Search by...
- Keyword
- Title
- Author
- Subject
- Publisher
Results should have...
- All of these words
- Any of these words
- This exact phrase
- None of these words
Keyword searches may also use the operators
AND, OR, NOT, “ ”, ( )
AND, OR, NOT, “ ”, ( )
The Independent on Sunday (London, England)
The Independent on Sunday is the Sunday edition of The Independent, a daily newspaper in London, England. The Independent Sunday covers local, national, and international news, sports, business, politics, and weather.
Articles from July 29, 2007
22.7.07-28.7.07 Clinton and Obama: The Gloves Are off ; PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
Read preview
THAT WAS THE WEEK that was the end of the line for Shambo, the sacred bull of the Hindu monastery in Wales. The bull had tested positive for tuberculosis, and when the court appeals were exhausted he was killed on Friday. Muslims and Christians joined...
28 Days Later ; Special Report: The Second Coming of Tony Blair ++ One Month in the Political Wilderness: How Is the Ex-PM Surviving? ++ What Exactly Has Tony Blair Been Doing since He Exchanged Downing Street for Connaught Square? Who Is Footing the Bill? and Is Gordon Trying to Rain on His Parade? by Marie Woolf and John Rentoul
Read preview
Some have diagnosed Tony Blair's hyperactivity in the month since he left office as a symptom of post-prime-ministerial traumatic syndrome. In a whirlwind of activity, he has kept up a punishing schedule of trips abroad, diplomatic meetings and functions...
29.7.07-4.8.07 HIP Monster Stirs ... and the Property Market Winces ; WEEKLY ALMANAC
Read preview
A bureaucratic monster takes its first tentative steps on Wednesday, when anyone putting a large house on the market will be required by law to have a Home Information Pack. A classic example of policy-making by inertia, HIPs were originally devised...
ACTIVITY the Best Way to See the Pyrenees? on a Bike ; as the Tour De France Reaches Its Climax, Simon O'Hagan Recalls His Two-Wheeled Mountain Adventure
Read preview
It is often said that there is only one true star of the Tour de France: France itself. And who could argue, given the latest drugs scandal to erupt over the legendary bike race. Today, the riders arrive at the Champs-Elysees in Paris, the spectacular...
Alice Hawkins ; My Style
Read preview
Occupation photographer Age 27 Personal style Dallas doll James Sherwood Alice, if I didn't know you were a fashion photographer, I'd think you'd be more at home on the Rive Gauche flirting with the boys a Cafe Lipp rather than shooting high-gloss...
Also Showing ; the Critics
Read preview
Running Stumbled (15, 85 mins) 'Running Stumbled' is a compellingly strange documentary, which the director made for a few cents when he visited the father he hadn't seen in three decades. The man he found was a doped-up, chain- smoking wreck who lived...
And You Thought We Had Too Many Coffee Houses ... ; the Experts Say It's a Saturated Market but Plenty More Costa Coffees and Starbucks Are Coming to the British High Street, and Smaller Operators Are Also Brewing Up. Bryce Elder Reports
Read preview
London is said to have the highest concentration of Starbucks in the world, with more branches in the capital than in Manhattan. Yet Britain's colonisation by cappuccino culture has not yet run its course, with analysts predicting that the leading operators...
Are We Going to Hell at the Country Club? ; CITY EYE
Read preview
The City is under siege. It's nothing to do with the "credit crunch", as the big banks succumb to a collective fit of sub-prime paranoia. The assault is a little more subtle than that - and I'm not sure whether it's a sign of the end of a thumping bull...
A Rock'n'roll Story with a Sniff of White Mischief ; MUSIC
Read preview
It is the ultimate rock'n'roll story. And, fittingly, it is on its way to the ultimate advance. Yesterday the bidding war between two publishers reached record-breaking levels, with offers of more than $7m for the rights to Keith Richards's autobiography....
Ashton Insists Plan Is Not at Sixes or Sevens ; ENGLAND V WALES PREVIEW ++ Dallaglio May Be Back but Discarding Two Flankers Heaps Pressure on Injured Rees
Read preview
Brian Ashton has so far made only a relatively minor cut to his World Cup squad, and even that might have been tempting fate. The discarded six included two No 7s in Magnus Lund and Andy Hazell, and it leaves young Tom Rees as England's only out-and-out...
As the Damp Keeps Rising, I'm Tempted to Do a Reggie Perrin ; COMMENT
Read preview
It's the kind of phone call you really don't want when you're on holiday. Our friend Rachel is looking after our Cotswold home while we play at being the Great Gatsby on a Canadian lake. I was just edging my speedboat towards my favourite island for...
As the Waters Rage, the Media Lay Waste to the Language ... ; Lovely Weather for Ducks & Other Meteorological Cliches
Read preview
Batter The default verb to describe what extreme weather conditions can do to coastlines or whole regions: "Torrential rain and thunderstorms battered the south of the country today at the start of the school summer holidays." High wind speeds can encourage...
BBC Staffers Turn on Their Boss ; TELEVISION ++ Resignations, Mutiny and Buckets of Cash - the Best TV Drama Is off Screen
Read preview
Mark Thompson, the Director General of the BBC, tried to run but found that he could not hide last week. He fled to the sun for a fortnight's respite and in his absence Beeb insiders queued up to criticise the way their boss had handled the phone-in...
Bear Grylls Knows It's a TV Jungle out There, but Tarzan Is Still His Middle Name ; Hero or Villain?
Read preview
He is, of course, no ordinary bear - but adventurer Bear Grylls is not quite as extraordinary as he'd like you to believe. The swashbuckling explorer who made his reputation sucking the fluid from fish eyeballs and biting the heads off snakes is, it...
BEELZEBUB CROSSWORD No. 911 ; THE NEW REVIEW
Read preview
ACROSS 1 Vital work factory brought about, occupying cunning worker? (12) 9 Trimmed service in profit? Not quite (5) 11 Rib canon about expression of uncertainty (6) 12 Bid above zero before new race, filling five lines (8) 14 Seize break? Nadal initially...
Bellamy Brightens Hammers Hopes ; FRIENDLY
Read preview
Southend 1 West Ham Utd 3 Half-time: 0-2 Att: 9,522 With West Ham having won only one of their first five pre-season games, against Dagenham and Redbridge, and the Carlos Tevez transfer saga dragging on, manager Alan Curbishley must have been relieved...
Best of Enemies in the Friends Provident Fight ; BUSINESS ON SUNDAY
Read preview
Hugh Osmond is hardly a shy retiring type. The entrepreneur made his name in the leisure industry and now looks set to repeat the feat in insurance. What is clear is that he is leading his dancing partners in the Pearl-Resolution-Friends Provident takeover...
Bigger Than Jesus, Smarter Than Freud ; 'The Simpsons Movie' Has Confirmed Homer as One of the Greatest Thinkers of the Modern Age. Discuss. A Lecture by Professor John Sutherland
Read preview
Probably if you scour through the 1,000-or-so-strong archive of the Simpsoniad you'll find an episode about idiots who take the prog ramme too seriously. There's a circle in academic hell, a kind of Dantean Pseuds Corner, for these dodos ("doh!-doh!")...
Britain Will Continue to Stand Side by Side with US, Says Brown on Eve of Visit to Washington ; NEWS
Read preview
Gordon Brown last night sought to reassure the US that he has no desire to distance himself from President George Bush, insisting that ties between the UK and America were due to get "stronger" while none of the world's major problems could be solved...
Call Kent Reliance and You'll Be in Bangalore ; OUTSOURCING_ the Building Society Says Customers Will Benefit as Its Indian Operation Expands. by Annie Shaw
Read preview
It has no branches and conducts 90 per cent of its business online, by phone or post. While other financial services firms have turned their back on overseas call centres, it is investing in a customer services operation in Bangalore, India. And after...
Cannabis the Great Debate ; Special Report: Drugs Policy ++ 50 Top Experts Confirm Mental Health Risk ++ since the 'IoS' Reversed Its Policy on Legalising Cannabis Because of the Drug's Links with Mental Illness, Many Have Joined the Campaign to Highlight Its Dangers. Here We Report on the Latest Findings to Cause Concern. by Jonathan Owen and Suzi Mesure
Read preview
A poll of more than 50 of the world's leading authorities on drugs and mental health confirms that most believe cannabis, and particularly its stronger variant, skunk, pose significant health risks and increase users' susceptibility to psychosis and...
Centrica Warns Billions Needed to Avert Energy Crisis ; BUSINESS ON SUNDAY
Read preview
Firms bidding to build the world's first carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) power plants, which store the carbon dioxide produced rather than allowing it to be emitted into the atmosphere, have told the Government that they need funding of at least...
Contador's Glory after Holding off Good Evans ; TOUR DE FRANCE ++ Australian Rides Race of His Life in Thrilling Time Trial but Spaniard Takes the Yellow Jersey to Paris, Where He Will Be Crowned Today
Read preview
Spain's Alberto Contador will ride into Paris today as the winner of the Tour de France, but the future of the Tour and of professional cycling is seriously in doubt after the doping scandals that have rocked this year's race. The final stages were seen...
Cost of Borrowing Starts to Hit Home ; INTEREST RATES_ the Housing Boom Is Faltering as Mortgage Repayments Rise, Says Sam Dunn
Read preview
Sputtering house price growth could be the deciding factor if, as looks likely, the Bank of England votes this week to keep interest rates on hold at 5.75 per cent. Housing market surveys and mortgage data have all shown stalling or slowing growth throughout...
Cueto Swaps His Porsche for a Mini but Still Aims to Keep Ahead of Rivals ; THE INTERVIEW ++ Full-Back Gave Up Sports Car When Ryan Giggs Said It Might Hurt Him Yet He Refuses to Let Other Contenders Pass. by Hugh Godwin ++ It's Up to Brian Ashton, but It Would Be a Good Idea to Have the Same Team in These Warm-Up Games
Read preview
Here is a quick quiz question: name England's first-choice full- back. Come on, the clock is ticking, there is a World Cup around the corner, you know. Any ideas? Iain Balshaw? No, dropped. That Harlequins fellow who played on tour in South Africa, Mike...
Danish Patsy Is Ultimate Dope in Tour De Farce ; the Nick Townsend Column ++ the Race Has Suffered a Week of Ignominy but Cycling Should Be Praised for Trying to Clean Up Its Act and Expose Cheats
Read preview
Cliched photographs capture farm workers halting from their labours in idyllic landscapes or old men resting from their games of petanque outside the village bar as a nation applauds the peloton. Le Tour represents our annual renewal of any diminished...
Davies to Drag R&A into the 21st Century ; ATHLETICS +
Read preview
When Mary, Queen of Scots became the first woman to tee it up at St Andrews in the mid16th century, she would have had rather more on her mind than golf. As she swung that long-nose driver it would not have been her immediate objective to keep her head...
Designer-Baby Rules 'Should Be Relaxed to Save More Siblings' ; MPs and Peers Argue for Wider Use of Embryo Selection
Read preview
Strict rules permitting the birth of so-called "sibling saviours" should be relaxed, a powerful parliamentary committee will say this week. The relaxation could lead to greater numbers of designer babies being born in order to save the lives of living...
Diamonds on the Soles of His Trainers: The Restyling of a Luxury Goods Empire ; Can Puma Fit Comfortably with Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent in the Same Group? the Head of PPR Thinks So, Finds Carol Matlack
Read preview
Francois-Henri Pinault has led a charmed life. He's the scion of one of France's richest families, with holdings ranging from the Christie's auction house to the famed Bordeaux winery Chateau Latour, and he's engaged to Hollywood star Salma Hayek. Now...
Don't Reinstate Piggott's OBE - Give Him a Knighthood ; the Nick Townsend Column
Read preview
It was approaching 20 years ago that Lester Piggott was jailed for three years for VAT and tax evasion. We are told he received the sentence at Ipswich Crown Court "stony-faced". Well, he would have, wouldn't he? The nine-times champion jockey could...
Drop Dead Gorgeous ; Gretchen Lowell Is Beautiful, Classy and Intelligent. She's Also a Vicious Serial Killer. Debut Crime Writer Chelsea Cain Talks about Her Bloodthirsty Creation
Read preview
"Could I have fries with my coffee?" The request is made with an American twang and a sweet smile. The elegantly black-suited waitress grimaces. We're sitting in one of London's most chic hotels and it's only ten in the morning. Everyone else is picking...
Dylan Turns on the Style and Reigns Supreme ; KING GEORGE VI AND QUEEN ELIZABETH STAKES ++ O'Brien's Irish Derby Winner Shows Great Speed to Leave Rivals Toiling in His Wake
Read preview
The kings can make the race and, conversely, the race can make a king. The build-up to the latest edition of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes had derided the competitors, sneered at the field for its lack of a superstar. But, after Dylan...
Electronic Smog Linked to Respiratory Disease, Study Shows ; NEWS
Read preview
Electrical fields from computers, televisions and other everyday equipment can give people asthma, influenza and other respiratory diseases, a startling new study suggests. The research, by scientists at Imperial College London, provides academic backing...
Ennis Overcomes the Barriers to Make Mark ; WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TRIALS ++ Floods Hampered Her Preparation but Now Britain's Top Heptathlete Is Rising to the Surface. by Simon Turnbull in Manchester ++ WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN GOLF
Read preview
Before the global tribulations, the domestic trials. With just the one athlete ranked in the world's top three in 2007, and an injury list starting to read like a roll call from Casualty, the runners, jumpers and throwers of Great Britain are not exactly...
Fabregas Takes over as Fans' Favourite ; FOOTBALL
Read preview
Arsenal 2 Paris St-Germain 1 Half-time: 1-0 Att: 55,106 Thierry Henry has bought an executive box for what he promises will be several trips back to the Emirates Stadium next season. The only question is what the former Arsenal striker will make of...
Facebook: On a Screen (and in a Courtroom) near You ; INTERNET ++ Future of $1Bn Firm at Stake in US Lawsuit
Read preview
Just as the last pockets of resistance finally gave out and it seemed that everyone in the Western world had resigned themselves to a profile on Facebook, word came through that the online networking phenomenon might face a court-ordered shutdown. The...
Fancy a Bit of Bovver? ; Three Decades after the Punk Glory Days, Its Appeal Was Wearing Thin. Now, the Dr Martens Boot Has Been Given a High-Fashion Retread for the 21st Century
Read preview
Hoxton "nu ravers" are spray-painting theirs neon, whilethis year's autumn/winter collections are opting for more sophisticated hues of glossy orange and deep purple. Even on the walls of the National Portrait Gallery, Sienna Miller is rocking a pair...
Fast Living Is Never Bland for Hamilton ; FORMULA ONE
Read preview
Lewis Hamilton is able to reflect this morning on a week that began with a bang and ended with a whimper. The bang came in the final six minutes of qualifying for the European Grand Prix last weekend, with either a puncture or a wheel failure as he was...
Flood Risk to Power, Schools and Hospitals ; Special Report: Extreme Weather ++ Environment Agency Warns That Too Many Vital Services Are Built on Flood Plains and Demands Firms Do More to Protect Themselves
Read preview
Thousands of power stations, water treatment works, schools, health centres, fire stations and other vital services have been built on flood plains and are severely at risk of being inundated and put out of commission, The Independent on Sunday can reveal....
Forget the Drugs Cheats, Celebrate the Pedallers ; CALENDAR
Read preview
Today Le Tour ends in Paris Three weeks, 3,550km and two drugs scandals after its start in London, the Tour de France ends today. The remaining 141 riders will enter Paris before completing eight celebratory laps around the Champs-Elysees. More than...
Four Decades on, Northern Ireland Is to Become an Ordinary Military Garrison 'Comparable with Cornwall' ; BRIEFING ++ until Very Recently, There Were More Troops Stationed in the Province Than in Iraq and Afghanistan Combined. Now Most Have Been Redeployed, but Not All
Read preview
What's happening in Northern Ireland? The British Army will cease military operations there after 38 years, 763 service deaths and 6,100 injuries. Operation Banner, the armed forces' longest-running deployment, began in 1969. At its peak before the IRA...
Give Your Suffering Compassion ; How to Be Happy
Read preview
Dear Dr Cecilia, youoften write about compassion inyour column but I don't I reallyunderstand. I think it meansto feel sorry for someone, but what good does that dowhen Ialways seem tofeel bad aboutmyself? Carly. Step 1 Although some emotions can be...
Hatton Agrees $10M Deal to Fight Mayweather in Vegas ; BOXING
Read preview
Christmas will come 17 days early for Ricky Hatton this year. The Manchester Hitman is set for his $10 million ([pound]5m) dream fight with Floyd Mayweather Jnr in Las Vegas on Saturday 8 December. Although the deal has still to be formalised, his father...
Heartbreak Hotels ; Many Independents Are Struggling to Compete with Chains
Read preview
The rise of brand hotel chains in the UK is threatening the existence of hundreds of independent hotels. According to a new survey from Hotel Reservation Service, almost half of the 300 owners surveyed are in direct competition with a chain and more...
Henry Takes Centre Stage in Scotland ; HAIL AND FAREWELL
Read preview
Hearts 1 Barcelona 3 Half-time: 1-2 Att: 60,000 Plenty of famous names have taken centre-stage at Murray-field. Gareth Edwards, Bono and Pope John Paul II, to name but a few. Thierry Henry joined the list yesterday, in somewhat unfamiliar colours,...
His Majesty's Purple Reign ; He's a Sex God, a Jehovah's Witness, a Middle-Class Minnesotan. No Wonder Prince Rogers Nelson Is Promising a Different Show Each Evening at His 21-Night London Residency. but Will We Ever Know the Man Behind the Funky Myth?
Read preview
Earlier this month, he launched a new fragrance, 3121, in his home-town of Minneapolis with concerts that provoked a near-riot before the police moved in. Then, two weeks ago, he released his latest album, Planet Earth, by giving away three million copies...
HMV at the Eye of the Storm as Hedge Funds Bet on a Share Dive ; BUSINESS ON SUNDAY
Read preview
HMV holds the unenviable record of being the most shorted stock ever, with a staggering 30 per cent of the struggling music retailer's shares in the hands of hedge funds betting on its share price falling even more, according to market analysis firm...
'How I Was Left Paralysed by the MLS' ; AMERICAN NIGHTMARE ++ Forget Beckham Glitz, This Is the Ex-Charlton Goalkeeper Whose Career Ended after 'Routine' Surgery Went Wrong
Read preview
Sitting outside Hitachi Data Systems' Washington DC office, the former Charlton goalkeeper Michael Ammann cuts a striking figure. Broad, handsome and in possession of a winning smile, he looks like a successful multinational corporate executive, but...
How Playing a Round with My Dentist Is like Pulling Teeth ; the Hacker
Read preview
There wasn't a golfer in this country who didn't step on to a tee last week without the exciting images of Carnoustie in his mind. Assuming, that is, he could find a tee that wasn't under water. Carnoustie, as fearful a venue as it turned out to be,...
How to Be a Star in Harry's Game ; INTERVIEW ++ He's Young, Good Looking and at the Top of His Game. and He's a Mate of Prince Harry to Boot. This Week He'll Be Driving Young Fillies Crazy at the Cartier International. but Is There More to Luke Tomlinson Than Pukka Breeding?
Read preview
He plays polo with princes and is sponsored by a property tycoon who owns a chunk of Barbados. Today this Old Etonian will captain a privately educated England side at Windsor, before a crowd likely to include the Queen. Yet Luke Tomlinson insists that...
'I Couldn't Believe I Was Pregnant' ; This Summer's Blockbuster Romcom Charts the Story of a Girl Who Has a Baby after a One-Night Stand - a Scenario All Too Familiar to a Growing Number of British Women
Read preview
If the countless media stories of infertility, IVF, ticking biological clocks and egg-stuffed freezers are anythingto goby, you could be forgiven for thinking that natural, or speedy pregnancies are a thing of the past. But this summer's blockbuster...
If It Ain't Baroque, Don't SFX It ; Three Timescales, a Vast Narrative Sweep and a Portuguese Glossary. What More Do You Want in a Sci-Fi Novel? ++ Brasyl ++ by Ian McDonald Orion [Pound]18.99
Read preview
Brazil, 1732: in the Amazonian heat, Luis Quinn, a swordfighting Jesuit priest, makes a treacherous journey upriver to assassinate or recover a rogue member of his order. Brazil, 2006: Marcelina Hoffman, capoeirista, cokehead and aspirant TV producer,...
If I Were an Artwork, I'd like to Be One of These ; Not All of Hreinn Fridfinnsson's Work Hits the Spot, but When It Does, You Can't Help but Be Impressed by the Icelandic Artist's Simple Poetics and Absurdist Humour ++ Visual Art
Read preview
Hreinn Fridfinnsson Serpentine Gallery LONDON How beautiful is the Serpentine Gallery? On any day it's a lovely place to be, but right now it's even better because you will find yourself in the strange, slightly unsettling, but wonderfully magical...
'I Held His Hand for 10 Hours ... the Rest Is Quite Hazy' ; INTERVIEWS
Read preview
CORPORAL WILL RIGBY talked to 'The Sun' about his twin brother John, who was killed while on patrol in Basra, on their 24th birthday. "We were both looking forward to going to Iraq. We were in separate companies and only really saw each other in the...
Indian Summer Here at Last as England Finally Face Real Test ; SECOND TEST ++ Vaughan's Men Firmly on the Back Foot after Openers Make Hay. by Stephen Brenkley at Trent Bridge
Read preview
England were officially welcomed back to real Test cricket yesterday. All that was missing was a small ceremony, or at least a banner in the crowd, to mark the occasion. India are here and they mean business. Gone finally - and good riddance - were the...
Is It OK to Shut a Child in a Tantrum Inside the Car? ; Vox Pop ++ Police Visited Ruth Hall after She Put Her Screaming Four- Year-Old Daughter, Leigha, in the Car to Calm Down. We Asked Shoppers in Islington, North London, Whether This Was a Reasonable Way for a Parent to Discipline Her Child
Read preview
Lei Wang, 26 JUNIOR DESIGNER It's not the right way to teach how the children should act in a public space. I think it's a parenting issue. Joel Flynn, 20 STUDENT The police following it up was an overreaction. It just seems nonsensical and, quite...
I Smoked Cannabis. I Went Mad. but Life's Not That Simple ; COMMENT
Read preview
As the review published in The Lancet last week confirmed, studies have been finding an association between cannabis and psychotic experiences for the past 30 years. The reviewers looked at 35 studies and suggested that cannabis users have a 40 per cent...
It's a Long Way Down from the Top ; They Were Pioneers Who Became Icons of Popular Music. but Can Sly and Debbie Still Cut It at 60? ++ Rock
Read preview
Blondie Sly and the Family Stone Lovebox Weekender LONDON If you push a pistol to my temple and ask me to name the most perfect pop group of all time, I'm only ever gonna come up with one answer. I will tell you that Blondie are the absolute apex...
It's an Outrage! ; Conrad Black Attempts to Rehabilitate Tricky Dicky in a Dogged New Biography ++ Richard Milhouse Nixon: The Invincible Quest ++ by Conrad Black Quercus [Pound]30
Read preview
In official biographies and in unofficial ones penned posthumously by ardent admirers, it is usual for the subject to appear indubitably in the right. Not so here. Although the late President Nixon is clearly one of Lord Black's great heroes - surpassed...
It's Our Celebration and We'll Cry If We Want to ; C4 Marked the 40th Anniversary of the Decriminalisation of Homosexuality with a Depressingly Bleak New Drama ++ Television
Read preview
Clapham Junction CHANNEL 4 How Gay Sex Changed the World CHANNEL 4 Heroes BBC2 Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip MORE4 Channel 4 commissioned a lavish drama to celebrate 40 years since the decrim-inalisation of homosexuality. But "celebrate" was-n't really...
It's Raining. It's All the Government's Fault ; the Anger Aimed at Politicians in the Wake of the Floods Tells Us a Lot about a Dangerous Loss of Political Engagement
Read preview
At the end of last month, disastrous floods struck the north of England, leaving hundreds of homes under water and causing several fatalities. It was a dramatic warning that freak weather conditions are here to stay, with last year's drought replaced...
Jaques Offers Worcestershire Hope ; COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE
Read preview
Surrey 369 Worcs 217 & 307-5 Match drawn There have not been many glimpses of sunshine through the clouds that have hung over Worcestershire County Cricket Club in recent weeks, but the application they showed in saving this match must encourage the...
Jazz Age Verdi - It's So Chic Darling ; Moving the Action of 'La Traviata' to Paris in the Twenties Helps Make This New Production Ideal for First Time Opera Goers ++ Classical
Read preview
La Traviata Holland Park Theatre LONDON The Seasons Royal Albert Hall LONDON The weather was kind for the opening night of Holland Park's La Traviata, which hasn't often been the case this year. The venue itself - spruced up, with a new canopy, better...
Journey from Fat Boy to Lean Machine Is Worth the Weight ; INSPIRATIONAL TALE ++ Sam Townsend Was 20 Stone and Clinically Obese. Now He Has a Realistic Olympic Dream
Read preview
In the gym of the Redgrave-Pinsent Lake at Caversham, as the whisper of rowing machines becomes a satisfying roar and the heaving of weights becomes ever more explosive, Olympic aspirations are being nurtured. Five years ago, Sam Townsend would no more...
Julie Meyer ; My Business Week
Read preview
The chief executive of Ariadne Capital, which invests in early- stage technology companies, has some advice for those who wish to succeed It's the middle of the summer, and you wouldn't know. Companies are getting funded, rolling out products, taking...
Karthik and Jaffer Provide Answer to Tourists' Top-Order Conundrum ; VIEW FROM TRENT BRIDGE
Read preview
At times Test cricket can be a game of raw, psychological warfare and it was this that gave the battle between the England bowlers and India's opening batsmen such a compelling quality here yesterday. As India set themselves to build what ought to be...
LA's 'Sultan of Sleaze' Charged in $1M Tom Cruise Extortion Plot ; NEWS
Read preview
A notorious Hollywood character known as the "Sultan of Sleaze" for his dealings in celebrity sex tapes and compromising pictures has been charged with another man over an alleged plot to extort more than $1m from Tom Cruise for the actor's stolen wedding...
Last-Ditch Fight against Murdoch at 'Wall Street Journal' ; NEWS
Read preview
Opponents of Rupert Murdoch's planned takeover of The Wall Street Journal made last-ditch efforts over the weekend to persuade the Bancroft family, which controls a majority of the stock in the financial paper's parent company, Dow Jones & Co, to reject...
Make Sure You Wear Your Halo When You Sit Down to Eat Breakfast ; BUSINESS ON SUNDAY
Read preview
For years, I used to think the normal glass of house red at the Groucho was a unit, as in "drink no more than 21 units of alcohol a week". To me, 21 of those seemed quite reasonable, even generous. It was only recently I realised "unit" meant practically...
Morris Can Fit Bill as England's Genuine All-Rounder ; SCHOFIELD REPORT BECOMES REALITY ++ Former Glamorgan Opener Must Be Favourite to Be New Director of English Cricket - but Graveney's Future Looks Uncertain
Read preview
Wanted: a person, probably a chap, with outstanding management, co-ordination and leadership skills, strong financial management and administrative flair, expert knowledge and understanding of strategic planning, excellent media and organisa-tional skill,...
Mortgage Exit Fees Put under Lock and Key ; PROPERTY_Laura Howard on Moves to Stop Lenders Charging You What They Want at the End of a Home Loan
Read preview
Most borrowers on the verge of freeing themselves from the shackles of a mortgage they have been paying for a quarter of a century are happy to pay their lender an administration fee to carry out the task. Similarly, those looking to remortgage tend...
Move over KP and Co, Botham's the Man to Beef Up Programme Sales ; Trent Bridge Diary
Read preview
Cricket has become sexy. Players who once might have been requested only to display the merits of a sausage glove are now in demand on a much broader advertising horizon. Witness the moody fashion shoot for men's fragrances currently appearing in the...
Mr Brown Goes to Washington ; A Hasty Visit to the White House to Reassure Bush Only Adds to the Prime Minister's Mixed Messages
Read preview
Tony Blair may not have wanted Gordon Brown to succeed him, but he has done everything in his power to give his successor a boost. His principal service - apart from allowing Tessa Jowell to announce a super-casino in Manchester for Brown to cancel -...
Murder in Suburbia: Slaughter of Doctor's Family Horrifies Small Town ; AMERICAN BAD DREAM ++ Connecticut Residents Ask Why Two Suspects Were out on Parole
Read preview
Things happened with terrifying speed when Det Dennis Boucher arrived at the home of Dr William Petit, a respected physician, on Monday morning. A white Chrysler belonging to the family roared towards him, side-swiping his cruiser and two more police...
Never Mind Getting That Bird in the Air, Let's Just Get This Show on the Road ; They Sing, They Crack Jokes, They Even Hallucinate - but in This Flighty Musical, the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart Never Quite Soar ++ Theatre
Read preview
Take Flight Menier Chocolate Factory LONDON Lady Be Good Open Air Regent's Park LONDON ImMortal 007 Roundhouse LONDON Singing the praises of people who zoom around in planes is hardly in tune with the zeitgeist. But this is not why the Wright Brothers...
Never Mind the Ratings, What about Public Service? ; Radio
Read preview
Feedback Radio 4 Test Match Special Radio Five Live Sometimes Feedback (R4) can, due to the nature of the audience, devote itself overmuch to footling issues; it can also make rattling good listening, as it did last Sunday. We began with Roger Bolton,...
Now Jimmy Choo Puts Boot into High Street Shop Copycats ; Tamara Mellon Has Followed in the Footsteps of Chloe by Successfully Stopping the Oasis Chainstore from Copying Designs from Her Designer Shoe Range
Read preview
Luxury fashion brands are using increasingly aggressive methods as they step up their battle against the army of high street copycats who steal their most coveted designs. Jimmy Choo, the shoemaker to the stars, yesterday trumpeted the latest victory...
Oil-Rich Iran Turns Heat on President over Petrol Rationing ; NEWS
Read preview
One month after Iran - the world's fourth biggest oil producer - triggered violent protests by introducing petrol rationing overnight, the shock measures are beginning to bite. But will they also bite the man who introduced them, Iran's radical President,...
ON THE MOVE ; Football Transfers
Read preview
Free or undisclosed unless stated Jerome Anderson Oxford to Stevenage Ollie Barnes Bristol Rovers to Salisbury Matt Barnes-Homer Free agent to Kidderminster Leon Barnett Luton to West Bromwich ([pound]2.5m) Marvin Bartley Hampton & Richmond to Bournemouth...
On the Road (Uncensored) ; Discovered: Kerouac 'Cuts' ++ the Original, 120-Ft Typewritten Roll of the Beat Generation Literary Classic Is Being Republished, Complete with Material Too Hot to Handle in 1957
Read preview
It took Jack Kerouac just three weeks to write what became one of the most influential books of the 20th century, inspiring a generation of writers, artists and musicians from Bob Dylan to Hanif Kureishi. Or such is the myth. In fact what became On the...
Paddle Do Nicely: Hemmings on Course for Magnificent Seven ; BRITAIN'S FITTEST SPORTSWOMAN
Read preview
Gary Lineker calls her "the most extraordinary sportswoman I have ever met", and unquestionably she is Britain's most enduring and consistently successful one. Yet away from the waterways, few know of Anna Hemmings, despite her possessing the photogenic...
Peaches and Ham ; Who Needs Cream, When There Are So Many More Exciting Ways to Serve This Succulent and Versatile Summer Fruit, Says Skye Gyngell
Read preview
One of my all-time abiding food memories is eating a perfectly ripe peach in a small trattoria just near Florence with my father when I was 17 years old. It was my first proper time in Europe - I was slightly nervous and overwhelmed. It was a farewell...
Pearl Poised for Knockout Resolution Bid ; LIFE FUNDS_ Friends Provident to Be Left out in the Cold as Insurance Giant Muscles in on Merger Talks
Read preview
Pearl Group, the life insurance firm run by Hugh Osmond, will seek talks with the board of Resolution this week to put a [pound]4.5bn takeover of the company on the table. It is believed that Mr Osmond and his advisers will meet with Resolution, led...
Poetry in Motion as Lustre Is Restored to Crown Jewel ; Murtagh's Mount, a Top-Quality Diamond, Helps to Enhance Reputation of Grand Old Race
Read preview
A race won by a Welsh poet. But on the day, perhaps the words of an American author ring most true. "Let us not be too particular," wrote Mark Twain. "It is better to have old, secondhand diamonds than none at all." So intense has been debate during...
Poker ; the New Review
Read preview
One of the basic strategies in no limit Texas hold'em tournaments is blind stealing. The two players who place the small and big blinds have random cards and the chances of either of them holding a hand which they would choose to play is quite remote....
Queen of Track and Field Ready to Reign Supreme at the Palace ; CAROLINA KLUFT INTERVIEW ++ the Great All-Rounder Who Has Never Lost a Senior Heptathlon Makes Debut at Spiritual Home of British Athletics. by Simon Turnbull
Read preview
It was at the Crystal Palace sports ground, in its original guise, that W G Grace batted for the London County Cricket Club, played bowls for England and won a 440-yard hurdles race in a National Olympian Association meeting while officially on fielding...
Return of the Goddess ; in Nepal She Has Been Worshipped as a Living Deity since the Age of Two. but When 10-Year-Old Sajani Took a Recent Trip to the US, Nepali Religious Officials Threatened to Strip Her of Her Exalted Status. How Would She Be Greeted Back in Kathmandu? and Is Life for a Goddess as Divine as It Sounds?
Read preview
The Goddess is sleeping, her head resting against the window of the aeroplane. Far beneath the clouds outside lie the mountains of her native country to which she is returning. Soon she will be stepping on to the tarmac, the broadest of happy smiles...
Revealed: Why Slim People Dislike the Overweight ; NEWS
Read preview
From the taunting of the chubby child in the playground to cruel jibes at fat people in work and social settings, few could doubt there is widespread prejudice against the overweight. However, according to research reported in Evolution and Human Behavior...
Saints Take Long Stride on Road to Wembley ; RUGBY LEAGUE
Read preview
Bradford 14 St Helens 35 Half-time: 4-17 Att: 14,316 Two of the great semi-final tries made sure St Helens would be the first side on the road to the new Wembley for the Carnegie Challenge Cup final. Saints, led by that cup hero Sean Long, soaked...
Saira Khan ; 'Saira Khan's Pakistan Adventure' 9pm Tuesday BBC2
Read preview
She was the irrepressible star of 'The Apprentice', a born saleswoman who came second but many thought deserved to win. Saira Khan has come a long way since selling jam on the streets of London for Sir Alan Sugar. 'Saira Khan's Pakistan Adventure' sees...
Scone, Your Majesty? ; Parties
Read preview
None of your riff-raff this week. We're off to Buckingham Palace, for tea with the Queen. She hosts three garden parties a year, attended by a total of 24,000 of her best-behaved subjects. Guests include do-gooders from the Archbishop of Canterbury to...
So Arnie Is President and Homer Is Trapped Inside a Giant Anti- Pollution Dome. ; THE BIG TICKET ++ the Big-Screen Version of 'The Simpsons' Pulls No Punches in Its Satirical View of America and Its Government ++ Film
Read preview
The Simpsons Movie David Silverman 85 MINS, PG The best gag in The Simp-sons Movie comes at the start, and, given the cleverness of the TV series, we might have seen it coming. The First Family of American Cartoons is at the cinema, watching a big-screen...
Stop Sniggering at the Back: There'll Be No More Emissions with Lembit Opik in Power ; He Was Right about the Risk of Asteroids, the Lib Dem Energy Spokesman Tells Tim Webb, So Why Not a Carbon-Free Britain?
Read preview
Are you talking about my personal behaviour or my party politics?" asks the supercharged Lem-bit Opik, the new Liberal Democrat shadow Secretary of State for BERR (the renamed Department of Trade and Industry). "I'm not offended," he adds, rather unconvincingly....
Strachan Splashes Cash as Celtic Aim for Classy Defence ; SCOTTISH PREVIEW ++ Captures of [Pound]4.5m Brown and Milan's Donati Will Pile the Pressure on Walter Smith's Underachieving Blues. by Phil Gordon
Read preview
The Old Firm are probably the target of more back-page flyers than any other clubs in Britain. Feeding the hunger of a football- mad city is a 365-days-a-year task. Sometimes, those supposedly in the know get it wrong: spectacularly so in the case of...
Style over Sustenance ; the Futuristic East Beach Cafe Deserves Its Reputation among Design- Groupies, but Who Drew Up the Menu?
Read preview
Friends of mine will only eat in restaurants featured in wallpaper* magazine. They argue that even if the food is rubbish at least the building is great to look at. It's as good a way as any to pick a restaurant, I suppose. You can now add East Beach...
Surgeon Breaks Cover over NHS Beds Crisis ; Cover Story: Trauma in A&E ++ Patients Wait in Agony for Treatment ++ Specialist Wards Full to Breaking Point. Patients with Serious Injuries Denied Care. A Health Service Paralysed by Arguments about Funding. Martin Bircher, One of Britain's Most Senior Consultants, Speaks out. Exclusive Report by Andrew Johnson and Marie Woolf
Read preview
One of Britain's leading trauma surgeons has broken cover to expose the scandal of a national shortage of emergency trauma beds which is leading to thousands of serious injury victims suffering in agony. In an unprecedented intervention by a senior practitioner...
That Megabudget Blockbuster Has Left Tyre Marks All over My Lawn! ; Film 2
Read preview
Transformers Michael Bay 146 MINS, 12A Sherrybaby Laurie Collyer 96 MINS, 15 The Transformers have done a fair amount of transforming already. In the 1980s, they started as a range of toy cars which could be rejigged to look vaguely humanoid, but the...
The Best Way to See the Pyrenees? on a Bike ; as the Tour De France Reaches Its Climax, Simon O'Hagan Recalls His Two-Wheeled Mountain Adventure ++ ACTIVITY
Read preview
It is often said that there is only one true star of the Tour de France: France itself. And who could argue, given the latest drugs scandal to erupt over the legendary bike race. Today, the riders arrive at the Champs-Elysees in Paris, the spectacular...
The Curious Case of Penelope Cruz's Eyelashes ; ADVERTISING_ It Wasn't Just the BBC That Was in Trouble for Misleading Viewers - the Revelation about the Actress's Eyelashes Has Put Claims by Cosmetics Firms under the Spotlight, and Left Magazine Executives Wearing a Completely Natural Blusher
Read preview
Apart from a certain regal manner, Penelope Cruz has very little in common with the Queen. Yet last week both women found themselves at the centre of media-manipulation rows. In the Queen's case, it was a fake walk-out, and for Penelope Cruz, it was...
The Devil and Ms Devlin ; She Was the Youngest Woman Ever Elected to Parliament; She's Been Demonised, Locked Up and Gunned Down for Her Political Views. Now, as Her Daughter Faces Extradition on Terrorism Charges, Bernadette Devlin Says She Has a Plan to Bring Lasting Peace to Northern Ireland. Here She Explains Why She's Uniquely Qualified to Succeed
Read preview
The Northern Ireland peace process has thrown up some odd role reversals. The Rev Ian Paisley, the man who howled "No" to the Good Friday agreement of 1999, is now First Minister of the power- sharing government it eventually produced. Martin McGuinness,...
