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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 December 18, 2009
80 MPs Join Revolt against Ruling to Repay Expense Claims
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Scale of rebellion means controversy will drag on until close to election day EIGHTY MPs have joined a revolt against demands to repay "excessive" second-homes expense claims over the past five years.Sir Thomas Legg, the retired civil servant who scrutinised...
A Damning Picture Painted by the Chilcot Inquiry
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LEADING ARTICLE From politics to planning, the invasion of Iraq was a disastrous business The mandarins have spoken. The first evidence-gathering session of the Chilcot inquiry into the disastrous Iraq war has come to an end after three weeks of testimony...
Alfred Hrdlicka
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Artist who outraged Catholic groups with his homo-erotic depiction of the Last Supper Alfred Hrdlicka was a Viennese artist and sculptor who caused an uproar with his portrayal of the Last Supper, in which he depicted Jesus being fondled and the Apostles...
A Little Bit of Heaven Just Behind the Hedge
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The Freedoms of Suburbia By Paul Barker FRANCES LINCOLN Pounds 25 (240pp) Pounds 22.50 (free p&p) from the Independent Bookshop: 08430 600 030 In the dazzling photographs of sunrise gates, stained-glass leaded lights, topiary hedges and garden gnomes...
All You Need Is Mother
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FILMS OF THE WEEK NOWHERE BOY (15) Sam Taylor-Wood (98 mins) **** STARRING Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Anne-Marie Duff Lennon's on sale again, as David Bowie once sang, and not the least impressive part of Sam Taylor-Wood's debut is that it...
Also Showing
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NINE (12A)Rob Marshall(119 mins) **STARRINGDaniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Judi DenchThis musical, a hit on Broadway in the 1980s, was inspired by Fellini's 1963 movie, 8 1/2, a dreamlike self-portrait of a director...
Argos Owner Hit as FTSE 100 Falls 1.9%
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Market Report Home Retail GROUP came under pressure last night as traders moved out amid worries that the market might be underestimating the threats to its Argos chain.Credit Suisse argued that Argos might be vulnerable in the medium term as supermarkets...
As the World Sees It
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CopenhagenTHE HUFFINGTON POSTThis is the grand quid pro quo that could - or should - be in the works in Copenhagen. Money (from the US, Europe and Japan) in exchange for accountability (from China). This US-China stand-off appears to be dominating the...
A Suicidally Misjudged Blunder
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Analysis Even before the Hon Mrs Justice Cox gave British Airways the injunction the airline needed to prevent (or merely postpone?) a cabin crew strike, it was clear the union had made a breathtaking strategic blunder that played straight into the airline's...
Baker Street Irregulars Fail to Achieve Elementary Standards
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FILMS OF THE WEEK SHERLOCK HOLMES (12A) Guy Ritchie (128 mins) * STARRING Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong AVATAR (12A) James Cameron (161 mins) ** STARRING Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana Don't look for the deerstalker....
Best Albums of 2009 - Chosen by the Stars
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LITTLE BOOTS"My favourite album of 2009 was Fever Ray by Fever Ray. I thought it was an incredibly innovative album, with a really unusual combination of organic and electronic sounds that really struck a chord with me. Karin Dreijer Andersson's lyrics...
Bid Now for Your Chance to Win in Our Auction of the Year
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The lots are going fast so if you want a nets session at Lord's, lunch with Mark Hix or to go backstage at a gig, time is running out... Lot 1: A Day at the PaperVisit our offices, where the search for truth is endless and the morning conference is a...
Business Diary
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Ryanair cashes in at passengers' expenseAnother cunning new idea from the folks at Ryanair, who plan to start selling advertising on their boarding cards next year. Passengers on the airline have to check in online, printing their own boarding cards...
Caught in the Net
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Portishead chase forthGiven the three-year gap between Portishead's first record and their second, and the 11 years between album two and their third LP of new material, the emergence of new music a little over a year after 'Third' was released, displays...
Chess
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Although Magnus Carlsen was first at the London Chess Classic and Vladimir Kramnik second, their results were pretty close to par and it was one of the other six who scored much the best result relative to his rating: David Howell.After six draws, Howell...
China Holds the World to Ransom
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Beijing accused of standing in the way of climate change treaty at Copenhagen US throws down the gauntlet by backing $100bn fund to help poorest countries Can Obama persuade the Chinese to fall into line? China was under intense diplomatic pressure...
Christmas Box Sets
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THE DOORSLive In New YorkRhino *****Whatever one thinks of Jim Morrison's status as "Poet" (the sole epitaph on his Pre Lachaise Cemetery tombstone), The Doors' effectiveness as a live unit is undeniable. Rarely have three rock musicians pumped out music...
Church's 'Provocative' Poster Begets Almighty Row
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IT WAS supposed to be challenging and provocative, but an Anglican church in Auckland over-estimated the tolerance of local Christians. A billboard depicting a dejected Joseph lying in bed with Mary, accompanied by the slogan "Poor Joseph. God was a...
Citi Shares Dive on Botched Sale
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SHAREHOLDERS AND analysts have reacted angrily to Citigroup's botched $20.5bn (12.5bn) fundraising, in which poor demand from investors drove the banking giant's share price sharply lower and left the US government unable to sell any of its stake.Citigroup...
City Target Upson and Parker to Ward off Crisis
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Hughes lines up West Ham pair to rebuild defence with Lescott out for two months Players were at each other's throats after Tottenham defeat, reveals Barry Manchester City, a club reeling from arguably their worst performance of the Mark Hughes era...
City Target Upson and Parker to Ward off Crisis
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Hughes lines up West Ham pair to rebuild defence with Lescott out for two months Manchester City, a club reeling from arguably their worst performance of the Mark Hughes era in the 3-0 defeat at Tottenham, were yesterday considering how to rebuild an...
Classical
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STUTTGARTER KAMMERORCHESTERHaydn: The Complete SymphoniesSony Classical *****Even allowing for the much shorter duration of symphonies in Haydn's day - his Symphony No. 2 is at 10 minutes a model of elegant brevity - his output of over 100 symphonies,...
Curse of the Christmas Special
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It's an accolade bestowed only on the best-loved shows. So why are the results often like a cracker without its bang? By Gerard Gilbert It's one of the biggest accolades that a sitcom can receive. No, not a British Comedy Award or the fan worship of...
Everton Hurt in Defeat by Rodwell Loss
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EVERTON 0 BATE BORISOV 1 Yurevich 75 For the seventh successive time Everton left Goodison Park last night without a win, although given the circumstances the result will trouble David Moyes not at all. A very young Everton side, featuring what their...
Everton Hurt in Defeat by Rodwell Loss
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EVERTON 0 BATE BORISOV 1 Yurevich 75 FOR THE seventh successive time Everton left Goodison Park without a win but it was a defeat that lacked a sting. David Moyes remarked that they had earned the right to field a team largely composed of teenagers in...
First Scotland Was Blanketed. Now England Wakes Up to the Snow
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Emergency measures in place with 8in predicted to fall in the South-east SNOW DECORATED the public statues and rooftops, the mercury dropped as darkness fell - and much of northern Britain lay under a white carpet, with the South braced for up to 8in...
Flexibility Is Proving to Be the Key to Bouncing Back from Recession
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Economic Life It has been an extraordinary and difficult year and it is time to take stock of the surprises, the lessons, the consequences and so on - including one surprise in the past week.The biggest surprise of course has been the loss of output....
FlyGlobespan 'Owed Pounds 30m by Credit Card Firm'
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Collapsed airline's administrators make 550 staff redundant Administrators dealing with the winding up of airline FlyGlobespan are investigating why a "significant" amount of money from credit card bookings has not been paid to Globespan. The sum, thought...
Foolish Things That Remind Me of You
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Important Artifacts... By Leanne Shapton BLOOMSBURY Pounds 12.99 (129pp) Pounds 11.69 (free p&p) from the Independent Bookshop: 08430 600 030 The full title would take up half a column, for this innovative and intriguing novel in captioned photographs...
For a Balanced Verdict on Blair, Look beyond Chilcot
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THINGS ARE are not going well for Tony Blair. His place in the history books is being revised, and not in his favour. If the reaction to his interview on a BBC religious affairs programme last weekend is anything to go by, he faces an impossible situation...
Former PM 'Will Give Evidence in Public'
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SIR JOHN Chilcot has hit back at critics of his Iraq inquiry, denying that his team has been soft on the witnesses and promising that Tony Blair will be forced to give evidence in public.The inquiry had been criticised during its first month of public...
Frozen in Time: Captain Scott's Huts
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Pounds 3.5m raised to preserve quarters that sheltered adventurer on doomed South Pole mission. By Jonathan Brown For those few hundred visitors who make the long journey by ship each year to see the hut for themselves, it looks eerily as if the adventurers...
Gamblers Who Must Be Punished
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This column is about bonuses in the financial sector. Please do not read it if you suffer from high blood pressure. As the season of goodwill app-roaches, the news that the investment banks will be paying out $30bn in bonuses should gladden the heart....
Has a Key Breakthrough Been Made in the Search for a Cure for Cancer?
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The big question Why are we asking this now?British scientists announced yesterday that they have sequenced a "cancer genome" for the first time. It means they have identified all of the many thousands of genetic mistakes that make a tumour cell different...
HOLLY LEAF ON RED BACKGROUND (1928) Fernand Leger PRIVATE COLLECTION, PARIS
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GREAT WORKS The holly bears the crown, as the old carol sings. It bears a blossom as white as lily flower. It bears a berry as red as any blood. It bears a prickle as sharp as any thorn. It bears a bark as bitter as any gall. And the carol goes on to...
'I Always Thought It Could All Go Wrong for Tiger'
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Peter Alliss, the garrulous Voice of Golf, delivers his typically forthright verdict on the scandal of the year - and much else besides THE BRIAN VINER INTERVIEW At least six weeks before a fire hydrant, a Cadillac Escalade and a bevy of cocktail waitresses...
If We Fail in Copenhagen, It Will Be the Poor Who Will Suffer
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Podium TODAY I'D like to announce that, in the context of a strong accord in which all major economies stand behind meaningful mitigation actions and provide full transparency as to their implementation, the United States is prepared to work with other...
'I'm Quite Boyish in My Outlook'
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Simon Armitage, renowned writer, national curriculum fixture, is that rare thing: a poet who admits to a sunny frame of mind THE BIG INTERVIEW SIMON ARMITAGE There was a time when poetry was hailed as "the new rock'n'roll" and Simon Armitage was claimed...
Investors Fear M&B Vote Chaos
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Two investor groups have added to the feverish atmosphere surrounding the battle for Mitchells & Butlers' (M&B) future, by urging shareholders to recall stock they had loaned to short sellers to avoid distorting a crucial vote next month.The pub group...
Israel Offers Incentive to Organ Donors
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Those who donate will go to the top of the queue if they later need a transplant ISRAEL IS about to become the first country in the world to encourage citizens to sign organ donor cards by rewarding them with priority status should they later need...
JJB's Field of 2010 Dreams
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Sportswear retailer pins hopes on World Cup after underlying sales fall 29% The troubled retailer JJB yesterday laid bare the disastrous stock problems it has suffered in 2009, as it revealed that underlying sales for the half-year to last week had...
Johnny Who? Los Angeles Bemused as France Decamps to Hallyday's Bedside
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Media circus at hospital treating pop star unknown to American audiences The glass-fronted complex in Beverly Hills has for generations been the pre-eminent hospital for major and minor stars of stage and screen. Kate Hudson was born there, and Frank...
Kallis Confident of Bowling on Boxing Day
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Jacques Kallis, the world's best all-rounder, confirmed last night that he would not bowl in the first Test. With the match having turned into a contest of attrition on the second day this must have been heartening for England.As the tourists responded...
Kallis Confident of Bowling on Boxing Day
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Jacques Kallis, the world's best all-rounder, confirmed last night he would not bowl in the first Test. With the match having turned into a contest of attrition on the second day this must have been heartening for England.As the tourists responded to...
Kempton Wishes on a Star
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RACING Track deploys frost covers to safeguard King George as spectre of white Xmas looms If ever there was an inappropriate setting for the promotion of a midwinter racing festival, an ice bar was probably it. A week tomorrow Kempton will host the...
Kempton Wishes on a Star
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RACING Track deploys frost covers to safeguard King George as white Christmas looms If ever there was an inappropriate setting for the promotion of a midwinter racing festival, an ice bar was probably it. A week tomorrow Kempton will host the King George...
Knightley Casts Aside Critics in Thrilling Debut
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First Night The Misanthrope Comedy Theatre, London **** There are many reasons for deploring the money-mad practice, beloved of certain producers, of promoting wholly inexperienced film stars to abrupt centre-stage status in order to make a fast, dishonest...
Lampard: United Should Fear Us
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Chelsea midfielder responds to Ferguson 'mind games' by predicting strong league finish Frank Lampard yesterday responded to Sir Alex Ferguson's claim that he fancies Manchester United to overhaul Premier League leaders Chelsea in the new year by saying...
Lampard: United Should Fear Us
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Chelsea midfielder responds to Ferguson 'mind games' by predicting strong league finish Frank Lampard yesterday responded to Sir Alex Ferguson's claim that he fancies Manchester United to overhaul Premier League leaders Chelsea in the new year by saying...
Lenders Face Pounds 1trn Funding Shortfall, Says Bank Report
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Restraint by banks would have spared taxpayers' recapitalisation costs Modest restraint by the banks during the boom years over bumper bonuses and dividends would have spared taxpayers the cost of recapitalising them during the financial crisis, the...
Like the Eurovision Song Contest - but with Somewhat Higher Stakes
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Sketch THEY TALKED. Oh, how they talked. Yesterday, the vast plenary hall of the Copenhagen Bella Centre became an endless conveyor belt of presidents and prime ministers, each one eager to prove that they cared more about the environment than the last.It...
Luther Dixon
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Songwriter and producer responsible for a slew of hits including '16 Candles' The songwriter and record producer Luther Dixon was most associated with the New York all-female group the Shirelles. One of his songs for them, "Boys", became a beat-group...
Mark Lynas's Copenhagen Notebook
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* BEING A negotiator is like representing yourself in court when you're accused of murder - not a good idea unless you really know what you're doing. It's a lot better if you're surrounded by teams of lawyers.* ALL OF the more powerful countries, such...
Mitch Albom
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ONE MINUTE WITH... WHERE ARE YOU NOW AND WHAT CAN YOU SEE?I'm in my home in suburban Detroit. I can see the mess on my desk. Beyond that, I can see out the window to the oncoming winter in Michigan, bare trees, frozen ponds, and a cold wind blowing.WHAT...
Mother Courage
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Fiona Shaw is to star in 'The Waste Land' at Wilton's Music Hall and then in a 19th-century comedy at the National. Paul Taylor met her several times to get behind the roles of this acclaimed actress It's not often that the leading actress of her generation...
Mother Who Finally Found the Courage to Tell the Truth
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The Crime In the interview room of Loughton police station Hanim Goren broke down in tears. "I have told you a lie," she said. "Mehmet has swallowed her. Mehmet has disappeared her."It was 23 March 1999, two months since her 15-year-old daughter Tulay...
Mowbray Warmed by McGowan's Late Equaliser
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RAPID VIENNA 3 Jelavic 1, 8, Salihi 19 CELTIC 3 Fortune 24, 67, McGowan 90 Celtic staged the most dramatic of late comebacks in their Europa League tie here last night to draw 3-3 against Rapid Vienna.An experimental Hoops side found themselves three...
Mowbray Warmed by McGowan's Late Equaliser
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RAPID VIENNA 3 Jelavic 1, 8, Salihi 19 CELTIC 3 Fortune 24, 67, McGowan 90 Celtic staged the most dramatic of late comebacks in their Europa League tie here last night to draw 3-3 against Rapid Vienna.An experimental Hoops side found themselves three...
Nights at the Opera of Rapture - and Ruin
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The Gilded Stage By Daniel Snowman ATLANTIC Pounds 40 (482pp) Pounds 35 (free p&p) from the Independent Bookshop: 08430 600 030 Opera is an impossibly ambitious art form that strives to combine the best of music, drama, choreography and design. Rarely...
Nothing like a Dame
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BOOK OF THE WEEK The Second Sex By Simone de Beauvoir trans. Constance Borde & Sheila Malovany-Chevallier JONATHAN CAPE Pounds 30 (819pp) Pounds 27 (free p&p) from the Independent Bookshop: 08430 600 030 When Simone de Beauvoir wrote in The Second...
Ntini Chases Last Hurrah against Familiar Enemy
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If it's true there are few more invigorating sights on a sports field than a number of South African-born combatants going to their limits there were few better places to be than here on this sunlit evening.Not when a day of attrition turned into a series...
Ntini Chases Last Hurrah against Familiar Enemy
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If it's true there are few more invigorating sights on a sports field than a number of South African-born combatants going to their limits there were few better places to be than here on this sunlit evening.Not when a day of attrition turned into a series...
Observations
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Sew and sews needle the west London art cognoscentiBY EMMA LOVE*** If your idea of embroidery is a fuddy-duddy, old-fashioned sewing skill, then a visit to the forthcoming exhibition, Beware of Embroidery, at west London's PM Gallery from 15 January,...
Pandora
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'Godfather' star Duvall to be Gilliam's DonMAVERICK DIRECTOR Terry Gilliam's ongoing battle to get his big screen version of Don Quixote off the ground has proved one of the movie industry's more fraught sagas in recent years.The former Monty Python...
Paperbacks
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Vogue Covers Ed. Robin Derrick & Robin Muir LITTLE, BROWN Pounds 16 (240pp) Pounds 14.40 (free p&p) from the Independent Bookshop: 08430 600 030 The first covers of British Vogue, launched in the inauspicious year of 1916, might have come from a book...
Parental Responsibility
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LEADING ARTICLE There is no evidence that you should wean children on to alcohol at an early age so they get used to it. So says Sir Liam Donaldson, England's Chief Medical Officer. The idea that giving youngsters a glass of wine at meal times can be...
Phelps Delighted to Keep Woods Company
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SWIMMING As Michael Phelps yesterday prepared to make his competitive debut in Britain - in the British Gas Duel in the Pool between Europe and America taking place here tonight and tomorrow - he said that it was flattering to be named in the same company...
Planners Must Have a Sense of Proportion
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A few weeks ago I described the difficulties we, and the council, faced when trying to get a planning decision enforced. Well, I'm delighted to report that the two-storey lift shaft built - without permission - on the roof of a block opposite ours has...
Police Missed Six Chances to Save Honour Killing Victim
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Life sentence for man who murdered daughter because boyfriend came from different branch of Islam A father who murdered his 15-year-old daughter because of her "Romeo and Juliet" romance with a man from a different branch of Islam has been found guilty...
Prince Charles and the Looming Constitutional Crisis
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When he becomes King, Prince Charles could well cause a constitutional crisis. For he is likely to find irksome the convention that the sovereign must act on the advice of ministers alone. This doctrine is at the heart of Britain's uncodified constitution.What...
Pulis Turns on Wenger's 'Moaning'
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Stoke manager joins Hull's Brown in criticising Arsenal boss for fixtures complaint The Stoke City manager Tony Pulis believes his Arsenal counterpart Arsne Wenger is wrong to "moan like a drain" about weakened sides and fixture congestion and Hull...
Rappers Who Speak Their Minds in the Name of Peace
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Hip-hop music is helping heal the wounds in post-conflict Lebanon. Katherine Butler in Beirut reports THE INDEPENDENT CHRISTMAS APPEAL 2009 John Lennon springs to mind, or perhaps a youth orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim. But hip-hop as the music...
Reds Promise Pounds 15m to Redevelop Anfield
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Liverpool have insisted they are willing to invest the estimated 15m it would take to upgrade Anfield to a World Cup venue for 2018 or 2022 should the club not get their proposed new stadium off the ground in time.The Football Association asked the city's...
Reds Promise Pounds 15m to Redevelop Anfield
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Liverpool have insisted they are willing to invest the estimated 15m it would take to upgrade Anfield to a World Cup venue for 2018 or 2022 should the club not get their proposed new stadium off the ground in time.The Football Association asked the city's...
Remember That This Is a Country That Dislikes Being Told What to Do
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Comment One of the most difficult questions to answer at Copenhagen is just how far are the Chinese prepared to go to halt climate change. What is their bottom line?I think they do want a deal and they do want action that will be effective in taking...
Retailers Face an Unhappy New Year
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Outlook What is going on up and down the high streets of Britain? There are plenty of reasons to think that retailers are enjoying a much happier time in the run-up to Christmas than they would have dared to hope for even three months ago. The latest...
Reunions Loom in Intriguing Cup Draw
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Beckham could be handed return to United while Chelsea may meet Mourinho again At Christmas thoughts turn to reunions and today's draw for the first knock-out round of the Champions League is unlikely to be different. The eight ties, to be determined...
Reunions Loom in Intriguing Cup Draw
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Beckham could be handed return to United while Chelsea may meet Mourinho again At Christmas thoughts turn to reunions and today's draw for the first knock-out round of the Champions League is unlikely to be different. The eight ties, to be determined...
Ring the Bell, Offer the Gift - and Let Battle Commence
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Are We Related? Edited by Liz Jobey GRANTA Pounds 20 (412pp) (free p&p) from the Independent Bookshop: 08430 600 030 With the Christmas tradition of explosive rows, Granta could hardly have chosen better timing for its "book of the family". As George...
Salary Cap Set to End Top 14 Exodus
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RUGBY UNION French league's plans will level playing field with poor relations this side of Channel England's leading clubs have long cast an envious eye across the Channel at the financial powerhouses of the French game, who routinely splash upwards...
Salary Cap Set to End Top 14 Exodus
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RUGBY UNION French league's plans will level playing field with poor relations this side of Channel England's leading clubs have long cast an envious eye across the Channel at the financial powerhouses of the French game, who routinely splash upwards...
Salary Cap Set to End Top 14 Exodus
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RUGBY UNION French league's plans will level playing field with poor relations this side of Channel England's leading clubs have long cast an envious eye across the Channel at the financial powerhouses of the French game, who routinely splash upwards...
Savills a Short-Term Buy Following Upgrades
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Investment Column Our view: Short term BuyShare price: 301.2p (+11.2p)Here's one for the optimists. Savills, the upmarket property company, produced a reverse profits warning yesterday, saying its earnings would be appreciably ahead of expectations....
Scandal in the Suburbs
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Cheever: a life By Blake Bailey PICADOR Pounds 25 (771pp) Pounds 22.50 (free p&p) from the Independent Bookshop: 08430 600 030 John Cheever took pride in being a Cheevah, descended from a family he could trace back to the early 17th-century settlers...
Scandal of Lawyers' NHS Payout Bills
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Legal teams get Pounds 36,000 for every Pounds 15,000 given to patients in negligence claims The cost of fighting clinical negligence claims against the NHS is soaring and most of the payouts are going in the pockets of lawyers, figures show.In one...
Shadow Cabinet to Brace Seaside Chill
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Today may not be an obvious day to spend beside the seaside. But 10 members of David Cameron's Shadow Cabinet will brave the elements to campaign in Britain's coastal towns.On their last working day before Christmas, senior Tories will outline plans...
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
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BOOK OF A LIFETIME This was the proposition discussed at a dinner I attended in Beijing: Western civilisation imploded in 1914, shattered by the First World War. We live in its ruins. The moral certainty that gave us Balzac, Flaubert, Tolstoy, Chekhov,...
So You Call Yourself Jewish?
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The Supreme Court's rejection of a faith school's admissions policy has revived an ancient but fierce debate in the Jewish community about what it takes to be considered 'one of us'. Paul Vallely reports The first prime minister of the state of Israel,...
Strauss Forces Pace after South Africa's Slow March
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SOUTH AFRICA 418 ENGLAND 88-1 England understood that nothing would be achieved quickly in this series. They might not have guessed in their tactical overview sessions - de rigueur of course these days - that part of South Africa's strategy would be...
Strauss Forces Pace after South Africa's Slow March
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SOUTH AFRICA 418 ENGLAND 88-1 England understood that nothing would be achieved quickly in this series. They might not have guessed in their tactical overview sessions - de rigueur of course these days - that part of South Africa's strategy would be...
Tantrums Show Trouble Ahead as Hughes Fights for Survival
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ANALYSIS You know it's been a bad night when Gareth Barry, hardly the most demonstrative of Manchester City's midfielders, talks about the players being "at each other's throats" in the dressing room. But that's how it was, deep inside White Hart Lane...
Tantrums Show Trouble Ahead as Hughes Fights for Survival
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ANALYSIS You know it's been a bad night when Gareth Barry, hardly the most demonstrative of Manchester City's midfielders, talks about the players being "at each other's throats" in the dressing room. But that's how it was, deep inside White Hart Lane...
The Diary
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Merchant of his own comedy waresRicky Gervais has been busy conquering Hollywood, most recently with the announcement that he would be presenting the next Golden Globes, but what has become of his more retiring 'Office' co-writer Stephen Merchant (right)?...
'The Guardian' Publisher in Talks to Sell Regional Titles
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GMG said to be in early stages of discussions with Trinity Mirror over sale The parent company of The Guardian newspaper is in talks to sell its regional titles to a rival publisher in a move that would sever its historic links with Manchester.Guardian...
Top Mexico Drug Boss Killed in Gun Battle
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200 marines bring down feared trafficker renowned for beheading his rivals IT TOOK two hundred marines, dozens of armoured vehicles, 10 hand grenades, and several hundred machine-gun rounds. The house-to- house gun battle began early on Wednesday morning...
Touches of Spice at the Seasonal Feast
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THE WEEK IN BOOKS How do you make an old warhorse kick up its heels and canter like a pony? That challenge arrives every Christmas, as tastes slip back into traditional grooves. But creative re-invigoration need not stop with postmodern tree baubles....
Tube Lines Faces Funding Gap
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Arbiter slashes proposed bill for next phase of London Underground upgrade work TUBE LINES faces a 1.35bn shortfall in the next phase of its contract to upgrade and maintain the London Underground's Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines.Yesterday's...
Union Anger as BA Strike Is Blocked
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Judge issues injunction after hearing of 'serious irregularities' in ballot The great Christmas getaway was back on for a million air passengers yesterday after a judge ruled that a planned 12-day strike by British Airways cabin crew was illegal.Union...
Urban Notebook
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Why I'm staying on the busesThey say that this is a cosmopolitan city. But you can actually divide all Londoners into two distinct camps: those who travel on buses, and those who would rather lie in front of a speeding number 36 than be seen riding one...
We Must Ride to the Rescue of Books
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DECEMBER IS, traditionally, a moment when those who write and review books express seasonal good cheer by puffing their friends' latest work in the newspapers' Christmas recommendation lists. A few take a more self-promotional approach, preferring to...
