100 tips for a long Pancakes the

Ottolenghi way
& happy life
Pancake day Meera Sodha Kitchen aide
Tofu fried rice Smoothie secrets
Yotam’s way
Mardi Gras Melissa Thompson
Shellfish stew Pimento pork
with spiced rice
Rukmini Iyer
Onion-topped Wines to try
skillet bread Undervalued reds
Felicity Cloake Rachel Roddy
Perfect kimchi Caraway cake
pancakes
Grace Dent
Ravneet Gill ‘It was my duty to
Issue No.265 Saturday 18 February 2023 Rhubarb galette try the cheesecake’

from 100-year-olds
 Saturday

Saturday
18 February 2023
£3.50
From £2.03 for subscribers

PM faces Tory rebellion on Best

Baltic
Northern Ireland protocol beaches
Plus how to bag
Aubrey Allegretti
Ireland protocol does not go far
enough after talks with unionists in
David Jones, deputy chair of the
European Research Group of Euro-
Hardline Tory Brexiters are suspi-
cious of concessions made by Britain
a bargain
Jennifer Rankin a Belfast hotel yesterday. sceptic Conservative MPs, said he and accused Sunak of being engaged summer break
Rory Carroll He was also accused of sending was waiting for details before decid- in a “rolling the pitch exercise rather Saturday
mixed messages during discussions ing “whether or not whatever deal is than substantive discussion”.
Rishi Sunak faces the threat of a with Stormont leaders, intended to proposed is acceptable, not only to Donaldson refused to criticise any
fresh Tory rebellion as he sets off on mollify their concerns before he flies the people of Northern Ireland but particulars of the potential agreement
a weekend of mad-dash diplomacy in out to meet EU leaders in Munich. the people of Britain as a whole”. and maintained a conciliatory tone,
an attempt to break the post-Brexit Jeffrey Donaldson, the leader of The ERG has said it will remain saying Sunak’s meeting with the DUP
deadlock in Northern Ireland. the Democratic Unionist party (DUP), in “lockstep” with the DUP, and has led to “progress”. He added: “The
With some in his party fearing an said Sunak’s proposal “currently falls maintained its demands to remove decisions that will be taken by the
intervention by Boris Johnson, the short of what would be acceptable” any jurisdiction from Brussels and prime minister and by the European
prime minister has been warned to the party – and fails to deal with its the European court of justice from Commission will either
7 
his proposed deal on the Northern longstanding red lines. Northern Ireland. consign Northern Ireland

Your guide
to the
Baftas
News

The brutality Last

of politics chance!
42% off your
our
Female MPs speak out News, pages 8-9
Guardian
Page 40
n
•
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

18/02/2023 News

 Staff at an Pat Cullen, general secretary of the

Inside your NHS hospital. A
ballot of 50,000
RCN, said: “We are working night and
day with NHS leaders, but we can also
Saturday paper junior doctors
is expected to
see NHS leaders stepping in and writ-
ing to the prime minister.
come back in “There is no doubt there will be a
favour of strike significant impact [from the strikes]
action next week and we are now urging the prime min-
ISSU E № 73 | 18 F E BRUA RY 202 3

PHOTOGRAPH: ister to step in with 12 days to try and

JEFF MOORE/PA
resolve this, around a round table
today,” she told BBC Breakfast.
The college is calling for pay rises
of 5% above inflation to not only raise
its members’ living standards, but
to “turn the tide on years of unfilled
nursing jobs”. It has accused the
government of refusing to engage
in negotiations, with Cullen saying
there has been “no communication”
18-24 February 2023

from the health secretary, Steve Bar-

‘NOW I’M clay, for more than a month.
JUST ANGRY’
VINCENT Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today pro-
CASSEL ON
TIPS FOR A LONG, HAPPY LIFE
SPECI A L

gramme if she accepted the strike

ISSUE

PLAYING
AN ACTION
by 100 centenarians
action would pose a significant
HERO AT 56
risk to patients, Cullen said: “What
I accept is that there will be signif-

Pressure on Sunak
secretary of Unison, Christina McA- icant changes in the 48 hours. And
nea. She claimed that authorities in of course there will continue to be
Scotland and Wales were showing extreme challenges.”
more willingness to negotiate than Asked again, she said: “What our
Pancake day
Yotam’s way
Meera Sodha
Tofu fried rice
Mardi Gras
Shellfish stew
Rukmini Iyer
Onion-topped
skillet bread
Felicity Cloake
Kitchen aide
Smoothie secrets
Melissa Thompson
Pimento pork
with spiced rice
Wines to try
Undervalued reds
Rachel Roddy
to intervene to avert Westminster. “Sadly, health workers
across England have been met with a
wall of silence from No 10. The prime
patients are facing every day, in a
depleted health service, a health ser-
vice in crisis, poses significant risk

NHS strike escalation

Perfect kimchi Caraway cake

Issue No.265 Saturday 18 February 2023

pancakes
Ravneet Gill
Rhubarb galette
Grace Dent
‘It was my duty to
try the cheesecake’
minister stubbornly refuses to talk and significant challenge.”
about pay, preferring to subject eve- Unison said the result of a re-ballot
ryone to many months of disruption. of 12,000 workers – mainly in work-
“The public must think the West- places where the legal threshold for
minster government is living on a mandate to strike was narrowly
of strike action next week. And another planet … The prime minis- missed last time round – meant they
Kevin Rawlinson 35,000 consultants have been asked ter must roll up his sleeves, invite the would join 20,000 other colleagues
Aletha Adu to take part in an indicative ballot on unions into Downing Street and start on strike, in what the union said was
whether they could take strike action the genuine pay talks that could end a “significant escalation” of the dis-
Rishi Sunak is under increasing pres- in future. this damaging dispute.” pute with government.
sure to personally intervene to avert The ex-cabinet minister described Tens of thousands of nurses will It said the ambulance strikes
Quick crossword a major escalation in strike action by it as outrageous that Sunak was “so walk out of 120 hospitals for 48 hours would now cover most of England
tens of thousands of NHS workers in focused on hiding in plain sight”. next month. For the first time, the and include workers in Wales. Two
Page 50 England and Wales over the coming “There are many ways he [Sunak] strikers will include those working other unions, GMB and Unite, also
weeks. can ensure nurses get an attractive in cancer wards, emergency depart- represent a combined total of more
Puzzles A Tory former cabinet minister pay offer that will leave them feel- ments and intensive care units – a than 15,000 ambulance workers – all
Page 48-49 was among those to call for the prime
minister to negotiate with unions
ing encouraged to stop the strikes
that ultimately leave people in dan-
significant escalation in the dispute.
Both Unison and the Royal College
of whom have a mandate for strikes.
The chief executive of the NHS
planning action over realterms pay ger, but it seems to be beyond him”. of Nursing (RCN) said the ball was Confederation also urged Sunak to
Killer sudoku and cuts caused by soaring inflation. They added that Boris Johnson would now in the prime minister’s court. settle the matter to reduce waiting
cryptic crossword Yesterday, Unison announced that have finalised a creative pay offer for lists. Matthew Taylor told BBC Break-

12,000
a further 12,000 ambulance workers nurses by now, a sentiment a number fast: “That really difficult challenge
Journal, page 8 would be able to join 35,000 of their of Tory MPs agreed with. of reducing waiting lists becomes
colleagues and tens of thousands “It’s time the prime minister almost impossible if this industrial
Weather more nurses in walk outs. ditched his do -nothing strategy Number of ambulance workers actions spreads, as it is spreading, and
Page 51 A ballot of 50,000 junior doctors
is expected to come back in favour
for dealing with escalating strikes
across the NHS,” said the general
who would join colleagues in
walkouts, Unison said yesterday
particularly if junior doctors join the
industrial action.”

Contact
For missing sections call 0800 839 100.
Judge’s anger that would not be held until next
week, and that a move was not antic-
ipated until 2 March.
requiring renovations to make it suit-
able for her care had “only recently
been floated”, counsel for the trust
in a completely inappropriate NHS
unit for about three weeks, and it’s
suddenly dawned on your client
For the Readers’ editor (corrections
& clarifications on specific editorial over girl, 12, Three sets of doctors at the hospi-
tal trust have disagreed as to Becky’s
told the court, “and unfortunately
public bodies are required to go
that ‘actually we’ll put her in a Tier 4
unit and we might have to do some
held in hospital
content) email guardian.readers@
theguardian.com.
diagnosis; at her most recent assess- through a bureaucratic and procure- [building] work’.”
Letters for publication should be ment doctors said she was not eligible ment process”. When asked to return her iPad to
sent to guardian.letters@theguardian.
com or the address on the letters page. seclusion room to be sectioned, which would trigger
the protections provided by the Men-
In a robust exchange, the judge
said: “Where’s the urgency in this? I
hospital staff last week, Becky broke
it and attempted to swallow the glass.
tal Health Act, because her mental cannot believe that the life and health After being subjected to what the
NEWSPAPERS
SUPPORT disorder was not of the “nature and of a 12-year-old girl is hanging on an local authority described as “full
RECYCLING
The recycled paper
content
  of UK newspapers
degree” as to warrant her detention. issue of NHS procurement when you restraint”, in the course of which
Louise Tickle
in 2017 was 64.6%
In the absence of medical consent cannot tell me what it is you’re try- she assaulted staff, Becky attempted
Guardian News & Media, Kings Place, 90 York Way, to section her, and because of previ- ing to procure.” to make a ligature with a draw-
London N1 9GU. 020-3353 2000. Fax 020-7837 2114. ous incidents of self-harm, including Lieven added: “If the delay is pro- string from her clothing. She was
In Manchester: Centurion House, 129 Deansgate,
Manchester M3 3WR. Telephone Sales: 020-7611 9000.
A high court judge has expressed her an attempt to throw herself from a curement, I’m not having it. I will use found huddled under a blanket by
The Guardian lists links to third-party websites, but “deep frustration” at NHS delays and building on to a motorway, judges the inherent jurisdiction to make an hospital staff and required oxygen
does not endorse them or guarantee their authenticity bureaucracy that mean a suicidal have decided Becky must be deprived order. We have a 12-year-old child to save her life.
or accuracy. Back issues from Historic Newspapers:
0870-165 1470 guardian.backissuenewspapers.co.uk. 12-year-old girl has been held on her of her liberty by court order for her Warning that Becky’s “risk of
Published by Guardian News & Media, Kings Place, own in a locked, windowless room own protection. deliberate or accidental death is
90 York Way, London N1 9GU, and at Centurion House,
129 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3WR. Printed at Reach
for three weeks. Becky has been held in a hospital ‘If the delay is very high”, her guardian, who is
Watford Limited, St Albans Road, Watford, Herts
WD24 7RG; Reach Oldham Limited, Hollinwood Avenue,
In a hearing on Thursday, Mrs
Justice Lieven told North Stafford-
seclusion room since 27 January, her
only contact via a hatch in the door.
procurement, I’m appointed by the court, pointed out
that the state had a positive obliga-
Chadderton, Oldham OL9 8EP; Reach Saltire Ltd,
110 Fifty Pitches Place, Glasgow G51 4EA; and by
shire combined healthcare NHS trust All parties agree that her deteriora- not having it’ tion to protect her life.
Irish Times Print Facility, 4080 Kingswood Road, “you are testing my patience”, after tion while in hospital is due at least in
Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24. No. 54,897, she heard that a proposal to move part to her prolonged isolation. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans
Saturday 18 February 2023. Registered as a newspaper
at the Post Office ISSN 0261-3077. Becky (not her real name) could not The idea of moving Becky to Mrs Justice Lieven can be contacted on 116 123 or by
progress until a planning meeting a paediatric mental health unit in the high court hearing email at [email protected]
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

News 3

Discovery of 4,500 year

 A view of the
excavations
and, in the
background,

old Sumerian palace

a 19th-century ▼ A cutaway
spoil heap reconstruction
towering above of the temple
the site at Girsu ,

could reveal secrets PHOTOGRAPH:

DANI TAGEN/
THE GIRSU PROJECT
previously
known
only from
inscriptions

of early civilisation found at the site

THE GIRSU PROJECT,
ARTEFACTS-BERLIN.DE

Tobi Thomas

It has been described by the director

of the British Museum as “one of the
most fascinating sites” that he has
visited. But the archaeologist who
led the discovery of a lost Sumerian
temple in the ancient city of Girsu
yesterday said he had been accused of
“making it up” and wasting funding
when he was promoting the project.
Dr Sebastien Rey led the project
that found the 4,500-year-old pal-
ace in modern-day Iraq – thought to
hold the key to unlocking more infor-
mation about one of the first known
civilisations.
The Lord Palace of the Kings of
the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu –
now located in Tello, southern Iraq
– was discovered during fieldwork
last year by British and Iraqi archae-
ologists. More than 200 cuneiform
tablets were also discovered, con-
taining administrative records of the
ancient city.
Rey said that when he first brought
up the project at international con-
ferences no one believed him.
“Everyone basically told me, ‘Oh
no, you’re making it up, you’re wast-
ing your time, you’re wasting British  Administrative clay tablet listing
museum UK government funding’ quantities of barley in cuneiform,
– that’s what they were telling me,” far right, and other clay fragments
he said. PHOTOGRAPHS: THE GIRSU PROJECT/GETTY
Girsu, one of the earliest known
cities in the history of humankind, region of Mesopotamia, and were
was built by the ancient Sumerians, responsible for many technolog-
who emerged between 3,500 and ical advancements, including
2,000BC, invented writing, built the measurements of time and writ-
first cities and created the first codes ing – which became wedge-shaped
of law. marks pressed into clay known as
The ancient city was first discov- cuneiform.
ered 140 years ago, but the site has According to Hartwig Fischer, the
been the target of looting and illegal director of the British Museum, the
excavations. site of the ancient city in southern
The discovery is the result of the Iraq was “one of the most fascinat-
Girsu Project, an archaeological col- ing sites I’ve ever visited”.
laboration established in 2015 and led He said: “While our knowledge
by the British Museum, and funded of the Sumerian world remains lim-
by the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. ited today, the work at Girsu and the
The main temple dedicated to the The Sumerians: a quick reminder discovery of the lost palace and tem-
Sumerian god Ningirsu, or Ninurta, ple hold enormous potential for our
was also identified. Before this pio- understanding of this important civ-
neering fieldwork its existence was Who were they? craft of writing, producing ilisation, shedding light on the past
known only from ancient inscriptions The Sumerians were the literature, hymns and prayers. and informing the future.”
discovered with the first successful inhabitants of Sumer, the They built the first known cities The ancient Sumerians may not
excavation of the ancient city. earliest known civilisation in the as well as creating the first known be as well known a civilisation as
The project follows the Iraqi historical region of Mesopotamia, code of law. Sumerians also the ancient Egyptians or Greeks, but
scheme first funded by the Brit- in modern-day southern Iraq. perfected several existing forms of according to Dr Timothy Potts, the
ish government, in response to the The civilisation is thought to technology, including the wheel, directory of the Getty Museum, Girsu
destruction of important heritage have emerged between the sixth the plough and mathematics. The is “probably one of the most impor-
sites in Iraq and Syria by Islamic State. and the fifth millennium BC, Epic of Gilgamesh, considered tant heritage sites in the world that
Since its establishment, more than 70 along the banks of the Euphrates ▲ The site of Ur, a Sumerian city the world’s oldest surviving piece very few people know about”.
Iraqis have been trained to conduct and Tigris rivers. They built about of literature, is derived from five Iraq’s culture minister, Ahmed
eight seasons of fieldwork at Girsu. a dozen city-states. Girsu, located vital monuments of Mesopotamian Sumerian poems. Fakak Al-Badrani, said: “The British
The first mud brick walls of the pal- in Tello, Iraq, was discovered art and architecture. They were also one of the first archaeological excavations in Iraq
ace, which were discovered last year, 140 years ago, and revealed to civilisations to brew beer, which will further unveil significant ancient
have since been held within the Iraq the world the existence of the What did they invent? was seen by the ancient people as eras of Mesopotamia, as it is a true
Museum in Baghdad. Sumerian civilisation, as well as The Sumerians were ancient a key to a healthy heart and liver. testimony to the strong ties between
The Sumerians inhabited the bringing to light some of the most pioneers, having advanced the Tobi Thomas the two countries to enhance the joint
ancient eastern Mediterranean cooperation.”
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

4 News

Hot offer
 Driving offroad at sunset in the
Francois Peron national park
in Western Australia PHOTOGRAPH:
FRANCESCO RICCA IACOMINO/GETTY IMAGES

Remote five hours to Perth for a 20 minute

medical appointment for her son.”

A lot of driving

Western Even in the city, public transport in

Western Australia doesn’t compare
to the UK, says Kieran.
“It’s a very car-orientated place,

Australia that was a big surprise,” he says.

Life is cheaper
Australia is experiencing a cost of

seeks to living crisis, but it doesn’t seem to

be as bad as the UK, says Burder,
who moved to Australia seven
years ago.

lure Brits That’s part of the Western

Australia government pitch: “WA
salaries are often more than 50%
higher than the average English
salary for the same occupation.”
“You get paid better here and
the cost of living is cheaper,” says
Jordyn Beazley Burder. “Talking to my family back
in the UK and they’re paying double

B
what I am for gas and electricity.”
ritons tired of the cost says the weather and beaches mean Buying a house is also much
of living crisis that has he feels like he is on holiday. cheaper, says Kieran.
embroiled the UK have “It’s about a 10 minute drive In London, he says he had a 60
been thrown a lifeline: from where I live to get to a nice square metre flat with no garden.
an invitation to move beach, and not just one nice beach, In Perth, his family bought a three
to Australia. there’s a lot of them,” he says. bedroom house on a 700 square
Not to Sydney or Melbourne, but metre plot of land with a garden in
to the country’s vastest state, home Vast expanse the back and front yard.
to one of the most isolated cities in Western Australia takes up a third Renters may be less lucky, with
the world. of the country’s land mass. It is 10 some towns in the state facing an
The state government of Western times the size of the UK. Perth, the escalating rental emergency.
Australia announced yesterday that state’s capital, is among the most
it wants to lure workers from the isolated cities in the world. Even a Shops close early
United Kingdom and Ireland to fill flight to Sydney takes hours. “You can’t get a coffee past 3
nearly 31,000 job vacancies across It’s one thing to know this, it’s o’clock, it drives me nuts,” says
a range of industries, including another to live with it, says Kieran. Kieran. Similarly, Burder says you
teachers, police officers, nurses, “You’re miles from anywhere won’t find much open on a Sunday.
doctors and plumbers. else … which I don’t think British “It feels like where the UK was 20
With the government promising people realise,” he says. “Don’t years ago,” he said.
“higher wages, lower cost of living expect to be flying backwards and
and [a] surf and sunshine lifestyle”,  Shops shut ▲ The sort of forwards to Sydney all the time.” But at least people do look out for
the Guardian asked Britons living early in WA, beaches that each other
in Western Australia what those with a cup of would await Hard to access services “There’s a sense of community that
tempted by the offer can expect. coffee hard to you in Perth Louise O’Neill, who moved from I don’t feel like you get in England,”
come by after PHOTOGRAPH: PAWEŁ Bath to a rural part of southern says O’Neill. “Especially in rural
Surf and sunshine 3pm TOCZYŃSKI/GETTY Western Australia where she communities because there’s not
“It’s like 300-odd days of runs Farm Life Fitness, providing much to do and you’re so far from
sunshine,” says Russell Burder, who one-on-one health and wellness things and so everyone looks out
moved from Essex to Perth and ‘The other day my coaching, suspects the government for each other.”
works in the mining industry. “We may be looking to recruit people in Being from London, Kieran says
haven’t had rain since December,
friend drove five rural parts of Western Australia. he was at first confused by how
the weather is just glorious. hours for a doctor’s And life there can mean a friendly people are.
“Once you sprinkle a few extra shortage of services. O’Neill, “The first few days I was here,
100 days of sunshine on us Brits…
appointment’ who has lived in Australia for 12 a car stopped in the middle of a
we are a much happier bunch, we’re years, says people would drive an street. And I was, like, why is that
not whingeing poms anymore.” hour and a half to see the nearest car stopping? That’s really weird
Matthew Kieran, an academic Louise O’Neill physiotherapist. to me, and then the driver just
who moved to Perth from London, Formerly from Bath “The other day my friend drove signalled for me to cross the road.”

Not just bog standard: France’s taken 12 years to restore. The resto-
ration of the woodwork, glass and
tiles were finally completed last
Karine Taïeb, the deputy mayor of
Paris in charge of heritage, said as
she conducted a party of journalists
first public loo reopens for use month but the toilets, sinks and
taps have been replaced with similar
around the conveniences this week.
She said regrettably the toilets were
modern models. An old shoe-shine not accessible to disabled people
windows, ornate ceramics, mosaics, chair, preserved on the site, adds to because they were too small.
Kim Willsher brass taps and floor to ceiling tiles and the impression of entering a grand The mosaic tiled entrance to the
Paris has been listed as a historic building “throne room”. lavatory is still cracked and will
since 2011 when it closed. The idea of a public lavatory was undergo further restoration next year
Paris authorities will renovate and It was originally an exclusively inspired by those in London intro- when the cause of the damage has
return to use France’s first ever pub- ladies’ lavatory – the nearby gents’ duced in the 1880s. The underground been identified.
lic convenience. The Lavatory de la constructed at the same time is now facilities were intended to be not The Lavatory de la Madeleine will
Madeleine, a belle époque jewel that used by the public transport body only useful but beautiful and lux- reopen to the public on Monday and
opened in 1905, will cost €2 (£1.80) RATP – but became mixed sex when urious. Only six such toilets still remain open between 10am and 6pm
to use when it reopens on Monday. several of the cabins were turned into exist in Paris, one of which is on the every day. The €2 charge is to cover
It was fitted out in art deco style urinals in the 1990s. Champs-Élysées. the cost of an attendant and cleaning.
with the finest materials: varnished The lavatory, shut because of dis- “It’s a journey back in time; a dive ▲ The Lavatory de la Madeleine, Paris city hall says there are 435 other
mahogany woodwork, stained-glass use and lack of maintenance, has into the Paris of the belle époque,” restored to its former glory free public toilets in the city.
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

You really blocked me Storm Otto 5

Kinks face Twitter Power cuts as 80mph
algorithm troubles winds hit the north
Page 13 Page 17

Unconscious bias training a ‘nonsense’

used against the black community in
Brixton over the past two decades.”
When asked what he felt was the
most significant change in Britain

response to racism – civil rights leader

in terms of race, Prescod turned to a
lyric from the British jazz band Sons
of Kemet: “Don’t wanna take my
country back, mate. I wanna take my
country forward.” He said he found
it powerful that black youth had
talk about, institutionalised racism on developing the IRR’s Black His- claimed Britain as their own.
Aamna Mohdin we want to talk about, not uncon- tory Collection archive. “We now have populations here
Community affairs correspondent scious bias or racial awareness,” Prescod first joined the IRR’s who are not thinking of themselves
Prescod said. “It’s the stuff that kills council in 1976, and became chair in from some other place or going to
The outgoing chair of the Insti- that we want to talk about, the stuff 1980, during a volatile era. The insti- some other place, but here and are
tute of Race Relations has decried that stunts lives that we want to talk tute responded to far-right attacks aware of their history of struggle,”
the widespread use of “nonsense” about, the stuff that deforms lives and marches, controversial polic- he said.
unconscious bias training, claiming that we want to talk about.” ing operations, and the 1981 riots “When Sons of Kemet says some-
it is an obvious sidestepping of tack- Prescod highlighted growing – which it defined as “uprisings” – thing like: ‘We want to take our
ling racial injustice. concerns over a school-to-prison led by black and Asian youth in 10 country forward,’ notice all the words
Civil rights stalwart Colin Prescod, pipeline in Britain, in which young cities across England. in the phrase.”
who is stepping down after 43 years, minority ethnic children excluded Prescod engaged many institu- He believes it shows a significant
likened the modish phrase to the from schools are forced into pupil tions in his role. He wrote letters to culture shift of “new generations [of
1970s term “racial awareness”. referral units where they are the Guardian, including one to the black Britons] born here, belonging
In a wide-ranging interview, the groomed by criminal gangs – a clear editor in 1981 that was published just here, speaking with a different kind
sociologist and cultural activist said example of systemic racism, he says. weeks after the Brixton riots. “We of authority”.
he was proud of the role his research “To talk about unconscious biases is ‘It’s the stuff that kills have again witnessed the spectacles Prescod added that while there
institute played in putting institu- an obvious sidestepping of the mat- of politicians and others posturing was no room for “triumphalism”
tional racism on the national agenda ter. And it’s also wanting to let people
that we want to talk as to the ‘causes’ of the ‘race prob- when looking at racial progress, he
several decades ago, but was dis- off,” Prescod said. about, the stuff that lem’ and black people’s grievances,” leaves his position with some hope.
mayed at the rise of terms such as The Institute of Race Relations Prescod wrote. “There is always resistance. It’s only
unconscious bias. (IRR) said that Prescod would be
deforms lives that we “What is at immediate issue is too clear. If you look at any situa-
“We made arguments to the state, replaced by Dr John Narayan, a want to talk about’ not the question of general urban tion in which somebody starts to be
even when we’re on platforms along- senior lecturer in European and deprivation, let alone of immigrant down-pressed, you will realise that
side them, saying this was nonsense. International Studies at King’s Col- Colin Prescod numbers, or even a sudden break- there is somebody who is saying: ‘Get
It’s racism we want to talk about, lege London. Prescod will remain Institute of Race Relations down in police-black relations, but off my back, get off my throat.’ We
it’s systemic behaviour we want to part of the IRR’s council, focusing the exceptional policing practices don’t simply curl up.”

Donations
for family of
Brianna Ghey
top £100,000
Josh Halliday
North of England correspondent

A fundraising appeal for the family of

the teenager Brianna Ghey has raised
more than £100,000 in four days.
Brianna, 16, a trans girl, was found
with fatal stab wounds in a park near
Warrington on Saturday afternoon.
A boy and a girl, both aged 15, have
been charged with her “extremely
brutal and punishing” murder and
are due to stand trial in July.
Police said Brianna’s family had
been overwhelmed by public support
after vigils were held across the UK
this week.
A fundraising page set up five
days ago for Brianna’s family topped
£100,000 yesterday, with donations
from more than 6,500 people far
exceeding the original target of £4,216
to help pay for the funeral.
Victoria Potter, who helped set
up the GoFundMe page, described
Brianna as an “outgoing, confident
girl” who had died in “the most
shocking and heartbreaking way”.
Cheshire constabulary launched
a murder investigation after Brianna
was found with fatal stab wounds
on a path in Culcheth Linear Park at
3.13pm last Saturday. ▲ Thousands of people gathered at vigils for trans teenager Brianna Ghey in London (above) and across the UK this week PHOTOGRAPH: NIKLAS HALLE’N/AFP/GETTY
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

6 National
Espionage

regrets are no more than self-pity.

Had you been truly remorseful, you
would not have lied on oath to me in
that hearing as you did.
“You were a security guard at the
embassy … which imposed on you
a high level of trust and responsi-
bility. It was your job to ensure that
the embassy was secure and its staff
safe.” The judge said Smith had “put
those people at maximum risk” and
“it was the most obvious breach of
the trust placed in you”.
Smith had stopped withdrawing
cash from his current account at the
start of February 2021 when he took
a photo of a white envelope contain-
ing five €100 notes and sent it to his
wife on the Telegram messaging plat-
form, before deleting it.
During the search of Smith’s home
address, another €800 was found in
€100 denomination notes, bringing
the total he was paid to at least
€1,300, although prosecutors believe
that was “just the tip of the iceberg”.
The judge said there was “unsur-
prisingly no documentation” that
recorded the amount he had received,
but told Smith: “You were paid by
the Russian authorities for your
treachery. I regard these payments
as a significant factor in increasing
your culpability for your actions.”
Smith was caught after a letter
he had written to Gen Maj Sergey
Chukhrov, the military attache in the
Russian embassy to Berlin, disguised
as a British embassy communication,
was intercepted in November 2020.
MI5 set up a sting operation, send-

Briton who spied

ing in one of its “role play” officers
– as “Dmitry”, a Russian “walk-in”
– wearing a face mask, glasses and
flat cap and carrying documents hid-

for Russia at UK
den in a copy of Die Welt newspaper.
Smith fell for the ruse and took CCTV
images of Dmitry’s face, saved the
packaging from the “burner” phone

embassy in Berlin
he had been given and copied one of
the documents he handed over.
Two days later, he was approached
at a tram stop in Potsdam as he arrived

jailed for 13 years

home by another MI5 role play officer,
calling herself “Irina”. After asking
directions, she told him: “Mr Smith,
it is you I have come to see,” and they
sat on a park bench while she showed
him photographs of people she pre-
tended were suspected moles in the
Smith, a former aircraft- Russian embassy.
Duncan Gardham man with the RAF, had married a He looked nervous and told her:
Russian-speaking Ukrainian who “I am going to speak to someone
had returned to the Donbas region and once that person confirms, I will
A British embassy security guard has in July 2018, leaving him alone in his speak to you again. I don’t trust the
been jailed for more than 13 years flat, drinking up to seven pints a day, bastards I work for. Would you trust
after a judge told him his “treach- he told the court. MI5 or MI6? For all I know you could
ery” spying for Russia in Berlin had German police later found Smith be working for them.”
put his former colleagues at “maxi- had a large Russian Federation flag Smith was arrested by German
mum risk”. in the corner of his living room in police the next day.
David Ballantyne Smith, 58, Potsdam and a life-size rottweiler toy Wearing a T-shirt, zip-up top and
originally from Paisley, Scotland, dog wearing a Russian military hat. jeans, Smith sat throughout the hear-
copied secret documents he found On the inside of his locker at the ing at the Old Bailey in London with
in unlocked filing cabinets and on British embassy was a cartoon of his hands on the earphones he needed
desks at the embassy, including a Vladimir Putin in a military uniform, to amplify the judge’s remarks.
letter to the then prime minister, holding the neck of the former He was jailed for six years and two
Boris Johnson. German chancellor Angela Merkel, months for sending details of the
He also leaked details of staff in a Nazi uniform, and the words in activities, identities, addresses and
involved in defence work, including German: “Russia, please free us once telephone numbers of members of
their home addresses and phone again.” There was also a dictionary of ▲ From top, taking video of the embassy to the Russian military
numbers, and copied personal pic- Russian obscenities. ‘I reject any suggestion David Smith CCTV monitors attache. The judge sentenced him to
tures of their relatives that he found
on their desks, saving the material on
Smith pleaded guilty to eight
charges under the Official Secrets Act
you are remorseful. in Potsdam
dressed in
at the embassy
in Berlin; caught
another seven years, consecutively,
for collecting further information,
to a USB stick under the name “Berlin 1911 and 1920 but claimed he did not Your regrets are no fatigues bearing on concealed classified as “secret” or below, that
holiday PicsNew”. intentionally cause any harm. He told more than self-pity’ the emblems camera during was “intended to be, directly, or indi-
One of the documents of a “highly the court he only intended to cause of Russian his meeting with rectly, useful to an enemy, namely the
sensitive nature” was written by the embassy “embarrassment” but separatists in UK agent ‘Irina’ Russian state”.
someone referred to only as “Dip- the judge, Mr Justice Wall, told him: Ukraine; PHOTOGRAPHS: He will serve half the sentence
lomat X” who was the lead officer “I reject any suggestion that you are Mr Justice Wall a covert camera EAST2WEST NEWS; before his release, or two-thirds if
METROPOLITAN
dealing with Russia at the embassy. remorseful for your actions. Your Judge, Old Bailey shows Smith POLICE/AFP/GETTY he chooses to serve it in Germany.
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

National 7

Northern Ireland protocol

Fears of Tory rebellion amid scramble

Some senior Tories fear that a
critical pronouncement by John-
son, who negotiated the protocol
as part of his Brexit deal, could

for deal on Northern Ireland protocol

risk swaying enough MPs to slash
the government’s majority in the
Commons.
But Sunak was accused of sending
mixed messages back home by party
leaders in Belfast. Some admitted
 Continued from page 1 of the Munich security conference at ▶ Rishi Sunak they thought a breakthrough was just
lunchtime today, where the pair are leaving the days away, while others suggested it
to more division or they will clear a likely to discuss the final contours Culloden hotel could be weeks.
path towards healing and the resto- of an agreement to replace the cur- in Belfast There were signs that the DUP
ration of the political institutions.” rent trading arrangements. He is also after talks was sceptical on whether its “seven
Donaldson hinted he would not likely to meet the French and Ger- with Stormont tests” for supporting any new deal to
rush to accept a deal on Sunak’s time- man leaders. leaders over change the protocol had been met –
table. “I want to hear that Brussels The foreign secretary, James Clev- the Northern the key condition for re-establishing
will stretch itself to recognise the erly, said his own meeting with the Ireland protocol an executive at Stormont, which has
concerns of unionists. This is a pro- Brussels chief negotiator, Maroš yesterday been dormant for a year.
cess to correct the wrongs of the last Šefčovič, and diplomats from the EU PHOTOGRAPH: LIAM The EU is understood to have con-
negotiation. No one should be led by was “constructive” and that “inten- MCBURNEY/PA ceded ground on the issue of customs
a calendar. Getting it right must be sive work continues”. checks on goods moving from Great
the goal.” “We are in sight of the harbour, but Britain to Northern Ireland. The UK
But Sunak was pressed to move we are not quite there yet,” one EU had proposed a system of red and
swiftly to resolve the row over the diplomat said, noting that Šefčovič green lanes for lorries that would
protocol, which has left Northern had detected a turning point in British He added: “Now it is clear that we paper containing the changes, with allow goods in the latter category to
Ireland without an executive, and attitudes since Sunak entered No 10. need to find solutions to the practical the prime minister facing the embar- avoid customs declarations.
businesses in limbo. Leo Varadkar, “The tone was fundamentally dif- problems that the protocol is causing rassing prospect of a Tory rebellion if EU officials believe a compro-
the Irish taoiseach, said: “When ferent from what we have seen over families and businesses in Northern any checks on goods between Great mise with lighter checks is possible,
windows of opportunity disappear, the past eight years … [Sunak] is more Ireland, as well as address the dem- Britain and Northern Ireland – and the because the UK has now agreed to
sometimes they don’t reappear for interested in finding actual solutions ocratic deficit.” role of the European court of justice share real-time customs data to track
quite some time. So I really hope that than posturing and solutions that are Although No 10 sought to play as an arbiter – remain. the movement of goods.
everyone in Ireland and Europe, in just solutions in name only.” down suggestions that a deal had Party whips said they were unpre- The role of the European court
Britain and in Northern Ireland will Late last night, Sunak said “there already been reached, expecta- pared for a vote, but the Vote Leave of justice in policing the Northern
seize this opportunity if it arises.” is more work to do” on finding a deal tions in Brussels and Westminster strategist Oliver Lewis was said to Ireland agreement will remain, but
Sunak is preparing to meet Ursula to “protect the Belfast Good Friday are that Sunak is pushing to secure have been dispatched to court poten- there will be more layers of arbitra-
von der Leyen, the European Com- agreement and Northern Ireland’s one by Tuesday. A vote in parliament tial rebels. Labour is expected to back tion before disputes are referred to
mission president, on the sidelines place in our single market”. could be held that day on a command any agreed deal. Luxembourg.

Get Brexit
 The DUP leader, Jeffrey Donaldson,
after talks with Rishi Sunak designed
to win the party’s backing for a deal
PHOTOGRAPH: CHARLES MCQUILLAN/GETTY

done again looks weak, and it takes only 40

dissenting Conservatives to wipe

The hurdles out the government’s majority.

Getting the ERG onside,
therefore, is crucial given the
precariousness of party unity.
in the way Waiting in the wings is Johnson,
who has not yet given his verdict on
changes to the protocol and could

of Sunak cause Sunak significant political

headaches with any criticism.
Issues concerning sovereignty
and the role of the European court
of justice are likely to be greatest
among his backbenchers.
Aubrey Allegretti Difficulty rating: 4/5
Political correspondent

R
Making peace with the EU27
ishi Sunak is embarking There is no need for ratification
on the highest-stakes by the 27 EU countries because
talks of his premiership what is being negotiated is the
as he tries to tie up a implementation of a deal that has
deal on post-Brexit already being ratified. The UK
trade in Northern foreign secretary, James Cleverly,
Ireland that satisfies leaders there meeting with member state
and across Europe, as well as the diplomats and the chief Brussels
hardliners in his own party. argues Northern Ireland has been some checks and controls may voters over health, the cost of living negotiator, Maroš Šefčovič, will
But despite the prospect of a “abandoned to the EU” given the persist even if they are reduced crisis, and other bread and butter allow both sides to discuss the
breakthrough between Downing measures designed to prevent under a new red and green lanes issues. concessions offered by the other.
Street and Brussels, there are still a hard border on the island that system operating at ports for goods Difficulty rating: 5/5 Ultimately, negotiators from both
plenty of potential pitfalls. These resulted in customs checks being entering Northern Ireland from GB. sides believe pragmatism and
are the political hurdles the prime instituted on some goods from Unlocking DUP support will Ensure buy-in from Tory MPs helping break the post-Brexit
minister will have to clear if he Great Britain. be crucial for getting Stormont A thorn in the side of multiple deadlock is in both the EU’s and
wants to finally “get Brexit done”. The DUP has insisted the functioning again and boosting prime ministers has been the UK’s interests and will prove a high
government must meet seven relations with the US president, European Research Group (ERG) – a enough prize.
Secure the backing of the DUP tests in any deal, including the Joe Biden, ahead of the 25th caucus of purist Brexiters. Sunak The EU also wants to move away
A row over the protocol signed elimination of the application of anniversary of the Good Friday could put his agreement to a vote in from Brexit – Ursula von der Leyen,
off by Boris Johnson has left EU law in Northern Ireland, the agreement. parliament to get it rubber-stamped the president of the European
Northern Ireland without a bedrock of the protocol. Unless Some believe the DUP will given Labour has provisionally Commission, is keen to ensure it
functioning executive for a year. Sunak abandons the protocol, this oppose the deal for now but change offered its support to ensure remains a Jean-Claude Juncker
The Democratic Unionist party condition will not be met. Other tack after the local elections in success, meaning the result is legacy issue and forge a new
(DUP) has refused to re-enter key concerns he needs to address May, when it has spent the political likely to be a foregone conclusion. security relationship with the UK
power sharing until the UK centre on trade friction within capital of its anti-protocol policy However, ministers fear that amid the Ukraine war.
government scraps the protocol. It the UK internal market – given and faces growing demands from relying on opposition votes Difficulty rating: 2/5
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

8 National
Politics

Book deal
Sturgeon’s
memoir worth
six-figure sum,
say publishers
Sarah Shaffi

Publishers will be clamouring to buy a

memoir by Nicola Sturgeon, with any
deal expected to involve a six-figure
advance, literary agents have said.
Sturgeon’s eight years as Scot-
land’s first minister have seen the
Covid-19 pandemic and five UK
prime ministers. As deputy leader
she worked with then first minister
Alex Salmond on the failed bid for
Scottish independence.
In an interview with BBC Radio
4 in January, Sturgeon said she did
not keep a detailed diary of her time
in office, but she would “almost cer-
tainly” write a memoir, “even if it’s
just for therapy, for myself”.
“Whether anybody will want to
publish it or not is a different matter,”
she continued. “But yeah, I’m sure
at one point I will get it all out there.
So anybody listening who might feel
they have to beware that, there’s
some warning for you.”
The literary agent Catherine Cho,
the founder of Paper Literary, said
Sturgeon would get a “very com-
petitive – easily in the six figures”
publishing deal.
Laura Jones at the Scottish pub-
lisher 404 Ink said Sturgeon’s memoir
would be “one of the most sought
after titles in coming years and for

Threats of violence The brutal toll of

good reason. As one of the few senior
politicians of unwavering compe-
tency, authenticity and, crucially,
an actual sense of humour and self-
awareness, I have no doubt whatever

sexist abuse on women in politics

she might choose to publish will be
truly insightful, inspirational and
hugely popular across the UK mar-
ket and beyond.”
She agreed that a six-figure, or
higher, deal could be done, although
said 404 Ink and smaller publishers Sturgeon, 52, told the BBC’s Kirsty threats. Last year a man emailed she has come close to quitting
“will throw modest hats in the ring Emine Sinmaz Wark in a documentary that will air her threats of violence while because of the abuse, which
for a chance to work with one of the on Tuesday. bringing up the murder of Sir includes racist attacks.

T
most popular public figures in recent This vitriol has left some female David Amess, the MP who was “But it’s definitely about
memory”. he “brutality” of politicians fearing for their safety. stabbed to death by a terrorist in his gender as well. Some of the abuse
Picador’s nonfiction publisher political life had Caroline Nokes, the Conservative constituency office. is quite sexualised and reflects
Georgina Morley said she “wouldn’t taken its toll on her, chair of parliament’s women and “That made my staff uneasy,” stereotypical ideas about women,
like to speculate” on an advance for Nicola Sturgeon said equalities committee, said she the former shadow home secretary that we’re stupid and so on,” she
the book, but added: “I’m sure I’m not as she announced has reported death threats to the said. “Then he started talking about added.
the only nonfiction publisher who her resignation on police: “The worst was from a bloke what time I left my flat to go to Nokes said she found these
would be keen to be in the running.” Wednesday. That same day, a who said he wanted to rape and work. My staff did report that to the “microaggressions” almost more
A six-figure deal would bring Stur- 42-year-old man was jailed for torture me until I was dead.” police and I think in the end he was exhausting. “The endless ‘you
geon in line with other recent political sending her an email saying she The former immigration sectioned. It turned out he lived stupid woman’, where woman
figures, who are all thought to have was going to “face a hanging” minister turned off her social media around the corner from me and had is quite definitely directed as an
won six- or seven-figure advances. for treason. Two weeks earlier, a notifications after that Facebook been watching me.” insult; the whole ‘get back in the
David Cameron’s For the Record 70-year-old man was found guilty message. “But I still know when it Abbott, who became Britain’s kitchen’ narrative, which even now,
was sold in a “hotly contested and sig- of threatening to assassinate her. gets bad because my daughter will first black female MP in 1987, said in 2023, is still really common. And
nificant” deal, while Gordon Brown’s It may come as no surprise suddenly drop me a text message although it sounds trivial, it’s also
My Life, Our Times was sold for an then that Scotland’s outgoing which just says: ‘I hope you’re the long-running commentary on
undisclosed sum. first minister recently described okay,’” she explained. ‘People dehumanise your appearance,” she said.
Boris Johnson’s memoir was
recently sold to HarperCollins; while
the environment for women in
politics as “much harsher and more
“People like to dehumanise MPs,
but they forget that we’re ordinary
MPs. They forget The 50-year-old said that
whenever she appeared on Channel
it did not disclose a price, speculation hostile” than at any time in her people that have families and still that we’re ordinary 4 News, a man would email her
had been rife that it could earn him
an advance north of £1m. Tony Blair’s
decades-long career.
“Social media provides a vehicle
have to go home on a Friday night
and deal with the cooking, the
people with families’ saying: “You’re so ugly you’re
putting me off my dinner.” She also
A Journey was reportedly sold for an for the most awful abuse of women, cleaning, the ironing.” told of her surprise to discover that
advance of about £4.6m, although misogyny, sexism and threats Labour’s Diane Abbott said she one of the results that would come
the money he made was donated to of violence for women who put no longer takes public transport Caroline Nokes up when you Googled her name
the Royal British Legion. their heads above the parapet,” to Westminster due to repeated Conservative MP was “Caroline Nokes weight loss”.
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

Hostility Transgender
 Labour’s
Diane Abbott,
who became
Britain’s first
black female prison row heightens
MP in 1987, said
she has come
close to quitting
LGBTQ+ safety fears
because of the
abuse, including
racist attacks community view this in the context
Libby Brooks of a broader backlash.
Scotland correspondent This comes as police investigat-
ing the killing of Brianna Ghey, a
The furore surrounding the place- 16-year-old girl found with fatal stab
ment of transgender offenders in wounds in a park near Warrington last
Scottish prisons has sharpened per- Saturday, said they had not ruled out
 Caroline sonal safety fears across Scotland’s the possibility it was a transphobic
Nokes, a LGBTQ+ community, the Guardian hate crime.
Conservative has been told. Vic Valentine, the manager of Scot-
former Soon after Nicola Sturgeon tish Trans, the group that previously
immigration announced her resignation on advised on Scottish Prison Service
minister, Wednesday, Scottish equalities cam- guidelines for transgender offend-
has reported paigners expressed unease at the loss ers, said that while it was “completely
receiving death of such a visible LGBTQ+ ally. Even reasonable” to have questions about
threats to the before, campaign groups and indi- where someone like Bryson was
police viduals reported that the political accommodated, “inevitably head-
tone and relentless media coverage lines like this spill into people’s
around the case of Isla Bryson, the personal lives”.
double rapist whose initial remand “I’ve had a number of people say
at a women’s prison caused an outcry they’ve had family members getting
almost three weeks ago, was contrib- in touch to have fractious conversa-
uting to escalating hostility towards tions,” Valentine added.
trans people online and on the street. “Definitely people are much more
 Dehenna “I’ve heard from a lot of people worried about safety, in particular
Davison called who are very frightened,” said Jennie women who are visibly trans. We
for online abuse Kermode, a writer, film-maker and shouldn’t live in a world where it’s
to be stamped adviser for Trans Media Watch, based only the trans people you don’t notice
out as a man near Glasgow. She hoped Sturgeon’s who are safe.”
was handed successor would show the same com- Valentine said much of the cur-
a suspended mitment to “a vision of Scotland in rent framing presented trans people
sentence for which nobody would be excluded”. as predators. “There’s only so many
calling her a The impact of this acute media and times you can say ‘we don’t want
‘bitch’ and political focus was felt close to home, to associate trans people with sex
‘neo-Nazi’ she said: “It makes it harder for a trans offenders’ when you’re only having
person to move comfortably about conversations about trans rights in
their local area, be that a village or the context of sex offending.”
a housing estate. It emboldens indi- King Dalby, an events producer
viduals with existing prejudice who and trans advocate from Dumfries,
might previously have been held back said they had seen a rise in “online
▲ Nicola Sturgeon has said female She described a terrifying email Soubry, 66, said she became so by the acceptance of the majority of hate” over the past few weeks. “It’s
politicians now face an environment she received in recent weeks, frightened of being assaulted that the community.” inevitable that people will focus on
that is ‘much harsher and hostile’ saying: “Someone said there’d be she walked around Westminster There is nervousness among a case like Isla Bryson, but the fact
PHOTOGRAPH: JANE BARLOW/AFP/GETTY IMAGES a clearout of MPs who supported with her back against walls in the LGBTQ+ activists about future sup- people are talking about it gives you
vaccinations and I’d be one of same way “mice scuttle along the port for the Scottish government’s a chance to explain and be seen, so
“Judge me for what I say, judge them, and by the time they’d side of a wall”. gender recognition bill, which had that’s a positive.”
me for what I do, but don’t judge finished with me, people wouldn’t The veteran Labour MP Margaret cross-party support at Holyrood While police caution that a rise in
me on whether I’ve managed to be able to find my corpse, or if Hodge, who has spoken out against – aside from the Scottish Conserv- hate crime may be partly the result
lose or put on, in fact, a couple of they did, they wouldn’t be able to the antisemitic abuse she has atives – but was blocked last month of better reporting and recording,
stone,” she said. recognise it. received, said there was a two- by the UK government, leaving Scot- figures published last month by the
“When do you ever read about “And you don’t know who these month period in 2020 when she tish ministers a three-month window Scottish government found hate
how a male politician looks? people are – it could be your next- was bombarded with 90,000 online to challenge the ruling in the courts. offences against transgender people
And yet everybody from Nicola door neighbour, or they could be messages, most of which were Opponents of the overhaul, which were rising more steeply than for any
Sturgeon to Jacinda Ardern to on the other side of the world. The abusive. introduces a process of self-identifi- other category.
Margaret Thatcher have had more police are limited in what they But she said the attacks did not cation for people wanting to change The anti-abuse charity Galop
column inches written about can do because it’s very difficult influence her decision to stand legal gender, argue the Bryson case said it had recorded a 19% increase
their appearance than their male to track emails and social media aside at the next general election. vindicates their concerns about a in demand for its hate crime sup-
counterparts ever have.” locations.” She hopes the abuse won’t stop lack of safeguards in the bill, while port services in the last six months
The health minister Maria Anna Soubry, a former minister other women from entering public members of Scotland’s LGBTQ+ of 2022. Its chief executive, Leni
Caulfield said female MPs get a lot and Conservative MP until she life, adding: “I’ve always thought Morris, said: “There are real-world
more abuse and personal attacks moved to Change UK in 2019, networking and support is hugely, consequences to the hostile public
than their male colleagues. said she was “horrified” by the hugely important. That’s helped narrative that trans, non-binary and
Research published last month harassment she experienced during me through it.” gender non-conforming people are
by the Fawcett Society, a gender her time in office, which resulted On Thursday, the Conservative currently facing.”
equality charity, found that 93% in two prosecutions. Her mother, MP Dehenna Davison said online The Edinburgh-based lawyer
of female MPs said online abuse then 87, and her husband were also abuse must be stamped out to and commentator Eilidh Douglas
and harassment had a negative sent threatening letters for her pro- ensure talented people were not said: “This is simply the latest in an
impact on them, compared with Europe views. put off politics. Her comments escalating pattern of attack on the
76% of men. came after a 42-year-old man was validity and dignity of LGBT peo-
Recalling the abuse she has handed a suspended sentence and ple in Scotland. I have never felt so
faced, Caulfield, the Conservative ‘Some of the abuse is restraining order for sending her unsafe to be a gay woman in Scotland
MP for Lewes, said: “As the minister
responsible for vaccines, those
quite sexualised and emails calling her a “bitch” and
“neo-Nazi”.
as I do now, but trans people haven’t
caused that: bigots and those who
who have concerns about Covid reflects stereotypical “Sadly, receiving vile abuse has enable them have.”
vaccination very rarely criticise me
about the actual policy.
ideas about women’ just become part of political life,
but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Lisa DeBruine, a professor of psy-
chology at Glasgow University, said:
“It’s all derogatory, and the We need to do all we can to stop the “Recent events really shown just how
threats are of a very sexual nature. brightest and best being turned off tenuous the progress the LGBTQIA+
I’m sure they wouldn’t say the same Diane Abbott entering politics, or as a society we ▲ Isla Bryson, whose intial remand community has made over the past
thing if I was a male MP.” Labour MP will all suffer,” she tweeted. at a women’s jail caused an outcry decade is.”
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

10 National

Scottish Labour leader Truss urged to

in our history”. Angus Robertson, the public intervention since being
bookmakers’ favourite, he described ousted from No 10, urging democratic
as “the air-miles culture secretary jet- nations to stand up to China and learn
ting around the world while cutting speak out only as the lessons of not taking earlier and
lambasts disarray in services here at home”.
He called Kate Forbes, also widely
tipped, “the finance secretary who
often as ‘sex in a
tougher action against Russia.
Speaking in Japan in her first pub-
lic speech since her resignation as

‘tired and arrogant’ SNP has decimated local communities”.

He acknowledged that a genera-
tion of younger Scots had only known
long relationship’ prime minister, Truss called on the
international community to agree
on a coordinated package of defence,
the SNP in government in Scotland. economic and political measures to
He urged both SNP supporters and Aletha Adu support Taiwan.
Severin Carrell floating Tory voters to see Labour, Political correspondent However, Berry suggested Truss
Libby Brooks led by Keir Starmer, as the party best should calculate how often she
placed to replace the “morally bank- Liz Truss’s political interventions decides to speak out.
The Scottish Labour party leader, rupt” Conservative government at “should be like sex in a long and “I think I’m suggesting that inter-
Anas Sarwar, yesterday launched a Westminster. happy relationship: infrequent but ventions by prime ministers should
detailed attack on Nicola Sturgeon’s “We know you dream of a anticipated with glee”, a former Con- be like sex in a long and happy rela-
record as he moved to exploit the brighter future,” he told SNP vot- servative party chairman has said. tionship: infrequent but always
Scottish National party’s disarray ers, saying Labour was committed Sir Jake Berry, formerly a key anticipated with glee,” he told TalkTV.
following her resignation. to overhauling the UK’s constitution defender of Truss’s failed radical eco- Earlier this month, No 10 said Rishi
Sarwar told Labour activists and ▲ Anas Sarwar: ‘SNP failed to fix the and Westminster parliament. “It’s a nomic plans, said it was time for the Sunak would always listen to advice
MSPs that Sturgeon’s government roof when the sun was shining’ dream we share. Because this isn’t as former prime minister to figure out from former prime ministers, after
had grown “tired and arrogant” after good as it gets. You deserve better. her new backbench role. Truss used her first public interven-
15 years, and had left Scotland facing their leadership bids over the next Scotland deserves better.” Yesterday, Truss made her second tion since stepping down to defend
record NHS waiting lists, councils in few days, Sarwar directly attacked A Scottish Election survey just her failed attempt to boost growth.
crisis, record drugs deaths, teachers’ the records of those expected to before Sturgeon’s resignation found Addressing a conference in Tokyo,
strikes and transport links in chaos. stand – a clear signal Labour believes Labour had gained since November, organised by the Inter-Parliamentary
“The truth is the SNP has noth- Sturgeon’s departure offers it an jumping from 23% to 27% on Holy- Alliance on China, Truss said that in
ing left to offer our country. They unexpected opportunity. rood voting intention, almost level hindsight heralding a “golden era” of
promised hope but have given us “I have never been as confident with the SNP on 29%. UK-China relations and rolling out the
arrogance,” he told Scottish Labour’s as I am today that change is possi- The SNP national executive red carpet “sent the wrong message”.
spring conference in Edinburgh, ble – that Labour governments are committee met on Thursday and “When it comes to China, a failure
which began 48 hours after the shock possible. That our opponents’ time is candidates have until next Friday to to act now could cost us dearly in the
announcement that she was quitting. up,” Sarwar said. He accused Humza put their names forward. A six-week long run. Our governments must sig-
The SNP “failed to fix the roof when Yousaf, who is expected to stand, of contest will follow, with balloting of nal to the [People’s Republic of China]
the sun was shining”, he said. As sen- being “the health secretary who has 100,000-plus members closing on 27 ▲ Liz Truss in Tokyo making her first that military aggression towards Tai-
ior SNP ministers prepared to launch delivered the longest waiting times March. public speech since she quit as PM wan would be a strategic mistake.”
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

National 11

▲ Vera Baird said the police action

would further undermine trust

trust in the police yet further.” She

said she thought the police would not
have released such sensitive details
had a man gone missing.
“It is a dreadful error to put this
in the public domain for absolutely
nothing and I’m afraid I think it’s as
sexist as it comes.”
The Labour leader, Keir Starmer,
said he felt “uncomfortable” to hear
about Bulley’s private life, though
he was “well aware of the difficulties
that investigators have when those
that don’t know the true facts start
commenting, and so my general rule
is not to get too drawn in”.
Starmer, who is a former director
of public prosecutions, added: “I was
very surprised to see what the police
had put out there. I was not sure why
that degree of personal information
was necessary. “If there is in the full-
ness of time a good justification then
so be it but I think most people will
be very uncomfortable. I certainly
felt uncomfortable with that pri-

Releasing Bulley’s private details

▲ Lancashire constabulary has been vate information being put in the
under growing pressure since Nicola public domain.”
Bulley went missing on 27 January In a statement released through
PHOTOGRAPH: PETER BYRNE/PA MEDIA Lancashire police on Thursday, Bul-

‘as sexist as it comes’, police told marking of three weeks since Bulley
disappeared from the Lancashire
ley’s family pleaded with the public
to stop the “appalling” speculation
about her private life.
village of St Michael’s on Wyre on Bulley’s family said they had been
27 January after dropping her two aware in advance that the force was
been under growing scrutiny since it Lancashire constabulary had come children off at school. planning to release personal infor-
Josh Halliday revealed that Bulley, 45, had had “sig- under increasing pressure to provide Baird, a former Labour minister mation but stopped short of saying
Robyn Vinter nificant issues with alcohol”, brought more details to the public in the days who stepped down as victims’ com- they had approved it. They added:
on by the menopause, before she dis- running up to the release of her per- missioner last year, described the “Although we know that Nikki
The release of sensitive details about appeared three weeks ago. sonal information. divulgence as “a dreadful error” that would not have wanted this, there
the missing woman Nicola Bulley Police searches have been focused The home secretary, Suella Braver- risked hampering future missing per- are people out there speculating and
was “as sexist as it comes”, a former on the River Wyre, into which she is man, has since expressed concerns to son searches because families would threatening to sell stories about her.
victims’ commissioner said, as Lan- thought to have fallen, though divers the force and demanded an explana- “face the torment of not knowing This is appalling and needs to stop.”
cashire police faced further pressure have yet to find anything. tion from senior officers and is said whether to run the risk of gratuitously Michael Vincent, the leader of
over their handling of the case. Yesterday, Bulley’s father, Ernie, not to have been wholly satisfied with wrecking your relative’s reputation Wyre council, said there were “les-
Dame Vera Baird condemned the spoke about the need for a break- their justification on Thursday. by giving every detail away”. sons to be learned” by the force
force’s “dreadful” decision to divulge through in the case. “Every day is a The information commissioner, She told BBC Radio 4’s Today but that “they’ve done their best
medical information about Bulley, struggle,” he told Sky News. “[We’re] John Edwards, said yesterday he programme: “I’m afraid this is the in difficult circumstances”. He said
saying it was “the biggest error that I no further on from three weeks ago. would be asking the police about biggest error that I have seen for residents in the village had hired a
have seen for quite a long time”. [We] just need a breakthrough to give their decision to make the disclosure. quite a long time. It’s going to just, security company because of the high
The Lancashire constabulary has us some hope.” The row has overshadowed the you know, very sadly, to undermine level of interest in the case.

TransPennine cancellation rate companies to effectively ignore trains

preemptively cancelled up to 10pm
in some cases partial cancellations –
affected more than 3,000 trains.
Yesterday, a spokesperson for
TransPennine Express blamed
the night before. Such cancellations A total of 23 out of 24 train oper- what the company described as
three times higher than recorded are known as “P-coded services”.
These trains do not then appear in
ators reported to ORR their number
of “P-coded” pre-cancellations. The
the combined impact of prolonged
higher-than-usual sickness levels, a
industry systems, count towards offi- only operator who did not report driver training programme and the
October half-term holiday, TransPen- cial figures or allow automatic Delay data by the deadline was Caledo- lack of an overtime agreement for
Ben Quinn nine Express (TPE) cancelled 30% of Repay claims. nian Sleeper. drivers.
all trains and at least 20% of trains Last month, the ORR wrote to all TPE did not dispute the Guardian’s “These decisions are not taken
each subsequent week until 20 train operators to confirm they will figures last year and apologised at lightly,” they said.
One of the north of England’s main November last year. support action to stop the use of the time, blaming high levels of staff “Pre-planned cancellations are
railway companies has a cancellation While most of those services “P-coded” pre-cancellations and to sickness, an intensive crew-training only applied, in accordance with
rate almost three times higher than were cancelled in full, some started ask them to provide records show- programme which had been affected industry guidelines, when resources
officially recorded, new figures show. or ended at different stations from ing the number of times they happen. by a backlog caused by Covid, and are not available to cover adver-
A government body that collates those advertised on the current May The ORR has now released data infrastructure issues outside its tised services in order to maximise
information about train reliability 2022 timetable. for the first time for on-the-day and control. advance notice of service changes for
released the stats yesterday. It had However, when TPE submitted its “P-coded” pre-cancellations, listed customers.

3,000
written to train companies follow- performance statistics to the Office of by cause, for each operator for the “When services are cancelled in
ing concerns that they were taking Rail and Road (ORR), it had been able period between 8 January and 4 Feb- advance, we ensure these are repre-
advantage of a legal loophole to to report cancellations of between ruary 2023. sented in industry systems as well
vastly under-report cancellations. 5.6% and 11.8% for the same period It shows that TPE’s “P-coded” The number of TPE trains affected as Journeycheck, via our website, to
Figures obtained by the Guard- (23 October to 20 November). cancellations – which were due to a by ‘P-coded’ cancellations between give customers as much information
ian last year showed that during the That was because the ORR allows shortage of available crew and were 8 January and 4 February as possible.”
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

12 National
▼ Yoko Ono at the opening of her
Half-a-Wind show at the Schirn
Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, Germany,
in 2013 PHOTOGRAPH: DANIEL ROLAND/AFP

Bus fare cap kept at £2 Give trees a

chance: plant one
for next three months for Yoko Ono’s
90th, says son
to support services
three months of the scheme were Harriet Sherwood
Jasper Jolly expected to prevent 2m car journeys Arts and culture correspondent
and their associated pollution.
Passenger numbers have recov- Yoko Ono’s son has created a virtual
The government has extended a £2 ered to about 85% to 90% of “wish tree” to mark his mother’s
cap on local bus fares in England for pre-Covid-19 levels, the government 90th birthday today and is encour-
another three months, amid con- said. However, that still leaves some aging people to plant real trees in her
cerns that operators would be forced bus operators with significant short- honour.
to slash the number of routes on offer falls in ticket revenues, particularly Since creating her first wish tree
without the subsidy. on less busy routes. Those less lucra- installation in 1996, Ono has collected
The fare cap, introduced initially tive routes are often crucial links for almost 2m wishes from more than
from January to March, will con- less connected communities, par- 200 trees in 35 countries. People are
tinue to run from 1 April to 30 June, ticularly in rural areas. Campaigners invited to write personal wishes for
the Department for Transport said have previously raised concerns that peace and tie them to a branch.
yesterday. they could come under threat when “As a child in Japan, I used to go
The cap was brought in to the £2 cap ends. to a temple and write out a wish on a
encourage people back on to public The extension of the cap outside piece of thin paper and tie it around
transport, after passenger numbers London will cost up to £75m, while the branch of a tree,” she said. From
dropped to as low as 10% of 2019 lev- the government will spend another a distance, the wishes “looked like
els during the lockdowns. The first £80m to ensure companies con- white flowers blossoming”.
tinue to operate routes otherwise Now Sean Ono Lennon, the son of

£75m
threatened with closure. Transport Ono and John Lennon, is launching
secretary Mark Harper said the bus a website, wishtreeforyokoono.com,
sector was “still trying to recover after “to give the whole world an opportu-
Cost of extension to cap outside the end of the pandemic”. nity to make a wish”.
London. Passenger numbers For passengers the average saving He said: “My mother is a real-life
collapsed during the pandemic is 80p a journey. tree hugger.”
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

National 13

Male contraceptive pill taken before

temporary. While Pacey said human
trials are now needed, the approach
holds promise. “As a kind of one-off
prophylactic, at least on the mouse

sex shows promise, say scientists

experiments, it seems to do the job,”
he said.
Pacey also said the approach
could pave the way for a unisex
contraceptive. Balbach, a co-author
of the work, confirmed it is an area
 Might men or a testosterone-like compound to the team are investigating.
Nicola Davis finally have a the contraceptives – an approach Page welcomed the new research,
Science correspondent greater choice that has been trialled in jabs, gels and but warned there is a long way to go
than a condom pills. Although the former hit a glitch before men have access to the drug as
When it comes to contraception, men or vasectomy? with unpleasant side-effects, trials of a pill. “It is going to be a real challenge
might finally have a greater choice PHOTOGRAPH: other methods are going well. to get high enough levels of a drug
than a condom or vasectomy, with GETTY/ISTOCKPHOTO An alternative approach is rather into the testicle with oral dosing
a study in mice released this week more mechanical: blocking the tubes and that is a hurdle for much of the
suggesting it might be possible to that carry sperm from the testicles, field,” she said, adding that as sperm
develop a pill that could be taken with researchers in Australia can last up to five days in the female
shortly before sex. exploring the use of a hydrogel for reproductive tract, an effect that only
With surveys suggesting many the task that would last for two years. lasts hours may not work.
men hold positive views about a In effect, such an approach would And developing a male
potential “male pill”, it seems to offer a reversible, scalpel-free contraceptive is not just about
be fertile ground. But with the field vasectomy. But Pacey thinks the the science. As Pacey notes,
littered with false starts, are we answer lies elsewhere. “I’ve always pharmaceutical companies have
really on the brink of a new sexual What’s more, the tolerance the female because they carry the thought that the way we would to be on board. “Once you have the
revolution? for side-effects is very low for pregnancy. crack this is if somebody could find female pill, then what’s the incentive
As Allan Pacey, professor of male contraceptives. “For female One problem is that male a molecule or a receptor or something to develop a male pill?” he said. “Why
andrology at the University of contraceptives it is different since contraceptives that use hormones on sperm that could be disabled in would they invest lots and lots of
Sheffield, notes, there are number the risk of pregnancy is weighed to stop sperm production can lower some way,” he said. money going through the regulatory
of challenges to developing such against the risk of contraceptive testosterone levels, and hence The latest study, published in the stuff for something that’s going to
contraception. “The biology is very side-effects,” said Dr Melanie Balbach affect libido. “Making [a male] journal Nature Communications, potentially halve their market?”
hard,” he said. “We’re having to from Weill Cornell Medicine in New contraceptive is quite easy if you’re takes just such an approach, The landscape, however could
deal with destroying, stopping the York, adding that another barrier to not bothered about having a libido, essentially stopping sperm from be shifting. “Our contraceptive
production of, or disabling millions development of male contraceptives but then there’s no point,” said Pacey. being able to move by blocking a approach will hopefully be one of
upon millions of [sperm] cells, as has been the societal view that the To get around the problem, protein called soluble adenylyl many one day,” said Balbach. “So
opposed to a single egg [for females].” burden of contraception falls to researchers have added testosterone, cyclase, or sAC. Crucially, the effect is men get to pick what they like best.”

You really Body of missing

blocked me man found in
now: Kinks fall canal, say police
foul of Twitter
PA Media
algorithm
Police believe that a man found dead
in a canal in north-east London is
Nathan Cole, who was reported miss-
Mabel Banfield-Nwachi ing last month.
Officers were called at 8.18am
yesterday to reports of an unrespon-
The Kinks’ Dave Davies has appealed sive man in the canal near Towpath
to Elon Musk to stop putting content Road, Walthamstow, and he was pro-
warnings on posts related to the band. nounced dead at the scene.
The lead guitarist and co-founder While formal identification will
of the band pleaded with the Twit- take place later, officers believe the
ter owner after one of Davies’ tweets man is Cole, 32, and his family have
promoting a video carried a sensi- been told.
tive content warning, thought to be Cole was last seen walking along
because of the band’s name. Banbury Road, Walthamstow, on Sat-
In a tweet, Davies said: “Dear Elon urday 21 January, and police believe
Musk, would Twitter please stop put- he had planned to attend a gig in
ting warnings on everything from Camden that evening but may have
‘The Kinks.’ We are just trying to pro- decided to visit friends instead.
mote our Kinks music.” His sister Hannah told the BBC
Davies posted a screenshot of A user replied to Davies, pointing ▲ The Kinks, with Dave Davies this month: “It’s completely heart-
one of his tweets linking to a Kinks ‘The word robot out that although Twitter said the second from the left, perform breaking not knowing whether he’s
video on TikTok. A message at the
bottom read: “We put a warning on
should be banned. warning had been removed after an
appeal, it was still visible. Davies said:
on Top of the Pops in 1967
PHOTOGRAPH: DAVID REDFERN/REDFERNS
alive and whether he’s going to walk
through the door or we’re going to
this Tweet because it might have sen- We got robots “That’s impossible. The word robot get that phone call that police have
sitive content.”
Davies added: “The Kinks are a
running our lives’ should be banned. We got robots run-
ning our lives. At least I’m a Kink and
have slightly different meanings for
words than people from London. It’s
found something.”
The Metropolitan police said yes-
brand name. We have been called not a fucking robot.” the same all over the world.” terday: “Formal identification will
the Kinks since 1963.” In an interview with Rolling Stone, He added: “We’re just promoting take place in due course, but officers
Musk, a self-described “free Dave Davies Davies said it was not the first time the Kinks’ music, my music, my book, believe that the man is Nathan Cole.
speech absolutist”, bought Twit- The Kinks Twitter had issued a warning over the and we want to be able to do what we We await the results of the specialist
ter last year, and reinstated Donald band’s tweets. “ I don’t know what’s do. It’s that simple.” postmortem examination to estab-
Trump’s account after users on the Concerns have been raised about going on, if they’ve got a block on my The Kinks, whose hits include You lish the cause of death.
social media platform voted by Twitter’s algorithm, which helps name or the Kinks’ name – we don’t Really Got Me, were formed in Lon- “Nathan’s family have been noti-
a slim majority to lift a ban on the determine what users see. Platformer know. I wish I had better answers.” don in 1963 by Davies and his brother, fied and are being supported by
former US president. Trump’s recently reported that Musk made “The thing is, where’s it gonna Ray. The band recently announced a specialist officers. We ask media
account was suspended in 2021 after changes to the algorithm so his tweets end? There’s so many different words two-part anthology, The Journey, to to respect his family’s privacy at
the January 6 Capitol riot. would be more widely viewed. and phrases – people from Liverpool mark their 60th anniversary. this time.”
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

14 National
Baftas

Bafta shakes
things up with
new TV format as
awards go live
window for all its other activities.
Andrew Pulver Emma Baehr, Bafta’s executive direc-
tor of awards and content, says the
show is a vehicle to aid its central
Is Bafta going Strictly? It may not be purpose of promoting film culture
such a farfetched idea, as the British to the general public. “As well as the
Academy of Film and Television Arts glamour of the show, Bafta is an arts
gears up for its annual film awards charity, and we have a mission to
tomorrow, when a portion of the recognise film talent, and we want
show will be shown live on BBC One to bring these exceptional films to
for the first time in a primetime early- the public. So to have a primetime
evening slot. broadcast is of enormous value to us.”
The Bafta awards show will have a In the US, the Oscars and Golden
marketable host, the actor Richard E Globes are enormous money-makers
Grant, a real-time celebrity interview for their host organisations, as they
studio hosted by Loose Women’s can sell the rights to TV networks
Alison Hammond, and performances which can then sell advertising
from the Mercury prize-winner Little space. Bafta is in a different position:
Simz and Ariana DeBose, who won an the BBC does not raise money from
Oscar for West Side Story last year. advertising and Bafta does not accrue
The ceremony will also pack in large sums as a result. Neither the
plenty of big names, including Cate BBC nor Bafta will reveal figures for
Blanchett, Cynthia Erivo, Jamie Lee broadcast rights, but Bafta’s 2021
Curtis, Rami Malek, Julianne Moore, annual report says the organisation
Paul Mescal, Guillermo del Toro and earned a total of £3.5m from awards
Colin Farrell. The Prince and Princess activity. This compares with about
of Wales will attend, after missing the $75m (£62m) a year the Academy of
2022 edition, with Helen Mirren due Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
to lead a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II. receives for the Oscar telecast.
The new format marks a sea change Baehr says the Strictly-style
for Bafta, putting it on a par with US interview area, hosted by Hammond,
counterparts the Oscars and Golden will be key to developing an
Globes, with money-spinning live TV audience-facing show. “Strictly is a And the pressure is on, especially a Golden Globe for his role in the US
events that have long played a role in
the months-long “awards season”.
good comparison. It’s important our
guests have a good evening, but we
The host after Rebel Wilson’s hosting
divided viewers last year, with
crime comedy-drama Can You Ever
Forgive Me? After the nods, Grant
For years the Baftas have struggled want the same for the viewers,” she audiences complaining that too posted a video of himself in front of
to align their glitziest night – where
the biggest stars of cinema parade
along the red carpet and wait to hear
says. “Alison’s studio will have candid
interviews and insider reaction; it’s
going to be funny, unpredictable
Pressure is many jokes failed to land. Wilson’s
predecessors Graham Norton and
Joanna Lumley also drew criticism.
his first flat in London, saying: “I’m
absolutely overwhelmed. Thirty-
six years ago I rented this bedsit
if they have got their hands on a gold-
mask statuette – with the demands of
the TV schedule. This has resulted in
and entertaining. It’s about all the
different audiences – whether that’s
on social platforms, at home, or in
on but Grant Anna Smith, host of the Girls
On Film podcast and former
president of the UK Critics’ Circle,
here and I cannot believe I am
standing here now with an Oscar
nomination.”

rarely puts a
awkward two-hour delays between the room. We want everyone to find said a successful awards show His overjoyed reaction seemed
the handing out of awards – all of something they can enjoy.” host is “relaxed, effervescent, so charming and genuine that the
which are instantly communicated witty without being too scripted, video instantly went viral.
on social media – and the broadcast The Bafta film awards ceremony generous and kind to those coming Grant is an actor of three
of them.
But now Bafta is overhauling its
takes place tomorrow at the Royal
Festival Hall in London and will be foot wrong up on stage, while also moving
them on swiftly when required”.
decades, with more than 100
titles under his belt. He grew
awards show – effectively the shop shown on BBC One from 7pm She said: “Grant definitely falls up in Eswatini (then Swaziland)
into the ‘national treasure’ bracket
of previous hosts Stephen Fry and
Nadia Khomami Joanna Lumley – he’s popular with
Arts and culture correspondent the public as much as the industry,

I
he’s drily witty and also quite
t might be one of the hardest unpredictable and fun on stage.”
jobs in show business, but Grant himself said this week
there are certain tricks to that he would be a “celebratory
being a good awards show person rather than somebody
host: insider-outsider status; who’s there to roast other actors”,
personal jokes that punch and speculated that he was picked
up; a zinger delivery; and not for the job because he was “so
mentioning Will Smith’s wife. unashamedly enthusiastic during
This year, the Baftas chose the awards circuit” in 2019.
Richard E Grant to host the 76th That year, the Swazi-English
annual film awards ceremony, actor – who rose to prominence
which takes place at London’s in 1987 with his performance
Royal Festival Hall tomorrow. in the film Withnail and I – was
The celebrated actor, 65, is nominated for a Bafta, an Oscar and
tasked with making a two-hour
statue ceremony entertaining for  Richard E Grant has joked that he
▲ The Mercury prize-winner Little Simz will perform and likely attract a celebrities in the theatre and the hopes no one gets slapped on live TV
younger audience watching at home PHOTOGRAPH: MAIRO CINQUETTI/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK millions watching at home. PHOTOGRAPH: EPA/SCOTT GARFITT/BAFTA
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

15
▼ Cate Blanchett is hotly tipped to
win the best actress award for her
performance as a conductor in Tár
PHOTOGRAPH: REUTERS/MARIO ANZUONI

Who will win tomorrow? ‘It made headlines,

Peter Bradshaw then disappeared
[due to] a D notice,
Best film
Will win: Tár
gagging the press’
Should win: Tár
Shoulda been a contender:
Aftersun (pictured below) Publicity material
for The Bank Job
Best director
Will win: Martin McDonagh, the lawyer character’s apparent
The Banshees of Inisherin obsession with money and class as
Should win: Park Chan-wook, “absolute tosh”.
Decision to Leave What is certainly true is that
Shoulda been a contender: some of those intimately involved
Chinonye Chukwu, Till in the robbery have never been
caught, that some of the proceeds
▲ Emun Elliott, Hugh Bonneville and Charlotte Spencer in The Gold, the BBC were invested in Docklands
retelling of the Brink’s-Mat robbery PHOTOGRAPH: SALLY MAIS/BBC/TANNADICE PICTURES developments, and that Noye
was very much involved in the
Freemasons, as were many police
Fact or fiction? officers.
Some famous robberies have, of
course, already made it on to the

Best British film

Will win Living
Does new BBC drama hit screen. The late Bruce Reynolds,
who masterminded the Great
Train Robbery, reckoned that the
Should win Living best representation of it was the
Shoulda been a contender
Emily
The Gold standard for German version, Die Gentlemen
bitten zur Kasse, which was dubbed
into English for the international
Best actor
Will win Austin Butler, Elvis (below)
Should win Bill Nighy, Living
accuracy in its retelling? market. He described Buster,
the film about his fellow robber
“Buster”Edwards as “Carry On,
Shoulda been a contender Great Train Robbery”.
Tom Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick The Bank Job, which came out in
Mat offences – he duly blew a 2008, starring Jason Statham and
Best actress Duncan Campbell grateful kiss to the jury – was also Saffron Burrows, was based on the
Will win Cate Blanchett, Tár in reality a fairly ruthless operator, real 1971 robbery of Lloyds Bank in

I
Should win Cate Blanchett who moved to Tenerife and took Baker Street, London.
Shoulda been a contender t was, so the introduction advantage of gullible souls who According to its publicity
Tang Wei, Decision to Leave to The Gold suggests, “the were conned into investing in material, “millions and millions
largest robbery in world timeshare apartments. of pounds” were stolen but “none
Best supporting actor history and changed British “My abiding memory of him is of it was recovered. Nobody was
Will win Brendan Gleeson, crime and policing for ever”. that he was a very tight little fellow ever arrested. The robbery made
The Banshees of Inisherin We are also told that the BBC and hated parting with any money headlines for a few days and
Should win Brendan Gleeson six-parter was “inspired by real in spite of the fact that he had then disappeared – the result of a
Shoulda been a contender events” but “some characters and millions,” was how Jason Coghlan, government D notice, gagging the
and moved to London in his 20s. Mark Rylance, Bones and All elements have been created and an ex-armed robber, described him. press.” All cheerful nonsense: four
Appearing on Desert Island Discs changed for dramatic purposes”. Palmer was jailed for timeshare of the gang were jailed for a total of
last year, he spoke about his Best supporting actress So how much of the fraud in 2001, then murdered at his 44 years, £231,000 recovered, and
upsetting childhood, including an Will win Kerry Condon, re-enactment of the Brink’s-Mat home in 2015, a killing for which no there was no D notice.
incident in which his father chased The Banshees of Inisherin £26m robbery of gold bullion in one has yet been charged. Of the Why do some stories make it to
him with a gun. Should win Kerry Condon 1983 is true – one former detective actual robbers, Micky McAvoy died the screen while others don’t?
Grant’s only hope is that no one Shoulda been a contender branded it a “travesty” – and why just a few weeks before The Gold What was at the time the world’s
gets slapped live on television, Janelle Monáe, Glass Onion do some major crimes make it on to was screened and Brian Robinson biggest cash robbery – since
he has said, a reference to Smith the screen and others not? in 2022. overtaken by the Central Bank of
slapping last year’s Oscars host, At the centre of The Gold are An ex-detective summed up Iraq robbery of a reported $930m
Chris Rock, for joking about his the detective Brian Boyce, played The Gold by saying it was “great in 2003 – was that of the Securitas
wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. by Hugh Bonneville, and Kenneth TV drama but absolute travesty of depot in Tonbridge in 2006.
“I’m going to be singing like Billy Noye, played by Jack Lowden. Both initial investigation strategy and The book on the case, Heist,
Crystal, dancing like Fred Astaire, are real characters. One former police culture”. by Howard Sounes, is not yet on
funnier than Bob Hope, more detective who worked with Boyce As for the invented lawyer screen, although there is currently
beautiful than Joanna Lumley,” the says: “The casting is spot on. He character, Edwyn Cooper, played much interest in it.
actor teased earlier this week. was a very professional detective. by Dominic Cooper, there was Another story waiting in the
One of the best bosses ever.” indeed a lawyer, Michael Relton, wings is that of Shirley Pitts,
Noye, who is portrayed as a who was convicted and jailed for the queen of shoplifters and the
Where to see the films Jack the Lad character, was a cool, 12 years for his involvement and subject of Lorraine Gamman’s
calculating customer who, having who had represented police officers book Gone Shopping. Two decades
been acquitted of the murder of previously. He was described in ago it seemed about to happen
The Banshees of Inisherin: the undercover police officer John court by the sentencing judge as a – a wonderful part for an actor –
streaming on Disney+, available Fordham, was later convicted of “parasite”. but currently the project seems
to buy on multiple digital handling the stolen goods. He One of his associates, who has becalmed.
platforms told the jury: “I hope you all die been watching the series, described Also still to be told is the tale
Elvis: available to rent or buy of cancer.” of Peter Scott, the cat burglar and
on multiple digital platforms What we don’t learn is that, “gentleman thief ”. The film-maker
Tár: in cinemas, available to buy having served eight years of his Roland Kennedy, who was with
on multiple digital platforms 14-year bullion sentence, he came Scott when he died in a care home
Living: in cinemas out of prison and stabbed 21-year- in east London in 2013, is on the
Everything Everywhere All at old Stephen Cameron to death case now.
Once: streaming on Prime Video, in a road rage case in 1996, fled As for those criminals who now
available to rent or buy to Spain with a new identity, but find themselves portrayed on
on multiple digital platforms was extradited and jailed for life, screen in a strange variety of ways,
Aftersun: streaming on Mubi, serving 20 years. He is now free and they might echo the words given
available to rent or buy on the subject of a new book, A Million to the gangster Legs Diamond in
multiple digital platforms Ways to Stay on the Run. Harvey Fierstein’s 1988 musical of
Empire of Light: in cinemas John “Goldfinger” Palmer, who ▲ Kenneth Noye handled stolen that name: “I’m in show business,
was acquitted of similar Brink’s- goods from the Brink’s-Mat robbery only a critic can kill me.”
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

16 National

Johnson
 Brightwell There is also a walled garden,
Manor in tennis court, outside storage and a
Oxfordshire, double garage. The house has been
which includes owned by the same family since
‘agrees to five acres of
land and a moat
1971. It had previously been owned
by William Inge, a theologian who
was three-times nominated for the

buy’ £4m
PHOTOGRAPH:
MANSION GLOBAL Nobel prize for literature.
“Brightwell-cum-Sotwell is one
of south Oxfordshire’s most desir-

manor able villages. Last month Johnson

was witnessed being shown around
an independent school in Oxford-

house shire, with a view to sending his son

Wilf there as a day pupil in Septem-
ber 2024, followed by his daughter
Romy. His four children with his ex-
wife Marina Wheeler, a barrister, all
Rupert Neate attended state primary schools in
north London.
The couple had also been report-
Boris Johnson is understood to have edly looking at other homes, also
agreed to buy a £4m nine-bedroom in the £4m price range, in Fulham,
Grade II-listed Georgian manor house London.
in Oxfordshire. They are currently believed to
The former prime minister and A spokesperson for Johnson said: rather than his existing seat of a fabulous and private edge of village be living between a London town-
his wife Carrie have in recent weeks “We never comment on matters such Uxbridge, a marginal in west Lon- location, at the end of a gravelled drive house and country property in the
viewed Brightwell Manor, in the as living arrangements.” don with a majority of 7,200. and nestled next to the village church”. Cotswolds, provided by Conserv-
picturesque village of Brightwell- The nine-bedroom, five-bath- Brightwell-cum-Sotwell is in the “The house is awash with period ative donor Lord Bamford and his
cum-Sotwell near Wallingford. room house dates back to the early constituency of Wantage held by features reflecting both its Tudor and wife at a cost of £13,500-a-month.
The Guardian has been told they 1600s and is set in almost five acres of the Tory MP David Johnston, with Georgian origins, including high ceil- The Bamfords are friends of the for-
have now made an offer which has grounds. Three sides of the grounds a majority of more than 12,000. It is ings, large sash windows with shutters, mer prime minister and also strong
been accepted. The house, which are bounded by a moat that never also very close to Johnson’s previous wood panelling, ornate cornicing, open Brexit backers.
features its own moat, was listed for runs dry as it is fed by its own nat- constituency of Henley, for which he fireplaces and flagstone floors,” the Johnson has received £2.5m as an
sale for “offers in excess of £4m”. It ural spring. served as MP between 2001 and 2008. marketing blurb says. “Of particular advance for speeches, meaning he
is not known how much Johnson has The move would add to specu- The property, which includes a note is the beautiful mural painted by has received earnings, hospitality and
offered to pay for the house, which is lation that Johnson is considering separate “guest cottage”, is described the neo-romanticist, George Warner donations worth more than £5m over
now “sold subject to contract”. running for election in Oxfordshire by the estate agent as “tucked away in Allen.” the six months since leaving office.
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

17
▼ A dogwalker braves the Storm Otto
elements yesterday on Tynemouth
beach in the north-east of England
PHOTOGRAPH: OWEN HUMPHREYS/PA WIRE

▲ A pair of windswept dogs in Lee-

on-the-Solent in Hampshire

serious condition. A property nearby

was also damaged and structural
engineers are at the scene.”
The energy company Scottish and
Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN)
said that as of 11am yesterday, 30,000
properties were without power, and
said it may take more than 48 hours
to fully restore supplies. It had so far
restored power to more than 10,000
properties, it said.
Mark Rough , the operations
director at SSEN distribution, said:
“Following the significant and con-
tinued impact of Storm Otto on our
electricity distribution network in the
north of Scotland, our engineers have
been out since first light this morning
to restore power to our customers.

Homes
Yorkshire, causing traffic problems, electric wires at Wakefield Westgate, “However, due to the extent of
PA Media while the road was closed between all lines are blocked. Train services damage, some customers are likely to
junctions 60 and 59 in County Dur- running through this station will be remain off supply for over 48 hours.

without
ham after two vehicles overturned, cancelled, delayed by up to 25 min- In some parts of Scotland schools
Storm Otto has left thousands of National Highways said. utes or diverted.” were closed because of the storm,
homes in Scotland without power London North Eastern Railway There were reports of trees block- with the Highlands and Aberdeen-
and led to travel disruption and (LNER) said a number of services ing some roads in Harrogate and shire among the areas affected.

power
school closures yesterday. were cancelled yesterday, and train Leeds. A man was taken to hospital In Angus, schools are closed for
Winds as high as 80mph were firm Northern said a tree had blocked in a serious condition after a tree fell the midterm break, but the council
recorded across parts of north and the line from Harrogate to Knaresbor- on a street in Sheffield. tweeted that the roof of Burnside pri-

as Storm
north-east Scotland yesterday, with ough, affecting a range of services. A South Yorkshire police spokes- mary school, in Carnoustie, had been
60-75mph elsewhere. The company also said: “Due to an person said: “A man in his 50s was damaged by the high winds.
North Yorkshire police said they object being caught on the overhead injured and was taken to hospital in Aberdeenshire council said sev-
had received “numerous calls” eral roads had been closed and some

Otto hits involving high-sided vehicles being

blown over on the A1(M) and other
routes, and urged motorists to “slow
 A Porsche 911
damaged by
a fallen tree
schools shut, while several GP prac-
tices were operating emergency
services only as they had no power.

UK with
down”. in Harrogate, A yellow warning for snow and ice
Leeds Bradford airport remained North Yorkshire. has been issued in parts of Scotland
open but a spokesperson said the A railway to last until this morning. Forecasters

80mph
weather had caused disruption to line between said: “Rain and hill snow will ease in
flight schedules. the town and the early morning of Saturday.
“We currently remain open but are Knaresborough “Wet and windy conditions will
experiencing some delays and dis- was also blocked return for the north of Scotland on

winds ruptions to flights. We’d recommend

passengers check with their airlines
and on our website for live updates,”
the spokesperson said.
after a tree was
blown over
PHOTOGRAPH: DANNY
LAWSON/PA WIRE
Sunday as an area of low pressure
skirts to the north of the UK.”
Otto is the first named storm to
directly affect the UK this storm-
Two lorries were reported to have naming season, which began in
blown over on the A1(M) in North September.

Backlash over Tiger Woods’ countryman, who laughed and then

dropped the tampon on the floor.
first competitive PGA Tour event
since missing the cut at the Open
Of late Woods has made headlines
for reasons other than his prowess

tampon prank on golf partner

The incident drew a mixed in July and was in a group with the on golf courses. The world’s most
response on social media, with PGA Championship winner Thomas successful golfer’s private life was
some criticising Woods. One post and the four-time major winner Rory in turmoil following a car crash in
on Twitter said: “Call me woke. Call McIlroy. November 2009 and subsequent
me a snowflake. Call me ‘offended’. Woods closed out his round admissions of “transgressions”. In
Andy Martin Whatever. But handing another male with a trio of birdies as he carded 2017 he pleaded guilty to reckless
golfer a tampon is objectively not an encouraging 69 during the first driving after he was found passed
funny. It shows the sophistication round at the event he is hosting at the out in his Mercedes with prescription
Tiger Woods faced a disapproving of a 14-year-old schoolboy.” Riviera Country Club in California. drugs and marijuana in his system.
backlash after he handed his playing Another added: “Some things Woods did not comment on the Thomas, 29, a former world No 1,
partner, Justin Thomas, a tampon in edge on the line of funny or not. But prank but said: “I was trying to calm has also had run-ins in the past
jest during the opening round of the some actions have real meaning and myself down all day, trying to figure with authority. In 2021, Thomas
15-times major winner’s comeback connotations associated with them. out what the hell I’m doing out here was censured by the PGA for
at the Genesis Invitational. Is the joke here to ‘stop playing like because I haven’t played. I probably using a homophobic slur during a
The incident occurred as the a girl?’ Or that periods and tampons should have appreciated the fans tournament in Hawaii. He apologised
Americans walked off the ninth ▲ Woods’ behaviour was compared indicate weakness?” more than I did, but there was so saying: “I’m extremely embarrassed.
tee after Woods had outdriven his to that of a ‘14-year-old schoolboy’ The 47-year-old is playing in his much going on in my head.” It’s not who I am.”
 Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian
dian •

19

600 sites that host similar articles,

often about dogs, cars and sport,
which feature prominently the
names of people who appear in the
leaked files as Eliminalia clients.
The stories are published among
genuine news reports to enhance
their credibility. These sites
then flood content on to Google,
often using carefully formulated
headlines. The spam articles push
the real but offending content
down the ranking index, making
it harder to find.
Eliminalia also appears to
Eliminalia, a have exploited US legislation
Spanish reputation intended to protect intellectual
management property, the Digital Millennium
company, was Copyright Act (DMCA). Under
founded in 2013 DMCA provisions, search engines
by Diego ‘Didac’ have to provide a means by which
Sanchez (right) companies and individuals can get
and has clients in stolen content taken down.
50 countries Firms such as Google require
copyright complainants to affirm
on penalty of perjury that they are
telling the truth. However, such
an affirmation requires applicants
only to tick a box, with no
obligation to provide supporting
evidence.
Eliminalia seems to have filed
deceptive DMCA complaints to
search engines, including Google,
to get articles removed from the
internet and in some cases ticked
the perjury box.
Some of these fake notices
look as if they have been sent by

Erasing the past Files reveal how firm

legitimate media companies and
make false copyright claims over
an article they wanted taken down.
In one instance, an Eliminalia
employee appears to have falsely

cleans up customers’ online profiles

claimed to be a representative of
the company that owns the Italian
newspaper La Repubblica when
filing a false copyright complaint
to Google demanding it remove a
By David Pegg member of the public’s blogpost.
The complaint appears to have

‘W
been part of Eliminalia’s work on
e erase an embarrassing or traumatic accused of infringing money- reporting partners, that the charges behalf of the Italian software firm
your past” incident in their past to cease laundering regulations, a slum against him had been brought by Area SpA. Area, which was reported
declares the haunting them online. But the landlord convicted in Britain of the government of Argentina’s in 2011 to have sold surveillance
company’s firm’s clients also included some dozens of offences relating to president, Mauricio Macri, as technology to the regime of the
tagline. who were accused or convicted shockingly derelict properties, retaliation for having done business Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad,
Eliminalia, of criminal offences, including a Turkish biotech tycoon with Macri’s leftwing predecessor, confirmed to the Guardian that it
which has offices in several drug smugglers, fraudsters, charged with hiring a hitman Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. had hired Eliminalia.
cities including Barcelona and petty criminals and at least one to murder a business associate He said he had been able to In 2014 Area agreed to pay a
Kyiv, officially performs “a deep sex offender. and a Venezuelan businessman persuade Argentinian media to $100,000 (£83,000) civil penalty to
search across the internet for all Eliminalia’s website says it implicated in tax evasion linked remove articles about him but the US Department of Commerce
information – whether it be an primarily gets results using the EU’s to works of art. turned to Eliminalia for help to settle charges that it had
article, a blog, social media posts “right to be forgotten”, which can Clients appear to have been with foreign press reports that he exported US-made components to
or even a mistaken identity”. be used legitimately by criminals to charged up to €100,000 (£89,000), considered to be inaccurate. Syria, in violation of longstanding
It then endeavours, on behalf of request the removal of references though most paid a few thousand Westmann now appears in sanctions against the dictatorship.
its clients, to get any negative to their convictions when it can dollars for a one-off service. articles about the rules of American Area maintains that the system
information removed. reasonably be claimed that they Eliminalia did not respond in football, the application of was provided in full compliance
The Guardian, however, have moved on from their crime. detail to repeated requests for philosophy to daily life and the with all the rules and regulations
found that over several years, The files provide a fascinating comment. Its lawyers said: “The “natural arrogance” of chihuahuas in force at the time that it was
COMPOSITE: GUARDIAN DESIGN/EL CONFIDENCIAL/PABLO LÓPEZ LEARTE

the company deployed unethical insight into the methods used by orientation and content of the – published on sites that appear hired to work in Syria.
or deceptive methods to scrub reputation management firms vast majority of the questions to be linked to Eliminalia’s parent “One of the main reasons
unwanted and damaging content willing to draw on dubious means demonstrate a partial and company. Westmann said he did behind our intention to remove
from the internet. to clean up a client’s reputation dishonourable approach.” not know how Eliminalia removed the contents is its partial
These included impersonating online. It is unclear whether Several of Eliminalia’s clients content, and that he was unaware untruthfulness and lack of
third parties, such as media Eliminalia’s clients knew of the did, however, answer of any spam articles. accuracy,” the firm said.
organisations, and filing fake techniques it used. questions about the One of Eliminalia’s Qurium, a Swedish Area added that it believed
copyright complaints to search The files were shared with the company’s work. techniques is to nonprofit, has identified Eliminalia had to comply with all
engines such as Google to get Guardian by Forbidden Stories, a One was Hernán bury negative regulation and act professionally
information taken down. In French nonprofit group that aims Gabriel Westmann, content: a Google and ethically.
other cases, it would bury to pursue the work of murdered, who was accused by ne
search for one This year, Eliminalia – which
negative articles under a deluge threatened or jailed reporters. Argentinian authorities ces
client produces promises it can eliminate the
of fluffy stories about dogs, cars Founded in 2013 by 30-year- in 2017 of having rticles,
dozens of articles, past so “you can rebuild your
and football. old Diego “Didac” Sanchez, laundered money for the including one ne on future” – seemed to have an
Eliminalia’s services are Eliminalia built a list of clients Sinaloa drug cartel. The chihuahuas identity shift, changing its name
revealed in a cache of 50,000 across 50 countries. Between 2015 charges were dismissed to iData Protection in official
internal files that show how the and 2021 it worked for more than two years later by judges, registers. Today’s revelations,
company worked for a host of 1,500 individuals and businesses, who cited insufficient evidence. which are published in media
clients around the world. Many according to the leaked files. Westmann told the Washington outlets around the world, may
were individuals simply wanting Clients include a Swiss bank Post, one of the Guardian’s prove not so easy to erase.
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

Asylum seekers in fear as the far

Everyone is in stress. Staff at the hotel
said they can protect us inside but not
outside. Some of my friends are plan-
ning to go to London and be homeless
there because we will have more free-

right ramps up hostile rhetoric dom and be safer than we are here.”
After listening to the meeting on
a livestream feed, he said: “I can
see that most of the community
are not happy about us being here.
outside the church with officers in hi- Locals also accused the asylum illegal immigrants who should be It is very hard for us to adapt to this
Diane Taylor vis jackets patrolling the perimeter. seekers of taking up too many dentist forced to buy tickets back to their environment.”
They were there owing to con- appointments, taking up too much home countries. “What you are say- Local refugee NGOs report trying
cerns there might be a repeat of the space on the pavement, using money ing is offensive,” said Selous. to provide services inside the hotel
The anger was palpable as hundreds violence in Knowsley, Merseyside, that would otherwise be spent on free As the anti-migrant rhetoric ramps instead of at their own premises as
of residents of Dunstable in Bedford- a week ago, when hundreds of anti- TV licences for older people, and tak- up, the fear among asylum seekers they did previously because they
shire filed into the town’s historic migrant protesters demonstrated ing up places on free courses – which increases. Several said they were too feel asylum seekers could be targeted
Priory church on Thursday evening. outside a hotel, with some throwing appear to be mainly ones teaching the scared to go outside. when leaving.
There was a meeting to air con- stones and setting a police van on fire. asylum seekers English. One asylum seeker at the hotel “I fled Syria because of fear of death
cerns about the recent arrival of It has since been reported that the Patriotic Alternative activist in Dunstable said: “We are in a dan- in my country and now I’m living in
asylum seekers to a popular hotel Home Office has imposed a curfew on Wesley Russell launched a diatribe gerous situation. We are at risk and fear here,” said one asylum seeker in
across the road, but the subjects of the hotel for the safety of the asylum against asylum seekers, calling them are scared to go outside the hotel. the Knowsley hotel. “When the pro-
the assembly were too terrified to seekers, something the department tests were happening I felt that some
attend and defend themselves. declined to confirm or deny. of the protesters were going to break
They had seen a leaflet, widely At a third hotel outside Leeds, into the hotel.”
distributed in the town by far-right blankets have been draped across Clare Moseley, the founder
Patriotic Alternative activists bear- windows to prevent far-right pro- of the charity Care4Calais, who
ing an image of asylum seekers in a testers looking in. witnessed the disturbances in Know-
dinghy. There was another showing On Thursday, the Conservative sley, accused the government of not
the hotel they have been moved to by MP for South West Bedfordshire, doing enough.
the Home Office, emblazoned with Andrew Selous, addressed the res- She said: “Intimidating asylum
the slogan: “You pay, Migrants Stay”. tive audience inside Priory church, seekers is an act of pure cowardice.
As tensions mount, Hope Not branded the far-right leaflets “inflam- We need a government that shows
Hate, an organisation that moni- matory” and urged the 300 residents leadership and protects the vul-
tors far-right activity, has flagged who attended the meeting to show nerable rather than empowering
five anti-migrant demonstrations kindness to the new arrivals. bullies by using damaging and divi-
this weekend – including one in But few seemed persuaded. One sive rhetoric.”
Rotherham, in South Yorkshire, pro- speaker said a friend had seen asy- A government spokesperson said:
moted by Britain First and Patriotic lum seekers sexually harassing young “We have a legal obligation to support
Alternative. girls in the town. “I’m concerned for asylum seekers who would otherwise
The Home Office and its contrac- my children and my grandchildren,” be destitute.
tors increased security inside the she said. Selous replied that he had “All accommodation sites have
hotel before the meeting in Dunstable checked these reports with police and security staff and we continually
and advised asylum seekers to stay asylum seekers had not yet moved ▲ A burnt-out police van after violent protests near a hotel housing asylum review the security at asylum accom-
inside. Several police vans lined up into the area at the time of the claims. seekers in Knowsley, on Merseyside, a week ago PHOTOGRAPH: JOEL GOODMAN/LNP modation sites with providers.”
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

National 21

To be discontinued
Readers stockpile
end-of-line favourites
Totterdell began squirrelling ▲ Lilt (above) is frame in Kurt Howard’s home
Harry Taylor away the versions of the dark being rebranded in Nottingham. Production of
Cadbury chocolate which had to become Fanta Brannigans crisps was halted by

W
the list of ingredients suitable for Pineapple & the owners, KP Snacks, in 2020.

PHOTOGRAPH: BEN GINGELL/ALAMY

hether you people like her who are lactose Grapefruit Among the brand’s flavours was an
“Liked it intolerant. almost overpowering roast beef and
Like That” or She had discovered it in 2019.  Juliette mustard offering.
not, the soft For years the 25-year-old had Totterdell Howard’s appreciation of the
drink Lilt is persevered with ordinary chocolate stockpiled snacks came from having them as a
disappearing even though it made her ill, so Cadbury child. After seeing they were being
from the shelves. As its totally finding a confectionery that didn’t chocolate shelved three years ago, he took to
tropical taste gets a rebrand upset her stomach was a revelation. the internet to stock up.
to become Fanta Pineapple & “I had some and it tasted great. “I saw they were being sold
Grapefruit, readers have told us It had still got that Cadbury taste, for quite high prices already, so
about the products they have and I could get 200g of it and a corner shop I would see if they last bar, her non-lactose-intolerant I bought 30 of them. For some
stockpiled when they found eat it without being worried,” still had the old ones. boyfriend would ask for a piece. “It reason they delivered 60.
out their favourites were being Totterdell said. “Then I had to ask my boyfriend was a really difficult tug of war,” she “The buyer asked for me to send
discontinued. However two years later she to hide them, as with chocolate said. “But that’s love, I guess.” them back, and I just offered to pay
In 2021, Juliette Totterdell found that Cadbury had revised the I have absolutely no self-restraint; Often the desire for discontinued him for them,” the 39-year-old said.
sprang into action when she ingredients list on the chocolate, I just can’t stop myself.” items is nostalgia-driven. The past However, the final packet was
spotted that Bournville had added prompting a dash to buy the last The last of the dark chocolate is a foreign country, they still have disappointing. “The flavour was
skimmed milk powder to the list remaining bars. “I went to the reserve was “long gone”, said Brannigans crisps there. still great, but it was a year out of
of ingredients on the packet of her supermarket and bought about 20 Totterdell, who lives in Bristol. The corner-shop favourite date, so the quality of the crisps
favourite chocolate. of them, and whenever I went into She added that even with her is memorialised in a picture had diminished.”
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

22 National
▼ The memorial to St Cuthbert
at the site of his original tomb at
Lindisfarne Priory on Holy Island
PHOTOGRAPH: ENGLISH HERITAGE/COVER IMAGES

Brazil ministers to visit

monk who was prior and then bishop
of Lindisfarne. His holiness, charm
and teaching skills made him famous
far and wide, and he was said to have
Amazon murder site gifts of prophecy and healing. One
story tells of how he would sing
psalms at night in the North Sea and
once emerged to bless otters who
the entrance to the Javari valley dried his feet.
Tom Phillips territory, the world’s largest refuge for Eleven years after his death, Cuth-
Rio de Janeiro Indigenous tribes living in isolation. bert’s coffin was opened and his body
The ministers would also be taken was found to be uncorrupted, looking
Indigenous activists are planning to to the spot where Phillips, a Brit- as though he had just fallen asleep.
take some of Brazil’s top ministers ish journalist who reported for the “We’ve stripped out the original
to the site where Dom Phillips and Guardian, and Pereira, a Brazilian space and it has completely changed,”
Bruno Pereira were murdered in the Indigenous expert, were shot dead Susan Harrison, the collections cura-
Amazon rainforest amid reports that on 5 June last year as they travelled tor, said of the revamped museum.
security forces are poised to launch a by boat down the Itaquai River. “ We’ve brought back favourite
major environmental clampdown in “We will show them,” said Beto objects and also added objects that
the remote border region.
Leaders of Univaja, the Indigenous
association for which Pereira worked
Marubo. “This is going to be a
historic moment.”
Paulo Marubo, Univaja’s president,
Lindisfarne’s a monument to Cuthbert on the spot
of his original tomb.
English Heritage will this week-
were previously in storage or have
been excavated in recent years.”
One recently excavated object is
in Brazil’s Javari valley, said senior
politicians, including the justice min-
said urgent government action was
needed in the Javari valley, which
new memorial end reveal the memorial, designed
by the sculptor Russ Coleman, at
a necklace of tiny salmon vertebrae
dating from the 8th or 9th century
ister, Flávio Dino, and the minister for
Indigenous peoples, Sônia Guajajara,
has also become a major thorough-
fare for cocaine produced over the to St Cuthbert, Lindisfarne Priory, Northumber-
land, 485 years after his burial site
found on a skeleton, and which,
experts have said, are Britain’s earli-
would travel there on 27 February.
The visit is part of a push by Pres-
border in Peru.
“We lost a great friend,” Paulo 485 years on was last marked.
Visitors will also see a refreshed
est known rosary beads. “It is a poor
man’s material because it was easily
ident Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s new Marubo said of Pereira. “And we do priory museum, which will include available,” Harrison said.
government to beat back the illegal not feel safe on our own land … There recent discoveries such as Britain’s Nearby are fragments mixed up in
miners, loggers and poachers who is no security in our region. We are first known rosary bead necklace and a bundle of rags of an 18th century
wrought environmental havoc dur- human beings, too.” Mark Brown one of the earliest surviving exam- woollen-sleeved waistcoat. That it
ing the four-year term of his far-right The planned ministerial visit to North of England correspondent ples of knitting in Europe. survives is remarkable, said Harri-
predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. the Javari is another indication of The priory is on Holy Island, acces- son. “For me it is the connection to
Beto Marubo, one of Univaja’s how Brazil’s attitude to the environ- He was and remains “northern Eng- sible only by causeway at low tide. It the people. This waistcoat was worn
main leaders, said the government ment and environmental defenders land’s most popular saint”, according was once one of the most important by somebody who lived here; it is a
delegation would be taken to the has changed since power passed from to the Oxford Dictionary of Saints, but places in Anglo-Saxon England. tangible connection to our past, and
decrepit riverside base that guards Bolsonaro to Lula on 1 January. it has taken five centuries to replace Cuthbert was a seventh-century that is really, really exciting.”

summer r ays
For the warm days and

DISCOVER GERMANY’S WATERWAYS

Free enhanced drinks package with summer river cruises when you book by 28 February
NEW
Rhine & Moselle Rhine Cruise to Switzerland LOWER Rhine, Strasbourg & Heidelberg
Rüdesheim • Bernkastel • Strasbourg • Rhine Gorge • Lucerne • PRICES Koblenz • Heidelberg • Mainz •
Cologne • and more and more and more

8 days from £1,749PP 8 days from £1,799PP 8 days from £2,179PP

Always included in the price: Stay on a five-star ship Regional flights & transfers Full board fine dining
Excursions every day Riviera Cruise Director with you every step of the way

rivieratravel.co.uk/summer
01283 742310
Book a European river cruise departing in July and August 2023 to receive a free enhanced drinks package. Applies to new bookings only
made up to 28 February 2023. Visit our website for full terms and conditions. ABTA & ATOL Protected. Prices correct at time of print. Forever Curious
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

26
Eyewitnessed
Pictures of the week
 Climate
activists are
hauled away by
the carabinieri
in Tuscany after
spray-painting
a local council
building
LAURA LEZZA/GETTY

▲ A wintry
scene from the
Huangshan
mountain
range in eastern
China’s Anhui
province
SHUI CONGZE/
XINHUA/ALAMY

 Tourists pose
for photos in
front of the
Merlion statue
in Singapore’s
central business
district
HOW HWEE YOUNG/
EPA
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

27
 Baatonu
horsemen
show off their
riding prowess
during the
Gaani festival
in Parakou,
northern Benin
PHOTOGRAPH:
INGER VANDYKE/
MEDIADRUMIMAGES

▲ A 9.9-metre
Buddha in a
3D-printed
replica of Cave
No 3 of the
ancient Yungang
Grottoes at their
art gallery in
Qingdao, China
PHOTOGRAPH: HAN
JIAJUN/VCG/GETTY

 A KLM jet
comes in to
land at Princess
Juliana
airport on the
Caribbean
island of
Saint Martin
REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

▲ Lions in
Zimbabwe run
towards the
photographer –
before stopping
to eat their prey
in front of him
MARTIN ANSTEE/
ANIMAL NEWS AGENCY
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

28 National
Pentagon
chiefs warn
of next-gen of stamina we expect from our
spy balloons
Emma Brockes legends and I raise my hat to him.

New York diary Thursday

Reeling from the resignation of
Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP,

Forget the balloons, I’ve

and her good humoured speech
on Wednesday, the departure
of Scotland’s first minister still
qualifies as only the second most

been blown away by

shocking news story of the week
– the first being the removal of
a fly-tipped freezer by a council
in Margate, and the inadvertent

an owl and two pigeons

ruining of a new artwork by
Banksy.
The tableau, spray-painted
on a wall that Banksy confirmed
was his work, depicts a 50s style
housewife with a black eye
Monday to waft across the central plains apparently disposing of her abusive
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it, per of North America. In the last two batshit-sounding acronym UAPs, or blue jays. And when – we may be husband’s body in the now missing
the White House, simply one weeks, three UFOs have been “unidentified aerial phenomena”. veering into whimsy, here – he freezer. This searing commentary
of “thousands of used car lot downed by the military, including Time, once again, to buy beans and was in the vicinity of Central on domestic violence was less
balloons?” floating innocently one over Alaska, one over Canada’s bottled water. Park’s second most famous bird, arresting than the efficiency of
across US air space? Any week Yukon territory, and one, last Geraldine the great horned owl. the council, a body that, spooked
that starts with a White House Sunday, over Lake Huron – areas, Tuesday You know how this ends. by the coverage, promptly turned
briefing reassuring us “this is judging by amateur footage taken A less mysterious flying object over the freezer to a gallery for safe
not an invasion of the aliens” by members of the public, dense gripped New Yorkers for the second Wednesday keeping. As a piece of performance
promises to be a good week, and with Walmart car parks of unknown week in a row, as Flaco the owl, What was needed in this, and to art, Thanet council’s critical
then it promptly gets better. Liz strategic significance. who escaped from Central Park zoo be honest in most situations, was response to Banksy’s increasingly
Sherwood-Randall, the White In recent years, the Pentagon has on 2 February after his enclosure Tom Cruise, who one imagines banal and obvious output should
House homeland security adviser, channelled increasing resources was vandalised, remained at might be as at home rounding up be submitted for consideration to
continues: “I mean, it’s funny, into investigating military UFO large in the city. The 13-year-old an owl as defeating the aliens. the Turner prize committee.
but it’s not funny” – setting up sightings, while trying to save face Eurasian eagle owl, has been Instead, Cruise and his cohorts in
the crucial first-act scepticism by rebranding them with the less enjoying a magical journey this Hollywood were busy this week at Friday
that guarantees, per the law of week – the life rights to which have the Oscars luncheon, an unedifying More bird news. I left an old
disaster movies, the subsequent Here’s some surely been snapped up by Pixar chucklefest at which everyone bit of carpet on my terrace and
annihilation of the entire planet –and won thousands of supporters pretends to be having fun and not two pigeons moved in. There’s
Scottish
and all civilisations upon it. PHOTOGRAPHS: anxiously cheering his progress making a desperate final lunge for a mum and a dad – we’re being
Meanwhile, the spy balloons, independence ANADOLU AGENCY/ and lamenting his setbacks. an Academy award. heteronormative about this –
GETTY IMAGES;
or whatever they are, continue for you JEFF J MITCHELL/GETTY Last week, concerned zoo staff Cate Blanchett has been on and for the past week, as spring
put a rat in a cage and left it on a one of the most intense Oscar weather descended on Manhattan,
Central Park lawn, hoping Flaco campaigns, for her movie, Tar, that the dad has undertaken a Trojan
might figure out how to grab it. I have ever seen. I love Blanch, I effort of stick collection, flying
(Flaco, who has lived his entire life really do, but there is not a podcast, back and forth between the 13th
in captivity, stared at it dumbly.) not an entertainment insert, floor and street level to furnish his
Concerns increased as the days not a college newspaper or local missis with the ultimate nest.
went by, the temperature in New breakfast show that that woman It’s gross, obviously. There’s
York plunged, and Flaco entered hasn’t been on since before the first pigeon shit everywhere. I let my
his second week without food. But Chinese spy balloon went down. children provide water for them,
lo! At the weekend, Flaco appeared And here is Cruise, with a shaggy but I draw the line at crumbs – I’m
to cough up some rat remains, the new ’do and deep tan, looking, not convinced New York rats can’t
city erupted in joy, and since then let’s be honest, a little gamey – scale the outside of a building. And
there’s been no holding him back. although, I maintain, still hard to yet, while I can’t bring myself to
All of this has been documented, resist. I’ve seen all the photos and join the small but vocal sub-group
with much crowd-sourced Flaco there’s not a single one in which of New Yorkers who insist we
footage, by the excellent Twitter Cruise, working the room and need to revisit our feelings about
feed Manhattan Bird Alert. agreeing to selfies with everyone, pigeons, I have softened. The
Further highlights from his is not pushing up against his nesting pair are rather beautiful
fabulous journey: when he took inserts with a full-beam smile that and we await the arrival of their
a jaunt down Fifth Avenue; when must be the facial equivalent of brood of ugly little squabs with
he survived the harassment of bench pressing 200lb. It’s the kind bated breath.

Review
who nail most of their impressions,  Charles enlists help to save his
Rachael Healy it’s an impressive choreography. kingdom – but the jokes could do
The staging is striking, too, taking with a little assistance too

T
us from Buckingham Palace to

Puppetry is he show starts with a

mock trigger warning
“for humourless pricks
Ukraine, via the sky and sea.
King Charles needs help saving
his kingdom: cue a quest to find
parodies of Queen, Toto, Disney.
One stands out – a surprisingly
sad duet by Rishi Sunak and Boris

a pleasure
… this show identifies seven stars to defeat the evil forces Johnson, a powerful reminder of
as funny”. It’s a shame bringing Britain down. We meet the their catalogue of lies. It urges us to
then that the satire is royal family, politicians, RuPaul, take nothing seriously, but this sits
its weakest aspect. When Spitting Greta Thunberg, actors, pop stars awkwardly alongside the jarring

but satire Image returned to TV it proved

divisive. The show’s introduction
asks us to shelve our outrage – it’s
and evil billionaires. Pleasingly,
weird puppets offer the freshest
material: a sinister Paddington with
sincerity of Volodymr Zelenskiy in
front of his country’s flag, asking
the audience not to forget Ukraine.

lacks bite
here to mock everyone. protruding eyes who acts as adviser The overarching message –
The stage version has an to the king, Jacob Rees-Mogg as don’t idolise public figures, they
advantage over its TV counterpart an enormous praying mantis and are all as bad as each other – is
– seeing the puppets up close is Suella Braverman as a maniacally interesting. Sure, no one is above
impressive. The puppeteers are the giggling girl from The Ring. Cruise is short, Keir Starmer is scrutiny, but does Greta Thunberg
stars of this two-hour show, deftly But the bulk of the joke-writing boring. Elsewhere the joke is belong in a lineup of politicians and
Idiots Assemble: Spitting manipulating the cast of characters is predictable, leaning into unclear. Are we laughing at Angela Prince Andrew? Spitting Image is
Image Saves the World for dance numbers and slow- cliches, catchphrases and obvious Rayner because she overplays her a spectacle and the puppetry is a
motion sequences (the fight scene punchlines. Most characters only working-class roots, or simply pleasure, but it’s light on laughs.
Birmingham Rep starring Tom Cruise is a highlight). have one joke: Meghan Markle because she’s working class? The
★★★☆☆ Working in sync with the actors, is desperate for attention, Tom show is punctuated with songs, Until 11 March
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

National 29
▼ Rihanna reveals her pregnancy at
last weekend’s Super Bowl in a boiler
suit created by Jonathan Anderson
PHOTOGRAPH: KEVIN MAZUR/GETTY IMAGES
the Roundhouse in Camden, north
London, where Clark staged some
of his most famous shows.
“Clark was part of the reason I
got into fashion,” Anderson says.
“He symbolised London as a
melting pot of self-expression that
was not just about dance but also
about gender, clubbing, a rebellion
against the establishment. His
energy was alien to the prevailing
culture of the time, and it
represented the possibility of a
different kind of future.”
It is this spirit British fashion
needs to rediscover, Anderson says:
“British fashion now can’t be tweed
skirts, or whatever. Britain is in a
very different place, and we can’t
hide behind history and heritage.
“I believe in a creative future
for this country, but it is going to
require a lot of heavy lifting. And
that future is not going to be led by
this government, it is going to be
led by the people. Fashion and the
arts have an important role to play,
because you need lateral thinking
at a time like this. It is easy to hate
fashion because it is associated
with commerce – but it has real
psychological power. Fashion can
be a liberator.”
Shock value has replaced chic
as the currency of fashion, with
Schiaparelli’s faux-taxidermy lion-
head cocktail dresses dominating
coverage of the most recent haute
couture fashion week.
Anderson has been one of the
drivers of fashion’s shift towards
the surreal – a JW Anderson £795
resin clutch bag in the shape of a

JW Anderson Fashion must

pigeon went viral last year after it
was spotted being cradled by the
actor Sarah Jessica Parker. But he
insists he “tries not to make things
that are obnoxiously gross. We
have glorified very weird things

speak to a country ‘in paralysis’ in fashion in the last few years –

and climaxed on the idea of the
grotesque. Fashion has become
recreational outrage.”
After Kanye West shocked Paris
fashion week last year with a
in terms of major names, with “White Lives Matter” sweatshirt,
Jess Cartner-Morley Victoria Beckham having joined the first show by Balenciaga after
the Alexander McQueen and Stella the brand was forced to apologise

B
McCartney labels on the Paris for a series of offensive advertising
ritish fashion needs schedule. images will be a flashpoint of
“to step up and Anderson – who created the the season, with some editors
say something” at pregnancy-announcing boiler suit and buyers set to decline their
a moment when for Rihanna’s Super Bowl half-time invitations.
the country is “in a show, which made front pages all Anderson is critical of “cancel
paralysis”, the leading over the world – has serious clout culture”, pointing out that
London fashion week designer in the industry. Sales at Loewe McQueen, who shot to fame with
Jonathan Anderson has said. totalled £402m in 2021, an increase the violent imagery of his Highland
His JW Anderson show of 38% on the previous year, but Rape collection in 1995, would
tomorrow will revive the punk- the lower profile of London fashion probably have been cancelled,
spirit stagewear of the dancer week does not provide the publicity “and that can’t be a good thing”.
and choreographer Michael Clark platform necessary for growth on Now, the power of clickbait means
– nicknamed “the David Bowie that scale. Keeping his eponymous that “some people have fallen on
of dance” – in a catwalk show brand in London has required “soul the blade of outrage because they
celebrating the anti-establishment searching”, Anderson says. have courted that outrage. That’s a
heritage of British culture. “There is no denying that Paris terrible game to play.”
Rebellion is in the air as London week hot ticket, where clothes are and Milan have become dominant. Anderson is not above a
fashion week begins. The entire ‘British fashion now decorated with acrylic eggshells or But I would not have been able to controversial accessory. The high-
week of shows is dedicated to can’t be tweed skirts, deflated balloons, and the front row build my brand without the talent heeled mules with toes in the shape
the memory of Dame Vivienne has featured the writer Zadie Smith and the people in this country. I am of cat paws, which will be worn on
Westwood, who died in December. or whatever. Britain and the actor Timothée Chalamet. Northern Irish, I work in Britain, his catwalk tomorrow, are likely
The Design Museum has just is in a different place. “But in Britain, rebellion has also and I’m proud to be here, so I to prove catnip – pun intended –
announced a major exhibition this crazy, creative, vibrant artistic believe I need to be loud about that to fashion audiences in thrall to
entitled Rebel – 30 Years of London We can’t hide behind identity – from Clark and McQueen and to do what I can to help keep animal kingdom imagery, from
Fashion, to open in September, to Leigh Bowery, Tracey Emin. talent here at a difficult moment.” Schiaparelli’s big cats to Anderson’s
sponsored by Alexander McQueen.
history and heritage’ Westwood was extraordinary – A unitard inspired by a Tesco bag pigeons. Many will appreciate the
“I also work in France, where she changed British culture, and in which Clark once performed, reference to Martin Margiela’s
rebellion means a strike,” says Jonathan Anderson it feels like it is only now we are and a onesie fashioned out of an split-toe Tabi shoes, which first
Anderson, who has catapulted the Loewe creative director appreciating the full scale of what upside-down smiley-face T-shirt appeared on catwalks in the late
bourgeois Spanish leather-goods she did.” will be part of JW Anderson’s 1980s, when Clark found fame as
house of Loewe into a Paris fashion PHOTOGRAPH: TIM WHITBY/BFC/GETTY London fashion week is depleted catwalk show tomorrow morning at a dancer and choreographer.
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

30

UK now risking ‘disastrous’ food

scandal due to lax border controls
▲ African swine fever is a big worry

Fiona Harvey
Environment editor

Britain is in danger of a “disastrous”

food scandal, owing to lax post-
Brexit border controls on agricultural
imports, the leader of the UK’s biggest
farming organisation has warned.
Minette Batters, president of the
National Farmers’ Union, accused
ministers of a “dereliction of duty”,
in failing to ensure food and other
agricultural imports were safe. She
warned that the government had
failed to learn the lessons of the
horsemeat scandal of 2013.
“We are seeing little to no checks
on imports coming in from the EU,”
she told the Guardian. “We have the
massive risk of African swine fever
in Europe, and to not be investing in
our defences for keeping our biosecu-
rity and animal and plant health safe,
I think is just a dereliction of duty.”
After the horsemeat scandal, in
which products such as burgers and
lasagne purporting to contain 100%
beef were found to show traces of
horse meat, stricter controls were
put in place on many food systems.
But Batters said those were being
eroded with “so little checks” on
imports, and pointed to recent find-
ings that many lorries entering the UK
contained fraudulent meat.
“If there was a food scare from
Europe, it would be very difficult to
trace it right now,” she warned.
“Many in retail, processing and
manufacturing would say that on
the back of ‘horse gate’ we developed also fear disease. More than 100 mil- ▲ Cattle in East Sussex and geese in Yet, at this crucial point for British agricultural policy, which the UK left
the safest, most secure food supply lion pigs were killed globally in the Nottinghamshire (below). Tracing a farming, Rishi Sunak turned down on Brexit: “Whatever you thought
chain in the world. There was mas- first year after African swine fever food risk from Europe would be hard the opportunity to address this core about the CAP, it very much ended
sive investment in safety and security appeared in 2018, and it is now PHOTOGRAPH: LISA GEOGHEGAN/ALAMY group of mainly Conservative voters. up as a social subsidy, to keep people
and short supply chains,” she said. spreading in parts of Europe. She “The prime minister is doing a on the land.”
“I think there’s a real risk 10 years said: “For the national pig herd, the video. I think it’s a real shame he Government policy for farm sup-
on that we forget those lessons of threat of African swine fever com- isn’t there himself, but the leader of port post-Brexit has focused on
the past, and there’s nothing that ing here will be keeping them awake the opposition is there. I think that providing “public money for public
will bring this country to a standstill at night.” speaks volumes,” said Batters, add- goods”, such as payments for farmers
quicker than a food scare. Avian flu is also a growing fear, ing of the Labour party: “You know, to nurture soil, protect wildlife and
“That would be disastrous, and with some scientists warning of a they want to engage.” maintain waterways, in contrast to
we want to do everything possible spring outbreak among wild birds, Starmer spoke at the online con- the CAP, which allocated subsidies
to avoid that. But unless the checks and infections found in minks, otters, ference two years ago, marking the based on the area farmed, often to
are put in place, and if we can’t trace seals and foxes. The poultry sector is first address by a Labour leader since the benefit of the biggest landowners.
everything, then we are at threat.” already in a weakened state, having 2008. He told the Guardian then that If the government failed to pro-
The risk could become much shrunk by 15%, in 2022 mainly as a rural communities, often blighted by vide sufficient support to farmers, the
greater under trade deals with non- result of avian flu, according to the Consumers will also feel the hidden poverty and stark inequal- “social infrastructure” that farming
EU nations, she added. The vast Department for Environment, Food impact. There could be a serious ity, were a key part of his ambitions. provides to the countryside would
majority of food imports are still from and Rural Affairs (Defra). shortage of tomatoes and cucum- “No party can claim to represent be lost and some of the most isolated
the EU, where food controls are sim- Batters will address the two-day bers this summer, Batters warned, the country if we don’t represent and vulnerable communities devas-
ilar to the UK. But under trade deals NFU conference in Birmingham on as growers were planting fewer than the countryside. Farming matters, tated, Batters warned.
with Australia and New Zealand that Tuesday, where government min- at any time since the 1980s. to Labour, to the British people, and She added: “I think that’s the bit
will soon come into force, and under isters and the Labour leader, Keir Food prices are likely to stay high, to the families and communities that the government doesn’t understand,
potential deals with countries such Starmer, will attempt to woo farmers as farmers struggle with input costs. make farming possible,” he said. because without the people we can’t
as India and those in Latin America, scarred by years of turmoil. Buffeted Batters said the Conservative gov- deliver for the environment, we can’t

100m
food could soon be arriving from by Brexit and the Covid pandemic, ernment had failed to appreciate the deliver for food production. When
regions with far different rules and in which food supply chains were impact of Brexit, policy and economic members of the government talk
standards. turned upside down overnight, farm- headwinds on the UK’s farmers. about taking land out of production,
Unfit food can pose a health threat ers are now beset by rampant inflation Pigs killed in the year after African “What I probably worry about I say: ‘What about the people?’ And
to humans, which Batters said was that has sent the price of fuel, ferti- swine fever appeared in 2018. It is most is the whole social challenge,” nobody answers that question.”
“the biggest worry”, but farmers liser and animal feed rocketing. now spreading in parts of Europe she said, adding of the EU common Defra was contacted for comment.
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

31

Scenting
lavender and jasmine to blossom. of raw materials such as vanilla Grasse. It gets people dreaming. But
Today, the region produces flowers and saffron soar owing to limited it isn’t always more sustainable,”
for some of the world’s biggest supply caused by climate-induced said Verdier. Perfume crops require
luxury brands, including Dior and droughts and disasters. Though water and land. Shipping raw
trouble Chanel, which are willing to spend
big bucks on raw materials from the
Ex Nihilo has yet to increase the
price of its perfumes, rising costs
materials around the world results
in significant CO2 emissions.
region – Grasse’s jasmine sells for for raw materials might force it to. “It’s more sustainable to make

How climate a higher price than gold. Grasse’s

producers are recognised as leaders
in the industry: in 2018, Unesco
As a result, it is considering turning
towards synthetic alternatives.
“The romantic view of perfume
perfume in the laboratory,” Verdier
says. Producers in Grasse disagree.
“We actually consume very little

change is placed the region’s perfume culture

on its Intangible Cultural Heritage
of Humanity list.
is for it to be natural. There is
mysticism around a place like
water,” said Biancalana, noting Chanel relies on flowers
that producers used drip irrigation, from the French riviera
which has historically accounted
But climate change threatens for just 5% of the region’s water use. producers by investing in research
threatening this tradition. Extreme weather
patterns, such as droughts,
They had made significant
efforts to ensure their crops were
and adaptation techniques,
which they know is critical for
heatwaves and heavy rainfall, have environmentally friendly. In 2006, their companies’ future. While

perfume made growing flowers increasingly

difficult. Last summer, Grasse
faced severe drought, losing some
Biancalana founded Les Fleurs
d’Exception du Pays de Grasse, an
association that brings together
producers welcome this support,
some are wary of strings attached.
“The question for us is how to

traditions producers nearly half of their

harvest. High temperatures affect
the future quality of roses, and
producers from the region.
“What can we do, how can we
adapt, who should we ask for
have industry support without
losing our autonomy,” said Janody.
Some producers have expressed
prohibit some flowers, such as support, what research needs to be their frustration, saying that
tuberose, from growing. Biancalana done – these are the questions we companies have got involved at
felt the impact directly: this year, are asking,” said Armelle Janody, its a grassroots level in exchange for
Mélissa Godin her tuberose harvest dropped 40%. current president. gaining greater control over the
“The elders here keep telling us ▲ A worker inspects a bag during the Leaders in the perfume industry means of production.

W
there are no more seasons,” said picking of roses for Christian Dior have already begun supporting “These brands want to associate
hen heat waves Biancalana, noting that winters their perfumes with our history
used to hit the were warmer, but with unseasonal and our heritage – yet they come in
French town cold spells in spring. “We can’t and want to change everything,”
of Grasse, the count on the spirits any more.” said Janody, who fears companies
perfume capital Grasse is not alone. Worldwide, could do this under the pretence of
of the world, primary materials for perfumes supporting climate adaptation.
townspeople didn’t water their are threatened by increasingly “We do not want to be servants
flowers. Instead, they marched extreme weather. Vanilla, an to the industry.”
along the town’s cobbled streets in important material for the industry, For producers, it’s not just their
a procession towards the church. has taken a particular hit. Grown agricultural practices that are at
“They were calling for rain from primarily in Africa, vanilla crops stake: it’s their culture and way of
the spirits,” said Carole Biancalana, have been struck by heatwaves in life. The perfume industry has been
a fourth-generation perfume flower recent years. And in 2017 a cyclone at the heart of Grasse’s identity for
producer whose grandmother in Madagascar wiped out 30% of centuries. Since 1946, the town has
participated in the rain ceremonies. crops, pushing the price to more paid tribute to the region’s jasmine
“But I don’t think this procession than $600 (£500) a kilo, though it in an August ceremony that spans
would cut it in today’s climate.” has since fallen again. an entire weekend.
Since the 17th century, Grasse “Climate change may not have “This is so much more than just a
has been known worldwide for an impact on the smell of perfume,” job,” said Biancalana, whose family
its fragrant flowers. Lying north said Benoît Verdier, co-founder of has been working the same fields
of Cannes on the French Riviera, Ex Nihilo Paris, a smaller perfume for over a hundred years.
Grasse enjoys a microclimate that house. “But it will affect the price.” “We have a moral duty to our
allows fields of may rose, tuberose, Ex Nihilo has watched the cost ▲ Grasse’s Jasmine sells for a higher price than gold PHOTOGRAPH: ERIC GAILLARD ancestors and to our territory.”

Human composting: the

also known as “natural organic of the energy required for cremation.
reduction”, which uses heat and oxy- Natural organic reduction was legal- ‘Composting is a
gen to speed up the microbial process ised in Washington in 2019, and by nexus of climate
cleaner, greener way to die that converts bodies into soil.
Human composting is not cur-
2021 Spade’s company, Recompose,
made it available to consumers for policy and new tech’
rently legal in Britain, though “green $7,000 (£5,800) – compared with the
burials” using biodegradable coffins median cost of cremation of $6,971.
are increasingly popular. In the years since, more than Caitlin Doughty
Kari Paul Providers say that they are see- five companies have sprung up in Mortician and author
ing unprecedented demand. Micah Washington, some of which have
Truman, chief executive and founder secured millions in funding from technologies have piqued the inter-
Environmentalists are looking for of the human composting startup venture capital firms. est of tech investors. A 2019 survey
greener ways to die, and a new wave Return Home, has had more than a At least six states have legalised found 52% of Americans expressed
of human composting startups across dozen families drive the bodies of the process so far, and California, the interest in green burial options, and
the US are rising to the occasion. their loved ones from California, most populous US state, will allow experts estimate the emerging mar-
For decades, a body after death where human composting is not yet human composting from 2027. “In ket could reach a value of about $1bn.
typically met its end one of two ways: legal, to his company headquarters Washington, where human compost- “Composting seems uniquely
embalmed and buried in a casket, or in Washington. ing has been legal for some time, the positioned at a nexus of climate
incinerated and turned into ashes. Natural organic reduction is a rel- industry is concentrated and hyper- change policy and new technology
But both of these options contribute atively new process pioneered by competitive,” Truman said. that appeals to the Silicon Valley
to the environmental crisis, with fos- Katrina Spade. During her gradu- “There is a newer disconnect ethos,” said Doughty.
sil fuel-intensive cremation emitting ate thesis in 2013, Spade discovered between the fundamental idea of Spade said Recompose had worked
chemicals such as carbon monoxide, that by placing a body in a container ritual around death in human com- with legislators to help frame an
and burials taking up large swathes with natural materials such as straw posting versus a bizarre appeal to ethical framework for the burgeoning
of land. and wood chips and applying oxy- Silicon Valley that is emerging,” said industry. “We want to be sure that any
Now alternative death care start- gen and heat, the microbial process Caitlin Doughty, a mortician and kind of human composting operator
ups are gaining steam. New York ▲ Katrina Spade discovered a way to that converts bodies into soil can be author of books about death. With that’s working with grieving families
last month became the sixth US use heat and oxygen to speed up the accelerated. Decomposition takes the traditional funeral market in the is doing so within the utmost ethical
state to legalise human composting, process that converts bodies into soil less than a month, and uses an eighth US worth $20bn, it is no surprise new practices,” she said.
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

32

Zelenskiy tells meeting

of world leaders to ‘hurry
up’ with arms deliveries
started to lose. Goliath will definitely
Patrick Wintour fall this year,” he said.
Munich He said that since he last spoke to
the conference he had proved that
The west needs to speed up its sup- his country could regain lost ter-
port for Ukraine as Vladimir Putin will ritory, including 1,000 cities and
gain a military advantage unless arms villages, but took a swipe at the west-
deliveries arrive soon, Volodymyr ern countries that had sent weapons
Zelenskiy said yesterday in a video to Ukraine only after it had been
address to world leaders at a security invaded. He warned possible conse-
conference in Munich in the face of ▲ Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressing quences of delay could be a Russian
mounting fears that Russia is plan- the conference by video yesterday invasion of Moldova, or if Russia’s
ning a new offensive. ally Iran received enriched uranium.
“We need to hurry up. We need is attended by more than 100 world He said there was no alternative
speed – speed of our agreements, leaders and diplomats, including to a Ukrainian victory. Asked about
speed of our delivery … speed of deci- the US vice-president, Kamala Har- possible European fatigue, he said:
sions to limit Russian potential,” the ris, and the event is seen as a key “Keep in mind who started the war.
Ukrainian president said. “There is test of the west’s resolve to fight out It is obvious that Ukraine is not going
no alternative to speed because it is a grinding, expensive war. Few are to be his last stop.”
speed that life depends on.” expected to hold out hope of early The French president, Emmanuel
His address came just days ahead peace negotiations. Macron, said France was ready for a
of the 24 February anniversary of Scholz said he was the biggest sup- prolonged conflict and that “we must
Moscow sending its forces into the plier of weapons in mainland Europe, collectively be credible in our abil-
country, unleashing the biggest war but it was wise to be prepared for a ity to last in this effort”. He urged
in Europe since the 1940s. long war and give the message to allies to support Ukraine to launch
He accepted Russia was try- Putin that the west would remain a counteroffensive, “which alone
ing to mount an offensive, mainly united as long as necessary. can allow credible negotiations,
in the south, partly by attacking He said Putin had never expected determined by Ukraine, its author-
civilian and energy infrastructure. that the UN general assembly would ities and its people”.
Meanwhile, he said, neighbouring vote against his war of aggression. But he returned to a theme that
Belarus would make a mistake of Scholz added he was sure that in has alienated some supporters of
historic proportions if it joined in the his own country there was broad Ukraine by saying: “This is a war that
Russian offensive, and claimed polls support, adding that his defence min- is a consequence of the fact that no
showed 80% of the country did not istry and industry were working to one properly digested the end of the

‘It was a
wish to join the war. ensure German-made Leopard tanks cold war – neither Europe nor Russia.”
However, the German chancellor, reached Ukraine “very soon”. Saying he was not justifying Rus- Luke Harding
Olaf Scholz, gave Zelenskiy an indi- Zelenskiy, taking up the theme of sia’s illegal actions, he said the west Kherson

V
rect rebuff, saying caution was better the conference, David on the Dnipro, had assumed that Russia could
than hasty decisions and unity was
better than going it alone. Scholz
said Europe was in uncharted ter-
said his country had the courage to
defeat Goliath with a slingshot, but
the slingshot had to become stronger
change overnight, while the deep
reason for its aggression was resent-
ment of what had happened to the
nightmare’ italiy Savchenko
showed off the
damage from a
ritory and there was no blueprint and faster. “Goliath has already Soviet Union and its obsession with Russian shell that had
for confronting a nuclear-armed
aggressor, making it vital to avoid an
unintended escalation and requiring
▼ The US vice-president, Kamala
Harris, and France’s president,
its post-empire place in the world.
He added: “No one can change
geography. Russia is part of Europe.
Kherson’s landed right across
the street. Shrapnel
tore holes in his garage and blew off
carefully weighed decisions.
The Munich security conference
Emmanuel Macron, in Munich
PHOTOGRAPH: ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/GETTY
No one can solve this dilemma. There
is no long-term peace in our conti-
nent until this problem is solved
residents the kitchen door. There were three
neat gaps in his car. “When it’s a
mortar you have five seconds to
reasonably.” react. With a Grad missile it’s a bit
World leaders at Munich will go
through a lightning round of bilateral
meetings, including one between
recall city’s longer – about 18 seconds,” he said.
“A tank round is instantaneous.
There’s no time to hide.”

occupation
Rishi Sunak and Harris. Savchenko lives in Kherson,
In his address to the conference the southern city liberated on 11
today, Sunak will say now is the time November by Ukrainian forces.
to double down on military support He spent nine months under
for Ukraine, adding that the country
must be given the advanced Nato-
standard capabilities it needs for the
as bombs occupation. When friendly troops
came down the main Ushakov
Avenue, Savchenko waved a blue-
future. The war, he will say, is not and-yellow flag he had hidden
about just Ukraine, but the security
and sovereignty of every nation.
It is expected G7 foreign ministers
still fall under the stairs, along with his
mobile phone. The next evening
he held a party with friends. They
will also meet on the sidelines of the clinked glasses in celebration.
conference today to discuss next The euphoria didn’t last. The
steps in Ukraine and how to address Russians retreated across the
the future of the Iran nuclear deal. Dnipro River, a mere 800 metres
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

Drought in Italy Total collapse 33

Waterways at low ebb Turkey’s luxury flats
after a dry winter turned mass grave
Page 35 Page 36

 Nataliya
Shatilova,
the head of
Kherson’s Red
Cross branch:
‘This used to
be a wonderful
tourist city’
PHOTOGRAPH:
CHRISTOPHER CHERRY/
THE GUARDIAN

 A woman uses overcome them would require a added. “There were checkpoints
her late son’s Ukrainian military breakthrough all over the city. We had nothing
pram to carry in the Zaporizhzhia region, like this in Ukraine, even in the
food distributed and then a push into occupied 1990s,” she said. “I have relatives
by aid agencies southern Kherson. For now, in Moscow. Propaganda has
and volunteers commandos conduct plucky raids brainwashed them.”
through the on Russian-controlled islands using The local journalist Iryna
devastated speedboats. Uhvarina said the mood in the city
streets of As the anniversary of Vladimir was overwhelmingly anti-Russian.
Kherson Putin’s full-scale invasion When Russian personnel carriers
PHOTOGRAPH: approaches on Friday, there is and infantry rolled in last March,
NACHO DOCE/REUTERS a sense that neither side can there were large protests in the
decisively win Europe’s biggest main square. Troops allowed these
war since 1945. In the east, the rallies at first but then broke them
Russian war machine grinds up using live rounds and grenades.
slowly forward. Ukraine appears They identified the most active
to be preparing its own mid-spring protesters and later arrested them,
counteroffensive. “With our she said.
current forces we can’t hope to Uhvarina said after her
liberate the country,” one Ukrainian photographer colleague went into
officer admitted. “We have the hiding she learned how to take
people. But we need more western pictures discreetly with her phone.
weapons: tanks and aviation.” Her online newspaper, called
For now, those stuck on the Up, continued to appear. Post-
wrong side of the river live in a liberation Russian shelling was
state of fear and terror. Last week remorseless, she said, and anyone
Russian troops grabbed one of who walked along the river could
Savchenko’s friends from the be shot by a sniper. Asked if Ukraine
occupied city of Nova Kakhovka. would win, she teared up: “Yes. But
They arrived at his house in an it will take a lot of blood.”
armoured vehicle, smashing down Nataliya Shatilova, the head
away. Ever since they have been building has been hit three times. the fence, and took him away. of the city’s Red Cross branch,
bombarding Kherson from the A volunteer and mother of two, A neighbour found blood in the said Kherson was being slowly
opposite bank. At first they hit the Victoria Yaryshko, was killed in kitchen. The Russian methods strangled. “This used to be a
city according to a rough timetable: December by a shell as she handed seen in Kherson – torture, rape and wonderful tourist city,” she said.
mornings and afternoons. Now out bread. An elderly man died too. execution – continue elsewhere. “Now we can’t swim in the Dnipro
they bomb it all the time. Nobody “We’ve learned to distinguish During their takeover, Kherson’s River or collect mushrooms in
can predict when the next shell will between their artillery and ours,” Moscow overlords tried to create the forest because of mines.” Her
fall, or where. Or on whom. Savchenko said. “If it’s outgoing my Russkiy mir, the Kremlin’s term organisation delivered medicines
Last weekend bombs landed cat stays asleep. When it’s Russian for Russian cultural space. They and hygiene products to patients
on the railway line, residential she gets up and hides downstairs.” flew the Russian flag over civic so they didn’t have to congregate in
buildings and a warehouse. One About 60,000 people from a pre- buildings, played patriotic Soviet- the open, she added.
guard was killed and several invasion population of 300,000 era songs, and erected billboards Savchenko, meanwhile, said
people injured. Another projectile remain in Kherson, a majority of with the slogan: “Russia and he had no intention of leaving
hit the Soviet-era cinema and them pensioners. The city’s fate Ukraine – one people.” One poster Kherson, however bad the
theatre, where Savchenko once resembles that of Kharkiv, the had a distinctly fascist flavour, bombardment got. He looked
saw a promising young comedian – north-eastern metropolis grimly residents said. It showed a pregnant after three houses and four flats
Volodymyr Zelenskiy – perform. pummelled by Russian field guns woman and a Russian tricolour belonging to friends who had
Close to Savchenko’s home a for much of last year. with the words “Maternal capital”. gone. He and his neighbour Sergii
large, lime green cuddly toy marks Savchenko said he preferred The occupiers launched a Gnatkovskyi, a former naval
the spot where a child died while freedom with missiles to harsh campaign to win over hearts and captain, sent their own families out
walking along the road. In recent foreign rule, when eight Chechen minds. They promised pension of the city because of the risk.
months many families have left. soldiers lived around the corner handouts of 10,000 roubles a Gnatkovskyi was sceptical
The exodus sped up after 10 people ‘We’ve learned to in Crimea Street in a comfy white month – paying these only twice Moscow would be able to prevail.
were killed on Christmas Eve while
out shopping in the central market,
distinguish between villa visible from his balcony. They
parked an armoured personnel
– as well as social benefits for new
mothers, and for parents who
“Something will change over
there. There will be a coup, or
and dozens hurt. The children’s their artillery and carrier in front of his garden, enrolled their children in Russian a revolution,” he predicted,
hospital and maternity unit have
repeatedly come under fire.
ours. If it’s outgoing and patrolled in a Jeep with a
blue flashing light. There is little
curriculum schools. “I wanted
nothing to do with them,” Dima
standing in front of his house, its
windows smashed by shrapnel.
The Russians can surveil the city my cat stays asleep’ prospect the Ukrainian army will Shvets, 73, said. “But some took Savchenko said there could be no
by flying drones above their side of be able to evict the Russians any the cash. They were disappointed reconciliation with Russia. “They
the river. But after spending most Vitaliy Savchenko time soon. They have built two when the Russians went.” have become addicted to imperial
of 2022 in Kherson they can plot Kherson resident large defensive trenches on the “It was a nightmare,” Ludmila nostalgia. If you live in the past you
everything on a map. The Red Cross riverbank, six miles apart. To Gordeeva, a building engineer, get stuck there.”
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

34 World
▼ Naturist residents were wrong to
insist on nudism in communal areas,
Spain’s supreme court ruled
PHOTOGRAPH: NANO CALVO/ALAMY

China declares ‘decisive

nudism had been distressing to those
who did not wish to practise them.
“A climate was created that was

victory’ over coronavirus unbearable for the complainants

and many other neighbours, who
were hounded, coerced and discrim-

amid doubt over figures inated against solely because they

did not practise nudism,” the judges
said. “Their holiday homes had gone
from being a place of rest to a place
with a wave of the Omicron variant. of suffering.”
Amy Hawkins But there are many other indicators The supreme court ruled the
Senior China correspondent that suggest the virus has ripped lower courts had been incorrect to
through China since December, caus- reject the earlier complaints after
The Chinese government has ing a higher number of illnesses and concluding that the community
declared a “decisive victory” in the deaths than official data suggests. statutes requiring naturism to be
battle against Covid-19, claiming it Chinese authorities count only observed in communal areas had
had created “a miracle in the history Covid deaths that happen in hospi- been approved unanimously. The
of human civilisation” in success- tals, an approach the World Health judges said: “A simple reading of the
fully steering the country through
the pandemic.
Organization says underestimates
the true toll. There have been reports Enforced nudity and wrong to hire security guards to
police access to its swimming pool.
minutes of the community meeting
clearly proves that the said statutes
The comments were made at a of doctors pressured to leave Covid The decision came after eight were not approved, and that that
meeting presided over by the pres- off death certificates, and mass test- policy at Spanish people in the development in the question was not addressed in ear-
ident, Xi Jinping, on Thursday. ing has largely been abandoned. The Andalucían province of Almería took lier proceedings.”
The government said more than
200 million people had been treated
number of daily tests dropped from
150m on 9 December to 280,000 on
holiday complex legal action, claiming the nudity pol-
icy violated their basic rights.
The judges noted that the facts
of the case went far beyond “mere
for Covid and that China’s death rate
was “the lowest level in the world”.
23 January. “We still don’t know how
many were infected and how many
‘unbearable’ After their case was dismissed by
regional courts, they decided to take
dialectical debate” and had involved
the imposition of rules that gravely
China’s National Health Com- died at home,” said Prof Jin Dong- it to the supreme court, which even- violated fundamental rights.
mission stopped publishing data on Yan, a virologist at the University of tually found in their favour. The court granted the appeal,
Covid cases and deaths on 25 Decem- Hong Kong. Sam Jones Although some residents had sug- noting the rules had violated the
ber, after the government suddenly Using modelling based on the age Madrid gested that their community had complainants’ rights to privacy and
lifted the draconian zero-Covid pol- distribution and vaccination rates in been born with “a strong naturist- freedom of movement, as well as
icies that had restricted movement China, Zhanwei Du and Lauren Ancel Spain’s supreme court has ruled that nudist vocation” and that nudity was discriminating against their thoughts
in the country for almost three years. Meyers, of the University of Texas in a group of naturist property owners “indispensable” in communal areas, and ideas. The court ordered the com-
On 9 February it said 83,150 people Austin, estimate 1.5 million people at a holiday home development was such as the pool and the gardens, plainants be paid €1,000 (£890) each
had died from Covid, an unusually died from Covid between 16 Decem- wrong to insist communal areas could the judges disagreed. They found in compensation for the pain and
low rate for a country grappling ber and 19 January. be used only by naked residents, that pressure to follow the rules on suffering they had experienced.
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

World 35

 The winter water level on Lake

Garda is the lowest in 35 years. Some
Venice canals, below, have dried up
PHOTOGRAPHS: ALAMY

heatwave, the valley experienced

droughts in 2007, 2012 and 2017, and
scientists say their growing preva-
lence is a further indication of the
climate crisis.
Coldiretti, Italy’s biggest farmers’
association, said the 2022 drought
caused €6bn (£5.4bn) worth of dam-
age to agricultural produce. It warned
that a third of production was at risk
this year unless another long and
severe drought was averted.
Alessandro Bratti, the president of
the Po basin authority, said the situa-
tion was most extreme in Piedmont
and Lombardy, while in Trentino the
issue was affecting the production of
hydroelectric power.
“If you have no water you cannot
produce energy, so this is another
problem,” Bratti said. “It is very criti-
cal because it hasn’t snowed or rained
during this period and the forecast
says it will stay this way.”
With the Po’s level so low, an
additional problem is that sea water
encroaches further up the river, filling
aquifers and making them unusable
for irrigating farmland. “Last year sea
water entered for almost 40km [25
miles], which also causes a problem
for drinking water as you need to use
desalinators,” said Bratti.
Last summer the Italian govern-

Italy faces another

ment, which at the time was led by
Mario Draghi, released €36.5m of
funds to help the areas affected by
the drought. The move also allowed

severe drought after local authorities to bypass the usual

bureaucracy and take immedi-
ate action, such as imposing water

little rain or snowfall

rationing measures.
Although the measures were coor-
dinated by the Po basin authority, it
currently only has the authority to
advise – for example, by suggesting
dried up the lagoon city’s canals, ways for farmers to use less water –
Angela Giuffrida leaving gondolas stranded. but not the power to establish orders.
Rome Italy’s national research council “There are many entities involved
(CNR) said rainfall in the north and the protocol at the moment is vol-
Italy’s rivers and lakes are facing was down 40% in 2022 and that untary,” said Bratti. “There needs to
another year of severe drought after the absence of precipitation since be a law that gives the basin author-
a winter of little rain and snowfall, the beginning of the year ha d ity the power to work out the problem
raising the alarm on the implications been significant. the zero gauge, turning the river- rainfall in April and May can compen- and decide what to do. It could be tell-
for farming, hydropower and access In particular, the Po, which banks into beaches – a phenomenon sate – it’s the last hope. If we have no ing farmers to stop drawing water for
to drinking water. stretches from the Alps in the north- usually seen in summer. spring rain for two consecutive years a month or stopping hydroelectric
Vast areas of the Po – the coun- west and flows through the Po delta “Nothing has changed since 2022,” then it would be the first time this has power for a week.”
try’s longest river, which nourishes before reaching the Adriatic, faces said Luca Mercalli, the president of ever happened.” He said the funds issued by Draghi’s
several northern and central regions – a repeat of last year’s drought – the the Italian Meteorological Society. The Po also flows through Emilia- government were still in place, but
are already parched, while the water worst to affect the waterway in seven “We are still in a situation of deficit Romagna and Veneto, one of the projects to tackle drought situations
level on Lake Garda is the lowest dur- decades – unless rain arrives in the … let’s wait for the spring, which is most important agricultural zones had been slow to progress since the
ing winter in 35 years. Unusually spring. In the Pavia area of the Po val- usually the rainiest period for the Po in Europe. Along with 2022, dur- new government, led by Giorgia
lower water levels in Venice have ley the water level is 3 metres below valley. There is a good possibility that ing which there was a protracted Meloni, came to power in October.

Madrid protests against plan to appeals have been lodged to try to

halt the works, which have already
begun, and a demonstration has been
“The people who are grandpar-
ents now took their children there
and now they take their grandchil-
don’t understand this barbaric idea –
there’s no other word for it.”
Ecologists in Action said the metro
cut down trees for metro project called for 12.30pm today in Madrid
Río. By yesterday afternoon, more
dren there,” she said. “But it’s a really
popular park that’s used not only by
works would represent “one of the
greatest arboricides” in Madrid’s
than 50,000 people had also signed people from Arganzuela, but also by recent history.
city centre, it has now decided that a petition to save the trees. people from all over Madrid. We just Madrid city council referred
Sam Jones the stations will be located in the old “By putting the station inside the inquiries to the regional government,
Madrid Arganzuela section of the Madrid Río park, they’ll have to cut down more which is leading the metro extension.
park and in the nearby Comillas park. than 500 trees in the Madrid Río park, The regional government did not
Thousands of people are due to According to the new plan, the which includes what was the historic respond to the Guardian’s questions.
gather in Madrid today to protest construction work will involve cut- Arganzuela park, which was planted Earlier this week, however,
against “barbaric” plans to cut down ting down 1,027 trees, some of which in 1969,” said Susana de la Higuera of Madrid’s mayor, José Luis Martínez-
more than 1,000 trees in two popular are more than 50 years old – and mov- the Pasillo Verde Imperial neighbour- Almeida, said “not a single tree would
parks to make way for an extension ing another 348. hood association. be lost” as the law meant that the
of the city’s metro system. News of the altered project has De la Higuera said the loss of the 1,027 felled trees would be replaced
Although the regional government drawn a furious response from a large London plane trees, which pro- by almost 20,000 new ones.
of Madrid had originally planned to coalition of neighbourhood groups vide much needed shade during the But such words have done little to
build two new stations on line 11 of and from the environmental NGO merciless Madrid summer, would be ▲ Under the plan 1,027 trees would placate those who will feel the loss of
the metro in streets south-west of the Ecologists in Action. Two separate devastating for the community. be cut down in two popular parks the trees most keenly.
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

36 World
Earthquake

Heaven into hell

How did a luxury
‘quake-safe’ block
in Turkey become
a mass grave?
strong the earthquake was,” he
Ruth Michaelson said, standing in the olive grove
Deniz Barış Narlı Antakya that once wrapped the base of the

A
Renaissance, where families had
week after the camped out for more than a week
deadly earthquake waiting for rescue workers to pull
was supposed to relatives’ bodies from the rubble.
be Sercan’s third When Ata arrived, he tried to
birthday. The little comb through the rubble to find
boy, who loved Serkan and his family, surrounded
Mickey Mouse, was due to celebrate by a cacophony of anguished
with his parents at their apartment screams from relatives searching
in the upscale Renaissance building for their loved ones in the dust and
in Antakya. None of them knew concrete of a building that once
when they went to bed one Sunday advertised itself as safe.
night that Sercan would never “Every step I took I heard
see his third birthday, even amid people crying out for help. But
mounting questions about the the Renaissance was almost 250
safety of their building above an apartments, and I couldn’t tell
active earthquake zone. how to locate [Serkan’s] floor, so
When the first of two deadly I couldn’t see where I should call
earthquakes struck shortly out to see if he was still alive or not,
after 4am the next morning, the if he needed my help. The whole
Renaissance and its 249 apartments thing had completely collapsed and
became a mass grave. The building I couldn’t enter,” he said. country. At least 110 other building
ripped clear from its foundations The Renaissance, according to contractors and developers were
before all 12 storeys tipped forward what one former resident wrote arrested in Turkey, some accused
and the apartment block collapsed in its guestbook, was supposed to of “reckless manslaughter and
on to its face. be a “corner of heaven”. A luxury building code violations”.
The Koşar family – Sercan, his block built in 2013 on the outskirts Coşkun told prosecutors in his
mother, Selcan, and father, Serkan – of the city of Antakya in Turkey’s statement that he didn’t know why
were entombed in the rubble. Their southern Hatay province, it the Renaissance collapsed, and
bodies were so badly burned that included apartments that sold for that he had followed all required
family in the nearby town of Ekinci up to £132,000, highly expensive regulations during the construction
are still awaiting the results of a for the area. It had a swimming process. “There were no problems
DNA test to confirm their identities pool, cafes and sports grounds, during its two-year construction,
before they can organise a funeral. and its occupants were Hatay’s which was finished without
Serkan’s brother, Ata, was cosmopolitan middle class: a incident. The building was in use
woken by the violent tremors physics professor, professional for 10 years, and there were no
across a nearby highway from the athletes, a luxury building problems during this time,” he said. The luxury complex
Renaissance at the two-floor family contractor. Serkan and Selcan had The Turkish president, Recep before the quake
home where he had opted to live just started their own business Tayyip Erdoğan, swept to power
fearing an earthquake as violent importing spices and making in 2003 promising a construction
as the 7.8 magnitude quake that sauces according to local Hatay boom to rebuild the country
had destroyed swathes of southern recipes, that had begun to take off. following the 1999 earthquake that
Turkey and northern Syria. He The Renaissance’s destruction killed more than 17,000 people.
rushed to the Renaissance. quickly came to embody the He has rebuffed suggestions
“On the way there, I started to tension between the Turkish of institutional corruption in
realise that the roads were blocked authorities and the public following Turkey’s construction sector, yet
in some places by collapsed the deadly earthquakes that a month before local elections
buildings. I started to realise how led to the collapse of thousands in March 2019, his government
of buildings across the south instituted a nationwide building
of the country. While the state amnesty on illegal construction,
PHOTOGRAPH: TOM NICHOLSON/GUARDIAN

has blamed corruption among including contractors that had

individual developers and building added unregistered additional
contractors, furious relatives of the floors to buildings, despite local
more than 36,000 dead in Turkey architects and engineers flagging
say a broader system enabled the safety concerns.
corrupt building practices that “Ninety-eight percent of the
caused the apartment block to fall. collapsed buildings were built
Less than a week after the before 1999,” Erdoğan declared
Renaissance’s collapse, its a week after the deadly twin The 12-storey building
▲ People mourn as they attend developer, Mehmet Yaşar Coşkun, earthquakes, triggered by Turkey’s shown after the quake
Friday prayers yesterday at a shelter was arrested in Istanbul airport, place above at least two fault
tent camp in the city of Antakya accused of trying to flee the lines. He also promised swift
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

37

 Journalists
‘This does not end protest against
with catching the the arrests
in Tunis on
contractor … Those Thursday. They
who gave approvals demanded the
release of the
need to be caught’ head of a private
radio station
İlyas Çetin PHOTOGRAPH: YASSINE
GAIDI/ANADOLU/GETTY
Brother of earthquake victim

Like many of those living there,

the young couple with their infant
son chose to live in the Renaissance
because they believed it was safe.
“This building was advertised

Alarm in
as one of the strongest in Antakya, mainly critics of Saied, who in 2021
which is why the people living here sacked the government, froze parlia-
were from a certain economic and ment and seized almost total power
social class,” said Serkan’s brother
Ata. “They chose it for its safety, it Tunisia as in moves rivals have called a coup.
The US, UN, Germany and others
was the most expensive building in have also signalled their concern over
the area.”
Serkan invited their father, a
10 critics of the latest blow to the fragile demo-
cratic gains made in the birthplace
retired building contractor, to
inspect the apartment when he
and Selcan moved in a year and a
president of the Arab spring, where protests in
2011 ousted its autocratic leader Zine
al-Abidine Ben Ali.
half ago. “My father told him it’s
dangerous and you shouldn’t move
arrested In a statement this week the UN
commissioner for human rights,
in here. But my brother didn’t Volker Türk, expressed concern over
listen,” said Ata, his voice breaking. the conspiratorial nature of many
“He told him it’s a safe building, it Simon Speakman Cordall of the accusations against those
has a Japanese anti-shock system to Tunis arrested, including involvement in
make it earthquake proof.” plots against the state.
He pointed to the tower blocks Rights groups have expressed grave On Thursday members of the SNJT
that dotted the area around İnönü alarm at a crackdown on opposition journalists’ union demonstrated
boulevard where the Renaissance figures and the media in Tunisia, against the arrests in Tunis and called
had stood. “Look, none of those where 10 public figures have been for the release of Noureddine Bou-
apartment blocks collapsed, just arrested since last Saturday as Presi- tar, the director general of the private
the Renaissance,” he said. dent Kais Saied seemingly moves to radio station Mosaïque FM.
Other families who gathered in stamp out dissent. “The authorities want to bring both
front of the vast concrete skeleton “We’re witnessing the increasing private and public media into line,
of the Renaissance said that repression of dissent in Tunisia,” said and [Boutar’s] arrest is an attempt
Coşkun’s arrest was insufficient. Amna Guellali, Amnesty Internation- to intimidate the whole sector,” the
“The process does not end with al’s deputy director for the Middle SNJT’s director, Mahdi Jlassi, said.
reconstruction beginning less than ▲ Ata Koşar, catching the contractor… But who East and north Africa. “Saied is using According to Boutar’s lawyers,
a month after the quakes. 42, next to the gave that contractor the authority? all the resources of the state to sig- police questioning focused on the sta-
Former Renaissance residents, rubble that was Those who give the approvals for nal his absolutist agenda. Anyone tion’s editorial policy, rather than the
however, said they had sounded the Renaissance this construction, they need to be who opposes him, either politically suspicion of any legal wrongdoing.
the alarm that the building was block, in which followed and caught,” said İlyas or in the media, is at risk in this witch- Saied has hit back at the criticism,
unsafe long before the earthquakes his brother, Çetin, who with his two brothers hunt,” said Guellali, who is based in saying in a video posted on the presi-
struck. “I told the building sister-in-law had come to camp outside the Tunisia’s capital, Tunis. dency’s Facebook page on Thursday:
manager that I was scared, that the and two-year- Renaissance in an effort to find Those arrested in the past week “Has a single newspaper been shut
foundations of the buildings were old nephew died the corpse of their fourth brother, include a prominent businessman, down? Has a single programme been
slipping – he laughed at me,” Zekiye PHOTOGRAPH: TOM Cevdet, who had moved to the the director of a popular private radio banned? Has a single journalist been
Barutçu Yiğitbaşı told Demirören NICHOLSON/GUARDIAN Renaissance temporarily while he station and members of the Islam- prosecuted for anything relating to
news agency, saying she moved out took a job in the area. ist-inspired Ennahda party. They are journalism?”
after seeing a large crack on a wall Their brother İbrahim agreed.
in her hallway. “Who poured this cement, who
“I warned them for days, and
afterwards the same building
prepared and brought it here?
They must be found. Who are Child among 18 Thirty-four people, including five
children, were rushed to hospitals in
manager told me it was sorted out. the certificate issuers for these Sofia and some were in a critical but
When I asked how they rectified the buildings? They must also be found dead in stable condition, said the health min-
problem he told me that engineers found,” he said. ister, Asen Medzhidiev.
had assessed the building ... I told
this to my neighbours but they
“There is a chain of responsi-
bility in the construction process,
truck in Bulgaria “There has been a lack of oxygen to
those who were locked in this truck.
didn’t care,” she said. “This corner including those in local and central They were freezing, wet, they have
of heaven became a corner of hell.” ▼ Cevdet Çetin, government,” said Eyüp Muhcu, gen- not eaten for several days,” Medzhi-
A thousand people were who was living eral secretary of Turkey’s Chamber Reuters diev told reporters.
estimated to be inside the building in the block, on of Architects. “People are being used Sofia Police were seeking to identify the
at the time of its collapse. More the phone of one as scapegoats so that those who are truck’s drivers, who had fled, accord-
than a week later, families of his brothers responsible are not held accountable. Three people have been detained ing to the interior ministry.
stood ready to show pictures of The duties of everyone involved in after at least 18 people, including a Bulgaria is situated on a route
their loved ones to emergency the construction of a building should child, were found dead in Bulgaria used by migrants from the Middle
workers in the hope of identifying be examined and legally assessed.” in an abandoned truck near the cap- East and Afghanistan to enter the
relatives’ crushed and charred But those families like the Koşars ital, Sofia, officials said. EU, often using elaborate networks
bodies. Corpses pulled from
the rubble without a relative
present to identify them risked
being buried quickly owing to
and Çetins who gathered at the foot
of the Renaissance said that arrest-
ing one contractor would do little to
assuage their grief.
34
Number of
The truck was transporting timber
and carrying illegal migrants hidden
in a compartment, the country’s inte-
rior ministry said yesterday, adding
of smugglers.
In 2015, three Bulgarian truck driv-
ers were arrested and later charged
with the deaths of 71 people found
their decomposition, forcing “I’m waiting here for my brother people rushed that the truck was found near the vil- dead beside an Austrian motorway.
families to have them exhumed right now,” said İlyas. “I can give the to hospitals in lage of Lokorsko. In December, Bulgaria was blocked
for identification. Other families contractor 100,000 lira (£4,438). Sofia after being Borislav Sarafov, Bulgaria’s inves- from entering the EU’s passport-free
expressed relief that they could Could he bring my brother back? I’m found freezing tigation service chief, said yesterday Schengen area by Austria and the
find loved ones’ intact corpses, willing to pay, no punishment for him and wet in the the three people had been detained Netherlands over security and rule-
making them easier to identify. even. Give me my brother back.” airless truck but not yet charged. of-law concerns.
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

38 World

Taliban restrict sale of

Shabnam Nasimi, an Afghanistan-
born social activist in the UK, said:
“The Taliban’s control not only over
women’s human right to work and
contraceptives, citing study, but now also over their bod-
ies, is outrageous.
“It is a fundamental human right
malign western agenda to have access to family planning and
contraception services free of coer-
cion. Such autonomy and agency are
essential components of women’s
concept of controlling population rights such as the right to equal-
Haroon Janjua and this is unnecessary work.” ity, non-discrimination, life, sexual
It is the latest attack on women’s health, reproductive health and other
rights by the Taliban who, since com- basic human rights.”
The Taliban have stopped the sale ing back to power in August 2021, Even before the Taliban came to
of contraceptives in two of Afghani- have ended higher education for power, a 2021 Human Rights Watch
stan’s main cities, claiming their use girls, closed universities to young report said the most basic informa-
by women is a western conspiracy to women, forced women out of their tion on maternal health and family
control the Muslim population. jobs and restricted their ability to planning was not available to most
The Guardian has learned that leave their homes. For Zainab, 17, who was married ▲ Taliban fighters have ordered Afghan women.
fighters have been going door to door, Restricting contraceptives will be two years ago in the northern city of pharmacies in Kabul to clear their Nasimi said: “It is well established
threatening midwives and ordering a significant blow in a country with Mazar-i-Sharif, the ban on contracep- shelves of birth control products that the Qur’an does not prohibit the
pharmacies to clear shelves of all an already fragile healthcare system. tives was a shock when she was told PHOTOGRAPH: REUTERS/ALAMY use of contraception, nor does it for-
birth control medicines and devices. One in every 14 Afghan women dies of by her midwife last week. bid couples from having control over
“They came to my store twice with causes related to pregnancy and it is Zainab, who has an 18-month-old their pregnancies or the number of
guns and threatened me not to keep one of the most dangerous countries daughter, is worried. “I was secretly ‘The Taliban’s control children they want to have. The Tal-
contraceptive pills for sale,” said one
store owner in the city. “They are reg-
in the world in which to give birth.
The Taliban’s ministry of public
using contraceptives to avoid imme-
diate pregnancy. I want to raise my
over women’s human iban have no right to restrict access
to contraception based on their own
ularly checking every pharmacy in health has not issued any official daughter well with proper health and right to work and interpretation of Islam.”
Kabul and we have stopped selling
the products.”
statement on the issue and the UN
population fund (UNFPA) represent-
education facilities but it shattered
my dreams when the midwife last
study, and now their However, Ustad Faridoon, a Tali-
ban spokesman based in Kandahar,
A veteran midwife, who did not ative in Afghanistan did not respond week informed me that she had no bodies, is outrageous’ told the Guardian he did not support
want to be named, said she had to requests for comment. contraceptive pills and injections to a total ban.
been threatened several times. She Taliban fighters patrolling the offer me. I left education to get mar- Some reproductive rights experts
said she was told by a Taliban com- streets in Kabul told sources that ried and I don’t want my daughter’s in Afghanistan contacted by the
mander: “You are not allowed to go “contraceptive use and family plan- fate to be the same as mine. I seek Shabnam Nasimi Guardian were not willing to com-
outside and promote the western ning is a western agenda”. a different future for my daughter”. Social activist ment owing to security concerns.

Applications for our 2023

Positive Action Scheme are now live!
The Guardian and Observer believe there should be a better representation of our diverse society in the media,
and each summer we offer placements for two weeks for those aiming to start a career in journalism.

How it works
We offer placements to individuals from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds and to
people with disabilities considering a career in journalism.
Successful applicants will learn about different aspects of the profession - gaining an insight into the
workings of a number of sections across the newspaper, website and multimedia departments. You’ll also
have an experienced journalist as a mentor to offer careers advice.

Criteria
To be considered for a placement you must be at least 18, with the right to work or train in the UK and be able
to demonstrate a genuine interest in journalism – for example, serious involvement in student journalism,
work experience on local/specialist media, or an impressive personal website or blog.
The aim of this London-based scheme is to introduce aspiring journalists to an editorial environment. For
this reason we regret that professional journalists are not eligible to apply for these placements. Those who
have received a previous placement at GNM are not eligible.
For applicants who have no access to accommodation in London, the Sarah Hughes Trust has kindly offered
to provide a small number of grants. If you'd like to be considered for one of these, please add a note at the
end of your covering letter.
Note: if, by the summer, there are new pandemic-related restrictions on office working, it may be necessary to
modify or postpone this year’s scheme.

The Schemes
BAME - All Editorial BAME - Business and Consumer Journalism
BAME - Podcasting and Audio Storytelling BAME - Photography and Photojournalism
BAME - Sports Journalism People with disabilities – All Editorial

Deadline for receipt of applications is midnight on Monday 27th March 2023.

To apply, please visit workforus.theguardian.com/entry-level-opportunities
We're committed to providing reasonable adjustments for individuals with disabilities in the job application process.
If you require an adjustment due to a disability, please email [email protected]
*Positive action is covered by section 158 of the Equality Act 2010
We value and respect all differences (seen and unseen) in all people at the Guardian. We aspire to have inclusive working experiences and an environment that
reflects the audience we serve, where our people have equal access to career development opportunities, their voices are heard and can contribute to our future.
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

39

FTSE 100 All share Dow Indl Nikkei 225 £/€ £/$
-8.17 - 7.04 -71.81 -183.31 1.1252 1.1999
8004.36 4370.32 33625.04 27513.13 -0.0002 -0.0013

Anger at NatWest pay rises Top Chinese

powerful windfall tax on the excess
profits of the big banks. Like the
energy companies, the greed of the
big banks is fuelling the cost of living
tech banker
as customers feel the pinch
crisis. It is time the government held
the big business interests that profit
while everyone else pays the price to
account,” Graham added.
goes missing
support the public, who bailed it out those who educate, transport and
The NatWest chairman, Howard
Davies, defended the bank’s pay deci-
sions. He said the bank was paying its
raising fears
Kalyeena Makortoff
Banking correspondent
just 15 years ago, and who are now
footing the bill of the higher inter-
care for the public are forced on to
picket lines for fair wages.”
executives less than some of its peers.
Natwest confirmed that Rose’s
of new purge
est rates boosting those very same She said the government should pay was the second highest only to
NatWest has been accused of profits,” said Fran Boait, the execu- reconsider plans to lift the cap on the £7.7m package paid in 2006 to
“unjust” profiteering as it handed its tive director at the campaign group banker bonuses and heed calls for a Goodwin, whose spending on con-
boss, Alison Rose, a £5.2m pay pack- Positive Money. windfall tax. troversial acquisitions, private jets Amy Hawkins
age and upped its bonus pool, after “It is completely unjust that bank- Unite’s general secretary, Sharon and new headquarters was criticised
the bailed out lender made its big- ers who create only more wealth for Graham, said the pay and profits for crippling RBS and contributing to
gest profit since 2007 on the back of the already rich get pay boosts while being reported by banks such as Nat- its £45bn government bailout during A billionaire Chinese dealmaker has
higher mortgage costs for customers. West were “offensive” in light of pay the banking crisis in 2008. gone missing, plunging one of the

£5.2m
The bank – which is still 44% disputes with public sector workers. Despite the rise in profits NatWest’s country’s leading investment banks
owned by the taxpayer – revealed yes- “Ministers are insisting NHS work- shares were down 6.6% yesterday into turmoil.
terday that Rose’s pay had soared by ers take another savage pay cut while afternoon as the bank warned of Bao Fan, the founder and execu-
46% from £3.6m a year earlier, partly The pay package given to the their big City banker friends are uncertainty ahead. Investors fear an tive director of China Renaissance,
because of the higher value of shares NatWest CEO, Alison Rose, as it given carte blanche to make billions. economic slowdown paired with a is a major figure in the Chinese tech
doled out as part of her long-term made its biggest profit since 2007 “Rishi Sunak needs to put a real slower pace of interest rate increases industry and has played an impor-
incentive plan. tant role in the emergence of a string
PHOTOGRAPH: HOLLIE ADAMS/BLOOMBERG/GETTY

Rose also received a cash bonus of large domestic internet startups.

– worth about £326,500 – the first Shares in China Renaissance
paid to a NatWest chief executive slumped after it announced to the
since 2007, when the lender was still Hong Kong stock exchange on Thurs-
known as Royal Bank of Scotland. She day that it had been unable to contact
is now the bank’s second highest paid Bao, without giving further details.
chief executive, after the disgraced The stock plunged 50% at one
former CEO Fred Goodwin. point after the statement, before
It came as NatWest increased clawing back to about 30% down.
the total bonus pool for its bankers According to the financial news
to £367m from £298m a year ear- outlet Caixin, the 52-year-old had
lier, after making bumper profits of been unreachable since Thursday.
£5.1bn in 2022, up 33%, and the high- The executive committee of China
est since 2007, when profits hit £10bn. Renaissance told employees not to
The rise in profits last year was partly worry in a message yesterday morn-
a result of a sector-wide rise in loan ing. “[We] believe that everyone has
and mortgage costs, exacerbating the had a restless night. At this time, [we]
cost of living crisis for borrowers. hope that you do not believe in or
Campaigners said bankers were spread rumours,” the message said,
unfairly reaping the benefits of ris- according to the Wall Street Journal.
ing interest rates, while taxpayers Bao’s disappearance is raising
had yet to recoup the £45bn used to concerns over a possible renewed
rescue the lender, and public sector crackdown on China’s finance indus-
workers were being denied fair pay. try as the country’s president, Xi
“NatWest is using bumper prof- Jinping, persists in his longstanding
its to deepen its bonus pool, not to campaign against corruption.
At least six billionaires have been
 Alison Rose’s pay is 46% up from cowed under Xi, including Jack Ma,
the £3.6m she received a year earlier. the founder of the e-commerce giant
NatWest made £5.1bn profit in 2022 Alibaba, who disappeared for three
months in 2020 after criticising
market regulators.

Asda and the and stripy straps – in 300 stores from

the end of February and the Co-op’s
version will appear next month. Each
reusable supermarket “bag for life”
has also not provided the environ-
mental solution that had been hoped
– such as hemp and plastic – which
are difficult to recycle.
“We can do it better,” Hindmarch,
Willer Chen, a senior analyst at
Forsyth Barr Asia, told Bloomberg the
executive’s absence “could be a long-
Co-op to carry brand will sell the “universal bag” in
their signature colour.
for. A number of food retailers pulled
the 10p bags from their stores in 2021
whose designs are favoured by the
Princess of Wales, told the Guard-
term overhang on the stock, given
Bao is the key man for the company”.
‘universal bags’ The accessories designer’s two
latest partnerships with retailers
after learning that most ended up in
the bin, with the average household
ian. “There are something like 8bn
tonnes of plastic on the planet and
Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson
for China’s foreign ministry, said he

by Hindmarch follow deals with Sainsbury’s, Wait-

rose and Selfridges in the UK before
getting through about 50 a year.
Some more expensive bags are
that is really shocking.
“You have got to keep pushing
was “not aware of the relevant infor-
mation” when asked about Bao’s
Christmas, as well as City Super in made from a mixture of materials and talking about it. People need to disappearance.
Hong Kong. be aware that you can’t carry on buy-
Billed as “the next generation The fully recyclable totes ing something, using it for 10 minutes
Sarah Butler reusable shopping bag”, they can be can be reused for 10 years and chucking it in landfill.
reused for up to a decade. “There is nothing better than using
The new designs are a response the bag you already have,” she says,
She first made reusable shopping to evidence that, while distribution but the “universal bag” is designed
bags chic 16 years ago and now Anya of single-use plastic bags fell 95% in to be desirable, useful and durable
Hindmarch is teaming up with the the main supermarkets between 2015 enough to be reused for 10 years.
Co-op and Asda in the latest step of and 2020, nearly half a billion were In contrast to her £5 cotton “I’m not
a plan to put fully recyclable plastic sold from 2020 to 2021 – five years a plastic bag” tote – of which 80,000
bags into every supermarket. after a government levy on carrier were sold for charity in 12 hours back
Asda will begin stocking the bag – bags was introduced. in 2007 – the new £10 bags are made ▲ Bao Fan’s disappearance caused
a large tote that features a smiley face The stronger and supposedly entirely from recycled plastic. turmoil at China Renaissance
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

40 Business

skills to humans. Advances in AI the same effects, but with one key
Analysis – symbolised by ChatGPT – shows difference. Left unchecked, owners
that machines can now have a of the new machines will make
Larry Elliott decent stab at doing the creative enormous sums of money out of
stuff as well. their innovations. Capital’s share
ChatGPT is a machine that can of income will rise at the expense

AI will bring a fourth industrial

write intelligently. Asked to come of labour. There will be a hollowing
up with a version of Abraham out of some sectors of the economy
Lincoln’s Gettysburg address in but there will be employment

revolution – policymakers must

the style of Donald Trump, it will growth in others.
search the web for suitable source The difference this time is that
material and generate original the jobs most at risk will be white-

act with care as well as speed

content. collar and middle-class, while
Launched by the San Francisco- many of the jobs created may be
based research laboratory OpenAI of the low-paid, dead-end variety.

T
in November last year, ChatGPT As Shukla noted in Davos, the days
he machines are Shukla said at the recent World notched up its 100 millionth user of humans processing mortgage
coming and they Economic Forum in Davos: “People in 60 days. By contrast, it took applications are already numbered.
will eat your job. keep saying AI is coming, but it is Facebook two years to reach the ▲ An Iranian drone designed to There are ways of dealing with
That’s been a already here.” same milestone. deliver parcels takes a flight test some of these issues. Governments
familiar refrain Developments in machine Other new products will follow. could invest more in education and
down the years, learning and robotics have been The number of AI patents increased training, so that workers have the
stretching back to the Luddites moving on rapidly while the world 30-fold between 2015 and 2021, skills they need to make a decent
in the early 19th century. In the has been preoccupied by the according to a report from Stanford living. They might explore ways
past, step-changes in technology pandemic, inflation and war. AI University in California. Robots of spreading the gains from the
have replaced low-paid jobs stands to be to the fourth industrial are becoming cheaper and more The jobs most at risk new technology. Silicon Valley
with a greater number of higher- revolution – what the spinning sophisticated all the time. will be white-collar and entrepreneurs have been among
paid jobs. This time, with the jenny and the steam engine were History suggests profound the most vocal supporters of a
arrival of artificial intelligence, to the first in the 18th century: a technological change presents middle-class, while universal basic income.
there are those who think it will
be different.
transformative technology that will
fundamentally reshape economies.
significant challenges for many of the new jobs But whatever they do,
policymakers. Each of the three policymakers need to act with care
Politicians know that even in Change will not happen previous industrial revolutions had may be of the low-paid, as well as speed. The economist
the best case, AI will cause huge overnight but, as was the case in a similar initial impact: it hollowed dead-end variety Joseph Schumpeter popularised a
disruption to labour markets, previous industrial revolutions, out jobs across the economy, led phrase to describe how capitalism
but they are fooling themselves it will be painful for the millions to an increase in inequality, and periodically reinvents itself. He
if they think they have years to of workers affected. Previously, resulted in a decline in the share of called it creative destruction, and
come up with a suitable response. machines replaced manual labour, income going to labour. just such a process is in its early
As the tech entrepreneur Mihir leaving jobs that required cognitive AI threatens to have precisely stages right now.

Last
chance

A new year calls for new flavours. That’s why we’ve made our
award-winning newspapers and magazines available for less than
you might think. As well as Feast and Observer Food monthly,
subscribers to our award-winning newspapers and magazines can
now explore key moments from the worlds of culture, politics,
sport and more.

Subscribe before 19 February for up to 42% off the cover price

(that’s just £1.60 per issue).

Scan the QR code to subscribe

or visit theguardian.com/paper-press
Package Newsstand price Subscription rate Limited time offer price Saving
per month per month for 12 months

Every day £84.50 £60.99 £48.79 42%

Six day £69.33 £53.99 £43.19 37%

Weekend £30.33 £24.99 £22.49 25%

Saturday £15.17 £13.99 £12.59 16%

Sunday £15.17 £13.99 £12.59 16%

You can’t put Prices above are monthly. Savings calculated are savings made per month against the retail price.

a price on taste.
But you can get
a 42% discount.
Offer ends Sunday 19 February 2023. Open to UK mainland and NI residents aged 18+. The savings calculation is based upon the
saving made per month against the retail price of all products included in the subscription package. The Guardian and Observer
reserve the right to end this offer at any time. Details correct at the time of printing. For full subscription terms and conditions visit
theguardian.com/subscription/terms.
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

Business 41

 A two-acre forecasting that proportionately

vertical farm the biggest job losses in the next 20
run by AI and years would come in the transport
robots in San sector. Nonetheless, right now,
Francisco. drivers are far from expendable,
Above, robotic and are demanding high salaries
arms weld whether operating HGVs, buses
panels on cars in or trains – even as the first
Žilina, Slovakia autonomous buses are trialled in
MAIN PHOTOGRAPH: Scotland and Milton Keynes.
PLENTY/COVER IMAGES Dreams of robotaxis have yet to
become widespread reality, and
Uber says its London drivers earn
£34 an hour. Pilotless planes are
technically possible, although few
might fancy them after Boeing’s
software disasters with the 737
Max. Transport for London uses
AI to help traffic flow, and train
operators have used simulators or
“digital twins” to check train paths,
platforms and timetables.
Gwyn Topham

The long (robot) arm of AI

Part of the automation drive is
for efficiency. Machine learning Financial services
algorithms are already being Financial services are at greater
deployed on piles of data produced risk of job losses from AI than other
within big factories for “predictive sectors, according to government

From farm to forklift, machine maintenance” – replacing parts

before they fail and potentially
requiring fewer technicians.
forecasts, but experts say this is
partly a matter of catchup. “Other
industries have already made these
But the rapid rise of generative AI cuts,” said Sarah Kocianski, an

learning is shaping our future suggests it will not just be people on

factory lines who will be affected.
Generative AI is already being used
independent fintech consultant.
Banks and wealth managers will
need fewer staff as they automate
to design products faster, test them more of their customer background

T
virtually, and manufacture them checks and will rely more heavily
wo of the world’s across hundreds of acres, including Press, said in a London School much more quickly. Combined with on AI to detect and flag potential
largest tech companies checking whether they need more of Economics study that her innovations such as 3D printing, fraud and money-laundering risks.
unveiled plans for water, fertiliser or herbicide, and organisation could “find news this could lower development costs But these systems will still
artificial-intelligence- whether they are being affected by faster and break news faster” with and would require fewer engineers require human oversight, not only
enhanced search this disease or destroyed by animals. the aid of AI. Media organisations in aerospace, automotive, and to build and programme but also
month, ratcheting Ali Capper, who grows apples are using data analysts to create consumer electronics. One logical to check and sort out problems.
up a tussle for supremacy in the and hops at her family farm on targeted content that generates end point is something like the Star Kalyeena Makortoff
AI space. However, the debut of the border of Herefordshire and higher subscriptions and Trek “replicator”, a bot that designs
Google’s chatbot, Bard, was marred Worcestershire, has invested in advertising revenues. and makes whatever its user desires Retail
by an error that knocked $163bn automated orchard sprayers, to use Jane Barrett, global news editor from a text prompt – without Almost a third of retail jobs could
off parent company Alphabet’s alongside the digital soil mapping in Reuters’ media strategy unit, human involvement. Jasper Jolly be displaced by technology by 2030
share price – showing how crucial she has employed since 2017. told the LSE: “AI will help us get compared with 2017, as automated
investors think AI could be to “Many agri-tech innovations will exactly the right content to the Transport tills, warehouse robotics and
Google’s future. But the increasing help us to be kinder to the farmed right person.” Phillip Inman When the first driverless trains AI-based planning tools come in.
prominence of AI has implications environment as well as more were tested on the tube six The most obvious changes
for every corner of the economy. efficient and profitable,” she said. Manufacturing decades ago they were met with for shoppers are self-checkouts
From retail to transport, here’s how In the face of labour shortages, Manufacturing veterans know all “Robots Take Over” headlines, and and self-scanning systems in
AI promises a wave of change. especially acute since Brexit, too well how automation can sweep transport workers are still regarded supermarkets. Change was super-
farmers hope advances in robotics through an industry. In 2019, the as most vulnerable in the long term, charged by the pandemic, when
Farming will help make sure crops get Office for National Statistics said according to a 2021 report by PwC labour became more expensive.
Monitoring weather patterns, picked on time. Joanna Partridge nearly two-thirds of metalworking for the Department for Business, The advisory firm McKinsey
managing pests and disease, machine operatives were at risk. Energy and Industrial Strategy predicts the number of cashiers
working out irrigation, or even News media may halve between 2017 and 2030
which crops to grow where; many Media companies have embraced  Ali Capper, as these technologies are rolled out.
farmers believe agriculture is fertile machine learning to boost a fruit farmer And technology doesn’t stop at
ground for artificial intelligence. subscriptions and advertising in Suckley, the till. Retailers are experimenting
Many food producers are using and help make decisions about Worcestershire, with robotic or AI-powered
AI to collect and analyse data what stories to promote. News has used digital systems to spot gaps on shelves
to improve productivity and organisations are hiring data soil mapping – with Marks & Spencer trialling a
profitability. scientists on six-figure salaries since 2017, now system that uses fixed cameras.
AI’s capacity for combining and to pull together data to track with automated Others have experimented with
analysing large datasets is already customers and “guide” them orchard Dalek-type machines that cruise
supplying farmers with real-time towards particular products, while sprayers the aisles. Electronic price labels
information on how to improve the also providing workers with tools to that can be changed from head
health of their crops and increase take the grunt work out of finding office, AI-led buying decisions
yields. Drones and in-ground and writing stories. and more robotics to pick and
sensors can play a role in observing Lisa Gibbs, the director of news pack in warehouses will also affect
growing crops and soil conditions partnerships at the Associated thousands of jobs. Sarah Butler
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

42

Spring clean
Do the low-cost
tips of yesteryear
still cut it today?
hob stank but I boiled it in a well-
From vinegar to raw potato, ventilated area and was careful
we test natural everyday not to inhale the fumes. I used the
staples to see if they can steaming liquid around the bath,
replace high-price brands. applied it to yellow stains between
the bathroom floor tiles, and filled
Isabelle Davies reports a very stained white porcelain oil

M
burner with a good amount.
y late mother-in- I kind of wanted it not to work –
law, Lyn, was not steaming pans of acidic liquid and
a traditional 1950s the clumsy are a recipe for disaster
housewife. Born – but it did. A sparkling bath, stain-
in 1928, she didn’t free floor and an oil burner that
marry until the looks good as new.
ancient (for the time) age of 29. And the bathroom didn’t smell
Lyn was more likely to be out on like a chippy, as I’d feared – the
her bike than scrubbing the front vinegar stink dissipates quickly.
step, so I was surprised to find Not wanting to waste the
several pages of housework tips in remaining hot vinegar, I next tested
the back of her handwritten recipe Lyn’s tip “to remove paint from
books. windows with hot vinegar and a
A young adult through years of razor blade”.
rationing, Lyn was always frugal. It worked a treat: the vinegar
Could her hints help me spring- softened, but didn’t dissolve, the
clean affordably and sustainably in paint, so it came off in one piece on
2023? the blade.
As with food and drink and I mixed the last of the vinegar
other basics, the price of cleaning with water to try two more tips:
products has risen sharply in cleaning windows and ridding
recent months, and only a few days shoes of salt marks.
ago, Unilever – the firm behind She was right: “A little vinegar
household cleaning and hygiene in water makes glass sparkle.” Expert advice
brands such as Cif and Domestos – Whether it “helps KEEP AWAY
warned that what we pay for these FLIES” (she really hated them), we
How a pro makes light work of the kitchen … from kettle to sink
sorts of items will continue going will have to wait and see.
up this year. As I live by the sea and love An expert has shared some of his hair catcher, as otherwise large to rub the interior and rinse it
The cost of living crisis has to walk on the beach at low tide top low-cost tips for cleaning the chunks of grime can clog up your afterwards.”
spurred a wave of interest in simple in ill-chosen footwear, I did as kitchen, which, in some cases, will drains.”
cleaning hacks that can help people Lyn instructed with a pair of also help make appliances much Kitchen sink
save money, so I decided to give salt-stained boots: “Rub in half more energy-efficient. Fridge To keep things flowing and
Lyn’s a spin. I started with Lyn’s vinegar, half water, then dry and Cleaning your fridge’s coil can prevent nasty odours, Ivanov
white vinegar-based tips and brush.” Kettle make it more energy-efficient, as suggests putting a dishwasher
bought the only clear vinegar I The boots now look presentable, You should descale your kettle too much dust means it has to work tablet over the top of the plug and
could find (Tesco distilled vinegar, although there’s nothing to be every two months or less, harder to keep your food cool. Take running boiling water so that it
29p for 568ml). done about the watermarks besides especially if you live in a hard off the panel at the back, and use dissolves. “This should unblock
It was with some trepidation that learning not to splash in rock pools water area, says Ivan Ivanov at a vacuum cleaner to get rid of the some of the grime and leave it
I took her advice to “pour boiling in leather. the cleaning firm End of Tenancy build-up. Ivanov says: “To clean smelling fresh.”
vinegar around the bath to remove “Lavatories: make paste of London. “Simply fill your kettle the interior, we recommend simply
hard water or dripping tap stains”. borax and lemon juice to remove with half white vinegar and half using baking soda or white vinegar Air fryer
The vinegar bubbling on the stains or rings in pan,” was another water, then boil it. After pouring it and warm water. Apply a soft cloth These have sold by the bucket-
successful tip. out, repeat this step. You can also load in the wake of soaring energy
Borax was banned in the soak it overnight and wait for the bills. Remove the tray from the
UK some years ago, so I used limescale to come off.” air fryer and gently clean all
bicarbonate of soda (it costs £1.19 the available areas. If the mess
for 500g from the Savers website) Oven is a bit too stuck-on, you could
instead. Ivanov says try giving it an use an old toothbrush, Ivanov
While I had to get more hands-on initial going-over with a vacuum suggests. “Whatever works best
with the paste than you do with cleaner to get rid of “any leftover for you, provided you’re cleaning
a bottle of bleach and a toilet charcoaled bits and crumbs” prior effectively, but not pushing so
brush, the toilet smelled good and to scrubbing. Cleaning the racks hard as to remove any of the heat-
sparkled afterwards, although it in the bath may be easier than proof coating on the inside of the
▲ All the right ingredients: Lyn didn’t really work on the plastic trying to do it in the kitchen sink. ▲ Boiling pointer: descale every two air fryer tray.”
wrote her tips in a recipe book seat. “However, be sure to use a bathtub months using white vinegar Jess Clark
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

Fantasy house hunt 43

Five top homes
for book lovers
Page 45

 Multiple choices face homebuyers,

‘I struggled to test from first timers to those having to
Lyn’s intriguing track down a better mortgage deal.
PHOTOGRAPH: ANTHONY DEVLIN/PA
suggestion to clean
grubby playing cards plus a margin often of 0.5% (it can
be much lower or higher), you may
with bread have a lower rate on a fixed rate
than a tracker, which wasn’t the
Isabelle Davies case a couple of months ago.”
Writer
Deals ending within a year
There are many people in this boat.
A lot of remortgage deals are valid
for up to six months, so if your deal
is ending in, say, five or six months,
you can reserve one now.
Sykes says that quite often you
aren’t committed to a rate until
nearer to the time of completion,
“so you can always apply six

Mortgage deals
months before, then review it
nearer the time to make sure you
are achieving the best possible rate.
If rates have increased, you have
How to navigate today’s one locked in, and if they decrease,
you can change.”
Boulger says that if your existing

rates rollercoaster ride fixed-rate is expiring in six to 12

months, it’s very unlikely to be
worth paying early repayment
charges to leave early and go on to a
the next few months, and then hop deal that will almost certainly have
With rate rises, and a debate over to a fixed-rate deal. That way, a higher rate. “Sit tight. Wait until
about what is happening they won’t miss out if, and when, you get to the six-month window
in the housing market, fixed rates fall further. and speak to an independent
Rupert Jones looks at Others disagree. Ray Boulger, mortgage broker.”
at mortgage broker John Charcol,
your options for a new deal says that, in general, if you are not Standard variable rate

W
planning to move home in the next In some cases people are currently
e are in the grip year or two and are looking for a paying SVRs of 7% to 8%, or even
of a mortgage fixed rate, “I’d be inclined to look more. In the majority of cases, now
price war, at what’s available now, rather is the time to get off that SVR and
according to than going on to a tracker for a switch to a fixed rate, says Boulger.
some experts – short time”. You can get a five-year Sykes adds: “There are very few
but it probably fix now for under 4%, so for most scenarios where someone should
won’t feel like that if you are staring people it is “probably right to go stay on the SVR longer than a few
down the barrel of much higher straight on to a fixed rate,” he adds. months.”
monthly payments. But do you go for a five-year fix Situations where it may be
It is certainly fair to say that rates or pay a little more for a two-year beneficial to stay on the SVR might
You can remove rust from cake I was hopeful that one of her tips on new mortgages have been on a product? At the time of writing, include if you are coming towards
tins by using Lyn’s tip to “rub could rescue my tarnished silver rollercoaster ride. Last September’s the cheapest five-year rate was the end of your mortgage or have a
with cut raw potato in scouring jewellery, but rubbing it with used disastrous mini-budget helped 3.95% from Virgin Money, while low loan amount, or you are waiting
powder”. lemon halves, wiping with a warm, push the price of many new fixed the cheapest two-year fix was for the sale of your property.
I made a green scouring powder damp cloth, and polishing with a home loan deals above 6%. 4.2% from Barclays. On Monday,
out of lemon peel (dried out and soft, dry one, was messy and made Since then, lenders have been Platform – part of the Co-op Bank First-time buyers
ground to a fine powder in a coffee little difference. gradually reducing the cost of their – is set to launch some five-year Boulger says they should “start
grinder), salt and bicarbonate of I struggled to test the intriguing new fixed rates, and the cheapest fixed-rate deals from 3.75%, and planning well ahead – a year
soda, and the potato and powder suggestion to clean grubby playing five-year deals (from, for example, two-year fixes from 4.15%. ahead”. A lot of the advice is what
combo did remove the rust. cards with bread. Not even a friend HSBC, First Direct, Virgin Money Boulger says: “The reason a lot of you would expect: make sure your
Lyn’s advice for cleaning carpets with three young children could and Yorkshire building society) are people like fixed rates is it enables credit file is in good order and that
to “sprinkle generously with provide me with visibly dirty priced at below 4%. Availability has them to budget. To be able to do you are on the electoral roll, etc.
oatmeal, salt or cornflour, leave playing cards. What had Lyn done also improved. so for five years, instead of two, is Also, decide which broker and
for half an hour then vacuum” was to hers to make them so grimy? But if you are coming to the end actually quite important to some.” solicitor you are going to use as,
challenged with a dog sick stain left And her advice that “dirt can be of a fixed-rate deal, and need to Chris Sykes, at mortgage broker after you track down a property,
by a friend’s pooch. removed from wallpaper with stale take out a new one, you are still Private Finance, says we are now the estate agent will need that
The oatmeal made no difference, bread” just resulted in crumbs on probably looking at forking out a lot seeing five-year fixes at below the information.
the salt performed better, but the the skirting board. more each month. official base rate, currently 4%.
cornflour won, definitely lightening I’d love to know how many of At the same time, the Bank “So, as trackers come at base rate Is now a good time to buy?
the stain and a money-saver, too, these tips Lyn used herself. I’ll of England base rate has been Boulger says that, for most people,

3.95%
as I already had cornflour in the definitely use vinegar on limescale climbing, with yet another rise “the right time is when it suits their
cupboard. again, and the lemon bicarb paste looking likely, and there’s much lifestyle”. Most indices show house
But here, Lyn’s good advice ran for the toilet. debate about what will happen to prices falling during the last few
out. My burnt pan was not rescued Armed with the knowledge of the housing market. The cheapest five-year fix from months. “The time to buy is when
by following her instructions to “fill how to clean salt from leather, I’ll So what are your options? Virgin Money, with Barclays offering the market is still falling and you
with a strong sol’n of salt water, also carry on wearing inappropriate the cheapest two-year fix at 4.2% can negotiate good deals,” Boulger
leave overnight, bring slowly to the footwear to the beach at low tide Fixed deals ending soon adds.

3.75%
boil”. with her son. Some experts suggest that, with There is a decent selection of
Nor did hot tea remove the marks We’ll remember Lyn as we clean the price of new fixed rates falling mortgage deals out there for people
on a mahogany bedside table. the sea stains from our shoes. almost daily, those hoping to who can only manage a 5% deposit.
And I decided not to try her other • Always use caution when trying remortgage now may want to go for Starting rate for five-year fixes from However, a bigger deposit will
suggestion of hot beer, preferring out new cleaning substances and test a base rate tracker mortgage with Platform, part of the Co-op Bank, set give you access to more choice and
to drink it. on small hidden areas first. no early redemption penalties for to launch on Monday better rates.
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

Money 45

 Regent’s Park, London

£22.5m
This five-bedroom, Grade I-listed townhouse,
on one of the most sought-after John Nash
terraces, has uninterrupted views across
Regent’s Park and the boating lake – a far cry
from the Victorian slums of Oliver Twist. But
Charles Dickens and his family spent time here
from 1861 to enjoy the summer social season.
The white stucco mansion has not fallen on
hard times, and was recently restored to its
Regency splendour with modern amenities
such as a gym, sauna and cinema room added.
There is a separate mews house and one-bed
apartment. Knight Frank, 020 7483 8334

▲ Bere Regis, Dorset

Fantasy £775,000
house hunt Deep in the heart of Thomas Hardy
country is this village, renamed as
Five of the best Kingsbere in Far from the Madding
Crowd and where the family lived
for book lovers in Tess of the d’Urbervilles. In the
small hamlet of Shitterton, on the
Compiled by Anna White edge of the village, there is this
three-bedroom property, which
 Gosport, Hampshire started life as a thatched barn. It
was remodelled in 2013 into an
From £265,000 open-plan, double-height home.
James Lind (1716 to 1794) was a The Modern House, 020 3795 5920
pioneer of naval medicine, famous
for his cure for scurvy, and medical ▼ Lower Shiplake,
tome Treatise of the Scurvy in
1753. He was senior physician at
Oxfordshire
the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar £1.395m
in Gosport, where wounded This pretty Edwardian detached
soldiers were nursed. This home, in the quiet Thames-side
sprawling Georgian complex on the village, was briefly the childhood
waterfront is being transformed home of the author George Orwell.
into a village with a mix of family Despite the idyllic setting, he went
homes, retirement homes, a care on to write the menacing dystopian
home, plus a hotel, spa, shops Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal
and office space. It also boasts a Farm. There are four bedrooms,
residents’ library, stocked from the two studies and two living rooms.
local store The Book Shop. And it’s close to the store-cum-post
Fox & Sons, 01329 288 425 office. Knight Frank, 0149 184 4917

 Marlow,
Buckinghamshire
£830,000
Draped in ivy sits the Grade II-listed
Shelley Cottage, believed to be
the site of a 16th-century home,
but rebuilt in the 18th. In the 19th
century, the author Mary Shelley,
and her husband, Percy, bought the
property where she penned part of
Frankenstein, which was published
in 1818, the year the couple moved
to Italy. At some point, it was later
split into the four homes that
remain today. This three-storey
townhouse has three bedrooms.
According to the Bank of England’s
inflation calculator, around £1,200
is what the Shelleys paid when they
bought it. Savills, 01628 499 906
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

48

Puzzles
Sudoku Easy Medium Expert

The normal
rules of sudoku
apply: fill each
row, column and
3x3 box with all
the numbers
from 1 to 9.

Futoshiki Medium Kids Word search Kids Countdown

Fill in the grid so that every row and column contains Can you work out the answers to the sums below?
the numbers 1-5. The “greater than” or “less than” signs
indicate where a number is larger or smaller than its
neighbour.

1 1 1

1 1 1 1

< < 1 1 1
>

1 1 1 1

5 > < 1 1 1 1

1 1 1

< 1 1 1 1
>

>

<

1 1 1 1

< > 1 1 1
<

<

2 < <

Solutions

Kids Countdown Sudoku Easy Sudoku Medium Sudoku Expert Futoshiki Kids Word search
2 < 3 < 5 1 4
<

<

5 > 4 1 2 < 3
<

>

>

2 1 5 3 < 4

4 > 2 < 3 5 1
>

1 2 < 3 < 4 5
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

49

Puzzles
Solutions Kakuro Codeword

Fill the grid so that each block adds up to the total in the box above or to Crack the code to fill in the crossword grid. Each letter of the alphabet makes
the left of it. You can only use the digits 1-9 and you must not use the same at least one appearance in the grid and is represented by the same number
number twice in a block. wherever it appears. A number of letters have been decoded to help with the
identification of other letters and words in the grid.

Train tracks

QUALIFIED
Word wheel

Suguru

Codeword
Suguru Train tracks Time Word wheel
on your
Fill the grid so that each square Lay tracks to enable the train to travel from village A to hands? Find as many words as possible
in an outlined block contains a village B. The numbers indicate how many sections of Stay using the letters in the wheel. Each
digit. A block of 2 squares contains rail go in each row and column. There are only straight must use the central letter and at
the digits 1 and 2, a block of three rails and curved rails. The track cannot cross itself. connected least two others. Letters may be
squares contains the digits 1, 2 and and keep used only once. You may not use
3, and so on. No same digit appears in touch plurals, foreign words or proper
in neighbouring squares, not even nouns. There is at least one nine-
diagonally. with your letter word to be found. TARGET:
friends with Excellent-27. Good-23. Average-17.
our new
Puzzles
mobile app
Kakuro
You can
access more
than 15,000
crosswords and
sudoku and
solve puzzles
online together.
Download
The Guardian
Puzzles app and
try it for free
now.
theguardian.
com/
puzzlesapp
 • The Guardian Saturday 18 February 2023

50

Puzzles

Quick crossword no 16,470 Yesterday’s

Quick crossword
Across Down 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Solution no 16,469
1 Pointless talk (6) 1 Fanciful notion (6) I M P R O M P T U
4 Protection granted to political 2 Dandy-like (7) F B M A V R N
refugees (6) 3 Store for the future (3,2) U S E U P T R A D E U P
8 Express indirectly (5) 5 I’m Santa (anag) (7) 8 9
N W U T L S R
9 Devoid of expression (7) 6 Accept with pleasure (3,2)
D W I N D L E S S E M I
10 Made a mistake (7) 7 Note of who said what at a meeting
A L E R E N N
11 Contribution (5) (6)
12 Child’s seat at table (4,5) 9 Loyal — cadet died (anag) (9) 10 11 M E D I N A S T A T I C
17 Biscuit eaten by Jews during 13 Small ball (7) E E T M H T I
Passover (5) 14 Go back over (7) N E R O H O M E H E L P
19 Flower of Scotland (7) 15 Playful — mischievous (6) T M L S R N L
21 Confiscate (7) 16 In a feeble manner (6) 12 13 14 A M E R I C A E N S U E
22 Follow — path (5) 18 Spanish appetisers (5) L N A I A E D
23 Place offering temporary 20 Start to a popular song (5) 15 16
S A T I R I C A L
accommodation (6)
24 Funny business? (6) 17 18 19 20

21 22
Stuck? For help call 0906 200 83 83. Calls cost £1.10
per minute, plus your phone company’s access charge.
Service supplied by ATS. Call 0330 333 6946 for
customer service (charged at standard rate).
23 24 Want more? Get access to more than 4,000 puzzles at
theguardian.com/crossword. To buy puzzle books, visit
www.guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846.

Sandwich sudoku Chris Maslanka

Solutions
Medium 1 Do fractional persons exist? No of each small hexagon is half that + b) – 2ab/c. We want c in terms of a
integers have yet been discovered of the whole; so the area of each and b. Rearranging as a quadratic:
Place the digits between 69 and 70. At least the is (1/2)2; so B = ¼. The 4 smaller c2 – 2c(a + b) + 2ab = 0, we have
from 1-9 in each author didn’t use the illiterate triangles have half the edge of those solutions c = a + b ± √(a2 + b2). If c <
row, column and form some reprobates affect: marked A; so C = (1/2)2 X (1/6) = 1/24. d, c = a + b - √(a2 + b2) and d = a + b +
3x3 block. “between 69 to 70”. Thanks to In conclusion = 1/6; B = ¼ and C = √(a2 + b2). For c and d to be integers
The clues outside the redoubtable Sam Howison for 1/24. [Checking: 2A + 2B + 4C = 2/6 a and b must be the two smaller
the grid show sending us this infelicity. As for + 2(1/4) + 4(1/4)(1/6) = 1/3 +1/2 + 1/6 members of a Pythagorean triple:
the sum of the the weather, Pedanticus detests = 1.] 3 There are 6 flowers of which i.e. two sides of a right-angled
numbers placed the word tempature (sic) - or 3 are orange, 2 are white and 1 is triangle with integer sides. Point
between the 1 and folk signing off with “That’s yer green. Point to Ponder: In a general to Ponder: What if he’d wanted the
9 in that row or weather!” in singsong. 2 A simple bouquet in which a are not orange, area and perimeter to be k times his
column. Sangaku you can apprehend on b are not white and c are not green neighbour’s (k an integer)?
sight. Andy divided it into 24 equal a, b and c can’t be just any old Wordplay: Wordpool b), d), c);
triangles and counted. Candy numbers. What constraints must Jumblies TRANSIENT; Cracker
used scale factors and similar they obey? What has this to do Barrel A mumble bee; Dropouts
figures. The equilateral A with triangles? 4 It must measure GROOMSMEN; Word Centre
triangles are each B
4 X 30. In general perimeter p = 2(a MASCARPONE; Missing Links a)
clearly 1/6 of the whole + b), and area s = ab; if the bigger head/wind/sock, b) third/person/
C
(by symmetry) so A = rectangle is c X d, P = 2(c + d) and p age; c) slap/dash/cam; d) nail/bed/
1/6. The rhombi are therefore each = cd. Further P = 2p, S = 2s. Then c + rock; e) date/sugar/coat; f) gene/
(1 – 2(1/6))/2 = 1/3. The diameter d = 2(a + b); but d = 2ab/c; so c = 2(a rational/behaviour.
Saturday 18 February 2023 The Guardian •

51

Weather
Saturday 18 February 2023
UK and Ireland Noon today Forecast Around the UK

London
Sunny Mist Fog
Low 7 High 11 Lows and highs Precipitation Air pollution
Tomorrow
5 7 14 40% Low
Sunny intervals Hazy
Manchester

Mostly cloudy
20 Inverness Shetland 7 13 85% Low
Overcast/dull Edinburgh
7 4
6
3 8 85% Low
Sunny showers Slight
1012 Belfast
Edinburgh
9 Low 8 High 14
Sunny and heavy showers Glasgow 6 11 85% Low
Monday
Birmingham
Light showers Newcastle
ca
11
6 14 80% Low
Belfast 1016 Slight
Rain Sleet Light Brighton
snow 11
York

Snow showers 7 12 15% Low

Dublin Liverpool
rpoo
ol 13
12
Bristol
Heavy snow Ice
1020
Nottingham
Nott m
Carbon
count
35C 13 Norwich
Birmingham
min
ming
7 11 40% Low
30
Thundery rain Cardiff
25 Daily atmospheric CO2
readings from Mauna Loa,
20 13 14
1 Hawaii (ppm):
Thundery showers 15
Cardiff
Ca L
London 7 12 40% Low
Latest
X
10
1024 13 13 Feb 2023 421.18 Newcastle
5
Dover Weekly average
Temperature, 0 05 Feb 2023 420.26
ºC
-5
11 4 11 85% Low
Plymouth 17 Feb 2022 418.57
-10 12
17 Feb 2013 396.84 Penzance
Moderate 26
-15 1028 Pre-industrial base 280
Wind speed, Windy
mph -20 Safe level 350
The Channel Islands 8 12 40% Low
Source: NOAA-ESRL

Atlantic front Weather tracker Around the world

There has been keen interest in Algiers 21 Lisbon 16

the much anticipated sudden Ams’dam 12 Madrid 18
stratospheric warming (SSW) Athens 17 Malaga 18
event, which began this week. The Auckland 23 Melb’rne 23
phenomenon is linked to the polar B Aires 22 Mexico C 26
vortex, an area of low pressure Bangkok 32 Miami 27
across the North Pole that forms Barcelona 17 Milan 15
Cold front within the stratosphere during Basra 18 Mombasa 33
autumn, as temperatures fall. Beijing 4 Moscow -5

Warm front SSW events happen every two Berlin 7 Mumbai 36

in three winters, and it is unclear Bermuda 22 N Orleans 12
how climate change will affect Brussels 11 Nairobi 27
Occluded front them. As the vortex develops into Budapest 15 New Delhi 28
winter, westerly stratospheric C’hagen 7 New York 6

Trough winds increase in strength. But Cairo 18 Oslo 6

in the event of a SSW episode, Cape Town 26 Paris 13
stratospheric temperatures rise Chicago 6 Perth 31

High tides
Source: © Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Times are local UK times
Sun & Lighting rapidly over only a few days, Corfu 16 Prague 11
weakening or even reversing these Dakar 23 Reykjavik 1
Moon up winds. The zonal mean winds at Dhaka 30 Rio de J 30
10hPa pressure – about 30km high Dublin 12 Rome 15
Aberdeen -- -- 1146 3.9m London Bridge -- -- 1206 6.6m Belfast 1738 to 0738 – turned to an easterly direction on Florence 13 Shanghai 25
Avonmouth 0524 11.4m 1757 11.9m Lossiemouth 1005 3.7m 2250 3.9m Birm’ham 1725 to 0716 15 February, displacing the polar Gibraltar 16 Singapore 30
Barrow 0942 8.4m 2216 8.6m Milford Haven 0425 6.2m 1658 6.3m Brighton 1722 to 0706 vortex away from the North Pole. H Kong 25 Stockh’m 3
Belfast 0920 3.2m 2154 3.2m Newquay 0319 6.2m 1551 6.4m Bristol 1731 to 0717 The vortex and zonal winds are Harare 23 Strasb’g 15
Cobh 0332 3.7m 1604 3.7m North Shields 0136 4.5m 1353 4.6m Carlisle 1724 to 0725 forecast to stay weaker than normal Helsinki 1 Sydney 31
Cromer 0451 4.5m 1703 4.6m Oban 0427 3.6m 1653 3.5m Cork 1753 to 0741 into March. The consequences of Istanbul 13 Tel Aviv 18
Dover 0930 6.1m 2158 6.2m Penzance 0250 5.0m 1522 5.0m Dublin 1741 to 0736 this warming will spread slowly Jo’burg 23 Tenerife 21
Sun rises 0708
Dublin 0949 3.8m 2229 3.8m Plymouth 0350 5.0m 1628 4.9m Sun sets 1720 Glasgow 1728 to 0734 into the troposphere and can, K Lumpur 33 Tokyo 13
Galway 0317 4.8m 1552 4.8m Portsmouth 0941 4.3m 2217 4.4m Moon rises 0649 Harlech 1734 to 0726 over time, disrupt the jet stream K’mandu 25 Toronto 3
Greenock 1055 3.2m 2321 3.2m Southport 0846 8.3m 2128 8.4m Moon sets 1430 Inverness 1722 to 0737 that influences our weather. High Kabul 15 Vancouv’r 7
New Moon 20 Feb Kingston 30 Vienna 15
Harwich 0955 3.6m 2225 3.6m Stornoway 0517 4.5m 1752 4.4m London 1720 to 0707 pressure across Scandinavia can
Kolkata 31 Warsaw 8
Holyhead 0840 5.2m 2116 5.3m Weymouth 0516 1.0m 1754 1.0m M’chester 1725 to 0720 feed very cold polar air from the
L Angeles 21 Wash’ton 9
Hull 0429 6.6m 1643 6.9m Whitby 0208 5.0m 1426 5.1m Newcastle 1719 to 0721 east into western Europe and
Forecasts and Lagos 33 Well’ton 21
Leith 0041 5.0m 1300 5.1m Wick 0934 3.2m 2219 3.3m
graphics provided by
Norwich 1712 to 0704 towards the UK.
Lima 26 Zurich 14
Liverpool 0924 8.6m 2200 8.7m Workington 0949 7.5m 2221 7.7m AccuWeather ©2023 Penzance 1745 to 0726 Matt Andrews MetDesk