Will Young Nesrine Malik Justice for George

On fame, Floyd was won on the streets  G2

addiction, Monday
26 April 2021
£2.20
anxiety and From £1.75 for subscribers

finding
peace
 G2

Outrage as No 10 rules out urgent

inquiry into pandemic mistakes
Exclusive Government
too busy for investigation,
bereaved families are told
Robert Booth
Social affairs correspondent
The government has sparked anger
among bereaved families telling
them it will be too busy to start an
inquiry into the UK’s handling of
the Covid pandemic for months.
In a six-page letter to lawyers for
thousands of families calling for an
immediate statutory public inquiry,
the government said “an inquiry
now is not appropriate” and “the
very people who would need to give
evidence to an inquiry are working
round the clock”.
It said: “It is not anticipated that
the government’s workload will ease
in the coming months.”
In a position statement that
appears to kick Boris Johnson’s
promise of an inquiry into the long
grass, it told the Covid-19 Bereaved
Families for Justice group its “entire
focus” was on delivering vaccines
and preparing for “the effects of the
third wave of the virus currently
being experienced in neighbouring
countries”.
The letter, sent on 1 April, also said
mechanisms to learn lessons were
already in place, citing inquiries by
committees of MPs and the National
Audit Office.
But the bereaved believe that with
‘Response to the
pandemic is at a
critical phase … there
is simply no capacity
to divert resources
to an inquiry’
Extract from letter
to bereaved families
infection rates falling to the lowest
levels since early September 2020
and nearly two-thirds of the adult
population having received at least
one vaccine dose, the launch of an
inquiry is long overdue.
Jo Goodman, co-founder of the
Covid bereaved group described
the government position as
“procrastination” and “an insult
to the bereaved [and] prevents the
government from protecting future
lives to the best of their
2 
ability”. It sets ministers

US and UK PM under
to send pressure on
Covid help flat revamp
to India Labour demands
Cummings and Johnson
give evidence over
Rebecca Ratcliffe who paid for Downing
Street refurbishment
International efforts to help India News Page 5
fight its devastating coronavirus
crisis have stepped up as the White
House said the US would immediately
provide raw materials for vaccine
manufacture and the UK announced
Fourth cup
it had dispatched ventilators and oxy-
gen to Delhi.
France and Germany are also set to
victory in a
send much-needed oxygen to India
in the coming days as it battles the
world’s worst outbreak.
row for City
Pakistan, a traditional foe, offered
medical equipment and supplies
Laporte strikes late
after the prime minister, Imran at Wembley to deny
Khan, tweeted prayers for a “speedy Spurs and extend Pep
recovery”.
India reported 349,691 new cases Guardiola’s extrordinary
yesterday, a record increase for the run in the Carabao Cup
fourth consecutive day, and 2,767
people dead. Hospitals are run- Sport Page 42
ning short of life-saving oxygen and
patients are dying while they wait to
see doctors.
It is feared that the official statistics
and a death toll of 192,311
•••

11 
are underestimating the ▲ Distraught women outside a Delhi hospital, where supplies are running short PHOTOGRAPH: NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX/EYEVINE
 • The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021

Inside 26/4/21 News

Four sections every weekday

 The EY Item Club said the UK

News and Sport economy would be back to its pre-
pandemic peak by the middle of 2022
PHOTOGRAPH: ALBERTO PEZZALI/AP
Return to the galleries
sentiment, limiting the rise in
Art lovers denied their unemployment, Stewart said. “The
cultural fix for months are eventual peak in unemployment
flocking to new shows looks set to be far lower than had been
Page 9 feared, and far lower than following
any downturn in the last 30 years.”
The EY Item Club is predicting that
Watford’s comeback unemployment will peak at lower
than previously expected levels, as
How a gamble on Xisco furlough support continues and com-
Muñoz put the Hornets panies start hiring again as lockdown
back in the top flight measures are further eased.
Page 38 Using the Treasury’s economic

Economy set to grow at

models to produce its forecasts, the
Item Club said it expected unemploy-
ment to reach 5.8% by the end of 2021
•

G2
Journal Outside G2
fastest rate since 1941
Children need free play if they are to be fully equipped for life Editorial, page 2 Daily

Justice for George Floyd was won in the streets Nesrine Malik, page 3
pullout
life & – down from the 7% jobless rate pre-
Opinions and ideas
arts
section
We are all online amateur detectives now Amelia Tait, page 4
dicted in January – and is expected
Inside

The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021

Opinion
and ideas
to be as low as 4.5% by the end of
 An economy built 2022. The unemployment rate was
confidence increased at the fastest 4% before the pandemic struck.
on rising house prices Richard Partington rate in a decade in the first three Younger workers have been among
is a gift to the Tories Economics correspondent months of 2021, as the roadmap out those most affected by job losses or
William Davies of lockdown fuelled optimism. reduced employment opportunities.
Page 1 Britain’s economy is forecast to grow Every measure of confidence – The Item Club said that as the econ-
at the fastest rate since the second from the state of the economy, to omy recovers, it was vital businesses
world war this year after businesses general wellbeing and personal debt stepped up by providing opportuni-
An economy
I  Social media means adapted better to the most recent cor- levels – improved over the period, ties to support younger workers back
t was 14 years ago, in the summer of 2007, approximately 50% higher than it was in January 2009, ILLUSTRATION:
that the first signs of the global financial and in London around double. While the economic R FRESSON

crisis appeared: the liquidation of two hedge crisis of 2007-9 was accompanied by a housing crash,
funds heavily invested in mortgage-backed the first year of Covid-19 saw a boom in property prices.

built on rising
securities, and the start of the collapse of There may be no better symbol of our new national
Northern Rock. This is more than enough time priorities than the “Stanley Johnson clause” in the
for a new economic model to take shape. After Covid travel rules announced last month, which allows

onavirus restrictions and consumer according to the Deloitte Consumer into employment, and invested in the
we can all be amateur
all, 14 years after Richard Nixon signalled the visits to property overseas but not family.

house prices is a
end of the “Keynesian” era by disbanding the fixed
exchange rates system that shaped the post-1945
economy, Margaret Thatcher was on the cusp of her
third election victory, and London was awash with
The UK’s ratio of housing wealth to GDP is now
above the level seen in Japan before its historic crash
in 1991 – but there is no sign that policymakers wish
to alter the place of housing wealth in the UK economy.

gift to the Tories spending booms as lockdown meas- Tracker. “The UK is primed for a skills and training many have missed
“yuppies” making fast money out of the stock market. George Osborne’s refusal to use fiscal policy to support
The picture of Britain’s post-crash economic the economy after 2010 meant that the UK became
settlement was clear even before the dramatic impact even more dependent on very low interest rates and

online detectives now

of Covid. To put it bluntly, the proceeds of economic
growth in the UK now flow entirely to asset-owners
William – including homeowners. Study after study has shown
Davies
that in the decade after the financial crisis, average
real wages simply stopped rising – something that
had never previously happened in two centuries of
industrial capitalism.
And yet, Britain’s housing market defies all
quantitative easing, which simply allowed more
money to be poured into assets, hugely enriching
asset-owners at the expense of everyone else.
ures are relaxed. sharp snap back in consumer activ- out on over the last year.
Predictably, the chancellor Rishi Sunak’s package
of measures to jumpstart the economy in the summer
of 2020 included a stamp duty holiday, which further 
inflated the housing boom. After extending this William Davies
holiday in his March budget, Sunak is a sociologist


Amelia Tate
economic threats and shocks. While wages have now faces the danger of triggering a and political

As businesses and households pre- ity,” said Ian Stewart, chief economist Howard Archer, the chief eco-
stagnated, the average British house price is now property crash when he finally ends it. economist

Page 4 pare for looser controls this spring, at Deloitte. “High levels of saving, the nomic adviser to the Item Club, said
the EY Item Club said it had upgraded successful vaccination rollout and the latest forecasts implied a smaller
its growth forecasts for 2021 as pro- the easing of the lockdown set the degree of permanent “scarring”. “The
gress with the vaccine rollout enables stage for a surge in spending over the UK economy has proven to be more
G2 Centre pullout a swift return to relative normality. coming months.” resilient than seemed possible at the
Features and arts The group said it expected GDP to The government’s decision to outset of the pandemic. Businesses
“I think I now grow by 6.8% in 2021, in a sharp extend its furlough support through and consumers have been innovative
escaped – not
Perfect company? that it didn’t upgrade from the 5% growth rate it to the autumn had also boosted and flexible in adjusting to Covid-19
damage me
had estimated in January, marking restrictions and lessons learned over
Daniel Lavelle has been Will the fastest annual growth in national the last 12 months have helped mini-
having conversations with Young income since 1941. The UK economy mise the economic impact,” he said.
himself. Does he need help? on school, scandal
and survival shrank by 9.8% in 2020, the worst Deloitte’s Stewart said the main
Page 4 performance in the G7. risk to an improving outlook for the
It said the improved outlook UK economy and consumer confi-
Monday 26/04/21
means the UK economy would be dence was the emergence of new,
Forgotten pioneers
Zoe Williams
Kids, clothes and
the surprising truth
back to its pre-pandemic peak by the vaccine resistant variants and a third
about divorce
middle of next year, helped by a boom wave of cases. “With global case rates
Why were the women who page 3

Voices in your head in consumer spending fuelled by the rising we are not completely out of
blazed a trail for electronic What’s wrong with
talking to yourself?
page 4 big increase in savings among wealth- the woods,” he said.
music not given their due? ier households during lockdown. ▲ Businesses are preparing for
Page 8 A separate survey shows consumer looser restrictions and controls Larry Elliott Page 28

Become a Guardian and Observer er  Continued from page 1 bereaved its “response to the NAO which has reported on provision
pandemic is at a critical phase” and of ventilators, procurement of
subscriber from £21.99 a month Outrage as No 10 “there is simply no capacity for personal protective equipment, pro-
government to pause these efforts tecting the clinically vulnerable and
Visit theguardian.com/paper-subss rules out urgent and divert resources to an intensive the impact on adult social care.
independent inquiry”. However, select committees
Weather Cartoon inquiry into Covid Its position was set out in corre- cannot mandate ministers to attend
spondence relating to a potential legal and are subject to political influence
Page 30 Journal, page 4 in opposition to the Archbishop of action by the bereaved against min- and Goodman said they amounted to
Canterbury who last week told the isters. They allege the UK’s response “MPs marking their own homework”.
Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Guardian an inquiry should start failed to take sufficient steps to pro- She said a judge was needed instead.
now with the power to subpoena wit- tect the public and therefore under “How long will grieving families
Back of G2 Back of Journal nesses and take evidence under oath. human rights law, an inquiry must be left without answers, without
He spoke as he visited the National begin. The government denies this. assurance that the mistakes that
Covid Memorial Wall in London Ministers argue several key issues lead to our loved one’s deaths are not
Contact Guardian News & Media, Kings Place, 90 York Way,
London N1 9GU. 020-3353 2000. Fax 020-7837 2114.
inscribed with more than 150,000 have already been investigated by repeated?” Goodman said.
In Manchester: Centurion House, 129 Deansgate,
For missing sections call 0800 839 100. Manchester M3 3WR. Telephone Sales: 020-7611 9000. red hearts representing UK fatalities parliamentary committees and the “We are not confident that a gov-
For individual departments, call the Guardian The Guardian lists links to third-party websites, but from the virus. ernment can prepare effectively for
switchboard: 020 3353 2000. does not endorse them or guarantee their authenticity
For the Readers’ editor (corrections or accuracy. Back issues from Historic Newspapers: Labour has called for inquiry future waves without first analysing
&  clarifications on specific editorial content), call 0870-165 1470 guardian.backissuenewspapers.co.uk. preparations to begin so it can start and learning from the evidence as to
020 3353 4736 between 10am and 1pm UK time Published by Guardian News & Media, Kings Place,
Monday to Friday excluding public holidays, or 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, and at Centurion House,
in earnest as soon as lockdown what does and doesn’t work.”
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Letters for publication should be sent to Watford Limited, St Albans Road, Watford, Herts 21 June. Other supporters of a full said “an independent inquiry at the
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address on the letters page. Chadderton, Oldham OL9 8EP; Reach Saltire Ltd, public inquiry include govern- appropriate time” would be part
110 Fifty Pitches Place, Glasgow G51 4EA; and by ment scientific adviser, Prof John of “opportunities to look back and
Irish Times Print Facility, 4080 Kingswood Road, Edmunds, Lord Kerslake, the head learn”. But, they said, it was currently
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SUPPORT Monday 26 April 2021. Registered as a newspaper at of the civil service under David Cam- “rightly focused on protecting public
RECYCLING the Post Office ISSN 0261-3077. eron, the Royal College of Nursing health and saving lives through the
The recycled paper
content
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in 2017 was 64.6% and the British Medical Association. ▲ Jo Goodman, centre, called the vaccination programme and ongoing
But the government told the government position ‘an insult’ restrictions in place”.
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian
Covid risk
as touts
beat fans
to festival
tickets
Rob Davies and Laura Snapes
Efforts to keep summer music festi-
vals Covid safe are being undermined
by “parasitic” ticket touts and resale
sites such as Viagogo and StubHub,
leading music industry figures have
warned.
A Guardian investigation found
that dozens of professional touts
have snapped up tickets for eagerly
awaited festivals and are demand-
ing massively inflated prices from
fans desperate to see artists such as
Stormzy, Nile Rodgers, Wolf Alice and
Megan Thee Stallion.
Event organisers and music indus-
try figures condemned a practice they
said not only exploited pent-up appe-
tite for the first festival season since
2019 but would also impede the trac-
ing of fans in the event of outbreaks
of the coronavirus.
Festival firms are required to retain
attendees’ details for 21 days as part
of government efforts to prevent the
spread of Covid but industry figures
warned the greed of resale firms and
touts would make it much harder to
comply with the rules.
A spokesperson for Field Day fes-
tival said there was “no doubt” that
Brewers bring back shandy to
quench thirst for ‘nolo’ beer
Zoe Wood
Shandy could be poised for a revival
as the trend for craft beer collides
with the fast-increasing demand for
no- and low-alcohol drinking driven
by younger people.
A big favourite in the 1970s,
shandy is being given a fresh spin by
new brewers who are turning their
hands to making better tasting no-
alcohol beers.
•
News
 Wolf Alice is
due to play at
Leeds festival
this summer.
Touts are
targeting such
events, even
though many
have ‘no-resale’
policies
PHOTOGRAPH: ALAMY
touts targeting fans through sites
such as Viagogo and StubHub, where
tickets sometimes change hands mul-
tiple times, would impede accurate
record-keeping.
Festival Republic, the firm behind
events such as Leeds, Reading, Wire-
less and Latitude, agreed with the
assessment.
Despite accusations of being at
fault, StubHub said it was “the ven-
ue’s obligation and responsibility”
to record attendees’ details. Viagogo
said it would “always work closely
and comply with authorities to assist
in their efforts to identify potential
exposure to the coronavirus”.
The Guardian analysed listings
on the websites – both owned by US
billionaire Eric Baker – for tickets to
festivals including Parklife, TRNSMT,
Wireless, Creamfields, Field Day,
Leeds and Reading.
More than 100 tickets, likely to be
a small fraction of the true supply
cornered by touts, were on sale for
a combined value of nearly £65,000.
Events targeted by touts include
Creamfields where one was asking
for more than £800 for a ticket with
a face value of £100.
The listings include tickets for
Wireless festival advertised by
Andrew Newman, first exposed by
the Observer as one of Britain’s most
powerful touts in 2016. Newman
declined to comment.
“The last thing the industry needs
right now is touts charging exorbi-
tant prices just as the live industry
is trying to get back on its feet,” said
UK Music chief executive Jamie
Njoku-Goodwin.
Other sellers included unknown
companies based in Canada, Aus-
tralia, the US and Spain, many with
just a PO Box address for contact.
The Guardian made contact with
one seller in Germany whose details
were published on the Viagogo site
but who claimed to have no knowl-
edge of ticket trading.
All of the companies were marked
Next month Sainsbury’s will start
selling the craft brand Shandy Shack
in all its stores. At £1.80-a-go, the cans
of “elderflower lager top” promise a
“punchy pilsner lager with a splash of
crisp elderflower pressé” and have a
2.5% alcohol by volume (abv).
Ed Stapleton, co-founder of
Oxford-based Shandy Shack, said the
company wanted shandy to reclaim
its “rightful place as the country’s
favourite low-alcohol drink”.
The trend towards alcohol moder-
ation has “greatly accelerated” during
▲ Touts snapped up tickets for the
Nile Rodgers UK tour later this year
as professional “traders”, who are
defined as someone who sells more
than 100 tickets per year and whose
contact details must be disclosed,
under the terms of a court order
secured by the consumer regulator
in 2019. The Guardian also found
evidence of resale sites apparently
failing to comply with other terms
of the same court order.
Where events do not permit resale,
websites offering tickets are sup-
posed to warn buyers that they may
the pandemic, he said, adding: “The
moderation movement represents
an important, progressive consumer
shift that is here to stay.”
Supermarket sales of “nolo” beer,
wine and spirits have surged 50%
over the past year to exceed £200m
as more young people go teetotal and
established drinkers try to cut back.
Over the past decade what was a
struggling beer market has been rein-
vigorated by the craft revolution as
hundreds of micro-breweries selling
niche local beers opened.
Britons fell back in love with beer,
with the number of UK consumers
up from 40% in 2018 to 48% in 2019,
according to The Society of Inde-
pendent Brewers.
A spokesperson for Siba said:
▼ Rapper Swae Lee of hip-hop duo
Rae Sremmurd performing at the
2018 Wireless festival in London
PHOTOGRAPH: JOSEPH OKPAKO/WIREIMAGE
be refused entry. Field Day said its
terms and conditions explicitly pro-
hibit resale, yet the Viagogo website
does not mention this to buyers.
Listings for four other festivals that
prohibit resale also did not appear to
warn fans they might be turned away.
Viagogo said its listings were compli-
ant with the court order.
Annabella Coldrick, chief execu-
tive of the Music Managers Forum
said: “What we need is a safe return
to live music but we’ve got parasitic
touts ripping people off and poten-
tially causing safety issues.”
Labour MP Sharon Hodgson ,
who has been leading a parliamen-
tary campaign against secondary
ticketing, said it was time for the gov-
ernment to act to prevent touting.
“The fact that ticket touts are not
only ripping off genuine fans but put-
ting the safety of everyone attending
an event at risk is shameful,” she said.
“This is an opportune moment for
the government to tackle secondary
ticketing [resale], to make events
Covid secure and protect fans from
being ripped off.
Hodgson chairs a group of MPs
hoping to use the government’s leg-
islative agenda, expected next month
in the Queen’s speech, to address
ticket touting.
▲ The ‘elderflower lager top’ Shandy
Shack is to be sold in Sainsbury’s
3
A spokesperson for the Depart-
ment of Digital, Culture, Media and
Sport (DCMS) said: “Fans must be
able to buy tickets at fair and rea-
sonable prices.
“We are committed to cracking
down on unacceptable behaviour
and to go after those who flout the
law or abuse the ticketing market.”
The Association of Independent
Festivals (AIF) said it had also seen
evidence of touts practising a fraud
known as “speculative selling”.
This is where touts advertise tick-
ets they don’t actually have and try
to fulfil the order by sourcing tick-
ets once they already have sales in
the bag.
Two touts were jailed last year for
four counts of fraud, including for
speculative selling and for misrepre-
senting their identities to buy more
tickets than they were allowed.
Peter Hunter and David Smith’s
multi-million pound ticket business
was exposed by the Observer in 2016.
Viagogo and StubHub are in the
midst of a troubled £3bn merger
that sparked intervention from the
Competition and Markets Author-
ity (CMA), which ordered the sale of
StubHub’s UK business.
The two firms control 90% of the
UK for-profit resale market.
“These super low alcohol options –
equivalent in alcohol content to a ripe
banana – can only be a good thing and
allow people who are looking to cut
down their alcohol intake to enjoy
great tasting drinks.”
Tesco has teamed up with cult
Manchester brewer Cloudwater to
sell a four-pack that contains three
regular and one alcohol-free beer for
the first time.
Luke O’Connor, Tesco’s craft beer
buyer, said the quality of nolo beers
had improved as craft brewers got
involved. The mixed pack, which
costs £10, would be popular with
households “where one member is
abstaining from alcohol or those who
fancy a midweek beer but don’t want
to drink alcohol”, he said.
 • The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021

4 National
Lobbying

Top civil servants

come under new
pressure over jobs
in private sector
Aubrey Allegretti

A new inquiry is to be launched into

civil servants taking second jobs,
possibly leading to officials facing
tougher scrutiny after the Greensill
scandal, the Guardian has learned.
Simon Case, the cabinet secretary,
is due to announce the move when
he appears before a parliamentary
committee today, following an audit
of how widespread the problem is
across Whitehall.
Permanent secretaries at each
department were instructed to find
out how many mandarins held posi-
tions outside the civil service when
it was discovered that lobbying on
behalf of Greensill Capital extended
beyond just the former prime min-
ister David Cameron and other
politicians’ involvement.
The Guardian revealed weeks ago
that official approval was given for
Bill Crothers to begin advising Green-
sill in September 2015 while he was
still employed in the civil service. He
denied any wrongdoing and said such
outside roles were “not uncommon”.
While the government has set up
▲ Cabinet secretary Simon Case is
due to announce tougher rules
Covid corporate financing facility
(CCFF), which the company ulti-
mately did not quality for.
Cameron, who was a special
adviser to the company’s board and
partly paid in share options, was
found to have sent texts and emails
to ministers as he sought approval
for policies that would benefit the
lender.
It has since emerged that Cameron
personally lobbied the Treasury’s
most senior civil servant, Sir Tom
Scholar, via text message, and
secured nine meetings with another
of the department’s key officials.
Cameron also lobbied John Glen
MP, the economic secretary to the
Treasury. In correspondence released

‘Chatty rat’ How the

an independent review led by Nigel
Boardman to examine how ministers
dealt with Cameron’s advances, Case
is now launching his own review. A
source said it would examine “the
second job issue within the civil ser-
vice” and be announced formally
today.
Case is facing the public admin-
istration and constitutional affairs
committee this afternoon. He is likely
to be asked for the findings of his
audit and what reforms he intends to
make to the rules on what other roles
impartial civil servants can have.
Currently the civil service manage-
ment code states that: “Departments
and agencies must require staff to
seek permission before accepting any
outside employment which might
affect their work either directly or
indirectly, and must make appropri-
ate arrangements, which reflect the
business appointments rules for civil
servants… and any local needs, for
the handling of such requests.”
However, there is concern that the
relevant section of the code is too
loosely worded. Case is understood
to have raised concerns at a meeting
last week and suggested there should
be more scrutiny by officials when
signing off double jobs.
The lobbying issue – which Cam-
eron himself warned in 2010 was
“the next big scandal waiting to hap-
pen” – exploded recently after it was
revealed Greensill was attempting to
lobby for access to the government’s
largest Covid-support scheme, the
by the Treasury last week copied in
to top officials, Cameron is said to
have argued that supporting Green-
sill would be “the most effective” way
to help the small and medium busi-
nesses that relied on it for finance.
Greensill also hired another Cab-
inet Office adviser – the former
Morgan Stanley banker David Bri-
erwood. He was brought into the
heart of government during Cam-
eron’s administration in 2014, the
same year Greensill’s founder, Lex
Greensill, apparently took on a simi-
lar role. Two months later, Brierwood
was recruited to join Greensill Capi-
tal’s board as a director.
Brierwood remained a director
throughout the rest of his Whitehall
appointment, which lasted more
than three and a half years, accord-
ing to his LinkedIn profile, which also
shows that he resigned from the sup-
ply chain finance firm in February this
year.
Eight separate inquiries have been
launched into the lobbying issues
thrown up by Greensill, includ-
ing Boardman’s, the National Audit
Office, the committee on standards
in public life, and three by select
committees
Cameron released a statement
two weeks ago after a long period of
silence, saying he had reflected on his
conduct and accepted that he should
have communicated “through only
the most formal of channels” and
there were “important lessons” to
be learned.
blame game unfolded
Aubrey Allegretti
The political fallout from Dominic
Cummings’ latest incendiary
blog post, which has been called
a “nuclear Dom” in Westminster,
caused some immediate tremors,
and is likely to lead to aftershocks
for weeks to come.
Months after being turfed out of
Downing Street, Boris Johnson’s
once most senior adviser and
trusted ally has turned on him in a
blame game over leaks.
The final straw seems to have
been a text exchange between
the prime minister and the
entrepreneur James Dyson, in
which the prime minister promised
to “fix” a tax issue. The most
explosive row, however, is focused
on who leaked news of England’s
second national lockdown,
nicknamed the search for the
“chatty rat”.
What happened?
Various newspapers including the
Times, the Daily Mail and the Sun,
reported on 30 October last year
that the government was planning
to announce a national lockdown.
Having denied for months
that another lockdown would be
necessary, No 10 seemed caught by
surprise when the news emerged.
A Whitehall inquiry was ordered,
but more than six months on, no
culprit has been publicly identified.
Asked repeatedly to give an update
on the investigation, a No 10
spokesperson has simply said they
have no new information to offer.
Who’s in the frame?
According to a coordinated briefing
to three Conservative-friendly
newspapers by “No 10 sources”
on Friday, Johnson believes
▲ No 10 denies that Henry Newman
was the source of the lockdown leak
Cummings was “engaged in
systematic leaking”.
Downing Street did not deny the
reports and some have speculated
that a more pro-authoritarian
Cummings leaked the news to
bounce Johnson into taking action.
But after the direct attacks levelled
at him earlier this week, Cummings
came out swinging.
Cummings said in his blog on
Friday that a meeting was held last
year with him, Johnson, the cabinet
secretary Simon Case and the No 10
head of communications Lee Cain
about the investigation. Cummings
claimed Case exonerated him
and Cain, and said that “all the
evidence definitely leads” to a man
called Henry Newman, a special
adviser who moved from Michael
Gove’s office to No 10 and is a friend
of Carrie Symonds, the prime
minister’s fiancee.
Cummings alleged Johnson was
“very upset” and told him that if
Newman was confirmed as the
so-called “chatty rat” he would
have to “fire him”, which would
“cause me very serious problems
with Carrie”, so the prime minister
suggested the leak inquiry be
quashed. Johnson dismissed the
claim and No 10 sources deny
Newman was the leaker.
Will we ever know?
Having failed to yield a result so
far, it may be the inquiry fails to
deliver a definitive verdict on who
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian
the leaker is. A cabinet minister, Liz
Truss, has said, the investigation is
still “ongoing”.
The Sunday Times reported that
sources said MI5 had been roped in
to help, and so far found that one
person sent a WhatsApp message
from the cabinet room at around
6pm the day after the meeting
where lockdown was discussed.
Present, they said, were Johnson,
Cummings, Cain, an unnamed
political aide and two civil servants.
What other leaks have
aroused suspicion?
A separate inquiry has already been
set up this week into how texts
between Johnson and Dyson fell
into the hands of the BBC.
The Daily Mail also revealed
Saudi crown prince, Mohammed
bin Salman, warned Johnson in a
text message that UK-Saudi Arabian
relations would be damaged if
the British government failed to
intervene to “correct” the Premier
League’s “wrong” decision not
to allow a £300m takeover of
Newcastle United last year.
And it was revealed this year
that extensive redecoration of
the Downing Street flat where
Johnson lives with Symonds
and their son, Wilfred, has taken
place – reported to have cost up to
£200,000. The issue has caused
particular embarrassment because
of another leaked email from a Tory
donor and peer, Lord Brownlow,
•
▼ Boris Johnson celebrating election
night with partner Carrie Symonds
and former aide Dominic Cummings
PHOTOGRAPH: ANDREW PARSONS/PARSONS MEDIA
to Conservative co-chairman Ben
Elliot, which confirmed a £58,000
payment to the party, “to cover the
payments the party has already
made” spent on renovations.
What do all these leaks tell us?
Despite Cummings’ departure from
Downing Street, it seems the old
turf wars are still playing out in No
10 between those sympathetic to
Symonds and to Cummings.
The leaks are damaging, but
the Conservatives are far ahead
in national voting intention polls.
Labour is hoping its attacks on
alleged cronyism and sleaze will
start to permeate, and not just stick
on Johnson but others around him
– including cabinet ministers who
may be thinking about running to
replace him when the time comes.
The answers to some questions
are still unknown: Did the cabinet
secretary really exonerate
Cummings for leaking and instead
blame Newman? Was the prime
minister loaned money to pay for
Downing Street refurbishments, to
cover up an original plan for them
to paid by the party? And who is
responsible for the leaks causing
such a headache for No 10?
With Cummings due to appear
before a select committee next
month, and promising to “answer
questions about any of these issues
to Parliament on 26 May for as long
as the MPs want”, we may not have
to wait much longer.
ESL debacle
Johnson ‘has
questions to
answer’ after
No 10 hosted
club chief
Aubrey Allegretti
Boris Johnson has been urged to
reveal whether he signalled his
endorsement of the plan for a Euro-
pean Super League (ESL) when he
met the chief executive of one of the
English football clubs leading the
breakaway in Downing Street days
before it was announced.
After the ESL was officially
announced, the prime minister said
he was firmly against the idea of what
he said amounted to a “cartel”, and
said he found out the surprise news
at the same time as everyone else.
However, it was later revealed that
Ed Woodward, the chief executive of
Manchester United, was invited for
a meeting with the prime minister’s
chief of staff, Dan Rosenfield, in No
10 days before the announcement,
and briefly spoke to Johnson.
After the Sunday Times reported
that sources said Woodward departed
with the wrong impression that John-
son was in favour of the proposal,
Labour has said the prime minister
has “questions to answer”.
Downing Street PM must face
investigation over how he paid
for flat refurbishment – Labour
Aubrey Allegretti
The Electoral Commission must
legally summon Boris Johnson,
Dominic Cummings and Conserva-
tive officials to give evidence on how
the prime minister paid for refurbish-
ments to his Downing Street flat,
Labour has said.
Calling on the commission to
launch a formal investigation, law-
yers for the party said the matter
was “incontrovertibly in the public
interest”.
In a letter sent yesterday to the
commission’s chief executive, Bob
Posner, and seen by the Guardian,
Edwards Duthie Shamash Solicitors
said there was “ever-increasing evi-
dence” to warrant such an inquiry.
Previously the watchdog has said
only that “discussions” are under
way with the Tories as they “work to
establish” whether any reporting of
political donation requirements had
been breached.
Labour cited Cummings’ incendi-
ary blog post published last week that
claimed Johnson planned to “have
Jo Stevens, the shadow culture
secretary, has written to the cabinet
secretary, Simon Case, to renew her
call for any minutes and correspond-
ence concerning the meeting to be
made public. She has asked when the
meeting was arranged, why, who else
was present, and whether Johnson or
other government figures recently
met representatives of the other
five clubs that were poised to join
the Super League before they pulled
out following a fierce public backlash:
Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Arse-
nal, Chelsea and Manchester City.
Stevens said: “Yet again, Johnson’s
integrity and honesty are in question.
The public has a right to know what
exactly was promised to Manches-
ter United by both officials and the
prime minister.
“If Johnson gave the European
Super League his backing and then
publicly turned on the plan then the
British people deserve a full, clear and
immediate explanation and apology.”
Government sources have stren-
uously denied Johnson had any
▲ Man Utd’s Ed Woodward met
Johnson just days before the launch
donors secretly pay” for a reported
£200,000 refurbishment of the No 11
flat where he lives with fiancee Carrie
Symonds and son Wilfred.
In a post distancing himself from
accusations of leaking, the former
top aide to the prime minister, who
left that role last November, said
Johnson’s actions around the refur-
bishment were “unethical, foolish,
possibly illegal and almost certainly
broke the rules on proper disclosure
of political donations if conducted in
the way he intended”.
Cummings said he had made
known his desire not to be associated
with the plan, writing that he refused
to help and so his knowledge about
it was limited. However, he added:
‘I would be happy
to tell the Electoral
Commission what I
know on this matter’
Dominic Cummings
Former No 10 aide
5
knowledge of the plan and said the
prime minister’s conversation with
Woodward was a short, chance
encounter as they bumped into each
other in a corridor in No 10.
In the days of controversy before
the six clubs U-turned on their break-
away, Johnson was keen to burnish
his opposition to the idea, even
threatening to drop “a legislative
bomb” to forcibly prevent one of the
biggest challenges ever seen to the
footballing pyramid.
He said: “How can it be right when
you have a situation where you create
a kind of cartel that stops clubs com-
peting against each other?”
Johnson condemned the idea of
clubs “dislocated from their home
cities, taken and turned into interna-
tional brands and commodities that
just circulate the planet, propelled by
the billions of banks, without any ref-
erence to the fans and those who have
loved them all their lives”.
Downing Street also said Johnson
had sent his “unwavering support”
to football authorities over the issue,
and condemned the ESL’s “closed
shop” plan, under which 15 of the 20
league members would have perma-
nent status and be free from the risk
of relegation. It added that the prime
minister “was clear that no action is
off the table and the government is
exploring every possibility, including
legislative options, to ensure these
proposals are stopped”.
Labour had stood poised to sup-
port plans to introduce legislation, if
it were necessary and the clubs had
refused to heed the wishes of an over-
whelming number of fans.
“If the government is determined
to do something about it, we will back
them,” said the Labour leader, Keir
Starmer. “There is no block in par-
liament to action if action is needed.”
“I would be happy to tell the cabinet
secretary or Electoral Commission
what I know concerning this matter.”
Labour’s lawyers said the Com-
mission should look into “potential
offences or other actions that may
have contravened” the legislation
governing political parties’ spend-
ing, and said it should summon the
relevant invoices to “resolve this”.
Cat Smith, a shadow Cabinet Office
minister, accused the Conservatives
of “trying to cover this up”, and urged
them to “hand over everything they
have” if they wanted to “do some-
thing about the stench of sleaze
engulfing them”.
If the Commission resists launch-
ing a formal investigation, some
clearer details are likely to be pro-
vided in the form of Cummings’
appearance in front of a parliamen-
tary select committee next month.
He has promised to “answer ques-
tions about any of these issues to
parliament on 26 May for as long as
the MPs want”.
The government over the weekend
refused to say whether Johnson had
received a loan from a Tory donor to
help pay for the works.
A No 10 spokesperson said: “All
reportable donations are transpar-
ently declared and published – either
by the Electoral Commission or the
House of Commons registrar – in line
with the requirements set out in elec-
toral law.”
The Electoral Commission
declined to comment.
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian
Northern Ireland could
‘fall over’ unless UK acts
fast, Johnson is warned
Rory Carroll
Ireland correspondent
Northern Ireland is in a dangerous
political vacuum and could “fall
over” unless the UK government acts
swiftly, according to a cross-party
group of former cabinet ministers
with experience in the region.
Boris Johnson needs to show more
urgency and focus to ameliorate
Brexit’s damage to the peace process,
the group tells the prime minister in
an open letter published today.
“The lesson of the past 50 years
or more in Northern Ireland is that if
there is no forward movement things
do not stand still: they fall over. It is
the responsibility of the UK govern-
ment to ensure that does not happen
because there is nothing more dan-
gerous than a political vacuum.”
The letter tacitly accuses Johnson
and the Northern Ireland secretary,
Brandon Lewis, of endangering the
1998 Good Friday agreement through
•
National
neglect and dishonesty. The letter is
signed by four former Labour North-
ern Ireland secretaries: Peter Hain,
Shaun Woodward, Peter Mandelson
and Paul Brown.
It was also signed by Chris Patten, a
former Conservative party chairman
who led a commission on policing in
Northern Ireland, Sir Hugh Orde, a
former chief constable of the Police
Service of Northern Ireland, Robin
Eames, a former Church of Ireland
primate, Des Browne, a minister in
the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown
governments, and Patrick Cormack,
a former Tory MP. Seven of the nine
signatories sit in the House of Lords.
‘There is a sense
that no one is
listening to them’
Open letter
Cross-party group
7
The letter said recent disturbances
in mostly loyalist areas reflected fail-
ure in Belfast and Whitehall to sustain
positive political momentum, a
requirement for peace and stability.
“Tony Blair and Gordon Brown
recognised that, as did John Major
before them. They each took personal
charge of the peace process, conven-
ing regular summits and being in
constant touch with all the parties.”
The letter said only serious, con-
tinuous engagement could defuse
anger over the Irish Sea trade bor-
der: “There is a strong sense within
loyalists and unionists that no
one is listening to them, and that
nobody in authority in Whitehall
has been honest with them about
the consequences of Brexit. The most
immediate step is therefore for the
government, at the highest level, to
be seen to take an interest.”
Unless politics is made to work and
seen to work unrest will continue, it
said. That meant creating space for
local politics to regain the initiative
and restoring “badly damaged” trust
with the Irish government.
In a poll of Northern Ireland vot-
ers last week, only 5% of respondents
said they trusted the UK government
to handle Northern Ireland’s interests
in post-Brexit arrangements. Tulip mania Rose Philpot, an Arundel Castle
Analysts said the prime minis- gardener, at work among the 120,000 flowers
ter’s claim to be “sandpapering” the
Northern Ireland protocol into shape that have bloomed for its tulip festival, which
PHOTOGRAPH: JORDAN
was abrasive rhetoric, not leadership. PETTITT/SOLENT NEWS the public can now visit as Covid curbs ease.
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian
But is it art? For
once no one cares
as private galleries
get to open early
Mark Brown
Arts correspondent
Lucy Sparrow thinks she spoke 15
words a day in the depths of lock-
down. As she dispenses artworks to
an eager public from a mad felt chem-
ist’s shop she has created, she admits
she is making up for it big time.
“It is all the words I should have
said in the last year concentrated
down to three weeks,” she said. “I’m
chatting to everyone who comes in.”
Sparrow, in her white NFS (National
Felt Service) coat, is behind the coun-
ter of the pharmacy she has installed
in a gallery in London’s Mayfair. All
the pre-bookable slots are filled but
every day a small queue forms of
hopeful walk-ins, people desperate
to see and experience art in person.
With England’s museums and gal-
leries not able to reopen until 17 May,
art lovers are heading to commer-
cial galleries, which were allowed to
open on 12 April. Over the weekend
a “Mayfair hop” attracted large num-
bers clutching a map of 40 galleries
to finally visit in person.
Sparrow is resident at the Lyndsey
Ingram gallery, where visitors enter
Fly fishers left
reeling as
fashion label
wades into
utility wear
•
National
what appears to be a normal chem-
ist’s shop. It even has a strong smell
of TCP and Deep Heat.
Thousands of products have been
painstakingly recreated in felt, each
one hand-sewn and painted. There
are cough sweets, strawberry fla-
voured condoms, haemorrhoid
creams and toothbrushes. Behind the
counter are felt prescription drugs
such as Tramadol and Prozac. All the
works can be picked up and bought,
from £30 to thousands of pounds.
Bourdon Street Chemist has taken
Sparrow more than a year to create
and stems from a childhood making
felt versions of things she could not
have. Aged seven she made her own
toys, sweets and fried breakfasts.
“I’ve still got them,” she said. “My
mum and dad were encouraging me
to do it. It was a mad, fantasy world.”
Everyone who comes to the shop
is very chatty and many are socially
awkward after lockdown. Sparrow
said: “As if the British weren’t socially
awkward enough. We can’t shake
hands, so we have to do this awk-
ward thing of just standing there.”
One visitor, Linda Brough, an art
lover and buyer of some felt Lemsip
Blackcurrant, said: “It has been awful
Priya Elan
Angry fly fishing enthusiasts have
hit out against the streetwear label
Supreme’s new range of fishing
clothes, calling it “laughable” and
prompting a culture war between
fishers and hipsters.
The collection, which was released
this week in collaboration with the
Japanese indie label South2 West8,
features fishing jackets, shirts, bags,
hats and a traditional Tenkara fishing
rod, in tie-dye and camouflage, and
has been criticised for appropriating
the look of technical clothes.
not having anything to see and I get
really fed up with Zoom. I like to see
art for real. With the best will in the
world it just isn’t as good on a screen.”
That joyous feeling of finally see-
ing art up close is being replicated in
galleries across Mayfair.
Joe La Placa is director of Cardi
Gallery in Grafton Street, showing
works made from inner tubes, tyres
and spent car oil by the Italian arte
povera artist Paolo Canevari.
La Placa said he felt like a deep
sea diver coming up slowly for air,
adding: “I was coming to the gallery
during lockdown and you could fall
asleep in the street and not be run
over. It was a ghost town.
“But now it’s coming alive and I
guess people have saved some money
so they are starting to spend and they
are just so happy to be out … to see
the world again, to talk, to see art. No
Supreme teamed up with
South2 West8 to create
its fishing fashion range
The awkwardness of visits
to the chemist is recreated
‘I like to see art for
real. It just isn’t as
good on screen, and
I’m fed up with Zoom’
Linda Brough
Visitor to the gallery
“Not a single fish will be caught
with one of these,” wrote a user on
a fly fishing Reddit forum, “none of
them will even get wet most likely.”
Stefan Ayon , an angler and
designer of the label Stay Made,
told Input magazine: “To anglers,
Supreme is laughable. It’s just one of
those things where it’s a cultural and
marketing grab that seems incredibly
disingenuous. Commentators on a fly
fishing Instagram account reacted to
a photo of a model in the clothes, one
writing: “If I see anyone on the water
dressed like that and throwing a cane
poll [sic],” with a laughing emoji. “Is
this real or is this a late April fool’s
joke?” wrote another.
9
 Lucy Sparrow
at the ‘chemist’s
shop’ she has
spent more than
a year creating
out of felt in a
Mayfair gallery
 All the items
in the ‘Bourdon
Street Chemist’
are available
for purchase,
from as little as
£30 to several
thousands of
pounds
PHOTOGRAPHS:
LINDA NYLIND/THE
GUARDIAN
matter how good you get with the vir-
tual stuff it’s still not the real thing.”
Commercial galleries have been
making better use of video, social
media and online viewing in the pan-
demic. Jean-David Malat, founder
of the JD Malat gallery, said online
requests for works were 40% higher
in 2020 than 2019. He is showing
swirly abstract paintings by the Ice-
landic artist Katrin Fridriks, adding.
“They are very blue and positive and
what we need right now.”
The gallerist John Martin said gal-
leries had learned much in the past
year, doing things they had put off.
He added: “The engagement we’ve
had with people during lockdown has
been incredible, they got so into it.
They were digging deep into artists
in a way I’ve never known. We’re see-
ing new people coming to the gallery
who are incredibly well-informed.”
In recent years, items such as the
fishing vest have been replicated
by Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton and
Gucci. “Gorpcore”, a pre-pandemic
trend for urbanites to wear clothes
purpose-built for outdoor activi-
ties from upmarket outdoor shops
such as Patagonia, became popular in
2019. But in the pandemic, with many
spending more time outdoors than in,
staples such as the fleece and walk-
ing boots exploded in popularity and
a puffer jacket from the North Face
became a “must have” item.
But for Ayon, it is disingenuous to
wear the clothes out of context. “The
technique and knowledge comes
before flexing with gear,” he said.

10
Mass testing ‘stretches’
authorised use of lateral
flow tests, says watchdog
Josh Halliday
The UK’s healthcare regulator has
expressed concern to the government
that its multibillion-pound mass test-
ing programme is “a stretch” of the
authorised use of rapid tests, the
Guardian has learned.
The Medicines and Healthcare
products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
has approved use of the lateral flow
devices to find coronavirus cases but
not to act as a “green light” for those
who test negative to enjoy greater
freedom. The regulator fears people
who test negative will let down their
guard, believing they are Covid-free.
There is very little data to show
how well the Innova lateral flow
devices detect the virus when used
as a self-test by someone who has no
• The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021
News
Coronavirus
symptoms. They are being used by
millions of people a week in England
under the government’s universal
testing programme.
Boris Johnson has put mass test-
ing at the centre of his strategy to lift
the UK permanently out of lockdown,
alongside the vaccine programme.
The government has bought millions
of the lateral flow tests as part of the
£37bn budget for NHS test and trace.
However, the MHRA told officials
in the Department of Health and
Social Care (DHSC) that the twice-
weekly testing regime was “a stretch”
of its authorisation for how the tests
should be used. The regulator raised
the concerns before and after the pro-
gramme was announced on 5 April,
the Guardian has learned.
The MHRA has authorised use of
lateral flow as a “red light” test to find
infectious people and order them to
self-isolate – but not to allow people
greater freedom if they test negative.
The regulator fears the government’s
universal testing programme blurs
the line between the two.
The concern stems from a lack of
data on how well the tests perform
when taken by people without Covid-
19 symptoms. It is estimated that one
in three infected people will display
no symptoms of the virus.
A recent review by the Cochrane
institute – an analysis of 64 studies –
found rapid tests correctly identify on
average 58% of people infected with
the virus but who have no symptoms,
meaning more than one in three cases
are missed. However, this was based
on relatively few samples, limiting
the conclusions that could be drawn.
The concern is that people will take
a one-off test before visiting loved
ones indoors, for example, and that
they may be carrying the virus even
though they have tested negative.
The MHRA is understood to have
asked the health secretary’s depart-
ment to provide evidence about the
expected accuracy of the test – and
how it performs in reality – and to
carry out a public information cam-
paign to explain the benefits and risks
of universal testing.
The regulator said the government
was “the legal manufacturer of the
test and as such was responsible for
the safety and performance of the test
whilst it is in use in the UK”.
The regulator said it met govern-
ment officials regularly “to discuss
a range of issues, including the data
they collect on performance”, and
added: “False negatives carry a risk
of unwitting onward transmission.
58%
The proportion of asymptomatic
people correctly identified by rapid
tests, according to a meta-analysis
▼ Railway staff carry out lateral flow
tests in a temporary facility set up in
a converted train in Brighton
PHOTOGRAPH: CHRIS EADES/GETTY
Therefore, even with a negative test
result, people must continue to follow
national and local rules and guide-
lines including regular handwashing,
social distancing and wearing face
coverings, where required.”
A million people a day are taking
coronavirus tests, with most using
lateral flow tests that produce a result
in about 30 minutes. Use of the tests
has risen steadily to about 830,000 a
day since 9 April, when every adult in
England was encouraged to request
free twice-weekly tests to be taken
at home in the biggest expansion of
the government’s testing programme
to date.
A DHSC spokesperson said the
department had been clear that
nobody should interpret a negative
test result or a vaccine dose as a green
light to drop their guard, and that,
regardless of a test or vaccine, people
must stick to lockdown rules.
She added: “There is clear evi-
dence that by using rapid testing we
are identifying cases we would oth-
erwise not find, allowing people to
isolate, so they can prevent further
spread of the disease and save lives.”
Innova’s lateral flow devices are
cheaper and quicker than the gold-
standard polymerase chain reaction
(PCR) tests and are good at finding
the most infectious cases and those
that might not otherwise be found,
but they are more likely to produce
erroneous results.
 Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian
Quick tests
Issues and concerns
Everyone in England is
now able to request a free
Covid-19 lateral flow test
twice a week, but experts
have raised concerns about
accuracy. We take a look at
the issues.
1
What is a lateral flow test?
Lateral flow tests, or LFTs, are a
rapid way of testing for Covid-19.
A swab is taken from the back of
the nose or throat and provides
results a little like a pregnancy test,
with a line appearing if coronavirus
proteins are detected and a second
line indicating the test is working.
These differ from polymerase
chain reaction (PCR) tests, which
look for genetic material from the
virus, called RNA (ribonucleic acid)
and are more accurate. However,
LFTs have the advantage of being
cheap and offering results in about
30 minutes, and they can be carried
out at home.
2
Where are LFTs used?
Until recently the tests were used
for mass testing in particular
settings, such as schools. However,
earlier this month the government
announced that LFTs would be
made available for all adults in
England to take a test twice a
week. The idea is that the tests will
help pick up cases of Covid that
may otherwise go undetected, for
example because a person displays
few or no symptoms, thus helping
3
prevent the spread of the virus.
How accurate are
LFTs?
The accuracy of LFTs appears
to depend on the make of the
Josh Halliday
•
▲ Staff help pupils with lateral
flow testing at a school in Halifax.
There are concerns about accuracy
PHOTOGRAPH:OLI SCARFF/AFP/GETTY
test used, whether people have
symptoms, and who is conducting
the test. The Department of Health
and Social Care (DHSC) said the
Innova lateral flow devices detect
more than 95% of individuals with
high viral load, the most infectious
cases, who are most likely to
spread the virus further.
However, mass screening
in Liverpool found that the
devices detected only 67% of
highly infectious people with no
symptoms, meaning that one in
three vital cases were missed.
The testing was also “assisted” by
experts, which has shown to be
more accurate than when the tests
are used by untrained members of
the public.
A review by the Cochrane
institute of 64 studies found that
LFTs correctly identify on average
72% of people who are infected
with the virus and have symptoms,
and 78% within the first week of
becoming ill. But in people with no
4
symptoms, that drops to 58%.
What are the
concerns?
One concern is that those who
receive a negative result from LFTs
will assume that it means they do
not have the virus or are unlikely to
spread it. Experts have previously
said that the tests should be seen as
offering a “red light” to those who
test positive rather than a “green
light” to those who test negative.
The regulator responsible for
approving coronavirus tests for
use in the UK, the Medicines and
Healthcare products Regulatory
Agency (MHRA), has expressed
concern to the government that
people may be falsely reassured if
they test negative on an LFT.
The MHRA’s authorisation
allows LFTs to be used to find
infectious people and order them
to self-isolate – but not to allow
people greater freedom if they test
negative. It fears the government’s
universal testing programme blurs
the lines between the two.
 Continued from page 1
US and UK to join
international
effort to help India
scale of the crisis, as experts believe
many people are not going to get
tested, or lack access to healthcare.
Narendra Modi, the Indian prime
minister, said the country was facing
a “storm” of infections. “Our spirits
were high after successfully dealing
with the first wave,” he said in a radio
address on Sunday. “But this storm
has shaken the nation.”
The US has been facing increas-
ing pressure to lift export controls on
raw materials, intended to boost its
domestic vaccine supply, that Indian
vaccine manufacturers say are slow-
ing down their ability to produce jabs.
The National Security Council said
the US would send raw materials
required for India to manufacture the
AstraZeneca vaccine, as well as ther-
apeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits,
ventilators and protective equipment
for frontline workers. “The United
States is working around the clock to
deploy available resources and sup-
plies,” a spokesperson said.
The UK package includes 495 oxy-
gen concentrators, which can extract
oxygen from the air when hospital
systems have run out, 120 non-inva-
sive ventilators and 20 manual
ventilators. It is expected to arrive in
Delhi on Tuesday, with further ship-
ments later in the week.
Boris Johnson said Britain stood
“side by side with India as a friend and
partner […] I’m determined to make
sure that the UK does everything it
can to support the international com-
munity in the global fight against
[the] pandemic.”
Job seekers
Back-to-work
scheme puts
over-50s at
disadvantage
Amelia Hill
Older people who lost their jobs dur-
ing the pandemic could receive worse
support than younger people, leading
to large numbers of over-50s falling
out of the workforce for good, accord-
ing to a thinktank.
In its report, A U-Shaped Crisis,
supported by the Nuffield Foun-
dation, the Resolution Foundation
voiced concerns that Restart, the
recently announced support scheme
for the long-term unemployed ,
“carries the risk that older workers
receive a lower quality of service than
younger workers”.
“This appeared to happen under
the Work Programme, which had a
similar funding model,” the report
states. “The government must mon-
itor this closely.”
The report, published by the
The US president, Joe Biden, has
previously said the country will not
supply vaccines to others until it has
enough supplies at home, but the
US’s top infectious diseases expert,
Anthony Fauci, said yesterday that
it would review how to help increase
India’s vaccine supply or help them
“to essentially make vaccines them-
selves”. India is one of the world’s
largest vaccine manufacturers.
Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown
University School of Public Health in
Providence, Rhode Island urged the
Biden administration to go further
and share excess vaccines with India
and other countries in crisis, point-
ing out that the US had an estimated
30m unused doses of the AstraZeneca
vaccine that has not been authorised
by US regulators. The calls were ech-
oed by the author Salman Rushdie,
who said: “The US has something
like a vaccine glut. India is in dire
straits. Please overturn this export
ban ASAP.”
The unprecedented spread of the
virus has overwhelmed hospitals in
major cities, which continue to face
severe shortages of beds and oxygen.
Burial grounds in Delhi are running
out of space, with funeral pyres light-
ing up the night sky in other badly hit
cities. In the central city of Bhopal,
some crematoriums have increased
their capacity from dozens of pyres
to more than 50.
▲ The number of funeral pyres has
dramatically increased in India
foundation’s Intergenerational Cen-
tre, says there is also a case, given the
earnings hit that many older workers
experience on returning to work, for
piloting and evaluating a tax credit
supplement for this group, as existed
under the New Deal 50-plus pro-
gramme in the early 2000s.
The key reason for concern, the
report says, is that staff running the
scheme are incentivised via their pay
to prioritise helping those workers
for whom it is easier to find new jobs;
they tend to be younger people.
The report says that under the
Work Programme – when staff were
incentivised via pay in the same way
– older workers had less frequent
meetings with advisers and less con-
tinuity of support.
The concerns were echoed by the
Centre for Ageing Better. “We know
that in the past, back-to-work sup-
port hasn’t worked for over-50s. In
▲ Caroline Abrahams of Age UK said
older women were badly affected
11
Workers at the city’s Bhadbhada
Vishram Ghat crematorium said they
cremated more than 110 people on
Saturday, even as government figures
in the entire city of 1.8 million put the
total number of virus deaths at just
10. “The virus is swallowing our city’s
people like a monster,” said Mamtesh
Sharma, an official at the site told the
Associated Press.
Modi’s government has faced
mounting questions since the resur-
gence of the virus over its lax safety
measures and failure to prepare for
a rise in cases.
It emerged yesterday that Indian
officials were attempting to cen-
sor such criticism, after Twitter
confirmed it had blocked dozens
of critical tweets following a legal
demand from New Delhi.
The government has deployed spe-
cial trains to move tanks of oxygen
from steel plants to hospitals across
the country, in a bid to allow greater
access to medical care. More than 500
oxygen-generation plants were also
to be set up in government hospitals,
the health ministry has said.
Last week it planned to make vac-
cines available to all adults aged over
18 from 1 May, but the Serum Institute
of India (SII), which manufactures
the AstraZeneca vaccine, has warned
it will not be able to meet its targets.
The SII manufactures vaccines for
the international Covax programme
intended to help the developing
world, which is set to deliver only one
in five of the doses it had estimated
it would supply by May. Adar Poona-
walla, SII chief executive, appealed to
Biden earlier this month to lift restric-
tions on production supplies.
India, which has embarked on the
world’s largest vaccination drive, has
administered more than 140m doses
of vaccine. So far, 8.47% of people
have received one dose, and 1.55%
are fully vaccinated.
the previous Work Programme, this
age group had the worst outcomes
of any group,” said Emily Andrews,
senior evidence manager for the
organisation.
“It’s crucial that in the wake of
this crisis, those mistakes are not
repeated, or we risk seeing large
numbers of over-50s falling out of
the workforce for good.”
Caroline Abrahams, the charity
director at Age UK, said it was particu-
larly concerning that older women
had been so badly affected by the
loss of their livelihoods as a result of
the pandemic. “This group are most
likely to have caring responsibilities
so might find it more difficult to get
alternative work,” she said.
According to the report, the Covid-
19 crisis has caused the biggest annual
employment fall for older workers
since the 1980s. While the youngest
workers (16- to 24-year-olds) have
experienced by far the largest fall in
employment in the past year (3.9%),
the fall among workers aged 50 to 69
has been twice as big as for those aged
25 to 49 (1.4% compared to 0.7%).
A government spokesperson said:
“Older workers are a huge asset to this
country, and heading into the pan-
demic a record number of over-50s
were in work. As we build back better,
we’re helping hundreds of thousands
of older workers to retrain … through
our Plan for Jobs and our 50 Plus:
Choices offer.”
 • The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021

12 News
Coronavirus

Volunteers sought for

final trial of new vaccine
produced in Scotland
Ian Sample
Science editor
Researchers are recruiting thousands
of volunteers for the final stage clini-
cal trial of a coronavirus vaccine that
is being manufactured in Scotland.
Doctors plan to give the Valneva
vaccine to 4,000 adults from the start
of May in a phase 2/3 trial run from
more than 20 sites in England and two
hospitals in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The move follows promising early
stage results, which found that two
shots of the vaccine produced a good
immune response without raising
safety concerns. If the new trial goes
well, Valneva hopes to seek approval
this summer, paving the way for
potential booster shots.
More than half the UK popula-
tion has received at least one dose
of coronavirus vaccine. The rollout
includes shots from Pfizer/BioNTech,
Oxford/AstraZeneca and Moderna,
but adding further vaccines to Brit-
ain’s armoury will boost resilience
against supply glitches and the risk
of new variants.
“You want several tools in your
toolbox in case you have problems,”
said Prof Adam Finn, a paediatrician
at Bristol University and chief investi-
gator on the Valneva trial. “You want
to have not just a number of vaccines,
but a number of vaccines that employ
different approaches.”
The French company’s vaccine
is being produced for the UK in Liv-
ingston, West Lothian. Encouraged
by early trial data, the government
recently increased its order from 60m
to 100m doses, matching the num-
ber of shots on order for the Oxford/
AstraZeneca vaccine. Valneva said
it could manufacture up to a further
150m for the rest of the world.
Valneva’s vaccine is based on rela-
tively traditional technology. It uses
an inactivated coronavirus to stimu-
late the immune system, an approach
developed more than 50 years ago for
polio, and which is used in flu, rabies
and hepatitis A vaccines. Because
the vaccine incorporates the whole
virus, rather than only the surface
spike protein, it may produce broader
protection against the disease.
The 13-month trial will assess
whether the Valneva vaccine pro-
duces more neutralising antibodies
against coronavirus than the Astra-
Zeneca shot. Researchers aim to
‘You want several
tools in your toolbox
in case you have
problems’
Prof Adam Finn
Chief investigator in trial
recruit 1,000 people aged 18 to 29,
who will receive the Valneva vaccine,
and 3,000 people aged 30 or above,
who will receive either the Valneva
or AstraZeneca.
All participants will receive two
shots of vaccine four weeks apart. For
those aged 30 and above, neither they
nor their doctors will know which jab
they have received during the course
of the trial. After both shots have been
given, researchers expect those tak-
ing part to have four or five follow-up
visits for blood and saliva tests.
The Valneva vaccine is the only
whole-virus, inactivated and adju-
vanted vaccine candidate in clinical
trials in Europe. An adjuvant is an
ingredient that helps to create a
stronger immune response. While the
trial is open to older adults, the vast
majority of over-50s in the UK have
already been offered a vaccine. More
data on older individuals will be gath-
ered from a parallel trial in Australia.
“If we don’t slip in any way and
keep on track, we want to get this to
the regulators in the summer so that
we have the vaccine available in the
autumn if we need it,” said Finn.
Many manufacturers have started
work on second-generation jabs to
target variants. The UK vaccines
minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has said
the Valneva vaccine could serve as
an effective booster in the autumn
because it uses an approach thought
to be more effective against variants.

UK doses
Available and in the pipeline
Vaccines against the coronavirus
were designed, tested and
manufactured in record time, and
several have been approved for
use in the UK, with a number of
others under consideration.
Pfizer/BioNTech
The vaccines taskforce secured
40m doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech
vaccine, the first coronavirus shot
to be approved by the regulator.
The NHS vaccine rollout began on
8 December 2020 when Margaret
Keenan, 90, became the first
person in the world to receive the
jab as part of a mass vaccination
programme. It is one of the
cutting-edge mRNA vaccines that
smuggle the genetic instructions
for making the coronavirus spike
protein into muscle cells. This
primes the immune system to
attack the virus should it invade.
trials was given on 4 January 2021.
The vaccine is based on a virus that
causes common colds in chimps.
The virus is engineered to ensure
it cannot replicate in humans, and
modified further to include the
genetic instructions to make the
coronavirus spike protein.
NIH/Moderna
The second mRNA vaccine to
reach the market joined the NHS
programme on 7 April. The UK has
ordered 17m doses. Due to the very
rare blood clots in some people
who receive the AstraZeneca
vaccine, people under 30 in the UK
are offered Moderna or Pfizer shots.
Novavax
The UK medicines regulator is
expected to approve the Novavax
vaccine imminently. It is a protein
subunit vaccine, incorporating
a lab-made coronavirus spike
protein and an “adjuvant”,
which makes the body’s immune
response stronger. The UK has
ordered 60m doses. Novavax is a
US company, but supplies for the
mass vaccination programme will
be made in Stockton-on-Tees with
the final “fill and finish” step at
GlaxoSmithKline’s plant in Barnard
Castle, County Durham.
Janssen/Johnson & Johnson
The UK medicines regulator is
conducting a rolling review of the
Janssen vaccine, which is based on
similar “viral vector” technology to
the Oxford/AstraZeneca shot. A big
advantage of the Janssen vaccine is
it requires only one dose not two.
The UK has ordered 30m doses.
Others
Met police Anger after
violence at Hyde Park
anti-lockdown protest
Jamie Grierson
Home affairs correspondent
Tensions are running high within the
Metropolitan police after another
anti-lockdown protest descended
into scenes of violence with eight
officers injured.
Ken Marsh, the chair of the
Metropolitan Police Federation,
which represents rank and file
officers, said he would be raising the
protest with senior management with
“utmost urgency”.
Demonstrators hurled bottles as
officers attempted to disperse the
crowds in Hyde Park on Saturday
evening after a march and rally
The Met said two officers were
taken to hospital, although their
injuries are not believed to be serious.
Marsh said: “We can assure
everyone we shall be raising the
scenes we witnessed in Hyde Park
yesterday with senior management in
the Metropolitan police with utmost
urgency. The safety of our police
officers should be top of the agenda.
We wish all our injured colleagues a
swift recovery and will be support-
ing them as best as we can.”
The protest, which also took place
in Oxford Street, came almost two
weeks after Covid-19 lockdown
restrictions were eased. The Met said
five people were arrested for offences
including assault on police and pub-

Oxford/AstraZeneca
With 100m doses on order, the
Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is a
pillar of the UK’s immunisation
programme. The first shot outside
100m
The number of AstraZeneca shots
the UK has on order, making it a
pillar of the vaccination programme
As well as the Valneva’s vaccine
(see above), orders are in for 60m
doses of a GSK/Sanofi vaccine and
50m of another mRNA vaccine
from the German company
CureVac. Both are still in trials.
against restrictions implemented to
prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Photographs posted on social
media showed a female police officer
bleeding from a cut to her head and
another suffered a similar wound.
lic order offences. Marsh added:
“Peaceful protest may well be the cor-
nerstone of democracy – and police
officers have a role in facilitating that
– but the scenes we saw in Hyde Park
[on Saturday] of a thin blue line of
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian
brave and sadly bloodied police offic-
ers coming under attack from thugs
were anything but peaceful.
“Police officers are human beings
who go out every day to keep people
safe. Our colleagues have every right
to go home to their families at the end
of their shifts. Not to hospital.”
Marsh pointed out the country
was still in the middle of a pandemic,
adding “our unvaccinated police
officers deserve greater protection”.
An expert said anti-lockdown
protesters who touch, shout and
shun masks were “at the very least
•
▲ Protesters
march through
central London
a potential risk” to the spread of cor-
onavirus, adding there was some
evidence of mass events having an
in an anti-
lockdown ▼ An officer who
impact. Prof Stephen Reicher, from
the University of St Andrews and a
and anti-
Covid vaccine
was wounded in
a clash between
member of the Scientific Pandemic
Insights Group on Behaviours (Spi-
passports rally
on Saturday
police and
anti-lockdown
B), which advises ministers on the
pandemic, said US counties that held
PHOTOGRAPH: BEN protesters in rallies for Donald Trump recorded
STANSALL/AFP Hyde Park, bigger spikes in infection than those
London that did not. He said: “Much depends
PHOTOGRAPH: MAY on how people behave in these
JAMES/ZUMA WIRE events. If they maintain distance
REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
and wear masks, there is little danger.
“If they explicitly ignore
restrictions, if they reject masks,
stand close together, touch, shout
and sing, then – going back to first
principles – there is likely to be a risk.”
NHS workers described the pro-
test scenes as “shocking” and
“disappointing”. Dr Ajay Verma, a
consultant gastroenterologist and
physician working in Northampton-
shire, said: “There is a small minority
of people who seem to believe there’s
a conspiracy going on, which is upset-
ting, and the worst thing is they’re
putting themselves at risk by gath-
ering in a crowd.
“They’re protesting against the
measures they’re driving themselves
by gathering in a crowd. It is very dis-
appointing, I have to say.”
Universities
Jab rollout
‘makes UK
attractive’
Rachel Hall
International students are more
likely to want to study at British uni-
versities thanks to the success of the
vaccine rollout, despite a widespread
perception that the UK government
mishandled its initial response to the
pandemic, a survey suggests.
Nearly half (47%) of prospective
international students said they
would be more likely to choose
to study in the UK because of the
rate of vaccinations in the coun-
try, with nearly a fifth (17%) saying
they thought the government was
handling the rollout better than any-
where else, according to the survey of
105,083 students planning to attend
university abroad.
The UK was more popular than
countries including the US, Canada,
Australia and Germany.
The report, authored by university
rankings provider QS, stated: “The
effectiveness and speed of the rollout
is making the UK seem a more attrac-
tive and viable destination to begin
their studies in September compared
to some other countries.”
Despite their enthusiasm for the
vaccine rollout, nearly half (45%)
of the students surveyed said they
47%
International students who said they
would be more likely to choose to
study in UK because of vaccine-rate
Inoculations
All over-40s
‘eligible for
shot in days’
Aubrey Allegretti
Coronavirus vaccines will soon be
offered to the next priority group,
with 44-year-olds able to get a jab in
England from Monday and all those
over 40 likely to follow within days.
Around half a million more people
will be eligible to book online or ring
119, as the NHS England chief exec-
utive, Sir Simon Stevens, hailed the
passing of “another medically impor-
tant milestone”.
He revealed more than two-thirds
of 45- to 49-year-olds have received
a vaccine so far, and urged younger
people to come forward when they
are offered a jab. Uptake has been
higher among the over 50s, where
95% have already had their first jab.
NHS England said it will make a
decision on extending the rollout to
13
didn’t think the UK had handled its
broader pandemic response effec-
tively, a much lower rating than for
New Zealand, Canada, Australia and
Germany. The report speculated that
this is due to international coverage
of the UK’s high death toll.
Vivienne Stern, director of Uni-
versities UK International (UUKi),
said the survey showed that univer-
sities in the country have “remained
resilient over the course of a difficult
year”, but that they and the govern-
ment would need to listen closely to
international students’ “concerns
and priorities” to sustain high recruit-
ment levels.
Nearly a fifth (17%) of the respond-
ents said that the vaccine had made
them bring forward their plans to
study abroad, while over half (56%)
said they were focusing their search
on countries in which a success-
ful vaccine programme was being
implemented.
Nearly two-thirds (58%) of the stu-
dents thought the UK was becoming
more welcoming thanks to the rein-
troduction of post-study work visas
following several years of immi-
gration policies seen as hostile to
overseas students.
However, European students per-
ceived the UK to be less welcoming
since they will have to pay higher
international fees from September
as a result of Brexit.
Despite initial fears that interna-
tional students would be deterred
from attending UK universities due
to the country’s high Covid infec-
tion rates and death toll, applications
from overseas reached their highest
ever level last year.
However, some current interna-
tional students have been angry at
paying high fees to study mostly
online during successive lockdowns.
In March, 300 international students
at several London universities with-
held their £29,000 fees in protest at
their universities’ response to the
pandemic.
people aged 40-43 “in the coming
days”, as it waits for the latest advice
from the Joint Committee on Vaccina-
tion and Immunisation (JCVI).
The Sunday Times reported the
JCVI is still deciding whether the
AstraZeneca vaccine should be
offered to people in their 30s – given
its recommendation earlier this
month that healthy adults under 30
who are not at high risk should have
the option of a different jab if one is
available in their area, given concerns
over rare blood clots.
It comes as ministers launched a
new drive to encourage younger peo-
ple to get vaccinated, given fears of a
fall in take-up due to the diminished
risk of death from Covid-19 among
those from lower age groups.
After the Guardian revealed last
month that the government was wor-
ried the drop-off could be “stark”, the
Department of Health released a new
series of pictures capturing life across
a series of vaccine centres. TV adverts
will also start airing today showcas-
ing the “collective effort of everyone
who has played a part” in the rollout,
featuring scientists and clinical trial
participants, care sector staff and vol-
unteers at vaccination sites.
Meanwhile in Northern Ireland,
vaccines will be offered to the over
35s from today.

14
Paramedic killed in accident
had come out of retirement
Jamie Grierson
Home affairs correspondent
An ambulance technician who died
after an object pierced his vehicle’s
windscreen in a “tragic accident” had
returned to help against Covid after
retiring in 2020, it has emerged.
• The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021
National
Jeremy Daw, known to friends
as Jack, died on Saturday morning
when his ambulance was struck by an
object as he responded to a 999 call in
Herefordshire, West Midlands ambu-
lance service (WMAS) said.
The 66-year-old, who was in the
front passenger seat at the time, had
returned in January, having retired as
a paramedic last November, and was
eight shifts away from retiring again.
West Mercia police said they were
satisfied that the incident was not the
result of a deliberate act.
The NHS chief executive, Sir Simon
Stevens, said Daw “represented the
best” of the health service. “After
almost three decades’ service, he
returned to the frontline from a well-
earned retirement to help patients
during the coronavirus pandemic,
and served as a mentor to younger
colleagues,” he said.
“On behalf of everyone across the
▲ Jeremy Daw returned to his job to
help in the fight against coronavirus
Victims of
harassment
‘left in the
dark’ by
universities
Rachel Hall
Students and staff who complain of
sexual assault and harassment are
often left in the dark by university
investigations and made to feel their
disclosures are “a waste of time”,
according to campaigners.
The campaigners said the gov-
ernment should make it a legal
requirement for universities to
complete sexual misconduct inves-
tigations even where staff have left
the university, and to inform the new
employer in a written reference. This
would prevent staff from moving
institution to evade sanctions.
Anna Bull, co-director of the 1752
Group, a UK-based organisation
which lobbies to end sexual miscon-
duct in higher education, said that
some universities withhold details
of the outcome of sexual harassment
investigations out of erroneous fears
that this may breach data protection
legislation.
Typically when a student or staff
member comes forward with a dis-
closure they are not briefed on the
progress or outcome of the investi-
gation, instead receiving a letter to
say whether or not their claim was
upheld, she said.
“[Complainants] don’t get told the
member of staff has been dismissed,
here’s what action we’re taking to
keep you and other students safe. So
they feel like the entire process was a
waste of time and a slap in the face.
Many complainants make a formal
report to protect other students,” Bull
said. “It destroys trust in the institu-
tion and the process.”
Lawyers say that universities may
be in breach of their duties under the
equality and human rights acts if they
inform perpetrators of the outcome
of investigations but withhold this
from complainants.
Universities are permitted to dis-
close personal information under
General Data Protection Regulation
(GDPR) where this is to address griev-
ances under employment law, in the
public interest, and to exercise legal
NHS, our heartfelt condolences go
to Jeremy’s family, friends and col-
leagues, as we also wish his crewmate
a swift recovery.”
Paying tribute to his colleague, the
WMAS emergency operations deliv-
ery director, Nathan Hudson, said:
“Jack was a loving husband, father,
and for us within the ambulance ser-
vice he was not just a colleague, he
was a dear friend as well.”
Daw died at the scene. His para-
medic colleague who was driving the
vehicle was also injured but has since
been discharged from hospital.
claims, according to a briefing doc-
ument produced by Culture Shift, a
bullying and harassment reporting
platform.
Gemma McCall, Culture Shift’s
founder, said that data from the
universities that use the platform sug-
gested that many survivors believe
that nothing will come from making
formal disclosures. “The complaints
process is so opaque, which prevents
people from reporting. It should be as
easy as possible,” she said.
McCall added that there is consid-
erable variation among universities’
approaches. “It’s a lottery as a stu-
dent whether you’re going to get a
university that isn’t risk averse and
which will share outcomes if the
worst happens, but that should be
clear and consistent across the sec-
tor,” she said.
The universities regulator, the
Office for Students, published guid-
ance on 19 April recommending that
universities provide students and
staff who make disclosures with
information on the outcome of an
investigation where possible, as well
as an explanation of why penalties
have or have not been imposed.
In future, universities which do
not follow this guidance may be
sanctioned.
The guidance follows the publi-
cation of thousands of disclosures
shedding light on the scale of sex-
ual misconduct at universities by
the campaign website Everyone’s
Invited, prompting fears that rape
culture remains unaddressed despite
years of warnings from campaigners.
A spokesperson for the Informa-
tion Commissioner’s Office said:
“Our advice is that data protection
is not a barrier to sharing informa-
tion when it is appropriate to do so
and it is necessary and proportionate
for the purpose. [A university] should
be transparent about the complaints
process and only share the personal
data it needs to.”
▲ Activists say complainants are not
kept informed about investigations
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian •

National 15

Rewilding
community architect. “I had some been bringing eight-year-old Skyla
conversations and it seemed my and six-year-old Ioan to Roam
generation had all experienced that sessions for a couple of years.
kind of play from seven or eight “They have both just absolutely

Children years old and yet it had virtually

disappeared now.”
Fisher’s experience is not
loved the roaming, and my
daughter in particular relishes the
independence.
uncommon. The British Children’s “It was a unique opportunity for

learn joy of Play Survey, published last week,

found that children typically are
not allowed to play outside on their
them to get away from me, and my
reminders about being careful, all
of the things I think a lot of modern

play like it own until two years older than their

parents’ generation were.
“Some people think it’s a rural
parents fall into the habit of doing.”
When Roam surveyed parents,
it found that although road danger
and urban thing, but I grew up in and safety fears were a key reason

used to be south-east Birmingham and had

that experience,” said Fisher. “It
just got me thinking, is there any
way of enabling this again?”
Soon after, with the help of her
friend and former primary school
Jessica Murray teacher, Lisa Walke, they set up
Roam, a first-of-its-kind charity,
▲ Children play unsupervised amid
the trees in a Birmingham park at
a session run by the charity Roam
for younger children and those
with additional needs. “A lot of
our families have said they are
behind why many did not let their
children play alone, so too was fear
of judgment.
“The overriding reason was
that not many children do it, and
parents felt their child would
stand out and their parenting
would be judged,” said Fisher. But

W
hen Naomi
Fisher took
her eight-year-
old son to the
country park
in Birmingham
where she had spent much of her
childhood exploring with her
friends, he asked why he was not
allowed to go off by himself.
“I couldn’t even give a good
reason why not. It just isn’t
done any more, nobody lets
their kids do that,” said Fisher, a
running sessions to help support
parents and children with safe,
unsupervised play outside.
At each session, families come
together at a park in Birmingham
and up to 15 children, all under-12s,
are given some ground rules – they
must stay in groups of at least three
at all times, for instance – before
being allowed to roam alone for up
to two hours.
Volunteers keep tabs on them
and count numbers regularly, but
do not interfere. Roam also runs
sessions with more supervision
PHOTOGRAPH: NICK ROBINSON much more comfortable [with
unsupervised play] now and
they’ve seen that their children’s
capabilities are much better than
they thought,” said Fisher.
‘My generation had They also found that when the
adults step back, the older children
all experienced that take more responsibility, helping
kind of play but now to form strong bonds between
children of different ages.
it had disappeared’ “The older children learn to
foster that role of protector and
the younger children learn off
Naomi Fisher them in a very natural way,” said
Co-founder of Roam Notzarina Howell-Jones, who has
she has noticed a growing public
consciousness around the need for
independent play. Demand for the
charity’s services is skyrocketing
– its last set of sessions was fully
booked in eight minutes.
“I definitely found their first
sessions hard,” said Howell-Jones.
“But the more normal it becomes
for children to play like this,
the safer communities become,
because children learn to look out
for one another in a way that they
don’t if parents are helicoptering
around them.”

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 • The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021

16 National

Parental leave policy is failing,

for women, including six weeks’ equally, but our current leave system
“enhanced pay”. If couples qualify reinforces traditional gender roles.”
for SPL the second co-parent’s leave Dr Anna Machin, author of The Life
is often unpaid, unless their company of Dad, said data suggested success-

say campaigners urging reform offers enhanced benefits.

Alexandra Topping
Shared parental leave is a “deeply
flawed and chronically failing pol-
icy” which should be scrapped and
replaced with a “use it or lose it”
period of paid leave for mothers and
fathers, according to campaigners,
trade unions and economists.
Six years after the coalition gov-
ernment introduced shared parental
leave (SPL) to transform gender
equality and make life easier for fam-
ilies, take-up remains low.
“We need to urgently overhaul
the parental leave system, not just
tinker around the edges. Both parents
should have time to care and bond
with their baby, without having to
transfer leave between them,” said
the TUC secretary general, Frances
O’Grady, adding that the UK has
some of the worst paid maternity and
paternity leave. “Without meaning-
ful reforms many dads won’t be able
to afford to take time off work when
their kids are born. And women will
continue to shoulder an unequal
share of care, and be penalised.”
Organisations including Maternity
Action, the Fawcett Society, NCT, the
Royal College of Midwives, the TUC,
and the Women’s Budget Group are
increasing the pressure on the gov-
ernment, accusing it of “dragging its
feet” on a promised consultation.
Evaluation began in July 2018, and a
consultation launched mid 2018 was
due to report in 2019, but it is now
only promised “later this year”.
Rosalind Bragg, the chief exec-
utive of Maternity Action, said SPL
reform was urgently needed to pre-
vent gender equality in the UK going
into reverse. “The pandemic has con-
firmed what we’ve all known for a
long time – working mothers are on
their knees,” she said.
When the scheme launched, the
TUC estimated that 40% of fathers
would not qualify for SPL, as agency
workers, zero hours contracts and the
self-employed were excluded. The
government estimates that take-up
is between 2% and 8% of eligible cou-
ples, but analysis by Maternity Action
puts it at around 3%-4%.
Fathers get two weeks’ pater-
nity leave at £148.68 (although 24%
don’t qualify for that), compared with
statutory maternity pay at 39 weeks
The most men would get under
the current scheme was £150 a week,
around half of the living wage, said
Felicia Willow, the chief executive
of the Fawcett Society. “We need a
radical rethink and what needs to
come first is a system that enables
and encourages men to take leave,”
she said. “When we asked parents,
almost 70% of dads said fathers
should be given longer and better-
paid time off. The demand is there.”
Campaigners want the govern-
ment to reform SPL in the promised
employment bill and are propos-
ing a new model of parental leave,
which would give both parents non-
transferable, paid leave.
Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, the
director of the Women’s Budget
Group, said: “The point at which
a couple become parents is often
critical in establishing the pattern
of who is responsible for childcare.
Most couples want to share care more
ful SPL policies had to be financially
supported and ringfenced. In Sweden
and Iceland, which have non-trans-
ferable leave for the father, men’s
uptake is about 90%.
“It makes me furious when the
poor rate of uptake here is placed
on the shoulders of men not being
interested, because this is clearly
not the case,” she said. “For the vast
majority of men it is not financially a
possibility, it is a scheme of the priv-
ileged few. It does make you wonder
whether governments are actually
interested in closing the wage gap.”
A spokesperson for the Depart-
ment for Business (BEIS) said parental
leave arrangements were a “key part”
of its support for working families:
“Shared parental leave gives par-
ents the choice and flexibility to
combine work and childcare in a
way that suits them, making it eas-
ier for parents to spend time with
their children in those important
early months.”

Investing in equality
‘Dads love it’

Ben Beazley and his partner, Sara,

had their son at the peak of the
pandemic. The hospital was in full
lockdown and Beazley had to leave
Sara’s side soon after she had given
birth to their son Barnaby. But
thanks to the equal parental leave
scheme offered by his employer,
the insurer Aviva, Ben, a manager
in savings and retirement from
Norwich, was able to spend the six
months bonding with his son, and
supporting his partner – on full pay.
“Despite being in lockdown,
these six months have been some
of the best time of my life,” he says.
“The quality time with Barnaby
has been amazing, watching him
change. One day a little light came
on in his eyes and he started paying
attention. Sitting up was good, now
he’s starting to crawl.”
Aviva has offered all UK staff
the right to a year off work and 26
weeks’ full pay after they have a
baby, regardless of their gender,
since 2017. In 2020, 99% of new
fathers took parental leave, with
84% taking at least six months,
three weeks more than in 2018.
“Dads love it,” said Danny
Harmer, chief people officer at
Aviva. “And the thing about equal
parental leave is that it just changes
the conversation about who is
the primary and secondary carer, ▲ Ben Beazley able to take How would we have made the
it changes the mindset around with his son, shared leave call on which dad took the much
hiring. It nudges people away from Barnaby, and when he and longer adoption leave, potentially
some of the bias – and I think it’s Daniel Clark- his husband, bonding more with Theo?”
probably great for families and Bland (below Joseph, adopted Harmer said in meetings with
communities as well, right?” left), who was their son, Theo executives she was asked about
Daniel Clark-Bland took parental the “return on investment” for the
leave in 2019 after he and his scheme. “It’s a bit lazy, we should
husband adopted their son, Theo. be beyond that now,” she said.
“I haven’t spoken to a single other “Yes, it costs money. But surely if
person who hasn’t said, ‘Wow, they it evens out the playing field for
let you take how much leave?’” talent and is more likely to keep
he said. “But it’s so important as it, it is good for business. But I
an adoptive family – we were two think you also need to be in an
strangers who swept in and had organisation that’s willing to say,
to build a real bond and rapport. intuitively, we just know it’s the
Would that have been there after right thing to do.”
two weeks of statutory leave? Alexandra Topping
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian
Wales Labour pushes for votes in a
Senedd election shaped by pandemic
Steven Morris
O
n the beach at Barry
Island in south
Wales, locals and
day trippers were
enjoying fish and
chips and ice-cream,
relishing the spring sun after a long
hard winter of lockdowns.
Away from the jollity of the
seafront, Jane Hutt, who has sat in
the Welsh assembly and parliament
since the first devolved election in
1999, was striding the steep streets
of terrace houses trying to secure
her sixth win for Labour in the Vale
of Glamorgan constituency.
Hutt, who is defending a narrow
majority of 777, conceded it may be
the most challenging vote yet.
“It feels different because of
the pandemic,” she said. Covid
has meant that tried and tested
campaigning such as knocking on
doors has been more limited – and
has to be done from behind a mask.
The Labour machine in Wales has
only just been able to crank up.
Perhaps more importantly, the
pandemic has hugely raised the
profile of the devolved government
and its Labour first minister, Mark
Drakeford, making many more
people aware of the powers Cardiff
wields over policy areas such as
health, education – and lockdowns.
In past elections, Welsh Labour
has been able to frame itself as the
party to protect Wales against the
Tories in Westminster. Now, more
awareness of the powers Cardiff
holds is leading to greater scrutiny.
“We are making difficult
decisions that are directly affecting
people’s lives,” said Hutt. “Who
they can see, when they can go
for a drink in the pub. People
understand more about devolution.
How we have handled Covid is a big
part of this election.”
Labour is promoting Drakeford
as “cautious, careful and straight-
talking” and most people Hutt
chatted to in Barry seemed to think
he had done a decent job.
“He’s had the hardest job he
could have imagined,” said Stuart
Man, 20, who died in Thames
rescue effort hailed as hero
Kaamil Ahmed
A young man who died after jump-
ing into the River Thames to rescue a
woman who fell from London Bridge
has been hailed as a hero.
Folajimi Olubunmi-Adewole, 20,
died after diving into the river around
midnight on Saturday.
•••
National
▲ Jane Hutt, left, defending a 777
majority in Barry, talks to a resident
on the campaign trail PHOTOGRAPH:
DIMITRIS LAGAKIS/ATHENA PICTURES
40%
The number of Welsh people who
expressed an opinion in a poll saying
they would vote for independence
▲ Folajimi Olubunmi-Adewole dived
in to try to save a drowning woman
Burnell, who runs a zero-waste
shop, Awesome Wales, in the town.
“He’s not made promises he can’t
keep like Boris has.”
Chris Ivins, a shopworker, said
he felt Drakeford had been a little
slow to unlock Wales: “But we
understand why he’d be cautious.
I’d rather have him making those
decisions than those Tory crooks in
Westminster.”
More than £40,000 had been
raised by last night on a GoFundMe
page set up for his family by a charity,
as tributes poured in on the hashtag
#JimiTheHero.
His father, Michael Adewola, 63,
told the Sun newspaper that his son
– known as Jimi – deserved a medal
for the bravery he showed by diving
into the river with a friend to try to
save the woman.
“He is a very unique and angelic
soul, and I am proud of him, so proud,
and I want the world to know he is the
deepest and most wonderful man,”
Adewola said. “He is a hero, and
always will be, I can’t bring him back
but I want him to be remembered
▲ Local people enjoy the sunshine
at Whitmore Bay in Barry after a
winter of lockdowns which have
helped raise the profile of devolution
PHOTOGRAPH: MATTHEW HORWOOD
Labour has led the devolved
administration – either alone or
with support from others – since
1999. In 2016, the party won 29
of the 60 seats. The nationalists,
Plaid Cymru, came second and the
Conservatives third.
Since then there have been
dramatic changes. At the general
election in 2019, the Tories enjoyed
their best results in Wales since the
heyday of Margaret Thatcher.
There has also been a surge of
interest in independence, with
one recent poll finding that just
under 40% of Welsh people who
expressed an opinion said they
would vote for independence. And,
for the first time, those aged 16 and
17 get the vote in Wales on 6 May.
A poll by Opinium for Sky News
last week suggested that Labour
could win 29 seats again, followed
by the Tories with 19 and Plaid 10.
forever for what he did, it was just
like him to want to always try and
help others.”
Commenting on the reports ,
the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan,
tweeted that he “was the best of us”.
Khan added: “A true hero of our
city who gave his life trying to save
another. My thoughts and prayers
are with his family and friends at this
time of tragic loss.”
The GoFundMe page was set up
by Malcolm’s World Foundation, a
charity set up in memory of Malcolm
Mide-Madariola, who was murdered
in 2018. Olubunmi-Adewole went to
school with him and had his name
tattooed on his arm.
17
‘How we have
handled Covid is a big
part of this election’
Jane Hutt
Welsh assembly member
But a YouGov poll for ITV Wales and
Cardiff University two days later
put Labour back at 26 seats, Plaid
17 and the Tories 14. If Labour won
29 seats it may try to run a minority
government, but any less makes
a partnership or coalition, most
probably with Plaid, more likely.
The Plaid candidate in the Vale,
the solicitor and councillor Richard
Grigg, said his party was focusing
on trying to become the biggest
group at the Senedd.
He argued that the biggest issue
for the country was the lack of
care the UK government showed
it. “Wales has been neglected far
too long. We’ve been misruled
by Westminster, and Covid-19
has exposed decades of growing
inequality. The only way to change
that is for Wales to become an
independent country.”
At the heart of Plaid’s 2021
manifesto is a pledge to hold an
independence referendum in the
next five years. Grigg argued that
if the Scottish National party won
handsomely in its parliamentary
elections and pressed ahead with
its plan for a referendum, it would
become untenable not to give the
Welsh people the same chance.
There was once a thought that
this would be a “British election”
– a referendum on Boris Johnson
and Keir Starmer. Laura McAllister,
a professor at Cardiff University’s
Wales Governance Centre, said it
was not panning out that way.
“I think the election is about
faith and emotion,” she said. The
faith is whether people believe
that Labour can get us out of the
pandemic and rebuild, the emotion
is whether people want change and
might go for Plaid or the Tories.”
The Tory candidate, Matt Smith,
was canvassing in the Vale village of
Wenvoe. He claimed people he met
tended to give Johnson rather than
Drakeford the credit for successes
such as the vaccination scheme.
On the doorstep, a villager,
Annette Stephens, said she might
vote Tory – though she, too,
believed Drakeford had done
a good job in the pandemic. “I
wouldn’t have liked to have been in
his shoes,” she said.
“This family just lost another
hero,” the charity tweeted. “Such a
pure hearted soul. Extremely loving
and caring. Yesterday he died more
than a hero.”
City of London police previously
said two men had entered the water
after witnessing the woman fall from
the bridge. The coastguard and the
Metropolitan police’s marine unit res-
cued the woman and one of the men,
but could not locate the other person.
A body, believed to be that of the
missing man, was found at 6am,
police said, with his next of kin
informed.
Police said yesterday that formal
identification has yet to take place.
 • The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021

18

Greece accused of shocking

illegal commando ‘pushback’
against refugees in boats
Bethan McKernan
Middle East correspondent
A new lawsuit filed against the Greek
state at the European court of human
rights has accused Athens of a shock-
ing level of violence in interagency
operations as part of the evolving ille-
gal “pushback” strategy to stop the
arrival of refugees and migrants.
The suit, filed by the non-profit
Legal Centre Lesvos, centres on an
alleged incident from last October
when a fishing boat set off from Mar-
maris in Turkey for Italy with about
200 people, including 40 children
and a pregnant woman. The boat ran
into difficulty in a storm off Crete, and
the captain radioed for assistance.
The legal case claims that, in an
operation of unprecedented size
and sophistication, instead of helping
the stranded passengers a Greek
search and rescue vessel and two
small patrol boats stalled the smug-
gler’s boat for five hours until speed
boats carrying masked commandos
arrived, and in the ensuing incident
several of the passengers claim they
were beaten.
They were allegedly separated into
two groups and taken to two large
coastguard vessels, where armed
crews of 10 to 15 men, most wearing
balaclavas, searched them and confis-
cated belongings, including phones,
passports and money.
The passengers were then report-
edly forced on to small life rafts,
▲ A screenshot from the video
evidence submitted to the court
Europe, as per a 2016 deal between
Ankara and Brussels.
Athens temporarily halted all
new asylum applications and, it has
been claimed, employed increasingly
brutal tactics to dissuade people in
Turkey from making the journey.
Figures are difficult to verify,
but rights groups and journalists
have recorded hundreds of alleged
pushback incidents over the last 12
months. In most cases, people trying
to cross the Aegean are said to have
been intercepted and towed back to
Turkish waters. They are then cut
loose on their own boats, after the
Greek coastguard has disabled their
engines, or on overcrowded life rafts.
On several occasions people claim
they were pushed back after landing
on Greek soil, and passengers have
been abandoned on an uninhabited
Turkish islet at least twice, according
to Der Spiegel, Lighthouse Reports
and the New York Times.
In at least one case, Frontex, the EU
border agency, is accused of cover-
right term: it’s a decision by the
authorities to deliberately abandon
people at sea, putting their lives at
risk, with no means to call for rescue
and no chance at all to claim asylum,”
said Natasha Ntailiani, a Legal Centre
Lesvos lawyer representing some of
the survivors before the ECHR.
“It’s a new and disturbing trend
characterised by planned and system-
atic violence, which has increased
over the last year in the Aegean
region. Even search and rescue ves-
sels and materials are now being used
against migrants, which is a remarka-
ble insight into the lengths the Greek
authorities are now willing to go to.”
Testimony from 12 complainants
and dozens of pages of collaborating
evidence, including geolocated pic-
tures and video, GPS coordinates,
and phone and message logs from the
ship’s radio, passengers, the Alarm
Phone hotline and the Greek and
Turkish coastguards painted a com-
plete and damning picture of the new
tactics, the centre said.
The Legal Centre Lesvos suit is the
fifth related to violations of migrant
and refugee rights in Greece filed at
the ECHR in recent years; while pro-
gress is slow, the applicants hope this
latest case will persuade the court
that pushbacks, despite the fact they
are now reportedly a systemic and
regular feature of Greek border polic-
ing, are illegal.
A decision at the court last year
that Spain did not breach the rights of
two men it expelled from the Melilla

Volunteers leave French cave

towed back to Turkish waters and
abandoned at sea without food,
water, life jackets or any means to
call for help. By the time they were
picked up by the Turkish coastguard,
the ordeal had already lasted more
than 24 hours.
“It was like watching a movie. The
men from the speedboats jumped
onboard screaming and shouting,
they all had guns and knives and
wearing black, and masks,” claimed
Mahmoud, a witness from Syria,
whose name has been changed.
“They began beating people with
batons, looking for the captain. They
punched me in the face and broke my
glasses … I understand they don’t
want us. But you could send us back
to Turkey without the need for vio-
lence. When they cut us loose on the
rafts we all thought we were going to
die,” he said.
The lawsuit claims that “push-
backs” have become standard for the
Greek coastguard since March 2020,
when Turkey, in an effort to pressure
the EU, told the 4 million registered
refugees inside its borders it would
no longer stop them trying to reach
ing up evidence of a Greek pushback
operation.
These collective expulsions, as
they are known, are illegal under
international law, but not under
Greek national law. The Guardian’s
requests for comment from Greek
officials went unanswered. Greece
has denied illegality in the past.
The alleged incident from October
involving the fishing boat stands out
because of both the reported level of
violence involved and the size and
scope of the operation, which would
have taken hours to coordinate and
involved eight Greek vessels and two
dozen crew from different agencies.
“‘Pushback’ isn’t even really the
‘It was shocking
to experience the
reality, which is that
Europe doesn’t care’
Yara
Syrian refugee
enclave as the men had tried to enter
illegally “as part of a large group” sets
a worrying precedent.
In light of the judgment, Frontex
has since asked the European com-
mission if it can refuse to process
individual asylum claims if people
are moving collectively in groups – as
is often the case in the Aegean.
“I didn’t even want to go to Greece.
We knew that they were harming ref-
ugees when they arrive. But it was
shocking to experience the reality,
which is that Europe doesn’t care at
all about human rights and dignity,”
said Yara, from Damascus, whose
name has also been changed. She
says she has been left traumatised
by her experiences the fateful day the
storm hit the fishing boat. “Despite
all of that, I will still try again. I can’t
build a life in Syria or Turkey.”
Yara’s thoughts were echoed by
Mahmoud. “I got kicked out of Qatar
because of the pandemic. I would
rather have stayed there,” he said.
“If there was a legal way to get to
Europe I would take it, but there isn’t.
I don’t want to make that journey
again, but I will, because I have to.”
after 40-day study of life
without daylight or clocks
Associated Press
Fifteen people emerged from a cave
in south-west France at the week-
end after 40 days underground in an
experiment to see how the absence
of clocks, daylight and external com-
munications would affect their sense
of time.
They left their isolation in the Lom-
brives cave to a round of applause and
basked in the light while wearing spe-
cial glasses to protect their eyes after
so long in the dark.
“It was like pressing pause,” said
Marina Lançon, one of seven women
to take part in the experiment. She
did not feel any rush to do anything
and wished she could have stayed in
the cave a few days longer, she said,
but she was happy to feel the wind
and hear birdsong again.
The group lived in and explored the
cave as part of a project called Deep
Time. There was no natural light, the
temperature was 10C and the relative
humidity 100%. They had no contact
with the outside world, no updates
on the pandemic nor any communi-
cations with friends or family.
Scientists at the Human Adapta-
tion Institute, which is leading the
€1.2m (£860,000) project, say the
experiment will help them under-
stand how people adapt to drastic
changes in living conditions and envi-
ronments. As expected, those in the
cave lost their sense of time.
“And here we are! We just left
after 40 days … For us it was a real
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian •

Conservation Libya 19
‘Green list’ inspires Ten years since
hope and change fi
the fall of Gaddafi
Page 20 Page 24

Italian ‘Robinson Crusoe’ to

leave tiny island after 32 years
Angela Giuffrida
Rome
A man labelled Italy’s Robinson
Crusoe who has lived alone on a Med-
iterranean island for more than 30
years has said he is finally surren-
dering to pressure from authorities
to leave.
Mauro Morandi, 81, stumbled
across Budelli, an island off Sardinia
famous for its pink-sanded beach, in
1989 after his catamaran broke down
on the way to the South Pacific. In a
fortuitous twist of fate, Morandi dis-
covered the island’s caretaker was
about to retire, and so he abandoned
the sailing trip and took over the role.
Since then, Morandi, whose home
is a former second world war shelter,
has got to know every rock, tree and
animal species of the rugged islet.
Morandi said he had decided to
leave at the end of the month after
several threats of eviction from the La
Maddalena national park authorities,
which have been managing Budelli
since 2016 and want to reclaim his
home and turn the island into “a hub
for environmental education”.
“I have given up the fight,” he said.
“After 32 years here, I feel very sad to
leave. They told me they need to do
work on my house and this time it
seems to be for real.” National park
authorities have argued that Morandi
made changes to the building with-
out the required permits.
Morandi, originally from Modena
in central Italy, said he was moving
into a small apartment on the nearby
La Maddalena, the largest island of
the archipelago. “I’ll be living in the
outskirts of the main town, so will
just go there for shopping and the rest
of the time keep myself to myself,” he
said. “My life won’t change too much,
I’ll still see the sea.” As for Budelli,
he said: “I hope that someone can
protect it as well as I have.”
For years Morandi guarded the
island, clearing its paths, keeping its
beaches pristine and teaching sum-
mer day-trippers about its ecosystem.
But his role came under threat
when the private company that
owned the island went bankrupt.
Plans to sell it in 2013 to Malcolm
Harte, a businessman from New Zea-
land, were thwarted amid protests
and an intervention by the Italian
government. In 2016, a Sardinian
judge ruled that the island be put
back into public hands.
Several petitions have attracted
thousands of signatures in support
of keeping Morandi on the island.
His supporters expressed their dis-
appointment on his Facebook page
yesterday. “There are no words…
the destruction of the paradise will
begin,” wrote one. Another urged
residents of La Maddalena to “rebel
against this injustice”.
▲ Mauro Morandi, 81, has acted as
Budelli’s caretaker since 1989

▲ Fifteen
volunteers of
surprise,” said the project director,
Christian Clot. “In our heads, we had
‘Beyond disappointed’: outcry as
the Deep Time
experiment
walked into the cave 30 days ago.”
The challenge was “to profit from the
Saturday Night Live picks Musk
spent 40 days present moment without ever think-
living in a cave ing about what will happen in one editor for Variety. “They’ve learned
in the south- hour, in two hours”, he said. Martin Pengelly nothing. A host should have some
west of France Scientists monitored the group’s New York discernible talent other than … being
with no clocks sleep patterns, social interactions rich? Or at least not be someone who
or daylight or and behavioural reactions via sen- The US topical sketch show Satur- lies about a takeover, spreads misin-
news of the sors. The 15 team members followed day Night Live, a fixture since 1975, formation about a pandemic, and is
outside world, their biological clocks to know when was facing cricitism yesterday after known for abusing employees.”
exploring, to wake up, go to sleep and eat. They it announced that its next show will Musk has previously appeared on
working counted their days in sleep cycles. be hosted by Elon Musk. The Simpsons and The Big Bang The-
together, and “It’s really interesting to observe The Tesla and SpaceX billionaire ory and had a cameo in Iron Man 2.
estimating their how this group synchronises them- will host on 8 May, with Miley Cyrus SNL rarely strays from its usual
days in sleep selves,” Clot said. Working together as musical guest for a sixth time. practice of fielding actors with films
cycles. Scientists on projects and organising tasks with- Reporting the news, Deadline. to promote. When it does, trouble
say the study out being able to set a time to meet com said Musk “seems like a left- often follows. In November 2015, two
will help them was particularly challenging, he said. field choice for a sketch comedy months before the start of the Repub-
understand Two-thirds of the participants show [but] has shown a quick wit in lican presidential primary, Donald
how people expressed a desire to remain under- his online dealings with fans, foes Trump delivered the monologue in
adapt to drastic ground a little longer to finish group and the like, so may have a few more a show staged amid widespread pro-
changes in living projects started during their stay. surprises in store”. tests over his belligerent and racist
conditions and “Our future as humans on this That “quick wit”, whether dis- campaign rhetoric.
environments planet will evolve,” Clot said after played on podcasts or social media, Trump was reported to have
PHOTOGRAPHS: emerging. “We must learn to bet- has often landed Musk in trouble. vetoed some sketches in an evening
HUMAN ADAPTATION ter understand how our brains are Criticism spread quickly online. that subjected its audience, accord-
INSTITUTE; FRED
SCHEIBER/AFP capable of finding new solutions, “I am really beyond disappointed in ing to the Guardian reviewer Brian
whatever the situation.” SNL,” wrote Jenelle Riley, a writer and Moylan, to “nothing short of torture”.

20
Global
greenlist
Inspiring
hope and
change for
precious
wilderness
Patrick Greenfield
W
hen Kawésqar
national park
was formed in
the Chilean part
of Patagonia
in 2019, just
one ranger was responsible for
an expanse the size of Belgium.
The fjords, forests and Andean
peaks in the park are a precious
wilderness, making up one of the
few ecosystems still undamaged by
human activity.
Chilean officials hope that
Kawésqar will, one day, meet the
high standards for protected areas
laid out by the International Union
for Conservation of Nature and join
the organisation’s green list.
The IUCN’s green list of
protected and conserved areas is
less well known than its red list of
threatened species. But last week,
10 more sites – in Switzerland,
France and Italy – achieved green
list status, bringing the total to 59 in
16 countries.
Contamines-Montjoie national
nature reserve was among seven
French sites added, increasing
the country’s listings to 22, the
highest number globally. About 500
sites in 50 countries are working
to meet the 17 requirements of
good governance, planning,
management, and preservation of
nature, to achieve this status.
Indigenous group in the US has
rights to Canadian land, court rules
Leyland Cecco
Toronto
Canada’s highest court has ruled that
an Indigenous nation in the US has
rights to lands in Canada after a dec-
ades-long struggle by its people to
get official recognition they were the
descendents of the Sinixt, whose ter-
ritory once spanned both countries.
• The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021
World
In Chile, the green list has
helped catalyse a big conservation
drive, including an upgrade of the
national park system. The country
has established a large network of
protected areas in Patagonia, and
plans more rangers for Kawésqar.
“The list is an opportunity for
aspiration and hope. Conservation
is often about red lists, threats and
potential extinctions. This is the
opposite,” said Víctor Lagos San
Martín, head of monitoring and
governance of wild areas at Chile’s
National Forest Corporation. “The
list helps us work out how we can
paint the planet green.”
A strength of the green list
59
Places accredited by the IUCN green
list, which recognises high standards
in conservation for protected areas
The closely watched court decision
settled longstanding questions over
the status of the Sinixt, but it also has
the potential to affirm hunting rights
in Canada for tens of thousands of
Native Americans living in the US dis-
possessed of traditional territories by
an international border drawn hun-
dreds of years ago.
“I was so nervous before the deci-
sion. I don’t think I slept more than
 Ibex in the
Swiss national
park, in eastern
Switzerland,
which becomes
the country’s
first site to be
green-listed by
the IUCN
PHOTOGRAPH: HANS
LOZZA/IUCN
standard is that the usual suspects
in conservation are not always
the ones rewarded, said James
Hardcastle, who leads the IUCN’s
green list initiative.
The list is designed to recognise
success stories, including the
small. Alongside national parks,
indigenous reserves and provincial
parks had achieved the status,
while better-known protected areas
had still to get on the list, he said.
Hardcastle said the standard
aimed at improving the quality
of conservation work and, where
necessary, encouraging parks and
governments to confront difficult
truths about Indigenous people’s
rights and unsustainable tourism
models. “We have about 250,000
protected areas, and global studies
show most are not effectively
managed. Successful conservation
only comes when you get the
balance of looking after local
an hour the night before,” said Rick
Desautel, one of 4,000 members of
the Colville Confederated Tribes in
Washington state who were officially
recognised as successors to the Sinixt.
“When the decision came through I
just let out a huge sigh of relief.”
The Sinixt were declared extinct
by the Canadian government in 1955
after they were pushed down into
Washington state.
Desautel decided to challenge the
idea that his people no longer existed
in 2010 when he crossed into British
Columbia without a permit to hunt
elk, arguing he had longstanding
treaty rights to so. The province of
▼ A valley in the green-listed
Haut-Giffre and Aiguilles-Rouges
national nature reserves in France
PHOTOGRAPH: J. HEURET/IUCN
interests and values with reference
to national and international
elements.”
A commitment to protect about
30% of land and sea by 2030 is likely
to be agreed at the UN Convention
on Biological Diversity, scheduled
for this year in Kunming, China.
Dozens of countries have already
made the commitment.
Hardcastle hopes green list
standards will stop countries
imposing strict controls on areas in
the name of nature conservation
to meet those commitments. “The
green list is not a beauty contest or
about showing who is the biggest.
We have sites like the Amarakaeri
reserve in Peru, which is an
indigenous territory. Conservation
there is as effective as, if not better
than, a strict protection model.”
The Amarakaeri reserve in
the Amazon basin is managed
through a partnership of the
Harakmbut, Yine and Machiguenga
communities, and the government.
It helps protect the forest from
illegal gold miners, loggers and
drug smuggers. “You cannot have
protected areas for nature if the
people who live in and around them
don’t benefit,” said Asvin Florez Gil,
who leads the government side of
the partnership.
Walter Quertehuari Dariquebe,
who represents the communities
in the partnership, said: “Because
conservation has had economic
benefits for communities it’s not
seen as a threat.”
British Columbia disagreed, slapped
him with a fine, and fought him all the
way to the supreme court.
At issue for the court was how to
interpret section 35.1 of the Canadian
charter, which recognises the treaty
rights of “Aboriginal peoples of Can-
ada”. It concluded that the phrase
refers to the modern-day successors
of Indigenous societies that occupied
Canadian territory during European
contact, even if they are now located
outside Canada.
Rodney Cawston, chair of the
Colville Confederated Tribes, said
the verdict was an “indescribable
moment” for his people.
In brief
Iraq
Blaze in Baghdad Covid
ward kills 82 people
Iraq’s interior ministry has said 82
people died and 110 were injured in
a fire that broke out in the intensive
care unit of a Baghdad hospital
tending to Covid patients.
Negligence on the part of
hospital authorities has been
blamed for the blaze on Saturday,
which initial reports suggested
was caused by an oxygen cylinder
exploding in the ward of the Ibn
al-Khatib hospital.
Iraq’s prime minister, Mustafa
al-Kadhimi, dismissed the health
minister, the governor of Baghdad
province and the hospital director
after the incident. AP Baghdad
Germany
Poll puts Greens out
in front for first time
Germany’s Greens continued
their upward trajectory yesterday,
overtaking Angela Merkel’s
conservatives in a new poll five
months before a general election.
Support for the Greens rose to
28% in the poll for Bild am Sonntag
newspaper, the party’s best score
to date in the regular survey carried
out by Kantar. Merkel’s centre-right
CDU/CSU alliance came in at 27%;
the centre-left Social Democrats
(SPD), her junior coalition partners,
fell to 13%.
Co-chair Annalena Baerbock, 40,
last week became the Greens’ first-
ever chancellor candidate. AFP
France
Model’s hijab hashtag
‘fights stereotypes’
A Somali-Norwegian model
whose Instagram post criticising
a proposed ban on the hijab
in France went viral said she
wanted to oppose “deeply rooted
stereotypes” of Muslim women.
The hashtag #Handsoffmyhijab
devised by Rawdah Mohamed
(below) has been taken up by the
Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad,
and the US congresswoman
Ilhan Omar, as well thousands
internationally who have used it to
protest against the French senate’s
vote to ban the under 18s from
wearing the garment in public.
“I felt the need to humanise the
movement, to take back the control
of our narratives,” said Mohamed.
Priya Elan
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian
‘Worst-case scenario’ India’s plight a
global issue that needs global action
Peter Beaumont
T
he catastrophe
unfolding in India
appears to be the
worst-case scenario
that many feared
from the Covid-19
pandemic: unable to find sufficient
hospital beds, access to tests,
medicines or oxygen, the country
of 1.4 billion is sinking beneath the
weight of infections.
The two opposed assumptions
of the global response to Covid
– wealthy countries prioritising
vaccines for their own need in
one camp, and the World Health
Organization argument for vaccine
equality in the other – are also
failing to hold as the scale of the
crisis in India points to an urgent
need to prioritise response there.
Missing Indonesian submarine
found split into three on seabed
Reuters
A missing Indonesian submarine was
found yesterday, broken into at least
three sections, deep in the Bali Sea.
The country’s president sent condo-
lences to relatives of the 53 crew.
Search teams on Saturday found
objects including fragments of prayer
•
World
With the global supply of
vaccines unlikely to pick up
until the end of this year, what
is required now is international
leadership and a recognition that,
despite the best intentions of the
WHO and the vaccine-sharing
Covax initiative, the pandemic
may require a period of more
focused firefighting, where difficult
decisions need to be made.
That will require countries to
look beyond their own health
crises to see that the pandemic
could still get much worse without
intervention. Experts have
repeatedly warned that allowing
the virus to circulate unchecked
increases the risk that dangerous
new strains will emerge and
prolong the pandemic.
The reality is that the magical
thinking displayed by Narendra
Modi’s Indian government – which
claimed the pandemic was in its
mat and a bottle of periscope lubri-
cant near the submarine’s last known
location, leading the navy to believe
the 44-year-old KRI Nanggala-402
had cracked, with the loss of all
aboard. The vessel lost contact on
Wednesday before a torpedo drill.
The navy’s chief of staff, Yudo Mar-
gono, said the crew were not to blame
for the sinking. He added: “The KRI
Nanggala is in three parts. The hull of
“endgame” in March – was not
much different from the mistakes
of other leaders, including the
former US president Donald Trump
or the UK prime minister, Boris
Johnson. What is different in India
– with a fragile health system and
even weaker surveillance – is the
huge possibility for harm locally
and globally, perhaps on a scale not
yet seen in the pandemic.
The world’s biggest producer
of vaccines, the Serum Institute
of India, was supposed to supply
doses under the Covax scheme to
poorer nations, mostly in Africa.
Doses have now been diverted for
India’s needs, which in itself has
struggled to acquire material for
vaccine production from the US.
As a consequence of the crisis,
this month India shipped just 1.2m
doses abroad, compared with 64m
in the three months prior.
China, which has heavily
the ship, the stern of the ship, and the
main parts are all separated, with the
main part found cracked.”
The president, Joko Widodo, con-
firmed the discovery and said: “All of
us Indonesians express our deep sor-
row over this tragedy, especially to
the families of the submarine crew.”
Margono said on Saturday that a
sonar scan had detected a submarine-
like object at 850 metres, beyond the
Nanggala’s diving range. More than
a dozen helicopters and ships were
searching the area, with the US, Aus-
tralia, Singapore, Malaysia and India
providing assistance.
Residents of the East Java town of
pushed its own version of vaccine
diplomacy, has already moved to
fill that vacuum. The UK is to airlift
495 oxygen concentrators, which
can extract oxygen from the air
when hospital systems have run
out, 120 non-invasive ventilators
and 20 manual ventilators to Delhi,
with Germany also likely to send an
oxygen generator and other aid.
But what India needs
immediately is supplies for its
vaccine factories, which have been
held up by US export restrictions,
and tools, such as genomic
sequencing, to identify and control
existing and emerging variants.
One hopeful sign is that the US
has promised to “rapidly deploy”
aid to healthcare workers in India.
The US said it was in high-level
talks to deploy extra help to Indian
healthcare workers and that it
was gravely concerned about the
situation there.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the US’s top
infectious diseases expert, said
yesterday that several measures are
being considered.
“It’s a terrible situation that’s
going on in India and other lower
middle-income countries,” he said.
“There is more we can do.”
▲ Clockwise from top left: a section
of the vessel; items found near the
scene; family of the crew; a vigil for
the sailors PHOTOGRAPHS: AFP; EPA; REUTERS
Banyuwangi, which hosts the naval
base from where search and rescue
operations were being conducted,
joined calls to accelerate the modern-
isation of Indonesia’s defence forces.
South-east Asia’s most-populous
country has sought to revamp its mil-
itary capability, yet some equipment
is still old. It had five submarines: two
German-built Type 209s, including
the Nanggala, and three newer South
Korean vessels.
21
Italy shrugs off
concern among
virologists as
14 regions ease
lockdown rules
Angela Giuffrida
Rome
Italy will begin easing its coronavirus
lockdown today in what is considered
to be Mario Draghi’s first significant
gamble since taking office as prime
minister in February.
More than half of Italy’s 20 regions
will be in the more lenient yellow
zone of restrictions, even though the
country is still recording thousands of
new infections each day and a stub-
bornly high Covid-19 death toll.
Draghi has come under pressure
from the parties within his broad
coalition, particularly Matteo Salvi-
ni’s far-right League, to lift lockdown
measures. The former European Cen-
tral Bank chief is also in a race against
time to submit a plan for reviving
Italy’s economy as the country pre-
pares to receive €191.5bn from the
EU’s post-Covid recovery fund.
In yellow zone regions, shops will
reopen, as will cinemas and thea-
tres, while bars and restaurants can
serve customers at outside tables.
People can move freely between the
14 regions, but will need to present
evidence of having had a vaccine or
tested negative for the virus in order
to travel to five regions in the stricter
orange zone or to Sardinia, the only
region remaining in the toughest
red zone.
“Draghi said that opening up was a
calculated risk, but it is more of a gam-
ble as the data is not at all reassuring,”
said Sofia Ventura, a politics profes-
sor at the University of Bologna.
Scientists advising the govern-
ment have voiced concern about
easing restrictions too soon. Italy
registered more than 13,000 new
infections yesterday and 217 deaths,
bringing the death toll to over 119,000,
the second-highest in Europe.
“This is probably Draghi’s biggest
bet so far,” said Francesco Grillo, a
political economist and director of
the thinktank Vision. “Quite a few
virologists think infections might
rise again.”
Expectations were high when
Draghi – nicknamed “Super Mario”
for his role in saving the European sin-
gle currency – was appointed prime
minister. But a slow and chaotic vac-
cination programme, at least during
the first weeks of his leadership, and
insufficient financial support for
businesses has led his popularity in
opinion polls to diminish.
“Draghi is Super Mario, but he’s not
Harry Potter,” said Grillo. “It’s an illu-
sion to think he has a magic button
to solve all the problems of a country
that’s been in decline for 30 years.”
119,000
Death toll from Covid-19 in Italy
since the start of the pandemic – the
second-highest in Europe
 • The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021

22
Eyewitness
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian •

▼ Antananarivo, Madagascar 23
A child looks on as soldiers patrol the
capital ordering residents home for a
total weekend lockdown due to Covid
PHOTOGRAPH: RIJASOLO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

24
Lessons unlearned
War-weary Libya
reflects 10 years
on from Gaddafi
Peter Beaumont
T
he last days of
Muammar Gaddafi, 10
years ago, conjure up
competing images of
defiance, defeat and
death.
In March 2011, in one of his
last public appearances and
with rebellion growing against
his regime, the Libyan leader
arrived at the People’s Congress in
Tripoli on an electric golf cart. He
punched the air before delivering
a lengthy, erratic, speech to the
“representatives of the people”.
Libyans, he thundered, “will fight
to the last man and woman” against
foreigners if Nato intervened.
He offered money and a new
constitution if those rebelling
against his rule gave up their fight.
He warned Libyans they would be
“slaves again” if he were gone.
In the streets of his police state
Gaddafi’s notion of freedom was
more clear: people who spoke out
were disappeared and killed, towns
and cities were put under siege.
By August, Gaddafi’s inner circle
was gone, fleeing Tripoli after Nato
planes led by Britain and France
entered the war, their actions
bending the outcome decisively in
the rebels’ favour.
In October, with the net of rebel
forces tightening around the last
few blocks his forces still controlled
in the city of Sirte, Gaddafi – who
had disappeared from public view –
would try to make a break out of the
• The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021
World
encirclement. He was finally caught
and killed as he hid in a culvert.
In retrospect, it was that final
battle in Sirte which prefigured so
much of what would come later,
including the internecine rivalries.
Characterised by bitter street
fighting as the rival rebel brigades
from Benghazi and Misrata
converged on the regime’s last
seafront redoubt, the rebels even
then seemed at sharp odds.
Overshadowed by the blood-
letting in Syria, the lessons of Libya
from the past decade, of Gaddafi’s
fall and the conflicts that followed,
have barely been cross-examined.
Or if so, they have been forgotten.
Libya was a conflict that also cast
a long shadow for international
relations, and the reputations
of some. In 2016 Barack Obama
spoke of his disappointment with
the European efforts following
Gaddafi’s fall, suggesting that David
Cameron had been distracted and
that that had contributed to “the
mess” which followed. For Nicholas
Sarkozy, president of France from  Muammar By 2016 the Conservative
2007-12, the fallout would be more Gaddafi making MP Crispin Blunt, chair of the
personal and serious: he became a speech in Commons foreign affairs select
embroiled in accusations that he February 2011, committee, was sounding equally
had taken campaign money from a few months scathing about the intervention
Gaddafi for his 2007 election. before most of backed by Cameron. He said UK
Originally held up as a model his strongholds policy in Libya was initially driven
humanitarian intervention under fell and he was by a desire to protect civilians, but
the doctrine of Responsibility to killed by militia added: “We do not accept that it
Protect – known by its shorthand PHOTOGRAPH: LIBYAN understood the implications of
of R2P – barely two years after STATE TV/REUTERS this, which included collapse of the
Gaddafi’s fall, Alan Kuperman in state, failure of stabilisation and
the journal International Security facilitation of Islamist extremism
was casting Libya not as a success in Libya.”
story but a case study in precisely The reality is that the tensions
how not to intervene. in Libya were always less well
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian
comprehended than the drivers of
the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia,
where the political movements
were far better understood.
And the fallout in the immediate
aftermath of Gaddafi’s fall was as
swift as it was unanticipated. The
large weapons stocks held by the
regime were rapidly dispersed,
contributing to the destabilisation
of the wider region, not least Mali.
In Libya tens of thousands of
migrants from other parts of Africa
were no longer welcome, displaced
at the start of a complex migration
crisis that would later make the
Outcry as killer of Jewish
woman in Paris avoids trial
Kim Willsher
Paris
Hundreds of protesters rallied across
France and beyond yesterday after
a man accused of killing a Jewish
woman was declared unfit to stand
trial because he was judged to have
suffered a psychotic episode caused
by cannabis use.
Kobili Traoré is accused of beat-
ing 65-year-old Lucie Attal – better
known as Sarah Halimi, a retired doc-
tor and kindergarten director – and
throwing her off the balcony of her
Paris apartment in 2017.
•
 Libyans mark
the 10th year
since the end of
Gaddafi’s regime
in February in
Tripoli
PHOTOGRAPH: NADA
HARIB/GETTY
 Anti-Gaddafi
fighters at the
fall of Sirte,
2011. The Nato-
led intervention
created a power
vacuum, say
Libya experts
PHOTOGRAPHS: ESAM
OMRAN AL-FETORI/
REUTERS
‘There was
no united
international
leadership –
zero interest
apart from
counter-
terrorism’
Issandr Amrani
Libya expert
country a pathway into Europe for
large-scale human trafficking. And
the power vacuum that emerged
allowed jihadi groups to flourish.
They were all risks presciently
described in 2012 in Foreign Affairs
magazine by Zahia Zoubir, who
warned that Libya risked fracturing
amid the armed groups. “The major
challenge for Libya … is avoiding
partition, as happened in Sudan, or
worse, ‘Somalization’, where the
state cannot control the various
militias that impose their own laws
on their respective territories.” At
times the fracturing harked back to
French courts have recognised
the killing as an antisemitic crime
but declared that Traoré, 32, who is
in a psychiatric hospital, could not be
tried as he was in the grip of a drug-
induced “delusional fit” and not in
control of his actions.
The decision by France’s highest
court, the Cour de Cassation, 12 days
ago to uphold this ruling has sparked
anger in the wider community.
Halimi’s family described the
decision as an “injustice”; her sister
Esther Lekover announced that she
would be bringing a separate case in
Israel, where she lives.
Demonstrators organised in Paris,
a pre-modern era of city states each
with their own army, guarded by
checkpoints and gates.
Claudia Gazzini, Libya specialist
at Crisis Group, said that Gaddafi’s
summary execution in Sirte
(captured on grisly video footage),
far from marking the end of state
violence in Libya made it more
widespread. It was far from clear
that without Nato’s intervention
the Gaddafi regime would have
been toppled, she added.
“If you start with the Nato-led
intervention the big lesson learned
was that this planted the seeds
for the disarray. A very idealistic
invocation of responsibility to
protect led to full and violent
regime change. The way Gaddafi
was gunned down and killed
infused the idea that it’s OK to kill,
OK to storm places like Tarhouna
and Beni Walid. It was a culture
where the militias were empowered
to strike against anyone they
thought linked to the regime.”
Lacking plans for the future,
Libya fractured into regional and
city-based militias which tried to
use force to bargain for political
power – including control of
ministries, Gazzini and others note.
This offered a way in, not only for
outside intervention, including in
the Gulf and Turkey, but for violent
Islamist groups as well.
Georges Fahmi, in a paper
two years ago for Chatham
House, surveyed the long violent
aftermath of Gaddafi’s fall, arguing
that the experience of Libya had
broad implications for countries’
transition from authoritarian
Bordeaux, Marseille, Lyon, Stras-
bourg and Nice. There were also
protests in Rome, Tel Aviv, London,
Los Angeles, Miami and New York.
Frank Tapiro, a political commu-
nications expert who organised the
rally in Paris, said protesters wanted
justice for Halimi.
“We want a trial, whatever the out-
come. He (Traoré) chose to smoke
cannabis. The experts made their
reports, but the judges are not obliged
to accept them. This problem affects
all French people, not just the Jewish
community,” he told BFM TV.
Traoré entered Halimi’s third
floor council flat in Paris at 4am on 4
April 2017, while she was asleep. He
allegedly beat her, shouting “Allahu
Akbar” and reciting Quranic verses,
before throwing her over the balcony.
Neighbours told police they heard
him shout “I killed the sheitan (Ara-
bic for “devil”) from Halimi’s balcony.
states. “Resorting to violence is
the fastest way to end any hope for
democratic change. Protesters who
decided to take up arms offered
their regimes the chance to reframe
the political uprisings as civil war,
as was the case in Syria. Even when
armed groups manage to bring
down the regime their presence
endangers the transitional phase
afterwards, as in Libya.”
In Libya that initially meant a
multiplicity of groups – defined
by tribal and regional allegiances
in the country’s east/west split –
were competing for political spoils
and resource-rich areas including
key cities such as Mistrata and
Zintan. Equally destabilising was
the rivalry between the east of the
country, Cyrenaica, which includes
Benghazi, and areas controlled by
the Tripoli government.
I
n post-Gaddafi Libya the
competition was often
dangerously overlapping,
and exacerbated by
international concerns,
including the EU’s interest
in security and in closing migration
routes to Europe.
Gazzini said: “There was no
international state building
plan except for the idea of … a
UN mission to go and organise
elections. There was no strong
will or capacity for anything else.
Then there was the international
community’s ambiguous
approach to supporting Libyan
security sector needs, and failing
to recognise that there was a
tentacular jihadist network finding
Traoré later told investigators
he knew his victim was Jewish but
denied the crime was antisemitic,
saying he had acted while suffering
a psychotic episode triggered by
cannabis.
It took 10 months and an outcry
from Jewish organisations for the
French authorities to accept the ele-
ment of antisemitism in the killing.
François Molins, the general
▲ Lucie Attal, also known as Sarah
Halimi, was attacked as she slept
25
its way through, and consequent
polarisation of the discourse
on radical groups for political
purposes on all sides.”
When the jihadist groups would
come to be seen as a threat the
response was to subcontract the
issue out to those seen as effective
in fighting against them, not least
the eastern warlord Khalifa Haftar
whose ambitions would later lead
him to besiege the UN-backed
government in Tripoli in a failed
bid for power. Haftar gained the
support of the UAE, Egypt, Russia,
France, and Saudi Arabia. That in
turn exacerbated tensions in the
region between Turkey – which
moved to support Tripoli – and the
UAE and Egypt.
Issandr El Amrani, an expert
on the region, now with the Open
Society Foundations, in Amman,
said lessons had been lost in what
was a sometimes “dishonest”
debate between proponents of the
intervention and opposers.
“Those who point to the
emergence of Isis and the country
collapsing into warlordism ignore
the reality that there was a real risk
of a massacre in [the rebel centre
of] Benghazi in 2011, and that
substantial numbers of Libyans
were calling for intervention.”
Instead, Amrani said, senior
Russian officials – including
Vladimir Putin, who backed calls to
intervene under R2P – would feel
“swindled” by what turned into
an intervention for regime change.
“Libya, the way it is, encapsulates
the messiness of the great power
politics as it is now. There was no
united international leadership. No
US leadership after the Americans
shied away from the peace process
from 2014-2017 after Trump came
to power. There was zero interest
except for counter-terrorism.”
But both Gazzini and Amrani
said they were optimistic about the
renewed peace process, sensing
a war weariness in Libya. “There
does seem genuine war fatigue
across the country. Libyans … want
a Libya they’ve been deprived of
in the rounds of war and political
bickering. On top of that Libya was
polarised at the peak of intra-Gulf
dispute and tensions between
Turkey and various Arab capitals.
Now we are seeing that gradually
ending,” Gazzini said.
prosecutor at the Cour de Cassation,
denied the justice system had been
too lax. “Of course, the legal system
isn’t giving anyone permission to
kill,” he told Le Monde.
The Cour de Cassation confirmed
the antisemitic nature of the crime
but upheld earlier court decisions
that Traoré could not be tried for mur-
der because his heavy cannabis use
meant he was not in his right mind at
the time. Five out of seven psychiat-
ric experts who examined him said
Traoré was in the grip of a “delusional
fit” when he killed Halimi.
Emmanuel Macron has called for
a change of law. The justice minis-
ter, Éric Dupond-Moretti, yesterday
said new legislation to allow courts
to consider whether an accused had
“voluntarily taken toxic substances
… leading to a loss of responsibility”
would be presented to parliament at
the end of May.

26
Revealed: UK solar farms built with panels
linked to forced labour camps in Xinjiang
Jillian Ambrose
Jasper Jolly
S
olar projects
commissioned by the
Ministry of Defence,
the government’s
Coal Authority, United
Utilities and some of
the UK’s biggest renewable energy
developers are using panels made
by Chinese companies accused of
exploiting forced labour camps
in Xinjiang province, a Guardian
investigation has found.
Confidential industry data sug-
gests that up to 40% of the UK’s
solar farms were built using panels
made by China’s biggest solar panel
companies, including Jinko Solar,
JA Solar and Trina Solar. These
firms have been named in a recent
report on the internment of more
than 1 million men and women
from the Muslim Uyghur commu-
nity, in what UK MPs on Thursday
voted to describe as genocide.
Companies with factories
or major suppliers in Xinjiang
produce about a third of the poly-
silicon material used to make
the world’s solar panels, accord-
ing to a detailed report by the US
• The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021
consultancy Horizon Advisory.
China is the world leader in polysili-
con production.
The report found that Chinese
solar companies had ties to indi-
cators of forced labour in Xinjiang,
where Uyghur people are interned,
via this polysilicon production.
An industry source, speaking
on condition of anonymity, told
the Guardian that the industry was
scrambling to distance itself from
forced labour, and that up to four in
10 of the UK’s existing solar farms
were built using panels from the
companies named in the report.
While many were built before
2016, when China’s repression of
Kazakhstan
Mongolia
Urumqi
Xinjiang Beijing
province
China
India
1,000 km
1,000 miles
the Uyghurs is believed to have
developed into systematic deten-
tion, the Guardian has found a
string of recent deals that raise
questions about how carefully UK
businesses and government agen-
cies are vetting their supply chains.
Many manufacturers in China’s
solar industry operate factories
across Asia but may still use the
raw polysilicon materials produced
in Xinjiang, making it difficult to
determine whether a particular
production line has been exposed
to alleged labour exploitation.
China limits access for outside
observers and media to Xinjiang.
The MoD this month revealed
plans to install the first of 80 solar
farms at Leconfield, east Yorkshire,
using thousands of panels made by
Trina Solar as part of a deal with the
UK energy firm Centrica.
The MoD did not answer ques-
tions on what checks it had made
on the companies’ supply chains.
A spokesperson said: “We have
robust procedures in place that
allow us to vet and monitor all
aspects of our supply chain, which
is kept under constant review.”
The Coal Authority, a govern-
ment agency sponsored by the
Department for Business, Energy
Larry Elliott
Is the economy a
seventies show?
Page 28
and Industrial Strategy, has
included solar panels made by JA
Solar in a third of the solar farms it
has built across its estate of former
mining sites since 2017.
A government spokesperson
said: “We are thoroughly investi-
gating recent allegations of forced
labour in solar panel supply chains.
In January we announced a pack-
age of measures to help ensure no
UK organisations are complicit in
human rights violations being per-
petrated against the Uyghurs and
other minorities in Xinjiang.”
Some of the UK’s most prolific
solar developers have used panels
from the Xinjiang-linked compa-
nies. The Guardian has found that
these were used in projects built
since 2016 by the FTSE 100 water
company United Utilities, Scottish
Water, and large solar developers
including Bluefield Solar, Foresight
‘Industry members
treat this matter with
utmost seriousness’
Chris Hewett
Solar Energy UK
 Solar panels use polysilicon, much
of it from Xinjiang province in China
PHOTOGRAPH: VIOLETA CHALAKOVA/GETTY
Solar and Solarcentury, owned by
Norway’s Statkraft.
Chris Hewett, the chief exec-
utive of Solar Energy UK, a lobby
group, said: “This is a matter that
UK solar energy industry members
are treating with the utmost seri-
ousness.” He said making global
supply chains “as transparent and
sustainable as possible” brought a
“significant degree of complexity”.
Hewett said the UK solar indus-
try was working with international
trade bodies to develop a “trace-
ability protocol” to safeguard the
global supply chain from human
rights abuses.
Xinjiang’s polysilicon interests
are allegedly controlled by the Xin-
jiang Production and Construction
Corps, an economic and paramili-
tary organisation that is facing US
sanctions after accusations that it
has facilitated human rights abuses
against Uyghur Muslims.
Horizon, the consultancy, said
the polysilicon companies “appear
actively to participate in the reset-
tlement” of ethnic Uyghurs, where
they “enlist resettled labour at
production facilities in Xinjiang”
and contribute to the Uyghur “re-
education” programmes. The
report claims the reliance on Xin-
jiang effectively “implicates the
entire solar supply chain in the
human rights atrocities”.
None of the manufactur-
ers responded to the Guardian’s
requests for comment on the use of
forced labour in Xinjiang. Jinko has
previously said it condemns the use
of forced labour and that the Hori-
zon report does not “demonstrate
forced labour in our facilities”.
Centrica, which is responsible
for developing the MoD’s solar pro-
jects, said: “We condemn the use of
forced labour in the strongest pos-
sible terms.”
A spokesperson said the com-
pany had worked “extensively”
with Trina Solar over the past eight
years. It had received anti-slavery
statements from Trina throughout
this time, and had also undertaken
“quality assurance visits” to its
main manufacturing site in China.
United Utilities said all contracts
for panels included clauses in rela-
tion to modern slavery, and said it
would investigate any evidence of
mistreatment of workers in its sup-
ply chain.
Scottish Water said it would
examine the Horizon report, and
said it asked suppliers to confirm
that they conform to expected
standards. Foresight and Bluefield
pointed to Solar Energy UK’s posi-
tion on modern slavery.
Solarcentury said tracing the
supply chain was a “complex pro-
cess” but added: “We will award
new contracts where suppliers can
demonstrate that the polysilicon
for our projects has been sourced
from a factory that respects human
rights and which we can audit.”
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian
UK second
to Germany
on electric
car sales
Jasper Jolly
The UK overtook France to become
Europe’s second largest electric car
market in the first quarter of the year,
amid rising demand for cars with zero
exhaust emissions.
About 31,800 battery electric
cars were sold in the UK in the first
three months of 2021, compared
with 30,500 in France, according
to analysis by Matthias Schmidt, an
independent automotive analyst.
Electric car sales have risen rapidly
since the start of 2020, in part because
of new emissions rules that mean
manufacturers face steep fines if their
cars’ average CO2 output does not fall.
Battery electrics accounted for 7.5%
of UK sales in the first quarter, accord-
ing to industry data, almost doubling
the market share compared with the
same period in 2020.
Change of tune
at Spotify as
slowdown hits
Mark Sweney
Spotify is expected to report a
significant slowdown in the number
of new subscribers in the first quarter,
the latest pandemic winner to signal
that the lockdown entertainment
boom is over.
When the audio streaming
company updates investors on
Wednesday, it is not expected to
maintain the blistering rate of new
subscriber growth experienced
last year. Spotify, which reported
6 million new subscribers in the first
three months last year and 11 million
in its most recent quarter to the end
of December, has told investors not to
expect the boom to continue.
Spotify added 31 million new
•
Despite the coronavirus pandemic,
2020 was the first year in which Euro-
pean consumers bought more than
half a million electric cars. That is
expected to double in 2021, although
pure electrics will still be only a tenth
of the total European car market by
2024, he said.
Germany is by far the biggest sin-
gle market for battery electric cars in
Europe, with 64,700 sold in the first
quarter, partly due to generous sub-
sidies. These were doubled in June to
 Lockdown
and podcasts
from the likes
of Michelle
Obama fuelled a
bumper year for
Spotify in 2020
PHOTOGRAPH: REX/
SHUTTERSTOCK
paying subscribers last year, as lock-
down boredom fuelled a surge in
listening to music and podcasts from
Michelle Obama to Kim Kardashian.
It took the number of paying cus-
tomers to 155 million, and its total
monthly user base – including those
on its advertising-supported tier – to
345 million.
However, in February, Spotify
forecast that in a best-case
scenario it would add 29m new
paying subscribers this year, while
at worst it expected 17 million,
almost half the total last year. The
news rattled investors, who sold
shares and sent Spotify’s shares
down 8% despite the company
beating Wall Street expectations
on the growth rate of subscriber num-
bers and advertising for last year.
Spotify has forecast an operating
loss of €200m to €300m this year,
compared with an operating loss of
€293m in 2020.
Last week Netflix reported a big
slowdown in subscribers in the first
three months of 2021, ending a record
run of growth and echoing the trend
expected in Spotify’s numbers.
help the auto industry, which is key
to Europe’s largest economy.
Other markets are proportionately
more advanced than the UK in mov-
ing to electric cars. In 2020 Norway
was the first country in the world
where more electric cars were sold
than fossil fuel cars, thanks to gen-
erous subsidies. Schmidt said: “The
UK is likely to remain the number two
European BEV (battery electric vehi-
cle) market this year, albeit a long way
behind market leader Germany.”
Gousto to take
on 1,000 staff
as taste grows
for meal kits
Sarah Butler
The meal kit company Gousto is to
take on 1,000 more staff after record-
ing its first profit and more than
doubling sales during the coronavirus
pandemic.
The firm, launched in 2012, dou-
bled its workforce to 1,000 last year
and aims to double it again by the
end of 2022 as it opens additional
fulfilment centres in Warrington,
Cheshire, and Thurrock, Essex. It is
seeking tech and marketing staff as
well as workers to prepare its food kits
after recording underlying profits of
£18.2m in the year to 31 December –
following a £9.1m loss the year before
– with sales rising 129% to £189m.
▲ Gousto more than doubled its
sales during the coronavirus crisis
 Electric car
sales have soared
since the start
of 2020, in part
because of new
emissions rules
for manufacturers
PHOTOGRAPH: MATT
CROSSICK/EMPICS
7.5%
Battery electric
vehicles as a
proportion of UK
car sales in the
first quarter
He said manufacturers will have to
increase their sales of plug-in cars in
the UK in a “make-or-break year” to
comply with post-Brexit emissions
limits. The rules mirror the EU’s, but
going it alone means carmakers will
not be able to balance the UK’s SUV
buyers with less-polluting models
sold in other countries.
While sales to British consumers
are expected to rise steadily, drivers
are concerned that the UK’s charging
network is not up to the task.
Timo Boldt, the founder and chief
executive, said the company is “cap-
italising on the biggest trends in
grocery” – health convenience and
sustainability – and taking market
share from supermarkets.
“We have doubled the business
every single year over the last cou-
ple of years. During the pandemic we
have grown faster but we were grow-
ing fast before.”
Boldt said Gousto might consider
a stock market float in the future
but was debt-free and did not need
to raise more funds. Last year, it
announced a partnership with the
influencer and self-styled “PE teacher
to the nation”, Joe Wicks, who is also
an investor in the company.
Meal kits have boomed during
the pandemic, while restaurants
have been closed, so working par-
ents, and many others stuck working
at home, have sought a way to get a
broader variety of meals into their
week without too much effort.
However, Boldt believes growth
will continue even as restaurants
and cafes reopen because Gousto is
a cheaper option than dining out.
“Customers are creating [some-
thing like] a supermarket shop in a
much easier way. It feels unlikely
people are going to go back to push-
ing trollies and queueing,” he said.
While there are concerns about
the amount of packaging meal-kit
services involve, including plastic,
Boldt claims Gousto is more sus-
tainable than visiting a supermarket
because less food is wasted per meal.
He said all Gousto own-brand packag-
ing would be recyclable, reusable or
compostable by the end of next year.
27
Home refitting
binge on hold
due to UK-wide
labour shortage
Zoe Wood
Homeowners are waiting months
longer than usual for bathrooms
and kitchens to be installed as an
industry-wide labour shortage exac-
erbated by Brexit collides with the
home improvement binge triggered
by Covid-19 lockdowns.
The pandemic has promted a huge
increase in money spent on homes
and gardens. But fitters are strug-
gling to meet the demand, with the
lead times for new kitchen, bathroom
and wardrobes rising from a pre-
Covid norm of four to eight weeks to
between 12 and 18 weeks.
Damian Walters, chief executive
of the British Institute of Kitchen,
Bedroom and Bathroom Instal-
lation (BiKBBI), said there was
“unprecedented demand for kitch-
ens, bedrooms, bathrooms, and
home improvement in general”.
Lengthening lead times were linked
to a labour shortage, he said, and
the trade organisation had been
inundated with retailers trying to
recruit more fitters.
The problems included an ageing
workforce and dearth of youngsters
wanting to take up apprenticeships.
Brexit had also deterred tradesmen
from moving to the UK for work.
“There are not going to be any trades-
men parachuting in from Europe, or
anywhere else for that matter.”
The performance of B&Q, the UK’s
biggest DIY chain, illustrates the scale
of the demand. Its sales surged 13%
last year as a locked-down UK knuck-
led down to projects.
With demand so strong and global
supply chains still disrupted by the
pandemic, contractors have also had
to contend with shortages of many
items ranging from plumbing mate-
rials to power tools and white goods
like washing machines and fridges.
To try to plug the industry’s skills
gap BiKBBI is to start a recruitment
campaign in the autumn aimed at
school leavers, with a target of 700
apprentices a year.
A third of sole traders are due to
retire over the next 10 years, accord-
ing to the institute’s poll of 3,000
firms. Only a sixth of those planning
to retire had made arrangements for
someone to take over their business.
Walters said: “We simply haven’t
focused on vocational learning and
that has caused huge problems in
terms of a gap between the demand
and available labour. We’ve relied
for too long on an ageing workforce
who are now looking forward to
retirement. We need to pull out all of
the stops to prepare a new generation
of skilled installers.”

28
Analysis
Larry Elliott
Bounceback expectations
need dash of caution as UK
booms tend to end in busts
A
lmost every
indicator is pointing
in the same
direction. Footfall
on the high streets
is up. Payments by
debit and credit card are rising.
The strongest business surveys
since 2013 suggest that the Brexit
hangover was short-lived. Firms
are starting to hire. The housing
market is red-hot.
Growth estimates are being
revised up sharply amid signs
consumers didn’t even wait for
lockdown restrictions to be lifted
before going on a spending spree.
As things look, it would come
as no surprise were the UK to post
its highest postwar growth rate
this year, beating the previous
record of 6.5% in 1973. Not only
was the hit to the economy in
the first quarter much less severe
than originally expected, it also
seems as if the bounceback in
the spring and summer will be
stronger, too.
The forecast prepared for Rishi
Sunak by the Office for Budget
Responsibility at the time of the
March budget pointed to 4%
growth this year. That estimate
is already out of date. Earlier
this month the International
Monetary Fund pencilled in a
5.3% rise in UK gross domestic
product this year.
That looks a bit pessimistic as
well. According to Thomas Pugh
of Capital Economics, Britain
will rise from the bottom of the
European super league GDP
table in the early stages of the
pandemic to the top by the end of
2022, when he forecasts output
• The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021
Financial
to be 3.7% above its pre-pandemic
level. It is not only Britain that is
beating expectations; the same is
true across the developed world. It
has been a while since the US grew
more quickly than China but it is on
course to do so this year.
The eurozone will be slower to
recover, given the faltering start to
its Covid-19 vaccine programme,
but looks set for a spurt in activity
from mid-2021 onwards. Vaccines
and lots of stimulus are combining
to unleash pent-up demand.
Rapid recoveries are what is
needed to limit the long-term
scarring from the pandemic,
since they will tend to limit the
business failures and job losses as
support measures are withdrawn
and companies have to once again
survive on their own. China has
already exceeded its pre-pandemic
peak; the US will be next, followed
by Britain. If, as some forecasters
expect, the UK grows by 5% in
the second quarter of this year, it
would be on course to recover all
the lost ground by the end of 2021.
A degree of caution is called
for, though. Booms in Britain tend
to end in busts, and the bigger
the boom the bigger the bust.
Even before the end of 1973, the
economy was slowing down as a
result of the fourfold increase in oil
prices triggered by the Yom Kippur
war, and by early 1974 Britain was
on a three-day week. The strongest
year of postwar growth was
quickly followed by a combination
of higher unemployment and
rocketing inflation: stagflation.
It took another 15 years for boom
conditions to return, and once
again they proved short-lived. The
▲ Shopping in Chelsea, London, in 1971, before the oil shock of 1973 PHOTOGRAPH: PYMCA/UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP/GETTY
sky-high interest rates deemed
necessary to counter inflation led
to record bankruptcies and home
repossessions.
There are some crucial
differences between the state of
the economy today and how things
were in previous booms. Until
the oil shock of 1973, the global
economy had experienced 25 years
of strong growth and inflationary
pressure had been steadily rising
even before energy prices shot up.
Similarly, the economy had been
growing strongly in the five years
up to 1988. In both instances, there
was much less spare capacity than
there is currently.
But there are similarities too.
In the early 1970s and late 80s,
excessively strong growth sparked
a green backlash. Now, as in 1973
and 1988, lots of stimulus is being
provided via cuts in interest rates,
higher government spending
and tax cuts. If consumers spend
freely, can the productive side of
the economy keep up? If not, the
economy will overheat.
It is, of course, perfectly
possible that this boom will be
different from the others and that
the economy will, in due course,
settle down to a period of steady,
sustainable growth. That, though,
is based on a number of key
assumptions.
The first is that the desire to
spend will persist and is more than
a brief spasm of activity that will
fizzle out when the novelty wears
off. Currently, this doesn’t look
all that likely because many have
spent the past year paying off their
debts and seem confident enough
to splash the cash.
A second assumption is that
rising bond yields are nothing to
worry about. In the US, the country
There was an air of
unreality last week
when news of the
UK’s spending spree
coincided with reports
of record cases in India
that really counts, the cost of
borrowing for the government has
been rising as the economy picks
up speed. This can be seen either
as a natural response to stronger
growth or as a precursor of an
inflation problem to come.
The third – and key – assumption
is that vaccines will tame Covid.
Not sufficiently to claim total
victory but enough so that
something like normal life can
resume. Economic activity is
picking up fastest in advanced
countries because they are
vaccinating fastest. Even so, there
was an air of unreality last week
when news of Britain’s spending
spree coincided with reports of
record cases in India and hospitals
running short of oxygen.
None of which is to say that
another recession is inevitable or
imminent. The consumer spending
spree may well continue. Policy
may be perfectly calibrated. The
housing market may not be a
bubble. Rich countries may ensure
jabs arrive in poor countries that
need them. It would be wise to
enjoy the good times while they
last, that’s all.
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian
How we made Colette
‘We wanted to give witness
to what she had held inside’
The creators of an
Oscar-nominated
film about a French
resistance fighter
discuss its genesis
Anthony Giacchino, director: When
we first met Colette in the fall of
2019 one of the first things she told
us was: ‘When it’s your turn to live
through a war, you’ll see you don’t
have time to feel anything.’ It was
quite an introduction.
Alice Doyard and I were in
France scouting a completely
different second world war story.
Over lunch, our tour guide told us
he knew a woman in Normandy
named Colette who had been in the
French resistance and he offered to
make an introduction.
Alice Doyard, producer: When
we interviewed Colette for the
first time, we were all in awe of
her strong mind and her vivid
memories of the war. She spoke
about her lost brother, Jean-Pierre,
with a truthful yet very tender
tone. Colette was a resistance
•
Inside the Guardian
fighter during the war but in fact
became a fighter all her life. Here
was a complex, brave, fiercely
truth-telling woman. We knew she
deserved more than an interview.
We had to tell the world what she
was communicating.
Anthony Giacchino: She had so
much to share about the war. I
learned that only 1% of the French
population had actively resisted
the Nazi occupation before the
Normandy invasion, and Colette,
as a young girl, was one of those
resisters. That really stuck with
me, and how the courage to resist is
never the easy choice.
I was particularly interested in
her immediate family, as they all
played their part in the resistance.
Colette’s 17-year-old brother, Jean-
Pierre, was captured by the Gestapo
and died a gruesome death in a
German forced labour camp. Seven
full decades beyond the events of
Colette’s youth, the war’s aftermath
remains as a dramatic, living thing
to filmically explore.
Alice Doyard: With Colette, we
had long conversations about what
it would mean for her to retrace
her brother’s journey during the
second world war and visit what
remained of the Mittelbau-Dora
concentration camp where he died.
I approached her with the experi-
ence of my own family: in 1943, my
grandmother Elisabeth, was deliv-
ering my mother in a house near
Paris; in the next-door room my
▼ Colette Marin-Catherine with
Lucie Fouble holding a photograph
of Colette’s brother, Jean-Pierre
PHOTOGRAPH: ROSE BUSH/THE GUARDIAN
‘It was clear Colette
had never had the
chance to make peace
with this past. Could
a film help healing?’
Alice Doyard
Producer of Colette
grandparents were hiding a Jewish
family. The family was saved and
are our friends to this day.
Over six months the bond of
trust grew. It was clear Colette
had never had the chance to make
peace with this past – the death
of her brother and what it did to
her family. Could a film on her
pilgrimage to Dora help healing?
Anthony Giacchino: As we
continued to learn about
29
 Anthony Giacchino and Alice
Doyard share a moment with Colette
Marin-Catherine during filming
PHOTOGRAPH: DR HEIDINGER/THE GUARDIAN
Jean-Pierre’s story, Alice also
discovered that a project to
document the experience of French
deportees to Dora was under way
at La Coupole museum near Saint
Omer in France. That’s where
we found a 17-year-old aspiring
historian named Lucie Fouble. It
occurred to us her presence would
be invaluable from the point of
view of Colette being able to see
this tragedy mattered to future
generations. Lucie’s entrance on
the scene was what persuaded
Colette to make the journey.
Alice Doyard: This film is about
women and the price of courage. In
these challenging times it reminds
us that to face threats to all of
humanity we need a collective
response. Colette and Lucie,
women of different generations,
evoke lessons that resonate
powerfully today. Colette fought
evil when many had given up hope.
We must listen to her.
Charlie Phillips, executive producer,
the Guardian: Anthony sent Colette
to myself, Lindsay Poulton and Jess
Gormley to see if it would work for
our documentary strand, and we
were all immediately enchanted
by it. I’m Jewish, so it felt really
personal, and I sat in my living
room crying and thinking about all
those who’d died in Nazi camps,
and the bravery of those who’d
tried to resist.
I also felt as if it distinguished
itself from a lot of other
documentaries about the second
world war by being as much about
now as the past. It’s also unique
to have a war film made about
women, and the crew are mostly
women too.
It’s clear the film has helped
Colette to find some peace with
her past, but she also sees an
opportunity to leave a legacy of
more kindness in the world. It’s an
honour to help her do that.
Lindsay Poulton, head of
documentaries, the Guardian: I
think it was Colette’s profound
bravery that totally floored me,
and the gently inquisitive way
that Lucie helped Colette to
turn towards the grief. Women’s
histories have often been obscured,
especially in stories of war, but
Colette’s history of resistance and
continued resilience is something
that needed a powerful platform.
We shared the film with
Guardian colleagues and we all
worked together to offer various
windows into the story – Rafael
Behr, columnist and leader writer,
wrote an insightful and moving
piece when we launched the film
on the 75th anniversary of the
Nuremberg trials. Guardian Live
hosted a conversation with Colette
for audiences around the world to
participate in.
The film did resonate very
strongly with our global audience.
There were many thanks to the
film-makers for making this
documentary “for our collective
memory, now and in the future”.
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian •••
Tennis Football
Why wildcards Wood wounds
should be subject Wolves with
to more scrutiny early hat-trick
Tumaini Carayol, page 35  Page 39 
 Silvio Berlusconi ▲ The Football League
celebrates Milan was formed in 1888 by
winning the Serie A a breakaway group of
title in 1988, the year 12 rogue clubs accused
he plotted a European of wanting to make
super league more money
FERDINANDO MEAZZA/AP GETTY IMAGES
I
n mid-April 12 clubs who fancied themselves
Familiar tale to be the biggest around made a controversial
announcement. They had decided to set up
a league together. Cue outrage. “A dozen
clubs, who style themselves the pick of the
Threat of a super talent, have joined hands for their own mutual
benefit, apparently without a care for those
unhappily shut out in the cold,” raged one
newspaper. Another fumed: “The league is not formed
league has been for the purpose of encouraging football, it is formed
so the allied clubs can make more money than they
already do,” describing the clubs involved as “nothing
better than circus shows” and the idea as “a huge
with us for as long as strategy to dip into the pockets of the public”.
It was 1888, and the first season of the Football
League was being planned. Precisely 133 years and
one day later, the launch of a new international super
professional football league was announced. Within 48 hours it had died
under a deluge of outrage, and other than the sheer
quantity of it leaking from social media platforms there
was little to differentiate most of it from what has come
has been played before. Football is not a game that tends to react well to
innovation, or to be able to differentiate between the
positive kind – setting up a league rather than playing
constant friendlies and assorted cup competitions, for
example – and the genuinely harmful.
The idea of a European super league has not always
been unpopular. In 1960, after Bristol Rovers proposed
a reorganisation of English football (one 18-team
top flight fed by two regional second divisions, four
regional third divisions and so on), the Times wrote
about the “crying need to create an upper cadre,
forming a super-league of no more than 16 clubs who
Simon Burnton can perform and grow wiser in some newly established
European League”. At the same time the Observer
proposed “a Premier League of 16 clubs chosen for their
playing record, ground facilities, financial strength
and spectator population” from which “the best
31
teams [would] enter a European league”. In 1972 the
Conservative minister for sport Eldon Griffiths hosted
a meeting at his London apartment where he tried to
persuade the Football League to launch a European
equivalent. In February 1957 the Guardian reported
“some voices within the Football Association would
favour a supernational European league bringing into
opposition the finest talent in all the countries”.
M
ostly, however, the idea has
met, as this year, with hostility.
“A European league would
skim the cream off English
football, and to support such
a scheme would be for the
Football League tantamount to
suicide,” the Guardian wrote
in 1957. “Its effect at least initially must be to increase
the prosperity of the leading clubs and to decrease
that of the poorer.” That was the first season in which
an English club played in Europe, Manchester United
ignoring the Football League’s “strong request” not to
take part and reaching the semi-finals of the European
Cup. In 1958 there was speculation that United could
be expelled from the league for accepting an invitation
to play – offered in response to the Munich air disaster –
despite not having won their domestic title, which was
considered a terrible precedent. But speculation about
breakaway leagues really ramped up in the 1980s.
In 1985 talks took place between Liverpool, Everton,
Manchester United, Tottenham and Arsenal – plus
Manchester City, Newcastle and Southampton – to
discuss a breakaway league and the Guardian raged
about the prospect of “the few richest and most
successful clubs” setting up on their own, declaring the
idea “tawdry and greedy”. In 1988 the story simmered
once more, with Silvio Berlusconi plotting a European
version, and the Guardian wrote about a project that
“is all about money and television” adding: “The top
clubs, believing, correctly, that the armchair fan only
wants to watch them, see no reason why any of the
money should go anywhere else. [But] the English
game is about 92 clubs, not 10 or 13.”
A paper The following year David
league is
Lacey, the Guardian’s football
fumed: ‘The correspondent, noted: “Always
you get the feeling that one day the
formed so threats are going to be more than
clubs can
make more order.”
a series of back-page headlines
designed to keep the hoi-polloi in
And in 1991 the domestic
breakaway happened, with the 22
money.’ It
was 1888
First Division clubs resigning from
the Football League to set up alone.
The Observer wrote: “It remains to be
seen how the new arrangements will
quench the thirst for money and power of the big clubs
… The push towards a further breakaway may come
from Europe, whose more influential figures have
pressed for a Continent-wide super league.” In 1990
there was talk of an agreement between 16 clubs across
Europe, with Liverpool and Rangers representing
Britain. In 1992 the European Cup became the
Champions League – but the plotters barely paused.
The owners of the six English clubs involved in
the latest attempted breakaway were all born and are
based abroad, a fact that many have blamed for their
readiness to cast tradition and history aside – but in
1998, when representatives of a dozen European clubs
were reported to have met in London, Manchester
United had a chairman from Cheshire, Liverpool
had an owner from Merseyside, Everton’s was from
Birkenhead, Arsenal and Tottenham’s were from
London and Manchester City’s from Lancashire. It
didn’t seem to make much difference.
“The projected European superleague is pure,
naked, unadulterated greed,” wrote Jeff Powell in the
Daily Mail. “Not content with having loadsamoney
and bags of influence, the giant clubs of this continent
appear to want all the money and absolute power.”
And not much, it seems, has changed since.
 • The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021

34 Sport Going over

for the
Rugby union
first
of five
Women’s Six Nations and Abby Dow, hardly had a sniff
Alex

Aldcroft
of an opportunity on a day of
Lewington unyielding defence but Middleton
scores now has a real successor to Katy

epitomises
Saracens’ Daley-McLean, whose retirement
first try at Christmas left a big hole. Helena
in their

England’s
Rowland and the inside-centre Zoe
victory over Harrison can both kick out of hand
the league like Daley-McLean, and Rowland

spirit in title
leaders looks a safe pair of hands at No 0.
MATT IMPEY/
SHUTTERSTOCK England also scrapped away
at the breakdown where the
triumph experienced Marlie Packer justified
her selection after being left out
against Italy. Perhaps it was the
pressure of the occasion that
turned this showpiece final into
Ian Malin a toe-to-toe endeavour. There
was an indication early on that

Greene King IPA Championship might have been anticipated. Nor did
it help Ealing that a combination of
T
he 2021 Women’s
Six Nations has been
unique even if the final
outcome was not, with
the professionals of
England retaining the
trophy after beating France’s semi-
professionals 10-6 on finals day.
Less predictable was the manner
of the Red Roses’ triumph. These
sides had scored 228 points
between them in their two pool
games to reach the final. On
Saturday, in perfect conditions at
Twickenham Stoop, they managed
England might labour to impose
their authority when their captain,
Emily Scarratt, missed two
penalties as both sides struggled to
get on the scoreboard.
When Scarratt left the field
for a head injury assessment
soon afterwards things got really
worrying. “That second kick was
really poor but we’re only human,”
the England centre said. “I’m
glad that wasn’t the difference
between the sides in the end
because I’m a perfectionist.”
Scarratt returned to the field and
it was her successful last-minute

Saracens close in on nerves and a stiff breeze hampered

their efforts to make an early impact.
The visitors seemed initially over-
one try. Poppy Cleall’s score on the
stroke of half-time edged England
to a win that was gripping, even
penalty that allowed England to
breathe easy in what had been
an excruciatingly tight contest.

return after Farrell haul awed to be rubbing shoulders with so

Saracens 48
Ealing 20
Robert Kitson
StoneX Stadium
A final two-leg shootout still awaits
but the chances of Saracens not being
promoted from the Championship in
June look slimmer, on this evidence,
than their football neighbours, Bar-
net, joining a new European Super
League. There was only ever one win-
ner, with the previously unbeaten
Ealing Trailfinders given a five-try
reminder of the old adage about class
being permanent.
The visitors may have won all their
previous six games with a bonus
point but, despite two pre-season
wins against the erstwhile European
champions, this was a significantly
stronger and more motivated Sarries
combination, with Owen Farrell kick-
ing 23 points and Elliot Daly looking
in excellent nick back in his preferred
position of outside centre.
With the British & Irish Lions
squad due to be named on Thursday
week, the one-sided outcome further
backed up the belief of Mark McCall,
Saracens’ director of rugby, that his
leading players will be in better shape
to tour than some of their counter-
‘I don’t think our
Lions players will
be undercooked’
Mark McCall
Saracens’ director of rugby
parts from the other home unions.
“Our players are getting more rugby
than the Welsh, Scottish and Irish.
They’re hardly playing at all,” said
McCall. “I don’t think our players will
be undercooked in any way.
“Fingers crossed they can finish
their domestic season with a cou-
ple of really important, meaningful
playoff matches. These games are
physical. Ealing, in my opinion, are
a mid-table Premiership team.”
As it happens it is also McCall’s
belief, as rugby’s ring-fencing debate
intensifies again, that ambitious
Championship sides should be able to
aspire to the highest level. “My own
view is there should be an incentive,”
he said. “If a club is good enough and
have got the appetite and resources
– which I think Ealing are and have –
then they shouldn’t be deprived an
opportunity to step up a league.”
In the shorter term, though, Sara-
cens are going to take an awful lot
of stopping with their Champion-
ship destiny now, in McCall’s words,
“back in our own hands” following
their opening round blip against the
Cornish Pirates in Penzance. The
outcome was effectively settled long
before the end with a rattled Ealing
conceding penalty after penalty and
finishing up with 13 men following
two late yellow cards.
It made for a sharply contrast-
ing vibe to seven weeks ago when
Saracens were being scuttled by the
Pirates. Over the weekend the latter
lost at home to Ampthill while Sarries’
forwards were similarly unrecognis-
able from the plodders who lost the
plot at Mennaye Field. Vincent Koch,
among those whose reputations suf-
fered a dent in Cornwall, contributed
two tries, with Mako Vunipola and
Maro Itoje proving as formidable as
many household names and it felt like
an ominous omen when Craig Willis’s
if an error-strewn game lacked
the fluency that armchair viewers
might have expected.
So physical were the exchanges
between the packs that Cleall,
probably England’s best performer
first penalty shot at goal drifted wide . England’s players won’t care too of the tournament, was forced
Saracens needed no further much that their third successive from the field in the second half
encouragement, a clinical attack championship, broadcast live clutching her left elbow, an injury
producing an 11th-minute try wide on BBC Two, wasn’t always easy that will rule her out of the friendly
on the right for the wing Alex Lewing- on the eye. As their head coach, rematch in Lille on Friday.
ton, excellently converted by Farrell. Simon Middleton, pointed out, By then Sarah Hunter, left out
With the England captain also rugby is often more about showing of the starting lineup for her 125th
landing a couple of penalties and character and scrapping away cap, has come on to inject some
converting a short-range twisting than entertaining. England fought energy into the English pack.
24th-minute score from Koch, his tirelessly and defended heroically “Sarah proved a serious point,”
side were 20-6 up inside the first 25 against a French side who weren’t Scarratt said of her side’s usual
minutes. going to stand back and admire the captain. “She made a massive
Some kind of response was Red Roses on what in England had impact and her calm head really
required and arrived courtesy of a been named Blossom Watch Day. helped me.”
well-executed driven maul which Zoe Aldcroft, moved from Warren Abrahams’s Wales side
was dragged down and cost Sara- the second row to blindside have had a difficult tournament
cens a penalty try and the loss of their flanker, epitomised England’s but they at least scored their first
flanker Jackson Wray to the sin-bin. bloodymindedness. Aldcroft has points in a more promising display
A third Farrell penalty, though, battled back from injuries to finally in Glasgow where Scotland, with
extended the half-time margin to blossom. She made countless Helen Nelson shining, avoided a
23-13 and placed the onus on Ealing tackles and carries as the French wooden spoon with a 27-20 victory.
to rewrite the looming script. pack, whose two locks Madoussou It was only Scotland’s second
Try as they might the west Lon- Fall and Safi N’Diaye were a real championship win against Wales
doners could not do so. Two more handful, threatened to do some real in the past 15 years.
Farrell penalties stretched the lead damage in the first half. Earlier on finals day, two tries
and, with Wray restored, the Sarries England’s wings, Jess Breach from Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe
pack once again made their territorial helped Ireland to secure third spot
pressure count with Koch grasping a with a 25-5 win against Italy in
loose ball to score again. The best try ‘That second kick Dublin. It has been hard for the four
of the lot, sparked by quick thinking
and excellent spatial awareness from
was really poor ... teams struggling to keep pace with
England and France, but all the
Farrell, saw Aled Davies race half the I’m glad that wasn’t players of this year’s tournament
length of the pitch to score despite in its silent stadiums may just feel
wearing only one boot. It was the
the difference grateful it happened at all.
sort of day when, even bare-footed, between the sides’
Sarries’ grip remained reliably sure.  Jess Breach
takes a
Saracens Ealing photo with
Obatoyinbo (Taylor, Johnston; Kernohan,
49); Lewington, Daly, Cordy-Redden, Howard; her England
Tompkins, Maitland;
Farrell, Davies; M
Willis (Burns, 64),
Hampson (Buckley, 56);
teammates after
Vunipola (Barrington, Whyte (Davis, 46), Malton their Six Nations
65), George, Koch (Van Vuuren, 72), Millar
final victory
(Clarey, 65), Itoje,
Swinson (Kpoku, 69),
Mills (Thede, 49), Linsell,
Cannon (Casson, 56), against France
Wray, Reffell Murphy, Uzokwe (Daniels,
(Wolstencroft, 58), B
Vunipola (Christie, 62))
46), Smid (Thompson, 72)
Tries Thompson; penalty
ALEX DAVIDSON/
THE RFU COLLECTION
VIA GETTY IMAGES
Tries Lewington, Koch
2, Davies, Tompkins
try Con Johnston Pens
Willis 2 Sin-bin Cordy-
Cons Farrell 4 Pens Redden 71, Thiede 78
Farrell 5 Sin-bin
Wray 36
Referee Craig Maxwell-Keyes
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian
Cricket
Yates century decisive as
Warwickshire shock Essex
Tanya Aldred
Edgbaston
Rob Yates inspired Warwickshire to
an effervescent seven-wicket win
against the champions Essex with
just eight balls to spare.
A match that had been too tight
to call all the way through inched,
then tipped, Warwickshire’s way
as Yates, unbeaten on 120, was
backed up by a touch-perfect
Hanuma Vihari and Sam Hain,
who reached his fifty with a six.
Tennis
Wildly unfair: nepotism
lies behind the invitations
tournaments hand out
The wildcards issued in
tennis require greater
regulation to ensure fair and
professional competition
Tumaini Carayol
I
n the dark confines of an
indoor arena at the Open 13
ATP tournament in Marseille
last month, the name
Tsitsipas was emblazoned
across the scoreboard
during a first-round match. But
rather than the Greek world No 5,
Stefanos, it instead denoted his
younger brother – ranked No 970
– who normally spends his days
competing at the lowest level of the
ITF World Tennis Tour.
Petros Tsitsipas, 20, entered the
Marseille draw after being granted a
wildcard. He lasted 45 minutes and
36 seconds in being dismantled 6-0,
6-2 by the world No 52, Alejandro
Davidovich Fokina. A measure of
the 918 ranking places between
them: Davidovich Fokina is one
of the worst servers on the tour,
ranked 102 out of 103 for service
games won over the past year;
Tsitsipas won just three return
points in the entire match.
The sight of the younger
Tsitsipas ushered to the top of the
sport with little indication that his
ability warranted it generated so
much criticism that his protective
brother described the discussions
as “unfair”. The tournament
director, Jean-François Caujolle,
later explained that he had offered
the spot in his draw as “thanks”
to the Tsitsipas family for their
support of the tournament: “You
should know that Stefanos’s
guarantee is half of what he could
have claimed elsewhere,” he said.
•
Sport
Simon Harmer, destroyer of so
many fourth-innings dreams,
went wicketless. Yates brushed the
winning runs and was applauded
off the field by Essex.
It was the second game in a row
that Warwickshire had pitched a
flawless run-chase and Essex’s first
first-class defeat in 22 matches.
In the gallant pursuit of the
season, Ricardo Vasconcelos and
Rob Keogh twinkled and whooped
along to 357 for Northamptonshire,
with six overs to spare, to beat
Glamorgan by seven wickets.
Far beyond an issue specific to
Tsitsipas himself, the episode was
an example of the absurdity of the
wildcard system in tennis, in which
spots in some top professional
sporting events in the world
are used as negotiating tools, to
curry favours and also hoarded
by big countries at the expense
of promising players from lesser
tennis countries.
Nepotism is embedded into
the fabric of professional tennis.
Marko Djokovic, the 29-year-old
brother of Novak Djokovic who
reached a career high of 571, was
granted wildcards into eight ATP
events, compiling a 0-8 record. Elke
Clijsters, sister of the former No 1
Kim and current contestant on The
Bachelorette in Belgium, peaked at
No 389 and received seven main-
draw wildcards, losing all seven.
Jaslyn Hewitt, sister of Lleyton
Hewitt, received four wildcards
outside Australia and a dozen at
home. In 2019 Mari Osaka, the
recently retired sister of the world
No 2 Naomi, received a wildcard
into the Miami Open through IMG,
the tournament owner and Osaka’s
management company.
Some of those wildcards
functioned in a similar context to
Tsitsipas’s – cost-effective ways of
wooing the stars, supplementing
the appearance fees they receive
at ATP 250 and 500 events. Other
players have been essentially
awarded a wildcard by their own
family – the Djokovic family ran
the Serbian Open in Belgrade
where Marko received numerous
wildcards, while this month the
492-ranked Emma Navarro was
given a wildcard in back-to-back
Charleston tournaments owned by
her billionaire father, Ben Navarro.
Historically at the lower levels
of professional tennis there have
been rumours about wildcards
After a sporting declaration by
Glamorgan, Vasconcelos hit 185 not
out, his highest first-class score,
and Keogh 126, his second hundred
of the season, with the player’s
balcony bouncing as Vasconcelos
brought up his 150 with a six over
mid-on.
Matt Parkinson, who bubbled all
through the winter with England
without playing a match, pocketed
seven for 126, a career best, as
Lancashire thrashed Kent by an
innings and five runs, moving
to the top of Group Three. Kent
lost three early wickets for four
runs, including the captain Daniel
Bell-Drummond for 114; and
despite doughty defence from Joe
Denly and Heino Kuhn, Parkinson
skittled the final wickets after tea.
Haseeb Hameed notched his
second century of the match as
Nottinghamshire, following-on,
Spots in events are
used as negotiating
tools, to curry
favour and hoarded
by big countries
being bought, or else undeservedly
achieved by connections and
favours. The discussion at tour
events also frequently centres on
bans. In February this year an ATP
250 event in Córdoba, Argentina
granted two of its three wildcards
to Nicolás Kicker of Argentina and
Chile’s Nicolás Jarry. Kicker was
returning from a match-fixing ban,
Jarry from a doping ban.
T
he most common issue
with wildcards is they
are the preserve of
the prominent tennis
nations, yet another
way to share the
wealth. The nations with the most
tournaments offer their players the
most opportunities. The French,
Australian and US Opens all also
arrange reciprocal agreements with
each other at their grand slams,
shutting all others out.
batted through the day at New Road
without losing a wicket to draw
with Worcestershire. Hameed and
his opening partner Ben Slater,
who both finished unbeaten on
114, faced 635 deliveries, the
highest number of balls in a County
Championship match.
It took Yorkshire just over an
hour to polish off Sussex, winning
by 48 runs. Dom Bess, who
admitted he had come back from
▲ Rob Yates finds the gap on his way
to 120 not out and victory over Essex
Wildcards are not synonymous
with success, as the state of tennis
in Great Britain and the 71 senior
wildcards given to the former US
prodigy Ryan Harrison underline,
and they can produce a culture
of entitlement. But those who
don’t hail from prominent tennis
nations must make peace with their
fewer opportunities and use it as a
motivating force in their careers.
Clara Tauson, at 18 one of the
bright young stars and the only
Dane in the WTA top 800, says:
“You see every week, some of the
younger players getting wildcards
and you think: ‘Why am I not
getting those kind of wildcards?’
But, I think it benefits me. I’ve had
to work for everything I have …
Maybe it’s better. I know everything
I’ve done is my own fault.”
Denmark has improbably
produced two young future talents,
but while Tauson has had to grind
to the top 100, Holger Rune, 17 and
ranked 323, has had the red carpet
laid out for him. Since March he
has received a wildcard into seven
of the eight events he has played,
including a main-draw wildcard at
the Monte Carlo Masters. For Rune,
35
India hating cricket, took the final
wicket to finish with six for 53.
Gloucestershire pulled a draw
from the undergarments of defeat
as a last-wicket stand from Josh
Shaw and Dominic Goodman defied
Hampshire. A full 22 overs were left
when Goodman, playing in only his
second match and still a student
at Exeter University, joined Shaw,
with Gloucestershire clutching
an 11-run lead after following-on,
but they stood their ground. Brad
Wheal finished with four for 59.
Obstinacy was the name of
the game at the Riverside where
Derbyshire had to bat out 96 overs.
Wayne Madsen and Matt Critchley
shackled themselves to the
crease for much of the afternoon.
Both fell in quick succession but
the wickets came too late for
Durham. Neither side has yet won
a game this season.
▲ Stefanos Tsitsipas defended his
brother Petros (left) from criticism
DEAN MOUHTAROPOULOS/GETTY IMAGES
those opportunities stem from the
influence of his sponsors, agency
and the prominent French academy
at which he trains.
In an individual sport such as
tennis, where the difference in
earnings between the highest- and
lowest-ranked players in any given
tournament is extreme, every
draw placement counts as lower-
ranked players fight for their spots
in higher tournaments. For tennis
to truly function professionally, all
important decisions need to be held
to higher standards.
In the same way that players
are required to provide a medical
reason whenever they withdraw
from an event, wildcards should
be subject to greater regulation
with tournaments required to
explain their reasons for offering
each spot. There should also be a
greater effort to guarantee talented
players without connections have
the opportunity to gain experience
at the top level, ensuring tennis is a
fairer sport for all.

36
Sky Bet Championship
How gamble on mystery
man Muñoz paid off
handsomely for Watford
Decision to replace the
conservative Ivic with
inexperienced Spaniard
key to club’s promotion
Simon Burnton
F
or Watford to have
joined Norwich in
bouncing back to the
Premier League at the
first attempt, given the
benefits of parachute
payments in this of all years, is
anything but surprising. But if their
promotion was predictable their
path to this point has been unusual,
verging on the extraordinary.
This is a team that halfway
through the campaign ranked
first in the Championship on goals
scored at home (22) and last on
goals scored away (five). A team
that a month earlier, feeling their
chances of a successful end to
the campaign slipping from their
grasp, sacked their manager of
four months and just 22 games
and identified as his replacement
a 40-year-old with rudimentary
English whose experience as a head
coach amounted to 11 matches
in Georgia. And it is a team that
instead of fading after losing their
captain and talisman to injury won
10 of their next 11 matches.
It has not been a good season for
Troy Deeney, who started it talking
about overtaking Luther Blissett as
Watford’s all-time record goalscorer
and proceeded to score just one
goal from open play, a tap-in from
two feet against Rotherham,
in 14 starts (there were also six
penalties). Watford won 46% of
their matches before his season-
ending injury, compared with
81% of those played since. But to
blame him for the team’s struggles
is to confuse correlation with
causation, given other changes in
shape, personnel and attitude that
coincided with his injury.
The most obvious change was
tactical: having started 26 of their
first 28 games with a front two, in
Deeney’s absence they switched
to a three. In their first match
without him they played for the
first time with Ismaïla Sarr on the
right, Ken Sema on the left and
João Pedro in the middle, beat
Bristol City 6-0 and haven’t looked
back. The midfielder Will Hughes
was returning from injury and
Francisco Sierralta, who played
for just three minutes in Watford’s
first 19 Championship fixtures, was
emerging from complete obscurity
to become one of the division’s
outstanding centre-backs.
But the key change was in
approach. As the season started
there were players the club
wanted to keep who were trying
to leave, players the club wanted
• The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021
Sport
Football
to leave who were trying to stay,
and only a handful whose future
was settled, a surprising number
of whom seemed to be injured.
Vladimir Ivic was initially forced
to fashion a team from the able-
bodied members of the final group,
and with an under-strength side
he focused on defensive solidity.
It was a sensible approach,
but when the transfer window
closed the uncertainty lifted and
Watford were left with one of the
strongest squads in the division,
the conservatism remained. The
football was boring and not terribly
successful, and Ivic paid for it.
Watford had a strong squad, and
maintained many of the apparently
frivolous luxuries their players
were used to from their Premier
League days, such as overnight
stays in Hertfordshire’s most
exclusive hotel before every home
game, in the knowledge none of
it would be sustainable beyond a
single season. The club made the
breathtakingly brave, or perhaps
foolhardy, decision to place the
team in the hands of a man who
had no knowledge of the players
or of the Championship, who
spoke little English, who had little
Swansea seal play-off spot
Swansea secured a place in the
Championship play-offs with a
2-2 draw at Reading, whose own
top-six aspirations were ended by
the result. Swansea dominated
the first half but fell behind when
Yakou Meite scored in the 31st
minute. Second-half efforts from
Jamal Lowe and Andre Ayew gave
Swansea the lead, with Tomas
Esteves’s late equaliser for Reading
proving irrelevant. Swansea join
Barnsley, Bournemouth and
Brentford in the play-offs. PA Media
managerial experience, and who
was leaving his wife, his six-year-
old daughter and his two-year-old
son in Spain – he has not seen them
on anything other than a screen
since last December. Xisco Muñoz
is a cheerful and likeable character
who has transformed both results
and atmosphere, but he spoke
on Saturday about how hard he
found the first few weeks after
his appointment and admitted he
made many mistakes in this period.
Initial results under the Spaniard
were mixed, and at the start of
February they were shambolic
in defeat at home by QPR and
abysmal in drawing their next
match at Coventry. Watford were
fifth and losing touch with the
leaders. “I felt that it wasn’t good
enough, from how we played
to the general feeling and the
attitude of the team,” the defender
William Troost-Ekong said. “We
were negative and everyone was
complaining. We looked like 11
islands instead of a team. I was
driving home from the stadium
and I called some of the boys.” The
following day “we got in a room
and had it out”. They have won 13
of 16 games since.
T
roost-Ekong and
the rest of Watford’s
defence have been the
foundation of their
success. In more than
half of their games
their goalkeeper has had to deal
with two shots or fewer, and the
victory on Saturday was their 11th
1-0 win.
The attack has been less
convincing. Deeney was poor and
then injured, Isaac Success injured
and then poor, and Andre Gray
just poor. João Pedro, still only 19, Women’s Champions League
is best when dropping deep and
linking play, leaving the attack
missing a goalscorer and heavily
reliant on the outstanding Sarr.
Glas delivers cutting
edge in setback to
The 22-year-old has started 39
games and finished 36 of those,
top-scored from the right wing,
been fouled more than any other
player in the Championship and,
like Emi Buendía at Norwich and
Arnaut Danjuma at Bournemouth,
is too good for the division. So are
Chelsea’s final hopes
Watford – but it was uncomfortably
close. you don’t win the tie this round.”
Bayern Munich 2
After the final whistle had ended a
Lohmann 12, Glas 57
 Watford bruising second half in the 2-2 draw
manager Xisco against Manchester City on Wednes-
Chelsea 1
Muñoz is thrown day as Chelsea took a point from their
Leupolz 23
in the air by rivals and closed in on retention of
his players as their league title, Hayes had said she
they celebrate Suzanne Wrack was “relieved”. What did she want
promotion to the to see done differently in Munich?
Premier League “Do what I want you to do, don’t do
MATTHEW CHILDS/ Chelsea’s defensive fragility was bru- something else,” was the message
ACTION IMAGES VIA
REUTERS
tally exposed as they lost 2-1 against from the manager.
Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Perhaps it was a nervousness at
Champions League semi-final. being 180 minutes away from a first
Desperate to break the semi-final Champions League final that rattled
glass ceiling, having twice failed to the Chelsea ranks but they looked
reach the final, Chelsea instead hit far from the fluid, potent side Hayes
the Glas ceiling after the Swedish would have wanted to see and that
defender Hanna Glas provide the we have gotten used to this season.
assist for Sydney Lohmann’s opener Instead, it was the out-of-form Bayern
and scored a stunning solo goal, who exploded out of the blocks and
sandwiching the leveller deflected put the make-shift visiting defence
in by the former Bayern captain under pressure.
Melanie Leupolz. A long-term injury to the
“It’s half-time,” the Chelsea mana- right-back Maren Mjelde meant
ger, Emma Hayes, said. “We’ve got Jess Carter once again started while
an away goal and it’s half-time. The the ongoing absence of the captain,
lesson for our team sometimes is Magda Eriksson, meant Sophie Ingle
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian •

Bayern 37
prove too
sharp for
Chelsea

Hanna Glas
scores a fine
Premier League Talking points
solo effort
to give the
German side Arsenal 0 Liverpool 1
the upper Salah 3
hand to
take into the Everton 1 Newcastle 1
second leg Leno 76og Willock 90
of the tie
PA/DPA Referee Jonathan Moss Referee Andre Marriner

Mikel Arteta was raging after “Really close to being

Arsenal’s defeat by Everton and,
taking the subject of his ire at face
value, nobody could really blame
him. VAR is testing the patience of
most who love football at this point
and the Premier League would be
better off without its overbearing
presence. But it did seem a
convenient vent for some wider
frustration. Like almost everyone
in the sport who is not an absentee
billionaire, Arteta was rocked hard
by the Super League fiasco, so the
fans’ audible protests outside the
Emirates Stadium as the match
progressed must have hurt. There is
also the inconvenient truth of what
the result on Friday night meant.
Arsenal can forget any chance of
European football via the domestic
route now so everything hangs on
a Europa League double-header
with Villarreal, managed by Arteta’s
predecessor Unai Emery. It is a
winnable tie, but the alternative
will make things look distinctly
awkward ahead of a summer in
which Arsenal require changes
from top to bottom. Can he afford
to get it wrong? Nick Ames
unacceptable.” Jürgen Klopp’s
patience snapped in all directions
last week as a consequence of his
owners’ greed but it was simply,
and significantly, his players’
performance against Newcastle at
Anfield that tipped him towards
the edge as a football manager.
The protection he gave them
throughout the six-game losing run
at Anfield was no longer available.
Liverpool had more shots on target
than when beating Crystal Palace
7-0 on 19 December – a result that
moved the champions five points
clear at the top – yet were indebted
to a ludicrous handball rule for
a point. Given the scale of the
downturn, Klopp was asked, is it
too simplistic to believe Liverpool
will be rejuvenated once the injured
cavalry return? “No,” he replied.
“The long-term solutions are fine,
but the short term we have to work
on. We have nothing to lose. We
want to deserve the Champions
League. We don’t want to be cheeky
and come in somehow. We want to
earn it and with these results you
don’t earn it.” Andy Hunter

Man of the match Man of the match

Lucas Digne Everton Allan Saint-Maximin Newcastle

partnered England’s Millie Bright in
the centre of the defence.
After a stunning late save pre-
vented defeat in Manchester, the
goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger was
at fault for the opener. Glas beat
the left-back Jonna Andersson and
Berger’s mistimed punch skidded
came from a familiar face, literally Favourites going into this tie, with
and figuratively: Guro Reiten’s Bayern having laboured to a 3-2 win
Sheffield United 1 West Ham 0
McGoldrick 19
free-kick was headed by Marina against Turbine Potsdam four days
Hegering into the face of Leupolz after back-to-back defeats to end a
and rebounded in. 26-game winning run before this first
Brighton 0 Chelsea 1
Werner 43
The Bayern manager, Jens Scheuer, leg, Chelsea’s Champions League final
acknowledged his team would “have dream looked to be unravelling. All is
to play at our limits, at our best” to not lost, they have an away goal but, Referee Kevin Friend Referee Chris Kavanagh

towards Lohmann who headed past
her into the open net.
Hayes had spoken of the resilience
of her side after the game on Wednes-
day and the confidence that gave her
heading to Germany: “Sometimes
when you don’t play your game plan
exactly how you want to you have
to dig yourselves out,” she had said.
That toughness was tested fur-
ther as Bayern, buoyed by their lead,
pounded forward. The equaliser
WSL roundup
The battle to avoid relegation
from the Women’s Super League
stayed tantalisingly tight after
Birmingham earned a point at
Reading and West Ham did the
same against Everton.
Birmingham and West Ham
sit ninth and 10th in the league
respectively, level on 14 points
and two points above Aston Villa
and bottom-placed Bristol City
– who have played a game more
than the three teams above them.
The Arsenal loanee Ruby Mace
scored in the sixth minute for
Birmingham but a second-half
goal from Reading’s Rachel Rowe
overcome the Women’s Super League
champions. They did. With almost an
hour played Andersson sat back as
Glas raced towards the box, cut inside
and lashed high into the net.
Scheuer went straight to Glas on
the final whistle. “I went to her and
congratulated her, I was just sur-
prised she can even score with her
left foot, I underestimated her a little
bit,” he said with a laugh. “She is one
of the best right-backs in the world.”
denied the Midlands team a fourth
league win of the season.
The England midfielder Jordan
Nobbs scored in either half
against Brighton as Arsenal stayed
above Manchester United in the
race for the third Champions
League spot. The Gunners have
played a game fewer than Casey
Stoney’s side and have a vastly
superior goal difference as the
season nears its end.
United stayed on Arsenal’s heels
as two goals from Ella Toone and
one each from Christen Press and
Jess Sigsworth ensured a 4-1 defeat
of Tottenham. Suzanne Wrack
as they found two years ago against
Lyon, returning to Kingsmeadow a
goal down against one of Europe’s
best is not an easy turnaround.
For all the talk of the strength of
the squad and their attack, a lack
of depth at the back has been laid
bare by the injuries to Eriksson and
Mjelde. “She’s our captain, we’ve lost
experience with Maren and Magda,
two really senior leaders in our side.
So yes, of course I think it’s a loss
but it’s up to the rest of the group to
make sure it doesn’t become one we
talk about,” Hayes said. “Yes I plan to
strengthen in the summer but I’ve got
to put all my focus on getting to the
Champions League final next week.”
In the other semi-final, Paris
Saint-Germain drew 1-1 at home
against Barcelona as Jennifer
Hermoso’s goal for the visitors was
cancelled out by Alana Cook’s header.
Bayern Munich Chelsea
4-3-3 4-2-3-1
Benkarth; Simon, Berger; Carter, Bright,
Ilestedt, Hegering, Glas;
Bühl (Schüller 62),
Ingle, Andersson;
Leupolz, Ji; Reiten
Laudehr (Charles 65), Kirby, Kerr;
(Wenninger 77), Harder• (England 70)
Zadrazil•; Beerensteyn
(Dallmann 77), Magull
(Boye Sørensen 90),
Lohmann
Referee Sarah Persson (Swe)
“It was a disappointing evening
for us, our performance wasn’t as
good as it can be and as it has been,
it was just a little bit below par,”
said Graham Potter. “The challenge
is not to think about what has just
happened.” The problem for Neal
Maupay is that his miss at Bramall
Lane was so memorable it may be
unforgettable: three yards out,
he skied a shot way over the bar.
Were he a defender, it would have
been a brilliant clearance from
the most perilous of positions.
Instead, he is a profligate forward,
the personification of Brighton’s
wastefulness. Only Timo Werner
and Roberto Firmino have
underperformed their expected
goals by more than Maupay; this
chance, according to the metric,
would be a goal 87% of the time.
According to expected goals,
Brighton ought to have outscored
Arsenal and Tottenham; instead
they average a goal a game and have
none in their past 347 minutes. It
is to Maupay’s credit that an eager
runner gets into the positions to
miss; the worry is that he keeps
on doing so. Richard Jolly
Man of the match
John Egan Sheffield United
Timo Werner is having a very odd
season. In one sense the German
has been a disappointment since
joining Chelsea from RB Leipzig.
Werner’s brilliantly worked goal in
Chelsea’s 1-0 win against West Ham
was only his third in his past 32
appearances and he still managed
to conjure a comical miss during
the second half, underlining his
capacity to lurch from the sublime
to the ridiculous in the space of 90
minutes. Yet the striker’s erratic
finishing does not tell the story in
full. Although Werner is a puzzle in
front of goal, he is a nightmare to
mark. He has more to his game than
goals, which is why Thomas Tuchel
picks him. Werner is quick, his
movement is good and he makes
things happen. He created Hakim
Ziyech’s winner against Manchester
City in the FA Cup and is far more
effective than previous Chelsea
flops such as Álvaro Morata and
Fernando Torres. “It was very nice
he could score,” said Tuchel. “He
could have had a second for sure,
and after that he lost his confidence
and was tired – but he was strong
from the start.” Jacob Steinberg
Man of the match
Mason Mount Chelsea
 • The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021
38 Sport
Football Premier League
Maguire lets his
frustration spill
over in stalemate
Manchester United are now 12 points
Leeds 0 ahead of West Ham in fifth place with
only 15 left to play for, so a Champions
League berth is near to being secured
Manchester United 0 for Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side. This
and Harry Maguire handing Fred a
Possession colourful roasting with 72 minutes
Leeds Man Utd gone are the headlines from a goalless
45% 55% draw that was a tale of each United –
Leeds were profligate, too – suffering
Shots on target
from malfunctioning radar.
3 4
Fred being given a scolding by his
Total attempts captain was a sure sign of the visitors’
6 16 frustration: they had enough chances
to finish off Marcelo Bielsa’s team but
Jamie Jackson in Dan James, Bruno Fernandes, Mar-
Elland Road cus Rashford and Mason Greenwood
had a frontline who lacked potency.
Of the Maguire-Fred contretemps,
Solskjær said: “We have got a group
that demands a lot of each other – the
standard is high both in training and
in a game, it is not just about being
a nice guy. We demand maximum
effort. I was really proud of how
strong we looked. I never thought
they threatened our goal in the sec-
ond half but we missed a little bit of
spark to win.”
If a lack of potency also plagued
Leeds – their centre-forward, Patrick
Bamford, was starved all afternoon –
they also had opportunities to follow
beating Manchester City and draw-
ing with Liverpool by taking all three
points here.
Bamford had spoken strongly
regarding abuse 24 hours after plans ▲ A plane we stick together on this,” the Nor-
for the now defunct European Super protesting at wegian said. “The discrimination on
League were announced, stating after the Glazers’ social media is disgusting. Patrick
the 1-1 draw with Liverpool that it was ownership flies Bamford spoke well. This is our way
a “shame” racism and other forms over the ground of doing it.”
of prejudice did not cause the same LAURENCE GRIFFITHS/ The disaffected Manchester United
PA
level of uproar. support employed a flyby to show
Solskjær referenced this when their own unhappiness, the plane
asked about next weekend’s social over Elland Road before kick-off trail-
media blackout which is to be staged Roses ing a banner that read, “2BN WASTED
by football to protest against racism rivals GLAZERSOUT”, in reference to the
and other forms of abuse on the can’t be owners.
various platforms. “It is important Solskjær was asked if this had
separated
Manchester
United’s
Mason
Greenwood
takes on
Pascal
Struijk of
Leeds at
Elland Road
LAURENCE
GRIFFITH/PA
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian
affected his players. “No. I wasn’t
aware and I don’t think any of the
boys have seen that,” he said. “We
have focused on the game, every sin-
gle one us. Of course it was a difficult
week, but it [Leeds’s] is a unique style
of play to play against and I thought
we did really well.”
A few minutes after the Maguire-
Fred contretemps Solskjær threw on
Paul Pogba – for James – in an attempt
to snatch victory, the Frenchman
being followed by Edinson Cavani
late on. Yet this failed to make United
click, with Fernandes having previ-
ously had the best chance to end a
nine-game sequence without add-
ing to his 24 goals for United, when
played in by Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
This came in the second half
and occurred after the right-back –
impressive all afternoon – slipped his
marker and turned inside and found
the visitors’ trequartista. When Fer-
nandes unloaded he beat Illan Mes-
lier but not the home goalkeeper’s
right post in a miss that pointed to
a confidence deficit from the Portu-
guese. United also rode their luck:
in the first half Luke Shaw appeared
lucky to escape conceding a penalty
when Jack Harrison’s cross struck
his left arm: Mike Dean, in the VAR
chair, supported the verdict of Craig
Pawson, the referee, that there was
no infringement.
Solskjær was unhappy with the
draw yet not the display. “I think our
fitness has been really good and in
the second half we looked strong, like
athletes, I really liked what I saw,” he
said. “Today we just didn’t have the
moment, didn’t take them when we
had them. A draw is disappointing
because we wanted to put pressure
on [Manchester] City.”
Pep Guardiola’s champions-elect
are 10 points clear, while United are
eight better off than Leicester, in sec-
ond. The point was well earned by
Bielsa’s men, who move up a place
into a highly credible ninth – on 49.
Their last three results are a win
over City and draws with Liverpool
and United. “This group of players
have become solid,” said their man-
ager. “They have made errors and
learned how to correct them and in
the same way they have learned to
avoid errors that are avoidable. I have
the feeling there has been a growth in
the maturity to manage that.”
For Solskjær and his cadre
thoughts turn to Thursday’s visit of
Roma to Old Trafford in the Europa
League semi-final first leg. The conti-
nent’s second tier club competition is
United’s last hope of breaking a four-
year trophy drought this season.
“I am really happy with the boys’
focus, they have such a determina-
tion to finish the season strong. The
Europa League [semi-final] disap-
pointment [of last year] still sticks
in their minds and hearts. We are
focused on Roma and Liverpool [in
the league] in between,” Solskjær
said.
Leeds Manchester United
4-1-4-1 4-2-3-1
Meslier; Ayling•, Henderson; Wan-Bissaka,
Llorente, Struijk, Lindelöf, Maguire•, Shaw;
Alioski•; Phillips; Fred (Van de Beek 89),
Costa (Klich 72), McTominay; James
Dallas, Roberts• (Koch (Pogba 76), Fernandes,
77), Harrison (Poveda- Rashford (Cavani 86);
Ocampo 68); Greenwood
Bamford• Subs not used
Subs not used De Gea, Bailly, Mata,
Casilla, Shackleton, Telles, Matic, Tuanzebe
Berardi, Summerville,
Greenwood, Hernández
Referee Craig Pawson
•••
Davis on
hand to
frustrate
Albion
at the last
Aston Villa
El Ghazi 9pen, Davis 90
West Brom
Pereira 23pen, Diagne 47
Paul Doyle
Villa Park
A West Midlands derby high on enter-
tainment value ended in a result of
little worth to either side, least of all
Sam Allardyce’s, who remain deep
in relegation trouble and racked by
familiar regrets. Costly mistakes
undermined bright work by West
Brom, who let victory slip two min-
utes into stoppage time when Keinan
Davis pounced on another defensive
error to claim his first Premier League
goal and push West Brom closer to the
Championship.
West Brom had presented their
hosts with an early penalty, which
Anwar El Ghazi converted, but recov-
ered well to earn the lead. Matheus
Pereira equalised from the spot
before Tyrone Mings diverted a shot
by Mbaye Diagne into his own goal
two minutes into the second half. The
visitors kept their noses in front as the
sides traded blows but they failed to
hold out for victory, crumbling just
short of full time when Davis pun-
ished hesitancy by Kyle Bartley.
Dyche not relaxing yet
despite Wood hat-trick
Wolves
Burnley
Wood 15 21 44, Westwood 85
Sean Taylor
Molineux
Sean Dyche hailed an “important
three points” after an emphatic
win for Burnley at Molineux but he
refused to accept the 4-0 victory
ensured Premier League survival.
Chris Wood’s first Premier League
hat-trick and an Ashley Westwood
goal gave the Clarets their biggest win
in the top flight since 1965.
Dyche’s team headed to the West
Midlands in no immediate threat of
relegation, despite three successive
defeats. They left with a nine-point
cushion between themselves and
the bottom three and it should be
enough to ensure another season of
2
2
West Brom are nine points below
17th-placed Brighton with five
matches left. Survival is not impos-
sible but requires a freakish series of
results. “We can’t have any slip-ups
now,” said Allardyce. “All we can do
is keep playing the way we played
here. The lads showed real spirit
after a dodgy start, which may have
been down to the position we’re in.
We didn’t go under, we came storm-
ing back. Unfortunately we didn’t get
the third goal and it was our mistake
for their equaliser but I can’t be too
critical of the players for that perfor-
mance. We’ll keep fighting.”
Dean Smith said: “A point was the
least we deserved. It would have been
a travesty if we’d got beaten.”
West Brom fell behind in less than
eight minutes after their latest defen-
sive mistake in a season when they
have been slipshod far too often.
Semi Ajayi’s misjudgment was not
the most egregious but it amounted
to a needless foul in the box, as the
centre-back clipped Ross Barkley
after being beaten to a loose ball when
Conor Gallagher blocked a shot by
Premier League football. However,
0
Dyche did not want to tempt fate, say-
ing: “It feels like an important three
points, but they all do, and there are
4
still more games to play and more
points to gather.
“I always believe in the next one.
The season is never over until it is
over. It was a very strong perfor-
mance but today doesn’t owe you the
next one. We will make sure we enjoy
this one, for sure, but we will remain
right at it and mentally focused.
“I think the consistency of the per-
formances have been good, despite
the three losses, and I was expecting
us to start winning again – although
maybe not 4-0. I believe we’ve earned
the right to pull away.”
Wood’s treble took him to 10 goals
in the league this season. Dyche said:
“There are still things that he can
improve, with his hold-up play. But
there are certain things in football
that you can’t coach and he finds a
way of finding a chance.
▼ West Bromwich Albion’s
Okay Yokuslu reacts as
Keinan Davis celebrates
AFP/GETTY IMAGES
El Ghazi. That shot came at the end
of an excellent move by Villa featur-
ing several cute touches by Ollie Wat-
kins. El Ghazi sent Sam Johnstone the
wrong way from the spot.
Barkley had been entrusted with
a start for the first time since Feb-
ruary as Smith continued to search
for a way to mitigate the absence of
Jack Grealish.
Villa failed to build on their
positive start. Pereira, wonderful
throughout, threatened to equal-
ise almost immediately but curled
a free-kick over the  bar from the
edge of the box. He soon got a bet-
ter opportunity when Ezri Konsa
was harshly penalised for tapping
Ainsley Maitland-Niles’s ankle. “If
that’s a penalty, we might have to
start coaching non-contact football
for next season,” said Smith. Pereira
took full advantage from the spot.
That lifted the visitors. They nearly
helped themselves to the lead two
minutes later when Okay Yokuslu –
who again commanded central mid-
field – guided a header inches wide
of the post.
▲ Chris Wood (right) celebrates
his third goal with Dwight McNeil
“The reason I signed him is
because he finds a way of being
in the right place at the right time.
The   hardest role on the pitch is
centre-forward, and I know how dif-
ficult it is because I used to play at
centre-half and I made damn sure it
was difficult, but Woody finds a way
of scoring goals.”
All of Wood’s goals came during
an opening 45 minutes where it was
abundantly clear one team was driven
by the hunger and desire of some-
thing to play for, and the other was
not. Wolves have known for much
of the season that their fate would
probably be mid-table obscurity.
Their display was littered with
errors and lethargy but Nuno Espírito
Santo refused to put the below-par
performance down to a bad attitude
from his players. “It was not about
39
Emi Martínez had to bat away a
shot from 18 yards by Maitland-Niles
after more good work by Pereira,
who, two minutes later, beat the
keeper with an inswinging free-kick
from the left, only for it to bounce out
off the crossbar.
Two minutes into the second half
West Brom took the lead and Konsa’s
evening took a turn for the worse. The
defender, nigh-on flawless for most
of this season, slipped after taking
down a punt by Johnstone, allowing
Diagne to run on to the ball and into
the box. Mings slid in to block the
striker’s low shot from 10 yards but
could only divert it into the net.
Villa eventually found fluency.
Matt Targett, curbed by Pereira in
the first half, was as creative as any
home player with his bursts down
the left. His cross in the 58th minute
found its way to Barkley, whose shot
from 18 yards was deflected wide.
Ahmed Elmohamady then forced a
save from Johnstone with a terrific
volley from similar range. Bertrand
Traoré’s struck the outside of the post
from an acute angle. Watkins could
have scored after being sent clear
by John McGinn but fired straight at
Johnstone.
Konsa’s troubles continued when
he inadvertently headed a corner
by West Brom towards his own goal
but Martínez reacted brilliantly to
push it on to the post. Then Davis,
introduced as a substitute, thrashed
a shot against the upright at the other
end. The striker was not deterred.
When Bartley dithered after Watkins
headed across goal, Davis prodded
the ball into the net from close range.
Aston Villa West Brom
4-2-3-1 4-3-3
Martínez; Elmohamady, Johnstone; Furlong, Ajayi,
Konsa, Mings, Targett;
Douglas Luiz (Ramsey
Bartley, Townsend;
Gallagher•, Yokuslu•,
78), McGinn; Traoré Maitland-Niles
(Wesley 90), Barkley (O’Shea 86); Pereira,
(Davis 82), El Ghazi; Diagne, Robinson
Watkins (Phillips 67)
Subs not used Subs not used
Heaton, Taylor, Button, Livermore, Grant,
Nakamba, Engels, Hause, Robson-Kanu, Diangana,
Philogene-Bidace Sawyers, Peltier
Referee Stuart Attwell
that,” the manager said. “Despite
our own mistakes, we have to credit
Burnley. Sometimes the opponent
does not allow you to do things. I will
not judge the attitude of my players
by relaxation, it was more the inabil-
ity to play good.
“It was about not making the right
decision, it was nothing to do with
the wrong attitude. As mistakes
increased, we were not able to settle
down and play the game as we play.
“We made many mistakes that we
shouldn’t do. I am disappointed with
many things generally – defensively
but also offensively. How we defend
set pieces was particularly poor.
“Today was clearly the path that
we should not take and I will not
allow it. We will analyse this game
and prepare much better for the next
one and play it much better and do the
things that we want to do.” PA Media
Wolves Burnley
3-4-1-2 4-4-2
Rui Patrício; Saïss, Pope; Lowton•,
Coady, Boly; Semedo Tarkowski•, Mee, Taylor;
(Silva 58), Neves Brownhill, Westwood,
(Vitinha 69), Cork, McNeil; Vydra
Dendoncker, Aït Nouri; (Rodriguez 73), Wood
Podence (Gibbs-White Subs not used
69); Traoré•, José Gudmundsson, Barnes,
Subs not used Peacock-Farrell, Stephens,
Ruddy, Hoever, Pieters, Norris, Bardsley,
Richards, Kilman, Dunne
Otasowie, Corbeanu
Referee Darren England
 • The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021

40 Sport
Football Carabao Cup final

Laporte’s late header makes it

ing high, dictating and it was difficult
to imagine a more intimidating sight
for Mason.
Spurs did not cross halfway until
the 17th minute and there were not

four in a row for dominant City
that the City manager has lost just
Manchester City 1 one tie in the competition – against
Laporte 82
Manchester United in 2016-17, his
first season at the club. Since then he
Tottenham 0 has won it every time, this his fourth
successive triumph to equal the run
Possession of Liverpool in the early 1980s.
Man City Tottenham Hotspur Inspired by the gliding menace
63% 37% of Riyad Mahrez and the touch and
explosiveness of Phil Foden, City had
Shots on target
4 1
far too much for Tottenham, whose
fantasy of winning a first trophy since
Total attempts 2008 under the 29-year-old interim,
21 2 Ryan Mason – in only his second
game as a manager – was revealed as
David Hytner nothing more than that.
Wembley The Harry Kane team had Harry
Kane on the field, after the talisman
Perhaps Pep Guardiola ought to keep declared himself fit in the morning,
the trophy. His owners at Manchester following his latest bout of ankle trou-
City do not seem too bothered about ble, but he ended the day still seek-
the Carabao Cup; they would hap- ing his first silverware; a disconsolate
pily ditch it in the pursuit of a Euro- figure to go with all of the others in
pean Super League, of more money Spurs colours. Son Heung-min sank
and action on the continent. But to his haunches, hand across tearful
Guardiola keeps on winning it. eyes.
It is almost ridiculous to report It was not that Spurs did not turn
up; just that City did not allow them
to play – apart from when their con-
trol lulled a little in the first half of
the second period. That was when
Kane came into it and yet there was
never the sense that Spurs were about
to score. A week that began for them
with the sacking of José Mourinho
and has seen the club’s Supporters’
Trust demand the removal of the
board – partly for the crime of wanting
to join the breakaway Super League
– ended with yet more frustration.
Fernandinho lifted the cup for a
remarkable sixth time after Aymeric
Laporte’s late header and, with
City seemingly having the Premier
League title in the bag, the attention
will now turn to their Champions
League semi-final first leg at Paris
Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
Not that Guardiola held too much
back for the tilt at the trophy that his
club covet the most. Although Zack
Steffen played instead of Ederson, it
was a strong starting XI, with Laporte
in for the suspended John Stones.
▲ Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden
console Son Heung-Min at the end
The centre-half committed a pair
of tactical fouls in the first half to pre-
vent Lucas Moura from breaking – he
could have been booked for the first
and he was for the second, which he
surely would not have committed if
already on a yellow card – but it was
his goal that allowed the 2,000 City
fans in attendance to erupt in joy and
relief. It was lovely to see the sup-
porters back, even if there were only
about 8,000 of them in total, and they
created a decent atmosphere.
City poured forward from all
angles upon the first whistle, press-
too many other occasions when they
did so in the first half.
It was a minor miracle that Spurs
reached the interval on level terms,
although the courage and timing of
Toby Alderweireld went some way
towards explaining it. He blocked
from Raheem Sterling in the early
running but his best moment came on
26 minutes. Mahrez had intercepted
an Eric Dier pass and released the fit
again Kevin De Bruyne, whose cross
was half cut out by Alderweireld
only for Foden to bang a shot at goal.
Alderweireld threw himself at it and
deflected the ball against the post and
out for a corner.
Guardiola started with De Bruyne
and Foden in the central attacking
roles of what was broadly a 4-4-2
formation and City thrilled for the
opening 45 minutes with the fluency
of their movement, the twinkle toes
of their creative players. There was
also the effective trick of João Cancelo
stepping into central midfield from
left-back to create overloads.
The tone had been set in the fourth
minute when Son played a loose back
pass that allowed Sterling to tear
into the Spurs area, although Serge
Aurier did enough to put him off. City
created a high number of first-half

Heading
for
another
trophy

Aymeric
Laporte
glances the
decisive
goal into the
corner of the
net to give
Manchester
City victory
TOM JENKINS/
THE GUARDIAN

19
City have
now won
19 of their 25
League Cup
games under
Pep Guardiola
– drawing four
and losing two.

2
Spurs had just
two shots at
City’s goal.
Only Arsenal
(6) have lost
more League
Cup finals
than Spurs (5).
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian
chances, with Foden flicking wide
and Sterling heading off target in the
opening exchanges. There would also
be a Sterling dink over Hugo Lloris
that went just past the far post; a
Mahrez rocket that fizzed off target
and a Cancelo shot that extended the
goalkeeper.
Spurs did manage to check City’s
momentum upon the second-half
restart and there were signs of greater
confidence from them on the ball.
Giovani Lo Celso forced Steffen to tip
away a low curler and Kane found a
few spaces in the pocket. He drove
forward on 62 minutes, playing in
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, whose pass
for the overlapping Sergio Reguilón
was too heavy. It was better.
But City could not be suppressed.
Ilkay Gündogan miscued a shot and
Mahrez worked Lloris before Aurier
needlessly fouled Sterling. De Bruyne
whipped in the free-kick and, with
the Spurs substitute Moussa Sissoko
ball-watching, Laporte glanced into
the corner.
Manchester City Tottenham
4-4-2 4-3-3
Steffen; Walker, Dias, Lloris; Aurier (Bergwijn
Laporte•, Cancelo;
Mahrez, Fernandinho•
90), Alderweireld, Dier,
Reguilón•; Højbjerg
(Rodri 83), Gündogan, (Alli 84), Winks, Lo Celso
Sterling; De Bruyne (Sissoko 67); Lucas
(Silva 87), Foden
Subs not used
(Bale 67), Kane, Son
Subs not used
Ederson, Aké, Jesus,
Agüero, Zinchenko,
Hart, Sánchez, Lamela,
Tanganga, Ndombele
Torres, Mendy
Referee Paul Tierney Attendance 7,773
•••
Analysis
Barney Ronay Wembley
Gurgles, gasps and howls as
fans remember how to celebrate
and Guardiola’s team stroll on
A
fter the leave of
enforced absence,
after that failed heist
masquerading as a
Super League, after
a year and counting
of isolation and anxiety. Well,
here comes everyone.
With 34 minutes gone at
Wembley there was a moment of
authentic match-going beauty.
João Cancelo played a wondrous
fizzed, flat, crossfield pass to Riyad
Mahrez. He took the ball with a
super-soft touch, jinked inside – as
he must always jink inside – then
spanked a thrilling shot back on
the same zigzagging angle just
past the far post.
In the Manchester City seats
there was a gurgle at the pass, a
ripple of automatic applause, then
a gasp and a howl as the ball flew
wide. And there it was: that shared
energy, those moments where you
really do just forget everything else
and speak and shout and sigh in the
same shared voice.
There was a nice moment at the
end, too, as the pieces of cardboard
podium were hauled across the
Wembley turf for the trophy-lift
to celebrate City’s dominant 1-0
win. The players came across to the
supporters and waved and clapped
and laughed. Sergio Agüero, a little
off to one side, waved back to a
chant of his name. Pep Guardiola
pumped both arms above his head,
skinny legs pounding the turf.
It didn’t take a seer to predict
this as the closing scene of this
Carabao Cup final, just as winning
a trophy does tend to add a layer
of heartwarming schmaltz. But
there was a genuine heat here,
an exchange of something, that
everyone, frankly, has missed.
Those moments will remain
the enduring image of a day when
supporters – noisy, awkward,
 The return
of fans was a
welcome sight at
Wembley. City’s
supporters saw
their team win
the EFL Cup for
the fourth year
in succession
TOM JENKINS/
THE GUARDIAN
difficult, loyal, noisy, dissenting
humans – returned to a sport that
has been pulled in some genuinely
strange directions in their absence.
From an hour before kick-off the
red plastic seats were dotted with
people blinking and grinning at
each other as the players warmed
up in the April sun, boggling at
those half-remembered shadows
and shapes.
Huge green plastic promotional
things were draped over the pitch
by dear old Carabao, unlikely
keepers of the flame of Proper
Football. The Wembley PA
burbled something pointed about
“THE 92 TEAMS who have taken
part” (yes Mr Pérez, count ’em).
An NHS choir sang the national
anthem on the big screens and
everyone started to melt a little
more. And this was already the
best Carabao Cup final of all the
Carabao Cup finals.
And yet, the game itself was also
a reminder of how we got here. It
would be wrong to say this was
never a contest. It was a contest for
about 10 minutes after half-time.
By the end City had made twice
as many passes as Tottenham and
had 21 shots at goal to two. For
long periods this was an entirely
one-sided spectacle, Harry Kane
versus a team that has everything
except a Harry Kane.
It is in everyone’s interest not
to pretend the present works
perfectly. At Wembley the No 1
Harry Kane is a
vicious goalscorer.
Stick him in this
City team and they
would have been 5-0
up by the hour
team in the Premier League were
able to play a little below their best
and still dominate completely the
seventh best team in the league to
an indecent degree.
City did so with a grace that
suggests this team can still carry
all before them this season. Phil
Foden was magnetic in those early
exchanges. He has presence now.
He knows how good he is. This
is a player who can simply move
quicker than you, who has a more
intimate relationship with space
and the ball. Foden is going to get
a lot of full-backs into a terrible
state over the coming years.
And in that first half Spurs
were swamped, overwhelmed,
landlocked, quicksanded.
With 20 minutes gone Kane
had touched the ball twice. He
began to creep into the game
after half-time, holding the
ball, finding pockets of space.
It is easy to forget in all the
goal-talk, the trophy-talk, the
ankle-talk, but Kane is just a really
good footballer, with a vicious
goalscoring edge thrown in. Stick
him in this City team and they’d
have been 5-0 up by the hour.
F
or 82 minutes the
prospect swirled
around, dimly, that
this post-Super League
occasion would
present some kind of
real-time riposte to that piece
of reality TV. Spurs were just
filler. But could they produce a
classical heartwarming upset,
Super League minnows hauling in
the Super League giants through
nothing but pluck and a so-so
multimillion-pound squad?
Actually, no. It will do Raheem
Sterling some good to have played
a part in the only goal. It was his
run that brought a foul near the
byline. Kevin De Bruyne put City’s
24th cross of the day into the box.
Aymeric Laporte headed home.
City took the spoils but there
was a nudge here that even at this
level the gulf between the top and
the rest is always widening. There
is time to work on those elements
that almost led to a disastrous
rupture. For now it feels like
enough to be back in the game.
41
Football
In brief
Leicester City
Rodgers issues warning
against complacency
Brendan Rodgers has warned
Leicester against underestimating
Crystal Palace this evening. West
Ham’s 1-0 defeat by Chelsea on
Saturday means Leicester could
open up a seven-point lead to fifth
with five games left. Palace are
not in any relegation danger but
Rodgers insisted Leicester cannot
take victory against Roy Hodgson’s
side for granted as they chase a
Champions League return. “Every
coach and manager, if you are at the
top, bottom or middle, you fight
for your life. There are no gimme
games,” said Rodgers. “Look at
West Brom’s results, this is why this
league is the way it is and why the
brand is the way it is.” PA Media
Scottish Cup
St Johnstone knock out
Rangers on penalties
Rangers’ double dream ended last
night when they were knocked
out of the Scottish Cup after
losing 4-2 in a penalty shootout
to St Johnstone. Saints keeper
Zander Clark saved spot-kicks
from James Tavernier and Kemar
Roofe. Clark had earlier assisted
in St Johnstone’s equaliser when
he raced upfield for a corner and
his header teed up Chris Kane in
stoppage time at the end of extra
time. Tavernier had given Rangers
the lead in the 116th minute. St
Johnstone become the first Scottish
side to beat Rangers at Ibrox this
season. Dundee United cruised into
the semi-finals with a 3-0 win over
Aberdeen at Pittodrie. PA Media
Internazionale
Darmian winner helps
Inter close in on title
Matteo Darmian was once again
Internazionale’s unlikely saviour as
he came off the bench to score in a
1-0 victory over Verona that moved
Antonio Conte’s side a step closer
to the Serie A title. The runaway
leaders were heading for a third
consecutive draw until Darmian
fired home in the 76th minute, his
second winning goal of the month.
Inter moved on to 79 points, 13 clear
of Milan with five games remaining,
as they close in on their first league
title since 2010. Reuters
Antonio Conte celebrates
as Internazionale moved
closer to the Serie A title
 •••

Waste away Bayern blow The Guardian

M
Monday 26 April 2021
United show Chelsea lose
lack of killer first leg of
edge on return Champions
to Elland Road League semi
Page 38  Page 36

Blue thunder
Report and analysis
Pages 40-41 

Pep talk
▲ Manchester
City players
celebrate after
Manchester Tottenham defeating
City

Guardiola urges City to take

Tottenham
to secure the

1 0 Carabao Cup
at Wembley

Cup glory into title battles

TOM JENKINS/
Laporte 82 THE GUARDIAN

Pep Guardiola in this competition and they were
Nick Ames urged his Man- given another boost by Manchester
Wembley chester City side United’s goalless draw at Leeds
to channel the earlier in the day, which means six
momentum from points would guarantee the title.
their Carabao Cup “Now we rest and prepare for the
final win against Tottenham and [Champions League semi-final] first
seal “the most important title of the leg against Paris Saint-Germain, then
Aymeric season” by winning their next two after that we are two games away from
Laporte’s goal Premier League games. trying to win the most important title
won the final City ticked off one-third of a poten- of the season,” Guardiola said.
tial treble by deservedly winning at “The Premier League is the nic-
Wembley through Aymeric Laporte’s est one, the one where I am most
82nd-minute header, watched proud when we are able to do it.
by 7,773 supporters in the biggest We are 10 points clear, we need two
crowd to have attended a domestic victories, and in between the games
game for more than 13 months. It in this crazy schedule we are going
was their fourth successive victory to try to win the next one against
Crystal Palace.” The visit to Selhurst
Park is preceded by the potentially
defining match in Paris on Wednes-
day. Eyebrows were raised at the fact
Guardiola picked such a formidable
starting XI at Wembley.
“We cannot deny one eye is
always on the Champions League,”
he said. “[But] I have to be honest
with myself and I thought they were
ready to play in this selection. We
arrive in these last stages because
we take every game seriously. If not
it is impossible to win four Carabao
Cups in a row.”
Guardiola said the victory against
Spurs was “more than well deserved”,
a fact reflected by the final shot tally
of 21 to their opponents’ two. “I’m
so delighted for the guys. It’s a good
night for us to share with our people.”
Ryan Mason, who took charge six
days after being named Tottenham’s
interim head coach, played down sug-
gestions Laporte should have been
sent off for two yellow cards in the
first half. Laporte fouled a breaking
Lucas Moura twice but was booked
only after the second occasion.
“I thought the first one was a cer-
tain yellow,” Mason said. “It’s not
the talking point because maybe he
doesn’t make the second foul if he’s
on a yellow. We’re trying to get over
the fact we’ve lost a cup final. It’s dif-
ficult to take but we have to move on.”
 •
Children need free play if they are to be fully equipped for life Editorial, page 2
Justice for George Floyd was won in the streets Nesrine Malik, page 3
We are all online amateur detectives now Amelia Tait, page 4
The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021
Opinion
and ideas
An economy
I
t was 14 years ago, in the summer of 2007,
that the first signs of the global financial
crisis appeared: the liquidation of two hedge
funds heavily invested in mortgage-backed
built on rising
securities, and the start of the collapse of
Northern Rock. This is more than enough time
for a new economic model to take shape. After
all, 14 years after Richard Nixon signalled the
house prices is a
end of the “Keynesian” era by disbanding the fixed
exchange rates system that shaped the post-1945
economy, Margaret Thatcher was on the cusp of her
third election victory, and London was awash with
gift to the Tories
“yuppies” making fast money out of the stock market.
The picture of Britain’s post-crash economic
settlement was clear even before the dramatic impact
of Covid. To put it bluntly, the proceeds of economic
growth in the UK now flow entirely to asset-owners
William – including homeowners. Study after study has shown
Davies that in the decade after the financial crisis, average
real wages simply stopped rising – something that
had never previously happened in two centuries of
industrial capitalism.
And yet, Britain’s housing market defies all
economic threats and shocks. While wages have
stagnated, the average British house price is now
G2
Daily
pullout
life &
arts
section
Inside
approximately 50% higher than it was in January 2009, ILLUSTRATION:
and in London around double. While the economic R FRESSON
crisis of 2007-9 was accompanied by a housing crash,
the first year of Covid-19 saw a boom in property prices.
There may be no better symbol of our new national
priorities than the “Stanley Johnson clause” in the
Covid travel rules announced last month, which allows
visits to property overseas but not family.
The UK’s ratio of housing wealth to GDP is now
above the level seen in Japan before its historic crash
in 1991 – but there is no sign that policymakers wish
to alter the place of housing wealth in the UK economy.
George Osborne’s refusal to use fiscal policy to support
the economy after 2010 meant that the UK became
even more dependent on very low interest rates and
quantitative easing, which simply allowed more
money to be poured into assets, hugely enriching
asset-owners at the expense of everyone else.
Predictably, the chancellor Rishi Sunak’s package
of measures to jumpstart the economy in the summer
of 2020 included a stamp duty holiday, which further 
inflated the housing boom. After extending this William Davies
holiday in his March budget, Sunak is a sociologist
now faces the danger of triggering a
property crash when he finally ends it.  and political
economist
 • The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021
2
An economy built on rising house
prices is a gift to the Tories
William Davies
 Continued from front
The OECD has recently joined the chorus
 of rightwing voices demanding that the
holiday be made permanent.
Most economic commentators agree that this boom
is unlikely to end well. But very little attention has
been paid to the political and social harm already done
to British society by this new model of capitalism.
A closer study of the consequences of an artificially
engineered housing boom might cast light on the
particular deformities of our politics, and help explain
a number of seemingly unrelated afflictions – from
the Brexit vote to the enduring power of “culture war”
provocations by Downing Street and its court press.
Consider what a bizarre model of “growth” has
governed Britain since the crash – where the value of
a home rises by roughly 5% every year, but the value
of an hour’s work rises not at all, year after year. What
does this do to us, psychologically and culturally?
Capitalism’s principal source of legitimacy since 1945
has been that everyone gets some share in the spoils of
its growth, even if some get much larger shares than
others. This has now been abolished: those without
assets (who are predominantly younger) now have
no share in that growth. This helps explain the rising
appeal of socialism to those born since 1980.
But it’s not clear that this economic model has bred
much contentment among its apparent beneficiaries
either. The substitution of house price growth
for collective prosperity can engender a resentful
mentality among asset-owners, in which any vision
of social change looks fanciful, even threatening.
Knowing one’s home is worth 5% more than it was a
year ago may generate inner comfort, but it doesn’t
represent any commensurate improvement to quality
R
of life, in the way that a 5% increase in income might.
ecent research, showing that those
with wealth were more likely to
support Brexit, confirmed that the
crude narrative of “left behind”
Brexiters was inaccurate. But it also
posed questions about the political
psychology of property ownership
in an age of wage stagnation. The
study’s authors suggested that the “insurance”
of housing wealth might allow for riskier political
choices. What has not been adequately explained is
why the apparent “winners” in our economic model
have become so discontented.
One explanation is that progress and prosperity
are now widely viewed as private rather than public
ideals. After a decade in which austerity measures
have allowed the public realm to crumble, many
people believe there isn’t enough money to go around,
and you must cling all the more tightly to what you
already have. Those voters who famously swung from
Labour to the Conservatives in 2019 in the so-called
“red wall” may have felt ignored by London, seen
their high streets boarded up and their public services
underfunded – but many of them still had large
amounts of housing equity.
This weird model of capitalism, in which houses
appreciate in value but people don’t, may not have
been consciously planned, but nor was it an accident.
It is a consequence of an ideology of home ownership
that has been essential to the Conservative party’s
policy agenda since Thatcher came to power. But it has
never been exploited so deliberately and divisively:
this is the real innovation of Johnson’s “vote leave”
government. The most extraordinary feature of
Britain’s post-crash political era is that the Tories have
steadily grown their share of the vote while offering
very little that looks like growth or prosperity.
It’s under these distinctive economic circumstances
that “cultural” factors become politically significant.
A blatant moralistic opposition between the
traditional home-owning family and a “woke” statue-
toppling mob becomes more vivid and electorally
potent in a dysfunctional economy, which feels like
a zero-sum competition. Given the nature of their
current coalition, one has to wonder: if the Tories
had the option to end wage stagnation and deliver
affordable housing, would they even take it?
Founded 1821 Independently owned by the Scott Trust № 54,329
‘Comment is free… but facts are sacred’ CP Scott
Cop26
The climate emergency
won’t be over for anyone
until it’s over for everyone
On the campaign trail, Joe Biden made it clear that the
environment would be at the heart of his economic
agenda. In office, he has been true to his word by
proposing fiscal and regulatory action to limit the damage
from the climate emergency, while simultaneously
addressing the inequalities that distort the US economy.
No president has so fully embraced tackling the climate
emergency. Republicans think it’s too hard a hug, while
some Democrats think Mr Biden ought to hug harder. But
the world should breathe a sigh of relief, especially after
the climate denialism of the Trump administration.
President Biden’s green shift is both welcome and
in tune with US public opinion. What is disappointing
is that while he wants to deploy the power of the state
at home, his administration wants markets to do the
heavy lifting abroad. The climate emergency should
not be used to make poorer countries dependent on
private finance. Richer countries ought to provide
enough no-strings cash to allow developing nations
to gain the institutional capacity to sustain their
own patterns of carbon-neutral consumption and
investment. The US will double public climate finance
to developing countries to $6bn a year. This is just a
sliver of Mr Biden’s $2.25tn green jobs plan. Developing
countries have no votes in the US Congress. But it is
morally wrong for them to be collateral damage.
In the US, Mr Biden tells Wall Street that to help with
a green transition it should buy Treasury bonds and take
the risk of owning US government assets. The Biden
blueprint for the US is a state-based model, where large-
scale public investment is directed towards public green
infrastructure, which citizens access freely. In a recent
paper, Prof Daniela Gabor, a UWE Bristol economist,
Games
Children need free play to
help them grow up healthy
and fully equipped for life
Play is under threat. Even before lockdowns
closed playgrounds and effectively legislated that
children between five and 11 could not meet friends,
campaigners were concerned. Playgrounds, where
most outdoor play happens, have been declining in
number; those remaining are often led by cost and
an excessive focus on safety. Crowdfunding is not
a long-term answer.
Schools, responding to increasing academic
demands and keen to control behaviour, have cut down
on playtime: a 2019 study found five- to seven-year-olds
have 45 minutes less time to play each week than in
1995, while 11- to 16-year-olds have lost 65 minutes.
At least one school has removed the bully from the
playground by removing the playground altogether.
Last week, the British Children’s Play Survey, a study
of more than 1,900 parents, found that children had less
independent play, and were allowed to play outside
an average of two years later than their parents were a
generation ago. They were thus already subject, as one
expert put it, to “a gradual, creeping lockdown”.
One could come up with the many definitions of
the word “play”, but it would be hard to beat Michael
Rosen’s assertion, in his Book of Play, that it is an
opportunity “to invent, improvise, adapt, be creative
with the world around you and with the world inside
your own head”. At its centre is pleasure and joy.
highlights a decade-long trend of private, not public,
cash being mobilised to green poorer countries.
Behind financial capital’s rhetoric of low-carbon
just transitions, she warns, lies poised a massive
expansion of state-mediated greenwashing.
Developing countries, she writes, are expected
to guarantee profits for foreign investors while
assuming the “currency, climate and liquidity
risks” hardwired into often misleadingly tagged
environmental infrastructure. This may seem an
argument over means, not ends. But Africa’s first
electric bus factory is a state-owned Ugandan firm
in which China has trained staff and transferred
technology. Beijing’s chequebook expansion of local
productive capacity is not without its problems. But
it offers poorer countries an appealing alternative to
being an extractive market for western companies.
Prof Gabor also worries that western central banks
will end up sanctioning and eventually bailing out
greenwashed private finance. Failure to prevent
catastrophic environmental losses would see an
estimated $23tn wiped off global GDP. Saving global
finance is expensive: the 2009 crash saw the Federal
Reserve commit $29tn. The backlash to bailing out
bankers’ financial scams to protect business as usual,
not the climate, does not bear thinking about.
Current policies will not keep warming to within
safe limits, because they were never intended to.
Global energy-related CO2 emissions are set for
their largest annual rise since 2010 this year. There
needs to be a philosophical reversal, not least
from banker-hugging Boris Johnson, who has no
compunction in cutting aid to the world’s poorest
countries. This should begin with June’s G7 summit
in Cornwall, when debt owed by low-income
countries should be written off. Richer countries
must make available resources and technology
to allow poorer ones to autonomously green
themselves. A Cop26 deal requires rich-world
concessions. The climate emergency will not
be over for anyone until it is over for everyone.
Mr Biden has made a definitive break in the US.
It’s time to enable others to do the same.
Play, importantly, does not come with specific
learning objectives, but can teach children,
incidentally, how to negotiate, lead, be in a team,
care for each other, stick up for themselves
– to understand fairness and unfairness. It allows
children to order their world and to realise that the
order they have inherited is open to change; it helps
them, argued the paediatrician and psychoanalyst
Donald Winnicott, to become themselves.
Helen Dodd, from the University of Reading
– who led the British Children’s Play Survey – came
to her ideas about child-led play through her work
on rising levels of childhood worry. She knew that
among those most at risk of anxiety disorders are
those who cannot manage uncertainty or fear.
Half of these disorders begin before age 11. In a
paper published in January, she argued that if
children were allowed more autonomy and risk
in their play – age-appropriate risk, from climbing
trees to being encouraged, as older children, to
walk to school alone – they would gradually learn
to manage unpredictability, to solve problems,
and to make good decisions. This might, in turn,
increase their future ability to cope with life, and
help prevent the “catastrophic misinterpretations
of physiological arousal” that play an important role
in unmanaged anxiety.
Children are reliably drawn to the books in
which children are most free, from Swallows and
Amazons sailing the Lakes at night to Katherine
Rundell’s characters fending for themselves
in a jungle. Authors know this, and keeping
the parents at arm’s length – or getting rid of
them altogether – is an archetypal plot device.
But perhaps it can also be read as a prescription:
for better childhoods, more robust communities,
and less anxious and circumscribed adults.
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian •
Opinion
M
Justice for
artin Luther King Jr famously
said, “The arc of the moral
universe is long, but it bends
towards justice.” President
George Floyd
Obama was fond of the saying
and used it often – but it could
do with a second part. The arc
of the moral universe does
was won in
not bend on its own. It is bent in the right direction by
protesters, campaigners and dissenters. It was their
hands that forced it towards justice last week, when
the former police officer Derek Chauvin was found
the streets
guilty of the second-degree murder of George Floyd.
We cannot celebrate and take comfort in the verdict
that was meted out without acknowledging the actions
outside the courtroom that secured it.
But this is what some will do: claim the verdict to be
Nesrine a great victory, after denigrating the means by which it
Malik was achieved. The protests in the wake of Floyd’s death
have been called the largest in US and global history.
They reached more than 50 countries. In the US, tens of
millions of dollars were raised and invested in grassroots
communities and advocacy in a diffuse, decentralised
network that lobbied politicians and pushed through
voter registration. It all made a deep impression on the
public consciousness. Chauvin quite simply would not
have been brought to trial on these charges, let alone
been convicted, were it not for these tireless efforts.
What will now unfold is an exercise in
whitewashing, erasing those unruly, non-state actors
from the history of the Chauvin verdict. His conviction
will be framed as something that came about as a result
of the integrity of the justice system. His crime will
be seen as a policing malfunction that was caught,
unfortunately too late for George Floyd, but in time for
the US to learn and move forward. “Thank you, George
Floyd, for sacrificing your life for justice,” said Nancy
Pelosi, after the verdict was announced. Floyd here is
merely a passive martyr whose death gave the system
an opportunity to redeem itself.
But the system doesn’t work. And more importantly,
it wouldn’t have worked had officialdom been trusted.
From the moment a teenager’s mobile phone camera
began recording, when Floyd was being restrained,
the evidence of Chauvin’s crime was crowdsourced.
3
Sajid Javid
tweeted,
‘Justice. Black lives
matter’, forgetting
that last year he said
the organisation was
‘not a force for good’
The original police report, which called his death a
“medical incident”, gives a chilling insight into the
different path the case may have taken had there been
no footage. The media then unearthed Chauvin’s long
record of complaints of misdemeanours. The moral
outrage at the murder did not come from politicians.
It was brought to their doors by a movement of people
who knew that, within the legal system, the dead Floyd
would likely have no advocates.
Some of those politicians are now shimmying
to catch a bit of Floyd’s halo. The New York mayor,
Bill de Blasio, said that “justice was served” after “the
reality of racism in this nation finally hit a boiling
point”. But he defended police driving into protesters
who had reached that boiling point, saying that it was
“inappropriate for protesters to surround a police
vehicle and threaten police officers”. In the UK,
Boris Johnson “welcomed” the verdict, after spending
last summer urging people not to support Black Lives
Matter demonstrations, which he decided were “in all
probability going to end in violence”. Sajid Javid, the
former home secretary, tweeted, “Justice. Black lives
matter”, seemingly forgetting that last year he said the
A march in organisation was “not a force for good” and demanded
Brooklyn, protesters “show some goddamn respect”.
New York City, But this is how progress is won: by not showing
following the goddamn respect. It isn’t handed over by the benign
conviction of powers that govern us, but wrested from their
Derek Chauvin hands through protest, riots and civil disobedience.
last week Chauvin’s conviction was not the only consequence
PHOTOGRAPH: REX of last year’s mobilisations. From forcing
Emmanuel Macron to put reform of the French police
on the table to catalysing change in newsrooms in the
B
US, the results have been manifold.
ut there is a broader reason why the
protests were being written out of
history the moment they began to
have an impact. As such movements
gain momentum, their reach becomes
impossible to contain. The charge
that Black Lives Matter is a radical
movement is correct. For it to achieve
its goals, for racial equity to be achieved, a wholesale
rethinking of power relations – between boss and
employee, border guard and migrant, ruler and ruled –
must take place. Redistribution of wealth is essential.
A fallen statue is not about a mindless moment of
anger, it is a demand to fundamentally and honestly
rethink a particular country’s history and sense of self.
The uncomfortable truth is that change comes about
in ways that are disruptive and, yes, occasionally
unsavoury. Those events are then sanitised and their
significance minimised, so we can maintain a naive
trust in the arc of history and those who govern us.
Every legal system is as flawed and institutionally
skewed as the country in which it exists. In the UK and
the US, it has inbuilt biases in favour of the police and
those who can afford the best legal representation.
Those who cannot afford it, from marginalised
communities, are subject to criminalisation, becoming
forever felons in the eyes of the state.
But the justice system is also sensitive to public
opinion and the political environment, and its
outcomes are often an interplay between external
pressures and internal deficiencies. Accountability
for George Floyd’s death may have been delivered in
a courtroom, but it began in the streets.
 • The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021
4 Opinion
We are all
online amateur
detectives now
Amelia
Tait
T
hey’ve broken up. I know because I
haven’t seen him on her Instagram
Stories for weeks now. OK, there
are still photos of him on her main
feed – granted, sure, that could mean
they’re still together. But there, look,
see: she’s just posted her dinner. Steak
tacos. He’s a vegetarian, remember?
She never ate meat when she was with him.
Above is the shameful inner monologue of an
amateur internet detective. This isn’t something I
do deliberately, but rather a thought process that
arises as my thumb undertakes its scrolling exercises
at the end of the day. Psychologists recognise that
humans are compelled to seek patterns; something
inside us seems to love to hunt for clues, too.
The popularity of mystery novels and true crime
documentaries has long been a testament to our
desire to play detective, but it’s the internet that has
transformed us all into amateur investigators.
From nosy neighbours on Nextdoor to obsessives on
gossip forums, more and more people seem to spend
their time online hunting for clues about other people’s
lives. The trend is almost as old as the world wide
web – in 1995, an American theatre director named
Tom Arriola started a website called Crime Scene,
inviting members of the public to hunt through case
documents in order to help solve a murder. Though
Arriola merely posed as “Detective Ted Armstrong”
and his story of a brutally murdered student was purely
fictional, many early internet users enthusiastically
believed the case was real. Ironically, amateur
sleuthing exposed Arriola’s game: one woman who’d
spent four (then expensive) hours on his website later
called the real local police department he’d referenced
to confirm the crime was fictitious.
Since then, online true crime tracking has become
more commonplace: in 1999, the forum Websleuths
was launched to allow ordinary people to discuss
cold cases. In 2013, Reddit users infamously tried to
find the perpetrator of the Boston Marathon bombing
and incorrectly identified student Sunil Tripathi,
bombarding his family with distressing phone calls. Yet
while these stories are familiar, less attention is paid
to how playing detective has seeped into the everyday
experiences of internet users.
First: the fun stuff. Hunting for clues is a huge part
of online celebrity culture; Taylor Swift can capitalise
random letters in a social media post inviting fans to
figure out the release date of her latest album. On a
smaller scale, in mid-April I watched as subscribers of
a popular YouTuber collated screenshots of her nails
to figure out the upcoming shades in her new nail
polish collection. This is innocuous fun – but amateur
investigations can easily take a darker turn.
Fans involved in the #FreeBritney movement, for
instance, have scrutinised Britney Spears’s Instagram
for clues about her wellbeing, leading to strange
dances in which posters write, “If you need help, wear
yellow in your next video”, and then fly into a frenzy
when Spears dons a yellow top. Then there was the
2016 case of YouTuber Marina Joyce: apparent bruises
on her arms and a gun in the background of one of
her videos led viewers to speculate she had been
kidnapped by Islamic State (she had not).
Speculation is rife and seemingly unavoidable on
social media, and it’s not always easy to determine
when digital detecting crosses the line – in the past,
online sleuths have helped solve crimes and been
thanked by law enforcement agencies for their efforts.
But equally, lives have been ruined when posters point
their finger at the wrong guy. I will never shake the
haunting memory of a 62-year-old Twitch streamer
sobbing in 2016 after a mob falsely accused him of
being a paedophile: even now, I can’t bring myself to
press play on the video again.
Many instances of online investigating are far less
serious than this, but that doesn’t mean, really, that
I should be pausing someone’s Instagram story to
scrutinise their potential break-up. And yet it’s hard to
see how I – or indeed, anyone – will stop: the internet
has compounded our natural inclination to hunt
for clues and rewards us with a buzz of pride when
we piece the puzzle together. It has enticed us into
thinking that we can figure something out without
 stopping to question whether it’s our job to figure it
Amelia Tait out in the first place. The habit will only become more
writes about ubiquitous the more that people share: as though
technology and the entire internet will slowly merge into one, giant
the internet overgrown detective agency.
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian
Established 1906
Country diary
Lagan Meadows,
Belfast
I emerge from the gloom of the
woods to a stain of sunrise above the
far trees. The meadow is encircled
by a bower of song. Thrush species
dominate: a blackbird’s languidly
phrased minor notes; rival song
thrushes brandishing what the
poet Katharine Towers aptly
described as “tried-and-tested
triplets”; and distantly, the urgent
strains of a mistle thrush. Against
this musical canvas, a nearby robin
skirls plaintively. From the foliage
behind him, my ear catches a
whispering crescendo – its squeaky
tone and rolling delivery make the
goldcrest a cinch.
The woods are a battlefield, and
not just between opposing males of
the same species. The dawn chorus
sounds like an orchestra, but is
really a sonic ecosystem where the
competition to be heard has driven
every species into its own special
acoustic niche. So each – here’s the
shivering flourish of a blackcap –
can be sifted from layers of sound.
Spectrograms, which convert
sound into a visual trace to be
dissected and measured, show that
the songs of close relatives – like
thrushes – are structurally very
similar; distinct voices evolved
from changes in pitch and tempo.
This is convenient for me. Walking
at first light in this popular area
has shifted my bird-watching to
dedicated bird-listening.
Beyond the trees, there’s a
growing hum from the A55, the
city’s outer ring road; and as if on
cue, a great tit saws his repeated
chimes into the chorus. The great
tit was the first species to reveal
how, confronted by the urban
racket, birds can tweak the pitch
of their songs to a higher register.
This means, like the wheedle of a
goldcrest that’s audible through
robin song, they are a rung above
the background din. They also
sing more loudly. And they may
adjust the timing of their singing by
avoiding the worst of the morning
rush hour, and by singing more
briefly during its rumble.
But if this great tit fledged last
year, he learned how to sing in
another world. When he was a
nestling listening to his elders
and, over the winter, while he was
practising his juvenile verses, this
was a quieter city. Now it’s resuming
its former noisy ways. My fingers are
crossed that his song is fit for it.
Mary Montague
Please include a full postal address, a
reference to the article and a daytime
phone number with your letter.
We may edit letters. Submission
and publication of letters is subject
to our terms and conditions: see
theguardian.com/letters-terms
•
Letters
Hoping both sides lose in
Johnson-Cummings war
Dominic Cummings has stated
in his defensive blog that “It is
sad to see the PM and his office
fall so far below the standards
of competence and integrity the
country deserves” (Cummings hits
back with astonishing attack on
PM, 24 April). Does his statement
not presuppose that, in the first
place, the prime minister and his
office ever got close enough to the
“standards” to subsequently be
able to fall from them?
And, Mr Cummings, on the
subject of “integrity”, can you recall
breaking the “stay at home” rule in
the very week that your boss urged
the nation to follow it, and later sat in
the rose garden and explained your
actions, to what you considered to
be a gullible media, with an account
of such fantasy and obfuscation that
would have caused a 10-year-old to
gape with incredulity! “Standards”,
Dominic? “Integrity”?
Geoffrey Fagence
Oakham, Rutland
• Judging that the prime minister
he was advising was “mad and
totally unethical”, a sane and
ethical adviser would properly
have resigned. Dominic Cummings
Are we now
immune from
compassion?
The shortfall in Covid vaccine
doses going to the Covax
vaccine-sharing scheme is deeply
worrying, and highlights a massive
flaw in the plans to provide
vaccines to developing countries
(Crisis warning as plan to share
vaccines around the world falls
short by 80%, 23 April).
While Covax’s target of
vaccinating just 20% of people in
developing countries by the end
of the year was already far from
sufficient, it is now a long way off
even meeting the May target of
distributing 187.2m doses.
The fundamental problem is
inadequate supply, which can only
be solved by maximising global
production. This would require
vaccine manufacturers to share the
vaccine technology and knowhow
with other qualified manufacturers
around the world.
More than 100 low- and
middle-income countries have
called for the waiving of relevant
intellectual property rules during
the pandemic to allow this to
happen. They are supported by
more than 175 former world leaders
now needs to tell us what he
wanted to gain by staying.
Mark Lewinski
Swaffham Prior, Cambridgeshire
• Let us congratulate Boris
Johnson and Dominic Cummings
in retrospectively achieving a
perfect working relationship in
which each deserves the other.
Nigel de Gruchy
Orpington, Kent
• For us baby boomers, the spat
between Johnson and Cummings
calls to mind the description
in 1066 and All That of the
Roundheads being “right but
repulsive” and the Cavaliers as
“wrong but romantic”. “Right but
repulsive” fits Cummings neatly, but
“wrong but romantic” makes Boris
sound harmless, which he clearly
isn’t – anyone suggest a better
epithet for our so-called leader?
Penny Munday
Havant, Hampshire
• Perhaps the reason No 10 has
scrapped the plan for Allegra
Stratton to front regular briefings
(Report, 21 April) is a simple one:
she is proving to be embarrassingly
and Nobel prize winners and nearly
2 million activists worldwide,
demanding a people’s vaccine.
However, this proposal is currently
being blocked at the World Trade
Organization by the UK and US
governments, as well as the EU.
As talks resume at the WTO,
surely it is time for leaders to stop
putting pharmaceutical company
profits before people’s lives.
Dr Mohga Kamal-Yanni
Senior health policy adviser,
People’s Vaccine Alliance
• I have been reading, with
mounting horror, about the tragic
situation caused by Covid in
India. Of course the UK and other
countries, who have bought more
vaccines than they need, should be
sending surplus vaccines to India
and other countries.
But why, as we watch scenes of
a health system breaking down
and people suffering and dying in
startlingly large numbers, are we
not talking about doing more?
Surely there should already be
planeloads of oxygen cylinders,
drugs, ventilators, PPE and
maybe even doctors and nurses
already landing on Indian
runways? I keep waiting to hear
that this has happened. What is
wrong with us? Along with the
vaccines, have we been inoculated
against compassion?
Sue Hoar
Milland, West Sussex
 guardian.letters@theguardian.com
 @guardianletters
reluctant to continue to issue
nonsense statements concerning
Boris Johnson’s “ethical stance” as
she previously was forced to do. I
imagine she could envisage the day
when she would find herself stating,
like her previous US counterpart,
that there are “alternative facts”.
Much better leave that sort of
thing to loyal ministers.
Angela Barton
Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire
• Since Dominic Cummings
has described Boris Johnson’s
behaviour as “mad and totally
unethical”, and Dominic Grieve
has declared that he is a “vacuum
of integrity”, perhaps the two
of them could now turn their
attention to the persistent rumour
that the pope is a Catholic.
Paul Dennehy
Enfield, London
• Can we presume that the
“vacuum of integrity” is a Dyson?
Ellie Cockbill
Leicester
• Your front-page picture
presciently shows Dominic
Cummings and Boris Johnson
behind bars. We can but hope.
David Davidge
Odiham, Hampshire
• Could Labour nominate Dominic
Cummings for a seat in the Lords?
James Pitt
York
Shrink leagues to
improve football
David Conn’s five reforms to save
football are all logical and sound
(Sport, 23 April). But the fact
remains that fans and broadcasters
relish the drama, thrills, highs
and lows that promotions and
relegations provide. Increasing
English leagues from four to five
and expanding membership
from 92 to 96 league clubs would
mean smaller leagues, a Premier
League of 16 clubs and four
Football Leagues (Championship,
Leagues One, Two and Three)
of 20 clubs each. This reduction
of clubs in each league would
increase promotion and relegation
and help to avoid league fixture
congestion. It would also create
more time for elite clubs to develop
a more meaningful midweek
pan-European competition without
owners and managers complaining
of fixture congestion.
It is important that the
football clubs and authorities
initiate change themselves, thus
eliminating the need for Boris
Johnson’s “legislative bomb”,
which all football supporters
know is about as likely as the
prime minister scoring a goal
for any club in the land.
Toby Wood
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
5
Corrections and
clarifications
• A feature about the black and
Asian men who helped win the first
world war credited “British Library
research” as a source. This research
was by Dr Santanu Das, an extract
of which was published by the
library (Conscripted, killed – and
then forgotten by the British
empire, 22 April, page 10).
• An article about adoption
misspelled the name of the Lester-
Smith family as Leicester-Smith
(Siblings miss out on adoption
as parents choose lone children,
23 April, page 17).
Editorial complaints and corrections can be sent to
guardian.readers@theguardian.com or The readers’
editor, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU
Paths less trodden
are best kept secret
Katy Bourne, Sussex police
and crime commissioner, is on
the ballot paper for 6 May as
“Conservative candidate – more
police, safer streets”, while the
other four candidates give merely
the name of their party. Since when
have political slogans been allowed
on a ballot paper? And who decides
what is acceptable? Conservatives
may object, for example, to
“No sleaze, honest politicians”
after the Labour candidate’s name.
Graham Stevens
Crowborough, East Sussex
• Thanks, Phil Gates, for a
wonderful floral conveyor belt of
April paths and hedges in County
Durham (Country diary, 22 April).
The image published with the diary
online beautifully pictures this
year’s persistent cold north-east
wind. I’d love to be reminded of this
next April. How about a country
diary calendar with a monthly
image and chosen passage for 2022?
Sylvia Hope
Durham
• While it was sad to read about
the mindless vandalism of trees
in Weybridge (Report, 22 April),
I did smile when I read that
the Elmbridge Tree Patrol had
“logged” the incidents.
Sharman Finlay
Portrush, County Antrim
• I fear that your headline (Ten
British walks you won’t share with
another soul, 24 April) could be a
self-undermining prophecy.
James Fanning
Greifswald, Germany
• Since our local newsagent closed
at the beginning of the pandemic,
I have, regretfully, had no option
but to “click on” the Guardian
(Letters, 24 April).
Andrew Ockwell
East Wittering, West Sussex

6 Obituaries
Anthony Thwaite
Poet and editor who was
a leading light in Britain’s
postwar cultural life
T
he poet Anthony
Thwaite, who
has died aged
90, was a mover
and shaker in
postwar literary
life. He was in
turn literary
editor of the Listener and the
New Statesman, and co-editor
of Encounter. He worked as a
producer at the BBC and was a
prolific author, reviewer and
lecturer, travelling across the
world for the British Council.
Thwaite chaired the Booker
prize panel in 1986, reading every
one of the 128 novels submitted.
In the depths of the cold war,
he smuggled a manuscript by
the poet Miroslav Holub out of
Czechoslovakia. To mark his 50th
birthday in 1980, his wife, Ann,
brought together work by poets who
provided handwritten manuscripts
in his honour. Philip Larkin,
Geoffrey Hill, Ted Hughes, Paul
Muldoon and Seamus Heaney
were among the contributors.
He was a longstanding friend
of Larkin and for many years
read and commented on his
• The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021
manuscripts. To mark the poet’s
60th birthday, Thwaite edited a
tribute (Larkin at Sixty, 1983). After
his death, in 1985, he served as
his literary executor, along with
Andrew Motion and Monica Jones,
Larkin’s longterm partner. The
executors agreed that Thwaite,
knowledgable about every facet
of Larkin’s publications, would
edit the collected poems, and that
he should also edit a selection of
Larkin’s letters. Motion was Jones’s
choice to write the biography,
which appeared in 1993.
Thwaite’s desire to present the
development of Larkin’s work
meant he included both published
and unpublished poems in the
order of their composition. Getting
wind of this plan, the Amis family,
father and son, were not happy.
Kingsley Amis vigorously opposed
the inclusion of the text of The
North Ship, Larkin’s 1945 collection,
which Amis regarded as scarcely
more than juvenilia. Martin Amis
described the overall effect as “a
looser and more promiscuous
corpus, containing squibs and
snippets, rambling failures later
abandoned, lecherous doggerel”.
Thwaite did not agree. There
were errors, however, in the
transcription of some manuscript
poems. The revised edition in
2003 gave him a chance to rethink
the presentation of Larkin’s
development, incorporating
a chronological arrangement
of Larkin’s books as they were
published, with early poems
cordoned off in an appendix.
As executors of the Larkin
literary estate, Thwaite and Motion
decided to hand responsibility
for a comprehensive complete
Thwaite at poems to the Boston University
the Edinburgh scholar Archie Burnett. When it was
international published in 2012, there were nearly
book festival in 400 pages devoted to Larkin’s
2003. He was collected and uncollected poems.
a longstanding Larkin’s correspondence with
friend of Philip Jones, more than 1,422 letters and
Larkin and about 500 postcards, was edited
served as his for publication by Thwaite as
literary executor Letters to Monica (2010). When
REX/SHUTTERSTOCK The Selected Letters of Philip
Larkin, 1940–1985 appeared in
1992, the collection was reviewed
with hostility, provoked mainly by
Larkin’s attitudes on sex and race
and his rightwing politics. Some
of his many admirers feared the
unredacted letters would hurt the
poet’s reputation, which indeed
turned out to be the case.
As a poet himself, Thwaite was
regarded as being in the spirit of
the Movement, including figures
such as Larkin, Amis, Elizabeth
Jennings, Thom Gunn, John Wain
and DJ Enright, although he was no
celebrant of provincial Englishness.
He sought to disentangle his work from
that of Larkin as, unlike his friend, he
was open to foreign cultures.
Born in Chester, Anthony was
the son of Hartley Thwaite and his
wife, Alice (nee Mallinson). Hartley,
a son of Methodist missionaries,
ended up as Yorkshire district
manager of Lloyds Bank.
Whatever plans he and Alice had
made for the education of their son
were turned upside down when
the second world war broke out
in 1939. At the age of 10 Anthony
was evacuated to the US, where he
spent four years with his mother’s
sister, Nora. Returning to Britain in
1944, Thwaite sported an American
accent and an eagerness for change.
His parents were then living in
Sheffield and seemed to their son
elderly and grey-haired.
Memories of searching for civil
war relics in Confederate trenches
in Fairfax County, Virginia, had
deepened his fascination with the
past. “Ever since I was seven,” he
later wrote, “I have been almost
obsessively devoted to the past
and the things of the past. On my
seventh birthday, my favourite
uncle gave me a Roman silver
denarius and from that time on I
became an antiquarian magpie.”
He joined the archaeological
society at Kingswood, Bath (his
father’s old school), and soon found
himself organising a dig at a Saxon
burial site. He had hoped to study
archaeology at Oxford, but national
service intervened. After basic
training he was posted as acting
sergeant to the Royal Artillery
garrison at Khoms (now Al-Khums)
For in Libya, arriving there on his 20th
Thwaite,
Libya’s
birthday. For Thwaite the area’s
great attraction lay in the extensive
Roman ruins of Leptis Magna.
great
attraction
At Christ Church, Oxford, on
his return, he studied English;
the undergraduate poets greatly
lay in the
extensive
admired Larkin. A small pamphlet
from the Fantasy Press in 1953
was Thwaite’s first publication.
Roman As graduation approached in
ruins of 1955 he successfully applied for a
Leptis traineeship at the BBC but, newly
married to a fellow student, Ann
Magna Harrop, he abruptly changed his
mind and was accepted instead
on a two-year lectureship to teach
literature in Tokyo.
Thwaite acquired enough
Japanese to feel at home, while
understanding that he remained a
gaijin, an outsider. (He had a similar
experience, he said, when he and
his family moved to Norfolk.) His
poems written in Japan appear in
his Letter from Tokyo (1987).
Larkin’s publisher, the Marvell
Press, published Thwaite’s first
book of poems, Home Truths, in
1957, the year he joined the BBC.
He became acting head of the Far
Eastern service, soon followed by
a transfer to the talks department
at Broadcasting House, where he
shared an office with the Irish poet
Louis MacNeice. From producing,
in 1962 he moved to serving as
literary editor of the BBC’s weekly
journal The Listener.
Thwaite returned to Libya in 1965
to take up a two-year appointment
as assistant professor of English at
the University of Libya in Benghazi.
His account of Libya in The Deserts
Monday 26 April 2021 The Guardian
of Hesperides (1969) portrayed a
landscape and society with multiple
layers of history. The Libyans he met
detested the Egyptians and seemed
determined to obliterate whatever
traces remained of the hated Italian
occupation. The British were
tolerated. The conservative Senussi
movement over which King Idris
then reigned would be overthrown
by Muammar Gaddafi’s coup in 1969.
Libya fed Thwaite’s passion as an
archaeologist. He took part in a dig
at Tocra, one of the last Byzantine
fortresses in Cyrenaica. When he
returned to the UK in 1967, three
collections of poems, The Stones
of Emptiness (1967), Inscriptions
(1973) and New Confessions (1974),
revealed how forcefully religion and
archaeology had come to shape his life.
One poem, The Letters of
Synesius, was a meditation upon
Synesius (AD c373-c414), a learned
Greek in Cyrene in the early fifth
century, who had been a student
of philosophy and a doubting and
reluctant bishop, trying to defend
the dying Christian community
– dying then, and dying still, as
Thwaite had known it.
Synesius tries and fails to
understand the design of a world
tumbling towards destruction:
“God’s plan is hidden in monoliths
on a wafer of bread.” Synesius offered
Thwaite, in his most important poem
sequence, the past seen through the
eyes of the present, and the present
speaking with the “proud, lonely,
aristocratic voice” of the past.
Towards the end of 1971, while
working on the poems in New
Confessions, Thwaite was led
from Synesius to the writings of St
Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430).
New Confessions was intended to
be a response to Augustine, with
perhaps less attention paid to
the layers of history that gave the
Synesius sequence its perspective.
Thwaite’s meditations on Synesius
and Augustine did not reflect the
reassurance of grace, but a harsher
truth that faith cannot be summoned:
The market is busy with cries and
acquisitions
The workshops are quick with
skills and intricate craftings
But everywhere nothing prospers
Unless the Lord wills it, of the
house as of the city.
Back in Britain, he received a
call in late 1967 from Paul Johnson,
the editor of the New Statesman,
to come with his wife and four
daughters for Sunday lunch. A
replacement for Nick Tomalin as
literary editor was needed, and he
was offered the job. Soon enough,
in 1970, a successor replaced
Johnson – the Labour politician
Dick Crossman.
He seemed to Thwaite “just
about the worst editor I’ve come
across – a capricious bully”. In the
summer term of 1972, Thwaite held
the Henfield writing fellowship at
the University of East Anglia, and
while in Norwich he learned that
he had been sacked by Crossman’s
•
 obituaries@theguardian.com
 @guardianobits
replacement, Anthony Howard.
His family’s move to Norfolk in
1973 was followed by an invitation
from Melvin Lasky for him to
join Encounter, where Thwaite
remained as co-editor for 12 years.
On one memorable occasion he
threatened to resign if Lasky
published one more article on “Was
Alger Hiss Guilty or Not Guilty?”
In 1980 a new poetry editor
at the OUP disliked Thwaite’s
Victorian Voices (which turned
out to be his most popular and
bestselling title), and he was
invited to take his further books
elsewhere. He was then published
by Secker & Warburg, until Tom
Rosenthal’s departure; by Tony
Whittome at Hutchinson, until the
poetry list was terminated; and by
Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson,
until his firm went to the wall.
Stephen Stuart-Smith’s
Enitharmon Press published
Thwaite’s later books, including
a substantial Collected Poems
in 2007, Late Poems (2010) and
Going Out (2015). In 1990 he was
appointed OBE.
Thwaite was respected and
praised for the clarity, precision
and depth of his verse, but the
underlying pillars of his work
– his marriage, his faith and his
love for archaeology – gave a
distinctiveness to his poems that
was unique among the writing of
H
his contemporaries.
e and Ann
married after
they graduated
from Oxford
and their
writing lives
developed in
close tandem.
Her career as an author and editor
of books for children began in 1958
with The Young Traveller in Japan.
She later published biographies
of Edmund Gosse, AA Milne and
Philip Henry Gosse.
When they first met, Ann was
an Anglican. Though Anthony
had attended a Methodist school,
his interest in Christianity came
late. He and Ann remained
faithful churchgoers throughout
their married lives. “I’ve found
for years,” Thwaite wrote, “a
steadiness, a firmness, in the
consolations of religion … I do take
seriously my belief in what I do
believe, and regret my doubts, and
for very many years have pottered
away at the day-by-day, or Sunday-
by-Sunday, duty of a Christian.”
Thwaite was not a tormented
victim-poet, but a witty, charming
companion. He knew, in an age of
multiple uncertainties, who he was
and what he felt. It gave his poetry
and prose a rare clarity.
He is survived by Ann and their
daughters, Emily, Caroline, Lucy
and Alice.
Eric Homberger
Anthony Simon Thwaite, poet
and editor, born 23 June 1930;
died 22 April 2021
Lord Greaves
Liberal party stalwart
dedicated to promoting
community activism
T
ony Greaves, Lord
Greaves, who has
died aged 78, was
a mainstay of the
Liberal party and
then the Liberal
Democrats for
half a century.
Elevated to the peerage in 2000,
he used his position in the Lords
to extend his career of community
activism and to try to promote a
more radical kind of Liberalism in
the upper house. While doing so he
continued as a member of Pendle
borough council in Lancashire,
to which he had been elected on
its formation in 1973, serving for
almost 50 years until his death.
Born in Bradford, Greaves was
a Yorkshireman transported to
Lancashire by his employment as
a geography teacher and he made
his home in the Pendle district. The
son of Geoffrey Greaves, a police
driving instructor, and his wife,
Moyra (nee Brookes), he went to
Queen Elizabeth grammar school,
Wakefield, and traced his interest
in politics to the sixth form there,
“where we debated everything”.
By the time he arrived at Hertford
College, Oxford, he had found
himself in tune with Jo Grimond’s
Liberal party, which he joined in
1961, and went canvassing for the
first time in the Liberal victory at
the Orpington byelection of 1962.
After gaining a degree in
geography at Oxford he took a
diploma in economic development
at the University of Manchester.
From 1969 to 1974 he taught
geography at Colne grammar
school in Lancashire, but it became
clear that his commitment was
to politics rather than teaching.
In 1971 he was elected both to
Lancashire county council and to
Colne borough council, which later
became Pendle borough council.
Under his leadership the party and
later the Lib Dems controlled Pendle,
but his success in local government
failed to transfer to parliamentary
elections, and he finished third
on the three occasions he fought
in Nelson & Colne in February
and October 1974 and then, after
boundary changes, in Pendle in 1983.
Having supported American
draft dodgers in the Vietnam war
and taken part in the Stop the
Seventy Tour campaign against
the visit of the apartheid-era South
Africa cricket team, Greaves had
been elected in 1970 as chair of the
national Young Liberal movement.
Greaves worked on the merger with
the SDP but refused to support it
CHRISTOPHER THOMOND/THE GUARDIAN
Most of the “red guard” of Liberals
soon moved out of mainstream
politics but Greaves stayed.
He had not long been in office
when the party leader, Jeremy
Thorpe, made the error of trying
to force him to withdraw a pro-
Palestinian motion from the
Young Liberals’ annual conference
agenda. Greaves said “no” and
a standoff between the party
hierarchy and the youth section
continued for some time, although
it was eventually smoothed over.
From 1974 onwards he made a
living from a series of politically
oriented jobs, initially surviving
on the then meagre attendance
allowances as a councillor, plus
wages from a number of temporary
posts. From 1977 to 1985 he was
employed by the Association of
Liberal Councillors as its organising
secretary, and in that role produced
a series of practical handbooks
that were well used by the growing
numbers of Liberal councillors.
He followed this by managing
the publishing arm of the party
until 1990 and then had stints as
a constituency agent while also
operating as a secondhand book
dealer specialising in Liberal
history and theory.
For a five-month period
from September 1987 he was a
member of the Liberal party team
negotiating a merger with the
He took part in
the campaign
against the visit of the
apartheid-era South
Africa cricket team
7
Social Democratic party (SDP),
an undertaking that proved to
be exhausting. He was unable
to accept the final package and
resigned from the negotiating
team, speaking in vain against
the merger of the two parties at
the special Liberal party assembly
in 1988 in Blackpool. Together
with the then chair of the Young
Liberals, Rachael Pitchford, he
co-wrote a diary, published as
Merger: The Inside Story, in 1989.
Later on, Greaves joined the
Liberal Democrats, although
in 1996 he declared that
“fundamentally I am not a ‘Liberal
Democrat’ for … I do not know
what it means”. He continued his
efforts to secure “radical Liberal
policies” and kept on working on
ideas to increase regionalism.
He was well liked, even though,
in the words of one fellow Liberal
Democrat peer, “he could be
uncompromising, argumentative,
curmudgeonly and stubborn”.
He was also mercurial, taking
on causes with gusto and then
moving on swiftly as a more
urgent issue came up. Away from
politics he liked to relax with his
family and spent four weeks each
year climbing in the Pyrenees.
In 1968 he married Heather
Baxter; she was a teacher who
shared his political views, had
worked briefly in the local
government department at Liberal
party headquarters, and has been
a member of Pendle borough
council for more than 20 years.
He is survived by Heather, their
two daughters, Vicky and Helen,
and a grandson, Robin.
Michael Meadowcroft
Anthony Robert Greaves,
politician, born 27 July 1942;
died 23 March 2021
Birthdays
Bob Blackman, Conservative MP,
65; Carol Burnett, actor, comedian
and singer, 88; Samantha
Cristoforetti, astronaut, 44;
Sir Gordon Downey, former
commissioner for parliamentary
standards, 93; Michael Dugher,
chief executive, Betting and
Gaming Council, 46; Ms
Dynamite, singer and songwriter,
40; Duane Eddy, guitarist, 83;
Justin Gosling, classicist and
philosopher, 91; Susannah
Harker, actor, 56; Alan Hinkes,
mountaineer, 67; Sir Robin Jacob,
professor in intellectual property,
University College London and
former lord justice of appeal, 80;
Marianne Jean-Baptiste, actor, 54;
Peter Schaufuss, choreographer,
71; Mark Serwotka, general
secretary, Public and Commercial
Services Union, 58; Zoe Smith,
weightlifter, 27; Roger Taylor,
drummer, 61; Melania Trump,
former first lady of the US, 51;
Munira Wilson, Lib Dem MP, 43;
Willie Wood, bowls player, 83.
 • The Guardian Monday 26 April 2021

8 Puzzles

Saturday’s Killer sudoku Codeword

solutions
Easy Each letter of the alphabet makes at least one appearance in the grid,
and is represented by the same number wherever it appears. The letters
Sandwich sudoku The normal rules of decoded should help you to identify other letters and words in the grid.
Sudoku apply: fill each
row, column and 3x3
box with all the numbers
from 1 to 9. In addition,
the digits in each inner
shape (marked by dots)
must add up to the
number in the top corner
of that box. No digit can
be repeated within an
inner shape.

Killer Sudoku 759

Medium

Cryptic crossword
Solution No. 28,422
L B S E
S E ERED DEODAR
C I S A R G E
WH Y N O T P E A R I F L E
L S O P P E A
T E A T WE A T H E R E Y E
P E R I S
CRYPT I CCLUE
R A T N A
S EA F I SH I NG PAC Y
A I T O L O T
E L E C T I ON I B E R I A
L H M S T T N
YOUB E T I CH I NG
S S H C
Guardian cryptic crossword No 28,429 set by Matilda
We regret that in the present
circumstances we are unable
to process prize entries for 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Across Down
this puzzle.
1 See Englishman about cuts (7) 2 Result of using tight controls on
9 5 Easy on Prince Andrew? (2,5) Middle Eastern leaders (7)
10 Tone from this straight trip (1,2,1) 3 State half-time wager (5)
10 11 11 1 getting Tesla — bet he crashes! 4 Dish including T-bone (7)
(3,7) 6 Single, appearing for the first
12 Human ethical argument finally time, extremely arty, after love …
accepted (6) (3-3)
12 13 13 Careless hit and run (8) 7 … and portrayed as shy (9)
14 Spooner gets B, D#, F# 8 Purity of peas cultivated by
permutations from these relative (7)
instruments (9) 9 Disease from Eastbourne, say
14 15 16 16 Endless Jesus raps from the east? (7,6)
Take a break (5) 15 Prohibit a clone being developed
17 Gem that’s mostly white or pink in this city (9)
with green sides (5) 18 What about mine? A quiet final
17 18 19 20 21 19 Senior officers kiss cheek (5,4) tribute (7)
23 Starting with impenetrable 20 Boot wearer, upset about closure,
22 takes off (5,2)
vacant stare, reported
appearance of US Mafiosi (4-4) 21 Work ethics to welcome
23 24 25
24 Sounds coming from reactionary mathematical chief boffin (7)
and half-hearted session (6) 22 Get the better of idiot joining
26 Best not to open this farm — no higher education establishment
cows unfortunately! (3,2,5) (6)
26 27
27 Some monosaccharides get 25 Matilda’s mature figure (5)
desiccated (4)
28 Prevents tooth enamel defects (7)
29 Abundantly rocky planet, last in
28 29
galaxy (7)
Stuck? For help call 0906 200 83 83.
Calls cost £1.10 per minute, plus your
phone company’s access charge.
Service supplied by ATS.
Call 0330 333 6946 for customer
service (charged at standard rate).
Want more? Get access to more than
4,000 puzzles at theguardian.com/
crossword. To buy puzzle books, visit
guardianbookshop.com or call
0330 333 6846.
 “I think I
escaped – not
that it didn’t
damage me

Will
Young
on school, scandal
and survival

Monday 26/04/21
Zoe Williams
Kids, clothes and
the surprising truth
about divorce
page 3

Voices in your head

What’s wrong with
talking to yourself?
page 4

The Guardian
Monday 26 April 2021
Kids lose
stuff all the
time. When
you’re
divorced,
that’s a
problem
By Zoe Williams
T
he worst thing
about being divorced when you
have kids is that something is
always in the wrong house. You
only ever realise it five seconds
before you need it, and it never
ends. Maybe it’s the only pen with
the right nib for the homework, and
no, obviously that other pen with
the identical nib won’t do because
it’s the wrong colour. Or perhaps
it’s a charger, without which no
electricity can be connected to
any device, or a hair clip in the
shape of a snake that makes sense
of the entire outfit. Once, it was a
piece of paper with instructions
on it for a project, which, it turned
out, simply read: “Draw a diagram
of the life-cycle of a plastic bag,”
but only after every adult in the
postcode had turned themselves
inside out looking for it. It is always
something tiny, that could be
anywhere, unless it’s something
huge, and you’re howling round
the house, going: “How can anyone
lose a saxophone?”
It is never about the huge or
tiny thing, it’s only about the
emotions. All the rage, frustration
COVER: MATT HOLYOAK
PHOTOGRAPHS: GETTY
and sadness a kid might feel – this
huge thing just happened, and life
is now different and worse, and
they weren’t consulted, and what
idiotic thing might a parent decide
to do next? – they never seem to say
•
‘Mum, I can’t
find my
protractor …’
out loud. Instead, they will lose the
lid to their sparkly nail varnish, and
cry for so long that the next thing
you know, you’re going through
your ex’s recycling at midnight. The
very worst time, which liquifies
me with guilt just writing it down,
was a lost script for a school play
five years ago, resulting in the now-
11-year-old being kicked out of the
Three Little Pigs. The school was
very rigid on this point: it would
rather go out on stage with two
pigs than suffer a performer who
couldn’t keep hold of her material.
There is absolutely no way
of getting ahead of it, because
children lose everything, all the
time; or insulating yourself against
it: you feel bad, because you’re
right to feel bad, because it’s your
fault. By “you”, of course, I mean
“me”. The other morning, I cycled
so fast to get a school tie to the right
place that I got flashed by a speed
camera. “Ha!” you’re thinking.
“Maybe if you want to be divorced,
you should buy more ties.” We
have eight. Somehow, they all
ended up at my house. I’m like a tie-
magnet, my ex a trouser-magnet,
but if you think it works in your
favour to be the one with all the
stuff in your house, you’re wrong.
There are no winners in the game of
“Where’s my … ?”
Take the return to school after
Easter. It’s 8.12am, our scheduled
departure time is 8.15, and my
son can’t find his shoes. Within
maybe 90 seconds, Mr Z is trying
to coax him into a pair of his
shoes, which are only one size too
big, and nobody needs to know
(for now) that they were actually
handed down by Mr Z’s uncle, for
whom they were handmade in
probably 1935. They are incredibly
fancy, black patent with exquisite
detailing, the shoes you would wear
to your first dinner after you’ve just
won a war, resoundingly. TJ would
rather stop going to school, enter
adult life with no qualifications and
survive on the profits of crime than
wear these shoes. I am truncating
a bit. It takes him so long to list all
the things that he would prefer to
do than wear patent shoes that it is
now 8.19.
My daughter starts crying. She is
incredibly stoic, these days, so her
bursting into tears is more or less
unheard of. It takes me a while to
even make sense of the sound –
I’m upstairs by now, obviously,
looking for the shoes – and I tear
down, expecting something
terrible to have happened, like the
It’s never about
the tiny thing, it’s
only about the
emotions – the
rage, frustration
and sadness
rabbit’s died, or she has stuck her
hand in a blender.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m going to be late.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that.
I’m going to be late, too, and I’m
not worried.”
“We’re not the same person.”
She’s got me, there. On paper,
I accept that H is her own person,
with her own personality. Deep
down, I basically think we’re
identical, which makes her points
of difference – punctuality, hand-
eye coordination – completely
incomprehensible to me.
Their dad has the old shoes, and
can meet us on the way, but not
the wanted shoes. I point out that
he must have them, otherwise I’d
have them. This sets him off on his
annoying maths-logic-calendar
thing. Good Friday was a bank
holiday, the moon was in Capricorn
and the windspeed was 16mph, so
Thursday was the last school-shoes
day, so they must be at mine. It’s
annoying because it’s true: they
are under TJ’s desk, where any
idiot could have found them, if they
had eyes.
It’s 8.23 and we’re out of the
house, at the traffic lights. “You’re 13
and a half!” I explode. “You have to
keep track of your own shoes!” “It’s
funny how I’m always 13 when I’m
not allowed to do something, and 13
and a half when I should have done
something,” he replies, equably.
Agh! Another maths-logic-calendar
thing. He gets it from his dad.
H was on time, by the way. We
were all on time, wearing shoes,
looking – to the untrained eye – like
winners after all.
3
I need a haircut
– but not by
my vigilante
hairdresser
M
y hair has
crossed the
line from
“unprofessional”
to “downright
disrespectful”.
Every day that passes since the
salons reopened makes it more
discourteous. Ideally, I’d go back
and spend a portion of the time I put
into booking tables outside pubs
on getting it cut, but that is a small
regret compared with the others.
My lank barnet has infected
my self-perception and I now
hate all my clothes as well. I feel
dowdy, scruffy, slightly stained
and careworn, powerfully aware
that this would be the right time to
buy new stuff, except without any
enthusiasm to do so.
I raised the problem with my
friend K, who buys new stuff
all the time. “You have to think
of three words that you want to
look like,” she said, and made
some suggestions. “Bright? Fun?
Fashionable? Chic? Elegant?”
Nope. None of those.
“Serious? Businesslike? Peppy?”
Ha. No. “I want my corporeal self
to vanish and to appear as a heart-
lifting spirit.”
“Maybe let’s start with the hair.”
But when I plugged back into the
hair network, I heard disturbing
news: my hairdresser has gone a
bit lockdown-fundamentalist and
if she suspects you of having had
an illegal haircut, she berates you
and deprioritises your subsequent
appointments. Even if it is months
since your offence, she reckons
she can see the ghost of your last
haircut and can tell whether or
not she did it – if she didn’t, you
must have broken the rules. She is
like a forensic stylist, dispensing
vigilante hair justice. Even though
I am as safe as houses in this regard,
I am incredibly annoyed by it.
Obviously, it is good to have
stuck to the rules during the
pandemic; to have done otherwise
would have been to collaborate
with the virus or, worse, Laurence
Fox. However, I favour an
aftermath full of celebration
and regeneration, rather than
recrimination and judgment. If this
means I have to cut my own hair, so
be it. This is going to work wonders
for my vanity crisis.
 •
4 The Guardian
How we met ‘He had a
great tan – but I did
make fun of his hair’
Waverley Grainger, 37, and
Dave Kwong, 35, met in
their 20s while working at
a US summer camp. They
live together in London
I
n the summer of 2005, Waverley
Grainger travelled to upstate New
York to work as a counsellor at a
children’s summer camp. “I’m from
New Zealand and this seemed like
a great opportunity to travel,” she
says. “I was going to be working with the
children, and running horse-riding lessons.”
Dave Kwong, a student from London, was
working at the same camp. Although they
met early on, they had different friendship
circles and didn’t spend much time together.
“I do remember he had a great tan and I made
fun of the [dyed] white tips in his hair,” she
laughs. “They were all the rage back then.”
The following summer, they returned to the
same camp, but both had summer romances
with other people. While Waverley came
back again in 2007, Dave didn’t and, after
a disappointing summer, she had no plans
to return. “I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had
in previous years, but something told me I
should go back for one final year,” she says.
In 2008, they both returned to the camp.
This time, they were assigned to work in
neighbouring cabins and became close
friends. “It was really great to see her again,”
says Dave. “She was this familiar face I hadn’t
seen in ages. Returning counsellors are put
in the same group, and I got to know her a
lot better.” The relationship moved quickly.
“It’s quite an intense bubble,” says Waverley.
“We did evening activities with the kids and
then we would spend every night chatting.”
She discovered she and Dave shared similar
values, and he had a great sense of humour,
while he was drawn to her bubbly, caring
personality. “It was fun getting to know
someone from another country, too,” he says.
“We love adventure travel, and wanted to do
lots of exploring.”
Towards the end of the summer, they
kissed, and the next day Dave told her how
much he liked her. Shortly afterwards, he left
camp to travel, while Waverley took the older
children on a trip to Disney World followed
by the Bahamas. “I missed him while I
was away, and realised this could really be
something.” They met up in New York at the
end of August and decided to make a go of
the relationship. Waverley went to Australia
to earn some money to come to the UK. Dave
returned to Plymouth to finish his master’s
in engineering. “I moved to London in May
2009,” she says. Later that year, they moved
in together. Dave found a job in engineering,
while Waverley works in retail design. They
bought a home together in Colliers Wood in
2012 and live there with their cat.
Last year, Waverley’s father became
seriously ill with cancer and the couple
flew to New Zealand in September to say
goodbye. “We had to quarantine for two
weeks in a hotel, and then Dave could only
stay in New Zealand for nine days,” she
remembers. “He did that for me. He’s an
outstanding guy.”
The couple, who got engaged in July 2019,
spent lockdown planning their wedding.
“We were meant to get married last summer
but had to move it because of the pandemic.
We’re hoping it can go ahead in August,” says
Dave. As his family are originally from Hong
Kong, part of the celebrations will include a
traditional Chinese tea ceremony, and they
also plan to host a party in New Zealand when
it’s safe to travel again. “We’ve decided not
to stress about something we have no control
over,” says Waverley.
Dave loves that his partner is so
thoughtful, and always puts the needs
of others before her own. “She’s always
thinking of me and getting me little treats.”
Waverley says that, while it sounds like a
cliche, she is fortunate to have fallen in love
with her best friend. “I’m still excited to
see him after all this time together. He’s so
genuine and funny. Nothing fazes him. He
always finds a solution.”
Lizzie Cernik
Want to share your story? Email howwemet@
theguardian.com
Talking
to me,
myself
and I
Living alone during the pandemic,
Daniel Lavelle has started having
conversations – and even arguments –
with himself. Does he need help?
‘W
e strangers. Crippling social anxiety,
should probably go out now,” I
say to Danny as I vegetate in front
of the TV. “Yeah, we should, but
I can’t be arsed,” Danny replies,
sitting in an identical pose. “C’mon,
we need the exercise; can’t sit
here all day,” I insist. “Well, we can
’cause that’s what we did yesterday
and the day before,” he answers.
“Exactly! That’s why we have to go.
C’mon!” I yell. “God! Fine, then!” he
shouts back.
So we get up from our pit and
head into the crisp morning air for
a much-needed dose of fresh air
Monday 26 April 2021
and exercise. Only there is no we.
There’s only me. I’ve had a shouting
match with myself pretty much
every day since Covid came along
and changed everything.
At the start of 2020, I embarked
on a month-long quest to find
meaningful conversations with
introversion and sloth had kept me
in a depressing bubble of loneliness
and self-imposed exclusion; I
wondered whether random chats
with people might burst that bubble
and open up a new world of social
discovery. It did. After overcoming
my initial shyness, I opened my gob
and started chatting. By the end of
the month, I was on first-name terms
with the local shopkeeper I had
avoided even eye contact with for
more than a year; the barber’s was no
longer a place I went to have silent
staring matches with my reflection;
and I even learned the names of
some of my flatmates.
Then I got evicted from my flat
in east London. My landlord, who
had packed 13 tenants into a family
home, lost his Houses in Multiple
Occupation licence and we all had
to find new digs. I moved to another
part of London, with new people,
and had to start the process of
resocialisation all over again.
Then the pandemic hit. I was
isolated and lonely, with only myself
POSED BY MODELS. PHOTOGRAPHS: GETTY IMAGES
for company. I have always talked
to myself, usually only a few words
of encouragement as I rise in the
morning, or when I’m trying to
navigate through a dense brain fog,
but in lockdown the only person I
was guaranteed to speak to every
day was me. The problem with this is
that I know everything about me; me
got boring fast, so I began to argue
with me. And I always lost.
Do I need help? Not particularly,
says Paloma Mari-Beffa, a senior
lecturer in psychology at the
 •
The Guardian
Monday 26 April 2021
University of Bangor. She says
that most of us talk to ourselves,
silently, all the time – “and by ‘all
the time’ I mean even when you
sleep”, she says. Come to think of
Most of us talk it, when I have paid attention to
my resting thoughts I realise that I
to ourselves, can’t claim authorship over any of
them. Words, sounds and images
silently, all just appear from nowhere, then
the time – dissolve into nothingness like a
shooting star; there and then gone.
even when “The brain is always active,” says
Mari-Beffa. “It is always generating
we’re asleep images or words.” If we are always
in conversation with ourselves,
why don’t we all talk out loud? The
answer, says Mari-Beffa, is down
to the two sides of the brain: one
that is chaotic and random and
one that is orderly and in control.
“When you talk out loud, it’s not
random – you organise it, you
control it, you give it shape. When
people are under extreme stress, or
suffering with mental illness, both
networks can be active at the same
time.” This phenomenon could
explain conditions such as Tourette
syndrome and schizophrenia, where
the subconscious chaotic mind is
encroaching on the more ordered
conscious mind.
Controlled self-talk, however,
can have enormous benefits.
In 2012, Mari-Beffa conducted
an experiment that asked 28
participants to read a series of
instructions either silently or
out loud. The group that read
out loud showed higher levels of
concentration and performance
on the tasks they were given.
Another study, from the University
of Michigan, found that self-talk
can increase self-esteem, improve
confidence and help us overcome
difficult challenges. The paper,
published in 2014, said that those
who referred to themselves with
second- and third-person pronouns
managed their thoughts better than
those who spoke in the first person.
I feel slightly better about
myself, but the kind of self-talk
these studies point to – helping
people keep on track with
assignments, for example –
sound like the innocuous words
of encouragement I used to say to
myself before the pandemic, not
the kinds of internal rows I have
with myself now.
Chris Gilham (not his real
name), a 23-year-old IT student
from Washington DC, started
talking to himself out loud
when the pandemic hit. Before
lockdown, he used to socialise
in coffee shops with his friends
from college; now he spends
most of his time alone. He says
face masks have helped: on
the rare occasions he visits his
local grocery store, he can talk
to himself under his breath and
nobody can see his lips moving.
Gilham suffers with anxiety
and says the self-talk helps
him slow down his “constant
train of thought … It helps with
5
Is it appropriate?
Is it within
your control?
Does what
you’re saying
make sense?
processing something,” he says. “If
I’m reading a textbook, rephrasing
it out loud really helps.” Still,
Gilham isn’t having full-blown
shouting matches with himself in
front of a mirror like I am.
“Do you have a partner who can
be on the opposite side of you when
you’re having an argument?” asks
the clinical psychologist Dr Carla
Manly over the phone from her
office in California.
“No, I live on my own,” I say.
“There’s why,” she says.
“Because we all want to have –
inherently, if we’re wise – someone
to have a discussion with.” I’ve
spent most of lockdown writing
a book, I tell her, and she says
I’m probably talking to myself
because I’m missing an alternative
point of view, someone to
contradict the ideas I have,
especially when writing.
We watch kids at home “talking
to the Tonka truck or at the Barbie
doll and we call it child’s play”,
she says. “But somehow we are
supposed to lose that as adults.
I don’t believe that we need to.”
She explains that self-talk can
become a problem if you do it so
much that it disturbs someone
you’re living with, but otherwise
it really depends on what you’re
saying to yourself. “It’s really
about: is it appropriate for the
situation? Is it disrupting any
relationships, be it at home, work
or otherwise? Is it within your
control? Does what you’re saying
make sense?”
Manly exchanges only a few
words with herself now and again,
but she does chat with her dog.
“Someone from the outside might
say: ‘Does she really think the dog
is understanding her? She’s insane.’
I’m not, because I know that I’m
doing it.”
So, I’m saner than I thought I
was – I just need a friend to argue
with. Maybe Monty Python were
on to something when they created
the argument clinic, for users to
pay and have a row with someone.
“No they weren’t,” Danny says.
“Yes, they were,” I say. “Nonsense,”
Danny says. I think I just like the
sound of my own voice. “Now,
that’s something we can agree on,”
says Danny.

6 The Guardian
‘Shame
doesn’t help
anything’
The singer Will
Young spent
lockdown dealing
with the suicide of
his twin brother,
PTSD and chronic
anxiety. He tells
Chris Godfrey how
he has finally found
some peace
W
ill Young
exits a cab and ambles up a quiet
south London street towards me,
where I’ve been loitering outside
his terrace house like a superfan. No
sooner has he shown me through
to his garden than he has popped
back out to buy cigarettes. There
can’t be many pop stars who would
feel comfortable leaving a journalist
alone in their home, especially one
who has had as many run-ins with
the press as Young.
The walled garden is filled with
bushes and trees that neither of
us are able to name, as well as a
tremendous number of plant pots.
“I’ve gone completely insane: I’ve
never bought so many bulbs in
my life,” says Young, on his return
from the corner shop. “Did you see
the tulips out the front? I’ve gone
potting-crazy. I don’t really know
what I’m doing, but I have such a
passion for it now.” His neighbours
have started calling him “the
garden centre”, as he is always
trying to foist cuttings on them.
As with his four dogs, gardening
has been a comfort for Young in an
•
The G2 interview
especially difficult year. During the
first lockdown, the 42-year-old had
a breakdown: he couldn’t get out
of bed, his anxiety went through
the roof, he became addicted to
shopping and would cry constantly.
Then, in July, his twin brother,
Rupert, killed himself. Young
doesn’t want to talk about it today,
but in January he told an inquest
that Rupert had struggled with
depression and anxiety for more
than 20 years. He had tried to kill
himself several times before.
Today, Young is feeling very
Zen and “in-the-moment”. He
found the second lockdown much
easier than the first, though he
still has “dreadful” anxiety and
hypervigilance – a state of extreme
and often inappropriate alertness.
When he wasn’t obsessively oiling
all his wooden furniture, he worked
on his next album, Crying on the
Bathroom Floor, a collection of
cover versions.
“I’m mildly agoraphobic, so
being given permission to stay
at home: hallelujah!” he says. “I
don’t miss the social pressures.
I’ve completely recalibrated, and
given myself permission to act
how I want to act. It’s actually been
amazing for someone who suffers
from anxiety.”
“The only thing,” he adds with
severe understatement, “is that I
lost my brother. It’s not been the
best experience of my life. However,
there’s a whole backstory to that,
which I will tell another time. Even
with that, I would say my mental
health has been really OK.”
He has talked before about
dealing with various addictions
(love, pornography, shopping), but
– bulb-buying sprees aside – he has
largely contained them in the past
few months, except for smoking. “I
absolutely love it. I’ve turned into
Dot Cotton.”
The key to dealing with
addiction, he says, is to tackle
the shame it brings. “You don’t
have to be shamed, and don’t let
other people shame you for it. My
approach is just to be open because
it certainly takes away the shame
for me to own it. Shame doesn’t
help anything. It just piles shit on to
something that’s already shit.”
And there’s already plenty of
that to go around. A few years
ago, he was diagnosed with post-
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
something that he has learned to
treat by focusing on his body, not
his mind. “For example,” he says,
“notice when you’re calm. Trains
for me are the most calming things
because I can see the world, but my
hypervigilance isn’t on because I’m
nice and cocooned. It’s perfect for
me. I feel like I’ve meditated.”
He traces his PTSD back to his
childhood. Born in Wokingham,
Will and Rupert (younger by 10
minutes; there is also an older
sister, Emma) were sent to board
at prep school in the 80s. In recent
months, he has found himself
dwelling on what he remembers as
a miserable time.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about
prep school, and wondering if any
of those institutions will be brought
to justice for the things that I saw
happen.”
What did he see?
“Well, kids thrown against
radiators. Other things I can’t talk
about.”
What he will discuss includes
the teachers who “ripped out”
the phone that would have let
unhappy pupils call ChildLine or
their parents. “That was a big deal
for us. It was ripped out twice.” He
Young with his
twin brother
Rupert, 2009
Monday 26 April 2021
also remembers drunk teachers
“rolling around dormitories”, and
one “you wouldn’t go for a ride
with”. “We weren’t allowed to wear
pants under our football shorts,
so my dick used to fall out when
I got tackled. Less washing. I saw
kids being made to change on the
football pitch because they had
worn pants. Teachers looking at our
penises in the shower, in the bath.
“It was appalling,” he says. “That’s
why I’ve got PTSD. There was such
a sense of injustice from things that
I experienced and witnessed.” He
adds. “I think I escaped – not that it
didn’t damage me.”
After moving on to Wellington
College, a private school in
Berkshire, Young went to the
University of Exeter, where he
studied politics. He then moved to
London to study musical theatre at
Arts Educational School. He knew
he wanted to be a singer, but didn’t
start professionally until he was
21 because of a lack of confidence
in his voice. Within a couple of
years, he was a household name as
the star of Pop Idol, ITV’s hugely
successful twist on the prime-time
talent show.
“I was nervous that my voice was
very expressive and soulful, and
probably seen as more feminine,”
he remembers. He is still regularly
mistaken for a woman on the
phone. “I wasn’t really confident in
that until I went on Pop Idol. But, to
put that in context, I was nervous
about wearing red trainers in case
people thought I was gay.” Which
he was – although when he became
famous, he had only come out to
his friends and family. He has since
written a book about homophobia
and gay shame, To Be a Gay Man.
The first line reads: “Imagine being
born into a world where, from
the beginning, your true nature is
under attack and ridiculed from the
second you enter life.”
In 2001, Young saw an advert for
Pop Idol in the News of the World.
The 23-year-old secured his place
by performing the Jacksons’ Blame
It on the Boogie, accompanied
by some very awkward, half-
hearted dancing, then went on
to win the final, beating Gareth
Gates in a show watched by more
than 13 million people. His debut
single, Evergreen, went straight
to No 1, and stayed there for three
weeks; his album From Now On,
released shortly after, sold more
than 880,000 copies. His status as
Britain’s first phone-vote pop star
was confirmed.
Two decades on, there is
widespread criticism of how TV
talent shows have treated their
For someone
young stars. Katie Waissel, who
appeared on The X-Factor in 2010,
who suffers
recently said her involvement in
the show left her feeling suicidal,
from anxiety,
and that she is still being treated
for PTSD. Her rival from the same
lockdown has
season, Cher Lloyd, has also
said she was “exploited”, while
actually been
Jedward, the twins who made
it through to the 2009 finals,
amazing
called out the show and wider
music industry issues on Twitter,
including a reliance on exploitative
contracts, NDAs, threats and
blacklisting. Rebecca Ferguson,
PHOTOGRAPHS: MATT HOLYOAK; GETTY
 •
The Guardian
Monday 26 April 2021
another X-Factor finalist in 2010,
recently met the culture secretary,
Oliver Dowden, to discuss how the
music industry could be reformed
to protect artists.
“Just you wait,” says Young. “It’s
all gonna come out. It has to.” He
seems angry on behalf of others
rather than himself. Because no one
realised how huge Pop Idol would
be, those first stars got relatively
generous deals. “We got a lot of
money. Sure, we could have got
more. But we all came away with
60 grand. Sixty grand is a fuck-load
of money.”
He had a lot of fun on the show
itself. “We would jump out of hotel
windows to escape security guards
– there was something very pure
about it.” Even Simon Cowell sitting
on the judging panel couldn’t change
that. “I remember thinking: we’re
not two peas in a pod,” says Young.
“But I don’t like bullies, so I would
have always reacted that way.”
T
he real toxicity
came from the media – such as
the Mail on Sunday, which in 2002
attempted to break the “news”
about Young being gay before he
could come out himself. When
he found out what was planned,
Young beat them to the punch,
telling his story in the News of the
World. There are other articles that
he wishes he had sued over. “There
was one saying I was part of a gay
bullying ring – basically abusing
boys at Wellington – and I let it go.
I think I will always regret that.
And there was a story once about
my brother chasing after me with
a baseball bat when he found out
I was gay, and I’m really mortified
that I can’t go that far back and sue.
I regret that; I did tell Rupert that.
But, unfortunately, the climate
wasn’t so forgiving for someone
who was gay.”
By and large, however, record-
buyers didn’t seem to care much
about his sexuality – even if for a
long time some men felt the need
to caveat their love of his music. “I
very occasionally still get it now,
blokes going: ‘I listen to your
music, but I’m not gay.’” Young’s
second album, Friday’s Child,
came out a year after he did and
sold 1.8m copies.
His label wanted him to go
international. “I turned it down,”
he says. “That’s why I don’t sell
internationally.” He describes “the
most hysterical meetings I’ve ever
had in my life” with his record
label, intended to plan his path
to international stardom. “This
dickhead came in, and he was like:
‘Enrique Iglesias said to me …’ – I just
want to preface that I don’t know
if he said this, this is what the guy
said – ‘“I don’t want to walk down
any street and not be recognised”,
and I made that dream happen.’ And
I turned around and went: ‘Well, I
can categorically tell you, I want the
7
I still get
blokes going:
‘I listen to
your music –
but I’m
not gay’
complete opposite.’” The meeting
came to a swift end.
He has still had a dazzling career,
with numerous multiplatinum
albums, as well as two Brit awards
and 12 nominations. He has been
able to explore other creative
avenues, too, such as acting: in
2013 he played the MC in Cabaret,
for which he was nominated for an
Olivier award for best actor.
Crying on the Bathroom Floor
celebrates modern women in pop
who inspire him. It’s not, he insists:
“Will does Kylie! Will does Dolly!”
Instead, he says he wanted the
album to have a more “left-field”
focus, so it includes covers by a
range of artists including Mona,
Clare Maguire, Everything But
the Girl, Robyn and Solange. He is
immensely proud of the album and
will be playing a few acoustic gigs
later this year. While he is adamant
there is not much he has missed
about daily life during lockdown
(he is one of the few people who
loves Zoom meetings), he can’t
wait to be sharing a stage with
his band again. “It’s almost
church-like,” he says. “You go to a
different place.”
Beyond showbiz, he is keen to
use his experiences to help others
who have struggled with their
mental health or sexuality. He jokes
that he should join the government
in a sort of Mary Portas role, but to
improve wellbeing rather than the
high street. He started training as
a psychotherapist, but has parked
that for the time being on the
advice of his psychiatrist. “She said
to me the other day: ‘You should
be a therapist,’ and then we both
stopped, and she was like: ‘No,
actually, I don’t think you should –
you’re too sensitive.’ So I stopped.”
But he has been doing some
mentoring for the past six years,
mainly people in their 20s who
contacted him via social media.
He can be a sort of “parent figure”
he says, “who’s also gone through
a lot of therapy and doesn’t charge
them. I wish my old therapist
was like that. She used to tell me
that our sessions paid for her
Tiffany earrings.”
Crying on the Bathroom Floor is out
on 6 August. To Be a Gay Man is out
in paperback on 29 April (Virgin
Books, £9.99).
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans
can be contacted on 116 123 or
email jo@samaritans.org or
jo@samaritans.ie.

8 The Guardian
Sound
and
vision
They turned
drawings into
symphonies
and made black
boxes sing. Why
were the women
who pioneered
electronic
music never
given their due?
By Jude Rogers
W
earing
a black cocktail dress and a foil-
bright silver headscarf, a woman
stands in the corner of a drawing
room performing The Swan by
Saint-Saëns, while a group of men
look on. Although the scene has a
sedate Edwardian air to it, this is
actually 1976. The woman whirls
her red nails around a mysterious
black box, making it sigh and
lament, whisper and sing. This
is Clara Rockmore, the first
virtuoso of the theremin, andnd
her audience – all there to
learn – includes Robert Moogog,
inventor of the synthesiser..
A year later, aged 66,
Rockmore would release
her first album, recorded
by Moog, 35 years after she
made her concert debut on
the instrument at New York’sk’s
City Hall, where she arrangeded
spirituals for a black male
sextet with composer Hall
Johnson. Rockmore also
toured widely with the
bass baritone Paul Robeson n
in the 1940s, and turned
down a request to perform
on the spooky soundtrack
for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1945
•
Arts
thriller Spellbound, as she wanted
her instrument to be valued, not
treated like a novelty.
Rockmore is one of 10 electronic
music pioneers featured in Sisters
With Transistors, Lisa Rovner’s
debut documentary, released
over the weekend. Aiming to
connect these women’s disparate,
noisy stories, the film teems with
spliced-together archive footage
that recalls the mash-up style of
Adam Curtis: nuclear tests and
beauty competitions swirl around
the many revealing clips of the
musicians.
One of the first performers
Rovner became captivated by was
Daphne Oram, co-founder of the
BBC Radiophonic Workshop, who
she saw in the 2003 documentary
The Alchemists of Sound. Oram
was a pioneer in making music
from tape and developed her own
compositional method, Oramics. “A
quote of hers really spoke to me,”
Rovner says. It came from Oram’s
1972 book, An Individual Note of
Music, Sound and Electronics.
“It said, ‘Do not let us fall into the
trap of trying to name one man
as the “inventor” of electronic
music. As with most inventions, we
shall find that many minds were,
almost simultaneously excited
into visualising far-reaching
possibilities.’ I wanted my film to
show all those connections.”
We hear Private Dreams and
Public Nightmares, Oram and
fellow workshop co-founder
Desmond Briscoe’s groundbreaking
1957 work, the first radiophonic
composition played in full on the
BBC, on the Third Programme
(which became Radio 3). It was
their first “attempt to convey a new
kind of emotional and intellectual
experience”.
p We then see Oram – a
Sighs and
whispers …
Clara Rockmore
plays the
theremin
Monday 26 April 2021
Switched on …
Wendy Carlos
in her New York
studio, 1979
dead ringer for the young Margaret
Thatcher – in 1963, having been
awarded £3,500 (the equivalent
of £62,400 today) by the Calouste On site …
Gulbenkian Foundation. Her Maryanne
manner is frightfully polite as
PHOTOGRAPHS: LEN DELESSIO/CORBIS/GETTY IMAGES; UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE/GADO/GETTY; COURTESY BLANK FORMS/
Amacher, who
she’s interviewed by a reporter, appears in
and almost apologetic. “I’ve got the film
some little grasp of this sort of
equipment,” she says, before
introducing Oramics, which THE MARYANNE AMACHER FOUNDATION; NATIONAL MEDIA MUSEUM/DAILY HERALD ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
converts drawings into music.
There’s also a rare clip of Wendy
Carlos from 1969, explaining her
modular synthesiser to a French TV
network, as well as 8mm footage
of Pauline Oliveros that Rovner
acquired from one of her old lovers.
Oliveros is fascinating on screen
and off. Born in 1932 a and openly gay
from the start of her career,
c she was
concepts of “deep
a pioneer of the conce
listening” and “sonic awareness”.
These asked the listener
listen to spend Frightfully
time focusing on the d depths and polite …
layers of sound, a concept
con Oliveros Daphne Oram
developed later in herhe career,
cathedrals and caves.
recording in cathedra
“There has to be a ccomplete
change of consciousn
consciousness
musical field,” said
throughout the music
calling for the
Oliveros in 1970, calli
teaching of “music that’s written
by women as we well as men as
well as all ccolours”. She
added: “ “It will affect
a great change.
Listening
Listen is the
basis of creativity
basi
of culture.”
c
Although she
Alt
 •
The Guardian
Monday 26 April 2021

co-founded the San Francisco
Tape Music Center, one of the first
electronic music collectives, she’s
not listed as such on its Wikipedia
entry. (Its male co-founders Morton
Subotnick and Ramon Sender get
top billing.)
Oliveros wrote a piece for the
New York Times in 1970 titled And
Don’t Call Them Lady Composers,
focusing on the difficulties of
women being noticed and taken
seriously in her field. It’s still
online and could have been written
yesterday. “Men do not have to
commit sexual suicide in order to
encourage their sisters in music,” is
one of many compelling phrases.
Rovner’s big coup for Sisters
With Transistors is getting Laurie
Anderson to narrate: the avant-
garde composer signed up,
delighted to hear that Oliveros
and French composer Éliane
Radigue would be properly getting
their dues. Anderson’s 1981 hit
decades: Oram’s name sits on a Quest … Dominic
Performing Right Society prize, and Monaghan in
her 1949 composition Still Point, The Kindling Hour
written for orchestra and turntable,
was performed at the 2018 Proms.
Isn’t there a risk that by saying
these women are still unsung, we
might be discrediting the singing
that has already been done? Or
that we might be fetishising them
as a specialist interest? “Some
people know them, but others
don’t,” Rovner says bluntly. “Plus
their stories quickly get forgotten
again.” Suzanne Ciani, who forged
a successful commercial career in
electronic music from the 70s, says
this explicitly in the film: “It’s two
steps forward, one step back. To
Fellowship of the scorpions
this day, it irks me to turn on my
favourite radio station and it’s just Dominic Monaghan has been a hobbit and a pop star
this male parade.”
Ciani revolutionised the sound in Lost. But, finds Ryan Gilbey, neither compare to the
of US commercials, inventing an
electronic bubbling sound for a joys of gardening in LA – and raising deadly animals
bottle of Coke, and became the first

O Superman used a vocoder and
a polyphonic synthesiser and
her delivery – knowing, icy and
inviting – connects the parallel
marches of technology, modernity
and women’s liberty. “The spirit
of modern life was a banshee,” she
says, “screeching into the future.”
“It’s very interesting,” Anderson
says today, “that a lot of that early
work in electronics was done by
women. Some of them wanted
to do nothing less than change
the way people listened, which
is telling. They wanted to think
about how sound could recalibrate
our body and mind.” They also
wanted to make their own
machines to express themselves
as music-makers and performers,
as Anderson did. Her inventions
include a tape-bow violin, which
has magnetic tape where the
bow’s horsehair should be, and
a 6ft “talking stick”, a wireless
instrument that can replicate any
sound.
Some clips in Sisters With
Transistors are more familiar, such
as the much-played BBC footage
of Delia Derbyshire explaining her
tape machines. (A more inventive
film about the composer – Caroline
Catz’s Delia Derbyshire: The Myths
and Legendary Tapes – premiered
to acclaim at the London film
festival last year, and airs next
month on the BBC.) Indeed, the
status of many female electronic
artists has rocketed in recent
woman to score a Hollywood film:
Joel Schumacher’s 1981 comedy
The Incredible Shrinking Woman.
“I didn’t know it would be 14 years
until another woman was hired,”
she says. “We are casualties of a
day-to-day system that operates
without awareness that we’re even
there.” This is still an industry
problem. Hildur Gudnadottír
was the first woman to win a best
original score Oscar for Joker, but
another composer, Hannah Peel,
said to me recently in the Observer:
“We have to remind ourselves the
number of female composers [in
film] is something ridiculous. It’s
gone down this year from 6% to 4%.
We need to know why.”
Because of the nature of the
instruments, electronic music-
making is often an isolated pursuit.
Nevertheless, one artist featured
in Sisters With Transistors, Laurie
Spiegel, tells me how struck she
was by the fact that the women in
the film barely knew of each other.
“How different would things have
been if we had?” Spiegel studied
composition in London in the
late 60s but heard of Oram and
Derbyshire only in the past decade
or so. That said, she never thought
explicitly about being a female
musician. “It wasn’t about me. It
was about the tech, the freedoms it
gave me, and the musical vistas it
opened up for me to explore.”
Technology, says Spiegel, can
be a liberator: “It blows up power
structures.” The younger women
who populate the film give weight
to this statement – from producer
Marta Salogni (Björk/the xx) who
does its sound design, to such
T
o be part of one cultural
phenomenon could be
considered fortuitous. To be
central to two looks downright
spooky. Such is the life of
Dominic Monaghan, the puckish his home with a tailless whip scorpion, a
Mancunian actor who played Merry, a hobbit
in the Lord of the Rings movies. A year after
that trilogy ended, he was the drug-addled
rock star Charlie Pace in Lost, one of the most
mind-bending and widely watched TV series
of all time. Today, Monaghan is speaking to me adventure Edge of the World, shot in Borneo;
via Zoom from his home in Los Angeles. “Look
down from the D in the Hollywood sign,” he
says, “go over about a mile, and that’s me.”
He’s sporting a Manchester United tracksuit
top and reflecting on his Lost years.
“It might be the last show you actually had
to be there to see,” says the affable 44-year-
old of the pre-streaming hit, his boyish face
and tufty hair offset by the gravelly Steptoe
timbre of his voice. “Nowadays, we’re all
bingeing. When Lost was first on, it went
out on Wednesday night, and if you missed
it there was the chance
I like Gardeners’ someone would ruin it
for you the next day.”
Question Time His latest project
won’t take too large
on Radio 4. It’s a bite out of anyone’s
evening. The Kindling
beautiful, right? Hour is an online
interactive quest
designed for teams of up
to six players, with ingenious clues ranging
from fun to fiendishly hard. Monaghan, who
appears as a twitchy agent, is a sucker for
games. “I had so much fun playing this one.
It’s like an online escape room.” Then again,
his brain is wired for the sort of close reading or Oxford. I was the northern regional guy
demanded by The Kindling Hour. “I’ve always coming down to London to get jobs, and
been interested in minutiae. Sometimes I
miss the bigger picture. Maybe that’s an actor
thing. Actors are always interested in subtext.
And I’m a gardener, too. I love cultivating tiny grateful. Perhaps that explains why he doesn’t
PHOTOGRAPH: SWAMP MOTEL; ALLSTAR/NEW LINE CINEMA
could get my hands on.” Fans of his nature
series Wild Things, where he travelled the
globe seeking out creatures most of us would
cross a six-lane motorway to avoid, will not
be surprised to learn that he currently shares
vinegaroon whip scorpion, four types of
millipede, 12 types of woodlouse, three
rattlesnakes and a lizard from Guatemala.
Monaghan finished shooting two movies
prior to the first lockdown: the historical
and a brief turn in the oddball thriller Waldo,
starring Charlie Hunnam, Mel Gibson and the
rapper Method Man. But as someone who
has pivoted during the past year toward voice
work (audiobooks, videogames), Monaghan
is aware of how unstable Covid-19 has made
the arts. On the day we speak, the splendid
Arclight cinema has announced it will not
reopen. “It’s an LA institution. I was talking
this morning with the boys – Elijah Wood, Sean
Astin and Billy Boyd – and we were saying we
wished we’d known, so we could have done a
charity Lord of the Rings screening.”
What he would like to do most in his own
career is theatre, once that becomes possible
again. His US agents aren’t keen. “They know
they can put me in a play for nine months,
or they can put me in a movie for nine days
and I’ll make them 15 times more money. I’m
interested in the artistic journey. Agents are
interested in their 10%.”
As a young actor in the late 1990s,
Monaghan felt he had fallen through the
cracks. “I really wanted to be part of the new
generation establishing itself but I wasn’t
in any gang – the Trainspotting gang, or
whichever gang had gone to Rada or Lamda
it wasn’t happening.” That he found work
almost immediately when he moved to the
US is something for which he still sounds

They wanted artists as Ramona Gonzalez (AKA

Nite Jewel) and Holly Herndon
seeds into something bigger.”
That hobby poses challenges in LA.
want to push his agents too hard: all is rosy in
the garden. But at least he’s planted the seed.
to think who provide glowing voiceovers.
Towards the end of the film,
“There’s no rain and I live on a hill so all the
nutrients travel away. Over the years, I’ve
The Kindling Hour is available online.

how sound Herndon talks of the psychological

thrill “that happens when you can
introduced drought-tolerant plants like
lavender, salvias, cactuses. My garden is
could recalibrate see yourself in the people who are
being celebrated”. As she speaks,
the place I go to if I’m ever struggling with
something. It’s an investment in the future,
bodies and you hear other women turning up
the volume, powering up for the
which has felt especially important lately.”
His father, a retired biology teacher, is his
minds future.
Sisters With Transistors is out
green-fingered mentor, though Radio 4 also
helps. “I listen to Gardeners’ Question Time.
Hobbit …
in The Lord
now, from Modern Films. It’s beautiful, right?”
of the Rings
Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and Insects are his true love. “As a kid, I loved
Legendary Tapes is on BBC Four polar bears, gorillas and lions but I wanted
in May. my connection to nature to be something I
 •

10 The Guardian

TV and radio Monday 26 April 2021

Viewpoint
9pm, ITV

Stars in
her eyes …
Rose Matafeo
as Jessie

Noel Clarke stars in this voyeuristic

thriller as DC Martin Young, who is tasked
with keeping watch on the prime suspect
for a missing persons crime by staking
out his street in Manchester. In tonight’s
opening episode, Young and his partner,
Review Starstruck, There is Matafeo’s performance for starters. Her
timing is as immaculate as you would expect from an Beckett, set up camp in the home of
BBC Three experienced standup, and her various foot-in-mouth
moments arise from a convincingly galumphing,
single mum Zoe (Alexandra Roach) and
garrulous nature instead of the grating dizziness-in- soon realise they are witnessing the
proximity-to-a-man that we usually get from the genre. entire road’s secrets play out. As Young
Kate is more easily stirred (“Oh, my God,” she cries when
Perfect timing Tom turns up at their flat one afternoon in the second
episode, “You’re going to the OSCARS!”) but even she
illicitly leaves his post and Zoe covers for
him, the pair begin to establish a bond.
and plenty of is more one of life’s natural flappers (“Where’s the tea?
Will he want whisky? Ice-cream! WHAT’S THE VIBE?”)
than traditional Ditsy Sidekick. It’s very pleasing.
Continues nightly until Friday.
Ammar Kalia
charm in this Patel pulls off his difficult role – a genuinely
charming, sane, un-self-centred film star – with
aplomb. His chemistry with Matafeo, and the Dom Digs In baby’s tumour while
Hackney romcom consistently above-average, if never quite sparkling,
script, make even the postcoital banter and flirtatious
11am, BBC One
Many of us now have
the mother is awake,
and performs a caesarean
conversational scenes work. Such scenes can be the a fresh appreciation for for a couple who have
downfall of the highwire romcom acts. essential workers. In restricted growth.
★★★☆☆ Their meet-cute – as is right and proper for an Anglo- this series, Dominic An absorbing watch.
Australian production – is in the men’s loo of a Littlewood tries his hand Hannah Verdier
Lucy Mangan nightclub, into which Jessie has nipped to avoid the
queue at the ladies’. Tom emerges from a cubicle as she
at various jobs, perhaps
discovering that Lights Up: J’Ouvert
is washing her hands. She points out that men have the presenting TV shows isn’t BBC Four, 10pm
great good fortune to be able to wee standing up, so the hardest thing he could Yasmin Joseph’s
what was he doing in there? “Treated myself to a sit- be doing. He begins on a acclaimed and
down one,” he says. “You would pee in a gift horse’s ferry, processing freight eyecatching play about

B
BC Three’s new comedy Starstruck mouth?” she replies, more in sorrow than in anger. between Northern Ireland the politics of carnival
is another bauble to add to the small This pair are made for each other, despite the fact that and England. comes to the BBC as part
but precious and increasing hoard of she is different enough from the expected film star Phil Harrison of its Lights Up theatre
productions effortlessly infused with companion for the paparazzi waiting outside his flat season. In 2017, on the
the particular sensibility that comes after their second night together to assume Jessie is the Greta Thunberg: A Year streets of Notting Hill,
with being led by women. You don’t cleaner. “Ultimately uncalled for,” she murmurs later. to Change the World friends Jade and Nadine
notice how much the rest of your cultural input is Still, there are plenty of highways and byways to be 9pm, BBC One are swept into a buzzy
informed by the male perspective – it’s been so explored and obstacles, including a misidentified pair For the third and final atmosphere, as well as
common, so unchallenged until ridiculously recent of knickers and a recent ex-girlfriend, to be navigated
And leg of her journey, the conversations on race,
times – until something different comes along. before they earn – I hope, for not all episodes were
another teenage climate activist society, gentrification
thing
Written by the award-winning comedian Rose made available for viewing – the right to live happily is in Brussels taking the and gender.
Matafeo (who also stars) and the comedy performer ever after together in more than a ninth of a house. EU parliament to task. Hannah J Davies
and writer Alice Snedden, and directed by Karen Maine And there’s Minnie Driver, albeit not in the first Wild Mountain But as Europe goes into
(also award-winning), Starstruck is the six-episode episode. But do stay until at least her turn as Tom’s Thyme, starring lockdown, coverage of Dreaming Whilst Black
tale of twentysomething Jessie (Matafeo). She lives, adamantine agent, Kath. Part Bebe Glazer from Frasier, Emily Blunt, her speeches is replaced 11.10pm, BBC One
millennially, in east London – one flatmate, a ninth part Driver’s own role as John Cleese’s sociopathic is available to in the headlines with As part of BBC Three’s
of a suburban terrace house rented between them, daughter Lorraine Finster in Will & Grace (and do seek rent from all pandemic news. Even Comedy Slice pilots,
two dead-end jobs and a variously enjoyable series of that out, too, while you still have time on your hands major digital so, the need for action Adjani Salmon co-writes
one-night stands at the weekends. One of them turns before full lockdown lifts), her main job, as she sees it retailers from is still urgent. and stars in this
out to be with a film star, Tom (Nikesh Patel). At first, is, to keep Tom thin (“If you think of eating bread, call this Friday. Ellen E Jones continuation of his
she is gobsmacked to discover his real identity and me”) and turn his desire away from indie credibility I suggest group popular web series
then, as you would be, hysterical. “It’s not going to and towards commercial success. (“Look at this script! watches across Baby Surgeons: following film-maker
happen again,” she says to her flatmate Kate (Emma You’re an unlucky-in-love optometrist – who falls in the nation. Delivering Miracles Kwabena (Salmon),
Sidi). “But he can’t take it back!” love with a blind girl! Rachel McAdams is already 9pm, Channel 4 as he tries to get his
Once you are over this slightly improbable premise attached!”) If there’s a happier sight than an actor Prof Basky Thilaganathan script made while
and a slightly flat first episode while everybody finds getting to play an agent, I don’t know what it is. of St George’s hospital navigating his family’s
their rhythm in this fairytale-inflected Hackney So, even if you smile rather than laugh your way is the miracle worker in disappointment at his
romcom (which also gets a terrestrial outing, with through Starstruck’s first episode, do give it at least question here. He brings a choice of career. First,
episode one showing on BBC One tonight), there is a lot another 22 minutes of your time thereafter. You might whole room to a standstill he has to endure his
to enjoy. end up quite struck by it yourself. as he lasers an unborn boring day job. AK
 •
The Guardian
Monday 26 April 2021 11

BBC One BBC Two ITV Channel 4 Channel 5 BBC Four

6.0 Breakfast (T) 9.15 Morning
Live (T) 10.0 Homes Under
the Hammer (T) (R) 11.0
Dom Digs In (T) 11.45
Paramedics on Scene
(T) 12.15 Bargain Hunt
(T) 1.0 News and Weather
(T) 1.30 Regional News
and Weather (T) 1.45 Doctors
(T) 2.15 Impossible (T) (R)
3.0 Escape to the Country
(T) 3.45 Money for Nothing
(T) 4.30 The Repair Shop
(T) (R) 5.15 Pointless (T)
6.0 News and Weather (T)
6.30 Regional News and
Weather (T) 7.0 The One
Show (T) 7.30 Panorama (T)
6.30 Great British Menu (T)
(R) 7.30 Sign Zone: Inside
the Zoo (T) (R) 8.30 The
Week in Parliament (T) 9.0
News at 9 (T) 10.0 News
(T) 12.15 Politics Live (T) 1.0
Live Snooker: The World
Championship (T) The
afternoon session on day 10
at the Crucible in Sheffield.
6.0 Richard Osman’s House
of Games (T) (R) 6.30 Great
British Railway Journeys
(T) 7.0 Live Snooker: The
World Championship (T)
Conclusion of two second-
round matches. Coverage
continues on BBC4.
6.0 Good Morning Britain (T)
9.0 Lorraine (T) 10.0 This
Morning (T) 12.30 Loose
Women (T) 1.30 News (T)
1.55 Local News (T) 2.0
Judge Rinder (T) 3.0 Tenable
(T) 3.59 Local News and
Weather (T) 4.0 Tipping
Point (T) 5.0 The Chase (T)
6.0 Local News (T) 6.30
News (T) 7.0 Emmerdale (T)
Millie is rushed to hospital
on Kim’s watch, Faith
emboldens Nate, and Nicola
conspires behind Jimmy’s
back. 7.30 Coronation Street
(T) Dev arranges a summit
meeting with Corey’s father.
6.0 Countdown (T) (R)
6.40 Cheers (T) (R) 7.35
Everybody Loves Raymond
(T) (R) 8.55 Frasier (T) (R)
9.25 Frasier (T) (R) 9.55
Frasier (T) (R) 10.25 Escape
to the Chateau: DIY (T)
(R) 11.25 News (T) 11.30
Couples Come Dine With Me
(T) (R) 12.30 Steph’s Packed
Lunch (T) 2.10 Countdown
(T) 3.0 A Place in the Sun
(T) 4.0 A New Life in the
Sun: Road Trip (T) 5.0 Four
in a Bed (T) (R) 5.30 The
Simpsons (T) (R) 6.0 Ackley
Bridge (T) (6/10) 6.30
Hollyoaks (T) (R) 7.0 News (T)
6.0 Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy
Vine (T) 11.15 Build a New
Life in the Country (T)
(R) 12.15 News (T) 12.20
House Doctor (T) (R) 12.45
House Doctor (T) (R) 1.15
Home and Away (T) (R)
1.45 Neighbours (T) 2.15
My Evil Daughter:
Love Me Or Else (Ben
Meyerson, 2018) (T) 4.0
Rich House, Poor House
(T) (R) 5.0 News (T) 5.30
Neighbours (T) (R) 6.0 Home
and Away (T) (R) 6.30 News
(T) 7.0 Premiership Rugby
Highlights (T) Action from
the 17th round of fixtures.
7.0 The Channel Tunnel: Life
on the Inside (T) (R) (1/4)
As the Channel tunnel’s
25th anniversary collides
with Brexit, meet the teams
behind the scenes and
beneath the seabed who
keep everything on track.
7.30 The Joy of Painting
(T) Bob Ross paints an
autumn landscape.

8.05 EastEnders (T) Zack offers
to help Nancy get a job.
8.30 Fawlty Towers (T) (R) (6/6)
A party of German guests
come to stay.
9.0 Greta Thunberg: A Year
to Change the World
(T) (3/3) The coronavirus
pandemic reveals the
enormity of the challenge
climate change poses.
8.0 Mastermind (T) John
Humphrys hosts the final
of the contest in his last
appearance as host.
9.0 Amazing Hotels:
Life Beyond the Lobby
(T) (R) Giles Coren and Monica
Galetti visit the Anantara Al
Jabal Al Akhdar in Oman, the
highest five-star hotel in the
Middle East.
8.0 Alan Titchmarsh:
Spring Into Summer
(T) Twiggy pays tribute to
the Great British seaside.
8.30 Coronation Street (T)
Sharon steals from Gail
as pressure mounts.
9.0 Viewpoint (T) (1/5) Crime
drama starring Noel Clarke
and Bronagh Waugh as police
officers on surveillance duty.
8.0 How to Save a Grand in
24 Hours (T) New series.
Tips on saving money and
sorting out homes.
9.0 Baby Surgeons:
Delivering Miracles
(T) New documentary
series following patients
and staff at one of the
UK’s leading foetal
medicine units.
8.0 Traffic Cops (T) A man
with a history of violence
is suspected of stealing a car.
9.0 A&E After Dark (T)
A 25-year-old woman
arrives in resus by air
ambulance after being
hit by a car while on a
night out. Plus, a team try
to revive a patient who is
having a cardiac arrest.
8.0 Live Snooker: The World
Championship (T) Further
coverage of the evening
session on day 10, featuring
the conclusion of two
second-round matches.
Three-time champion Mark
Selby was pushed to the
limit by Noppon Saengkham
at this stage last year,
eventually prevailing 13-12.

10.0 News (T)
10.30 Regional News (T) Weather
10.45 Starstruck (T) (1/6) New
sitcom with Rose Matafeo.
11.10 Dreaming Whilst Black
(T) One-off drama about a
young aspiring film-maker.
Adjani Salmon stars.
11.35 Graham Norton (T) (R)
12.25 A Question of Sport (T) (R)
12.55 Weather (T) 1.0 News
10.0 Have I Got a Bit More
News for You (T)
10.45 Newsnight (T) Weather
11.30 Snooker Highlights
The evening session
on day 10 in Sheffield
12.20 Snooker Extra (T) 2.20
Countryfile (T) (R) 3.15
Tupac Shakur: A Life in
Ten Pictures (T) (R) 4.15
Antiques Roadshow (T) (R)
10.0 News (T)
10.30 Local News (T)
10.45 Accused of Murdering
Our Son: The Steven Clark
Story (T) (R) Documentary.
11.45 Viewpoint (T) (R) (1/5)
12.40 All Elite Wrestling:
Dynamite (T) 1.30
Shop: Ideal World 4.05
ITV Nightscreen 5.05
Tipping Point (T) (R)
10.0 999: What’s Your
Emergency? (T) (R)
11.0 999: On the Front Line (R)
Paramedics are called to a
man who has had a seizure.
12.05 Paramedics: Britain’s
Lifesavers (R) 1.05 Kitchen
Nightmares USA (T) (R) 1.55
Couples CDWM (T) (R) 2.45
The Handmaid’s Tale (T) (R)
3.40 Amazing Spaces (T) (R)
10.0 Casualty 24/7: Every
Second Counts (T) (R)
Staff treat a patient in
cardiac arrest.
11.05 Ambulance: Code Red (R)
12.05 The Man With Another Man’s
Arms (T) (R) 1.0 The Live
Casino Show 3.10 Friends (T)
(R) 4.0 Now That’s Funny! (T)
(R) 4.45 Great Artists (T) (R)
5.10 Wildlife SOS (T) (R)
10.0 Lights Up: J’Ouvert
(T) Yasmin Joseph’s
play set during the
Notting Hill Carnival.
11.35 Fighting for King and
Empire: Britain’s Caribbean
Heroes (T) (R)
12.35 Colour: The Spectrum of
Science (T) (R) (3/3) 1.35 Joy
of Painting (T) (R) 2.05 The
Channel Tunnel (T) (R)

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Bill 10.0 American Big Bang Theory Double Playaz 3.0 FYI Extra 8.0 Keeping Up With the 1.0 Sid & Judy 3.0 Julie Week: Erik Satie (1/5) Buckley. (6/10) 11.0 Archers 7.15 Front Row Steptoe 12.30 Mr
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7.0 Would I Lie to You? Danger (1950) 4.40 Heir Hunters 1.05 A New Wars 4.0 Send in the 7am to 7.50pm are Concert. The first of a 9.45 (FM) The Great Continents (R) 9.0 Harding’s Daughter
7.40 Room 101 Double The Duel at Silver Life in the Sun 2.15 Four Dogs 5.0 SWAT double bills 6.0am Fish week of programmes Post Office Trial: War A Pyrotechnic History (1/3) 4.0 Act Your
Bill 9.0 QI XL 10.0 Creek (1952) 6.15  in a Bed. Five episodes. Town 7.0 Elementary featuring concerts of Attrition (R) (6/10) of Humanity: The Future Age (1/6) 4.30 The
Taskmaster 11.0 Mock The Martian (2015) 9.0 4.55 Heir Hunters 5.55 Sky Arts 9.0 The Wire 11.15 from Australia, with the 10.0 Woman’s Hour. (R) (4/4) 9.30 Start the Six Mothers-in-Law…
the Week 11.40 Would I Independence Day: The Secret Life of the 6.0am The Animal Dexter 1.30 Elementary Melbourne Symphony 10.45 Amongst Women, Week (R) 10.0 The World 5.0 Ayres on… 5.30
Lie to You? 12.20 Room Resurgence (2016) 11.20 Zoo 6.55 Escape to the Symphony 7.0 2Cellos 3.30 The Affair 5.40 Orchestra under Diego by John McGahern. Tonight 10.45 Book at Just a Minute (9/10)
101 Double Bill 1.35 QI Ray & Liz (2018) Chateau: DIY 7.55 Grand at Sydney Opera The Sopranos 7.50 Maltheuz performing (6/10) 11.0 The Untold: Bedtime: The Flatshare 6.0 Guards! Guards!
XL 2.30 Mock the Week 1.30 Scribe (2016) Designs 9.0 World’s House 9.0 Tales of the Game of Thrones Prokofiev’s Second The New Build (4/11) (R) 11.0 Word of Mouth: (6/6) 6.30 A Good Read
3.15 Last Stop Garage Greatest Shipwrecks: Unexpected Double 9.0 Mare of Easttown Piano Concerto with 11.30 Loose Ends (R) Romance Fraud (R) 11.30 (4/8) 7.0 Steptoe 7.30
Double Bill ITV2 History Beneath the Bill 10.0 Discovering: 10.10 Chernobyl 11.20 Yuia Wang, and Brahms’s 12.0 News 12.01 (LW) Today in Parliament Mr Finchley Goes… 8.0
7.0am Ellen DeGeneres Waves 10.0 Hunt for the Buster Keaton 11.0 Your Honor 12.30 Fourth Symphony. 4.30 Shipping Forecast 12.04 12.0 News 12.30 The Dr Morelle 8.30 Peter
E4 8.0 Emmerdale 8.30 Arctic Ghost Ship 11.05 The South Bank Deadwood Double Bill Early Music Now: The The Flatshare. By Beth Great Post Office Trial Ustinov… 9.0 Here’s the
All programmes to 7pm Coronation Street 9.30 24 Hours in A&E 12.10 Show Originals 11.30 2.50 Ray Donovan 4.0 Vienna Imperial Court. O’Leary. (6/10) 12.18 (R) 12.48 Shipping Thing 10.0 Just a Minute
are double bills 6.0am Supermarket Sweep 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Auction 12.0 National Richard E Grant’s Hotel Concentus Musicus Wien You and Yours 1.0 The Forecast 1.0 As World (9/10) 10.30 Chain
Hollyoaks 7.0 Baby 10.30 Love Bites Countdown 1.15 World’s Treasures: The Art of Secrets 5.0 Fish Town performs music by Fux World at One 1.45 39 Service 5.20 Shipping Reaction (1/6) 11.0 The
Daddy 8.0 Black-ish 11.30 Dress to Impress Greatest Shipwrecks: Collecting 1.0 Tales of and Biber. 5.0 In Tune Ways to Save the Planet: Forecast 5.30 News News Quiz (2/8) 11.30
9.0 Melissa & Joey 10.0 12.30 Emmerdale 1.0 History Beneath the the Unexpected Double 7.0 In Tune Mixtape Slippery Ships. Tom 5.43 Prayer for the Day Sean Lock: 15 Storeys
Big Bang Theory 11.0 Coronation Street 2.0 Waves 2.15 Hunt for Bill 2.0 Discovering: 7.30 In Concert. Weber: Heap explores how to 5.45 Farming Today 5.58 High (3/5) 12.0 Guards!
The Goldbergs 12.0 Ellen DeGeneres 2.50 the Arctic Ghost Ship Olivia De Havilland 3.0 Overture – Der Freischütz. make ships more carbon Tweet of the Day (R) Guards! (6/6) 12.30
Brooklyn Nine-Nine 1.0 Love Bites 3.50 Dress 3.20 Food Unwrapped Portrait Artist of the Poulenc: Concert efficient. (6/10) 2.0 A Good Read (4/8) 1.0
Big Bang Theory 2.0 to Impress 4.50 Take Year 2013 4.0 Patti champêtre. Mahan Drama: Suffer Little Radio 4 Extra Dr Morelle 1.30 Peter
Melissa & Joey 3.0 The Me Out 6.0 Catchphrase Sky One Smith: Music Icons 4.30 Esfahani (harpsichord) Children, by Gabriele 6.0am A Case for Dr Ustinov… 2.0 The Vital
Goldbergs 4.0 Black-ish Celebrity Special 7.0 6.0am Highway Cops Video Killed the Radio 8.05 Interval – Kogl. (R) 2.45 The Why Morelle (12/13) 6.30 Spark… 2.15 Gudrun
5.0 Brooklyn Nine-Nine You’ve Been Framed! Double Bill 7.0 Futurama Star 5.0 Tales of the Bull: Walsingham. Factor: Addiction (R) Peter Ustinov: Dear (6/10) 2.30 Femme
6.0 Big Bang Theory Gold 7.30 Superstore Double Bill 8.0 Monkey Unexpected Double Bill Mahan Esfahani (8/10) 3.0 Round Britain Me (1/8) 7.0 Ayres on Fatale… 3.0 Parson
7.0 Hollyoaks 7.30 8.0 Bob’s Burgers Life Double Bill 9.0 6.0 Discovering: William (harpsichord) 8.25 Quiz (8/12) 3.30 The the Air (4/4) 7.30 Just Harding’s Daughter (1/3)
Gogglesprogs 8.35 Big Double Bill 9.0 Family Road Wars 10.0 Send Holden 7.0 Inside Art: Beethoven:Symphony No Food Programme (R) a Minute (9/10) 8.0 4.0 Act Your Age (1/6)
Bang Theory 9.0 Made in Guy 9.30 American Dad! in the Dogs 11.0 NCIS: Masterpieces from 4 in B flat, Op.60. Prague 4.0 James Baldwin’s Steptoe and Son (5/8) 4.30 The Six Mothers-in-
Chelsea 10.0 Temptation 10.0 Family Guy 10.30 Los Angeles Double Buckingham Palace 8.0 Radio SO, Alexander Last Amen (R) 4.30 8.30 Mr Finchley Goes Law… 5.0 Ayres on…
Island 11.0 Pete & Sam’s Family Guy 11.0 Family Bill 1.0 Hawaii Five-0 Maria Callas: Legends Ray & Liz, Film4 Liebreich. 10.0 Music Beyond Belief: Dante’s to Paris (4/6) 9.0 Act 5.30 Just a Minute (9/10)
 •

TODAY’S PET CORNER ANSWER PINE MARTEN

12
Puzzles
The Guardian
Monday 26 April 2021

Friday’s Quick crossword no 15,902

solutions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Wordsearch Across Down 8

1 Study of the origin and nature 2 Porker’s noise (4)
of the universe (9) 3 Submissive (4) 9
8 Travel pass (4) 4 Suddenly snap (4,2)
9 Deepen (9) 5 Hoot of laughter (6)
10
10 Mock (4) 6 Variety (9)
13 Pale purple colour (5) 7 Vendor with handcart (6,3)
15 Recluse (6) 11 Feet treatment (9) 11 12 13 14
16 Polish capital (6) 12 Sharp — bang on (9)
17 Row (6) 13 Became animated (3,2) 15 16
19 Informal eatery serving wine (6) 14 Where on an aircraft passengers
20 Steel tower supporting power are carried (5)
lines (5) 18 (Study of) sentence structure (6)
21 Bouquet (4) 19 Straw hat (6)
17 18 19
24 Established by written law (9) 22 Article (4)
25 Money paid to the unemployed (4) 23 (Of sparkling wine) very dry (4)
Sudoku no 5206 26 Part of a limb farthest from the 20
torso (9)
21 22 23

24

25

26

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Suguru

Sudoku no 5210 Word wheel Suguru Wordsearch

Easy. Fill the grid so that each row, column and 3x3 Find as many words as Fill the grid so that each square Can you find 15 words relating to
box contains the numbers 1-9. Printable version at possible using the letters in an outlined block contains a swans in the grid? Words can run
theguardian.com/sudoku in the wheel. Each must digit. A block of 2 squares contains forwards, backwards, vertically or
use the central letter the digits 1 and 2, a block of three diagonally, but always in a straight,
and at least two others. squares contains the digits 1, 2 unbroken line.
Letters may be used only and 3, and so on. No same digit
once. You may not use appears in neighbouring squares,
plurals, foreign words or not even diagonally.
Word wheel proper nouns. There is at
DICTATION least one nine-letter word
to be found. TARGET:
Excellent-30. Good-25.
Saturday’s Quick Average-18.
crossword
Solution no 15,901
H A N D B R A K E T U R N
O O I C T S A
T I T R A C ON T E U R
E M D R A R R
L A Y A B O U T P I S A
C A E B N T
J A U N T Y C U P T I E
O P H M L E
G OO F C O C K E R E L
T F B N H F O
R A T I O N A L E A C T
O E O C A C U
T H A N K G O O D N E S S

Steve Bell Pet corner

If… In the His Dark
Materials
trilogy, which
animal does
Lyra’s daemon
settle on?
a. Polar bear
b. Pine marten
c. Moth
d. Cat
Answer top right