The
great
escape
How writers
deal with
loneliness
 G2
Javid warns of 100,000 daily cases
and urges MPs tolead by example
Politicians have duty to
wear masks in crowded
spaces – health secretary
Heather Stewart
Peter Walker
Andrew Gregory
oliticians have a responsibility to
set an example in the battle against
Covid, including wearing masks
in crowded spaces, Sajid Javid has
AP/YRRAP DIVAD :HPARGOTOHP
Crossed wires? Relief as
Egypt frees robot artist
•
suggested as he predicted new infec-
tions could hit a record100,000 a day.
With the government under
mounting pressure to impose meas-
ures to control the virus, the health
secretary warned “this pandemic is
not over” and insisted he would do
“what it takes” to protect the health
service. But he said: “We don’t
believe that the pressures currently
faced by the NS are unsustainable.”
Javid urged millions of eligible
people to come forward for boost-
ers, saying this was key for people to
“keep their freedoms”, but declined
‘The new drugs’ Lockdown’s
£150m illegalpuppytrade
to say how high infection or hospi-
talisation rates would need to reach
before measures were reimposed.
e was pressed on the risks of
mixed messages, with most Conserv-
ative Ms declining to wear masks in
the ouse of Commons or in packed
cabinet meetings, and the business
secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, encour-
aging the public to book Christmas
parties.
Javid conceded that this was an
issue. “ think that is a very fair point.
s  say, we’ve all got our role to play
in this,” he told a owning Street
Robot artist Ai-Da, due to show her work at the Great
Pyramid in Egypt today,has been freed after being
held for 10 days amid ‘security concerns’. Creator
Aidan Meller said: ‘She is not a spy.’ NewsPage 13 
‘We must remember
this virus will be with
us for the long term’
Sajid Javid
Health secretary
press conference alongside Jenny
arries, head of the new UK ealth
Security gency,and Stephen owis,
medical director of NS England.
Javid said: “We, the people
 News
Thursday
21 October 2021
£2.5
From £1.75 for subscribers
standing on this stage, we play …
our public roles as secretary state, as
someone from the NS, as the head
of UKS. But we also have a role to
play in setting an example as private
individuals as well, and  think that’s
a very fair point, and ’m sure a lot of
people will have heard you.”
reviously, ministers have brushed
aside concerns about maskless ory
Ms crammed into the Commons
chamber, a compact arena with lim-
ited ventilation, saying it is within
guidelines as the Ms are 2 
colleagues.
‘Behaviour
blueprint’
for climate
withdrawn
Sandra Laville
 blueprint to change public behav-
iour to cut carbon emissions,
including levies on high-carbon food
and a reduction in frequent flying,
was published by the government
alongside its net zero strategy on
uesday only to be withdrawn within
a few hours.
ecommendations in the blueprint
contrast with Boris Johnson’s prom-
ise in the strategy foreword that
transitioning to net zero could
happen without sacrificing the things
we love. “his strategy shows how
we can build back greener, without
so much as a hair shirt in sight,” the
foreword stated.
“n 2050 we will be driv-
ing cars, flying planes and 10 
 • The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
Inside/0/ News
F ery weekday
t  Continued from page 1
Javid says MPs have
Doubly concerned duty to lead the way
Experiment with tw ns
suggests g
on wearing masks
views on envi Javid struck an overall sombre
Page 17 tone at the conference, repeatedly
stressing that the virus has not gone
away despite the absence of any for-
Evergreen star mal restrictions currently on daily
life in England.
Liverpool’s James Milner Yesterday more than 49,000 new
shows his enduring Covid cases were reported in the
value and his versatili UK, alongside 179 deaths, and Javid
Page 42 repeated a warning made this sum-
mer that daily infection rates “could
yet go as high as 100,000”.
•
past and act fast, or else we will face
far more extreme measures later.”
On Tuesday, the NHS Confed-
eration said the government must
immediately press ahead with its
plan B for containingthe virus, or risk
derailing efforts to tackle the backlog
of 5 million patients.
Matthew Taylor, its chief execu-
tive, said Javid’s warnings of up to
100,000 cases a day emphasised the
need for action. “The message from
health leaders is clear – it is better to
act now, rather than regret it later.”
Javid said he had great respect for
the NHS Confederation, which rep-
resents healthcare providers, but
said he would not be moving to plan
B “at this time”. He underlined the
fact that ministers wouldbe “staying
sharply as restrictions were lifted
– but they went on to peak above
60,000 in July before falling away.
He said the government would
be redoubling its efforts to adminis-
ter booster jabs to the over-50s and
the clinically vulnerable. The NHS
has already administered 4m top-up
doses but Javid urged others to come
forward.
“We’ve got the jabs: we just need
the arms to put them in,” he said,
calling it a “national mission” to roll
out the vaccine. He urged people to
come forward for their booster vac-
cine dose, “not just to savelives, but
to keep your freedoms too”.
Asked about problems with the
current rollout of vaccinations,
with charities representing immuno-

JournalOutside G2 “We must all remember that this

virus will be with us for the long
vigilant, preparing for all eventuali-
ties”,and said that fresh restrictions
compromised people saying only
about 40% have so far received news
Opinions and ideas
Europe’sfuture dependson a power struggle in Germany Adam Tooze, page 3 G2
Daily
pullout
There arestill no real climate leaders.Notyet Greta Thunberg, page4 life &

term, and that it remains a threat,” might need to be imposed if people of their third jab, Javid also accepted
arts
section
Hillsborough: the great betrayal The long read, page 5 Inside

he said. “A threat to our loved ones did not behave cautiously. there had been problems. “There is
The Guardian Thursday21 October 2021

 Why trust the same and a threat to the progress that we’ve If Javid’s warning of 100,000 cases always more thatwe can do,of course
Opinion
and ideas

people who cut your made in getting our nation closer to a day came to pass, that would be there is. There’s a lot for the govern-
normal life.” higher than at any stage during the ment to do – we’ve got tokeep playing
services to rebuild them? The British Medical Association pandemic. The highest recorded our part.”
Frances Ryan said it was “categorically” now time daily figure for reported cases was But Labour said the government
Page 1 to activate plan B, which would see a 68,053 on 8 January. should commit to expanding the
return to coronavirus measures. The health secretary previously rollout of booster jabs – a wider pro-
Britain’s largest doctors’ union suggested cases could hit 100,000 in gramme for clinically vulnerable
Why trust the
peoplewhocut
yourservices to
W hen Rishi Sunak stands in
front of the Commons for
the spending review next
week, the chancellor will
no doubt serve up “build
back better” buzzwords and
promises of “levelling up”.
Meanwhile, you can expect
review shows councils in England will face extra cost
pressures of almost £8bn by 2024/25 just to keep their
services running at today’s already diminished levels.
To make matters worse, these estimates only account
for “new pressures” on councils, “it does not include
the very real pressures that councils are facing here
and now, such as paying care workers a fair wage or
investing in the early intervention services which help
:
   There are no real
climate leaders yet. Who
added that it was “incredibly con-
cerning” and “wilfully negligent” of
the government to refuse to takefur-
the summer, when infections rose people and those over 50, distinct
from third jabs for the immuno-
compromised – to 500,000 a day.
will step up at Cop26?
him to be silent about the biggest funding crisis facing families and young people falling into crisis”.
this country – and with it, the families going without What was once a functioning state is now a
crucial local services. patchwork of broken services. Almost 800 libraries

rebuild them?
Think of local politics and it likely conjures up a dull have closed their doors since 2010, as have more than

ther action to tackle the crisis. “Ministers’ current approach to

picture of bin collections and road works (perhaps
with the exception of Jackie Weaver and the exploits of
Handforth parish council). But local councils in general
help form the fabric of day-to-day life: the library
Frances
900 youth centres. Schools have been forced to cut
help for pupils with special educational needs, while
financially ravaged family support services send more
vulnerable children into care. The fate of social care –

in your neighbourhood, the special needs teaching
assistant in the local primary school, the carer who
Ryan
drops by to help your nan. The Conservatives have
taken an axe to such services in recent years, and with a
remarkable lack of pushback.
Greta Thunberg
often the biggest budget pressure for councils – is all
too well known, with 1.5 million older and disabled
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the BMA’s this virus is failing to plan and falls
people suffering without support. Boris Johnson’s
recent plan for the sector gave no reprieve for cash-
strapped councils, instead expecting council tax and


Over the last decade, councils have faced funding the social care precept to carry the burden. Research by
cuts from central government of nearly 50%, all the Institute for Fiscal Studies this month
while demand and costs have grown. Analysis by the shows the gaping holes in that plan: the

Page 4 council chair, accused ministers of far short of protecting the public this
Local Government Association ahead of the spending government’s social care policies will cost

taking their “foot off the brake” by winter,” said the shadow health sec-
giving millions of Britons the false retary, Jonathan Ashworth.
G2 Centre pullout impression “the pandemic is behind
us”. He added: “Only last week two
“The so-called wall of defence
against Covid is crumbling and today
Features and arts select committees found the UK was we needed a plan to rebuild it. Despite

49,139
Life after an international outlier when it came a shocking warningabout daily cases,
Adrian Chiles loneliness
How to escape isolation
to public health policy during this
crisis. We are rapidly approaching a
we had a complacent press confer-
ence from the health secretary
A good 70% of the stuff –and feel fully alive
position where, yet again, the gov- that, while the announcement on
I own is useless – and ernment is delaying for too long, and The number of new coronavirus antivirals is welcome, failed to put
that figure is growing equivocating over taking action. This cases reported in the UK yesterday. forward measures to get a grip of the
Page 3 is the time to learn the lessons of the There were 179 deaths faltering vaccination programme.”

Theaster Gates Thursday 21/10/21 Adrian Chiles

All you can eat?
Analysis on different timescales, pushing in
opposite directions – that reliable
But England is not London
and not all children are equally
‘My art needs people. I’m Ian Sample
I takethose words
as a challenge
page 3
predictions are a fantasy. But protected. In London, fresh cases
building not just for myself Feat of clay
Why artist Theaster
Gatesis celebrating delve into the data and there are, of Covid are barely on the rise,
but for people around me’
ceramics
perhaps, reasons for optimism. suggesting the capital may be
It’s very hard to
page 8

Page 8 With so many adults well- close to a peak – at least for now. In
•

protected after vaccination, the south-west, where immunity

infection or both, the primary in children is thought to have
Become a Guardian and Observ
subscriber from £5.07 a week say – but there driver for the UK epidemic is the
infection rate among school-
children. Data from the Office for
been much lower before schools
went back, cases are rising fast.
If herd immunity starts to drive
Visit theguardian.com/paper-sub might be good National Statistics show that cases
soared in secondary schools when
they reopened after the summer.
cases down, it will happen city
by city, region by region, not in
a coordinated wave across the
news coming

I
Weather Cartoon This was bound to happen: in
England at least, protective
country. As ever, other factors
muddy the waters, not least mixing
Page 36 Journal, page 4 measures in schools were
minimal; the decision to vaccinate
patterns among adults. In London,
for example, home working rates
Quick crossword Cryptic crossword healthy children came later than are far higher than in many other
Back of G2 Back of Journal t is hard to be upbeat
about the latest numbers.
elsewhere, and the rollout has been
difficult and slow.
places, keeping exposure down.
One question modellers are
The government’s Covid The ONS estimates that, for the keen to answer is how much can
Contact Guardian News & Media, Kings Place, 90 York Way,
London N1 9GU. 020-3353 2000. Fax 020-7837 2114.
In Manchester: Centurion House, 129 Deansgate,
dashboard is awash with
red and upwards-pointing
week ending 9 October, 8.1% of
children in years 7 to 11 would have
Scotland tell us. When secondary
schools in Scotland opened in
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The Guardian lists links to thirdparty websites, but
does not endorse them or guarantee their authenticity climbed 17% on the week. This equates to about 5% becoming of students testing positive
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&  clarifications on specific editorial content), call
020 3353 4736 between 10am and 1pm UK time
0870-165 1470 guardian.backissuenewspapers.co.uk. deaths have risen 21%. This is not to the pool of the immune. Before Depending on the age group, the
Monday to Friday excluding public holidays, or
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months into the most successful of children in London may have early September, national cases
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NEWSPAPERS
Irish Times Print Facility, 4080 Kingswood Road,
Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24. No. 54,482, So is this what we have to get that immunity for weeks, cases England may follow suit, but as
SUPPORT Thursday 21 October 2021. Registered as a newspaper at used to? Nearly 1,000 hospital may soon start to fall. And since ever there is uncertainty. As Chris
RECYCLING
The recycled paper the Post Ofice ISSN 0261-3077. admissions a day and 1,000 deaths children are seeding infections Whitty, England’s chief medical
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at work in a pandemic – operating might then follow suit. coming”. This isn’t over yet.
Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian
‘Thanks, but no thanks’: Newcastle’s new
owners urge fans to ditch Arabian outfits
Mark Brown
North of England correspondent
Newcastle United’s new Saudi
Arabian owners say they were not
offended by the fans who celebrated
the purchase of their club by wear-
ing homemade head coverings and
robes. They would, however, like
them to stop.
In a statement from the club
headed “guidance on matchday
attire” the club said yesterday it was
“kindly asking supporters to refrain
from wearing traditional Arabic
clothing or Middle East-inspired head
coverings at matches if they would
not ordinarily wear such attire”.
Queen cancels Northern Ireland
visit after doctors advise rest
Caroline Davies
The Queen cancelled a two-day visit
to Northern Ireland yesterday after
advice from her doctors that she
should “rest for the next few days”.
Buckingham Palace said in a state-
ment: “The Queen has reluctantly
accepted medical advice to rest for
the next few days. Her Majesty is
in good spirits and is disappointed
that she will no longer be able to
•
News
‘There were some
supporters who did
not care what Saudi
Arabia’s human
rights record was’
John Nicolson
Scottish National party MP
visit Northern Ireland, where she
had been due to undertake a series
of engagements today and tomorrow.
“The Queen sends her warmest
good wishes to the people of North-
ern Ireland, and looks forward to
visiting in the future.”
The 95-year-oldis resting at Wind-
sor Castle, where she welcomed
business leaders, tech entrepre-
neurs and politicians to a reception
on Tuesday evening after the govern-
ment’s investment summit. Among
guests she greeted, alongside the
The team’s home match on Sunday
against Tottenham Hotspur was the
first in 14 years atwhich the club was
not owned by the Sports Direct boss
Mike Ashley. Instead, after a £300m
purchase, it was owned by a consor-
tium backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public
Investment Fund.
It was, said people who were there,
a surreal occasion. Or, according to
the Guardian’s Jonathan Liew, “a
day of such sad and unspeakable
strangeness”.
Outside, a van circled the ground
with a poster carrying the words
“Jamal Khashoggi Murdered 2.10.18”.
A Spurs fan, representing the Proud
Lilywhites, the north London club’s
official LGBTQ+ supporters’ group,
prime minister, Boris Johnson, was
the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
At the weekend, she spent a day
at the races at Ascot, and on Monday
held a virtual audience with the new
governor-general of New Zealand.
Last week, she used a walking stick
for what is believed to be the first
time at a major public event when
she attended a service marking the
centenary of the Royal British Legion.
On Tuesday it was revealed that
the Queen had declined the accolade
of Oldie of the Year because, accord-
ing to her office, she felt she did not
meet the criteria and believed “you
are only as old as you feel”.
Joe Little, of Majesty magazine,
said: “It’s a little bitunfortunate that
this comes so soon after that.But we
highlighted the case of Suhail al-
Jameel, a gay man reportedly
imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for post-
ing a shirtless picture online.
Inside, the sellout crowd, includ-
ing the Geordie TV celebrities Ant and
Dec, were mostly jubilant. And then
there were the large number who
had a go at their version of the Arabic
keffiyeh, the traditional headdress,
often using a tea towel. Some had
clearly ordered thobes, traditional
Middle Eastern long robes, from the
internet. A few finished the look off
with bottles of Newcastle Brown Ale.
The club’s statement said: “No one
among the new ownership group was
in any way offended by the attire of
the fans who chose to celebrate in
The Queen was seen with
a walking stick last week
3
 Newcastle United fans celebrate a
home goal in their side’s 2-3 defeat to
Spurs at St James’ Park on Sunday
:  / 
this way. It was a gesture that was
acknowledged as positive and wel-
coming in its intent.
“However, there remains the
possibility that dressing this way is
culturally inappropriate and risks
causing offence to others. All visitors
to the club are, as always, encouraged
to wear whatever is the norm for their
own culture or religion, continuing
to reflect the broad and rich multi-
cultural communities and groups
from which the club proudly draws
its support.”
The sight of fans in Arabic dress
was seen as harmless fun by some.
Others were horrified. The SNP MP
John Nicolson was one of many who
found the match extraordinary, tell-
ing a parliamentary committee:
“There were some Newcastle United
supporters who just did not care what
Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuse
record was.
“I’m trying to imagine what it
must be like to be Jamal Khashoggi’s
widow, when her husband has been
chopped up and murdered on the
instructions of the de facto ruler of
Saudi Arabia, and she sees numpties
dancing around in cod-Arabic head-
dresses outside Newcastle United.
On a personal basis for her that must
be heart rending.”
Newcastle’s statement was wel-
comed by the campaign group Kick
It Out,which called on fans “to show
respect and cultural sensitivity when
choosing what to wear on match
days. We support the proactive steps
taken by the club to ensure all fans
feel welcome attending games at St
James’ Park.”
The admonishment to fans came
as Newcastle, to no one’s surprise,
parted company with their over-
whelmingly unpopular manager,
Steve Bruce. Paulo Fonseca, previ-
ously in charge of Shakhtar Donetsk
and Roma, is favourite to take over.
It was also announced that the
fan who needed emergency medi-
cal treatment at the match was now
up and walking about. The match was
suspended for about 20 minutes as
the fan was helped by St John Ambu-
lance, nurses and doctors who were
in the crowd, giving him life-saving
CPR and a defibrillator shock.
The fan was yesterday named as
80-year-old Alan Smith.
Sport Bruce sacked Page 46 
don’t know whatthe problem is, and
we won’t be told … Clearly she hates
letting people down, particularly at
the last minute.
“Northern Ireland is an hour on the
plane, so it’s certainly not long-haul.
But I think, at 95, it’s still an upheaval,
even when you don’t have to pack
your own bag.”
Overall the Queen’s health has
been robust,though in January 2020
she missed a trip to the Sandringham
Women’s Institute because of a cold.
She quickly returned to duties
after the funeral of the Duke of Edin-
burgh six months ago. “Shehas been
out and about,” said Little. “And she
has looked in remarkably good form.
But unfortunately there will be the
occasional glitch given her age.”
 • The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
4 News
Coronavirus

UK strikes deal on
two new antiviral
drugsawaiting
regulator approval
Peter Walker and Ian Sample
No 10 has made deals to buy hun-
dreds of thousands of doses of two
new antiviral treatments for corona-
virus, ministers have announced,
with the hope they will be approved
for use in the UK before the winter.
One deal covers 480,000 courses
of molnupiravir, which can be taken
as a pill twice a day.In trials, the drug,
made by Merck and known as MSD
outside the US, has been shown to
reduce by half the risk of hospitali-
sation or death for those patients not
in hospital.
The other therapy is PF-07321332/
ritonavir, a combination made by
Pfizer comprising another oral anti-
viral treatment used in combination
with ritonavir, a drug usually used
to treat HIV/Aids. The UK has a deal
for 250,000 courses, according to the
announcement.
Neither treatment would be used
in patients before approval by the
Medicines and Healthcare prod-
ucts Regulatory Agency, with trials
for PF-07321332/ritonavir currently
taking place. The supply of mol-
nupiravir is expected to arrive no
earlier than mid-November, and
United States
Jabs for 5-to-11-year-olds
Children aged five to 11 in the
US could soon be able to get a
Covid-19 jab , the White House
said yesterday as it detailed plans
for the authorisation of the Pfizer
vaccine for 28 million younger
children across the country.
the Pfizer antivirals are expected in
late January.
Ministers and health advisers said
the deals, completed by the govern-
ment’s antivirals taskforce, could
play a significant role in reducing the
extent of serious Covid-19 cases over
the winter. The health secretary, Sajid
Javid, said they would be part of “an
armoury of life-saving measures”.
Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, Eng-
land’s deputy chief medical officer,
said antivirals would be “particularly
vital in protectingthose who may not
get the same antibody response to the
vaccines as the majority of the pop-
ulation”, adding: “We will now work
quickly to ensure the right cohorts
of people receive these treatments
as soon as possible, should they be
approved by the MHRA.”
Health officials expect that most
of the antivirals will be used to treat
elderly people and those immuno-
compromised, who are most likely to
be hospitalised with severe disease.
The drugs work in different ways and
potentially could be used in combi-
nation in the future. The supplies are
expected to last this winter and next.
Antivirals, which can be used to
treat those infected with a virus or to
protect from infection, have become
an increasingly importantpart of the
response to the coronavirus.
The health department says that
the first treatment used for Covid,
dexamethasone, which is a steroid Analysis by compelling them to wear a mask
– is well known.
that dampens down lung inflam- Heather Stewart Johnson is also temperamentally
mation, not an antiviral, has saved opposed to working from home
22,000 lives in the UK and about a – he used his party conference
million worldwide.
One key aim for the taskforce has
been to find an antiviral pill that
Political squeamishness will speech to say that “we will and
must see people back in the office”.
And as at earlier stages of
patients can take at home before win-
ter sets in.
Eddie Gray, chairman of the gov-
deter PM from changing tack, the virus, the prime minister’s
personal reluctance is bolstered by
the political stance of many of his
even as number of cases soars

Within hours of formal
approval, expected after the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention advisory meeting
scheduled for 2 to 3 November,
doses will begin shipping to
providers across the country,
along with smaller needles
necessary for injecting children,
and within days will be ready to
go to children on a wide scale.
The country now has ample
supplies of the Pfizer shot to
vaccinate the roughly 28 million
children who could soon be
eligible, White House officials
said, and officials have been
working for months to ensure
widespread availability of shots
once approved.
Shots could be given at
paediatricians’ offices, local
pharmacies and potentially even
schools, the White House said.
Jessica Glenza
ernment’s antivirals taskforce,
said the deals were a “very impor-
tant development in our mission to
find antivirals for those exposed to
Covid-19, supporting the renowned
vaccination programme and the NHS
over the coming months”.
Prof Stephen Powis, national med-
ical director for NHS England, said
the new treatments would “add to
the health service’s armoury in giving
the most vulnerable people the best
chance of recovery from this deadly
virus”. He added that with cases ris-
ing the virus was still “very much a
threat to public health”.
Costs of the deals have not been
given due to commercial sensitivities.
Ruth McKernan, chair of the
BioIndustry Association, said: “Pre-
vention is still better than cure but
for vulnerable patients who can’t be
vaccinated or don’t respond well,
post-infection treatment with an oral
drug is important.”
M
ore than 20
months into the
Covid pandemic
and with a tough
winter looming,
the public could
be excused for having a distinct
sense of deja vu.
Infection rates are rising
sharply, scientists and senior
NHS figures are sounding the
alarm – but the business secretary,
Kwasi Kwarteng, was touring
the broadcast studios yesterday
morning ruling out a lockdown and
telling people “absolutely” to book
their Christmas parties.
Sajid Javid’s tone in his Downing
Street press conference hours later
was considerably more sombre but
backbenchers.
The Covid Recovery Group
(CRG), chaired by the former
Tory chief whip Mark Harper, are
vehemently opposed to vaccine
the substance of his message was passports in the form proposed
the same: for now, it’s business as by the government – with only
usual. double-vaccination, not test
Unlike last autumn, when Sage results, accepted.
scientists were unsuccessfully Javid confirmed earlier this
pressuring Boris Johnson to order week that MPs would be given a
a “circuit-breaker” lockdown, the vote on the proposal before it is
government has at least set out a enacted – but the CRG believes that
clear plan B. without Labour support it would be
Last month’s autumn and unlikely to pass.
winter plan included returning So, implementing the
to compulsory mask-wearing, government’s plan B, even in the
introducing vaccine passports face of rising death rates, could
for mass events and venues such be hampered both by political
as nightclubs, and reimposing squeamishness at the top of
guidance to work from home. government and a rebellion on the
But having a plan doesn’t mean backbenches.
No 10 is any keener to act. Boris And there is also a sense in
Johnson’s ingrained reluctance to government that being bold about
curtail the public’s freedoms – even reopening worked – something
Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian
they will be reluctant to reverse.
Johnson and Javid took a conscious
gamble in the summer to press
ahead with a “big bang” lifting
of restrictions in July, which was
condemned at the time by Labour
leader, Keir Starmer, as “reckless”.
Despite the UK’s position as the
outlier among western European
countries in terms of infections,
ministers believe hindsight has
shown that to be the right decision,
allowing the public to get back to
some semblance of normal life.
Johnson’s spokesperson frequently
boasts that the UK has “one of the
most open economies”.
Javid, too, has very different
instincts from his predecessor,
Matt Hancock, who tended
to advocate a precautionary
There is a sense in
government that
being bold about
reopening worked –
something theywill be
reluctant to reverse
•
▼ Shoppers on London’s Oxford
Street yesterday. The PM has in
the past been reluctant to mandate
masks R: X /
approach. A fan of the libertarian
author Ayn Rand, the health
secretary said in July that he would
not wear a mask in a quiet train
carriage, even if asked to.
All these factors – political and
personal – help explain why for
now, the focus is on ramping up
the government’s plan A. That
means tackling the shortcomings
of the vaccine booster programme;
increasing the number of 12- to
15-year-olds getting the jab by
letting parents book appointments
directly; and reminding the public
not to “tear the pants out of it” as
England’s deputy chief medical
officer Jonathan Van-Tam has
repeatedly put it.
The winter plan document
included advice to the public to
meet outdoors if possible, keep
windows open and wear masks in
crowded spaces. Javid reiterated
that advice yesterday in the hope
of influencing public behaviour
– though Tory MPs were packed
maskless on the green benches
of the House of Commons just
hours earlier for prime minister’s
questions.
There are also hopes in
government that next week’s half-
term break for schools will act as a
mini firebreak, helping to stabilise
infections.
Sketch
John Crace
Infection rates
out of control?
Schrödinger’s
Saj can help
A
little of what had
been said had
sunk in, after all.
Temporarily at
least. There had
been a suspicion
that the many fine words that had
been spoken in tribute to David
Amess on Monday might have
been quickly forgotten by the time
prime minister’s questions came
round. But Keir Starmer was keen
to keep the mood music playing,
and opened by reminding Boris
Johnson of the commitment made
by MPs from both sides of the
house to a kinder and more gentle
form of politics.
“I am going to be collegiate,” the
leader of the opposition said. A
look of panic crossed Boris’s eyes.
He thrives on division and point
scoring, not consensus. Starmer
went on to address the online
safety bill. There were still many
social media platforms on which
violent and extremist content was
posted: could the government
commit to giving the bill its second
reading by the end of the year? If
so, it would have Labour’s backing.
Boris tried to think of a reason why
Morocco
Flights to and
from UK are
suspended
Kevin Rawlinson
Nadeem Badshah
Morocco is banning flights to and
from the UK because of rising coro-
navirus case rates. Airlines cancelled astated. First holiday for 2 years
several flights between the countries
yesterday before the suspension
came into effect at 11.59pm.
Latest igures from the Euro-
pean Centre for Disease Prevention
and Control show the north African
country’s weekly rate of reported cor-
onavirus cases on 14 October stood
at 10.4 per 100,000 people. The UK’s
comparable rate is 445.5.
EasyJet cancelled two flights from
Gatwick and Manchester to Mar-
rakech yesterday,but operated flights
in the opposite direction to bringpas-
sengers back to the UK before the ban
came into force. “We are still awaiting
clarity from the Moroccan authori- ▲ British Airways cancelled flights
ties as to whether we are permitted between Heathrow and Marrakech
not, but quickly realised he was
cornered and promised to give the
bill a pre-Christmas nudge.
With infections now running at
nearly 50,000 per day and deaths
and hospitalisations also on the
rise, you’d have thought that at
least one MP might have wanted to
ask what the government planned
to do about the worsening Covid
situation. But apparently not.
Indeed, almost no Conservative
MP is concerned enough about the
virus to be bothered to wear a face
covering in public – despite the
many signs around Westminster
asking them to do precisely that. So
it was left to the health secretary
to enlighten the country on the
government’s near total absence
of thought about the pandemic
at the first Downing Street press
conference in months.
The stream of unconsciousness
was essentially this: steady as
she goes. Even if the number
of infections were to double to
100,000 per day, then the best
thing for everyone to do was
nothing. Plan A clearly wasn’t
working, but it wasn’t the moment
to panic and implement Plan B.
Rather it was time for Plan A-. This
consisted of trying to get everyone
who had ignored Plan A to give it
another go.
What wasn’t required was Plan
B. Primarily because that might
▲ It’s all good: the health secretary
at yesterday’s press conference
to operate repatriation flights beyond
midnight today,” the airline said.
British Airways cancelled flights
between Heathrow and Marrakech,
which were due to resume today
after being suspended because of
the pandemic. The flight ban will
affect families in England and Wales
who booked half-term holidays in
Morocco for next week.
Morocco’s National Office of Air-
ports said the policy would remain in
place “until further notice”. It is also
banning flights to and from Germany
and the Netherlands.
The news was met with dismay.
One person wrote on Twitter: “Dev-
arranged and a special one as proba-
bly last as a family as our kids in late
teens.” Another described them-
selves as a “cauldron of anger and
despair”, saying: “Apart from a few
5
upset some old-school Tories
who regarded any public health
measures as a breach of civil
liberties. But personally speaking,
the health secretary was easy
either way. He was very happy
for people not to wear masks as
per Plan A but he was also very
happy for everyone to voluntarily
move to Plan B and wear masks.
Schrödinger’s Saj.
Understandably, most members
of the media were interested to
know if Javid was plain stupid or
clinically insane. Surely the one
lesson from last year was that
it was better not to act too late?
Sajid went on to prove you could
be both dim and mad. The NHS
Confederation didn’t know what it
was talking about, he said. It was
important for the NHS to be stress
tested. There was no real concern
in the UK having infection rates
that were spiralling out of control:
the main thing was for people
with cancer and heart conditions
to not take up too many hospital
resources. So if they could go
away and die quietly, they would
be doing everyone with Covid
a favour.
“We have a huge amount to be
proud of,” Javid said, seemingly
unaware he was now hellbent on
undoing most of the achievements
to date. “But we must not be
complacent.” Except, every one
of his sentences was laced with
complacency. He couldn’t even
say when he might even consider
moving to Plan B. Probably
by the time the doctors were
recommending Plan D. Here was
the real message: the government
had decided that an NHS at
breaking point and hundreds of
deaths a day were prices worth
paying to keep the economy open.
Survival of the fittest and all that.
So long suckers.
days last Christmas, I haven’t had any
time off work since Feb 2020. And,
thanks to those people that won’t
wear a mask or get vaccinated, I won’t
get to go away next week now.”
On Tuesday, the UK reported its
highest number of Covid deaths for
seven months, with 223 recorded
within 28 days of a positive test. The
daily death rate, by date reported,
has not been as high since 9 March,
while the toll was greater than on the
same day last year – shortly before the
prime minister felt the situation suffi-
ciently grave to impose a one-month
lockdown in England.
Some scientists and health experts
have said ministers should activate
the “plan B” winter measures. Yes-
terday the business secretary, Kwasi
Kwarteng, ruled out further lock-
downs and said the return of some
lesser restrictions in England was not
needed “for now”.
“The important thing is the fact
that our vaccination programme has
been successful in breaking the link
between cases and hospitalisations
and deaths,” a No 10 spokesperson
said. “Our focus remains on ensur-
ing we get boosters out to those who
are eligible.”
They added: “There isn’t any
proposed plan for any further lock-
downs. We are sticking to the autumn
and winter plan we have set out.”
Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian •
National 7

On the Horizon? Facebook is reportedly ponder-

ing the rebrand against the backdrop Names and shame
Worlds as well as a virtual-real-
ity meeting service called Horizon

Facebook reported
of its worst PR crisis since the Cam-
bridge Analyticascandal three years
ago. A former employee, Frances
Haugen,has leaked tens of thousands
Other corporate changes Workrooms. Nick Clegg, Facebook’s
vice-president of global affairs, has
said he now takes his Monday morn-
lettering, replaced ing meetings in the metaverse with a

to be rebranding as
of documents and gave damning tes- overnight with a much virtual table and whiteboard.
timony to US senators this month in smaller box and large Facebook says ithas just under 2.8
black lettering in a
which she said Facebook put “astro- different font. Such billion daily users for its products but

controversies grow
Dan Milmo
Global technology editor
Facebook plans to make a dramatic
break with its past byrebranding the
company next week, according to a
report.
Facebook’s founder and chief
executive, Mark Zuckerberg, is pre-
paring to talk about the name change
at a company event next week, but it
could be unveiled sooner, reported
the Verge, a US tech news website.
Under the plans, Facebook would
change the name of its holding
company but not that of its epony-
mous social media platform, known
internally as the “big blue app”. As
well as its foundingsite, the company
also owns Instagram, WhatsApp and
the virtual reality brand Oculus.
The Verge reported that the new
name for the holding company could
be linked to Horizon, a word used in
at least two virtual reality products
that the company is developing.
Zuckerberg launched his company
as TheFacebook 17 years ago.
In a statement, Facebook said it
“doesn’t comment on rumour or
speculation”.
nomical profits before people”.
According to the Verge, VR is
the driver of the mooted name
change as the company focuses on
building a “metaverse” as the cor-
nerstone of a new growth strategy.
The Verge reported that the rebrand-
ing announcement could take place
at the company’s annual product
conference, Connect, on 28 Octo-
ber, when more details about the
metaverse are set to be unveiled.
Oculus products would be a key
product in the metaverse – a loosely
defined concept that involves people
leading their social and professional
lives, and interactingwith other peo-
ple, via VR headsets and through
“augmented reality”, where a digi-
tal layer is placed on top of real life,
as in the popular Pokémon Go game.
Facebook is developinga social vir-
tual reality platform called Horizon
Google/Alphabet was the negative Zuckerberg is renowned for his focus
Google restructured feedback that after on growth, which is driven by a fear
under the name less than a week it that Facebook could be superseded
Alphabet in 2015. The decided to revert to
move was embraced the original, in one of by a digital upstart at any moment.
on Wall Street as the the quickest rebrand This week Facebook said it was creat-
company’s share price reversals in history.
immediately rose by
ing 10,000 new jobs in the EU as part
5%. The corporate of growth plans that include build-
identity brought ing a metaverse.
a collection of Facebook faces signiicant
businesses under pressure following the Haugen rev-
a single umbrella. elations. It is also braced for a wave
Royal Mail/ of further revelations after it posted
Consignia
The Royal Mail a series of tweets this week accusing
rebranded as unnamed news organisations of plan-
Consignia in 2001 in ning a “gotcha” campaign against the
an attempt to attract company.
Gap more corporate
Following a slump in customers. Described The company is fighting a number
sales after the 2008 by a BBC business of regulatory and legislative battles,
inancial crisis, Gap correspondent as including an attempt by the US com-
launched a redesign “a howling waste of petition regulator to force a breakup
of  its 20-year-old money”, 16 months of the business. Facebook was fined
logo. Gone was the later the company
recognisable blue switched to be called $5bn by the US Federal Trade Com-
square box with white Royal Mail Group. mission in 2019 over user privacy.

 Jennifer Lopez
on stage in May. Firm handed
A ‘Idea Pin’ on
Pinterest £50m fine for
will allow the
site’s users breach of Giphy
takeover order
to riff on her
Halloween
costume with
their own
inspirations
: 
Y/
 X / Mark Sweney

Facebook has been fined £50.5m for

Pinterest plans new features
to help with online ‘wellbeing’
Dan Milmo
Pinterest, the social network and
virtual “mood board”, is to offer
users the chance to riff on Jennifer
Lopez’s Halloween costume, as the
firm launches products to emphasise
its focus on “emotional wellbeing”
amid a storm of negative publicity
about social media firms.
The US company is rolling out a
“Takes” product that allows users
to respond with their own versions
of someone else’s ideas, such as rec-
ipes or sketches. The facility is being
launched with a Lopez “Idea Pin”.
Pinterest, which has more than
400m users and is reported to be
the target of a $39bn takeover bid
from PayPal, is launching features
to head off competition from other
services such as TikTok. It has also
introduced a “watch”tab to let users
scroll through videos or photos in
full-screen mode. Pinterest’s senior
vice-president of products, Naveen
Gavini, said video was a superior
medium for learning. “If you want
to learn how to do something, it is
much easier to watch a 10-minute
video on how to do it.”
Pinterest is launching the prod-
ucts against a backdrop of political
pressure and public outcry over social
media, including the revelations of
the Facebook whistleblower Frances
Haugen, the racist abuse of England
footballers on Twitter, and anti-vac-
cine videos widely shared on TikTok.
Gavini said Pinterest was not, like
Facebook, about checking up on
friends or news. “We are fundamen-
tally focused on different things.We
are focused on inspiration and how
to protect that.”The company is also
starting a $20m fund to help users
bring their projects to life.
In July,Pinterest said itwould ban
advertisements with weightloss lan-
guage and imagery,including adverts
that idealised or denigrated certain
body types. The company has also
faced recent controversy, though.
Ifeoma Ozoma, a former employee,
broke a non-disclosure agreement
last year to accuse the company of
“racism, gaslighting and disrespect”.
A Pinterest spokesperson said the
firm wanted to ensure its culture,
policies and practices were “aligned
with [its] commitmentto be a diverse,
equitable and inclusive workplace”.
breaching an order imposed by the
UK competition regulator during its
investigation into the purchase of the
gif creation website Giphy.
The Competition and Markets
Authority (CMA), which launched
an investigation into Facebook’s
$400m (£290m) takeover earlier this
year, said the company had “deliber-
ately” refused to supply information
proving that it was complying with
an initial enforcement order (IEO).
An IEO means a company must
stop any further integration of a
business that has been acquired, and
allow it to compete as it would have
pre-merger, until the CMA completes
its investigation.
Joel Bamford, a director of merg-
ers at the CMA, said: “We warned
Facebook that its refusal to provide
us with important information was a
breach of the order but, even after los-
ing its appeal in two separate courts,
Facebook continued to disregard its
legal obligations.”
Separately, the CMA has fined
Facebook £500,000 for changing its
chief compliance officer twice with-
out seeking consent.
The largest fine previously issued
by the CMA over a breach of an IEO
was £325,000. Facebook said it had
made its “best effort” to comply.
“We strongly disagree with the
CMA’s unfair decision to punish
Facebook for a best-effort compli-
ance approach,” the company said.
“We will review the CMA’s decision
and consider our options.”
 • The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
8 National
Anonymity Steven Morris
for officer A police chief has admitted a deci-
who harassed sion by a misconduct panel to grant
lifelong anonymity to a male officer
domestic
who harassed a female domestic
abuse victim opened the service upto
accusations of a lack of transparency.
abuse victim The specially trained domestic
officer bombarded the young woman
with messages as he pursued an
“improper emotional relationship”
with her after being assigned to
work on her case, the panel heard.
He was accused of sending her wink-
face emojis with kisses, asking her
on a cocktail date, inviting her to his
home, and giving her hugs and a kiss.
The panel ruled yesterday that
the Hampshire oficer’s actions
amounted to gross misconduct but
he was granted lifelong anonymity
to protect his welfare.
Deputy chief constable Ben Snuggs
said it had been the decision of the
independent panel chair to decide
whether the officer could be named.
He said the force was keen that
hearings be heard in public, but the
naming of officers had to be consid-
ered on a case-by-case basis.
Snuggs said he did not believe there
was a culture problem in Hampshire
‘He abused his status
as a police officer
to retain contact’
Sarah Gaunt
Misconduct panel chair
Met officers stopping
lone women will verify
identity by video call
Aubrey Allegretti
Political correspondent
Plainclothes police officers in London
will video-call auniformed colleague
to verify their identity when stop-
ping a lone woman, the head of the
Metropolitan police has announced,
following the abduction and murder
of Sarah Everard.
Cressida Dick, the Met police com-
missioner, said the change would
put the responsibility on the officer
to prove they were acting properly.
Senior police figures have been crit-
icised for their reaction to the case,
which saw a serving officer, Wayne
Couzens, jailed for life for staging a
fake arrest, kidnapping Everard and
burning her body in March.
When Couzens’s sentence was
handed down last month, Scotland
Yard suggested people stopped by a
lone plainclothes officer should chal-
lenge their legitimacy or run away
and wave down a bus to escape
someone they thought mightbe pre-
tending to work for the police.
A police and crime commissioner
in North Yorkshire, Philip Allott, was
also forced to resign after he said
women should educate themselves
about “when they can be arrested and
when they can’t be arrested”.
Dick said a new instruction had
been issued which “allows a woman
who is stopped by such a police
officer immediately to have verifi-
cation that this is a police officer”.
The officer would make a video call
to a sergeantin uniform “who will say
‘yes that’s so-and-so, he’s PC XYZ’,”
Dick explained.
The Met commissioner said it
would be “a quick and easy way” for
women to regain confidence they
were being stopped bya police officer
acting properly, and added this would
be “instigated by the officer, not by
the woman having to ask for this”.
Dick, who last month got a two-
year extension to her post as the most
senior police official in the country,
added: “I want to be clear, the onus is
on the officer … to deal professionally
with the person that they are speaking
to, and in the very unusual circum-
stance in which a plainclothes officer
is talking to a lone female, which is
likely to be extremely unusual in Lon- ▲ Cressida Dick said ‘the onus is on
don, we would expect them to go to the officer’ to identify themselves
but argued there had been a backlog
of disciplinary cases because of Covid
now coming through the system.
Sarah Gaunt, chair of the miscon-
duct panel, limited what the media
could say about why the officer was
granted anonymity. Gaunt said the
woman was “vulnerable if not highly
vulnerable”, adding: “He abused
his status as a police officer to retain
and maintain in contact, and for the
purpose of a sexual or improper emo-
tional relationship with her.”
The officer will be sanctioned at
a later date.
every effort first of all to recognise
that the woman mayfeel uncomfort-
able, to explain themselves well, to
identify themselves well. It would
normally be the case that they would
be in a pair anyway.”
Wiltshire police have already
announced a similar scheme whereby
officers will put their personal radio
on loudspeaker and ask their control
room to confirm their identity.
Kit Malthouse, the policing min-
ister,also announced yesterday that
an independent inquiry launched in
the wake of Everard’s murder could
be given greater powers if its chair
feels people are not cooperating fully.
The Labour shadow home office
minister Sarah Jones said it should
be put on a statutory footing so that
the review could compel witnesses
to testify and demand documents
to help “rebuild the trust and confi-
dence” of women and girls in police.
Malthouse told MPs this wouldbe
a “very long-winded affair to set up”
and a non-statutory inquiry would
be “much quicker” – but added if the
chair of the inquiry felt they needed
it to be made statutory, “we reserve
the right to convert” it.
Malthouse added that Everard’s
murder “shook our country to the
core” and that a chair of the forth-
coming inquiry would be appointed
shortly, with the terms of reference
following after.
A taskforce is also being launched
“to drive cross-government action
to maintain public confidence in
policing”.
Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian
Patel seeks police briefing over reported
needle-spiking incidents in nightclubs
Maya Wolfe-Robinson
Aubrey Allegretti
Libby Brooks
The home secretary has requested an
urgent update from police on inves-
tigations into a spate of reports from
women who believe they have been
spiked, the Guardian understands.
Priti Patel’s intervention comes
after Nottingham police arrested a
20-year-old man following reports on
social media of women being injected
with needles in the past fortnight.
A 19-year-oldstudent said on social
media that she had woken up with
“zero recollection” of her evening at
a Nottingham nightclub and a “sharp,
agonising pain” in her leg, and she
later discovered what appeared to be
a pinprick mark on her leg.
Groups from more than 50 univer-
sities around the UK have joined an
Wife stabbed
her ‘abusive’
husband
after birthday
meal row,
court hears
Steven Morris and agency
A retired accountant who killed her
“abusive”husband has told a jury she
stabbed him to death after a row over
a birthday meal.
Penelope Jackson, 66, said she
took a new kitchen knife upstairs to
kill herself but instead attacked her
husband, former army Lt Col David
Jackson, 78, when he told her she was
“pathetic”.
Jackson, from Berrow, Somerset,
has admitted the manslaughter of her
husband but denies murder and has
said she was physically abused and
mentally tormented by him for years.
Jackson told Bristol crown court
her husband had got angrywith her in
February because she had prepared a
side dish of bubble and squeak to eat
with the expensive meal purchased
by their daughter to celebrate her
birthday.
“I was just horrified – it was the
eyes again – they turned on a six-
pence,” Jackson told the jury. “The
conversation, which had been loud
and chatty, just died. I was totally
thrown and he was muttering: ‘You
are just trying to show me up.’”
After the argument, Jackson said
she took a kitchen knife to her bed-
room, intendingto take her own life.
“I bought myself a set of really
nice knives. I put it under my pillow.
•
National
online campaign callingfor boycotts
of nightclubs on a day next week to
highlight the issue of women’s safety.
Sarah Crew, temporary chief con-
stable for Avon and Somerset police,
who leads the National Police Chiefs’
Council’s work on adult sexual
offences, told the Commons home
affairs committee that it was “diffi-
cult to make an assessment” on the
prevalence of spiking by injection,
but added that there was “aproblem”
of drink spiking.
Prof Fiona Measham, chair of crim-
inology at Liverpool University and
director of The Loop, a drug-testing
organisation, said the discussions
around safety in nightclubs could be
a “#MeToo” moment for the industry.
Measham urged caution until
more evidence was gathered about
the prevalence of injection spiking.
“We know from research that there
is a very low incidence of spiking,
▲ Penelope Jackson admits the
manslaughter of her husband, David
My marriage had just imploded. All
my puttingup with the violence, the
unwanted sex, the belittling, stop-
ping me doingthings, all the horrible
things I have told you about. That
had been for nothing. Tonight he
had shown to our daughter his utter,
utter, contempt to me.
“I could not see any way out. I
know it is a stupid thing to have got
to be in the dock for killing someone
▲ Patel has called for an urgent
update as concerns have grown
and we’d imagine therefore the risk
is even lower of spiking by injection.”
She added: “The anxieties [around
women’s safety] are veryreal and we
should take all reports seriously, but
what I think this is an opportunity for
is discussion about the bigger issues
of safety in and around nightclubs.”
The club boycott campaign was
started in Edinburgh by Martha
Williams and has now spread to a
over bubble and squeak but that is
what happened.”
She walked into her husband’s
bedroom to speak to him. “I wanted
him to say: ‘I am sorry,Pen.’ He didn’t,
he just said: ‘For God’s sake you are
pathetic,’” she said.
“I was in utter despair. I looked at
him and said: ‘I have done nothing
wrong, admit you are sorry.’He said:
‘For God’s sake shut up.’ It was utter
contempt.
“I just lost it – I just thought I can-
not do this. It is not fair and I lost
control and went like that. [She made
a stabbing motion.] I don’t know why
I did it. I’ve never been violent in my
life. He just looked at me. He sat up
and there was blood. I was absolutely
horrified.”
Jackson said she went into the
kitchen. She said her husband came
down and picked up the phone to call
nationwide movement. It follows a
number of as yet unverified reports of
spiking by injection in the city,as well
as incidents of alleged drink spiking.
Police Scotland said they were inves-
tigating cases in three cities.
Williams, 21, hopes the campaign
will lead to better education about
being spiked, and prompt clubs to
start “actually taking action and
being proactive”.
“People don’t really know the
procedure of what happens when
you’re spiked and what to do after.
It should be part of sex education in
high school,” she said.
As well as calls from campaigners
for covers for drinks, better training
for staff, and more rigorous searches
of clubbers, Measham also pointed
to initiatives such as the Manches-
ter-based SAFE, which provides
welfare staff in venues to help peo-
ple get home safely.
▲ Penelope Jackson denied murder,
telling the court she had suffered
years of abuse by her husband
OR : Z OO/
for help. She said he told her: “You
couldn’t even get that right, you’re
pathetic.” She stabbed him again.
The jury has heard a recording of
a call to the emergency services in
which Jackson said she had stabbed
her husband in the heart, but added:
“Well, he hasn’t got one.”
Jackson told the jury she was
“appalled” when she read transcripts
of what she had said to an emergency
call handler, but claimed she was “not
herself” after more than 20 years of
abuse.
Questioned why she didn’t do any-
thing to help her husband, she added:
“I was scared witless of that man.”
The trial continues.
9
Measham said there may also be
heightened anxiety around club-
bing and going out as the sector had
been closed for so long. “We’ve had
850,000young people who turned 18
during lockdown,”she said,describ-
ing this year’sfreshers as more likely
to be “nightlife naive”.
“Many have had a very intense
18 months with their parents … so
they’ve gone from one extreme to
the other in the space of six months.”
Bea McKenzie, a student from
Stirling, shared a petition to make it
a legal requirement for nightclubs to
thoroughly search guests on entry. It
has gained more than 130,000 signa-
tures in a week.
McKenzie said she had heard
from many women after sharing
her own experience of drink spiking
in September on social media. The
18-year-old described being picked
up by an ambulance at the local rail-
way station,unable to remember her
address or articulate her own name,
and with no memoryof the previous
night. She called the police but said
they seemed “veryuninterested” and
did not offer her any support.
Additional reporting
Jessica Murray
Don’t give
young children
phones, says
mobility tsar
Sally Weale
Education correspondent
The government’snew social mobil-
ity commissioner has told MPs she
wants to launch a nationwide cam-
paign telling parents not to give their
toddlers a mobile phone to playwith,
because it will make reading harder
for them later on.
Katharine Birbalsingh told MPs
there was “a lack of knowledge out
there” and she would like to use her
role to get information to parents
across the country to help them bet-
ter support their children and in that
way improve social mobility.
She also played down the signifi-
cance of the digital divide in learning,
sayinglaptops were not the answer to
educational disadvantage. The best
way to tackle educational dispari-
ties between rich and poor children,
she said, was to improve teaching in
schools, ensuring good discipline and
high standards for all.
Birbalsingh, the headteacher
of a secondary school described
as the strictest in Britain, was giv-
ing evidence to the women and
equalities committee yesterday at a
pre-appointment scrutiny hearing.
Asked about her plans for her new
role, she said: “My initial thoughts are
that I would like national campaigns
on things like phones and not giving
them to your toddler.
“I would love it if we could get to
a point where [the issue is consid-
ered] in the same way that we know
that you should eat four or five fruit
and vegetables in a day,or drink eight
glasses of water a day.”
 • The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
10 National
Environment
Wales Steven Morris
Devolve The Welsh first minister,Mark Drake-
crown estate ford, has said that devolving the
crown estate to Wales could boost
to us, urges the country’s aspirations to become
a world leader in renewable energy.
One of the Labour-led govern-
Drakeford ment’s key strategies in tackling the
climate emergency is to make the
most of Wales’s extraordinary nat-
ural resources, including wind and
wave power.
“Wales’s big contribution to a
carbon-neutral future is to use the
natural assets we have to be at the
forefront of renewable energy pro-
duction, whether that is from wind
or waves or water. Geography is on
our side,” he said.
Asked about devolving the crown
estate, which holds the rights to
seabeds around the British Isles, to
Wales, Drakeford said: “It’sdefinitely
an idea we should takeseriously. The
crown estate is devolved in Scotland.”
Drakeford went on to criticise the
UK government for not sharingits net
zero strategy with Cardiff ahead of
publication this week.
The first minister said the next
decade was “absolutely essential
in the journey to net zero by 2050”.
‘This is a decade of
action ifwe areto be
on the track we want’
Mark Drakeford
First minister of Wales
 Continued from page 1
UK blueprint
for climate
behavioural
change is
withdrawn
heating our homes, but our cars will
be electric, gliding silently around
our cities, our planes will be zero
emission, allowing us to fly guilt-free, and 2037. “At the heart of this is the
and homes will be heated by cheap,
reliable power from the winds of the
North Sea.”
The withdrawn blueprint, how-
ever, emphasises that tackling the
climate crisis requires “significant
behavioural change”. According to
the document, titled Net Zero: princi-
ples for successful behaviour change
initiatives, and produced by the
behavioural insights team, or “nudge
unit”, the public may have to reduce
its demand for high-carbon activities
such as flying and eating ruminant
meat, among other changes.
The removed report raises con-
cerns over the expansion of airports
contained in governmentpolicy and
tax exemptions given to the aviation
sector.“The UK government can lead
by example, and recognise the hugely
impactful signal it sends to,for exam-
ple, approve airport expansions,
or financially support the airline
industry with little demands for
decarbonisation in return,” the report
states. It says a more realistic tran-
sition to net zero would be through
tactics including reducing the num-
ber of frequent business flyers.
It outlines nine key principles
needed to change public behaviour
to meet net zero. These include mak-
ing clear to people what changes they
have to make, making those changes
easy and affordable, and aligning
commercial interests with net zero
outcomes. It recommends tax and
statutory interventions to force
change, including carbon taxes, a
financial levy on food with a high-
emission footprint, using the law
to force the public to change, and
forcing the markets to be more trans-
parent to enable consumers to choose
more sustainable options.
“Laws … matter and can pow-
erfully cement emerging shifts in
normative values,” the report says.
“We do not have time to nudge our
way to net zero.”
Behavioural change will be vital Enforced behavioural change is not
He said: “We have to accomplish as
much in the next decade as we have
in the past 30 years. This is a decade
of action if we are to be on the track
we want to be on.”
Key plans for the Welsh govern-
ment, Drakeford said, included
turning new social housing into net
creators of power, only building
roads in exceptional circumstances,
investing in public transport and
encouraging individuals to do more.
“Small individual actions in our own
lives cumulatively amount to some-
thing important.”
if we are to reach net zero, according
to the Climate Change Committee,
which pointed out in its sixth carbon
budget that about 60% of the emis-
sions savings that need to be made
over the next 15 yearswill come from
a combination of behaviour and tech-
nology. The issue is a difficult one
for the Conservatives, who fear that
many of their supporters will resist
anything too top-down, such as a
meat tax or a levy on frequent flyers.
Dr Alex Chapman, a senior
researcher at the New Economics
Foundation,said the government had
not included any mention of aviation
in its strategy, and that its govern-
ment analysis found the strategy
would lead to no material reduction
in air travel emissions between now
government’s refusal to accept that
we cannot continue to grow the size
of the aviation sector in a climate
emergency. Betting on the rollout of
as-yet-undeveloped miracle technol-
ogies represents a huge gamble.
“Now, with this hastily withdrawn
research paper, we learn the gov-
ernment is in fact well aware of this
contradiction. It is time the govern-
ment stopped living a delusion and
took meaningful action to prevent
aviation emissions driving us off a
climate cliff.”
The report says that politicians
and policymakers could suffer from
“optimism/overconfidence bias – the
more so, the more senior they are”.
It also says that implementation
of policies is everything. It calls for
the government to push the message
that it is following the science – as it
has in the pandemic – and calls for
cooperation with experts.
A government spokesperson said:
“This was an academic research
paper, not government policy. We
have no plans to dictate consumer
behaviour in this way. For that rea-
son, our Net Zero Strategy published
yesterday contained no such plans.”
▲ North Sea wind is part of the plan.
Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian
Angry Conservatives allege
Treasury report on costs of
net zero has been ‘neutered’
Jessica Elgot
Anger is growing across the Conserv-
ative party over a Treasury document
on the costs of the government’s net
zero strategy that Ms claim has been
“neutered”, although sources have
insisted some high estimates of the
sums involved had not been reliable
enough to be included in it.
Alongside Boris Johnson’s strat-
egy to end Britain’s contribution to
the climate crisis by 2050, the Treas-
ury released an assessment warning
that it mightneed to raise taxes or cut
public spending to fund the strategy.
Multiple government insiders did
not deny the documenthad excluded
some high-cost estimates, only warn-
ing in general terms that there could
be “potentially significant implica-
tions for the UK’s fiscal position”.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has
suggested costs will be more than £1tn
over 30 years, though much would
come from private investment.
Backbench anger over the alleged
neutering comes amid renewed dis-
quiet over relations between No
10 and the Treasury. ne of John-
son’s closest cabinet allies, Kwasi
Kwarteng, the business secretary,
directly contradicted one assessment
•
in the Treasury’s report, saying he
did not agree that a switch to electric
vehicles would hit poorer families.
Kwarteng is widely acknowledged
in Westminster to be an outrider for
Johnson,especially on environmen-
tal issues that particularly incense
Tory backbenchers.
Johnson and Kwarteng are said by
sources to be enthusiastic converts
to investing in clean technology, the
significance of which has been high-
lighted most recently by the gas and
petrol crises but also by the pandemic
and the destruction wrought on the
economy.
Whitehall sources pointed to how
Kwarteng had knocked back some
of the claims made in the analysis of
the strategy given by the chancellor,
Rishi Sunak, yesterday. n the sub-
ject of electric vehicles, Kwarteng
told the BBC: “I don’t accept that at
all. I accept lots of what they say,but I
think the actual transition to electric
vehicles is successful and we should
be doing it more rapidly.”
There is concern at the top of
government that frosty relations in
Downing Street over green spend-
ing could dominate the run-up to the
crucial Cop26 climate summit in the
UK press. Some officials have been
aghast to see the focus on tax rises
rather than on efforts to combat the
climate crisis. ne M, who has been
close to the discussions with Sunak
as Tory backbenchers have pressed
for more transparency on the costs,
said the document had been “neu-
tered” and that anger was growing
across the party.
The Treasury said the document
had not been edited.
A Treasury source said: “There are
no ways to calculate the headline cost
of net zero. You have to make a huge
amount of assumptions – it would be
irresponsible to put out those figures
based on stuffwe don’t know is going
to happen.
“The ffice for Budget Respon-
sibility can put out estimations in
their fiscal risks report but it is a
very different thing for the Treasury
to do it. If we do it, it’s taken as fact.
It would be irresponsible to do that.
▲ Sunak is not expected to publicly
speak up for the net zero strategy
▲ An installation in Victoria Park,
in east London, featuring an
electric car and endangered plants
POOGP: P
We do not know what technologies
will emerge, wedon’t know what we
will need to invest in.”
Another No 10 source said there
was “no wisdom throwing around
trillions” which could not be prop-
erly predicted.
ressed on why the analysis did
not have projected costs, Johnson’s
spokesman said: “The actual review
sets out that the overall costs are
highly uncertain, and there are var-
ious estimates already in the public
domain on this, but the important
thing for us is to emphasis that cli-
mate and finance bodies have been
clear that the costs of inaction or late
action would be far greater.”
A government source said Sunak
had won some battles over how the
strategy was presented, saying he
was “verymindful of the way wehave
this conversation with the voter, he
just doesn’t want to make what has
been a very difficult period for peo-
ple even more difficult.”
The source pointed out the Treas-
ury’s influence on how the strategy
had been presented, with a focus on
£90bn of private sector investment
over a decade and the creation of
440,000 jobs.
Net-zero-sceptic backbenchers
view Sunak as someone who will
give them a hearing in government,
unlike Johnson.
Sunak, who is preparing for next
week’sbudget, was not quoted in the
main net zero strategy and will not
make any significant intervention in
the next fortnight to put his stamp of
support on the plans.
A No 10 source said Johnson would
“bang the drum” for the plans.
11
Research
Scientists
ask if green
awareness is
in the genes
Sofia Quaglia
Certain people are more environmen-
tally conscious than others, and some
scientists have said the reason for
that could be in their genes.
A study found that identical twins
had more similar views on conser-
vation and environmentalism than
non-identical twins. The research-
ers said this suggested there could be
a link between genetic makeup and
support for green policies.
Chia-chen Chang,a research fellow
at the National University of Singa-
pore and lead author on the paper,
published in the journal BioScience,
said: “Considering genetic compo-
nents provides us with a more holistic
answer – but genetic results are just
about probability not determinism.”
The researchers used data for more
than 1,000 twins from the TwinsUK
registry. They examined responses
from monozygotic and dizygotic
twins to questions about their level
of environmentally “friendly” behav-
iour, their concern for nature and
their environmental activism.
The results suggested that iden-
tical twins consistently had more in
common across all three categories.
This, the scientists said, suggested a
link between people’s genetics and
their environmental behaviour.
Chang noted the results were
supported by research on evolution
which showed heritability for some
altruistic and cooperative behaviour.
But, the researchers said, a per-
son’s social environment accounted
for more than 50% of individual
concern for nature, environmental
activism and behaviour.“Heritability
estimates are influenced by genet-
ics and environments,” Chang said.
Felix Tropf, a professor in social
science genetics at the Centre for
Research in Economics and Statis-
tics,France,who was not involved in
the study, said there was a long way to
go in understanding the role of her-
itability in environmental attitudes.
“I don’t think such a study is
extremely useful for the issue,” he
said. “First it’s important to under-
stand that all we basically observe is
that genetically identical twins are
more similar than non-genetically
identical twins in their attitudes
toward climate change.
“There is no one gene that makes
you closer to nature or anything like
that at all.”
He also suggested the researchers
should have included information
about whether the twins in the study
were frequently exposed to nature,
as that would be expected to have
an effect on the results. “But in the
end, climate change is a structural
problem, a systemic problem and a
political problem,” he said.
Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian
Spy, robot? Egyptian
officials release AI artist
hoursbefore her show
Nadia Khomami
Arts and culture correspondent
She’s been described as “a vision of
the future” who is every bitas good as
other abstract artists today,but i-Da
– the world’s first ultra-realistic robot
artist – hit a temporary snag before
her latest show when gyptian secu-
rity forces detained her at customs.
i-Da is due to open and present
her work at the reat yramid of iza
today,the first time contemporary art
has been allowed next to the pyra-
mid.ut because of “security issues”,
both i-Da and the sculpture she cre-
ated held in gyptian customs for 10
days before being released last night.
ccording to idan eller, the
human force behind the robot, i-Da
was detained at first because she had
a modem, and then because she had
cameras in her eyes (which she uses
to draw and paint). “ can ditch the
modems but  can’t really gouge her
eyes out,” he said.
•
National
She was finally cleared through
customs yesterday, hours before
the exhibition was due to start, with
the ritish embassy in Cairo saying
they were “glad” the case had been
resolved.
oth i-Da and her sculpture had
been sent to Cairo before the Forever
s Now exhibition.
he sculpture is a play on the rid-
dle of the sphinx – “hat goes on four
feet in the morning, two feet at noon,
and three feet in the evening?” – the
answer to which is a human. “Four
legs is when you’re a toddler,two legs
is when you’re an adult and three is
when you’re elderly and need a walk-
ing stick,” eller said.
“e’re saying that actually, with
the new Crispr technology, and the
way we can do gene-editing today,
life extension is actually very likely.
he ancient gyptians were doing
the same thing with mummifica-
tion. umans haven’t changed: we
still have the desire to live for ever.”
Named after the computing
▼ Ai-Da with one of her artworks.
13
The robot was built by a team of tech
experts, artists and psychologists
PHOTOGRAPH: TIM P WHITBY/GETTY
‘Let’s be really clear.
She is an artist.
She is not a spy.
People fear robots,
I understand that’
Aidan Meller
Ai-Da’s creator
pioneer da Lovelace,i-Da was built
by a team of programmers, roboti-
cists, art experts and psychologists.
eller said he had hoped i-Da
would prompt debate on  technol-
ogy. efore she was released, he said:
“She is an artist robot, let’s be really
clear about this. She is not a spy.eo-
ple fear robots,  understand that. ut
the whole situation is ironic, because
the goal of i-Da was to highlight and
warn of the abuse of technological
development, and she’s being held
because she is technology.”
eller thanked the ritish embassy
and rt d’Égypte their “amazing
work” in trying to get her released.
 • The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
14 National

Johnson’s online harms bill bill to parliament before Christmas.

That prospect was also later played
one of the issues that was raised on
Monday – tackling violent extrem-
would “bring it forward before Christ-
mas in the way that he suggests”.

pledge at PMQs played down down by Whitehall sources, saying

Peter Walker and Jessica Elgot
Government sources haverowed back
on Boris Johnson’s apparent commit-
ment to criminal sanctions for tech
company bosses who fail to tackle
harmful or illegal content. During
prime minister’squestions, Johnson
appeared to agree with the Labour
leader,Keir Starmer, that the delayed
online harms bill would include pos-
sible criminal sanctions, a significant
hardening of the proposals.
Johnson promised to present the
that would give them just five daysto
re-draft the bill between the pre-leg-
islative scrutiny committee reporting
and the bill being presented.
Starmer began his questions
by noting the tributes to Sir David
Amess, the veteran Conservative
backbencher who was stabbed to
death on Friday,given by MPs from all
parties in the Commons on Monday.
“I want to see if we can use that col-
laborative spirit to make progress on
ism,” he said, asking about progress
for the online safety bill, first mooted
three years ago.
Starmer said: “Will the prime min-
ister build on the desire shown bythis
house on Mondayto get things done,
and commit to bringing forward the
second reading of the online safety
bill by the end of this calendar year?
If he does, we’ll support it.”
Johnson said the bill would com-
plete all its stages before Christmas,
before correcting himself to say he
Starmer then pressed on potential
changes to the bill: “Tough sanc-
tions are clearly needed, yet under
the government’scurrent proposals,
directors of platforms failingto crack
down on extremism would still not
face criminal sanctions. Why is that?”
Johnson appeared to agree to this,
saying: “And yes, of course we will
have criminal sanctions with tough
sentences for those who are respon-
sible for allowingthis foul contentto
permeate the internet.”

Irish drug intercepted at Northern Irish ports,

and urged people to buy from

gangs turn
licensed breeders. “While my officials
take all the steps they can, in conjunc-
tion with other agencies, to verify

to puppy
details of all notified pup move-

NEW
ments, it is not possible nor practical
to stop every vehicle movingthrough

trafficking
Northern Ireland’s ports,” he said.
21-DAY MATURED The USPCA’s chief executive,
STEAKS Brendan Mullan, told BBC’s Good

to meet UK
Morning Ulster that its own under-
cover investigation, which helped
inform Spotlight, had evidence of

demand
Lisa O’Carroll
Northern Ireland has become
a gateway for an “abhorrent”
multimillion-pound illegal trade
in puppies in Britain that has been
called the new drug trade by animal
welfare investigators.
A BBC and Ulster Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
investigation has found puppies are
being bred in the Republic of Ireland
and Northern Ireland and illegally
moved across to Great Britain through
Belfast port to feed the huge demand
for pets since lockdown began.
Ch Supt Mike Flynn from the
Scottish Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals told the BBC’s
Spotlight programme: “Forthe puppy
trade in Scotland, I would say 90% of
all problems come through Belfast.
To me, it’s the new drugs.”
The USPCA believecriminal gangs
have swapped the drug trade for ille-
gal pet trafficking, which is estimated
to have a value of £150m a year.
Many puppies come from squalid
traffickers sourcing puppies from
the Republic of Ireland and North-
ern Ireland. “We are aware of 20 such
transporters doing this. One them
does 120 dogs a week, and if you
take the average price of £1,875 for
a pup in Great Britain, that individ-
ual has criminal proceeds of almost
£16m a year.”
The Spotlight programme showed
the reckless dealers exchanging pup-
pies at petrol stations and laybys for
onward transport to Scotland.
The BBC undercover team estab-
lished one dealer who had sold sick
and dying puppies on at least five
occasions to Scotland. One dog pur-
chased by the team was found to have
two intestinal parasites, which would
make the sale a criminal offence
under Scottish law, it reported.
Mullan said undercover investi-
gators found the mothers were often
kept in squalid conditions, overbred
and abused. “It is causing unthinka-
ble suffering to thousands of dogs,”
he said.
“They might look healthy initially,
but I guarantee they are going to be ill
within weeks of purchase.”
The trade shows the challenges of
managing the animal trade between
Great Britain and the island of Ire-
land, something that is at the heart
of the dispute between the EU and the
UK over the Brexit protocols.

Make it steak night with

conditions on illegal farms and are
malnourished or diseased and would
otherwise not be sold, the USPCA
found. The charity believes about a

100% British, 21-day

third of the puppies die, disappoint-
ing new owners who may have paid
thousands of pounds for their pet.
The USPCA has published a report,

25%
Puppy Dog Fortunes, exposing the

matured steaks
scale and ruthlessness of the ille-
gal puppy industry feeding demand
across the UK. It is thoughtabout 25%
of all dogs in Britain were bought in A quarter of dogs in Britain were
lockdown, with many buyers admit- bought in lockdown – many buyers
ting they did little research into their admitted they did little research

£150m
origin, according to the Kennel Club.
Northern Ireland’s agriculture and
Co-op British steak matured for 21 days. Co-op Irresistible, Honest Value, marinated steaks, ranch, sizzling steaks environmentminister,Edwin Poots,
and beef medallions are excluded. See pack for information and any promotional offers. Serving suggestions. has condemned the trade as “abhor-
rent” and ordered an investigation. Estimated value a year of illegal
He said puppies, including pet trafficking, which has been
10 springer spaniels, had been labelled the new drug trade
Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian
Festival
of Brexit?
UK hails
creativity
with year
of events
Harriet Sherwood
Arts and culture correspondent
An epic scale model of the solar
system and an “almost indescribable”
artwork that is seen with closed eyes
are included in a highly ambitious
programme of live and digital events
in UK towns and cities next year.
Unboxed: Creativity in the UK –
formerly known as Festival UK 2022
and derided by some as a “festival
of Brexit” – draws on arts, science,
engineering, technology and maths
in a £120m celebration of ingenuity.
Ten projects form a “once-in-a-
lifetime” extravaganza, according
to Martin Green, Unboxed’s chief
creative officer, who was the head
of ceremonies for the 2012 London
Olympics.
He said: “Unboxed represents
an unprecedented opportunity for
people to come together and take part
in awe-inspiring projects that speak
to who we are and explore the ideas
that will define our futures.”
The festival was commissioned in
2018 under Theresa May’s premier-
ship. It has been endorsed and funded
by Boris Johnson’s government and
the devolved administrations in
Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. Free
events will take place “from the Outer
Hebrides to Dover, and from Omagh
to Swansea” between March and
October next year, said Green.
Unboxed will start with a journey
through 13.8bn years of history,
from the big bang to the present
day. About Us, which begins in Pais-
ley on 1 March, incorporates live
performance, multimedia installa-
tions, animation, poetry and music.
Another project, Our Place in
New Zealand Trade deal done,
but it will not add to UK’s GDP
Aubrey Allegretti
Britain has struck a trade deal with
key ally New Zealand, with ministers
hoping to stem the country’s reli-
ance on China – but the agreement is
expected to add no value to the UK’s
gross domestic product.
Despite the Department for
International Trade heralding it as
“groundbreaking” achievement that
•
National
Brexit
was a “vital part” of Boris Johnson’s
commitment to levelling up, the
prime minister was accused of sell-
ing out British farmers.
Tariffs as high as 10% are set to
be removed on a range of UK goods,
including clothes, buses, ships and
bulldozers. The price of New Zealand-
produced Sauvignon Blanc,Manuka
honey and kiwi fruit should dip after
16 months of talks.
Trade between the UK and New
Zealand is now worth £2.3bn a year,
 Dandelion will
reimagine the
harvest festival
for the 21st
century, with
vertical farms in
light cubes
▼ Crowds in
London during
the Festival of
Britain, 1951
R:
-
/R
 Y 
and the governmentsaid that would
rise as the deal would make it easier
for smaller businesses to break into
the New Zealand market – as well as
remove barriers for advanced tech
and services companies.
It follows recenttrade agreements
struck with Australia and Japan. The
focus on the region is part of John-
son’s 10-year plan to tilt the UK’s
foreign policy focus towards the
Indo-Pacific, strengthening the alli-
ance and position of democratic
countries in the region to makethem
more competitive against China.
New Zealand is heavily reliant on
China for trade, and so has sometimes
been less vocal than its western allies
in its criticism.
▼ PoliNations will be a forest
of real and fabricated trees
in the centre of Birmingham
R: / 
Space, is a scale model of the solar
system that combines a 10km sculp-
ture trail with an augmented reality
app. Dandelion reimagines the har-
vest festival for the 21st century,
with miniature vertical farms in light
cubes across Scotland. PoliNations
is a forest of real and fabricated
trees in the centre of Birmingham.
Dreamachine is an immersive envi-
ronment of light and sound that
creates vibrant imagery and kaleido-
scopic patterns behind closed eyes.
Twenty thousand people will help
create Green Space Dark Skies, a chain
of lights across national parks and
areas of outstanding natural beauty.
See Monster is a decommissioned
North Sea offshore platform trans-
formed into a public art installation
that celebrates British weather .
Galwad (“call” in Welsh) combines
TV drama, live performance and an
immersive app to tell a story set 30
years in the future.
Augmented reality and 3D tech-
nology will bring to life stories of
the past and present in StoryTrails.
Tour de Moon is a “cosmic night-time
adventure”, says its director, Nelly
Ben Hayoun-Stépanian.
Dame Vikki Heywood, chair of
the Unboxed board, said: “As the
programme unfolds, it will both
entertain us and inspire us to imagine
what the future might hold.”
However, last year’s analysis by the
UK government found that its effect
on Britain’s GDP would probably have
“limited effect … in the long run” –
being between a positive growth of
0.01% or negative growth of -0.01%.
Boris Johnson said: “This is great
trade deal for the United Kingdom,
cementing our long friendship with
New Zealand and furthering our ties
with the Indo-Pacific.”
Minette Batters, the National
Farmers’ Union president, said it
would open the country’s doors
to “signiicant extra volumes of
imported food – whether or not pro-
duced to our own high standards
– while securing almost nothing in
return for UK farmers”.
15
EU exit
Country still
split over vote
outcome – and
views set firm
Patrick Butler
Social policy editor
Brexit divisions in society appear to
be as entrenched as ever, according
to the latest British Social Attitudes
survey. Nine of out 10 of both leave
and remain voters said they would
vote the same way again, it found.
Although Britain’s departure from
the EU pushed overall public trust
and confidence in government to its
highest level for more than a decade,
the survey reveals this surge in sup-
port for the UK political system came
almost entirely from leave voters.
Survey co-author Sir John Curtice
said the latest findings contained lit-
tle to indicate Brexit wounds were
healing. “As a result, Britain is left
divided between one half of the coun-
try who now feel better about how
they are being governed and another
half who, relatively at least, are as
unhappy as they have ever been.”
The survey found the pandemic
pushed public concern over inequal-
ity to its highest level since 1998, as
well as rising support for welfare ben-
efits and public spending – but there
was little evidence so far Covid had
proved a “reset” moment that indi-
cated widespread desire for radical
social or political change.
“These trends do not signify a
new direction in the public mood.
ather, in many ways the pandemic
has reinforced opinions and attitudes
that had already become increasingly
common in Britain in recent years,”
said Curtice.
Nonetheless, there was a sharp rise
in the proportion of 18- to 44-year-
olds who thought Britain was unequal
and favoured the rich. ounger adults
were also more likely to agree gov-
ernment should redistribute income
from the better-offto the less well-off
– and this could have lasting effects.
“It may be that the exposure
[young people] have had during the
pandemic to relatively high levels of
precarity in their early adult years will
prove a formative experience that
leaves a legacy of a more egalitarian
generation,” the survey concluded.
The poll of 4,000 British adults was
carried out bythe National Centre for
Social esearch between October and
December 2020, with an additional
earlier survey of 2,400 adults con-
ducted in July 2020.
Getting Brexit “done” had margin-
ally reinvigorated overall trust levels
in the UK political system. But this
mainly reflected a shift in attitudes of
Eurosceptics, who were for the first
time more likely than remainers to
agree “governments put the nation’s
needs before party interests”.
The reversal of some of the dam-
age to trust in government caused by
Brexit stalemate “might be regarded
as a development to be welcomed”
if democracy was to function effec-
tively, the survey said.

16
Widow wins right to sue in UK
after husband’s death in Egypt
Haroon Siddique
Legal affairs correspondent
A woman whose husband was killed
in a car crash in Egypt during an
excursion booked through the hotel
they were staying in has won permis-
sion to sue the hotel in the English
• The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
National
courts, in a judgment her lawyer says
will have significant implications for
other English nationals injured or
killed abroad.
Sir Ian Brownlie QC, a leading
international lawyer, died aged 77
in 2010 in an accident in which his
daughter from his first marriage,
Rebecca, whose two young children
were in the vehicle, was also killed.
The driver was convicted of involun-
tary manslaughter.
Brownlie’s wife, Lady Brownlie,
who sustained serious injuries, is
seeking damages for injuryand losses
suffered as a result of the accident
against FS (Four Seasons) Cairo, but
the hotel argued that the case should
not be heard in the English courts.
The supreme court justices deter-
mined that Lady Brownlie had
suffered damage in England, even
though it was as a result of a harm-
ful event suffered abroad.
Medical history
to be part of gun
licence checks
Vikram Dodd
Police and crime correspondent
Police will have to check someone’s
medical history before giving them a
firearms licence and should also scour
their social media history, under new
rules issued by governmentafter the
Plymouth gun massacre.
Jake Davison shot dead five people
before killing himself after going on
the rampage in August.
He discussed his mental health
online, and his social media showed
misogynistic views. He also described
himself as an involuntary celibate,
or “incel”.
The new statutory guidance will
mean doctors agreeing to pass on
health concerns to police before
a licence is issued and when it is
renewed five yearslater,and flagging
to police any concerns that emerge in
between that mayrepresent a threat
to public safety. Those applying for a
licence will haveto agree to their con-
fidential information being shared, as
a condition of getting permission to
hold a firearm.
The statutory guidance comes
from the Home Office and police
will be expected to follow it. They
will also be asked to check any his-
tory of domestic violence and any
financial worries.
There has been a longstanding
reluctance by doctors to hand over
conidential medical data about
patients for fear it would deter such
patients from seeking help. Talks
after the massacre have led to an
agreement between government,
doctors and police. A Home Office
spokesperson added that members
of the public could also trigger a
review of someone who had a fire-
arms licence, if they had concerns.
Priti Patel, the home secretary,
said: “We have taken considerable
care to ensure [the guidance] is com-
prehensive and enforceable.”
Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian
That’s the spirit: distiller
captures carbon from
the air to make vodka
Oliver Milman
The disastrous consequences of the
unfolding climate crisis are enough to
drive some people to drink, so mak-
ing alcohol from planet-heatinggases
is perhaps a logical step.
A company in New York City has
created whatit callsthe world’smost
sustainable spirit: vodka made out of
carbon dioxide captured from the air.
The 40% ABV drink, called Air Vodka,
removes half a kilo of CO2 from the
atmosphere for each bottle made, its
makers said.
The Air Company, which started
manufacturing the vodka in Brooklyn
in 019, produces about 5,000 cases
a year, and a new factory is planned.
The business, which was a finalist for
Elon Musk’s $100m (£70m) Xprize,
hopes to be at the vanguard of compa-
nies that create things from captured
CO2. Other uses include the reinforc-
ing of concrete.
•
National
“People thought we were batshit
crazy when we started – some still
do, I think,” said Gregory Constan-
tine, an Australian entrepreneur who
started the climate-friendly distill-
ery with Stafford Sheehan. The duo
claim that traditionally made vodka,
which involves the fermentation of
grains, releases nearly 7kg of CO2 for
each bottle made.
The Air Company takes CO2,
either sucked directly from the
air or captured at source at indus-
trial facilities, and combines it with
hydrogen created through electroly-
sis of water. The technology used to
merge these elements creates ethanol
which, when combined with water,
becomes vodka.
This same ethanol is also used to
make a hand sanitiser and, from this
week, is being deployed by the Air
Company to create a new fragrance
called Air Eau de Parfum.
The vodka is currently not avail-
able in the UK, but the company has
plans to sell it worldwide.
17
Oscar-winning
composer Leslie
Bricusse dies
Benjamin Lee
The Oscar and Grammy-winning
songwriter eslie Bricusse has died
at the age of 90.
ondon-born Bricusse wrote lyr-
ics for the theme to James Bond film
Goldfinger as well as songs for films
including Willy Wonka and the Choc-
olate Factory and Doctor Dolittle.
is son Adam announced news of
his death on social media, saying he
“passed away peacefully”. is close
friend Joan Collins also posted on Ins-
tagram, paying tribute to “oneof the
giant songwriters of our time”.
Bricusse won a best song Oscar
for writing Talk to the Animals from
1967’s Doctor Dolittle as well as one
for best adaptation and original song
score for 198’s Victor/Victoria.
Some of his best-known work
came from 1971’s Willy Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory: Bricusse wrote
both Candy Man and Pure Imagina-
tion alongside Anthony Newley.
▲ Leslie Bricusse with his friend Joan Collins in 1990 HRH: LH R Journal Obituary Page 10 

18
Energy
Row over petrol as new
record price is forecast
Motorists will be paying more than
ever to fill up their tanks by the
end of October, according to petrol
station owners, prompting a row
over the cause of sky-high prices at
the pumps.
The Petrol Retailers Association
said all-time highs set in April 2012
– 142p a litre for petrol and 148p
for diesel – would be surpassed.
Average prices had hit 141.35p and
144.84p respectively by Tuesday,
according to Experian Catalist UK.
Brian Madderson, the chair of
the PRA, said the “primary reason”
was the rising oil price, which has
doubled within 12 months.
The PRA attributed this to the
Opec group of oil-rich countries
and Russia cutting back on
production just as a global
economic rebound from Covid-19
stoked greater demand for fuel.
The RAC’s fuel spokesperson,
Simon Williams, accused petrol
retailers of “taking a bigger cut on
petrol than they normally do at
around 8p a litre”.
He said the government should
temporarily reduce VAT on fuel but
added: “We strongly urge retailers
not to contribute further to the
pump price rise.” Rob Davies
• The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
In brief
Crime
Taskforce seeks curbs
on scams amid surge
A government taskforce is to meet
today to discuss ways to tackle the
sharp rise in scams that has hit the
UK since the start of the pandemic.
Groups representing banks,
telecoms companies and
consumers will meet with the
minister for security, Damien
Hinds, to discuss measures to
tackle online fraud, and increase
public awareness.
The meeting comes after the
scourge of scam texts and calls was used by criminals to actions to
laid bare by UK telecoms regulator protect people’s money. These
research showing almost 45 million include fraud victim support, and a planned to retire after completing
people received at least one in the pilot system to authenticate mobile 10 feature films; his 2019 release
last three months, while mobile
Risen nicely Cinema
Mary Berry, I would like to make a
with her comedy, says Tarantino
husband, Paul
Hunnings, Quentin Tarantino “wants to make
a comedy”, he says, though he has
celebrated not yet decided on his next film
after being after 2019’s Once Upon a Time in
made a dame Hollywood.
Tarantino was speaking at the
by the Prince Rome film festival, where he was
of Wales for given a lifetime achievement
a lifetime of award, and in remarks reported
by Variety the director discussed
baking and
writing, at an future projects, which include a
book of film criticism and a TV
investiture series. But he added: “First, I want
to make a comedy.”
ceremony He then went on to describe
at Windsor a scenario he was working on
Castle. “but not like my next movie …
something else that I’m thinking
PHOTOGRAPH: KIRSTYabout doing”. Tarantino said it
O’CONNOR/PA involved a “spaghetti western”.
“It’s going to be really fun. Because
I want to shoot it in the spaghetti
network EE had to block 18,000 western style where everybody’s
sim cards used for the fraud over
that period.
speaking a different language …
The Mexican bandido is an Italian;
The government’s Joint Fraud the hero is an American; the bad
Taskforce is accompanied by new sheriff is a German; the Mexican
charters committing the sectors saloon girl is Israeli. And everybody
is speaking a different language.”
Tarantino said in 2016 that he
phone contracts. Hilary Osborne was his ninth. Andrew Pulver
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▲ David Henderson was due to fly Emiliano Sala, but asked David Ibbotson
to pilot the flight instead, jurors heard OO:  OOO/ 
Pilot previously told not to
fly Sala aircraft, court hears
Steven Morris
The owner of a light plane that
crashed into the sea, killing the pro-
fessional footballer Emiliano Sala,
had ordered that the pilot should not
fly the aircraft, a jury has been told.
Fay Keely said she told the plane’s
operator,David Henderson,that pilot
David Ibbotson,who also died in the
crash, should not fly the plane after
she was notified by the UK aviation
regulator of two airspace infringe-
ments in which he was involved.
Keely told the jury at Cardiffcrown
court: “As far as I was concerned, I
• The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
had made my feelings clear that he
shouldn’t be flying the aircraft.”
Henderson, 67, of Hotham, in the
East Riding of Yorkshire, denies act-
ing in a reckless or negligent manner
likely to endanger the aircraft.
The court has been told that he
arranged the fatal night-time flight
though he knew that Ibbotson, 59,
from Crowle, Lincolnshire, was not
qualified to flyafter dark and was not
competent in bad weather.
The single-engine Piper Malibu
aircraft was flying the 28-year-old
Argentinian striker from Nantes in
France to Wales, where he was to join
CardiffCity FC. Itcrashed on 21 Janu-
ary 2019, north of Guernsey.
Keely said she bought the aircraft
through her family’s company, Cool
Flourish, under advice from Hen-
derson in 2015, from which time he
became the plane’s operator.He was
in charge of maintaining and hiring
out the plane, and choosing pilots,
the jury was told.
Keely said yesterday that she
emailed Henderson on 6 July 2018,
sayingIbbotson should not flythe air-
craft again after she was notified by
the Civil Aviation Authority of two
infringements that had happened
while he was in the air. She wrote:
“I think it would be best if he was
not asked to pilot the Malibu again.
I appreciate this limits the available
pilots but it does not give me much
confidence in his care of the aircraft.”
But Henderson used Ibbotson a
month later. Keely said: “Later on in
the year, in August, he tried to con-
tact me while I was on holiday. He was
due to fly my sister on a trip and was
going to be piloting himself.
“I found out after the eventthat he
was unavailable and had asked David
Ibbotson to fly instead of him.”
The court heard that laterHender-
son was not available to flySala as he
was in Paris with his wife and asked
Ibbotson to carry out the flights.
Jurors heard that Ibbotson did not
hold a commercial pilot’s licence and
that his ratingto flythe Piper Malibu
had expired.
Hours after the crash, Hender-
son messaged an aircraft engineer,
David Smith, telling him to “keep
very quiet,” the court heard.
Smith, an employee of the aircraft
maintenance company Eastern Air
Executive, said he had become aware
of some issues with the aircraft on 21
January, before it was due to fly back
from France to the UK, and insisted
it was checked by a French engineer.
Former English
National Ballet
star jailed for
sexual abuse of
dance students
Ben Quinn
A former English National Ballet
(ENB) principal dancer who used his
“fame and prestige”to sexually abuse
young dance students in his care has
been jailed for nine years.
Yat-Sen Chang, 49, a leading fig-
ure on the British and international
ballet scene, had been convicted in
May of 12 counts of sexual assault and
one count of assault by penetration.
Jailing him yesterday, Judge
Edward Connell told the “interna-
tionally renowned” dancer that his
offending had had a profound impact
on all of his victims and that he had
demonstrated no remorse.
The offences, which took place
▲ Yat-Sen Chang used his ‘fame and
prestige’ to take advantage of dance
students in his care, the judge said
between December 2009 and March
2016 at the English National Ballet
and the Young Dancers Academy in
London, relate to four female com-
plainants, who were aged 16 to 18
at the time. They accused Chang of
touching them inappropriately dur-
ing massages at the schools.
“You became emboldened when
the young women did not report
your conduct,” said the judge, who
told Chang he had taken advantage
of his “fame and position of trust”.
“Your offending has had a profound
impact on all your victims and you
have demonstrated no remorse for
your appalling behaviour.”
Young students, who Chang had
been entrusted to teach, had been
in awe of his status and Chang had
believed his fame would protect him,
prosecutors said during the trial at
Isleworth crown court.
In a victim impact statement, one
woman said: “He did ruin most of
my late teenage years. I hope he will
face what he has done with regret and
pain.” She added: “I still feel haunted,
violated, shamed and humiliated.”
Another, who has left the ballet
world, told how she felt “vulnerable
and numb” by what had happened.
Chang, who has a long-term part-
ner and an adult daughter, was found
not guilty of one count of assault by
penetration.
The Cuban-born dancer joined
ENB in 1993 and was a principal
dancer until 2011, according to a
profile on the German Theaterkiel
website.
He performed in productions
including the Nutcracker, Coppélia
and Sleeping Beauty while at ENB.
Trained at the Cuban National Ballet
School, he worked in France before
being offered a contract in the UK,
where he also ran summer schools.
Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian •
National 21

Theatre  ‘Fabulous
stage designs Music review sinuous vocal lines, often doubled
and coloured by the instrumental

review
and costumes
to die for …’
Some of the Reich celebrated ensemble, and making extensive
use of intertwining canons and
their inversions and retrogrades.

Keeping up
cast of What’s
New Pussycat in new prayers Reich has said that the music is
“closer to Josquin des Prez than
on stage in
Birmingham and old psalms Stravinsky”, though the opening
section for two tenors does seem
with both :
 
to hark back to late Stravinsky,
especially to Threni. It’s a muted,
rather contained, piece, low on
Tom Joneses Colin Currie Group
Royal Festival Hall, London
★★★★☆
rhythmic energy, rooted in the
same tonality throughout, and very
different from anything Reich has

What’s New Pussycat?
Birmingham Repertory
Theatre
is a musical that could pass for a
Christmas show with its gaudy
colours, picaresque comedy that
teeters on pantomime and its very
own singalong moment (Delilah).
Phillips’s choreography comes
together with the lighting to create
a bombshell of visual effects.
Dominic Andersen ’s Tom is a
handsome rogue who reinvents
E
composed before.
The contrast between this almost
Andrew Clements static new work and most of Reich’s
other music was emphasised by
arlier this month, Steve
the pieces with which Currie and
his group framed it; there were
Reich celebrated his the dense, dark harmonies and

T
★★★★☆ Dragging Fielding’s 18th-century himself as a rock star. Bronté Barbé 85th birthday. The shifting tonality of Quartet, for two
village life forward to London’s as his love interest, Mary Weston, Colin Currie Group vibraphones and two pianos, which
Arifa Akbar Carnaby Street of the swinging 60s, is also duly feisty – she speaks of and Synergy Vocals are is dedicated to Currie, and the
it seems to revel in its look and style the patriarchy and designs skirts marking this landmark hyperactive brilliance of the dance
for too long. There are fabulously that look just like Mary Quant’s in the life of one of the greatest score Runner, co-commissioned by
his is a madcap psychedelic stage designs (by revolutionary minis. The secondary living composers with a European the Royal Opera House.
mashup of a musical. Jon Bausor, new sets bursting out couple – Mr Partridge (Ashley tour that includes the first And to end there was one of
Its premise is, of old ones), costumes to die for Campbell), a lovably infatuated performances of his latest work. Reich’s classics of the 1980s,
bizarrely, a meeting (geometric designs and peppermint yokel, and a shop assistant dubbed Traveler’s Prayer was composed Tehillim, the first work in which
of two Tom Joneses: stripes, all by Janet Bird) and The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress last year, begun before and he explored his Jewish heritage, its
the foundling and dazzling lighting (by Howard (Rebekah Hinds, full of sass, funny completed during the pandemic. psalm settings sounding rawer, less
rakish antihero of Henry Fielding’s Hudson) that climbs the stage walls lines and arched eyebrows) – ooze It’s a setting not of the Hebrew exquisite in Currie’s performance
eponymous work, and the latter- and reaches into the auditorium. chemistry. Their star-crossed love Traveller’s Prayer itself, but of three than when they used to be when
day Welsh crooner. It takes romping Directed by Luke Sheppard, gives the show its heart. short Old Testament passages that performed by the composer’s
plotlines from the former and hit every character knows how to are often added to it, and Reich own group, but as joyous and
songs from the latter. The result belt out a big number, and Arlene Until 14 November sets them for four voices in long exhilarating as ever.
Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian
‘Lucrative cr e’
Hai ing the
world’s capital
Page 26
Dozens dead in
Syria after army
bus blast prompts
revenge attack
Bethan McKernan
Agence France-Presse
At least 27 people have died in Syria
after the bombing of an army bus in
normally safe Damascus, followed
by what appeared to be the tit-for-
tat regime shelling of a town in the
rebel-held north-west that killed 13,
including four children on their way
to school.
Two bombs planted on a bus
carrying soldiers in central Damas-
cus were detonated during yesterday
morning’s rush hour,killing 14 people
in the worst such attack in the capi-
tal in four years, the Sana state news
agency reported.
There was no immediate claim for
the bombing, but about an hour later
shelling by governmentforces killed
13 people and injured another 20 in
•
To
w humans suffer in
so ing temperatures
Pa
the town of Ariha in Idlib province, an
area controlled by groups that have
claimed attacks similar to the bus
bombing in the past.
A military source quoted by Sana
said the explosives had been deto-
nated as the vehicle passed near the
Hafez al-Assad bridge, close to a bus
depot and a museum in the heart of
the capital. It was not immediately
clear whether civilians were among
the casualties.
Damascus had been largely spared
such violence in recent years, espe-
cially since Syrian government
forces, with the help of Iranian and
Russian allies, retook eastern Ghouta,
the last significant rebel bastion in the
city’s outskirts, in 2018.
Yesterday’s attack is the deadli-
est in the capital since a bombing
claimed by the Islamic State group
targeted a judicial office building and
restaurant in March 2017, killing more
than 30 people.
In Ariha, shelling of the market at
around 8am killed three boys, one
girl and a teacher as they walked
to school, the aid group Save the
Children said. “The children were
terrified and were screaming,” said
Bilal Trissi, a father of two who lives
nearby. “We didn’t know what to do
or where to go and we didn’t see any-
thing because of all the dust around
us,” he told Agence France-Presse.
“They bombed us in our neigh-
bourhood and in the market. There
are children who died and people
who lost their limbs … We don’t know
why. What are we guilty of?”
The attack on Ariha is one of the
deadliest violations of a 2020 ceasefire
deal for Idlib brokered by Turkey and
Russia, which are now the two main
foreign players in the 10-year-old
23
 A firefighter puts out a blaze on
the army bus that was destroyed in
Damascus, killing at least 14 people
OO: X/X O
conflict. Bashar al-Assad’s position
once hung by a thread after a brutal
crackdown on Arab spring protesters
ignited the civil war, with his forces
and allied militias controlling barely
a fifth of Syrian territory.Russia’s mil-
itary intervention in 2015, however,
marked the start of a longand bloody
fightback.
Also backed by Iran and its proxy
fighters, government forces have
recaptured nearly all the key cities
in the country, with US-backed Kurd-
ish forces still running the north-east.
Since IS was driven from the last
of its territory in early 2019, the Syr-
ian government’s main focus has
been Idlib, where manyof the rebels
forced to surrender in other parts of
the country have gathered.
The area is dominated by the jihad-
ist group HayatTahrir al-Sham (HTS),
which includes leaders of al-Qaida’s
former Syrian branch and over which
Turkey has some sway.
HTS has not claimed responsibil-
ity for attacks in Damascus in years,
however. The remnants of IS have
gone underground but continue to
harass government and allied forces,
mostly in desert areas, in hit-and-run
attacks.
In another incident yesterday, six
members of a pro-government militia
were killed in an arms depot blast in
the central province of Hama, a war
monitor said. Seven other members
of the National Defence Forces mili-
tia were wounded in the explosion,
the cause of which remains unclear,
the monitor added.
The bombing of the capital will
challenge the Syrian government’s
assertion that the decade-old war
is over and stability guaranteed for
reconstruction efforts and invest-
ment projects to begin in earnest.
While Assad’s forces continue a
decade-long campaign of bomb-
ing civilian targets, and more than
100,000 people remain “disap-
peared” in regime prisons, in recent
months Damascus has made strides
in emerging from isolation.
During the past year,officials from
▲ Syrian forces killed once-antagonistic Middle East states
workers clean at least 13 in have travelled to the country for
the site of Idlib province, meetings. The United Arab Emirates
the attack in including and Saudi Arabia have sent delega-
Damascus. children on their tions to the Syrian capital to meet
About an hour way to school its spy chiefs, while Egypt and Qatar
later, shelling OO: O have also made overtures.
by government // Meanwhile, in August Jordan’s
King Abdullah lobbied members of
the US Congress on the need to re-
‘They bombed us in engage with the Syrian leadership,
our neighbourhood and two months later spoke to Assad
on the phone in the first publicly
and market. There acknowledged contact in a decade.
are children who Last month, Washington also
appeared to contribute to Assad’s
died and people who resurgence. In an attempt to solve
lost their limbs’ Lebanon’s energy crisis, the US
embassy in Beirut announced a plan
to send Egyptian natural gas via Jor-
dan and Syria. The proposal gave
Bilal Trissi Assad a direct stake in finding a solu-
Resident of Ariha tion for Lebanon.
 • The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
24
Eyewitness
 London:
Port City
More than 200
years of the
capital’s role
as a sea trading
hub is explored
at the Docklands
Museum. The
free exhibition,
running until
May, charts the
transformation
of the Thames
docks and
their tides of
technology and
economics.
Right, potatoes
being unloaded
at West India
Dock in 1948
PHOTOGRAPHS:
MUSEUM OF LONDON

▲ Tea from a bulk shipment is packed in Tower Hamlets in the 1930s ▲ A live import arrives at Tilbury Dock in the early 20th century ▲ Barrels
 Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian •
25

 Tower Bridge
being raised in
1927, upstream
of the Pool of
London. The
ancient Thames
mooring for
sea shipping
reached its peak
in the late 18th
century when
congestion led to
expansion into
off-river docks
PHOTOGRAPH:
AG LINNEY

 A ‘knocker
up’, Mary
Smith, rouses
dockers from
their East End
beds by shooting
peas at their
windows. With
alarm clocks a
rare luxury, the
knocker up’s
services were in
demand among
workers who
had to compete
for daily shifts
PHOTOGRAPH: JOHN
TOPHAM/TOPFOTO

▲ Vehicles for
export being
loaded at the
Royal Albert
Docks in 1955.
The docks,
part of the
Royal Docks in
Newham, were
the centre of
shipping until
containerisation
in the 1960s
moved trade
to Tilbury,
downstream

s of imported wine await gauging at London Dock in 1920 ▲ A diver is prepared for underwater repairs on a ship in Grand Surrey Docks in 1930

26
‘Descent into hell’
Kidnap of foreign
missionaries lays
bare daily perils
Haitians endure
F
Joe Parkin Daniels
irel Joseph was driving
through Haiti’s capital,
Port-au-Prince, one
evening this year when
he noticed a white
Toyota Land Cruiser
with official number plates
trailing close to his rear bumper.
Assuming the other driver wanted
to overtake him, the 44-year-old
development worker gave way.
Then things took a hellish turn.
The car skidded to a halt in front
of Joseph, while another vehicle
appeared behind, boxing him in.
Six men, wearing flak jackets and
armed with rifles, piled out of
the Land Cruiser, moving with
military discipline.
Four of them waved the traffic
away from the scene, shouting
that they were police officers,
while two approached Joseph.
“That’s when I realised I was
in trouble – when they walked
▲ A January protest in the Haitian
capital sparked by the kidnap of
an elementary school student
• The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
World
Haiti
 Protesters
demand the
release of
North American
missionaries,
among them
children,
kidnapped in
Haiti this week
OOG:
EE
towards me and cocked their rifles
and it made a noise just like in the
movies,” Joseph said. “That’s when
I knew I was being kidnapped.”
Haiti is the kidnapping
capital of the world, where rich
and poor alike are targeted for
ransom – the victims often picked
opportunistically from the gridlock
traffic of Port-au-Prince.
Until recently, the epidemic
of abductions had barely
registered outside the country
as it struggled with overlapping
crises from natural disasters to the
assassination of its president.
But on Saturday, 16 American
missionaries and one Canadian
were kidnapped while travelling
by bus to the airport, thrusting
the wave of kidnappings into
the spotlight. Five children were
among the hostages, including ▲ A protest since then has – seized 10 people including seven later, on 14 August, a 7.2-magnitude
an eight-month-old baby. Their in Port-au- only increased members of the clergy, prompting earthquake struck the country’s
ransom has been set at $1m Prince against the threat the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince southern peninsula and killed more
(£720,000) a person. kidnap gangs OOG:
to warn that Haiti was facing a than 2,200 people. Amid the chaos,
“There’s obviously lots of last December. VEE EWY/ “descent into hell”. gangs have seized their moment.
coverage because they are Political turmoil GEY GE In July, president Jovenel Moïse “The bigger the fish they catch,
American, but Haitians are getting was shot dead in his home; days the fewer people they have to
kidnapped every day,” said Joseph, kidnap,” said Jay Cantave, who
who asked not to use his real name. runs Brisec, a private security firm
“Sometimes it makes the news, but in Port-au-Prince. “It’s the most
sometimes nobody cares.” lucrative crime right now in Haiti,
At least 628 kidnappings have and people are getting away with
taken place in Haiti this year – more it – and getting away with a lot of
than three times last year’s total, money.”
according to the local non-profit After Joseph was forced from his
Center for Analysis and Research car, he was bound and blindfolded
in Human Rights. The increase in and driven to a safe house, where
abduction mirrors the growing he was interrogated. Under duress,
power of violent criminal gangs. he unlocked his phone so the
Approximately 165 factions operate kidnappers could go through his
in the capital city, often with tacit correspondence and set a ransom.
support from politicians, and many After making contact with his
groups are now better armed than brother, they set the payout at
the country’s ’s fragile police force.
In April, the “400 Mawozo”  People displaced by gang violence
gang – the same group officials and the threat of kidnap occupy a
said was responsible for Saturday’s shelter in Port-au-Prince
mass kidnapping of missionaries OOG: ODGO D/
Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian •
27

US lawmakers’ case is likely to pass to federal pros-

vote brings
Bannon closer
to conviction
Ed Pilkington
New York
The House of Representatives is
expected to vote today to refer Steve
Bannon to federal prosecutors for
potential criminal charges relating
to his defiance of Congress over the
investigation into the 6 January Cap-
itol insurrection.
Bannon, Donald Trump’s former
chief strategist in the White House, is
facing deepeninglegal peril as he con-
tinues to refuse to co-operate with
the House select committee investi-
gating the violence at the US Capitol
in Washington DC.
On Tuesday the nine-member
committee, including two Repub-
licans, voted unanimously to
recommend criminal prosecution
after Bannon refused to comply with
a subpoena callingfor him to provide
documents and to testify.
Should the full House decide to
recommend contempt charges the
 Steve Bannon
is refusing
to cooperate
with the
Congressional
committee
investigating
the January
insurrection
ecutors in Washington, who would
then have the power to convene
a grand jury. Any final decision to
charge Bannon probably would be
taken at the highest levels of the jus-
tice department, given the extreme
sensitivity of the case and excep-
tionally rare nature of contempt of
Congress prosecutions.
Should he be convicted of con-
tempt he faces up to a year in prison
and a fine of up to $100,000.
The House committee investigat-
ing the insurrection on 6 January this
year has been steadily tighteningthe
screws on Bannon.
At Tuesday’s hearing Liz Cheney,
the congress member from Wyoming
and leading critic of Trump over the
assault on the Capitol in which five
people died, directly accused Ban-
non of planning the attack. “Based
on the committee’s investigation it
appears Mr Bannon had substantial
advanced knowledge of the plans for
6 January and likely had an impor-
tant role in formulating those plans.”
Cheney said Bannon’s and Trump’s
refusal to comply suggested “Trump
was personally involved in the plan-
ning and execution of [the attack]”.
The committee released a 26-page
report setting out its case for why
Bannon, formerly executive chair of
the rightwingBreitbart News, should
be held accountable to Congress.
In it Bannon is described as hav-
ing had “multiple roles”, including
“constructing and participating in
the ‘stop the steal’ public relations
effort that motivated the attack [and
in] efforts to plan political and other
activity in advance of 6 January”.
Trump has told Bannon and other
former aides served subpoenas bythe
House committee not to co-operate.
His lawyers told the individuals they
were covered by executive privilege.

Russia calls women from most work outside the

$1.1m, to be paid in cash – in US
dollars and Haitian gourdes.
“They set the price so high that
you are scared, so that you will
pay whatever you can,” Joseph
said. Eventually, $15,000 was
paid to secure his release, with
Joseph borrowing from friends and
family. “I’m still paying them back
each month with each paycheck I
receive.”
In neighbourhoods controlled by
gangs, residents are often detained
and vetted to see if any ransom
would be forthcoming before they
are kidnapped.
Theodor Ronald was taken in
May by two men on the streets of
the Martissant neighbourhood. He
was interrogated for three hours
at a safe house before his captors
decided he was too poor to be
worth ransoming.
“Over here, anything can
happen,” Ronald said at a shelter for
those displaced by gang violence,
where he has been staying with
thousands of others since June.
‘That’s when “It’s your own fellow brothers with
I realised evil thoughts that go crazy and
violent.”
I was in Some observers say continuing
trouble – lack of opportunity in Haiti risks
they walked bolstering the ranks of gangs.
towards me Haiti is the western hemisphere’s
and cocked poorest country, with over 40% of
their rifles’ its population food insecure.
“At the end of the day, the foot-
Firel Joseph soldiers in the gangs have nothing
Kidnap victim to lose and no real alternatives,”
said Fiammetta Cappellini, country
representative for the NGO Avsi.
“We don’t want to limit the scope
of the problem to economics, but
there is a factor of poverty and a
lack of resources at play.”
But with no clear end in sight to
the country’s woes, many Haitians
struggle to adjust to life in a country
where kidnapping is a daily reality.
“I just try not to be on the street
too much and I try to get home
early and to follow the news,”
Joseph said. “But I don’t know what
to do now because everywhere is a
stronghold of the gangs.”
for improved
human rights
at Afghan talks
Emma Graham-Harrison
Agencies Moscow
Russia has hosted the most high-
proile international talks on
Afghanistan since the Taliban took
power,callingfor an injection of aid to
help the economy but also demand-
ing a more inclusive government.
Senior Russian diplomats made
clear formal recognition of the regime
was not on the table until itimproved
human rights and broadened an all-
male cabinet, most of them clerics
from the Pashtun ethnic group.
“A big political bargaining is
going on,” Vladimir Putin’s special
representative on Afghanistan,
Zamir Kabulov, told reporters at
the Moscow conference, which was
attended by Taliban officials. He
added that the international commu-
nity’s key demands for the Taliban
were “human rights and inclusivity”.
There are particular concerns that
the Taliban are barring girls from sec-
ondary schooling, and have banned
education and healthcare sectors.
Other major human rights abuses
documented over the past two
months include reprisal killings,
despite an oficial amnesty, and
driving members of ethnic and reli-
gious minorities out of their homes.
Despite concerns about the Tali-
ban government, Kabulov warned
that Afghanistan needed aid to ward
offa catastrophe. “Not everyone likes
the new government in Afghanistan,
but by punishing the government, we
punish the whole people,” he said.
Failure to provide food and other
support now could lead to a refugee
crisis, Russia’s foreign minister,
Sergei Lavrov, said before the meet-
ing, which broughttogether regional
powers including China, Iran,
Pakistan and central Asian repub-
lics. The US did not attend.
Moscow fears drugs and extrem-
ism could spill over the Afghan border
into the central Asian states that link
the two nations, and Lavrov paid trib-
ute to Taliban efforts to stabilise the
country. “Numerous terrorist groups,
notably the Islamic State and al-Qaida
are trying to take advantage of the
instability in the country, mounting
bloody attacks,” Lavrov said.
Russia, which called on the Tal-
iban to ensure Afghanistan did not
become a base for international
terrorists, has promised military sup-
port to central Asian nations and held
joint drills with their military.
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Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian
EU border agency sued by Syrian
family over removal from Greece
Helena Smith
Athens
Five years to the day after they were
bundled on to a plane and deported to
Turkey despite having lodged asylum
claims in Greece, a family of Syrian
refugees are taking their case to the
European court of justice.
In an unprecedented step, a
Dutch firm of human rights lawyers
announced yesterday they had filed
a lawsuit against Frontex, the EU bor-
der agency that operated the flight,
and were seeking damages on behalf
of the family.
“Frontex has acknowledged there
were human rights violations,” said
Lisa- Marie Komp, a lawyer at the law
practice Prakken d’Oliveira, which
is representing the family. “It has
Appreciative
audience
The pope with
a group of
nuns during
his weekly
general
audience at
the Vatican
yesterday.
Francis has
recently
launched
a two-year
consultation
on reforming
the Catholic
church.
:
 /
Latvia in month-long lockdown
as PM urges on vaccine take-up
Pjotr Sauer
Moscow
Latvia has announced a month-long
Covid-19 lockdown after an unprece-
dented surgein infections, becoming
the first country in Europe to reim-
pose far-reaching restrictions amid
a new wave of cases on the continent.
The Baltic country has one of the
highest rates of new coronavirus
cases relative to population in the
•
accepted that the refugees never
got the chance to have their asylum
request processed.”
The action – the first of its kind to
be brought before the Luxembourg
tribunal – highlights the illegal prac-
tice of brutal pushbacks at the EU’s
external borders, according to cam-
paigners, who have stepped up calls
for an end to the alleged abuses.
Frontex has faced accusations
of “actively destroying” the prin-
ciples on which the EU is built by
participating in the pushbacks. The
body, which has 660 officers work-
ing alongside Greek counterparts at
the country’s borders, has admitted
that the Syrian couple and their four
children were among 18 passengers
on the plane, which flew from Kos to
the southern Turkish city of Adana
in October 2016. An operational
world, according to the US Centres
for Disease Control and Prevention.
It had successfully kept the virus at
bay for months.
“Our health system is in danger …
the only way out of this crisis is to
get vaccinated,” said the prime min-
ister, Krišjānis Kariņš, on Monday
evening at an emergency govern-
ment meeting.He said the country’s
low vaccination rate was to blame
for the surge in hospital admissions.
Only 57% of the 1.9 million Latvians
overview documentingthe flight has
been provided by the agency.
But the family, whose members
have not been named in the legal
action for security reasons, insist
they were “tricked”by EU and Greek
officials into believing they would be
flown to Athens after initiating asy-
lum requests in Greece.
The refugees were transported to
Kos after submitting their claims on
the Greek island of Leros, one of the
places on the frontline in the Aegean
Sea then receiving large numbers of
Syrians fleeing civil war in rickety
boats from the Turkish coast.
“I never knew I was [going to
be] deported to Turkey,” the then
33-year-old father toldreporters after
being placed in the Düziçi detention
camp in the south of the country.
“The policemen said, ‘leave your
were fully vaccinated, a number well
below the EU average of 74%.
The government’s month-long
night-time curfew covers 8pm
to 5am, and means the closure of
schools and all non-essential shops.
“I have to apologise to the already
vaccinated,”Kariņš said, adding that
only essential manufacturing, con-
struction and critical jobs would be
allowed to continue in person.
Latvia is the first country in Europe
to reimpose a strict lockdown.
The World Health Organization
said there was a 7% rise in new cor-
onavirus cases across Europe last
week, the only region in the world
where cases increased. The pandemic
has especially hit lower-vaccinated
dinner, get your stuff, we will take
you to a police station for the night
and tomorrow morning to Athens.’”
Once on the flight, the family,
including all four children, who were
aged between one and seven, were
forced to sit separately next to escort-
ing guards, subsequently identified
by the insignia on their uniforms. It
was only when the youngest child
began to cry uncontrollably that he
was allowed to siton his mother’s lap.
It took three years and eight
months before Frontex responded
to the requests of the Dutch legal
team and drafted a report about the
internal complaint. The Syrians have
since settled in northern Iraq for fear
of being returned to their war-torn
country.
An estimated one million Syrians
arrived in Greece en route to other
parts of Europe at the height of an
influx that began in 2015.
The incident was the first recorded
expulsion of asylum seekers after the
EU reached a deal with Turkey in 2016
in which it was stated that migrants
arriving in Greece would haveaccess
to a fair asylum procedure.
countries in central and eastern
Europe, where a large proportion of
the population has not had the jab and
vaccine scepticism is widespread.
In Russia, which has been report-
ing record daily deaths and has a
vaccination rate dramatically below
the EU’s,with only a third of its pop-
ulation vaccinated, a new set of
restrictions was announced on Tues-
day.In Moscow unvaccinated citizens
aged over 60 were ordered to stay at
home for four months and vaccine
passports were introduced in sev-
eral regions.
Moscow will go into a full lock-
down if coronavirus infections
continue to increase in the capital,
according to a government order sent
29
Bolsonaro
shouldbe jailed,
Brazil’s Covid
inquiry finds
Tom Phillips
Rio de Janeiro
The Brazilian president, Jair Bolson-
aro, should be charged with crimes
against humanity and jailed for his
“macabre” reaction to a Covid out-
break that has killed more than
600,000 Brazilians, a congressional
inquiry has found.
But two of the most dramatic accu-
sations against Bolsonaro – murder
and genocide of Brazil’s indigenous
populations – were removed from a
previous draft of the investigation
on Tuesday nightafter talks between
opposition senators serving on the
inquiry. The investigation, which
Bolsonaro’s political rivals hope will
wreck his chances of re-election,
was set up in April and is scheduled
to conclude next Tuesday.
Despite the removal of the murder
accusation, the 1,180-page docu-
ment – which savages the Bolsonaro
administration’s anti-scientific and
“slovenly” pandemic response – will
make uncomfortable reading for Bra-
zil’sfar-right leader and dozens of his
key allies, against whom charges are
also recommended.
“[Wemust] never forget what hap-
pened in this country or the innocent
people who lost their lives as a result
of the government’s reckless han-
dling of the pandemic,” says the final
draft of the report.
The final draft suggests the com-
mittee will recommend the populist
president be charged with nine sepa-
rate offences including charlatanism,
incitement to commit crimes, the
propagation of pathogenic germs,
and crimes against humanity.
Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, the
inquiry’s vice-president, said the
alleged crimes meant Bolsonaro’s
future should lie behind bars: “The
report assigns more than 100 years in
prison to the president of the repub-
lic. That is what the collection of
suggested crimes points to.”
Bolsonaro attacked the Covid
inquiry, claiming it had “produced
nothing but hatred and resentment”.
He said: “We know that we bear abso-
lutely no guilt.”
to businesses yesterday in the capi-
tal. The order closes all non-essential
businesses, including restaurants,
shopping malls and museums, as well
as suspends planned medical proce-
dures from 30 October to 7 November.
The order says the lockdown will
come into effect if the total number
of new coronavirus cases in the capi-
tal over thenext seven days surpasses
the infections recorded in the previ-
ous week.
The measures, labelled as a “short-
term lockdown” in the document,
would amount to Russia’s strictest
coronavirus restrictions since spring
2020. Russia has so far rejected a
nationwide lockdown, citing eco-
nomic concerns.
 • The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
30 World Too hot for a human
How the body reacts to extreme heat

US Democrat with  In high temperatures, the brain

initiates a response to seek water

ties to coal industry

: NN NN/F/Y

Kidneys
Kidneys regulate

attacks climate bill

blood concentrations
of water and salt. So,
these organs are the
immediate interface between us
and the climate crisis – because
when it starts getting hot, we lose a
lot of water and salt through sweat.
Manchin’s ties to the fossil fuel
Oliver Milman industry run deep. He set up a coal Liver
brokerage firm, Enersystems, in 1988, The liver is

T
running it until he became a full-time susceptible to
The American politician Joe Manchin, politician. Despite handing control to extreme heat. During
a centrist Democrat, has objected to his son Joseph, Manchin’s links to the heatstroke – when
key provisions of a multitrillion-dol- business proved fruitful. His shares the body’s internal temperature
lar reconciliation bill that would slash in Enersystems are worth $1m-$5m, crosses 40C – damage to liver cells
planet-heating emissions. according to his latest financial dis- he impact of extreme Heart can be seen by the increased levels
In a finely balanced Senate, Dem- closure document. He has received heat on the human To sweat and cool off, of liver enzymes in the blood, says
ocrats need all 50 of their senators to more than $5m in dividends in a dec- body is not unlike blood flow shifts from Dr Edward Walter, a consultant
vote for the bill – with no Republicans ade and the brokerage represents 71% when a car overheats. the central organs and anaesthetist at the Royal
willing to vote for the climate meas- of Manchin’s investment income, and Failure starts in one to the periphery of Surrey county hospital.
ures. The legislation would steadily about a third of his total net worth. or two systems, and the body, causing a fall in blood “The liver requires highly
retire the coal industry that once The reconciliation bill hugely eventually it takes over the whole pressure in these vital organs. regulated temperature – and we
formed the backbone of the economy expandstax support for electric vehi- engine until the car stops. The heart starts to beat faster to found that recurrent heat stress
of West Virginia, which Manchin rep- cles and clean energy,but the core of “When the body can no longer compensate, but if the person caused low-grade liver damage
resents and which continues to give the climate measures is a clean elec- cool itself, it immediately impacts does not replenish their water that was quite noticeable, but
him ample financial support. tricity performance programme, a the circulatory system,” says Mike reserves, blood pressure can drop it’s not known if that can lead
Manchin has spent four decades as $150bn scheme that would use pay- McGeehin, environmental health dangerously and cause fainting, to chronic liver disease,” adds
a political heavyweight in his Appa- ments and penalties to spur utilities epidemiologist at the Centers for explains Dr Pieter Vancamp, Johnson. “But it’s an area that
lachian home state. In this electoral to phase out fossil fuels from the US Disease Control and Prevention. post-doctoral researcher at the probably should be investigated.”
cycle he has received more in polit- electricity system over 10 years. “The heart, the kidneys, and Centre National de la Recherche
ical donations from the oil and gas Patrick Drupp, deputy legislative the body become more and Scientifique in Paris. Vancamp Gut
industry than any other senator, director of the Sierra Club, said the more heated and eventually our published a book this year about As blood flows away
equating to more than double the sec- programme, with the clean energy cognitive abilities desert us – and how the human body deals with from central organs
ond largest recipient. He is also the tax credits, were “the best shot we’ve that’s when people begin fainting, external challenges, such as to deal with heat,
top beneficiary of donations from the had in a generation to supercharge going into a coma and dying.” extreme heat. the limited oxygen
coal mining sector; he leads the way the clean energy transition”. Between 1998 and 2017, It can lead to heart failure if left can impede normal functioning.
in money accepted from gas pipeline Manchin called the bill’s spending more than 166,000 people died untreated. In the gastrointestinal tract, this
operators; and is sixth in the ranking “reckless” sayingit made no sense to due to heat, according to the can cause inflammation – and even
of senatorial donations from electric- pay utilities to increase their share of World Health Organization, and Brain nausea and vomiting.
ity utilities. renewable energy as they were doing countries around the world are The hypothalamus In 2013, researchers at
This has led to accusations that so already. seeing a yearly rise in record- is our in-house University Hospital Zurich found
he has been unduly influenced by “His statement on this is demon- breaking high temperatures. thermostat. Located an increased risk of inflammatory
the companies helping to stoke the strably false. Utilities aren’t growing For many, unendurable heat is in the brain, it bowel disease flare-ups during
climate crisis. His ofice has not renewables that quickly, certainly not becoming the new normal. regulates body temperature heatwaves, in what they described
responded to a request for comment. in West Virginia,” said Robbie Orvis, a Each organ responds using information passed to it by as the first study to link the climate
senior director at Energy Innovation. differently to extreme heat temperature sensors in our skin, crisis to bowel disease.
“It’s not a secret he has ties to the exposure, with symptoms that muscles, and other organs. Extreme heat can also cause
coal industry. One would hope any- quickly become fatal or cause When high temperatures are “leaky gut”, in which toxins and
one elected to Congress would not lingering damage from which the detected, the brain initiates a series pathogenic bacteria can seep in to
hold significantfinancial holdings in body may never fully recover. of responses, such as sweating, the blood, increasing the chance
industries they would consider regu- “Every human being is at risk increased respiration and the of infections, says Walter. It is
lating. But that’sthe system we have.” from extreme heat – it’s a fact of urge to seek water and cooler possible to develop a kind of sepsis
President Joe Biden has set a goal life, your body needs to function environments. But when the infection by being hot, he says.
to cut global heating emissions by in a certain environment,” says system overheats, these responses
50% this decade, then to get to zero McGeehin. “And when that fail, and miscommunication in the Natalie Grover
by 2050. The US is on track for a 17%- environment becomes extreme, brain can contribute to confusion, Additional reporting by
▲ Senator Joe Manchin, centre, has 25% cut in emissions by 2030, an then you are at risk.” dizziness and altered behaviour. Sarah Johnson
has called parts of the bill ‘reckless’ analysis bythe Rhodium Group says.
Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian
FTSE 100 All share
+ 5.57 - 0.40
7223.10 4118.78
Energy bills may keep rising until
2023, warns ScottishPower boss
Jillian Ambrose
Energy correspondent
The boss of Scottish Power has
warned that Britain’s gas crisis will
keep driving energy bills higher until
2023, and risks leavingonly five or six
of the strongest suppliers in the mar-
ket standing.
Keith Anderson told the Guard-
ian that households face another 18
months of rising bills and warned
that even well-run energy suppliers
would go bust.
The only energy companies able
to survive a fresh £4bn blow to the
Energy crisis could soon lead to
famine, fertiliser maker warns
Sarah Butler
Jillian Ambrose
The global energy crisis could morph
into a world food crisis leading to
famine unless urgentaction is taken,
one of the world’s biggest producers
of fertiliser has warned.
Svein Tore Holsether, the chief
executive of Yara, which produces
8.6m tonnes of the key fertiliser
ingredient ammonia a year, said high
•
Dow Indl Nikkei 225
+ 200.42 +40.03 1.1861
35657.73 29255.55
energy supply market will include a
small number of players backed by
major multinational firms, he said.
The UK’senergy market has grown
from the “Big Six” energy suppliers
that dominated the market at priva-
tisation, including Scottish Power,to
about 70 companies at the start of this
year. But in the past six weeks rock-
eting energy prices have caused 13
suppliers to go bust.
“And in that time nothing has
changed,” said Anderson. “I’ve seen
nothing about what new regulation
might look like. I’ve seen nothing
about protecting vulnerable custom-
ers and the fuel poor.”
gas costs meant it was currently curb-
ing production in Europe by 40%.
The Norwegian company, which
has production facilities in more
than 50 countries including the UK,
has been able to maintain supplies
of fertiliser in Europe by importing
ammonia from its operations else-
where in the world, where gas prices
are cheaper. Holsether warned that
there was no guarantee that pro-
cess could continue. “It is important
to get the message across that the
£/€ £/$
1.3815
+0.0011 +0.0017
Scottish Power has called on the
government and the regulator to
adjust the energy price cap to make
it easier for suppliers to pass on the
fast-rising energy costs. At the same
time, Anderson said the government
should put in place a social energy
tariffto protect households that can-
not afford the increase in bills.
Households are facing one of the
steepest bill increases on record this
winter after the regulator lifted the
maximum level of its energy price
cap from 1 October to reflect surging
wholesale market prices.
But energy bosses fear that the
cap, which changes every six months,
energy crisis now could be the start
of a food crisis,” he said. “We have
to pay special attention to everyone
affected by higher utility and food
prices, but for some it’s a question of
living or not. This is about scenarios
of famine and food scarcity.”
Holsether said he had discussed
his concerns with David Beasley,
the head of the UN World Food Pro-
gramme, this week. “All the main
nutrients farmers use are [priced]
$850
The price of a tonne of urea, an
ingredient in fertiliser, up more
than threefold on a year ago
 Scottish
Power’s Dun
Law windfarm
in the Scottish
Borders.
Low levels of
renewable
generation have
added to the
energy crisis
: 
/
does not keep pace with the fast-ris-
ing market and could cause more
suppliers to fold unless they have
the financial muscle to shoulder the
costs before the next price rise.
Energy suppliers can expect adou-
ble blow as more households take up
a standard price cap tariff at the end
of their fixed rate deal, rather than
choose new fixed tariffs that have
surged in price. Up to 2m homes are
expected to move to a price cap tar-
iff,each representingan extra cost of
£1,000 to their supplier, which could
lead to unexpected toll of up to £4bn
over the next year.
Anderson said that a “reflective
and flexible” price cap should change
“at least every quarter” to stem the
number of energy supplier exits from
the market.
An Ofgem spokesperson said the
regulator was working closely with
government and the energy indus-
try to “ensure that customers remain
protected”.
significantlyhigher than a year ago,”
he added. The global price of the key
fertiliser ingredient urea, for exam-
ple, is now up to $850 per tonne, from
around $260 a year ago.
Julia Meehan at the commodity
price agency ICIS agreed there was
“a serious global problem”. She said
China was putting in place an export
ban on fertiliser, Russia was consid-
ering a ban and Turkey had already
stopped shipments. She added:
“People don’t realise that 50% of the
world’s food relies on fertilisers.”
She said food shortages could be
felt next spring,with farmers switch-
ing from growing cereals, which
require fertiliser containing high lev-
els of nitrogen, to beans and pulses.
31
Sunak ‘to cut
tax on banks’
to keep City
competitive
Richard Partington
Economics correspondent
Rishi Sunak is preparing to announce
a tax cut for Britain’s biggest banks in
the budget to maintain the competi-
tiveness of the City of London in the
wake of Brexit, according to reports.
With the autumn budget and
spending review next week, the
Financial Times said the chancellor
planned to slash the corporation tax
surcharge imposed on the banking
industry by more than 60%, taking
the levy from its current level of 8%
to just 3% from April 2023.
The report comes after Sunak had
warned the Conservative party con-
ference this month that the time for
tax cuts would need to wait until the
public finances were back on a sus-
tainable footing, amid record levels
of government borrowing incurred
during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since the start of 2021, the chancel-
lor has announced plans to raise taxes
by £36bn a year – a bigger rise than
at any budget since the mid-1970s –
including higher national insurance
on workers and businesses.
The government has also slashed
universal credit benefits by more
than £1,000 a year.
The chancellor announced a
review of the banking industry sur-
charge at the spring budget, sayinga
planned increase in the main rate of
corporation tax could put London at
a disadvantage to other financial cen-
tres such as New York and Hong Kong.
Corporation tax is set to rise from
19% to 25% from April 2023, which
the Treasury said at the March budget
“would make UK taxation of banks
uncompetitive and damage one of
the UK’s key exports”.
There are concerns over the impact
of Brexit on the City as financial busi-
ness continues to drift to Europe, as
well as to Asia and the US. Earlier
this year, it emerged Amsterdam had
overtaken London as Europe’s top
share trading hub, raising questions
over the future of the City and its con-
tribution to the British exchequer.
The banking surcharge was intro-
duced by George Osborne in 2015
with the aim of ensuring a fair con-
tribution from the banking industry
after the then chancellor scaled back
a separate levy on lenders’ balance
sheets, and cut corporation tax for
other firms to among the lowest lev-
els in the western world. The levy
raised £1.5bn in 2019.
Against the backdrop of heavy
lobbying from the sector, Sunak
dropped a heavy hintin his Mansion
House speech in July that a fresh set-
tlement was likely.
 • The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
32 Financial

Net zero Why are

PM and chancellor
at odds over plans
for spending?
How does Johnson want to invest?
Phillip Inman Subsidies can create a market for
green projects where none existed
before, mainly because the upfront
Publication of the government’s costs deter private companies in
blueprint to hit net zero by 2050 search of a profit. Once the market
has opened up a rift between is thriving, prices tend to fall and
Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak the subsidies can be withdrawn.
over spending. The chancellor Later the funds can be deployed
is concerned about the prime elsewhere. Sunak and Johnson
minister’s tendency to believe agree on the need to provide
“everything is for the best in the subsidies but disagree on the
best of all possible worlds”, a amount of cash that should be on
phrase Voltaire used in his novel offer and for how long.
Candide to lampoon the optimists
of mid-18th-century France. Why is Sunak so reticent?
According to Treasury insiders, The Treasury is distrustful of other
Johnson is far too sanguine about Whitehall departments, viewing
Britain’s ability to emerge from them as spendthrifts lacking the
the pandemic and tackle the financial discipline to manage
climate crisis without meticulous complex projects. Green public
planning and careful management transport should be the goal of any
of the public finances. Sunak net zero strategy, but the Treasury
used his Tory party conference is known to despair over significant
speech – which made no mention cost overruns on Crossrail and HS2.
of the environment or net zero – to
warn that excessive borrowing Is the Treasury’s culture a barrier?
and “stacking up bills for future Treasury officials don’t like taking
generations to pay” was immoral. risks. Investments in the north
of England, the Midlands and
What is Johnson asking for? south-west as part of Johnson’s
There is a long list of spending on levelling-up plans are deemed
transition arrangements to reach perilously uncertain compared
net zero that the PM wants to push with the guaranteed returns
ahead with and is willing to put on to be made in London and the

Inflation rate inches down

the UK’s credit card. They range south-east. The same thinking is
from grants to install low-carbon prevalent when net zero initiatives Average petrol prices stood at
heat pumps to new nuclear power are considered. Johnson’s record 134.9p a litre, up from 113.3p a year

despite big rise in fuel cost

stations. This is not as reckless of splashing cash on friends and earlier,hitting the highest level since
as it sounds when interest rates Conservative business contacts 2013. However, the figures reflect a
are at rock bottom, and economic when the pandemic hit, much of period before panic buying at the
theory says there is a huge potential which was wasted, has underlined end of September, when shortages
return on investments in a modern concerns about wasteful spending at the pumps led to further reported
infrastructure, especially when if No 10 moves too quickly. increases in costs.
they also happen to be green. September 2020 after Rishi Sunak’s Analysts warned that the drop in
A tax on young people? Richard Partington discount scheme, which had tempo- the headline rate of inflation would
What are the investment benefits? Sunak objects to further increases Economics correspondent rarily reduced prices for consumers, prove temporary, with further
They vary from one industry to in borrowing, arguing the extra finished at the end of August. pressure on living costs expected
the next, but typically government debt will need to be paid by future UK inflation fell back slightly in Inflation is calculated based on the in October amid soaring wholesale
can expect to get back £1.20 to generations. It is a common thread September despite pressure on change in price of a basket of goods gas and electricity prices and the
£1.80 for every £1 spent when it running through the speeches of households from soaring petrol and services over a 12-month period, rise in Ofgem’s consumer price cap
invests – wisely – in infrastructure. most free-market Conservative MPs prices and on businesses from short- meaning a sharp movement a year on household bills.
The aim is not just to replace out- and ignores the benefits for future ages of lorry drivers and materials. earlier can distort the annual rate. Reflecting an increase in business
of-date equipment, buildings generations of a less polluted, more The Office for National Statistics In the final snapshot before the
and technology, but do it in such biodiverse environment supported said the consumer prices index had chancellor’s budget next week, and
a way that the people who use it by green jobs. eased to 3.1%, from 3.2% in August, as the Bank of England considers the Inflation fell back slightly to .1% in
are more productive – without as the impact of the government’s eat first interest rate rise since the start of September from .% in August
warming the planet. Does this mean tax rises? out to help out scheme dropped out the coronavirus pandemic, the ONS CPI inflation
Sunak said a rebalancing of the tax of the calculation for the annual infla- said upward pressure on living costs 5%
system would be necessary once tion rate. remained in place across much of
The Treasurybelieves Fuel fossil fuels began to be phased out. Petrol prices hitting the highest the economy last month. The costs
4

other Whitehall duty receipts from petrol and

diesel are currently worth £37bn
departments lack to the Treasury. Sunak didn’t say
financial discipline where he might find an alternative
source of revenue, but there is no
sign he will increase income tax.
The road user lobby expect him to
back pay-as-you-drive charges once
electric cars dominate the roads.
level in eight years, as well as the
rising cost of food, drink, second-
of goods produced by factories rose
again, with metals and machinery
3
2
hand cars and air travel, maintained showing a notable price increase. 1
elevated pressure on households’ liv-
ing costs. Before August, the last time
Against a backdrop of severe
lorry driver shortages and disrup- 0
overall inflation was at 3.1% or higher tion to global supply chains caused -1
was in 2017. by Covid-19 and Brexit, road freight 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021
The modest fall in the headline rate costs for UK businesses also contin-
reflects a rise in restaurant prices in ued to rise across the summer. Source: ONS
Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian
costs that could hit consumers in
future, inflation in factorygate prices
rose from 6% in August to 6.7% last
month, the highest level for almost
a decade.
The Bank of England has said
soaring energy costs will drive infla-
tion above 4% this winter, with the
gauge for the rising cost of living
expected to remain elevated until at
least the summer of 2022.
Threadneedle Street is widely
expected to raise interest rates from
the current historic lowof 0.1%, pos-
sibly as early as November.
Despite an intense squeeze over
the coming months, economists
said the inflation rate would grad-
ually fade back towards the Bank’s
2% target rate later next year as tem-
porary disruption linked to Covid-19
dissipated.
With the September inflation
reading used by the government to
uprate the value of benefit payments
each year, as well as state pensions
and business rates, a rise of 3.1% is
expected next year.
However, the increase for pen-
sioners could have been higher if
ministers had not decided to break
the triple lock’s link to average
earnings, which have risen by more
than 8%.
•
Elon Musk ‘may
become world’s
first trillionaire’
Rupert Neate
Wealth correspondent
Elon Musk, the world’s richest per-
son, with an estimated $241bn
(£174bn) fortune, could become the
first trillionaire, an investment bank
has predicted.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley fore-
cast that Musk, who has made most
of his wealth from the electric car
company Tesla, could make much
▲ Analysts say Musk’s SpaceX could
make him an unprecedented fortune
Golden hello
Burberryhas appointed
Jonathan Akeroyd as its
next chief executive in a
deal including a £6m ‘golden
hello’to cover the loss of
bonus and share awards for
leavinghis position at rival
Versace. The 54-year-old,
pictured above, has been the
boss of Versace since 2016,
overseeing the $2.1bn sale of
the business to Michael Kors
three years ago.Burberry’s
outgoingchief executive,
Marco Gobbetti, is due to
leave to take the top job atthe
luxury Italian group Salvatore
Ferragamo at the end of the
year.Akeroyd previously
spent 12 years at Alexander
McQueen, leadingthe brand
through the aftermath of its
founder’s death.
 PRP:
FF PR/F/Y
more money from his fledgling space
exploration business, SpaceX. Ana-
lyst Adam Jones said the company,
founded in 2002, was “challenging
any preconceived notion of what was
possible and the timeframe possible,
in terms of rockets, launch vehicles
and supporting infrastructure”.
He added: “More than one cli-
ent has told us if Elon Musk were to
become the first trillionaire ... it won’t
be because of Tesla.Others have said
SpaceX may eventually be the most
highly valued company in the world
– in any industry.”
Jones said SpaceX’s Starship reus-
able rockets that could take people
and cargo to the moon and Mars had
the potential to transform investor
expectations around the space indus-
try.“As one client put it,talking about
space before Starship is like talking
about the internet before Google.”
Jones estimates SpaceX could be
worth $200bn, and this could rise as
it exploits industries including space
infrastructure, Earth observation and
deep-space exploration.
It was valued at $100bn in a sec-
ondary share sale this month, making
it the world’s second-biggest pri-
vately held company behind the
internet firm ByteDance.Musk owns
roughly 48% of SpaceX.
Business view
Nils Pratley
Never mind the metaverse:
look at the way Facebook is
behaving in the real world
C
ontain your excitement
over Facebook’s
possible renaming of
itself for the coming
age of the “metaverse”,
and consider
yesterday’s other story about the
social media group. Facebook’s
quarrel with the UK competition
watchdog offered a near-perfect
illustration of corporate arrogance
and entitlement in action.
The case is extraordinary for
the fact that the stakes were so
low: Facebook’s $400m (£290m)
purchase last year of Giphy, a
software firm that specialises in
gifs, the essential visual aid for
social-media meme-peddlers, can
barely have registered on Mark
Zuckerberg’s radar.
Yet the company seems to have
been affronted to an extreme
degree when the Competition
and Markets Authority (CMA),
in perfectly normal fashion,
decided to look at the UK market
implications of a transaction
between two US companies.
A critical element of a CMA
inquiry is the “initial enforcement
order”, or IEO, in effect an
instruction not to prejudice
the outcome by, for example,
integrating operations. Companies
can request carve-outs from an
IEO – and Facebook did – but they
still have to comply and provide
reports. Despite repeated warnings,
Facebook didn’t, says the CMA.
When the company took its
argument to the CMA’s tribunal,
it lost. Then it lost again in the
court of appeal. The former body’s
reference to how Facebook decided
“effectively to proceed on the basis
of it having already been granted
the carve-out requests” describes,
in effect, a corporation that
behaved as if rules were for others.
The result is a £50.5m fine for
breaching the IEO, which “should
serve as a warning to any company
that thinks it is above the law”, said £100m loan from Barclays.
the CMA, adding that no firm has
ever previously been found to have
breached an IEO by consciously
refusing to report all the required
information. Given the corporate
rogues the CMA has encountered
over the years, that is quite a first.
The metaverse can wait. The
problem is Facebook’s approach to
regulation in this world.
Burberry moves on
Burberry normally finds a way to
make a drama out of a succession
crisis but, actually, the surprise this the company says “arm’s length”,
time is the lack of plot twists. The
industry veteran Marco Gobbetti
said in June he was quitting for a
job back home in Italy. But here
33
▲ A protest at Facebook’s offices
in London over workers’ rights
comes the new boss, Jonathan
Akeroyd, who looks the closest
thing to a like-for-like replacement.
He’s from the commercial, as
opposed to the creative, side and
he’s been around a few continental
houses, most recently at Versace.
The symmetry is completed by
Akeroyd being a Brit returning to
Britain. Naturally, there was a full
helping of the usual blather about
“elevating” the Burberry brand (no
fashion label ever says its strategy
is to go determinedly downmarket)
but Akeroyd’s real task is to get
the revenue line moving, which
was meant to be the second half of
Gobbetti’s overhaul. If he can do
that, and restore life to a stale share
price, he might put a stop to the
takeover rumours that perpetually
swirl around the company.
The familiar part of this hire is
the size of the financial package.
Akeroyd will get a £6m “golden
hello,” a £1.1m salary, a maximum
annual bonus of £2.2m, and £1.8m
of annual share awards. They
always pay themselves well in the
fashion game.
THG: governance issues
Matthew Moulding ditched his
“special” takeover-blocking share
in THG earlier this week, or rather
said he plans to do so. Now comes
more governance news: Moulding,
his wife and a related entity have
released a chunk of shares that had
been pledged as collateral against a
Very good: there’s nothing
strictly wrong with such collateral
arrangements, but they attract
attention when the share price is
on the slide. Best to live without.
THG’s next step towards the
mainstream, one hopes, will be the
unwinding of Moulding’s role as
its landlord. He bought properties
ranging from distribution centres
to a country club from the
company before last year’s float
and THG pays him rent of £19.4m
a year. No matter how many times
it is not good governance. It would
be hard to undo the set-up quickly,
but the medium-term aim ought to
be disposal.
 The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
34 Classified
The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
Classified 35
 • The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
36

Weather
Thursday 21 October 2021
UK and Ireland Noon today Forecast Around the UK
Low 7 High 12 London
Sunny Mist Fog Lows and highs Precipitation Air pollution
Tomorrow
6 5 12 55% Low
Sunny intervals Hazy Manchester
1004
Mostly cloudy
34 Inverness Shetland 7 11 5% Low
Overcast/dull 6
Edinburgh
9 35
Rough 7 10 15% Low
Sunny showers
1012 1008 Belfast
Edinburgh
1016 34 Low 7 High 13
Sunny and heavy showers Glasgow Saturday 7 10 60% Low
Birmingham
Light showers 1020 11
6 11 0% Low
Rough
Rain Sleet Light
snow
Belfast
12 Brighton
York
Snow showers Dublin Liv
7 12 55% Low
11 Bristol
Heavy snow Ice Carbon
Thundery rain
35C
30
10 Norwich
count 7
Cardiff
11 0% Low
25 Daily atmospheric CO2
20 readings from Mauna Loa,
11 Hawaii (ppm):
Thundery showers 15
Latest
7 12 0% Low
X
10 11 19 Oct 2021 414.23 Newcastle
5 Dover Weekly average
Temperature, 0 10 Oct 2021 413.89
ºC -5
14
20 Oct 2020 411.33
6 10 65% Low
Plymouth
-10 13 20 Oct 2011 389.09 Penzance
-15 Moderate 22 Pre-industrial base 280
Wind speed, Windy
mph -20 The Channel Islands
Safe level 350 11 13 0% Low
Source: NOAAESRL

Atlantic front 1016

1008
1008 1008 1008 1000 992 1000 1008 1016 Plantwatch Around the world
L 984
976 One of the world’s rarest trees Algiers 28 Lisbon 21
1000
992
grows in north Wales. There are Ams’dam 11 Madrid 22
L only 30 of the Menai whitebeam Athens 21 Malaga 28
1024 L
H left in the world, all growing along a Auckland 16 Melb’rne 22
H tiny strip of steep coast in a nature B Aires 23 Mexico C 23
reserve by the Menai Strait. Bangkok 32 Miami 29
H 1016 “I was amazed to realise that Barcelona 21 Milan 17
Cold front 1024 such a highly threatened tree could Basra 33 Mombasa 31
H be found in the nature reserve not Beijing 18 Moscow 12
Warm front 1008 far from our university,” said Julia Berlin 15 Mumbai 33
Jones, a professor of conservation Bermuda 27 N Orleans 28
science at Bangor University. Brussels 10 Nairobi 26
Occluded front Urgent work has begun to map Budapest 19 New Delhi 31
each tree, monitor its wellbeing C’hagen 12 New York 23
Trough and collect seeds so that it can be Cairo 26 Oslo 8
1016 1008 cultivated and planted in the wild Cape Town 25 Paris 15
in the future. Chicago 15 Perth 18
High tides Source: © Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Times are local UK times
Sun & Lighting The Menai whitebeam illustrates
the plight of many other tree
Corfu 21 Prague 15

Moon up species that are at serious risk of

Dakar
Dhaka
32
32
Reykjavik
Rio de J
7
21
extinction, with some reduced to Dublin 11 Rome 22
Aberdeen 0218 4.3m 1445 4.2m London Bridge 0306 7.0m 1516 7.0m Belfast 1812 to 0808 fewer than 50 trees. Florence 22 Shanghai 17
Avonmouth 0830 13.2m 2048 13.3m Lossiemouth 0048 4.1m 1318 4.0m Birm’ham 1759 to 0745 Of the 60,000 tree species Gibraltar 25 Singapore 30
Barrow 0023 9.3m 1242 9.0m Milford Haven 0726 6.9m 1942 7.0m Brighton 1756 to 0735 worldwide, an estimated 17,500 H Kong 28 Stockh’m 11
Belfast 0011 3.5m 1231 3.4m Newquay 0616 6.9m 1832 7.0m Bristol 1805 to 0747 are endangered – nearly one in Harare 25 Strasb’g 15
Cobh 0640 4.1m 1855 4.1m North Shields 0424 5.1m 1652 5.0m Carlisle 1758 to 0755 three of all tree species, according Helsinki 11 Sydney 21
Cromer 0731 5.1m 2003 4.9m Oban 0648 3.9m 1904 4.2m Cork 1827 to 0811 to a report by Botanic Gardens Istanbul 17 Tel Aviv 25
Dover 0018 6.6m 1229 6.8m Penzance 0550 5.4m 1805 5.6m Sun rises 0734 Dublin 1815 to 0805 Conservation International, a Jo’burg 24 Tenerife 27
Dublin 0032 4.1m 1300 3.8m Plymouth 0700 5.4m 1911 5.5m Sun sets 1754 Glasgow 1802 to 0803 charity based in Kew, south-west K Lumpur 31 Tokyo 17
Galway 0622 5.0m 1837 5.0m Portsmouth 0018 4.6m 1246 4.7m Moon rises 1825 Harlech 1807 to 0755 London. K’mandu 25 Toronto 16
Greenock 0133 3.6m 1349 3.4m Southport -- -- 1206 8.8m Moon sets
Last Quarter
0813
28 Oct
Inverness 1756 to 0806 That is more than twice the Kabul 27 Vancouv’r 14
Harwich 0052 4.1m 1302 4.0m Stornoway 0759 4.7m 2006 4.9m London 1754 to 0736 number of threatened mammals, Kingston 31 Vienna 17
Holyhead 1136 5.5m 2346 5.6m Weymouth 0710 1.4m 1922 1.4m M’chester 1759 to 0749 birds, amphibians and reptiles Kolkata 32 Warsaw 17
Hull 0719 7.6m 1949 7.3m Whitby 0502 5.6m 1727 5.5m
Forecasts and
Newcastle 1753 to 0751 combined, but the threat to trees L Angeles 25 Wash’ton 26
Leith 0339 5.5m 1603 5.4m Wick 0015 3.5m 1242 3.4m
graphics provided by
Norwich 1746 to 0733 receives far less attention. Lagos 30 Well’ton 16
Liverpool 0004 9.3m 1225 9.1m Workington 0027 8.3m 1246 8.1m AccuWeather ©2021 Penzance 1818 to 0756 Paul Simons Lima 18 Zurich 15
Thursday 21 October2021 The Guardian •
Grassroots sport Football
Local clubs with Simeone doesn’t
sustainability shake hands – b t
at their heart it isn’t personal
Page 39  Page 42 
▲ Studies have led
to calls for rugby’s
governing body to
T
change the laws at
all levels of the game
to protect players
from head injuries
 /Y 
Rorschach rugby test
wo press releases arrive two hours
apart, offering two very different
views of the same new study
The dementia study
published yesterday in Alzheimer’s
& Dementia: The Journal of the
Alzheimer’s Association. It is called
the BRAIN study, led by a team of
offers contrasting
researchers at the London School
of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, supported by the
Rugby Football Union, and funded by an independent
body called the DrakeFoundation. It was designed to
calls:more action
look at cognitive function in a group of 146 elite rugby
union players from the amateur era, all aged over 50,
and, as the headline on the first release said, it found
“no overall link between concussion, length of career,
versus more research
and cognitive function”.
In short, it was broadly reassuring. Until you read
on. Because the study also found what seems to be a
very clear link among one sub-group of the 146. Among
players aged 75 and over, those who had suffered three
or more rugby-related concussions were found to have
significantly worse cognitive function. That doesn’t
mean they will necessarily develop dementia, but it
does mean that they are probably at higher risk of it. “If
our findings are correct,” says the lead author, Prof Neil
Pearce, players in their 50s now “might start to see a
problem when they reach 75”.
So there’s a certain tension between the study’s
primary and secondary findings. And that’s before
you get into the complicating factors. The majority
Andy Bull of the players (113) were former Oxbridge Blues
(because the researchers had access to a group who
had already signed up for previous trials) and the rest
(33) were former England internationals. It’s possible
that the Oxbridge group may have what is called a
37
I
“high cognitive reserve”, which means any change in
cognitive function is delayed until older age. “It’s very
speculative,” says Pearce, “but it can’t be ruled out.”
t’s also true that the study had no good way
of calculating the number of sub-concussive
blows these players suffered. Instead it used
players’ career duration as a proxy measure.
All of which means the report feels like a sort
of Rorschach test. “The science is the science,”
says the RFU’s director of medical services,
Simon Kemp, but its significance is a question
of interpretation. Which brings us back to those two
press releases. Because – and this is where it gets really
knotty – two of the groups who collaborated on the
study disagree about what it means for the sport.
For the RFU, which co-signed the first release, the
study is a sign that “more research needs to be done”
looking at people who played in the professional era.
This is already under way. The RFU is working on it
with the Advanced Brain Health clinic and Premiership
Rugby. Kemp says that until that second study is
completed, it’s impossible to say what the BRAIN
study means, if anything, for people playing the game
today given the differences between the amateur
and professional eras. “Commenting on relative risk
is problematic, we would want to focus on the risk
in the study that we have completed, have had peer
reviewed, and have had published.”
The Drake Foundation disagrees. It co-signed the
first press release too. Then it issued its own. And if
the tone of the first was broadly reassuring, the tone of
the second was profoundly alarming. The Foundation
believes that when you look at the BRAIN study in
the context of existing research on the professional
rugby era, it suggests the game may have been safer
in the pre-professional era. Its Drake Biomarker study
published earlier this year showed that almost one
in four players studied had abnormal changes to
their brain structure, and one in two had unexpected
reductions in white matter volume. The Foundation
is “urging rugby authorities and governing bodies to
consider immediate law changes at all levels”.
A World Rugby spokesman says those changes are
“already under way” in current law trials “such as
the 50:22, goal-line drop out, and
Two of the breakdown amendments, which
are all aimed at reducing head
groups who injury risk, and lowered tackle
collaborated height at a domestic level. This is in
addition to robust protocols such
on the as the Head Injury Assessment and
study Graduated Return to Play process,
disagree increasing
research investment and
embracing of new technology such
about what as eye tracking and instrumented
it means for mouthguards ”.
the sport the“We are definitely encouraged by
action they are taking, but what
we would say at the minute is that
those are recommendations rather than enforceable
law changes,” says Drake’s chief executive, Lauren
Pulling. “Clearly we don’t have the full picture here,
but the mixture of scientific evidence and anecdotal
evidence suggests that the sport may be travelling in
the wrong direction.”
The Drake Foundation is not in the business of
editorialising. But Pulling adds: “We now believe we
are at a critical point and that, although there are gaps
in the research, there are enough indicators to show
that players are sustaining long-term negative health
effects from repeated head impacts in sport. We’re not
campaigners, we fund research to build the evidence
base, and we believe that that base has got to the point
where we need to see substantial change to protect
players. We think we could see another generation of
players suffering the same sorts of issues if we don’t
take more preventative action.”
So on one side, there’s a call for more research; on
the other, a call for more action, and in the middle are
the players, weighing risks the experts can’t agree on.

38
Team by team
Depleted England
target white-ball
double but India
look strongest
Group One
Australia
Coach Justin Langer
Captain Aaron Finch ()
Tournament best Runners-up 2010
Australia aren’t exactly bouncing
into the competition. Their last
Twenty20 series win was in South
Africa in 2019-20 – they have lost
five in a row since, while their
government’s handling of the Covid
pandemic has made travel and
competitive cricket problematic,
even domestically. Steve Smith,
who has been suffering from an
elbow injury, has not played a T20
international this year, while David
Warner arrives on the back of a
miserable IPL in which he scored
zero and two before being dropped.
Keep an eye on Glenn Maxwell, for
pyrotechnics with the bat, brilliant
fielding and handy off-spin.
Group Two
Afghanistan
Coach Lance Klusener
Captain Mohammad Nabi ()
Tournament best Super 10s 2016
It goes without saying that
Afghanistan’s preparations for the
tournament have been difficult,
but to add to the sense of chaos
they appointed Rashid Khan as
T20 captain in July and he resigned
in September, minutes after the
announcement of a World Cup
squad he had not been consulted
on. Mohammad Nabi has replaced
him, with Andy Flower, who
coached England to victory in
2010, brought in as consultant.
Their world-class spin attack –
Rashid Khan and Qais Ahmad plus
the mystery spinner Mujeeb Ur
Rahman – may have to work hard to
make up for flaws in other areas.
• The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
Sport
Cricket T20 World Cup
England
Coach Chris Silverwood
Captain Eoin Morgan ()
Tournament best Winners 2010
Wi 30s
and only Tom Curran young
28, England aren’t
this is their time. The world’s
No 1-ranked team are not qui
full stren
Jofra Archer and Ben Stok
of the 2019 50-over World Cup final,
but there is plenty of competi
for places with Liam Livin
and Tymal Mills hoping to mak
impact. Eoin Morgan has d most destructive batsmen. South
up for the competition by leading
Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL
final, even if he didn’t ignite the
competition with the ba
spin options to back up A hid
and Moeen Ali coul m.
India
Coach Ravi Shastri
Captain Virat Kohli ()
Tournament best Winners 2007
This will be Virat Kohli’s final
tournament as India’s T20 captain
before he steps down to prioritise
Test and one-day international
cricket, and if opponents were to fear
just one thing it would be Kohli’s will
to win. There is, of course, plenty
more for opposition teams to fear
in the No 2-ranked team, including
the power of Rohit Sharma, the
youthful fizz of Rishabh Pant, the
incision of Jasprit Bumrah and Kohli
himself, although he is without an
international century for nearly two
years. Ravichandran Ashwin and
Ravindra Jadeja head up the spin
attack, bolstered by Rahul Chahar
and Varun Chakravarthy.
Tanya Aldred
The men’s T20 World Cup kicked
off on Sunday when Scotland
surprisingly beat Bangladesh
into submission.
England’s involvement will
start at the Super 12 stage of the
tournament, when they take on
West Indies on Saturday.
At the end of the Super 12s
(each country will play five
games, against the other teams
in their group), the winners
and runners-up in Groups One
and Two will progress to the
semi-finals. The final will take
place on 14 November in Dubai.
Tom Curran is
England’s only
player under 28
New Zealand
Coach Gary Stead
Captain Kane Williamson ()
Tournament best Semi-final 2007 and 2016
Underestimate them at your peril.
Glenn Phillips is the top six-hitter
in T20 cricket this year – the
result, he says, of an intensive
fitness programme that includes
at least 500 press-ups a day. Trent
Boult and Tim Southee, backed
up by Kyle Jamieson and Lockie
Ferguson, make a dangerous seam
attack, add in decent spinners,
the experience of Martin Guptill
and Kane Williamson’s ability to
squeeze runs out of a stone, and
you’ve got yourself a party. Their
opening fixture against Pakistan
will carry a bit of extra spice
following the cancellation of the
Black Caps’ pre-tournament tour.
South Africa
Coach Mark Boucher
Captain Temba Bavuma ()
Tournament best Semi-final 2009 and 2014
South Africa haven’t helped their
cause by leaving out Faf du Plessis
– who demonstrated his continued
excellence at the IPL. They have
won nine of their past 10 games but
six of those were against Ireland
and Sri Lanka. Their bowling lacks
international experience, but
Kagiso Rabada should never be
underestimated and Quinton de
Kock remains one of the world’s
African cricket has recently been
rocked by racism allegations from
Paul Adams, Ashwell Prince and
others. Social Justice and Nation
Building hearings were set up by
Cricket South Africa.
Pakistan
Coach Saqlain Mushtaq
Captain Babar Azam ()
Tournament best Winners 2009
Before leaving home the squad had
a meeting with Imran Khan, who
advised them to “become a strong
team and work on taking wickets”.
Between the start of November
2017 and the end of May 2020
Pakistan were ranked No 1 in the
world for all but 28 days – but the
crown has slipped to such an extent
that they recently lost a series to
England’s second XI. Misbah-ul-
Haq has since stepped down as
head coach – Matthew Hayden and
Vernon Philander will be assisting
Saqlain Mushtaq – and there are
hopes of a momentum shift. Expect
Shaheen Shah Afridi to be one of
the tournament’s stars.
▼ Only West Indies have
lifted the T20 World Cup
trophy more than once
 /  Y
West Indies
Coach Phil Simmons
Captain Kieron Pollard ()
Tournament best Winners 2012 and 2016
Only a fool would bet against the
ninth-ranked West Indies winning
their third T20 World Cup – they
are already the only team to have
won more than one. England’s
memories of 2016 are forever
tainted by Carlos Brathwaite hitting
Ben Stokes for four consecutive
sixes in the final over to take the
title – and it feels as if they can
always pull this sort of crazy stunt
out of the bag when it matters.
Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell
plunder attacks for fun while also
contributing with the ball, while
Nicholas Pooran has another
chance to shine on the world stage
with his more elegant rapier.
The qualifiers
Eight teams have been battling
it out this week for the four
remaining spots. Scotland are in
pole position to join the big guns
after wins over Papua New Guinea
and Bangladesh in their two Group
B games so far. Victory over Oman
today will seal their progress.
Ireland’s fate hangs in the balance
after they followed up an opening
win over the Netherlands with
defeat against Sri Lanka yesterday.
They take on Namibia, who were
victorious against the Netherlands
yesterday, in their final Group A
game tomorrow in a winner-take-
all encounter. Sri Lanka, the 2014
champions, are through.
▲ Scotland’s Josh Davey after taking
a wicket against Papua New Guinea
Thursday 21 October2021 The Guardian
Buttler brio helps England Recycling
warm to the occasion
equipment
David Charlesworth
Jos Buttler and Adil Rashid starred in
England’s final warmup before the
T20 World Cup as they defeated New
Zealand by 13 runs in Abu Dhabi.
Buttler’s 73 from 51 balls contained
11 fours and two sixes, three days
before England’s tournament opener
against West Indies, while there were
pleasing cameos from JonnyBairstow
(30) and Sam Billings (27 not out).
England’s 163 for six lookedas if it
could be insufficient as Martin Guptill
hit two sixes in the first over of the
chase, but Rashid turned the tide and
his three for 18 helped to skittle New
Zealand for 150 in 19.2 overs.
The left-arm quick Tymal Mills,
back in an England shirt for the first
time in four years, was wicketless but
economical in conceding 23 runs in
his four overs in this 12-a-side con-
test, while his fellow fast bowler Mark
Wood pushed his case for selection
with four for 23 at the Tolerance Oval.
Eoin Morgan’s lean run contin-
ued as he made 10 before receivinga
debatable lbw decision after tryinga
reverse sweep off Ish Sodhi. Dawid
Malan had earlier departed in iden-
tical fashion and concerns persist
over whether he is suited to batting
in the powerplay after taking 15 balls
to reach 11, but England did not get
too bogged down thanks to Buttler.
After Jason Roy was bowled round
his legs first-ball by Tim Southee, But-
tler got to work with some pleasing
drives through the offside and an
audacious six off Lockie Ferguson.
He continued to pepper the boundary
Ireland’s hopes
of qualifying in
jeopardy after
Sri Lanka loss
Ireland will face a winner-takes-all
showdown against Namibia tomor-
row after a 70-run defeat by Sri Lanka,
who became the first side to qualify
from the T20 World Cup first round.
Sri Lanka had lurched to eight for
three inside the first 10 balls in Abu
Dhabi but a 123-run stand between
Pathum Nissanka and Wanindu
Hasaranga subdued Ireland. Nissanka
hit 61 off 47 balls and Hasaranga
top-scored with 71 while anunbeaten
cameo of 21 from 11 balls from the
captain, Dasun Shanaka, ushered Sri
Lanka to a formidable 171 for seven.
The trio were the only Sri Lankan
batsmen to reach double figures as
Josh Little took four for 23 for Ireland,
whose inability to contain Nissanka
and Hasaranga in the middle overs
was crucial.
Ireland lost wickets at regular
intervals in response. A 53-run part-
nership between the captain, Andy
Balbirnie (41), and Curtis Campher
(24) gave them brief hope but they
•
39
Sustainability in sport This commitment to the local
community and circular economy Sport
In brief
won Play It Again Sport the
Social Impact, Engagement and
Education Award at the British
Association for Sustainable Sport
rope before holing out to Kyle Jamie-
and action (Basis) awards at The Oval on
Tuesday. The lunch also served
Cricket
Fomer opener Slater
on climate
son at long-on off Sodhi. as a 10th birthday party for Basis,
Liam Livingstone added only one,
while Bairstow looked in supreme
which has found that in the past
year interest in its work has gone
charged with stalking
touch before Billings accelerated
England beyond 150 with three fours
and a slog sweep for six.
Livingstone’s mix-and-match spin
rewarded through the roof.
“The level of engagement
reflects that of society,” says the
chief executive, Russell Seymour.
The former Australian Test
cricketer Michael Slater has
been charged with stalking and
harassment offences over an
was given an airing at the outset of Achievementsof grassroots “Sport has been impacted by alleged domestic violence incident.
the reply, with Guptill starting and climate change and people are The 51-year-old was arrested
ending the over with towering sixes. organisations celebratedin realising it.” yesterday at a home in Manly on
After Wood bowled Tim Seifert awards ceremony at the Oval Seymour stresses the power of Sydney’s northern beaches. He
I
through the gate, Rashid accounted sport as a means of communicating was taken to Manly police station,
for Guptill, who departed for 41 off about the climate crisis, which interviewed and later charged with
20 balls, caught in the deep. Tanya Aldred matches the experience of stalking and using a carriage service
A platform of 81 for two in the ninth Shoreham FC, winners of Basis’s to menace, harass or offend.
over became 87 for six within 11 balls, Club Strategy/Strategic leadership He was granted conditional bail to
Rashid snaring Mark Chapman and t all started when Steffan award. There, it was the diagnosis appear at Waverley local court on
Mitchell Santner after Devon Conway Rees, a karate instructor in of the owner and chairman Stuart 11 November. In a statement, police
had been run out and Glenn Phillips south Wales, had a lightbulb Slaney’s son Luca with Crohn’s said officers attached to the Eastern
nicked off to Livingstone. moment. He realised that lots disease, which got the ball rolling. Suburbs Police Area Command
Daryl Mitchell was caught at of children were unable to Luca went vegan, persuaded Stuart began an investigation on Tuesday
midwicket off Wood, who also come to his classes because to join him, then suggested the after receiving reports of a
collected the wickets of Jamieson and the kit was too expensive, while club serve a part-vegan menu. Fans domestic violence incident alleged
Tim Southee with successive balls, at the same time others had stuff started asking what else the club to have occurred on 12 October. The
although the last-wicket pairing of sitting unused in their wardrobes. were doing sustainability-wise and former opening batsman played
Ish Sodhi and Todd Astle took New He suggested to People and a box opened. in 74 Tests for Australia scoring
Zealand from 103 for nine to within Work – the charity for which he They started with the simple 5,312 runs at an average of 42.83
15 of victory before the last over, was working – that it introduced stuff: replacing lights with LEDs after making his debut during
but Chris Woakes extinguished the a sportswear and equipment and swapping over to a renewable the 1993 Ashes tour of England.
fightback by bowling Astle round his recycling scheme, which also energy supplier. Fertiliser went Slater was recently dropped from
legs. PA Media removed some of the financial next, then they started switching Channel Seven’s commentary team
barriers to sport. The momentum their mechanical equipment over for the upcoming summer cricket
built, it won national lottery to electric, while changing to season, with the network choosing
funding, and Natasha Burnell compostable kitchen wear. not to renew his contract, citing
started running Play It Again Sport The club installed a bike park, budgetary pressures. AAP
in November 2019. then reduced the cost of tickets
Burnell loves her job, which for fans who cycle to the ground or Rugby union
involves lots of human interaction can prove they arrived on public
and plenty of rummaging around in transport or by electric car. That Saracens calm injury
her huge store room. Play It Again deduction then goes towards
Sport is based in the Rhonda Valley, carbon offsetting.
fearsover lock Itoje
▲ Jos Buttler made an assertive 73 to an ex-mining community with Financially, Slaney has been The England head coach Eddie
set up the win over New Zealand high levels of obesity, sickness and pleasantly surprised. The LEDs Jones has received a welcome
unemployment and lower levels of required an initial outlay but there’s boost with the news that Maro
access to transport. been a 30% reduction in energy Itoje will be fit to play for
subsided to 101 all out in 18.3 overs. “We will take anything to do
Campher had made history with with sport,” she says, “the only
bills. They’re also about to invest
£50,000 in LED floodlights, which
Saracens on Sunday. Itoje scored
one of his side’s 10 tries in last
four wickets in as manydeliveries in stipulation is that it is we can reuse should reduce costs by 70%.
Ireland’s victoryagainst the Nether- it, we don’t want to put stuff in “It’s been a massive journey
weekend’s 71-17 thrashing of
Bath before being forced off, but
lands on Mondayand he kept Ireland landfill. We’ve had skis, lacrosse for me,” says Slaney, “and you
ticking over with the bat alongside sticks, cleats – you name it. We have can’t just jump in. We planned
Balbirnie after coming out at 32 for donation boxes in every leisure it over six months, and slowly
has been cleared to face Wasps
in the Premiership. “He’s fine,”
the Saracens head coach, Mark
three against Sri Lanka. centre in the area, and we sell
But he was bowled after missing a stuff in a furniture and recycling
heave across the line to the off-spin- shop where the beauty is we can
started migrating to get our carbon
footprint down. The satisfaction
is like scoring a hat-trick on match
McCall, said. “It’s a very minor
shoulder injury but he will play
this weekend.” Jones has already
ner Maheesh Theekshana, who took wash dirty sports kit while testing day.” lost Luke Cowan-Dickie and
three for 17 from four overs, and Cam- secondhand washing machines!”
pher’s dismissal marked the start of With the funds raised by selling ‘Engagement Anthony Watson for the entire
Autumn Nations Series due to
a collapse in which Ireland lost their the donated items, Play It Again
last seven wickets for the addition Sport provides sporting activities
reflects that of injury, with Jamie George replacing
Cowan-Dickie in the squad having
of 16 runs. for the local community, a running society. Sport has previously been omitted along with
In the day’s other game a match- group, sport in schools, armchair
winning innings from the Sussex aerobics for older people, walking been impacted by Saracens teammates Mako and
Billy Vunipola. England will tackle
all-rounder David Wiese carried rugby. It tries to offer a little bit
Namibia to a six-wicket win against of something for everyone: the
climate change’ Tonga, Australia and South Africa
next month. PA Media
the Netherlands, effectively ending walking rugby tends to attract
Dutch hopes of progressing. Both men over 50 who may not go to a
sides endured heavy defeats in support group, it’s an excuse to
their opening matches making this come together and socialise.
Greg Wood’stips
a must-win game in terms of Super 12 The job brings Burnell into
qualification, and itwas Namibia who contact with the best of the human Ludlow 1.00 Full Of Light 1.30 Sinndarella
2.05 Golden Taipan 2.40 Lucky Robin
came out on top courtesy of a stirring spirit. “I went to Tylorstown 3.15 Goldencard 3.50 Imphal
chase led by Wiese. The 36-year-old, a rugby club in June, which sits in a Newton Abbot 1.38 Shantou Sunset
former South Africa player on his sec- low-income area. We were selling 2.13 Oscars Moonshine 2.48 Millbank Flyer
ond chance in international cricket, boots for £3 – socks for free – and 3.23 Kauto The King 3.58 Alramz
4.30 Cloud Formation 5.05 Rex Of Temple
struck an unbeaten 66, including five an 11-year-old came over with his Carlisle 1.55 Mister Whitaker 2.30 Cadzand
sixes and four fours, to guide his side friend and insisted on buying him 3.05 Onehundredpercent 3.40 Speak Of The
past their target of 165 in Abu Dhabi boots. The friend had come down Devil 4.15 Waitonit 4.50 Raddle And Hum
after the Netherlands had posted 164 to play in scruffy trainers and 5.20 Calliope
Wolverhampton 5.00 La Feile 5.30 Al Qaasim
for four with Max O’Dowdscoring 70 school uniform, and seeing the 6.00 Eesha Meesh 6.30 Haunted Dream
after occupying the crease for all but little smile spread across his face ▲ Shoreham FC owner Stuart Slaney 7.00 Pavlodar 7.30 Royal Birth (nap) 8.00 Lucky
three balls of the innings. PA Media brought a tear to my eye.” with a reusable beer tumbler Man 8.30 Ritchie Valens (nb)

40
Concussion in sport
New paper critical of ‘biased’
concussion consensus process
Andy Bull
The International Olympic Commit-
tee, Fifa, World Rugby and other sport
governing bodies are facingnew calls
for an overhaul of their concussion
policies from a group of academics,
researchers, clinicians and carers,
who argue the process has consist-
ently underplayed the risks of con-
cussive and subconcussive impacts.
‘Each country
Formula One
must prove to the
world that they
want to change’
F1’s chiefexecutive Stefano
Domenicali mounts a
defence for taking the sport
to controversialve
A
Giles Richards
s Formula One revels
in its most enthralling
season for years, no
one is enjoying it
more than Stefano
Domenicali. The sport
is lucky to have him at the helm.
For the Italian, who grew up as a
fan and was competing at the heart
of the sport for the greater part of
his career, this is much more than
a business. Domenicali knows that
to the drivers, the teams, and most
importantly the fans, it is racing
that matters.
Born in Imola it is unsurprising
that Domenicali, the Formula One
Group’s chief executive, took to
motor racing and he laughs and
launches a fond recollection when
asked to recall his youth. “When
you are born in Imola you grow
up with the track,’’ he says. “It’s
natural for kids growing up in the
midst of the sport that you fall in
love with it. We were having fun,
always at Tosa corner with my
friends. I fell in love with cars, with
Ferrari, with the bikes.”
Domenicali’s passion is
palpable and refreshing but he
must navigate a difficult path
in considering how F1 acts in its
position as an increasingly popular
and genuinely global sport, not
least in where it goes racing.
With Qatar and Saudi Arabia new
additions and Bahrain already on
the calendar, human rights groups
• The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
Sport
The criticism is focused on the
work of the Concussion In Sport
Group (CISG), whose work is funded
by the IOC, Fifa, World Rugby, the
FEI (the International Federation for
Equestrian Sports), the FIA and the
International Ice Hockey Federation,
and shapes concussion policyacross
elite and grassroots sport.
CISG hosts a conference every four
years and provides a consensus state-
ment that is designed to give an over-
view of the current knowledgeabout
have been vocal in their criticism
of F1 enabling sportswashing by
visiting these states.
Nelson Mandela noted the part
the sporting boycott of South
Africa played in ending apartheid.
Domenicali questions whether F1
should follow Mandela’s lead.
“What Nelson Mandela said
is absolutely understandable
but it was at a different time of
the world,” he says. “Today the
approach is of making sure that
through F1 we can be the big lens
on the fact that each country really
wants to prove to the world they
want to change. There will be no
excuses, no filter.”
He cites F1’s stated commitment
to human rights and that host
nations are expected to abide by it
but in Bahrain opposition groups
insist there has been no change
since F1 began racing there and
Domenicali concedes the scale of
the challenge.
“We cannot pretend to change
▲ Lewis Hamilton has welcomed the
appointment of Domenicali
concussion as a guide for governing
bodies and healthcare providers. The
latest conference was due to be held
in 2020, but has been postponed,
twice, because of the pandemic. This
new paper, which has been published
in the Journal of Law, Medicine, and
Ethics, argues that there is “a strong
need for a new approach to consensus
statements on concussion in sport”
ahead of the next conference in 2022.
The role of the CISG came under
scrutiny during the select commit-
tee inquiry into Concussion In Sport
this year, and the new paper has the
support of Kevin Brennan MP, who
served on the committee.
“During the course of our select
committee’s inquiry into Concus-
sion in Sport it became clear that
there was dissatisfaction with the
from day to night a millennial
situation,” he says. “We can give
an incredible opportunity to them
with which they cannot play
games. I would say we are going
to help the community to change
faster rather than slower.”
It is an argument unlikely to go
away in the near future.
Beyond these big questions
Domenicali is hugely optimistic
for that future, even after Lewis
Hamilton retires. “The good news is
that we have an incredible number
of top drivers,” he says. “I see Max
Verstappen, George Russell, Lando
Norris, Charles Leclerc and all the
others. Almost all of them are really
top drivers. The next five years the
drivers will not be an issue at all for
F1.”
The 56-year-old took over as
chief executive from previous
incumbent Chase Carey at the start
of this year. Carey had led F1 since
it was bought by Liberty Media in
2017 but was a businessman not a
racer and it showed. The contrast
between the two could not be more
marked. Where Carey was guarded
and cautious, Domenicali is open
and enthusiastic.
Domenicali was the kid who had
posters in his bedroom of Ferraris,
of Barry Sheene, of Jarno Saarinen,
the hugely talented Finnish
motorcyclist killed at Monza in
1973, and has been following
his passion ever since. From
▲ The new paper argues for a radical
overhaul of concussion policies
current process by which the CISG
reaches its consensus on the issue
and how that influences concus-
sion protocols in sport,” Brennan
said. “This new paper argues rightly
for a more transparent and player-
centred approach to reaching that
consensus and I strongly welcome
its recommendations.”
 Stefano
Domenicali
believes
Formula One
can be a positive
force for change
by taking races
to countries
with disturbing
human-rights
records
/
Y 
‘What Nelson
Mandela said is
understandable
but it was a
different time’
volunteering at Imola when he was
14 he went on to become qualified
as a steward and race director, the
youngest in MotoGP.
Having finished his degree
Domenicali sent his CV far and
wide including to Ferrari. Just as
he had not expected the call to take
the F1 job, Ferrari’s offer in 1991
came as a surprise. He leapt at it
and was there for 23 years, through
the glory of Michael Schumacher’s
success before becoming team
principal in 2008 – the last time the
Scuderia won a championship. He
stepped down in 2014 after a poor
start to the season. He has since
been in senior management at
Audi and most recently was CEO of
Lamborghini.
He is liked and admired
across the paddock. Hamilton
immediately welcomed his
appointment. “I don’t think they
could have really chosen someone
better to be honest,” he said.
“Stefano, he’s got a great heart,
good family and good morals, so
the future’s positive.” High praise
indeed from a driver unafraid to
be critical of F1’s decision-makers
and whom Domenicali admitted he
wanted to sign to Ferrari.
Domenicali has a genial manner
but brings a knowledge and
understanding that is appreciated
by all the teams, even given that it
is he who must herd these fiercely
egotistical and self-interested
The paper is published on the same
day as a new study into the long-term
effects of concussion in rugby play-
ers from the amateur era. Thatstudy
drew sharply contrasting responses
from two of the organisations who
collaborated on it, the Rugby Football
Union and The Drake Foundation,
who disagreed about its implications
for the professional game. The CISG
consensus process is meant, in part,
to be a way to establish a clear major-
ity position on exactly that kind of
disagreement.
However, the new paper argues
that the CISG consensus process is
both “biased” and “unethical”.
‘On one side a call for more research;
on the other, a call for more action’
Andy Bull Page 37 
entities in directions they often
oppose. If F1’s sporting director, the
former Ferrari technical director
Ross Brawn, role was celebrated
as poacher-turned gamekeeper,
Domenicali was surely to the
manor born as Brawn’s boss.
It is inescapable that managing
the teams and the business is
crucial, so the sport must be
sustainable, Domenicali insists.
He cites the budget cap which
was brought in this year as a
fundamental change for the good
but also sees a bigger picture
beyond balancing the books.
“The sport is what is vital,
heroes, drivers, are vital to us,”
he says. “We need the technical
support of manufacturers, of
teams, because our sport is
human beings and the technical
side of the cars but without great
personalities, without the drama of
our heroes it’s impossible to think
of a great future for our sport.”
Unsurprisingly then he couldn’t
be more pleased with the gripping
fight between Hamilton and
Verstappen this season.
“It is fantastic to have two
brilliant drivers battling for the
championship,” he says. “One
going for an eighth title and to make
history and the other going for his
first. It is incredible drama and
brilliant for F1. Both have a great
opportunity. All I hope for the sport
and all the fans is it goes down to
the last race in Abu Dhabi.”
Their intense rivalry is fuelling
a revitalised sport. Interest in F1 is
growing globally and Domenicali
believes they are at a pivotal point
in engaging with a new, younger
audience. The former chief
executive Bernie Ecclestone’s
dismissal of social media and young
fans has been abandoned as the
anachronism it always was.
There is an undeniable sense
Domenicali genuinely wants a
new generation of fans to feel the
same as he did as the youth who
threw himself into the sport. It is
a passion that echoes across the
years in his final remarks, telling of
his character and what F1 means
to him.
“It is tough but I compare us
being lucky to people who have real
tough jobs and some have not even
had the chance to work,” he says.
“I put it all in perspective, I know it
is challenging but we should never
forget we have the privilege of being
in this sport.”
Thursday 21 October2021 The Guardian
‘Human shield’
Why Bruce’s
dream job
turned into
a nightmare
Manager had to carry the
can for owner’sfailings but
never offered the‘vision’ that
Newcastle support v
S
Louise Taylor
teve Bruce’s unveiling as
Newcastle’s manager took
place on the same day in
July 2019 that Britain’s
new prime minister stood
outside No 10 Downing
Street and introduced a bold
prescription for change.
Things have not exactly
proceeded to plan for either Bruce
or Boris Johnson but where the
latter’s manifesto was, if nothing
else, full of big ideas, Bruce’s
blueprint seemed distinctly
conservative with a small c.
Rafael Benítez’s successor knew
he was never going to revolutionise
Newcastle while Mike Ashley
remained the owner and for all the
talk about “going for it” in the cups keep the team in the
there was a tacit acceptance that his
job was simply to keep the team in
the Premier League.
The 60-year-old has duly kept
his side of the bargain, steering
Newcastle to 13th and then 12th in
his two full seasons in charge – even 3-2 home defeat by Tottenham –
if the apparent mid-table stability
camouflages a couple of relegation – he would have been far better
fights that might easily have ended walking away and instructing
differently.
In mitigation, the squad was
limited, with the nucleus of the first
team comprising those who won
promotion from the Championship the first game of the post-Ashley
under Benítez in 2017 and the
£40m supposed star signing
Joelinton – bought over Bruce’s
head – turning out to be a centre-
forward not overly interested in
scoring goals.
Managers, though, are judged
by results and, of Bruce’s 84 league Newcastle regularly under Bruce
games at the St James’ Park helm,
only 23 have been won with a mere
93 goals scored. Critically, this
season Newcastle are awaiting their Benítez but season-ticket holders
first victory.
Given that the contract he
negotiated with Ashley offers
him about £7m compensation in
the event of being sacked after a
takeover, Bruce was never going to Miguel Almirón terrorised defences
resign once Newcastle were bought and the football flowed – carried the
by a Saudi Arabian-led consortium. promise of good times ahead.
It is an open secret that the new
owners always wanted to replace
him but, with their first choice,
Benítez, committed to Everton,
the recruitment process has
•
Sport
There was a tacit
acceptance that his
job was simply to
Premier League
proved tricky and, short-term, it
suited them to keep the inherited
occupant in post.
On the evidence of last Sunday’s true concerning a training-ground certainly not have lasted so long
Bruce’s 1,000th match as a manager left-back Matt Ritchie last March.
his lawyers to negotiate the finer
details of the payoff.
The repeated choruses of “We
want Bruce out” that blemished
era have been very much the
soundtrack to this season at St
James’. Such chants have been far is more than decent. In the course
from helpful to the team and have of a 23-year managerial career
often appeared a case of critics
playing the man rather than the
ball but anyone who has watched
will understand the frustration.
On paper his record is not too
inferior to that of the much-adored appearance with Hull. If most of
could detect infinitely greater
method in the Spaniard’s tactics
and remember that the final six
months of Benítez’s reign – when
Salomón Rondón, Ayoze Pérez and
If part of Bruce’s problem is that
he is not Benítez and he is correct
in assuming that a majority of
fans, club employees, local media
and, crucially, players never quite
stopped pining for his predecessor, he also steered Birmingham and
he did himself no favours by
referring, sarcastically, to the
“mighty Rafa” in press conferences.
Neither did banning the Daily Mail he served as a “human shield”
journalist Craig Hope for reporting deflecting supporters’ detestation playingfor Fonseca, a coach who has
a story the manager verified as
altercation between Bruce and the at Newcastle had games not been
It rather confirmed the image
of Bruce as being a little out of
his depth at his home-town club.
He spent decades dreaming of
managing Newcastle but was soon heightened suspicions that Bruce is exhaustive due diligence.
possibly reflecting on the saying:
“Be careful what you wish for.”
The shame is that, should Bruce that Lee Charnley, Newcastle’s
retire tomorrow, his overall record managing director, parachuted in
he has spent less than two years
out of work and along the way
there have been four promotions
to the Premier League (two
with Birmingham and two with
Hull) and a losing FA Cup final
Bruce’s time has been occupied by Maximin and Martin Dubravka
promotion and relegation battles
▲ A banner makes fans’ feelings
known at Old Trafford last month
 Managing his
hometown club
was a long-held
ambition for
Steve Bruce but
his conservatism
held him back
in difficult
circumstances
 /
 U
V   Continued from back page
23
The number of a fat waste of space, a stupid, tacti-
league games
Newcastle
won out of
Steve Bruce’s
84 matches in
charge at St
James’ Park
4
The number
of promotions winger and a player vital to the head
to the Premier coach tasked with steering the team
League that
Bruce has
won elsewhere
during 23 years
as a manager
Sunderland to a top-10 top-tier
finish apiece.
Bruce’s friends rightly argue
of Ashley but he would almost
played behind closed doors for
so long during the pandemic. His
team’s often incoherent style and
the lack of an evident attempt to
forge an identity or philosophy
not a “vision man”.
In January results were so bad
Graeme Jones, a former assistant to well and looking forward to return-
Roberto Martínez with Wigan and
Belgium and occasional England
assistant coach, to assist a manager the specialist heart unit at the city’s
then admittedly coping with a
significant Covid outbreak.
Callum Wilson – one of
three consistently high-calibre
performers with Allan Saint-
– spoke publicly about Jones’s
impact and, albeit inadvertently,
his words seemed a damning
indictment of Bruce.
“I think Graeme coming in
definitely complemented the
manager because he’s a little more
tactically aware and up to date,”
Wilson told the Athletic. “The
manager has different strengths
and attributes. Towards the end of
last season we had more of a style
and a philosophy.”
41
Fonseca in
advanced talks
over vacancy at
St James’ Park
to put his wife and family through
the sort of extreme stress they have
endured over the past two years.
Although Bruce’s hurt will have
been softened by a generous payoff
agreed with the previous owner,
Mike Ashley, and believed to be in
the region of £7m, the experience
of managing the club he supported
as a boy has clearly been painful. “It
has been very, very tough,” he told
the Telegraph. “To never really be
wanted, to feel that people wanted
me to fail, to read people constantly
sayingI would fail, thatI was useless,
cally inept cabbage head or whatever.
It was ridiculous and persistenteven
when results were good.
“I think this might be my last job.
It’s taken its toll on my whole family
and I can’t ignore that. They’ve
been worried about me – especially
my wife Jan.”
Bruce, though, was not without
support inside St James’ Park. Allan
Saint-Maximin, Newcastle’s French
out of the relegation zone, tweeted
that it had been “an honour and a
privilege” to be coached by Bruce.
“You are, without doubt, one of the
most gentle people that I have met in
the world of football,” wrote Saint-
Maximin. “You have been a man of
your word, a caring man and a fair
man who never hesitated to protect
us. I will never forget how you treated
me.”
Saint-Maximin could also relish
built his reputation on constructing
attack-minded sides. The Portuguese
is understood to have done extensive
homework on Newcastle and devised
potential gameplans for impending
fixtures. The club’s decision makers
would prefer a swift appointment
but they are determined to conduct
Meanwhile Newcastle have
announced that the fan who col-
lapsed with a cardiac arrest during
the Tottenham game is progressing
ing to St James’ Park. Alan George
Smith, 80, is alert and walking in
Freeman Hospital and hopes to be
discharged soon.
Saudi-style clothing plea Page 3 
‘It’s been very, very
tough. Toread
people say I was
useless, a fat waste
of space, a stupid
cabbage head’
Steve Bruce
Former Newcastle manager

42
Simeone did not
snub Klopp – he
waits for no man
Atlético’s manager refuses
to complain about referee’s
decisions anddefends lack
of post-game pleasantries
A D
Sid Lowe
Madrid
s soon as the final
whistle went, Atlético told Simeone always runs off at the
Madrid’s manager,
Diego Simeone,
turned and sprinted
down the tunnel not
stopping for anyone or anything,
still less his opposite number
whose hand he refused to shake.
Not just on Tuesday night against
Liverpool but the game before. And
the game before that, and the game
before that. Just about every game
for a decade, in fact.
At the end of Liverpool’s
3-2 dramatic victory at the
Metropolitano, Jürgen Klopp was
left holding out his hand for a man
who didn’t want to shake it. As
Simeone ran away having avoided
him, Klopp was left looking down
the tunnel, putting a thumb up.
There was sarcasm there but there
was not, Simeone insisted, a snub.
“I never shake hands after the game
because I don’t like it,” he said.
Every game, he does the same,
the first to leave the scene and
usually fast. His assistant coach,
Nelson Vivas, did seek out the
Liverpool manager. “The situation
is clear: I want to shake his hand,
he doesn’t want to,” Klopp said.
“I want to shake his hand and he
is running off.”
In his first interview after
the game, Klopp suggested that
Simeone’s reaction was “not right
and mine is not too good as well”,
noting: “He was not happy – not
with me, but with the game, the
world, that sort of stuff.” That
paralleled Klopp’s words pre-game
when he apologised for critical
remarks made about Atlético the
last time they had met in March
2020, excusing himself because
of the anger he felt at having
Fifa
Infantino signals he may back
down on biennial World Cups
Paul MacInnes
Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president,
has signalled he is willing to step
away from the divisive plan to launch
a men’s World Cup every two years.
Speaking after a meetingof the Fifa
Council in Zurich, Infantino said he
• The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
Sport
Football Champions League
lost. “We’re both emotional and
when we see each other next time
we will shake hands,” he said.
“It’s nothing.”
In the first round of post-match
interviews Klopp had confronted
a reporter, accusing him of “not
being a nice person” for trying to
make a big deal of the issue. And
by the time Klopp had reached the
press room, maybe he had been
whistle, because his account was
slightly different. “He’s running
off and I could have just turned
around. He doesn’t do anything
wrong and I’m not overly happy
with my reaction to be honest.”
Klopp also sought to mitigate
comments in which he had said
he does not like Simeone’s style.
“I’m not the pope of football,” he
insisted, “What does it matter what
I like? Some things I like in life,
some things I don’t.
“I’m not the same guy as Diego.
He has been incredibly successful
‘It’s a handshake
with forceps –
forced. I don’t share
that culture. I leave
quickly, lose or win’
▲ Diego Simeone said Antoine Griezmann was ‘gutted’ after his sending off
 /Y 
would convene a summit for interna-
tional federations on 20 December at
which plans for reform of the football
calendar wouldbe discussed. But he
did not commit to holding a vote on
any proposals and said any changes
would only be made if they were
“beneficial for everybody”.
Infantino said: “The discussions
around our World Cups have
for 10 years why should they play
the football that I like?”
Simeone said: “I always go
without shaking hands at the end
of the game.” In Spain they knew
that but they hadn’t heard the
explanation before. Now it was
needed. “I don’t think it’s healthy
or natural because there will always
be one [of the managers] who’s not
happy with the game,” he said. “I
feel it’s a handshake with forceps,
forced. The one who has won is in
one state, the one who has lost in
another. I don’t share that culture. I
always leave quickly if I lose or win.
“In Liverpool we shook hands:
we saw each other in the middle
of the pitch. And when I see him
now I’ll say hello, for sure.”
Atlético’s centre-back Felipe
complained that the referee,
Daniel Siebert, had “cost” them
but Simeone refused to complain
about the official – despite
Antoine Griezmann’s red card,
Liverpool’s winner coming from
the penalty spot, and Atlético
having a penalty awarded and then
taken away by the VAR.
“On the pitch we protest, we
appeal, we get angry, but there’s
no problem,” he said. “If he saw on
the VAR that it was not a penalty,
that’s because it was not one. I still
think the VAR is great and it can get
better. Griezmann is gutted. He’s
looking up, the lad jumps with him
and they clash. He doesn’t see him,
but he hits his head. The referee
understood that was red. Last time
in Milan [when the Italian side’s
Franck Kessié was sent off in the
first half] the referee might have
benefited us and today perhaps it’s
the opposite.”
provoked some strong reactions. I
have heard some critical comments
I have heard many enthusiastic
comments as well. The discussion
is very different in different parts
of the world. My objective is to try
to bring everyone together, and we
must come together.
“What I have said from the begin-
ning is that we are going to change
things only if we are completely
convinced that it will be beneficial
for everybody.For everybody. If it is
beneficial for everybody,I cannot see
why people would not agree to it.”
The idea of a biennial World Cup
first became public this year, when
▼ James Milner challenges
Atlético’s Felipe
Evergreen
 /Y 
Milner shows
his enduring
value and
versatility
Veteran midfielder excelled
in twovery different roles
during Liverpool’s
hard-fought win in Madrid
Andy Hunter
response to Atlético’s equaliser
and even popped up in the penalty
iego Simeone was area for Mohamed Salah’s opening
whipping the Estadio goal. Milner’s response to whether
Metropolitano into he should have been awarded the
a cauldron, the goal was also emblematic of the
threat from Atlético consummate team player.
Madrid was growing, “My foot was dangling about,”
and so Jürgen Klopp turned to he said when asked had he applied
James Milner for help in restoring the final touch. “Goals are more
Liverpool’s grip on a thrilling important to Mo than me, so
Champions League victory. Reliable it’s another special goal for Mo
and effective, as always, although and a great penalty from him as
that description does a disservice to well. Obviously there was a bit
another impressive and intelligent of pressure on it. Him waiting, as
performance from the 35-year-old always now with the VAR to check,
midfielder. makes it a bit more difficult in that
Klopp’s annoyance with Naby atmosphere to score the penalty.
Keïta was clear before he replaced I think he’s done it before at that
the £52.75m Guinea international end, hasn’t he? [Against Tottenham
with Fabinho at half-time. The
manager and Keïta exchanged
in the 2019 Champions League
final.] Same result.”
words over the gaps that Atlético
were exploiting down Liverpool’s
The “dirty points” won in Spain,
according to Klopp’s description,
right and, despite striking a mean Liverpool would secure
stunning volley past Jan Oblak, the passage to the knockout stages
midfielder’s weak challenges in the with two games to spare if they
buildup to Antoine Griezmann’s
two goals saw him pay with an
inflict another defeat on Atlético
in a fortnight. But Milner’s mind
early substitution. Klopp’s first was already turning towards
response to the problem, however, Old Trafford on Sunday, where
was to replace Keïta with Milner Liverpool arrive having scored a
on the right of Liverpool’s midfield remarkable 25 goals in seven away
three, where his strength, work games this season.
rate and distribution eclipsed the He said: “Obviously there is work
contribution of the club’s former to do – nine points isn’t enough
record signing. and we need to make sure we do
Milner’s 63 minutes in Madrid get there, and winning the group is
were something of a throwback our number one aim. But we’re in
for a player whose continued a great position. It is a tough group
importance to Liverpool and and we saw [against Atlético] what
quality were underlined when happens if you don’t continue. We
deputising for the injured Trent saw what happened in the first half
Alexander-Arnold recently at when we conceded two goals and
right-back. In the first half he it turns 2-2. Now we’re in a strong
was a driving, creative presence position in the group but we need
on the left, where he combined to keep our foot down and keep this
instinctively with Andy Robertson, run of form going. We’ve got plenty
won free-kicks near the corner of games coming up thick and fast,
flag, pushed the team forward in so we need to keep performing.”
the Saudi Arabian Football Associa- A vote to pass the measures was
tion asked Fifa to conduct a feasibility
study, approved by a majority of its
mooted for December, only to be
met with widespread resistance. The
211 members. Plans quickly gathered
pace and by last month Fifa’s head
of global football development,
Arsène Wenger, was presenting a
governingbody of European football,
Uefa, has been vocally opposed to a
biennial World Cup.
By choosing not to announce an
fully-fledged plan to stakeholders. emergency Fifa congress, but rather
a summit, Infantino appears to have
‘The discussions ruled out the possibility of an early
vote and he admitted any changes
have provoked could now be a “staged process”.
The United Arab Emirates will host
strong reactions’ this season’s Club World Cup in early
2022, Infantino said, with the dates
Gianni Infantino to be confirmed. Chelsea are due to
Fifa president be among the participants.
Thursday 21 October2021 The Guardian •
Results 43

Football
Who UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
wants to Group E
P W D L F A GD Pts
play up Bayern Munich 3 3 0 0 12 0 +12 9
front? Benfica
Barcelona
3 1 1 1 3 4 -1 4
3 1 0 2 1 6 -5 3
Dynamo Kiev 3 0 1 2 0 6 -6 1
Kai Havertz Barcelona (1) 1 Dynamo Kyiv (0) 0
scores the Pique 36 45,968
third for Benfica (0) 0 Bayern Munich (0) 4
Sané 70 84, Everton 80og
Chelsea Lewandowski 82
and will be Group F (table on page 45)
a key figure Manchester Utd (0) 3 Atalanta
Rashord 53 Pasalic 15
(2) 2
for Thomas Maguire 75, Ronaldo 81 Demiral 29
Tuchel after Young Boys (0) 1 Villarreal (2) 4
injuries Elia 77 Pino 6, G Moreno 16
A Moreno 88, Chukwueze 90
 / Group G
/Y P W D L F A GD Pts
Red Bull Salzburg 3 2 1 0 6 3 +3 7
Sevilla 3 0 3 0 2 2 0 3
Lille 3 0 2 1 1 2 -1 2
Wolsburg 3 0 2 1 2 4 -2 2
Red Bull Salzburg (1) 3 Wolsburg (1) 1
Adeyemi 3, Okaor 65 77 Nmecha 15 29,520
Lille (0) 0 Sevilla (0) 0
Group H (see left)
Chelsea (2) 4 Malmö (0) 0
Christensen 9
Jorginho 21pen 57pen
Havertz 48
Zenit St Petersburg (0) 0 Juventus (0) 1
Kulusevski 86
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE
Group C (table on page 45)
Spartak Moscow (2) 3 Leicester (1) 4
Sobolev 11 86, Larsson 44 Daka 45 48 54 78
SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP
P W D L F A GD Pts
Bournemouth 13 9 4 0 21 8 +13 31
Fulham 13 8 2 3 29 14 +15 26
West Brom 13 7 4 2 22 11 +11 25
Coventry 13 7 2 4 19 16 +3 23
QPR 13 6 3 4 24 20 +4 21
Huddersfield 13 6 3 4 18 14 +4 21
Stoke 13 6 3 4 16 14 +2 21
Reading 13 6 1 6 20 22 -2 19
Luton 13 4 6 3 22 18 +4 18

Chelsea shrug off Lukaku loss

Middlesbrough 13 5 3 5 15 13 +2 18
Millwall 13 4 6 3 13 14 -1 18
area and looked certain to score for Blackpool 13 5 3 5 15 18 -3 18
the first time in seven games, only Blackburn 13 4 5 4 21 17 +4 17

to rediscover swagger in stroll

Chelsea
Christensen 9, Jorginho 21pen 57pen, Havertz 48
Malmö
Jacob Steinberg
Stamford Bridge
It was just a shame that Romelu
Lukaku missed out on all the fun. This
was a pulsating performance from
Chelsea, who have rarely looked this
exhilarating under Thomas Tuchel,
and the final score probably would
have been more resounding if they
had not lost their main striker to an
ankle injury during the first half.
The positive is that Lukaku had
already done his job by the time
he limped off in the 22nd minute,
although it summed up his luck that
the blow to his ankle arrived just
when he was poised to end his goal
drought. Lasse Nielsen had brought
the Belgian down with a desperate
challenge in the area and Tuchel, who
also lost Timo Werner to a hamstring
injury, will hope that the damage is
not too severe.
At least the injuries had no impact
on the outcome. Chelsea, second in
Group H, were rampant against lim-
ited opponents. Goals from Andreas
Christensen and Kai Havertz, plus
two penalties for Jorginho, were their
reward.
The question of balance had
for Nielsen to scythe him down with Nottm Forest 13 5 2 6 18 16 +2 17
Swansea 13 4 5 4 14 15 -1 17
a ludicrous challenge. The defender Bristol City 13 4 4 5 15 17 -2 16
was booked and Jorginho calmly She Utd 13 4 3 6 17 19 -2 15
converted the penalty, although the Preston
Birmingham
13 3 6 4 14 16 -2 15
13 3 4 6 10 16 -6 13
goal came ata cost: Lukaku, who had Peterborough 13 3 2 8 14 26 -12 11
required treatment on his ankle after Cardi 13 3 2 8 12 24 -12 11
the foul, turned to the bench and indi- Hull
Barnsley
13 2 3 8 9 19 -10 9
13 1 5 7 7 17 -10 8
4 occupied Tuchel’s thoughts before cated that he could not continue. Derby* 13 3 7 3 9 10 -1 4
this game. He has placed a heavy
emphasis on control since arriv-
Group H Not that the striker’s departure
made any difference. Chelsea con-
*deducted 12 points
Fulham (0) 2 Cardi (0) 0
0 ing at Stamford Bridge last January tinued to dominate after introduc- Cairney 57, Mitrovic 63 15,789
and there have been times in recent P W D L F A GD Pts ing Havertz, who twice went close Huddersfield (0) 0 Birmingham (0) 0
Juventus 3 3 0 0 5 0 +5 9 15,618
weeks when it has hardnot to wonder before the interval, then when Cal- Hull (1) 1 Peterborough (1) 2
if Chelsea would benefit from pick- Chelsea 3 2 0 1 5 1 0 6 lum Hudson-Odoi came on for the Magennis 45 Taylor 43, Dembélé 72
ing a more expansive line-up against Zenit 3 1 0 2 4 2 +2 3 hamstrung Werner.There was no let- Middlesbrough
Sporar 20, Crooks 87
(1) 2 Barnsley (0) 0
certain opponents. Malmö 3 0 0 3 0 11 -11 0 ting up. They continued to torment Preston (0) 2 Coventry (1) 1
It has not escaped Tuchel’s atten- Malmö and they extended their lead Bauer 61 Walker 45
tion that the impeccable defensive prise the visitors apart, Chelsea could when Tuchel’s substitutes combined Jakobsen 69 10,837
stability has come at a cost at the have killed the game in the first 10 at the start of the second half, Hud- Reading
Dann 11
(2) 2 Blackpool
Dale 69
(0) 3
other end. The attacking moves can minutes. Ben Chilwell, a rampaging son-Odoi leading a counterattack Dele-Bashiru 21 Yates 73 85pen
feel cold at times, a little too cautious force from left wing-back, headed and releasing Havertz to score with Swansea (0) 2 West Brom (1) 1
and predictable, although it should over from a Jorginho cross and a delightful dink. Piroe 61, Paterson 83 Grant 1
be pointed out that there is an obvi- there was another addition to Wer- Malmö, whose wing-backs had Cricket
ous retort when people question ner’s bulging portfolio of hilarious pushed daringly high early on, were ICC MEN’S T20 WORLD CUP
Tuchel’s approach: Chelsea, after misses when he stabbed wide from being taught a painful lesson. They Group A Abu Dhabi Netherlands 1644 (MP O’Dowd 70).
Namibia 1664 (D Wiese 66no). Namibia beat Netherlands
all, remain top of the Premier League six yards after being picked out by were determined to play – Antonio by six wickets.
and, as their fans repeatedly pointed Lukaku, who also saw a deflected Colak had gone close in the first half ). IrelandSri101.Lanka
Abu Dhabi 1717 (PWH de Silva 71, P Nissanka
out as kick-offapproached here, they effort acrobatically turned over by – but they were far too naive. Chel- 61Fixtures Sri Lanka beat Ireland by 70 runs.
are the champions of Europe. Johan Dahlin. sea revelled in the wide open spaces Football (8pm unless stated)
They were not up against much. Malmö could not cope with the and they won another penalty when Women’s World Cup European Qualiying
Malmö looked out of their depth in quality of Tuchel’s side. There was Antonio Rüdiger charged forward Group A Republic o Ireland v Sweden (7pm)
their first two outings in this compe- a swagger to Chelsea, an intensity to from the back before being chopped Uea Europa League
Group A Rangers v Brøndby; Sparta Prague v Lyon. Group B
tition, conceding seven and scoring their play, and the opening goal soon down by Eric Larsson after a cute Legia Warsaw. Group
PSV v Monaco; Sturm Graz v Real Sociedad. Group C Napoli v
D Fenerbahce v Royal Antwerp
none in defeats to Juve and Zenit St arrived. pass from Havertz, giving Jorginho (5.45pm); E Frankurt v Olympiakos. Group E Lazio v
Marseille (5.45pm); L Moscow v Galatasaray. Group F
Petersburg, and their manager, Jon Thiago Silva picked up posses- the chance to make it 4-0. Midtjylland v Red Star Belgrade (5.45pm); Ludogorets v Braga
Dahl Tomasson, was not holding out sion on the right after Malmö failed (5.45pm). Group G R Betis v B Leverkusen (5.45pm). Group
H Rapid Vienna v Dinamo Zagreb (5.45pm); West Ham v Genk
much hope of an upset. Tomasson to clear their lines from a corner and Chelsea
3-4-2-1
Malmö
3-5-2 Uea Europa Conerence League
knew that the Swedish champions the Brazilian’s cross was met on the Mendy; Christensen, Dahlin (Diarra Diawara ht); Group A HJK Helsinki v Maccabi Tel-Aviv(3.30pm); Alashkert
v LASK (5.45pm). Group B Anorthosis v Flora (5.45pm);
were likely to lose and although they full by Christensen, who turned in Silva, Rüdiger;
Azpilicueta (James 66),
Larsson•, Brorsson,
Nielsen•; Berget Partizan v Gent. Group C Bodø/Glimt v Roma (5.45pm);CSKA
deserved credit for trying to exert a his fellow centre-back’s cross with a Kanté (Saúl 65), (Moisander 84), Innocent, Sofia v Zorya Luhansk. Group D Cluj v AZ; Jablonec v Randers.
Group E Feyenoordv Union Berlin (5.45pm); Maccabi Haia v
high press during the early stages, it clever volley. Jorginho, Chilwell
(Alonso 66); Mount,
Christiansen• (Nalic 58),
Peña (Rakip 58), Olsson; Slavia Prague (5.45pm). Group F Copenhagen v PAOK
was not long before they were being There was more to come when Werner (Hudson-Odoi Birmancevic (Abubakari (5.45pm); Slovan Bratislava v Lincoln Red Imps. Group G
Mura v Rennes (5.45pm); Vitesse v Tottenham (5.45pm).
pinned back by Chelsea’s attacking Chelsea countered in the 19th min- 44); Lukaku (Havertz
23)
ht), Colak Group H Qarabag v Kairat (5.45pm); Basel v Omonia Nicosia
swarm. ute, Mount and Werner combining to Cricket
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup
With Mason Mount moving intelli- spring Lukaku into space on the left. Group B Bangladesh v Papua New Guinea, Al Amarat
gently and repeatedly threatening to The striker bullied his way into the Reeree François Letexier (France) (11am). Group B Oman v Scotland, Al Amarat (3pm)
 • The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
44 Sport United’s
saviour
Football Champions League in Europe
again
Cristiano
Ronaldo
scores
Manchester
United’s
winner to
seal their
second-half
comeback
 /


Ronaldo rescues After the 4-2 capitulation at Leices-

ter Solskjær reacted by dropping Paul
front. United could not settle – there
was a franticness all too evident when
all the training ground instruction
had gone.

United to clinch
Pogba, Nemanja Matic and Jadon
Sancho, as he turned to Fred, Scott
McTominay and Marcus Rashford
to try and secure a second win in
Mason Greenwood fed Bruno Fer- This was a true test for a side
nandes and he overcooked a 40-yard whose low confidence was being
ball aimed at Rashford. pummelled. The response was good
Fifteen minutes in United fell – initially – as Ronaldo scooped over

comeback win
Manchester United 3 Manchester United continue to be a
Rashford 53, Maguire 75, Ronaldo 81
heart-palpitating proposition who
cannot control matches. But, they
Atalanta 2 also continue to be a thrilling team,
Pasalic 15, Demiral 28
who stank the first half out, then put
on a show that featured Cristiano
Possession Ronaldo heading the winner with
Man Utd Atalanta minutes left. If this was not quite as
57% 43% late as his clincher against Villarreal it
Shots on target unleashed the same cocktail of relief,
9 6 delirium and disbelief among fans.
The questions, though, will and
Total attempts should continue about what United
22 13 can actually win but, for the moment,
this was another Old Trafford night
Jamie Jackson to shake the head at, the type Ole
Old Trafford Gunnar Solskjær will still hope
to  eradicate.
the competition against an oppo- asleep. Josip Ilicic fed Zappacosta, a ball which Fred struck fiercely, forc-
nent who trounced Empoli 4-1 on and with no one tracking, he crossed ing asave from Juan Musso.But Luke
Saturday. Atalanta had qualified for from the right to a lurking Pasalic who Shaw’s resulting corner amounted
the knockout phase in the past two slid in the opening goal. A grim-faced to nothing and Solskjær came to the
seasons, while Solskjær said his XI Solskjær may have wondered where technical area: a sure sign of concern.
had “legs” and was a “4-2-4 more or
less”, which seemed strange after his
recent admissions that United had
bee too open.
His stated intent for United to start
on the front foot seemed more in tune
and when McTominay released Rash-
ford early on Atalanta were warned,
despite an offside flag. Yetthis proved
a false dawn in what became a dis-
mal first half for United. When Davide
Zappacosta burst from the right and
shredded the home defence until
Harry Maguire did enough to stymie
the wide forward, this was the truer
omen.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s men were
quickly into their stride as Joakim
Mæhle, José Luis Palomino and Mario
Pasalic tapped the ball about, and ▲ Marcus Rashford starts the hosts’ revival with a second-half goal
Luis Muriel pressed eagerly off the  /K
Thursday 21 October2021 The Guardian
Group F
P W D L F A
Man Utd 3 2 0 1 6 5
Villarreal 3 1 1 1 7 5
Atalanta
Young Boys
3
3
1
1
1
0
1
2
5
3
5
6
What the manager saw was Aaron
Wan-Bissaka, Rashford, Ronaldo,
Fernandes and Greenwood take the
fight to their visitors in a passage
that invigorated the home crowd.
Once more, though, disappointment
ensued as United were breached far
too easily. Teun Koopmeiners swung
a corner over from the right, Shaw
and Maguire dozed, David de Gea
failed to come and punch, and Merih
Demiral headed in.
United were poleaxed and close
to descending into a shambles. The
truth was Atalanta had not played
exhibition football. They merely
probed Solskjær’s team and found
them fragile. Fred’s miss of a gap-
ing goal as the interval beckoned
summed United up, though a Rash-
ford shot that skimmed the crossbar
bar was more hopeful. Not, though,
the boos that greeted the half-time
whistle.
Yet again Solskjær and United
stared down the barrel of a wounding
defeat so the next 45 minutes were
crucial. When Ronaldo latched on to
a Fernandes ball the deficit should
have been reduced to one goal but
he unloaded straight at Musso and
Solskjær groaned.
United managed to apply some
sustained pressure before fans who
had returned to backing their team.
Courage was required and Rashford
showed it by scoring impressively.
Fernandes’s pass was pinpoint,
allowing the No 10 to scamper for-
ward and, as Musso closed the angle,
the finish was cool, goingin at the far
corner.
Old Trafford was lit up and a Ron-
aldo charge forward caused Matteo
Lovato to foul and Szymon Marciniak
to book the substitute. Pasalic and
Marten de Roon followed into the ref-
eree’s book as United surged, McTo-
minay soon hitting Musso’s left post
from a Greenwood pass. As a riposte
this was all fine but with at least one
more goal needed Solskjær sent on
Pogba and Edinson Cavani, for McTo-
minay and Rashford.
Cavani went to centre-forward
and Ronaldo left, with Pogba given
a floating role. De Gea had to save
fierce efforts from Duván Zapata
and Ruslan Malinovskyi. Solskjær
introduced Sancho for Greenwood
but now came a crucialcontribution
from Maguire, the captain swinging
at a lolloping Fernandes cross, that
first skimmed Cavani’s head, before
the defender scored.
Better was to follow as Ronaldo
did what he does so well: score pre-
cisely when it matters, as this team’s
go-to  act.
Manchester United
4-2-3-1
Atalanta
3-5-2
De Gea; Wan-Bissaka,
Lindelöf, Maguire,
Musso; De Roon•,
Demiral (Lovato 45•),
Shaw•; McTominay Palomino•; Koopmeiners
(Pogba 66), (Pezzella 80), Freuler;
Fred (Matic 88); Zappacosta, Pasalic•
Greenwood
(Sancho 73),
Fernandes, Rashford
(Cavani 66•); Ronaldo
(Malinovskyi 68),
Maehle; Illic
(Miranchuk 68),
Muriel (Zapata, 56)
Referee Szymon Marciniak (Pol)
•
Four-goal Daka brings
Europa League
Foxes back from brink
GD Pts
+1 6
+2 4
0 4
-3 3
Spartak Moscow 3 through-ball from Iheanacho and fire
Sobolev 11 86, Larsson 44
Leicester 4 in the second half after Rodgers
Daka 45 48 54 78
Paul Doyle
Patson Daka did more than relaunch
Leicester’sEuropa League ambitions.
With four expertly taken goals in
Moscow, the Zambia international
announced himself as a striker who
could thrill Leicester for years. If he
gave a hintof his talent when scoring
his first Premier League goal against
Manchester United on Saturday, then
last night – with 34-year-old Jamie
Vardy watching from the bench –
the 23-year-old signed for £23m last
summer blazed a trail towards a
bright Leicester future.
“It’sbeen an amazing few days for
me and the team,” said Daka after
scoring all the goals in a spectacular
comeback. Until he weighed in with
a hat-trick in nine minutes – and
then added a fourth goal – Leicester’s
Europa League ambitions lay
in smithereens.
Trailing 2-0, they looked on course
for a result that would have made
progress out of a difficult group highly
improbable. Daka rescued them
with a demonstration of precision
that will live long in the memory.
“With our next two games at home,
this was a game we needed to win
and now we can still hope to top
the  group,” Leicester’s manager,
Brendan Rodgers, said.
Group C
P W D L F A GD Pts
Legia Warsaw 2 2 0 0 2 0 +2 6
Leicester 3 1 1 1 6 6 0 4
Spartak 3 1 0 2 6 7 -1 3
Napoli 2 0 1 1 4 5 -1 1
Leicester began strongly. Kelechi
Iheanacho could have opened the
scoring in the first minute if he had
been able to react quicker to a flick
on by Daka, whose clever movement
was already making him a nuisance
to the home defence.
Spartak soon showed that they,
too, could be elusive movers.
Zelimkhan Bakaev proved especially
meddlesome, knitting together the
home side’s swift counterattacks.
When Spartak took the lead in the 11th
minute, there was no surprise that
Bakaev was heavily involved but the
way the ball reached the net had a hint
of the bizarre. Leicester seemed to be
relatively safe when his blocked shot
rebounded to Aleksandr Sobolev at
the left-hand corner of the box. The
forward’s attempted cross deflected
offBoubakary Soumaré and bounced
rather slowly past Kasper Schmeichel,
whose reaction in Leicester’sgoal was
uncharacteristically slow.
The visiting side’s response
was good, except when it came to
shooting, as Jonny Evans and James
Maddison both failed to find the target
when presented with clear chances.
Then in the 44th minute Spartak
exploited sloppy defending. Victor
Moses forced Caglar Soyuncu into
45
City fan in
an error on the left side of defence,
then Daniel Amartey fell over when
attempting to cut out Moses’s cross,
which Jordan Larsson turned first- intensive care
after service
time into the net from eight yards.
The home crowd began to believe
in a famous triumph, but then Daka
sprung into goalscoring action. He cut
Leicester’s deficit just over a minute
later,running offto collect a deflected
station attack
low into the net.
Leicester showed akeener hunger Jamie Jackson
demanded more vigorous pressing,
from his midfielders in particular. A 63-year-old Belgian Manchester
He later explained: “They are not City fan is in intensive care after being
naturally aggressive people, so attacked, apparently by supporters of
sometimes you have to poke them.” Club Brugge, after City’s 5-1 Cham-
Within three minutes of the restart pions League win at the Jan Breydel
Daka struck again. Iheanacho peeled Stadium on Tuesday.
wide of the right-sided centre-back The incident occurred at a service
to receive a pass by Maddison, then station near Drongen at 10.40pm
dodge the goalkeeper and lay the ball local time and the victim has been
across the six-yard box, where Daka named by local media as Guido
beat Georgi Dzhikiya to the ball to De Pauw. He had been to the game
nudge it into the net. with his son Jurgen, as part of a con-
Daka completed his rapid hat-trick tingent from the Belgium Blue Moon
with another shrewd run and supporters club.
emphatic finish, racing on to Youri A post on Blue Moon Belgium’s
Tielemans’s delivery before lashing Facebook page said: “Blue Moon
in a crisp low shot. The striker was Belgium fell victim to senseless
equally nerveless in the 78th minute, (supporters’) violence last night.
when he raced on to a Maddison pass My father was cowardly attacked
and fired beyond the keeper again, for his City scarf at a stopover in
this time with his left foot. Sobolev’s Drongen. We hope the perpetrators
late goal could not change the result. are found and punished. We were
Afterwards Daka did not hide from everywhere in England and the rest of
the comparisons with Vardy. “He has Europe, never aggression. We come
been one of my inspirations,” Daka to Belgium once and you are left for
said. “It’s a very big privilege to be dead. Keep on fighting daddy. City
working alongside him. He helps me love, Jurgen.”
a lot in training.” Belgium’s public prosecution
service said five people had been
Spartak Moscow
3-4-2-1
Leicester
3-4-1-2 arrested overnight and that an initial
Maksimenko; Schmeichel; Amartey, investigation indicated the victim’s
Rasskazov, Gigot,
Dzhikiya; Moses,
Evans (Vestergaard 82),
Soyuncu; Ricardo Pereira• scarf had been taken in the service
Litvinov•, Zobnin (Albrighton 60), station shop by a suspect who took
(Ignatov 69),
De Medeiros; Larsson
Tielemans (Choudhury
65), Soumaré•, it outside.
(Lomovitskiy• 90), Thomas; Maddison; “Subsequently the victim came
Bakaev (Promes 68);
Sobolev
Iheanacho, Daka into confrontation with some sus-
pects in the parking lot and ended
Referee Anastasios Sidiropoulos (Greece) up on the ground after physical
aggression,”its statementsaid. “The
emergency services arrived on the
Deadly scene.” It said the man was in “mortal
Daka danger”.
delivers City said they were “shocked
and saddened to hear reports of an
in style attack on one of our supporters”
Patson Daka and were working with Club Brugge
celebrates his and Belgian and Greater Manchester
hat-trick goal police to establish more information.
for Leicester Club Brugge said they were “hor-
in a stunning rified” to learn of the incident and
fightback added: “Club Bruggestrongly disap-
at Spartak proves of all criminal behaviour,both
Moscow inside and outside the stadium and
 / puts tolerance first. Our thoughts go
  out to the family and friends of the
   Manchester City supporter.”
The Guardian has contacted AZ
Maria Middelares hospital in Ghent,
where De Pauw is being treated,
for  comment.
‘My father was
cowardly attacked
for his Cityscarf.
We hope the
perpetrators
are found’
Jurgen De Pauw
Victim’s son
 •
Blues’ blow T20 Worl Cup The Guard an
Thursday 21 October 2021
Chelsea swat Why Indi have
Malmö aside favourites ag
but Lukaku and while Engl nd
Werner injured are worl o 1
Page 43 Page 38

Newcastle
close in on
Fonseca after
Bruce departs
Louise Taylor

Paulo Fonseca is in advanced talks

with ewcastle after emerging as the
leading contender to replace teve
ruce, who departed t James’ Park
by “mutual consent” yesterday.
Fonseca, a 48-year-old Portuguese
previously in charge of hakhtar
Donetsk and oma, is out of work and
keen on working for ewcastle’snew
audi rabian-led owners. He came
close to taking over at ottenham
in the summer and is believed to be
admired by manda taveley, the
minority shareholder and director
with responsibility for day-to-day
running of the club.
lthough Fonseca has been in
contact with ewcastle’s owners
since late summer no final decision
has been made and other managers,
including oberto artínez, Frank
Lampard, Lucien Favre, teven
errard and ddie Howe, remain
under consideration.
artínez, the elgium coach,
is thought to be interested in a job
which would reunite him with his for-
mer assistant raeme Jones. Jones,
most recently ruce’s o 2, has been
placed in caretaker charge of ewcas-
tle and is set to be in the technical area
at Crystal Palace on aturday.
ruce kept ewcastle in the Pre-
mier League for the past two seasons
but has proved deeply unpopular
with fans left heartbroken when his
predecessor,the much adored afael
enítez, resigned in June 2019. s
the team have struggled this season
– failing to win a game – the hostility
towards the 60-year-old intensified.
esterday ruce – who presided
over his 1,000th match as a manager
when ewcastle lost 3-2 at home
Match report against purs on unday
Jamie Jackson – said he would probably 41 
retire as he was reluctant
Page 44

Seventh heaven ▲ Cristiano

Ronaldo

Ronaldo lifts Solskjær

celebrates
Manchester Atalanta after heading
United Luke Shaw’s

3 2 cross into

as United storm back

the net for
United’s
Rashford 53 Pasalic 15 dramatic
Maguire 75 Demiral 28 winner Paulo Fonseca
Ronaldo 81 NAOMI BAKER/
GETTY IMAGES
has a reputation
for building
attacking sides
 Life after
loneliness
How to escape isolation
– and feel fully alive

Thursday 21/10/21 Adrian Chiles

All you can eat?
I takethose words
as a challenge
page 3

Feat of clay
Why artist Theaster
Gatesis celebrating
ceramics
page 8
•
 Pass notes
•
3

Adrian
The Guardian
Thursday 21 October 2021

Chiles
We buy too much stuff When it comes
– and most of it is to eating, I
struggle to find
completely useless my off-switch

A ges ago, an old friend who was an early adopter of

environmental concerns wanted a new kitchen. He
asked an expert he knew from his work in woodland
conservation what wood his new kitchen should be
built with. He was startled to get a sharp response:
“If you really care, then don’t come to me asking
which wood to use; ask yourself if you really need a new kitchen.”
Point taken, but not much acted upon, by him, me or anyone else
I’ve come across.
I’m so sick of stuff. Some of it is stuff I really need or that is at
least genuinely nice to have, but a good 70% is useless stuff.
Clothes I’ll never wear, books I’ll never read, kitchen utensils I’ll
There’s a Twitter account called
Fake Showbiz News that is
occasionally kind/cruel enough
to feature me as the subject of one
its “exclusives”. Even if there’s an
unpleasant undertone to the story,
I’m at the stage in my “showbiz”
career that, pitiably, I can’t help
being grateful for any sign that I’ve
not been forgotten. This week’s
offering was so close to the truth
that I didn’t know whether to
№ 4,348
Aeroplane toilets
Location: At the back, sometimes in
the middle – and at the front if you are
rich enough.
Aeroplanes … remind me again? People
used to travel on them, sometimes for
never utilise. Items big and small that presumably felt essential wince, laugh or cry: “Adrian Chiles holidays.
the day I bought them but turned out to be quite the opposite. I ordered to leave bottomless brunch Oh yes, I had almost forgotten about them
suppose that as I get older the 70% figure will grow and grow following ‘misunderstanding’.” over the past 18 months. Why are they –
until the morning of the day I shuffle off this mortal coil. At this The ring of truth here has or their toilets – in the news? Because in
point the percentage of stuff I own that is useless to me will stand at aggravated mytinnitus. I’ve never Windsor, a man, his garden and his garden
a nice round 100, because, of course, I won’t be able to take it with been to a bottomless brunch but, if I umbrellas were covered in sewage, thanks to
me. But what I will be able to do is leave it to my children to bump had, there would indeed have been the contents of a plane toilet falling from
up the percentage of useless the chance of a misunderstanding, the sky.
stuff that they own. And so it as until now I didn’t realise the The poor man!Well, yes, that’s what a
goes on. “bottomless” refers to the booze, local councillor, Karen Davies, told the
Stuff, stuff, stuff. not the food. Though I can put far oyal Borough of Windsor and
Advertising people, pushing too much alcohol awayfrom time Maidenhead’s aviation forum after
at the open door of our to time, unlimited food will always her constituent got in touch about the
acquisitive instincts, cause me more problems. Unlike incident in July.
dedicate their lives to many excessive drinkers, with booze Exactly the time of year you want to
fooling us into acquiring I have a functioning off-switch; with be enjoying your garden and garden
more of it. It bugs me food I have no off-switch atall. umbrellas. Quite.
how these people regard This is something I’ve been aware Surely planes wait until they have landed
themselves as “creatives”, of since an evening in Salt Lake City to empty their … ahem … goods? Usually,
as if they write plays or in 1987. A couple of friends and I yes. The vacuum toilet used on planes,
novels or grace lighted stages were travelling by Greyhound bus patented by James Kemper in 1975, sucks the
Waste of space and silver screens. They think across the United States. Being on waste into a holding tank where it is stored
… shipping they make art. Oh, it’s art all a tight budget, we were delighted until the plane lands on the ground. Blue
containers right, the very darkest of arts. to come across something we had liquid, called Skykem, disinfects the bowl
around the How else to characterise what never seen before: an all-you- and helps kill odours.
world are they create: art that so brilliantly lures fools like me into buying can-eat restaurant. We filled our When you say planes “usually” wait
stuffed stuff we don’t need, or even really want, with money we often boots. My friends were soon full, until they have landed to empty the tank
with stuff haven’t got? as was I, but that didn’t stop me. … Well, there is such a thing as “blue ice”
Even the pandemic couldn’t stand in the way of our lust for I ate and ate and ate. The waiters – frozen sewage that has leaked from an
stuff, and the supply of plenty of it. There was stuff we couldn’t were amused at first, then a little airborne plane. Airlines aren’t allowed to
get, but this only served to intensify our desire for it. Hence, annoyed. As I troughed plate after drop sewage from the sky – pilots have no
we now have so much stuff stuffed into shipping containers all plate, the annoyance turned to dump button – but there have been
over the world that the entire system is congested, stuffed up alarm and, finally, to admiration. incidents. Fictional ones, too. In an episode
with stuff. Word reached the kitchen and of the HBO drama Six Feet Under, a woman is
The shops closing mattered not a jot; the stuff was delivered to soon the chefs appeared for a look killed by a big chunk of it.
our doors. We hailed as heroes those who sent and delivered even at this gluttonous monster. I was And what if the plane isn’t high
the most non-essential items. There were occasions when, if rules applauded out of the place at the enough for it to be cold enough for the
on social distancing had allowed it, I would have bear-hugged the end of the evening. sewage to freeze? Well, that’s possibly
poor Amazon delivery man. Yes, the stuff kept coming, and soon our We travelled south from there what happened in Windsor. One councillor
anxiety shifted to what on earth we’d do with the stuff we physically the following morning. It wasn’t at the meeting, John Bowden, called it a
didn’t have room for any more. The charity shops were shut! And until we reached Austin, Texas – “one-in-a-billion chance”, according to
the dumps, too! Oh, the anxiety. We had to make space for the new more than 1,000 miles away – that the Telegraph. Another, Geoff Paxton,
stuff but couldn’t dump the old stuff to make room for the new. It my digestive discomfort passed. who has 40 years’ experience working
was awful – awful, I tell you. Look around you next time you make at airports, said vacuum toilets have all
a road trip. There are storage companies springing up everywhere. but eliminated the risk, but that possibly
We’re so stuffed with stuff that we’re actually paying people to store “something came out of the vent at
our stuff for us. low altitude”.
This madness must stop, but I don’t see our lunatic addiction to Did the man at least claim on insurance?
ÑV  :R RV

stuff addressed in the plans to get to net zero. What we need is a “Not for the sake of a couple of garden
brilliantly executed ad campaign around the slogan STOP BUYING umbrellas, in terms of bumping up his
STUFF. The trouble is, the geniuses in the ad industry who we’d premium,” said Davies. “So he’s just had to
 :R

need to create this campaign will always remain dedicated to take it on the chin.”
getting us to do the exact opposite. Whatever the money on offer, Literally.Well, maybe, if he was looking up at
there would be no pitches for this ad campaign – an ad campaign the plane at the time.
aimed at, literally, ending all ad campaigns. Do say … well, sing: “Blue Ice, baby’s got
blue ice.”
Don’t say: “Is it a bird, is it a … oh, it’s a turd.”
 •
4 The Guardian
All together now
After the lockdowns, shielding and disrupted social
lives of the pandemic, it is not surprising that loneliness
has increased.But while it may be a painfully common
problem, it doesn’t have to be long-term. Six writers
reflect on their own experiences of isolation and the
transformations it sparked
RubyWax
‘People only trust
you when you
drop thearmour’
L oneliness was in our
lives long before
lockdown. We all
pretended to be part
of one big happy
electronic family
by zinging back and
forth a few heart-shaped emojis to
show we cared, but deep down we
knew it was just a click of a button
that meant nothing. I even sent
those hearts to my plumber.
Personally, I have always felt
lonely. From childhood, my
main motive was to be accepted
so I didn’t have to feel alone.
And certainly not alone with my
parents, who brought the war from
Europe into our breakfast nook.
They were steadfast enemies.
I would sit in no man’s land as my
parents lobbed verbal grenades at
one another. I was an only child,
and made desperate attempts to
glue myself on to gangs or cliques
B YCL N B   YC ;NG /NC CL :G
in high school, but was always
rejected. I tried to befriend a few
fellow weirdo strays; we would
roam the high-school halls looking
for a group to hang with. We tried
to hang out with each other, but it
was useless – we were all too creepy
and desperate.
Then, at about 16, a miracle
happened. I saw Joan Rivers on
television and within 24 hours,
I had turned myself from a loser
into America’s hottest comedian.
I was suddenly channelling Rivers
and her lines were coming out of
my mouth. Overnight, I was doing
standup and got the popular boys.
Most of them were gay but who
cared? I was the new prom queen.
This is why, when I finally
escaped to the UK, I went straight
into television. I didn’t even need
a script, having rehearsed funny
lines since my teens. From then
on, I was off at the races, building
up a persona like plates of armour
around me. I made up for the fact
that I didn’t fit in with any group
by surrounding myself with people
who seemingly liked me, mainly
for being funny. It wasn’t quite the
same feeling as belonging, but it
wasn’t a bad stand-in.
It turns out that no matter how
many people you’re performing
in front of, you might as well be
in the middle of the Sahara
because you have absolutely no
feeling of connection with anyone.
How can they connect when
you’re hiding behind some
persona that is machine-gunning
them with shtick?
I think many of us spend
lifetimes building up a tough
front to show the world we’re fine
even though we might be dying
inside. In the end, no one really
likes you for how impressive or
accomplished you are. They may
admire you, throw you a dinner
‘I learned to peel
off my persona’
… Ruby Wax
party and make a speech about how
much you’ve achieved, but they
don’t necessarily want to hang out
with you.
Once I left the narcissistic shores
of television, I learned to peel off
my persona. It took a long time
trying to find who I was before the
makeover job, and then get to like
who she was. Mindfulness helps
because of the insight it brings,
along with the self-compassion. I
know now that people only feel safe
and trust you when you can drop
the armour and be real.
Maybe this should be the new
definition of love and friendship
– amour without armour. I’ve
noticed, too, over the years, that
when I’m with people with whom
I can drop the mask, loneliness
disappears into thin air.
A Mindfulness Guide for Survival:
A Workbook by Ruby Wax is out now
(Welbeck, £14.99)
Thursday 21 October 2021
Arifa Akbar
‘The hollow
inside me
started tofill up’
A t 22 I was set
on a certain
path. I was a
postgraduate
student doing
a master’s
at a gender
centre, and writing a dissertation
about a group of French feminist
philosophers. It felt like exciting,
important work. Prof Mary Evans –
an inspiring gender studies scholar
– was overseeing the course and
she encouraged me to apply for a
PhD. My future, it seemed, was set
in stone.
Then I started to feel panicky at
the library, where I was spending
long hours on my own. I felt both
claustrophobic and agoraphobic
at once, which made no sense –
so I just pushed those feelings
away. Then they started to creep
up on me in other public places.
I remember being in a cafe with a
friend and becoming choked by the
noise around me. I rushed out into
the street, sucking at the air – only
to feel panicked about being alone.
It made me feel increasingly
I felt as if I were
standing on a
desert island
whilethe restof
the world floated
out ofreach

The Guardian
Thursday 21 October 2021
desolate, as if I were standing,
waving, on my own, dispatched
to a desert island, while the rest of
the world floated into the horizon,
further out of my reach. It only
gradually dawned on me what this
feeling was: loneliness.
Until a year earlier, I had
felt so self-assured in my busy
undergraduate life, surrounded
by people I knew well. But those
friends had scattered and my sense
of sureness had scattered with
them. I had met new people but
I couldn’t confide in them and so
the disconnect grew until I felt as if
they were strangers.
The oddest part of loneliness,
for me, was the invisibility that
came with it. I felt as if the world
had begun to look through me, or
as if I was made of air. I stopped
eating and began to occupy even
less space. It was immobilising, too.
When I was a child, my mother told
us that, while we were at school,
she would spend most of the day
looking out of the window. That
meant hours of sitting and staring.
We had emigrated from Lahore
a few years earlier, and she felt
a terrible homesickness, finding
herself alone and friendless in
London. I had never understood
why she hadn’t simply put on
her coat and thrown herself into
her new life a bit more robustly –
until I found myself stranded in a
similarly paralysed state.
•
The prospect of spending the
next few years in a library was
terrifying. So, after finishing the
master’s, I gave up on the PhD. It
felt like a defeat because it was my
only plan for the future, but the
minute the decision had been made
I felt released.
Many years later, I realised
that the loneliness had been an
alarm signal. I kept ignoring the
signal until it began to manifest
physically in panic attacks. It was
a symptom, and not the cause, of
my unhappiness. Once I changed
course, away from academia, the
loneliness lifted and the hollow
inside me started to fill up. It
was not that the world was any
different but I felt different in it –
more my old self, able to relate to
others again.
I knew I had made the right
decision when I got my first job as a
trainee reporter in Middlesbrough.
I didn’t know a soul, yet I remember
feeling great waves of happiness
on the bus ride to work for the
first few months of living there. It
was the late 90s, but Tony Blair’s
multicultural utopia hadn’t quite
reached this divided corner of
the north-east – there was casual
racism all around me, often on the
street, often daily. I shrugged it off.
I found people I liked. I did some
voluntary work. I fell in love with
journalism. I had got my life back. I
had got myself back.
Arifa Akbar as a
postgraduate
student, aged 22
5
Lucy Webster
on a school
trip in 2012
Lucy Webster “Have you seen this dog on a
‘Reach out in skateboard?”
And they didn’t stop. Work
whateverway Zooms broke up interminable days
of reporting on Covid. I spoke to my
you can’ group of university friends, usually
I
all busy at different times, more
than I had since graduation. One
especially close friend set aside two
or three hours every week without
fail, just to call and bemoan the
state of politics (there was a lot to
am sure I was not the only say). When I went to stay with my
one, when lockdown was parents because one of my personal
announced last March, assistants was ill, my dad wanted to
to wonder if I was more know who on earth I was talking to
scared of loneliness than all day. “Just the usual suspects,” I
I was of the virus. As a told him.
disabled person, I knew I Yet I was still lonely. I missed
was in for the isolation long-haul. the hubbub of the office. Missed
Apart from my carers and my the easy laughter that comes not
parents, I didn’t see another soul – from a screen but from a glance
not even a stranger in a shop – for across the table. Four weeks in,
eight long weeks. I missed awkward chat with taxi
I’ve spent much of my adult drivers and checkout workers. But
life haunted by the spectre of a this loneliness, I realised during
much longer period of loneliness. yet another Zoom, was nothing like
It has meant I am often frantically being truly alone.
arranging meetups with friends, Things got harder, however,
or other activities. At school, I when lockdown started to lift, and
was incredibly isolated; excluded, my healthier friends could venture
sometimes purposefully and out. The gulf between my life and
sometimes not, from the social theirs seemed to widen, reminding
lives of my non-disabled peers. me once more of those school
There was also a deeper sense – not years. People were out and about
of loneliness, really, but of what and, most importantly, together. I
I now think of as “aloneness”. I was still stuck inside.
simply didn’t know anyone like But while contact with some
me, which fostered a feeling of friends faded away as this shift
difference, shame and segregation took hold, many more kept
that still lurks under my skin. calling. Slowly, I was able to start
Keeping busy has always been seeing a select few, and no one
a way to keep that feeling in check. complained when I asked them
You don’t feel so excluded when to meet me in the park despite
a group of friends piles into your the freezing cold. We bought hot
flat every weekend, or you are chocolates and made do. Many
surrounded by colleagues at schlepped across London just to
after-work drinks. I had built a sit with me in my building’s
life so far from the one I had at courtyard. This was real friendship,
school that I finally felt I was on and in the depths of last autumn,
solid ground. And then the world as my fear grew along with case
shut down. numbers, it kept me going. I still
The first week was scarily had my usual suspects.
familiar. Staring at my own four What I’ve learned these past
walls while my head buzzed with few months is that no matter how
worries – this was how I had spent many friends you have, enforced
many a teenage weekend. But isolation will lead to loneliness. But
then, to my surprise, after everyone I’ve also learned that if you start continued
had panic-bought loo roll and by reaching out to your friends on page 6 
cobbled together a home-working in whatever way you can, those
space, the messages started. friends don’t need to be sitting on
“How are you holding up?” “I’ll call your sofa to keep you from feeling
after the Tesco delivery comes.” truly alone.
 •
6 The Guardian
Thursday 21 October 2021

Saima Mir I know now that by refusing to

‘I learned that no accept my fate, and an unhappy
marriage, I was breaking the bonds
one was coming of intergenerational trauma, and
that comes with a price. But back
to rescue me – then all I felt was alone.
I lived on my own, and worked
and thatwas OK’ shifts that had me up either at 4am,
and at my desk by 5.30am for the

I
‘Novels brought breakfast news bulletin, or working
me closer to the late shift that ended at 11pm.
Those who saw me on screen
people’ … would have had no idea of how I
Daniel Lavelle really felt inside. I was well dressed,
have had several periods young and attractive – how could I
of loneliness in my life, be lonely?
but none more intense One year I covered Bollywood
than after my second actor Shilpa Shetty’s glamorous
divorce. I was single for birthday bash. People who had
almost a decade, and watched the piece on TV may
Daniel Lavelle 2008. Obama was president-
despite being busy, and having a
great job in TV, the reality was that
have imagined I had partied
the night away. But as soon as it
‘I picked up elect. Hope, change and a “yes
we can” spirit prevailed. But for
I was incredibly lonely.
By divorcing, and for a second
was recorded, I drove home and
went straight to bed. Because
a book and it me, a section 21 eviction notice
landed on my doorstep and shortly
time, I’d stepped away from
what was considered acceptable
loneliness has nothing to do with
how many people surround us, or
changed my life’ afterwards, I got my first – but far by the British Pakistani culture how successful the world thinks

I
from last – taste of homelessness. of my heritage. I didn’t want to we are. It is a state of mind, which
A lucky encounter with a tell anyone about my past, or results from things we can’t control
former social worker meant I got answer questions about why I’d – and a few things that we can.
an emergency place in a hotel. I made the choices I had – or about Understanding this has helped me
spent that Christmas alone, skint how far my culture and religion find ways to get through it.
and hungry – contemplating the had influenced those decisions – The empty swathes of space and
have dealt with dismal direction my life had taken. because I was still grappling with time (which, as a mother of three,
ostracisation since Most of my peers were either in them myself. I now crave) were excruciating. So
early childhood. ADHD higher education or beginning their
(attention deficit careers; they had sex lives, social
hyperactivity disorder) circles, relationships, holidays and
and ODD (oppositional love. I had failure stacked on top of
defiant disorder) do failure, self-pity and self-loathing.
not complement confinement I finally dug myself out of this
in a classroom where seated emotional cavern in the new year.
attentiveness is expected, and The pittance I got from benefits
bouncing off the walls is frowned meant I had to choose between
upon. In other words, I was heating and eating. I chose the
expelled from almost every school latter, so had to look for comfort
I attended. I even got launched away from my digs. I ended up
from a special school, which I spending my days in the last place
look back on as an achievement of I thought I’d ever be: the library.
sorts. Surely being expelled from a It had central heating, but it also
school for naughty kids for being a had books – lots of them. After
naughty kid deserves recognition? twiddling my thumbs I picked one
But I was also excluded from up, and it changed my life.
home and bounced around foster Suddenly, novels brought me
placements and children’s homes closer to people. They allowed
like I was trapped in the world’s me to see the world through other
most depressing game of pinball. people’s eyes. Nonfiction let me
Inevitably, much exclusion tends connect to the world I had felt so
to make one feel excluded. Lonely estranged from. History books
may as well be my last name. Akon told me the human story of my
ain’t got nothing on me. environment, science books helped
The feeling peaked in early me understand how it works and
adulthood, when social services philosophy books guided me on
thought I was able to look how I should feel about it all.
after myself. The unrelenting I still experience loneliness;
displacement of my childhood I think we all do. During the
 ;   EE E F YE :G

meant I had no support network, pandemic, I lived in a tiny room

few friends and little contact with in south London with four walls
my immediate family. So, when for company, and little to do,
crisis struck, I was left to the mercy except for ruminating on how
of the nation’s safety net, which is alone I was. What I learned from
holier than a crumpet. this was that loneliness – for me at
My inability to fit in and comply least – is a result of living in your
had followed me into adulthood. head. Reconnecting with the world
I got sacked from my first job. It around you can help you escape
was a supermarket gig, and the yourself. I do this by reaching for
metronomic monotony of shelf a book. But it can be achieved by Saima Mir
stacking eventually broke my paying attention to something, interviewing
spirit. I started spending more time anything, other than the noise Amitabh
 continued playing Snake on my phone in the between your ears. Bachchan
from page 5 locker rooms than on the shop Down and Out: Surviving the
floor. My manager didn’t appreciate Homelessness Crisis by Daniel
this. Back to the dole queue, I went. Lavelle is out in May 2022
It was just before Christmas (Wildfire, £16.99)

The Guardian
Thursday 21 October 2021
I put plans in place to counteract
them. I would make sure I always
had two things in my diary for
the week. It could be dinner with
a friend, an event, or even
something practical such as
getting a haircut. It didn’t even
matter if the thing was cancelled;
just having it in my diary meant
I had something to look forward
to. It was like creating monkey
bars to cling to, to cross the week.
Because I loved foreign films, I
would always have two discs
ready to watch beside my DVD
player. My solitude resulted in
my becoming quite a cinephile.
Oddly, my lowest periods have
always coincided with my most
productive, because feeling that I
had nothing to lose made me freer
to take creative risks in my work. So
I used the time I was alone to write
scripts, and attend screenwriting
courses. I wrote novels, none of
which saw the light of day, but all of
which helped me develop my craft,
and paved the way to my current
career as a writer.
As a single workaholic, I
sometimes wondered how long
it would take for someone to
notice if I was missing – if I ever
fell down the stairs, or had an
accident. This added to my
•
loneliness. It was when I looked
at a packet of paracetamol and
thought how easy it would be
to take them all that I knew I
needed help. I wasn’t suicidal,
but even that fleeting thought
frightened me and I started seeing
a therapist. We would meet every
Wednesday lunchtime. That hour
was like a stepping stone to the
middle of the week, and a boost to
the weekend.
What I learned was that no one
was coming to rescue me – and
that was OK. I found acceptance,
and even began to love my own
company. Offering an empathic
ear to others also set me free. As
I stopped trying to be heard, and
started listening, I found myself
surrounded by women who were
going through similar things.
I know now that I actually
needed to be lonely. When I
finally met the man who would
become my husband, I knew what
I wanted from life. I wasn’t looking
for someone to be my “world” or
rescue me, because I had built my
world myself, and had already
rescued myself. I was simply
looking for someone to sit beside
me, so we could look out at the
world together – and that’s what
I found.
7
‘Be prepared
Peter White to look around
that corner’ …
‘Believethat Peter White
howeverbleak
things look, they
can change’
I
expected to enjoy
university, and when
I didn’t I was knocked
sideways. I should have
done: I was academic,
I loved knowing things
and equally, I had always
thought I was gregarious, and liked
having fun. I didn’t think I was
bad at making friends either. And
indeed, I quickly found a small
group of people I got on with. Yet
despite all this, somehow I was
plunged into a kind of despair I
hadn’t experienced before – and
haven’t been through since. I
couldn’t work it out then, and I can
only speculate on it now.
I suspect a lot of people thought
it was all because of my blindness,
but that’s because if you have a
disability, people like to attribute
anything that goes wrong for you
to that. In truth, I don’t think it
had much, if anything, to do with
it. One possible explanation was
the sheer size of the change in my
circumstances. I had gone from
an unusual, small and residential linking people who needed help
school, with just over 70 pupils, – anything from decorating to
to a large, sprawling complex gardening jobs, babysitting or
of colleges with about 10,000 shopping – with young people who
students and staff. Everywhere could lend a hand.
you went was full of noise and In reality that meant I was
bustle, and as everybody knows, confronted with an empty office,
you are nowhere more alone than no volunteers, no one who needed
in a crowd. help, and Lynda, two years younger
But perhaps the real problem than me and equally confused
was that it just wasn’t my crowd! about the future. Amazingly, it
I had left my little special school was just what I wanted. Over the
keen to join the real world, and next year, between us, we turned
found myself instead in a world of it round. I visited schools and
teenagers being set tasks that felt, colleges, drumming up volunteers;
to me, monumentally irrelevant to went to clubs for elderly people
getting on with the business of life. to find out what they needed;
Whatever the reason, I found persuaded charities to give us
myself slipping into an ever deeper money, companies to give us
morass of confusion and self- equipment. And I discovered
absorption; unable to complete I could talk to people and gain
work, not wanting to go anywhere their trust. I found myself sitting
or do anything, and, worst of all, in kitchens listening to old chaps
not finding anyone who could telling me their war stories; elderly
understand what was wrong. That, ladies recounting stories about
at the time, felt like true loneliness. their grandchildren; and some
But it turned out there was an extraordinary 50-year-old gossip.
answer: an answer so complete Despite my blindness, I even found
that I believe it changed my life. myself selecting wallpaper for a
One day, after staring at a paper for harassed and rather tipsy mother,
three hours and writing nothing, who couldn’t decide for herself.
I left university and went to see People tell me the change in
an employment adviser at the me over that year was startling. It
Royal National Institute of Blind gave me the confidence to go into
People. He said promptly: “You broadcasting and to believe that
need to do something practical,” however bleak things look, they
and introduced me to the charity can change. I guess if there was
Community Service Volunteers a trick in my leaving loneliness
(now known as Volunteering behind, it is to be prepared to
Matters). Within weeks I had look around that corner. If you
been dispatched to York, with the can’t change yourself, change
job of reviving an organisation the circumstances.
 Arts
•
8 The Guardian
Thursday 21 October 2021

Top of
the pots
“I’m really mindful of my health
and of the truth of these contagious
Artist Theaster times,” he tells me. “I just wanted
to give myself time to be in the
Gates, saviour best shape so my body would be
as resistant as possible. Even if the
of abandoned world is opening up, I’m happy to
move slower.”
buildings Gates is speaking from his
library – “the brain!” – which, as
and creator of well as books, contains shelves of
Obama’s library,
records and magazines, turntables,
and vintage speakers a hi-fi buff
tells Alex would kill for, through which he is
currently listening to Etta James,
Needham why early Miles Davis, and the house
music that rocked, or rather jacked,

T
he’s going back his city when Gates was a teenager.
(“House music is on my mind all
to humble clay the time,” he admits.) Now 48,
he spent most of lockdown in the
library with his band the Black
Monks, who formed a bubble
together. “We were writing new
music,” he says. “I was making
pots, and sometimes my guys would ‘I want to
come over just to get out of the participate in
house. I feel really fortunate that all levels of
I was able to spend time with my culture-making’
best friends, sometimes every day.” … Gates
There were other upsides,
namely that Gates didn’t have to be
a non-stop superstar artist. “I didn’t
heaster Gates have to go to 20 dinners, do a bunch
likes to get his hands dirty. His of interviews. I felt like an everyday
two new London exhibitions are guy who once or twice a year
dedicated to clay, and in one there’s something special happens to, like
a film of him singing with great you go to a funeral, or a wedding.”
gusto as he throws a pot. So it feels Before Covid, he says, “every week
a shame not to be meeting one I was in a different country”.
to one, but via laptop. The artist Using everything from ceramics
decided at the last minute to stay at to sculpture to music, Gates’s work
home in Chicago while the shows reaches out far beyond gallery
were mounted, directing things on walls, powered by his can-do
Zoom. (He finally made it to the UK attitude, urge to think big and
this week; tonight he will give a talk deep sense of social responsibility.
with potter Magdalene Odundo.) His most ambitious work, the
Dorchester Projects, saw him buy Working with clay represents a
up abandoned buildings, including return to the source of his original
the Stony Island Bank on Chicago’s inspiration. As a child – the
South Side, for as little as $1, and youngest of nine, and the only boy
refurbish them as cultural centres,
libraries, artists’ studios and
– Gates spent summer holidays in
Mississippi with his family, where House music
mixed-income housing.
Early in the pandemic, at a time
he would love to poke around in the
dirt: “You could just dig anywhere is on my
of mask shortages in Chicago,
he joined with the fashion label
and get this beautiful bright orange
sticky mud and make things.” mind all
Citizens of Humanity to produce
and give away thousands of face
coverings. He also converted
He studied urban planning and
ceramics at Iowa State University,
then spent a year in Tokoname,
the time
Stony Island into a food bank, and Japan, to learn from the pottery
continued to fund local artists. masters there. His film at the
“There was deep acknowledgement Whitechapel includes some footage
‘My best of the fact that people continued to from around the same time, of
friends’ … matter, even though we couldn’t be Gates as an eager student stating
Gates with as proximate to each other,” he says. his ambition – now satisfied – to
his band the “Covid made me be more careful in make an art movie about clay.
Black Monks my dealings, but I still felt present Twenty years ago, ceramics were
and affected and sharing the love.” regarded as the products of craft;

The Guardian
Thursday 21 October 2021
these days critics accept them as
art, but Gates’s renewed embrace
of clay was more due to a desire, in
lockdown, to work with something
humble. “I think in this moment
where everything is bombastic and
plastic and prefabricated, clay feels
perverse because it’s lowly,” he says.
His exhibitions take in items
ranging from simple “sake bowls
and tea cups and bottles” at the
White Cube to a large white vessel
inspired by the Greek-American
ceramicist Peter Voulkos at the
Whitechapel, along with pieces by
other makers, including a jug by
David Drake, AKA Dave the Potter,
who was born a slave in South
Carolina in 1800 and whose pots,
simply glazed and unadorned apart
from his signature and sometimes
lines of poetry, now go for $1m at
auction. Carefully placed together
with Gates’s own work, the
ceramics tell stories of global trade
and racial oppression, of Black
spirituality and celebration.
Next year, Gates will become the
first artist to design the Serpentine
Pavilion, a structure that will stand
in London’s Kensington Gardens
all summer. Usually only architects
get the honour. “If I’m going to be
given the title of the first artist then
I want the pavilion to feel artful,”
he says. “I don’t want it to just be
an exploration of architectural
principles or tectonic theory. I
want to reflect the hand and the
artist’s creativity, the importance of
looking at things and discovery.”
Gates is also working on Barack
Obama’s presidential library, which
will display the 44th president’s
papers. “I want to participate in all
levels of culture-making, of society-
building, of nation-building, so I
feel really fortunate that I have a
president – I still call Barack my
president – that I really believe in.
Anything he and Michelle want
from me, I’m probably going to be
down to do it.” Is he friends with the
Obamas? “That would be a stretch,”
  ;    ; /  © ;  :
he laughs, “but I definitely respect
him and I think they respect me.”
Gates also sees himself as a
custodian of African-American
culture. He has bought and
preserved items of significance,
ranging from the joyful (the
pioneering house DJ Frankie
Knuckles’s record collection) to
those of intense sorrow. On the
lawn of his building the Stony
‘My art needs
people’ … the
Dorchester
Project in
Chicago
•
Island Arts Bank stands a gazebo.
Seven years ago, when it was
situated in a park in Cleveland,
Ohio, someone sitting in it called
the police to say that a black male
was pointing a “probably fake”
pistol at passersby. When the police
arrived on the scene, they shot
12-year-old Tamir Rice dead.
“We use the gazebo all the time,
with public activations, live music,
and it’ll remain there until [Tamir’s
mother] Samaria Rice finds a
permanent home for it. It reminds
me of how important moments
like the Serpentine pavilion are –
and monument making and site
making – and how creatives and
artists need to practice so that
when moments like Tamir’s death
happen, we know what to do.”
Gates says he is acutely aware
of his privileged position as an
artist. No one else in his family
had any artistic leanings, “but my
mom made doilies and Christmas
wreaths. She was crafty. And my
dad could fix a pinball machine
and a refrigerator motor and a
car motor. He was a mechanic,
an entrepreneur and eventually
a roofer. So you know, my skillset
is probably no greater than my
mom and dad, yet it allowed me
access to one of the most privileged
professions in the world. Those are
the moments when I realise that
access matters even more than
skill. It’s someone saying, ‘I love
what you do, can you do it here?’”
Gates thinks that this is work
everyone – of any race – should
be doing. “It’s not just that white
corporations have responsibility.
I think all people have a
responsibility to all people. Black
artists should have a commitment
to designers and artists of colour,
but I think we should all have a
commitment to the oppressed.
We should all be creating
opportunities, not only for the
people who are just like us, but for
people who deserve opportunity.”
As with his Civil Tapestry
series, which took the kind of fire
hoses turned against civil rights
protesters in the 60s and turned
them into seductive abstract
sculptures, Gates’s work fuses
history with beauty and a burning
social conscience. Ultimately,
however, there is something in
his work that just speaks to a love
of being around other people,
whether mourning, dancing,
working or in quiet contemplation.
The last piece you see before
leaving the Whitechapel is a chair
and a large pot standing on a
loudly patterned rug, taken from
the offices of Johnson, publishers
of Black-interest magazines Jet
and Ebony, and dirtied by years of
meetings and parties.
“My art needs people in order to
be its best self,” Gates says. “The
spaces need to be activated and I
need help. Ultimately, when I’m
building things, I’m building not
just for myself but for the people
around me.”
Theaster Gates: A Clay Sermon is at
Whitechapel Gallery, London, until
9 January 2022. Oh the Wind, Oh the
Wind is at White Cube Masons Yard,
London, until 30 October
My best shot
9
Mel D Cole
‘This man was one of thousands to be arrested
during the George Floyd protests. It’s a shot
that pretty much all Black people could relateto’
‘NYC Protest
5.29.20’
I took this on the first day of the protests want the best shot – but it was no time to be
in Foley Square, New York, following the selfish. It was so much bigger than any one of
murder of George Floyd. I’ve witnessed us, and no photographer could have captured
protests before but nothing like this. It was everything alone.
intense, volatile and angry. People were sick When I headed to Minneapolis to cover the
and tired – and ready to fight for their rights. trial of Derek Chauvin,
The video of his killing came at a specific
moment. People were already angry after
The CV the officer who killed
Floyd, people were
the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. Born Syracuse, New asking how to help, if
And in New York, a viral video of a white York, 1976. they could donate to
woman who called the police about a Black TrainedSelf-taught. fund my work. I didn’t
birdwatcher had made people even angrier. Influences Gordon need that money, but
But when that video came, something Parks, Ricky Powell. we managed to raise
changed. Black people knew it could have High point “Right enough to get four
happened to any of us. now.I finally feel I’m Black photographers
This man was one of the first of thousands the photographer I who were out of work
to be arrested that summer in New York. As always wanted to be in the city for the
soon as I took this shot, I knew it was special. to be.” trial. It is important
It was something pretty much all Black people Low point “About to me that our stories
could relate to. This man was arrested for 15 years ago, I quit – the stories of Black
speaking up, for daring to question authority. my day job to people – be told by
I’ve been arrested for the exact same thing. photograph full Black people.
It was difficult to watch things unfold and time. I wasn’t ready The protests are
document it all without wanting to be involved. and couldn’t pay going to define this
Initially, I went out with a Black Lives Matter my rent.” generation and, I hope,
T-shirt on. But that was the last day I did that. Top tip “Show those to come. The
Not that it mattered – I got arrested, punched your range. Don’t problems haven’t gone
in the face and harassed by officers anyway. be afraid to try away. There are still
When you’re Black, the side is always picked something new.” places some people
for you, right from when you come out of the feel I don’t belong.
womb. Your skin colour always comes first. But progress is being
In the heat of it all, I don’t think I realised made. I just hope that
how big these protests were going to get. those people who still
I thought it might last a few days then die look ill on me don’t
down. Instead, it was the beginning of a year of pass that prejudice on
protest photography for me all across the US. to their kids.
This photo completely changed my career. When the history
First, it changed what I covered. I had always books get written,
been known for music photography. In some I hope my photos are
ways, that was great training. Shooting included. I hope they
performances means your eyes are always on form part of the long tradition of civil rights
the move – there’s action at all times and you photography. I’ve spent so much time going
need to be aware every second. It’s the same through the history books, looking at those
for protests. Anything can happen at any images of Martin Luther King on the Lincoln
minute. If I was ever approached in the street Memorial steps and wishing I could have
by people who recognised me, it was for my captured images like that. Now I’ve realised
music work. Now, it’s for the protest series. that I can’t go back in time and I don’t need
This shot also changed the way I worked. to. I just need to be there for the next time.
In music, I wanted the exclusive shot no Interview by Edward Siddons. American
matter what. I could be kind of territorial. But Protest: Photographs 2020-2021 by
with something like this, of course you still Mel D Cole is out now
 TV and radio
•
10 The Guardian
Thursday 21 October 2021

Charlene White:
Empire’s Child
9pm, ITV

Police officer
Michael Fanone,
who suffered a In the latest of ITV’svery worthwhile
traumatic brain explorations of Black identity,Loose
injury and
heart attack Women’s Charlene White goes on a
journey of self-discovery thatis equal
parts Who DoYou Think You Are?and
Black Lives Matter.As a Black Briton
Review Four Hours atthe and others who found themselves trapped inside. The
latter include Leah Han, a staffer in Nancy Pelosi’s of Jamaican origin, White is aware that
Capitol, BBC Two office, who recounts how she and her colleagues
relocated from the room that bore Pelosi’s name to her relationship with the British empire
an anonymous office down the hall and hid under the is potentially complex. But, as she
A harrowing uncovers her genealogy,she starts to
desks as the noise of invasion got louder, hoping that
they would not be killed or raped before help arrived.
The accounts of those trapped and of the officers make some surprisingdiscoveries about
account of hopelessly outnumbered outside are as harrowing
as you might expect – whether they are recollected
with stoicism (“For hours we were sitting there,
the forces that have shaped her life and
the lives of her family.
Trump’s assault the president not saying a word,” says Republican
representative for Illinois Adam Kinzinger. “To
Phil Harrison

on democracy
me that was beyond the pale”) or fury (most of the
officers). Foremost among the second group is Mike Shop Well for are making impressive
Fanone, who was grabbed by the mob as he and others the Planet? beds under the watchful
battled for hours to keep protesters out of the tunnel 8pm, BBC One eyes of the judges, Alex
that would have let them flood the building. He was The Shop Well for Less? de Rijke and Helen
★★★★☆ Tasered and beaten before being passed back to safety. and Eat Well for Less? Welch. Mel Giedroyc is

Lucy Man
He suffered a traumatic brain injury and a heart attack. gangs join forces for on cheerleading duties,
“That I and a shit-ton of my fellow officers almost lost this new eco-minded bringing encouragement
their lives pisses me the fuck off,” he says. consumer series. Can a and double entendres. PH

N
The documentary passed lightly – too lightly, family of six bring their
maybe – over the lack of preparation by Capitol and carbon footprint down Guilt
Metropolitan Police Department officials on the day, with a plant-based diet? 9pm, BBC Two
given the known combustibility of the situation and the And is reusable kitchen Dark side of the Forth:
hesitant response from the National Guard and others roll as questionable as it season two of the blackly
ick Alvear started believing in Trump to pleas for reinforcement. However, overall there was a sounds? Hannah J Davies comic Edinburgh-set
“because 800,000 kids in America much-needed sense of the true human impact of what thriller continues as
go missing every year – held captive, happened. From the outside, ruined by Hollywood The Hairy Bikers semi-contrite Max
tortured and killed … enslaved sexually spectacle as we all have been, perhaps it didn’t look that Go North (Mark Bonnar) and well-
… I’m part of the first wave bringing bad. Once we were taken inside – shown the mentality 8pm, BBC Two meaning Kenny (Emun
awareness of this.” and mechanics of the crowd, and given the proper scale Another amiable hour Elliott) search for the bag
It is perhaps the greatest of Four Hours at the by which to judge – it was that bad, and worse. in the company of Dave of cash that has left chaos
Capitol’s many strengths that it gives space to those Most chilling of all was the lack of remorse among And and Si, whose northern in its wake. Max almost
who were most eager for battle. They call themselves the rioters interviewed, coupled with their unassailed another England foodie tour seems back to his sleek
insurrectionists, while others in the documentary – and you must presume, at this point, unassailable – thing explores Yorkshire. old self, at least until a
that details the unfolding of the 6 January assault on devotion to the man they believe commanded them to They pick up a mix of pal from inside comes
the meeting place of the US Congress refer to them as storm the Capitol. There was also a generous portion multicultural ingredients calling. Graeme Virtue
domestic terrorists. of denial and doublethink from people such as Couy I will know no from the magnificent
Jamie Roberts’ film (he also directed The Rise of Griffin, part of the Cowboys for Trump group, who real peace until Kirkgate market in Leeds, Taskmaster
the Murdoch Dynasty) lays out the timeline of that insists he was standing among thousands of “peaceful Gerri becomes stay at a rock’n’roll- 9pm, Channel 4
extraordinary day in exhaustive but never exhausting patriots” and thinks that “you’re really stretching it CEO of Waystar themed church and visit a It’s the 100th episode
detail. Phone footage shot by Eddie Block, a member of to say it was supporters of Trump that did it … just Royco in dairy farm that is finding of Taskmaster, which
the far-right group Proud Boys, shows them beginning because they have a Trump hat or a Trump T-shirt on”. Succession. A a new way to thrive in a can’t have seemed a
to gather at 10.35am. By 12.06pm they have heard Three protesters outside the Capitol died from nightly prayer. challenging market. PH likely landmark when
enough of Trump’s Stop the Steal speech to have medical emergencies, 140 police officers were injured, this berserk comedy
started marching towards Capitol Hill. Viewers are one died and – since January – there have been four Handmade: Britain’s challenge show began
reminded of the barely veiled exhortations to action deaths by suicide among those who were on duty that Best Wordworker back in 2015. To celebrate,
that were ringing in their ears: “You’ll never take back day. The rage still visibly emanates from Fanone. “I 8pm, Channel 4 Victoria Coren Mitchell
our country with weakness … If you don’t fight like hell still haven’t made sense of it,” he says, eyes blazing. Another wholesome will be attempting to
you won’t have a country any more.” “And it certainly doesn’t help when the elected leader variant on the Bake Off make flapjacks, Morgana
The film hears from many of those on the other side won’t even acknowledge it occurred.” theme as craftspeople Robinson will be slicing up
of the fight, including some of the 40 or 50 officers who The underlying collective testimony furnished by decamp to rural Wales plastic balls and Guz Khan
did their best to hold back the 1,500-strong mob as they Four Hours at the Capitol is that the age of Trump has to make spectacular will barricade himself
came up the steps and broke into the building, and not yet ended – and the true day of reckoning in the use of bits of trees. As inside the Taskmaster
from members of Congress (Republican and Democrat) United States is still to come. the series begins, they house. PH
 •
The Guardian
Thursday 21 October 2021 11

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 Puzzles
•
12 The Guardian

HEK    Y

Thursday 21 October 2021

Yesterday’s Quick crossword no 16,055

solutions 1 2 3 4 5

Wordsearch Across Down 6 7

1 Engagement (9) 1 Guaranteed to bring a profit (8)
8 Part of a stage in front of the curtain 2 Raducanu’s game (6) 8 9
(5) 3 Chances of winning? (4)
9 Surely (2,5) 4 Leading fashion house creations
10 In seventh heaven (8) (5,7)
11 Clanger (by which one may be 5 Pinkie (6,6) 10 11
saved) (4) 6 Star of the 1946 film It’s a
13 Able to make fine distinctions (6) Wonderful Life (5,7)
14 Discharge — absolve (3,3) 7 Strong protective structure in 12
16 Peer ranking above a viscount (4) middle of a dual carriageway (5,7)
17 Devon seaside resort (8) 12 Police rank (8) 13 14
19 Friendly, pleasant and good- 15 Manage (with inadequate means)
tempered (7) (4,2) 15
20 See eye to eye (5) 18 Woodwind instrument (4)
Solution no 16,054 21 Proved to be the case (6,3)
16 17
COMB S T AMPOUT 18
A I C A I N U
K I NFOLK GETON
E O G E H H E 19 20
HERON NUTMEG
O A F G S
L I K E C L O C KWO R K
E E R I I
MYOP I A NONET
A E U R D I T 21
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RAPUNZEL KR I S Stuck? For help call 0906 200 83 83. Calls cost £1.10 per minute, plus your phone company’s access charge.
Service supplied by ATS. Call 0330 333 6946 for customer service (charged at standard rate).
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Sudoku no 5,412
Sudoku no 5,413 Suguru Wordsearch
Hard. Fill the grid so that each row, column and 3x3 Fill the grid so that each square Can you find 15 words associated
box contains the numbers 1-9. Printable version at in an outlined block contains a with hotels in the grid? Words can
theguardian.com/sudoku digit. A block of 2 squares contains run forwards, backwards, vertically
the digits 1 and 2, a block of three or diagonally, but always in a
squares contains the digits 1, 2 straight, unbroken line.
and 3, and so on. No same digit
appears in neighbouring squares,
not even diagonally.
Word wheel
BADMINTON

Suguru

Word wheel Pet corner

Find as many words as Which singer
possible using the letters has a cat called
in the wheel. Each must Carl?
use the central letter a. Katy Perry
and at least two others. b. Adele
Letters may be used only c. Robyn
once. You may not use d. Kesha
plurals, foreign words or Answer top right
proper nouns. There is at
least one nine-letter word
to be found. TARGET:
Excellent-56. Good-47.
Average-34.
 •

Europe’sfuture dependson a power struggle in Germany Adam Tooze, page 3 G2

Daily
pullout
There arestill no real climate leaders.Notyet Greta Thunberg, page4 life &
arts
section
Hillsborough: the great betrayal The long read, page 5 Inside
The Guardian Thursday21 October 2021

Opinion
and ideas

Why trust the

peoplewhocut
yourservices to
rebuild them?
W hen Rishi Sunak stands in
front of the Commons for
the spending review next
week, the chancellor will
no doubt serve up “build
back better” buzzwords and
promises of “levelling up”.
Meanwhile, you can expect
him to be silent about the biggest funding crisis facing
this country – and with it, the families going without
crucial local services.
Think of local politics and it likely conjures up a dull
picture of bin collections and road works (perhaps
with the exception of Jackie Weaver and the exploits of
Handforth parish council). But local councils in general
help form the fabric of day-to-day life: the library
review shows councils in England will face extra cost
pressures of almost £8bn by 2024/25 just to keep their
services running at today’s already diminished levels.
To make matters worse, these estimates only account
for “new pressures” on councils, “it does not include
the very real pressures that councils are facing here
and now, such as paying care workers a fair wage or
investing in the early intervention services which help
families and young people falling into crisis”.
What was once a functioning state is now a
patchwork of broken services. Almost 800 libraries
have closed their doors since 2010, as have more than
900 youth centres. Schools have been forced to cut
help for pupils with special educational needs, while
financially ravaged family support services send more
vulnerable children into care. The fate of social care –
UN:
N U

Frances in your neighbourhood, the special needs teaching

assistant in the local primary school, the carer who
often the biggest budget pressure for councils – is all
too well known, with 1.5 million older and disabled
Ryan drops by to help your nan. The Conservatives have
taken an axe to such services in recent years, and with a
remarkable lack of pushback.
people suffering without support. Boris Johnson’s
recent plan for the sector gave no reprieve for cash-
strapped councils, instead expecting council tax and

Over the last decade, councils have faced funding
cuts from central government of nearly 50%, all
while demand and costs have grown. Analysis by the
Local Government Association ahead of the spending

the social care precept to carry the burden. Research by
the Institute for Fiscal Studies this month
shows the gaping holes in that plan: the
government’s social care policies will cost
2
• The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
Why trust thepeople whocut
your services torebuild them?
Frances Ryan
 Continued from front
 £5bn a year long-term – almost three times
the funding that has been allocated over
the next three years.
Much of the media has been eerily quiet on all this:
a disabled child left without a school place due to
budget cuts rarely makes widespread headline news.
The Labour party, for its part, has created no real
narrative around the crisis, sporadically waving its
arms critically at the social care predicament or the
closure of children’s centres, but making little attempt
to connect the dots to the cause of it all. The public,
unsurprisingly, are left in the dark, often blaming
progressive parties in local government for cuts that
have been forced on them by Westminster.
Two of the defining elements of British politics in
recent years are the vast cuts to public services and
F
the erosion of public trust in the political class. These
may appear separate concerns, but they are inexorably
linked. As austerity edicts are handed down from
London, many of which cause great harm, it is no
wonder communities across the country feel adrift.
A boarded-up town centre is a clear visual sign that
those in power don’t care about you or where you live.
ar from getting a reprieve with some
investment in the budget, there is
speculation that local government will
be hit with more reductions in funding,
as Sunak prepares to pull £2bn from
already neglected departments. Both
he and Johnson appear content with
playing pork-barrel politics, rewarding
their new “red wall” voters with roads and other
infrastructure, all with an eye on the next election –
and leaving the rest to rot.
It does not take an economist to work out this is not
only unethical, but counterproductive: just as every
pound invested in council-run services will relieve
pressure on other budgets like the NHS and social
security, every pound cut will pile on the misery.
At a time when fuel shortages and empty
supermarket shelves are miraculously branded by the
right as some sort of grand opportunity for the nation,
the public’s acceptance of barren conditions seems
unassailably high. And yet the electorate always has
a limit to what they are willing to put up with, not
least when they are paying the highest taxes since the
second world war and getting less and less in return.
Broken playgrounds have a habit of undermining even
the most brazen politician’s rhetoric.
The Conservatives may have little idea what
“levelling up” really means, but a meaningful agenda
would make it about power, resources and fairness.
True levelling up would mean that Newcastle city
council, having been forced to cut its own parks
budget by 97% thanks to central government, should
now get the resources to boost its green spaces. It
would mean more areas being empowered to do
a Preston-style transformation, where change is
instigated by communities and local politicians.
It would mean affluent Richmondshire in North
Yorkshire would never get cash intended for deprived
areas, just because its MP is the chancellor.
Funding all areas of the country – not for political
gain, but simply because they need it – may be an
unfashionable idea in Whitehall, but nonetheless, it is
one that the Tories should be considering. Johnson’s
vague assertions that he will somehow make Britain
dramatically better disintegrates against the reality
of a country that cannot even provide basic services
for its citizens. That it is Johnson’s own party that is
responsible for this state of affairs is the ongoing irony
of British politics. The Conservatives have perfected
playing both arsonist and firefighter in more than a
decade in power, decimating local communities and
then claiming to be their only saviour.
Johnson’s shtick that he is the go-getter clearing
up the mess of “the other guys” may eventually fall
flat given the other guys are his own party. In the
meantime, disabled people go without help to wash
and deprived children can’t play outside; vital services
are lost everywhere. The question, surely, is just how
much longer the prime minister can get away with it.
Founded 1821 Independently owned by the Scott Trust № 54,482
‘Comment is free… butfacts are sacred’CP Scott
Coronavirus
The surge in Covid
absence of effective messaging to the contrary, a
large section of the population came to believe the
pandemic was effectively over, and the government
lost its focus when it came to driving the delivery of
third, booster injections to older people. About 30
infections leaves no million people are eligible for a jab; 4 million have
so far received one. A collective sense of urgency
room for complacency has been absent.
The autumnal surge of Covid infections is taking
place for a combination of reasons. Most of the UK
Post-lockdown Britain is sailing dangerously close to population was double-vaccinated earlier than
the wind. Yesterday’s tally of 49,139 cases is far higher most other countries, so more people are reaching
than equivalent figures being recorded elsewhere in the point when immunity gradually begins to
Europe. Hospitalisations and deaths are on the rise, and wane. That is not the government’s fault. But other
one in five intensive care beds is currently occupied factors have been under its control. The vaccination
by a Covid patient. The NHS – struggling to deal with a of teenagers has taken place far more slowly
waiting list of 6 million people – has warned that if the than, for example, in Spain, leading to spiralling
escalation in cases is not checked, invidious decisions transmission within English schools. Reverting to
will have to be taken about priorities. Exhausted staff, libertarian type, Mr Johnson’s government moved
too few in number, say they are on the cusp of being well ahead of others, including in the rest of Britain,
overwhelmed. And winter has yet to begin. in relaxing rules on mask-wearing. During the
Given that darkening context, Sajid Javid’s first summer it shelved the idea of requiring vaccine
Covid press conference did very little to reassure. Mr passes for mass gatherings.
Javid’s announcement that two new anti-viral drugs, This free-and-easy approach, and the absence
which reduce the severity of Covid infections, may of cautionary public messaging, was intended
be available in months, was very good news. But as to maximise the economic benefits of opening
the NHS Confederation calls for urgent measures to up. Setting a tone in such a way inevitably led
prevent an imminent crisis, it was also a distraction. On large swathes of the population to revert to
the issue of the day, the health secretary flatly rejected pre-pandemic behaviour. This makes sending
the idea that the pressures on the NHS were becoming the right messages and getting them heard much
unsustainable, despite admitting that Covid cases more difficult. Mr Javid’s belated warning that the
could rise as high as 100,000 a day. He offered instead pandemic is not over followed months of laissez-
a pep talk to the public, urging it to remember to act faire laxity.
cautiously when mixing. The vaccination rollout has, of course,
Have we not been here before? It is hard not transformed the Covid landscape for the better,
to conclude that Boris Johnson’s penchant for greatly reducing the possibility of severe
panglossian leadership is again leaving the government outcomes after infection. But the government has
looking complacent and slow to act with precautionary repeatedly stated that it will intervene if it appears
speed. After the prime minister lifted all restrictions the NHS risks being overwhelmed. Clearly, this
during the summer, a predicted surge in infections is now close to being the case. A more cautious
to very high levels did not materialise. This led to approach to everyday life may again become
hopes that a “plan B” – reintroducing measures such necessary during the treacherous winter to come.
as mandatory mask-wearing, vaccine passports and The government has a responsibility to get ahead of
working from home – would never be necessary. In the this inconvenient truth and lead.
Culture has also discomfited them, even repulsed them. In
other words, as Lan has pointed out, her presence
has allowed a kind of re-enactment of the attitudes
Art is not about providing displayed to real refugees.
At times the language used to boost art can omit
joy or supporting tourism. an important reason for its presence in society:
to hold a mirror up to its foibles, to see through
It’s about telling the truth its pomp and vanity. The arts are, institutionally,
adept at invoking all kinds of arguments to support
their continued existence and public support:
This week, a 3.5-metre tall puppet called Little Amal these arguments, pragmatically adopted to serve a
landed at Folkestone. From there she is travelling to political mood, can sometimes err in the direction
London, Coventry and finally Manchester. Since July of suggesting that the “cultural sector” exists
she has taken an 8,000km journey through Turkey, mainly to support “brand Britain” – to encourage
Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and tourism, to show the nation at its most “vibrant”,
France, following the route that a child migrant from to enhance the economic fortunes of this or that
Syria might. Her journey provides “an opportunity for town by producing such-and-such a spend for every
people to be sympathetic and imagine what it would taxpayer pound invested in its theatre or arts centre.
be like to be her”, David Lan, one of the project’s But art is fundamentally not about any of these
organisers, has said. instrumental things, nor is about providing joy or
As a piece of theatre Little Amal is an extraordinary “celebrating creativity”. Art has better things to
thing: incredibly simple, almost naive in conception, do, and the greatest artists often have said or done
and yet utterly epic in execution. Hers (somehow it is deeply unpopular things (“Ireland is the old sow
impossible to say “its”) has been a tremendous, and that eats her farrow,” Joyce had Stephen Daedalus
deeply touching, journey – an intervention in the long opine, which would not be the kind of sentiment
and difficult debate about refugees that powerfully that would delight the funders of today). Lucy
foregrounds simple human empathy rather than policy Kirkwood’s new short play, Maryland, which runs
points or dry arguments. Along the way she has been at the Royal Court in London until the weekend
greeted joyfully by crowds, sent letters by Belgian before being made freely available to any theatre
school pupils, blessed by the pope and, on Sunday, will company that would like to run a reading of it, is
celebrate her birthday at the V&A in London with local a terrible thing to watch: a howl of pain and anger
children and a great deal of cake. But there has been a about violence against women, prompted by
darker side, too: she has also been pelted with stones, the murder of Sarah Everard. But it is art acting
protested against, and denied access to a village of as society’s conscience: a job that’s important
Greek monasteries. Little Amal, as a work of art, has even (or especially) when what it has to say is
been welcomed by audiences, and delighted them. She deeply unpalatable.
 Opinion
Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian •
T
Europe’s future
he result of the German election was
known within minutes of the polls
closing on 26 September. But the
dependson a
kind of government that will emerge
is being decided now, behind closed
doors, in intense three-way coalition
negotiations. With the Christian
power struggle
Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian
Social Union (CSU) humiliated by an defeat of
unprecedented magnitude, Olaf Scholz of the Social
Democratic party (SPD) is the clear favourite to succeed
in Germany
Angela Merkel at the chancellery.
The real question is the balance of power between
the SPD’s two coalition partners, the Greens and the
Free Democratic party (FDP). A key issue in those
negotiations is who gets the job at the finance ministry.
Adam The politicians concerned may be unknown outside
of Germany, and the battle over who controls the
Tooze purse strings may not seem glamorous. But it will, in
fact, decide the prospects not just of Germany’s next
government, but of Europe.
Both the FDP and the Greens want the finance
ministry job. Indeed, in the course of the campaign,
FDP leader Christian Lindner made it into a headline
issue, warning voters that the choice was between
him and Robert Habeck, the Green party chairman and
chief architect of the traffic-light coalition.
Lindner and the FDP stand for low taxes, debt
limitation and a hard line towards Germany’s European
partners. The climate crisis is to be addressed by
private investment and carbon pricing. The Greens,
by contrast, have put climate first – and for that reason
advocate large-scale investment, lifting Germany’s
“debt brake”, and a pro-European policy that
continues the steps taken in 2020 towards common,
debt-financed investment policy. It is precisely in
these policy areas – where the differences between the
Greens (and the SPD) and the FDP are greatest – that
the finance ministry is critical.
The German finance ministry matters, and not
just to Germany. In Merkel’s governments between
2009 and 2017, the post of finance minister was held
by Wolfgang Schäuble. He became notorious as
the pacemaker of the eurozone crisis. His constant
demands for austerity put debtor countries under huge
3
For the
European
Union, having a
fiscal conservative
running the German
finance ministry
would be ruinous
pressure. At the climax of the crisis, in 2015, he went
so far as to suggest that Greece take a “time out” from
euro membership. For him the rule of law – including
European treaties and fiscal rules – is the embodiment
of Europe’s highest ideals, the greatest achievement of
western civilisation.
But beyond Schäuble’s personal convictions, there
was also an inescapable political logic to his European
power play. In Europe, a fiscal conservative at the
helm of the German finance ministry has nowhere
to hide. They have to show their true colours. This,
one must fear, would apply even more powerfully to
Lindner as finance minister. He has far less European
conviction than Schäuble. His economic ideas are
conservative banalities. But he is also a showman who
will need to demonstrate that he and his party can
stand up to his two more leftwing partners. It would
be naive to imagine that he can be safely sandwiched
between a powerful Scholz-led chancellery and an
environmental super-ministry led by the Greens.
Scholz himself has demonstrated what a
difference a progressive, pro-European at the helm
of the German finance ministry can make. He is
Christian no economist, but he surrounded himself with a
Lindner, the forward-thinking, internationally minded team
leader of that has changed both the tone and the content of
Germany’s Free German economic policy debate. The Scholz ministry
Democratic accelerated public investment and pushed global tax
T
party reform. During the Covid crisis it spent on a lavish
scale. Above all, he took seriously the fragility of
: NN-
 / the eurozone. When the Covid crisis threatened
to blow the eurozone apart in the spring of 2020,
Scholz pushed decisively for collaboration with the
French, opening the door to the breakthrough of the
ext Generation EU recovery plan.
he absence of crisis in Europe at
the moment depends, critically, on
holding a delicate balance within
German politics. Europe’s recovery is
still fragile. Europe’s debts are higher
than before. The politics of eurozone
governance is as unresolved as ever.
Against this backdrop, the prospect
of Lindner at the German finance ministry should
be ominous. FDP finance experts insist that both
Germany and Europe should return as quickly as
possible to the debt limitation rules that prevailed
before the Covid crisis. For Germany, that may be
doable. For Europe, this would be ruinous. Sixty per
cent of the citizens of the eurozone live in countries
where the debt to GDP ratio is now more than 100%.
In Italy, it is more than 150% of GDP. Under those
conditions, to force a return to the criteria of the
Maastricht era, requiring debts to be reduced until
they reached 60% of GDP, would be ruinous. It would
hobble any public investment in the green transition
and provoke a populist backlash, starting in Italy.
With power seemingly within its grasp, the SPD
may be tempted to grant the FDP its wish and hand
 the finance ministry to Lindner. The FDP is seeking to
Adam Tooze generate momentum behind the idea that the finance
is the author position is theirs for the asking. To grant its wish
of Shutdown: would be to take a dangerous gamble. A conservative
How Covid in the German finance ministry is a systemic risk for
Shook the Europe. And, as even Angela Merkel discovered, it is
World’s very difficult for Berlin to make concerted policy if
Economy Europe has descended into crisis.
4 Opinion
• The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021
There arestill
no real climate
leaders. Not yet
Greta
T
Thunberg
he UN secretary general, António
Guterres, called the recent IPCC
report on the climate crisis a “code
red” for humanity. “We are on the
edge of an abyss,” he said. You might
think those words would sound
some kind of alarm in our society.
But, like so many times before,
this didn’t happen. The denial of the climate and
ecological crisis runs so deep that hardly anyone
takes real notice any more.
Since no one treats the crisis like a crisis, the
existential warnings keep on drowning in a steady
tide of greenwash and everyday news. There is
still reason to be hopeful, but we have to start
with honesty.
If we are to stay below the targets set in the 2015
Paris agreement – and thereby minimise the risks
of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond
human control – we need immediate, drastic emission
reductions unlike anything the world has ever
seen. And since we don’t have the technological
solutions that alone will do anything close to that
in the foreseeable future, it means we have to make
fundamental changes to our society.
In fact, we are speeding in the wrong direction.
In 2021 we are projected to experience the second-
biggest emission rise ever recorded, and by 2030
global emissions are expected to have increased by
16% compared with 2010 levels. According to the
International Energy Agency, only 2% of governments’
“build back better” recovery spending has been
invested in clean energy. The world’s planned fossil
fuel production by the year 2030 accounts for more
than twice the amount that would be consistent with
the 1.5C target. In short, we are failing to even reach
targets that were completely insufficient.
One textbook example of this backwards trend is
the UK. It’s a nation that is currently producing 570m
barrels of oil and gas each year; a nation with a further
4.4bn barrels of oil and gas reserves to be extracted
from the continental shelf. It is also among the 10
biggest emitters in history. Our emissions stay in the
atmosphere for up to a thousand years and we have
already emitted about 89% of the CO budget that gives
us a 66% chance of staying below an increase of 1.5C.
This is why historical emissions count.
Between 1990 and 2016, the UK lowered its territorial
emissions by 41%. However, once you include the full
scale of emissions – such as consumption of imported
goods, international aviation and shipping – the
reduction is more like 15%. And this is excluding the
burning of biomass, like at Drax’s Selby plant –
a heavily subsidised so-called “renewable” power
plant that is, according to analysis, the UK’s biggest
single emitter of CO and the third biggest in all of
Europe. And yet the government still considers itself
to be a global climate leader.
The UK is, of course, far from the only country
relying on such creative carbon accounting. China,
currently by far the world’s biggest emitter of CO,
is planning to build 43 new coal power plants on
top of the 1,000 plants already in operation– while
also claiming to be an ecological “trailblazer”
committed to leaving “a clean and beautiful
world to future generations”. Or take the new US
administration, which recently announced plans to
open millions of acres for oil and gas exploration that
could ultimately result in production of up to 1.1bn
barrels of crude oil and 4.4tn cubic feet of fossil gas.
The truth is there are no climate leaders. Not yet.
At least not among high-income nations. The level of
public awareness and the unprecedented pressure
from the media that would be required for any real
leadership to appear is still basically nonexistent.
Things may look very dark and hopeless, and given
the torrent of reports and escalating incidents, the
feeling of despair is understandable. But we need to
remind ourselves that we can still turn this around.
It’s entirely possible if we are prepared to change.
Hope is all around us. Because all it would really
 take is one world leader or one high-income nation
Greta Thunberg to decide to be honest, to truly treat the climate crisis
is a Swedish as the crisis that it is. One leader who counts all the
activist who numbers – and then takes brave action to reduce
inspired a emissions at the pace and scale the science demands.
movement of Then everything could be set in motion towards
school strikes action, hope, purpose and meaning.
against climate The clock is ticking. Summits keep happening.
inaction Emissions keep growing. Who will that leader be?
Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian •

Hillsborough:
the great betrayal The long read
After 32 years of establishment lies,
media smears, inquests, trials and retrials,
the families of the Hillsborough dead
have yet to see anyone held accountable.
By David Conn

O
6 The long read
• The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021

ordered officers to close access to the tunnel and funding and could afford only a single barrister, who
direct people to the side pens where there was still was outnumbered by those representing the police,
room, the crush would have been avoided. Yet despite who were paid for using public money. In March 1991,
Duckenfield’s original story being exposed as a lie, the the jury returned a verdict of accidental death. The
police nevertheless constructed a case that Liverpool Hammonds, and all the families, felt it was a grievous
supporters caused the dangerous situation outside miscarriage of justice.
the ground, by arriving without tickets, late, drunk In 1997, Prof Phil Scraton, the principal academic
and misbehaving. expert on the Hillsborough injustice, exposed that
The essential truth was established by Lord Taylor South Yorkshire police had an operation to amend
just four months after the disaster, in his report after officers’ accounts of the day to minimise criticism
the official inquiry. He concluded that the main cause of senior officers. Yet despite that scandal and more
of the disaster was “the failure of police control”, revelations, years passed, into the bleak 00s, with the
and described Duckenfield neglecting to close off the justice campaign building strongly in Liverpool but
tunnel after ordering the exit gate to be opened as too little media coverage, and nothing solid moving for
“a blunder of the first magnitude”. Taylor severely the families.
criticised the South Yorkshire police for failing to The 20th anniversary wasn’t news, it was just a
n a grey morning accept responsibility and pressing a false case against dreadful landmark, but one the media would cover. My
in May this year, the English legal system’s epic failure the victims. Yet even then, the police advanced the Guardian article, published on 13 April 2009, focused
to secure justice for the families devastated by the same allegations at the inquest the following year, on the issues the Hammonds had outlined 13 years
Hillsborough disaster finally ground to its dismal and all the legal proceedings that followed, in which earlier, the amendments to South Yorkshire police
conclusion. Ninety-seven people were killed due to the families sought the truth and justice for their officers’ statements, and deepening concerns about the
a terrible crush on an overcrowded terrace at the FA loved ones. role of West Midlands police.
Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham The legal system that dragged bereaved families Maria Eagle, the Merseyside MP who had made an
Forest at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough football through 32 years of adversarial battles finally excoriating speech in parliament in 1998, accusing
stadium on 15 April 1989. Since then, the families concluded its work in May. The result is that nobody South Yorkshire police of running a “black propaganda
have endured a 32-year fight for the truth to be has been held accountable for 97 people dying, nor for unit” to shift blame on to the innocent victims, stood
accepted – that the main cause of the disaster was the police campaign of lies designed to shift blame on by this view, and we ran that on the front page.
police negligence, and for those responsible to be to the victims. The families and their advocates are On the morning we published, Andy Burnham, then
held accountable. now calling for reform, for a “Hillsborough law” and a Labour’s culture secretary, called me to say he had
The first bereaved parents I met when I began public advocate to repair some of the system’s worst read it, and had resolved to do something to address
reporting on the disaster and the families’ implacable injustices. Valuable as that will be, it makes the case for the injustice. He had formed the view that if the South
campaign for justice, in 1996, were Phil and a complete overhaul. Yorkshire police and other authorities published all
Hilda Hammond, whose son, Philip, had died at the documents they held in their files, it could break
Hillsborough, aged 14. Hilda, who worked as a senior On the weekday night 25 years ago that I first met the legal deadlock. Two days later, he addressed
intensive care nurse at Liverpool’s Walton hospital, Phil and Hilda Hammond, we sat around the kitchen the memorial service at Anfield. As Burnham read a
told me that, unbearable as their loss was, she had still table in Aigburth, south Liverpool. Phil, a post office statement from the prime minister, Gordon Brown, he
been able to understand that disasters can happen. manager, was vice-chair of the Hillsborough Family was interrupted by calls from the crowd, for justice.
She expected that the authorities would hold prompt Support Group (HFSG), at the forefront of the struggle Confronted with that strength of feeling, Brown’s
and rigorous proceedings. “I thought they would find for justice. When I asked what their son Philip was like, government finally understood that this was an
the truth of how Philip died, how they all died, and Phil grimaced, his face reddened; he said he struggled unresolved scandal, and gave Burnham support for
if anybody was found to be to blame they would be to talk about him. Then they did tell me about Philip’s his initiative. The Hillsborough Independent Panel
punished,” she said. “I was so naive.” talents, his leadership qualities, enthusiasm for sport, was formed, tasked with producing a report, for
Instead of committing to a process that would lead how well he was growing up. Eventually Phil said: “He publication, that would set out what the documents
to justice for the people who had died, their families was a great lad, a great person to know.” Previous added to public understanding of the disaster and its
and those who were injured, South Yorkshire police They talked about the unbelievable shock of his page: Anfield, aftermath. South Yorkshire police and the families
mounted a campaign of lies, and the courts, through a death, the pain of the police lies, the poison published Liverpool’s agreed to participate with the panel as constituted,
series of proceedings, piled on more trauma. by the Sun under the headline “The Truth”, the ground, days after the families had held out for Scraton to be on
The people who died at Hillsborough were trapped betrayal by the West Midlands police, which was after the disaster it. Paul Leighton, recently retired as deputy chief
against a high metal fence at the front of the Leppings appointed by South Yorkshire police to investigate / constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland,
Lane terrace. Behind the fence, railings divided the the disaster. They recalled the nightmare daily slog was appointed as the police expert, Dr Bill Kirkup as
terrace into a series of “pens”. Built to enable greater to Sheffield for the inquest – the legal process to Andy Burnham the medical expert, and James Jones, the bishop of
police control of supporters, when the pens were determine how, when and where a person has died speaking at the Liverpool, as chair.
overcrowded they became iron cages from which where there is some doubt or issue of public concern. Hillsborough The panel presented its report, after two and a
there was no escape. The South Yorkshire coroner, Dr Stefan Popper, gave vigil in Liverpool half years’ work, on 12 September 2012, beneath
The lies began even as people were dying. The police serious credence to the police allegations against the in 2016 the soaring vaults and gleaming light of Liverpool’s
officer in command, Ch Supt David Duckenfield, failed victims. Bereaved families had no right to legal aid    Anglican cathedral. The families were given the report
to take control of the chaos and organise a concerted first, with an explanation from Scraton and Jones of
rescue operation, but he started the false narrative how completely the evidence had vindicated their
that would form the foundation of enduring injustice. struggle. Then the prime minister, David Cameron,
In an episode still profoundly shocking decades on, made a double apology in parliament: for the police
at 3.15pm Duckenfield lied to the Football Association failings that caused the deaths, and the changed police
official, Graham Kelly, telling him that Liverpool statements that had contributed to denying them
supporters had forced open a gate, and rushed into the justice. It was a momentous breakthrough. Many
Leppings Lane end of the ground. That story was given people affected still refer to it as “truth day”.
to the media and at 3.25pm, John Motson reported The Independent Office for Police Conduct launched
in a live BBC broadcast that a gate was said to have its biggest investigation, in October 2012, into the
been broken down, and that non-ticket holders had campaign of victim blaming and alleged cover-up. A
forced their way in. Right away, the victims were being new police investigation, Operation Resolve, was also
blamed for their own deaths and injuries. mounted into how the disaster had happened, and
The South Yorkshire police chief constable, Peter whether any criminal charges should be brought.
Wright, admitted hours later that the gate had not In December 2012, three high court judges took just
been forced open – Duckenfield himself had given an hour to quash the verdict of the inquest the families
the order for it to be opened. The police had failed had campaigned against to no avail for 21 years. In a
to organise a safe way for the 24,000 Liverpool courtroom in the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand,
supporters to access the stadium, through the the lord chief justice, Igor Judge, lamented the “falsity”
bottleneck approach to the turnstiles at the Leppings of the South Yorkshire police campaign to blame the
Lane end. Congestion built up at those entrances, victims and how “disappointingly tenacious” it had
then at 2.52pm Duckenfield ordered a wide exit gate been. He criticised Popper’s conduct of the inquest,
to be opened, to relieve the pressure by allowing and stated that, after Taylor’s August 1989 conclusions
many people into the ground at once. About 2,000 that failure of police control had been the main reason
people then came in together, and most headed for the disaster, “That should have been that”.
down a tunnel facing them that led straight into Judge ordered a new inquest to be held, in effect
the already packed central pens. If Duckenfield had calling for the truths established by Taylor, and now

Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian •
by the panel, to be accepted. It was a great landmark,
an extraordinary victory for the families. But in that
courtroom, it all still felt a very long way from good
enough. There was a self-satisfied air around the
room and among the judges. But this represented a
monumental failure of their system. The families,
bereft, had been forced to fight this unequal battle.
In that long span of time, family members had
suffered, many had become ill, some had died. Phil
Hammond, HFSG chair by then, had banged his head
on a shelf in the group’s office in 2008, and suffered a
near fatal brain haemorrhage. Hilda had had to give up
her job to help nurse him. Margaret Aspinall, whose
son James, 18, had died at Hillsborough, had taken over
as the chair.
Anne Williams had been one of the family members
who had applied for the inquest to be quashed in 1993.
Now she was brought to the Strand by her brother in
a wheelchair, having been diagnosed with cancer just
after the panel reported. She died four months later.
Even before the new inquest fully started in March
2014, the families were made to understand that lord
chief justice, Lord Judge’s comment, that it should
not become another adversarial battle, had no legal
power. Duckenfield’s barrister and lawyers for other
former senior police officers and junior officers in the
Police Federation stated at a preliminary hearing their
intention to argue yet again that Liverpool supporters’
drinking was a factor in causing the disaster.
The law had no mechanism to enable the call by
Judge, the head of the judiciary, to be heeded. Court
proceedings start with the illusion, for a new jury, that
no facts or conclusions have ever been established
before. South Yorkshire police officers and their
lawyers came to the new inquest and rolled out the
same discredited case against the victims.
Thanks to Labour’s changes to legal aid, the families,
for the first time, had enough committed solicitors
from some leading law firms specialising in human
rights. The barristers were rigorous, experienced at
The police officer in command
started the false narrativethat
would formthe foundation
of enduring misjustice
A mural of fighting miscarriages of justice, and not shy of accusing seek accountability, the law moved to criminal
campaigner police officers of lying.
Anne Williams, They argued successfully that the families had to
who died in be at the heart of the process this time, so the inquest authority responsible for bringing criminal cases,
2013, in Anfield, opened with bereaved relatives making personal
Liverpool statements about their loved ones. This has since
 become a humanising force in our system, with family Wednesday secretary and safety officer, Graham
statements made at inquests and inquiries, including
those for the victims of the Grenfell fire, and the
Manchester Arena bombing.
The families’ loving, detailed reminiscences were
shattering. They recalled the men, women and many
children whose disastrous misfortune it was to be in
those vile pens. They remembered their characters,
sense of humour, friendships, schooling, careers,
interests, religious observance, how much they loved with perverting the course of justice, by having the
them, how much they missed them.
The contours of the loss were mapped: the youngest
to die was Jon-Paul Gilhooley, 10. The oldest was
Gerard Baron, 67, a war veteran then a Royal Mail
employee. Thirty-seven teenagers had died. Twenty-
five of those who died were fathers; 58 people lost
a parent. Three babies were born after their fathers
died at Hillsborough. One woman, Inger Shah, was
the single mother of two teenagers, Becky and Daniel. expert on health and safety and gross
After she died, they had to be taken into care.
7
Then, after all these cherished memories of the 96
were heard, the police and their lawyers reheated the
long-discredited allegations against the victims, and
adversarial battle commenced.
The families’ lawyers fiercely challenged every
allegation, depicting the false narrative as a cover-up
orchestrated from the top of the South Yorkshire
police. A very obvious feature of the disaster became
steadily apparent: the police had told their stories, but
the whole day had been filmed and photographed.
Hundreds of photographs of the crowd were shown on
the court screens, and BBC and CCTV footage played
repeatedly. It showed congestion at the too-few
Leppings Lane turnstiles started at 2.15pm, 45 minutes
before the scheduled kick-off, not “late”, the police
doing nothing effective to address it until the panicked
opening of the exit gate. The inquest addressed in
unbearable detail the horrific crush that followed,
how people died of compression asphyxia.
In all the film and photographs, Liverpool
supporters were not misbehaving, and nobody was
carrying a drink. Many survivors came as witnesses;
they included off-duty police officers, doctors and
nurses, and the humanity of the people who suffered
made the police portrayal of them as an out-of-control
mob look cruel, and evidently false.
Then Duckenfield crumbled as a witness. He
admitted he had not done sufficient preparation,
did not know the basic layout of the ground, did not
take effective action to enable 24,000 people to get
through that bottleneck in time and ultimately, that
in the crucial moments after ordering the gate open,
he “froze”. He admitted when questioned by his own
barrister, that his “serious professional failures” had
caused the deaths of the 96.
The jury returned their verdict on 26 April 2016.
They determined that the 96 were unlawfully killed,
due to gross negligence manslaughter by Duckenfield,
to a criminal standard of proof – beyond reasonable
doubt. And they concluded, having been explicitly
asked the question, that no behaviour of Liverpool
supporters had contributed to the dangerous situation
at the ground. The truth was accepted, and the
families, their loved ones, survivors, all the victims,
were finally vindicated.
Many families have since lamented how much better
it would have been if that could have stood as the end
of the ordeal. Yet if 96 people have been unlawfully
killed, and the accounts given by a police force and its
officers wholly disbelieved by a jury, the system has to
provide some accountability.
But the system is not coherent. It does not adopt
the conclusions and facts as established by one legal
process, and determine how to hold accountable
the people and organisations whose fault has
been proved. Every stage is entirely separate. To
prosecutions – a wholly new set of proceedings.
The Crown Prosecution Service, the public
charged Duckenfield in June 2017 with gross
negligence manslaughter. The former Sheffield
Mackrell, was charged with safety offences. Sir
Norman Bettison, a South Yorkshire police inspector
at the time, who later became chief constable of
Merseyside police, was charged with misconduct in a
public office, but that prosecution collapsed in 2018.
Two other former South Yorkshire police officers, Ch
Supt Donald Denton and Det Ch Insp Alan Foster, and
the force’s then solicitor, Peter Metcalf, were charged
officers’ accounts amended.
The facts of how the 96 were killed were, by
definition, exactly the same as those the inquest
jury had heard. But Duckenfield’s trial, which began
in January 2019 at Preston crown court, would be
conducted in front of a new jury, with the facts up for
grabs again.

The CPS had appointed Richard Matthews QC, an
negligence manslaughter, to lead the
8 The long read
• The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021

prosecution. Very quickly, families became alarmed
by the way he presented the case, and the direction
it took.
Despite a 30-year fight for justice, Duckenfield’s
barrister, Ben Myers QC, was able to advance the same
case the inquest jury had rejected three years earlier.
The families’ lawyers had successfully challenged it
all at the inquest, but now, Matthews barely contested
it at all.
The families had to watch as the conclusions of
the inquest were ignored. On 13 February 2019, a
former South Yorkshire police officer, Insp Stephen
Ellis, broke down while recalling people heading
down the tunnel to the central pens after the exit gate
was opened. The court took a break, during which
Matthews and Myers agreed to have some of Ellis’s
1989 statement read, instead of him having to continue
giving evidence. This meant whatever was read would
stand as evidence, unchallenged by the prosecution.
But the sections agreed included severe allegations
against supporters; Ellis had stated that supporters
had been drinking, were pushing, that they were
“gripped by a mania” to get into the ground at any
cost, that fans had dived over turnstiles to get in.
There was a great deal of similar police evidence,
not borne out by the video footage, and the families’
lawyers at the inquest had challenged every officer
who made such claims, including Ellis.
In response to my questions after the trial, the CPS
explained that it couldn’t challenge the evidence due to
the rules of court. The Crown had a duty to “prosecute
the case fairly and call a cross section of witnesses”, the
CPS said, which included calling police officers to give
their account of what happened. According to the rules:
“The prosecution is not permitted to ‘challenge’ the
evidence of its own witnesses.”
So a series of police officers, called by the
prosecution, gave evidence that had been discredited
at the inquest, and the prosecution allowed it to
stand. The families, having fought 30 years against
this narrative, made their views known very directly,
urging Matthews to fight harder, and the atmosphere
became fraught.
The families also had concerns that the judge, Sir
Peter Openshaw, was sympathetic to Duckenfield. The
judge allowed him to sit in the court with his lawyers,
rather than in the dock, where accused people routinely
sit, isolated, to be studied by a jury. Openshaw later
explained in a ruling that this was part of making
allowances for Duckenfield’s mental health, including
post-traumatic stress disorder. But such a concession to
a defendant is rare. Sitting next to his solicitors, wearing
his dark suit, made Duckenfield appear less like the
accused, more like a victim himself.Myersplayed hard
on that impression, portraying Duckenfield as a pitiful
old man who had been “hounded” for 30 years, and was
being made a scapegoat for wider failings.
“Just look at him!” Myers pleaded with the jury
during his closing speech.
In his summing up, which began on 21 March 2019,
Openshaw solemnly recited as credible evidence all
the allegations of supporters drinking, not having
tickets and being late, including Ellis’s evidence of
supporters’ “mania”. But the judge also added his own
explanation about Duckenfield’s lie. He suggested to
the jury that it had not been a lie at all. As the crisis
at Hillsborough was developing, before Duckenfield
ordered the exit gate open, two other police officers
had briefly said in Duckenfield’s hearing, mistakenly,
that a gate had been forced. The judge told the jury
that Duckenfield may have genuinely formed that
impression himself, and it was “not at all surprising”.
It was, after everything, still a shocking experience
to hear Openshaw say that. Everybody in the
courtroom – except the jury – knew that Duckenfield
himself had always admitted that he lied, as far back as
the Taylor inquiry, where he had apologised for it. Yet
in that Preston courtroom, everybody was powerless
to say anything.
The families had to endure it, silently, in the public
seats. Jenni Hicks said listening to Openshaw’s
summing up was rolling the years back, like sitting
through Popper’s travesty all over again.
The findings arethatthe police
can falsify evidence toa public
inquiry without committing
a criminal offence
After eight days considering their verdict, the jury Trevor Hicks,
returned to say they could not reach the required
minimum majority of 10-2. Matthews immediately told a photo of his
Openshaw he would be applying for a retrial.
It began on 7 October, in the same court, with the
same barristers, and Openshaw still presiding. Some
differences were made in the CPS presentation of the
case, but broadly it followed the same pattern.
This time, on 28 November 2019, the jury, having
done their civic duty of assessing what was presented
to them, acquitted Duckenfield.
Perhaps as they left the court the jury members
saw the incensed reaction of the families, finally
released from their enforced silence. Only then could
the previous findings be reported again, so perhaps
the jury members learned for the first time about the
inquest determinations, and the new legal position
their verdict had established. Ninety-six people
had been unlawfully killed due to Duckenfield’s
gross negligence manslaughter, and the victims,
Liverpool supporters, were fully vindicated. But now,
Duckenfield was not guilty of the criminal offence
of gross negligence manslaughter, and the police
accusations against the victims had been reinstated.
The venue for the last act in the legal system’s
Hillsborough saga could look like a cruel, knowing joke.
Hilda Hammond told me years before that the stage-
managed moves of the Popper inquest were “like going
to the theatre”. Now, due to Covid requirements, the
concluding trial, of Metcalf, Denton and Foster, charged
with perverting the course of public justice, started on
20 April in an actual theatre: the Lowry in Salford.
The families who attended were given seats in the
upper circle. The judge, Mr Justice William Davis, was
up on stage in his wig and crimson robe. The barristers
were arranged in rows on the floor of the theatre,
under lights. As they stood to make their speeches,
the unavoidable illusion was created that this was
a scripted drama, conceived by a playwright as an
indictment of England’s archaic legal system.
Given the national outcry that the changing of
statements had always caused, the prosecution
seemed strangely lame. The opening speech by CPS
barrister, Sarah Whitehouse QC, was restrained, and
seemed to minimise the families’ outrage that the
police had perpetrated a cover-up. She said the trial
“is not about the causes of the disaster” or whose
fault it was, but this was confusing, given her own
allegation that the statements were changed to “mask
the failings” of the police. It meant that original police
allegations against supporters were read out in court
without context or challenge.
The case did not even make it as far as being decided
by the jury. The curtain came down on 26 May when
Davis stopped the trial. He cleared Denton, saying
that the chief superintendent had only been following
advice from Metcalf, the solicitor, about having the
police officers’ statements amended. The judge’s
wider reasoning makes for a seriously concerning set
of assertions about the law itself. The criminal offence
of “perverting the course of public justice” could not
have been committed by any of the three defendants,
he ruled, because the Taylor inquiry, to which the
amended statements were sent, was not a “course of
public justice, like a court case”. But Popper’s inquest
could not have been perverted either, because its
scope was narrower before the Human Rights Act,
Davis said. That appears deeply questionable, because
Popper’s inquest did consider the circumstances of the
disaster, dwelt on the police allegations particularly
the claims about drinking, and the lord chief justice
had quashed it in 2012 partly on the basis that the
police case was false.
Davis also decided that the South Yorkshire police
and Metcalf, as the force’s lawyer, had no legal “duty
of candour” to the inquest, meaning they were not
required to be fully open and truthful.
So the legal findings delivered as the final scene
of the Hillsborough tragedy were these: police and
their solicitor can falsify evidence to a public inquiry
without committing a criminal offence, and they did
not have to be wholly truthful to an inquest. Also,
there was a section about a solicitor’s duties under
in 1999, with English law, in which Davis noted that if a solicitor
“realises that the court is acting on a false basis”, there
daughters Vicki is “no duty to correct the court or to draw the court’s
and Sarah attention to the true position”.
 / So, a solicitor can be aware that a miscarriage of
 U justice is being perpetrated, and has no duty to correct
it. Whitehouse rose and, to the families’ surprise, said
the CPS was not going to appeal this ruling.
The judge told the jury foreman to state formally
that Metcalf, Denton and Foster were not guilty. And
that was it. Thirty-two years of legal proceedings were
over. After 97 people were unlawfully killed at an FA
Cup semi final, and a major police force constructed
a false case to blame the victims, nobody had been
held to account. Only Mackrell, the former Sheffield
Wednesday secretary, has been convicted, of a safety
offence related to allocating only seven turnstiles for
the 10,100 people with tickets to stand on the Leppings
Lane terrace. He had been fined £6,500.
In the grey and unseasonal cold on the forecourt
outside the Lowry, Burke, Hicks and the family of
Brian Matthews, a married financial consultant who
died at Hillsborough aged 38, stood and talked to
the media, lambasting the ruling and the process.
At a press conference outside Liverpool’s Anfield
stadium, Aspinall, standing alongside Burnham, raged
at what the families had been put through, calling it
“a complete and utter disgrace”, and said the whole
system needed to change.
Like many family members, Hicks reflects now that
after so long a fight, she must now try to live her life.
“Who knows what was lost that day when my
daughters didn’t come home? There may have been
grandchildren, and their children. My daughters went
to watch a football match and I feel like their lives were
just ripped away, through the lack of police control.
“And these 32 years, what they put us through: I feel
betrayed, by judges and by police. It has been a betrayal
 of everything I was brought up to believe about my
David Conn own country. Your brain can’t compute why it’s
is a Guardian acceptable in a British court to bring back evidence that
journalist who was dismissed years earlier. The injustice and grief run
has reported on alongside each other; it’s like a knife in your heart.
the Hillsborough “We’ve fought for our own loved ones, but there has
disaster for 25 been a strong feeling of responsibility, too: that if there
years is no accountability, this can happen to other people.” •
 Letters 9
Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian •
 guardian.letters@theguardian.com
 @guardianletters

Established 1906
Country diary Labour must take aim at suggest that the imminent spending
review and autumn budget would
Corrections and
clarifications
Johnson’s Brexit disaster
present the ideal opportunity to do
St Cleer, so. Clearly, the damage being done
by Brexit to tax revenues is a very •Italy’s new vaccine mandate
BodminMoor significant factor in spending and
budget considerations.
requires workers to have
received a first dose of vaccine,
Whereas many of the serious not to be double-vaccinated as
The splashy land of Craddock Moor John Harris’s excellent article (Soon Keir Starmer, the shadow cabinet Brexit problems, such as HGV driver we said (Unvaccinated worker
straddles the watershed between the reality of Brexit will become too and all Labour MPs, at every and social care staffshortages, are ban raises concern over unrest,
the rivers Fowey and Lynher. On hard to ignore, Journal, 18 October) opportunity, to do exactly that. self-evident, the insidious aspect 15 October, page 24).
turfy hillocks of early streamworks was extremely sobering. “What David Curtis of Brexit is the reduction to GDP
for tin, the redness of haws, the happens,” he asks, “when some Solihull, West Midlands and the corresponding loss of tax •Chubb is the name of the
yellow gorse flowers and pink watershed is reached, and the fact revenue, unfortunately clouded by private security company with a
heather brighten the summit, that people were conned becomes • John Harris lets the Westminster the economic impact of Covid. The parliamentary contract, not “Chub”
with its fading bracken and rushy inescapable?”, linking the way opposition parties off the hook. losses to date of financial services as we had it in an article (Spending
grasses. Adjacent are the remains of public trust was undermined by Labour failed to offer a clear alone would suggestthe Office watchdog seeks to safeguard MPs
an ancient stone circle, dominated the Iraq war and by Brexit. Both message in the referendum of Budget Responsibility’s 2020 by cutting detail from published
by a chimney stack attached to a before war was declared on Iraq, campaign and must take some forecast of a Brexit reduction to expenses, 20 October, page 15).
ruined engine house. and also before Brexit was enacted, responsibility for the result. Talking GDP of 5% over 15 years is probably
From this vantage point, the some 1 million people marched about the effects of Brexit at the of the right order.In the light of Editorial complaints and corrections can be sent to
guardian.readers@theguardian.com or The readers’
sea off Rame Head is a mirror, through the streets of London in moment highlights yet another actual Brexit experience to date, editor, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU
and traversed by the Brittany opposition. These people were internal division. And the Liberal Labour should demand that the
ferry from Plymouth. Westward, engaged, informed, enlightened Democrats seem reluctant to tell OBR forecast be updated.
an undulating range of china
clay country, which no longer
folk from across the country,
committed enough to march for
voters they were conned. Surely,
it is no great problem to say loud
David Newens
Great Linford, Milton Keynes Maggie’s appeal has
features the many conical white
spoil tips that inspired the name
policies that to them represented
the right way forward, for Britain
and clear that the Tories misled
the country over leaving the EU, • On a recent trip to France, my been long indecline
of Cornish Alps. and the world. The governments of and thus we are on course for newfound freedom meant that I
The boulder-strewn edge of the day ignored them. incremental disaster. was no longer able to slip from one It is hardly news that the popularity
moorland, around Tregarrick Tor, The consequences of the Iraq Geoff Reid country to another, but that I was of the name Margaret has been
looms over Siblyback Lake – a war and Brexit are now all too clear. Bradford treated as a foreigner on entering falling (Report, 19 October). It has
reservoir that captures three little We should not have made war; we France, my passport being stamped been falling ever since 1904, when
streams that once flowed directly should not have left Europe. As John • Polly Toynbee (Pity the firms and my visit limited. I crept in it was the fourth most popular girl’s
into a tributary of the Fowey. On Harris says: “People in the political being sacrificed by Johnson for ashamed to be British, leaving name. By the time I came on the
top of the granite tor, natural rock mainstream – by which I chiefly Brexit purity, Journal, 19 October) behind a country with empty scene in 1939, it was 11th. When
basins brim with water – these mean Labour MPs – need to start makes a very welcome plea: “It’s supermarket shelves, no fuel at the Maggie Thatcher hit the national
were once described as devil’s loudly talking about Brexit … and time for Labour to shake off old pumps and high Covid levels with consciousness, it was down to
punchbowls, or as virgins’ bidets in what life outside Europe is doing remoaner phobias and turn its shambolic pandemic advice. 80th, so alas she cannot be blamed
France. Here, the broken remains to us.” Absolutely. I feel sure there full firepower on every aspect of Ben Hoare entirely for its declining appeal.
of massive capstones lie about, are millions of voters desperate for Johnson’s Brexit disaster.” May I Gilesgate, County Durham Margaret Squires
levered off in the past, worked and St Andrews, Fife
split into blocks, then manoeuvred
downhill for use as building stone.
An overgrown droveway leads Tory plans for change our gas boilers for ground
or air source heat pumps. For Hungary pact is a
lesson for liberals
• Felicity Cloake bills her rye
bread recipe (Feast, 16 October) as
off this quiet hillside towards
the reservoir’s busy carpark – a heat pumps are some people this is an acceptable
technique. But for many, particularly
“stupidly simple”, with prep time
of only 15 minutes. Yep, that’ll do
destination for sightseers and
regular local visitors. A few walk
around the lake on a graded
path, overlooked by sheep
full of hot air those in high-rise buildings, this is
impractical due to the difficulties The decision by opposition
in attachingthe units to the outside parties in Hungary to mount a
of a tall structure. united campaign against the
me. However, if you’re hungry,
beware of the wait through three
days’ fermentation, a 27-hour
prove, three-hour bake, and 12-24
scattered across green pastures, A better and much cheaper governing party, Fidesz (Editorial, hour cooling. I’ll be enjoying my
and with distant tors peeping If you search online how domestic solution for those people is to use 20 October), has a message “two small loaves” next Friday.
over nearer hills. heat pumps work, you soon find the existing natural gas system to for Labour. Here, as there, the Sam White
Near the concrete dam, a pair out that they are expensive to supply green or blue hydrogen. At opposition fails spectacularly if Lewes, East Sussex
of cormorants perch on the rocks install and generate a constant worst, they may have to replace it campaigns as separate parties.
and dry their wings, while another noise that could be a problem with their boilers, but hopefully only the The last time the UK Conservative • Thank you for your obituary of
dives for fish close to a gang of close neighbours (Ministers reveal burners and meters, as was done party won more votes than the excellent Michael Chapman
floating gulls. The feeder streams plan for £5,000 grants in scheme to when we changed from town gas to the combination of the other (20 October). The song The North
to the dam are low and in need replace boilers with heat pumps, natural at the end of the 1960s. parties was in 1959. A substantial Will Rise from his 1996 album
of significant rainfall. Near the 19 October). What is less well known Frank Brown minority of voters always votes Navigation contains the refrain
main inflow, pools reflect the blue is that, although they might replace London Conservative, but it has never been “You’d better believe the north will
sky and scudding clouds; a beach what gas and oil-fired domestic more than a minority. Long periods rise”. Still waiting, and hoping.
extends around the shallow edges boiler systems do, they also start •There can be little doubt about of uninterrupted Conservative rule Bob Horne
of the lake; and no water flows over becoming less efficient and effective the necessity of moving to more are not necessary to rein in leftwing Lightcliffe, West Yorkshire
the dam’s spillway. In the brambly when the outside temperature sustainable sources of domestic absurdities; instead, absurdities of
verges, the declining autumn sun is about 5C and lower – just the energy. However,air source heat the right become entrenched. • I can remember when a disease
draws attention to the spoiled temperature at which you definitely pumps would require most older The UK government has infecting more than a million
blackberries, woven with glistening need effective domestic heating. homes to be retrofitted with moved further to the right than people a month and killing more
webs where spiders entrap and Also, there is no guarantee that significant extra insulation and, any previous Conservative than 3,000 of them would have
bundle up flies. the electricity used to power each in replacing combi-boilers, the administration and is doing been seen as a UK medical crisis
Virginia Spiers unit comes from a renewable or installation of hot water storage long-term damage (5 million (NHS chiefs urge ‘plan B plus’ amid
truly zero carbon source. So why systems, possibly with additional children growing up in poverty, for Covid surge, 20 October).
are we wasting our time with electric heating to cope with higher example). Because the opposition Peter Brooker
We do not publish letters where this “compromise”, and at a cost temperature demands. parties will not unite, the West Wickham, Kent
only an email address is supplied; to us taxpayers of £5,000 a pop? It is puttingthe cart before the Conservatives are almost certain to
please include a full postal Surely it couldn’t be for last minute horse to offer grants for heating win again. As in Hungary, they are • Oh dear Guardian, not again!
address, a reference to the article Cop26 cosmetic reasons? systems before gettingour houses reshaping the electoral system to Tuesday’s Wordsearch gave a
and a daytime phone number. Gary Bennett in order through realistic funding bolster their chances. Who knows challenge to find 15 scientists. How
We may edit letters. Submission Exeter of the insulation and adaptation of what damage yet more rightwing many women? One! Any other
and publication of letters is subject current systems. governments will do? than physicists? None!
to our terms and conditions: see •The governmenthas in effect Austen Lynch Jeremy Cushing Lesley Cooper
theguardian.com/letters-terms asked us, over the next 30 years, to Garstang, Lancashire Exeter Cavendish, Suffolk
10 Obituaries
• The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021

with Elvis Presley,became lifelong

friends of other British expats such
as Roger Moore,Joan Collins,David
Niven and Michael Caine.
Bricusse was born in Southfields,
south-west London, into a family
with no theatrical connections
beyond those of his grandmother,
who used to clean the front steps of
the Apollo theatre in the West End.
His father, Cedric, rose to the position
of circulation manager on the Sunday
Chronicle, his mother,Ann (nee
Mills), had been a war widow and
Cedric was her second husband.
Seven years before Leslie arrived, the
couple had a daughter, Patricia.
The family moved in 1933 to
Pinner, Middlesex, where Leslie
attended Canon Lane elementary
school and won a scholarship
to University College school in
Hampstead. After two years of
national service, he gained a
place at Gonville & Caius College,
Cambridge, in 1951 to study modern
and medieval languages, and
produced a musical, The Lady at the
Wheel, with his contemporary, the
future novelist Frederic Raphael.
As president of the Footlights,
he co-wrote and appeared in the
1954 revue Out of the Blue, the

Leslie Bricusse
first Cambridge revue to reach
musical into the modern pop music the West End, co-starring another
era, and their shared cockney contemporary, Jonathan Miller,

Composer and lyricist

identity, as well as an affinity with
Charles Dickens, was an important
creative factor. Newley became a
known for his hugely
huge star, and Bricusse bonded (for
a few years) with Bart to the extent
of forming an LB club, the initials
acclaimed as a new Danny Kaye six
Heand years before Beyond the Fringe.
While Miller returned to
Newley
medicine, for a while at least,
had a Bricusse was spotted by the brilliant
shared clown Beatrice Lillie, who hired him

successful songs for Willy

allowing honorary membership also cockney as her leading man for the revue An
to Lionel Blair and Lauren Bacall. Evening with Beatrice Lillie at the
identity

T
Wonka and Doctor Dolittle
he songwriter
Leslie Bricusse,
who has died
aged 90, was a
quiet man with
an unshakeable
sense of his own
worth, an outlook
justly cultivated in the early 1960s
when his two stage musicals
with Anthony Newley, Stop the
World – I Want to Get Off (1961)
and The Roar of the Greasepaint
– The Smell of the Crowd (1964),
spawned songs that became
standards recorded by Sammy
Davis Jr (What Kind of Fool Am
I?), Nina Simone (Feeling Good)
and Tony Bennett (Who Can I Turn
To?), as well as Newley himself.
Pop ballads and romantic torch
songs were his speciality in a vast
output including music and/or
lyrics for more than 40 films and
plays; he won his first Oscar for
Talk to the Animals, sung, sort of,
by Rex Harrison in the 1967 movie
Doctor Dolittle, which he adapted
from Hugh Lofting’s novels, and
his second for his score for Blake
Edwards’s Victor Victoria (1982)
starring Julie Andrews. Most critics
of the 2013 Drury Lane version of
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
agreed that the best song in the
show was the one lifted from the
1971 Willy Wonka film starring
Gene Wilder, Pure Imagination, one
of 14 good songs written for that
film by Bricusse. Another of them,
Candy Man, sung by Aubrey Woods,
became another hit for Davis.
Elements of cockney knees-up
came into play in the 1970 musical
film Scrooge starring Albert Finney,
but the one song of Bricusse’s score
most typical of that strain, and the
best item altogether, Thank You
Very Much, was in fact written by
Newley with another writer, James
Head. Newley played Scrooge
on stage in Birmingham in 1972,
eventually reaching the vast arena
of the Dominion in London in 1976.
Scrooge became a standard role for
Tommy Steele for years on end from
2003, while Jasper Britton scored a
success in the role, and the show, at
the Curve in Leicester in 2017.
Bricusse and Newley followed
in the steps of Lionel Bart, whose
Oliver! in 1960 kicked the British
Newley was in effect Bricusse’s Globe (now the Gielgud) in the same
as well as
passport first to Broadway and then year. Lillie, whose son had died in
Hollywood, where Bricusse and his an affinity the second world war, more or less
wife, the actor Yvonne Warren (stage adopted Bricusse, and catapulted
surname Romain), whom he married with him into the West End world of HM
in 1958, and whose film career
peaked in Double Trouble (1967)
Dickens Tennent and Binkie Beaumont,
and friends such as Edith Evans,
Noël Coward and Gladys Cooper.
Bricusse, above, He stooged in her sketches, played
in 2005. Right, the piano and wrote new material,
Rex Harrison in staying with Lillie for more than
Doctor Dolittle, 400 performances.
1967, who sort of Soon after this life-changing
sang Bricusse’s engagement, Bricusse heard
Talk to the Newley singing on a liner in the
Animals; centre, Indian Ocean and offered to come
with Anthony up with something for his next
Newley, right, album. Like Bart, Bricusse and
his co-writer Newley wrote songs that fitted
of the hit Pure musical theatre and suited the hit
Imagination, parade. Stop the World had two
sung by Gene more signature Newley numbers,
Wilder in Willy Once in a Lifetime and Gonna
Wonka & the Build a Mountain, while Roar of
Chocolate the Greasepaint, starring Norman
Factory, 1971 Wisdom (the show went straight
 / from a provincial tour to Broadway,
;
 ; ; Newley replacing Wisdom in the
/ lead) had two break-out numbers
tailored for the star and co-writer,
Nothing Can Stop Me Now and A
Wonderful Day Like Today.
In between these two hit
shows, Bricusse wrote lyrics for
Pickwick (1963) at the Saville
theatre, adapted from Dickens by
Wolf Mankowitz with a score by
Cyril Ornadel and a big rosy star
performance by Harry Secombe,

Thursday 21 October 2021 The Guardian
raising the roof and climbing the
charts with If I Ruled the World.
Writing lyrics for two Bond film
title songs, Goldfinger (1964) and
You Only Live Twice (1967), with
music by John Barry and vocals by
Shirley Bassey and Nancy Sinatra,
made his name in Hollywood,
and Doctor Dolittle put him in the
front rank. But his third theatre
collaboration with Newley, The
Good Old Bad Old Days (1972) at the
Prince of Wales, which opened a few
months after Jesus Christ Superstar,
looked like a retread of old ideas.
A series of sketches – covering the
French revolution, the American
civil war and Broadway itself – were
designed to show mankind in a good
light to stop God destroying the
world, and the score was curiously
devoid of big numbers.
A 1976 TV musical of Peter Pan
did little to bolster the reputations of
either writer, the music and lyrics of
Bricusse and Newley containing one
half-memorable song, Once Upon
a Bedtime, sung over the credits by
Andrews, and one wanly beguiling
item, Happiness Hill, that Newley
himself rescued from banality in his
recording of it. The film featured Mia
Farrow as Peter and Kaye as Hook.
For Sherlock Holmes at the
Cambridge in 1989 Bricusse wrote
book, music and lyrics, inventing
a revenge confrontation between a
resurrected Holmes (Ron Moody)
and his arch-enemy Moriarty’s
daughter, Bella (Liz Robertson), but
the show failed to take off, even in a
2013 revamp at the Hoxton Hall.
Victor Victoria was reworked as
a Broadway musical in 1995 with a
new collaborator, Frank Wildhorn,
with Andrews and Tony Roberts
leading the cast in the unfriendly
Marquis theatre; Edwards’s staging
was more dog’s dinner than
beautiful banquet. One song, alas,
was called Paris Makes Me Horny.
And then Andrews lost her voice.
Bricusse had a much happier time
with a staging of Doctor Dolittle
at the Hammersmith Apollo in
1998. Steven Pimlott’s spectacular
production starred Philip Schofield,
with puppetry by Jim Henson and
the regained, recorded voice of
Andrews as Polynesia the parrot.
The show ran for a year,then toured
the UK to good business. Steele
launched as Dolittle in a 2007 revival
by the producer Bill Kenwright
and, 10 years later,Mark Williams
led another tour that opened at the
Churchill theatre in Bromley in 2018.
Bricusse was appointed OBE
in 2001 and published a superbly
written autobiography, Pure
Imagination, in 2005.
Although Leslie and Yvonne
– known to everyone as Evie –
separated for a while in the 70s,
the marriage proved resilient and
long-lasting. She survives him,
as do their son, Adam, and two
grandsons, Roman and Luca.
Michael Coveney
Leslie Bricusse, songwriter, lyricist
and composer, born 29 January
1931; died 19 October 2021
•
 obituaries@theguardian.com
 @guardianobits
Mel Gooding
Critic hailed for his
Artists’ Lives interviews
for the British Library’s
T
oral history project
he art critic, writer
and teacher Mel
Gooding, who has
died aged 80,worked
independently of
any institution.
He did not havea
planned career, but
rather his publications grew out of a
sensuous response to painting and
sculpture, and an understanding
of those who made the work.
As well as contributing to the
art and national press, including
Arts Review, Art Monthly and the
Guardian, he produced monographs
on the artists Bruce McLean (1990),
John Hoyland (1990), Patrick Heron
(1994), Terry Frost (2000), Gillian
Ayres (2001) and herman de vries
(2006). He also published works on
the architects Will Alsop (1992) and
Jože Plecnik (1997).
At Sussex University he met his
future wife, Rhiannon Richards,
the daughter of the artists Ceri and
Frances Richards. Through their
circle he mixed with painters and
sculptors a generation older than
himself, absorbing their work and
concerns in a convivial context
before he had any thought of writing
on art. This established his later
approach and, unlike many critics,
he was at ease on studio visits.
Conversation was central to
Mel’s life, often taking place in
pubs, which was where he first
met McLean, at their local, the
Bull’s Head in Barnes, south-west
London. A sense of their energetic
creative fellowship is captured
through the series of collaborative
artists’ books published under their
invention, Knife Edge Press.
Dreamwork (1985), featuring
At Sussex
he became
friends
with a
future
president
of South
Africa –
Thabo
Mbeki Gooding’s major works on living artists involved close
engagement with the individuals  / 
screenprinted images by McLean,
and text by Mel, appeared first,
followed by titles including Ladder
(1986), A Scone Off a Plate (1990)
and Knife Edge Academy: The
Prospectus (1992). In 2013 the Press
was given a retrospective exhibition
at the Cooper Gallery, Dundee.
Mel’s major works on living artists
involved close engagement with the
individuals. These friendships are
documented in his own life story
recording for Artists’ Lives, the oral
history project run by National Life
Stories at the British Library for
which I am the project director.
Artists’ Lives was set up in 1990
with his help and was supported
by his 30-year chairmanship of
its advisory committee. Mel also
conducted recordings, including,
with great delicacy, those with Ayres
and Margaret Mellis, each of whom
rarely addressed a question directly.
The fourth of 10 children in a
close-knit family, Mel was born
in Ipswich, Suffolk, the son of
Frederick Gooding, a bus driver,
and his wife, Kathleen (nee
Cox). An older brother, Barry,
when home from the navy, was
influential in Mel becoming a
keen birdwatcher and a lover
of the natural world. This close
observation of nature was as
important in tuning Mel’s eye for
his later response to paintings as
his academic training.
Failing his 11-plus, Mel spent
two years in a secondary modern
before gaining a place at Northgate
grammar school. By his teenage
years, he was attending evening
classes at the Workers’ Educational
Association (now WEA), was
involvedwith the Ipswich Caribbean
Society, had joined the Labour
party and marched to Aldermaston.
Describing himself as “one of the
children of Raymond Williams”,
Mel was a beneficiary of the 1944
Education Act and the flowering
of new universities in the 1960s,
in his case Sussex, where he went
in 1962 to study English. There
his commitment to anti-racism
strengthened when he and
Rhiannon became friends with a
fellow student Thabo Mbeki, the
future president of South Africa.
Significant engagement with
African National Congress exiles
followed, and the couple provided
hospitality, clandestine mail drops
and their home as a place for ANC
meetings during the struggle.
They were guests at Mbeki’s
inauguration in 1999.
After graduating in 1965, Mel
stayedon at Sussex to do an MA,
then in 1966 moved to London, living
in various places before eventually
settling in Barnes. His teaching
years were spent at Furzedown
College of Education, in Streatham,
West London College, Wandle
primary school, in Earlsfield, Rachel
McMillan College of Education,
in Deptford, and the Sidney Webb
College (incorporated into the
Polytechnic of Central London).
Saddened by changes in education
policy, he took the risk of becoming a
freelance writer in the 80s.
In addition to writing catalogues
for artists, he contributed Abstract
Art for Tate’s Movements in Modern
Art series (2001), and collaborated
with Julian Rothenstein on
Redstone Press publications as well
as writing on Julian’s father, the
painter and printmaker Michael
Rothenstein. Another important
engagement was with William
Furlong’s Audio Arts, a magazine
produced on cassette.
Shows organised by Mel included
a retrospective of the sculptor FE
McWilliam for the Tate Gallery
(1989), a touring exhibition, Ceri
Richards: Themes and Variations,
for the National Museum of Wales
(2002-03), and Gillian Ayres: Select
Retrospective, for the Royal West of
England Academy (2004). He was
senior research fellow at Edinburgh
College of Art (1998-2005), and
in 2006 was made a professor at
Wimbledon College of Art.
Mel provided commentary
for Joseph Banks’ Florilegium:
Botanical Treasures from Cook’s
First Voyage (2019). His monograph
on the printmaker Mick Moon was
published in the same year. Earlier
this year an expanded version of
his 2011 book on Frank Bowlingwas
issued by the Royal Academy of Arts.
He is survived by Rhiannon,
their sons, Francis and Tom, six
grandchildren, Freddy, Oriel,
Tabitha, Sam, Molly and Albert, and
five of his siblings, Jane, Louise,
Nigel, Beverley and Catherine.
Cathy Courtney
Melvyn Graham Gooding, art critic,
writer and teacher, born 3 June 1941;
died 20 September 2021
11
Birthdays
Tariq Ali, writer, film-maker and
campaigner, 78; Lord (Richard)
Benyon, former Conservative MP
and environment minister, 61;
Sir Geoffrey Boycott, cricketer
and commentator, 81; David
Campese, rugby player, 59; Julian
Cope, musician and writer, 64;
Steve Cropper, guitarist and
songwriter, 80; Maureen Duffy,
author, 88; Sir Andre Geim,
physicist, 63; The Right Rev Bob
Gillies, former bishop of Aberdeen
and Orkney, 70; Prof Jane Heal,
philosopher, 75; Paul Ince,
footballer and manager, 54; Kim
Kardashian West, reality star and
entrepreneur, 41; Chris Law, SNP
MP, 52; Natalia Makarova, ballet
dancer and choreographer, 81;
Lord (Peter) Mandelson, former
Labour MP and cabinet minister,
68; Manfred Mann, musician,
81; Prof Eileen Munro, emeritus
professor of social policy, London
School of Economics, 71; Benjamin
Netanyahu, former Israeli prime
minister, 72; Lord (Mark) Sedwill,
former cabinet secretary, 57;
Judith Sheindlin, judge and
broadcaster, 79; Lord (John)
Stevens of Kirkwhelpington,
former Metropolitan police
commissioner, 79; Sir Michael
Tugendhat, high court judge,
77; Francis Warner, poet and
dramatist, 84; Michael White,
political journalist, 76.
Announcements
ATKINSON, Peter Maxwell. Died suddenly on 20
September. He was a much loved husband, uncle,
step-grandfather, and friend. He will be so much
missed.
BAILES, David. On 2 October 2021, David Bailes of
Cardigan, West Wales aged 81. He is survived by
his four children and seven grandchildren. Funeral
on Friday, October 22 at Mount Zion Church,
Cardigan at 2.30pm and at Parc Gwyn Crematorium,
Narberth at 4.00pm. Donations to Marie Curie c/o
Colin Phillips and Daughters Funeral Directors, 4
Morgan Street, Cardigan SA43 1DF Tel: 01239
621192.
JEFFERSON, Colin Michael, on 9 October 2021,
aged 83. Child of John and Doris Jefferson, and
brother to Peter, David and Richard. Much loved
husband of Judith, father to Daniel and Kathy, and
dear Grandpa to Hannah, Sophie and Alice. Funeral
on 27 October in Shrewsbury. Details from
katherinerjefferson@hotmail.com.
BAILEY, Kathleen, died 21 October 1997.
Forever in our hearts.
For Announcements, Acknowledgments, Adoptions,
Anniversaries, Birthdays, Births, Deaths,
Engagements, Memorial Services and In Memoriam,
email us at announcements@theguardian.com
including your name, address and telephone
number or phone 0203 353 2114.
Reread our obituaries of
the former US secretary
of state Colin Powell and
the footballer Roger Hunt
theguardian.com/
obituaries
12 Puzzles
• The Guardian Thursday 21 October 2021

Yesterday’s Killer sudoku Codeword

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

Medium

Codeword

Cryptic crossword Guardian cryptic crossword No 8,58 set by Paul

Solution No. 28,581
GOL DENROD SHOE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Across 5 Sensation, this with 26? (6)
R E A H I U R
KANGAROO AP P E A L
S I L M G R T
1 Cheer when money added to 6 Use a rich kind of Merlot
OS I R I S BANDEROL 8 contract … (6) ultimately — when bread
O U O M R 4 … that’s out dreaming? (6) is served? (9)
T ENN I S S Y S T EM I C 9 10 9 See 11 7 See 11
M A I O
V O L C A N I C S AMO S A 10 Furious pace with pilot flying 8 Close thought with money
L H S A A with the speed of light (10) helping to support criminal (13)
C L E AN S ED HORA C E
I N E E O T O 11,7,9 A very suspicious type arriving 14 Country in Chad regularly
J E S T ER NAUT I LUS 11 12 in bearer of gifts: no 26 — this chasing leading actor (5,4)
N R I Z S A R
STAY F LAGEOL ET with 26? (6,7,4) 16 Images in online gallery showing
12 Stage empty, this with 26? (4,4) sauce guzzled by bear (4,3)
13 It’s sweet with celery and gin in a 18,25 Saying something dense,
13 14 15 salad (9) common sense half gone,
15 See 16 this with 26? (7,4)
16,15 CIA feels prepared where all 19 Set up trap in matching puzzles
evidence is gathered? (4,4) (7)
16 17 18 19 17 Overcharge for it, free plastic (9) 20 Antelope children lifted up (3-3)
21 This with 26? A film criminal (8) 23 Caller has prisoner finally freed
20 22 Teacher content in the end, is one from nick (5)
good at multiplication? (6)
21 22 23 24 One’s never even right in head
after left in agony (10)
25 See 18
24 25
26 You shouldn’t have filled vessels
with gas (6)
27 Drive home last of nails on lock
(6)
26 27 Down
Stuck? For help call 0906 200 83 83. 1 Reversal of rule brought into
Calls cost £1.10 per minute, plus your
phone company’s access charge. play changed system for online
Service supplied by ATS.
Call 0330 333 6946 for customer subscribers (7)
service (charged at standard rate). 2 Discontent as 9 rocks catching
Want more? Get access to more than
4,000 puzzles at theguardian.com/ head of umpire (5)
crossword. To buy puzzle books, visit 3 Reel showing lead in Garbo
guardianbookshop.com or call
0330 333 6846. embraced by old-timer (7)