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The Independent (London, England)
The Independent is a Monday to Sunday newspaper, owned and published by Independent Print Ltd and headquartered in London, England. It was first published in 1986 in reaction to the conservative views held by the London Times and the London Telegraph. It has a liberal slant. The Independent's audience is London based, with 54 percent of its readership living in London and its surroundings. Other notable qualities of its readership are: the average reader is 43 years old; 59 percent are employed; 62 percent are married; 48 percent have a college degree or higher; and 73 percent own their own homes. Regions covered include: London and South East, South West, Midlands, North and North East, North West, Scotland, and Wales. The Independent is the youngest of Britain's daily newspapers and is notable for challenging London's more established and conservative daily newspapers. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards. In 2010, Simon Kelner, Editor-in-Chief of The Independent, and Johann Hari, a regular columnist in the paper, each received a Comment Award, similar to the U.S. Pultizer Prize. Oliver Wright is Whitehall editor; Oly Duff is home news editor, and Katherine Butler is comment editor.
Articles from October 21, 2006
1. Managers Are Only as Good as the Chairmen Standing Right Behind Them - Waiting to Push ; What I've Learnt This Week
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Another week, another sacking, and this one was just down the road. The Championship is a killing field for managers and Paul Sturrock, my oppo at Wednesday, has become the latest victim. Of the 24 managers who started last season's Championship only...
48 HOURS IN QUEENSTOWN ; Stroll around the Lake, Hire a Bike, Go Fishing - or Test Your Nerve. David Orkin Finds It All in the Adventure Capital of the World
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WHY GO NOW? New Zealand's spring shows Queenstown at its finest. It stands on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, surrounded by the aptly named Remarkables mountain range. You can bungee-jump, jet-boat and canyon- swing to your heart's content, but this year-round...
Advisers Admit Mis-Selling as Complaints Clock Counts Down ; as Advisers Admit to Misleading Customers, Regulators Are Still Rejecting Complaints. David Prosser Reports
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Britain's leading insurance companies are set to escape punishment for illegal sales tactics employed by their advisers in the 1990s, even though many of their former staff are now coming forward to admit to having broken the law. The number of mortgage...
Africa's World Cup Off-Target as Building Costs Spiral to [Pound]850m ; WORLD
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South Africa's projected bill for hosting the 2010 World Cup has ballooned to more than [pound]850m, adding to concerns that crime and woeful public transport could derail Africa's first ever Cup. The figures come hot on the heels of last month's controversy...
Age of the Train? ; News ++ the Best Deals, the Latest Hot Spots and What's New in Travel
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In a week in which travellers were warned about the environmental consequences of the relentless increase in flying, European rail fans received a boost: the re-invention of station ticket offices that sell travel to, and beyond, the Continent. Until...
AIM Is Still Worth a Gamble If You Fish around ; NO PAIN, NO GAIN
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I have frequently complained about the poor quality of some companies that are on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). The relentless flow of newcomers in the past few years has allowed some strange creations to tap investors for their hard-earned...
Andalucian Highlights ; Paradors of Spain
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Parador Alczar del Rey Don Pedro, Carmona Regarded by some people as one of the finest of all the paradors, this is a beautiful Moorish fortress dating from the 14th century and converted to offer spacious modern accommodation and a lovely pool. There...
An Outspoken MP Who Made Plenty of Enemies ; HOME
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The world will see Clare Short's departure as another blow for the Labour Party brought on by Tony Blair's decision to send troops into Iraq. She is one of those rare politicians with star quality, not afraid to stand alone, whose unspoken opinions made...
Architect Who Built a Business Empire ; BUSINESS
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When the Indian conglomerate Tata snapped up British stalwart Tetley Tea for [pound]271m in 2000, it was then the largest deal ever made by an Indian company. The acquisition proved a watershed in the company's history and was the culmination of Ratan...
As Happy as a Pig in ... a Swimming Pool with a Cold Beer ; KOBE PORK
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Never have hogs had it so good. While their less refined cousins root in mud and slurp water, the Kurobuta pigs of Worcestershire quaff premium lager and relax in their private swimming pool. Every day, the black-bodied, white-nosed pigs on Lucie's Farm,...
Australia Aiming All Cannons at Flintoff the Third Man ; CRICKET
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In case anybody was of a mind to think differently, it was made clear yesterday exactly what Andrew Flintoff can expect from Australia this winter. It will not involve a welcome mat or what are known in these parts as felicitations. When the England...
A Woman of Substance ; Barbara Taylor Bradford Loves Her Dogs, Her Husband, Her Writing - Well, Wouldn't You If You'd Sold 75 Million Books? - and, It Seems, Her Hair Spray. in the First of a New Series of Interviews, Deborah Ross Meets the Grande Dame of Blockbusters ++ the Deborah Ross Interview
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I meet Barbara Taylor Bradford in The Queens Hotel, Leeds, where she is mid-tour promoting her 22nd novel, The Ravenscar Dynasty, a vast sweeping saga in which the hero, Edward, has "eyes as blue as the speedwells that grow in the summer meadows" and...
Bank Error Was Not in Student's Favour ; QUESTIONS OF CASH
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My student daughter closed her old Halifax bank account to open a new account with the bank in August. But Halifax accidentally cancelled the debit card on her new account instead of her old one. The manager advised her to transfer money to her old account...
Bear Necessities ; A Panda Sanctuary in Western China Is the Best Place in the World to Meet These Gentle Giants. but It's Just One Must-See in a Beguiling Country, Says Christopher Middleton
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It's always the way. You travel 5,000 miles to see a live panda bear, and when you actually get to see one, he's lying flat on his face, not moving. "Is he dead?" asks my 11-year-old son. "No, sleeping," I reply. "Just our luck." It may only be 7.30am...
Benitez's Tinkering Has Heads Spinning and Anfield Legends Breaking Ranks ; SPORT
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Why is it that in these days of stress for Rafa Benitez there is an overwhelming urge to serenade him along the lines of the Billy Joel classic: "Don't go changing, I love you just the way you are?" It is quite possibly because he is arguably, and by...
Bent Gets Straight to the Point with Plan for Salvation ; Charlton's Hopes of Rescuing Season after Awful Start Rest on Their Striker's Phenomenal Form. Jason Burt Talks to an Englishman with an Eye for Goal ++ the Struggle to Escape Relegation Fight
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Darren Bent confesses to an addiction. When he watches football he can't help fiddling with the television remote control and switching to the "Player Cam" function - allowing him simply to follow a single player - rather than watching the match. "I...
Berdych Pace Proves Too Much for Nadal ; TENNIS
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From the posters all over the city promoting this week's Mutua Madrilena Masters here you might have thought that Rafael Nadal was the only competitor. The posters, however, have outlasted the world No 2, who was beaten 6-3, 7-6 by Tomas Berdych last...
Best of the West ; in the Second Extract from His New Book on British Regional Food, Mark Hix Heads to the West Country. Photography by Jason Lowe ++ British Regional Food Week 2
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Fish and fishing are a big part of West Country life. All along the beautiful coastline, you can still see a way of life that has been handed down for generations. Sadly, with depleting stocks and restricted fishing, local fishermen struggle to survive...
Big Wheel ; the Saturday Profile ++ MICHAEL SCHUMACHER
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When they brought the body of motor-racing legend Ayrton Senna back to Sao Paulo, where this weekend Michael Schumacher makes his last run for glory, the gridlocked streets were awash with tears. Brazilian flags were unfurled from balconies as the funeral...
Bloody Battle for Amarah Is Glimpse of Future ; WAR IN IRAQ
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The militia headed by the radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr yesterday took over the southern Iraqi city of Amarah, recently vacated by British forces, after a day of heavy fighting which left dozens killed, almost 100 injured and widespread damage...
Boom or Bust: Can Share Prices Keep on Rising? ; the Market Rally Offers a Chance to Take Stock of Equity Portfolios, Says James Daley
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Slowly but surely, the UK stock market is closing in on the record high it hit on the final day of 1999. Having burst through 6,000 two weeks ago, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares came close to 6,200 on Thursday, just 700 points below the levels...
Brazilian Cleaner Who Blackmailed Judge Is Sent to Jail for Three Years ; HOME
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A Brazilian cleaner who blackmailed a female judge and stole sex videos from a second judge with whom she had had an affair has been jailed for 33 months. Roselane Driza, 37, was also recommended for deportation. She blew a kiss to journalists and smiled...
British Apples Deserve Our Loyalty ; LEADING ARTICLE
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Today is National Apple Day. Across the country there will be recipe swaps, orchard walks, fruit pressings and, of course, plenty of tastings. We have a wonderful heritage of apple growing on these islands. Britain is home to more than 2,000 varieties...
Btw ; HOME
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Lovely to hear Robert Fisk, our man in Beirut, on Desert Island Discs, talking about life under a 30-year hail of gunfire. Can it be true, though, that Fisk was inspired to choose his occupation by seeing Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent? The titular...
Bush to Have Crisis Meeting with Generals to 'Refocus' Iraq Strategy ; WAR IN IRAQ
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In a new admission of the mounting crisis in Iraq, President George Bush is to have emergency consultations with his top generals today to see if any change of strategy is needed to cope with the escalating violence. Two days after he acknowledged possible...
Buying into Belgian Style ; with 11 Grand Hotels to Furnish, Olga Polizzi Has Got Shopping Down to a Fine Art. and When It Comes to Antiques, Only Brussels Will Do. as She Spends the Euros, Lisa Grainger Carries Her Bags
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Olga Polizzi is in her element. "Just look around you - isn't it beautiful!" she exclaims. The director of design, who is also Sir Rocco Forte's sister, is happily surveying the handsome Flemish architecture that surrounds our sundowner spot after a...
Call to Protect Orchards, the Apple of England's Eye ; HOME
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Nature conservationists have called on the Government to protect Britain's traditional orchards from further destruction, on the grounds that cultivated fruit trees provide a rich habitat for wildlife. Today is National Apple Day, and the National Trust...
Cameron's Tax Strategy Lands the Conservatives in Lion's Den with Brown ; THE WEEK IN POLITICS
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In a fascinating foretaste of the battle at the next general election, David Cameron and Gordon Brown locked horns over tax and spending this week. But it was not the fight the Tory leader intended to have as he worked out his strategy for handling a...
Chess ; SATURDAY MAGAZINE
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The Saratov University Jubilee Tournament took place in this important port on the River Volga at the end of last month. Chess has always been much more in the mainstream in Russia than the west and to mark the University's 75th year they had assembled...
Clare Short Quits the Labour Whip, Citing Blair's Deceit ; HOME
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Clare Short angrily resigned yesterday as a Labour MP, condemning Tony Blair for "half truths and deceits" over the war on Iraq and accusing his Government of being "arrogant" and "error-prone". The former Cabinet minister furiously attacked the Chief...
Clive James, Writer & Broadcaster ; My Secret Life
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Clive James was born in Sydney in 1939 and attended university there before moving to England in 1962 to obtain a second degree from Cambridge University. He has since become a familiar face on television ( Saturday Night Clive and Clive James Interviews...
Closed-End Funds Open for Business ; SECRETS OF SUCCESS
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For as long as I can remember, there have been anxieties about the ability of the investment trust sector to survive as a significant force in the investment world. They may have been with us since the 1860s, but investment trusts are periodically written...
Core Values ; Urban Gardener
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Today's nationwide Apple Day celebrations will be tempered with sadness for those who knew Roger Deakin, co-founder of Common Ground (the charity that champions local distinctiveness), who died in August. I never had the pleasure of meeting him but his...
Corus Investors Say Tata Bid Is Too Low ; Standard Life Wants 600p per Share ++ Tata Pledges Extra [Pound]126m and Contributions for Pensions
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Shareholders in Corus, including its largest investor, Standard Life, have accused the compa-ny's management of selling out too cheaply after it agreed a [pound]4.3bn takeover by its smaller Indian rival Tata Steel. Corus has met with numerous companies...
Dallaglio's Epic Journey Back from the Point of No Return ; Injury So Dented the Confidence of the Former England Captain That He Nearly Quit the Game. Chris Hewett Hears a Tale of Personal Redemption ++ the Saturday Interview
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If we are all heroes of our own life stories, the tale told by Lawrence Dallaglio over the past 15 years has been something of an epic - a rich mixture of glory and tragicomedy, of breathtaking ascents and spectacular downfalls, of courage and commitment...
Domaine Dames ; on a Tour of the Vineyards of Washington and Oregon, Tam Leach Finds Female Vintners Are Adding Fizz to Their Profits
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We're driving a pinot-red convertible, and we may be close to the limit. Sara and I are road-tripping from one winery to the next. It's Thelma and Louise meets Sideways, except that neither of us is about to have a meltdown and we're in the Pacific Northwest,...
Down in the Bunker ; Restaurants
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If you like to match your restaurant to the international crisis of the moment, then right now I think you'd find it hard to beat Asadal, a Korean restaurant located in a windowless subterranean bunker in Holborn, central London. It seems even more appropriate...
Everything in the Garden's Much Too Lovely ; NEWS
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Australian farmers are blowing their brains out as dry weather turns their land into dust. The Gobi desert is spreading at a rate of 4,000 square miles a year, forcing Chinese peasants to abandon their land. One in five Brazilians born in the north-east...
Fit for a King ; from a Royal Hunting Lodge to a Luxury Moorish Retreat, Cathy Packe Charts the Rise of the Parador
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The parador at Gredos in the sierra west of Madrid is a hotel fit for a king. This is not a matter of opinion: it was designed on the instructions of King Alfonso XIII, an early 20th-century monarch who liked to hunt in the Gredos mountains but couldn't...
FIVE BEST FAR-FLUNG BEACH HOUSES ; Rhiannon Batten Tracks Down Remote Retreats for Sun, Sea, Sand and Style on Your Doorstep
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Paraty 3 Brazil This private island hideaway is a short boat ride from the hip hangout of Paraty, between Rio and Sao Paulo. It encompasses a main house (with deck and home cinema) and two guest cottages down on the sand. One cottage has a Jacuzzi and...
Food & Drink Notes ; SATURDAY MAGAZINE
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Whiff of luxury At this time of year the Italian white truffle becomes available to those rich enough to afford it. "Even if you are a king," advises Giorgio Locatelli, "when you want white truffle you should wait until they are ripe in November." At...
Former IOD Chief Steers a Confident Course for Iconic Black Cab Firm ; A Day in the Life of ... Tim Melville-Ross Chairman, Manganese Bronze
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6.30am Tim Melville-Ross was not supposed to wake up in Suffolk this morning. The former head of the Institute of Directors has just two hours to get his black-taxi hat firmly screwed on and get down to London where his presence is required in his capacity...
From Temptation, to Teenagers to 1,000-Thread Sheets ; Thrifty Living
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SOMETHING HAPPENS to me when I go into shops. A little voice starts up, somewhere just behind my ear, pleading with me, making me see the SENSE in spending money. Yesterday, I was in Heal's, ostensibly to chat to the nice man in Beds who is replacing...
Game on at the Science Museum for Console Fans ; HOME
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Played on a computer the size of a small family car, with graphics resembling little more than a series of lines and dots, it bears only a passing resemblance to the sensory overloaded world of modern gaming. Yet "Spacewar!", devised by the Massachusetts...
Gentleman's Quarters ; He's the Editor of GQ and a Thoroughly Modern Man. but Is Dylan Jones's Home as Stylish as His Suits? Words by Clare Dwyer Hogg Photographs by Philip Sinden
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Unprepossessing is not a word you would use to describe Dylan Jones, editor of GQ magazine, but it's an apt fit when it comes to his abode. The outside, at least. Plain brick, no evidence of fancy cornicing or elaborate door knockers: not the grand townhouse...
George Michael Sparks Anger after Smoking Cannabis on TV Show ; HOME
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From "Zip Me Up Before You Go-Go" to "Careless Rizla", George Michael's private life has attracted plenty of damaging headlines over the years. And yesterday the singer was in the firing line again after he was filmed smoking cannabis and talking about...
Golding Plots 'Cool' Course to Beat Gales and Rivals ; SAILING
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The bottom of the Bay of Biscay is a place sailors always tried to avoid, so to start a yacht race from there, especially with the promise of early gales, should provide a rugged send-off for what is already the longest single stage of any individual...
Hancock Turns out Half Decent. Not before Time ; SPORT ON TV
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Since being booted off They Think It's All Over in favour of the considerably funnier Lee Mack, Nick Hancock has been keeping an agreeably low profile (agreeable for us, the viewers, that is). Apart from appearing on an alleged comedy magazine programme...
HBOS Dips on Suncorp Metway Bid Rumours ; MARKET REPORT
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The mortgage giant HBOS was out of favour, 8p lower at 1,069p, on rumours that the group is poised to bid for Suncorp Metway, one of Australia's largest lending and insurance groups. Sun-corp has a market capitali-sation of [pound]5.2bn, a fraction of...
HERO OR VILLAIN? ; as Michael Schumacher Aims to End His Title-Studded Career by Stealing an Unlikely Eighth World Championship from under the Nose of Fernando Alonso in His Final Race, Tomorrow's Brazilian Grand Prix, We Ask Prominent Figures from the World of Formula One to Assess the Man and His Legacy ++ Champion Reaches the End of the Road
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Niki Lauda FORMER WORLD CHAMPION Hero or villain? "Hero. Seven times world champion, nobody else can do this. He is outstanding. [Juan Manuel] Fangio had five, the next best. If you judge Michael as a racing driver, no one has ever performed at the...
How I Paid a Price for Egyptian Bureaucracy ; THE MAN WHO PAYS HIS WAY
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Bank error in your favour: collect [pound]200. The sort of luck you find on the Monopoly board never happens in real life, does it? Well, so I thought - until, last month, I found myself enriched to the tune of one thousand pounds, albeit of the Egyptian...
'I Don't Mind Staying in a Rickety Old Hotel - It Makes Me Laugh' ; Hamish Clark
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First holiday memory? In Ullapool on the west coast of Scotland; the sand is incredibly soft and white, and it's where the North Atlantic Drift hits Scotland. The water is a Mediterranean-blue and I remember being naked - I was very young - and blinded...
If You Ask Me ; SATURDAY MAGAZINE
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If you ask me there are some well weird people out there. I'd like to take this opportunity to stress that I make this comment not as an unduly conventional person. Goodness me, I've smoked pot and, indeed, indulged in much more nefarious illegal activities...
'I Hate Religion, but I Believe in God and I Pray' ; the 5-Minute Interview ++ Sylvain Sylvain ++ Musician
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Sylvain Sylvain, 53, is the guitarist in the New York Dolls, who played the London Forum last night and are playing Liverpool on Wednesday and Glasgow on Thursday. If I weren't talking to you right now I'd be ... Sitting on a beach in Florida, near...
India's Tata Pitches in with [Pound]4.3bn Takeover Bid, but Is It Really Such a Great Deal for Corus? ; OUTLOOK
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An awful lot has already been written and said about Tata Steel's [pound]4.3bn takeover bid for Corus, but two key questions remain to be addressed. The first is whether Tata's 455p a share is enough. Standard Life, Corus's largest shareholder, was quick...
Inland Catalonia ; Paradors of Spain
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Catalonia's contribution to Spain's portfolio of paradors illustrates how much they can vary. Ancient or modern, large or small, urban or rural: you never know quite what to expect. Cardona, a modest town in the foothills of the Pyrenees, has a wonderful...
Interest Rate Rise Looks a 'Certainty' as Faster Growth Fuels Inflation ; BUSINESS
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A rise in interest rates next month looked a near certainty yesterday after official figures showed the economy had grown faster than its historic trend rate for a whole year for the first time since 2003. The economy grew by 0.7 per cent in the three...
In the Footsteps of Wordsworth ; in the Heart of the Wye Valley in Monmouthshire, Anna Pavord Retraces Her Past and Discovers the Rebirth of Brobury House Gardens. Photographs by Steve Benbow
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The Wye river rises in the Plynlimon hills, east of Aberystwyth and wanders south in extravagant loops before it finds the Bristol Channel. I was born and brought up just a river away from it, in the valley of the Usk. This isn't such a grand stretch...
Island Paradores ; Paradors of Spain
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If you plan to overnight on the bleak, almost lunar landscape of central Tenerife - much of it a national park - you have two basic choices. The first is a mountain refuge, its very basic facilities shared with an indeterminant number of fellow guests....
Israeli Billionaire's Investment Plan Raises Fears of a Hidden Agenda ; WORLD
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The man thought to be Israel's richest businessman has secretly proposed funding a multimillion-dollar investment plan aimed at regenerating refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank. But the plan devised by Steph Wertheimer, who recently sold most of...
It All Makes Sensational Reading, but Does Anyone Think about the Children? ; NEWS
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It's been a vintage week for armchair gossips, with personal revelations that one would normally have to twitch the curtains feverishly to happen upon simply falling into the laps of a nation agog. Merry pontification about Madonna, pictured in Malawi,...
ITV May Pull Drama about Family Blighted by Autism and Suicide ; HOME
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For Timothy Spall and Brenda Blethyn, the prospect of dramatising the challenges facing parents of a profoundly autistic daughter seemed intriguing. "With the... moving shape of her personality, both vulnerable and manipulative at times, she is somebody...
'I Want to Save More Money and Buy My First Property' ; WEALTH CHECK
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Joby Carpenter has worked as a civil servant for over three years and hopes his career in the civil service will progress - at his current rate of promotion, he could, in five years' time, be earning just over [pound]35,000. Joby has a loan of over [pound]4,000...
JAMES TENNEY ; Musical Maverick
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Composer, theorist, pianist, musicologist, innovator in electronic music, psycho-acoustician, teacher, conductor and self- styled "amateur cosmologist": the American maverick musician James Tenney was many things, and yet so far from being a dilettante...
Knight's Tale ; This Week, the Fashion World Pays Tribute to Nick Knight, Perhaps the Most Influential British Photographer of the Past 20 Years. Here, He Talks to Susannah Frankel and Offers an Exclusive Glimpse Inside His Unique Archive
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Models with physical disabilities, larger-than-life-size models, models in their seventies and eighties. John Galliano swinging from a rope ladder set against the backdrop of a defaced Union Flag. Naomi Campbell dancing. A double amputee, Aimee Mullins,...
Kyle Eastwood ; How Do I Look? ++ Jazz Musician, Age 38
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At high school, I didn't follow fashion trends a whole lot. I grew up in California and liked surfing, so I was into really comfortable stuff to wear. I'm not too much of a mirror-tweaker, you know? Getting ready in the morning takes me as long as it...
Leeds Hoping Rumours of McAllister's Return Can Lift the Gloom ; FOOTBALL
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There are miserable anniversaries at every turn for Leeds United just now, the latest of them recalling how just six years have passed since they were narrowly deprived of a Champions' League win over Barcelona by a 95th minute equaliser from Rivaldo....
Le Guen Sticks with Winning Formula after Triumph in Tuscany ; SCOTLAND
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Rangers broke new ground by beating Livorno in the Uefa Cup on Thursday and Paul Le Guen looks likely to break his habit of tinkering with his team as they return to domestic action tomorrow at St Mirren. An unchanged starting line-up is on the cards...
Leicester Put Faith in Revitalised Varndell to Hit Ground Running ; RUGBY UNION
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Tom Varndell started the season in such dire form that he was packed off to second division Bedford as an act of mercy. Suddenly, he is deemed good enough to face the European champions in the biggest game of the campaign to date. The Leicester coach,...
Llanelli Given Scare by Irish Comeback ; RUGBY UNION
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LONDON IRISH 25 LLANELLI SCARLETS 32 After 75 minutes last night Llanelli Scarlets were cruising to an easy win with a 32-6 lead in this Pool Five Heineken Cup match at the Madejski Stadium. For the remaining five minutes of proper time, however, the...
Lloyd's Draws Line under the Past as Buffett Buys Equitas ; BUSINESS
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Equitas, the rescue vehicle set up 10 years ago to save the Lloyd's of London insurance market from collapse, was acquired yesterday by Berkshire Hathaway, the investment company of the billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Under the deal, which will...
Lloyd's of London: A Chapter Finally Closes ; OUTLOOK
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Equitas is the organisation set up by Lloyd's of London in the dark days of the mid 1990s when crushing losses incurred writing asbestos and pollution-related business were threatening to sink the entire market. By separating out all non-life liabilities...
Looking for Clues ; Who Will Draw First Blood Ahead of the Ashes?
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Can the match influence the Test series? The England players said the 2004 Champions Trophy victory over Australia made them believe they could defeat their antipodean foes. It was not just the win which created that sensation, it was the way England...
LORD HARRIS OF HIGH CROSS ; Founding Father of the Institute of Economic Affairs
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Ralph Harris was the most friendly and least lordly of peers. His easy manner, however, concealed his stature as one of the most influential figures of our age. Along with his fellow director of the Institute of Economic Affairs, Arthur Seldon, he was...
Low-Cost Steel from India Casts Shadow over Port Talbot's Future ; BUSINESS
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Workers at the giant Corus steel plant at Port Talbot were yesterday convinced that they will be first in the firing line when the dreaded word "rationalisation" is eventually used by their new owners. Employees at the works in south-west Wales demanded...
Luck of the Draw ; Jean-Jacques Sempe Is France's Most Celebrated Cartoonist - and World Famous for His Stand-Out Covers for the New Yorker. Now His Lifetime's Work Is Being Published in English for the First Time. John Lichfield Met Him
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One might have guessed that Jean-Jacques Sempe would live in an apartment with a wide-angle view. He is, par excellence, the master of the panoramic cartoon. Typically, he draws from a high or distant viewpoint, showing rolling landscapes or elaborate...
Luxury for Less ; in Search of Special Offers
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Staying at a parador need not be an expensive experience: out of season, rooms can start from as little as [euro]96 ([pound]69) double for bed and breakfast, and there is a series of special offers which can bring the prices down even further. Various...
Magpies Will Be Stretched by Boro's Odd Couple ; Joe Royle Talking Tactics: Middlesbrough V Newcastle
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With Sunderland exiled to the Championship north-east bragging rights focus on tomorrow's Tyne-Tees derby. The former Premiership manager considers the contest. Middlesbrough will be justified favourites tomorrow, in part because they have the edge in...
Malone and Murdoch Clash over Poison Pill Arrangements ; BUSINESS
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John Malone, the media mogul who has built an 19 per cent stake in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, raised the stakes in the rivalry between the two men, by voting against the re-election of a string of News Corp board members. The decision - which Mr Murdoch...
Margaret's 'Illegitimate Son' Takes His Case to the High Court ; HOME
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An accountant from Jersey who claims to be the illegitimate child of Princess Margaret is to go to court next week to try to prove he is 12th in line to the throne. In a highly unusual case with wide implications for Britain's constitution, a judge is...
Masters and Mistresses Still Have Their Place ; Errors & Omissions
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Gender-determined job titles are probably on the way out. The police service and the armed forces have got rid of different ranks for women. It is difficult to believe that within living memory the words "sculptress", "stewardess" and "poetess" were...
Nice and Easy Does It ; the Weasel
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With its strangely unwavering population of 361, Lynchburg, Tennessee, must be one of the most famous villages in the world. For many years, its citizens have appeared in advertisements for Jack Daniel's whiskey, which is produced there. These show employees...
No-Entry Plan for Cars on Rodeo Drive Splits Beverly Hills ; WORLD
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In spite of its name, it has been a very long time since there were hitching posts on Rodeo Drive, the four-block mecca of luxury shopping in Beverly Hills. Where horses may have clip-clopped up and down it 99 years ago - the street was first laid out...
O'Brien's Eagle Mountain on Derby Flight Path ; RACING
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The excellent credentials displayed by Teofilo at Newmarket a week ago notwithstanding, and with the greatest respect to the countless progressive maiden winners being carefully tucked away in winter quarters and shielded from the eyes of the Godolphin...
On the Crest of a Wave or Merely Swept out to Sea? ; Richard Ingrams' Week
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"Robin's disappeared and that's that. The tide comes up the beach, the world goes on and we should remember that. It is a salutary lesson." Thus David Blunkett on the resignation from the Cabinet of the former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook following the...
On the Way of Salvation ; Pilgrims Have Hiked the Camino De Santiago for Thousands of Years. Cathy Packe Follows Their Progress
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The lights of France look particularly inviting from the Spanish bank of the Bidasoa river. But this coast has not always seemed so appealing: dominating the bank is a fortress that now houses the parador of Hondarribia, a solid structure, originating...
Paedophile Guilty of Abducting and Raping Girl, 6 ; HOME
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A paedophile was told yesterday that he would be locked up for life after he was convicted of abducting a six-year-old girl from her bath and raping her. The victim was dumped naked on the street after the assault, and her mother said that the attack...
Palestinian Leader's Convoy Attacked by Fatah Gunmen ; WORLD
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The convoy of Ismail Haniyeh, the Palestinian Prime Minister, came under fire yesterday as tensions burst into the open again on the streets of Gaza between Hamas and its Fatah rivals. While no one was injured in the gunfire, one of the cars in the convoy...
Pastoral Paradors ; Paradors of Spain
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Parador de Bielsa, Valle de Pineta, 22350 Bielsa, Huesca This wonderfully located mountain inn is set on the wooded slopes of the Ordesa National Park in the heart of the Pyrenees near the French border. The 39 rooms are simply and comfortably furnished,...
Planning Rules Favour Tesco, Claim Rival Chains ; BUSINESS
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Tesco's biggest rivals have urged the Competition Commission to rip up the UK's planning rulebook, which they argue restricts local competition in the [pound]120bn grocery sector. In their submissions to the Government watchdog's probe, J Sainsbury,...
'Policy Overkill' to Blame for Failure of Schools, Leading Academics Warn ; HOME
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A wave of government initiatives, targets, and short-term measures are failing to address deep-seated problems in the education system, leading academics have warned. A report from the Nuffield Foundation published yesterday said that "policy busyness"...
Ponting All 'Pumped' for Fireworks against Poms ; CRICKET
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Like his England counterpart Andrew Flintoff, the Australia captain Ricky Ponting has been keen to isolate today's game from the Ashes, maintaining that the result at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here will have little bearing when the series starts in...
Putin Defies EU with Threat to Georgia ; EUROPE
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Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, gave no ground to EU leaders yesterday as he used a summit to defend Moscow's treatment of foreign oil firms and warned Georgia that its actions could prompt "bloodshed". Challenged over Russia's human rights and the...
Regret Should Be a Part of Growing Up ; EDITORIAL & OPINION
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The announcement of Gina Lollobrigida's impending nuptials - at almost 80, she is engaged to a 45-year-old estate agent - will give hope to Britain's frustrated pensioners. Lollo-brigida has let it be known that their love was founded on unseemly quantities...
Sale Hopes Dented by Cool Boot of Hook ; RUGBY UNION
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OSPREYS 17 SALE 16 Sale will not believe this happened to them. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. After spending the best part of an hour marmalising an Ospreys pack containing half the unit expected to play for Wales against the touring Wallabies...
Schumacher Insists Bid for Drivers' Title Is over ; SPORT
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The edginess that accompanies any world title decider hung in the overcast air of Interlagos yesterday, as the two protagonists at its epicentre did their best to conduct business in the usual way. The one with the major advantage - the Japanese Grand...
Sex and Drugs and Playing Away: Why Should Politics Have the Best Scandals? ; ON SATURDAY
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Here is a tale of two Americans, one of them a septuagenarian man, the other a sexagenarian woman. With the emphasis very much on sexagenarian's first syllable. Let me start with her. Her name is Sandy Sullivan and she is running for Secretary of State...
Shares with Bolognese Sauce, Anyone? ; PRIVATE INVESTOR
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As you can probably guess from the image of the well-nourished individual at the top of this column, I like Italian food. I also like shares in companies with an interesting story. So I've bought some in a restaurant group I've long been impressed by:...
SOLD! PARIS'S VIN EXTRAORDINAIRE ; When Jacques Chirac Was Mayor of Paris, He Amassed an 18,000-Bottle Cellar of the Finest Vintages in France. Now the Town Hall Collection Is Being Sold by the City's Socialist Leader. by John Lichfield ++ Wine Sale of the Century
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Paris town hall held a jumbo surplus sale yesterday. Municipal brooms at knock down prices? Second-hand dustcarts? No, 6,000 of the finest bottles of French wine ever made - bought to be served to presidents and kings - went under the auctioneer's hammer...
Spain's Mother Road ; Simon Calder Sets off into the Sunset on the Picturesque Route from Zaragoza to Salamanca
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Arizona, Australia, Africa: all have vast, dramatic landscapes beneath mighty skies, where you feel as though the earth's energy has been frozen at a moment of great drama. As it happens, Spain offers the same spectacle, but with two considerable advantages....
