: Love (Ulrich Seidl 2012)

See Film Choice, above. 3.50 Close
12.50 Curb Your Enthusiasm (R). 1.30

Curb Your Enthusiasm (R). 2.10 Curb
Your Enthusiasm (R). 2.50 Black Mass:
Benedict Cumberbatch & Johnny
Depp On Black Mass (R) (S). 3.05
Vegas (R) (S). 4.00 Star Trek:
Enterprise (R) (S). 5.00 Micro
Monsters with David Attenborough (R)
(S). 5.30 Micro Monsters with David
Attenborough (R) (S). To 6am.
9.30 Bridge of Spies: Special

10.00 The Leftovers Mystery
drama set in a New York community
where the locals are still coming to
terms with the disappearance of two
per cent of the worlds population.
Justin Theroux stars (S).
RADIO 4
7.30 Bridge of Spies: Sky Movies

Special A look at Steven Spielbergs
historical thriller starring Tom Hanks.
8.00 Discovering: Marlene
Dietrich A profile of the German
actress and singer, who made her
name in films such as Shanghai
Express and The Blue Angel (S).
7.00 Jimmy Bullard Kicks Off

A look at Londons hottest
sports stories.
8.00 Desmonds Porkpie mounts
a protest against the Channel
Tunnel rail link.
8.30 Desmonds Shirley starts
self-defence classes.
9.00 Green Wing Guy searches
for somewhere to live, and a
newcomer arrives. Hospital
comedy drama, with Stephen
Mangan (R).
9.00 The Rocky Horror Show

Live A production of Richard
OBriens outrageous rock n roll
musical from Londons Playhouse
Theatre (S).
10.00 Fight Night: White Collar

Boxing The world of unlicensed
boxing (R).
10.50 Sex & the Silver Screen

Censorship in Depression-era
Hollywood, as concerned citizens
clashed with a film industry
desperate to reach new audiences.
10.30 FILM Cass (Jon S Baird

2008) Biopic of Cass Pennant,
the first long-term prisoner for
football-related violence. Starring
Nonso Anozie and Nathalie Press.
12.05 FILM Revanche (Gotz Spielmann

2008) Crime thriller, starring Johannes
Krisch. 2.30 Mary Pickford: the Muse
of the Movies (S). 4.45 South Bank
Masterclasses: Abi Morgan 5.00
Discovering: Marlene Dietrich (S).
To 6am.
12.45 Green Wing (R). 1.45 Green

Wing (R). 2.45 Movie Talk Shorts:
Ludivine Sagnier (R). 3.00 Cage
Fighter 3.30 Cage Fighter 4.00
Haringey Box Cup 2015 5.00
London Live Review (R). 5.30
London Live Review To 6am.
BBC1 N IRELAND AS BBC1 EXCEPT: 7.30-8.00 12 Miles: the Narrow Sea. 9.00-10.00 Mary McAleese & the Man Who Saved Europe. 10.35 True North: Boys of 69. 11.05 True North Shorts: a Life of Death. 11.10 Tomorrows Food. 12.10 Doctor in the House. 1.10-6.00 BBC News.
BBC1 SCOTLAND AS BBC1 EXCEPT: 7.30-8.00 The Mountain. 10.35 Coming Oot! The Fabulous History of Gay Scotland. 11.35 Have I Got a Bit More News for You. 12.20-1.15 Doctor in the House. 1.20-6.00 BBC News. BBC1 WALES AS BBC1 EXCEPT: 7.30-8.00 X-Ray.
10.35 Wales in the Eighties. 11.05 Have I Got a Bit More News for You. 11.50-12.50 Doctor in the House. 12.55-6.00 BBC News. BBC2 N IRELAND AS BBC2 EXCEPT: 10.00-10.30 I Lr an Aonaigh. 11.15 Stormont Today. 11.45 Live at the Apollo. 12.15 Snooker: UK Championship.
1.05-2.05 Snooker: UK Championship Extra. BBC2 SCOTLAND AS BBC2 EXCEPT: 10.30 Scotland 2015. 11.00-11.40 Newsnight. 11.45 Snooker: UK Championship. 12.35-2.05 Snooker: UK Championship Extra. STV AS ITV EXCEPT: 10.30 Scotland Tonight. 11.05 Travel Guides.
12.05 After Midnight. 2.00-5.05 ITV Nightscreen. UTV AS ITV EXCEPT: 8.00-8.30 Daniel and Majellas B&B Road Trip. 10.30 News: UTV Live Tonight. 11.10 Travel Guides. 12.10 Murder, She Wrote. 1.00 Teleshopping. 2.30-3.00 ITV Nightscreen. S4C 7.00 Cyw. 10.00 Y Ffair Aeaf
2015. 12.00 Y Ffair Aeaf 2015. 1.55 Newyddion. 2.00 Y Ffair Aeaf 2015. 4.00 Awr Fawr. 5.00 Stwnsh. 6.00 Pobol y Cwm. 6.25 Newyddion. 6.30 Sgorio. 7.00 Heno. 8.00 Pobol y Cwm. 8.25 Y Ffair Aeaf 2015. 9.00 Newyddion. 9.30 Y Ffair Aeaf 2015. 10.00 Clwb Rygbi. 11.50 Diwedd.
46
Section2
Games&Puzzles
Londons Leading
Independent
Hotel Group:
www.grangehotels.com;
@grangehotels
Concise crossword #9087
Chess Jon Speelman

Although playing chess is
a silent and more or less
hostile activity, chess players
are no less social than other
people, and like to meet
away from the board, often
to eat and drink together
after the round is over.
Indeed, the very fact that
we can express aggression
in such a cathartic way
makes relations much more
straightforward than for
those in jobs politicians,
for example who are forced
to smile at their colleagues,
whatever their real views.
Like other groups, there
also tend to be clusters of
players who live fairly close
to each other, normally in
big cities. And as a result,
the city leagues tend to be
strong, even though not
all the top players will take
part. This applies to most
capitals, including London,
and more so in countries
such as Russia, where chess
has a higher profile.
Todays games come from
Moscow, where the nine
rounds of the annual team
championship were held
between 15 October and
1 November. Thirteen
teams took part, with two of
them making 15/18 match
points seven wins, a draw
and a loss. These were
SergArk, led by Vladimir
Belous, and Boavishta, led
by Sergei Matsenko; and

since the former had more
game points, they were
declared champions.
There were just over
a dozen 2500-plus
players, including the
two mentioned, and one
in the 2600s, Evgeni
Miroshnichenko. His
team, the Russian State
Humanitarian University,
however, came in the
middle order.
g, ,g,a,
,hn ,hnh
h,fn , ,
, , ,Hx
, NHn ,
, N , ,
HND, N ,
B ,S,A,G
This interesting game
between two of the 2500plus grandmasters is a
reminder of how cautious
you should be when
moving pawns in front of
a castled king.
In an initially quiet
Lopez, White sacrificed his
h pawn to open the h file
and establish a nice centre
with attacking chances.
The most critical moment
came in the diagram, where
Black needs to drum up
some counterplay. The way
to do this is to move the

knight and throw in ....c5
to put pressure on the d
pawn but he felt that he
should first prevent Rh5 and
played 23...g6?. This both
lost a tempo and weakened
the kings defences. His
idea was to run, but after
28.e5! he was thwarted and
White won easily.
Instead, in the diagram
23...Na5! was correct
immediately, when for
example 24.Rh5 (if 24.b3 c5
25.d5 b5 26.Rh5 Qf6 27.Qf3
h6 28.Kg2 Nb7 29.Rah1 c4
Black gets play) 24...Qf6
25.Qg4 c5 26.Kg2 cxd4
27.Rah1 Kf8! (not 27...dxc3?
28.Rh6!) 28.Rxh7 is messy.
Urii Eliseev vs
Oleg Nikolenko
Moscow Team
Championship 2015
Ruy Lopez
1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bb5 a6
4.Ba4 Nf6
5.00 Be7
6.d3 d6
7.c3 00
8.Re1 Bg4
9.Nbd2 Nd7
10.h3 Bh5
11.Bc2 Re8
12.g4 Bg6
13.Nf1 Nf8
14.Ng3 Ne6
15.Nf5 Bg5
16.Nxg5 Nxg5
17.h4 Nh3+
18.Kg2 Nf4+
19.Bxf4 exf4
20.d4 Bxf5
21.gxf5 Qxh4
22.Rh1 Qg5+
23.Kf1
(see diagram)
23...g6
24.Qf3 Na5
25.Qh3 Kf8
26.Qxh7 gxf5
27.Rg1 Qf6
28.e5 dxe5
29.dxe5 Rxe5
30.Rg8+ Ke7
31.Rxa8 Nc4
32.Rd1 Ne3+
33.fxe3 fxe3
34.Re8+
10
10
Love all; dealer East
West
10 6
Q 10 9 8 6
K 7 6 3
9 5
North
A J 7 5 2
7
A Q 8
Q 8 3 2
South
K 8 3
A 5 4 2
J 10 5
A K 6
11
12
13
East
Q 9 4
K J 3
9 4 2
J 10 7 4
The lead here was a heart

to the king and ace. Deas
took the diamond finesse
next. Depending upon
whether it won or lost would
determine how she tackled
the trump suit. If it won,
then she would proceed as
the Chinese declarer had
done at the other table. And
if it lost, she would need the
trump finesse to be working,
as well as clubs 3-3, or the
hand with the doubleton
club to have a doubleton
spade as well.
14
15
16
17
18
21
22
19
Down
1 Profane (12)
2 Place within (5)
3 Submissive person
(Informal) (7)
4 Among (6)
5 Encounters (5)
6 New experience (7)
7 Excessively
sensational (12)
13 Hair arrangement (7)
15 Cough mixture (7)
16 Eccentric
(Informal) (6)
18 Rise from bed (3,2)
20 Large sea (5)
20
23
24
Solution to Saturdays Concise Crossword
Across: 1 Ray, 3 Dart, 5 Wrap (Radar trap), 9 Grasp, 10 Freight, 11 Unintentional,

12 Yell, 14 Limb, 18 Scarlet runner, 20 Drop off, 21 Tempo, 22 Sett, 23 Peer,
24 Nay.
Down: 1 Ragout, 2 Year in year out, 3 Depot, 4 Refine, 6 Rag-and-bone man,
7 Petals, 8 Gemini, 13 Lollop, 15 Asides, 16 Stifle, 17 Droopy, 19 Utter.
Stuck on the concise

crossword? Then call our
NEED HELP WITH THE concise or cryptic crossword?

Stuck on a word? Use your mobile phone to to find possible solutions.
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Codeword #1077
13
21
20
20
12
West North East South

pass
1NT(1)
pass
2(2)
pass
2
pass
3
pass
3
pass
3NT
pass
4(3)
pass
4
pass
4NT(4)
pass
5(5)
pass
6
(1) 15-17 (2) Transfer (3) Cue bid on the way
to 4 (4) RKCB (5) 2 Key Cards
Across
1 Caught sight of (5)
4 Jordanian capital (5)
8 Personalise (9)
9 Compete (3)
10 Neck of land (7)
11 Burst of gunfire (5)
12 Stir feelings in (6)
14 Game participant (6)
17 Cake topping (5)
19 Fit in (7)
21 Vase (3)
22 Therapy (9)
23 Chilly (5)
24 Of sound (5)
diamonds, and when the king

proved to be conveniently
placed, ended with 12 tricks.
then, after a spate of cuebidding, China subsided in

Five Spades. West led the
nine of clubs, taken by the
ace. Declarer continued
with a spade to the ace and
another back to the king.
Then came the king of clubs;
a club to the ace and when
they were found not to be
breaking a club ruff. Only
now did declarer broach
Bridge Maureen Hiron

Although it made no
difference to the number
of tricks taken, Lynn Deas
of the US showed superior
technique to her Chinese
counterpart on this hand
from the USA2 vs China
match in the Venice
Cup at the 2015 World
Championships.
The first four bids in both
rooms were the same, but
21
7
12
20
10
6
6
11
11
18
13
18
12
20
20
6
24
10
15
16
14
18
13
18
13
20
26
17
12
25
22
12
12
18
11
15
9
20
17
21
16
16
10
21
18
23
18
11
25
21
15
18
13
19
15
12
21
10
16
26
21
12
12
10
13
15
1
13
12
12
1
15
13
4
21
12
16
24
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
The numbers
in the grid
correspond to
the letters of the
alphabet. Solve the
puzzle and fill in
the letters in the
key as you discover
them. Three letters
are provided to
give you a start.
The solution will
be printed in
tomorrows paper.
The solution
to Saturdays
codeword is on
page 52.
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on 0901 292 5126.
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47
Codeword, Maths Puzzle, Word

Ladder and Word Wheel courtesy of
Clarity Media. For more puzzles, see
www.clarity-media.co.uk.
Solutions, page 52
Word Wheel
Sudoku #4640
Elementary
Intermediate
4 5
2 1 34 82 6 9 7 49
75 4 82 18 3 54 2 6
5 91 66 45 29 77 8 3
6 2 5 36 8 4 93 17
6 9
7 8
9 1
7 4 9 5
5 4
3
2 6
5
2 9
4
3
Mark Huckvale's Su Doku Puzzle Generator
Advanced
7 78 14 2 6 3 5 99 1
7 1 6 8 5 4 9 3 2
5 9 2 8 61 4 7 46 73
5 3E 8 6 2 9T 4 7 1
3 1 26 95 9 7 8 2 64
4 2 9 1P 3 7 8 6 5
78
84 3 9 7 1 6 4 5 22
1 7 4 9 5 2 61 8 3
2 35 1 6 4 19 3 7 88
3 4 L 7 9 1 5A 2 8 6
4 6 7 11 33 8 29 5 2
6 9 1 3 8 2 7 5 4
9 3 58 7 2 5 1 4 96
8 5 2 7 4 6 1 9 3
98 62 7 5 4 3 1 2 87
31 87 25 6 7 12 56 93 4
4 5 19 2 9 8 32 7 6
8 2 63 9 5 96 4 31 7
1How6many
5 words
2 9of three
8 3or more
4 letters,
7
1 27 85 4 8 72 6 3 19
2wheel,
8 can
4 you
5 make
7 from
3 6this 1diagram?
9
6 4 9 3 7 61 2 58 25
9word.
7 3 4 6 1 5 2 8
Elementary
Advanced
Fill the empty squares

with numbers that will
make the across and down
calculations produce the
results shown in the grey
squares. Each numeral from
1 to 9 must only appear
once. The calculations
should be performed from
left to right and top to
bottom, rather than in strict
mathematical order.
x
-
-3
26
77
-24
+
x
x
x
27
Word Ladder
Tue Nov 17 18:07:51 2015
FANS
BANS
DOZE
FOLK
3
-
+
1
Weve found 37, including one nine-letter
15
each including the letter at centre of the
Rating: Easy Mark Huckvale's Su Doku Puzzle Generator

Tue Nov 17 18:07:22 2015
Rating: Moderate
Nov 17 18:07:38 2015 Rating: Tricky
Mark Huckvale's Su Doku Puzzle Tue
Generator
Maths Puzzle
51
9
21
6
Convert the word at the top of the ladder

into the word at the bottom, using only the
four rungs in between and only changing
one letter each time.
Cryptic crossword #9088

By lohengrin
1
19
20
9
10
11
12
13
14
16
15
17
18
21
22
24
26
23
25
27
Stuck on the CRYPTIC crossword? Then call our solutions line on 0906 751 0239. Calls
cost 80p per minute plus your telephone companys network access charge. If you are having
trouble accessing the number, please call our helpdesk on 0800 839 174
Across
1 Disruptive worker at
Apple gathering? (10)
6 Score draw lacking slick
wingers (4)
10 Upset odds badly (5)
11 Farcical, ridiculous
organisation, one I
ignored (9)
12 Kind of jazz artist with
good rhythm (7)
13 Detectives turf in drugs
incident (7)
14 East German plays
collecting silver for
theatre worker (5,7)
18 Weak, short Italian beer,
tavern served up (12)
21 Bloc of countries
rejecting American
savings scheme with
regret (7)
23 Reveal and enter
result (7)
24 Sort of filter in whole
bean extraction? (9)
25 Suggest son must leave
work function (5)
26 Shout of the old
liberals (4)
27 Perhaps minor benefit
in a small amount of
money? (10)
Down
1 Take in muscles on
heavenly body? (6)
2 Priorities of treatment
room in any given
emergency (6)
3 Egocentric leftist sneered
outrageously (4-10)
4 Left coalition to support
business partner (9)
5 Turn in battlefield data
following uprising (5)
7 In-depth, hard or difficult
cases (8)
8 Note over telephone lines
in inn (8)
9 Order in Costa for a
change to sandwich
place (6,8)
15 Damage on top of wall
essentially made of
marble (9)
16 Steal present on
holiday (8)
17 Improve upon passage
in speech (8)
19 Decent holds for
climbing spot (6)
20 Failing to transfer
allegiance (6)
22 Miss thats eager to
embrace love (5)
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48
Section2
Obituaries
Conservationist. Born: 1923
Norman Moore
Celebrated authority on
dragonflies whose work also
led to a reduction in the
use of damaging pesticides
Norman Moore was one of the most influential
figures in nature conservation in the second
half of the 20th century. He was a world authority on dragonflies and their conservation, and
led the team that studied the effects of toxic
chemicals on wildlife, work which eventually
led to a reduction of the use of harmful pesticides such as DDT and dieldrin.
He was the founder and first Chairman of
the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Groups
and a strong advocate of the integration of
conservation and land-use policy. A natural
diplomat, he matched old-world courtesy and
charm with a mastery of his various briefs to
persuade others that nature conservation was
in their interests as well as his. Self-effacing and
reflective, he was widely regarded as British
nature conservations elder statesman and an
effective ambassador for nature.
Moore was born in London but brought up in
Lewes, the son of a doctor, Sir Alan Moore. In
1934 the family moved to Hancox, near Battle
in rural Sussex. From boyhood, Moore was a
keen naturalist. His first passion was for birds,
but by his teens he had become fascinated by
dragonflies, for which he coined the phrase
the bird watchers insect.
His first scientific paper, Rare Lepidoptera
and Odonata in East Sussex, was published
in 1939. Moore was educated at Eton College
and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read
Natural Sciences, specialising in zoology, and
was President of the University Bird Club.
His studies were interrupted by war service.
He was called up in 1942 and served as a gunnery officer in the Royal Artillery in Normandy
and Holland. Late in 1944 he was seriously
wounded in the leg by an artillery shell and
taken prisoner. At the end of the war he trained
gunners on Salisbury Plain before returning to
Cambridge.
After completing his degree in zoology in
1948, Moore joined a group of graduates on
a three-month zoological expedition to The
Gambia. Going on to teach zoology at Bristol University, Moore devoted much of his
research time to studying British dragonflies
in the field, with emphasis on their territorial
behaviour. His thesis, On the ecology and
behaviour of adult dragonflies, led to a PhD
in 1953.
As part of his research he followed the daily
rounds of individually marked dragonflies. His
dedication was such that, when the dragonfly he was stalking went to sleep at 9.20 pm,
Moore decided to follow suit in his sleeping
bag a few yards away. They woke up together at
dawn, and, at 8.26, noted Moore, it cleaned its
Moore: he demonstrated how biodiversity dwindles as the fragments of wild land become smaller and more isolated, and that rare species go first
eyes and antennae with its forelegs. Nearly half
an hour later it flew and caught a fly. He drew
on this meticulous observation in his first book,
Dragonflies (1960), co-written with Cynthia
Longfield and Philip Corbet.
In 1953 Moore was offered the post of regional
officer for South-west England in the recently
formed Nature Conservancy. His directions
were, simply, to get to know South-west England better than anyone else.
Based at Furzebrook Research Station
among the heaths and marshes of the Isle of
Purbeck, he documented in detail the loss
and fragmentation of the once continuous
heathland through agricultural improvement
and tree-planting. He also demonstrated how
biodiversity dwindles as the fragments of wild
land became smaller and more isolated, with
the rarer species going first.
Moores solution was a crash programme of
nature reserve acquisition. He helped to establish the first National Nature Reserves in the
region, including Yarner Wood, Hartland Moor
and Morden Bog, although it took 20 years to
achieve his target of a suite of reserves representing all the best habitats.
With the help of the British Trust for Ornithology Moore organised a nationwide survey
of the buzzard, whose favourite food, the rabbit,
had been reduced by myxomatosis. Monitoring showed that the average clutch size had
fallen by half. Fortunately the buzzard proved
adaptable and took to foraging humbler food
such as earthworms and berries. It was persecution, not food supply, which was restricting
buzzard numbers.
In 1960 Moore was appointed Head of
the Toxic Chemicals and Wildlife Division
at Monks Wood Experimental Station near
Huntingdon. His task was to organise research
on the effects of pesticides on wildlife. The work
was given a valuable boost by Rachel Carsons
He was amused to find

himself a hero in Japan,
where dragonflies have
great cultural importance
Silent Spring, which awakened public concern

over the effects of DDT. Moores team showed
that the breeding failure of the peregrine falcon
was due to the accumulation of pesticides in its
body. They also discovered that persistent toxins were affecting all kinds of life, from otters
and eagles to freshwater mussels.
Although it took years before the use of pesticides was reduced sufficiently to allow wildlife
to recover, Moores work attracted attention
not only in Britain but across Europe, India,
Australia, the US and even Russia (whose participation in a pesticides and wildlife seminar
in 1965 temporarily put aside Cold War differences). Prince Charles and the then Prime
Minister, Harold Wilson, visited Moores laboratory. By the end of the 1960s, it was claimed,
Monks Wood had become the most famous
field station in the world.
As part of his later work on the wildlife of
farmland, Moore began to study hedges, a
habitat hitherto dismissed as artificial. His colleague, Max Hooper, discovered that hedges
can be dated by their constituent shrubs and
that many older hedges were in fact relics of
woodland. At this time hedges were being
grubbed up with the help of ministry grants to
create larger, more efficient crop fields. Moore
produced a series of maps showing how the
loss of hedges was transforming the lowland
landscape from one of hedges and fields to open
prairies. In 1974, he, Hooper and Ernest Pollard
published Hedges, the first comprehensive scientific study of what is arguably Britains most
characteristic landscape feature.
Concerned about the widening gulf between
modern farming and wildlife conservation,
Moore originated an exercise in which farmers and conservationists would work together
to find practical ways of conserving wildlife
on a working farm. The conference that followed was constructive, and spawned a charitable trust, the Farming and Wildlife Advisory
Group. Moore became its first chair and a judge
for the Silver Lapwing Award for conservation
in farming.
In 1975, Moore returned to the Nature
Conservancy Council as its Chief Advisory
Officer, a post created especially for him. He
prepared the NCCs policy paper on Nature
Conservation and Agriculture which called for
a rural land-use strategy that took account of
nature conservation as well as food production.
Government was unreceptive to the idea but

could not ignore Moores figures for the loss
of supposedly protected SSSIs (Sites of Special
Scientific Interest) which approached 15 per
cent in 1980 alone, much of it from agricultural
changes.
Moore gave evidence at a watershed public
enquiry over the fate of Amberley Wild Brooks
in Sussex, in which, almost for the first time,
nature conservation considerations won over
land drainage and profit. Such events forced
the Government to provide better protection
for wild places in the form of the 1981 Wildlife
and Countryside Act.
From 1979 to 1983 Moore was Visiting Professor of Environmental Studies at Wye College, then part of the University of London. In
retirement he wrote a professional autobiography, The Bird of Time (1987), which argued
the case for conservation as an underlying
principle of wise land-use a view that, under
the mantra of sustainability, has since become
public policy. He chaired the dragonfly group
of the International Union for Conservation of
Nature Species Survival Commission, which
produced a world plan for dragonfly conservation in 1997.
Moore was quietly amused to find himself
something of a hero in Japan, where dragonflies have great cultural importance. He helped
found the British Dragonfly Society and helped
to raise the profile of these beautiful insects.
His book Oaks, Dragonflies and People (2002),
links the changing fortunes of a dragonfly pond
he created in his garden with thoughts on the
wider conservation scene.
Moore was an Honorary Fellow of the Linnaean Society and of the Royal Entomological
Society. He received the Zoology Societys
Stamford Raffles Award for his work on dragonflies, and the Marsh Entomological Award for
insect conservation. His name is commemorated in several species of dragonflies and
damselflies. He married a fellow Cambridge
zoologist, Janet Singer, in 1950 and was father
to three children and grandfather to eight.
PETER MARREN
Norman Winfrid Moore, zoologist and conservationist: born London 24 February 1923;
married 1950 Janet Singer (died 2014; two
daughters, one son); died Swavesey, Cambridgeshire 21 October 2015.
49
Birthdays
BIRTHDAYS
Public servant. Born: 1929
Jack Reece
Police officer who made his name when he caught Patrick

Magee, the man who bombed the Grand Hotel in Brighton
The seasoned eye of Detective Chief Superintendent Jack Reece scanned the Brighton
seafront. As a sea fisherman, he knew the
tides. Those potted shrubs along the beach
might contain vital evidence. Get these tubs
in before the waves reach them, he ordered.
Anything there would be irrevocably lost.
In fact the evidence that Reece, head of Sussex CID, wanted lay on a hotel booking card. It
was to take him 20 months to get his man the
man who had tried to assassinate the Prime
Minister, Margaret Thatcher, taking five lives
and injuring 31 in the attempt.
Behind Reece on that fateful Friday morning
of 12 October 1984 towered the pale, ornate
faade of the Grand Hotel, split by an ugly black
gash where a bomb had gone off in the middle
of the night. It appeared as if a huge gaping lift
shaft had opened up with all the debris and evidence sinking to the bottom, Reece recalled.
Many ministers had been inside, attending the
Conservative Party conference. Ill never forget finding the bodies, and talking to the relatives. I dont know how they cope after something like this, he reflected years later.
For the burly 6ft Yorkshireman known as
big Jack, the 1m investigation, which put
him on an IRA death list, was to test his leadership, keeping up staff morale in the long hunt
and, at its end, his steadiness under questioning in court. Reece identified the IRA bomber,
Patrick Magee, from fingerprints on the booking card of Roy Walsh, the name he had used
when he stayed at the Grand Hotel from 15-18
September. Magee had planted the bomb, with
a long-term timer, wrapped in plastic to deceive
sniffer dogs, under a bath in Room 629.
Reece travelled to Glasgow for Magees

arrest in a flat there in June 1985, after Magee,
thinking himself unsuspected of the Brighton
murders, returned to the mainland to plan
further attacks. Magees defence team at the
Central Criminal Court drew from Reece
an exclamation Preposterous! when in
cross-examination before Mr Justice Boreham
in 1986 defence counsel said: I put it to you
that you planted these fingerprints and palm
prints. Magee and four others were found
guilty and jailed.
There would be a further shock for Reece
when Magee was released under the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998. We worked our
butts off to get that result, Reece observed.
Here he is out in 14 years... I think it makes
a laughing stock of justice. When Magee
returned to Brighton in 2004 to meet a victims
relative and take part in a discussion, Reece
remained sceptical of his motives, remarking:
What on earth is he going to pontificate about
in Brighton, when he hasnt repented?
Reece had earlier led inquiries that in 1975
caught the attempted kidnapper of a viscountess, Lady Devonport, briefly seized from her
bedroom before a police car arrived, causing
the miscreant to flee. And he had taken part in
Operation Countryman, which between 197882 shed light on alleged corrupt police practices
in London, though prosecutions failed.
Reece also questioned, at military barracks
in Chichester, the Argentine Blond Angel of
Death, Lt Commander Alfredo Astiz, who
was brought to Britain as a prisoner of war in
1982 during the Falklands conflict. France and
Sweden wanted Astiz over the disappearance
in Argentina in 1978 of two French nuns, said

to have been tortured, and in 1977 of a young
Swedish woman.
Britain, concerned to observe the letter of
the Geneva Convention, which allowed Astiz
as a POW to say nothing, considered it impossible to extradite him. He was swiftly repatriated, and would be jailed for life for murder in
Argentina in 2011.
Reece had lived through the trauma of violent death and sudden loss at the age of eight.
His father, John Reece, a miner, was killed in
an accident with machinery underground at
Silverwood Colliery near Doncaster, South
Yorkshire, in 1938. Reece thereafter vowed to
do what he knew his father had wanted for him:
that he become a soldier in a Guards regiment,
or a police officer.
Reece did his National Service from 1947-49
as a trooper in the Royal Horse Guards (now
part of the Blues & Royals), including a posting
to Germany, before joining Hastings Borough
Police Force, later part of Sussex Police, in 1951.
The family moved after the accident to Hastings in East Sussex, where Reeces mothers
sister lived. Elsie Reece, who went on to marry
a former Scots Guardsman, Harry Ellison, in
1941, opened a guest house at St Leonards on
Sea, and Reece and his only sibling, his brother
Peter, waited at table.
The boys went sailing and fishing, and Reece,
always fearless, would collect gulls eggs from
the resorts bomb-damaged pier. Peter also
joined Sussex police, becoming a superintendent. Reece married a local girl, Daphne Hyland,
in 1953. They had no children. Reeces wife and
brother survive him.
In retirement Reece became Chairman of the
National Federation of Sea Anglers. In 1996 a
letter he signed as NFSA chairman in protest at
the Sports Councils then exclusion of angling
from the top 22 sports, was read out in the
House of Lords. Until March this year he was
President of East Hastings Sea Angling Association. He collected 6,000 books on angling,
many of which he presented to the Hastings
club, and on the walls of his home in Hastings
displayed many models of fish, and sometimes
the real thing.
The similarity between detective work and
angling was not lost on Reece. You get the
right bait, you catch the fish; the bigger the
bait the bigger the fish, he once told friends.
He was awarded the Queens Police Medal in
1986, the year he retired.
Reeces biggest fish caught in the non-policing world was a six-gilled shark recorded by
Fishing Digest as weighing 485kg, or 1,069lb
3oz, a European record, off the Azores on 18
October 1990. ANNE KELENY
John Frederick Reece, police officer: born
Thrybergh, south Yorkshire 20 April 1929;
QPM 1986; married 1953 Daphne Mary
Hyland; died Hastings, East Sussex 2 November 2015.
Reece in
1990 with
his record
catch;
he saw
the links
between
angling and
policing,
saying,
You get the
right bait,
you catch
the fish;
the bigger
the bait,
the bigger
the fish
He was
shocked
when
Magee was
freed. We
worked our
butts off
to get that
result,
he said
Nigel Adams MP, 49;

Baroness Armstrong of
Hill Top, former MP, 70;
Stuart Baird, film-maker,
68; Gael Garca Bernal,
actor, 37; John Bishop,
comedian and actor, 49;
Magnus Carlsen, world
chess champion, 25; June
Chadwick, actress, 64;
Cherie Currie, musician and
chainsaw artist, 56; George
Duffield, former jockey,
69; Roger Glover, bassist
and songwriter, 70; George
Graham, former manager
and Scotland footballer, 71;
Robert Guillaume, singer
and actor, 88; Professor
Veronia Hope Hailey,
Professor of Management
Studies, and Dean, School
of Management, University
of Bath, 59; Alan Hutton,
Scotland footballer, 31; Billy
Idol, singer, songwriter and
actor, 60; Frank Ifield,
singer, 78; Dan Jarvis
MP, 43; Lorraine Kelly,
broadcaster, 56; Josh
Lewsey, former England and
Lions rugby union player, 39;
Gary Lineker, broadcaster
and former England footballer,
55; Sir Timothy Lloyd, a
former Lord Justice of Appeal,
69; Radu Lupu, pianist,
70; Patrick McLoughlin
MP, Secretary of State for
Transport, 58; Terrence
Malick, writer and film
director, 72; David Mamet,
writer and director, 68; Colin
Mochrie, comedian, 58;
Bob Moore, musician, 83;
Shuggie Otis, musician, 62;
Mandy Patinkin, actor and
singer, 63; Sir Ridley Scott,
film director and producer,
78; Simonetta Stefanelli,
actress, 61; Ben Stiller,
actor, 50; Stan Sulzmann,
saxophonist, 67; Hugo
Swire MP, Minister of State,
Foreign Office, 56; Lord
Tope, former MP, 72; Lord
Willis of Knaresborough,
former MP, 74.
Billy Idol, singer, songwriter

and actor, 60 epa
50
23
Section2
Weather
ILLUSTRATIONS BY SA RA H MCMENEM Y/ T H E A R T WO R K S
Belfast
10 Wind direction
Today
7|3
Max Min
Celsius
Cold and wet

Dull and wet with spells of rain.
Turning drier in the evening.
Tue
Wed
Thu
Outlook
Edinburgh
Cloudy with rain for much of the UK today with falls of snow
likely on some northern hills. However, it will be brighter in
northern Scotland with a mix of sunny spells and scattered
wintry showers. Windy in the south.
4|1
10 Wind dire
ection
Today
Max Min
Celsius
Rain for a time

Cold today with rain for a time. Turning
drier and clearer later.
Fri
Tue
Outlook
Wed
Thu
Fri
13 | 11
12 | 4
6|3
8|7
SW 17
SW 17
W8
SW 14
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
13 | 11
13 | 4
6|2
8|5
SW 12
SW 15
W6
W 12
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
14 | 11
14 | 6
9|3
8|5
SW 20
SW 18
SW 9
W 12
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
14 | 10
14 | 9
11 | 4
9|5
SW 19
SW 18
SW 14
W 13
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
16 | 12
15 | 12
13 | 6
11 | 7
SW 16
SW 15
SW 12
W9
Outlook
Max | Min
Celsius
12 | 4
13 | 11
Wind direction
and speed/mph
SW 16
S 20
7|4
SW 12
Max/Min
Celsius
Aberdeen
10 | 8
SW 14
Wind direction
and speed/mph
10
10
Glasgow
Manchester
Newcastle
20
Today
12 | 6
6|3
Belfast
Dull and wet

An unsettled day with cloudy skies and
outbreaks of rain.
Tue
Dull and wet

A cloudy day with heavy and persistent
rain pushing in.
Hull
Manchester
Wed
Thu
Liverpool
Fri
Outlook
14 | 11
Wind direction
and speed/mph
13 | 7
SW 15
SW 17
9|3
SW 10
9|5
W 11
15
Yesterdays
high in The UK
Wed
Thu
14 | 11
SW 15
14 | 8
S 16
10 | 4
S 11
10 | 5
SW 8
30
14 | 11
Rain at times
It looks set to be cloudy and wet with
rain for most of the day.
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Outlook
Max | Min
Celsius
Wind direction
and speed/mph
City
Alicante
Amsterdam
Athens
Bangkok
Barbados
Barcelona
Berlin
Bucharest
Buenos Aires
Cairo
Cape Town
Copenhagen
Corfu
Dubai
Hong Kong
Istanbul
Johannesburg
Los Angeles
SW 20
Plymouth
14 | 10
SW 16
12 | 6
SW 14
10 | 8
W 14
s
sh
f
f
sh
s
c
f
f
f
s
sh
f
f
f
c
f
f
Avonmouth
Cork
Dover
Greenock
Harwich
Holyhead
9.51
7.11
1.22
3.03
2.04
12.51
12.7 10.17 12.1

4.3 7.30 4.1
6.7 1.40 6.4
3.5 3.01 3.7
4.1 2.27 4.1
5.4 1.07 5.6
Portsmouth
35
Today
City
Majorca
Melbourne
Miami
Moscow
New York
Nice
Paris
Reykjavik
Rome
Seychelles
Singapore
Sydney
Tenerife
Tokyo
Vancouver
Venice
Warsaw
Wellington
s
c
f
s
c
f
c
f
s
r
sh
th
c
f
s
f
f
f
C
17
18
27
-4
16
12
12
-8
13
29
32
25
22
14
5
7
4
17
F
63
64
81
25
61
54
54
18
55
84
90
77
72
57
41
45
39
63
Hull (Albert Dk)

Liverpool
London
Milford Haven
Portsmouth
Pwllheli
9.02
1.40
4.18
8.52
1.41
10.43
Tue
Thu
Fri
Tue
14 | 12
14 | 12
12 | 7
12 | 9
SW 21
SW 24
SW 19
NW 11
Max/Min
Celsius
Wind direction
and speed/mph
Norwich
15
Today
13 | 8
Spells of rain
It will be cloudy with spells of rain
through much of the day.
Max | Min
Celsius
Wind direction
and speed/mph
25
15 | 12
Occasional rain
It looks set to be mostly cloudy with
rain from time to time.
Wed
Thu
Fri
Outlook
Outlook
Wind direction
and speed/mph
Today
Occasional rain
A windy day with showery rain moving
in at times. Very mild.
Wed
Max | Min
Celsius
London
30
14 | 11
Rain at times
Mostly cloudy and windy with spells of
rain from time to time.
Spells of rain
Cloudy for much of the day with
frequent outbreaks of rain.
Outlook
7.1 9.12 7.1

9.1 1.58 9.1
6.8 4.42 7.0
6.8 9.16 6.4
4.7 1.53 4.6
4.9 11.09 4.6
Today
14 | 12
10 | 5
Outlook
F
64
50
63
90
82
54
43
39
70
73
86
41
61
82
73
54
73
64
Key: c = Cloudy, dr = Drizzle, f = Fair, fg = Fog, h = Hail, m = Mist, r = Rain, s = Sunny,

sh = Showers, sl = Sleet, sn = Snow, ss = Sandstorm, th = Thunderstorm
High tides
14 | 11
C
18
10
17
32
28
12
6
4
21
23
30
5
16
28
23
12
23
18
15
Today
Sunrise
& Sunsets
Rises
07:41
Sets
15:56
L. Glascarnoch
Around the world
Today
Wind direction
and speed/mph
Moon
Phase
Rhyl
Fri
Outlook
Max | Min
Celsius
Yesterdays
low in The UK
13
Mild and wet

It will be a dull day with spells of rain
throughout the day.
Wind direction
and speed/mph
Leeds
30
13 | 10
Max | Min
Celsius
Wind direction
and speed/mph
Brighton
Today
Tue
Max | Min
Celsius
London
Bristol
Exeter
Birmingham
Cardiff
Outlook
Cambridge
Max | Min
Celsius
10
Today
Carlisle
Outlook
14 | 12
14 | 12
13 | 6
11 | 8
SW 21
SW 21
SW 18
W 12
Max | Min
Celsius
Wind direction
and speed/mph
51
Ben Chu Did Mao sow the seeds of Chinas economic growth?
Banks braced
for verdict on
tougher stress
tests tonight
James Moore
Associate business editor
Britains banks will tonight

learn whether they have passed
tough Bank of England stress
tests, after the collapsed bank
HBOS was told it had less
than a 1 in 100,000 chance of
failing those imposed by the
then regulator just three years
before its near-collapse.
The revelation of how weak
the old stress testing regime
was came on page 93 of the
incendiary report into HBOSs
failures published 10 days ago.
It revealed how consultants
told HBOS it was more likely to
fail through an external event
such as a terror attack or even
an earthquake than as a result of
a collapse in commercial property prices the scenario then
used by regulators.
The new tests are likely to
have proved much tougher
for banks to have passed, with
close attention set to be paid
to Standard Chartered, and to
a lesser extent HSBC. Asiafocused Standard Chartered is

attempting a turnaround after
a string of profit warnings and
a $5.1bn (3.4bn) rights issue,
and could struggle with the
Bank of Englands current scenario, which calls on banks to
gauge the impact of a slowdown
in Asia, eurozone deflation, and
a 20 per cent fall in UK house
prices.
Despite the tougher scenario,
all seven of the banks being
tested are expected to pass,
but could be told to set aside
more capital as a buffer against
shocks. The results will be published tomorrow morning, and
banks have been warned not to
reveal them early.
The Bank of England said Coop Banks capital would have
been wiped out had last years
scenario a UK recession and
35 per cent fall in houses prices
come true. Lloyds and Royal
Bank of Scotland only narrowly
avoided failing that test after

Continued on P.52 >
Scotlands
woman
of note
Debbie
Crosbie,
the chief
operating
officer of the
Clydesdale
Bank, has
signed
the banks
new run of
banknotes
Scotlands
first to be
signed by a
woman
P.53
FTSE100
+0.64%
6375.15
+40.52
FTSE250
+0.44%
17265.1
+75.99
dow jones
+0.37%
17798.49
+65.74
nikkei
+0.12%
19883.94
+24.13
FTSE Eurofirst 300 1512.31

+0.48%
+7.15
FTSE ALL-SHARE 3494.89
+0.57%
+19.85
dollar/pound $1.5036
-1.55c

EURO/pound

1.4193
-0.73c
dollar/EURO

$1.0593
-0.53c
gold

$1057.4
-$24.35
R o b er t
P er ry/ PA
oil

$44.86
-$0.20
Last weeks changes

T HE F TSE L AST WEEK
6,400
6,350
6,300
6,250
6,200
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
Fri
The banks forbearance has

enabled many zombies to
come back from the dead.
David Prossers Small Talk P.55
52
Business
Banks face even stricter tests in

2016 with new disaster scenario
> Continued from P.51
This buffer was introduced to

push against banks keenness
to lend in boom time only to
turn the lending taps off when
things get tougher.
The HBOS report, overseen
by the Bank, said its consultants
had also judged that the wipeout of HBOSs profits for three
years had a one in 5,000 years
likelihood; and that a three year
recession had a likely probability of one in 350 years.
HBOS had said that it took
some comfort on the robustness of the overall portfolio
and our ability to withstand a
downturn without materially
impacting on the profitability
of HBOS or threatening its survival from the tests by the now
defunct regulator, the Financial
Services Authority.
The report went on to
describe the banks assumpt i o n s a s i n s u f f i c i e n t ly
conservative.
hurriedly revising their capital

plans.
This years tests are more
internationally focused, and so
could challenge Barclays, which
has a significant international
business. RBS retains some
international operations.
The results come ahead of
even tougher tests next year,
which will look at banks capital based on where the Bank of
England thinks Britain is in the
economic cycle, in addition to
creating a new disaster scenario
to see how they would cope.
Several Bank policymakers
have been at pains recently to
say that the amount of capital
that banks already hold is in the
right ballpark. But analysts think
the so-called countercyclical
buffer, which was set at zero in
September, could be tweaked
up to 0.5 per cent tomorrow.
A telecoms
supervisor
checking
piping in
London
Ala m y
Thousands of City firms

use outdated broadband
The lack of ultra-fast broadband in Londons financial
centre could damage the
capitals status as a world class
city, MPs have been warned.
The City of London Corporation, which is the local
authority responsible for for
the Square Mile, has told the
influential Business, Innovation and Skills select committee that more than 9,000 businesses in its area are running
on slow, dated broadband
connections.
In written evidence, the corporation said: There is deep
concern that the attractiveness of the City is increasingly
disadvantaged by the lack of
fast broadband connectivity
at an affordable level. Leased
lines are prohibitively expensive for many small compa-
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Puzzle Solutions
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of technological advances.
The corporations evidence
will form part of an inquiry
into the digital economy that
has been set up by committee chairman Iain Wright,
the Labour MP for Hartlepool.
He wants the Government
to make sure that the UK is
taking economic advantage
of fast-changing digital technologies.
Mr Wright told The Independent: Although we are
also looking at trendy technology companies, the big thing
for me is to also focus on how
digital is changing the traditional economy and how it is
coping in terms of skills.
EE, the mobile network
operator that is being snapped
up by BT for 12.5bn, also
submitted evidence. It said
that there needs to be swift
reform of the UKs complicated planning regime to
support the roll-out of mobile
phone infrastructure.
Black Amber
You wont need your own orchard for

these fruit trees. These mini apple, pear,
and plum trees are specially bred dwarf
varieties, producing large fruits on stems
reaching only 1m (3 3) tall.
Please send me
nies, leaving them struggling

on copper ADSL lines with
slow speeds and unreliable
connectivity.
Corporation officials have
met broadband providers
in recent months to try to
improve the situation, but
have made only limited
progress.
The submission added:
This stance has an immediate, deleterious effect on hitech SMEs which operate in
and around the Square Mile
and in the long run could
damage Londons position as
a leading edge global city.
The corporation also
claimed that City firms are
concerned about the lack
of digital skills among their
workforces. In 2013 reseach
from O2 and Development
Economics showed that an
additional 745,000 workers
with digital skills would be
needed within four years if
the UK was to make the most
Exclusive
Mark leftly
associate business editor
21
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Ltd. Image used in conjunction with Newmarket Air Holidays.
53
Ben Chu
Economic View
After the Little Red
Book was flourished
in Parliament, lets
reassess Maos legacy
LIT T L E R E D F AI L U RE
GDP PER CAPITA, CONSTANT PRICES, INTERNATIONAL DOLLAR
$s
CHINA SOUTH KOREA TAIWAN
,
The Mao Zedong
,
era
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,

SOURCE: MACROBOND, MADDISON HISTORICAL DATA
The Beatles
understood that the
Chinese dictator
was a major turn-off.
If you go carrying
pictures of Chairman Mao, you aint going
to make it with anyone anyhow, sang John
Lennon in Revolution. John McDonnell
has learnt that lesson the hard way after
his stunt at the Despatch Box last week, in
which Labours shadow Chancellor thought
it would be funny to wave a copy of Mao
Zedongs little red book.
As the media, inevitably, rushed to
uncover further evidence of Maoist
sympathies among the Labour front
bench a television clip of Diane Abbott
in 2008 resurfaced in which the shadow
International Development minister argues:
I suppose some people will judge that on
balance Mao did more good than harm. You
cant say that about the Nazis.
More good than harm. Its a line that
does sound rather similar to the official
verdict of the Communist Party in Beijing,
which states that Mao was 70 per cent
correct in his decisions. Orville Schell
and John Delury in their recent book on
China, Wealth and Power, offer a revisionist
take on Maos society-shredding Cultural
Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Like
a forest fire that clears the way for new
growth it may have prepared the way to
usher in spectacular new economic growth,
they argue. Schell and Delury are not
Communist diehards but two senior fellows
of Americas respected Asia Society.
In a Channel 4 documentary on China
a couple of years ago the right-wing
historian and official biographer of Henry
Kissinger, Niall Ferguson argued along
similar revisionist lines about the Chinese
dictator. Explaining the reasons for Chinas
phenomenal economic progress in recent
decades, he informed viewers the key thing
to grasp is the indispensable role played
by Maos system of mass mobilisation.
It has become an increasingly respectable
argument to assert that, despite the tens of
millions of Chinese who were undoubtedly
done to death under Mao, he prepared
the ground for the countrys economic
modernisation with his Great Leap
Forward and his Cultural Revolution.
Is this a reasonable conclusion? Did Mao
really do more good than harm?
The answer is no, it is not a reasonable
conclusion. Maos terrorisation of the
Chinese population in the Cultural
Revolution did not create the conditions for
Chinas economic take-off in the late 1970s.
We can say that with confidence because
we know its possible for poor countries to
experience rapid industrialisation without
Mao-style terror. Japan showed that in the
19th century, when it transformed from
a largely medieval society to a modern
Victorian economy in a matter of decades.
And, more pertinently, Taiwan and South
Korea demonstrated it in the 1950s and
1960s, when their growth far outstripped
that of Maoist China, having begun from
similar poverty-saturated starting points.
While the regimes in Taipei and Seoul were
hardly liberal democratic utopias (both
were ruled by rather unpleasant military
Mao Zedong learning from the peasants in 1958 Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
strongmen) they experienced nothing akin
to Maoism.
In the Cultural Revolution families
were ripped apart as young children were
brainwashed by the Mao personality cult
and encouraged to persecute their own
parents for being insufficiently committed
to the twisted ideology. Millions of young
town dwellers were uprooted and sent
to the countryside to learn from the
peasants. The old culture of China was
ruthlessly attacked, and the population
cowed by hordes of violent and bigoted
Red Guards. The economic success of
countries such as Taiwan and South Korea
(and Chinas parallel failure) sprang not
from such grotesque mass mobilisation
but from sensible economic policies.
Development economists and historians
disagree on how precisely poor nations
become rich nations. But one of the most
coherent and plausible theories from an
East Asian perspective is that land reform
is an essential first step. The aristocratic
estates that keep the vast majority of the
population in debt bondage and on the
verge of serfdom must first be broken up
in an egalitarian drive. After being given
their own decent-sized holdings peasants
become enthusiastic market gardeners.
They successfully grow enough crops
not only to feed their families but also to
generate a surplus to sell on. State direction
of the farmers savings, through a controlled
national financial system, into protected,
yet export-oriented, new industries turns
the wheel of industrialisation in a virtuous
economic circle. Growth and living
standards take-off.
This is a pattern that links all the major
East Asian states that successfully grew into
rich countries in the post-war era. And what
characterises those that failed to make the

leap Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia was
their failure to enact proper private land
reform. As for China, Mao did break up the
rich rural estates in the Great Leap Forward
of the late 1950s. But he then insisted on
collectivising agriculture, abolishing private
property and forcing the peasantry into
communes.
In terms of agricultural productivity Maos
Great Leap Forward was an unparalleled
catastrophe, resulting in one of the worst
famines the world has ever witnessed. The
historian Frank Dikotter estimates that 45
million Chinese were worked, starved or
beaten to death between 1958 and 1962. It
was only when the agricultural collectives
disintegrated into a host of household plots
after Maos death in 1976 that the Chinese
peasantry began to work the land with any
effort. Yields exploded. Farmers traded their
surpluses and rural entrepreneurs set up
new business. Then the familiar East Asian
development model kicked in, with the new
leader Deng Xiaoping welcoming foreign
investment and expertise, while keeping
the domestic financial system under tight
control.
Post hoc propter hoc explanations are
beguiling but they are usually fallacious.
Chinas development did not take off
because Maos brutal zealotry had handily
wiped the slate clean. As well as destroying
millions of lives the ignorant monster held
the entire country back for decades.
Mao prevented Chinas population from
attaining the prosperity that it could have
begun to enjoy far
earlier. Mao and his
little red book were
nothing but a big
economic disaster.
54
Business
Week Ahead
the
m a r ket s
FTSE 100 Risers

Price
Change
%Chg
Rolls Royce
Babcock Intl
Compass
Inmarsat
BAE Systems
Intertek
Dixons Carph
Johnson Matth
Centrica
St James Place
606.50
1084.00
1141.00
1113.00
519.50
2756.00
481.60
2799.00
220.80
1009.00
+54.50
+95.00
+68.00
+61.00
+27.50
+117.00
+17.00
+94.00
+6.90
+31.00
+9.87
+9.61
+6.34
+5.80
+5.59
+4.43
+3.66
+3.48
+3.23
+3.17
FTSE 250 Risers

Ophir Energy
Keller
NMC Health
Thomas Cook
Spire Healthcare
Serco Grp
RPC
Kaz Minerals
Marstons
SIG
Price
99.25
880.00
880.00
117.90
315.30
110.40
762.50
99.80
171.00
136.10
Change
+15.85
+119.00
+119.00
+13.90
+35.40
+10.40
+63.50
+7.25
+11.30
+8.40
%Chg
+19.00
+15.64
+15.64
+13.37
+12.65
+10.40
+9.08
+7.83
+7.08
+6.58
FTSE 100 fallers

Anglo Amer
BHP Billiton
Rio Tinto
TUI AG
Easyjet
Aberdeen Ast
Marks&Spencer
Burberry
Antofagasta
Intl Cons Airlns
Price
Change
%Chg
400.15
807.60
2199.00
1090.00
1632.00
334.80
500.00
1245.00
496.70
565.00
-46.35
-77.90
-97.00
-37.00
-53.00
-10.50
-14.50
-36.00
-11.30
-12.00
-10.38
-8.80
-4.22
-3.28
-3.15
-3.04
-2.82
-2.81
-2.22
-2.08
Change
%Chg
FTSE 250 fallers

Lancashire Hldg
BBA Aviation
Ted Baker
Aldermore Group
Mitch & Butl
AO World
Evraz
MITIE
Paragon Gp Cos
Playtech
Price
675.00
177.00
3225.00
233.00
323.00
144.00
79.55
309.00
376.80
798.50
-76.50
-18.70
-330.00
-23.60
-30.90
-11.50
-6.25
-23.10
-26.70
-53.00
Price Weeks change
Market cap
3i Group
Aberdeen Asset
Admiral
Anglo Amer
Antofagasta
ARM Holdings
AB Foods
Ashtead Group
AstraZeneca
Aviva
Babcock Intl
BAE Systems
Barclays
Barratt Dev
Berkeley Group
BG
BHP Billiton
BP
BAT
British Land
BT
Bunzl
Burberry
Capita
Carnival
Centrica
Coca-Cola HBC
Compass
CRH
Diageo
Direct Line Ins
Dixons Carph
Easyjet
Experian
Fresnillo
G4S
GKN
Glencore
GSK
Hammerson
Hargrve Lans
Hikma
HSBC Hldgs
IAG
Imperial Tob
Inmarsat
IntCont Htls
Intertek
Intu Props
ITV
Johnson Matth
Kingfisher
Land Secs
Legal & Gen
Lloyds Bk Gp
Lon Stock Ex
Marks&Spen
Meggitt
Merlin Ent
Mondi
Morrison Wm
National Grid
Next
Old Mutual
Pearson
Persimmon
Prudential
Randgold Res
Reckitt Ben
RELX
Rio Tinto
Rolls-Royce
Royal Mail
RBS
Shell A
Shell B
RSA Insur
SABMiller
Sage
Sainsbury(J)
Schroders
Severn Trent
Shire
Sky
Smith&Neph
Smiths
Sports Direct
SSE
Stan Chart
Standard Life
St James Place
Taylor Wimpey
Tesco
Travis Perkins
TUI AG
Unilever
United Utilities
Vodafone
Whitbread
Wolseley
WPP
501.00
334.80
1621.00
400.15
496.70
1117.00
3516.00
1084.00
4512.50
513.00
1084.00
519.50
224.30
587.50
3135.00
1030.00
807.60
386.55
3898.50
834.50
499.80
1904.00
1245.00
1267.00
3463.00
220.80
1620.00
1141.00
1960.00
1924.50
408.20
481.60
1632.00
1222.00
715.00
223.40
298.40
91.88
1365.50
609.00
1471.00
2152.00
534.90
565.00
3611.00
1113.00
2489.00
2756.00
323.30
267.60
2799.00
350.10
1233.00
272.80
73.40
2645.00
500.00
387.00
407.50
1524.00
154.60
932.60
7920.00
210.20
829.00
1877.00
1548.50
3997.00
6309.00
1197.00
2199.00
606.50
489.60
306.70
1656.50
1673.50
436.80
4028.00
574.50
256.10
2990.00
2248.00
4665.00
1121.00
1121.00
1030.00
711.50
1460.00
558.50
418.10
1009.00
188.70
169.15
2006.00
1090.00
2876.00
978.50
225.80
4431.00
3806.00
1541.00
4872.70
3.99
4412.38
5.60
4564.54
4.53
5609.49
14.29
4896.75
1.72
15695.60
0.68
27835.30
1.00
5456.25
1.41
57030.70
4.04
20755.10
3.70
5465.49
2.23
16442.60
3.98
37649.10
2.90
5886.73
2.57
4284.20
5.74
35204.00
1.82
17057.10
10.19
70783.60
6.87
72676.50
3.85
8581.60
3.40
41822.50
2.58
6381.70
1.90
5539.66
2.87
8420.03
2.38
7495.84
2.30
11193.60
5.42
5874.91
1.56
18764.40
2.58
16126.70
2.24
48404.90
2.93
5612.75
10.83
5545.44
1.63
6482.44
3.38
11821.80
2.15
5268.79
0.46
3466.26
4.21
5114.21
2.85
13225.90
13.01
66457.10
5.86
4777.16
3.64
6977.23
2.24
4289.86
0.80
104745.00
6.21
11442.90
34619.00
3.90
5003.89
2.87
5876.96
2.07
4447.13
1.82
4347.29
4.24
10789.40
1.94
5735.65
2.47
8034.19
2.86
9748.67
2.70
16227.00
4.33
52388.30
2.04
9214.55
1.18
8172.47
3.68
2996.05
3.64
4131.01
1.55
5596.75
2.08
3610.14
3.23
34912.90
4.63
12107.60
5.04
10359.90
4.23
6806.61
6.27
5754.08
5.06
39813.10
2.46
3728.18
1.00
44665.20
2.05
13314.20
2.21
30334.50
6.68
11151.50
3.85
4896.00
4.35
35497.20
65297.30
7.54
40840.30
7.46
4442.25
1.26
65228.80
1.84
6197.69
2.17
4926.55
4.76
6758.07
2.78
5308.26
3.59
27621.00
0.33
19270.20
2.93
10029.10
1.79
4069.45
3.98
4258.08
14686.20
6.08
14238.80
1.71
8234.12
4.17
5285.98
2.49
6139.28
5.03
13770.50
0.69
4992.46
2.02
6395.95
2.13
36912.30
3.03
6672.28
3.88
59956.20
5.00
8085.28
1.93
9711.92
2.38
19915.60
2.76
+3.0
-10.50
-4.00
-46.35
-11.30
+29.00

+24.00
+13.00
+1.50
+95.00
+27.50
+2.40
+10.00
+55.00
+11.00
-77.90
+5.25
+28.50
-8.5
+8.60
+10.00
-36.00
+16.00
-16.00
+6.90
-9.00
+68.00
+60.00
-3.50
+6.60
+17.00
-53.00
+6.00
+19.00
+4.40
-1.00
-0.45
+4.50
-7.5
-11.00
+22.00
+3.80
-12.00
+58.00
+61.00
-13.00
+117.00
-4.6
+3.60
+94.00
-1.80
-15.0
+3.50
+1.62
+43.00
-14.50
-1.00
-4.10
+14.00
-1.80
-17.40
+135.00
+3.20
+4.00
+45.00
+12.00
+21.00
-24.00
+18.00
-97.00
+54.50
+1.00
-2.80
+21.50
+25.00
-2.10
+9.50
+13.00
+2.40
+26.00
+20.00
-42.00
-3.00
+4.00
+12.00
+13.50
-10.00
-6.68
+12.30
+31.00
+5.10
-2.30
+26.00
-37.00
+25.00
-8.50
+2.30
-59.00
+56.00
+21.00
Div Yield
-10.18
-9.56
-9.28
-9.20
-8.73
-7.40
-7.28
-6.96
-6.62
-6.22
PE
6.78
14.22
15.74
3.07
16.05
61.37
52.24
17.92
69.33
10.18
20.49
22.20
12.91
10.02
21.63
33.87
28.32
23.33
4.96
18.86
29.52
16.30
35.40
32.79
10.93
28.46
21.82
35.30
20.26
15.03
51.67
11.73
23.29
73.23
22.80
28.97
7.69
23.83
6.36
44.31
23.08
11.67
16.66
20.36
22.05
23.67
25.17
6.74
23.07
13.25
14.41
4.03
16.34
43.18
46.81
16.84
17.59
25.47
22.24
4.74
17.40
18.49
16.95
14.27
15.41
17.82
23.69
14.11
27.84
9.38
15.06
10.02
10.48
10.59
70.45
29.48
33.66
29.44
19.58
45.05
58.29
14.17
30.09
16.51
17.52
26.40
8.64
16.21
27.57
16.27
2.39
18.94
49.97
22.46
24.59
10.38
21.63
46.36
18.70
jamie
nimmo
Investors will discover this

week whether the Paris and
Egypt terror attacks put
people off flying. Passenger
numbers for November,
to be unveiled by IAG and
easyJet on Thursday and
Friday respectively, are
expected to show a drop in
traffic after both suspended
flights between the UK and
Sharm el-Sheikh when a
Russian plane was downed.
Monarch also cancelled
flights, as did tour operators Thomas Cook and
Thomson (owned by FTSE
100 firm TUI). Last week,
Peter Fankhauser, the chief
executive of Thomas Cook,
warned that the travel industry faced an unprecedented
level of disruption.
His comments came as
the firm, which lost 130m
of revenue when it stopped
holidays to Tunisia until next
April, revealed a fall in bookings from France and other
European countries.
Until the string of
attacks, there was a wave of
profit guidance upgrades
from European airlines.
The owner of Alton
Towers, Merlin
Entertainments, is
updating investors
tomorrow on trading
before its financial year
ends next month. Last
week, it revealed that the
rollercoaster crash in June
was a result of human error.
Annual results out today
from Aberdeen Asset
Management will reveal the
fallout from the slowdown
in emerging markets, where
the asset manager makes
most of its money, while
shareholders of the sausage
maker Cranswick hope for
sizzling first-half sales.
Tomorrow, there are
annual results from Topps
Tiles and first-half results
from FTSE 250 van rental
firm Northgate, while
on Wednesday, there are
annual results from the
online property company
Zoopla and business
software firm Sage and halfyear results from the pubs
group Greene King.
Rounding things off on
Friday is the housebuilder
Berkeley Group with firsthalf results.
On Thursday, the
European Central Bank
is expected to reveal an
extension of its quantitative
easing programme.
US non-farm payrolls,
showing how many jobs the
US added in November, are
the last jobs figures before
US policymakers decide
whether to raise interest
rates for the first time
since 2006, with investors
expecting they will.
Robots will create UK

jobs, not destroy them
Jamie Nimmo
Investing in robots would

create more, not fewer, jobs
for the UKs embattled manufacturing industry, according
to research from Barclays.
Its Future-proofing UK
Manufacturing report says an
extra 1.2bn of investment in
robots could boost the economy by as much as 60.5bn
over the next decade. That
would help the manufacturing sector to grow by 38bn
to 191bn by 2025, and would
safeguard more than 100,000
jobs, not just in manufacturing, Barclays argues.
The increased investment
would help to mitigate the
expected decline in manufacturing jobs by creating 73,500
more by 2025.
There are concerns that
increasing automation in factories will lead to more manual
labour job cuts, but the report
suggests it will have the opposite effect.
The aircraft engine maker
Rolls-Royce has slashed thousands of jobs over the past year
to deal with the downturn,
A German drum-playing robot: investing in robotics would pay

off for Britain, says a report from Barclays
along with other major engineering firms.
Mike Rigby, head of manufacturing at Barclays, said:
This report highlights the
importance of investing in
robotics and automation for
manufacturers as a potential
solution to the ongoing productivity puzzle.
By investing an additional 1.2bn in automation
technologies over the next
decade, the UK manufacturing sector is forecast to create an additional 60.5bn of
economic output and safeguard more than 105,800

jobs throughout the wider
economy.
However, to reap these
rewards we need to address
some of the barriers to investment, including the need for
more user-friendly and flexible technology, addressing
skills barriers within the sector, and supporting manufacturers to access the funding and information already
available to them for robotics
investment.
More publishers fail as e-books rise

has fuelled the increase, said
Moore Stephens.
The firm added that smaller
publishers that have been slow
to adapt and make their products available as e-books have
seen sales fall.
Parts of the industry that
have typically enjoyed higher
margins, such as academic
publishing, have also endured
a tougher sales market.
Meanwhile smaller companies are feeling the strain of
having to offer discounts to
compete with larger online
rivals.
David Elliott, restructuring and insolvency partner

at Moore Stephens, said:
The fall in the value of sales
for physical books is larger
than the growth of e-books,
and this is a worrying trend
for publishers that are still
dependent on paper for their
profits.
Digital continues to grow,
with UK e-book revenues
climbing 11 per cent to
563m in 2014. But data from
the Publishers Association
shows sales of physical books
fell 5 per cent to 2.7bn.
r egulation
indust ry
aviation
Fines and prison sentences

against businesses
and individuals by UK
regulators have jumped
sharply over the last two
years. The average fine has
gone up from 10.8m to
42.3m since October 2013,
according to an analysis
of four regulators and
prosecutors by accountant
Ernst & Young.
Carolyn Fairbairn, the

new head of the CBI, will
today call for more help for
medium-sized businesses.
She will say that while the
country is great at telling
the stories of start-ups and
well-known firms which
make up Brand Britain,
entrepreneurs starting to
scale up their businesses
often get left out.
Indias budget airline

SpiceJet has revealed that
unnamed airlines based
in the Gulf having been
looking at taking a stake in
it. The airline, whose share
price has risen 280 per cent
so far this year, said this
was not the right time to
be selling a shareholding
to anyone because its share
price was still too low.
Joanna Bourke
Readers shunning physical

books for digital ones has
contributed to a 58 per cent
jump in the number of publishers failing, research has
revealed.
In the year to 30 June, 128
publishers in the UK went
out of business, according to
the accountancy firm Moore
Stephens. The prior year there
were 81 insolvencies.
A rise in popularity of ereaders such as the Kindle
news in
brief
Fines and jail sentences

soar in past two years
New CBI chief in plea for

scale-up businesses
Gulf airlines want stake

in Indias SpiceJet
55
David Prosser
Small Talk
Why did scary
stories about zombie
companies fail to
turn into reality?
Remember the
zombies? A couple
of years back, the
banks were accused
of massaging their
business failure figures by allowing indebted
businesses to delay repaying their loans the
suggestion was that while these zombie
businesses had no future, the banks were
reluctant to force their closure because they
feared further attacks for failing to support
small and medium-sized enterprises.
Happily, data from R3, the insolvency
industry trade body, show there has been a
dramatic reduction in the number of zombie
businesses still out there and not because
more have gone under. R3 defines these
companies as those that are only able to pay
the interest on their debts, rather than any of
the capital owed: while there were 154,000
businesses in this position in August 2014, the
number today is just 69,000. Thats the lowest
total since R3 began such research in 2012.
R3s figures also show that only 97,000
businesses are so strapped for cash that
theyre having to negotiate payment terms
with their creditors down from 135,000 last
year.
These trends are mirrored in official figures
showing that fewer businesses are failing. The
Office of National Statistics says that 9.6 per
cent of businesses shut last year, down from
9.7 per cent in 2013, and the lowest figure
since 2008, before the financial crisis.
So were the zombie claims overblown?
Well, certainly this horror film has turned out
to be far less frightening than many expected;
on the other hand, its fair to say many
businesses have got lucky.
The single most significant explanation
for the unexpected recovery of all those
zombies is that interest rates have remained
at rock-bottom levels for far longer than
anyone predicted. Every time economists
have begun to think that the Bank of England
might finally be on the verge of raising rates,
a new slew of negative data or fresh shocks
such as the Chinese slowdown have changed
the game. Most analysts do not now expect
the first interest rate rise before the autumn of
next year.
Artificially low borrowing rates as well as
falling energy and commodity prices, and flat
inflation generally have given businesses a
breathing space in which to recover that they
would never have been granted in normal
times. The banks forbearance policies may
Part-time project
ended up with
sales of 7.5m
sm all
bu sine ss
pe rso n of
the wee k
Vincent Ferguson
Founder, Inciner8
I started the company in
2003. My background was
in poultry farming and then
selling equipment to poultry
farmers. Wed had crises
such as BSE and bird flu,
and in all the concern about
Major banks accused of

overcharging for forex
Nearly one in 10 businesses shut last year

have been introduced for selfish reasons, but
they have enabled many zombies to come
back from the dead.
However, this is not a scary movie that will
end well for everyone. According to R3, there
are still some 77,000 companies out there that
would renege on their debts were interest
rates to rise. Time is running out for these
businesses to get themselves into a more
resilient position. That there are still 69,000
businesses only in a position to pay debt
interest also remains worrying.
Nor are rate rises the only threat to the
remaining zombies. Higher costs next year
will come in a number of guises. The new
national living wage will have an impact on
many firms, as will the extension of the autoenrolment pension system to cover more
small businesses. At the same time, the banks
forbearance policies will not last forever,
particularly now they feel under less pressure
to avoid confrontation.
Business can and do fail even in the most
supportive economic conditions such is the
nature of enterprise. However, the remaining
overhang of zombie businesses means that
once interest rates and borrowing costs do
begin to rise, we are likely to see failure rates
spike back upwards. Those zombies which
have had a reprieve should count themselves
lucky, for many more will not be so fortunate.
cross-contamination, I saw
an opportunity for a business
specialising in farm animal
incineration equipment.
From the start I dreamt
this would be an export
business the idea of selling
to other countries really
thrilled me. I set up quite an
elaborate website by teaching
myself how to build internet
pages, and our first order
came from Norfolk Island in
the Pacific ocean. I realised
that if I could sell there, I
could sell anywhere.
Britains biggest banks are charging small

businesses thousands of pounds in hidden
fees to make international money transfers, a
study claims. Money Mover, one of a growing
number of online currency exchanges
that aim to disrupt the big banks, said that
charges hidden in banks exchange rates and
market spreads made it almost impossible for
customers to work out what they were paying
to move money across borders.
Money Mover said Barclays was the worst
offender, with total charges of 2,776 for
a small business looking to move 75,000
to another European Union country.
Lloyds would charge 2,047 for the same
transaction, the study revealed. At the
cheapest bank in the study, Santander,
charges totalled just 1,187 well under half
the cost of transferring the money through
Barclays.
When it comes to international payments,
the major banks are overcharging and
underserving their SME customers, said
Hamish Anderson, chief executive of Money
Mover. The UKs banks are collectively
failing to give SMEs the knowledge,
transparency and visibility which they need to
make an intelligent and informed decision.
Firms gear up for Small

Business Saturday
Five days and counting until Small Business
Saturday, the now annual initiative to
encourage people to support smaller
enterprises not only retailers, but
independent firms of any type.
Michelle Ovens, campaign director of
Small Business Saturday, is urging those
businesses that have not yet planned how to
take advantage of the project to do so. The
campaign plays a valuable role in focusing the
minds of consumers and business people on
what small businesses in any sector or line of
business can offer in terms of range of products
and services and levels of customer service,
she said. Research after
last years event found
that 16.5 million people
supported a small
business on the day.
We expanded into
medical waste incineration,
and our breakthrough came
when we got an order from
the American military for
facilities in Iraq. I think they
thought we were a much
bigger business than we
were not least because of
that website but by doing
a good job for them we went
from pretending to be a
global player in the industry
to actually becoming one.
They recommended us to all
sorts of people, and we built
some strong relationships,

including with people at the
United Nations.
Originally, I thought
this might be a part-time
endeavour, and that Id need
a proper job too. It was a
shock when we turned over
350,000 in our first year,
and this year were on target
for sales of around 7.5m.
We sell in 150 countries, 95
per cent of sales come from
exports, and weve even
won a Queens Award for
exporting.

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