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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 16, 2002
ALL THE NEWS AS IT BREAKS ; `A Shop in Birmingham Stocks Only the Most Fragile Things from Round the World, on Purpose - Anything Broken Must Be Paid For'
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It's time for another edition of our regular news quiz, the one in which you start out feeling that you keep a good eye on what's happening in the world and, having taken the test, end up feeling that most things pass you by - at least, that's the intention....
Assad's Warm Welcome into the Mutual Admiration Club
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"IN EUROPE we trust" - or maybe it's just "In Britain we trust". Whether the Syrians really believe Tony Blair can stop the invasion of Iraq, produce a just peace in the Middle East and secure the withdrawal of Israel from the Golan Heights, it says...
At Last the Blairs Have Learnt That You Can't Fool All of the People All of the Time
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It is all very odd and it is still not over. The Cherie Blair imbroglio will have lasting consequences, in that it will sabotage her husband's attempts to refute Abraham Lincoln on fooling the people. Yet the oddest aspect of the whole affair is the...
Backroom Boy to Step Forward to Take Centre Stage at the TUC
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A NEW leader of Britain's seven million trade unionists will be chosen this week, at a time of unprecedented tension in relations between the Labour Government and the union movement. The man who will step into the shoes of John Monks, the general secretary...
Bain Report on Pay May Drive Firefighters to Strike Again
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THE THREAT of further strikes by Britain's firefighters will increase today with the publication of the Bain report, according to senior management sources. They believe the document on pay and modernisation in the fire service drawn up by Sir George...
BASKETBALL: Brown Strikes Late to Give Leopards Victory
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ESSEX LEOPARDS came from behind to beat Thames Valley Tigers 80- 78 thanks to a Rod Brown score with eight seconds left at the Brentwood Centre last night. It was the Leopards' third success in their last five games, since their head coach, Mike Taylor,...
Basketball: Gregory Strikes Late to Hold off Sheffield
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CHESTER JETS used their BBL Trophy safety net to the limit against Sheffield Sharks at Ponds Forge on Saturday night, where they lost by 23 points but still qualified for the semi-finals at Birmingham's Aston Events Centre on Saturday 8 February. Sharks...
Beer Man Ready to Revise Cider House Rules ; BUSINESS PROFILE Miles Templeman Will Consider All Options to Revive Ailing Cider Maker HP Bulmer
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MILES TEMPLEMAN is already working from his new office at the HP Bulmer site in Hereford even though he was only named as the troubled cider group's chief executive last week and he doesn't formally take over until 1 January. "I just thought it was worth...
Bethlehem Abandons Christmas Festivities
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FOR THE first time in living memory, the West Bank city of Bethlehem will put up no tree and no decorations in Manger Square this Christmas. "We shall hold midnight Mass on Christmas Eve," the Palestinian Catholic mayor, Hanna Nasser, said last night,...
Blair and Assad Prepare for Bruising Encounter over Divisions on Iraq
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TONY BLAIR was steeling himself last night for a bruising clash with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, who has warned that war in Iraq could have a devastating effect on the entire Middle East. At Downing Street talks today, Mr Blair will reject President...
Bloomsbury Set Love Affair Leads to Chinese Court
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THE BLOOMSBURY Set has been making trouble again, this time in China, and as usual it is about sex. Two London-based members of the Chinese literary world have fallen out over a thinly disguised work portraying an affair between Julian Bell, the son...
BOOK OF THE WEEK ; the Father of Modern Sport - the Life and Times of Charles W Alcock by Keith Booth (Parrs Wood Press, Pounds 16.95)
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THIS IS a call for all depressed England cricket fans. The man who ensured that the infernal series of Tests between England and Australia did not die a death after the inaugural match in Melbourne in 1877, has finally been named. But before anyone tries...
Boots Seeks New Chairman and Chief Executive to Drive Change
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BOOTS IS to replace its chairman and chief executive in a wholesale management reshuffle designed to revive the retailer's faltering performance. The company broke its silence on the chief executive position for the first time yesterday and said it had...
BOXING: Byrd Heads Pecking Order as End Looks Nigh for Holyfield
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THERE WAS no desperation in the voice, but after nine rounds it was something that Evander Holyfield had to hear. Maybe he should have been told it before trying to fight Chris Byrd. "You don't have any time to work," the grand old warrior was advised...
BOXING: Mismatches Offer No Contest in Entertainment
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CAPACITY CROWDS in excess of 10,000 vanished from the boxing scene for nearly two decades, but during recent years they have again become frequent occurrences. Even so, Saturday's occasion at the Telewest Arena in Newcastle was extremely odd. In front...
Bridge
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"I found the best defence of my life on board nine," declaimed Margaret James. Fortunately, three national newspaper bridge columnists were within earshot, so she had her desired audience. The hand is from the IMP Pairs at the 2002 Casino Marbella International...
Bush Gives CIA Hit List of Senior Terrorists
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THE BUSH administration has drawn up a hit list of more than two dozen terrorist leaders whom the President has authorised the CIA to assassinate, it was revealed yesterday. The previously undisclosed list includes Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman...
Classical: Baton Charge ; Daniel Barenboim Ignored an Israeli Security Travel Ban to Give a Concert in Ramallah for Palestinian Students. No One Was Surprised: As the Controversial Pianist-Conductor Tells MARK PAPPENHEIM, It Isn't the First Time He Has Used Music to Offer a Vision of Peace
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Daniel Barenboim, the Argentine-born Israeli pianist-conductor, was in London last month to perform at the Royal Festival Hall and sign copies of his latest CD. Recorded live in Buenos Aires two years ago, at a solo recital marking the 50th anniversary...
COLUMNIST OF THE WEEK: Who Could We Put on Britain's International Author Airbus?
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EVERY SPRING, on something called World Book Day, the great and the good of the literary and sub-literary scenes gather to campaign on behalf of the joys of reading. Some appear in libraries, others visit schools. Usually an Author Bus takes a gang of...
COLUMNIST OF THE WEEK: Why Columnists Should Strive to Be Different
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NOT SO long ago, I wrote a column around the vexed question of gender expectations in the complex and morally sensitive modern world. I must have been taking a pro-male line because an infuriated woman reader wrote to me inviting me to "sod off to the...
Congestion Toll Will Cause Chaos, Livingstone Told
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KEN LIVINGSTONE'S congestion-charging scheme for London faces chaos when it is launched in February, a report will warn today. The report, from the London Assembly, forecasts that Tube and bus journeys will be longer and more uncomfortable and that thousands...
CRICKET: England's New Young Attack Takes Battering: England 185 and 223 Australia 456 Australia Win by an Innings and 48 Runs ; Gilchrist and Ponting Pile Up Biggest Australian One-Day Partnership of All Time to Set Up Comprehensive Victory
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IT WAS nothing more than a routine attempt by a slow bowler to field the ball off his own bowling. It happens several times in most one- day games but because the fall led to Shane Warne's immediate future being in doubt, it has thrown Australian cricket...
CRICKET: Olonga's Six Sinks Kenya ; Kenya 133 Zimbabwe 136 Zimbabwe Win by Nine Wickets
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ZIMBABWE COMPLETED a 2-0 series victory over Kenya with a comprehensive nine-wicket win in the third one-day international here yesterday. Henry Olonga led the way with a stunning six-wicket return as Kenya were bowled out for 133 before Zimbabwe knocked...
CRICKET: Tuffey Stakes Claim for Regular Place ; India 161 and 121 New Zealand 247 and 36-0 NZ Win by 10 Wickets
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DARYL TUFFEY has set his sight on becoming part of the New Zealand furniture following his impressive display in the first Test against India. The 24-year-old fast bowler has been in and out of the Test team, but he played a starring role in the 10-wicket...
Cricket: Warne's Injury Blow Mars Victory
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THE SIGHT of Shane Warne, possibly the world's greatest spin bowler ever, rolling around in agony at the Melbourne Cricket Ground before leaving on a stretcher yesterday evening with a dislocated right shoulder soured Australia's second emphatic one-day...
Do Muslims Not Belong in This Christian Europe?
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Awfully dejected this week after Turkey was yet again rebuffed, discouraged from even thinking it could be considered as a member of a European Union described by Valery Giscard d'Estaing as a Christian club. The sentiments were echoed by Germany's conservative...
Economic `Ghost Towns Are Price of Supermarket Expansion'
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THE DECLINE of neighbourhood shops and services is set to accelerate rapidly and could turn many communities into economic "ghost towns" within 10 years, a leading think-tank warns today. Local economies in rural and urban areas are in such a perilous...
Equestrianism: Essential Horse Sense to Help Riders Stay in Saddle ; BOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS
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ALL ASPIRING three-day-event riders will pounce on Pippa Funnell's Training the Young Event Horse (David and Charles, pounds 19.99), in which the European champion generously lays bare the wonderfully effective schooling methods that have helped her...
EU Military Operations Could Start within Weeks
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THE EUROPEAN Union will start its first military operations within "weeks", the French president, Jacques Chirac, said this weekend, after two years of deadlock over EU relations with Nato were finally broken. Mr Chirac said at the end of the European...
FAMILIES: A Child Is Born in Bethlehem ; Last Christmas, EMMA WILLIAMS (below) Gave Birth in Bethlehem. since Then, as She Found on Her Return Last Week, It Has Become a Closed Military Zone. and at the Holy Family Hospital, New Life Is a Daily Miracle
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This time last year, I gave birth in Bethlehem. It was Christmas week, and yes, it was a boy. We called him Sholto. I was considered a little strange for wanting to deliver in Bethlehem. Throughout the Intifada, Bethlehem has been periodically invaded...
Families: Goodwill to All Men, Animals and Trees ; Staying Afloat
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On the way home from school, we nip into the greengrocers to buy some broccoli and come out with a Christmas tree. "The little lonely one in the corner, Mum," urges Clara. "It looks like it really needs a home". I do not, as a rule, get sentimental about...
Families: Parentscope
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Ottillie, the job's yours! What to call your child is always a cause for much soul- searching, and even the occasional violent disagreement. After a couple of minor skirmishes over "Jesse" and "Maximillian", Clan Parentscope eventually ended up with...
Families: Teenage Angst ; Confused by Txting, Trends and What's Currently `Cool'? Let Our Panel of Young Experts Guide You
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My 16-year-old daughter goes out half naked in the evenings. Honestly, I worry for her safety, let alone the style issues. What can I do? Tom Wannell, 16: Reason with her. If it's getting to the point where you are that serious about her safety, offer...
Football: Charlton's Ambitions Exposed by Foe Double ; Charlton Athletic 2 Manchester City 2
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WHAT IS the price worth paying for success? It is a question with which Manchester City supporters are well acquainted, but also one that has had reason to trouble Charlton Athletic during a week of celebration and reflection following the 10th anniversary...
Football: Chelsea's Revival Is Timed to Perfection ; Middlesbrough 1 Chelsea 1
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MARIO MELCHIOT'S face was a picture when he sauntered out through the main entrance to the Riverside Stadium on Saturday evening. The Chelsea team bus had left without him. Claudio Ranieri had stipulated a 5.10pm departure to his players and he was not...
Football: Dark Clouds Gather for Fulham as D'Urso Loses Control ; Fulham 0 Birmingham City 1
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FULHAM'S BAD week got worse yesterday as they followed their Uefa Cup exit with an acrimonious defeat at the hands of a team that played the last 20 minutes with 10 men following the dismissal of the centre- back Darren Purse. It was debatable how much...
FOOTBALL: Eriksson Issues Warning over Intrusions by the Media
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SVEN-GORAN ERIKSSON says he will resign as England coach if the speculation over his private life becomes too much to handle. The Swede came under intense scrutiny before the World Cup in June over revelations of an affair, and he said of intrusions...
FOOTBALL: Francis Primes Palace for Play-Off Surge ; Crystal Palace 2 Norwich City 0
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EVEN ON his drive home in his leather-clad, brand-new Aston Martin, the seat for Simon Jordan, the Crystal Palace chairman, can scarcely have been as comfortable as the one he enjoyed in the directors' box during this easy victory. Not that the Eagles'...
Football: Keller's Adrenalin Rush Spurs Arsenal to Greater Heights ; Tottenham Hotspur 1 Arsenal 1
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IN ENGLISH football, from the parks to the Premiership, you have to earn the right to play. It is a lesson Arsenal have been slow to learn this season but, yesterday, they finally absorbed this basic tenet. For 44 minutes the Highbury strollers were...
Football: Keller Takes Blame as Hoddle Sees Champions in His Sights
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KASEY KELLER accepted the blame for gifting Arsenal a point in the north London derby yesterday but the Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper and his manager Glenn Hoddle warned they were closing the gap on the champions. Keller's lunge brought down Thierry Henry...
Football: Kilmarnock Hold on for Point as Celtic Lose More Ground on Rangers ; SCOTTISH PREMIER Kilmarnock 1 Celtic 1
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SORTING OUT the Spanish is one thing, but escaping the inquisition at Rugby Park is quite another. Celtic were brought back to earth, three days after their Uefa Cup triumph over Celta Vigo, at a ground that has tortured them over the years. While Martin...
Football: Liverpool's Title Challenge Hits Rocks ; Sunderland 2 Liverpool 1
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IT WAS, said Gerard Houllier, surveying the wreckage of Liverpool's championship challenge, the worst run of his managerial career. It has encompassed Liverpool's exit from the Champions' League, the club's poorest sequence of league results in 19 years...
FOOTBALL: McAllister Puts the Bite on Wolves' Rise ; Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Coventry City 2
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THEY STILL talk around Coventry and Wolverhampton of the memorable 1966-67 campaign in which these two clubs were promoted to English football's top flight. The chances of either making the same journey this season receded considerably on Saturday. Not...
Football: Nostradamus Knew Nothing of the Woes of Leeds United
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IS IT just me, in a state of lightheadedness at Everton's ascent from base camp almost to the summit, or is the Premiership table this season more unpredictable than it has ever been? Admittedly, there's unpredictable and unpredictable. Arsenal top and...
Football: PRESS WATCH ; Micky Adams, Paul Hart and Mick McCarthy Are All in the Frame for Elland Road as the Talk Is of Terry Venables Negotiating a Pay-Off
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PREDICTIONS THAT Terry Venables will be out if Leeds lose at Bolton tonight dominate the back pages of the Sunday People and Sunday Mirror, the latter insisting the former England coach is already in negotiations for a pounds 1m pay-off. The Mirror says...
Football: Roeder Unflinching despite Three More Hits ; Manchester United 3 West Ham United 0
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BOTTOM OF the Premiership, the ground opening beneath his feet, there was something defiantly noble about Glenn Roeder. Loyalty is a quality which traditionally has been cherished at Upton Park but the time is fast approaching when a decision has to...
Football: Rooney Gets Stronger with the Loss of Innocence ; Everton 2 Blackburn Rovers 1
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DAVID MOYES, the messiah of Everton, says the requirement of everyone's best interests is to "take away the adolescence" of Wayne Rooney. Human- rights activists should not be disturbed. So far The Kid is showing remarkably few ill effects, especially...
Football: Salary Caps Are the Price to Pay for Clubs' Irresponsibility
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PETER KENYON received little thanks for saying he could see only a part-time future for many clubs. The Manchester United chief executive can plead he was espousing only common-sense economic principles, but his words betrayed a lack of feeling for the...
Football: St Mary's Record Crowd Treated to a Thriller of Basketball Proportions ; Southampton 1 Newcastle United 1
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AS THE England coach, Sven Goran Eriksson, and the other 32,060 supporters who made up Southampton's record crowd filed out of a rain- swept St Mary's Stadium, they could console themselves with the thought that what the Premiership might lack in sophistication...
Football: The Independent Premiership Index
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THE INDEPENDENT Premiership Index provides a unique analysis of every player's performance in every top-flight English game. After each Premiership match our reporters give every player who has been on the pitch for at least 15 minutes and all referees...
FOOTBALL: Wilson's Modest Triumph Leaves Roberts Cold ; Cardiff City 0 Bristol City 2
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THERE WAS so much more than national pride at stake as Bristol City completed an audacious Saturday evening raid across the border to leave with three points and leapfrog Cardiff City into second place in the Nationwide Second Division. With the doomsayers...
Football: World Cup Heroes Hold Cultural Key to Samba Life ; BOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS
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THERE WAS no drooling about a beautiful game, no talk of flighting them on the beaches when, in the 1890s, football colonised Brazil as surely as had the Portuguese. One scribe said of its popular appeal: "It gives them great satisfaction or fills them...
Foster Plans to Add His Own `Sensational Twist' to the Cherie Blair Controversy
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PETER FOSTER will try to reignite the "Cheriegate" affair today by revealing a "sensational twist" to the affair. With signs that the political and media storm over Cherie Blair's purchase of two Bristol flats is abating after two weeks, the convicted...
From Mary to the Modern-Day Madonna - the History of Being Blonde
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THE NATIONAL Portrait Gallery is to exhibit a "top 20" of British blondes to test the maxim that the fair of hair have more fun. Iconic images including Margaret Thatcher by Norman Parkinson and Diana Dors by Cornel Lucas will be shown alongside pictures...
Global Mergers Total Falls to Lowest Level in 7 Years
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MERGERS AND acquisition deals worldwide have fallen to their lowest levels for seven years, but private equity buyouts are propping up the market, research published today shows. Figures from KPMG show that in 2002, so far 17,414 deals have been completed,...
Golf: Mickelson Revels in Absence of Woods
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PHIL MICKELSON will not be unduly concerned if Tiger Woods chooses to miss the World Cup again next year. Not, that is, if David Toms is his replacement once more at Kiawah Island. After a dazzling record-equalling third round 57, to which Mickelson...
Hebrides Caught in a Dilemma over Fate of the Killer Hedgehogs
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THE WESTERN Isles have seen many invaders over the centuries; from pillaging Vikings to English redcoat soldiers hunting Bonnie Prince Charlie. But few invaders, or the battles to repel them, have caused such anguish as the war of the hedgehogs. Since...
Hindu Hardliners Win Vote with Anti-Muslim Agenda
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SECURITY FORCES were deployed across the Indian state of Gujarat, the scene of mass sectarian killings earlier this year, after an overwhelming election victory for hardline Hindus who campaigned on an overtly anti- Muslim platform. Communal tensions...
House-Price Figures Signal the Boom Has Finally Ended
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THE FIRST reliable signs that Britain's house-price boom is over are contained in new figures that show asking prices in some of the most expensive areas have fallen significantly in the past six weeks. Amid predictions from a number of leading economists...
However You View It, the Euro Doesn't Work
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I don't yet have doubts about the forecast I made here some weeks ago that the United Kingdom would not enter the euro during the present Parliament. Or, to be more precise, that the Government would not stage a referendum on the question. I say this...
If at First You Don't Succeed.: The Deborah Ross Interview ; He Was the Legendary Loser, the Wannabe Whose Delivery of `Hit Me Baby, One More Time' Struck Fear into the Hearts of Popstars Judges and Television Viewers Alike. but Darius Bounced Back, and Found Stardom in the Follow-Up, Pop Idol. Now He's, Gasp, a Respected Musician. and What's More, He's Got Lovely Knees
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Darius was the complete prat on Popstars who sang "Hit me baby, one more time" in a creepy falsetto, and kept banging on absurdly about "all the lurve in the room" and how his voice was a "gift" that he was obliged to share with the world, and he was...
Impassioned, Sincere Advocate for Human Rights in Fragile World Facing Harsh Decisions ; MONDAY INTERVIEW; VANESSA REDGRAVE ACTRESS AND ACTIVIST
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VANESSA REDGRAVE is sorry, but she is "on the warpath this morning". We are in the kitchen of her Chiswick flat, dominated by a luxuriant avocado plant, negotiating whether she will answer questions about anything other than Chechnya and the leading...
Iraqi Opposition Gathers to Plot Saddam's Fall
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PUTTING ASIDE past hatreds, the Iraqi opposition struggled to unite at a conference in London yesterday to create the basis for an interim administration for Iraq to rule the country after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Opposition leaders said they had...
Law Report: Case Summaries ; 16 December 2002
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THE FOLLOWING notes of judgments were prepared by the reporters of the All England Law Reports. Damages Lansiquot v Geest plc ([2002] UKPC 48); PC (Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Steyn, Lord Hobhouse of Woodborough, Lord Millett, Lord Scott of Foscote)...
Leading Article: Apocalypse Not Yet for Britain's Ghost Towns
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THE COLLAPSE of rural services is spreading to town and city centres, and even to many suburban areas, according to a report dramatically entitled Ghost Town Britain. A green pressure group, the New Economics Foundation which produced the analysis, is...
Leading Article: Engagement, Not Isolation, Is the Right Approach to Countries like Syria
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CYNICS WILL dismiss the Prime Minister's courtship of Bashar al- Assad, the young new President of Syria, as mere public relations cover for the United States' policy of doing what it wants. Those cynics may even include some in the US administration,...
Livingstone Warned of Transport Chaos When Congestion-Charging Is Introduced
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KEN LIVINGSTONE'S congestion-charging scheme for the capital faces immediate chaos when it is launched in February, a scathing report from the London Assembly warns today. It forecasts that journeys by Tube and bus will be longer and more uncomfortable...
Nearly Was Not Close Enough to Keep Al Gore in the Running for the Presidency
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AL GORE'S decision not to run for the US presidency in 2004 was influenced overwhelmingly by one single event: his failure to win it in 2000. Had he had his way, the former vice-president may well have made a different announcement last night, telling...
Obituary: Brad Dexter ; Brawny Actor in `the Magnificent Seven' Best Known for His Off- Screen Exploits
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BRAWNY AND handsome, the actor and producer Brad Dexter has been described as the only one of the cast of cowboy heroes of The Magnificent Seven not to become a star. He appeared at one time to be making a niche for himself in gangster and tough guy...
Obituary: John Williams ; Yeoman Warder of Church Music
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THROUGHOUT A long and varied professional life, John Williams enriched the world of music in a wide variety of ways. As organist, conductor, teacher, broadcaster, examiner and adjudicator, for almost 50 years this multi-faceted and charismatic figure...
Obituary: Salman Raduyev ; Chechen Warlord Imprisoned by the Russian Authorities
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SALMAN RADUYEV, the Chechen rebel commander who in 1996 reached the television screens and front pages of newspapers throughout the world by leading a raid on Kizlyar in Dagestan, died not in combat in Chechnya, but in a hospital in Russia's Perm region...
Obituary: Ted Shackley ; Intelligence Officer Who Believed in a Rough, Tough CIA
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FOR BETTER or, more probably, for worse, Ted Shackley was the embodiment of the Central Intelligence Agency. Over 28 years in counter-insurgency and covert operations, he manned the front line in the secret struggle between the United States and global...
Our Man in Paris
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A spectre is haunting the chattering classes of the French left. The parties of the left have been pushed out of power and are shredding themselves in opposition but there is nothing new, or especially worrying, to the chattering left about that. Worse,...
OVERSEAS FOOTBALL: Shevchenko Keeps Milan in Pole Position as Baggio Scores His 200th Serie A Goal
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MILAN MAINTAINED their lead at the top of Serie A yesterday with a 2-1 win at bottom-placed Como thanks to goals from Massimo Ambrosini and Andriy Shevchenko. The absence of Serie A's top scorer, Christian Vieri, made life difficult for Internazionale...
OVERSEAS FOOTBALL: Sociedad Extend Unbeaten Run to 14 While Real Finally Win at Home
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REAL SOCIEDAD edged out Real Mallorca 2-1 yesterday to re- establish their four-point lead at the top of the La Liga and ensure they will go into the new year as league leaders. Mallorca took the lead with a Samuel Eto'o header early in the second half,...
Pandora in America
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When is a country not a country? Oscar season has barely begun, and already the Academy Awards are mired in controversy. The bone of contention - not for the first time - is the Middle East crisis, and specifically the Palestinian film Divine Intervention,...
Plans to Get Lone Parents Back in Work `Are Failing' ; Dispatches from the Frontline of New Labour Promises
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THE GOVERNMENT is set to miss its target of getting 70 per cent of all lone parents into work by 2010 unless radical changes are made to the minimum wage, childcare allowances and other benefits, according to research published today. The employment...
Pounds 800m Airport Plan near Gatwick
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SECRET PLANS for an pounds 800m airport near Gatwick are under serious consideration by ministers preparing proposals to meet the soaring demand for air travel. The project to develop an existing private aerodrome at Redhill into a full-scale airport...
Pupils' Work Harmed by Reliance on Supply Staff
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TEACHER SHORTAGES that are forcing schools to rely on "unsatisfactory" supply staff, are having an adverse effect on pupils' work and behaviour, the chief inspector of schools warns in a report published today. Schools in Britain's most deprived areas...
QUESTIONNAIRE: John Hales, the Owner of Leading Showjumper Arko III
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Nick Skelton will be riding your two showjumpers, Arko III and Pandur, at Olympia this week. Will you be there to watch them? Yes I'll be there on crutches, as I've just had a hip replacement. Everybody has great expectations for Arko. Does that make...
Racing: Kinane a Local Hero as He Wins with Late Thrust on Precision
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IT WAS the perfect end to an imperfect season in Hong Kong yesterday for Michael Kinane. A typically strident piece of riding got home the 64-1 shot Precision in the Hong Kong Cup and reminded us once again that, at his keenest, Kinane remains among...
Reserve Your Place in the `Independent' Auction
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STAFF AT The Independent have been so moved by the reports coming in from the three charities in our Hope for Africa Christmas appeal that they have volunteered to offer their services to readers in a unique charity auction. There are 30 lots to be won,...
Retirement Age to Be Scrapped in Pensions Review
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OLDER WORKERS will be given the chance to "wind down" into retirement under government plans to be published tomorrow. Compulsory retirement at 65 will be scrapped in an effort to reduce the growing number of people retiring with smaller pensions than...
Reward Offered to Inform on Drink-Drivers
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A pounds 500 REWARD is being offered this Christmas to anyone who informs police of a drink-driver. The money is put up by Crimestoppers, the national charity set up to persuade people to shop criminals via telephone tip-offs. The group has launched...
Rugby League: Romanov Leads Fight as Embassy Stand Firm ; Embassy 20 Strella Kazan 16
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THERE WERE those here yesterday questioning whether places with such inhospitable winters should be invited into the Challenge Cup. There were those with doubts about Russian participation as well, although surely less so after this creditable effort....
Rugby Union: Beaten Laney Applauds `Fantastic' Toulouse
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ONE OF Edinburgh's try-scorers, Brendan Laney, was quick to praise Toulouse's "fantastic" display after seeing their Heineken Cup hopes ended in France yesterday. Toulouse eased their way to a 50-17 victory, thanks to two tries from stand-off Yann Delaigue,...
Rugby Union: Bristol Run Rampant over Swansea ; Bristol 41 Swansea 23
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A HAT-TRICK of tries by Bristol centre Daryl Gibson kept alive what faint hopes remain of the West Country team reaching the knock- out stages of the Heineken Cup. But despite its electrifying start it was not a great match, the scoreline flattering...
Rugby Union: Everitt Provides Inspiration for Exiles to Exact Revenge ; London Irish 42 Newport 5
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REVENGE DOES not come any more emphatic or sweeter than this. After the capitulation a week earlier at Rodney Parade that allowed Toulouse to slip out of sight at the top of Pool Five of the Heineken Cup, London Irish were determined to make Newport...
Rugby Union: Gloucester Grateful for Gift of Vital Late Tries ; Perpignan 31 Gloucester 23
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TWO LATE touchdowns completely against the run of play could provide Gloucester with the key to the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup. If teams are level on points at the completion of the pool stages tries come into play and the Cherry and Whites have...
Rugby Union: Murphy Reiterates Powerful Case for Ireland Recognition ; Leicester 53 Beziers 10
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JOHN CONNOLLY, who knows a thing or three about this daft old game, reckons Ireland are close to achieving something significant: to be precise, a top five place in the global pecking order and the genuine respect of those elite nations who like to damn...
Rugby Union: Nepia and Rowlands Score in Decorum Stakes
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THESE DAYS, apparently, no sportsperson can be considered "professional" unless and until they have churned out the seemingly obligatory life story, generally with the help of a member of the media), no matter how nascent their career nor how uninteresting...
Rugby Union: Saints Show Cardiff Scant Mercy ; Cardiff 0 Northampton 31
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LESS THAN two minutes had passed when Rob Appleyard, a good 16st worth of Welsh vitriol, lined up Chris Hyndman, still three months short of his 21st birthday, with the apparent intention of sending him back across the Severn Bridge well ahead of the...
SAILING: Solidaires Forges Ahead of Fleet as Richards Falls Back to Fifth
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EMMA RICHARDS resumed her quest to become the first British woman to finish the Around Alone race on Saturday, but by yesterday afternoon she was in fifth place in Class 1 behind Graham Dalton, on Hexagon, and Thierry Dubois, on Solidaires. After setting...
Science & Nature: Lewis Wolpert Column
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Scientists were astonished when they realised that many of the key genes that control the embryonic development of fruit flies have analogous genes in humans that play a remarkably similar role in our own development in the womb. The prime example is...
Science & Nature: Oil on Troubled Water ; We Might Not Realise, but We Use Oil from Palm Trees Almost Every Day - and at Potentially Great Risk to Both the Environment and Indigenous Peoples. SANJIDA O'CONNELL Reports
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Every year, we use 20 million tons of oil. We use it to wash our hair, soap our bodies, clean the floor; it's in candles, cream, cosmetics and cakes - and most of us have no idea it's there. Palm oil, usually labelled vegetable oil, occasionally olein,...
Scientists See the Light on the `Weirdest' Fossil
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SCIENTISTS WILL unravel the riddle of the most surreal animal from the weirdest phase of the Earth's history today. When the first fossils of Hallucigenia were discovered a century ago in the famous Burgess Shale deposits of Canada, its appearance astonished...
SKIING: Injured Eberharter Faces Fortnight Out
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THE AUSTRIAN World Cup champion, Stephan Eberharter, could be back on skis in two weeks after doctors said that the knee injury he sustained here yesterday was not as bad as initially feared. Eberharter's quest for a fourth consecutive victory this season...
Snooker: Williams Takes Early Initiative
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KEN DOHERTY went into last night's final session of the PowerHouse UK Championship final trailing Mark Williams 5-4 as he attempted to avoid a hat-trick of UK final defeats. But with another 10 frames to play at York's Barbican Centre, there was still...
Spare Me the Golf-Ball Cufflinks This Christmas
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Christmas, or rather the weeks up to Christmas, are the time when all the old gender stereotypes come bursting out of the little boxes which modern manners push them into. Women want pretty things as presents, such as chocolate and lace, men want practical...
`Sparrow Tsar' to Lead Study into Why 10m of Our Garden Birds Are Missing
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BRITAIN'S BIRD-LOVERS are to have a "sparrow tsar" to co- ordinate research into why the species that was once commonplace in the nation's gardens is now on the "red list" of endangered creatures. Rosie Cleary has been appointed by the British Trust...
