Wednesday February 16 2022 | thetimes.co.uk | No 73708
45 to subscribers
We’ve hit Peak Boots
It’s the only footwear to flaunt
Biden doubts Russian withdrawal
US warning comes as intelligence officials suggest there is ‘no sign of de-escalation’
David Charter Washington
Hugh Tomlinson, Larisa Brown
Oliver Wright, Bruno Waterfield
Oliver Moody Berlin
President Biden urged President Putin
not to embark on “a war of choice” last
night as he cast doubt on the supposed
withdrawal of Russian troops from the
Ukrainian border.
Biden said that a diplomatic solution
was still possible but warned that the
US would “rally the world” to punish
Russia if it invaded.
Giving an assessment that there were
150,000 troops “encircling” Ukraine, he
also spoke to the Russian people direct-
Duke agrees
payout to
settle sex
assault case
Charlotte Wace, Will Pavia
Jonathan Ames, Mario Ledwith
The Duke of York settled the sex assault
case filed against him in the US
yesterday after pressure from the
Prince of Wales and other members of
the royal family.
Prince Andrew could pay about
£10 million to Virginia Giuffre, his
accuser, as part of the out-of-court
settlement, legal experts suggested.
The duke is said to have faced
increasing pressure from the royal
family to bring the case to an end after
it threatened to overshadow the
Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Charles had been a prominent voice on
the issue, a source indicated.
Lawyers for both sides said that they
would seek the dismissal of the case
“upon Ms Giuffre’s receipt of the
settlement”.
The statement offered no indication
that Andrew, 61, would publicly accept
Giuffre’s claims that she had been
forced to have sex with him when she
was 17 by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine
Maxwell. Lawyers and charities never-
theless described it as a victory for her.
The amount that the duke will pay
Giuffre, 38, is confidential. The state-
ment said that he would also make a
“substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s
charity in support of victims’ rights”.
The statement, filed with the court by
her lawyer, David Boies, said that
“Prince Andrew has never intended to
malign Ms Giuffre’s character, and he
accepts that she has suffered both as an
established victim of abuse and as a
result of unfair public attacks”.
Lisa Bloom, who represents eight of
ly in a White House address, saying:
“You are not our enemy.”
He echoed scepticism from western
allies over Russia’s suggestion that it
was pulling some troops out.
“The Russian defence ministry
reported today that some military units
are leaving their positions near
Ukraine. That would be good but we
have not yet verified that,” Biden said.
“Indeed our analysts indicate that
they remain very much in a threatening
position. And the fact remains right
now that Russia has more than 150,000
troops encircling Ukraine . . . an
invasion remains distinctly possible.”
He added: “To the citizens of Russia,
Andrew as honorary colonel of the Grenadier Guards in 2019. He has lost his military titles and is unlikely to regain them
Epstein’s victims, hailed Giuffre’s
“victory” for “getting Prince Andrew to
stop his nonsense”.
Mark Stephens, a partner at the
London law firm Howard Kennedy,
said that the settlement was “inevit-
able” and “entirely good news for the
£2.20 £1.
you are not our enemy. And I do not
believe you want a bloody, destructive
war against Ukraine . . . 77 years ago our
people fought and sacrificed side by
side to end the worst war in history.
World War Two was a war of necessity,
but if Russia attacks Ukraine it would
be a war of choice, a war without cause
or reason.”
His appeal came as:
6 Putin declined to rule out war but
said that he was prepared to negotiate
with the West on “certain points” after
three hours of talks with Olaf Scholz,
the German chancellor, in Moscow.
6 Ukraine blamed the Kremlin for a
cyberattack on government agencies
royal family and Virginia Giuffre”. Last
night there were claims in The Daily
Telegraph that Andrew would be using
money from the Queen’s Duchy of
Lancaster estate to fund the settlement.
Royal experts suggested that there
was now no way back for the duke to
2G
INSIDE
TIMES2
and banks in what analysts fear could
prove the prelude to an invasion.
6 Nato is drawing up long-term plans
to reinforce its southeastern flank with
up to four new battlegroups, starting
with a deployment to Romania.
6 Experts said that Russia was now a
more capable military power than at
any time since the dissolution of the
Soviet Union, with billions of pounds
spent on modernising its forces.
6 The Russian parliament voted to ask
Putin to recognise two breakaway
republics in eastern Ukraine, a move
that would raise tensions and could
result in Moscow sending in troops.
Biden’s warning mirrored briefings
JONATHAN BRADY/PA
public life. There are no plans for his
patronages or HRH title to be restored
by the Queen. His representatives
declined to comment. Buckingham
Palace and Clarence House also
declined to comment.
’Worth its weight in gold’, pages 4-5
(based on 7 Day Print Pack)
My revealing
lunch with
Novak
Djokovic
Matthew Syed
from western intelligence officials. In a
bleak assessment, senior figures said
they had seen “no sign of de-escalation
by Russia or a withdrawal of forces”.
They said that “we could easily see a
false flag” today, suggesting that Russia
could create a scenario that would give
it a pretext to invade.
Field hospitals have been positioned
close to the border and no credence
should be given to videos of vehicles
leaving, they said, adding: “We need to
be ready either for a very immediate
scenario or a protracted crisis.”
Moscow claimed that it was
withdrawing some forces after the
Continued on page 2, col 3
Side effects
of statins are
exaggerated,
say scientists
Katie Gibbons
Statins taken by millions in Britain each
day have fewer side effects than
previously thought, a study suggests.
The drugs should continue to be
prescribed to combat high cholesterol
because the side effects reported by
patients may be “overestimated and
overdiagnosed”, the research found.
Between seven and eight million
people take statins to reduce the risk of
heart attacks and strokes. They are one
of the most commonly prescribed
drugs in Britain. Research suggests that
one in 50 people who take the pills for
five years will avoid a serious
cholesterol-related health problem.
The latest study, published in the
European Heart Journal, found that true
side effects strike between 6 and 10 per
cent of patients. However, it is thought
that 50 per cent stop taking the drugs,
cut their dose or take them irregularly
owing to muscle pain and other side
effects such as headaches and digestive
and sleep problems.
Professor Maciej Banach, of the
Medical University of Lodz and the
University of Zielona Gora, Poland,
who led the research, said: “Our find-
ings mean that we should evaluate
patients’ symptoms very carefully, first
to see whether symptoms are indeed
Continued on page 2, col 5
y(7HB7E2*OTSKNP( |||+z!_
2 2GM Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times

News

Today’s highlights Workers keep up productivity

7.20am Ben Wallace, defence secretary
11am Disunited Kingdom: Matt Chorley hears
news from the four corners of the UK
despite shifting office to home
11am One of Britain’s most eminent forensic scientists,
Angela Gallop, on her 45-year career solving crimes Arthi Nachiappan away from the office. Output per work- employment figures had returned to
8.30pm The Bafta-winning TV doctor and Sunday Economics Correspondent er rose by 0.8 per cent during the Octo- work, but there was no rise in the
Times bestselling author Dr Ranj Singh, ber-to-December quarter, compared number of hours worked.
right, on his new book, Brain Power Britons have adapted to working from with 2019. It was up 1.1 per cent from the Josh Martin, head of productivity at
10pm Carole Walker’s MPs’ panel: the Tory home without it significantly impairing previous quarter. the ONS, tweeted that the figures sug-
MP Andy Carter and Labour’s Bill the nation’s productivity, data suggests. Productivity measures output per gested there was a fall in working hours
Esterson review the political news Output-per-hour exceeded pre- unit of work. It gauges the efficiency of masked in the data. “Total hours
pandemic levels for the first time at the a business’s production process, while worked in the economy were basically
end of last year, according to estimates on a national level, it is a prime source flat between Q3 and Q4, despite one
from the Office for National Statistics of economic growth. million people coming off furlough,” he
DAB RADIO l ONLINE l SMART SPEAKER l APP (ONS). Bart Van Ark, professor of productiv- said. “That suggests a fall in average
The measure of the nation’s produc- ity studies at the University of Man- working hours of those not furloughed.”
tivity was also higher than it had been in chester, said it was too soon to tell if the Lower hours worked could reflect
the previous quarter, despite work- shift to working from home and hybrid employees who work shorter hours
T O D AY ’ S E D I T I O N from-home guidance being brought in models of working had increased pro- returning to their jobs after the end of
again over the Omicron variant of the ductivity. However, he said: “I would furlough, as well as capturing the initial
coronavirus. say we have learnt to work from home effects of the Omicron variant, which
Met resisting Musk donates Djokovic: I’m Economists said it was too soon to in a way that avoids significant produc- caused reduced working hours through
assess the full impact of working-from- tivity losses, but that’s as far as I would self-isolation and sickness.
racism stance $6bn of shares no antivaxer home and hybrid working, but the data go. Now that we see this sort of 6 Britain has lost almost 100,000
The Met is resisting a Elon Musk has given Novak Djokovic has showed that the country had “learnt improvement in Q4 over Q3, it seems to manufacturing jobs over the past ten
declaration by the nearly $6 billion of insisted he is not an how to work from home in a way that suggest that move back to work from years whereas Germany has gained
National Police Chiefs Tesla shares to charity, antivaxer but medical avoids significant productivity losses”. home [because of Omicron] didn’t nearly a million, according to research
Council that policing is making him America’s experts argued that his Output per hour worked was 2.3 per really impact productivity much.” by Labour. Sir Keir Starmer, while on a
institutionally racist, biggest philanthropist position of allowing cent above the 2019 average in the last Total hours worked in the economy visit to Burnley yesterday, accused the
despite warnings that after Bill and Melinda people the freedom to quarter of 2021, according to estimates remained at the same level in the final government of presiding over a “shock-
it cannot heal relations Gates. He gave a total choose could worsen published yesterday. The reading was quarter of last year compared with the ing decline” in the number of manufac-
with the black of 5,044,000 shares in the pandemic. He is 1 per cent higher than the previous previous quarter, despite the end of the turing jobs. The Labour leader is
community without the world’s most expected to be allowed three-month period, despite Decem- furlough scheme. This means the one touring Britain this week in an effort to
the admission. Other valuable carmaker to to defend his ber’s work-from-home guidance million furloughed workers previously claw back support in the party’s former
forces are also said to unnamed charities last Wimbledon title. prompting a surge in those working not working but included in heartlands.
be resisting. Page 6 November. Page 7 Page 14; Sport, page 66

Britain is running out of babies and sooner
or later we’ll have to talk about what to do
France to pull
out of Mali
France is to pull its
troops out of Mali,
abandoning swathes of
desert to jihadists and
Russian mercenaries.
An announcement is
expected as early as
this week on the
withdrawal and British
COMMENT
JAMES KIRKUP, PAGE 23
FCA faces new
embarrassment
The Financial Conduct
Authority faces
pressure to pay more
compensation to the
victims of the London
Capital & Finance
scandal after an
independent
commissioner
City stroll and
Ronaldo goal
Manchester City
thrashed Sporting
Lisbon 5-0 away in the
Champions League
and Paris St-Germain
beat Real Madrid 1-0.
In the Premier League
Cristiano Ronaldo
scored his first goal
Wages are growing faster than inflation
Arthi Nachiappan
Wages have grown faster than inflation,
with incomes almost 4 per cent higher
at the end of last year than in February
2020.
Pay rose by 4.9 per cent in the year to
December 2021 as companies sought to
retain and attract staff in the face of
mounting inflation and labour short-
ages. Employers are expected to
continue increasing pay this year,
despite a plea for restraint by Andrew
continued from page 1
Russian withdrawal doubts
Bailey, the governor of the Bank of
England.
The median monthly pay of pay-
rolled workers rose by 6.3 per cent in
the year to last month, according to
PAYE data also published by the Office
for National Statistics. Since February
2020 it has advanced by 10.3 per cent.
Economists say that workers are still
likely to see a drop in real wages after
inflation hit its highest level in almost
three decades. The real value of wages,
excluding bonuses, contracted for the
Analysis
second month running in December,
worsening the cost of living squeeze.
Adjusting for inflation, total pay was
down 0.1 per cent in real terms between
October and December, or 0.8 per cent
when excluding bonuses.
The consumer prices index rose by
4.9 per cent in the final quarter of 2021,
and is expected to be higher in an up-
date later today.
Future jobs, leading article, page 27
‘Real’ wages higher than before Covid,
Business, page 36
continued from page 1
Statin side effects

R
troops will be more dismissed the since December as completion of drills. The defence minis- ussia’s claimed caused by statins, and secondly, to
exposed to attacks watchdog’s approach Manchester United try said that units of the western and withdrawal of some evaluate whether it might be patients’
as a result. Page 28 as flawed. Page 33 beat Brighton. Page 66 southern military districts would begin forces may have eased perceptions that statins are harmful —
returning to their permanent bases. It immediate fears of an the so-called nocebo or drucebo effect
published video of tanks, infantry fight- invasion but tensions — which could be responsible for more
COMMENT 23 WORLD 28 SPORT 55 ing vehicles and self-propelled artillery will escalate if President Putin than 50 per cent of all symptoms, rather
LETTERS 26 BUSINESS 33 CROSSWORD 66 being loaded on to trains. Moscow also recognises the independence of than the drug itself.
LEADING ARTICLES 27 REGISTER 49 TV & RADIO TIMES2 said that tactical battalion groups were two Kremlin-backed breakaway “These results clearly show that
being withdrawn from Crimea. regions (Marc Bennetts writes). patients needn’t be afraid of statin
FOLLOW US Downing Street said that there were Even if Putin is pulling back therapy as it is very well tolerated in as
thetimes timesandsundaytimes thetimes “conflicting signals” of Russia’s inten- from confrontation he has many much as 93 per cent, which is similar or
tions and confirmed that intelligence reasons to be pleased. Although even better than other cardiology
OFFER cast doubt on its claims. he failed to secure a guarantee drugs.”
Boris Johnson was briefed on the lat- that Ukraine would never be The research analysed 176 studies of
Save up to 33% with a subscription to est situation by military and intelli- admitted to Nato, he has 4,143,517 patients worldwide. Those
gence chiefs as well as on domestic con- successfully reinforced the idea studied were typically aged about 60
The Times and The Sunday Times tingency measures to deal with a pro- that its membership could lead to and 40 per cent were women.
THETIMES.CO.UK/SUBSCRIBE tracted conflict. The Times understands a full-scale war. Statins help to lower the level of low-
that this includes extensive work by the If the withdrawal is genuine, density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol
National Cyber Security Centre to run the focus will shift to the in the blood. LDL cholesterol is often
THE WEATHER © TIMES NEWSPAPERS LIMITED, 2022. checks on critical infrastructure. Donetsk People’s Republic and referred to as “bad cholesterol” and is
Published in print and all other derivative Officials in the Cabinet Office and the Luhansk People’s Republic, linked to cardiovascular disease, which
formats by Times Newspapers Ltd, 1 London
Bridge St, London, SE1 9GF, telephone
Treasury are drawing up “domestic the pro-Moscow separatist can increase the chance of strokes and
020 7782 5000. Printed by: Newsprinters mitigations” to help industry cope with regions in eastern Ukraine. heart attacks. Statins cost the NHS
3 (Broxbourne) Ltd, Great Cambridge Rd, an expected surge in oil and gas prices. Russia’s parliament voted about £20 a person a year to prescribe.
Waltham Cross, EN8 8DY; Newsprinters Johnson said that Russia was sending yesterday to ask Putin to Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, medical
(Knowsley) Ltd, Kitling Rd, Prescot, “mixed signals”. “We’ve got Russian recognise them as independent director at the British Heart Founda-
35 Merseyside, L34 9HN; Newsprinters
8 29 (Eurocentral) Ltd, Byramsmuir Road,
field hospitals being constructed near states, which would allow tion, said: “Decades of evidence have
Holytown, Motherwell, ML1 1NP; Associated the border with Ukraine in Belarus, Moscow to arm the regions proven that statins save lives.”
Printing (Carn) Ltd, Morton 2 Esky Drive, which can only be construed as a prepa- openly. This could be the most People who were older, female, of
11
Carn Industial Estate, Portadown, BT63 5YY; ration for an invasion,” he said. “You’ve dangerous moment. black or Asian background, obese,
13
13 KP Services, La Rue Martel, La Rue des Pres got more battalion tactical groups suffering from diabetes, an underactive
Trading Estate, St Saviour, Jersey, JE2 7QR.
14
For permission to copy articles or headlines
actually being brought closer to the thyroid gland, or chronic liver or kidney
13 for internal information purposes contact border, according to the intelligence.” coming from Moscow.” Ben Wallace, failure were more likely to be statin-
38 Newspaper Licensing Agency at PO Box 101, Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary- the defence secretary, will go to Nato intolerant. People on some drugs, such
Tunbridge Wells, TN1 1WX, tel 01892 general, said: “We have not seen any de- HQ in Brussels today for a meeting of as those for high blood pressure, and
525274, e-mail copy@nla.co.uk. For all other escalation on the ground from the Rus- defence ministers. heavy drinkers also had a higher risk of
reproduction and licensing inquiries contact
Becoming breezy with increasing Licensing Department, 1 London Bridge St,
sian side”. However, he added: “We be- Ukraine crisis, pages 8-11 statin intolerance, the study showed.
amounts of cloud and spells of rain London, SE1 9GF, telephone 020 7711 7888, lieve there is some ground for cautious Putin’s military blackmail has cost Statins should once again become
or snow. Full forecast, page 53 e-mail enquiries@newslicensing.co.uk optimism based on the signals and signs him trust, leading article, page 27 the norm, leading article, page 27
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
Old boys are
stumped by
loss of Lord’s
Ivo Tennant
The games have been fixtures of the
upper classes’ summer social calendar
for two centuries but from next season
the tradition of Eton playing Harrow
and Oxford playing Cambridge at
Lord’s will be no more.
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is
looking to widen the number of people
who get a chance to play on the
hallowed turf.
Eton and Harrow is the longest-run-
ning regular fixture at Lord’s, dating
back to 1805 when Lord Byron — club
foot and all — played in the first match.
Oxford have been taking on Cambridge
at the ground since 1827.
Now the MCC has decided it wants to
stage more finals of competitions at all
levels of the game at Lord’s, as well as
finding space for the shortened
versions such as The Hundred and
Middlesex’s Twenty20 fixtures. “These
decisions were not taken lightly,” a
spokesman said. “We want to extend
playing opportunities, broadening the
scope for cricketers to realise their
ambition of playing at Lord’s.”
The MCC has apparently taken heed
of a demonstration by women outside
the Grace Gates before the Varsity
match at Lord’s last year. A group called
Stump Out Sexism called on the MCC
to cancel the annual Varsity match
between Oxford and Cambridge on the
main ground until the universities
agreed to play a women’s match there
PJ O’Rourke, globetrotting master of the one-liner, dies aged 74
Will Pavia New York
PJ O’Rourke, the American
satirist, has died from complications
relating to lung cancer.
O’Rourke, who was 74, was
the author of many books
and a long-time panellist on a
popular comedy show on
National Public Radio,
where he played the part of
a conservative curmud-
geon to a largely liberal
audience.
PJ O’Rourke leaves behind
a wife and three children
2GM
too. This summer there will be Oxford
v Cambridge Twenty20 matches for
both men and women on the same day
in June. “The universities will contest a
double-header, with both the men’s and
women’s matches taking place on the
main ground for the first time,” the
spokesman said.
The decision to stop the games at
Lord’s from next year has left some of
the MCC’s 18,500 members, who were
not consulted, upset by further erosion
of tradition at the home of cricket.
Henry Blofeld, the cricket commen-
tator who has played in both fixtures,
said: “I suppose the ‘antis’ will be cheer-
ing and old farts like me will be sad. It is
inevitable with the way that society has
moved.”
Robert Griffiths QC, who was edu-
cated at Oxford and who was a commit-
tee member for nearly 20
years, said: “I am surprised
and somewhat saddened
by this decision.
“When I was on the
committee, the consensus
was that these two fixtures
were emblematic and
symbolic in reflecting the
traditions of the game and
the spirit in which it
should be played.
“A part of the ‘Spirit of
Cricket’, which the club
promotes, is to reflect the
traditions. I hope the
dropping of these fixtures
“I’m afraid it’s true,” his colleague
Peter Sagal, host of Wait, Wait, Don’t
Tell Me said on Twitter, describing
him as a “dear friend”.
“Most well-known people
try to be nicer in public
than they are in private
life,” Sagal said. “PJ was
the only man I knew to be
the opposite. He was a
deeply kind and gener-
ous man who pretended
to be a curmudgeon for
public consumption.”
O’Rourke will
remembered for his one-lin-
ers. During the Balkan wars,
3
News
ALAMY; HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
Pupils from Eton and Harrow have been coming to see their sides play at Lord’s since 1805 — but won’t be able to next year
Varsity match, said: “I would prefer the
Behind the story club continued with history, as that is
what makes Lord’s so special. Nobody
A
fter Covid compared with games. The varsity spoke to me about it at all.”
meant Harrow’s 54. Notable match, which was John Barclay, a former captain of
crowds alumni of the fixture founded by Charles Eton and former MCC president, said:
were include the former Wordsworth, a “This is a disappointment but not a
banned Conservative prime nephew of the poet surprise and understandable. When I
from the home of minister Sir Alec William, has been captained Eton in 1970, we did in fact
cricket for more than Douglas-Home, who where some of the play at Harrow owing to problems over
a year, the first scored 66 runs and world’s best players the planned South Africa tour.”
opportunity to return took four wickets for honed their craft. The club’s cricket committee is now
was not a Middlesex 37 for Eton in 1922. Michael Atherton, chaired by Claire Taylor, the former
county game or an The event has the former England England player, who did not go into bat
England Test but a always been popular, captain, twice played for the retention of Eton v Harrow,
match between the making national for Cambridge. which still attracts a reasonable crowd
public schools headlines in the 19th Twelve years earlier and good box-office takings.
(Laurence Sleator century. The 2008 Imran Khan, the The quality of cricket in the Varsity
writes). game attracted more Pakistan all-rounder, match has declined in recent decades
Eton, the holders, spectators than and now the country’s and the Lord’s version of the match was
lead the standings usually seen at prime minister, played cut from three days to one in 2001, with
with 60 wins Middlesex county for Oxford. a four-day game between the universi-
ties alternating between Fenner’s in
Cambridge and the Parks in Oxford.
d
does not devalue these tra- The rebuilding of the Compton and
d
ditions. As chairman of laws, Edrich stands has meant that the
I tried to ensure the commit- Nursery Ground is too small to stage
te took this into account.
tee these two fixtures, which suggests they
M
Maybe the committee are likely to be played on school and
s
should reconsider the game’s university grounds in future. Another
h
historic roots.” Griffiths possibility is that the Varsity match
a
added: “Diversification does could be played at Arundel.
n mean you abandon the
not In 1805 Byron contributed scores of
tr
traditions of cricket.” seven and two for the losing Harrow
Charles Fry, a former side. His captain, JA Lloyd, wrote:
c
chairman of the MCC, who “Byron played in the match and very
p
played for Oxford against badly, too. He should never have been
B
Blofeld’s Cambridge in the in the XI.”
he wrote “I watched as Serbian Chetnik squirrels with slingshots and torment- Tina, at a bar in Washington DC. The
nationalists tried to take the village of ing elderly neighbours, in his book, The arrival of three children did not soften
Golubic from Bosnian-Herzegovinian Baby Boom: How it Got That Way . . . And his political views but made him “less
Muslims. The unspellables were shoot- It Wasn’t My Fault. strident”, he said.
ing the unpronounceables.” But it was also a difficult childhood. He lived in a sprawling house deep in
On reluctantly backing Hillary Clin- His father died when PJ was nine and the New Hampshire countryside, on a
ton against Donald Trump in 2016, he his mother “remarried not wisely”, he hilltop overlooking Mount Monadon-
said: “She’s wrong about absolutely told this newspaper in 2014. He began ock. There he wrote in a large office
everything, but she’s wrong within nor- his adventures in journalism with the above a garage, with a large sitting
mal parameters.” satirical magazine Harry. Later he room, like that of a hunting lodge, in
He was equally dismissive about his became a Rolling Stone foreign corre- which he entertained visitors.
own profession: “One of the problems spondent, pitching up in war zones and Sagal said he had “devoted himself”
with being a writer is that all of your idi- rebellions — trips he recalled in his to friends and family “in a way that
ocies are still in print somewhere. I 2000 travelogue Holidays in Hell. would have totally ruined his shtick had
be strongly support paper recycling.” He was married briefly to Amy anyone ever found out”. Sagal added:
Born in Ohio, O’Rourke would Lumet, the daughter of the film-maker “His work was wonderful. His heart was
describe a childhood spent shooting Sidney Lumet. He met his second wife, even better. I will miss him terribly.”
4 2GM
News
News Prince Andrew
£10m deal ‘would be worth its
Charlotte Wace, Jonathan Ames
Will Pavia New York
The Duke of York’s settlement of the
civil sex assault claim against him will
cost him up to £10 million but is “worth
its weight in gold” to the Queen, experts
said last night.
Only last month Prince Andrew, 61,
asked for a jury trial in the case brought
against him by Virginia Giuffre,
threatening the Platinum Jubilee
celebrations.
The agreement is not an admission of
guilt by the duke, who has always stren-
uously denied the allegations against
him. It is understood, however, that
there are no plans for him to return to
public life or regain his title or patron-
ages, although he will attend a thanks-
giving service for the Duke of Edin-
burgh next month.
Ingrid Seward, a royal author, said: “I
think we all knew they would have to
reach a settlement. It wouldn’t go to
court. I don’t think there is any way
Andrew’s lawyers would have allowed
this to go to court. There was a huge
pressure on him to settle.”
Mark Stephens, a partner at the
London law firm Howard Kennedy,
who has been following the case, said
that the settlement could be as much as
£10 million. Under contingency fee
rules in New York state, lawyers are
generally allowed up to 33.3 per cent of
damages won by their clients as legal
fees. It is estimated that Andrew’s legal
fees so far have totalled between
£500,000 and £1 million.
David McClure, author of Royal Priv-
ilege: The Queen’s True Worth, said that
a settlement could be “in the order of
several million dollars”. He added:
“That raises the question, ‘Does he
have the money?’ ”
Amber Melville-Brown, a partner at
the New York office of the London law
firm Withers, said that the settlement
would be “worth its weight in gold to
the Queen as she celebrates her Plati-
num Jubilee”.
Mitchell Epner, a former federal
prosecutor based in New York, said that
the outcome was still a “major victory”
for Giuffre. “This statement does not
include the typical language in an
American settlement, that the defen-
dant neither admits or denies the alle-
gations,” he said.
Neama Rahmani, of West Coast Trial
Lawyers in Los Angeles, noted that the
In their own words
Here is the full text of the statement
regarding the out-of-court
settlement reached between the
Duke of York and Virginia Giuffre.
The statement was included in a
letter submitted to the US judge
Lewis Kaplan, who has been
overseeing the civil sex claim
brought by Giuffre.
“
Virginia Giuffre and
Prince Andrew have
reached an out-of-court
settlement.
The parties will file a stipulated
dismissal upon Ms Giuffre’s receipt
of the settlement (the sum of which
is not being disclosed). Prince
Andrew intends to make a
substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s
charity in support of victims’ rights.
Prince Andrew has never intended
to malign Ms Giuffre’s character, and
he accepts that she has suffered
both as an established victim of
abuse and as a result of unfair
public attacks.
It is known that Jeffrey Epstein
trafficked countless young girls over
many years.
Prince Andrew regrets his
association with Epstein, and
commends the bravery of Ms
Giuffre and other survivors in
standing up for themselves and
others.
He pledges to demonstrate his
regret for his association with
Epstein by supporting
”
the fight against the evils
of sex trafficking, and by
supporting its victims.
duke had denied ever knowing Giuffre.
“I think his reputation was destroyed
and this was the final nail in the coffin,”
he said.
The duke was said to have faced pres-
sure from the royal family to settle.
Penny Junor, another royal author, said
that the settlement was likely to come
as a huge relief to the rest of the royal
family. “Going to trial, it could have
Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
been very, very nasty,” she added. “It
could have been embarrassing, humili-
ating, and it would have been huge
fodder for the tabloid press.”
Lisa Bloom, a lawyer representing
some of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, tweet-
ed: “We hail Virginia’s victory today.
She has accomplished what no one else
could: getting Prince Andrew to stop
his nonsense and side with sexual abuse
victims. We salute Virginia’s stunning
courage.”
A leaked email allegedly written by
Ghislaine Maxwell has suggested that
the photograph of Andrew with Giuffre
was real. The email, obtained by the
Daily Mail, could have had an impact on
the civil case, the paper reported.
Maxwell had written “I think it is”
when asked about whether the photo,
in which she featured, was authentic. It
emerged that the original version of the
photograph had been lost, meaning
that Giuffre may not have been able to
have it admitted as evidence.
The judge ordered a stay on the case,
while warning that it would go to trial if
the deadline for payment was not met.
Lawyers for both sides said they would
seek the dismissal of the suit “upon Ms
Giuffre’s receipt of the settlement”.
In a letter to the United States district
court yesterday, Andrew’s lawyers said
he had “never intended to malign Ms
Giuffre’s character”. He “regrets his
association” with Epstein, it said.
The agreement states that the duke
will donate to Giuffre’s charity in
support of victims’ rights and that he
has pledged to “demonstrate his regret
for his association with Epstein” by
supporting the “fight against the evils of
sex trafficking, and by supporting its
victims”.
The Labour MP Rachael Maskell,
who represents York Central, has said
that the duke should remove his asso-
ciation with the city. “Carrying a title
does create an ambassadorial relation-
ship with that place, and for somewhere
with a global reputation, such as York,
this is extremely important,” she said.
Quoting a poll from York’s news-
paper The Press, Maskell highlighted
that 88 per cent of people in the city
wanted Andrew’s association with it to
be removed, but said there was “no legal
route by which this can be achieved”.
Representatives for the duke de-
clined to comment, as did Buckingham
Palace and Clarence House.
Prince’s future is far from secure, Times2 The Duke of York with a young Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell. He may
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
weight in gold to the Queen’
have to use the proceeds from the sale of his chalet in Verbier, top, to meet the cost of his settlement with Giuffre, above
Giuffre to keep quiet during jubilee
Will Pavia New York
Virginia Giuffre’s settlement will bar
her from speaking publicly about her
claims until after the celebrations for
the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee are over,
The Times understands.
The carefully worded statement filed
with a New York court on a proposed
settlement indicates that Giuffre, 38,
will continue to tell her story publicly
and even suggests that the Duke of
York will support her in “the fight
against the evils of sex trafficking”.
But she will be expected to wait until
later in the year — an allowance appar-
ently made to limit the damage to the
royal family during the celebrations.
Sources familiar with the deal said
there would be a period of silence when
neither side would be able to go beyond
the words of the terse statement.
One lawyer not involved in the case,
however, said the settlement would
allow Giuffre to write a book, to be pub-
lished at Christmas, telling her story.
“Ordinarily, you would have a com-
plete non-disclosure [agreement] on
both sides,” Mitchell Epner, a former
The Queen receives the ambassador of Estonia in a virtual audience yesterday
federal prosecutor who is an attorney
with the New York firm Rottenberg
Lipman Rich, said. In this case, “since
it’s a settlement in the context of, on its
face, an apology from Prince Andrew,”
he suspected that Giuffre “has agreed
not to say anything [but] she will be in a
position to write a book, probably for
this Christmas season”.
The deal would allow her to work pri-
US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE/PA; CYRIL ZINGARO/EPA; BACKGRID
vately on a manuscript, he said. “She
will be free to say whatever she believes
the truth is about Prince Andrew.”
Giuffre has already written a novel
called The Billionaire’s Playboy Club. In
its last paragraph, the author declares
that “if some girl off the streets of Flor-
ida, like me, can stand up against the
tyrants that run the deep pockets of our
world, then anyone can”.
Sale of ski chalet in
Verbier could help to
finance settlement
Mario Ledwith, Charlotte Wace
Jonathan Ames
The Duke of York is yet to sell the Swiss
ski chalet that is likely to finance his
legal settlement with Virginia Giuffre.
There is mounting speculation over
how the Duke of York will foot the costs
of the estimated £10 million agreement.
After royal experts insisted the
Queen was unlikely to bail out her son,
the sale of his chalet in the Swiss resort
of Verbier has been earmarked as the
most likely source of funding.
It emerged last month that a buyer
had been found for the £18 million
property — which the duke had bought
with his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York
— after a long-running legal dispute
was resolved. He purchased the proper-
ty for £16.6 million from the French so-
cialite Isabelle de Rouvre and is said to
have financed part of it with a loan.
However, De Rouvre later sued him
for failing to pay the final instalment of
£5 million, with the matter only settled
last November. The resolution allowed
a sale to go ahead. Sources last night
said the deal was in its “final stages”.
How much Andrew will be left with
after the sale remains unknown given
that the mortgage was reported to be
£13 million.
A joint statement attached to the fil-
ing in the US district court in Manhat-
tan said the amount to be paid by An-
drew would remain confidential.
Court documents said he will make a
“substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s
charity in support of victims’ rights”.
Experts said it was likely that the
compensation payment had been made
One princely donation to
charity for abuse victims
Will Pavia New York
Virginia Giuffre founded a charity for
victims of sexual abuse in 2015, but it
was not officially launched until No-
vember last year and has so far not been
accepting donations.
It will now receive a “substantial do-
nation” from a man whose lawyers
painted Giuffre as a profiteer who had
“initiated a baseless lawsuit” in the
hope of a “payday at his expense”.
Under the terms of a provisional deal
announced yesterday, the Duke of York
will make a large contribution to Soar,
which stands for Speak Out, Act, Re-
claim, joining other supporters of the
foundation, including Boies Schiller
Flexner, the law firm that handled her
case against him pro bono.
Soar’s mission is to help those who
have suffered sexual abuse to tell their
stories and to campaign against aspects
of the criminal justice system in the US,
particularly the statute of limitations in
cases of sexual assault and sexual
abuse, which varies from state to state.
Victims’ advocacy groups argue that
survivors of abuse often do not report
their experiences until their forties or
fifties, by which time they are unable to
bring legal action in many states. In
New York the age limit for such claims
5
News
News
yesterday by the duke, or by someone
on his behalf, into a third-party escrow
account, to be released upon the filing
of the dismissal.
This year legal experts told The Times
that the Queen would not risk contrib-
uting towards a financial settlement
because it would be too damaging to
her reputation.
The duke’s finances have long been
mysterious, with his only known in-
come a stipend of £250,000 from the
Queen and a £20,000 navy pension.
The chalet is the only property
owned by Andrew, who lives in Royal
Lodge, the 30-room stately home set in
nearly 100 acres of Windsor Great
Park, on a long-term lease.
A glimpse into his finances emerged
last year in documents leaked to
Bloomberg revealing that his friend,
the Tory donor David Rowland, helped
him to pay off a £1.5 million loan from
Banque Havilland, the Luxembourg
bank owned by Rowland’s family.
His luxurious lifestyle earned him
the nickname “Airmiles Andy”. In 2020,
he bought a £220,000 Bentley to add to
his two Range Rovers. His watches in-
clude a £150,000 Patek Philippe.
He is also likely to be providing finan-
cial support to his ex-wife, who also
lives at Royal Lodge, and their children
Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatri-
ce. Security is another expensive outgo-
ing. It is unclear who has been covering
the cost of protecting Royal Lodge since
Andrew stepped down as a working
member of the royal family. Thames
Valley police refused to comment but
the cost is likely to be at least £500,000
a year, according to security experts.
was 23 until recently. It changed to 55 in
2019 under a reform that also instituted
a one-year window of time, later ex-
tended until 2021, under which victims
of historic childhood sexual abuse
could bring legal claims for damages. It
was under this provision that Giuffre
mounted her lawsuit against the duke.
On Soar’s website, Giuffre is de-
scribed as “perhaps the most promi-
nent survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s
crimes” and its mission “took shape” as
she underwent her “personal transfor-
mation from victim to survivor”.
Giuffre has said she was sexually
abused by a family friend at the age of
seven, and later ran away from home,
where she was picked up by Ron Ep-
pinger, who ran an escort agency and
was prosecuted by the FBI for sex traf-
ficking. At the age of 16 she met Ghis-
laine Maxwell, who brought her to Ep-
stein. She alleges they trafficked her to
a series of prominent men, including
the duke. He has denied the claim.
Giuffre officially launched Soar on
the eve of Maxwell’s criminal trial, in
which prosecutors named her as a vic-
tim in one of two sex trafficking char-
ges. After Maxwell was convicted for
sex trafficking and three other charges,
Giuffre said: “Others must be held ac-
countable. I have faith that they will be.”
6 2GM Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times

News
JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Quintagram® No 1240
Solve all five clues using each
letter underneath once only
1 Spiritual justice (5)

-----
2 Poem or song of mourning (5)

-----
3 Tristram ---, Sterne character (6)

------
4 Lots (of food or drink) (8)

--------
5 Vehicle’s outer shell (8)

--------
A A A A B D D E
E G G H H I K K
L L M N N O O R
R S S S W Y Y Y
Solutions MindGames in Times2
Cryptic clues every day online

Gender-free teachers
Pupils should replace Mr and Mrs
with “teacher”, followed by the
surname, to help make schools
gender-free, a training session
recommended. In a webinar
organised by the National
Education Union, Elly Barnes of
the Educate & Celebrate charity,
said words like “boys and girls” or
“mothers and fathers” should be
replaced by “pupils” or “parents”.
The NEU said it did not believe
Seeing double A digital reproduction of Raphael’s Madonna of the Goldfinch has gone on display as part of the Eternalising Art History exhibition at the Unit London schools should adopt gender-
art gallery in Mayfair. Six paintings have been duplicated in co-operation with Italian museums and the copies authenticated by NFTs, unique digital certificates neutral language across the board
and was reviewing the advice.

We don’t want to say that we’re Lassa fever victim

A patient who died last week of
lassa fever, a viral disease similar
to ebola, was a newborn baby at

institutionally racist, insists Met

Fiona Hamilton Crime Editor
The Metropolitan Police are resisting
pressure for chief constables to declare
that policing is institutionally racist,
despite warnings that they cannot
repair broken relations with the black
community without the admission.
Police leaders have been in high-level
talks about making the declaration to
show black and minority communities
that they accept that racism and dis-
crimination are ingrained in the ser-
vice, and will take radical steps to fix it.
The Times has been told that the Met
is one of several police forces opposed
to the admission in reforms by the
National Police Chiefs Council
(NPCC). Helen Ball, an assistant com-
missioner and one of Dame Cressida
Dick’s staunchest allies, spoke out
against it at a meeting this month.
The stance has raised eyebrows
among some police chiefs, given the
poor relationship between the Met and
London’s black community, with alle-
gations of heavy handed policing.
Dick resigned as commissioner last
week after the latest scandal of police
officers at Charing Cross, who joked
about killing black children and raping
female colleagues. Last summer she de-
nied that the Met was institutionally
racist, and said it was an unhelpful term.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London,
who ousted her by withdrawing his
support, has been vocal about his con-
cerns that black Londoners do not trust
the Met. He warned that the racism and
sexism scandals engulfing the force
were a “more profound” moment than
the inquiry into the 1993 murder of the
black teenager Stephen Lawrence, 19.
In 1999 the Macpherson inquiry said
policing was institutionally racist
because of failings that allowed the
killers to escape justice for so long.
Yesterday Bas Javid, a deputy assist-
ant commissioner and the brother of
Sajid Javid, the health secretary, told
Newsnight on BBC2 that the Met con-
tained “people who have racist views
and are racist”. He added, however, that
“what I won’t do is describe all the orga-
nisation as racist”.
Despite efforts to improve diversity,
Racism defined
Institutional racism as defined by
Sir William Macpherson, chairman
of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry:
“The collective failure of an
organisation to provide an
appropriate and professional service
to people because of their colour,
culture or ethnic origin. It can be
seen or detected in processes,
attitudes and behaviour which
amount to discrimination through
unwitting prejudice, ignorance,
thoughtlessness and racial
stereotyping.”
more than 90 per cent of the police in
England and Wales are white. Less than
1 per cent of promotions last year went
to black officers, and they are likely to
face harsher disciplinary procedures.
Black people are seven times more like-
ly to be stopped and searched than
white people.
The NPCC has appointed Abimbola
Johnson, a black barrister, to chair an
independent board scrutinising its
action plan on race. She has said that
any plan should acknowledge there is
institutional racism.
Some chiefs and campaigners say
meaningful change will occur only by
declaring there to be institutional
racism because it allows the problem to
be clearly identified and acknowledges
a collective failure to effect change.
However, the issue is extremely divi-
sive and other chiefs, including Stephen
Watson, of Greater Manchester police,
are understood to agree with the Met.
Senior officers opposed to the move
argued at the meeting this month that
the term did not acknowledge that
there were biases in society, outside the
control of policing, that contributed to
disproportionality. It also ignored im-
provements made in recent years.
Andy George, head of the National
Black Police Association, said a “whole-
sale admission” of institutional racism-
was necessary. “I don’t think anything
other than [that] will instil confidence
that this time will be different,” he said.
Luton and Dunstable Hospital, it
is understood. The BBC quoted
an email sent to staff by the
hospital trust. Last week the UK
Health Security Agency also
reported two other infections. All
the cases were linked to recent
travel in west Africa.
Boohoo advert banned
The Advertising Standards
Authority has banned a Boohoo
T-shirt advert for objectifying
women. It said sexual advertising
was not acceptable “if the model
featured is unnecessarily treated
like a sexual object”. It said the
model was posed in a “sexually
suggestive way” in bikini bottoms.
Boohoo said its marketing was
not designed to cause offence.
First LP comes home
As a 13-year-old in 1980, Lulu
Baylee excitedly walked into Lady
Jane Records in Jersey and
bought her first album with her
savings, which was by Boney M.
She wrote on the cover: “Lulu
Baylee was hear [sic].” Last week
the 55-year-old personal assistant
spotted it in a charity shop. She
was “absolutely thrilled” to buy it

Almost 80% of police officers don’t feel respected by public — but needs a record player.

Fiona Hamilton
Almost 60 per cent of rank and file
police officers are suffering from low
morale and 78 per cent said they did not
feel respected by the public, according
to a survey.
More than one in ten officers claim
they are on the brink of resigning, with
the majority citing the financial impli-
cations of the long-term wage freeze
and their treatment during the pan-
demic. More than 90 per cent do not
feel respected by the government.
Policing across the country has been
plunged into crisis with ebbing public
confidence, record numbers of assaults
against officers and low detection rates
for crimes across the board.
While the Metropolitan Police have
been the focus of concern over sexism
and racism, there have been high--
profile misconduct cases across the
country.
One policing veteran said that in 26
years they had never been treated with
so much contempt by senior officers,
government, media and the public. A
constable with four years’ service said:
“The public seem to hate us and have no
respect for us most of the time, which
makes dealing with jobs much harder.”
The Police Federation of England
TV treatment for No 10
and Wales, which represents more than A veteran of TV adaptations is
130,000 constables, sergeants and in- eyeing up a new project: a
spectors, warned that police were at fictional account of a prime
“breaking point”. minister whose career could be
In its annual pay and morale survey ruined by “damaging personal
of nearly 30,000 rank and file officers, indiscretions”. Andrew Davies, 85,
58 per cent reported low morale, up who adapted the Jane Austen
from 48 per cent last year. Only 14 per novel Pride and Prejudice for the
cent said that morale was high. A record BBC in the 90s, will create a show
92 per cent said they were not fairly about Downing Street, the
paid for the job’s stresses and strains. website Deadline was told.
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 7

News
MICHELE TANTUSSI/REUTERS

Musk hands
charities $6bn
windfall with
share giveaway
Robert Miller organisation had not received anything
from Musk yet. “Whether WFP re-
Elon Musk donated nearly $6 billion ceives any of this money is yet to be
worth of Tesla shares to charity last seen, but I am excited to hear that Elon
year, making him America’s biggest is engaged, ” he said.
philanthropist after Bill Gates and his The donation made Musk, 48, Amer-
ex-wife Melinda French Gates. ica’s second biggest donor last year,
Musk gave a total of 5,044,000 shares data from the Chronicle of Philanthro-
in the world’s most valuable carmaker py shows. It was still dwarfed, however,
to unnamed charities over a ten-day by the $15 billion that Gates, 66, and
period in November, according to a French Gates, 57, gave to their charit-
filing with America's financial regula- able foundation in July.
tor. Musk’s donation coincided with him
The names of the organisations that selling $16.4 billion worth of shares
received the stock, which was given after polling Twitter users about selling
away in five transactions, were not 10 per cent of his stake in Tesla in early
revealed in the filing to the Securities November.
and Exchange Commission (SEC). He said on Twitter that he would pay
The donations were worth about more than $11 billion in taxes in 2021
$5.7 billion (£4.2 billion) at the time they due to him exercising stock options that
were made, but are now valued at were set to expire.
$4.4 billion after a decline in the share Tesla did not respond to a request for
price of the electric car company. comment yesterday. The story was Elon Musk became America’s second biggest donor behind Melinda French Gates, below, and her former husband, Bill
Earlier last year Musk had tweeted first reported by The Wall Street
that if the UN World Food Pro- Journal. income, and he’d avoid the gains tax he
gramme (WFP) could explain Analysts said there would be The world’s biggest philanthropists would have to pay if he sold the stock.”
how $6 billion “will solve world a tax benefit for Musk potent- Tesla was founded in 2003 by Martin
hunger” he would “sell Tesla ially giving away Tesla stock, All donated 20 per cent would have increased to Bill & Melinda Gates Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning,
stock right now and do it”. since shares donated to char- or more of their fortune $100 billion. In 2021 the 50 biggest American engineers. Musk, a co-
David Beasley, director of the ity are not subject to capital in direct donations: US donors pledged founder of PayPal, led a round of invest-
World Food Programme, res- gains tax, as they would be George Soros $28 billion to charity, but ment in February 2004, with $6.5 mil-
ponded to Musk at the time if sold. Warren Buffett The premier currency more than half came lion of his own money out of a total
by posting a link to a Bob Lord, an asso- The chairman and chief speculator bet against from Bill and Melinda fundraising of $7.5 million.
1,000-word executive ciate fellow at the Insti- executive of the the British pound in Gates. Bill, the founder With a stock market value of more
summary on how the tute for Policy Studies conglomerate Berkshire 1992, earning $1 billion. of Microsoft, and the than $905 billion, the electric carmaker
UN would distribute who studies tax policy, Hathaway donated Soros was estimated to philanthropist Melinda is now bigger than General Motors,
the money. This includ- said: “His tax benefit $4.1 billion worth of his have given $34.8 billion, usually gave through Ford and Fiat Chrysler, the Big Three of
ed using it for meals and would be huge. He’d stock in the company in having started donating their joint foundation. American carmaking, as well as Japan’s
vouchers to feed more save between 40 per June. His total lifetime money in 1979. He gave Melinda, who is now Toyota.
than 40 million people cent and 50 per cent giving was $44 billion. scholarships and built divorced from Bill, has Musk also started SpaceX, the aero-
across 43 countries of the $5.7 billion in In a statement, Buffett the Open Society said she will no longer space manufacturer and space trans-
that are “on the brink tax, depending on noted that the value of Foundation, with more make most donations portation services company based in
of famine”. whether he could the shares he had than 20 national and through the foundation. Hawthorne, California, in 2002, with
Beasley said in a take the deduction already given away regional foundations. Source: Forbes the goal of reducing rocket launch costs
statement that the against his California to enable the colonisation of Mars.

Animal abuse claims over brain chips Virgin Galactic space flight
Tom Knowles
Technology Correspondent
care program prioritising the needs of
the animals, rather than the typical
and conduct its experiments. In April
last year Neuralink released a video
tickets on sale for £331,000
strategy of building for human conve- showing a monkey playing basic video
Only a year ago Elon Musk was pro- nience alone,” games using its thoughts, thanks to a Ben Clatworthy Unity takes off at an airstrip outside
claiming his company Neuralink had The Physicians Committee for Re- wireless chip in the animal’s brain. Transport Correspondent the town of Truth or Consequences in
created technology allowing monkeys sponsible Medicine (PCRM), which ad- However, the PCRM said that 15 of New Mexico, attached to a “mother”
to play video games with their minds. vocates against animal testing, has filed the 23 Macaque monkeys in the initial If you have cash to burn and long to aircraft. At 13km it is released to ignite
Now, however, Neuralink is defend- a legal complaint against California experiments had either died or been soar to the edge of space, today is the its rocket motor, before climbing to the
ing itself against accusations of animal University. It alleges violations of the put down by 2020. It said that monkeys day to dust off your cheque book — edge of space at about 53 miles above
cruelty after 15 out of Animal Welfare Act were “caged alone, had steel posts tickets for the first Virgin Galactic tour- sea level. The spaceship flies at three
23 test monkeys were ““related to invasive screwed to their skulls, suffered facial ist flights are going on sale. times the speed of sound.
said to have died or aand deadly brain ex- trauma, seizures following brain im- The price? £331,000 for a 90-minute Previously, the highest altitude
been put down. p
periments conducted plants, and recurring infections”. trip that includes “several minutes of achieved in commercial travel was the
The startup found- o
on 23 monkeys”. UC Davis said it had “thoroughly re- out-of-seat weightlessness” and 11.4-mile cruising altitude of Concorde.
ed by Musk in 2017, At the start of Neu- viewed and approved” the protocols of breath-taking views of Earth. Branson reached the edge of space in
which aims to create rralink’s research in its research for Neuralink. Richard Branson’s space exploration the spaceship in July. He said: “I have
technology that will 22017, the company It added: “Animal research is strictly company intends to launch the first dreamt of this moment since I was a kid,
allow people to con- w
worked with the Cali- regulated, and UC Davis follows all ap- passenger flights after its SpaceShip- but honestly nothing can prepare you
trol computers with fo
fornia National Pri- plicable laws and regulations.” Two Unity aircraft has completed two for the view of Earth from space. The
their mind, insisted it m
mate Research Center Neuralink said that two monkeys more test flights. whole thing was just magical.”
works with animals in in Davis as a place to were put down “at planned end dates to “We plan to have our first 1,000 cus- His quest to send tourists into space
the “most humane h
house the animals gather important histological data”. tomers on board at the start of commer- began in 2004, but it has been hit by
and ethical way poss- Another six were put down on the med- cial service later this year,” Michael delays and tragedy. Three workers were
ible”. Monkeys used for ical advice of the veterinary team at UC Colglazier, Virgin Galactic’s chief killed in a rocket motor test in Califor-
It said in a blog post: Neuralink’s research Davis. It added that the research centre executive, said. The company’s share nia inn 2007. In 2014 the Enterprise air-
“Our central mission had a wireless chip was “staffed with caretakers who are price jumped 30.1 per cent after the craft broke apart on a test flight, killing
is to design an animal put in their brain passionate about animal wellbeing”. announcement. a pilot and seriously injuring another.
8 Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
News
News Ukraine crisis
Putin hints at deal with Nato
Oliver Moody Berlin
President Putin declined to rule out
going to war with Ukraine but said he
was prepared to negotiate with the
West on “certain points” after three
hours of crisis talks with Olaf Scholz,
the German chancellor, in Moscow
yesterday.
The Russian leader said he was ready
to “co-operate” on a putative deal with
Nato and the US to maintain the
balance of power in Europe, including
restrictions on strategic missiles.
While there was no decisive diplo-
matic breakthrough, Putin, 69, also said
he wanted an “immediate” answer on
whether or when Ukraine might join
Nato after suggestions that it could
agree to put its membership aspirations
on hold.
Scholz’s visit to the Kremlin had been
billed by one Ukrainian ambassador as
the last chance to preserve “world
Vladimir Putin demanded guarantees
over Ukraine’s membership of Nato
peace” following warnings from
Washington that armed conflict could
break out at any moment.
Several western intelligence agen-
cies claim Russia has already drawn up
a plan of attack. Estonia published what
it said was a list of targets that Russian
secret service agents would be ordered
to “neutralise” in an invasion, including
Ukrainian military bases, oil refineries
and nuclear reactors.
However, Russia has indicated a
willingness to negotiate, saying that the
“possibilities were far from being
exhausted”.
Yesterday Scholz seized that opening
with a rare display of emotion, saying it
was world leaders’ “damned duty” to
prevent an armed conflict.
When Putin was asked whether he
would commit himself to averting war,
he said “of course we don’t want it”. He
added: “Depending on how this dia-
logue [on European security] develops,
the situation will develop in all the
areas that worry you and us. And it
worries us just as much as you, I can
LITHUANIA
30,000
Estimated number
of troops deployed
in Belarus
Minsk
100 miles
BELARUS
Brestsky
POLAND
Kyiv
UKRAINE
Russian troop
numbers
MOLDOVA
10,000
5,000
1,000
Military activity
Nato member Bakhchysarai
Source: Janes.
Updated Feb 2022
B L AC K S E A
assure you.” He also appeared to sug-
gest that Russia could resume its build-
up of troops around Ukraine if the talks
lost momentum. “Who can answer the
question of how the situation [on the
ground] will develop? Up to now, no
one,” he said. “We are working to reach
an agreement with our partners about
the questions we have put so that they
can be resolved on a diplomatic level.”
Putin said he urgently wanted bind-
ing reassurances about the prospect of
Ukraine becoming a Nato member.
“We’ve been told for 30 years that
there would be no expansion to the
east, not a centimetre, and now we see
Nato’s infrastructure right on our front
door,” he said. “Then it’s said that
Ukraine . . . will only be allowed to join
when it’s ready. But that could already
be too late for us. For that reason we
want to resolve this question now.”
He was open to a security deal with
Nato and the US over disarmament
and limits on medium and long-range
ballistic missiles, as long as his “funda-
mental” concerns were taken into
account: “Russia cannot close its eyes to
the way Nato and the US are interpret-
ing the key principles of our common
and indivisible security quite loosely
and in their own interests.”
However, he said this issue was inex-
tricably linked to the status of the two
self-proclaimed republics in eastern
Ukraine that have been fighting Kyiv's
armed forces with Russian support
since 2014. Franco-German attempts
to broker a deal on the separatist terri-
tories in the Donbas have foundered for
eight years, with both sides accusing
each other of bad faith.
The White House has warned that
Moscow could fake a Ukrainian attack
in the Donbas as a pretext for war. Vlad-
imir Chizhov, Russia’s ambassador to
the EU, stoked further speculation by
warning of a “counterattack” against
Ukraine if any of the 500,000 Russian
citizens in the region came under fire.
Putin said Ukraine had “entrenched
discrimination” against Russian-speak-
ers in the area and urged the West to
S
“influence” Kyiv to soften its stance. o acute is it has become the subject embassy in Moscow.
However, Scholz said Ukraine would
draw up laws setting out the “special
Leaders President Putin’s
concern about
of dozens of satirical
memes. Not even Sergey
President Macron also
refused when he met
status” of the Donbas and paving the
way for regional elections, an impor- distance catching Covid-19
— or his desire to
Lavrov, his long-serving
foreign minister, is
Putin in the Kremlin last
week. Officially the
tant precondition for diplomatic
progress on the issue. themselves unsettle visiting heads of
government — that guests
granted an exemption.
Yesterday Olaf Scholz,
Élysée said that the
Russian test “did not
Putin praised the German leader’s must submit to a Russian the German chancellor, seem to us to be either
“pragmatic attitude”, while Scholz said
he was hopeful that “dialogue in the
from PCRs PCR test if they wish to
sit anywhere near him
declined to take the test
before his lengthy
acceptable or compatible
with our diary
spirit of reciprocity” would prevail.
How the wheels turn in Putin’s mind,
at Kremlin (Oliver Moody writes).
Those who demur must
negotiations with Putin,
instead having the
constraints”.
However, the true
letters, page 26 instead sit at the opposite procedure carried out by reason appears to be
Russia has lost the trust of its end of a table so long that a doctor from Germany’s concern about what the
neighbours, leading article, page 27
Moscow
It is estimated that
German chancellor picks his moment
Yelnya Russia has deployed world leader than Scholz. The chancel- foreign diplomat in Berlin said. “Refus-
about 137,000
Oliver Moody
lor, 63, is a studiously unheroic figure ing to send weapons to Ukraine is a big
troops near the
RUSSIA At least there is one respect in which who plays with his cards close to his deal. And why won’t he even say the
Ukraine border
Olaf Scholz differs from Angela Merkel, chest, often confining himself to meas- words ‘Nord Stream 2’ in public?”
his predecessor as chancellor of ured generalities in the matter-of-fact Yet figures close to Scholz say his
Germany: he has a good poker face. tones of a Hamburg industrial lawyer. ambivalence is intended to maximise
Pogonovo Standing before the gilded doors of a Before yesterday’s ’s talks with Putin, his room for manoeuvre as an “honest
hall in the Kremlin , he watched Presi- however, Ukraine had cast Scholz as broker” between Ukraine, Nato and
dent Putin accuse Ukraine of carrying more or less the last man standing in Russia. Over nearly six years as a cabi-
Kharkiv out “a genocide” against its Russian- the way of armed conflict. net minister under Merkel, 67, he
Donbas Volgograd speaking minority and rail against Germany has carefully put itself in a absorbed her techniques for defusing
region Nato’s military intervention in Yugo- position to seize precisely this kind of conflict: waiting things out, avoiding
slavia, but his expression barely shifted. moment. While some Nato allies have public provocations, searching for com-
Separatist It was only when Scholz turned to the shipped missiles to Ukraine and issued mon ground, systematically chipping
area threat of an imminent armed conflict apocalyptic warnings of an imminent big problems down into smaller chunks.
Rostov-on-Don
that he allowed any emotions to show. attack, Scholz has preserved a sphinx- Yesterday’s meeting was not quite the
“For my generation, war in Europe has like “strategic ambiguity”, including on last-chance saloon it was made out to
become unthinkable and we must the future of the Nord Stream 2 gas be in some quarters. Nor did Scholz
ensure that it remains so,” he said. “It’s pipeline from Russia to Germany. come up with a masterstroke that could
our damned duty and task as heads of This fence-sitting has riled Ukraine radically alter Putin’s calculations. Yet if
CRIMEA state and government to prevent a and irked some European neighbours. patient, undemonstrative diplomacy
conflict from escalating in Europe.” “I cannot understand some of the posi- can avert a war in Ukraine, this was at
It is hard to think of a less messianic tions Germany has taken,” one senior least a first step down that road.
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 9

News
News

after crunch talks in Moscow KREMLIN/SPUTNIK/EPA

Russians might be able to
do with a pristine sample
of a world leader’s genetic
code.
“We knew very well
that meant no handshake
and that long table,” one
of Macron’s aides told
Reuters afterwards. “But
we could not accept that
they get their hands on
the president’s DNA.”
The precaution may
appear paranoid but there
are reasons to be careful.
Geneticists have identified
the nucleotide sequences
linked to a great number
of hereditary conditions
and the Russian
intelligence services
would take serious
interest in any
predisposition to heart
disease or early-onset
Alzheimer’s.
It is also possible to
make inferences about an
individual’s ancestry from
their DNA, which could at
least in theory furnish
Russia with opportunities
for blackmail or
propaganda.
However, Dmitry
Peskov, the Kremlin’s
chief spokesman, said the
arrangements had little
bearing on the substance
of Scholz’s talks with
Putin. “It doesn’t affect
the nature of the meeting,
Olaf Scholz had his Covid
test at the German
embassy in Moscow before
his meeting with President
Putin in the Kremlin
the content or the
duration,” he said.
After Macron’s visit
Peskov confirmed that the
decision to subject the
French leader to the huge
table was taken after his
refusal to take the
Kremlin’s Covid test. “It is
linked to the fact that
some follow their own
rules, they don’t co-
operate with the host
side,” he said.
Russian recognition
of separatist regions
could add to tension
Marc Bennetts Moscow
Russia’s parliament has voted to ask
President Putin to recognise two
Kremlin-backed breakaway republics
in eastern Ukraine, which would esca-
late tensions and could lead to Moscow
sending in troops.
More than 13,000 people have been
killed and more than a million dis-
placed since 2014 when the Kremlin
began providing covert military
support to separatists in the Donbas re-
gion, which call themselves the Don-
etsk People’s Republic (DNR) and the
Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR).
A formal recognition would further
inflame the situation in Ukraine, and
allow Moscow to openly arm the mili-
tias and defend them if attacked. Russia
has handed out about half a million
passports in the two areas and has
pledged to use military force to protect
its newly minted citizens.
The vote took place after Dmitry Pes-
kov, the Kremlin spokesman, accused
of Ukraine of large troop movements
near the borders of the two regions and
as Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor,
met Putin in Moscow for talks aimed at
defusing the crisis triggered by Russia’s
troop build-up near Ukraine’s border.
Scholz warned that Russia’s recogni-
tion of the two republics would lead to
disaster in the region. Jens Stoltenberg,
the head of Nato, said the move would
be “a blatant violation of Ukraine’s
territorial integrity and sovereignty”.
Putin later accused Ukraine of the
“genocide” of Russian speakers in the
Donbas warzone, building on past state-
ments in which he has accused Ukraine
of “Russophobia”, and said that the re-
gion faced ethnic cleansing. Ukrainian
and western officials deny this.
A DNR security official also claimed
that the republic had received intelli-
gence that Kyiv was plotting a “bloody
attack on the free people of Donbas”. A
spokesman for the LNR said that one of
its fighters had been killed in shelling by
the Ukrainian army.
Ukraine has denied that it is planning
such an operation. The White House
has warned that Russia could stage or
RUSSIA
Kharkiv
Approximate line
separating
Ukrainian border
and Russian- LUHANSK
backed forces
UKRAINE DONETSK
Donbas Rostov-
region on-Don
Mariupol
50 miles
fake an atrocity to give it a pretext to
invade. The Kremlin dismissed this.
In 2008 Russia invaded Georgia after
the former Soviet state tried to retake
South Ossetia, a pro-Moscow break-
away republic. The Kremlin later rec-
ognised it and Abkhazia, another
breakaway, as independent countries.
Russian MPs were asked today to
vote on two separate proposals. The
first was put forward by the Communist
Party, the second-largest party in par-
liament, and called for an “immediate”
appeal to Putin to recognise the separa-
tist-held regions as independent states.
The second was tabled by Putin’s rul-
ing United Russia party and proposed
sending the issue to the foreign minis-
try for further consultations. United
Russia is expected to win the day.
Although it is likely that MPs were
instructed on how to vote, Putin said
they had been guided by public opinion.
It was unclear, however, when Putin
would announce his decision. Some
analysts suggested that the Kremlin
was keen to keep the option in reserve.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry has
warned that Russian recognition of the
regions would signal the total collapse
of 2015 ceasefire deal.
Under the terms of the Minsk agree-
ment, Ukraine would grant the DNR
and the LNR a broad autonomy and
allow them to hold elections. It has said
that the votes can only go ahead when
Russian troops leave. The Kremlin
denies sending forces to Donbas.

Q&A
What are the Donetsk People’s
Republic (DNR) and the Luhansk
People’s Republic (LNR)?
Both are in Ukraine’s Donbas region, a
coal-mining area in the east of the
former Soviet state. They were
formed in 2014, after an armed
insurrection backed by Moscow that
followed a revolution in Kyiv which
toppled the pro-Russian president.
More than 13,000 people have been
killed in the ensuing conflict, which
continues to grind on across the
region despite a ceasefire in 2015.
How much influence does Russia
have in the republics?
Unlike Crimea, which the Kremlin
annexed from Ukraine in 2014,
Moscow does not claim that the two
republics are part of Russia. Although
the international community does not
recognise Russian rule in Crimea,
President Putin’s regime holds elections
on the Black Sea peninsula and
holidaymakers fly there from Moscow.
In comparison, the DNR and the LNR,
which have a total population of about
3.5 million, exist in a grey zone without
formal recognition by Russia. Both
republics are led by Kremlin-approved
politicians and Moscow is said to
bankroll pensions and state wages.
Denis Pushilin, the head of the DNR, was
made a member of Putin’s ruling United
Russia party. Key decisions are thought
to be agreed with Kremlin officials.
Russia has issued half a million
passports to residents of the two
republics and has promised to protect
them if Ukraine tries to retake the
territories by force.
Access to the breakaway regions is
carefully controlled by both Ukrainian
government forces and the separatists,
with travellers having to cross through
two sets of checkpoints. Illegally
crossing into the republics from
Ukraine via western Russia entails a
torturous journey that can take up to
30 hours by bus. Before the conflict, it
was possible to get from Kyiv to
Donetsk on an overnight train.
What is life like in Donetsk and
Luhansk?
Uncensored reports from the republics
have become rare. A former resident
who visited Donetsk last month
published photographs of billboards
with images of dead DNR fighters on
official buildings and inscriptions such
as “Heroes never die!” She also
described boarded-up buildings,
abandoned coffee houses and shops
signs banning the carrying of weapons.
There is a curfew from 11pm to 5am.
“Supermarket shop shelves are stocked
mostly with alcohol and snacks. Almost
all products are Russian-made, while
cheeses are brought from Belarus,” she
wrote in an article for the Russian-
language service on the BBC.
Schoolchildren are recruited into the
Young Army organisation and taught
combat skills and to regard the pro-
western government in Kyiv as “Nazis”.
Western companies left the region in
2014 but a popular fast food outlet is
called DonMac. Critics have accused
the DNR and the LNR of a range of
human rights abuses, including torture
and extrajudicial killings.
An international airport near Donetsk
that was built for Euro 2012 was
destroyed during fighting in 2014 and
lies in ruins. The Donbas stadium in
Donetsk, where England played two
games at the football tournament, has
not been used since the city was taken
by separatists.
How do they make it harder for
Ukraine to join Nato?
Nato has said that prospective
members must resolve any territorial
disputes before being invited to join.
The existence of the DNR and the
LNR, as well as the annexation of
Crimea by Russia, means that there is
almost zero chance of Ukraine being
offered membership in the
foreseeable future.
What would happen if Russia
recognised the two republics?
Recognising the two territories would
allow Russia to begin overtly arming
the republics and could even result in
Moscow opening military bases in the
Donbas.
Ukraine has warned that Russian
recognition of the regions would
signal the collapse of the ceasefire
agreement. Kyiv has pledged that it
will rely on diplomacy to try to return
the regions to Ukraine but all it would
take is a single misstep for an
outbreak in hostilities that could spiral
rapidly out of control.
10 2GM Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times

News
News Ukraine crisis

West risks Russian

anger with plans
to deploy 4,000
troops on border
Bruno Waterfield Brussels

Q&A
The rises would feed Russian behaviour in
Nato is drawing up long-term plans to into higher inflation as cyberspace”.
reinforce the alliance’s southeastern companies passed on
flank against Russian aggression with costs to customers. Could the crisis lead
up to four new battlegroups, starting to a new influx of
with a deployment to Romania. What would be the What would happen to refugees?
Defence ministers will discuss the consequences in the petrol and diesel? Yes. Ben Wallace, the
plan in Brussels today in what would be UK of an invasion? Britain relies on Russia defence secretary,
Nato’s biggest escalation of “force They could include big for about a fifth of its warned that an invasion
posture” against Russia in six years. rises in petrol and gas diesel supply. Russia is could lead to “millions”
Moscow will be angered by the pro- prices, cyberattacks and one of the world’s fleeing Ukraine and said
posal, which has yet to be formally a financial hit to largest crude oil Europe could face its
agreed by Nato, because it clashes with London’s financial producers, with a biggest refugee crisis
Russian demands for the alliance to markets from western capacity of about 11.2 originating on the
withdraw troops from eastern Europe. sanctions. million barrels per day. continent since the
Military planners are examining the Experts predict a rise Second World War.
deployment of four multinational battle What would happen to in the cost of oil from
groups of 1,000 troops each to Romania gas prices? $95 a barrel to $120 if What about British
and Bulgaria, possibly followed by About 3 per cent of the supplies are restricted businesses?
Slovakia and Hungary. There are fears UK’s gas supplies come or cut off. That would Companies such as BP,
in the latter two countries that the new directly from Russia, but mean petrol prices with a 19.75 per cent
deployments would enrage Moscow. the cost is dependent increasing to about share in the Russian
Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary- on the international 160.5p per litre. state energy firm
general, described the latest proposals, market, where prices Rosneft, could be hit by
on top of recent reinforcements in the are likely to soar. In the Could Russia launch UK sanctions against
region, as a consequence of the “lasting short term, consumers cyberattacks against Rosneft and any
impact of the security situation in would be protected by the West? retaliation by Russia.
Europe” of Russian aggression against the energy price cap, Yes. Last month the Russia is a big
Ukraine. but in October, when it National Cyber Security commodities exporter,
“Nato defence ministers will address is reviewed again, prices Centre, which is part of supplying about 40 per
the need to further increase our defen- could rise by 30 per GCHQ, warned British cent of the world’s
sive posture,” he said. “Nato is not only cent or more. companies and other palladium — vital for the
responding to the current crisis but we Businesses are not organisations to boost catalytic converters
are also going to consider more long- protected from rising their cyberresilience. It used in vehicles to limit
term adjustments to our posture in the prices so energy- highlighted an attack by harmful emissions —
east.” intensive industries Russia on more than 70 and about 30 per cent
The plans are an extension of the such as steel Ukrainian government of its titanium, crucial
“enhanced forward presence” deploy- manufacturing could websites and said it had for aircraft manufacture.
ment of battle groups in Estonia, Lithu- have to shut long “observed a Britain has not spelt out
ania, Latvia and Poland, which are temporarily. pattern of malicious details of any sanctions.
backed by tanks, air defences and intel- Russian armoured vehicles ostensibly return to base from exercises yesterday in
ligence and surveillance units.
That move was agreed in 2016 in said: “There will be a tasking that allows
Nato battle groups
response to Russia’s annexation of
Crimea and destabilisation of eastern
Ukraine, with deployments led by Brit-
ain, Canada, Germany and the US.
Tapa
UK led
Adazi
Canada
us to escalate but also to de-escalate if
Russia pulls back its military.”
The new battle groups are a longer-
term shift on top of ground and air
Kremlin has options
The new “enhanced presence” would Denmark Albania reinforcements from Britain, the US —
be led by France in Romania and by a France Czech Rep which is sending 2,000 troops to Roma- Analysis which runs parallel to Nord
Bulgarian battle group under Nato Iceland Iceland nia — and other Nato allies. Stream 1, online and suspending

command in Bulgaria, a model that
could be used in Hungary to counter
concerns over new deployments of
foreign troops.
Budapest has so far ruled out “addi-
tional troops on the territory of Hun-
gary”, as has Slovakia. Hungarian and
Slovakian reluctance could lead to the
creation of a larger multinational force
led by France in Romania that would
co-ordinate Nato exercises, bringing
military in and out of the region, with-
out establishing a formal presence in
other countries.
Stoltenberg said that “it will take
some time until we have all the deci-
sions in place” but welcomed “the offer
by France to lead a new Nato battle
group in Romania”, which is likely to be
the first deployment.
Alliance defence ministers are
expected to agree to the first step of
directing military commanders to come
up with a detailed plan for the four
battle groups. A senior Nato diplomat
B
Italy Nato’s increased presence in Bulgaria ritain and the US have gas supplies would occur only if
Montenegro and Romania, covering the Black Sea, vowed to impose Moscow felt it had no other option,
ESTONIA Poland would, said diplomats, “show resolve in unprecedented sanctions analysts say.
Slovakia the strategically important region” as on Moscow if there is a Russia’s airspace, which
LATVIA Slovenia well as shoring up Hungary and Slov- Russian military stretches over ten million square
Spain
LITHUANIA akia, which border Ukraine. incursion into Ukraine, but the miles, provides another means of
RUSSIA French officials said that designing Kremlin would not be short of striking back. If it was closed to
BELARUS the new battle groups and their compo- options if it chose to retaliate western airlines, as it was during
POLAND sition would take time after agreement (Marc Bennetts writes). the Cold War, companies would be
by Nato ministers. “We are basically Russia supplies about 35 per cent forced to divert flights, adding
UKRAINE aiming for a deadline of a few months,” of the gas used in Europe. Some is hours to journey times, and
Orzysz an official said. pumped through pipelines that increasing costs.
US Crimea In his televised address to Americans cross Belarus, Poland and Ukraine, Cargo flights between North
Croatia from the White House last night, Biden while the Nord Stream 1 pipeline America or Europe and Asia would
Romania Rukla sought to reassure ordinary Russians goes directly to Germany under be affected. FedEx, the US
UK Black Sea and counter disinformation about the Baltic Sea. transport company, said it was
Germany Nato’s intentions. If tensions erupt into fighting, making contingency plans should
Belgium “The United States and Nato are not Moscow could simply turn off the its planes be banned from Russian
Czech Rep a threat to Russia,” Biden said. “Ukraine gas to western countries. There is airspace.
Iceland Nato also the possibility that pipelines in
is not threatening Russia. Neither the “So far, Moscow hasn’t
Luxembourg member US nor Nato have missiles in Ukraine. Belarus or Ukraine could be threatened to revoke overflight
Netherlands Russian We do not, do not have plans to put damaged during hostilities. rights, but knows it has a
Norway base
them there as well. We are not targeting Russia is keen, however, to get phenomenal weapon at its
200 miles the people of Russia. We do not seek to its contentious Nord Stream 2, disposal,” Elisabeth Braw, a senior
destabilise Russia.”
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
photographs from the defence ministry. In the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, left, pro-Russian forces stand ready
to impose sanctions of its own
fellow at the American Enterprise
Institute, wrote in an article for the
Defense One website.
Even if Russia did not impose a
formal ban, it could still make life
difficult for airliners. “Every one of
those operations requires advance
clearance and that’s not always
routinely granted. If things got
serious some of those requests
could just go unanswered,” Robert
Mann, an analyst, told Reuters.
Even though Russia earns large
fees from overflights, US airlines
have expressed fears that Moscow
could choose to disrupt
connections to Asia and the
Middle East from North America.
New sanctions against Russia
could also provoke cyberattacks on
western infrastructure. Suspected
Russian hackers have in the past
successfully targeted Ukrainian
electricity supplies, as well as a
Norwegian food producer. Last
year hundreds of American
businesses were hit by a
ransomware attack that US
intelligence said was carried out by
REvil, a cybercrime gang
operating out of Russia. Although
the gang was not thought to be
linked to the Kremlin, hackers are
often forced or enticed into
working with Russian security
services.
President Putin warned
President Biden in December
that further sanctions against
Russia would lead to “a
complete rupture of
relations”. A Kremlin
official said targeting
Russia with new
sanctions would be a
mistake “which our
descendants will later
President Biden was
warned of a rupture
in relations with
Russia in December
RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY PRESS SERVICE; ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO/REUTERS
Years of investment
leave Putin with a
modern lethal force
Larisa Brown Defence Editor
Russia is now a more capable military
power than at any time since the disso-
lution of the Soviet Union, with billions
of pounds invested in modernising its
forces, experts have said.
James Hackett, editor of The Military
Balance, an in-depth assessment of mil-
itary capabilities that is published each
year, said that in the early 1990s Russia
suffered from a reduction in defence
procurement, with many projects
shelved. However, after the conflict
with Georgia in 2008 Russia invested
in modernising its military, with tanks
and heavy artillery systems upgraded
and its naval forces transformed.
Figures released alongside the
publication of this year’s assessment
showed that Russia’s total defence
budget — which includes military
housing, social spending and pensions
— came to $62.2 billion (£46 billion),
up from $57.3 billion in 2016. Fenella
McGerty, senior fellow for defence eco-
nomics at the International Institute
for Strategic Studies, which publishes
The Military Balance, pointed out that
in real terms Russian defence spending
had fallen over that time frame, from
$60.8 billion to $55.7 billion.
Dr John Chipman, director-general
of the institute, said that concerns over
Russia’s military capabilities and poss-
ible actions in recent years had been
“important in motivating European
states to increase defence spending”.
European defence spending grew by
4.8 per cent in real terms last year, the
fastest pace recorded for any region.
The assessment said European coun-
tries had “turned a corner in terms of
their defence spending since Russia’s
annexation of Crimea in 2014 and sub-
sequent military intervention in east-
ern Ukraine upended the continent’s
security landscape”.
It also said “concern over Chinese
and Russian military developments
was driving regional as well as wider
international military developments”.
The UK overtook India to become
the third largest defence spender,
according to the assessment of 171
countries. The UK’s defence budget for
White House creates ‘tiger
team’ to prepare game plan
see as a huge one”. Tensions
between Russia and the US have David Charter Washington
already led to a ban on the
American embassy in Moscow and The White House has assembled a
its consulates from hiring Russian “tiger team” of officials and experts to
citizens. The US said last year it prepare responses to various scenarios,
had no choice to but to close down including a full-scale invasion of
consulate services, meaning Ukraine and “asymmetrical attacks”
Russians are forced to travel using unconventional weapons and
abroad to apply for US visas. tactics.
Moscow could also target The team has held two “table-top”
western media outlets. A BBC exercises, each lasting several hours,
correspondent was expelled with the goal of preparing the US to act
from the country last year, quickly to whatever Russia decides to
while Russia recently do.
ordered Deutsche Officials said the team consisted of
Welle, the German experts from organisations including
media outlet, to shut the National Security Council, the
down its operations State Department, Homeland Security,
in the country the Office of the Secretary of Defence
after RT, the and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Kremlin-funded The team was assembled by Alexan-
TV channel, was der Bick, the director for strategic
banned from planning at the National Security
broadcasting in Council, who helped to devise the US
Germany. strategy to defeat Islamic State.
“Our hope is still that there’s a diplo-
11
News
News
Forces compared
Russia Ukraine
Combat 900,000 196,600
troops
Reserves 2,000,000 900,000
Main battle 2,927 858
tanks
Artillery 4,984 1,818
Attack 20 0
submarines
Nuclear 11 0
Source: IISS Military Balance 2022
submarines
Combat 1,172 124
aircraft
Attack 399 0
helicopters
Aircraft 1 0
carriers
Frigates 16 1
last year was $71.6 billion, with only the
United States ($754 billion) and China
($207.3 billion) spending more. Russia
was fifth, behind India.
Chipman said Russia’s armed forces
were different to those that fought the
short war with Georgia in 2008. Its
troops are now mostly contract person-
nel, not conscripts, while its weapons,
including its nuclear arsenal, “are on
the whole more modern”. He added: “Its
cruise missiles can strike from ranges
over 2,000km.”
He said Russia had effective mobile
air defence systems and an increasingly
modern air force, adding: “Less progress
may have been made in modernising
army equipment, but Russia’s ground
manoeuvre capabilities are nonethe-
less superior to those of Ukraine.”
In reference to the tensions with
Ukraine, Chipman said Russia had a
“wide range of tools at its disposal”
when it came to attacking the country,
including cyberattacks. He said that
rather than a full-scale invasion consid-
ered possible by the West, there were
probably enough troops present to con-
duct a “more limited ground opera-
tion”, including seizing eastern regions.
matic path to avoiding all of this so we
never have to use the playbook,”
Jonathan Finer, deputy national secur-
ity adviser to President Biden, told The
Washington Post. “But this is all about
making sure we are ready to go if and
when we have to be.”
Among the tiger team’s main con-
cerns is a false Russian narrative that it
is Ukraine and the West preparing to
launch an attack in eastern Ukraine.
The team has helped to drive the
aggressive release of western intelli-
gence to deny Russia the element of
surprise and to counter disinformation.
The two table-top exercises were run
in December. An NSC official said: “It’s
one thing to consider each of these
problems — energy, sanctions, military
posture — in isolation. It’s quite
another to put them all together and
execute a plan on all of them.
“What I saw over the course of this
planning exercise was, including at the
most senior levels, lightbulbs go on
about the way the pieces fit together.”
12
News
Send Channel
migrants to
Ascension,
ministers told
Matt Dathan Home Affairs Editor
Channel migrants should be deported
to an overseas British territory within
48 hours of arriving in the UK, a report
by a right-wing think tank has said.
Policy Exchange recommends set-
ting up asylum processing centres in
Britain’s Sovereign Base Areas in
Cyprus; Alderney in the Channel
Islands; or Ascension Island, 4,000
miles away in the Atlantic.
The think tank, which has close links
to the government, urges ministers to
adopt a “new Plan B” if France contin-
ues to refuse “Plan A” of British vessels
intercepting boats in French waters and
escorting migrants back to France.
Policy Exchange has recommended
a three-stage process for handling
those picked up in the Channel, under
which every migrant would be detained
and deported within 48 hours to a third
country. Policy Exchange believes its
A total of 28,381 migrants crossed
the Channel to Britain last year
hardline proposals would act as a deter-
rent. Last year the number of migrants
crossing the Channel reached 28,381.
The Policy Exchange proposals go
further than Priti Patel, the home sec-
retary, has published as part of her New
Plan for Immigration and Nationality
and Borders Bill.
The exchange’s preference out of the
three overseas locations is Ascension
because of its climate and its lack of an
indigenous or permanent population.
The report said the island’s runway
could handle “large planes” and cited
its “stable and favourable” climate, with
an average temperature of 22.7C.
Ascension Island has been compared
Tech firms face crackdown on ‘legal but harmful’ content
Tom Knowles
Technology Correspondent
Matt Dathan
Tech giants may soon have to proact-
ively remove “legal but harmful” con-
tent from their platforms for UK users
under radical proposals being consid-
ered by the government.
Priti Patel, the home secretary, is
reportedly considering changes to the
forthcoming Online Safety Bill that
would require tech companies to moni-
tor and remove content that is consid-
ered harmful but not illegal.
The bill aims to make the UK the
“safest place in the world to be online”
and could be presented to parliament as
to Australia’s use of Nauru island to pro-
cess asylum seekers. But the exchange
report said that accommodation in As-
cension would be “much less austere”
than in Nauru, Cyprus and the Channel
Islands because of the warm weather.
A drawback to using Ascension
Island might be the cost of flying the
migrants 4,000 miles. The report said
more work was needed to calculate the
“practical aspects”.
The option of placing migrants on
sovereign bases in Cyprus, in Akrotiri
and Dhekelia, would be allowed as their
use by the UK is “not required to be
confined to military purposes”.
The report said Alderney was the
most favourable option because its
local government would make it easier
to process asylum seekers. It said that
placing migrants on the island would
help deter Channel crossings because
of the “futility of departing for the UK
from France, only to find oneself closer
to France, physically, than the UK”.
Its proposals are based on a premise
that every migrant who crosses the
Channel — even genuine refugees —
would never be granted a right to settle
in the UK.
Richard Ekins, an Oxford professor
and one of the report’s authors, said the
Channel migrant crisis needed a
“game-changing” solution. “The crisis
may well worsen as events in Ukraine
unfold,” he said. If Plan A cannot be
agreed with France, the Plan B outlined
in this report is the way forward.”
A government source said that
sending people to overseas British terri-
tories would not solve the problem of
removing illegal migrants from enter-
ing the UK’s asylum system.
6 The government is struggling to
move 12,000 Afghan refugees out of
hotels partly because some families do
not want to be moved to remote areas of
the country. Yesterday marked six
months since the evacuation mission
from Afghanistan, which airlifted
17,000 people to Britain. Officials have
privately admitted there will still be
families living in hotels a year on from
Operation Pitting last August and that
they are struggling to persuade coun-
cils to offer enough permanent homes.
soon as next month. The legislation re-
quires social media giants — and most
other companies that allow users to up-
load their own content — to show a
“duty of care” to users by proactively re-
moving illegal content and activity,
such as child sex abuse material or
terrorist content. They must also
ensure that children are not exposed to
inappropriate material. Companies
that fail to do so could be fined £18 mil-
lion or 10 per cent of their global annual
turnover, and UK-based directors
could be held criminally liable.
In the draft released in May, the gov-
ernment stated that a certain subset of
companies, predominantly social me-
dia giants, would also need to take steps
Red head A model on the LaQuan Smith runway on Valentine’s Day was well
prepared to stave off the infamous winter weather at New York Fashion Week
to minimise access to content that is
“legal but harmful”, such as some types
of online abuse, or content that may
glorify self-harm or eating disorders.
However, it was not stated that the
companies would be legally required to
proactively remove such content,
rather than relying on users to report it.
Now, Patel is looking to make tech
companies and their UK-based direct-
ors liable for such content. The move
was first reported by the Financial
Times, which said that she had written
to cabinet colleagues including the
chancellor laying out her proposals, as
she says new measures are needed to
better protect children online.
“There is lots of content on social
2GM
FERNANDA CALFAT/GETTY IMAGES
media that is illegal and harmful to
children. We want to give Ofcom powers
to require companies to mitigate harm
on their platforms,” a Whitehall official
said. “There are technologies that can
do this and we want to make sure that
tech companies are doing all they can.”
Tech executives have reported con-
cern about the proposals. One industry
figure told the FT: “This seems to go sig-
nificantly beyond what is done in dem-
ocratic countries. It feels a bit closer to
what they are doing in China.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “We
expect companies to remove and limit
the spread of illegal content on their
platforms. Where they don’t, it is right
they are held to account.”
Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
MI5 rejected
intelligence
on bomber
Duncan Gardham, Fiona Hamilton
Intelligence passed to MI5 in the
months before the Manchester Arena
bomb was dismissed despite being a
“pressing national security concern”,
an intelligence officer admitted in a
secret hearing.
The Security Service was said to have
been overstretched due to the rise of
Islamic State when it failed to appreci-
ate the significance of two leads passed
on about Salman Abedi, who killed 22
people in a suicide attack in May 2017.
Another MI5 witness told the public
inquiry into the bombing that there was
a big increase in workload in the two
years before the attack and he had
warned his superiors “something
potentially could get through”. Families
of victims said they were “shocked and
appalled” at the revelation.
Four MI5 witnesses and ten officers
from counterterrorism police gave evi-
dence in secret after Sir John Saunders,
the inquiry chairman, ruled that a pub-
lic airing would risk national security.
Yesterday, on the final day of evi-
dence after 17 months of hearings, a
“gist”, or summary, was read out.
Paul Greaney QC, for the inquiry,
explained that the MI5 officer who first
evaluated one piece of intelligence
“accepted during questioning that it
could be understood, at the time, to
indicate activity of pressing national
security concern”.
The parents
living in fear
of children
Charlie Moloney
Adult children attacking their parents
make up a tenth of domestic abuse
cases, a study funded by the Home
Office has found.
More young adults are living at home
because of housing shortages and the
higher cost of property, and investiga-
tors said this had led to tensions within
homes. In cases involving a parent, the
abusers were, on average, aged 27 and
male while the victims were aged 54.
Dr Nathan Birdsall, co-investigator
on the project, said that the 10 per cent
figure could be an underestimate.
Instances of abuse were unreported
because parents did not want to crimi-
nalise their children, the study said.
“They may also feel it makes them
look like a bad parent,” Birdsall told The
Daily Telegraph. “They feel embar-
rassed or guilty about reporting or they
may rely on their child to provide and
care for them.”
Nicola Graham-Kevan, a professor
of criminology from the University of
Central Lancashire who led the
research, said that the abuse often
resulted from the pressures of caring
for elderly or ill mothers and fathers.
“As medicine gets better at keeping
people alive, it also means chronic ill-
nesses are going to be more prevalent,
increasing the chances of carer burn-
out,” she said.
There were 66,973 domestic abuse
offences or incidents investigated by
Lancashire police, which formed part
of the study, of which 7,171 involved a
child aged over 16 abusing a parent or
parental figure. The number of people
aged 24 to 34 who are living with their
parents has risen by a third since 1996.
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
Crowdfunder keeps hope afloat for restored tapestry of naval battle
Jack Blackburn
Royal Museums Greenwich are in a
fundraising race to ensure that their
largest tapestry can be displayed for the
first time in 22 years.
The Burning of the Royal James at the
Battle of Solebay, which is about 24 sq
metres, is being restored before an ex-
hibition next year. However, a crowd-
funding campaign on the Art Fund
website, which launches today, must
raise £15,000 from the public by March
Rock giants’
ancient trek
may eclipse
Stonehenge
T
he “sleeping
giants” of
neolithic
Britain have
given up some
of their secrets, and they
threaten to put the
builders of Stonehenge
in the shade (David
Sanderson writes).
Research on “palisade
enclosures” near
Avebury henge and
stone circles in
Wiltshire has concluded
that stones used in their
construction originated
280 miles away in
Northumberland’s
Cheviot Hills.
If the granite stones at
West Kennet were
carried south by people,
rather than glacial
movement, the distance that while more research
is almost double that was needed it was
covered by the Preseli already “beyond doubt
mountain bluestones one of the most
that formed Stonehenge extraordinary and
5,000 years ago. puzzling occurrences of
The researchers wrote non-local material in
in British Archaeology neolithic Britain”. One
Stalker sat in Whitehall
waiting for ex-colleague
Charlie Moloney
A senior civil servant has said he felt
violated when a former colleague
declared her love for him and set up
camp in Whitehall hoping to meet him.
Alex Wilkinson, become aware that
Ray Israel-Wilkinson, a 33-year-old
economist, had set up social media ac-
counts to discuss him after they worked
together at the Department for Cul-
ture, Media and Sport.
Wilkinson found a Twitter page with
5,000 followers where she claimed
GCHQ was trying to stop them from
being together.
Jennifer Gatland, for the prosecu-
tion, said Israel-Wilkinson sat outside
the office in Parliament Street on
May 27 last year with a placard which
said: “Waiting for my Wilko”.
Gatland said: “This caused signifi-
cant distress for Mr Wilkinson who had
to change his routine, entrances and so
forth. The defendant has created social
media pages claiming they are married
and declaring her love for him.”
Israel-Wilkinson had been seen
17 to pay for the artwork to be hung.
“This is so crucial,” said Victoria
Mottram of the museums. “Then it
wouldn’t have to return to our conser-
vation stalls and not be seen.”
According to the rules of the crowd-
funder, donors are charged only if the
£15,000 target is met. Otherwise, no
money is received. Crowdfunders use
this as a way of motivating donors.
The piece has played a symbolic role
in the history of the Greenwich muse-
ums, and hung behind George VI when
striking implication is
that despite its proximity
to Stonehenge the
people involved at
Avebury had a “different
pattern of networks and
long-distance links . . . to
those seen in the
Ray Israel-Wilkinson claimed that she
and Alex Wilkinson were married
camped out with banners and placards
saying: “This is not a protest. Waiting
for my Wilko.”
She had changed her name from
Rayner Sultan in what prosecutors said
was an attempt to give the impression
they were married, and had a second
Twitter account with a pinned tweet of
104 love songs dedicated to Wilkinson.
He told Westminster magistrates’
court that Israel-Wilkinson began to
contact him after leaving the depart-
ment and insisted on meeting him.
“I wasn’t comfortable because we
didn’t have any meaningful relation-
ship,” Wilkinson said. “She was writing
he opened the National Maritime
Museum in 1937. It was made by the
father and son duo of Willem van de
Velde the Elder and Younger and
depicts a battle from the Third Anglo-
Dutch War. During the battle off the
Suffolk coast, the Royal James was set
on fire by the Dutch and sank.
That day, May 28, 1672, was wit-
nessed by Van de Velde the Elder. With-
in a year, he was artist for Charles II and
worked at the Queen’s House in Green-
wich, now part of the National Mari-
Stonehenge region”. The The West Kennet
researchers said: “There stones, about 70
might also be a deeper pieces of decayed
history to such links and granite known as
movements than we “grus”, were found
currently envisage, in deep postholes of
going back to the 4th a timber structure
millennium BC.” dating from about
about how she was in love with me and
insinuating that we’d had some roman-
tic connection when we hadn’t.
“It was quite difficult because you
could see she was clearly in a bad men-
tal state. It’s difficult to see someone
who is suffering . . . and you can’t really
do anything to help them.”
Israel-Wilkinson was arrested for
harassing Wilkinson but continued to
sit outside the office in defiance of her
bail conditions. In August last year she
was detained under the Mental Health
Act and taken to hospital where she
continued to email Wilkinson.
She did not attend her trial and was
convicted in her absence by District
Judge Timothy Godfrey, who issued a
warrant for her arrest. He said: “I have
been presented with an over-abun-
dance of evidence that the defendant
stalked Alexander Wilkinson.”
The biography on Israel-Wilkinson’s
Twitter account read: “Please help my
@alexwilko85 contact me. He is forced
by evil souls to ostracise me. He loves
me as much as I love him. My Wilko is
unhappy. Please.”
13
News
time Museum. The 350th anniversary
is being marked by the exhibition.
The cost of the conservation, being
done by a studio in Brighton, is
£179,000. The tapestry has decayed,
collapsing under its own weight and
being damaged by the light.
“When you hang the tapestry for the
first time, you can really see the work of
the team,” said Zenzie Tinker, head of
the studio. “On something like this, it is
The 350-year-old artwork is being so many months, so we are looking for-
prepared for an exhibition next year ward to that moment.”
ALAMY
The stones at Avebury are
made of granite. If they
were carried to Wiltshire by
hand the distance would
outdo that of Stonehenge
2500BC. Some were
arranged in a ring
around a grave holding
the remains of people,
with researchers unsure
of their purpose.
The new paper does
not rule out that the
grus were carried south
from the Cheviot Hills
by glacial movement,
although they would still
need to have been
collected from Norfolk
or Yorkshire.
The research team,
including Mark Gillings
of Bournemouth
University and his
Possible c
counterpart at
Granite grus routes S
Southampton
Cunyan Crags, U
University, Joshua
Northumberland 50 miles P
Pollard, said that
t
their challenge was
Approximately to learn what
280 miles s
sustained these
lo
long-distance
n
networks in neolithic
B
Britain. They said:
Bluestones “
“Was it simply
Carn Goedog, p
pilgrimage, or more
Preseli Mountains d
daily matters such as
h
histories of migration,
Monmouth in
intermarriage,
West
k
kinship and common
Kennet,
Approx
s
self-identification?”
Avebury
124 miles
Stonehenge
Tyre worker awarded £20,000
over ‘lazy old white guy’ jibe
Jonathan Ames
A recycling worker has been awarded
Owusu called him a c*** in Ghanaian
in front of Barkoh and Frimpong, who
translated and reprimanded Owusu.
more than £20,000 after a black col- The company said the comments
league claimed that calling him a “lazy were work banter that was reciprocated
old white guy” was “just banter”. by Moore. Owusu said in evidence that
Barry Moore, 55, was repeatedly told the pair often swore at each other but
by younger co-workers that he was too never used any racist language.
old to do his job at the tyre recycling But the judge, Eoin Fowell, ruled
business in Rotherham. Moore found the comments “intimi-
An employment tribunal has now dating”. He said that there was “no sug-
ruled that Moore was the victim of con- gestion” from Owusu that he ever felt
stant harassment and bullying that ulti- intimidated by Moore and he “accepted
mately forced him to leave his job. he did enjoy winding Mr Moore up”.
The hearing in Leeds was told Moore Moore resigned amid claims that the
was a tyre grader for Sean Pong Tyres, working environment had caused him
a small recycling and export company. “many days of stress, upset, and sleep-
Moore was one of two white workers less nights and loss of appetite”.
and the owner, Sean Frimpong, and He said that the “situation has also
two employees, Desmond Owusu and affected my mental health and gave me
Eric Barkoh, were of Ghanaian origin. no choice but to seek medical help. I feel
Moore and Owusu had known each for my own sanity I must move on.”
other for many years and Owusu once Judge Fowell said: “It is clear that the
dated Moore’s sister-in-law. abusive remarks were on a regular
Their relationship “went downhill basis. Hence the resignation was . . . a
fairly rapidly” towards the end of 2020, constructive dismissal and an act of di-
when Moore complained about Owu- rect discrimination on grounds of age
su.He alleged that he called him a “gay and race”.
white man” and a “lazy w***er” , who The tribunal rejected a claim by
was too old to do his job. Moore that he had also been the victim
He also claimed that on one occasion of sex orientation discrimination.
14
News
News Coronavirus
Experts hit out at Djokovic as
Laurence Sleator, David Rose
Stuart Fraser Tennis Correspondent
Novak Djokovic insisted he was not an
antivaxer yesterday as medical experts
argued that his stance on Covid-19 jabs
could “cause harm” and undermine the
response to the pandemic.
The men’s world No 1 tennis player
said he was “never against vaccination”
as he spoke about his refusal to get a
jab in his first interview since he was
deported from Australia last month. He
was forced to leave Melbourne before
the Australian Open over concerns
about his vaccine status.
Djokovic told the BBC that he “sup-
ported the freedom to choose what you
put in your body”. He added: “I say that
everyone has the right to choose or act
to say what feels appropriate for them.
I have never said I was a part of that
[antivaccine] movement.”
The player, 34, said that his right to
choose what he does with his body was
Novak Djolovic
said: “I keep my
mind open”
more important to him than being
allowed to compete at tournaments.
Sajid Javid, the health secretary,
suggested that the only reason Djokov-
ic was able to return to playing tennis
was because of the success of the Covid-
19 vaccination programmes. He told the
BBC: “It’s interesting to note that Mr
Djokovic thinks it’s OK for sport spec-
tators, all his fans, to take the vaccine
that allows him to get back to play the
sport in front of them and earn millions
again, it’s OK for him to have them take
the vaccine, but the vaccine is not OK
for him. I think he should reflect on his
decision.”
Dominic Wilkinson, professor of
medical ethics at the University of
Oxford, said Djokovic could under-
mine the response to the pandemic
because his views are “enormously
influential” and may “reinforce beliefs”
among people oppose vaccinations.
He said Djokovic’s public statements
“will have the effect of supporting those
who are opposed to the vaccine”, even if
that is not his intention.
“When he comes out and says it in
such a public way, that does cause harm
because it potentially reinforces those
Vaccines for five-year-olds get closer
Oliver Wright Policy Editor
Children as young as five could soon be
offered coronavirus jabs, after it
emerged that the move had been ap-
proved by regulators.
Baroness Morgan of Ely, the Welsh
health minister, said yesterday that she
had received advice from the Joint
Committee on Vaccination and Immu-
nisation (JCVI), backing voluntary in-
oculation for younger children.
The advice has yet to be published by
the government but Morgan said she
had seen its recommendations and was
preparing to begin the process.
The JCVI was due to publish its offi-
cial recommendation last week but it
was delayed.
It is understood that details could be
released as part of Downing Street’s
wider announcement of its “living with
Covid”, due next Monday.
The Medicines and Healthcare Prod-
ucts Regulatory Agency has already
approved the Pfizer-BioNTech jab for
use in the under-12s after finding that it
Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
beliefs among other people who aren’t,
The national picture like him, super-fit and healthy and who
may well be at serious risk of getting ill,”
How many people have Covid-19? he said.
There were 46,186 new cases reported Dr Peter English, a retired consultant
yesterday, bringing the cumulative total to
18,393,951 or 275.4 for every 1,000 people in communicable disease control, said
Djokovic’s opposition to jabs was “a
27.6% decrease from seven days ago highly irrational choice, not compatible
(based on seven-day moving average)
with ‘having an open mind’, and strong-
Daily cases ly indicative of being antivaccine”.
200,000 Julian Savulescu, professor of practi-
National cal ethics at Oxford, believes that the
R number 150,000
Seven-day
0.8 to 1.0 tennis star had been “vilified”.
average 100,000 “I think his extreme form of libertari-
50,000 anism is one that’s difficult to defend,”
he said. “But in the current circumstan-
0
Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan ces, given that he has had Covid and
2021 2022 there are other ways of reducing his
risk, I think he should be allowed a
How many are in hospital? degree of freedom.”
There are 12,304 patients in hospital being Jonathan Ives, professor of empirical
treated. 393 patients are on ventilators. An
additional 1,110 patients have been bioethics at the University of Bristol,
admitted, down 14 per cent in seven days said: “The ethically correct response to
to Feb 11 when this data was last updated Djokovic’s comments is not to cancel
Hospital admissions
him or to try to force him to take the
vaccine, it is to challenge his views and
Seven-day advocate for safe and effective vaccines
average 4,000
more strongly.”
3,000 Djokovic was initially let into Austra-
2,000 lia last month with a medical exemp-
1,000 tion from having to provide proof of
vaccination but was then deported on
0
Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan “health and good order grounds”.
2021 2022 During the BBC interview he did not
rule out the possibility of changing his
How many have died? mind on jabs. “I keep my mind open,” he
Yesterday there were 234 deaths reported,
bringing the total number of deaths in the
said. “There is always a possibility
past seven days to 1,163. The rolling things will change in the future. As of
average number of daily deaths is 166.1, today, this is my decision.”
down from 257.4 a day a week ago His country of birth, Serbia, has rela-
Deaths tively low rates of vaccination uptake,
with only 47 per cent of the population
Seven-day 1,500 thought to have received two doses,
average compared with 71 per cent in the UK,
1,000 according to Our World in Data.
500 More evidence of the benefits of jabs
was published yesterday. An analysis of
0
Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan the blood of unvaccinated people
2021 2022 infected with Omicron showed they
appeared to develop poor immune de-
How does 2021 compare? fences against other variants. If vacci-
There were 11,862 deaths from all causes nated before infection, they retained
recorded in England and Wales in the
week to February 4, of which the strong immunity against both Omicron
coronavirus accounted for 10.5 per cent. and other variants. The findings, from a
The number of weekly deaths was 1,203 small study of 27 people in South Africa,
lower than the five-year average for the suggest that vaccination may be key to
same time of year future protection from emerging vari- Covid-19 patients wait outside A&E at Caritas Medical Centre in Hong Kong as
20,000 ants. The team behind the study said,
2020/21
15,000
10,000
5,000
however, that their findings also imply
that it might be unwise to develop
Omicron-specific vaccines.
Hancock breached equality
Five-year average
0
Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan 2022
Djokovic expected to defend his
Wimbledon title, Sport, page 66
My lunch with Djokovic, Times2
law when hiring Tory peer
Oliver Wright
Matt Hancock failed to comply with
equality laws when he appointed a
How Britain compares
Percentage of population who have
received at least one vaccine dose
is safe and effective. Many countries, balance that against the prospect of Conservative peer to a senior role in the (total doses administered in brackets)
including France and the United States, missing school. So, we have to consider government’s response to the coronavi- UAE 99% (23.9m) People
are already offering vaccines to the very different issues when it comes to rus, two judges have ruled. vaccinated
over-fives. the vaccination of children as young as The Runnymede Trust, a race equali- Portugal in UK
94.8% (22.5m) First dose
Revealing the advice to the Senedd, five years old.” ty think tank, took the government to 52.5m
Morgan said it was a “shame and per- She said children were expected to be court over the process used to appoint Spain 87.7% (91.6m)
Second
plexing” that the JCVI advice had “not accompanied by an adult, who would Baroness Harding of Winscombe as 48.8m
Australia 85% (52.5m)
been published yet”. need to provide informed consent for interim executive chairwoman of the Daily
She added: “I have received JCVI ad- the vaccination. National Institute for Health Protec- Italy 83.7% (132.3m) (Feb 14)
vice regarding the vaccination of all five Siblings would be able to have their tion in 2020. The think tank and the First dose
8,107
to 11-year-olds. I have agreed it, and we vaccinations at the same time and all campaign group the Good Law Project France 80% (139.3m)
Second
are working with health boards on im- would be given at health centres rather claimed the appointment had been 18,172
plementing the offer. than schools, she said. conducted without “open competition” UK 77.3% (139.1m)
Boosters
“We await advice about whether the But she added the programme would and suggested that people “outside the (Feb 14)
most vulnerable cohorts should have a not be “a matter of urgency” because tight circle” in which Tory politicians Sweden 76.7% (20m) 32,050
further booster to protect them over the risk was low. moved were not offered opportunities. US Total
76% (547.4m)
the spring and summer months.” Morgan said the government was Lord Justice Singh and Mr Justice 37.8m
She acknowledged the low risk that waiting to hear from the JCVI whether Swift at the High Court dismissed this Figures as of 6pm yesterday. Source: Our World in Data
(latest figures available) and gov.uk. Note: Selected countries.
Covid-19 posed to children. Data for there would need to be a further central contention but did rule that
England shows there is about one death booster for older age groups in the Hancock, health secretary at the time
within 28 days of testing positive per spring. of the appointment, had not complied sion-maker did in the circumstances of
200,000 five to nine-year-olds. A government spokesman said: “We with a public-sector equality duty. these cases to discharge the obligation
Morgan added: “Of course, it’s likely are reviewing the JCVI’s advice as part “What the . . . duty requires is not when deciding the method by which
to have been a very difficult decision for of wider decision-making ahead of the necessarily a particular outcome; for each relevant appointment was to be
the JCVI, because generally, children publication of our long-term strategy example, an open recruitment policy,” made. We have considered . . . the evi-
have a milder illness and fewer hospi- for living with Covid-19. More detail they said. “[But] there must be some dence filed on behalf of the defendants
talisations, but, of course, they have to will be set out shortly.” evidence of what precisely the deci- and cannot find any such evidence.”
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 15

News
News

he insists: I’m not an antivaxer MIGUEL CANDELA/EPA

World update
Global cases Global deaths Deaths per million population
413,483,457 5,826,463 Rank Now Jan 31, 2021
1 Peru 6,323 1,234 (16)
Most new cases
1 US 179,172 2 Bulgaria 4,978 1,299 (13)
2 Russia 178,785
3 Bosnia & Herz. 4,601 1,431 (7)
3 Germany 174,539
4 Turkey 76,632 4 Hungary 4,413 1,296 (14)
5 Spain 68,706 5 N. Macedonia 4,209 1,367 (10)
6 Japan 60,053
6 Georgia 3,905 797 (40)
7 Brazil 59,363
11 UK 46,186 7 Croatia 3,541 1,225 (17)
Countries reporting most deaths 8 Czech Rep 3,537 1,523 (5)
1 US 922,473 9 Slovakia 3,316 836 (37)
2 Brazil 639,151
10 Romania 3,206 949 (31)
3 India 509,358
4 Russia 334,093 11 Brazil 3,007 1,048 (24)
5 Mexico 312,819 14 Poland 2,857 982.4 (29)
6 Peru 208,466
15 US 2,787 1,309 (11)
7 UK 159,839
8 Italy 151,296 28 UK 2,355 1,555 (4)
Data supplied by Johns Hopkins University. US data fluctuates because of irregular reporting by different states. Figures as of 6pm
yesterday. Sources: UK government, Our World in Data, selected countries

Hong Kong seeks aid

as draconian rules fail
to contain Omicron
Didi Tang Beijing
A senior member of the Hong Kong
government has tested positive for the
coronavirus as the territory struggles to
control a wave of infections caused by
the Omicron variant.
Hospital beds are filling fast and the
government is seeking urgent help
from the mainland with testing and
medical supplies. Hong Kong recorded
another 1,619 new infections yesterday
after Monday’s record high of 2,071.
the nation fights a fifth wave. It announced record infections on Monday and has appealed to the mainland for urgent help “Given the magnitude, pace and se-
verity of this fifth wave, it has outgrown
elderly, children and those suffering
with severe symptoms. On Monday the
education authority suspended face-
to-face classes, and children as young
as three are now eligible for the Chinese
Sinovac vaccine.
Honk Kong has recorded ten deaths
since last week but it is not clear whe-
ther they were related to the Omicron
variant. Until these cases there had
been no coronavirus deaths in Hong
Kong since September.
Research by the medical school at
the University of Hong Kong has sug-
gested that there may be more than 950

Fully jabbed less prone to long Covid
Katie Gibbons
Fully vaccinated people are much less
likely to suffer symptoms of long Covid
than those who have not been jabbed, a
study has found.
Experts concluded that double
vaccination provides a high level of
protection against the condition, which
is thought to have affected more than a
million Britons and can cause fatigue,
shortness of breath and muscle or joint
pain.
The UK Health Security Agency
(UKHSA) examined 15 studies that
studied the effects of vaccination on
long Covid. Their analysis found that
those who had been infected after
receiving two doses of the Pfizer, Astra-
Zeneca or Moderna vaccines were
about half as likely as people who re-
ceived one dose or were unvaccinated
to develop long Covid symptoms last-
ing more than 28 days. One dose of the
Janssen vaccine provided the same
benefit.
The UKHSA found that vaccine
effectiveness against long Covid in
adults was highest in people aged 60
and older, and lowest for those aged 19
to 35.
The researchers also found that
people who received a vaccination after
being infected reported that the dura-
HRT may cut
virus deaths
Katie Gibbons
Hormone therapy could help to
prevent older women dying from
Covid-19, a study has suggested.
Researchers at the University of
Umea in Sweden and Helsinki
University studied the records of
14,685 women aged from 50 to 80
who contracted coronavirus from
February to September 2020.
They found that women taking
hormone replacement therapy
used to relieve menopause
symptoms were 54 per cent less
likely to die from the virus than
those not taking oestrogen.
Women with breast cancer taking
drugs to suppress oestrogen had
more than double the risk of death
from Covid, the observational
study, published in the BMJ, found.
However, experts said caution
should be taken when thinking of
HRT’s benefits in relation to
Covid-19.
tion of post-Covid symptoms was
shorter compared with those who were
unvaccinated.
Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisa-
tion at the UKHSA, said: “These stud-
ies add to the potential benefits of re-
ceiving a full course of the coronavirus
vaccination. [It] is the best way to pro-
tect yourself from serious symptoms
when you get infected and may also
help to reduce the longer-term impact.
“For most people symptoms of long
Covid are short-lived. But for some,
symptoms can be more severe and dis-
rupting to their daily lives.”
Figures from the Office for National
Statistics (ONS) suggest that 1.33 mil-
lion people, about one in 48, are likely to
have symptoms of long Covid, includ-
ing more than half a million who first
had Covid-19, or suspected they had the
virus, at least a year ago.
Registered deaths involving corona-
virus in England have fallen for the
second week in a row. A total of 1,242
deaths registered in England and Wales
in the week ending February 4
mentioned Covid-19 on the death
certificate, according to the ONS, down
10 per cent on the previous seven days.
About one in ten deaths registered in
England and Wales in the week to
February 4 mentioned Covid-19 on the
death certificate.
our capacity,” Carrie Lam, the chief
executive, said.
Lam has not come into contact with
the staff member in her office who has
tested positive but John Lee, the city’s
second most senior official, is isolating
after a domestic helper tested positive.
Hong Kong, like China, is one of the
few remaining states to be pursuing a
“dynamic zero” approach to the pan-
demic, but has been changing its poli-
cies to cope with the new wave. Last
week the government stopped sending
all diagnosed cases to hospital for
isolation, allowing people with mild or
asymptomatic cases to stay in a
separate facility.
New social housing will be repur-
posed to accommodate more than
3,000 people in quarantine, along with
10,000 hotel rooms, Lam said. The
hotels have not yet been identified but
Lam warned that she could use emer-
gency powers to make them comply.
Lam has stressed that there is no plan
for a city-wide lockdown in response to
Omicron. “We will continue to fight
this anti-pandemic fight,” she said. “It is
not an option to surrender to the virus.”
She added that 100 million rapid test
kits would be given out, starting with
care homes, to address a backlog of
PCR tests created by mandatory testing
orders under which hundreds of
thousands of residents have queued for
hours.
Public health officials have said that
they will prioritise hospital beds for the
deaths before the end of June if the
Covid restrictions are maintained as
they are now.
So far, the draconian response in
Hong Kong has been extremely effec-
tive. Since the pandemic began at the
start of 2020, the city has recorded a rel-
atively low 223 deaths.
A rare protest against the strict meas-
ures took place yesterday when one of
Hong Kong’s few remaining active pro-
democracy parties, the League of
Social Democrats (LSD), staged a small
event outside the central government
offices.
Chan Po-ying, the group’s chairwom-
an, said that the territory had paid too
high a price for sticking to the “dynamic
zero” strategy and that achieving zero
infections was not practical. The LSD
said that the government’s relief meas-
ures were focused on “saving the
market instead of saving the people”.
For the first time a HK$10,000 (£947)
subsidy will be provided to workers in
certain sectors and to unemployed
people who meet certain criteria, but
Chan said that the amount was not
sufficient to ease the financial burden
of the poor.
“Medical experts globally recognise
that vaccines cannot prevent infec-
tions, but are effective at reducing the
severity of symptoms,” she said, adding
that, given the high transmission rate of
the Omicron variant, there would still
be Covid outbreaks even if vaccination
rates increased.
16
News
PM must quit if he
broke party rules,
says former law chief
George Grylls Political Reporter
Boris Johnson must resign if he attend-
ed a lockdown-breaking party, a former
Conservative attorney-general said.
Jeremy Wright, who held the role
under both David Cameron and Ther-
esa May, said that the prime minister
should be removed from office if he
attended a party or was aware that one
had taken place.
In a letter to his constituents seen by
The Times, the MP for Kenilworth and
Southam said he found it “frustrating”
that the Metropolitan Police had failed
to take action sooner and there was no
need for a “lengthy investigation” into
Downing Street parties.
He said that the publication of the
full report by Sue Gray, the senior civil
servant investigating the gatherings,
would provide “crucial” further details.
Johnson would have to resign if he
attended a party, he said, because it
would mean he had misled parliament.
In December, Johnson had told the
House of Commons: “All guidance was
followed completely in No 10.”
“If the prime minister has attended
events he knew broke the rules, or was
aware of events he knew broke the
rules, he should not have advised the
House of Commons, on several occa-
sions, that as far as he was aware, no
rules were broken there,” Wright wrote
to his constituents. “Doing so in those
circumstances would be misleading the
House and must in my view lead to his
resignation or removal from office.”
Wright said that members of the
public had the right to expect accounta-
bility, but he said the prime minister
also had the right to “due process”.
“There is little in this episode or the
handling of it of which the prime minis-
ter can be proud, and he may yet need
to leave office because of it,” he said.
“But the decision to remove a sitting
prime minister two years after his elect-
ion with a large majority requires
proper consideration of the relevant
evidence, as my constituents are
entitled to expect me to give it.”
Johnson has hired a lawyer to help
him draft a response to a questionnaire
sent to him by the Met. In total, 90 sus-
pected attendees will receive question-
naires from Scotland Yard.
The prime minister will argue that he
was working when he attended as many
as six different gatherings, The Times
understands. These included a “bring
your own bottle” event in the Downing
Street garden, a birthday celebration in
the Cabinet room, three leaving events
for Downing Street staff and a party in
Johnson’s Number 11 flat.
Partying at work, letters, page 26
Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
DIMITRIJE GOLL/SERBIAN PRESIDENCY/EPA
Union ‘wasted
£70m building
flagship hotel’
Andrew Norfolk
The Unite trade union spent almost
£100 million building a four-star hotel
and conference centre that is worth less
than £30 million, its general secretary,
Sharon Graham, has revealed.
The £70 million overspend on the
flagship Birmingham hotel is under
investigation by a QC-led inquiry and
initial findings are due next month.
A source close to the union said
members would be “enraged” by the
“staggering waste of their money”.
Concerns about the spiralling costs
were revealed by The Times last year.
The main contractor was a Liverpool
building firm owned by Paul Flanagan,
an associate of Unite’s former leader,
Len McCluskey. A health and safety
contract was given to another Liver-
pool firm owned by David Anderson,
34, son of the city’s former mayor, Joe
Anderson. Flanagan, 58, and both
Andersons were arrested in 2020 for
alleged bribery in an unrelated criminal
inquiry. They have been released pend-
ing inquiries and deny any wrongdoing.
McCluskey, 71, retired last August
and Graham has ordered an independ-
ent inquiry into the project.
Unite said the contract awarded to
Flanagan’s company was subject to a
strict tendering process. It has no con-
nection with the Merseyside police in-
quiry and it is not suggested that there
Balkan honour Johnny Depp shows off a gold medal of merit awarded to him by was any criminal wrongdoing in the
President Vucic of Serbia in recognition of his efforts to help the country’s artists contracts awarded by the union.
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
diary@thetimes.co.uk | @timesdiary
Apocalypse
now, please
If Russia pulls back from the brink of
war, the news may not be universally
welcomed in Westminster. One peer
might be actively disappointed. The
crossbencher Lord Truscott recently
asked the government what its
reasons were for “believing that a
thermonuclear war with Russia
would be ‘an unwelcome outcome’ ”.
Apocalypses have often proven
popular in parliament. In May 2004,
three MPs signed an early day
motion that “looked forward to the
day when the inevitable asteroid
slams into the Earth” and wipes out
humanity. One supporter was the
ever-consistent Jeremy Corbyn who,
even then, wanted an extinction for
the many, not the few.
Ukrainians have been preparing for
an invasion for years. Douglas Oliver,
a reader, tells me that in 2018 he
bought a doormat in Lviv which had
Vladimir Putin’s face on it. The mat
reads “Welcome — wipe your feet”.
party political puzzle
Yesterday’s story of Downing Street
in the coalition era brought a
reminiscence of territorial tensions
between Tories and Lib Dems. Once,
TMS
George Osborne, above, came for a
meeting with the deputy prime
minister Nick Clegg. While waiting
outside, Osborne found a Rubik’s
Cube that had one side all in Lib
Dem orange. Osborne got to work
on it but, by the time Clegg arrived,
the puzzle was no closer to being
solved. The only difference was that
the one completed side was now in
Tory blue.
dame judi sets an example
Dame Judi Dench is a role model
for actors and, while filming the
Oscar-nominated Belfast, she took
its 11-year-old star under her wing.
Jude Hill tells Empire magazine
that the 87-year-old actress showed
him how to behave on a film set,
namely by telling rude jokes and
indulging in other vices. “A lot of
them were inappropriate,” says
Hill of Dench’s quips, before he gets
on to her gambling. “We had a bet
one day on who could guess how
many takes we’d need to do for a
scene.” It certainly got him onside.
“I won [the bet],” he says, “and she
gave me £2 — which I’ll never
spend.”
The film director Edgar Wright says
that filming in your childhood home
can have advantages. Fifteen years
ago he shot Hot Fuzz in Wells, where
he feared being recognised, At 3am
during one shoot a grim-faced couple
came up to him and said: “Are you
Edgar Wright?” He nodded and they
asked: “Did you used to live at 40
Southover?” He feared some reprisal
for a youthful misdemeanour.
Instead, a bag was handed over with
the words: “Here’s your post.”
diarist’s dedication
Patrick Kidd has sent me greetings
from his half-term hols. It was a
photo from Victoria Embankment
Gardens (which, I note, is
suspiciously proximate to the Savoy
hotel) of a bench whose plaque read
“In memory of Frankie Thorax —
always dull and usually violent”. No
explanation is apparent, but it
seems London has many intriguing
benches. One, by the fishing lake in
Crystal Palace Park, is dedicated to
Nina Theresa Jenkinson and says:
“She took pleasure in annoying the
fisherman by feeding the ducks.”
jack blackburn
Wordle players get
a whiff of scandal
Laurence Sleator
For Wordle players, part of the game’s
appeal is its simplicity. Everyone trying
to guess the same five-letter word in
fewer than six attempts.
But yesterday’s edition appeared to
mark a break with the concept as
players spotted there were two possible
correct answers, depending on which
platform they were using.
The issue stemmed from some puz-
zlers using the version on the website of
the new owners, The New York Times,
which recently bought the rights to the
game for a seven-figure sum. Others,
however, were still playing from the
original server. The discrepancy is
thought to be due to the NYT amending
the original puzzle and removing
“obscure” words.
Yesterday, NYT players would have
been correct with “aroma” whereas
players on the original site were guess-
ing “agora”.
When so much of the game is the
social element, with puzzlers sharing
their score, it can dampen the achieve-
ment of guessing quickly, end a long
winning streak or remove crucial clues
for those who know which word their
friends always open with.
Since the newspaper acquired Word-
le it has been beset by controversy with
complaints from players that the game
has become much harder. A spokes-
man insisted to The Guardian: “Nothing
has changed about the game play.”
17
News
A R O M A
A G O R A
Yesterday’s game had two answers,
depending on the platform you used
It has since emerged that words
deemed “insensitive or offensive” have
been removed by the NYT as potential
guesses, including lynch, shoot, slave
and wench.
The game was launched by a pro-
grammer called Josh Wardle for his
puzzle-loving wife, and soon became an
internet craze.
Players have one five-letter word to
guess each day and they can share their
score on social media.
Nicole Hayes, an author from Aus-
tralia, wrote: “No idea if this is the word
others are complaining about because
that especially fun part of the game
seems to have been killed off.”
Another social media user said:
“People getting different words on
Wordle? NYT managed to ruin the one
good thing in our lives.”
The NYT said: “We are updating the
word list over time to remove obscure
words to keep the puzzle accessible to
more people, as well as insensitive or
offensive words.
“Solvers on the old word list can
likely update to the new list by refresh-
ing their browsers.”
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 2GM 19

I felt diplomat was going the extra mile willingly, boss tells inquest
Will Humphries
Southwest Correspondent
A diplomat who went missing and died
while under “extreme stress” working
on the Covid-19 task force was not
asked by his boss how he was coping, an
inquest was told.
Richard Morris, 52, a former ambas-
sador to Nepal, was so overworked at
the height of the first wave that he
“could not switch off”.
He disappeared after going for a run.
Four months later his body was found
under a tree.
Julia Longbottom, 58, now the am-
bassador to Japan, was Morris’s boss in
the Foreign Office task force and told
an inquest yesterday that she had not
asked how he was coping, despite her
being a “wellbeing champion” and him
saying he was “exhausted”. She suggest-
ed that Morris, a senior co-ordinator,
had not shown signs of distress.
The inquest was told Morris was
working 15-hour days six or seven days
Richard Morris,
who worked on
the Covid-19 task
force, had had
almost no time off
a week without leave. Longbottom told
the inquest she believed he was “going
the extra mile” willingly.
The inquest was told that on May 6,
2020, Morris made his wife, Alison, a
cup of tea at their home in Bentley,
Hampshire, and went for a run. His
body was found on August 31, two and
a half miles away in Alice Holt forest.
Giving evidence from Japan, Long-
bottom said: “[Morris] was saying he
was concerned the team did not have
capacity. I felt it was important to reas-
sure him on that rather than go into
questions about how he was doing.”
Alison Morris said her husband, with
whom she had three children, had
feared there was not enough time to
News
process information in the fast-moving
period and if any information error got
past him the government “would be
torn apart in the press”. As a result he
was “desperate” to keep on top of what
was going on, she said.
Christopher Wilkinson, the senior
coroner, concluded that Mr Morris had
taken his own life after suffering severe
and acute stress. He described the task-
force in the early days of the pandemic
as “much like a plane being flown at the
same time as building it”.

KRISTIAN HOYLE/WALES NEWS SERVICE

Turbine
collapses
as storms
hit UK
A
300ft wind
turbine
snapped in
50mph
gales and
came crashing down
“like thunder and
lightning”, waking
sleeping villagers (Will
Humphries writes).
The turbine
collapsed on the Pant
y Wal wind farm in
Gilfach Goch, near
Bridgend in south
Wales, on Monday.
It heralds the arrival
of two storms due to
sweep in to the UK.
Motorists have been
advised by the
National Highways
agency to travel only iff
necessary.
Storm Dudley will
move across the
northern half of the
UK from tonight
into tomorrow
morning, followed
by Storm Eunice,
which could also
bring snow, on Friday.
The Met Office has
Two glasses
of wine have
more calories
than a burger
Two glasses of wine can contain more
than an adult’s recommended daily
limit of sugar and more calories than a
hamburger, experts have said.
The Alcohol Health Alliance UK
(AHA), which has published an ana-
lysis of the contents of various wines,
said that product labelling on alcoholic
drinks was “woefully inadequate”.
It looked at the calorie and sugar con-
tent of 30 bottles of red, white, rosé,
fruit and sparkling wine sold in the UK.
The alliance, which represents more
than 60 organisations, said that there
was a wide variation of sugar and calo-
ries but that with this information miss-
ing from most labels consumers were
“being kept in the dark” about what
they were drinking.
It said that government guidelines
recommended that adults should con-
10 miles sume no more than 30g of “free” sugars
WALES issu an amber
issued warning for tomorrow safety of nine other The massive turbine per day but that it was possible to reach
M50 we
weather warning for and Friday. turbines on the wind cracked in strong winds almost this entire amount by drinking
Pant y Wal wind th evening for
this In Gilfach Goch, farm. and crashed to the two medium glasses of wine.
farm where st
strong winds. It Lydia Stephens, who A spokeswoman for ground, waking villagers The analysis suggested that many of
turbine collapsed c
covers southern lives near the turbines, Nordex, the turbine the most sugar-packed wines had the
S
Scotland, northern asked: “How the hell manufacturer, said it Nordex turbine lowest alcohol strength. Consumers
M4 M5 E
England and part of does a turbine fall was investigating and collapsed near Essen opting for low-alcohol wines on health
No
Northern Ireland, over?” Local residents “all necessary safety in western Germany grounds were therefore in danger of
wit a wider area
with have demanded that measures have been last September. being misled, the AHA said.
Cardiff Bristol cove
covered by a yellow officials check the implemented”. A Weather, page 53 Wines with a high calorie content
M5 tended to be higher strength. The AHA
said that none of the 30 products exam-
ined displayed sugar content on their

TikTok star on murder charge

labels, which is a requirement for non-
alcoholic drinks. Calorie content was
displayed on only 20 per cent of the la-
bels examined.
Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, chairman
of the alliance, said: “Alcohol’s current

after men killed in car crash
Tom Ball
A TikTok star and her mother are
among a group of five people charged
with murder after a fatal car crash.
Mahek Bukhari, 22, an influencer
with a following of 126,000 people, and
her mother Ansreen Bukhari, 45,
appeared at Leicester magistrates’
court yesterday in connection with an
incident early on February 11 on the
A46.
The pair were arrested after a vehicle
was “run off the road” before splitting in
two when it crashed into the central
reservation of the dual carriageway.
Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin and
Saqib Hussain were pronounced dead
at the scene.
Another woman, Natasha Akhtar, 21,
and two men, Raees Jamal, 21, and
Rekan Karwan, 28, have also been
charged with murder.
The incident occurred near the Six
Hills junction in Leicestershire at
Mahek Bukhari and mother Ansreen,
top, were in court yesterday. Saqib
Hussain, left, and Mohammed Hashim
Ijazuddin were killed last week
around 1.30am. Ijazuddin and Hussain
had been travelling in a silver Skoda
Fabia. Two other cars, a grey Audi TT
and a blue Seat Leon, were spotted near
the scene at the time and all three vehi-
cles were travelling “at speed” before
the collision, police said.
Mahek Bukhari, from Stoke-on-
Trent, models and advertises outfits for
clothing brands to her TikTok fans and
43,000 Instagram followers. She also
documents her travels and style tips
under the name May B Vlogs.
In a Q&A video Bukhari published
on YouTube in November, she was
asked by a follower whether she had
“some kind of beef with anyone?”
She responded: “No, I don’t. I keep
myself to myself when it comes to beef.
I would say beef was coming to me last
year and I cut off loads of people, lots of
Tik Tokers actually, which was good for
my mental health as well. Now I’m liter-
ally thriving and growing.”
Elsewhere, Bukhari has described
her mother, who is the managing
director of a security company, as a best
friend, sister and mother all rolled into
one.
At yesterday’s court appearance, Bu-
khari and her mother spoke only to
confirm their names. Akhtar, from Bir-
mingham, appeared briefly with the
pair. The three women will appear at
Leicester crown court for a bail hearing
tomorrow.
A 20-year-old man who was arrested
on suspicion of murder on Friday has
been released from police custody.
Leicestershire police said in a state-
ment: “The investigation is in the very
early stages and work is being carried
out to ascertain the circumstances of
the collision and what happened in the
minutes before.”
Detective Chief Inspector Tony
Yarwood added: “Anyone who was
travelling in the area in the early hours
and has any dashcam footage, we are
urging you to come forward.”
exemption from food and drink label-
ling rules is absurd. Shoppers who buy
milk or orange juice have sugar content
and nutritional information right at
their fingertips.
“But this information is not required
when it comes to alcohol — a product
not just fuelling obesity but with wide-
spread health harms and linked to
seven types of cancer.”
He called on the government to pub-
lish its planned consultation on alcohol
labelling without further delay.
“As well as calorie labelling and nu-
tritional information, we need promi-
nent health warnings and the UK chief
medical officers’ low-risk weekly drink-
ing guidelines on labels. Studies suggest
that this could help reduce alcohol
harm by increasing knowledge of the
health risks and prompting behaviour
change.”
Alison Douglas, chief executive of
Alcohol Focus Scotland, added: “Alco-
hol labelling is woefully inadequate in
this country and allows the alcohol in-
dustry to decide what information it
will and won’t include on its products,
despite alcohol claiming the lives of 70
people a day in the UK.”
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
Post Office apology
for ruining lives was
feeble, say victims
Mario Ledwith
The Post Office has left victims of the
Horizon computer scandal without an
adequate apology and compensation,
the independent inquiry has been told.
Victims of what has been called the
biggest miscarriage of justice in British
legal history accused executives of
offering only “feeble” amends, despite
having ruined the lives of thousands of
people. Hundreds of subpostmasters
and mistresses were wrongly convict-
ed, and others were driven to bankrupt-
cy, homelessness and suicide.
The taxpayer is paying an estimated
£1 billion to compensate the staff who
were falsely accused of stealing money
from their branches because of flaws in
the computer system.
Three in five people who have ap-
plied for compensation are yet to re-
ceive a payment and at least 33 have
died while awaiting justice.
The Post Office pursued 844 prose-
cutions between 2000 and 2015, secur-
ing 705 criminal convictions.
On the second day of the inquiry,
Damian Owen, who ran a branch in
Bangor, north Wales, said the Post
Office went ahead with a private prose-
cution against him despite the police
saying he had no case to answer.
During ten weeks in jail for an alleged
21
News
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE
shortfall of £25,000 he lost 4st. Owen,
38, said he has since had to work in the
“most menial, bottom-of-the-rung
jobs” because of his criminal record.
Tim Parker, the chairman of the Post
Office, issued an apology and said he
was quitting days before the start of the
inquiry. Owen said: “It is the most
feeble apology I have ever received. It
says, ‘Please feel free to contact me’ but
there are no contact details.” He added:
“I would like a proper apology. I want a
decent amount of money out of them.”
Owen has repeated calls for execu-
tives at the Post Office, a government-
owned company, to face a criminal
investigation.
Lawyers for the inquiry say the Post the youngest woman to airfield in Kent yesterday. Mack Rutherford, 16, with
Office knew the Horizon computer
system, made by the Japanese firm Fu-
Flyboy aims do so last month (Kieran
Gair writes).
His parents are both
experienced pilots and he
his sister, Zara, who at 19 is
the youngest woman to fly
jitsu, was not fit for purpose while press-
ing ahead with prosecutions.
to follow his Mack Rutherford, who
had already become the
has been obsessed with
flying since he was three.
around the world solo. He
said that she inspired him
It was installed from 1999 to try to sister into youngest pilot in the He said: “When you get to take up the challenge
simplify accounting and stocktaking. world after gaining his in the air and you just see
Within days of its introduction a Post record books licence aged 15, is aiming everything so small you “My sister really helped
Office helpline was receiving calls com- to beat Travis Ludlow, can literally go wherever me see that I can do
A
plaining about financial anomalies, yet pilot aged 16 from Buckinghamshire, you want to go. It’s just something like this. My
these were not taken seriously. will attempt to who was 18 years and 149 incredible.” parents have been
A settlement was reached between become the days when he completed Mack paid tribute to incredibly supportive.”
the Post Office and 555 workers over its youngest to fly his 44-day global journey his sister, Zara, who took He will fly a Shark
mistakes in 2019 after a legal battle that solo around in July last year. 155 days to fly around the ultralight, one of the
lasted years. the world after his Mack announced his world on a trip hit by fastest microlights, with a
Persecution of subpostmasters 19-year-old sister became plans at Biggin Hill numerous interruptions. top speed of 186mph.
Letters, page 26
22 Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times

News

Nazi sex parties on children’s gaming site

Tom Knowles
Technology Correspondent
An online gaming platform popular
with children around the world is
hosting virtual Nazi sex parties featur-
ing bondage acts and digital strippers.
Roblox, which is rated as suitable for
children as young as seven, has been
found to have games in which avatars
take off their clothes or simulate sex in
virtual rooms.
People can watch and comment
about the characters’ sex acts.
The virtual sex rooms, discovered in
a BBC investigation, also included
avatars dressed in Nazi uniforms and a
naked man “wearing just a dog collar
and a lead being led across the floor by
a woman in a bondage outfit”. Roblox
stressed it was very unlikely a child
would stumble across these digital sex
rooms unless actively looking for them
and that the games were usually only
up online for as little as an hour before
moderators took them down.
Roblox is an online platform that lets
users design and build their own
computer games, which anyone else
can then play.
There are more than 40 million
games to choose from and these can
range from adopting a virtual pet or
living in a fantasy castle to shoot ’em up
challenges and obstacle courses.
The sprawling universe of games and
digital worlds that users can explore
within the Roblox platform is consid-
The lockdown favourite
About half of six to nine-year-olds in
the UK are estimated to use Roblox,
created in 2004. Players use a
digital currency called Robux — 800
of which cost £8.99 — to buy virtual
costumes, pets, weapons, vehicles
and private servers that allow them
to play a game only with invited
friends. Users who build games get
a cut of the related revenue. During
the pandemic Roblox’s popularity
soared, with many children using it
to meet friends online and play
games. It is rated suitable in the UK
for those aged seven and above.
ered to be an early version of the
“metaverse”, the digital world that
Mark Zuckerberg, the head of Face-
book, predicted will one day be where
people do the bulk of their socialising
and working. However, it can be hard
for Roblox moderators to keep up with
some of the games and virtual worlds
being created on the platform.
The sex games are often referred to
as “condos”, where people can allow
their avatars to have virtual sex and talk
about sex with other users in an instant
messenger chat box.
Hannah Rüschen, senior online
safety policy officer at the NSPCC, said:
“It is completely unacceptable that
these adult environments are available
on a game so popular with children. It is
not enough for Roblox to play cat and
mouse to shut down these rooms only
after children have been exposed to
harm. They must fix the dangerous
design flaws that allow them to be
created in the first place.”
There were nearly 50 million daily
active players across 180 countries on
Roblox last year and a report by the
5Rights charity estimated that half of
British children between six and nine
go on the platform at least once a week.
Roblox said it had developed paren-
tal control tools and took swift action
against anyone breaking its communi-
ty standards. It has also banned the
word “condo” on the site. “We have zero
tolerance for sexual content or behav-
iour of any kind,” a spokesman said.

FOUR SEASONS HEALTH CARE GROUP/SWNS

Electric cars
outpacing
charge sites
Robert Lea Industrial Editor
The UK needs a new regulator —
Ofcharge — to ensure there are
enough public electric car recharging
posts in the right places and to protect
zero-emission motorists from excessive
prices, the motor industry says.
The take-up of plug-in vehicles is
outpacing the amount of charging in-
frastructure, the industry says, and
there is a deep north-south divide.
The number of pure electric battery
cars nearly doubled last year with
190,000 registrations — one in six new
cars sold — taking the total to 390,000.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers
and Traders (SMMT) estimates that
there is one rapid charger for every 32
all-electric cars. It says that in the past
three years, the sale of pure battery
electric cars is up more than 500 per
cent, but the number of rapid chargers
installed grew by only 82 per cent.
Figures for all public charging posts
and all plug-in vehicles show one con-
nection for every 30 plug-ins in the
south and one for every 50 in the north.
The government has committed it-
Olympic games Care home resident Anne MacDonald, 89, enjoyed some snowball throwing in a mini competition in appreciation of Team GB at the Four Seasons self to banning the sale of new petrol-
home in Blackburn, while Jennifer Morgan, 85, and Marjorie Brownlee, 93, showed off their contest medals and Doreen Wilkinson held her own homemade flame only and diesel-only cars from 2030.
As Ofwat, Ofgem and Ofcom at-
tempt to rein in, respectively, the water,

Sala’s family called his name on beaches after plane crash
Will Humphries
Southwest Correspondent
The mother of the footballer Emiliano
Sala told an inquest of her family’s
anguish after he died in a plane crash.
Mercedes Carina Taffarel said that
she and Sala’s siblings, Dario and
Romina, roamed the beaches of the
Channel Islands trying to find him.
The single-engine aircraft carrying
Sala, 28, from Nantes in France to his
new club in Cardiff crashed into the
Channel on January 21, 2019, killing
him and the pilot, David Ibbotson, 59.
Carina Taffarel told the inquest her
family had battled the British aviation
authorities after they called off a search.
“We didn’t hesitate to hire a private
team,” she told Bournemouth coroner’s
court. “We walked on those islands call-
ing his name . . . We still had hope, which
ended in pain which abides to this day.”
A month after the plane went down,
the Argentine striker’s body was recov-
ered 21 miles off Guernsey. A post-mor-
tem examination found deadly levels of
carbon monoxide, and that he had died
from injuries to his head and torso.
Ibbotson’s body has not been found.
The four-week jury inquest was
delayed as David Henderson, 67, who
organised the flight, was convicted for
recklessly endangering the safety of an
aircraft. He had asked Ibbotson to
make the flight, although Ibbotson was
not licensed to carry passengers or to
fly at night. Henderson was jailed for 18
months in October last year.
The inquest continues.
energy and media industries, so the
SMMT is calling for an independent
Office of Charging or Ofcharge.
It says the body should be in charge of
planning to ensure an equitable geo-
graphical and regional spread of infra-
structure and should also monitor
prices. Recharging at motorway service
stations can cost several times more per
unit of electricity than at home. Mike
Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said:
“We need clear, equivalent targets and
support for operators and local author-
ities that match consumer needs.”

I N T H E T I M E S T O M O R ROW

THE TABLE BUSINESS SPORT COMMENT

So long, Simon Mike David
salami Nixon Atherton Aaronovitch
Why Italian What Britain How the IPL Why our leaders
chefs are can learn from Italy can make stars should take
buying British on levelling up of no-marks more drugs
PULLOUT MAIN PAPER MAIN PAPER MAIN PAPER
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
Denying expats the vote
is so last century
Richard Lloyd Parry
Page 24
Britain’s baby shortage is everyone’s problem
The falling birth rate is spawning serious economic and social problems: helping to fix it is a government responsibility
James
Kirkup
M
any modern job titles
are jarring, but few are
as unfortunate as
“fertility officer”, which
conjures visions of
bureaucratic commissars urging a
patriotic workforce to breed for the
motherland. Yet that image could tell
us something about our future,
because Britain is running out of
babies and sooner or later we’ll have
to talk about what to do about it.
In the context of demographics,
Burgess Mee, the law firm that
appointed that fertility officer,
deserves praise for its foresight. The
officer, Natalie Sutherland, is
charged with persuading young
solicitors that having children won’t
wreck their careers.
Good luck to her, but the scale of
those demographic challenges means
that her good work will inevitably be
a drop in the ocean. This is a
challenge that will require national
effort, led from the centre and
starting with a serious attempt to fix
our woeful childcare system, which
helps to make having children so
expensive that many couples put it
off or simply decide not to bother.
That’s one reason the birth rate for
women in Britain is just under 1.6,
and falling, well below the rate
needed to maintain a stable
population. We’re turning Japanese,
following other advanced economies
into a future where the young are
outnumbered by the old.
A greying population isn’t just an
economic problem, although having
more pensioners and fewer workers
poses some obvious difficulties.
Indeed, the economic aspects of
ageing may just be the easiest to
address, so long as we’re all prepared
to do more work until later in life. (I
know that’s no small thing. I’m
writing this on my 46th birthday.
Please check up on me in 25 years to
see if I’m still doing this.)
Less familiar are the social and
political dimensions of demographic
change. A country with fewer
children inevitably allocates more
resources and more power to older
people. Spending on healthcare is
rising quickly and — absent serious
reform — inexorably, while spending
on education has been flat for 20
years. The last 15 years of economic
policy have prioritised the assets
owned by the old over the prospects
of the young. Covid mitigation was a
similar story.
Younger Britons have borne these
things with remarkable patience and
generosity but it will be no surprise if
Spending on health is
rising; on education it’s
been flat for 20 years
deep-seated grievances eventually
take hold. Even if our public finances
and wider economy can absorb
demographic changes, without
careful management those changes
will still make us a less happy and
cohesive society.
Of course, birth isn’t the only way
for a country to acquire productive
young folk. But immigration can’t be
the whole answer here, and I say that
as a migration liberal, because the
countries from which immigrants
come are also facing falling birth
rates driven by economic growth.
Such trends mean that relative
incentives to move to the UK to do
social care or the other jobs we don’t
want to do ourselves will decline.
We’re already running out of babies.
All too soon we might be running
out of immigrants too.
These demographic trends are big,
complicated and uncertain. That
helps to put them high up the long
list of “important things politicians
neglect”, not least because they go
beyond short electoral cycles. There
aren’t many votes in telling people
they have to work longer.
And many politicians are rightly
unwilling to tell people how many
children to have, or to have them at
all. But there are surely short-term
political rewards to be had from
doing things that do long-term good,
by giving more people more choices.
This brings us back to childcare,
which the OECD calculates can cost
30 per cent of the wages of the
typical double-income couple. That’s
almost twice the cost in countries
that make a proper effort to help
people combine work and
parenthood: a Finnish couple pays
18 per cent. The prohibitive costs of
UK childcare should be a problem
for everyone, but they fall more on
women than men.
Many politicians pay little
attention to childcare, possibly
because lots of them are a) able to
afford nannies and nurseries and b)
men. This oversight means that, as
so often, the private sector is
recognising social change well before
the people who run the country.
Smart employers know they need to
do better for parents and would-be
parents.
Polling for Vodafone found that
one in five 18 to 34-year-olds have
quit a job over poor parental leave.
Twenty-five per cent said they had
decided not to apply for a job because
an employer’s parental policies were
inadequate. Enlightened self-interest
Comment
GETTY IMAGES
The extortionate cost of childcare is
putting couples off starting a family
is driving companies to offer more:
otherwise they’ll miss out on talent
and run out of workers.
This isn’t a call for politicians to
target a higher birth rate, much less
a commissar’s call to procreate in the
national interest. Having children —
or not — must always be a private
choice. But public policy should
make it easier for people who do
want to have children but don’t feel
able to. Allocating more resources to
supporting working parents is a
logical response to demographic
trends, and helping more women to
combine careers and motherhood is
an inherently good objective.
Fixing childcare isn’t easy and
almost inevitably means more public
money. But that money can be used
imaginatively. We lend to students to
support their studies, why not lend to
parents on equally generous terms?
23
New policies aren’t enough,
though. Politics needs a shift in
attitudes to parents and children.
The assumption underlying most
political thinking about having
children is that because it’s a private
choice, it must follow that people
should bear the costs and
consequences. But when you start to
see having babies as a socially useful
thing to do, priorities change.
That law firm, Burgess Mee, is
If we see having a
child as socially useful,
priorities will change
setting a good example by asking
itself what more can be done to
support people who want children.
HM government should follow suit.
Britain’s siloed machinery of
government isn’t good at tackling
big, long-term structural problems,
something Boris Johnson has
admitted by handing a single
minister, Michael Gove, the
Herculean and cross-departmental
levelling up agenda.
That’s enough to keep even Gove
busy, so someone else will have to
take charge of grappling with
Britain’s baby shortage and the
issues it raises. Maybe the prime
minister might fancy the job himself.
James Kirkup is director of the
Social Market Foundation
Daniel Finkelstein is away
red box
For the best analysis
and commentary on
the political landscape
thetimes.co.uk/redbox
24
Comment
Denying expats the vote is so last century
Forget the ‘wealthy wastrel’ stereotype: those of us living abroad deserve the right to a ballot
Richard
Lloyd Parry
@dicklp
I
live in Japan and have done for
27 years. My tea is green, my
fish is raw and I have one of
those lavatories that clean my
bottom with a cleansing jet of
water. But, all things considered, and
without wanting to sound aggressive
about it, I reckon that I am as British
as the best of you.
I live with my British partner and
my two British children and I earn
my living from a British daily
newspaper writing for you, my
substantially British readers. My
daughter goes to an international
school that follows the British
curriculum. Most of our summer
holidays, pandemic allowing, are
spent with her British grandparents,
aunts, uncles and cousins at the
British seaside.
The notion of being “proud” of my
nationality, an accident of birth for
which I can claim no credit, has
never made sense to me. I grew up in
Britain and was formed and
educated there. In my head and
heart, as well as in law, British is
what I am. In one significant way,
though, I am different from most of
you — for the past 12 years I have
been deprived of the right to vote.
Like millions of others I am the
victim of a law that disenfranchises
those of us who have lived outside
Matthew Parris Notebook
A historic
error by the
pub quiz
computer
A
snag of writing weekly
notebooks is that
anything new you’ve
discovered and
breathlessly shared with
readers may already be old hat to a
lot of them. “Gosh — tell me more!”
say half, while the other half groan,
“Tell me something I didn’t know”.
Ah well, here goes.
Aren’t village quizzes fun! We’ve
just been to two, one in Elton village
hall, the other in the village of
Ashford-in-the-Water. I’m useless at
quizzes but my partner Julian knows
everything, and I was there as his
gorgeous, pouting assistant. And I
got so caught up in it, so competitive!
In the Duke of York after the Elton
quiz we fell to arguing whether the
Emperor Charlemagne’s territory
included parts of today’s Austria. It
did, Julian had said so, but the
quiz computer said no. We won
anyway, but Julian is raging that we
should have won by more. Then in
Britain for more than 15 years. David
Cameron, Brexit, the rise of Boris
Johnson — I have been excluded
from voting for or against any of
them. Personally, this is infuriating. It
also represents a failure to
understand the nature of national
identity and allegiance and the way
it has changed in the 21st century.
It is the Labour Party that has
historically sought to disenfranchise
people like me, beginning in the late
1970s, the era of wealthy Brits
decamping to the Costa Brava to
escape Denis Healey’s high-tax
regime. To Labour, those who left for
more than a few years were gin-
swilling, Tory-loving Bufton Tuftons
at best and, at worst, quasi-criminal
I am the victim of law
that disenfranchises
long-term expatriates
opportunists. In a parliamentary
debate in 1989, Jeremy Corbyn
referred to them as “tax dodgers,
crooks, thieves and wastrels”.
Conservatives evidently agreed that
it was they who had the most to gain
from enfranchising expats. It was
they who first allowed overseas
voters in 1985. Before that only UK
residents had the right. The Votes for
Life campaign has been a
predominantly Tory cause, driven by
the Conservatives Abroad group.
But apart from craving their votes,
those on the right in Britain display
little respect for those who live
overseas. It was Theresa May who
said that “if you believe you are a
citizen of the world, you are a citizen
Ashford, to “Which small Australian
marsupial is notorious for its bad
temper?” I answered “koalas” but the
computer said “Tasmanian devils”. I
spent hours on Sunday researching
the temperament of koalas and
sending I-told-you-so emails to
fellow contestants.
Too much hot air
T
wice a week, as my train passes
the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power
station, I note how many of its
eight giant cooling towers are
belching. My interest arises because
all coal-fired electricity generation
will be phased out by next year,
ministers say. I say that’s
baloney. Last week, all eight
were in action. Ministers haven’t
long. So what’s the now-urgent
plan? Am I nitpicking?
Probably. But I’m sick of
the government talking
rubbish.
Fame at last
O
n the Westminster
pavement last
Wednesday
I encountered one of
those raggle-taggle
demos of people angry
about something or
other. Vaccination? HS2?
Pro/anti the green
agenda? Heaven knows,
but there was much
of nowhere. You don’t understand
what citizenship means.”
I take all this personally. I pay
income tax in Japan, rather than
Britain, because that is what the
law requires. Where else would I pay
it? I have lived abroad for all
this time not to “dodge” anything,
but because it is a condition of
doing a job that I love. I believe that,
in reporting on Asia for a
newspaper, I make a modest
contribution to British life and
so do many others like me in a
variety of occupations. I think of
friends who teach English in schools
and universities, equipping foreign
students for study in Britain, lawyers
at the Tokyo branches of British
law firms and companies, doctors,
bankers and business people.
Digital communications make it
possible for more and more people to
do their jobs anywhere in the world.
It is easier than ever to live abroad
and maintain the strongest
connections with family, friends and
current events at home.
Research by Susan Collard, a
political scientist at Sussex
University who studies expatriate
communities, shows their character
is dramatically different from those
stereotypes of rich, leathery, bibulous
expats.
“Since the 1980s, there’s been
massive movement into the EU —
young people, professional people,”
she says. “It’s not even the wealthy
anymore. A lot of the people I
interviewed were kitchen fitters,
lorry drivers, plumbers, builders.”
Taking on local nationality is a
possibility for some, although not a
practical one for me — apart from
shouting and waving of cryptic
banners. I had to walk through
them, met no resistance, but
noticed one dishevelled chap who
looked just like Piers Corbyn.
Walking on I turned to hear him
shout: “That gentleman who’s just
passed used to be a member of
parliament years ago and. . . ” — the
rest was lost in crowd noise. I do
hope it was Piers. I felt strangely
flattered. As an ex-MP you take what
public recognition you can get.
Feeling exposed
D
id you read in The Times
this week about that RAF
chap who’s been shopped
by neighbours for being naked
in the garden? Worrying. Our
outdoor bath is visible from the
field, and the llamas do
look over the gate when
I’m having a bubble
bath, though I think
they’re more interested
in the bubbles. Vera (the
llama) has always been
rather censorious. We
await the police siren.
Genius at work
I
wouldn’t normally
belabour you with
accounts of art
exhibitions you’re unlikely
to see, but readers will be
familiar with the work of
Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
anything else, Japan does not
permit dual nationals, so I’d have to
give up my British citizenship. And I
don’t want to be Japanese . I am
British, I want to remain British, but
I also want to continue living in
Japan and I want to vote.
If I was arrested the British
government would mobilise its
resources to secure my legal rights.
No one is suggesting that people
who have been away for 15 years
should be denied consular assistance.
Why then am I deprived of my most
fundamental political right?
Soon enough, all this may
change. The Elections Bill, which is
making its way through the House
of Lords, would abolish the 15-year
rule and re-enfranchise all British
people overseas, in fulfilment of a
Conservative manifesto promise.
Such attempts have been made
before, however, and fallen victim to
inter-party politicking and
compromise.
If it goes ahead it won’t make
much of a difference to everyone
else. About 2.3 million people will be
enfranchised; past form suggests
only a fraction will register to vote,
an average of a few hundred voters
in every constituency.
As expatriates we come in all
sizes and flavours. We are as wise
and foolish, and broad-minded and
as bigoted as the rest of you. Some
of us vote Tory and drink too much
gin, and some of us don’t. None of
us deserves to be left out.
Richard Lloyd Parry is Asia Editor of
The Times
Roger Boyes is away
the renowned 15th/16th-century
German painter and print-maker
Albrecht Dürer and, believe me, the
exhibition still running at the
National Gallery in London is
simply superb.
And I don’t even like Dürer. I
didn’t before I went and still don’t,
yet anyone can see he’s an absolute
genius. You look at a crowd of
ordinary people on his canvass, and
all at once one of them looks back at
you and you see a real person there.
Then another, and another, all
returning your glance. Dürer has
everything — realism, detail,
proportion, theatre, fierce accuracy
— everything, in fact, except grace.
He misses the delicacy, fragility,
tenderness, the swirl and wispiness
of things. He misses evanescence.
None of his people are really with
each other: each is in a world of their
own, solipsistic. He can draw a
flower that’s strikingly correct in
every small particular, lacking only
the essence of being a flower.
At Yale as a young man I tried
LSD, and my experience mirrored
what I see in Dürer’s work. I saw
the sharpness to every edge, the
grotesqueness of every tramp,
the harsh luminosity of the sky, and
(in my mirror) every line, every
crease in my own face. There was
nothing soft, nothing blurred. In
life, but not in Dürer, there is
blurring, and much softness.
Utopian Singapore
is a myth: it’s a
trasher of freedom
Jawad Iqbal
T
he city state of Singapore is
a Jekyll and Hyde place.
The good side is evident in
its emphasis on free trade,
low taxes, strong property
rights and clean streets, factors that
helped transform it from a colonial
backwater to one of the richest
places in the world. Fair enough. But
what about the ugly underbelly of
Singapore, an increasingly
authoritarian place that trashes the
rights and freedoms of its citizens?
Singapore has some of the world’s
harshest drug laws, and continues to
defy global norms by imposing the
death penalty for drug trafficking.
The latest case involves two men,
Roslan bin Bakar and Pausi bin
Jefridin, due to be executed this week
for trafficking small quantities of
diamorphine and methamphetamine.
Pausi has an IQ of 67, considered the
cusp of intellectual disability in most
developed countries (in other words,
he is deemed incapable even of
understanding the nature of his
alleged crimes) and is thereby
protected under international law.
The contravention of international
A drug smuggler
with an IQ of 67 is
in line for execution
legal principles stretches beyond
drugs offences. Laws are being
introduced to quash basic freedoms
and impose crude censorship. The
so-called fake news law that came
into effect in 2019 provides for severe
criminal penalties, including up to
ten years in prison. There is no
public interest clause, which means
journalists in particular are routinely
targeted. In October last year the
authorities passed a foreign
interference bill purportedly to
“prevent, detect and disrupt foreign
interference in . . . domestic politics”.
The wording is so vague that it is
hard for anyone to know whether
they might fall foul of it.
It is misguided to think of
Singapore simply as the low-tax
libertarian paradise hailed by its
founding prime minister, Lee Kuan
Yew. “Singapore-on-Thames” has
been touted as a deregulated model
for post-Brexit Britain — admirers
have included Michael Gove, Sajid
Javid, Jeremy Hunt and Dominic
Cummings. But it is time to take a
fresh look, warts and all.
Yes, Singapore has modernised
and developed at an incredible pace,
but its authoritarian instincts have
for too long been ignored. It must
become more like Britain in its
respect for basic freedoms and
human rights. A good first step
would be for Britain to demand that
Singapore impose a moratorium
on the death penalty for drugs
offences, followed by abolition.
Jawad Iqbal is a freelance writer
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
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Stonewall is about politics not common sense
As the equality commission is discovering, the LGBT charity carefully polices views that deviate from its ‘consensus’
Joanna
Williams
@jowilliams293
‘E
verything is politics,” said
the novelist Thomas
Mann. The problem, he
should have added, is
that we only ever
realise this when confronted with
opposing views.
This dynamic has long played out
in universities. To some, free speech
on campus is curtailed by trigger
warnings and no-platforming. To
others, the whole idea that
censorship is rife is a right-wing
myth. Which side you fall on
correlates with the extent to which
your own views rub against the grain
of fashionable thinking.
If you agree that the curriculum
needs decolonising, that people
should declare their pronouns and
that sexual consent training should
be mandatory, you are unlikely to
find yourself challenged or silenced.
“What free-speech crisis?” you may
well ask. Question these practices
and the censorious nature of higher
education soon becomes apparent.
When our own views reign
supreme we convince ourselves that
we exist in the realm of common
sense, not politics. When we mix
only with the like-minded we believe
not only that we are right but that
there is no debate to be had. It’s only
the awkward people who disagree
that insist on “politicising” issues. In
this way, decisions to fly the pride
flag on public buildings, change the
text on a historical plaque or leave
the word “woman” off an advert for
cervical cancer screening are nodded
through countless committees before
ever confronting opposition. When
disagreement comes it feels like an
affront. How dare people politicise
the bureaucratic march of progress?
Stonewall, the LGBT charity,
has, until recently, done extremely
well for itself by cultivating a sense
If we mix with the
like-minded, we think
no debate is needed
that it’s not political if we all agree.
It held considerable influence in
universities, the BBC, branches of
the civil service and corporations.
Increasingly focused on the concerns
of transgender activists, Stonewall
promotes the idea that our internal
sense of gender identity, rather than
our anatomy, should determine
whether we are treated as male or
female. It backs gender-neutral
language and pronoun badges, but
not single-sex spaces.
Stonewall’s success came with its
capacity to promote its training
programmes and diversity schemes
not as political interventions but as
compassionate, progressive measures
designed to create inclusive and
tolerant workplaces. That doing so
meant ignoring women’s insistence
on maintaining their sex-based rights
rarely caused concern.
However, women such as
JK Rowling and Rosie Duffield
would not let women’s rights be
relinquished without a fight. Maya
Forstater lost her job after saying
that people cannot change their
biological sex, but fought back to
win an appeal in an employment
tribunal, ensuring that the conflict
between gender self-identification
and sex-based rights was recognised
and debated in public.
More recently, the Equality and
Human Rights Commission
(EHRC) has begun to question
Stonewall’s influence. After the
appointment of Lady Falkner of
Margravine in 2020 as its
chairwoman, the EHRC withdrew
from Stonewall’s diversity champions
programme. Lady Falkner has
defended the right to hold “gender
critical beliefs” and noted that there
was “‘genuine public concern” that
trans rights conflicted with women’s
rights. She has said that women have
the right to question transgender
identity without being abused,
stigmatised or risking their jobs. Last
month, the EHRC called on the
governments in Holyrood and
Westminster to pause before
enacting laws governing legal gender
recognition and conversion therapy.
Suddenly Stonewall spies politics.
The charity is leading a coalition of
organisations, including the Good
Law Project and Mermaids, in
rallying international support behind
The charity backs
pronoun badges but
not single-sex spaces
its criticisms of the EHRC. It has
submitted a 19-page complaint to the
Global Alliance of National Human
Rights Institutions, an international
body that co-ordinates human rights
organisations with the United
Nations. The paper accuses the
EHRC of lacking independence from
the government and demands that it
be stripped of its independent status
because it has become too politicised.
The EHRC has defended itself,
saying it is “fully committed” to
LGBT rights.
Sir Trevor Phillips, chairman of
the EHRC and its predecessor
between 2007 and 2012, highlighted
the paradox in the organisation’s
25
Comment
critics appealing to “a body whose
expert committee recently appointed
as its rapporteur a longtime
representative from Uganda, where
homosexual acts get you life in
prison”. In targeting Lady Falkner,
Phillips notes, Stonewall and its
collaborators are demanding that a
“Pakistani-heritage Muslim woman
be judged by a body whose advisory
group proudly features
representatives from Saudi Arabia,
China and Russia”. The rights of
people who disagree with Stonewall
seem to count for little.
The EHRC has said: “The way the
commission is governed, and
commissioners appointed, is set out
in the Equality Act, and has not
changed since the commission was
established.” Indeed, until August
2020, the EHRC was led by David
Isaac who, in a previous role, ran
Stonewall. We can only assume that
when Isaac was in charge, the EHRC
was not at all politicised.
When the EHRC obligingly
nodded through Stonewall’s agenda,
it was simply enacting a common
sense outlook. It is only now that the
EHRC is raising valid concerns that
critics are labelling it as political.
Mann was right. Everything is
political. But this is a good thing. We
need to step out of our consensual
bubbles and engage in debate.
Alice Thomson is away
26
Letters to the Editor
Persecution of
subpostmasters
Sir, Your leading article on the Post
Office’s scandalous treatment of
hundreds of subpostmasters presents
a picture of a well-resourced state
body relentlessly pursuing individuals
while denying them access to the
tools to mount a robust defence (“Lost
in the Post”, Feb 15).
If and when the questions of
culpability and compensation are
fully addressed, justice must be seen
to be done in an appropriate manner.
Merely paying compensation, which
may simply involve insurers and the
taxpayer, will not be enough.
Individuals in the Post Office must be
identified and, if proven guilty,
punished in a manner consistent with
the way in which they ruined the lives
and livelihoods of innocent
subpostmasters and their families.
SM Southall
East Horsley, Surrey
Sir, While I agree with your leading
article that the commission of inquiry
must rigorously examine every aspect
of the Post Office’s legal action
against innocent subpostmasters, it
must also examine the role played by
the lawyers who advised it to pursue
such wrongful prosecutions. They too,
whether retired or not, must be
named and their partnerships fined
for malpractice.
Alick Moore
Sutton Veny, Wilts
Lecturers’ strike
Sir, Will Hart (letter, Feb 15) is right:
the University and College Union
cares little about students, though to
be fair (and I write as a non-member)
that is not really in its remit; the nature
of university employment means that
it is difficult for academics to withdraw
their labour or otherwise work to rule
in any way that does not negatively
affect students. What has always
amazed me, especially since fees were
imposed, is the immediate and full
support given by so many students’
unions to UCU industrial action that
negatively affects the student body. I’m
also frequently surprised by how many
of my students don’t seem to realise
that their union is doing this.
Dr Amanda Hopkins
Senior teaching fellow, School of
Modern Languages and Cultures,
University of Warwick
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Street, London SE1 9GF
How the wheels turn inside Putin’s mind
Sir, The view that Ukraine is an
indivisible part of ancient Russia
probably has much support among
the Russian people, and at one time
might well have had a similar level of
support among Ukrainians (“How
Ukraine crisis plays out in Putin’s
head”, William Hague, comment,
Feb 15). Ukraine was not regarded as
a separate administrative entity until
it was identified as a distinct republic
within the Soviet Union. Even then,
the Crimea did not became part of
the Ukraine until its administration
was transferred from Russia during
the Khrushchev era.
What changed the Ukrainians’ view
from “us” to “them” was the
behaviour of the communist
government in setting up collective
farms and then allowing four million
Ukrainians to starve to death during
the 1930s famine that these farms
brought about.
The agreement to break up the
Soviet Union was negotiated between
the presidents of Russia, Belarus and
Ukraine along with their prime
ministers, in a single series of
meetings at a Belarusian dacha
behind Mikhail Gorbachev’s back.
Unfortunately it left far too many
loose ends, which should have been
Caught on camera
Sir, Clare Foges’s analysis of the
impact of the surveillance society is
reassuringly optimistic (“Digital
kompromat is changing our
behaviour”, Feb 14). However, her
analogy with the fear of God is
inaccurate. As the Apostle Paul said in
his letter to the Romans: “All have
sinned and fall short of the glory of
God.” We are all worthy of judgment.
By contrast, in this era of digital
monitoring we may all be sinners but
only some of us are caught on
camera. Of course Paul went on to say
that we are justified — put right —
with God through Christ Jesus. Who
will put us right with society when our
video goes viral? At present, it seems,
there is no one. It’s ironic that in an
increasingly secular society we live
with a holier-than-thou attitude.
Graeme D Watson
Edinburgh
Sir, Digital and divine surveillance are
not as similar as Clare Foges suggests.
People do act differently when they
know they are being watched.
However, unlike with smartphones
and CCTV, there has always been
BAYONET
CHARGE IN
BELFAST
from the times february 16, 1922
Yesterday was another day of
murder in Belfast, where the
casualty list for five days now
exceeds 100, including over 30 dead.
Mr Churchill announced in
Parliament yesterday that Mr
Michael Collins, who arrived in
London in the morning, had told
him he had secured the release of 15
of the kidnapped Ulstermen, and
hoped that others would be set free
during the day. The more general
distribution of troops and a
downpour of rain this morning
promised comparatively peaceful
conditions today, but the early calm
cleared up years ago by the
negotiation of a formal treaty but
weren’t, and the peoples of the former
Soviet Union are having to live with
the consequences.
Alistair Newton
Theydon Bois, Essex
Sir, Edward Lucas (“The speech that
Liz Truss should have given”,
comment, Feb 14; letters, Feb 15) is
right about Britain’s complacency
over Russian kleptocracy. Beyond the
“enablers” who facilitate money
laundering, there is another form of
enabler, one that seeks to launder
reputations and shut down
journalistic inquiry. The five legal
cases pursued against the journalist
Catherine Belton and her publisher
last year for the book Putin’s People
gave one of the most public insights
into this tactic, often referred to as
SLAPPs (strategic lawsuits against
public participation). The vast
majority of these threats are hidden,
sent to journalists all over the world
by UK lawyers in letters marked
“private and confidential”, threatening
costly legal action if information
about their wealthy clients’ potential
wrongdoing is not scrubbed from the
public record. This is highly damaging
reasonable doubt about whether an
invisible God really exists. This
uncertainty preserved some freedom,
so even religious people could still
perform good actions for their own
sake, not just from fear of the
observer. If modern technology now
prevents that, is it really so helpful?
Edward Cain
Teacher of religion and philosophy,
Berkhamsted School
Partying at work
Sir, If the prime minister is to tell
police that “saying goodbye to staff is
part of working life” (report, Feb 14),
then surely saying goodbye to loved
ones who died during lockdown is
also part of life, yet we were denied
this opportunity. That to me is the
sheer hypocrisy of a self-obsessed,
self-indulgent PM who feels entitled
and quite simply does not get it. He is
clearly not fit for public office, given
the clear evidence of his “one rule for
us, one rule for them” ethos.
John Graveling
Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear
Sir, The psychiatrist Karl Tomm is
clear on the meaning of saying sorry
was soon broken. Fresh outbreaks of
disorder began about 3pm, and in
the Clifton Street district, where
yesterday the caretaker of the
Orange Hall was shot dead, the
military had to make a charge with
fixed bayonets to clear a crowd,
which was regarded as menacing.
Firing first broke out in Stanhope
Street, where concealed snipers
became active. The military, who
throughout the day have been
strongly posted in the disturbed
areas, returned the fire, but had
difficulty in locating the gunmen.
Half an hour later threatening
crowds had collected, and the
soldiers again opened fire.
Eventually a bayonet charge was
ordered, and the streets were
cleared. One civilian was wounded.
Two of the civilians kidnapped in
the border raids last week — Mr
John Anderson, veterinary surgeon,
of Ards, Caledon, and Mr Joseph
MacManus, stationmaster at
Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
Letters to the Editor should be sent to
letters@thetimes.co.uk or by post to
1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF
for media freedom, tackling
corruption and ultimately democracy.
The US already has anti-SLAPP laws
in place in some states and recently
recognised their impact in its new
anti-corruption strategy, launching a
global Defamation Defence Fund to
protect journalists from this form of
attack. In the UK we are rightly
proud of our legal system but we must
remain aware of how it can be abused
from within. To add to all of Lucas’s
excellent proposals, the UK needs to
adopt an anti-SLAPP law.
Susan Coughtrie
Project director, the Foreign Policy
Centre think tank
Sir, William Hague draws attention to
Vladimir Putin’s lengthy article on the
historic unity of the Ukrainian and
Russian peoples. I have just read
Putin’s article, which gives a logical,
detailed and clear explanation of his
thinking. Would that Liz Truss had
read it before giving her moralistic
and counterproductive lecture to the
Russian foreign minister, for had she
done so she might have noticed some
areas of common ground on which to
build a lasting peace.
Peter Baron
Chichester
(comment, Feb 12; letters, Feb 14). The
expression can only be meaningful if
it shows an understanding of why
the action created an upset or
annoyed an individual or group.
Saying sorry alone never absolves the
speaker of culpability.
Dorothy Reynolds
Billericay, Essex
Call for fracking
Sir, Lord Goldsmith does not speak
for me or I imagine the millions of
employees whose jobs will be at
increasing risk as their employers
continue to lose competitiveness
because of rocketing energy prices.
(“Fracking ban stays to avoid local
fury”, Feb 14). The ill-informed and
over-emotional campaign by local
pressure groups, coupled with
over-reaction to some very minor
earth tremors, panicked the
government into walking away from
what should have been this country’s
energy escape route from the disaster
we now face. I hope that the more
enlightened of our MPs will continue
to press for fracking to be allowed.
Chris Jeffries
Cross in Hand, E Sussex
Emyvale Road Station, of the
Clogher Valley Railway — have been
released and are now back in their
homes, but there is no news yet of
the release of any of the special
constables. Mr Churchill’s statement
that 15 of the prisoners are to be set
free has only slightly relaxed the
tension here and the Government
will be pressed to secure the freedom
of all who were taken south after the
raids. The border is now very
strongly guarded. At least 10,000 A
and B specials are watching the line,
and British troops are available to
assist if this should become
necessary. There has been no clash
with the IRA since the tragedy at
Clones. Special constables are being
moved only within the territory of
the Northern Government and
considerable use is being made of
motor transport.
thetimes.co.uk/archive
Djokovic’s non-jab
Sir, Novak Djokovic enjoys the
freedom from smallpox and polio that
all of us in the UK enjoy because
millions of citizens were vaccinated to
help to eradicate these dreadful
diseases (“I’d rather miss Grand
Slams than have Covid vaccine”,
thetimes.co.uk, Feb 15). Unfortunately
polio persists in parts of the world
where vaccination has been opposed.
Sadly millions have died during the
coronavirus pandemic. However, we
are now beginning to emerge from
the pandemic in large part because of
the tens of millions of citizens who
have been vaccinated, and as a result
millions of lives have been saved.
Djokovic is quite right that he should
have the freedom to choose not to be
vaccinated but quite wrong if he
believes that his decision is victimless.
John Barnes
Consultant physician, Truro
IOC and doping
Sir, The decision to allow a 15-year-
old Russian skater to continue to
compete in the Olympics, despite her
being a drugs cheat, says it all about
the International Olympic
Committee, which has clearly
kowtowed to the bullying tactics of
Russia (“Fury at drug cheat reprieve”,
Feb 15). Sport has rarely stood up to
be counted when a soft option has
been available. It raises the question
of what anyone is doing in Beijing at
the moment, other than providing
credibility to a totalitarian regime.
Howard JC Wells
Former CEO, Irish Football
Association; Berkhamsted, Herts
Sir, The IOC says that it “is
committed to promoting sport in
society, strengthening the integrity of
sport and supporting clean athletes”.
One wonders how these principles fit
with the latest doping scandal. In
2019 the World Anti-Doping Agency
banned Russia from international
sports competitions for four years
after it was found to be running a
state-sponsored doping scheme.
However, this ban was circumvented
at the Tokyo Games, and now at
Beijing, by athletes competing as the
Russian Olympic Committee. What, I
wonder, is the point of the IOC?
Judy Winter
Cleeve Prior, Worcestershire
Keep the Marbles
Sir, It is great news that the Elgin
Marbles could be perfectly copied by a
new high-tech sculpture robot (report,
Feb 14; letter, Feb 15) but the copies,
rather than the originals, should be
sent to Greece, so as to avoid setting a
catastrophic precedent for the future
of Britain’s world-renowned museum.
Today the Greeks; tomorrow every
other disputant.
Phillip Hodson
Tetbury, Glos
Worzel’s awake
Sir, Charlie Flindt may think he has
an original suggestion in his human
bird scarer (letter, Feb 14) but there is
a true version of this, told to me by
my mother. She was born in 1923 and
grew up in Cirencester, where the
local farmer (her grandfather) paid a
small sum to an elderly villager whose
job it was to frighten the crows away.
He was dressed like a scarecrow due
to his poor situation and could be
heard shouting “Away crows”
repeatedly at the top of his voice.
Meriel Goddard
Weybridge, Surrey
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
Daily Universal Register
France: National Covid restrictions expire,
allowing nightclubs to reopen for the first
time since December and bringing an end to
compulsory table service in cafés and bars.
Nature notes
Who dropped that
jam tart in the
middle of the
woods? If you’re
walking through
winter woodland
and you come
across an ageing scarlet elf cup fungus, it’s
easy to mistake it for a strawberry jam tart.
The edges of the fungus’s shallow disc are
the colour of shortcrust pastry, while the
heart is a bold, shiny red. When younger,
this fungus is more cup-shaped but it
flattens with age. One of the few fungi to
grace the cold time of year, the scarlet elf
cup lights up dark, damp, shady places.
Often glinting in the leaf litter, it thrives on
the decaying sticks and branches of hazel,
elm and willow. jonathan tulloch
Birthdays today
June Brown, pictured,
actress best known as
Dot Cotton in
EastEnders, 95;
Mahershala Ali, actor,
Moonlight (2016), 48;
Adama Barrow,
president of the Gambia,
57; Jim Beaton, police officer, awarded the
George Cross (1974) while protection officer
to Princess Anne, 79; Fred Cuming,
landscape painter, 92; Agyness Deyn, model
and actress, 39; Sir Anthony Dowell, ballet
dancer, director, Royal Ballet (1986-2001), 79;
Christopher Eccleston, actor, Doctor Who
(2005), 58; Iñaki Ereño, chief executive,
Bupa, 58; Richard Ford, writer, The
Sportswriter (1986), 78; Cathy Freeman, first
Australian Aboriginal person to win an
individual Olympic gold medal (400m,
2000), 49; Ellis Genge, rugby union player,
Leicester Tigers and England, 27; David
Griffiths, artist, portrait of the Prince of
Wales (1969), 83; Lord (Peter) Hain, Labour
MP for Neath (1991-2015), Northern Ireland
secretary (2005-07), 72; Darren Henley,
chief executive, Arts Council England, 49;
Amanda Holden, actress, TV presenter and
judge, Britain’s Got Talent (since 2007), 51;
Michael Holding, cricketer, West Indies
(1975-87), 68; Carl Icahn, US hedge fund
billionaire and activist investor, 86; Eliahu
Inbal, conductor, 86; Ian Lavender, actor
best known as Private Pike in Dad’s Army
(1968-77, 2016), 76; Sir Simon Lovestone,
professor of translational neuroscience,
University of Oxford, 61; John McAslan,
architect, King’s Cross station concourse,
London (2012), 68; John McEnroe, tennis
player, Wimbledon men’s singles champion
(1981, 1983, 1984), 63; Ice-T (Tracy Marrow),
rapper, Cop Killer (1992), and actor, 64;
Elizabeth Olsen, actress, the Avengers film
series, 33; Lyn Paul, singer, the New Seekers,
and actress, 73; Howard Riley, jazz pianist
and composer, 79; Valentino Rossi,
nine-time motorcycle Grand Prix world
champion, 43; John Tams, musician and
actor, Sharpe (1993-97), 73; Andy Taylor,
musician, Duran Duran, 61; The Weeknd
(Abel Tesfaye), singer-songwriter, 32.
On this day
In 600 Pope Gregory I, in a time of plague,
issued an edict that “God bless you” be said
by everyone within earshot of a sneeze.
The last word
“When one door of happiness closes, another
opens; but often we look so long at the closed
door that we do not see the one which has
been opened for us.” Helen Keller, American
writer and social activist, We Bereaved (1929)
Back to Barracks?
Putin may calculate that his military blackmail has won him much of
what he wanted. It has also cost him trust among Russia’s neighbours
One day before western analysts expected Russia
to invade Ukraine, Russia’s defence ministry
claimed yesterday that it had begun pulling back
some troops from the Ukrainian border. Western
officials, however, said they saw the opposite: the
withdrawal of some units, to be replaced by fresh
reinforcements. Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato
secretary-general, treated the Russian announce-
ment with extreme caution, as did the Ukrainian
foreign minister. Mr Stoltenberg initially said this
might be a cause for optimism. Indeed it might.
But it also could be part of a well-plotted game
plan that could give President Putin much of what
he wanted before he began to destabilise Euro-
pean security on a historic scale.
The Russian announcement was timed to
coincide with the visit to Moscow of Olaf Scholz,
the German chancellor, who has been markedly
more hesitant than other Nato leaders to threaten
Russia with sanctions or to send emergency mili-
tary aid to Ukraine. If Mr Scholz could be persuad-
ed that he had won a diplomatic breakthrough, he
would be reluctant to block the opening of the
Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, as essential to an
energy-starved Germany as it is to Russian hopes
of increasing its dominance of the gas market.
Russian concessions, however, are always tacti-
The best plan for post-pandemic recovery is to allow the market to work
The pandemic inflicted a huge shock to the global
economy, including Britain. Yet, despite problems
compounded by the uncertainties of Brexit, this
country recorded the strongest recovery in GDP
growth in 2021 among the G7 economies, after an
admittedly steep downturn in 2020. Figures
released yesterday also show continued recovery
in the labour market. The main problem as Britain
emerges from the crisis is that inflation is stronger
than either the Bank of England or the Treasury
had expected.
Even with annual inflation projected to reach
7 per cent in the spring, there is no cause for eco-
nomic alarmism. Real wages are higher than they
were at the start of the crisis, and many house-
holds will have built up savings during the down-
turn. The best way for the government to help
consumers, employees and businesses to make a
smooth transition to post-pandemic conditions is
to get out of the way and allow markets to work.
The heartening news from the data is that the
end of the furlough scheme and the emergence of
the Omicron strain have not caused a jump in un-
employment. On the contrary, Britain’s economy
The risk of side effects from statins has been grossly exaggerated
Statins save lives. Among all age groups, they
lower the risk of heart attack by at least 20 per
cent. They do this by dramatically lowering chol-
esterol and, according to a study reported in The
Times a fortnight ago, may also cut men’s risk of
developing prostate cancer.
As a cheap drug costing in the region of £20 a
year per person, they are already taken by more
than seven million British adults and could feasi-
bly be taken by far more. The National Institute for
Health and Care Excellence has suggested that
they be taken by nearly all men over 60 and
women over 65. Yet the public perception of
cal. If the units being withdrawn, ostensibly
because they have finished their training exercise,
leave in place all the heavy equipment needed for
an invasion, they might as well have stayed where
they were. They or replacements could be back
within hours. At the same time, the pressure is
being increased on the two breakaway Ukrainian
provinces which were the casus belli in 2014 and
which have received massive Russian support as
well as passports for thousands of their citizens.
The Duma has proposed Russian recognition of
Luhansk and Donetsk as separate countries, a
move that would be a cover for Russia to come to
their “aid” whenever they were “invited.”
Mr Putin has no real need, however, for such a
step. The provinces serve a useful purpose as a
source of unresolved tension, just as the frozen
conflicts over breakaway territories in Georgia
and Moldova serve to destabilise those other
former Soviet republics. Moscow can insist that it
is willing to implement the Minsk agreements on
the provinces’ future within Ukraine, while blam-
ing Kyiv for refusing to grant them full autonomy.
Russia has no intention of absorbing and paying
for these ruined provinces; they are of far more use
as a reason why Ukraine, with a continuing terri-
torial dispute, could never be accepted into Nato.
Future Jobs
is continuing to create jobs. In the three months
from October to December, the employment rate
rose slightly to 75.5 per cent, which is not far below
the pre-pandemic level, while the unemployment
rate is relatively stable at 4.1 per cent.
The quandary is illustrated by two numbers.
The number of job vacancies rose by the end of
2021 to almost 1.3 million, indicating that business-
es are struggling with labour shortages. And while
wage growth has been strong, with a rise of 4.9 per
cent in the year to December, it is lagging behind
inflation and likely to lag further in the short term.
Living standards are under pressure from rising
prices, not least of energy.
What, then, should policymakers do? First, the
Bank of England must be prepared to take further
action to bring inflation back to its target of 2 per
cent a year. Although it raised interest rates in
both December and February, these still stand at
a historically low level of 0.5 per cent. After a sharp
contraction in 2020, GDP rose by 7.5 per cent in
2021. Very loose monetary policy is not necessary
to allow the economy to emerge from the damage
caused by the pandemic and lockdowns. Second,
Take Heart
statins has, in recent years, become more complex.
In 2013, an article in The BMJ raised the alarm
about side effects, which were said to include
muscle problems and greater risk of diabetes.
Although those findings have been contested ever
since, confidence among doctors and patients was
badly dented. As a result, new prescriptions
dropped by almost half within a few years. Many
stopped taking them.
Now a study of more than four million people
suggests that the risk of side effects has been much
exaggerated. According to research published in
the European Heart Journal, fewer than one in ten
27
Leading articles
And Russian troops will remain just across the
border to ensure that the dispute goes on.
If Ukraine, desperate to know Moscow’s inten-
tions and the price of de-escalation, could be per-
suaded to put its Nato application on ice, as some
local politicians suggest, Mr Putin would then
have won the bulk of what he wanted without
incurring catastrophic sanctions or having to
sacrifice Russian lives. He could present this at
home as a victory for a master strategist. It would,
however, be a pyrrhic victory. What the past
month has done is something that no western
statesman has been able to do since the collapse of
communism: give Nato the unity, cohesion and
sense of purpose for which it has long been search-
ing. Almost all of the new eastern European mem-
bers have had their defences strengthened and
their Nato loyalties boosted. The United States
has rediscovered its leadership role and transat-
lantic focus. And few western Europeans would
now agree with President Macron’s earlier obser-
vation that Nato was “brain dead”. Mr Putin has
also suffered an irreversible lost of trust among
Russia’s neighbours. His irredentist vision of
Russia as a dominant power has engendered
widespread suspicion and opposition. Winning
back Ukraine under duress may prove costly.
the government should resist the temptation to
meddle in the labour market. Business support
measures, including the furlough scheme, were
needed in the early stages of the crisis to try to
limit the damage to the economy. They did their
job, but there is no reason to think that further
subsidies for favoured sectors will hasten the up-
turn. Politicians do not possess special insight into
what jobs will be in demand in the post-pandemic
economy.
Indeed the behaviour of the labour market dur-
ing the crisis has already confounded many expec-
tations. Disruption has been especially great for
older workers, who had found it harder to find new
jobs, while labour shortages have arisen in lower-
paid sectors such as social care, which may mean
that employers have to raise wages. The crisis will
probably end up narrowing some sectoral and
generational gaps in earnings and employment,
while creating new ones elsewhere. The long-
term task is to get workers with the right skills into
the right jobs. It is best accomplished by businesses
themselves, responding to market signals, rather
than by ambitious government plans.
users will truly feel side effects from statins.
Others may be suffering from a “nocebo” effect,
when the expectation of symptoms actually caus-
es them. It is troubling to ponder just how much
damage has been caused by a decade of largely
baseless fears.
Statin intolerance does exist, and it appears
more likely to affect older people, women,
members of some ethnic minorities and people
suffering from some other medical conditions. Yet
for the vast majority of those at risk of heart
problems, even when the risk is small, statins
should once again become the norm.
28 2GM Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times

World
France abandons
Mali to jihadists and
Putin’s mercenaries intervened, to keep its “colonial reflex-
NAMIBIA
BOTSWANA
Johannesburg Pretoria
Blue Train route
Mali
es” to itself.
Richard Assheton Lagos
Jane Flanagan Cape Town Macron has France held crunch talks with Euro-
pean allies on Monday to decide its next
Great Karoo
Kimberley

INDIAN
France is to pull its troops out of Mali,
ending its longest-running counter-
terrorism operation and abandoning
cut his losses steps after the French ambassador to
Mali was expelled at the end of last
month.
Stellenbosch
Cape
SOUTH
AFRICA
OCEAN

100 miles
Town
vast swathes of desert to jihadists and Analysis Le Drian later told the TV channel
Russian mercenaries. France 5 that French troops involved in

Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French
foreign minister, indicated that thou-
sands of soldiers would leave, with an
official announcement expected in the
coming days, after an escalating diplo-
matic spat with its former colony.
British troops deployed in what is
already considered the world’s most
dangerous peacekeeping mission will
be more exposed to jihadist attacks as a
result, British Army sources said.
Thousands of French troops have
been fighting insurgents in Mali linked
to al-Qaeda and Islamic State since
2013, when they repelled an attempt to
seize the capital, Bamako. Despite a
multinational effort involving the
United Nations, foreign and local
Sahel Region
500 miles
MAURITANIA
MALI
NIGER
CHAD
BURKINA
Bamako FASO
BENIN
F
rance’s imminent
withdrawal from Mali is
a humiliating end to its
longest foreign military
engagement since the
close of the Algerian war in 1962
(Charles Bremner writes).
Bitterness over continuing
French political and economic
involvement in its former “back
yard” of West Africa fed the
rejection of Operation Barkhane,
as the mission is known.
President Hollande launched
the campaign in 2014. After
thousands of deaths, including 53
French service personnel, Paris
has accepted that the campaign
is at a stalemate.
Frustrated by hostility from
Mali’s ruling junta, the
appearance of Russian
mercenaries, and anti-French
sentiment even from the French-
speaking elite, President Macron
is seeking to cut losses.
Paris rejects comparisons with
the US exit from Kabul and
Operation Barkhane would move to
Mali’s neighbours. About half of those
involved in the campaign in the Sahel,
the band of semi-arid land that stretch-
es across Africa, are in Mali.
“If the conditions are no longer in
place so that we can act in Mali, which
is clearly the case, then we will continue
to fight terrorism next door with the
Sahel countries,” he said. “The presi-
dent wants us to reorganise. We aren’t
going, but we will reorganise to ensure
the fight against terrorism continues.”
He added that “Wagner now num-
bers 1,000” in Mali, which he said was
incompatible with a continuing French
military presence. He said the merce-
naries’ stated objective was to “protect
the junta”.
Diplomats said an official announce-
ment on a French withdrawal would be
made as early as this week. President
Macron had already unveiled plans to
reduce the French effort in the region
from 5,000 personnel to less than
3,000, with about 1,000 leaving late last
year. France has been nurturing a
smaller Europe-wide task force that is

O
insists it is redeploying forces, likely to leave if France does. ne of the
not retreating. It has said it will A UN peacekeeping mission of world’s most
continue to fight terrorism from
Chad and possibly Burkina Faso,
13,000 troops also operates in Mali,
among them 300 Britons. Last year
Africa laments luxurious
travel

troops have been increasingly unable to

suppress the violence, which has spilled
into neighbouring countries, claiming
thousands of lives and forcing millions
to leave their homes.
A Frenchman was among nine
people killed in two attacks on a
national park in Benin last week, as
Islamists move south towards the coast.
France responded with air strikes, kill-
ing 40 fighters believed to be responsi-
ble.
While the violence has con-
tinued, anti-French sentiment in
the region has risen and two suc-
cessive coups in Mali have under-
mined diplomatic relations.
The ruling military junta has
angered the French by
enlisting the help of the
Wagner Group — Russian
mercenaries who have
operated around Africa
and are linked to the
Kremlin — while re-
peatedly delaying demo-
cratic elections. The junta
also expelled a small Danish h
force that it said had come un-
invited, telling France, which
France has sent thousands
of troops to fight jihadists
in the country since 2013
Mauritania and Niger.
Macron will be determined to
keep alive Operation Takuba, an
800-strong EU multinational task
force that he promoted to back
up the French presence in Mali.
After a bumpy start, it is not
clear if it will survive France’s
withdrawal.
The pullout of French forces
raises questions over the fate of
the 13,000 UN peacekeepers
known as Minusma. Its rules of
engagement make it ineffective
against the Islamist fighters. Its
European contingents, which
have 300 Britons and 1,000
Germans, rely on France for
l
logistics and medical services.
Macron’s electoral
opponents are on the
offensive over their
belief that France has
been dragged into a
quagmire, lost the
information war and
failed to stand up to
bullying by corrupt
local regimes.
“Our soldiers are
dying so a country
can humiliate us,”
Éric Zemmour, the
anti-Islam pundit, said.
they were involved in Britain’s first
lethal gun battle with regular troops
since 2014, killing two suspected jihad-
ists. A British Army source formerly
involved in the mission, known as Min-
usma, said the fight against the Islamic
State in the Greater Sahara and Jama’at
Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin, the main
jihadist groups, would become harder
due to the French withdrawal.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence is
assessing what the French withdrawal
means for its four Chinook helicopters
that are on the Operation Barkhane
mission. They will no longer be needed
on the counter-terrorism mission and
could be transferred to the UN peace-
keeping mission. “There’s still lots to
work out and no decisions have been
made”, a defence source said.
A British defence source added: “We
strongly warned Mali government
against engaging with Wagner. Wagner
deployments elsewhere in Africa have
largely been unsuccessful and frankly
exploit the limited wealth of the coun-
try that have engaged them.”
Cameron Hudson, a former US State
Department official and Sahel special-
ist, said that a withdrawal by the French
within 100 days of a Russian deploy-
ment looked “like a major strategic
blow to the West”. It also increased the
prospect of the UN deciding that its
own presence was unsustainable.
murder of its
Orient Express
Billionaire plans private
United States
Jacqui Goddard Miami
A billionaire has joined forces with
Elon Musk’s SpaceX to jointly finance
three missions that will include the first
private spacewalk and the first crewed
flight of the SpaceX Starship vehicle.
Jared Isaacman’s Polaris programme
will start with a five-day flight aboard a
SpaceX Crew Dragon this year that will
take him and three crewmates further
from Earth than anyone has gone in the
50 years since the Apollo moon flights.
“Polaris is the next chapter in our
journey to make humanity a truly
spacefaring civilisation,” he said.
Isaacman, 39, who founded the pay-
ment processing company Shift4 at the
age of 16, will use the flights to test new
technologies needed for human explo-
experiences
has been taken out of
service after derailments
and an arson attack (Jane
Flanagan writes).
The Blue Train,
marketed as Africa’s
Jared Isaacman’s
programme will
test spacesuits for
longer missions
ration of the moon, Mars and beyond.
The first, Polaris Dawn, will involve de-
pressurising the Crew Dragon capsule
to expose the crew to the vacuum of
space and test new life-support space-
suits intended for long-duration mis-
sions. At least two of the crew will go
outside, at an altitude of about 500km.
Polaris Dawn will also travel through
the Van Allen radiation belts that ring
the Earth. The crew will gather data to
help scientists to understand the effects
of radiation on the human body and
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 29

I am not afraid, says All-female hosts take

Navalny as he faces Oscars into a new era
ten more years in jail Page 32
Page 31

ALAMY

The once luxurious Blue

Train has derailed several
times and passengers have
complained of delays and
Italy is Pandora’s
problems with the service

labelled a “primary site”

answer to the Orient
Express and which is
considered the jewel of
South Africa’s tourism
industry, has been
scuppered just as
bookings started to pick
up for the £2,200
overnight journey
between Pretoria and
Cape Town. A derailment
last month was the train’s
second in a matter of
weeks, though it was
empty of passengers and
there were no reports of
injuries to staff. Suspected
arsonists then set fire to a
coach that had been
taken in for repairs at an
engineering facility run
by Transnet, the state
freight operator. One man
has been arrested as
investigations continue.
Transnet cited “safety
considerations” as it
announced suspension of
the service until further
notice. Its optimism about
the train’s return to the
track is not widely shared.
The operator has been
of state-sponsored looting
by an inquiry into South
Africa’s biggest post-
apartheid corruption
scandal. Only 30 per cent
of the rail system it runs is
in use at present, a recent
survey found.
The Blue Train’s origins
date back to the 1920s
when the Union Express
ran between
Johannesburg and Cape
Town, featuring butlers
serving the finest wines in
wood-panelled carriages.
Its exclusivity has not,
however, offered any
immunity from the
widespread corruption
and underinvestment that
have contaminated South
Africa’s state-owned
entities over the past
decade. Visitors, who are
given a formal dress code,
have increasingly
reported problems with
the service and delays.
Herbert Prinsloo, the
Blue Train’s former
manager, blew the whistle
on what he described as
the hazardous condition it
had fallen into because of
a lack of funds for repairs.
He told the Mail &
Guardian website that it
had been regularly
commandeered for
entertaining by ministers
and friends of the former
president Jacob Zuma.
A judicial inquiry into the
so-called “state capture”
scandal during the Zuma
years reported that
Transnet gave irregular
business worth more than
41 billion rand (about £2
billion) to entities linked
to the Guptas, three
Indian brothers with links
to Zuma. Prinsloo
claimed the Guptas
chartered the train at
least twice. Zuma and the
Guptas have denied any
wrongdoing.
box of abuse, says
Vatican official
Italy
Tom Kington Rome
Italy is a Pandora’s box of hidden sex
abuse by priests, a senior Vatican offi-
cial has claimed as activists press for an
inquiry into Italian clergy they suspect
of assaulting up to a million victims.
Father Hans Zollner, who is the
Pope’s main expert on abuse, said inves-
tigations in France and Germany had
to be followed by similar action in Italy.
“There needs to be an investigation but
no one wants to open this Pandora’s box
— in Italy there is an 11th command-
ment stating ‘Don’t look bad’,” he told
The Times.
Nine anti-abuse groups began a cam-
paign for an investigation yesterday
called Beyond the Great Silence, which
is being led by the victims’ association
The Abuse Network. “The situation is
critical. If Italy doesn’t do this now, it
may never happen,” said the associa-
tion’s head, Francesco Zanardi, who
was abused by a priest as a teenager.
The inquiry in Germany discovered
497 cases of abuse since the Second
World War. It singled out Pope Bene-
dict for turning a blind eye to abusive
priests when he was Archbishop of
Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982.
Last year a French inquiry reported
that more than 200,000 children had
been abused by priests in the past seven
decades. “France has 20,000 priests,
Italy has 52,000, and I believe the num-
ber of victims could be as high as a
million here,” Zanardi said.
The Abuse Network has counted 360
known cases in Italy in the past 15 years,
including a 14-year-old girl who
became pregnant after being raped by a
priest and gave birth to a son, Eric
Zattoni, now 40, who says that he has
been refused a meeting with the Pope.
Zattoni said that his mother’s family
had been evicted from their home, a
church property, when she reported
that she had been raped. The priest
confessed years later when he was
forced by a court to take a paternity test.
“Nothing was done. What do we have to
do to make sure that these priests, these
criminals, are convicted, are removed?”
Zattoni said.
Zanardi said that an agreement
between the church and the Italian
state freed priests from the legal obliga-
tion of reporting abuse to the police.
Father Zollner, who runs a child pro-
tection centre in Rome, said it was
“highly unlikely there wouldn’t be
abuse cases here, but Italian society is
not ready to tackle this”. “There is a
German and Anglo-Saxon way of deal-
ing with problems, while here you don’t
confront people. That has advantages
but in this case it is detrimental,” he said.
Paola Lazzarini, head of Women for
the Church, another group pushing for
the inquiry, demanded the Italian
church open its archives on abuse and
rejected a recent offer by Italian
Father Hans Zollner
is the Pope’s chief
expert on tackling
sexual abuse
bishops to hold an in-house
investigation rather than the independ-
ent inquiries carried out in France and
Germany.
On Monday the Pope streamlined
the Vatican department that handles
abuse complaints in an effort to speed
up the Church’s response to allegations.
He has described the abuse scandals
around the world involving priests as a
“plague”, and has called on Catholic
bishops to “listen to the cry of the little
ones who plead for justice”. If an inde-
pendent inquiry was started in Italy it
would probably need the Pope’s back-
ing before dioceses opened their
records to scrutiny.
Cristina Balestrini, who set up a
support group after her son was abused
by a priest, said: “Victims have had no
help from the church. When we told a
priest about what had happened, he
told us not to spit in the plate where you
eat. We replied we had been trying to
clean the vomit from it for ten years.”

spacewalk America seeks harmony with answer to Eurovision

data on spaceflight-associated neuro-
ocular syndrome: 70 per cent of astro-
nauts suffer swelling behind the eye.
Scientific partners include the Univer-
sity of Colorado Boulder, Embry-
Riddle Aeronautical University, Johns
Hopkins University and the US Air
Force Academy.
A second mission will build on the
work of the first, including testing laser-
based communications technology in
space. The third will be on Starship, a
fully reusable rocket ship being devel-
oped to carry crew and cargo to Earth
orbit, the moon and Mars.
Isaacman raised more than $240 mil-
lion for a cancer charity through activi-
ties related to his Inspiration4 mission
on Crew Dragon last year. He wants
Polaris to advance space exploration as
well as causes on Earth.
Keiran Southern Los Angeles
For more than 50 years, European
countries have been able to settle their
differences by awarding their enemies
“nul points”. Now American states
could have the chance to do the same.
US citizens will soon have a new out-
let through which to air their grievan-
ces with each other as the Eurovision-
inspired American Song Contest heads
to the nation’s television screens.
Presented by the rapper Snoop Dogg
and the pop star Kelly Clarkson, the
show will feature artists from all 50
states as well as Washington DC and
five overseas territories. The American
Song Contest will last eight weeks and
will premiere on the NBC network in
March, with a grand final set for May.
Fans intimate with the geopolitical
posturing at Eurovision may hope for states of the midwest could band act format of the show. Eurovision is de-
similar fireworks in the US version. together against the coastal blue cided partly by music industry profes-
Viewers will be keenly watching the states. However Ben Silverman, ex- sionals and partly by a public vote. The
votes from states which have ecutive producer of the Amer- European contest has been held annu-
enjoyed friendly rivalries ican Song Contest, is ally since 1956. The 2020 edition was
— for example Califor- hopeful that the series cancelled during the pandemic, but its
nia and Texas, two giants will help to heal Amer- most recent event last year drew 183
of the union, which have ican divides. He told million viewers worldwide.
markedly different cul- the NME: “When Clarkson, who found fame on the TV
tures and customs. America is more fac- show American Idol, said: “I have been a
Country music tionalised than ever fan and love the concept of Eurovision
could go head to and we are dealing and am thrilled to bring the musical
head with hip hop, with so many issues that di- phenomenon to America. I’m so excit-
according to the vide us, the one [thing] that ed to work with Snoop and can’t wait to
preference of each truly unites us is our culture . . . see every state and territory represent-
state, while the It can unite [us] by celebrating ed.” Snoop Dogg, who won widespread
Trump-supporting red its diversity, its distinctions acclaim for his performance during the
and in pulling everyone [to- Super Bowl half-time show on Sunday,
Kelly Clarkson and gether] around its love of said: “I am honoured to host American
Snoop Dogg will host music and its love of song.” Song Contest alongside my lil sis Kelly
the American contest NBC is yet to reveal the ex- Clarkson, aka Miss Texas.”
30
World
Israeli PM urges Bahrain to join alliance against Iran
Bahrain
Anshel Pfeffer Manama
Richard Spencer
Middle East Correspondent
Israel’s prime minister has made the
first visit by a leader of his country to
Bahrain, cementing an alliance with
Gulf states against Iran.
The proclamations of friendship em-
phasised trade and “people-to-people”
ties, but Naftali Bennett’s visit coincid-
Camelcade Officers from India’s Border Security Force parading in the annual Desert Festival in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. Other events include moustache-flaunting
Give unruly wives a gentle
beating, minister tells men
Malaysia
Richard Lloyd Parry Asia Editor
A Malaysian minister who offered
“tips” to husbands, including to beat
their wives “gently” to discipline them
for “unruly” behaviour, has outraged
women’s rights groups.
Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff, the deputy
minister for women and family, was
accused of normalising domestic
violence with a two-minute video post-
ed on Instagram called “Mother’s Tips”.
She advises that husbands first speak to
“undisciplined and stubborn wives”
and, if they are not compliant, to sleep
apart from them.
She adds: “However, if the wife still
refuses to take the advice, or change her
behaviour after the sleeping separation,
then the husbands can try the physical
touch approach, by striking her gently,
to show his strictness and how much he
wants her to change.”
She also counsels wives on how to
win over their husbands. “Speak to your
husbands when they are calm, finished
eating, have prayed and are relaxed,”
she suggests. “When we want to speak,
ask for permission first.”
A group of women’s rights organisa-
ed with what could be the final steps in
talks to restore the nuclear deal
between the United States, European
allies and Iran.
Israeli diplomats put in an unprece-
dented appearance at the talks in Vien-
na yesterday to set out their concerns.
President Biden has promised to rejoin
the deal President Trump abandoned.
Bennett met King Hamad bin Isa al-
Khalifa and Salman bin Hamad al-
Khalifa, the crown prince and prime
tions, the Joint Action Group for Gen-
der Equality, demanded her resigna-
tion. “The deputy minister must step
down for normalising domestic
violence and perpetuating ideas as well
as behaviours that are opposed to gen-
der equality,” it said.
The organisation said that during
Malaysia’s lockdown in 2020 and 2021
there were 9,015 police reports of
domestic violence, and that this was
probably an underestimate.
It added: “There is often a stigma and
fear attached to reporting violence and
this is made worse by statements such
as those of Siti Zailah.
“As a minister who is meant to uphold
gender equality and the rights of
women to protection and
safety, this is abhorrent,nt,
denies women the rightt
to equality, their right
to dignity and to be
free from degrading
treatment. It is grossly
mistaken and a dem-
onstration of failed
leadership.”
Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff
ps”
passed on “mother’s tips”
minister. Bahrain is hugely significant
for its closeness to Saudi Arabia. Riyadh
has not recognised Israel, but strongly
influences Bahrain’s foreign policy. It is
assumed the visit had the approval of
Saudi Arabia’s day-to-day ruler, Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab
Emirates established diplomatic rela-
tions in September 2020 as part of the
Abraham Accords, brokered by the
Trump administration. Bahrain’s royal
Malaysia is one of the world’s most
populous Muslim countries. Although
it also has a significant Buddhist and
Hindu population, it became more
strictly Islamic from the late 1970s on-
wards, following the Islamic revolution
in Iran.
Many believe the country’s culturally
diverse population of Chinese, Indians
and Malays are the key to stopping it
becoming too extremist, but there are
fears among social moderates that
strict Islam is increasing its foothold in
the country.
Siti Zailah is an MP for the conserva-
tive Malaysian Islamic Party and her
words were a partial summary of Qu-
ranic verses that describe men as
“ca
the “caretakers of women”
with a duty to advise and
disc
discipline them.
She has caused con-
tr
troversy before with
h campaign for alco-
her
h to be banned on
hol
M
Malaysian Airlines,
th national carrier,
the
an for its female flight
and
atte
attendants to wear uni-
forms that are sharia
forms
complia
compliant.
2GM
family, which like those of other Gulf
states is Sunni Muslim, is particularly
nervous about the influence of Tehran
over its majority Shia population.
Bennett said: “My goal is to form a
ring of alliances between Israel and
other countries in the region and fill it
with substance. It’s in Israel and the
other countries’ interest.”
Off the record, senior Israeli officials
said the main aim was “reinforcing the
quiet regional alliance against Iran”.
HIMANSHU SHARMA/ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES
Nuclear test
site hit by
earthquakes
North Korea
Richard Lloyd Parry
North Korea’s underground nuclear
test area has been hit by several small
earthquakes, adding to fears that deto-
nations have altered the geology and
raised the risk of radiation leaks.
South Korean seismologists have re-
corded at least four earthquakes in the
past five days near the Punggye-ri test
site in the north of North Korea. The
scientists said they were natural
tremors and not caused by explosions.
They ranged in magnitude from 2.3
to 3.1, according to the Korea Meteoro-
logical Administration. None is large
enough to cause significant damage;
however, the fact that they are occur-
ring at all, in an area not prone to
quakes, raises troubling questions.
Between 2006 and 2017 North Korea
conducted six nuclear tests at Punggye-
ri. For several years there have been
warnings of radiation leaks from
Mount Mantap, above the test tunnels,
and rumours of children born with de-
fects. Chinese and South Korean ex-
perts warned in 2015 that tests could
cause the collapse of Mantap and the
leak of radiation into the atmosphere.
Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
New Zealand bans
conversion therapy
New Zealand Parliament has
passed a law banning conversion
therapy intended to forcibly
change a person’s sexual
orientation, gender identity or
expression. Practices include talk
therapy, hypnosis, electric shocks
and fasting. There were 112 votes
in favour and eight against.
Performing conversion practices
on under-18s or someone with
impaired decision-making
capacity will be punished with up
to three years in jail, while
practices that cause serious harm
will be punished with up to five
years. The government received
nearly 107,000 public submissions
on the law, the highest number
ever received. (Reuters)
Baldwin sued over
shooting death on set
United States The family of a
cinematographer killed by Alec
Baldwin have sued him, alleging
that cost-cutting and reckless
behaviour led to her death.
Halyna Hutchins, 42, was shot
while working on Rust in
October. Baldwin, 63, has said he
was told the weapon was safe.
The claim is being brought by
Hutchins’s husband, Matthew,
with whom she had a son, nine.
China mocks claims of
panda politics from US
China State media has rejected
claims by the US congresswoman
Nancy Mace that the government
exploits giant pandas to improve
its image. She has proposed a law
to stop American-born cubs being
exported to China for “window
dressing”. The Global Times said
that “distorting pandas’ cute
image shows the anti-China
American politicians have run out
of ideas to attack China”.
Police chief quits over
truckers’ blockades
Canada The police chief in
Ottawa resigned after criticism of
his handling of the lorry protests
that have paralysed the capital for
more than two weeks. Peter
Sloly’s failure to stop drivers
forming blockades in protest
against Covid rules has angered
residents. Justin Trudeau, the
prime minister, has invoked
emergency powers to ban protests
and tow away lorries. (AP)
Indian conman wed 14
women over 43 years
India A bigamist who married 14
women in 43 years has told police
in the eastern state of Odisha it
was “dead easy” to convince them
he was a genuine suitor. Ramesh
Chandra Swain, 65, posed as a
health official who had to travel
to check medical facilities. He
asked the women for money or
assets before vanishing. His latest
wife reported him after reading
his texts from other wives.
Worker, 10, trapped in
bin lorry for 8 hours
Sudan A boy aged ten was taken
to hospital after spending eight
hours trapped in the rubbish lorry
with which he was working. It is
believed Majed Mubarak Ibrahim
was pulled into the lorry, run by
the Khartoum State Cleaning
Corporation, as he threw in
rubbish. Videos show a welder
and a digger trying to free the boy
from the hatch, where witnesses
could see his trapped hand.
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 31

World
ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; DENIS KAMINEV/REUTERS

French purists Alexei Navalny was able to

share a tender moment
with his wife, Yulia. Below,
Yulia leaving the prison

bemoan English
camp after the hearing

during the hearing. “The

activities of people are
more important than the

‘mumbo jumbo’
fate of one individual. I’m
not afraid.”
He urged activists of
his FBK anti-corruption
foundation to “continue

in their language
their investigations, to
continue to publish facts
about corruption, to find
out what Putin and his
relatives, his second or
third wife, did with all the
France The report, drawn up by six of the stolen money”.
academy’s most eminent members, He also called for
Adam Sage Paris
including Sir Michael Edwards, the regime change, saying: “I
The “massive and uncontrolled” use of Franco-British poet, said that in all don’t want these people to
English by officials and businesses in these examples, a French term could be in the Kremlin. They
France is threatening the national and should have been employed. It also have been sitting there
language, sowing discord and fuelling argued that efforts to use English often for decades. They are
extremism, says the Académie ended up in mumbo jumbo. thieves.”
Française. When officials on the French Riviera At a press conference
The body set up in 1635 to safeguard wanted to promote water skiing, for in- with President Putin in
the French language made the warning stance, they told tourists “venez rider” Moscow, Olaf Scholz, the
in a report denouncing the spread of [come ride] without apparently realis- German chancellor,
English words and terms in govern- ing the verb “rider” exists neither in En- condemned the trial,
ment documents, public information glish nor in French, the report said. describing it as
campaigns and corporate literature. The academy conceded that English “incompatible with the
The report said public and private words were sometimes useful to fill principles of the rule of
sector organisations viewed the use of “gaps” in French, but the “massive, un- law”.
English as evidence of their modernity stable, uncontrolled influx is damaging The rest of Navalny’s
— but it represented an n attack the identit
identity and possibly the family, as well as other
on the French language, uage, future ofo our language, and visitors, are
undermining syntax and nd most other languages”. b
barred from the
splitting the countryy T
The report said the t
trial at the IK-2
along linguistic lines. na
nation’s mindset was p
penal facility in
On one side of the al in danger: “The
also P
Pokrov, 80
divide was a young, lo
logic of thought is m
miles east of
wealthy urban elite at a
affected, the analyti- tthe capital.
ease with English, the ca
cal structure of the Before the
academy said, but on Fr
French sentence sup- h
hearing, Yulia
the other was a swathe pla
p
planted by the concise Navalny, 45, in a N
Navalny said
of the population filled
with resentment at what
d
at it
[stru
[structure] of English.”
The academy’s members
Wife consoles black prison
uniform,
h
her husband
w
would become
viewed as gobbledygook.
Among examples cited
ok.
ted was a
d
are all distinguished intellec-
tuals known as “the immortals”.
tuals
Navalny as embracing his
wife, Yulia,
tthe first
p
person in
ed My Loire Val-
website for tourists called
ley in the wine-producing region of
Their concern is n not new. The academy
says on its website that worries about
he faces ten while guards
stood on either
m
modern
R
Russian
western France, the “pickup stations” foreign languages precedes its founda- more years side. She had h
history to be
opened by La Poste, the French post tion, with critics complaining about demanded access ttried in a

A
office, for the collection of parcels, and Italian words in the 16th century. Its lexei Navalny, to the closed- p
prison camp.
the “zero emission valley” in the fears have grown in recent decades, the imprisoned door proceedings “They are
Auvergne mountains of central France especially after René Étiemble, the Kremlin critic, a day earlier. a
afraid to hold
as part of a green initiative. French author, published his seminal made a defiant The Russian th i in Moscow,” she
the trial
President Macron was also criticised work, Parlez-Vous Franglais, in 1964. appearance in opposition leader is recovering in Germany wrote on Instagram.
for inaugurating Taste France, a cam- Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, 92, the a prison court yesterday already serving a two- from a poisoning attack Investigators claim that
paign to promote French gastronomy. head of the academy, said in an inter- facing embezzlement and-a-half year sentence with the nerve agent Navalny stole £3.4 million
The car manufacturer Renault was view with Le Figaro that French was in charges that could keep for embezzlement. novichok. “You’re going in donations to FBK for
denounced for its driver assistance “mortal danger” and linguistic division him locked up until 2032 The new case was to increase my term his personal use. The
technology, “Easy Drive”, and its rival was fuelling extremism, with much of (Marc Bennetts writes). launched in December indefinitely. What can we charge has a maximum
Peugeot for its advertising slogan the population feeling excluded by the A video link showed 2020, when Navalny was do about it?” he said term of ten years.
“Unboring the future”. use of English words.

Albanian gangsters held after drug raids Trump is backing me for

Belgium
Bruno Waterfield Brussels
Belgian police arrested 30 people
yesterday in raids targeting Albanian
gangs smuggling cocaine into Europe
from South America.
The operation included searches in
Spain, Italy, Germany, Croatia and the
Netherlands, with weapons, cocaine,
cash, luxury watches, diamonds, cryp-
tocurrency stashes and vehicles seized.
Public prosecutors in Belgium said
the raids were carried out to break an
international drug-trafficking network
that was mostly from eastern Europe
but had connections to the Italian ma-
fia.
The gang had been smuggling
cocaine from Brazil, Ecuador, Colom-
bia, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay. Its
activities mainly involved using “con-
tainer carriers” coming into Antwerp
and the Dutch port of Rotterdam, but
also to Le Havre in France and
Hamburg in Germany.
Shipments were also brought into
Europe using cargo planes or private
jets, according to detectives, which was
a mark of mafia wealth.
“The new forms of criminal organi-
sation are no longer exclusively family
or clan-based,” Belgium’s federal prose-
cutor’s office said. “ These are joint ven-
tures on the model of classic commer-
cial companies.”
Last year almost 90 tonnes of cocaine
were seized in Antwerp. Trafficking the
drug through Belgium brings criminal
organisations an estimated turnover of
up to €130 billion a year, officials said.
Police added that mafia gangs, main-
ly Albanian in this case, have trans-
ferred their wealth into legal assets,
using property and cryptocurrencies
instead of cash.
“The behaviour of the leaders of
criminal organisations is changing.
They invest in safe assets such as real
estate and legal companies,” the prose-
cutor said.
“Cryptowallets are found in more
and more files, including this one. This
is an emerging trend to be followed
closely, which shows the digitalisation
and modernity of criminal organisa-
tions.”
The criminal network is said to be a
sophisticated, diverse and agile, with a
structure mirroring the organisation of
a multinational company.
“There is a system for transferring
skills, for example ‘cooks’ from South
America,” the prosecutor said. “[They
operate] networks where everyone
does their part according to their field
— production, transport, processing
and distribution. The only common
driver: cost and profit optimisation.”
The investigation has uncovered a
drug war in Brussels and Antwerp
between two rival Albanian gangs that
is thought to have resulted in at least
eight murders.
The raids are linked to the breaking
of an encrypted phone service known
as the Sky ECC last year, which
revealed that drug gangs had colluded
with and bribed corrupt lawyers, civil
servants, a senior police detective and a
customs officer.
president, says Zemmour
Adam Sage
Éric Zemmour, the far-right candidate
in the French presidential election, says
he has the backing of Donald Trump.
His campaign said he had a “long and
friendly” phone call with the former US
president this week discussing migra-
tion, law and order and the economy.
The announcement came as two
polls showed Zemmour edging into
third place in the election race ahead of
Valérie Pécresse, 54, the mainstream
centre-right Republicans candidate.
Despite Trump’s divisive image, his
support is viewed as an asset at a time
when Zemmour is seeking to show that
he has international stature.
Zemmour, 63, said they shared their
views on the “destinies” of France and
the US, which are “caught up in the tur-
moil of a war of civilisations”.
Asked what advice Trump, 75, had
offered, he said: “He told me that I
should stay true to myself, that the
media was going to describe me as
brutal but that I should be sincere, and
that the important thing was to keep my
sincerity. I think he is right.”
While both have cast themselves as
anti-establishment and anti-immig-
ration, Trump has a background in
business and reality TV while Zem-
mour is a polemicist and pundit who
believes he is the heir to a long, right-
wing French intellectual tradition.
Zemmour, an independent, is trying
to woo voters away from Pécresse, 54,
who is under fire after a calamitous
speech at a rally in Paris last weekend.
One poll published by the Harris
Interactive institute put President
Macron, 44, on 25 per cent in the first
round of the April election, ahead of
Marine Le Pen, 53, leader of the far-
right National Rally, on 17.5 per cent,
Zemmour on 15.5 per cent and Pécresse
on 15 per cent.
32 Wednesday
We February 16 2022 | the times

World
From left: Amy Schumer,
All-female hosts take Regina Hall and Wanda
Sykes will host the Oscars

Oscars into a new era when they return in front

of an audience next month

T
he Oscars will said to be in the running that were considered
feature an all- to host but dropped out homophobic.
female line-up over the weekend. Since then the
of hosts as the Previous hosts Chris Academy of Motion
ceremony Rock and Steve Martin Picture Arts and
reverts to a more were also considered, Sciences has relied on
traditional format after according to reports. multiple celebrity
three years without a Variety said the hiring presenters.
presenter (Keiran of Schumer, Hall and Hosting the Oscars
Southern writes). Sykes would officially be was once seen as a
The actresses Amy announced on Good plum job in Hollywood
Schumer, Regina Hall Morning America today. but is now viewed as a
and Wanda Sykes will Schumer, 40, is a thankless task.
steer Hollywood’s stand-up comedian Last year’s ceremony
biggest night when it whose films include attracted a record low
returns to the Dolby Trainwreck and I Feel TV audience.
Theatre in Los Angeles Pretty. Hall, 51, first In an attempt to
with an audience next found fame after reinvigorate the show
month, Variety said. appearing in the horror viewers will be able to
The film-maker Will parody franchise Scary vote on their favourite
Packer is producer of Movie and Sykes, 57, has film of the year, with the
the 94th Academy film credits including winner announced
Awards on March 27 and Monster-in-Law and My during the TV
is said to have explored Super Ex-Girlfriend. broadcast.
various formats, The actor and It raises the prospect
including switching comedian Kevin Hart of blockbusters such as
hosts every hour. was to present the Spider-Man: No Way
Jon Hamm, the actor ceremony in 2019 Home being recognised
who starred as Don but dropped out after failing to achieve a
Draper in Mad Men, was after tweets emerged best picture nomination.

Harvard’s happiness classes

teach leadership with a smile
United States
Hugh Tomlinson Washington
For decades America’s boardrooms
have lived by the ruthless mantra that
“greed is good”. Future Gordon Gek-
kos are, however, being taught that
being happy is also good.
Harvard Business School has seen
interest in its “Leadership and Happi-
ness” class surge as students look
to add soft skills to complement the
more traditional hard-nosed talents.
Taught by the prominent social
scientist Arthur Brooks, the class has
been fully booked since its launch in
2020.
The seven-week course promises
to teach students to better under-
stand the root of their own happiness
and their emotional strengths and
weaknesses so as to “lead others in a
way that increases happiness”.
Brooks encourages his students
to distinguish between “real friends”
and “deal friends” and between
emotional and transactional
relationships.
“To be a successful leader you need
to understand happiness and manage
to it — yours and others. Unfortu-
nately, most leaders have to learn this
fact by hard experience,” a course
document says. “They are never
exposed to the expanding science of
happiness, which contains a wealth
of information on how to be happier
as a leader and make others happier
as well.”
Harvard says that the focus on hap-
Arthur Brooks
teaches Harvard
students how to
assess happiness
piness has taken on new importance
since the pandemic, as workers leave
jobs at record rates, reappraise their
goals and demand better pay and
work-life balance.
The course suggests that attending
to four key areas — family, friends,
meaningful work and faith or life phi-
losophy — and evaluating the value
placed on each is essential to being a
better boss and gaining a competitive
advantage by building a happier
workplace. “Think carefully about
each of the four parts of your port-
folio,” a slide that was presented on
the first day of class this term said. “In
which are you over-indexing?”
Brooks’s questions have resonated
with students. The class began with
72 students, but enrolment has now
more than doubled and it is still over-
subscribed.
Ashley McCray, an engineer and
consultant in the class, said that the
course had proved invaluable as she
reappraised her ambitions following
early career success. She was named
on a list of top women in business in
Minneapolis in 2019.
“This was little, young ambitious
Ashley’s dream, and I achieved it and
I felt nothing,” she told The Wall Street
Journal.
McCray now serves as “VP [vice-
president] of Happiness” for the
Harvard Business School student
association, sharing cheery posts
from around campus on social media
and helping her classmates to unwind
with massages and sessions with
therapy dogs.

Gun firm pays Sandy Hook families $73m

Hugh Tomlinson
The families of five children and four
adults, some of those killed in the
2012 Sandy Hook school shooting,
have reached a $73 million settlement
with Remington, the bankrupt gun
manufacturer that made the assault
rifle used. It is the first time a gun-
maker has been held responsible in a
mass shooting.
Yesterday’s announcement by law-
yers for the families came after a
seven-year legal battle with Reming-
ton Arms, maker of the Bushmaster
semi-automatic rifle used to kill 20
children and six adults in Newtown,
Connecticut. The attack by Adam
Lanza, 20, who killed himself as
police arrived, was the deadliest pri-
mary school shooting in US history.
The children he killed were six and
seven years old.
The families of nine of the victims
filed a wrongful death lawsuit against
Remington and its insurers in 2014,
alleging that the gunmaker should be
held partially responsible for the
shooting because its marketing strat-
egy extolled the Bushmaster’s image
as a combat weapon.
A 2005 federal law protects many
gun manufacturers from wrongful
death lawsuits, but the plaintiffs were
able to use a Connecticut law that
prevents deceptive marketing prac-
tices to argue that Remington was
partially responsible. The company
appealed to the Supreme Court in
2019 but the justices allowed the case
to proceed. The families rejected a
settlement offer of $33 million last
year. The $73 million represented all
that Remington’s insurers could pay.
Lenny Pozner and Veronique De
La Rosa, whose son, Noah, was killed,
said the settlement could never
assuage their loss. “In that sense, this
outcome is neither redemptive nor
restorative,” they said. “One moment
we had this dazzling, energetic six-
year-old little boy, and the next all we
had left were echoes. However, the
resolution provides a measure of
accountability in an industry that has
thus far operated with impunity. For
this, we are grateful.”
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
world markets (Change on the day)
FTSE 100 Dow Jones
7,608.92 (+77.33) 34,988.84 (+422.67)
8,000
7,500
7,000
6,500
Jan 15 25 Feb 2 10 Jan 15
New embarrassment for watchdog over London Capital & Finance
Ben Martin Banking Editor
The Financial Conduct Authority faces
pressure to pay more compensation to
the victims of the London Capital &
Finance scandal after an independent
commissioner dismissed the watch-
dog’s approach as flawed.
In an embarrassing blow to the FCA,
the Financial Regulators Complaints
Commissioner has recommended it
changes the way it has calculated com-
pensation, withdraws its previous deci-
Stocks rally
after Russia
‘pulls back’
Oil falls sharply and safe-haven assets retreat
Robert Miller
Markets in Europe and America staged
a relief rally and oil prices fell after
Russia indicated it was withdrawing
some troops from military exercises
near Ukraine.
Gold and bond prices fell as safe-
haven assets lost some of their appeal
with tensions easing slightly over
Ukraine, although Nato said it had yet
to see any evidence of de-escalation.
The price of gold was 0.7 per cent lower
at $1,854.80 an ounce and the yield on
a benchmark ten-year US Treasury
note rose three basis points to 2.026 per
cent.
In a sign of investors becoming more
open to riskier investments, bitcoin en-
joyed a recovery as the biggest crypto-
currency rose 3.4 per cent to $44,103.16.
Oil fell sharply after touching $96.48
a barrel on Monday amid signs of a
reduction in tension. Brent crude, the
international benchmark price, was
down 3.3 per cent at $93.28 a barrel in
New York last night. Oil has been
driven higher in the past week by fears
that a conflict could disrupt oil and gas
supplies or lead to severe sanctions
against Russian industry, including the
energy sector.
With fears around the potential for
travel disruption alleviated after
Russia’s announcement, travel stocks,
too, bounced back.
Investors are also watching talks
between America and Iran on reviving
Tehran’s nuclear deal with world
powers, which potentially could allow
2GM
commodities
Gold
$1,851.50 (-11.47)
38,000
36,000
34,000
32,000
25 Feb 2 10 Jan 15 25
sions on London Capital & Finance and
reruns the process.
Amerdeep Somal, the commissioner,
has been assessing the way the regula-
tor handled complaints from people
who lost money in the £237 million de-
bacle, which erupted in 2019 and hit
more than 14,000 small investors.
Victims were able to apply for redress
from the Financial Services Compen-
sation Scheme, which paid out
£57.6 million to 2,871 investors, while a
special government initiative has dis-
for higher Iranian oil exports, further
depressing the price of crude.
“We went from fearing that our worst
fears would be realised to maybe there’s
a diplomatic off-ramp here after all.
That brings a lot of relief in terms of
keeping supplies on the market,” John
Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital, a
New York investment advisory firm,
said. “We can’t afford to lose a single
barrel [of output] these days.”
In London the FTSE 100 ended a
two-day losing streak by closing up
1 per cent at 7,608.92, its best day since
late January and leaving the premier
index 1.9 per cent higher since the start
of the month, despite Monday’s sharp
sell-off. The more domestically focused
FTSE 250 rose by 1.1 per cent to close at
21,852.51.
In Europe, Germany’s Dax closed up
2 per cent and the CAC 40 in Paris was
1.9 per cent higher at 6,979.97.
“There is an immediate risk in the
next few days depending on how all this
evolves,” Punit Patel, senior equity fund
manager at London & Capital, said.
“Geopolitical issues, certainly one that
includes Russia, will provide headline
risk for markets just given how sensitive
the whole situation is.”
On Wall Street the technology-biased
Nasdaq closed up 2.5 per cent at
14,139.76, its largest gain in two weeks,
while the more broadly based S&P 500,
seen as a barometer of America’s corpo-
rate health, was up 1.6 per cent at
4,471.07. The Dow Jones industrial aver-
age was ahead 1.2 per cent at 34,988.84.
Bears growl, market report, page 43
Brent crude (6pm)
$ $93.37 (-1.60)
2,000
1,800
1,600
1,400
Feb 2 10 Jan 15 25 Feb 2
tributed £105 million to about 8,500
people. By contrast, the FCA has paid
£34,020 to four people who received
direct communication from the regula-
tor that may have led them to believe
their investment with London Capital
& Finance was safe.
The financial regulators complaints
commissioner investigates complaints
against organisations and can make
recommendations to the watchdogs.
The commissioner raised concerns
about the watchdog’s approach to com-
Plain sailing Airbnb, the home rental agency, last night issued a better-than-expected forecast for its first-quarter revenue
and reported sales of $1.53 billion for the final three months of last year as the leisure travel sector bounced back. Page 39
Glencore looks to settle investigations
Emily Gosden
Glencore has set aside $1.5 billion to
cover the likely costs of resolving
bribery and corruption investigations.
The Swiss-based mining and
commodities group said that it expect-
ed to resolve investigations in America,
Britain and Brazil this year.
Analysts welcomed the disclosure,
which they said was a lower provision
than the market had expected and
could pave the way for Glencore to
move on from investigations that have
weighed on its shares for almost four
years.
The FTSE 100 company reported
record adjusted earnings on the back of
soaring prices for commodities and
another bumper performance by its
Business
currencies
£/$
$ $1.3535 (+0.0020)
100
90
80
70
10 Jan 15 25 Feb 2 10
pensation in a confidential preliminary
report, which was seen by The Times,
last October. The FCA was given a
chance to respond to those initial find-
ings and told the commissioner that it
stood by its redress decisions.
However, Somal has upheld her
criticisms in the final version of her
report, published yesterday. “The FCA’s
approach to compensation in the LCF
cases is unjustified and does not stand
up to scrutiny,” she said in the report.
The FCA is not obliged to follow rec-
traders. It bounced back to a $5 billion
annual net profit, from a $2 billion loss
in 2020, and plans to return $4 billion to
shareholders.
Glencore is one of the world’s biggest
commodities traders and miners,
producing coal, copper, nickel, zinc and
cobalt.
It has been operating under the cloud
of bribery and corruption investiga-
tions since the US Department of
Justice launched an investigation in
2018 into its compliance with corrup-
tion and money laundering rules in
Nigeria, Venezuela and the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
It hopes to resolve this and other
investigations this year, leaving investi-
gations by Swiss and Dutch authorities
outstanding. Gary Nagle, its chief exec-
33
£/€
$ €1.1916 (-0.0038) ¤
1.400 1.225
1.350 1.200
1.300 1.175
1.250 1.150
Jan 15 25 Feb 2 10
ommendations made by the commis-
sioner. It said it had received her find-
ings and would respond.
London Capital & Finance sold toxic
minibonds before collapsing into
administration and the regulator has
faced severe criticism of the way it
supervised the company.
Somal warned that she had “signifi-
cant concerns” about the FCA’s finan-
cial services register, which the public
can use to research investment compa-
nies.
AIRBNB
utive, said that Glencore wanted to
“complete these investigations, put a
line under that and move forward”.
He admitted that there had been
“pockets of misconduct that happened
in this business historically” and
vowed: “There is no place for that in
Glencore.”
Tyler Broda, of RBC Capital Markets,
said that the $1.5 billion provision com-
pared with its $3 billion estimate and
that “with the main investigations
quantified this will likely de-risk the
company from this unknown known
which has been an overhang for the
company since 2018”.
The shares closed up by 1.2 per cent,
or almost 5p, at 427p.
Glencore trying to show the world it has
changed, pages 34-35
34
Business
Need to know
1
Markets in Europe and
America staged a relief rally
and oil prices fell after Russia
indicated that it was withdrawing
some troops from military
exercises near Ukraine. Gold and
bond prices fell as safe-haven
assets lost some of their appeal
with border tensions easing
slightly, although Nato said that it
had yet to see any evidence of de-
escalation. Pages 1, 8-11, 33, 43
2
Britons have adapted to
working from home without it
significantly impairing the
nation’s productivity, official data
suggests. Output-per-hour
exceeded pre-pandemic levels for
the first time at the end of last
year, estimates from the Office for
National Statistics suggest. Page 2
3
Wages have grown faster than
inflation during the pandemic,
with real incomes almost 4 per
cent higher at the end of last year
than in February 2020, according
to the Office for National Statistics.
Pay rose by 4.9 per cent in the year
to December 2021, ONS figures
show. Pages 2, 36
4
Britain needs a new regulator
— Ofcharge — to ensure that
there are enough public
electric car recharging points in
the right places and to protect
zero-emission motorists from
excessive prices, the motor
industry says. The take-up of plug-
in vehicles is outpacing the
amount of charging infrastructure,
the industry says, and there is a
deep north-south divide. Page 22
5
Glencore has set aside
$1.5 billion to cover the likely
costs of resolving bribery and
corruption investigations. The
Swiss-based mining and
commodities group said that it
expected to resolve investigations
in America, Britain and Brazil this
year. Page 33
6
The Financial Conduct
Authority faces pressure to
pay more compensation to
the victims of the London Capital
& Finance scandal after an
independent commissioner
dismissed the watchdog’s approach
as flawed. Page 33
7
The government has
relaunched its green savings
accounts offering twice the
interest rate, apparently having
failed to tempt savers with the
“miserly” rate paid previously. The
three-year fixed-rate bonds,
available through National Savings
& Investments, were launched in
October, paying 0.65 per cent
interest, but have been relaunched
paying 1.3 per cent.
8
David Arden, the finance chief
who presided over a damaging
accounting blunder at Metro
Bank, is leaving the group weeks
after City regulators fined it for the
debacle. Page 38
9
Atom Bank has been valued at
£435 million in what is likely
to be the digital lender’s last
fundraising round before it
attempts a listing on the stock
exchange. Page 39
10 Thousands of workers at
Airbus, the aerospace
group, have voted to strike
over an “unacceptably low” pay
offer that they say does not reflect
rising living costs. Page 41
Glencore trying to show the
There is no place for
misconduct in the
commodities group
now, its boss declared.
Emily Gosden reports
At a court hearing in New York on a
July morning last year, Anthony
Stimler gave the first public account of
some of the historical “misconduct”
that Glencore has now set aside $1.5 bil-
lion to resolve.
Appearing by video link from Britain,
the former trader admitted to persist-
ent wrongdoing during his long career
at the Swiss-based commodities giant.
“Between around 2007 to 2009, I was
involved in discussions with another
trader to direct payments to inter-
mediaries for the purpose of bribing
Nigerian government officials in order
to obtain oil cargoes for Glencore,”
Stimler said. “From around 2011 to
2018, I approved bribe payments made
by Glencore intermediaries to govern-
ment officials in Nigeria to assist Glen-
core in receiving oil cargoes from the
Nigerian government.”
As he pleaded guilty to offences
under the Foreign Corrupt Practices
Act and money laundering laws, Stim-
ler told the court he was “aware that
other Glencore traders who worked
with me were doing the same thing by
directing our intermediaries to make
bribe payments to government offi-
cials” and that he knew his actions were
“wrong and unlawful”.
“I take full responsibility for my
actions, and I have been co-operating
with the Department of Justice and the
US Attorney’s Office in their investiga-
tions for over two years now,” he said.
Glencore has not disputed Stimler’s
account of what it calls “unacceptable”
conduct and Gary Nagle, its chief
executive, referenced the plea bargain
yesterday as he admitted: “There has
been misconduct and that’s common
knowledge.” Yet the full extent may not
become clear for some time: Stimler’s
plea bargain related to only one aspect
of one investigation out of six that
Glencore is subject to.
Worries over the potential conse-
quences of these investigations have
weighed on Glencore’s shares since the
justice department launched its inquir-
ies almost four years ago. Resolving
Record prices at power plant auction BA offering
Emily Gosden Energy Editor
SSE was among the big winners
yesterday as the government awarded
£375 million of contracts at record high
prices to power plant owners to help to
keep the lights on next winter.
The FTSE 100 energy group secured
contracts worth almost £170 million to
ensure it will make three big gas-fired
power plants available when needed.
The payments were awarded
through the government’s “capacity
market” auction, designed to ensure
that power supplies can meet demand
even when the wind doesn’t blow or the
sun doesn’t shine.
John Musk, an analyst at RBC, said
that the price “demonstrates the tight-
ness currently in UK power markets”.
Uniper, the German owner of Brit-
ain’s last coal-fired plant, scooped a
£31 million contract, and several con-
tracts were awarded to develop new
battery storage projects and small gas-
fired reciprocating engines.
Under the capacity market scheme,
Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
Analysis
A
s high energy prices
cause misery for
consumers and many
businesses across
Europe, Glencore
emerged yesterday as a clear
corporate winner from the crisis
(Emily Gosden writes).
“Net net, it certainly has been
positive for our business,” Gary
Nagle, the chief executive, said.
The ‘net net’ caveat is because
Glencore did suffer some
downsides: its mining business
booked about $900 million in
increased costs, at least half of
which stemmed from higher
energy prices. Its zinc smelters in
Europe were “massively
impacted by the surge in gas
prices”, Steven Kalmin, the chief
financial officer, added.
However, Kalmin, 51, said this
was “dwarfed” by the benefit that
Glencore enjoyed from selling
commodities at higher prices,
which delivered $4.9 billion of
increased earnings for energy
commodities alone. The lion’s
share, $4.5 billion, stemmed from
higher prices for thermal coal
burnt in power stations, up
125 per cent year-on-year. Kalmin
said there was also a “meaningful
turnaround” in its small oil
production business with Brent
crude prices up 65 per cent.
In addition, Glencore’s traders
were able to cash in on swings in
energy prices, albeit making a
fifth less from energy trading
than during the “exceptional”
conditions of 2020. Nagle said it
had “been able to take advantage
of ” dislocations and moves in
power, gas and oil prices.
them swiftly and with as little lasting The justice department investigation gation by Brazilian authorities linked to
damage to the company as possible into corruption and money laundering Operation Car Wash, which relates to
appears a key priority for Nagle, who is looking into Glencore’s conduct not bribery allegations involving Petrobras,
took over as Glencore chief executive only in Nigeria but also in Venezuela the Brazilian oil group.
last summer, succeeding Ivan Glasen- and in the Democratic Republic of Glencore said it was setting aside a
berg, who ran the business from 2002. Congo. A separate investigation by the provision of $1.5 billion for its best
“We want to put a line under that and US Commodity Futures Trading estimate of the costs it would incur to
move forward,” Nagle, 47, said yesterday. Commission, announced the following resolve these investigations, which it
The scope of the investigations year, covers allegations of market hopes to do this year. That will still
suggests that further reputationally manipulation. Glencore is also subject leave two others: one by Swiss author-
damaging details are likely to emerge to a bribery investigation by the Serious ities for failure to have measures in
before Glencore can do so. Fraud Office in Britain and an investi- place to prevent alleged corruption,
most plants are contracted through
auctions several years in advance, with
plants at Keadby 1, Keadby 2 and
Medway. The next biggest winner was
sweeteners to
Uniper, which The Times revealed on
final capacity secured one year out.
Last month, the government set a
target of securing more capacity in
Monday stood to receive £31 million for
keeping its Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal
keep its staff
the final auction for next plant runnin
running next winter.
winter than could bee pro- Musk said the high Robert Lea
vided by the genera-era- price was positive not
ke
tors qualified to take only for those that The battle for airlines to keep and
part, which it said d pick up contracts,
picked recruit pilots and cabin crew as the
reflected “uncer- su
suggesting that aviation industry readies itself for take-
tainties within the ne
next week’s auc- off this summer has prompted British
power sector”. As ti to secure ini-
tion Airways to offer staff one-off sweeten-
a result, everyone ti
tial capacity for ers worth 10 per cent of their salaries.
that entered the th winter of 2025-
the Carriers have been operating at a
auction won a 26 “could also fraction of their capacity during nearly
contract at the ac
achieve record re- two years of the pandemic and BA is
maximum possiblee sult
sults”. That would flying only 60 per cent of a normal
o-
price of £75 per kilo- bene a much larger
benefit schedule. However, the industry
watt yesterday. numbe of companies,
number believes that with travel and testing
Musk said that “SSE
accounted for 45 per
the overall capacity
er cent of
h
y entering the
auction”, with its three llarge gas-fired
fi d
but could
but coul raise concerns
over costs to consumers.
A spokesman for the Depart-
mentt for
f Business,
B i E
Energy and Indus-
trial Strategy said: “The capacity
regimes being swept away and strong
pent-up demand for travel, summer
2022 will return to summer 2019 levels.
During the pandemic, tens of thou-
sands of air crew and other aviation
The coal-fired plant at Ratcliffe-on- market is worth paying for to provide workers have been stood down around
Soar scooped a £31 million contract secure and affordable electricity.” Europe and the race is on for airlines to
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
world it has changed
and a newly disclosed inquiry by Dutch
authorities into potential corruption in
the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Despite this, for investors the update
marks a welcome sign of progress. “A
resolution of ongoing regulatory
investigations, including the DoJ,
would be a market-clearing event,”
analysts at Jefferies wrote, adding the
$1.5 billion was less than the $2-$4 bil-
lion the market expected.
Moving on from these investigations
be “right-sized” for the coming summer
season, with budget carriers such as
Ryanair and Wizz Air unveiling the
most aggressive expansion plans.
BA has told staff it plans to offer them
a one-off payment, which does not
increase their annual salary, nor pen-
sionable income, of 5 per cent of their
annual pay next month, and another
5 per cent equivalent next autumn.
The airline says it has made the offer
in “good faith”, but has warned that
payments are dependent on its finan-
cial performance.
The offer is believed to be designed to
ward off potential industrial disputes as
British workers grapple with a cost-of-
living crunch, soaring energy and fuel
prices and inflation galloping away at
7 per cent.
The offer covers cabin crew, staff at
check-in, baggage handlers, engineers,
call centre workers and admin staff. BA
pilots are getting a 5 per cent increase in
their salaries.
A BA spokesman said: “As we rebuild
our airline, we’re committed to putting
our people at the heart of our business
and this proposal is a gesture of thanks
for colleagues’ hard work during the
pandemic.”
PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Glencore has
instilled a new
ethics and
compliance
programme
will require Glencore not only to settle
on acceptable financial terms but also
to convince investors and the wider
world that the conditions that gave rise
to the misconduct no longer exist.
Nagle has sought to get on the front
foot here, setting out last summer how
Glencore had instilled a new compli-
ance regime and had largely eliminated
the use of intermediary agents such as
those referenced by Stimler.
“We are changing the culture,” Nagle
Electric car start-up plans to
lighten its load with research
Robert Lea
Polestar, the nearest thing that Europe
has to an electric premium car start-up
such as Tesla, is to increase investment
in its British operations.
The zero-emission car spin-out from
Volvo that has been bankrolled by
Geely, the Chinese automotive group, is
to increase its research and develop-
ment division near Coventry in the
West Midlands from 280 engineers to
500 as it strives to make its car’s chassis
as lightweight as possible to compen-
sate for the heavy weight of the car’s
batteries.
Polestar’s R&D facility is based at
Ansty, where Geely manufactures the
LEVC hybrid black cabs for the London
taxi market. Geely also owns Lotus, the
British sports car manufacturer, which
is converting itself to an all-electric
future.
The engineers at Ansty, many of
whom are from Formula One or other
Mining giant
stands behind
gigafactory
Robert Lea Industrial Editor
Glencore has emerged as a
cornerstone investor in Britishvolt,
the giant “gigafactory” under
construction at Blyth.
The giant mining and
commodities grooup had already
taken a financial interest in
Britishvolt in return for the supply
of cobalt and nickel that the plant in
Northumberland will need. By 2027,
Britishvolt plans to make enough
batteries each year to power
300,000 electric cars. The battery
company is one third-controlled by
Orral Nadjari, 39, its Emirates-based
founder.
Now, in a third private
fundraising, Glencore has signed up
to invest £40 million of the
£200 million that Britishvolt hopes
to bring in from private investors.
This is on top of £100 million
previously raised.
The ability to raise private funds
to finance research, development
and commercialisation is likely to
mean that Britishvolt will take its
time on the road to its ultimate goal
of listing on the stock exchange.
Last month the business secured
£1.7 billion of project finance for the
complex construction of the
gigafactory from abrdn, the
investment house. The taxpayer has
also ploughed £100 million into the
venture in grants for a project that
ministers hope will help to create
3,000 jobs.
said. “We want to run a responsible and
ethical business and there were pockets
of misconduct that happened in this
business historically. We will not put up
with that in this business, there is no
place for that in Glencore. And we will
ensure that our world-class ethics and
compliance programme continues to
evolve to ensure that we run a business
that is responsible and ethical so we
won’t see that ever again.”
Rich seam for investors, Tempus, page 42
niche sports car backgrounds, have
been given the task of coming up with a
commercial means of producing non-
welded bonded aluminium car bodies
at volume.
Ansty has been charged with bring-
ing the new Polestar 5 model from
concept to reality. Due to be in pro-
duction from 2024, the Polestar 5 will
be aimed at the same market as the
Model S, Tesla’s second most expensive
model.
Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar’s chief
executive, said: “Our UK R&D team is
one of Polestar’s greatest assets. Their
mix of engineering and technological
expertise will set Polestar apart in the
years to come.”
Polestar is due to float on the New
York Stock Exchange via a reverse into
a so-called blank-cheque company,
which has been set up by Alec Gores,
one of the leaders in the fashion for
such “special purpose acquisition com-
panies”, or Spacs.
Digging deep for a
culture change
business commentary Alistair Osborne
C
opper, zinc, cobalt, nickel,
coal. There’s no shortage
of stuff to dig up at
Glencore. So you have to
hand it to the miner that,
for a few years now, one of the main
commodities to surface has been
tons of bribery investigations.
Up they’ve popped to detract from
the commodity boom, not to
mention the swansong of former
boss Ivan Glasenberg: the man who
bowed out last year after two
decades at the rock face. How were
investors meant to focus on soaring
minerals prices when America’s
Commodity Futures Trading
Commission, for example, was
poking around Glencore’s exploits in
Nigeria, Venezuela and the
Democratic Republic of Congo? Plus
investigating the company’s links to
Dan Gertler: the businessman
sanctioned by the US for his “opaque
and corrupt mining and oil deals” in
the DRC?
Glencore kept producing far too
much shock and ore, with investors
left guessing over the damage from
inquiries in five countries. So it’s a
fillip for new boss Gary Nagle, who
took charge last July, that he’s
bottomed out a big chunk of the
problem: a full-year provision of
$1.5 billion that’s half of analyst
forecasts. True, it only covers the US,
UK and Brazilian investigations that
Glencore “expects to resolve” this
year. But the other two, from the
group’s Swiss home and the
Netherlands, are into the same stuff.
Investors finally have a grip on the
costs: a key reason, alongside the
$4 billion cash return, that the shares
rose 1 per cent to 427p.
It’s all part of what Nagle calls
“changing the culture” at Glencore.
Yes, the group’s hard-charging,
entrepreneurial style may well be
one of its strengths — and key to its
commodities trading wing. But the
shares have never topped 2011’s 530p
float price. As Nagle knows,
Glencore would be better rated if it
knew when not to cross the line.
Take out the bribery stuff and it’s
riding a commodity wave: the result
of the collision between post-Covid
global recovery and shortages for
key minerals, exacerbated by supply
chain logjams. Realised prices per
tonne have rocketed: copper, up
49 per cent; zinc, 33 per cent; nickel,
36 per cent; and polluting thermal
coal, 82 per cent. Production fell
slightly. But adjusted mining ebitda
jumped 118 per cent to a record
$17.1 billion — $11.1 billion from price
rises. The trading wing also had a
record year, maxing out on the
“volatility” that comes with “tight
physical commodity markets”. Its
operating profit rose 11 per cent to
$3.7 billion.
To boot, aside from coal, which
Glencore is running down, it’s in the
right commodities for the big
decarbonisation trend, with the likes
of copper, nickel and cobalt key to
electric cars and battery power: a
point driven home by its backing for
the Britishvolt battery gigafactory.
Nagle has brought clarity, too, over
investor returns: handing back the
surplus above a $10 billion debt cap.
Still, there’s one vital area for
improvement: the fatality rate
among Glencore’s 135,000 workers.
It halved last year to four: the best
35
Business
figure since the float after 17 deaths
in 2019, 13 in 2018, nine in 2017 and
16 in 2016. Yet Nagle knows only
zero is acceptable. Delivering that
will be the strongest sign of overdue
cultural change.
This bid won’t fly
C
hocks away. International
travel is back. So what better
time for National Aviation
Services to be flying in from Kuwait
with a £469 million mooted bid for
Edinburgh-based John Menzies? The
Gulf raider is dangling 510p a share: a
“full and fair value”, it reckons, to
take out its European rival for
ground handling, refuelling and air
cargo services (report, page 41).
On the face of it, too, a 76 per cent
premium looks decent enough.
Philipp Joeinig, Menzies’ chairman
and chief executive, has been in
charge since July 2019, but is yet to
pilot the shares to the proposed bid
price. And while the tilt from NAS
could look as “opportunistic” as he
claims, the post-Covid aviation
recovery will largely star cash-
strapped airlines keen to screw down
air servicing costs.
Even so, Menzies shares stood at
475p in January 2020. And Joeinig
has used the pandemic to take out
£25 million of costs. Adjust for that,
he reckons, and NAS’s bid multiple is
6.4 times 2019 ebitda, not the 9.5
times it claims. He also thinks he’s
spotted opportunities to deliver up to
£280 million of extra annual sales,
even if seeing is believing when part
of it’s coming from “higher-margin”
work in Iraq, Pakistan, Costa Rica,
Guatemala and El Salvador.
The Kuwaitis are quibbling with
his maths, claiming he’s also failed to
adjust for £7.6 million interest on
lease liabilities. But that’s not the key
point. It’s that Menzies shares, up 3
per cent at 477p, are suggesting the
bid fails at this price. And not least
because the two top investors,
Sterling Strategic Value and Mithaq
Capital, together with almost 14 per
cent — plus SVM Asset
Management, with 1.7 per cent —
don’t think it’s enough. Yes, the
shares may crash land if NAS walks.
But the Kuwaitis need to top up the
price if they want their bid to fly.
MySale goes cheap
D
on’t follow Mike Ashley or Sir
Philip “Effing” Green into
online shopping stocks. On
Monday, Studio Retail collapsed,
taking the Sports Direct founder’s
28.9 per cent stake with it. And now?
A fashion faux pas from MySale: the
Aussie outfit 15 per cent-owned by
Shelton Capital, the vehicle
controlled by the Monaco-based
yacht decorator Lady Green.
MySale’s ended up with A$6.1 million
of stock it can’t shift: news that sent
the shares down 34.5 per cent to
2.16p, where it’s valued at a princely
£20.5 million (report, page 41). Green
bought the stake for his wife at June
2014’s float, where broker Macquarie
got a dressing down for pricing up
the shares at 2.26p — instead of
226p. Turns out it was too optimistic.
alistair.osborne@thetimes.co.uk
36
Business
‘Real’ wages higher than before Covid
Inflation is soaring but
those in work are better
off than they were
two years ago, writes
Arthi Nachiappan
Wage growth failed to keep pace with
inflation at the end of 2021, but the lat-
est official data also shows that on a
broader view Britons are still consider-
ably better off than they were at the
start of the Covid-19 crisis.
Wages in the UK rose by 4.9 per cent
in the year to December 2021, lagging
the 5.4 per cent annual rise in inflation
recorded in the same month.
However, real wages — pay adjusted
for the impact of inflation — are con-
siderably higher than they were before
the onset of Covid-19. Wages finished
last year almost 4 per cent higher than
they were before the pandemic, accord-
ing to figures from the Office for
National Statistics.
Pay has risen up the agenda for
workers and policymakers as both try
to address the soaring cost of living
brought on by prices increasing at their
fastest pace in more than 30 years.
The governor of the Bank of England
said that it was not concerned about a
wage-price spiral, in which higher wage
demands lead to inflation because
employers increase prices to cover the
higher wages, but later he added that
workers should show “restraint” when
negotiating higher pay to avoid pushing
up consumer prices.
The median monthly wages of pay-
rolled workers increased by 6.3 per cent
in the year to last month, according to
separate payroll data published by the
ONS yesterday. Since February 2020, it
has advanced by 10.3 per cent.
Average weekly earnings including
bonuses reached £596 between Octo-
ber and December, a 4.3 per cent rise
compared with the same quarter in
2020. Adjusting for inflation, total pay
was down 0.1 per cent in real terms, or
0.8 per cent when excluding bonuses.
Simon French, chief economist at
Panmure Gordon, said that the rise in
minimum wages, and pay settlements
that take their cues from the consumer
prices index, which make up a minority
of the economy, would be a “driving
force” for wage rises this year. However,
Green bonds relaunched at the double Insolvencies on the rise as
George Nixon Money Reporter
The government has relaunched its
much-publicised green savings ac-
counts at twice the interest rate,
apparently having failed to tempt
savers with the “miserly” rate that was
paid previously.
The three-year fixed-rate bonds,
available through National Savings &
Investments, were launched in Octo-
ber, paying 0.65 per cent interest. This
was much lower than the best rate
available from commercial banks,
which was then 1.81 per cent, according
to Savings Champion, the website.
Savers were able to deposit between
£100 and £100,000 and money would
be ring-fenced for environmental
projects such as renewable energy.
After seemingly little take-up, they
were relaunched yesterday with a rate
of 1.3 per cent. John Glen, the Treasury
minister, said that the new rate
reflected “upward movement across
the wider fixed-term market”.
However, data from Savings Cham-
pion found that the highest-paying
Just the job
Productivity
Output per hour worked
Output per worker
110%
Pandemic
105
100
95
90
85
80
Source: ONS
75
2019 2020 2021
the rest of the workforce will be left to
negotiate their own pay rises or to move
jobs or companies in search of higher
pay should they look to increase their
wages.
French said it was unlikely that wage
rises in these portions of the workforce
would keep pace with inflation. “Em-
ployers going into negotiations will
look at this over a one-to-five-year view
rather than have the conversation in
isolation based on this year’s inflation
rate,” he said. “Employers may well say
they gave you a nominal pay rise last
year when inflation was near zero or
kept you on and topped up your fur-
lough.” As such, the majority of wage
three-year fixed-rate bond had risen
from 1.81 per cent on October 22, when
the bonds were launched, to 1.85 per
cent now, a rise of 0.04 percentage
points. The average rate has increased
from 1.07 per cent to 1.19 per cent.
Andrew Hagger, of MoneyComms, a
personal finance site, described the old
rate as miserly and “so out of touch with
1.3%
The interest rate offered on the newly
relaunched gren savings account
Source: Treasury
the market there was never going to be
a rush to sign up. I think the fact that
NS&I has doubled the rate rather than
making a tweak speaks volumes.”
The state-owned savings bank has
refused to disclose how many bonds
have been sold, publishing data on indi-
vidual accounts only once a year in its
annual report. It said that the Treasury
would publish sales data in the spring
Unemployment rate
5.4%
5.0
4.6
4.2
3.8
3.4
2019 2020 2021
agreements may take some cue from
the level of inflation but not pass it
through to wages in its entirety.
January was a crucial month for pay
settlements, with many workers repre-
sented by trade unions or working in
the public sector agreeing their pay
packages for the year. The outcome of
settlements made in January and the
next significant round of negotiations
at the start of the financial year in April
will give a clearer picture of what
impact rising prices will have on wages
this year, according to Samuel Tombs,
chief UK economist at the Pantheon
Macroeconomics consultancy.
Tombs said that the answer to the rise
statement next month and of projects
the bonds had been used to finance in
September.
The green bonds were launched
alongside green gilts, which attracted
significant demand from investors. In
two issuances in September and Octo-
ber last year, they brought in £16 billion.
The move comes a week after NS&I
raised rates on its Direct Saver and
Income Bonds for the second time in
three months, by 0.15 percentage points
to 0.5 per cent.
It has been struggling to meet its
fundraising target, set by the Treasury,
of £6 billion for 2021-22. By Dec-
ember 31, it had raised £2.1 billion,
according to Bank of England data.
However, because NS&I has been
given £3 billion leeway on the £6 billion
target, James Blower, of Moneyfacts,
the financial data site, said that he did
not expect further rate rises until
NS&I’s target for 2022-23 was released.
“If the target is £6 billion or more next
year, they are likely to come under
competitive pressure to increase rates
to get that growth,” he said.
Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
Average weekly earnings
Annual growth rates
With bonuses Without bonuses
8%
6 1,000
4
2
0
-2
-4
2019 20 21
-6
Jan-Mar Nov-Jan Sep-Nov Jul-Sep
in real wages since the onset of the
pandemic lay in a rise in productivity.
“Now we’ve got GDP basically back to
peak levels, but the overall measure of
employment is still about 1 per cent
below where it was pre-Covid,” he said,
“so workers have become around 1 per
cent more productive and that should
be reflected in real wages.”
Productivity exceeded pre-pandem-
ic levels for the first time at the end of
last year, despite a jump in the number
of people working from home following
the Omicron guidance, but there are
concerns that it may not last.
Bart van Ark, professor of produc-
tivity studies at the University of Man-
pandemic protection ends
James Hurley
Corporate insolvencies in England and
Wales began to return last month to
levels last seen before the pandemic as
more businesses failed over debts.
The number of companies going bust
reached 1,560, more than double the
figure of a year ago and similar to that
of January 2020, before the onset of
Covid-19.
Businesses were protected from
certain forms of creditor action during
the pandemic, resulting in a significant
drop in insolvency levels.
The rises in the January levels were
driven by greater levels of creditor vol-
untary liquidations, which were 34 per
cent higher than 2020. In a creditor
voluntary liquidation, the directors of a
distressed company volunteer to put
their company into liquidation.
Numbers for other types of company
insolvencies, such as compulsory liqui-
dations, remained lower than before
Vacancies
Number of vacancies in the UK,
seasonally adjusted
000s
1,200
800
600
400
200
0
2019 2020 2021 2022
chester, said it was too soon to tell
whether the shift to working from
home and hybrid models of working
had increased productivity because the
impact of a shift to hybrid working —
operating both from home and in the
workplace — was still unclear.
“If anything, I would say we have
learnt how to work from home in a way
that avoids significant productivity
losses, but that’s as far as I would go,” he
said. “Now that we see this sort of im-
provement in the fourth quarter over
the third quarter, it seems to suggest
that the move back to work from home
didn’t really impact productivity much,
so that’s a good piece of news.”
the pandemic, the government’s Insol-
vency Service said.
Claire Burden, a partner at Tilney
Smith & Williamson, an accountancy
and professional services group, said
that distress was being caused by infla-
tion, continued supply chain disrup-
tions and raw material and commodity
shortages, and she added that interest
rate increases were expected to put
more pressure on companies in future.
Christina Fitzgerald, vice-president
of R3, the insolvency trade body, said
the figures showed that “the toll the
current business climate is taking on
firms in England and Wales”.
Colin Haig, head of restructuring and
insolvency at Azets, an accountancy
firm, said the “prevalence of liquida-
tions rather than administrations is a
worry. Liquidation usually means that
there is no way forward for the business
and employees.” He said that a modest
rise in personal insolvencies showed
the toll of the pandemic on individuals.
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
David Smith
Now may be the right time to look
‘‘
closely again at the money supply
Let me reintroduce
you to an old and,
for many, a long-
forgotten friend. I
am talking about
the money supply, which, less than
40 years ago, dominated UK
economic policy but which now lurks
in the shadows. It played a significant
part in my life, being the subject for
my first book, The Rise and Fall of
Monetarism, though now, like its
subject, it is lost in the mists of time
and out of print.
I mention it because, as everybody
knows, we are experiencing the most
serious inflation in three decades and
because those who did best at
predicting it did so by looking at what
was happening to the money supply
in the context of the huge
quantitative easing response to the
pandemic by central banks, including
the Bank of England.
When the pandemic struck and the
Bank responded by cutting interest
rates to 0.1 per cent and unleashing a
new round of quantitative easing —
the £450 billion in response to the
pandemic exceeding the amount
undertaken over the previous 11 years
— growth in the broad measure of the
money supply accelerated. Annual
growth in the “broad” M4 money
supply measure, 4.5 per cent in
February 2020, quickly responded to
the additional QE. By the summer of
2020, annual money supply growth
was more than 12 per cent and by early
last year it had exceeded 15 per cent.
This rapid growth in money supply
led monetarists such as Tim Congdon,
the veteran economist of the Institute
of International Monetary Research,
to warn of the inflation to come,
though much of his focus was on the
even more rapid monetary expansion
in America.
The money supply y is not, it
should be said, high h on the
agenda of the Bank k of
England. Look
through its latest
Monetary Policy
Report and you
will search in
vain for a
mention of M4
(the money
supply measure,
not the
The rising cost of
fuel could hit harder
er
than higher energy bills
motorway). The Bank’s focus, based on
the amount of spare capacity in the
economy and the extent of “terms of
trade”, or imported, inflation, is
elsewhere.
Maybe, however, it should look
more closely at those money supply
figures, even if it is sceptical about the
link between them and inflation. This
is because, after the surge, growth in
the money supply has slowed sharply
and is set to subside even more. In
December, according to figures
released this month by the Bank, the
annual growth in M4 was 6.4 per cent
and its annualised growth over the
latest three months was 4.4 per cent,
so back to pre-pandemic levels. The
Banks’ recent decision to switch from
QE to QT, quantitative tightening, to
reduce the size of its balance sheet
and run down the stock of assets it
acquired under QE (mainly UK
government bonds, gilts), will
reinforce this trend.
Monetarists might say that we are
not out of the woods yet, in that we
have not yet seen the full
consequences of the earlier money
supply surge. There were, it was
always said, “long and variable lags”
between money supply and inflation.
Even with this caveat, however, high
inflation will be temporary, if painful,
rather than permanent and ingrained.
Much more important in terms of
global inflation is America’s Federal
Reserve and it has not yet switched
from QE to QT, though it has
signalled its intention to do so,
together with a succession of interest
rate rises.
Monetarism, as noted, has not
guided economic policy since the
present chancellor was a toddler,
nearly four decades ago. Then, and
even more now, most economists
turned up their noses at it.
Fortunately, y and this is the
news you do not have
good news,
m
to be a monetarist to
believ that while
believe
infla
inflation is heading
hig
higher over the
ne few months, it
next
will peak and then
w that high inflation does not appear to
fa
fall and in the
second half of the
se
year will be on its
ye
wa down.
way
S
Surveys suggest
that supply chain
diffic
difficulties, which
generat upward
generated
pressure o
pressure on prices as the
world economy bounced back after
the pandemic, are starting to ease.
That will not happen immediately,
but it will over the next few months.
Energy prices are sky-high and the
cost of petrol is at a record, but it
would be a huge surprise if we saw
anything like a repeat of this April’s
54 per cent increase in the energy
price cap in 2023. There may be a
further increase in the cap in October
this year, but it is not clear whether it
will be bigger or smaller than the
12 per cent increase in October last
year.
A Russian invasion of Ukraine
would mean an even bigger spike for
international gas and oil prices and a
higher inflation peak, but the negative
impact of this on business confidence
and economic growth would reinforce
the likely temporary nature of the
peak.
Elsewhere, some of the temporary
or “transitory” elements of the
inflation surge will begin to drop
away. I would wager that we will not
see a repeat this year, or anything like
it, of the near-29 per cent rise in
second-hand car prices during the
course of last year.
None of this means that the next
few months will be comfortable for
squeezed households or businesses
dealing with higher costs. An
expected inflation peak of between
7 per cent and 8 per cent is
uncomfortable, too, for a tax-raising
government and a central bank
charged with keeping the inflation
rate at 2 per cent.
It is also important to remember
that falling inflation is not the same
as falling prices. Though energy
prices should come back down again,
which would fit past experience and
the futures curve for gas prices, their
unpredictability means it would be
unwise to rely on it.
For other prices, including food, we
may have reached a permanently
’’
higher level of prices. Supermarket
price wars appear to be a thing of the
past, for now at least.
There is, however, still reassurance
be here to stay. And
that is a source of
comfort we may
need over the next
few months.
David Smith is Economics Editor of
The Sunday Times
david.smith@sunday-times.co.uk
Natalie Ceeney
Business has a big role
to play in mitigating the
crisis in the cost of living
I
s anyone still unaware of
Jack Monroe, the food blogger
and poverty campaigner whose
call for supermarkets to widen
the availability of “value lines”
on food staples has gone viral? On a
Twitter feed viewed more than
ten million times, she posted
powerful examples of the impact of
these product lines, with the
cheapest pasta in her local Asda
store costing 29p on a value line, but
70p if not. Asda won praise for
heeding her calls, with Monroe’s
local basket reducing in price by well
over 50 per cent as a result of Asda’s
changes. Other supermarket chains
fared less well.
We probably didn’t need this
example to remind us that the
impact of the cost-of-living crisis will
be unevenly distributed, not just
among consumers but also among
businesses. Consumers — and
employees — will judge firms on
how sensitive they are to those in
greatest need.
The level of hardship facing many
consumers is real, with a perfect
storm of rising energy costs, price
rises for essential household goods,
tax increases and benefit cuts. The
headline inflation figure may be set
to exceed 7 per cent later this year,
but for low-income families it is
likely to be far more. The doubling of
average energy costs over the past
year will hit the poorest hardest,
with heating representing a higher
proportion of household spending
(rising to 12 per cent). If petrol prices
continue to rise as some have
forecast (to 160p per litre), then car-
dependent households could spend
£1,200 more per year, even more
than the energy cost rise. At the
same time, income is reducing for
many, with cuts to universal credit of
£20 per week (£1,040 per year) made
in October last year now biting. The
national insurance rises due in April
will subtract £354 from median take-
home pay. The government support
measures will help, but only in part.
It’s hardly surprising Citizens Advice
is taking 40 per cent more calls
about debt issues than a year ago.
Behaviour can change, too, as
people struggle. When struggling,
people are more likely to access
high-cost credit or to fall prey to
firms charging people over £1,000
for debt restructuring (which
charities offer for free). The need to
cope “right now” can lead to hard
37
Business
decisions with longer-term
consequences on physical, mental
and financial wellbeing, such as
cancelling the data allowance that
helps with schooling and online
banking.
Not that this is easy for business,
either. Few firms are not worrying
about how to deal with rising
inflation in their supply chains and
labour costs, or debating how much
can be absorbed rather than passed
to customers. The biggest fall in
disposable income in three decades
means that revenues are likely to
decline in many sectors. For many
businesses that have just survived
the pandemic, this could be the final
straw.
But businesses do have choices. As
Asda has shown, executives can take
decisions that avoid disproportionate
impact on customers on the lowest
incomes. Thoughtful marketing is
important as lower-income
‘The need to cope right
now can lead to hard
decisions with longer-
term consequences’
consumers may struggle to access
deals if offered on direct debit,
online or in bulk. With more than
half of those in poverty also in work,
there are compelling reasons to
ignore the governor of the Bank of
England’s call for wage restraint for
front-line workforces (as data from
the Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development shows we are
doing). Businesses have a choice
whether to increase pay for all staff
by the same percentage or to weight
rises to those on the lowest incomes.
We also have choices about how to
deal with customers who are
struggling. Financial services firms
have been on standby to focus on
vulnerable customers for the two
years of the pandemic, in a largely
phoney war given widespread
furlough support. Now is when that
help is needed.
The next few years will be tough
for consumers and business alike.
Let’s show that business is a force for
good in this crisis.
Natalie Ceeney is a non-executive
director, and writes in her personal
capacity
38 Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times

Business

Metro finance chief’s exit

ends links to costly blunder
Ben Martin Banking Editor
The finance chief who presided over a
damaging accounting blunder at Metro
Bank is leaving the group weeks after
City regulators fined it for the debacle.
Metro revealed yesterday that David
Arden had agreed with the bank’s board
to step down with immediate effect.
The timing of his exit is unusual, com-
ing days before Metro is due to report
annual results next Wednesday.
The lender moved to reassure inves-
tors that Arden’s departure was not
linked to its forthcoming figures, which
it said would be “in line with manage-
ment expectations”.
Arden’s exit comes less than two
months after Metro was fined £5.4 mil-
lion by the Bank of England’s Pruden-
tial Regulation Authority for an
accounting mistake three years ago
that plunged the lender into turmoil.
The Financial Conduct Authority is
still conducting its inquiry into the
episode.
Arden, 53, was Metro’s finance chief
at the time. Although the bank did not
give a reason for his departure and
would not comment beyond its state-
ment, it is likely that his exit will help
the group to move on from the episode
in the eyes of its investors.
Craig Donaldson, who was Metro’s
chief executive, and Vernon Hill, the
bank’s founder and chairman, both left
within months of the incident, meaning
that Arden was the only senior figure
associated with the blunder still in post.
The accounting error derailed
Metro’s expansion plans. The bank was
set up by Hill, an American
entrepreneur, in 2010 with ambitious
plans to break into British high street
banking. While other big lenders closed
branches as more customers shift
online, Metro sought growth through
its spacious sites with long opening
hours and a focus on customer service.
It came unstuck in January 2019,
when it shocked the stock market by
revealing that there were mistakes in its
accounting treatment of some loans.
The errors meant Metro had to in-
crease its risk-weighted assets by
£900 million and was not holding
enough capital. It was forced to raise
£375 million from its shareholders,
while customers’ nervousness about its
financial health prompted some to
withdraw their deposits.
The episode still overshadows the
bank. When it raised debt later in 2019,
the fallout meant that it was forced to
agree to a high interest rate. The cost of
servicing these expensive bonds helped
to turn Metro lossmaking.
Dan Frumkin, the turnaround expert
who succeeded Donaldson, also cut
back Metro’s expansion plans.
Sam Woods, head of the PRA, said in
December when the regulator an-
nounced its fine that Metro had “failed
to meet the standards of governance
Plus500
and controls expected of it”. The
authority’s findings also showed that
Metro’s senior management had been
slowed by
warned about potential accounting
problems in August 2018, months calm after
before the blunder was made public.
Marc Jenkins, the deputy finance
chief, will take on Arden’s responsibili-
the storm
ties while Metro looks for an interim
replacement.

AstraZeneca lifted by trial

data on cancer treatment
Alex Ralph
Positive results from a late-stage trial of
one of AstraZeneca’s existing block-
buster drugs for the treatment of a type
of prostate cancer has led analysts to
raise sales forecasts by about $2 billion.
The company said that the phase III
trial showed olaparib, sold as Lynparza,
a therapy developed with MSD, when
used in combination with abiraterone,
an existing treatment, reduced the risk
of cancer progressing by a third.
The PROpel trial studied the drugs as
a first-line treatment for patients with
castration-resistant prostate cancer
that has spread, and showed improve-
ment irrespective of a specific type of
gene mutation.
Prostate cancer is the second most
common cancer in men, causing about
375,000 deaths in 2020. Patients with
the advanced form have a particularly
poor prognosis, while the five-year sur-
vival rate remains low, AstraZeneca
said.
The results lifted AstraZeneca shares
by 484p, or 5.8 per cent, to £88.65. The
stock peaked at £94.44 in November,
driven by the successful development
of a series of new drugs, particularly in
oncology, which have transformed the
company’s finances and prospects and
made it one of the most valuable com-
panies on the London stock market.
The Cambridge-based AstraZeneca
was created in 1999 through the merger
of Astra, of Sweden, and Zeneca, of
Britain. It has become a household
name in Britain with its role in the
Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine.
Analysts at Bank of America yester-
day forecast $3 billion peak sales for
Lynparza in prostate cancer treatment
alone, meaning that total sales could hit
about $7 billion in 2025, which is ahead
of consensus forecasts among analysts
of about $5 billion.
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 2GM 39

Business
JAVIER BARBANCHO/REUTERS

Plus500, which sponsors

Atlético Madrid, the Spanish
Atom’s value
football club, has started a
conventional share-dealing
service in Europe, which it
rises before
plans to bring to Britain

they allow punters to ramp

A
slide in annual
profits and a fall
in new customer
numbers at
Plus500 have
provided the latest signs
that the pandemic-fuelled
boom in financial markets
trading has receded (Ben
Martin writes).
Pre-tax profits at the
London-listed trading group
dropped to $386.4 million in
2021 from $523.3 million a
year earlier, when the
company received a boost
from amateur punters piling
into the markets at the
onset of Covid-19. The
number of new customers
fell by a third to 196,336
compared with 2020, while
its base of active traders
slipped by 6 per cent to
407,374.
The news prompted a
4.1 per cent slide in
Plus500’s share price, which
fell 62p to £14.60½ despite
the group unveiling a
$115 million capital return to
investors through a
combination of dividends
and share buybacks. This
was more than some in the
City had been forecasting,
with analysts at Jefferies
expecting $95 million.
Plus500, which is based in
Israel, is a seller of complex
derivatives called contracts-
for-difference that enable
punters to speculate on the
direction of prices in
financial markets. They are
particularly popular during
times of heightened stock
market volatility, when
traders hope to capitalise on
sudden price movements to
generate quick profits. They
are risky, however, because
up the size of their wagers
using leverage, which can
exacerbate losses should
bets go awry. Seventy-three
per cent of Plus500’s retail
customers lose money
trading the derivatives.
The coronavirus outbreak
in early 2020 created the
ideal conditions for
companies such as Plus500
to thrive. Have-a-go traders
who were bored during
lockdowns flocked to
derivatives to try to make
money from whipsawing
markets. The trading boom
faded last year, however,
after lockdown restrictions
were eased and as volatility
abated.
Nevertheless, Plus500’s
business remains
significantly bigger than it
was before the pandemic.
It has more than double the
199,720 active customers it
counted in 2019. Revenues
last year of $718.7 million
were 103 per cent higher
than the year before the
Covid pandemic started.
Worries about the threat
of a Russian invasion of
Ukraine, which have roiled
markets in recent weeks,
will have benefited the
group. David Zruia,
Plus500’s chief executive,
said yesterday that it had
been “very volatile” start to
2022.
He oversaw the company’s
first ever acquisition last
April when it struck a
$30 million deal to buy
Cunningham, an American
futures and options broking
business. Zruia, 38, said that
the group was eyeing
further deals and other
markets, including Japan
and the United Arab
Emirates. The company also
recently started a
conventional share-dealing
service in Europe and plans
to launch it in Britain later
in the year.
Tempus, page 42
listing plan
Ben Martin
Atom Bank has been valued at
£435 million in what is likely to be the
digital lender’s last fundraising round
before it attempts a listing on the stock
exchange.
The Durham-based company has
raised £75 million from its two biggest
shareholders — BBVA, the Spanish
banking group, and Toscafund, the
British investment manager — and has
opened the round to its other existing
investors. The bank is moving into
profitability and is looking at an initial
public offering, which Mark Mullen, its
chief executive, said was likely next
year. “The next time we do anything in
terms of raising money, it’ll likely be
through an IPO process,” he said. “You
can never absolutely guarantee it, but
that’s the plan.”
The latest financing brings the
amount raised by Atom since it was set
up in 2013 to about £500 million. It also
represents a partial recovery in its valu-
ation, which reached £555 million in
2019 before falling to £300 million at a
fundraising last year.
The branchless bank focuses on
savings accounts, mortgages and busi-
ness loans. It is one of a new breed of
banks, including Monzo and Starling,
that are shaking up the finance industry
by offering a digital-only service
through smartphones and tablets.
Atom had been loss-making since
launching to the public in 2016, but is
moving into the black. Mullen, 54, said
that the three months to the end of
December had marked the group’s first
full quarter of operating profits.
Airbnb cashes
in on trend for
longer breaks
Airbnb hailed a change in travel habits
last night as it reported strong fourth-
quarter results, with predictions for
first-quarter revenue that beat expecta-
tions on Wall Street.
Shares in the home rental agency
rose sharply in after-hours trading as
the market reacted to an recovery
driven by guests opting for domestic

Buffett tries his hand at technology play travel and staying for longer in proper-
ties at higher prices. People were stay-
ing for weeks, months or even entire
seasons at a time outside cities, where
Dominic Walsh Buffett, 91. himself or by his investment they could work remotely, it said.

Warren Buffett revealed this week that

he had put aside his renowned aversion
to technology stocks — at least
temporarily — and it has paid off.
Berkshire Hathaway, the Sage of
Omaha’s main investment vehicle,
lodged a filing with regulators showing
that it had bought almost 15 million
shares in Activision Blizzard, the
computer games publisher, in the final
quarter of last year.
In mid-January, Microsoft announ-
ced a $68.7 billion takeover of Activi-
sion, sending the shares sky-rocketing,
significantly boosting the value of
Berkshire Hathaway’s stake. The
investment firm estimated that its
14.7 million shares in the maker of Call
of Duty and Candy Crush were worth
about $975 million at the end of last
year. At Monday’s close, they were
worth $1.2 billion, although at the
$95-a-share bid price they would be
worth almost $1.4 billion.
Another leading American investor,
Overwatch is one of the computer
games in Activision Blizzard’s stable
Daniel Loeb at Third Point, the hedge
fund, bought two million shares in
Activision in the final quarter.
The stock filing did not reveal the
details of whether the Berkshire Hatha-
way investment had been made by
managers Todd Combs and Ted
Weschler.
The lollypop-sucking billionaire is a
friend of Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-
founder, and has often said that he
would not buy shares in Microsoft to
avoid a conflict of interest. Gates, 66,
was on the board of Berkshire Hatha-
way for 16 years until 2020, while Buf-
fett was a trustee of the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation until last year, when
the couple announced that they were
separating.
In the fourth quarter, Berkshire also
added to its stake in Chevron, the oil
company, while reducing its holdings in
healthcare businesses including
Bristol-Myers Squibb and Abbvie.
Apple remains its largest common
stock holding.
Berkshire is expected to disclose
more about its stock purchases, buy-
backs and cash resources next week
when it releases end-of-year results
and Buffett’s widely read annual share-
holder letter.
Business
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“Nearly half of our nights booked in Q4
were for stays of a week or longer. One
in five nights booked were for stays of a
month or longer.”
The San Francisco-based Airbnb,
which was hit initially by the pandemic,
reported “non-urban gross nights”
booked up about 45 per cent in the final
three months of 2021 against the same
period in 2019. It expects current-quar-
ter revenue of $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion,
higher than analysts’ estimates of
$1.2 billion. Strong demand pushed up
prices charged by hosts, with average
daily rates in the fourth quarter up
20 per cent at $154.
Airbnb, founded in 2008, helped to
transform the international travel
market by enabling users to rent out
rooms and homes. Today its platform
has 5.6 million active listings in 100,000
cities in more than 220 markets. The
company, which has a market value of
$114.4 billion, went public via an initial
public offering in December. Its shares
were up 4 per cent at $187.30 last night.
40 Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times

Business

T
co-founder of legal tech
firm Robin AI, believes
board. But the founder of
Bristol-based The Wave Patience, rather
venture capital has is back with renewed
become more accessible
to black entrepreneurs
passion and plans for six
more sites.
than hedging
Enterprise
since the Black Lives
Matter protests. Sign up now for The
Times Enterprise
your bets, will pay
Network Health matters
A stroke knocked
Network’s weekly
newsletter for tips and
insight from Britain’s
off with Peloton
Dreams realised surfing entrepreneur leading entrepreneurs heads of other companies propelled
Richard Robinson, Nick Hounsfield off his thetimes.co.uk/ten Michael by the tailwinds of the pandemic —
Moritz that the new rate of growth was
sustainable. I’m sure there were
plenty of other things that, in
retrospect, Peloton’s leaders would
have done differently. But that’s
always the case especially for high-
growth companies caught in the

I
n the noisy case lodged against
the founders, management and
board of directors of Peloton,
nary a word has been said for
the defendants. If you read the
materials posted by a small, New
York-based hedge fund, you would
think those associated with Peloton
were guilty of war crimes.
According to the angry hedgies,
Peloton’s founders John Foley and
Tom Cortese, who also built and ran
the business, lost tens of billions of
dollars of shareholder money. They
expanded the business too quickly,
they hired too many people, they
allowed inventory to balloon, they
foolishly leased a large office
building in Manhattan prior to the
pandemic, they made a bad
acquisition, they erected a factory
that was too large and under their
watch there were some accidents
associated with the company’s
equipment. Even worse for the
hedgies was the damning fact that
Peloton was the worst-performing
stock on the Nasdaq during 2021.
In the meantime, Peloton’s board,
if you agree with the plaintiffs, was
composed of, among others, Dopey,
Sleepy, Grumpy and Sneezy.
Lost in the fury of this assault is
the following. Foley and Cortese
started Peloton in 2012 convinced
that there was an opportunity to
build a large online fitness business.
At the time, the sceptics questioned
their insistence on building low-
margin hardware, worried about the
sums required to attract customers
and distribute the bicycles, fretted
about the potential churn of
subscribers, muttered that this was
just another health fad and conjured
up the spectre of Amazon, Apple,
Netflix and others entering the
market.
The founders stuck to their guns,
raised six rounds of capital in the
private markets, expanded into
foreign markets, turned fitness
instructors into online stars and, in
September 2019, took the business
public at $29 per share when
Peloton had 1.4 million subscribers.
Public investors, including the
hostile hedge fund that bought a
small number of shares, eagerly
hopped on to a fast-moving
bandwagon and just couldn’t get
enough of Peloton. The ambulance-
chasers drove the stock to $167,
giving the business a perceived — as
opposed to real value — of about
$50 billion.
Peloton, though you would be
hard-pressed to discern this from
the brief filed by the hedgies, was
the third-best-performing stock on
the Nasdaq in 2019.
There clearly have been mis-
steps. The management expanded
the business too quickly and may
have thought — along with the
middle of a hurricane.
The founders were right, and
remain correct, about the most
important aspect of Peloton — the
long-term potential for the business.
Peloton operates in a market that is
still in its infancy. Best of all, it is a
business with some of the highest
customer ratings and lowest churn
rates of any online subscription
company, which is a reflection of
monthly family memberships
costing $39 — a bargain compared
with regular gyms.
The board, too, deserves plenty of
praise for persuading Barry
McCarthy to become Peloton’s new
chief executive.
Since his appointment, McCarthy,
the former chief financial officer for
Peloton has one of the best customer
ratings of online subscription services
both Spotify and Netflix and one of
the most unsentimental and clinical
operators in the technology
business, has made clear that he will
continue to rely on the founders’
product and marketing instincts.
And what of the hedgies? They
continue to press for the sale of the
business — just like some of their
predecessors did when Jeff Bezos,
the founder of Amazon, after
overexpanding two decades ago
during the dotcom era, came close
to losing his job. In 2000 Amazon
stock lost almost 80 per cent of its
value. Today, the hedgies would run
for the hills if they could get $75 a
share for Peloton compared with the
$35 at which the stock trades.
For Peloton, as for Amazon,
patience and persistence will pay off.
If anyone doubted the virtue of a
properly designed dual-class stock
for founders and founding
shareholders, Peloton is the perfect
advertisement. Without this
safeguard, Peloton could have been
toppled by the mob.
Sir Michael Moritz is a partner at
Sequoia Capital
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 41

Business
ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY

Stuart and Toowoomba,

Babcock two Anzac class frigates,
are among Australian
strengthens naval vessels that are
maintained by Babcock
arsenal in International

Australia incorporated in 1891 and

today employs about

B
abcock
International
is broadening
its horizons
and taking
control of its joint
venture to look after
warships down under
(Robert Lea writes).
The Royal Navy
engineer has spent
£32 million to buy out
the 50 per cent of
Australia’s outsourced
Naval Ship Management
business that it does not
own from Cimic, a
Sydney-based
conglomerate. Cimic
used to be called
Leighton; it inherited its
stake in the Australian
warship support
business from an
acquisition in 2016.
Babcock has been a
co-owner of Naval Ship
Management since 2012
and yesterday’s deal
means it has a larger
role in an agreement
with BAE Systems to
keep afloat the
Australian navy’s eight
Anzac class frigates, plus
New Zealand’s two
frigates. It also has
responsibility for the
Australian navy’s two
Canberra class
helicopter carriers and
dozen landing craft.
The deal comes amid
a flurry of sales of assets
and holdings that are
raising £400 million at
Babcock by David
Lockwood, 59, the chief
executive who was
brought in 18 months
ago to shake up a
business that had been
hobbled by questionable
accounting practices
and negative investor
sentiment and which
saw it led to it falling out
of the FTSE 100 amid
sharp falls in its share
price.
In Britain it is one of
the biggest contractors
to the Ministry of
Defence, building
warships in Rosyth,
Scotland, and managing
the Royal Naval
dockyard at Devonport.
It is valued on the stock
market at £1.5 billion.
The business was
30,000 people
worldwide.
It is hoping to
geographically diversify
its defence interests. At
presewnt Australia
accounts for 6 per cent
of Babcock’s annual
revenues of £4 billion
and the company is
hoping to increase its
work for the Australian
military. The Australian
warships deal will bring
in annual revenue of
£135 million.
Robert Plant, an
analyst at Panmure
Gordon, the broker, said
the deal indicated that
Lockwood felt Babcock’s
finances were secure
again.
“Babcock is telling us
it can acquire as well as
sell,” Stephen
Rawlinson, an
independent sector
analyst, said. “This is a
statement of intent that
it wants to grow the
business in an area of
core work.”
Shares in Babcock
closed up by 7½p, or
2.5 er cent, at 308½p.

British Airbus workers vote to strike MySale rues

after ‘unacceptably low’ pay offer
Louisa Clarence-Smith
Thousands of Airbus workers have
voted to strike over an “unacceptably
low” pay offer that they say does not
reflect rising living costs.
Strikes at the aerospace group’s sites
in Broughton, north Wales, and Filton,
near Bristol, which design, test and
manufacture wings for the company’s
commercial aircraft, could begin in
March if the dispute is not resolved.
About 3,000 Airbus employees who
are members of the Unite union voted
in favour of strike action yesterday after
the company refused to improve an un-
disclosed pay offer.
Pay was frozen in 2020, when Airbus
suffered a €1.1 billion loss and
announced 1,700 job cuts in Britain
amid a pandemic-induced recession in
commercial aviation, during which Air-
bus all but stopped producing aircraft.
More than half of Broughton’s 6,000
workers were temporarily furloughed
and staff agreed to take pay cuts to try
to prevent compulsory redundancies.
The group employs 130,000 people
worldwide, 12,500 of them in Britain.
Tens of thousands more work in its sup-
ply chain. Its space and satellite division
is a big employer in Stevenage, Hert-
fordshire.
Sharon Graham, general secretary of
Unite, called on Airbus to “table a
sensible offer, one that amply reflects
rising living costs, before this dispute
escalates further. The deal simply does
not reflect our members’ hard work and
dedication, nor the sacrifices they have
made over the last two years. There is
no excuse — Airbus can well afford to
pay its workers the decent rise they
deserve and it should move to do so
without delay.”
On a ballot with an 84 per cent turn-
out, 94 per cent of Unite Airbus mem-
bers voted for strike action.
Airbus warned that the decision to
strike would have a “damaging impact”
on the company’s recovery from the
pandemic, “the worst crisis the aviation
industry has ever faced”.
A spokesman said: “Airbus in the UK
managed to successfully navigate the
first waves of the pandemic without the
need for any compulsory redundancies
at a cost of more than £100 million and
we made our pay offer in the context of
the pandemic’s impact on our business
and the wider benefits structure em-
ployees receive.” It was “committed to
dialogues with the trade union to help
bring this situation to a successful re-
solution”. He said that details of the pay
offer were confidential while negotia-
tions continued.
“The safety of our people and
products is paramount and we will now
implement plans to ensure the protec-
tion of our operations is maintained
going forward,” the spokesman added.
The row comes as Airbus is em-
broiled in a legal despite with Qatar
Airways. The airline has sued Airbus
for $618 million in compensation for
alleged damage to the surface of 21 Air-
bus A350 jets. Qatar Airways said that
it had “serious and legitimate safety
concerns” and listed problems includ-
ing peeling paintwork and cracked
window frames.
Airbus said that it disputed Qatar
Airways’ claims in full and would “de-
fend its product vigorously”. It said that
it had identified the root cause of the
issue and added that it did not amount
to a safety problem.
“The airworthiness of the aircraft is
not affected and the issues do not give
any valid basis for the grounding of
aircraft,” a spokesman said.
delays in its
supply chain
Shayma Bakht
Demand subdued by the Omicron
coronavirus variant and delays in stock
deliveries in the run-up to Christmas
have hit half-year revenues at MySale
and yesterday sent shares in the Austra-
lian online fashion retailer backed by
Sir Philip Green sharply into the red.
The Aim-listed MySale said that it
was taking a cautious approach to its
full-year outlook, after a trading update
for the six months to the end of
December revealed a 6 per cent decline
in total revenue from A$63.8 million
(£33.7 million) last year to A$59.7 mil-
lion. That prompted a 34.5 per cent, or
1¼p, fall in the share price to 2¼p.
MySale is a “flash sale” site, selling
branded fashion, homewares and
beauty products, typically in limited
quantities and over short time periods.
It was launched in Sydney in 2007 and
is backed by Shelton Capital, Green’s
family investment vehicle, which owns

John Menzies holds the line against rival’s bid
Greig Cameron
A defiant John Menzies yesterday re-
iterated its stance that a £469 million
takeover proposal undervalues the
aviation services provider.
Shares in the company rose further
after it again rebuffed National Avia-
tion Services, a Kuwait-based rival that
argues its 510p-per-share bid would
create an enlarged group with greater
geographic scale. Menzies is adamant
that the potential deal is highly oppor-
tunistic.
The Edinburgh-based Menzies
provides refuelling, de-icing, ground
handling and cargo services at more
than 200 airports around the world. Its
passenger-related activity fell sharply
during the pandemic, but cargo
volumes have been resilient. Analysts
expect it to announce revenue of about
£950 million for 2021 when it publishes
annual results next month.
National Aviation Services, a subsidi-
ary of Agility Public Warehousing, has
aviation services operations at more
than 50 airports in the Middle East,
Africa and South Asia. On Monday, it
repeated its assertion that Menzies
shareholders should consider its all-
cash proposal. It has not yet made any
moves to increase its offer, but is under-
stood to be keen to engage with
Menzies. No institutional shareholders
have come out in support of it.
Yesterday Menzies, whose board has
unanimously rejected its suitor’s ap-
proach, said that it had been talking to
shareholders since the bid last week
and restated that the price failed to take
into account the re-shaping of the busi-
ness in recent years.
It also pointed to contract opportuni-
ties that could be worth up to £280 mil-
lion of annual revenue, along with an
post-pandemic upturn in the sector.
The company said its portfolio mix,
positioning and strategy would “create
significant value for shareholders in the
near and medium term”.
Sterling Strategic Value Fund, the
largest investor with almost 7 per cent,
and Mithaq, with 6.63 per cent, have
come out in support of the board, as has
SVM Asset Management, the Edin-
burgh fund manager with 1.7 per cent.
Menzies shares stood at 335p before
news of the takeover. Yesterday they
closed up 12p, or 2.6 per cent, at 477p.
about a fifth of the company.
It made the decision to invest in more
own-label items, but weak demand and
delivery problems left it sitting on stock
worth about A$6.1 million by the end of
the Christmas period. MySale said that
it was monitoring its position and was
considering options to manage its
working capital position. It noted that it
was debt-free.
While MySale’s gross profit of
A$24.9 million in the six-month period
was up slightly from the $24.1 million
recorded a year earlier, the company
said that supply chain volatility in the
second quarter had affected its broader
profitability, with pre-tax earnings of
only A$1 million, down from A$2.5 mil-
lion in the same period last year.
42 2GM Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times

Business Markets
Emma Powell Tempus news in brief
Buy, sell or hold: today’s best share tips
Xpress Money unravels
FRP Advisory has been

There’s more in rich seam for investors

appointed special administrator
of Xpress Money Services, a
subsidiary of Finablr, by the High
Court in the latest unravelling of
the former FTSE 250 foreign
exchange group. In a statement,
glencore line as funding for new mines is less Finablr did not explain the
Resourceful forthcoming and with the reason for the appointment.
Market cap from operations Indonesian ban on coal exports Finablr was a financial services
£55.81bn Funds $17.1bn Share price Earnings and dividends
450p remaining in place, which has holding company built by
Earnings per share constrained supply while Chinese Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, an
Dividend per share

R
apid rebounds in demand demand shows no signs of slowing. Indian-born tycoon and former
and commodities prices 2019 Ebitda from coalmining rose more owner of Travelex, which was
have provided a fair wind −
-3c than threefold last year to embroiled in alleged fraud after it
400
over the past 18 months 20c $5.2 billion, or just under a quarter of uncovered about $1 billion of
for Glencore, which has the group total, as the average price undisclosed debt in 2020.
unveiled a sharp rebound in pre-tax 2020 of Newcastle thermal coal more than
income to $7.4 billion and funds from -14c doubled. Thermal coal prices are set Broadband tariffs plea
operations that were more than 350 to rise even higher this year,
12c
double the previous year. according to Glencore’s projections. Ofcom has called on telecoms
That, in turn, boiled down to a 2021 A sale or spinning off of its coal companies to promote special
sugar hit for investors in the form of 38c business, or Viterra, its agricultural discounted broadband packages
another boost to the dividend. The 300 business, are potential avenues for more widely after it found that
Source: Refinitiv

base dividend was raised to 26 cents
a share, more than double the figure
the year before, when the Anglo-
Swiss mining and commodities group
sank to a $2.6 billion loss.
At about $6 billion, net debt is
below the range targeted by
management, which means that a
$550 million share buyback is on the
cards before the release of interim
results in August, to return debt to
the company’s $10 billion optimal
cap, equating to four cents a share.
More importantly, commodities
prices are expected to remain
elevated this year, which should
provide a fillip for free cashflow and
more special returns. Analysts at
Jefferies have forecast a base return
of 28 cents a share in respect of this
year.
Yet while the shares have risen by
more than 50 per cent over the past
12 months to an almost ten-year
high, an enterprise value of around
plus500
Dividend yield Full-year
5.4% revenue $719m
Apr 2021 Jul
ADVICE Hold
WHY The shares offer a
generous dividend and there
is a good chance of more
share buybacks
4.8 times forecast ebitda (earnings
before interest, tax, depreciation and
amortisation) is towards the bottom
of the range recorded over the past
decade and is barely above the
trough recorded in March 2020. So
why is the market so pessimistic?
Glencore’s decision to hang on to
its thermal coal operations, which it
plans to run down over the next 30
was lower as average revenue per
customer declined marginally on the
pre-pandemic level.
The shares, which ended the day
down 4.1 per cent, have gone
26c
2022e
84c
250 41c
Oct Jan 2022
years, is one culprit, proving
problematic for institutional
investors increasingly conscious of
environmental, social and
governance considerations within
their mandates. Glencore wants the
best of both worlds. It has trumpeted
its role in producing metals vital for
the decarbonisation push, including
the copper used in renewable energy
generation and cobalt and nickel
necessary for the manufacture of
electric cars. That positions it better
for the shift towards greener trends
than its leading iron ore mining
peers on the London stock market,
according to RBC Capital.
But then again, coalmining has
provided a huge boost to the bottom
it acquires. The decline in selling and
marketing expenses was not as great
in magnitude as the 18 per cent fall
in trading income, which amplified
the decline in profitability. Avenues
unlocking value, Jefferies reckons. millions of families who are
The value of the latter business has under financial pressure could
not been reflected adequately in the save £144 on their annual bills.
share price, Gary Nagle, Glencore’s The packages, known as “social
chief executive, believes, although he tariffs”, are available to an
has refused to be drawn on whether estimated 4.2 million households
the business was included in the 13 in receipt of universal credit.
assets that are under internal review. However, only 55,000 homes
The spectre of regulatory have taken advantage of these
investigations isn’t removed, either. discounted rates so far, 1.2 per
Provisions taken this year do not cent of those eligible.
include outstanding Swiss and Dutch
inquiries and there’s always the Altria antitrust ruling
chance that the $1.5 billion set aside
for American, Brazilian and British A judge dismissed a complaint
investigations is insufficient. In filed by the US Federal Trade
addition, some heat is forecast to Commission requiring Altria
come out of prices after this year, Group, the maker of Marlboro
RBC forecasts, as supply improves. cigarettes, to sell a minority
Cash returns will remain liberal in investment in Juul, the e-
the short term, but exposure to coal cigarette start-up, Altria said. The
means that Glencore could face FTC filed a lawsuit in April 2020,
more battles to gain a more generous saying Altria’s decision to buy a
valuation from investors in the 35 per cent stake in Juul was bad
medium term. for competition. The FTC said
the companies were competitors
but that Altria opted to exit and
return at least 50 per cent of net invest in Juul. The ruling may be
profits to shareholders. reviewed by the FTC.
Next year’s dividend is forecast to
decline to 94 cents a share, which Binance in spotlight
equates to a potential yield of

I
nvestors in Plus500 will take
nothing less than exceptional
growth, so even though a
comedown was inevitable as stock
market volatility eased last year, they
reacted with disdain to annual
results published yesterday.
The listed spread-betting
specialist reported a decline in new
customer numbers of around a third
— and though it might point to
active client numbers that, at just
over 407,000, were more than
double the 2019 level, the payback
sideways this year as investors have of spending included product roughly 4.9 per cent, versus a The US Securities and Exchange
braced for a decline in trading from development, online marketing and potential yield of 6.5 per cent for Commission is examining the
the exceptional levels of 2020. But trading platforms. Plus500 needs to IG’s shares, based upon dividend relationship between the
an enterprise value of just over five keep the customers coming because forecasts for the next financial year. American division of Binance, the
times forecast earnings before while the churn rate was down on The latter might not account for cryptocurrency exchange, and
interest, taxes and other charges the 2019 level, it remained potential share buybacks, but it does two trading firms with ties to
does not leave the shares looking characteristically high at just over seem more reliable. Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s
exactly cheap, either. That multiple 51 per cent. founder and chief executive,
is above the group’s own five-year There should be some reassurance according to The Wall Street
average multiple and is broadly in for shareholders from generous cash ADVICE Avoid Journal. A Binance spokesman
line with IG Group, a rival that returns, which totalled just over WHY Not attractively priced as said that as a private company it
might not gain new customers at the $1.19 a share in dividends and did not need to disclose details of
same whizzy rate but does have a $80.2 million in share buybacks for trading returns to normal its investor or corporate structure,
better record of hanging on to those last year, in line with a strategy to but that information was shared
with regulators when requested.

PRICES
Major indices London Financial Futures Commodities
New York Zurich Period Open High Low Sett Vol Open Int ICIS pricing (London 7.30pm) Brent (9.00pm)
Dow Jones 34988.84 (+422.67) SMI Index 12181.86 (+155.49) Long Gilt Mar 22 119.66 119.86 119.39 119.60 249328 824468
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Nasdaq Composite 14139.76 (+348.84) DJ Euro Stoxx 50 4143.71 (+79.26) May 91.08-91.06 Aug 87.72-86.12
3-Mth Sterling Mar 22 99.320 99.320 99.285 99.301 3457 269264
S&P 500 4471.07 (+69.40) Crude Oils ($/barrel FOB) Jun 89.29-89.25 Volume: 2112658
Jun 22 99.025 99.045 99.015 99.026 10377 232459
London Sep 22 98.885 98.890 98.860 98.866 3885 301735
Tokyo FTSE 100 7608.92 (+77.33) Brent Physical -5.17
Dec 22 98.820 98.825 98.790 98.806 7310 347378 LIFFE
Nikkei 225 26865.19 (-214.40) BFOE(APR) -3.20
FTSE 250 21852.51 (+234.62) Mar 23 98.785 98.795 98.755 98.771 8310 229855 BFOE(MAY) 91.23
3-Mth Euribor Mar 22 100.50 100.50 100.49 100.50 37978 340627 WTI(APR) 90.21 -3.29 Cocoa
Hong Kong FTSE 350 4283.36 (+43.93)
Jun 22 100.36 100.38 100.36 100.37 68037 509931 WTI(MAY) 88.29 -3.23
Hang Seng 24355.71 (-200.86) FTSE Eurotop 100 3504.76 (+47.29) Sep 22 100.13 100.16 100.13 100.14 74265 514247
Mar 1758-1757 May 1796-1785
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FTSE All-Shares 4254.78 (+43.04) Dec 22 99.875 99.890 99.855 99.875 76496 535672 Jul 1845-1825 Sep 1832-1782
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techMARK 100 6307.70 (+32.81) Mar 1813-1801 Volume: 63611
Jun 22 100.71 100.72 100.70 100.71 925 29152 Spot CIF NW Europe (prompt delivery)
Sydney Bargains n/a Sep 22 100.68 100.68 100.67 100.68 710 31355
AO 7490.30 (-44.80) US$ 1.3537 (+0.0007) Dec 22 100.61 100.62 100.59 100.62 488 22748 Premium Unld 880.00 881.00 -18.00 RobustaCoffee
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Frankfurt Euro 1.1913 (-0.0055) 3.5 Fuel Oil 496.00 497.00 -17.75
Jun 22 7492.0 7492.0 7492.0 7475.5 3 3086 May 2269-2266 Jan 2234-2095
DAX 15412.71 (+298.74) £:SDR 0.98 (+0.00) FTSEurofirst 80 Mar 22 5734.5 Naphtha 830.00 832.00 -19.00 Jul 2240-2236 Mar 2180-2141
Exchange Index 82.80 (-0.12) Sep 2239-2153
Jun 22 5717.5
Singapore Nov 2250-2152 Volume: 12360
Bank of England official close (4pm)
Straits 3421.38 (+0.18)
CPI 115.05 Dec (2015 = 100) ICE Futures
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the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 43

Markets Business
STRIP TINNING

Russia may be pulling back

but the bears still growl
Jessica Newman Market report

T
he bears are growling
louder, at least according to technology
one American bank, which
said that a third of former
stock market bulls think
global equities are heading for a fall.
Investors hang up on LoopUp
According to Bank of America’s fund

A
manager survey, a respected rich variety of make £900,000 in
barometer of asset managers’ shares have earnings before
thinking, the number of stockpickers thrived over the interest, tax and other
who reckon that European equities past couple of years, charges, down from
will rise by at least 5 per cent over the when the nation had £15.3 million a year
next 12 months dwindled from 81 per to stay at home, but earlier.
cent to 57 per cent this month. there is no room for LoopUp said that
Reflecting the bearish attitude, cash nostalgia in the equity the lag from bookings
levels were up to 5.3 per cent markets, as LoopUp to revenue in its cloud
compared with about 5 per cent the discovered to its cost telephony unit was
month before, a sobering sign of the yesterday. After a “proving to be more
fear stalking the global financial disappointing full- People working from pronounced than
system. When investors decide to sit year trading update, home made LoopUp a previously
on the sidelines and hold on to their investors bid a fond pandemic winner anticipated”.
farewell to a stock While the company
in Birmingham that is and coils for that had seen them warned that it said that the results
Electric cars aiming to exploit the engineering Wall Street report through the depths of expected full-year would be broadly in
boom in electric applications. It the pandemic. revenue to fall to line with the board’s
power up vehicles. relocated to Indices staged a strong, broadly Shares in LoopUp, £19.5 million for the expectations, the
It supplies carmakers Birmingham in 1993 to based rally as signs of easing the conference call year to the end of update clearly
family firm such as Audi, BMW, follow its customer tensions along the Russian border software specialist December. Revenue disappointed
Ford, Nissan and Tesla base. Its investors with Ukraine brought buyers back that was listed on Aim stood at £50.2 million investors and the

T
he husband- with electronic parts include River & into the market. The Dow Jones in August 2016, the year before. The shares closed down
and-wife team for applications Mercantile, Canaccord industrial average rose 422.67 points, slipped to their lowest company also said 4½p, or 35.4 per cent,
who run a including heated Genuity and Octopus or 1.2 per cent, to close at 34,988.84. level on record after it that it expected to at 8½p last night.
specialist window screens. It Investments.
supplier to the expects strong growth In 2020, its most
car industry are in supplying parts for recent year covered by money, it’s a clear indication of their alleviated by Russia’s announcement, their shares in favour of a “hold”
expected to see their battery-related audited annual lack of confidence in the market. travel stocks also bounced back. recommendation. Evraz closed up
stake in the business products in electric accounts, sales were Despite the big rotation to cash Melrose Industries, which supplies 15¼p, or 4.8 per cent, to 330½p.
valued at £16 million cars. £8.8 million, an 11 per over shares, money managers have wing tips and other parts for planes, Not all of investors’ concerns about
when it floats on Strip Tinning hopes cent decline on 2019, taken a liking to value stocks such as climbed 8½p, or 5.6 per cent, to Ukraine were averted. Oil majors slid
London’s junior stock to raise £11.5 million as trading was hit by banks, insurers and energy 160½p. International Consolidated as the price of the black stuff fell off a
market (James Hurley through a 185-pence-a- the pandemic and companies, which have outperformed Airlines Group, the British Airways seven-year high. Brent crude, the
writes). share placing on Aim, Brexit. The company growth stocks, including technology. owner, picked up 7½p, or 4.6 per cent, international benchmark, rose above
The Bartons, which would value it at made a pre-tax profit Britain benefits from this because of to 172½p and Wizz Air, which is $96 on Monday afternoon, but later
Richard, 55, and Anne, about £28 million. The of £500,000, down its high number of defensive stocks, focused on eastern and central fell 3.6 per cent to just below $93 by
48, are seeking a company was founded from £1.4 million in which tend to perform better during Europe, lifted 223p, or 5.2 per cent, to the end of the session, dragging down
flotation of Strip in 1957 in London by 2019, but paid economic uncertainty. £45.49. Trustpilot also managed to the likes of Shell and BP by 21½p, or
Tinning, a 65-year-old Richard Barton’s dividends of £500,000 However, investors perked up after turn things around as the consumer 1.1 per cent, to £19.84 and 3¼p, or
family company based father, coating wires in both years. Russia said that it would withdraw reviews company ticked up 8¾p, or 0.8 per cent, to 397½p, respectively.
some troops from Ukraine’s borders. 5.9 per cent, to 157p. The heaviest faller was Fresnillo after
The day’s biggest movers It led the FTSE 100, which lost 1.7 per Ocado extended its gains after gold backed away from an eight-year
cent on Monday, to recover 77.33 Bank of America reiterated its “buy” high. The shares closed down 23p, or
Company Change points, or 1 per cent, to 7,608.92 while rating on the online grocer’s shares, 3.5 per cent, at 642¾p.
Trustpilot Rebounds after Monday’s plunge 5.9% the FTSE 250, whose constituents arguing that growth opportunities in Novacyt enjoyed its best single-day
AstraZeneca Positive trial results of Lynparza cancer drug 5.8% have more of a UK bias, added 234.62 the non-food sector were an rally in nearly two and a half months
Melrose Industries Travel fears alleviated 5.6% points, or 1.1 per cent, to 21,852.51. “interesting prospect”. That helped to after it emerged that Biosynex had
Wizz Air Concerns over Ukraine war ease 5.2% Investors reverted to defensive push the shares up 62½p, or 4.8 per snapped up a stake in the Aim-listed
SSP Confidence in travel sector bounces back 4.9% stocks, with AstraZeneca topping the cent, to £13.63. diagnostics company. The French
Micro Focus International Profit-taking -2.9%
leaderboard, up 484p, or 5.8 per cent, Evraz, Roman Abramovich’s firm, which also males Covid-19 tests,
Centamin Drop of confidence in goldminer -3.2%
Fresnillo Pulled down by fall in precious metals miners -3.5% at £88.65 after positive trial results for FTSE 100 steel company, recovered has bought a 3 per cent stake in
Harbour Energy Tracks weaker oil prices -3.5% Lynparza, its prostate cancer drug. some of its losses after Goldman Novacyt, which sent the shares up
Plus500 Drop in customer numbers hits profits -4.1% With fears of travel disruption Sachs advised clients to stop selling 41½p, or 24.5 per cent, to 211p.

Gold/Precious Money rates % Dollar rates Exchange rates

London Grain Futures metals (US dollars per ounce) Base Rates Clearing Banks 0.50 ECB Refi -0.50 US Fed Fd 0.00-0.25 Australia
Canada
1.3998-1.3999
1.2748-1.2749
Bid Change
LIFFE Wheat (close £/t) Because of a technical issue, the gold fix Halifax Mortgage Rate 3.59 Denmark 6.5561-6.5566 Australia $ 1.894
prices are from Monday. Euro 0.8805-0.8807 Canada $ 1.725
Mar 215.00 May 219.15 Jul unq Denmark Kr 8.861 -0.03
Treasury Bills (Dis) Buy: 1 mth 0.370; 3 mth 0.690. Sell: 1 mth 0.250; 3 mth 0.470 Hong Kong 7.8017-7.8022
Nov 200.50 Jan unq Volume: 902 Bullion: Open $1870.93
Japan 115.69-115.70 Euro ¤ 1.191
Close $1851.27-1851.73 High $1879.06 Malaysia 4.1838-4.1888 Hong Kong $ 10.550 +0.01
London Metal Exchange 1 mth 2 mth 3 mth 6 mth 12 mth
Low $1845.16 Norway 8.9003-8.9049 Hungary 421.316 -5.23
(Official) Interbank Rates 0.4811 0.0000 0.8898 1.3855 0.0000 Singapore 1.3448-1.3458 Indonesia 19339.202 -20.19
AM $1855.80 PM $1866.15
Sweden 9.2806-9.2836 Israel Shk 4.351 -0.06
Cash 3mth Dec 22 Krugerrand $1832.00-1931.00 (£1353.92-1427.08) Eurodollar Deps 0.14-0.29 0.39-0.54 0.49-0.64 0.80-0.95 1.25-1.40 Switzerland 0.9263-0.9264 Japan Yen 156.492 +0.34
Copper Gde A ($/tonne) Platinum $1030.00 (£761.21) New Zealand $ 2.040 -0.01
10015.0-10020.0 9955.0-9960.0 9560.0-9570.0 Silver $23.33 (£17.24) Sterling spot and forward rates Other Sterling Norway Kr 12.051 +0.03
Palladium $2245.00 (£1659.14) Poland 5.352 -0.07
Mkt Rates for Range Close 1 month 3 month Argentina peso 144.05-144.06
Lead ($/tonne) Russia 102.265 -1.78
Australia dollar 1.8942-1.8944
2308.0-2310.0 2296.0-2298.0 2185.0-2190.0 European money Copenhagen 8.8566-8.9114 8.8702-8.8715 75ds 306ds Bahrain dinar 0.5062-0.5133
S Africa Rd
Sweden Kr
20.472
12.559
+0.05
-0.12
Euro 1.1975-1.1906 1.1917-1.1917 7pr 28pr Brazil real 7.0077-7.0274
Zinc Spec Hi Gde ($/tonne)
3612.0-3613.0 3605.0-3607.0 3200.0-3205.0
deposits % Montreal 1.7209-1.7271 1.7248-1.7251 2ds 9ds
Euro 1.1916-1.1918
Switzerland Fr
Turkey Lira
1.253
18.424 +0.04
Hong Kong dollar 10.556-10.557
Currency New York 1.3489-1.3566 1.3531-1.3531 3ds 9ds USA $ 1.352
Alum Hi Gde ($/tonne) India rupee 101.79-101.80
1mth 3mth 6mth 12mth Rates supplied by Morningstar
3221.0-3223.0 3194.0-3195.0 2865.0-2870.0 Oslo 11.981-12.062 12.044-12.050 19pr 39pr Indonesia rupiah 19301-19308
Dollar Kuwait dinar KD 0.4079-0.4103
Nickel ($/tonne) 0.13 0.20 0.29 0.55 Stockholm 12.531-12.701 12.559-12.562 59ds 281ds Malaysia ringgit 5.6479-5.6547
23945.0-23950.0 23550.0-23575.0 22195.0-22245.0 Sterling Tokyo 155.98-156.81 156.54-156.55 7ds 37ds New Zealand dollar 2.0399-2.0403 Data as shown is
0.48 0.89 1.39 0.81 Singapore dollar 1.8200-1.8203 for information
Tin ($/tonne) 15mth
Zurich 1.2487-1.2558 1.2534-1.2535 12ds 48ds
Euro S Africa rand 20.451-20.463 purposes only. No offer is made by
43525.0-43575.0 43400.0-43450.0 42350.0-42400.0 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.50 Premium = pr Discount = ds U A E dirham 4.9701-4.9703 Morningstar or this publication
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 45

Business
The Times unit trust information service
Yld Yld Yld Yld Yld Yld
Sell Buy +/- % Sell Buy +/- % Sell Buy +/- % Sell Buy +/- % Sell Buy +/- % Sell Buy +/- %

ALLIANZ GLOBAL INVESTORS HALIFAX INVESTMENT FUND MGRS LTD Global Special Situations A Inc ‡@234.65 … +4.45 … JUPITER UT MGRS LTD Glob Bal Inc F I Acc ‡ 986.40 … +5.88 … Cautious A Inc ‡@ 105.27 … -0.04 …
Inv Serv: 020 7065 1400 Helpline: 0800 317 573 01296 386 386 Managed Growth A Acc ‡@283.10 … +0.33 … 020 7581 3020 Glob Bal Inc F I Inc ‡ 964.53 … +5.76 … Dynamic A Acc ‡@ 351.21 … +2.79 …
Gilt Yield A ‡@ 206.01 … +0.27 1.05 Authorised Inv Funds Monthly High Income A Acc ‡@243.45 … +0.43 3.54 Absolute Return ‡@ 38.77 … -0.28 … Glob Bal Sust F F Acc ‡@ 976.54 … +2.43 … Dynamic A Inc ‡@ 318.71 … +2.53 …
Strategic Bond Fund ‡@ 189.53 … -0.38 … Share Class `C Monthly High Income A Inc ‡@63.17 … +0.01 5.01 Distribution and Growth ‡@101.51 … +1.09 … Glob Bal Sust F F Inc ‡@ 972.81 … +2.42 … Growth A Acc ‡@ 362.97 … +2.18 …
UK Corp Bond C ‡@ 104.79 … -0.78 … Corporate Bond ‡@ 37.69 … -0.20 … Multi-Asset Protector A Acc ‡@171.55 … +0.23 … Emg Euro Opps ‡@ 243.94 … +10.90 … Glob Bal Sust F I Acc ‡ 975.94 … +2.43 … Income A Acc ‡@ 264.55 … +0.69 …
UK Eqty C ‡@ 6317.26 … -14.91 3.28 Ethical ‡@ 114.30 … +0.30 … Strategic Bond A Acc ‡@ 244.54 … +0.19 1.96 Euro Special Sits ‡@ 463.73 … +16.40 … Glob Bal Sust F I Inc ‡ 972.66 … +2.42 … Sterling Bond Acc ‡@ 242.37 … -0.28 3.52
UK Eqty Inc A ‡@ 348.77 … +1.55 3.47 European ‡@ 108.90 … +2.60 … Strategic Bond A Inc ‡@ 119.47 … +0.09 3.32 European ‡@ 2851.45 … +88.22 … Glob Br Eq Inc Fund F Inc ‡@1324.86 … +17.38 3.79 Sterling Bond Inc ‡@ 97.00 … -0.11 3.61
UK Gwth A ‡@ 8339.28 … +0.31 … Far Eastern ‡ 120.20 … -0.80 … Target Return A Acc ‡@ 102.03 … +0.44 0.82 Financial Opps ‡@ 854.24 … +6.00 … Glob Br Eq Inc Fund I Acc ‡@1760.63 … +23.09 …
UK Index A Inc ‡@ 1423.81 … -5.83 … Fund of Inv Tst ‡@ 145.20 … +2.30 0.20 Target Return A Inc ‡@ 87.63 … +0.01 0.87 Income Trust ‡@ 508.51 … +3.76 … Glob Br Eq Inc Fund I Inc ‡@1422.97 … +18.66 3.86
UK Mid Cap A ‡@ 5297.43 … +108.63 0.06 Intl Gwth ‡ 123.10 … -0.20 … UK Alpha A Acc ‡@ 2677.13 … +21.34 … Merlin Bal (Acc) ‡@ 226.28 … -2.54 … Glob Br Fund I Acc (PH) ‡@13233.31 … +165.81 … THREADNEEDLE INVESTMENTS
Japanese ‡ 68.15 … -1.31 … UK Blue Chip A Acc ‡@ 770.11 … +3.15 … Merlin Gwth (Acc) ‡ 524.94 … -7.16 … Glob Br Fund I Acc (PH) ‡@1665.40 … +22.51 0.84 Client Serv: 0800 0683000
North Amer ‡ 143.30 … -0.70 … UK Smaller Companies A Acc ‡@6397.09 … +51.62 … Merlin Inc (Acc) ‡ 350.85 … -2.87 … Glob Br Fund I Inc (PH) ‡@3649.42 … +45.73 … Intermediary Serv: 0800 0684000
Smaller Cos ‡@ 120.90 … +2.60 … UK Smaller Companies A Inc ‡@5737.80 … +46.30 … Merlin Wwide (Inc) ‡ 374.99 … -5.12 … Glob Br Fund I Inc (PH) ‡@1601.70 … +21.65 0.85 Institutional Shares (Class 2) (163500,000 min)
ARTEMIS FUND MGRS LTD Special Sits ‡@ 49.35 … +0.69 1.41 UK Growth ‡@ 248.21 … +3.69 … Glob Ins Fund F Acc ‡ 756.05 … +20.80 …
UK Special Situations A Acc ‡@1392.14 … +19.63 … UK Oseas Earns ‡@ 125.23 … +1.92 …
0800 092 2051 UK Equity Inc ‡@ 90.57 … +0.96 3.76 UK Special Sits (Inc) ‡@ 202.47 … +1.19 … Glob Ins Fund F Inc ‡ 756.05 … +20.80 …
UK Special Situations A Inc ‡@509.31 … +7.18 …
Authorised Inv Funds UK FTSE 100 IT ‡@ 67.27 … +0.67 … Glob Ins Fund I Acc ‡ 754.56 … +20.75 …
Capital R Acc ‡@ 2154.11 … +29.19 … UK FTSE All-S IT ‡@ 77.84 … +0.82 … Glob Ins Fund I Inc ‡ 754.57 … +20.76 …
LEGAL & GENERAL (UT MGRS) LTD Glob Sust Fund F Acc (PH) ‡1264.96 … +16.60 0.56 Managed Funds
Euro Opps R Acc ‡@ 91.26 … -0.48 1.29 UK Growth ‡@ 83.41 … +0.89 …
Euro Opps R Inc ‡@ 85.36 … -0.46 1.30 Enquiries: 0870 050 0955 Dealing: 0870 050 0956 Glob Sust Fund F Inc ‡@ 1251.02 … +15.31 … Def Eqty & Bd Acc @ 128.00 128.00 +0.10 0.74
European Growth R Acc ‡@398.74 … +9.93 … Glob Sust Fund I Acc ‡@ 1262.45 … +15.45 … Eqty & Bd Acc @ 179.90 179.90 +0.50 0.73
Equity Acc @ 2616.00 2639.00 -8.00 2.12
HSBC GLOBAL ASSET MGMT (UK) LTD Glob Sust Fund I Acc (PH) ‡@1266.41 … +16.62 0.38 Mgd Income @ 77.80 77.80 +0.13 …
Global Energy R Acc ‡@ 34.63 … -0.71 … Equity Dist @ 893.80 902.00 -2.70 2.15
Enq: 0845 745 6123 Dlg: 0845 745 6126 Mon-Fri 8-6 For ISIS Asset Mgmt see F&C Fd Mgmt Ltd (OEICS) Glob Sustain Fund F Acc ‡@1267.22 … +15.52 …
Global Growth R Acc ‡@ 352.87 … +2.74 … Euro Ind Acc ‡@ 503.70 … +13.20 …
HSBC Index Tracker Investment Funds (OEIC) Stg Corp Bond F F Acc ‡@ 133.54 … -0.62 …
Global Income R Acc ‡@ 161.28 … +1.74 … JANUS HENDERSON INVESTORS Euro Ind Inc ‡@ 338.10 … +8.90 …
Global Income R Inc ‡@ 105.89 … +1.14 … Amer Ind Acc ‡@ 900.17 … +9.67 … Stg Corp Bond F F Inc ‡@ 108.81 … -0.50 … Retail Shares (Class 1)
Fixed Int Acc ‡@ 149.50 … -0.80 …
Global Select R Acc ‡@ 158.06 … +1.65 … Amer Ind Inc ‡@ 730.47 … +7.84 … Investors Serv: 0800 832 832 Dlng: 0845 946 4646 Stg Corp Bond F I Acc ‡@2844.44 … -13.17 …
Fixed Int Dist ‡@ 71.63 … -0.39 … Stg Bd Ret Inc ‡@ 56.57 … -0.47 …
High Income R Inc ‡@ 70.31 … +0.14 … Euro Ind Acc ‡@ 1140.24 … +29.92 … Stg Corp Bond F I Inc ‡@1529.83 … -7.09 …
Glob Gwth Acc @ 243.90 243.90 -1.30 1.15 Strat Bd Ret ‡@ 45.87 … -0.05 …
Income R Acc ‡@ 505.22 … +6.29 3.56 Euro Ind Inc ‡@ 747.00 … +19.60 … All Stks Credit A Inc ‡@ 132.50 … -0.70 … Sust Fixed Inc Opps F F Acc ‡974.71 … -1.06 …
Glob Health Acc ‡@ 97.04 … -2.05 … UK Corp Bond ‡@ 61.78 … -0.29 …
Income R Inc ‡@ 230.73 … +2.87 3.66 FTSE 100 Ind Acc ‡@ 265.54 … +3.90 … Asian Div Inc U Trst Inc ‡@87.76 … -0.45 … Sust Fixed Inc Opps F F Inc ‡958.77 … -1.04 …
Glob Tech Acc ‡@ 94.49 … -2.21 … UK Corp Ret ‡@ 61.66 … -0.29 …
Monthly Dist R Inc ‡@ 70.70 … -0.02 3.51 FTSE 100 Ind Inc ‡@ 124.66 … +1.83 … Cautious Man Fd A Acc ‡@298.50 … +0.50 … Sust Fixed Inc Opps F I Acc ‡972.41 … -1.06 …
Gwth Tst Acc @ 106.00 106.50 -1.00 … UK Eqty Inc Ret ‡@ 98.80 … +1.47 3.14
Strategic Assets R Acc ‡ 77.90 … +1.47 … FTSE 250 Ind Acc ‡@ 314.88 … +3.91 1.50 Cautious Man Fd A Inc ‡ 151.50 … +0.20 … Sust Fixed Inc Opps F I Inc ‡958.48 … -1.04 …
High Inc Acc ‡@ 135.10 … -0.60 4.94 UK Gwth & Inc Ret ‡@ 94.60 … +1.59 …
Strategic Bond R M Acc ‡@102.09 … -0.19 … FTSE 250 Ind Inc ‡@ 199.05 … +2.47 0.43 China Opp Fund A Acc ‡@1473.00 … -1.00 … US Adv F F Acc ‡@ 2048.34 … +72.54 …
Japan Ind Acc ‡@ 68.28 … -0.90 … UK Hi Yld Bd 1 ‡@ 40.29 … -0.02 3.55
Strategic Bond R M Inc ‡@ 55.49 … -0.10 … FTSE All-S Acc ‡@ 688.04 … +6.26 … Emg Mkts Opps Fd A Acc ‡@225.10 … +1.60 … US Adv F F Acc (PH) ‡@ 1311.08 … +48.22 …
Pacific Ind Acc ‡@ 204.70 … -0.90 … UK Inst Acc ‡@ 179.48 … +1.93 …
Strategic Bond R Q Acc ‡@101.91 … -0.19 … FTSE All-S Inc ‡@ 359.44 … +3.27 … Erpn Grth Fund A Acc ‡@ 282.50 … +7.20 … US Adv F I Acc ‡@ 2185.95 … +77.40 …
UK 100 Ind Acc @ 180.90 180.90 +0.90 … UK Mnthly Extra Inc ‡@ 82.66 … +0.81 …
Strategic Bond R Q Inc ‡@ 55.46 … -0.10 … Jap Ind Acc ‡@ 139.51 … -1.26 … Erpn Sel Opps Fd A Acc ‡2199.00 … +54.00 … US Adv F I Acc (PH) ‡@ 1377.44 … +50.66 …
UK Active Opps Acc @ 249.90 252.90 -0.10 … UK Mnthly Inc Ret ‡@ 70.66 … +0.69 …
UK Growth R Acc ‡@ 736.65 … +11.09 … Jap Ind Inc ‡@ 111.27 … -1.00 … Fix Int Mnthly Inc Fd Acc ‡@33.06 … -0.14 … UK Index Acc ‡@ 338.40 … +3.10 … UK Retail ‡@ 136.55 … +1.92 …
UK Smaller Cos R Acc ‡@1944.36 … +11.96 … Pac Ind Acc ‡ 509.57 … -1.25 … Global Equity Fund Acc ‡@4440.00 … +22.00 … UK Index Dist ‡@ 168.40 … +1.50 … SANTANDER UNIT TST MGRS
UK Sel Retail ‡@ 123.55 … -1.42 1.75
UK Special Sits R Acc ‡@ 720.37 … +11.88 … Pac Ind Inc ‡@ 329.23 … -0.80 … Global Equity Income A Inc ‡@65.22 … +0.37 … US Ind Acc ‡@ 788.80 … -13.80 … 08457 413002
UK Smaller Cos ‡@ 445.22 … +5.30 …
Global Tech A Acc ‡@ 3109.00 … -4.00 … Worldwide Acc ‡@ 354.60 … +1.50 … Bal Pfolio Inc ‡@ 110.50 … +0.40 2.41
Instl UK Idx Opps A Acc ‡@112.35 … +1.12 … Bal Port Gwth Acc ‡@ 237.90 … -1.80 …
HSBC Investment Funds (OEIC) - Retail Share Class
M-Asset Abs Ret A Acc ‡@159.10 … … … Equity Inc Inc ‡@ 223.70 … -4.40 …
AXA FRAMLINGTON UNIT MGMT LTD Balanced Acc ‡ 248.09 … +0.50 … M & G SECURITIES For Resolution see Ignis
M-Man Active Fd A Acc ‡@265.60 … +1.50 … N&P UK Gwth Inc ‡@ 182.80 … +0.10 …
Dling: 0845 602 1952 Priv Clients: 0845 777 5511 Balanced Inc ‡@ 151.95 … -0.14 … Enq: 0800 390 390 Dealing Line: 0800 328 3196 TU FUND MANAGERS LIMITED
M-Man Inc Grth A Inc ‡@ 157.30 … -1.10 … Stkmkt 100 Tkr @ 250.40 250.40 +3.00 …
Equity Inc ‡@ 572.40 … -2.70 4.43 Corp Bd Acc ‡@ 299.65 … -1.61 … M-Man Inc Grth Fd A Acc ‡@196.00 … -1.40 … Authorised Inv Funds UK Growth Acc ‡@ 480.30 … -11.50 … British 865.10 865.10 +22.90 …
Gilt Acc @ 201.30 211.80 +0.10 1.08 Corp Bd Inc ‡@ 119.96 … -0.64 … Sterling Bond U Trst Acc ‡@233.50 … -1.20 … Charifund Inc ‡ 1569.60 … +7.75 … UK Growth Inc ‡@ 265.10 … -6.30 … European 210.70 219.40 +1.00 …
Gilt Inc @ 74.35 78.24 -0.39 1.09 Gilt & Fd Int Acc ‡@ 497.78 … +1.62 1.19 Sterling Bond U Trst Inc ‡ 64.79 … -0.35 …
Health Acc ‡ 2667.00 … +18.00 … Gilt & Fd Int Inc ‡@ 74.17 … +0.24 1.58
Strategic Bond A Inc ‡@ 123.40 … -0.50 … SCOTTISH MUTUAL INV MNGRS LTD * Yield expressed as CAR (Compound Annual Return);
Jap Smlr Co Ac @ 62.56 66.09 -0.19 0.30 Income Acc ‡@ 683.43 … +3.67 … Sterling Class A Investment Funds 1 † Ex dividend; ‡Middle price; . . . No significant data. #
UK Abs Ret Fd A Acc ‡@ 166.60 … +0.60 … 0141 248 6100
Managed Inc ‡@ 138.30 … … 4.20 Income Inc ‡@ 293.09 … +1.57 … Periodic charge deducted from capital; @ Exit charge
UK Alpha Fund A Acc ‡@ 162.50 … +2.30 … Euro Smlr Cos Acc ‡ 525.29 … -3.39 … European Inc 1777.00 1873.48 +4.40 0.78
Monthly Inc Inc ‡@ 255.80 … +0.40 3.85 Monthly Inc Acc ‡@ 313.41 … +0.77 3.21
UK Growth Inc ‡@ 234.90 … +4.90 … Monthly Inc Inc ‡@ 135.03 … +0.41 … Far Eastern Inc 584.69 617.09 -0.73 1.42
UK Select Opps Inc ‡@ 2053.00 … +27.00 … UK Grth & Inc Ret B Acc ‡@140.61 … +0.94 … Intl Growth Inc 380.56 400.59 +0.02 0.75
UK Sml Cos Inc ‡@ 362.50 … +0.40 … UK Grth & Inc Ret B Inc ‡@64.80
UK Gth & Inc Acc ‡@ 140.61
…
…
+0.43
+0.94 …
… Japanese Inc
Mutual European
41.85
2762.93
41.85
2908.99
+0.43
-21.63
0.56
1.11
British funds
UK Gth & Inc Inc ‡@ 64.80 … +0.43 … Mutual Far Eastern 1008.42 1064.30 -2.35 … 12 month Price Int Yld Grs rd
Mutual North Am 1983.00 2092.88 +6.23 0.24 High Low Stock (£) +/– % yld
AXA FUND MANAGERS LTD Mutual UK Eq 1386.65 1463.48 +14.70 …
HSBC Specialist Investment Funds (OEIC) Index-linked
Admin & Enq 0117 989 0808 Nth American Inc 1227.65 1295.67 -7.28 …
UK Equity Inc 590.60 623.32 +6.26 … 109.61 106.12 Tr IL 1Y% 22 106.40 – .05 1.81 –6.19
AXA Trusts American Index Retail Acc ‡@900.17 … +9.67 … 372.96 354.43 Tr IL 2K% 24 * 362.89 – .94 1.49 –2.76
Gen Acc ‡@ 2101.00 … +6.00 … American Index Retail Inc ‡@730.47 … +7.84 … 111.98 107.52 Tr IL 0V% 24 107.52 – .29 … –3.31
Asian Gth Acc ‡@ 147.77 … -0.07 … SCOTTISH WIDOWS UNIT TRUST MGRS 120.56 112.54 Tr IL 0V% 26 112.54 – .42 … –2.75
Gen Inc ‡@ 1079.00 … -2.00 … 135.63 124.91 Tr IL 1N% 27 124.91 – .59 1.09 –2.71
Asian Gth Inc ‡@ 130.99 … -0.06 … 0845 300 2244 130.64 119.90 Tr IL 0V% 28 119.90 – .61 … –2.67
Chinese Eq Acc ‡@ 513.81 … +0.27 0.40 Authorised Inv Funds (OEICs) 132.52 121.22 Tr IL 0V% 29 121.22 – .63 … –2.58
Chinese Eq Inc ‡@ 434.76 … +0.22 0.34 OEIC A Class 141.65 128.44 Tr IL 0V% 31 128.44 – .65 … –2.51
UK/Global Investment Companies Euro Gth Acc ‡@ 973.97 … +4.05 0.41 402.06 366.57 Tr IL 4V% 30 * 375.18 –1.53 1.72 –2.45
Managed Investment Funds 161.90 145.79 Tr IL 1N% 32 145.79 – .74 0.86 –2.44
Euro Acc A ‡@ 234.70 … … 1.18 Euro Gth Inc ‡@ 817.05 … +3.39 0.44 160.29 143.77 Tr IL 0O% 34 143.77 – .75 … –2.36
Bal Port A Acc ‡@ 237.60 … +0.80 0.01
Extra Inc Inc B ‡@ 86.74 … +0.24 1.16 324.74 284.82 Tr IL 2% 35 * 296.43 –1.21 0.82 –2.26
Caut Port A Acc ‡@ 207.10 … +0.30 … 161.43 143.40 Tr IL 0V% 36 143.40 – .57 … –2.32
Global Gwth Acc R ‡ 294.50 … +2.10 … IGNIS ASSET MGMT Caut Port A Inc ‡@ 152.00 … +0.30 … 186.89 165.74 Tr IL 1V% 37 165.74 – .64 0.71 –2.31
Japan Acc A ‡@ 166.90 … +0.10 … Dlg: 0141 222 8282 Opps Port A Acc ‡@ 280.20 … +1.30 … 169.23 149.28 Tr IL 0V% 39 149.28 – .46 … –2.23
Pac Gwth Acc A ‡@ 541.00 … -2.20 … Prog Port A Acc ‡@ 266.60 … +1.10 … 186.19 162.72 Tr IL 0X% 40 163.90 – .45 … –2.22
American Gth Inc @ 322.55 340.42 -3.34 … 180.53 153.83 Tr IL 0V% 41 157.20 – .44 … –2.21
Balanced Growth @ 262.17 276.69 -0.93 … 199.86 170.46 Tr IL 0X% 42 173.40 – .50 0.36 –2.16
Overseas Growth Investment Funds 188.86 158.61 Tr IL 0V% 44 162.47 – .44 … –2.09
Balanced Growth Acc @ 393.13 414.92 -1.40 1.49 196.96 163.05 Tr IL 0V% 46 168.15 – .41 … –2.05
CIS UNIT MANAGERS LTD Corporate Bond ‡@ 99.69 … -0.89 4.77 Eur Sel Gth A Acc ‡@ 3372.00 … -2.00 … 229.64 190.09 Tr IL 0O% 47 195.41 – .43 0.39 –2.04
European Growth @ 403.88 426.26 -3.57 2.18 209.00 169.38 Tr IL 0V% 48 176.12 – .43 … –2.03
08457 46 46 46 232.71 187.79 Tr IL 0K% 50 195.65 – .49 … –2.01
European Growth Acc @ 475.71 502.07 -4.21 2.24 Tracker and Specialist Investment Funds 231.36 183.97 Tr IL 0N% 52 192.08 – .52 … –1.98
European Gwth ‡@ 202.50 … +5.70 …
Glob Gwth @ 331.53 349.90 -3.09 … 306.14 243.63 Tr IL 1N% 55 253.28 – .56 0.54 –1.94
Sus Leaders ‡@ 771.60 … +13.90 … UK Trkr A Acc ‡@ 364.60 … -6.10 … 248.27 192.25 Tr IL 0V% 56 201.53 – .53 … –1.92
Higher Yield @ 83.98 88.64 -0.29 4.43
UK Growth ‡@ 640.20 … +9.90 … UK Trkr A Inc ‡ 189.10 … -3.20 … 256.47 196.27 Tr IL 0V% 58 206.37 – .51 … –1.91
Higher Yield Acc @ 275.04 290.28 -0.92 … 297.03 223.37 Tr IL 0W% 62 235.99 – .57 … –1.88
UK Income ‡@ 220.90 … +0.40 …
Japan @ 49.06 51.78 -0.03 0.94 309.47 224.55 Tr IL 0V% 65 240.09 – .67 … –1.91
Managed @ 130.89 138.15 -0.06 0.66 UK and Income Investment Funds 335.00 240.40 Tr IL 0V% 68 258.49 – .85 … –1.97
Managed Trust @ 71.96 76.96 +0.17 … 395.45 297.39 Tr IL 0V% 73 297.39 – .85 … –2.05
Corp Bond A Acc ‡@ 328.50 … -1.50 …
CLOSE FUND MANAGEMENT LTD Mngd Pfolio Inc @ 95.54 100.84 -0.11 0.58 Corp Bond A Inc ‡@ 124.60 … -0.50 … Longs (Over 15 years)
0870 606 6402 Pacific Grth @ 498.71 526.34 -2.81 1.34 Envir Invtr A Acc ‡ 372.40 … -2.40 … 147.98 132.25 Tr 4N% 36 132.25 – .01 3.21 1.67
Smaller Comp @ 756.24 798.14 +1.64 0.15 Hi Inc Bond A Ac ‡@ 248.30 … -1.40 4.03 113.52 100.52 Tr 1O% 37 100.57 + .05 … 1.71
Beacon Inv ‡ 84.88 … +0.35 0.01 163.31 144.98 Tr 4O% 38 145.08 + .10 3.27 1.66
Smaller Cos @ 628.94 663.79 +1.36 0.21 Hi Inc Bond A Inc ‡@ 77.77 … -0.45 4.11
103.54 91.21 Tr 1V% 39 91.32 + .11 … 1.72
Hi Res A Acc ‡@ 388.30 … -5.30 … 156.78 138.96 Tr 4N% 39 139.14 + .18 3.05 1.67
Hi Res A Inc ‡@ 125.90 … -1.70 … 159.73 140.93 Tr 4N% 40 141.18 + .25 … 1.69
INSIGHT INVESTMENT FDS MANAGEMENT LTD 106.42 92.01 Tr 1N% 41 92.23 + .22 … 1.72
Dealing: 020 7426 6232 Safety Plus A Acc ‡@ 40.49 … … …
Client Servs: 0207 163 4000 147.71 128.09 Tr 3N% 44 128.51 + .42 … 1.69
Strat Inc A Acc ‡@ 213.10 … -1.00 … 169.96 148.84 Tr 4K% 42 149.19 + .35 3.02 1.69
Winchester ‡ 3775.82 … +33.98 0.29 Insight Investment Multi-Manager Funds
Strat Inc A Inc ‡@ 96.80 … -0.46 … 154.93 133.90 Tr 3K% 45 134.35 + .45 … 1.69
Well Bldr Bal Acc ‡@ 96.05 … -0.32 … UK Gwth A Acc ‡@ 196.50 … -3.10 … 175.82 151.34 Tr 4N% 46 151.87 + .53 2.80 1.68
Well Bldr Gwth Acc ‡@ 93.79 … -0.36 … 99.79 83.61 Tr 0Y% 46 83.97 + .36 … 1.69
UK Sel Gwth A Acc ‡@ 2268.00 … -39.00 … 114.76 96.19 Tr 1K% 47 96.73 + .54 … 1.66
EDENTREE INV MGMT LTD 122.26 101.86 Tr 1O% 49 102.45 + .59 … 1.64
0800 358 3010 OEIC B Class 185.65 157.38 Tr 4N% 49 158.18 + .80 2.69 1.64
INVESCO FUND MGRS LTD 95.59 76.98 Tr 0X% 50 77.54 + .56 … 1.61
Amity European A ‡ 321.70 … +7.00 … Dling: 0800 085 8571 Inv Serv: 0800 085 8677 Tracker and Specialist Investment Funds 220.50 175.21 Tr 0V% 51 183.44 – .49 … –1.98
Amity International A ‡ 339.50 … +2.40 … Brkr Serv: 0800 028 2121 UK Trkr B Acc ‡@ 402.10 … -6.70 … 111.21 90.43 Tr 1N% 51 91.05 + .62 … 1.63
UK Irsh Sm Co Fd A Acc ‡@742.50 … -1.70 … Euro Smlr Cos Inc ‡ 462.50 … -3.00 … 180.27 150.30 Tr 3O% 52 151.20 + .90 … 1.61
Amity Sterling Bond A ‡ 98.12 … -0.32 … INVESCO Funds UK Trkr B Inc ‡@ 188.00 … -3.20 … 120.44 97.42 Tr 1K% 53 98.12 + .70 … 1.58
UK Property A Acc @ 257.98 270.64 … …
Amity UK A Inc ‡ 244.60 … +3.90 … UK Str Inc N/Trl ‡@ 323.57 … -0.12 … 124.61 100.15 Tr 1X% 54 100.91 + .76 … 1.59
UK Property A Inc @ 103.62 108.70 … … 205.69 168.63 Tr 4N% 55 169.92 +1.29 2.50 1.57
Higher Income A ‡ 134.10 … +0.70 … UK and Income Investment Funds
US Growth Fund A Acc ‡@1814.00 … +19.00 … Sterling Class A Investment Funds 2 132.79 104.61 Tr 1O% 57 105.55 + .94 … 1.55
UK Equity Growth A ‡ 320.80 … +4.80 … 213.01 170.76 Tr 4% 60 172.33 +1.57 … 1.49
INVESCO PERPETUAL Funds Corp Bond B Acc ‡@ 370.70 … +0.90 …
Extra Income Inc ‡ 746.16 … +1.80 … 96.16 70.35 Tr 0K% 61 71.31 + .96 … 1.45
Corp Bond B Inc ‡@ 136.30 … +0.30 … 173.16 132.55 Tr 2K% 65 134.03 +1.48 … 1.44
Childrens Acc ‡@ 477.69 … +5.92 … Gilt & Fxd Int Inc ‡ 94.75 … -0.78 …
UK Gwth B Acc ‡@ 205.60 … -0.30 … 219.03 167.80 Tr 3K% 68 169.70 +1.90 … 1.44
Corp Bond Acc ‡@ 215.90 … -0.82 … Gl Hi Yd Bd Inc ‡ 44.47 … -0.13 … 149.85 107.69 Tr 1X% 71 109.20 +1.51 … 1.37
F & C FUND MANAGEMENT LTD (OEICS) UK Sel Gwth B Acc ‡@ 2481.00 … … …
High Income Inc ‡@ 331.87 … +2.73 2.43 Index Linked Bd Inc ‡ 163.41 … -1.52 …
Enqs: 0870 601 6183 Dealing: 0870 601 6083 Index Trckr Inc ‡ 77.22 … +0.84 … Mediums (5-15 years)
Income & Grth Inc ‡@ 426.54 … +4.27 1.26
Share Class 1 - Retail Short Dated Corp Bd Inc ‡ 25.59 … -0.02 1.20 OEIC C Class 101.85 99.08 Tr 0O% 23 99.08 – .05 … 1.40
Income Inc ‡@ 1304.91 … +10.76 … JP MORGAN ASSET MGMT UK and Income Investment Funds 105.75 101.18 Tr 2N% 23 101.18 – .07 … 1.48
Corporate Bd ‡@ 56.46 … -0.25 … Money Acc ‡@ 90.77 … -0.01 … UK Select A Inc ‡ 3020.19 … +52.64 … 100.18 97.31 Tr 0V% 24 97.31 – .07 … 1.53
Emerging Mkts ‡@ 132.70 … +0.90 … Monthly Inc Plus Inc ‡@ 103.49 … -0.01 … OEIC UK Gth C Inc ‡@ 135.30 … -2.10 … 103.10 98.96 Tr 1% 24 98.96 – .09 … 1.49
Euro Gwth & Inc 1 ‡@ 1179.00 … +37.00 … UK Aggressive Inc ‡@ 154.28 … -0.24 … UK Sel Gwth C Acc ‡@ 2598.00 … … … 109.62 103.06 Tr 2O% 24 103.06 – .11 … 1.52
Extra Inc Bond ‡@ 47.51 … -0.11 … UK Growth Acc ‡@ 834.57 … +5.47 … Asia A Acc ‡@ 285.50 … -0.10 … 119.88 110.37 Tr 5% 25 110.37 – .14 4.53 1.51
Emerging Mkts ‡@ 279.70 … +2.00 … Sterling Class A Investment Funds 3 102.24 97.26 Tr 0X% 25 97.26 – .13 … 1.48
FTSE All-Shr Track ‡@ 431.90 … +4.50 … UK Sml Cos Eqty Acc ‡@ 1675.66 … +14.39 … STANDARD LIFE INVESTMENTS 108.57 101.74 Tr 2% 25 101.74 – .14 … 1.50
Global Gwth SC1 ‡@ 306.70 … +0.30 … UK Sml Cos Gwth ‡@ 82.54 … +0.04 … Eur Dyn (ex-UK) A Acc ‡@285.00 … +7.20 … Corp Bd A Inc ‡ 38.47 … -0.17 … 0845 279 3003 99.76 94.88 Tr 0V% 26 94.88 – .14 … 1.46
High Inc Trst @ 12.01 12.65 -0.03 … Euro Smllr Cos ‡@ 977.30 … +29.70 … Dividend Inc ‡ 57.33 … +0.34 4.52 107.11 100.20 Tr 1K% 26 100.20 – .17 … 1.45
Investment Funds (OEIC) - Retail Shares 106.17 98.96 Tr 1N% 27 98.96 – .16 … 1.45
Max Inc Bond ‡@ 47.16 … -0.11 … Europe A Acc ‡@ 1802.00 … +52.00 … Recovery A Inc ‡ 121.80 … +0.95 …
AAA Inc CAT Acc ‡@ 96.36 … -0.41 … 126.69 115.39 Tr 4N% 27 115.39 – .20 3.68 1.47
Multi Man Caut ‡@ 70.41 … … 3.18 INVESTEC FUND MGRS Gbl Hi Yld Bd A Acc ‡@ 125.10 … -0.80 4.27 Sml Cos Inc ‡ 421.44 … +4.66 … 98.46 92.43 Tr 0V% 28 92.43 – .09 … 1.46
Broker Support and Dealing: 020 7597 1900 AAA Inc CAT Inc ‡@ 54.92 … -0.23 … 109.42 101.09 Tr 1X% 28 101.09 – .11 … 1.45
Multi Man Distr ‡@ 60.44 … … 3.37 Gbl Hi Yld Bd A Inc ‡@ 33.84 … -0.22 4.39
OEIC Series i,ii,iii, & iv AAA Income Acc ‡@ 104.50 … -0.40 … 142.85 129.24 Tr 6% 28 129.24 – .14 4.64 1.47
North Amer ‡@ 800.90 … -4.90 … Gl ex-UK Bd A Acc ‡@ 277.70 … -1.00 … 99.77 93.30 Tr 0K% 29 93.30 – .10 … 1.52
Amer Eq Gth Acc ‡@ 212.70 … -0.70 …
Pacific Gwth ‡@ 525.80 … +2.90 … American A Acc ‡@ 642.54 … +10.16 … Gl ex-UK Bd A Inc ‡@ 212.60 … -0.80 … Sterling Class A Investment Funds 4 103.32 95.65 Tr 0Y% 29 95.65 – .08 … 1.48
Corp Bond Acc ‡@ 177.30 … -1.00 … 98.50 90.74 Tr 0W% 30 90.74 – .07 … 1.52
Strategic Bd ‡@ 205.30 … … … Asia ex Japan A Acc ‡@ 789.47 … +11.79 … Glb Fins A Acc ‡@ 1077.00 … +1.00 1.03 Episode Allocation A Inc ‡@142.62 … +0.81 … Corp Bond Inc ‡@ 61.17 … -0.35 … 139.82 126.68 Tr 4O% 30 126.68 – .08 3.75 1.50
UK Equity ‡@ 3334.00 … +46.00 … Capital Accumulator A Acc ‡@231.48 … -3.81 … Global A Acc ‡@ 2047.00 … +1.00 … Euro Eq Gth Acc ‡@ 246.90 … +7.50 0.35 96.58 88.37 Tr 0N% 31 88.37 – .04 … 1.58
UK Gwth & Inc Acc 1 ‡@ 658.50 … … … Cautious Managed A Acc ‡@404.88 … +1.78 … 102.46 94.26 Tr 1% 32 94.26 – .08 … 1.63
Japan A Acc ‡@ 552.60 … -11.70 … Glb Advtg CAT Acc ‡@ 156.30 … +0.60 … 138.73 125.04 Tr 4N% 32 – .08 3.40 1.60
UK Gwth & Inc Dist ‡@ 234.70 … … … Cautious Managed A Inc ‡@260.11 … +1.14 … 125.04
Multi-Man Tst A Acc ‡@ 1397.00 … +20.00 … Glob Advtg Acc ‡@ 206.50 … +0.90 … 101.40 92.17 Tr 0Y% 33 92.17 – .05 … 1.63
UK Smaller Cos ‡@ 1156.00 … +12.00 … Diversified Growth A Acc ‡@133.01 … +0.90 … MARKS & SPENCER UNIT TRUST LTD
Multi-Man Tst A Inc ‡@ 1241.00 … +18.00 … Glob Eq Uncstrd Acc ‡@ 157.80 … +0.50 … 147.31 131.96 Tr 4K% 34 131.96 – .07 3.41 1.67
Diversified Growth A Inc ‡@141.70 … +0.96 … 0808 005 5555 97.55 87.02 Tr 0X% 35 87.02 – .02 … 1.71
Nat Resources ‡@ 848.10 … -9.90 … Higher Inc Acc ‡@ 149.90 … … 3.90
Diversified Income A Acc ‡@327.47 … -0.17 … High Income 101.90 101.90 -0.30 …
New Europe A ‡@ 237.00 … +11.00 2.11 Higher Inc Inc ‡@ 48.83 … -0.02 3.98 Shorts (under 5 years)
Diversified Income A Inc ‡@72.75 … -0.03 … High Income Acc 273.20 273.20 -1.00 …
FIDELITY INTERNATIONAL Portfolio ‡@ 325.10 … -1.50 … Japan Eq Gth Acc ‡@ 127.40 … … … 117.13 108.58 Tr 3O% 21 115.83 – .08 … 1.24
Emerging Mkts Blended Debt A Acc ‡@120.63 … +0.28 … UK 100 Comp Acc @ 432.80 432.80 -7.40 …
Private Clnts 0800 414161 Broker Dlgs 0800 414181 Stg Corp Bd A Acc ‡@ 97.55 … -0.47 … Managed Acc ‡@ 344.50 … +1.60 … 142.92 135.65 Tr 8% 21 141.44 – .10 5.66 1.19
Emerging Mkts Blended Debt A Acc Gross ‡@125.82 … +0.20 … UK 100 Cos @ 221.50 221.50 -3.80 … 100.80 99.88 Tr 0K% 22 99.92 – .01 … 0.68
Select Inc Acc ‡@ 95.59 … -0.24 2.29
Amer Spec Sits ‡@ 2200.00 … +32.00 … Emerging Mkts Blended Debt A Inc ‡@74.63 … +0.17 … Stg Corp Bd A Inc ‡@ 55.32 … -0.27 … UK Select Pflo @ 333.40 333.40 -7.00 … 102.80 100.51 Tr 1O% 22 100.53 – .01 … 0.78
Select Inc Inc ‡@ 54.38 … -0.14 2.31 104.26 100.20 Tr 4% 22 100.20 – .01 3.99 0.26
American ‡@ 5355.00 … +88.00 … Emerging Mkts Equity A Acc ‡@172.45 … +1.69 … UK Act 350 A Acc ‡@ 199.00 … -2.20 … UK Selection Port Acc @ 667.60 667.60 -13.90 … UK Eq Gth Acc ‡@ 354.60 … +4.40 … 100.23 98.87 Tr 0V% 23 98.90 + .04 … 1.29
Euro Opps ‡@ 555.00 … +17.20 … Emrg Mkts Local Curr Debt A Acc ‡@183.56 … +0.90 … UK Dynamic Acc ‡@ 214.40 … +2.40 … Worldwide Mgd Acc @ 960.80 960.80 -12.20 … 100.26 96.30 Tr 0N% 25 96.30 – .11 … 1.54
UK Eq Hi Alpha ‡@ 219.00 … +2.70 …
European ‡@ 3119.00 … +81.00 0.29 Emrg Mkts Local Curr Debt A Inc ‡@77.12 … +0.38 … UK Dynamic Inc ‡@ 155.50 … +1.80 … Wwide Mgd @ 569.60 569.60 -7.20 … 100.41 94.84 Tr 0W% 26 94.84 – .15 … 1.52
UK Eq Hi Inc Acc ‡@ 265.00 … +2.20 3.53
Extra Income ‡@ 26.54 … -0.07 3.95 Emrg Mkts Local Curr Debt Gross I Acc ‡@220.49 … -0.05 … UK Equity A Acc ‡@ 401.90 … +0.60 3.45 UK Eq Hi Inc Inc ‡@ 76.20 … +0.63 3.64 * maturities having an eight-month indexation lag.
Glob Spec Sits ‡@ 5682.00 … +80.00 … Enhanced Natural Resources A Acc ‡@134.24 … -1.25 … UK Equity A Inc ‡@ 46.44 … +0.07 3.49 UK Ethical Acc ‡@ 219.70 … +3.90 …
Global Focus ‡@ 2802.00 … +52.00 … Global Bond A Acc ‡@ 139.30 … +4.03 0.82 UK Eqy & Bd Inc Acc ‡@ 167.10 … -0.20 … MORGAN STANLEY INVESTMENT MGMT LTD UK Opps Acc ‡@ 291.00 … +5.50 … This is a paid for information service. For
International ‡@ 149.50 … +0.20 0.08 Global Bond A Inc ‡@ 109.33 … +3.00 0.82
UK Eqy & Bd Inc Inc ‡@ 90.29 … -0.48 … Enquires: 0800 0961 962 UK Opps Inc ‡@ 264.50 … +5.00 … further details on a particular fund, readers
Japan ‡@ 535.80 … +5.30 … Global Bond I Gross Inc ‡@1167.00 … +29.78 1.25
UK Higher Inc A Acc ‡@ 1132.00 … +7.00 … The Morgan Stanley Funds (UK) UK Smlr Cos Acc ‡@ 1019.00 … +16.00 …
Moneybldr Bal ‡@ 47.95 … +0.10 … Global Dynamic A Acc ‡@ 205.96 … +4.02 … should contact their fund manager.
Moneybldr Glob 327.60 327.60 -0.10 0.21 Global Energy A Acc ‡@ 170.97 … -1.14 … UK Higher Inc A Inc ‡ 531.30 … +2.00 … Class A Shares
Moneybldr Gwth ‡@ 76.12 … -0.95 … Global Equity A Acc ‡@ 227.62 … +3.49 … UK Sm Cos A Acc ‡@ 679.90 … +8.60 0.27 Equity SVS BROWN SHIPLEY FUNDS
UK Str Eq Inc A Acc ‡@ 209.10 … +1.70 … Enquiries: 0141 222 1151 Data as shown is
Moneybldr Inc ‡@ 35.15 … -0.17 … Global Franchise A Acc ‡@306.19 … +4.32 … Dev Opp Fund F Acc ‡ 895.01 … +14.01 …
Moneybldr UK Ind ‡@ 125.92 … +1.13 … Global Free Enterprise A Acc ‡@1290.66 … +22.14 … UK Str Eq Inc A Inc ‡@ 108.20 … +0.90 … Dev Opp Fund I Acc ‡ 892.24 … +13.97 … Balanced A Acc ‡@ 145.74 … +0.66 … for information
Special Sits ‡@ 4515.00 … +70.00 … Global Gold A Acc ‡@ 186.44 … +2.08 … US A Acc ‡@ 1036.00 … +25.00 … Glob Bal Inc F F Acc ‡@ 986.92 … +5.89 … Balanced A Inc ‡@ 131.60 … +0.59 … purposes only. No offer is made by Morningstar
Wealthbuilder 69.75 72.18 +0.53 … Global Special Situations A Acc ‡@303.37 … +5.76 … US Sm Cos A Acc ‡@ 939.80 … -2.40 … Glob Bal Inc F F Inc ‡@ 965.05 … +5.75 … Cautious A Acc ‡@ 119.73 … -0.04 … or this publication
46 Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times

Business Equity prices

Dividend yields Please note dividend yields are 12 month Price 12 month Price 12 month Price 12 month Price
supplied by Morningstar. The yield is the sum of a High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E

company’s trailing 12-month dividend payments 248K 183Y M&G 214Y + 2X 8.4 89.5 342 196 Billington Hldgsv 258 + 7 1.6 20.9 1450 1059 Savills 1358 + 21 1.2 17.4 66 43K Checkitv 44 … … -5.3
divided by the last month’s ending share price 242K 143W Man 198X + 2X 3.8 12.2 300 252 Boot (Henry) 300 + 4 1.8 16.0 7K 5 Secure Propertyv 7N … … 19.1 678 458 Cohortv 468K – 5 2.3 41.6
12 month high and low Please note the 12 month high 8K 7N Manx Finv 8N … … 6.5 112O 84W Breedon Groupv 88O + 1X … 21.1 1436K 875O Segro 1261 + 26 1.7 5.8 2710 1350 Dewhurstv‡ 1630 … 0.8 18.7
and low figures for shares supplied by Morningstar are 6V 1V Marechale Capv 3V + N … 1.5 556W 459O Br Land 539W + 1 2.7 73.8 63K 32W SIG 40 + V … … 380 243 Dialight 341 – 1 … …

based on intra-day figures, not closing prices. 12770W 8284 Marsh McLn 11366N + 146W 1.6 28.9 152K 110 Caledonian Tstv 135K … … 34.7
113 67N SigmaRocv 87K + 2 … 28.1 2080K 1438K Electrolux 'B' 1470X + 35 8.6 8.4
144 88O Sirius Real Estate 135 + 3K 2.4 10.5 1W K Feedbackv X … … -4.5
892K 680 Mattioli Woodsv 815 … 2.4 … 186N 156W Cap & Count Prop 169N – K … -3.9
161K 122K Smart (J) 161K … 1.9 6.1
12 month Price 12 month Price 32K 18 Metal Tigerv 19 … … 4.4 91N 54 Cap & Regnl 62 + 2 … -0.5 1550 996 Gooch Hsegov‡ 1045 + 45 0.4 77.4
High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E 61 34 Steppe Cementv 40 + 1 9.4 9.2
149Y 83 Metro Bank 96V – 3N … -0.8 2100 1750 Cardiff Prop 2100 … 0.8 22.8 3935 2790 Goodwin 3145 + 35 3.2 17.3
191X 144Y Taylor Wimpey 152V … 2.7 11.1
1606V 1305X Nat Aust Bk 1606V – K 3.0 15.9 43K 29K Carecapitalv 29K … … -3.5 3216 2233 Halma 2382 + 52 0.7 34.4
O K Drumzv K … … -6.3
Automobiles & parts 159O 94O EFG-Hermes Hldg 159O + 11O … 9.0 253W 171N NWG 246N + 3X 2.4 12.0 183 96K Clarke T 144K – 2K 3.0 16.2
164 109 Town Centre 156K + 2 2.2 …
1902 1256 Hill & Smith 1506 + 24 1.7 59.5
435 270 EPE Special Oppsv 299 – 5 … 1.2 1900N 1352Y Travis Perkins 1432 + 18K … 20.5
398 272 Numisv 272 + 2 4.4 5.5 262 203 CLS Hldgs 212 … 3.5 13.3 121K 41K Holders Techv 105 … 0.4 …
2201 1114K Aston Martin Lag 1179 + 53 … -3.9
902Y 564N FBD 902Y + 29W … 11.8 249 175Y Tritax Big Box REIT Plc229O + 2V 2.8 5.4
4N 2N Image Scanv 3 … … …
90 67K Fiskev 72K … … 15.0 576 409 Onesavings Bank 552 + 5K 2.6 8.8 571K 294 Countryside Prop 311O + 2 … 22.7
249 175Y Tritax Big Box REIT Plc229O + 2V 2.8 5.4
Banking & finance 83 44K Frenkel Toppingv 82 + 2K 1.6 47.6 N … Origo Partnersv V … … -0.7 73W 16V Craven Housev 16N … … -0.3
124 100K TRITAX EUROBOX PLC 102 – W … …
1838 1260 IMI 1618 + 38 3.0 24.3
725 485 Georgia Capital 665 – 5 … 0.9 … … Inspirit Energyv … … … -5.2
741 566 PayPoint‡ 639 + 11 5.0 20.0 4002 3095 CRH 3706 + 56 2.2 26.9 507 330 Tyman 356 + 4 1.1 13.6
331 226K abrdn 239Y + 2K 6.0 3.6 955 791 Gresham Housev 859 – 21 0.7 34.4
8640 5740 Judges Scientificv 7400 – 100 0.7 46.4
3688 2850 Admiral 3050 + 20 3.8 13.6 325 244 H&T Groupv 292 – 6 2.9 9.3 26 8K PCF Groupv 8K – 2 … -4.0 3802 3116 Derwent London 3202 + 3 2.3 69.4 1346K 842 Vistry Group 1046K + 4 1.9 11.0
88K 26K ADVFNv 70 … … 11.7 65 45W Hansard Global 51K + 2 8.6 14.3 85K 57K LPAv 74K … … 17.4
759O 623W Phoenix Gp 663V + 6 7.1 … 4K 3W Dolphin Capitalv 3Y … … -2.7 176O 122K Warehouse REITv 162 + 2K 3.8 3.8
470 321V AJ Bell 324W + 3K 2.1 30.4
1772 1296K Hargreaves L 1306 + 1 2.9 20.9 839V 395N Meggitt 746 + 1O … 99.4
23580 16369O Aon Corpn 20911W + 212K 0.6 70.6 381K 184 Provident 319O + 6V … -7.3 35K 28K First Propv 32O … 1.3 … 971 700 Workspace Grp 760K – 4 2.3 …
43K 22N Appreciate Groupv 28 – X 3.5 12.2 213Y 142K Helios Underv 165 … 1.8 …
206K 141 Melrose 160K + 8K 0.5 …
1175 820 Arbuthnot Bkgv 940 … … 54.0 563K 359O HSBC 554O – 3W 2.9 13.3 1579N 1207 Prudential 1207 + 30 0.9 16.7 50 32K Fletcher Kingv 39 + 1 … … 750 565 Wynnstay Propsv 690 + 15 3.0 5.0
26K 11 Arden Partnersv 19K … … 4.8 952K 762 IG Group‡ 770K – 5 5.6 7.7 412K 295K Morgan Advanced 321K + 14K 1.7 21.2
3O Y Quantum Blockchain techv2K … … … 74V 37 Foxtons Group 37K – 2W … …
23K 18 Argo Groupv 20 … … 9.2 1482 684 Impaxv‡ 1036 + 51 1.0 34.1
475W
1569N
268K Ashmore Gp
1318Y Aus New Z
275W
1467O
–
–
7V
21
6.1
3.8
8.0
13.3
2379 1731 Intermed Cap 1820 + 31 3.0 10.4
168Y 130N Quilter PLC 141 + 1W 3.2 39.1 206V 120K Galliford Try 178 – 1Y 0.6 19.5 Consumer goods 647 457K Mpacv 540 … … 25.9

240 145 MS Intlv 222 … 1.5 31.7

445K 348K Aviva 438V + 7V 6.1 14.6 155W 79 IPF 126 + 3 1.7 8.8 191 158 Randall & Quilterv 173 + 8 2.2 … 801 527 Genuit Group 533 + 15 0.9 34.3
300K 223N Banco Santander 283 + 1N 0.8 10.2 174O 160W Intl Public Pntshp 162 + V 4.5 50.1 6V 4N Agriterrav 5X – V … -0.6 179 96 Northbrdg Indv 165 – 1 … …
2065 1542 Rathbone Grp 1768 … 4.0 22.1 900 696 Gleeson (MJ) 696 – 8 0.7 11.9
1670 951 Bank of Georgia 1622 + 54 … 5.0 457K 195O Investec 436V – 3W 2.9 10.9 2680 1730 Oxford Inst 2020 – 10 0.8 27.6
36 25 Aireav 30K … … 13.5
217 145Y Barclays 198W + 2Y 1.5 5.4 2N 1V RiverFort Global Oppsv 1N … 1.5 3.8 1412 952K Grafton Gp Uts 1089 + 4 2.4 12.9
316 281 Investment Co 306 – 3 0.9 10.5
K … Blue Star Capitalv W … … 9.2 772 562 Anglo-Eastern 721 + 2 0.1 6.6 4280O 2361 Philips El nv 2486W + 26Y 2.9 26.0
155V 92O IP Group 98X + 2 1.0 3.7 … … Rockwood Realisation … … … … 335 259K Grainger 291K – 1V 1.8 18.1
359 267 BP Marsh&Ptnrsv 332 – 1 0.7 9.1
365 214 Jarvis Securitiesv 285 – 7K 4.6 19.6 420 206 Animalcarev 316 – 16 1.2 … 25K 5X PipeHawkv 22K … … 28.1
128K 17O Braveheart Invv 19K + 2N … 0.5 2950 2140 S & U 2730 + 20 3.3 12.8 734K 709K Gr Portland 709K – 1 1.7 -8.8
406 292 Brewin Dolphin 307 + 3K 4.7 16.7 306K 222K Jupiter Fund Mgmt 222K + O 7.6 9.7 2494 1727 AB Foods 1901 + 23 0.3 31.4 108 66 Pressure Techv 71K – K … -0.7
569 360K Bridgepoint 377K + 13K … … 111W 75Y Just Group 89N + 2O … -6.2 3K 2V Sancus Lending Grpv 2V … … -0.6 44N 20X Hammerson 37O + W 1.0 -2.1
140V 86 Bakkavor Group 127W + 6W 3.1 14.0 6900 4256 Renishaw 4846 + 92 0.2 31.6
94 66 Cenkos Secsv 69 + K 5.0 14.0
725 490V Lancashire Hdgs 532K + K 2.0 21.6 56K 39K Schroder REIT 55K … 4.5 5.9 191 113K Harworth Gp 174 – K 1.0 6.4
314 261 Chesnara 294 + 5K 7.4 9.6 582 466 Barr (AG) 507 – 10 … 18.0 34 14K Renoldv 27K + K … 9.8
307O 250K Legal & Gen 278W + 6W 6.3 8.2
76 46K City of Lon Gpv 62K … … -4.2 3871 3269 Schroders 3269 + 38 3.4 16.5 600 345 Heath (Samuel)v 600 … 1.1 12.4
50073N 514Y Liberty Group 514Y + 16X … 27.3 7N 1X Bidstack Groupv 3O + N … -3.1 147W 87 Rolls-Royce 120N + 2K … 2.6
560 480 City Lon Inv Gp 510 + 8 6.0 13.1
1685 1239 Close Bros 1248 + 5 4.6 9.3 2485 1220 Liontrust 1552 + 44 3.0 19.4 2735 2030 Schroders N/V 2030 … 5.6 10.2 497 359K Helical PLC 401K + 1K 2.5 9.7
200 107K Brand Architektsv 107K – K … -4.5 4 1K Ross Gp 2 … … -5.0
538 221K CMC Markets 222 – K 13.8 6.7 62 42 Livermore Invsv 47K … 7.4 3.0 1731K 1174 St James Place 1514 + 11K 3.2 40.0 1000 695 Highcroft Invs 1000 … 5.1 6.7 3426 2485K Brit Amer Tob 3426 + 17 6.1 12.7
752 405N Commerzbk 731 + 11 … -3.9 376K 318K Rotork 318K + W 3.2 28.9
55V 37 Lloyds Bkg Gp 52X + Y 1.0 8.1
1213K 742V Deutsche Bk 1177N + 10N … 16.1 571W 410 Stand Chart 552 + 1O 1.6 13.4 242W 185 Ibstock 193V + 1V 0.8 24.1 1006 806K Britvic 902K + 19 3.1 23.3
37O 30Y LMS Capital 34 … 2.6 14.7 217 158 SDI Groupv 174 + 4 … 28.7
327Y 264 Direct Line Ins 308X + 4 7.1 11.6
59K 53 Downing ONE VCT‡ 58 … 4.3 7.8 9910 6502 Lond Stk Ex Gp 6930 + 56 1.0 63.9 21K 12K Starvestv 14 … … 0.8 314 243K James Halsteadv 256 – 11 3.2 26.8 2264 1715K Burberry Grp 1979 + 16 2.1 17.0
181 98N Senior 149V – 1V … …
298 205O C&C Grp 223V + 4V … …
82K 65O Severfield 71 – 2 4.0 12.6

Investment companies 20K 7O Capital Metalsv 7O – N … -2.0

16K 8W Six Hundredv 12K … … 73.1
167K 124K Carr's Grp 149 – 2 3.2 18.4
2047 1508O SKF B 1516Y + 20X 3.6 11.4
12 month Price Yld Dis(-) 12 month Price Yld Dis(-)
705 437K Character Grpv 630 … 1.4 11.2
High Low Company (p) +/- % or Pm High Low Company (p) +/- % or Pm 270 190 Slingsby (HC)v 230 … … 3.8
2025 1320 Churchill Chinav 1505 + 5 … …
1661 1355K Smiths 1556 + 15K 3.0 39.8
1477 1069 3I Group 1343K + 21K 3.2 7.0 203 174 Invesco BondInc 179 – 2 5.7 -2.8 2784 2238 Coca Cola HBC 2464 + 59 … 19.9
357 287 3i Infrastructure 337K + 1 3.5 17.6 176 154 IPST Bal 163 – 2K … -3.2 1405 725 Solid Statev‡ 1185 – 5 1.3 28.5
705 420 Colefaxv 705 … … 15.6
104K 91 Abrdn Div I&G 101O + 1N 4.5 -16.5 250 206 IPST Gbl Eq 242 – 2 2.8 -1.4 598 350 Somero Enterv 490 + 2 4.4 12.3
1622O 1207 Aberforth Smlr 1412 + 4 2.1 -11.0 104Y 101 IPST Managed 102 … 0.9 -4.5 4148 3348 Cranswick 3714 + 4 1.8 19.6
1084Y 868 Alliance 991 + 14 1.5 -6.0 199Y 160 IPST UK Eq 192K + 4K 3.3 -4.3 4083 3017 Spectris 3321 + 39 3.3 16.7
228K 174O Devro 219 + 1 6.9 13.4
604 477O Asia Dragon Tr 489 + 9 1.2 -9.6 664 512O IP UKSmallerCos 560 + 6 1.1 -12.4 17135 10710 Spirax-Sarco + 205 0.9 43.8
12185
260 180 Athelney Trust 235 … 3.5 -15.1 770 567 JPM American 732 + 11 0.9 -2.6 4103K 2812K Diageo 3680K + 48K 1.9 32.4
1118 195 AVI Global Trust 198K + 1V 1.4 -7.3 550 404O JPM Asia 435K + K 4.3 -0.8 78 42K Surface Trsfmsv 50 – K … …
3 1N Distilv 1K … … 37.5
652 326K Baillie Gifford Ch Gr 339K + K 2.0 -3.5 875Y 423K JPM Chinese 442 + 2 4.9 -0.9
2Y 1Y Tanfieldv 2N … … -6.2
171 113 Baillie Gifford Eu Gr 118 + 3 0.2 -5.8 952 628 JPM Claverhs 732 + 6 2.8 -0.5 908 577K Evans (M.P.)v 820 – 22 2.6 13.6
1136 815 Baillie Gifford Jpn Tr 855 + 2 0.6 -2.4 105 100 JPM Elect Mg C 102K … 0.3 -0.4 520 321 Thorpe FWv 450 – 4 1.2 33.2
102 70O Finsbury Foodv 88 – K … 9.4
269V 167Y Baillie Gifford SN 177W + 2O … -1.1 1115N 930 JPM Elect Mg G 1015 – 20 1.5 -2.3
6Y 2O TP Groupv 2O … … -4.1
257 194W Baillie Gifford UK Gr 200 + 2K 1.1 -6.1 111 87 JPM Elect Mg I 108 … 4.3 -1.2 12220 7740 Games Workshop‡ 7955 + 135 2.9 21.4
150K 104 Bankers 114V + V 1.8 -0.9 152Y 116W JPM Em Mkts 119O + 1W 1.0 -7.5 122K 53K Transense Techv 68K + 1K … 71.3
1284N 828N Glanbia 1039N – 5W 2.2 20.9
3950 3200 BH Macro 3880 + 50 … 9.3 394V 300K JPM Eur IT Gth 363 – 2 1.3 -8.3
170O 117N Greencore 138V + X … 27.6 3370 1856 Ultra Electrncs 2880 + 56 3.3 21.1
1724 874O Biotech Growth 961 + 20 … -1.1 168 128N JPM Eur IT Inc 154N – 1O 3.7 -9.2
118 85 BlckRck Com Inc 115O + O 3.7 1.3 588 444 JPM Euro disc 469 + 11 1.2 -13.0 590 414 Vesuvius 439W + 4K 3.9 19.3
536 394 Headlam 425 + 3 0.4 25.0
140 112O BlckRck Fro Inv 131K + 2K 3.6 -8.9 159K 137X JPM GEMI 145K + 1K 3.2 -9.6
732 514 BlckRck Grt Euro 582 + 10 1.0 2.4 475 381N JPM GG&I 459 + 4 3.3 2.1 1240 1004 Hilton Food 1024 – 12 2.1 21.3 1615 964 Vitec 1300 + 20 0.3 39.1
200 158 BlckRck Inc & Gwth 187K + K 3.5 -7.6 865 670 JPM Indian 795 + 19 … -16.0 59 37W Hornbyv 44 … … … 493K 269K Volexv 288 + 18K 1.1 15.7
410 310 BlckRck Latin Am 380 + 6 5.1 -6.9 568W 375O JPM Jap Sml Co 393 + 5 5.1 -5.2
209 161 BlckRck Sustain Amer 200 + K 3.8 -4.7 732 527 JPM Japan# 536 – 2 0.9 -1.6 1799K 1333 Imperial Brands 1799K + 18K 7.6 6.0 2046 1600K Weir 1710 + 35K … 29.1
2230N 1637N BlckRck Smlr 1842 + 50 1.7 -6.7 1585V 1080 JPM Mid Cap 1192K + 17K 2.2 -10.3 1Y X J Lewis Hfordv 1X … … 16.7 5700 4470 XP Power 4715 + 120 1.9 25.1
1046 758 BlckRck Throgmorton 818 + 12 1.2 0.6 110N 87N JPM Multi-asset G&I 106 – K 3.7 -0.9
699V 492 BlckRck Wld Min 688 – 3 3.9 0.4 894 590 JPM Russian 684 + 24 4.6 -11.0 10897X 8446Y Kerry Gp 9037V + 159K 0.8 32.8 195 138 Zytronicv 138 – 2 … …
33 13 Blue Plan Int Fn# 15K … 2.5 -21.9 478W 340 JPM Smllr Co 349K + 5K 1.4 -10.9 94K 47N McBride 48Y + 1K 2.2 6.2
341 284 BMO Cap&Inc 322K + 3K 3.5 -1.8 375 227 Keystone IT 244 … 4.2 -3.1
118K 1V BMO Comm Prop 110O – 1 3.3 -11.1 829 692 Law Debenture 820 + 8 3.5 3.5 407 219 Mulberry Groupv 300 … … 12.4 Health
175V 144V BMO Glbl Smaller 159 + 1O 1.0 -8.1 1450 133 Lowland 136 + 1 4.1 -6.3 1640 1080 Nicholsv 1465 + 15 2.5 53.3
500 280 BMO Priv Eq Ord 482 + 3 3.1 -17.9 253V 198 Majedie 207 + 1K 4.3 -20.0
96V 68V BMO Real Estate 90W + 1K 3.0 -26.8 437 336 M Currie Port 350 + 3 1.1 … 341 209 Norcros 286 … 2.8 9.0 1750 1200 Abcamv 1288 + 30 … …
101 82 BMO UK HIT 91K … 5.5 -4.4 130 99 Marwyn Val In 116K … 5.0 -35.2 334O 276V Origin Entsv 323N … 0.8 12.7 341 222K AdvancedMedicalv 287 + 15 0.5 45.1
108 85K BMO UK HIT B 91 … … -4.9 294K 232 Mercantile IT 240 + 1 2.4 -9.0
37 28K STM Groupv 31 … 4.5 11.9 1028 751 Keller 829 + 10 6.8 11.3 72 46 Pittardsv 65K + K … 69.6 38K 18N Allergy Therapv 24 + N … 55.8
408 336 BMO UK HIT UNIT 362 … 3.0 -5.4 591 437N Merchants 581 + 4 4.7 1.3
1535 1170 Brown Advsr US Smlr1255 + 12K … -8.9 870 680 Mid Wynd 782 + 4 0.8 2.1 4282O 3553W Sun Life Can 3984Y + 24Y 3.2 11.1
9011N 4497V Kingspan Group 7617O + 329V 0.2 34.6 710 545 Portmeirionv 660 … … 28.1 114V 82 Allnce Pharmav 106 + O 1.5 31.4
1135 848 Brunner 1080 + 25 1.7 -8.5 1490 1088 Monks Inv Tst 1156 + 22 0.1 -4.8 5O 1O Tavistock Invv 5O – N 0.8 0.9
4085 2118 Caledonia Inv 3610 + 10 1.3 -24.1 2170 159X Montanaro Eur Sml 168 – V 0.5 1.0 813V 607 Land Sec 795W + 6K 4.2 … 1 X Provexisv Y … … 0.4 139 75V Anglev 95W + 1Y … …
1656 974 TBC Bank Group 1630 + 64 2.1 5.3
203 174 Invesco BondInc 179 – 2 5.7 -2.8 959K 818 Murray Income Trust 882 + 16 3.2 -6.8 274K 187W PZ Cussons 204 + 1 2.8 24.3
105 99O LIFE SCIENCE REITv 102 – K … … 715 537K Anpariov 615 … 1.3 32.3
417 353W City of Lon IT 412 + 3 4.7 1.9 1240 1038 Murray Int 1196 + 6 4.4 -6.1 30N 7X Ternv 11 – N … …
122 97 Crystal Amber Fd 107 + 2K 8.8 -21.8 98X 81X Nb Global Floating 87Y – X 4.8 -5.5 18K 8K Lon & Assoc 14K – 1 … -1.9 159 50 REA 145K – 1 … … … … Aqua Bounty … … … …
31O 20K Time Financev 25N … … 13.6
523O 322X Dunedin Entp 496 + 1 3.2 -11.5 376 307N Pacific Assets 348K + 7K 0.6 -5.2 4N 1K Real Gd Fdv 2W … … 0.2
262K 126O TP ICAP PLC 131W – Y 5.3 19.4 285V 206V London Metric Prop 260 – K 3.3 5.5 9444 6794 AstraZeneca 8865 + 484 2.3 …
653K 546 Edinburgh IT 646 + 11 4.1 -7.8 3713 300 Pantheon Int 314 + 9K … -26.6
217V 160N Virgin Money UK‡ 212 + … 6.4 705 500 Tandemv 580 + 5 1.4 8.0
425 209K Edin Wwide 239 + 5 … -3.9 3125 2425 Pershing Sq 2745 – 5 0.7 -29.9 X 70K 43 Macau Prop Op 46 + W … … 46 23Y Circassia Groupv 38W – V … -8.0
130 50 Electra Pte Eq 51 – 3 … -89.3 51166 43840O Personal Assets 49150 + 150 1.1 1.0 815O 629W Tate & Lyle 755K + 11V 4.0 16.1
1500 1190 Volverev 1190 – 10 … … 262K 166O Convatec Group 180N + 2O 2.2 36.6
300 270 EP Global Opp 294K + 4K 1.8 -11.1 2760Y 2015 Polar Cap Tech 2330 + 26 … -7.6 845 635K Marshalls 681 + 11 0.6 28.7
58K 45K WH Irelandv 45K … … 25.5 1315 880 Treatt‡ 998 + 14 0.6 40.0
152 116Y European Assets 119K + 1K 6.2 -1.6 203 150 Prem Glb & Inf 170K … 4.1 -10.3 134 63 Creighton 69 – 2 1.6 13.2
239 191 McKay Secs 229K + 1K 3.6 15.1
891 594 European Opp Tr 722 + 13 0.2 -11.2 137O 118O Renewables Inf 128W + O 6.0 12.4 36K 25K Walker Crips Grp 32K … 2.3 92.8 5O 3K Ukrproduct Gpv 3K – O … -2.3
5405 3272 Dechra Pharma 3886 + 124 0.9 76.1
945K 549 F&C Investment Tr 871 + 11 1.3 -7.6 3635N 2075N RIT Cap Ptnr 2590 + 25 … -8.2 162K 118 Michelmershv 123 … 2.0 17.2
4337N 2402Y Wells Fargo 4320V + 41O 0.8 13.8 5097 4250 Unilever (NV) 4565K + 7 2.3 25.8
510 415 Fidlty Asian Val 470 + 6 1.7 -7.4 588 253 Riverstone 565 – 9 … -29.4 2N 1V Deltex Medicalv 1N … … …
1431K 1071N Westpac 1218 – 42O 3.9 16.5 2685 1438 Morgan Sindall 2195 + 35 2.7 13.7
503 233K Fidelity China Sp 304 + 3 1.4 -2.0 551 467 Schroder TotRt 485 + 2 1.4 0.8 4360 3516K Unilever 3835 + 25 3.7 21.6
950 759 Fdlty Emer Mkts 814 + 24 1.5 -10.3 686N 554 Schrd Asia Pac 576 + 6 1.5 -9.2 48W 19X e-Therapeuticsv 33K + K … …
31X 24K Worsley Investors Ltd 28X – X … 89.6 14750 10900 Mountview 14000 + 300 3.0 17.4 1210 700 Victoriav 900 … … …
343 263K Fidlty Euro Val 317 + 5K 2.0 -3.9 323 277 Schrod Inc Gwth 312 + 4 4.2 0.9 395 152 Eco Animal Hlthv 176 + 3K 0.5 21.3
35883X 28192 Zurich Fincl 35523W + 167K 4.4 15.2 106O 71O NewRiver REIT 91 + N 3.3 -3.1
268W 154K Fidlty Jap Tru 188K + K … -3.2 231 193K Schrod Jap Gwth 213K + 4K 1.8 -10.3
312 240K Fidlty Spec Val 307 + 5K 2.2 0.8 809 592 Schrod UKMid 622 + 8 2.0 -12.4 85 56W EKF Diagnosticsv 56W – K 1.7 15.9
290 190 Palace Capital 253K + 1K 4.3 12.1 Engineering
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124K Greencoat UK Wind 140O
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6070 3456 Genus 3456 + 46 0.8 48.0

1707O 1190O GlaxoSmKline 1597O + 26K 5.0 18.7

248 193Y Hansa Investment 210 … 1.0 -32.3 235 183X Secs Tst Scot 218 + 3 2.5 -3.5 3582 916 Avon Rubber‡ 1140 – 10 2.5 …
17K 4X Pires Investmentsv 6O – V … …
238 192 Hansa Inv Co 'A' 210 … 0.7 -32.3 114K 101 Sequoia Eco 102 + O 6.2 0.1 277K 158 Alumascv 210 – 2K 2.5 10.1 2V X Gunsyndv O … … 1.9
380V 228N Babcock 308W + 7W … -1.9
2870 1926 Hbrvest Glbl Pt Eq 2755 + 25 … -21.0 1279N 955 Temple Bar 1264 + 10 2.9 -2.3 425 20 Plaza Cent 200 + 50 … -0.4
22O 15V Aseana Props 15V – N … -7.5 2690 1975K Hikma Pharms 1975K + 29K 1.8 13.5
1687X 150O Hend Euro Foc 157 + 2 1.9 -7.3 216 169W Tplton Emg Mkt 176 + 1 1.9 -9.4 608 465N BAE Sys 602V + 2V 6.2 10.9
79O 61K Assura Grp 61K – K 4.7 12.3 169K 133K Primary Hlth‡ 133K … 3.4 12.5
189K 148N Hend High Inc 179O + 3O 5.5 -1.4 Y N Tiger Royal and Invv N … … 52.7 2400 1950 Braime A N/Vv 2150 – 100 0.5 24.2 624 352 Hutchmed Chinav 393 + 15 … …
1378 1070 Hend Smlr 1084 + 2 1.9 -8.8 526 339Y TR Property 476 + 3 2.9 -0.7 2N 1W Aukett Swankev 2N … … -5.4 36K 26 Raven Property 29 + 2 … 2.6
2600 1900 Braime Groupv 1970 – 30 0.6 22.2 380 182 Immunodiag Sysv 378 … 0.5 …
2670 1920 Herald 2010 + 36 … -15.9 83 68V Troy Inc&Gth 75K + 1N 1.8 -1.9
322O 233O Balfour Beatty 245K + O 0.6 26.9 126 105K Raven Property Gr 109K + 4 … …
445 308 HgCapital Trust 435 + 15 1.2 0.7 286O 220 Utilico Ord 246 – 3 2.2 -32.7 600 345 Caffyns 600 … … 8.7 10 5 ImmuPharmav 6K … … -2.0
177K 158X HICL Infra 172V + O 5.3 9.6 229 190 Utilico Emerging Mkt 219 + 4 3.3 -11.5 794O 602W Barratt Devs 621 + 2V 1.2 9.7
42O 31N Real Estate Invsv 40 … 8.1 -8.6 261K 118O Indivior 227O + 8K … 15.3
286 240 Highbridge Tactical 265 + 7 … -0.7 144N 133 UtilFin RdZDP 2022 143K … … 1.9 3712 2770 Bellway 2957 – 16 2.8 9.3 12 5 Cap XX Ldv 5W … … …
1300 954 ICG Ent Tr 1220 + 38 1.6 -27.4 783 574 Vietnam Ent Inv 759 + 9 … -16.2 718O 545 Redrow 620O + 2 0.9 8.4 150 96 Inspiration Healthv 97 – K 0.6 14.9
5352W 4066 Berkeley 4066 – 17 0.2 10.5 420 344 Castings 354 + 4 4.3 17.1
584K 414K Impax Env Mkts 449 + 9 0.8 3.4 324O 219K Witan 239 + 2 2.1 -5.4
1724 1053 Big Yellow Group 1426 – 4 2.3 9.3 1418 735K Safestore 1261 – 4 1.4 10.8 13O 5V Chamberlinv 5W … … -0.4 111 45K IXICOv 49 + K … 15.7
424K 328 Invesco Asia Tr 355K + 4K 4.1 -11.0 3965 2965 Ww Health 3125 + 25 0.6 -4.6
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 47

Equity prices Business

12 month Price 12 month Price 12 month Price 12 month Price 12 month Price 12 month Price
High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E

346W 275O Mediclinic Int 339W + 2 … 21.2 4V W Catenaev W … … -0.9 39 21 Edenville Energyv 21 … … -1.4 K V Tertiary Mineralsv V … … -6.3 862 510 Robert Walters 690 + 6 2.2 29.4 117K 68K Intercedev 76K … … 26.3

12K 3 N4 Pharmav 3 … … -2.9 1146 269 Daily Mail‡ 270 – 2K 8.9 10.3 9 3K Empyrean Energyv 7N + 1 … … 1V W Thor Miningv X … … -5.2 20 10 Roebuck Food Grpv 19 … … 2.9 337 140 Iomartv 160 + 2K 4.4 17.5

86.92 73.01 Novartis CHF80.09 + 0.90 3.8 19.9 130 80V RPS Group 110V + V … 36.3 81O 29N IQEv 37V + 2W … …
220 137K DCD Mediav 185 … … 9.2 27N 13W EnQuest 20O – N … -2.2 4413O 2862Y Total Eng SE 4351 + 34W 5.3 14.4
99K 5W Omega Diagsv 5W … … -2.0 217 118 K3 Business Tchv 175 + 1 … -2.9
61 19V Ebiquityv 57 … … … K V Tower Resourcesv N … … -5.8 65 35K RTC Groupv 41K … … 10.8
36K 15 Eurasia Miningv 21N + 1O … …
15 9W Ovoca Biov 11K – 2K … -3.2 2717N 1762K LG Electronics‡ 1834 + 44N 2.0 5.1
1108 890 Euromoney In Inv‡ 940 – 2 1.2 … 64Y 30W Tullow Oil 49V – 2K … 4.9 696K 482 RWS Hldgsv‡ 482 + 7 1.8 34.9
2 1 Europa Oil&Gasv 1X … … …
1634 788 Oxford Biomedica 788 + 25 … 35.4 O N Location Sciencesv N … … -1.6
3910 1694 Future 2850 + 56 … 49.0 N … UK Oil & Gasv … … … -0.4 490 310 Science Groupv 385 + 10 1.5 16.5
698V 330K Evraz 330K + 15 15.3 4.3 587K 333 Micro Focus Intl 422V – 12K 2.6 -0.9
8W 5V Physiomicsv 5N … … …
535 155 URU Metalsv 175 … … 5.6 145O 119 Serco Gp 128K + V 1.0 5.4
1660 1180 GlobalDatav 1310 … 1.3 2.9 501 233V Ferrexpo 284W + 8 5.0 2.2 90K 59 MTI Wirelessv 62 – 1 2.9 20.2
9Y 3X Proteome Sciesv 4X + N … 35.7
12 1N Vast Resv 1W … … -0.4 45W 28 Smiths News 35V … 1.4 3.4
152 83V Hyve Group 111K + 2 … -2.4 29O 15 Nanoco Gp 19X – K … …
6801 5391 Reckitt Benck 5877 – 28 2.9 … 1030K 623V Fresnillo 642O – 23 2.8 10.7
6V 2O Victoria Oil&Gasv 4V … … -1.9 4305 3318 Smurfit Kappa 4040 + 108 4.1 20.6
622 94 IG Design Grpv 110 – 1 7.9 16.1 88 59K Netcallv 69K – 2 0.3 …
171K 53K RUA Life Sciencesv 57K … … -5.5 … … G3 Exploration# 28 … … -2.6
18 2X W Resourcesv 2X – 1N … -0.3 92O 49W Staffline Gpv 54O + N … … 77 57K Northamberv 62K … 0.9 50.4
40K 11Y Immedia Grpv 19O … … -5.1
9V 1K Sareum Hldgsv 3W + V … … 43 14 Galantas Goldv 31K … … -5.3
19K 5N Westmount Engyv 7N … … … 602 326K SThree 481K + 20 1.0 22.1 106K 27K Online Blockchainv 41K … … …
1600 1197 Smith & Neph 1217K + 11K 2.2 26.6 624 464W Informa 624 + 15K … …
11 4 GCM Resourcesv 7K – W … -5.0
150 90 Synecticsv 92K … … -4.6 126K 90 Oxford Metricsv‡ 112K … 1.6 48.9
132K 102K ITV 122X + 1O … 13.6 330K 177O Wood Grp (J) 236 – 3W … -9.7
254K 146K Spire Hcare 240 … … …
78W 44V Gem Diamonds 51 + W 3.5 3.6 29 17N Thruvision Groupv 25X … … -9.3 13K 6N Parityv 7N … … …
16K 6N Jaywingv 10K – K … … 7X 3Y Woodboisv 4N … … 16.3
212K 98 Synairgenv 174 – Y … -7.6
37 18K Getechv 26K … … -6.3 110 88O Tribalv 95 + 2K 1.1 28.7 50 26 Pennant Intlv 35 … … …
O W Tissue Regenixv W … … -5.3 8N 3 Live Company Gpv 5V – V … -1.0 7Y 3V Xtract Resourcesv 6W … … …
427 268O Glencore 427 + 4Y 1.0 36.8 117K 63K Vianetv 86K … … … 770 351 Playtech 653 + 9 … 6.8
43N 28K Totallyv‡ 34K … 1.4 54.7 V … Mediazestv … … … -2.8 7O 2 Zephyr Energyv 5 … … -6.5
1060 770 Vp 925 – 5 2.7 22.7 356 243 QinetiQ 254W – O 4.4 19.8
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680 400 Tristelv‡ 427K – 2K 1.5 67.6 75 41 Merit Grpv 45K – 1 … … 49 10K Zoltav Resourcev 10K – 4K … -2.0
255 160 RM 160 – 1K 1.8 11.5
91988W 869O Gold Fields 869O – 31V 2.5 11.3 6V 2O Westminsterv 2Y – V … -3.5
55N 17O ValiRxv 28O – N … … 82K 60 Miradav 68 … … -2.9 853O 558K Sage Gp 683K + 1V 2.5 26.2

89K 54K Mission Groupv 61 … 2.5 65.5

8 6X Goldplatv 7O + V … 5.8
Professional & 12 7Y Seeing Machinesv 8W + V … …
Industrials 305W 187K Moneysupermarket 188K + K 6.2 17.9
14K 8V Goldstone Resv 8V + V … …
support services Retailing 215 91 Shearwater Grpv 93K … … 57.9
24 12K Greatld Gldv 13O + K … … 6K 4N SimiGonv 5O … … -2.6
2029Y 1533W News Corp A 1705 + 57N 0.8 27.7 332W 90 AO World 95Y + K … …
188 137 Accsys Techv 153 – 5N … … 153K 80O Griffin Miningv 88N + 3N … 9.7 3170 2250 4imprint Grp 2740 … … … 182K 65V Smartspace S'warev 73K + 7K … -7.6
1905O 1545V News Corp B 1725W + 53Y 0.8 28.0 5918 2045 Asosv 2045 + 22 … 16.2
6115 4874K BASF 5727V + 146V 4.9 11.3 610 480 Andrews Sykesv 491 … 4.7 15.7 2240 1427 Softcat 1567 + 18 1.4 32.5
242K 143 Gulf Keystone‡ 207K – 4 4.0 12.9
1340 622 Next 15 Commsv 1185 + 5 0.5 … 644 520 B&M European 579V + 11W 2.9 13.4
4825X 3727 Bayer DM50 4526Y + 94Y 3.7 -6.8 300V 228K Spirent Comms 239 + 2K 1.8 24.8
647V 310 Harbour Energy 355 – 12O … … 6450 3872 Ashtead 4920 + 79 0.8 26.2
869W 571O Pearson 630 + 4O 3.1 17.0 77O 36O Brown (N)v 37X – K … 11.0
505 190 Biome Techv 250 + 5 … -6.1 48K 30 SRT Marinev 45N + N … …
48 15O Harland & Wolff Group Holdingsv16K … … 1.3 74 26O Asimilar Groupv 30K … … 1.8
78O 46K Photo-Me 76 + K 11.1 8.5 95K 31 Card Factory 55Y – X … … 960N 725O Tele. Ericsson 922 + 5N 1.8 17.9
7K 3N Byotrolv 3N … … …
227O 100 Hochschild 102V – O 4.4 11.7 2300 775 AssetCov 1505 … … 4.7
7N 5K Camb Gbl Timberv 6K … … -7.3 5 3N Primorus Invv 3W … … 6.1 2770 1664 CVS Groupv 1884 + 82 … 69.5 92K 60 Touchstarv 82 – 1K … …
12V 5O Horizonte Minrlsv 5O … … … 53K 29K Avisenv 44K … … …
79O 56 Coats Grp 64 + 2 1.4 15.3 136 67K Quarto 131 … … 7.2 300 211K DFS Furn 226 – 1 … 6.6 1100 640 Tracsisv 963 – 10 … …
148K 102K Begbies Traynorv 117 + 1 2.5 …
10410 6082 Croda 7418 + 94 1.2 41.0 420 203 Reach 251K + 10K 1.6 … 24Y 10Y Hummingbird Resv 14O + N … … 1551 1238 Dunelm 1286 – 1 0.9 20.4 27 14K Trakm8v 22K … … …
292 222K Blancco Techv 227 + 2 … … 165 72K Triad Grp 137K + 5 1.4 15.0
1575 1075 Cropper (James)v 1400 … … 42.6 3X 1N REACT Grpv 2 … … 50.6 289K 144W Hunting 248 – 3 1.7 -9.4 813K 448O Frasers Group 701K + 14 … 31.1
2968 2150 Bunzl 2712 + 48 3.3 19.9 502 260 Wandiscov 288 + 7 … -5.3
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42K 26 Hardidev 28K – O … -6.4 800W 555O Rightmove 638V + 15W 0.7 36.1 1W W Independ Resv W … … -0.4 435 261 Halfords 304V + V 1.6 10.1
51K 29 CEPSv 51K … … … 258K 127 Xaar 209 + 1 … …
3300 1761K Johnson Math 1813K + 48 3.8 22.8 975K 688W Howden Join 757V + 1O 1.2 17.6
16K 8K SpaceandPeoplev 12K – 1 … -2.2 237 188K Indus Gasv 237 … … 24.5
136 89 Christie Groupv 112K … … 47.8 17N 9V Yourgenev 9V … … -6.3
2068 1719K Mondi 1904 + 39K 4.1 18.5 933 688K Inchcape 869 + 11 0.7 46.7
377K 310 STV Group 356 + 6K 1.6 8.5 1V K Ironveldv 1V + N … … 151 92K Zoo Digitalv 129K – 1K … …
169 80 Robinsonv 80 … 10.6 … 1814K 1403 Compass‡ 1814K + 33 … 90.7
10 5V IQ-AI 5V … … …
467 175 System1 Groupv 375 … … 17.9 640 239W ITM Powerv 265 + 15K … …
462N 358N Smith (DS) 373K + 7K 3.2 21.2 567K 320 CPPGroupv 365 … 6.8 … 234 156V JD Sports 168O + N 0.1 20.4
604 401 Swire Pacific 455W – 2O 3.4 …
3244K 2330N 21st Cent Fox Inc A 3199N + 43X 1.0 14.4 21Y 12Y Jubilee Metalsv 16N – W … 9.1
93K 66 Croma Securityv 87K … 2.2 13.2 376W 263O Kingfisher 320X + 2K 2.5 8.2
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3043N 2250Y 21st Cent Fox Inc B 2910V + 44N 1.2 13.1 6K 2 Karel Diamd Resv 2N … … -3.1
28 14N Symph Environv 19N – 1N … … 6614 5506 DCC 6314 – 44 2.5 20.8 98K 33O Lookers 94 – Y … 5.1
6V … Vela Techv … … … 7.2 315 189 AdEPT Technologyv 205 … … …
564 311O Synthomer 311O – O 3.7 6.1 2W X KEFI Gold and Copperv X … … -2.9
207 111 De La Rue 117K – W … 15.4 256Y 129W Marks Spencer 192N + K … …
246 162 Wilmington 245 – 9 0.8 … 205K 122O BT Group 197O + 5 … 19.2
2727V 1908N Takeda Pharm 2226Y – 8Y 5.3 11.1 488 382 Kenmare Res 435 + 6 1.6 12.7
940 511 Dignity 645 – 5 … 18.9 … … Morrison (W) … … … … 159V 96O Currys plc 102N + 1 … 4.8
13K 4 Velocysv 5O … … -7.3 1217K 824W WPP 1217 + 23K 1.9 30.9 82W 30 Lamprell 31 – 1Y … -2.6 3460 2318 Diploma 2686 + 58 1.5 48.0 19X 11K Mothercarev 18W … … … 2335 1510 Gamma Commsv 1538 + 16 0.7 21.5
2706 1961 Victrex‡ 1980 … 3.0 23.5 86 55 Zinc Mediav 86 … … -1.3
37K 20N Landore Resv 25N … … -5.7 1262 610 Discoverie PLC 849 + 6 1.2 69.5 888 460K Naked Winesv 460K + 16K … … 189 146K Helios Towers 154 + 3K … …
600 432K Wynnstay Groupv 540 – 10 2.7 17.1 1N W Lansdowne O&Gv W … … … 68K 43K Driver Groupv 43K – 1 1.7 24.1 8426 7074 Next 7074 – 84 … 15.5 7975 3230 Just Eat T'away 3230 + 27 … …
494 355 Zotefoams 372 – K 1.6 22.3 Natural resources 29K 18 Leeds Groupv 18K … … -3.0 127 78 DWF‡ 116 + 1O 3.8 … 2661 1225 Ocado Gp 1363 + 62K … … X V Mobile Streamsv W … … -6.5

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5N V Advance Energyv N … … -0.2 142W 106Y Vodafone Gp 138Y + 2N 5.5 …
2K 1V Metals Explornv 1N … … 2.1 3667 2273 Experian 2937 + 72 1.1 37.6 456 246V Saga 311W + 9 … …
478 244V 888 Hldgs 270V – 1W 3.6 86.8 72W 31W AFC Energyv 36W + 2Y … …
X N Nostra Terrav W … … -2.3 13305 8374 Ferguson 11115 + 160 2.9 18.2 340 221N Sainsbury J 281K + 4N 3.7 23.6
992 470 Accesso Techv 748 + 16 … … … … Afentra PLC … … … …
15 4K Nostrum O&G 4K – 1K … … 265 200 FIH Groupv 235 … … … 2016 1311 Smith WH 1655 + 63K … …
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127K 95 Celticv 105 … … -7.8 W … Oilexv V … … … 310 194K Braemar Ship 256 – 1 1.9 8.4
122V 81K Alumina 107V – 2 3.8 32.9
568 308 Hargeaves Servv 493 + 3 1.4 7.1 315 103 Studio Retail Group# 115 – 2K … 2.4
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3Y 1N Amur Mins Corpv 3N + V … … 2W O Ormonde Miningv Y … … -3.8
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1094710X 9180N Anglo Amer Plat 9180N – 258W 2.5 6.8 38K 9Y Orosur Miningv 11K + N … …
16915 10030 Flutter Ent 11055 – 75 … … 88V 32K Ince Gv 32K + K … 18.4 75K 59 Topps Tiles 63Y + 1Y … 11.5 105X 73 FirstGroup 104Y + 1K … 24.9
3524K 2470K Ang Am 3516 – 101K 2.0 8.9 23V 15V Pan African Resv 19N – W 3.4 6.8
47 27N Gaming Realmsv 27N + N … … 6198 4775 Intertek 5246 + 82 2.0 31.8 1270 289K Fisher (James) 411K + 1K 1.9 -4.2

400 290 Heavitreev 290 … … …

160 105 Anglo Asian Mngv 111 + 2K 5.2 9.6 136V 22X Pantheon Resv 136V + 11O … …
383K 258O IWG 284 + 5 … -4.8 Technology 217O 125O Intl Cons Air 172W + 7K … -3.0

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137 82K Journeov 109 + 1 … 37.7
5N 3K Ariana Resv 3K + V … 4.8 170 128K Aferian plcv 146K … 1.2 49.1 328V 213K Natl Express 280 + 2O … -6.0
5336 4399 Intercont Htls 5100 + 48 … … 4000 60K Petra Diamonds 96 + 5K … 0.4
133 64N Kier Gp 97V + 1 … 8.5
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1365 880 Latham (J)v 1240 … 1.7 6.7 606W 404 Royal Mail 437Y + 7Y 2.2 5.0
337K 215 Mitch & Butlers 255K – 1K … … 6N 3O Armadale Capv 4 + V … … 8K 2K Petro Matadv 3Y – W … … 29V 18 Allied Minds 18 – V … -1.6
1085 585 Lok'n Storev 1005 + 15 1.3 90.5 606W 404 ROYAL MAIL PLC 437Y + 7Y 2.2 5.0
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163O 82V Petrofac 113K – 1K … -2.9 2900 2220 Lon Securityv 2900 + 150 2.7 16.0 108 65K Stagecoach 99N + 1 … 13.9
1774 1274 PPHE Hotels 1380 – 24 … -6.1 626W 420 Avast 624O – 1 1.8 30.8
446 270 Atalaya Minev 446 + 6 … 6.2 4K 1V Petroneft Resv 3V … … -9.4 490 235 LSL Prop Services 409 + 12 … 11.3 27K 19K Sutton Harbourv 24K + K … …
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145 82K Macfarlane 125 + 1 2.0 14.8
139K 73X Restaurant Gp 103W + 3V … 10.8 235 175 Bangov 191K … … …
17K 3X Beowulf Miningv 15K + N … … 5565 3729 Wizz Air Hldgs 4549 + 223 … …
6N 3K Phoenix Globalv 4Y + W … -1.2 385 305 Maintel Hldgsv 310 – 5 … 14.5
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1729 1048K Polymetal Intl 1129K – 2 8.3 6.6 224 150 Mears Group 214 … … 49.4
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1Y 1 CloudCoCo Groupv 1X … … -4.4 78Y 45W Centrica 77K – V … 5.6
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305 35 Tintra PLCv 225 + 30 … -3.9 6N 1W Prospex Energyv 4V … … -5.5 77N 52V Mitie Gp 62N + K … 31.1
3030 2086 Computacenter 2770 + 26 1.8 17.4 210 181 ContourGlobal 185O + 5V 6.5 …
307X 190N TUI 288N + 12K … -1.5 7O 2O BowLevenv 3N … … -4.4
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6K 1O Webis Holdingsv 3V … … 22.7 410N 257O BP 397N – 3N 3.9 16.5 65 32K Newmark Secv 32K … … …
6W 2N Providence Resv 2X … … 24.1 14Y 8Y Corerov 12 + 1 … … 627K 517K Jersey Electricity 620 … 2.5 16.3
1404 811 Wetherspoon JD 911 + 18 … -6.1 31 16Y Cadence Minv 20N … … 2.0 10N 4K Norm Broadbentv 8 … … …
6N 1X Quadrise Fuels Intlv 1X … … -4.7 2830 1725 Cranewarev 1750 … 1.5 50.9 1104O 806W Natl Grid 1076 + 1 4.5 25.0
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Morningstar or this publication
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
Dapper winemaker
with estates in Bordeaux
Anthony Barton
Page 50
Obituaries
Beryl Vertue
Grand dame of British showbusiness who was an agent for comedy greats and late in life produced Men Behaving Badly and Sherlock
Cowed by the prospect of persuading
Ike Turner to agree to his wife Tina
appearing in the 1975 film Tommy, the
impresario Robert Stigwood sent Beryl
Vertue instead.
Short, unassuming and rather
“mumsie” looking, Vertue did not come
across as the most powerful woman in
British showbusiness, which she was in
the 1970s, but even the abusive, para-
noid, cocaine-addicted Ike Turner
learnt not to underestimate her.
“I was driven to a hut outside LA by a
girl whom I later discovered was Ike’s
girlfriend. She had a gun in her hand-
bag,” recalled the British comedy script
agent turned film producer. “When we
arrived, Tina Turner appeared and
dragged me to the ground — because
there were surveillance cameras every-
where — and begged me not to make
him cross.
“His office was like a bordello, ma-
roon everywhere, and there he was, in a
white suit, looking immaculate. He got
out a cigarette and she [Tina] shot from
one side of the room to the other to light
it for him. I decided to be very British; I
was wearing white gloves that day, and
I told him not to worry, that we were
going to take such good care of Tina.
Well, he didn’t quite know how to react.”
The woman who had regularly
calmed Spike Milligan during manic
episodes, mollified Tony Hancock in
foul, drunken moods, and persuaded
the head of the mafia-linked Teamsters
union in Boston to let her make a film in
the US city, got the deal done. Tina
Turner went on to give a pulsating per-
formance in Ken Russell’s Tommy as the
Acid Queen. “I never asked his permis-
sion [to hire her] but thanked him when
Her children begged her
not to take them to
school in her Rolls-Royce
he hadn’t quite given it,” she said.
She had started in the mid-1950s as a
secretary for Associated London
Scripts (ALS), a writers’ co-operative
founded by Eric Sykes and Milligan.
Entirely by default she evolved into a
highly effective agent for them and
many other British comedy writers and
actors in their fast-growing “fun fact-
ory”. After moving into films in 1966,
she formed a partnership with Stig-
wood and invented a lucrative and
much-copied moneymaking idea that
became known as “Vertuosity” — sell-
ing successful British sitcoms such as
Steptoe and Son and Till Death Us Do
Part to US television networks to devel-
op their own vernacular versions (San-
ford and Son on NBC and All in the
Family on CBS). It made Vertue rich but
the spiralling success of Associated
London Films also resulted in the end
of her marriage.
Having also parted company with
Stigwood, she set up a small independ-
ent production company at Shepperton
Studios in the mid-1980s. Hartswood
Films was not a success. At her lowest
ebb in 1989, Vertue, now in her late six-
ties, read an unknown comic novel
called Men Behaving Badly by Simon
Nye, a translator for Credit Suisse. After
chuckling through the misadventures
of two politically incorrect flat-mates,
Vertue with the comedy writers Eric Sykes, Ray Galton, Spike Milligan and Alan Simpson. Below: at the TV Baftas in 2015
Vertue realised that it would make a
great sitcom. She sold it to ITV, but the
show was dropped after one series in
1992. Undeterred, Vertue sold it to the
BBC, where it ran for five series and be-
came the highest-rated sitcom of the
Nineties, riding on the zeitgeist of the
“laddish humour” then in vogue. It also
appealed to women because of the
underlying vulnerability of the men
played by Neil Morrissey and Martin
Clunes, and female viewers’ empathy
for the long-suffering girlfriends played
by Caroline Quentin and Leslie Ash.
Vertue enjoyed further success with
Sherlock, an idiosyncratic take on the
Arthur Conan Doyle adventures that
made a star of Benedict Cumberbatch.
Having started her career making tea
for Milligan, Vertue told Kirsty Young
on Desert Island Discs in 2013 that
naivety had been her secret. “It’s impor-
tant not to know too many rules. If you
don’t know there’s a rule [against some-
thing] you just do it.”
Beryl Frances Johnson was born in
Croydon in 1931 to Elsie (née Francis),
and Frank Johnson, an engineer who
worked in a munitions factory during
the Second World War and later ran a
garage where Beryl had her first job,
manning the pumps.
She attended Mitcham County
Grammar School with no great distinc-
tion and left at 15 to take a typing
course. She then spent six years in a
shipping office before she was diag-
nosed with TB and sent to a sanatorium
on the Isle of Wight. Not long after her
recovery the Hancock’s Half Hour writ-
ing team of Ray Galton and Alan Simp-
son, whom she had known at school,
tried to recruit her as a secretary for
ALS.
Dreading the one-hour trolley bus
journey to their dingy office above a
fruit and veg shop in Shepherd’s Bush,
Vertue refused. Simpson persisted and
she was duly interviewed by Milligan,
who was more interested in her tea-
making ability than her typing or short-
hand speeds. She was offered the job
but asked for what she thought was the
prohibitive sum of ten pounds a week.
“To my horror they accepted.”
In addition to her secretarial duties,
which included typing Milligan’s scripts
for The Goon Show and dealing with the
Goons’ huge fan mail, she fielded calls
from Milligan in the middle of the night
asking her to type up his latest comic
brainwave. When Simpson and Galton
asked her to call the BBC about their
contracts, she succeeded in doubling
their income for Hancock’s Half Hour.
She went on to negotiate contracts
for all the writers on ALS’s roster, in-
cluding an insurance salesman called
Johnny Speight for whom she sold Till
Death Us Do Part and a furniture sales-
man called Terry Nation who created
the Daleks for Doctor Who. Showing an
early aptitude for “exterminating”
complacent male BBC bureaucrats,
Vertue shrewdly altered Nation’s con-
tract to include merchandising rights, a
Register
POPPERFOTO/GETTY IMAGES
first in British television. The populari-
ty of Dalek-related toys, comics and
games made Nation rich.
She struck her first international deal
by acting out Hancock’s Half Hour
scripts at a meeting with a German tele-
vision producer. She was deeply fond of
Hancock, but never close. “I don’t think
you ever got to know him very well,” she
said. In 1961, at the height of his
success that she had done much to
create, Hancock dispensed with
Galton and Simpson and told
Vertue he no longer wanted her
services either.
She turned her attention to the
flagging career of Frankie Howerd,
who was considering giving up
showbusiness and running a
pub. Vertue was determined to
dissuade him and suggested he
try cabaret. She got him a book-
ing at the Blue Angel, a
London nightclub. Howerd
was reluctant but gave in.
“She was a dreadful bully.
Thank goodness”, he recalled.
Her ALS offshoot Asso-
ciated London Films got off to
a quick start in 1966 when she
persuaded Joe Levine in Hol-
lywood to take up a Galton
and Simpson script, The Spy
With the Cold Nose (1966), and
got herself credited as associate
producer. She went on to pro-
duce The Plank (1967), a silent
comedy with Sykes and Tommy
49
Cooper. That year Stigwood, an entre-
preneur wanting to diversify from pop
music into theatre, television and films,
made an offer for ALS. Sykes and Milli-
gan left but Vertue joined Stigwood and
served as deputy chairman.
Vertue also pioneered cinema adap-
tations of popular sitcoms, including
Till Death Us Do Part (1969), Up Pompeii
(1971) and two Steptoe spin-offs, which
all did well at the box office.
She and Stigwood made big money.
She commuted to America on Con-
corde and had her own chauffeur-driv-
en, powder-blue Rolls-Royce, though
her embarrassed children begged her
not to take them to school in it.
She scored a coup by hiring Jack
Lemmon to star in a 1975 American TV
adaptation of John Osborne’s The En-
tertainer, and earned notoriety by per-
suading US television networks to
sanction the first use of the word “bas-
tard” on terrestrial TV there.
American producers were so dis-
armed by her straightforward approach
and mild manners that they were unpre-
pared for her ruthless negotiating. She
told one that a script she was trying to
sell “didn’t work in the middle but we’ll
fix it”. He was stunned by her honesty.
Vertue had married her childhood
sweetheart, Clem Vertue, who ran a
travel agency. Keen gardeners, they
lived quietly near Reigate, Surrey. Ver-
tue would do all the housework at
weekends. Eventually her jet-set work-
ing life put a strain on their marriage.
They remained friends but their di-
vorce in 1984 destroyed her confidence
and, in her own words, she “spent five
years not succeeding”.
Men Behaving Badly proved to be her
redemption; forging a well-trodden
path, she sold the format to a US net-
work. Hartswood was responsible for
other successful sitcoms, including
Steven Moffat’s Coupling.
Her last big venture, Sherlock, was a
family affair. Her daughter Sue pro-
duced the series while Vertue was the
executive producer. The co-creator of
Sherlock was her son-in-law Moffat,
Sue’s husband.
Her other daughter Debbie was also
an executive at Hartswood. Both
daughters will carry on Hartswood
Films. Vertue said that she
turned down many lucrative
offers for the company.
“I was coming out of a desert
of nothingness at that point and
here we are with Sherlock 25
years later. It’s a cracking
small independent com-
pany and I’m proud of
that,” she said.
Reflecting on her
decades as one of the
toughest dealmakers in
the business, Vertue de-
scribed herself as “the
world’s worst feminist”
— “I was just never
aware of sexism in the
office,” she said. “I was
having too much fun.”
Beryl Vertue, CBE,
television and film
producer, was born
on April 8, 1931. She
died on February 12,
2022,
2 aged 90
550
Register
Anthony Barton
Dapper and uncompromising Anglo-Irish winemaker whose estates are the oldest in Bordeaux still owned by the same family
The last male descendant of a great
Anglo-Irish wine-making family in
Bordeaux, Anthony Barton loathed the
tendency for fine wine to be treated as
a financial investment rather than
something to be drunk and enjoyed. An
American wine merchant who had in-
vested a fortune in this way sought his
advice one day about when he should
sell it. “Instead of selling it I suggest you
invest a little more,” Barton said. “A
mere $20 or so.” The puzzled merchant
asked what he would get for a mere
$20? “A corkscrew,” came the reply.
Barton owned two of the leading
classified growths — Châteaux Léo-
ville Barton and Langoa Barton. He was
also a roving ambassador for the pro-
motion of bordeaux throughout the
world. A tall, dapper and clubbable
man, he had one of the highest profiles
of any of the leading Bordeaux wine
owners. He was also one of the few to
live in Bordeaux full time in the family
château.
His family links to Bordeaux
stretched back 300 years, when
“French Tom” Barton from Co Fer-
managh arrived in the region and be-
came a prominent négotiant, that is,
negotiator of wine deals. His grandson
Hugh fled the French Revolution but
returned to purchase Château Langoa
Barton in 1822, along with the more
prestigious Château Léoville Barton in
1826. Both estates are the oldest Bor-
deaux-classified growths to still be
owned by the same family.
Anthony Frederick Barton was born
in 1930 at Straffan House in Co Kildare,
which was built in 1832 by Hugh Barton.
Growing up in Ireland, Barton rarely
encountered wine, as his parents pre-
ferred beer and whisky. After Stowe
School in Buckinghamshire, he studied
modern languages at Jesus College,
Cambridge, for two years before being
asked to leave for not showing “suffi-
cient academic disposition”. His elder
brother Chris was the heir to Straffan,
but when their father sold it in 1949
most of the money went to pay off
debts, and Anthony moved perma-
nently to Bordeaux.
Nobody lived in the sizeable château
at Langoa Barton, which was used only
at weekends and during the harvest.
Barton noted that the rooms were full
Olavo de Carvalho
Right-wing polemicist who helped to propel President Bolsonaro to power in Brazil and downplayed the Covid-19 pandemic
Jair Bolsonaro displayed four books
during his first speech after being
elected president of Brazil. On the table
were the Bible, the Brazilian constitu-
tion, Memoirs of the Second World War
by Winston Churchill, and The Least
You Need To Know To Not Be An Idiot by
Olavo de Carvalho.
The latter tome, a collection of essays
published in 2013 by one of Brazil’s most
prominent far-right polemicists, was
something of a guidebook for Bolsona-
ro as he rode a populist wave to power
in 2018. A self-proclaimed philosopher,
Carvalho had for years espoused the
kind of bellicose anti-establishment
conservatism embodied by Bolsonaro.
Few paid much attention until the
country was roiled by corruption scan-
dals and economic woes in the mid-
2010s, and Carvalho’s audience grew
amid disillusionment with the govern-
ing left-wing Workers’ Party. At pro-
tests the slogan “Olavo is right” became
a rallying cry for the disaffected.
Bolsonaro appointed several Carval-
ho disciples to his cabinet and acknowl-
edged his debt to the ideologue after his
death. The president declared him “one
of the greatest thinkers in our country’s
of cobwebs and spiders: “Whenever I
turned up, I was told not to touch the
curtains, as Ronald was convinced one
good tug would bring them crashing
down.”
Ronald Barton did not permit his
nephew to work at the wine estates,
instead placing him in the négotiant
business of Barton & Guestier, which
had been founded by Hugh Barton in
1802. Ronald Barton told Anthony to
forget the idea of working in the vine-
yard because “the vineyard is where we
lose money and the négotiant office is
where we make it”. Even here, he was
not responsible for the sale of either
Léoville Barton or Langoa Barton, but
made money by selling “off-dry” white
to the Finnish wine monopoly. He con-
ceded that “it was fairly nasty stuff, but
they couldn’t get enough of it”.
The cellar at Langoa Barton, mean-
while, had a vast range of vintage bor-
deaux and champagne and after con-
suming different bottles of the magnifi-
cent 1900 vintage he developed a
In 2007 he was chosen
as man of the year by
Decanter magazine
passion for bordeaux. However, he hat-
ed life in the region until he met Eva
Sarauw, who was a Danish nanny. He
married her in 1955.
Eventually, Barton & Guestier was
partly sold to Seagram, but Barton did
not develop a good working relation-
ship with the new dominant partners
and he was sacked in 1967. He immedi-
ately formed a company called Les Vins
Fins Anthony Barton, which special-
ised in selling the leading bordeaux
wines. To make matters worse, due to
an earlier binding contract, he was not
allowed to sell his family wines until the
late Seventies.
This coincided with his daughter Lili-
an joining him in the business. To his
continued frustration, there was still no
planned handover of the estate, so it
was only after the intervention of
Ronald Barton’s bank manager that he
grudgingly handed over control to
Anthony in 1983, thus avoiding crip-
pling inheritance and taxation issues. It
Carvalho was a compulsive smoker
history” and announced a national day
of mourning. “We couldn’t have won
the election without Olavo,” Eduardo,
one of Bolsonaro’s sons and also a poli-
tician, said in 2019 at a screening of a
film about Carvalho at the Trump
International Hotel in Washington.
“Without Olavo there would be no
President Bolsonaro.”
Carvalho exercised his influence
Barton left his châteaux to his daughter Lilian, now the ninth-generation owner
had taken 30 years for Anthony to have
any say in the production of the two
wines.
He immediately threw out the an-
cient de-stemming machines and
brought in temperature controls and
more new barrels. He also hired a new
regisseur (manager) from a neighbour-
ing property, which resulted in signifi-
cant improvements, especially with the
1985 and 1986 vintages. This culminat-
ed with the international success of the
1989 Léoville-Barton vintage, which,
much to Barton’s pride, was the wine
served in 2002 for the Queen’s Golden
Jubilee celebrations at the Guildhall.
from afar. He moved to the United
States in 2005, finding kinship with its
cultural and religious conservatism,
democratic values, embrace of free-
market economics, advocacy of indi-
vidual gun ownership, small-govern-
ment ethos, contempt for communism
and cradling of conspiracy theories.
“Rednecks are the best people in the
world,” he told Americas Quarterly
magazine. A compulsive smoker, Car-
valho settled in rural Virginia, where he
lived with an English mastiff named Big
Mac in a home decorated with portraits
of Confederate generals and a car in the
driveway that bore a “Commie Hunter”
bumper sticker. A visiting reporter from
The Atlantic noted a workspace
crammed with more than a hundred
pipes, thousands of books and at least 20
rifles. Carvalho travelled to Maine for a
hunting trip with the goal of shooting a
black bear and developed an affinity for
cowboy hats.
Online he published essays, held
seminars and nurtured a large, devoted
following as he promoted falsehoods
such as the theories that Barack Obama
was born outside the US and that Pepsi
was sweetened with the cells of aborted
Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
His wine was also served at the 100th
birthday party for the Queen Mother.
In 2007 Barton was chosen as
Decanter magazine’s man of the year
and in 2019 the Wine Spectator, Amer-
ica’s leading wine magazine, named his
2016 vintage of Léoville Barton as wine
of the year. Apart from improving the
overall quality of the wine, the other
important development was deliber-
ately charging less than his rivals for his
en primeur offerings for new vintages.
He commented that too many vintners
in Bordeaux equated price with pres-
tige but said that was not a game he
wished to play. “I don’t consider our
foetuses. The Trump presidency was
more to his taste and he is said to have
met repeatedly with Steve Bannon, the
former White House chief strategist.
Olavo Luiz Pimentel de Carvalho was
born in 1947 in Campinas, Sao Paulo
state, to Nicéa (née Pimentel) and Luiz, a
lawyer. He is survived by his wife, Roxa-
ne Andrade de Souza, who was one of his
students, and eight children.
He left school before the age of 16 and
studied philosophy and religion by
himself. Briefly active in communist
circles in the Sixties, he began a career
in journalism and later taught and
wrote about astrology, which he
believed should be a serious academic
discipline. A climate change sceptic
who said he did not rule out the possi-
bility that the Earth was flat, Carvalho
issued dire warnings of the dangers of
“cultural Marxism” and a globalist plot
to install a new socialist world order,
with Islam, feminists and gay rights also
in his crosshairs. So too was Bolsonaro’s
vice-president, Hamilton Mourão, a re-
tired general and relative moderate
whom Carvalho considered “an idiot”.
Though he often cut an avuncular
figure in his YouTube videos — bespec-
wines underpriced. I don’t want to play
this game of always competing with my
neighbours. That’s all about vanity and
doesn’t help the image of Bordeaux. If
Léoville Barton seems cheaper than
many other top second growths, it
doesn’t bother me. We’re making a very
good living as it is. How many new cars
can anyone buy after each vintage?”
This approach was highlighted by the
price levels of the 1997 vintage, which
was a poor one, especially in the wake of
the highly successful 1996 vintage.
Despite this, most château owners
raised their prices, while Barton cut
Léoville Barton from £395 for the ’96 to
£250 for the ’97. He was proved right as
merchants declined to buy wines at the
inflated prices and bought them later
heavily discounted.
Barton refused to alter the style of his
wine to suit contemporary tastes such
as those of the critic Robert Parker, who
promoted heavily extracted “fruit
bombs” over the traditional style of
claret. He quipped: “There is more
pleasure in drinking light vintages at
the right time than great vintages at the
wrong time.”
He travelled frequently to Britain,
especially to attend the ballet at Covent
Garden, and went salmon fishing every
year to the same river in Norway. Short-
ly after his retirement a decade ago, he
heard that his friend, the Danish wine-
maker Peter Vinding-Diers, was dining
that night in a London club. On the spur
of the moment, he asked if he could join
them and caught the next flight from
Bordeaux to London.
Perhaps learning from his treatment
at the hands of his uncle, he arranged
for the transfer of his estates to his
daughter Lilian some years ago, his son
Tom having died in a road accident.
In 2011 she and her husband, Michel
Sartorius, purchased Château Mauves-
in Barton, in the adjoining Bordeaux re-
gion of Moulis-en-Médoc. Their two
children, Mélanie and Damien, are in-
volved in running the Barton estates,
making them the tenth generation of
Barton descendants to be involved in
the Bordeaux wine trade.
Anthony Barton, Bordeaux winemaker,
was born on July 7, 1930. He died on
January 18, 2022, aged 91
tacled, waving a pipe and perched in
front of bookshelves — his rhetoric was
frequently profane and combative. “It’s
not about destroying ideas, but destroy-
ing the careers and the power of
people,” he once said. “You have to be
direct, and without respect.”
Like Bolsonaro, whose government
was slow to acquire vaccines, he down-
played the coronavirus pandemic,
which has killed more than 625,000
people in Brazil. Carvalho called con-
tainment measures the “most enor-
mous and sordid crime” ever commit-
ted against humanity.
In May 2020, he said that “the fear of
a supposedly deadly virus is nothing
more than a little horror story designed
to scare the population and make them
accept slavery as they would a present
from Santa Claus”.
Olavo de Carvalho, polemicist and
conspiracy theorist, was born on April 29,
1947. He died of lung disease on January
24, 2022, aged 74, after contracting
Covid-19
Email: obituaries@thetimes.co.uk
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
Law Report
Offence of carrying the flag of a
proscribed Kurdish organisation
Supreme Court
Published February 16, 2022
Pwr v Director of Public
Prosecutions
Akdogan and another v Same
Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lady Arden, Lord
Hamblen, Lord Burrows and Lady Rose
[2022] UKSC 2
Judgment January 26, 2022
The offence of wearing or carrying an
article in a public place in such a way
or in such circumstances as to arouse
a reasonable suspicion that the per-
son was a member or supporter of a
proscribed organisation, contrary to
section 13(1) of the Terrorism Act
2000, did not require proof of a men-
tal element such as knowledge or
intention (mens rea) and was thus an
offence of strict liability.
The offence was not incompatible
with the right to freedom of expres-
sion guaranteed by article 10 of the
European Convention on Human
Rights.
The Supreme Court so held in dis-
missing the appeal of the defendants,
Rahman Pwr, Ismail Akdogan and
Rotinda Demir, against the dismissal
by the Divisional Court of the
Queen’s Bench Division (Lord Justice
Holroyde and Mr Justice Swift)
([2020] 1 WLR 3623) of their appeals
by way of case stated against the deci-
sion of the Crown Court at South-
wark which, on May 8, 2019 (Judge
Bartle QC and two justices), had dis-
missed their appeals against their
convictions by the Westminster
Magistrates’ Court (District Judge
Snow) for offences under section 13(1)
of the 2000 Act. The first and second
defendants were given three-month
conditional discharges and the third
defendant received an absolute
discharge.
Joel Bennathan QC and Jude
Bunting for the defendants; Louis
Mably QC and Dan Pawson-Pounds
for the Crown.
Lady Arden, Lord Hamblen and
Lord Burrows, with whom the other
members of the court agreed, said
that the three defendants had taken
part in a demonstration in central
London on January 27, 2018, against
the perceived actions of the Turkish
state in northeastern Syria. The de-
fendants were arrested and convicted
under section 13(1) for carrying a flag
of the Kurdistan Workers Party (the
Partiya Karkeren Kurdistane, or
PKK), an organisation proscribed
under the 2000 act.
After dismissing the defendants’
appeals against their convictions, the
Divisional Court certified the follow-
The perfect gift
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PIPPA SUZANNE DRACOTT WAS BORN ON MAY 28, 2020,
AT BROOMFIELD HOSPITAL IN CHELMSFORD, ESSEX,
TO CLAIRE, 30, AND GARY DRACOTT, 30
Call 020 7782 5583 or email
readerslives@thetimes.co.uk
ing questions as points of law of gen-
eral public importance: (i) whether
section 13 created an offence of strict
liability; and, if so, (ii) whether that
was compatible with the right to free-
dom of expression under article 10 of
the European Convention on Human
Rights.
It was important to emphasise, and
was common ground between the
parties, that a limited mental element
was indisputably required under sec-
tion 13(1) of the 2000 act in the sense
that the defendant had to have
known that he or she was wearing,
carrying or displaying the relevant
article.
On the facts of the present case,
each defendant had to have known
that he was carrying or displaying a
flag. Put another way, the carrying or
displaying of the flag had to be delib-
erate and not inadvertent.
If a person were to stick a flag into
or onto a defendant’s backpack with-
out the defendant’s knowledge, so
that the defendant was carrying or
displaying the flag without knowing
that he or she was doing so, the defen-
dant would not be guilty of the
offence.
The words “wears, carries or dis-
plays” necessarily imported know-
ledge of that limited kind.
In the light of previous authority,
in particular Lord Nicholls’ analysis
in B (A Minor) v Director of Public
Prosecutions ([2000] 2 AC 428), the
correct approach to determining
whether section 13(1) was an offence
of strict liability, given that the sec-
tion was silent as to the mens rea, was
to examine whether the strong
presumption of mens rea was rebut-
ted expressly or by necessary
implication.
Necessary implication was an im-
plication that was compellingly clear.
Whether that was so turned on the
words used in the light of their con-
text and the purpose (or mischief) of
the provision in question.
Examination of the words, context
and purpose of section 13(1) led inex-
orably to the conclusion that the pre-
sumption of mens rea was rebutted
and that the offence was therefore
one of strict liability.
Looking first and foremost at the
words used, the objective formula-
tion of the offence — arousing
“reasonable suspicion” — indicated
that there was no requirement of
mens rea. There was difficulty marry-
ing a subjective requirement, such as
knowledge or intention, with the ob-
jective requirement of arousing
“reasonable suspicion”.
Section 13 was one of three sec-
tions in the 2000 Act (the other two
Celebrate the arrival of a newborn in
Readers’ Lives, a service in contracted tributes
being sections 11 and 12) which laid
down offences concerned with pro-
scribed organisations. It was clear
from the words of sections 11 and 12
that the offences in those sections
were not offences of strict liability.
They required mens rea.
Looking across the proscribed or-
ganisation offences, a rational expla-
nation for why section 13(1) created a
far less serious summary offence,
punishable by a maximum of six
months imprisonment rather than 14
years, was that, while the offences in
sections 11 and 12 required mens rea,
section 13(1) created a strict liability
offence.
To interpret section 13(1) as requir-
ing mens rea would render incoher-
ent what could otherwise be viewed
as a carefully calibrated and rational
scheme of proscribed organisation
offences.
Further, the strict liability inter-
pretation of the section 13(1) offence
was supported by the purpose, or mis-
chief, behind the offence, which was
concerned with the effect on other
people and not the intention or
knowledge of the defendant.
It was designed to deny a pro-
scribed organisation the oxygen of
publicity or a projected air of legiti-
macy and it sought to avoid others
becoming aware of, and potentially
becoming supporters of, proscribed
organisations.
It could also have a role in avoiding
public disorder that might result from
a reaction against displays of support
for proscribed organisations. More
generally, the offence was part of a ra-
tional counterterrorism strategy to
stymie the operation of proscribed
organisations
As to the second issue, it was com-
mon ground that section 13 of the
Terrorism Act 2000 constituted an
interference with the right to free-
dom of expression guaranteed by
article 10 of the Human Rights
Convention.
However, that interference was
justified for the purposes of article
10(2) since it imposed a restriction on
freedom of expression which was re-
quired by law; was necessary in the
interests of national security, public
safety, the prevention of disorder and
crime and the protection of the rights
of others; and was proportionate to
the public interest in combating
terrorist organisations. Accordingly
the section 13 offence was compatible
with article 10.
Solicitors: Birnberg Peirce Ltd
and Morgan Has Solicitors, Stoke
Newington; Crown Prosecution
Service, Appeals and Review Unit.
Court Circular
Windsor Castle
15th February, 2022
His Excellency Mr Viljar Lubi was
received in audience by The Queen
via video link today and presented
the Letters of Recall of his
predecessor and his own Letters of
Credence as Ambassador from the
Republic of Estonia to the Court of
St James’s.
Ms Maarja Junti was also
received by Her Majesty.
His Excellency Mr José Pascual
Marco Martínez was received in
audience by The Queen via video
link this afternoon and presented
the Letters of Recall of his
predecessor and his own Letters of
Credence as Ambassador from the
Kingdom of Spain to the Court of
St James’s.
Mrs Géraldine Dufort was also
received by Her Majesty.
Sir Philip Barton (Permanent
Under-Secretary of State for
Foreign, Commonwealth and
Development Affairs) was present.
The Princess Royal, on behalf of
The Queen, held an Investiture at
Windsor Castle this morning.
Her Royal Highness, on behalf of
Her Majesty, held an Investiture at
Windsor Castle this afternoon.
St James’s Palace
15th February, 2022
The Duke of Kent, Grand Master,
United Grand Lodge of England,
this morning received Mr Peter
Lowndes (Pro Grand Master).
Appendix to Court Circular
15th February, 2022
The Queen has been pleased to
appoint the Reverend Matthew
Porter to be a Chaplain to Her
Majesty in succession to the
Reverend Canon Dr Nicholas
Thistlethwaite.
Join us for breakfast
Listen to Aasmah Mir and
Stig Abell on Times Radio,
Monday to Thursday at 6am
Births, Marriages and Deaths
YOU must, of course, continue faithful on
a firm and sure foundation, and must not
allow yourselves to be shaken from the
hope you gained when you heard the
gospel. It is of this gospel that I, Paul,
became a servant — this gospel which has
been preached to everybody in the world.
Colossians 1.23 (GNB)
Bible quotes are provided by the
Bible Society
Deaths
ASHCROFT Dr Anthony, FRCGP, aged 97,
on 7th February 2022 in the Chocolate
Works care village in York, GP in Newcastle
upon Tyne. He was much loved and will be
greatly missed by his daughter Chris in
York and son Philip in New Zealand, his
sister Rosalind, and his extended family.
Funeral 3rd March is family only, with
streaming for those unable to attend, and
accessible live or for 28 days thereafter. No
flowers; donation in remembrance of
Anthony and Alison to St Leonard’s
Hospice in York, where Alison died in 2018.
Contact Co-op Funeralcare, Cromwell Road,
YO1 6DU, 01904 643936,
frlyork@coop.co.uk for details of the online
link and donation.
COOK Mary Elinor, beloved wife of Ian
and mother of Judy, Chris and Buffy, was
gadding about on her buggy in
Woodbridge until early December. After a
short illness she drifted peacefully away in
the late afternoon on 7th February 2022,
aged almost 94. Cremation service to be
held for family and friends at Ipswich
Crematorium at 10.45am on Thursday 3rd
March and afterwards from midday at The
Great Hall, Seckford Hall Hotel and Spa,
Great Bealings, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP13
6NU. Family flowers only please and any
donations to causes dear to Mary: Marie
Curie, RNLI, IngaFoundation, may be sent
to Farthing Funeral Service, 650
Woodbridge Road, Ipswich IP4 4PW or
online at www.farthingfunerals.co.uk
IVE Dr F Adrian of Durham peacefully
passed away at home surrounded by his
family on Wednesday 2nd February 2022,
aged 86. A loving family man and a
committed doctor who will be missed by
everyone who knew him. The Funeral Mass
will take place on Wednesday 23rd
February at the Holy Trinity Catholic
Church, Baldock, at 2.30pm followed by a
committal at North Hertfordshire Memorial
Park and Crematorium at 4pm. Family
flowers only please, if desired donations in
his memory can be made via his In
Memory Page at
www.newlingsofroyston.co.uk or cheques
made payable to British Skin Foundation
and sent c/o Newlings of Royston, Fish Hill,
Royston, Herts, SG8 9LB. Tel: 01763 242375.
MANDER Michael Stuart. Passed away
on 8th February, aged 86. Much-loved
companion, brother and uncle. Funeral
service at St Mary’s Church, Icomb,
Gloucestershire on Saturday 26th
February at noon. No flowers. Memorial
service at St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street,
London, later in the year. Inquiries to A. L.
Sole & Son, tel: 01608 644112.
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NUNN Elizabeth Mary (née de
Fougerolles) on 7th February 2022, aged
84, died peacefully at home surrounded
by her family after a long illness borne
with grace and determination. Beloved
wife of Peter, loving and much-loved
mother of Kate, Suzie, Lulu and Teddy and
devoted grandmother to Imogen, Amelie
and Barnaby. Adored stepmother and
grandmother to Rachel and Andy and
their children Jeremy, Oliver, Elliot, Evan
and Isla. She will be greatly missed by her
family and many friends. A service to
celebrate her life will be held at
St Nicholas’s Church, Compton, GU3 1EG,
on 25th February 2022 at 2.30pm. No
flowers please but any donations greatly
appreciated to Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice
via elizabethnunn.muchloved.com.
Inquiries to funeral directors,
01483 799914.
PATERSON Elizabeth Mary died
peacefully on 1st February 2022, aged 88.
W. Bryder & Sons, 01798 342174.
STOKES Prue (née Watling) died
peacefully on 10th February 2022, aged 92.
She will be greatly missed by her children
Jon, Janey and Simon, their spouses
Fay, Humph and Charlotte, grandchildren
Kit, Edith, Isabella, Matthew and Pete,
and by her many friends in Biddenden
and beyond. No donations or flowers,
thank you.
THOMSON Heather (Edinburgh, formerly
London), peacefully at Glencairn Care
Home, on 28th January 2022, aged 86.
Musician and music teacher (retired),
daughter of the late Stuart and Mrs Irene
Thomson and sister of the late David
Thomson (South Africa), aunt and great-
aunt. Funeral service on Friday 18th
February at Mortonhall Crematorium,
Pentland Chapel, Edinburgh, at 12.30pm.
Memorial Services
COGHLAN The Memorial Mass for
Richard Coghlan, headmaster of Saint
Richard’s Prep School, will be held in
Belmont Abbey, HR2 9RZ, on Saturday 21st
May at 11.30am.
In Memoriam - Private
BRYAN NEILAND 20th May 1943 — 16th
February 1997. Loved always, Eve, Adam
and Laura. Lux aeterna luceat eis.
LEGAL, PUBLIC, COMPANY &
PARLIAMENTARY NOTICES
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Legal Notices
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 53

Weather
Today Becoming breezy with increasing amounts of cloud and spells of rain or snow. Max 15C (59F), min -4C (25F) Weather Eye
Paul Simons
Around Britain Five days ahead Wind speed Sea state Orkney
ney Shetland
Sh
Key: b=bright, c=cloud, d=drizzle, pc=partly cloudy Unsettled with periods 34 Calm
du=dull, f=fair, fg=fog, h=hail, m=mist, r=rain, (mph) 14 4
sh=showers, sl=sleet, sn=snow, s=sun, t=thunder of strong winds and Slight 5
*=previous day **=data not available outbreaks of rain, sleet Temperature Moderate
Rough
Temp C Rain mm Sun hr* or snow 28 (degrees C)
3
midday yesterday 24 hrs to 5pm yesterday
3 5
7 S 0.2 1.2
Tomorrow Flood alerts and warnings
Aberdeen
Dry with sunny spells at first over
Aberporth 8 S 9.4 0.2
southern and eastern England before At 17:00 on Tuesday there were 6
Anglesey 9 PC 2.0 1.8 the risk of showers in the afternoon. 21 flood alerts and one warning 5
Aviemore 4 PC 2.8 1.1 Sunny spells and showers elsewhere, in England, 18 flood alerts and no
30

I
wintry in the north.
Barnstaple 10
8
D
R
8.4
5.2
**
**
warnings in Wales and five flood Aberdeen
C F t was 60 years ago that a
Bedford Max 11C, min -6C 35 95
Belfast 6 S 1.8 4.6
alerts and no warnings in Scotland.
30 86
windstorm wrecked much of
For further information and updates
Birmingham 7 R 6.6 **
in England visit flood-warning- 25 77 Sheffield, turning large parts of
Bournemouth 10 R 1.6 4.2 4 NORTH the city into what looked like a
8 S 0.4 **
information.service.gov.uk, for Wales 20 68
Bridlington
naturalresources.wales/flooding and SEA 15 59 war zone. In the early hours of
Bristol 9 S 17.7 0.6
Camborne 10 R 5.2 2.3 for Scotland SEPA.org.uk 8 10 50
February 16, 1962, winds tore down
7 Edinburgh
Cardiff 10 R 13.6 2.3
8
36 Glasgow 5 41
from the Pennines into the city,
Edinburgh 6 R 4.0 2.6 0 32
Eskdalemuir 5 S 10.0 0.4
9 27 -5 23 ripping off roofs, sending chimneys
Glasgow 5 S 9.2 5.3
10
-10 14 crashing down and demolishing
Hereford 7 R 7.4 **
Herstmonceux 9 M 6.0 4.8 ATLANTIC
Londonderry -15 5 some buildings. Buses and lorries
Ipswich 8 DU 6.6 0.6
Newcastle were flipped over like toys and roads
OCEAN Carlisle
Isle of Man 8 PC 2.4 2.1
Friday Belfast were blocked with bricks, slate,
Isle of Wight 10 R 3.6 ** 11
Jersey 10 S 2.8 3.5 Storm Eunice will spread east across 12 8 glass and fallen trees.
Britain and Ireland, bringing very 11
Keswick 7 C 6.2 ** strong winds in the south. Cloudy Yorkk “Nothing has been known like it
Kinloss 7 S 1.2 0.0 with spells of rain and heavy snow in since the German Blitz,” The Times
central and northern areas.
36
Leeds 6 S 5.8 **
Lerwick 4 PC 3.8 ** Max 12C, min -6C Manchester Hull
reported. “One of the 150ft
Leuchars 4 R 2.0 1.1 ooo
Liverpool 13 floodlight pylons at Bramall Lane
Lincoln 7 PC 0.8 0.4 Galway IRISH 23
3
[Sheffield United’s] football ground
Liverpool 8 M 1.8 ** SEA 13 Sheffield
London 9 R 5.0 2.1 Dublin
LLlandudno
was reduced to a heap of twisted
Lyneham 8 C 9.4 1.3 metal. A 100ft tower crane on the
Manchester 9 S 1.8 1.0
Margate ** R ** 0.0
10 13
Shrewsbury
Nottingham site of Sheffield’s new extensions to
12 the College of Technology twisted
Milford Haven 10 S 9.8 **
i h
Norwich
Newcastle 8 C 1.8 ** 37 11 and collapsed.”
Nottingham 7 R 5.0 0.2 Birmingham
Orkney 4 S 9.2 0.7 11
Cork
Cambridge Most people were asleep when
Oxford 9 DU 6.8 ** 14 their homes started shaking and
Swansea Oxford 14
Plymouth
Portland
9
10
R
S
4.0
1.2
**
** Cardiff
blocks of flats swayed. “There was a
Scilly, St Mary’s 11 R 2.0 **
Saturday Channel Islands CELTIC 3
13 terrific gust and the roof just
Shoreham 10 D 6.6 3.3 Dry and perhaps frosty at first in
SEA Bristol London disappeared,” one man told the
southern and eastern England but
Shrewsbury 8 PC 7.2 0.3 14
Snowdonia 8 C 17.6 **
cloud increasing to bring a cloudy
afternoon with rain. Mostly cloudy Southampton
Sheffield Telegraph after his house
0
10 was ripped apart. Worst hit were
Southend 10 R 4.0 5.2 with spells of rain or snow elsewhere. Exeterr
South Uist 7 S 6.0 ** Max 9C, min -4C 28 Plymouth Brighton houses on high ground, and estates
Stornoway 4 S 9.8 0.4
Tiree 7 S 10.4 5.8
of postwar prefabs, which were
Whitehaven 6 S 15.2 0.5 1
11 simply flattened or blown away.
CHANNEL 34
Wick 4 S 4.0 ** 36 More than 150,000 houses — two
Yeovilton 10 DU 1.6 2.2
thirds of all the city’s houses — were
5
7 General situation: Feeling mild with ndon Cen S Eng,
SE Eng, London, Eng SW Eng, and mostly cloudy day with outbreaks damaged to some extent, many
The world some sunshine but turning increasingly Channel Is: A few bright intervals, of rain spreading east, heavy at times. beyond repair, leaving hundreds of
All readings local midday yesterday
windy and cloudy with outbreaks of otherwise it will be cloudy with Turning brighter in the afternoon people homeless. Three people were
Alicante 18 S Madeira 18 PC 9 rain or snow. showery light rain. Moderate to strong with some sunshine. Fresh to strong
Amsterdam 9 B Madrid 10 S
killed and 400 injured. “Sheffield
NW Eng, Cen N Eng, NE Eng, Wales, southwesterly wind. Maximum westerly wind, becoming gale force
Athens 15 PC Malaga 19 S
Lake District, SW Scotland, Argyll, 14C (57F), minimum 6C (43F). in places later. Maximum 14C (57F), this morning is a city in chaos,
Auckland 21 S Mallorca 14 PC
Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, IoM, E Anglia, E Eng, Midlands: Mostly dry minimum 1C (34F). numbed and paralysed,” the local
Bahrain 22 S Malta 16 PC Sunday
Bangkok 29 B Melbourne 21 B Rather cloudy with spells of rain
Borders: Mostly cloudy and blustery and feeling mild with sunny spells Cen Highland, Moray Firth, N Isles, newspaper said in the aftermath.
Barbados 29 PC Mexico City 20 B spreading east across England, Wales with outbreaks of rain, turning heavy but cloud thickening to showery rain NE Scotland, Aberdeen, NW Scotland: The government declared a state
and Scotland, turning to snow over and more persistent in the afternoon. in the afternoon. Moderate to strong Mainly cloudy with spells of rain, sleet
Barcelona 13 S Miami 20 S
high ground in the north. Sunny spells Fresh to strong westerly wind, perhaps westerly wind. Maximum 15C (59F), and snow, heavy in places. Generally
of emergency in Sheffield. The
Beijing -5 S Milan 4 M
Beirut 16 PC Mombasa 32 B
and showers in Ireland.
gale force in places later. Maximum minimum 4C (39F). light and variable winds. Maximum damage was estimated to be about
Max 13C, min -3C
Belgrade 16 S Montreal -14 PC 13C (55F), minimum 0C (32F). Republic of Ireland, N Ireland: A windy 7C (45F), minimum -4C (25F). £3 million, equivalent to more than
Berlin 9 B Moscow -1 S £57 million in today’s money.
Bermuda 19 R Mumbai 28 S 6
Bordeaux 11 B Munich 6 R Tides Noon today HIGH The violence of the storm was
Brussels 9 PC Nairobi ** ** Tidal predictions. HIGH 1000 caused by lee waves, with winds
Heights in metres
Bucharest 7 S Naples 13 B
11
1016
1008 1024 bouncing up and down in waves over
Budapest 11 PC New Orleans 13 S Today Ht Ht
Buenos Aires 29 S New York -5 PC 10 Aberdeen 01:22 3.9 13:29 4.1 the Pennines, squeezing them tight
Cairo 17 PC Nice 12 PC Avonmouth 07:07 12.4 19:32 12.3
984
as they reached the lee side of the
Calcutta 24 S Nicosia 18 PC Belfast 11:16 3.4 23:40 3.1 LOW 968 hills. As the winds rushed down,
Canberra 29 S Oslo 0 B 11
Cardiff 06:58 11.5 19:21 11.5 976 LOW 976 LOW they were funnelled through river
Cape Town 23 S Paris 10 B Devonport 05:39 5.2 18:05 5.0
Chicago -6 DU Perth 34 S
Dover 11:03 6.2 23:22 6.4
968 valleys into the city in jets of wind
Copenhagen 7 DU Prague 7 PC 992 reaching up to 97mph.
Monday Dublin 10:21 5.5 22:40 5.3
Corfu 13 R Reykjavik 0 B 1000
Delhi 24 S Riga 2 S Sunny spells and the risk of a few Falmouth 05:12 4.9 17:33 4.7
1032 1008
1016 LOW The most extraordinary thing was
showers over northern and western Greenock 00:32 3.1 12:25 3.4
Dubai 27 S Rio de Janeiro 32 PC
England, Wales, northeast Ireland and 1016 Cold front that neighbouring Rotherham and
7 C 22 S Harwich 11:54 3.7 --:-- --
Dublin
Faro 15 S
Riyadh
Rome 14 B
Scotland, turning wintry in the north.
Holyhead 10:23 5.4 22:43 5.3 1024 Warm front most of Barnsley were left
Dry and sunny elsewhere.
Florence 10 B San Francisco 13 C Max 11C, min -3C Hull 06:15 6.8 18:23 7.1 Occluded front untouched by the winds.
Frankfurt 9 PC Santiago 26 S Leith 02:36 5.1 14:51 5.3 1032 Trough
Geneva 8 B São Paulo 29 PC Liverpool 11:11 8.9 23:31 8.8 HIGH
Gibraltar 17 S Seoul -3 B 5 London Bridge 01:46 6.6 14:03 6.7
Synoptic situation Highs and lows Hours of darkness
Helsinki 1 R Seychelles 29 B Lowestoft 09:44 2.3 21:37 2.5 24hrs to 5pm yesterday Aberdeen 17:40-07:01
Hong Kong 19 PC Singapore 30 B Milford Haven 06:14 6.5 18:34 6.5 Multi-centred low pressure Belfast 18:02-07:10
Honolulu 25 PC St Petersburg 2 C broadly over northern Scotland Warmest: Exeter,
10 Morecambe 11:21 9.0 23:41 8.9 Devon, 11.9C Birmingham 17:51-06:49
Istanbul 8 PC Stockholm 5 B and western Scandinavia will Coldest: Aboyne, -5.1C
9 Newhaven 11:07 6.3 23:32 6.4 Cardiff 17:59-06:52
Jerusalem 18 PC Sydney 27 PC bring blustery winds across the Wettest: Sennybridge,
Newquay 05:05 6.6 17:24 6.5 Exeter 18:02-06:52
Johannesburg 23 PC Tel Aviv 18 PC British Isles as a few sets of Powys, 21.8mm
Oban 05:47 3.8 18:14 3.8 Sunniest: Tiree, 5.8hrs* Glasgow 17:52-07:07
Kuala Lumpur 33 PC Tenerife 21 PC fronts bring rather cloudy skies
11 Penzance 04:39 5.2 16:56 5.1 Liverpool 17:54-06:55
Kyiv 4 S Tokyo 8 B and spells of rain in places. The
20 B 8 B Portsmouth 11:30 4.4 23:57 4.5 Sun and moon London 17:46-06:40
Lanzarote Vancouver western low pressure centre, For Greenwich Manchester 17:50-06:53
Las Palmas 21 PC Venice 7 R Shoreham 11:08 5.8 23:35 5.9 Sun rises: 07.11
The Times weather Southampton 10:39 4.3 23:01 4.3
which is named Storm Dudley, Newcastle 17:44-06:54
Lima 19 S Vienna 8 S Sun sets: 17.16
will bring a period of gale to Moon rises: 16.52 Norwich 17:38-06:37
Lisbon 15 PC Warsaw 6 SH page is provided Swansea 06:17 8.9 18:38 8.9
storm force winds to southern Moon sets: 08.01 Thu Penzance 18:11-06:59
Los Angeles 19 FG Washington -2 B Tees 03:42 5.1 15:49 5.2
22 S 5 SH
by Weatherquest Britain and Ireland. Third quarter: February 23 Sheffield 17:48-06:49
Luxor Zurich Weymouth 06:38 2.0 19:18 1.8
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 55

Sport
Tiger Roll denied tilt at third National by O’Leary
Rob Wright Racing Editor Tiger Roll a fair weight in the Grand there is every likelihood that will be his (11st 4lb) that his charge had Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse last
National, where he could at least try to last racecourse appearance. He will been allotted. “I’m surprised April, Enjoy D’Allen has had his cam-
Tiger Roll, the dual Randox Grand emulate Red Rum’s three wins. then return home for his he’s that [high],” De Bromhead paign this season built around Aintree.
National winner, will be denied the “However, the handicapper sets the well-earned retirement.” said “He loves it around “His weight of 10st 5lb is exactly what
chance of a record-equalling third weights, and even if he is manifestly That opinion was at Aintree, so hopefully he’ll we were hoping for,” Murphy said. “We
success at Aintree on April 9 after an wrong in the case of Tiger Roll, there is odds with the trainer come back to form.” are training him for the Grand National
astonishing outburst by his owner, nothing we can do other than remove Gordon Elliott, who had d The pick of the weights is this year, so that is why we have given
Michael O’Leary, yesterday. him from the race, since we don’t earlier said: “He has got a Enjoy D’Allen, who him a light campaign. The plan is now
Speaking after the weights for the believe it is fair or safe to ask him to nice weight so the Grand d comes from the to go straight to Aintree. He’s a grand
race had been revealed, O’Leary said: carry close to top weight at the age of 12. National could be on the small Co Westmeath jumper and loves the hustle and bustle
“Tiger Roll is now 12. He is clearly not as “Since we are responsible for the agenda.” yard of Ciaran Mur- of a big field so the Grand National
good as he was at eight or nine, yet the welfare of Tiger Roll, we must protect Rachael Blackmore made history phy. Third in the should be perfect for him.”
UK handicapper now rates him 2lb him from the idiotic opinion of this when becoming the first woman Enjoy D’Allen looks to have the ideal
higher than in April 2019, when he won handicapper. We therefore regret to jockey to win the National on Minella Times, profile for Aintree. Progressive and
both the Boyne Hurdle and the Grand announce that he will not run in this Minella Times last year. He is last year’s Aintree unexposed over marathon trips, he
National. year’s Grand National. again entered but his trainer, winner, will have rates excellent each-way value at the
“This rating is absurd and unfair. It is “Instead, Tiger Roll will be trained for Henry de Bromhead, was more weight to 33-1 offered by Coral, Ladbrokes and
a pity that the handicapper won’t give the Cross Country at Cheltenham and also unhappy at the weight carry in April William Hill.

Rob Wright’s choice: Viva Lavilla has twice run well in grade Wright choice: Shannon Bridge is 4lb lower in the weights 11 3-322 CAMP BELAN 32 L Russell 6-11-2 D R Fox 17 0-460 YORGUNNABEAMUNKY 34 (P) R Ross 6-10-0 Sean Quinlan
Wetherby two company Dangers Rafferty’s Return, Abuffalosoldier than for his latest win Dangers Findthetime, Arrivederci 12 43-16 LADRONNE 49 (T,C) T Collier 8-11-1 R McLernon 5-1 Beat Box, 6-1 Frankie Baby, Shutthegate, 8-1 Silk Or Scarlet, Azof Des
Rob Wright 13 P4212 DEEP CHARM 31 (T,D) W Coltherd 8-11-1 S Coltherd Mottes, 10-1 Uisce Ur, Roger Rarebit, 12-1 Luckello.
1.30 Novices' Chase (£7,679: 2m 5f) (6) 2.40 Handicap Chase (£7,407: 1m 7f) (7) 14 3561P SCOOP THE POT 39 (P,D) B Haslam 12-11-0 A Cawley Wright choice: Roger Rarebit found two miles too sharp at
1.00 Viva Lavilla 3.15 Camp Belan (nb) 1 14P3F ANTEY 25 (T) P Griffin (Ire) 9-11-6 D J O'Keeffe 1 1P2F- ERAGONE 400 (H) M Hammond 8-11-12 C O'Farrell 15 65004 SIGURD 20 (B,T,CD) J E Foster 10-10-5 N Moscrop Chepstow last time Dangers Azof Des Mottes, Post Chaise
1.30 Erne River 3.50 Roger Rarebit 11-2 Dhowin, 6-1 Camp Belan, Deep Charm, 8-1 Crixus's Escape, 10-1
2 31-11 ERNE RIVER 36 (D) N Kent 7-11-6 C Hammond 2 -3025 ROCKADENN 25 (T) A Ralph 6-11-11 N Scholfield
2.05 Shannon Bridge 4.22 Moscow Spy
2.40 Joke Dancer 3 P-634 CHAMPAGNESUPEROVER 36 (T) O Murphy 7-11-0 3 -P333 FAST BUCK 32 (T) D Skelton 8-11-10 H Skelton Ladronne, Mr Scrumpy, Into Overdrive, Timeless Beauty. 4.22 Handicap Hurdle
A P Heskin 4 42U11 HASANKEY 38 (V) L Morgan 6-11-10 Mr L Dobb (10) Wright choice: Camp Belan was a good second over course (Div II: £4,248: 2m 4f) (16)
Going: soft Racing TV 4 /PF13 REIGN SUEPREME 14 Mrs N Evans 7-11-0 Jamie Moore 5 -0P23 THOMAS MACDONAGH 25 (B,T) J Snowden 9-11-5 G Sheehan and distance; remains unexposed Dangers Sigurd, Dhowin 1 -P024 DUTY CALLS 49 S Forster 9-11-12 L Stones (7)
1.00 Novices' Hurdle 5 2/3-2 UNCLE ALASTAIR 66 N Richards 10-11-0 B Hughes 6 -5F54 JOKE DANCER 46 (W,P,CD) Sue Smith 9-11-2 R Mania 2 2P-PP DARIUS DES SOURCES 39 (P,T,D) C Grant 9-11-10 A Doyle
6 -5432 WELSH REIGN 241 T Reed 7-11-0 H Reed 7 22-35 DESTINED TO SHINE 32 (T) Kerry Lee 10-11-0 3.50 Handicap Hurdle
(£5,827: 2m 4f) (14 runners) 3 20352 WILLIAM CODY 30 Mrs P Sly 5-11-10 Paul O'Brien
15-8 Erne River, 2-1 Uncle Alastair, 4-1 Champagnesuperover, 11-2 Antey, S Twiston-Davies
1 311 ABUFFALOSOLDIER 21 (D) W Greatrex 5-11-7 B Hughes (Div I: £4,248: 2m 4f) (17) 4 05/4- ARCTIC ROAD 519 (P,T) O Greenall 9-11-8 Craig Nichol
12-1 Reign Suepreme, 50-1 Welsh Reign. 5-2 Hasankey, 7-2 Thomas Macdonagh, 5-1 Fast Buck, 13-2 Rockadenn, 7-1
2 54-12 RAFFERTY'S RETURN 11 (D) R Menzies 7-11-7 1 PP-01 BEAT BOX 57 (P) J Ewart 6-11-12 A Doyle (7) 5 45-0P LARGE ACTION 20 R Fell 6-11-7 Jamie Moore
Wright choice: Erne River was impressive in a handicap at Destined To Shine, 8-1 Joke Dancer, Eragone.
Sean Quinlan 2 005P2 AZOF DES MOTTES 20 G Bewley 5-11-9 J Bewley (3) 6 -4545 BLACK MINSTER 15 P Atkinson 7-11-5 T Dowson
Doncaster on his debut over fences Danger Uncle Alastair Wright choice: Joke Dancer has had a breathing operation
3 1-124 VIVA LAVILLA 32 (D) D Skelton 6-11-7 H Skelton 3 123-0 UISCE UR 74 (P,C) L Morgan 10-11-9 S Twiston-Davies 7 4506 MOSCOW SPY 27 Jonjo O'Neill 5-11-3 Jonjo O'Neill Jr
since his last run; could be tough to pass Danger Hasankey
4 10-3 AUTONOMOUS CLOUD 22 F O'Brien 6-11-0 A P Heskin 4 -0500 LOUGHERMORE 15 (P,CD) S Waugh 8-11-9 W Shanahan (7) 8 0505P CORAL BLUE 45 D Bourke 7-11-0 A Cawley
2.05 Handicap Hurdle
5 0P015 BAGHDAD CENTRAL 14 N Kent 6-11-0 C Hammond 3.15 Handicap Chase (£5,773: 3m) (15) 5 -2023 FRANKIE BABY 216 (P,BF) T Davidson 7-11-7 H Reed 9 40400 CAMEMBERT ELECTRIC 51 T Lacey 6-10-12 S Sheppard
(£10,892: 2m 4f) (8)
6 P254 BEAT THE EDGE 11 T Easterby 5-11-0 T Dowson 6 3-000 ROGER RAREBIT 41 T Lacey 5-11-5 S Sheppard 10 60654 JAMIL 31 (T) Miss T Jackson 7-10-9 S Mulqueen
1 /2F1- FLASH THE STEEL 445 (T) D Skelton 10-11-12 Mr T Durrell 1 6-6P2 CRIXUS'S ESCAPE 39 (W,P,T,D) G Boanas 9-11-12
7 52 BURROW SEVEN 40 J O'Keeffe 5-11-0 O Brown (5) Sean Quinlan 7 -2046 THE ELECTRICIAN 86 R M Smith 6-11-4 R Mania 11 0-336 EX S'ELANCE 46 V Thompson 8-10-8 P Armson (7)
2 023-4 ARRIVEDERCI 37 (T,CD) Jonjo O'Neill 7-11-3 Jonjo O'Neill Jr -6P14 SHUTTHEGATE 30 (BF) J Spearing 8-11-1 Jamie Moore
8 S3PP3 FOLLOW YOUR ARROW 20 G Bewley 6-11-0 D Hurst (7) 2 61-03 FIRAK 30 (T) D Skelton 7-11-12 H Skelton 8 12 0-P00 DUNNOTTAR CASTLE 45 (P) Mrs J Stephen 6-10-5 C O'Farrell
3 -3416 UP FOR PAROL 32 (C) J Snowden 6-11-2 G Sheehan
3-060 POST CHAISE 100 O Greenall 5-10-12
9 0-164 GLEBE ROAD 14 C Longsdon 6-11-0 Paul O'Brien 3 -3332 DHOWIN 24 W Greatrex 8-11-11 B Hughes 9 Craig Nichol 13 40030 SNOWED IN 12 (P) B Butterworth 13-10-4 Sean Quinlan
4 01-55 HER INDOORS 67 A King 5-11-0 A P Heskin
10 40 JOHNSON'S BLUE 20 M Walford 5-11-0 N Moscrop 4 P-543 MR SCRUMPY 39 J O'Keeffe 8-11-11 C O'Farrell 10 -1043 SILK OR SCARLET 45 (P,T,D) N Alexander 10-10-9 B Lynn (5) 14 000/0 SPARKLING DAWN 71 (T) R G Hawker 10-10-2 D McMenamin
5 P0003 SHANNON BRIDGE 32 (B,T,CD) D Skelton 9-10-13 H Skelton
11 P PILEUP 262 M Walford 5-11-0 T Midgley (5) 5 1-536 INTO OVERDRIVE 31 (T,BF) M Walford 7-11-8 T Midgley (5) 11 50000 TRAC 29 (P) M Hammond 5-10-6 A Cawley 15 -50PP GREAT RAFFLES 46 (P) M Hammond 6-10-0 Jack Hogan (7)
6 -2512 NO WORD OF A LIE 47 (D) O Signy 6-10-9
12 06-5 SIR JIM 34 (T) Ruth Jefferson 7-11-0 C Bewley S Twiston-Davies 6 -P3P5 CHEF D'OEUVRE 34 (P,T) S England 11-11-7 J England 12 00605 MOTAHASSEN 19 (T) D Carroll 8-10-5 P J Kavanagh (7) 16 00-P0 ECONOMIC EDITOR 45 (T) A Nicol 6-10-0 D Johnston (7)
13 11-15 THE PLAYER QUEEN 73 (D) R Dobbin 6-11-0 Craig Nichol 7 10-36 HOMME PUBLIC 48 (T) O Greenall 5-10-4 Craig Nichol 7 -1320 TIMELESS BEAUTY 26 (T) F O'Brien 7-11-7 A P Heskin 13 0-000 KINERTON HILL 45 D Whillans 6-10-4 C Bewley 4-1 Duty Calls, 9-2 William Cody, 11-2 Moscow Spy, 7-1 Jamil, 15-2
14 6430 POETRIA 29 M Walford 4-10-0 D McMenamin 8 -3211 FINDTHETIME 50 N Richards 6-10-0 B Hughes 8 0-12P DRAGONFRUIT 69 (P,BF,D) O Greenall 7-11-6 Craig Nichol 14 66605 LUCKELLO 30 (P) O Murphy 6-10-2 G Sheehan Camembert Electric, 10-1 Arctic Road, 12-1 Coral Blue, 14-1 Ex S'elance.
15-8 Viva Lavilla, 4-1 Abuffalosoldier, 11-2 Rafferty's Return, 15-2 11-4 Up For Parol, 7-2 Findthetime, 6-1 Shannon Bridge, Arrivederci, 7-1 No 9 /20-0 FURAX 29 M Hammond 7-11-6 Miss Becky Smith (3) 15 02U5P AFRICAN GLORY 34 (V) M Todhunter 8-10-0 D McMenamin Wright choice: Moscow Spy was not given a hard time
Autonomous Cloud, 8-1 Burrow Seven, 10-1 The Player Queen, 14-1 others. Word Of A Lie, 8-1 Homme Public, 10-1 Flash The Steel, 12-1 Her Indoors. 10 -341U MANETTI 39 (P,D) N Alexander 10-11-4 B Lynn (5) 16 0P0 LEADING MAN 36 (H) P Webber 5-10-0 C Hammond when sixth at Wincanton Dangers Jamil, William Cody

Hereford
Rob Wright
1.20 Elmdale 3.40 Anythingforlove
1.55 Godrevy Point 4.10 Braganza Bay (nap)
2.30 Fiamette 4.45 Shomen Uchi
3.05 Southern Sam
Going: soft, good to soft in places
Sky Sports Racing
1.20 Handicap Chase (£4,575: 2m 5f) (12)
1 20253 OUT FOR JUSTICE 113 (T) Katy Price 9-11-12
2 -43P5 ELMDALE 20 N Twiston-Davies 8-11-10
3 62433 JOLY MAKER 52 Jonjo O'Neill 8-11-9
4 20/23 SKINFLINT 35 Henry Oliver 10-11-7
5 13336 FAMILY POT 27 (T,BF) Sheila Lewis 7-11-1 Sean Houlihan
6 35-P0 PEMBROKE HOUSE 27 (P,T) S-J Davies 15-10-5 W T Kennedy
7 -601P THE BOAT 48 (P) E Williams 6-10-3
8 U-06P KING ORRY 61 (BF) Mrs S Gardner 7-10-2
9 6005P CATLOW 52 (H) Miss J Davis 9-10-0
10 P-06P GLOBAL FRONTIER 61 (P) Mrs N Evans 8-10-0 C Ring (3)
11 505P/ CARUMBA 780 (V) M Keighley 12-10-0
12 -PPP0 MESSAGE TO MARTHA 35 (P,T) Georgie Howell 7-10-0Tabitha Worsley (3)
3-1 Skinflint, 4-1 Joly Maker, 5-1 Family Pot, 6-1 Out For Justice, Elmdale, 8-1
The Boat, 12-1 King Orry, 16-1 Carumba.
1.55 Maiden Hurdle
(£5,827: 3m 1f 119yd) (7)
1 23U/0 CULVERWELL 30 M Keighley 11-11-6
2 -3522 GODREVY POINT 19 R Bandey 6-11-6
3 00P0P THEBELLSOFSHANDON 8 (H) P Henderson 7-11-6
4 P-400 BLUE HEATHER 37 (T) B Lund 8-10-13
5 20225 BOLINTLEA 17 Dr R Newland 7-10-13
6 402U6 KIND WITNESS 75 (T) B Lund 9-10-13
7 343F3 RACHEL LOUISE 34 Dave Roberts 7-10-13
8-13 Godrevy Point, 9-4 Bolintlea, 7-1 Rachel Louise, 33-1 Thebellsofshandon,
Blue Heather, Kind Witness, 66-1 Culverwell.
2.30 Maiden Hurdle (4-Y-O: £6,045: 2m) (8)
1 64455 FIAMETTE 15 (V) Miss J Davis 10-12
2 HANG UP F112 (H) F O'Brien 10-12
3 00 MADAM MALARKEY 25 (P) N Twiston-Davies 10-12
4 520 MISS CURIOSITY 25 Seamus Mullins 10-12 D Sansom (3)
5 00 PRETENTIEUSE 260 D Faulkner 10-12
6 4426 PUMP IT UP 26 (B) R Spencer 10-12 J Best 4.45 Open NH Flat Race (£4,084: 2m) (8) 3 (1) 06-40 VAPE 16 A Carroll 5-9-7 A Mullen 7.00 Classified Stakes (£2,916: 6f) (12)
7 0045 SIMPLY RED 49 (T) O Greenall 10-12 F Gregory 1 P-31 PARK THIS ONE 94 J Snowden 5-11-2 Page Fuller 4 (2) 00-53 ONE STEP BEYOND 18 (B) R Ingram 5-9-6 1 (3) 552-2 DELLA MARE 41 (CD) A Carroll 6-9-2 Mollie Phillips (5)
R Clutterbuck (3)
8 0436 TIKI FIRE 19 (H,T) N King 10-12 J Quinlan 2 2 PROPELLED 33 (BF) N Henderson 5-11-2 N De Boinville
5 (7) 04-14 DYNAKITE 26 (BF,CD) R Brisland 4-9-5 K Shoemark 2 (7) 006-0 FAREWELL KISS 21 R Brisland 5-9-2 D Probert
3-1 Hang Up, 4-1 Pump It Up, 9-2 Tiki Fire, 5-1 Miss Curiosity, 11-2 Fiamette, 3 RAZZO ITALIANO H Chisman 5-11-2 W T Kennedy 3 (4) 42-45 FIRST VERSE 25 (BF) M Usher 4-9-2 Ellie Mackenzie (5)
8-1 Madam Malarkey, 10-1 Simply Red, 50-1 Pretentieuse. 6 (4) 20-63 HEADORA 15 (B) J Portman 4-9-5 R Hornby
4 2 SHOMEN UCHI 52 S Thomas 5-11-2 C Deutsch 4 (10) 060-0 GHEPARDO 23 (P,CD) P Chamings 7-9-2 R Clutterbuck (3)
7 (6) 4026- VILLEURBANNE 82 (P) L Carter 4-9-5 T Marquand
5 4 STEAL MY SUNSHINE 110 D Skelton 5-11-2 5 (9) -0433 INDEPENDENCE DAY 5 C Banham 9-9-2 J Haynes
3.05 Handicap Chase (£5,773: 3m 1f) (7) Bridget Andrews 8 (3) 52/0- RAIHAAN J261 G L Moore 6-9-3 S W Kelly
6 (6) /6-32 INDIAN AFFAIR 25 (T,V,CD) C Wallis 12-9-2 L Morris
9 (8) 200-0 VIOLET'S LADS 32 (C,D) B Johnson 8-9-1 W Carson
1 513/3 SOUTHERN SAM 62 (BF) R Bandey 8-12-0 H Bannister 6 SUNDURO R G Hawker 5-11-2 L Williams 7 (1) 355-4 JACK RYAN 9 (B,D) J Ryan 5-9-2 D Keenan
2 2-533 FAUSTINOVICK 13 (P,T) C Tizzard 8-11-12 B J Powell 7 3 CAPE TOWN ERIN 39 (BF) F O'Brien 5-10-9 L Harrison (3) 10(10) 225-4 LUSCIFER 11 (P,D) R Harris 5-9-0 Rossa Ryan
8 (8) -0420 OCEAN EYES 12 (B) R Spencer 4-9-2 H Turner
8 SEA VILLAGE O Signy 4-10-4 T J O'Brien 11(12) 12441 FACT OR FABLE 14 (P,CD) J S Moore 5-8-9 L Keniry
3 11223 TOMMIE BEAU 46 (BF) Seamus Mullins 7-11-12 M G Nolan 9 (11) 000-4 POLLINATE 25 H Candy 4-9-2 G Rooke (3)
2-1 Shomen Uchi, 11-4 Propelled, 4-1 Cape Town Erin, 6-1 Steal My Sunshine, 12 (5) 0-00 ERMYNS DOTTIE 22 P Phelan 4-8-5 C Bennett
4 P-354 FUJI FLIGHT 36 (BF) V Williams 7-11-12 C Deutsch 10 (5) 3055- RAINBOW SIGN 59 (T) M Pattinson 4-9-2 J Bryan
10-1 Park This One, 12-1 Sea Village, 25-1 Sunduro, 50-1 Razzo Italiano. 3-1 Fact Or Fable, 9-2 Dynakite, 5-1 One Step Beyond, 7-1 Luscifer, 10-1
5 F0U33 CLEMENCIA 24 (T) T Vaughan 6-11-10 A Johns 11(12) 05-00 SEEKING PERFECTION 25 (P,D) P McEntee 4-9-2 Doubtful
B Poste Villeurbanne, Headora, 12-1 Vape, Rectory Road.
6 02P34 TIDE TIMES 18 (BF) I Williams 8-11-4 C Todd (3) 12 (2) 00-0 VICE ROYAL 22 J Bridger 5-9-2 C Howarth (7)
J Savage (5)
7 0P-6P ENDLESS FLIGHT 12 Mrs S Gardner 8-10-11 Lucy Gardner
Mr J Brace (7)
J J Burke
100-30 Southern Sam, 7-2 Tide Times, Fuji Flight, 5-1 Faustinovick, 11-2 Kempton Park 6.00 Handicap (Div II: £2,916: 1m) (12) 3-1 Della Mare, 7-2 Independence Day, 5-1 Indian Affair, 6-1 Jack Ryan, 8-1
Pollinate, 10-1 Ocean Eyes, First Verse, 16-1 Rainbow Sign, Farewell Kiss.
Tommie Beau, 8-1 Clemencia, 20-1 Endless Flight. Rob Wright 1 (6) 0-045 SIMULATION THEORY 11 (P,T) G Scott 4-9-8
Josephine Gordon 7.30 Handicap (£12,885: 6f) (4)
3.40 Handicap Hurdle 5.00 Clase Azul Ultra 7.00 Della Mare 2 (11) 45-12 COVERT MISSION 23 (T,BF,C) K P De Foy 4-9-7 D Muscutt
1 (1) 0422- MAY SONIC 117 (CD) C Hills 6-9-7 K Shoemark
A Wedge
(£10,293: 3m 1f 119yd) (4) 5.30 One Step Beyond 7.30 Papa Stour 3 (9) 50-65 PINK JAZZ 15 (P,T,CD) S Curran 5-9-5 Grace McEntee (3)
H Bannister 6.00 Calin’s Lad 8.00 Allowed 4 (5) 020-1 CALONNE 23 (D) R Brisland 6-9-5 K Shoemark 2 (2) 454-1 ROYAL PLEASURE 13 (H,D) Sir M Prescott 4-8-12 Doubtful
1 43125 ANYTHINGFORLOVE 25 (T) J Snowden 7-11-12 A Bellamy (7) 3 (3) 2-130 MOHAREB 20 (D) M Appleby 6-8-10 T Ladd (3)
J M Davies 6.30 Espresso Freddo 8.30 Lady Alavesa 5 (1) /42-5 CALIN'S LAD 23 (CD) A Carroll 7-9-4 A Mullen
2 0-011 EMMPRESSIVE LADY 3 Mrs S Gardner 7-11-9(7ex) 4 (4) 452-1 PAPA STOUR 23 (P,T,C,D) S C Williams 7-8-4 M Ghiani
Sean Houlihan Going: standard to slow Racing TV 6 (3) 5150- ASSEMBLED 88 (P,CD) M Bosley 6-9-4 Ellie Mackenzie (5)
J Best 7 (8) 1006- BOUNTY PURSUIT 111 (C) M Blake 10-9-3 M Ghiani 4-5 May Sonic, 9-4 Papa Stour, 4-1 Mohareb.
3 -1221 BELLATRIXSA 7 V Williams 5-11-2(7ex) H Bannister Draw: 5f-1m, low numbers best
4 334-1 COQUELICOT 105 (B,T) A Honeyball 6-10-9 R Dingle 8 (12) 30/30 MITIGATOR 13 (B,D) P Leech 6-9-1 T Heard (5)
5.00 Maiden Stakes (£3,780: 7f) (14) 9 (4) 0100- STUDY THE STARS 280 (CD) G Baker 4-8-13 T Whelan
8.00 Handicap (£3,996: 1m 4f) (7)
2-1 Emmpressive Lady, 9-4 Bellatrixsa, 5-2 Coquelicot, 5-1 Anythingforlove.
1 (4) 5 SILVEEANNA 44 (H) P Leech 4-9-9 W Carson 10 (2) 000-6 MABRE 46 (BF,CD) P Evans 5-8-12 D Keenan 1 (7) 05-1 L'ENCLUME 42 (CD) D & C Kubler 4-10-2 J Mitchell
2 (6) 0/22 NEEDLE LACE 11 G Boughey 4-9-10 C Shepherd
4.10 Handicap Hurdle (£6,753: 2m 4f) (16) 2 (7) BANBROOK BOY G Boughey 3-8-11 Dayverson De Barros 11 (7) 0-441 RECUERDAME 14 (P,CD) S Dow 6-8-5 H Doyle
3 (1)122-2 CHEROKEE DANCE 31 (P,D) I Williams 4-9-10 L Morris
3 (8) 56- BOLD AND LOYAL 220 (BF) M Murphy 3-8-11 D Muscutt 12(10) 0000- AIR OF YORK 65 (P,CD) G Harris 10-8-2 L Morris
1 234 ROBIN DES FOX 32 (T) O Signy 6-12-0 J Andrews (5) 4 (2)1000- COLONIAL LOVE 106 (H,D) R Brisland 4-9-9
4 (5) 0 CLASE AZUL ULTRA 18 R Hannon 3-8-11 Rossa Ryan 3-1 Covert Mission, 4-1 Recuerdame, 6-1 Calonne, 7-1 Mabre, 10-1 Mitigator,
J Best 2 32112 COASTGUARD STATION 108 Henry Oliver 6-11-13 D Noonan Georgia Dobie (3)
5 (3) HELLO SYDNEY W Haggas 3-8-11 T Marquand Calin's Lad, 12-1 Assembled, 14-1 Pink Jazz, Simulation Theory.
H Bannister 3 11FF0 CANFORD LIGHT 15 E Williams 5-11-12 A Wedge 5 (5) 043-1 ALLOWED 23 R Beckett 4-9-7 R Hornby
6 (13) 30- JUSTCALLMEPETE 71 H Evans 3-8-11 D Costello
4 -664U NICKELSONTHEDIME 29 (T) K Woollacott 8-11-12 T Scudamore 6 (3) 0-630 LUNA MAGIC 18 A Watson 8-9-4 Adam J McNamara
T J O'Brien 5 0-324 EATON COLLINA 12 (BF) Kerry Lee 7-11-9 R Patrick
7 (14) KOTYONOK M Appleby 3-8-11 Doubtful 6.30 Handicap (£5,616: 1m) (11) 7 (4) 4-652 PARIKARMA 14 (H,P) E Dunlop 5-9-0 R Clutterbuck (3)
8 (12) 06 LORD VADER 23 J Ryan 3-8-11 S Donohoe 1 (3)626-1 LAFAN 18 (CD) R Hannon 4-9-8 Rossa Ryan
B Godfrey (3) 6 -5432 SMOKING PIGEON 33 (T) F O'Brien 8-11-9 L Harrison (3) 7-4 Allowed, 7-2 Needle Lace, 4-1 L'Enclume, 5-1 Cherokee Dance, 8-1
9 (1) MUTARA S Curran 3-8-11 N Currie 2 (7)/140- PRIORITISE 211 J Tate 4-9-7 T Marquand
C Leonard (5) 7 53-33 HOPE YOU DO 14 (P,BF) P Hobbs 5-11-8 T J O'Brien Parikarma, 25-1 Luna Magic, Colonial Love.
10(10) 0 OXYGEN THIEF 25 C Banham 3-8-11 J Haynes 3 (4)2/5-3 FREEDOM AND WHEAT 18 (P,CD) M Blake 6-9-5 M Ghiani
B Poste 8 1-2P2 I SPY A DIVA 43 K Bailey 5-11-7 D Bass
L Edwards 9 -5532 MEXICAN BOY 58 (T) O Murphy 6-11-7 F Gregory
11(11) SIMPLY SONDHEIM G Boughey 3-8-11 C Shepherd 4 (6)/100- HAYKAL J16 (H) P Phelan 4-9-4 R Clutterbuck (3) 8.30 Handicap (£3,996: 1m) (7)
12 (2) 3 TAKE A STAND 21 J Tate 3-8-11 J Mitchell 11-32 UNFORGIVING MINUTE 12 (CD) S Curran 11-9-4
10 -0545 BRAGANZA BAY 41 (W) H Daly 5-11-5 B Godfrey (3) 5 (8) 1 (3) 120-0 SKY BLUE THINKING 21 H Dunlop 4-9-8 G Rooke (3)
13 (6) 05 TESSY LAD 25 R Hughes 3-8-11 G Rooke (3) Grace McEntee (3)
11 16300 KENYAN COWBOY 12 (B) N King 6-10-12 M Kendrick 2 (1) 24-06 MAJESTIC TEJAAN 21 T Ward 4-9-7 J Bryan
14 (9) 6-6 DELIGHTFILLY 22 M Loughnane 3-8-6 6 (10) 015-5 ROGUE FORCE 23 (H,C) Tom Clover 4-9-3 J Mitchell
12 4200P SINISTER MINISTER 27 (T) Sheila Lewis 7-10-11 Elisha Whittington (5) 3 (4) 0-401 HOLD FAST 11 (H,CD) A Balding 5-9-5 Harry Davies (7)
Sean Houlihan 7 (11) 410-3 ROCK CHANT 25 (T) I Williams 4-9-0 A Rawlinson
4 (5) 045-4 PRINCESSE ANIMALE 39 (D) P Phelan 5-9-5 C Bennett
2-1 Take A Stand, 11-4 Hello Sydney, 6-1 Simply Sondheim, 10-1 Justcallmepete, 8 (9) 1110- PROCLAIMER 78 (BF,CD) J Camacho 5-9-0 D Probert
J M Davies 13 40U06 OUTBACK FRONTIERS 27 J G O'Shea 6-10-11 C Deutsch 5 (6) 0006/ COOL VIXEN 484 R Brisland 5-8-13 D Probert
12-1 Bold And Loyal, 14-1 Clase Azul Ultra, Banbrook Boy, 16-1 Lord Vader.
C Brace 14 6-310 ALWAYS ABLE 245 (P) M Sheppard 7-10-9 C Gethings 9 (2) 31-02 ESPRESSO FREDDO 18 (V,CD) R Stephens 8-8-13 D Keenan
6 (7) 55-04 ZOOM ZOOM BABE 18 (D) M Appleby 5-8-12 T Ladd (3)
15 42P64 CHANTILLY HAZE 16 P C Dando 7-10-5 C Ring (3) 10 (1) 021-0 STATELY HOME 18 (D) S Lycett 5-8-13 Josephine Gordon
E Edge (10) 16 3-104 OVERHAUGH STREET 19 E De Giles 9-10-1 B Poste
5.30 Handicap (Div I: £2,916: 1m) (12) 11 (5) 64-02 PERFECT FOCUS 33 (H) L Carter 5-8-11 N Currie
7 (2) 0-056 LADY ALAVESA 20 (CD) M Herrington 7-8-4
Josephine Gordon
5-1 Smoking Pigeon, 11-2 Hope You Do, 13-2 I Spy A Diva, 7-1 Eaton Collina, 1 (9) 660-4 RECTORY ROAD 6 (CD) Joseph Parr 6-9-10 Alice Bond (7) 11-4 Lafan, 11-2 Espresso Freddo, 6-1 Proclaimer, 8-1 Prioritise, Unforgiving 13-8 Hold Fast, 5-1 Princesse Animale, 11-2 Zoom Zoom Babe, 6-1 Sky Blue
C Ring (3) 15-2 Mexican Boy, 10-1 Nickelsonthedime, Braganza Bay others. 2 (11) 6000- MOVING FOR GOLD 58 Tom Clover 4-9-9 J Mitchell Minute, 10-1 Perfect Focus, Rogue Force, Freedom And Wheat. Thinking, 8-1 Majestic Tejaan, Lady Alavesa, 12-1 Cool Vixen.

Yesterday’s racing results

Ayr
Going: heavy
1.20 (2m 4f 100yd hdle) 1, Desaray Girl (Emma
Smith-Chaston, 7-1); 2, Your Place (5-1); 3, Gine
Sacre (16-1). 13 ran. 1Ol, 5Kl. Micky Hammond.
1.55 (2m 4f 100yd hdle) 1, Charm Offensive
(C O’Farrell, 7-1); 2, Mount Melleray (12-1);
3, Your Own Story (8-1). 14 ran. NR: Jet Legs.
Sh hd, nk. N W Alexander.
2.30 (2m 4f 110yd ch) 1, Ard Chros (Sam
Coltherd, 7-1); 2, Broomfields Kan (11-1); 3, Wee
Small Hours (11-1). 9 ran. 1Kl, 3Nl. W Coltherd.
3.05 (2m 110yd ch) 1, Ardera Cross (Sam
Coltherd, 4-1); 2, Seemorelights (5-1); 3, Royal
Arcade (3-1 jt-fav). 6 ran. NR: Victory Echo.
4Kl, 5l. W Young Jnr.
3.40 (3m 70yd hdle) 1, Stolen Money (Craig
Nichol, 7-1); 2, Jessiemac (14-1); 3, Ned Tanner
(7-2). 7 ran. NR: Bullion Boss, Final Reminder,
Skiddaw Tara. 3l, Ol. D W Whillans.
4.15 (3m 20yd ch) 1, Just Don’t Know (C Nichol,
7-1); 2, Shaka The King (4-1); 3, To The Limit (100-
30). 6 ran. NR: Peak Time. 1Nl, 18l. Paul Robson.
4.50 (2m Flat) 1, Nifty Getaway (Nick
Scholfield, 17-2); 2, Time For Hollie (7-4 fav); 3,
Its A Midnight (20-1). 12 ran. 2l, 4Kl. A Watson.
Jackpot: Not won. Pool of £22,961.83 carried
forward to Wetherby today.
Placepot: £9,713.60. Quadpot: £471.60.
Lingfield Park
Going: heavy
1.00 (2m hdle) 1, Hit The Rocks (Caoilin Quinn,
9-2); 2, Bay Of Intrigue (9-4 fav); 3, Stanley
Pincombe (5-2). 7 ran. NR: Falcon Sun. 1Kl, 25l.
G L Moore.
1.35 (2m hdle) 1, My Silver Lining (James Best,
11-1); 2, Teddy Blue (11-4); 3, Bobalot (12-1). 9 ran.
NR: Sallyann. 7Kl, 3Ol. Miss E C Lavelle.
2.10 (3m 4f 178yd ch) 1, Snuff Box (Charlie
Deutsch, 13-2); 2, Vinnie Dev (10-1); 3, Colonel
Keating (13-2). 8 ran. NR: The Newest One. 9l, 5l.
Miss V Williams.
2.45 (2m 3f 110yd hdle) 1, Eavesdropping
(Fergus Gregory, 12-1); 2, Our Bill’s Aunt (7-2);
3, Nikolayeva (15-2). 8 ran. NR: Becky The Boo,
Khalina Star, Songdance. 3Kl, 8Kl. O Murphy.
3.20 (2m 7f 110yd ch) 1, Movethechains
(J E Moore, 5-2 jt-fav); 2, Frenchy Du Large
(5-2 jt-fav); 3, Illegal Model (5-1). 5 ran. NR: Fern
Hill, Seven No Trumps, Shaman Du Berlais.
14l, 17l. G L Moore.
3.55 (2m 7f hdle) 1, Coolvalla (Tom Cannon,
5-1); 2, World Trip (25-1); 3, Earl Of Wisdom
(20-1). ; 4, Woulduadamandeveit (16-1). 17 ran.
NR: Immortal Fame. 9l, 5Kl. C Gordon.
4.30 (2m 7f 110yd ch) 1, Dolphin Square (Mr
D Maxwell, 10-11 fav); 2, Geordie B (10-1); 3, West
Approach (9-4). 4 ran. 3l, 2Kl. P J Hobbs.
Placepot: £1,472.00. Quadpot: £90.40.
Newcastle
Going: standard/slow
4.08 (2m 56yd) 1, Metal Man (P Mulrennan,
4-1); 2, Hackberry (15-2); 3, Diaboleo (20-1).
9 ran. Hd, sh hd. R Menzies.
4.40 (1m 4f 98yd) 1, Sir Chauvelin (P
Mulrennan, 10-1); 2, Onesmoothoperator
(13-8 fav); 3, Aced It (9-1). 6 ran. Ol, Kl. J S Goldie.
5.15 (1m 5yd) 1, Bruno’s Gold (Hollie Doyle, 2-1);
2, Wynter Wildes (15-8 fav); 3, Mister Falsetto
(10-1). 10 ran. Kl, 5l. A Watson.
5.45 (7f 14yd) 1, Shalaa Asker (Ryan Sexton,
5-1); 2, Millionaire Waltz (15-8 fav); 3, Tommy
Taylor (16-5). 8 ran. Nk, Kl. A Keatley.
6.15 (6f) 1, Outrun The Storm (J Garritty, 17-2);
2, Gowanlad (4-1); 3, Burrows Seeside (100-30
fav). 11 ran. Ol, nk. R A Fahey.
6.45 (5f) 1, Just Another (Cam Hardie, 6-1);
2, Tilly The Filly (11-2); 3, Sherdil (15-2). 7 ran.
NR: Waverley Star. Nk, nk. J L Eyre.
7.15 (5f) 1, Pepper Streak (Barry McHugh,
6-4 fav); 2, Judy’s Park (2-1); 3, Top Notch
Tommy (4-1); 4, Eldeyaar (7-1). 4 ran. Ns, 4Ol.
Adrian Nicholls.
7.45 (1m 5yd) 1, Abnaa (Mark Winn, 8-1);
2, Broctune Red (100-30); 3, Bronze River (15-2).
9 ran. 2l, Kl. A Brittain.
Placepot: £66.60.
Quadpot: £12.50.
556 Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times

Sport
Sport Winter Olympics

Tears, rancour – and skills no

Owen Slot
Chief Sports
Writer, Beijing
This is what it looks like when you are
15 years old and you have tested positive
for drugs, when the world has you
under a microscope and you are
performing in the Olympic Games. You
spin a triple axel and you step out on
landing. One jump, one mistake. And
you are still the best in the world.
Kamila Valieva took the lead in the
women’s singles figure skating yester-
day and there is no one who expects her
to relinquish it when the competition is
completed tomorrow. She is that far
ahead. She has raised this game to such
unprecedented levels that she can test
positive, deliver a shaky performance
(by her standards), break down in tears
at the finish — and still be ahead of the
rest of the world.
Valieva has been under unimagina-
ble pressure here and endured a level of
scrutiny unlike anyone else at these
Winter Games. It says something about
her — her toughness? her mental
strength? — that she can come through
that and still be in pole position.
Meanwhile, the discontent and the
thunder claps still echo all around her.
There were fellow athletes who would
not hide their derision. Others in the
Capital Indoor Arena were calling this
the sport’s darkest day.
The only surprise among it all was
that we did not finish with all three
Russians atop the leaderboard. The
teenage team-mates, dubbed “The
Quad Squad” because of the world-
beating jumps they can execute, finished
overnight in first, second and fourth.
Kaori Sakamoto, of Japan, managed
to squeeze in between them, though the
upset was less the standard of her
routine than the fact that Alexandra
Trusova, the third Russian, fell on the
first jump in her routine — the triple
axel, again — to let her in.
The Quad Squad are trained by Eteri
Tutberidze, a coach now infamous for
both the brilliant skaters she produces
and the broken ones she discards. Of
the past five skaters to break the (com-
bined) world-record score, her trio here
are three of them, and Valieva is the
best of all. She has broken that world
record three times in five months.
Even having snagged that triple axel
in her short programme, the score she
posted was better than the personal
best of everyone else in the field. That is
down to the level of difficulty she sets
herself, though the raging anger
around the ice rink suggested that it
was down to a lot more. There are a lot
of outstanding athletes here who will
not get near this podium.
In the middle of this competition,
they are reluctant to stoke the flames,
yet they also want to share an opinion.
This, for instance, was Mariah Bell, the
United States skater: “I am a huge advo-
cate for clean sport, and I’m 25, and I’m
really proud of how I’ve led my career.”
Or Josefin Taljegard, of Sweden: “I
think fair play is important.” Or
Natasha McKay, the British skater: “I
wish it was a level playing field and it’s
not.” Every comment is heavily loaded.
Less subtle was Adam Rippon, a
former US figure skater and Bell’s
coach. “This ruins the integrity of the
Olympics,” he said. Of Valieva: “The
team around her are child abusers.”
That last comment is also pertinent,
as the Valieva scandal has triggered a
debate about whether there should be a
minimum age limit before minors are
allowed to join open competition. So
this story hasn’t been solely a doping
scandal. It has been about young
athletes and whether this should be a
sport for adults or prepubescents.
The first athlete out on the ice was
Anastasiia Shabotova, a 16-year-old
skating for Ukraine. This is the same
Shabotova who used to represent
Russia but, aged 13, gave an Instagram
Q&A in which she said that Tutber-
idze’s athletes were using performance-
enhancing drugs. Her career as a “Rus-
sian” came to an end soon after that.
So, no, she didn’t have much of an
opinion about Valieva — because she
has long been her friend. And neither
did she want to opine on the Ukraine-
Russia border crisis — because she had
so long been a Muscovite.
When yesterday’s competition was
over, Anna Shcherbakova, who is lying
second behind Valieva, gave a press
conference. “I will not say anything
about this situation,” she said about
Valieva. Asked about Tutberidze and MEDALS TABLE
her coaching methods, she said that she
had been with her since she was nine, G S B Total
that “I like this coach” and “we are very 1 Norway 12 7 7 26
fruitful working together”. 2 Germany 9 6 3 18
Among Tutberidze’s achievements is 3 United States 7 6 4 17
that her group have been through this 4 Austria 6 6 4 16
ordeal and yet she has still got them to 5 Netherlands 6 4 3 13
perform. Part of that ordeal for Valieva 6 China 6 4 2 12
was having to stay up until beyond 2am 7 Sweden 5 3 3 11
on Sunday night to attend her six-hour 8 Switzerland 5 0 5 10
doping disciplinary hearing. 9 ROC 4 7 9 20
“These days have been very difficult 10 France 3 7 2 12
for me, emotionally,” Valieva said on
Russian TV. “I am happy but emotion-
ally fatigued. That is why these tears of
joy and a little bit of sadness.”
Some extraordinary evidence from
the disciplinary hearing emerged when
it was revealed that Valieva’s defence
was built on the suggestion that the
illegal trimetazidine found in her
system could be traced to her grandfa-
ther, who uses the drug for his heart
condition. Valieva’s mother and lawyer,
who attended the hearing by video link,
said that Valieva had shared a glass with
her grandfather on Christmas Day and
that his saliva may have been the cause
of her contamination.
Somehow, despite all this, Valieva
was able to deliver a world-beating per-
formance in competition. The opening
statement of her routine was the triple
axel. Twice in practice, five hours
before she was to compete, she tried the
triple axel and failed to land it.
When she stepped on to the ice again,
she was applauded by the crowd. Then,
when she started her programme, she
failed to land the triple axel again. It
wasn’t a tumble, only a clumsy landing
and a foot out to maintain balance.
Was that the pressure showing? If it
was, she quickly put it behind her. She
completed the rest of her programme
without error — and finished top. And
yet the tears that followed showed how
far she was from being satisfied.
Throughout all this, you have to
remember that this is a 15-year-old. You
have to pinch yourself, acknowledge
that this is something quite astonishing,
that it arguably should never have been
allowed to happen, that the world is
raging, and the 15-year-old has some-
how survived. She only put a foot out.

Doping and sportswashing? Olympics is now hopelessly

the border of Ukraine, showcasing (in
Matthew Syed
yed case the International Olympic
Committee hasn’t yet got the picture)
that he cares not a jot about rules,
sporting or otherwise. Meanwhile, as
Valieva skated, you could see a
different dimension too: the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) using this
Winter Olympics to sportswash
of a teenager competing in the glare
of the world and then having her
medals seized retrospectively? What
about the harm to clean athletes
competing against someone with an
unfair advantage? What about the
harm done to the Games, or to sport?
And what of the message sent to
coaches around the world that young
followed by yet more appeasement.
Why on earth is Russia competing
at all, given what we know about
sport in that country? Have we
forgotten the Sochi Games, where
clean urine samples were swapped
with dirty ones through the ruse
of a concealed hole in the doping
laboratory, masterminded by the
corruption. At the time, only
61 per cent of Russians liked what they
saw from the Russian leader, a
stunningly low tally given that he in
effect controls the media.
It was only after Sochi, when doped
Russian athletes topped the medal
table with 11 golds, that things started
to turn around. I suspect that future

A
t just before 2pm UK time
yesterday, the Olympic
movement died. This was
the time when Kamila
Valieva, who has tested
positive for a banned drug, took to the
rink to compete for a fictional
construct called the Russian Olympic
Committee — one imagined into
existence so that Russian athletes
could compete in the Games despite
their own government orchestrating a
doping regime of chilling scale and
consequence; one that defrauded all
clean competitors and made fools of
the watching world.
Valieva’s routine took place against
a political backdrop too. A backdrop
in which Vladimir Putin, who signed
off the state-sanctioned cheating, has
posted more than 100,000 troops to
cultural genocide in Xinjiang, perhaps
in preparation for an attack on
Taiwan.
I just think we should be honest.
The Games have shown us that this
sham of a spectacle is only
tangentially a sporting event. This is a
festival where doped athletes can
compete, where medal ceremonies
can be cancelled and where judicial
bodies can make perverse decisions,
as if infected by the same madness
that has overtaken the broader
Olympic community.
How could it be said that Valieva
might suffer “irreparable harm” if she
did not compete? What about the
harm of a child potentially being
given a cocktail of three different
drugs by coaches, nutritionists or
whoever else? What about the harm
people are given special dispensations
when accused of doping? Won’t that
offer a green light to the psychopaths
who use coaching as a means to abuse
young people, often with autocratic
states egging them on? Have we such
short memories of what happened
during communism in East Germany,
where Putin spent so much time as a
KGB agent, young girls force-fed blue
pills that they were told were vitamins
but turned out to be androgenic
steroids that ruined their lives?
This is why this saga reads like the
last rites for the IOC, a story that
showcases in chilling detail why this
corrupt organisation needs to be
ripped up, eradicated from memory,
so that we can start afresh. A story of
an inexorable drift to disaster, scandal
by sordid scandal, appeasement
Federal Security Service (FSB)?
The athletes’ pressure group Global
Athlete put the point well: “Russia has
never been incentivised to reform
because sport leaders favoured
politics over principle and rebranding
over banning. The doping of minor
athletes must be stopped. Any
country that systematically dopes its
athletes cannot be allowed to
participate in international sport.”
The IOC is a willing stooge to all
this, of course, the ultimate in useful
idiocy. Despite the glossy PR and
slick communications strategy,
though, most right-minded people
know what is really going on, and
why. Think back to late 2013, when
the wily Putin took note of his
cratering approval ratings, due to
falling oil prices and massive
historians will see his rising numbers
(the rating soared to above 80 per cent
within months) as a key factor in
Putin’s invasion of Crimea not long
after, an annexation that led to yet
more patriotic tumult. And, on this
very point, who knows what
calculations are taking place right
now in the mind of President Xi, with
China having surpassed its record
medal count at a Winter Games.
This is why it is time for anyone
who loves the Games to stand up and
say: “Enough is enough.” We have to
finally acknowledge the damage done
to Olympics by the likes of Thomas
Bach, the IOC president, and his
willingness to provide cover for the
CCP in their treatment of Peng Shuai;
not to mention Lord Coe, the World
Athletics president, who has bent
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
rival could match
corrupted
over backwards not to offend
autocratic states, aware of the money
they provide to the IOC, which he
yearns to lead. Above all, we have to
realise how far the rot has travelled,
with the entire Olympic movement
now hopelessly contaminated.
We should acknowledge something
else too. Hundreds of brilliant, clean,
honest athletes have given it their all
at these Games, the culmination of a
lifetime of hard work and sacrifice.
Isn’t it heart-rending that their
moment in the spotlight has been
overshadowed by the Machiavellian
evasions of the suited charlatans who
administer this once impressive event?
But perhaps we should finish with
Valieva, only 15, who, despite an early
stumble, completed an impressive
opening routine before dissolving into
tears. If she finishes in the top three
tomorrow, the medal ceremony will
be abandoned. If she fails to finish in
the top three, the world will wonder
at how she was allowed to compete.
Either way, it is a catch-22 that
showcases the incompetence and
corruption underpinning this
profoundly tarnished institution.
ROMAN PILIPEY/EPA
‘Stop players going
to IPL to improve
England’s Test side’
Mickey Arthur speaks
to Elizabeth Ammon
about his Derbyshire
plans and the handling
of Broad and Anderson
A
fter 12 years of the bright
lights of international
cricket, Mickey Arthur has
decided that the relative
Valieva bursts into tears at the end of quiet of the East Midlands
her short programme, inset, after a is where home is going to be for the
clumsy landing — but despite that she next few years.
is leading the women’s figure skating It is a significant coup for
Derbyshire to have enticed a head
coach with the experience and calibre
of Arthur. The challenges for a small
county with a small squad of only 19
players are significant. They have not
won a trophy since 2012, when they
topped Division Two of the County
Championship, and before that it was
1993, when they won the Benson &
Hedges Cup. Moreover, they have not
produced an England Test player
since Dominic Cork in 2002.
“The county has underperformed
for a number of years,” Arthur, who
has just arrived in the UK to take his
new role, says. “I’ve told the players
that. I hate losing and I will be talking
about winning and instilling that
every day we’re together as a squad.”
There will be no more coasting and
using the excuse of being a “smaller
county” — Arthur’s belief is that
Derbyshire can sit at the top table.
Arthur, 53, has an impressive
CV and a no-nonsense approach
to management. He coached
South Africa from 2005 to 2010
and was the coach of Australia
from 2010 until his sacking in
June 2013. Then, from 2016 to
2019, he coached Pakistan
and was Sri Lanka’s head
coach from December
2019, up until his
resignation last year.
ALEX PANTLING/GETTY IMAGES All of those have
been challenging posts
and Arthur is no
stranger to difficult
decisions. He has had to
manage big characters,
deal with difficult
administrators and make
some unpopular selection
decisions. His views on the
axing of Stuart Broad and
James Anderson from
England women to face
South Africa in June Test
Cricket England’s women will play a
Test match against South Africa this
summer in a multiformat series as
part of plans to include more Test
cricket in the women’s calendar
(Elizabeth Ammon writes).
After the thrilling Ashes Test draw
BOBSLEIGH PAIR FLIP AT 83MPH in Canberra last month, there have
been calls to provide more
The British two-man bobsleigh team of Brad Hall opportunities for women to play Test
and Nick Gleeson, right, crashed and flipped over cricket. Only England and Australia
at 83mph during their penultimate run in regularly play Tests and even that is
Yanqing. They recovered to complete their final only once every 18 months as part of
run, finishing 11th overall. Meanwhile, Bruce the Ashes. South Africa have not
Mouat’s male curlers showed why they are played a Test for eight years but will
Britain’s best hope of a medal, reaching meet England at Taunton in June to
tomorrow’s semi-finals with a superb kick off the series, which will also
7-6 win over Sweden, the world champions. include three one-day internationals
and three T20s.
57
Sport
Sport
England’s Test squad come with a
tinge of bitter experience.
“I’ve had to do similar with my
international teams [phasing out
senior players],” he says. “This process
with Stuart and Jimmy should have
started a little while ago. I think it’s
drastic to do it now, in one swoop.
“They have decided they want to go
with a young new Test squad. Those
two are unbelievable cricketers but
clearly, they are not going to be
around for ages, so I think England
should have started the phasing-out
process earlier, which probably would
have culminated in going into this
English summer and them departing
with the respect they deserve.”
English cricket is, as always, doing
some soul-searching after another
Ashes defeat and there is to be a
comprehensive review of county
cricket, in consultation with the
counties. It is Arthur’s strong belief,
though, that county cricket is not
to blame for England’s poor Test
performances in the past 18 months.
Participation in the Indian Premier
League is a huge issue for English
cricket, Arthur says. “For so long
county cricket has been a really good
producer of international players. I
don’t think there’s a problem with the
system. If you want the strength early
season, unfortunately you have to
stop players going to the IPL. They
are playing there just before the first
Tests. You need your best players
playing county cricket preparing for
that. But good luck having those
conversations with players.”
Arthur’s most immediate
priority is getting Derbyshire
back to winning ways. He is not
a fan of rest-and-rotation and
believes in always picking your
best team. “Rotation is a
swear word to me,”
he says.
Might Arthur have
been tempted by the
vacant England
head coach role?
“Absolutely
not,” he says.
“I have just come
out of 12 years
of international
cricket and I’m very
comfortable with the
project I’ve got.”
Arthur has also coached
South Africa, Australia,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka
Sheffield Shield likely to
remain Australian-only
Cricket English players are likely to
remain excluded from playing in
Australia’s Sheffield Shield despite a
recent ECB request to reverse the
policy after this winter’s Ashes
disaster (Elizabeth Ammon writes).
Tom Harrison, the under-fire chief
executive of the ECB, wrote to his
counterparts at Cricket Australia after
the Ashes defeat, asking for the state
teams to select young English players
to give them experience of Australian
conditions. However, sources close to
Cricket Australia have told The Times
that it remains a remote possibility
that any of the six first-class state
teams would select an overseas player
and that its priority remains giving all
the playing slots to Australian players.
558
Sport Rugby union
‘Dupont the only
player in better
form than Smith’
After silencing critics as
Wales beat Scotland,
Dan Biggar is relishing
facing England’s fly half,
he tells Will Kelleher
D
an Biggar knows a fierce
competitor when he sees one,
so he cannot wait to face
England’s Marcus Smith at
Twickenham for Wales a week
on Saturday.
While many are marvelling at
Smith’s flicks, tricks, hitch-kicks and
attacking flair, Biggar knows that he
will be in for a fight when the pair
meet in the next round of the
Guinness Six Nations.
Smith, 23, was a late call-up to the
British & Irish Lions tour to South
Africa last summer, where Biggar, 32,
played all three Test matches. On
tour the Wales captain was impressed
with his young team-mate.
“I saw Tom Curry’s interview after
[England] beat Italy and he summed
it up really well,” Biggar says.
“He said everyone is
aware of Marcus’s talents,
skills, but he mentioned
how motivated and
England
driven he is. That was Wales
so clear in the summer
Guinness Six Nations
— he’s got a desire to
get better, is not afraid Twickenham
to make mistakes and February 26, 4.45pm
has got that real fight and TV: ITV
scrap in him.
“He’s probably the form
player in the northern hemisphere
barring Antoine Dupont. It’ll be a
great challenge.
“He’s a really good lad and is not
just a talented player, he works his
socks off, is driven and motivated.
“All the boys really bought into
him. He certainly ran the show when
we played. I got on really well with
him — he’s a really good bloke, so
it’ll be great to play him.”
Biggar and Wales produced a
resolute display in Cardiff on
Saturday to beat Scotland 20-17,
having lost to Ireland badly
29-7, in the opening round.
After his win Biggar watched
Smith and England pull Italy apart in
their 33-0 victory in Rome, and he
thinks the key to Welsh success in
London on February 26 will be
Victoria to follow Birmingham as hosts Marler and Isiekwe dropped
Commonwealth Games
Matt Lawton
Chief Sports Correspondent
The three-year search for a host for the
2026 Commonwealth Games finally
appears to be over, with the Australian
state of Victoria nearing an agreement
with the event’s governing body.
Concerns about the future of the
Games escalated with a failure to find a
successor to Birmingham 2022, forcing
Commonwealth Games Federation
(CGF) officials to make drastic changes
to the format in October.
In an effort to reduce costs, a new
strategic roadmap stated that only two
shutting out England’s fly half.
“We’re fully aware that going to
Twickenham is probably the most
difficult game in the Six Nations,”
Biggar says. “You’re running out of
words to describe Marcus with the
form he’s showed over the last year.
“We have to make sure we take
time and space away from him, as he’s
a world-class operator who can play
at a really high level.
“Wales-England is always really
tight early doors. That is what set the
tone for us in the Scotland game —
we settled in early on, got amongst it
and we’ll have to do the same again a
week on Saturday.
“If you allow England to have time
and space, the power they’ve got in
the team, the depth they’ve got, we’re
going to be in for a difficult afternoon.
“It’s about starting well and
hopefully getting in amongst their
world-class players, taking their time
and space away.”
England may unleash Manu Tuilagi
on Wales, with the Sale Sharks centre
primed for his latest comeback having
played twice for his club as he returns
from a hamstring injury suffered
against South Africa in
November. Biggar is aware
of how much the English
v dynamic changes with
Tuilagi involved.
“It’ll mean a bit more
tackling practice in the
week for us backs if he
is playing,” he says.
“Everyone is well
aware of Manu’s
strengths, and when he
plays, England tend to play
better whatever position he plays,
12 or 13.
“He’s physical, will give any team he
plays for go-forward, and as soon as
you get on the front foot in
international rugby, life gets a lot
easier. He’s obviously going to
strengthen England if he can get
some minutes and is back in the fold.”
Wales produced a fine, dogged win
against the fancied Scots in round
two, defying their critics after the
poor Dublin display. Biggar reveals
that those who had written off Wales
had only fired them up.
“When you don’t play well as a
team you’re going to have criticism,
which is part and parcel of the job,”
says Biggar, who is unlikely to play
for Northampton this weekend as
he recovers from a dead leg he picked
sports — athletics and swimming —
would remain compulsory, with future
hosts given flexibility to choose no
more than 13 others in line with
recommendations. There will be 19
sports in Birmingham when the Games
are staged from July 28 to August 8.
That brought a number of potential
hosts back to the table, but Victoria has
now entered an exclusive dialogue
period with the CGF.
While many of the events will take
place in Melbourne, the state-wide
approach will enable Victoria to reduce
costs by using existing facilities.
The modernisation of the Games
appeared to place some sports in
Marcus
Smith
Age: 23
England caps: 7
Points: 93
Height: 5ft 7in
Weight: 12st 13lb
Where Smith stands out
In first two rounds of the Six Nations
Most defenders beaten
Darcy Graham (Scot)
9
Marcus Smith (Eng)
7
Gabin Villiere (Fra)
7
Damian Penaud (Fra)
7 Age: 32
Matt Fagerson (Scot)
5
Johnny Sexton (Ire)
5
up against Scotland. “We’ve
been in tough positions before,
have had tough away defeats to
England and Ireland, and not that it
was unjust — as you have to take the
criticism — but we felt it was a bit
overboard. We said we’ve got history
of bouncing back, performing well
and getting it right.
“Our pride was hurt a bit. We didn’t
fire any shots last week and the big
thing in the week was, ‘Let’s take our
frustrations of the Ireland game out
on Scotland.’
“We’ve a good record in Cardiff
in general. And in the Six Nations.
That was a bit disappointing for us,
as our record in the Six Nations is
as good as anybody’s over the last
decade. Albeit we had a really poor
performance, things went a bit OTT
in that regard.
jeopardy, including netball, not least
because it is played by women only and
is therefore considered to lack diversity.
But netball has strong foundations in
Australia and is expected to be among
those chosen by Victoria. Boxing
should also make the cut, sources have
said.
The search for a 2026 host began at
the 2019 Commonwealth Games
general assembly in Rwanda, with the
CGF then announcing that the matter
should be resolved by the end of 2020.
Only now, however, has a break-
through come, to the credit of the new
CGF chief executive, Katie Sadleir, who
was appointed in August.
dnesday February 16 2022 | th
Wednesday the times
Dan Biggar
Wales caps: 97
Points: 547
Height: 5ft 11in
Weight: 14st 2lb
“We played a good Scotland team, off the back of a tough week. It felt a
coming with plenty of confidence, real character performance. I can’t say
and the conditions probably helped that we played brilliant, fluid rugby
us, turning it into a scrap. Off the for 80 minutes, as that wasn’t the
back of us being pretty hurt and case, but what we did do was tough
wounded last week it suited us to it out in big moments, rolled our
have a scrap, rather than an end-to- sleeves up.”
end, free-flowing game. Biggar now knows Wales must back
“Gethin Jenkins [the defence coach] up that victory again to challenge for
made a really good point at half-time. another Six Nations title.
He didn’t speak too much technically “We’re aware we haven’t cracked
about the defence, but said, ‘How do it,” he says. “Looking at the next two
we want to feel coming back into the games — England and France — if
changing rooms afterwards? Do we we don’t improve we’re not going to
want to feel like last week, or can we get the results.
enjoy some milestones, [such as] Jac “We’ve traditionally worked hard
Morgan’s first cap, with a beer?’ That in the rest weeks rather than putting
hit home, as you know how tough it our feet up and resting on our laurels.
felt last week. It’s about mucking in, rolling the
“It might not have been one of the sleeves up again and hopefully the
best victories, but it was certainly one confidence of a win will do wonders
of my most important in a red shirt for the camp.”
Alex Lowe Rugby Correspondent retained ahead of Marler while Joe
Launchbury, the Wasps lock, is back for
Joe Marler and Nick Isiekwe have been his second training stint of the
omitted from England’s Six Nations championship after recovering from a
squad for their training camp in knee problem.
London — but Manu Tuilagi is back. Three additional players will under-
Eddie Jones has called up 25 players, go rehabilitation under the England
including the uncapped pair of Alfie medics. Courtney Lawes is still working
Barbeary, the Wasps flanker, and Tom through concussion protocols that kept
Pearson, the London Irish back-row. him out of England’s opening games,
Marler, the Harlequins prop, and Sam Simmonds has a hip issue and
Isiekwe, the Saracens lock/flanker, are Jonny Hill has a stress fracture.
the only members of the squad who
beat Italy last Sunday to be released England’s 25-man squad: Forwards A Barbeary,
O Chessum, L Cowan-Dickie, T Curry, A Dombrandt,
back to their clubs. Bevan Rodd, the C Ewels, E Genge, J George, M Itoje, J Launchbury,
Sale Sharks loose head who is yet to T Pearson, B Rodd, K Sinckler, W Stuart. Backs E Daly,
G Ford, M Malins, J Marchant, J Nowell, H Randall,
play in the Six Nations, has been H Slade, M Smith, F Steward, M Tuilagi, B Youngs.
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
‘I was never against vaccination’
continued from back
body as much as I can.” While Djokov-
ic’s reluctance means it is likely that he
will be unable to play some events over
the coming months, leaving him at risk
of losing his world No 1 ranking, The
Times understands that he will be free
to participate at Wimbledon.
The All England Club is yet to con-
firm arrangements for this year’s cham-
pionships, given that there are still four
months to go before the grass-court
grand-slam tournament starts on June
27, but sources believe it unlikely that
any further requirements will be intro-
duced beyond the government’s rules.
As it stands, Djokovic can enter
England as long as he takes a Covid-19
test before and after his arrival.
Quarantine of up to ten days is required
only if he returns a positive result.
Djokovic, 34, is the only player in the
top 100 of tennis’s world male singles
rankings not to be vaccinated against
Covid-19. A spokesman for the ATP,
the governing body of the men’s tour,
said that 99 per cent of this elite group
were fully jabbed, which leaves the
world No 1 as the only player to have
turned down all opportunities to
Grand slams’ vaccine rules
French Open May 22-June 5
Protocols in France require
everyone who enters public venues
to show proof of vaccination. This
applies to professional athletes,
although Djokovic could potentially
receive an exemption because his
Covid-19 infection is within the
previous six months.
Wimbledon June 27-July 10
There is no suggestion that the All
England Club will introduce any
requirements beyond government
rules. This means that Djokovic can
play as long as he takes a Covid-19
test before and after his arrival in
England. A period of quarantine is
required only if he returns a positive
result.
US Open August 29-September 11
As it stands, Djokovic will require an
exception from the American
government. These are issued to
individuals who are medically
unable to receive the vaccine or
emergency travellers who do not
have timely access to a jab.
Humanitarian exemptions are
granted on an “extremely limited
basis”.
This was no ethical struggle – Djokovic interview was pure PR
Alyson Rudd
T
his was not really very
Novak Djokovic at all, and
throughout the half-hour
show, if you pressed your
ear tightly to the TV, you
could hear the wheels of a fresh PR
approach turning in an overly oiled
fashion. The first thing we learnt is
that Djokovic is still sponsored by
Lacoste, even though the French
clothing brand was understood to be
reviewing its relationship with the
Serb after the Australian Open
debacle. There it was, the cheeky little
2GM
receive a vaccine. The vaccination rate
of ATP Tour players has increased
significantly over the past six months.
In August, before the US Open, it was at
about 50 per cent. But the mandatory
requirement to be jabbed for the Aus-
tralian Open, barring a valid medical
exemption, encouraged many players.
Djokovic’s stance is believed to have
made some of his sponsors uneasy —
Peugeot and Lacoste are among his
partners. He insisted he was not part of
the anti-vaccination movement but
said that the principle of choice over
what he puts into his body was more
important to him than being able to
continue his career.
“I was never against vaccination,”
Djokovic said. “I understand that
globally everyone is trying to put a big
effort into seeing an end soon to this
virus. But I’ve always supported the
freedom to choose what you put in your
body. I just don’t have enough clarity on
how the Covid vaccine will affect me,
whether it’s going to create a certain
effect on my game and I wouldn’t have
the benefits that I normally have.
“As an elite professional athlete, I
have always carefully reviewed every-
thing that comes in from the supple-
ments, food, the water that I drink, or
sports drinks, anything really, that
comes into my body as a fuel. Based on
all the information that I got, I decided
not to take the vaccine as of today.”
But Djokovic did not rule out the pos-
sibility of changing his mind. “I keep my
mind open,” he said. “There is always a
possibility things will change in the
future. As of today, this is my decision.”
Djokovic will return to competitive
action at the Dubai Championships,
starting on Monday, as there are no
restrictions on unvaccinated players
entering the United Arab Emirates. But
the loss of 2,000 points from his
inability to defend his title at the
Australian Open, after he was deported
on “health and good order grounds”,
means that he may be overtaken by
Russia’s Daniil Medvedev at the top of
the rankings even if he wins the title.
Medvedev, who finished runner-up
to Rafael Nadal in Melbourne, will end
Djokovic’s stretch of 86 consecutive
weeks at No 1 if he becomes the cham-
pion at the concurrent Acapulco Open
in Mexico.
If Djokovic manages to remain at
No 1, then he will still be vulnerable
over the coming months. This is
because his participation in the first
three ATP Masters 1000 tournaments
of the season — in Indian Wells, Miami
and Monte Carlo — is in doubt because
of restrictions on unvaccinated travel-
lers in the United States and France.
green crocodile, emblazoned on
Djokovic’s hoodie and, let’s face it, he
did not get where he is today by
wearing logos he is not paid to wear.
Towards the conclusion of the
BBC 1 interview, Amol Rajan, the BBC
media editor, listed the grand slams
that Djokovic is prepared to miss, on
a matter of principle, and then said:
“Why, Novak, why?” in a voice so
plaintive, so full of pathos and
incredulity that it is hard not to
believe that the presenter practised
this moment in front of the mirror in
the aircraft toilet as he flew to
Belgrade for what he called, on
Twitter, a “Mega global SCOOP”.
Indeed, the BBC deemed it so very
mega that they bumped Garden
Rescue to screen the interview. Not
just any Garden Rescue either. This
episode was to feature a Victorian
cottage garden with an Amazonian
Djokovic at
Wimbledon
2005 2010
twist. There were no passion flowers
or orchids for the backdrop of this
conversation. It was all very spartan,
as if to reflect the days Djokovic spent
in detention in a hotel in Melbourne
which, he said, “wasn’t pleasant”.
Rajan, aware that the argument
as to who is the greatest of all time
59
Tennis Sport
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND
Behind the story
I
t was always likely that Novak
Djokovic would this week
speak publicly for the first
time since his deportation from
Australia last month, Stuart
Fraser writes. The world No 1 is
scheduled to make his return to
competitive action at the Dubai
Championships, starting on
Monday, and was eager to avoid a
barrage of vaccination-related
questions in his pre-tournament
press conference.
Nonetheless, the manner of his
first interview was unexpected.
Rather than inviting an outlet in
his native Serbia to speak with
him, he agreed to a TV sitdown
with the BBC’s media editor,
Amol Rajan. For those of us who
have followed Djokovic’s career
closely, it was a surprise given
that his relationship with the
British press has been frosty in
recent years because of what he
perceives to be overly negative
coverage.
Choosing the BBC was also
ironic given that it was a story
from their website — on
Djokovic’s views on Covid-19
vaccines — that was cited by the
Australian immigration minister,
Alex Hawke, in his order to
deport the 20-times grand-slam
champion because of fears his
presence could foster anti-
vaccination sentiment.
Put simply, the decision by
Djokovic to welcome a BBC crew
in Belgrade to conduct an
interview and film training
sessions was strangely out of
character. So it was illuminating
to discover from well-placed
sources yesterday that Freuds, a
London-based public relations
firm, was heavily involved in
setting up the opportunity.
Drafting in outside PR help
like this has been a long time
coming. There is an extensive list
of tone-deaf missteps throughout
his career, most recently the
triumphant social media post last
Champion month that announced he had
Final received a medical exemption to
Semi-final travel to Australia.
Quarter-final By fronting up to the BBC,
Fourth round Djokovic can claim in Dubai
Third round next week that he has already
Second round addressed the Australian visa
First round saga when he inevitably receives
N/A further inquiries.
2015 2020
Djokovic spoke to There was no sobbing from
Rajan, the BBC Djokovic. This is not a man struggling
media editor, in an with ethical or moral dilemmas. His
exclusive interview demeanour was of one who is certain
in which the world that being a GOAT candidate gives
No 1 said he was him a separateness, a licence to be
prepared to selfish. A jab is a jab, just as a cake is
sacrifice his legacy cake, and he does not eat cake.
for his principles Did the PR work? The hearts of
hardened cynics would have surely
melted as Djokovic revealed that
his son cheered for Rafael Nadal as
the family sat down to watch the
Australian Open final.
There was a poignancy there. It was
(GOAT) is both an objective and Djokovic’s own fault he was not in the
subjective debate that can become Rod Laver Arena, and he clearly
hysterical, chose to refer to Djokovic’s believes that is proof of the purity of
potential GOAT status as statistical. his stance.
When asked if the world No 1 was However, his Clintonesque
prepared to sacrifice his legacy for his insistence that “I never inspired that”
principles, Djokovic said: “Yes, I do.” when it comes to antivax protests was
It was an odd phrase to use. what lingered as the credits rolled.
60
Sport Football
‘We’ve won all
the biggest and
best trophies
– City haven’t’
Tom Roddy
Trent Alexander-Arnold has thrown
down the gauntlet to Manchester City
by highlighting the failure of Pep
Guardiola’s team to win the Champions
League.
Alexander-Arnold, 23, was part of
the Liverpool side who were crowned
European champions in 2019 and who
followed it up by lifting the Premier
League title the next season.
Guardiola’s side were runners-up to
Chelsea in last year’s final and
Alexander-Arnold suggested that
City’s trophy collection lacked silver-
ware of the highest order when
compared with the one in the Anfield
cabinet.
“We don’t feel disappointed that we
haven’t won enough trophies because
we feel the ones we have won are the
biggest and the best,” the England
player said. “Not making any digs [but]
you look at Man City’s amazing team
[and] they haven’t been able to win the
Champions League and we have won
both.”
Before the last-16 first leg away to
Inter Milan, at the San Siro tonight,
Alexander-Arnold also applied pres-
sure to his own dressing room by
insisting that Liverpool’s quality should
deliver at least one piece of silverware a
season.
“There is an expectation now as a
team, as players, to win trophies,” he
said. “One trophy a season is the
minimum we need to be achieving.
With the squad we have got, the
manager, we should be winning
trophies, we expect that, and if we don’t
it’s a massive disappointment. We are
not in that phase now where we are
happy just to get to finals and it is a day
out.”
Alexander-Arnold admitted that the
Premier League title was out of Liver-
pool’s hands, as City hold a nine-point
lead over the Merseyside club, but he
said that Jürgen Klopp’s side must
reduce the gap and be prepared for
their opportunity.
Mount doubt for Wembley
Tom Roddy
The Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount
is expected to be sidelined for at least
two weeks after suffering an ankle
injury that is likely to keep him out of
the Carabao Cup final.
The England player, 23, suffered a
ligament injury in Saturday’s Club
World Cup final victory in Abu Dhabi.
The damage is not as bad as first feared
but Mount is likely to miss the
Champions League last-16 first leg
against Lille next week as well as the
Carabao Cup final against Liverpool.
Chelsea face Jürgen Klopp’s side at
Wembley on February 27, which is like-
ly to come too soon for Mount, who is
expected to be out for up to three weeks.
The injury occurred in the early
moments against Palmeiras on Satur-
day when Mount was contesting a cross
Inter Milan v Liverpool
Champions League last 16 first leg, 8pm
Stadio San Siro
Inter Milan
(3-5-2) S Handanovic
M Skriniar S de Vrij F Dimarco
D Dumfries M Brozović I Perisic
A Vidal H Calhanoglu
E Dzeko L Martinez
S Mané R Firmino M Salah
J Henderson N Keita Fabinho
V van Dijk J Matip
A Robertson T Alexander-
Arnold
Alisson (4-3-3)
Liverpool
Ref: S Marciniak (Poland)
“It is important for us to keep win-
ning games,” he said. “I don’t think
a nine-point gap is much pressure,
but we need to keep as much pres-
sure on as we can, make sure we win
the game in hand and take it to six.
“There is not much in our hands but
anything can happen in this league so
we must make sure we are in a position
to pounce if they slip.”
Alexander-Arnold has been a
leading force in that, having already
provided 15 assists this season, but the
creative full back believes the best years
of his career lie ahead.
“I still see it as early days,” he said. “I
don’t class myself as a young player but
a career [is] 15 to 20 years, hopefully, so
I feel I am still in the early stages. There
is a lot more room for improvement, I
am not thinking about what I have
done but what more I can do and win-
ning things every season.”
Klopp has a fully fit squad includ-
and turned his ankle. He played on
until the 31st minute, when he was
replaced by Christian Pulisic and left
the ground with strapping on his ankle.
“He made a run with César Azpili-
cueta and they fell and his opponent fell
on his ankle and he hurt his ligaments
badly,” Thomas Tuchel, the Chelsea
head coach, said. “He came straight to
me and said, ‘It does not feel good, it
feels very stiff and painful,’ so we had to
make the decision.”
Chelsea’s first fixture without Mount
is Saturday’s trip to Crystal Palace,
when Reece James will be hoping to
make his comeback from injury.
James, the England right back, has
missed Chelsea’s past ten games with a
hamstring injury. He had been in excel-
lent form for Chelsea this season with
five goals and six assists — only Mount
has more, with eight.
Inter Milan
v Liverpool
Round of 16, first leg
Tonight, kick-off 8pm
TV: BT Sport 2
Radio: talkSPORT
Alexander-Arnold parades the European Cup after Liverpool’s 2019 final victory overTottenham
ing the cap-
tain, Jordan
Henderson,
who suffered a
gash to his knee
in Sunday’s 1-0
victory away
to Burnley in the
Premier League.
“The knee in the
game was defi-
nitely not com-
fortable,
proper
wound, you
can see it,
looks like
lips, should
not be there,”
Alexander-Arnold
believes Liverpool
should win a trophy
every season
Zouma set for West Ham
return after stomach bug
Kurt Zouma is expected to return for
West Ham United at home to
Newcastle United on Saturday. The
centre back, 27, who sparked outrage
after being filmed kicking his cat, has
recovered from a stomach bug that
he suffered in the morning before
the 2-2 draw away to Leicester City
on Sunday.
He was named in the starting side
but withdrew after feeling unwell in
the warm-up and returned separately
from the squad to London to try to
prevent the bug spreading.
Zouma’s two cats have been seized
by the RSPCA, which is investigating
the incident, and he has been fined
two weeks’ wages, totalling £250,000,
by West Ham.
West Ham plan to open contract
talks with Jarrod Bowen to prevent
the attacking midfielder from leaving
this summer.
Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
Klopp said. “It helps we have solutions
for different problems, options for
different situations. We need fresh legs
for this game, but much more impor-
tant is that we have the chance to make
five changes, a massive boost for foot-
ball.
“It is good but the boys have to deal
with it as well. I cannot play always the
same line-up just because we won the
last game. It is something we have to
learn.”
a Uefa has scrapped the away goals
rule for the first time this season and,
although Klopp explained how he liked
the tension it created, the Liverpool
manager said that he never wanted a
team to rely on it.
“I liked the rule as a supporter before,
I don’t know why they scrapped it but it
is gone but not a massive impact on how
we play,” he said. “We don’t go there to
try and get something but to try and
play our best game and win it.”
Uefa’s cryptocurrency
deal appals fans’ groups
Fans’ leaders have said they are
appalled by Uefa’s decision to
announce a sponsorship deal with the
cryptocurrency-based platform Socios
(Martyn Ziegler writes).
Uefa has appointed Socios
as an official partner of its club
competitions for the next three years
but there has been controversy
around the platform because its main
aim is to persuade fans to buy tokens
using cryptocurrency whose value
can rise and fall dramatically and
which is unregulated.
Football Supporters Europe said in
a statement: “We are appalled by
Uefa’s decision to team up with
Socios, a company that monetises
fan engagement at the expense of
match-going fans. This is an
incomprehensible move at a time
when football needs protection from
crypto-mercenaries.”
CHARLOTTE WILSON/OFFSIDE
Klopp described Inter, second in the
Serie A table but with a game in hand
on their rivals AC Milan, as the best
team in Italy.
He addressed the benefit to Liverpool
of Nicolò Barella being absent through
suspension but underlined the depth
of Simone Inzaghi’s squad by pointing
to Ivan Perisic, who was part of Klopp’s
Borussia Dortmund squad who won
the double in Germany ten years
ago.
Tonight will be Liverpool’s second
trip to the San Siro this season, having
beaten AC Milan in December’s group
stages. Klopp said that the recent visit
did not give Liverpool any advantage
but warned his team not to slip up and
have to rely on the home support for the
second leg on March 8.
“We don’t want to rely too much on
Anfield,” he said. “It is fine when we
need it and Anfield can push us but
we don’t want to rely too much.”
Robinho arrest warrant
after gang rape conviction
Italian prosecutors yesterday issued
an international arrest warrant for
the former Brazil forward Robinho
and asked for his extradition after
confirmation of his conviction for
gang rape, news agencies reported.
Judges at Italy’s top court, the Court
of Cassation in Rome, last month
upheld a nine-year sentence for the
footballer’s part in an attack on a
young woman in January 2013, when
Robinho was playing for AC Milan.
Yesterday prosecutors in Milan
forwarded the request for extradition
and the arrest warrant to the ministry
of justice, two of Italy’s news agencies
reported. Neither the prosecutors nor
the ministry responded to a request
for comment.
While Brazil’s constitution bans the
extradition of its citizens, the warrant
means Robinho, 38, could be at risk of
arrest if he travels elsewhere.
62
Sport Premier League
Ronaldo on
target after
rescue act
by De Gea
Man United
Ronaldo 51, Fernandes 90+7
Brighton
Martin Hardy
“Bruno Bruno!” they sang. It was the
97th minute when Bruno Fernandes
ran half the length of the pitch from a
quick Paul Pogba free kick, feinted to
send Robert Sánchez the wrong way
and sealed a victory that pushed
Manchester United back into the top
four.
There was a first goal for Cristiano
Ronaldo in 2022 to end a six-game
drought. Ralf Rangnick smiled as he
chatted with Harry Maguire as they left
the Old Trafford turf. It did not look like
a conversation about what time he
would be seeing the psychologist
brought in to unlock the minds of the
United captain and his team-mates.
Fernandes, Pogba, Ronaldo. Three of
the world’s best, on song. By the close of
play Sánchez had been peppered with
19 shots. Glory glory Man United, and
yet it was a victory and a sense of
elation provided as much by Brighton &
Hove Albion imploding, as any master-
plan from Rangnick or his players.
At half-time, the walk to the same
corner of the stadium was met with
jeers. United had been insipid.
David de Gea had kept his side in the
game in the opening half. He became a
passenger for long spells in the second
period once Ronaldo had pounced on
an error to equalise and Lewis Dunk
had been given a red card after a VAR
review. Three minutes separated those
moments.
Graham Potter looked stunned as he
walked from his seat to assess the dam-
age, pitch-side. Dressed as dapperly as
Rhys Ifans in Oasis’s video for The
Importance Of Being Idle, some sombre
funeral music would have suited his
descent. From control to chaos.
Rangnick may have empathised with
the Jekyll and Hyde nature of the
Results
Football
Champions League
Round of 16, first leg
PSG (0) 1 Real Madrid (0) 0
Mbappé 90+4
Sporting (0) 0 Man City
Mahrez 7, Silva 17, 44
Foden 32, Sterling 58
Premier League
Man Utd (0) 2 Brighton (0) 0
Ronaldo 51
Fernandes 90+7
Sent off: L Dunk (Brighton) 54
Sky Bet Championship
Cardiff (0) 2 Coventry (0) 0
Bagan 72 18,660
Harris 87
Millwall (0) 2 QPR (0) 0
Bennett 48, Burey 64
Sheffield Utd(0) 0 Hull (0) 0
27,601
2
visitors. For once his side got better after
his interval words, rather than worse.
In the first half, those in blue and
0
white stripes were quicker, more
incisive, and cleverly structured with a
diamond midfield that put them in such
control that after 20 minutes and in
front of an increasingly disgruntled
home support, United moved to a
4-2-3-1, pushing Fernandes further
forward. There was wonder as to why
Brighton did not lead.
De Gea was key to that, with a quite
superb save in the 39th minute. Brigh-
ton’s movement was just too quick for
their hosts and when the ball was
sprayed wide by Adam Webster, Joël
Veltman sent over an excellent, inviting
cross that was perfect for the onrushing
and unmarked Jakub Moder, who had
split Victor Lindelof — picked because
of illness to Raphaël Varane — and
Diogo Dalot.
The header was firm and well placed,
and on its way to the top corner of De
Gea’s goal at the Stretford End until the
Spaniard fingertipped it over the cross-
bar, at full stretch. Two Brighton
players dropped to their knees. It
looked like the goal they had deserved
had arrived, a let-off for United and yet
a minute had not passed and possession
How they stand
P W D L
Man City...............25 20 3 2
Liverpool..............24 16 6 2
Chelsea.................24 13 8 3
Man United .........25 12 7 6
West Ham............25 12 5 8
Arsenal ................. 22 12 3 7
Wolves..................23 11 4 8
Tottenham...........22 11 3 8
Brighton...............24 7 12 5 25
Southampton.....24 6 11 7 30
Leicester .............. 22 7 6 9 36
Aston Villa...........23 8 3 12
Crystal Palace....24 5 11 8 32
Brentford.............25 6 6 13
Leeds.....................23 5 8 10
Everton.................22 6 4 12
Newcastle............23 4 9 10
Norwich................24 4 5 15
Watford.................23 4 3 16
Burnley..................21 1 11 9 17
P W D L F A GD Pts
Fulham.................30 19 7 4 78 26 52 64
Bournemouth....30 17 7 6 49 26 23 58
Blackburn............32 15 9 8 45 33 12 54
QPR.........................31 15 7 9 46 36 10 52
Huddersfield.......32 13 11 8 40 34 6 50
Middlesbrough..30 14 7 9 38 29 9 49
Nottm Forest.......31 13 8 10 43 33 10 47
(4) 5 Sheffield Utd......30 13 8 9 39 33 6 47
West Brom ........... 31 12 10 9 34 26 8 46
Luton.....................30 12 9 9 41 36 5 45
Preston.................32 11 12 9 35 35 0 45
Coventry..............30 12 8 10 39 36 3 44
Stoke.....................30 12 7 11 38 32 6 43
Millwall..................31 11 10 10 33 33 0 43
Blackpool..............31 11 8 12 34 37 -3 41
Swansea...............30 10 8 12 32 39 -7 38
Bristol City...........32 10 7 15 42 58 -16 37
Birmingham........32 9 9 14 37 49 -12 36
Cardiff....................31 10 5 16 38 50 -12 35
Hull.........................32 9 6 17 26 36 -10 33
@Reading..............30 8 4 18 36 60 -24 22
Peterborough....29 5 5 19 23 60 -37 20
*Derby....................31 9 12 10 32 35 -3 18
Barnsley...............30 3 8 19 19 45 -26 17
* deducted 21pts for breaching financial rules
and for going into administration
@ deducted 6pts for breaching financial rules
2GM Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
569
Cristiano Ronaldo had
gone 569 minutes without
a goal until he scored last
night. His previous goal
was against Burnley on
December 30
Ronaldo opens
the scoring for
United with his
strike in the
51st minute
had once more been squandered by
Rangnick’s side. Again, quick passing
opened up United, and Moder slipped
Yves Bissouma through, with just De
by the 54th minute Brighton were trail-
ing and down to ten men.
Ronaldo twice went close with head-
ers. Sánchez almost gifted the home
‘Amazing’
Gea to beat. He crashed a right-footed side a second, but when Ronaldo Ian Whittell
drive narrowly wide. squared Fernandes dithered and the
Then came that revival. Bissouma moment went. Brighton responded by Ralf Rangnick hailed an “amazing”
dawdled in possession, and with new striking the crossbar through Moder. Cristiano Ronaldo goal that rescued a
vigour from Scott McTominay and his Fernandes would have the final say Manchester United team he labelled
team-mates in the press, the ball was through the quick-thinking of Pogba, “Jekyll and Hyde” after their recent
forced inside to Ronaldo, with no relegated to the substitutes’ beach until inconsistent performances.
defender nearby. 17 minutes of normal time remained. United benefited, shortly after
F A GD Pts It was too inviting. Ronaldo took two “We should be fighting for more Ronaldo’s opener, from the sending-off
61 14 47 63 touches, moving the ball forward, things than the top four,” said De Gea. of Lewis Dunk, the Brighton & Hove
61 19 42 54
48 18 30 47 threw a dummy with his right arm to ”But that is the reality. With the quality Albion defender, when the referee, Pe-
40 32 8 43 come inside Webster and then cracked we have, we should win a lot of points.” ter Bankes, changed his mind and up-
44 33 11 41 a quick, crisp strike into the bottom cor- That particular conundrum remains, graded a yellow card to red after con-
34 25 9 39
21 17 4 37 ner of Sánchez’s goal. A game turned. despite the final result. sulting VAR and the pitchside monitor.
28 29 -1 36 Things deteriorated further for But it was Ronaldo’s first goal in seven
25 0 33 Brighton and Potter when Anthony games that gave Rangnick, the interim
37 -7 29
41 -5 27 Elanga pinched the ball off Dunk and Manchester United (4-3-3): D de Gea 8 — D Dalot United manager, the greatest satisfac-
7, V Lindelof 5, H Maguire 6, L Shaw 5 — Fred 6
31 36 -5 27 tumbled under a clumsy recovery (P Pogba 73, 6), S McTominay 6, B Fernandes 8 —
tion. “It was an amazing goal, not only
35 -3 26 tackle. Peter Bankes, the referee, was A Elanga 6 (Rashford 80), C Ronaldo 7, J Sancho an important one, and it was also a good
26 40 -14 24
27 46 -19 23 surrounded by red shirts, but instead 6 (A Telles 80). Booked Shaw, Fernandes. performance from Cristiano,” he said.
produced a yellow card believing the Brighton (4-1-2-1-2): R Sanchez 7 — J Veltman 7, A “Energetically he was always on the
28 38 -10 22
Webster 6, L Dunk 5, M Cucurella 8 — Y Bissouma
25 44 -19 21 cover of Webster to be enough so as not 6 — P Gross 8 (S Alzate 60, 5), A Mac Allister 7 — line. He was always trying to help his
14 50 -36 17 to rule the denial of an obvious, goal- team-mates. In the last weeks, definite-
J Moder 8 — N Maupay 6 (D Welbeck 70, 4),
23 43 -20 15
29 -12 14 scoring opportunity. VAR did not L Trossard 7 (T Lamptey 60, 5). ly the best performance from him and
Booked Mac Allister. Sent off Dunk.
agree, Bankes went to the monitor and Referee P Bankes.
a very, very important goal for us.”
League One Charlton................31 11 6 14 41 39 2 39 Tranmere.............32 16 7 9 33 22 11 55 P W D L F A GD Pts
Burton Alb (3) 3 Bolton (0) 1 Cheltenham.........31 9 12 10 38 49 -11 39 Exeter...................30 14 11 5 45 30 15 53 Stockport Co 28 18 4 6 58 27 31 58
Cambridge...........31 9 11 11 40 45 -5 38 Northampton.....30 15 7 8 35 25 10 52 Chesterfield ........ 27 15 10 2 50 24 26 55
Powell 11 Charles 90+4 Lincoln City..........31 9 8 14 36 41 -5 35 Boreham Wood 24 15 7 2 36 15 21 52
Brayford 14, 18 3,487 Sutton United......31 14 8 9 45 37 8 50
Shrewsbury.........32 8 10 14 28 33 -5 34 Mansfield.............29 14 7 8 39 32 7 49 Halifax 26 15 5 6 41 21 20 50
Lincoln City (0) 0 Doncaster (0) 1 Fleetwood............31 7 11 13 44 53 -9 32 Newport Co..........31 13 9 9 49 41 8 48 Bromley................27 15 5 7 43 31 12 50
AFC Wimbledon.31 6 13 12 37 47 -10 31 Solihull Moors....26 13 7 6 41 23 18 46
9,237 Gardner 81 (pen) Swindon...............30 12 10 8 46 38 8 46
Morecambe.........32 7 9 16 43 61 -18 30 Wrexham.............26 13 7 6 42 26 16 46
Sent off: J Walsh (Lincoln City) 88 Port Vale..............28 12 8 8 41 29 12 44
Grimsby................28 14 4 10 42 29 13 46
Gillingham...........32 5 11 16 26 53 -27 26 Salford ..................31 12 8 11 35 29 6 44
Wigan (0) 2 Crewe (0) 0 Doncaster............33 7 4 22 23 63 -40 25 Notts County......25 13 6 6 47 29 18 45
Bristol Rovers....29 11 8 10 38 39 -1 41 Dagenham & R...27 13 3 11 49 37 12 42
Lang 57 8,509 Crewe....................32 5 7 20 26 58 -32 22 Bradford City.......31 9 13 9 36 36 0 40 Torquay................27 12 4 11 42 41 1 40
McClean 82 Crawley................30 11 7 12 37 41 -4 40
League Two Southend ............. 27 11 5 11 30 37 -7 38
P W D L F A GD Pts Hartlepool...........30 11 7 12 30 38 -8 40 Yeovil .................... 27 10 7 10 26 27 -1 37
Bristol Rovers (1) 2 Sutton Utd (0) 0 Harrogate............30 10 8 12 47 48 -1 38 Eastleigh .............. 27 9 6 12 28 39 -11 33
Rotherham...........31 21 5 5 57 18 39 68
Wigan....................29 19 5 5 52 27 25 62 Anderson 4 Leyton Orient.....29 7 12 10 38 29 9 33 Woking ................. 27 10 2 15 42 43 -1 32
Collins 46 Stevenage............32 7 12 13 30 46 -16 33 Wealdstone.........26 8 7 11 27 37 -10 31
MK Dons...............32 16 9 7 51 34 17 57
Sunderland..........32 16 7 9 56 44 12 55 Walsall..................30 8 8 14 31 39 -8 32 Aldershot.............28 8 6 14 32 44 -12 30
Exeter (1) 4 Harrogate (2) 3 Altrincham..........29 8 6 15 40 54 -14 30
Wycombe.............31 15 9 7 47 35 12 54 Rochdale..............28 6 13 9 35 38 -3 31
Brown 37 (pen) Armstrong 4 Barrow...................31 7 10 14 30 39 -9 31 Barnet....................27 8 6 13 32 53 -21 30
Plymouth.............30 15 8 7 52 36 16 53 Grounds 71 Muldoon 19 Maidenhead........25 7 6 12 28 47 -19 27
Oxford Utd..........32 15 8 9 56 41 15 53 Colchester...........30 7 10 13 28 41 -13 31
Dieng 81 Thomson 64 Weymouth..........28 5 6 17 28 51 -23 21
Sheffield Wed......31 14 10 7 42 34 8 52 Sparkes 90+5 3,852 Carlisle..................30 6 10 14 23 42 -19 28
Kings Lynn..........26 4 3 19 24 51 -27 15
Ipswich..................32 13 9 10 49 38 11 48 Oldham.................29 6 8 15 28 46 -18 26 *Dover Athletic..28 1 4 23 21 63 -42 -5
Hartlepool (1) 1 Tranmere (0) 0 Scunthorpe..........31 4 10 17 22 53 -31 22
Bolton....................32 13 6 13 48 44 4 45 * deducted 12pts for breaching league rules
Portsmouth........30 12 8 10 38 31 7 44 Clarke 45+1 (og) 5,214
Vanarama National League Boreham Wood 2 North Kidderminster 3 Hereford 0; Southport
Burton...................32 12 7 13 41 41 0 43 P W D L F A GD Pts Altrincham 0; Bromley 1 Stockport County 3; 0 Curzon Ashton 0; York 3 AFC Telford 1. South
Accrington...........31 12 7 12 41 47 -6 43 Forest Green......30 19 9 2 61 24 37 66 Weymouth 1 Eastleigh 0. Welling 1 Dulwich 3.
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 2GM 63

Sport
PETER POWELL/REUTERS

Wallace’s ‘star quality’ Players against

a World Cup
gives edge to Millwall every two years
2
It took only three minutes after the
Millwall restart for the home side to deservedly Martyn Ziegler Chief Sports Reporter
Bennett 48, Burey 64
take the lead. A long cross into the area

goal delights Rangnick
The victory, United’s seventh in 14
league and cup games under Rangnick,
also broke an alarming trend in the past
three games of United scoring first,
dominating first-half play and then
conceding second-half equalisers.
That pattern led Rangnick to label
his side “Jekyll and Hyde” before
kick-off, and while the result was better,
the flaw remained.
“It was different from the last three
games, because in the last three we
were Dr Jekyll in the first half and this
time in the second,” he said.
“It was better if we can win the game
in the end and today it was about get-
ting the three points. We should have
killed off the game much earlier, should
have been 3-0 or 4-0. We were not le-
thal enough in those moments to kill
the game off and in the last five minutes
it is dangerous, even against ten men.”
The Brighton head coach, Graham
Potter, felt aggrieved by the dismissal of
Dunk, who was initially shown a yellow
Dunk’s red after
VAR intervention
Anthony Elanga took the ball
from Lewis Dunk, who brought
him down, so the question was
whether he was through on goal.
Referee Peter Bankes showed a
yellow but VAR suggested he
reconsider and after looking at
the pitchside monitor concluded
Adam Webster was not near
enough to cover and Dunk’s
yellow became a red.
for a foul on Anthony Elanga, because
he did not appear to be denying a
goal-scoring opportunity, with his
team-mate Adam Webster apparently
offering cover.
“It was a yellow card live,” Potter said.
“Webster was round on the cover. It is
not clear and obvious that he would not
get there. I don’t understand the inter-
vention. I’d like to see some stats
because as soon as the referee goes to
the monitor it is only going to go one
way, and that is how it is.”
United players surrounded the refer-
ee aggressively before he consulted
with VAR and changed his mind,
although Potter refused to criticise his
opponents. “I think you’re asking the
question so you are answering it,” he
said. “I don’t blame them, I’m not being
critical, it is what it is. You expect that
reaction, they have got to do their bit for
their team. Then you need the referee
and VAR to make calls independent of
external pressure, which isn’t easy.”
0
QPR
Robert Dunford
Gary Rowett could not hide his delight
as Millwall outplayed the high-flying
Queens Park Rangers at The Den last
night. Goals by Mason Bennett and
Tyler Burey proved the difference,
although Jed Wallace was pivotal
throughout the game.
The Millwall manager said that the
display was one of the best he has seen
during his time in charge of the club.
“It’s probably as good a performance
the team has put on since I’ve been
here, against a very good QPR side,”
Rowett said. “I’m a little bit
disappointed in some ways, we didn’t
win by more than two goals. But there
were some big performances tonight.
“Jed Wallace has got star quality, we
know that. Having him back in the
team and back fit is a big thing for us.”
It was almost the perfect start for the
hosts after 30 seconds, when Danny
McNamara fired over the bar after Jed
Wallace found him in space. Both sides
were hit by early injuries, with Lee Wal-
lace and Oliver Burke limping off for
the visitors and the hosts respectively.
Jed Wallace forced David Marshall to
turn away a shot, although Millwall
may have felt aggrieved to have gone in
scoreless at half-time.
Agüero’s fears for his heart
Sergio Agüero has revealed his fears
that his heart “doesn’t work properly”
and that he may never be able to sprint
again.
The former Manchester City and
Argentina striker retired at the age of 33
in December because of a heart condi-
tion. After joining Barcelona last sum-
mer, Agüero experienced chest pains
and breathing issues during the first
half of the Spanish side’s 1-1 home
draw with Alavés on October 30.
A series of tests showed that
the cause was a heart
arrhythmia. His announce-
ment that he was giving
up the game came dur-
ing a very emotional
press conference.
Speaking about his general
health on a Twitch stream, Agüero
admitted that he was now unable
to sprint without running out of
breath.
“If I try to play football now, I
run out of breath. Sometimes I
Agüero retired in December after
experiencing breathing issues
by Jed Wallace found Scott Malone,
who delivered the ball first time across
the face of goal for Bennett to finish.
The home side continued to threaten
and doubled their lead on 64 minutes.
Shaun Hutchinson took the ball and
passed to Jed Wallace, who back-heeled
the ball into the path of Burey. The
midfielder found enough space and
time to run through on goal and beat
the stretching Marshall.
Despite Maikel Kieftenbeld hacking
a Yoann Barbet header off the line, it
was a disappointing display by QPR,
who are chasing a play-off spot, and
their manager, Mark Warburton, ad-
mitted that his side were second best.
“I felt we didn’t do the basics well
tonight,” he said. “I thought we started
off OK, for the first 10 to 15 minutes, but
then we started to lose the duels.
“We didn’t move the ball as well as we
could do. We didn’t do enough to win
the game. We never really tested their
keeper, it was a bit better towards the
end but by that stage it was too late.”
Millwall (3-4-1-2): B Bialkowski — S Hutchinson,
J Cooper, M Wallace — D McNamara, B Mitchell,
M Kieftenbeld, S Malone (A Pearce 81min) —
J Wallace – M Bennett (G Savlle 88), O Burke
(T Burey 28). Booked J Wallace, Burey.
QPR (3-4-1-2): D Marshall — R Dickie, J Dunne,
Y Barbet — A Adomah (L Amos 75mins),
S Johansen (C Austin 75), S Field, L Wallace (M
Odubajo 20) — I Chair — C Willock, L Dykes.
Booked Dickie.
Referee J Linington.
wonder if I will ever be able to sprint
again,” he said. “I just feel like my heart
doesn’t work properly.”
Agüero joined City from Atletico
Madrid in 2011 and scored 260 goals in
390 games for them, becoming their all-
time leading scorer and winning five
Premier League titles, one FA Cup
and six League Cups. His first
season at the Etihad Stadium
climaxed with arguably the
most thrilling finish to a
Premier League title race.
His stoppage-time win-
ner against Queens Park
Rangers denied City’s
arch-rivals Manchester
United at the death and gave
City their first title triumph
since 1968. It will for ever be
known as the Agüero moment.
However, after leaving Man-
chester for Barcelona, injuries
and health problems restricted the
number of appearances he made for
the La Liga club to five, with the striker
scoring only one goal.
He also made 101 appearances for
Argentina, scoring 41 goals.
Three quarters of professional footbal-
lers want to keep the World Cup every
four years — but more than half of
those in Africa want to see it more
frequently, according to a survey by the
international players’ union Fifpro.
The findings are another blow to
Fifa’s proposal to hold the tournament
biennially, with the union canvassing
the opinions of 1,055 players across six
continents.
Fifa has put forward a number of
former players from its “Legends”
programme to speak in favour of
increasing the frequency of the World
Cup but the opposition from active
players appears strong, particularly in
Europe and Asia.
The survey found that 77 per cent of
players from both Europe and Asia
prefer a World Cup every four years,
along with 63 per cent from North,
Central and South America.
In Africa, however, 49 per cent of
players preferred every four years, with
the remainder split between a two or
three-year cycle.
Fifpro said the findings showed there
was considerable demand, particularly
in smaller and medium-sized markets,
to develop national team competitions
separate from the World Cup.
The survey also found that most
players ranked the World Cup and their
domestic league as their favourite
competitions.
Williamson
given England
armband back
Molly Hudson
Leah Williamson will captain England
at the inaugural Arnold Clark Cup,
which is giving Sarina Wiegman’s side
the opportunity to test themselves
against top-level opposition before the
European Championship this summer.
Williamson will take the armband
temporarily as Wiegman delays nam-
ing a permanent leader, with Steph
Houghton out injured. Williamson led
England in Wiegman’s first four games,
before suffering an injury.
Another potential candidate was
Lucy Bronze, the full back, but she
missed the camps before Christmas
while recovering from knee surgery,
and Wiegman is keen to lessen her load.
England will play the Olympic gold
medallists, Canada, in Middlesbrough
tomorrow, before facing Spain in
Norwich on Sunday and Germany in
Wolverhampton on Wednesday.

Cinch Scottish Premiership
Aberdeen (0) 1 St Johnstone (1) 1
Ferguson 71 (pen) Hendry 6
12,973
P W D L F A GD Pts
Celtic.....................26 20 3 3 57 15 42 63
Rangers................26 19 5 2 55 21 34 62
Hearts...................26 12 7 7 35 27 8 43
Dundee United..26 9 6 11 21 27 -6 33
Motherwell..........26 9 6 11 27 39 -12 33
St Mirren..............25 7 11 7 25 34 -9 32
Hibernian.............26 8 7 11 26 30 -4 31
Aberdeen.............26 8 6 12 31 33 -2 30
Livingston...........26 8 6 12 25 33 -8 30
Ross County.......26 6 9 11 38 44 -6 27
Dundee.................25 5 6 14 21 42 -21 21
St Johnstone ...... 26 4 8 14 15 31 -16 20
Cinch Scottish League Two Edinburgh City 1
Albion 2; Elgin 0 Annan 2; Stirling Albion 1
Forfar 1.
Cricket
Third T20i: Australia v Sri Lanka
Canberra (Australia won toss): Australia beat
Sri Lanka by six wickets
Sri Lanka
P Nissanka c Sams b Maxwell
M D Gunathilaka c Hazlewood b Richardson 9 (5)
K I C Asalanka c Wade b Richardson
B K G Mendis c and b Agar
†L D Chandimal b Richardson
*M D Shanaka not out
C Karunaratne c Inglis b Hazlewood
P V D Chameera not out
Extras (b 4, w 4, nb 1)
Total (6 wkts, 20 overs)
J D F Vandersay, M M Theekshana and
I D N Thushara did not bat.
Fall of wickets 1-17, 2-23, 3-38, 4-40, 5-87, 6-115.
Bowling Starc 4-0-30-0; Hazlewood 4-0-31-1;
Richardson 4-0-21-3; Sams 3-0-18-0; Agar
4-0-14-1; Maxwell 1-0-3-1.
Australia
B R McDermott c Asalanka b Theekshana 0 (1)
A C Agar lbw b Theekshana
*A J Finch c Asalanka b Vandersay
G J Maxwell c Mendis b Theekshana 39 (26)
J P Inglis not out
M P Stoinis not out
Extras (lb 3, nb 1)
Total (4 wkts, 16.5 overs) 124
(balls) †M S Wade, D R Sams, M A Starc, K W
16 (21) Richardson and J R Hazlewood did not bat.
Fall of wickets 1-0, 2-26, 3-76, 4-102.
Bowling Theekshana 4-0-24-3; Thushara 1.1-0-
6 (4)
4 (11) 10-0; Karunaratne 2.5-0-22-0; Chameera 4-0-
25 (29) 22-0; Vandersay 4-0-32-1; Shanaka 0.5-0-11-0.
Umpires R Tucker and S Craig.
39 (38)
8 (11) 6 Australia lead five-match series 3-0
5 (2)
9
Tennis
ATP Qatar ExxonMobil Open
121
Doha: First round A Davidovich Fokina (Sp) bt
M Jaziri (Tun) 6-1, 6-3; A Bublik (Kaz) bt
J Kovalik (Slovakia) 6-2, 6-4; A Murray (GB) bt
T Daniel (Japan) 6-2, 6-2; E Ruusuvuori (Fin) bt
D Goffin (Bel) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; E Ymer (Swe) bt
J Sousa (Por) 2-6, 6-3, 7-5; M Fucsovics (Hun) bt
L Harris (SA) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4); A Rinderknech (Fr)
(balls) bt J Vesely (Cz) 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.
ATP Open 13
13 (13) Marseilles: First round H Rune (Den) bt
35 (36) Z Bergs (Bel) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4; P-H Herbert (Fr) bt
M Kukushkin (Kaz) 7-6 (7-5), 7-5; J-W Tsonga
21 (18) (Fr) bt G Simon (Fr) 6-2, 6-4; H Gaston (Fr) bt
Moutet (Fr) 6-4, 6-4; R Safiullin (Russ) bt
12 (8)
4 A Popyrin (Aus) 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3);
T Machac (Cz) bt D Dzumhur (Bos) 1-6, 6-3, 6-1;
R Albot (Mold) bt D Novak (Austria) 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.
ATP Delray Beach Open
Delray Beach, California: First round S
Johnson (US) bt K Anderson (SA) 6-2, 6-7 (5-7),
6-2; A Mannarino (Fr) bt L Broady (GB) 6-2, 6-3;
M Krueger (US) bt J Thompson (Aus) 6-2, 6-4;
D Istomin (Uzb) bt S Querrey (US) 6-1, 7-6 (7-5);
M Giron (US) bt T Sandgren (US) 7-5, 6-3.
WTA Dubai Duty Free Championship
First round E Svitolina (Ukr) bt M Sherif (Egypt)
6-2, 6-3; J Ostapenko (Lat) bt S Kenin (US) 6-1,
6-2; D Yastremska (Ukr) bt I-C Begu (Rom) 4-6,
6-2, 6-3; J Teichmann (Switz) bt E Mertens (Bel)
6-2, 6-4; G Ruse (Rom) bt P Badosa (Sp) 6-3, 5-7,
6-4; O Jabeur (Tun) bt V Zvonareva (Russ) 6-2,
2-6, 7-5; G Muguruza (Sp) bt K Siniakova (Cz)
7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-2; A Sabalenka (Bela) bt M
Kostyuk (Ukr) 6-4, 6-1; V Kudermetova (Russ)
bt V Azarenka (Bela) 6-3, 6-4; M Vondrousova
(Cz) bt D Collins (US) 2-6, 3-0 ret; V Gracheva
(Russ) bt A Tomljanovic (Aus) 6-1, 7-5.
Winter Olympics
Alpine skiing: Leading final positions:
Women: Downhill 1, C Suter (Switz) 1min
31.87sec; 2, S Goggia (It) 1:32.03; 3, N Delago (It)
1:32.44.
Biathlon: Leading final positions: Men:
4 x 7.5km relay 1, Norway 1hr 19min 50.2sec; 2,
France 1:20:17.6; 3, ROC 1:20:35.5.
Bobsleighing: Leading final positions: Two-
man 1, F Friedrich (Ger) 3min 56.89sec; 2, J
Lochner (Ger) 3:57.38; 3, C Hafer (Ger) 3:58.58;
11, B Hall (GB) 3:59.92.
Curling: Round robin: Men ROC 5 Norway 12;
Switzerland 4 United States 7; Sweden 8
Denmark 3; Canada 8 China 3; Sweden 6 Great
Britain 7; Italy 10 United States 4; Norway 6
China 8; ROC 7 Canada 6. Women China 5 ROC
11; Sweden 9 Denmark 3; United States
Switzerland; Great Britain 10 Japan 4.
Freestyle skiing: Leading final positions:
Women: Freeski slopestyle 1, M Gremaud
(Switz) 86.56pts; 2, A Gu (China) 86.23; 3, K
Sildaru (Est) 82.06; 8, K Muir (GB) 71.30; 9, K
Summerhayes (GB) 64.75.
Ice hockey: Men: Play-offs: Slovakia 4
Germany 0; Denmark 3 Latvia 2; Czech
Republic 2 Switzerland 4; Canada 7 China 2.
Ice skating: Leading final positions: Women:
Single skating: Short program: 1, K Valieva
(ROC) 82.16pts; 2, A Shcherbakova (ROC)
80.20; 3, K Sakamoto (Japan) 79.84; 28, N
Mckay (GB) 52.54.
Nordic combined: Leading final positions:
Individual: Gundersen large hill/10km: Cross-
country: 1, J Graabak (Nor) 27min 13.3sec; 2, J
Luraas Oftebro (Nor) 27:13.7; 3, A Watabe
(Japan) 27:13.9.
Snowboarding: Leading final positions: Big
air: Men 1, H Kunitake (Jpn) 84.00pts; 2, R
Gerard (US) 83.25; 3, M Roisland (Nor) 82.50.
Women 1, A Gasser (Austria) 185.50pts; 2, Z
Sadowski Synnott (NZ) 177.00; 3, K Murase
(Japan) 171.50.
Speed skating: Team pursuit: Men: Final A 1,
Norway 3min 38.08sec; 2, ROC 3:40.46. Final B
1, United States 3:38.81; 2, Netherlands 3:41.62.
Women: Final A 1, Canada 2:53.44 (Olympic
record); 2, Japan 3:04.47. Final B 1, Netherlands
2:56.86; 2, ROC 2:58.66.
Football fixtures
Champions League (8.0): Round of 16, first
leg Inter Milan v Liverpool; Red Bull Salzburg v
Bayern Munich.
Sky Bet Championship (7.45): Peterborough v
Reading. League One Sheff Wed v Accrington.
64
Sport Champions League
Never mind skill, few can match
Henry Winter
Chief Football
Writer, Lisbon
0
Sporting Lisbon
5
Manchester City
Mahrez 7, B Silva 17, 44, Foden 32, Sterling 58
Round of 16, first leg
Goals of sublime quality, especially
from Bernardo Silva and Raheem
Sterling, showcased the individual
talent in this special side of Pep Guard-
iola’s on a famous night for Manchester
City. But what raises City to an even
greater level is their prodigious work
ethic. Riyad Mahrez scored City’s first,
and kept creating, but it was also his
work out of possession that stood out,
tracking, tackling and clearing — that is
the Guardiola way and is helping City
to move closer to the Champions
League trophy.
Other sides have the skill, but few
have the application levels of City.
Guardiola sets the tone. Clearly
annoyed with Sporting managing some
counterattacks in the first half, Guardi-
ola ensured City tightened up after the
break and further throttled the life out
of the poor Portuguese champions.
When Rodri was withdrawn late on,
having controlled midfield like a con-
ductor playing his favourite tunes, he
received a few firm words from Guardi-
ola, who is so exacting in his demands.
So even though this was an occasion
to relish the thrilling nature of City’s
angled passes en route to goal, this rout
was also a reminder that they do the
ugly stuff, pressing in swarms, putting
in the hard yards, putting team before
self. Silva, moving all over, displayed a
similar work ethic to Mahrez, so did
Phil Foden, a nerveless false No 9, so did
Raheem Sterling who combined devas-
tatingly with João Cancelo. All of City’s
players worked so hard, all of them cap-
tains of industry as well as invention.
They took Sporting having posses-
sion of the ball as an affront, claimed it
back quickly, and then ripped their
hosts apart again and again. The only
mercy for Sporting was that away goals
do not count double any more. They
were so outplayed that when VAR
denied City a Silva effort early in the
second half a Mexican wave almost
went off among their fans. They twirled
their green-and-white scarves, they
commendably stayed until the bitter
end, they sang defiantly — but the
second leg is a formality. City wrapped
up the tie last night.
It is on memorable nights like this
when the image of City finally becom-
ing champions of Europe comes into
sharper focus. Rarely have they been as
ruthless and relentless. There will be far
harder assignments to come than this,
especially from Premier League
opposition as City discovered against
Chelsea last season, but performances
such as this will increase their belief
that they can master this demanding
competition. They have the players, the
intelligence, the persistence and
certainly the manager in Guardiola,
especially when he eschews his overly
clever selections and simply picks his
best available XI, as here.
It is on special evenings like this when
City demonstrate their many talents,
individual and collective. Watching
Foden move with such stealth and
shrewdness, playing with such compo-
sure and maturity, it is hard to believe
he is still only 21.
Paulinho shook hands with Silva at
the start of the second half, one of the
few times a Sporting player got to grips
with City’s elusive No 20. John Stones,
filling in superbly at right back for the
2GM Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
suspended Kyle Walker, glided upfield
after intercepting.
For 2,500 City fans it was a night to
cherish after a day in the sun in dreamy
Lisbon. They chanted: “You’re just a
shit Benfica” at Sporting and the hosts
were undeniably poor, overawed and
soon overwhelmed. Their young head
coach, Rúben Amorim, has been
earning plenty of plaudits for his work
reviving Sporting, including defeating
Borussia Dortmund in the group stage,
but he was given a lesson here by the
master Guardiola.
This was the 12th time City had
scored four goals in a first half under
Guardiola. Their goals were so irresisti-
ble in the first half, their finishing so
good, that even some of the Sporting
fans broke off from jeering Rúben Dias,
formerly of Benfica, to applaud the
visiting team.
The rout started after seven minutes.
Silva, inevitably, was involved, passing
to Foden whose shot was saved by
Antonio Adán. Typically, City were
quickest to the loose ball. Kevin De
Bruyne played the ball back for Mahrez
to make it ten goals in his past 11 appear-
ances in the Champions League. VAR
checked lengthily for an offside on
De Bruyne but he was just on.
Mahrez then helped to create City’s
second ten minutes later, driving in a
corner that Rodri headed up. Again
City were fastest to respond, this time it
was Silva hitting a half-volley that
crashed in off the crossbar. The goals
continued to flow, again with Mahrez
playing his part, crossing low from the
right after 32 minutes. Foden could
have snatched at the ball but he has ice
in his veins and he controlled it before
slotting past Adán.
City’s fourth arrived a minute before
the break. Cancelo combined with
Sterling, Sporting froze, and Silva
darted in to accept Sterling’s cutback.
His shot took a generous deflection on
its way past Adán, crushing Sporting’s
spirit further.
City made it five after 58 minutes and
it was another reminder of Sterling’s
electric form. His 11th goal in 16 games
was one of his best, a right-footed
special that gave Adán no chance.
There is always talk of Sterling and
pastures new but they are unlikely to be
greener. He has a manager who brings
the best out of him, he is surrounded by
exceptional professionals and he could
be in the most momentous year of his Foden fires home Manchester City’s third goal on a night when their dominance gave them a 4-0 lead at half-time. Silva,
life. The Premier League should be
retained, there is the FA Cup to play for,
the Champions League opens up and
England head to the World Cup as the
year closes. At 27, Sterling is at his peak,
Reliable Rodri has become undroppable
as he showed here, even moving into Paul Hirst it was hard to see why. With his 6ft 3in did the midfielder venture from his
the top ten of City’s all-time scorers. frame, he added height to Guardiola’s position in front of the two City centre
Guardiola was able to rotate and rest, He has not said so publicly but in the team, but otherwise there was not much backs. Seeking the limelight is not his
sending on Ilkay Gundogan and Olek- company of those closest to him Pep about his game that impressed. thing. This is a man who lived in student
sandr Zinchenko for Foden and Stones. Guardiola admitted this season that he Little by little he has grown into the accommodation while playing for
Silva moved through the middle while had made a mistake with his team role, however. He has cut out the Villarreal and studying for a degree in
Cancelo switched to right back. It high- selection in last year’s Champions mistakes, improved his understanding business studies and economics. He is a
lighted again City’s flexibility, their will- League final. The decision to play with- of Guardiola’s style of play and become selfless but essential part of this free-
ingness to assume different positions. out a recognised defensive midfielder an essential part of the team. scoring, slick operation.
Fernandinho came on for Rodri and against Chelsea was an error, he Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Riyad One of the most impressive aspects
the midfield control remained. Nathan conceded to his inner circle. Mahrez, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem of City’s Champions League campaign
Aké replaced Aymeric Laporte with no Anyone who was watching that night Sterling played some mouthwatering has been their ability to hush the crowd.
change to the defensive dominance. in Porto came to that conclusion within attacking football last night, but they The atmosphere in Lisbon, for the brief
Liam Delap strode on in attack for Silva half an hour. Ilkay Gundogan had oper- would not have been able to do so if time that the game was scoreless, was
and looked promising. And Mahrez was ated at the base of City’s midfield in the they had not had Rodri behind them. white-hot, but City sucked the life out
still shuttling up and down, helping his past, but he was given the run-around He is so good at snuffing out counter- of the crowd by keeping hold of the ball.
defence and alarming Sporting’s. by Jorginho and N’Golo Kanté. attacks that City can venture forward Rodri plays a big part in that operation.
One wonders what Rodri was think- en masse without worrying if they lose Only onc did he lose composure last
ing in Porto that night as he watched his the ball. In the early stages in Lisbon, night, passing to a white shirt instead of
Sporting Lisbon (3-4-3): A Adán 5 — R Esgaio 4, team-mates wilt from the bench. Nine just after City had taken the lead, Paul- Aymeric Laporte.
S Coates 5, G Inácio 5 — P Porro 6 (L Neto 83min),
J Palhinha 4, M Nunes 6, M Reis 5 — P Sarabia 5
months on, the idea of Guardiola inho broke down the left and attempted Being a perfectionist, Guardiola did
(B Tabata 75), Paulinho 5 (I Slimani 75), benching Rodri in big games is simply to find Matheus Reis at the back post, not appear entirely happy with Rodri’s
P Gonçalves 5 (M Ugarte 51, 5). Booked Nunes, unthinkable. City have performed so but Rodri stuck out his leg just in time performance. After substituting him in
Esgaio, Ugarte. well this season that there are, in reality, and diverted the ball away. Minutes the 73rd minute, Guardiola spoke at
Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson 6 — J Stones 6
(O Zinchenko 61, 6), R Dias 6, A Laporte 6 many contenders for their player of the earlier he had left Pedro Porro on his length in animated fashion, pointing to
(N Aké 85), J Cancelo 6 — K De Bruyne 7, Rodri 7 season. Rodri is certainly one of them. backside after winning the ball in the air. different areas of the pitch. The 2,500
(Fernandinho 73 6), B Silva 9 (L Delap 85) — City triggered the £62.6 million Last night, as the goals started flying City fans appreciated Rodri’s work,
R Mahrez 8, P Foden 8 (I Gundogan 61, 6),
R Sterling 9. Booked Gundogan.
release clause in Rodri’s Atletico Madrid in for City, it must have been tempting though. They rose to their feet and ap-
Referee S Jovanovic (Serbia). contract in the summer of 2019. At first for Rodri to pile forward. But not once plauded as he sat for a well-earned rest.
the times | Wednesday February 16 2022
City hunger
Goal machines
City's emphatic win means they are two goals from bringing up their century
for the season in all competitions... and it's only February. This graphic shows
the number of goals they have scored in each game.
Failed to score
1 goal
2 goals
3 goals 2
4 goals
5 goals
6 goals 3 Season total
7 goals 1 98 goals
inset, scored two of those, Mahrez started it off and Sterling then got the fifth
Guardiola still not satisfied
Paul Hirst Lisbon
Pep Guardiola described Manchester
City’s 5-0 hammering of Sporting
Lisbon as a “dream result” but then
insisted that his squad could perform
much better.
Guardiola said that he was delighted
with the result, which almost guaran-
tees his team a spot in the quarter-finals
of the Champions League, but criticised
them for losing possession on several
occasions in the second half.
“We have a duty as a manager and
team to analyse,” Guardiola, the City
manager, said. “The result is a perfect
result, but in terms of the performance,
we can do better.
“We were so clinical but we have to
take care of the ball better. One of the
first principles in football is you should
pass the ball to someone who wears the
same shirt as you. Some players under-
perform. We lost so many easy balls.”
Guardiola had no harsh words to say
about Bernardo Silva, who won the
man-of-the-match award after scoring
twice. The Portuguese’s first strike, a
crisp half-volley that went in off the
2GM
MICHAEL ZEMANEK/SHUTTERSTOCK; GETTY IMAGES
6
7
8
6
4
underside of the bar, was particularly
pleasing for his manager.
“It was one of the best goals that I
ever saw,” Guardiola said. “Bernardo is
a fantastic player. He doesn’t just play
football, he understands the game. He’s
unique in many ways. His mum and dad
have to be so proud. He is a lovely
person and he can play six roles.
“He can run 13km, with the ball he’s
more than exceptional, but I tell him he
has to score more goals. It was a special
night for him because he’s in his home
town, and was a Benfica player and is a
Benfica supporter.”
Rúben Amorim, the Sporting man-
ager, was shell-shocked after watching
his team lose comprehensively.
“They [City] are probably the best
team in the world,” he said. “We started
well but then we conceded. We tried but
every time they got to our box they
killed us. After the third goal it became
suffering, it was no longer football.
“They have more years and a better
coach and they have played more
minutes than us. We couldn’t find a
solution. We were powerless and I have
to apologise to my players.”
Mbappé, who is heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid in the summer, shoots through Courtois’ legs in the last minute
Magical Mbappé passes
Real audition in style
1
PSG
Mbappé 90+4
0
Real Madrid
James Gheerbrant Paris
For an hour, this match felt like a daz-
zling vindication of the Paris Saint-Ger-
main project. Then it felt like something
else: a monument to absurd profligacy, a
fitting metaphor for this billion-dollar
team. And then, finally, it crystallised
around one player, one moment: a
single, luminous point of pure sporting
genius and irresistible narrative.
Every eye was trained on Kylian
Mbappé here, and not a finger laid on
him. In a constellation of stars, he was
the focal point: the local hero of PSG,
who everyone thinks is all but certain to
join Real Madrid this summer. When
the names of the home team were read
out before kick-off, they were all lustily
booed by the Real fans, except for
Mbappé, who received an ovation.
Mbappé was untouchable. He shot a
jolt of life through this Frankenstein’s
monster of a PSG team, inspiring their
best performance under Mauricio Po-
chettino, and then just when it looked
like Real had held out, he shot a bolt of
pain through the heart of his suitor.
In the 94th minute, Mbappé received
a back-heel from Neymar on the left
touchline. There were three defenders
between him and the goal. He swayed
and shifted, sizing up the moment, and
then, in a blur, slipped past Eder
Militão and Lucas Vázquez. Casemiro
closed too late, and Mbappé slid the
ball past Thibaut Courtois.
“I’ve not decided my future,”
he said at full-time. “I’m a
PSG player, I’m still very
happy. I give my all and
I show that through
my actions.”
At the start of
the match, it had
taken Mbappé 40
seconds to do
something incredi-
ble, receiving the ball
on the half-turn deep
in his own half, sweep-
Messi, right, had a penalty
saved low to Courtois’ left
in the second half
Round of 16 fixtures
All 8pm kick-off
Today Red Bull Salzburg v Bayern
Munich; Inter Milan v Liverpool.
Tuesday, Feb 22 Chelsea v Lille;
Villarreal v Juventus.
Wednesday, Feb 23 Atletico Madrid v
Manchester United; Benfica v Ajax.
Tuesday, Mar 8 Bayern Munich v Red
Bull Salzburg; Liverpool v Inter Milan.
Wednesday, Mar 9 Manchester City v
Sporting Lisbon; Real Madrid v Paris
Saint-Germain.
Tuesday, Mar 15 Ajax v Benfica;
Manchester United v Atletico Madrid.
Wednesday, Mar 16 Juventus v
Villarreal; Lille v Chelsea.
ing it into his path as he spun, then ca-
ressing a beautiful ball to Angel Di Ma-
ría, the sort of pass which unfurls the
possibility of a counterattack all by it-
self; an early whoosh of genius which
ignites and uplifts a match like turning
on the jet burner in a hot-air balloon.
PSG were in all-out-attack mode in
the first 20 minutes: perhaps a
consequence of the abolition of the
away goals rule, which has reduced the
jeopardy for gung-ho home teams.
Soon Mbappé was at it again. He left
Dani Carvajal in the dust and picked
out Di María, eight yards out, who
shinned the ball over the bar.
Lionel Messi, in the false
nine position, was dropping
deep and drifting into the
right half-space, between
David Alaba, Ferland Mendy
and Toni Kroos. He played a
little chipped ball over the top,
as casually as a man flipping a
coin into a busker’s cap, and
Mbappé breezed through
Carvajal again. Courtois
blocked the shot with his legs.
Carvajal endured a harrow-
ing evening. Mbappé brusque-
ly shrugged him off the ball in
the PSG box and broke upfield.
The right back picked up a yel-
low for a sliding challenge on
Mendes, leaving him walking
on broken glass. At half-time,
PSG had had 68 per cent pos-
session and outshot Real by six
attempts to one, a skimming
Casemiro header the final act.
65
Sport
ALAIN JOCARD/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The match settled back into a similar
pattern after the break, PSG compress-
ing the play into the attacking half, Real
sitting back and hoping for a transition
opportunity. When PSG were in
possession, Danilo would often drop
back, making a back three, with Hakimi
pushing high and wide on the right to
pin back Mendy.
PSG were thrumming with confi-
dence. They strung together a brilliant
move, a knitted sequence of perfectly
timed passes in tight spaces, which
ended with a sharp Mbappé shot that
Courtois saved well low down.
Real just could not get anything
going. When Hakimi lost the ball, a
counter was on, but Kroos played a
clunky pass and Marquinhos swept up.
From the very next phase, Mbappé
made another of those menacing diag-
onal dribbles, body tilted forward. Car-
vajal dived in clumsily and offered no
complaint when the referee pointed to
the spot. It seemed PSG would finally
have the lead their dominance merited,
but not for the first time, Messi was
mortalised by the penalty spot and
Courtois saved his kick low to his left.
Messi was chasing atonement, trying
a silly shot from distance. Neymar
replaced Di María and Mbappé moved
to the right. PSG kept finding ways not
to score. Messi’s cross curled past
Mbappé’s dangling leg. From the ensu-
ing corner, Mbappé was found on the
left of goal, at an acute angle, and he
stabbed a curling shot which grazed the
outside of the far post.
As the match entered its dying sec-
onds, PSG had had 21 shots without
scoring. In their efforts to bury their op-
ponents, they had dug a hole for them-
selves. The night could have ended in
failure. Instead it ended with Mbappé,
the ball at his feet, everyone watching
him, and no one able to hold him.
“When I have the advantage of get-
ting into the box very early,” he said,
“I’m the master of my own destiny.”
Paris Saint-Germain (4-3-3): G Donnarumma 7 —
A Hakimi 8, Marquinhos 8, P Kimpembe 7, N
Mendes 8 — D Pereira 8 (I Gueye 87), L Paredes 7,
M Verratti 7 — A Di María 7 (Neymar 73, 7), L
Messi 7, K Mbappé 9. Booked Verratti, Danilo,
Kimpembe, Paredes.
Real Madrid (4-3-3): T Courtois 8 — D Carvajal 5
(L Vázquez 72, 6), E Militão 7, D Alaba 7, F Mendy
6 — L Modric 5 (F Valverde 82), Casemiro 5, T
Kroos 5 — M Asensio 5 (Rodrygo 72, 6), K
Benzema 5 (G Bale 87), Vinícius 5 (E Hazard 82).
Booked Casemiro, Militão, Mendy.

Sport
More drugs
in skater’s
doping case
Teenager declared two legal heart substances
Martyn Ziegler, Owen Slot
The teenage Russian figure skater at
the centre of a doping scandal had
taken two legal heart-boosting drugs as
well as testing positive for a banned
substance, it emerged last night.
The existence of the three substances
were contained in a document submit-
ted to Kamila Valieva’s hearing before
the Court of Arbitration for Sport in
Beijing on Sunday, which gave the
15-year-old permission to continue
competing at the Winter Olympics
pending further investigations.
As well as trimetazidine, which is on
the list of banned drugs, being found in
her sample, she also declared at the
time of the test that she was taking two
other drugs, L-Carnatine and hypoxen,
which are commonly used in Russia to
treat heart conditions.
The New York Times first reported
the findings and that Valieva’s mother
testified that her daughter was taking
hypoxen because of heart “variations”.
The declaration of the two legal sub-
stances on Valieva’s doping control form
has also been verified by The Times.
L-Carnatine was used by Alberto
Salazar’s disgraced Nike Oregon
Project and is legal only if used below a
certain level. Hypoxen is commonly
used in Russia to treat angina and can
reduce oxygen consumption and
fatigue. The US Anti-Doping Agency
(Usada) asked the World Anti-Doping
Agency (Wada) in 2017 to consider
banning it after evidence that it was
commonly used by Russian athletes.
Times Crossword 28,215
1 2 3 4
8 9
10 11
12 13
17 18 19
21
22
24 25
26 27*
Travis Tygart, the chief executive of
Usada, told The Times: “It’s incredible
and raises so many questions. It’s hard
to believe someone as young as 15
would have the capability, access and
money to take these substances so it
raises questions about who was behind
this. It seems quite sophisticated.”
The level of trimetazidine in Valieva’s
sample was “hardly trace amounts”,
Tygart added, saying: “The three of
those used together would seemingly be
to try to gain a performance enhance-
ment — such as dealing with shortness
of breath or improving stamina.”
Valieva made a tearful return to com-
petition yesterday. Her appearance in
the first part of the women’s singles
event came hours after claims in Russia
that her test result may have been the
result of accidentally ingesting medi-
cine used by her grandfather for a heart
condition by using the same glass as
him on Christmas Day.
Valieva is top of the scoreboard after
the short programme and is favourite
for gold when the event resumes,
having already won team gold. If she
finishes in the top three there will be no
medal ceremony and she faces a drug
hearing after the Games.
As a minor, Valieva will be eligible for
reduced sanctions if a positive drugs
test is proved. Instead of the minimum
four-year ban, she could face anything
from a two-year ban down to a repri-
mand — but a ban can only be avoided
if she and her backroom team can prove
no significant fault or negligence.
Report and analysis, page 56
5 6 7 1 Medicine’s short ¬— not a good
14 15
16
20
23
Tiger Roll out of National
O’Leary’s amazing outburst after
denying horse tilt at third win
Page 55
Pep’s boys hit five in Portugal
Bernardo Silva scored twice as Manchester City won 5-0 away to Sporting
Lisbon in their Champions League last-16 first-leg tie — report, pages 64-65
across
time for hajj (10)
6 Tribal group determined to seize
power (4)
8 Organisational reason to take one’s
temperature (8)
9 Squadron, say, drops one veteran
without number (6)
10 Second person no longer still
ignores Grand Hotel (4)
11 Pay corps to recruit a foreign judge
(10)
12 Fool bishop with pre-noon tipple,
swigging litres (9)
14 South Island’s diving aid (5)
17 Celebrate former superior officer
(5)
19 Like good guy arresting city
mugger (9)
22 Spoil bouncer, one in his 70s? (4,6)
23 Keen lapwing drops it, heading
west (4)
24 Second fee securing Republican’s
easy victory (6)
25 Ignorant individual blocks new
reduced trail (8)
26 Commie wrong to have moved to
the left (4)
27 Panto dame’s son and why his ways
are deviant (5-5)
Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
United stop the rot
Ronaldo ends goal drought in
2-0 victory over Brighton
Pages 62-63
GETTY IMAGES
Djokovic set
for Wimbledon
Stuart Fraser Tennis Correspondent
Novak Djokovic is expected to be
allowed to defend his Wimbledon title
this summer despite his refusal to be
vaccinated against Covid-19.
Speaking for the first time since his
deportation from Australia last month,
the 20-times grand-slam champion
from Serbia told the BBC in an inter-
view broadcast yesterday that he was
prepared to sacrifice his chance to
become the most successful player of all
time rather than receive a jab.
Asked if he was willing to miss
tournaments including Wimbledon
and the French Open, Djokovic replied:
“Yes, that is a price I’m willing to pay.”
He added: “The principles of
decision-making on my body are more
important than any title or anything
else. I’m trying to be in tune with my
Continued on page 59
Trent’s trophy
swipe at City
Tom Roddy
Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold
has made pointed reference to
Manchester City’s failure to win the
Champions League, suggesting that his
own club’s trophy haul was superior.
Alexander-Arnold, 23, was part of
the side who won the Champions
League in 2019 and the Premier League
the next season — the only time City
have failed to win the domestic title in
the past four years. However, he
rejected any suggestion his club were
lagging behind in terms of silverware.
“We don’t feel disappointed we
haven’t won enough trophies, because
we feel the ones we have won are the
biggest and the best,” he said. “Not
making any digs [but] you look at Man
City’s amazing team [and] they haven’t
been able to win the Champions
League, and we have won both.”
Full story, page 60
down Yesterday’s solution 28214
1 Raised a drink, something taken at OU T CR Y H U L A HOOP
P E U H N L U E
restaurant in Nice (9) E A R T H L Y H A L OGE N
2 What first-class fare gets the N M R P I P H F
foreign newly-wed (7) S H A H S HO T P U T T E R
G A E C R I
3 Stylish Hilary for one maintains CH A F F I NC H P HON E
business link? (8) A N T O F N
4 Current tributes inspiring small B A T H E W I T H S T OOD
D R H H E N
hospital’s skills (15) R E I N S T A T E D J E T S
5 Perhaps a grey English fruit lacks I D H T B A M U
carbon (6) V E R V A I N O I N K I NG
6 Dean’s works are so absurdly E I V O X N N A
ROS S E T T I Z A ND E R
racialist (9)
Check today’s answers by ringing 0905 757
7 Sprain muscle going about tango 0141 by midnight. Calls cost £1 per minute
opener (4,3) plus your telephone company’s network
13 Notice Yankee attack butter (5,4) access charge. SP: Spoke 0333 202 3390.
15 Dislike a pint drunk at Hackney
Arms (9) Newspapers
16 Vestry typically holds object of
worship husband left (8) support recycling
The recycled paper content of
18 Kiss player possessing fine special UK newspapers in 2020 was 67%
quality (1,6)
20 Evergreen duchess’s elegance
pointed up somewhat (7)
21 Current going round Circle Line
track (6)