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19 August 2021
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of love,
sweatan
tears  G2

MPs lambast
Johnson over
Afghanistan
‘humiliation’
Rowena Mason
Peter Walker
Boris Johnson faced a wall of fury
from all wings of the Conservative
party over the UK’s conduct in
Afghanistan, with 11 former cabinet
ministers among the dozens of MPs
and peers expressing anger and
frustration at Britain’s failures in
intelligence and preparation.
During a torrid session in the Com-
mons, the overwhelming majority of
Tories who spoke condemned Brit-
ain’s failure to anticipate the Taliban
takeover of Kabul and its perceived
humiliation on the worldstage. More
than 30 Tory MPs spoke against the
government, while only a handful
voiced support for its actions.
Some also roundly criticised the
US president, Joe Biden, whose blam-
ing of Afghanistan’s security forces
for the Taliban’s return to power was
described as “shameful”.
Opposition MPs taunted Johnson
and the foreign secretary, Domi-
nic Raab, who were both on holiday
last weekend when Kabul was being
surrounded by Taliban gunmen.
Opening an emergency debate
after recalling parliament, Johnson
insisted Britain could not have stayed
in the country “without American
might”. He said a military defence
of Afghanistan by the west was not
possible in the absence of Washing-
ton’s support.
However, his claim about the
UK’s withdrawal efforts were chal-
lenged by high-profile Conservatives,
including the former prime minis-
ter Theresa May, the former defence
secretary Liam Fox, and the former
foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt.
May delivered a scathing attackon
the foreign policy and intelligence
failures of Johnson and President
Biden, and suggested the prime min-
ister should havetried to form a Nato
alliance to stay in without America.
“Was our intelligence really so
poor? Was our understanding of the
Afghan government so weak? Was
our knowledge on the ground so inad-
equate? Or did we just think we had
to follow the United States and on a
wing and a prayer it would be all right
on the night?” she said.
Other ex-cabinet ministers who
joined in the criticism included Iain
Duncan Smith, who said 4 
the “parallels with the ▲ Boris Johnson leaves Downing Street for the Commons, where he faced attacks from all sides : V 

Britainfears US could Rise in train fares may However,the government has not
yet revealed its plans for January

pull out of Kabul airport be biggest since 2012

Dan Sabbagh
Rowena Mason
Jessica Elgot
Britain fears US forces may pull out
of Kabul international airport within
days, putting it at risk of closure and
raising concerns over the emergency
•
airlift of thousands of people from
Afghanistan.
Whitehall and security sources
said they could not guarantee how
long the US would keep its 6,000
troops on the ground and cautioned
that the UK could not continue the
rescue without their pres-
ence. They also indicated 7 
Jasper Jolly
Rail fares in England and Wales are
on track to rise at their fastest rate in
a decade unless ministers decide to
prevent steep price increases to coax
commuters back on to trains.
Annual increases in rail fares are
usually governed by the July retail
prices index (RPI), plus one percent-
age point. The Office for National
Statistics (ONS) said yesterday that
the RPI for July was 3.8%, meaning
prices could rise by 4.8% in January.
That would be the steepest increase
since 2012.
price rises as it considers the effect of
the coronavirus pandemic on British
transport and switches control of
train services to a new arm’s-length
body, Great British Railways.
A steep fare rise could also prove
politically contentious in the run-up
to the UN climate summit, Cop26,
which is being held in Glasgow in
November. The UK has already come
under fire for its implicit subsidies
for polluting petrol and diesel cars
with a decade-long freeze 2 
in fuel duty. Campaigners
 • The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
Inside19/8/21 News
Four sections every weekday ▼ Commuters could see rail fares
rise 4.8% from the start of next year
due to the link with the inflation rate
: V /
ort time, a season ticket from Coventry to
London and from Swindon to London
will have risen by £3,600 and £3,300
respectively, it said. Jim McMahon,
Alpaca controversy the shadow transport secretary, said
it would be “yet another eye-watering
Last-ditch legal effort to hike” for commuters.
save Geronimo is thrown Paul Tuohy,the chief executive of
out by high court judge the Campaign for Better Transport,
Page 5 said the government should freeze
fares to increase passenger num-
bers, while helping to reduce climate
Living with MND emissions by reducing the number of
trips taken by cars. “In the face of a
Former rugby league player climate emergency, the government
Rob Burrow talks about life should be doing everything it can to
since his diagnosis in 2019 encourage people to choose low-
Page 40 carbon public transport by making
it the cheapest option, not hikingrail
 Continued from page 1 than saying itis due later this year. A fares,” he said. “If the government
•

JournalOutside G2 Rail passengers in Department for Transport spokes-

person said: “No decision has been
can freeze fuel duty for 10 years, it
can freeze rail fares next year.”
Opinions and ideas
There is an alternative to top-down regeneration Aditya Chakrabortty, page 3 G2
Daily
pullout

England and Wales

Life on Earth is coming second to corporations George Monbiot, page 4 life &

made on national rail fares. The gov- Anthony Smith, the chief executive
arts
section
The search fortruth in theGaza aid scandal The long read, page 5 Inside

ernment is considering a variety of of Transport Focus, an independent

The Guardian Thursday19August 2021

 Top-down regeneration face big rise in fares options and we will announce our watchdog, said: “After an extraor-
Opinion
and ideas

The plightof
Afghanwomen
helpedjustify
I t was one of the worst phone calls I’ve ever
received: a friend in Kabul calling on Sunday
afternoon to say that armed men had just
visited her house. Her voice was shaking to
the extent that she sounded as if she was
gasping for air. The men had intimidated her
and left, and she had fled to a friend’s house to
hide with her children. She didn’t know when
they’d return, if they would find her, or when it would
be possible to relocate again to somewhere farther
away. I have never heard someone sound so scared.
of our towns and cities is decision in due course.” dinary year, it’s good to hear the
Labour said its analysis showed government is considering a range
broken. Here is an alternative say fares should be frozen to encour- that an annual season ticket between of options. It’s important to con-
Aditya Chakrabortty age passengers back to the railways Birmingham and London will have sider what would helpget even more
Page 3 and help reduce emissions. risen by 50% since 2010,under coali- people back to travelling by train.”
Ministers are facing a dilemma tion and Conservative governments, The use of the RPI measure is par-
over whether to try to entice com- to more than £12,000 if the latest pre- ticularly controversial because flaws
the past few days. When I first got to know her in 2019,
she told me she was being threatened by the Taliban
and was afraid to continue her work. But continue she
did. Over the last year, as the Taliban gained ground
across Afghanistan, the risks intensified. She was
followed home from work. More than once, someone
tried to crash an unfamiliar vehicle into her car.
In recent months, as the situation in Afghanistan
:
É   Life on Earth is coming
second to the interests
muters back on to the railways with
lower prices, or to allow train com-
panies to raise fares – potentially
dicted rises go ahead. During that
The most expensive season ticket is
in its calculation mean it is higher
than other measures of inflation,
such as the consumer prices index
of corporations
deteriorated, she was desperate to leave. In early
July, Biden administration officials said they were
“considering” 2,000 expedited visas for “vulnerable

war.Butnow?
She begged for help to escape the country; I women”, including journalists, politicians and

allowing them to recover some of (CPI). The ONS said yesterday that CPI
promised I would keep trying. But options were activists, who might be targeted by the Taliban after
closing all the time. Earlier that day, I’d managed to the withdrawal. My friend asked me to help her find

projected to cost more than £12,000

get my friend and her children booked through a small more information. I searched for details, but even as a
charity on a flight to a third country. The plan was that native English speaker and someone who finds things
Samira

they’d get to safety and continue to look for a more
permanent relocation. It was a brief ray of hope during
Shackle
a dark few days. But within hours of the booking, all
commercial flights out of Kabul were cancelled.
Like me, my friend is a female journalist in her 30s
George Monbiot
out for a living, it was difficult to get any clarity on this
proposal, or on any other legal routes by which Afghan
their losses during the pandemic. inflation was only 2% in July.
journalists could seek resettlement. As it happened,
the scheme for vulnerable women never materialised. 
This is a particular outrage because women in Samira Shackle

 • 2010 price (£ thousands) • 2021

who has worked in the media for her whole adult life. Afghanistan have long been used as a political talking is editor of the
There the similarities end. For my friend, working as a point in the west; the protection of New Humanist
journalist in Kabul led to death threats and intimidation Afghan women was a key justification for and the author

Page 4 The government stepped in to Unlike CPI, which is the main

long before the recent US withdrawal and the chaos of invasion and a reason for western forces of Karachi Vice

bail out rail companies at the start
of the pandemic, and the number of
G2 Centre pullout people using public transport is still
well below pre-pandemic averages
Features and arts in some cities.
Regulated rail fares in England
‘It was my last nightalone’ and Wales rose by 2.6% in March, an
increase delayed from January in part
Could a stranger at her table because of pandemic restrictions on
offer solace to heartbroken travel at the start of the year. About
Morwenna Ferrier? Oh, those 40% of fares are regulated, according
Page 3 to the Rail Delivery Group, which rep-
hot summer resents train companies.
nights!
True tales of love, It is understood fares will be con-
’I sat naked by the freezer’ sweat and tears sidered as part of a “rail recovery”
package as ministers try to get people
Danny Lavelle’s terrifying who have been working from home
encounter with a large back on public transport. The govern-
spider in Australia Thursday 19/08/21
• 2022 projected
£0 2 4 6
Birmingham to London
Coventry to London
Swindon to London
Norwich to London
Stoke-on-Trent to Milton Keynes
measure of inflation used by the Bank
8 10 12 of England and the Treasury, RPI
includes some housing costs. It also
uses a mathematical formula aban-
doned by other countries in recent
years because it can distort inflation
readings.
The House of Lords economic
affairs committee has previously
warned the government against
picking RPI or CPI when it suits the
exchequer best, a tactic known as
“index shopping”.
Economists and statisticians are
highly critical of RPI, which lost its
status as a national statistic in 2013.
The UK’s national statistician, Prof Sir
Ian Diamond, said in November that

ment has not yet given any details of RPI was “not fit for purpose and we
Page 5 when this will be announced, other Source: Guardian analysis; Labour strongly discourage its use”.

Become a Guardian and Observ

subscriber from £5.07 a week Editors’ society Prince Harry was motivated by her
skin colour.
career progression to senior levels,
or facing hurdles in reporting stories
Visit theguardian.com/paper-subs retracts claim Murray’s insistence that the British
media “is most certainly not racist”
and shaping the news agenda.”
Alford stood by aspects of the orig-

Weather Cartoon that UK media led to a schism in the newspaper

Page 38 Journal, page 4
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content of UK newspapers
in  2017 was 64.6%
is not racist
Jim Waterson
Media editor
The organisation that represents
British newspaper editors has with-
drawn its claim that the UK media is
not racist or bigoted after six months
of pressure from journalists of colour
who said it did not reflect their expe-
rience of the industry.
The Society of Editors said it would
now work to improve diversity in the
industry and would no longer stand
by statements made in March by its
former director, Ian Murray.
He had strongly disputed claims
by the Duchess of Sussex that nega-
tive coverage of her relationship with
industry between editors who backed
his stance and a group, including the
Guardian, that strongly disagreed.
The subsequent row ultimately led
to Murray’s resignation and a crisis
of confidence at the society.
When Dawn Alford was appointed
as the new executive director last
month, more than 100 journalists of
colour pointed out that the organ-
isation had done little to deal with
the impact of its “insultingand ham-
fisted blanket denial of racism”.
Alford has now formally retracted
the original claims and said her pre-
decessor’s comments on racism did
not “reflect the complex, challeng-
ing and changing processes that all
society – including the media – is
experiencing”. She added: “We also
acknowledge the concerns of jour-
nalists of colour who have discussed
with us issues they have experienced,
whether those problems are due to a
lack of diversity in their workplace,
inal statement: “I would like to again
affirm that the UK media has a proud
record of calling out racism and we
also acknowledge thatthe UK media
has never shied away from holding a
spotlight up to those in positions of
power, celebrity, or influence.”
The organisation has a remit to
promote the industry and campaign
for freedom of speech. It represents
local newspapers and national titles
with wide-rangingpolitical leanings,
from the Daily Mail to the Guardian,
which can lead to tensions.
A spokesperson for the Guardian,
which had considered resigning its
membership, said the publisher had
now decided to remain a member of
the Society of Editors, adding: “Like
all institutions, the British media
must work much harder to become
both more representative and more
self-aware on issues of race and the
treatment of people of colour. This
is a welcome response from the new
director of the Society of Editors.”
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
‘It’snot Disneyland’: Lindisfarne
fumes over Larry the Landtrain
Harriet Sherwood
For centuries, pilgrims have walked
in the footsteps of monks who
once inhabited the Holy Island of
Lindisfarne, connected by a tidal
causeway to the ancient kingdom of
Northumbria.
They have marvelled at the birth-
place of the Lindisfarne Gospels, one
of the most celebrated illuminated
manuscripts in the world, admired
the castle that towers over crashing
waves and the ruins of the ancient
priory, and watched thousands of
grey seals basking on the sand banks.
But in recent weeks, the Holy
Island’sfamed peace and tranquillity
‘Slaves to their bowels’: medieval
monks’ diet unearthed at abbey
Mark Brown
Arts correspondent
It may have seemed a good day for
medieval monks when a papal decree
allowed them to start eating meat
including mutton, beef, pork and
venison. It was not so good for their
bowels.
Research by English Heritage
sheds light on the day-to-day lives
and digestive troubles of monks
at Muchelney Abbey in Somerset.
•
News
In particular the consequence of a
change in papal law, in 1336, which
permitted twice weekly consumption
of meat from four legged animals.
The monks already had an unbal-
anced and calorie-rich diet. Adding
meat as a luxury meantconstipation
and diarrhoea soon became a major
problem, said the English Heritage
historian Michael Carter.
“Basically monks were slaves to
their bowels, they often had serious
health problems becauseof their diet
and digestion.”
▼ Some islanders on Lindisfarne
object to a proposal for the Larry
shuttle, below, as ‘Disneyfication’
: J /Y
have been shattered by an acrimo-
nious row over a garish green and
yellow interloper.
Larry the Landtrain has been
proposed as a Covid-secure and
child-friendly alternative to the
existing shuttle bus which fer-
ries locals and visitors between the
island’s amenities and attractions.
His three open-air carriages, which
can accommodate 36 passengers and
a conductor, will boost local busi-
nesses, claims his chief advocate
Steve Wood of Woody’s Taxis.
But opposition to Larry has been
swift and ferocious. “First and fore-
most, I don’t think Holy Island is the
place for a land train: it’s not Disney-
land, we’re not a theme park,” said
Nicola Douglas, 47, a lifelong Lindis-
farne resident who is spearheading
the resistance.
The existing shuttle bus was
needed by older and disabled peo-
ple but Larry would “appeal to
families and kids who could have
walked, so that will take footfall from
stalls along the route,” Douglas told
Chronicle Live.
The change in diet came with rules
that the meat should not be eaten in
the refectory, and Carter has discov-
ered structural changes made to the
abbey to allow this.
He has also come across what
amounts to a guide to monastic
healthy eating from annotations in
the abbey’s 14th century breviary, a
holy service book.
Carter has been interested in
monks and their digestion since vis-
iting Kirkstall Abbey, on the outskirts
of Leeds as a child and seeing the sur-
viving latrines. “I remember being
fascinated by it being a 900-year-old
monastic toilet block,” he said.
Decades later Carter is fascinated
by the daily lives of the people in the ▲ Monkish labours may have been
monasteries. disrupted by digestive problems
3
“The streets here are already awful
with traffic, and parking is a night-
mare. I think the train is goingto play
havoc with the traffic, especially for
the businesses who get deliveries
every day.
“When tourists come to the island
we want them to enjoy it for what it
is … and people feel, for so many rea-
sons, that a land train is taking away
from the experience of the island.”
By yesterday,almost 9,000 people
had signed apetition set up by Doug-
las opposing Larry’s introduction
and supporting the argument that
Holy Island “is not the place for a
land train”.
But Wood, whose taxi firm has
operated the shuttle bus for the past
three years and expects to run the
land train service, said Larry’s open
sides would be welcomed by those
concerned about Covid transmission.
“The reason behind using a land
train is it’s open air, so it’s Covid-
friendly,” he said. “The train only does
10mph, it’s narrower than a bus and it
has a conductor on the back, so if any-
thing it’s safer than the shuttle bus.
It’s more environmentally friendly
as it has a smaller engine.”
Moving to the bitter heart of the
dispute, he added: “This is all hap-
pening because some local people
don’t want it on ‘their island’ – but
they don’t own the island. There are
local people on the island now with
young families who can’t wait to take
their children on it.”
So inflamed is opinion that yester-
day Northumberland county council
scrapped a four-week trial of the land
train “following serious issues raised
by local people”.
Further consultations with the
Holy Island Development Trust, the
National Trust, Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty officials and other
agencies, will be held instead.
“There is no denying the spirit-
ual and historical heritage of Holy
Island, and it truly is a remarka-
ble place,” said the council leader,
Glen Sanderson.
Lindisfarne was founded by St
Aidan, who came from Iona, the
centre of Christianity in Scotland, to
convert Northumbria to Christian-
ity. He was the first abbot and bishop
of Lindisfarne Monastery, founded
in 635.
Described by Historic UK as “pos-
sibly the holiest site of Anglo-Saxon
England”, the island is cut off from
the mainland by the tide twice a day.
The island’s resident population of
about 160 is boosted by more than
650,000 visitors each year.
The guide for better digestive
health shines light on the prevalence
of stomach complaints in the abbey.
A balanced meal might be “white,
well-leavened”or sourdough bread,
ale flavoured with herbs and eels.
There is a laxativerecipe featuring
fruit extracts. Or a monk can perhaps
“take a pese of soepe, makehit smale
and putt it yn youre fundamewnt and
then rest upon your bed”.
Carter’s research has led to new
interpretation at the abbey which is
interesting on a wider level.
“People have this idea of people in
the middle ages being filthy and not
caring about human waste, but that
is far from the case. They developed
sophisticated plumbing. It is fasci-
nating stuff,” he said.
 • The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
4 News
Coronavirus

Johnsonattacked
by MPs on all sides
over Afghanistan
‘humiliation’
 Continued from page 1
departure from Saigon of the Amer-
icans was shocking but also very
true”. He demanded to know: “Did
we at any stage demand that the US
government review their decision?
Did we say to them this was wrong?”
Owen Paterson, a former Northern
Ireland secretary, called it the “UK’s
biggest humiliation since Suez” and
argued the west was “now in a mess”.
“China, Russia and Iran are hostile.
What are we going to say to citizens
in Taiwan, India, Pakistan and west-
ern Ukraine? They will all be worried,”
he said.
In the Lords, Philip Hammond,
a former defence secretary, foreign
secretary and chancellor, called it a
“catastrophic failure of western pol-
icy”. Michael Howard, the former
Tory leader and home secretary,
said the withdrawal “fatally under-
mines the credibility of anyassurance
of support –past, present or future –
that we in the west offer those who
need it”, saying any future promises
“will be in debased coinage”.
In an emotional speech that drew
rare applause from MPs from across
the house, Tom Tugendhat,the Tory
foreign affairs committee chair who
served as an army officer in Afghani-
stan, said it was a “veryharsh lesson”
for the UK and its allies. “This doesn’t
need to be defeat but at the moment it
damn well feels like it,” he said.
Referring to Biden’s claim that
the Afghan military had not had the
stomach to fight, he said: “To see
their commander-in-chief call into
question the courage of men I fought
with – to claim they ran – is shame-
ful. Those who have not fought for
the colours they fly should be care-
for the Taliban. In what appeared to
be contradictory remarks, Johnson
toldMPs events had unfolded faster
“than even the Taliban predicted”,
but this had not caught the govern-
ment “unawares”.
This left some Conservative MPs
privately pressing for an inquiry by
the intelligence and security com-
mittee and for Johnson to release the
intelligence analysis. Andrew Brid-
gen, a Tory MP, asked him directly to
“share with the house what assess-
ment UK intelligence services made”,
but Johnson dodged the question.
A few backbench Conservatives
also believe there is a case for a for-
mal inquiry into the UK’s failures in
Afghanistan – a proposal rejected by
Johnson. Tobias Ellwood, defence
committee chair, called for one and
warned of his “fear there will be an
attack on the lines of 9/11 to bookend
what happened 20 years ago”.
Labour has not formally called
for an independent inquiry but it is
understood to be prepared to back
one. Keir Starmer, the Labour leader,
said it had been a “disastrous week,
an unfolding tragedy”, with Johnson
leading an “appalling” response.
AddressingRaab, Starmer said the
foreign secretary, who returned from
a holiday in Crete on Sunday, could
not “coordinate an international
response from the beach”.
The opposition also urged Johnson
Analysis two. After two minutes the prime
minister was refusing – again
– to agree to a public inquiry in
centre at Kabul airport “two weeks
ago” – a rather weak argument, and
in any event actions insufficient to
to take more refugees than the 20,000
announced by No 10.Starmer said the
promise of resettling 5,000 Afghan
Tories lead response to an intervention from
Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the
defence select committee, rather
avert the chaotic scenes of Monday,
where people ran in front of and
hung on to planes.
refugees under a new programme this
year, with a further 15,000 in future
years, was not enough.
the charge than develop his own argument.
In such circumstances it
was difficult to strike a note of
But there was no attempt to
follow Joe Biden, who even blamed
Afghans for failing to defend their
Criticism also came from Justin
Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
who said the UK’s commitment to ref-
in Commons remembrance, for the efforts made
by the Afghan people and the
British military in trying to build a
fragile democracy in his speech this
week. Instead the prime minister
focused on the US president’s

ful about criticising those who have.”
Many questions were focused on
the government and security agen-
cies’ failure to anticipate the speed
of the Taliban takeover. The former
chief whip Mark Harper questioned
Johnson on the “catastrophic failure
of our intelligence or assessment of
our intelligence”, giventhat the prime
minister had suggested on 8 July
there was no military path to victory
‘Did we at any stage
demand that the US
government review
their decision? Did
we say tothem this
was wrong?’
Iain Duncan Smith
Conservative
ugees should be “moral” and based
on need, not specificnumbers. “The
failure we face todayis not military or
diplomatic … it is political,” he said.
Johnson told MPs the UK’s posi-
tion was that it would do everything
possible to avert a humanitarian cri-
sis in Afghanistan, without a military
solution. “We must deal with this
position as it nowis. Acceptingwhat
we have achieved and what we had
not achieved,” he said.
He told MPs: “The sacrifice in
Afghanistan is seared into our
national consciousness, with 150,000
people serving there from across
the United Kingdom – including a
number of members on all sides of
the house whose voices will be par-
ticularly important today. So it’s
absolutely right that we should come
together for this debate.”
He also promised the UK would
double its aid budget to Afghanistan
to £286m, though funding will still
be lower than 2019 levels.
O
Dan Sabbagh
ther leaders have
the luxury of being
able to deliver an
uninterrupted
televised address.
But Boris Johnson
had to justify the ignominious
retreat from Afghanistan in front
of a testy House of Commons –
dominated by critics from his own
side asking if Britain could have
been better prepared and if the
collapse of the Kabul government
could have been averted.
It was not helped by the format
that Downing Street had opted for:
a general debate, which meant MPs
were allowed to seek to intervene
as Johnson spoke, generating a
crescendo of background noise
after he had completed a line or
different society after 2001. “The
sacrifice in Afghanistan is seared
into our national consciousness,”
he told MPs, but the sentiment
was lost in the intensity of the
Commons chamber.
An attempt to cite improvements
over the past 20 years – “now
3.6 million girls have been in
school this year alone and women
hold over a quarter of the seats in
Afghanistan’s parliament” – was
similarly greeted with criticism,
with MPs focused on what could
happen next in a country where
there is concern for women’s rights
and political freedom.
Even the Taliban were surprised
by the speed of their takeover,
Johnson argued, before switching
tack to say that, actually, the
outcome had been to some extent
foreseen. “It was certainly part of
our planning,” the prime minister
said, because it had been decided
to set up an emergency handling
decision to pull out: “The west
could not continue this US-led
mission – a mission conceived and
executed in support and defence
of America – without American
logistics, without US air power and
without American might.”
Theresa May asked what attempt
her successor had made to “put
together an alliance of other forces
in order to replace American
support in Afghanistan” within
Nato. At first Johnson sought to
deflect – he had spoken to Nato’s
chief “only the other day” – before
he cut to the essential point. “I do
not believe that deploying tens of
thousands of British troops to fight
the Taliban is an option that, no
matter how sincerely people may
advocate it, would commend itself
either to the British people or to this
house.” Just like Biden, Johnson’s
argument was that, in reality, the
UK has no desire to commit to an
endless fight.
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
▼ Conservative MPs, the majority of
them maskless, watch Boris Johnson
open the debate on Afghanistan
R: RER RRI/E
Face masks
Full house but
most ministers
ignore advice
Aubrey Allegretti
Political correspondent
Cabinet ministers have been accused
of undermining Covid advice and put-
ting MPs’ and parliamentary staff’s
safety at risk by declining to wear
masks as they packed the Commons
chamber full to debate Afghanistan’s
takeover by the Taliban.
Just two government frontbench-
ers chose to wear a face covering when
parliament was recalled yesterday
▲ Labour MPs wearing masks in the
Commons as Keir Starmer speaks
•
– the Cabinet Office minister, Michael
Gove, and the new security minister,
Damian Hinds – despite official guid-
ance recommending they be worn
in “crowded and enclosed spaces”.
Ministers lifted the mandatory
requirement for masks to be worn
in most places on 19 July, instead
allowing people to make their own
decisions about whether and where
to use them. However, the Speaker,
Lindsay Hoyle,has urged MPs to con-
tinue wearing masks in the chamber,
though he has admitted he cannot
force them to do so.
When Boris Johnson opened the
debate he was without a mask, as
were most of the other ministers on
the frontbench.
Mike Clancy, the general secretary
of the Prospect union, which repre-
sents many parliamentary staffers,
said it was frustrating that so many
Conservative MPs “chose to ignore
the Speaker’s very clear advice about
wearing masks in an enclosed space”.
Sir Jeremy Farrar, the direc-
tor of the Wellcome Trust and a
member of the government’s Sage
group, tweeted that it was “sad and
regrettable when an issue such as
wearing of masks becomes a party
political issue”.
A Commons spokesperson said:
“Passholders should continue to
exercise caution when they are on
the estate and we will monitor the
situation from day to day.”
What MPs had to say
‘We boast of global Britain. Where is
global Britain on the streets of Kabul?’
To see their commander in chief
[Joe Biden] call into the question
the courage of men I fought with,
to claim that they ran, is shameful.
Those who have not fought for the
colours they flyshould be careful
about criticising those who have.
I leave the House with one image.
In the year that I was privileged to
be the adviser to the governor of
Helmand, we opened girls’ schools.
The joy it gave parents to see their
little girls going to school was
extraordinary.
Tom Tugendhat, Tory chair of the
foreign affairs committee
Was our intelligence really so poor,
was our understanding of the
Afghan government so weak,our
knowledge of the position on the
ground so inadequate? Or did we
just feel we had to follow the US and
hope that on a wing and a prayer it
would be all right on the night?
Weboast about global Britain, but
where is global Britain on the streets
of Kabul? A successful foreign policy
strategywill be judged by our deeds,
not by our words.
Theresa May, former Tory PM
The British government werewrong
and complacent, the prime minister
was wrong and complacent and,
when he was notrewriting history,
the prime minister was displaying
the same appalling judgment and
complacency last week.
Keir Starmer, Labour leader
This has been catastrophic, cack-
handed, cruel and humiliating. It
is a watershed in the failureof the
west … I need to understand how
our intelligence has failed, how the
imagination of those providing the
intelligence has failed, and if we’re
relying on this intelligence going
forward,how canwe be sure that
they know to do the right thing?
Nusrat Ghani, Tory MP
For all the hand-wringing of
government ministers in the past
few days, the realityis that their
actions over the past few months
have left thousands of ordinary
Afghans in terrible danger.
Caroline Lucas, Green MP
This is a shame on all of us, not just
America,but also the whole of Nato
and here for us in this House.
Iain Duncan Smith,
former Tory leader
Many of us who served in
Afghanistan have a deep bond of
affection for the Afghanpeople and I
had the honour of serving alongside
them in Helmand. We trained
together, fought together and, in
some cases, died together. They were
our brothers in arms. I shudder to
think where those men are now.
Many will be dead, and I know others
now consider themselves to be dead
men walking. Where were wein their
hour of need? We were nowhere.
Dan Jarvis, Labour MP
5
Sketch
Zoe Williams
Johnson’s bombast
explodes in his face
as his unfitness for
office is laid bare
T
he initial shock of a packed House of
Commons, recalled in recess for an
emergency debate on Afghanistan,
was how unfamiliar the packed green
benches now look. Even before the
pandemic, arguably since the prorogation
of parliament, there’s been a question mark over the
point of it all; does a debate have to end in a vote, in
order to have meaning? Is it otherwise just theatre, and
if so, what democratic purpose does it serve?
The answer used to be very simple: it was to test and
challenge the policy of the executive. It may have been
ritualistic, but the ritual was dense with significance,
indicating that no prime minister had the power
simply to announce, every one must persuade.
Expecting Boris Johnson to rise to this was like
asking a horse to serve the Eucharist. Meandering,
chaotic and contradictory, he boasted of achievements
in Afghanistan – human rights, national elections, 3.6
million girls in school – that are disintegrating minute
by minute with the world watching.
The government had planned for the Taliban,
Johnson insisted. They’d been commissioning an
emergency handling centre upwards of two weeks ago.
Plainly, to Johnson, a fortnight is a really long time.
He almost didn’t need right honourable gentlemen to
take his policies apart, he was unspooling on his own,
like a mix tape caught in a car stereo. But nobody let
that stop them. “If you saw this coming,” Angela Eagle
launched, “why were you both on holiday?” (Dominic
Raab, of course, was also away at the time).
Keir Starmer was unflinching and deeply personal.
The situation in Kabul may be a global failure, and
certainly, there were harsh words across the house
for Joe Biden, but this is also a portrait of one man’s
insufficiency. Johnson claims to have known what
was coming, but only a month ago “stood there and
assured members that there ‘is no military path to
victory for the Taliban’, adding ‘I do not think the
Taliban are capable of victory by military means’.”
The word Starmer returned to was “complacent”,
but the flaws he conjured were so much deeper.
The point was no longer, “let me illustrate the
unfitness of this prime minister”; rather, “what are
the human consequences when power is held by
someone so unfit?”
Even the Conservatives were squirming. Theresa
May gave a thoughtful and far-reaching speech,
pondering not just the immediate crisis but the
long-term global picture – “neither will China
and others fail to notice the implications. We will
embolden those who do not share our values if we
do not defend them”.
Yet the greatest impact came from those MPs
who had served in Afghanistan, all of whom, Tom
Tugenhadt particularly, spoke with humility, insight
and deep passion, in one voice: this government is
failing. It is failing its own troops, failing the people
of Afghanistan, failing in primary colours on a global
stage. “It’s nations that make war,” Tugenhadt said.
“Nations endure. Nations mobilise and muster.
Nations determine and have patience. And here
we’ve demonstrated, sadly, that we, the west, the
United Kingdom, does not.”
This was worse than a bad debate for Johnson; it
seeded a broad agreement across the house that the
prime minister’s deficiencies lead directly to tragedy.
Regardless of how this lands in the Red Wall,
Johnson’s bombast was breached, and the extent
of the damage is not yet quantifiable.
 • The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
6 News
Coronavirus

Tatvan and Van, eastern Turkey

Afghan migrants await transport by
smulers after crossing the border
from Iran to Turkey; far left, the
gravestones of unidentified migrants
in Van who died crossing the border

Afghan refugees should be distributed

: ZN Ö/F/ 
hard-hearted about this. I’m not
sayingwe don’t want to take respon-

fairly around UK, saynorthern mayors

Josh Halliday
Niamh McIntyre
Helen Pidd
Political leaders in the north of Eng-
land have promised to welcome
refugees from Afghanistan but said
they must be distributed fairly across
the country, as analysis showed the
areas housing the most asylum seek-
ers are among the poorest in Britain.
A Guardian analysis has found
that almost one in four of the UK’s
44,825 asylum seekers supported by
the Home Office are housed in just 10
local authorities, nine of which are
among the most deprived in the UK.
They include Middlesbrough,
Cardiff,Rochdale and Glasgow, which
has the UK’s highest number of refu-
gees as a proportion of its population.
Only one of the top 10 – Barking and
Dagenham in London – is in the south
of England.
Mayors in the north of England
said the whole country needed to
support those in need as ministers
draw up plans to take in 20,000 men,
women and children from Afghani-
stan over the next five years.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of
Greater Manchester, said the region
would welcome refugees under the
government’s resettlement pro-
gramme but that it “does need to be
fair to places like Greater Manchester”
and other regions should play their
part. This sentiment was echoed by
fellow mayors Steve Rotheram, Tracy
Brabin and Dan Jarvis.
The analysis shows that northern
England – including the north-west,
north-east and Yorkshire and Humber
– have taken in nearly half (42%) of all
the 44,825 asylum seekers in the UK.
Only 6.5% have been placed in the
south of England excludingLondon.
There is around one asylum seeker for
every 10,000 people in the south of
England, outside London, compared
with 16 per 10,000 in north-east Eng-
land and 12 in the north-west.
The analysis used House of Com-
mons Library data on asylum seekers
supported under section 95 of the
Immigration and Asylum Act as of
March 2021, under which the Home
Office provides housingand/orbasic
living expenses. Deprivation data was
taken from the indices of multiple
deprivation for the relevant nation.
MPs have called repeatedly for an
overhaul of the “deeply unfair” dis-
persal system, which often sees those
fleeing persecution housed in areas
of severe deprivation.
The city of Salford in Greater Man-
chester was housing 706 asylum
seekers in March this year, equating
to 25 per 10,000 people, more than
four times the UK average.
John Merry, Salford’s deputy
mayor,said the council was suddenly
told to expect 160 more at the end of
June, most of whom were Afghans
who had been rescued from the Eng-
lish Channel in boats.
He said Salford’s already-stretched
public health team was expected to
do medical checks on all 160. Some
turned out to be unaccompanied
children, which was “a nightmare
for us”, said Merry, because of the
costly statutory responsibilities of
keeping such children safe.
“ We are not trying to be
Glasgow housed the most asylum
seekers relative to its population
Dispersed asylum seekers per
10,000 population
0 10 20 30 40 50
Glasgow, SNP
Middlesbrough, no overall control
Cardiff, Labour
Rochdale, Labour
Hartlepool, no overall control
Stoke-on-Trent, no overall control
Swansea, Labour
Stockton-on-Tees, no overall control
Barking and Dagenham, Labour
Gateshead, Labour
Source: House of Commons Library. Note: Asylum
seekers receiving Section 95 support, by local
authority, as of March 2021. Figure includes
those in dispersal accommodation and those
receiving only financial support
sibility for some of these cases but we
don’t want to take responsibility for
all of them,” he said.
Key considerations for dispersing
asylum seekers include the availa-
bility of private sector housing for
rent, school places and local health
services. Some of the more remote
rural areas do not have the resources
to support asylum seekers who often
have complex needs.
Some councils in southern Eng-
land said they wanted to do more to
help refugees but were constrained
due to a lack of affordable housing.
The city of Chelmsford in Essex is
only supporting three asylum seek-
ers under section 95 arrangements,
according to the House of Commons
data, despite having a population
approaching 200,000. By contrast,
Hartlepool, which has half the pop-
ulation of Chelmsford, is housing 319
asylum seekers.
Stephen Robinson, the Liberal
Democrat leader of Chelmsford city
council, said: “We would like to do
more but the fundamental problem
is the government’s comprehen-
sive failure on the housing system.
When the government says can you
find houses for these people, they
don’t appreciate the sheer scale of the
housing crisis we have in this coun-
try particularly in southern England.”
Additional reporting by Diane Taylor
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
Britain fears
US forces could
withdrawfrom
Kabul airport
within days
 Continued from page 1
that Britain was not engaging with
the Taliban directly over security or
other issues after the militant group
seized the Afghan capital.
The uardian has learned that
some in government, however,
believe there is a shift by UK ministers
and the military towards dealing
directly with the Taliban and legit-
imising their role – a position that
would anger those who believe the
violent fundamentalist group has not
changed.
en Sir Nick Carter, the head of
the armed forces, said yesterday
that he thought the Taliban wanted
an “inclusive Afghanistan” and
described them as “country boys”
who had “honour at the heart of what
they do”. Asked on Sky News about
the Taliban’s repression of women,
Carter said: “I do think they have
changed and recognise Afghanistan
has evolved and the fundamental
role women have played in that
evolution.” Boris Johnson also hinted
at the possibility of recognising the
Taliban, telling MPs: “We will judge
this regime based on the choices it
makes and by its actions rather than
by its words.”
But a Whitehall source said uncer-
tainty over the Taliban’s actions, and
the US position, meant that the UK
wanted to complete its evacuation
rapidly, saying: “There’s a realis-
tic view that we want to just go as
quickly as possible.”
Chaos engulfed Kabul airport this
week but it has since been secured
by the US ahead of a planned evac-
uation deadline of 31 August. British
attempts to seek reassurances from
the US over that timeline had not
proved successful, a source said,
although on Tuesday the USnational
security adviser, Jake Sullivan,
tweeted that the country would hold
the airport “to get all Americans out
of Afghanistan”.
A total of 700 Britons, Afghans and
others were airlifted out on Tuesday,
▲ Gen Frank McKenzie of the US Marine Corps, commander of US Central
Command, arrives at Kabul airport OOG:  / //G
•
according to official figures, tak-
ing the total to more than 1,150 out
of as many as 6,000, half of whom
are Britons and dual nationals. The
remainder are Afghans eligible to
settle in the UK because they previ-
ously helped the British.
Carter said he expected seven
aircraft to head to Kabul, enabling
up to a further 1,000 people to
leave yesterday. “The situation has
stabilised since the weekend but it
remains precarious,” he warned.
The operation of the airport is
also dependent on the goodwill of
the Taliban, who now control its
surroundings. Military experts say
it is easy to close an airport by firing
mortars or shells on to the runway.
A particular problem is the dif-
ficulty of eligible people getting to
Kabul’s international airport. Some
Britons have been advised to say, at
Taliban checkpoints, that they want
to “go to the airport and leave the
country”, which it is feared could
put them at risk of reprisals.
A security source said the UK was
having to rely on “uncomfortable
intermediaries” in its dealings with
the Taliban, which have a separate
agreement with the US to allow it
to conduct its retreat. Insiders also
acknowledge the UK has limited
intelligence on events outside Kabul.
Carter’s interview with Sky, which
followed a Taliban press conference
on Tuesday, prompted a furious
reaction among MPs. Nusrat hani,
a Conservative MP, told the uard-
ian: “Not a single Afghan woman
has stated this naiveoptimism about
the Taliban. They have not changed,
women are hiding at home in fear of
having been teachers and lawyers
and just yesterday a women was
killed for not covering her hair.”
Caroline Nokes, the Tory chair of
the equalities committee, said: “I
would rather judge them by their
actions than their words. Look at the
pictures of the streets of Kabul: the
women have disappeared, gone into
hiding, especially those who have any
leadership role – the civic mayors, the
activists, the journalists, the judges.”
Stella Creasy, a Labour MP,
said: “Anyone thinking that Tali-
ban pledges on women’s rights are
enough – as if it’s equality being able
to leave the house alone – needs to ask
if they would be happy to live under
such restrictions.”
Asked about Carter’s position,
Johnson’s spokesman said: “He was
reflecting what was claimed by the
Taliban.”
Offering help
Communities
band together
to aid arrivals
Helen Pidd
Communities are coming together to
provide clothes and toys for Afghans
arriving in the UK.
Little Cherubs, a children’s clothes
bank in Chapel-en-le-Frith in the
Peak District, said it had been asked
to provide clothes for 64Afghan chil-
dren who would be stayingin a hotel
in Congleton in Cheshire.
Cheshire East council confirmed
it had agreed to temporarily accom-
modate a number of individuals
and families who worked as “locally
employed staff” to support Brit-
ish forces in Afghanistan – and was
Small boats
Patel warns
against sea
crossings
Aubrey Allegretti
Diane Taylor
Afghans seeking refuge in the UK who
arrive on small boats from across the
Channel will be treated the same as
any other migrants who enter the
country by the same means, the
home secretary has suggested.
Priti Patel appeared to confirm
there would be no exception made
for those fleeing the Taliban who used
“irregular” routes to come to the UK,
saying people allowed to resettle in
Britain would have to come through
one of two schemes.
The first is a new scheme which
will allow 20,000 Afghan refugees
to come to the UK over the next five
years and “start a new life in safety”,
the government says. It will run sep-
arately to the Afghan relocations and
assistance policy (Arap), launched
in April, which offers relocation for
those who helped British operations ▲ Priti Patel appeared to confirm
in Afghanistan.
committed to provide longer-term
accommodation for five families.
Sally Depee, who founded Little
Cherubs in February to help strug-
gling local families,said she received
a call from a social worker friend on
Tuesday asking if she could source
clothes for the new arrivals aged
between one and 13.
She put out an appeal on social
media and by noon yesterday was
sorting through 200 bags of clothes.
“Yesterday I was contacted by a
social worker over in Macclesfield.
She said ‘we’ve got 64 children,
refugees’ [and] would I be able to
help?’ They are here already but I
don’t know when they arrived. We
are going to take them on Sunday to
the hotel in Congleton,” said Depee.
The response from the community
had been “amazing”, she said. “This
morning we’ve had 200 bags of dona-
tions since 10am.
“We’ve got prams, we’ve gotcoats,
pyjamas, we’ve had financial contri-
butions from local businesses which
have been in touch.
“People who have seen it on Face-
book have asked if they can send
fficials confirmed that the Home
ffice would waive visa requirements
for some Afghan citizens to allow
them to come to the UK “on compel-
ling and compassionate grounds”.
Applying for a visa to come to
the UK can be a long and expensive
process for Afghan nationals, with
Covid and the closure of visa process-
ing centres in the region because of
the deteriorating security situation
causing difficulties even before the
Taliban took control of the country.
Patel said the aim of the new
resettlement system was not to
“criminalise” Afghan refugees. But
when asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today
programme whether they would be
treated any differently from other
migrants arriving in the UK on small
boats, she said: “They will claim asy-
lum in the way in which people who
enter our system are currently claim-
ing asylum … We would obviously tell
people not to come through illegal
that no exceptions would be made
7
 Sally Depee, right, sorts donations
at Little Cherub Clothing in Chapel-
en-le-Frith, Derbyshire OOG:
O OO/ G
money so we are going to buy new
underwear for the children.”
She said she felt a strong moral
responsibility to help Afghan chil-
dren: “These are children who have
never known anything other than
war. They are somebody’s daugh-
ter, they are somebody’s son. Let’s
help these people and try and give
them some dignity and make that
transition from being airlifted from
their home with only the clothes on
their back.”
The Manchester branch of Care-
4Calais, a refugee charity, started
a crowdfunder on Tuesday to raise
money to buy welcome packs for
Afghan refugees containing clothes,
shoes and basic toiletries. By yester-
day afternoon more than £22,000 had
been donated.
“We have just been informed that
Afghan refugees will soon be housed
in two hotels in Manchester. ur
Manchester volunteers are gearing up
to meet them but they need your sup-
port. If you are near Manchester and
can donate clothes, shoes, phones or
other essentials please go to our drop
off map contact details,” the charity
said on its Facebook page.
Maddy Summerfield, Care4Cal-
ais Manchester coordinator, told the
Manchester EveningNews that dona-
tions of notebooks, pens and playing
cards would also be welcomed.
“They’re going to be in the hotel
system for a while, it often takes a
good few months for asylum claims to
get anywhere so we’re in need of rec-
reational type things too,” she said.
“They will have to isolate for 10
days and then we’ll be allowed to
operate. But this buys us some time
to find out what’s going on.”
means. Illegal means also means
that they’re travelling through many
safe countries. Irregular migration
doesn’t just manifest in the UK, peo-
ple are travelling through European
countries – they can claim asylum in
European countries.”
Patel said France “needs to do
more” to ensure people claim asy-
lum there rather than continuing to
the UK and prolongingtheir “danger-
ous journeys”.
While the government’s reset-
tlement programme has been
welcomed, charities said it will come
too late to help those in danger.
Steve Valdez-Symonds, refu-
gee and migrant rights director at
Amnesty International UK, said
the programme was too slow and
not “focused on the most immedi-
ate emergency for people at risk in
the country”. He asked: “And what,
meanwhile, about Afghans who make
their own way to the UK to seek asy-
lum or who are already here? Will
they still be vilified and criminalised
by the government’s draconian new
asylum measures?”
Tim Naor Hilton, the chief execu-
tive of Refugee Action, said Afghans
arriving in the UK through routes
other than the resettlement pro-
grammes would “be met with
punishment, not protection” under
the nationality and borders bill –
which he called the “anti-refugee
bill”.

8 News
Former Afghan president meets
Taliban as plans for rule emerge
Hannah Ellis-Petersen
South Asia correspondent
 senior aliban commander met a
former fghan president, amid Kar-
zai, for talks yesterday,as the aliban
worked to establish a government
in fghanistan amid allegations of
women and children being beaten
and some protesters being shot dead.
Karzai, president from Decem-
ber 2001 to September 2014, has
been leading efforts to ensure there
is a peaceful transfer of power after
Kabul fell on Sunday and the pres-
ident, shraf hani, fled while the
aliban declared themselves the vic-
torious rulers of fghanistan.
hani’s whereabouts have been
the source of much speculation,
but a statement by the United rab
Emirates foreign ministry confirmed
that he and his family had been
welcomed into the UE “on human-
itarian grounds”. Late yesterday,
the former president said he hoped
to return home, and expressed sup-
port for talks with the aliban.
• The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
Afghanistan
“For now, I am in the Emirates so
that bloodshed and chaos is stopped,”
he said in a video message – his first
appearance since leaving the cap-
ital on Sunday. e said he had “no
intention” to remain in exile. “I am
currently in talks to return to fghan-
istan,” he said
Many fghans consider hani to
have betrayed his country, and the
fghan embassy in ajikistan called
for an Interpol arrest warrant to be
issued for him on the grounds of
“treasury theft”.
he aliban have been forceful in
their efforts to portray themselves as
the civilised new leaders of fghan-
istan, saying they sought to form an
“inclusive, Islamic” government.
hey declared an “amnesty” for gov-
ernment workers, and officials were
told to return to work as normal.
But their talk of peace was punc-
tured by allegations of women and
children being whipped by aliban
fighters outside Kabul airport, pro-
testers in several cities being beaten
and shot dead, and the statue of an
enemy figure being blown up.
he meeting yesterday was be problematic for the international
between Karzai and nas aqqani, community.
senior leader of the aqqani Network  spokesperson for Karzai said the
militant group,an important faction meeting’s aim was to facilitate nego-
of the aliban. he previous govern- tiations with Mullah bdul hani
ment’s main peace envoy, bdullah Baradar,the influential aliban polit-
bdullah, was also present. ical leader who led the agreement for
he US has classed the aqqani the withdrawal of US troops and is
Network of the aliban, based in the believed will hold an important role
in the government. Baradar returned
border regions with akistan, as a ter-
rorist network,holding itresponsible to fghanistan on uesday for the
for some of the most deadly mili- first time in 20 years.
tant attacks in fghanistan in recent Waheedullah ashimi, a spokes-
years. he group’s involvement in a person for the aliban, told euters
future aliban governmentis likely tothat the countrywas likely to be gov-
erned by a ruling aliban council,
while the Islamist militant move-
ment’s supreme leader, aibatullah
khundzada, was set to remain in
overall charge, in a role akin to the
president.
he power structure thatashimi
outlined would bear similarities to
how fghanistan was run the last
time the aliban were in power from
1996 to 2001. hen, the supreme
▲ Images from a video appearing to leader Mullah mar remained in the
show the Afghan flag being carried in shadows and left the day-to-day run-
Jalalabad in defiance of the Taliban ning of the country to a council.
▼ Hamid Karzai, centre left, who
was Afghan president from 2001 to
2014, meets Taliban faction leaders
PHOTOGRAPH: AP
Scholarship students
No 10 urged to act quickly
About 250 alumni of British
scholarship schemes have pressed
No 10 to speed up its evacuation
of Afghan Chevening scheme
students. Three days after Boris
Johnson promised to help them,
several of the 35 students with UK
government-funded scholarships
said they were extremely anxious
as they had still received no
concrete advice from Britain.
With the window for rescue
flights closing, it is understood
some students have got on to
Italian and US evacuation lists.
In a letter to the foreign
secretary, the alumni of Rhodes,
Gates, Marshall, Clarendon,
Commonwealth, Chevening and
other scholarship programmes
called on the government to ensure
the safe passage of the students
in time for their courses at British
universities, saying the scholarship
“could be lifesaving” in light of the
Taliban’s position on education.
A Home Office source said the
home secretary had stepped in
to expedite the students’ visas
after the prime minister said they
would be helped. Boris Johnson’s
intervention reversed a Foreign
Office decision to withdraw
support for them coming to the UK
this year. Rowena Mason
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
‘We will not discuss
what type of political
system we should
apply because it is
clear. It is sharia law
and that is it’
Waheedullah Hashimi
Taliban spokesperson
Taliban leaders will meet later
this week to discuss and set out the
system of governance, but any sem-
blance of democracy has already
been ruled out.
“There will be no democratic sys-
tem at all because it does not have any
base in our country,”ashimi said in
an interview with euters. “We will
not discuss what type of political sys-
tem should we apply in Afghanistan
because itis clear.It is sharia law and
that is it.”
ashimi said Taliban would also
reach out to former pilots and soldiers
from the Afghan armed forces to join
its ranks. e also did not allay fears
that this Taliban regime would be as
repressive towards women as it was
last time they were in power.
“ur ulema [scholars] will decide
whether girls are allowed to go to
school or not,” he said. “They will
decide whether they should wear
hijab, burqa, or only (a) veil plus
abaya or something, or not. That is
up to them.”
After president Ghani’s escape on
Sunday, one of the few figures from
the previous regime still publicly
resisting Taliban rule was the for-
mer vice-president, Amrullah Saleh,
who declared himself the rightful
caretaker president. Saleh, who is
believed to be in hiding in Panjshir
valley, north of abul, one of the few
districts that has not fallen to insur-
gents, said on Twitter that he would
“under no circumstances bow” to
“the Talib terrorists”.
In Jalalabad, in north-eastern
Afghanistan, dozens of protest-
ers were attacked by the Taliban as
they raised the national flag and low-
ered the Taliban flag. Video footage
showed the Taliban firing into the
air and hitting people with batons.
At least three people were killed and
more than a dozen injured.
In the city of host there were also
reports of the Taliban firing on pro-
testers against the city’s takeover.
Meanwhile, in abul, despite US
assurances that the Taliban had com-
mitted to “safe passage” for people
wanting to reach the airport, there
were accounts of violence at check-
points staffed by the Taliban, with
a woman and a child photographed
with severe head injuries after report-
edly being beaten and whipped.
The US national security adviser,
Jake Sullivan, said that while a sig-
nificant number of people had been
able to reach the airfield, now under
US military control, “there have been
instances where we have received
reports of people being turned away
or pushed back or even beaten … We
are taking that up with the Taliban.”
Images were circulating of Taliban
fighters in Bamyan province blowing
up the statue of a Shia militia leader
who fought against them during
Afghanistan’scivil war in the 1990s. .
•
Intelligence
Trump and
Biden knew of
risk ofrapid
fall of Kabul
but ignored it
– ex-CIA chief
Julian Borger
Hugo Lowell
Dan Sabbagh
Both the Trump and Biden admin-
istrations were warned by US
intelligence that the Afghan army’s
resistance to the Taliban could
collapse “within days” after an over-
hasty withdrawal, according to a
former IA counterterrorism chief.
Press accounts of White ouse
decision-making in recentdays have
suggested that Joe Biden was led to
believe that it might take 18 months
for abul and Ashraf Ghani’s govern-
ment to fall. Last week, unnamed
officials were widely quoted as say-
ing it couldbe 30 to 90 days. Speaking
to the nation on Monday,Biden said:
“The truth is: This did unfold more
quickly than we had anticipated.”
Douglas London, the IA’sformer
counterterrorism chief for south and
south-west Asia, said Biden was being
“misleading at best”.
London left his post in 2019 but
Financial squeeze
New leaders face crisis without
access to foreign cash reserves
Peter Beaumont
Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers are
likely to face a rapidly developing
financial crisis, with foreign cur-
rency reserves largely unreachable
and western aid donors – who fund
the country’s institutions by about
75% – already cutting off or threat-
ening to cut payments.
While the hardline Islamist group
has moved in recent years to become
more independent of outside finan-
cial supporters including Iran,
Pakistan and wealthy donors in the
Gulf, its financial flows – amounting
to $1.6bn (£1.2bn) last year – are far
short of what it will require to govern.
Afghanistan’s central bank gov-
ernor disclosed yesterday that the
country has $9bn in reserves abroad,
but not in physical cash inside the
country, after the Biden adminis-
tration ordered the freezing of Afghan
government reserves held in US bank
accounts on Sunday.
Ajmal Ahmady wrote on Twitter
yesterday that the majority of that
– about $7bn – was being held in US
served as a volunteer adviser to
the Biden campaign. In a detailed
account on the Just Security website
yesterday, he described intelligence
briefings to Trump and Biden teams
which gave different estimates of
how long Ghani and the Afghan forces
could endure a Taliban offensive,
depending on the speed and depth
of the US retreat.
“So was it 30 days from with-
drawal to collapse? 60? 18 months?
Actually, it was all of the above, the
projections aligning with the various
‘what ifs’,” London wrote. “Ulti-
mately, it was assessed Afghan forces
might capitulate within days under
the circumstances we witnessed, in
projections highlighted to Trump
officials and future Biden officials.”
The former counterterrorism chief
said that both Trump and Biden had
made decisions to leave for political
and ideological reasons and were ulti-
mately impervious to intelligence
briefings on possible outcomes.
“The decision Trump made, and
Biden ratified, to rapidly withdraw
Federal eserve bonds, assets and
gold, adding that its holdings of US
dollars was “close to zero” as the
country did not receive a planned
cash shipment amid the Taliban
offensive that swept the country
last week. “The next shipmentnever
arrived,” he wrote. “Seems like our
partners had good intelligence as to
what was going to happen.”
Ahmady noted the lack of US
dollars would probably cause the
afghani to depreciate and inflation
to rise, hurting the poor in the coun-
try. Getting access to those reserves
was likely to be complicated, with the
USgovernment consideringdesignat-
ing the Taliban as a sanctioned terror
group. The “Taliban won militarily –
but now have to govern”, he wrote.
“It is not easy.”
With the Taliban long subject to
international sanctions, the group
has relied heavily in the past five
years on hugely increasing its trade in
opium, including, according to some
experts, by introducing a new poppy
that can be harvested three times a
year instead of twice.
A confidential report prepared by
Nato two years ago painted a picture
▲ Joe Biden’s team suested he was
told the regime could last for as long
as 18 months after US troops left
HOORH: REX/HEROCK
US forces came despite warnings
projecting the outcome we’re now
witnessing. It was a path to which
Trump and Biden allowed them-
selves to be held captive owing to
the ‘ending forever wars’ slogan they
both embraced,” London said.
The White ouse referred a request
for comment to the office of the direc-
tor of national intelligence, which
said that the US intelligence com-
munity had been taken by surprise.
“We consistently identified the
risk of a rapid collapse of the Afghan
government,” a senior intelligence
official said. “We also grew more
pessimistic about the government’s
survival as the fighting season pro-
gressed. This was less an issue of
Afghan military capabilities and
more a reflection of Afghan leader-
ship, cohesion and willpower.
“That said, the Afghan government
Cultivation of of a movement that had “achieved,
opium poppies or is close to achieving, financial and
has increased military independence … [enabling]
In numbers
37%
Increase in Afghan poppy cultivation took place in Taliban-controlled areas
in the past year alone. Production of and benefited the group via a 10%
opium has reached record levels
$9bn
Afghanistan’s reserves abroad, but
the new leaders are short of physical
cash held inside the country
84%
Proportion of global opium output
accounted for by Afghanistan
according to the latest yearly figures €430m (£366m) this year.
9
unravelled even more quickly than
we anticipated.”
Intelligence briefings to ongress
did not suggest that collapse could
come in days, according to sources
familiar with the presentations.
ven a week before the fall of the
Afghan government, intelligence
assessments suggested a takeover by
the Taliban was not imminent, and
officials advised the White ouse to
continue diplomatic outreach in the
peace talks in Doha, Qatar.
The US intelligence agencies did
warn about the prospect of a cascad-
ing collapse if militants were able to
mount a lightning offensive. And a
State Department intelligence and
research report warned that Afghan
troops were reluctant to fight. But the
assessments about a timeline utterly
missed the mark, sources said, which
reassured top policymakers in Wash-
ington – who were occupied with
domestic political concerns such as
infrastructure – that the risk of such
an eventuality remained low.
Intelligence agencies in Britain
have also come under pressure in the
aftermath of the Taliban takeover,
although MI5 indicated shortly after
Biden’s decision to leavethe country
was announced that a rapid victory
for the insurgent group was one of a
number of possible scenarios.
British military chiefs, however,
had tried to paint a total takeover as
the least likely of several scenarios,
the favourite of which was a negoti-
ated deal between the Taliban and the
Ghani government,which in the end
was ousted easily over the weekend.
London wrote: “US policy to
impose an American blueprint for a
strong central government and inte-
grated national army served only
to enable Ghani’s disastrous and
uncompromising stewardship.”
the Afghan Taliban to self-fund its
insurgency without the need for sup-
port from governments or citizens of
other countries”.
But if that helped to explain the
Taliban’s recent successes, the huge
disparity between the money the Tal-
iban have had available to fund their
military campaign and what they will
need to govern has been a leading fac-
tor in predictions that they will need
to present a more emollient face to
the world to seek backing.
Despite the group’s promise yes-
terday to halt the export of narcotics
from Afghanistan “to zero”,the coun-
try accounted for 84% of global
opium production in the year end-
ing 2020,according to the UN’s World
Drug eport.Most of that production
production tax.
Three of the past four years have
seen some of Afghanistan’s highest
levels of opium production, accord-
ing to the UN,with poppy cultivation
soaring by 37% last year alone.
omplicatingthe issue for the Tali-
ban is the threat to aid flows that have
long sustained Afghanistan’s govern-
ment– accounting for 42.9% of GDP.
Germany,akey donor,has said it is
halting development aid, and others
have threatened to do the same. Ber-
lin had been due to provide aid of
 • The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
10 News
Afghanistan

▲ Hamid Karzai international airport descended into chaos with people

Escaping Kabul
spilling out from the terminal on to the runway R: RM RM

‘I took a chance
to change my
life … I’m so
happy I’m alive’
scared of being turned away – but I I hid in a corner, even though I ▲ Ramin soil and the Taliban will not come
Ramin Rahman couldn’t turn back. was also panicking. Looking out Rahman here.” I started to run after them
Qatar When I reached the international the window, I watched a whole captured the with crowds of others.We kept on
terminal, I was shocked at what I scene unravel around an aircraft crowded and hearing gunshots, which felt so
Afghan journalist Ramin saw, and I started to feel hopeless. trying to leave for Turkey. People chaotic scene terrifyingly close.

T
Rahman, 27, left Kabul on a US There were thousands of people:
military plane which took off amid women and men with their crying
chaotic scenes at Hamid Karzai babies. They were fearful that the
international airport. Taliban were coming. All these
people, including foreigners, went
he day the Taliban to the airport not knowing what
took over started with would happen.
a call from my friend The people all around me were
in Germany. He told panicking as they realised there
me to get to the airport
might not be a plane for them.
because there was Even if they had tickets there was
potentially going to be a German uncertainty around whether their
embassy evacuation plane leaving flight would take off. They were
that day. He had put my name on frightened. So people started to
their evacuation list because I had damage the airport – windows
worked for the German media, and ticket booths. And from there
and I had been in the process of the situation just continued to get
applying for a visa for the past year. worse.
I didn’t have time to think.
It felt like a lifeline for me as a
progressive, outspoken journalist ‘The American pilots
antithesis of what the Taliban stand were screaming that
with tattoos – basically the
for. I took my laptop and phone there were toomany
and nothing else. I felt scared the
minute I left my home – I’d never people onboard. One
felt so much pressure. shouted:“Please get
When I reached the airport, the
initial checkpoint was eerie. The out, please get out!”’
police had left, and the military was
almost all gone. There was only
private airport security checking Ramin Rahman
bags. I didn’t have a visa, so I was Afghan journalist
were streaming into the plane, inside the US In the next few moments, I felt
and even hanging from the stairs. air force plane like time had stopped. All I heard
The aircraft was over capacity, and that flew him to ▼ Hundreds were the Americans saying: “Let’s
people were being pushed off the safety in Qatar of Afghan go!”
stairs so the plane could take off. R: RM men, women I saw a stream of people getting
They were screaming so loud RM and children on to a plane, and I followed. It was
that we could hear them from crowded around all I could do at the moment. I was
inside the airport. “We want to go, aircraft trying to rushed on to the plane, which had
or we will die,” some shouted. I climb onboard hundreds of people on board. There
just watched in horror as I waited, R: RM was no room to sit – everyone was
pondering my fate. At around RM standing. People were clutching
8.30 or 9 in the evening someone
shouted that the Taliban were
inside the airport. People started
screaming and running outside on
to the Tarmac. The airport was in
utter chaos with nobody to control
the situation. I heard firing outside
the airport door. I kept thinking
that the Taliban had arrived.
Everyone around me was scared
and praying for the best. Nobody
knew what to do. I called my friend
in Germany again, and he said
that the Germans would not start
evacuations until the next day. This
was terrible news, and I knew that I
had to figure out what to do next.
I saw American troops leading
a small group of people on to the
military section of the Tarmac.
One of the soldiers told a group
of foreigners: “This is American
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
each other and their children. I
couldn’t breathe.
The American pilots were
screaming that the plane could not
go anywhere because there were
too many people onboard. One
of them shouted: “Please get out,
I
please get out!” Then soldiers came
and started pulling people out from
both the front and back doors. We
were in the middle.
t was chaotic, uncomfortable
and stressful. People were
pushing and there was no
air. The entire scene was so
hopeless, sad and scary. I
looked at the mothers with
newborns around me, and I felt so
guilty. I decided to get off so the
plane could take off.
But as I made our way towards
the door to get off, I saw American
troops circling the plane in
Humvees. One of the soldiers told
me to stay put because there were
perceived threats. Another 20
minutes passed. Then suddenly,
the Americans told those of us
standing around the door to get
in the plane. This was the only
chance. We rushed into the plane,
and they closed the doors.
I couldn’t see out because there
were no windows, but in my head,
they had started fighting outside.
The plane remained on standby
for an hour. All these different
•
thoughts went through my head of
what could happen next.
And then, without warning, the
plane started moving. It started
flying. We took off.
It was one of the happiest
moments. Everyone was clapping
and cheering. There was a feeling
of appreciation for the American
pilot who took off. There was a
general sentiment in the air that we
probably would have died if that
plane had not come. But the flight
was challenging. There were many
babies on board, and parents were
holding them above their heads to
ensure they would not be stepped
on. There was no food, water or
breathing room for hours.
We landed in Qatar at the US air
base, and we have been transferred
to a military base. When we arrived,
I felt several emotions – happiness,
sadness, confusion, exhaustion
and frustration. I have tried to help
people who could not speak English
to explain their situations and get
medicine.
I took a chance to change my life
from what could be a very terrible
situation. I am just looking forward
to the next steps and what will
come. I’m sad that I left everything.
I’m sad for Afghanistan. But I’m so
happy that I’m alive.
Ramin Rahman was interviewed by
Robyn Huang
‘Panjshir stands strong’ Fight
is notover, declare Taliban’s
old enemies from last holdout
Emma Graham-Harrison
When President Ashraf Ghani fled
Afghanistan, and the Taliban seized
Kabul in a single bloodless day, the
country’s long civil war seemed all
but over. But within hours fighters
and politicians vowed otherwise,
promising to fight back from the last
corner of the country not under con-
trol of the militant group.
Panjshir valley, north of Kabul in
the Hindu Kush, was a resistance
stronghold for decades, first against
the Soviets in the 1980s, then against
the Taliban in the 1990s. It is still dot-
ted with rustingtanks from the fights
of those decades.
Amrullah Saleh, Ghani’s former
vice president, who was born and
trained to fight there, vowed it would
reprise that role, after he declared
himself “caretaker” head of state
under the constitution the Taliban
seemed to have swept aside.
There are many in Afghanistan
who hate their new rulers, and the
history of the past 20 years serves
as a potent reminder that the Tali-
ban should not consider themselves
entirely secure just because they now
control most of the country.
The group were themselves all
but destroyed in the wake of the US-
led invasion in 2001, before they
reformed and fought back. Part of the
movement’s strength was that their
austere vision was shared with some
in Afghanistan, even as it repelled
Open letter
UK news media repeat call to
evacuate Afghan journalists
Jim Waterson
Media editor
British media organisations have
again urged the governmentto evacu-
ate Afghan journalists and translators
who worked with UK media outlets,
with many local staff fearing repris-
als from the Taliban.
Dozens of local reporters and
producers associated with British
organisations remain in Afghanistan
after the fall of Kabul on Sunday. This
month the foreign secretary, Dominic
Raab, promised to consider relocat-
ing local journalists to the UK on an
“exceptional basis” if there was evi-
dence they were under imminent
threat because of their involvement
with Britain.
However, sources in Kabul sug-
gested that during the last week the
UK government did not evacuate a
single Afghan journalist linked to
British media. By comparison, the
US military has already begun flying
local staffwho worked for American
news outlets such as the Washington
▲ Ahmad Massoud, who has revived
his father’s Northern Alliance forces
others. Any resistance movement
would draw from the same dynamic.
There are many in Afghanistan who
may be forced to live under Taliban
rule, but will never embrace it.
The past few days have seen pro-
tests by women in Kabul, and in
defence of the flag of the toppled
republic in the east. One person was
killed in Jalalabad city when gunmen
broke up agroup who had taken down
the Taliban banner.
Afghanistan’s ambassador to
Tajikistan, Lt Gen Zahir Aghbar,
promised Panjshir would form a
▲ Northern Alliance fighters in
their Panjshir stronghold in 2001
Post out of the country. Earlier this
month, the Guardian led a coalition
of British newspapers and broadcast-
ers in an appeal to the government to
expand its refugee visa programme
for Afghans.
Now representatives of the Guard-
ian, the Observer, the Daily Mail,
Daily Telegraph, the Economist, the
Mail on Sunday, the Sun, the Sunday
Telegraph, Sky News, and ITN have
written again to Boris Johnson and
Raab to ask for progress to ensure the
safety of local staffwho have worked
for UK media organisations.
In the letter, they said: “When Brit-
ish media organisations wrote to you
earlier this month about the grave Tal-
iban threat to Afghan journalists and
translators who had worked with us,
you responded almost immediately.
You recognised their vital contribu-
tion to a free press to reporting on the
British mission in Afghanistan and
promised colleagues at risk a path to
safety. President [Joe] Biden did the
same in the United States.
“But now, the Taliban have
arrived in Kabul and our colleagues
11
base for resistance. “Panjshir stands
strong against anyone who wants to
enslave people,” he told Reuters in
an interview.
Videos released on social media
appeared to show potential opposi-
tion figures gathering in what is now
the only province now held by Tali-
ban opponents.
The army chief of staff, Gen
Bismillah Mohammadi, and Ahmad
Massoud, the son of the assassinated
Northern Alliance leader Ahmad
Shah Massoud, were shown along-
side Saleh.
The current leaders of the historic
anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, who
have holed up in Panjshir and vowed
to fight, maybe bidding for a stake in
the new government as well as plan-
ning a guerrilla campaign.
After 20 years leading an insur-
gency, at least some in the Taliban
have admitted the shift to governing
a country will be a challenge. There
may also be some who recognise that
an inclusive government could help
them achieve both greater legitimacy
and something closer to peace.
They have asked both the health
minister and mayor of Kabul to stay
in office and there are rumours that
ex-president Hamid Karzai, along
with the former peace envoy Abdul-
lah Abdullah, could be offered posts.
Aghbar hinted at the options for a
deal, saying the Taliban could poten-
tially become part of a coalition
government that would represent
all Afghan factions if they “let oth-
ers live in peace and accord”.
If that fails, the option to start
fighting again in earnest will still
be open, although any anti-Taliban
resistance would face challenges.
Now Washington has made clear it
is all but walking away from Afghan-
istan, Saleh and his allies would
probably struggle to find significant
foreign backing.
are trapped there. With evacuation
flights resuming, we need you to act
on your promise to protect those who
worked with journalists and get them
to safety outside of Afghanistan. As
I am sure you have seen, our Amer-
ican colleagues have asked for and
expect the same. Given the threats
to the safety of Afghan journalists
we ask the British government to
urgently take these steps to protect
our colleagues.”
Last month Raab said: “The
vibrant Afghan media is one of the
greatest successes in Afghanistan in
the last 19 years, and it should be cel-
ebrated and protected.”
He also acknowledged the threat
faced by Afghan staff who have
worked for British media organisa-
tions in Afghanistan, “in particular
the risk of reprisals they face from
the Taliban from their association
with the UK”.
Raab said: “Under existing
schemes, we are able to consider
individual cases for relocation on
an exceptional basis, where there is
evidence they are under imminent
threat due to the nature of their
engagement with the UK.”
The Taliban have attempted to por-
tray itself as a friend of the Afghan
media, allowing its spokespeople to
be interviewed by female present-
ers . However, there are doubts as
to whether this attitude truly repre-
sents a long-term shift in attitudes.
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
Comics pay
tribute to
‘brilliantly
funny’ Sean
Lock after
death at 58
Chris Wiegand
Tributes have been paid to the
comedian Sean Lock, who has died
of cancer at the age of 58.
Bill Bailey said that Lock was as
“brilliantly funny” off the stage as
on, and that their daft conversa-
tions would leave him “helpless with
laughter”. He described him as a kind
and generous man who was rigorous
in his approach to writing comedy.
Lock “spurred you on to find a bet-
ter joke, a new line, the sweet spot
of a perfect gag”. When the results
worked, he would let out a “great gale
of laughter”, Bailey recalled.
Celebrated for his carefully crafted
surreal content and imaginative
observational wit, Lock was nomi-
nated for the Perrier comedy award
at the Edinburgh fringe in 2000 for
his show No Flatley, I am the Lord of
the Dance.
He achieved television success
with a long run as a team captain
on Jimmy Carr’s Channel 4 comedy
panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats and the
spin-off,8Out of 10 Cats Does Count-
down, and also wrote and starred in
the BBC sitcom 15 Storeys High.
The often deadpan absurdist,
whose timing was described by one
writer as “second only to the Green-
wich Meridian”, toured extensively.
His stage shows included Lockipedia,
in which he improvised on a number
of topics suggested by his audiences:
in what he described as a game of
“audience battleships” he would call
out a seat number and ask its occu-
pant to give him a subject to riff on.
His agent, Off the Kerb Produc-
tions, said that Lock had died at
home, surrounded by his family:
“Sean was one of Britain’s finest
comedians, his boundless creativity,
lightning wit and the absurdist bril-
liance of his work marked him out as a
unique voice in British comedy. Sean
•
National
was also a cherished husband and
father to three children. Sean will be
sorely missed by all that knew him.”
Lee Mack, a comedian and close
friend, said: “I think the appeal of
him as a viewer was that it felt like
you were with your mate down the
pub and he was making you laugh. I
was one of the lucky few that was that
mate down the pub and he was mak-
ing me laugh. A lot. More than almost
anyone I’ve ever known.” Lock, said
Mack, could “talk about putting a
budgie up his bum and yet levitate
it into a hilarious artform”.
Diane Morgan, the actor and
comedian, tweeted that Lock was
one of “the funniest people I’veever
met” and described 15 Storeys High
as “absolute genius”.
Born in Woking, Lock left school
in the early 1980s and began working
on building sites. He later devel-
oped skin cancer, which he blamed
on overexposure to the sun. After a
 The comedian
with Alan
Davies, Bill
Bailey, Stephen
Fry, John
Hodgman and
Sandi Toksvig
on QI in 2009
:
 //
X
period of travelling – which remained
one of his great passions – he focused
on a career in comedy. One of his first
professional TV appearances was in
1993, starring alongside Rob Newman
and David Baddiel on their TV show
Newman and Baddiel in Pieces.
He script-edited the 1998 BBC Two
series Is It Bill Bailey? and had his own
show on BBC Radio 4, 15 Minutes of
Misery, which he later expanded into
15 Storeys High. The show was set in
a south London tower block and cen-
tred on a pessimistic lifeguard called
Vince, played by Lock, and his flat-
mate Errol, played by BenedictWong.
In 2005, Lock became a regular
team captain on 8 Out of 10 Cats, a
role he held for 18 series. Between
2006 and 2007 he hosted the Chan-
nel 4 series TV Heaven, Telly Hell, in
which he invited celebrities to share
their own selection of TV’s triumphs
and tragedies.
Lock also appeared on panel shows
including Have I Got News for You, QI
and They Think It’s All Over. In 2000
he won the gong for best standup at
the British Comedy awards.
Fellow comic Harry Hill said of
Lock: “If you tell jokes for a living it’s
hard to enjoy a comedian in the same
way that a punter would, because you
know all the tricks, you can see where
a gag is going and often arrive at the
punchline long before the comic tell-
ing it. Not so with Sean, that’s why we
comics loved him. Often I had abso-
lutely no idea where he was heading
with a routine.”
Journal Obituary Page 10
13
Commentary
Harry Hill
He reminded us what
we loved abouta great
gag, and why we got into
comedy in the first place
S ean was maybe a year ahead of me on the
London comedy club scene and already had
a reputation among comics as one to watch.
He was really original and exciting and I
wanted to be his friend. Physically tough,
comfortable in himself and cool like Steve
McQueen was cool, he was great company – very bright
and naturally witty. He didn’t have to try too hard; he
wasn’t one of those comics who was full of nervous
energy and felt the need to be permanently “on”. We
ended up sharing a flat together in Edinburgh for the
festival. We were in the kitchen one night after our gigs
and I asked his advice. I’d been struggling with a very
patchy run of gigs. “Some nights I storm it, other times
I die on my arse!” I opined.
“It’s concentration,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve seen
you some nights before you go on, you’re chatting and
mucking about – you need to concentrate on the job in
hand.” He was right, and after that little pep talk I took
his advice and never looked back. He saw things very
clearly and brooked no bullshit.
He was smart enough to marry Anoushka [Nara
Giltsoff], who is more than his equal, because I’m sure
at times he needed firm handling.
He worked hard at being funny, and woe betide
anyone who didn’t match his high standards. On 8 Out
of 10 Cats Does Countdown – which became a great
platform for his brilliant mind and brought him to
▲ Sean Lock a wider audience – he’d laugh like a drain if he liked
was admired for what you’d done, but occasionally the camera would
his lightning wit cut to him looking stony faced. “Why don’t you just
and creativity, fake a laugh?” I asked. “It would make you look better.”
sometimes “I don’t want to encourage them,” he replied with
playing a grin.
‘audience The last time I was on a standup bill with him was at
battleships’ at a benefit. I hadn’t seen him live for a while and made
his stage shows sure I stood in the wings to watch his act. He had a
: crazily funny routine about winning a night out with
  Madonna: a beautiful bit of material which involved
Sean scuttling about on stage – he was a lovely mover.
I was laughing so hard, literally doubled up. I looked
round and all the comics on the bill had come out to
watch him. We don’t do that for just anyone.
At his best, Sean reminded us all what we loved
about a great gag and why we got
into comedy in the first place.
People are tempted That’s why he was so often called
to pigeonhole him as “the comedian’s comedian”.
dark or surreal, but he dryHestyle. took his illness in typically
I heard he was in a
was more than that. hospice for a bit of a rest. I called
him up. “Wow!” I said. “A hospice,
He had a wide-eyed what’s that like?” “It’s OK,” he said
wonder at the world “… and the sex is amazing.”
People are tempted to
pigeonhole him as dark or surreal,
but he was more than that. He
had a playful side; a wide-eyed
wonder at the world. In the 90s I carried a Camcorder
everywhere. One of my favourite videos of Sean is
backstage at the Norwegian comedy festival. Neither
of us had fared particularly well. We were playing
in Stavanger and in the video I’m walking towards
the dressing room. In the distance you can hear the
faint tinkling of something that sounds vaguely like
a nursery rhyme. As the camera gets closer to the
dressing room the tune gets louder, then it turns the
corner and there’s Sean, with his back to us, playing
a toy xylophone. You hear me call his name. He turns
towards me and smiles, then the camera cuts out.
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian •
National 15

High court judgment by Defra, the Animal and Plant Health

Agency and its veterinary experts, as

means no reprieve for

well as passing several stages of thor-
ough legal scrutiny.
“Bovine tuberculosis is one of the

Geronimo the alpaca

Steven Morris
The end appears to be nigh for
Geronimo the alpaca after a last-ditch
legal bid to save him was rejected by
a high court judge.
A “human shield” of supporters –
and journalists – remain around his
pen at a south Gloucestershire farm,
but the government has hinted that
▲ The alpaca’s owner, veterinary
nurse Helen Macdonald, had asked
for the eight-year-old to be retested
it is now only a matter of time before
the camelid is put down.
Geronimo has twice tested positive
for bovine tuberculosis but his owner,
veterinary nurse Helen Macdonald,
argues the regime is flawed and that
he is healthy. She has asked for the
eight-year-old, which was imported
from New Zealand, to be retested but
the government has refused.
At the high court in London,
Mrs Justice Stacey considered an
urgent application for a temporary
injunction to halt the enforcement
of Geronimo’s destruction order.
Stacey ruled there was “no prospect”
of Macdonald succeeding in her bid
to reopen a previous ruling.
Ned Westaway, representing the
Defra executive agency the Animal
and Plant Health Agency (Apha),
told the court the agency would give
Macdonald the opportunity to make
her own arrangements for Geroni-
mo’s destruction.
Macdonald’s lawyers told the
court Geronimo first tested positive
greatest animal health threats weface
and causes devastation and distress
for farming families and rural com-
munities,while costing the taxpayer
around £100m every year.
“Therefore, while nobody wants
to cull infected animals, we need
to do everything we can to tackle
this disease to stop it spreading and
to protect the livelihoods of those
affected.”
Macdonald’s legal team said they
were was “deeply disappointed”
by the outcome of the high court
hearing.
In a statement they said: “Mrs
▲ Geronimo has been in isolation in his pen at a Gloucestershire farm since Justice Stacey did not grant the
testing positive for bovine TB in 2017 OOR: O K/ injunction we were seeking, the result
of which is that Defra can enforce
for bovine tuberculosis in September will not break the law to protect him the warrant to execute Geronimo at
2017 and had been in isolation since. but has warned there is a camera that any time after 4.30pm on Thursday
Catrin McGahey QC said that after overlookshis pen, which would mean 19 August.
the publicity around Geronimo it had his last moments would be beamed “Unfortunately, Mrs Justice Stacey
emerged that the corpses of nine to a watching world. has taken at face value the statements
other animals subjected to the same The government insists all the evi- by Defra that they have complied
testing showed no signs of the dis- dence has been looked at carefully. with their duty of candour in bringing
ease after being euthanised. A Defra spokesman said yesterday: before the court all relevant informa-
Macdonald said that no other “Weare sympathetic to Ms Macdon- tion in applying for the warrant.
alpacas living close to Geronimo ald’s situation, just as we are with “We are surprised and concerned
had been taken ill and the farm’s everyone with animals affected by by that approach, given the informa-
bio-security arrangements were this terrible disease. The testing tion that has come to light in recent
“impeccable.” results and options for Geronimo weeks regarding the nine other
Geronimo’s owner has said she have been very carefully considered camelids.”

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Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
Jabbed adults can match Delta
virus levels of unvaccinated
Natalie Grover
Science correspondent
Fully vaccinated adults can harbour
virus levels as high as unvaccinated
people if infected with the Delta vari-
ant, according to a sweeping analysis
of UK data, which supports the idea
that hitting the threshold for herd
immunity is unlikely.
There is abundant evidence that
Covid vaccines in Britain continue
to offer significant protection against
hospitalisations and death. But this
analysis shows that although being
fully vaccinated means the risk of get-
ting infected is lower, once infected
by Delta a person can carry similar
virus levels as unvaccinated people.
A mother
remembered
Paul Curtis
in Anfield,
Liverpool, with
his mural of
Hillsborough
campaigner
Anne Williams,
whose son
Kevin, 15, died
in the 1989
disaster. Her
fight for justice
– she died in
2013 – features
in a drama on
ITV in autumn.
:
EE E/
Aspirintested as part of possible
new treatment for breast cancer
PA Media
Researchers are undertaking a trial of
aspirin as part of a potential treatment
for an aggressive form of breast can-
cer. They hope the cheap and widely
available drug could work well when
combined with immunotherapy for
patients with triple-negative breast
cancer.
The trial, funded by the Breast
Cancer Now catalyst programme,
which aims to speed up progress in
•
National
The implications of this regard-
ing transmission remain unclear,
the researchers have cautioned. “We
don’t yet know how much transmis-
sion can happen from people who get
Covid-19 after being vaccinated – for
example, they may have high levels
of virus for shorter periods of time,”
said Sarah Walker,professor of medi-
cal statistics and epidemiology atthe
University of Oxford.
“But the fact that they can have
high levels of virus suggests that
people who aren’t yet vaccinated may
not be as protected from the Delta
variant as we hoped.”
Positive tests, hospitalisations and
deaths linked to Covid have been ris-
ing slowly in the UK recently. In the
week to 18 August, 211,238 people had
research through innovation and col-
laboration, is the first clinical study
to test if aspirin can make tumours
more sensitive to immunotherapy
in these patients.
The research, led by Dr Anne
Armstrong from the Christie NHS
foundation trust in Manchester,
will test the drug avelumab with
and without aspirin before patients
receive surgery and chemotherapy
treatment.
Breast Cancer Now said successful
results could lead to further clinical
trials of aspirin and avelumab for
a confirmed positive test result, an
increase of 7.6% compared with the
previous seven days. Over the same
period, there have been 655 deaths
within 28 days of a positive test, a
rise of 7.9%versus the previous seven
days. Hospitalisations have also risen
slightly,with 5,623 going into hospital
with coronavirus between 8 August
2021 and 14 August 2021, a rise of 4.3%
compared to the previous seven days.
The study, which is yet to be
peer-reviewed, found vaccine per-
formance has waned against Delta
compared with the previously dom-
inant Alpha variant. The analysis
did not directly investigate whether
the lower level of vaccine protection
against Delta affected jabs’ ability to
prevent severe disease. However,
incurable secondary triple-negative
breast cancer, which happens when
cancer cellsthat started in the breast
spread to other parts of the body.
The charity said triple-negative
breast cancer was a less common
but often more aggressive type of
breast cancer that disproportion-
ately affected younger women and
black women.
Armstrong, a consultant medi-
cal oncologist and honorary senior
lecturer, said: “Our earlier research
has suggested that aspirin can make
8,000
Number of women diagnosed
with triple-negative breast
cancer in Britain each year
Dr Penny Ward, visiting professor in
pharmaceutical medicine at King’s
College London, noted: “The low
incidence of hospitalisation seen to
date suggests thatin this respect the
vaccines are protecting individuals
from developing severe Covid.”
The study – conducted by Oxford
researchers in partnership with the
Office for National Statistics and the
Department of Health and Social Care
– compared the results of about 2.6m
nose and throat swabs taken from
more than 384,500 adults between
December 2020 and mid-May 2021,
and more than 811,600 test results
from 358,983 adults between mid-
May and 1 August 2021 (the period of
Delta domination).
The UK findings on peak virus
levels after Delta infections in vac-
cinated people echoed data from a
small study cited by the USCenters for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
last month. The agency indicated
those findings had underpinned its
decision to recommend that people
wear masks in some indoor settings,
regardless of their vaccination status.
certain types of immunotherapy
more effective by preventing the
cancer from making substances that
weaken the immune response.
“Anti-inflammatory drugs
like aspirin could hold the key to
increasing the effectiveness of immu-
notherapy when used at the same
time … We hope our trial will show
that, when combined with immu-
notherapy, aspirin can enhance its
effects and may ultimately provide a
safe new way to treatbreast cancer.”
Dr Simon Vincent, the director
of research, support and influenc-
ing at Breast Cancer Now, said: “The
8,000 women diagnosed with triple-
negative breast cancer in the UK
each year face the frightening real-
ity of limited treatment options – we ▲ Daphne Caruana Galizia died in
urgently need to address this.” a car bombing four years ago
17
Businessman
charged in
Malta over
murder of
journalist
Agence France-Presse
Valletta
Malta’s attorney general has called for
a life sentence for the businessman
Yorgen Fenech for allegedly mas-
terminding the murder of Daphne
Caruana Galizia, four years ago.
The attorney general, Victoria
Buttigieg,laid formal charges against
Fenech, who was arrested in Novem-
ber 2019 while trying to leave Malta
on his yacht. He is accused of com-
plicity in the murder and criminal
conspiracy. He has been subject to
a pre-trial compilation of evidence
and has denied the charges.
The bill of indictment, which con-
firms that Fenech will stand trial,
requests a life term for the murder
charge and up to 30 years in prison
for the criminal conspiracy charge.
Caruana Galizia was one of Mal-
ta’s most prominent investigative
journalists before she was assassi-
nated in a car bombing close to her
home on 16 October 2017. The mur-
der of a reporter who had exposed
cronyism and sleaze within Malta’s
political and business elite prompted
international outrage and protests
that eventually forced Joseph Mus-
cat to resign as prime minister.
Caruana Galizia had been investi-
gating a controversial power station
deal, in which Fenech was one of the
main shareholders and a director.
One of three men accused of
planting the bomb pleaded guilty
in February. Vincent Muscat – no
relation to the former prime minis-
ter – was jailed for 15 years. Brothers
George and Alfred Degiorgio are
awaiting trial.
An independent judicial inquiry
into Caruana Galizia’s murder last
month found the Maltese state
responsible for creating a climate of
impunity in the countrythat allowed
her to be killed, including through
the coordination bystaffin the prime
minister’soffice of online harassment
campaigns against her.
In their report, the judges attrib-
uted indirect responsibility to Joseph
Muscat for the circumstances lead-
ing to the murder, citinghis failure to
act against Keith Schembri,his chief
of staff, and the former energy min-
ister Konrad Mizzi over their secret
companies, revealed in the Panama
Papers, and their alleged links to a
secret company owned by Fenech.
 • The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
18 National
Call for curbs Rachel Hall
on packaging Nearly two-thirds of the yoghurts
of children’s marketed at children provide at least
a third of a four- to six-year-old’smax-
high-sugar imum daily intake of added sugars,
according to research that calls for
a ban on child-friendly packaging.
yoghurts Despite the surveyed yoghurts con-
taining added sugar, syrup and fruit
concentrate, they are packaged with
colourful cartoon designs designed
to attract children. Many contain
claims about health benefits, such
as the presence of calcium, vitamin D
and protein, but the researchers warn
that these distract parents from scru-
tinising nutrition labels.
The researchers, part of the Action
on Sugar charity, are calling on the
government to introduce restrictions
5.5
Teaspoons of sugar per serving of
Nestlé Rolo mix-in toffee yoghurt –
the same as 16 malted milk biscuits
on the use of child-friendly packaging
and to remove nutrition and health
claims on yoghurts with medium or
high sugar content.
Katharine Jenner, the campaign
director at Action on Sugar,said clever
marketing techniques were powerful
tools “to get children hooked on the
sweet stuff from a young age and for
life”. She added: “Whilst the govern-
ment’sobesity strategy is taking bold
steps to tackle unhealthy advertis-
ing and promotions, they now need
to ensure food companies only use
cartoons and health halo statements
Scotland’s finance chief
says soaring deficit is no
barrier to independence
Libby Brooks
Scotland correspondent
Scotland’s deficit more than doubled
to £36.3bn, or 22.4% of GDP in 2020-
21, the highest yearly figure since
devolution, but it should not be an
obstacle to making the case for inde-
pendence, according to Scotland’s
finance secretary.
Increased spending and falling
revenues as a result of Covid, com-
pounded by the continuing oil price
slump, increased the notional defi-
cit for 2020-21 from 8.6% of GDP in
2019-20 to 22.4% in 2020-21.
This is significantly higher than
the 14.2% for the UK as a whole, and
more than twice the advanced econ-
omy average of 11.7% estimated by
the IMF. The figure could potentially
rule an independent Scotland out of
EU membership because of regula-
tions on fiscal deficits.
But Scotland’s inance secre-
tary, Kate Forbes, said: “It is not an
obstacle to making the case for inde-
pendence because deficits across the
world have risen exponentially and
having the highest deficit in Europe
does not seem to be an obstacle for
the UK government ... This is a case
for havingthe levers, the full control
to manage our fiscal sustainability.”
The annual Government Expend-
iture and Revenue Scotland (Gers)
report, compiled by Scottish govern-
ment statisticians, illustrates how
‘Post-independence
Scotland would
follow a different
programme to run
our economy’
Kate Forbes
Scotland’s finance secretary
on their healthier products, allowing
parents to see more of what is good
for their children.”
In the researchers’ ranking of the
most sugary yoghurts marketed at
children, Nestlé Rolo mix-in toffee
yoghurt topped the table with 5.5
teaspoons (22g) of sugar per serving,
equivalent to 16 malted milk biscuits.
Yoghurts with the lowest sugar
content included Nush almond milk
strawberry tubes, the Coconut Col-
laborative mango and passion fruit
yogurt and Yoplait PetitFilous straw-
berry and banana yoghurt.
public finances were affected by the
pandemic. It measures the period
from April 2020 – a week after the first
national lockdown began – to the end
of March this year and includes a geo-
graphical share of North Sea oil.
Total spending in Scotland rose to
a record £99.2bn, reflecting the costs
of health and economic interventions
such as furlough in response to the
pandemic, while income from taxes
fell to £62.8bn.
But opposition parties said the
report underlined the importance of
remaining within the UK, with Scot-
tish Labour highlighting that total
spending was equivalent to £18,144
per person – £1,828 per person greater
than the UK average, while revenue
raised in Scotland was £382 less per
head.
The Scottish Conservatives calcu-
lated that this “union dividend”,the
combined value of higher spending
and lower revenue, had increased to
£2,210 per person.
The Scottish Labour deputy leader
and Covid recovery spokesperson,
Jackie Baillie,said: “Today’s Gers sta-
tistics plainly show how the people
of Scotland benefit financially from
being part of the United Kingdom.”
Baillie added it was “reckless
beyond imagining to pursue a divi-
sive and economically catastrophic
referendum during the recovery”.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first
minister, said during the Holyrood
election campaign earlier this year
that her “strong preference and inten-
tion” is to hold another referendum
in the first half of the parliament, up
to 2023.
Forbes said she “remains commit-
ted to refreshing the economic case
[for independence] ... when we are
able to see beyond the pandemic”.
While the Gers figures are an esti-
mate, the Institute for Fiscal Studies
has previously described them as
“the most sensible starting point” for
assessing the fiscal challenges that an
independent Scotland would face.
Forbes said that this was a
“notional deficit – not a real deficit
– estimated on 70% UK government
taxation and 40% of UK decisions
on spending. The Scottish govern-
ment in the event of independence
could and would follow a different
programme when it comes to man-
aging our economy.”
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
This is about a predator,
jurors told as R Kelly’s
sexualabuse trial starts
Lauren Aratani
New York
he disgraced & singer  elly
appeared in a criminal court in ew
York yesterday for his long-antic-
ipated federal trial on charges of
sexual abuse and racketeering.
“his case is not about a celebrity
who likes to party a lot,” Maria ruz
Melendez, an assistant attorney
general, told the jury in rooklyn,
as she explained the evidence to
be presented. “his case is about a
predator.”
More than a decade has passed
since elly was acquitted in a 2008
child sexual abuse images case in hi-
cago. It was a reprieve that allowed
his music career to continue until
the #Meoo era, when a number of
alleged victims came forward.
he women’s stories got wide
exposure with the Lifetime docu-
mentary urviving  elly, which
premiered in anuary 2019.he series
•
News 19
chauffeurs, recruited women, girls,
and sometimes boys, for sex.
hese employees allegedly
arranged for victims to travel to see
elly in the ew York ity area and
elsewhere, in violation of the Mann
ct, a 1910 law that made it illegal
to “transport any woman or girl”
across state lines “for any immoral
purpose”. hey allegedly groomed
them,often isolating them from their
explored claims of how an entourage family to maintain control over them,
of supporters protected elly and and produced child abuse images of
silenced alleged victims for decades. them when they were minors.
Melendez told the jury yester- he charges are based on the
day that elly had invited children alleged experiences of six people
and women to join him after shows between 1994 and 2018.
by distributing backstage passes. In court documents, prosecutors
nce he had them alone, Melendez have described the alleged abuse,
said, he “dominated and controlled with victims describing “rules”
them physically, sexually and they had to follow, including being
psychologically”. instructed not to leave the room with-
he prosecutor said elly would ▲ R Kelly’s lawyer, Nicole Blank them. hey were fans. hey came out elly’s permission, not look at
often record sex acts with minors as Becker, said fans of the singer, below, to Mr elly,” she said. “hey knew other men and to call elly “daddy”.
he controlled a racketeering enter- ‘knew what they were getting into’ exactly what they were getting into.” mong the crimes included in
prise of individuals who were loyal COURT SKETCH: JANE ROSENBERG/REUTERS elly is perhaps best known for his the charges is one involving the
and devoted to him. “What his suc- smash hit I elieve I an Fly, a 1996 & singer aliyah aughton, who
cess and popularity brought him was song that became an inspirational secretly married elly in 1994 at the
access, access to girls, boys and young anthem played at school gradua- age of 15. he prosecution allege elly
women,” she said. tions, weddings, advertisements and and his associates bribed a govern-
he 54-year-old has pleaded not elsewhere. ment employee to get a fake ID for
guilty to all charges. he singer, whose full name is ob- aughton that misrepresented her
elly’s attorney, icole lank ert ylvester elly, was arrested on age as 18. aughton died in a plane
ecker, portrayed her client as a federal charges of racketeering in crash in 2001.
victim of women, some of whom uly 2019. Prosecutors allege that he case is only part of the legal
enjoyed the “notoriety of being able elly, with the help of an “enter- peril facing the singer. e also has
to tell their friends that they were prise” consisting of employees pleaded not guilty to sex-related
with a superstar. “e didn’t recruit including managers, bodyguards and charges in Illinois and Minnesota.

20
Lockdown use of sheds as
offices sparks rise in fires
Sarah Marsh
The decision by many workers to turn
their sheds into offices – “shoffices” –
as well as bars at the start of the first
Covid lockdown has led to a surge in
outbuilding fires.
Freedom of information (FoI)
requests by the insurer Zurich found
that blazes in sheds, garages and
conservatories rose by 16% in 2020
compared with the previous year.
The rise has been linked to the
popularity of converting residen-
tial outbuildings to offices, bars and
home gyms. The number of planning
applications for garage conversions
rose by a quarter in the past year as
people increasingly worked remotely
and spent more time at home.
In April, a poll by another insurer,
Aviva, suggested that one in 10 of
those surveyed was working from a
converted shed, garage or summer-
house. People have been increasingly
willing to pay for expensive lux-
ury shed-office conversions, while
the word “garage” has been reported
to be the most popular search
• The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
National
16%
The rise in the number of fires in
sheds, garages and conservatories
in 2020, compared with 2019
item on the property website
Rightmove.
Phil Ost at Zurich said: “Our
sheds and garages have become a
haven to escape the stresses of fam-
ily life, and for others a place to
work. Homeowners have converted
outbuildings into everything from
bars and yoga studios to gyms and
offices. But as Brits take refuge in
their garden sheds and garages,
it appears to have sparked a rise in
accidental blazes.”
Of the 33 of the 45 UK counties and
administrative areas thatresponded
to the FoI request, Lancashire
reported the biggest rise in outbuild-
ing fires, with a 58% increase, while
Lincolnshire’s figure was 50%.
During the first lockdown, fire pits
and pizza ovens also grew in popular-
ity, adding to the fire risks posed by
mowers, barbecues and paint thin-
ners. Outdoor pizza oven sales were
up 306% year on year in spring 2020.
Ost said: “The huge increase in peo-
ple buying pizza ovens and fire pits,
which carry a risk if not extinguished
correctly, could also account for the
jump in the number of outbuildings
going up in smoke.”
Warnings have also been issued
about people who work from home
moving items to self-storage units,
with some warehouses catching fire.
Stuart Bensusan, from the insurer
Surewise, told the BBC: “It highlights
the importance of thoroughly vet-
ting any storage facility you use and
taking the necessary steps to protect
your possessions while they are in it.
“Many consumers have complete
faith in storage units, and it never
crosses their minds that something
might happen. This leads to many
customers being underinsured or
having no cover at all.”
Many storage unit operators offer
insurance, but customers can shop
around for cheaper deals, and some
may have cover included through
their home insurance policy.
Austin Mitchell,
former Labour
by many in Grimsby’s Labour family
and across the town, where he was
taken into the hearts of local people.
“On a personal level, Austin was
MP for Grimsby, unfailingly supportive to me as a
new MP, still a bruising advocate of
dies aged 86 the Labour party, and gave his time,
advice and expertise generously.”
Many of those rememberingMitch-
ell recalled his most famous moment
as a TV presenter when, in 1974, he
PA Media chaired a prickly encounter between
the former Leeds United managers
Don Revie and Brian Clough.
The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, The former Downing Street direc-
has led tributes to the former Great tor of communications Alastair
Grimsby MP Austin Mitchell follow- Campbell said on Twitter: “Sorry to
ing his death at the age of 86. hear of the death of Austin Mitchell.
Mitchell was a colourful figure whoBest known of course as an MP but
represented the Lincolnshire port fora place in history as TV Interviewer
38 years, from 1977 to 2015, after a who did the ‘real life’ Brian Clough-
career in TV during the 1970s. Don Revie interview immortalised in
Starmer said: “Austin served his The Damned United. RIP.”
constituency of Great Grimsby with
remarkable commitment for 38 years. Journal Obituary Page 11 
There are few MPs whose dedication
to their constituents would translate
into changing their surname to Had-
dock to promote local industry.”
Mitchell was a well known reporter
and presenter with ITV’s Calendar
regional news programme for many
years before winning a byelection in
Grimsby in 1977.
The former Labour MP Mel-
anie Onn, who succeeded Mitchell
in the Great Grimsby seat in 2015, ▲ Austin Mitchell in 2013, two years
said: “Austin will be greatly missed before he stood down as an MP
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
Devon police
gun licence
regimeto be
examined by
outside force
Steven Morris
Vikram Dodd
An outside force will carry out an
urgent inquiry into Devon and
Cornwall police’s firearms licensing
regime after the mass shooting car-
ried out by Jake Davison in Plymouth.
It will run alongside an investi-
gation by the Independent Office
for Police Conduct (IOPC), which is
examining why Davison’s shotgun
was returned to him last month.
Police forces across England and
Wales have been asked to review their
firearms application processes after
last week’s shootings, in which Davi-
son killed five people, then himself.
The home secretary, Priti Patel,
announced that new statutory guid-
ance will be published spelling out
•
National
that nobody should be given a licence
until their doctor has informed the
police of any medical conditions that
may make them unfit to hold a gun.
Davison received help for mental
health problems during lockdown
but it is understood that police were
not aware of these issues.
The government has also
announced firearms applicants will
be subject to social media checks.
Davison’s social media accounts sug-
gest an obsession with the “incel”
– “involuntary celibate” – movement
as well as a deep interest in guns,
but the Devon and Cornwall force is
not believed to have researched his
online presence.
IOPC investigators are expected
to soon start interviewing those
involvedin decisions to hand his gun
licence back to Davison. Devon and
Cornwall police first granted Davi-
son a weapon in 2017 on a five-year
licence but it was taken away in 2019
after he got into a fight. He agreed to
attend an anger managementcourse
and his licence was restored.
Ian Arrow, senior coroner for Plym-
outh, Torbay and south Devon, will
formally open hearings todayinto the
deaths of Maxine Davison, 51, Sophie
Martyn, three, her father, Lee Mar-
tyn, 43, Stephen Washington, 59, and
Kate Shepherd, 66.
This afternoon he will open the
inquest into the death of Davison,
an apprentice crane operator.
Going in on a high The cast of the circus act
Bromance demonstrate their acrobatic skills
R: FF in central Edinburgh as they prepare for their
 /Y fringe show about male friendships.
21
Unions to ballot
members over
Labour job cuts
Peter Walker
Political correspondent
Labour faces potential strike action
over plans to cut about 90 jobs, a
quarter of its workforce, amid a fund-
ing crisis and restructuring.
The Unite and GMB unions said
they would hold ballots about pos-
sible strike action.
The ballots, which are to begin
on Monday and run until the end of
the month, were being set up after a
staff briefing by the party’s general
secretary, David Evans. His presen-
tation was criticised as being opaque
and heavy on jargon, with staff told
that they must be ready to work in an
“agile and multidisciplinary” way.
The party hopes to implement the
cuts through voluntary job losses.
Its finances have been hampered
byfighting three general elections in
six years – 2015, 2017 and 2019 – as
well as by costly legal cases.
Labour’smost recent annual report
showed 367 staff were employed by
the party as of 31 December 2019.
Labour was contacted for comment.

22
Cambridge to cease teacher training if
No 10 persists with ‘damaging’ reforms
Richard Adams
Education editor
The University of Cambridge says it
will cease teacher training courses if
the government persists with “dam-
aging” proposals to change how
primary and secondary school teach-
ers are trained in England.
Cambridge’s decision, which has
been backed by its vice-chancel-
lor, Stephen Toope, is likely to be
followed by Oxford and other uni-
versities that train thousands of new
teachers each year, in a potentially
huge blow to the teaching profes-
sion’s prestige and recruitment.
Disadvantaged
children ‘lose
out on early
years education’
Richard Adams
Children from disadvantaged fam-
ilies in England are missing out on
early years education because their
parents are not in work or do not earn
enough – contributingto a widening
gap between the poorest children
and their peers before they even start
school, according to a new report.
A study by the Sutton Trust and the
Sylvia Adams Charitable Trust said
the government’s policy of funding
only 15 hours of weekly childcare
places for three- and four-year-olds
from low-income families, compared
with 30 hours a week for children
whose parents were in work, was
compounding inequalities and harm-
ing children’s life chances.
The report found that 70% of fami-
lies eligible for the full 30 hours were
in the top half of earners, while only
13% of eligible families were in the
bottom third of income distribution.
That could be overcome by fund-
ing universal access for 30 hours a
week, at a cost of about £250m a year,
the report estimates.
Jane Young, director of the Syl-
via Adams Charitable Trust, said the
report showed that the most disad-
vantaged children in England were
being excluded from the same access
to early education as their more
advantaged peers.
“Wecannot allowthis situation to
continue. The problem is clear and
the negativeoutcomes stark, but this
report offers workable solutions,”
Young said.
“This is not a report to put on a
shelf to gather dust – it must be acted
upon if we are to give all our children
a fair start.”
Currently all children in England
aged three and four are entitled to
funding for 15 hours of provision each
week.
• The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
National
Prof Susan Robertson, the head of
Cambridge’s education faculty, said
the government’s proposals would
make it impossible for the university
to continue its postgraduate courses,
which currently train up to 350 stu-
dents each year.
“If these reforms were imple-
mented we would find delivering
high quality [education] deeply com-
promised, and we would have no
recourse other than to not offer the
initial training postgraduate certifi-
cate in education,” Robertson said.
“We have an outstanding PGCE
programme for primary and sec-
ondary teachers and what we are
looking at with this highly prescribed
Review Four Seasons story
still hits all the high notes
Jersey Boys
Trafalgar theatre, London
★★★★☆
Lyndsey Winship
If you’re not a Four Seasons
aficionado, this is a show full
of “Oh, did they write that?!”
moments, from Beggin’ to
December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)
– the sound of 1970s nights up and
down provincial England, a long
way from the housing projects of
curriculum and model of mentoring
doesn’t at all look like what we do.
We would have to exit.”
The reforms, which school lead-
ers have likened to a “wrecking
ball”, would require Cambridge and
all other providers to be re-accred-
ited, and follow a standardised
format. Critics say it would destroy
existing relationships between train-
ing courses and schools, replaced
by large group placements and an
untested mentoring programme, on
the basis of little evidence.
In its submission to the govern-
ment’s review of initial teacher
training, Cambridge said it wanted
the outcome to be “paused” to allow
1950s New Jersey where the story
all starts.
Some jukebox musicals treat
the songs as a jumping off point
for fantasy. Jersey Boys – returning
to the West End, where it first
ran from 2008 to 2017 – is the
opposite, just the band’s own story,
soundtracked by the songs as Bob
Gaudio and Bob Crewe wrote them.
Similarly straightforward is the
single scaffold-style set; the tight
on-the-spot choreography, with
its rigid-backed stomp and click;
the pithy script (co-written by Rick
Elice and Marshall Brickman). It
works because it’s a good story – of
the government to reassess its evi-
dence base and consider criticism of
the proposals from across the sector.
Oxford and University College
London’s Institute of Education have
also joined the attacks, with Oxford
telling the Departmentfor Education
(DfE) that it was “deeply concerned
about the academic integrity” of the
proposals and “the potential reputa-
tional risk” for the university.
UCL said the government’s review
“presents teaching as general, eas-
ily replicated sequences of activities,
based in a limited and set evidence
base”. It concluded: “In their current
form, the proposals risk extensive
and damaging disruption … putting
mob connections, bad debts, prison
spells, soaring success and the
implosion of the band.
Each band member directly
addresses the audience: Tommy
De Vito (Benjamin Yates), the
Jersey cliche unable to resist a
grift; Gaudio (a very likable Adam
Bailey), the clean-cut kid who
quotes TS Eliot; and the enigmatic
Nick Massi (Karl James Wilson), a
▲ From left: Karl James Wilson, Ben
Joyce, Adam Bailey, Benjamin Yates
the quality and supply of provi-
sion at risk and eroding capacity for
improvement.”
Robertson said that while there
were issues with teaching quality
in the sector, the government failed
to consult leading providers and
insisted on a rapid consultation over
the summer holidays, ending on 22
August. She added: “Quite frankly
we don’t have confidence in this
report, we don’t have confidence at
the moment that the government is
listening to us. It’s as if they want to
drive through this review.”
A DfE spokesperson said: “Sup-
porting our teachers with the highest
quality training and development is
the best way we can improve pupil
outcomes, and we want all teachers
to have a world-class start to their
career.
“We continue to engage with the
sector on proposed changes to initial
teacher training, and we will respond
to the review’s recommendations
later this year.”
Having a ball
Rebecca
Trehearn as
the Queen
in Andrew
Lloyd Webber
and Emerald
Fennell’s
Cinderella,
which had
its premiere
at the Gillian
Lynne theatre,
London.
The 20 July
opening
night was
axed after a
crew member
tested positive
for Covid-19.
HH: 
/H 
man who irons his shirts twice and
writes a killer vocal arrangement.
Their rise comes off the back of
a whole lot of graft, gig after gig,
scenes rolling by at a pace. The
show’s new Frankie Valli, Ben Joyce,
is on point with that distinctive
nasal falsetto, heading up to helium
territory, although softness creeps
in on some solo numbers. As time
wears on and the touring becomes
relentless, Joyce’s characterisation
moves towards desperation.
What’s particular about the
band is the dissonance between
the tender harmonies and the cold
shell of these tough guys in suits.
The emotional climax doesn’t
quite make the bottom fall out of
your world. The momentum is all
in the music – a seemingly endless
catalogue of hit songs.
Jersey Boys is booking until 2 January
 ADVERTISMENT

A CALL TO MODERNISE MEDICAL RESEARCH

FOR THE BENEFIT OF PUBLIC HEALTH
AN OPEN LETTER TO 1.Business,
Prime Minister 2. Chief Scientific Adviser 3. Department for
Energy & Industrial Strategy 4. Home Office
5. Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs 6. Department of Health and Social Care
We write as scientists and professionals dedicated to to humans. These include the use of human cells or tissues,
accelerating medical progress. We were encouraged to organ-on-a-chip technology, stem cell technology, and in
read in recent media reports that the Government plans silico (computer based) modelling approaches.
to launch a review which will focus on replacing the use of
animals in the development of medicines. We believe this is We call on the Government to take the following decisive
an extremely important step since replacing animals with action:
human-relevant techniques is vital to modernising medical
research. However, this review must be accompanied by First, acknowledge the need to move towards the
bold policy action. implementation of animal-free, human-relevant models of
disease and make a clear commitment to doing so. Second,
The current reliance on animals is holding back medical develop and publish a detailed plan, with timetables and
progress. Significant differences in our genetic makeup milestones, setting out how human-focused methods will
and in biology mean that data from animals often cannot be be phased in, and animal experiments phased out. Third,
reliably translated to humans. Greater than 92 per cent of since this issue has a significant impact on public health
drugs that show promise in animal tests and that proceed and requires attention at the highest levels of Government,
into human clinical trials fail to get to clinic, mostly for appoint a dedicated minister to facilitate this transition.
reasons of poor efficacy and safety that were not predicted
by animal testing. If the Government is willing to take bold and decisive action
to modernise medical research, Britain will stand the best
There is a range of cutting-edge, non-animal methods that possible chance of further enhancing its position as a global
could be used to replace animals, in many areas of research leader in the life sciences and improving the lives of patients
and testing, to acquire results that are much more relevant and their families.
Signed by* • Dr David Ansell (PhD), Lecturer in Skin Science, University of Bradford • Kathy Archibald, Chair, Safer Medicines Trust • Dr Martin Ashby, Consultant Palliative Medicine • Dr
Jarrod Bailey,Director of Science, Animal Free Research UK • Professor Michael Balls,University of Nottingham • Professor Marc Bekoff,Ph.D, Professor emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary
Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder • Dr Adrian Biddle, Queen Mary University of London • Dr Charlotte Blattner, Senior Lecturer and Researcher, University of Berne • Dr Kit Byatt,
Retired Consultant Geriatrician • Theodora Capaldo, Ed.D., Trustee, the American Fund for Alternatives to Animal Research • Sarah Carr, Campaign Manager, Naturewatch Foundation •
Dr. Martin J. D. Clift, Associate Professor, In Vitro Systems for Particle/Fibre Toxicology at Swansea University Medical School • Professor Michael D. Coleman, Professor of Toxicology,
Aston University • Jan Creamer, President, CEO, Animal Defenders International • Professor Matthew Dalby, Director of the lifETIME Centre for Doctoral Training in Engineered Tissues •
Tamara Drake, Director of Research and Regulatory Policy, Center for Responsible Science, Center for a Humane Economy • Dr Juliet P Dukes, Research Integrity and Governance Officer,
University of Surrey • Professor Amanda Ellison, Durham University • Dr Gabriella Errico, MD, Physician / Specialist in Paediatrics and Neonatology, OSA - Oltre La Sperimentazione Animale
• Dr Lorna Ewart, Executive Vice President Science, Emulate • Dr. Luis Falcon, MD, President, GNU Solidario • Paul Furlong, Emeritus Professor of Clinical Neuroimaging, Aston University
• Professor Robert Garner, Emeritus Professor of Politics, School of History, Politics and International Relations, University of Leicester • Juliet Gellatley, Founder and Director, Viva! • Dr
Corina Gericke, Veterinary Surgeon, Vice President, Doctors Against Animal Experiments • Dr Emma Grange, Senior Science Advisor, Cruelty Free International • Oscar Grazioli DVM, In
charge of anesthesiology at Belvedere Clinic, Journalist and writer • Viv Hallam, CEO, Kirkstall Limited • L.W. Harries,Professor of Molecular Genetics • Revd Professor Martin Henig, Wolfson
College Oxford • Dr Carolina Herrera, Senior Research Fellow, Imperial College London • Dr Kathrin Herrmann PhD, Veterinary Specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law, Center
for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health • Claire Howard, Executive Director, Crustacean Compassion • Rebecca Jenkins, LL.B, LL.M
(Animal Law), Associate Fellow, Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics • Dr Mark Jones BVSc MSc (Stir) MSc (UL) MRCVS • Dr Shireen Kassam, Consultant Haematologist and Lifestyle Medicine
Physician, Plant-Based Health Professionals UK • Dr Gerry Kenna, Pharmaceutical Director, Safer Medicines Trust • Andrew Knight, Professor of Animal Welfare and Ethics, & Founding
Director, Centre for Animal Welfare, University of Winchester • Dr Tomasz Kostrzewski, Director, Biology, CN Bio Innovations Limited • Sophie-Madlin Langner, Veterinary Surgeon, Scientific
Officer, Doctors Against Animal Experiments • The Revd Professor Andrew Linzey, DD, Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics • Dr Clair Linzey, Deputy Director, Oxford Centre for
Animal Ethics • Dr Lindsay Marshall, Biomedical Science Adviser,Humane Society International UK • Dr Nathaniel G N Milton, Principal Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences • Dr Les Mitchell, Fellow
of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, University of Fort Hare Hunterstoun Research Fellow • Dr Sam Murray, Neuroscience/Oncology Researcher • Dr Gaby Neumann, Veterinary surgeon,
Scientific Officer & Press Officer, Doctors Against Animal Experiments • Dr. Federica Nin, Psychologist, O.S.A. - Oltre la Sperimentazione Animale (Beyond Animal Experimentation), Italy •
Dr. Elisabeth Ormandy, Canadian Society for Humane Science • Carla Owen, CEO, Animal Free Research UK • Professor Mike Philpott, Professor of Cutaneous Biology, Queen Mary University
London • Professor Geoff Pilkington, Emeritus Professor of Neuro-oncology, University of Portsmouth • Lorraine Platt, Co-Founder of Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation • Dr Pandora
Pound, Research Consultant, Safer Medicines Trust • Julia Radzwill, Biologist, Scientific Officer, Doctors Against Animal Experiments • Dr Ruman Rahman, Associate Professor of Neuro-
Oncology, University of Nottingham • Dr Muhammad Rahman, Postdoctoral research associate, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry • Rebecca Ram, Scientific Consultant,
Safer Medicines Trust • Professor Manuel Salmeron-Sanchez FRSE, Chair of Biomedical Engineering, University of Glasgow • Dr Samantha Saunders, Senior Science Advisor, Cruelty Free
International • Joan Schaffner, Associate Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School • Dr Susan Claire Scholes, Research Associate, Newcastle University • Jeff Sebo,
Clinical Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics, and Philosophy, and Director of the Animal Studies M.A. Program, New York University
• Dr Hannah Short, GP Specialist in Menopause & Premenstrual Disorders, Norwich • Professor Valerie Speirs, Chair in Molecular Oncology, University of Aberdeen • Dr Rebecca RoseStanton,
Associate Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics • Martin Stephens, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate, Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School
of Public Health • Dr Katy Taylor, Director of Science & Regulatory Affairs, Cruelty Free International • Dr Jan Turner, Director, Safer Medicines Trust • Dr Richard Twine, Centre for Human/
Animal Relations (CfHAS), Edge Hill University • The Revd. Canon Professor Keith Ward, FBA (Regius Professor of Divinity Emeritus at Oxford and Emeritus Student of Christ Church), Christ
Church, Oxford • Dr Margaret Wexler,Head of Science, Breast Cancer UK • Helen Wheadon, Professor of Stem Cell Regulation, University of Glasgow• Dr Tamara Zietek,Science coordinator,
Doctors Against Animal Experiments
This letter has been supported by the following organisations • Animal Free Research UK • Animal Aid • Animal Defenders International • The Animal Interfaith Alliance • Aquatic Life Institute • Breast
Cancer UK • Catholic Concern for Animals • Cruelty Free International • Crustacean Compassion • Doctors Against Animal Experiments, Germany • FOUR PAWS UK • Humane Society International UK
• Mahavir Trust • Medical Research Modernization Committee • Naturewatch Foundation • Oltre la Sperimentazione Animale (Beyond Animal Experimentation), Italy • OneKind • PETA UK • Plant-Based
Health Professionals UK • Run Free Alliance • The Shellfish Network • Safer Medicines • Viva! • Wild Welfare
www.animalfreeresearchuk.org *The open letter illustrates the view and opinion of the signatories but not necessarily of their associated organisations.
 • The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
24
Eyewitness
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
•
▼ Dugway Proving Ground, Utah
Wild horses gallop from a watering
trough amid a helicopter roundup of
mustangs near the US army’s testing
facility. Managers say drought
means their removal is necessary 25
to protect the animals and the
parched land, but critics claim it is
to preserve the area for cattle grazing
PHOTOGRAPH: RICK BOWMER/AP

26
Covid deaths in south-east Asia
soar as vaccination rates stall
Rebecca Ratcliffe
South-east Asia correspondent
The Red Cross has said south-east
Asia has recorded twice as many
Covid-related fatalities as North
America over the past two weeks,
and has warned wealthier countries
that they must urgently share their
vaccine supplies.
The more aggressive Delta variant
is driving record outbreaks in coun-
tries across the region. Indonesia,
the worst hit, had the highest daily
death tolls in the world, with 1,466
deaths reported on average over the
past seven days.
Alexander Matheou, the Asia
Pacific director of the International
• The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent societies (IFRC), said:“This
Covid-19 surge driven by the Delta
variant is claiming a tragic toll on
families across south-east Asia and
it’s far from over.We fear that as the
virus spreads to rural areas many
more lives will be lost among the
unvaccinated.”
For the past two weeks, Covid
fatalities in south-east Asia have been
higher than in any other region in the
world, according to IFRC, though the
organisation cautioned that discrep-
ancies in data collection complicate
such comparisons.
South-east Asia has recorded
38,522 deaths from Covid-19 in the
past fortnight, nearly twice as many
as North America, according to the
Johns opkins niversity Covid-19
data cited by IFRC.
ver the same period, urope
recorded 22,102 deaths, South Amer-
ica recorded 19,356 and Middle ast
and Africa recorded 21,216.
“Many south-east Asian nations
have low portions of the population
fully vaccinated and are languishing
far behind western urope and North
America,” said Matheou.
“In the short-term, we need much
greater efforts by richer countries
to urgently share their millions of
excess vaccine doses with countries
in Southeast Asia. We also need vac-
cine companies and governments to
share technology and scale up pro-
duction,” he said.
uropean countries such as the
▲ Testing for Covid infections in
Vietnam, where less than 2% of
the population is fully vaccinated
HOOGH: LUOG H LH/E
K, Spain, ermany and Italy, have
fully vaccinated at least 57% of their
population, accordingto xford ni-
versity’s ur World in Data.
By contrast, Vietnam has fully vac-
cinated less than 2% of its population,
Thailand 7.5%, Indonesia 10.5% and
the Philippines 11.6%. Malaysia has
fully vaccinated more than one third
of its population. Myanmar’s vac-
cination programme has virtually
collapsed following the coup.
Much of the region managed to
avoid the worst of the outbreak last
year, through firm border controls,
lockdowns and contact tracing.
owever, the more infectious
Delta variant has proved much harder
to contain, while some governments
have been reluctant to reintroduce
full lockdowns. Thailand recorded
fewer than 100 Covid-related deaths
during 2020; since April, the death
toll has risen to almost 8,000.
Thailand’s cases havecontinued to
surge despite lockdown restrictions
that have shut most businesses for
more than one month. It announced
312 deaths yesterday, a record
increase. owever, oficials said
some of these deaths had occurred
over previous days. f 50,151 tests
conducted, 20,515 were positive.
This week, the government
extended restrictions across swaths
of the country, including Bangkok
where the outbreak is concentrated.
Malaysia yesterday reported
22,242 coronavirus cases, a record
high. Infections have continued to
rise even after a nationwide lock-
down was imposed on 1 June.
The surge in cases has over-
whelmed health systems across the
region.In the Philippines, which first
detected local cases of the Delta var-
iant in mid-July, health services are
already under pressure. Nursing
groups have warned staff are work-
ing excessively long hours to cope
with rising patient numbers and to
cover for colleagues who are isolat-
ing after becoming infected.
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
Female composers
Music teacher puts
women on the map
Page 30
Ardern’s way
Defiant, bold
and flagging
up the lesson
of Australia
T
Tess McClure
Christchurch
o overseas eyes,
going into national
lockdown over a single
case of coronavirus
should have been a
hard sell, even for
an extraordinarily popular prime
minister such as Jacinda Ardern.
But a disastrous outbreak of
the Delta variant in Sydney has
helped to galvanise New Zealand’s
“team of 5 million”, and across the
country the government’s tough
strategy on Covid-19 has enjoyed
popular support.
On Tuesday, New Zealand
was plunged into a national level
4 lockdown – the highest level
of restrictions – as the country
announced its first local case of the
Delta variant.
That news was greeted with
surprise, and some criticism from
overseas figures. The ex-politician
and Brexiter Nigel Farage said
Ardern had “lost her marbles”.
A presenter for GB News said
“Jacinda Ardern’s zero-Covid
fantasy is nothing short of a never-
ending nightmare”.
But in-country, the loudest
New Zealand Delta cases rise
to 10 as snap lockdown begins
Eva Corlett Wellington
Tess McClure
New Zealand’s coronavirus clus-
ter has grown to 10, with genomic
sequencing linking it to the Delta
outbreak that began in Sydney, as
the country woke up to a snap lock-
down stemming from just one case.
The prime minister’s office con-
firmed three new cases yesterday
evening, adding to the seven known
infections. The Covid-19 response
minister, Chris Hipkins, told the
broadcaster RNZ: “We’re seeing more
cases coming through. I don’t have
details of those cases. But yes, I can
confirm that we have further positive
test results since the press conference
today.” He said he expected more
cases to emerge overnight.
The country went into asnap level in places providing essential services
•
Animal exports
Trade being used as
cover by smugglers
Page 31
overseas critics of its elimination
approach have been mostly greeted
with bemusement or defiance.
New Zealanders have consistently
supported even the toughest
anti-Covid measures. About 80%
rated the government’s Covid-19
response as overall good, according
to polling commissioned by the
Spinoff in February, and 59% rated
the response as “excellent”. The
satirical hashtag #NZhellhole,
which pokes fun at some of the
more hysterical reactions to the
country’s lockdowns, was again
trending yesterday.
“If [overseas commentators]
are surprised then they haven’t
been paying attention,” said Dr
Siouxsie Wiles, one of the country’s
prominent science communicators.
In New Zealand, Wiles said: “The
vast majority of people understand
what we are up against, and are
supportive of our response.”
The proof, experts say, is in
the pudding. New Zealand has
watched carefully as much of the
world struggled with suppression
strategies or allowed the virus to
spread uncontrolled. In contrast,
4 lockdown – the highest level of
restrictions – on Tuesday night after
detecting one case with no obvious
links to quarantine facilities. New
Zealand has not had a level 4 lock-
down in more than a year, and the
case is the country’s first instance of
Delta transmission in the community.
The prime minister, Jacinda
Ardern, warned yesterdaythat there
▲ Masks are mandatory for over-12s
▲ New Zealand’s prime minister,
Jacinda Ardern, has resisted the
barbs from overseas critics
:  /
the elimination strategy “has
served us extremely well in New
Zealand”, the epidemiologist
and professor of public health
Michael Baker said.
“It results in this long list of
huge benefits relative to the
alternatives: very low mortality,
high economic performance – and
also by all the indicators of people
returning to a normal life with
minimal restrictions.”
New Zealand’s strict border
controls have allowed citizens to
‘We’ve seen the dire
consequences of
taking too long to act
in other countries’
Jacinda Ardern
Prime minister
would be more cases given the activ-
ity of those infected, and that a link
to international arrivals had yet to be
established. She said: “Our ability to
narrow down that this is a case that
is linked to New South Wales’s out-
break gives us a lot of leads to chase
down as quickly as we can.”
The seven community cases are
all linked to a 58-year-old man who
tested positive on Tuesday. One
person is a fully vaccinated nurse at
Auckland city hospital and another is
a teacher at an Auckland high school.
The director general of health,
Ashley Bloomfield, said most of the
people identified were in their 20s.
“They’vebeen out and about a lot,
and I’m flagging that there will be
large numbers of locations of interest.
It is very important that everybody
keeps an eye on these,” he said.
The 58-year old man is believed
to have been infectious since 12
August. Since then he has travelled
from Auckland to Coromandel and
back, stopping at a number of places
along the way.
Ardern said the public should
live relatively normal, unimpeded
lives for most of the past year –
complete with packed restaurants,
music festivals and uninterrupted
schooling. The country has
surpassed the US and UK on
measures including employment,
quality of life, freedom of
movement and debt to GDP ratios.
It has also recorded a relatively tiny
number of deaths, hospitalisations,
or serious illness from Covid-19.
Asked on Tuesday by a reporter
what she would say to people who
questioned the need for a level 4
lockdown, Ardern responded with
one word: “Australia.”
“We’ve seen the dire
consequences of taking too long to
act in other countries, not least our
neighbours,” Ardern said.
Across the Tasman Sea, the state
of New South Wales has struggled
to contain its outbreak, and as of
yesterday it had 8,000 active cases.
Watching that outbreak, New
Zealand could see what worked or
didn’t, Wiles said. It had watched
how a slower lockdown – even
when combined with world-
class contact tracing – had failed
to contain the Delta variant in
Australia’s most populous state.
Support for the lockdowns has
been broad but not universal – a
small but vocal number of anti-
lockdown New Zealanders gathered
yesterday to protest the measures.
But crucially, both the lockdown
and New Zealand’s overall tough
elimination strategy have support
from across the political spectrum.
“There’s very high support from
politicians who understandably are
looking at the polls and know the
public is hugely supportive of this
approach,” Baker said.
“The ultimate poll was the
last election – a Covid election –
and New Zealand gave resounding
support for the elimination
approach.”
expect to see the number of cases
rise, given how activethe people have
been, how quickly Delta spreads and
that the man spent time in a region
that is a popular destination for trav-
ellers from other parts of the country.
“I know, given Delta has not been
in our community before, that will
be news that people will find deeply
concerning – but I want to reassure
people the best place we can be right
now for that news and information is
level 4, and following all the level 4
rules,” she said.
“These measures have worked
before and they will work again.”
The country’s Covid-19 vaccine
rollout has faced scrutiny. As of
Monday, 22.9% of the population
had been fully vaccinated, with
40% having had at least one dose.
The numbers are lower for fully
vaccinated Māori (14%) and Pasifika
(20%) populations.
New Zealand has the lowest vac-
cination rate of countries in the
Organisation for Economic Co-oper-
ation and Development, accordingto
the World Health Organization.
27
▲ Pope Francis during his general
audience at the Vatican yesterday
The Vatican
Getting jabbed
‘an act of love’,
says the pope
Angela Giuffrida
Pope Francis has urged people to get
vaccinated against Covid, describing
doing so as “an act of love”.
The pontiff made his appeal in a
video produced by the Vatican and
the Ad Council, a non-profitUS group,
and praised scientists for producing
safe and effective vaccines.
“Thanks to God and to the work of
many, we now have vaccines to pro-
tect us from Covid-19,”he said in the
video. “Vaccines bring hope to end
the pandemic, but only if they are
available to all and if we collaborate
with one another.”
“Vaccination is a simple but pro-
found way of promotingthe common
good and caringfor each other,espe-
cially the most vulnerable,” he said.
The pope has previously spoken
about the importance of the Covid
jab, while emphasising that vacci-
nations must be distributed equally,
especially to poor countries.
Francis has faced scepticism
about vaccines from traditional-
ist cardinals, including from his
staunch critic, the American cardi-
nal Raymond Leo Burke, who has
also expressed scepticism over social
distancing measures. Last week he
announced on Twitter that he had
tested positive for Covid.
A later tweet said he had been
admitted to hospital and was on
a ventilator. It is unclear whether
Burke, who lives in Rome but travels
frequently, had been vaccinated and
it is thought he may have contracted
the virus during a trip to Wisconsin.
In December he referred to Covid
as the “Wuhan virus”, echoing Don-
ald Trump. And last May he spoke out
forcefully against Covid vaccines,
saying: “It must be clear that vacci-
nation itself cannot be imposed, in
a totalitarian manner, on citizens.”
He said coronavirus “has been used
by certain forces, inimical to fami-
lies and to the freedom of nations, to
advance their evil agenda”, and that
the most effective weapon against
Covid was “our relationship with
Christ through prayer and penance,
and devotions and sacred worship”.
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
Two dead as
aircraft try to
contain fires
raging near
Saint-Tropez
Megan Clement
Paris
Two people have died in France’s
biggest wildfire o the summer,
which is raging in the countryside
near Saint-Tropez, local authorities
have confirmed.
At least one man is among the
dead, magistrate Patrice Camberou
told the TV channel France 3. Hesaid
the other body, ound in a destroyed
house in the village o Grimaud, was
too badly burnt to identiy.
France has deployed 1,200 fire-
fighters and a dozen aircrat to try
to contain the blaze, which broke
out on Monday night near a motor-
way rest stop and has torn across
5,000 hectares (12,500 acres) in the
south-eastern department o Var.
The fire lost pace on Tuesday night
•
World ▼ A scene near Grimaud yesterday
29
as firefighters struled for a third
day to contain the French wildfire
: NL U/
my six-year-old son talks o nothing
Forest fire lynching but the fires.” Yet Oberti, who works
Algeria arrests 61 suspects in Grimaud, says they were lucky –
their home was not lost and they have
since been able to return.
Algerian police have announced The fire has burned through more
another 25 arrests over the lynching than 50% o the Plaine des Maures
of a man falsely accused of starting nature reserve, an area o particular
deadly forest fires last week, taking biodiversity in the region, said Marie-
the total number of suspects to 61. Claude Serra,who manages the park.
The latest arrests were made
in several provinces across the
adding that the suspects had also
With the flames still not contained,
she has yet to assess the ull extent o
country, police said in a statement, the damage to the park, home to 240
protected species, including reptiles,
been accused of damaging public bats and the endangered Hermann’s
and police property. tortoise. She said: “Amid this human
The victim, Djamel Ben Ismail, catastrophe, the worry is that we’re
38, had turned himself in at a police living through an ecological catas-
station in the Tizi Ouzou region, trophe as well.”
which was worst hit by the fires, Recent weather conditions have
after hearing he was suspected of let the reserve highly vulnerable to
involvement. the threat o wildfire, Serra said, add-
but was still not contained, firefight- been avoided.”France had until now Videos posted online show a ing: “There’s very little moisture in
ers told the news agency Agence been spared the wildfires that have crowd surrounding a police van the plants. This, combined with the
France-Presse. consumed other parts o the Med- and beating a man inside it. They high heat and the wind ,produced the
About 10,000 people, including iterranean this summer, including then drag him out and set him on explosive cocktail that we are now
tourists holidaying on the French in Greece, Spain, Turkey, Italy and fire, with some taking selfies. The experiencing – devastating fires that
Riviera, have been evacuated and Algeria. images were widely shared and move very, very quickly.
spent the night in welcome centres Delphine Oberti, a resident o sparked outrage in Algeria. “We need to stop asking whether
around the region. Cavalaire-sur-Mer, fled her home The fires killed at least 90 climate change is here or not. It’s here
Twenty-nine people have been with her two children to shelter at people, with authorities blaming – what are we going to do about it?”
injured, including five firefighters, her parents’ house as embers began arsonists and “criminals” for the The 2021 blaze is moving much
the local preecture said, with most to all. Her husband stayed behind to outbreaks. They have blamed aster than previous catastrophic
suffering rom smoke inhalation. deend their house. the independence movement fires in the region, firefighters told
The French president, Emma- She said: “It’s apocalyptic. The of the mainly Berber region of BFM TV. Firefighters are also battling
nuel Macron, visited the region sky was red, we couldn’t breathe, Kabylia, which extends along the blazes in the Aude department, near
on Tuesday, beore the death was we couldn’t see our neighbours’ Mediterranean coast east of Algiers. Carcassonne, and in Beaumes de
announced. He said: “The worst has houses. My children are disturbed, AFP Algiers Venise, Provence.

30
Fury in Spain after
dead fish wash up
on shores of lagoon
Ashifa Kassam
Madrid
Prosecutors in the Spanish region of
Murcia have launched an investiga-
tion after hundreds of dead fish began
washing up along the shores of one
of Europe’s largest saltwaterlagoons.
Residents in the area began sound-
ing the alarm this week, posting
footage on social media that showed
scores of small fish and shrimp litter-
ing the beaches of the coastal lagoon
known as Mar Menor in south-eastern
Spain. Days later,residents started to
find blue crabs among the dead, said
Ada García Saura of SOS Mar Menor.
“It’sa predator that is quite strong
and resistant. So if we’re seeing these
species that are much more resistant,
it hints at the seriousness of what is
happening,” she said.
Ecologists have expressed concern
that this week’s grim find could be a
repeat of October 2019, when thou-
sands of fish and crustaceans washed
up in the same area.
Experts blamed those deaths on
decades of nitrate-laden runoffs,
mostly from agriculture, making
their way into the lagoon and spark-
ing vast blooms of algae that depleted
the water of oxygen – essentially suf-
focating the fish.
It wasn’t the first such occurrence:
in 2015 the same phenomenon,
described as extreme eutrophication,
was blamed for colouring the waters
▲ Some of the dead fish and shrimps
found washed up in Mar Menor
• The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
World
of Mar Menor green and killing off
85% of the seagrass.
Researchers have long warned that
the area is under extreme pressure.
The lagoon sits next to an expansive
area of intensive agriculture, stretch-
ing across some 60,000 hectares. In
nearby towns – which have boomed
in recent years amid the rise in tour-
ism – poor sewerage systems as well
as discharge from mining activities
have added to the problem.
Agricultural groups insist they are
not to blame for the crisis and argue
that their processes are fully compli-
ant with environmental legislation.
This week, as the dead fish again
began washing up onshore, residents
lashed out at officials. “They haven’t
done anythingin five years, nothing,”
one said. “They say all sorts of things,”
said another, before adding: “We’re
seeing a significant environmental
change in the Mar Menor and it’s get-
ting worse. It’s dying.”
Regional government oficials
denied the deaths were caused by
a lack of oxygen in the water or the
presence of a toxic substance, citing
studies conducted by a university.
Instead they hinted that the cause
could be linked to the recent heat-
wave,pointing to data that showed a
rise in water temperature from 28.5C
to 31C in the span of two days.
García Saura rejected the expla-
nation. “The Mar Menor usually has
a temperature of 26C or 27C. We’re
almost in a subtropical climate,”
she said. “So the flora and fauna
of Mar Menor are adapted to these
temperatures.”
The WWF called on the authorities
to undertake a broader investigation
to ensure that eutrophication –a lack
of oxygen – was not the cause of the
fish deaths. “Without a thorough
investigation of what happened, it
won’t be possible to clarify the causes
of this mortality episode,”it said in a
joint statement with Anse, a conser-
vation group, on Tuesday.
Banging the
drum for the
composers that
sexism silenced
Ashifa Kassam
A brother and sister, both child
prodigies, dazzled audiences across
Europe together in the 18th century,
leaving a trail of positive reviews
in their wake. But while Wolfgang
Canadian soldier found guilty of
spiking cupcakes of gunners
Leyland Cecco
Ottawa
A Canadian soldier accused of drug-
ging comrades with cannabis-laced
cupcakes during a live-fire training
exercise has been found guilty by a
military judge.
Sandra Cogswell was convicted
on eight counts of administering a
noxious substance and one count of
behaving in a disgraceful manner. Her
case marks the first time in Canada
that a soldier has been found guilty of
▼ A 1780 portrait of Maria Anna
Mozart, her brother Wolfgang
Amadeus and their father Leopold
: N/UN /Y
Amadeus Mozart went on to be
celebrated as one of the greatest com-
posers, the accomplishments of his
sister – Maria Anna – were quickly for-
gotten after she was forced to halt her
career when her adolescence ended.
However, a new tool has been
created to shed light on female com-
posers of the past,battling the sexism,
stigmatisation and societal norms
that have rendered them invisible.
“We’ve never giventhem the place
they deserve in history,” said Sakira
Ventura, the creator of an inter-
active map that features more than
500 female composers. “They don’t
appear in musical history books, their
works aren’t played at concerts and
their music isn’t recorded.”
Ventura, 28, a music teacher from
administering cannabis to colleagues
without their consent.
Commander Sandra Sukstorf, the
judge presiding over the court mar-
tial, called Cogswell’s behaviour
“shockingly unacceptable” and that
her actions could have resulted in the
death of colleagues.
Cogswell, who has served in the
Canadian military since 2011, was
working in the canteen at a military
base in Gagetown, ew Brunswick, in
July 2018, during the Royal Canadian
Artillery School’s officer training.
In video testimony, Cogswell told
Valencia, had long been irked that
female composers were “invisible”.
She said: “I had always talked about
putting these composers on the map –
so it occurred to me to do it literally.”
Then came the hard part – find-
ing the information. She delved into
encyclopaedias, dug through librar-
ies and posted pleas on social media.
“When I started, I thought I
wouldn’t know more than five female
composers,” she said. After more than
a year and hundreds of hours of work,
the site lists 530 composers – includ-
ing links to listen to their work – with
another 500 names being processed.
The result is a catalogue of artists
that range from Kassia, a Byzantine
abbess born in 810 and whose hymns
are still sung in the Orthodox church,
to Alma Deutscher,a British 16-year-
old who composed her first piano
sonata 10 years ago.
Many on the list languished in
obscurity, their careers marred by the
notion that music could be a pastime
for women but not a profession.
Some, such as Maria Anna Mozart,
had their careers halted amid con-
cerns that touring could harm their
reputations. Others were stigmatised
by the ancient belief that women
were incapable of the kind of higher
level thinking needed to compose.
“It was taken for granted that a
work composed by a woman wouldn’t
be of the same quality as that com-
posed by a man,” said Ventura. The
barriers forced many female compos-
ers to give up and others to publish
works under male pseudonyms.
military police that she made choco-
late cupcakes for her fellow soldiers
but denied adding any cannabis.
During the trial, however,the mil-
itary court heard that five soldiers at
the live fire exercise tested positive
for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). A
wrapper from one of the cupcakes
also indicated the presence of THC.
The court heard troubling details of
the soldiers reaction to the cupcakes.
One incorrectly set fuses on explo-
sives, another improperly loaded a
weapon and a gunner walked in front
of a howitzer and others say they
were overcome by laughter.
nder Canada’s criminal code,
Cogswell faces a maximum of five
years in prison and “dismissal with
disgrace” from the military.Sentenc-
ing is set for 16 ovember.
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
Narcotics
Livestock
ships ‘are
Pandora’s
box’for
criminals
W
Sophie Kevany
earing self-
contained
breathing
equipment,
Spanish police
waded through
rotting animal corpses, urine and
faeces, at risk of inhaling pathogens
and methane. They had been
searching for smuggled drugs on
two livestock ships that reeked of
decomposition.
On the first ship, Neameh,
detained last year in the southern
Spanish port of Algeciras on
suspicion of smuggling cocaine
from Colombia, many of the 4,000
or so cattle were found dead and
dying as they lay in excrement. The
stench was so strong drug sniffer
dogs could not be used.
The second ship, FM Spiridon,
carrying about 5,000 cattle, was
detained last year in the Canary
Islands, again on suspicion that it
was being used to smuggle drugs.
Inside, Spanish police found a
similar scene of sick and dying
animals and corpses. Many animals
appeared to be starving. Again, a
pervasive stench filled the ship.
“It was hell,” one witness told
Europa Sur at the time, describing a
scene of overcrowding and animals
“barely able to stand on their feet”.
In both cases drugs were never
found, but observers say smuggling
drugs and other contraband in
ships and lorries carrying livestock
remains an increasingly attractive
option for traffickers.
Nearly 2bn farm animals around
the world are transported every
Melting of glacier takes 2 metres
off height of Swedish mountain
Reuters
Stockholm
Sweden’s only remaining mountain-
top glacier,which until 2019 was also
its highest peak, has lost another two
metres in height in the past year as
a result of rising air temperatures
•
World
year in a trade worth more than
$20bn (£14.5bn) annually.
“Maritime livestock vessels are
the Pandora’s box of international
smuggling,” said Charlotte Nithart,
director of the French NGO Robin
des Bois, which specialises in
maritime safety and pollution,
smuggling, poaching and animal
welfare. Livestock ships, she said,
are unrivalled in their usefulness
for “illegally transporting dubious
goods, such as narcotics, weapons,
counterfeit goods and wildlife
byproducts”.
The advantages to smugglers
of livestock ships, said Nithart,
include the off-putting logistics
of where to put animals if a ship is
impounded, the size of the vessels,
their poorly paid crews and global
reach, which spans routes from
Colombia and Brazil to European
and eastern Mediterranean ports,
including those in Turkey, Egypt,
driven by climate change, Stockholm
University has said.
In 2019, the south peak of the
Kebnekaise massif was demoted to
second in the rankings of Swedish
mountains after a third of its glacier
melted. Kebnekaise’s north peak,
where there is no glacier, is now the
highest in the country.
 The livestock several options open to smugglers. spokesperson for France’s
carrier Karim
Allah. Earlier
this year Spain’s boats were “one of the many” ways allowed to enter French waters
agriculture
ministry ordered ships, with the aim being to “make cattle “as there was no longer any
cattle it carried inspection difficult or require
be destroyed for exceptional measures”.
welfare reasons
:

Lebanon and Jordan. Other
benefits, said Maria Boada Saña, a
live animal transport specialist with severe animal welfare problems
the Animal Welfare Foundation,
include the difficulty of searching
pens filled with live animals and
the strong smells. Caroline Rowley Saña found.
of Ethical Farming Ireland cited
the example of a livestock lorry
that was found to be carrying drugs the international livestock shipper agriculture, fisheries and food had
worth €900,000 (£767,000) in
County Louth in 2019.
It is not just drugs that are
suspected of being smuggled on
livestock vessels. Late last year a
livestock ship, Bruna, was turned
back and banned from French
waters by authorities on suspicion
of carrying illegal migrants.
NGOs believe the reports are
just the tip of the iceberg. Customs
officials are more circumspect: they
admit that the problem of using
livestock as a smuggling decoy
exists, but they see it as only one of Spain
“On 14 August, the southern
peak of Kebnekaise was measured
at 2,094.6 metres [6,912 feet] above
sea level by researchers from Tarfala
research station. This is the lowest
height that has been measured since
the measurements started in the
1940s,”the university said in a state-
ment on Tuesday.
“The decrease in the peak and
the changed appearance of the drift
can mainly be explained by rising air
temperatures but also changing wind
conditions, which affect where the
snow accumulates in the winter.”
A source from the Spanish tax and Mediterranean maritime authority,
customs agency said livestock
drugs are concealed on merchant
The exceptional measures
that would make a livestock ship
harder to inspect, the source
said, include extra control and
sanitary requirements if animals
were unloaded, on top of the
existing “complexity” of searching shipment.
any vessel suspected of drug
trafficking.
In some cases, even where
exist, unloading can be prevented travel after no drugs were found,
by EU import-export restrictions, a and the sick cattle were not
recent report co-authored by Boada unloaded and euthanised. Spain’s
Bruna’s owner-operator,
Hussein Hammami, director of
Hammami Livestock, said the
security around livestock vessels
can be weak and that the ships
‘Livestock vessels
are one of the many
ways  … to make
inspection difficult’
Customs agency
2,094.6
The height in metres of the south
peak of the Kebnekaise massif,
above, in northern Sweden
31
 Strong smells that confuse sniffer
dogs are one reason livestock ships
are used by drug and arms smulers
: 
present plenty of opportunities for
potential stowaways to hide.
But Hammami said that any
suggestion Bruna was involved in
people-smuggling was the result of
a misunderstanding, and that the
ship was , once again, free to enter
French waters.
“The French authorities thought
they were smuggled, but they
were on the ship as crew, then
they ran away,” he said. “This has
been a problem for us – that people
come to work on the ship, with
passports and seaman books, and
then when they get to a European
port they run away, especially for
crew from Arabic countries such as
Syria or Lebanon, where people are
suffering.”
He said the company’s main
livestock transport routes were
between Algeria, France, Spain and
Libya, but people bringing illicit
goods on board for smuggling was
“not a problem for us”.
Capt Thibault Lavernhe,
confirmed that Bruna had been
again in January this year to pick up
reason to suspect it of smuggling
migrants”.
However, authorities in the
southern French port of Sète
refused to receive it, Lavernhe said,
citing fears of a public order risk.
Instead, another livestock vessel
collected the 1,300 cattle awaiting
Despite the inhumane
conditions found by Spanish
authorities on Neameh and FM
Spiridon, both were released for
agriculture ministry said the
searches were “carried out by the
police” and that “the ministry of
no involvement”.
Earlier this year, Spain’s
agriculture ministry ordered almost
3,000 cattle, whose condition had
deteriorated after months at sea
on the livestock carriers Elbeik and
Karim Allah, to be killed for welfare
reasons in the port of Cartagena.
Neither FM Spiridon’s
management company, Murr
Shipping, nor the owners and
managers of Neameh, Albert
Compania Naviera, care of Arab
Ship Management, responded to
requests for comment.
It said the changes reflected a
longstanding warming of Sweden’s
climate, citing the recentUN climate
panel report that said global heating
had caused an unparalleled melting
of glaciers and was close to spiralling
out of control.
Kebnekaise’s south peak meas-
ured as high as 2,118 metres in the
mid-1990s.
The Kebnekaise massif is about 90
miles inside the Arctic circle, in the
range that stretches across large parts
of northern Scandinavia, and is part
of the Laponian world heritage site.
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
FTSE 100 All share
- 11.79 - 0.84
7169.32 4122.61
Kwarteng intervenes over US
bid for British defence firm
Rob Davies
The takeover of the British defence
firm Ultra Electronicsby a US private
equity company will be investi-
gated on national security grounds,
after the business secretary, Kwasi
Kwarteng, told the competition reg-
ulator to examine the deal.
Warning that foreign investment
“must not threaten national secu-
rity”, Kwarteng tabled an order in
parliament preventing Ultra from dis-
closing “sensitive information”to the
firm behind the £2.6bn takeover bid.
He said Ultra would be prevented
from passing on details of the “goods
or services it provides to HM Govern-
ment or HM Armed Forces” while the
Competition and Markets Authority
(CMA) examines the deal.
The official intervention notice
follows pressure from Labour and
trade unions to intervene in the
takeover bid from the Dorset-based
defence group Cobham, which was
itself bought by the US buyout house
Advent for £4bn last year.
Steve Turner, assistant general
secretary of the trade union Unite,
Low rise
Writedowns
on its London
apartment
projects
helped Balfour
Beatty to
record a £23m
loss in the UK
in the first six
months of the
year. The chief
executive, Leo
Quinn, said the
“golden era”
for high-end
developers in
the capital was
over.
:
/ 
•
Dow Indl Nikkei 225
- 55.04 + 161.44 1.1746
35288.24 27585.91
said: “The government’saction with
regards to the sale of Ultra Electron-
ics is significant and is a step in the
right direction.”
But he added that the government
must not “just talk tough”and should
instead take steps to stop the sale to
“overseas venturecapitalists” of not
only Ultra but also the defence man-
ufacturer Meggitt.
Based in Coventry, Meggitt makes
wheels and brakes for militaryfighter
jets. It is being pursued by two US
aerospace companies, Parker Han-
nifin and TransDigm, and appears to
be on the verge of a £7bn sale.
“This is an issue of national secu-
rity,” said Turner. “It is to be hoped
that the government has inally
woken up to the threat to the UK’s
sovereign defence capability,as well
as to skills and jobs, posed by venture
capitalists who are primarily moti-
vated by short-term profits.”
The shadow business minister Chi
Onwurah had earlier called on the
government to do more than make
“weak and vague” noises about the
prospective takeover of Ultra.
Announcing the intervention on
Twitter, Kwarteng said: “The UK is
open for business; however foreign
£/€ £/$
1.3757
+0.0021 +0.0019
investment must not threaten our
national security.”
The government can intervene
in takeovers for limited reasons
including media plurality, economic
stability,the UK’s ability to fight pan-
demics and national security.
In an official notice, the Depart-
ment for Business, Energy and
Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said the
deal would be investigated by the
CMA on national security grounds.
Ultra Electronics is integral to
the operations of the British armed
‘The UK is open for
business; however
foreign investment
must not threaten
our national security’
Kwasi
Kwarteng
forces, specialising in hi-tech systems
that offer an advantage in the air, on
land and at sea, via the detection of
emerging threats.
Cobham had sought to allay con-
cerns about the deal by offering the
government binding commitments,
in the hope of securing its blessing.
It has said it is prepared to make
pledges including protection of sov-
ereign defence capabilities, funding
of the company’s pension scheme
and investment in Britain. It also
promised to protect UK manufactur-
ing jobs, invest in research, and fund
Cobham’s pension scheme. These
pledges would be monitored via a
“forum” with government officials.
But Cobham also acknowledged it
could sell Ultra’s forensics and energy
businesses, while “limited numbers”
of jobs, mostly linked to the firm’s
stock market listing, may be lost.
The former City minister Paul
Myners has cast doubt on the value
of promises made by companies
seeking to secure takeovers. “These
things are not enforceable, they mean
nothing and they’re normally time-
limited,” he said this week.
Should the takeovers of Ultra and
Meggitt go ahead, it will extend a
buying spree in 2021 in which over-
seas buyers, manyof them US private
equity firms, have targeted British
business.
American buyoutspecialists have
spent nearly £25bn so far in 2021,
compared with £28bn throughout
last year, £30bn in 2019 and just under
£15bn in 2018, accordingto the finan-
cial data provider Dealogic.
33
PM hints at
move to
suspend
pensions
triple lock
Jessica Elgot and Larry Elliott
Downing Street gave its strongest sig-
nal yet that the triple lock on state
pensions would be watered down
because of the recent steep increase
in average earnings, which under cur-
rent rules would deliver a rise of more
than 8% for pensioners next year.
Boris Johnson’s spokesperson said
yesterdaythere were concerns about
linking state pension rises to earn-
ings. He said: “I think we recognise
the legitimate concerns about poten-
tially artificially inflated earnings
impacting the uprating of pensions.
“Any decision on future changes
to the triple lock will be taken at the
appropriate time based on the latest
data, and of course we will continue
to support older people, while ensur-
ing future decisions are fair with
pensioners, and taxpayers. No deci-
sions have been made.”
The triple lock, which remains a
Conservative manifesto commit-
ment, promises to pay either 2.5%,
the rate of inflation, or the level of
earnings recorded in the July employ-
ment figures – whichever is highest.
Any suspension would be a victory
for the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, who
has been lobbying No10 for a tempo-
rary change to the rules.
Johnson is understood to have
been reticent to abandon the pledge,
given pensioners are a key Tory con-
stituency, but the comments indicate
Sunak’sargument for fiscal discipline
have found a hearing.The chancellor
has used an identical form of words,
insisting that any settlement must be
fair to “taxpayers and pensioners”.
The Treasury has not budgeted for
a rise of 8%in state pensions and the
chancellor is warning that other gov-
ernment spending priorities would
suffer if he had to find an extra £3bn to
uprate pensions in line with earnings.
Sunak is weighing up alternatives,
both of which would leave pension-
ers with an increase of about 3% next
year. One would use average earn-
ings over the past two years, with
this year’s hefty rise balanced by zero
earnings growth in 2020 when many
workers were furloughed.
Another is to revert temporarily to
the previous system of a double lock,
in which this year’s state pension
would rise 2.5% or by the Septem-
ber CPI inflation rate, if thatis higher.
The latest igures showed the
annual inflation rate falling from 2.5%
to 2% in July, but economists believe
that was a blip likely to be reversed.

34
Business view
Nils Pratley
With their remunerationhit by
the pandemic, chief executives
A
may be hoping to play catch-up
mazing: the average
pay for the club
of FTSE 100 chief
executives did what
it is supposed to do
in tougher times.
It fell. The median pay packet
was £2.69m in 2020, down from
£3.25m the year before, calculates
the High Pay Centre. In fact, last
year’s average was the lowest
since 2009. At the peak in 2013
and 2017, the figure went as high
as £3.97m.
It would be churlish not to
acknowledge the fall, while
also stating that, at 86 times the
median earnings of a full-time UK
worker, the average Footsie boss
probably did not have to adjust
his or her lifestyle.
Likewise, one should mention
that eight of nine companies
that used the government’s
furlough scheme and did not
repay the sums correctly read
the popular mood and awarded
no annual bonus to the boss.
That was the right call, and JD
Sports’ claim to exceptionalism
was always ridiculous; the chair
of its remuneration committee
was justifiably voted out by
independent shareholders
last month.
But let’s not try to draw grand
conclusions from data for an
exceptional year. The revealing
bit will be how pay committees
behave on the way back up.
Will chief executives push
for “catch-up” rewards to
compensate them for a year of
relative restraint, as they may see
it? Has there been any pressure
on pay committees to set soft
financial targets in share-based
incentive schemes? That stuff is
• The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
Financial
▲ What do fund managers think
about mixing fags and inhalers?
hard to measure, but it happens.
Also remember that the FTSE
100 index rose by a fifth in the 12
months after March 2020, which
will have a transformative effect
on some executives’ share-based
incentive rewards for 2021.
Do not be shocked if a multiyear of BHP’s calibre”, says Nick
low in pay for FTSE 100 chief
executives is followed by a
multiyear high.
Fund managers clam up
This is what infuriates the outside case”, meaning the potential for
world about City fund managers
who warble about their cuddly
“stakeholder” credentials: the
refusal to debate issues when the
going gets tough.
A coalition of 35 health charities, line of thinking, BHP can probably
public health experts and doctors
from around the world wrote an
open letter this week to investors
in Vectura urging them to reject the the right direction. This does not
£1bn takeover from Philip Morris,
the Marlboro tobacco group. The
effort was probably futile from the
off – and definitely looks so now
that the bidder has bagged 22.6%
of Vectura’s shares in the market
– but it is reasonable to expect big
fund managers to consider outside
arguments and form an opinion on
the ethics of selling a respiratory
treatment firm to a tobacco titan.
Obviously, one doesn’t expect
every fund to agree. Some might
take the view that, yes, it’s terrific
news that Philip Morris intends
to quit the fags one day and,
in the meantime, will invest in
more socially useful ventures.
Alternatively, one can agree with
the medics that Vectura, as a
research outfit, will be damaged by
taking Big Tobacco’s shilling and
that its investors ought to consider executives fell during the pandemic
more than just price in a takeover
situation.
The point, though, is that
you have a view. And, if you’re
managing other people’s money,
you should share it. Or at least that
is true of any fund house which
sells its services on the basis that £2.69m on average in 2020, the High
it does investment thoughtfully.
How can anybody tell what you’re
thinking if you clam up at the point Pascal Soriot taking top spot thanks
you suspect some of your clients
won’t share your conclusion?
BHP’s Sydney switch
Still, at least one can get a view
from an index-tracking specialist
on BHP Billiton’s plan to switch
its primary listing from London
to Sydney, which would mean
dropping out of the FTSE 100
index.
On one hand, it will be
“disappointing” to lose “a company ing the pandemic.
Stansbury, the head of climate
solutions at Legal & General
Investment Management (LGIM).
On the other, he pointed to “a
robust and clearly articulated value
the UK shares to re-rate upwards
to narrow the discount with the
Australian class.
LGIM will “continue to review
the proposal” but, on the current
relax. It is always easier to sell a
listing proposal when one sees how
the share price could get a shove in
feel like a rerun of Unilever’s failed Soriot’s 2020 pay deal. The average
Dutch larks.
FTSE bosses’
pay falls but
still equals
key workers’
life earnings
Rob Davies
The annual pay of FTSE 100 chief
but still equates to what a key worker
would earn in a lifetime, according to
a report that highlights the UK’swage
divide and the taxpayer support that
has kept some companies afloat.
The bosses of companies in the
blue-chip share index were paid
Pay Centre said, with the vaccine
maker AstraZeneca’s chief executive
to a £15.45m deal.
The average pay figure fell by 17%
compared with the £3.25m recorded
in 2019 but is still 86 times the £31,000
that an ordinary British worker can
expect to earn in a year.
The centre and the GMB trade
union pointed to the gulf between
executive rewards and ordinary
wages and raised concerns that some
businesses offering bumper paydeals
have relied on taxpayer backing dur-
Across the nine companies that
used the furlough scheme for their
£15.45m
AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal
FTSE boss was paid £2.69m last year
employees but have not yet said
they will pay it back, bosses earned
an average of £2.2m each. These com-
panies include the Ladbrokes owner
Entain,the British Airways owner IAG
and Rolls-Royce.
The High Pay Centre director,
Luke Hildyard, said the fact that pay
packets fell between 2019 and 2020
showed that remuneration deals
were working as intended, to some
degree at least, falling in line with
the experience of shareholders and
employees.
“On the other hand, these are still
very generous rewards for individu-
als who have already made millions
of pounds over the course of their
careers, at a time when, in general,
government support for the economy
has probably been more important to
the survival and success of the UK’s
biggest companies than the decisions
of their executives,” he added.
“Very high CEO pay reflects a wider
gap between rich and poor in the UK
than in most other European coun-
tries. The inequalities exposed by
the pandemic and the volume of
public money used to protect large
businesses could strengthen the
argument for measures to contain top
pay and rebalance extreme income
differences.”
Soriot’s deal puts him well clear
at the top of the table of highly paid
FTSE 100 bosses, ahead of credit
rating agency Experian’s boss, Brian
Cassin, on £10.3m and Albert Mani-
fold, of the building materials group
CRH, on £9.9m. Last year, the High
Pay Centre said CRH exhibited the
FTSE 100’s highest pay differential.
Manifold was paid more than
200 times what the median CRH
worker received in a year. He was
paid 166 times the average salary of
a CRH worker last year,and his earn-
ings were among the highest ever
awarded to an Irish corporate exec-
utive, according to the Irish Times.
The GMB union said the average
FTSE 100 chief executive pay deal of
£2.69m was as much as a key worker
could expect to earn in their lifetime.
“The pandemic has highlighted
the massive inequalities,” said Gary
Smith, the GMB general secretary.“If
this government is serious about a
levelling up agenda, ministers must
make sure our NHS and local govern-
ment workers get a proper pay rise
while legislating to close theobscene
pay gap in the private sector.”.
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian •
Financial 35
Agriculture ▼ Ed Lankfer inspects the sugar beet
crop at his 225-hectare Laurel Farm
in the village of Wereham, Norfolk
GR:  RR/ GRD
‘I’ve had the men
working 15-hour
days and welost
all that money’
James Peck
Cambridgeshire farmer
under £32 a tonne in 2014, the price
has slumped by more than a third to
hover at about £20 a tonne for the
last few years.
Farmers feel there is an
imbalance in power in their
relationship with British Sugar,
which reported a 17% rise in

A
revenue and a pre-tax profit of
almost £55m in the year to 29
August 2020, according to its most
recent accounts.
mid mounting
pressures, some
beet farmers are
calling time on the
crop. “Many growers
are now talking
what they call beyond beet, and
unfortunately we think with the
new market dynamics, the industry
will get smaller in future,” said Sly.
James Peck, who runs the
Cambridgeshire-based PX Farms,
was until recently Britain’s third-
largest sugar beet grower. “We were
heavily invested in it and we were
committed, but the price went

Beet retreat British farmers bitter over

down, down, down,” he said.
After the last harvest, Peck
decided he had had enough. “I
went to one of our farms, 600 acres
of beet, and at the end of it we lost

decline in home-grownsugar crop

£12,000. I stood there and thought,
I’ve been here, working really hard.
I’ve had the men working 15-hour
days in the cold and wet, and we
lost all that money.”
Peck sold his sugar beet

I
machinery and is now
– whose land is in the international the tropics, which arrives by the Michael Sly, an arable farmer in the concentrating on more profitable
Joanna Partridge trade secretary Liz Truss’s shipload at its huge refinery beside fens of north Cambridgeshire and crops such as oats, which are used
constituency. He has twice hosted the Thames in east London. the chair of the National Farmers for non-dairy milk.
her at the farm to answer questions Some farmers refuse to mention Union’s (NFU) sugar board, which British Sugar said it recognised
n a field in Norfolk, the from growers. the company by name, grumbling represents growers in their annual that 2020 had been challenging and
sight of lush green leaves British farmers hail sugar beet about how Tate & Lyle products are contract negotiations. it was offering the NFU a minimum
sprouting from the soil are for its role in crop rotation and the branded with a Union Jack by virtue Farmers’ relationship with contract price of £25 a tonne, a 23%
giving the farmer Ed Lankfer timing of its harvest. “It’s a good of being processed and packaged, British Sugar, and continuing price increase on last year.
cause for optimism. “I think break crop, and it spreads the but not grown, in Britain. discussions are at the forefront “We’ve proposed an improved
this is one of the best crops workload over the winter,” he said. Imported raw sugar cane is often of Sly’s mind, and that is before offer with economics that work
we have ever grown,” he said, The final destination of his beet cheaper than British- or European- he considers the longer-term for both us and growers,” said Paul
surveying his fields of sugar beet. is visible from the field itself - the produced beet, but domestic sugar challenges of a potential surge of Kenward, the managing director of
The signs are promising so far for factory at nearby Wissington – producers had been protected by imports following the UKAustralia British Sugar.
this year’s harvest – known in the where it is processed, eventually EU quotas and subsidies, while free trade arrangement and future “I am very confident about our
trade as a campaign – which takes ending up in products such as Coca- tariffs restricted the amount of cane trade deals. future as an industry: we have great
place later than other crops, during Cola and Cadbury’s chocolate, imported, which goes some way to One-year contract prices for people, growers and customers that
the autumn and winter. It would or bagged and sold to consumers explaining Tate & Lyle’s pro-Brexit sugar beet agreed between British want to buy homegrown British
mark quite the turnaround from under the Silver Spoon brand. stance. Sugar and the NFU have been in sugar,” Kenward added.
2020’s terrible harvest, when bad The processing site is owned “It’s a perfect storm, whichever steady decline for most of the last Even if beet prices improve,
weather and pests caused yields by British Sugar, a subsidiary of way you want to look at it,” said decade. Having peaked at just growers are fearful of Australian

600
of the white sugar-yielding root Associated British Foods. It is in a sugar flooding the market as a
to plummet by as much as 60%, powerful position as sole customer result of the trade deal. They feel
leaving Lankfer with a £12,000 loss. for the British beet farmers’ crop. they have been overlooked but
Sugar beet has been grown Many consumers of fizzy drinks expect to be affected as much as
on Lankfer’s 225 hectare (555 or sweet treats may not realise The acres sheep and cattle farmers in Wales
acre) family farm in the village of that beet farms located all over farmed by and Scotland.
Wereham since his grandfather eastern England produce enough James Peck, Back in Norfolk, Lankfer doesn’t
introduced it in 1928, along with to cover half of the UK’s annual who opted to plan to stop growing sugar beet,
other crops. However, recent years sugar consumption of close to 2m grow oats (right) though his recent meeting with
of falling prices, coupled with risk tonnes. The remainder comes from after a £12,000 Truss only went some way to
from weather and disease, have overseas beet or cane, meaning any loss growing allaying his concerns. “She explains
many farmers questioning whether reduction in British output would sugar beet herself well, but after the meeting
there is a future in growing it. increase reliance on imports. there were lots of what ifs. What if
This is before growers feel the Tate & Lyle, the food company Australia falls out with China, and
impact of post-Brexit trade deals that was a prominent supporter of then Australia floods our market?”
with large sugar producers such as Brexit, only processes imported Lankfer said. “My future is in her
Australia. It is a concern for Lankfer raw sugar cane, mostly from hands.”
 The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
36 Classified
The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
Classified 37

um
o n s er .
gr o
c la c i ht e

BE S T B U
Y
 • The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
38

Weather
Thursday19August 2021
UK and Ireland Noon today Forecast Around the UK
Low 13 High 21 London
Sunny Mist Fog Lows and highs Precipitation Air pollution
1012 13
Tomorrow
14 21 45% Low
Sunny intervals Hazy Manchester
Mostly cloudy
3 Inverness Shetland 13 19 60% Low
Overcast/dull 16 Edinburgh
15 6
Slight
11 17 40% Low
Sunny showers
Belfast
Edinburgh
3 Low 16 High 21
Sunny and heavy showers Glasgow Saturday 13 17 25% Low
1012 Birmingham
Light showers 16
13 19 55% Low
Rain Sleet Light
snow
Belfast
18
Slight Brighton
York
Snow showers Dublin Liv
17 19 25% Low
18 Bristol
Heavy snow Ice Carbon
Thundery rain
35C
30
19 Norwich
count 14
Cardiff
19 60% Low
25 Daily atmospheric CO2
20 readings from Mauna Loa,
19 Hawaii (ppm):
Thundery showers 15
Latest
14 20 60% Low
X
10 21 17 Aug 2021 414.89 Newcastle
5 Weekly average
Temperature, Dover
0 08 Aug 2021 414.47
ºC -5 20
18 Aug 2020 413.03
11 16 40% Low
-10 19 Plymouth
18 Aug 2011 390.70 Penzance
-15 Slight 14 Pre-industrial base 280
Wind speed, Windy 1016
mph -20 Safe level 350 17 19 60% Low
The Channel Islands Source: NOAAESRL

Atlantic front H
World weatherwatch Around the world
1008 1016
H L H H 1008 L Prolonged torrential downpours Algiers 31 Lisbon 26
FRED 992 have affected southern and western Ams’dam 20 Madrid 35
GRACE Japan late last week and into the Athens 33 Malaga 28
1000 weekend. Deep tropical moisture Auckland 15 Melb’rne 17
HENRI 1016 generated storms, which produced B Aires 16 Mexico C 25
1008
L
L damaging flooding and landslides, Bangkok 36 Miami 32
leading to the advised evacuation Barcelona 26 Milan 31
Cold front of more than 1 million people. Basra 44 Mombasa 29
1016 H 1000 Several people are believed to have Beijing 22 Moscow 22
Warm front H died, and worst hit was the Kyushu Berlin 20 Mumbai 28
1024 1008 region, where more than 1,000mm Bermuda 31 N Orleans 33
(39in) of rain in less than a week Brussels 21 Nairobi 23
Occluded front was recorded in some places. Budapest 26 New Delhi 35
Meanwhile, north-western C’hagen 20 New York 30
Trough parts of the US have been subject Cairo 37 Oslo 18
to excessive heat alerts issued Cape Town 16 Paris 23
by the National Weather Service. Chicago 30 Perth 17
High tides Source: © Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Times are local UK times
Sun & Lighting Washington, Oregon and northern
California recorded temperatures
Corfu 33 Prague 22

Moon up into last weekend reaching 42C in

Dakar
Dhaka
30
27
Reykjavik
Rio de J
14
26
places. While not as extreme as the Dublin 18 Rome 30
Aberdeen -- -- 1146 3.8m London Bridge -- -- 1142 6.0m Belfast 2048 to 0610 heatwave earlier in the summer, Florence 34 Shanghai 30
Avonmouth 0456 10.4m 1734 10.8m Lossiemouth 0958 3.6m 2222 3.6m Birm’ham 2024 to 0558 further wildfires were triggered. Gibraltar 26 Singapore 28
Barrow 0927 7.8m 2202 8.0m Milford Haven 0401 5.6m 1639 5.9m Brighton 2013 to 0556 The severe heatwave conditions H Kong 31 Stockh’m 15
Belfast 0910 3.1m 2140 3.2m Newquay 0257 5.7m 1534 6.0m Bristol 2025 to 0605 across southern Europe continued Harare 26 Strasb’g 23
Cobh 0259 3.4m 1539 3.5m North Shields 0107 4.3m 1351 4.5m Carlisle 2035 to 0556 into last weekend. After a recorded Helsinki 17 Sydney 21
Cromer 0426 4.3m 1711 4.4m Oban 0428 3.1m 1655 3.4m Cork 2049 to 0627 temperature of 48.8C at Syracuse Istanbul 28 Tel Aviv 30
Dover 0918 5.6m 2154 5.8m Penzance 0231 4.5m 1507 4.8m Sun rises 0552 Dublin 2044 to 0614 in Sicily, the-yet-to-be verified Jo’burg 21 Tenerife 31
Dublin 0952 3.6m 2211 3.8m Plymouth 0329 4.5m 1603 4.8m Sun sets 2014 Glasgow 2044 to 0559 highest-ever temperature recorded K Lumpur 26 Tokyo 30
Galway 0314 4.2m 1541 4.5m Portsmouth 0934 4.1m 2157 4.3m Moon rises 1906 Harlech 2034 to 0607 in Europe, the hottest conditions K’mandu 27 Toronto 28
Greenock 1020 2.9m 2309 3.0m Southport 0833 7.6m 2104 8.0m Moon sets
Full Moon
0126
22 Aug
Inverness 2048 to 0552 moved to Spain and Portugal late Kabul 31 Vancouv’r 22
Harwich 0934 3.3m 2209 3.5m Stornoway 0520 4.0m 1741 4.3m London 2014 to 0554 last week. On Saturday, 47.2C was Kingston 32 Vienna 25
Holyhead 0835 4.8m 2101 5.0m Weymouth 0354 0.6m 1630 0.9m M’chester 2028 to 0558 recorded in Montoro in Andalucía, Kolkata 30 Warsaw 22
Hull 0400 6.3m 1643 6.4m Whitby 0139 4.8m 1424 4.9m
Forecasts and
Newcastle 2031 to 0551 potentially breaking Spain’s L Angeles 25 Wash’ton 32
Leith 0007 4.7m 1254 4.9m Wick 0935 3.0m 2155 3.1m
graphics provided by
Norwich 2012 to 0546 highest-ever temperature record if Lagos 27 Well’ton 13
Liverpool 0911 7.9m 2142 8.3m Workington 0936 7.0m 2208 7.3m AccuWeather ©2021 Penzance 2033 to 0619 verified. Brendan Jones MetDesk Lima 18 Zurich 22
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian •
Football GolfWomen’s Open
Italy’sEuro 2020 Korda leads field
heroes ready for chasing record
Serie A kick-off $5.8m prize fund
Page 44  Page 43 
▲ Chicago’s Arlington
racecourse opened in
‘R
1927 but staged its
final card on Sunday
and will be demolished
 E/
E E
Racing to the finish
eally?” asked the Daily Racing
Form’s Marcus Hersh on Twitter
above a picture of Arlington
Arlington’s sad
racecourse in the suburbs of
Chicago. “Just rip it down?”
Sadly, after 94 years as the major
racetrack in America’s third-
demise a warning
largest city, it seems they really
will. The 326-acre venue that staged the Arlington
Million, the first race to offer a million-dollar purse,
and where Rock Of Gibraltar so bravely failed to go out
about insidious
on a high in the 2002 Breeders’ Cup Mile, has been sold
to developers. The 2021 running of its biggest card five
days ago is expected to be the last.
If so, Arlington will be the second former venue
growth of gaming
for a Breeders’ Cup meeting to face the wrecking ball.
The first was Hollywood Park, which staged the first
Breeders’ Cup in 1984 and then hosted US racing’s
most valuable meeting again in 1987 and 1997. Despite
a rich history – Hollywood moguls and stars including
Walt Disney, Sam Goldwyn and Bing Crosby helped to
found it – it did not stand a chance when Los Angeles
managed to snag not one, but two NFL franchises after
a 20-year drought. Hundreds of Rams fans turned up
to cheer in 2015 as a controlled explosion tore through
the 75-year-old grandstand, to make way for the SoFi
Stadium. A similar fate may await Arlington if, as has
been rumoured, Chicago’s Bears decide to make the
Greg Wood site their new home.
Hollywood Park, though, had been struggling to
stay afloat for years. It was also situated in rundown
Inglewood, three miles from Los Angeles airport and
a country mile behind Santa Anita, below the San
39
Gabriel mountains in leafy Arcadia, in terms of its
glamour, location and prestige. Arlington is a gleaming,
modern track, rebuilt almost from scratch after a
fire destroyed its original structures in 1985, and the
premier racing venue by far in America’s sixth-biggest
state by population. How can it possibly be scheduled
for demolition?
The answer, it seems, involves gambling revenue
T
– but not in quite the way you might expect. More
specifically, it highlights the ever uneasy relationship
between betting – which gives diligent and careful
punters a chance to win – and gaming, which simply
sucks money from their pockets as a fixed percentage
of turnover.
he owner that decided Arlington
racetrack should be sold and
demolished is Churchill Downs Inc
(CDI). Yes, Churchill Downs, the home
of the Kentucky Derby, the one race
that can still grab the attention of a
great swathe of America’s sporting
public.
CDI is not short of cash, far from it: its share price
has gone up by 271% in the past five years and bounced
from an early Covid slump to $72.73 in March last year
to close at nearly $184 on Tuesday evening with a
market “cap” of $7bn (£5bn).
But the main driver of that extraordinary growth has
been gaming, not betting. CDI’s acquisitions over the
past 10 years include a casino in Mississippi for $141m,
another in Maine for $160m and a $401m deal for a
62% stake in the immense Rivers Casino Des Plaines – a
20-minute drive away from Arlington Park.
An irony here is that a change to Illinois state law
two years ago allowed tracks to open casinos and
slot arcades in order to subsidise the purses for their
racing programmes. CDI could install hundreds of
slots at Arlington, pretty much overnight, and keep
it racing too. But the margins on the machines would
be affected by the need to divert money to purses so it
makes more business sense to corral all their gamblers
at Rivers Casino instead.
It is only fair to recall at this point that it is less than
five years since Jockey Club Racecourses, no less,
unveiled a proposal to sell Kempton Park for housing
and invest the proceeds in a new all-weather track
near its base in Newmarket instead.
Betting can This year’s King George VI Chase on
give diligent Boxing Day was pencilled in to be the
last and while the scheme has made
punters little progress since it has still not
a chance beenButformally abandoned.
JCR, for all that its plans were
to win – horribly misconceived, does at least
gaming
plough its profits back into racing.
A better parallel on this side of the
simply Atlantic is with Britain’s gambling
sucks industry, where gaming’s persistent
ability to poison the well for betting
money has been evident for the last 20 years.
from their captivated First, Britain’s bookmakers were
by the fabulous, risk-free
pockets
returns from £100-a-spin roulette
machines until a long overdue cut in
the stake limit to just £2 brought their 15-year, multi-
billion pound bonanza to a close. Now, they devote
much of their energy to steering online sports-betting
punters towards slots and roulette instead.
It is in their interests to push the idea that betting
and gaming are simply two sides of the same coin.
Gaming, though, is an enemy, not a friend, to betting,
and all the more so at a time when a wholesale review
of gambling regulation is under way, prompted for the
most part by issues and concerns that largely derive
from gaming.
It is a point racing needs to drive home in the months
ahead, because the gambling industry most certainly
will not. The alternative is to experience a similar fate
to poor Arlington and fall victim to the poisonous effect
of easy-money profits from gaming.
 • The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
40 Sport
Interview Portrait by

‘It’s beautiful
Christopher Thomond/
The Guardian

being cared
for by the
only girl
you’ve
ever loved’
Rob Burrow’snew book covers
his rugby league career and
lifewith wifeLindsey since
the MNDdiagnosis in 201
Donald McRae, wh

I
first interviewed
the couple inMay,
catches upwith them
t’s quiet and peaceful in
the summerhouse where
Rob and Lindsey Burrow
sit together. Pale Yorkshire
sunshine streams in through
the windows. We’re out in the
garden in Castleford, at the home
of Rob’s parents, and there are
times when it’s possible to almost
forget the deadly impact of motor
neurone disease. Rob won eight
Grand Finals with Leeds Rhinos as
they dominated rugby league from
2004 to 2017 and he played 20 times
for Great Britain and England in
a celebrated career. But this once
cheerfully garrulous man is now a
silent prisoner in his body as MND
paralyses him and prevents him
from talking.
Rob still smiles easily and
breaks his silence when he laughs.
His vocal cords are in the grip of together since they were 15 and he the spotlight,” he says. “But I know she says of the book. “For people statistics relating to “the average
MND so it is no ordinary laugh. said: “There’s something beautiful that, afterwards, it won’t seem as who have been through tough age of people who suffer from
Sometimes, his short bark of mirth about being cared for by the only intense as I expected.” times with Covid it will make them MND, which is around 65. I am
makes it sound like he is crying girl you’ve ever loved.” The book is also about the feel that, no matter how hard things much younger and my body was a
or struggling for breath. But his We have spoken about life and enduring love story between him become, there is always something lot stronger when I got diagnosed.
eyes confirm he is laughing. The death, disease and love, hope and and Lindsey. “I think it’s uplifting,” to look forward to in life. Rob shows “I dread the day I leave Lindsey
pain and the sorrow are hidden sadness. Even though this is the us this every day.” and the kids behind. But I don’t
then in the shadows beyond the first time we have met in person, it The Burrows have accepted process that thought because
summerhouse. feels as if I am back with old friends. the diagnosis of MND, which they that’s when you give up. I have no
I have come to know Rob and All the Zoom conversations, emails received on a shattering day in intention of thinking that way. I
Lindsey pretty well over the past and texts cannot match being with December 2019, but Rob continues firmly believe a cure is possible –
four months and communication them as they tell me about their to fight the medical prognosis that or at least a treatment that stalls
has never been a problem between summer holiday, their children suggested he had two years to live. the progression.”
us. It is a challenge interviewing and the state of Rob’s health. They “Throughout his career Rob defied Rob’s optimism is buoyed up by
a man who cannot speak but also talk about the Euros and the odds against him [at 5ft 4in his father, Geoff, who scours the
Rob uses a voice app called Olympics, as well as their memories and weighing less than 10st he was internet and talks to specialists
Eyegaze to express his thoughts. of growing up in this quiet corner invariably the smallest man on the around the world who give him
He stares at a screen and his eyes of Castleford. Rob played rugby pitch] and he’s determined to defy hope the battle against the disease
pick out individual letters so he in a cul-de-sac down the road on the odds again,” Lindsey says. “He is not as futile as some people
can slowly type out words and summer afternoons, just like today, said: ‘If the doctor gives you two believe. “Geoff is so positive and
sentences. When he is ready a in the early 1990s. years to live then double that with that’s where Rob gets it from,”
recorded version of his voice says Rob’s moving memoir, Rob Burrow was a key me.’ That’s Rob’s philosophy.” Lindsey says. “What does your dad
the words out loud. about his rugby career and his part of Leeds winning “Absolutely,” Rob says. “I always say, Rob? ‘We can, we will.’”
“There are times when I think extraordinary resolve as he fights eight Grand Finals never feel I will be out of here There is a gurgle of a laugh from
about death,” the 38-year-old told against MND, is published this before I am done.” Rob before Lindsey continues.
me in May, “but I’m not afraid of week. “I’m a bit nervous about the In an email he explains that “Geoff is determined he will
dying.” Rob and Lindsey have been launch because I don’t like to be in the bleak prognosis is based on find a cure and he’s constantly
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
researching or listening to MND
podcasts. Every day there’ll been
an email update from Geoff.
“Rob laughs because he knows
his dad. You know, one of the first
things Rob said on the day he was
diagnosed was: ‘Thank goodness
it’s not you or the kids.’ Then, in
the car on the way home, he was a
bit worried. Rob said: ‘It’ll kill my
dad.’ Geoff had had a heart attack a
couple of years before and so Rob
worried about his parents.
“But his mum and his dad have
been great and it’s given Geoff such
focus. He said that life used to just
tick by. But now he works so hard
on researching and coming up with
reasons for hope. He and Rob are so
determined.”
Lindsey is a physiotherapist who
has worked with MND patients for
years. She turns gently to Rob: “I
think you see things differently
to me because of my medical
background. When you don’t have
that scientific knowledge and you
•
‘How can she still be
smiling through the
same Groundhog
Day? Shower me,
dress me, feed me’
look on the internet there’s a lot to
read. The optimism is great. But
it’s difficult because I don’t want to
sound too downbeat. Sometimes, I
just keep quiet. Everyone has their
own way of dealing with things.”
The Burrows have been boosted
by a recent consultation with Rob’s
specialist in Leeds. “She was really
pleased with Rob and his weight
has been stable,” Lindsey says.
“When we first spoke to you in April
I felt Rob looked very drawn. But he
is much fuller in the face now. He
looks healthier.”
Rob says: “I’m feeling exactly
the same as I did three months
ago. I don’t think I have declined.
You can regress quickly but then
you plateau for a while. I am stable
now. I was really encouraged when
I saw Dr Jung. She said how well
I am doing. But if she had been
negative it would not have changed
my outlook. I know how I feel more
than anyone and I have never been
anything other than positive.”
He lost all sense of smell and
taste last month. It was an early
sign he had contracted Covid but, as
they both stress, he was just “a little
washed-out” as he recovered fully
from the virus. Rob is soon joking
that one of his biggest gripes is an
unchanging diet. He can’t swallow
easily and so his food has to be
pureed. “I crave anything I cannot
eat, especially when the kids get
a Domino’s [pizza]. I miss being
able to chew and taste the different
textures. I would love a pepperoni
pizza again but I can only really eat
mashed-up food.”
Lindsey says: “When you look
in Rob’s mouth you see quite a lot
of muscle wastage with his tongue
so he needs food he can swallow
easily. Pasta and meat are difficult
because he needs to chew those.
“When we were on holiday a few
weeks ago they had chicken tenders
and burgers on the menu and Rob
said later he wished he could have
had something like that. I would
have asked [the restaurant] but
Rob smiled and said: ‘I don’t think
blended chicken nuggets would
taste very nice.’ But his appetite’s so
much better than it was.”
I ask Rob if he worries about
not being able to swallow one day,
which would mean the insertion of
a PEG (Percutaneous Endoscopic
Gastrostomy) so he can be fed
through a tube. “I have not thought
about that part of my journey,”
he says. “I hope to get a bit better
through various treatments. I think
I will improve.”
Their three children, Macy,
Maya and Jackson, are aged nine,
six and two. Macy has the deepest
understanding of Rob’s ordeal and
she once said to her mum that she
wished she could give her voice to
her dad to help him. “How could
you not get emotional when your
eldest child says that?” Rob writes.
“It gives you more incentive to
never give in. I intend to see my
kids graduate and walk my girls
down the aisle. I’ve got too many
reasons to live.”
They were proud when Maya
auditioned successfully for a part in
 Lindsey and
Rob Burrow
have been
together since
they were 15.
O
OO/
 U
a television show on Nickelodeon,
as well as a role in Carmen. “I
have to ask the school to give her
time off,” Lindsey says. “She is
doing some matinees and evening
performances at Leeds Grand, the
Lowry in Salford and Newcastle.”
Rob’s smile widens. “I felt
on top of the world,” he says
of the news about Maya. “All I
want is to see my kids be happy
and have fun. I’ve had a great
life so I don’t need anything
else. My sole goal is to see my
kids reach some milestones
and Maya’s achievement was
amazing. It makes me want to see
more triumphs.”
But there is sadness too. “The
most frustrating thing is not being
a proper dad to them,” Rob tells
me. “I know I am still their daddy
but, when it’s not on your terms,
it is horrible. I feel as though the
girls knew me as a dad but I know
Jackson won’t have the memory of
me as a father. I wish I could have
L
just one day with Jackson and be
his dad. That’s the cruel thing about
this disease. Your mind is working
normally, your body isn’t.”
indsey is a marvel
of good cheer and
selfless commitment
to her family but she
admits “Birthdays are
hard – and Christmas.
Rob said to me [last year]: ‘I don’t
know if this is going to be my last
Christmas.’ That really hit home.
Rob’s birthday is next month,
mine’s in November and Jackson
turns three in December. We will
still make them happy days.”
A few days later, when Rob writes
to me about Lindsey, I think of our
afternoon in the summerhouse. All
the sunshine and warmth I saw on
his face glows from my screen as
I read his message.
“You could not put into words
how grateful I am to have met
Lindsey. I’m trying not to be soppy
but some of the things Lindsey does
for me is proof that I have found
my one and only. No one deserves
to have their world turned upside
down. Yet she turns up every
morning with a smile on her face
knowing what the day ahead looks
like, knowing I need help with
every single thing.
“How can she still be smiling
through the same Groundhog Day?
Shower me, dress me, feed me,
take me to the toilet, constantly
asking if I need a drink or my
medication. She’ll regularly take
me for a walk – a lap of the house
to make sure my back doesn’t ache
and to keep me moving.
“At the end of the day she has
to assist me upstairs and put me
to bed. She’s also mummy to our
three kids – a sort of single parent
now. She gives 110% in her role as a
physiotherapist, always wanting to
help others and putting everyone
before herself.”
Then, in a closing paragraph,
Rob adds two last sentences. I
imagine him writing in silence,
looking at the screen with his
determined gaze, as he forms
the words. He writes them with a
sense of wonder. “I have run out
of superlatives to describe her. If
that isn’t the meaning of true love,
I don’t know what is.”
41
Formula One
Race rejig likely
after Japanese
GP cancellation
The Japanese Grand Prix has been
cancelled due to coronavirus. The
race in Suzuka was due to take place
on 10 ctober, after the successful
staging of the lympic Games in
Tokyo, but will nownot go ahead after
discussions with Formula ne and the
Japanese government. It is the second
year in a row the race has been called
off because of the pandemic.
The decision means the F1 calendar
faces another reshuffleafter races in
Australia, China, Canada and Singa-
pore were also called off. The Turkish
Grand Prix was initially cancelled but
later reinstated.
F1 said: “Following ongoing
discussions with the promoter and
authorities in Japan the decision
has been taken by the Japanese
government to cancel the race this
season due to ongoing complexities
of the pandemic in the country.
“Formula ne is now working on
the details of the revised calendar and
will announce the final details in the
coming weeks.
“Formula ne has proven this year,
and in 2020, that we can adapt and
find solutions to the ongoing uncer-
tainties and is excited by the level of
interest in locations to host Formula
ne events this year and beyond.”
The season continues
with the Belgian Grand Prix on 29
August. PA Media
Sport
In brief
Cycling
Philipsen avoids crash
to win his second stage
Jasper Philipsen won his second
stage at the 2021 Vuelta a España
as Kenny Elissonde took the overall
lead following a mass crash about
12 kilometres from the Albacete
finish. Belgian rider Philipsen
(Alpecin-Fenix) outsprinted
Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-
Quick Step) and Alberto Dainese
(Team DSM) to win the 184.4km
seventh stage between Tarancon
and Albacete. The victory means
Philipsen takes the green jersey
from Jakobsen. PA Media
Cricket
Spirit out of Hundred
despite dousing Fire
London Spirit were eliminated
from the women’s Hundred
despite hammering Welsh Fire
by seven wickets in Cardiff. Fire’s
batters struggled and they made
just 95 for nine. London Spirit
needed the 96 runs to win in 41
deliveries or fewer to reach the
eliminator. That was always going
to be tough and although they
won the game, needing 58 balls,
their run in the Hundred ended
at Sophia Gardens. PA Media

42
 Dawid Malan
is recalled to
the squad after
a three-year
absence for
the third Test
against India
at Headingley
U K/
 
Sibley dropped for Headingley
as England turn to Malan
Yorkshire batsman returns
to red-ball squad after one
first-class innings all summer
Simon Burnton
Dom Sibley has been dropped from
the England squad for the third Test
against India at Headingley,with the
team’s head coach, Chris Silverwood,
admitting thebatsman “needs some
time away to regain his confidence”.
Sibley has finally paid the price for
ECB action
Yorkshire get
ultimatum on
racism report
 Continued from back page
fallen awkwardly, coming only weeks
before the next stage of Rafiq’s legal
complaint against Yorkshire but more
pressingly with attention about to
fall on the county as the third Test
between England and India starts at
Headingley on Wednesday.
At the launch of its Anti-Discrim-
ination Code of Conduct, which was
brought in before the start of this
season, the ECB’s chief executive,
Tom Harrison, said the organisa-
tion was “absolutely committed in
our resolve to stamp out any form of
discrimination and to make the game
more inclusive and diverse,” and that
the code “sends a clear message that
any discriminatory behaviour will be
dealt with through disciplinary pro-
cesses and sanctions”.
There will be concern that the pace
of Yorkshire’s response, and the opac-
ity of its actions, does not echo that Ian Watmore
clear message. They are also reported ECB chairman
• The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
Sport
Cricket
a prolonged spell of poor form with
the bat – since he scored 120 against
West Indies at Old Trafford last
summer his average, which in eight
matches up to that point had stood
at 44.33, has fallen to 28.94. Inter-
national opponents have repeatedly
exploited technical failings – his past
15 Test innings include three ducks,
five single-figure scores and a sin-
gle half-century – while the pace at
which he scores his runs has also
been criticised.
Zak Crawley, who was omitted
from the team for the second Test
but had remained with the squad,
to have offered Rafiq a considerable
financial settlement in exchange for
him signing a non-disclosure agree-
ment, which he refused. Yorkshire
did not respond to the Guardian’s
request for comment yesterday.
Though Rafiq’scomplaints predate
the code’s introduction and relate to
historic failures, some of the play-
ers and coaches named in the report
remain active. “Nothing will get done
if we leave it to the club,” Rafiq told
ESPNcricinfo. “They wouldn’t have
had an inquiry if the media hadn’t
forced them into it. Now they’ll try
to cover up the conclusions. They’ve
had their chance. It’s time for the ECB
and politicians to step in.”
Within hours the ECB did indeed
become involved, with the chair-
man, Ian Watmore, demanding
‘We have written
to Yorkshire to
formally request
a copy, together
with a timeline
for publication’
has been released to play for ent.
Yorkshire’s Dawid Malan, who scored
199 against Sussex in June, his only
first-class innings of the summer,
‘Dom needs
some time away
to regain his
confidence’
Chris Silverwood
England coach
that Yorkshire deliver a copy of the
report to the governing body. “We
respect the independent process
behind the review, and the club’s
legal responsibilities to all parties.
We also understand the frustration
at the length of time this investiga-
tion has taken,” he said. “Now that
the club has a full copy of the report,
we have today written to Yorkshire
to formally request a copy, together
with a timeline for publication.
“It has taken considerable courage
for Azeem Rafiq to speak out, and it
is right that his experiences should
have been thoroughly investigated.
We now look forward to receiving a
copy of the report promptly to enable
us to fulfil our role as regulator.”
Last November, after he first gave
evidence to the panel appointed by
Yorkshire to investigate his allega-
tions, and two members of the panel
stood down to act instead as wit-
nesses, Rafiq’s lawyer spoke of her
“serious concerns about the initial
handling of Azeem’s complaint and
the people appointed to be involved
in that process”.
The next stage of Rafiq’s legal
complaint against Yorkshire, fol-
lowing a failed attempt atresolution
through judicial mediation, is a case-
management hearing arranged for
September, with a final hearing yet
to be scheduled.  about Langer’s behaviour. AAP
returns to the Test squad for the first
time in three years.
“Dom needs some time away to
regain his confidence after a chal-
lenging period,” Silverwood said.
“He will return to Warwickshire to
spend time in the middle without the
scrutiny and find some rhythm and
confidence. Dom offers a lot of value
to the Test environment and some
time away should help him. However,
he remains part of our plans.”
Silverwood was notably more
effusive about Crawley, who he said
“is still a massive part of our plans
moving forward”.
“We feel he would benefit from
time outside the pressure of interna-
tional competition to get some time
working on his skills,” Silverwood
said. “He has a bright future and I
do not doubt that his time will come
again in the Test arena.”
The Lancashire seamer Saqib
Mahmood, who impressed in the lim-
ited-overs series against Pakistan this
summer and was part of the touring
party in Sri Lanka and India earlier in
the year, keeps his place in the squad.
Though Mark Wood is expected
to fully recover from the shoulder
injury he sustained during Eng-
land’s humbling defeat in the sec-
ond Test at Lord’s, Mahmood will
provide insurance. The spinner Jack
Leach, who has not played in any of
England’s Tests this summer, has
returned to Somerset.
The squad is due to gather in Leeds
on Sunday, with the third Test starting
on Wednesday. Two players, Moeen
Ali and Craig Overton, will take part
in the closing stages of the Hundred
before joining the group.
Moeen, who stands at No 4 in
the list of the tournament’s top
run-scorers, will be able to play for
Birmingham Phoenix in Saturday’s
final, while Craig Overton will bolster
Southern Brave’s efforts to qualify as
their opponents in Friday’s elimina-
tor against Trent Rockets at the Oval.
Australia woes
build pressure
on Langer
The Cricket Australia chief executive,
Nick Hockley, has given his support to
the head coach, Justin Langer,before
the Ashes series. Langer’s manage-
ment style has come under scrutiny
after Australia’s 4-1 Twenty20 series
defeat in Bangladesh.
Reports of a heated exchange
between Langer and a CA staffmem-
ber in the team hotel have added to
speculation over his future. Hockley
said: “Justin has done an incredible
job in raising the culture, values and
behaviours of the Australian men’s
team since he took on the role in 2018.
“He is contracted as head coach to
the middle of next year. Justin, his
coaching staffand the leaders within
the team have an important part to
play in ensuring a successful summer
for the Australian team.”
It has been reported that Langer’s
coaching methods were highlighted
in a recent CA review. Australia’s
white-ball captain, Aaron Finch, said
yesterday it was not “a great look”
that teammates were leaking details
Racing
Mishriff has
Egan gushing
with York win
Greg Wood
York
David Egan banked at least £500,000
when Mishriff won the Saudi Cup in
February and perhaps a 10th as much
when the same horse ran away with
the International Stakes here yester-
day, but the clear-eyed 22-year-old
rider had no doubts about which had
been the better dayat the races. “This
horse means everything to me, he’s
going to makemy career, hopefully,”
Egan said. “This is my best day at the
race track. The money doesn’t matter,
it’s all about the horse.”
Many famous middle-distance
performers have won this race but
few have done so as easily as Mishriff,
who was eased down a few strides
from the line but still passed the post
six lengths in front of Alenquer. Love,
who stepped in as a late substitute
for St Mark’s Basilica when her stable
companion was ruled out on Monday,
was six-and-a-half lengths behind the
winner in third.
A fitand healthy St Mark’s Basilica
would, in all probability, have given
Mishriffand Egan more to think about
– they finished nearly four lengths
behind him in the Eclipse Stakes
at Sandown in July – but Mishriff
has now won at the highest level in
France, Dubai and England, taking his
career earnings past £11m.With races
including the Arc, Breeders’ Cup Turf
and Japan Cup under consideration
later in the year, Arrogate’s all-time
record of £13.6m in prize money could
soon be under threat.
“He’s had this strange year where
he raced in a truncated season last
year,then he raced in the winter and
we gave hima holiday, now he’s run in
the middle of summer,” John Gosden,
the winner’s trainer, said.
Yibir returned to form to land the
Group Two Great Voltigeur Stakes,
but the traditional path toward the
St Leger for winners of this race
is closed off to Charlie Appleby’s
three-year-old as he was gelded
earlier in the year. The Mediterranean,
however,who stayed on well to finish
a length-and-a-quarter behind Yibir,
has been cut from 33-1 to 10-1 to
give Aidan O’Brien a seventh win in
the Doncaster Classic.
Greg Wood’stips
Stratford-on-Avon 1.00 Andapa 1.30 Darling
Du Large 2.05 Every Breakin Wave 2.40 Yccs
Portocervo 3.15 Throckley 3.45 Lawtop Legend
4.17 Presentandcounting 4.52 Speedy Hooves
Chepstow 1.10 Adace 1.40 La Roca Del
Fuego 2.15 Katherine Place 2.50 Lead Story
3.25 Glamorous Crescent 3.55 Diamond Cottage
4.25 Perfect Match
York 1.50 Sandrine (nb) 2.25 Wings Of
War 3.00 Escobar (nap) 3.35 Wonderful
Tonight 4.10 Bastogne 4.45 Amma Grace
5.20 Star Of Emaraaty
Wolverhampton5.05 Adaayinyourlife5.35 Withering
6.05 Anjella6.35 Thunder Flash7.05 Ghost Rider
7.35 Send In The Clouds8.05 The Tron
Windsor5.25 Fernando Rah5.55Night Of Romance
6.25 Double Dealing 6.55 Paxos7.25 Gaheris
7.55 Luigi Vampa
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
Korda the player
Golf AIG Women’s Open
to beat to claim
the biggest prize
American world No 1 starts
favouriteat Carnoustie for
increased winner’s cheque
Ewan Murray
The Women’s Open has been handed
a status and financial boost ahead of
tee-off at Carnoustie with a $1.3m
prize fund increase to $5.8m, making
the tournament the most lucrative in
female golf.On Sunday the champion
on Scotland’s east coast will collect
a cheque for $870,000 (£632,000).
Martin Slumbers, the R&A’s chief
executive, announced the fillip for
this major championship with con-
siderable glee yesterday. And no
wonder: Slumbers promised the pot
at Muirfield in 2022 will be at least
$6.8m. Between 2014 and 2016, the
purse had been fixed at $3m, with
the winner’s share always less than
$500,000. Slumbers has credited AIG,
the event’s main sponsor since 2019,
with helping to elevate its status.
“Together we are on a journey to
increase prize money in a financially
sustainable way,” Slumbers said. “For
women’s golf to close the gap with
the men’s game, it requires greater
•
Sport
 Nelly Korda, the biest
star in women’s golf, at
Carnoustie yesterday
 HD/
investment and support from golf
bodies, sponsors, the media and
our fans to grow its commercial suc-
cess, generating the income and the
revenues to make prize-fund growth
viable and financially sustainable.
“We believe that this action to
make changes sends a strong signal
that more needs to be done, and I
believe can be done, by everyone
involved in our sport.”
The US Women’s Open, played
at the Olympic Club in June, had a
$5.5m purse. It now remains to be
seen whether the United States Golf
Association responds to the R&A’s
stance. “There should never be a
race,” Slumbers insisted. “This is not
a competition. This is about moving
in a direction and everyone has got
to move at their own pace. We have
been fortunate with the team we’ve
got, with the championship we’ve
got, to be able to move at the pace
that we want to move at.”
The elephant in this particular
room relates to the R&A-administered
Open Championship. Its latest prize
pot of $10.75m is almost double
what will be available at Carnoustie.
Slumbers was circumspect over
whether or not inancial parity
between his male and female majors
is a realistic goal.
“I’m a glass-half-full guy,” the chief
executive said. “We have closed a
huge gap over these few years, so I
look at that as a positive. I think the
direction of travel is here. But I remain
consistently of the view thatwe need
to build the financial wherewithal of
women’s professional golf, particu-
larly in our championship – I cannot
talk for anyone else’s championship
– and keep building the value of the
sponsorship, the number of people
who come to watch, the value of the
media rights.”
With 8,000 spectators per day
permitted at Carnoustie, much
focus is on the world No 1 Nelly
Korda. The recently crowned US
PGA and Olympic champion opted
not to undertake press conference
duties before her first round, leaving
others to discuss Korda’s current
position. Catriona Matthew, Europe’s
Solheim Cup captain, went so far as
to say a long sequence of winning
by Korda would represent another
benefit to the sport.
“Without a doubt, she’s got that
Charley Hull will hope
to improve on her best
potential to be dominant,” Matthew
said. “She hits it long. To be world
Open finish of tied 12th No 1 you have to do everything well.
If she can keep that form going, I don’t
see why she couldn’t be dominant.
Selected tee times “I think it is good for women’s
golf to have a dominant player. You
saw how Tiger Woods elevated the
6.52am Celine Sei-young (Kor), PGA Tour. If you have someone that
Boutier (Fr), Anne Jessica Korda (US) becomes dominant, she starts to be
van Dam (Neth), 12.27pm Inbee Park known by non-golfers, which then
Emily Pedersen (Kor), Yealimi Noh
(Den) (US), Leona Maguire maybe encourages them to come
7.14am Amy Yang (Ire) and watch golf. So yeah, I think it
(Kor), Chun In-gee
(Kor), Mel Reid (Eng)
12.54pm Georgia
Hall (Eng), Megan
would be a good thing.”
7.47am Danielle Khang (US), Louise Not that Matthew is waving white
Kang (US), Patty Duncan (Sco) flags in respect of an upcoming clash
Tavatanakit (Thai), 12.49pm Brooke with Korda’sUS team in Toledo. “For
Kim A-lim (Kor) Henderson (Can), Solheim to have the world No 1 player,
8.09am Nelly Korda Yuka Saso (Phi), Lexi it’s a great thing,” the Scot said. “In
(US), Nasa Hataoka Thompson (US) match play, as we’ve seen in a lot
(Jpn), Charley Hull
(Eng) TV Live Sky Sports of 18-hole events, anyone can beat
12.05pm Sophia Golf. Highlights anyone.Certainly all the pressure will
Popov (Ger), Kim BBC2, 8pm be on her to beat our team.”
Tennis
Murray out
after defeat
by Hurkacz
in Masters
Briton stays upbeatafter
being knocked outby the
world No 13 in Cincinnati
Andy Murrayhas been knocked out of
the Cincinnati Masters in straightsets
by the world No 13 ubert urkacz.
Murray, who had won the tour-
nament twice, went into the match
fresh from his first singles victory
since withdrawing from the men’s
singles event at the Olympics in the
first round, only to fall 7-6 (4), 6-3
against the Pole.
In the opening round Murray had
beaten the former worldNo 7 Richard
Gasquet in straight sets, but he was
unable to find the same momentum
against the 24-year-old urkacz. It
was a difficult match for Murray, with
just 52% of his first serves accurate
compared to 71% from urkacz.
The Scot made some uncharac-
teristic errors, including three dou-
ble faults, although he did manage
to save four out of six break points.
‘There is so much
happening in the
world. Just waking
up is a win’
▲ Naomi Osaka came back from a
set down to defeat Coco Gauff
43
▲ Andy Murray remained positive
despite his defeat by the Wimbledon
semi-finalist Hubert Hurkacz
H / 
The tournament in Cincinnati was
due to be a warm-up event after he
was added to the US Open main draw
via a wildcard. espite the defeat,
Murray was satisfied with his time
in Cincinnati.
“I thought this week was fairly
positive,” the 34-year-old said.
“I think I played much better this
week than during Wimbledon or
during the grass-court season.
“So I guess the two issues for
me are one, my body doesn’t feel
good and that is something that will
influence my future, and if after
competing for a number of months
if my tennis is going backwards then
that would be another sign for me
that things are not how I would like
them to be. But I don’t see this week
as going backwards.
“My body felt good. The American
hard courts are not easy on the body
and physically I was a little bit tired
after some of the longer rallies, but in
terms of the pain and discomfort my
body was really good.
“My tennis was better than at
Wimbledon. It’s still not how I would
like it but it’s difficult when you
play against a lot of these guys now
with big serves and you don’t get too
many opportunities.
“That’s where the lack of matches
can hurt you, because there’s not
loads of rhythm out there, and you
know you’re not going to get that
many chances.
“You know usually a few years ago
I would be takingthose chances at the
end of the first set and today I didn’t
and it will cost you against the guys
who are serving big becauseyou don’t
get too many opportunities.”
Naomi Osaka was back on court
and was forced to fight back from
a set down to see off the challenge
of the US teenager Coco Gauff,
4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in their second-round
match in Cincinnati. Osaka needed
nearly  two hours to pull off the
three-set fightback and move into
the round of 16.
The world No 2, who was reduced
to tears during a press conference in
the leadup to the match, said after-
wards: “There is so much happening
in the world right now. Just waking
up in the morning is a win.”
Meanwhile, the defending cham-
pion ominic Thiem has withdrawn
from the US Open and will miss the
rest of the season. Thiem has failed
to recover from a wrist injury sus-
tained while contestingthe Mallorca
Open in June. PA Media

44
Gymnastics
leaders vow
to stop abuse
in the sport
Mike Darcey, the British Gymnastics
chairman, has said the organisation
“must do better” to ensure there is
no further abuse in the sport and
he is sorry for letting down the
gymnastics community.
The governing body is the sub-
ject of a legal claim raised by 37
former gymnasts, including three
Olympians, who say they were vic-
tims of alleged systemic physical and
psychological abuse.
British Gymnastics has responded
by appointing Sarah Powell as its new
chief executive, with other changes
coming to the board in the coming
months. Darcey says the organisa-
tion, which is complying with an
official review into its conduct, has
let people down.
He said: “As we reflect on some
great moments from the Olympic
Games,we also need to acknowledge
that, alongside gymnastics growing
rapidly over the last decade, our
organisation has, on several fronts,
failed to keep up with that growth.
“The board has taken stock over
recent months. It is evident that the
executive team and the board have
failed to be close enough to the gym-
nastics community to understand
your concerns, and our engagement
has not been good enough.
“We have let you down, and we
are deeply sorry for that. While we
acknowledge that thereis much good
practice within the sport in the UK,
we must make it clear to the whole
membership that abusive practices
including training on injuries,
bullying, shouting, and weight
shaming are not acceptable..”
As well as a new chief executive
and executive director of sport, three
non-executive members of the board
will be replaced, a new national wel-
fare officer will be appointed and a
new system for tracking safeguarding
complaints will be implemented.
Darcey said: “The board under-
stands the anger felt within the com-
munity. This has been a very difficult
period for the sport. We know that
trust will not be earned simply by
announcing these changes – trust will
only be earned with consistency of
action over time.
“Working with the executive team,
we are focused on delivering for you
and are committed to fundamentally
changing the culture at the heart of
British Gymnastics to ensure that
there will never be an excuse for
poor behaviour in gymnastics at
any level.” PA Media
▲ Gymnasts have been let down, the
sport’s organisers have admitted
• The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
Sport
Football
Can Italy’s golden sporting
summer inspire Serie A?
Gloryat Euros andOlympics
have created a feelgood factor
but high-profile departures
have damaged league’sstatus
I
Nicky Bandini
taly has never known a
sporting summer like it. After
Roberto Mancini’s Azzurri
delivered on his vow to win
Euro 2020, the Olympians
followed up with a record
40 medals and 10 golds in Tokyo.
Fabio Capello spoke for many: “I
have never felt so Italian as I do
right now.”
Will the feelgood factor carry
over into a new Serie A season?
Or has Italy’s top football league
been diminished by the departures
of too many leading lights? The
Internazionale team who ended
Juventus’s nine-year reign as
champions have since bid farewell
to Antonio Conte, Romelu Lukaku
and Achraf Hakimi. Their city
rivals, Milan, had Gianluigi
Donnarumma departing on a free.
The damage to the league’s
brand is undeniable. Conte fits
into a rare category of superstar
manager, one who was billed by
Inter’s sporting chief executive,
Beppe Marotta, as the club’s “top
player”, and who justified such
words by dragging them back to
the top – just as he had done with
Juventus and Chelsea.
Lukaku re-established himself
under Conte as one of the world’s
best No 9s, as well as a fan favourite
to whom two murals are devoted.
Hakimi almost doubled his value in
a single dominant season at right-
back. Donnarumma was named
Uefa’s Player of the Tournament at
Euro 2020 and saved the decisive
penalty in the final.
Even Cristiano Ronaldo’s future
in Serie A is unclear with persistent
reports of the five-times Ballon
d’Or winner seeking to extricate
himself from the last year of his
Juventus contract. He attacked
such speculation on Instagram
on Tuesday, saying “the frivolous
way that my future is covered in
the media is disrespectful to all the
clubs involved”, yet there was no
unambiguous declaration he wants
to stay.
His relationship with
Massimiliano Allegri has been
under scrutiny since the returning
Juventus manager stated Ronaldo
would carry greater responsibilities
as a role model this term, advising
him that he should expect to
sit some games out just like
everyone else.
Juventus hope Allegri can
reinvigorate the career of Paulo
Dybala – who scored a career-
best 22 Serie A goals under his
leadership in 2017-18. That figure
dropped to five after Ronaldo
arrived the following season.
Protracted negotiations over
an extension to Dybala’s contract,
which expires in 2022, have created
further anxiety for the Juventus
hierarchy. Still, their team looks
strong. Federico Chiesa is ready
to kick on after his brilliant Euros,
while another Italy international,
Manuel Locatelli, arrives from
Sassuolo to upgrade the team’s
biggest weak spot in midfield.
Juventus will begin the
campaign as favourites, thanks
largely to the departures at Inter.
It was known Inter would need
to cut costs this summer, the
Chinese owners Suning racking up
unsustainable financial losses even
before Covid arrived. Still, fans had
hoped the sale of Hakimi would be
enough.
Lukaku’s sale was a body-blow.
He led Inter in goals and assists
last season but, more than that,
he became a symbol of the club:
 Andrea Belotti shows
off the trophy after Italy’s
Euro 2020 victory
Y //  Y
They still have Nicolò Barella and
Marcelo Brozovic in midfield and
Lautaro Martínez up front. Who
know if Christian Eriksen will play
again, but they have added Hakan
Calhanoglu from rivals Milan.
This campaign is likely to be
defined by how well new managers
– Inzaghi among them – succeed in
implementing their ideas. Of last
season’s top 10, only Milan and
Atalanta have the same men in
charge.
José Mourinho has major
hurdles to clear at Roma, but there
is exciting talent in his squad,
including Nicolò Zaniolo, who all
of Italy is eager to see back after a
year-and-a-half lost to successive
cruciate injuries. Tammy Abraham
offers Roma something they have
not had for years: a striker who can
play on the shoulder of defenders
and fight for the spaces in behind.
Maurizio Sarri fills Inzaghi’s
spot at Lazio, one season removed
from his own title win at Juventus.
Napoli, another of his former
clubs, could be a dark horse for the
Scudetto if they continue to avoid
any major departures. Luciano
Spalletti was a serial runner-up at
the player who dragged his team Roma, but inherits a deep squad
forward on the pitch and rode and would only need to keep the
around town after the title win with club-record signing Victor Osimhen
his head out of the sunroof, joining healthy to hold a stronger hand
supporters in celebration. than Gennaro Gattuso did last year.
He had reported early for Or perhaps it will be those
pre-season training and spoke clubs who chose to stick instead
enthusiastically about his future of twist who push on. Milan lost
at the club just days before signing Donnarumma and Calhanoglu,
for Chelsea. The sense of betrayal but their signing of Olivier Giroud
among fans may never fully will offer Stefano Pioli a much-
heal, but Conte’s replacement, needed alternative – and perhaps
Simone Inzaghi, must make do. also a complement – to Zlatan
He performed a U-turn of his own Ibrahimovic up front. Atalanta sold
this summer, joining Inter one day Cristian Romero to Tottenham,
after agreeing terms on a proposed but when has Gian Piero Gasperini
contract renewal at Lazio. allowed the loss of any one player
Instead of Lukaku, he will have to cause his team to miss a beat?
Edin Dzeko as his No 9. Although There will be plenty of intrigue
the Bosnian’s talent is not in doubt, away from the title race. Can
these moves speak for themselves. Fiorentina hold on to Dusan
Inter have sold a striker for a club Vlahovic and will their new
record €115m and replaced him manager, Vincenzo Italiano,
with a 35-year-old free transfer. have them back challenging for a
Perhaps Inzaghi will make it European spot? Is Ivan Juric the
work. Inter conceded the fewest man to finally get Torino playing
goals in Serie A last season with a up to their talent level? How many
back three of Milan Skriniar, Stefan more times will Genoa sack, and
de Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni then reappoint, Davide Ballardini?
that ought to remain unchanged. Venezia were the last of the
promoted teams to secure their
place, arriving via a play-off win
over Cittadella, and to see one
of Italy’s most famous cities
represented in the footballing
top-flight again for the first time
in 20 years is a thrill. They have
recruited far and wide this summer,
including deals for the 19-year-old
US internationals Gianluca Busio
and Tanner Tessmann.
Salernitana have been away
even longer – 23 years – during
which time the club went bankrupt
twice and needed to be reformed.
Edin Dzeko has Empoli’s absence has been shorter,
joined Inter on a but that does not mean they will be
free transfer any less enthusiastic to return.
The new Serie A season could
never live up to Italy’s most
extraordinary sporting summer.
Even so, there are plenty of
feelgood stories to be found.
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian •
Sport
Football
Ismaël's rampant
Sky Bet Championship
West Brom crush
Blades to go top
West Brom 4 West Brom in front by nodding into
J Robinson 26og, O'Shea 47, Mowatt 53, C Robinson 59
his own goal before Dara O’Shea, Alex
Mowatt and Callum Robinson struck
Sheffield United 0 in the second half. That took West
Brom’s tally to nine goals from three
Championship matches this season.
United have yet to score one.
Paul Doyle The visitors’ manager, Slavisa
Jokanovic, had joked in the buildup
that Aaron Ramsdale would be in
These clubs came down together last his team unless someone bought
season but now look to be heading him for £100m but it transpired that
in different directions. West Brom around a quarter of that amount was
continued their strong start under enough to force United’s hand. The
Valérien Ismaël by overwhelming
visitors who disintegrated under ▼ Jack Robinson rises to head the
nearly every set piece. own goal that put West Brom ahead
Jack Robinson inadvertently put  LY/  /Y 
Europa League qualifyingplayoff Kyogo Furuhashi scored his sixth
Furuhashi Celtic goal in a 2-0 Europa eague
qualifying victory over AZ Alkmaar
shines again to in Glasgow. The Japan forward settled
Celtic’s early nerves after a brilliant
help put Celtic
assist from Tom Rogic, and James
Forrest scored a deflected second-
half goal to ensure his side take a
in driving seat
decent lead into the second leg of
the play-off.
Celtic were denied a late thirdamid
a dramatic goalmouth scramble but
the Dutch side showed enough going
Celtic 2 forward to suggest the return leg will
Furuhashi 12, Forrest 61
be far from a formality.
The victory made it five in a row for
AZ Alkmaar 0 new manager AngePostecoglou, who
brought in the fit-again iel Abada
for Odsonne Edouard. There was no
place for eigh Griffiths among the
Gavin McCafferty 11 substitutes.
The visitors had an early penalty
appeal and Celtic then had a bigger
goalkeeper did not make the trip to
the Hawthorns because his transfer
to Arsenal was close to completion
for a fee of £24m, rising to a possi-
ble £30m. Jokanovic gave little away
before kick-off,saying he had omitted
the England international because
“he’s simply not in the right state of
mind so we preferred not to compli-
cate things and start with Mike.” That
was a reference to Michael Verrips,
given his first league start for United.
West Brom targeted him imme-
diately, Darnell Furlong hurling a
mighty throw into the six-yard box
in the opening minute. United strug-
gled to deal with it and were relieved
to see the offside flag go up as Callum
Robinson turned the ball into the net
after Matt Clarke’s flick-on. But set
pieces continued to trouble United.
The hosts tried to generate a storm
from general play, too, but United
initially held them at bay well and
sometimes even played through West
Brom's aggressive press with compo-
sure. But United's moves tended to
peter out before they got into shoot-
ing range. That changed in the 20th
minute when Billy Sharp ran on to
a flick-on by David McGoldrick and
seemed set to unload a shot from 15
yards until O’Shea dispossessed him
with an immaculate tackle.
▲Kyogo
Furuhashi
scored Celtic's
first goal and set
up their second
45
Furlong flung in another long
throw in the 26th minute and this Results
time it led to a valid breakthrough
as Jack Robinson headed backwards
into his own goal under pressure
from Clarke. McGoldrick bungled a
chance to equalise almost immedi- Football
ately, steering a shot wide from 10 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
yards after neat service from the left Qualifying play-offs: (2)
First leg
by Sharp. Things would have got Benica Silva 10
2 PSV
Gakpo 51
(0) 1
worse for the visitors before the break Weigl 42
if Kyle Bartley had been able to direct Malmö (1) 2 Ludogorets Razgrad (0) 0
a header from a corner on goal rather Birmancevic
Young Boys
26, Berget 61
(2) 3 Ferencvaros (1) 2
than a yard wide. Elia 16, Sierro 40 Boli 14 82
Whatever Jokanovic said at half- García 65
time made no difference. United UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE
fell further behind two minutes into Qualifying play-off: First leg
the second half, when another cor- Furuhashi 16, Forrest 62(1) 2 AZ Alkmaar
Celtic (0) 0
ner caused mayhem. Verrips failed SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP
with two attempts to grasp Mowatt’s West Brom P W D L F A GD Pts
3 2 1 0 9 4 +5 7
delivery, allowing the ball to drop to Fulham 3 2 1 0 8 3 +5 7
O’Shea, who poked it through a crowd QPR 3 2 1 0 7 3 +4 7
of players and into the net. Bournemouth 3 2 1 0 6 3 +3 7
Verrips bore no blame for West Stoke 3 2 1 0 6 3 +3 7
Brom’s third. The hosts again out- Blackburn
Luton
3 2 1 0 5 3 +2 7
3 2 0 1 6 3 +3 6
fought United to win theball high up Coventry 3 2 0 1 3 2 +1 6
the pitch before Karlan Grant slipped Bristol City
Cardiff 3 1 2 0 5 3 +2 5
a clever pass through to Mowatt to Middlesbrough 33 11 11 11 55 55 00 44
finish emphatically from 10 yards. Derby 3 1 1 1 3 3 0 4
Jokanovic replaced both his Barnsley 3 1 1 1 2 2 0 4
strikers but United still struggled to Birmingham 3 1 1 1 1 2 -1 4
create chances. It was no surprise Peterborough
Huddersield
3 1 1 1 4 6 -2 4
3 1 1 1 3 6 -3 4
when Callum Robinson made it 4-0 Reading 3 1 0 2 6 7 -1 3
before the hour,tapping in from two Hull 3 1 0 2 4 5 -1 3
yards after United’s defence wilted Millwall
Swansea
3 0 2 1 3 4 -1 2
3 0 1 2 2 5 -3 1
under another long throw. Blackpool 3 0 1 2 1 4 -3 1
Shefield Utd 3 0 1 2 0 5 -5 1
West Brom Shefield United Nottm Forest 3 0 0 3 3 6 -3 0
343 442 Preston 3 0 0 3 2 7 -5 0
Johnstone; O’Shea, Verrips; Baldock, Egan, Birmingham (0) 0 Bournemouth (0) 2
Bartley, Clarke (Reach Basham, Robinson; Solanke 77, Anthony 87
83); Furlong, Livermore Norwood, Fleck, Berge
(Ajayi 77), Mowatt, (Freeman 72), Osborn; Hull City (0) 0 Derby (0) 1
Townsend; Diangana McGoldrick• (McBurnie Baldock 57
(Phillips 56), Robinson, 57), Sharp (Burke 57) Middlesbrough (1) 2 QPR (0) 3
Grant Subs not used Ikpeazu 7pen Howson 48og, Dykes 56
Subs not used Foderingham, Bogle, Crooks 72 Willock 76
Button, Kipré, Tulloch, Davies, Brewster
Castro Nottingham Forest (0) 1 Blackburn Rovers (0) 2
Zinckernagel 69 Ayala 47
Lenihan 86
Referee Matt Donohue West Brom (1) 4 Shefield United (0) 0
J Robinson 26og, O’Shea 47
Mowatt 53, C Robinson 59
Cricket
QPR looking up THE HUNDRED
Women Sophia Gardens Welsh Fire 959. London Spirit
963. London Spirit beat Welsh Fire by seven wickets.
Ten-man Queens Park Rangers Men Sophia Gardens Spirit 1635 (JP Inglis 72).
Fire 1657 (GD Phillips 80). Fire beat Spirit by three wickets.
stunned Middlesbrough with a Tennis
3-2 win at the Riverside last night. WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN (Cincinnati, Ohio, USA)
Chris Willock scored the winner Men: Second round: B Paire (Fr) bt D Shapovalov (Can) 63
with 14 minutes left after Moses 46 75; M Berrettini (It) bt A Ramos Viñolas (Sp) 67 (57)
Odubajo was sent off. Blackburn 63 75; H Hurkacz (Pol) bt A Murray (GB) 76 (74) 63
continued the away theme with Snooker
Darragh Lenihan's late goal BRITISH OPEN (Leicester)
First round: R McLeod (Jam) bt K Malin (Nor) w/o; Pang
sealing a 2-1 win at Nottingham J (Chn) bt J Rhys Clarke (Wal) 30; A Carter (Eng) bt Lei P
Forest. Bournemouth clinched a (Chn) 32; Li H (Chn) bt S Craigie (Eng) 30; D Jones (Wal)
bt N Bond (Eng) 31; M King (Eng) bt J Wilson (Eng) 31;
2-0 victory at Birmingham while N Saengkham (Tha) bt S Maddocks (Eng) 30; L Brecel
Wayne Rooney's Derby County (Bel) bt B Hawkins (Eng) 32; L Kleckers (Ger) bt
Bingtao Y (Chn) 32; G Wilson (Eng) bt F O’Brien (Ire) 30;
battled to a 1-0 win at Hull. S Bingham (Eng) bt R Milkins (Eng) 31; A Taylor (Eng) bt
A Burden (Eng) 31; M Gould (Eng) bt G Dott (Sco) 31
Second round: M Williams (Wal) bt D Dale (Wal) 32
let-off when the AZ skipper Teun Cycling
Koopmeiners broke down the right VUELTA
and crossed for Vangelis Pavlidis, Stage
A ESPAÑA
ive (Tarancon - Albacete 184.4km): 1 J Philipsen
(Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 4hr 24min 41sec; 2 F Jakobsen (Neth)
whose shot seemed destined for the Deceuninck-QuickStep; 3 A Dainese (It) Team DSM all at
net only for Joe Hart’s toe to divert if same time. Selected others: 50 A Yates (GB) Ineos
Grenadiers; 72 H Carthy (GB) EF Education-Nippo;
off the inside of a post and into the 77 J Knox (GB) Deceuninck-QuickStep
goalkeeper’s hands. Overall standings: 1 K Elissonde (Fr) Trek-Segafredo 17hr
Rogic appeared immune to the 33min 57sec; 2 P Roglic (Svn) Jumbo-Visma at 5sec;
3 L Calmejane (Fr) AG2R Citroen Team at 10. Selected
early shakiness affecting manyof his others: 14 A Yates (GB) Ineos Grenadiers at 56; 18 S Carr
(GB) EF Education-Nippo at 1:34; 19 H Carthy (GB) EF
teammates and he almost put Furu- Education-Nippo
QuickStep at 3:12
at 1:37; 43 J Knox (GB) Deceuninck-
hashi away with a searching through Fixtures
ball before setting up the Japan for- Football (7.45pm unless stated)
ward for the opening goal in the 12th Uefa Europa League
minute. The Australian shimmied Qualifying play-offs: First leg Fenerbahce v HJK Helsinki
his way to the byline and crossed for (7.45pm); NS Mura v Sturm Graz (7pm); Olympiakos
v S Bratislava (8pm); Omonia Nicosia v Royal Antwerp (6pm);
Furuhashi to show his agility and vol- R Vienna v Zorya Luhansk(6pm);
Randers v Galatasaray Rangers v Alashkert (8pm);
(8pm); S Prague v L Warsaw (6pm)
ley home from close range. Uefa Europa Conference League
Celtic doubled their advantage in Qualifying play-offs: First leg FK Qarabag v Aberdeen
(5pm); Flora v Shamrock Rvrs (5pm); LASK v St Johnstone
the 61st minute. Furuhashi played (6pm); Paços de Ferreira v Tottenham (7.30pm)
the ball in to Forrest, who had his Rugby league (7.45pm)
back to goal but managed to get in Betfred Super League
Leeds v Huddersield; Warrington v Catalans Dragons
a shot which took a major deflection Cricket
Royal London One-Day Cup
off Timo etschert. PA Media Trent Bridge Glamorgan v Durham (1pm)

46
Take a look at the
disparity in wage bills
before blaming Bielsa
Leeds lost heavily to
Manchester United in the
opening game ofthe season,
but salaries at Old Trafford
amount tofive times the size
of those at Elland Road
Jonathan W
• The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
Sport
Football
T
he easy thing is to
blame the manager. It
has become football’s
default response to
any crisis. A team hits
a poor run or loses a
big game: get rid of the manager.
As Alex Ferguson said as many as
14 years ago, we live in “a mocking
culture” and reality television has
fostered the idea people should
be voted off with great regularity
(that he was trying to defend
Steve McClaren’s reign as England
manager should not undermine the
wider point).
Managers are expendable.
Rejigging squads takes time and
money and huge amounts of
lead to heavy defeats? Can Mason Although teams can
Greenwood’s movement allow Ole
Gunnar Solskjær to field Paul Pogba
and Bruno Fernandes without
often defy financial
sacrificing a holding midfielder logic for a time, to
and, if it does, what does that mean
for Marcus Rashford? move up a tier is
Yet there was a weird strand of
coverage that insisted Solskjær
incredibly difficult
had somehow outwitted Bielsa,
effort in terms of research and even in some quarters that Bielsa
recruitment, whereas anybody can needed to be replaced if Leeds are
look at who is doing well in Portugal to kick on. (They finished ninth last
or Greece or the Championship season with 59 points, the highest
and spy a potential messiah. Then points total by a promoted club for
there are the structural factors, the two decades). A Bielsa meltdown
underlying economic issues it is is possible; they do happen and he
often preferable to ignore because has never managed a fourth season
to acknowledge them is to accept at a club. There should be some
how little agency the people we concern that, like last season, Leeds
shout about every week really have lost by four goals at Old Trafford,
in football. insufficient lessons were learned,
That point reared its head after even if Bielsa said this was a better
Manchester United’s 5-1 victory performance. But fundamentally,
over Leeds on Saturday. There Manchester United’s wage bill is Marcelo Bielsa
was plenty to discuss: are Leeds five times that of Leeds. is constrained
overreliant on Kalvin Phillips, who Everton, who finished a place by finance
was absent? Why does Marcelo below Leeds last season, had a
Bielsa’s version of pressing so often wage bill three times bigger. Of
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian •
Five into four Liverpool can perhaps challenge
for the title this season, but their
wage spending is 74% of that of
In the past five 2018-19 United. That they were as good
seasons only five 1 Man City as they were in the two seasons
clubs have finished 2 Liverpool before last was remarkable, but last
in the Premier 3 Chelsea
League’s top our … 4 Tottenham season showed how vulnerable
a team like Liverpool can be to
2016-17
1 Chelsea
2019-20
1 Liverpool
a couple of injuries. Similarly,
2 Tottenham 2 Man City Leicester’s two fifth-place finishes
3 Man City 3 Man Utd with the eighth-highest wage
4 Liverpool 4 Chelsea bill are a striking achievement,
their decline towards the end
2017-18 2020-21 of the past two seasons less the
1 Man City 1 Man City result of them bottling it or any
2 Man Utd 2 Man Utd
3 Tottenham 3 Liverpool sort of psychological failure than
4 Liverpool 4 Chelsea of the limitations of their squad
being exposed.
Which brings us to the other two
members of the Big Six: Arsenal
and Tottenham. Spurs’ last game at
White Hart Lane, in 2017, brought
a 2-1 win over Manchester United
that guaranteed they finished
second. Since when Spurs have
bought Davinson Sánchez, Lucas
Moura, Serge Aurier, Fernando
Llorente, Juan Foyth, Tanguy
Ndombele, Steven Bergwijn, Ryan
59
Sessegnon, Giovani Lo Celso,
Cristian Romero and Bryan Gil,
while United have bought, among
The points others, Alexis Sánchez, Victor
won by Leeds Lindelöf, Nemanja Matic, Romelu
last season, Lukaku, Fred, Daniel James, Aaron
the most for a Wan-Bissaka, Bruno Fernandes,
T
promoted club Harry Maguire, Donny van de Beek,
in the Premier Raphaël Varane and Jadon Sancho.
League for Money may not be everything in
20 years football, but it does help.
he irony of the
situation is that it was
investment in the
infrastructure that
should allow Spurs to
generate additional
revenues and better develop their
own talent (much cheaper than
buying it) that led to the lack of
investment in players largely
 Bruno responsible for the staleness
Fernandes, a resulting in Mauricio Pochettino’s
player beyond the departure. That Daniel Levy
budget of most compounded the problem by
Premier League appointing José Mourinho – acting
teams, scores like a big club as though to jolt
against Leeds them to the next level – should
O / not obscure the fact that until that
point he had pursued a ruthless and
successful economic logic.
last season’s Premier League, only Arsenal had gone through
West Brom and Sheffield United a similar process the previous
had wage bills lower. To have
finished ninth is an extraordinary
decade, investing heavily in a
new stadium at the expense of the
achievement and nobody should
think to slip back three or four
squad, only to discover that by
the time it was ready the financial
places this season would be a environment had changed and the
failure. Modern football is starkly petro-fuelled era had begun. It was
stratified and although teams
can often defy financial logic
easy after the timid performance
against Brentford to blame Mikel
for a time, to move up a tier is
incredibly difficult.
Arteta and ask why he gets such
an easy ride. For all that Arsenal
There is still a tendency to talk have finished the past two seasons
of a Big Six in English football and relatively well, that criticism will
while it is true six clubs last season only increase if there are not signs
had a weekly wage bill in excess the tanker is being turned round.
of £2.5m, it is also true that within But the gulf to the top of the table
that grouping there are three with is vast and a desperation to bridge
clear advantages: Manchester that has contributed to a bizarre
City (who had kept their wage bill transfer policy.
relatively low, although if they do That does not mean managers
add Harry Kane to Jack Grealish are beyond reproach and limp
that would clearly change) and displays like Arsenal’s deserve
Chelsea because their funding is criticism. But equally we
not reliant on footballing success, should probably remember
and Manchester United because of that where a side finishes in the
the legacy that has allowed them to league has far more to do with
attach their name to a preposterous economic strata than any of the
range of products across the globe. individuals involved.
Mature Lukaku in
dreamland and says
he will live up to fee
Jacob Steinberg
Romelu Lukaku has vowed to live
up to his £97.5m fee after seeing his
dream of a Chelsea return come true.
The Belgium striker has unfinished
business at Chelsea after leaving
them for Everton seven years ago
and is determined to help Thomas
Tuchel’s side to challenge for the
Premier League title.Lukaku played
a key role in Internazionale winning
Serie A last season and is raring to go
before facing Arsenal on Sunday.
“The dream is a reality now so I
have to prove myself on the pitch,”
the 28-year-oldsaid. “It’stime to get
to work and let my performances do
the talking. This is a dressing room
with personality and I am glad to
be back. As a footballer, you fight to
achieve your dreams. I am here now
and I can’t wait to be on the pitch and
perform with my teammates.”
Lukaku, who has taken the No 9
shirt after Tammy Abraham’s £34m
move to Roma, honed his game
during his two years under Antonio
Conte at Inter. “Maturity has been
important,” the former Manchester
United forward said. “I think I’ve
learned much more about myself,
setting higher standards for myself.
“As a player, it’s been about
becoming more complete as the game
in Italy is more different. The spaces
are tighter, it’s more technical and
tactical, and that helped me a lot. The
English game is different but for me
it’s not something new.”
Lukaku revealed he has had both
of his Covid-19 vaccinations. “For
me it’sdifferent because I have a few
family members that are high risk.
I think as a player, it’s up to you to
In brief
Arsenal Women
Fab four gets Eidevall
off to the perfect start
Arsenal Women have made a
resounding start to life under their
new manager, Jonas Eidevall, after
beating the Kazakh side kzhetpes
4-0 in a Champions League
qualifier yesterday. Goals from
Mana Iwabuchi, Kim Little, Beth
Mead and Nikita Parris sealed the
win for Arsenal in the semi-final
of a mini play-off tournament
staged in Moscow. They will now
face either PSV Eindhoven or
Lokomotiv Moscow on Saturday
for a place in the second round
of qualifying. “There are some
circumstances that made it a little
more difficult,” said Eidevall,
make the decision. The only thing
we can do is be careful around the
general population because we have a
lot of responsibilities. I did it because
my family are high risk.”
Lukaku believes that winning the
Champions League last season shows
Chelsea are mature enough to com-
pete for the title. “[César] Azpilicueta
is the captain and he has been here
for many years as a great captain,”he
said. “When I was in quarantine he
was already messaging me, helping
me to find a house.
“He is a leader and there’s many
other players with a big personality
in the dressing room. I am a player
who succeeded Joe Montemurro
as Arsenal manager in June. “It
was extremely hot conditions
and on an artificial turf which
gets a little bit dry, so that’s hard
to move the ball at a good pace.
We scored the hard goals today.”
Iwabuchi opened the scoring after
14 minutes with a strike from the
edge of the area. Little doubled
Arsenal’s advantage four minutes
later from the penalty spot. Mead
made it 3-0 with a close-range
strike on 65 minutes before Parris
also struck from close range
10 minutes later. Guardian sport
▲ Nikita Parris (centre) celebrates
after scoring Arsenal’s fourth goal
47
that likes to connect with people and
make them feel comfortable to give
them confidence.”
Chelsea have sent Michy Batshuayi
to Besiktas on a season-long loan.
The striker has extended his con-
tract until 2023. The London club
are  close  to sending Emerson
Palmieri on a season-long loan to
Lyon. The Italy left-back is out of
favour under Tuchel and is expected
to undergo a medical before joining
the Ligue 1 club.
Tuchel is keen to trim his squad
and has told Ross Barkley, Danny
Drinkwater, Timoue Bakayoko and
Davide Zappacosta that they can
leave. Milan want Bakayoko on loan,
while Zappacosta has been targeted
by Atalanta and Fiorentina. The
Brazilian winger Kenedy has joined
Flamengo on loan.
Kurt Zouma remains in talks with
West Ham, who want to sign the
centre-back for £25m. Chelsea are
prepared to allow Zouma to leave
before going ahead with their move
for Sevilla’s Jules Koundé, although
West Ham are struggling to meet the
Frenchman’s wage demands.
 Romelu
Lukaku took
part in an open
training session
watched by fans
at Stamford
Bridge yesterday
 /
  
Y 
Manchester City Women
Australian Raso signs
two-year deal at City
Manchester City have signed the
Australia forward Hayley Raso
from Everton. Raso, a member of
the Australian lympic team that
just missed out on a bronze medal
at Tokyo 2020, has agreed a
two-year deal. “I’m just so excited
to be here,” said the 26-year-old.
“Having played in the WSL last
season, I really liked the league –
it’s very competitive and being able
to come to a team like City, who are
up there fighting for all the trophies
and playing in the Champions
League, it’s an opportunity I
couldn’t turn down.” Raso, who
overcame a career-threatening
back injury in 2018, has spent the
past 18 months at Everton after
joining from Brisbane Roar for an
undisclosed fee. She has more than
50 caps for Australia after making
her debut in 2012. PA Media

Rob Burrow
‘I will never
give in – I’ve
got too many
reasonsto live’
The Donald McRae interviewPage 40
No 9 dream
Lukaku vows
to live up to
£97.5m fee
after return
to Chelsea
Page 47 
‘They are trying to bury it’
ECB steps in to demand that
Yorkshire publish race report
Simon Burnton
The England and Wales Cricket
Board has intervened to ensure the
publication of a report into racism at
Yorkshire after Azeem Rafiq, whose
allegations of abuse prompted the
investigation, described the process
as “a sham”.
It emerged yesterday that there
were no immediate plans to publish
the report, which was delivered to
executives at Headingley last Satur-
•
Sibley axed
Opener loses
place for third
Test with
Malan called u
Page 42
day, prompting Rafiqto claim the club
was “trying to bury it” and appeal to
the governing body for assistance.
The call was answered within hours
as the ECB demanded that Yorkshire
deliver a timeline for publication and
praised the player’s “considerable
courage”.
It is almost a year since Rafiq, a for-
mer captain both of England’sunder-
Azeem Rafiq 19s and Yorkshire’s Twenty20 side,
called on first spoke publicly about his expe-
the ECB to riences of racism at the club. They
intervene started their investigation after he
and it has spoke out again last September.
T e Guardian
Thursday 19 August 2021
 / /G G
“Do I think there is institutional
racism? It’s at its peak in my opin-
ion,” he said. “It’s worse than it’s
ever been.” At the time Roger Hut-
ton, the Yorkshire chairman, spoke
of “approaching impartial exter-
nal parties … to ensure complete
transparency”.
It is understood that the 100-page
report upholds many of Rafiq’s alle-
gations – but when it will be made
public, and how much of it will be
redacted, remains uncertain. “We’ve
waited a year for this report and they
are still trying to bury it,” Rafiq told
ESPNcricinfo.
“The ECB’s own anti-discrimi-
nation code states that any alleged
breach must be investigated and
dealt with in a ‘timely’fashion. Well,
it’s been more than a year and no
one has been held accountable and
nothing has changed. At some stage
the ECB need to act or, by passively
accepting the situation, they are part
of the problem.”
The timing of the
report’s  completion has 42  head coach Nuno Espírito Santo
Kane must be
mentally right
for Spurs spot
says Nuno
Ben Fisher
Nuno Espírito Santo said he must
consider whether Harry Kane is in the
right frame of mind before deciding
whether to select him, with Manches-
ter City keen on concluding a deal
for the Tottenham striker before the
close of the transfer window.
Nuno revealed he enjoyed break-
fast with Kane yesterday morning
but the forward was left out of the
Tottenham party that later travelled
to Portugal for their Europa Confer-
ence League play-off first leg against
Paços de Ferreira.
Kane returned to first-team train-
ing last Friday and continues to
build his fitness. Yesterday Kane,
who missed Tottenham’s opening-
weekend victory over City on Sun-
day, posted a photo on social media
of him training alone at Hotspur Way
with the caption: “Another session in
the bank.” Nuno was noncommittal
on whether Kane would be involved
against Wolves in the Premier League
this Sunday but admitted he would
have to take the striker’s fitness and
mental state into play.
“What we must be sure of is that
when we decide to put a player on the
pitch, we have to consider all of the
aspects,” Nuno said. “The fitness, the
mental aspects. We are here to sup-
port all of the players equally.
“Harry, of course, has all of our
support. His fitness is getting bet-
ter each day. On Saturday we will
make the decision on who is going
to be involved in the next [league]
game.” Nuno cut a relaxed figure and
insisted the outside noise surround-
ing Kane will not distract him or the
Spurs squad.
“Maybe I am the only one who does
not really care about what is being
said or written on the outside,” he
said. “With all my respect, it does not
really matter. What matters is what
is happening behind the doors and
what is happening behind the doors
is Harry is our player.”
▲ Harry Kane (left) and Tottenham
Oh, those
hot summer
ni ts!
True tales of love,
sweat and tears

Thursday 19/08/21
 Hot
•
2 The Guardian
summer
nights!
It’s easy to
forget it in wet
and chilly 2021,
but summer is
usually full of
long, languorous
nights when
the sweat flows
and the heart
races. Over
the next eight
pages, writers
remember the
hot summer
night that has
forever marked
them
‘I took Dad about being surrounded by bodies
locked into the communal groove,
clubbing – each of us moving to our own
personal rhythms, unencumbered
and felt
by the day’s worries and instead –
hopefully – free to be how we want
to be in this darkened space.
joy again’ Had my dad also been secretly
clubbing and coming to quasi-
spiritual realisations as Paul
Johnson’s Get Get Down finally
descended? I guessed not, but it
had been a very difficult few years.
After his mother died, My mum – his partner of almost
Ammar Kalia didn’t know 35a lengthy years – had died in 2013 after
battle with cancer and
‘W
how tobring his family back now, with me at university and my
together.Would anightclub older brother living elsewhere in
in Lisbon hold the answer? London with his girlfriend, my dad
had too much time alone to think
about how the rest of his life would
e should play out and how the larger part of
go to the it had already been lived. I assumed
Ibiza Ibiza was a playful reference to the
closing hedonism he could have enjoyed
parties,” but didn’t – and these famous end-
my dad of-season club nights in September
blurts out, driving through the provided the promise of a last
rain in Hounslow. It is 2015; I am mythical blowout. I laughed, told
21 and for the past few months he him he’d get claustrophobic on
has been mentioning the phrase the dancefloor and hate the drinks
“Ibiza closing parties” as if it were a prices, then promptly forgot.
Buddhist chant. The radio is tuned Two years later, I had graduated,
to Magic, playing Fat Larry’s Band’s my brother was married, my dad
Zoom, and I mumble “yep, sure”, had persevered – and all three of
not listening at first. us were on holiday in Lisbon. The
I had been to Ibiza three years July air was thick with humidity
before, on a 72-hour school leavers’ that threatened rain as we trudged
bender – a series of “hot summer up the cobbled gradients to trendy
nights” of their own – and was awed bars where we could buy bottles
by the tiny island’s cavernous clubs of sickly port – places my dad
and the fact that they could charge complained “lacked seating with
€8 for a pocket-sized bottle of proper back support”.
water. It was the trip that cemented Then, one balmy evening we
my love for the dancefloor. In those found ourselves in a student bar
warehouse spaces I realised that in Cais do Sodré, washing down
there is something deeply soulful heartburn from the previous day’s
gorging. We sat on stools – no
lumbar support – surrounded by
gap-year travellers hammering
beers. It seemed an end-of-the-
night spot, as our eyes glazed
against the spray of cans cracking
open. Then, as I leaned out of the
window, I spotted Music Box, a club
that had been recommended to me,
just around the corner. The “Ibiza
closing parties” leapt into my head
like a sweaty Proustian flashback.
“Let’s go, it’s what Dad has
always wanted,” I pleaded with my
sleepy brother. “OK,” he relented.
“But it might be difficult to get him
in. Because he’s so old.” The old
man immediately bolted out of
his seat – who needs back support
when the boogie awaits?
We approached the stern-looking
hostess in a triangular formation,
tucking my dad behind us. She
began with an apology; our hearts
sank. “I’m sorry gentlemen,” she
Ammar Kalia
and his father
on holiday
in Lisbon
said, “but it’s €12 each to get in.
That does come with a free drink,
though.” My brother produced the
cash and we shuffled through to the
thumping space of the main room.
I followed him to the bar and,
as we ordered, I realised our dad
wasn’t behind us. “Let’s just drink
these,” my brother said. “I’m sure
he’s somewhere near. And if he
isn’t, it’s your bloody fault for
bringing him into this dive.”
I was starting to feel that warm
stomach-fizz of too many drinks
and too little food, and, coupled
with the fact that I was out with
my big brother, I think I felt
invincible. It was a giddiness I
hadn’t experienced for years. After
our four-person family triangulated
into three, I hadn’t been sure how
we would fit together again. Now
it felt as if maybe there was a way
through – by remembering that
there was still life to be had.
Thursday 19 August 2021
‘Bodies were
locked into
the communal
groove …’
We got another drink and then
the floor called. Stepping down on
to the laminate and casting our eyes
over the partying groups, I spotted
our dad, his arms performing
invisible tai-chi, swaying his
ass from side to side. He was
surrounded by women.
We punctured this shamanic
circle and danced together to the
DJ’s disco edits until 4am, when
he suddenly clasped our damp
shoulders and said: “Boys, take
me home.”
None of us remember the details
of that night in the club particularly
well, but we won’t forget the feeling
of tantalising joy it fostered. When
I asked my dad if I could write
about him, and that night, he said:
“I realised I was free – it had taken
me this long to feel OK in myself
for maybe the first time in my life.
When I was younger, we couldn’t
get into clubs because the doormen
were racist and we didn’t have
the self-confidence to challenge
them. I always wanted to know
what it would be like to be there
and dance. I’d heard that Ibiza was
the best place, but then we ended
up in Lisbon all those years later
– and how fun it was to just let go
together.Your mum would have
loved it.”
My dad’s dancing days have been
put on hold while he waits for a
hip replacement, but that summer
night is still the greatest dancefloor
experience I have ever had. In a
year of isolation, it taught me again
that there is no substitute for being
spontaneous together, that it is
those moments that make up a life
lived, and that it’s never too late to
dance with your parents – even if it
isn’t at an Ibiza closing party.

The Guardian
Thursday 19 August 2021
‘It was my
last night
alone on the
island …’
Heartbroken on holiday,
Morwenna Ferrier felt lost
– but perhapsthe handsome
I
stranger at hertable could
offer some excitement
t was high summer on the
talian island of rocida,
too hot but somehow still
green, and  was eating
dinner at a beachside cafe
that spilled on to the black
sand of the west-facing piaggia
di Ciraccio.
 wasn’t supposed to be here.
en days earlier, a long-building
romance with a screenwriter from
ilan had ended abruptly. t had
begun when our knees touched in
his car. ong emails full of agony
and promise followed, made all
REIRREF ANNEWROM DNA AILAK RAMMA YB DEDIVORP ;YMALA/SRETUER ;YTTEG :SHPARGOTOHP
An open-air
concert in
Ronda, Spain
•
the less real for jumping between
nglish and talian, but then
stopped.  short trip to aples to
try things in a new context was
cancelled.  was desperately sad,
but had already booked my flight to
taly and, as it happened, a friend
was staying on the island nearby.
o,  tagged along.
e were staying on the top floor
of a pink two-storey villa with
white balconies; it looked like a
cake.  slept in a bunk bed at the
back and, each morning, woken
by goats in our courtyard, we had
black coffee and quartered peaches.
 started to feel . hen, three
days in, my friend, too, decided
to leave. he had met a man,
this time from ome. e had a
motorbike. he showed me a photo
on her phone. hat evening, she
caught the ferry to the mainland
and two men moved into the flat
below mine.
 wasn’t surprised she had left;
 was terrible company and the
trip had already been a catalogue
of errors.  had left my makeup
bag in a cab. n aples,  paid €22
for a meal because the restaurant
charged by weight. n rocida,
we spent every evening on a red-
tiled rooftop cornered with yellow
broom flowers, talking to kind
people who didn’t want to hear the
screenwriter story more than twice.
e all drank hard and fast above
even on my own. he trips in my
20s had been more successful:
train-hopping along the talian
iviera’s Cinque erre; aples
(twice), enice, ome and
lorence. hen  turned 30 and
went to ilan, which landed me
here. ut it was my last night, so 
wanted to make the most of it.
 returned to my beachside cafe,
took the same table at the back
and ordered rabbit, two beers and
a limoncello. fterwards,  rolled
two cigarettes for something to
do. t was quite late, but the idea
of going back to the villa alone
Morwenna
Ferrier in Italy depressed me. nother drink. 
swim, perhaps.
Just then, a hand appeared at
my table, holding a lighter in the
colours of the tricolore.  turned
around to see one of the men from
the flat below. e was about my
the din of scooters, but  couldn’t age, slim and tanned, with either
get drunk.  felt too alone. green or blue eyes –  couldn’t tell.
fter my friend left,  spent my e hovered for a moment then
remaining two days swimming sat down. e told me he was from
around the two grey sea stacks that ome and where he was staying. 
split the beach, eating pizza and pretended  didn’t know.
rabbit, and removing the black sand  was surprised this was
that filled my shoes. hen  ran out unfolding.  still hadn’t replaced
of data on my phone. my lost makeup and had a patch
here is nothing wrong with of sunburn like a birthmark on my
being abroad, alone. or a long collarbone. till,  was buzzy from
stretch, whenever  felt a bit lost, the limoncello, so  let it happen.
 would go to taly by myself.  e talked for about 10 minutes,
spoke the language and knew the mostly in talian, and then he
landscape, so it felt like home, suggested we go back to the villa
3
for a drink. e pointed towards a
scooter parked outside.  agreed,
because that is what you are meant
to do, isn’t it?
n the back of the scooter, my
heart was pounding violently.
hen we got to the gates of the
villa,  climbed off and stepped
back.  had changed my mind; 
wanted to be alone.  told him 
needed to walk, making a gesture
with my finger about feeling dizzy,
but that  would drop in later. is
face fell, although not so much that
it looked crass. elieved at how
easy it was,  walked up the road in
the dark.
here was a walk  had read
about online, which takes you east,
over the crest of the island, through
alleys without pavements, past
orange trees and bougainvillea.
Just before the anta argherita
church, you can look down at the
pastel-coloured arina Corricella,
shaped like a smile and, at night,
lit up so well that it looks like a
screensaver.  had my second
cigarette here and began walking
back. t was about midnight, the
night mild and starry.
utside the villa,  saw his lights
were still on.  crept through the
courtyard, past the goats and went
upstairs – alone, but fine with that.
he next morning,  slipped out,
and walked to the port to wait for
my ferry back to aples.

4 The Guardian
‘It was the
first time
I’d felt truly
free’
Estranged from her
parents, at17Poppy Noor unfathomably
was remindedaboutthe
W
value of friendship by a row pubic
over aboy at a festival
hen I was 17,
there was a lot
I knew little
about. I didn’t of cartons, living off supermarket
know about
burning in the indeed get burnt.We would wake
sun or how to use euros; I had never up each day on little sleep (three of
swum in the ocean.
I was part of a big family and we tent), miraculously not hungover,
were poor. As my parents were out and start all over again.
of (legal) work, they couldn’t afford
to take the nine of us on holiday.
So, in the summer of 2008, when a few years older than us put his
I heard everyone at school talking
about a music festival in Spain, I
jumped at the chance to go. I had
“moved out” earlier that school year eyes. He flashed a cheeky smile that
– or rather I had become homeless
and estranged from my parents.
My life was full of revolving
doors, moving from one dingy
homeless hostel to the next. Rather into the arena, he lifted me on to
than enjoying being a teenager, I
•
had to be my own parent: I had to
pay rent (yes, even in homeless
hostels), cook meals and attend
parents’ evenings.
Now I could turn that indepen-
dence into my superpower: a
holiday I could go on unsupervised,
with no parents to chide me for
wearing too-short dresses, lecture
me about the value of money or
warn of the possibility of getting
pregnant simply by being near boys.
I spent the coming weeks
preparing, which meant doing
unkind things to
my body. I lay in compromising
positions while a woman tore off my
hair; I tweezed my stomach;
I skipped meals and ate only fruit,
worrying about what I would look
like in a bikini next to the flat-
stomached girls from school.
At the festival, Caris, Suzy and I
spent our days drinking sangria out
snacks and finding out that I could
us were crammed into a two-person
Near the end of our trip, we were
walking down the street when a guy
chair in the middle of the walkway.
“Sorry, you can’t pass,” he said,
freckles dancing under his green
laid bare a snaggle tooth. Cute, I
thought. Obviously, it wasn’t me he
was interested in.
A few hours later, as we went
his lanky shoulders. I was so full
of butterflies that my skin tingled.
When Kings of Leon cancelled due
to stormy winds, people started
throwing cups of urine in protest.
We ran to the showers to wash it off,
trying to catch the water that was
being blown by the wind in all the
wrong directions.
Eventually, it was time to go back
to the campsite, our new friend in
tow, but before I could address the
anxiety building in my stomach
over how to say no to sex, I was
confronted by Suzy standing at the
entrance of our shared tent. She
looked ready to make a deal.
“You’ve got 30 minutes,” she
said. It felt like we had barely
been inside for 10 minutes when
I saw her shadow again, hovering
Poppy Noor
(right) and
Suzy in Spain
Partying on a
beach in Turkey
outside the tent, hands on hips.
A screaming row followed.
“Why don’t you just piss off and
spend the rest of the weekend in a
tent with a bunch of guys you don’t
even know?” Suzy shot at me.
“Maybe you’d be able to do the
same if you weren’t so fucking
boring,” I shot back, before
storming off.
Suzy and I said horrible things to
each other, but I left the tent with
my boyfriend for the night, a little
high from the thrill of it all. This
was the first time I had felt truly
autonomous, desirable and free.
So, I pushed reality to the back of
my mind and let myself revel in
being young on a hot summer night
in Spain – and having the most
fun of my life.
The next morning, I returned
with trepidation, but Suzy was
there, waiting. We cried, apologised,
hugged and laughed at everything
that had happened. Although I don’t
miss the times when arguments
were raw and explosive, I can
look back and appreciate that our
friendship withstood these tests.
At the time, the argument was
the worst part of the evening. In
retrospect, I think it was one of the
best – not because I like drama,
but because it taught me that
relationships should be mostly
great, but that they will contain
awful moments, too. If you can get
over those, you are set for life.
After all the time I had spent that
year feeling sorry for myself over
the estrangement from my parents,
that night reminded me that I had
more than enough family.
Thursday 19 August 2021
‘They were
going to fire
me. I had
to quit’
Sirin Kalehated her job
and her private life was far
I
fromperfect – butshe had
no ideawhatto do about it.
Then afriend stepped in
t was July 2015. I hated
my job and was bad at it.
I was on a fitness kick,
sometimes cramming
in two sessions a day
around work, the exercise
a trapdoor from my persistent
unhappiness. I was as piteous as a
medieval martyr, but without good
cause – I had made all my bad life
decisions, after all. I was 26 years
old. I felt as if someone had put a
wheel lock on my life and my tyres
were grinding in reverse.
It all came to a head one evening
over red wine and cigarettes.
The day had started ordinarily
enough. It was a Friday. I woke at
dawn, took three trains into central
London, elbowing past women in
pencil skirts and running trainers.
My still-wet hair clung to my neck.
The air was humid and mildewy.
I walked into the office, where
I worked as a public affairs
consultant, advising companies
that didn’t pay corporation tax or
that invested in fossil fuels. Often,
when I was supposed to be taking
minutes during an interminable
meeting in a conference room, I
would have fantasies about a bomb
going off in our offices. My last
thought, before I exsanguinated
beneath the rubble, would usually
be: “It’s no great loss.”
I lingered over breakfast,
contemplated lunch and tabbed
between emails and online news.
I did no work, of course. I had once
been good at this job, but had
stopped caring – I couldn’t put
‘I wanted to
be a journalist,
but it seemed
an impossible
abstraction’
 •
The Guardian
Thursday 19 August 2021 5

my finger on when. I texted my

boyfriend and he didn’t respond,
although I could see he was online.
That afternoon, I had a
performance review. My manager
said things like “underperforming”, A woman takes
“lack of enthusiasm”, a break on a
“performance improvement plan” – hammock in
and “possible termination”. Lake Cișmigiu,
“o you really want to be here?” Bucharest
she asked. She was kinder than she
needed to be, but I got the gist.
The sensation of shame, as she
talked, is hard to explain. It felt like
walking through a thicket of nettles
in your underwear. Like waking
up in wringing-wet bed sheets.
Like a plume of blood in a school
swimming class.
I went home and called my
friends, who were sympathetic, but
didn’t have the nerve to tell it to
me straight. I called my boyfriend,
who was uninterested. Within a
month, I would break up with him,
although I didn’t know that.
That summer night had a
metallic quality. I sat on the
floor and dangled my legs over
EK NR DN RN PPP B DEDVRP ;P/URDNXE EERDN ;E/HFFR NEK/ZNED RU :HPRHP

the balcony. The evening air felt

like a cold hand pressed on my
forehead. My teeth were furred by
the iron-rich wine I was drinking.
My lips were stained. I felt like
a copper pan being scraped by
wire wool: flayed, mortified, raw.
I had no idea what to do. I knew
I wanted to be a journalist, but it
seemed an impossible abstraction,
like learning rdu or developing
a sense of direction.
I spoke to a friend and told

‘Shoe in
her everything. She was the
only person to tell me the truth. air burst from the vents in the In the , even our wild lurking in a cereal box or in my
“They’re going to fire you,” she ceiling and floor. I almost cried animals are the cute stuff of coffee mug, ready to send me to
said. “You should quit now.”
She was right, of course.
hand, I sat from the relief. Then it cut out – and
I couldn’t get it back on. Google,
children’s books – fluffy, charming,
innocuous. In Australia, they
work with a coronary.
It was then that the trees outside

When Monday dawned, I
handed in my notice. I spent those
last weeks being cut out of email
chains and shunned. My boss
gave a leaving speech that felt
so outrageously insincere that I
had the urge to laugh. My friends
there, good people, looked out for
me, stood with me on cigarette
breaks and stuffed my leaving
card with cash.
I walked out of that job on
naked by
calls to family and YouTube guides
didn’t help. It was still about 30C,
so although I wouldn’t be visiting
the freezer’ the land of nod any time soon, I
decided to retire to bed anyway.
Switching on the bedroom light,
I spotted a huntsman spider the
size of a dinner plate poised next
to my curtain. I stood starkers and
inert, feeling as if I had been doused
A terrifying encounter in liquid nitrogen and my shoes
with a not-so-incy-wincy had grown roots. After what felt
are the stuff of nightmares.
Twenty-one of the world’s 25 most
venomous snakes live there, along
with crocs, great white sharks,
giant bounding rodents (kangaroos)
and monstrous arachnids. A tiny
spider can murder you in your
garden; the creepiest thing you
will encounter in a ritish garden
is Alan Titchmarsh.
inally, I steadied myself and
took a closer look – it wasn’t a
began to reverberate with the
sound of a thousand maracas
shaking all at once – the cicadas,
a bit like crickets in the same way
that Mufasa is a bit like your house
cat, had just found their summer
voices. Moments later, a coterie of
squabbling possums assembled on
the roof like warring lawnmowers.
I decided to turn on every light in
the house to avoid being ambushed.
I was nude – all the blinds and

a summer evening much like
the one I am writing on now.
The wheel lock is gone and I am
spinning pointlessly no more.
I
spider inAustralia left
Danny Lavelle longing
for cold, wet Manchester
n 2014, I returned to
my place of birth in
Melbourne, Australia, to
visit family. The 32-hour
slog to the other side of the ‘The stuff of
globe was uncomfortable, nightmares’
but it was nothing compared with
what awaited me on the ground.
One night, the uncle with whom
I was staying went to Tasmania to
visit friends. Suddenly, his place
transformed into a horror house. It
was about 9pm, the sun was leaving
the horizon and the lawn, which
had been baked into straw, was
getting a much-needed reprieve.
Sweat had welded my polyester
shirt so tightly to my back that it
almost took my spine with it when
I finally managed to peel it off.
I staggered to the air-
conditioning panel and turned it
to its coolest setting. Loving cold
like hours, I found enough courage
to throw one of my shoes at it.
I missed. I threw my other shoe.
Missed again.
huntsman after all, but the skin
one had left behind. elief! ntil
I realised this meant it must still
be scurrying around the gaff,
curtains were undrawn and my
neighbours were still milling
around in their air-conditioned,
huntsman-free dwellings – but
I didn’t dare close the blinds for
fear of close encounters of the
eight-legged kind; I didn’t retrieve
any clothes for the same reason.
Instead, I sat on the kitchen floor
with my back pressed against
the open freezer, shoe in hand,
prepared for the worst.
I had never felt further from
home as I waited until the early
hours, when bleary eyes, a sore
bum and a cold back convinced
me, finally, to head to bed.
Australia is a beautiful country.
The trunks of the luscious
eucalyptus trees are as smooth as
suede, gorgeous white shores look
on crystal-blue horizons and the
whole place looks polished. ut it is
hot. loody hot. And full of malice.
I fled from Oz soon after and traded
a red-hot summer for a freezing,
damp, spider-free Manchester
winter. I had never been happier.
 Hot
•
6 The Guardian
summer
nights!
‘I realised
I was just a
tiny part of
something
M y dad had
a pal called
George who
had a boat.
It was a
sailing boat
but not a very big one – 25ft long.
I don’t think you could call it
a yacht; it didn’t seem very …
yachty. I’m trying to downplay its
bigger’ yachtiness, and how privileged
my childhood was, but it’s
hopeless. I was on a bloody
yachting holiday, OK?
Anyway, despite his boat’s
modest size, George was quite
adventurous once aboard. One
summer, he invited my dad to
Late at night on the Irish help him sail it from the west coast
of Scotland (I’m thinking maybe
Sea, with shooting stars Oban) down to the south coast of
above, Sam Wollaston England. I was 15 or 16 at the time
had a teenage epiphany and my dad took me – grumpily,
adolescently – along for the ride.
– while his father snored George and my dad were old
below deck and annoying, obviously, but
other things were OK. I read, and
dreamed, and there might have
been a Sony Walkman. We saw
puffins and basking sharks, it was
sunny, I got a tan (burned), plus I
had a bottle of something called
Sun In that gradually turned my
hair an unpleasant yellow.
Sometimes we sailed
through the night and I took a
shift, a “watch”, as we say at sea.
It was the 1980s and children
were put to work; health and safety
– like factor 50 sun cream – had yet
to be invented.
I remember one particular
night. I must have had the middle
watch, from midnight to four,
because it was dark. I was at
the tiller, alone, except for the
two old snoring dudes asleep
downstairs. But I could forget
about them: it felt as if I was in
charge. There was a little wind:
just enough to be going places,
heading south through the Irish
Sea. It was a little bit scary but
also magical.
Phosphorescence of the sea
is a phenomenon that comes
from the luminous, sparkly glow
emanating from millions of tiny
marine organisms. They emit
light when the water they are in is
disturbed, churned up by a boat
passing through, for example.
There was phosphorescence in
the sea that night, so that we – I
– seemed to be sailing along the
Milky Way. Then, above us was
another sparkling path, the actual
Milky Way; stars like you only see
at sea, or possibly in the middle
of a desert. Shooting stars, too,
like fireworks fired down from the
heaven, most probably by God.
Whoa! Steady on: let’s not
get carried away. But it was
definitely a moment: a teenage
epiphany that I was just a tiny
part of something much bigger,
and possibly more important. I
Thursday 19 August 2021
Phosphorescence
in the Maldives
could even add to the firmament
myself, by lighting up a sneaky
Marlboro. Now I really was a
grownup. Actually, I was still
learning, but here was a good
place to practise because the
wind blew the smoke and my
spluttering away, and kept my
new-found hobby, which I would
work hard at for the next 20 years,
a secret from my dad.
I have to admit, the idea of
spending two weeks of my summer
with my dad and George hadn’t
exactly filled me with joy. Why
couldn’t we go to Spain, like
normal people, to the beach, to a
waterpark? But you know what?
It wasn’t so bad. I didn’t do much
sailing for many years. Until
recently. Now I have a friend with
a boat a bit bigger than George’s. It’s
probably a yacht. Sometimes my
friend asks me along, sometimes
I get to take my family. We’re going
next week – to Oban, as it happens.

The Guardian
Thursday 19 August 2021
‘In the
insomnia of
the Sahara,
I faced my
demons’
A trek into the Sahara
and thefeel of sand
between her toes helped
I
Remona Aly get to
grips with her feelings of
impostor syndrome
t was a never-ending,
sleepless night in the
ahara that gave me
the space  needed
to reassess one of my
biggest anxieties.
 was in my 20s when a friend
and  settled on a trip to orocco
in the height of summer in 2007.
 was desperate for a break from
the stresses of a job where  was
in over my head.
n addition to a week in touristy
arrakech, we threw in a wildcard
with a cheap night in the desert. We
set off in a rickety old minivan that
felt like it was held together with
string and sticky tape. t was 34
and there was no air-conditioning.
fter hours of splashing our
pulse points with water to keep
cool, we finally reached the edge of
‘I’d hear
footsteps
and think
of axe
murderers’
TSUOAD LIHP ;YLA ANOMER FO YSETRUOC ;YRARBIL ERUTCIP ERUTAN/ENIRREP GUOD :SHPARGOTOHP
In the seclusion of France’s
Vosges mountains,
E
Phil Daoust was easily
spooked – until he spent
a nightoutdoors
ighteen-and-a-bit
years ago, pushing
40, tired of ngland
and keen to spend
more time with my
daughter, who was
growing up in rance,  packed in
my job, left ondon and moved to
the Vosges mountains in the east of
the country. t was an idyllic spot:
a little stark, vaguely unkempt, full
of dark forests, crystalline lakes
and gnarled locals with chainsaws
in their sheds and bulldozers in
•
the desert, where our next mounts
were a couple of fragrant camels.
We passed a wall painted with
the words “52 days to imbuktu”,
but thankfully our caravan lasted
just two hours – which was more
than enough swaying, sweating
and sliding on our saddles – before
our tent came into view.
he sun lowered over us,
disappearing like a lover into
the night, but the lonely desert
held on to the warmth it left
behind. t was time to pray. y
their gardens. When they weren’t
turning trees into firewood,
they were digging out ponds – or
possibly graves. n the second
world war, they told me, there had
been a murder near my home; the
killer had buried his victim in a
cabbage patch. ut  digress.
ome was a draughty stone
shack a couple of miles from the
nearest village, down a dirt track
flanked by spruces and silver birch.
y nearest neighbour was a three-
minute walk away, and when the
birches were in leaf you couldn’t
see another house. ndoors,  was
plagued by dormice, and a shrew Phil Daoust
once dropped from the bedroom
ceiling. utside, there were red
squirrels, buzzards and small
animals that ran and squeaked
in the undergrowth all day long.
ometimes  would open my front
door to find a doe and her fawns
cropping the lawn.  fell hard and
fast for the Vosges.
rom dawn to dusk,  was
happy as a pig in muck.  spent
most of that summer reading in a
deckchair under a favourite spruce, anywhere you shone a torch, eyes
sheltering from the sun. ights
were more complicated. nless
the moon was up, they were dark,
dark, dark, although you might just be a noisy, spooky place. t takes
glimpse a bat flittering against the while to work out what is making
ilky Way.  learned to recognise
a few constellations, and to tell a can ignore them.  would hear
friend and  made our ablutions
economically, using a small bottle
of water.We faced ecca amid the
sand dunes, beginning to feel the
embrace of tranquillity.
fter a feast of chicken couscous,
which had a conflict of interest with
one of our party, our erber hosts
reclined beneath the star-flecked
sky, speaking to each other in their
native tongue and to us in rench.
hey suggested  sink my foot deep
into the sand to feel “la chaleur”.
s  pushed my foot into the grains,
in the Vosges
planet from a star. n the woods
that surrounded the house, deer
would bark at each other into
the wee small hours, setting off
farmers’ dogs. ccasionally you
would hear the clash of antlers, and
would flash back at you.
f you have spent most of your
life in the city, the countryside can
those noises, or to accept that you
Remona in
the Sahara
folding its hidden heat around
my skin, a weird but welcome
feeling came over me that made
sense only later that night.
 slept all of 40 minutes before
 was woken by the barks of wild
dogs in the distance and, closer in,
the retching of the poor guy whose
dinner had disagreed with him.
Quiet came again. ut  couldn’t
sleep. y brain whirred with all the
random and existential thoughts
that go through your mind at night.
oes the human body really need
rustling in the bushes or footsteps
in the lane and think of axe
murderers and escaped lunatics.
ationally,  knew  was at least
as safe as  would have been in
town. ut  would still find myself
channelling herlock olmes’s
take on the countryside: “ou
look at these scattered houses,
and you are impressed by their
beauty.  look at them, and the
only thought which comes to me
is a feeling of their isolation and
of the impunity with which crime
7
so much sleep? o our souls weigh
21g? re pickled onion onster
unch better than pace aiders?
When will my colleagues realise
 am a total fake?
he previous year,  had landed
the role of deputy editor at a uslim
lifestyle magazine, despite having
zero experience in print media. he
editor saw something in me that 
didn’t see in myself.  started the job
in a blur of excitement and nerves.
ut, at every planning meeting, 
hated how the doubts crept in.
ut here, in the insomnia of
a hot desert night,  faced my
demon.  had never said it out
loud to myself before. mpostor.
 contemplated that moment
of sinking my foot in the sand.
t was as if  was burying and
also unearthing a revelation.
urrounded by the wide open
silence, sand and stillness, it was
almost Qur’anic: a realisation of all
the barriers  had built for myself –
and how  was to get through them.
 still struggle with confidence,
thinking  am not good, clever or
talented enough, often unable to
shake that fraudulent feeling. ut
that desert night was an “ha!”
moment to which  still go back, to
turn doubt into a bridge, a stepping
stone, not a stick to beat myself
with or a weight to pull me down.
oubt is perfectly reasonable, and
entirely human, and best serves me
when it is followed by possibility
and belief. t is going from saying:
“an  do this?” to knowing not
only that  can, but that  just did.
s the dawn began to summon
the return of the sun,  was the first
at a breakfast table laden with mint
tea, bread and honey.  smiled:
finally,  had my breakthrough.
may be committed there.”
nce indoors,  could never
decide whether to close the
shutters and make the place more
secure, or leave them open so
’d have some warning if someone
was lurking outside. n the other
hand, that would mean that
anyone who passed by would
know  was alone …
 put a baseball bat by the
door, without seriously –  think –
expecting to need it.
hen, one sweltering night, that
fear just went away.  had decided
to remain outdoors, watching the
shooting stars and making the most
of what little breeze there was. s
one glass of ôte du hône turned
into seven or eight,  stopped being
spooked by the snapping twigs
and rustling leaves. “robably
just a boar or a badger,”  would
tell myself, reaching for the bottle
again. uring 10 years in rance,
 saw precisely one of each.
 finally turned in well after
midnight – and woke to discover
that, for the first time in my life,
 hadn’t locked the front door.
nyone could have just turned the
handle and walked in. Without
even realising it,  had finally
accepted  was not going to be
murdered in my bed. here was
nothing to be afraid of. xcept for
red wine hangovers.
 Hot
•
8 The Guardian

summer
Thursday 19 August 2021

nights!
‘At 2am my ‘I was lost. It feel a little academic – I wasn’t
connecting to the person I had

youngest was so hot. talked about on the page. I realised

it wasn’t just the content of the

I panicked.
book I had needed to process, but
woke, where I was in my life.
On the fourth night of the trip,

screaming What am I sitting on my balcony in the

scratchy hotel bathrobe, I had a
moment of stillness. My legs ached

for his mum’ doing here?’
A camping tripwiththe Ona solo hiking holiday
children seemed to be a in theCanary Islands,
Eleanor Morgan was in heaven.
from the hike I had done that day,
but my mind felt clear – finally.
The air on hot holiday nights is so
delicious, isn’t it? Thick, sweet and
other. It was particularly welcome
that night, having been ripped open
by emotion earlier in the day on the
side of a mountain.
Until that day, I had been in

M A
good idea in bad times, I woke early and roughly
writes Stuart Heritage. heaven.Until one day her mapped my hiking routes, armed
But then night fell past came backto haunt her with a bulging rucksack of stolen
breakfast buffet items. I walked
along the coast, all dark craggy rock
y youngest son fter watching Pedro and frothing ocean. Sometimes,
is almost four, Almodóvar’s Broken I passed through tiny white brick
so the sleep- Embraces, which villages that felt incongruous in the
deprived agony draws heavily on the drama of their surroundings. My
of newborn volcanic landscape forehead singed in the dry heat and
parenting has of Lanzarote, I was my eyebrows went blond.
fully receded. My sleep is no longer Stuart Heritage determined to visit. A Google I would stop to eat and think.
jittery and surface-level, primed to and kids celebrate
getting through image search of the island made But nothing was sticking. There
be wrecked by the tiniest the night my head fizz: black sand beaches, was too much to look at: baroque
disturbance. When I sleep now, alien-green ponds, mountains, succulents, weird insects, huge ram
I expect to sleep. great pyramids of ochre dirt and skulls that made me wonder about
Then last month, like a dummy, dead lava. In the summer of 2016, the animal’s story. How did it die?
I took my kids camping. True, I did I finally booked a solo hiking trip Did anyone witness it? I fell asleep
everything to maximise the amount running on fumes for as long as “No, we won’t!” he cried. there to mark the completion of before 9pm each night, exhausted,
of sleep I’d get. I booked a slightly I can remember. “Yes, we will. The sun will come my first book, Anxiety for sunburnt and full of papas
upmarket campsite, complete with So the camping trip ultimately up and then we’ll go home and Beginners. It was breathtaking, arrugadas – the Canarian dish of
actual beds, and did some sums. served two purposes. The first was see her.” in all kinds of ways. wrinkly unpeeled potatoes boiled
The sun went down late and came to let the kids run around outside “The sun won’t come up! We In the excitement of having in salty water until a crust forms.
up early, so my sons would wake up for a weekend, the second was to won’t see her!” written a book, the difficult On that fourth day, I had woken
at the crack of dawn. But if I drifted give my wife some peace. If it wasn’t His older brother reached over the experiences I had reflected upon up feeling queasy – a feeling that,
off when they did, and everything for the agoraphobia, we would have darkness and hugged him, sleepily in my childhood and teen years in recent years, I have come to
worked out perfectly, I could just sent her somewhere nice for a murmuring, “It’s going to be OK.” (a near-fatal illness and quite a understand as part of my body’s
about cram in six hours. couple of nights. Instead, a plan was “No it WON’T!” came the reply. difficult home life) had begun to reaction to holding emotion.
Everything did not work out hatched. She would stay at home The poor kid had convinced
perfectly. At 2am on our last night, and have two days of uninterrupted himself that the night would last for
my youngest woke up in floods of quiet, and we would set off on ever, that he’d never see sunshine
tears. He wanted his mum. I couldn’t an adventure. again. I knew the feeling.
blame him. We all wanted his mum. And it worked. For a day and a In the end, I crawled into their
This hasn’t exactly been a half, the trip went without a hitch. bed and held him. Slowly, after
vintage period for anyone, but my The three of us chased one another what felt like half the night had
wife has had an especially rough around fields and visited zoos, passed, his screaming turned into
ride. She was already suffering nobody wet themselves and sobs. The sobs turned into
from poor mental health when everything was great. But then, murmurs. And as his brother
her mother died of Covid in a care on our final night, the three-year- cuddled him from the other side,
home 100 miles away, three weeks old woke up and started crying. the murmurs finally turned into
into lockdown. Like so many Inconsolable, violent tears that sleep. We all passed out as one,
others who lost loved ones this couldn’t be stopped. It was a clinging to each other for dear life.
way, she found it impossible to newborn tantrum, with the added Approximately 35 seconds later,
find closure to her grief in all the bonus that he could now verbalise the sun screamed back into the air
fog of uncertainty. Additionally, his anguish. and everyone woke up again.
lockdown itself caused her “I want mummy!” he screamed. I took a picture as soon as we
agoraphobia – which had left her “We’ll see her tomorrow,” were awake, and it is not
housebound for much of her 20s – I whispered. particularly flattering. We are all
to roar back with a vengeance. To red-eyed and exhausted, and my
put it bluntly, it was a breakdown. face looks like it’s been pummelled
She couldn’t leave the house. Some with a hoof. But I haven’t deleted it
days she couldn’t leave her bed. because it means something. It’s
She was unable to work and started proof that we got through the night.
to speak darkly about finding And if we can get through that, we
inpatient care to prevent her from can get through anything.
acting upon her worst impulses. My wife didn’t have the best
It’s a challenge to keep a young weekend, either. Without anyone
family running under these around, she found it difficult to get
circumstances. Ensuring that the rest she craved. Maybe a break
the logistics of the house – the wasn’t what we needed. Maybe we
shopping, the laundry, the school need to start taking it slowly,
run, the income – continued, together, as a family. She’s doing El Lago
while keeping the children After the better, by the way, but it’s a long Verde on
happy and engaged, aware crying road back. Lanzarote
of the broader situation We’ll get there. For starters,
without being overwhelmed was over we’re going camping again before
by it, took it out of everyone. the summer ends. This time, she
As a family, we have been wants to come.
 •
The Guardian
Thursday 19 August 2021 9

Eleanor
Morgan on what had happened. I bought two
Lanzarote KitKats from the vending machine
and slept for hours. It was, in
hindsight, a volcanic eruption of
my own. The swell of feeling that
had hit me on the side of that
mountain, of aloneness and being
emotionally un-met, chimed with
how I had been feeling for quite a
long time, including in my long-
term relationship.
Perhaps it was something in the
landscape that brought me to that
evening of realisations. I have long
been drawn to desolate spaces: the
California desert, the eerie plains
of shingle beach in Dungeness,
Anxiety often “comes out” as even rural car parks. There is
physical pain or discomfort. Mine something about such expanses
is always in the gut. that invites introspection –
I had planned a mountainous particularly in summer. The
route towards El Lago Verde, a lake movement of your body through
in front of the ocean that glows such open space, with no company
a vivid green due to the volcanic but your own thoughts, can help
minerals in the water. Within an dissonance give way to clarity.
hour, I was lost. Surrounded by I vowed to examine my
nothing but mountain and rubble, relationship more closely back in
the only sound was my breath. London; namely, whether it was
It was hot, so hot, and I panicked. making me happy. In the end,
Then I started crying. My thoughts the relationship ended in a way
raced: what the hell am I doing I deeply regret – I wasn’t brave.
here? This is madness. What the I behaved destructively and it took
hell am I doing, full stop? I vomited, a long time for pain and guilt to
then sat down, realising I was give way to a comfort in living
having a panic attack. On the side alone for the first time as an adult.
of that hazy mountain, my body But the confronting heat, landscape
shouted louder than ever before: and isolation of that holiday were
listen to me. pivotal for me.
Vignettes of where this anxiety On my balcony that night,
had begun, and begun again a looking out at the blinking lights of
thousand times over, flooded my those tiny villages on the horizon,
mind. I cried harder than I can ever I knew that I needed to confront
Y :
paused briefly to enjoy this
moment before returning to my
reading.
So engrossed was I in my book
that I didn’t notice the colour my
skin was turning. The full horror of
the redness didn’t become apparent
until evening. We lay awake all
night, his toe throbbing and most
of my body on fire. This was the
second-worst hot night of my life.
On a bus journey south to
Sydney, I felt increasingly sick,
as well as being, to all intents
and purposes, on fire. I was also
developing strange little spots all
over me. This, a doctor told me in
Sydney, was one of the worst cases
of chickenpox he had ever come
across. Thousands of the things,
perhaps hundreds of thousands,
bullied their way up through
my flame-grilled skin in a
dermatological double-whammy
for the ages.
The ensuing dozen sweltering
summer nights in a tiny flat on
Blues Point Road in North Sydney
were the joint worst of my life. In
the punishing heat, I swear the only
thing keeping me from expiring
entirely was the very torment of
those innumerable spots.
Suspended miserably in an ecstasy
of itchy soreness, sleep was quite
impossible. One night, I found
some relief by lying in a cold bath.
Adrian Chiles On subsequent nights, I didn’t
with his brother bother with the bed at all; I just
before the spots went straight for the bath.
took over By day, I became a minor tourist
attraction as my brother brought

remember crying. The whole thing some big stuff. Not just how I was various friends and acquaintances
felt like a waking dream, too absurd feeling in my home, but how to to marvel at the stupendously
to be real. communicate with my body. I have awful state of my body. There was
It was only back at the hotel that been trying, ever since, to listen something oddly gratifying about
evening that I was able to process more closely to what it is saying. their gasps of horror. My nights

‘The doctor
were spent in the bath. I finally
seconds upon being switched finished Sword of Honour lying in
on, before dying. tepid water in the barmy heat of

said it was The heat in this oven they the early hours of a Sydney
called home was simply appalling. summer’s morning.

the worst
I slept not at all. But this was only Eventually, the sores ravaging
the third-most terrible night of my body burst, either of their own
my life; the second-worst and the volition or from the scratching,

chickenpox
very worst were still a couple of which at times was impossible to
weeks away. resist. Once the scars on my face
We travelled by bus up to began to subside, and I judged
he’d seen’ Queensland, where we ended up
in Coolangatta on the Gold Coast.
While my brother made a clown
I could board a plane without
causing a stampede for the exits,
it was time to fly home. My only
of himself attempting to surf, I lay evening out in Sydney was the
on the beach reading a book, having night before my flight. We spent
inexplicably ignored his entreaties it in a bar around the corner,
In Australia, friends to put on some sun block. I was drinking very cold beer and
came to marvel at reading the Sword of Honour playing pool. Some time after
Adrian Chiles’s burned up only once as my brother walked midnight,
trilogy by Evelyn Waugh. I looked a couple of women
we had got talking to suggested

T
and blistered body.But
surely nothing could go
wrong with anice cool dip surfing
he hottest summer
nights of my life were
in Australia around
the Christmas of
1988. My brother
was on a gap year
with a mate, working in a factory in
Dandenong, a suburb of Melbourne.
They were living in a tiny, scruffy
caravan in an overgrown field
when I went to visit. It had come
with air-conditioning, they
explained, but on their first night
it shook violently for a few
past cursing. Marching back to the cooling off by skinny-dipping.
board hire place, having abandoned This sounded to me like a capital
very quickly, he had tripped idea. It looked as if my not entirely
over the leash and broken his toe. I pleasurable time in the city might,
after all I had been through,
end gloriously.
I’ll never forget the howl of
horror one of those women let out
as we waded in. The other one said:
“What? Shark?”
The screamer said: “No! Him!”
pointing in revulsion at my naked
form, a thousand scars somehow
more vivid and macabre when lit
by the moon. The women made
their excuses and left. I lay back
in the shallows and smiled in
resignation at the night sky. It made
a nice change from the bath.
 TV and radio
•
10 The Guardian
Thursday 19 August 2021

Joe Lycett’sGot Your Back

8pm, Channel 4

‘A flamingo’s fever
dream’ … Laurence
Llewelyn-Bowen
and Anna
Richardson

Forget the Watchdog team, comic Joe

Lycett has fast-established himself as the
best person to go to with our consumer
queries and commercial woes over the
past two seasons of his playful show,
taking corporations to task at our behest.
In this opening episode of a new season,
Lycett is joined by guest AJ Odudu and
Review ChangingRooms, called Anna Richardson (albeit the one from Naked
Attraction), and Laurence LB is back to give us the full trusty sidekick Mark Silcoxas he
Channel 4 nostalgia rush. Or it may be the glue-gun fumes. Who’s
to say? addresses the tabloid furore he caused
The other designers are Jordan Cluroe and Russell when “storming off”Channel 4’s Steph’s
Packed Lunch, in order to raise awareness
Spray paint, MDF
Whitehead, dull foils to LLB’s wit and charisma
(which has become more genuine with age), and 2021’s around plastic waste and recycling.
Handy Andy is Tibby Singh. The makeovers – I have

and ‘customised’ looked ahead – remain uniformly dreadful. In some

ways, this is comforting. LLB’s efforts in a Swansea
Ammar Kalia

art – some things

sitting room result in what looks like a flamingo’s fever
dream (not in a good way) and the bedroom a few Nick Knowles’ Big challenge. The stamp
doors down, done by Jordan and Russell, contains the House Clearout duty holiday had

never change
most viscerally horrible piece of homemade “art” I 8pm, Channel 5 business booming, so
have ever seen. It’s a – no, I can’t even type it. You will, No stranger to a home why is it proving so hard
I’m afraid, have to watch. And see it again every time makeover, DIY maestro to recruit the necessary
you close your eyes thereafter. No more peace for you. Nick Knowles fronts this new staff? MD Mark
By the end of episode two, your Changing Rooms new series challenging Taylor goes undercover
★☆☆☆☆ bingo card will be full to overflowing. There are room families of hoarders to at work to find out.

Lucy Man
dividers, MDF panelling and feature walls. There is declutter their homes Ellen E Jones
“colour!” being used to create “zones!” There is pink before redesigning their
used in a room whose owner hates pink. There is spray- unloved spaces. Up first I Am Maria

I
painting, “customising” (making plain, acceptable is a family of four in 9pm, Channel 4
things into ornate, crappy things), gold leaf, and sticking Marlow, whose house is The final instalment in
flooring to walls in the name of innovation. I could go filled to the rafters with writer Dominic Savage’s
on, but I care about you. mum Vicky’s crafting trilogy of female-led
For those not old enough for nostalgia, or who makes and supplies. AK dramas sees Leslie
remember the time Linda Barker put up simply long to see things done competently by Manville playing Maria,
shelves to house a woman’s beloved teapot competent people instead of shows tossed together by Ambulance a woman celebrating
collection and they collapsed overnight, and using people whose greatest talent is making a 9pm, BBC One her 60th birthday and
shattering every piece of china and the small piece of luck fill a hogshead of career, it’s hard to In the depths of Covid’s reexamining her
woman’s heart into a thousand pieces. see the appeal of an unchanged Changing Rooms. Not And second wave, this episode suffocating marriage to
I remember Anna Ryder Richardson framing only has design moved on but the bar has been raised. another follows ambulance crews husband John (Michael
unmistakably French underwear to decorate the walls We have Etsy, Pinterest, Instagram and a thousand thing in the north-west as they Gould). We follow her
of a revamped room and the owner shouting: “Why other displays of “ordinary” people’s creations – filled face a dire situation. decision to now prioritise
would I want this shit in my room! I’ve got children!” with beauty, idiosyncracy, style, innovation and far All hospitals are near her own happiness. AK
However. Those few minutes represent the full yield better ideas than stacking dado rails up a wall and Life is currently capacity and 20% of
of genuine entertainment provided by 17 series of the calling it a feature. It just won’t do any more – will it? nothing more staff are absent, but The Story of Late Night
makeover show Changing Rooms, which dominated the On the other hand, Changing Rooms does rather fit than a wait for the remaining crew do 9pm, Sky
airwaves (a concept I’ll have to explain later, O infant in with our post-fact world. It is, after all, nothing but season nine of everything they can. Documentaries
roamers of the fragmented contemporary TV landscape) fictions that people choose to accept partly because Brooklyn Nine- There’s brutal pressure The US culture of rival
from 1996 to 2004. It was presented by Carol Smillie, the alternative (rudeness! To celebrities! In public!) is Nine (starring as 150 high-priority calls late-night talkshows is so
who was tall and beautiful and owned all of Scotland’s worse and because they come too thick and fast to bat Andy Samberg, an hour bombard the insular that the UK has
teeth. Two sets of friends are allowed to redecorate a away. No, MDF panels painted grey do not look like above) to make amazing team. missed out on a decades-
room in the other’s house with the help of designers concrete. No, a mid-ceiling mural does not make the it to the UK. Hannah Verdier long saga of banter,
such as the aforementioned Barker, Ryder Richardson room look bigger by “drawing your eye away from the Come on, Jake! boundary-pushing and
and – above all – Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, along with edges”. There is no such thing as “customised coach This is not Undercover Big Boss backstabbing. With the
“Handy Andy”, who led the carpenters, painters etc who screws” and the swing seat they are holding is neither noice! 9pm, ITV help of suitably chatty
did the actual work required to transfer the stupidity in use nor ornament in the middle of a tiny sitting room. Pickfords, Britain’s largest talking heads, this new
their heads into three-dimensional stupidity that could I can say this because the cameras aren’t in my face. and oldest removal six-parter charts the
be spray-painted and used to sit/sleep/cry on. And because all my internal dams were broken by the company, has been evolution of the genre,
Now it is back. On Channel 4 rather than BBC Two, sight of a hair wall. IT WAS A HAIR WALL. Jordan and trading since the from Johnny Carson to
but in all other respects Changing Rooms is unchanged. Russell’s thing was a wall of hair and it made me want Napoleonic wars, but the James Corden.
Two rooms, no budget, the new presenter is even to die. Be careful out there. pandemic presents a new Graeme Virtue
 •
The Guardian
Thursday 19 August 2021 11

BBC One BBC Two ITV Channel 4 Channel 5 BBC Four

6.0 Breakfast (T) 9.15 Animal
Park (T) 10.0 Homes Under
the Hammer (T) (R) 11.0
Wanted Down Under
Revisited (T) (R) 11.45 Caught
Red Handed (T) 12.15 Bargain
Hunt (T) (R) 1.0 News (T)
1.30 Regional News (T)
1.45 The Coroner (T) (R)
2.30 Impossible (T) (R) 3.15
Greatest Escapes to the
Country (T) (R) 3.45 Saved
and Remade (T) 4.30 Bidding
Room (T) 5.15 Pointless
(T) (R) 6.0 News (T) 6.30
Regional News (T) 7.0 Rip Off
Britain (T) 7.35 EastEnders
(T) Ash and Vinny get a call.
6.0 A Matter of Life and Debt
(R) 6.30 Animal Park (R)
7.15 The Bidding Room (R)
8.0 Gardeners’ World (R)
9.0 News at 9 10.0 News
1.0 Letterbox (R) 1.30
Eggheads (R) 2.0 The House
That £100K Built (R) 3.0
Make Me a Dealer (T) (R)
3.45 Rick Stein’s Seafood
Odyssey (T) (R) 4.15 Natural
World: Ghost Bear Family
(T) (R) 5.15 Flog It! (T) (R)
6.0 Richard Osman’s House
of Games (T) (R) 6.30 The
Farmers’ Country Showdown
(T) (R) 7.0 Celebrity Antiques
Road Trip (T) (R)
6.0 Good Morning Britain (T)
9.0 Lorraine (T) 10.0 This
Morning (T) 12.30 Loose
Women (T) 1.0 News (T)
1.20 Local News (T) 1.30 ITV
Racing: Live from York (T)
Day two of the Ebor festival,
including the 3.35 Yorkshire
Oaks and races at 1.50, 2.25
and 3pm.4.0 Tipping Point
(T) (R) 5.0 The Chase (T)
(R) 6.0 Local News (T) 6.30
News (T) 7.0 Emmerdale (T)
7.30Tonight: Air Pollution –
What You Need to Know (T)
Joe Crowley looks at what
is being done to tackle the
problem of UK air pollution.
6.0 Countdown (T) (R) 6.40
Mike & Molly (T) (R) Double
bill. 7.25 Everybody Loves
Raymond (T) (R) Triple bill.
8.40 Frasier (T) (R) Double
bill. 9.40 Big Bang Theory
(T) (R) Triple bill. 11.05
Simpsons (T) (R) Double bill.
12.05 News (T) 12.10 Junior
Bake Off (T) (R) 1.10 A New
Life in the Sun: Road Trip (T)
(R) 2.10 Countdown (T) 3.0
Find It, Fix It, Flog It (T) (R)
4.0 A Place in the Sun (T)
(R) 5.0 CDWM Paralympics
Special (T) 5.30 Simpsons
(T) (R) Double bill. 6.30
Hollyoaks (T) (R) 7.0 News (T)
6.0 Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy Vine
(T) 11.15 Room to Improve
(T) (R) 12.15 News (T) 12.20
Ben Fogle: New Lives in the
Wild (T) (R) 1.15 Home and
Away (T) 1.45 Neighbours (T)
2.15 Deadly Daughter
(Tom Shell, 2020) (T) 4.0
Bargain-Loving Brits in the
Sun (T) (R) 5.0 News (T)
5.30 Neighbours (T) (R) 7.0 BBC Proms 2021 (T)
6.0 Home and Away (T) (R) Six of the UK’s finest
6.30 News (T) 7.0 Secrets opera singers take to the
of Your Supermarket Food stage of the Royal Albert
(T) (R) (3/5) Revealing the Hall with Ben Glassberg
truth about the fruit and and the BBC Philharmonic
vegetables bought in British to offer up a gala concert
supermarkets. packed with favourites.

8.0 Shop Well for Less? (T)
Melanie Sykes and Joanna
Page travel to North Yorks
to meet a couple whose
spending has got out of
hand, stopping them getting
on to the property ladder.
9.0 Ambulance (T) The unit
struggles to cope, with
20% of staff unavailable
to work due to Covid-19.
10.0 News (T)
10.25 Regional News (T) Weather
10.35 The Rap Game UK (T)
Krept, Konan and DJ Target
challenge the artists to write
a track about determination.
11.35 Take Off With Bradley &
Holly (T) (R) (4/4) Holiday
gameshow. This episode’s
destination is South Africa.
12.30 Weather (T) 12.35 News (T)
8.0 Yorkshire Firefighters
(T) Rookie Lauren finishes
her tough training. Last
in the series.
9.0 The Watch (T) (3/8) The
team must attempt to find
the Gawain before Carcer.
9.45 The Watch (T) (4/8) Carcer
is willing to do anything to
find the sword, and the team
are close on his tail.
10.30 Newsnight (T) Weather
11.15 Golf: Women’s Open
Highlights (T) Eilidh Barbour
presents highlights from
the opening day of the
fifth major of the year.
12.15 Sign Zone Murder,
Mystery and My Family:
Case Closed? (T) (R) 1.0
Wanted: A Simple Life (T)
(R) 1.45 This Is BBC Two (T)
8.0 Emmerdale (T) Noah
makes an admission to
Sarah. Leyla is worried.
8.30 A Year in the Beacons (T)
(4/4) Summer arrives and the
mountain rescue team are
inundated with callouts.
9.0 Undercover Big Boss (T)
Mark Taylor, managing
director of Pickfords,
goes undercover.
10.0 News (T)
10.30 Local News (T)
10.45 Long LostFamily
(T) (R) With Davina McCall
and Nicky Campbell.
11.45 Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire? (T) (R)
12.40 Shop: Ideal World 3.15 Martin
& Roman’s Weekend Best!
(R) 4.05 Nightscreen 5.05
Tipping Point (T) (R)
8.0 Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back
(T) New series. The host is
joined by AJ Odudu, who
shares her tips on how to
be a good complainer.
9.0 I Am Maria (T) (3/3) Writer-
director Dominic Savage’s
drama about a 60-year-old
woman at a crossroads in
her life. Lesley Manville and
Michael Gould star.
10.0 Gogglebox: Celebrity
Special for SU2C (T) (R)
11.05 Sarah Millican: Control
Enthusiast (T) (R) Standup
performance by the comic.
12.10 Holidays from Hell (T) (R)
1.05 Kitchen Nightmares
USA (T) (R) 1.55 Deceit (T)
(R) 2.50 Undercover Boss
USA (T) (R) 3.40 Battle of
Britain: Model Squadron (R)
8.0 Nick Knowles’s Big House
Clearout (T) New series.
The presenter helps people
across Britain who are being
crushed by their clutter.
9.0 Alex Polizzi: My Hotel
Nightmare (T) When the
presenter travels to Sussex
to see the Star’s renovations,
it becomes clear how far
behind they are.
10.0 Police Code Zero: Officer
Under Attack (T) (R) (4/4)
A violent individual breaks
the leg of an officer.
11.05 Manhunt: Catching
Britain’sMost Wanted (R)
1.0Live Casino (T) 3.05 Room to
Improve (T) (R) 4.0 Get Your
Tatts Out: Kavos Ink (T) (R)
4.45 Wildlife SOS (T) (R)
5.10 House Doctor (T) (R)
9.0 An Inspector Calls (T) (R)
A detective interrupts a
wealthy family’s dinner
party to tell them that a
young woman has killed
herself. An adaptation
of JB Priestley’s stage play,
starring David Thewlis,
Miranda Richardson,
Finn Cole, Sophie Rundle
and Ken Stott.
10.30 Viva Las Vegas
(George Sidney, 1964) (T)
(R) Musical starring Elvis
Presley and Ann-Margret.
11.50 Write Around the World
With Richard E Grant (T) (R)
The actor visits Andalucía.
12.50 Opera Italia (T) (R) 1.50
Motherland (T) (R) 2.20
Nature’s Turtle Nursery:
Inside the Nest (T) (R)

Other channels Radio

Dave Deck: Mediterranean 9.0 Crush 5.0 You’ve Been Cops: Law & Disorder the Movies 9.0 Comedy Radio 3 by Scriabin, Stravinsky, the textile industry back The Navy Lark 8.30 King
7.10am Yianni: Supercar Naked Attraction Double Framed! Unlimited 6.0 11.0 NCIS: LA Double Bill Legends 10.0 Octavia 6.30am Breakfast. Medtner, Debussy and to Blackburn with a new Street Junior Revisited
Customiser Double Bill 11.05 Gogglebox Catchphrase Celebrity 1.0 Hawaii Five-0 Double Spencer: Off Camera 11.15 Petroc Trelawny presents. Chopin. (R) 12.30 line in jeans. (10/11) (6/6) 9.0 We’ve Been
Bill 8.0 Timber Kings 12.05 First Dates 1.10 Special 7.0 Superstore Bill 3.0 Magnum PI 4.0 Too Young to Die 12.15 9.0 Essential Classics. Through the Night 3.27 Radio 4 Appeal: Here Before (1/5) 9.30
9.0 Storage Hunters Rick and Morty 1.45 Double Bill 8.0 Bob’s Modern Family Double Punk 1.30 Tori Amos: Live With Suzy Klein. 12.0 St Giles Trust (R) 3.30 Double Income, No
UK Double Bill 10.0 Robot Chicken Double Burgers Double Bill Bill 5.0 Simpsons 5.30 in Concert 2.45 Rebecca Composer of the Week: Radio 4 Open Book 4.0 The Kids Yet (3/6) 10.0 The
American Pickers Double Bill 2.10 Gogglebox 3.05 9.0 Love Island 10.05 Futurama Double Bill Ferguson at Baloise Corelli (R) 1.0 Lunchtime 6.0am Today 9.0 Film Programme 4.30 Great Scott 11.0 Desert
Bill 12.0 Bangers and Naked Attraction 4.0 Buffering 10.35 Family 6.30 Simpsons Triple Session 4.0 Cheltenham Concert: Edinburgh 2021. Citizens of Somewhere: Inside Science 5.0 PM Island Discs 11.45 Off
Cash 1.0 Top Gear 2.0 How I Met Your Mother Guy Double Bill 11.30 Bill 8.0 The Flash 9.0 Literature Festival 2020 Nicola Benedetti tells the Milton Keynes. John 5.54 (LW) Shipping Air 12.0 The Navy Lark
World’s Most Dangerous Double Bill 4.50 Kitchen American Dad! Double Bill A League of Their Own 5.0 The Adventurers story of the violin in a Harris talks to people Forecast 6.0 News 6.30 12.30 King Street Junior
Roads 3.0 Top Gear Nightmares USA 12.25 Apocalypse Wow 10.0 Karl Pilkington: of Modern Art musical journey through around the UK about Elvis McGonagall: Full 1.0 The House (6/8)
4.0 Bangers and Cash 1.25 Bob’s Burgers Double The Moaning of Life 11.0 four centuries. (3/4) their lives and how Tartan Jacket (R) 7.0 The 1.30 Charity Ends…
5.0 Rick Stein’s Secret Film4 Bill 2.20 Superstore Manifest 12.0 Road Wars Sky Atlantic 2.0 Afternoon Concert: they see the future. Archers 7.15 Front Row 2.0 Golden Hill (9/10)
France 6.0 QI XL 7.0 11.0am Rugrats Double Bill 3.10 FYI Extra 1.0 The Force: North 6.0am Fish Town Proms 2021. BBC Scottish (1/4) 9.30 Questions 7.45 Incarnations: India 2.15 Northanger Abbey
Richard Osman’s House Go Wild (2003) 12.35 East 2.0 Hawaii Five-0 7.0 Elementary Symphony Orchestra in Answered: David and in 50 Lives – Krishna (4/10) 2.30 The First
of Games 7.40 Would Flight of the More4 Double Bill 4.0 Highway Double Bill 9.0 Six Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater Ben (R) (2/5) 9.45 Menon (R) (19/25) Private Eye 3.0 The Great
I Lie to You? 8.20 QI Navigator (1986) 2.20 8.55am Kirstie’s Vintage Patrol Double Bill 5.0 Feet Under Double and Stravinsky’s ballet (LW) Daily Service 9.45 8.0 The Brieing Room Scott 4.0 We’ve Been
9.0 QI XL 10.0 Not Meet Dave (2008) Gems 9.15 Heir Hunters Magnum PI Bill 11.10 Oz Double Pulcinella, conducted (FM) Book of the Week: (8/17) 8.30 The Spark: Here… 4.30 Double
Going Out Triple Bill 12.0 4.05 The Rewrite 10.05 Find It, Fix It, Flog Bill 1.30 Elementary by Joana Carneiro . Hello, Stranger, by Will Ehsan Masood and GDP Income… 5.0 Rum Bunch
Taskmaster 1.0 Mock the (2014) 6.15 Sense It Double Bill 12.10 Car Sky Arts Double Bill 3.30 Dexter (R) 5.0 In Tune. Sarah Buckingham. (4/5) 10.0 (R) (4/4) 9.0 Inside (1/4) 5.30 Imran Yusuf
Week 1.40 Have I Got a and Sensibility (1995) SOS 1.10 Escape to the 6.0am Darbar Festival Double Bill 5.40 The Walker is joined by the Woman’s Hour 11.0 Science (R) 9.30 Citizens 6.0 Pattern Recognition
Bit More News for You 9.0 The Hobbit: Chateau: DIY 2.15 Four 2018 6.55 Royal Ballet: Sopranos Double Bill mezzo Wallis Giunta for Crossing Continents: of Somewhere (R) 10.0 (4/5) 6.30 Great Lives
2.35 Would I Lie to You? The Battle of the Five in a Bed. Five episodes. Ashton Triple Bill 9.05 7.50 Game of Thrones a live performance in India’s Living Dead The World Tonight 10.45 (3/9) 7.0 The Navy Lark
3.15 Last Stop Garage Armies (2014) 11.50 4.55 Grand Designs Auction: Sir Winston 9.0 The White Lotus the studio. 7.0 In Tune (5/9) 11.30 Planet Bach. Book at Bedtime: The 7.30 King Street Junior…
Dodgeball: A True Australia 5.55 Love It Or Churchill Special & 10.05 Britannia Mixtape 7.30 Proms Clemency Burton-Hill Mermaid of Black Conch 8.0 The House (6/8)
E4 Underdog Story (2004) List It 6.55 Escape to the 10.0 Discovering: Double Bill 12.05 True 2021. The BBC Singers, charts the playing of (9/10) 11.0 What’s 8.30 Charity Ends… 9.0
6.0am Hollyoaks 1.40 The Last Chateau: DIY 7.55 Grand Alan Rickman 11.0 Blood Double Bill 2.15 various instrumentalists Bach around the globe. Funny About: The Thick Desert Island Discs 9.45
Double Bill 7.0 Kitchen Witch Hunter (2015) Designs 9.0 Exploring Adventurers of Modern Californication Triple Bill and the conductor Soi 12.0 News 12.01 (LW) of It (R) (2/6) 11.30 Off Air 10.0 Imran Yusuf
Nightmares USA Double Northern Ireland 10.0 Art 12.0 Classic Literature 4.0 Richard E Grant’s Jeannin perform the Shipping Forecast 12.04 Daliso Chaponda: Citizen 10.30 Political Animals
Bill 9.0 Melissa & Joey ITV2 Britain’s Most Luxurious & Cinema 1.0 Auction: Hotel Secrets Double Bill world premiere of Shiva The Mermaid of Black of Nowhere (R) (4/4) (2/4) 10.45 Poets’ Tree
Double Bill 10.0 How I 6.0am Ellen’s Game Hotels 11.05 24 Hours David Gilmour Special Feshareki’s Aetherworld, Conch. By Monique 12.0 News 12.30 Book (2/4) 11.0 The Museum
Met Your Mother Double of Games 6.55 Totally in A&E 12.10 8 Out of 10 & Lord Lucan Special based on the motet Roffe. (9/10) 12.18 You of the Week (R) 12.48 of Everything (3/6)
Bill 11.0 The Goldbergs Bonkers Guinness World Cats Does Countdown 2.0 Discovering: Qui habitat by Josquin and Yours 1.0 The World Shipping Forecast 1.0 11.30 Absolute Power
Double Bill 12.0 Brooklyn Records 7.25 You’ve Been 1.15 Exploring Northern Harrison Ford 3.0 The des Prez, in a varied at One 1.45 A History of As World Service 5.20 (2/4) 12.0 Pattern
Nine-Nine Double Bill Framed! 8.0 Emmerdale Ireland 2.15 Britain’s Impressionists and the programme featuring the World… Kakiemon Shipping Forecast 5.30 Recognition (4/5) 12.30
1.0 The Big Bang Theory. 8.30 Coronation Street Most Luxurious Hotels Man Who Made Them works by Stravinsky, Elephants (R) (79/100) News 5.43 Prayer for the Great Lives (3/9) 1.0 The
Four episodes. 3.0 Double Bill 9.30 Ellen’s 3.20 Food Unwrapped 4.0 Music Icons: New Sweelinck, Byrd, Nico 2.0 The Archers 2.15 Day 5.45 Farming Today House (6/8) 1.30 Charity
Mike & Molly Double Game of Games 10.30 York Hip Hop 4.30 Video Muhly and others. Drama: Angst! Poster 5.58 Tweet of the Day (R) Ends… 2.0 Golden Hill
Bill 4.0 The Goldbergs The Masked Singer US Sky One Killed the Radio Star 5.0 10.0 A Racist Music Girl, by Alex Straker. (9/10) 2.15 Northanger
Double Bill 5.0 Brooklyn 11.30 Secret Crush 6.0am Futurama Double Auction: David Hockney (R) 10.45 The Essay: (4/5) 2.45 Woof (R) Radio 4 Extra Abbey (4/10) 2.30 The
Nine-Nine Double 12.30 Emmerdale 1.0 Bill 7.0 Animal 999 Special & George Michael Dawnwalks – Ian Sansom (4/4) 3.0 Open Country: 6.0am The House (6/8) First Private Eye 3.0 The
Bill 6.0 The Big Bang Coronation Street Double Double Bill 8.0 Monkey Special 6.0 Discovering: (R) (4/5) 11.0 Edinburgh A Fabric Landscape. 6.30 Charity Ends at Great Scott 4.0 We’ve
Theory Double Bill 7.0 Bill 2.0 Supermarket Business Double Bill Meryl Streep 7.0 The Dodgeball, International Festival Ian Marchant talks to Home (2/6) 7.0 Rum Been Here… 4.30 Double
Hollyoaks 7.30 The Big Sweep 3.0 Dress to 9.0 Motorway Patrol Movies 8.0 Great Film Film4 2012. The pianist Daniil Patrick Grant about the Bunch (1/4) 7.30 Imran Income… 5.0 Rum Bunch
Bang Theory 8.0 Below Impress 4.0 Secret Double Bill 10.0 Brit Composers: The Music of Trifonov performs music latter’s desire to bring Yusuf: Relabelled 8.0 (1/4) 5.30 Imran Yusuf
 Puzzles
•
12 The Guardian

RELYT NEVET N N  Y

Thursday 19 August 2021

Wednesday’s Quick crossword no 16,001

solutions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Wordsearch Across Down

1 Town in South Tyneside (6) 1 Puzzle with many pieces (6)
4 Handcart (6) 2 Bringing up (7) 8 9
8 Momentary flash of light (5) 3 Decide to participate (3,2)
9 Reprimanded (7) 5 Short-grain rice from Italy – or a
10 Leading (anag) (7) Biro (anag) (7)
11 Out of bed (5) 6 Garden tools (5)
12 Communicate successfully (3,6) 7 Walking through shallow water (6) 10 11
17 Pulsate (5) 9 Mocked (9)
19 Satirise (7) 13 Chilli sauce (7)
21 Having had careful prior 14 Table game (7)
consideration (7) 15 Filter – melody (6) 12 13 14
22 Manufacturer (5) 16 Scotland’s patron saint (6)
23 Constricted (6) 18 Ohio or Delaware, say (5) 15 16
24 Soft tissue in bones (6) 20 Venomous African snake (5)
Sudoku no 5,340 17 18 19 20

21 22

23 24

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).
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Suguru
Sudoku no 5,341 Suguru Wordsearch
Hard. Fill the grid so that each row, column and 3x3 Fill the grid so that each square Can you find 15 words associated
box contains the numbers 1-9. Printable version at in an outlined block contains a with tattoos in the grid? Words can
theguardian.com/sudoku digit. A block of 2 squares contains run forwards, backwards, vertically
the digits 1 and 2, a block of three or diagonally, but always in a
squares contains the digits 1, 2 and straight, unbroken line.
3, and so on. No same digit appears
in neighbouring squares, not even
diagonally.
Word wheel
FRAMEWORK
Solution no 16,000
P OMP A S S E S S E D
R A W L X E E
OFF L I NE P I QUE
V I T I E U R
EXACT GAL LON
R E H I S
B E F OR E THEMA S T
S L O X U
MA S S I F POKE R
G T T H O E G
OST I A ABSENCE
L E R N E Y O
F I RES IDE VA IN

Word wheel Pet corner

Which rock star once had
Find as many words as a pet raccoon?
possible using the letters a. Steven Tyler
in the wheel. Each must b. Ozzy Osbourne
use the central letter c. Kurt Cobain
and at least two others. d. Axl Rose
Letters may be used only Answer top right
once. You may not use
plurals, foreign words or
proper nouns. There is at
least one nine-letter word
to be found. TARGET:
Excellent-38. Good-32.
Average-23.
 •

There is an alternative to top-down regenerationAditya Chakrabortty, page 3 G2

Daily
pullout
Life on Earth is coming second to corporations George Monbiot, page 4 life &
arts
section
The search fortruth in theGaza aid scandal The long read, page 5 Inside
The Guardian Thursday19August 2021

Opinion
and ideas

The plightof
Afghanwomen
helpedjustify
war.Butnow?
I t was one of the worst phone calls I’ve ever
received: a friend in Kabul calling on Sunday
afternoon to say that armed men had just
visited her house. Her voice was shaking to
the extent that she sounded as if she was
gasping for air. The men had intimidated her
and left, and she had fled to a friend’s house to
hide with her children. She didn’t know when
they’d return, if they would find her, or when it would
be possible to relocate again to somewhere farther
away. I have never heard someone sound so scared.
She begged for help to escape the country; I
promised I would keep trying. But options were
closing all the time. Earlier that day, I’d managed to
get my friend and her children booked through a small
charity on a flight to a third country. The plan was that
the past few days. When I first got to know her in 2019,
she told me she was being threatened by the Taliban
and was afraid to continue her work. But continue she
did. Over the last year, as the Taliban gained ground
across Afghanistan, the risks intensified. She was
followed home from work. More than once, someone
tried to crash an unfamiliar vehicle into her car.
In recent months, as the situation in Afghanistan
deteriorated, she was desperate to leave. In early
July, Biden administration officials said they were
“considering” 2,000 expedited visas for “vulnerable
women”, including journalists, politicians and
activists, who might be targeted by the Taliban after
the withdrawal. My friend asked me to help her find
more information. I searched for details, but even as a
native English speaker and someone who finds things
RN:
ÉN 

Samira they’d get to safety and continue to look for a more

permanent relocation. It was a brief ray of hope during
out for a living, it was difficult to get any clarity on this
proposal, or on any other legal routes by which Afghan
Shackle a dark few days. But within hours of the booking, all
commercial flights out of Kabul were cancelled.
Like me, my friend is a female journalist in her 30s
journalists could seek resettlement. As it happened,
the scheme for vulnerable women never materialised.
This is a particular outrage because women in

Samira Shackle


who has worked in the media for her whole adult life. Afghanistan have long been used as a political talking is editor of the
There the similarities end. For my friend, working as a point in the west; the protection of New Humanist
journalist in Kabul led to death threats and intimidation Afghan women was a key justification for and the author
long before the recent US withdrawal and the chaos of invasion and a reason for western forces of Karachi Vice
2The plightof Afghan women
• The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
helped justify war.Butnow?
Samira Shackle
 Continued from front
 staying there. I was just 14 when the
9/11 attacks took place and Afghanistan
was invaded, yet I vividly remember the
proliferation of images of Afghan women – either
brutalised, their noses or fingernails cut off, or
shrouded completely, their blue burqas a symbol of
the oppression that George W Bush and Tony Blair
were purportedly seeking to overthrow. Then, and
since, the position of women was used as a marker
Y
of cultural progress, setting up the world in distinct
categories: good versus evil, civilised versus barbaric.
Take this comment from Bush’s farewell statement in
2009: “Afghanistan has gone from a nation where the
Taliban harboured al-Qaida and stoned women in the
streets to a young democracy that is fighting terror
and encouraging girls to go to school.”
et what now for those girls who
went to school, who took on roles
in politics, journalism, activism,
sports or other areas of public life?
Over the past few years, as foreign
military forces left Afghanistan,
female police officers, journalists
and doctors have been targeted and
killed. It is no surprise that the situation has worsened
so drastically now. Back in April, Human Rights Watch
warned that female journalists faced a particularly
acute threat: “Female reporters may be targeted not
only for issues they cover but also for challenging
perceived social norms prohibiting women from being
in a public role and working outside the home.”
In recent days politicians have talked of the need
to protect women’s rights. In yesterday’s Commons
debate, Theresa May warned that “women and girls …
will not have the rights that they should have and they
will not have the freedoms that they should have”,
and Harriet Harman called on ministers to make
contact with female Afghan MPs and ask how Britain
could help. But, given the critical, immediate situation
and the apparent lack of any top-level planning, such
calls do little to defy the impression that Afghan
women have been forgotten now that they are no
longer useful to western governments seeking to
justify their invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.
Until the disastrous events of this week, relocation
schemes that bring vulnerable Afghans to the west
have been primarily limited to those who worked
directly for foreign militaries as interpreters or in
other roles. In Britain, even these people have had
to fight for their right to protection from the UK, and
have been refused on spurious grounds. Kabul, the
Home Office often claimed, was a safe place.
Currently available schemes do not match the scale
of the need, and the vast majority of those who qualify
are men. Around the world, friends and family of
vulnerable Afghans are desperately seeking solutions
and NGOs are working around the clock. But there is
a void in terms of international government action.
At the time of writing, Britain and Canada are the
only western countries offering a more broad-ranging
resettlement scheme, both announcing that they
would take 20,000 Afghan refugees each.
The British programme will supposedly prioritise
women and religious minorities. But the figure
of 20,000 looks somewhat smaller when you dig
into the details: this is the same number that was
resettled from Syria, a country with around half the
population of Afghanistan. With no clear routes out
of Afghanistan, officials suggest that Britain may end
up prioritising those who have already made it to a
third country such as Pakistan. And, crucially, it will
take place over five years, with just 5,000 expected
to be resettled by the end of this year. Yesterday
morning I heard of a female journalist in Kabul being
stopped by the Taliban on her way to the airport
for a military evacuation flight. They confiscated
her passport – a chilling reminder that the most
vulnerable people do not have five years to wait.
Right now, as the world watches on in horror, there
are thousands of women like my friend: holed up
in their houses, or hiding with their friends, unsure
when the knock on the door will come.
Founded 1821 Independently owned by the Scott Trust № 54,428
‘Comment is free… butfacts are sacred’CP Scott
Afghanistan
Boris Johnson’sforeign
policy has been exposed
as a lethal vacuum
The prime minister told parliament yesterday that
Britain was prepared for the fall of Kabul and also that
it could not have been foreseen. Those two things
cannot be true simultaneously. Both were false. The
pace of events after US forces were withdrawn might
have caught western governments by surprise, but
the withdrawal itself has been on the international
timetable since February 2020.
That it was agreed by Donald Trump is not an
excuse for his successor’s misjudgments. But nor are
Joe Biden’s actions a justification for Boris Johnson’s
complacency in failing to plan a response. As recently
as July, the prime minister asserted that the Taliban
had no military route to victory.
None of the fallen Afghan government’s allies comes
out of this calamity well. For Britain, humiliation
is compounded by a leader who looks painfully
unequal to the seriousness of the moment. No one
who is familiar with Mr Johnson’s record would
expect humility, but he might have summoned
some gravitas. Instead, his Commons speech was a
disjointed sequence of dissemblances, deflections and
platitudes. Britain’s Afghan policy is now an empty
promise not to abandon people to tyranny or allow the
Taliban to export terrorism. “We must help the people
of Afghanistan to choose the best possible future for
themselves,” Mr Johnson said, without saying how.
There is a commitment to grant refuge to 20,000
Afghans, of whom 5,000 will be admitted in the first
year. Those figures, woefully inadequate given how
many need sanctuary, seem arbitrarily chosen. The
threshold is set by moral cowardice. To admit that duty
demands a much higher figure would mean facing
Architecture
We teardown old buildings
too easily. For the planet’s
sake, let’s preservethem
A new and highly swanky hotel lands in Edinburgh,
a mass of shimmering bronze-coloured coils, and all
anyone can think to say is: doesn’t that look like a giant
poo emoji? Londoners are confronted with plans for a
giant burning-red orb, which will supposedly serve as a
concert venue, and it brings on the shudders.
New buildings can amuse or repulse us, induce awe
or yawns, but there is a case for thinking of them less
as objects to walk around and more as processes to
worry about – because the process of building is one of
the most wasteful and carbon-hungry engaged in by
humanity. We tear down old houses or shops, and to
create new ones, we cover the Earth with materials that
have gobbled up fossil fuels: concrete, of which the
world pours enough each year to patio over every park
and mountain and back garden, every square inch, in
England; steel, of which every tonne produced emits
nearly two tonnes of carbon dioxide; plastics.
While Conservative MPs argue over who is going
to foot the bill for green energy for our homes, hardly
anyone inWestminster discusses the upfront carbon
costs of building houses and office blocks and shopping
malls. Yet construction directly accounts for about
10% of our carbon emissions. Turning approximately
50,000 buildings to rubble every year creates two-
thirds of all the waste produced in this country. If the
UK is ever to translate its net zero ambitions into reality
down the rightwing tendency that vilifies asylum
seekers and foments particular hostility to arrivals
from Muslim countries.
As for the wider strategic plan, it is a void. That
is not a problem specific to Afghanistan. The prime
minister treats the rest of the world as a resource
for rhetorical points to score in domestic battles.
That has been most conspicuous with Brexit,
where Mr Johnson’s approach has been defined
by strategic myopia, trading real influence for
symbolic sovereignty. Euroscepticism is one part
of the delusion that is “Global Britain” – a fantasy
that merges imperial nostalgia with illiteracy in the
economics of modern trade. It was obviously an
empty slogan even before cuts to the international
aid budget proved the point.
“Where is ‘Global Britain’ on the streets of
Kabul?” Theresa May’s question in the Commons
yesterday was a well-aimed attack on the man
who had served as her foreign secretary without
distinction. As Keir Starmer observed, the only
time Mr Johnson showed interest in Afghanistan
was when flying there to avoid a Commons vote
on Heathrow airport expansion. Self-serving
parochialism is now the governing ethos of the
UK. It is the lead that others follow, including a
foreign secretary who was on a beach in Crete as the
Taliban closed in on Kabul. Conservative MPs who
are qualified to speak with insight on international
matters are banished to the backbenches, as
yesterday’s debate demonstrated. The dismay of
Tory MPs at their leader’s inadequate response was
palpable in the Commons chamber.
Cynical gamesmanship and disregard for facts are
the criteria for promotion by a prime minister who
values those qualities because they have carried
him to the top. But he cannot now disguise the lack
of substance. It is too late for him to acquire the
skills needed to navigate the Afghan crisis and good
judgment cannot be faked. When events demand
stature, Mr Johnson always shrinks to the occasion,
and the vacuum where leadership should be
diminishes Britain in the eyes of the world.
it will need to change the entire building industry.
Never one to decline a hard hat or an ersatz
bridge, Boris Johnson would doubtless enthuse
about the new construction materials that
scientists are working on. Technological fixes
may have their place, but while waiting for
them one obvious approach we can pursue right
now is to stop indiscriminately tearing down
buildings. That is the ethos of the most recent
winners of architecture’s top prize, the Pritzker.
Anne Lacaton and Jean-Phillippe Vassal have
condensed their philosophy into a slogan: “Never
demolish, never remove or replace.” Meanwhile in
the UK, the trade publication Architects’ Journal
has pursued a RetroFirst campaign, urging
architecture practices to reuse, refurbish and
retrofit buildings rather than simply throwing up
new ones.
Architects can advise their clients, but the big
obstacle is that new is cheaper than old. First, the
state encourages the use of the wrecking ball by
putting 0% VAT on new buildings; even refurb and
repair incurs the full 20%. Given that one advantage
of Brexit is that it allows the UK to set its own VAT
rates, there is no reason that system should not
be reversed. Second, since so much building in
this country happens under the aegis of the public
sector, it should be easier to enshrine a minimum
threshold for demolition.
This is not to say that no new hospitals or houses
will ever be built, but such measures would make
clients, architects and builders more mindful
about the materials they have in front of them.
They would render the economics of construction
more sustainable; circular. And impose constraints
on architects that may spur them into greater
creativity. Out with the new, and in with the old!
 Opinion
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian •
T
Top-down
he message lit up her phone late
last Thursday afternoon, and as
soon as Vicky Alvarez saw it the
regeneration is
tears came. She ducked out of her
meeting, hurried to the loo and
began phoning family. “We’ve
won,” she told them. Alvarez isn’t
broken. Here’s
just a victor in a battle that has
swallowed 17 years of her life; she stands now at the
intersection of some of the largest questions facing
our pandemic-battered cities: how they are run and
an alternative
in whose interests. If you want to gauge where post-
Covid, post-Brexit London could go next, Alvarez
and her allies are the ones to watch.
You might assume Alvarez is wheeler-dealing
at City Hall, or flogging penthouses to passing
Aditya oligarchs. In fact, she runs a stall in a market in one
of the poorest parts of Britain. Yet Alvarez and about
Chakrabortty 40 other traders, most of whom are women from
across South America, have created something
that amounts to so much more.
The Latin Village market in Tottenham, north
London, is a maze, offering everything from empanadas
to nail jobs to news about jobs. Alvarez and other
traders came here as refugees. They built businesses
that sustain dozens of families and watched their
children grow up to become doctors and lawyers. The
market is a story of how migrants can build a future for
themselves and improve their new home, too. Trading
out of tatty buildings, including a once grand but long
abandoned Edwardian department store called Wards,
they have breathed colour into dereliction.
Alongside other traders and locals, Alvarez has
spent years fighting developers and the local council,
Haringey, as well as Transport for London, chaired
by London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, which owns the old
Wards store and has let it rot. Over nearly two decades
the arguments over a local market have become a
battle for the future of our cities.
Until last Thursday, that is, when the developer,
Grainger, publicly announced it was dropping the
entire scheme. It’s extraordinary enough for a big-
money builder to flush away nearly two decades of
deal-making and pledge-signing and buying up of land,
but what follows could be really momentous. Starting
3
Tottenham’s
community
campaign shows the
old redevelopment
model nolonger works
economically,politically
or environmentally
next week, politicians will hammer out a plan for
what to do next. Ultimately they have two choices:
stick with the broken old model of regeneration or
try something new.
Most city-dwellers know all too well what the
busted model looks like: a top-down system that
treats people’s lives as brownfield land to be torn
down and concreted over. Traders had to fight for
every concession, from saving the market to securing
a temporary home for it during rebuilding (which
Grainger later deemed not viable). Those calling the
shots treated them as inconveniences throughout.
When traders complained about the market
manager, Jonathan Owen, calling them “bloody
illegal immigrants”, TfL took no action apart from
ordering him to apologise. When they pointed out
there was something funny going on with the market’s
energy supply, TfL investigated and found evidence
of electricity theft. The transport body told Owen to
pay the suppliers but admitted to me that it ended
up footing the bill, handing over £83,000 of public
money. When asked about these issues and others,
Owen declined to comment.
Tower blocks What makes this project and its collapse so
being built instructive is that it shows the old model of
in Battersea, regeneration no longer works economically, politically
O
London or environmentally. Grainger admits that a large
PRP: part of its withdrawal was driven by “the changing
RN N/P economic environment”. In the new world of white-
collar workers spending more of the week at home,
it will not be so easy to shift a bunch of expensive
two-beds above a busy main road, whose main selling
point is that you can get on a tube in seconds.
ver the past three years, each
time I have written about Latin
Village it has been clear that,
even in a Labour stronghold like
Haringey, when councillors support
developers over locals, they cause
severe and long-lasting damage to
their party. So it has proved. A few
months ago, the leader of the council, Joe Ejiofor, was
deposed in large part because of Labour members’
unease about his enthusiasm for Grainger. That makes
him the second Haringey council leader, after Claire
Kober in 2018, to be ousted over regeneration politics.
Straight after Grainger pulled out, the new council
leader, eray Ahmet, supported a community plan
for the market. This has the overwhelming backing
of traders. Instead of throwing up carbon-intensive
concrete and steel, the plan will refurbish the existing
buildings. At the heart of the alternative scheme will
be a community benefit society that will reinvest
profits locally. The plan is a step into the unknown
and it is not without risks, but Haringey has seen just
what the old way delivered – or failed to.
In 2011, councillors in the city of reston were told
that the vast shopping centre they’d pinned their
hopes on wasn’t coming after all. Local politicians
rethought not just their plans, but their model. The
result is a city that outperforms even in hard times and
a local Labour party that actually thrives.
Sadiq Khan pledges “high streets for all”. Every
politician in a suit swears they’ll “build back better”.
Well, now they can live up to their promises. Let’s see
London try bottom-up development, based around
imagination and heart and giving people a say.
4 Opinion
• The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
Lifeon Earth is
coming second
to corporations
George
T
Monbiot
he human tragedy is that there is
no connection between what we
know and what we do. Almost
everyone is now at least vaguely
aware that we face the greatest
catastrophe our species has ever
confronted. Yet scarcely anyone
alters their behaviour in response.
During the most serious of all crises, the UK
elected the least serious of all governments. Both
the Westminster government and local authorities
continue to build roads and expand airports.
An analysis by the conservation charity WWF
suggests that, while the last UK budget allocated
£145m for environmental measures, it dedicated
£40bn to policies that will increase emissions.
Astonishingly, it is still government policy to
“maximise economic recovery” of oil and gas
from the continental shelf. According to the
government’s energy white paper, promoting their
extraction ensures that “the UK remains an attractive
destination for global capital”, which is “the best way
to secure an orderly and successful transition away
from traditional fossil fuels”. It’s hard to imagine
a more perverse argument. But when you pursue
incompatible aims, the first casualty is logic.
So as our house burns the government sends
in the tanker trucks to spray petrol on the flames.
Doubtless unswayed by the donations the
Conservative party has received from oil and gas
companies, Boris Johnson appears to be on the point
of approving the development of a new oilfield – the
Cambo – in the North Sea. Yet, as climate scientists
have long explained, there is no realistic prospect of
preventing more than 1.5C of global heating unless
all new fossil fuel development is stopped. In fact,
existing projects need to be retired. Nor can we
achieve the government’s official aim of net zero
emissions by 2050. This target bears no relationship
to the temperature goals in the Paris agreement. It
urgently needs to be replaced with a more stringent
measure, but no one in power is prepared to discuss it.
Unless we leave fossil fuels in the ground, any
commitment to stop climate breakdown is merely
gestural. The atmosphere does not respond to
gestures. It has no factions that can be set against each
other, no voters who can be fobbed off and distracted.
This is one of the reasons why governments hate and
shun what climate science tells them. If they took it
seriously, they would tailor policy to scientific advice.
But such constraints on political choice are perceived
as intolerable – not only by politicians, but by the
philosophy on which our democracies are founded.
Or are they? On behalf of commercial interests,
governments are all too happy to be constrained.
A UK oil company is currently suing the Italian
government for the loss of its “future anticipated
profits”after Italy banned new oil drilling in coastal
waters. Italy used to be a signatory to the Energy
Charter Treaty, which allows companies to demand
compensation if it stops future projects. The
treaty’s sunset clause permits such lawsuits after
nations are no longer party to it, so Italy can be sued
even though it left the agreement in 2016. This is
one of many examples of “investor-state dispute
settlement”, that makes effective action against
climate breakdown almost impossible. It represents
an outrageous curtailment of political choice, with
which governments like ours are entirely comfortable.
The global emergency requires a new politics,
but it is nowhere in sight. Governments still fear
lobby groups more than they fear the collapse of
our living systems. For tiny and temporary political
gains, they commit us to vast and irreversible
consequences. MPs with no discernible record of
concern for the poor, and a long record of voting
against them, suddenly, when the profits of fossil
fuel companies are threatened, claim that climate
action must be stymied to protect them.
The Treasury refuses to commit to the spending
needed to support even the government’s feeble
programme. Johnson blusters and dithers, seeming
incapable of making difficult decisions.
No government, even the most progressive, is
yet prepared to contemplate the transformation we
need: a global programme that places the survival of
humanity and the rest of life on Earth above all other
issues. We need not just new policy, but a new ethics.
We need to close the gap between knowing and doing.
But this conversation has scarcely begun.
Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian •

‘I must be
THE LONG READ

patient’
An aid worker is on trial in Israel for the
largest theft of relief money in history.
But there are serious doubts about the case,
and five years on he remains determined
to clear his name.By Joe Dyke
A
6 The long read
• The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021

organisations like World Vision and the United Previous page: Hamas military exercise, were nearly impossible to
Nations.” He concluded: “Hamas stole critical support Palestinian assess without seeing the secret evidence the Israelis
for Palestinian children so they could kill our children.” children flying claimed to have. But others were easier to investigate.
Yet gaps in the Israeli case rapidly appeared. Israel kites to protest Halabi was accused of working with two agricultural
alleges Halabi was an underground Hamas operative against the companies, Al-Atar and Arcoma, which allegedly had
who infiltrated the charity and silenced his colleagues detention of ties to Hamas. The charge sheet claimed that, as head
through fear, but those who know Halabi reject these Mohammed El of World Vision’s Gaza office, Halabi had rigged the
accusations. They describe Halabi as a dedicated Halabi in 2016 bidding to ensure the two companies won “nearly all”
family man who was supportive to colleagues, opposed  Z/ contracts for food aid. Halabi and the companies then
Hamas politically and was, above all, committed to    allegedly conspired to overcharge World Vision for
delivering aid to his people. Israel’s case has been their services, and funnelled the extra cash to Hamas.
further undermined by an independent forensic audit In late August 2016, a few weeks after Halabi was
of World Vision’s operations, which found no funds charged, I visited Al-Atar in Gaza, where I found
missing and no evidence of criminal activity. a forklift truck piling potatoes into a pickup. The
Halabi has been in prison for five years while the manager, Saqer Al-Atar, ushered me into his office.
case drags through the Israeli courts. If found guilty, he Atar insisted he had no relations with Hamas and that
t about faces decades in prison. The prosecution rested heavily all contracts with World Vision were negotiated not
9am on 12 July 2016, dozens of Israeli security officers on secret evidence, some of which even the defence with the Gaza team but the Jerusalem office. He said he
stormed through the gates of the Augusta Victoria team say they were not allowed to view, prompting a barely knew Halabi.
hospital complex in East Jerusalem. They surged past UN special rapporteur to condemn proceedings as “not World Vision later confirmed that its total contracts
the hospital, which mostly serves the local Palestinian worthy of a democratic state”. with Al-Atar were worth a little over $30,000 a year for
population, and through the main car park to a three- Like other Palestinians charged by Israel, Halabi the past decade. The contracts awarded to Arcoma,
storey building where the offices of the international says he has been offered a series of plea deals, but which also denied any links to Hamas, amounted to
charity World Vision were located. he has rejected them all. His first lawyer, and even about $80,000 a year. Between them, the companies
The officers ordered the charity’s staff into a an Israeli judge, urged him to accept, knowing that had won fewer than 50% of the bids for contracts with
meeting room and seized their phones. According refusal can lead to longer jail terms. His current lawyer World Vision they entered, the organisation said.
to witnesses, they were kept there for four hours. claims Halabi received offers that would have led to The second of the 12 charges alleged that Halabi had
Occasionally, police and intelligence agents called his immediate release with time served, allowing him transferred “thousands of tonnes of iron” meant for
an employee out of the room for questioning, while to return to his wife and children in Gaza. But Halabi agricultural projects to Hamas, knowing it would be
others roamed the offices, searching through files. insists he is innocent of the charges, and has refused used to build tunnels under the Israeli border. World
As the most senior staff member on site, Conny to make a deal. The arguments in court concluded in Vision said it had never imported iron into Gaza, nor
Lenneberg, an Australian who was then head of World July this year, but Halabi remains in prison awaiting a bought any there, and any transaction of this scale
Vision’s Middle East operations, was the only one verdict, which is expected this autumn. would necessarily have involved the Jerusalem office,
allowed to leave the room. According to Lenneberg, The Israeli legal system, and the plea deals on which meant Halabi could not have acted alone.
officers aggressively demanded copies of World which its machinery turns, has been challenged by During several days of investigation in Gaza, which
Vision’s financial records for the past few years. In one one man who refuses to accept his fate. World Vision’s I wrote about at the time for Agence France Presse,
hallway, Lenneberg came upon an Israeli intelligence programme quality director, Simon Manning, said that I found nothing to corroborate the Israeli allegations.
agent questioning World Vision’s finance director, Halabi, who he worked with closely, is a “stubborn” But there were other charges I could not assess, based
an Ethiopian man, about the charity’s systems for man who sticks to his principles. Manning was not as they were on Halabi’s confession, which has never
preventing fraud. After four hours, as quickly as they surprised to hear Halabi had held out. “When they been made public, as well as on financial records and
had arrived, the officers left. arrested Mohammed, they really had no idea who they secret evidence.
They never said his name, but the staff knew were dealing with.” In the days after Israel’s announcement, World
the raid was connected to the disappearance of Vision’s leaders were in emergency meetings. They
Mohammed El Halabi. A month earlier, Halabi, Working in Gaza has long presented a challenge for aid had seen no evidence of Halabi’s alleged wrongdoings,
the 38-year-old head of World Vision’s Gaza office, organisations. The tiny territory, squeezed between but the Israeli accusations threatened not just their
had been arrested as he walked through the Erez Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, is among support to Palestinians but the charity’s entire future.
checkpoint between Gaza and Israel. Nothing had the poorest in the world – more than two-thirds of its On 6 August, World Vision’s then president Kevin
been heard of him since. A few weeks after Halabi’s population rely on some form of humanitarian aid, Jenkins set up a crisis team. It had about 10 members,
arrest, Lenneberg had flown to Jerusalem to seek more according to the UN. But Gaza is controlled and run by some in the region and others in head office. They had
information from Israeli authorities. Hamas, who took control after elections in 2007 and to deal with strong emotions inside the organisation. A
On 4 August, three weeks after the raid, Israel’s have since since fought four wars with Israel. decade earlier, allegations of corruption had emerged
Shin Bet intelligence service made an extraordinary As Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation by against a number of senior World Vision staff in Liberia.
announcement. It said that Halabi had confessed to most western nations, aid agencies cannot deal with After receiving proof of their guilt, the organisation
diverting $7.2m a year, for the past seven years, to the them for fear of falling foul of sanctions. Large aid cut the staff off, and provided evidence to the
Islamist militant group Hamas, which controls the organisations have implemented strict processes to try prosecution. Some in senior management favoured a
Gaza Strip. More than $1m a year had allegedly been to prevent money being co-opted or stolen – known as similar approach to Halabi, Lenneberg recalled. “They
delivered in cash to combat units. In total, Halabi was aid diversion – but theft can still occur. would say: ‘Why would the Israeli authorities go out
accused of stealing up to $50m meant for desperate The Israeli charge sheet listed 12 accusations against so prominently with such a huge media campaign if
Palestinians and giving it to Hamas to buy rockets and Halabi. Most, such as the claim he took part in a 2014 there wasn’t some truth to it?’ It was a very difficult
build tunnels. If true, it would be perhaps the largest conversation.” Others, particularly those based in
theft of aid money in history. Mohammed the Middle East who knew Halabi, argued he must be
For the Israeli government it was a PR coup. It had El Halabi at a treated as innocent until proven guilty.
long accused Hamas of diverting international aid court hearing in They reached a compromise: World Vision would
intended for Gaza to fund its wars against the Jewish August 2016 pay Halabi’s legal fees unless and until it was presented
state. Now it claimed it had proof. / with clear evidence of his guilt. Those fees could run
World Vision, which was founded in the US in 1950,  into hundreds of thousands of dollars. (World Vision
is one of the world’s biggest charities, with an annual declined to comment on the exact cost so far.) The
budget of more than $2bn. Heavily funded by western same month, it commissioned Deloitte, one of the
governments and US Christian groups, it operates in world’s largest auditing firms, and US law firm DLA
more than 80 countries and works to support more Piper to review all their spending, which one source
than 40 million of the world’s poorest children. The said cost an additional $7m (World Vision declined to
arrest of one of its directors made headlines around confirm this). The results would reveal fundamental
the world.Foreign governments, including Australia problems with the Israeli case.
and Germany, stopped all funding to World Vision’s
projects in Gaza, while the Israelis suspended the Like most Palestinians, Mohammed El Halabi was born
organisation’s licence to work in Gaza at all. a refugee. His grandparents fled their home in the 1948
On 11 August 2016, Benjamin Netanyahu made a conflict that led to the creation of Israel and set up base
special address on his official YouTube channel. “I, the 15 miles south of their village in what later became the
prime minister of Israel, care more about Palestinians Jabalia refugee camp.
than their own leaders,” he said, speaking straight Halabi was born in 1978, his parents’ first son. He
into the camera. “A few days ago the world learned did well at school, and took a growing interest in the
that Hamas, the terrorist organisation that rules wider world. After leaving school, he went on to study
Gaza, stole millions of dollars from humanitarian engineering at the Islamic University of Gaza. In the

Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian •
early 00s, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, angered by
the failure of peace deals, rallied his Fatah militia for
a second uprising or intifada. But his control over the
movement was waning, and Hamas was rising. Hamas
leaders encouraged young recruits to blow themselves
up on Israeli buses, killing scores of civilians. In the
Israeli crackdown that followed, Palestinians were
subjected to nightly raids and curfews, with families
often trapped in their homes for weeks.
In the midst of the fighting, in 2003, Halabi’s family
chose a wife for him. A few hundred people crammed
into a hotel for his wedding to Ola. Two years later, the
couple had the first of their five children. In 2004, as
conditions in Gaza became harsher, Halabi decided to
swap engineering for aid work. What motivated that
change is at the root of the charges against him.
The Israeli charge sheet states that “during the year
2004 or thereabouts”, Halabi was approached by a
Hamas militant, allegedly a commander in a small
cell that included Halabi’s brother Diaa. (His brother
Hamed says this is untrue. The UN confirmed that Diaa
works as a nurse in one of their hospitals.) Because
Halabi spoke English, a rare skill in Gaza, the militant
allegedly decided his role would be to infiltrate an aid
agency and work for Hamas from there.
Years later, Halabi explained his move in different
terms, in an interview from 2014 in which he was
described as a “humanitarian hero” by the UN. “After
an invasion in my area which killed dozens of people
and destroyed several houses, I decided to leave my
work as an engineer and turn to humanitarian work,”
he said. “I wanted to be able to help civilians and
especially children.”
In 2005, Halabi got his first job with World Vision.
The prosecution would later suggest the process by
which he was employed was rigged. However, a World
Vision employee at the time, an American who did not
want to be named owing to their current senior role
in the aid industry, said the first round of the hiring
process was a test that was marked blind – meaning
all details of the candidates were removed. Those
who passed were interviewed by a panel of several
staff, including the head of the Jerusalem office. The
panel agreed unanimously that Halabi was the best
candidate, the former employee said.
Halabi rose fast, and in 2014 was promoted to head
of the Gaza office. When there was fighting in Gaza, he
was known for going to his staff’s homes to see how
they were doing, despite the potential risks. His rotund
form and round cheery face were well loved. “When
you turned up at any of our projects, kids that knew
him would run to him. The staff lit up when he walked
into a room,” Lenneberg said.
Lenneberg, who worked in Afghanistan during the
rise of the Taliban in the 90s, as well as in Pakistan,
south-east Asia and elsewhere, said she had no reason
to distrust Halabi. “I am an experienced humanitarian
worker. You can tell the staff who are on the take – their
7
evidence Halabi was working for Hamas – in fact,
they reported that he consistently sought to distance
the organisation from them. The closest they found
to impropriety were a few times Halabi had slightly
overstepped his authority – signing off a bill for a few
hundred dollars more than his limit of $15,000, for
example. But they found nothing that could justify
any of the Israeli claims. Crucially, they concluded
World Vision’s monitoring systems had been robust.
“I do NGO investigations in difficult parts of the world
… and I did not see anything out of the ordinary here
from a control perspective,” Ingerman said.
The audit may also provide an insight into where
the Israelis got their initial suspicions of Halabi. A
former employee of World Vision had left under
a cloud and believed Halabi responsible for his
difficulties with the organisation. Kaamil, whose
name has been changed to avoid causing problems for
his family still in Gaza, worked for World Vision in the
strip until 2015. In late May that year he was detained
by Hamas, who quizzed him about his work status.
He was convinced that Halabi, with whom he had
clashed professionally many times, was responsible
for his arrest, and that Halabi was trying to force him
out of World Vision. In early June, Kaamil sent an
email with a series of allegations against Halabi to the
organisation’s HR director in Jerusalem.
In the email, a copy of which was seen by the
The Israeli legal system, and the Guardian, Kaamil accuses Halabi of corruption for
personal gain, and says he had links to Hamas. “The
plea dealson which it turns, has fact that there was no evidence doesn’t mean that
a thing did not happen, it means that the person
been challengedby one man involved in corruption is smart,” he wrote in the email.
Kaamil left Gaza in 2016, a couple of months
who refuses to accept his fate before Halabi was arrested. Speaking to me via email,
Kaamil said his allegations were sent only to human
resources, and insisted he never communicated with
the Israelis. He added that his disagreements with
Halabi “ended with my resignation, and as soon as he
was arrested by the (Israeli) occupation. Now he is in a
Food aid being relationship with colleagues and communities is very position that deserves support.”
delivered in different. Fear is palpable, the disconnect, the self- World Vision now accepts that the allegations were
Gaza in July interest – it becomes clear very quickly. That was not perhaps not dealt with as seriously as they should
 / Mohammed,” she said. have been, though Lenneberg said she investigated
   Kaamil’s allegations after he left the organisation,
By March 2017, Halabi had been in jail for nine months. touring projects in Gaza and meeting with partner
The media had long stopped reporting the story, organisations. She found no evidence of wrongdoing
with Donald Trump’s first chaotic months in office and said Kaamil provided no financial documents
gripping global attention. That month, the Australian to back up his claims. “If you say he is taking money,
government completed a review of its funding of show me where, show me how much,” Lenneberg
World Vision in Gaza – it had given them $8.1m for Gaza said. “He could not give me one shred of evidence.”
projects between 2014 and 2016, more than 25% of The audit by DLA Piper and Deloitte started by
World Vision’s entire Gaza budget, the charity told me. investigating Kaamil’s allegations. Ingerman said they
The Australian government concluded that there was found no evidence to support any of the claims.
no evidence any funds had been diverted.Four months The findings of the audit were sent to World
later, the review World Vision had commissioned, Vision’s management in July 2017. They shared it with
from DLA Piper and Deloitte, was also completed. Its key international donors, as well as Halabi’s legal
contents have remained classified until now. team. It was also offered to Israeli authorities, who
The two companies conducted a year-long declined to view it, World Vision said. In the following
investigation. Between 20 and 30 staff worked full- months, donors including Australia and Germany
time, reviewing World Vision’s operations for the five quietly reinstated funding, on the basis of the report’s
years before Halabi’s arrest. “We have done a number findings. World Vision waited for the Israeli court to
of other investigations, both corporate and NGO, where drop the charges against Halabi.
we find evidence of malfeasance,” Brett Ingerman, a
managing partner with DLA Piper, told me. “We know Acquittals of Palestinians in Israeli courts are rare, so
what we are looking for.” for the accused, going to trial represents a serious risk
The investigators faced obstacles: they could of a prison sentence. Many of the accused enter into
not access Halabi in jail, and the Israeli government plea deals in which they accept charges in exchange
refused to provide any documentation or evidence. for a reduced sentence. Supporters of the plea system
They were also blocked by Hamas. On one occasion, argue that it enables the quicker processing of cases,
when staff went to the offices of World Vision in Gaza while critics say it corners Palestinians into confessing
to retrieve documents, Hamas authorities got wind of to crimes they didn’t commit.
it and sealed the office off, which seemed suspicious. “In some cases [the accused] understand that the
Ingerman said that, nonetheless, they had “more than chances of being found not guilty are very slim, and
sufficient documentation” to complete their investi- the chances of having a fair trial are not high,” Michael
gation. The team carried out more than 70 interviews Lynk, UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian
and reviewed 280,000 emails. Deloitte reviewed every Territories, told me. “Therefore, to shorten the time
payment the organisation made over five years. and have some certainty regarding when they will get
World Vision were paying for the investigation, but out, they will accept a plea deal, even though they
Ingerman insisted there was no interference. “We may not be guilty.”
were given carte blanche by World Vision to follow Michael Sfard, an Israeli lawyer who has defended
the evidence wherever it led us,” he said. many Palestinians, said the Israeli legal
They found no sign of any missing funds, and no system is set up around these deals. “If
8 The long read
• The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021

Palestinian defendants were to say they were no
longer doing plea deals, the system would collapse
the next day,” he said.
After his arrest in 2016, Halabi also appointed
Tsemel as his lawyer. Tsemel is a Jewish Israeli who
has represented hundreds of Palestinians over four
decades. A fierce campaigner for Palestinian rights,
she has become a hate figure for the Israeli right.
I visited her office not long after, but she told me
that the legal restrictions on the case meant she was
unable  to discuss many aspects of it. She feared it
was risky to take the case to court – sentences are
increased if you are perceived to have wasted the
court’s time – so she quietly encouraged Halabi to
take a deal if offered. An Israeli judge also told him in
court in March 2017 he had “little chance” of avoiding
conviction. “You’ve read the numbers and the
statistics [of Palestinian convictions],” Judge Nasser
Abu Taha told Halabi in court, according to a report
from ABC Australia.
But Halabi refused. Multiple sources said tensions
between him and Tsemel grew during his first year in
jail. Tsemel argued he was unlikely to get a fair trial
and he should make a deal. Halabi said he was willing
to pay any price rather than admit something he didn’t
do. In the end, Halabi dropped Tsemel in summer
2017, and Maher Hanna, an Arab Israeli from Nazareth,
took over. Tsemel said there were no hard feelings,
just a difference of opinion.
“He asked me to leave the case because he felt he
could make it (without a plea deal). I said alright, go
ahead. He was so confident in himself that he went
with this (approach). I appreciate it very much that a
person feels he can make this war against a very big
and heavy power in the security services and police.
A lot depends on how much do we trust the courts,
how much do we trust the security services to testify
the truth,” she said.
Hanna said his brief after taking over was simple:
fight all the way. “[The prosecution] tried to negotiate
about time [length of sentence] but it is irrelevant
– the conflict is about the charge sheet,” Hanna
told me in 2018. “Mohammed is very clear on that.
He is not willing to take anything that charges him
with anything related to terror. He is taking the risk
that he might, God forbid, be sentenced for a much
longer period.”
Halabi’s trial took place at the Beersheva district
court. Deep in the Negev desert, Beersheva, a city
of about 200,000, feels trapped in a perpetual sand
storm. In summer, temperatures reach 45C. At the
first public session on 12 January 2017, cameramen
jostled for a shot of Halabi. He was escorted by two
guards. A reporter asked him in Arabic if he had a
message for his family. “I want them to know I am OK
and I am innocent of all these charges. Our work was
purely humanitarian,” he said, looking straight into
the journalist’s eyes.
Three judges sat raised in front of an Israeli flag,
with chief justice Natan Zlotchover flanked by Yael
Raz-Levi and Shlomo Friedlander. On days when
sensitive evidence was to be discussed, an officer
from Shin Bet sat in the back corner of the room
guarding boxes full of evidence. Occasionally he was
asked to bring a document forward for the defence to
see, though they were never allowed to take a copy.
At the back sat the few observers, when they were
allowed to attend, including some from the UN. World
Vision sent colleagues to every session that was open
to the public – although almost all of the hearings
related to prosecution evidence were behind closed
doors, the UN said.
At times the trial appeared to move in slow motion.
On average one or two sessions took place a month,
but it was not uncommon for a couple of months to
pass without one. Sometimes the gaps were due to
the defence or prosecution appealing on a particular
matter, at others the three judges couldn’t find a
time that fitted all their schedules. Halabi’s legal
team usually argued sensitive sessions should be
open, while the prosecution and security services
demanded they be behind closed doors. The state
Halabi’s legal team often argued
sessions should be open, while
the prosecution demanded they
be closed. The state usually won
usually won. Most of Halabi’s testimony, including
nine days’ worth of cross-examination between June
and November 2018, were heard behind closed doors.
No transcripts were released. This is unusual, but not
unheard of, in Israeli courts, in cases related to security
issues. Israel argues other nations, including the UK,
have similar laws in terrorism-related cases.
Shortly before each day’s proceedings began, Halabi
would enter flanked by two prison officers, the chains
on his feet clinking as he shuffled to a seat behind
a plexiglass barrier. He sat for hours focused on the
discussions, even though they took place in Hebrew,
with the quality of Arabic translation often poor. He
would wave to any World Vision staff who came to offer
support. One time in 2018 when I was in court he spoke
to the World Vision staff briefly before the court was
in session, saying, “I must be patient.” He told them
he filled his days in jail by teaching English to other
prisoners and seeking to de-radicalise inmates who
sympathised with Islamic State. “Of the four, I have
convinced three,” he said.
The case dragged on. At different times, chief justice
Zlotchover accused the defence and prosecution of
sloppy work. Raz-Levi often sat with her head in her
hands, looking bored. One of the court-appointed
Hebrew-Arabic translators seemed so poor that a
Palestinian defence witness under examination barely
understood proceedings.
Halabi is able to refuse a deal not just because of
moral conviction, but also because he has the financial
support to do so, with his hefty legal bill being covered
by World Vision. Very few Palestinians would be able to
afford such principled determination. But the personal
toll is high. Halabi’s five children have lived most of
their lives without their father. His youngest son, Faris,
a baby in 2016, barely knows him. Halabi’s brother
Hamed said the children had suffered. “Ramadan
is the hardest time – it’s when the family should be
together. There have now been six Ramadans where
they didn’t have their father.”
At the centre of the case against Halabi is his alleged
confession. Back in August 2016, when Shin Bet
announced he had confessed, they gave few details,
and the truth is still elusive. For several weeks after
his arrest, Halabi was prevented from seeing a lawyer.
During this time, he was interrogated by Israeli
officers, to whom he denied every accusation, his legal
team says. He was put in a cell with other Palestinian
prisoners, one of whom called himself Abu Ibrahim.
This man said he was from Hamas, but Halabi told his
lawyers Abu Ibrahim was one of a number of spies
Israel has throughout the prison systems, nicknamed
asafeer, or “sparrows” in Arabic. Abu Ibrahim informed
the Israeli authorities that Halabi confessed to him.
Much rests on this man’s account, but his testimony
was heard behind closed doors.
The state argued the confession to Abu Ibrahim
was compelling evidence. When placed in a room
with a man he thought was a Hamas ally, Halabi had
bragged of his role, they said. If the sums of money
Israel accused Halabi of stealing were overblown, it
was he who had exaggerated. The numbers were not
important, what mattered was the confession. “It’s like
when you catch a serial killer, the question of whether
he killed 50 people or 25 people is not really relevant is
it?” Israel’s foreign ministry spokesperson Emmanuel
Nahshon told ABC News Australia in 2016.
A source close to the prosecution insisted the
confession was not the only basis of their case,
and that clear material evidence was presented
to the court during closed sessions. The source
also said the prosecution rested in June 2018. The
Israeli justice ministry said in a statement that “the
prosecution has agreed to Mr Halabi’s continuous
requests for extensions … which resulted in the
dragging out of the proceedings”. Hanna rejected
this characterisation of events.
Halabi maintains he was beaten up by Israeli interro-
gators before he was put in a cell with Abu Ibrahim,
where he remained for more than a week. The one time
I was able to speak to him briefly in court, Halabi said
he had hearing problems due to being punched in the
A billboard head. The Israeli security services deny wrongdoing.
supporting The UN human rights body, which sent a lawyer to most
Halabi in Gaza public court sessions, has warned that his treatment
City in 2017 under interrogation “may amount to torture”.
 / His lawyer, Hanna, said Halabi told him that, after
   days trapped in a room with Abu Ibrahim, he could
hold out no more, and said whatever the agent wanted
him to say. Hanna said Halabi believed the confession
was so wild, and the details so clearly unbelievable,
that the case would fall apart in court. “He says he
knew Abu Ibrahim was a collaborator,” Hanna said.
“From the first minute the [police] investigator entered
the room, he said: ‘All I have said I was [forced] to say
by Abu Ibrahim. It is all false, you can check it.’”
Hanna argued that the confession was given
under duress, and therefore could not be used in
court. After six months going back and forth, in June
2020, the district court ruled with the state: the
confession was admissible. With that, Halabi’s hopes
of freedom dimmed.
In November 2020, after the trial had dragged on for
four and a half years, Michael Lynk and his colleagues
– UN Special Rapporteurs on torture, arbitrary
executions and judicial independence – issued a
statement denouncing the trial. “What is happening
to [Halabi] bears no relation to the trial standards we
expect from democracies,” they said. “It’s particularly
disturbing that the prosecution is relying upon
confessions allegedly obtained by force while he was
denied access to a lawyer, and on testimony from
undercover informers.” The Israeli Justice Ministry
said that throughout his trial Halabi has received
“full legal rights, including the right to a fair trial, to
representation and of appeal to the Supreme Court”.
In July 2021, the defence and prosecution summed
up their cases. The sessions were completely closed
to the public. The judges are expected to take at least
three months to deliberate.
Mohammed El Halabi has taken an enormous
gamble – that he can win a case in a language he
 doesn’t speak, in a country where many consider
Joe Dyke is a him an enemy. “If there is any value in the facts, he
researcher and will be acquitted,” Hanna said. “But if facts don’t
writer based matter, he will go down. We have to believe that
in London the facts matter.” •

Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
Established 1906
Country diary
Merrivale,
West Dartmoor
Cloud shadows race across the
summery moor and hilltop
tors. Away from the carpark on
Whitchurch Common, yellow
tormentil stars the greened-up
turf, and prickly tussocks shield
the pink bell heather and fresh
molinia. Southward, above the
granite moorstone marked with
old cut marks, Pew Tor draws in
spry youths to clamber among the history that underpin it.
boulders and leaning capstones.
Staider folk shelter from the wind
and admire the view across the
Tavy and Tamar valleys, towards
the distant Bodmin Moor.
Scattered across the expanses
of rough grazing are red-marked,
shorn white sheep and, by Vixen
Tor, near a patch of boggy cotton
grass, a herd of pregnant ponies
and a few foals stand at ease. This
tor, set above dark green woodland, invokes the equally problematic
can appear like the Sphinx, but
notices – including “Bull roaming” trump card in arguments about
– remind that its stone-walled
enclosure is in-bye land with no
right of public access.
Closer to the village of Merrivale bell jar display case in which a
and the dumps of quarried granite, “traditional British hierarchy” seeks I refer to as the Elgar-isation of rock, are making life so much more
a path along the moorland’s edge
wends between Sortridge Leat
and a bank. Atop, beech trees
shelter uncut fields of polleny
grass. On the opposite side of the
Walkham Valley, sheep stand out
as incongruous turquoise blobs,
meandering uphill through bracken
towards higher open land where a
silhouetted group of people stand
among prehistoric stones.
These ancient rows featured in
a BBC film, made in 1954 to mark
the opening of North Hessary Tor’s
TV mast, which broadcast across
the west country. A Brief Journey
follows a sailor, on shore leave from individual’s right to own a gun
his boat at Plymouth. He alights
from the Princetown train at King
Tor railway station, and walks
across the open moor to a relative’s purpose – to kill animals or people.
clearance sale and retirement
party at the farm below. Next day,
hitchhiking and by bus, he reaches choice in domestic murder-suicides may have prevented Davison’s
Looe for shark fishing; en route he committed by men.
is rowed across the tidal Tamar by a
local salmon fisherman for a quick an urban environment need
visit to my grandfather’s mill and
waterwheel at Cotehele. Cousin
Josephine and I feature briefly (at
19 minutes 19 seconds), peering
from the cab as he hops into the
corn truck for a lift to “St Ive”.
Virginia Spiers
We do not publish letters where
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Letters 9
•
 guardian.letters@theguardian.com
 @guardianletters
Tory culture warriors do people – is promoted by modern
rightwingers in a nativist way, as if it
Corrections and
clarifications
not define Britishness
were wholly indigenous to Britain,
and has become a central tool of
elite oppression and attempted •Una Stubbs had roles in Summer
(and in the mid-2000s successful)
marginalisation and ghettoisation
Holiday and Wonderful Life, but
not as Cliff Richard’s girlfriend as
of the young and the poor. an obituary said. Also, she met
Kojo Koram provides a useful the right. The issues that currently The full extent of double Nicky Henson before, not when,
corrective to the common, narrow bedevil Koram’s “stately homes, standards today cannot be she joined the Young Vic, where
perception of culture he describes Oxford university common rooms, fully understood unless it is she appeared in The Soldier’s Tale
(What the right keeps getting wrong [and] the Last Night of the Proms” acknowledged that, when the and Little Malcolm and His Struggle
about Britain’s culture, Journal, would still provoke historical elite talk of what they regard as Against the Eunuchs, but not in
16 August), but the “fossilised perceptions as intransigent as true Britishness, they now mean The Knack (13 August, Journal,
version of British culture” he they are shortsighted. Queen or the Rolling Stones every page 6). And a photo purporting to
identifies is not easily separated Paul McGilchrist bit as much as Elgar or Vaughan show Stubbs in the cast of Summer
from the equally prevalent Colchester, Essex Williams, if not more so. It must Holiday was of Sarah Hardenberg
narrow, prescriptive notions about also be mentioned that, rather (Una Stubbs, star of comedy,
• Why do we have to be constantly wonderfully, the right’s beloved Sherlock and Shakespeare, dies
Too many people (and “culture at war over “Britain’s culture”? Why market economics help to legitimise aged 84, 13 August, page 9).
war” fantasists in particular) can’t we just accept that, especially Dave and Stormzy, anyway.
approach history as an indisputable since the middle of the 20th century Robin Carmody Editorial complaints and corrections can be sent to
guardian.readers@theguardian.com or The readers’
account of the past, when in fact (that is, during my lifetime), Weston, Dorset editor, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU.
historical understanding is a Britain has become a wonderfully You can also leave a voicemail on 020 3353 4736
continual work in progress. This multicultural society that we can • The founders of the National
misunderstanding of history, both all take pleasure in, instead of Trust and the BBC Proms would
as a discipline and as an account,
helps to entrench the view that
constantly and nastily bickering
over definitions of “British
be very surprised by Kojo Koram’s
view that the aspects of culture Do we have to move
culture is something fixed and culture”? So many countries in the they promote are “something that
unchanging and just as frequently world take pride in their cultural only a few people can access”; both oceans to level up?
diversity. Why can’t we? were founded in order to broaden
notion of “tradition” as a supposed Philip C Stenning access to “places of historic interest On the idea of “levelling up”
Eccleshall, Staffordshire and natural beauty” and classical (Letters, 17 August), I was reminded
both culture and history. music, respectively. They would of Lord Grade when he was told
Even if culture was more • While sympathising with much of have been just as shocked as he about the high costs of making his
successfully liberated from the what Kojo Koram says, I feel that he is by the current government’s film, Raise the Titanic. Apparently
misses out the phenomenon which policies which, as he rightly says, he mused that it could possibly be
cheaper to lower the Atlantic.
to preserve it, I doubt that it would where rock music – in complete difficult for artists of all kinds. John Rathbone
make the slightest difference to the denial of its origins and the fact Carolyn Beckingham Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
phoney war being prosecuted by that it wouldn’t exist without Black Lewes, East Sussex
• You could lace a billion pairs
of shoes with the irony of the
Steps to prevent be rigorously monitored. If police
don’t have the resources to do this, Ken Loach expulsion
was the wrong call
prime minister, Boris Johnson,
telling the Commons yesterday
the next tragic gun licences should not be issued.
Derrick Joad
that on Afghanistan, “we will
judge this regime on the choices
mass shooting Leeds
• As the tragic circumstances of
the Plymouth shootings unfold,
I was pained to learn of the ejection
of Ken Loach from the Labour
party (Report, theguardian.com,
it makes and by its actions
rather than its words” (Tories
rebuke Boris Johnson over
‘catastrophic’ Afghanistan failure,
there are questions that remain 14 August). The octogenarian film theguardian.com, 18 August).
As in the US, the recent tragedy unanswered. It seems that Jake director is admired worldwide. His Mark Boyle
in Plymouth stems from the Davison’s shotgun certificate was courage is immense, his loyalty to Johnstone, Renfrewshire
properly revoked and should never working-class people unparalleled.
(Family of pair injured by killer angry have been reinstated. His effectiveness in raising public • We were a non-sewing family.
at decision to restore gun licence, While politicians and the public awareness of social injustice and Fortunately, you could buy
17 August). Guns only haveone demand more rigorous screening poverty over decades puts Keir made-up clothes from Clothkits
before shotgun certificates are Starmer’s 19-month impact on (Letters, 18 August). I regularly
Shotguns are ideally adapted for granted, I hear no mention of the our politics into a harsh critical wear two shirts bought in the late
both.They are usually the weapon of lack of mental health support that perspective. I became a Labour 1980s. Moreover, they still fit.
supporter in part because of Cathy Chris Palmer
well-documented issues from Come Home (1966). I hope to live Ayr, Ayrshire
Why does a person living in deteriorating to the extent whereby long enough to see Labour rue the
he committed this atrocity. Clinician day it made the completely bonkers •After the comment by Christine
a shotgun? In the 1960s, my involvement might have informed decision to purge dedicated, Hawkes (Letters, 17 August), Iam
gamekeeper father used to despair the decision-makers of the dangers principled socialists from its ranks. reminded that, upon prescribing
at the ease with which poachers in that Davison could have presented Rosie Brocklehurst metformin tablets for me, my
urban areas could acquire shotguns. as a shotgun certificate holder. Labour party press officer, 1984-87 doctor pointed out that my
Then the issue of shotgun licences The mental health charity Mind posterior would be able to play
was a mere formality – and, given says that the provisions of the 2021 •I can’t think of anyone else with the whole of the Last Night of the
the ease with which men such as budget “still fall far short of what such a long, fierce and impressive Proms. “You’ll be blown away by it,”
the perpetrator of the Plymouth is needed to address the mental record of care for all parts of society he said. How right he was.
shooting acquire such guns, little health crisis we are facing”. as Ken Loach, whether on the plight Philip Wood
seems to have changed. A change The UK has some of the toughest of homeless people, the exploitation Port Logan, Wigtownshire
in legal and policing culture is restrictions to obtaining shotgun of migrant workers, or zero-hours
required. People should not have and firearms certificates. An contracts.Amazingly he, and his • If any readers are feeling wistful
the right to possess something equal contributor to this appalling films, are accessible.He does not about their inability to fully
whose purpose is to kill. Shotgun disaster might have been the avoid pointing out uncomfortable participate in the latest trend, I
licences, particularly in urban inadequate response to the mental truths.A poor world this if Labour have a recipe for a very nice sprout
health problems of the perpetrator. throws this voice of conscience out. curry which I could share.
there are compelling reasons to do Roger Beck Anil Bhatt Mike Perry
otherwise. Shotgun owners should Ampleforth, North Yorkshire Sunderland Ickenham, London
10
Sean Lock
Comedian known for
his deadpanhumour
and appearanceson
S
popular panel shows
ean Lock, who
has died of cancer
aged 58, was a
bespectacled,
besuited and well-
groomed standup
comedian who
projected a constant
air of puzzlement as he imparted
his deadpan observational humour.
His style was best summed up
by his own assessment: “When
it comes down to it, comedy is
rehearsed moaning.”
He was adept at blending
wordplay with slapstick and the
occasional touch of the absurd,
covering subjects from salad
cream, 1970s furniture and messy
family cars to the origins of cake
Obituaries
• The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021
decoration, golf on the radio and
forgetting to take a “bag for life” to
do the supermarket shop.
“What’s remarkable about Lock
is how he burnishes the dross of
observational platitude into gold,”
Brian Logan wrote in a Guardian
review of the comedian’s 2010
Lockipedia tour.
Alongside his standup act,
television panel shows kept
him in front of a big audience
for two decades. He will be best
remembered as a team captain for
the first 18 series (2005 to 2015)
of the Channel 4 show 8 Out of 10
Cats, which gets comedy out of
opinion poll results, and he quickly
emerged as its biggest star.
In 2012, to mark Channel 4’s
30th anniversary, Lock, along
with the presenter, Jimmy Carr,
and fellow team captain, Jon
Richardson, switched to the
studio of Countdown – which had
been running for all that time – to
broadcast their version of that
show. The one-off special was so
popular that it became a series, 8
Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown,
and Lock continued in it after
leaving the original programme.
Sean was born in Chertsey,
Surrey, to Mary (nee McCreesh) and
Sidney Lock, who worked in the
building trade, and was brought
up in Woking. On leaving St John
the Baptist school he took jobs as
Lock on stage at a builder’s labourer, a Department
the Royal Albert of Health and Social Security office
Hall, London, worker, a toilet cleaner and a goat
in 2009. Below, herder in France. He attributed a
left, with Jimmy skin cancer diagnosis in 1990 to his
Carr, centre, and work outside on building sites in
Jason Manford the full glare of the sun, but made a
in TV’s 8 Out of full recovery after surgery.
10 Cats, 2010 Lock used his powers of
 /;
 /X/
U
observation gained from such a
wide life experience to develop
a stand-up act. “I used to go to
comedy gigs and see people in pubs
in London, then I started doing
open spots and it was a hobby for
many years,” he explained.
“One day I got my first gig and
I got paid £15 for 20 minutes, and
that’s when I realised you could
earn a living from it.”
His big break came when he
landed a regular guest spot in the
1993 TV sketch show Newman
and Baddiel in Pieces. This led
him to support Rob Newman and
David Baddiel on a tour that year
culminating at Wembley arena,
when the venue was sold out for
the first time for a comedy show.
Guest appearances followed on
other programmes and, in 1998, his
writing skills were recognised when
he became script editor for a fellow
comedian in the television series
Is It Bill Bailey?
His own persona was given a
boost when he wrote and starred
in the BBC Radio 4 comedy Sean
Lock’s 15 Minutes of Misery (1998-
99). Lock played his fictional self in
a London tower block listening in
on the lives of his neighbours via a
device called the “Bugger King”.
The programme evolved into
Sean Lock: 15 Storeys High, which
ran for two series (1999-2000),
introducing Peter Serafinowicz
as the miserable recluse’s ever-
optimistic, considerate flatmate,
Errol. Various oddball fellow
residents and tradespeople fleshed
out the comedy, while the listening
device was dispensed with.
When the high-rise sitcom
moved to television as simply 15
Storeys High (2002-04), Lock’s
character was named Vince Clark
When it and Errol was played by Benedict
Wong. The screen version began
comes
with Vince selling the flat’s only
down to it, sofa – and insisting the buyer
comedy is collects it as soon as it is paid for.
“You can’t just dump your furniture
rehearsed in the middle of my flat,” he says.
moaning
After establishing himself on
panel shows, Lock presented and
produced TV Heaven Telly Hell
(2006-07), with a different guest
– mostly comedians – each week
telling him about their screen
likes and dislikes. In line with his
own lateral way of thinking, he
also asked them to reconstruct a
moment in TV history the way they
wanted it to have happened.
He won a British Comedy Award
as best live standup in 2000, the
year his Edinburgh comedy festival
show No Flatley, I Am the Lord of the
Dance was nominated for a Perrier
comedy award. His stagetours
included Sean Lock Live (2008),
Lockipedia (2010), Purple VanMan
(2013) and Keeping It Light(2017).
Lock is survived by his wife,
Anoushka Giltsoff, and their son
and two daughters.
Anthony Hayward
Sean Lock, comedian, writer and
actor, born 22 April 1963; died 16
August 2021

Thursday 19 August 2021 The Guardian
Austin Mitchell
Maverick Labour MP
who fought hard for the
fishing industry in his
T
Grimsby constituency
he Labour
politician Austin
Mitchell got his
timing wrong.
Had he entered
the Commons
10 years before
he did, he might
have knuckled down and become
a minister. As it was, he spent most
of his first 20 years in parliament
sitting in opposition, by which time
his chance had probably passed,
and the remaining 18 years, it
sometimes seemed, commenting
adversely and often publicly about
the party and its leadership.
His sense of humour, which he
thought of as bluff and bracing,
often seemed to be somewhat awry,
too. When he scoffed in 2014 that
his constituency, Great Grimsby,
in Lincolnshire, was so solidly
Labour that “a raving, alcoholic sex
paedophile” could get elected as
the party’s candidate, he seemed
surprised that anyone might take
offence. But it was in truth only the
latest in a trail of slightly off-pitch
jokes made by a clever man and a
frustrated politician.
He might have had successful
careers as an academic or as a
television presenter – he had
experience of both – but in the
Commons he did not rise higher
than being for a short period a
parliamentary private secretary
Mitchell at the party conference in 1991. He was boisterously critical of most
Labour leaders including Tony Blair and Ed Miliband  F/
•
 obituaries@theguardian.com
 @guardianobits
and briefly an opposition trade and
industry spokesman. Nonetheless,
anyone who could change his
name, briefly, to Austin Haddock in
2002 to promote his constituency’s
fishing industry was not without a
sense of fun, or a taste for publicity.
Mitchell, who has died aged 86,
was the fishing port’s MP for 37
years, in a seat that was actually
rarely entirely safe. Three times he
won election by fewer than 1,000
votes, including his byelection
victory in 1977 and his final election
in 2010, and only twice, in the
Blair years of New Labour, was his
majority higher than 10,000.
Austin, the son of Ethel and
Richard Mitchell, was born
in Bradford and educated at
Woodbottom council school
and Bingley grammar school. He
studied history at Manchester
University and obtained a doctorate
at Nuffield College, Oxford, where
his specialism – which might have
surprised his future colleagues –
was Whig politicians of the early
19th century. He then spent eight
years as a history and politics
lecturer at the universities of Otago
(1959-63) and Canterbury (1963-67),
New Zealand, before returning to
Nuffield (1967-69).
After that he gained, first, a
regional reputation as an on-screen
reporter for Yorkshire Television
(1969-71), then, briefly, a national
one with the BBC (1972-73)
before returning as a presenter
to Yorkshire TV (1973-77). His
persona was as a blunt and fluent
speaker, with a Yorkshire accent
and an ability to cope with on-air
emergencies. This was most
famously demonstrated when
he interviewed a sullen Brian
Clough in 1974 on the day he had
been sacked as Leeds United’s
manager after just 44 days in
charge, together with his vengeful
predecessor, Don Revie.
He returned to TV occasionally
as an MP, presentinga politics
programme (1989-98)with Norman
Tebbit for Sky, thus accepting Rupert
Murdoch’s money – £50,000 a year
– to the annoyance of his colleagues
and at the cost of his job as an
Heopined opposition industry spokesman.
Mitchell sacrificed his full-time
that the TV career to become the high-profile
status of Labour candidate in Grimsby in the
MPs had high-profile 1977 byelection that
followed the sudden death of the
fallen Labour foreign secretary Anthony
from the Crosland.The intellectual Crosland
Premier had not been the most assiduous
of constituency MPs – Mitchell
League to said he came up to the town once
the Third a month, watched a football game,
Division strolled round the ground and then
went straightback to London to
‘without watch Match of the Day – and with
the sex’ fishing stocks dwindlingand the
industry damaged followingthe
cod war with Iceland, it was not the
most propitious time to be a Labour
candidate. Mitchell won by 520 votes.
A tall, slightly shambling man,
with a booming voice and a wry
manner, Mitchell proved to be
a hard-working constituency
MP – securing compensation
for Grimsby’s fishermen after a
prolonged battle – and long-serving
select committee man, where most
of his work occurred: first Treasury
and civil service, then agriculture
and rural affairs and latterly (2006-
15) the public accounts committee.
He helped to influence
legislation too: compulsory car
seatbelts (following an accident
that nearly killed him shortly after
he became an MP), the ending
of solicitors’ monopoly over
conveyancing transactions and
the televising of parliament. He
maintained that he had started
off as a Gaitskellite rightwinger,
in favour of state intervention to
promote equality, and found that as
the party moved to the right under
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, his
position left him on the left wing.
Boisterously critical of most
Labour leaders – Blair “seduced
by wealth – wanted to be Robin to
Bush’s Batman”, Ed Miliband “I
won’t say freak, I’d better say geek”
– he nevertheless supported Brown
for the leadership before deciding
he was “noble … but a clumsy man
with a special kind of ineptness”.
The fact that he sometimes made
these comments to the Daily Mail
scarcely endeared him to party
members, who suspected him of self-
promotion though, as he himself said:
“I wasn’t particularly interested in
11
Birthdays achieving high office. Which was
a good job, because I never did.”
One constant was his
Simon Bird, actor opposition to the EU, which made
and comedian, him an increasingly isolated voice
37; Jennie Bond, on the Labour benches. Maverick
broadcaster, was the word that tended to
71; Bill Clinton, be applied and there was an
former US insouciance to his wit. He opined
president, 75; that the status of MPs had fallen
Jonathan Coe, from the Premier League to the
writer, 60; Mike Third Division “without the sex”.
Conway, racing When accused in 2009 of fiddling
driver, 38; his expenses, he claimed he had
John Deacon, been arranging for his wife to
musician and “commit ritual suttee on a burning
songwriter, 70; pyre of furniture coverings as soon
Lord (Edward) as the divorce comes through”.
Faulks, barrister He nevertheless had to pay back
and former £10,549 for overclaiming on his
justice minister, mortgage and apologise.
71; Mary Joe
Fernández,
Mitchell admitted that
his enthusiasm for Twitter
tennis player, 50; occasionally got the better of
Ian Gillan, singer him: “Why should I apologise? It
and songwriter,
76; Ian Gould,
was just a joke that misfired,” he
retorted when the retiring Tory
umpire and MP Louise Mensch objected to
cricketer, 64; being called a “Menschkin … a
Lady (Olly)
Grender, former
good little girl doesn’t lie about
why she quit politics”.
communications He retired at the 2015 general
director, Liberal election as his health began to
Democrats, 59;
Martha Harris,
fail – he had had heart surgery
after collapsing in the Commons
footballer, 27; in 2013 – saying that, although he
Prof Sir David could still ask smart questions in
Hopwood, the public accounts committee, he
geneticist, 88; could no longer hear the answers.
Richard Ingrams, In 2001 he was appointed ONZM
former editor, (New Zealand Order of Merit), and
Private Eye, 84; in 2018 he published a memoir,
Russell Kane, Confessions of a Political Maverick.
comedian, 46; Mitchell is survived by his
Billy J Kramer, second wife, the journalist and
pop singer, author Linda McDougall, whom
78; The Right he married in 1976, their son
Rev Michael and daughter; and by the two
Nazir-Ali, daughters of his first marriage, to
former bishop Patricia Jackson in 1959, which
of Rochester, 72; ended in divorce.
Lady (Patricia) Stephen Bates
Scotland of Asthal,
Commonwealth Austin Vernon Mitchell, politician,
secretary general, born 19 September 1934; died 17
66; Jill St John, August 2021
actor, 81.
Announcements
O’NEILL, Kenneth John, husband of Patricia and
father of Conor, died on 7 August 2021 after several
months of illness. Funeral on 2 September 2021 at
11am, St Mary Magdalen Catholic Church, SW14
8PR. Mortlake Crematorium, TW9 4EN at 12.40pm.
Family flowers only, donations to CRUK via www.
memorygiving.com.
For Announcements, Acknowledgments, Adoptions,
Anniversaries, Birthdays, Births, Deaths,
Engagements, Memorial Services and In Memoriam,
email us at announcements@theguardian.com
including your name, address and telephone
number or phone 0203 353 2114.
Reread our obituaries of
the singer and songwriter
Nanci Griffith and the
footballer Gerd Müller
theguardian.com/
obituaries
12 Puzzles
• The Guardian Thursday 19 August 2021

Yesterday’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
Killer sudoku The normal rules of decoded should help you to identify other letters and words in the grid.
Easy 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.
Medium

Medium

Codeword

Cryptic crossword Guardian cryptic crossword No 8,58 set by Nutmeg

Solution No. 28,527
CHANDL ER ROCOCO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Across Down
I E A I I A A
SPREAD GADABOUT
D I G E D L
1 Means of protecting Romeo 1 Muggins heading off to join forces
CROS SEYED ORB I T during affair (6) (4)
E S D T I F 4 Customers, returning dessert, 2 Bring up troops to north, crossing
P ANT R Y SHOV E L 9 10 chose superior version (6,2) island (7)
L O O E E O
A C T I O N B O R R OW 9 Liberal Spanish gent added to 3 With cap still on, screwing one
C O M D L E working capital (6) end up? (8)
F E R R Y C OWO R K E R S
M I W L G U 10 Industrial waste slick on west- 5 Improvement helping to keep
G E N E POO L I N L I EU 11 12 facing borders of France (8) class online? (11)
N T O O A F A
S TAY ED PUND I TRY 11 Economy measure derived from 6 Buck model artist up (6)
parking in sports car, initially? 7 Ponder over water source feeding
(5,3,6) river (5,2)
13 14 13 Complete review of ancient 8 Claiming right to shelter amid
language, say, after study (10) trouble with government (9)
15 14 Fanatic regularly struck 12 Pressure on Polish hero worried
opponent (4) deep thinker (11)
16 17 18 19 16 Call back, demanding 13 Explains a loss suffered by flighty
sandwiches (4) courtesans (9)
20 18 Twerp in film, deep in thought 15 Country hotelier in China (8)
(10) 17 Nutmeg’s raised pounds in
21 21 Nth trip en route involved contest — it’s phenomenal (7)
22
particular motoring skill (5-5,4) 19 Pubs screening game Italy
23 Relative devouring hot comic wrecked (2,5)
23 24
strip (8) 20 Update devotional book? (6)
24 Voyage lots of sailors talked of (6) 22 Sound coming from empty
25 Queen attending summit in stomach (4)
States disheartened, they say (8)
25 26
26 More famiiar Conservative
Stuck? For help call 0906 200 83 83.
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