Petrol price: rural areas to receive discount

Drivers living in remote rural areas could receive a discount on the price they pay for their petrol to help with spiralling driving costs.

By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor 4:46PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

It comes as the average price of petrol continues to edge upwards towards £6 a gallon, or £1.32 for a litre of unleaded.

Some petrol stations, notably those in the Northern Isles, are already charging £1.40 a litre and Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury, said these remote areas would soon be able to enjoy a discount on the duty they pay for petrol.

He said: "We recognise that this for many families is a serious issue. We are seeking to address that problem by looking at this idea of a fair fuel stabiliser, by taking steps to relieve the burden of fuel costs in the most remote communities."

The Government began talks with the European Commission last year to introduce a pilot scheme to give a discount on fuel duty of up to 5p per litre on petrol and diesel in the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, and the Isles of Scilly. It can only be introduced if the Government can persuade the Commission that it would not break competition laws.

There is a precedent, however, because the French island of Corsica and Portuguese and Greek islands already enjoy fuel-tax discounts, approved by Brussels.

Mr Alexander, whose constituency of Inverness is in the Highlands, suggested this discount along with a fuel stabiliser was far more likely than a cancellation of the planned increase in fuel duty, due to take effect in April, which many campaigners are lobbying for.

Asked on the BBC Politics Show whether the April rise could be delayed Mr Alexander replied: "The proposal that we are considering is the one that has been put forward in the past which is the idea of the fair fuel stabiliser so that there is some sense that when prices rise the burden is shared."

But there were "complications" about a fuel stabiliser "not least to do with the revenue that we receive in the Treasury".

He added that due to the scale of the deficit "we can't just sacrifice income willy-nilly".

His comments were backed up by Chris Huhne, his fellow Lib Dem cabinet ministers, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, who argued Britain needed to be weaned off its reliance on fossil fuels.

He said: "Is there an easy answer in terms of saying in the long run we should cut fuel duty? Clearly, the answer to that is No, because if we look at the one developed country that has very low fuel duty – the US, where petrol and diesel prices are less than half of what they are here – what happens is that people get much more reliant on oil to fuel the economy and when the world oil price changes, there are far more bankruptcies and more repossessions of people's homes."

Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said the coalition's failure to introduce a fuel duty stabiliser was a Conservative broken promise.

Though Mr Alexander said a fuel duty stabiliser, designed to drop the level of duty when the price at fuel increases, involved "complications", he reiterated that the Government was looking at plans about how best to introduce the idea.

An increasing number of companies and public bodies over the weekend said they were suffering from the high price of petrol. The transport manager of Northamptonshire's Police Federation said that his force was trying to cut down on policemen using patrol cars, in order to save on petrol costs.

Bregbies Traynor, the insolvency specialist, gave warning that 5,344 haulage and logistics companies were struggling with their finances.

Paddington Bear tours to re-ignite marmalade passion

Marmalade lover Paddington Bear is spreading the word on the benefits of starting each day with a healthy breakfast.

4:15PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Despite it being the most important meal of the day, half of Britain does not have time for a decent breakfast, jam and marmalade maker Robertson's says.

With marmalade sales reportedly in decline, Robertson's has hired duffle-coated Paddington Bear to reignite Britain's passion for the orange fruit preserve.

Suitcase in tow, Paddington left the station he was named after yesterday.

He will stop off at Liverpool station on Saturday January 22 to collect homemade jars of marmalade from members of the public that will be judged at the Marmalade Festival in Cumbria on February 13.

Cardiff marmalade makers wishing to enter the competition, along with anyone else in the city wishing to meet Paddington, will get a chance to do so at the main station on January 29.

The bear will arrive at Edinburgh station on February 5.

While Britain's penchant for marmalade and toast for breakfast is on the wane, people are not necessarily skipping the most important meal of the day altogether- but it is increasingly not being eaten at home, life coach Christine Webber said.

She said: ''Far too many people nowadays grab a quick, expensive and often unhealthy snack on the go while juggling phone calls, their twitter account, and trying to negotiate public transport.

''This is madness and adds to our stress levels, whereas allocating time before leaving the house to eat a swift, healthy breakfast such as toast, porridge, yoghurt or fruit provides us with a calm and nutritious start to the long day ahead.''

Ms Webber estimates Brits spend an average £8.6 million on ''breakfast on the go'' each day of the working week.

Reading residents are the worst culprits when it comes to skimping on making time for breakfast, followed by those living in Swindon, Sheffield, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Created by Michael Bond in 1958, Paddington turns 53 this year, despite not looking a day older than he did when he was found all those years ago, sitting on a suitcase at Paddington Station with a note around his neck ''Please look after this bear.''

Mark Kennedy: 15 other undercover police infiltrated green movement

An undercover policeman who spent seven years living as an environmental activist has claimed that at least 15 other agents had infiltrated the movement and disclosed that sexual entanglements with them were commonplace.

By John Bingham 3:45PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

Mark Kennedy, 41, a former Metropolitan Police officer who posed as a climate change protester known as "Mark Stone", spoke out about the “grey and murky” world of undercover policing in which he said “really bad stuff” was secretly going on.

Last week the £1 million trial of six environmental activists accused of plotting to break into the Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire collapsed amid questions over Mr Kennedy’s involvement.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is now investigating whether Nottinghamshire Police withheld secret recordings made by Mr Kennedy showing that those accused were innocent of conspiracy from the prosecution.

Lawyers for 20 others who have already been found guilty over the planned sabotage said last night that Mr Kennedy’s disclosures suggested they had been the victims of a miscarriage of justice.

Mr Kennedy, whose estranged wife Edel and two British-born children live in the west of Ireland, fled to the United States after his double life was exposed by green activists.

He is now understood to have private security officers keeping a “discrete” watch on him after he voiced fears for his life and is being represented by Max Clifford, the public relations specialist.

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday the former policeman said he had been “hung out to dry” by his former handlers in the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) which sent him to infiltrate radical environmental groups in 2003.

He insisted that he had been instrumental in preventing “bloodshed” amid clashes between police and protesters and claimed that key intelligence he had gathered had been passed to Tony Blair and other European leaders.

He acknowledged for the first time that during his time undercover he had been sexual relationships with two activist women, admitting that what he had done was "wrong".

Fellow protesters have questioned whether the women truly gave their consent as they did not know his true identity.

But Mr Kennedy said other undercover police had also become sexually entangled with their subjects in a promiscuous environment in which some people had up to six lovers at a time.

“I was offered sex repeatedly,” he told the newspaper.

“And I was not the only undercover operator having a relationship but our handlers never asked.”

He added: “That is the problem about this whole undercover police operation. There seem to be no guidelines, no rules – I was pretty much left to fend for myself.”

Mr Kennedy also disclosed that he knew of at least 15 other undercover police who had infiltrated the movement and said that by the time he left in 2009 there were at least four others.

“The world of undercover policing is grey and murky," he said.

“There is some bad stuff going on, really bad stuff.”

The scale of public money invested in such operations was also laid bare as he disclosed that in addition to his £50,000-a-year salary, his handlers paid up to £200,000 a year into a secret bank account to help him maintain his cover.

Mike Schwarz, the lawyer who represented the Ratcliffe-on-Soar protesters said that the convictions of the 20 people already found guilty of conspiring to take over the plant might now be unsafe.

“Potentially it looks like a miscarriage of justice and a lot depends on the prosecution doing what they should have done at the beginning and establishing what Kennedy’s wider role was and making the information available.”

He is calling for a judicial inquiry into the affair.

Ed Miliband: Gordon Brown made mistakes but I listen to him

Ed Miliband has said he still takes advice from Gordon Brown, even though the former prime minister led Labour into a string of “mistakes” on the economy.

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent 3:41PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

The Labour leader listed his predecessor among his confidantes, but rejected several of Mr Brown’s economic claims and policies.

Voters will only trust Labour again when it accepts that the last Government got some things wrong, Mr Miliband said.

“We have got a job to do to win back economic credibility and I have got to to it by acknowledging mistakes we made,” he said in a BBC television interview.

For much of his 2007-10 premiership, Mr Brown suggested that Labour would not have to make cuts in public spending after the recession, casting politics as a choice between “Conservative cuts and Labour investment”.

Mr Miliband, a former adviser to Mr Brown, yesterday became the latest Labour figure to say that he had been wrong to “pretend” that cuts were avoidable.

"We should have acknowledged earlier, after the financial crisis happened, that eventually there would have to be cuts under Labour," Mr Miliband said.

"Our plans involved cuts and we should have acknowledged that. The problem we faced was that we sometimes looked like we were pretending there weren't going to be cuts under Labour, when there were."

The Labour leader also said that the party should “take our responsibility for not having regulated the banks sufficiently, along with governments around the world.” The UK economy was over-reliant on the financial sector and “too exposed” the financial crisis, he said.

And in a clear reference to Mr Brown’s most notorious claim, Mr Miliband added: “Clearly, we should not have said there would be no boom and bust. That was clearly a mistake.”

Yet minutes after listing Mr Brown’s errors, Mr Miliband named the former premier as a source of advice.

In a separate radio interview, Mr Miliband said: "This job is such a hard job that it is right that I keep in touch with the people who had done it, so I talk to Gordon Brown, I talk to Tony Blair, obviously I talk to Neil Kinnock as well.”

"It's only when you have been in the job you start knowing what the job involves, you can really understand the pressure it involves, so I get advice from lots of people."

Mr Miliband has faced Conservative accusations that he is “Red Ed,” his agenda set by the trade unions who help fund the Labour Party.

Trying to play down that image, Mr Miliband warned the unions he would not support industrial action targeting the Royal wedding or other public events.

Some union officials have suggested that London Underground workers could strike on April 29, the day of Prince William’s marriage. Union leaders have also refused to rule out strikes around the time of the London Olympics next year.

“I am appalled at the idea of strikes to disrupt people going to the Royal Wedding and enjoying the Royal Wedding,” Mr Miliband said. “Of course they should not strike to disrupt the Royal Wedding. It alienates the public, it is wrong and it is not the way to make the political argument that we need to make.”

“That is absolutely the wrong thing for trade unions to do. I hope that is not the case, I hope it is not true, but I would totally condemn that - similarly in relation to the Olympics.”

Simon Hughes 'could back Labour against education cuts'

Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat deputy leader and Coalition education spokesman, has said he could support Labour in opposition to Government funding cuts.

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent 2:54PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Mr Hughes, last month appointed the Coalition “advocate” for its higher education policy, said he was opposed to cutting the education maintenance allowance (EMA), money paid to encourage children to stay at school after 16.

The Coalition has announced plans to scrap the £30-a-year EMA, arguing that much of the money spent on it is wasted because it goes to children who would have been in education anyway.

Labour has attacked the plan to cut the allowance, arguing that it will make it harder for children from poorer families to get ahead.

Andy Burnham, the Labour shadow education secretary, will this week call a Commons debate on EMA where MPs will vote on a motion opposing the cut.

Mr Hughes last week said that ministers should “rethink” their plans and yesterday, he said he was talking to Labour leaders about voting with them against the Government.

“I'm willing to talk to Labour,” he told Sky News. “Whether we can find common ground, we will see. It's a Labour motion and they have to choose the wording of the motion they put down.”

Mr Hughes said that he had warned Conservative ministers he may oppose the EMA cut in Parliament and asked them to think again.

“I have communicated to Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, and to colleagues we need to get the best possible outcome. Whether I can help deliver that we will see in time,” he said.

Opposition from Mr Hughes would embarrass Coalition ministers, who appointed him to a new role trying to sell their university tuition fees policy to young people.

Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said he hoped to use education to divide the Coalition parties, urging Lib Dem MPs to support opposition to EMA cuts.

Mr Miliband said: “We are working with Simon Hughes and others and my appeal to all Liberal Democrats is they know that this was a crucial way in which we created educational opportunity in this country. I hope they will join us.”

The Labour overture to Lib Dems over education is the latest stage in Mr Miliband’s attempts to woo supporters of the smaller party.

In a BBC interview, Mr Miliband also softened his previous personal attacks on Nick Clegg, suggesting he could one day work with the Lib Dem leader.

Mr Miliband has previously said he could never share power with Mr Clegg, making his removal a precondition for any Labour-Lib Dem coalition.

But if the Deputy Prime Minister abandons his support for Government policies, that could change.

"I have said before that it would be very difficult to work with Nick Clegg, but let's see what he does,” Mr Miliband said.

"If he were to be a 'sinner repenteth', then maybe things would change, but at the moment he has made his bed and he is lying in it."

Despite expressing doubts about the EMA policy, Mr Hughes insisted the Lib Dems will not abandon the Coalition with the Tories.

He said: "The coalition is for five years, I'm not going to walk out, none of us are going to walk out."

Andy Coulson 'not quitting over phone hacking'

Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s director of communications, has not offered to resign over phone hacking at the newspaper he used to run, Downing Street has said.

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent 2:52PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

It was reported that Mr Coulson had told the Prime Minister he was prepared to quit over ongoing allegations that staff of the News of the World illegally accessed the voicemails of public figures.

Mr Cameron, it was claimed, had persuaded his communications director to stay on, a message reinforced by George Osborne, the Chancellor. No 10 said the report was untrue, insisting Mr Coulson has not offered to quit.

The report comes amid persistent rumours at Westminster – rumours encouraged by Labour MPs – that Mr Coulson will leave No 10 over events at the newspaper, which he ran until 2007.

Mr Coulson has consistently denied any knowledge of wrongdoing by journalists at the News of the World while he was in charge.

He resigned the editorship in 2007 after Clive Goodman, the News of the World’s royal editor, was convicted of phone hacking.

Labour has said that if there is any proof that Mr Coulson knew of illegal acts by his staff, he should be sacked from his Government post.

Mr Coulson has always said that Goodman was a lone “rogue” reporter and that he believed no one else at the paper was involved in illegal activities.

A police investigation into claims of widespread phone hacking at the paper was halted last year.

But renewing the pressure on Mr Coulson, the Crown Prosecution Service has said it will reassess the evidence relating to phone hacking claims, including information that has come to light in civil cases against the paper.

A senior News of the World editor was suspended last month relating to allegations that the paper’s staff illegally hacked the phone of Sienna Miller, an actress who is suing the paper.

Paul Gasgoigne, a former England footballer, is the latest public figure to threaten legal action against the paper.

His solicitor, Gerald Shamash, told the BBC: "We are about to issue these proceedings and will be getting full disclosure of precisely what has happened when, who was hacked and by whom in due course."

MPs' pay rise to be blocked

Ministers will attempt to block a pay rise for MPs this year, in a move likely to anger backbenchers.

< >

- Article

Analysis: Expenses cave-in triggered by PM deadline

- Article

MPs' Expenses: IPSA Q&A

- Article

Only 30pc of voters trust MPs over expenses claims

- Article

MPs expenses will grow after climbdown

- Article

MPs' expenses: public to be given say about what politicians can claim

1 2

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent 2:39PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

An independent review is next month expected to recommend that MPs should get a pay rise of around 1.5 per cent.

That would add around £1,000 to their salary of £65,738.

But Coalition ministers are worried about public anger if MPs are seen to get pay rises while many workers – including millions in the public sector – are facing pay freezes and cuts.

MPs’ pay is set by the Senior Salaries Review Body, which makes an annual recommendation on increases, based on pay for other senior public sector employees.

Under rules introduced in 2008, the SSRB’s recommended pay rise is put to the House of Commons for approval, with no formal Government involvement.

However, Sir George Young, the Leader of the Commons, is pressing for ministers to intervene to block this year’s rise.

It is understood that Sir George has written to David Cameron, suggesting the Government takes action in the Commons to veto any rise recommended this year.

No final decision has been taken on if and how the Coalition will respond to the SSRB recommendation, but sources said that opposing a pay rise would be “consistent” with the Coalition’s approach to pay and spending.

A pay rise of 1.5 per cent would give MPs a real terms pay rise, since it is well below the rate of inflation.

But ministers are worried that any increase in parliamentary salaries, no matter how small, will spark widespread public anger.

Blocking salary rises will fuel MPs’ complaints that the new pay and expenses system is leaving them steadily worse off.

Many members say that curbs on expenses imposed following the Daily Telegraph’s revelations about MPs expenses mean they have to fund many of their costs from their own salaries.

Critics say ever-tougher pay and expenses rules will mean that only the rich can afford to be MPs.

To assuage growing parliamentary anger over expenses, Mr Cameron has recently put pressure on the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority to relax the allowances regime for MPs.

Universities face �400m 'lag' before fees income rises

Universities’ budgets will be cut by almost £400 million a year before they start receiving income from higher student fees, ministers will announce today.

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent 1:32PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

The planned cut from the teaching budget for 2011/12 led university leaders to urge ministers to postpone reductions or risk a “loss of capacity” in higher education.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, who oversees higher education, admitted there was a year-long “lag” between the first cuts in funding and universities receiving higher revenues from fees.

The cut will take effect before autumn 2012, when universities will be able to charge tuition fees of up to £9,000 a year.

Coalition sources admitted that the £400 million cut would mean 2011/12 is “the toughest year” for the universities. But ministers will insist that the pain will be temporary and their new fees policy will compensate for the cuts.

Announcing the funding settlement, ministers will also argue that the bulk of their planned cuts in central government funding for universities have been delayed until after fees change takes effect.

The £400 million is a small share of the overall cut in central government funding to universities.

Under plans set out in the Spending Review in October, the university teaching budget will fall from £7.1 billion to £4.2 billion in 2014/15, a reduction of 40 per cent.

“There's a year's lag,” Mr Cable said. “The cuts are going to be phased in gradually at the beginning of next year. And then the following year, they will have an opportunity to replace that loss of income with new income from the graduate contribution.”

Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, warned ministers to delay the cut until the higher revenue from fees is being received.

The group said, “If this figure turns out to be true it will be difficult for the sector to deal with, and could do damage before the income from fees comes in. We would be talking about potential loss of capacity in some parts of the sector, at a time when we need more graduates with higher skills coming through.”

Gareth Thomas, the Labour higher education spokesman, said that the cuts will hit students next year.

He said: “Just when we thought things couldn’t get worse for students, the government is cutting funding to universities.

“Inevitably it will have an impact on the quality of courses and on lecturers and it is further bad news for universities.”

Royal Mail deliver on Sunday to clear backlog

The Royal Mail sent out hundreds of postmen today to help clear the backlog of undelivered mail caused by the snow in the run up to Christmas.

By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor 1:29PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

Sunday deliveries are highly unusual and only usually made in the run up to Christmas or after severe strike action.

However, thousands of householders have complained that they have been receiving Christmas cards as recently as last week, with many claiming some post has taken three weeks to be delivered, after the Royal Mail struggled with the difficult weather.

The postal service has insisted that any delayed letters or cards were "isolated" incidents and the vast bulk of the Christmas mail bag – consisting of two billion parcels and letters – was delivered by December 24, despite many households in the country being snowed in, and many postmen being injured by slipping on icy roads.

However, it has taken action to clear the last remaining undelivered items by drafting in 500 postmen in parts of Warwickshire, Kent, Lancashire, Cheshire and East Scotland on Sunday.

Nadhim Zahawi, the Conservative MP who sits on the Commons Business Select Committee, said the area round his constituency in Stratford Upon Avon had been badly affected.

He said: "I received an enormous volume of complaints regarding the poor performance of Royal Mail before, during and after Christmas. It appears that the post is still far from back to normal, with what is clearly a very large backlog existing at the sorting office and haphazard deliveries across the area."

Readers of The Daily Telegraph also complained that they were receiving Christmas cards well after Epiphany, while the Forum for Private Business said that its newsletter, sent out first class on December 13, had failed to arrive with many of its members until January 12 or 13.

Consumer Focus, the official watchdog, said it too had received anecdotal evidence that the backlog was larger than Royal Mail was claiming.

The Royal Mail said that the unusual Sunday delivery was not just to clear the backlog, but also to help postmen in certain areas get used to a new system of delivery, using two workers in a van rather than an individual postman walking with a bag.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We have had some reports of individual items of Christmas mail arriving after Christmas. We apologise to any customer if individual items of mail posted by our recommended posting dates did not arrive in time for Christmas.

“In the small number of places where there has been some disruption, we have taken a range of additional measures. This Sunday approximately 500 postmen and managers will be working in a small number of areas where there is some disruption. We stress that this additional effort is aimed at resolving some outstanding issues around delivery changes in a number of offices.”

He added that this was a very small number compared with the 65,000 delivery rounds made on a weekday or Saturday.

Sally Bercow denounces Tory 'whispering campaign' against the Speaker

Sally Bercow, the wife of the Commons Speaker, has launched an attack on Tory MPs she claims are conducting a ''whispering campaign'' against her husband.

11:51AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

Mrs Bercow said many Conservative MPs still could not accept he won the contest to take the Speaker's chair when Michael Martin was forced out in 2009.

She branded rows between Tory figures and Mr Bercow ''ridiculous'' and insisted her husband was doing a good job.

In the latest bust-up senior Conservative backbencher Mark Pritchard swore at the Speaker in a behind-the-scenes confrontation in the Commons.

Mr Pritchard reportedly told Mr Bercow ''you are not f------ royalty, Mr Speaker'' during a confrontation in a Westminster corridor after the MP, who was refused permission to ask a Commons question, would not stand aside to let him pass by.

The MP later said he regretted using ''colourful language'' but not the fact he had taken a stand against the Speaker.

Mrs Bercow told Sky News: ''The bottom line is a lot of Tories, I'm afraid, still can't accept that my husband won the speakership fair and square and is doing a very good job and he did it without Tory support.

''He only had 20-odd Tory MPs backing him and as a result they have got no hold over him and they don't like it.

''There will always be a whispering campaign but if you look at John and what he has done in the job, he has introduced a lot of urgent questions, basically he is on the side of backbenchers.

''He is not on the side of Labour MPs, he is not on the side of Tory MPs, he is on the side of backbenchers and that is what he is trying to do.''

She added: ''I say sod the whispering campaign.''

Mr Bercow was a Tory MP before becoming Speaker, but was viewed as a maverick by many of his colleagues in the party. He was elected Speaker with strong Labour and Liberal Democrat support.

Oldham East by-election: Eric Pickles admits Tories fought 'gentle' campaign

The Conservative Party fought a ''gentle'' campaign in the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election, Eric Pickles, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, has admitted.

11:01AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

The Tories finished a distant third in the election, won by Labour, with some Conservatives claiming the leadership avoided a more robust campaign to bolster support for the Liberal Democrat candidate.

Mr Pickles pointed out that David Cameron, the Prime Minister, had visited the area to support the Tory candidate and insisted the moderate tone was due to the nature of the by-election, which was ordered after an election court declared last year's contest void after finding that Labour victor Phil Woolas had made false statements about Lib Dem rival Elwyn Watkins.

In the by-election Debbie Abrahams, the Labour candidate, was a comfortable winner with 14,718 votes, ahead of Mr Watkins with 11,160. Tory Kashif Ali was third with 4,481 as support for the Conservatives fell away sharply.

Mr Pickles told Sky News: ''We were third and we came third again. But by and large it's very unusual for a governing party to win a by-election at a time of austerity.''

He added: ''We started third and of course we fought a very gentle campaign because that particular campaign was about the nastiness of previous Labour leaflets.

''The Liberals did, I think, pretty good. They increased their poll position. But it would have been a disaster for the Labour Party had they lost.''

Pressed on whether the Conservatives had mounted a serious effort he insisted: ''Of course we were trying. We had the Prime Minister up there, first prime minister to, I think, canvass in a by-election for years.''

Mr Pickles insisted that at the next general election he would be urging people to vote Tory, even in seats where the contest was primarily between Labour and the Lib Dems.

He said: ''I think that when that occurs in 2015 you will have two political parties defending a government, a coalition's record.

''But we are two distinct political parties and I certainly will be urging everyone at that election to vote Conservative.''

Ed Miliband distances himself from Gordon Brown's failures

Ed Miliband has disowned Gordon Brown's claim to have abolished boom and bust, his failure to regulate the banks and his refusal to admit Labour would cut state spending.

10:46AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

But the Labour leader defended the level of state expenditure sanctioned by Mr Brown as chancellor and prime minister, and rejected as a ''dangerous myth'' Conservative and Liberal Democrat claims that it was excessive public spending that caused the recession.

Mr Miliband accepted that Labour faces a challenge to persuade the public that it can be trusted on the economy following the financial crisis of 2008 and the massive state deficit that followed.

In an interview on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, he attempted to draw a line with Mr Brown by acknowledging the mistakes made under his leadership.

"We should have acknowledged earlier, after the financial crisis happened, that eventually there would have to be cuts under Labour,'' said Mr Miliband. ''Our plans involved cuts and we should have acknowledged that. The problem we faced was that we sometimes looked like we were pretending there weren't going to be cuts under Labour, when there were.''

Mr Miliband's comment is an admission that the party lost credibility due to Mr Brown's initial attempt to frame the 2010 general election as a choice between Labour investment and Tory cuts, which he eventually grudgingly dropped under pressure from Cabinet colleagues.

And he made clear that the Labour administrations of Mr Brown and Tony Blair relied too heavily on the City for economic growth and failed to keep a tight enough grip on risky activities in the Square Mile.

''I think we should take our responsibility for not having regulated the banks sufficiently, along with governments around the world,'' said the Labour leader.

''I think the British economy was too exposed to the crash in financial services because we were so reliant on that as an industry to support us.''

He implicitly criticised New Labour's handling of the City when asked if he would follow his predecessors' economic policies if he won power, telling Andrew Marr: ''I wouldn't do it all again. What I would do is take every action I could to avoid a financial crisis, because that's the thing that drove the deficit up. That's the lesson we have got to learn.''

And he explicitly admitted that Mr Brown blundered with one of his favourite and most often-repeated boasts: ''Clearly, we should not have said there would be no boom and bust. That was clearly a mistake.''

Mr Miliband said: ''I am absolutely clear that we have got a job to do to win back economic credibility and I have got to to it by acknowledging mistakes we made, and I have done that.

''What I am not going to do is buy into an argument about the future of this country which I think takes us in the wrong direction.''

He insisted that until the financial crisis, the annual state borrowing of 2 per cent of national income was ''manageable''. It was only the reduction in tax revenue due to the banking crash which drove the deficit up beyond 10 per cent and made it a problem, he said.

The coalition Government was seeking to justify an additional £30 billion in cuts and £10 billion in tax rises, on top of Labour plans, by claiming that overspending was at the root of the crash.

''The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are peddling a very dangerous myth, because they want to tell people that it was somehow all because of a decade of overspending under Labour. It wasn't - it was because of a financial crisis all around the world,'' said Mr Miliband.

''The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats want to tell you that the only thing that matters in our economy in the future is to cut spending as far and as fast as possible.

''That threatens the kind of growth we need in our economy to raise people's living standards and, because of the depth of the cuts they are planning, it also threatens services that people rely on.''

The coalition had failed to recognise that economic growth should play a part, alongside reduced spending and increased taxes, in paying down the deficit and driving the recovery from recession, he said.

''On their own forecasts, we are set for the slowest growth out of recession in 40 years,'' said Mr Miliband.

''That is a bad thing for people's living standards and - because if we don't make the economy grow now when we should be coming out of the recession strongly - it does long-term damage to our economy.''

He added: ''People are struggling to get by and seeing a Government basing its plans on squeezing their living standards. That's the basis of the Government's whole economic strategy - raising VAT, cutting tax credits, inflation going up because of the VAT rise - and I think it is the wrong strategy for the economy.''

Conservative Party deputy chairman Michael Fallon said: "Ed Miliband is treating people like fools. Labour's reckless overspending left Britain with the largest structural deficit in the G7 when the financial crisis hit.

"Ed Miliband still won't admit Labour maxed out the nation's credit card. In fact he says he'd do it all again.

"How can anyone trust Labour with the economy when its leader is still in denial about his party's mistakes?"

Doctors ordered to stop giving flu jabs to children

Health officials have ordered doctors to shelve a vaccination programme which was under way to protect children from swine flu.

By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent 10:15AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

Doctors in north-west England began giving jabs to healthy schoolchildren earlier this month, after senior medics decided that stocks of vaccine should be used to prevent the spread of disease among the young.

The decision, taken by Bury Primary Care Trust (PCT), came 11 days ago, following more than a dozen deaths in Greater Manchester, including three in Bury, as well as that of three-year-old Lana Ameen, who died on Boxing Day soon after falling ill in nearby Stockport.

Parents were told that their children would be offered the jabs, and hundreds of pupils at two schools in Bury, Derby High School and Prestwich Arts College, were given the vaccine.

But on Tuesday, bosses at North West Strategic Health Authority (SHA) ordered doctors and nurses to stop providing the jabs – and now hundreds more families have been informed that their children will not be offered protection after all.

Local doctors say the change of plan – to bring the area in line with official Government restrictions – has left parents feeling fearful and anxious.

Government policy says that while pregnant women, the elderly, and those with health problems are supposed to be offered the vaccine, healthy children should not be given it, despite high incidence of flu among the young this winter.

With rising numbers of deaths among children, the Government policy is under increasing attack.

Dr Peter Elton, director of public health for Bury PCT, had ordered the vaccination of children, starting with five schools, after considering research in medical journal The Lancet, which showed particular risks of flu complications among ethnic minorities.

He said that the programme was sensible, because "stopping just one child from needing intensive care treatment more than pays for vaccinating the whole school".

The decision, taken at a meeting of the PCT on January 5, had been backed by local doctors.

The PCT now says it changed its stance last week "based on further advice received from the SHA".

Dr Rakesh Thakker, a local GP, said the move by the SHA to block the vaccinations had left parents anxious.

He said: "I was involved in the decision to vaccinate healthy children – we thought it was in the best interests of our local population.

"It is difficult when that decision gets overruled – the change of plan has caused significant problems and concerns among parents, who don't know what to think."

On Friday, the father of Lana Ameen, who died aged three after falling ill in nearby Stockport, spoke of his grief and fury over the Government's refusal to vaccinate children.

Dr Zana Ameen, an NHS doctor, had sought the jab for his young daughter, but had been told she was not eligible. She died on Boxing Day, after falling ill while the family visited relatives.

He said: "As a doctor, I can't think of any medical reasons not to make it available to young children. The only possible reason can be saving money."

Last winter, children under the age of five were offered the swine flu jab, but this season, Government advisers said children should only be vaccinated if they had health problems, refusing to change the advice even as flu reached epidemic levels among young children.

Documents have shown that last January, a majority of a committee of scientists advising the Government on the vaccination programme thought children should be included in the programme, yet inexplicably changed their mind weeks later.

As flu rates among young children soared, the group held emergency talks two weeks ago but decided that there would be insufficient "gain", as rates of flu were likely to fall soon.

Figures published on Thursday show the number of flu deaths has doubled in a week, up from 50 to 112.

Influenza experts said they had "a lot of sympathy" with angry and anxious parents who have been trawling private clinics, and even going abroad in search of vaccines.

On parenting website Mumsnet, mothers described desperate attempts to find centres which would give the jab, with some private clinics charging more than £200 for it.

Others said they had used family trips to France and Switzerland to have their children immunised, while several mothers of young children said they were keeping them away from school and nursery because of their concerns.

Prof John Oxford, a flu expert at Queen Mary, University of London, said: "I have a lot of sympathy for parents in this situation, I can see why they would be anxious."

He said that he felt "uneasy" about the Government approach to the flu outbreak, and that it appeared to be "stumbling" into decisions, such as the late move to launch a national advertising campaign last month, and Friday's decision to use old stocks of swine flu vaccine to plug shortages of seasonal jabs.

Microbiologist Prof Hugh Pennington said he was "very disappointed" by the decision not to offer the jab to children, contrasting advice in this country with that in the US where it is routinely given.

He said: "Some babies have already died from swine flu this winter, and undoubtedly there will be more deaths – the numbers are small, but these deaths are preventable."

Miriam O'Reilly tells of anger at BBC

Miriam O'Reilly, the television presenter who won a landmark age discrimination case against the BBC, has revealed the anger she felt at being told she was going to be "refreshed" by the Corporation.

By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Media Correspondent 10:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

The former Countryfile presenter said the decision to drop her from the show had left her feeling "hurt" and "very sad".

O'Reilly said she feels as though she was "erased" from the BBC and describes the moment she was told she was losing her job and the emotional toll it has taken on her.

She said she was busy working on another project at the broadcaster's offices in Birmingham and had no inkling her presenting role was at risk even though there were rumours of new plans for the rural affairs show.

"As I came up the stairs Juliet Morris [another presenter on the show] was going down past me and I saw Andrew Thorman [the executive editor of Countryfile] at the top. A feeling of foreboding came over me.

"I was called in by Andrew and told it [Countryfile] was being moved to a prime-time slot, but I wasn't going forward with it."

While O'Reilly was devastated to lose her job, she says it came as a particularly painful blow because she cared so much about the show.

"It wasn't just my livelihood but a programme that I was passionate about.

"I'm a farmer's daughter and am passionate about the subject. I considered myself lucky to be on such a great programme."

The daughter of an Irish farmer who arrived in England in the Sixties, O'Reilly says she found it "too painful" to watch the programme after she was axed, along with Juliet Morris, Charlotte Smith and Michaela Strachan who were all in their 40s or 50s.

"Our contribution seems to have meant so little.

"I found out through a press release that it was only the women who were going. It was like I'd never worked on the programme. I felt very hurt by it. I was very sad.

"I knew Jay Hunt [the former controller of BBC One] wanted to refresh the programme but I became angry when I realised it was only the women who were being 'refreshed'."

Only John Craven was retained on Countryfile, while the new presenters, Julia Bradbury and Matt Baker, were are both in their 30s.

O'Reilly said as soon as she learned this, she felt she had been the victim of discrimination and subsequently decided to take the BBC to a tribunal.

An employment tribunal ruled last week that O'Reilly had been sacked because she was regarded as being too old. It criticised the broadcaster for being obsessed with attracting younger viewers.

O'Reilly feared she would never work at the corporation again after taking the legal action.

"It's something I lost many nights sleep over," she says.

"Programmes that were commissioned with my name attached to them were pulled. I used to present other programmes, but I've been erased from the BBC schedules."

However, Miss O'Reilly says she had been heartened by the response of the public and encouraged other women to take action if they face discrimination.

"People were coming up to me in supermarkets to express their disappointment at how I was treated. I was touched by the response," she said.

"I hope other women will take a similar stand. I think the BBC should be very worried."

Killer of Gurkha's son wins right to stay in Britain

A foreign criminal who killed an innocent man by throwing him into the River Thames on a drunken night out has been allowed to stay in Britain on human rights grounds.

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent 10:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

The victim of the attack, Bishal Gurung, was a hard-working waiter whose father Cpl Khem Barsad Gurung served with the Gurkhas for 16 years.

The controversial decision by immigration judges will intensify pressure on David Cameron, who has so far failed to deliver a Conservative promise to rip up the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights.

The Sunday Telegraph can today disclose details of the latest case in which the killer, Rocky Gurung (no relation), and a gang of friends threw Bishal into the river in what the trial judge described as an "unprovoked and senseless episode".

After finishing his prison sentence the assailant launched two appeals against deportation and persuaded judges that it would breach his "right to family life" if he was sent back to Nepal - even though he is now aged 22, is single, has no children and lives with his parents. The legal costs are thought to run into tens of thousands of pounds.

The case has prompted a Conservative MP to drawn up plans to reform human rights laws in a bid to drastically reduce the number of foreign criminals who win the right to stay in Britain.

Dominic Raab, who previously worked as chief of staff to David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, believes his proposals could end the stalemate within the Coalition over the Human Rights Act, which the Liberal Democrats want to retain.

He this week plans to raise Bishal's case in the House of Commons and write to the Theresa May, the Home Secretary, to outline his reform plans.

In December, the father of a girl killed by a hit-and-run driver criticised a "perverse" verdict which allowed his daughter's Iraqi killer to stay in Britain.

Paul Houston, the bereaved father of 12-year-old Amy, said he feared human rights reforms had been put on the "back burner" and added: "It needs to be placed very firmly on the agenda again."

Home Office lawyers who fought to deport Rocky Gurung argued there was no substance in his human rights claim, as he has no dependents.

They urged judges to deport the killer, who had only been in the country for three years when he committed the crime.

But Mr Justice Blake, the country's most senior immigration judge, ruled it would be "disproportionate" to split him from his parents.

The victim's sister Karuna expressed her shock at the decision and revealed that until contacted by this newspaper the family had not been informed that the killer had won the right to stay in Britain.

"I cannot express in words what I am feeling at the moment," said the 27-year-old student and shopworker.

"This is really causing so much more pain for us."

Karuna added: "If the killers were deported then at least his family would know a little of the pain we have endured.

"We are not at all satisfied with what the courts have done. We were expecting the killers to be in prison for 15 or 20 years, and yet they served just months."

Bishal's uncle, Suresh Gurung, also a former Gurkha, said: "Those people who threw Bishal in the River Thames should be deported.

"They have been given a chance here and have disrespected the British people's kindness."

The 43-year-old uncle from Farnborough, who served 17 years with the 1st and 2nd Battalions, The Royal Gurkha Rifles, added: "It has been awful for the family. Bishal's mother Sarada lost her husband when the children were small and now she has lost her son.

"Bishal's body was in the Thames for two weeks before it was found. It has been so distressing for us all."

Mr Raab, who sits on the Commons' human rights committee, said: "I am deeply disappointed for the family of Bishal Gurung. It adds insult to injury that the perpetrator of such a vicious attack can claim family ties to avoid deportation."

The MP's proposals involve retaining the Human Rights Act but amending it, along with the UK Borders Act 2007. He believes it will be a compromise acceptable to both sides of the Coalition.

"Judges are no longer just applying the law – they are making it up as they go," said the MP.

"It defies common sense to allow criminals to remain in this country in case it disrupts their family relations. Britain never signed up for that.

"We need to restore democratic control over our borders and our laws. That can be done without wholesale repeal or replacement of the Human Rights Act, which our Coalition partners would not accept."

Currently, the law says offenders jailed for 12 months or more should be deported on completing their sentence - but there is an exemption if removing them would breach their human rights.

Repealing that exception would lead to fewer criminals successfully arguing they should be allowed to stay, said Mr Raab.

In April 2008 Bishal Gurung was working at a Nepalese restaurant in Esher – Mr Raab's Surrey constituency – when he came to London to celebrate Nepalese new year.

After leaving a party on a boat on the Thames in the early hours he was chased along the Embankment by 10 to 15 men including Rocky Gurung.

The Old Bailey trial heard the gang had falsely accused 23-year-old Bishal of hitting another man, Kemik Thakali, with a bottle.

One witness told the court that Bishal was "on his hands and knees" being kicked and beaten by seven or eight men and was then thrown into the Thames by Rocky Gurung and Thakali, from Morden, south-west London. Rocky Gurung and Thakali were both jailed for three years for manslaughter.

Rocky Gurung came to Britain in 2005 and won indefinite leave to remain because his father had also served with the Gurkhas.

When the killer lost his initial appeal against deportation, he appealed again to the Upper Chamber of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber.

His lawyers argued that his right to a family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights would be breached if he was deported, because all his immediate family live in Britain.

The judges agreed that deporting him would be "disproportionate".

Mr Justice Blake, who as president of the Upper Tribunal is the country's most senior immigration judge, said in his ruling: "We conclude that the family life that the appellant enjoyed with his family in this country from 2005 was not suddenly cut off when he reached the age of 18 and his personal circumstances had not otherwise materially changed."

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the pressure group MigrationWatch, said: "This is a dangerous extension in the interpretation of the right to family life, to an adult who happens to still be living with his parents.

"It also fails to take into account the wider interests of society in getting rid of various criminals who we really do not need in our country."

A Home Office spokesman said they had been given permission to appeal against the decision to the High Court but no date has yet been set.

Rocky Gurung is understood to have been released from immigration detention and is on bail.

In January last year The Sunday Telegraph revealed how an Iraqi immigrant who stabbed two doctors to death in 1990 won the right to stay in Britain after a judge ruled that he would pose a danger to the public in his homeland.

The same immigration tribunal which examined the Gurung case decided that Laith Alani, a paranoid schizophrenic, should not be deported to Iraq because it would breach his human rights and put people there at risk.

Alani committed suicide after the ruling.

Last month (DEC) Amy Houston's killer, Aso Mohammed Ibrahim, 33, successfully argued it would breach his human rights if he was returned to his homeland because he has subsequently found an English partner and fathered two children.

Mr Cameron said he felt "great anger" over the ruling.

Reform of the Human Rights Act has been delayed by a pledge to set up a commission to review the law some time during 2011.

Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, said in May that he would seek to "promote greater public understanding" of human rights.

Royal Shakespeare Company to sell thousands of costumes

The Royal Shakespeare Company is to sell thousands of its costumes worn by actors including David Tennant and Sir Ian McKellen.

By Roya Nikkhah, Arts Correspondent 9:45AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

More than 10,000 items will go on sale next month, including shirts, hats, shoes, Egyptian head-dresses and a variety of military uniforms, jewellery and other accessories.

Among the garments up for sale are the soldiers's tabards and chain-mail from the RSC's 1984 production of Henry V starring Kenneth Branagh which later featured in Mel Gibson's film Braveheart, a selection of pieces worn by Sir Ian in The Seagull and King Lear and several items worn by Tennant in the 2008 production of Love's Labour's Lost.

Alistair McArthur, the RSC's head of costume, said: "We have items for sale from every area of the wardrobe, including costumes that first made their debut on stage back in the 1970s and 80s.

"The sale will include costumes designed by top theatre designers like Deirdre Clancy and our own Olivier Award winning Tom Piper.

"With many items starting at just £3, we hope that people will take the opportunity to come along and purchase a piece of theatre history."

The sale, which will take place at the RSC's rehearsal rooms in Stratford-upon-Avon on February 12, will be open to members of the public.

Designer probiotic yogurts could help people lose weight

Friendly bacteria that can be added to yogurt to help dieters lose excess body fat have been created by food scientists.

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent 9:15AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

Researchers found they could alter the bacteria, which is found naturally in the human gut and in probiotic yogurts, to make it produce a type of molecule that has been shown to reduce levels of fat tissue in the body.

The scientists, from the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority and Cork University, hope they will be able to produce new types of probiotic yogurts and drinks that can help to cut obesity.

Dr Catherine Stanton, who led the research at the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority, said: "Fat is not an inert layer around our bodies, it is active and proinflammatory. It is a risk factor for many diseases including cancers.

"This work shows that there is potential to influence fat tissue through diet-microbe-host interactions in the gut. It opens up new possibilities for the use of probiotics for improving human health."

The scientists created a strain of Lactobacillus bacteria, which is common in the human gut and aids digestion of food, by inserting a gene from another type of bacteria called Propionibacterium acnes, which naturally produces a polyunsaturated fatty acid called t10, c12 Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA).

The researchers found that the levels of t10, c12 CLA in the body fat of mice fed the engineered Lactobacillus bacterium were four times greater than mice fed a control strain.

They also found that concentrations of the molecule in the rodents' livers were 2.5 times higher when they were fed the new bacterium.

Recent research has shown that t10, c12 CLA is capable of shrinking fat cells, causing overall body fat to decrease, while it has also been shown to inhibit the growth of colon cancer cells.

Dr Stanton added: "CLA has already been shown to alleviate non-alcoholic fatty liver disease that often accompanies obesity. Therefore, increasing levels of CLA in the liver by ingestion of a probiotic strain is of therapeutic relevance.

"It is possible that a CLA- producing probiotic may also be able to keep colon cancer cells in check."

The health benefits of probiotic yogurt drinks has been a controversial area and in October the European Food Safety Authority ruled that there was no evidence that they boosted the immune system or aided digestive health.

Other research, however, has shown they can reduce length of time people are ill with upset stomachs.

Man almost became bigamist after fake divorce con

A would-be divorcee almost became an unwitting bigamist after being fooled into thinking a deceitful legal adviser had ended his marriage.

9:07AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

John Bryson, had moved in with a new partner and started a family, only failing to tie the knot for a second time because he did not have the money.

Lilian Rayne, 53, has been jailed for 12 months for tricking Mr Bryson and his wife Pamela as well another couple, Guy and Kristy Singleton, into believing they were legally divorced in return for hundreds of pounds.

The fraud only came to light when Mrs Singleton, of Morpeth, Nothumberland, spotted her name had been written as ‘Kirsty’ on the legal papers, and set about trying to change it.

Speaking about the case last year, Mr Bryson, of Winlaton, Gateshead, said: “It upset me so much when I found out. When you want to move on with your life it’s like closing a book and starting afresh, but this meant everything I’d done was false.

“She made us wait a year, that’s how realistic it was. I’ve never been divorced before so I just took the divorce papers as being right. They looked totally realistic.

“I trusted her, I had no reason not to. When you go into places like that you expect people to help you. She betrayed my trust completely.

“The worst bit was finding out I was still married. We still get on so it was OK talking to each other about it. But it was horrible thinking all those months before had been a lie.

“It meant we were dragged back into the past, we couldn’t move on, which is what we both wanted and it was all her fault.”

Rayne, of Axwell Terrace, Swalwell, initially pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges she faced last January.

On the day of her trial new fingerprint evidence emerged showing she had handled the fake divorce papers.

Her lawyers advised her to plead guilty but Rayne only listened after she had flipped a coin and watched as it landed on heads.

The next day she applied to change her plea claiming she had been bullied by her barrister Kim Whittlestone.

Recorder Henry Prosser of Newcastle Crown Court refused the bid, saying he had found no truth in the claim and said he was unable to believe any of the evidence put forward by Rayne’s witnesses under oath.

Prosecuting, Penny Moreland told the court Rayne’s faked divorces had been devised from the Swalwell Advice Centre she operated, in Gateshead.

Both couples had visited Rayne there in 2007, asking for help in their marriage split because they had little money.

Rayne took £360 from each couple then handed over the fake documents.

Despite her claim to be an upstanding legal adviser, it emerged in court Rayne has a string of offences for dishonesty against her name, including one while she was employed by a jeweller.

Insp Mick Robson, from the Gateshead inner west neighbourhood team, said: “It is a credit to the dedication of DC David Lunn, who was in charge of the case, that it has finally been concluded and that the victims can now finally have some closure and hopefully move on with their new lives.

“Not only was this matter complicated in terms of the investigation, but also in dealing with the character Rayne has proved herself to be.

“The sanctity of marriage should never be abused in this way and members of the public having anything to do with legal advice should have the confidence to trust the person they are dealing with. This will now clearly not be the case with Lilian Rayne.”

Rayne was jailed for 12 months concurrently for three counts of using a false instrument, and six months concurrently for each of five counts of dishonest representation.

Magician Paul Daniels sells thousands of pounds worth of props on eBay

Paul Daniels, the magician, is selling dozens of his props, along with their secrets, on eBay.

By Rebecca Lefort 9:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

For more than half a century he has amazed audiences with his mysterious magic tricks.

Paul Daniels left television viewers baffled as he transformed girls into tigers, identified playing cards while blindfolded or pulled a wooden broom through his wriggling body.

But now the secrets behind his elaborate illusions are finally being revealed.

Daniels, 72, has put dozens of his stage props up for sale on eBay, the online auction site. He describes the objects in detail and promises that aspiring magicians who buy them will be able to carry out the tricks themselves.

The entertainer, who presented The Paul Daniels Magic Show on the BBC from 1979 to 1994, said people could purchase "a part of magic history" and added that many of the props had been used before him by other famous magicians, including David Copperfield.

Daniels is passing on his techniques despite remaining a member of the Magic Circle, the magicians' society which has the motto "Indocilis Privata Loqui" - "not apt to disclose secrets".

Under its rules, members who disclose magic secrets to non-magicians can be expelled.

The Magic Circle holds annual members-only auctions at its London headquarters for magicians to sell their old props. Last night a spokesman for the society said it was "a bit of a grey area" whether Daniels was flouting the secrecy code by selling to the general public.

The items for sale, with starting bid prices of up to £600, include:

- "Doll to girl" cage: A toy tiger is put into the cage and a cloth pulled over it, when the cloth is whipped away there is a girl dressed in a tiger leotard inside the cage. A "girl to tiger" cage performs a similar trick but the other way around, starting with a girl and ending with a real tiger.

- "Through the eye of the needle" equipment: A girl gets into a box and the entrance is sealed with a large Chinese coin with a small hole in the middle. Another box is put on the other side of the coin. "After waving a flag through a window in one box, the girl emerges in the other, having seemingly passed through the tiny hole.

- "Magic assistant's revenge": A magician's assistant is strapped to a wooden frame, the magician grabs a curtain and begins to walk around the frame, but it is the assistant who brings the curtain back, and once the curtain has been removed it is the magician who is strapped up.

- "Absolutely impossible playing card locator": A blindfolded magician stands behind a box, which has a see through front and holes for his hands in the back. A pack of cards is put in the box and an audience member names any card. Apparently without being able to see, the magician finds that card.

- "Spirit painting" prop: A blank canvas is shown and signed, then a famous painting or picture is shown. By using the prop, made of solid oak, the picture appears on the original white, signed canvas.

- "Broom through the body": A magician appears to pull the broom through their body, with both ends visible at all times.

Daniels, who has just finished performing in pantomime in Redhill, Surrey - playing King Crumble in Jack and the Beanstalk alongside his wife, Debbie McGee - said his decision to sell the old equipment was because it is "cheaper to remake stuff for shows than to store it" at his £2 million home by the River Thames in Berkshire.

The former Strictly Come Dancing contestant, who grew up in a council house in Middlesbrough, admitted last year that he is careful with money, changing bank accounts and energy suppliers to get the best deals, and worrying about the under performance of his pension fund.

Daniels is a member of the Magic Circle's "inner circle", its elite grouping reserved for the most highly-regarded magicians.

Nick Fitzherbert, a spokesman for the Magic Circle, said that if any member accused Daniels of breaking the secrecy rule, the complaint would be investigated.

However, he said a complaint was unlikely due to the manner in which Daniels is auctioning the equipment and the high esteem in which he is held.

Mr Fitzherbert added: "He has an enormous amount of stuff. I went to his house once and his shed was about as big as a village hall.

"He's obviously having an early spring clean. Before when he's cleared out it's happened very much within the magic world.

"Now there's some really quite affordable quirky items that other people might be able to pick up."

Although this sale looks set to net Daniels thousands, in the past his eBay habit has left him embarrassed.

In 2006 it was revealed that he used the website to purchase "kinky leather-look boots" with five-inch steel stiletto heels.

Art Prize for Schools winners announced

The winners of the Saatchi Gallery/Sunday Telegraph Art Prize for Schools 2010 have been announced.

By Roya Nikkhah, Arts Correspondent 8:45AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

You can be forgiven for thinking that these are the latest works from leading contemporary artists.

But in fact, they have been created by schoolchildren, some as young as 12, who entered the Saatchi Gallery/Sunday Telegraph Art Prize for Schools 2010.

The winners of the competition were announced last week at a prize-giving ceremony at the Saatchi Gallery in London.

First prize was awarded to Harry Churchill, 13, for his works Auschwitz and Wipeout, montage paintings in acrylic, spray paint and mixed media depicting the Nazi concentration camp in Poland and the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

Harry, who completed the works aged 12 while a pupil at Dulwich College Preparatory School in London, said: "The inspiration for this painting [Auschwitz] came from reading an article on the liberation of Auschwitz.

"I researched the subject a great deal, collecting many images taken after and at the time of the Holocaust.

"I also visited an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum to get a better feeling of what it might have been like at the time. The power of the images had an impact on me and I set out to convey this in a painting."

Harry received £2,000 and his school's art department was awarded £10,000 to spend on art and computer equipment.

The two runners-up were Arosah Yaseen, 17, from Sir William Ramsay School in High Wycombe for her work The Effects of War, an embroidery depicting soldiers in combat, and Jim Johnston, 17, from Hurtwood House in Dorking for his photograph, The Ladder.

They received £1,000 each and their schools were both awarded £5,000.

The winners were chosen by a judging panel including the photographer Mary McCartney, Yinka Shonibare, the Turner Prize-nominated, Margot Heller, the director of the South London Gallery and Andrew Graham-Dixon, The Sunday Telegraph's chief art critic.

McCartney said: "I was so impressed by the high standard of so many of the entries, and I was intrigued to see how deeply these young artists were thinking about their work.

"Many of the pieces had well thought out concepts and an emotional depth to them that made me wonder what the story was behind the images."

Shonibare said that he was "astonished by the standard of entries".

He added: "It is particularly important to encourage children to express their creativity through art at such an early age.

"Our collective future success in all areas of culture depends on encouraging creative intelligence through prizes like this one."

More than 18,000 pupils entered work for the prize, which is open to students around the world up to the age of 18 and was sponsored this year by Deutsche Bank.

Among the 20 shortlisted works were entries from Hungary, Kenya and America. An exhibition of the shortlisted entries is on display at the Saatchi Gallery in London until January 22.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel did not design Clifton Suspension Bridge, says historian

The reputation of Isambard Kingdom Brunel has been questioned by new historical analysis which suggests many of his achievements have been exaggerated.

By Jasper Copping 8:15AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

He is one of the most celebrated Britons, whose engineering feats are said to have revolutionised the world.

But while Isambard Kingdom Brunel is credited with creating some of the marvels of the Victorian age, controversial new research suggests that his achievements may have been exaggerated.

The new analysis claims that his work was littered with errors and miscalculations, and that much of it was carried out by others.

It argues that Brunel's involvement in several of his most celebrated projects has been vastly overstated while one – the Clifton Suspension Bridge, in Bristol – is not his work at all.

Adrian Vaughan, an historian and biographer of the engineer, has made the claims after studying previously-unpublished writings of Brunel, as well as engineering drawings of the period.

"People need to have another look at Brunel and be more objective," he said. "The idolatry is not justified – it is shorthand, convenient history."

Mr Vaughan argues that Brunel's reputation today stems from "heroic myths" promoted in a 1950s biography by Lionel Thomas Caswall Rolt, which he claims contained factual errors which glossed over the engineer's shortcomings and the contribution of others.

He says modern commentators and television historians have perpetuated this view.

In a BBC television series to find the "Greatest Briton" of all time, Brunel – advocated by Jeremy Clarkson, the Top Gear presenter – came second in a public poll, with only Winston Churchill above him.

Yet Mr Vaughan's analysis of Brunel's diaries and letters at the National Archives, at Kew, and at Bristol University, has uncovered several occasions where the engineer has credited work previously believed to have been his, to others – including the route of the Great Western Railway from Reading into London.

Mr Vaughan said the biggest myth surrounding Brunel was that he had designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

The structure opened in 1864, five years after Brunel's death. But the engineer has always been credited with creating it, including on a plaque on the structure itself which says: "This bridge was designed in 1830 by Isambard Kingdom Brunel".

In April 2006, the bridge was the main focus for events celebrating the 200th anniversary of Brunel's birth.

But Mr Vaughan said: "That plaque is not true. It cannot be true. Demonstrably, the bridge is not Brunel's design. The bridge is his memorial but that is all."

In fact, Mr Vaughan said, the eventual bridge design was fundamentally different from Brunel's and was the work of William Barlow and Sir John Hawkshaw.

While Brunel's design had two suspension chains supporting it, the final design had three, with a third more "hangers" – the bard from the chains down to the road.

It also had an entirely different system of attaching the "hangers" to the chains, to correct the twisting effect that Brunel's system would have had on the chains.

The method of stiffening under the road was also entirely new. While Brunel had designed a system of wooden struts, these were not considered sufficient so were replaced with riveted, wrought iron, lattice work girders.

Barlow and Hawkshaw also made the roadside railings an integral part of the structure, carrying out the function of a girder above the road. Under Brunel's design the railings performed no structural role.

"These are not cosmetic alterations or modifications. It is fundamentally a new design," Mr Vaughan said.

According to the historia, Brunel's role in the construction of the ships SS Great Britain and SS Great Eastern has also been embellished, as has his contribution to the construction of the Thames Tunnel between Rotherhithe and Limehouse – now part of the East London Overground railway system.

The tunnel's construction spanned 20 years, while Brunel's involvement in the project lasted for only a quarter of that, and while Brunel is often cited as the designer of the SS Great Eastern – at the time the largest ship built – this was in fact done by John Scott Russell, a naval architect, Mr Vaughan argues.

The historian adds that Brunel's main contribution to the ship project was to hinder its progress and cause costs to spiral, and that his role in the design of the SS Great Britain has also been exaggerated.

He argues that while Brunel devised the vessel's propulsion system, credit for its revolutionary hull belongs elsewhere, with designer Thomas Guppy.

Mr Vaughan's new book, The Intemperate Engineer, focuses on the construction of the Great Western Railway, between London and Bristol – often cited as Brunel's greatest feat – and documents several errors that dogged the project and left it overbudget and overdue.

"He did so many silly things on the Great Western Railway. There were many flaws in the railway because he wouldn't listen to anyone else," Mr Vaughan added.

In one incident, Brunel told his backers how wonderfully rigid the track was. Later, it was found that it was unstable and more than 20 miles had to be relaid.

Brunel's original track construction system was also poor, even though other railways lines had been built more smoothly by this time.

Brunel also badly miscalculated the specifications needed for locomotives on the route and designed carriages which would not stay on the track.

While Mr Vaughan does not blame Brunel for the unwarranted "hero" status he has since received, he is critical of modern authors and personalities who he says have burnished his image.

The author added: "Brunel did certainly do some brilliant things, but in the popular imagination he built everything in the Victorian era.

"Brunel was an artist and used his talents on the railway, to make some beautiful things, like stations and tunnel entrances, to glorify himself. But I don't think he would thank people for all this flattery."

A recent biography by Steven Brindle, an English Heritage historian, was entitled Brunel: The Man Who Built the World, but Mr Vaughan said such "hyperbole" was "ridiculous".

"It means the people who deserve credit don't get it. He has been allowed to overshadow others. There has been too much hagiography," he added.

However, Mr Brindle defended the engineer and his own writing: "Brunel was a genius at the level of Leonardo or Mozart. Again and again in his career, he had these fundamental insights.

"He was capable of what we would call blue sky thinking to a quite remarkable extent."

Neanderthals were not ugly because of the cold, new research finds

The characteristic broad foreheads and large noses of Neanderthals did not give them any special advantage in the cold arctic conditions of the last ice age, according to new research that has raised new questions about the habitats our prehistoric relatives lived in and why they died out.

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent 8:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

Their prominent facial features have caused them to be cast as one of nature's less attractive creatures, but now one of the main scientific explanations for Neanderthals' large noses and jutting foreheads has been disproved.

For more than 150 years scientists have explained the reason for these facial differences to modern humans as an adaptation that allowed Neanderthals to live in the freezing conditions that gripped Europe during the last Ice Age.

They believed prehistoric human relatives had enlarged sinuses which helped to warm the air as it was inhaled.

New research that used three dimensional scans and X-ray images of Neanderthal skulls has revealed that their sinuses were no bigger than modern humans, Homo sapiens, who evolved in more temperate climates, and so played no role in increasing the size of their facial features.

The researchers behind the study claim the findings suggest Neanderthals, which died out around 30,000 years ago after surviving for more than 400,000 years, did not evolve to survive in the harsh frozen tundra of Europe but instead were better suited for living in warmer climates.

Dr Todd Rae, an evolutionary anthropologist at Roehampton University in London, said it was more than likely that Neanderthals lived in temperate refuges where they could forage for fruit and berries as well as hunting for meat.

He said: "The view that Neanderthals were knuckle-dragging cave men who scraped a living by hunting large mammals on the frozen wastes of the tundra has been around since they were first discovered because they were known to live at a time when Europe was in the grip of the last Glacial Age.

"As a result a lot of their physical traits have been attributed as adaptations that helped them live in the cold, even when it doesn't make any sense.

"Our findings show that their sinuses were no larger, relative to the skull size, than in Homo sapiens who lived in temperate climates. It suggests that Neanderthals evolved in much warmer temperatures before moving into Europe and then they moved south to avoid the glaciers.

"The picture of them as more of a temperate climate creature than one that lived in the cold fits the data much better."

The remains of Neanderthals are found across Europe and in western and central Asia. Recent research has started to dispel theories that they were a primitive form of prehistoric human and is instead revealed that they used sophisticated tool kits, cooked their food and may even have been able to speak.

Recent research examining the remains of plant matter in the teeth of a Neanderthal skull has also helped to dismiss the earlier beliefs that Neanderthals were predominantly meat eaters that hunted large Ice Age mammals. Instead they were revealed to have foraged for berries, grain and vegetables, which they often cooked.

There are a number of theories for what caused Neanderthals to eventually die out, including competition with our own direct ancestors Homo sapiens, climate change caused their food supplies to disappear, or even interbreeding between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.

But the latest findings on the size of the Neanderthal sinuses, which is published in the Journal of Human Evolution, has now raised new questions about what happened to them.

Dr Rae said: "It raises other possibilities for what caused Neanderthals to eventually die out. If they were restricted to living in warmer refuges at the height of the last ice age, it is possible their populations became too isolated and small to survive."

Working with colleagues at Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universität Greifswald, Germany, and The Natural History Museum, London, Dr Rae compared detailed scans of Neanderthal skulls with those of modern humans taken from Medieval remains.

He added: "We chose to use archaeological human remains rather than current skulls as we wanted to have data from a period before central heating and air conditioning which may have altered the results.

"As our results show that they don't differ significantly from temperate-climate European humans, we can conclude that they were not regularly subjected to cold stress."

Sardinians call for formal recognition of diet

Sardinians, renowned for a propensity to live to 100 and beyond, want formal recognition for the island's unique diet.

By Nick Squires, Rome 4:49PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

They want their culinary traditions, kept intact for centuries by remoteness and an aversion to outsiders, to be recognised by UNESCO as the world's first "longevity diet".

The proposal follows the success of Italy, Spain, Greece and Morocco in having the low-fat, high-fibre Mediterranean diet accepted on the UN cultural and scientific body's "intangible heritage" list in November.

Sardinians insist the secret to a long life can be found in their traditional diet of lamb, roast piglet, milk and cheese, including the notoriously pungent "casu marzu" sheep's milk cheese, which is eaten when it is crawling with maggots.

Sugar and sugary foods are eaten sparingly, with desserts and pastries reserved for saints' days and festivals like Christmas.

Sardinians eat less carbohydrate-heavy pasta than their counterparts on the mainland of Italy and their diet is particularly rich in proteins derived from milk and cheese.

The tipple of choice is also different to the mainland: "Vino Cannonau" is a robust red wine which is particularly beneficial to health.

But scientists believe other factors play a crucial role, most importantly genetic make-up.

The area of Sardinia with the most centenarians are the Barbagia mountains of the interior, a rugged region which has repelled centuries of foreign invaders and maintained a distinct genetic pool.

A small gene pool can make a population more susceptible to inherited diseases, but it can also increase the chance of developing beneficial traits which are passed on from generation to generation, such as longevity.

Shark kills teenage surfer

A teenage surfer was attacked and killed by a bull shark on a notorious stretch of coast in South Africa.

By Ian Evans in Cape Town 4:40PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Zama Ndamase was bitten by the shark and tried to ride a wave back to shore to get treatment. However, his wounds were too deep and he bled to death in the water before rescuers could reach him on Saturday.

Ndamase, 16, was surfing at a beach near his home town of Port St Johns in South Africa's Eastern Cape when he was attacked by the bull shark.

The solitary hunters, which can grow up to 11ft and can survive in fresh and salt water, are among the three most dangerous shark species to man.

Local reports said the teenager was the fifth shark victim at the town's Second Beach in the past three years, four of which were fatal.

Ndamase was a member of the Border Surfriders Association and was surfing with brother Avuyile, 18, when he was attacked.

Club board member Vaughn Meecham, who had mentored Zama from an early age said: "Zama suffered a deep bite to the back of his leg which severed a major artery and he bled to death in the water. I understand he tried to get out of the water on a wave but he didn't make it because the blood loss would have been too much.

"Everyone is devastated by what's happened. Zama was a very talented surfer and could have gone all the way. He was popular and a little rogue. We've known him for years and we're all very upset about his death.

"From the reports it sounds like the bite was very deep. He died in the water before any medical help could arrive."

On the BSA website, spokesman Gareth Sepp yesterday said: "Today we lost Zama to a fatal shark attack. Zama was out surfing at his homebreak in Port St Johns when he was attacked by a suspected Zambezi shark.

"Border Surfing Association remembers Zama as a young guy full of spirit and always ready for a laugh. He was always willing to help out other team-mates and enjoyed giving the younger surfers encouragement and advice. Border was looking to him a play a leading role in our junior surfing team this year.

"His passing leaves us numb and with great loss. Our sincerest sympathies are extended to his family and friends."

Mr Meecham said a fund had been launched to pay for counsellors to support Ndamse's family and other surfers who witnessed yesterday's attack.

The talented teenager earned a Surfing South Africa scholarship two years ago and represented the local Border region at national games.

Serbia attempts to improve image with peacekeeping

Serbia is attempting to improve its international image by sending its army on overseas peacekeeping missions.

4:31PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

In the 1990s, Serb troops shelled towns in Croatia and Bosnia and supported rebels when they attacked civilians in those newly independent nations under the regime of Slobodan Milosevic.

The country's pro-Western government is determined to end the army's past reputation for nationalism, aggression and even war crimes.

At the same base on the outskirts of Belgrade where troops once trained for the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, dozens of local instructors and Nato advisers are teaching soldiers to be guardians of the peace in places like Chad, Cyprus, Lebanon and Somalia.

Several dozen soldiers from Serbia are already serving in UN units in Congo, Chad, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Cyprus and Lebanon. The effort will be eventually expanded to 40-member platoons, to be followed by companies of 180 soldiers and even larger units.

"We are the first soldiers from our country. We hope that after this mission the image of Serbia will be better," said Staff Sgt. Alexander Beocanin, part of a seven-man Serb unit serving with the UN force on the divided island of Cyprus.

He and his colleagues patrol the UN-controlled buffer zone separating the Greek Cypriot south from the Turkish Cypriot north. The soldiers' duties involve monitoring and observing the zone and preventing anyone from straying into it.

"We have so much experience in war; now we want peace," Sgt. Beocanin said.

Jean Marie Le Pen signs off with anti-semitic comment

French far right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen handed control of his party to his daughter Sunday with a parting shot that maintained his reputation for controversy, joking about a Jewish reporter's nose.

by Our Foreign Staff 3:10PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Le Pen was responding to journalists' questions about a reporter who had said he was violently thrown out of a National Front dinner by party security guards on Saturday for allegedly attending without authorisation.

France's President Sarkozy with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"He complained it was because he was Jewish he was thrown out. You couldn't tell by looking at his identity card, nor at his nose," Le Pen retorted, evoking a physical sterotype that was notably used in Nazi proaganda.

In a report on his network, France 24 reporter Mickael Szames said he had been beaten, kicked, knocked to the ground and racially abused by Le Pen's security team as he left a National Front drinks party at its congress.

He said he and France 24 had made a formal complaint to the police and the network refused to broadcast new Front leader Marine Le Pen's first speech as leader live in protest at his alleged treatment.

While controversial, Le Pen's off-colour aside was mild compared to many of his outbursts, which have seen him convicted of racial hatred, and he caused outrage in 1987 when he dubbed Nazi death camps a mere "detail of history."

Le Pen handed over the leadership to his youngest daughter Marine who has officially named his successor. In his farewell speech Saturday he rejected criticism of his outspoken comments over his 40 years as FN leader.

While sharing many of her father's hardline views, the 42-year-old blonde brings with her a softer, more telegenic image which the party hopes will give it an electoral breakthrough against President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Polls suggest 17 percent of French voters might back Marine, not enough to put her in the Elysee Palace in 2012, but enough of a threat to incumbent right-winger Sarkozy to force her agenda into the political debate.

"I consider us as of now to be in an electoral campaign, first for the cantonal elections (local polls in March), and then of course presidential and legislative ones," she said in televised comments after being named.

Like her father, she has not avoided provoking outrage with outspoken comments. Last month she compared Muslims praying in the streets outside overcrowded mosques in France to the Nazi occupation. As expected, the Euro-MP and National Front deputy leader comfortably beat party rival Bruno Gollnisch to become head of one of Western Europe's most enduringly influential anti-immigrant movements.

Her 82-year-old father, a one-eyed former paratrooper, founded the party in 1972 and led it until his retirement on Saturday, when he stepped down at the start of its congress in the northern town of Tours.

Under Jean-Marie the party never broke into government, and he was accused of racism and shunned by other movements, but he forced the mainstream right to compete with him on immigration and law and order issues.

In 2002 he sent a shock through the political establishment by coming second in the first round of presidential voting, knocking Socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin off the ballot.

Marine is seen as offering a softer, potentially more-electable image, despite standing by the party's core values and sharing her father's anti-immigration and anti-Islam stance.

"I accept the whole history of my party, and I take it all on board," she told reporters on Sunday.

Before a cheering crowd of supporters, Jean-Marie Le Pen read out results of a vote by party members which showed she beat Gollnisch, 60, with more than 67 percent of the votes.

"No one will contest your legitimacy to represent us," Gollnisch told the victor in his speech as runner-up. "We are going to fight and win."

Marine Le Pen was due to give an acceptance speech on Sunday afternoon.

Le Pen's third and youngest daughter, she was born in 1968 in the plush Paris suburb of Neuilly but has built a political base as a local councillor in the working-class industrial towns of the northern Calais region.

Tunisia Army arrests security chief in coup plot as struggle for control intensifies

Tunisia arrested the ringleaders of a potential coup against its new leadership as talks were launched to form a coalition government and the Army swamped the streets to quell violence, looting, arson and shooting.

By Our Foreign Staff 3:08PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Tunisian police arrested the head of the presidential guard Sunday and dozens of others suspected in drive-by shootings, trying to restore calm to the North African nation after the historic ouster of its longtime strongman.

Tunisians and observers worldwide were looking for signs about which way the country would turn as a new leadership sought to tamp down the looting, arson attacks and random violence since autocratic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was driven from power on Friday.

Police arrested the head of Ben Ali's presidential guard, Ali Seriati, and several colleagues over accusations they had plotted against state security. Other details were not immediately available, but security agents had often fired on unarmed protesters in the last month.

"Criminals are using ambulances to fire on people," a police official in charge of security said.

Dozens of people have died in a month of clashes between police and protesters angry about the repression and corruption during Ben Ali's rule - unrest that ultimately marked the end of his 23-year regime.

A soldier fired shots in the air Sunday near Tunis' main train station - which had been turned into a blackened carcass - to warn that a gathering of more than three people is banned under the state of emergency law.

Police insisted that gunfire heard overnight was only the firing of warning shots. One soldier stationed near the train station said, "We are with the Tunisians, we are all brothers."

A well-known human rights advocate returned home to the embattled - but in many ways, hopeful - country in the midst of an unprecendented power shift for the Arab world. Souhayr Belhassen, president of the International Federation of Human Rights, arrived at Tunis' airport and said her long-repressed countrymen appear poised for unprecedented freedoms.

A day of violence Saturday cast doubt on hopes for a smooth transition to a post-Ben Ali era: Assailants attacked police near the Interior Ministry, and looting and score-settling attacks besieged wealthy neighborhoods, department stores and shops.

Businesses owned by Ben Ali's family were major targets of looters. The family of the ex-president's wife, Leila Trabelsi, has financial interests in wide-ranging sectors from banking to car dealerships. A branch of the Zeitouna bank in Tunis founded by Ben Ali's son-in-law was torched, as were vehicles made by Kia, Fiat and Porsche - brands distributed in Tunisia by members of the ruling family.

Tunisians are especially overjoyed at the prospect of life without Ben Ali's wife and her family.

Tunisian media reported one brother-in-law of the president, Imed Trabelsi, was attacked by an angry mob at Tunis airport and died from his injuries.

Fouad Mebazaa, the former head of parliament's lower house, was named interim president on Saturday and quickly ordered the creation of a national unity government that would include longtime opponents of Ben Ali. Elections must be held in 60 days.

"We can start to hope," said a founder of the main opposition party, the Progressive Democratic Party, Nejib Chebbi.

The question now, he said, is whether a new government will be pluralistic or again dominated by Ben Ali's ruling RCD party. "If the RCD is dominant, we're not out of the woods."

The 74-year-old Ben Ali and some family members fled to Saudi Arabia. Other relatives were in France, but authorities said they were not welcome to remain.

Tunis' airport reopened Saturday but a state of emergency continued. Thousands of tourists were being evacuated Sunday from the Mediterranean nation, whose wide beaches, deserts and ancient ruins are a strong draw for Europeans seeking relief from winter.

Street violence took a new form Saturday with roving gangs sacking homes in at least one wealthy neighborhood and residents, armed with golf clubs, forming self-styled vigilante committees.

Others worried about food shortages.

"This all happened in three days. Maybe tomorrow we can't eat," said Mohsen Yacoubi.

A Paris-based photojournalist, Lucas Mebrouk von Zabiensky, 32, of the EPA photo agency, died Sunday after being hit Friday in the face by a tear gas canister.

The downfall of Ben Ali, who had taken power in a bloodless coup in 1987, delivered a warning to other autocratic leaders in the Arab world.

The improved quality of life for many failed to keep up with the increased limits on civil rights like freedom of expression. The jobless rate is officially 14 percent, but is thought to be far higher among young who make up more than half of its 10 million people.

The self-immolation, and eventual death, of a 26-year-old university graduate selling fruits in central Tunisia last month triggered a series of protests that, relayed by social media like Facebook, spun into general anger against the regime.

Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and his family's 'Mafia rule'

As Tunisia's President Ben Ali is granted leave to remain in Saudi Arabia, the lavish lifestyle enjoyed by the president and his family is coming into the spotlight.

By Colin Freeman 8:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Their preferred title was "Tunisia's First Family". To the people they ruled over, though, president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and his clan were known as "The Mafia" - a ruling clique whose greed and nepotism ultimately caused their downfall.

Following in the footsteps of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and numerous other deposed dictators, Mr Ben Ali was granted refuge in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, starting what will likely be a comfortable, if less than dignified, political retirement.

But as millions of Tunisians celebrated the end of his 23-year-long authoritarian rule, it was not just the 74-year-old president they were glad to see the back of.

Far more reviled, it seems, was his second wife Laila, a feisty brunette more than 20 years his junior, who was dubbed "The Regent of Carthage" for her power behind the throne.

A former hairdresser from a humble background, she stands accused of using her marriage to Mr Ben Ali to turn her family, the Trabelsis, into the desert nation's most powerful business clique.

As of Saturday night, the former first couple were keeping a low profile. Mr Ben Ali was reported to have flown into the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah, where Idi Amin spent his final years.

Meanwhile rumours circulated that his wife, who is thought to have fled the country separately and beforehand, had headed for Dubai - a destination with which she is said to be well acquainted through shopping trips.

"All President Ben Ali's power and wealth became concentrated in the family, and especially that of his wife," said Saad Djebbar, an Arab political analyst. "He was so arrogant that he undermined his own power base, alienating supporters in the party and the business community."

In public, the country's First Lady had styled herself as one of the Arab world's most progressive female politicians, heading charitable foundations and espousing feminism and women's rights. But critics say that behind the scenes, she pursued an acquisitive agenda that saw her widely-likened to Imelda Marcos of the Philippines.

Few such criticisms ever emerged in Tunisia's tame and highly-censored media - much of which is owned by members of the ruling family. But the government could not prevent Tunisians getting access on the internet to last year's Wikileaks reports, in which former US ambassador Robert F. Godec penned several vivid snapshots of the elite's pampered lifestyle.

In one, he described the astonishing opulence of a lunch date at the house of Mohamed Sakher El Materi, a billionaire businessman who is the president's son-in-law and - until last week anyway - his rumoured heir apparent.

Sitting in a beachfront compound decorated with Roman artifacts, Mr Godec noted that ice cream and frozen yogurt had been flown from St Tropez, and that his host kept a pet tiger in a cage - a habit also shared by Saddam Hussein's late son, Uday.

When many ordinary Tunisians struggled to even find jobs, he later noted, it was hardly surprising that such bling lifestyles did not endear the ruling family to their subjects.

"President Ben Ali's extended family is often cited as the nexus of Tunisian corruption," Mr Godec wrote in a cable to Washington. "Ben Ali's wife, Leila Ben Ali, and her extended family - the Trabelsis - provoke the greatest ire from Tunisians. Along with the numerous allegations of Trabelsi corruption are often barbs about their lack of education, low social status, and conspicuous consumption.

"While some of the complaints about the Trabelsi clan seem to emanate from a disdain for their nouveau riche inclinations, Tunisians also argue that the Trabelsis' strong arm tactics and flagrant abuse of the system make them easy to hate."

Last week, demonstrators in the town of Hammamet, an up-market resort on Tunisia's Mediterranean coast, attacked luxury villas identified as belonging to members of the president's extended clan.

At one mansion, looters filmed themselves on mobile phones as they gleefully set fire to top-of-the-range sports utility vehicles and did wheelies on motorbikes across pristine lawns. According to some reports, local security forces had even suggested they loot the Trabelsi mansions rather than attack the police station.

Since then, rioters have turned their attentions to the Trabelsi's business empire, looting shops and supermarkets identified as belonging to them.

There are, it seems, no shortage of potential targets. Leila's brother Belhassen alone is said to own an airline, several hotels, two of Tunisia's private radio stations, and a car assembly plant.

As Ambassador Godec noted, many foreign investors found it hard to operate in the country without giving a cut of their business to member of the ruling family. The McDonalds burger chain - not often hailed as the champion of ethical business practice - lost the chance of a franchise in Tunisia because of its refusal to grant it to someone with "family connections".

Just how much of their empire the Trabelsi family will be able to hold on to now that their chief patron has gone remains to be seen.

The president himself is said to have a personal fortune of around £3.5 billion, although last night, Tunisia's old colonial ruler, France, said it had taken steps to ensure "suspicious financial movements" through its financial system would be blocked.

Meanwhile, Ben Ali's son-in-law, Mr Materi, was said to have holed up in a £300-a-night VIP suite at hotel at Disneyland Paris, along with his wife Nesrine, 24, and other hangers-on. Four Tunisian bodyguards were said to be camped in the hotel lobby.

"The Tunisian Embassy in Paris was the first place they stayed, but when expat Tunisians started demonstrating outside they decided to move out to Disneyland," said a source at the theme park.

"The problem is that the entourage is so large that people started to notice them immediately. The women are dressed in designer clothes and look like princesses, covered in expensive jewellery, and Mercedes limousines are coming and going all the time."

In any case, they may not be able to stay much longer. on Saturday night a French government spokesman said members of the former ruling family were not welcome on French soil "and should leave".

84-year-old adventurer set to launch Atlantic raft

Four English adventurers led by 84-year-old Anthony Smith are to sail 2,800 miles across the Atlantic on a raft made from plastic gas pipes.

By Michael Howie 7:30AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

It is a journey that would test the mettle of any seafarer – a 2,800-mile Atlantic crossing powered only by sail.

But when four Englishmen set off on the trip, two things will make their expedition remarkable. Their vessel will be a raft made from plastic gas pipes. And the crew will be led by an octogenarian who relies on a stick to walk.

With a combined age of 259, the sailors on board the "An-tiki" will not be lacking in experience.

Anthony Smith, 84, will be joined by Don Russell, 61, David Hildred, 57, and Andrew Bainbridge, 57, for a ten-week voyage from the Canary Islands to the Bahamas. The raft is expected to begin the epic journey this week.

All the materials have been either donated or purchased by Mr Smith, who is spending compensation he received after he was run over by a van two years ago – an accident that has left the adventurer, writer and grandfather with metal pins in his leg.

What would normally be regarded as a devastating setback has been turned into a positive. "I had some luck two years ago – I was run over," Mr Smith said. "That's what inspired the whole thing and that's provided the basis for the money.

"The whole point it to prove that elderly people can do something interesting. Well, I am 84 and disabled, so I'm well qualified on that score."

A former science correspondent of The Daily Telegraph, Mr Smith has written over 30 books and worked on several film and documentary projects. He presented Tomorrow's World when the BBC television show, launched in 1965, was in its infancy.

The inspiration for the unusual trip comes from a desire to show that rafts, although a primitive form of transport, are no more dangerous than hollow-hulled vessels.

The crew are also raising money for WaterAid, a charity that provides clean water for the world's poorest people.

"People ask me 'Am I frightened?' But I say I don't know enough to be frightened," Mr Smith explains.

"I don't know how we will get on, as we don't know each other very well. I don't know how tiring it will be, living on something that goes up and down all the time. I don't know what it will be like living on a bunk. Nobody knows what a storm will do to us, or how well we will be able to steer."

But Mr Smith, of west London, insists the adventure is no foolhardy indulgence. Two of the crew – Mr Hildred and Mr Bainbridge – are experienced sailors, and the raft has been kitted out with all the necessary communications in case they get into trouble.

The raft crossing is not the first 'Boy's Own'-style adventure that Mr Smith has embarked on.

In 1962 he led a pioneering expedition, The Sunday Telegraph Balloon Safari, over east Africa. The following year he became the first Briton to go over the Alps by hot air balloon.

But for someone who normally relies on a free bus pass, spending eight to ten weeks on the Atlantic aboard a 36ft x 20ft (11m x 6m) raft will surely surpass his earlier challenges.

Mr Smith has spent the last five years plotting his dream trip. After placing a Telegraph advert appealing for fellow crew, he has spent the past few months gathering materials to assemble the raft.

All the pieces – including gas pipes, electronics, wood, and two telegraph poles that would became the mast – were assembled and shipped in a container from Felixstowe, Suffolk, to La Gomera in the Canary Islands.

The team, joined by wives and girlfriends, swapped the snow and ice of Britain for the hot sunshine of the Canaries as they spent the last two months assembling the raft.

They reached a milestone on Friday when the craft finally was finally placed in the water. Thankfully, it did not sink.

"Everything has gone very well but there is so much more to do than you expect. But then something that is pioneering always throws up unexpected challenges," says Mr Smith, who has attracted a steady stream of curious onlookers from the nearby ferry dock.

The crew will be sheltered by a wooden hut, 20ft by 7ft (6m by 2m), where they will take turns to sleep on two bunk beds. Cooking, from gas stoves, chart-reading and all-important communications will be also be carried out there.

"We've also got a small library so it won't all be hard work," says Mr Smith.

"There is a porthole to look out, though it should be reasonably dry. It shouldn't get colder than 10C (50F) for the most part of the trip. There's a fence around the raft with netting, so none of us should fall over board."

The lights and electronics will be powered by four solar cells on top of the hut, a wind generator – and a pedalling machine.

Meanwhile, the crew will be sustained by 16 boxes of food, containing dry stuffs like cornflakes and perishables such as eggs, oranges and bananas. A small bread maker will add homely comfort to their ordeal.

"We also have a hook and line to catch fish, and a plankton net to eat plankton. Plankton is good enough for the blue whale, the biggest creature on earth, to eat, so it's good enough for us."

Drinking water will be carried in five pipes, each 18ft long. "We'll have so much water I think we will be able to sell it to passing yachts."

Asked what treats he's brought along to keep the crew's spirits up for the long days and nights ahead, Mr Smith's answer is short and simple.

"Alcohol," he says. "Everyone's quite keen on a drink, so it's not so much beer as rum and whisky."

The crew has had to wait for the weather to calm down before launching the raft. A support vessel will tow the raft out to sea for a few miles – "in case anyone forgets their toothbrush".

"We have to wait for the wind. I don't want to be released and then blown back to shore. But the current is there to do the job. It took Columbus across in 1492 so it should take us across too."

The crew's destination is the small island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas.

Perhaps understandably, Mr Smith's five children at first suggested that it might be better for him to "potter in the greenhouse".

"But when they realised I was serious, they just wished me good luck."

Marine Le Pen becomes Front National leader: A pivotal moment for French politics?

The election of Marine Le Pen as leader of the far-Right Front National could mark a watershed moment for French politics, writes Anne-Elisabeth Moutet.

By Anne-Elisabeth Moutet, Paris 7:30AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

It's a measure of the inroads Marine Le Pen has already made in theFrench political debate that she now splits opinion among the rarefied world of Parisian intellectuals.

On the one hand, the philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy still thinks she reeks of sulphur: according to him, the youngest daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, 82, the longstanding Front National leader, is "even more dangerous than her father".

Yet on the other Elisabeth Lévy, the shrewd editor of Causeur magazine, the French answer to The Spectator, considers not only that Marine Le Pen "says nothing scandalous or morally unacceptable", but also that she might well "be truly breaking away from the old French extreme-Right, to create something new."

Sunday marks an extraordinary moment for Marine Le Pen, and a potentially pivotal moment for the politics of France.

On Sunday afternoon at a party conference in Tours she will be formally declared the comfortable winner of a postal ballot to elect a new leader of the Front National, the party created by her father and reviled for decades even among some of the most conservative of the French.

He is bowing out and giving way to his daughter, a twice-divorced single mother with an infectious laugh and a no-nonsense manner mitigated by charm, who represents a younger, more open-minded and more politically fleet of foot generation - and thus a far greater challenge to France's two main and traditional parties.

"I've taken risks to draw the Front National out of its old rut," she says. "I could have tried to pander to all the small groups who wanted no change at all. Instead, I have made my case that I was a secular republican and a democrat. Over 90 per cent of our members are with me."

Even though she kept to a gruelling schedule, criss-crossing France 51 times in the past few months to campaign for the leadership, she is in fine shape and cracking good humour. She favours tailored jeans which she wears with high-heeled boots, silk shirts and strict blazers, and told Paris Match she follows the high-protein Dukan diet.

Now the FN's undisputed leader, she has her sights firmly on the 2012 presidential election, in which she could prove as dangerous for Nicolas Sarkozy as her father was for the Socialist candidate, Lionel Jospin, in 2002: she firmly believes she can come in second, and slug it out in the runoff with whoever gets finally picked by the Socialist Party.

"Nicolas Sarkozy took many right-wing voters for a ride," she says. "He stole our slogans on security and order, promised a lot and delivered little. We won't be taken in twice."

Yet the latest polls show that her anti-globalisation, anti-Europe and anti-capitalist speeches make more inroads in the Left-wing electorate that on the Right.

It was in 1972 that her father created the Front National out of several even smaller right-wing factions, but the first-past-the-post system ensured that it remained outside parliamentary politics for its first 12 years.

Then came the first European elections of 1984, and a decision by the embattled Socialist president, François Mitterrand, to revert to the system of proportional representation that General de Gaulle had previously repudiated.

That year, when Ms Le Pen was just 15, the Front National celebrated the election of 10 MEPs - and two years later, with a similar electoral system introduced in national elections, 35 Front députés were elected. That split the Right enough to help keep the Socialists in power - and gave the party a new legitimacy.

It was a wily manoeuvre by Mitterrand: no alliances were possible on the Right with the toxic Front, seen, not entirely without reason, as a motley alliance of Vichy nostalgics, football hooligans, Algérie française colonial carryovers, and dyed-in-the-surplice Traditionalist Catholics. Yet without their number, the Right could not attain a majority.

Since then, PR has been again excised from the electoral system, but the Front National has never returned to complete obscurity.

It is difficult to overstate the weight of France's historical past in her present political life. The scars left by the French Revolution, the great original sin of the Occupation, and the bitter Algerian war of decolonisation still fester, just under the surface of almost any debate.

Le Pen, an orphaned Breton fisherman's son, tried to join the Résistance in 1944, and later fought in Algeria and in the Suez expedition.

But he made his indelible mark in French politics by obsessively picking at the scabs of the country's dark past. He boasted of using torture in Algeria to combat terrorism; called the gas chambers "a point of detail" of the Second World War; used time-and-motion calculations to dispute the number of Auschwitz victims; and described France's German occupiers as "very civilised".

He was several times condemned under French incitement laws - all of which he used to paint himself as a larger-than-life pariah in the too-tame, self-referential world of French politics.

This history, of which she is acutely aware, Marine Le Pen has actively tried to put behind her. She has disavowed her father on several points, not least in references to the Second World War. She goes further in private, say her friends, "but she doesn't want to attack her father in public."

At 42, a handsome, single working mother of three, she presents herself as the young, modern face of the Front National, in sharp contrast to her defeated opponent in the Party leadership contest, the 60-year-old academic Bruno Gollnisch, under whose banner the Party's residual hardliners had sought an increasingly exiguous shelter.

In the Gollnisch camp gather the "tradis", the traditionalist Catholics who are horrified by Marine's support of gay rights - short of gay marriage - and refusal to support abolition of the 1975 law permitting abortion. (She says she only wants all provisions of the law strictly applied, so that women are first offered "alternatives" such as pre-natal adoption.)

No-one in France will admit to anti-Semitism, which is actionable by law, but campaign rumours from the Gollnisch camp included descriptions of Marine's entourage as "full of Jews, queers and Arabs".

It's an exaggeration, but it's true that her inner circle includes types not hitherto much seen at Le Paquebot, the old FN headquarters in Saint Cloud, West Paris.

But mostly, her appeal is her undeniable charisma. Photographs don't entirely do her justice: she is tall, broad-shouldered but slender, with an easy self-deprecating manner that is especially unusual in France. A barrister, she is a good public speaker, capable like her father of delivering a structured speech for an hour without notes.

If she feels her instinctive pugnacious style, modelled on her father, is making the wrong impression on her audience, she is capable of stopping in mid-sentence to address a contradictor with a smile and a joke.

She was far mellower when I asked her last week if, being divorced and raising her three children alone, she had become a new, unlikely emblem of French feminism. She gave a spontaneous belly laugh.

"Well, I'm not especially proud of this failure, you know, but I've had to deal with it and it's taught me a lot," she replied.

She supports a parental salary for young mothers and a number of Scandinavian-type measures to help women work and raise children.

"I wouldn't call myself a feminist, because I don't think relations between men and women should necessarily be confrontational; and I don't want to be reduced to my gender; and yes, I think we should find other solutions than affirmative action to break the glass ceiling. You never know if you were hired because of your competence or because a woman had to take the job, do you?"

It is interesting that two personalities she quoted positively during a half-hour conversation were two Jews: Simone Veil, the former health minister and European Parliament president, who first introduced the abortion bill, and Elisabeth Badinter, the left-wing feminist author.

On television, she is a redoubtable debater, having honed her bruiser's skills in numerous panels in which most of the other participants seemed to gang up against her. This, of course, has helped her: the Front National always made a meal of representing the citizens left without a voice.

The thrust of her political discourse is a mix of protectionism, almost Leftist social welfare economics and French nationalism that seems tailored to the present post-crisis Zeitgeist in France.

Following her father, she has built a strong nationwide support by opposing unchecked immigration, but insists this has nothing to do with racism and is only about proper assimilation into the French culture.

Almost alone of the French political class, she has jumped on the European anti-Islamist bandwagon, and makes approving reference to Geert Wilders of the Netherlands and Oskar Freysiger of Switzerland.

The latest polls give her good reason to look forward to the coming year.

In recent weeks, Le Monde and Marianne, the news weekly, published figures showing that close to one quarter of the Gaullist electorate sympathises with her views; and that almost half of all French voters agree with her on insecurity and crime.

One third agree on immigration, one third on "secularism" - code in France for disagreeing with the encroachment of Islam on society - and one quarter on leaving the euro.

Fascinatingly, 74 per cent of the French would describe her as "courageous". (Meanwhile 59 per cent consider her "racist", 47 per cent "modern" and 42 per cent "close to people's concerns.")

Such figures would make her France's most electable politician if she weren't called Le Pen.

But if she weren't called Le Pen, would she be where she is now?

Offering hope to Zimbabwe's most desperate

As Zimbabweans struggle to cope with food shortages and rising prices, Peta Thornycroft meets one woman trying to help the ever-growing ranks of suffering citizens.

By Peta Thornycroft, Bulawayo 7:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

As the great great granddaughter of one of imperial Britain's greatest African foes, the irony cannot be lost on Sandra Gumede.

Lobengula, her illustrious ancestor, spent much of the late 19th century trying to fend off colonial encroachment in his Matabeleland kingdom in what is now westernZimbabwe.

Ultimately he failed, his tribal warriors cut down by British Maxim guns during a war that provided Rhodesia's Rorke's Drift moment - when Maj Allan Wilson and 31 British volunteers were cut down by a vast Matebele force after a valiant stand by the Shangani River.

But today Mrs Gumede works with the British, or at least with a British charity in the form of Zane, set up in 2002 by former MP Tom Benyon to help the ever-swelling ranks of destitute Zimbabweans, black and white.

At another moment of great crisis in her people's history, it seems only right - like her ancestor before her - to rally to their need.

So, at 3am, Mrs Gumede is up and cooking maize meal in a council hall in Pelindaba, an overcrowded suburb of Bulawayo, the "City of Kings" that was once Lobengula's capital.

It is an early start but she has little choice in the matter; Zimbabwe's daily power cuts mean that a lie-in is all but impossible.

Soon the corridors are thronged with playing children who have come to the council hall with their grandparents, penniless pensioners for whom Mrs Gumede is the only hope of a hot meal. The children are mainly orphans, their parents mostly carried off by the Aids epidemic that has swept Zimbabwe, where as many as one in six of the adult population are infected with the HIV virus.

Maize meal, known in Zimbabwe as sadza when it is cooked, is the staple food of Zimbabwe. But after years of hyper-inflation and misrule that has consigned a country once prosperous by African standards to mass impoverishment, it has almost become a luxury for many in Matabeleland.

As one element of its work in Zimbabwe, Zane provides maize meal and soya so that many of those who suffer the most -- the old and the young -- again have the opportunity to eat.

One of the beneficiaries of the feeding scheme is Thabani, a former teacher who lived in rural Matabeleland until 1985 when he was forced to flee President Robert Mugabe's brutal suppression of Matabele dissidents and their suspected sympathisers.

It was the height of what became known as the Gukurahundi, and in nearby villages the dreaded, North Korean trained Fifth Brigade was carrying out mass executions, forcing villagers to dig their own graves before mowing them down with machine gun fire.

For Thabani, who thinks he is 69, Mrs Gumede's sadza is, like for so many others, quite possibly the difference between life and death.

"I would die without this food, which I collect every day of the week," he said. "It is cooked. I have no money for electricity even when it is on. At weekends, it is a problem to get food. Often I am very hungry on Monday."

Thabani does not believe there is any immediate prospect for an improvement in the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans, not while the present government remains in power, making the role that Zane plays in his life even more important.

"We know what has happened in Zimbabwe," he said. "We know why we are hungry. No one here will support Mugabe in any elections now."

He continued: "I don't know this British organisation who send money for the food for us, but please thank them. We would die without it, so would those children over there."

The children continue playing happily as the food is handed out to the pensioners as they queue patiently for their food.

Having one hot meal a day gives them a future, and some hope - a precious commodity in Zimbabwe.

Others in Zimbabwe, however, do not want to consider what the next few years, even months, might bring.

Lorna Webb is one of Zimbabwe's white victims. She hasn't been oppressed politically or singled out for violence. But, like countless others in modern Zimbabwe, she is penniless.

A distinguished Zimbabwean - her father was Sir Thomas Page, a one-time pioneering farmer - she lived her life with characteristic prudence. After her husband died, she sold the family house as a way of supporting herself into old age.

Instead, she was reduced to penury as her savings were wiped out after Mr Mugabe's policies of seizing white-owned farms contributed to inflation so runaway that prices were doubling every day.

It is hardly surprising that Mrs Webb is not relishing the prospect of turning 100 later this year. In fact, she just wants to die.

"I am 99 now and my body is worn out," she said, speaking from her bed in the frail-care section of a Harare old age home. "I have lived too long, and I want to move on to the Lord now."

For Mrs Webb, Zane has been a source of precious comfort since she was taken under its wing last June when she broke an arm and a leg.

Until then, despite her age, she had lived an active life, walking every day and enjoying considerable independence at her old people's home.

Being confined to a bed is difficult for a woman who has seen so much. Her father, whose story she tells in her book Chintali ("tall man" in the Chinyanja language), was once speaker of the Legislative Council in Zambia, or Northern Rhodesia as it was known then. Knighted in 1956, he arrived on the African coast at the age of 19 and walked across the bush for nine weeks to reach Nyasaland.

In many ways, her life has been just as adventure-filled. Born in then Northern Rhodesia, she and her sister had long and difficult journeys to school in Southern Rhodesia and were parted from their parents for a year at a time, suffering regular bouts of homesickness for their bush home.

Mrs Webb trained as a nursing sister in Southern Rhodesia before spending the early years of her working life in the forests of eastern Zimbabwe, where she worked more as a doctor than a nurse, often having to perform operations when the missionary doctor was away.

She also nursed in Johannesburg, South Africa, for 15 years, and retired as deputy matron but returned to Zimbabwe to nurse her dying sister.

"I can't hear you, and I can't see you, but I have had a full and wonderful life and I just want to go, so thank you, but there is no point in living like this," she said.

As she prepares to make her final journey, Mrs Webb has no family around her. She has a much loved stepson, but he lives in Cape Town and does not have the money to see her often.

Zane fills that gap, its carers and volunteers providing attention and companionship for a dying woman.

In a clear voice, Mrs Webb reaches out her hand, searching for the Zane carer next to her. "Thank you for coming to see me," she said.

Tunisia: Why the Jasmine Revolution won't bloom

Friday's coup in Tunisia sent shockwaves throughout the Arab world. But don't expect it to herald an era of democratic reform, says Richard Spencer

7:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

There is a Tunisian proverb that says if an old man is incontinent, his sons will call him wise and full of advice. The family of President Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, suddenly expelled from their beachfront palaces, may today be wondering if they should have been a little more honest with themselves.

Here is Mr Ben Ali’s advice to America on the Arab world, given to a visiting assistant secretary of state in 2008. He was glad Tunisia was in the Maghreb not the Levant, he said – part of stable North Africa, not the fractious Middle East.

Muammar Gaddafi of Libya was “not a normal person”, he added. As for Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation and for so long its cultural beating heart, it had not long to go. The situation there was “explosive”, he said. “Sooner or later the Muslim Brotherhood will take over.”

It is easy to laugh now, as you read the diplomatic treasure trove that is Wikileaks. It turned out it was Mr Ben Ali himself, the sensible, modernising, outward-looking friend of the West, who was on the way out. On Friday night, as his plane circled the Mediterranean desperately looking for somewhere to put down, did he think back to that conversation and kick himself?

If anyone knows how a dictatorship works, it should be a dictator. So Mr Ben Ali’s gross misreading of the situation that culminated in his humiliating flight from an angry mob in downtown Tunis should be a warning. Those now hoping that Tunisia’s revolution will herald an era of democratic reform across the region had better be prepared for the unexpected.

It began before the government was actually gone. Some were already calling the events of the last week a “Jasmine Revolution” after the national flower of Tunisia, a not-so-coded reference to the wave of post-Soviet uprisings that swept away similar old guards.

It is an easy thought. For a region whose politics coined the epithet “Byzantine”, what happened this week in Tunisia was remarkably simple. The country has had a successful education system, by both Arab and African standards. The number of its young attending university and tertiary college, 31 per cent, would look good on any international league table.

Lots of foreign investment, mostly from its former colonial power France and fellow inmates of the eurozone, showed what money could do. Unfortunately, thanks to the corruption of the political system and the presidential family, which awarded the contracts to friends and spent the proceeds on foreign luxuries, it did little for those it had educated. So they took to the streets.

And when they did so, they were not the sort of opportunistic flash mob that is easily scared off by tear gas or diverted into the suburbs for a spot of looting. “Ben Ali, thank you, but that’s enough,” was the polite chant of one group of demonstrators.

“On est civilisé,” protested another at baton-wielding cops, using the colonisers’ language to emphasise the point: “we are civilised.”

They were not Islamists, either: though there are no doubt Islamist supporters in the country, they are, by common account, overwhelmingly outnumbered by those who want a more liberal rule, not less.

Many of those involved were the type who could easily be found discussing their PhDs in a Parisian bistro or New York Starbucks. “We want Ben Ali to go,” said Radia Nasraoui, a lawyer. “All we’ve known since he’s been in power has been misery, prisons, torture, repression and unfair trials.”

What must particularly alarm Tunisia’s neighbours is that Mr Ben Ali had done all the things that the better sort of Middle Eastern autocracy has done so successfully for so long. As protests grew, he gave with one hand, doling out subsidies to sugar, cooking oil and other food prices, and took with the other, rounding up the “usual suspects”, such as Hamma Hammami, leader of the local Communist Party.

Abroad, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International put out the usual agonised appeal for personal freedoms to be respected, to a deafening silence from Tunisia’s main backers.

The United States had just voted through another $12 million in military aid. France announced it would be premature to “hand down lessons”. The foreign minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, said the message to Tunisia should be one of “friendship” and offered to send security forces to help “resolve the situation”.

France was also said to be a driving force behind a decision by Baroness Ashton, the EU foreign affairs representative, to continue talks on upgrading relations with Tunisia to “advanced status”.

Still, Mr Ben Ali went. And within hours, opposition forces across the Middle East were seizing their opportunity. As Tunisians gathered outside their embassy in Cairo to celebrate their regime’s passing, young locals joined them. “Listen to the Tunisians, it’s your turn Egyptians,” they shouted.

Egypt is far poorer and, with 80 million tightly crammed inhabitants, far more overpopulated. Its leader, President Hosni Mubarak, has been in power even longer – 30 years and counting.

Some joked that Mr Ben Ali, whose plane into exile was refused permission to land in a repentant France before heading east to Saudi Arabia, dropped in first on Mr Mubarak’s seaside home in Sharm el Sheikh. “Come to stay?” Mr Mubarak asks. “No, come to pick you up,” replies Mr Ben Ali.

Ayman Nour, a liberal politician who dared to stand against Mr Mubarak in the last presidential “election” in 2005, earning himself seven per cent of the vote and a five-year jail term, told The Sunday Telegraph that there were many similarities between the two countries.

“The government managed to convince the West it was the only alternative to extremism and terrorism, just like in Egypt,” he said. “And until a few days ago, what happened in Tunisia was seen as an impossibility. This has given optimism to dissidents in Egypt.”

What holds for dictatorships also holds for the region’s other main form of government: absolute monarchy. Saudi Arabia, a misunderstood country, is often seen as torn between its plutocratic, dissolute princes and its plutocratic, Islamist ones. The truth is more complex: as in Tunisia, an attempt to modernise by sending its youth abroad to study has led to the creation of a new class of opposition. New groups like the Association for Political and Civil Rights argue that democracy need not involve ceding power to Islamic fundamentalists. It could cede power instead to economists who can grapple with the implications of a burgeoning population, two thirds aged under 25, with an average income – despite all that oil money – of under $7,000 a year.

As in Tunisia, a generation that has been given no political voice has found one on the web. The government has responded by publishing new rules to police blogs – but these were full yesterday of provocative comments calling for a “celebration of Tunisia’s victory”.

Yet there is good reason for the nerves clearly displayed by the United States and other Western powers in the face of events in Tunisia. What comes next? The State Department may sneer superciliously at some of the people with whom it does business, as Wikileaks shows, but it is not stupid.

There is one already vibrant democracy in the Arab world, and its government also collapsed this week. You wait decades for a change in government, as they say, and then two coups come at once.

This country was Lebanon, where Hizbollah withdrew its representatives and their allies from a power-sharing cabinet. Saad Hariri, the pro-Western prime minister, is still in office, but hardly in charge. Hizbollah’s private army is now the main force in the land, and a government of which it is part is hardly likely to dismantle it. This is not the sort of democratic precedent that the West welcomes.

The days of Pan-Arab nationalism are dead. Though economic stagnation, stemming from a Mediterranean mix of over-reliance on the state and cronyism, may be a common motive, the manifestations of discontent are now very different from country to country.

The main opposition in Egypt, for example, is not Mr Nour, but the Muslim Brotherhood. “The most important lesson here is for your people in the West,” warned Esam el-Erian, a council member, last night. “You must send a message that they depend on dictatorships, pushing strategies that are against the religion of the people.” Today in Jordan, the Brotherhood’s local branch, the Islamic Action Front, will build on events in Tunisia by staging their own sit-in in the capital Amman.

Those Gulf kingdoms that have experimented with more democracy have quickly found Salafi Islamic parties, more radical even than the Brotherhood, claiming seats in legislative assemblies.

If, as some analysts believe, the final dismissal of Mr Ben Ali came when his backers said quietly they could not tolerate further bloodshed, the attitude might be different in a case where the main opposition is vociferously anti-Western.

That does not mean unrest is not coming. In Tunisia, the trigger for the uprising was the suicide of one young unemployed graduate. In other places over three decades there have been other triggers – stolen elections, ethic riots, even, in South Korea in 1987, the arrival of the Olympics.

Many such turning points are on the Middle East’s horizon: presidential elections in Egypt, where Mr Mubarak may or may not decide to stand yet again; riots over food prices in Algeria next door; the threat of war with Israel in Syria and Lebanon. In none of these countries will change come quietly.

Tunisia may be a victim of its own success. “When you have a more educated people they are more demanding,” said Lahcen Achy, an economist at the Carnegie Endowment in Beirut. “They should have thought about upgrading their institutions and politics to match the expectations of their people.”

But other countries with slow-changing institutions are also educating their young. “It all depends on who is quicker, the government or the people,” said Dr Eriani said when asked whether Egypt would have a revolution.

“People cannot wait any longer,” said Maysara Malas, a leader of Jordan’s engineering union, in front of another Amman demonstration. “All the dictators will soon depart.”

And if it is still unclear what will replace them in Tunisia, how much the less so elsewhere.

* Additional reporting by Samer al-Atrush in Cairo

British expat tells of her grief for brother-in-law shot dead by Tunisian police

A British expatriate living in a Tunisian seaside resort has told how her brother-in-law had become a martyr for the country's revolution after he was shot and killed by police during an anti-government demonstration.

By Robert Mendick, David Harrison, Ben Leach and Rebecca Lefort 9:40PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Posters of Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, the country's ousted president, have been torn down and replaced in the tourist town of Hammamet with images of Zouheir Souissi, a hotel receptionist.

The photo of Zouheir is being posted all over Hammamet and the words Martyr of the Nation printed on it

Mr Souissi was shot in the neck and killed on Wednesday after police began firing on demonstrators.

His sister-in-law Jackie Souissi, 54, who was originally from Islington, spoke of her devastation at his death and of the terror that has gripped the town.

Hammamet is one of a series of Tunisian resorts that are now almost empty of tourists.

The major tour operators Thomas Cook, Thomson and First Choice were aiming to have completed their evacuation of holidaymakers by last night.

Holidaymakers returning on Saturday described the chaotic scenes they had seen of petrol stations set alight and shops destroyed as they were bussed from hotels to the local airport.

Their departure leaves behind about 1,000 British expatriates, who have spent the past week living in fear of their lives.

They have witnessed shootings, the looting of shops, and the burning to the ground of property linked to the former ruling family.

They hope that the power vacuum that now exists in Tunisia will be quickly filled or else the tourism industry on which so many depend may be damaged for good.

Mrs Souissi, who has lived in Hammamet since 1993, said: "My brother-in-law was in a taxi when it got caught up in a demonstration.

"He got out and stood on some steps to see what was going on when he was shot in the neck by police.

"They were just firing indiscriminately into the crowd. He was a 50-year-old family man; head of reception at a five-star hotel. He had lots of British friends.

"In the medina [old town] in Hammamet, there was an enormous picture of the president which has been torn down and replaced with a big picture of my brother-in-law and the words 'martyr' written beneath it."

Mrs Souissi, a mother-of-one, is a 'warden' for the British expat community in Hammamet. Yesterday she was telephoned by the British embassy and told to disseminate a message to her network of friends to 'keep a low profile'.

A curfew exists in the town between 5pm and 7am but even during the day streets are largely deserted.

Mrs Souissi will only venture out in the mornings to buy essentials such as bread and then locks herself in the family home in a suburb of the town.

Across town, Mrs Souissi's close friend Kate Bahri, 44, originally from Malvern in Worcestershire, has had to close her bar and restaurant with no clue as to when it might reopen.

"It was very worrying for a couple of days because they were really on the rampage," said Mrs Bahri.

"We first went out on Thursday evening. There were a lot of barriers in the street where people had started fires and the police had just fled.

"Me and my two teenage daughters were terrified. It was a shock to see the banks had been smashed and set on fire as well as the big supermarkets.

"Anything linked to the president and his family has been attacked and looted including his wife's villa where they were nicking anything they could get their hands on.

"We closed the restaurant on Thursday after my ex-husband got on the phone to say get home, things are getting out of control. It is now very tense and we are staying at home although it is calmer now."

Both Mrs Souissi and Mrs Bahri, like most of the 30 or so British families in Hammamet, will not leave their homes.

"I would never go back to England," said Mrs Bahri. "We cannot just pack our bags. Our lives are here. Our children go to school here."

About 30 miles south of Hammamet in the resort of Sousse, Michele Chemli, originally from Suffolk, is contemplating quitting the country with her Tunisian husband and their two children aged four and six.

"We are too scared to go out," she said yesterday, "You can hear rapid gunfire, shops are being looted and many buildings have been set on fire.

"It's dangerous out there and if it gets any worse I will have to think about taking the children out of the country."

Mrs Chemli, 43, added: "They have wrecked the town centre. There is a huge amount of damage. The supermarkets put up barriers to stop people setting fire to them but that didn't stop them.

"There was a huge demonstration on Wednesday and it really kicked off. Guns were being fired and people were getting shot. There is a lot of poverty out here and people have taken advantage of the demonstration to help themselves."

In the capital Tunis, David Wilson, who has been in Tunisia for six months setting up a British school, was waiting in a hotel with about 200 Britons hoping to be evacuated yesterday.

"It's incredibly sad," he said. "If you go out and about anywhere in the Tunis area you are running a risk. There is lawlessness.

"I saw two houses being ransacked and torched but they are specifically targeting properties connected to the former ruling family."

Mr Wilson was in the swimming pool on Friday morning when he was called by the British embassy and told to "pack my bags and go".

The evacuation of tourists was nearing completion on Saturday. Thomas Cook, which had repatriated most of its customers on Friday, was planning to fill one more plane today.

Seven rescue flights were laid on by Thomson and First Choice, landing in Manchester, Gatwick, Glasgow, Birmingham and East Midlands.

At least one holidaymaker remains stranded. Last night Herbert Allanson, 70, from Wirral, Merseyside, said he was still stuck in his hotel in Monastir, despite repeated attempts to contact Thomas Cook to get on one of the last flights home.

The former seaman, an amputee, said he had been unable to contact anyone from the company and was “very concerned” for his safety.

He said: “I’ve been calling them all day but haven’t got through to anyone. I’ve tried to make it outside but there are rioters with guns roaming the streets.

“There aren’t any taxis or buses running to the airport so I’m stranded. My family [in Britain] are terrified. I’m terrified. I just want to get out of here.”

A spokeswoman for Thomas Cook confirmed it was aware of Mr Allanson, saying: "Mr Allanson is a flight only customer who booked through our website. Unfortunately, no contact or hotel details were provided at the time of booking, so we were unable to advise Mr Allanson of the rescue flights that have taken 1,800 customers home in the last two days.

"We are doing everything we can to contact Mr Allanson through his hotel to advise how we can help him return home as soon as possible."

Tourists arriving back on Thomson flight 965 at Manchester airport yesterday described the chaos they had left behind.

Adam Wallace, 22, a security manager from Accrington, Lancashire, said: "When we went to the airport today it was a bit unnerving. There were police stood on the corners of roads and groups of people hanging about, it did feel a bit intimidating."

Ross Wiseman, from Sunderland, was less than 36 hours into his holiday when he and his family were brought home. He said: "Going about the streets before the curfew there were smashed windows, burned out cars – just one big mess really.

"We had a nine-year-old with us and he was panicking but I think the adults felt safe in the complex.

"On the journey to the airport there were armed soldiers on the streets and that was intimidating, you could see the snipers on the top of buildings with their guns pointing down on us."

Where our overseas aid goes: salsa in Cambridge, coffee in Yorkshire

Money from Britain's overseas aid budget is being spent on hosting coffee mornings and salsa dancing in the UK to "raise awareness" of poverty abroad.

By Jasper Copping 9:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

The Department for International Development is spending £3 million over three years on a scheme called Global Community Links (GCL) which funds projects intended to educate the British public about impoverished nations, chiefly in Africa and Asia.

Trade unions, charities, schools and churches can apply for the money - but any organisation that receives it must agree to spend it all in Britain, and is specifically barred from sending any abroad.

The initiative is being funded even though the Conservatives attacked such UK-based "awareness" spending when they were in opposition and said it would end as soon as they came to power.

The revelation will raise further questions over why DfID was one of only two Whitehall departments, along with the Department of Health, to be spared cuts in its budget by the Coalition.

Critics suggested that the department should restrict its spending to projects in poor nations, and accused the Government of funding "propaganda".

Among the projects already offered funds under the current scheme are:

* A conference in Cambridge, planned for later this month, featuring an "Afro-Cuban dance gala".

The conference has been organised by the charity Cambridge to Africa as one series of events to highlight its link with a children's charity in Uganda, for which it has received a GCL grant of £8,015.

The events are expected to be attended by 600 people – a cost to the taxpayer of £13 a head.

As well as a performance by Leandro Charanga, a Cambridge-based salsa dancer who is originally from Cuba, the event, "Celebrating Diversity: Voices from Africa", also includes presentations from a Swiss freelance journalist and a Norwegian aid worker.

* Fairtrade coffee mornings to be held in Huddersfield by a group called the Young Ethical Pioneers, which has been awarded £9,460 to promote its link with tea and coffee producers in Kenya.

The organisers hope to attract "local celebrities" to promote the events – possibly from town's football or rugby league clubs.

* A video about a twinning project between a Yorkshire Dales village and a community in Mali.

The link was established part of a wider scheme to connect people living on the Greenwich Meridian in different parts of the world – although Burley in Wharfedale is more than 70 miles from the line, while Tereli, in Mali, is more than 200 miles from it.

The Yorkshire group has received £9,550 to make the video and to organise four conferences about their work.

* A DVD and a poster exhibition about epilepsy in Sierra Leone. A Reading-based community group, Education for Development, has been awarded £8,985 to create the publicity material, which will be seen by more than 4,500 people at conferences, in hospitals and online.

* A twinning project between people from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Kenya to promote the British public's knowledge of climate change.

A grant of £10,000 to Team Kenya is being spent on workshops, a conference and other events in north-east England. The group's message will also be spread through a DVD and blogs.

* A week of activities later this year in Plymouth to celebrate a link with Ghana, including performances by musicians from the African country. Plymouth Ghana Link has also been handed £10,000 with the aim of "widening for the people of Plymouth their understanding and awareness of Ghana".

Funded activities include presentations and seminars, links between schools, a visit to Devon by a representative from a cocoa co-operative, and workshops in Plymouth about malaria.

As recently as January 7, DfID officials were using the website Twitter to encourage more groups to come forward to bid for the GCL money.

However, following inquiries from The Sunday Telegraph, Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, has announced that the scheme is to be reviewed and has asked the scheme's "managing agents" – organisations like the British Council and Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), which evaluate bids and hand out the money on behalf of DfID – to introduce an immediate halt to all new funding until the review has been completed.

In a letter to them, he wrote: "I ask that you consider refraining from awarding new grants under any existing programmes you are contracted to manage, until the review has ended and the conclusions are clear."

Grants awarded under the scheme can range in size from £1,000 to £10,000. The GCL scheme was launched in March last year, in the dying days of the Labour government.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Mitchell stressed that the scheme started before the 2010 election and said he was currently powerless to stop it.

"All of this is being done under a Labour government contract which I cannot rip up," he said.

"In the letter, you will see that I ask the managing agents to consider refraining.

"I can't force them to. But I am sending a very clear signal that if I could, I would stop it.

"Once I have the independent review then I will be able to consider what I can do to stop it."

Other DfID schemes which operated under Labour have already been scrapped by the new Government.

GCL was set up following criticism of a previous DfID initiative, the Development Awareness Fund (DAF), which funded projects including Brazilian dance classes in east London, a photographic scheme costing £180,000 to raise awareness of climate change and poverty in Brighton, and the teaching of "global citizenship" to two- and three-year-olds in Devon.

Yesterday the Conservative party disclosed new details of awareness spending under Labour, which totalled £34 million in eight years, including £9,618 for trade union project to "build solidarity along the banana supply chain" and £47,727 for a school drama in Derbyshire in which children dressed as slaves.

Sam Bowman, from the think tank the Adam Smith Institute, said the GCL programme was simply a "rebranding" of the DAF scheme.

"It is a huge waste. It is an outrageous use of money to provide propaganda for the government. Paying civil society groups to be your mouthpiece across the country on various issues weds those groups to the government and prevents them being independent and critical."

Currently £7.3 billion goes to fund DfID every year and the Coalition has pledged to increase spending on aid in order to meet a United Nations target of 0.7 per cent of national output by 2013.

Matthew Sinclair, director of the TaxPayers' Alliance which has also been critical of DfID spending, said: "Taxpayers will be disappointed that DfID is going looking for ways to spend their money through Twitter."

He added: "It is also disappointing that, while some wasteful 'awareness' spending in Britain has been scrapped, DfID is still spending taxpayers' money building the case for more development spending rather than actually focusing on helping the world's poorest people as it is supposed to.

"This is more evidence that the massive planned increases in international aid spending is a mistake. The department needs to show it can use the money it gets now responsibly first.

"The department should at least get the same treatment other high priority areas like science did – a cash freeze would save billions."

Jordan Tyson's father tells of his death in Brisbane floods

Three days ago, a stranger turned up on the back porch at the home of John Tyson, who lost his partner, Donna Rice, and their son, Jordan, in the Queensland floods.

By Jonathan Pearlman, Toowoomba 9:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Mr Tyson had never met the softly-spoken man who appeared at his door, but knew immediately who it was: one of two strangers – the so-called Good Samaritans - who had saved his youngest son, Blake.

Yet it was never going to be an easy encounter. To the enduring horror of the two rescuers, after hauling Blake to safety they had been unable to reach to the mother and older boy before the pair were swept away, before their eyes, by the torrents.

The death of thirteen-year-old Jordan has become one of the emblematic tales of Queensland's devastating floods: it quickly emerged that he had insisted that rescuers save his 10-year-old brother, Blake, before they came back for him.

The boys and their mother had been trapped in their car by the sudden flash flood that swept through the inland town of Toowoomba on Monday. A wall of water hit the streets without warning – part of an "inland tsunami" that has ravaged the countryside and torn apart entire towns across the state.

Jordan, 13, and his mother, 43, are among 16 confirmed dead, though dozens remain missing. But their tragedy could have been worse but for the intervention of the two men - strangers to each other and to the family they tried to save, who roped themselves up to a nearby post before braving the gushing torrents, filled with wreckage and debris.

Photographs taken at the time by residents of nearby houses have now emerged - showing the two men, clinging to a street sign as they desperately tried to save the trapped family.

Warren McErlean decided he wanted to meet the father of the boy he had carried to safety - but was tormented by thoughts of the two who were swept away. It was not until 72 hours later, on Thursday, that he steeled himself to turn up unannounced at the Tyson house, and offer his condolences.

But, in a twist that is remarkable even by the extraordinary standards of Queensland's last few days, he found himself being comforted by the man he had come to console.

As Blake sat watching television in the front room of the family's single-storey timber house, Mr Tyson told The Sunday Telegraph of his first encounter with his son's rescuer.

"I knew he might be plagued by a few demons," he said. "In fact he was shattered by everything.

"I said that I knew he had done the best he could and that I could be mourning three kids. Apparently, he has taken it hard. If I can help him with it – well, he helped me."

Mr McErlean, 37, who owns a business building sheds, was on Saturday with his wife Debora driving his truck around the nearby town of Postman's Ridge, offering help to those whose houses had been torn apart.

Since his first visit to the Tyson father and son, Mr McErlean has gone back every day, and says he will keep doing so. He is rarely lost for words, but when asked about the first encounter he fell silent and looked at the ground, before saying simply: "It was intense."

Neither man has been able to contact the other rescuer, whose name they do not know and whom Mr McErlean had never previously met. But, Mr McErlean said, he has now bonded for life with Blake Tyson and his father.

"I just wish I could have done more," he told The Sunday Telegraph. "It's been really good going up to see John and Blake. But this whole hero thing bothers me a bit. Little Jordan is the hero, not me. I've been learning a lot about him. I was in his room. Apparently he was a quiet boy and the only thing he cared about was his family."

The day after the tragedy - which happened to be his 46th birthday - Mr Tyson took Blake with him to the morgue to identify the body of his son and Donna, who had been his partner since they met as teenagers. They also have two older sons.

He did not want to see the bodies. But Blake insisted they say goodbye. "There I was on my birthday, looking at Jordan's broken finger sticking out," says Mr Tyson, not attempting to hold back the tears.

"I didn't want us to go in but Blake insisted. I think it gave him something to cling to – if looking at your dead mum and brother is something to cling to... Some bloody present – identifying my missus and kid."

The second Samaritan has yet to be identified. The man's family members have called local radio to say he is too shattered to talk about what happened.

Mr McErlean says he can never forget watching the family debate over what order they should be saved in. "There was commotion in the car. Jordan was arguing because he wanted the younger boy to go first. I found out later that he did this even though he couldn't swim.

"The other man just looked at me and I looked at him. We shook our heads. We knew the current was too strong. It was tragic. Blake was just screaming for his mum, saying 'Please save Mum, please save my mum'."

Donna, seeing her older boy carried off, let go of the branch she had clung to and went after him to try to save him.

"She would not have wanted it any other way," said Mr Tyson. "If Jordan went by himself, she would have been devastated. They had a special bond, those three."

The "inland tsunami" on Monday was up to 150 yards wide and tore through anything in its way. It ripped canyons into the land and swept up houses, cars and trucks around the riverways. As many as 28 people listed as missing may yet remain deep beneath the debris.

Beau Nunn, a 51-year old country singer, watched from his rooftop in Grantham as water-borne debris slammed into surrounding houses. He saw cars, houses, concrete water tanks and even an empty Cessna plane rushing past in the torrent.

"It was like being on a houseboat dodging missiles," he said. "If anyone of those things would have hit our house, we would have been in the drink. We just sat there watching and freaking."

There is wreckage everywhere you go across south-west Queensland. Trees and power poles lie up-ended on river banks. Piles of discarded muck contain relics from destroyed homes: mattresses, clothes, books, doors, tennis rackets, toys, fencing, chairs, washing machines and prams. On a bridge that had been cut in half, a search through rank-smelling debris revealed a mud-covered fridge which was still filled with food.

Evacuees from the worst-hit towns have recalled the destruction - and many other incredible acts of bravery.

The feats of Ray Van Dijk and Daniel Moore, who hauled dozens to safety in a runabout Indian canoe, are fast turning into legend among the survivors of Grantham, the inland township which has become known as "ground zero" of the devastating floods.

The pair guided a AUS $200 wooden boat that Mr Van Dijk once picked up for his daughters from a roadside stall around their local streets to rescue neighbours.

As houses collapsed around them, the pair ventured into water thick with mud on rescue runs to the town's lower, worst-hit streets. The chest-high water was moving too fast to paddle it against the current, so the pair held onto the canoe and waded through instead.

At a house that no longer had walls they found an elderly couple, standing in shock on a platform in chest-high water. They put them on board and pulled them back to their own house, a little higher above the water.

They found a family of four trapped in the rising waters of their living room – and dragged them to safety through a window.

Daniel Watkins, 41, a Grantham resident who was saved along with his wife, Sharon, 40, and daughter, Claire, 13, said of the pair: "They were coming along with the canoe, calling out 'Is anybody there? Is anybody there?'

"There was more water coming. They got us to their house. Then they went off again and just kept coming back with more people... I can't say how many they saved. I think we ended up with about two dozen people at their house."

Mr Moore, 41, who fits fire safety systems, said: "I'm not special. We just did what had to be done."

Mr Van Dijk, 46, a security guard, admitted to fear, but quickly added that he was a keen fisherman – his grandfather was a Dutch commercial angler – and he "has never been scared of water".

"I thought we were all gone," he said. "Everything was crumbling. We could see houses and cars moving past... We just kept going from door to door."

By the end of their effort, a crowd of drenched survivors had joined Mr Van Dijk's family on the roof of their house. They waited throughout the night until emergency rescue teams arrived and carried people out – in groups of 10 – on the cabin of a bulldozer.

In this inland valley area, creeks usually run dry or at a trickle and drought is a constant threat. But the slow-moving waterways turned ferocious last week, as a body of water the size of Sydney harbour made its way across the state.

The capital of Queensland, Brisbane, was hit on Thursday, bringing the city – and the nation - to a standstill. Thousands of homes and businesses were lost, as riverside suburbs were left underwater.

More than 100,000 homes had their power cut; police prowled on boats for looters (10 were arrested); galleries and libraries were forced to evacuate precious artworks and books.

On Saturday it emerged that a 23-month-old baby was probably the youngest victim of the flood. Jessica Keep was torn from the arms of her mother Stacey by the wall of water that hit Grantham, and remains unaccounted for.

Mrs Keep, who is six months pregnant, was inside her house comforting Jessica when the flash flood rushed in, sucking them both outside and into the torrent.

Still holding Jessica, Mrs Keep was swept onto the nearby railway line by the force of the water.

"Her legs got caught in the sleepers and she was drowning with her baby in her arms," Darren Keep, her brother-in-law, said.
The torrent tore Jessica from her mother's arms moments before a helicopter pilot rescued her and took her to hospital, where she is still recovering.

The only relief last week was, despite the worst rainfall for 10 years, the river peaked at levels lower than expected.

Brisbane itself was so well prepared that the only fatality was a 24-year-old man who went to check on his father's property and was dragged into a stormwater drain .

But up river, in the Lockyer Valley, police and soldiers are still scouring through the refuse for bodies. The debris is thick and even the smells can be misleading: they are frequently from animal corpses or decomposing meat.

Farmers and townsfolk are returning to their properties, where they are forced to quickly decide whether to try to clean up or just bulldoze what is left of their house.

The entire town of Grantham – a presumed graveyard - has been declared a crime scene until the bodies have been retrieved.

Toowoomba is rebuilding fast, but families remain torn apart, some waiting for answers that may never come. The wife and son of James Perry, a racing steward who was seen with them in graphic television footage on the roof of his car, are still waiting for word of his fate. They were winched to safety, but he has disappeared. He is almost certainly dead.

Meanwhile Jordan Rice's exploits have become celebrated on Facebook, where a tribute page has attracted hundreds of thousands of followers. He would have shunned the fame if he were living, says his father.

"He was an introverted boy and he would have shied away from all that," Mr Tyson said. "But he should get some kudos. He gave his life to save his brother. He deserves his time to shine."

Jordan Tyson's father tells of his death in Brisbane floods

Three days ago, a stranger turned up on the back porch at the home of John Tyson, who lost his partner, Donna Rice, and their son, Jordan, in the Queensland floods.

By Jonathan Pearlman, Toowoomba 9:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Mr Tyson had never met the softly-spoken man who appeared at his door, but knew immediately who it was: one of two strangers – the so-called Good Samaritans - who had saved his youngest son, Blake.

Yet it was never going to be an easy encounter. To the enduring horror of the two rescuers, after hauling Blake to safety they had been unable to reach to the mother and older boy before the pair were swept away, before their eyes, by the torrents.

The death of thirteen-year-old Jordan has become one of the emblematic tales of Queensland's devastating floods: it quickly emerged that he had insisted that rescuers save his 10-year-old brother, Blake, before they came back for him.

The boys and their mother had been trapped in their car by the sudden flash flood that swept through the inland town of Toowoomba on Monday. A wall of water hit the streets without warning – part of an "inland tsunami" that has ravaged the countryside and torn apart entire towns across the state.

Jordan, 13, and his mother, 43, are among 16 confirmed dead, though dozens remain missing. But their tragedy could have been worse but for the intervention of the two men - strangers to each other and to the family they tried to save, who roped themselves up to a nearby post before braving the gushing torrents, filled with wreckage and debris.

Photographs taken at the time by residents of nearby houses have now emerged - showing the two men, clinging to a street sign as they desperately tried to save the trapped family.

Warren McErlean decided he wanted to meet the father of the boy he had carried to safety - but was tormented by thoughts of the two who were swept away. It was not until 72 hours later, on Thursday, that he steeled himself to turn up unannounced at the Tyson house, and offer his condolences.

But, in a twist that is remarkable even by the extraordinary standards of Queensland's last few days, he found himself being comforted by the man he had come to console.

As Blake sat watching television in the front room of the family's single-storey timber house, Mr Tyson told The Sunday Telegraph of his first encounter with his son's rescuer.

"I knew he might be plagued by a few demons," he said. "In fact he was shattered by everything.

"I said that I knew he had done the best he could and that I could be mourning three kids. Apparently, he has taken it hard. If I can help him with it – well, he helped me."

Mr McErlean, 37, who owns a business building sheds, was on Saturday with his wife Debora driving his truck around the nearby town of Postman's Ridge, offering help to those whose houses had been torn apart.

Since his first visit to the Tyson father and son, Mr McErlean has gone back every day, and says he will keep doing so. He is rarely lost for words, but when asked about the first encounter he fell silent and looked at the ground, before saying simply: "It was intense."

Neither man has been able to contact the other rescuer, whose name they do not know and whom Mr McErlean had never previously met. But, Mr McErlean said, he has now bonded for life with Blake Tyson and his father.

"I just wish I could have done more," he told The Sunday Telegraph. "It's been really good going up to see John and Blake. But this whole hero thing bothers me a bit. Little Jordan is the hero, not me. I've been learning a lot about him. I was in his room. Apparently he was a quiet boy and the only thing he cared about was his family."

The day after the tragedy - which happened to be his 46th birthday - Mr Tyson took Blake with him to the morgue to identify the body of his son and Donna, who had been his partner since they met as teenagers. They also have two older sons.

He did not want to see the bodies. But Blake insisted they say goodbye. "There I was on my birthday, looking at Jordan's broken finger sticking out," says Mr Tyson, not attempting to hold back the tears.

"I didn't want us to go in but Blake insisted. I think it gave him something to cling to – if looking at your dead mum and brother is something to cling to... Some bloody present – identifying my missus and kid."

The second Samaritan has yet to be identified. The man's family members have called local radio to say he is too shattered to talk about what happened.

Mr McErlean says he can never forget watching the family debate over what order they should be saved in. "There was commotion in the car. Jordan was arguing because he wanted the younger boy to go first. I found out later that he did this even though he couldn't swim.

"The other man just looked at me and I looked at him. We shook our heads. We knew the current was too strong. It was tragic. Blake was just screaming for his mum, saying 'Please save Mum, please save my mum'."

Donna, seeing her older boy carried off, let go of the branch she had clung to and went after him to try to save him.

"She would not have wanted it any other way," said Mr Tyson. "If Jordan went by himself, she would have been devastated. They had a special bond, those three."

The "inland tsunami" on Monday was up to 150 yards wide and tore through anything in its way. It ripped canyons into the land and swept up houses, cars and trucks around the riverways. As many as 28 people listed as missing may yet remain deep beneath the debris.

Beau Nunn, a 51-year old country singer, watched from his rooftop in Grantham as water-borne debris slammed into surrounding houses. He saw cars, houses, concrete water tanks and even an empty Cessna plane rushing past in the torrent.

"It was like being on a houseboat dodging missiles," he said. "If anyone of those things would have hit our house, we would have been in the drink. We just sat there watching and freaking."

There is wreckage everywhere you go across south-west Queensland. Trees and power poles lie up-ended on river banks. Piles of discarded muck contain relics from destroyed homes: mattresses, clothes, books, doors, tennis rackets, toys, fencing, chairs, washing machines and prams. On a bridge that had been cut in half, a search through rank-smelling debris revealed a mud-covered fridge which was still filled with food.

Evacuees from the worst-hit towns have recalled the destruction - and many other incredible acts of bravery.

The feats of Ray Van Dijk and Daniel Moore, who hauled dozens to safety in a runabout Indian canoe, are fast turning into legend among the survivors of Grantham, the inland township which has become known as "ground zero" of the devastating floods.

The pair guided a AUS $200 wooden boat that Mr Van Dijk once picked up for his daughters from a roadside stall around their local streets to rescue neighbours.

As houses collapsed around them, the pair ventured into water thick with mud on rescue runs to the town's lower, worst-hit streets. The chest-high water was moving too fast to paddle it against the current, so the pair held onto the canoe and waded through instead.

At a house that no longer had walls they found an elderly couple, standing in shock on a platform in chest-high water. They put them on board and pulled them back to their own house, a little higher above the water.

They found a family of four trapped in the rising waters of their living room – and dragged them to safety through a window.

Daniel Watkins, 41, a Grantham resident who was saved along with his wife, Sharon, 40, and daughter, Claire, 13, said of the pair: "They were coming along with the canoe, calling out 'Is anybody there? Is anybody there?'

"There was more water coming. They got us to their house. Then they went off again and just kept coming back with more people... I can't say how many they saved. I think we ended up with about two dozen people at their house."

Mr Moore, 41, who fits fire safety systems, said: "I'm not special. We just did what had to be done."

Mr Van Dijk, 46, a security guard, admitted to fear, but quickly added that he was a keen fisherman – his grandfather was a Dutch commercial angler – and he "has never been scared of water".

"I thought we were all gone," he said. "Everything was crumbling. We could see houses and cars moving past... We just kept going from door to door."

By the end of their effort, a crowd of drenched survivors had joined Mr Van Dijk's family on the roof of their house. They waited throughout the night until emergency rescue teams arrived and carried people out – in groups of 10 – on the cabin of a bulldozer.

In this inland valley area, creeks usually run dry or at a trickle and drought is a constant threat. But the slow-moving waterways turned ferocious last week, as a body of water the size of Sydney harbour made its way across the state.

The capital of Queensland, Brisbane, was hit on Thursday, bringing the city – and the nation - to a standstill. Thousands of homes and businesses were lost, as riverside suburbs were left underwater.

More than 100,000 homes had their power cut; police prowled on boats for looters (10 were arrested); galleries and libraries were forced to evacuate precious artworks and books.

On Saturday it emerged that a 23-month-old baby was probably the youngest victim of the flood. Jessica Keep was torn from the arms of her mother Stacey by the wall of water that hit Grantham, and remains unaccounted for.

Mrs Keep, who is six months pregnant, was inside her house comforting Jessica when the flash flood rushed in, sucking them both outside and into the torrent.

Still holding Jessica, Mrs Keep was swept onto the nearby railway line by the force of the water.

"Her legs got caught in the sleepers and she was drowning with her baby in her arms," Darren Keep, her brother-in-law, said.
The torrent tore Jessica from her mother's arms moments before a helicopter pilot rescued her and took her to hospital, where she is still recovering.

The only relief last week was, despite the worst rainfall for 10 years, the river peaked at levels lower than expected.

Brisbane itself was so well prepared that the only fatality was a 24-year-old man who went to check on his father's property and was dragged into a stormwater drain .

But up river, in the Lockyer Valley, police and soldiers are still scouring through the refuse for bodies. The debris is thick and even the smells can be misleading: they are frequently from animal corpses or decomposing meat.

Farmers and townsfolk are returning to their properties, where they are forced to quickly decide whether to try to clean up or just bulldoze what is left of their house.

The entire town of Grantham – a presumed graveyard - has been declared a crime scene until the bodies have been retrieved.

Toowoomba is rebuilding fast, but families remain torn apart, some waiting for answers that may never come. The wife and son of James Perry, a racing steward who was seen with them in graphic television footage on the roof of his car, are still waiting for word of his fate. They were winched to safety, but he has disappeared. He is almost certainly dead.

Meanwhile Jordan Rice's exploits have become celebrated on Facebook, where a tribute page has attracted hundreds of thousands of followers. He would have shunned the fame if he were living, says his father.

"He was an introverted boy and he would have shied away from all that," Mr Tyson said. "But he should get some kudos. He gave his life to save his brother. He deserves his time to shine."

Gabrielle Giffords shooting: Why it is time to change gun laws

The shooting of Gabrielle Giffords shows why it is time to rethink America's gun laws, says Harold Evans.

By Harold Evans 8:42PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

President Obama brought the good news directly from the hospital bed where young Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords struggles to recover from a madman’s bullet through her brain. It was the most emotionally charged moment among many in the memorial service in Tucson on Wednesday evening. One by one, the President paid eloquent but precise tribute to all the victims of the attempted assassination, and to all the unarmed heroes who risked their lives to stop the killing.

One victim was left unnamed: America’s idea of itself, as an optimistic neighbourly nation of free enterprise with faith in the rule of law, and the openness of its democracy.

It is too painful for a nation traumatised by Tucson to reflect how these virtues have been betrayed once again by the insidious gun culture of America; by the pathetic weakness of laws which allow criminals and madmen to get their hands on real weapons of mass destruction that can fire hundreds of bullets in a minute; by the gun lobby’s intimidation of politicians in vulnerable seats; by the greed of the gunmakers who nowadays prefer to manufacture weapons more suitable for mass murder than for individual defence.

But will America open its eyes?

A law-abiding American citizen is far more likely to die with a bullet in his body than a British citizen. All the comparable Western countries with reasonable gun laws have long had vastly fewer gun homicides. The murder rate per 100,000 people for the US is 5.2. For Australia it is 0.07, for Japan, 0.05, and for the UK 0.06.

The overwhelming response to the tragedy has been to avoid any substantive discussion of such lethal discrepancies. Gun massacres are a sad commonplace of American life. In 2009, in six separate incidents over 23 days, gunmen killed 43 people. The mentally disturbed Seung-Hui-Cho, a student at Virgina Tech in 2007, murdered 32 and wounded 17.

Each of these incidents was followed by long and often rancorous examinations of what should be done to control gun violence. Not this time. At 11am last Monday, the President and First Lady stepped out of the White House in the freezing cold to observe a national minute of silence, heads bowed, hands clasped, eyes closed.

That silence was a fitting symbol of a nation’s sadness, but there has been another truly chilling silence. This time the political establishment and most of the media have essentially shied away from confronting either of the real issues: the profusion of guns and the absence of care for disturbed people who are not declared legally insane.

There has been no insistent demand to know why a crazy young man could acquire a Glock 9mm, a semi-automatic pistol with a 33-round magazine and so easily kill six people, including Arizona’s chief federal judge, and wound 13 bystanders along with Congresswoman Giffords.

All we have been offered is evasion disguised as compassion. Asked if it is time simply to limit magazines to 10 rounds, as they were until 2004, spokesmen for both Democratic and Republican leaders mouth the same bromides.

For the Republicans: “This is as time for the House and all Americans to come together to mourn our losses and pray for those who are recovering, not a time for politics.” For the Democrats: “At this time, the leader’s thoughts are with Congresswoman Giffords and those who were killed and injured.”

Both parties were all too ready for a diversion from this tricky business of murder by gunfire, and one came along handily in remarks by the Pima County Sheriff Clarence W Dupnik who is in charge of the investigation into the 22-year-old shooter Jared Lee Loughner.

He called his state of Arizona “a mecca of bigotry and prejudice”, then suggested that “vitriol” in America’s national political discourse contributed to the shooting. Now there’s something to worry about – adjectives! Not the arsenal of privately owned guns, 250 million of them, nor the correlation observed in state by state studies of the number of guns and the number of homicides.

Left and Right and the Tea Party followers immediately began a competition in finger-pointing.

The New York Times editorial blamed the Right, the Wall Street Journal editorial blamed the Left. Everyone joined in. Cable TV and talk radio loves this kind of circus politics. They poured on the vitriol. Dupnik got a splash of it himself. He’d supported an amended version of the state’s curb on immigrants but that didn’t impress Rush Limbaugh, the hate radio host. He denounced Dupnick as someone who would like to see the shooter go free. Fox’s Bill O’Reilly assured his million viewers the Sheriff was a secret Leftist.

From the Left, Sarah Palin was accused of incitement for having placed cross-hair targets over Democrats she wanted defeated. One of those targeted was Giffords.

It is an ugly scene, but I doubt any direct connection will be found between the vitriol and the shooter. His wild paranoid ramblings are devoid of rational or even irrational thoughts. “None of us” said Obama, “can know exactly what triggered the vicious attack” and he is surely right.

“Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. In Christina, we see all of our children, so trusting, so energetic, and full of magic.”

Christina Taylor Green, the zestful nine-year-old victim buried on Thursday, had been recently elected to the student council at her elementary school.

Perhaps it is a little early for the classes to explore the meaning of Bill of Rights 2nd amendment to the constitution: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Was it intended to protect the states from overweening federal or foreign power? Or does it give a right for an unregulated individual to carry a gun?

More simply, schools and others could honour her memory by tracking day by day what happens after the profuse expressions of sympathy and prayers for families and the community.

If the past is any guide, they’ll see just how the National Rifle Association (NRA) and their spokesmen in Congress lie low while the shock of the killings is fresh in the public mind.

They’ll note how a 10-year ban on assault weapons was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994 but allowed to lapse in the Bush presidency despite a US Department of Justice study finding that the share of gun crimes involving semi-automatic weapons dropped by 17 per cent to 72 per cent.

Inexorably they will see how persistently the NRA gets away with murder, how it ignores the appeals of the police forces of the country, and frustrates even the mildest of restrictions.

Does it make sense to enable the police to track the source of bullets used in a crime? It does, but the NRA has stopped it. Isn’t it dangerous to allow gun dealers at state fairs and flea markets to sell any number of weapons to anyone – juveniles, criminals, nuts – without any background checks? Yes, but the NRA has been able to keep the loophole.

How do they do it? They scare gun owners that any change in the laws will inevitably lead to an erosion of the 2nd amendment and even its abolition; and they exert every effort to unseat reformist candidates.

The President’s eulogy for the victims of the attempted assassination was altogether his most impressive oration since he was catapulted into the candidacy by his repudiation at the Democratic convention in 2004 of a “red state, blue state” division of America. I expect it will give him a boost in the polls.

Maybe it will give him heart to work now for a restoration of the ban on assault weapons he pledged in 2008. Call it Christina's Law.

Gabrielle Giffords shooting: A tale of two Americas

A week after US congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head, the two strikingly different tales of her attacker and her rescuer have emerged.

By Philip Sherwell, Tucson 8:18PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

The scene was gruesome - victims dead, dying and injured. At the front of the carnage lay the crumpled body of Gabrielle Giffords, choking to death on her own blood, horrific gunshot wounds to her head where a bullet had passed straight through her brain.

Daniel Hernandez knew he had only moments to save her life. He fell to his knees, lifted up her torso so that her back was cradled against his chest and held up her head so that she could breathe.

Then the 20-year-old university student turned his attention to her gaping head injuries, first using his own hands to try to stem the bleeding, then pressing fabric from a nearby shop to her wound as they waited for the emergency services to arrive.

And just as importantly, he was talking to Miss Giffords.

"I was sure she was alive and conscious and I said 'Gabby, squeeze my hand if you can hear me' - and she did," he recalled this weekend as he relived the horror of the events last Saturday, when six people were killed and 13 injured in a shooting rampage at a public forum for the Arizona Democrat.

"I was holding her and talking to her and reassuring her," he told The Sunday Telegraph. "I told her ambulances were on the way. It seemed like we were there for an eternity, although it was only a few minutes. I told her to hang in there and that we were calling her parents and her husband."

The actions of Mr Hernandez, who had started work as an intern for the US congresswoman just five days earlier, and the bravery and composure of the young Hispanic-American has turned him into as a symbol of hope and inspiration for a grieving community and a shocked nation.

They have also set him in stark contrast to the young Tucson native who ran away from the scene of the shooting as Mr Hernandez ran towards it. Jared Loughner, whose actions inflicted this terrible suffering, is just two years older but his life had taken a horrendously different track.

On Saturday morning, armed with a Glock semi-automatic pistol and three magazine clips, he turned up for Miss Giffords' "Congress on your Corner" public forum intent on assassinating her. The rampage he launched was the final appalling stage of the descent into unhinged isolation and delirium of a deeply troubled individual. While Mr Hernandez is being hailed as the best of America, Loughner is being seen as its worst.

A college dropout who took refuge in a world of aggressive and violent online diatribes, he had carefully plotted his attack on Miss Giffords, leaving behind notes such as "my assassination", "I planned ahead" and "die bitch".

There was no such forethought for Mr Hernandez when he heard the sickening crackle of gunfire puncture the morning calm outside a suburban Tucson shopping mall. He instinctively ran towards the sound of the shooting, even as those around him fled or dived for cover.

"I immediately knew that Gabby must be the target," he told The Sunday Telegraph. "And I knew that others must have been hurt too. I just zoned everything out. If I'd allowed my emotions in, I'd have been overwhelmed by fear. My only priority was to help those who had been hit."

Against all odds, Miss Giffords not only survived, but began a remarkable recovery last week, opening her unbandaged right eye and moving her hands and legs as her husband, US astronaut Mark Kelly, kept vigil at her hospital bedside.

"It was a truly miraculous moment when she opened her eye," Mr Kelly told CNN off-camera in his only media interview. That happened just after a visit to her room by President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle. "I think she knew he was there, but she wasn't sure why," added Mr Kelly.

Doctors are concerned that the damage to the left side of her brain may leave permanent damage to her speech and to movement of the right side of her body. But Miss Giffords' neurosurgeon, Michael Lemole, said: "We couldn't have hoped for any better improvement than we are seeing now, given the severity of her injury."

Six others were not so fortunate - a nine-year-old girl, a federal judge, a Giffords aide and three retirees died in the hail of bullets. Loughner's murderous spree was only ended when two men tackled him to the ground as he tried to re-load.

The victims were remembered in a minute's silence at the mall on Saturday morning. But in a reminder of how weapons are a way of life in the heartland of the American West, one of the country's biggest gun shows also opened a few miles away at the county fairground.

As the nation searches its soul after this latest mass shooting, Mr Hernandez was lauded as a hero by no less than Mr Obama, who travelled to Tucson to address an emotional memorial ceremony in the university auditorium.

The political science student reluctantly rose to his feet to acknowledge the rousing ovation from the crowd of 14,000 as Mr Kelly hugged him and said simply "thank you". Yet "hero" is a designation that Mr Hernandez rejects. "It is very humbling to be called a hero by anyone, and particularly the president of the United States," he said.

"However, I have respectfully to disagree with the president. Heroes are those who lay their lives on the line in public service each day. I just reacted to the situation. I was in the right place at the right time. Or maybe the wrong place at wrong time."

But in Tucson, many share Mr Obama's assessment. Indeed as he arrived at the hospital treating the injured for this interview, Mr Hernandez was repeatedly stopped, praised and hugged by locals who had come to share their thoughts at a makeshift memorial of flowers, candles and notes. A mariachi band added a festive note with traditional Mexican music.

While the son of Latino parents was pursuing the American dream, Loughner had retreated into a nightmare world. He cut off his friends and was suspended from a community college for disruptive behaviour and posting online a threatening video in which he roamed campus rambling about his "genocide school" and "torture of students". He was told he could only return if he brought a mental health evaluation that he did not pose a danger.

Zane Gutierrez, who used to shoot guns in the desert with Loughner for target practice, told The Sunday Telegraph: "Jared just became weirder and weirder. He'd ask if I could see that sky was orange and the grass was blue.

"He was obsessed with what he called conscious dreaming and he started to experiment with sleep deprivation. For him, his dream world was the real world. In the end, he just told us he didn't trust us and didn't want to see us anymore. Jared turned himself into an outcast."

Loughner ranted about his constitutional rights and a new world currency, was fired from a series of low-paying jobs and scared other students like Lynda Sorensen, who started sitting by the door so that she could make her getaway if he went wild.

"He is one of those whose picture you see on the news, after he has come into the class with an automatic weapon," she wrote in an e-mail to a friend.

After his suspension, he holed up at the squat ranch-style home of his reclusive parents. What is most striking about the property is how unkempt saguaro cacti and mesquite trees shade the windows, cutting out the desert light so beloved of Tucson residents and blocking views of the Santa Catalina mountain range.

It was in this brooding darkness and seclusion that he planned his final hours before the attack - disturbing new details of which emerged on Saturday. He posed for photographs in a red G-string with the Glock pistol, then pulled a manic all-nighter, according to a newly-released police timeline.

He checked into a budget motel at 12.30am and began a night of frantic comings and goings. At 2.19am he collected a roll of film from a chemist store that included photographs of him in women's underwear with the gun.

At 4.12am he posted a note on his page on the MySpace social networking page. It was titled "Goodbye friends" and accompanied by an image of the gun from the newly developed photos.

He attempted to purchase ammunition at a Walmart store at 7.04am but became frustrated at the service and left. Twenty-three minutes and across town, he visited another Walmart where he bought bullet clips and a backpack-style nappy bag.

Just after he left the store, he was stopped by a law enforcement officer for running a red traffic light but let go with a warning. He then returned home, had an argument with his father and ran off on foot, carrying the black bag.

Loughner discarded the bag in a dry river bed where it was found, with several more ammunition clips, late last week - prompting speculation that he had stashed it to launch another attack.

At 9.41am, he caught a taxi to the Safeway store and at 10.10 am, he pushed to the front of the line at the Giffords event, took aim at the congresswoman and opened fire, before turning the weapon on the others gathered there that morning.

It was at that moment that Mr Hernandez raced to the help of the victims and later accompanied Miss Giffords by ambulance to hospital. There she was rushed into emergency surgery, but after a few minutes, he heard heartbreaking reports that she was dead. Only several hours later did he learn that she had actually survived. "You could say it was a roller-coaster day," he said.

In the week since the rampage, Jared Loughner has emerged as the shaven-head individual with a crazed smirk-cum-stare captured in the chilling police mug-shot that stared out from front pages and television screens.

But Daniel Hernandez is showing a very different face of Tucson to the world.

The battle for Golden Globes glory

Film studios are spending huge amounts on ensuring that their productions are victorious in Sunday's Golden Globes.

By Caroline Hedley, Los Angeles 7:59PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

In a town where sentiments are often as false as the porcelain-veneered smiles of its leading stars, Hollywood etiquette decrees it uncouth to declare yourself anything other than a "shocked" and "unworthy" addition to an awards short list.

But the air-kissing joviality at Sunday night's Golden Globe ceremony will belie the fierce behind-the-scenes battle being fought between backers of the two widely acknowledged favourites, The King's Speech and The Social Network, as the race towards next month's Academy Awards gathers pace.

In a last-minute push to improve its prospects against the acclaimed portrait of a stammering King George VI, played by Colin Firth, Columbia Pictures upped the trophy-hunting ante last week by reportedly spending $55million (£35million) on a last-minute push to secure industry votes for its own entry.

The Facebook movie, The Social Network, is nominated in six Globes categories, leaving its more modestly-funded rivals trailing in the wake of its extravagant campaign.

As well as the customary trade advertisements and cocktail soirees, the drama received a significant promotional boost when the studio took the unusual step of re-releasing it in more than 600 American cinemas, prior to its DVD release (and before Hollywood Foreign Press members cast their Golden Globes ballots last week).

"Studios are always very evasive about how much they spend on these campaigns", Tim Gray, editor-in-chief of Variety, told The Sunday Telegraph.

"A lot of people find the whole idea of campaigning for an award very distasteful, but the studios say it's to ensure that people see their films before they vote: I was talking to Academy voters just last week who hadn't got around to seeing all of their movies yet. For people who have seen the films, it's a way for studios to remind them why they liked them."

Columbia Pictures' decision to put its financial weight behind an unprecedented marketing blitz is seen by industry insiders as a desperate attempt to end its 23-year Academy Awards drought, and lose its unfortunate reputation as the only major studio without recent Oscars gold in its trophy cabinet.

"With awards, as with anything in Hollywood, it all has to do with money and ego," Mr Gray said. "The executives who were at Sony 23 years ago, when they won for The Last Emperor, are no longer there; it's a different set of people, but the motivation is similar."

Despite its big-money marketing strategy, The Social Network faces stiff competition from indepndent favourite The King's Speech, which charmed critics and audiences alike with Colin Firth's portrayal of reluctant, speech impeded monarch George VI.

The Weinstein co-produced film leads the Globes race, with nominations in seven categories, and is seen by many as a shoo-in for the major awards at the Oscars. With a considerably smaller PR budget, the film has relied largely on traditional campaign strategies of multiple screenings, trade advertisements and cocktail receptions to seduce would-be voters.

"Obviously the studios feel the marketing campaigns have a tangible effect on the outcome of the awards; they wouldn't spend these big sums of money if they didn't have evidence that it does", said Paul Dergarabedian, box office reporter for Hollywood.com,

Despite Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg denouncing The Social Network as "fiction" that he had no intention of watching, his anointment as Time magazine's Person Of The Year, and the site's securing of a $450million investment from Goldman Sachs, has given the film an unexpected, and free, PR boost, on top of Sony's huge campaign investment.

"In purely financial terms, The King's Speech is the underdog, much as The Hurt Locker was to Avatar last year, but the Weinsteins themselves are no strangers to shepherding films through the Oscars process from their time at Miramax, and they will know how to make an impact with less financial clout," Dergarabedian said.

Despite the Globes' long-standing reputation as a precursor for the Oscars results, whoever ultimately triumphs tonight could still leave Hollywood's Kodak Theatre empty-handed next month. Over the last five years, only one in five Globes winners went on to win the coveted golden statuette.

"Sometimes if a studio thinks they're a dead cert to win a Globe and they don't, they'll re-think the campaign; if they do win it's an encouragement, but awards strategists will tell you it's all about timing," said Mr Gray.

"When Sean Penn's film Into The Wild came out a few years ago everyone was so excited about it; but that was in September, and it ended up getting hardly any awards attention as people are interested in the shiny new thing."

As evidenced with last year's surprise success of indie film The Hurt Locker, which beat $200 million juggernaut Avatar to the Best Director and Best Picture trophies, sometimes Academy voters favour the underdog.

"The Hurt Locker only took around $20 million worldwide, so it certainly wasn't a box office hit, but there was a lot of intrigue there, with the back story of James Cameron going up against his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow," Paul Dergarabedian said. "And a good back story always helps."

Whether the Awards gods smile on the big-budget powerhouse or indie darling tonight, or opt for one of the lesser-known contenders, the winner will reap considerable financial rewards, in addition to a lifetime of bragging rights.

"I spoke to a company executive who said he'd spent $10 million on his film's Oscar campaign," Mr Gray recalled.

"When it won, it added $30 million to box office takings, and he said: 'You tell me, did I spend too much? I think it was a great investment.'"

What was the role of warmists in the Queensland flood disaster?

Australia was told to prepare for droughts as a result of climate change, and let down its guard against flooding, writes Christopher Booker

By Christopher Booker 7:29PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Ever more alarming facts are emerging to show how Brisbane’s floods were made infinitely worse by cockeyed decisions inspired by the obsession of the Australian authorities with global warming. Inevitably, the country’s warmist lobby has been voluble in claiming that such a “freak weather event” (as the BBC called it) is a consequence of man-made climate change. But far from being an unprecedented “freak event”, the latest flood was nearly a foot below the level of one in 1974 and 10 feet below the record set in 1893.

For years, Australia’s warmists have been advising the authorities that the danger posed to the country by global warming is not floods but droughts: not too much rain but too little. One result, in Brisbane, was a relaxation of planning rules, to allow building on areas vulnerable to flooding in the past. As long ago as 1999, this was seen as potentially disastrous by an expert Brisbane River Flood Study (which was ignored and for years kept secret). Instead of investing in its flood defences, Australia spent $13 billion on desalination plants. (Queensland’s was recently mothballed because of the excess of rain.)

Last week’s most disturbing revelation, however, was the contribution to Brisbane’s flooding by the South East Queensland Water company’s massive release of water from its Wivenhoe dam upstream from the city (for details see “Brisbane’s Man-Made Flood Peak” on the Regionalstates blog). Instead of controlled releases through the previous week, the company allowed the level to rise to within a few inches of the top of the dam before releasing a vast volume of water, with devastating consequences for Brisbane 36 hours later.

Last spring, Queensland’s prime minister, the drought- and warming-obsessed Anna Bligh, ordered the water company not to allow any releases from the dam because water was such a “precious resource” that none must be wasted.

Unsurprisingly, on Friday, the city’s Lord Mayor asked for a full judicial review of what had happened. But it is time our Australian cousins carried out a very much more wide-ranging inquiry into all the other decisions made by their gullible politicians in recent years, under the spell of a pseudo-scientific ideology which now looks utterly discredited.

Tunisia riots: Fears mount over violent power struggle

Armed gangs loyal to Tunisia's ousted president began random shooting sprees on the streets, raising fears that the country's pro-democracy uprising could erupt into a violent power struggle.

Image 1 of 8

A tank guards Mohamed Avenue in Tunis Photo: AP

By Colin Freeman and Robert Mendick 7:19PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

As thousands of British holidaymakers fled the North African nation, its cities echoed to the sound of gunfire and looters continued to go on the rampage, despite a heavy security presence.

In the capital, Tunis, gunmen in plain clothes drove around spraying the streets with bullets, in an apparent effort to intimidate protesters off the streets.

At least two people were believed to have been killed, with eyewitnesses reporting bodies left lying in a city centre square. SeniorTunisian military sources said the gunmen belonged to factions still loyal to the country's strongman leader, President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia on Friday night.

"It is certain the presidential police are behind all this," added Taoufik Ayachi, a Tunisian analyst. "They still hope to regain power."

In a symbolic celebration of the end of Mr Ben Ali's rule, cheering crowds tore a portrait of the former president outside the headquarters of his ruling party on Mohamed V Avenue in the centre of Tunis.

"We are very happy to be free after 23 years of prison," said Fahmi Bouraoui, who was drinking coffee in the Mozart cafe, one of a few businesses that re-opened on Saturday morning.

But others feared that such optimism could be short-lived as large parts of the country descended in to chaos.

In Hammamet, a luxury resort popular with tourists,British eyewitnesses reported that security forces were struggling to keep control, leaving gangs of knife and club-wielding looters to pillage at will.

Deadly disturbances were also reported in prisons around the country, with around 1,000 inmates escaping from a facility in the coastal city of Mahdia after setting fire to the compound. Prison officials, who said five people were killed in clashes with guards, claimed they were forced to open to open the gates to prevent further bloodshed. At another prison in the coastal city of Monastir, 42 people reportedly died when a blaze broke out.

In Tunis and other cities, palls of black smoke rose above the skyline as gangs of looters continued sporadic attacks on shops and businesses, many of them believed to be owned by the former president's family. In suburban Tunis, the Geant shopping centre was on fire, witnesses said.

Around 1,800 Britons were being flown home on Saturday night, with many describing scenes akin to a war zone on the journey between the coastal resorts and Monastir Airport. Petrol stations were set on fire, shop windows smashed and gangs of looters and armed soldiers patrolled the streets.

"When we went to the airport today it was a bit unnerving," said Adam Wallace, 22, a security manager from Accrington, Lancashire. "There were police stood on the corners of roads and groups of people hanging about, it did feel a bit intimidating. But there was no animosity towards us as tourists."

While foreign governments have appealed for calm, it remains unclear who will emerge as the main candidates to lead any future Tunisian government.

The country's constitutional council has sworn in Fouad Mebazza, a former president of the lower house of parliament, as caretaker president, and ordered new elections in 60 days. But because Mr Ben Ali has dominated politics for decades, placing his men in positions of power and sending opponents to jail or into exile, diplomats said it was hard to see who might present themselves as a credible successor.

Although Tunisia is not known for any notable underground movement of Islamic radicalism, it is feared that different political cliques could end up trying to seize power by violence.

Already there are signs of cracks within what remains of the administration that Mr Ben Ali has left behind. Unconfirmed reports claimed, for example, that the head of the country's presidential security detail, Ali El Seriati, had been detained.

Those behind the weeks-long demonstrations against Mr Ben Ali's rule also threatened to continue their campaign until all Mr Ben Ali's supporters in government had stepped down.

"We will be back on the streets, in Martyrs Square, to continue this civil disobedience until the regime is gone. The street has spoken," said Fadhel Bel Taher, whose brother was one of dozens of people killed in the protests.

Western leaders backed calls for political reform.

"It is critical that there is a rapid return to law and order in Tunisia and I urge restraint from all sides," said Foreign Secretary William Hague. "I welcome the efforts of the Tunisian authorities to hold elections as soon as possible and hope these elections are free and fair."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who refused for Mr Ben Ali to enter his country, added: "France is prepared to meet any request for help to ensure the democratic process takes place in indisputable fashion."

Germany's Angela Merkel urged Tunisia to introduce "a true democracy" and pledged European Union support.

Opposition leaders had talks with the prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, on Saturday over a possible coalition government. Mustafa Ben Jaafar, leader of the Union of Freedom and Labour party, said the aim was "getting the country out of this situation and to have real reforms."

The speed and complete unexpectedess of Mr Ben Ali's demise has alarmed other Arab governments, many of which have similarly authoritarian rulers who have likewise been in office for decades.

Italian 'Big Brother' removes contestants for blasphemy

The Italian version of 'Big Brother', broadcast on a channel owned by Silvio Berlusconi, has removed three contestants after the Catholic Church complained about blasphemy.

By Nick Squires, Rome 7:10PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

For 20 years his television channels have served up an eye-popping diet of risqué game shows featuring barely-clad young women, topless housewives and inane challenges guaranteeing the maximum exposure of female flesh.

But Silvio Berlusconi's media empire has dangerously overstepped the mark with one of his most crucial political allies – the Catholic Church.

Big Brother, a flag ship programme on the prime minister's Mediaset network, has been forced into a humiliating climb down after the Church objected to contestants on the reality television show uttering blasphemous insults.

Like its counterparts in Britain and countries around the world, the hugely popular show, which attracts between five and six million viewers in Italy – around 25 per cent of the viewing public - is no stranger to controversy.

It has been accused of overstepping the bounds of decency by airing footage of contenders fumbling beneath duvets and wandering around semi-naked, and of cynically exploiting a trans-sexual and a blind contender to boost ratings.

The current Big Brother – the 11th to be broadcast in Italy – was embroiled in a row as soon as it started airing in October over the inclusion of a mafia gangster's son in the line-up of contestants vying to win a 250,000 euro prize.

But it was the swearing by three male contestants that infuriated the Catholic Church, with the attack led by Avvenire, an influential daily newspaper owned by the Catholic Bishops' Conference.

The offending remarks were bleeped when they were broadcast, but according to media insiders included "Mannaggia la Madonna" – Damn the Virgin Mary – and "Dio maiale", which literally translates as "God pig" and is considered highly offensive by Italians.

Under fire from Avvenire and broadcaster watchdogs, the producers of Big Brother took the unexpected decision on Monday to drum the three male contenders out of the show, rather than wait for viewers to decide the issue with a phone-in vote.

The show's presenter, Alessia Marcuzzi, read out a statement saying the programme would not tolerate language that "offends the sensitivity of the public".

The concession prompted intense speculation that the prime minister himself had leant on the show's producers to ditch the contestants in a bid to placate the Catholic vote.

Mr Berlusconi built much of his personal fortune on the back of buying up and merging television channels, and co-owns Endemol, the company which produces Big Brother.

For the powerful Catholic lobby, the matter was made worse by the fact that one of the offending contestants, Massimo Scattarella, had been kicked out of the previous Big Brother series for blasphemy, but had been readmitted by public vote for the 11th season.

Avvenire was scathing in its criticism, saying Big Brother – known in Italy as Grande Fratello – "offers a distressing picture of coarseness and hypocrisy that needs to be continually fed by greater vulgarity."

"Even for people who are not religious, blasphemy is an act of profanity and offence," Marco Tarquinio, the newspaper's editor, wrote in a hard-hitting editorial.

Antonio Marziale, the president of a children's rights watchdog, wrote a letter of protest to Mr Berlusconi's son, Pier Silvio, who was installed by his father as the vice-president of Mediaset.

"There are moral rules that should not be sacrificed for audience ratings," Mr Marziale wrote.

Luca Borgomeo, the head of the Association of Catholic Television Viewers, said the organisation had received many complaints about Big Brother's tolerance of blasphemous language.

He called for a boycott of the show because of its "continual offending of the dignity and intelligence of viewers." Elisabetta Scala, from a parent's group that monitors Italian television output, said allowing Mr Scattarella back onto the programme despite his past blasphemies was "deplorable" and evidence of Big Brother's "sewer" mentality.

"The limits of decency have been passed," she said.

Mr Berlusconi's bowing to Catholic indignation comes at a time when he needs all the support he can muster.

Last month he narrowly survived a no-confidence vote in the lower house of parliament and this week Italy's Constitutional Court partly struck down a law which had given him immunity from three corruption trials, enabling them to resume.

On Fridayjudges announced that they had placed the 74-year-old prime minister under investigation in an alleged prostitution case involving claims that he slept with a then 17-year-old Moroccan belly dancer by the name of Karima El Mahroug, who attended parties at his mansion outside Milan.

The investigation will also consider whether Mr Berlusconi committed an abuse of office back in May by calling a police station in Milan and telling officers to release the teenager from custody, after she had been accused of stealing 3,000 euros (£2,600) from an acquaintance.

Embroiled in a string of sex scandals over the last two years, his relations with the Church have taken a severe battering.

In November he cancelled plans to appear at a conference on family values in Milan after the organisers expressed concerns that his presence would be an embarrassment.

The conference was attended by senior members of the Catholic Church, including the archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi.

He criticised what he called a "deterioration of customs" in politics and, in a coded reference to the prime minister, said that "when one has particular responsibilities ... the public and the private coincide".

A few days before, Famiglia Cristiana, an influential Catholic magazine that is distributed in parishes across Italy, wrote a strongly worded editorial saying that Mr Berlusconi appeared to be suffering from "a state of illness, something uncontrollable, all the more so because it is made possible and in fact encouraged by his power and the immense wealth at his disposal".

The decision to boost out the blaspheming trio was welcomed by Avvenire on Tuesday, the day after the move was announced on Big Brother.

Hailing it as a victory for grass-roots public opinion, the newspaper said "good sense and good taste" had prevailed and hoped that "scurrilous" language would no longer be permitted on the show.

But the political ramifications of the whole saga go way beyond the world of reality television.

Mr Berlusconi's parliamentary majority is so wafer-thin that a fresh political crisis could come at any time, with political pundits predicting that he will have to call early elections well before his term runs out in 2013.

To avoid that, he desperately needs to shore up his coalition, possibly by admitting new political partners.

Top of the list just happens to be the UDC, a centrist party with a staunchly pro-Catholic outlook.

Brisbane floods: Kevin Rudd treated for foot injury after flood efforts

Kevin Rudd, Australia's former prime minister, has been treated in hospital for a foot infection after he spent hours helping Brisbane residents during the flood crisis.

By Bonnie Malkin 7:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Mr Rudd, whose constituency of Griffith was hit by the flood, had been a high profile volunteer as the waters rose, checking on residents whose homes were inundated and handing out supplies of anti-bacterial gel.

Wading through the dirty water up to his knees, he became one of the scores of people injured by debris washed into the Australian city by the flood.

After suffering a small cut to his foot, which later became infected, his spokesman said the foreign minister was treated at Brisbane's Mater Hospital and discharged after midnight on Friday.

"Mr Rudd suffered a minor foot abrasion while out and about in the community dealing with the floods," Mr Rudd's office said.

"This became inflamed in the latter part of Friday afternoon." The infection is being treated with antibiotics.

Thousands of Brisbane residents affected by the city's worst flood for more than 40 years have been warned to be aware of the health risks posed by the water, which contains sewage and other contaminants.

Hundreds of people have been treated for minor injuries and there are fears that cases of mosquito-borne diseases will rise in the coming days and weeks.

Flood victims have also been advised to throw out any food that has come in contact with the flood water.

Miss America finalist Kayla Martell: Bald is beautiful

Kayla Martell, an alopecia sufferer from Delaware, hopes that entering Miss America will raise awareness of the condition.

By Jeff Maysh, Las Vegas 5:24PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Along with the dazzling evening wear, quest for world peace, and enthusiasm for travel, nothing says MissAmerica like a head of perfect, shiny hair. But if the hair on one contestant in this weekend's final round of the annual beauty contest looks just a little too perfect, she has a good excuse.

For Kayla Martell, who is entering as Miss Delaware, is completely bald, and her luxuriant blond locks are a wig.

"People always assume when they see a girl like me who is bald, that she is either very, very sick, or just ageing. I am neither," said Miss Martell, 21, who has entered the contest to raise awareness of alopecia areata, a hair loss condition.

Miss America, which is holding its final in Las Vegas, was first convened in 1921 by American newspapers as a way of improving circulation figures. Its modern-day version features a "platform concept", requiring each contestant to promote an issue about which she cares deeply.

Miss Martell, who is from Milford, Delaware, first began experiencing hair loss at the age of 10, and suffered taunts and jibes at school.

"It started to fall out in the centre of my parting, and then the parting started to spread. Eventually I had a glorified mullet- hair at the back and no hair on the top," she said

The condition is believed to be caused by an auto-immune disorder, in which the body attacks its own hair follicles and suppresses hair growth. Other sufferers include the X-files actor David Duchovny, Kojak star Telly Savalas, and Little Britain comedian Matt Lucas.

She knew she wanted to enter a beauty pageant from the age of four, and believes that keeping her ambition alive after developing the disease taught her resilience.

"In many ways alopecia has been a blessing to me and I wonder if I'd be where I am today without it," she said.

She was also inspired by the work ethic of her mother, who juggled three jobs while also looking after Miss Martel and her father, a disabled ex-serviceman.

"My mother always showed me the value of focusing on a task and not giving up," she says. "My father has been my rock. He overcame so much more than losing his hair."

Despite her insistence that "bald is beautiful", however, getting her message out via the catwalk required playing by the normal beauty contest rules. Miss Martell entered the Miss Delaware contest three times previously without success, and only triumphed after being advised that she would stand a better chance of winning by wearing a hairpiece.

She has brought with her to Las Vegas a collection of five different wigs to wear at different stages of the contest, which began last week and runs over several nights.

But wigged or otherwise, she says she is never short of admirers.

"I don't think most men care about my baldness - in fact, I think many are fascinated by it."

Tunisia riots: presidential election to be held within 60 days

Tunisia should hold a presidential election within 60 days, the constitutional authority said on Saturday, as the army patrolled the capital to try to stem protests that swept the president from power.

Image 1 of 6

A Tunisian army soldier gestures as he stands guard near a tank in downtown Tunis. Photo: REUTERS

< >

- Video

Police in Tunis fire teargas at protesters

- Article

Tunisia, 'the enemy of the internet'

- Article

Tunisia riots: Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali's five term reign

- Article

William Hague calls for restraint

- Video

Protest against a 50 year dictatorship

- Article

US warns Mid East to reform or be overthrown

1 2

By Colin Freeman 2:27PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Earlier today Tunisia's speaker of parliament Foued Mebazaa was sworn in as the interim successor of President Zine al-Abidene Ben Ali who was ousted from power.

The appointment came as a fire at a prison in Monastir, eastern Tunisia, was reported to have killed at least 42 inmates.

The Constitutional Council declared that the former head of state had "definitively" left power and appointed Mr Mebazaa as acting president.

Mr Mebazaa took the oath in his office in parliament, swearing to respect the constitution in the presence of his Senate counterpart Abdallal Kallel and representatives of both houses.

The council made its ruling at the request of Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi under article 57 of the constitution, which requires new parliamentary elections within 60 days.

Mr Ben Ali signed a decree handing Ghannouchi interim presidential powers before flying out of Tunisia Friday to refuge in Saudi Arabia. But his nomination under article 56 of the constitution still leaves open the possibility for Mr Ben Ali's to return to power.

Mr Ben Ali and his family arrived in the Saudi port city of Jeddah on Friday night, following in the footsteps of numerous other deposed leaders who have been offered asylum in the kingdom.

The collapse of his 23-year-long authoritarian rule, the first time an Arab leader has yielded to "people power", was greeted with widespread jubilation in Tunisia, where up to 80 people have been killed in clashes with police in recent weeks.

But last night, activists were threatening to take to the streets yet again, despite the imposition of emergency rule by the government in a bid to restore law and order.

"Tomorrow we will be back on the streets, in Martyrs Square, to continue this civil disobedience until ... the regime is gone. The street has spoken," said Fadhel Bel Taher, whose brother was one of dozens of people killed in protests.

Following Mr Ben Ali's decision to step down on Friday night, Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi has taken over as caretaker president. It is unclear, however, whether the protesters will accept Ghannouchi's interim leadership.

Yesterday there were signs of the protests spiralling out of control, with groups of looters attacking both people and property and setting fire to buildings. The army has been called out onto the streets, while in some suburbs, residents lined the streets holding baseball bats and metal bars to fend off looters. Gunshots could be heard in the capital, Tunis, and helicopters patrolled overhead.

As of Saturday morning, the main thoroughfare in Tunis, Avenue Bourguiba, was blocked off by troops after the lifting of an overnight curfew. The streets were largely deserted and the atmosphere tense, yet despite the heavy security presence, there were reports of sporadic outbreaks of looting in some parts of the city.

Up to 40 prisoners were also reported to have been killed in a fire that broke out a jail in the Tunisian resort town of Monastir.

"Right now the Monastir prison is on fire. I can see tens of dead and tens of prisoners who have escaped. The whole prison is on fire, the furniture, mattresses, everything," said local man Shokri Chouchan.

The main train station in Tunis was also burnt down, although Tunis Carthage International Airport, which was closed amid Friday's unrest, re-opened on Saturday. Hundreds of tourists and other foreigners have been trapped there.

Mr Ghannouchi was due to meet representatives of opposition parties on Saturday to attempt to form a coalition government.

In language that struck a non-confrontational tone, he said in a live television broadcast last night: "We are at the service of the Tunisian people. Our country does not deserve everything that is happening. We must regain the trust of citizens in the government."

He said he would act as president until new elections could be held, but conceded that Mr Ben Ali was unlikely to return in the foreseeable future. "The current circumstances do not allow for the return of Ben Ali to Tunisia," he said, adding, though, that Tunisian opposition figures in exile abroad were free to return.

One of those invited to meet Mr Ghannouchi for coalition talks was Najib Chebbi, a lawyer who has long been seen by Western diplomats as the most credible figure in the opposition.

"This is a crucial moment. There is a change of regime under way. Now it's the succession," Mr Chebbi said in a television interview. "It must lead to profound reforms, to reform the law and let the people choose."

The protests have been watched nervously by other Arab governments in the region, many of which, like Tunisia's, have large, youthful populations who see their rulers as autocratic and out of touch. The spectacle of Mr Ben Ali being given refuge by Saudi Arabia is unlikely to change that perception.

The Saudi ruling family have a history of receiving out-of-favour politicians. Jeddah, where he arrived last night, was the former Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, spent his final years.

"The kingdom welcomed the arrival of the President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his family," a statement on the official Saudi Press Agency said.

It said the royal court's decision to welcome Ben Ali was based on appreciation of the "exceptional circumstances" Tunisia was going through.

Thousands of messages congratulating the Tunisian people have flooded the Internet. In Egypt, dozens of activists opposed to President Hosni Mubarak's three-decade regime danced outside the Tunisian Embassy in Cairo, chanting "Ben Ali, tell Mubarak a plane is waiting for him too!"

Mr Ben Ali was first thought to have flown to France but was reportedly refused permission to enter by President Nicolas Sarkozy

The US was keen to demonstrate it was open to a peaceful transition in the North African state of ten million people.

But while the protests in Tunisia were led by an educated young population eager to expand their freedoms, in its neighbours much of the opposition is demanding the replacement of pro-western regimes with Islamic rule.

The final moments of Mr Ben Ali's long dominance of his country will be remembered for the drama on the streets as protests that have raged across the country for four weeks, finally reached the capital on Thursday.

The initial trigger for the riots was unemployment. They started after a young graduate, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself alight on December 17 in protest at having the vegetable barrow that was his only means of earning a living taken from him for not having a licence. He died on January 5.

* If you are stuck in the Tunisia riots or have been directly affected please email david.harrison@telegraph.co.uk.

Tunisia riots: holidaymakers describe 'chaotic scenes' as prison fire kills 42

Holidaymakers arriving back on Thompson flight 965 at Manchester Airport tonight described chaotic scenes on the streets between the coastal resorts and Monastir Airport, as a fire in a prison in eastern Tunisia is thought to have killed at least 42.

Image 1 of 8

People take cloth from a looted store near a supermarket in La Gazella city near Tunis.  Photo: AFP

< >

- Video

Tanks on the streets of Tunisia

- Video

Police in Tunis fire teargas at protesters

- Article

Tunisia, 'the enemy of the internet'

- Article

Tunisia riots: Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali's five term reign

- Article

French PM condemns 'disproportionate' use of force

1 2

12:31PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Petrol stations on fire, shop windows smashed and armed soldiers on the streets created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in Tunisia.

In one of the worst single incidents of the crisis so far, a fire at a prison in Monastir, 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of Tunis, is thought to have killed at least 42 inmates.

Dr Ali Chatli, head of forensic medicine at Fatouma Bourguiba hospital at Monastir, told AFP the fire was caused by an inmate.

The inmate reportedly lit a mattress in a dormitory housing nearly 90 people in an attempt to escape, sparking panic.

"Thirty-one bodies were taken to the morgue and another 11 have followed," he said.

The victims died of severe burns and asphyxiation, he said.

Holidaymakers arriving back in Manchester Airport said they had felt unnerved and intimidated by their experiences in the country.

Adam Wallace, 22, a security manager from Accrington, Lancashire, said: "When we went to the airport today it was a bit unnerving.

"There were police stood on the corners of roads and groups of people hanging about, it did feel a bit intimidating.

"There were a few smashed up buildings, there was a petrol station that had been vandalised and there were people looting but our resort was quite a way from the trouble.

Mr Wallace said the evacuation was "very well organised", and added: "The reps bussed us all out to the airport and when we got there we were told which ones to get.

"I would go back to Tunisia next week if I could. The people there are fantastic, very friendly to us tourists.

Ross Wiseman, from Sunderland, was less than 36 hours into his holiday when he and his family were brought home.

He said: "In the complex we didn't see much except on the balconies you could see in the distance fire and smoke covering the towns.

"Going about the streets before the curfew there were smashed windows, burned out cars. Just one big mess really.

"The atmosphere in the hotel was fine, everyone was positive and the staff were doing everything they could to keep us happy.

"But the only way we were finding out what was going on was through family and friends back home and that was just snippets.

"We had a nine-year-old with us and he was panicking but I think the adults felt safe in the complex.

"On the journey to the airport there were armed soldiers on the streets and that was intimidating, you could see the snipers on the top of buildings with their guns pointing down on us.

The turmoil comes as Tunisia reels from the ousting of President Zine Abidine Ben Ali after weeks of violent protests against his rule.

Tunisia's speaker of parliament Foued Mebazaa was sworn in today as the interim successor of President Zine al-Abidene Ben Ali who was ousted from power.

Tunisia is expected to hold a presidential election within 60 days, the constitutional authority said on Saturday, as the army patrolled the capital to try to stem protests that swept the president from power.

The Constitutional Council declared that the former head of state had "definitively" left power and appointed Mr Mebazaa as acting president.

Mr Mebazaa took the oath in his office in parliament, swearing to respect the constitution in the presence of his Senate counterpart Abdallal Kallel and representatives of both houses.

The council made its ruling at the request of Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi under article 57 of the constitution, which requires new parliamentary elections within 60 days.

Mr Ben Ali signed a decree handing Ghannouchi interim presidential powers before flying out of Tunisia Friday to refuge in Saudi Arabia. But his nomination under article 56 of the constitution still leaves open the possibility for Mr Ben Ali's to return to power.

Mr Ben Ali and his family arrived in the Saudi port city of Jeddah on Friday night, following in the footsteps of numerous other deposed leaders who have been offered asylum in the kingdom.

The collapse of his 23-year-long authoritarian rule, the first time an Arab leader has yielded to "people power", was greeted with widespread jubilation in Tunisia, where up to 80 people have been killed in clashes with police in recent weeks.

Yesterday there were signs of the protests spiralling out of control, with groups of looters attacking both people and property and setting fire to buildings. The army has been called out onto the streets, while in some suburbs, residents lined the streets holding baseball bats and metal bars to fend off looters. Gunshots could be heard in the capital, Tunis, and helicopters patrolled overhead.

* If you are stuck in the Tunisia riots or have been directly affected please email david.harrison@telegraph.co.uk.

Ed Miliband: Gordon Brown made mistakes but I listen to him

Ed Miliband has said he still takes advice from Gordon Brown, even though the former prime minister led Labour into a string of “mistakes” on the economy.

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent 3:41PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

The Labour leader listed his predecessor among his confidantes, but rejected several of Mr Brown’s economic claims and policies.

Voters will only trust Labour again when it accepts that the last Government got some things wrong, Mr Miliband said.

“We have got a job to do to win back economic credibility and I have got to to it by acknowledging mistakes we made,” he said in a BBC television interview.

For much of his 2007-10 premiership, Mr Brown suggested that Labour would not have to make cuts in public spending after the recession, casting politics as a choice between “Conservative cuts and Labour investment”.

Mr Miliband, a former adviser to Mr Brown, yesterday became the latest Labour figure to say that he had been wrong to “pretend” that cuts were avoidable.

"We should have acknowledged earlier, after the financial crisis happened, that eventually there would have to be cuts under Labour," Mr Miliband said.

"Our plans involved cuts and we should have acknowledged that. The problem we faced was that we sometimes looked like we were pretending there weren't going to be cuts under Labour, when there were."

The Labour leader also said that the party should “take our responsibility for not having regulated the banks sufficiently, along with governments around the world.” The UK economy was over-reliant on the financial sector and “too exposed” the financial crisis, he said.

And in a clear reference to Mr Brown’s most notorious claim, Mr Miliband added: “Clearly, we should not have said there would be no boom and bust. That was clearly a mistake.”

Yet minutes after listing Mr Brown’s errors, Mr Miliband named the former premier as a source of advice.

In a separate radio interview, Mr Miliband said: "This job is such a hard job that it is right that I keep in touch with the people who had done it, so I talk to Gordon Brown, I talk to Tony Blair, obviously I talk to Neil Kinnock as well.”

"It's only when you have been in the job you start knowing what the job involves, you can really understand the pressure it involves, so I get advice from lots of people."

Mr Miliband has faced Conservative accusations that he is “Red Ed,” his agenda set by the trade unions who help fund the Labour Party.

Trying to play down that image, Mr Miliband warned the unions he would not support industrial action targeting the Royal wedding or other public events.

Some union officials have suggested that London Underground workers could strike on April 29, the day of Prince William’s marriage. Union leaders have also refused to rule out strikes around the time of the London Olympics next year.

“I am appalled at the idea of strikes to disrupt people going to the Royal Wedding and enjoying the Royal Wedding,” Mr Miliband said. “Of course they should not strike to disrupt the Royal Wedding. It alienates the public, it is wrong and it is not the way to make the political argument that we need to make.”

“That is absolutely the wrong thing for trade unions to do. I hope that is not the case, I hope it is not true, but I would totally condemn that - similarly in relation to the Olympics.”

Simon Hughes 'could back Labour against education cuts'

Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat deputy leader and Coalition education spokesman, has said he could support Labour in opposition to Government funding cuts.

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent 2:54PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Mr Hughes, last month appointed the Coalition “advocate” for its higher education policy, said he was opposed to cutting the education maintenance allowance (EMA), money paid to encourage children to stay at school after 16.

The Coalition has announced plans to scrap the £30-a-year EMA, arguing that much of the money spent on it is wasted because it goes to children who would have been in education anyway.

Labour has attacked the plan to cut the allowance, arguing that it will make it harder for children from poorer families to get ahead.

Andy Burnham, the Labour shadow education secretary, will this week call a Commons debate on EMA where MPs will vote on a motion opposing the cut.

Mr Hughes last week said that ministers should “rethink” their plans and yesterday, he said he was talking to Labour leaders about voting with them against the Government.

“I'm willing to talk to Labour,” he told Sky News. “Whether we can find common ground, we will see. It's a Labour motion and they have to choose the wording of the motion they put down.”

Mr Hughes said that he had warned Conservative ministers he may oppose the EMA cut in Parliament and asked them to think again.

“I have communicated to Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, and to colleagues we need to get the best possible outcome. Whether I can help deliver that we will see in time,” he said.

Opposition from Mr Hughes would embarrass Coalition ministers, who appointed him to a new role trying to sell their university tuition fees policy to young people.

Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said he hoped to use education to divide the Coalition parties, urging Lib Dem MPs to support opposition to EMA cuts.

Mr Miliband said: “We are working with Simon Hughes and others and my appeal to all Liberal Democrats is they know that this was a crucial way in which we created educational opportunity in this country. I hope they will join us.”

The Labour overture to Lib Dems over education is the latest stage in Mr Miliband’s attempts to woo supporters of the smaller party.

In a BBC interview, Mr Miliband also softened his previous personal attacks on Nick Clegg, suggesting he could one day work with the Lib Dem leader.

Mr Miliband has previously said he could never share power with Mr Clegg, making his removal a precondition for any Labour-Lib Dem coalition.

But if the Deputy Prime Minister abandons his support for Government policies, that could change.

"I have said before that it would be very difficult to work with Nick Clegg, but let's see what he does,” Mr Miliband said.

"If he were to be a 'sinner repenteth', then maybe things would change, but at the moment he has made his bed and he is lying in it."

Despite expressing doubts about the EMA policy, Mr Hughes insisted the Lib Dems will not abandon the Coalition with the Tories.

He said: "The coalition is for five years, I'm not going to walk out, none of us are going to walk out."

Andy Coulson 'not quitting over phone hacking'

Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s director of communications, has not offered to resign over phone hacking at the newspaper he used to run, Downing Street has said.

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent 2:52PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

It was reported that Mr Coulson had told the Prime Minister he was prepared to quit over ongoing allegations that staff of the News of the World illegally accessed the voicemails of public figures.

Mr Cameron, it was claimed, had persuaded his communications director to stay on, a message reinforced by George Osborne, the Chancellor. No 10 said the report was untrue, insisting Mr Coulson has not offered to quit.

The report comes amid persistent rumours at Westminster – rumours encouraged by Labour MPs – that Mr Coulson will leave No 10 over events at the newspaper, which he ran until 2007.

Mr Coulson has consistently denied any knowledge of wrongdoing by journalists at the News of the World while he was in charge.

He resigned the editorship in 2007 after Clive Goodman, the News of the World’s royal editor, was convicted of phone hacking.

Labour has said that if there is any proof that Mr Coulson knew of illegal acts by his staff, he should be sacked from his Government post.

Mr Coulson has always said that Goodman was a lone “rogue” reporter and that he believed no one else at the paper was involved in illegal activities.

A police investigation into claims of widespread phone hacking at the paper was halted last year.

But renewing the pressure on Mr Coulson, the Crown Prosecution Service has said it will reassess the evidence relating to phone hacking claims, including information that has come to light in civil cases against the paper.

A senior News of the World editor was suspended last month relating to allegations that the paper’s staff illegally hacked the phone of Sienna Miller, an actress who is suing the paper.

Paul Gasgoigne, a former England footballer, is the latest public figure to threaten legal action against the paper.

His solicitor, Gerald Shamash, told the BBC: "We are about to issue these proceedings and will be getting full disclosure of precisely what has happened when, who was hacked and by whom in due course."

MPs' pay rise to be blocked

Ministers will attempt to block a pay rise for MPs this year, in a move likely to anger backbenchers.

< >

- Article

Analysis: Expenses cave-in triggered by PM deadline

- Article

MPs' Expenses: IPSA Q&A

- Article

Only 30pc of voters trust MPs over expenses claims

- Article

MPs expenses will grow after climbdown

- Article

MPs' expenses: public to be given say about what politicians can claim

1 2

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent 2:39PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

An independent review is next month expected to recommend that MPs should get a pay rise of around 1.5 per cent.

That would add around £1,000 to their salary of £65,738.

But Coalition ministers are worried about public anger if MPs are seen to get pay rises while many workers – including millions in the public sector – are facing pay freezes and cuts.

MPs’ pay is set by the Senior Salaries Review Body, which makes an annual recommendation on increases, based on pay for other senior public sector employees.

Under rules introduced in 2008, the SSRB’s recommended pay rise is put to the House of Commons for approval, with no formal Government involvement.

However, Sir George Young, the Leader of the Commons, is pressing for ministers to intervene to block this year’s rise.

It is understood that Sir George has written to David Cameron, suggesting the Government takes action in the Commons to veto any rise recommended this year.

No final decision has been taken on if and how the Coalition will respond to the SSRB recommendation, but sources said that opposing a pay rise would be “consistent” with the Coalition’s approach to pay and spending.

A pay rise of 1.5 per cent would give MPs a real terms pay rise, since it is well below the rate of inflation.

But ministers are worried that any increase in parliamentary salaries, no matter how small, will spark widespread public anger.

Blocking salary rises will fuel MPs’ complaints that the new pay and expenses system is leaving them steadily worse off.

Many members say that curbs on expenses imposed following the Daily Telegraph’s revelations about MPs expenses mean they have to fund many of their costs from their own salaries.

Critics say ever-tougher pay and expenses rules will mean that only the rich can afford to be MPs.

To assuage growing parliamentary anger over expenses, Mr Cameron has recently put pressure on the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority to relax the allowances regime for MPs.

Universities face �400m 'lag' before fees income rises

Universities’ budgets will be cut by almost £400 million a year before they start receiving income from higher student fees, ministers will announce today.

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent 1:32PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

The planned cut from the teaching budget for 2011/12 led university leaders to urge ministers to postpone reductions or risk a “loss of capacity” in higher education.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, who oversees higher education, admitted there was a year-long “lag” between the first cuts in funding and universities receiving higher revenues from fees.

The cut will take effect before autumn 2012, when universities will be able to charge tuition fees of up to £9,000 a year.

Coalition sources admitted that the £400 million cut would mean 2011/12 is “the toughest year” for the universities. But ministers will insist that the pain will be temporary and their new fees policy will compensate for the cuts.

Announcing the funding settlement, ministers will also argue that the bulk of their planned cuts in central government funding for universities have been delayed until after fees change takes effect.

The £400 million is a small share of the overall cut in central government funding to universities.

Under plans set out in the Spending Review in October, the university teaching budget will fall from £7.1 billion to £4.2 billion in 2014/15, a reduction of 40 per cent.

“There's a year's lag,” Mr Cable said. “The cuts are going to be phased in gradually at the beginning of next year. And then the following year, they will have an opportunity to replace that loss of income with new income from the graduate contribution.”

Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, warned ministers to delay the cut until the higher revenue from fees is being received.

The group said, “If this figure turns out to be true it will be difficult for the sector to deal with, and could do damage before the income from fees comes in. We would be talking about potential loss of capacity in some parts of the sector, at a time when we need more graduates with higher skills coming through.”

Gareth Thomas, the Labour higher education spokesman, said that the cuts will hit students next year.

He said: “Just when we thought things couldn’t get worse for students, the government is cutting funding to universities.

“Inevitably it will have an impact on the quality of courses and on lecturers and it is further bad news for universities.”

Sally Bercow denounces Tory 'whispering campaign' against the Speaker

Sally Bercow, the wife of the Commons Speaker, has launched an attack on Tory MPs she claims are conducting a ''whispering campaign'' against her husband.

11:51AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

Mrs Bercow said many Conservative MPs still could not accept he won the contest to take the Speaker's chair when Michael Martin was forced out in 2009.

She branded rows between Tory figures and Mr Bercow ''ridiculous'' and insisted her husband was doing a good job.

In the latest bust-up senior Conservative backbencher Mark Pritchard swore at the Speaker in a behind-the-scenes confrontation in the Commons.

Mr Pritchard reportedly told Mr Bercow ''you are not f------ royalty, Mr Speaker'' during a confrontation in a Westminster corridor after the MP, who was refused permission to ask a Commons question, would not stand aside to let him pass by.

The MP later said he regretted using ''colourful language'' but not the fact he had taken a stand against the Speaker.

Mrs Bercow told Sky News: ''The bottom line is a lot of Tories, I'm afraid, still can't accept that my husband won the speakership fair and square and is doing a very good job and he did it without Tory support.

''He only had 20-odd Tory MPs backing him and as a result they have got no hold over him and they don't like it.

''There will always be a whispering campaign but if you look at John and what he has done in the job, he has introduced a lot of urgent questions, basically he is on the side of backbenchers.

''He is not on the side of Labour MPs, he is not on the side of Tory MPs, he is on the side of backbenchers and that is what he is trying to do.''

She added: ''I say sod the whispering campaign.''

Mr Bercow was a Tory MP before becoming Speaker, but was viewed as a maverick by many of his colleagues in the party. He was elected Speaker with strong Labour and Liberal Democrat support.

Oldham East by-election: Eric Pickles admits Tories fought 'gentle' campaign

The Conservative Party fought a ''gentle'' campaign in the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election, Eric Pickles, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, has admitted.

11:01AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

The Tories finished a distant third in the election, won by Labour, with some Conservatives claiming the leadership avoided a more robust campaign to bolster support for the Liberal Democrat candidate.

Mr Pickles pointed out that David Cameron, the Prime Minister, had visited the area to support the Tory candidate and insisted the moderate tone was due to the nature of the by-election, which was ordered after an election court declared last year's contest void after finding that Labour victor Phil Woolas had made false statements about Lib Dem rival Elwyn Watkins.

In the by-election Debbie Abrahams, the Labour candidate, was a comfortable winner with 14,718 votes, ahead of Mr Watkins with 11,160. Tory Kashif Ali was third with 4,481 as support for the Conservatives fell away sharply.

Mr Pickles told Sky News: ''We were third and we came third again. But by and large it's very unusual for a governing party to win a by-election at a time of austerity.''

He added: ''We started third and of course we fought a very gentle campaign because that particular campaign was about the nastiness of previous Labour leaflets.

''The Liberals did, I think, pretty good. They increased their poll position. But it would have been a disaster for the Labour Party had they lost.''

Pressed on whether the Conservatives had mounted a serious effort he insisted: ''Of course we were trying. We had the Prime Minister up there, first prime minister to, I think, canvass in a by-election for years.''

Mr Pickles insisted that at the next general election he would be urging people to vote Tory, even in seats where the contest was primarily between Labour and the Lib Dems.

He said: ''I think that when that occurs in 2015 you will have two political parties defending a government, a coalition's record.

''But we are two distinct political parties and I certainly will be urging everyone at that election to vote Conservative.''

Ed Miliband distances himself from Gordon Brown's failures

Ed Miliband has disowned Gordon Brown's claim to have abolished boom and bust, his failure to regulate the banks and his refusal to admit Labour would cut state spending.

10:46AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

But the Labour leader defended the level of state expenditure sanctioned by Mr Brown as chancellor and prime minister, and rejected as a ''dangerous myth'' Conservative and Liberal Democrat claims that it was excessive public spending that caused the recession.

Mr Miliband accepted that Labour faces a challenge to persuade the public that it can be trusted on the economy following the financial crisis of 2008 and the massive state deficit that followed.

In an interview on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, he attempted to draw a line with Mr Brown by acknowledging the mistakes made under his leadership.

"We should have acknowledged earlier, after the financial crisis happened, that eventually there would have to be cuts under Labour,'' said Mr Miliband. ''Our plans involved cuts and we should have acknowledged that. The problem we faced was that we sometimes looked like we were pretending there weren't going to be cuts under Labour, when there were.''

Mr Miliband's comment is an admission that the party lost credibility due to Mr Brown's initial attempt to frame the 2010 general election as a choice between Labour investment and Tory cuts, which he eventually grudgingly dropped under pressure from Cabinet colleagues.

And he made clear that the Labour administrations of Mr Brown and Tony Blair relied too heavily on the City for economic growth and failed to keep a tight enough grip on risky activities in the Square Mile.

''I think we should take our responsibility for not having regulated the banks sufficiently, along with governments around the world,'' said the Labour leader.

''I think the British economy was too exposed to the crash in financial services because we were so reliant on that as an industry to support us.''

He implicitly criticised New Labour's handling of the City when asked if he would follow his predecessors' economic policies if he won power, telling Andrew Marr: ''I wouldn't do it all again. What I would do is take every action I could to avoid a financial crisis, because that's the thing that drove the deficit up. That's the lesson we have got to learn.''

And he explicitly admitted that Mr Brown blundered with one of his favourite and most often-repeated boasts: ''Clearly, we should not have said there would be no boom and bust. That was clearly a mistake.''

Mr Miliband said: ''I am absolutely clear that we have got a job to do to win back economic credibility and I have got to to it by acknowledging mistakes we made, and I have done that.

''What I am not going to do is buy into an argument about the future of this country which I think takes us in the wrong direction.''

He insisted that until the financial crisis, the annual state borrowing of 2 per cent of national income was ''manageable''. It was only the reduction in tax revenue due to the banking crash which drove the deficit up beyond 10 per cent and made it a problem, he said.

The coalition Government was seeking to justify an additional £30 billion in cuts and £10 billion in tax rises, on top of Labour plans, by claiming that overspending was at the root of the crash.

''The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are peddling a very dangerous myth, because they want to tell people that it was somehow all because of a decade of overspending under Labour. It wasn't - it was because of a financial crisis all around the world,'' said Mr Miliband.

''The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats want to tell you that the only thing that matters in our economy in the future is to cut spending as far and as fast as possible.

''That threatens the kind of growth we need in our economy to raise people's living standards and, because of the depth of the cuts they are planning, it also threatens services that people rely on.''

The coalition had failed to recognise that economic growth should play a part, alongside reduced spending and increased taxes, in paying down the deficit and driving the recovery from recession, he said.

''On their own forecasts, we are set for the slowest growth out of recession in 40 years,'' said Mr Miliband.

''That is a bad thing for people's living standards and - because if we don't make the economy grow now when we should be coming out of the recession strongly - it does long-term damage to our economy.''

He added: ''People are struggling to get by and seeing a Government basing its plans on squeezing their living standards. That's the basis of the Government's whole economic strategy - raising VAT, cutting tax credits, inflation going up because of the VAT rise - and I think it is the wrong strategy for the economy.''

Conservative Party deputy chairman Michael Fallon said: "Ed Miliband is treating people like fools. Labour's reckless overspending left Britain with the largest structural deficit in the G7 when the financial crisis hit.

"Ed Miliband still won't admit Labour maxed out the nation's credit card. In fact he says he'd do it all again.

"How can anyone trust Labour with the economy when its leader is still in denial about his party's mistakes?"

Send foreign aid to where it is really needed

Telegraph View: Britain's foreign aid should not be spent on awareness schemes at home

By Telegraph View 7:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

When the Coalition took the decision to increase the foreign aid budget every year until it reached 0.7 per cent of Britain’s GDP, ministers inevitably faced criticism: at a time of intense austerity at home, when every department except the NHS was having its budget cut, how could such spending – however well-meaning – be justified?

Even before the financial crisis, critics alleged that David Cameron’s commitment to increasing the budget of the Department for International Development (DfID) was influenced less by altruism than by cold political calculation: he wanted to prove that the Tories were no longer the “nasty party”, and this was one way of doing it. For our part, we believe that Mr Cameron and his colleagues are motivated by genuine altruism. Our doubts about the policy are entirely different: namely, that it is foolish to hand DfID hundreds of millions more every year when so much of its budget is used to benefit not the starving poor in developing countries, but their fat and corrupt rulers.

As one of the world’s richest nations, Britain has a moral commitment to help others. But at the moment, 40 per cent of our aid goes through multinational organisations such as Unesco and the Food and Agriculture Organisation, both of which have been accused of failing to ensure that aid reaches the people who actually need it, and of handing money to repressive, kleptocratic African rulers. And it gives us no pleasure to report, as we do today, that some of DfID’s funds are not being spent abroad at all, but here in Britain, on “raising awareness” of poverty in Africa and other deprived nations.

We do not question that the schemes are well-intentioned. But we are mystified as to how DfID can justify spending millions on events such as bringing salsa dancers to Cambridge or fair trade coffee mornings to Huddersfield. It is nearly a year since we first brought a raft of DfID-funded “awareness projects” to the nation’s attention. Why is the department still spending its money on such things? We hope it is not the influence of the ugly philosophy for which the UK Trade and Investment quango was castigated earlier this month: “We’ve got the money, so we might as well spend it.”

Andrew Mitchell, the Development Secretary, says that the contracts were signed by the previous administration, and he can do nothing about them. His department used to point out that less than 0.24 per cent of DfID’s foreign aid budget is spent in Britain. But that would still amount to several million: and there are an awful lot of other projects that could do with the cash. And this saga is especially disappointing because, in every other respect, Mr Mitchell has made a bold and effective start. He has identified the foreign aid programmes that are under-performing, and is going to halt funding for them. He insists that every project must demonstrate that it offers concrete benefits to the poor. He even says that he wants to promote a new form of foreign aid, in which the British Government will pay for projects only after pre-agreed targets (for cutting death in childbirth, say) have been met. All of that is good. But if he is to succeed in his aim of making the nation proud of DfID, he will have to ensure that the expenditure on “awareness” schemes ends soon – and is never repeated.

The Household Cavalry may seek new household

The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment could leave the Knightsbridge site that has been their base since 1795 to make way for a money-spinning property development.

By Richard Eden 6:22AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Voted the eighth biggest eyesore in Britain, the Hyde Park Barracks may soon be demolished.

Mandrake hears that the Ministry of Defence is planning to move the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment from their base so that the Knightsbridge site can be sold off for a highly lucrative property scheme to rival the One Hyde Park flats developed by Nick and Christian Candy next door.

"We have been told that we can expect to move to a new barracks elsewhere in the park," claims my man in the officers' mess.

The building was designed by the late Sir Basil Spence and completed in 1970. Lord St John of Fawsley, the former arts minister, said Sir Basil's 33-storey tower block "ruined" Hyde Park. "In fact, he has the distinction of having ruined two parks, because of his Home Office building, which towers above St James's Park," said Lord St John.

Simon Saunders, the spokesman for the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, admits that the demolition of the building is "possible", but insists that "there are no plans to do that at this stage".

He says: "We are constantly looking at reviewing and improving the barracks in order to keep it up to modern-day standards. We are looking around and seeing what can be done."

In 2007, the MoD sold Chelsea Barracks for a record £959 million to the Qatari royal family. That development, which involved the Candy brothers, has been surrounded by controversy because the Prince of Wales intervened to prevent the Qataris going ahead with a scheme designed by his architectural bête noire, Lord (Richard) Rogers.

Straw in the wind

David Miliband, who has held talks with broadcasters about presenting some television programmes, could face a familiar rival.

Mandrake hears that Jack Straw, Miliband's former Cabinet colleague, has been approached about making a documentary on race relations in Blackburn, where he has been MP for 30 years.

It would be lively. He caused a storm when he claimed recently that some British Pakistani men regarded white girls as "easy meat".

MP 'reports six colleagues to police over expenses'

Six more MPs are facing fraud investigations over their expense claims after one of their colleagues informed on them to the police, according to reports.

11:19PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

The MPs are thought to include a former Labour cabinet minister, two Labour MPs, two Conservatives and a Liberal Democrat.

The allegations are said to relate to inflated claims for household expenditure such as council tax, maintenance and utility bills.

According to the Sunday Times, the allegations have been made by a Labour MP, who represents a northern constituency, who passed details of alleged wrongdoing to police because he believes he was unfairly singled out for investigation over his own allowances.

If confirmed, it would be the first time since the expenses scandal erupted in 2009 that an MP has made a complaint to police about fellow members of the Commons.

Scotland Yard said on Saturday that "a small number" of parliamentary expenses cases remain under consideration by a panel of detectives and prosecutors, but was unable to say whether any fresh cases had been brought to their attention recently.

A spokesman said the Met does not reveal the identity of its informants in such cases.

Some 10 files have been handed to the Crown Prosecution Service by the Met's economic and specialist crime unit, of which six led to charges and two to no further action being taken, while two others remain under consideration.

Former Labour MP David Chaytor was jailed for 18 months earlier in January after admitting false accounting, while Barnsley Central MP Eric Illsley has announced he will step down from Parliament after entering a guilty plea to dishonestly claiming more than £14,000. He will be sentenced next month.

According to the Sunday Times, the MP who passed on his colleagues' names has been the subject of a police investigation, but is not one of the four politicians awaiting trial.

The report comes ahead of the opening on Monday of the trial of Lord Taylor of Warwick, a former Conservative peer, who faces six charges of false accounting relating to 2006 and 2007. He pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing.

Residents call for reform of law on travellers' sites

Residents' groups from across the country have launched a united call for reform of the law on travellers' sites.

By David Barrett 9:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

They urged the Government to close "loopholes" in the planning system which have been used to encroach on Green Belt and other protected land.

Representatives of communities which are opposing unauthorised gipsy and traveller camps in their areas met Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary, to voice their fear that gipsies are being given preferential treatment by the planning rules.

Doug Bacon, vice-chairman of the campaign group which hosted the meeting in Meriden, near Coventry, said: "The purpose of this is to draw together villages from across the country which have experienced all kinds of inappropriate developments using retrospective planning laws.

"We have been encouraged by the recommendations of the Government so far but having looked at this from the grass roots level we feel there are areas that could be tightened up. We want to have input into that."

The Localism Bill, which will give local residents more ability to stop planning applications, is due to receive its second reading in the Commons tomorrow and Mr Bacon said the campaigners wanted to see several changes to the legislation.

They want planning applications for gipsy and traveller sites to face a specific requirement for local consultation, and also want local authorities to receive new powers to throw out retrospective applications submitted by people who have "knowingly and wilfully commenced development without planning permission".

Many of the campaigners at yesterday's meeting reported that gipsy and traveller camps had been set up without notice on rural land near their homes, with planning permission only applied for after the caravans had moved in.

It was the first time the groups had gathered to discuss their tactics in this way. Some said they were imitating how travellers pool knowledge and resources to fight legal battles over planning applications.

Mark Greening of Residents Against Inappropriate Development, a group based in Newent, Gloucestershire, said of yesterday's meeting: "It's the start of something big to put more pressure on politically and to show that this is not just a local issue for communities, it is a national issue.

"This is the first national conference of its kind. The gipsies and travellers have a collective approach to these things and so should we.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for everybody involved in such issues across the country to come together, share information and demonstrate to politicians that the respectable, settled communities do care."

Geoff Owen, of Daresbury Residents Group in Cheshire, which is opposing a six-caravan camp in the village, said: "We just want the rules to be applied equally to the whole nation.

"It is the deception and flouting of guidance and the outcome of appeals which is our biggest concern.

"Nobody in our village would be allowed to erect a conservatory without planning permission.

"The opportunity to come together here is fantastic and I wish we'd known some of the information we've picked up here earlier in our campaign."

Where our overseas aid goes: salsa in Cambridge, coffee in Yorkshire

Money from Britain's overseas aid budget is being spent on hosting coffee mornings and salsa dancing in the UK to "raise awareness" of poverty abroad.

By Jasper Copping 9:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

The Department for International Development is spending £3 million over three years on a scheme called Global Community Links (GCL) which funds projects intended to educate the British public about impoverished nations, chiefly in Africa and Asia.

Trade unions, charities, schools and churches can apply for the money - but any organisation that receives it must agree to spend it all in Britain, and is specifically barred from sending any abroad.

The initiative is being funded even though the Conservatives attacked such UK-based "awareness" spending when they were in opposition and said it would end as soon as they came to power.

The revelation will raise further questions over why DfID was one of only two Whitehall departments, along with the Department of Health, to be spared cuts in its budget by the Coalition.

Critics suggested that the department should restrict its spending to projects in poor nations, and accused the Government of funding "propaganda".

Among the projects already offered funds under the current scheme are:

* A conference in Cambridge, planned for later this month, featuring an "Afro-Cuban dance gala".

The conference has been organised by the charity Cambridge to Africa as one series of events to highlight its link with a children's charity in Uganda, for which it has received a GCL grant of £8,015.

The events are expected to be attended by 600 people – a cost to the taxpayer of £13 a head.

As well as a performance by Leandro Charanga, a Cambridge-based salsa dancer who is originally from Cuba, the event, "Celebrating Diversity: Voices from Africa", also includes presentations from a Swiss freelance journalist and a Norwegian aid worker.

* Fairtrade coffee mornings to be held in Huddersfield by a group called the Young Ethical Pioneers, which has been awarded £9,460 to promote its link with tea and coffee producers in Kenya.

The organisers hope to attract "local celebrities" to promote the events – possibly from town's football or rugby league clubs.

* A video about a twinning project between a Yorkshire Dales village and a community in Mali.

The link was established part of a wider scheme to connect people living on the Greenwich Meridian in different parts of the world – although Burley in Wharfedale is more than 70 miles from the line, while Tereli, in Mali, is more than 200 miles from it.

The Yorkshire group has received £9,550 to make the video and to organise four conferences about their work.

* A DVD and a poster exhibition about epilepsy in Sierra Leone. A Reading-based community group, Education for Development, has been awarded £8,985 to create the publicity material, which will be seen by more than 4,500 people at conferences, in hospitals and online.

* A twinning project between people from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Kenya to promote the British public's knowledge of climate change.

A grant of £10,000 to Team Kenya is being spent on workshops, a conference and other events in north-east England. The group's message will also be spread through a DVD and blogs.

* A week of activities later this year in Plymouth to celebrate a link with Ghana, including performances by musicians from the African country. Plymouth Ghana Link has also been handed £10,000 with the aim of "widening for the people of Plymouth their understanding and awareness of Ghana".

Funded activities include presentations and seminars, links between schools, a visit to Devon by a representative from a cocoa co-operative, and workshops in Plymouth about malaria.

As recently as January 7, DfID officials were using the website Twitter to encourage more groups to come forward to bid for the GCL money.

However, following inquiries from The Sunday Telegraph, Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, has announced that the scheme is to be reviewed and has asked the scheme's "managing agents" – organisations like the British Council and Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), which evaluate bids and hand out the money on behalf of DfID – to introduce an immediate halt to all new funding until the review has been completed.

In a letter to them, he wrote: "I ask that you consider refraining from awarding new grants under any existing programmes you are contracted to manage, until the review has ended and the conclusions are clear."

Grants awarded under the scheme can range in size from £1,000 to £10,000. The GCL scheme was launched in March last year, in the dying days of the Labour government.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Mitchell stressed that the scheme started before the 2010 election and said he was currently powerless to stop it.

"All of this is being done under a Labour government contract which I cannot rip up," he said.

"In the letter, you will see that I ask the managing agents to consider refraining.

"I can't force them to. But I am sending a very clear signal that if I could, I would stop it.

"Once I have the independent review then I will be able to consider what I can do to stop it."

Other DfID schemes which operated under Labour have already been scrapped by the new Government.

GCL was set up following criticism of a previous DfID initiative, the Development Awareness Fund (DAF), which funded projects including Brazilian dance classes in east London, a photographic scheme costing £180,000 to raise awareness of climate change and poverty in Brighton, and the teaching of "global citizenship" to two- and three-year-olds in Devon.

Yesterday the Conservative party disclosed new details of awareness spending under Labour, which totalled £34 million in eight years, including £9,618 for trade union project to "build solidarity along the banana supply chain" and £47,727 for a school drama in Derbyshire in which children dressed as slaves.

Sam Bowman, from the think tank the Adam Smith Institute, said the GCL programme was simply a "rebranding" of the DAF scheme.

"It is a huge waste. It is an outrageous use of money to provide propaganda for the government. Paying civil society groups to be your mouthpiece across the country on various issues weds those groups to the government and prevents them being independent and critical."

Currently £7.3 billion goes to fund DfID every year and the Coalition has pledged to increase spending on aid in order to meet a United Nations target of 0.7 per cent of national output by 2013.

Matthew Sinclair, director of the TaxPayers' Alliance which has also been critical of DfID spending, said: "Taxpayers will be disappointed that DfID is going looking for ways to spend their money through Twitter."

He added: "It is also disappointing that, while some wasteful 'awareness' spending in Britain has been scrapped, DfID is still spending taxpayers' money building the case for more development spending rather than actually focusing on helping the world's poorest people as it is supposed to.

"This is more evidence that the massive planned increases in international aid spending is a mistake. The department needs to show it can use the money it gets now responsibly first.

"The department should at least get the same treatment other high priority areas like science did – a cash freeze would save billions."

Peers to sleep on camp beds in race to secure Alternative Vote referendum

Peers will be ordered to sleep in make-shift dormitories in the House of Lords on Monday night as David Cameron attempts to push through legislation on voting reform.

By Melissa Kite, Deputy political editor 9:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

The Government is so determined not to lose the controversial Bill paving the way for a referendum on the Alternative Vote (AV) system that it is taking the unprecedented step of setting up camp beds in the Lords so peers can remain on site for a marathon run of three successive all-day and all-night sittings.

The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill is on a knife edge because it must clear the lords by February 16 to permit the referendum to be held as planned on May 5, the same day as local government elections.

Labour peers are trying to disrupt the legislation by talking it out because they are angry about its proposals to change constituency boundaries, which they argue will favour the Conservatives.

They are also supporting so-called threshold amendments - setting down in law a minimum turnout level, below which the referendum result would not count - which are garnering the support of some senior Conservatives.

As the legislation enters the series of all-night sittings, Conservative whips are ordering their peers to do everything possible to resist the Labour filibuster.

The Cholmondeley Room and the Attlee room have been turned into male and female dormitories so peers can remain at the Lords while a long series of votes are taken.

The AV system would permit voters to rank general election candidates in order of their first, second and subsequent preference.

In some circumstances, a candidate who did not receive the highest number of first-preference votes in a constituency could still be elected as an MP.

Although Mr Cameron opposes AV he pledged a referendum on voting reform as a key part of the Coalition agreement and must now deliver it or risk alienating his coalition partner Nick Clegg.

To make matters more complicated, Tory grandees are preparing to mount a fresh assault on the legislation as it enters its final parliamentary stages.

Former Conservative cabinet ministers have threatened to support the Labour amendments on minimum turnout.

Lord Lawson, Lord Lamont, Lord Forsyth, Lord Tebbit and John Gummer, now Lord Deben, have all said they want to ensure that Britain’s 'first past the post’ system is not abandoned without at least a minimum turn-out of around 40 per cent.

The Conservatives will campaign against a change to the 'first past the post’ system, but critics of the referendum fear that AV could be brought in by the back door if only a small number of people turn out.

Lord Forsyth, the former Scottish Secretary, told The Sunday Telegraph: “I start from the position that we should not have a referendum to change the voting system at all, but I understand this is part of a deal that has been done by the Coalition.

“But at the very least we ought to have a threshold so that those who want to change the system have a proper campaign and voters are enabled to reach a clear view.”

He added: “We have an absurd position where the Coalition Government is asking people to vote for a system that the respective parties in the Coalition argued against in the general election campaign - and the Labour Party, which had it in its manifesto, is now opposing it.

“It is a bit Gilbert and Sullivan.”

The threshold amendments are not set to be debated until report stage in a few weeks’ time, but could still make the Bill’s passage very tight. Veteran Conservatives lined up to attack the Bill during a recent debate, including Lord Tebbit who called it a “rather unpleasant dog’s dinner of a proposal”.

Lord Lamont said the AV system was “grotesque and ridiculous” and indicated he may support Labour amendments on thresholds. Lord Lawson described AV as “a totally capricious system”.

Tory peers signalled support for the Labour peer Lord Elystan-Morgan, who put down an amendment for a 40 per cent threshold.

Lord Falconer, the former Labour Lord Chancellor, told peers: “There should be a threshold because, in my view, low [turnout] figures … are not satisfactory.”

If the Bill goes to the wire, the Government may be forced to make concessions in order to get it through in time. Around 100 amendments have been tabled.

It must clear committee stage this week in order to have two weeks of report stage debate.

Conservatives criticise David Cameron over Oldham by-election campaign

Grassroots Conservatives have broken ranks to accuse David Cameron of deliberately running a "slow" campaign in the Oldham by-election to boost the Liberal Democrats.

By Melissa Kite, Deputy Political Editor 9:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

The leader of the Conservative group on Oldham council spoke out as activists on the ground began a post-mortem into how the Tory vote collapsed by 13 percentage points.

Labour secured a 3,558 majority, with the Liberal Democrats in second place and the Conservatives a distant third.

Mr Cameron and other ministers have repeatedly denied soft-pedalling in the contest in order to help their Coalition partners.

But Jack Hulme, leader of the Tory councillors in Oldham, said: "There is no doubt about it, there is a feeling amongst my colleagues that the campaign was not as vigorous as it might have been and I'm sure that there is going to be some quite serious soul-searching over the next few weeks and months."

Some local Tories admitted on Saturday they had been expecting the Conservative candidate Kashif Ali to come second and had been shocked by the result.

Mr Hulme said: "I think we have got to learn some lessons from this. This was our first election campaign since we entered coalition with the Liberal Democrats and it was tricky and there are definite lessons to be learned.

"I think in future we have got to be more vigorous than we have been on this occasion.

"In the early stages it was very slow to take off. The Liberal Democrats were on the streets and moving and that certainly didn't apply to our campaign and once you get on the back foot it's difficult to recover.

"I certainly think we should have been more aggressive."

Pamela Byrne, a local councillor who campaigned for Mr Ali, said she had been shocked at the drop in the Tory vote.

"I don't know where the votes went. We thought at the end of last week, we were on a high, we thought we were going to come second.

"I couldn't believe it when we got the result. Where did those votes go? It's absolutely bizarre.

"It's quite despairing really to think that our vote descended that much."

She added: "When we get the full breakdown of the results we will be having a very close look at this."

Insiders have revealed that the Prime Minister personally intervened early on to neuter the Tory campaign by calling off a planned campaigning push involving dozens of volunteers putting leaflets through doors.

Vote OK, a campaign group led by hunt supporters which normally pours legions of leafleters into key seats, was told not to help the Tory candidate in case he took too many votes from the Lib Dems.

Mr Cameron was said to be "desperately worried" about the prospect of a poor Lib Dem showing which could dent Nick Clegg's credibility and destabilise the Coalition.

Suspicion of a "go slow" order from Downing Street was fuelled by a three line whip being imposed last Thursday, preventing Tory MPs leaving the House of Commons to go to Oldham to help get the vote out. Usually a one-line whip – in which MPs are merely asked to vote – is applied on by-election polling days.

Mr Cameron also raised suspicions when he wished the Lib Dems well at the start of the campaign.

Last night Labour even claimed that some residents in Oldham were explicitly told by Tories on the doorsteps to vote Liberal Democrat.

The Conservatives denied this, but pressure was growing on Baroness Warsi to explain the result. Many activists have turned on the party co-chairman, privately demanding her resignation.

The move has fuelled suspicions about unofficial pacts between the two parties in certain seats at the next election if Mr Cameron decides to keep the coalition arrangement going.

Senior Tories such as Nicholas Boles MP have raised the prospect of maintaining the coalition beyond the election.

But grassroots activists are deeply opposed to this. Mr Hulme said: "There is a very strong feeling within my group that we are a separate party and that is how we campaign in the future.

"I would like to think that come the next election we will go to the country on a true Conservative manifesto and that we would win an overall mandate."

Miliband urges 'tragic' Lib Dems to defect

Ed Miliband described the Liberal Democrats as "tragic" on Saturday as he called on them to join forces with his party.

By Melissa Kite, Deputy Political Editor 9:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

The Labour leader appealed to disaffected Lib Dems to work with him to oppose the spending cuts being implemented by the Coalition Government.

Mr Miliband said the decision by Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, to enter government with the Conservatives was a "tragic mistake" and he declared himself ready to co-operate with the Lib Dems "in Parliament and outside it".

Mr Miliband, who has been faced accusations of a lacklustre performance since becoming leader, admitted his party had made mistakes and needed to change course.

In a speech to the Fabian Society, Mr Miliband acknowledged that Labour had lost voters' trust by failing to regulate banks, seeming "in thrall" to the markets and remote from ordinary people's values.

Labour had to change if it was to regain its mantle of "standard-bearer of the progressive majority", and should be ready to work with members of other parties who shared its values, he said.

Appealing to the Lib Dems, Mr Miliband said: "The decision of the Liberal Democrats to join a Conservative-led government was a tragic mistake, and I hope they come to see that in time.

"Forgive me if I decline to join those who are gloating at the expense of the Liberal Democrats. Because their mistake means they are part of a Government attempting to shift politics to the right."

Thousands of Lib Dems had defected to Labour since the formation of the coalition, he said. "There are many Liberal Democrats who have decided to stay and fight for the progressive soul of their party.

"Most of them do not want to see their progressive tradition sacrificed for personal ambition. I respect their choice too and I understand how painful it must be to watch what is happening to their party.

"We do not doubt that they hold sincere views and we will co-operate where we can in Parliament and outside, with those that want to fight the direction of this Government."

Mr Miliband urged Lib Dem MPs who are uneasy with the coalition to join Labour in voting against the abolition of education maintenance allowance in the Commons on Wednesday.

But his overture was dismissed by Simon Hughes – one of the most influential figures on the Liberal Democrat left – who, addressing the same conference, said Lib Dems should "resist the blandishments of the Labour leader.

Last May, the electorate walked away from Labour and Labour walked away from government," he said.

The Tories couldn’t deliver the goods without the Lib Dems

The Conservative Right is wilfully blind to the fact that it is getting most of what it wants from a Coalition that it hates, argues Matthew d'Ancona.

By Matthew d'Ancona 8:20PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

At the end of last year, Richard Reeves, Nick Clegg’s astute special adviser, delivered a presentation to a gathering of senior Lib Dems. David Laws and others listened to Reeves’s argument that the party’s strategy for this parliament needed to be divided into three phases. First, the Lib Dems had to establish their credibility as a party of government, and a reliable partner in a coalition acting in the national interest. Second, around mid-term, it would be necessary for the party to “renew”, to freshen up its appeal and its identity. Third – in April 2015, and not before then – it should explicitly differentiate itself from its Conservative partners and campaign as a distinct party in the general election.

Reeves’s timeline is instructive as a guide to what happened in last Thursday’s by-election. The Lib Dems are still in the first phase he described, and more than four years away from the moment when they will formally detach from the Conservatives. Clegg made this point forcefully at a meeting of Lib Dem ministers at Westminster on Friday. For now, his fortunes are inextricably spliced with David Cameron’s, and vice versa; assuming the survival of the Coalition, they will remain so for years to come.

In Oldham East and Saddleworth, the Lib Dem leader faced the grisly prospect of coming third: a result that would have brutally dramatised on the Pennine stage his national predicament. Pilloried for breaking his promise over tuition fees, battered by the opinion polls, burned in effigy, humiliated by what Lib Dem ministers told undercover reporters in last month’s Daily Telegraph scoop, Clegg desperately needed a breathing space. His party’s respectable performance in the by-election – its share of the vote rose slightly from 31.6 per cent to 31.9 per cent – has drained the torrent of Clegg-baiting of some of its raging momentum. Doubtless there is plenty more to come, but the moment of crisis has undoubtedly passed.

Transparently, the PM’s principal objective in this by-election was to shore up his deputy. As this newspaper revealed a month ago, the Tory campaign was half-hearted by design – a strategy that has made the party’s Right puce with indignation. On Friday’s Newsnight, Peter Bone, the Conservative MP for Wellingborough and Rushden, complained that “the one thing that’s clear from this result [is that] even quiet help between the parties is seen through by voters”. In fact, the opposite seems to have been the case: Tory-supporting constituents lent their votes to the Lib Dem candidate, Elwyn Watkins, in sufficient numbers to save him and his party from catastrophe.

One would think, from some of the reaction to Cameron’s ploy, that this was a deplorable innovation by the wicked Tory metropolitan elite. The reality is quite otherwise. The extent to which a party devotes resources and energy to a particular constituency is always a matter of debate – even in by-elections. What is new is the Tories’ embrace of tactical voting, a weapon that has almost invariably been used against the Conservative Party rather than by it. We are used to Labour supporters lending their votes to the Lib Dems, and vice versa, to thwart a Tory candidate. Less familiar is the notion that Lib Dem and Tory supporters should collude against Labour. New or not, the voters of Oldham seem to have taken it all in their stride. It is the Tory tribe at Westminster that is grumbling.

I feel a measure of sympathy for Sayeeda Warsi, the Conservative co-chairman, who stampeded into the row on Friday’s Today programme with a side-swipe at “the Right wing of our party” and the armchair strategists criticising the Tory campaign. Her mistake was to repeat directly the language used by John Humphrys, who had asked: “You have alienated the Right wing of your party, haven’t you?” A party chairman should never reinforce the idea of factional division by referring explicitly to sub-sections of the movement: her task is to maintain the semblance of impregnable unity. Her intervention has compounded the suspicions of Tory conspiracy theorists that there is a Cameroon cabal, steadily betraying all that is good and true in “mainstream Conservatism”.

That said, Baroness Warsi’s exasperation is entirely understandable. The Tory Right is still marooned on May 5, 2010, unwilling to confront the consequences of the general election result and wilfully blind to the fact that it is getting most of what it wants from a Coalition it hates. So here, to remind them, is what happened: the Tory party failed to win an outright majority, principally because its “detoxification” was incomplete (the consensus analysis of, for instance, Dennis Kavanagh and Philip Cowley’s The British General Election of 2010, Michael Ashcroft’s Minority Verdict, and the work of Tim Bale of Sussex University).

Remarkably, Cameron and Clegg were able to forge a full-blown coalition deal. Even more remarkably, the government founded upon that agreement has already embarked upon a full-tilt programme of spending cuts, dramatic welfare reform, a transformative blueprint for schools, and radical change to the higher education system. Last week, the European Union Bill to impose a referendum lock on future EU treaty changes returned to the Commons. This week, the NHS Bill will launch perhaps the most sweeping changes to the health service since its foundation in 1948 (“I agree with it, but it’s incredibly risky,” frets one normally robust Tory Cabinet minister).

What the Right refuses to accept is that all of this would have been inconceivable without the formation of the Coalition. A minority Tory Government would have achieved next to nothing in its short lifespan. The great paradox of contemporary politics is that the Conservative Party is finally getting the chance to enact profoundly Conservative measures – but only in collaboration with the Lib Dems. To the voters, the spectacle of two parties co-operating is agreeable, although that sentiment is probably waning as the novelty wears off. What matters to the punters is that this extraordinary collaboration delivers the goods: that the country is saved from the economic mess in which Labour left it, and that the pain of the next few years delivers tangible gain before the next election.

For the Right, all this presents an existential crisis, a carnival of introspection. “What about us?” is their self-indulgent wail. To which Cameron’s answer is, as it should be: who cares? It was often said that Gordon Brown wanted to be Labour leader, whereas Tony Blair wanted to be Prime Minister. In his handling of this by-election, Cameron has shown where his own priorities lie. He wants to head a durable and coherent Coalition, delivering the goods, more than he wants to be a beloved leader of the Tory tribe. As a special adviser to John Major’s Cabinet, he knows what fate awaits a PM who tries to keep every faction in his party happy. Instead, Cameron’s single-minded purpose is to do whatever it takes to hold the Government together until 2015, to complete the mission upon which he and Clegg embarked last May. Bad news for the Right, no doubt – but good news for the country.

Barack Obama captured the mood of a nation. Can David Cameron do the same?

The president's speech in Tucson showed the transforming power of language - a power that David Cameron has thus far been unable to master, argues Janet Daley.

By Janet Daley 8:20PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

There are moments in the lives of political leaders when words become more important than acts – when the power to capture or transform the mood of a country is so significant that an utterance becomes a historical event in itself.

Tony Blair’s apparently spontaneous (but actually scripted) observation on the death of Diana, “She was the people’s princess,” was widely believed to have sealed his emotional communion with the people for the best part of two terms in office. When George W Bush stood in the rubble of Ground Zero on September 14, 2001 addressing the heroic firefighters of New York through a loudhailer, he responded to a cry from the back of the crowd that he couldn’t be heard with the (genuinely spontaneous) words: “I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” The cheer that erupted on the scene echoed through the nation and made him, for a while, a hugely popular president.

But such momentary political gains for individual leaders make the influence of what is said – as opposed to what is done – seem shallow and manipulative, as if the power of words were some kind of second-order illusion, if not an outright deceit. In fact, the business of democracy is carried on through argument, and language is its currency, which is why the freedom of speech is written into its laws.

In America at the moment, there is a huge and extraordinarily heated debate (that is a polite word for it) over the influence of political speech, in which wild accusations of incitement to murder compete with febrile counter-claims of character assassination. Whether Barack Obama’s speech at the Tucson memorial service will prove to be (as his followers are eagerly briefing) the great transformative moment of his failing presidency remains for the future to judge. But it is notable that even in his rejection of the more excitable Left-wing case that the mass murder in Arizona was directly linked to the vituperation of the Republican Right, he did not imply that language could not possibly have such serious consequences. He did not say that none of this “words” business actually matters much, or that what is said and how it is said should be seen as less real or momentous than the substantive physical things that occur in the world.

Certainly language can incite, as the long and depressingly successful history of demagoguery demonstrates. And while I find the idea absurd that the vitriolic discourse of US political life was a causal factor in the killing spree of an insane loner (who showed no interest in politics at all apart from generic paranoid fantasies about “government power”), it is not outlandish to make the general claim that words can be dangerous. That is the precise corollary of the fact that they can be inspirational.

Which brings us to the tone-of-voice issue: if words themselves are thought to be less than fully-fledged parts of reality, their artful delivery is even more maligned. Using pitch, cadence and (in the television age) facial expression to attach greater force to one’s speech is seen as an especially devious bit of modern political phoniness: little more than a device learnt from advertising for the exploitation of emotion.

But Winston Churchill used language in ways that were, in the terms of his time and the national culture, emotionally resonant and even psychologically coercive, to mobilise a nation against the demonic rhetoric of another leader who knew how to rouse his own people. For political leaders to find the right language – and the right voice in which to speak it – is not just a trick in the armoury of image consultants or media minders. It is fundamental to their ability to persuade and encourage: to repair national confidence, to prevent despair and to avoid civil conflict. It can – at crucial times – save a country in the literal sense.

Worryingly for us, David Cameron has yet to find the voice he will need if the country is to believe that what he is asking of it will be worth the price. Even when the voters agree broadly with his message about the economy and support many of his programmes, they do not rise to his delivery. There is something that does not ring true in his manner: the words seem to come from his mouth but not his heart. One never gets the sense of seeing beneath the self-conscious pose, the pre-meditated attitude, to the real man.

Until last week, Mr Obama had been susceptible to much the same criticism – at least since he assumed the presidency. He was accused repeatedly of being too remote, too cerebral, and too insensitive to the personal dimension of his relationship with the people who had elected him. But the Tucson speech, it was widely agreed, restored some of the magic of his time as a candidate: at last, he seemed in touch with the appropriate depth of feeling which could allow him (as Americans say) to reach out to ordinary listeners.

Why was this? I believe that in talking of Christina Taylor Green, the nine-year-old girl who had been killed in the Tucson shooting, he was calling on his feelings for his own young daughters. Like a method actor, he was making use of his own, genuine emotions to find a form of expression that perfectly suited the event. I am truly sorry if this observation seems tasteless, and I certainly do not mean to imply that what Mr Obama did was cynical or even consciously calculated. On the contrary, it was right and necessary that he make use of that common humanity – the universally understood feeling of parents for their children – to attempt to form some sort of ameliorative bond between the warring factions in American life. For while the vitriolic discourse about which everybody is so exercised – to which both sides of US politics have contributed – may not have precipitated a deranged murder, it certainly has made for an ugly and vicious popular climate.

So how damaging is the lack of such effective use of speech? Can the failure of a political leader to connect in some empathetic way that the population finds reassuring or constructive or meaningful, actually do harm not just to the morale of the country at that moment, but to longer-term confidence in politics itself? If Mr Obama had failed the test last week in a really disastrous way, would it have injured not only his own electoral prospects, but the health of American democracy? Almost certainly. The political blame war would have gone into overdrive, and the popular alienation from government become more entrenched. And if Mr Cameron cannot find a way to talk to the people, then we too may face a future of inchoate anger and frustration, in which casting a vote comes to seem little more than a gesture of revenge.

What would be the impact of the Alternative Vote?

Why we are having a referendum on AV? How does the voting system work? And is it fair? Tim Montgomerie reports.

By Tim Montgomerie 8:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Why are we having a referendum on the Alternative Vote?

Nick Clegg could have used last May's coalition negotiations to stop higher tuition fees, but changing the way we choose our MPs was his top priority. In order to form the Coalition, David Cameron had to agree to a referendum on the Alternative Vote.

How does it work?

At the moment, we all get one vote and the candidate with the most wins. Under AV, we rank a number of candidates on a list. If no candidate receives an outright majority, you add the second preferences to their total , and then the third, and then the fourth, until one candidate gets 50 per cent of the remaining votes.

Why does Nick Clegg want AV?

He sees it as a first step towards proper proportional representation (in which the composition of Parliament precisely mirrors the total votes cast for each party), and he knows that it would give his party more MPs and often the balance of power. Hung parliaments wouldn't be the exception, but the norm. So the Lib Dems would become the kingmakers of British politics, with Clegg and his successors routinely choosing which party leader became Prime Minister. Broken promises of the kind we've seen on tuition fees and VAT would become the norm, since after every election, the politicians would get together and decide which manifesto pledges to keep and which to junk.

Is AV widely used?

No. Only Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Australia use AV. And Australian voters disliked it so much that voting had to be made compulsory.

But is AV fairer?

Supporters say AV delivers "fair votes" – but is it really fair that the second preferences of fringe parties can decide who becomes the MP? If Thursday's Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election had been fought under AV, there might have been eight rounds of voting before a winner could have been declared, meaning that supporters of the minor parties – including the BNP, the Monster Raving Loony Party and the Bus-Pass Elvis Party – would have had a decisive say in who won. Also, those who argue that the reform would lead to more balanced parliaments should note that AV can actually exaggerate swings – Tony Blair's 1997 landslide, for example, would have been even bigger if AV had been in operation.

So the Lib Dems back it, but what about the other parties?

Labour is divided on AV. More than 100 of its MPs and some of the biggest trade unions want to keep first-past-the-post. Ed Miliband, however, supports the change – indeed, he only won the race to replace Gordon Brown because his party uses AV. Although more Labour MPs and party members wanted David Miliband, the younger brother triumphed because he received more preferences from the supporters of his least popular rivals.

And the Conservatives?

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, is one of the few who are sitting on the fence – nearly every other Tory MP opposes AV. Indeed, in a referendum where turnout may be decisive, the efforts of David Cameron and the country's other two most popular Conservative politicians – Boris Johnson and Ann Widdecombe – will be critical to getting Tories to the polls.

Who is likely to win?

At the moment, first-past-the-post enjoys a narrow lead in the opinion polls, but it's too early to predict. During Britain's last nationwide referendum in 1975 – when we voted to confirm our membership of the European Economic Community – opinion shifted markedly during the campaign. The "Yes to AV" campaign has big money on its side. Groups such as the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust and the Electoral Reform Society have millions to spend, up to the statutory limit of £5 million.

Will the Coalition survive if Clegg loses the referendum?

This is where it gets interesting. With the Lib Dems at 10 per cent in some national surveys, Clegg's party would be committing electoral suicide if it walked away from government. But if Clegg doesn't get AV, Cameron will be under pressure to compensate his deputy, which could make a form of PR for the House of Lords (and the introduction of elections to the second chamber) much more likely. My guess is that AV or an elected Lords will happen, but not both: Tory MPs, already anxious about the number of concessions being made to Clegg, will only swallow a certain amount of constitutional upheaval.

Tim Montgomerie is the editor of ConservativeHome

Union bosses want a fight, regardless of what the rank and file think

Trade union leaders are planning to take Britain back to the old days of strikes and stoppages, warns Alasdair Palmer.

By Alasdair Palmer 7:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Some things never change. The obstinacy of Britain's union leaders is one of them. For the past 20 years, they haven't had much opportunity to call "everybody out". Now they sense that the Government's plans to cut the public sector have provided them with the chance to take Britain back to the bad old days of strikes and stoppages.

Yesterday, it was reported that Unite, Britain's largest union, plans to call a strike ballot among the tanker drivers who keep the country supplied with fuel. The strike would be over wages and conditions – but Unite's head, Len McCluskey, is also working on a "broad strike movement" to stop the cuts. In an ominous echo of the old confrontations, he thinks that union members have a "moral duty" to fight the Government.

Mr McCluskey's not the only one flexing his muscles. "If David Cameron thinks he can batter working people into the dirt through his undiluted brand of fiscal fascism," roars Bob Crowe, leader of the RMT rail union, "he's got another thing coming." He hopes he'll soon preside over a fresh wave of strikes on the London Underground.

To listen to these guys, you'd think that public sector workers were viciously exploited by the most brutal of employers. But actually, the state is an unusually benign boss – partly because it is so extraordinarily inefficient. In the 11 years to December 2008, productivity in the public sector fell by 3.3 per cent – but earnings rose, in real terms, by 17.1 per cent.

Would anything similar be tolerated in the private sector? It is hard to see how. Indeed, over the same period, private-sector productivity increased by 28 per cent – which explains why real-terms earnings went up by 21 per cent as well.

But the union bosses fighting "fiscal fascism" – or what the rest of us call an attempt to ensure that what the state pays its employees has some relation to the work they do – live in a different world. They think that any attempt to match earnings to output is outrageous, and means that their members should "prepare for battle".

Whether most of their members actually want to fight that battle is another matter. Mr McCluskey won the leadership of Unite in an election in which only 16 per cent of the membership voted at all. Most of the rank and file probably do not want to disrupt the Royal wedding or the Olympic Games, two of the "actions" that their leaders have recently proposed. But if the majority fail to vote in a strike ballot, their abstention is taken as a tacit endorsement. And then, as members, they are obliged to strike.

It was moderate union members whom David Cameron and Boris Johnson addressed in a joint article last week. London's Mayor then threatened the RMT with the introduction of driverless Tube trains. Not to be outdone, Cameron hinted that, to diminish the risk of a strike being called when most members do not explicitly support one, the law could be changed so that a strike ballot is only valid if a significant proportion of the members have participated. At present, a strike can be valid even if only a handful of the union's workers vote. This, as the PM is right to suggest, is undemocratic. A strike ballot doesn't need to have everyone's participation. But it should certainly be mandated by more than 5 or 10 per cent of the relevant electorate.

One of Mr Cameron's main criticisms of Gordon Brown during the British Airways strike before the general election was that the union "scented weakness" in Gordon Brown. That was probably true, because it was a Unite strike, and Unite is the largest single donor that Labour has. But unfortunately for his dealings with the union tough guys, the new Prime Minister does not have a reputation as a hard man. He knows that if the unions scent weakness in him, he is lost. He needs to give Mr McCluskey and his comrades the battle they want – and to demonstrate the kind of steely determination that will be needed if they are to be defeated.

Friends: The One with the Wake-up Call for the Coalition

Alarm bells are ringing for Nick Clegg in the latest episode of our Westminster sitcom, by Iain Hollingshead

By Iain Hollingshead 7:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

“Brrrrriiiiiiiiing!”

Nick groaned and rolled over in bed. He was in the middle of a very enjoyable dream in which the Lib Dems’ poll ratings had soared into double figures, Vince had announced his retirement and he, Nick, was treated with respect by colleagues, journalists and voters alike. He did not want it to end.

“Nick!” Miriam nudged him hard in the ribs as he reached for the snooze button. “How are you supposed to be the poster boy for Alarm Clock Britain if you can’t get out of bed yourself?”

Nick groaned again. It had been less than a week since he’d coined that stupid slogan and he was already beginning to regret it. Why hadn’t they gone with Rail Replacement Britain instead? And anyway, did anyone else even own an alarm clock these days? Didn’t everyone just use their iPhones – when they worked?

“Nick!” Miriam kicked him this time, where it hurt. “You have to wake up. There’s good news from Oldham.”

Nick sat up bolt upright. “We beat the Bus Pass Elvis Party?”

“You beat the Pirate Party as well. And the Conservatives. In fact, you came a very decent second.”

Nick punched the air. Second place! What a victory!

The phone started playing Bridge Over Troubled Water. Miriam grimaced and handed it over without looking at it.

“Congratulations,” said Dave.

“Thank you,” said Nick. “We couldn’t have done it without you.”

“You did do it without us,” said Dave, thinking of the token campaign put up by Central Office in order to shore up their Coalition partner.

They both laughed – but over in Downing Street, the levity was somewhat forced. Dave was his usual upbeat self, of course, but his aides were beginning to worry that the soft-pedalled campaign might have backfired.

“Nonsense,” Dave told them. “We’ve taken the pressure off Nick, and made Useless Ed look like a hero into the bargain. Third place is an excellent result for us – just like it was for the Lib Dems at the general election.”

“We can’t tell the press that,” said a horrified aide. “And what about the Right? They’re going to crucify us for not campaigning properly.”

Dave sighed. “I know, but have any of them actually been to Oldham? No? Exactly. Klosters is much nicer this time of year.”

The aide threw up his hands in despair. “And you want me to brief that to journalists, do you?”

Dave smiled. “Fine. I suppose you could always tell them that we were too busy attending parties with our banker friends and celebrating their bonuses to bother campaigning.”

The aide said nothing.

“Or that it’s a resounding failure for the Coalition that Labour still held the seat despite their previous MP being ousted for lying. Or you could even point out that, for the first time in several decades, there are now more former Labour MPs in jail than Conservative.”

The aide grimaced. “I’m sorry, boss,” he said. “We’re saving that one for the local elections.”

Cherie Blair wore a pendant to ward off evil spirits, reveals Alastair Campbell

Cherie Blair wore a special charm to "ward off evil spirits" because she needed to be "slightly mad" to cope with life at No 10, according to Tony Blair's former communications chief Alastair Campbell.

3:54PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

The revelation emerged from the latest instalment of diaries by Mr Campbell, which covers the first two years of Mr Blair's premiership.

In the volume, which will be published later this month, Mr Campbell tells how he warned the ex-prime minister about Cherie's 'madder stuff', such as her support for alternative therapies.

It also reveals Mr Blair consulted the Bible before making key decisions, reading a passage about John the Baptist hours before ordering a bombing raid on Iraq in 1998.

Mr Campbell said he was also forced to advise Mr Blair just weeks after he took office not to suffer from 'world leader-itis', that is preferring life on the international stage to dealing with problems in the UK.

Mr Blair also apparently complained that his stature on the world stage was limited because Britain was "so small".

In a section on Cherie, Mr Campbell discussed a report in a newspaper about a "bioelectric shield" pendant 'that was supposed to ward off evil spirits and harmful rays" she had been pictured wearing.

The revelation comes in the latest instalment of diaries by Mr Blair's former spin chief Alastair Campbell

He writes: "I said to Fiona (Millar, Campbell's partner and an adviser to Cherie), she had to get a hold of all this madder stuff but she said Cherie never raised it with her because she knew she would disapprove."

"TB (Tony Blair) said they had to be slightly mad to cope," he wrote. "He was very sympathetic to Cherie doing this alternative ******** because of he thought it was her way of coping."

In December 1998, as he was poised to order a bombing of Iraq – four-and-a-half years before the full-scale invasion – Mr Campbell's diaries reveal how Mr Blair relied on his Christianity to help him decide what to do.

"TB was clearly having a bit of a wobble. He said he had been reading the Bible last night, as he often did when the really big decisions were on, and he had read something about John the Baptist and Herod which had caused him to rethink, albeit not change his mind."

The former PM is due to appear before the Chilcot Inquiry into the 2003 Iraq invasion next week.

Ed Miliband appeals to disaffected Liberal Democrats

Ed Miliband has appealed to disaffected Liberal Democrats to work with Labour against the cuts agenda being implemented by the coalition Government.

1:47PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

The Labour leader said Nick Clegg's decision to take his party into coalition with the Conservatives was a "tragic mistake".

He said he ready to co-operate with Liberal Democrats "in Parliament and outside it" to oppose the direction in which the Government is taking Britain.

But his overture was dismissed by Mr Clegg's deputy Simon Hughes – one of the most influential figures on the party's left – who said Liberal Democrat supporters should "resist the blandishments of the Labour leader".

In a speech to the Fabian Society a day after Labour's by-election victory in Oldham East and Saddleworth, Mr Miliband acknowledged that the party had made "serious mistakes" in Government.

It had lost voters' trust by being too slow to admit the necessity of cuts; failing to regulate the banks; and seeming "in thrall" to the markets and remote from ordinary people's values.

Labour had to change if it was to regain its mantle of "standard-bearer of the progressive majority", and should be ready to work with members of other parties who shared its values.

"The decision of the Liberal Democrats to join a Conservative-led government was a tragic mistake, and I hope they come to see that in time," said Mr Miliband.

"Forgive me if I decline to join those who are gloating at the expense of the Liberal Democrats. Because their mistake means they are part of a Government attempting to shift politics to the right."

Thousands of former Lib Dems have defected to Labour since the formation of the coalition, he said.

But he extended an olive branch to those who have opted to stay.

He said: "There are many Liberal Democrats who have decided to stay and fight for the progressive soul of their party.

"Most of them do not want to see their progressive tradition sacrificed for personal ambition.

"I respect their choice too and I understand how painful it must be to watch what is happening to their party.

"We do not doubt that they hold sincere views and we will co-operate where we can in Parliament and outside, with those that want to fight the direction of this Government."

Mr Miliband urged Liberal Democrat MPs who are uneasy with the coalition to join Labour in voting against the abolition of education maintenance allowance in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

But Mr Hughes denied that Lib Dems had betrayed their values by joining forces with Tories.

"Last May, the electorate walked away from Labour and Labour walked away from government," he told the same conference in London.

"Liberal Democrats took up the challenge and decided that Liberal Democrats in government would achieve far more towards a liberal Britain by joining and making more progressive the government rather than stepping back and allowing Britain to be run again by the Conservative Party on its own.

"Radicals and progressives are alive and well in the Liberal Democrats and alive and well in the new coalition Government.

"As in any coalition we will not achieve all of our objectives all of the time. But we have already made much progress and we will make much more progress."

Mr Miliband said he was "proud" of the achievements of the Labour administrations of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

But he made clear he regarded Mr Brown's attempt to avoid using the language of cuts as a mistake, and thought that New Labour had become too "technocratic and managerial" in wielding centralised state power and putting the imperatives of the market above families' desire for economic security and communities' need for institutions like post offices and libraries.

"Parties don't suffer defeats like the one we suffered last May because of an accumulation of small errors," he said.

"They do so by making serious mistakes, and that's why I have said what I have said on issues like Iraq, failing to properly regulate the banks, ignoring concerns about economic security and not doing enough to deliver on the promise of a new politics.

"We have to show that we have learnt lessons if the British people are to trust us again."

The last Labour government had been "too slow in the language that we used, after the financial crisis had created a big deficit, to acknowledge what our own plans implied, that there would eventually have to be cuts", he said.

But he denounced as a "myth" Conservative claims that the deficit was the result of state overspending, insisting it was caused by the financial crisis triggered by the banks.

Cabinet minister Philip Hammond said the Labour leader was "in denial" about the extent of his party's failings.

"Ed Miliband promised an apology today. But the only mistake he was willing to admit to was not being left-wing enough," said Mr Hammond.

"What the British people deserve is an apology from Labour for maxing out the nation's credit card during the good years and burdening our grandchildren with debt, but Ed Miliband is still in denial.

"Until he admits to the big mistakes the last government made and comes up with a credible plan for dealing with Labour's mess, he cannot be taken seriously."

Conservatives pledge to stop travellers from gaining planning permission for illegal permanent camps

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman has promised to stop travellers obtaining retrospective planning permission to allow them to remain permanently in camps which they have set up illegally.

11:27AM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Ms Spelman was speaking ahead of a conference on Saturday in her Meriden constituency bringing together communities which are fighting against unauthorised sites.

Residents of the village of Meriden have been staging a round-the-clock demonstration for more than six months against an encampment on green belt land.

But a representative speaking on behalf of travellers communities accused the protesters of racism, arguing that the land was owned by the gipsies who live there.

Legislation will be tabled in Parliament on Monday which Ms Spelman said would bring about "fairness between the settled and travelling communities" by making provision for more authorised sites.

She said it would close a loophole which allows travellers to apply for and obtain retrospective planning permission after having set up camp.

Ms Spelman told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I don't think it is an issue of racism. There is an issue with planning law, there is a problem and the new Government wants to try to address the problem, which is not new.

"There needs to be a balance between the settled community, like the villagers here in Meriden, and the travelling community.

"We need more authorised sites. In order to incentivise councils to provide more authorised sites, we need to recognise that in the planning system and in the grant that they receive.

"On Monday, the coalition Government will introduce a bill in Parliament which will strike the fairness between the settled and travelling community, closing the loophole on retrospective planning permission but also making provision for extra authorised sites."

But Jake Bowers, editor of Travellers' Times magazine, questioned why travellers were excluded from attending Saturday's conference.

He told the programme: "Whilst there are some people in that village who are primarily concerned about the environment, the majority of people you speak to, when the mask slips, the real reason they are there is because there are gipsies in their village and they don't like it.

"(The travellers) own that land. I don't think anybody would say that moving on to green belt is an ideal solution, but the people on that site would say it is an issue of necessity."

Wikipedia at 10: ‘It’s what the web is for’

Matt Warman talks to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales about a decade of the world’s first free encyclopaedia

8:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

When Wikipedia first appeared online, ten years ago today, its founder Jimmy Wales had high hopes for the free encyclopaedia. “I thought one day we might make it into the top 50 websites in the world,” says the 44-year-old American. He describes himself now as a “pathological optimist” and he needed to be. Back then, the entry for “physics” said simply “Physics is a very broad subject”.

Today that one entry runs to more than 6,000 words linking to scores of other pages. Wikipedia itself is the world’s fifth most-visited website, with 17 million articles in 270 languages, used by 400 million people every month.

Wales’s project, however, has always been more than a simple rival to Encyclopaedia Britannica. Wikipedia is not only free to use; its existence is a philosophical statement. “We’re talking free as in speech, not free as in beer,” he says. “All of the work, all of the software is freely licensed – you can distribute it commercially or non-commercially as you wish.”

So Wales’s hope was not simply to tell people about things; just as Google’s vaulting ambition was captured in their motto “don’t be evil”, so Wikipedia is, as Wales puts it, “what the internet is for”. “We’re a charity,” he explains, “whose mission is a humanitarian project to bring knowledge to everyone – the internet should be a tool for communication of really thoughtful matter.”

Wales has not always been a philosopher, however. A former futures trader in Chicago, he made what has been described as “enough money to support himself and his [now ex-]wife for the rest of their lives” in around five years, before founding what he’s described as “a guy-oriented search engine”. After that failed, however, his next ambition was to organise an online encyclopaedia.

That first attempt was not Wikipedia, however: ‘Nupedia’ too, as Wales now says bluntly, “failed”. “I wanted to create a free encyclopaedia and hired a PhD in philosophy to get it going. The first couple of years were spent basically talking about it rather than doing it.” It was only when the concept of the “Wiki” was introduced to Wales was he able to get it off the ground.

Pioneered by software engineers to quickly develop new programmes, the wiki involves large-scale collaboration, usually without a traditional hierarchy. Thanks to the generosity of others, “we were able to have an awful lot of activity very quickly,” says Wales.

The site’s subsequent, rapid growth has not been without controversy. When the journal Nature compared Wikipedia to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, it found that some of Wales’s contributors had produced better entries. Expert reviewers looked at 50 articles, and found that Britannica had, on average just one less error in each. For some, Wikipedia was judged to be better.

Wales says he’s not interested in point-scoring. But he goes on: “For most people what was astonishing about that study was that there were three errors in each Britannica article. That’s not a criticism of Britannica because it’s really hard to do this work.” He concedes, therefore, that “we should always expect there will be errors in Wikipedia. We just want to minimise them. I think what was really telling was that Britannica got quite outraged and sent out a 20-page memo denouncing the study; the wikipedians came to me and said, ‘Can we find out the list of errors – we want to fix them.’ That comes out of being non-commercial.”

Indeed, Wikipedia’s “non-commercial” status, which initially meant Wales simply paid the site’s web server bills himself, now means that for at least two months of every year it’s begging for donations, on a model similar to that which funds American public radio. At the first attempt, in 2004, Wikipedia sought to raise $20,000 in a month, and actually raised $30,000 in about three weeks. The most recent, two-month long appeal raised $16million from 500,000 people – although on the social network Twitter millions asked Wales to take down the picture on the site used to ask for donations. “There were 9 million people asking me to stop staring at them”, says Wales. Perhaps most intriguingly, it was the banner adverts with Wales’s face that were clearly shown to raise the most money. “If we were dependent on the philanthropic foundations, we’d really be dependent on the fickle moods of a few organisations. Whereas here it’s the general public and that’s powerful,” he says.

The money in part funds Wales’s work as chief evangelist, keen to get a more diverse community contributing to the site and to establish it further in the developing world. Despite stories about a declining number of people editing the site, Wales says that the total involved in English Wikipedia has now stabilised. “There were stories about how we’d lost 49,000 editors overnight that were simply wrong,” says Wales. “I joked that I’d found them in my refrigerator.” He says that they’re seeing significant growth in Indian and Russian language contributors.

Still, there are gaps in Wikipedia – Wales says that many of these are simply articles that people haven’t got around to yet, and is himself actively tidying up and adding to articles on the English peerage. He says his sometimes “boisterous” community of editors and contributors, despite reports to the countrary, is usually not too rancorous. What the site needs, however, is experts. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done but it does tend to be on narrower topics,” says Wales. When I suggest that universities who once paid enormous subscriptions to references sources might simply make donations to keep Wikipedia going, he asks instead for a different kind of payment:

“What we really want from academic institutions is the support in the form of good editors,” he says. “We want university professors to think of Wikipedia as a part of their general mission in society. And I think most of the really great academics think their job is pushing the forefront of research, teaching students and also to some extent being a public intellectual – helping society, putting forward ideas that are valid and thoughtful. If you want to do that, Wikipedia is a great platform for it, for being a part of society.”

It’s a typical response. “A lot of people thought when we started Wikipedia that the way to be successful online is to have lots of really great content and put it behind a walled garden and everybody will flock to you. Frankly it just doesn’t work that way.” Wales asserts that his method “already has changed the nature of the web substantially”. Perhaps persuading academics to give away their expertise is simply the next step; that physics entry might get longer still.

Chips with everything?

Intel’s vision for the future sees serious computing power in more than just computers, discovers Matt Warman

8:00AM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the headlines were stolen by exotic tablets, 3D televisions and Lady Gaga launching weird glasses with a built-in Polaroid camera. But perhaps the single biggest announcement – one that will reverberate around the computer industry for years to come – was rather overshadowed. Intel’s announcement of 'Sandy Bridge’, its new line of processors, will shape the size, feel and capabilities of your next laptop, computer and maybe even TV set-top box for years to come.

On Friday Intel announced its best fiscal year ever and a record fourth quarter, driven by eager consumers, new ways of working and a corporate need for larger servers. Moreover, the company’s UK Managing Director, Graham Palmer, says that new chips will drive major new sales levels because they are able to integrate graphics and traditional processing onto a much smaller 'die’, using less power and offering more potential.

Indeed, new processors from Intel and rival AMD will revolutionise the graphics capabilities of standard PCs, the companies have claimed. 'Sandy Bridge’ and AMD’s 'Fusion’ both allow a computer’s main processor, the CPU, to integrate with the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). Intel claims that its new chips, officially called “Second Generation Intel Core”, cut the time it takes to encode a four-minute high-definition video for playback on an iPod from 16 minutes to 16 seconds.

AMD demonstrated the capabilities of its Fusion range by showing how a PowerPoint presentation could integrate a video image of the person doing the presentation with the screen itself. In a talk about the solar system, for instance, images of the planets automatically moved around the presenter, who could also control their positions with his hands.

Intel used its press conference to demonstrate Wi-Di, or Wireless Display, which it hopes will make wireless streaming of video easier for consumers with, for instance, powerful laptops and wireless-enabled televisions. The company’s 20 new processors are likely to appear in 500 new PC systems and are named i3, i5 and i7.

To accompany the launch, Intel has made a video showing the new graphics capabilities. Although 'The Chase’ is typical marketing fodder, seeking to make chipsets cool, it does link new processing power to the new capabilities offered: multiple windows on a single computer screen, with everything from Facebook to video-streaming all open at once without the computer batting a proverbial eyelid. Mr Palmer says that these graphics capabilities are 25x faster than those available just three years ago.

There was a major downside for Intel at CES, however: Microsoft announced that its Windows platform, the ubiquitous opersating system, was to be made available on systems running processors made by Arm, a real rival to Intel when it comes to mobile devices. Mr Palmer maintains that growth in devices and innovation across all platforms can only be good for everybody but it was Arm’s share price that surged on the announcement.

That’s because it is Arm who, currently, is strongest in the burgeoning mobile space. Tablet computers, smartphones and a host of connectred devices are where industry analysts all see major growth. Mr Palmer observes simply that, for now at least, 1 million PCs – laptop or desktop – are currently sold around the world every day.

The devices of 2012 and beyond, he adds are set to be less like “computers” than we currently notice. Streaming video and audio wirelessly and securely between MP3 players and hifis, for instance, will require chips – and particularly Intel’s powerful but shrinking chips – even if we don’t think of the technology as remotely like a hulking desktop PC.

With that in mind, perhaps, Intel’s vision of the future – massively capable chips in every device – is not just persuasive. It could be even more profitable.

The shortage of web addresses is ‘not a crisis but getting more urgent’, say analysts

The story that the web is running out of addresses and that IPv6 is the answer, has been doing the rounds since 2003.

Some users will need new equipment to switch to IPv6. Photo: ALAMY

5:23PM GMT 14 Jan 2011

Comments

However,its re-emergence on the news agenda, after both Facebook and Google, agreed to switching their websites to IPv6 for one day in June 2011, has not shocked analysts.

Felix Cohen, a consultant from Headshift, a technology and social media consultancy, said: “The situation with web address shortages on the current system is not a crisis yet, but it is getting more urgent. However, it is not a problem for the general public to worry about.

“The internet service providers and hosting providers will sort this issue out but it will be a slow process.”

Analysts say that the issue has stemmed from legacy internet companies, such as Apple, owning huge sections of IPV4 space and that these ghettoes should have been better allocated and regulated.

Designer probiotic yogurts could help people lose weight

Friendly bacteria that can be added to yogurt to help dieters lose excess body fat have been created by food scientists.

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent 9:15AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

Researchers found they could alter the bacteria, which is found naturally in the human gut and in probiotic yogurts, to make it produce a type of molecule that has been shown to reduce levels of fat tissue in the body.

The scientists, from the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority and Cork University, hope they will be able to produce new types of probiotic yogurts and drinks that can help to cut obesity.

Dr Catherine Stanton, who led the research at the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority, said: "Fat is not an inert layer around our bodies, it is active and proinflammatory. It is a risk factor for many diseases including cancers.

"This work shows that there is potential to influence fat tissue through diet-microbe-host interactions in the gut. It opens up new possibilities for the use of probiotics for improving human health."

The scientists created a strain of Lactobacillus bacteria, which is common in the human gut and aids digestion of food, by inserting a gene from another type of bacteria called Propionibacterium acnes, which naturally produces a polyunsaturated fatty acid called t10, c12 Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA).

The researchers found that the levels of t10, c12 CLA in the body fat of mice fed the engineered Lactobacillus bacterium were four times greater than mice fed a control strain.

They also found that concentrations of the molecule in the rodents' livers were 2.5 times higher when they were fed the new bacterium.

Recent research has shown that t10, c12 CLA is capable of shrinking fat cells, causing overall body fat to decrease, while it has also been shown to inhibit the growth of colon cancer cells.

Dr Stanton added: "CLA has already been shown to alleviate non-alcoholic fatty liver disease that often accompanies obesity. Therefore, increasing levels of CLA in the liver by ingestion of a probiotic strain is of therapeutic relevance.

"It is possible that a CLA- producing probiotic may also be able to keep colon cancer cells in check."

The health benefits of probiotic yogurt drinks has been a controversial area and in October the European Food Safety Authority ruled that there was no evidence that they boosted the immune system or aided digestive health.

Other research, however, has shown they can reduce length of time people are ill with upset stomachs.

Neanderthals were not ugly because of the cold, new research finds

The characteristic broad foreheads and large noses of Neanderthals did not give them any special advantage in the cold arctic conditions of the last ice age, according to new research that has raised new questions about the habitats our prehistoric relatives lived in and why they died out.

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent 8:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

Their prominent facial features have caused them to be cast as one of nature's less attractive creatures, but now one of the main scientific explanations for Neanderthals' large noses and jutting foreheads has been disproved.

For more than 150 years scientists have explained the reason for these facial differences to modern humans as an adaptation that allowed Neanderthals to live in the freezing conditions that gripped Europe during the last Ice Age.

They believed prehistoric human relatives had enlarged sinuses which helped to warm the air as it was inhaled.

New research that used three dimensional scans and X-ray images of Neanderthal skulls has revealed that their sinuses were no bigger than modern humans, Homo sapiens, who evolved in more temperate climates, and so played no role in increasing the size of their facial features.

The researchers behind the study claim the findings suggest Neanderthals, which died out around 30,000 years ago after surviving for more than 400,000 years, did not evolve to survive in the harsh frozen tundra of Europe but instead were better suited for living in warmer climates.

Dr Todd Rae, an evolutionary anthropologist at Roehampton University in London, said it was more than likely that Neanderthals lived in temperate refuges where they could forage for fruit and berries as well as hunting for meat.

He said: "The view that Neanderthals were knuckle-dragging cave men who scraped a living by hunting large mammals on the frozen wastes of the tundra has been around since they were first discovered because they were known to live at a time when Europe was in the grip of the last Glacial Age.

"As a result a lot of their physical traits have been attributed as adaptations that helped them live in the cold, even when it doesn't make any sense.

"Our findings show that their sinuses were no larger, relative to the skull size, than in Homo sapiens who lived in temperate climates. It suggests that Neanderthals evolved in much warmer temperatures before moving into Europe and then they moved south to avoid the glaciers.

"The picture of them as more of a temperate climate creature than one that lived in the cold fits the data much better."

The remains of Neanderthals are found across Europe and in western and central Asia. Recent research has started to dispel theories that they were a primitive form of prehistoric human and is instead revealed that they used sophisticated tool kits, cooked their food and may even have been able to speak.

Recent research examining the remains of plant matter in the teeth of a Neanderthal skull has also helped to dismiss the earlier beliefs that Neanderthals were predominantly meat eaters that hunted large Ice Age mammals. Instead they were revealed to have foraged for berries, grain and vegetables, which they often cooked.

There are a number of theories for what caused Neanderthals to eventually die out, including competition with our own direct ancestors Homo sapiens, climate change caused their food supplies to disappear, or even interbreeding between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.

But the latest findings on the size of the Neanderthal sinuses, which is published in the Journal of Human Evolution, has now raised new questions about what happened to them.

Dr Rae said: "It raises other possibilities for what caused Neanderthals to eventually die out. If they were restricted to living in warmer refuges at the height of the last ice age, it is possible their populations became too isolated and small to survive."

Working with colleagues at Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universität Greifswald, Germany, and The Natural History Museum, London, Dr Rae compared detailed scans of Neanderthal skulls with those of modern humans taken from Medieval remains.

He added: "We chose to use archaeological human remains rather than current skulls as we wanted to have data from a period before central heating and air conditioning which may have altered the results.

"As our results show that they don't differ significantly from temperate-climate European humans, we can conclude that they were not regularly subjected to cold stress."

Ophiuchus: suggestion of 13th sign of the zodiac becomes internet sensation

A Minneapolis astronomer has created shock waves on the internet by suggesting the signs of the zodiac are all wrong.

10:44AM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Parke Kunkle, a director of the Minnesota Planetarium Society, told a US newspaper interviewer that the Earth's wobbly orbit means it's no longer aligned to the stars in the same way as when the signs of the zodiac were first conceived.

The ancient Babylonians based zodiac signs on the constellation the sun was in on the day a person was born. But the moon's gravitational pull has since shifted the Earth on its axis and created a one-month shift in the stars' alignment.

That means when astrologers say the sun is in Pisces, it's really in Aquarius, and so on, said Mr Kunkle.

The story was published in the Star-Tribune of Minneapolis and quickly went viral, with thousands of people fretting on social networks that their sign might change.

Among them was Heather McGowan, 26, a student from Winnipeg, Manitoba, who got a red Aries symbol in a black maple leaf tattooed between her shoulders when she was 19.

"Go figure seven years later there's a possibility that I am no longer an Aries," she said, though she remains sceptical enough that she hasn't considered changing tattoos.

But Mr Kunkle, who teaches at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, has said that all the hubbub is based on "2,000-year-old information."

He said he can't understand why his explanation of how a well-known wobble in the earth's orbit throws off astrology charts turned into an internet sensation.

"Astronomers have known about this since about 130BC," Mr Kunkle said while sitting in his office, where the phone rang constantly, as he said it had been since the article came out.

"This is not new news. I have no idea why it went viral this time," Mr Kunkel said. "Almost every astronomy class talks about it."

Shelley Ackerman, an astrologer and spokeswoman for the American Federation of Astrologers, said she's been swamped with emails from worried clients whose signs would change under the new system. Miss Ackerman said she advises the clients not to overreact.

"This doesn't change your chart at all. I'm not about to use it," she said. "I've told all of them not to worry about it. Every few years a story like this comes out and scares the living daylights out of everyone, but it'll go away as quickly as it came."

Miss Ackerman said there are an infinite number of ways to divide the constellations, and that scientists are continually discovering new stars and solar systems. Astrologers don't change their systems for every new change, she said.

"Just as in medicine when there are new discoveries you don't change the entire system, you just work with it to see if and where it fits into existing system," she said.

Kate Agliata, 36, a freelance writer and mother of two in Birmingham, Alabama, says she'll stay true to her original sign, even though she may now be a Pisces.

"Let's just say I won't be swapping out my Aries coffee mug anytime soon," she said, though she allowed it might make for heavier horoscope reading. "I have a feeling that from here on out, I'll feel inclined to read Pisces as well."

Mr Kunkle said he's got a few angry calls, including one from someone who said, "Please give me my sign back."

But he said he was having fun with it, patiently answering phone calls from journalists all over the world.

Maybe it will make people more interested in the science of astronomy, he said: "I hope people go out and look more at the stars."

Duvet wars: new invention claims to solve bedtime conflict

Trying to find the perfect temperature for a good night's kip is an age-old problem that makes sleep-deprived couples wake up frazzled day after day.

By Laura Roberts 8:30AM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

However, duvet wars could be a thing of the past with the invention of a bed cover that allows people to adjust the amount of layering on either side of the bed.

Couples who constantly find one person is either too hot or too cold can clip on additional "half-duvets" so that both can nod off at their preferred temperature.

The CosyCool is made up of one 4.5 tog double duvet to which four additional half-size 4.5 tog duvets can be added on.

It was invented by Ian and Ruth Pressman, from St Albans, Herts, who have been married for 13 years and have two children.

Mr Pressman, 45, was inspired by his own sleepless nights at home.

"We spent years without getting a regular good night's sleep," he said. "One night when I was just laying there because I couldn't get to sleep because I was so hot. I just suddenly thought, what we need is so simple - a duvet which is thicker on one side than it is on the other and can be changed whenever you feel like it."

Mr Pressman, a former IT worker, started by cutting duvets in half and experimenting with ways of attaching them.

Mrs Pressman, 42, a former accountant and personal trainer, said: ""I like to be really snuggled up in bed, you can hardly see me because I have it pulled up so high.

"But I found that, especially in winter when it got colder, Ian would be happy with the same thin duvet we had in the summer so I would try putting blankets on my side to stay warm but they just fell off."

She added: "I've found that a lot of women in relationships have the same problem that we did."

The additional half-duvets are fastened to the main duvet either above or below it and then tucked inside the cover. So far the couple have sold more than 400 of the products.

Mr Pressman said: "No-one wants to be arguing with their partner over something as small as a duvet, so this can prevent that."

CosyCool duvets comes in double, king size and super king size and cost from £150 to £200.

According to a recent survey one quarter of all couples sleeping separate beds naming snoring, duvet-hogging, restlessness, noisiness and talking in their sleep as some of the major annoyances.

People who do share a bed lost more than 70 minutes of sleep a night, according to a study by Etap Hotel, amounting to more than eight hours a week.

Sub-tropical spell threatens floods for Britain as La Ni�a brings havoc around world

Recent Arctic conditions will be all but forgotten this weekend as a wave of “sub-tropical” weather brings the threat of flooding across Britain.

By John Bingham 7:00AM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Cumbria, which suffered devastating floods 18 months ago, is among areas in line for heavy rainfall this weekend, forecasters warned.

It comes amid chaotic weather patterns around the world, compounded by the “La Niña” phenomenon being blamed for devastating flooding in Australia, Brazil, and the Philippines.

Up to 300,000 people have also been forced from their homes by floods in Sri Lanka while crop production across South America has been stunted by the weather.

Forecasters are warning western parts of Britain could receive up to 10 times an average daily rainfall in 24 hours as a band of wet weathers moved across the country today (Sat) and tomorrow.

North-west England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are expected to be hit badly but all parts of the country could be affected.

Almost two and a half inches of rain set to fall in 24 hours in some areas of high ground.

Yesterday Machynlleth in Powys, Wales, was virtually cut off from its surrounding area as rising river levels forced the closure of the town’s bridge and flooded some houses.

Last night the Environment Agency issued six official flood warnings across Wales, the Midlands and the North East but a further 71 areas were placed on the alert.

A stream of warm air from the Atlantic has brought temperatures in the low 50s Fahrenheit, unseasonably warm for January.

“The air that we are getting at the moment is very mild and it’s very warm,” said Barry Grommet a Met Office forecaster.

“It is coming from the sub-tropical part of the Atlantic, not only is it mild and warm it has got a lot of moisture in it.”

The result, he said would be heavy rain across the west of the country from today, moving to the south and east by Monday.

“Wherever you are over the next two to three days you are going to see heavy rain,” he said.

Experts said the downpours in Britain could not be linked directly to the La Niña pattern which has been blamed for weather havoc elsewhere in the world.

From the Spanish word for a little girl, La Niña is a periodic cooling of waters in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, disrupting weather patterns across Australia, South America, Asia and even Africa.

While in some areas, such as Australia, it is closely linked with flooding, in others it is blamed for dry conditions such as those which have hit agricultural areas of Argentina this year sending prices soaring.

The opposite phenomenon known as El Niño is a warming of waters in the Pacific.

Scientists say the current La Niña phase has been one of the most marked on record.

Its effects have been coupled with the joint hottest annual global temperatures on record, according to Nasa measurements, wreaking havoc with the world’s weather.

While it is widely recognized as being behind the devastation in Queensland, opinion is divided on whether La Niña has caused the recent flooding and landslides in Brazil which have killed more than 500 people.

Rain shifting to the western Pacific is thought to have caused the recent downpours in the Philippines while last month the Panama canal had to be shut for the first time in its century-long history because of floodwaters.

Even in Africa, the phenomenon is being blamed for unusual weather patterns. Mozambique’s national disaster management institute warned yesterday that the country’s rivers were dangerously full following a spate of torrential rain blamed on La Niña.

Meanwhile on the commodities markets the price of soybeans have risen sharply as water shortages in Argentina linked to La Niña threatened to cut the country’s production of the crop by almost half.

Stephen Davenport, senior meteorologist at MeteoGroup, said: “It is all connected in a way there is one atmosphere and La Niña causes it to behave in a certain way but there are many other factors involved.”

Philip Eden, the leading meteorologist, said: “People have tried to come up with suggestions that there is a trend for winters to be slightly colder here during La Niña events and for spring to be slightly dryer but really the statistical significance is negligible.”

Liverpool 2 Everton 2: match report

Read a full match report of the Premier League game between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield on Sunday Jan 16 2011.

- PREVIEW

- LIVE

LIVERPOOL

V

EVERTON

Sunday, January 16 14:05

Premier League

Anfield

Referee:

Phil Dowd

By Rory Smith 3:50PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Rory's Twitter

Kenny Dalglish must feel as though he has never been away. A Merseyside derby filled with frustration and fury, brimming with errors and irritation. This was not quite the 4-4 draw which marked the end of his first reign as Liverpool manager. It was not far off, though.

Just as they should have 20 years ago, Liverpool ought to have won this game simply. Raul Meireles gave them the lead in a first half they dominated. That they did not, once more, bore testament as much to their lacklustre defending as Everton's dogged determination.

A draw was an eminently fair outcome, but it was not the one the fans came to see. They had the evidence of one victory as Dalglish walked to the dugout to a deafening ovation. There would not be a second, not today.

In the absence of Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard, Dalglish may have drafted in Jay Spearing to provide some Scouse spirit, but in truth there was no shortage of courage, of commitment to the cause, from any player, red or blue, regardless of birthplace.

Johnny Heitinga, of Amsterdam, thundered into challenges. Lucas, born in Dourados, ran relentlessly, and so too Meireles. Phil Neville, whose heart resides at the other end of the M62, did not shirk a tackle; Fernando Torres, of Fuenlabrada, chased down defenders, harrying and hurrying.

It was those in red who drew first blood, Meireles driving home his first goal for the club since his £10.7 million summer move, with just less than half an hour played, after Tim Howard twice denied Dirk Kuyt. Dalglish, Glaswegian to his core, turned to the directors' box, where Liverpool's principal owner John W Henry stood, and punched the air.

Liverpool, in truth, should have been disappointed to lead only by a single goal at the interval. By that stage, Torres had hit the post after a surging, powerful run that carried the revitalised Spanish international past Sylvain Distin, and drew a low reaction parry from Howard that Meireles, following up, narrowly failed to bundle over the line.

The Portuguese, rather more effective going forward than he is in his defensive duties, stung the American's palms again just before the break, while Maxi Rodriguez, a constant thorn in Everton's side, should have done better when presented with a shooting chance by Marouane Fellaini's carelessness.

If the Kop, Dalglish and Liverpool's players felt energised by their showing, it was hardly surprising - given recent form - that a streak of anxiety pervaded Anfield. Within six minutes of the restart, those fears had been realised.

First, Distin nodded home Mikel Arteta's corner after just 43 seconds of the second half, despite Glen Johnson's desperate last-ditch attempt to clear the ball from the line. With Liverpool rocking, Everton struck again.

Victor Anichebe overpowered Martin Kelly, found Leon Osman who, with the hosts' defence in disarray, handed Beckford the simplest of chances to beat Pepe Reina. For all the goalkeeper's fury - pointing to Kelly's crumpled form as evidence that the goal should not have stood - stand it did. Liverpool slumped.

They recovered only thanks to a momentary lapse in judgment from the otherwise impeccable Howard, tumbling into and over Maxi as the Argentine looked to collect Martin Skrtel's skewed shot. Phil Dowd - a man unlikely to be welcomed by red or blue any time soon - pointed to the spot and Kuyt duly converted.

The narrative should have been written: a late winner, the King's second coronation completed to a soundtrack of deafening cheers, of a night's jubilation. Everton were always unlikely to be willing accomplices to that script.

They restricted their hosts to half-glimpses and bold hopes of goal only, a Torres header here, a wayward chip there. Liverpool spluttered to a halt, Everton grew comfortable. Dalglish will be well used to there being little between these two teams. That there is so much above both is rather less familiar.

Rangers miss chance to eat into the goal-difference gap on SPL leaders Celtic

Clydesdale Bank Premier League leaders Celtic had their differentials eroded on Saturday but only by the slenderest of margins.

By Ewing Grahame 3:47PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Rangers followed their rivals’ 3-0 victory against Hibernian at Easter Road by beating bottom club Hamilton Accies 4-0 at Ibrox but it was, as full-back Steven Whittaker admitted afterwards, a missed opportunity.

So dominant were Rangers that they could easily have matched Celtic’s 9-0 dismantling of Aberdeen from earlier in the season, the result which, more than any other, has left them seven goals better off than Walter Smith’s side.

Yet Rangers, five points adrift but with three matches in hand, may simply have elected to take it easy after stabling a three-goal advantage by the interval, saving themselves for the challenges to come.

The first of those arrives on Tuesday in the shape of Inverness Caledonian Thistle, who come to Glasgow in the knowledge that Rangers have dropped seven points to them in their last three meetings.

Indeed, Whittaker believes it is the matches against the SPL’s lesser lights which are more likely to undermine their championship ambitions.

Next month sees a double header with Celtic as well as the Europa League ties with Sporting Lisbon but the 26-year-old argues that Rangers’ biggest problems may lie elsewhere.

“Obviously, it was nice to get the job done before half-time,” he said. “Unless we were absolutely terrible in the second half, we were going to win the game.

“It might have been in the back of some players’ minds to try and save their legs. The sooner you get the game dead and buried, the better. If we can start games like we did here then I’m sure we’ll take more leads into half-time.

“The games like the ones against Celtic and Sporting Lisbon are big matches and all the players look forward to those type of games.

“It’s the ones in between where the tired minds and tired legs might come into it. That’s where we need to be mentally strong and make sure we are ready for those tasks.

“They are the ones that could trip us up, but hopefully we will keep our minds on the job at hand.”

Hamilton manager Billy Reid did the best he could with a squad ravaged by injury and suspension, handing debuts to defenders Lee Kilday (18) and Michael Devlin (17).

Kilday endured such a torrid time against Vladimir Weiss that goalkeeper Tomas Cerny put a consoling arm around his shoulders as they trudged from the field at half-time.

Weiss had opened the scoring with a full-blooded drive from 30 yards. He was then brought down for a penalty converted by Whittaker before scoring the third with a free-kick, courtesy of Kenny Miller running across Cerny’s line of vision as the ball was whipped in.

Manager Walter Smith was full of praise for the Slovakian. “When the opposition are set out in that manner sometimes it takes something a bit special and his first goal was excellent.”

Maurice Edu, recovered from the knee injury which ruled him out of action for two months, came off the bench to drill home a fourth eight minutes from time.

Celtic initially laboured to breakdown Hibs but finally made the breakthrough in the 44th minute when Anthony Stokes set up Gary Hooper, returning from an ankle injury, to score his 13th goal in 14 appearances since arriving from Scunthorpe United last summer.

Stokes then added two more after the break, his second an absolute peach of a finish, hooking the ball over his head and inside Mark Brown’s left-hand post from 15 yards to take his own tally to 12.

There were still 26 minutes remaining at that stage but many Hibs fans had already seen enough and began to leave the stadium.

It is a harrowing start to life in the capital for manager Colin Calderwood. His team has gone eight matches without a victory: indeed, he was won only two of his 14 games in charge.

On Tuesday night they face a potentially treacherous Scottish Cup replay against Ayr United at Somerset Park. The Second Division club had the better chances during the goalless draw in Edinburgh nine days ago and should have eliminated Hibs at the first time of asking.

Neil Lennon will be back at Hampden on Monday, appealing against the six-game touchline ban imposed on him last week while also making a personal appearance before the Scottish Football Association’s general purposes committee.

He will be asked to explain comments he made regarding referee Craig Thomson and his assistants following his dismissal during the 2-0 defeat to Hearts on Nov 10. It was his “excessive misconduct,” as reported by Thomson, which led to the six-match ban.

He was much happier with his most recent visit to Edinburgh, however. “It was pretty comprehensive in the end and, but for better finishing, it could have been a few more.”

Aberdeen’s revival under Craig Brown and Archie Knox continued. A brace of goals from Scott Vernon, taking his total for the campaign to 12, was enough to see off St Mirren at Pittodrie.

The Dons are now unbeaten in five games under their new management team, winning four of them.

Kilmarnock’s Conor Sammon scored his 16th goal this term to give his side a half-time lead at home to St Johnstone but substitute Cleveland Taylor salvaged a point for the visitors with four minutes remaining.

Scunthorpe have had a bid of £600,000 for the Irishman accepted and Sammon is considering the offer from the Championship strugglers.

Motherwell have slipped from third place to sixth after taking only three points from a possible 24 and they were held to a goalless draw by Inverness at Fir Park.

Home defender Mark Reynolds was left out while he finalises a £100,000 move to Sheffield Wednesday.

Dundee United’s match against Hearts at Tannadice was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United: live

Follow live, minute-by-minute commentary of the Premier League game between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at White Hart Lane on Sunday Jan 16 2011, kick-off 16.10 GMT.

- PREVIEW

- LIVE

TOTTENHAM

0 - 0

HT

MAN UTD

Sunday, January 16 16:10

Premier League

White Hart Lane

(HT 0-0)

3:45PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Why don't you email Thom Gibbs? You'll feel better for it, honest.

HALF TIME

45+2 min: Take a bow, Danny Coldwell, who correctly identifies the three teams to have gone 1-0 up against United as "Everton, Aston Villa and Bolton". Top memory work their from the young lad. You've got to say, that's quality. Fletcher is booked for a late challenge on Bale. Van der Sar's parry from the resulting free kick is about the last action of the half.

45+1 min: Two added minutes will be played. Crouch fouls Giggs just outside United's area.

43 min: Great cross from Bale who receives the ball on the touchline, cuts inside to beat Rafael, then beats him again with his pace as he charges towards the touchline. Crouch's header goes into the side netting, but Bale's pace is astonishing. It's like he's got a secret "turbo" button he can press to get past full backs.

41 min: Searing run from Rafael who gets past three Spurs players but his final ball to Rooney is awkward, and when Rooney tries to play in Giggs, open on the left, he underhits the pass.

39 min: United have had the better of the last 10 minutes or so. They're getting it forward without anything like the guile of Spurs, but their longer balls are pinning the home side back.

37 min: Palacios booked for a foul in the middle of the pitch. Tyler and Gray are discussing Twitter and Facebook. "Not for me," says Gray. I thought you loved technology, Andy?

36 min: I find it a bit sickly when Martin Tyer and Andy Gray refer to players by their first names. Gray said "It's been a bit like that today for Wayne". Tyler said "It doesn't take much for the ball to bounce over Aaron" (Lennon). Yuck.

34 min: A matching error from Rooney at the other end who blasts a shot high and wide, a complete waste of possession.

33 min: Bale in acres of space makes a complete hash of a cross, sending into the amused United fans in the corner rather than along the ground at pace which was surely his intention.

31 min: Your friend and mine Danny Thomas writes to say: "What a game! Both teams have come out off the starting blocks with a hunger for the first goal. My money's on a 3-2 to United finish." I hope so, Danny. Spurs have a free kick 30 yards out. Bale takes, but it's not troubling Van der Sar who collects it calmly into his chest.

30 min: More uproar from the supporters at the Lane as Evra fells Van der Vaart. Free kick to Tottenham, no yellow card. The game's got a little scrappy.

27 min: Players from both sides surround referee Mike Dean after a meaty challenge from Rafael on Palacios. It looked worse than it was at full speed, Rafael made a genuine attempt to win the ball but slid in a touch dangerously. He's booked.

25 min: United slow to react to a quick short corner by Tottenham. Bale has a long shot charged down and the ball falls for Dawson 25 yards out. His long shot is the sort you'd expect from a centre back. Goal kick.

24 min: Another Van der Vaart corner is easily caught by Van der Sar.

22 min: Craig Hyslop writes: "Wish I could see the game! hows it looking?" Well Craig, I'm trying to describe it as best as I can. Rooney's just had a snap shot well saved by Gomes who parried the ball in front of him and was relieved to see no United players chancing their arm on the rebound. Generally it's been end-to-end, fast-paced and excellent. Tottenham marginally the better side, but United dangerous on the break.

21 min: Van der Vaart is booked for kicking the ball away stupidly following his own clumsy aerial challenge on Giggs. The free kick is worked to Nani but Spurs defend it well and clear to the halfway line.

19 min: Gareth Bale get enough of distance between himself and marker Rafael and delivers a wonderful cross for Crouch, which is marginally too heavy for the striker.

17 min: Great defending from Assou-Ekotto who was under intense pressure from Rooney. The Spurs player slipped but improvised a clearance from the floor which got Tottenham out of jail.

16 min: Martin Tyler has set Andy Gray a trivia question: which are the only three teams to go 1-0 up against Manchester United in the league this year? Andy Gray got two of the three. Can you best him? Email!

15 min: Rooney, drifting on to the left wing, gets a cross over for the unmarked Berbatov, but it's cleared by Gallas.

14 min: Giggs fouls Lennon to give Spurs a free kick on the far right. Van der Vaart's delivery rebounds of a Spurs body in the box and out for a goal kick.

13 min: Another corner for Tottenham, this time on the right hand side. Berbatov clears slightly unconvincingly. This is an electric game, both teams playing with dazzling speed, but it's certainly Spurs on top so far.

12 min: Modric receives it short and ghosts past Fletcher and skips towards goal along the touchline. Ferdinand clears the danger before Modric gets dangerously close to goal.

11 min: Chris Smalling is warming up already for United, which Andy Gray says means that one of United's defenders is struggling. Who am I to argue? Spurs have another corner.

9 min: Van der Sar deals well with a tricky back pass from Vidic to clear. Moments later Modric finds Hutton on the wing who delivers a beautiful ball to the edge of the six yard box. Crouch is on the end of it but his finish is wide of the post. He could, nay, should, nay, would (no, not would) have done better.

8 min: On target from the Dutchman but it's straight at Van der Sar. At the other end Rooney gets a shot away unexpectedly from the edge of the box which is held well by Gomes.

7 min: Free kick for Tottenham just outisde the box, earned by Palacios after a bustling run. White Hart Lane sings the name of Van der Vaart to the tune of KC and the Sunshine Band's top chart hit "Give It Up.

6 min: Corner to Tottenham. Dawson gets his head to Van der Vaart's cross but the ball skips off it and away to the other touchline.

5 min: Score predictions, then, please? I'm going for a 2-1 win for United, but I hope I'm wrong. Get yours here.

3 min: Sky's microphones are repeatedly picking up a pair of extremely loud Tottenham fans that are singling out any United players that come within shouting distance and telling them that they aren't very good at football. In the strongest possible turns. A lovely backing track for the dulcet tones of Martin Tyler.

2 min: So close, Rooney. Berbatov plays in the England striker who's powering into the box. Gallas can't beat him to the ball and Rooney gets a shot away, but it's just wide of the far post.

1 min: Spurs have their first shot on target. Admittedly, it's a cross from Bale, but that's a wonderfully positive start by the home side.

16:10: Sky have United lining up in a traditional 4-4-2, but I'm expecting a bit more fluidity from their formation, with Rooney linking midfield attack and possibly switching periodically with Giggs on the left.

16:07: Jamie Redknapp says this will be a "top game" and a "top football match". That thesaurus Louise optimistically bought him for Christmas is still sitting unopended on the coffee table.

16:05: Pre-match wall o'adverts interview time. Sir Alex Ferguson: "They've been fantastic. The boy Van Der Vaart has been fantastic for them. Modric has been fantastic... It's going to be a fantastic game." Fantastic!
'Arrry Redknapp: "We haven't got a great record, 'ave we, Tottenham, against Man United? You know, we feel like we can give anyone a game here for sure." For sure.

16:03: "It's two down, one to go," says Richard Keys like a surly father visiting a series of in-laws' parties during Christmas. Come on Richard, today has been a treat. Is anyone reading about to watch their third football match of the day? It's not a proper day unless you factor in some Spanish and Italian games too.

16:00: Henry Winter on Twitter is a-Tweeting about dissent about Spurs' proposed move to the Olympic stadium in Stratford: "Small demo outside White Hart Lane protesting at plans for #thfc to move to Stratford. But does traffic congestion add to club's argument?" Well, does it? Email me your views here.

15:50: Here are today's teams:

Tottenham (4-4-1-1): Gomes; Hutton, Dawson, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Palacios, Modric, Bale; Van der Vaart; Crouch.
Subs: Cudicini, Jenas, Pavlyuchenko, Defoe, Bassong, Kranjcar, Corluka.

Man Utd (4-2-3-1): Van der Sar; Rafael Da Silva, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Carrick, Fletcher; Nani, Giggs, Rooney; Berbatov.
Subs: Kuszczak, Owen, Anderson, Smalling, Hernandez, Scholes, Evans.

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)

Doesn't that Spurs side fill your heart with joy? So many exciting attacking options. And it's a more-or-less full-strength team for United too, with Michael Carrick returning to his former club. I'm dead excited.

15:47: If you're here now you're definitely early to the party. Why not loiter around Ed Ballard's live report of Liverpool v Everton for a little longer then return here when it's picked up a bit? At the moment it's just me in a dark corner listening to sad songs and eating all the cheese and pineapple cocktail sticks.

15:45: Good late-afternoon. How are you? Are you enjoying Sky's Super Mega Brilliant Sunday orgy of football? We've had the frantic excitement of Birmingham v Villa and the slightly more frantic and exciting Liverpool v Everton. Breaking with the derby tradition is this, surely the pick of the afternoon's fixtures?

Tottenham Hotspur are fast approaching "everyone's second club" (unless you support Arsenal or Chelsea) status with their charmingly gung ho attacking ways, while Manchester United remain unbeaten despite not playing well for even a second of this season, according to some (hugely exaggerated) media reports.

Something's got to give at the Lane. Unless it's a draw. Let's hope that doesn't happen, and if it does it's 5-5. Stay tuned for teams and what should be a wonderful game.

-------------------

PREVIEW

Sunday, January 16

Tottenham Hotspur vManchester United
White Hart Lane
Kick-off: 16.10 GMT
TV: Live, Sky Sports 1. Highlights, BBC1 Match of the Day

TALE OF THE GAME:

David Beckham will not be facing his former club, but Tottenham still have enough creativity from midfield to cause Manchester United severe problems.

Sir Alex Ferguson must still regret missing out on signing Gareth Bale back in 2007, but will be equally mindful of nullifying Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart

Spurs must win to stand a realistic chance of competing for the Premier League title this season but, with Wayne Rooney back, United have the defensive strength and attacking quality to preserve their unbeaten record.

TEAM NEWS:

Gareth Bale is likely to return to the Tottenham Hotspur first team for Sunday's match against Manchester United despite missing two days' training this week due to a back injury he picked up just over a week ago against Everton.

Younes Kaboul is back after completing a three-match suspension but Ledley King is likely to be out for some time after aggravating his groin injury in training this week.

Jonathan Woodgate (groin) and Jamie O'Hara (back) have been training this week but are not yet fully fit and Tom Huddlestone is around a month away from a return from his ankle injury.

Wayne Rooney is set to return from an ankle injury as Manchester United defend their unbeaten record at fourth-placed Tottenham on Sunday.

Rooney has missed two games but has trained this week and is expected to face Harry Redknapp's men.

Nemanja Vidic and Edwin van der Sar are also fit after recent absences as United look to consolidate their position as Premier League pace-setters.

Prediction: 1-1

Glasgow Warriors 20 London Wasps 10: match report

Read a full match report of the Heineken Cup Pool Six game between Glasgow Warriors and London Wasps at Firhill on Sunday, Jan 16 2011.

By Brendan Gallagher 3:21PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Brendan's Twitter

Comments

Wasps, giving one of their most inept performances in recent years at exactly the wrong time, shot themselves horribly in the foot when a significantly understrength Glasgow team still taught them any number of harsh lessons.

The net result is that a shell-shocked Wasps are left clinging on by their finger tips to any chance of a quarter-final place. Mathematically there is still a glimmer of hope, but don't hold your breath.

Even if Wasps could somehow recover from this no-show and conjure a miraculous bonus point win on Sunday over mightly Toulouse - who need to "turn-up" and chase the win required to ensure a home quarter-final - it is unikely that a final pool total of 20 points will be enough to garner one of the two best runner-up spots.

Those spots will surely come from pools four and five, although we have learnt to never say never in the Heineken Cup over the years.

Bullied up front from start to finish by Glasgow's splendid but curiously underrated front five, Wasps floundered for most of the game despite the encouragement of a cracking early try from Tom Varndell, courtesy of a searing break by Joe Simpson.

From start to finish it was Glasgow, with little more than pride to play for, who produced the intensity and focus of a team attempting to reach the quarter-finals. In so doing Sean Lineen's men struck a minor blow for Scottish rugby, demonstrating a hunger and appetite for the fray which was sorely missing from Edinburgh's abject performance at Northampton on Friday night.

"That just wasn't acceptable by our standards and we all need to look at the reasons why, but we can't sit around sulking too much because we have to front up against Toulouse next week," said Wasps' non-plussed director of rugby Tony Hanks.

"We came up here to win, we are a team and club full of ambition and we have made it very, very difficult to get through now. But I would take nothing away from them, Glasgow put us under pressure and were better. We knew it would be tough, we have always had tough games against them.

"They maintained possession and we didn't, we turned ball over too many times. Defensively we didn't put enough pressure on them. You have got to be a lot more clinical than that to win any Heineken Cup game.

"Next week now is about front up and responding. It's a home game in front of a big crowd and we have got to respond. The minimum aim is to win."

Leading the way for an inspired Glasgow team with a Man of the Match display was young No 8 Ryan Wilson, just 21, who trialled with Wasps three years ago and played a couple of A team matches before it was decided he was surplus to requirements, a decision that is now not looking so clever.

Just getting a game in the formidable Glasgow backrow is no easy task but Wilson looks a major talent and yet another tearaway who will be challenging for Scotland honours soon.

Certainly it says everything about the quality of Wilson's display that Johnnie Beattie - unavailable and guesting for Ayr down at Birmingham & Solihull - was not missed for a minute.

Glasgow started as they meant to continue with a high tempo handling game which defied the underfoot conditions which resembled a ploughed field.

Initially they went unrewarded and, after David Walder and Ruaridh Jackson had swapped penalties, it was Wasps who struck first with their one coherent moment of the game. It will look good on the highlights reel but offers no consolation whatsoever.

Simpson, promoted to the England senior squad in midweek, broke at high pace from a scrum and threw out an irresitible pass to Varndell that left the speedster little option than to tear down the left wing for a fine score. Walder added the extras from the touchline and everything indicated a fairly routine day at the office. How wrong can you be.

From that moment onwards it was Glasgow who redoubled their efforts, monopolised possession and bossed the game, although the points were slow to come. Jackson claimed two more penalties to reduce the deficit to just one point at half-time and after the break it was all Glasgow again.

Their try was a superbly taken effort, Wilson pouncing on turnover ball in his own half to send Colin Shaw sprinting down the left wing before Colin Gregor - a marvellously effective and energetic presence at scrum-half throughout - steamed up in support for a score that epitomised Glasgow's positive and committed attitude to this game.

Jackson completed the formalites with a fourth penalty and a dropped goal, with Wasps never remotely threatening to raise a late gallop.

Sunderland 1 Newcastle United 1: match report

Read a full match report of the Premier League game between Sunderland and Newcastle United at Stadium of Light on Sunday Jan 16 2011.

- PREVIEW

- REPORT

SUNDERLAND

1 - 1

FT

NEWCASTLE

Sunday, January 16 12:00

Premier League

Stadium of Light

Gyan (90+4)

(HT 0-0)

ATT: 47,864

Nolan (52)

By Rob Stewart at the Stadium of Light 2:00PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Asamoah Gyan came to Sunderland manager Steve Bruce's rescue with a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser in the Wear-Tyne derby at the Stadium of Light.

Gyan struck in the fourth minute of added time to cancel out Kevin Nolan's 52nd-minute goal that seemed certain to ensure further misery for Bruce, who was determined to seek revenge for his side's 5-1 defeat at St James' Park last October.

Sunderland were outclassed by Newcastle United but Lady Luck shone on Bruce's side when Ghanaian international Gyan equalised - the ball bouncing off him and into the goal after Steve Harper parried Phil Bardsley's shot.

That denied Newcastle victory after they had gone ahead. Nolan scored shortly after half-time when, with his back to goal, he flicked the ball in as Shola Ameobi rose above Anton Ferdinand to win Joey Barton's corner.

Earlier, Ameobi should have put Newcastle ahead in the third minute at a packed-to-the rafters Stadium of Light, following Barton's through-ball, but he pushed a left-footed shot just beyond Craig Gordon's left-hand post.

Darren Bent then wasted a chance to give Sunderland the lead three minutes later when he expertly turned Fabricio Coloccini, but thumped his shot straight at Steve Harper.

It took a goal-line clearance from Kieran Richardson to stop Coloccini giving his side the lead in the 10th minute when the Argentine defender sent a shot goalwards after Alan Smith won Barton's corner.

Sunderland eventually gained the upper hand and Harper was twice called into action to foil Malbranque and Elmohamady.

Smith then went off injured following Richardson's late challenge as Newcastle tried to regain the initiative.

Ameobi ensured Newcastle ended the first half on a high, though, when he rose above Bramble to nod Barton's corner just over the crossbar from seven yards out.

Bent wasted another excellent chance after half-time and then Newcastle took command of the game thanks to Nolan's goal.

However, they squandered a series of chances to put the game beyond a Sunderland side that repeatedly resorted to long-ball tactics against more accomplished, more confident opponents.

That approach seemed destined to fail until Gyan's late intervention.

Birmingham City 1 Aston Villa 1: match report

Read a full match report of the Premier League game between Birmingham City and Aston Villa at St Andrews on Sunday Jan 16 2011.

- PREVIEW

- LIVE

- REPORT

BIRMINGHAM

1 - 1

FT

ASTON VILLA

Sunday, January 16 12:00

Premier League

St Andrews

Roger Johnson (49)

(HT 0-0)

ATT: 22,287

James Collins (73)

By Sandy Macaskill 2:00PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Sandy's Twitter

Birmingham City and Aston Villa finished this match outside the relegation zone, and for that both sides must be thankful, but again there was evidence that neither team’s strikers could find the net with GPS assistance let alone their colourful boots.

That Alex McLeish and Gerard Houllier must rely on defenders for goals - centre-backs Roger Johnson and James Collins rose to this occasion this time - does not bode well for either side as they struggle to climb the table.

Villa, who started the day second from bottom, will be relieved with a point, but they should really have taken advantage of a rare uncertain performance from Ben Foster, who could do with getting back to the practice ground to work on his clearances.

Richard Dunne - another centre-back - had a header cleared off the line at the end, while Gabby Agbonlahor should have scored after 34 seconds, having profited from Foster’s first poor clearance before somehow popping his shot over the bar.

Houllier’s side had started the stronger, hitting the woodwork three times inside the first 23 minutes, twice legally. The first, in the eighth minute, came when Carew tipped an effort by Agbonlahor on to the top of the bar with the back of his head, the second when Ciaran Clark’s cross caught the wind, looped over Foster and on to the same spot. Home supporters nervously breathed sighs of relief.

Sensing that failure to attack in return would be perilous indeed, Birmingham responded, seizing control of possession through sheer intensity and ending the half comfortably in charge.

Matt Derbyshire, starting in place of the injured Cameron Jerome, somehow failed to connect with the ball from three yards out when Gardner escaped Kyle Walker in the area and supplied a perfect low cross.

It was a let-off for Walker, the young right back on loan from Spurs, not to mention Friedel, as was referee Mark Clattenburg’s decision not to award a penalty when Gardner played the ball onto Walker’s arm in the area shortly before the break.

Villa were just as fortunate when, a second later, Danny Murphy was pushed to the ground by Marc Albrighton. Again Clattenburg refused to nibble.

Any sense of injustice was soon forgotten in the 49th minute, when Alexander Hleb was fouled outside the area by James Collins. David Bentley, making his debut after joining on loan from Tottenham last week, took the free-kick, which scudded through to Carr. The defender clipped the ball between Dunne and Walker, and Johnson side-footed into the corner.

Birmingham had chances to double the lead, and extend it again, Bentley drawing Friedel into a palmed save, Gardner then rushing a volley soon afterwards, striking the ball well wide from a dangerous position in front of goal.

Houllier’s response was to remove Nigel Reo-Coker for Barry Bannan, and John Carew for Nathan Delfouneso. The striker made an immediate impact, charging down another hash of a clearance from Foster.

Suddenly the Birmingham defence were under unnecessary pressure, and when Collins received the ball in the area the defender swivelled and found the corner.

Liverpool v Everton: as it happened

Live, minute-by-minute commentary Liverpool's 2-2 draw at home to Everton on Sunday Jan 16 2011, kick-off 14.05 GMT.

- PREVIEW

- LIVE

LIVERPOOL

2 - 2

FT

EVERTON

Sunday, January 16 14:05

Premier League

Anfield

Meireles (29)

Kuyt (68)

(HT 1-0)

ATT: 44,795

Distin (46)

Beckford (52)

By Ed Ballard 1:30PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Email Ed Ballard with jokes, predictions, derby day anecdotes, Dalglish trivia, or anything else that takes your fancy

16.02: A fair result in the end: Liverpool were the better side in the first half; Everton probably edged the second. Kenny Dalglish is still looking for his first win as Liverpool manager (this century), but he might take heart from the way his side reacted to going behind. Everton came storming out of the blocks in the second half, and Liverpool have lost their fair share of games after going ahead this season. They fought back, though, and Dirk Kuyt made no mistake from the spot. Good performances from both teams, but not good enough to lift either of them out of the mid-table morass.

Now it's time to drop in on Thom Gibbs, who is live-blogging Spurs-United here. That's it from me, cheerio.

FULL TIME (Liverpool 2-2 Everton): Torres is frustrated once more by Leighton Baines, who holds him off by the corner flag and wins a throw-in. And that's it!

90 min+3: Torres helps on a long ball, sending it goalbound in the direction of Jonjo Shelvey. Shelvey's muscled off the ball by Heitinga.

90 min+2: Liverpool see off the danger but Everton win a throw-in, which Bilayetdinov attempts to Delap towards the penalty spot. It's nodded clear.

90 min+1: Fellaini is fouled by Lucas on the halfway line, giving Everton the chance to flood the penalty area. Only Heitinga and Distin behind the ball.

90 min: There'll be four more minutes.

89 min: Everton almost steal it at the death. An Everton corner is cleared as far as Coleman, whose volley bounces off Dirk Kuyt and fractions wide of the far post. Neither Martin Kelly nor Pepe Reina attempted to block. No corner is given to the frustration of the visitors'.

87 min: Torres knocks it past Baines and tries to beat him for pace, but even though he gets past the full-back he can't get there quick enough to keep the ball in play.

86 min: Johnson wins a corner for Liverpool, beating Coleman to get to the byline and forcing a block from Neville. The corner's cleared but the ball's sent back in towards Kyrgiakos. Cleared once more.

85 min: Shelvey finds the right angle to split Everton's defence with a through ball meant for Torres, but it's over hit and rolls to Tim Howard.

83 min: Maxi is clean through and Lucas finds him with a through-ball, but the whistle blows for offside.

81 min: More subs: Meireles off for Jonjo Shelvey; Bilayetdinov on for Anichebe. Kuyt goes down in the area after collecting Shelvey's pass, but nothing's given.

Email from Barry O'Barma: "I guess Paul Dalglish has had his phone confiscated: not a tweet from the clan!"

78 min: Rodwell on, Osman off.

77 min: Torres does brilliantly to slip behind Everton's centre-backs while staying onside, and for a moment he's clean through if anyone can pick him out. Kelly takes a little too long though, and Torres is forced to go wide. He attempts an ambitious chip from which lands brushes the roof of the net.

75 min: The game's going through a bit of a lull. Liverpool knock it around in the middle third for a bit but Meireles' attempted through-ball to Torres is too close to Heitinga.

74 min: James Vaughan is on for Jermain Beckford.

73 min: Liverpool have a corner, which falls to Torres near the penalty spot. He has a second to pick his spot and tries to pass a shot into the top corner. It's blocked.

71 min: Chances go begging at either end, first for Everton as Beckford is dispossessed just outside the penalty area. Liverpool counter but Torres' doesn't get enough on his flicked header to trouble Howard.

69 min: Everton have a free kick over by the right-hand touchline. Baines takes and it's a beauty, curling across goal but agonisingly out of reach for Anichebe, Distin and Fellaini.

68 min: GOAL! Liverpool 2-2 Everton (Dirk Kuyt): Kuyt strikes it low and hard to Howard's left. Howard dives right, and the game's level once more.

67 min: PENALTY TO LIVERPOOL! Tim Howard comes out to claim a loose ball after Skrtel skews a shot from close range, but misses and brings the striker down. Clear penalty. Kuyt will take the spot kick.

65 min: Anichebe is brought down by challenges from Lucas and Spearing, and is awarded a free kick in the middle of the Liverpool half. it's played in low to Anichebe, but he can't get it out from under his feet and Liverpool clear.

63 min: Torres is booked for a frustated foul on Phil Neville in Everton's area.

61 min: Baines forces a desperate clearance from Kuyt by the Liverpool byline, and Everton have a throw. It's played to Anichebe, who shoots from the edge of the area. His shot takes a big deflection but falls comfortably into the hands of Reina.

59 min: Fellaini sends a low cross across goal as Everton pile forward once more, but Beckford is beaten to it by Kyrgiakos, who's on for Agger.

58 min: Neville tracks back against the run of Glenn Johnson and forces the ball out for a corner, which Liverpool waste. Johnson hasn't been a threat down the left so far; he's been reluctant to cross with his left foot.

56 min: Skrtel nods a long ball clear but only as far as Coleman on the right. He's tackled but Everton have a throw in. They set up shop in the attacking third for a little while. Liverpool are struggling to get the ball out of their own half.

55 min: Maxi slides it left to Raul Meireles, bearing down on goal in the inside-left channel. His first-time shot is well hit but too close to Howard to trouble him.

52 min: GOAL Liverpool 1-2 Everton!!! (Jermaine Beckford): What a start to the second half for Everton, and it's going from bad to really really bad for Liverpool. Beckford barges Kelly off the ball at the corner of the box - the right-back lands awkwardly and hurts himself - knocks it to Osman and presses on to receive the return about 8 yards out. Noone picked up his run and he fired a confident finish over Reina from close range.

51 min: Fellaini treads on Torres' ankle as they compete for a ball on the halfway line. A hard challenge but Torres looks OK.

50 min: Baines tries to thread it wide to Beckford, but it's a bit too long. Then Fellaini curls a cross in from deep which is headed clear. It's been all Everton for the first few minutes.

46 min: GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Everton (Sylvain Distin): Everton refuse to bow down to King Kenny. They win a corner, which Distin meets at the far post after outmuscling Skrtel. His header goes straight into the ground and bounces underneath Pepe Reina - who is still in mid-air - and into the net. Game on!

HALF TIME (Liverpool 1-0 Everton): A great half for Liverpool, though they'll be slightly disappointed to go in just one ahead. Torres was a constant menace. The crowd's happy. No Poulsen or Konchesky to be seen. Everton had their moments, but they were outplayed for long stretches.

Henry Winter on Twitter: "Watching Liverpool-Everton in WHL press room...class finish from Meireles. Great pix of Dalglish frustration at saves then pure joy at goal."

And here's James Tollington once more, performing a U-turn to go back on his damning assessment from 20 minutes ago: "Liverpool to romp to victory, this looks like it could be their most accomplished derby day midfield performance this century. Also, with Johnson, Torres and arteta on the pitch, this fixture probably sees some of the best haircuts of the weekend."

To be honest, I've got a lot of time for the Fellaini mop. If he wasn't so huge and terrifying looking it would be ridiculous; as it is the haircut's almost a threat. "Yeah, I've got silly hair. What?"

Definitely better than Johnson's, anyway.

Andy Gray reckons that Liverpool's good performance is definitely down to the Dalglish Effect, which sounds like an airport thriller...

Ways to liven up football pundits’ dreary studio banter #37: the Blofeld solution

Instead of the usual smirking lineup of one presenter with three of his golf buddies on a sofa, only the three pundits face the camera. The show’s host - we don’t know his identity and his voice is digitally disguised - sits in a deep armchair with his back to the viewer. He orders the pundits one by one to offer a tactical or psychological insight into the game. If anybody disappoints him with lame puns, references to golf or evidence of half-arsed research, he presses a button and a hidden trapdoor opens up beneath the unlucky pundit’s chair. There is a brief scream (the show is filmed in a zeppelin). The chair snaps back into place and the next pundit is ushered into the room.

...Anyone else have a proposal? Let me know here.

45 min+1: The half comes to an end after another moment of brilliance from Torres, who makes a yard by the byline and chips a beautiful cross towards Maxi at the far post. It takes defence and keeper out of the game but it's just beyond Maxi.

45 min: Maxi Rodriguez has had a quiet half (most of his halves are pretty quiet) but he turns up in the D to force a save from Tim Howard. Then Anichebe notches up Everton's first shot on target (I think), with a decent effort from 20 yards or so, but it's comfortable for Reina.

44 min: Nothing happens for a couple of minutes, which must be a relief for Everton - they were under the cosh for a while there.

42 min: Meireles almost doubles his tally, breaking into the box to shoot from a tight angle. Comfortable for Howard.

41 min: It's cleared and Everton break. Arteta tries to ping a pass into the path of Beckford, who's clean through, but it's a bit too hard and the striker ends up out of position. A reasonable opportunity goes begging for Everton.

40 min: Torres shoots from 20 yards but Distin gets in the way of it. For a moment it looks as though it might spoon into the top corner but it falls just wide. Liverpool corner.

38 min: Meireles lofts a free-kick in to Torres, who knocks it square to Kuyt. Kuyt decides that he's Andres Iniesta and tries a looping pass over the defence to Agger, who's only a few feet away. It's cut out but Torres is onto it and tries to wriggle past a few challenges on the edge of the box. Eventually he runs out of space, but he's looking more threatening than he has for a while.

36 min: Liverpool break, Kuyt through the centre with options to either side. He lays it right to Torres, who attempts to pick out Jay Spearing, who had beaten the offside trap. It's a difficult pass and Torres overhits it.

34 min: Arteta takes a free kick from long range. I think that was a shot, but it's hard to say what it was, apart from not very good.

32 min: Anfield, unsurprisingly, is now quite an inhospitable place for the visiting side. Very loud. Kuyt comes forces another save from Howard before Torres blasts over. The Everton keeper is howling at his defence.

29 min: GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Everton (Raul Meireles): Johnson crosses from the left to Kuyt. His first header is saved brilliantly by Howard, diving low to his left - then Howard somehow gets down to stop the follow-up shot too. But the rebound falls to Raul Meireles in space at the edge of the area. He shoots early and Howard can't get near that one. That's his first goal for Liverpool.

28 min: Baines takes a corner from the right, which veers threateningly across the six-yard box but eludes Everton's attackers.

Email from fancy-pants iPad user James Tollington: "Everton to clinch the win, is this the worst Liverpool midfield to start a derby day game this century? I think so. Also with kuyt, fellaini and Lucas on the pitch this has to be the fixture to see the worst haircuts this weekend."

24 min: Meireles goes in late and high for a challenge on Mikel Arteta. It's not quite De Jong on Xabi Alonso but still pretty nasty. From the free kick Fellaini wins the header once more and nods it towards Beckford in the six-yard box, but he's microseconds short of making the connection.

22 min: Everton have a corner which Liverpool clear and immediately look to start a counter attack. Kuyt shoots from distance but the ball strikes the back of the unruffled Marouane Fellaini, ballooning up and out of play.

21 min: Fellaini wins a header at the far post after Neville crosses from deep, but nobody gets to his knockdown.

18 min: Dalglish was pulling all kinds of grimaces after that Torres effort: he thought his side was one-up, and his centre-forward back on song to boot. Everton are catching their breath, trying to slow play down and knock it around when they can.

17 min: Torres hits the post! It's a terrific run, holding off Distin as he powers into the box, then cutting inside to leave Heitinga flummoxed and open up the shooting angle. It looks like a certain goal and his confident shot is out of Howard's reach, but it bounces off the upright and back into play. Kuyt gets to the rebound but can only hoof it over.

15 min: Anichebe intercepts a pass, muscles past a couple of challenges, neatly turns Lucas, and collapses under Jay Spearing's shoulder barge just outside the area. No free kick; David Moyes is incensed.

14 min: Lucas clears as far as Osman, who tries a very tricky volley as the ball flies by his ear. Too tricky: miles over.

13 min: Osman gets in the way of a cross from Leighton Baines and chips in one of his own, which goes behind for a corner. Arteta will take it.

12 min: The Everton defence backs off Fernando Torres as a long ball comes his way, loitering with intent at the corner of the box. He chests it down, turns and blasts a left-footed effort over the bar.

10 min: Awesome running from Martin Kelly, who leaves Osman in his wake and powers past Baines to get to the byline. He gets a good cross away, too, but it's cleared.

8 min: Anichebe holds off Agger to win a header, before knocking it wide to Coleman. His cross is knocked back out for a throw. Neville takes it but Anichebe is pulled up for tugging on Agger's shirt.

7 min: Liverpool have a chance to counter, with Meireles feeding a pass through between the centre-backs to meet the run of Lucas. It asks just too much of him and Howard collects.

5 min: Meireles pops up on the left flank where he receives a pass from Glenn Johnson before cutting inside curling in a cross. It's headed away and Distin clears before Kuyt can pick up the loose ball.

3 min: Jay Spearing, in his second Premier League start, doesn't see Beckford to his left and passes the ball right to him. Beckford decides to go easy on him and attempts a frankly ludicrous chip from long distance, when he had only Agger to beat before a tempting one-on-one. Very high, very wide.

2 min: Coleman chests the ball down near the centre circle and is immediately on his toes, tearing through the Liverpool midfield before shooting early, from 25 yards or so. It's skewed just wide.

1 min: King Kenny is back in the home dugout and Liverpool get play underway. Torres immediately tries to get at the Everton defence but is dispossessed.

14.04: The players are out, and Anfield is singing "You'll Never Walk Alone". Put aside local rivalry and managerial soap opera, the immediate job on Dalglish’s hands is simple: start winning games. This is set to be one of those scraps between two underperforming sides stuck in the bad end of the middle of the table. They're level on 25 points, just four clear of the drop zone.

14.02: Here's the man himself: "I've come back and it's gonna be a bit of an emotional day. The most important thing today is the game that's happening, not myself," says Kenny Dalglish.

"The players have put in two good efforts and the efforts they've put in in training has been encouraging. They need confidence."

13.56: Interesting to see there's no Steven Pienaar in the Everton line-up - does this mean he's signed a deal to quit Everton? David Moyes has been resigned to losing the midfielder since the World Cup, and the club accepted an offer - apparently from Chelsea - on Friday. Louis Saha doesn't make the squad, with Victor Anichebe partnering Jermain Beckford up front.

Dalglish has chosen to stick with Glen Johnson at left back, with the impressive Martin Kelly continuing at right back. And 22-year-old Jay Spearing replaces Christian Poulsen in midfield.

13.50: Team news

LIVERPOOL: Reina, Kelly, Skrtel, Agger, Johnson, Meireles, Spearing, Lucas, Kuyt, Torres, Maxi. Subs: Gulacsi, Aurelio, Cole, Pacheco, Kyrgiakos, Babel, Shelvey.

EVERTON: Howard, Neville, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Coleman, Fellaini, Arteta, Osman, Beckford, Anichebe. Subs: Mucha, Hibbert, Bilyaletdinov, Vaughan, Gueye, Rodwell, Baxter.

Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)

13.43: If you're a neutral who wants an insight into how the red half of Liverpool views this fixture, have a read of this blog on Kop Source:

“To any Liverpool fan, the Derby with Manchester United is the most anticipated game of the season, but the bitter obsession with a claim to bragging rights is a lure too great for any Evertonian to be able to resist.”

13.38: After spending all night rummaging through Kenny Dalglish’s rubbish, I can exclusively reveal this chart, which was written on a hanky and thrown away. The Telegraph’s handwriting experts have confirmed it as the work the man himself. It’s a great insight into the manager’s thinking at this critical point in the season:

Good points (focus on these)

Areas to improve

No weaknesses in the squad. Class will show in the end

Four points above drop zone

Support of fans

Actually maybe we could do with a full back

Torres - it's just a matter of time before he's firing again

Maybe a backup striker

Joe Cole's still got it, I'm certain

Is it greedy to want wingers who score goals and run fast?

No more Paul Konchesky

Paul Konchesky keeps looking at me in training with his sad eyes

Raul Meireles lets me stroke his head

Konchesky wants me to stroke his head too

13.30: How's Super Super Sunday working out for you so far? Apparently that's what Sky have christened this edition of the Lord's day of rest, in light of a line-up rich in Quite Important Matches. Which means I'm bracing myself for all kinds of fancy montages, dramatic music and what-have-you. More importantly, it raises the possibility of Super Super Super Sunday, which is frankly disturbing.

Prediction time: Bad numbers in the GD column (-2 for the blues, -4 for the reds) seem to point to a high-scoring game. But although Liverpool’s defensive record in away games is truly abysmal - a tally of eight scored, 21 conceded is only just better than West Ham’s - they’ve kept things pretty tight at Anfield, where they’ve conceded fewer than everyone except United, Chelsea, and Sunderland. Everton are missing their top goalscorer in Tim Cahill (though Louis Saha scored a beauty against Tottenham a fortnight ago). And it's hard to see Liverpool going goal crazy at the other end. So I'm going for 1-1. Tell me why I'm wrong here.

-----

Jonathan Liew's preview:

TALE OF THE GAME:

It is entirely fitting that Kenny Dalglish's first home match in his second spell at Anfield should come against the team who heralded the end of his first reign, 20 years ago.

Liverpool's form is such, though, that the Scot faces a struggle to ensure a happy homecoming. They have lost both of their games since he replaced Roy Hodgson, and will be without both Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher on Sunday lunch time.

Everton, too, will be lacking Tim Cahill, the midfielder who holds the Indian sign over the red side of Merseyside. Which team copes best will probably edge a tense affair.

TEAM NEWS:

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has virtually a full squad to choose from for his first return to the Anfield dugout in nearly 20 years against Everton on Sunday.

However, the 59-year-old, who only flew in from holiday in the Persian Gulf last Saturday to take over from Roy Hodgson, will be without Scousers Steven Gerrard (suspended) and Jamie Carragher (injured) for the 215th Merseyside derby.

Midfielder Joe Cole has recovered from an ankle problem to rejoin the squad while Fabio Aurelio is likely to start at left-back after sitting out the midweek defeat at Blackpool.

Dalglish's biggest decision revolves around young right-back Martin Kelly, who has shown good form in the last two games, but could come under pressure from Glen Johnson, who filled in on the left against the Seasiders.

Everton are again likely to be without defender Phil Jagielka for the Merseyside derby.

The England international has missed three of the last four games with a thigh strain and is still short of fitness.

Manager David Moyes otherwise has no injury concerns, although top goalscorer Tim Cahill is on international duty with Australia at the Asian Cup.

Moyes expects Steven Pienaar to be available despite giving him permission to speak to another club while striker Ayegbeni Yakubu has joined Leicester on loan.

Nat Lofthouse's great games

A look back at some of the defining matches of Nat Lofthouse's career...

By Telegraph staff and agencies 1:28PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

1950: INTERNATIONAL DEBUT
Lofthouse was 25 before he earned a call-up for his country, but capitalised by scoring both goals in a 2-2 draw with Yugoslavia. In his autobiography, the ever-modest striker hailed Les Medley's part in the goals, describing them thus: "(Eddie) Baily hit a first-time accurate pass high over the head of right-back Stankovic. Medley, running on to it, rammed the ball over to me. All I had to do was side-foot it into the net for my first goal for England. Four minutes later England scored a second goal - and again Medley was the architect, placing the ball so accurately in the goalmouth that all I had to do was nod my head and the ball was nestling snugly in the back of the net."

1952: THE LION OF VIENNA
Lofthouse scored twice in a 3-2 win over Austria, the second coming after he was buffeted by defenders and brought down by the goalkeeper. Having been knocked unconscious and suffering a knee injury, he returned to the action - earning his famous nickname as well as this tribute from manager Sir Alf Ramsey: "The courage Nat showed was typical of him. The way he insisted on coming back on lifted the heart of every Englishman in the stadium. It made us redouble our efforts to keep the Austrians out."

1953: THE MATTHEWS FINAL
Having scored in every round of the FA Cup, captain Lofthouse gave Bolton a second-minute lead against Blackpool in the final. He later hit the post and again played on after almost being knocked out, but the legendary Sir Stanley Matthews inspired a Tangerines fightback - more than ably assisted by Stan Mortensen's hat-trick - as Wanderers were defeated 4-3.

1954: WORLD CUP DOUBLE
Lofthouse scored three goals in England's 1954 World Cup campaign in Switzerland, two of which came in the 4-4 extra-time draw with Belgium in the group stage - an oddity allowed for by the tournament's unconventional format. A Lofthouse strike sandwiched by Ivor Broadis' brace gave England a 3-1 lead but Rik Coppens and Leopold Anoul, with his second, secured extra-time. Lofthouse immediately restored England's lead but Jimmy Dickinson's own goal handed Belgium a point. Lofthouse also scored in the 4-2 quarter-final defeat to Uruguay.

1958: FA CUP CONTROVERSY
Five years after his first final, Lofthouse skippered Bolton to FA Cup success - but it was a controversial win. Lofthouse scored both goals in Bolton's 2-0 win over a Manchester United side still riding a wave of public sympathy in the wake of the Munich air disaster, and the second has gone down in football folklore. When United keeper Harry Gregg fumbled a shot up in the air and backpedalled to gather the loose ball, the combative Lofthouse barged Gregg and the ball into the net, knocking his unfortunate opponent unconscious in the process.

England women claim unassailable 3-0 lead over Australia in Twenty20 series

England Women have wrapped up a Twenty20 series victory by beating their Australian counterparts by four wickets in Canberra.

By Telegraph staff and agencies 12:56PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

Lydia Greenway again played a key part for the tourists with 23 off 22 balls before she was caught by Alex Blackwell off Rene Farrell in the final over.

Jenny Gunn finished unbeaten on 10 as England secured the win with a ball to spare.

Earlier, Australia had posted 145 for six from their 20 overs.

Opener Meg Lanning top-scored for the hosts with 34 off 22 balls while Isa Guha was the star of England's attack as she took three for 24.

The win gave England an unassailable 3-0 lead with two more Twenty20 internationals to follow in Canberra on Monday and Tuesday.

Nat Lofthouse dies, aged 85: profile

Nat Lofthouse, who amassed 30 goals in just 33 appearances for England and spent his entire club career playing for Bolton, died in his sleep at a nursing home in Bolton.

11:58AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

1925: Born Aug 27 in Bolton.

1939: Sept 4 - Signed for Bolton on amateur terms.

1941: March 22 - Made his debut against Bury, scoring twice in a 5-1 win.

1946: Aug 31 - Following the conclusion of World War II, finally made his league debut against Chelsea to begin a one-club career which saw him make over 500 appearances for his home town club.

1950: Nov 22 - Made his England debut, scoring both his side's goals in a 2-2 draw with Yugoslavia at Highbury.

1952: May 25 - In a legendary performance which earned him his nickname of 'The Lion of Vienna', Lofthouse scored twice in England's 3-2 win over Austria, returning to the action after being knocked out and suffering a knee injury.

Sept 24 - Scored six goals in a game between the English Football League and the Irish League.

1953: May 2 - Captained Bolton in the legendary 1953 FA Cup final at Wembley, scoring a goal and also hitting the post as Blackpool,.inspired by winger Stanley Matthews, won the game 4-3. Lofthouse was also named English Footballer of the Year after scoring 30 goals in the First Division.

1958: May 3 - Scored both goals as Wanderers beat Manchester United at Wembley to win the FA Cup. The second goal, which has gone down in football folklore, saw Lofthouse bundle United goalkeeper Harry Gregg into the net along with the ball, knocking him unconscious.

Nov 26 - Made his final England appearance against Wales. His 33 caps yielded 30 goals.

1960: December - Retired after a serious knee injury, making a farewell appearance against Birmingham. He scored 255 league goals for Bolton.

1961: Appointed assistant trainer at Bolton.

1967: Took on the role of chief coach.

1968: Dec 1 - Appointed as manager of the club after a brief spell in the role on a caretaker basis.

1978: Became Wanderers' executive manager.

1986: Was named as Bolton club president, a role he held until his death.

1989: Awarded the freedom of Bolton.

1994: Received an OBE in the New Year's Honours list.

1997: Bolton named their new Reebok Stadium's East Stand and its corporate hospitality area the Nat Lofthouse Stand and the Lion of Vienna Suite respectively.

2002: Inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame.

2006: Was voted Bolton's greatest ever player in a fans' poll.

2011: Jan 15 - Died peacefully in his sleep, aged 85, following a long illness.

Australia v England, first one-day international report

Australia (297-4) beat England (294) by six wickets

By Simon Briggs 11:32AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Simon's Twitter

Comments

Shane Watson, the hefty all-rounder who resembles a blond Incredible Hulk, has been threatening to rip England apart all winter. But while his Test innings rarely got beyond the nervous 50s, he went the whole hog this time, striking a magnificent unbeaten 161 to settle the first one-day international. Could this be the knock that turns Australia’s season around?

England’s six-wicket defeat made for a demoralising start to the series, especially as this was a solo effort from Watson. The frustration of squandering a total of 294 all out - the highest score England have made against Australia on their own territory - will haunt the tourists until the next match in Hobart on Friday. And possibly much longer.

There is a monumental quality to Watson’s batting. Where others look for the gap, he just clatters the ball - with beautiful stroke production, mind you - and hopes it misses the field. If Michael Vaughan had been built like Devon Malcolm, this is how he would have played.

Watson did have one let-off on 44, when Jonathan Trott muffed a difficult chance running back from mid-on. After that, his power was extraordinary.

This wasn’t really a 290-odd pitch, and most batsmen struggled to find the boundary once the ball had gone soft. But he hit 12 fours and four sixes - and every one of them came screaming out of the middle. This was the fifth-best individual score in Australia’s history, as well as the highest successful run-chase on the MCG.

There wasn’t much help for him out there. Brad Haddin contributed only 39 to an opening stand of 110. Michael Clarke found batting so difficult that he was soon receiving boos from the home crowd. Mike Hussey played some fine shots but also tweaked a hamstring pushing for a tight second, which could keep him out of Friday’s game.

But even when Australia lost a couple of nervy wickets at the end, Watson continued to boss England around, dominating the visiting bowlers in the same way they had dominated him during the Test series. (The absence of James Anderson obviously helped here.)

He kept smashing boundaries, despite weariness and cramp, and finished the game in fitting fashion with another monstrous six over long-on.

Earlier, the Australians had started the match in generous mood, dropping catches, missing stumpings, and bowling no-balls at crucial moment. England received so many friendly breaks that 294 almost felt like a failure.

The tone was set in the fifth over of the innings, when Brett Lee thought he had dismissed Steven Davies, caught at long-leg, but TV replays revealed a no-ball. Davies was to receive another three lives before finally being unarguably bowled, mowing horribly at David Hussey’s off-spin. His 42 off 35 balls made Craig Kieswetter - previously known as the jammiest opener in English history - look unfortunate.

At the other end, Andrew Strauss played rather more judiciously for his 63. But even he survived a stumping chance to Haddin, who had a nightmarish day behind the stumps, wasting three chances in all.

Only Trott, who scored six runs and put down two catches in the outfield, could have felt less happy about his own performance. With the World Cup squads due to be announced on Wednesday, this was not a good moment to have a shocker.

The best of the English batsmen was Kevin Pietersen, who came back into the team after his omission at the end of the summer, and dislodged Paul Collingwood in the process. Pietersen made a cautious start, surviving the obligatory stumping chance to Haddin on 37, but broke his bonds with successive sixes off David Hussey.

As with Watson, though, he received little support from his team-mates. His stand with Michael Yardy - batting at least one position too high at No 7 - raised 50 runs, of which Yardy contributed nine.

After Australia’s shoddy display, it was ironic that a brilliant run-out should have kick-started their revival. When England called their batting Powerplay, Pietersen was so eager to get back on strike that he called Tim Bresnan through for a risky single. As the ball bounced off Bresnan’s body, Mitchell Johnson followed through and sidefooted it neatly into the stumps. If only his bowling arm was as accurate as his right boot.

So Pietersen was run out for 78, and England turned in a typically self-destructive Powerplay. Having romped along smoothly until the 43rd over, they now lost three batsmen for just 27 runs in those 30 balls. Perhaps they should ask the International Cricket Council for an off-games note where Powerplays are concerned. The idea is to empower the batting side to hit more boundaries, but, in practice, it normally leads to a clatter of wickets.

Pietersen’s demise was exasperating but not entirely surprising, as he often finds a way to commit hara-kiri just when he has the opposition at his mercy. It was also decisive. Before the run-out, England were heading for 320. Had they got there, even Watson’s heroics might not have been enough.

Sunderland v Newcastle United: live

Follow live, minute-by-minute commentary of the Premier League game between Sunderland and Newcastle United at Stadium of Light on Sunday Jan 16 2011, kick-off 12.00 GMT.

- PREVIEW

- LIVE

- REPORT

SUNDERLAND

1 - 1

FT

NEWCASTLE

Sunday, January 16 12:00

Premier League

Stadium of Light

Gyan (90+4)

(HT 0-0)

ATT: 47,864

Nolan (52)

11:30AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Birmingham City v Aston Villa: live

Follow live, minute-by-minute commentary of the Premier League game between Birmingham City and Aston Villa at St Andrews on Sunday Jan 16 2011, kick-off 12.00 GMT.

- PREVIEW

- LIVE

- REPORT

BIRMINGHAM

1 - 1

FT

ASTON VILLA

Sunday, January 16 12:00

Premier League

St Andrews

Roger Johnson (49)

(HT 0-0)

ATT: 22,287

James Collins (73)

11:30AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Email Thom Gibbs with puns on the words "derby day", recipes and considered opinions.
----------------------------------------

13:55: An exciting game, a draw was probably the correct result. Both teams were guilty of some loose work in front of goal, but if each can maintain that level of performance then they shouldn't find themselves in the bottom three come May. Villa move out of the relegation zone to 17th, Birmingham stay one place above them. Over and out from me, thanks for your company. Why not join Ed Ballard who's about to tackle the fearsome prospect of Liverpool v Everton?

FULL TIME
Birmingham City 1 Aston Villa 1

90+1 min: Oh crikey, someone's thrown some kind of smoke bomb onto the side of the pitch. It's not halting play. That's the spirit. An ambitious long ball from a Birmingham free kick reaches Zigic. His header beats Friedel, who had come a long way to claim it, and drops just the wrong side of the post.

90 min: A disappointing cross from Fahey signals the end of a spell of Birmingham pressure. Three added minutes will be played.

89 min: Gardner plays in Bentley 30 yards out, but his shot is almost entirely wrong and well off target. Bentley is awarded the man of the match moments later and applauds the crowd, looking a touch surprised. He's a good addition for Birmingham but needs to sort out his decision making which has been woeful at times today.

87 min: Around 100 police officers have lined up in front of and around the away end. Let's see how effective they are at preventing the "ugly scenes" we witnessed after the League Cup game.

85 min: Four times. Delfouneso hits the bar for Villa. Great, fearless run, scorching strike which Foster got a tiny touch on to push onto the bar. Breathless stuff. Collins has been booked for a late challenge after the corner came over, and Lee Bowyer has replaced Matt Derbyshire for Birmingham.

83 min: Corner to Villa. Poor cross from Bannan, who collects the poor header away and plays in Albrighton with a reverse pass. His hanging cross to the far post is headed goalwards by Dunne and cleared off the line by Ridgewell! Now that's what I call atonment. Collins' follow up from three yards out is wide. Anything on target would have made it 1-2.

81 min: The free kick is taken by Bentley, curling away from goal and out for a goal kick. Wasted.

80 min: Albrighton's high challenge gives away a free kick just outside the box. And there's a streaker on the pitch! Alan Parry does the boring "we won't spoil your Sunday by showing you". Come on, Alan, who do you think we are?

79 min: Goalmouth chaos! Ferguson, Gardner and Ridgewell all have little bites at the ball in the box, Villa are defending for their lives. Eventually Bentley has a shot from distance which poses no danger to Friedel.

78 min: A long ball towards Zigic is nodded towards Gardner. His low cross almost falls for Derbyshire but superb defending from Dunne prevents danger and gives Birmingham a corner, which comes to nothing. This match is both topsy and turvy, as well as featuring action which switches from end to end.

77 min: Walker once again shows the naive side to his game, getting needlessly confused with Friedel as he collected the ball close to goal. He clears frantically for a throw.

76 min: Agbonlahor steams forward and picks out Delfouneso in the box. He lays it off adeptly to Downing whose strike is well saved by Foster. Zigic on for Hleb for Birmingham.

73 min: GOAL!!! Birmingham City 1 Aston Villa 1 (OG Ridgewell)
Great work from Walker on the touchline who plays it back to Albrighton. Delfouneso helps it on to Collins whose hard shot is heading wide, but deflected past Foster by Liam Ridgewell. WE'VE GOT A GAME ON OUR HANDS NOW!

70 min: "A DOUBLE CHANGE" says Alan Parry, with palpable excitement. It's Barry Bannan on for Nigel Reo-Coker and Nathan Delfouneso on for John Carew.

68 min: A lovely stat from Opta's Twitter feed: "Roger Johnson is the sixth Birmingham defender or midfielder to score a Premier League goal since a striker last did (Cameron Jerome on Nov 9)" That's not a great advert for Birmingham City's strikers. But that's not really what Opta is for.

66 min: Carew's having a stinker. His lay-off to Kyle Walker is overcooked and the chance is gone.

65 min: Downing aims for the near post with a low shot. It's held well by Foster. Villa's players on the far post are mentally removing Stewart from their Christmas card list. It's ok, Stewart, it's a long time until Christmas, they'll probably forget.

64 min: Very soft free kick awarded to Villa, and Carr is booked, unjustly, for what was a good tackle. Villa free kick near the corner flag. Foster gets a fingertip on it as it flies towards the far post, and it's out for a corner.

63 min: "You do feel the psychology of beating Villa in the League Cup here..." says Don Goodman. That's an odd thing to say about something intagible.

61 min: Free kick to Villa. Dead centre, approx 32 yards out. Downing's effort is high and wide.

60 min: Carr, getting forward superbly again, pulls it back for Gardner. He has a good chance, but it's on the volley and charged down by Dunne.

59 min: Poor clearance from Ben Foster, but Birmingham get it away from the danger area with some committed defending. At the other end Hleb finds Derbyshire. He gets an excellent low shot towards the far corner but Friedel pulls off a fantastic save.

56 min: Free kick to Villa just outside the box. Petrov aims for the top corner but it's just over. Relpays show that Johnson handled two minutes earlier, and the ball came frighteningly close to the net.

53 min: Albrighton's long cross is beyond Carew. On the other side Clark collects and his cross deflects off Johnson and just wide of the far post. Agbonlahor, had he been alert to that, could have had a tap in.

52 min: My 1-0 prediction is looking delightful right about now. Birmingham love sitting on a narrow lead. Do you disagree? What do you think the final score be? Are the Birmingham fans correct in their song to Gerard Houllier: "you're getting sacked in the morning?" Why not email me your views here?

51 min: Villa go on the attack, but Foster hangs on to a dangerous high ball under pressure.

GOAL!!! Birmingham 1 Aston Villa 0 (Johnson)
49 min: Collins and Reo-Coker jointly foul Hleb and Birmingham have a free kick 30 yards out. It's to Ferguson who puts in a low, hard shot. No danger, but it's deflected through to Murphy who helps the ball towards Johnson. His snap finish makes it 1-0. Scrappy!

47 min: Some slightly pathetic play from Downing there who wastes space in front of him and turns back towards his own half. His eventual attempt to play in Carew is rubbish, easily intercepted by the Birmingham defence.

46 min: Villa begin the second half with a goal kick. No, not really, it's a kick off. They lose the ball immediately, but Birmingham's long ball is out for a throw.

HALF TIME

45+2 min: Carr fouls Albrighton near the touchline, halfway between the corner and the area. There's a push in the box as the ball is delivered and Clattenberg blows for half time just afterwards. A great half, anyone's guess who's going to win it but Birmingham have certainly had the best of it, despite Villa hitting the bar three times. More of the same, please.

45+1 min: A lovely long ball from Fahey picks out Bentley on the right. His volleyed cross is poor.

45 min: Two mintues of added time will be played. Clark's long throw for Carew isn't reached by the big man.

44 min: Albrighton's shot at the other end is just wide. A little more accuracy here and we'd be looking at a thrilling 3-4 scoreline at half time.

43 min: Carr bombs down towards the touchline again and picks out Hleb whose low show it deflected away for a corner by Collins. It was going wide anyway but the big man with the strawberry blonde hair wasn't to know that. Birmingham make no use of the corner.

41 min: Heavy touch from Carew to nullify an increasingly rare Villa attack, putting an attempted lay off to Agbonlahor way out of the England player's reach.

38 min: "HABALLLL!" say the Birmingham supporters, wanting a penalty for a ball that struck Kyle Walker on the shoulder / midriff area. Moments later Albrighton looks to have had a little tug at Murphy, but Clattenberg isn't interested. From the Villa players' reaction I suspect Murphy made a meal of that.

37 min: Fahey breaks at speed and plays in Derbyshire in plenty of space but he runs it down a blind alley and the chance has gone.

36 min: Stephen Carr is a surprisingly refined footballer. His delicate chip plays in Fahey who's made a good run forward. His dangerous cross isn't converted but Walker is forced into a rushed and somewhat uncertain clearance.

32 min: A Birmingham free kick finds Roger Johnson unmarked on the wide edge of the six yard box. He gets a header across goal but there's no-one there to apply the finishing touch. Birmingham had men forward, but Johnson opted to aim for the penalty spot, behind where they were expecting the ball.

31 min: David Bentley tries a bold run in between two Villa defenders but is crowded out. Villa clear for a throw, somewhat unnecessarily. Bentley has them panicking.

29 min: Corner to Villa. Massively overhit, but Dunne done well and heads it back towards goal. It's headed clear of the line by a Birmingham defender.

28 min: Lovely move from Birmingham. Carr gets a difficult ball to Hleb on the right wing who pulls it back for Derbyshire in the box. He lays it off to Ferguson who gets a shot on target, but it's held by Brad Friedel.

26 min: Matt Derbyshire looks in ankle-based trouble. He was pulled off the pitch for treatment, attempted the "brave little soldier" run back on to shake it off, but pulled up immediately. He's on, and hobbling, at the moment, but Birmingham's striker subs are warming up.

23 min: Villa hit the bar part III. This time it's a mishit cross from Clark. What a blistering opening quarter to the game! This has been like a football detox after the stupor of West Ham v Arsenal last night.

22 min: There are two sides to Kyle Walker. He has tremendous pace and a lot of skill on the ball, but he can get found out defensively. In the Championship his pace was enough to cover his mistakes, probably not so at this level. He dallies over a high ball and Derbushire pressures him in to slipping over. He gets a low cross into the six yard box which is criminally missed by the onrushing Hleb.

21 min: Kyle Walker is taking his superb form from his loan spell at QPR into the Premier League. He gets another great cross in, having burst down the right on the overlap. This time Carew rises to head at the far post and slams the ball on to the bar.

20 min: Bentley, so far, is adding a touch of class to this Birmingham team. St Andrews hasn't seen the likes of him, his unmderhit backheels and well-tended hair, for a long time.

17 min: Birmingham beginning to assert themselves here, increasingly looking like the more motivated and steely team. Especially in midfield, where they're first to everything at the moment.

14 min: Derbyshire plays a one-two with Hleb before hitting an atrocious shot into the stand.

13 min: Stephen Carr puts good pressure on Agbonlahor, forcing him into an unworkable shot as he approaches the box.

12 min: David Bentley has started brightly for Birmingham, haring down the right flank at regular intervals. On this occasion he's stopped in his tracks by Reo-Coker who has tracked back well, but he looks to have the beating of left back Ciaran Clark.

9 min: Villa hit the bar! Walker, the roving full back on the overlap, stands up a great ball for Agbonlahor on the far post. His header is goalbound, but at a manageable height. Carew flicks it on, but it's marginally too high and clips the bar before heading out for a goal kick.

7 min: Dunne heads a Villa corner wide.

6 min: A nicely worked short corner and an excellent feint gives Bentley a chance to cross. His perfect ball reaches Johnson who heads just over. It's been an open and exciting start to the game.

4 min: Dunne scythes down Bentley as the loanee attempts to reach the byline and the Villa defender is booked. The free kick is cleared to Gardner whose long shot comes close, but is safely over the bar.

3 min: More confision at the back for Birmingham as Johnson and Foster almost get themselves into a "your ball", "no your ball!" tangle. Foster clears and offers some stern words to his defender.

2 min: Carew's long shot fizzes just wide. Great start from Villa.

1 min: Birmingham begin, and pass the ball back to Ben Foster immediately. What a charming way to begin a match. Foster almost has his Peter Enckelman moment by dallying too long on the ball, his fluffed clearance reaches Agbonlahor, but he misses the target from criminally close range. A let-off for the home side.

11:58: Let's get down to the serious business of making some terrible predictions. I am saying 1-0 to Birmingham and two red cards. Care to disagree? Or just want to congratulate me for making such a bold guess? Email me here.

11:55: It's Alan Parry and Don Goodman on commentary duties for the first televised game of the day. "This is the start of six hour of live football," he says, sounding a little bit sick at the prospect.

11:50: Richard Keys says that Sky are showing three games today "back to back to back". My colleague Jonathan Liew points out that this is impossible unless one of these games has two backs and no front. Wise words.

11:45: Here are the teams:

Birmingham (4-5-1): Foster; Carr, Johnson, Ridgewell, Murphy; Bentley, Ferguson, Hleb, Gardner, Fahey; Derbyshire.
Subs: Taylor, Bowyer, Phillips, Zigic, Beausejour, Mutch, Jiranek.

Aston Villa (4-4-2): Friedel; Walker, Dunne, Collins, Clark; Albrighton, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Downing; Carew, Agbonlahor.
Subs: Marshall, Pires, Delfouneso, Cuellar, Bannan, Hogg, Baker.

Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear)

Reading through that Birmingham team fills me with a nameless dread. That is not a side which will put fear into the hearts of Premier League opponents. Perhaps David Bentley can cut through the monotony somewhat, and Alexander Hleb can begin to show the form which earned him a move to Barcelona not so long ago. Villa aren't much better, but at least in Agbonlahor and Downing they have a couple of players capable of producing something exciting.

11:40: Good morning friends and welcome to Devastating Derby Domination Day, as no-one is calling it. First up it's off to the Midlands for the second city derby, officially (in my mind) the least glamorous of all our treasured locally-determined grudge matches.

Still, that shouldn't dim your enthusiasm for Birmingham v Villa. Sky are in danger of breaking their magical hype machine already, billing this as "the most important derby for years" (in Birmingham). They are perhaps not exaggerating. Villa are second bottom, which is surely a worry at this stage in the season. Birmingham are sitting slightly prettier in 16th which, to be fair, is about where you'd expect them to be.

Villa miss Ashley Young and and Emile Heskey through suspension, while David Bentley could make his debut for his new temporary club - City.

But don't let that put you off, let's all settle down for some early afternoon "tasty" challenges and an awful lot of red cards. Teams to follow.

----------------------------------------

PREVIEW

Sunday, January 16

Birmingham City vAston Villa
St Andrews
Kick-off: 12.00 GMT
TV: Live, Sky Sports 1. Highlights, BBC1 Match of the Day

TALE OF THE GAME:

A high-stakes match which both sides desperately need to win, not just because of local bragging rights but their precarious league positions - Villa have spent 15 days in the relegation zone now, with Birmingham just a point ahead.

Alex McLeish has been boosted by loan signing David Bentley, but it is a big concern that none of his strikers have scored in the last 8 league games.

Hopefully the fans will be on best behaviour, though it is unlikely.

TEAM NEWS:

Aston Villa will be without key duo Emile Heskey and Ashley Young through suspension for the Premier League derby at Birmingham City on Sunday.

Striker Heskey will serve the second game of a three-match ban for his straight red card against Sunderland 10 days ago.

Winger Young is suspended for one match after he was sent off for two bookable offences in the FA Cup win at Sheffield United last weekend.

On-loan Tottenham defender Kyle Walker is expected to make his league debut for Villa after scoring against the Blades.

Villa have no new injury concerns with full-back Luke Young and Fabian Delph (both knee) are not yet ready to return.

Young could return to action within a fortnight after a visit to the specialist confirmed no serious damage.

Birmingham newcomer David Bentley is included in their squad after signing on loan from Tottenham for the remainder of the season.

Birmingham will be without central defender Scott Dann who suffered a torn hamstring during the midweek Carling Cup semi-final setback at West Ham.

Manager Alex McLeish may switch Liam Ridgewell from left-back into the heart of the defence or draft in Martin Jiranek as a straight swap for Dann.

Midfielder Lee Bowyer is available after completing a three-game ban.

Prediction: 1-1

Ruthless England send out message that form matters by dropping Paul Collingwood for opening one-dayer

“Good old Collingwood forever” is the theme song of the Aussie Rules football team who play their home games at the MCG. It would have rung hollow in the ears of another Collingwood this morning.

By Simon Briggs 11:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Simon's Twitter

Comments

After eight years as a fixture in the one-day side, Paul Collingwood missed out on selection for the MCG international - the first time he has been dropped since the summer of 2003. Back then, Michael Vaughan was just starting out as one-day captain, and the selectors were experimenting with players like Anthony McGrath, Rikki Clarke and Jim Troughton.

The announcement of England’s XI came as a surprise. It seemed for a moment as if Collingwood might have been rested to give a chance to the other batsmen jockeying for a World Cup spot - notably Jonathan Trott.

But the England camp later confirmed that the decision had been made on form alone. It was a typically ruthless move from the team management, who also left Kevin Pietersen out last summer after he had gone 16 one-day innings without a half-century.

Collingwood finished last summer in passable fettle with an influential 47 against Pakistan, but his batting has gone walkabout in Australia.

An Ashes tally of 83 from six innings, followed by 22 in two appearances in the Twenty20s, has relegated him to the status of a walking wicket.

This run-drought persuaded him to announce his Test retirement, and concentrate on the pyjama game instead. But he was surely not expecting to find himself out of the one-day picture so soon, just nine days after England’s riotous celebrations in Sydney.

Asked about Collingwood at the weekend, Andrew Strauss replied: “We’re expecting him to come back strong. He’s a strong character and a resilient bloke. And there have been plenty of incidences in the past where he has come back with a bang - not least four years ago.”

Collingwood did indeed come good at the end of England’s last visit here, finishing with a sequence of 106, 120*, 70 to carry his team to an unlikely triumph in the Commonwealth Bank Series. This time around, though, he may have a job to fight his way back into the first XI.

Pietersen made a fluent return at the MCG, scoring an eye-catching 78 before running himself out. So if Collingwood is to have another crack at this series, the most likely candidate for replacement could be Trott, whose last four 50-over scores are 2, 4, 3 and 6.

The other question is whether Collingwood’s World Cup place could be in any danger. There are many arguments for picking him, not least his 189 one-day appearances - an English record.

Even if he is underperforming with the bat, he still offers his canny medium-pace and unparalleled fielding. And his bottom-handed, shovelling technique is probably better suited to the low-bouncing pitches of the sub-continent than the livelier ones of Australia.

The 15-man squad is announced on Wednesday, and you would have to imagine that he will be there. But then there is no room for sentiment in this dressing-room, which is the way it should be. Whatever the song may say, Collingwood cannot go on forever.

Melbourne Rebels coach Rod Macqueen blasts media for obsession with Danny Cipriani

Melbourne Rebels coach Rod Macqueen has revealed his frustration over Danny Cipriani’s high media profile, which is casting a shadow over the new franchise.

By Simon Briggs 10:46AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Simon's Twitter

On Saturday, Cipriani made a quiet debut in the Rebels’ inaugural fixture, a trial match against Tonga. He played only the first half and contributed little of note apart from one nicely weighted pass to centre Lachlan Mitchell to set up the first try.

But the questions after the game were less about the outstanding Richard Kingi - a 21-year-old scrum-half with a scorching turn of pace - than Cipriani, a tabloid staple who has brought his penchant for celebrity conquests with him to Australia.

Cipriani is sharing a flat in the South Yarra area of Melbourne with Rory Hamilton-Brown, the young batsman who captains Surrey, and another sportsman who is not averse to a mirror.

But it is Cipriani who continues to attract the paparazzi. Earlier this month, he raised eyebrows by escorting the former Neighbours star Stephanie McIntosh to a club function.

Macqueen, the most successful rugby coach Australia ever had, described Cipriani’s performance against Tonga as “steady”.

But he also complained that "it’s very difficult when we're building a new team and we're always hearing about Danny. It's disappointing for him but that's one of the reasons he's come over here, to get a fresh start. He's only a young player and I think he can do that through this team."

Though there may be a prurient flavour to all the stories about Cipriani’s love-life, he does have a knack for picking high-profile partners. Since splitting with model Kelly Brook, he has been linked with Hollywood actress Lindsey Lohan, Australian X Factor contestant Tamara Jaber, and now McIntosh.

“He does take a girl out from time to time,” Macqueen said last week. “And he feels embarrassed sometimes that he gets publicity for it.”

Perhaps someone should tell Cipriani that not every woman in Australia comes with a gossip-column attached.

Asked about the high level of media attention, Cipriani replied: "I've had that since I was 18 so I'm dealing with it now. A lot of people will write whatever they want to write but you've just got to carry on with your job and do the best you can."

As far as the match was concerned, Cipriani declared himself satisfied, despite a minor bang that left him applying ice to his knee throughout the second half.

"I feel alright,” he said. “I enjoyed it, it's the first time I played in eight months so it was a good time to get a run out.

“I’ve been loving it here. Rod has selected a very good group of players. We’ve had to bond very quickly and the team spirit, the bonding we’ve been doing, has been excellent.

“This was the first time we had played a game together. We’ll learn a lot and hopefully by the third or fourth game you’ll see a big difference in the way the Rebels play.”

Cipriani is only 23, yet it already seems a long time since his storybook debut for England - a Six Nations game against Ireland, in which he scored 18 points and livened up the three-quarter line with his quick feet and hands.

So, does he feel he has any chance of fighting his way into Martin Johnson’s World Cup squad in the autumn?

“I’m going to do the best I can and play the best I can,” he said. "And hopefully I’ll give myself an opportunity. If I do get a call-up I’m always going to be open to playing for England.”

Carlos Tevez "fantastic", says Roberto Mancini, as Manchester City go top of Premier League

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini hailed Carlos Tevez after his brace helped City move to the top of the Premier League.

By Telegraph staff and agencies 10:34AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

In an entertaining encounter at Eastlands, Tevez's brilliant double, and goals from brothers Kolo and Yaya Toure, ensured Mancini's men came from behind against Wolves to eventually win 4-3.

That helped them leapfrog neighbours Manchester United at the Premier League summit, after their seventh home win of the season.

Mick McCarthy's men started by far the brighter and more determined outfit and deservedly took the lead after 12 minutes as Nenad Milijas bundled in from close range.

However, a Kolo Toure finish just before the break was quickly followed up by two fine goals from Tevez - one with his feet, one with his head - as Manchester City became the stronger side.

A further finish from Yaya gave City some breathing space, although a Kevin Doyle penalty and a late header from Ronald Zubar gave Wolves a glimmer of hope but they could not find a fourth to force a draw.

"I am very happy for him because he scored two fantastic goals and took his goals very, very well. The first goal he scored was fantastic," Mancini said of Tevez, who stunned the club last month by demanding a transfer before withdrawing his request.

"I thought it was a difficult game. I thought we were so-so in the first 20 minutes and Wolves pressed us well and we had some problems, but we scored goals and had three of four other chances to score.

"However, I thought we lost our concentration towards the end because we thought it was finished, but it is never finished."

Mancini handed new £27 million signing Edin Dzeko his debut, following his transfer from Wolfsburg, and although he clearly lacked match sharpness, Mancini was still pleased with the Bosnian's first afternoon out in City colours.

"He played well," he said. "It was his first game in 30 days and his first game with a new team, but he played well.

"He needs to improve and work hard but I think he showed he is a good player.

"We are happy after the result and I am happy for our supporters because they deserve this, but the season is very long and we must improve because we cannot do the same mistakes as today in the last 10 minutes."

On a different day, Wolves could well have earned a point, if not more, in a spirited and hard-working performance.

However, it was not to be and they slipped back into the relegation zone as a result of this loss.

"Forget the disappointment, we should have been more goals up in the first half and I'm sat here disappointed that we lost," McCarthy said.

"It's not about what they have got - I have a good group of lads and a good team.

"When we were on top we should have punished them more."

However, McCarthy was generous enough to outine that Tevez had made the difference in the encounter courtesy of his two goals, and in particular his first, a wonderful dribbling effort that was fit to win any game.

"It was a brilliant goal from Carlos Tevez," he said. "People will criticise defenders but sometimes you have to say it was a great goal.

"A lot of teams would have laid down and had their arse slapped at 4-1 down but we didn't and that showed the character and spirit we have.

"I don't think we are far away from where we were last season in terms of points and games played.

"We have just had a good run and we are playing well and if we get a few more players back we will be ok."

Queen's Club evacuated as World Series Squash Finals cancelled after wind stops play

The Queen's Club in London had to be evacuated on Saturday after an inflatable structure staging the end-of-season World Series Finals deflated, forcing organisers to cancel the event.

Torn apart: the six-figure cube at the Queen's Club was deemed unsafe  Photo: GETTY IMAGES

By Rod Gilmour 10:30AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

A revolutionary cube, which was supposed to withstand winds of up to 50mph, was torn apart by overnight gales ahead of the world tour's finale between Nick Matthew, the world champion, and Egypt's Amr Shabana.

For the past week, the Finals had been staged in a temporary venue next to the centre court of the 125 year-old sports club at an estimated cost of $1 million.

However safety officers issued an evacuation of the grounds in Barons Court as the rapidly deflating cube became a danger to ticket holders and the 200 members who were also in the venue at the time.

"This is particularly disappointing as it is such a great event and been such a fantastic week," said Alex Gough, the Professional Squash Association's chief executive. The PSA have yet to announce when the finals will be rescheduled.

The innovative purple glass court inside the cube had seen sell-out crowds of 500 watch the world's top eight players in action.

The cancellation was particularly harsh on Ziad Al-Turki, the Saudi businessman and PSA chairman, who has been assiduous in not only pouring considerable resources into squash but also turning the sport around since 2005.

Despite the sport being played indoors, the climate has forced tournaments to be halted over the years. The sun stopped play at the World Open in Amsterdam in 1988 thanks to a low window, while falling leaves, which came through an air-conditioning system, played havoc to a tournament in Chichester in the 1980s when Jahangir Khan and Geoff Hunt, two world champions, were on court.

Tributes paid to Bolton Wanderers and England legend Nat Lofthouse, who has died aged 85

Former England international Nat Lofthouse OBE has died aged 85.

By Telegraph staff and agencies 9:32AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Lofthouse made more than 450 appearances for Bolton, scoring 255 goals for the club between 1946 and 1960.

He also represented England 33 times and scored 30 goals.

Bolton announced Lofthouse had died peacefully in his sleep at his nursing home last night.

Bolton chairman Phil Gartside said: "On behalf of everyone at Bolton Wanderers Football Club, I would like to extend our deepest condolences to Nat's family, who are very much in our thoughts at this time.

"Nat undoubtedly is a Bolton Wanderers legend. He was a one-club man and our football club meant as much to him as he did to us.

"We will miss him but we will celebrate his life, his legacy and great times that he brought to Bolton Wanderers."

After finishing playing, Lofthouse remained at the club in a number of off-field positions including chief coach, chief scout, caretaker manager and club president, in which he remained until his death.

Malcolm Clarke, chairman of the Football Supporters' Federation, described Lofthouse as "a true legend" and pointed to his loyalty as a one-club man.

Clarke said: "What is very rare these days is to have a one-club footballer at the top like he was, playing for Bolton for the whole of his career, scoring a fantastic number of goals both for them and for England.

"A true legend of the game undoubtedly."

Of where Lofthouse ranks in English footballing history, Clarke added: "These things are always difficult to assess but I would certainly say he was in the top 10 of English footballing heroes.

"An unmistakable centre forward, a figure of his time.

"We don't see many players of that kind these days and the loyalty to one club which continued long after his playing career finished.

"He served Bolton in a number of other capacities as well and you don't get that kind of loyalty so often these days.

"He was a model professional and showed the kind of commitment to his home town and to his local club that we don't do these days."

Sir Bobby Charlton has hailed Nat Lofthouse as "a leader" and "a talisman".

Charlton said: "One of the highlights of my year is when I go to Bolton and see people like Tommy Banks, Roy Hartle and, of course, Nat.

"I was ever so pleased to see them because I feel they gave so much colour to the game at a time when football was about strength more than anything else, and Nat was as strong as anyone.

"The first time I ever saw a professional game Nat was playing as a centre-forward and they were talking about him as this youngster who had just burst onto the scene, and he was just fantastic.

"He was a leader, he had fantastic ability in the air, and he was strong, but he was also a talisman.

"He played four or five games with England at the end of his career and I felt he was the one who was in charge, he was the leader.

"I'm really sorry, and anybody in this part of the world will be very sorry, that he isn't with us any more because he was a fantastic credit to the game.

"You have to put him in with those two great players, Tommy Finney and Stan Matthews. But they were wingers and outside the influence of the 18-yard box.

"But Nat Lofthouse, you just put the ball in there at any height and he was so brave. He just scored phenomenal goals in the air.

"He was a great player without any question.

"In his day if you were a centre-forward you had to do more than score goals; you had to lead and you had to be tough.

"In those days football was a hard, tough game. It wasn't like today where they glorify everything.

"The pitches were bad, the ball was heavy, the equipment was awful, but he loved the game of football, and he was ever so proud to be a part of it."

Bolton Wanderers and England legend Nat Lofthouse dies aged 85

Nat Lofthouse epitomised the kind of English centre forward that has become an intrinsic part of football culture and in his extraordinarily prolific career with Bolton Wanderers become the kind of iconic one-club servant so rarely seen in the contemporary game.

By Duncan White 1:12AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Duncan's Twitter

Comments

Lofthouse was born in Bolton in 1925 and began playing for his hometown club at the beginning of the Second World War. In a taste of what was to come, he scored twice on his debut against Bury on March 22 1941 but did not makes his full league debut until the war was over.

He scored twice in that game too as Bolton lost 4-3 to Chelsea on August 31 1946.

Under manager Bryan Edwards, Lofthouse developed into one of the most prolific strikers in the country and he scored 255 goals in 452 league appearances, and 285 in 503 overall, for Bolton between 1946 and 1960.

He is the seventh highest goalscorer in the history of the top flight. "He was a one-club man and our football club meant as much to him as he did to us," said Bolton chairman Phil Gartside. "I would like to extend our deepest condolences to Nat's family, who are very much in our thoughts at this time," added Gartside in a statement on the

Bolton website. “We will miss him but we will celebrate his life, his legacy and great times that he brought to Bolton."

Lofthouse played, captained and scored in arguably the most famous FA Cup final in the history of the competition – the Matthews final of 1953.

Blackpool beat Bolton 4-3 with Stanley Matthews delivering his historic performance and Stan Mortensen scoring a hat-trick for the winners.

In scoring in the final, after just two minutes, Lofthouse scored in every round of the FA Cup that season. He was named English footballer of the year for 1953 and it remains one of the best season’s by any centre-forward in the history of English football.

He had better luck in the FA Cup five years later, as Bolton won the trophy in 1958, Lofthouse scoring twice as Bolton beat Manchester United at Wembley. The game was not without controversy however.

The Munich Air crash had happened three months earlier and United were still in mourning. The nation’s football fans naturally had much sympathy for United.

Lofthouse gave a physical performance and, for his second goal, actually barged the United goalkeeper Harry Gregg over the line with a shoulder charge.

The tactic was legitimate at the time but remains one of the most controversial goals in the history of the FA Cup final.

Lofthouse did not win as many caps as his prolific club form might have suggested but in his 33 games for England, he scored a remarkable 30 goals.

He earned the nickname “The Lion of Vienna’ for his heroic performance against Austria in 1952, scoring a famous goal while the Austrian defence tried to step him with three separate fouls.

Lofthouse won his final cap on 26 November 1958, against Wales, at the age of 33. He retired from club football in 1960.

Lofthouse became a coach at Bolton soon after he quit playing and, after a brief spell as a caretaker manager, took the manager’s job in 1968.

He continued to work at the club in various capacities, including working as the chief scout. He had a second spell as caretaker in 1985 and a year later was named club president.

He was a freeman of the city of Bolton and received an OBE for his services to football. In 1997 Bolton named the East stand of the Reebok stadium after the top scorer in their history. His name is inextricably linked with the football club.

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United: Wayne Rooney and Jermaine Defoe need to find form

Jermain Defoe has not scored in the Premier League this season; Wayne Rooney has scored twice in it, one a penalty against bottom club West Ham.

By Duncan White 11:59PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Duncan's Twitter

Comments

This has not been the way England’s first-choice strike duo will have envisioned recovering from the woe of the World Cup. Time to turn things around - and no better chance than on Sunday.

Rooney, after the disruption of his contractual dispute and another injury to his ankle, is finally beginning to look like an approximation of the player who this time last season was about to explode into the most prolific spell of his career, scoring 19 goals in 14 games.

He had already scored 15 in the first half of the season and suddenly he looked like a player of world class, possibly even slipping into the bronze-medal position behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Those pretensions looked hyperbolic after his prolific run was ended by that ankle injury on the Munich turf: he has struggled ever since.

Sir Alex Ferguson does not doubt his player’s value - the new contract is testament to that - and feels that Rooney is edging his way back to game-readiness. He is the kind of player who scores in clusters and, with his team-mates having built a very solid foundation with their unbeaten run in the first half of the season, now would be the perfect time for Rooney to step up. During his hardball negotiations for his new contract he showed a lack of respect for his team-mates - time to make it up to them.

A performance that echoes the selflessness of last year’s corresponding fixture would certainly help. With Paul Scholes sent off, Rooney played like a man possessed and even scored a third to secure a 3-1 win.

“When we went one-up, they came back and really played well,” Redknapp said. Rooney occupied our back four on his own even when they went down to 10 men. They were fantastic.”

Defoe, who had scored within a minute of that game, is also beginning to show flickers of a return to last season’s form - he had 14 league goals by this time last year. He has had his season ruined so far by an ankle injury he picked up while playing for England in Switzerland but, in scoring twice against Charlton in the FA Cup last weekend, there have been hints that he is back in the ascendant.

Les Ferdinand, the strikers’ coach, has been working closely with Defoe at the Spurs Lodge training ground.

“We are seeing that sharpness coming back,” Ferdinand said. “As a striker when you start scoring goals again your confidence goes up and you have a bit of a spring in your step.

“What I think he needs is to get across the six-yard box. If you watched a montage of all the goals that he has scored you would see very few of those little tap-ins, moving across defenders in the area.

“If you look at all great strikers, that is their food and drink. Look at the Linekers, the Owens, the Shearers, they are not in the right place at the right time by accident, they put themselves in that position.

“Jermain can pick the ball up, turn, beat a couple of players and smash one in. We know he can do that, what we want to see is the other side of his game. He wants to learn and improve - last season he showed that he could play as a lone striker. If he works on his movement in front of the goalmouth, I think it could add five or six goals to his tally by the end of the season.”

You have to go back nearly a decade to find their last win over United, a 3-1 win in which Ferdinand, now 44, scored the third. Tottenham have gone 23 games without a win but Redknapp is confident this is the best team he has taken into a game with Ferguson. “It’s the closest to a Man Utd team that I have had,” he said.

Certainly there are some intriguing match-ups around the field, not least that of Gareth Bale against Rafael. At Old Trafford in October the Brazilian right-back, so often erratic, did a superb job on Bale and Redknapp will; be looking to see how his star player replies this afternoon.

Otherwise Redknapp’s main selection issue concerns Defoe himself. The striker is his ideal choice but Redknapp has concerns that leaving out Peter Crouch would cut the option of the direct ball forward - and is also aware that Crouch has synched well with Rafael van der Vaart.

“I have to look carefully at Defoe, Crouch and Van der Vaart,” he said “Where is the best link? You have to play perfect football if I play the two little ones.

“Crouch gives me another option. Van der Vaart’s goals, a lot of them have come off Crouch.”

Redknapp knows, though, that an in-form Defoe is invaluable. “He needs to kick-start his season now,” he said. “If he can go on a run now and weigh in with 11, 12 goals - which he’s capable of - it could make a big difference for us.”

Despite Redknapp’s confidence, Sir Alex Ferguson does not expect both Spurs and Manchester City to make the top four this season.

“You think the two of them will get in? I don’t think so,” he said. “I think it’s hard that one, because Chelsea or Arsenal wouldn’t be in the top four and would Chelsea or Arsenal have a better chance of the top four than City or Spurs?”

Manchester United have their captain, Nemanja Vidic, back in the side and the back four, after an uncertain start, has returned towards its former obduracy. Breaking them down will be as difficult as ever.

Redknapp faces a tough choice but you sense he might just gamble on “perfect football”. It’s the Tottenham way, after all, to ensure that, if you have to lose, you do so with style.

A decade of pain for Tottenham

May 19, 2001: Tottenham 3 United 1
Tottenham’s last win over United. It was the final game of the season and United, having won the title, fielded a weakened team. All the talk was of what Fergie was going to do in his retirement, having suggested that, at the age of 60, he would bow at the end of the 2001/02 season.

Sept 19, 2001 - Tottenham 3 United 5
Again Tottenham put three past the lacklustre champions - and that was just the first half. But a hat-trick of headers (Cole, Blanc, Van Nistelrooy) by an invigorated United put them back on level terms before Veron and Beckham applied the finishing touches to the comeback.

Jan 4, 2005: United 0 Tottenham 0
Martin Jol’s Tottenham were denied victory at Old Trafford in the last minute when Roy Carroll spilled a Pedro Mendes shot over his own goalline that was seen by everbody - except referee Mark Clattenburg.

Feb 2, 2007 - Tottenham 0 United 4
Diving was the issue this time. Ronaldo won (and scored) a dubious penalty just before half-time with the score at 0-0. The winger was heckled throughout the second half but that only inspired him.

April 25, 2009 - United 5 Tottenham 2
Deja-vu all over again. Spurs were 2-0 up at half-time and the pubs of Liverpool were going mad (yes, the Merseyside reds were challenging for the title). But Tévez came on for an ineffectual Nani in the second half and changed the game.

Sept 12, 2009 - Tottenham 1 United 3
Last time out at WHL and Defoe scored after a minute to give Spurs hope but this time a bravura performance by Wayne Rooney in the second half turned the tide for United. Ryan Giggs (pictured) reached a milestone that day too - making his 700th United appearance. Today he should play in his 600th league match for the club.

Oct 30, 2010 - United 2 Tottenham 0
Their last meeting was a fairly dull affair - until the 84th minute. One-nil up and coasting, Nani decided to liven things up by scoring a goal when Spurs clearly thought the game had been stopped for a free-kick.

Never a dull moment when these sides meet - and Fergie still appears no nearer retirement...

Liverpool v Everton: Leighton Baines needs no assistance to overcome Fabio Capello's World Cup snub

His company in the league table of assists says it all about how Leighton Baines has graduated from League One football with Wigan to admiring glances from a Bavarian superpower.

City slicker: Leighton Baines (2nd R) celebrates with Tim Cahill (R) and team mates after scoring the second goal for Everton against Manchester City Photo: ACTION IMAGES

By Graham Chase 11:59PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

TheEverton left-back has already set up seven Premier League goals this season, the same number as Wayne Rooney and Cesc Fabregas, four more than the nearest defender, Ashley Cole, and five more than Patrice Evra, ahead of Sunday’s Merseyside derby.

Playing behind the soon-to-be-departed Steven Pienaar, who cuts in from the left flank, Baines, 26, has thrived on the responsibility of providing Everton’s width and his crossing and set pieces are said to have earned interest from Bayern Munich.

His two league goals — as accurate a free-kick as you will ever see in a 1-1 draw at Tottenham and a curling right-footed shot in a 2-1 victory at Manchester City - only serve to underline his growing reputation.

More Kaka than Kirkby then, but it was not enough to secure him a place in Fabio Capello’s World Cup squad after being called into the initial 30-man party.

A suggestion that he missed out on South Africa due to homesickness, which he puts down to a comment about wanting to see his family after 3-1 friendly win over Mexico before returning to England’s training camp, has been one theory put forward for Capello choosing Stephen Warnock over him although he remains sure that the Italian based the decision on form.

“I spoke to one guy after the game and towards the end of the interview, I said I wanted to shoot off and see my family who were there, because I was going back to camp the next day," Baines said.

“So he asked me about that, and all I said was I wanted to spend a bit of time with them and the hardest part of being a player is spending time away from them. I’d say it again.

“It’s no different for me than any other player. It’s natural people miss their family but it’s what you accept as part and parcel of what you do, not a problem.

“It was jumped on and thrown out of proportion and taken out of context. I never ever said anything about being homesick.

“I was in the car with the missus and kids (when the call came from the Football Association). It was a 10 second phone-call and it takes a while to get over it. On the day there were whispers I wouldn’t be in it so it’s not that big a surprise.

“It wasn’t like I was a shock omission. I wasn’t expecting to be in. I took the call while driving to Toys R Us to buy a trampoline. I pulled up five minutes later and took stock.”

Rebounding has not proved a problem for the Liverpool-born defender but Sunday afternoon’s Merseyside derby takes place in unusual circumstances, with Everton and Liverpool closer to the relegation zone than the Champions League spots.

Too young to remember Kenny Dalglish’s first stint in charge of Liverpool — he was six when the Scot left Anfield in 1991 — Baines is sure that the power-shift from Merseyside to Manchester will not be a permanent one.

“The onus is definitely going to be more on Liverpool to come and get a result, given the fact they haven’t been able to get results recently,” he said. “It is a massive game for both clubs who have both underachieved so far this season. They are both looking to turn around.

“Liverpool and Everton both want to be up there like the Manchester sides but the reality is we’re not. The league table doesn’t lie, the onus is on the players and staff to turn it round. We have to look at ourselves and start climbing the table.”

Australian Open: Andy Murray has two years to win grand slam title, insists former champion Boris Becker

Without wanting to give Andy Murray a mid-life crisis at the age of 23, Boris Becker has argued that the Scot has only two years left to possibly win a first grand slam title. After that, he believes, ‘‘it’s going to get impossible”.

Time is ticking: Great British hope Andy Murray only has two years to win a grand slam title, according to Boris Becker Photo: AFP

By Mark Hodgkinson, in Melbourne 11:59PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Of course, not everyone can win their first slam at 17, as Becker did when he became the Wimbledon champion while he was still going through puberty, yet the former world No 1 has said that Murray must take any opportunities he creates over the next couple of seasons. If he does not he may find that he will never go through a drawsheet in Melbourne, Paris, London or New York.

For the global tennis audience, the biggest possible thrill of this Australian Open would be to watch Rafael Nadal becoming the first man to hold all four majors simultaneously since Rod Laver 42 years ago.

Britain’s sofa-surfing public, however, will be hoping for something not seen for three-quarters of a century, a Briton winning a men’s grand slam single title. In the 75 years since Fred Perry’s victory at the 1936 US Open, the only British men to have held a grand slam trophy on court have been the royals and All England Club committee members handing out the prizes at Wimbledon.

So Britain’s tennis public have been waiting a while, yet Becker said Murray must appreciate that he does not have that much time left to win a slam.

Plenty to think about before Murray opens his grand slam year on Tuesday against Karol Beck, a Slovakian who was given a two-year doping suspension after he tested positive for a steroid in 2005.

Scan the list of male grand slam champions from recent years, and the ages at which they won their first major, and you can appreciate the point that Becker was making about Murray needing to make his move.

All of the last seven men to have won one or more slams — Andy Roddick, Roger Federer, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Gastón Gaudio, Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro — were 25 or younger when they first took the microphone and made a champion’s speech.

The two grand slam champions before that, Albert Costa and Thomas Johansson, were 26 years old, so the only man to have scored his first slam in his late twenties was Goran Ivanisevic, who, as a 29-year-old wild card, somehow ended up winning Wimbledon. But Ivanisevic’s victory was so freaky that it defies most analysis.

The average age of players in the top 100 is getting older, with no teenagers with double-digit rankings. This

is because boys need to physically mature into men before they have enough explosive power to live with everyone else on the men’s tour, however it is rare for anyone to win a first slam after their mid-twenties.

There have been some thin times in men’s tennis, but it has never been more difficult to go unbeaten through a grand slam fortnight, as, between them, Federer and Nadal have won 21 of the last 23 majors.

In a couple of years, a younger generation, including the likes of Grigor Dimitrov and Ricardas Berankis, may well have established themselves in the top 10. By 2013, Nadal and Federer are unlikely to be as effective as they are now, but that does not mean that the stage will be left to the greatest British talent of modern times.

“Murray has two years left to win a grand slam, and after that it’s going to get impossible,” Becker told The Sunday Telegraph. “No one is getting any younger, and Murray will turn 24 this year, so in a couple of years he will be 26, and that’s not so young for a tennis player, and you would expect that another group of players would have come through by then.

“Murray has a good opportunity to win this Australian Open, as he has the talent to do it, but I hope that he realises that he does not have an unlimited amount of time to win a major, as if it doesn’t happen for him soon, so sometime in the next couple of years, it might not happen at all.

“In my opinion, Murray has just 24 months left to possibly become a grand slam champion.”

On the Rod Laver Arena last January, Murray came within three sets of winning a slam, losing to Federer in straight sets, just as he had when he played the Swiss for the title at the 2008 US Open.

It ended up being a mixed year for Murray, as he lost in the fourth round of the French Open to Tomas Berdych, to Nadal in the Wimbledon semi-finals, and then at the US Open he had what was arguably the most excruciating defeat of his grand slam career, a meek third-round loss to Stanislas Wawrinka.

“It was an up-and-down year for Murray. Though he had a disappointing US Open, he finished the season well at the year-end championships in London, and hopefully he will have carried that form over into this year,” said Becker. “Federer is my favourite to win this Australian Open, but I would put Murray next.”

Nadal, on a 21-match unbeaten run at the slams after his wins at last season’s French Open, Wimbledon and US Open, has not lost at the majors since retiring from his quarter-final here against Murray last January.

If they are to play again this year, it would be a round later, in the semi-finals. Nadal, whose preparations were complicated by flu, starts against Brazil’s Marcos Daniel, while Federer, who could end up without a slam in his possession for the first time since 2003, has been paired in the first round with Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko.

“If Nadal wins this year’s Australian Open, it would be a grand slam to me, even though he would not have won all four titles in the same year,” Becker said.

“It would be one of the greatest achievements ever by a tennis player.”

Murray shares that view. “But,” he said, “I really hope that Rafa doesn’t do it”.

Young grand slam winners

The age at which the last 10 men to win a grand slam for the first time picked up the trophy.

- Juan Martin del Potro 2009 US Open -20

- Novak Djokovic 2008 Australian Open -20

- Rafael Nadal 2005 French Open -19

- Gaston Gaudio 2004 French Open -25

- Juan Carlos Ferrero 2003 French Open -23

- Roger Federer 2003 Wimbledon -21

- Andy Roddick 2003 US Open -21

- Albert Costa 2002 French Open -26

- Thomas Johansson 2002 Australian Open -26

- Goran Ivanisevic 2001 Wimbledon -29

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United: Spurs need a new stadium in order to reach next level

To dare is to do. So says the motto of Tottenham Hotspur, and there have been few bolder moves than those currently being proposed at White Hart Lane.

By Gerry Cox 11:59PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Harry Redknapp’s side prepare for the visit of Manchester United with Tottenham Hotspur at their healthiest position since the Premier League was formed almost 20 years ago.

In the last 16 of the Champions League and in the running for the top four – if not higher – again, Redknapp has a side that he believes is not far behind United in terms of depth and ability, and capable of closing the gap.

Tottenham’s transformation from bottom of the table to the Champions League in barely 18 months under Redknapp has been well documented, and he believes the club now has its strongest group of players for a generation at least.

But off the field, Spurs are still mid-table in comparison to the likes of United, Arsenal, Chelsea and the other big clubs vying for world domination.

Tottenham’s revenue for 2009/2010 was £120m, less than half United’s £286m, way below Arsenal’s £223m and some way behind the income that Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City received from a combination of ticket sales, TV revenue and commercial activities.

And with new investment promised at City, Liverpool and others, Spurs know they need to make up the difference. All of which accounts for the radical changes that are proposed.

Daniel Levy, Tottenham’s chairman, has two long-held ambitions for the club; to play Champions League football on a regular basis, and to be doing so in a huge new stadium.

White Hart Lane can create an atmosphere like few other grounds in the world, especially on special nights such as the demolition of European Champions Inter back in October.

But a capacity of around 38,000 cannot generate the sort of revenue Spurs require to move from being one of the world’s 20 richest clubs to the top 10, or even top five.

Nor can Tottenham attract the sort of massive sponsorship deals they seek when they are so low-profile in global terms. Despite the proliferation of Premier League football in over 200 countries worldwide, Spurs have rarely registered on world football’s radar in comparison to United, Liverpool and Co.

On a pre-season tour of South Korea five years ago, the only player recognised by the locals was Robbie Keane, and that was because he had recently played there for Ireland in the World Cup.

It is a similar story in many other parts of Asia, America and the Middle East, and if Tottenham want to attract the sort of sponsors that will help fund a new stadium, they need to look in those emerging football markets.

The search started two years ago, with director Paul Barber, formerly of the FA, trawling the world looking for investment. The club were close to a deal in the middle-east last year, but nothing came of it and Barber has since departed to become chief executive of Vancouver Whitecaps.

This is where David Beckham, the Olympic Stadium and a host of influential board members come in. Redknapp was asked whether the ‘circus’ surrounding Beckham’s on-off loan/training arrangement with Spurs was a problem.

Not for the manager, and certainly not for Levy, who is delighted to have the world’s most famous footballer being beamed around the world with a cockerel on his chest.

Brand Beckham can only bolster Tottenham’s own brand, which has already been boosted by the performances of Gareth Bale and Co in the Champions League.

Just as important is Tottenham’s proposed move to Stratford. Having been perceived initially as a way of turning the heat on Haringey in their long and painful battle to get planning approval for the redevelopment of White

Hart Lane, plan B has now become plan A for the club. They do not mind the controversy surrounding their proposal to dismantle the Olympic Stadium after 2012 and transpose their own navy blue print on the site. Indeed, the outcry from West Ham, the athletics world and even their local MP has helped put Tottenham on the map by creating headlines around the world.

However much it may upset the traditionalists, the business case for moving to Stratford is compelling – and it is worth pointing out Levy studied Land Economy at Cambridge.

It is not just about the vast difference in cost between building in Tottenham or Stratford, it is about location, location, location. Stratford is rapidly becoming a major transport hub, with superb transport links from all part of South-East England and Europe.

White Hart Lane, by contrast, is the most inaccessible football ground in the Premier League, with no tube station within a 20-minute walk, a huge controlled parking zone, and limited rail and bus services. It currently struggles to cope with 36,000 fans on matchdays, so increasing that number by 20,000 or so would be extremely difficult.

Stratford is also on the doorstep of Canary Wharf and the City of London, the UK’s financial centre of Britain. The Olympic Park is undergoing huge redevelopment and is about to become one of the most vibrant areas for leisure and recreation in the country.

Putting Tottenham Hotspur in the heart of it would be giving the club the highest possible profile, and Spurs make no bones about their intentions.

The aforementioned motto has already been changed from the Latin version Audere Est Facere, and the crest Beckham wears on his chest has been streamlined from the old club badge that used to include Bruce Castle and the trees of Northumberland Park.

The transition of Tottenham Hotspur is already afoot – will moving home take them to the next level?

Financial Table for Spurs and Manchester United 2010

Tottenham Hotspur

Manchester United

Stadium capacity

36,310

76,000

Revenue

£119.8m

£286m

Match Day Revenue

£27m

£100m

TV Revenue

£52m

£105m

Commercial

£41m

£81m

Sponsorship

£17.5m

£40m

Wage Bill

£67m

£134m

Sunderland v Newcastle: Joey Barton believes he is playing better than anyone in England

Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton has claimed that he is currently playing better than anyone else in the country as he took a swipe at England head coach Fabio Capello.

Self-belief: Joey Barton feels he deserves more credit for his form with Newcastle United and should have received more international call-ups Photo: GETTY IMAGES

By Rob Stewart 11:59PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Barton, 28, earned his solitary England cap in February 2007 as a substitute in a friendly against Spain during his Manchester City days and had a dig at Capello as manager Alan Pardew called for him to return to the international fold.

“I think I am a better player now than when I signed,” Barton said. “I don’t think it is for me to say but at the end of the day I don’t think there is anyone playing better than me in this country. That’s an honest answer, not a big-headed answer.

“There are probably six or seven midfielders get in a squad for an England game and I don’t think there are two English players playing better than me at the minute.

As for Capello’s selection policy, Barton, whose career has been punctuated by controversy, insisted “it’s not all about football”.

Fabio Capello came in and said he wanted to pick form players, but I don’t think he has done that,” Barton said.

“Some of the players that have been picked have not been form players. If the selection policy is form players then there are not 21 better or in-form players than me in the country.

In terms of his domestic future Barton wants to stay at Newcastle and has opened contract extension talks.

“There has been a lot of paper speculation so I went and said I don’t want to go,” Barton said.

“I am enjoying being at the football club and hopefully they will get a new deal sorted out and I can stay here for the rest of my career.”

Pardew is hoping Barton will underline his case for England recognition in the febrile atmosphere of the Wear-Tyne derby against Sunderland on Sunday.

Pardew believes Barton has shown he has what it takes to represent his country and now the Stadium of Light stage is set for the midfielder to further his cause by controlling his temper against Newcastle’s arch-rivals.

“If you put aside his disciplinary issues, if you can, because if you are England manager you might find that difficult with the Football Association, but if you did put that to one side, he has got to be a contender for the England team, got to be,” Pardew said.

“In that position that he adopts for us on the right side of a four, he does that as well as anyone in the Premier League.”

To step up his rehabilitation Barton must ensure there is no repeat of his behaviour in his first North-East derby when he had to make a public apology for a dangerous tackle on Sunderland’s Dickson Etuhu.

“He is a maverick character and you can’t ever knock that out of him,” Pardew added.

“It is part of what makes him a very good player. He does tread a very thin line.

"He seems to have made that line a little bit thicker than it was. Let’s hope it widens rather than narrows on Sunday.

“He has proven he has repaired a lot of damage in his career, especially this season.

"He has shown what a great player he can be. He can’t get any more stick than he got at Tottenham. That would take some doing. It was awful.”

Pardew hopes dead-ball specialist Barton, reported to have interested West Ham United and Aston Villa, will sign a new long-term contract at St James’ Park although his current £65,000-per-week deal may prove a stumbling block.

“I want to keep Joey at the club,” Pardew said.

“The situation around his contract is very delicate and I can’t say any more than that.

"It is very important that the crux of our team stays. We have some offers for our players and we have done very well so far to kill them off. If anyone did put money on the table they are going to find it very difficult.”

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce is seeking to avenge his derby-day humiliation when his side were beaten 5-1 at St James’ Park in October.

“In a lot of people’s eyes we still aren’t forgiven and I understand that. Thankfully in 12 games since we have done remarkably well,” Bruce said.

“I was pleased with the way we responded because it could have been me for the high jump.

“No one saw that Newcastle result coming and then within a few weeks we went to Chelsea I had the best result of my career (a 3-0 win).

"That is what football is all about. You have the worst result of your career and then the best two weeks later. That sums it up.”

Derby day notes

Head to head: Newcastle 52 wins, Sunderland 44 wins, 46 draws.

Bad blood: Newcastle’s 5-1 victory on Oct 31 was a real Hallowe’en horror show: nine yellow cards and a red for Titus Bramble. A few weeks later, Darren Bent accused Newcastle fans of vandalising his car.

What they’re saying: “All week, there’s been a frisson. Pardew’s still trying to get fans on his side after Stevenage – but it’s all about Bruce’s revenge mission.”

Darren Kelso, The Journal

Mark Kennedy: 15 other undercover police infiltrated green movement

An undercover policeman who spent seven years living as an environmental activist has claimed that at least 15 other agents had infiltrated the movement and disclosed that sexual entanglements with them were commonplace.

By John Bingham 3:45PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

Mark Kennedy, 41, a former Metropolitan Police officer who posed as a climate change protester known as "Mark Stone", spoke out about the “grey and murky” world of undercover policing in which he said “really bad stuff” was secretly going on.

Last week the £1 million trial of six environmental activists accused of plotting to break into the Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire collapsed amid questions over Mr Kennedy’s involvement.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is now investigating whether Nottinghamshire Police withheld secret recordings made by Mr Kennedy showing that those accused were innocent of conspiracy from the prosecution.

Lawyers for 20 others who have already been found guilty over the planned sabotage said last night that Mr Kennedy’s disclosures suggested they had been the victims of a miscarriage of justice.

Mr Kennedy, whose estranged wife Edel and two British-born children live in the west of Ireland, fled to the United States after his double life was exposed by green activists.

He is now understood to have private security officers keeping a “discrete” watch on him after he voiced fears for his life and is being represented by Max Clifford, the public relations specialist.

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday the former policeman said he had been “hung out to dry” by his former handlers in the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) which sent him to infiltrate radical environmental groups in 2003.

He insisted that he had been instrumental in preventing “bloodshed” amid clashes between police and protesters and claimed that key intelligence he had gathered had been passed to Tony Blair and other European leaders.

He acknowledged for the first time that during his time undercover he had been sexual relationships with two activist women, admitting that what he had done was "wrong".

Fellow protesters have questioned whether the women truly gave their consent as they did not know his true identity.

But Mr Kennedy said other undercover police had also become sexually entangled with their subjects in a promiscuous environment in which some people had up to six lovers at a time.

“I was offered sex repeatedly,” he told the newspaper.

“And I was not the only undercover operator having a relationship but our handlers never asked.”

He added: “That is the problem about this whole undercover police operation. There seem to be no guidelines, no rules – I was pretty much left to fend for myself.”

Mr Kennedy also disclosed that he knew of at least 15 other undercover police who had infiltrated the movement and said that by the time he left in 2009 there were at least four others.

“The world of undercover policing is grey and murky," he said.

“There is some bad stuff going on, really bad stuff.”

The scale of public money invested in such operations was also laid bare as he disclosed that in addition to his £50,000-a-year salary, his handlers paid up to £200,000 a year into a secret bank account to help him maintain his cover.

Mike Schwarz, the lawyer who represented the Ratcliffe-on-Soar protesters said that the convictions of the 20 people already found guilty of conspiring to take over the plant might now be unsafe.

“Potentially it looks like a miscarriage of justice and a lot depends on the prosecution doing what they should have done at the beginning and establishing what Kennedy’s wider role was and making the information available.”

He is calling for a judicial inquiry into the affair.

The wife of the undercover policeman struggling to come to terms with his secret affairs

For eight years he lived a life of deception, gaining the trust of environmental campaigners and even going as far as sleeping with some of them.

By Patrick Sawer, Michael Howie and Harriet Alexander 9:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

But they weren't the only victims of Mark Kennedy, the undercover policeman whose job was to infiltrate radical environmental and anarchist groups.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal today that while he was travelling across Britain and the rest of Europe, under the cover name Mark Stone, gathering information on militant activists, his wife was living a quiet life with their two children, deep in rural Ireland.

Although she was aware of her husband's profession, friends say she only found out about the affairs recently and has now split from her husband.

A close friend of Mrs Kennedy, who went to school with her, said: "I think the first she knew about these affairs was a few months ago. That'll be what's killed the marriage off. I have spoken to her since the news came out and obviously she's very upset.

"It's not what you to have landing on your doorstep. She's resilient, a tough one. But she's upset and we're all trying to support her.

"Everybody now knows what he's been up to and there's so much sympathy for her. Edel's a lovely lady."

Mr Kennedy's role as a covert operative was exposed last week after the collapse of a criminal case against six environmental activists. It was claimed Mr Kennedy played a key role in organising a planned occupation of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, near Nottingham, in 2009.

According to the activists' legal team, Mr Kennedy had offered to give evidence for the defence. The case has raised major questions over how the police uses its undercover officers to infiltrate and monitor the activities of environmental campaigners.

The close-knit village where Mrs Kennedy lives, which The Sunday Telegraph has chosen not to name, yesterday described how Mr Kennedy would return to visit his family after long periods of time away.

They said that over time he underwent a dramatic transformation, from the man with the regulation short back and sides haircut to a man with long flowing tresses and a number of tattoos on his arms.

Dan Breen, 75, a neighbour, said: "Everybody knew Mark was an undercover cop. But Edel would never talk about him. You'll never hear a bad word about her or her family. They are highly-respected."

Edel met and fell love with Mark Kennedy, the son of a policeman, from Orpington in Kent, around the time that he joined the Metropolitan police. He graduated as a police constable from Hendon police training college in 1994 and in May that year the couple married in the church in her home village, in the Irish Republic.

Following the wedding the newly-married couple returned to Orpington, setting up home in a house close to Mr Kennedy's parents, and started a family. Mrs Kennedy, who worked as a retail manager, gave birth to their first child, a boy, in 1998.

The following year Mr Kennedy was recruited into the police's secretive National Public Intelligence Unit and began training for the difficult and sometimes dangerous task of going undercover.

In 2000 Edel and Mark celebrated the arrival of their second child, a baby girl. However, the strain of living with her husband's double life already appeared to be taking its toll.

Around 2003 – just as Mr Kennedy was beginning to infiltrate radical groups such as Earth First and Dissent, requiring him to befriend and live with his "fellow activists" and spend longer periods away from home – she took the couple's two young children and returned to a village in Ireland.

Once there, Mrs Kennedy became active in local affairs, joining the Community Council and working in voluntary groups while her children went to school.

Her husband would surface from his secret life to visit his wife and children at their two-storey house a couple of miles outside the village.

It wasn't until just before Christmas that friends realised that something was wrong.

"Someone was talking to her about Mark, asking if he was coming over for Christmas. She said something like he wasn't coming back for Christmas any more," said one friend.

Father Michael Campbell, a priest who knows Mrs Kennedy well, said: "Edel is a lovely lady. It must be very difficult for her and her family at the moment."

While Mrs Kennedy had been raising the couple's children, Mr Kennedy was living a second life across the Irish Sea, in Nottingham. Here he had infiltrated the environmental campaign against Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station.

While there he was frequently visited by a second undercover officer, a police woman known only as Officer A, who had spent four years posing as an environmental activist in Leeds.

To friends and neighbours Mr Kennedy referred to the woman, who would appear at regular intervals in her camper van, as his girlfriend.

Her identity was exposed when he confessed that she was a police colleague, after he was himself unmasked when his activist friends discovered his real passport in October last year.

Mohammed Ishaq, who lives next to a house in Nottingham which Mr Kennedy occupied in 2006 and 2007, said: "The woman in the camper van said she was from the Leeds area and that she was Mark's girlfriend.

"No one knew he was a police officer. He was always disappearing up north to go climbing. At least that's what I thought. Then, all of a sudden, he said he was leaving to go to America."

A number of women who had sexual relationships with Mr Kennedy, while believing he was a fellow activist, are now considering suing the police.

One with whom Mr Kennedy had a long-running affair in Germany, where he made regular trips between 2005 and 2009 to build contacts with green and anarchist groups, has told friends she feels "violated" by him. Another German woman who had a brief fling with Mr Kennedy is said to be "deeply upset".

Matthias Monroy, a researcher in the German parliament, told The Sunday Telegraph: "Men and women were seduced into giving away secrets.

"It underlines what one of his former partners has said; that she feels raped. He pretended to be someone else, and they had sex."

Activists in Germany are also claiming that Kennedy attempted to incite illegal activity by anti-fascist groups by offering to bring over a "crew" of British activists to confront local neo-Nazis.

Jason Fitzpatrick, a former close friend of Mr Kennedy in Berlin, said 'Stone' had offered to "sort out" any local problems with right wing extremists.

Mr Fitzpatrick now believes this was as a result of a request to British police by their German counterparts for help in infiltrating radical anti-Nazi groups in the country.

While gathering intelligence Mr Kennedy also appeared to revel in the 'alternative' lifestyle of his fellow militants. He even had a sideline as a DJ, staging parties in Berlin.

Mr Fitzpatrick, 42, an American documentary maker, said: "People liked Mark and he liked the beers, the parties, the women. If there was a party at the weekend, sure we'd end up there. He was a great DJ. His name was DJ Escape. That's is funny now.

"But thinking about it, what he did to these girls is an absolute disgrace."

There is growing suspicion in Berlin that Mr Kennedy had a German handler to whom he regularly reported.

Mr Fitzpatrick said: "Why would Mark come over to meetings about the German G8 protests? Why would a British policeman want info on what is essentially a German policing operation? It doesn't make any sense. He must have had a German handler for that."

It was claimed yesterday that the case against the six Ratcliffe defendants collapsed because Nottinghamshire Police withheld secret recordings of Mr Kennedy with activists that "fatally undermined the case against the protesters".

An investigation into the affair is to be carried out by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

IPCC Commissioner Amerdeep Somal said: "We will look independently at whether Nottinghamshire Police met their obligations under relevant procedures to disclose evidence to the CPS in this case."

Mike Schwarz, defence solicitor for Ratcliffe defendants, said: "What Kennedy was up to raises big questions about the strategy used by covert officers. There now has to be a proper, judge led, inquiry, not only into what Kennedy has done, but also into the wider question of the use of undercover police officers against peaceful protest groups."

Mr Kennedy, who has resigned from the Metropolitan Police, is believed to have gone abroad amid fears for his safety. A friend said last night: "Mark is feeling vulnerable, frightened and very upset about how the police and the authorities appeared to have turned on him after years of working for them and supplying valuable information."

Militants from Berlin's Anarchist Black Cross group stated yesterday: "We hope that Mark has to look behind him and be vigilant his whole life. That is the minimum price he has to pay."

Foreign insects threatening British gardens

Four foreign insects are posing a serious threat to British gardens as they spread across the country, experts are warning.

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent 1:57PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

The bugs, which are not native to Britain but were brought here accidentally from abroad, are now considered to be among the greatest threats to popular garden plants.

Herbs such as rosemary and sage, flowers such as lilies and fritillaries, and shrubs such as berberis are all under attack.

Until recently sightings of the insects have been confined to the south east of England.

But horticulturalists monitoring the spread of the Rosemary Beetle, Scarlet lily Beetle, Berberis sawfly and Hemerocallis gall midge have warned that the creatures are rapidly spreading northwards and westwards across Britain.

Latest surveillance figures show the insects are now being found as far north as Scotland and as far west as Wales and Cornwall.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has named the insects as its "Most Wanted" pests and is urging gardeners to be on the look out for them.

Andrew Halstead, principal entomologist at the RHS, said: "It is quite worrying how widespread they now are. They defoliate the plants or spoil the flowers. Even it they do not kill the plants, they leave them weakened.

"The main reason for their continued arrival in Britain seems to be from imported plants. Climate change is almost certainly playing a role in their spread.

"As the summers have got warmer and winters milder, it has allowed pests that were restricted to the south of England to spread further north.

The insects are among the growing number of non-native invasive species that are causing devastation across the British landscape.

One of the insects that has spread most rapidly is the Rosemary beetle, which attacks herbs such as rosemary, thyme, sage and lavender.

The other insects are the Scarlet lily Beetle, which targets the leaves of lilies and fritillaries; the Berberis sawfly which defoliates some species of the of the popular Berberis and Mahonia evergreen shrubs; and the Hemerocallis gall midge which attacks lays its eggs in the flowers of day lilies.

A fifth insect known as the Fuchsia gall mite, which targets the flowers of Fuchsia plants, is also causing experts concern but is not as wide spread as the others yet and is mainly confined to the south coast of England.

The RHS is attempting to find new ways of controlling the insects to slow their spread and to help gardeners reduce the harm they can cause to their plants.

Dr Ray Cannon, principal entomologist at the Government's Food and Environment Research Agency, said attempts to control the spread of insects like the rosemary beetle had failed and it is likely to continue spreading as the climate changes.

He said: "It has spread very, very rapidly and there is probably very little we can do to stop it now.

"Even with the best efforts of the quarantine services, it is not always possible to stop insects from arriving in this country and climate change is making the job of preventing pests from becoming established even harder.

"There are quite a number of pests arriving in the UK that we are concerned about. They pose a threat not just to garden plants, but to trees and food producing plants."

Rosemary Beetle

Latin name: Chrysolina americana

Description: Adults have bright green metallic wing casings with purple stripes. Grubs are greyish white with five dark longitudinal lines.

Size: 8mm (1/3 of an inch)

Native habitat: southern Europe.

First found in UK: 1994.

Impact: Devours the leaves of rosemary, lavender, thyme, sage and other related plants.

When it feeds: Summer months and warm winter days.

Current distribution: Prevalent in south east England but found as far north as Edinburgh and Glasgow, is well established in Liverpool and Swansea. Also sighted in Devon and west Wales.

Berberis sawfly

Latin name: Arge berberidis

Description: Bluish black flies with dark grey wings and upswept antennae. Larvae are caterpillar like, creamy white with black spots and yellow blotches.

Size: 7-9mm (1/4 to 1/3 of an inch). Larvae up to 18mm long (3/4 of an inch).

Native habitat: mainland Europe.

First found in UK: 2002.

Impact: Larvae eats the leaves of Berberis and Mahonia plants.

When it feeds: May to October.

Current distribution: Common around London and surrounding counties but has now spread north to Liverpool and York.

Hemerocallis gall midge

Latin name: Contarinia quinquenotata

Description: Tiny fly that lays its eggs inside the flowers; small white maggots develop leaving the buds swollen and unopened.

Size: midge and larvae 2-3mm (less than 1/8 of an inch)

Native habitat: mainland Europe

First found in UK: 1989

Impact: Larvae eats the inside of flower buds of day lilies

When it feeds: May to early July

Current distribution: Common around London but has also spread to Midlands, Yorkshire, Edinburgh, and near Prestwick Airport in Scotland

Scarlet lily Beetle

Latin name: Lilioceris lilii

Description: Bright red or scarlet with a black head and legs. Larvae have orange bodies with black heads.

Size: 8mm (1/3 of an inch)

Native habitat: mainland Europe and Asia.

First found in UK: 1930s.

Impact: Eats leaves, stems, buds and flowers of lilies and fritillaries.

When it feeds: April to September.

Current distribution: Found in almost all parts of England, including Cornwall and the north of England. Has been found as far north as Nairnshire in the north of Scotland and is prevalent around Glasgow and Edinburgh. It has also recently been discovered in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

RHS modernisation drive to tackle climate change

The Royal Horticultural Society has issued guidance to gardeners to plant drought resistant flowers and rip up their patios for more garden in a bid to deal with climate change.

By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent 8:30AM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

The ancient institution wants gardeners to become more environmnetally sustainable but has sparked fury from members who are unhappy with the new focus.

It is advising gardeners to put their hosepipes away unless absolutely necessary in order to save water.

And it says the warming climate will attract more invasive plants and diseases and is asking gardeners to weed out aliens and report foreign bugs.

Peat, the staple for gardeners for centuries, has been blacklisted because digging up the soil causes greenhouse gases to be released.

Even the traditional English lawn is in danger of being 'environmentally unsustainable' because of the huge amount of fertiliser and water needed to keep it green. The RHS is investigating more sustainable alternatives that allow moss and wild flowers.

Other plants in the garden that could attract bees and insects include lavender or sunflowers, while nettles can be left for butterflies and wood piles for hedgehogs.

People who live in the city are being encouraged to rip up the patio and plant trees, because they suck up carbon dioxide. Communities can grow their own vegetables in wasteland by the local car park or hospital in order to make urban areas more green and boost self-sufficiency.

The new direction was announced after a meeting with 30 other institutions including other charities such as the RSPB and National Trust, universities and government agencies.

It was decided the RHS must focus on four key areas: encouraging wildlife, adapting to climate change, greening cities and reducing the use of resources like water and peat.

Roger Williams, Head of Science at the RHS, said gardeners can make a real difference.

He said the £1.5 million science programme is already conducting experiments on how to garden using less peat and identifying new diseases creeping into the country with climate change.

“Whether or not you accept climate change is man made there is lots of evidence that we have a more unstable climate and it is getting warmer. What will that mean for gardeners and how can we adapt to that?”

But Peter Seabrook, a member for more than 50 years, said the RHS should be concentrating on its core purpose, which is to encourage more people to garden successfully.

“I think they should leave all those other matters to others because the need for garden advice and education is frightening.”

The 200-year-old organisation, that is best known for the Chelsea Flower Show, has been through a turbulent couple of years with more than 100 redundancies and three new director generals.

Sue Biggs, the latest Director General, said the RHS will modernise over the next few years.

“Clearly there are people who feel it has been elitist or exclusive or it is only if you have a large garden,” she said.

“I think the biggest single issue is to really make the RHS more open and accessible to all people interested in gardens and gardening.”

Mrs Biggs insisted the RHS will continue to focus on its core purpose, which is to encourage successful gardening through research, education and advice.

But she also said “gardening matters’ and more could be done to help to tackle issues like ‘climate change’, as well as making the RHS more inclusive and ‘fun’.

“I hope it will be an organisation that continues to deliver advice and inspiration for gardeners but I hope it will also be a bit more open and perhaps a little bit more fun," she said.

What can you do to help tackle climate change?

Rip up those paving slabs and plant a ‘city garden’ that will not only help soak up pollution but stop flooding and boost wildlife.

Plant ‘drought resistant’ species like rock roses or cacti. Also be prepared for flooding or extreme weather when planting.

Join a local community group to turn local wasteland or even a patch of the hospital car park into a veg patch or flower bed.

Reduce the use of peat, that is dug up from bogs around the world, therefore releasing greenhouse gases.

Use compost on the garden that not only reduces the need for chemical fertilisers or peat, but uses up kitchen scraps.

Reduce the need for watering by different planting styles or storing rain water.

Make sure your greenhouse is ‘energy efficient’, for example by double glazed cladding and computerised climate controls.

Use more efficient tools such as a cylinder mower rather than a rotary or even a push model.

Reduce chemical use, for example by using organic plant tonics such as compost tea.

Plant bee-friendly plants such as lavender and leave wild patches for insects.

Leave wood piles for hedgehogs and other animals.

Pc Mark Kennedy: inquiry into police 'cover up' of climate group evidence

A £1million trial against six climate change activists was dropped by prosecutors because police withheld key evidence that exonerated the environmentalists, it was claimed.

By Andrew Hough 8:00AM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

The police watchdog on Friday launched an independent inquiry into Nottinghamshire Police amid claims officers covered up the role of their undercover colleague who infiltrated the group.

It was initially thought that prosecutors dropped the case against six men accused of plotting to shut down one of Britain’s largest coal-fired power stations because of the actions Pc Mark Kennedy.

The officer, who went under the name Mark Stone, worked undercover for seven years and was said to be at the heart of an alleged plot to break into and take over Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station near Nottingham.

It was understood that he last year offered to give evidence for the defence, forcing the Crown Prosecution Service to admit his involvement in the case.

But reports claimed that the main reason the prosecution case collapsed was because Nottinghamshire Police had withheld evidence that “fatally undermined the case against the protesters”.

The evidence was in the form of secret tapes that involved conversations between the six campaigners, in which the undercover officer was involved, The Times reported.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) on Friday announced it would conduct an inquiry into the affair.

The IPCC review comes after Julia Hodson, the Nottinghamshire Chief Constable, said there will be an internal review into the secret operation.

Pc Kennedy has resigned from the Metropolitan Police and is believed to have gone abroad amid fears for his safety after being unmasked.

The officer, who is now unemployed and in hiding, has called Max Clifford, the public relations specialist, amid claims he plans to sell his story.

It was further claimed that at least two other officers were also involved in operations and had conducted sexual relationships with some activitists.

Amerdeep Somal, from the IPCC, said the inquiry will focus on the alleged failure of Nottinghamshire Police to disclose relevant material to prosecutors.

"We have now assessed the referral from Nottinghamshire Police of a specific issue around disclosure relating to this high-profile case,” he said.

"After assessment, I have decided we will look independently at whether Nottinghamshire Police met their obligations under relevant procedures to disclose evidence to the CPS in this case."

Jon Collins, chair of Nottinghamshire Police Authority, said he is "disappointed" at the situation which is overshadowing other police work.

He said: "When policing major public order events, such as this protest, it is necessary that the police use all the resources available to them to maintain public safety."

A CPS spokeswoman referred inquiries last night to a statement issued earlier this week.

It said: “Previously unavailable information that significantly undermined the prosecution’s case came to light on Wednesday, 5 January 2011.

“In light of this information, the Crown Prosecution Service reviewed the case and decided there was no longer sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.

“We offered no evidence at a hearing this morning, thereby discontinuing the case.”

A Nottinghamshire Police spokesman was unavailable for comment.

Eco infiltrator Mark Kennedy: The great betrayal

The exposure of the eco infiltrator Mark Kennedy has highlighted the lack of supervision of undercover police officers – and left a trail of suspicion in activist circles. Neil Tweedie reports.

Unmasked: Mark Kennedy, the eco-activist exposed as a spy.

By Neil Tweedie 7:00AM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Mark Kennedy is about as uncovered as an undercover operator can be. Yesterday, the man who spent seven years infiltrating green protest groups, first as a police officer and then as a freelance spy, surrendered himself to the tender embrace of Max Clifford. The publicist is now hawking Kennedy’s story in an attempt to make some money for a man who spent an awful lot of ours – £1.75 million by his own admission – frolicking around Europe and conducting affairs with female eco campaigners in the guise of Mark ''Flash’’ Stone.

Kennedy’s decade-long double life transformed him from beat constable to bogus climate change activist and possibly something worse – an agent provocateur, actively encouraging the behaviour he was meant to stop. As an inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Commission begins into the activities of the officer, whose eleventh-hour decision to ''go native’’ appears to have sabotaged the trial of six protesters, the rules governing undercover policing have come under scrutiny.

“We need to know what Mr Kennedy was authorised to do by his minders and if he overstepped the mark,” says Mike Schwarz, solicitor for the six men.

Kennedy’s story is both disturbing and, occasionally, comic. Born in south London, he was a 30-year-old constable in the Metropolitan Police when he was selected for clandestine work with the secretive National Public Order Intelligence Unit. Formed in 1999, it is a small unit tasked with combating domestic extremism and specialising in long-term undercover operations.

Told to grow his hair long, pierce an ear and acquire a few tattoos, Kennedy was ordered to infiltrate the tight network of dedicated eco campaigners prepared to take direct action against fossil-fuelled power stations, airports and other carbon-emitting installations.

In 2003, equipped with a false passport, driving licence and home in Nottingham, he set off for a summer camp in Yorkshire. His carnivorous tendencies and capacious wallet (hence the nickname Flash) failed to alert his largely vegetarian, and less well-off, mates, who were impressed by his jokey manner, wrap-around shades and van.

A real alpha male, Flash was soon hanging banners from cranes and chaining himself to power station gates. He went on nocturnal reconnaissance missions, too, choosing the best ways to invade targeted sites. And all the time he was feeding intelligence to his handlers about the protesters, their plans, tactics and private lives. Flash was an expert on the private lives of some female campaigners – mainly because he was their private life, conducting a number of sexual relationships with women oblivious of his true identity.

Anna was one of them. She met Kennedy in 2005, at the age of 21. “He was very well connected and very active,” she recalled. “He was very keen to help out in any way he could. This movement is a small clique, so it is not difficult to run into the same people in various situations.”

The two met at events in Germany, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain, and slept together some 20 times. Anna knew Flash was seeing other women. “There was never any type of romance involved,” she explained, adding that she now felt “violated” by his actions.

Jean, an activist living in France, met Kennedy several times: “It is well known in the movement that Kennedy slept with a large number of women who didn’t know he was a police officer. It happened in Britain and across Europe over several years and some of the women were friends of mine.”

Events culminated in April 2009 with the arrest of 114 people gathered in a school hall in Nottingham in preparation for a protest at the coal-fired Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, which supplies energy to some two million people. Twenty campaigners were subsequently convicted of conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass, and another six – Mr Schwarz’s clients – were charged with conspiracy to shut down the plant.

Of course, Kennedy escaped prosecution. So far so good, but then things began to go wrong.

Last spring, for reasons unknown, Kennedy left the police. In need of an income, he set himself up as a freelance intelligence gatherer, remaining in the role of Mark Stone and providing information to private clients. Former PC Kennedy certainly had nerve: in August he attended an activists’ workshop on how to spot infiltrators. “He was one of the most lively, active and enthusiastic contributors to the meeting,” recalled Tilly Gifford, a campaigner, who the previous year had been offered money by police to act as an informer.

The website activistsecurity.org publishes a guide on how to spot “Infiltrators, Informers and Grasses”. Readers are warned to beware of campaigners who are over-generous with money and who insist on giving people lifts. Kennedy did both of these, but suspicions were not aroused.

The former police officer set up one company, Tokra, then another, Black Star High Access. The director’s address for now-defunct Tokra was that of Heather Millgate, a solicitor and friend of Kennedy’s. She had worked previously for Global Open, a company set up by former officers in Special Branch to advise companies on security, including the threat from “activist groups”. Among other things, its website promises: “Immediate circulation of new activist tactics” and “Circulation of the movement of activist groups”.

Kennedy’s luck could not last. In October, he made an elementary mistake, leaving his real passport lying around in his home. Confronted by fellow activists, he broke down and confessed. It turned out that he was not alone: there was a woman in Leeds, well-known in protest circles, who had disappeared in 2008. A popular figure, she had helped organise a protest at the Drax power station in Yorkshire. Kennedy identified her as a fellow police officer.

Last week, Kennedy, 41, appeared to exhibit remorse for his conduct when he contacted an activist from hiding. Saying that he wanted to “make amends” for his deceit, he offered to give evidence in the case of the six remaining Ratcliffe-on-Soar protesters, which collapsed after the Crown Prosecution Service withdrew charges.

“I hate myself so much. I betrayed so many people,” he said. “I owe it to a lot of good people to do something right for a change. I’m really sorry.” He also warned: “I’m not the only one – not by a long shot.”

The Kennedy case highlights the lack of oversight in the use of undercover officers. Telephone taps require warrants from the Home Secretary but the potentially far more invasive use of undercover operatives is left in the hands of senior police officers, and can be scrutinised by an external panel of ''surveillance commissioners’’ only after the fact.

Mr Schwarz is now pursuing the case of the 20 Ratcliffe-on-Soar protesters sentenced for trespass on the grounds that their convictions may be unsafe. “The police allowed this trial, unlike the later one, to run all the way to conviction,” he says.

“In the light of events earlier this week, this must be seen as a potential miscarriage of justice. The police are perceived as protecting polluting and damaging industry at the expense of freedom of speech,” says Mr Schwarz. “We need to ensure they act democratically and proportionately.”

Mr Kennedy, who is believed to be in the United States, may soon have his day in print.

“The pressure upon him and his family must now be weighty,” says Rod Leeming of Global Open, who says his company had little to do with Kennedy. “Sooner or later, I think that he will make a statement to correct some of the speculation on the internet and in the press.”

Whatever the justification, or lack of it, for his actions, Mark Kennedy has sewn mistrust in a movement that relies on small, intimate groups tied by trust and a belief in the cause.

“There is certainly a sense of betrayal,” says Paul Chatterton, a campaigner and academic at Leeds University.

Danny Chivers, one of the six protesters allowed to walk free this week, adds: “We’re not talking about someone sitting at the back of the meeting and taking notes – he was in the thick of it.”

Consumers 'misled' over cod labelling

Almost a fifth of packs of breaded cod fillets sold by Tesco were from threatened stocks, despite being labelled as environmentally-friendly, according to an investigation.

By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent 5:12PM GMT 14 Jan 2011

Comments

Almost a fifth of breaded cod fillets sold by Tesco were from threatened stocks, despite being labelled as environmentally-friendly, according to an investigation.

The product was labelled as ‘caught in the Pacific’, where stocks are still stable, and ‘responsibly sourced’.

However DNA tests by Channel 4’s Dispatches programme showed that four out of the 21 boxes of fillet tested were actually Atlantic cod, which is considered threatened.

Melissa Pritchard, who campaigns for sustainable fishing, said consumers are being misled.

"If the label is incorrect, in terms of where the fish was caught, then that cannot be argued as responsibly sourced ... Tesco should remove the product immediately on this basis that they have labelled it incorrectly".

Tesco said the cod was incorrectly labelled because they were not provided with the correct information by the supplier.

“Unfortunately on this occasion we were provided with incorrect information by our supplier. This has now been rectified and we are sorry for the error,” said a spokesman.

The findings come after a separate investigation by Client Earth, environmental lawyers, revealed that one in three labels on fish products cannot be backed up.

Only labels such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), that have third party certification, were considered robust.

Last year supermarkets were forced to improve country of origin labelling after the Irish pork scandal exposed incorrect labelling on meat.

The Dispatches programme, to be shown on Channel 4 on Sunday, also found the prawn industry in Bangladesh, which supplies Britain with several thousand tonnes of prawns each year, is dangerously unregulated.

The report exposes how prawns are farmed in waters containing toxic pesticide and sewage, and injected with a dirty bulking liquid to increase weight – and profit.

'Reformed scampi’, which is commonly sold in supermarkets and pubs across the UK, only contained 18 per cent scampi with the rest of the food made up of binding material.

Also packaged fish on sale in the chilled section of supermarkets may have been passed through several owners and frozen for nine months before it’s defrosted and sold to consumers.

Dispatches found consumers rarely noticed the small print selling "previously frozen" fish on the "fresh fish" counters at Asda and Tesco.

Miriam O’Reilly verdict: Don't write off our wrinkles

Will Miriam O’Reilly’s tribunal victory end years of ageism at the BBC? The Corporation's veteran broadcaster John Simpson, 66, hopes so.

By John Simpson 7:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

Broadcasting is largely an industry for the young. As you walk along the long, artificially lit corridors of Television Centre, there is a constant flow of men and women in their twenties and thirties, wearing casual clothes. Just occasionally you spot a man, or even more rarely a woman, with grey or even white hair. If you are on the elderly side yourself, a quick look passes between you. I've survived this far, the look says: how have you managed it?

Many of us oldies joke that the managers will hunt us down and cull us. Yet the people who usually are shown the way to the exit in a big broadcasting organisation like the BBC are the managers themselves, who rarely stay long into their fifties. Only two categories of people, by and large, survive beyond that: those on the technical side, and the on-screen talent.

For broadcasters, and primarily for the males among us, the situation is nothing like as dangerous as we like to present it. The BBC and ITV have always kept on a sizeable number of men beyond the age when most industries would have shown them the way out.

At present, as it happens, the screen is rather clogged with the elderly, especially in the field of news and current affairs: John Humphrys, Jon Snow, David Dimbleby and I are all of the bus-pass generation (currently defined as being born before April 1950), and Jeremy Paxman is only a month behind. Sir David Attenborough, at 84, shows that if you are good enough and held in sufficient affection and respect by your audience, you can keep going for another generation.

Of course a degree of ageism exists in the minds of broadcasting executives, because it's there in us all, but expressing ageist sentiments out loud has become unacceptable. Any organisation with a duty of care to its employees has to consider whether they are up to the job. At present, aged 66, I feel confident I am. Soon I shall be heading off to the farthest reaches of the Amazon, and I have complete confidence in my ability to keep up with the two younger people who will be with me while I'm there.

Yet my age inevitably means I am under greater scrutiny. Not long ago a news executive, who has now left the BBC, wondered out loud whether I wasn't too old to be going undercover to Zimbabwe.

But physical and mental ability are one thing; looks are quite another. Because I am a man, no one asks if I have too many wrinkles, or will look acceptable with the sweat pouring down my lived-in face when I appear on camera in the jungle. That is simply not an issue.

A key moment in the ageism case that Miriam O'Reilly won last Tuesday against the BBC came when her legal representative, Heather Williams QC, pointed out that there was a clear disparity between the sexes in broadcasting. "Physical appearance," she said, "is an issue for women in a way that it is not for men."

And she went on: "In prime time, it is much more common to see men who are wrinkled or overweight or who, in one way or other, could not be described as physically attractive."

As someone who is wrinkled, overweight and unattractive myself, I have to agree.

Nowadays, the BBC largely seems to be run by bright, clear-minded women, and programmes like Newsnight have always welcomed women on screen regardless of their age. At the same time, as we well know, talented women in their forties and fifties have lost their on-screen jobs. Sometimes there have been other reasons; but in the case of Miriam O'Reilly, her sole crime was getting older; this, after all, is why the BBC made a handsome apology to her last week, and has paid her accordingly.

Still, if ageism affects women more than men, it hasn't left men unscathed. Back in 2008 my wife Dee Krüger Simpson, who is a television producer, came up with an idea for a series which the BBC immediately latched onto. She proposed that the explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the round-the-world sailor Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and I would each take the others to his area of expertise.

I would take them to the Tora-Bora caves in Afghanistan, where the Taliban were still operating. Sir Ranulph would take us to the far north of Canada to man-haul sledges across the ice. Sir Robin would take us on a small boat around Cape Horn. The controller of BBC One liked the idea, and was prepared to put serious money behind it.

Then a crisis blew up, and he left. Another controller took over, and nothing was heard about our proposal for some time. Finally, in traditional BBC fashion, the word filtered down: "The controller doesn't think it fits the audience profile." That was BBC-speak for "These three old men will only interest older viewers, and we want to attract a much younger audience." In the end BBC Two took up the project, rather more cheaply. Its viewing figures were good, and apparently included large numbers of younger people.

Miriam O'Reilly's court victory means that controllers and programme bosses won't make this kind of snap judgement again so openly. And slighting references to the age or looks of broadcasters, male or female, will become as unacceptable as remarks about their ethnicity or sex. It was a landmark, and broadcasters, male and female, will benefit from it.

Not before time. Some years ago, a good friend and colleague of mine, with a particular reputation for thoughtfulness and accuracy, appeared on a news programme. He had turned 60, and wore a beard. The editor of the programme watched his performance, and was quoted by several people present as saying she didn't want to see that old man on her screen again. My friend left the staff of the BBC not long afterwards.

The former BBC One controller Jay Hunt, who was at the centre of the Miriam O'Reilly case, told the court that she "never considered the way somebody looks in the decision whether they appear on television. I would find it offensive." So would most of us. Jay Hunt, incidentally, was the executive who turned down our series with Sir Ranulph and Sir Robin.

Now, though, everything has changed. Jay Hunt has gone to Channel 4. The BBC, in the person of Alan Yentob, has apologised handsomely to Miriam O'Reilly, and has promised to talk to her about future work. As a result of her case, the anxiety that comes with wrinkles and greying hair will to some extent abate.

But there does have to be change. Keeping the same faces on television decade after decade can give continuity, and can even be comforting to viewers, who, like the nation as a whole, are getting older; but the broadcasting executives must be allowed to get rid of frontmen and women who can no longer cut the mustard.

Miriam O'Reilly's great achievement is that it will be far harder from now on for a single top executive to get rid of on-screen talent merely on the basis of a single, irreflective, flippant judgement.

The NHS suffers seasonal sickness

Telegraph View: The health service annually fails to cope with a wholly predictable winter surge of illness

By Telegraph View 7:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

It has happened again: the NHS has been unable to cope with a surge of very sick patients in the depths of winter. Hospitals, as we report today, have had to turn away patients because they have been overwhelmed with people needing treatment. Even those requiring intensive care have had to wait, sometimes for very extended periods. “It is not good enough,” the President of the College of Emergency Medicine has told this newspaper. “We are failing the public.”

We expect sickness in winter, but it always seems to take the NHS by surprise

The central problem here is that NHS appears to be incapable of planning for – or structurally unable to cope with – the wholly predictable surge of patients that happens every year in the six weeks around Christmas. We accept that the increase in infections such as norovirus, the “winter vomiting bug”, causes problems for hospital managers: norovirus is rampantly infectious, and requires patients to be isolated, which is extremely difficult without putting entire wards out of action.

That said: is it really impossible to deal with predictable surges in demand for health care? Many other health services in Europe manage to get through the winter months without tottering on the edge of collapse. Why cannot the NHS? Without a decent explanation, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that something is seriously wrong with the service, despite its vast budget and colossal levels of manpower.

Part of the problem this year, perhaps, is that officials learnt the wrong lesson from last year’s swine flu debacle. Then, they were castigated for over-reacting to an epidemic that failed to materialise. This year, they went to the opposite extreme, and failed to predict or react sufficiently quickly to a genuine problem. Will they get it right next time? We hope so – but if the past is any guide, we will almost certainly be disappointed.

Conjuring a profit

Telegraph View: Paul Daniels's eBay auction of his magic tricks is understandable but disappointing.

By Telegraph View 7:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

There will probably be keen bidding on eBay for the magic box, property of P Daniels, that can turn a cuddly toy tiger into a tender maiden clad in a tiger-print leotard (though the buyer must expect to find, in fine print somewhere on the packaging, "Glamorous Assistant Not Included"). As we report today, the paraphernalia that the prodigious prestidigitator is selling is certainly unusual, even if not actually supernatural.

Mr Daniels's method of disposal is reassuringly down-to-earth – for millions of ordinary mortals have also discovered, through the potent charm of eBay, a way to make a vast number of bulky items vanish with a wave of the magic cursor. However, it is disillusioning to learn that the sale was prompted by shortage of space in Mr Daniels's home. We had imagined that all these enchanted chests and cases were kept, along with a spare put-up bed and an extra set of dining chairs, in a top hat on his sideboard.

Send foreign aid to where it is really needed

Telegraph View: Britain's foreign aid should not be spent on awareness schemes at home

By Telegraph View 7:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

When the Coalition took the decision to increase the foreign aid budget every year until it reached 0.7 per cent of Britain’s GDP, ministers inevitably faced criticism: at a time of intense austerity at home, when every department except the NHS was having its budget cut, how could such spending – however well-meaning – be justified?

Even before the financial crisis, critics alleged that David Cameron’s commitment to increasing the budget of the Department for International Development (DfID) was influenced less by altruism than by cold political calculation: he wanted to prove that the Tories were no longer the “nasty party”, and this was one way of doing it. For our part, we believe that Mr Cameron and his colleagues are motivated by genuine altruism. Our doubts about the policy are entirely different: namely, that it is foolish to hand DfID hundreds of millions more every year when so much of its budget is used to benefit not the starving poor in developing countries, but their fat and corrupt rulers.

As one of the world’s richest nations, Britain has a moral commitment to help others. But at the moment, 40 per cent of our aid goes through multinational organisations such as Unesco and the Food and Agriculture Organisation, both of which have been accused of failing to ensure that aid reaches the people who actually need it, and of handing money to repressive, kleptocratic African rulers. And it gives us no pleasure to report, as we do today, that some of DfID’s funds are not being spent abroad at all, but here in Britain, on “raising awareness” of poverty in Africa and other deprived nations.

We do not question that the schemes are well-intentioned. But we are mystified as to how DfID can justify spending millions on events such as bringing salsa dancers to Cambridge or fair trade coffee mornings to Huddersfield. It is nearly a year since we first brought a raft of DfID-funded “awareness projects” to the nation’s attention. Why is the department still spending its money on such things? We hope it is not the influence of the ugly philosophy for which the UK Trade and Investment quango was castigated earlier this month: “We’ve got the money, so we might as well spend it.”

Andrew Mitchell, the Development Secretary, says that the contracts were signed by the previous administration, and he can do nothing about them. His department used to point out that less than 0.24 per cent of DfID’s foreign aid budget is spent in Britain. But that would still amount to several million: and there are an awful lot of other projects that could do with the cash. And this saga is especially disappointing because, in every other respect, Mr Mitchell has made a bold and effective start. He has identified the foreign aid programmes that are under-performing, and is going to halt funding for them. He insists that every project must demonstrate that it offers concrete benefits to the poor. He even says that he wants to promote a new form of foreign aid, in which the British Government will pay for projects only after pre-agreed targets (for cutting death in childbirth, say) have been met. All of that is good. But if he is to succeed in his aim of making the nation proud of DfID, he will have to ensure that the expenditure on “awareness” schemes ends soon – and is never repeated.

What if Diana had lived?

Monica Ali, the best-selling author of 'Brick Lane', explains why, in her controversial new novel, 'Untold Story', she imagines what might have become of Diana, Princess of Wales.

By Monica Ali 10:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

'Why did you decide to write a book based on Diana?" Since my forthcoming novel was announced, everyone I meet has been asking the same question.

Given that I'd chosen the world's most famous woman as my subject matter, I'd known there would be some interest, but I didn't know how much. Over the years there have been scores of books published about Diana, Princess of Wales, and while a few, such as Andrew Morton's Diana: Her True Story, have become best-sellers, most were instantly consigned to the remainder bin.

There have been fictional representations too, both in film and in novels, so while writing I was aware that I'd be adding yet one more book to an already crowded shelf. When I delivered the first draft to my publisher last July, Diana hadn't been front-page news for a few years. But then Prince William and Kate Middleton got engaged, and she displayed Diana's ring on her finger, and Diana was suddenly back.

My novel, Untold Story, takes Diana's life as a point of departure. Since her untimely death in a car crash in Paris, I had found myself wondering what would have happened if she had lived. When she died she was, on the one hand, trying to cement her public role through her pioneering campaign on landmines. She was also going through personal upheaval and behaving erratically. The pressure on her was immense. How would she have emerged from that period in which she seemed to be at some kind of crossroads? How would she have matured into her forties and beyond?

Although I did my research on Diana and she is very much the inspiration for my protagonist, my princess is fictional. She only exists in my imagination. But it seems to be this aspect that actually engages people the most. As one commentator wrote: "Monica Ali is not alone in imagining the twists and turns Diana's life may have taken had she lived." He goes on to create some "what ifs" of his own. "What if she had married Simon Cowell or Russell Brand?" Diana's troubled relationships with men were often the lens through which she was perceived, so that is an interesting question. If she had married someone "unsuitable", would she have forfeited national affection and her iconic status? Or would she have been deterred by public opinion from marrying whomever she pleased?

I'm inclined to think not. One of the things I always admired about Diana was her determination not to be bound by the rules. She did things her own way, she "wouldn't go quietly", she was headstrong and sometimes reckless. Never more so than when it came to love. In the summer of 1997, she was desperately in love with a Pakistani doctor, Hasnat Khan, and determined to marry him, even landing a surprise visit on his family in Lahore in the hope of charming them into accepting her as a future daughter-in-law. They were charmed, but Khan's mother withheld her blessing. When Diana realised that the "love of her life" would never marry her, she was driven into the arms of Dodi Fayed and that final, doomed relationship.

My fictional princess marries neither Simon Cowell nor Russell Brand, but like Diana she has endured a loveless marriage to an older man and longs to establish a meaningful relationship. It's a familiar theme for me as a writer. My first novel, Brick Lane, was set in the Bangladeshi community in London's Tower Hamlets. The protagonist, Nazneen, has an arranged marriage to an older man, and she transgresses against the rules of that society by having an affair. Of course, that comparison is only superficial. Nazneen and my princess are, on most counts, a world away from each other. And according to The New York Times, Untold Story is a "curious marriage of author and subject matter". Why? What's the implication behind that adjective?

My second book, Alentejo Blue, was set in a Portuguese village, and my third, In The Kitchen, was about an English chef. Perhaps they are curious choices too. I am simply following my interests. But all my books have one thing in common which is not superficial. They are about identity – what makes a person who they are.

Perhaps the implication behind the adjective is an essentially American view that you have to be a particular kind of Brit (unquestionably English) to be interested in Diana. But, like everyone else in this country, I grew up with the royal family in the background and watched the Diana fairy tale/nightmare unfold, and ultimately explode. Diana had her detractors, but she was someone who fascinated people of all backgrounds. That was something that marked her out. You could see it reflected in the diversity of the crowds outside Kensington Palace when she died – male and female, young and old, gay and straight, every class, every colour, every creed.

Choosing to base a novel on a real person, of course, brings its challenges, but it's hardly a curiosity – the combination of fiction writer and "what if" story is nothing new. Philip Roth penned The Plot Against America, imagining what might have happened if aviator Charles Lindbergh had become president of the United States. Icons have long been a staple diet for creative minds: Joyce Carol Oates wrote Blonde, a novel about Marilyn Monroe, and Andrew O'Hagan went one better by writing about Monroe's dog.

"I thought you were more serious than that," a friend said. I knew what he meant. Diana was tabloid fodder. Acres of newsprint were devoted to her dresses, her therapies, her bulimia, her lovers, her tantrums, her holidays, whether she had cellulite on her thighs.

But it's nonsense to pretend that "serious" people aren't interested in Diana. The feminist writer, Beatrix Campbell, wrote an excellent and perceptive book about her, as did Tina Brown. I wouldn't describe either as intellectual lightweights. And though the tabloids sometimes effectively dehumanised her through their portrayals, beneath all the glitz and glamour, away from the spotlight, alone – as she often was – in Kensington Palace, Diana was no less human than the rest of us. Her life is no less worthy of serious consideration than any other, perhaps more so because of what it reflects back about us and the values by which we live.

"Does she get to live happily ever after?" That's the other question people have been asking, aptly enough about a novel that is, in part, a fairy tale. I'm keeping the answer to myself for now.

Radio and television are not jobs for life

As Miriam O'Reilly knows, being a TV presenter is a risky old game, says Terry Wogan.

By Terry Wogan 9:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Is there to be no rest for us from blasted "Ageism"? Just as "Global Warming" changed to "Climate Change" so giving some poor old TV presenter the elbow is now "Social Engineering". Producers who decide to dispense with the services of anybody over 50 can expect to be accused in open court of not only the aforementioned Pol Pot-type slur, but obsession with "ethnic diversity" and attempted "rejuvenation" into the bargain.

The BBC has apologised cravenly to Miriam O'Reilly, and is now honour-bound to find her a job, probably for life. Stand back! The floodgates are about to open, and here come Dame Joan Bakewell, Anna Ford, Selina Scott, Arlene Phillips and a hundred breakfast television presenters cruelly cast aside, sacrificed on the altar of youth.

I'm bound to say that Ms O'Reilly looked very fit, fresh and younger than her years on television this week, celebrating her victory. Too old for the job? Of course not, and here we have the nub of it: to use "age", or "wrinkles", as reasons to replace the lady was not only offensive, it was a big mistake. They could have said, "Sorry, we've got somebody who we think can do the job better than you", but that's not the BBC way. If they'd done that, Ms O'Reilly, like any good, professional, freelance broadcaster, would have cleared her desk and looked elsewhere to earn a crust.

How many times do I have to say this? Radio and television, no more than theatre or film, are not permanent, pensionable positions for performers. They're not jobs for life. Nobody gives you a carriage clock at the end – unless. of course, you have shrewdly subscribed to a fund to defray your funeral expenses. You get a job as a radio or TV presenter because somebody up there likes you, and then, if the public agree, you continue for as long as the show's, or your, popularity lasts. Or if they still like you on the sixth floor…

It's a risky old game, and the rewards are nothing like those of a footballer or an investment banker, but if you'd wanted security and a job for life, you should have stuck with the Civil Service. If you don't understand this, you're going to get hurt.

Years ago, I presented a talk-show on BBC TV, live, three times a week. It was popular, with a regular audience, at seven in the evening, of about eight million. It ran for nearly nine years, and then, one day, it was no more. The creator of EastEnders had come up with another super-soap idea, and without telling me, the BBC built a village in Spain, and called it Eldorado. As soon as it was ready, the powers-that-be broke it to me: Goodbye Wogan, hola Eldorado! If only they'd said that they preferred the Spanish to the Irish, I might be writing this from Monte Carlo…

Britain is becoming less windy, raising doubts over Government's wind farm strategy

According to Britain's politicians, covering the landscape with wind farms is still the future. Last month Chris Huhne, the energy secretary, promised a "seismic shift" to wind and other non-carbon forms of generating electricity.

By Andrew Gilligan 9:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

In November, Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond, spoke of wind's "massive economic rewards" in a "renewables revolution". In May, the wind industry trade body, RenewableUK, called the North Sea "the Saudi Arabia of wind".

Yet it can be revealed that as the rhetoric has climbed ever further up the Beaufort scale, the wind itself has moved in precisely the opposite direction. New figures published by The Sunday Telegraph show that 2010 was, by one authoritative measure, the least windy year since 1824.

According to other figures from official sources, exclusively compiled for this newspaper, Britain's wind farms turned less in 2010 than in any previous year since detailed records were kept.

The failure of the country's massive wind industry to generate almost any electricity whatever at the time when it was most needed – during last month's extreme cold snap – has been widely reported. But that, we can reveal, was just the tip of the turbine-blade in a decades-long trend of declining wind. It is a trend causing an increasing crisis for the industry among those, principally investors, who are more aware of events than British politicians.

"For those who staked their future on assumptions made based off of recent weather patterns, there may be some significant flaws in the business plan," says Todd Crawford, a forecaster at Weather Services International, a consultancy operated by the US's Weather Channel. Moody's, the international credit rating agency, warned that "unusually low levels of wind volumes" were becoming "a key driver of credit risk to investors."

According to figures compiled by the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) for The Sunday Telegraph, UK wind farms generated electricity to just 23.6 per cent of their full capacity between October 2009 and September 2010, based on official data from the electricity regulator, Ofgem. That is lower than in any year since 2002-3, the first year when the figures were collected.

Provisional January-to-December data, incorporating the cold snap, also shows that 2010 was the least windy year in Britain since the records began. The data has been compiled using Ofgem figures and statistics for wind power provided to the National Grid, Britain's electricity transmission network.

Lack of wind is a problem because, with the exception of hydropower, electricity cannot be stored in large quantities. The power companies have to generate it at exactly the moment customers want to use it. But the wind might not be blowing when 11 million people want to boil the kettle after Downton Abbey.

"The Government is treating wind power as if it is a fully-established technological winner on which we can bet Britain's energy future," said John Constable, REF's head of research. "These latest figures show, again, that this is economically and technically reckless; wind simply will not do what ministers tell it."

The root of the problem is a feature in the atmosphere called the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), which controls wind speeds in northern Europe. An index of the oscillation has been compiled every year since 1824, based on atmospheric pressure readings from weather stations. In 2010, according to the index, the NAO reached its lowest level since measures began nearly two centuries ago.

"The NAO is the dominant atmospheric pattern in Europe, especially in the winter," said Mr Crawford. "There is evidence the NAO may vary on [ten-year] timescales. We are in the middle of the longest streak of negative NAO on record. We have likely returned to the long-term negative phase of the NAO, which will have significant impacts on European weather.

"The biggest impact will be on the distribution of wind, especially in the winter. Stronger winter winds should be expected in more southern latitudes, while northern latitudes will generally experience weaker winds than has been typical during the past 30 years."

There is a direct correlation between a lack of wind and cold weather. According to the Met Office, last month was the coldest December since records began a century ago. Last year as a whole was the coldest for 14 years.

On the coldest days of last month, when the need for power was at its greatest, there was virtually no wind, Britain's 3500 wind turbines were largely idle and almost no electricity was generated by them.

At 5.30pm on December 7, which National Grid says was the moment of the fourth-highest demand ever recorded in British history, wind contributed just 0.4 per cent of the country's electricity needs. The generation system coped – but it includes large numbers of old power stations that will soon be closing. In the future, under the far more wind-based system the Government wants to see, such levels of demand could turn out the lights.

"If, as government plans, we place too much reliance on wind, the electricity system will come under considerable stress, with very high prices, and even unscheduled interruptions, blackouts in the layman's terms," said Dr Constable.

To avoid power cuts if the Government does go ahead with a mass wind-turbine programme, it will also need to build large numbers of new coal, oil or nuclear power stations for backup when the wind is not blowing. The cost of providing so much duplicate capacity is expected to dramatically increase electricity prices, with potentially serious effects on consumers and the economy.

Taxpayers' support for the wind industry itself would also rise, as private investors nervous about the lack of wind lose interest in the sector. Wind turbine manufacture has recently slumped and factories have been closed as demand has fallen, prompting calls for more public subsidy.

RenewableUK, the industry lobby body, insisted in response to our figures that the amount of electricity produced by wind had risen by a third in the last year and that electricity generated from renewables was at a "historic high." This, however, is because an increase in the number of wind turbines in operation, and not because of an increase in the amount of wind.

A spokesman accused the REF of "increasingly becoming the Flat Earth Society of the energy sector" and said: "Do they seriously think that the winds around the UK will eventually die down, or die out? This surely must be the ultimately desperate argument against wind energy."

But it may, in fact, be the wind advocates who risk flat-earth syndrome. At the same conference where Mr Salmond delivered his praise of wind, Rupert Soames, chief executive of the conventional power-supply company Aggreko, compared government energy policy to a belief in the "tooth fairy," with politicians "holding hands and singing Kumbaya to the great green god."

Warning that large numbers of old power stations were due to close in the near future, Mr Soames said: "In the absence of a massive and immediate programme of building new power stations, with concrete being poured in the next two years, we will be in serious danger of the lights going out. The ship is heading towards the rocks."

Quietly, beneath the Government's pro-wind rhetoric, there does appear to have been something of a recalibration. Mr Huhne seems to have softened his opposition to nuclear, the only non-carbon technology with a chance of meeting demand – though the balance of nuclear and wind remains very unclear, and Scotland, which has ruled out all new nuclear stations, faces near-certain electricity shortages.

Ministers may reckon they could handle protests from country-dwellers about their hills being covered in wind farms. But they know that large-scale power cuts, or huge fuel bill rises, would destroy any government that presided over them. Perhaps, ever so gradually, wind is moving from being a technology of the future to being a technology which was the future once.

Gabrielle Giffords shooting: Why it is time to change gun laws

The shooting of Gabrielle Giffords shows why it is time to rethink America's gun laws, says Harold Evans.

By Harold Evans 8:42PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

President Obama brought the good news directly from the hospital bed where young Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords struggles to recover from a madman’s bullet through her brain. It was the most emotionally charged moment among many in the memorial service in Tucson on Wednesday evening. One by one, the President paid eloquent but precise tribute to all the victims of the attempted assassination, and to all the unarmed heroes who risked their lives to stop the killing.

One victim was left unnamed: America’s idea of itself, as an optimistic neighbourly nation of free enterprise with faith in the rule of law, and the openness of its democracy.

It is too painful for a nation traumatised by Tucson to reflect how these virtues have been betrayed once again by the insidious gun culture of America; by the pathetic weakness of laws which allow criminals and madmen to get their hands on real weapons of mass destruction that can fire hundreds of bullets in a minute; by the gun lobby’s intimidation of politicians in vulnerable seats; by the greed of the gunmakers who nowadays prefer to manufacture weapons more suitable for mass murder than for individual defence.

But will America open its eyes?

A law-abiding American citizen is far more likely to die with a bullet in his body than a British citizen. All the comparable Western countries with reasonable gun laws have long had vastly fewer gun homicides. The murder rate per 100,000 people for the US is 5.2. For Australia it is 0.07, for Japan, 0.05, and for the UK 0.06.

The overwhelming response to the tragedy has been to avoid any substantive discussion of such lethal discrepancies. Gun massacres are a sad commonplace of American life. In 2009, in six separate incidents over 23 days, gunmen killed 43 people. The mentally disturbed Seung-Hui-Cho, a student at Virgina Tech in 2007, murdered 32 and wounded 17.

Each of these incidents was followed by long and often rancorous examinations of what should be done to control gun violence. Not this time. At 11am last Monday, the President and First Lady stepped out of the White House in the freezing cold to observe a national minute of silence, heads bowed, hands clasped, eyes closed.

That silence was a fitting symbol of a nation’s sadness, but there has been another truly chilling silence. This time the political establishment and most of the media have essentially shied away from confronting either of the real issues: the profusion of guns and the absence of care for disturbed people who are not declared legally insane.

There has been no insistent demand to know why a crazy young man could acquire a Glock 9mm, a semi-automatic pistol with a 33-round magazine and so easily kill six people, including Arizona’s chief federal judge, and wound 13 bystanders along with Congresswoman Giffords.

All we have been offered is evasion disguised as compassion. Asked if it is time simply to limit magazines to 10 rounds, as they were until 2004, spokesmen for both Democratic and Republican leaders mouth the same bromides.

For the Republicans: “This is as time for the House and all Americans to come together to mourn our losses and pray for those who are recovering, not a time for politics.” For the Democrats: “At this time, the leader’s thoughts are with Congresswoman Giffords and those who were killed and injured.”

Both parties were all too ready for a diversion from this tricky business of murder by gunfire, and one came along handily in remarks by the Pima County Sheriff Clarence W Dupnik who is in charge of the investigation into the 22-year-old shooter Jared Lee Loughner.

He called his state of Arizona “a mecca of bigotry and prejudice”, then suggested that “vitriol” in America’s national political discourse contributed to the shooting. Now there’s something to worry about – adjectives! Not the arsenal of privately owned guns, 250 million of them, nor the correlation observed in state by state studies of the number of guns and the number of homicides.

Left and Right and the Tea Party followers immediately began a competition in finger-pointing.

The New York Times editorial blamed the Right, the Wall Street Journal editorial blamed the Left. Everyone joined in. Cable TV and talk radio loves this kind of circus politics. They poured on the vitriol. Dupnik got a splash of it himself. He’d supported an amended version of the state’s curb on immigrants but that didn’t impress Rush Limbaugh, the hate radio host. He denounced Dupnick as someone who would like to see the shooter go free. Fox’s Bill O’Reilly assured his million viewers the Sheriff was a secret Leftist.

From the Left, Sarah Palin was accused of incitement for having placed cross-hair targets over Democrats she wanted defeated. One of those targeted was Giffords.

It is an ugly scene, but I doubt any direct connection will be found between the vitriol and the shooter. His wild paranoid ramblings are devoid of rational or even irrational thoughts. “None of us” said Obama, “can know exactly what triggered the vicious attack” and he is surely right.

“Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. In Christina, we see all of our children, so trusting, so energetic, and full of magic.”

Christina Taylor Green, the zestful nine-year-old victim buried on Thursday, had been recently elected to the student council at her elementary school.

Perhaps it is a little early for the classes to explore the meaning of Bill of Rights 2nd amendment to the constitution: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Was it intended to protect the states from overweening federal or foreign power? Or does it give a right for an unregulated individual to carry a gun?

More simply, schools and others could honour her memory by tracking day by day what happens after the profuse expressions of sympathy and prayers for families and the community.

If the past is any guide, they’ll see just how the National Rifle Association (NRA) and their spokesmen in Congress lie low while the shock of the killings is fresh in the public mind.

They’ll note how a 10-year ban on assault weapons was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994 but allowed to lapse in the Bush presidency despite a US Department of Justice study finding that the share of gun crimes involving semi-automatic weapons dropped by 17 per cent to 72 per cent.

Inexorably they will see how persistently the NRA gets away with murder, how it ignores the appeals of the police forces of the country, and frustrates even the mildest of restrictions.

Does it make sense to enable the police to track the source of bullets used in a crime? It does, but the NRA has stopped it. Isn’t it dangerous to allow gun dealers at state fairs and flea markets to sell any number of weapons to anyone – juveniles, criminals, nuts – without any background checks? Yes, but the NRA has been able to keep the loophole.

How do they do it? They scare gun owners that any change in the laws will inevitably lead to an erosion of the 2nd amendment and even its abolition; and they exert every effort to unseat reformist candidates.

The President’s eulogy for the victims of the attempted assassination was altogether his most impressive oration since he was catapulted into the candidacy by his repudiation at the Democratic convention in 2004 of a “red state, blue state” division of America. I expect it will give him a boost in the polls.

Maybe it will give him heart to work now for a restoration of the ban on assault weapons he pledged in 2008. Call it Christina's Law.

The Tories couldn’t deliver the goods without the Lib Dems

The Conservative Right is wilfully blind to the fact that it is getting most of what it wants from a Coalition that it hates, argues Matthew d'Ancona.

By Matthew d'Ancona 8:20PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

At the end of last year, Richard Reeves, Nick Clegg’s astute special adviser, delivered a presentation to a gathering of senior Lib Dems. David Laws and others listened to Reeves’s argument that the party’s strategy for this parliament needed to be divided into three phases. First, the Lib Dems had to establish their credibility as a party of government, and a reliable partner in a coalition acting in the national interest. Second, around mid-term, it would be necessary for the party to “renew”, to freshen up its appeal and its identity. Third – in April 2015, and not before then – it should explicitly differentiate itself from its Conservative partners and campaign as a distinct party in the general election.

Reeves’s timeline is instructive as a guide to what happened in last Thursday’s by-election. The Lib Dems are still in the first phase he described, and more than four years away from the moment when they will formally detach from the Conservatives. Clegg made this point forcefully at a meeting of Lib Dem ministers at Westminster on Friday. For now, his fortunes are inextricably spliced with David Cameron’s, and vice versa; assuming the survival of the Coalition, they will remain so for years to come.

In Oldham East and Saddleworth, the Lib Dem leader faced the grisly prospect of coming third: a result that would have brutally dramatised on the Pennine stage his national predicament. Pilloried for breaking his promise over tuition fees, battered by the opinion polls, burned in effigy, humiliated by what Lib Dem ministers told undercover reporters in last month’s Daily Telegraph scoop, Clegg desperately needed a breathing space. His party’s respectable performance in the by-election – its share of the vote rose slightly from 31.6 per cent to 31.9 per cent – has drained the torrent of Clegg-baiting of some of its raging momentum. Doubtless there is plenty more to come, but the moment of crisis has undoubtedly passed.

Transparently, the PM’s principal objective in this by-election was to shore up his deputy. As this newspaper revealed a month ago, the Tory campaign was half-hearted by design – a strategy that has made the party’s Right puce with indignation. On Friday’s Newsnight, Peter Bone, the Conservative MP for Wellingborough and Rushden, complained that “the one thing that’s clear from this result [is that] even quiet help between the parties is seen through by voters”. In fact, the opposite seems to have been the case: Tory-supporting constituents lent their votes to the Lib Dem candidate, Elwyn Watkins, in sufficient numbers to save him and his party from catastrophe.

One would think, from some of the reaction to Cameron’s ploy, that this was a deplorable innovation by the wicked Tory metropolitan elite. The reality is quite otherwise. The extent to which a party devotes resources and energy to a particular constituency is always a matter of debate – even in by-elections. What is new is the Tories’ embrace of tactical voting, a weapon that has almost invariably been used against the Conservative Party rather than by it. We are used to Labour supporters lending their votes to the Lib Dems, and vice versa, to thwart a Tory candidate. Less familiar is the notion that Lib Dem and Tory supporters should collude against Labour. New or not, the voters of Oldham seem to have taken it all in their stride. It is the Tory tribe at Westminster that is grumbling.

I feel a measure of sympathy for Sayeeda Warsi, the Conservative co-chairman, who stampeded into the row on Friday’s Today programme with a side-swipe at “the Right wing of our party” and the armchair strategists criticising the Tory campaign. Her mistake was to repeat directly the language used by John Humphrys, who had asked: “You have alienated the Right wing of your party, haven’t you?” A party chairman should never reinforce the idea of factional division by referring explicitly to sub-sections of the movement: her task is to maintain the semblance of impregnable unity. Her intervention has compounded the suspicions of Tory conspiracy theorists that there is a Cameroon cabal, steadily betraying all that is good and true in “mainstream Conservatism”.

That said, Baroness Warsi’s exasperation is entirely understandable. The Tory Right is still marooned on May 5, 2010, unwilling to confront the consequences of the general election result and wilfully blind to the fact that it is getting most of what it wants from a Coalition it hates. So here, to remind them, is what happened: the Tory party failed to win an outright majority, principally because its “detoxification” was incomplete (the consensus analysis of, for instance, Dennis Kavanagh and Philip Cowley’s The British General Election of 2010, Michael Ashcroft’s Minority Verdict, and the work of Tim Bale of Sussex University).

Remarkably, Cameron and Clegg were able to forge a full-blown coalition deal. Even more remarkably, the government founded upon that agreement has already embarked upon a full-tilt programme of spending cuts, dramatic welfare reform, a transformative blueprint for schools, and radical change to the higher education system. Last week, the European Union Bill to impose a referendum lock on future EU treaty changes returned to the Commons. This week, the NHS Bill will launch perhaps the most sweeping changes to the health service since its foundation in 1948 (“I agree with it, but it’s incredibly risky,” frets one normally robust Tory Cabinet minister).

What the Right refuses to accept is that all of this would have been inconceivable without the formation of the Coalition. A minority Tory Government would have achieved next to nothing in its short lifespan. The great paradox of contemporary politics is that the Conservative Party is finally getting the chance to enact profoundly Conservative measures – but only in collaboration with the Lib Dems. To the voters, the spectacle of two parties co-operating is agreeable, although that sentiment is probably waning as the novelty wears off. What matters to the punters is that this extraordinary collaboration delivers the goods: that the country is saved from the economic mess in which Labour left it, and that the pain of the next few years delivers tangible gain before the next election.

For the Right, all this presents an existential crisis, a carnival of introspection. “What about us?” is their self-indulgent wail. To which Cameron’s answer is, as it should be: who cares? It was often said that Gordon Brown wanted to be Labour leader, whereas Tony Blair wanted to be Prime Minister. In his handling of this by-election, Cameron has shown where his own priorities lie. He wants to head a durable and coherent Coalition, delivering the goods, more than he wants to be a beloved leader of the Tory tribe. As a special adviser to John Major’s Cabinet, he knows what fate awaits a PM who tries to keep every faction in his party happy. Instead, Cameron’s single-minded purpose is to do whatever it takes to hold the Government together until 2015, to complete the mission upon which he and Clegg embarked last May. Bad news for the Right, no doubt – but good news for the country.

Barack Obama captured the mood of a nation. Can David Cameron do the same?

The president's speech in Tucson showed the transforming power of language - a power that David Cameron has thus far been unable to master, argues Janet Daley.

By Janet Daley 8:20PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

There are moments in the lives of political leaders when words become more important than acts – when the power to capture or transform the mood of a country is so significant that an utterance becomes a historical event in itself.

Tony Blair’s apparently spontaneous (but actually scripted) observation on the death of Diana, “She was the people’s princess,” was widely believed to have sealed his emotional communion with the people for the best part of two terms in office. When George W Bush stood in the rubble of Ground Zero on September 14, 2001 addressing the heroic firefighters of New York through a loudhailer, he responded to a cry from the back of the crowd that he couldn’t be heard with the (genuinely spontaneous) words: “I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” The cheer that erupted on the scene echoed through the nation and made him, for a while, a hugely popular president.

But such momentary political gains for individual leaders make the influence of what is said – as opposed to what is done – seem shallow and manipulative, as if the power of words were some kind of second-order illusion, if not an outright deceit. In fact, the business of democracy is carried on through argument, and language is its currency, which is why the freedom of speech is written into its laws.

In America at the moment, there is a huge and extraordinarily heated debate (that is a polite word for it) over the influence of political speech, in which wild accusations of incitement to murder compete with febrile counter-claims of character assassination. Whether Barack Obama’s speech at the Tucson memorial service will prove to be (as his followers are eagerly briefing) the great transformative moment of his failing presidency remains for the future to judge. But it is notable that even in his rejection of the more excitable Left-wing case that the mass murder in Arizona was directly linked to the vituperation of the Republican Right, he did not imply that language could not possibly have such serious consequences. He did not say that none of this “words” business actually matters much, or that what is said and how it is said should be seen as less real or momentous than the substantive physical things that occur in the world.

Certainly language can incite, as the long and depressingly successful history of demagoguery demonstrates. And while I find the idea absurd that the vitriolic discourse of US political life was a causal factor in the killing spree of an insane loner (who showed no interest in politics at all apart from generic paranoid fantasies about “government power”), it is not outlandish to make the general claim that words can be dangerous. That is the precise corollary of the fact that they can be inspirational.

Which brings us to the tone-of-voice issue: if words themselves are thought to be less than fully-fledged parts of reality, their artful delivery is even more maligned. Using pitch, cadence and (in the television age) facial expression to attach greater force to one’s speech is seen as an especially devious bit of modern political phoniness: little more than a device learnt from advertising for the exploitation of emotion.

But Winston Churchill used language in ways that were, in the terms of his time and the national culture, emotionally resonant and even psychologically coercive, to mobilise a nation against the demonic rhetoric of another leader who knew how to rouse his own people. For political leaders to find the right language – and the right voice in which to speak it – is not just a trick in the armoury of image consultants or media minders. It is fundamental to their ability to persuade and encourage: to repair national confidence, to prevent despair and to avoid civil conflict. It can – at crucial times – save a country in the literal sense.

Worryingly for us, David Cameron has yet to find the voice he will need if the country is to believe that what he is asking of it will be worth the price. Even when the voters agree broadly with his message about the economy and support many of his programmes, they do not rise to his delivery. There is something that does not ring true in his manner: the words seem to come from his mouth but not his heart. One never gets the sense of seeing beneath the self-conscious pose, the pre-meditated attitude, to the real man.

Until last week, Mr Obama had been susceptible to much the same criticism – at least since he assumed the presidency. He was accused repeatedly of being too remote, too cerebral, and too insensitive to the personal dimension of his relationship with the people who had elected him. But the Tucson speech, it was widely agreed, restored some of the magic of his time as a candidate: at last, he seemed in touch with the appropriate depth of feeling which could allow him (as Americans say) to reach out to ordinary listeners.

Why was this? I believe that in talking of Christina Taylor Green, the nine-year-old girl who had been killed in the Tucson shooting, he was calling on his feelings for his own young daughters. Like a method actor, he was making use of his own, genuine emotions to find a form of expression that perfectly suited the event. I am truly sorry if this observation seems tasteless, and I certainly do not mean to imply that what Mr Obama did was cynical or even consciously calculated. On the contrary, it was right and necessary that he make use of that common humanity – the universally understood feeling of parents for their children – to attempt to form some sort of ameliorative bond between the warring factions in American life. For while the vitriolic discourse about which everybody is so exercised – to which both sides of US politics have contributed – may not have precipitated a deranged murder, it certainly has made for an ugly and vicious popular climate.

So how damaging is the lack of such effective use of speech? Can the failure of a political leader to connect in some empathetic way that the population finds reassuring or constructive or meaningful, actually do harm not just to the morale of the country at that moment, but to longer-term confidence in politics itself? If Mr Obama had failed the test last week in a really disastrous way, would it have injured not only his own electoral prospects, but the health of American democracy? Almost certainly. The political blame war would have gone into overdrive, and the popular alienation from government become more entrenched. And if Mr Cameron cannot find a way to talk to the people, then we too may face a future of inchoate anger and frustration, in which casting a vote comes to seem little more than a gesture of revenge.

What would be the impact of the Alternative Vote?

Why we are having a referendum on AV? How does the voting system work? And is it fair? Tim Montgomerie reports.

By Tim Montgomerie 8:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Why are we having a referendum on the Alternative Vote?

Nick Clegg could have used last May's coalition negotiations to stop higher tuition fees, but changing the way we choose our MPs was his top priority. In order to form the Coalition, David Cameron had to agree to a referendum on the Alternative Vote.

How does it work?

At the moment, we all get one vote and the candidate with the most wins. Under AV, we rank a number of candidates on a list. If no candidate receives an outright majority, you add the second preferences to their total , and then the third, and then the fourth, until one candidate gets 50 per cent of the remaining votes.

Why does Nick Clegg want AV?

He sees it as a first step towards proper proportional representation (in which the composition of Parliament precisely mirrors the total votes cast for each party), and he knows that it would give his party more MPs and often the balance of power. Hung parliaments wouldn't be the exception, but the norm. So the Lib Dems would become the kingmakers of British politics, with Clegg and his successors routinely choosing which party leader became Prime Minister. Broken promises of the kind we've seen on tuition fees and VAT would become the norm, since after every election, the politicians would get together and decide which manifesto pledges to keep and which to junk.

Is AV widely used?

No. Only Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Australia use AV. And Australian voters disliked it so much that voting had to be made compulsory.

But is AV fairer?

Supporters say AV delivers "fair votes" – but is it really fair that the second preferences of fringe parties can decide who becomes the MP? If Thursday's Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election had been fought under AV, there might have been eight rounds of voting before a winner could have been declared, meaning that supporters of the minor parties – including the BNP, the Monster Raving Loony Party and the Bus-Pass Elvis Party – would have had a decisive say in who won. Also, those who argue that the reform would lead to more balanced parliaments should note that AV can actually exaggerate swings – Tony Blair's 1997 landslide, for example, would have been even bigger if AV had been in operation.

So the Lib Dems back it, but what about the other parties?

Labour is divided on AV. More than 100 of its MPs and some of the biggest trade unions want to keep first-past-the-post. Ed Miliband, however, supports the change – indeed, he only won the race to replace Gordon Brown because his party uses AV. Although more Labour MPs and party members wanted David Miliband, the younger brother triumphed because he received more preferences from the supporters of his least popular rivals.

And the Conservatives?

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, is one of the few who are sitting on the fence – nearly every other Tory MP opposes AV. Indeed, in a referendum where turnout may be decisive, the efforts of David Cameron and the country's other two most popular Conservative politicians – Boris Johnson and Ann Widdecombe – will be critical to getting Tories to the polls.

Who is likely to win?

At the moment, first-past-the-post enjoys a narrow lead in the opinion polls, but it's too early to predict. During Britain's last nationwide referendum in 1975 – when we voted to confirm our membership of the European Economic Community – opinion shifted markedly during the campaign. The "Yes to AV" campaign has big money on its side. Groups such as the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust and the Electoral Reform Society have millions to spend, up to the statutory limit of £5 million.

Will the Coalition survive if Clegg loses the referendum?

This is where it gets interesting. With the Lib Dems at 10 per cent in some national surveys, Clegg's party would be committing electoral suicide if it walked away from government. But if Clegg doesn't get AV, Cameron will be under pressure to compensate his deputy, which could make a form of PR for the House of Lords (and the introduction of elections to the second chamber) much more likely. My guess is that AV or an elected Lords will happen, but not both: Tory MPs, already anxious about the number of concessions being made to Clegg, will only swallow a certain amount of constitutional upheaval.

Tim Montgomerie is the editor of ConservativeHome

London to Edinburgh by electric car: it was quicker by stagecoach

The BBC's stunt of taking an electric Mini to Edinburgh reveals just how impractical rechargeable cars are, writes Christopher Booker

By Christopher Booker 8:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

In its obsessive desire to promote the virtues of electric cars, the BBC proudly showed us last week how its reporter Brian Milligan was able to drive an electric Mini from London to Edinburgh in a mere four days – with nine stops of up to 10 hours to recharge the batteries (with electricity from fossil fuels).

What the BBC omitted to tell us was that in the 1830s, a stagecoach was able to make the same journey in half the time, with two days and nights of continuous driving. This did require 50 stops to change horses, but each of these took only two minutes, giving a total stopping time of just over an hour and a half.

Considering that horse power was carbon-free, emitting only organic fertiliser along the way, isn’t it time the eco-conscious BBC became more technologically savvy?

---

Fast becoming something of a modest national joke is the Comment is Free section of The Guardian’s website, which supposedly gives readers the right to comment on items by the paper’s contributors. The joke is that the paper then employs a team of ruthless moderators to censor any comments which they dislike, however politely and rationally these may be put.

Last week Bob Ward, who is employed by the Grantham Institute to act as a PR man and general attack dog on behalf of the global warming industry, wrote a piece bemoaning the lack of media coverage given to the claim that 2010 was the warmest year in history. Scores of the readers’ comments which then flooded in to disagree were duly marked “deleted”. Comment may be free – but only, it seems, so long as it toes The Guardian’s party line.

It's shocking how normality can vanish in a flash

The Brisbane floods and the honeymoon murder in Mauritius show how precarious life really is, says Jenny McCartney.

By Jenny McCartney 7:38PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

In the years since the Second World War, the bulk of us have gradually become accustomed to the steady decline of personal risk. The absence of war on our soil, the advances of medicine, and the extensive establishment of a “health and safety” culture have all contributed to the somewhat complacent sense that – barring some aberrant event – we can expect, along with our counterparts in the rest of the developed world, to live comfortably into old age.

Last week a number of widely publicised stories managed, in their separate ways, to rock that assumption. The floods in Australia – regarded by many Britons as a destination that almost guarantees a sunnier, more relaxed way of life – were ferocious in their intensity. The unforgettable picture of a vulnerable family of three unsteadily poised on top of their car, as brown floodwaters surged around them, was sent across the world: it seemed to encapsulate how swiftly a force of nature can snap its fingers and shred human certainties. The mother and son from that snapshot survived; the father was swept away.

In quite a different context, a joyful Irish bride, Michaela McAreavey, went on honeymoon with her new husband to a luxurious five-star hotel in Mauritius. She decided that she would like some biscuits with her tea, and went back to the room to fetch them, whereupon she was murdered, apparently after disturbing a robbery. Her bridal flowers were still in bloom at the altar of the church where she was married.

In Britain, the parents of Lana Ameen, a formerly healthy three-year-old girl who died suddenly from swine flu, released a picture of their small daughter in the final hours of her life. Her father and mother, a doctor and a nurse, did so in an effort to urge the Government to vaccinate all under-fives against the disease.

For most of us, the individuals caught up in these incidents will probably feel all too familiar; at the same time, their stories are unusual enough to be deeply shocking. Yet not so many years ago, the sudden death of both children and adults was almost commonplace: the randomness of fate was everywhere, assisted by war, disaster and disease. My grandfather lost two sisters to diphtheria, and my father a brother to scarlet fever. The Blitz, in London and other major cities, destroyed entire streets in a matter of moments. The awareness of the fragility of life was written into the very fabric of one’s existence, as it still is in many developing countries.

Today, we are accustomed to believing that longevity is assured, and that science will inevitably usher in fresh cures for diseases. But progress does not necessarily advance in a straight line. Already, medical research is struggling to outpace the threat of antibiotic-resistant infections that could pitch us back into an infinitely more uncertain age. The global balance of power is shifting east, the world’s population is rising, and scientists are predicting an increase in extreme weather events, all of which are likely to put a heavier strain on the Earth’s resources.

These are grim predictions: yet at the same time, it is often only in adversity that one glimpses the true stuff that mankind is made of. I am not suggesting that there is any silver lining to last week’s tragedies: the weight of grief is too heavy for that. Yet still they brought out the best in people.

In Queensland, many people put their lives on the line to help those in trouble; on the opposite page, we tell the story of Jordan Rice, the 13-year-old boy who convinced rescuers to save his younger brother first, before he himself was swept to his death. Michaela McAreavey’s father, Mickey Harte, spoke with such eloquence and dignity about his love for his daughter that it would have wrung any listener’s heart. And Lana’s parents, in their bleakest hour, were still attempting to prevent other children suffering the same fate.

In the decades of peace and prosperity, our society has gradually intensified its fatuous idolatry of celebrities and money, and wallowed in an infinity of self-obsession. We were briefly reminded last week, in case we had forgotten, of the qualities it takes to make a hero.

What was the role of warmists in the Queensland flood disaster?

Australia was told to prepare for droughts as a result of climate change, and let down its guard against flooding, writes Christopher Booker

By Christopher Booker 7:29PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Ever more alarming facts are emerging to show how Brisbane’s floods were made infinitely worse by cockeyed decisions inspired by the obsession of the Australian authorities with global warming. Inevitably, the country’s warmist lobby has been voluble in claiming that such a “freak weather event” (as the BBC called it) is a consequence of man-made climate change. But far from being an unprecedented “freak event”, the latest flood was nearly a foot below the level of one in 1974 and 10 feet below the record set in 1893.

For years, Australia’s warmists have been advising the authorities that the danger posed to the country by global warming is not floods but droughts: not too much rain but too little. One result, in Brisbane, was a relaxation of planning rules, to allow building on areas vulnerable to flooding in the past. As long ago as 1999, this was seen as potentially disastrous by an expert Brisbane River Flood Study (which was ignored and for years kept secret). Instead of investing in its flood defences, Australia spent $13 billion on desalination plants. (Queensland’s was recently mothballed because of the excess of rain.)

Last week’s most disturbing revelation, however, was the contribution to Brisbane’s flooding by the South East Queensland Water company’s massive release of water from its Wivenhoe dam upstream from the city (for details see “Brisbane’s Man-Made Flood Peak” on the Regionalstates blog). Instead of controlled releases through the previous week, the company allowed the level to rise to within a few inches of the top of the dam before releasing a vast volume of water, with devastating consequences for Brisbane 36 hours later.

Last spring, Queensland’s prime minister, the drought- and warming-obsessed Anna Bligh, ordered the water company not to allow any releases from the dam because water was such a “precious resource” that none must be wasted.

Unsurprisingly, on Friday, the city’s Lord Mayor asked for a full judicial review of what had happened. But it is time our Australian cousins carried out a very much more wide-ranging inquiry into all the other decisions made by their gullible politicians in recent years, under the spell of a pseudo-scientific ideology which now looks utterly discredited.

A mother's fall causes her to lose her child

A woman who was temporarily paralysed in a fall had her baby taken into care while she lay in hospital, writes Christopher Booker

By Christopher Booker 7:12PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

In recent months, I have reported on many disturbing examples of how our system of “family protection” has gone horribly off the rails, but none is more bizarre than this week’s. As usual, I am legally barred from identifying the mother at the centre of this case or giving many other details, but she is in her mid-thirties, has various academic qualifications and some time back returned to England after 10 years working in America. There, among other things, she had worked as a counsellor in Guantanamo Bay, but what she saw there led her to start a new career as a financial adviser.

In September 2009, after a difficult pregnancy, she gave birth to a daughter, by an old friend with whom marriage was not possible. Two months later, she was sitting on her mother’s windowsill, dressed in a coat and hat ready to go out, when she fell, snatching at a curtain in a vain attempt to save herself.

She woke up in hospital, paralysed from the neck down. Soon afterwards, a nurse handed her a phone. It was a social worker from the local council, to tell her that her daughter – who was being looked after by her sister – was to be placed in care and put up for adoption within six weeks. “I was so paralysed,” she says, “that I couldn’t wipe the tears from my eyes.”

Because she was very fit (having been something of a star athlete), she made a miraculously quick recovery, and was discharged from hospital – after a psychological evaluation which confirmed that her fall was accidental and that she posed no risk to herself or anyone else. Still, in January last year the social workers applied for an interim care order. She was told that this was because her baby was at “potential risk of harm” due to her “suicide attempt”, and that she was in a “violent relationship” – whereas there had been no man in her life for over a year.

The interim order was issued, as is routine, but the social workers were told to produce evidence for their case, and the baby was allowed to remain with the mother’s sister’s family. The mother was given a hair-strand test which, she was startled to be told, showed “traces of cocaine” and “chronic excessive drinking”, though she rarely drinks, and a re-test for cocaine was negative.

In March, another hearing was cancelled because the council’s documentation was not yet available. In April, a case management conference was cancelled because the local authority was “not prepared”. Another hearing was adjourned in May because the council’s paperwork was incomplete, and in June it was cancelled, for the same reason.

The baby was still in the care of her aunt and the mother was allowed regular visits, in the presence of a “contact supervisor”, who was impressed by the happy bonding of mother and daughter. This supervisor was invited by the mother to attend a Family Group Conference, which looked at a pile of her reports provided by the social workers. When the mother queried some of the documents’ dates, particularly one or two which were critical of her, the supervisor insisted, to general surprise, that they weren’t written by her. The social workers were asked to look into how the notes had been “edited” – but the supervisor was suspended from the case and has subsequently been given little work by the council.

In August, an order was made that the baby should be put into foster care, and that no family members other than the mother should see her. (The aunt’s young daughter, who had come to look on the baby as her own little sister, was heartbroken.) In September, the baby was placed in a foster home 35 miles away (making regular visits extremely taxing). A new contact supervisor, however, remained positive about the mother-baby relationship.

In October, an Issue Resolution Hearing was cancelled at short notice when the council’s legal team said it had not been supplied with necessary documents. In December another hearing was cancelled for the same reason. The magistrates then said they wanted the case sent to a county court.

It now seems the next hearing will be in May, 18 months after mother and child were parted. Fortunately, the mother is a bright, determined and organised woman, whose child is the centre of her life. Otherwise, subjected to such treatment, like many parents before her she might long since have cracked.

Union bosses want a fight, regardless of what the rank and file think

Trade union leaders are planning to take Britain back to the old days of strikes and stoppages, warns Alasdair Palmer.

By Alasdair Palmer 7:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Some things never change. The obstinacy of Britain's union leaders is one of them. For the past 20 years, they haven't had much opportunity to call "everybody out". Now they sense that the Government's plans to cut the public sector have provided them with the chance to take Britain back to the bad old days of strikes and stoppages.

Yesterday, it was reported that Unite, Britain's largest union, plans to call a strike ballot among the tanker drivers who keep the country supplied with fuel. The strike would be over wages and conditions – but Unite's head, Len McCluskey, is also working on a "broad strike movement" to stop the cuts. In an ominous echo of the old confrontations, he thinks that union members have a "moral duty" to fight the Government.

Mr McCluskey's not the only one flexing his muscles. "If David Cameron thinks he can batter working people into the dirt through his undiluted brand of fiscal fascism," roars Bob Crowe, leader of the RMT rail union, "he's got another thing coming." He hopes he'll soon preside over a fresh wave of strikes on the London Underground.

To listen to these guys, you'd think that public sector workers were viciously exploited by the most brutal of employers. But actually, the state is an unusually benign boss – partly because it is so extraordinarily inefficient. In the 11 years to December 2008, productivity in the public sector fell by 3.3 per cent – but earnings rose, in real terms, by 17.1 per cent.

Would anything similar be tolerated in the private sector? It is hard to see how. Indeed, over the same period, private-sector productivity increased by 28 per cent – which explains why real-terms earnings went up by 21 per cent as well.

But the union bosses fighting "fiscal fascism" – or what the rest of us call an attempt to ensure that what the state pays its employees has some relation to the work they do – live in a different world. They think that any attempt to match earnings to output is outrageous, and means that their members should "prepare for battle".

Whether most of their members actually want to fight that battle is another matter. Mr McCluskey won the leadership of Unite in an election in which only 16 per cent of the membership voted at all. Most of the rank and file probably do not want to disrupt the Royal wedding or the Olympic Games, two of the "actions" that their leaders have recently proposed. But if the majority fail to vote in a strike ballot, their abstention is taken as a tacit endorsement. And then, as members, they are obliged to strike.

It was moderate union members whom David Cameron and Boris Johnson addressed in a joint article last week. London's Mayor then threatened the RMT with the introduction of driverless Tube trains. Not to be outdone, Cameron hinted that, to diminish the risk of a strike being called when most members do not explicitly support one, the law could be changed so that a strike ballot is only valid if a significant proportion of the members have participated. At present, a strike can be valid even if only a handful of the union's workers vote. This, as the PM is right to suggest, is undemocratic. A strike ballot doesn't need to have everyone's participation. But it should certainly be mandated by more than 5 or 10 per cent of the relevant electorate.

One of Mr Cameron's main criticisms of Gordon Brown during the British Airways strike before the general election was that the union "scented weakness" in Gordon Brown. That was probably true, because it was a Unite strike, and Unite is the largest single donor that Labour has. But unfortunately for his dealings with the union tough guys, the new Prime Minister does not have a reputation as a hard man. He knows that if the unions scent weakness in him, he is lost. He needs to give Mr McCluskey and his comrades the battle they want – and to demonstrate the kind of steely determination that will be needed if they are to be defeated.

Mark Kennedy got one of the better undercover assignments

An undercover mission that involves sleeping with as many nubile green women as possible? Sign me up, says Nigel Farndale.

By Nigel Farndale 7:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Was Mark Kennedy, the undercover policeman, told that part of his mission, should he choose to accept it, might include sleeping with as many nubile environmental protesters as possible? A tempting job spec, one might suppose. But how would that delicate subject be broached?

“Ah, come in, young Kennedy. Sit down, sit down. You are familiar, I presume, with the word 'infiltration’?”

Sorry, that came out all Stephen Fry – that sublimely unconvincing portrayal of a policeman in Gosford Park. I’m sure policemen don’t talk like that, not even the ones pretending not to be policemen. Indeed, you can imagine how long Stephen Fry would last as an undercover policeman before the villains rumbled him, fired up their blowtorches and got medieval on his ass.

Can I say ass? It’s a film reference, as you know. And “bottom” doesn’t sound right. Neither does “buttocks”. And now I’m talking about Stephen Fry’s buttocks on the comment pages of The Sunday Telegraph and I’m not sure how to move on from it, or them.

It wasn’t even the topic I was planning to write about. That would be the other undercover story, the one about the three actors who were paid by a local authority in north Wales to pretend to be drunk, as part of a police sting. Over nine nights they visited 49 pubs in order to find out which publicans, if any, would say: “Don’t you think you’ve had enough, Sir?”

Now, on first hearing, this might sound nearly as good an assignment as being allowed to sleep with climate change protesters. But there would have been little scope for Stanislavskian method acting – preparing for the role with a cheeky half-bottle of crème de menthe before opening time, say – because the actors would have to report to their handlers at closing time. “Was I served in there? I’m sorry, ossifer, I have absolutely no recollection. But do you know what? Do. You. Know. What? I bloody love you.”

So it seems the actors did indeed act drunk rather than actually get drunk; and apparently, only one publican out of 49 fell for their act. This despite a variety of “tactics”, according to a report on the operation, which included “telling person serving them they were drunk”, “slurred speech”, “being dressed in dishevelled and stained clothing” and “falling over”.

Herein may lie the problem. As Charlie Chaplin argued, the best way to act drunk is to imagine yourself a drunk man trying to act sober. It’s an astute observation because there is a certain dignity about a drunken man: he feels his way with all the concentration and balance of a tightrope walker. He doesn’t fall over, he corrects — the course correction of a 747 encountering mild turbulence.

As for the slurring, consider cinema’s greatest drunk: Richard E Grant in Withnail and I. As he is allergic to alcohol, he was sober throughout – apart from one night when the director poured booze down his throat, just so he knew what it felt like. But what is remarkable about his performance is that he never slurs, though you are sure afterwards that he was doing so all the time. In the famous scene in Penrith Tea Rooms, he brings even more depth to the role by playing Withnail as a naturally rude man trying to be polite as he drunkenly requests “cake and fine wine”.

This was where I suspect the actors in Wales went wrong: the bar staff had seen far too many genuine drunks trying hard not to slur their words to be taken in by sober, slurring, stumbling impostors.

Friends: The One with the Wake-up Call for the Coalition

Alarm bells are ringing for Nick Clegg in the latest episode of our Westminster sitcom, by Iain Hollingshead

By Iain Hollingshead 7:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

“Brrrrriiiiiiiiing!”

Nick groaned and rolled over in bed. He was in the middle of a very enjoyable dream in which the Lib Dems’ poll ratings had soared into double figures, Vince had announced his retirement and he, Nick, was treated with respect by colleagues, journalists and voters alike. He did not want it to end.

“Nick!” Miriam nudged him hard in the ribs as he reached for the snooze button. “How are you supposed to be the poster boy for Alarm Clock Britain if you can’t get out of bed yourself?”

Nick groaned again. It had been less than a week since he’d coined that stupid slogan and he was already beginning to regret it. Why hadn’t they gone with Rail Replacement Britain instead? And anyway, did anyone else even own an alarm clock these days? Didn’t everyone just use their iPhones – when they worked?

“Nick!” Miriam kicked him this time, where it hurt. “You have to wake up. There’s good news from Oldham.”

Nick sat up bolt upright. “We beat the Bus Pass Elvis Party?”

“You beat the Pirate Party as well. And the Conservatives. In fact, you came a very decent second.”

Nick punched the air. Second place! What a victory!

The phone started playing Bridge Over Troubled Water. Miriam grimaced and handed it over without looking at it.

“Congratulations,” said Dave.

“Thank you,” said Nick. “We couldn’t have done it without you.”

“You did do it without us,” said Dave, thinking of the token campaign put up by Central Office in order to shore up their Coalition partner.

They both laughed – but over in Downing Street, the levity was somewhat forced. Dave was his usual upbeat self, of course, but his aides were beginning to worry that the soft-pedalled campaign might have backfired.

“Nonsense,” Dave told them. “We’ve taken the pressure off Nick, and made Useless Ed look like a hero into the bargain. Third place is an excellent result for us – just like it was for the Lib Dems at the general election.”

“We can’t tell the press that,” said a horrified aide. “And what about the Right? They’re going to crucify us for not campaigning properly.”

Dave sighed. “I know, but have any of them actually been to Oldham? No? Exactly. Klosters is much nicer this time of year.”

The aide threw up his hands in despair. “And you want me to brief that to journalists, do you?”

Dave smiled. “Fine. I suppose you could always tell them that we were too busy attending parties with our banker friends and celebrating their bonuses to bother campaigning.”

The aide said nothing.

“Or that it’s a resounding failure for the Coalition that Labour still held the seat despite their previous MP being ousted for lying. Or you could even point out that, for the first time in several decades, there are now more former Labour MPs in jail than Conservative.”

The aide grimaced. “I’m sorry, boss,” he said. “We’re saving that one for the local elections.”

Why Thunderbirds is still FAB

Did any person in the 20th century make so many children so happy as Gerry Anderson, asks Simon Heffer

By Simon Heffer 7:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

It is rare that one can say one was in at the start of something big, but this week I was reminded of a rare instance when I was. I was five years old, I had had my fish fingers for tea, and I was parked in front of the television on a Saturday evening. According to the newspaper, there was a programme on that would excite children of all ages.

An hour later, I felt as though the whole landscape of what passes for my imagination had been changed. I had just watched the first episode of Thunderbirds. It caused an excitement of the sort that is possible only for the very young, and it lasted for days. Indeed, every Saturday night was a renewal of the miracle. In that age before video recording, it was impossible to be anywhere else.

The reminder came the other day when the series’ creator, Gerry Anderson, announced to the world that he was about to make another series. There were only two, and the last was in 1966. Some of us have waited more than half a lifetime for this moment. As for Mr Anderson, he is something of a legend. The 81-year-old has websites devoted to him and his work. His puppet shows are shown all over the world, still, and the merchandise related to them – cars, space vehicles and figures – sells like the proverbial hot cakes.

Mr Anderson made several other series, but nothing has resonated quite like the goings-on at Tracy Island. Thunderbirds has thrilled generations of children. I was not the only father of a certain age who, in the 1990s, made the supreme sacrifice of sitting and minding the small ones in front of the television while they, too, marvelled at the adventures of International Rescue. I bet that if one were to watch most children’s programmes from the 1960s now, they would look impossibly dated and dull. Mr Anderson’s are as fresh as a daisy.

At the time, I was rebuked by my children for having lost along life’s journey so much of the stuff that came with being a Thunderbirds obsessive. None of my model vehicles had made it into my early middle age. Nor had my Thunderbirds books, or my Thunderbirds game, which I seem to recall was about getting The Hood before The Hood got International Rescue.

To make up for this deficiency, a large amount of folding money changed hands in order to bribe a boy slightly older than mine into selling me his model of Thunderbird Two, when one of my children decided that his life would end without it. It was worth every penny. Then there was the hot afternoon in New York when my wife and I chanced upon a shop in Tribeca selling vintage toys, where we bought various rare die-cast models that drove our boys wild with excitement.

Which brings me to ask the inevitable question about Mr Anderson: did any person in the 20th century, even Enid Blyton or Richmal Crompton, make so many children so happy? I was hooked by his earlier puppet shows – all employing his great device of Supermarionation – almost as soon as I could walk. My earliest televisual memory is of Supercar. Stingray was quite jolly, but like all very small boys I always felt that Marina, Troy Tempest’s squeeze, got in the way. (It was, so she tells me, Mrs Heffer’s favourite programme, precisely for that reason.)

Fireball XL5 was, literally, out of this world, and showed Mr Anderson’s talent for dramatising his futuristic adventures in that overexcited, cod-American way that children thought was the sort of thing that their parents expected – and so made us feel frightfully grown-up. And there was always an element of danger in what Mr Anderson presented to us. As the voiceover used to say at the start of Stingray: “Anything can happen in the next half-hour!”

Thunderbirds was really grown-up, though. It was not half an hour, it was an hour (including advertisements). This was apparently at the insistence of Lew Grade, who – like the man in the electric razor ad – had liked Anderson’s work so much he decided to buy his company. He saw a test run of the first show and was so overwhelmed by it that he demanded all the programmes be doubled in length. It must be remembered that we watched these shows in black and white, even though they were made in colour for the American market: but they were none the less a stunning spectacle in their innovation, imagination and drama.

Mr Anderson ensured that all the elements we children discerned in whatever grown-up television we had been allowed to watch were present in Thunderbirds: dramatic theme and incidental music; well-developed plots; goodies and baddies; swaggering Americans, at a time when the whole of Britain was in a cultural cringe to them; and, of course, glamorous locations, all filmed on a trading estate in Slough.

Mr Anderson’s then wife, Sylvia, a partner in his firm, managed to grab the most cultish role in this cult: she was the voice of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, International Rescue’s permanently cool, calm and collected London agent. Second only to her in the cult stakes was her ineffable butler and chauffeur, “Nosey” Parker, an ex-con gone straight and now pathetically devoted to his mistress. I always presumed he was only ever a puppet because the late Sid James was not free at the time to play him. His catchphrase – “Yuss, milaydee” – has passed into the national iconography.

Then, of course, there was the nail-biting tension of the rescues themselves – a tension that presents itself again and again, however often one watches the old episodes. Many men in their fifties have spent decades wondering how a rescue craft laden with kit could travel 10,000 miles in about half an hour, but that will teach us to fail to suspend disbelief.

Mr Anderson was speaking last week because the Royal Mail, which is sadly not what it used to be, has chosen to mark the show’s 50th anniversary with a series of stamps. Unlike most who receive this accolade today, he actually deserved it. He only holds the MBE, which is shameful. Perhaps the new series of Thunderbirds that he has promised will lead to a knighthood.

It is not clear, however, whether the new series will involve puppets or actors. There can be no debate: it has to be puppets, especially since Sid James is no longer available. We know what we like, and we know what we expect: episodes packed with rocketing machines, screeching cars and staggering puppets. Anything else would not be remotely FAB – would it, milaydee?

The non-celebrity diet plan for new mothers

It's easy to get that pre-pregnancy, nightclub-ready figure back, says Jenny McCartney.

By Jenny McCartney 7:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

I read last week that it takes 18 months for the average mother to “feel like a woman again” after having a baby. My daughter is now 19 months old, and it seems broadly true that it has taken that long to become a kind of artist’s impression of my old self, although I’m not sure about the rather creepy phrase “feel like a woman again”. Even in the weeks after she was born, I always felt like a woman: just a very tired, over-emotional woman who looked as if she had recently been released from a Victorian mental institution.

We hear an uncomfortable amount these days about celebrities, and their punishing regimes for getting back into nightclub-ready shape four weeks after giving birth. For those who prefer a lengthier recovery period, here is my recommended path. During pregnancy, eat all you like and growl at anyone who tries to take your food away. Post-birth, carry on exactly as before, because breast-feeding makes you extraordinarily hungry. After a year, suppress a frisson of unhappiness when you realise that you are barely lighter than just after you had the baby.

Then, one day, your baby will start bringing home communicable ailments from toddler groups for you: after two months of suffering varied strains of norovirus and head-colds, you will realise that you can fit back into your pre-pregnancy clothes. But don’t worry about being nightclub-ready: you’ll be too exhausted to care.

Sting: Must we watch every move he makes?

A compulsion to talk about his bedroom antics could stem from Sting's bottled-up childhood, says William Langley.

By William Langley 7:00PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

Comments

Contrary to the ravening image, rock stars tend to be reassuringly discreet about sex. "You shouldn't boast," says Rod Stewart, while Keith Richards, in his recently published autobiography, claims that: "I've never put the make on a girl in my life – I just don't know how to do it." Keef's eternal bandmate, Mick Jagger, once gallantly mused that: "I should have thought that being my old lady is the only satisfaction any woman needs."

Rock star Sting, and his wife Trudie Styler

Then there's Sting, a deadly blend of body maintenance, cod logic and yogic energy. With the package comes rather more information about what goes on inside the singer's scented boudoir than anyone could reasonably wish for. In the latest edition of Harper's Bazaar, Sting, 59, takes the readers through a typical evening with his actress wife, Trudie Styler. "When we see each other," he says, "it's romance. I don't think pedestrian sex is very interesting. There's a playfulness we have. I like the theatre of sex. I like her to dress up. I like to dress her up. We like tawdry."

"We don't get bored," confirms Ms Styler.

Too right. But what is really happening here? Is it the romanticism or the tawdriness? Or the Tyneside-born rocker's peculiar compulsion to turn his bedroom experiences into a kind of sub-Jungian soap opera? In his 2003 memoir, Broken Music, Sting recalls his first girlfriend, the one he landed only after failing to make out with Mavis, the neighbourhood dreamboat who could open brown ale bottles with her teeth. "We had explored our first intimacies like children making blood promises in the dark," he writes, "attempting to secure the volatile cargoes of the future in the fumbling, silent exchanges of our hips and hands."

A subsequent passage continues in similar vein: "We move together effortlessly, like synchronised swimmers in a sea of longing." Unfortunately, this doesn't refer to either his girlfriend or Mavis, but to Mr Wilson, his immediate superior at the Tyne and Wear Inland Revenue office where he worked after leaving school. Not that anything improper happened between them. Rather, explains Sting, his overwrought scribbling was "an attempt to remake the drab prose of my life into some kind of transcendent poetry".

Lurking within the Pseuds' Corner-ish depths of Sting's book (unwanted copies of which are currently available at Amazon for 1p) is the revelation that sex was never spoken of in the working-class home that the young Gordon Sumner grew up in. In interviews, he has portrayed both his parents as emotionally repressed. "My father couldn't express his love for his wife," he once said. My mother couldn't express that she needed intimacy. We were conditioned as a family not to express ourselves." Eventually, his mother eloped with one of his father's workmates, returning later to a marriage beyond repair.

Young Gordon was shy with girls, and despite looks that would later secure him global heart-throb status, he says he felt awkward and unattractive. His "Sting" nickname came from the uncool stripy jerseys he wore during a stint as a Newcastle schoolteacher. It is possible that he would have developed an open-minded approach to sex anyway, but it isn't hard to speculate that the candid bulletins emerging from his bedroom are, to some degree, a reaction against the constraints of his upbringing.

Sting's "volatile cargoes of the future" can be seen as the songs he would write and perform with The Police, the three-piece quasi-punk band he joined in 1977. Founded by Stuart Copeland, a London-based American drummer, the trio – Sting, guitarist Andy Summers and Copeland himself – had an early hit with Roxanne, a Sting composition, and within two years had acquired supergroup status.

Yet the most volatile part of the operation was the band's internal relations. Copeland watched, with ill-concealed resentment, as Sting seized control. The handsome, high-voiced Geordie was not just the one with the golden songwriting touch, but the one the glossy magazines wanted on their covers, the one the girls screamed for. Copeland would later describe Sting as an egotist, narcissist and misanthrope, who "not only hates humanity, but every human within the species apart from his own family… and has an ego so large it is visible from the moon".

The abuse has, if anything, only got worse – to the point where even Sting's detractors are occasionally moved to feel sorry for him. The charge of pretentiousness may be hard to avoid when you say things like: "I think it was Flaubert who said you had to be bourgeois in everyday life so you can be daring in your work. Most rock 'n' rollers wear a clothing of rebellion, but in private they are reactionary and dull. Except me."

Or brag – although he later claimed it was a joke – of having tantric sex sessions with Trudie lasting eight hours. Or having himself photographed in the Brazilian rainforest wearing little but loam and facepaint. Yet other rockers say and do sillier things, and make worse records. "What's wrong with being pretentious?" he once asked. "I don't think you achieve anything without pretending to achieve it in the first place. I pretended to be a musician, and by that process became a musician."

There are, of course, abundant compensations. He met Trudie after the breakdown of his first marriage, to actress Frances Tomelty, with whom he had two children. They have now been together for 30 years, living, with their four offspring, in a permanent state of rock-star fabulousness, with a portfolio of properties including an 800-acre estate with a 14-bedroom mansion in Wiltshire, a Tuscan villa with a private vineyard, and a Malibu beach house formerly owned by Barbra Streisand.

The work and the money still rolls in. He is currently completing a sold-out world tour of Symphonicity, an arrangement of his old hits for full orchestra. Indeed, he works so hard that he says he doesn't get to see Trudie for weeks on end. Best then not to begrudge the fact that he's well in the mood by the time he gets home. Only that he feels the need to tell us all about it.

Lord Heseltine: Deathly encounter with a serial assassin

There is a faintly decaying smell in Lord Heseltine's living room, but I can't work out if it's coming from his musty carpets or our interview, which died a tragic death before it ever got going.

Bryony Gordon 7:53AM GMT 15 Jan 2011

There is a faintly decaying smell in Lord Heseltine's living room, but I can't work out if it's coming from his musty carpets or our interview, which died a tragic death before it ever got going. Opening the door to his Belgravia town house, he cuts an imposing figure, and not just because he is so very tall. He is also so very cold. Inquiries as to his well-being are met with a nod; he speaks only to say "upstairs", upstairs being a gloomy sitting room with a drinks cabinet full of crystal decanters, though the photographer and I are offered not so much as a glass of water during our mercifully brief time there.

I had not expected to be greeted with hugs and snogs by Lord Heseltine of Thenford, or, as he is variously known, Michael, Hezza, Tarzan. Here is a man who earned that particular jungle nickname after swinging the mace in the direction of Labour MPs who were celebrating winning a vote by singing The Red Flag; and who once wrote on the back of the envelope all he wanted to achieve in his life: millionaire, cabinet minister, party leader, prime minister.

While he managed the first two (millionaire courtesy of his publishing company Haymarket, cabinet minister as environment and defence secretary), the closest he got to the others was as deputy PM under John Major. Still, he had plenty of fun upsetting people along the way. Lord Tebbit once described him as a "a serial Conservative assassin … He did it to William Hague. Indeed, he did it to Margaret Thatcher. I suspect he would do it to any leader except Michael Heseltine."

So no, I hadn't expected Lord Heseltine to be a walk in the park, but nor did I reckon on him being so hostile. By the end of my time with him, I feel something approaching empathy for the Iron Lady, whom he famously, in the words of Edward Leigh, "stabbed in the front".

Right from the first question, he is testy. I ask him about his role with the Coalition; is he the growth tsar? "No. No. No," he says, as if I am a blithering idiot who hasn't done any research (yet several papers have described him as such). "I am the chairman of an advisory board that will help ministers on which schemes to process from the regional growth fund. That's what I am." So a growth tsar then.

I move on. How is the new job going? "Well we don't know yet because the figures are not due in until the end of this month," he says, shortly.

How did you get involved?

"Well David Cameron asked me if I would do it."

Is he friends with the PM?

"I'm not in any position to describe him as anything but all the indications are that he's a friend."

Righto.

Lord Tebbit was wrong, then, when he said that Hezza would try to bring down any Tory leader who wasn't himself; he actually backed Cameron in 2005. Then again, at 77, he is hardly in a position to take on the sprightly PM. But in his role as growth tsar (does he object to the word tsar?) he is already causing controversy by suggesting that we shouldn't demonise bankers. "You can't run a capitalist economy without banks." And nor can you run one down without them.

What does he think of the bonus situation? "The financial services industry is hugely important to the British economy; if you want to be world competitive, then you have to pay the sort of money that the world industry will pay." Fair enough, but then he goes and follows it up with the following statement: "It would, in my view, be the utmost folly to create a climate in this country which was anything other than sympathetic to the financial services industry."

Anything other than sympathetic? Try telling that to all the people who lost their jobs and couldn't keep up their mortgage repayments. Anyway, what about George Osborne taking off for a skiing holiday to Klosters while the rest of the country toiled away back home? Is it right for the country to be up in arms or should our politicians be allowed to take a break?

"Well that's more a question for you as a journalist than for me. Because you use the words 'the whole country is up in arms' and it's not true. Your headline writer is up in arms. They see a good story and so the 600,000, 700,000 people who buy The Daily Telegraph read these headlines about George being in Klosters, and it's as if they all felt it. But they don't feel it. They've all forgotten about it by the next day."

Later, I will wonder who "they" constitutes exactly. Other Tory grandees? His mates? Sitting in his Belgravia town house, on his £240 million fortune, it seems a bit, well, rich for Lord Heseltine to start saying that we should be sympathetic to bankers.

At one point, things become so hostile that I say he doesn't seem to be at all keen on doing this interview; I ask if he would rather we wrapped it up. "I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't want to." So what would he like to talk about that won't bring him out in a rash of condescension? "It's up to you," he says, like a stroppy teenager. "You're the journalist."

We talk about the Coalition, although "talk" implies some sort of level of conversation, when he has clearly marked me out as too simple for that. I mention he predicted the hung parliament. "Yes," he says, as if this is a ridiculous thing to bring up. Was he disappointed that the Tories didn't manage an overall majority? "I never thought they would." Well yes, I know that, but what I meant is: were you disappointed by that knowledge? "In the circumstances, they did very well. And David Cameron made the party electable."

Does he think the Coalition should carry on at the next election? "Well that's not for me to say, is it?"

If it's not for a former deputy PM to say, then who is it?

Perhaps some jokes might work. I ask him if it is true, as Alan Clark once snobbily noted, that he buys his own furniture. "Well my father hadn't the money to buy my furniture for me; Alan had a father who could." Oh dear.

We move on to horticulture, about which he is passionate, though I note that the flowers in his fireplace are plastic. Anyway, he has an arboretum in Northamptonshire, and as he talks about it I catch a glimpse of a different man, one who is possibly even quite charming. He tells me he talks to his trees to "shake them up a bit"; there was a hawthorn that "really wasn't delivering the fantastic sea of red colour that it should do, so I had a word with it and the next year it was absolutely fantastic." He pauses for a moment, I think I see a sliver of a smile. "Though I have to say, it died the year after that."

I mention the Prince of Wales, who is mocked for talking to his plants. "Well people talk to their dogs. They talk to their cats. They talk to their budgerigars. We all have these relaxed moments."

And how unsurprising that Lord Heseltine has them with things that can't talk back.

A Wiki world

Telegraph View: Wikipedia, 10 years old today, is a heartening attempt by volunteers to work together to construct something worthwhile online.

7:23PM GMT 14 Jan 2011

Comments

We are told that the word wiki is used in Hawaii to mean "quick". It bounced into universal use because a computer expert called Ward Cunningham spent his honeymoon on the island. He had come up with a method by which internet pages could be simply edited by more than one contributor and he named his site Wiki Wiki Web. The word has gained a life of its own, and today it is impossible to potter about the internet without stumbling on a page of Wikipedia, the online co-operative encyclopedia, which celebrates its 10th anniversary today.

To use Wikipedia five or six years ago would have been a badge of shame. Too many of its articles, written by eager volunteers, were unreliable. Today, with 3.5 million articles in English on different subjects, it is more useful than any encyclopedia in print. Yet Wikipedia (no relation to WikiLeaks) must still be used with caution. It will tell you the dates of the kings and queens of England right enough, but much less, for example, that is reliable about the development of Islam. For volunteers to work together to construct something worthwhile online is heartening. Certainly, to filter out the troublemakers and extremists remains a problem. But it can prove almost as awkward when drawing up the flower rota or marshalling hospital volunteers. So are we perhaps now all in it together as part of the Wiki Society?

Even the popular are not safe from the sack

These days, your favourite actor from 'The Archers' is just as much at risk as anyone else, writes Vicki Woods.

Vicki Woods 7:17PM GMT 14 Jan 2011

Comments

Since I gobble with frustrated rage every time I hear that tumpty-tumpty tumpty-tum on a Sunday morning, I feel vengeful and malevolent about Vanessa Whitburn (the woman who killed Nigel Pargetter) to a degree that surprises me. The Archers is on in our household throughout potato-peeling time in order to lighten the burden with quotidian discourse about country matters. Now it's all death's dark agony, I can only call down imprecations on Whitburn's head for the sacking of Graham Seed. I do really feel for him. He must have expected that being Nigel would see him out quite tidily.

I don't know how The Archers' producer can sleep o' nights. They're almost the same age: Seed will be 61 in July, while Whitburn picks up her bus pass in early December. If we still have bus passes by December. When she telephoned him (I think pushing someone off the show after 27 years should have been a face-to-face) he said, "Why me?" And she said, "Because you're so popular. I've got to make an impact." Sometimes, while I walk the dog, I daydream that some (vastly overpaid) BBC panjandrum will telephone Whitburn and order her to leave The Archers. If she asks, "Why me?", he'll say: "Because it's so popular. We have to make an impact."

I am pretty much interested in job security lately: who has it (and will keep it, as we plod through these End Times of the Welfare State); who doesn't have it, never has had it, can't have it. For all those (mostly black-economy) workers employed in half the nation's households as domestic help, there's no such thing as job security. There isn't even such a thing as holiday pay, and certainly no sick pay. Everyone knows you can lay off your cleaning lady with a two-minute phone call, and no hope of an industrial tribunal for her.

In the actors-and-vagabonds kind of trades (freelance hacks, television presenters, dancers, photographers, artists, craftsmen, graffitists, cast members of long-running Radio 4 soap operas), there's no expectation of job security because anyone who becomes an actor after being told a million times by a) their mother and b) their science teacher that acting isn't a "job" must reap what they've sown.

"How old are you, David?" asked Jeanette Winterson on Question Time.

"Seventy-two," the unflappable Dimbleby told her composedly, and then took the licence she'd handed him to ask the same question of her. Which in his mouth was a socially taboo question. (From a man to a woman in public, it's unaskable. Between women it's allowed, though often answered with a "How old are you?") Whereupon the audience started making a curious sublinguistic noise. And when Winterton robustly said, "Fifty-one!" the noise continued, ooh-er, now we know, that's you told, Dimbleby.

But Dimbleby's smirk was the smirk of victory, because in the tiny verbal skirmish between the 72-year-old male person (besuited, patrician, gloriously coiffed by Michaeljohn in Albemarle Street and always skilfully made-up) and the 51-year-old female person (non-power-dressed, non-surgically enhanced face, with what you might call "academic" hair), Dimbleby won, hands down.

Winterson wants old women to be represented on television in order to represent "the generality of the public". Diane Abbott said Winterson was right: "People want to see people who look like the generality of the public." What a load of rubbish.

When ex-Dragon James Caan opined that "if we're really honest" we want to see "young, pretty, dolly-looking people" on TV, I laughed aloud. Dolly-looking! Ooh, go and wash your mouth out for a filthy malediction, you sexist saucebox. He was completely oblivious to the shockwave he'd created by compounding the already contentious adjectives ("young", "pretty") but Jeanette was fizzing like a pricked balloon.

Oldham by-election: the result is no cause for panic

Telegraph View: The result needs to be seen in the unusual context in which the contest was fought.

7:10PM GMT 14 Jan 2011

Comments

A few weeks after Labour's landslide victory in 1997, a by-election took place in Uxbridge, north west London. The Conservatives, who had narrowly won the seat at the general election, retained it with a 7 per cent increase in their vote. But as a pointer to what would happen during the Parliament, or at the subsequent general election, it meant nothing: in 2001, the Tories were trounced again. If political history teaches us anything, it is to avoid reading too much into the outcome of a by-election, especially one held early on in a Parliament. The result in Oldham East and Saddleworth has been interpreted as a vindication of Labour's choice of
Ed Miliband as leader, as a disaster for the Tories and as a minor triumph for the Liberal Democrats. Caution is required. The result needs to be seen in the unusual context in which the contest was fought – that of coalition politics. Had the Conservatives been in power on their own, the Lib Dems, as the traditional repository for the protest vote, may have won the seat. The Tories would probably have done a little better than they did on Thursday, since some of their support appears to have crossed to the Lib Dems; but they would still have come third.

For good or ill, the Government is a coalition – and from its point of view, this was not a bad result. There will be worse nights, with May's local elections likely to be a far bigger test of nerve. The Tories who are most unhappy with their party's half-hearted approach to the Oldham campaign tend to be those who dislike the very concept of coalition and who believe that David Cameron should have won power outright last May. But we are where we are. What mattered most for the stability of the Coalition was to avoid a catastrophic result for the Lib Dems; this was achieved. The party even marginally improved its share of the vote, a commendable performance given that it is part of a Government taking tough economic decisions. After a difficult period for the Lib Dems – and for Nick Clegg especially – following the abandonment of pre-election promises on student fees and bankers' bonuses, the Oldham result is a tribute to their local strength and organisation. As for Labour, it retained a seat it won at the general election. A defeat would have been catastrophic; but victory is no more likely to underpin Mr Miliband's leadership than Uxbridge did William Hague's 14 years ago.

For the Conservatives, the outcome is problematic. While it secures the Coalition, it will exacerbate internal tensions over the party's future and Mr Cameron's style of leadership. The Prime Minister has helped out Mr Clegg when he most needed it, but will now take flak for doing so. He must be mindful of the concerns of his Tory critics and not treat them as some minor irritant to be contemptuously dismissed. They represent an important strand in Conservatism which Mr Cameron cannot ignore; indeed, they advocate the economic approach he needs to adopt to achieve the sustained recovery without which his Government will be judged a failure. Earlier this week, the Heritage Foundation published its annual index of economic freedom, which found that Britain has fallen from 11th place to 16th in the world rankings. This is a consequence of the relentless rise in public spending under Labour, which the Coalition is now trying to rein in, though arguably not by enough. It is also a function of the over-regulated, high-tax economy that the UK has become. The Coalition must demonstrate a commitment to the vibrant enterprise economy that Britain can be once again. That means scrapping Labour's 50p top rate of income tax, continuing the downward trend of corporation taxes, relieving business of the burden of unnecessary regulation and understanding the critical importance of the City of London to economic well-being. If coalition politics prove a barrier to achieving any of these, the time will have come for a parting of the ways. For now, there is no need to panic.

Magician Paul Daniels sells thousands of pounds worth of props on eBay

Paul Daniels, the magician, is selling dozens of his props, along with their secrets, on eBay.

By Rebecca Lefort 9:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

For more than half a century he has amazed audiences with his mysterious magic tricks.

Paul Daniels left television viewers baffled as he transformed girls into tigers, identified playing cards while blindfolded or pulled a wooden broom through his wriggling body.

But now the secrets behind his elaborate illusions are finally being revealed.

Daniels, 72, has put dozens of his stage props up for sale on eBay, the online auction site. He describes the objects in detail and promises that aspiring magicians who buy them will be able to carry out the tricks themselves.

The entertainer, who presented The Paul Daniels Magic Show on the BBC from 1979 to 1994, said people could purchase "a part of magic history" and added that many of the props had been used before him by other famous magicians, including David Copperfield.

Daniels is passing on his techniques despite remaining a member of the Magic Circle, the magicians' society which has the motto "Indocilis Privata Loqui" - "not apt to disclose secrets".

Under its rules, members who disclose magic secrets to non-magicians can be expelled.

The Magic Circle holds annual members-only auctions at its London headquarters for magicians to sell their old props. Last night a spokesman for the society said it was "a bit of a grey area" whether Daniels was flouting the secrecy code by selling to the general public.

The items for sale, with starting bid prices of up to £600, include:

- "Doll to girl" cage: A toy tiger is put into the cage and a cloth pulled over it, when the cloth is whipped away there is a girl dressed in a tiger leotard inside the cage. A "girl to tiger" cage performs a similar trick but the other way around, starting with a girl and ending with a real tiger.

- "Through the eye of the needle" equipment: A girl gets into a box and the entrance is sealed with a large Chinese coin with a small hole in the middle. Another box is put on the other side of the coin. "After waving a flag through a window in one box, the girl emerges in the other, having seemingly passed through the tiny hole.

- "Magic assistant's revenge": A magician's assistant is strapped to a wooden frame, the magician grabs a curtain and begins to walk around the frame, but it is the assistant who brings the curtain back, and once the curtain has been removed it is the magician who is strapped up.

- "Absolutely impossible playing card locator": A blindfolded magician stands behind a box, which has a see through front and holes for his hands in the back. A pack of cards is put in the box and an audience member names any card. Apparently without being able to see, the magician finds that card.

- "Spirit painting" prop: A blank canvas is shown and signed, then a famous painting or picture is shown. By using the prop, made of solid oak, the picture appears on the original white, signed canvas.

- "Broom through the body": A magician appears to pull the broom through their body, with both ends visible at all times.

Daniels, who has just finished performing in pantomime in Redhill, Surrey - playing King Crumble in Jack and the Beanstalk alongside his wife, Debbie McGee - said his decision to sell the old equipment was because it is "cheaper to remake stuff for shows than to store it" at his £2 million home by the River Thames in Berkshire.

The former Strictly Come Dancing contestant, who grew up in a council house in Middlesbrough, admitted last year that he is careful with money, changing bank accounts and energy suppliers to get the best deals, and worrying about the under performance of his pension fund.

Daniels is a member of the Magic Circle's "inner circle", its elite grouping reserved for the most highly-regarded magicians.

Nick Fitzherbert, a spokesman for the Magic Circle, said that if any member accused Daniels of breaking the secrecy rule, the complaint would be investigated.

However, he said a complaint was unlikely due to the manner in which Daniels is auctioning the equipment and the high esteem in which he is held.

Mr Fitzherbert added: "He has an enormous amount of stuff. I went to his house once and his shed was about as big as a village hall.

"He's obviously having an early spring clean. Before when he's cleared out it's happened very much within the magic world.

"Now there's some really quite affordable quirky items that other people might be able to pick up."

Although this sale looks set to net Daniels thousands, in the past his eBay habit has left him embarrassed.

In 2006 it was revealed that he used the website to purchase "kinky leather-look boots" with five-inch steel stiletto heels.

Neanderthals were not ugly because of the cold, new research finds

The characteristic broad foreheads and large noses of Neanderthals did not give them any special advantage in the cold arctic conditions of the last ice age, according to new research that has raised new questions about the habitats our prehistoric relatives lived in and why they died out.

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent 8:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Comments

Their prominent facial features have caused them to be cast as one of nature's less attractive creatures, but now one of the main scientific explanations for Neanderthals' large noses and jutting foreheads has been disproved.

For more than 150 years scientists have explained the reason for these facial differences to modern humans as an adaptation that allowed Neanderthals to live in the freezing conditions that gripped Europe during the last Ice Age.

They believed prehistoric human relatives had enlarged sinuses which helped to warm the air as it was inhaled.

New research that used three dimensional scans and X-ray images of Neanderthal skulls has revealed that their sinuses were no bigger than modern humans, Homo sapiens, who evolved in more temperate climates, and so played no role in increasing the size of their facial features.

The researchers behind the study claim the findings suggest Neanderthals, which died out around 30,000 years ago after surviving for more than 400,000 years, did not evolve to survive in the harsh frozen tundra of Europe but instead were better suited for living in warmer climates.

Dr Todd Rae, an evolutionary anthropologist at Roehampton University in London, said it was more than likely that Neanderthals lived in temperate refuges where they could forage for fruit and berries as well as hunting for meat.

He said: "The view that Neanderthals were knuckle-dragging cave men who scraped a living by hunting large mammals on the frozen wastes of the tundra has been around since they were first discovered because they were known to live at a time when Europe was in the grip of the last Glacial Age.

"As a result a lot of their physical traits have been attributed as adaptations that helped them live in the cold, even when it doesn't make any sense.

"Our findings show that their sinuses were no larger, relative to the skull size, than in Homo sapiens who lived in temperate climates. It suggests that Neanderthals evolved in much warmer temperatures before moving into Europe and then they moved south to avoid the glaciers.

"The picture of them as more of a temperate climate creature than one that lived in the cold fits the data much better."

The remains of Neanderthals are found across Europe and in western and central Asia. Recent research has started to dispel theories that they were a primitive form of prehistoric human and is instead revealed that they used sophisticated tool kits, cooked their food and may even have been able to speak.

Recent research examining the remains of plant matter in the teeth of a Neanderthal skull has also helped to dismiss the earlier beliefs that Neanderthals were predominantly meat eaters that hunted large Ice Age mammals. Instead they were revealed to have foraged for berries, grain and vegetables, which they often cooked.

There are a number of theories for what caused Neanderthals to eventually die out, including competition with our own direct ancestors Homo sapiens, climate change caused their food supplies to disappear, or even interbreeding between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.

But the latest findings on the size of the Neanderthal sinuses, which is published in the Journal of Human Evolution, has now raised new questions about what happened to them.

Dr Rae said: "It raises other possibilities for what caused Neanderthals to eventually die out. If they were restricted to living in warmer refuges at the height of the last ice age, it is possible their populations became too isolated and small to survive."

Working with colleagues at Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universität Greifswald, Germany, and The Natural History Museum, London, Dr Rae compared detailed scans of Neanderthal skulls with those of modern humans taken from Medieval remains.

He added: "We chose to use archaeological human remains rather than current skulls as we wanted to have data from a period before central heating and air conditioning which may have altered the results.

"As our results show that they don't differ significantly from temperate-climate European humans, we can conclude that they were not regularly subjected to cold stress."

Cherie Blair wore a pendant to ward off evil spirits, reveals Alastair Campbell

Cherie Blair wore a special charm to "ward off evil spirits" because she needed to be "slightly mad" to cope with life at No 10, according to Tony Blair's former communications chief Alastair Campbell.

3:54PM GMT 15 Jan 2011

The revelation emerged from the latest instalment of diaries by Mr Campbell, which covers the first two years of Mr Blair's premiership.

In the volume, which will be published later this month, Mr Campbell tells how he warned the ex-prime minister about Cherie's 'madder stuff', such as her support for alternative therapies.

It also reveals Mr Blair consulted the Bible before making key decisions, reading a passage about John the Baptist hours before ordering a bombing raid on Iraq in 1998.

Mr Campbell said he was also forced to advise Mr Blair just weeks after he took office not to suffer from 'world leader-itis', that is preferring life on the international stage to dealing with problems in the UK.

Mr Blair also apparently complained that his stature on the world stage was limited because Britain was "so small".

In a section on Cherie, Mr Campbell discussed a report in a newspaper about a "bioelectric shield" pendant 'that was supposed to ward off evil spirits and harmful rays" she had been pictured wearing.

The revelation comes in the latest instalment of diaries by Mr Blair's former spin chief Alastair Campbell

He writes: "I said to Fiona (Millar, Campbell's partner and an adviser to Cherie), she had to get a hold of all this madder stuff but she said Cherie never raised it with her because she knew she would disapprove."

"TB (Tony Blair) said they had to be slightly mad to cope," he wrote. "He was very sympathetic to Cherie doing this alternative ******** because of he thought it was her way of coping."

In December 1998, as he was poised to order a bombing of Iraq – four-and-a-half years before the full-scale invasion – Mr Campbell's diaries reveal how Mr Blair relied on his Christianity to help him decide what to do.

"TB was clearly having a bit of a wobble. He said he had been reading the Bible last night, as he often did when the really big decisions were on, and he had read something about John the Baptist and Herod which had caused him to rethink, albeit not change his mind."

The former PM is due to appear before the Chilcot Inquiry into the 2003 Iraq invasion next week.

Table of Contents

UK News

Petrol price: rural areas to receive discount

Paddington Bear tours to re-ignite marmalade passion

Mark Kennedy: 15 other undercover police infiltrated green movement

Ed Miliband: Gordon Brown made mistakes but I listen to him

Simon Hughes 'could back Labour against education cuts'

Andy Coulson 'not quitting over phone hacking'

MPs' pay rise to be blocked

Universities face £400m 'lag' before fees income rises

Royal Mail deliver on Sunday to clear backlog

Sally Bercow denounces Tory 'whispering campaign' against the Speaker

Oldham East by-election: Eric Pickles admits Tories fought 'gentle' campaign

Ed Miliband distances himself from Gordon Brown's failures

Doctors ordered to stop giving flu jabs to children

Miriam O'Reilly tells of anger at BBC

Killer of Gurkha's son wins right to stay in Britain

Royal Shakespeare Company to sell thousands of costumes

Designer probiotic yogurts could help people lose weight

Man almost became bigamist after fake divorce con

Magician Paul Daniels sells thousands of pounds worth of props on eBay

Art Prize for Schools winners announced

Isambard Kingdom Brunel did not design Clifton Suspension Bridge, says historian

Neanderthals were not ugly because of the cold, new research finds

World News

Sardinians call for formal recognition of diet

Shark kills teenage surfer

Serbia attempts to improve image with peacekeeping

Jean Marie Le Pen signs off with anti-semitic comment

Tunisia Army arrests security chief in coup plot as struggle for control intensifies

Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and his family's 'Mafia rule'

84-year-old adventurer set to launch Atlantic raft

Marine Le Pen becomes Front National leader: A pivotal moment for French politics?

Offering hope to Zimbabwe's most desperate

Tunisia: Why the Jasmine Revolution won't bloom

British expat tells of her grief for brother-in-law shot dead by Tunisian police

Where our overseas aid goes: salsa in Cambridge, coffee in Yorkshire

Jordan Tyson's father tells of his death in Brisbane floods

Jordan Tyson's father tells of his death in Brisbane floods

Gabrielle Giffords shooting: Why it is time to change gun laws

Gabrielle Giffords shooting: A tale of two Americas

The battle for Golden Globes glory

What was the role of warmists in the Queensland flood disaster?

Tunisia riots: Fears mount over violent power struggle

Italian 'Big Brother' removes contestants for blasphemy

Brisbane floods: Kevin Rudd treated for foot injury after flood efforts

Miss America finalist Kayla Martell: Bald is beautiful

Tunisia riots: presidential election to be held within 60 days

Tunisia riots: holidaymakers describe 'chaotic scenes' as prison fire kills 42

Politics

Ed Miliband: Gordon Brown made mistakes but I listen to him

Simon Hughes 'could back Labour against education cuts'

Andy Coulson 'not quitting over phone hacking'

MPs' pay rise to be blocked

Universities face £400m 'lag' before fees income rises

Sally Bercow denounces Tory 'whispering campaign' against the Speaker

Oldham East by-election: Eric Pickles admits Tories fought 'gentle' campaign

Ed Miliband distances himself from Gordon Brown's failures

Send foreign aid to where it is really needed

The Household Cavalry may seek new household

MP 'reports six colleagues to police over expenses'

Residents call for reform of law on travellers' sites

Where our overseas aid goes: salsa in Cambridge, coffee in Yorkshire

Peers to sleep on camp beds in race to secure Alternative Vote referendum

Conservatives criticise David Cameron over Oldham by-election campaign

Miliband urges 'tragic' Lib Dems to defect

The Tories couldn't deliver the goods without the Lib Dems

Barack Obama captured the mood of a nation. Can David Cameron do the same?

What would be the impact of the Alternative Vote?

Union bosses want a fight, regardless of what the rank and file think

Friends: The One with the Wake-up Call for the Coalition

Cherie Blair wore a pendant to ward off evil spirits, reveals Alastair Campbell

Ed Miliband appeals to disaffected Liberal Democrats

Conservatives pledge to stop travellers from gaining planning permission for illegal permanent camps

Technology News

Wikipedia at 10: 'It's what the web is for'

Chips with everything?

The shortage of web addresses is 'not a crisis but getting more urgent', say analysts

Science News

Designer probiotic yogurts could help people lose weight

Neanderthals were not ugly because of the cold, new research finds

Ophiuchus: suggestion of 13th sign of the zodiac becomes internet sensation

Duvet wars: new invention claims to solve bedtime conflict

Sub-tropical spell threatens floods for Britain as La Niña brings havoc around world

Sport

Liverpool 2 Everton 2: match report

Rangers miss chance to eat into the goal-difference gap on SPL leaders Celtic

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United: live

Glasgow Warriors 20 London Wasps 10: match report

Sunderland 1 Newcastle United 1: match report

Birmingham City 1 Aston Villa 1: match report

Liverpool v Everton: as it happened

Nat Lofthouse's great games

England women claim unassailable 3-0 lead over Australia in Twenty20 series

Nat Lofthouse dies, aged 85: profile

Australia v England, first one-day international report

Sunderland v Newcastle United: live

Birmingham City v Aston Villa: live

Ruthless England send out message that form matters by dropping Paul Collingwood for opening one-dayer

Melbourne Rebels coach Rod Macqueen blasts media for obsession with Danny Cipriani

Carlos Tevez "fantastic", says Roberto Mancini, as Manchester City go top of Premier League

Queen's Club evacuated as World Series Squash Finals cancelled after wind stops play

Tributes paid to Bolton Wanderers and England legend Nat Lofthouse, who has died aged 85

Bolton Wanderers and England legend Nat Lofthouse dies aged 85

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United: Wayne Rooney and Jermaine Defoe need to find form

Liverpool v Everton: Leighton Baines needs no assistance to overcome Fabio Capello's World Cup snub

Australian Open: Andy Murray has two years to win grand slam title, insists former champion Boris Becker

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United: Spurs need a new stadium in order to reach next level

Sunderland v Newcastle: Joey Barton believes he is playing better than anyone in England

Earth News

Mark Kennedy: 15 other undercover police infiltrated green movement

The wife of the undercover policeman struggling to come to terms with his secret affairs

Foreign insects threatening British gardens

RHS modernisation drive to tackle climate change

Pc Mark Kennedy: inquiry into police 'cover up' of climate group evidence

Eco infiltrator Mark Kennedy: The great betrayal

Consumers 'misled' over cod labelling

Comment

Miriam O'Reilly verdict: Don't write off our wrinkles

The NHS suffers seasonal sickness

Conjuring a profit

Send foreign aid to where it is really needed

What if Diana had lived?

Radio and television are not jobs for life

Britain is becoming less windy, raising doubts over Government's wind farm strategy

Gabrielle Giffords shooting: Why it is time to change gun laws

The Tories couldn't deliver the goods without the Lib Dems

Barack Obama captured the mood of a nation. Can David Cameron do the same?

What would be the impact of the Alternative Vote?

London to Edinburgh by electric car: it was quicker by stagecoach

It's shocking how normality can vanish in a flash

What was the role of warmists in the Queensland flood disaster?

A mother's fall causes her to lose her child

Union bosses want a fight, regardless of what the rank and file think

Mark Kennedy got one of the better undercover assignments

Friends: The One with the Wake-up Call for the Coalition

Why Thunderbirds is still FAB

The non-celebrity diet plan for new mothers

Sting: Must we watch every move he makes?

Lord Heseltine: Deathly encounter with a serial assassin

A Wiki world

Even the popular are not safe from the sack

Oldham by-election: the result is no cause for panic

How about that?

Magician Paul Daniels sells thousands of pounds worth of props on eBay

Neanderthals were not ugly because of the cold, new research finds

Cherie Blair wore a pendant to ward off evil spirits, reveals Alastair Campbell