The Independent 13 Sep 2021

M O N D AY 1 3 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 1 W W W. I N D E P E N D E N T.C O.
U K
Hamish McRae Bel Trew Lucy Thackray Richard Jolly

Raducanu is a new The human cost of My travel wish list is It’s a century of
style of celebrity Europe’s wildfires deceptively simple goals for Mo Salah
Hamilton ‘grateful to be here’ after crash
Lewis Hamilton and Formula One rival Max Verstappen collide during yesterday’s Italian Grand Prix
Javid makes ‘shambolic’

Covid passport U-turn
Government scraps key policy ahead of PM revealing winter plan
ASHLEY COWBURN dramatic U-turn, just days with “no clarity, no objectives
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT after the vaccines minister, and a speedy U-turn”. The
Nadhim Zahawi, said it was announcement comes as the
Sajid Javid has announced that the “right thing to do”. Seizing PM prepares to outline how
the government has dropped on the climbdown, Labour said the government intends to
plans for domestic vaccine the government’s approach to manage the “challenges” of the
passports in nightclubs and vaccine passports had been pandemic in the autumn and
other crowded venues in a “shambolic from the start” winter months.
MONDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2021
News
Editorials
Raducanu’s win embodies

the Global Britain that we
should aspire to be
The stunning victory of Emma Raducanu in the US Open carries
a message that goes far beyond tennis. Seen from a UK
perspective it is one of a true Global Britain, one in which talent
is welcomed and developed, where immigrants can thrive, and
where character can be rewarded – a reality that is much more
than a slogan concocted by our politicians. Seen from a global
perspective the message is that two young women, both from
ethnically diverse backgrounds, neither born with great
privilege, can show the world that the qualities that brought
them together at this epic final in the Arthur Ashe Stadium in
New York City are a beacon of hope for us all.
Some parts of Emma Raducanu’s story have been universally

reported. She was born in Toronto, Canada, 18 years ago. Her
father was originally from Bucharest, Romania, and her mother
from Shenyang in China. She was brought to Britain when she
was two years old, started playing tennis aged five, and went to a
grammar school in Bromley, Kent, where she and her family live.
Less well known is that she has been supported by the Lawn
Tennis Association’s Pro Scholarship Programme. This is the
final stage of the LTA’s Player Pathway, which helps young
players from the age of seven through to major professional
competitions. Unlike Andy Murray, who moved at the age of 15
to the Sanchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona to get better
training facilities than were available in the UK, she was able to
reach her potential in her home country.
These bare facts demonstrate two encouraging lessons. One is

that the UK can create an environment that enables immigrants
to live their dreams. The other is that in tennis at least, the
opportunities for the development of talented young people are
vastly better than they were a few years ago. This mirrors the
advances that have been made in sports coaching more
generally, as shown by the success of British Olympians and
Paralympians in Tokyo.
These are lessons for the UK that need to be taken on board and
applied more widely. We must not just welcome the people who
choose to make their lives in this country and bring their human
capital to our shores – though that should go without question.
We must also find ways of developing the human capital of all
our citizens, whoever they are and wherever they come from.
The UK has made massive improvements in tennis coaching, as
Sir Andy Murray’s experience makes clear. It should seek to
think about its entire education system in the same way. Some
things we are doing well; many things we could do much better.
As for lessons for the world, let’s celebrate also the achievement
of Leylah Fernandez. She too was born in Canada, in Toronto’s
great rival city, Montreal. Her father is from Ecuador, her
mother a Filipino Canadian. Aged 19, she is only a few months
older than Emma Raducanu. By any standards, she is a terrific
tennis player, and she will surely have a great career ahead of
her. Together, they have electrified global tennis. Together, they
show other young women what can be achieved in one of the
toughest sporting disciplines. And together, they have
demonstrated that most wonderful of human characteristics:
grace. Grace in victory; grace in defeat.
There will be huge pressure on both these young people. The

media – both the conventional news enterprises and social
media – should beware of adding to that pressure. Sport is
supposed to be fun. We should also remember the crucial
difference between sport and the wider elements of human
endeavour. In sport there has to be a winner and a loser. In
almost all other aspects of our lives, indeed in any successful
society – in our jobs, our families, our leisure interests – both
sides should win. Life is not a zero-sum game.
But meanwhile, let’s remember that on Saturday something

special happened at the world’s largest tennis stadium that all of
us should welcome. We should welcome Emma Raducanu’s
great sporting achievement with joy, humility and hope.
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News
Vaccine passports scrapped

in latest coronavirus U-turn
PM ‘dead set’ against another lockdown, according to report
The health secretary Sajid Javid arrives at BBC studios in London yesterday (Getty)
ASHLEY COWBURN
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
Sajid Javid has announced the government has dropped plans for
domestic vaccine passports for use in nightclubs and other
crowded venues this month in a dramatic U-turn – just days
after No 10 defended the proposals. The health secretary
revealed ministers “will not be going ahead with plans for
vaccine passports”, in what will be viewed as a concession to
rebel backbench Tory MPs who have protested against the
“discriminatory” and “authoritarian” policy.
Boris Johnson first announced in July the certification would

become mandatory by the end of September for specific
premises, and only on Wednesday the vaccines minister,
Nadhim Zahawi, insisted it was the “right thing to do” amid
severe criticism in the Commons. Seizing on the climbdown
yesterday, Labour said the government’s approach to vaccine
passports had been “shambolic from the start” with “no clarity,
no objectives and a speedy U-turn”.
Mr Javid’s remarks come as the prime minister prepares to

outline to the country how the government intends to manage
the “challenges” presented by the pandemic over the autumn
and winter months at a press conference this week. The cabinet
minister stressed that he was “not anticipating any more
lockdowns” in England, but said it would be “irresponsible” to
take any options off the table due to the uncertainty of the Covid
pandemic.
The prime minister will also hammer home the message that he
is “dead set” against another lockdown as he insists the country
must “learn to live with” coronavirus, according to a report. In
his winter blueprint for “managing” Covid during the winter
months, he is expected to commit to repealing some of the
coronavirus powers handed to him by MPs in March 2020,
including those allowing him to close down the economy and
impose restrictions on gatherings.
Describing the argument Mr Johnson is set to make this week, a

senior government source told The Telegraph: “This is the new
normal. We need to learn to live with Covid. The vaccines are a
wall of defence. The autumn and the winter do offer some
uncertainty, but the prime minister is dead set against another
lockdown.”
A final decision is also expected this week from the Joint

Committee on Immunisation and Vaccinations (JCVI) on
booster jabs for people in vulnerable categories, as ministers
await separate advice from the UK’s four chief medical officers
on vaccinations for healthy children aged 12 to 15. “There’s a lot
of defences we need to keep in place because this virus hasn’t
gone anywhere – there’s still a pandemic,” Mr Javid told the
BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
However, scrapping plans to introduce vaccine passports in

England later this month for venues such as nightclubs, the
cabinet minister said: “We just shouldn’t be doing things for the
sake of it. It’s fair to say most people don’t instinctively like the
idea. We were right to properly look at it, to look at the
evidence,” he added. “Whilst we should keep it in reserve as a
potential option, I’m pleased to say that we will not be going
ahead with plans for vaccine passports.”
Mr Javid’s comments also came just moments after he said in a

separate interview the government wanted to “avoid” using
domestic vaccine passports, insisting no final decision had been
made. “It has to be something that is absolutely, absolutely
necessary with no alternatives,” he stressed on Sky News. “We
have been looking at that, we’ve been open about that.
Instinctively, I don’t like the idea at all of people having to
present papers to do basic things.”
The Conservatives have needlessly sown confusion

among businesses for months by threatening to
introduce Covid passports, and will not be forgiven
Reacting to the plans, the human rights group, Liberty, said:
“This is a victory for everyone who has stood against the
[government’s] discriminatory vaccine passport scheme. We’ll
be watching what happens next and examining the details to
make sure our rights are safe.”
Michael Kill, the CEO of the Night Time Industries Association,

also welcomed the move, adding: “We hope that businesses will
now be able to plan for the future with some degree of certainty,
regain confidence from customers and the workforce and start
to rebuild a sector that has consistently been at the sharp end of
this pandemic.”
But Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said the reversal in

policy was “the culmination of a summer of chaos from
ministers and they urgently need to get a grip before winter”, as
she branded the U-turn “shambolic”.
The Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Alistair

Carmichael said the move was a victory for all those “who stood
up for over civil liberties against these deeply illiberal and
unworkable plans”.
“The Conservatives have needlessly sown confusion among

businesses for months by threatening to introduce Covid
passports, and will not be forgiven for it,” he added. “After this
inevitable U-turn, the Conservatives must now see sense and
scrap the unnecessary and draconian Coronavirus Act
altogether.”
Earlier this week, however, members of the Scottish parliament

backed plans for vaccine passport scheme for nightclubs, major
sporting and music events north of the border. The 68-55 vote
in favour will mean that from 1 October, only people who have
been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be allowed into clubs
and large-scale events such as concerts and festivals.
On vaccinations for healthy 12- to 15-year-olds, Mr Javid also

told Sky News: “We have been looking at that. I’m not in a
position to make a final decision on it.
“I have received advice a week or so ago from the JCVI, our
committee of experts. Their advice was that I should ask the
chief medical officers of the UK, the four chief officers in the
UK, to take a look at not just the health aspects of vaccination,
but whether there were any broader reasons that it might be in
the welfare of children, and that’s what I’ve done and they need
to be given the time to look at this, and I will wait to see what
they have to say.”
Asked when the chief medical officers will give their advice, Mr
Javid said: “I’m not going to push them – they need to take their
time. It’s independent advice, as it should be. They need to take
their time.
“I don’t think they will be taking that much longer, but in the
meantime I have asked the department to work with schools, the
school vaccination teams, to start preparing, just in case we have
a situation where their advice is to recommend it, and then if the
government accepts that then I just want to be able to go ahead
with it.”
Mr Javid said he will not “push” chief medical officers for their
advice on vaccinating 12- to 15-year-olds, but added he has asked
for schools to start preparing.

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News
Javid vows to end PCR tests

for double-jabbed travellers
The end of the PCR test requirement will relieve holidaymakers (EPA)
ASHLEY COWBURN
Sajid Javid has insisted he wants to “get rid” of Covid PCR tests
for double-jabbed travellers, insisting the requirement should
not be kept in place “for a second longer than absolutely
necessary”.
Following protests from the travel industry over the extra cost
on families, Mr Javid said officials were examining the current
policy mandating a day two laboratory test when returning to
the UK from green and amber list countries.
The health secretary’s comments yesterday came after reports

suggested that the government was looking to scrap the PCR
test requirement in time for the school half-term holiday next
month to boost the tourism sector.
According to The Mail on Sunday, the requirement will be

replaced with a lateral flow test that can produce results within
30 minutes, amid concerns in government of “excessive pricing”
among some firms offering PCR tests.
Speaking on Sky News, Mr Javid said: “Of course we still want to

remain very cautious and there are some things, when it comes
to travel for example, there are some rules that are going to have
to remain in place. But the PCR tests that’s required on your
return to the UK from certain countries, look I want to try and
get rid of that as soon as I possibly can”.
The cabinet minister added: “I’m not going to make a decision

right now, but I’ve already asked the officials that the moment
we can, let’s get rid of these kind of intrusions. The cost that
generates for families, particularly families just trying to go out
and holiday, you know we shouldn’t be keeping anything like
that in place for a second longer than is absolutely necessary.”
Speaking on Friday, Mr Javid also hit out the “completely

unacceptable” practices of some private companies “taking
advantage of holidaymakers”, adding: “We are taking action to
clamp down on cowboy behaviour”.
The shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said at first

sight the report that the government was looking to ditch the
PCR requirement “looks like a reasonable approach”.
“We’ll have to see what the proposal is when it comes before

parliament. We have had some briefing into the newspapers
today that certain elements of the Coronavirus Act will be taken
off the statute book,” he told Sky News.
“At first sight, based on the briefing, the clauses which are going
to be taken off the statute book, that looks like a reasonable
approach to me. But obviously we’ll want to study the detail
when it comes to parliament because there have been huge
concerns about the way in which the Coronavirus Act has been
misused by the authorities, and ridiculous fines have been
imposed on people.”

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News
‘She’s put Bromley on the

map’: locals delighted by
Raducanu’s incredible win
The teenage sensation’s rise came as no surprise to those in
her hometown who saw her promise, writes Daniel Keane
Dream come true: the 18-year-old lifts the US Open trophy (AP)
A little under an hour from central London, down a leafy cul-de-

sac and through a maze of football pitches, a star was born on
the courts of Bromley Tennis Centre. The place where teenage
sensation Emma Raducanu first picked up a tennis racket was
fizzing with excitement yesterday following the 18-year-old’s
triumph over Leylah Fernandez in the final of the US Open,
some 3,459 miles away at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York
City.
Emma Wanostrocht, the centre’s business manager, tells The

Independent it was “no surprise” Raducanu had soared to the top
after watching her train as a child. Raducanu joined the centre
aged nine and trained between 10 and 15 hours a week, while
also studying full time at Newstead Wood School, conveniently
situated next to the tennis courts.
“You would watch her next to other players on the court and it
was obvious she was on another level,” Wanostrocht says. “She
has incredible natural talent but it’s also her work ethic that got
her where she is today.
People play at Bromley Tennis Centre in Orpington last week

(Reuters)
“As she progressed through the tournament you could see the
growing confidence in the way she played. Knowing what
Emma’s like as a person – very calm and measured – I expected
nothing less on the court.
“She’s incredibly polite, elegant and holds herself so well. She

really has a maturity beyond her years. Sometimes when people
become famous it goes to their head – that has never happened
with her.”
Wanostracht says Raducanu’s success marked a watershed
moment for women’s tennis. “For the UK last night, for
everyone to be at home watching tennis is a turning point for
the sport. Women’s tennis has too often been the backbench to
the men’s side – this will show people it is an exciting game in
itself,” she says.
Raducanu’s name appears on the winners board at Bromley

Tennis Centre (Reuters)
Despite producing the biggest up and coming star in the game,

Wanostracht stresses that the centre welcomes everyone
regardless of their tennis ability.
“Making Grand Slam champions is amazing though it’s not our

primary goal,” she says. “But it’s so exciting to know that
homegrown sport is thriving. There will be kids now that think
‘maybe I could have a go at tennis’ after seeing Emma win last
night.”
Born in Canada to a Chinese mother and Romanian father,

Raducanu moved to Britain aged two and settled in Orpington.
Local residents say her success has brought a surge of new
interest in the area.
Julie, 43, lives a five-minute walk from the tennis centre and
showed her support by sticking two posters of the tennis
sensation on her front window with the message: “Go Emma!”
“We held a tennis party last night for the final with my two
brothers and my mum. All four of us used to work as officials at
Wimbledon and tennis has always been a part of our life,” she
tells The Independent.
A young Raducanu on the courts in Orpington (Bromley

Tennis Centre)
“Emma Raducanu has definitely put Bromley on the map. I put

the poster of her up just before the semi-final because I thought
it would be nice for kids at the tennis centre to see that the area
is behind Emma.
“It just shows with hard work and dedication to your sport you
can do anything. My son plays football so I hope it inspires
him!”
Tom Young, 86, awoke to the sound of film crews driving past
his cul-de-sac opposite the tennis centre.
“I’m so proud that she’s from this area and seeing her win at
such a young age is great,” he tells The Independent. “When I was
18, I had just started working in Boots and didn’t think about
doing much more than that!
Bromley sits on the southeastern edge of London (Alan
Stanton)
“I’ve lived here for 44 years and the centre has been great. It
seems to be producing so many talented youngsters. We’re
expecting big things to come from Emma.”
Suresh, who works at Anbu’s Convenience Store near the

secondary school, says that Raducanu’s success is already
leading to a surge in interest in tennis in the area.
“People here are really happy. I’ve seen a lot of young people in
the area carrying tennis rackets recently so it’s clear she’s
inspiring the youngsters,” the 35-year-old says. “I think this will
definitely make them want to take up tennis.”
Already a Grand Slam champion at 18, Emma Raducanu’s place

in the history books is secure – but Wanostrocht is confident her
journey has just begun.
“I think we can expect big things from Emma for many years to
come,” she says. “This isn’t a flash in the plan – she is a force to
be reckoned with.”
Raducanu is a perfect
role model for Gen Z –
and an antidote to
‘celebrity’ culture

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News
Anti-vaxxers distribute fake

NHS leaflets and cartoons
Children are being targeted with anti-vax groups mobilising people to visit areas around schools
(Provided by The Citizens)
ZOE TIDMAN
K AT H E R I N E D E N K I N S O N
Anti-vaxxers are creating leaflets to look like official NHS

documents and cartoon posters targeting children to share
misinformation about Covid vaccines.
Posters are being shared on Telegram channels, with members
urged to plaster posters around local areas or share them on
social media. Some anti-vax groups on the messaging service are
mobilising people to visit areas around schools to approach
teenagers to discuss vaccines and misinformation.
The move comes as the government prepares to make a decision

about vaccinating 12- to 15-year-olds after the Joint Committee
on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) refused to approve the
move. In one channel, an official-looking “advice leaflet” to
spread disinformation about Covid-19 has been disseminated, an
investigation by media non-profit the Citizens revealed.
Bearing the National Health Service (NHS) and Her Majesty’s

(HM) government logos, the leaflet falsely advises that “children
are not at risk from Covid” and that “Zinc, Vitamin D and
Ivermectin” are effective treatments for the virus.
Designed as a shareable download, the leaflet not only poses as

an official document, but the designer plans to share it among
anti-vaxxers to print out and distribute in their local areas,
analysis of the anti-vax ViVa Democracy UK channel by Citizens
found.
This leaflet imitating an official document has been shared

on an anti-vax Telegram channel (Provided by The Citizens)
Other posters with anti-vaccine messages are also being created

with cartoon figures and designs to appeal to teenagers. The
brightly coloured posters contain QR codes which lead to
disinformation websites, advising children against taking the
vaccine and falsely claiming it to have caused death and
blindness.
New images are regularly shared on the Telegram channels, with

members urged to share them on social media and to print them
out as posters. One image contains cartoon figures with speech
bubbles containing messages such as “the jab made my aunt go
blind” and “they are all making billions from the jab”.
As the UK school term restarts across the country this week,

underground anti-vax groups are also planning to take their
protest to the children they believe they are saving. One anti-vax
group, Outreach Worldwide, has been organising trips to
schools to spread misinformation about the Covid vaccine.
Schools in southeast, west and north London have been targeted

by the group and members have shared footage of them
approaching pupils in school uniform. In one video, a woman
told students it is “safer to wait” as the vaccine is “still in clinical
trials and is causing quite a lot of problems for young people”.
The group has been promoting a leaflet that claims the Covid
vaccine is in clinical trials until 2023 and long-term side effects
on fertility, for example, are “unknown”.
Trial completion dates are set in the future to ensure long-term

monitoring of participants. Data from Phase III of vaccine trials
have been published. The UK’s medicines regulator has said
there is no evidence to suggest Covid-19 vaccines affect the
ability to have children. Meanwhile, real world data has
suggested complications from Covid jabs for young people are
extremely rare. And it has been estimated tens of thousands of
children in the UK are suffering from long Covid.
It is not the first time anti-vaccine leaflets have been handed to

school children, with media reports showing pupils targeted by
campaigners over summer. But campaigners are once again
targeting pupils as scientists and ministers discuss the
possibility of vaccines for 12- to 15-year-olds.
The UK’s chief medical officers are currently reviewing the
wider benefits of vaccinating this age group after the JCVI said it
wanted to focus on the medically vulnerable rather than
children. This week, anti-vaxxers staged protests outside at least
two schools in Kent, with police called on one occasion,
according to local media.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said:

“Covid-19 vaccines have saved more than 112,000 lives in
England alone so far and are the best way to help us live safely
with this virus. We encourage everybody to get their health
information from official, trusted sources like the NHS website.”
This story was published in collaboration with media non-profit

the Citizens

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News
Farthing’s delight as animal

shelter staff reach Pakistan
The charity owner declared himself ‘so bloody happy’ his staff were safely in Islamabad (PA)
DANIEL KEANE
A former royal marine who founded an animal shelter in

Afghanistan has said he is “so bloody happy” that his staff have
fled the country after it fell to the Taliban.
Paul “Pen” Farthing was forced to leave behind 68 staff and their
family members when he and some 150 animals were evacuated
from Kabul amid chaotic scenes last month.
The animal welfare campaigner described it as “absolutely mind-

blowing” that his staff had arrived in Pakistan on Saturday. In a
tweet, he said that the staff at his Nowzad shelter were “now
safely in Islamabad and in the care of the British High
Commission”.
Mr Farthing said he had seen pictures of staff and family

members – who include 25 children and one newborn baby –
after their arrival in Pakistan and the smiles on their faces “just
tell you everything you need to know”.
He added: “I am so bloody happy right now! This is absolutely

mind-blowing. It has still not really sunk in.”
Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, said they were being

assisted by diplomatic staff in Islamabad and would be brought
to the UK in the coming days.
Mr Farthing returned to the UK last month as the Foreign

Office raced to evacuate British nationals following the fall of
Kabul to the Taliban on 15 August. He had attempted to get
hundreds of cats and dogs, his staff, and himself to the UK in
what was known as “Operation Ark”.
He claimed that his staff had been denied access to Kabul airport
after the US authorities announced that they would require a
passport with a visa.
The campaign attracted widespread support, although defence

secretary Ben Wallace last month complained that a few of Mr
Farthing’s supporters had “taken up too much time” of senior
commanders.
Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, who served with the British Army in

Afghanistan, also told LBC that the UK had “used a lot of troops
to bring in 200 dogs. Meanwhile my interpreter’s family is likely
to be killed.”
Mr Farthing was also forced to apologised after The Sunday

Times published an audio recording of an expletive-laden
voicemail allegedly sent to Mr Wallace’s special adviser Peter
Quentin. In the message, he threatened to “fucking destroy” the
aide on social media unless he expedited the evacuation.
Speaking about his staff members last month, Mr Farthing told

The Sun: “It is just so depressing I had to leave them behind.
Some of them came with me to the airport but they weren’t
allowed to cross the line from Taliban to British control.
“I feel so many things. I feel very sad for them, I’m relieved for
me and I feel happy for the animals. There were lots of tears
when we said goodbye.”
The Foreign Office has evacuated more than 15,000 people,

though ministers have conceded that at least a thousand eligible
Afghans have been left behind.

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News
NHS blood test trial set to

‘revolutionise’ cancer care
The Galleri test detects 50 types of cancer from a single blood draw (Shutterstock/angellodeco)
L A M I AT S A B I N
The NHS hopes that thousands of people across England will

take part in the world’s biggest trial of a blood test that can
detect more than 50 types of cancer before symptoms appear.
The Galleri test, which is currently available in the US, can
detect cancers that are not routinely screened for and can
pinpoint where the disease is in the body.
The test works by looking for chemical changes in fragments of

genetic code – cell-free DNA (cfDNA) – that tumours leak into
the bloodstream, with some tumours shedding DNA into the
blood long before cancer symptoms are felt. The Galleri test has
been found to be particularly effective at finding cancers that
can be difficult to identify early, such as head and neck, bowel,
lung, pancreatic and throat cancers.
It does not detect all cancers and does not replace NHS
screening programmes, such as those for breast, cervical and
bowel cancer. In the US, it has been recommended for people at
higher risk of cancer, including the over-fifties. From today,
blood samples will be taken at several mobile testing clinics as
part of the NHS trial, which is the world’s largest.
The NHS aims to recruit 140,000 volunteers in eight areas of

England to see how well the test works in the health service.
People will be invited to take part from Cheshire and
Merseyside, Greater Manchester, the northeast, West Midlands,
East Midlands, east of England, Kent and Medway, and
southeast London.
Letters of invitation are being sent to people from different

backgrounds and ethnicities who are aged between 50 and 77.
Participants, who must not have had a cancer diagnosis in the
past three years, will be asked to give a blood sample at a local
mobile clinic and they will then be invited back after 12 months,
and again at two years, to give further samples.
NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said: “This quick and

simple blood test could mark the beginning of a revolution in
cancer detection and treatment here and around the world. By
finding cancer before signs and symptoms even appear, we have
the best chance of treating it and we can give people the best
possible chance of survival.
“The NHS has a successful track record of leading the way on

innovations in cancer diagnosis and treatment, from CAR-T
therapy to Covid-friendly drugs. The Galleri blood test, if
successful, could play a major part in achieving our NHS Long
Term Plan ambition to catch three-quarters of cancers at an
early stage, when they are easier to treat.
“So if you are invited, please take part – you could be helping us
to revolutionise cancer care and protect yourself.”
The NHS trial is being led by the Cancer Research UK and

King’s College London Cancer Prevention Trials Unit together
with medtech company Grail, which developed the Galleri test.
The first results from the study are expected by 2023. If
successful, the NHS in England plans to extend the roll-out to a
further 1 million people in 2024 and 2025.
In the trial, half the people will have their blood sample
screened with the Galleri test straight away and the other half
will have their sample stored and may be tested in the future.
This will allow scientists to compare the stage at which cancer is
detected between the two groups. Anyone in the test group
found to have signs of cancer will be contacted by the trial nurse
and referred to a hospital for further tests.
Health secretary Sajid Javid said the test is “revolutionary” and

would “give people the best possible chance of beating the
disease”.
The test had a very low false positive rate, meaning very few
people would be wrongly diagnosed with cancer, research
published in June in the journal Annals of Oncolo found.
Scientists analysed how the test worked in 2,823 people with the
disease and 1,254 people without. It correctly identified cancer
in 51.5 per cent of cases, across all stages of the disease, and
wrongly detected cancer in just 0.5 per cent of cases.
Experts have stressed that anyone with symptoms of cancer

should always seek help from their GP. Hospitals in England and
Wales are involved in another study, called Simplify, which
carries out the Galleri test on people with possible cancer
symptoms.

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News
CBI chief warns against

hiking up business taxes
‘Businesses need to be encouraged to invest, rather than hit with fresh levies,’ says Tony Danker
(PA)
ANNA ISAAC
The government should stop increasing taxes on businesses and

jobs, as it risks derailing the economy’s recovery from the
pandemic, the head of the Confederation of British Industry is
expected to say in a speech today.
Tony Danker, director general of the CBI, will call on the
government to rethink the tax burden it is placing on businesses
or face a “self-defeating” halt to investment in the UK.
While companies across the country had been ready to shoulder

some of the costs arising from Covid-19, the government is now
going too far with its latest plan to increase national insurance
contributions, Mr Danker is expected to say in a speech at the
Alliance Manchester Business School.
“After the pandemic, we in business believe that we should pay

our fair share to tackle the debts of Covid,” his speech will note.
“That is why many business leaders accepted the jaw-dropping
six-point corporate tax increase announced in March. But there
is a real risk now that the government will keep turning to
business taxes to carry the load.
“Choosing national insurance for social care funding is the latest

example. And I am deeply worried the government thinks that
taxing business – perhaps more politically palatable – is without
consequence to growth,” Mr Danker is expected to say. “It’s not.
Raising business taxes too far has always been self-defeating as it
stymies further investment.”
Instead, the government should “flip” its approach and rather

than tax businesses more heavily, it should reward those who
choose to invest in the future of the UK economy.
The speech comes ahead of the Conservative and Labour party

conferences and this autumn’s Budget, which is set to cement
the government’s plans to increase national insurance
contributions by 1.25 percentage points, an increase of around
10 per cent for workers on lower incomes. Under government
plans this will become a separate health and social care levy in
future tax years.
According to the think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, this
will bring the UK’s tax take to its highest-ever sustained share of
the economy.
Businesses also pay national insurance contributions on their

workers’ salaries, and the step has provoked a backlash among
industry groups who believe the tax hike is coming amid too
many other pressures on employers in the wake of the pandemic
and as the furlough scheme comes to an end.
The response from the social care sector has been mixed, too.
Several experts have questioned how much of the levy will go
towards care costs rather than being diverted to the NHS.
Mike Padgham, chairman of the Independent Care Group,

described Mr Johnson’s announcement as a “damp squib” and
told The Independent last week, that he feared the extra funding
would get swallowed up by the NHS. “It’s not clear how the
money is going to be ring-fenced for adult social care so it gets
to local authorities on the frontline,” he said.
Mr Danker is also set warn against short-term signals, such as

consumer spending, offering too sunny a picture of the long-
term problems facing the UK economy.
“Looking forward, it’s clear that consumption is likely to rage in

the short run. Consumers have saved and will spend. So, watch
the news in coming months and you’re likely to feel that things
are going well. But unless investment catches up, rather than
falls behind, that story will be short-lived.”

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News
Starmer says benefit cut and

tax hike hit the lowest paid
‘It is working people who are going to have to pay for the cost of his failure,’ says Labour leader
(Reuters)
ASHLEY COWBURN
Sir Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of hitting low-paid

families with a “double whammy” of a universal credit cut and a
hike in tax, as the party warns that some key workers will be
more than £1,000 worse off.
Launching a fresh attack on the government’s recently

announced manifesto-busting plans to hike national insurance,
Labour claimed the government was “putting the very
wealthiest ahead of working people”.
There is Tory unease over Mr Johnson’s decision to increase

national insurance contributions by 1.25 percentage points while
standing by plans to reduce universal credit payments to pre-
pandemic levels.
According to a Labour analysis, the party said these policies –

combined with plans to freeze the income tax personal
allowance – represented an “attack on the key worker heroes”
Britain relied on throughout the Covid crisis. The party’s
analysis suggested a social care worker could lose £1,108 next
year while a Band 5 nurse was set to lose £1,159.
Sir Keir and deputy Labour leader, Angela Rayner, will highlight
the impact of the cuts during a meeting in London today with
hospitality and retail workers also affected by the changes.
“The Conservatives’ plans to impose unfair taxes are an attack

on working people and an attack on the key worker heroes who
have got our country through the pandemic,” the Labour leader
said.
“The government announcement on social care will not fix the

crisis in social care, will not clear the backlog in our NHS and
will not protect homeowners from having to sell their homes to
pay for care. As usual with this prime minister, it is working
people who are going to have to pay for the cost of his failure.
“Two and half million working families will face a double

whammy of a national insurance tax rise and a cut to universal
credit. This is the same old Tories – putting the very wealthiest
ahead of working people who have to pick up the bill.”
Their warning comes as a separate Treasury analysis, reported in

the Sunday Telegraph, suggested the 1.25 percentage point hike
in national insurance may have “an impact on family formation,
stability or breakdown as individuals, who are currently just
about managing financially, will see their disposable income
reduce”.
It added the “behaviour effects” of the manifesto-busting

increase in tax – in the form of a new health and social care levy
– are “likely to be large”.
The chancellor Rishi Sunak, speaking later today, will set out
that 425,000 jobs a year are to be supported over the next four
years through a combination of public- and private-sector
infrastructure investment.
Setting out how £650bn will be implemented in infrastructure

projects over the next decade, Mr Sunak will say: “We put a plan
in place to protect jobs and businesses in their hour of need and
I am immensely proud that it is working.
“Today’s announcement of 425,000 jobs supported per year over

the next four years shows that we are sticking to that plan as we
level up opportunities across the country.
“But this isn’t just about numbers – our Plan for Jobs is also
about giving people the hope and opportunity to meet their
potential as we emerge from the pandemic and the economy
recovers.”

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News
Levelling-up pledge ‘means

nothing’ if universal credit
cut goes ahead, warns TUC
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady will demand better conditions for workers (PA)
ASHLEY COWBURN
Boris Johnson’s pledge to “level up” the country will “mean

nothing” if the government presses ahead with plans to end the
£20-per-week uplift to universal credit, union boss Frances
O’Grady is set to warn.
In a keynote speech to the Trade Union Congress (TUC) annual
conference, the general secretary will highlight the looming cut
amid growing discontent at Westminster, including from
backbench Conservative MPs.
Sajid Javid, the health secretary, reiterated yesterday that the

government plans to press ahead with removing the uplift,
insisting it “will be ended as planned at the end of this month”.
Just last week, reports suggested an internal Whitehall analysis

showed there could be a “catastrophic” impact of removing the
support, including rising homelessness, poverty and foodbank
use.
“Ministers tells us they are going to level up Britain,” Ms

O’Grady will tell the TUC conference in London today. “But
levelling up means nothing if they freeze workers’ pay, slash
universal credit, and the number of kids in poverty soars.”
Insisting that Covid must be a “catalyst for real change”, she will
say: “If levelling up means anything, it must mean levelling up
living standards. We need an economy that treats everyone with
dignity, that rewards hard work, that helps working families and
communities thrive”.
The TUC general secretary will also call on ministers to better

prepare the country for future economic shocks, including the
threat posed by the climate crisis, as she warns: “Covid is not
going to be a one-off.”
In an age of anxiety, working people are crying out
for security. We must build an economy that can
withstand the shocks – and help working families
face the future with confidence
In her speech, she will highlight the dangers posed to workers

through future pandemics, technological disruption and climate
change, saying: “Looking ahead over the next five, 10, 20 years,
it’s clear that economic shocks will grow and intensify in the UK
and around the world”.
She will add: “Covid is not going to be a one-off. Years of

austerity took their toll. And meant we fought this pandemic
with one hand tied behind our backs.”
“The UK must be better prepared for crises in the future and

they’re coming. Climate chaos is here already and the longer we
put off getting to net zero, the more disruptive it will be.”
“In an age of anxiety, working people are crying out for security.
We must build an economy that can withstand the shocks – and
help working families face the future with confidence.”
After a spate of recent disruption to supply chains and stark

warnings that food shortages in supermarkets and restaurants
are “permanent”, Ms O’Grady will also demand better
conditions for workers.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) group has previous

warned the labour shortages behind the gaps on shelves and
restaurant ensues could last up to two years, without urgent
government intervention.
“Ministers may scratch their heads about how to protect supply

chains and fill vacancies,” Ms O’Grady will say. “Well, here’s a
novel idea – let’s make that industry deliver decent conditions,
direct employment and a proper pay rise.”

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News
Experts warn policing bill

puts young people at risk
Teachers and nurses have asked Priti Patel to ditch ‘oppressive’ portions of the legislation
(Getty)
JON SHARMAN
“Oppressive” elements of the new policing bill must be dropped

so doctors and social workers are not forced to inform on
vulnerable young people, more than 600 experts have warned in
a letter to Priti Patel.
Ministers want to create a rule obliging public agencies such as

schools and GP surgeries to disclose information about service
users to reduce serious violence, using the Police, Crime,
Sentencing and Courts Bill, which is to be debated in the House
of Lords this week.
As part of plans to overhaul the justice system and cut offending,

they also intend to create serious violence reduction orders to
make it easier for police to carry out checks on people who have
been previously convicted of carrying knives.
However, some 665 GPs, nurses, teachers, and social and youth
workers have now written to Ms Patel, warning her scheme will
only result in more harm.
They wrote: “We believe that this bill will hinder our ability as
frontline workers to effectively support the people with whom
we work by eroding relationships of trust and duties of
confidentiality. Most importantly, it will expand the
criminalisation, surveillance, and punishment of already-over-
policed communities.”
The group fears the legislation will make them complicit in

surveillance and force them to hand over personal data even if it
conflicts with their professional duties. They argue this will
prevent young people, particularly those who are not white,
from accessing vital services.
They also say the serious violence reduction orders will give
police an “individualised, suspicionless” stop and search power
with minimal safeguards, with people likely to face “intrusive
monitoring”.
Existing stop and search powers, which the government

expanded this year by relaxing rules on searching people
without suspicion, are already used disproportionately to frisk
people who are not white, with black people nine times more
likely to be stopped by police officers than white people. HM
Inspectorate of Constabulary found in February that forces were
unable to explain the disparity.
Jun Pang, a policy officer at Liberty, said peers must reject the
policing bill and urged ministers to change course. She said:
“The new police powers it creates will lead to harassment and
oppressive monitoring of young people, working class people
and people of colour, especially black people, in particular, and
expand existing measures that will funnel more people into the
criminal punishment system.”
And Gavin Moorghen, of the British Association of Social

Workers, said: “The duty of confidentiality is crucial to our
ability to protect people’s dignity and privacy, foster
relationships of trust, and deliver high quality care.
“The policing bill may soon force us to betray the hard-earned

trust and relationships we have built with young people, as well
as our professional duties, by requiring us to be complicit in
their criminalisation, surveillance and punishment. The only
effective approach to serious violence is to focus on the root
causes such as poverty, racism, and other forms of structural
injustice.”
The Independent contacted the Home Office for comment.
Today’s letter is not the first volley of criticism aimed at the

policing bill. In March some 700 leading legal academics told
Boris Johnson his planned restrictions on the right to protest
were “draconian” and should be scrapped because they
represented “an alarming extension of state control over legal
assembly”. The new powers had not been requested by police,
The Independent reported at the time.
MPs waved through the legislation in July.

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News/ Politics Explained
What are the chances of

Tory MPs voting against the
government this week?
Votes are looming on the health and social care levy and universal credit (UK Parliament/PA)
JOHN RENTOUL
CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
Two big votes are coming up in parliament this week.

Tomorrow, MPs will rush through all the stages of the Health
and Social Care Levy Bill, enacting the tax rise announced – and
indeed already voted on – last week. And on Wednesday, Labour
will table a motion against the cut in universal credit.
Boris Johnson, who currently enjoys a working majority of 83, is

unlikely to be forced to change course. It would take 42
Conservative MPs to vote with the opposition to wipe out that
majority, or a larger number to abstain, and there is no evidence
of a rebellion that size.
The most recent rebellions came from different wings of the

Tory party. In the vote on cutting the foreign aid budget in July,
25 Tory MPs voted against the government and only two more
failed to vote. In last week’s vote on the money resolution for the
health and social care levy – a separate vote from the bill that is
required for any tax change – a mere five MPs from the right of
the party voted against, although a further 37 did not vote.
The more dangerous votes for the government will be the

follow-up votes on the Health and Social Care Levy Bill
tomorrow, because they could potentially unite right-wing
rebels, who don’t like tax rises, with left-wingers who agree with
Labour that national insurance is an unfair way of raising the
money – and both wings of the party might object to breaking a
manifesto promise not to raise national insurance.
Mark Spencer, the Conservative chief whip, hoped that

bouncing MPs into an early vote on the tax rise on Wednesday,
on the ways and means resolution (“ways and means” being the
ancient term by which the Commons asserts its supremacy over
the raising of taxes), will have pre-empted any rebellion on the
bill itself. This is, however, a presentational device. There is
nothing to prevent MPs voting against the bill, or voting to
amend the bill, even though they have already voted for the
money resolution to go with it.
Spencer calculates that refusing to take part in a
vote is less humiliating for the government than
losing a contested vote
Much will depend on how ingeniously Tory rebels or opposition

MPs can draft amendments that might be put to a vote by the
speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle. A cleverly worded amendment is
likely to trigger a larger rebellion than the simple votes for or
against the bill at the beginning or end of its passage.
Meanwhile, the other effect of the government holding an early

vote on the tax rise last Wednesday was that it meant postponing
Labour’s vote on universal credit to this Wednesday. The
government, by virtue of its majority, controls the Commons
timetable. Although it is obliged by convention to allow the
opposition a certain amount of parliamentary time, the exact
times can be changed at short notice, which means the
opposition debate on universal credit will now be this week,
after ministers have spent the weekend reiterating that the
decision to end the £20-a-week uplift has already been taken
and cannot be changed.
It could never have been changed by a mere opposition motion

in any case. Such motions may express high principle and moral
outrage, but they cannot change legislation. Although Labour
has experimented with some unconventional parliamentary
devices, such as presenting a “humble address” to the Queen as
a way of forcing the government to publish documents, it has no
way of forcing a vote that would change the rules governing
welfare benefits.
All it has is the power of embarrassment, which may be enough

to force Spencer to revert to his recent device of ordering Tory
MPs to abstain. He calculates that refusing to take part in a vote
is less humiliating for the government than losing a contested
vote. That means the opposition has to appoint its own MPs as
tellers to count both sides of the vote, which will then be carried
by 200-and-something to nil. But it would also mean that the
Tory whips were not confident that enough of their MPs would
support government policy in a non-binding vote, which would
still hand a propaganda gift to Labour.

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News
Prince’s Foundation to be
investigated over Russian
banker’s failed donation
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall during a visit to Scotland to promote The
Prince’s Foundation (PA)
T I M W YA T T
Prince Charles has become embroiled in a fresh donations
scandal, after it emerged a Russian businessman previously
convicted of money laundering tried to donate half a million
pounds to his charities.
The heir to the throne wrote a fulsome thank you letter to

Dmitry Leus last year after the 51-year-old banker donated
£535,000 to The Prince’s Foundation and offered to meet him
in person once the pandemic lockdown was over.
However, the ethics committee of the foundation later

concluded they could not accept the money once they
discovered Mr Leus had been convicted of money laundering in
his native Russia, although the conviction was later overturned.
But rather than return the six-figure donation, it appears to have

been diverted elsewhere, with the deputy executive director of
The Prince’s Foundation, Chris Martin, telling Mr Leus it had
been passed on to another of Prince Charles’s charities,
Children & the Arts, The Sunday Times has reported.
This organisation has denied it ever received the cash and has
said it is in the process of being wound up instead.
The revelations come just one week after the heir to the throne’s
most trusted aide Michael Fawcett was forced to resign
following allegations he helped secure a CBE for a Saudi
billionaire who had donated £1.5m to Prince Charles’s charities.
According to The Sunday Times, Mr Leus made his donations

after he was promised by a middle-man he would get a private
meeting with Prince Charles at a Scottish castle.
It has also reported Mr Fawcett has been advising the banker on

how to improve his reputation and introducing him to charity
executives to whom he could make other donations.
The Prince’s Foundation has now launched an investigation into

its dealings with Mr Leus, while Clarence House said in a
statement to the newspaper: “The Prince of Wales fully supports
the investigation now under way at the foundation.”
But this has not mollified the Scottish Charity Regulator

(OSCR), which has begun a formal investigation into the
foundation.
In a statement, the OSCR said: ““It is the responsibility of all

charity trustees, the people who manage and control a charity, to
act at all times in the interests of the charity and comply with
their legal duties in doing so.
“In particular, they must ensure that all funds are spent in
achieving the charity’s purposes, and ensure that grants or
donations are used in line with any conditions imposed. We will
consider what, if any, further action is appropriate for us to take
when we have been able to fully consider information provided
to us by the charity.”

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News
Meet the ‘British Gretas’

leading the climate fight
Colin Drury talks to four young activists ahead of Cop26
Emma Greenwood speaking in parliament (UK Parliament)
She is the Swedish teenager who helped put the climate crisis at
the top of the world’s agenda, inspired millions of school
children to fight for their futures and, just for good measure, put
the boot into Donald Trump.
Greta Thunberg has arguably done more than anyone else on
planet Earth to drive forward ecological action. But she is not
alone. Teenagers across the world have put themselves front and
centre in the fight against climate change over the last two years.
They have done so, essentially, because they felt adults had
squandered their opportunity.
Now, in the run-up to Cop26, The Independent meets four of the

most remarkable UK youngsters dedicating their youths to
saving the world. They may demur at the title but these are the
British Gretas…
The school strike organiser
Emma Greenwood (Supplied)
Emma Greenwood was just 11 when the pub in her home village
of Ramsbottom, Bury, was destroyed during the unprecedented
floods of Christmas 2015. “That’s when the threat was really
brought home to me,” she says. “Realising places I loved might
not be here when I was older, it really scared me.”
Four years later, aged 15, she stood on a stage in Manchester’s

famed St Peter’s Square speaking to 10,000 people at the city’s
biggest ever climate rally, which she herself had organised. “It
was amazing,” the now 17-year-old says of that moment on 20
September 2019. “St Peter’s Square has been home to so many
historic social movements and to become part of that history
was surreal.”
Just seven months earlier, two young mothers had organised

Manchester’s original Friday school strike. Greenwood had gone
along, ended up speaking, and had so impressed those two
mums they asked her to take over organisational duties for
future rallies. “I was like, ‘Me? Really? Yeah, sure’,” she
remembers today.
Since then, this daughter of two civil servants has grown into a
leading light in Gen Z’s climate fight. As well as continuing to
organise Manchester strikes (before coronavirus rather paused
things), she has become a digital outreach coordinator for the
Fridays For Future movement and raised environmental issues
in the UK Youth Parliament where she sits as a MYP for Bury.
She has spoken at an array of conferences, has the ear of Greater

Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and is now campaigning for –
and working on the logistics of – greater youth involvement at
Cop26. All while moving into the second year of her A-levels.
Does she ever relax? “Well, climate justice is my passion and my

hobby rolled into one,” she replies. “I love spending my time on
this.”
The Live Aid-style concert organiser
(O l i )
Frances Fox (Oscar Blair)
Suggest to Frances Fox she might be the new Bob Geldof and a
somewhat non-committal reply is forthcoming: “Hmmm,” she
replies. The 20-year-old environmental science student from
Bath is the unlikely brains behind what may go down as the
single most important gig of all time.
Climate Live will be a sort of Live Aid for the ecological crisis: it
promises some of the world’s best-loved artists performing at 40
(environmentally friendly) synchronised shows across the planet
on Saturday 16 October.
While the line-up and locations remain a closely guarded secret,

a launch show in April featured Declan McKenna performing in
front of parliament and Greta Thunberg speaking out in support.
“She’s been so nice,” says Fox, who’s on messaging terms with
the Swedish icon. “She’s lovely.”
Fox herself came up with her idea in spring 2019 while still in
sixth form.
She’d read an interview where Brian May said there should be a

global concert to generate even greater support for climate
action and decided, since no-one else was organising one, she
might as well. Thus, after assuring her parents that arranging
one of the planet’s most ambitious ever shows wouldn’t interfere
with exams, she set to work.
“It snowballed from there,” she says. “I ended up having to take

a year out to work on it.”
She already had plenty of eco-contacts through prior

involvement with school strikes but was soon generating
interest from bands and musicians keen to be involved. The
most surreal moment? When her favourite artist got in touch
asking to perform. “I’ve been listening to them since I was like
eight and now they’re playing my gig,” she says. “I’ve been
trying not to be a fan girl but it was pretty insane.”
Key to the shows – which have a ‘no fly’ rule for bands – is
providing climate justice groups with a mega-platform. “We
want to show the leaders at Cop26 that this is a global
movement supported by millions of people,” says Fox. “It has
never been more important they listen and act.”
The global connector
Anita Okunde (Supplied)
One of the earliest things Anita Okunde noticed when she first
got involved with climate activism aged 14 was, she says, that so
few people were talking about the impact of the ecological crisis
on the developing world.
“The global south will suffer the most as a result of climate

change,” she says today. “I just felt it was strange that those
voices weren’t being represented. To me, it’s so important
they’re at the forefront of any solutions.”
As such, she set about first helping link her local student strike
groups in Manchester with indigenous people from around the
world; then doing the same for other UK networks.
Working with Fridays For Future Digital, the 17-year-old who is

originally from Ireland but now lives in Rochdale, organised a
virtual conference where seven indigenous people from the
across the planet – including the Philippines and Colombia –
spoke about how climate change was affecting them and,
crucially, what they felt should be done about it.
If numbers attending were in the dozens rather than hundreds,
the session in August 2020 did at least add to the growing
momentum that the debate needed reframing around racial
justice, reckons Okunde.
“It was about offering a platform to communities which

continually find themselves marginalised,” says the sixth form
student. “I definitely think there is a growing realisation now
that the global south needs to be involved in this; and that’s the
message I’ll keep pushing. Those are the voices we need in the
room at our protests and at Cop26.”
As for Okunde herself, she has no small ambitions when it

comes to changing the world in the future. She hopes to study
politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University next
year – a first step towards parliament and an ultimate goal of
being UN secretary general.
The education campaigner
Tess Corcoran (Supplied)
The first time Tess Corcoran went to a climate demonstration it

was, by her own admission, partially a social occasion.
“I knew this was a massive global issue, but I don’t think I

believed a teenager going to a protest in Edinburgh could
change anything,” she says. “I mainly went because my friend
wanted to.”
Today, two years on, this 17-year-old is at the very forefront of

driving change in her native Scotland.
As a founding member of the Teach The Future movement

north of the border, she has been instrumental in pushing for
the country’s entire education system to be repurposed around
the climate emergency.
Specifically, the group wants the ecological crisis to form a

central part of every subject on the national curriculum by
September 2022. Pertinently, in a clear sign that they are
winning the argument, all four of Scotland’s biggest political
parties have committed to making the demands (if not the date)
a reality.
“One of the biggest problems is that this is the biggest crisis

facing the new generation but most of the time we [young
protesters] only knew about it from our own reading,” says the
daughter of a speech therapist and electrical engineer.
“The most important job of any education system should be to

equip young people with the tools to deal with the future but,
when it comes to the most important challenge we’ll face, we’re
getting almost nothing. Changing that is crucial.”
The group, she says, is now in regular contact with Holyrood

ministers and officials, as they bid to drive through change.
As for Corcoran herself, she has taken a year out to work on the
campaign, while volunteering with other projects around her
hometown of Kinross. “I couldn’t think of a more important way
to spend the next 12 months.”

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News
Hundreds murdered for

protecting environment
A record number of land defenders were killed last year, finds report (AFP/Getty)
DAISY DUNNE
CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT
A record 227 people were murdered for defending their land and
environment in 2020, according to a new report. Four
environmental defenders were killed every week from 2015 to
2020, according to an annual report from the human rights
organisation Global Witness.
Indigenous groups continue to bear the brunt of the escalating
violence and attacks, says the report. More than a third of all
fatal attacks in 2020 targeted indigenous people. The year 2020
was the second in a row where environmental defender murders
reached record levels.
The worst country for environmental defender murders was

Colombia, where 65 defenders were killed in 2020. The second
and third worst offenders were Mexico and the Philippines,
where 30 and 29 defenders were killed, respectively.
Leon Dulce, an environmental defender and national

coordinator for Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment
in the Philippines, said the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic had
fuelled violence against indigenous groups.
“In the Philippines, the lockdown was essentially a crackdown,”

he told The Independent. “When the pandemic started here, the
government enforced a militaristic lockdown. It focused more
on restricting the movement and curtailing the freedoms of
Filipino citizens and that also affected the work of
environmental defenders.
“The lockdown was used to justify the dispersal of indigenous

people blockading a mining project. It’s been used to justify the
dispersal of protests in the capital and provinces as well.”
The report found that at least 30 per cent of recorded attacks

were linked to exploitative industries such as logging, mining
and large-scale agriculture. Logging was associated with 23
murders, the most out of any industry.
Almost three in four environmental defender attacks took
place in the Americas in 2020 (AFP via Getty)
Almost three in four attacks took place in the Americas. In

Brazil and Peru, nearly three-quarters of attacks took place in
the Amazon – a region which is home to 40 per cent of the
world’s tropical forests, carbon-rich ecosystems crucial to
battling the climate crisis.
“This dataset is another stark reminder that fighting the climate

crisis carries an unbearably heavy burden for some, who risk
their lives to save the forests, rivers and biospheres that are
essential to counteract unsustainable global warming. This must
stop,” said Chris Madden, a senior campaigner at Global
Witness.
US environmentalist Bill McKibben, who wrote the foreword to

Global Witness’s annual update on defender murders, added:
“Corporations need to be more accountable and they need to
take action.
“Meanwhile, the rest of us need to realise that the people killed

each year defending their local places are also defending our
shared planet – in particular our climate. The activities that
flood our atmosphere with carbon – fossil fuel extraction and
deforestation – are at the heart of so many of these killings.”
Mr Dulce added he hoped to see greater action from world

leaders ahead of Cop26, the global climate summit taking place
in Glasgow in just a few weeks’ time.
“We’re the first and last line of defence in the planetary crisis
we’re facing, whether it’s the pandemic, being a zoonotic
[animal-borne] disease, or the runaway climate crisis,” he said.
“In the run up to Cop26, not enough global south or

environmental defender voices are being given space and our
crucial concerns, especially for the forests as carbon sinks, not
being addressed.”
The findings also show that 18 environmental defenders were

killed in Africa in 2020, compared to seven the year before.
The Independent reported that a group of young activists,

spearheaded by Kenyan environmentalist Elizabeth Wathuti, are
also calling for world leaders to take urgent action on the
murders of environmental defenders.
“Nobody deserves to be murdered for standing up for nature,”

said Ms Wathuti. “If anything, we need to be protected.”

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News
UK comes last in Europe

for ‘clean’ home heating
Britain trails behind in sales of low-carbon heat pumps, analysis shows (AFP/Getty)
DAISY DUNNE
The UK ranks bottom in Europe for sales of home heat pumps –

low-carbon alternatives to gas boilers, according to campaigners.
An analysis of 21 European countries found that the UK came
joint last for sales of heat pumps last year, with just 1.3 heat
pumps sold per 1,000 households.
Norway, the top-ranking country, sold 42 heat pumps per 1,000
households, according to the analysis by Greenpeace and the
European Heat Pump Association. The UK also came second-to-
last for heat pump installations, falling behind countries
including Slovakia, Poland, Ireland, Belgium and the
Netherlands.
Britain’s homes currently account for around a fifth of the

country’s total CO2 emissions and the government is due to set
out its long-awaited strategy for how it will tackle pollution from
homes.
“The UK already has the draughtiest homes in western Europe,

now we’re last when it comes to clean heating too,” said Dr
Doug Parr, policy director at Greenpeace UK. “If the
government wants a chance to catch up, it needs a proper
strategy and enough cash to clean up our homes on a massive
scale.
“This means substantial grants for heat pump installations,

especially for the poorest families, removing VAT on green
home technologies and a phase-out of gas boilers early next
decade.”
Electric heat pumps work by absorbing warmth from an outside

source such as air, ground or nearby water before transferring it
into the home. They require just a third of the power used by
electric heaters and use far less energy than oil and gas heating.
The UK’s independent climate advisers say that the UK will

need to rapidly scale up its deployment of heat pumps in
buildings over the next decade if we are to meet the legal target
of net-zero emissions by 2050.
The findings come just days after a report from Westminster’s

spending watchdog found that the government had “rushed” a
scheme to help people improve the energy efficiency of their
homes and reduce carbon emissions, leading to disappointing
results.
The UK’s green homes grant scheme, which ran from

September 2020 to March 2021, offered homeowners up to
£5,000 to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
However, government failures in delivering the scheme mean it

will help just eight per cent of the 600,000 homes it pledged to
reach, according to a report from the National Audit Office.
The Independent approached a government spokesperson for

comment.

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News
Grenfell play criticised for

release before inquiry ends
Survivors are divided by the dramatic depiction of events (Getty)
THOMAS KINGSLEY
A play based on the Grenfell Tower inquiry has divided opinion

for being produced while the inquiry into the 2017 tragedy is
still ongoing. The theatre production, Grenfell: Value En neering
– Scenes From The Inquiry, will explore the decisions that
preceded the fire as well as re-enacting scenes from the inquiry,
led by retired judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick.
The play received backlash online following an announcement
of its cast last week, with some social media users calling the
play “disgusting” and “shameful” for opening while the real
inquiry is still ongoing. Writer and campaigner Gina Martin
wrote on Twitter: “Unless all the money is going to the families
and individuals affected who still don’t have justice, I don’t want
to see a theatre production make any money off the back of a
horrendous tragedy that happened only FOUR years ago.”
Candace Carty-Williams, writer of the highly acclaimed book

Queenie, added: “So four years on, instead of any form of justice
for the victims, we have a stage play that places whiteness at the
centre of this enduring tragedy? Who called for this? Who is the
intended audience?” Another user added: “We need to
immediately raise our voices against this. How on earth???? RT
this and let's STOP THIS! Respect the victims!”
Ron Cook, who featured in Netflix series The Witcher, is set to

play lead counsel to the Grenfell inquiry, Richard Millet QC.
But residents in Grenfell’s North Kensington community, on

the other hand, have welcomed the play as a way to help the
public understand how the inquiry into the fire has impacted the
community. Justice4Grenfell campaigner Moyra Samuels plans
to attend the play when it opens in October. “It’s really good if
you want an insight into the impact of the inquiry on the
bereaved and the community,” Ms Samuels told The
Independent.
Si i i ki l di h i bli i i
Sir Martin Moore-Bick is leading the ongoing public inquiry
into the 2017 fire (AFP/Getty)
The activist, who also works with the Grenfell Health and
Wellbeing Service, added: “I thought it would be a useful way of
engendering discussion about the issues that are very obvious to
some of us around what exactly some of the key decisions were
around Grenfell – they were around value engineering. If you
want to be supporting the bereaved and the community, it’s
important to know the triggering things from the inquiry.”
The production, set to open on 13 October, is reported to be

based entirely on words from the inquiry. The Tabernacle, not
far from Grenfell Tower, is to be one of two locations showing
the play, along with the Birmingham Rep Theatre.
The play is produced by Nick of Time Productions, and edited

and directed by Richard Norton-Taylor and Nicolas Kent,
respectively. The pair worked together on the 1999 play The
Colour of Justice – The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry.
Norton-Taylor said: “What has emerged from the inquiry is an

extraordinary catalogue of greed, fraud, cheating and lying,
secret fixing of fire tests on their products, subtle layers of
corruption and racism, fatal cost-cutting, casual indifference,
and practices which one young company executive called
‘completely unethical’ and which some even joked about.
“The evidence in the Grenfell inquiry reflects many of the

problems deeply embedded in contemporary British society. I
believe that presenting it to a theatre audience will lead to a
wider understanding of the story behind a fire whose
repercussions will be felt for many years.”
A spokesperson from Nick of Time Productions said: “The

Grenfell inquiry is one of the most important public inquiries of
the past two decades. It is a powerful example of the
investigatory reach of the law and its ability to call people to
account. It is of profound importance to the survivors of the
tragedy and their families.
“The tragedy has also left an estimated 700,000 people still

trapped in dangerous homes and has revealed hazardous
construction problems going back many years that are now
preventing three million others from selling their flats. The
inquiry’s work has huge repercussions for present policy and
better future regulation for millions of people living in social or
private housing in the UK.
“The inquiry has now been running for four years. This edited
verbatim account of the inquiry is aimed at giving the public a
clearer overview and access to the evidence.”

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News
Pictures of the Day
Arc for art’s sake
Workers in Paris wrap the Arc De Triomphe in silver-blue fabric

in accordance with a decades-old plan by Bulgarian artist
Christo, who died in 2009. Getty
Quick on the straw
A bike and wellies stick out of hay bales along the route of stage
eight of the AJ Bell Tour of Britain from Stonehaven to
Aberdeen. PA
Decor rated
People look around the interior of the grade II listed St Michael

on the Mount Without church in Bristol, during the Bristol
Open Doors weekend. PA
Frankenstein fruit
Members of the public cast their votes at the 14th edition of the
Ugly Tomato of Tudela competition in Tudela, Spain. Reuters
Forest ranger
Russia’s Nikolay Gryazin drives through the hills of Pyrgos in

Greece during the special stage of the Acropolis rally. AFP/Getty

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News
Home news in brief
Royal watch: novelist Hilary Mantel doubts there is a viable future for the monarchy (Getty)
The age of celebrity means George will never be king
Author Hilary Mantel, who is best known for her Wolf Hall
trilogy, about the Tudor royal family, has predicted that, when it
comes to the Windsors, Prince George will never be crowned
king and that the royal family could be defunct within two
generations.
Speaking to The Times, Mantel said: “I think it’s a fair

prediction, but let’s say I wouldn’t put money on it. It’s hard to
understand the thinking behind the monarchy in the modern
world when people are just seen as celebrities.”
Of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s much-publicised disputes

with the royal family, aired worldwide on Oprah in March, she
said: “I’ve tried to sort of keep out of the Meghan thing because
I think it’s far too soon to have an opinion. And anyway, all of us
commentators are part of the problem.”
Plymouth cocaine haul sees six men charged
Six men have been charged with drugs trafficking offences after
more than two tonnes of cocaine – estimated to be worth £160
million – was seized from a luxury yacht near Plymouth.
The men, one British national and five Nicaraguans, will appear
at Plymouth magistrates’ court later today. The British suspect
has been identified as Andrew Cole, 32, from Stockton on Tees,
County Durham. The five Nicaraguan men have been named as
Billy Downs, 49, Denson White-Morales, 34, Edwin Taylor-
Morgan, 40, Brynie Sjogreen, 38, and Ryan Taylor, 42.
The cocaine was discovered on Thursday evening after the yacht

was intercepted and raided off the coast of Plymouth. The
operation had been led by the National Crime Agency (NCA) as
well as Border Force and the Australian Federal Police.
Australian officers based in the UK had tipped off the NCA
about an alleged transnational drugs gang using the vessel to
ship cocaine.
Waitrose debags deliveries and in-store collections
The supermarket chain aims to eliminate 40 million single-use

plastic bags per year by removing them from its deliveries and
in-store collections. It also sounded the death-knell for Bags for
Life, which cost 10p, which will be removed from all major
stores, and replaced with a 50p reusable bag that is reportedly
twice as durable, is made from recycled materials and is fully
recyclable. The company said its research had found that the 10p
Bags for Life were increasingly being used only once, rather than
multiple times as intended.
The change comes into effect on the same day that into-home
deliveries will resume, from September 27. If preferred,
customers can still bring their own shopping into their home in
crates provided, or have it brought to their doorstep by the
delivery driver.
Body found in Channel not linked to migrant crossings
The death of a man whose body was recovered from the English
Channel on Saturday is not believed to be linked to migrant
crossings, Sussex Police have said.
The body is thought to be that of a man aged between 30 and 50

and it is believed to have been in the water for several weeks.
The man’s body was found mid Channel after being sighted by a
passing vessel and was taken to Eastbourne by the RNLI
working with HM Coastguard.
Sussex Police said: “There are currently no suspicious

circumstances and a post-mortem will be arranged. There is
currently no evidence that this death is linked to migrant
crossings.”
Police inquiries are under way.

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World
FBI releases details of probe

of Saudi’s alleged 9/11 links
‘With these documents 20 years of Saudi Arabia counting on
US government to cover up its role in 9/11 comes to an end’
Saudi Arabia has always denied any official role in the attacks (Getty)
ANDREW BUNCOMBE
CHIEF US CORRESPONDENT
The FBI has released previously classified details of its own

investigation into alleged links between the 9/11 attacks and the
Saudi government.
The document details the contacts several of the 9/11 hijackers
had with Saudi associates in the US. Yet, the information did not
appear to provide conclusive proof that senior Saudi government
officials themselves were complicit in the plot.
Saudi Arabia has always denied that its government or officials

played any role in the attacks, even though 15 of the 19 hijackers
were Saudi citizens.
A week after Joe Biden signed an executive order vowing to

make public any information the government had into the al-
Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington DC that killed
almost 3,000 people, the Department of Justice released the
first tranche of such information – a heavily-redacted, 16-page
summary of Operation Encore, the FBI’s own probe into
possible links between the hijackers and Saudi officials.
While the document may not be the smoking gun some were
hoping for given that so many names were blanked out, lawyers
representing survivors and relatives, claimed it was just that.
“With this first release of documents, 20 years of Saudi Arabia

counting on the US government to cover up its role in 9/11
comes to an end,” New York attorney James Kreindler said in a
statement, first reported by the Florida Bulldog, a watchdog site.
“The findings and conclusions in this FBI investigation validate

the arguments we have made in the litigation regarding the
Saudi government’s responsibility for the 9/11 attacks. This
document, together with the public evidence gathered to date,
provides a blueprint for how al-Qaeda operated inside the US
with the active, knowing support of the Saudi government.”
Meanwhile, Brett Eagleson, whose father died in the Word

Trade Centre, said the release of the FBI material “accelerates
our pursuit of truth and justice”.
Mr Biden had promised that an FBI electronic communication

dating from 4 April 2016 would be made public by the 20th
anniversary of the attacks.
Among Mr Bayoumi’s contacts was Fahad al-
Thumairy, at the time an accredited diplomat at the
Saudi consulate in Los Angeles who investigators
say led an extremist faction at his mosque
Survivors, along with relatives of those who died, had long

suspected the document could relate to Operation Encore, an
investigation that the FBI continued, long after the 9/11
Commission issued its report in 2004, and which suggested
America’s greatest error in not preventing the attacks had been a
“failure of imagination”.
As it was, the previously classified document was slipped out

with minimal fanfare by the Department of Justice shortly
before midnight on Saturday, and in doing so just meeting Mr
Biden’s promise. It was located on a part of the DoJ website
called the “The Vault”.
Particular scrutiny has centred on the first two hijackers to

arrive in the US, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar and the
support they received.
In February 2000, shortly after their arrival in southern

California, they encountered at a halal restaurant a Saudi
national named Omar al-Bayoumi who helped them find and
lease an apartment in San Diego, had ties to the Saudi
government and had earlier attracted FBI scrutiny.
Among Mr Bayoumi’s contacts was Fahad al-Thumairy, at the

time an accredited diplomat at the Saudi consulate in Los
Angeles who investigators say led an extremist faction at his
mosque. The two men left the US weeks before the attacks, and
have always denied any wrongdoing.
The document details interviews carried out in 2015 by the FBI

with someone who had contact with Mr Bayoumi. The name of
the individual was redacted from the report and was referred to
as “PII”.
The New York Times said PII was applying for American
citizenship, and that he had detailed his work at the country’s
consulate in Los Angeles and shared anecdotes about his
personal interactions with embassy leadership. The document
also summarised his contact with people who investigators said
had provided “significant logistic support” to two of the
hijackers.
The document also says communications analysis identified a

seven-minute phone call in 1999 from Mr Thumairy’s phone to
the Saudi Arabian family home landline of two brothers who
became future detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.
The FBI continued its investigation long after the 9/11

Commission issued its report in 2004 (Getty)
Saudi Arabia has also insisted it had no role in either planning or

financing the attacks, the 20th anniversary of which was marked
in services and ceremonies across the US.
Last week, the Saudi embassy in Washington DC repeated the

kingdom’s previous denial of any complicity.
“Previous declassification of materials relating to the September
11 attacks, such as the ‘28 Pages’, only have confirmed the 9/11
Commission’s finding that Saudi Arabia had nothing to do with
this terrible crime,” it said. “It is lamentable that such false and
malicious claims persist.”
In a statement on behalf of the organisation 9/11 Families

United, Terry Strada, whose husband Tom was one of the 2,977
victims, said the document released by the FBI on Saturday put
to bed any doubts about Saudi complicity in the attacks.
“Now the Saudis’ secrets are exposed and it is well past time for
the kingdom to own up to its officials’ roles in murdering
thousands on American soil,” the statement said.

BACK TO TOP
World
Norway goes to the polls in

climate-dominated election
Despite their country being made wealthy by oil voters now
recognise the need to cut emissions, reports Alex Maxia
Prime ministerial candidates (from left) Erna Solberg of the Conservatives, Labour’s Jonas Gahr
Store and centrist Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Reuters)
Norwegians go to the polls today, voting in parliamentary

elections to decide who will be their next prime minister. The
election debate has focused on several topics, from the
decriminalisation of drugs to migration, school reform and
taxes, but at the heart of the debate has been the environment.
The climate emergency has been a central topic during the run-
up to voting day, as parties are divided on the future of Norway’s
biggest export – oil. Most parties agree on the necessity of
taking steps in cutting emissions but the parties are split on how
this should be done.
“Over the last elections we have seen that Norwegian voters

have been more and more concerned about the climate issues,”
says Dr Jonas Stein, associate professor in political science at the
Arctic University of Norway.
Historically, the two biggest parties are the Labour Party and
Hoyre, the conservatives. Both are set to lose seats according to
projections, however, they are still expected to be the largest
parties in a new parliament, so it is likely one of their leaders will
be Norway’s next prime minister.
Since the release of the UN’s IPCC report on the climate crisis
this year, there has been a record increase in people signing up
to the Greens. Even during the election period, there have been
changes in government policy from the current centre-right
government, which stopped subsidising the search for new
potential locations for oil extraction.
On the one hand, there is a consensus to work
actively in reducing environmental impact in
accordance with the Paris Agreement; on the other,
there is the necessity to safeguard jobs and
guarantee a source of wealth for the country
The two people who could be Norway’s next PM are Erna

Solberg, leader of Hoyre and Jonas Gahr Store, who heads
Arbeiderpartiet (labour).
Solberg, who has headed her party since 2004, is currently the
prime minister and has been in office since 2013 at the head of a
centre-right coalition.
Gahr Store is a former foreign minister and health minister, and,

according to polls, is set to be the winner of the coming
elections. To be able to form a government he will most likely
need to form a coalition with other parties.
One of the two more notable parties that could help form any
coalition is the right-wing Fremskrittspartiet, which wants
tough restrictions on migration and believes in continuing to
extract oil. It is part of the current centre-right coalition
government and is predicted to win seats during the vote,
proving an essential ally for a potential conservative-led
government.
The other is the Senterpartitet. The centrists’ focus is on

decentralising power from the main cities and helping the
smaller towns and countryside to have better services. They
have risen in the polls and have committed to back the Labour
Party’s candidate in a potential governing coalition.
North Sea oil and gas has helped make Norway one of the
wealthiest countries in the world (AP)
Norway built its social welfare system and a lot of its

infrastructure thanks to revenue from oil. The rising concerns
about the environment and the importance of the oil industry
for the country have fuelled a very big discussion among the
political parties.
On the one hand, there is a consensus among most parties,

except for Fremskrittspartiet, to work actively in reducing
environmental impact in accordance with the Paris Agreement;
on the other, there is the necessity to safeguard jobs and
guarantee a source of wealth for the country.
There has been a long-running discussion on whether or not to

build “the northern railway”, for which many people have hoped
for almost a century.
Currently, the rail link from Oslo ends in Bodo, northwestern

Norway, but the northernmost region is not connected. The
missing stretch of the railway would connect people in the
northernmost cities of Norway, including Tromso, often referred
to as “the capital of the Arctic”.
All parties agreed on the need for the investment, as the railway
would help transport both people and goods. Among other
things, this would allow the transport of fish, Norway’s second
biggest export product, to the south of the country in a quicker
time.
You have nine parties who will most probably enter

parliament and all have some sort of say in the policy
development. Even though in some areas you will
see changes, it won’t be a major revolution
Vocal supporters of the plan include the Greens and the Centre
Party, which see it as an opportunity to connect the more
remote parts of the country and reduce CO2 emissions by
cutting the number of trucks on the roads.
Tromso is the biggest city in Arctic Norway, with almost 80,000

inhabitants, but many people here feel very distant from the
decision-makers in Oslo, who are two hours’ flight away from
the Arctic city.
The dark winters and low temperatures make it a challenging

place to live for those who are not from the region, and finding
ways to create jobs and encourage people to settle here is one of
the challenges that the government in Oslo has been facing. The
Arctic region is of strategic importance in terms of natural
resources such as oil and metals, but also to access to the
northeastern trade passage connecting Europe to Russia and
east Asia.
“We have made models based on recent opinion polls and they
show that we are 95 per cent certain that Jonas Gahr Store will
be the next prime minister of Norway,” says Stein of the Arctic
University of Norway.
Though it looks likely there will be a change in prime minister
and governing coalition, this does not mean a complete change
in policy is ahead as the Norwegian political system is
consensus-based.
“You have nine parties who will most probably enter parliament
and all have some sort of say in the policy development. Even
though in some areas you will see changes, it won’t be a major
revolution,” he adds.
Norway’s new leader is expected to be announced in the early

hours of tomorrow morning. However, forming a governing
coalition might take several weeks or even months, depending
on the agenda negotiations between the parties.

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World
Towns on the Costa del Sol

evacuated amid huge blaze
Authorities believe the fires may have been started deliberately (AFP/Getty)
JON SHARMAN
A massive wildfire, that authorities in Andalucia believe may

have been started deliberately, has forced the evacuation of
another two towns in southern Spain days after hundreds of
people were rushed out of a popular resort.
The Spanish military has now been deployed to help tackle the
blaze which began on Wednesday near Estepona in the Costa del
Sol, an area popular with British tourists and expatriates.
Fanned by strong winds and high late-summer temperatures, the

flames have driven hundreds of people from their homes and
killed one emergency worker.
“We will work in coordination and without rest in the face of the
fire that is devastating the province of Malaga,” said Spain’s
prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, on Twitter.
Andalucia’s regional forest fire agency said on Sunday that 365

firefighters, supported by 41 aircraft and 25 vehicles, were
currently working to put out the fire in the Sierra Bermeja
mountains.
“Ground firefighters are working intensively in harsh conditions

trying to stop the advancing flames,” the agency said on Twitter,
where it shared footage of firefighters attempting to control
flames raging across dry and hilly terrain.
Andalucia’s regional government announced on Sunday

emergency services had ordered the “preventative evacuation”
of the towns of Jubrique and Genalguacil, with a combined
population of about 900, where residents had been confined to
their homes the day before because of low-lying smoke.
“The evacuation is taking place with maximum security

measures and before a possible unfavourable evolution of the fire
in that area,” the regional government said in a statement.
Evacuees will be housed in a sports centre in the nearby town of

Ronda. Ash from the main fire appears to be starting separate
blazes, complicating the work of firefighters.
On Thursday at least 600 people were brought out of Estepona

as the fire came closer. Hotelier Lars Christensen, 57, told The
Independent: “What a terrifying night. The fire came very close
to us. We have been up all night ready to evacuate. It is very hard
to take in. The swimming pool is now black with ashes.”

BACK TO TOP
World/ Profile
Meet Olaf, the man likely to

be the next German leader
Mix Starmer and Sunak with a dash of Blair and what do you
get, asks Sean O’Grady – the centre-left finance minister
who is tipped to step into Angela Merkel’s sensible shoes
Seat of power: Olaf Scholz, leader of the socialist SPD (AFP/Getty)
Politics is full of surprises, and not the least of them is the

strange rebirth of social democracy in Germany. As the largest
economy in Europe faces a general election on Sunday 26
September, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) seems set to be
the shock winner – albeit on only around 25 per cent of the vote.
For the first time since the demise of Gerhard Schroeder in
2005, Germany will have a person of the left, Olaf Scholz, at the
helm, though inevitably governing in some sort of coalition.
It is quite a turn-up for the books, given that the SPD, like so
much of the European left, has seemed to be in terminal decline
for so long. With their voter base eroded by industrial change
and nationalistic populism, centre-left and progressive parties
the world over have been written out of the political script. The
victory of Joe Biden and the more muted re-emergence of the
German left give their fraternal partners globally a little ground
for hope for a break in the clouds.
It makes a change. In recent years, given the SPD’s feeble

electoral performance, it has only managed to hold on to power
and influence at all by the grace of Angela Merkel, who found
the various alternatives too distasteful and thus had to prop up
the old rival party. It was almost an act of charity, and a bit of a
humiliation for such a historic movement. Now, though, it is the
SPD which is in the ascendant (or at least doing less badly), with
the Christian Democrats, now bereft in the face of the imminent
departure of “mutti”.
The switchback holds some lessons for the SPD’s sister party in
Britain, Labour, which has followed a roughly parallel pattern of
rise (1960s and 1970s), fall (1980s), rise again (late 1990s) and
long, dispiriting decline (2010s). With Keir Starmer’s party only
just registering a lead over the Tories for the first time this year,
there may be some lessons for Labour to learn.
The main reason for the SPD’s relative strength isn’t hard to
spot. The bald, pugnacious-looking SPD chancellor-candidate
(not always the party leader), Scholz has struck something of a
chord with German voters. In British terms, he is something of
an amalgam of Starmer and Rishi Sunak, with maybe a touch of
Blair. Let’s unbundle that a little.
Scholz self-consciously wants to be the heir to
Merkel, a sensible centrist who takes decisions
rationally on the evidence and chooses the best
option with little ideological bias
First, like Starmer (and Blair for that matter), Scholz is a lawyer
by training who went into politics, and has never had what lazy
critics call “a real job”. (Unlike his brothers Jens, an
anaesthesiologist and academic, and Ingo, a tech entrepreneur).
He graduated from high school in 1977, picked up a degree in
law from university in Hamburg, specialised in labour law and
wound up in the civil service. A complete SPD insider, he was a
student politician and got into the Bundestag in 1998 at the age
of 40, and married Britta Ernst, another SPD politician.
He was general secretary of his party during the SPD’s last

tenure in office (with the Greens from 1998 to 2005), and has
held office during the SPDs on/off grand coalitions with the
Christian Democrats ever since. By 2018 he was finance
minister, a job that has made his reputation. His lack of any
other experience seems to have done him no harm, beyond
leaving him with a slightly dull Starmer-like image, the sort of
guy who you could imagine as a partner in a firm of corporate
solicitors. In any case, he too can hold his own in an argument.
But there is that ordinariness about him, which has earned him
the nickname Scholzomat, tilting at his supposedly robotic
persona.
Scholz speaks with designate chancellor Angela Merkel in
2005 (Getty)
But then again, this has been turned by Scholz into an asset.
Pragmatic, straight-talking, outward-looking, maybe a little
sceptical about romantic Europeanism (unlike his Christian
Democrat rival Armin Laschet), Scholz is a true son of
Hamburg, a small echo of the great Helmut Schmidt, who
presided over the SPD’s glory years in power 40 years ago.
Scholz self-consciously wants to be the heir to Merkel, a sensible
centrist who takes decisions rationally on the evidence and
chooses the best option with little ideological bias. Germans
quite like that, and value intelligence and competence in their
leaders (Boris Johnson would do badly over there; Starmer less
so).
Those who think the poor showing of the Christian Democrats

in the current campaign betokens a rejection of Merkel, and
especially her immigration policy that welcomed one million
Syrians into Germany, misunderstand what is going on. There
has been no swing to the far-right Afd Alternative for Germany,
and Euroscepticism is a fringe activity.
Merkel’s legacy is not about to be trashed: It is her prospective

successor, the jokey and colourful Rhinelander Laschet who is
the problem for the present ruling party. Laschet is prone to
clowning (literally in some local festivals) and gaffes, and while
Scholz has made his share of mistakes, he appears the safer pair
of hands. So keen is he to stress this part of his appeal that he
has adopted the “Merkel rhombus”, the shape the chancellor
makes with her hands when she isn’t making a point. It has been
noticed.
Such is Scholz’s appeal that his personal approval ratings are

sky-high compared to his lacklustre competitors. If Germany
had a presidential system of government, he’d win by a
landslide. He has been lucky with his enemies. A few months
ago the Greens’ leader and candidate for chancellor, Annalena
Baerbock, described as “tough, talented and very ambitious”,
seemed ready to pull off a Green revolution. Unlike in much of
Europe, the German Greens have evolved from being a cranky
one-issue pressure group into a genuinely responsible party of
government – so much so that in some places such as Bavaria
they have supplanted the SPD as the main progressive/left
party. But a plagiarism scandal got the better of her and she lost
ground as a result (Laschet has also been embarrassed by similar
claims against his authorship of a book in 2009).
Often the job of finance minister can

kill a political career, because that is
the figure often identified with tough,
often unpopular choices. But for
Scholz, like Sunak, the pandemic
presented an opportunity for some
heroic fiscal fireworks – vast support
programmes that helped keep
Germany’s powerful economy afloat
and people in jobs. As with Sunak,
Scholz even outshone his boss. With his wife, SPD
politician Britta Ernst, in
Merkel, though mostly respected for 2015 (Getty)
steering Germany through some nasty storms, including
banking collapses, euro crises, and the migration crisis, did not
cover herself in glory during the pandemic. As in Britain there
was a scandal over the procurement of face masks, and another
one involving the corporate collapse of Wirecard, though in that
case Scholz, as finance minister, had some difficult questions to
answer.
Scholz does, though, have policies for the future, and a

philosophy, albeit a borrowed one. British Labour might care to
note Scholz’s plain messaging, and he is pointing Germany
leftwards after decades of centre-right dominance. He wants to
push the minimum wage up to 12 euros an hour. He wants to
restrain rents (in a country where that remains a more usual
choice than in Britain), and targets a 400,000-a-year new homes
programme. A carbon-neutral economy is an obvious way of
scooping the left-Green vote. The rich will pay for some of these
reforms via a 1 per cent wealth tax. In style and to a degree in
substance he is the “continuity candidate” for Merkel fans (not
all of them natural conservatives), and comes from the right of
his party, but there’s a red lining to his coat.
He has also found a way of synthesising the old left’s passion

about equality of outcomes with the centrist emphasis on
equality of opportunity. Taking much of his reasoning from the
public philosopher and American academic Michael Sandel,
Scholz talks about “respect” for those who work hard and try to
get on, but who have not been greatly favoured even by new
opportunities, especially in education.
Not everyone can get a university degree – but do they not have
a right to respect, to some dignity, a recognition of their merit?
According to Scholz, “merit in society must not be limited to
top earners”. It’s a fine blend of populism and leftism; “popular
social democracy” (though he doesn’t call it that), unafraid of
itself and conscious of the tendencies to elitism in its own ranks:
“Among certain professional classes, there is a meritocratic
exuberance that has led people to believe their success is
completely self-made. As a result, those who actually keep the
show on the road don’t get the respect they deserve. That has to
change”.
He’s not the only one to notice how the pandemic has changed
perceptions of care home cleaners and lorry drivers. Scholz
thinks the left forgot about equality too readily, and that Trump
and Brexit are both the consequences of the obsession with
meritocracy as a cure-all that infected the left. In British terms,
it is, after all, a stereotypically Thatcherite principle, purloined
by Tony Blair.
He is one of the few politicians on the left anywhere

to have displayed much understanding of what went
wrong for their brand of politics, and why
Even in a completely open, equal-opportunity, classless society

there will be those who do not, for whatever reason, get to the
top or even the middle. What about them? We now call them the
left-behind, but they’ve always been there. You could call it the
limits of meritocracy, or even its fallacy. This is all explored in
Sandel’s new book, The Tyranny of Merit, and Scholz has
adopted it.
In truth it isn’t that new. Ed Miliband, when Labour leader, was

entranced by Sandel’s ideas, and invited him to deliver a lecture
in serious philosophy to the assembled delegates at the Labour
conference a few years ago, a novelty for all concerned. A little
further back, thoughtful old-school democratic socialists in
Britain, such as Roy Hattersley, used to raise the same awkward
questions in the heyday of New Labour. What about those who
just don’t manage to get rich, or even have enough to live on, in
the equal opportunity society? The egalitarian instinct that was
submerged under the language of opportunity on the left seems
now to be making itself felt once again. In Germany it seems to
be winning, or at least not doing so pathetically as it did in the
past. The strong German tradition of social solidarity may also at
last have come to the rescue of the SPD.
Scholz and Merkel in Berlin, September 2021 (EPA)
By temperament, background and political standpoint, Scholz

seems the natural candidate to succeed Merkel. Germans seem
to overlook his past errors, such as mismanaging the riots at the
2017 G20 summit in Hamburg (he was mayor of the city for a
time), and various botched episodes involving banks and tax
gathering. At 63, he is only a few years younger than Merkel.
Having joined the SPD in 1975, during the Schmidt era, and
been in the game ever since, he is highly experienced, but also a
thinker. He is one of the few politicians on the left anywhere
(Macron being an arguable exception) to have displayed much
understanding of what went wrong for their brand of politics,
and why.
In that respect he has a parallel with Tony Blair (though their

conclusions may differ), in that he has created a light frame of
philosophy that informs his policies and decisions, and one that
reflects the electorate’s hopes and fears. Now he may soon have
the chance to live up to his slogan – Scholz packt das an; “Scholz
will sort it”. Now, how does “Starmer will sort it” sound?

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World
Pope makes veiled criticism

of Orban on trip to Hungary
Pope Francis and Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban exchange gifts in Budapest (EPA)
JON SHARMAN
Pope Francis has visited Hungary at the beginning of his first

major foreign outing since his surgery in the summer, where he
met the right-wing leader Viktor Orban.
The pontiff, who underwent an intestinal procedure in July, said

mass in Budapest’s Heroes’ Square to mark the end of a major
Catholic conference taking place in the city – urging
congregants to open their arms to everyone, in an apparent
veiled criticism of Mr Orban’s migration policies.
He also met Hungarian religious figures and the country’s

political leaders during a brief stopover ahead of his main four-
day sojourn in Slovakia.
The Vatican and trip organisers have stressed that Francis had
only been invited to Hungary to celebrate the mass, not make a
proper state and pastoral visit as he is doing in Slovakia, and so
the brevity of his visit should not be seen as a snub.
However, he and Mr Orban disagree on a host of issues

including migration, and Francis’s limited time in Budapest may
indicate he did not want to give Mr Orban’s government the
political boost of hosting him for a longer pilgrimage before next
year’s general election.
Reverend Kornel Fabry, secretary general of the conference

being held in Budapest, noted that a majority of Hungarians
backed Mr Orban’s migration policies “that we shouldn’t bring
the trouble into Europe but should help out where the trouble
is”.
Mr Orban has frequently depicted his government as a defender

of Christian civilisation in Europe and a bulwark against
migration from Muslim-majority countries. Francis has
expressed solidarity with migrants and refugees and criticised
what he called “national populism” advanced by governments
like Hungary’s.
Mr Orban’s government has also passed a law that prohibits the

depiction of homosexuality in education settings. Francis has
previously indicated he is accepting of homosexuality on an
individual level.
During yesterday’s mass, Francis told Hungarians: “Religious

sentiment has been the lifeblood of this nation, so attached to its
roots. Yet the cross, planted in the ground, not only invites us to
be well rooted, it also raises and extends its arms toward
everyone.”
Mr Orban and the pontiff held a “cordial” 40-minute meeting,
according to the Vatican. While migration was not on the stated
agenda, Mr Orban later wrote on Facebook: “I asked Pope
Francis not to let Christian Hungary perish.”
About 39 per cent of Hungarians declared themselves to be

Roman Catholic in a 2011 census, while 13 per cent declared
themselves to be Protestant, either Lutheran or Calvinist, a
Protestant branch with which Mr Orban is affiliated.

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World
Vatican beatifies blind nun

and Polish cardinal who
defied communist rule
Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski (left) with his countryman, Pope John Paul II, in 1978 (AP)
S TA F F
Poland’s top political leaders gathered in a Warsaw church

yesterday for the beatification of two revered figures of the
Catholic church – a cardinal who led the Polish church’s
resistance to communism and a blind nun who devoted her life
to helping others who couldn’t see.
The beatification – the first step in the process of canonisation –

of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski and Mother Elzbieta Roza Czacka
takes place at a time of declining church attendance and as some
Poles have formally left the church over sex abuse scandals and
the church’s cosy relationship with a divisive right-wing
government.
In a time of growing secularisation and societal divisions, the

celebration is a reminder of the moral authority and the unifying
power the church once held over the nation.
The mass was led by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the head of

the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints and took
place in the Temple of Divine Providence in Warsaw, attended
by President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Mateusz
Morawiecki, ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and many
faithful.
Wyszynski was Poland’s primate, or top church leader, from

1948 until his death in 1981, but he was placed under house
arrest in the 1950s for his refusal to bend to the communist
regime. He was considered by some to be the true leader of the
nation and his long resistance to communism is credited as a
factor that led to the election of a Polish pope, John Paul II, in
1978 and, ultimately, the toppling of the system in 1989.
Wyszynski led the church through nearly three turbulent

decades of often bitter conflict with the communist authorities,
followed later by a form of partnership with the regime. Late in
his life, Wyszynski had become accepted by the authorities as an
important force in national life, and members of the communist
regime attended his funeral.
During the difficult years of the 1950s, when the atheistic

government sought to silence the church, the tall, slender
Wyszynski thundered from his pulpit that “Christ has the right
to be announced, and we have the right to announce him”.
Warsaw Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz claimed Wyszynski was the
saviour of the Polish church under communism. Czacka,
meanwhile, was born a countess in 1876 and went blind as a
young woman, devoting the rest of her life to helping others.
The Franciscan nun helped develop a Polish version of Braille
and opened a centre for the blind near Warsaw.
Yesterday’s ceremony comes after the Holy See has punished

around 10 Polish bishops and archbishops over reported cover-
ups of sexual abuse of minors by priests under their authority.
The revelations of clerical abuse and cover-ups have turned

some Poles away from the church and led some to take their
children out of religion classes in schools.
Some Poles are also angry about the church’s intimacy with the
right-wing authorities and the new restriction on abortion. The
ruling, which went into effect earlier this year, denies women
the right to abort foetuses with congenital defects.
AP

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World
World news in brief
Maria Mendiola, pictured with former bandmate Mayte Mateos, has died (SME/YouTube)
‘Yes Sir, I Can Boogie’ singer dies aged 69
Maria Mendiola, the Spanish singer best known for the 1977
disco anthem “Yes Sir, I Can Boogie”, has died at the age of 69.
Mendiola formed half of the singing duo Baccara, alongside

Mayte Mateos, between 1977 and 1981. After the pair split,
Mendiola continued to perform with other musicians, first
under the name New Baccara, then just as Baccara.
News of Mendiola’s death was announced on Instagram by
bandmate Cristina Sevilla. Mendiola formed Baccara with
Mateos in 1977 when they were both working as flamenco
dancers on the island of Fuerteventura.
After a record executive spotted them and signed them to the

UK’s RCA Records, their first single, “Yes Sir, I Can Boogie”,
became a surprise hit.
The track topped the UK chart and sold more than 16 million
copies, breaking the record for the most ever sold by an all-
female group. It enjoyed a revival earlier this year as the Scottish
football team’s unofficial anthem at Euro 2020.
Late rapper Pop Smoke’s gravesite ‘vandalised’
The gravesite of the late rapper Pop Smoke has been vandalised,
according to reports. Photos published by TMZ show damage to
the artist’s crypt at New York’s Green-Wood Cemetery in
Brooklyn.
Pop Smoke, real name Bashar Barakah Jackson, died on 19

February last year at the age of 20, after being shot during a
home-invasion robbery.
TMZ reports that the gravesite was damaged by vandals who

smashed a marble plaque in the crypt, and seemingly attempted
to drag something out.
Law enforcement sources later told the outlet that the NYPD
responded to a call from the cemetery around 2pm local time,
after an employee discovered the damaged crypt.
Gorillas at Atlanta zoo test positive for Covid
More than a dozen gorillas at a zoo in the US state of Georgia

have tested positive for coronavirus.
Handlers at Zoo Atlanta noticed that a number of western

lowland gorillas were experiencing mild coughs, runny noses
and slight loss of appetite, so they collected fecal samples and
tested the gorillas for disease.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 13 gorillas tested

positive for Covid-19. The report claims the disease was most
likely transmitted to the gorillas from an asymptomatic worker
who subsequently tested positive.
The employee was vaccinated, according to a report. Zoo

Atlanta’s policy requires all workers to wear gloves, masks and
face shields while on the job. All 20 gorillas living at the facility
are now being tested for Covid.
US church instals first ever openly transgender bishop
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has made history

by installing the first openly transgender bishop.
Bishop Megan Rohrer will serve a term of six years in the

northern parts of Nevada and California. The bishop uses the
pronoun “they” and is married with two children.
The reverend was installed in the post during a ceremony at

Grace Cathedral in San Francisco on Saturday. They will be in
charge of almost 200 congregations as they lead one of the
church’s synods – a church council.
Bishop Rohrer is the first publically transgender person holding

the post in any mainline Christian denomination.

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Voices
Johnson’s made a mockery of

our presidency of Cop26
The PM won’t even talk tough about the climate with the UK’s allies (Getty)
HYWEL WILLIAMS
More than 20 years ago, a UK foreign secretary

declared that in the modern world, foreign and
domestic policy are inseparable and that our
quality of life at home depended on the health of our global
environment. As our climate crisis deepens and worsens,
supporting climate action must no longer be a footnote of our
foreign policy but at the forefront.
Last week I held a Westminster Hall debate to explore the

interacting and interlinked relationship between the climate
crisis, human rights and UK foreign policy. Little did I know
that the UK government had already folded and struck a
backdoor deal with Australia, one of the world’s worst emitters,
to remove references to the landmark Paris Agreement and
commitments to emissions reductions in our upcoming trade
deal.
It is a shameful episode that underlines not only how hollow this

government’s “Global Britain” rhetoric is, but increasingly and
unacceptably, our commitment to climate action. As one
colleague noted, if we cannot even convince a prosperous ally
and friend to engage seriously with the climate crisis, why
should anyone – particularly from the global south – listen to the
UK at the upcoming Cop26 summit in two months?
This really does matter. Tragically, the climate crisis is going to

hit the countries with the least responsibility for greenhouse gas
emissions and the least resilience to its effects the hardest, even
as they try to develop. This means harder and shorter lives for
millions of people across the world. The World Health
Organisation believes that between 2030 and 2050, the climate
crisis is expected to cause a quarter of a million additional deaths
each year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress
alone.
Changing weather patterns like extreme heatwaves and

unreliable levels of rainfall mean that one in four children –
around 600 million – could be living in areas of extreme water
stress by 2040. These children could very well be dependent
upon the additional 100 million people the World Bank believes
will be impoverished by the climate crisis by 2030.
Global take-up of climate action has been muted
rather than amplified by UK diplomacy
We can see the climate crisis happening before our very eyes.
Forests ablaze, coral reefs dying and whole towns and cities
flattened or flooded by extreme weather events. Yet our foreign
policy, the very strategy underpinning our engagement with the
world and our message to global partners, seems geared to two
centuries ago. Far from humbled by the tragic debacle in
Afghanistan, the government seems determined to pursue a less
effective repeat of history by sending warships to distant seas,
striking shoddy trade deals, and financing fossil fuel investment
on a huge scale.
Take just two examples: the UK has pledged £720m of UK

export finance to support an offshore liquid natural gas project
in Mozambique and has contributed £700m for the design,
construction and operation of an oil refinery in a “strategic
maritime location” in Oman. By facing both ways on the climate
crisis, Boris Johnson is making a mockery of the UK’s
presidency of Cop26.
Worse for those who direly need our help, this government
turned its back on green projects and the world’s most
vulnerable when it disgustingly cut the international aid budget
due to “fiscal circumstances”. Somehow those circumstances
didn’t apply to our nuclear weapons budget.
Each example is appalling; collectively, they’re shameful. What

we learn is that far from seizing the unique opportunity as both
co-host to a Cop summit and current president of the G7 to
advance a positive, green, post-Brexit agenda, this government
has missed its moment.
Global take-up of climate action has been muted rather than
amplified by UK diplomacy. The government failed to get the
G7 countries to definitively phase out coal, has so far been
unable to secure the $100bn of climate assistance promised to
developing nations and now, with Australia, it seems we’re not
even prepared to talk tough with our purported allies to mitigate
the climate crisis.
Our climate simply can’t wait. Nor should we. As we learn the
hard lessons from recent UK foreign policy, it is time to put our
green agenda front and centre. It is the challenge of our time,
and unfortunately for many people and creatures across the
world, the challenge of their lives.
Hywel Williams is the Plaid Cymru MP for Arfon

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Voices
‘Utterly foreseeable’ – how

Greece failed to prepare for
this summer’s firestorm
A firefighting helicopter makes a water drop in the village of Vilia, near Athens (Reuters)
BEL TREW
“You didn’t spend money on firefighting

equipment, you should have sent the riot police
to put out the villages.”
This was the missive scrawled on a wall in a hamlet on Evia

island in Greece, an area that was ravaged by wildfires last
month. Hundreds of extraordinary fires have ripped through the
Mediterranean basin, which has been blasted by some of the
highest temperatures ever recorded.
The graffiti sent a pertinent message to the Greek government:

investment in public services needs to be shifted from policing
to tackling key issues like the wildfire crisis. Across the
smouldering villages, the same angry messages were repeated.
Not enough had been done to prevent and then halt the fires
when they first appeared, and so they were allowed to take hold,
destroying tens of thousands of hectares of forest and with them,
two generations of livelihoods.
Many said there had not been enough investment in fire

prevention and firefighting capabilities. This was echoed in a
recent op-ed written by Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s former
finance minister and the co-founder of DiEM25, the Democracy
in Europe Movement.
“The climate emergency and state neglect caused this disaster,”

he wrote, adding that the overall budget of Greece’s fire
brigades was cut by 20 per cent in 2011. “This summer’s
firestorm was utterly foreseeable – as was the inability of our
state to respond effectively.”
Greek officials have argued that they faced an unprecedented

situation that few could plan for. But the issue is not unique to
Greece. There needs to be a radical rethink on global attitudes
towards fighting wildfires, said Konstantinos Pachidis, a fire
major-general manning the response to the wildfires on Evia. He
told me fire departments like his across Europe badly needed
more resources, more equipment and more staff “because the
future is dark”.
This summer, Greece was fighting dozens of massive fires across

three separate parts of the country at the same time, meaning
that its fire crews were completely overstretched. Although two
dozen different countries sent planes, helicopters, vehicles and
hundreds of firefighters to help, Pachidis said that international
cooperation needs to be improved and to go beyond joint
training sessions.
For the families I spoke to on Evia who rely entirely on

the pine trees for their salaries, it is going to take 50
years to rebuild the forests
He also told me that close cooperation agreements should

stretch beyond the European Union to include other
Mediterranean basin countries like Tunisia, Algeria and
Lebanon, where wildfires have also engulfed the land over the
last few months. He said there needs to be new fire prevention
methods, awareness campaigns and initiatives to tackle the
climate crisis and prevent the same nightmare from unfolding
again.
Even the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has said that this
year’s wildfires underlined the need for radical shifts in
behaviour to tackle global warming. “Preparedness was not
adequate,” he said, and dealing with the crisis “is forcing us to
change everything; the way we produce agricultural products,
how we move around, how we generate energy and the way we
build our homes”.
While 2021 was a record year for wildfires in terms of frequency,

duration and global spread (fires simultaneously burned for
months in Russia and the US, as well as in Europe and North
Africa), it is not going to be an exception.
Every expert I spoke to said the same thing: the coming years
will be far more dangerous. “The ‘future normal’ could be far
worse than what we have seen in recent years – fire risks are set
to escalate with each added degree of warming in many regions
of the world, including the Mediterranean,” said Matthew Jones,
a research fellow at the University of East Anglia’s Tyndall
Centre for Climate Change Research. He said that the average
number of days where the Mediterranean faces extreme fire
weather conditions had doubled since the 1980s. “As with many
impacts of climate change, the less action we take now, the more
we’ll struggle to deal with the consequences in future.”
And the devastation is immense. For the families I spoke to on

Evia who rely entirely on the pine trees for their salaries, it is
going to take 50 years to rebuild the forests. In Algeria, 90
people were killed. Areas of California are still ablaze, and
homes and livelihoods were also lost.
The damage of the fires also goes well beyond the physical
impact of the flames and crosses borders in the form of air
pollution. The smog from Greece’s fires has already drifted
across borders and is smothering neighbouring states that have
so far been fire-free. In the Sakha republic in Russia, the
estimated emissions from fires are double what they were last
year.
Wildfires are everyone’s problem. And they are only going to get
worse if nothing is done.

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Voices
Wishful thinking won’t get

the US a deal with Tehran
Rafael Grossi, director general of the world’s atomic watchdog, the IAEA (AFP/Getty)
BORZOU DARAGAHI
INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT
Even as it nurses political wounds caused by its

bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan, the
administration of US president Joe Biden is
facing another potential crisis in southwest Asia – Iran ’s nuclear
programme.
There are parallels between Afghanistan and the Iran nuclear
programme, as well as what appears to be strain in a US foreign
policy that is based more on fantasies and illusions of grandeur
than cold reality. Wishful thinking by war planners lulled the US
into a false belief that the Kabul government propped up by the
US would hold off the Taliban, at least for a while. And wishful
thinking got the Biden administration into the current impasse
with Iran.
This week, the board of governors of the world’s atomic

watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is
convening in Vienna and deciding on whether to censure Iran
for not granting inspectors access to recordings of activities at
its nuclear facilities.
Iran has warned that any censure could trigger an end to talks to
resurrect the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
(JCPOA), the painstakingly negotiated deal that was meant to
put curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme. Rafael Grossi, director
general of the IAEA, rushed to Tehran for meetings yesterday in
a last-ditch effort to hammer out a deal and avoid a divisive
debate in Vienna this week. The two sides agreed to at least
allow IAEA technicians to continue maintaining the surveillance
equipment, even if the recordings remain inaccessible for now.
While Iran deserves a measure of the blame for resurrecting a

matter that diplomats spent more than a dozen years putting to
rest, it is the US that is overwhelmingly responsible for the
current crisis. The administration of Donald Trump withdrew
from the nuclear deal in 2018 and launched a campaign of
“maximum pressure” sanctions and bullying to force Iran back
to the table to try and strike a “better deal”, defying the warnings
of anyone who knew anything about Iran – including the leaders
of America’s mosted trusted and steadfast allies such as France,
the UK and Germany – that it wouldn’t work.
The sanctions, which continue today and prompted
the Iranians to reduce inspector access to its nuclear
facilities, are not leverage but diplomatic poison
Unsurprisingly, a scheme hatched by the dregs of Washington’s

think tank constellation utterly failed to bring Iran to heel. It
instead prompted Tehran to step up its nuclear programme and
its provocative manoeuvres in the Middle East.
Biden campaigned on a promise to restore the JCPOA. When he

took office on 20 January he could have easily lifted some of the
Trump sanctions as a unilateral gesture of goodwill, giving Iran a
deadline of 30 or even 60 days to get back into compliance. But
magical thinking took hold. The administration was apparently
seduced by the fantasy that Iran was desperate for a deal, and
that the Americans could use the “leverage” created by the
sanctions to pressure Iran into the “better deal” that Trump
failed to get, or at least a commitment by Tehran for “follow-on”
talks focused on Iran’s missile programme and support for
armed groups in the Middle East.
In truth, the sanctions, which continue today and prompted the

Iranians to reduce inspector access to its nuclear facilities, are
not leverage but diplomatic poison. The sanctions prevent any
reduction in tensions. They sow mistrust between Europeans
who say they are forced to abide by them. They make the job of
Iranian negotiators seeking to sell hardliners back home on a
deal more difficult.
In addition, Iran has weathered the sanctions. Its economy isn’t

thriving, but a year and a half into a global pandemic, whose is?
Still, Iran’s oil exports are rising, and its steel production has
grown at a faster clip than China so far this year. Construction of
new ports, railways and energy facilities are proceeding,
according to a report by Bloomberg.
The US administration was warned repeatedly that time was
running out to restore the deal. Soon the Iranian elections would
take place, and a more intransigent team would take over in
Tehran. “The window of opportunity is closing fast on an Iran
nuclear deal,” said a piece on CNN’s website, published 7 April.
“Delay will only weaken Biden’s hand, risking a total collapse of
the 2015 agreement,” the scholar Vali Nasr wrote on 2 March in
the journal Foreign Affairs. “Iran could follow through on threats
to increase its uranium enrichment and accelerate its nuclear
weapons programmes.”
Putin and Xi have no interest in punishing Iran, which

is a trading partner as well as a welcome thorn in the
side of their rivals in America and Europe
After precious weeks were lost, indirect talks between the US

and Iran continued in Vienna until June, when Iranians recessed
for elections that saw the conclusion of the eight-year
administration of the pragmatist Hassan Rouhani and the rise of
hardline president Ebrahim Raisi, who was sworn into office last
month.
Iranians have said cheekily that their administration needs some

weeks to settle in before resuming talks, echoing the Biden
team’s explanations for why it was taking its sweet time earlier
this year.
But almost eight months into its term, the US administration

still needs to figure out what it wants, and to realise what it can
realistically achieve. It won’t be able to appease Republicans and
hawks on Capitol Hill by taking a tough stance on Iran while at
the same time restoring the deal. It won’t be able to cool down
tensions in the Middle East and make its coveted pivot towards
Asia and other global matters while warning in the presence of
the new Israeli prime minister that “we’re ready to turn to other
options” if diplomacy fails with Iran.
Perhaps the Biden team believes that without the toxicity of

Trump, Washington can again rally world powers across
ideological lines against Iran as President Barack Obama did in
2010. That’s when the UN Security Council unanimously
adopted tough sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.
But that is another Washington fantasy. Those tough 2010

sanctions came at a time when Vladimir Putin of Russia had
taken a step back for four years and allowed his sidekick Dmitry
Medvedev to hold the presidency, and before the hardline Xi
Jinping assumed the presidency of China. Putin and Xi have no
interest in punishing Iran, which is a trading partner as well as a
welcome thorn in the side of their rivals in America and Europe.
Russia’s envoy to the IAEA, Mikhail Ulyanov, clarified the

matter and sought to dispel any wishful thinking about getting
the anti-Iran coalition back together. “If a draft resolution on
Iran is tabled in the IAEA Board of Governors, Russia will vote
against,” he wrote in a tweet on Friday. “There should be no
illusion.”

BACK TO TOP
Voices
Congrats to Piers Morgan,

true winner of the US Open
What would Emma Raducanu have done without the presenter’s ‘advice’? (Getty)
E M I LY W A T K I N S
A couple of months ago, tennis prodigy Emma

Raducanu was sitting her A-levels. As of last
night, having won the US Open against fellow
star sportswoman Leylah Fernandez, she’s a global sensation
and undisputed British No 1. The first British woman to win a
Grand Slam since Virginia Wade at Wimbledon in 1977, and the
first qualifier to win a major tournament ever, Raducanu’s
underdog story has bewitched viewers around the world. And in
my case, she’s made me care about tennis for the first time in my
life.
Just kidding. I couldn’t summon up interest in a sport if you paid

me (my fee for this article, a case in point) – but Emma herself
has struck something of a chord and I’ve been following her US
run with sincere curiosity.
I heard about her when she got to Wimbledon – new kid on the
block, so young, so talented – but my ears really pricked up
when Piers Morgan (56) tweeted about Raducanu (18) after she
suffered breathing difficulties on the court. Off to a flying start
with a typo in her name and a weirdly formal honorific, Morgan
wrote: “Ms Raducuna’s a talented player but couldn’t handle the
pressure & quit when she was losing badly. Not ‘brave’, just a
shame.”
Here’s hoping Morgan deigns to take me to task

online, because by his logic it’ll be the making of me
Professional contrarian Piers Morgan, picking a fight with a

teenager? She must be brilliant! After that, as far as I was
concerned, she could do no wrong.
Luckily, she didn’t. Making it to the final (and then taking the
trophy) without dropping a set, Raducanu’s journey to the top
was not only immaculate but totally gracious. Her on-court
interview after the historic victory couldn’t fail to make a brick
wall smile – here is a human being who has just achieved her
dream, and her face is a picture of uncomplicated joy.
The first thing she does is congratulate her opponent, and over
the course of the speech she makes plenty more references to
Fernandez’s talent and tenacity. Looking over her shoulder,
Raducanu catches Fernandez’s eye – there’s no other word for
the expression they share than “beaming”.
It was a joy to watch two young women play so beautifully and

then conduct themselves with such poise. Piers certainly
thought so. After Twitter pointed out the irony of his post-
Wimbledon appraisal of Raducanu, he decided that she hadn’t
succeeded despite his criticism; on the contrary, she took his
“advice” and won because of it.
In response to one Twitter user who questioned that logic,

Morgan wrote: “The words you’re seeking are, ‘Thanks Piers’”. If
anything, then, Raducanu was remiss not to dedicate her whole
speech to her tough-love mentor: “Thanks for insulting me! It
really helped!”
So congratulations to Piers Morgan, the real winner of the

women’s US Open. I’m 10 years older than Raducanu (and um, a
lot less famous) but I am half Morgan’s age which – fingers
crossed – ought to make me a suitable opponent. Here’s hoping
he deigns to take me to task online, because by his logic it’ll be
the making of me. As we all know, it’s only when steeped in the
persistent criticism of middle-aged men that young women can
truly flourish, so Piers, I’m ready when you are.

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Voices
Raducanu is a perfect role

model for Gen Z – and an
antidote to ‘celebrity’ culture
The teenager’s US Open victory will see a shift in values towards fundamental, straightforward
decency (Getty)
HAMISH MCRAE
Something so special happened at the Arthur

Ashe Stadium in New York City on Saturday that
it will take time to grasp just how far the seismic shock of Emma
Raducanu’s triumph will travel.
Some things are easy to see. It changes tennis, of course. For

two young women, both still in their teens, to give such a
demonstration of authority, grace and power, will ensure that
tennis remains embedded as one of the top global sports in
terms of media coverage and financial muscle. It changes the
position of women in tennis, for earnings of women players will
climb vis-à-vis those of the still-higher-paid men. It has been
estimated that Emma Raducanu could pass triple grand slam
winner Sir Andy Murray in earnings, thanks to her appeal
among Generation Z.
But this is not just about tennis, or young women, or indeed

about sport. There may well be two other stories here, one about
how advertisers reach people, the other about the social values
of US and European democracies.
The first is straightforward. It has become hard for advertisers to

reach people who rely on social media for their information,
rather than the press, television, and the various entertainment
giants such as Netflix and Disney – in effect most of Generation
Z. Put another way: how do you sell to people who only listen to
their friends? The advertising industry is hugely innovative and
is finding ways to do so, but it is cumbersome and can backfire.
For example, some “ambassador” for a product or service has to
be sacked because they make some off-message tweet, and the
company has to grovel and assert that this is contrary to their
“values”.
What stood out in New York was the grace, decency

and drive of both Raducanu and Fernandez
Enterprises can control the message they give through
conventional marketing channels, but they can’t control what is
shared on social media. If your principal market is the middle-
aged and over, that is all right. Your customers won’t trust social
media and you can reach then via mainstream advertising. But if
your market is the 20-somethings, it is tricky.
So genuine sports stars, such as Emma Raducanu and indeed her

opponent, Leylah Fernandez, are gold dust. So too, in a slightly
different league, is Sky Brown, the 13-year-old skateboarder who
became Britain’s youngest ever medal winner at the Tokyo
Olympics.
What stood out in New York was the grace, decency and drive of
both Raducanu and Fernandez – qualities not always evident in
their older and oft-times grumpy male counterparts.
That leads to a wider thought. Might there be a shift in the

values that society admires in celebrities? In shorthand, many of
the high earners in the sports and entertainment industries may
be excellent at their particular crafts, but they may not be very
admirable in other ways. A few – Marcus Rashford is a fine
example – have made contributions to society far beyond their
day-to-day activities. But a lot are just not very bright, or not
very nice. They have clever image managers that may enable
them to go on with their promotional work, and for some at least
it does not seem to matter. But it may, as and when society’s
values shift – as they have in the past and surely will in the
future.
So I suggest this. Emma Raducanu is herself wonderful, and it is

extraordinary to be able to say that of someone who is so young.
But she will also become a catalyst for something bigger. That
will be a shift in values towards fundamental, straightforward
decency, rather than virtue signalling faux empathy that US, and
to a lesser extent UK, society currently favours.
It is never possible to predict how social values will change, and

it may be that this tipping point is some way ahead. But I had a
glimpse of something different in that tennis match in New
York, and I hope it is a glimpse of the future.
BACK TO TOP
Voices/ Editor’s Letter
My travel wish list is short –

a simpler set of rules please
Green, amber and red lists, fully vaccinated only, watchlists,
‘super greens’ – who can keep track, asks Lucy Thackray
Transport secretary Grant Shapps addresses the media in Downing Street (PA)
With all eyes on the Department for Transport

in the next three weeks, we’re praying for one
thing: a simpler system for Covid-era travel.
Whether you’re one of the pilots, cabin crew and travel agents
struggling to stay afloat as the furlough scheme comes to an end
(long before the travel sector has really had a chance to bounce
back), the holidaymakers infuriated by ever-changing, wildly
varying travel rules from country to country, or journalists filing
stories from green and amber list countries, hoping they’ll still
be relevant in a week, I think we can all agree that something’s
got to give.
This week, the travel hive has been abuzz with anonymous tips,
industry leaks and rampant rumours that a new system for the
UK’s international travel rules is in the offing – some indicating
that major changes could be coming as soon as 1 October.
Whether this new way will rely on vaccination status, reciprocal
arrangements between countries or narrow things down to two
lists – one “safe” and one “unsafe” for travel – remains to be
seen.
This much we know: the current inconsistent and relentlessly

confusing traffic light lists have ensured only one thing, that as
few people as possible feel empowered to travel outside of the
UK. It’s not just the fear of infection or hotel quarantine costing
thousands putting us off – the requirement for multiple Covid
tests averaging £93 a pop has written off holidays and trips to
see loved ones for many already financially shaken by the
pandemic.
It would perhaps be more bearable if we thought our cash was

contributing to a strong system of tracking and containing the
pandemic – but many of those of us bold enough to venture out
of the country and back have found their test kits have arrived
too late to be useful, or results have failed to come through
altogether. The only thing worse than forking out £150-plus in
tests to nip to Paris for the weekend is forking out £150 and
then never even finding out if you’re a potential super-spreader.
So bring on next week’s expected traffic light list review and,

hot on its heels, 1 October’s travel taskforce checkpoint. Like
the recently PCR-swabbed refreshing their emails for test results
in the check-in queue, we’re all on the edge of our seats.
Yours,
Lucy Thackray
Deputy travel editor

BACK TO TOP
Voices/ Letters
There will be no peace in our

time due to western leaders
As the world gets ever smaller, mainly due to the
rapidly approaching climate crisis, I find I am
reminded of my conclusions drawn from the
9/11 attacks. As I marched in London in 2003 with a million or
more people from hugely diverse backgrounds, in what turned
out to be a futile attempt to stop the US and the UK invading
Iraq, I realised that politics, especially the western variety, has
no idea how to promote peace. I spoke with many marchers, all
of whom agreed that military solutions never truly bring peace.
Military solutions always inflame situations. Put simply, you

cannot bomb an ideology into submission or obliterate terrorism
by shooting it. Western political leaders are so far removed from
the realities of life they are incapable of dealing with the never-
ending cycles of war that dominate our existence.
Steve Edmondson Cambridge
Game, set and match to immigration

Someone needs to tell asylum seekers that one sure way for
immigrants to avoid Priti Patel’s inhumane policies would be to
teach your daughters to play tennis.
G Forward Stirling
Doubles delight
Congratulations to Joe Salisbury with his astonishing
achievement in winning both the men’s and mixed doubles at
the US Open. Further congratulations to Gordon Reid and Alfie
Hewitt for winning the wheelchair doubles.
Richard Roberts Address supplied
National insurance scam

I must take issue with Richard Smith (Johnson can’t be trusted
with taxpayers’ money, Letters, yesterday). National insurance is
insurance only in name. He paid his forebears’ old age pension.
His children pay for his. His children’s old age pensions will be
paid by his grandchildren. Not only is there no state pension
pot, “national insurance” is a gigantic Ponzi scheme,
misunderstood by the bulk of the population, the money going
into general taxation.
Marina Donald Edinburgh
Landlords are unfairly vilified

So Keir Starmer suggests taxing private landlords to pay for
social care, while in Scotland it seems the SNP will likely dance
to the far-left tune by capping rents.
All well and good, you may think. Surely landlords are greedy
Rachman types ripping off tenants in slum-like conditions? But
what if the reality is that many landlords own just a couple of
well-maintained flats, which they’ve worked hard to buy to
supplement their lacklustre state pensions? And what happens
if, as a consequence, landlords feel their cash would be better
invested in, say, the stock market and choose to sell up? Sadly,
tenants are evicted, their properties bought by owner-occupiers
and the pool of rental properties for the less well-off – those
Starmer seeks to assist – is significantly reduced.
Tad more head-scratching to do, chaps?
Martin Redfern Melrose, Scottish Borders

Too much froth
I’m rather older than Will Gore (Am I Starbucks’ most
conservative customer?, The New Review, yesterday) and
certainly remember coffee being treated with suspicion by my
parents when I was a child. I don’t think they ever really got to
grips with it. However, coffee is one of the things that should
not be messed with (bread and butter pudding is another). There
are only two acceptable versions: cappuccino and espresso.
Dr Anthony Ingleton Sheffield

BACK TO TOP
Obituaries
Writer and award-winning

American civil war historian
As well as multiple books on the conflict, Stephen Oates also
penned a prize-winning biography of Abraham Lincoln
Although the historian (left) was plagued by allegations of plagiarism in his later career, his
works are still noteworthy for many students (The Washington Post)
M AT T S C H U D E L
Stephen Oates, a historian and writer whose biography of

Abraham Lincoln, With Malice Toward None, was once
considered the finest one-volume study of the American civil
war president before both the book and author were tainted with
charges of improper appropriation from earlier works, has died
aged 85.
Oates was a prolific writer whose books were, for many years,
considered models of historical scholarship presented in an
accessible style that made them popular with ordinary readers.
He published more than 15 books, including a two-volume
textbook of American history that was widely used in
classrooms, and he was a featured expert in filmmaker Ken
Burns’s 1990 PBS series on the civil war.
After writing several books about his native Texas, Oates turned
his focus to biography, believing it could have the same dramatic
force and literary grace as fiction.
“Biography appealed to me as the form in which I wanted to

write about the past,” he wrote in a book he edited, Biography as
High Adventure: Life-Writers Speak on Their Art, “because the
best biography – pure biography – was a storytelling art that
brought people alive again.”
He was perhaps best known for a series of four books about

historical figures martyred to the cause of racial justice,
beginning with a 1970 biography of abolitionist John Brown,
who believed slavery could be ended only through violent
insurrection.
“Brown’s life was filled with drama,” historian Eric Foner wrote
in a review in The New York Times, “and Oates tells his story in a
manner so engrossing that the book reads like a novel, despite
the fact that it is extensively documented and researched.”
In 1975, he published The Fires of Jubilee, a biography of Nat

Turner, an enslaved man who led a rebellion in Virginia in 1831.
Oates then turned to Lincoln, publishing With Malice Toward
None in 1977. Scholars praised the book for its treatment of
Lincoln’s complex inner life and his oft-overlooked abilities as a
strong chief executive and military strategist.
Harvard historian David Herbert Donald, in his review for the

NYT, called Oates’s book “full, fair and accurate” and “certainly
the most objective biography of Lincoln ever written”.
With Malice Toward None sold more than 100,000 copies, was
studied in college courses and was hailed as the best single-
volume biography of Lincoln until it was superseded by new
studies by Donald in 1995 and Ronald White Jr in 2009.
The final book in what Oates

considered his civil war quartet, Let
the Trumpet Sound: The Life of Martin
Luther King, Jr, appeared in 1982 and
received the Robert F Kennedy Book
Award. He later wrote biographies of
author William Faulkner and civil war
nurse Clara Barton.
In 1990, Robert Bray, an English

professor and literary critic at Illinois
Wesleyan University, delivered a Oates: ‘Biography appealed
paper at a conference in which he to me as the form in which
I wanted to write about the
cited similarities between passages in past’ (AP)
With Malice Toward None and a 1952 biography of Lincoln by
Benjamin Thomas.
Thomas had written: “The body lay in the same room where
they ate and slept.”
In With Malice Toward None, Oates wrote: “While Thomas

fashioned a black-cherry coffin, the dead woman lay in the same
room where the family ate and slept.”
In another passage, Thomas had written: “Lolling on the low

deck, giving an occasional tug on the slender sweeps to avoid
the snags and sandbars...”
Oates wrote: “At last they came to the Mississippi and headed
southward in its tempestuous currents, tugging on their slender
sweeps to avoid snags and sandbars...”
“Oates was turning Thomas’s pages as he wrote,” Bray later said,

“yet failed for whatever reason to admit that.”
Oates vigorously disputed the charges, saying the resemblances

were incidental and the result of a common body of knowledge
about Lincoln. He demanded apologies from his detractors,
hired a law firm and public relations agency, and threatened to
sue.
“I was shattered, blindsided, lying on the floor in public

humiliation,” he said in 1991. “Suddenly, I stood accused.”
Scholars joined the fray, with some accusing Oates of outright

plagiarism, others arguing that he had been unfairly maligned.
Two researchers at the National Institutes of Health who studied
fraud in scientific papers took up the case, using computers to
determine whether Oates’s books borrowed wording from other
sources. They claimed to find hundreds of examples before they
were reassigned by NIH and locked out of their office, leading
one of them to go on a hunger strike.
His classes on biography, the civil war and the era of

John F Kennedy were among the most popular on
campus, attracting as many as 500 students
The American Historical Association conducted a year-long

investigation, which Oates called a “kangaroo court”, before
concluding in 1992 that he had used language from other
sources without proper attribution. He was not charged with
plagiarism.
Nonetheless, Frank J Williams, a past president of the Abraham

Lincoln Association and a former chief justice of the Rhode
Island Supreme Court, said in an interview, “I still recommend
With Malice Toward None to my students at the Naval War
College as one of the five best biographies of Lincoln.”
Stephen Baery Oates was born on 5 January 1936, in Pampa,
Texas. His father did mechanical work for an oil company, and
his mother was a receptionist at a doctor’s office.
Oates studied forestry and advertising before switching to

history, inspired by the civil war books of Bruce Catton. He
graduated in 1958 from the University of Texas at Austin, where
he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honour society, then
stayed on for graduate work in history at the university,
receiving a master’s degree in 1960 and a PhD in 1969.
After teaching at colleges in Texas, he joined the University of

Massachusetts faculty in 1968. His classes on biography, the
civil war and the era of John F Kennedy were among the most
popular on campus, attracting as many as 500 students a
semester. Oates retired from teaching in 1997.
His three marriages ended in divorce. Survivors include two

children from his first marriage to Helen Perry; a brother; and
four grandchildren.
Oates’s final books about the civil war, first-person accounts

from multiple points of view, appeared in the late 1990s.
He was deeply affected by the charges of plagiarism and said his

health and public reputation were irreparably damaged. Once a
prominent figure at conferences and in the media, he retreated
from public life. Old friends said they had not heard from him in
more than two decades.
Stephen Oates, academic and writer, born 5 January 1936, died 20

August 2021
© The Washington Post

BACK TO TOP
Section 2/ The Big Read
Bond Girls are forever

Caroline Munro, from ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’, is quick to
shrug off accusations that the phrase ‘Bond Girl’ is sexist.
She tells James Rampton why it’s something to celebrate
Caroline Munro, Roger Moore and Barbara Bach in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ (1977) (Alamy)
Nearly half a century after appearing alongside Roger Moore in

The Spy Who Loved Me as Naomi, a dastardly helicopter pilot
scheming to down 007, the 72-year-old actress Caroline Munro
is still called a “Bond Girl”. In this very different, #MeToo, era
does she mind about that? Not a bit!
Speaking to The Independent this week, she says: “I feel very
honoured to be a little part of the huge, legendary Bond
franchise.” Munro, who is still an immensely popular fixture on
the 007 convention circuit, adds: “People ask whether or not the
phrase Bond Girl is sexist, but I think it’s fine. To be called a
Bond anything is wonderful! My fellow Bond Girl Martine
Beswick [who appeared in both From Russia with Love (1963)
and Thunderball (1965)] and I actually quite like it. Why not? It
sounds very young!
“It is not something to resent – it’s definitely something to

celebrate. I feel very lucky to have been a Bond Girl. It’s opened
a lot of doors and led to a lot of other work for me.”
Munro makes for entertaining company. The actress exhibits the

quality that we Brits prize above all others: self-deprecation. For
example, she expresses amazement that people still know who
she is. “I’m still in the limelight, which is very strange after all
these years. It’s a miracle because it doesn’t usually happen to us
oldies. I can’t believe I’m still here!”
The actress, who is presenting The Cellar Club, showcasing

terrific, yet neglected movies at 9pm every Friday on Talking
Pictures TV, points out that as a Bond Girl she is rubbing
shoulders with acting royalty. “I met Judi Dench [who played
007’s boss M in seven Bond movies] at a Unicef gala at Stoke
Poges, and she’s so sweet and funny. She likes to be called a
Bond Girl. I love that fact. She’s the best actress in the world, so
for her to say that is amazing. We couldn’t be in better company.
Dame Judi Dench!”
In fact, according to Munro, if you’re a Bond Girl, you move in

very exclusive circles. Over the past 59 years, the roster has
included such splendid performers as Diana Rigg, Ursula
Andress, Halle Berry, Eva Green, Kim Basinger, Jane Seymour,
Grace Jones, Sophie Marceau, Rosamund Pike, Britt Ekland,
Barbara Bach, Michelle Yeoh, Naomie Harris, Teri Hatcher,
Famke Janssen, Monica Bellucci, Léa Seydoux, Gemma Arterton
and Carole Bouquet.
Former Bond Girls Samantha Bond, Lois Maxwell, Caroline
Munro and Shirley Eaton at the Hollywood superstore in
London on James Bond Day in 1997 (PA)
Munro, who has two grown-up daughters, Georgina and Iona,

says: “Whenever I get to meet the other Bond Women – or
should that be Bond Girls? – they’re all such amazing people.
“As well as Martine, I’m friends with Maddie Smith, Valerie

Leon, Lana Wood, Maryam d’Abo, Gloria Hendry and Shirley
Eaton. I love seeing them because when we meet, we never stop
talking. We’re all totally different and have different ideas, but
it’s a lovely club to be part of.”
These characters have been absolutely fundamental to the global

success of the 007 franchise for more than half a century. Part of
the reason for their popularity is their strength.
It has to go that way because life is going that way.
You’re not just an adornment. It’s nice to be a bit of
an adornment, but it’s nice also to have a bit of say-
so, I think
A passionate advocate of female empowerment, Munro argues

that the Bond Girls were never a pushover. Despite the fact that
they were sometimes saddled with silly double-entendre names
such as Honey Ryder, Pussy Galore, Plenty O’Toole, Xenia
Onatopp, or Holly Goodhead, they always gave 007 a run for his
money.
All the same, the actress would be the first to acknowledge that
the role of Bond Girl has had to change with the times. The films
have had to take into account the fact that the role of women in
society has changed quite dramatically since the first 007 movie,
Dr No, was made in 1962.
Indeed, the producers have clearly accepted that by hiring the

multi-award-winning Fleabag and Killing Eve writer Phoebe
Waller-Bridge to sprinkle her own particular brand of magic on
the script of the latest Bond film, No Time to Die.
Munro says: “I think we were pretty strong in those days – for

then. But the scripts obviously are written differently now. The
women in the scripts are more equal to Bond now.
“It has to go that way because life is going that way. You’re not
just an adornment. It’s nice to be a bit of an adornment, but it’s
nice also to have a bit of say-so, I think.”
Munro photographed by Ronald Dumont for the ‘Daily
Express’ in 1969 (Getty)
In spite of some passé elements that jar with modern audiences,

The Spy Who Loved Me still stands the test of time. Munro says:
“Looking back, it works so well because Roger was charisma in a
bucket. Also, the plot is still very relevant. The clothes might
have dated, but the 1970s are coming back with young people
now. Maybe we’ll be cool again!”
In addition, the film still has an enormous following amongst

Bond aficionados. At conventions, fans love coming up to
Munro – whose character was the only ever woman killed by
Moore’s 007 – and exclaiming, “you survived!”
Sadly for Munro, one person very important to her was deeply
unimpressed by the film. The actress takes up the story. “My
then five-year-old daughter and I sat down to watch it with
popcorn on the telly in our sitting room. She was so excited.
“I said to her, ‘you might like it, you’ll see Mummy in a minute.’
Then Mummy came on, and my daughter burst into tears. She
said, ‘I hate James Bond! He killed Mummy!’”
For all that, Munro relished working on the movie. “I loved
Roger. He couldn't have been nicer or more charming. He was
very modest, funny and giving of himself to make the film work.”
Also, “his knitwear was classic!”
The daughter of a solicitor, Munro was born in Windsor. An only

child, she attended convent school in Brighton before winning
The Evening News’ “Face of the Year” competition judged by
photographer David Bailey in 1966. At the age of just 17, she
became a model for Vogue.
In 1967, she had a brief career as a pop star, releasing the single
“Tar and Cement” with the astonishing backing band of Eric
Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce (better known as the
supergroup Cream).
After starring in Bond, Munro got her big break as the face of
Lamb’s Navy Rum (Alamy)
After roles in Casino Royale in 1967, with Peter Sellers, and

1969’s A Talent For Loving, in which she played Richard
Widmark’s daughter, Munro got her big break as the face of
Lamb’s Navy Rum. She smouldered in various items of
swimwear for the next 12 years.
The high-profile advertising campaign – which saw her poster

adorn the bedroom wall of every teenage boy in the country –
helped her land her next role.
Munro, whose husband George Dugdale, her director in the

felicitously named 1986 slasher movie Slaughter High, died last
year, recalls: “It had a great effect on my career and was very
famous at the time. For their first poster campaign, Lamb’s Navy
Rum used a burly man with a big beard and a tattoo. I don’t
think sales went too well, so they thought, ‘let’s try a woman’.
“I don’t know if I transformed the fortunes of Lamb’s Navy

Rum, but it did quite well after my campaign began. My granny
certainly loved it because we got a bottle of rum at the end of
every shoot which she put into her trifle at Christmas. I don’t
know if she ever saw the campaign, though!”
One person who did see the campaign, though, was Sir James
Carreras, the Hammer Films chairman. Munro says: “He lived
in Brighton. As he was travelling up and down to London on the
train, he noticed there were great big billboards everywhere
with me looking rather tough in a wetsuit with a knife strapped
to my thigh having been dragged out of the water. Sir James said
he’d like to meet me, and on the spot he offered me a contract.”
id h did ’ h h i d h f
Munro said she didn’t have much acting to do on the set of
‘Dracula A.D.’ as it was mostly genuine reactions to
Christopher Lee (Alamy)
The actress, who was the subject of a 2004 documentary with

the marvellous title of The First Lady of Fantasy, went on to star
in two Hammer movies, Dracula A.D. (1972) and Captain
Kronos – Vampire Hunter (1974). She was the only performer
ever to be offered a long-term contract by Hammer. “That’s
what I heard, which was very surprising to me. I suppose it was
because it was at the end of Hammer’s reign. Maybe they didn’t
know it was heading towards the end. I hope I didn’t finish them
off!”
In a celebrated scene from Dracula A.D., Christopher Lee’s

vampire sank his elongated incisors into her character’s neck. “I
was very nervous, but he was extraordinary,” Munro recollects.
“He was so professional and so calm. I didn’t have to do a lot of
acting – it was all about reacting to Christopher.
I feel thrilled that people actually bothered to go and

see the films, that they put their bums on the seat to
watch a bit of my work
“Being bitten by Dracula was rather good actually! Beforehand,

Christopher and I sat around onset having a cup of tea. We
chatted away while I knitted. But when he came out in his garb
as Dracula with that look, those eyes, those teeth and that cape,
I thought, ‘wow!’ I was a believer.”
The actress, who retains the natural beauty and lustrous dark
hair of a woman 20 years younger, adds: “My character, Laura
Bellows, was very aptly named because I spent a lot of time on
Dracula A.D. just screaming! But that film was a turning point in
my career. I suddenly realised, ‘I really like acting. It’s
something I like to pursue.’”
Many of her roles played on Munro’s obvious sex appeal. Did

that ever bother her? “Not particularly. I think the work I did on
Bond and Lamb’s Navy Rum was fabulous. I didn’t see anything
bad or derogatory in it. I look back on the work now and think,
‘I’m very glad I did that’. I never felt exploited at all.”
Munro also clearly had a steely side. She was nobody’s fool and
rejected leading roles in Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971),
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974), Force 10 From
Navarone (1978) and The World Is Full of Married Men (1979)
because they demanded that her character strip off. “I kept my
stuff on. If I didn’t want to do something, I didn’t do it.”
After Bond, Munro kept busy with a range of projects,

including ‘Starcrash’ in 1978, alongside Christopher Plummer
and David Hasselhoff (Alamy)
Pondering the movies she turned down because they required

nudity, Munro says now: “I didn’t think those scenes were
particularly necessary. They didn’t add anything to my character.
I think mystery is always a lot more exciting. Alfred Hitchcock
said that what you don’t see is more exciting than what you do
see. It’s all in a person’s imagination. That’s much more thrilling
because when you do see it, you think, ‘oh dear!’”
After being blown up by James Bond in a helicopter in 1977,
Munro kept busy with an eclectic range of projects. For
instance, she starred as the wonderfully named Stella Star
opposite David Hasselhoff and Richard Chamberlain in the 1978
sci-fi film, Starcrash.
In the early 1980s, she appeared in music videos for Adam Ant’s
“Goody Two Shoes” and Meat Loaf’s “If You Really Want To”. In
1984, she worked with Gary Numan on a single entitled “Pump
Me Up”, which was big in Italy. She also co-presented the ITV
game show 3-2-1 from 1984 to 1987.
Now Munro has got a great gig hosting The Cellar Club for
Talking Pictures TV, the popular, independent movie channel
run on a shoestring by the father-daughter team of Noel Cronin
and Sarah Cronin-Stanley out of a garden shed in Hertfordshire.
Screening long-lost movies, it has been a godsend during the
pandemic, attracting up to 6 million viewers. The BBC recently
called it “a reminder of a lost world, and for many a lockdown
friend”.
Munro brings her inside knowledge of the world of horror to the

job of presenting The Cellar Club. She signs off the trailer every
week with a delightfully flirty “don’t be late!” She says: “I’m so
lucky that I get to see some of the magic of these films. A lot of
them were made before I was even born.”
Before she goes, Munro takes a moment to reflect on her

extraordinary and wide-ranging career. “I feel thrilled that
people actually bothered to go and see the films, that they put
their bums on the seat to watch a bit of my work, that I’ve
entertained a few people. I’m proud of that.”
Above all, Munro takes great pride in still being described as a

Bond Girl. “Being a Bond Girl is a job for life. I’ll always be part
of that. Even if I get to 110, I’ll still be a Bond Girl. How lovely is
that!”
‘The Cellar Club’, presented by Caroline Munro, runs every Friday

from 9pm on Talking Pictures TV. The movies this Friday are
‘Horror of Dracula’ and ‘Severed Arm’
BACK TO TOP
Section 2/ Trudy Tyler is WFH
The office: a prickly subject

At one point it seemed like Trudy Tyler would be working
from home forever, then the call came. By Christine Manby
I L L U S T R AT I O N
TOM FROD
Despite the grumblings of her staff and the potential for a “back
to school” rise in Covid cases, my boss Bella pushed ahead with
her plan for “La Rentree”. We were all to be back in the office on
Wednesday 8am for our first face-to-face IRL staff meeting since
March 2020.
Going back to the office wasn’t going to be such a problem for

me as it was for some of the others. I live a short Tube ride away.
If pushed I could be at my desk in half an hour by bicycle. I’ve
got a bicycle, but for the past two years it hasn’t moved from my
hallway, where it doubles as a handy place to hang wet coats and
umbrellas. Its tyres are flat and I’ve got no idea what happened
to the pump. Occasionally, I catch my shin on a pedal and tell
myself I’ll move it.
I bought my bike as part of a plan to get fit by cycling into the

office on those days when I didn’t have a meeting that required
dressing up. I pictured myself serenely gliding into work, having
filled my lungs with fresh air instead of Tube fug. The fantasy
was cut short when I stopped to catch my breath at the entrance
to Battersea Bridge and caused a ten-MAMIL pile-up.
“I would pay good money to find myself at the bottom of a heap

of men dressed in Lycra,” said George at the time.
I was able to assure him that it wasn’t all that it cracked up to be,
especially when the men in Lycra were mostly angry Price
Waterhouse consultants, who were convinced they might have
been Bradley Wiggins if it weren’t for having to get a “proper
job” to support the wife and kids. Anyway, the Tube seemed a
much safer bet than taking up cycling again, even with Covid
still rife.
I saw my neighbour Brenda as I was setting off. She wanted to

talk about our new postie, who hasn’t been pushing letters all
the way through her letterbox. “Leaves them half hanging out.
Anyone could pinch them. Has that happened to you?”
“I haven’t noticed but I don’t get much post.” In fact, the last
item to land on my doormat was a postcard from our old postie
Glenn in Devon. I almost asked Brenda if she’d had one too but
decided against it. I wanted to pretend I was special for a little
while longer.
Brenda had a lot to say about the new postal situation but I cut
her short.
“I’m going back to the office.”
“On the Tube?”
She looked horrified. “Here,” she said, handing me two fresh

masks from the packet she always carried in her handbag. “I’d
double up if I were you.” She was probably right. I saw two
people taking lateral flow tests in my carriage.
I opened the bottom drawer of my desk where I kept

my personal effects. There were my emergency
biscuits! A whole unopened packet. Result. I felt like
I deserved one after my commute
I was the first to arrive at Bella Vista’s offices in the basement of

a big old house in Fulham. My office key still worked, although
the lock could have done with some WD40. It was hard to push
the door open though. A huge pile of post had built up since
anyone was last there. Even Bella hadn’t visited the office since
the beginning of July.
Despite not having been used in so long, the office smelled

exactly as I remembered it. Slightly unsanitary. Although it
wasn’t very warm outside, when I opened the window onto the
yard for some air, the whiff from the bins was positively
Proustian.
Of the office plants, only my cactus had survived. I gave it a glug

of water from a bottle I had only half-finished on that day back in
March 2020 when we bumped elbows in lieu of hugs and went
home to await the Apocalypse. I opened the bottom drawer of
my desk where I kept my personal effects. There were my
emergency biscuits! A whole unopened packet. Result. I felt like
I deserved one after my commute. Alas, they’d gone out of date
last September and I had nothing to get rid of the taste of dust
having given the cactus my water. I filled a filthy coffee cup in
the office kitchen, then panicked about Legionnaires’. I left the
taps running while I waited for the others to show up.
The office WhatsApp (everyone except the boss) buzzed with

news of ETAs. George was stuck on the M25, having decided to
drive in. Big mistake. Sarah was somewhere near Crewe. She’d
taken advantage of lockdown to move to Edinburgh; a fact she
had yet to share with Bella. She still hoped she wouldn’t have to
quite yet.
Sarah arrived with a minute to spare before our scheduled

meeting. She looked broken. She told us she had been up since
three to make sure she could get in on time.
“Why didn’t you take the sleeper train?” George asked.
“Because its fully-booked until Christmas by all the other people

who accidentally moved to Scotland when it seemed like we’d be
WFH forever.”
At two minutes past 10, there was still no sign of Bella. At

quarter past, we all received a message on the official WhatsApp
group (everyone including the boss).
George read it first. “It’s Bella. She’s not coming in. She’s just
tested positive for Covid.”
Sarah sank to the floor in relief. For the next 10 days at least, it
wouldn’t matter if she was in Edinburgh and not in Fulham.
Before she could go straight back to King’s Cross, however, we
had to make sure that Bella knew we had all schlepped to the
office as instructed. We gathered around George’s desk for a
Zoom call.
Bella looked distinctly peaky. “But I will be in the trenches

alongside you, just as soon as I can.”
“Noooo!” we all chorused. “Don’t put your health in jeopardy.”
“And don’t wear yourself out with too many Zoom calls,” I
added. “Proper rest is key.”
Call over, those of us who had made it in scattered to our various

corners of the UK again, in a far happier mood than when we’d
last left our desks. We all agreed that the best way to ease back
into office life was to do it very, very gradually, and it was
definitely a very good idea to get home again before rush hour.

BACK TO TOP
Section 2/ Ask Simon Calder
Will I be able to get back to

Italy with my UK passport
expiring in March 2022?
An Italian residency permit may trump any passport discrepancy (Getty)
Q Can you clarify the six-month rule for passports? I am a

British citizen resident in Italy, with a biometric Italian
residency permit to prove it. I am planning a short trip back to
the UK in a few weeks, returning to Italy on 6 October. The
easyJet website says that UK passport holders travelling to a
European Union country must have at least six months left on
their passport. My British passport expires in March 2022. As I
have residency, will this apply to me?
Name supplied
A I am unaware of the “six-month rule” of which you speak. It is

certainly true that easyJet says for travel to Europe, a UK
passport must “have at least six months left on it”. But this is
nonsense. I have reminded easyJet, once again, that the rules
that count are those imposed by the European Union, which
says: “If you are a non-EU national wishing to visit or travel
within the EU, you will need a passport valid for at least three
months after the date you intend to leave the EU country you
are visiting.”
Anyone who was turned away explicitly because of easyJet’s

mistaken policy would be able to claim both a rescheduled flight
and hundreds of pounds in compensation from the airline.
But there is another condition imposed by Europe that could

mean, after all, that your passport has insufficient validity. While
the UK was part of the EU, many British passports were
perfectly legally issued for more than 10 years. This very sensible
policy was for people renewing their travel documents to be
granted up to nine months’ extra validity in recognition of
unspent time. But when the United Kingdom left the European
Union. it became subject to a long-standing EU rule that
passports should be “issued within the previous 10 years”.
Your travel document may breach this condition. While your

Italian residency permit may trump any passport discrepancy,
the problem is that an airline may (legally) not let you board an
international flight. So it may be that you will have to spend
some of your time in the UK organising a replacement passport
– either a same-day appointment at a passport office or the less
expensive one-week (often faster) fast track.
Email your questions to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder

BACK TO TOP
Section 2
BIRTHDAYS
Macho man: Randy Jones, seen here (far left) as part of the Village People in 1978, is 69 today
(Mario Casciano)
Jacqueline Bisset, actor, 77; Dan Chambers, television executive

and managing director, Blink Films, 53; David Clayton-Thomas
(David Thomsett), singer-songwriter (Blood, Sweat & Tears),
80; Professor Linda Colley, writer and professor of history,
Princeton University, 72; Bobby Davro (Robert Nankeville),
comedian and actor, 63; Ross Denny, ambassador to Costa Rica
and Nicaragua, 66;
Alain Ducasse, chef, 65; Niall FitzGerald, businessman and
former chair of Reuters, 76; Anne Geddes, photographer, 65;
Martyn Hill, opera singer, 77; Niall Horan, singer-songwriter
(One Direction), 28; Goran Ivanisevic, coach and former tennis
player, 50; Dr Gordon Johnson, historian and former president,
Wolfson College, Cambridge, 78; Michael Johnson,
commentator and former sprinter, 54; Randy Jones, singer
(Village People), 69; Dame Eleanor King, High Court judge, 64;
Louise Lombard, actor, 51; Stella McCartney, fashion designer,

50; Tony Pickard, coach and former tennis player, 87; Professor
Alice Rogers, emeritus professor of mathematics, King’s College
London, 74; Robin Smith, former cricketer, 58; Zak Starkey,
drummer (The Who), 56; Martin Vickers MP, 71; Shane Warne,
commentator and former cricketer, 52; Don Was (Don
Fagenson), guitarist and record producer Was (Not Was), 69;
Joel-Peter Witkin, photographer, 82.

BACK TO TOP
Section 2/ Women
What are the chances of a

first female PM in Japan?
Sanae Takaichi is bidding to lead the state’s ruling party. Can
she succeed in a patriarchal society, asks Satona Suzuki
Takaichi will face stiff competition from within the LDP to become leader (Getty)
She has been billed as an underdog, but Sanae Takaichi, a

staunch conservative MP and ally of former prime minister
Shinzo Abe, has announced her bid to become the next leader of
the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan. If
successful, she would almost certainly become Japan’s first
woman prime minister.
Abe publicly endorsed her after the sitting prime minister and
LDP leader, Yoshihide Suga, announced on 3 September that he
was stepping down as party leader. Takaichi shares many of
Abe’s views, such as revising Japan’s pacifist constitution. Her
platform, which she has dubbed “Sanaenomics” – a reference to
the former PM’s “Abenomics”, includes extra funding to help
businesses affected by the Covid pandemic as well as laws to
enable the government to impose strict lockdown measures –
something not yet seen in Japan.
But she is widely seen as an unlikely candidate, without her own

power base in the LDP, whose grassroots members will vote in
the leadership election. She told journalists: “It’s like an ant
challenging an elephant — perhaps that’s what everyone thinks.
When I first ran for election, it was a time when being a woman
was a disadvantage. But it’s totally different now compared to 30
years ago.”
Women on the outside
Gender equality is not something one readily associates with

politics in Japan, which is ranked 120th out of 156 countries in a
gender gap survey compiled by the World Economic Forum
(WEF). Women achieved the vote in Japan after the second
world war. At the general election for the House of
Representatives on 10 April, 1946, about 13.8 million women
exercised the right to vote for the first time and 39 women
became the Diet members. This represented just 8.4 per cent of
the seats, but it was a historically significant moment for
Japanese women and Japanese politics as a whole.
Seventy-five years on, the political gender gap has not improved
much. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) – a
global organisation of national parliaments, as of September
2021 only 9.9 per cent of members in the House of the
Representatives are women and with representation in the
House of Councillors not much better at 23 per cent.
Takaichi may use her close links to the former prime minister
Shinzo Abe to become prime minister (Getty)
These numbers show that Abe’s pledge to increase the number

of women in management positions to 30 per cent across
different fields by 2020 – a key part of his “womenomics” plan,
has failed to make a significant impact on his country’s political
system.
‘Womenomics’
In 1999, US-born former Goldman Sachs strategist turned

venture capitalist, Kathy Matsui, coined the term “ womenomics
”, arguing that female economic advancement would be
necessary to improve the economy. Matsui – who recently
launched MPower Partners Fund with two female colleagues –
pointed out in an article in The Japan Times in 2019 that the
situation has not changed much over the 20 years and argued for
gender quotas in parliament.
Women in politics remain hampered by old-fashioned attitudes

and practices. Takae Ito and Ayano Kunimitsu have complained
about the lack of family-friendly measures for Japanese MPs.
Makiko Yamada, former cabinet public relations secretary for
the Suga cabinet, has commented that female politicians are
pressured to work and act like men or won’t be promoted.
Suga’s resignation could pave the way for a female leader
where women have struggled to reach high office (Getty)
There are a few signs that Takaichi will make gender equality a
defining issue in her campaign. Writing this month in the
conservative magazine, Bungei Shunju, she says nothing about
gender equality or any other equality issues, including LGBTQ+
issues. Instead, Takaichi emphasises her economic policy –
which she has dubbed “Sanaenomics”, stressing that it is
basically “new Abenomics” – which aims to increase inflation by
2 per cent through “bold monetary easing”, “flexible fiscal
stimulus” and “investment in crisis management and growth”.
Presenting her platform at a press conference on 8 September,

Takaichi explained her plans in some detail. As well as the
economic measures mentioned above, she prioritised
technological advancement, national security, Covid-mitigation
measures including vaccination and border control, flexible
working, defence against cyber warfare and, to a lesser extent,
female issues, including the introduction of a tax credit for
childcare.
When confronted by the press about her perceived lack of

empathy towards the socially vulnerable, she was quite honest,
explaining that she was doing what she believed was right at the
time, but she was willing to take criticism on board.
What are her chances?

Takaichi is aware that to create a robust and capable
administration, she needs the confidence of the LDP and the
public. Despite Abe’s backing, her public support rate is a mere
4 per cent, according to a survey conducted on 4 to 5 September
by Kyodo News. This doesn’t necessarily reflect her chances of
winning the LDP leadership, as only LDP grassroots members
and the party’s representatives in the Diet will vote in the 29
September leadership election.
Key to her chances will be whether Abe can persuade the

Hosoda faction – the largest grouping in the party – to back his
protege. But she is up against some powerful rivals, including
the minister for regulatory reform, Taro Kono, who commended
31 per cent in the Kyodo News poll. Other rival candidates
include former LDP secretary-general Shigeru Ishiba (26.6 per
cent), and Fumio Kishida, a former foreign and defence
minister, who lost in the 2020 LDP presidential ballot that
elected Suga.
For better or worse, having a female prime minister would be

historically significant. But it’s important to remember that
doesn’t equate to female advancement in a patriarchal society.
We will have to see how it is going to pan out in months to
come.
Satona Suzuki is a lecturer in Japanese and Modern Japanese

History at the Japan Research Centre (JRC), SOAS, University of
London. This article first appeared on The Conversation

BACK TO TOP
Section 2/ Women
Women of the World to

hold festival of activism
against sexual violence
Lots of subjects will be covered, even those hardest to digest, ‘in a vibrant and even joyful
atmosphere’ (Getty)
K AT E N G
Gender equality charity Women of the World (WOW) is
launching a one-day festival of activism that invites people from
all generations, genders and backgrounds to take part in
conversations around sexual violence.
The festival, created in partnership with Birkbeck, University of

London, will see national, international and grassroots
organisations and charities join forces with local artists and
leading voices to address the global crisis of violence against
women and sexual assault.
Earlier this year, figures from the Crime Survey for England and
Wales, carried out by the Office for National Statistics, showed
that nearly a quarter of women have experienced sexual assault
or attempted sexual assault since the age of 16.
The survey revealed that more than 773,000 adults aged 16 to 74

were victims of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault in the
year ending March 2020. Of these, 618,000 were female
victims, and 155,000 were male.
The incidents ranged from indecent exposure and unwanted

groping to rape and assault by penetration.
The Shameless! Festival will give people the chance

to learn and hear stories and work out whether it
reflects on their own experiences and to understand
things from others’ perspectives
Katie Russell, a national spokesperson for Rape Crisis England

& Wales, said that the figures “confirm that the prevalence of
sexual violence and abuse remains very high, that women are
disproportionately impacted by these traumatic crimes, and that
the majority of victims and survivors don’t feel confident to
report to the police”.
The Shameless! Festival, which is set to take place on Saturday

27 November at the Battersea Arts Centre in London, hopes to
give the public a safe space to discuss, educate and learn about
all forms of sexual violence and eradicate the shame that is often
attached to the issue.
Speakers will include model Emily Ratajkowski, author Winnie

M Li, founder of Black Mind, Rachel Nwokoro, author Professor
Joanna Bourke, activist Payzee Mahmod, founder of Everyone’s
Invited, Soma Sara, poet Tanaka Mhishi, and WOW’s founder,
Jude Kelly.
Kelly told The Independent that the festival format allows people
to approach the issue of sexual violence in a non-intimidating
setting, giving them the chance to explore and learn without
feeling ashamed.
“A festival gives people the chance to learn and hear stories and
work out whether it reflects on their own experiences and to
understand things from others’ perspectives,” she said.
“It also gives them the chance to hear about lots of different
subject matters, even the ones that are most difficult and hardest
to digest, in a vibrant and even joyful atmosphere.”
Being able to have these difficult conversations openly is key to

confronting and changing attitudes towards sexual violence,
added Kelly.
In the past two decades, and particularly in the last 10 years,

conversations about the prevalence of sexual violence have been
growing. However, the weight carried by sexual violence
survivors hasn’t shifted, she said.
“It’s something society has begun to talk about and it needs to,
but you can’t get away from the fact that we’ve done a very good
job of making victims feel like they have to carry the shame.
“We have to get beyond the shame and ask, is there something
systemic that can be changed about the way sexual violence is
used to coerce and abuse people?”
We want to send the message that these things can

be discussed without a shadow over it that says they
are difficult topics
The Shameless! Festival also aims to address the global crisis of

domestic violence. According to data from the World Health
Organisation and partners, one in three women across the world
are subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate
partner or sexual violence from a non-partner. This is equivalent
to 736 million and the figure has remained largely unchanged
over the past decade, said the WHO.
“The festival is working specifically with medical evidence and

academic knowledge and we want it to be something that people
feel is theirs to own,” said Kelly.
“The reason we call it ‘Shameless’ is because we want to send

the message that these things can be discussed without a shadow
over it that says they are difficult topics. We have worked
through the taboos of mental health and lots of other things, but
we haven’t gotten away from the taboo of sexual violence.
“Everything from healing to the way care is offered, to what the

law is doing to support victims and groups will be part of the
festival. We want to show that we are free to discuss these
things.”
BACK TO TOP
Section 2/ IndyBest
MIND THE STRAP

Combine fashion and function, go hands-free and elevate
your outfits with a crossbody bag, says Eva Waite-Taylor
More polished than a humble backpack, yet less cumbersome

than a whopping tote, crossbody bags can be as fashionable as
they are functional, and we’re here for it.
There’s no denying that this hands-free accessory is perfect for

everyday use – whether you use it for running errands or want to
elevate a dowdy outfit, it’s a wardrobe staple.
Best of all, as the new season rolls in, there’s a fresh crop of
designs and colours to get excited about. Whether you think
you’d benefit from a more capacious silhouette or would rather
have something more sleek and simple, both high-street and
designer brands have delivered big.
While Nineties-inspired shoulder bags are getting a lot of air

time, we’d go as far as to say that a crossbody is more deserving
of such status. So, in order to help you find the one your
wardrobe has been missing, we went on a hunt for the best.
How we tested
To make sure we were bringing you the creme de la creme, we

kept a close eye on functionality. We also wanted each one to be
stylish, but avoided trends as we wanted them to transcend
seasons and be something you could reach for time and again –
making the investment more than worth it.
So, with this in mind, we’ve rounded up our top tried and tested
picks of the best crossbody bags that will elevate an outfit and
allow you to go hands-free.
Charles & Keith quilted flip-lock clutch: £44.10,

Charleskeith.co.uk
Best: Overall
The Singaporean megabrand has been a hit with the fashion

pack since it launched its website in the UK in 2018, and it’s
really no surprise. When it comes to accessories, Charles &
Keith really excels.
With an accessible price tag, we were instantly surprised by the

high quality of this quilted crossbody bag that resembles
Chanel’s signature flap. It’s small and compact, but we managed
to squeeze in our mobile, perfume, keys and a couple of lipsticks
with ease – plus, at the back, there’s a handy compartment for
storing your cards. We loved the contrasting gold chain and
found that it elevated even the dowdiest of outfits. Bonus points
are also in order because it arrived with its own dust bag. An
absolute gem.
If a black handbag isn’t what you’re after, this one also comes in
light pink, grey and burgundy – we’ll take the lot, please.
Buy now
Polène Paris numéro sept: £320, Polene-paris.com
Best: Designer crossbody bag

If you haven’t heard about Paris-based designer brand Polène,
then you need to get to know. It produces handcrafted handbags
to an impeccably high standard, with all of its designs instantly
classic.
Transcending trends, the numéro sept is utterly gorgeous and

managed to make even the dowdiest of outfits look chic. It’s
generous in size, and the main strap can be removed if you’d
rather use the top handle. While it is an investment, this is a
handbag that you’ll cherish for years to come.
Buy now
Warehouse weave detail crossbody bag: £29.40,

Warehousefashion.com
Best: Faux leather bag
You can’t go far without seeing padded and weave-designed

handbags and this Warehouse number taps into the trend
perfectly. It’s larger than we expected, with plenty of room for
all the essentials, and features a handy adjustable strap. Our only
gripe was the smell when it first arrived, but after an airing, this
soon disappeared. A great, affordable crossbody that will get
plenty of wear.
Buy now
Marks & Spencer leather duffle crossbody bag: £69,
Marksandspencer.com
Best: Leather bag
Resembling Loewe’s balloon bucket bag but for a fraction of the

price, this M&S crossbody is an ideal choice if you’re looking for
something functional. It’s large enough to house all your
belongings, yet doesn’t look too cumbersome when it’s full. We
loved the gold hardware against the tan, but if you’re unsure
about that colourway, it’s also available in black.
Buy now
Been London Cecilia crossbody: £245, Been.london.com
Best: Sustainable bag
Been London uses waste materials that are destined for landfill
to make its bags, all of which are designed using square or
rectangular panels to keep waste minimal. What’s more, the
brand plants a tree for every bag purchased.
The Celia crossbody is made entirely from recycled materials in

the brand’s east London studio, and it felt high end from the
moment we took it out of the box. It’s small, but we found it
could hold our phone (iPhone XS), small coin purse and keys
with ease.
Plus, it can be worn across the body or used as a clutch, which

adds to its versatility. The gold hardware contrasts with the off-
white colour perfectly, but it’s also available in black should you
prefer. A true investment piece that you will undoubtedly fall in
love with.
Buy now
Jeenaa Jee emerald bag: £66, Jeenaa.co.uk
Best: Small bag
A relatively new brand on our radar, Jeenaa is an independent

British label that makes affordable bags that we are officially
obsessed with. We loved the gold chain detailing against the
emerald and the fact the cotton strap could be easily adjusted.
Ideal for running errands and dressing up with eveningwear – a
must-have.
Buy now
Na-kd faux suede crossbody bag: £32.95, Na-kd.com
Best: Faux suede bag
If it’s suede you’re after then this is the one for you – albeit a
faux equivalent. It features three compartments, making it ideal
if you want to keep your things separate, for example, your
phone away from your keys. It’s unsurprisingly roomy, and for
the days when you don’t want need hands-free solution, you can
remove the strap and carry it as a clutch bag.
Buy now
Mango minimalist bag: £30, Next.co.uk
Best: For the office
This capacious handbag is ideal for commuting into the office,

it’s got enough space for a Kindle or small tablet, along with a
lunchbox and water bottle. It’s got a zip pocket in its centre, so
you can keep your phone handy. The sleek design means it’ll go
with just about everything in your wardrobe too.
Buy now
All Saints Eve leather quilted crossbody bag: £199,
Allsaints.com
Best: Quilted crossbody bag
All Saints knows a thing or two about leather (case in point: its
leather jackets), and clearly this translates well in its accessories
too. This gave us real Bottega Veneta vibes thanks to its quilted
and padded design. It’s made from soft leather and finished with
gold hardware. Much like many of the other bags in this round-
up, you can remove the shoulder strap should you wish to use it
as a clutch. A great high-end option.
Buy now
Zara mini crossbody bag with topstitching: £19.99, Zara.com
Best: Mini crossbody bag
We were obsessed with this small crossbody even before it had

arrived, and it did not disappoint. The lilac added the perfect
pop of colour to an outfit, making it a great choice if you want
your autumn and winter wardrobe to be a little less monotone.
The size means it is bang on trend if you too are obsessed with
mini-bags, and best of all, it might look as cute as Lizzo’s, but it’s
far more practical.
Buy now
The verdict
Each of the handbags featured is deserving of a spot in this

round-up – they are as versatile as they are stylish and are a great
hands-free accessory.
For something a little kinder to your pocket, you cannot go

wrong with the Charles & Keith quilted flip-lock clutch; it feels
far more luxe than the price tag would suggest and could easily
pass for a Chanel. A great choice and a clear winner of our best
buy accolade.
But if you’re looking for a high-end option it’s got to be the
Polène Paris numéro sept, which has a simple yet chic design
and comes in a full range of colours.
Voucher codes
For the latest discounts on women’s handbags and other

accessories offers, try the links below:
Asos discount codes
Very discount codes

BACK TO TOP
Section 2/ Box Seat
SOLD A LEMON
The new show from Britain’s least funny person is too much
for Ed Cumming. From Mandy and Myrtle to Keith Lemon,
Leigh Francis is the laugh excluder who cannot be stopped
Leigh Francis as Keith Lemon with Kelly Brook at Cannes Film Festival, May 2012 (Getty)
It gives me no pleasure to say that Leigh Francis is at it again.

Britain’s most reliable laugh-excluder has yet another new berth,
in the new mockumentary The Holden Girls: Mandy and Myrtle
(E4). The man simply cannot be stopped. As other comedians
fall by the wayside, Francis ploughs on, an indefatigable warrior
against wit and taste. The new idea, if that’s not too generous, is
that Amanda Holden plays Amanda Holden, a British celebrity.
Francis, in thick rubber mask and Mrs Doubtfire outfits, plays
her grandmother, Myrtle, “a cleaner from Doncaster who knows
nothing about the world of celebrity”. Yes.
This ironclad setup established, Myrtle and Mandy proceed to

get themselves into scrapes. Myrtle plays on her iPad while
Amanda has a meeting with her agent. Myrtle gets her Take That
members mixed up. Myrtle moves her old-lady furniture into
Amanda’s house. Myrtle walks in on Amanda’s husband, Chris,
in the bathroom. Can you feel the tremors running down your
sides yet? The sole amusing moment of the opening episode is
down to Holden. Her pronunciation of wasabi as “wossabi” is
delightful. But is it deliberate? It’s to the show’s detriment that
it’s impossible to tell. Other than that, it is a graveyard of mirth,
with non-jokes piled high.
As Amanda brings Myrtle into contact with some of her real-life

celebrity chums, you can tell that they share these concerns.
During the studio visit to Heart, her co-presenter Jamie
Theakston is visibly worried. I wonder if he had a quiet word
afterwards. When Mr Motorway Cops thinks something might
be an iffy career move, you ought to pay attention.
Craig David has said in interviews that Francis’s
impersonation, which portrayed him as a pigeon
fancier from Leeds, ‘ruined’ his life
You have to hand it to Francis, who has been pushing the

boundaries of unfunny for almost 20 years. Like Picasso
barrelling on from his blue period or Bowie sloughing off the
Ziggy Stardust spandex, he refuses to stand still. Whatever the
fans demand, Francis moves ruthlessly on, beholden to nothing
but his muse (although in this case, temporarily beholden to A
Holden).
First there was Bo’ Selecta! For younger readers, this was a
sketch show in which Francis played a fictitious and not-at-all
creepy “celebrity stalker”, Avid Merrion, permanently in a neck
br1ace, while interviewing “celebrities”, also played by Francis in
a variety of more-or-less racist rubber masks. The early episodes
were propelled by a gentle frisson of surreality, as the caricatures
bore no resemblance to the real people. Michael Jackson spoke
in jive, Mel B was a sex-crazed maniac. The most famous was
Craig David, who has said in interviews that Francis’s
impersonation, which portrayed him as a pigeon fancier from
Leeds, “ruined” his life. Last year, in the wake of Black Lives
Matter, Francis made a tearful apology, saying he had done a lot
of “talking and learning”.
We’re still waiting for an apology for Keith Lemon. As Bo

vanished up itself, Francis moved on. Lemon, another character
born on Bo' Selecta!, became a TV presence in his own right, a
blonde and moustachioed menace whose sole gag was to speak
in a strange voice while hanging out with celebrities. There
aren’t jokes. Googling him, I learn his spoof gameshow Celebrity
Juice is somehow still going, like one of those early spacecraft
still broadcasting from beyond the solar system. It’s impressive,
in a way. Between Merion, Lemon and now Myrtle, Francis can
claim to have been responsible for three of the least funny
characters on TV. Pacino would be proud of that hit rate. Even
more than Mrs Brown’s Boys or the amounts bequeathed to
animal charities, Francis’s enduring career is one of those
bewildering truths that makes you wonder what else the
population thinks. Dare we ask? Can we ever hope to heal a
country so divided?
Amanda Holden and Leigh Francis in ‘Mandy and Myrtle’

(Channel 4 Picture Publicity)
I refuse to believe this is simple metropolitan TV snobbishness.

Where are the Francis stans? His presence is endured rather
than enjoyed. This is an impression rather than scientific
analysis, but I would say among British entertainment figures he
enjoys almost unmatched consensus, a kind of inverse Phoebe
Waller-Bridge. Longevity is not in itself a mark of quality. What
does Francis know? What Faustian deal did he strike in the early
Noughties? It is a depressing turn for E4, too, which once upon
a time was a venue for Skins and The Inbetweeners and Made in
Chelsea. What’s E4? We could ask the same of Francis.
In a representative moment from the first episode, Myrtle
decides that she can’t do a photoshoot in which she is sitting on
the toilet with her knickers down. It’s “too crude”, she says. The
camera turns to the boom mic operator. “He wasn’t laughing at
it, and I definitely wasn’t,” Myrtle says, gesturing towards him.
Nor was I, nor were you, nor will you if this piece inspires you,
in some fit of contrarianism, to investigate. The only one
laughing is Francis, deep inside his rubber mask, all the way to
the bank. Just as it’s always been.

BACK TO TOP
Section 2/ TV review
You’ve been schooled

‘Sex Education’, Netflix’s explicitly sex-positive teen drama,
has become an ensemble piece full of three-dimensional
characters – and is all the better for it, says Fiona Sturges
Aimee Lou Wood and Emma Mackey in series three of ‘Sex Education’ (Sam Taylor/Netflix)
★★★★★
The nights are drawing in, the leaves are turning and the kids in
Sex Education are back on TV and banging like champs. This
beloved festival of frottage has, in its short life, become a
byword for sex positivity, not to say a valuable stand-in for
learning institutions reluctant to tackle the variously joyous and
mortifying aspects of teenage sexual adventure. Thus, the third
season, much-delayed because of the pandemic, opens with an
uproarious montage of frantic encounters – solo sex, sex à deux,
sex in cars, in alien-themed bedrooms, on a drum stool and in
VR – all to a soundtrack of The Rubinoo’s cover of “I Think
We’re Alone Now”.
Otis (Asa Butterfield) is still quietly mooning over Maeve (Emma

Mackey), their money-spinning sex clinic having long ago shut
up shop. More surprisingly, he has found distraction in Ruby
(Mimi Keene), Moordale High’s reigning queen bee who insists
they keep their relationship under wraps lest he damage her
cred at school. Meanwhile, Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) and ex-bully
Adam (Connor Swindells, currently featuring in the BBC
submarine thriller Vi l) are making progress as a couple, even
though, for Adam, belligerent habits die hard.
Like so many youth dramas, Sex Education still deals

in teen stereotypes – the mean girl, the kook, the
rebel outcast and the gay best friend are tropes that
go back decades
It’s only to be expected that the series is now less focused on the
lives of Otis and Eric. Instead, it has blossomed into an
ensemble piece, with plot strands developing around the non-
binary Cal (Dua Saleh); Maeve’s burgeoning romance with her
caravan park neighbour, Isaac (George Robinson); and Aimee’s
struggles to deal with her sexual assault, which has led to her
adopting an emotional support goat.
Among the adults, there is the now-pregnant Jean (Gillian

Anderson) and her struggles to find equilibrium with the baby’s
father; the slow disintegration of Adam’s father’s marriage and
livelihood; and the arrival of a new headteacher, Hope (Girls’
Jemima Kirke), whose offbeat dance and on-point lipstick in the
first assembly belies a deeper and potentially damaging
conservatism. Though the writers sometimes strain to keep all
these plates spinning, it’s heartening to see the series
broadening its vision. Out of the newbies, Hope’s arrival has the
greatest impact, her introduction of school uniform and an
overhauled SRE syllabus promoting not safety and consent but
abstinence and shame causing mutiny in the ranks.
Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) and Otis (Asa Butterfield) (Sam

Taylor/Netflix)
Like so many youth dramas, Sex Education still deals in teen

stereotypes – the mean girl, the kook, the rebel outcast and the
gay best friend are tropes that go back decades. The difference
here is that the so-called supporting cast members get to take
turns in the spotlight and are allowed to be three-dimensional.
Viewers are also required to overlook the fact that several of the
school-age protagonists are, in real life, just a few years shy of 30
– but no matter. In its third outing, the series remains cringingly
honest and engagingly heartfelt, with just the right amount of
pathos and the occasional outrageous sight gag.
I won’t reveal what transpires during a student trip to France
but, safe to say, if you thought Murray Bartlett’s hotel manager
crapping in a guest’s suitcase in The White Lotus was the
greatest scatological set-piece this year, you ain’t seen nothing
yet.
‘Sex Education’ arrives on Netflix on Friday

BACK TO TOP
Business/ Inside Business
The Silicon Valley star who

fell to earth with a bump
As the fraud trial starts for Theranos founder Elizabeth
Holmes, James Moore asks: how self-made was she really?
Holmes is fighting fraud charges carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years (Getty)
The schadenfreude is as thick as treacle when rich, powerful and

supposedly clever people foul up as spectacularly as they did
with Theranos. Were it not for the fact that the US Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a report that
one of the company’s facilities presented “jeopardy to patient
health and safety”, and the allegations of patients being put at
risk that have been raised, we’d probably be laughing our asses
off.
For those who haven’t yet come across the name, Theranos is at
the centre of a salutary Silicon Valley tale, and its striking
founder Elizabeth Holmes is on trial for fraud, facing a potential
20-year sentence, with opening statements in her trial
scheduled to begin this week. Her company was a unicorn, a
tech sector shooting star touting some revolutionary kit that was
supposed to be able to perform a huge range of diagnostic tests
with the aid of just a couple of drops of blood from a finger
prick, and for a knockdown price too.
Walgreens, a chain of chemists, was on board and so were some

very rich investors, who pumped hundred of millions of dollars
into a company that was valued at as much as $9bn at its height,
making Holmes a billionaire at a younger age than Apple’s Steve
Jobs, whom she was often compared to, achieved the feat. We’re
talking here about the sort of tests that more usually require
patients to get their veins speared for the purposes of filling one
of those tubes that the Brexit-driven supply chain crisis has led
to shortages of in Britain.
That being the case, you’d think investors would have asked how
a business set up by a 19-year-old Stanford dropout with scant
medical training had managed to create such a revolutionary
product. Turns out some did, especially those with experience in
healthcare, given the thick veil of secrecy the company draped
over the “Edison” machine that was supposed to do the job.
That’s not unusual in Silicon Valley, where proprietary tech is
everything, as investors are asked to take an awful lot on trust,
and the concept of “fake it until you make it” is well understood,
if not endorsed. Some even manage to pull it off.
Was there ever a chance that Theranos could do that? There

were enough investors with deep enough pockets to give
Holmes her shot. They dived in, driven on by a culture of greed,
the fear of missing out on the next Amazon, and the cult of the
Stanford dropout entrepreneur, which Holmes was. It’s
decidedly odd when one of a highly prestigious university’s
biggest selling points is the people who quit before they get
their degrees.
Holmes talked the talk. She walked the walk. She faked it. Her
company was just never able to make it. It was driven by a
dream, expressed in its sickly hero ads in which people gushed
about the company and its founder and her “vision”. The
marketing material isn’t hard to find but I’d advise you to arm
yourself with a sick bag if this piece inspires you to dig it out
during a coffee break.
Her defence is expected to argue that failure isn’t the same as

fraud (the line is a thin one in the Valley). And maybe throw
some bricks at Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani. He was once her
boyfriend, as well as the president and chief operating officer of
Theranos.
She is expected to allege an abusive

relationship. He will no doubt seek to
blame her. With the judge having
separated the trials, the blame the
other strategy is easier to run with,
although the release by prosecutors of
some gooey texts they sent to each
other appears to have thrown a
wrench into that. You may once again
need that sick bag, should you care to
read them. Ramesh ‘Sunny’ Balwani:
ex-boyfriend of Holmes
Reports from the trial will be coming and president of Theranos
(Getty)
thick and fast, with one book already
written, docs having come out and a movie in the works. Here’s
the thing that strikes me. When she was gracing the covers of
business magazines, and being hyped as the next celebrity
superstar CEO, Holmes was described as a “self-made”
entrepreneur.
But she wasn’t quite as self-made as she looked. Her father was
once an executive at Enron, the energy trading firm, which also
collapsed under a cloud, although he wasn’t caught in the fall
out. He has held a number of senior positions at US government
agencies, while Holmes’ mother was a congressional committee
staffer.
Her well-to-do parents allowed her to use funds set aside for her
education to get going, which not everyone can boast access to
and which call into question the self-made selling point.
Former US secretary of defence James Mattis was on the

board of Theranos (AFP/Getty)
It didn’t hurt Holmes that she was from the same sort of
background as the investors she spoke to, and her connections
enabled her to construct a board that included former US
secretaries of state George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, James
Mattis, a former general who served as Donald Trump’s
secretary of defence, and former senator Sam Nunn.
Sometimes people from tough backgrounds and tough

neighbourhoods shine brightly enough to get into Stanford. But
would a 19-year-old black woman from, I don’t know, Compton
be able to pull off the same sort of thing and draw in the same
sort of people and money? Probably not.
Here’s the really interesting question. Let’s suppose she’d spent

her life with her nose in medical text books and came up with
some tech that actually worked. Not a mere pipe dream but
something that really could revolutionise the world. It isn’t just
people from Holmes’ background who are smart and driven and
dedicated and entrepreneurial. Some of them have the capacity
to do it right.
It’s just... do you think our genuine would-be revolutionary

business leader would be able to get it off the ground?

BACK TO TOP
Business/ A view from the top
From industrial wasteland

to Europe’s largest arts
complex: South Bank’s rise
Andy Martin speaks to the group responsible for helping to
create a constellation of concert halls, galleries and theatres
The once cratered wasteland was reborn in 1951 for the Festival of Britain (South Bank)
Is the South Bank actually south? “Look at the map,” says Nic
Durston. “It’s further north than Victoria.” The South Bank may
be south of the Thames, but the river hangs a sharp left (and
therefore south) after Blackfriars so, in effect, the South Bank
can reasonably claim to be more central to London than say the
West End.
The other thing I was not fully aware of until I spoke to Durston,
CEO of the South Bank Employers’ Group, is that the South
Bank is Europe ’s largest arts complex – a shimmering
constellation of concert halls, galleries, theatres and more – all
under the gaze of the London Eye. It stretches from Blackfriars
Bridge upriver to Lambeth Bridge and encompasses the Oxo
Tower and Gabriel’s Wharf at one end and the Garden Museum
at the other. With a skatepark nestled in the middle of it all,
beneath the Purcell Room. And a handy hospital. Not to
mention the network of big corporations and small businesses
and all the people who live there.
And it stretches back in time too. What is now South Bank was
once a purely industrial part of London, an unlovely collection of
wharves and tanneries and breweries all along the Kinks’ “dirty
old river”. And then it got the living daylights bombed out of it.
The cratered wasteland was reborn in 1951 for the purpose of the
Festival of Britain, conceived as a “tonic to the nation” after the
rigours of the Second World War and postwar austerity, and
harking back a century to the Great Exhibition of 1851. Ravaged
by war, the whole area was reclaimed and rebuilt, with the Royal
Festival Hall replacing the Red Lion Brewery. But the
celebrations and the sense of creativity extended beyond the
South Bank to Battersea, Poplar, St Paul’s and corresponding
events in Glasgow and elsewhere. So the South Bank became a
microcosm not just of London but of the whole of the UK.
The return to normal will take time, but lots of what
London has to offer is still here
This is the 70th anniversary of that great nationwide party, and

the South Bank is still all about regeneration and renewal,
especially now that everything is gradually reopening, including
– in a socially distanced way – the Hayward Gallery and the
Purcell Room. “This place is good for the soul,” says Durston,
“but it’s important to the economy too.” According to a recent
analysis, each job on the South Bank generates another 2.5 jobs
across the economy. In a normal year, according to the London
Plan, the area as a whole generates around £5bn. The arts
cluster – the Southbank Centre, the National Theatre, the Old
Vic, the Young Vic, the Rambert – boasted a GVA (Gross Value
Added) of £110m in 2018-19. But that shakes out as £255m,
taking into account indirect revenues. Needless to say,
everybody’s income took a dive during the pandemic. A National
Theatre production had to open and close on the same night
when lockdown kicked in. One figure that caught my eye:
overseas visitors were formerly 43 per cent of the crowds; during
the last year or so that went down to 1 per cent.
According to a recent analysis, each job on the South Bank
generates another 2.5 jobs across the economy (Getty)
Nic Durston studied geography at University College, London,

in the late Eighties, and went on to work in conservation for
English Heritage and the National Trust, but he was irresistibly
drawn back to London. “I realised I wanted to work for London,
not just live in London,” he says. Durston has worked in the east
(Hackney), west (Kensington), north (around the Olympic
Games) and now finally south (if it is south). SBEG (South Bank
Employers Group) was set up in 1991 as a coalition of
organisations, from the arts to Shell to St Thomas’s Hospital,
concerned to stave off the decline of the South Bank and intent
on harnessing all that creativity.
Durston doesn’t get involved in what’s coming on next at the

National Theatre – although he gets to go to a lot of plays and
concerts – but he does have a wide-ranging brief, including
liaising with all the various stakeholders, evenly spreading
largesse around, security, picking up litter, and making sure
there were enough “pods” of portable toilets around for roaming
pedestrians during the pandemic (“You want to avoid public
urination”). He’s got an eye on minimising the Covid risk factor
too, and is organising more outdoor events and installations and
performance projections – the “inside out” project.
The Fairway, South Bank Exhibition, Festival of Britain, 1951
(South Bank)
As we stroll along the Queen’s Walk, Durston – like a more

urban Attenborough – guides me through the tangled
“economic ecology” that binds together all this free access and
commerce, the smaller riverfront cafes, restaurants and
bookshops that flourish under the canopy of the National
Theatre (“Lasdun’s masterpiece”). They’re all subtly
interconnected and interdependent. Durston has been here six
years and has not just overseen the development of the website,
southbanklondon.com, but made sure that the graphic map that
adorns the information boards incorporates that distinctive
southward kink in the river.
WeWork has its European HQ in the South Bank. So too IBM,

which is currently relocating but within the neighbourhood. But
the South Bank is not all about big business. The non-profit
social enterprise that is Coin Street oversees the Oxo Tower
(where the original beef extract was once manufactured) with all
its social housing and community performance spaces and
“makers”. Gabriel’s Wharf with its collection of boutiques and
pop-ups and veggie eateries and Sax, “the world’s largest
saxophone store”, has a similarly indie ethos. At the chic end of
the spectrum, the Harvey Nichols restaurant sits atop the Oxo
Tower with views across the river to St Paul’s and the City.
The skatepark is nestled in the middle of it all, beneath the
Purcell Room (Getty)
At the centre of the South Bank is Jubilee Gardens, once the site
of the “Dome of Discovery” during the Festival of Britain, which
bore a happy resemblance to a recently landed flying saucer and
was the precursor of the Millennium Dome. Alas it morphed
into a carpark and then an off-on quagmire/dustbowl, but it is
now restored to what Durston calls a “free, open democratic
space”, with lots of greenery and benches and a new kids’
adventure playground. This area was also the site of the
magnificent Skylon, a silvery floating vertical structure that was
the outstanding icon of the Festival of Britain and was ultimately
dismantled on the orders of Winston Churchill because he
feared it symbolised socialism. The lamented Skylon is
remembered, however, by the restaurant of that name in the
Royal Festival Hall.
The London Eye has taken over what is now one of the best-
known landmarks in London. But like the Dome of Discovery, it
was originally conceived as a temporary structure. The wild idea
of a giant ferris wheel was first floated for the purpose of the
millennium. Originally owned by British Airways, it is now run
by Merlin Entertainments and sponsored by lastminute.com.
When I was passing by it boasted longer queues than any other
attraction.
I ask Durston about the “Let’s Do London” campaign, launched

by the mayor in May. “The return to normal will take time,” he
says. “But lots of what London has to
offer is still here.” Only someone who
is tired of life will be tired of the South
Bank, as Dr Johnson didn’t quite say.
I return to the South Bank in the

evening to catch the Illuminated River
– Leo Villareal’s brilliant nighttime
neon transformation of the bridges.
It’s beautiful and it’s free. As I head
back towards Waterloo station, I have
that old Kinks song playing in my
head: “As long as I gaze on Waterloo An urban
Attenborough: Nic
Sunset I am in paradise.” Durston, CEO of the South
Bank Employers Group
(South Bank)
This year’s BFI London Film Festival,
with dual London hubs on South Bank and in the West End and
venue partners across the country, runs from 6-17 October. Tickets
are on sale on Wednesday

BACK TO TOP
Sport/ Football
Salah joins Premier League

elite as Reds rout Leeds
Leeds 0
Liverpool 3
Salah (20), Fabinho (50), Mané (90’+2)
Mo Salah takes the plaudits after his opening goal against Leeds yesterday (AFP via Getty)
R I C H A R D J O L LY
AT ELLAND ROAD
As Mohamed Salah joined the Premier League’s 100 club, Leeds
and Liverpool find themselves in very different groups. Jurgen
Klopp’s side remain among the unbeaten and victory put them
in a select band of three leaders on 10 points. Leeds, meanwhile,
are still in the band of the winless, an unconvincing start to the
campaign continuing.
For Liverpool, celebrations of Salah’s century gave way to

concern about Harvey Elliott, stretchered off with a seemingly
serious ankle injury after a challenge that brought a straight red
card for the Leeds substitute Pascal Struijk. The abiding image
of Salah in this landmark game may be him rushing to the aid of
the stricken Elliott, rather than eviscerating Leeds.
But eviscerate he did. Fabinho and Sadio Mane also scored in a

game that, 48 hours earlier, it appeared the Brazilian would
miss. Liverpool’s superiority was still greater than the scoreline
suggested. Leeds have already been thrashed at Old Trafford this
season and this might have been another rout. After going
unbeaten at Elland Road against the “Big Six” last season, this
was a chastening result.
Their defensive difficulties were compounded by the loss of the

injured Diego Llorente, while Struijk now faces a three-match
ban. With Liam Cooper and Junior Firpo both struggling and
Leeds conceding to a set-piece – a regular failing last season – it
amounted to a wretched day for their rearguard.
Initially, however, Marcelo Bielsa’s side seemed to have much to

savour. Dan James’s debut was delayed, although he came on as
a substitute to a rousing reception, and Raphinha began on the
right in his stead, latching on to Kalvin Phillips’s diagonal pass
and setting up Rodrigo for a shot Alisson blocked. It was a high-
speed, high-class Leeds attack.
But then Liverpool assumed the initiative. Weight of pressure

and speed of attacks told, relentlessness bringing a reward.
Liverpool excelled on their right, with Salah dominant and
Elliott and Trent Alexander-Arnold providing fine support.
Their breakthrough came from Joel Matip’s ability to carry the
ball forward and featured a low cross from Trent Alexander-
Arnold that Salah tucked in. The onlooking Robbie Fowler no
doubt admired the predatory finish, but perhaps it was fitting
that Salah’s milestone goal was created by a Liverpool full-back.
It meant his ton of top-flight goals in England – how Chelsea

must wish that more than two were scored in their colours –
came in just 162 games. Only Alan Shearer, Harry Kane, Sergio
Aguero and Thierry Henry have brought up a century quicker.
Salah could have had an assist, too; Diogo Jota chested down
Salah’s cross but directed his volley too close to Illan Meslier.
Thiago Alcantara headed in a Salah cross, but only after the
Egyptian was offside.
Liverpool continued to fashion a host of chances. Mane missed

the best with his Ronnie Rosenthal moment, skying a shot over
from five yards when Jota picked him out. The opportunities
kept coming for Liverpool. Elliott’s shot was parried. Mane’s
went just wide. First the Senegalese and then Salah failed to
convert in quick succession in the second half, but the latter
produced a corner. Alexander-Arnold took it, Virgil van Dijk
headed it down and Fabinho prodded the ball past Meslier.
Mane’s goal eventually arrived, greeted by the winger with a
smile and a sigh of relief, when he was teed up by the influential
Thiago.
Luke Ayling had denied him with a superb sliding intervention,

but it was a damage-limitation exercise for Leeds by then. There
were a couple of isolated highlights, with Dan James coming on
for a debut and Patrick Bamford almost succeeding with an
audacious attempt to lob Alisson from 50 yards. But realistic
hopes of a fightback departed with Struijk. As his afternoon
ended prematurely, the fears soon were that Elliott’s entire
season had too.

BACK TO TOP
Sport/ Football
Pogba’s central role hints at

how Ronaldo could bring
positive chaos to United
Cristiano Ronaldo’s signing may see the French star in the centre much more (Getty)
MIGUEL DELANEY
CHIEF FOOTBALL WRITER
While Cristiano Ronaldo was giving a pre-match speech to the

Manchester United squad on Friday night, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
was making his final preparations for the game. One of those
decisions could end up much more complicated than a
predictable win over Newcastle United.
Solskjaer went against his usual instinct, and put Paul Pogba in
the central two.
The United manager would usually prefer not to play the French
star there because he thinks he’s far more effective in a more
attacking role, and has wondered whether he actually has the
discipline for it.
It is why Solskjaer so often goes for the widely debated

combination of Scott McTominay and Fred.
They were absent on Saturday, which forced the Norwegian’s

hand, and perhaps raises questions over Pogba’s position in this
squad – in more than one sense.
Solskjaer had little choice but to play the 28-year-old, and it was
aided by the fact Newcastle are going to be one of the more
supine sides that United play. If there are any games you can
afford a more open midfield, it’s this one. Pogba was also
typically superb with the ball in forward positions. One turn
towards the end was glorious. That’s the kind of freedom
Newcastle will allow.
There are at least some signs that United are going

back to a stage where it will become about scoring
more than the opposition
Even allowing for that, though, Steve Bruce’s attackers just cut
through United’s midfield in the way Wolves did. Had they
possessed even medium-class forwards, it could have been a
very difficult day for United. As it was, they more than got away
with it. They had too much attacking quality.
That is one thing that remains so striking about this squad. It is

so stacked in the forward positions. It is remarkable to think that
Edinson Cavani and Marcus Rashford weren’t even on the
bench. United have at least two high-class choices for every
position, with Pogba himself capable of playing in an advanced
role and out left.
That is in such a contrast to the midfield options, especially

since Solskjaer doesn’t seem to trust Donny van de Beek there.
That may be why Pogba’s position is all the more interesting.
Given Ronaldo’s signing pushes everyone else one down the

pecking order, and there will be pressure to get some attackers
in for more forgiving games, it may see the French star in the
centre much more. That could bring the possibility for chaos –
although at both ends. While it could make United more open, it
may also make them more capable of opening the opposition.
That is also what makes Ronaldo all the more important. His
goals bring certainty, especially amid such chaos. There are at
least some signs that United are going back to a stage where it
will become about scoring more than the opposition. Ronaldo
will ensure that happens more often than not.
“He senses the big moments, when to arrive in the box,”

Solskjaer said. “I thought he played the game in a very, very
mature way. He gave one ball away. But he was very efficient
with his football.”
That may be essential if United suffer some inefficiency in

midfield.

BACK TO TOP
Sport/ Football
Lack of goal machine leaves

City reliant on collective
Fernandinho, Jack Grealish and Ferran Torres celebrate their side’s victory at the King Power
Stadium on Saturday (Getty)
R I C H A R D J O L LY
Pep Guardiola can be a master of detail but he is rarely a

numbers man. He does not often quote the facts and figures and,
when he does, they are not guaranteed to be accurate. He was
unusually specific when he reflected on Manchester City’s three
consecutive Premier League wins.
“We score the last 11 goals from nine different players,” he said.
In one respect, he was wrong: the 10th scorer for City in that
time is Tim Krul, the luckless Norwich goalkeeper. But a
devotee of total football has a new form of equality with a side
who share the goals around.
Ferran Torres has scored as a striker, Jack Grealish and Gabriel

Jesus as wingers, Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez as
substitutes in attack. Aymeric Laporte had chipped in from
centre-back. Ilkay Gundogan and Rodri had struck from the
centre of the park before Bernardo Silva’s decider at Leicester
meant all the current midfield have opened their account for the
campaign. Had Fernandinho’s late shot gone in, or the Joao
Cancelo effort that led to Silva’s winner or a rasping attempt
from Kyle Walker, it would have furthered the sense City can get
goals from everywhere and anywhere.
They may need to. It is easy to envisage a four-way battle for the
Golden Boot, between the Premier League’s top two last season,
Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah, and their Serie A counterparts,
Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku. City are taking a
different approach: not through choice, given they wanted Kane
and expressed an interest in Ronaldo, but through necessity.
Torres could be burdened with comparisons to the superstar

strikers elsewhere; they are both automatically unfair and
relevant. He had been terrific in scoring a brace against Arsenal
two weeks earlier. On the day Lukaku and Ronaldo delivered
doubles, Torres, albeit against higher-calibre opposition in an
excellent Leicester side, was less effective. Guardiola had
compared him to Jamie Vardy two weeks earlier and, in a team
that had less of the ball at the King Power, the veteran was the
greater threat. Torres, though, is a work in progress, compared
with the finishers who are the finished article.
The arrival of Grealish furnishes Guardiola with
another who could get between six and 13, whereas
Chelsea and Manchester United have recruits who
might regard anything under 20 as a failure
Guardiola has never judged strikers purely by their goal tally.

Nor does he think they should shoulder all the responsibility for
scoring. The collectivist approach will have to carry on. “It’s the
only way to sustain our level,” he said, after their 25 shots came
from 10 different players.
It is a method that has proved possible before. City were top

scorers in regaining the league title last season when their
leading marksman, Gundogan, was a midfielder who had never
previously been prolific. If that felt a one-off for the German, an
outlier of a campaign, there is a wider question if the
methodology is repeatable, with plenty of contributors featuring
one who is first among equals. City had one player on 13 league
goals, one on 10, three on nine, one on seven and another with
six last season. None of them was named Sergio Aguero.
Now the arrival of Grealish furnishes Guardiola with another

who could get between six and 13, whereas Chelsea and
Manchester United have recruits who might regard anything
under 20 as a failure. So far City are the top scorers, even though
Kevin de Bruyne and Phil Foden only have 12 minutes of football
and no goals between them.
Yet it is not just an issue of how many goals each gets, but when.
City have two 5-0 routs and, including the Community Shield,
two 1-0 defeats this season. The first goal can assume an
importance. Lukaku and Ronaldo got it for their sides on
Saturday. Silva did for City on an afternoon when he was a
talisman. Lacking that banker, that guarantee, it is a question if
someone can deliver enough significant strikes, in the way
Gundogan did last season, to be decisive. No one else, even
Chelsea, has as many technically gifted midfielders and wingers
but there feels a clearer division of responsibilities between
passers and scorers at their rivals.
If Guardiola famously wants everyone to be a midfielder, he also

needs them all to be a finisher. “It doesn’t matter who scores,”
said Silva. Whatever they would say in public, it might not be a
sentiment Ronaldo or Kane would share. But then City’s
summer in the transfer market means they have to continue to
be defiantly different.

BACK TO TOP
Sport/ Tennis
Medvedev ends Djokovic’s

grand slam dream with
victory in US Open final
Daniil Medvedev takes the men’s singles crown (Getty)
ELEANOR CROOKS
Novak Djokovic fell at the final hurdle in his bid to win the
calendar Grand Slam as Daniil Medvedev claimed his first major
title at the US Open.
By winning the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon
titles, the world number one gave himself the chance to do what
only Don Budge and Rod Laver have ever managed in the men’s
game by claiming all four titles in the same year.
To add to the weight of history on his shoulders, victory would

also have seen him move clear of his great rivals Roger Federer
and Rafael Nadal and become the first man ever to win a 21st
slam singles title.
He had tried to keep his mind in the present, refusing to answer

questions about the Grand Slam after his quarter-final victory
over Matteo Berrettini, but it was clear from the first moments
of the final that he was battling himself as much as Medvedev.
Crucially, the Russian was good enough to take advantage,

securing a 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory in his third slam final to at least
strike a real blow for the younger generation against the old
guard.
He wobbled in sight of the line, serving consecutive double

faults from match point up at 5-2 after being heckled by the pro-
Djokovic crowd, but the 25-year-old, who lost to Nadal in five
sets in his first final in New York two years ago, composed
himself to serve it out at the second time of asking.
The second match point brought another double fault but on the
third Djokovic netted, with Medvedev falling to the court in
celebration of a deserved victory.
He is just the second man born in the 1990s to win a slam

singles title after last year’s champion Dominic Thiem and only
the third along with Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka to beat
one of the big three in a slam final since Juan Martin Del Potro
defeated Federer in New York 12 years ago.
Tennis and Hollywood royalty was in attendance in Arthur Ashe

Stadium in anticipation of watching history being made but the
tension flowing through Djokovic’s body was all too clear as he
dropped serve from 40-15 in the first game.
Medvedev was well beaten by Djokovic in the Australian Open

final in February but he showed in the the opening set that he
was not going to make the same mistakes, throwing in huge
second serves and losing just three points on his own delivery.
The crunch moments came early in the second set. Djokovic

had Medvedev at 0-40 in the second game but, unusually for a
man who has a sixth sense for striking at moments of weakness,
he could not take advantage.
The world number one then saved a break point but it was clear
his internal pressure gauge was hitting the red zone and in the
fourth game he could contain his emotions no longer.
Djokovic was extremely unfortunate to see a break point have to

be replayed after the sound system burst into life mid-rally.
Medvedev saved it, and then a second and, after missing a return
at deuce, Djokovic pounded his racket repeatedly on the court.
Now it was Medvedev sensing blood and he fist-pumped

excitedly to the crowd when he broke serve for 3-2.
Djokovic had spent five and a half hours longer on court than his
significantly younger opponent in reaching the final, dropping
six sets, including the opener in his previous four matches.
Tennis has been used to the Serbian always finding a way to win,
including when he backed up a gruelling semi-final victory over
Nadal at the French Open by coming from two sets down to
defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas.
But, whether it was tension, fatigue or a combination of both,

Djokovic simply could not get his legs moving or find his usual
groove, losing the majority of the long rallies and making simple
errors on important points.
Djokovic had gone off court after two sets against Tsitsipas in

Paris and come back a different player but here Medvedev keep
his foot on the throttle to move into a 4-0 lead in the third and
looked calm until the finish line was right in front of him.
The crowd cheered wildly and Djokovic become emotional

sitting at the change of ends after pulling back to 4-5, but this
time he could not find a way.
BACK TO TOP
Sport/ Tennis
A fairytale but no dream –

Raducanu’s US Open win
re-energises women’s game
Emma Raducanu celebrates lifts the trophy on Saturday (Getty)
JAMIE BRAIDWOOD
It was a fairytale, but it wasn’t a dream. For the past two nights
in New York, Emma Raducanu had been falling asleep
visualising the moment of winning the US Open, fantasising
about the climb up to the players’ box and the feeling of
dropping into the arms of her team in triumphant celebration.
On Saturday night those visions became a reality, as the 18-year-
old completed her unprecedented and sensational US Open run
with a stunning win over Leylah Fernandez to cap off one of the
most remarkable and unlikely victories in British sporting
history.
In becoming the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title and the
first British woman to claim a major tennis singles prize since
1977, Raducanu has made a mockery of the history books with
the relative ease with which she has advanced through her 10
matches at Flushing Meadows without dropping a set.
There were still plenty of moments of adversity, however, and

Raducanu was made to experience them all in an enthralling
match against Fernandez – none more so than in an excruciating
final game in which she faced two break points and an enforced
medical timeout before storming back to seal the championship
with a thunderous ace out wide.
If the memories of the last British tennis player to win their first
Grand Slam singles title were anything to go by, the price of
success was supposed to be one paid in years of anguish, tears
and defeat. In just her second Slam appearance, Raducanu has
also made a joke of that notion, and nothing will ever be quite
the same as it was.
Raducanu’s life is forever changed now. Two months ago, before

Wimbledon, she was ranked No 338 in the world and had a
couple of thousand followers on Instagram. Now she is
guaranteed to go up to world No 23, after having already secured
British No 1, has picked up a winner’s cheque of £1.8m and her
Instagram account has passed the one million followers mark.
In a matter of weeks she has gone from an unknown student in

Bromley focused on sitting her A-levels to the new face of
women’s sport in the UK and, potentially, a global star.
Marketing and PR experts have been tripping over themselves
to predict that brands around the world will be queuing up to
offer the 18-year-old a range of multi-million pound sponsorship
deals, and parallels have already been drawn with Naomi Osaka
due to their multi-market appeal.
Women’s tennis is in a completely different place now than it

was three weeks ago. The emergence of two teenage stars in
Raducanu and Fernandez onto the same stage at the same time
is huge for the sport. For them to play a final of the highest
quality and unparalleled tension is also hugely significant for
women’s sport as a whole in the UK, as was the fact it aired in a
primetime slot on free-to-air TV and captivated an audience that
until now has not existed in tennis outside of the usual two
weeks of Wimbledon.
Raducanu is the first British woman to win a Grand Slam

singles title since 1977 (Getty)
“I still haven’t checked my phone. I have no idea what’s going on

outside of our little world that we’re in here,” Raducanu said, as
she admitted she was not truly aware of the celebrity status that
awaits the teenager upon her return home. “We’ve just been in
the quiet room enjoying the moment and taking it all in. We just
need to shut out from everything and just enjoy it as a team,
because it was a team effort. I didn’t get here by myself at all.”
It is Raducanu’s close-knit team, comprised of coach Andrew

Richardson, agent Chris Helliar and physio Will Herbert, that
will prove vital in maintaining the environment that has allowed
her to perform so spectacularly in New York over the weeks and
months to come. Increased demands will be made of her, and
that’s just off the tennis court.
On it, Raducanu’s opponents will attack the US Open champion

with the vigour and fearlessness that defined her own run to the
title. New players will break through, desperate for the scalp that
Raducanu now represents. Former pros and pundits have
declared that Raducanu will go on to become a multiple-time
Grand Slam champion, if she stays fit. The expectation will only
build from here.
If approached correctly, it’s a fun challenge to face. Raducanu’s

attitude has served her well so far as the teenager has
championed an elite mentality of taking one day at a time during
her extended three-week stay at Flushing Meadows, even as the
noise surrounding her rise built with each passing round. As for
the talk of what changes now, to Raducanu it remains just that:
noise.
“For me, I don’t feel any pressure. I’m still only 18 years old,”
she said. “I’m just having a free swing at anything that comes my
way and that’s how I faced every match here in the States. It got
me this trophy so I don’t think I should change anything.
“I’m not even thinking about when I’m going home. I’m just
trying to embrace the moment and take it all in and I think it’s
definitely the time to just switch off from any future thoughts or
plans. Right now I’ve got no care in the world. I’m just loving
life.”

BACK TO TOP
Sport/ Formula One
Ricciardo wins as Hamilton

and Verstappen crash out
Australian’s Monza success is McLaren’s first since 2012
Max Verstappen’s Red Bull goes over Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes: ‘I feel incredibly blessed that
someone was watching over me today,’ the world champion said (AP)
PHILIP DUNCAN
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen crashed out of the Italian

Grand Prix yesterday – with the halo appearing to save Britain’s
seven-time world champion from serious injury – before Daniel
Ricciardo claimed McLaren’s first victory since 2012.
The Australian driver, who started second on the grid and

overtook Verstappen on the opening lap, led home a one-two
finish for the British team, with Lando Norris taking a career-
best second. Despite McLaren’s superb result, the afternoon at
the Temple of Speed will be remembered for Hamilton’s
collision with Verstappen.
After Hamilton left the pit lane on lap 26, Verstappen drew
alongside his championship rival at the Variante del Rettifilo in
Monza. Hamilton moved to his left to defend his position at the
right-hander, with the Mercedes driver narrowly ahead for the
ensuing left-hander. Verstappen ran out of room, and ran over
the kerb which launched his Red Bull out of control and into
Hamilton’s Mercedes.
The rear of the Dutchman’s airborne machine ran over the top
of Hamilton’s helmet, with the protective halo device absorbing
the impact. The front of Verstappen’s Red Bull was then beached
in the gravel, and resting on Hamilton’s car. A furious
Verstappen said: “That is what happens when you don’t leave
any room.”
The Dutchman then jumped out of the cockpit and stormed

away, without checking on Hamilton’s condition. One lap later,
Hamilton eventually emerged from his car, appearing to be
unharmed and complaining only of a stiff neck and soreness.
il d llid id h h h
Hamilton and Verstappen collide midway through the race
(Getty)
The two men walked back to the paddock with the stewards later
investigating the coming-together – their second in five races
following the opening-lap crash at July’s British Grand Prix.
Verstappen was deemed at fault and punished with a three-place
grid penalty at the next round in Russia.
But three hours after the accident, Hamilton admitted he was

still in pain and said he will be forced to seek medical attention
ahead of the race in Sochi on 26 September.
“I feel very fortunate today,” said Hamilton. “Thank God for the
halo which saved me, and saved my neck. I don’t think I have
ever been hit on the head by a car before. And it is quite a big
shock for me.
“We are taking risks and it is only when you experience

something like that that you get the real shock of how you look
at life and how fragile we all are. If you look at the images of the
crash, my head is really quite far forward in the cockpit.
“I have been racing a long, long time. I am so grateful I am still

here. I feel incredibly blessed that someone was watching over
me today.”
Ricciardo started second, but took the lead after beating

Verstappen in the 430-metre charge to the opening chicane.
Behind, Hamilton moved ahead of Norris and was within
striking range of Verstappen as they approached the Variante
Del Roggia. Verstappen held the inside line and Hamilton
diverted off track, running across the kerbs, and falling behind
Norris. “He pushed me wide,” the 36-year-old Englishman
complained over the radio.
Ricciardo led from Verstappen, Norris and Hamilton, with the

Australian the first to stop for fresh rubber on lap 22 of 53.
Verstappen stopped the next time around, but was stationary for
11 seconds following a problem putting on his right-front wheel.
Norris pulled in on lap 24, with Hamilton in on lap 25, but the
Briton’s stop was slow, and he emerged from the pits side by
side with Verstappen.
The two then sensationally collided as they battled for a net-
third. The safety car was deployed for four laps with Ricciardo
executing a perfect restart.
Ricciardo celebrates his first win as a McLaren driver

(Reuters)
Norris had fallen behind Charles Leclerc, but delivered a gutsy

move on the inside of the Curva Grande to move ahead of the
Ferrari and secure a remarkable one-two finish for Britain’s most
successful Formula One team.
The victory comes eight years, nine months and 18 days after
Jenson Button won in Interlagos – Hamilton’s last race for
McLaren before he moved to Mercedes.
“We have had an awesome weekend,” said Norris. “Four years

ago, I joined this team and we have been working towards this. I
am happy for Daniel and happy for the team.”
After claiming the eighth win of his career, his first since 2018,
Ricciardo said: “Can I swear? About... time [that I won].
“It was never a guarantee we would lead the whole race but I
held firm in the first stint and to keep Max behind and then
there was the safety car. To lead from start to finish, none of us
expected that. There was something in me on Friday and I knew
there was something good to come this weekend. To get a one-
two for McLaren is insane. I am, for once, lost for words.”
Valtteri Bottas, who started from the back following an engine
penalty, finished fourth but was promoted to third after Sergio
Perez was hit with a five-second penalty for gaining an
advantage in his tussle with Leclerc. Leclerc took fourth for
Ferrari, with Perez fifth.
“The halo definitely saved Lewis’s life today,” said Mercedes

team principal Toto Wolff. “Without it, it would have been a
horrible accident which I don’t even want to think about. The
championship was good fun up until now but we saw the halo
save Lewis’s life today. We don’t want to see someone seriously
hurt.”
Rival Red Bull boss Christian Horner who described the crash as
a 50-50 accident, said: “It was a very awkward accident and you
could see Max’s car right up the Mercedes. Without the halo
there would have been no protection for the weight of that
wheel coming down on top of Lewis. The halo has again
demonstrated its purpose in Formula One.”
Hamilton was initially sceptical about the introduction of the

halo, calling it the “worst-looking modification” in the sport’s
history and vowed not to use it, unless it became mandatory. But
the 36-year-old Briton started to change his tune ahead of its
introduction three years ago.

BACK TO TOP
Sport/ Boxing
Modern boxing carnival

uses and abuses fallen
heroes – and it must stop
A 58-year-old Evander Holyfield was stopped in the first round by former UFC champion Vitor
Belfort in Florida on Saturday as Donald Trump commentated (AFP/Getty)
STEVE BUNCE
This has to stop. The modern boxing carnival of old men chasing
lost dreams has to stop before there is a death in the ring. On
Saturday night in Florida, Evander Holyfield, once a warrior,
stumbled and fell and was stopped in just 109 seconds of a
terrible farce.
Holyfield is now 58, a veteran of 57 real fights in a very different

boxing universe and a man condemned long, long ago for his
slurred words, slow speech and obvious signs of physical and
mental decline. Holyfield was last a force in boxing in 1999, the
year of his second epic fight with Lennox Lewis.
Holyfield was over twice, fighting on memory and that is clearly

as diminished as his old skills.
The once glorious fighter was bludgeoned, clipped and hit on

the shoulders, head and elbows by Vitor Belfort, another exile
from the UFC franchise, and a man with rudimentary boxing
skills. It is not Belfort’s fault that some wealthy clowns and
freak-show voyeurs encouraged this spectacle and offered a lot
of cash. The people behind this awful event hired Donald Trump
to work as part of the commentary team.
Belfort was just doing what he was paid for and I guess the same
goes for Trump. The former president of the United States was
behind the microphone, talking about boxing when other former
presidents, the current president and world leaders were bowing
their heads in respect and honour at the dead from the Twin
Towers attack exactly 20 years ago.
Holyfield falls through the ropes (AFP/Getty)
The horrific and predictable spectacle in Florida was, you see,

actually sanctioned as a fight by the Florida State Boxing
Commission. It would be funny if nobody was at risk and far
safer if both were younger, dumber and further away from the
edge of decline. This is not the Jake Paul circus of carefully
calculated, celebrity fights; this is a business of death in the ring.
Naturally, Belfort, who is 44, challenged Paul at the end;
Holyfield, meanwhile, insists he wants a third fight with Mike
Tyson.
Holyfield had moved like a man with his legs stuck in treacle all
week as part of the promotion; he threw punches that barely
beat their shadow as he tried to dance on flat feet that refused to
move and his head rolled like he was trying to find the sweet
spot in an invisible new pillow. He was obviously a danger – a
danger to himself. He has been banned and refused a licence to
box over the last decade or so. And yet, the relentless promotion
continued and Trump's addition to the so-called “talent” on the
night was as calculated and sad as Holyfield’s last stand.
It finished when the referee waved it off after 1min 49sec of the

first round. The howls and screams and squeals of delight tell
you enough about the people who bought tickets for this blood
event. The seemingly endless line of old men, chasing old glory,
has to end before an inevitable wake. Take my word, when an old
fighter dies or suffers a dreadful head trauma, after a stupid fight
on this circuit, the modern business of boxing will take the hit,
not the carnival hustlers selling this garbage.
Amazingly, the main event was supported by a comedy fight

when David Haye, once the heavyweight champion of the
world, beat his old friend Joe Fournier in a fun-loving exhibition
that was billed as a real fight. It was not, it was just fun and a
springboard for Haye to launch an attack and issue a challenge to
current world champion Tyson Fury. This fun should not be
confused with the Holyfield carnage.
Fournier and Haye laughed and patted and coaxed each other
over the rounds. I hope they split a decent pot of gold for their
entertaining, but totally unnecessary, exhibition fight. The
challenge to Fury made some headlines, but then again, a rat’s
tail floating in a bubbling fondue at a Michelin star restaurant
also makes headlines.
David Haye and Joe Fournier embrace after their fight

(Getty)
Haye, by the way, could become the over-40 world heavyweight

champion. See what I did there? I invented a belt to dignify this
shambles; the problem is the sanctioning bodies are one step in
front of me. The men and women in control of the WBA, WBC,
WBO and IBF, who are always scared to miss a money trick, are
looking at ways to further legitimise this mad circus. Remember,
last year when Mike Tyson and Roy Jones sparred in an
exhibition dressed as a fight, there was a post-fight scramble to
give each a belt.
Perhaps one of the greedy sanctioning bodies could build a

coffin, using fancy leather, gold plate and a zillion cheap fake
diamonds in preparation of a death. It will come, trust me, if
men like Evander Holyfield are allowed in the ring with small
gloves in so-called real fights. The list of the culpable here is
long and awful. It was no shock when Trump was announced as
part of the team; it was all part of a boxing business I struggle to
recognise.
On Friday night, at an ice-skating arena in Coventry, I was

privileged to be ringside for what will probably be the British
fight of the year. In the ring, fighting for something called the
WBC Silver belt, local middleweight Sam Eggington narrowly
defeated Bilel Jkitou, from France, over 12 savage but
competitive rounds. It was the other side, the far side of a global
boxing business that currently has few boundaries. The real
world of boxing, the one where Eggington defends his belt, is
thriving – the circus events are a product of the success.
Leave the popular phase and craze in boxing to the YouTubers

and let’s prevent any more fallen heroes being used, abused and
paid for their brutal exposure in the name of boxing. It has to
stop. Please.

BACK TO TOP
Sport
Sport news in brief
Billy Horschel emulates Arnold Palmer as American winner of BMW PGA Championship (PA
Archive)
Horschel wins BMW PGA Championship
Billy Horschel became just the second American to win the

BMW PGA Championship after a superb final round at
Wentworth. Horschel carded seven birdies, including a decisive
one from two feet on the 18th, to finish 19 under par, a shot
ahead of England’s Laurie Canter, Welshman Jamie Donaldson
and Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat.
The 34-year-old joins the late Arnold Palmer in winning the

European Tour’s flagship event, the seven-time major winner
claiming the title at Royal St George’s in 1975. Donaldson
birdied the 17th and 18th to complete a 66 and join Aphibarnrat
in top spot before Horschel birdied the last to edge in front.
Sir Cook inspires with ton as Essex take charge away to Surrey
Sir Alastair Cook scored his fifth first-class hundred at the Kia
Oval and the 69th of his career as Essex reached stumps with
299 for three on the first day of their LV= Insurance County
Championship match against Surrey. A good-sized crowd rose to
applaud the former England captain when he reached three
figures just ahead of tea before finishing the day 140 not out.
The 36-year-old Cook looked in fine fettle from the moment he

drove Reece Topley either side of cover for his first two
boundaries in the third over of the day. There were 18 fours in all
in Cook's masterclass, many of them through the offside and
including one memorable back foot extra cover force off Rikki
Clarke.
RFL chief Ralph Rimmer ready to ‘roll the dice’
Rugby Football League chief executive Ralph Rimmer is ready to

“roll the dice” after admitting the game cannot afford to stand
still as he prepares to lead a strategic working party examining
ways to take it forward. The working party has been established
with a remit to examine the game’s calendar and competition
structures and to identify a strategic partner to support the
delivery of its recommendations.
In a media briefing, Rimmer defended the make-up of the

group, which contains no representatives from either the
Championship or League One or any personnel from outside the
game. Rimmer, who says the club representatives were put
forward by Super League, is confident the RFL will look after
the interests of the non-Super League clubs and says coaches
and players will be included as part of a wide-ranging
consultation process.
Kerr bags brace as Chelsea beat Everton in Super League
Sam Kerr scored a brace as defending champions Chelsea

returned to winning ways with a comprehensive 4-0 Women’s
Super League victory at home to Everton. After a 3-2 defeat to
Arsenal at the Emirates last weekend, the Blues saw off the
Toffees with Fran Kirby and Bethany England scoring either side
of Kerr's double.
England striker Kirby broke the deadlock after 25 minutes with a

superb strike as she collected the ball just inside the 18-yard box
and picked out the far corner of the net beautifully for her first
goal of the season. Kerr doubled the hosts’ lead two minutes into
the second half as she took advantage of a defensive mistake by
Everton before completing her brace with a header from close
range after 74 minutes.

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The Independent 13 Sep 2021

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M O N D AY 1 3 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 1 W W W. I N D E P E N D E N T.C O.

Hamish McRae Bel Trew Lucy Thackray Richard Jolly

Hamilton ‘grateful to be here’ after crash

Javid makes ‘shambolic’

Raducanu’s win embodies

Some parts of Emma Raducanu’s story have been universally

These bare facts demonstrate two encouraging lessons. One is

There will be huge pressure on both these young people. The

But meanwhile, let’s remember that on Saturday something

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Vaccine passports scrapped

Boris Johnson ﬁrst announced in July the certiﬁcation would

Mr Javid’s remarks come as the prime minister prepares to

Describing the argument Mr Johnson is set to make this week, a

A ﬁnal decision is also expected this week from the Joint

However, scrapping plans to introduce vaccine passports in

Mr Javid’s comments also came just moments after he said in a

The Conservatives have needlessly sown confusion

Michael Kill, the CEO of the Night Time Industries Association,

But Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said the reversal in

The Liberal Democrat home aﬀairs spokesperson Alistair

“The Conservatives have needlessly sown confusion among

Earlier this week, however, members of the Scottish parliament

On vaccinations for healthy 12- to 15-year-olds, Mr Javid also

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Javid vows to end PCR tests

The health secretary’s comments yesterday came after reports

According to The Mail on Sunday, the requirement will be

Speaking on Sky News, Mr Javid said: “Of course we still want to

The cabinet minister added: “I’m not going to make a decision

Speaking on Friday, Mr Javid also hit out the “completely

The shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said at ﬁrst

“We’ll have to see what the proposal is when it comes before

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‘She’s put Bromley on the

A little under an hour from central London, down a leafy cul-de-

Emma Wanostrocht, the centre’s business manager, tells The

People play at Bromley Tennis Centre in Orpington last week

“She’s incredibly polite, elegant and holds herself so well. She

Raducanu’s name appears on the winners board at Bromley

Despite producing the biggest up and coming star in the game,

“Making Grand Slam champions is amazing though it’s not our

Born in Canada to a Chinese mother and Romanian father,

A young Raducanu on the courts in Orpington (Bromley

“Emma Raducanu has deﬁnitely put Bromley on the map. I put

Suresh, who works at Anbu’s Convenience Store near the

Already a Grand Slam champion at 18, Emma Raducanu’s place

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Anti-vaxxers distribute fake

Anti-vaxxers are creating leaﬂets to look like oﬃcial NHS

The move comes as the government prepares to make a decision

Bearing the National Health Service (NHS) and Her Majesty’s

Designed as a shareable download, the leaﬂet not only poses as

This leaflet imitating an official document has been shared

Other posters with anti-vaccine messages are also being created

New images are regularly shared on the Telegram channels, with

As the UK school term restarts across the country this week,

Schools in southeast, west and north London have been targeted

Trial completion dates are set in the future to ensure long-term

It is not the ﬁrst time anti-vaccine leaﬂets have been handed to

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said:

This story was published in collaboration with media non-proﬁt

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Farthing’s delight as animal