T s t 2014 11 02

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No 9,921 | NOVEMBER 2, 2014 | thesundaytimes.co.uk

Branson’s space dream lies shattered in desert Tim Rayment John Harlow and Hannah Summers SIRRICHARD BRANSON will not reach space until at least 2020 after his spaceship crashed into the Californian desert, killing one of the pilots on Friday, according to a government adviser on space policy.

The catastrophe, which saw a prototype of Branson’s private spacecraft SpaceShipTwo break up at high altitude and plunge 45,000ft to the ground, willcauseadelayoffiveyearsto a project that is already seven years overdue.

The prediction, by Professor John Zarnecki, chairman of the UK Space Agency Science Policy Advisory Committee, came as the space industry united to say it would be a tragedy if the drive to make travel from Earth as unremarkable as commercial jet flights were to falter now.

“This is going to put things back five years beyond what was proposed,” said Zarnecki, emeritusprofessorofspacescience at the Open University.

He spoke as a shaken Branson declared that the greatest achievements come from the greatest pain and that his company, Virgin Galactic, was determined to learn from the crash.

Moderating his initial language, which was a vow to persevere with his project to send paying passengers into space, he promised not to push on blindly. “To do so would be an insult to all those affected by this tragedy,” he said.

“We are going to learn from what went wrong, discover

how we can improve safety and performance and then move forwards together. I truly believe that humanity’s greatest achievements come out of the greatest pain.”

Speaking at the programme’s base at the Mojave Air and Space Port in the desert north of Los Angeles, he went on: “This team is a group of the bravest, the brightest, the most determined and the most resilient of people.

“We are determined to honour the bravery of the pilots and the teams here by learning from this tragedy. Only then can we move forward, united behind a collective desire to push the boundaries of human endeavour.”

The dead co-pilot was named yesterday as Michael Alsbury, a 15-year veteran test pilot for Scaled Composites, Virgin’s partner in developing the spacecraft.

Online reports quoted the 39-year-old’s widow, Michelle Saling, as saying: “I have lost the love of my life. I am living in hell right now.”

In April last year Alsbury flew as co-pilot with Mark Stucky on the first rocketpowered flight by SpaceShipTwo. The10-minuteflightsawthe aircraft hit Mach 1.2 and reach an altitude of about 56,000ft.

As of last year he had logged more than 1,800 flying hours, 1,600 of those as a test pilot on Scaled Composites aircraft.

The identity of the surviving co-pilot has not been released.

Alsbury’s name emerged as a team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board started work at the site and clients, who have paid up

Faith schools ‘must teach gay rights’

MARK GREENBERG/JOSH EDELSON

Sian Griffiths EDUCATION EDITOR

Richard Branson, speaking after the death of pilot Michael Alsbury, inset, said the ‘greatest achievements come out of the greatest pain’ to $250,000 (£156,000) for the chance to travel to the boundary of space, said they still supported the project.

Christopher Hart, the safety board’sactingchairman,saidit was not known if a black box flight data recorder was fitted

to the suborbital craft but noted: “This was a test flight and test flights are typically very well documented in terms of data.”

One focus of the inquiries will be a decision earlier this year to change to a new rocket

fuel that is intended to provide greater thrust as well as a smoother ride. Friday was the firsttimethefuelhadbeenused in flight.

Witnesses on the ground said the spacecraft, which is carried to high altitude by a

mothership before being released, appeared to ignite its fuel correctly before issuing a puff of smoke and falling from the sky.

Branson claimed yesterday that his project involved “the Continued on page 7 uu

NICKY MORGAN, the education secretary, is to take on Britain’s faith schools by ordering them to teach pupils to be tolerant of other religions and respect lesbian, gay and transgender relationships.

The schools have been warned that those that fail to follow new rules on British values will be judged inadequate and could face closure.

The move follows snap inspections by Ofsted at 40 schools, including those for Christian and Jewish pupils.

They were launched in the wake of the Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham as part of the government’s efforts to combat extremism.

The reports are due to be published this month and have already led to complaints and demands for the new rules to be revoked.

Morgan is backing Sir Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector of schools, who will say that any school suspected of not teaching a broad and balanced curriculum, of rapidly falling standards or of not preparing children for life in modern Britain will face no-notice inspections.

Inspectors have been accused of heavy-handedness after criticising and in some cases downgrading Jewish, Roman Catholic and Church of England schools during the round of inspections in September.

Wilshaw is expected to say the exercise revealed that Ofsted now has “the right kind of powers” to carry out further sweeps. Schools

inspected recently claim they have been penalised for not celebrating enough festivals of other faiths, not giving children sex education lessons, not teaching them to be tolerant of homosexuality and not inviting faith leaders to speak at assemblies.

This weekend Morgan told The Sunday Times that it was “crucial” that Christian and Jewish schools, as well as Muslim ones, followed the new rules, which require them to “actively promote” fundamental British values such as tolerance of other faiths and lifestyles, democracy and the rule of law.

For the first time the rules give inspectors the powers to downgrade schools where teachers are breaching the Equality Act, which encourages respect for lesbian, gay and transgender people as well as those of other religions and races.

Schools have been told that if they are indoctrinating or alienating children by practices such as teaching pupils to be intolerant of same-sex relationships, or making girls sit at the back of the class, they will be penalised.

Morgan, a committed Christian who last week revealed that she now supported gay marriage — having previously voted against it — added: “Schools should broaden horizons not close minds . . . and should encourage pupils to respect other people even if they do not agree with them. I should have thought this is a principle with which the vast majority of people would Continued on page 2 uu

BBC’s stealthy tax grab City’s ethnic quota Miliband slumps below Clegg Nicholas Hellen SOCIAL AFFAIRS EDITOR

THE BBC has been accused of behaving like “Google, StarbucksandAmazon”byusinga multimillion-pound tax incentive scheme to increase its public funding by stealth.

George Osborne, the chancellor, created valuable tax breaks to encourage commercial television production companies to film in Britain.

Programmes made by the

publicly owned BBC, which pays no tax on its £3.7bn income from licence fees, were excluded.

However, to grab a slice of Osborne’s largesse, the corporation has set up artificial companies that attract tax credits under the scheme.

Margaret Hodge, chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, accused it of behaving improperly.

“ItisaswrongfortheBBCto deliberately set up an artificial

structure to get taxpayers’ money as it is for Google, Starbucks and Amazon, and they should stop it,” she said. “I believe in the publicly funded service but they have got to behave properly.”

The BBC denied doing anything wrong, saying its tax credits benefited audiences, but Hodge’s attack is likely to embarrass Lord Hall, the director-general.

Since taking over last year, Continued on page 2 uu

Kiki Loizou VINCE CABLE is to launch a drive to win more boardroom places for ethnic minorities in Britain’s biggest companies.

He wants one in five directors at FTSE 100 groups to come from non-white groups within five years.

The business secretary hopes to mirror the success of a campaign to recruit more women to large businesses.

However, his proposal will

fuel controversy: if the target is met, it would mean the proportion of ethnic minorities on FTSE-100 boards would be greater than their share of the population as a whole.

Government figures for 2011 show 86% of the population was white, and 80.5% were white British. The second-biggest category was Asian or British Asian, accounting for 7.5%.

Cable tells FTSE giants to plug diversity gap, Business

Tim Shipman and Jason Allardyce ED MILIBAND’S approval rating has plunged to an alltime low and he is now even less popular than Nick Clegg, according to a new poll.

The YouGov survey for The Sunday Times found that just 18% of voters thought the Labour leader was doing a good job, while 73% said he was doing badly.

The overall rating of minus

55 is one point worse than that of Clegg, who has long trailed David Cameron and Miliband in the eyes of voters. Today’s poll shows the prime minister ahead among the main party leaders, on minus 14 points.

The findings come as Miliband yesterday pledged a Labour government would scrap the House of Lords and replace it with an elected senate.

Overall Labour has just a Continued on page 2 uu

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ENJOYABRITISHVIEW FROM WHEREVER YOUARE Top lawyers reject abuse inquiry role Subscribe today at timespacks.com/international2 or call 0044 203 476 2750 and quote ‘International2’

James Gillespie and Tim Shipman TWO lawyers tipped as possible successors to Fiona Woolf as chairman of the inquiry into child sexual abuse have rejected the post, say government sources.

It is understood that Baroness Kennedy and Lady Justice Hallett, who were named this weekend as potential candidates for the post left vacant when Woolf quit on Friday, had previously been on a longlist of candidates and were“sounded out”.

One source revealed that Woolf was, at best, the third choice for the role and that ministers approached Hallett and Kennedy, the Labour peer and barrister, first. Both indicated that they were not interested. The need for a national

inquiry was reinforced by a YouGov poll for The Sunday Times this weekend which found that 12% of people polled said they, or a family member, suffered abuse as children — equivalent to 6m people. By gender the figures were: men 9%, women 15%.

However, since the inquiry was announced it has been plagued with the difficulty of finding someone to take on what has been described as a “poisoned chalice”.

“Fiona Woolf was not the first choice, she was not even the second choice. Lady Justice Hallett and Helena Kennedy both saidtheydidn’t wantto do it,” a well-placed source said.

A second senior figure in Whitehall confirmed the pair had been sounded out but denied that they were formally offered the position. “There

Ofsted ‘bull in china shop’ agree. All schools of whatever type have a duty to protect young people and to ensure they leave school fully prepared for life in modern Britain.

“These values — democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs — are not new. The requirement to ‘actively promote’ them is designed to reinforce the importance this government attaches to these values.”

Guidance on the new rules will be issued to private schools, academies and free schools this week. Morgan, who is also equalities minister, has also spelt out her views in a letter to Conservative MPs after one MP, Edward Leigh, raised objections.

Her stand will be seen by some Tories on the right as evidence of an attack on Christian values in favour of

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moral social and cultural development” of pupils, has written to Morgan asking for the new rules to be scrapped.

Its chairman of governors says they are undermining the school’s aims and Christian foundation, a stance backed by the religious liberty charity the Christian Institute.

Colin Hart, director of the institute, said: “In order to justify going in to the Trojan Horse Islamic majority schools, Ofsted has recently gone in to orthodox Jewish schools, asking the children, ‘Do you have smartphones, do youknowaboutgaymarriage, do you have a boyfriend?’” he said.

“It is like a bull in a china shop, totally divisive and has nothing to do with education at all. How will forcing schools to celebrate even more religious festivals in assembly combat jihadism? It is absurd.” @siangriffiths6

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The Archbishop Yes of Canterbury 69% says that child abuse has been ‘rampant’ Don’t in British know institutions.

Do you agree? 15%

Have you or any member of your family ever been the victim of child abuse in the past?

Source: YouGov questioned 1,808 adults on October 30-31

No

16%

No

77% Yes, I have

6%

Yes, another member of my family has

6%

Not sure

7%

I would rather not answer

4%

Kennedy, above, was considered before Woolf

BBC saves £500,000 tax

uu Continued from page 1

gay rights. In an interview this weekend, she admitted she was “not terribly ideological”, unlike her predecessor, Michael Gove.

The rules were brought in earlier this year after the Trojan Horse scandal in Birmingham schools and fears that children had been exposed to extremist views.

Among the 40 schools inspected were Beis Yaakov High School in Salford, where girls have to sign a pledge on internet use outside the school. It was downgraded from good to inadequate. Yesodey Hatorah girls’ school in north London was downgraded from outstanding to good. It was warned last year for blacking out GCSE science exam questions on evolution.

Trinity Christian School in Reading, Berkshire, which was told by inspectors after its recent inspection — not one of the 40 snap checks — that it was not meeting the “spiritual

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was a listing process which involved some preliminary conversations with different people,” the official said.

The fact that two of the figures sought by ministers were not interested underlines the difficulty Theresa May will have in filling the role.

Hallett is vicepresident of the criminal division of the Court of Appeal.

She recently completed a governmentcommissionedreview into on the run prisoners in Northern Ireland.

Any candidate would have to be able to handle a high-profile inquiry and withstand the sort of scrutiny that brought down Woolf and her predecessor, Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, who quit as chairman in July.

Woolf resigned over questions about how well she knew Leon Brittan whose role as

he has clamped down on the internal BBC gravy train, including golden goodbyes of up to £1m and the use of personal tax-avoidance schemes heavily criticised by Hodge’s committee.

Now the corporation itself is revealed as using tax breaks as a source of income. So far it has received just over £500,000 — but the total taxbreak pot from which it is seeking a share adds up to £265m over five years.

Osborne announced in his 2012 budget that the cuts in corporation tax would apply to high-cost dramas, comedies and animations made in Britain.

He said this would “attract top international investors like Disney and HBO [producer of Game of Thrones] to make more of their premium shows in the UK” and would “keep Wallace and Gromit [the Oscar-winning animation] exactly where they are”.

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He indicated programmes aired on the BBC’s networks could be eligible if they were made by independent producers or the corporation’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide. But the BBC could not claim the money for shows produced in-house for public-service channels, because this would breach European rules on state aid.

A letter sent by the European Commission to William Hague, then foreign secretary, in March last year said the government had to agree that “beneficiaries ... must be liable to the UK corporation tax”. The BBC does not pay corporation tax, as it is non-profit-making. It got around the block by creating a commercial subsidiary for drama, called Grafton House Productions, and a subsidiary for comedy, BBC Comedy Productions.

The first set of financial statements, filed in August, show that for the period to March 31 this year Grafton House reclaimed £520,133 nominal corporation tax for two dramas: The Interceptor, starring Trevor Eve, and One Child, featuring Katie Leung, who played the love interest for Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix. They have not yet been broadcast.

The BBC can expect to receive a windfall of millions

uu Continued from page 1 of pounds more in tax credits in the coming years, because it is Britain’s largest producer of television.

The European Commission’s letter to Hague said the scheme giving tax relief to drama had a total budget of £205m for the fiveyear period to April 2018, while a further £60m was available for animations.

The BBC said: “The BBC is committed to investing as much money as possible into the shows audiences love and by applying for tax credits, we can invest even more money into our programmes.

“This in turn delivers wider economic and cultural benefits by ensuring productions are shot in the UK rather than abroad. It also allows the BBC to compete on an equal footing with independent productions, including those commissioned by the BBC, that use the tax credit.

“The UK tax credits are available to all productions which satisfy the clear, objective criteria set out in the relevant legislation. Having taken the appropriate legal, tax and regulatory advice, the BBC considers that it is best able to deliver the benefits associated with the UK tax credit via commercial subsidiaries. The government is aware of this approach and has voiced no objection.”

home secretary in the 1980s will be scrutinised by the inquiry. Butler-Sloss stood down amid concerns over her late brother, Sir Michael Havers, having been attorneygeneral in Margaret Thatcher’s government in the 1980s .

The socialist lawyer Michael Mansfield, who has also been mentioned as a possible successor, has the backing of the sex abuse victims’ groups and has indicated that he would consider taking on the job.

“I have said from the start when I knew that the victims and the survivors’ groups were interested that I should do it . . . and I am very prepared to consider it,” he said on the BBC. Esther Rantzen, the television presenter and founder of Childline, was also mentioned as a possible choice to chair the

inquiry but yesterday ruled herself out of the job. “The really important thing is that the survivors must have absolute confidence in the chair,” she said. “The fact that when I was a junior researcher I heard rumours about Jimmy Savile has made some of the survivors very angry. They feel I have let them down.”

Another possibility to take charge is Alexis Jay, a former chief social work adviser to the Scottish government. She is an adviser to the inquiry and was praised for her report on child sex exploitation in Rotherham.

A spokesman for the judiciary said Hallett would not comment.

Kennedy also declined to comment.

Sacrificing the lamb in Woolf’s clothing, Adam Boulton, page 19

Miliband meltdown uu Continued from page 1 one-point lead in the polls, but the party is stuck on 32%, the joint lowest support recorded since Miliband became leader in 2010.

Even among Labour voters just half think he is doing well, while 44% say he is doing badly. By contrast, Cameron enjoys the backing of 97% of Conservative voters and Clegg is supported by 71% of Lib Dems.

Miliband’s approval rating has plunged four points in a week after a bruising few days in which Labour has had to confront the prospect of electoral meltdown in Scotland.

The Labour leader’s standing in Scotland is even worse than in England, with just 15% saying he is doing well, compared with 80% who think he is performing badly — a rating of minus 65.

It is unlikely to improve after Miliband was accused last night of insulting Scots and offending the poor after sending a bag containing stereotypically Scottish fare to a food bank while attending a Labour dinner in a luxury hotel.

The Labour leader’s food parcel included Scots porridge oats, shortbread, Baxters Scotch broth, oatcakes, cock-a-leekie soup, Scottish raspberry jam and Tun-

nock’s tea cakes.

The gift was criticised by an anti-poverty group which had helped organise the collection outside Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel, where Labour’s gala dinner was held on Thursday. John McArdle, of the Black Triangle disability campaign, said: “He’s a numpty . . . That shopping list would insult every Scotsman in the country.”

Sandra White, the Glasgow SNP MSP, said: “Ed Miliband doesn’t seem to understand that donating to a food bank isn’t a public relations gimmick.”

A Labour spokesman said: “It is contemptible for people to try to make political capital out of a donation to help those struggling in poverty.”

Details of the donation emerged as Miliband’s aides were forced to deny that in a separate incident in Manchester he had given just 2p to a woman begging.

Labour pains in Scotland, Editorial, page 18

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02.11.14 / 3 JOSSELIN DE ROQUEMAUREL PHOTOGRAPHED AT LOCK & CO IN ST JAMES’S BY FRANCESCO GUIDICINI

Matthew Campbell FROM Protestant Huguenots to bewigged aristocrats in fear of the guillotine, the French have often sought safety by fleeing over the Channel to Britain. But a book by one of the latest generation of Gallic refugees complains that life among les rosbifs is no bed of roses.

According to Josselin de Roquemaurel, London is expensive, the public services are inadequate and the natives are unfriendly towards the French citizens living in exile among them.

He describes the English as “Germanic, insular, Protestant” and imbued with a pragmatism that is at odds with the more abstract and rebellious Gallic spirit. The English may love France, he says, but an age-old rivalry prevents them from being overly fond of the French.

“The Englishman doesn’t really want to see us,” writes de Roquemaurel in La Reine, la City et les Grenouilles (The Queen, the City and the Frogs).

“He has no desire to include us in his social universe.”

De Roquemaurel, 35, has lived in London for 13 years and is the scion of a well-to-do Parisian family. He says it is fashionable for French residents to claim they have one or two English friends. But the “friend” often turns out to be half French, or married to a French person or a rare English “Francophile” who is fluent in the language.

A French bachelor in London is more likely to marry a Mexican or a Pole than a Briton, claims de Roquemaurel, an executive in a private equity company who met his French wife in London. They have two young children.

De Roquemaurel, whose book appears in French shops this week, warns his compatriots to expect mockery of their heavily accented English, a staple of British comedy from Inspector Clouseau to ’Allo, ’Allo!

This can become a handicap for the financier wanting to be taken seriously, he adds, warning that the word “happiness” often comes out as “appiness” when pronounced by the French and that this could sound like “a penis”. The word “sheet” is just as dangerous for the French.

“A banker cannot afford to make his interlocutors laugh or even smile,” he writes.

Not that the English fare much better in French. Even English people who have studied French at university cannot speak it, de Roquemaurel claims: “They study French as though it were Latin, a dead language.”

So much is de Roquemaurel’s surname mispronounced by the English that he has considered changing it. As for his first name, Josselin, people have explained that it is more appropriate for a girl.

The English language is by no means the most baffling

Jamie’s pukka snack attack Kevin Dowling

Prepare to be roasted by mock ing Brits, expat warns French Frenchman Josselin de Roquemaurel says his compatriots should expect mockery of their accent reminiscent of ’Allo ’Allo!, top left, but believes the capital’s green spaces are one of its ‘greatest joys’ aspect of life for the tens of thousands of French people living in London, many of them drawn by the prospect of better business opportunities.

De Roquemaurel is struck by the British obsession with property, a passion that can be summed up as: “I own my own house, therefore I am.”

The newspapers, he claims, are full of gratuitous references to the value of people’s houses, which is also a common topic of conversation.

He was surprised to be quizzed by a taxi driver about

how much his property was worth. “I can’t imagine having a conversation like that with a taxi driver in Paris,” he said.

He also warns his countrymen to be wary of the English estate agent.

Many an immigrant “has learnt at his expense” about previously unknown perils such as “le gazumping” and “le cash buyer” who is considered more favourably than one who borrows to buy.

“Maisonette” does not mean “little house”, as most French would assume, and “buzzing”

and “vibrant” probably mean “noisy”. Similarly, a garden patio will probably turn out to be “a small, dark interior courtyard”. As for an “up and coming” area, it is likely to be in the middle of nowhere, and an “unmodernised” building will be a ruin.

He concedes that London is no longer the drab backwater of his parents’ day. Not only has it turned into the capital of global finance — his main reason for being there — but it has also replaced Paris as the heart of the art world. The

restaurants have got a lot better, too, and the fashion industry is developing.

However, much of Britain’s success, he argues, is based on the efforts of talented foreigners, many of them French. A lot of Britain’s top chefs studied at the feet of French masters, he claims, and many of the football stars in the Premier League are French.

In fact, he argues, given the large number of French people who are living in London, it is more like a French “border town” than a “foreign metro-

polis”, a “natural growth of our territory more than a distant colonial outpost”.

De Roquemaurel says that complaints abound among the French about how expensive London is and about public services being inferior to those in Paris. Rather than braving the NHS, some of his friends consult French doctors who split their time between Paris and London. His French dentist sees patients in Harley Street.

For all the pitfalls, London does have its rewards, however. Nothing warms de

Roquemaurel’s heart so much as “les communal gardens”, which are “one of the greatest joys of London life” even if dogs defecate in some of them.

British ways may be starting to rub off on him, however.

He told The Sunday Times last week that he was thinking of putting his children into an English school, and he has even succumbed to the property craze, acquiring a “small house” in “little France”, otherwise known as Kensington, west London. @mcinparis

HE MAY be a celebrity chef who campaigns to replace fried foods with fresh fruit and vegetables, but Jamie Oliver has admitted a surprising vice.

He has disclosed that he has a “weird obsession” with salt-and-vinegar Hula Hoops, which he consumes by the boxful.

The chef, who has successfully campaigned for schools to abandon the deep-fat fryer in favour of healthier options, says he has tried to kick the habit but is unable to avoid eating the snacks.

Once the manufacturer found out that he enjoyed the product it sent him large quantities. “Rather than share them, I hid them away like a squirrel with his nuts,” he said.

It is one of a dwindling list of vices that Oliver admits to as he faces up to middle age. In an interview in The Sunday Times Magazine this weekend he announces that he is finally growing up.

The celebrity chef, known for his boyish good humour and relaxed appearance, has made the decision as he approaches his 40th birthday in May. “I suppose I ought to start dressing like a grown-up,” he said.

He also says that he no longer allows himself to get “really drunk”, preferring instead to get “creatively tiddly and maintaining that throughout an evening”, on the increasingly rare occasions when he lets his hair down.

His idea of a good time these days is more often a cuddle with his wife and children on the sofa, although he admits to a growing fondness for a “nice glass of scotch whisky”.

The chef, who this weekend joins The Sunday Times Magazine, also admits that as he gets older he has started to think more about exercising and living a healthier lifestyle. “I’ve only really started getting fit in the last year or so,” he said.

“I’ve always eaten well, but probably didn’t do enough moving and definitely wasn’t getting enough sleep. That balance is essential.”

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Parker Bowles’s prep school hit by sex abuse claim Sian Griffiths and James Gillespie A BOARDING school attended

by Tom Parker Bowles has been hit by legal action from a former pupil who claims he was sexually assaulted by two teachers there.

Parker Bowles, the son of the Duchess of Cornwall, said in an interview last week that Summer Fields prep school in Oxford was a “hotbed Parker Bowles: shower allegation

of all sorts of things that are coming out now” and claimed that one master would join the boys in the shower.

Now the solicitor acting on behalf of another former pupil who is taking legal action against the school has urged Parker Bowles to make a statement to police about what he knew of teachers’ behaviour.

The legal action is being brought by a man who attended Summer Fields from 1972, when he was eight. He

claims he was sexually assaulted by two teachers.

One, believed dead, assaulted him on four occasions, including touching and caning his bare backside and forcing him to kneel on a bed naked from the waist down while being punished, he claims.

He alleged another teacher, also deceased, was present when the boys had baths and touched him and other boys inappropriately.

Liz Dux, a lawyer who spe-

cialises in abuse cases with Slater & Gordon and who is representing the claimant, said: “It has taken a long time for him to be able to speak about what happened. He feels that other members of staff must have known about the abuse and that the school must take responsibility for what happened.

“In my experience of dealing with claims about abuse within schools, other members of staff sometimes had either direct

knowledge of what was occurring or at least reasonable suspicions.

“We would urge anyone with any information to report the matter. We applaud Tom Parker Bowles for speaking out about his time at the school but if he witnessed any inappropriate behaviour he should report it to the police.”

The school said: “Allegations of historic abuse have been made by one former pupil against two masters who

taught at the school in the 1970s . . . [These] have been reported to the police and the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board.

“We also note recent comments made in the media by an old boy who was at the school during the 1980s. As a result of these comments we have made inquiries with the then headmaster of the school, who has confirmed that the incident referred to, which was investigated at the time, did not take

place as reported or represent any form of child abuse.

“The school treats allegations of this nature with the utmost seriousness, regardless ofhowlongagotheyarealleged to have occurred. It is very upsetting that the Summer Fields of today, which prides itself on its pastoral care, should be associated with allegations of this nature.”

Please, sir ... I want to board, Focus, page 16 @siangriffiths6

Isis grabs mother trying to rescue twins Dipesh Gadher A DESPERATE mother from Manchester was seized by Isis terroristsafterenteringSyriain an unprecedented attempt to rescue her teenage twin daughters, who had been married off to jihadists.

Khadra Jama is said to have been detained after she and a Muslim charity worker with whom she was travelling were suspected of being western spies.

The mother was later released but had to return to Britain empty-handed because her daughters, Zahra and Salma Halane, 16, insisted that Allah had “chosen” for them to be in Syria.

The failed rescue attempt in July, disclosed in full only now

by Syrian sources, shows the lengths to which some devastated parents are prepared to go to retrieve their children from Isis.

Another British couple met their son, a 21-year-old fighter, in an Isis-run town over summer —only for him to refuse to leave because he said hefearedbeingjailedintheUK. “It’s heart-breaking,” said Dimitri Bontinck, a Belgian former soldier who managed to rescue his own son from jihadists in Syria. “The parents are having to resort to this because they have had no help from their own countries.”

Zahra, left, and Salma Halane from Manchester, who travelled to join Isis fighters in Syria, have refused to return home. Dimitri Bontinck, above right, succeeded in rescuing son Jejoen from jihadists At least 500 Britons, including up to 70 women and girls, have joined the jihad in Syria.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against “all travel” to the country, swathes of which are now con-

trolled by Isis, also known as Islamic State.

The Halane twins, who have 28 GCSEs between them and are aspiring doctors, vanished from their family home in Chorlton, Manchester, at the end of June.

Their parents were horrified to discover that they had travelled to Syria, via Turkey. The twins have an older brother, Ahmed, 21, who had already travelled to the family’s native Somalia to join al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda affiliate.

The sisters have married Isis fighters and have been split up to make any rescue attempt more difficult, according to a Syrian source. One sister lives in al-Bab, a town near Aleppo in northwest Syria, while the other is in Manbij, where other British jihadist brides live.

The twins’ father, Ibrahim, 52, and mother, Khadra, 45, flew to Turkey in July where they are said to have linked up with a Muslim charity worker from Denmark, the country where the Halane family first settled after fleeing Somalia as refugees.

The charity worker, who The Sunday Times is not naming on security grounds, met Bontinck close to Turkey’s border with Syria and was briefed by his Syrian contacts, some of whom have militant ties. One of these contacts knew the Isis chief, or “amir”, in al-Bab, who guaranteed safe passage for the charity worker to visit the town and to meet one of the Halane twins.

“He talked to her for a long time, but she didn’t want to return,” said an informed source. “She said she had been exclusively chosen by Allah to come to al-Sham [Syria].”

The charity worker is thought to have offered to take the teenager to Denmark, where returning jihadists are much less likely to face prosecution than in Britain, and help her gain political asylum.

After being rebuffed, he crossed back into Turkey. It was then decided he would travel to Manbij a few days later to meet the other Halane sister —except this time, it is said, the girl’s mother took the bold step to accompany him.

“Isis doesn’t behead mothers, so it was decided that the risk was worth taking,” said the source.

The plan, however, unravelled, according to one Syrian

intermediary, because by now Isis suspected the charity worker was a spy working with the Danish and British governments. Both he and the twins’ mother were arrested before they even made contact with the second sister.

The full details of their capture and detention remain unclear, but the Syrian intermediary is believed to have defended them in front of an Isis sharia judge, arguing that they were not western agents.

Jama was released and reportedly returned to Manchester in August. The charity worker is said to have been held captive for many days and was not freed until September, according to one source. It is not known whether any money changed hands in the process.

This weekend the twins’ parents and the charity worker refused to comment. Asked whether Jama was questioned

after coming back from Syria, Greater Manchester police said: “It is not a criminal offence to travel there.”

Other European parents have also sought to enter Syria in an effort to persuade their children to return home.

Bontinck rescued his son, Jejoen, 19, after making three trips into the country in 2013, and has subsequently helped families from Belgium, Holland and Italy. His work has earned him the nickname “jihadi hunter”.

Jejoen travelled to Syria after becoming radicalised in Antwerp by a group called Sharia4Belgium which has links to Anjem Choudary, theBritish hate preacher.

When he later tried to leave other Belgian militants in Syria, Jejoen was accused of being a spy and was taken prisoner. Over three weeks in August and September 2013, he shared a cell with John Cantlie,

Plea for help came too late The family of a disillusioned Isis fighter from Portsmouth was seeking the help of so-called “jihadi hunter” Dimitri Bontinck to get their son out of Syria when he was killed in battle.

Muhammad Hassan, 20, had wanted to leave the terrorist group since the start of the year, but he died last month after Isis ordered him to the front line in Kobane, a war-ravaged town close to the Turkish border.

Bontinck, a former Belgian soldier, has been inundated by requests for help from parents worldwide after he rescued his own son, Jejoen, 19, from Syria last year.

Hassan: killed in Kobane

Hassan’s mother, who does not want to be named, has revealed that her son made a dash for freedom last April, but was captured and jailed temporarily.

the British photographer and journalist, and James Foley, the American journalist.

“They used to call themselves the Three Js,” said Bontinck, 40, who revealed that both Cantlie and Foley had converted to Islam.

The two western hostages had previously been held by Jabhat al-Nusra, the official al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria. But by the time they met Jejoen, they had been transferred into the hands of a group called the Mujaheddin Shura Council, which would later pledge allegiance to Isis.

The trio were held — along with several other western hostages — in cells under the children’s hospital in Aleppo. “[Compared to al-Nusra] they were treated better; they converted, they became Muslim,” said Bontinck.

“My son learned a lot from John Cantlie. He was like a mentor to Jejoen. He even taught him how to build his own computer.”

Bontinck was able to free Jejoen by October last year after building up a network of Syrian contacts, including some Islamist rebel fighters.

The teenager is now on trial in Antwerp, along with more than 40 other Belgians, accused of belonging to a terrorist organisation.

Bontinck said officers from Scotland Yard visited his son in Antwerp in December 2013 and spent a day questioning him about his time with Cantlie. They made two subsequent trips this year, he added.

“They wanted to know the attitude towards the West of the group that was holding him; how many guards there were; how many rooms; what time the food was delivered,” said Bontinck. “Theyalsowantedto know how I was able to rescue my son.”

Bontinck believes that Cantlie, who has appeared in a series of Isis propaganda videos, and Foley, who was beheaded by the group in August, were still in the Aleppo jail at the time that British police first interviewed his son.

A recent report in The New York Times —based on the testimonies of several former hostages —claimed they were not moved to Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Isis “caliphate”, until spring this year.

Bontinck reckons the British authorities missed an opportunity to mount a rescue mission based on his son’s information.

“If they had acted on this, they could have had [Cantlie] home

by Christmas,” he said.

He also believes that repentant jihadists should be allowed to return home without fear of long prison terms. He said government proposals to strip British fighters of their passports would backfire and “radicalise even more people”.

Scotland Yard said it did not discuss operational matters.

Additional reporting: Paul Stokes @dipeshgadher

Biba queen returns to the fold Claudia Croft FASHION EDITOR

THERE are few second acts in fashion, but Barbara Hulanicki is about to have hers. The woman who created the iconic Sixties fashion brand Biba is returning to the label she launched 50 years ago.

Now 78, Hulanicki has signed a consultancy deal with House of Fraser (HoF), which owns the label. Her role will include producing a capsule collection for Biba, which she founded in 1964.

The brand was bought by HoF in 2009 and is its biggest selling fashion label, with sales rising 30% last year. “I’m very excited,”

said Hulanicki. “I’ve got Biba flowing through my veins.” Her first designs are expected to be available next autumn.

Hulanicki walked away from Biba in 1975 after clashing with its majority investors and it has passed through many owners since. “It’s the first time somebody has asked me to be involved in Biba again,” she said.

Founder Barbara Hulanicki is to design for Biba again at the age of 78

Hulanicki’s designs in the 1960s and 1970s were inspired by 1930s’ Hollywood glamour and high Victoriana.

The escapist glamour of the clothes and their inexpensive price tags made Biba the must-have label of the baby boom generation.

When she moved Biba into the sevenstorey Kensington department store Derry & Toms in 1974 it attracted 1m visitors in its first week and employed some future fashion

leaders, including Anna Wintour.

Hulanicki has not lost her cool. She wears skinny black jeans, cuts her hair into a bob and believes that age is not a barrier to good fashion design.

“You design young in the head and older women today don’t want to look like older women. There’s no age any more, that’s one of the biggest changes.”

HoF said: “We’re absolutely delighted to be working with Barbara in a creative capacity.

Her wealth of experience, passion for retailing and her exceptional creative talent will add significantly to the exciting development of our business.”

02.11.14 / 5 OXFORD MAIL

Dr Rob Stevens, below, devised a technique to mass-produce the adjustable lenses

The glasses will be sold for £1 in Rwanda, saving jobs, and, in some cases, lives

PM bid to appease Berlin on migrants Tim Shipman POLITICAL EDITOR

The lens is made of two wave-shaped polycarbonate plates that glide across one another

Twiddling the dials moves the plates and adjusts the power of the lenses

Negative power

Zero power

Positive power

£1 glasses give vision to 1m Nicholas Hellen SOCIAL AFFAIRS EDITOR

FOR £1, a pair of adjustable spectacles is to help bring the world into focus for the poor with just the turn of a dial.

The British entrepreneur James Chen has funded the simple invention which, it is hoped, will ensure that everybody in Rwanda can see clearly by 2018.

The gadget is being compared with the wind-up radio devised by the British inventor, Trevor Baylis, in the mid1990s. This was able to transform the lives of 1bn people across Africa and other developing countries without the need for costly infrastructure.

Chen, 53, said more than 1m people require glasses in Rwanda alone. The spectacles, which look a little like Google Glass, will be supplied through

Vision for a Nation, a UK charity working with the health ministry in Rwanda.

Chen said he was spurred into action when, despite praising his proposals, the World Bank had failed to back the idea.

“They stalled because they could not make a direct link between improved vision and economic gain,” he said.

“What is the point of teaching someone how to read if their vision is not good enough to do so? In Africa the second biggest killer is from road traffic accidents and that will get worse if people don’t have their vision corrected.”

The idea for the lens design used in the adjustable glasses came from the late Luis Alvarez, who won the Nobel prize for physics in 1968. But the design was too expensive to be viable until a technical

breakthrough by the Oxfordbased research department of Adlens, Chen’s firm.

Dr Rob Stevens, 37, chief technology officer at Adlens, said he and a Dutch professor had worked out a way of mass-producing the lenses.

Previously the lenses had to be ground individually on specialist machines.

The breakthrough means it will now be possible to offer glasses to people in Rwanda without a £3.35m programme to train 30 ophthalmologists and 160 refractive technicians.

A further £1.24m a year would be needed for their salaries and £1.27m for 41 eyecare facilities across the country.

Chen said Vision for a Nation will need to spend only £2.42m to assess the vision of 1m people and to provide glasses for the first 200,000 people in 2015.

In the following year the

charity hopes to test the sight of 1.5m people and provide glasses for a further 300,000.

Most of the spectacles will be cheap reading glasses, made in China, but an estimated 100,000 will be adjustable so that they can correct more complex defects. “The adjustable glasses are the enablers, the key to why this will work,” said Chen.

For one woman who has been helped by a team from Britain, the glasses have made the difference between keepingherjobandfallingdestitute.

“Some colleagues came across a woman who sat in front of her house sorting peanuts for a living — separating the good ones from the bad ones,” said Stevens.

“When she began to lose her sight she could no longer tell the difference and was set to lose her job.”

Many Rwandans have medical insurance and will be expected to pay the £1 cost, but those who are destitute will receive glasses for free, with Adlens subsidising the cost from its profits in Japan, where it has sold 100,000 of the adjustable glasses, and elsewhere.

The Department for International Development is also helping to fund the project.

Despite the seemingly uncontroversial benefits of good vision, Chen said he had experienced significant resistance to wearing glasses in some countries.

“Like the NGOs who distribute condoms, we have had to overcome social taboos and prejudices,” he said.

“Some people think that by wearing glasses your eyes get worse; others won’t wear them if they are going for a new job

because they think it shows physical imperfections.

Others, such as a farmer in a developing country who becomes longsighted after the age of 45, might become fatalistic and allow the world to shrink in on him.”

Plans are being drawn up to replicate the Rwandan project in Botswana, Namibia and Bhutan, although Chen, who is currently based in Hong Kong, said he would prefer the World Bank or other official bodies to take on the responsibility of expansion if the work in Rwanda is successful.

Chen’s ambition is for the adjustable glasses to become as common as reading spectacles in Britain. “There are regulatory hurdles to overcome, but one day I hope they will become a mainstream product here,” he said. @nicholashellen

DAVID CAMERON plans curbs that would ban European Union migrants unless they have a job and would see them deported after three months if they could not support themselves — all in a bid to satisfy the Germans.

The prime minister’s planned speech beefing up immigration policy will focus on stretching EU rules “to their limits” so the measures are more likely to be tolerated by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. Senior ministers say Cameron wants to present plans to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with Brussels that are “German-compliant”.

They say he will seek to “square” Merkel before he makes his speech this year on curbing immigration.

As The Sunday Times revealed last week, Merkel has rejected one plan that had emerged as a favourite in Downing Street: to impose quotas on low-skilled EU migrants by limiting the national insurance numbers issued to them. She believes it would destroy the principle of free movement within the EU. Ministers say that the focus of Cameron’s plan for a renegotiation, before a planned referendum in 2017, is on returning the EU to the original understanding that it was free movement to work.

Two cabinet members said the deal needs to focus on a package that maximises the curbs available in existing rules, rather than seeking a solution that would give Britain special treatment. “It was originally intended to be the free movement of labour,” one said.

“The assumption was that

you moved around for work, not to come on the chance that you could find a job.

We’re looking at whether you can restrict new arrivals to those with jobs.”

Another minister said: “The focus is on drawing up a German-compliant package of measures.

Cameron needs to square Merkel or we won’t get anything. We’ve got to stretch the existing rules to their limits. There is no right in the EU to stay somewhere if you can’t support yourself after three months. That will be part of the package, I have no doubt.”

One of Merkel’s leading allies warned ministers last week that EU countries would not back moves requiring a treaty change.

Norbert Rottgen, Merkel’s former environment minister who now chairs the German parliament’s foreign affairs committee, met one of Cameron’s national security advisers and David Lidington, the minister for Europe, as well as MPs on the foreign affairs committee.

Rottgen said Merkel and other German politicians wanted Britain to stay in the EU but a new treaty was “not possible” because of opposition in other EU countries. He expressed frustration that Cameron had not outlined his wishes.

He told The Sunday Times: “We do not yet know what is being proposed. Our interest is to have a strong EU and Great Britain contributing to a strong EU. We will lose strength if Britain goes out.

But we do not want to reduce the fundamental freedoms of the EU.” Cameron is expected to use his speech to say that he would be prepared to campaign for Britain to leave the EU if he did not get what he wanted from a renegotiation.

NEWS

6

CO2 emissions in 2012 Global

Tonnes

China US

32.72bn 8.54bn

5.27bn India 1.83bn UK 499m

Just 16 years to avoid carbon calamity, say experts Michael Hanlon

Source: US Energy Information Administration

Remaining CO2 ‘carbon cap’ allowance of 1,000bn tonnes equals the annual production of

286,000

Coal-fired power stations

613bn Cars

100bn UK homes

CARBON DIOXIDE emissions must be reduced by almost half by 2030 or global temperatures will eventually rise by between 2C and 5C, a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will warn today.

The latest of the IPCC’s five reports on climate change is also expected to say that man must pump no more than an additional one trillion tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere if temperature change is to be kept below 2C.

Delivering its clearest figures on the scale and probability of significant climate change, the IPCC will say that it will be clear within six years if the threat of “dangerous” climate change has been averted.

According to Professor Dame Julia Slingo, chief scientist at the Met Office, the report willwarnof“extremelyserious impacts for both people and ecosystems” if temperatures increase by more than 2C. “This is not a problem for later in the century; it is a problem for us now,” said

Slingo. The report is likely to reignite the fierce debate with those who believe climate change has been exaggerated or is fictitious.

The IPCC, created by the UN in 1988, will warn that, if emissions are not reduced from current levels, global temperatures will rise by as much as 5C by 2100. Such increases could raise sea levels by almost 3ft andtriggerirreversiblemelting of the Greenland ice sheet, its experts will say.

In that event, hundreds of millions of people would have to leave coastal cities and large

areas of Earth would become uninhabitable. At present, about 200m people live in areas less than 6ft above sea level, but that is expected to double by 2060.

The IPCC does not believe the rises will necessarily be uniform. Parts of the Arctic may warm by 16C by the middle of the century, while northwest Europe may see far more modest changes.

“Britain is somewhat buffered against the worst effects of the temperature rise, but we will possibly see more storms and rain,” said Slingo.

“But while we won’t feel the direct effects of climate change as much as some parts of the world, we will feel it indirectly. Global trade will be affected.”

The report will say that, to have a 66% chance of preventing temperatures increasingonaveragebymorethan2C, no more than 2,900bn tonnes of carbon dioxide — above pre-industrial levels — should have been released into the atmosphere.

It calculates that 1,900bn tonnes had been released by 2011. At the current annual

emission rates of about 36bn tonnes, the remaining 1,000bn tonnes “carbon cap” will be reached by about 2039.

Climatologists say the cap is important because carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for thousands of years, meaning the total emitted over time is more important than annual levels.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, the UK emitted 499m tonnes of CO2 in 2012. In the same year, China released 8.54bn tonnes, America 5.27bn tonnes and India 1.83bn tonnes. The esti-

mated global emissions were 32.72bn tonnes.

In 2013, the IPCC said CO2 emission from fossil fuels and deforestation was the largest driver of climate change.

Kirsty Gogan, director of the pro-nuclear lobby group Energy for Humanity, said more nuclear power plants may help to tackle the problem.

“It seems unconscionable for those most concerned about climate change to prioritise the abandonment of nuclear energy over the abandonmentofcoal,asisnowhappening in Germany,” she said.

GERAINT LEWIS/JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK

Red Bull gives boost to navy’s laser weapon Mark Hookham and James Gillespie

Caroline Moorehead says critics of her book, which recounts how the French village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, above, helped to save Jews from the Nazis, ‘don’t like the truth that I’ve put down’

Row over prize book’s ‘errors’ Dalya Alberge IT IS one of literature’s most prestigious competitions but this year’s Samuel Johnson prize for nonfiction is embroiled in controversy after an author on the shortlist was accused of producing a book “riddled with errors”.

Caroline Moorehead, a respected biographer who has an OBE for her services to literature, is among six shortlisted writers who will discover on Tuesday who has won the £25,000 first prize.

Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France, has been described by critics as “compelling and authoritative” but some of those Moorehead interviewed for the book, which tells the story of how villagers from Le Chambonsur-Lignon near Lyons risked

their lives to shelter hundreds of Jews, complain that her research was “sloppy” and the bookcontainsalitanyoferrors.

Moorehead, whose “insistence on accuracy” was commended in a review by the Financial Times, insists that her account is correct and her critics “don’t like the truth that I’ve put down”.

The spat has resulted in unsuccessful attempts to have the book disqualified from the competition. In a letter to the judges — including the chairwoman, Claire Tomalin, a biographer of Charles Dickens, and the Labour MP Alan Johnson — Hanne and Max Liebmann, a couple saved by the villagers, wrote: “This book is a scandal . . . It should not have been published.”

Hanne Liebmann accused Moorehead of wrongly stating

that her mother had bartered for cognac in a French internment camp and was forced to eat rats.

She said the writer had wrongly identified her mother as a concert pianist, when she was a singer, and inaccurately stated that paper was stuffed into cracks in hut walls to keep out draughts. “We didn’t even have paper for the latrines,” she said.

The Liebmanns, now in their nineties and living in America, are also angry at Moorehead’s portrayal of André Trocmé, the village’s Huguenot pastor who urged his flock to help the Jews.

Pierre Sauvage, whose parents were sheltered near Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, is similarly dismayed by the depiction of Trocmé. The pastor is honoured by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust

memorial, as “righteous” but, inanonlinedenunciationofthe book, Sauvage accuses Moorehead of characterising him as “a self-aggrandising pathological liar”.

Sauvage, the director of Weapons of the Spirit, a documentary about the heroism of the villagers to be released in the UK in January, said he was furious at what he described as Moorehead’s “many dozens of misrepresentations and errors”.

Nelly Trocmé Hewett, the pastor’s daughter, said: “You don’t need to read the whole book. Go straight to the postscript to feel the mean streak of Moorehead’s work.”

Defending the book, Moorehead, whose previous works include a biography of the philosopher and activist Bertrand Russell and a history of the Red

Cross, said: “Every word is documented in my notes . . .

These events took place 70 years ago . . . This is what the memory of wars is about. Different people have truths of the past. These people don’t like the truth that I’ve put down.”

She said that, for example, the reference to cognac was in a letter and mentions of rats and the use of paper to fill cracks appeared in memoirs and reports. Moorehead said her notes showed that Hanne Liebmann’s mother “sang and played at concerts”.

“It’s deeply upsetting for a writer, particularly if, like me, you try to get everything right,” she said.

Chatto & Windus, the book’s publishers, said: “Caroline documents her research with care and is always scrupulously balanced and fair in all her

books, as in this one. We regret that some individuals appear to have chosen to mistake a valid interpretation of events as a dispute over facts.”

Moorehead’s rivals include a biography of politician Roy Jenkins by John Campbell and H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, a book about how she coped with her father’s death by training a goshawk.

Previous winners of the competition, now in its 16th year, include Antony Beevor, Michael Burleigh and Lucy Hughes-Hallett.

A spokesman for the Samuel Johnson prize said: “Claire Tomalin and the judges had been made aware of allegations against Caroline’s book. They responded directly to Pierre Sauvage, and the book remains under consideration by the judges.”

THE innovative technology of the Red Bull Formula One car driven by the world champion,SebastianVettel,is to be used by the Royal Navy to power laser guns on warships.

The navy wants to adapt the kinetic energy recovery system (Kers) used in grand prix cars to develop an “energy magazine” for a shipborne laser weapon.

Admiral Sir George Zambellas, the first sea lord, visited the F1 team near Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, to discuss the project with Adrian Newey, Red Bull’s chief technical officer.

Kers works in cars by harnessing waste energy created from braking, which would normally be lost in heat, and transforming it into electricity. This can be used to give an extra power boost when the car is accelerating.

An adapted version would allow warships to build and store energy to fire the laser gun. “Such is the power associated with these weapons that only a ship can host them, given their weight and size, not an aircraft and certainly not a vehicle ashore,” Zambellas said in a lecture last week at the Royal Academy of Engineering.

“So we need to create reservoirs of energy, pools of

How the navy's laser gun could work

power, and we need innovation to do this. [The] Defence Science and Technology Laboratory is funding the development of an energy magazine . . . based on Formula One Kers technology.”

The lasers are not intended to replace warships’ large guns or missile systems but would be used against enemy drones, small boats or possibly missiles at a range of up to a mile. They can be used for a “hard” kill on smaller targets, by firing enough energy at the object to set it on fire or detonate fuel on board, or a “soft” kill, where the laser would “blind” a drone or missile’s imaging sensors.

Unlike a lot of new military hardware the laser guns have one great advantage: they are cheap to use. The Americans estimate that a laser weapon system which they have installed on one vessel for tests will cost $1 (63p) a shot.

Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said: “The cost per shot is far lower than a [conventional] kinetic weapon: the challenges include power generation . . . along with some atmospheric conditions that can limit a laser’s utility.”

China has said the smog which often shrouds its big cities is an effective deterrent against laser attacks. @markhookham

Front view of beam

63p

Cost of one laser shot

£650,000 Tomahawk missile

Laser locks onto enemy drone and disables its optics or destroys it

Kers: The kinetic energy Six laser recovery dystem is used beams in F1 cars. Energy wasted simultaniously during braking stored and focus onisenemy plane converted into that it or boat to electricity either disable is then used power opticsfororextra destroy it by during acceleration burning it up

100% strike rate

‘Prejudice’ drives May’s policies Geldof gears up to take on ebola Marie Woolf WHITEHALL EDITOR

NORMAN BAKER, the Liberal Democrat minister in the Home Office, has accused Theresa May of “playing party politics” with government policy and blocking his decisions.

In an attack laying bare the deteriorating relationship between the coalition partners, Baker makes a thinly veiled claim that decisions being made by the home secretary are based more on her political ambitions than the best interests of Britain.

“All of us in government, including Home Office ministers, have to remember why we are there,” he said. “We are there to serve the public and that has to take precedence over playing party games.”

Baker accused May of ignoring advice from her civil servants and of treating her department as a Tory bastion.

He said his initiatives on gun laws and drug policies had been sidelined.

“I think it’s a pity that in the Home Office there is a reluctance sometimes to base policy on what is factual and rely

instead on prejudice,” he said.

“Unfortunately the home secretary and her special advisersthinktheHomeOffice is a Conservative department in a Conservative government.

It’s not. It’s a coalition department in a coalition government.”

Relations between the Lib Dems and the Tories have soured and the parties clashed last week following the publication of a controversial report that said the decriminalisation of drugs would not increase

Baker says the home secretary ignores civil servants’ advice

their use. Senior Lib Dems, including the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, praised the report but May quickly stamped on any notion of changing current drug laws.

“The Conservative high command sounded out of touch and petulant,” said Baker. “If you want to minimise drug use damage you need an evidence-based approach based on what works.”

He thinks that decriminalising drug use and instead putting addicts into treatment programmes would free police to pursue dealers. “Criminalising huge numbers of people for possessing a small amount of cannabis is nonsensical and counterproductive and it also wastes police time,” he said.

Contrasting the Home Office with theDepartmentfor Transport, where he spent 2½ years as a minister, Baker said: “What I find frustrating is when there is a policy that is common sense [and] politics andprejudice gets in theway of that. In the Department for Transport . . . I worked collegiately with my Conservative colleagues . . . I think the coalition sadly works less well at the

Home Office and I think the prime minister, the government and the public are poorer as a result.”

Baker accused David Cameron of vetoing a proposal to increase the cost of a gun licence.

The prime minister, whose stepfather-in-law, Lord Astor, owns a shooting estate, scrapped a deal signed off by May to raise the cost of a licence. Baker says he has now dealt with the problem.

“I have finally unlocked the firearms issue and there will be a proper increase,” he said.

“But why should it take so much effort to do something that is clearly sensible and clearly common sense and in the public interest?”

Despite his criticism of May, Baker offered an olive branch by saying the working relationship between Lib Dems and Tories across Whitehall was broadly good.

“Unfortunately the Home Office is the exception to the rule,” he said. “I think there has been goodwill by and large on both sides and, for the most part, I have had a professional engagement with my Conservative colleagues.”

Lisa Verrico and Tony Allen-Mills BOB GELDOF is sounding out some of Britain’s best-known musicians in an attempt to raise funds for victims of the ebola crisis in west Africa, according to sources close to the veteran charity campaigner.

Geldof’s latest charity drive coincides with the 30th anniversary this winter of Do They Know It’s Christmas, the 1984 Band Aid single that raised millions of pounds to fight Ethiopian famine.

Geldof insisted yesterday that “I don’t have a new project”. He told The Sunday Times that he had “nothing going on at all”.

However, sources familiar with the planning of a new charity single said several well-known artists had already been approached and had expressed interest.

The sources said Geldof was reluctant to confirm the project because it was still in its early planning stages and not all the artists who may eventually be involved have been contacted.

Geldof is believed to have

been deeply moved by the ebola crisis, which has affected more than 2.5m people in Sierra Leone, Liberia and other parts of west Africa. Almost 5,000 people have been killed by the virus and more than 13,000 have been infected.

The 1984 Christmas single attracted recording icons such

as Bono, Sting, Phil Collins and George Michael and propelled Geldof, the former lead singer of the Boomtown Rats, to global fame as an anti-poverty campaigner.

The Irish-born singer received an honorary knighthood from the Queen in 1986.

No names have yet REX FEATURES

Bob Geldof leading Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in 1985

emerged of likely participants in any new charity single, but Britons have already donated £4m to a Disasters Emergency Committee appeal to help ebola victims and their families. Any single that featured leading British performers such as Adele, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith would seem to be assured of a huge audience.

The original Christmas single eventually led to the Live Aid concert in July 1985, which was broadcast by satellite to an estimated 1.9bn people in 150 countries around the world. It remains one of the most watched television shows in history.

Attempts to repeat the Band Aid magic led to Band Aid II, a 1989 reprise of the original Christmas single with new artists including Bananarama, Cliff Richard and Kylie Minogue.

A third version appeared on Band Aid’s 20th anniversary in 2004, with Chris Martin of Coldplay and Robbie Williams helping to raise funds for the Darfur region of Sudan.

Survivors back from brink to lead ebola fight, page 26

02.11.14 / 7

A dagger to the heart but we must go on Las Vegas Mojave Desert

Tim Rayment, John Harlow and Mark Hookham THE disastrous crash of Sir Richard Branson’s commercial space rocket SpaceShipTwo during a test flight on Friday has done little to dent the determination of those who have already signed up to be among its first paying passengers.

Clients who paid deposits of tens of thousands of pounds in the belief that Branson’s Virgin Galactic space agency would get them to the boundary of space said the crash, which left a test pilot dead and another seriously injured, had only strengthened their resolve to be among the first commercial space travellers.

“The best thing we can do to honour the person who died and the one who got injured is to continue the mission,” said Per Wimmer, an entrepreneur and adventurer who 10 years ago paid for his ride in full as one of the first 100 people to sign up. “We must determine the cause of the crash so the loss of life was not in vain.”

He added, however, that the crash had been like “a dagger in the heart” to his dream of being the first Dane in space.

Jim Clash, a journalist who bought a ticket in 2010, said the crash had left him in “shock” but that he was not asking for his money back.

“You know this can happen when you develop rockets; it’s a risky business but it’s ultimately part of the deal. It’s not put me off, my biggest fear is that something like this could end the programme.”

As a shocked Branson headed to the scene of the crash to rally his grieving Virgin Galactic staff on Saturday, an investigation got under way into why the company’s suborbital spaceship broke apart soon after it was detached from the launch plane that carried it to 45,000ft and ended up scattered across the Mojave desert.

One focus for investigators will be the decision earlier this year to change to a new, more powerful hybrid rocket fuel that developers hope will give a smoother and higher ride to sub-orbit.

Friday’s test flight was the first time a new, plastic-based fuel grain was used in the air, in an attempt to banish “moderate chugging pulsations” and other vibrations noted on an earlier version of the spacecraft.

Witnesses said there was no obvious sign of an explosion from the ground after SpaceShipTwo was released by its mothership, WhiteKnightTwo. It seemed to ignite its new rocket fuel correctly.

“If there was a huge explosion, I didn’t see it,” said Stuart Witt, chief executive of Mojave Air and Space Port. “From my eyes and my ears, I detected nothing that appeared abnormal.”

However, Ken Brown, a photographer who witnessed the accident, said the craft appeared to explode after being released from its carrier aircraft. He said: “There was a puff that shouldn’t have been there and at that point I knew something was very, very wrong.”

The vehicle, which was making only its fourth powered flight, broke into several

3

10.11am

15

Mojave Air and Space Port

Radio contact lost with crew of SS2 WhiteKnight Two

Los Angeles

San Diego

4

10.12am

Flaws in the flagship

SS2 disintegrates, with debris raining down in the Cantil area near Red Rock Canyon State Park, a popular tourist attraction

SpaceShipTwo

100 miles

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10.07am

26 miles north of Mojave and at 45,00ft, WK2 drops SS2. Its engines ignite after a few seconds

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10.13am

Virgin Galactic Tweets it has suffered an ‘in-flight anomaly’

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11.30am

The California Highway state patrol announces that the body of the co-pilot has been discovered in wreckage. The injured pilot is found in an ejector seat a mile away

Mojave Air and Space Port

1

9.19am

Pacific time Mothership WhiteKnight Two (WK2), also known as Eve, after Branson’s mother, takes off with SpaceShipTwo (SS2), from Mojave Air and Space Port

ALEX HORVATH

large sections, with most of the debris falling within a milewide zone near Koehn Lake, about 95 miles north of Los Angeles. The main fuselage and wings remained attached and landed upside down on the ground in the desert.

The remains of one pilot were seen on the ground, still in his seat. The other, with back and neck injuries, was in a “serious” condition last night after being airlifted to Antelope Valley Hospital.

Yesterday the dead man was named as Michael Alsbury, a 15-year veteran test pilot for Scaled Composites, Virgin’s partner in developing the spacecraft. His death was confirmed yesterday by the Kern County sheriff, Donny Youngblood. Online media quoted the 39-year-old’s widow,

Michelle Saling, as saying: “I have lost the love of my life. I am living in hell right now.”

His co-pilot has not yet been named.

The crash is the latest setback to Branson’s plan to fly a host of paying passengers to the edge of space, at least 50 miles above the earth. For $250,000 (£155,000), customers will undergo four or five minutes of weightlessness and see the deep black of outer space, the curvature of the Earth and thin blue line of the atmosphere before returning.

The passenger list is secret, but those who are reported to have signed up include Tom Hanks, Angelina Jolie and Kate Winslet.

At first, Virgin Galactic said it wanted to carry the first farepaying passengers into space

by 2007. That slipped seven years, to a target of the end of this year, and Friday’s accident makes it unlikely to happen until 2020 or later.

A team of up to 15 investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived yesterday to start checking data, interviewing witnesses and examining the site.

Christopher Hart, acting chairman of the board, said: “This was a test flight and test flights are typically very well documented in terms of data and we may get some video feed, we may have lots of evidence that will help us with the investigative process.”

The crash was the second disaster in the private space industry within a few days after an Antares rocket carrying supplies to the Interna-

tional Space Station exploded after takeoff in Virginia on Tuesday. It was not the first tragedy to strike the Virgin project. In 2007, three people were killed after a rocket designed for use in SpaceShipTwo exploded at the Mojave Air and Space Port.

Yesterday Branson arrived in California, where he gave a statement ahead of a meeting with a 400-strong team of engineers. He said that he had had numerous messages of support from astronauts who have signed up.

“They have been patient to date, I think most will be patient for longer. We might lose one or two but it doesn’t look like it.”

He added that anyone who wanted a refund would be able to withdraw their money,

whichhasnotbeenspent.Later he told Sky News that the crash was a “massive setback” but said he hoped the space project would be resumed within six months.

“It’s a horrible day for Virgin Galactic, for commercial space travel, it’s a massive setback.

It’s horrendous for the families of the test pilots, but we’ve now gottopickourselvesupandI’ve now got to motivate the 400 engineers who have worked so hard on this programme for the last few years and find out what went wrong and see if that problem is fixable and hopefully move the programme forward.

“We really thought that by March next year we’d be there.

Something went wrong and we need to find out what went wrong and fix it.”

With so much riding on Virgin Galactic — what Sir Richard Branson called his “flagship company” — only the naive would doubt that his credibility has been damaged by this tragedy, writes Tom Bower. Yet in my view it was entirely predictable.

Ever since three engineers died in a Virgin Galactic explosion on the ground in 2007, experts who understood the crude nitrous-oxide fuel used to propel the spacecraft have warned Branson, his staff and America’s regulators that the enterprise was doomed to end in disaster.

Contrary to Branson’s pleas that Friday’s explosion was a sad but normal risk for those experimenting at the cutting edge of science, Virgin Galactic was crippled from the outset by a flawed design. His self-imposed — and repeatedly delayed — deadlines to take his first passengers to the edge of space meant that the risks were anything but normal.

Eight weeks ago, Jim Tighe, the project’s chief aerodynamicist, resigned. He was far from the first in the team to do so.

Some have lamented that the crash will damage the future of commercial private space flights. In reality, the market is filled with serious investors pioneering reliable rockets. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is regularly flying to the international space station, and will be followed by Boeing and others using proper rockets, not a Heath Robinson vehicle offering nothing more than four minutes of weightlessness on the edge of space.

Branson’s promotion of the project over the past 10 years seduced the credulous to believe that Virgin Galactic would soon lead to Virgin hotels circling the moon and one-hour flights from New Mexico to Abu Dhabi, Australia and even Britain.

Serious politicians believed Branson’s promise of intercontinental space travel.

When he hyped up Virgin Cola or Little Red flights to Scotland, he escaped serious criticism. This time it is different. A fourth man has died, and hundreds will lose their jobs because, I believe, there is no realistic prospect of future success.

There are serious questions whether Branson has the cash to repay $80m (£50m) immediately to the 700 ticket-holders, if they want their money back, and also fulfil all his contracts.

The buccaneer who was recently voted Britain’s most admired businessman faces a serious investigation.

Sheriff Donny Youngblood of Kern County, California, where Virgin Galactic’s desert workshop is based, is under worldwide scrutiny as he examines the safety of Virgin’s operations.

No doubt he vividly remembers the fatal rocket

explosion seven years ago, which he also investigated.

That rocket was fuelled by burning nitrous oxide with rubber. Virgin claimed this formula was “benign, stable, as well as containing none of the toxins found in solid rocket motors”.

Yet Carolynne Campbell, a British rocket motor expert, submitted information to Virgin, the US Federal Aviation Administration and Youngblood that “nitrous oxide can explode on its own. Unlike oxygen, it’s an explosive. And rockets blow up because that’s their nature.” Campbell was ignored and the lengthy expert investigation into the deaths, which was delivered to Youngblood, was not published. The sheriff

Buzz Branson stuck on launch pad again Our story in May this year

Will Richard Branson’s space tourists ever blast off?

Our story in January this year

concluded that the explosion had been an accident and there was no inquest.

Campbell continued to warn about the dangers of an “inevitable explosion”, but for seven years she was ignored.

This year Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites, the contractor behind the space programme, switched to a new fuel, described by New Scientist as “a plastic fuel grain in a pressurised stream of nitrous oxide gas”.

It was tested on the ground, but Friday’s flight was the first with the new formula.

Within seconds of the hybrid rocket engine being switched on, disaster struck.

Once the smokescreen of Branson’s excuses has evaporated and the harsh investigation begins about why, despite the warnings, Virgin continued to use ticket-holders’ money to build a suspect spaceship, he will have little wriggle room to avoid answering far-reaching questions.

Tom Bower is the author of Branson: Behind the Mask, the story of Virgin Galactic

‘Maybe it just fell because there wasn’t enough thrust’ uu Continued from page 1 biggest test programme ever carried out in commercial aviation history, precisely to ensure that this never happens to the public”.

In rocket science, however, endless testing is the norm.

“We’re incredibly averse to making the tiniest change at the level of a single electronic component,” said Zarnecki.

“If you do make a change, you have to prove it on the ground.

“You prove it in the lab, in an environmental test chamber. Most rocket science is incredibly boring. It’s about testing, testing, testing. That’s why it almost always works.”

Zarnecki added that the crash could be unrelated to the fuel. “There are lots of systems, electronics and valves that open and close.

Maybe it just fell because there wasn’t enough thrust.”

Bob Waters, the head of industrial strategy at the UK Space Agency, described Virgin Galactic as “a hugely professional, safety-conscious organisation”.

“So this is a real bolt from the blue — we would never have expected anything like this to happen,” he added.

“We think if they can solve the problems then there is a

MARK GREENBERG

Michael Alsbury, circled, who was killed in Friday’s crash, was a test pilot with 15 years’ experience. Last year Alsbury flew as co-pilot with Mark Stucky, seen right with Branson, on the first rocket-powered flight by SpaceShipTwo perfectly realistic chance that they can carry on with what they are trying to do, which is start a commercial flights and space tourism business,” said Waters.

“I’m not trying to be overly positive about all this; they have just had a fatal crash out in America. It must be extremely tough for them.

They will need to find out

exactly what’s gone wrong.

But they are at the cutting edge of aviation. These things happen and you have to solve them and move on, so we think there’s a perfectly reasonable chance they can do that.”

Although the Virgin Galactic test flights are being conducted in California, once completed the intention is

that operations will be transferred to Spaceport America in New Mexico.

However, the company could also eventually run flights from Britain. In July the British government named eight former airports that could host a possible space port, with the first flights due to take off in 2018. Virgin Galactic was one of the firms

in the running to start the first UK space travel services.

In contrast to Zarnecki, Waters insisted that plans for the first space flights to take off from Britain in 2018 remained “credible”.

“I think the 2018 timetable is quite credible, presuming we can understand and fix the problems that have occurred out in the US,” he said.

He added, however, that it is accepted that commercial space travel will not be as safe as commercial aviation for years to come.

Art Dula, a lecturer on space law and founder of the private space flight company Excalibur Almaz, said that a regulatory overreaction to Virgin’s troubles would kill the industry.

He pointed out that the first powered aircraft flight was the work of a pair of brothers with a bicycle shop, Orville and Wilbur Wright, who succeeded in 1903 where government endeavours had failed.

He said: “In my opinion it would be an absolute tragedy if we let this very unfortunate event stall or

significantly delay the development of private, commercial human space travel.”

ST DIGITAL Watch Richard Branson’s press conference Go to our tablet edition or thesundaytimes.co.uk/news

NEWS

Lana Wrightman says while husband Michael helps around the home and with their daughters Edie and Clara she still does most of the work

8

Nicholas Hellen SOCIAL AFFAIRS EDITOR

WOMEN have achieved a milestone in gender equality in the United Kingdom, reaching parity with men in the time they spend each day on paid and unpaid work, according to a new international study.

It reveals that over the past 50 years women have cut the time they spend on domestic tasks by 90 minutes a day on average and now have roughly the same amount of leisure or personal time as men.

Detailed time diaries kept for the study by people in 14 developed nations show a striking downward trend in the burden of cooking, laundry and cleaning for women since the 1960s.

Jonathan Gershuny, professor of sociology at Oxford University and co-author of the research, believes the process will continue as society moves towards more equality.

“The gender revolution . . . has not stalled,” he said.

Technological progress and prosperity may be to thank for making tasks such as fetching water, sewing clothes and preserving food largely obsolete for women — but men have also done their bit to help.

Women catch up men on playtime JULIAN ANDREWS

The time that men spend doing unpaid work on a typical day, including weekends, has risen from 1 hour and 35 minutes in the 1960s to 2 hours and 18 minutes in the 2000s.

Shopping and childcare account for a significant part of the men’s contribution.

The research, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, draws on the multinational time use study which divides the day into 69 different categories of activity.

It is possible to quantify paid and unpaid work in the same terms by classifying work as an

activity that could be conducted by a third person. For example, you can have a shirt cleaned by paying someone to do it or by doing it yourself.

There is, however, a catch.

Although men and women typically spend 8 hours and 20 minutes working each day

— or a total of 58 hours and 20 minutes a week — a much higher proportion of a woman’s workload involves mainly domestic tasks and is unpaid, putting them at a disadvantage in the workplace.

Despite women reducing their chores by 90 minutes

daily,theystillworkfor4hours and 20 minutes a day without pay and do about 66% of all unpaid work in the UK. The question of who wins and loses in the domestic battleground is far from trivial, according to Gershuny. Time spent on drudgery is time not

available for pursuing one’s own goals, he points out.

Gershuny said a woman who spends two hours more each day on unpaid work cannot compete on equal terms in a career with a man who puts in extra hours in the office or networking.

Lana Wrightman, 38, runs a public relations firm. She lives in Hackney, east London, with her husband Michael, 39, a reinsurance underwriter, and their daughters Clara, 2, and Edie, 3.

She said: “My husband took on a much larger share of domestic duties than my father, who never did the school run or changed a nappy in his life. My husband does most of the cooking and, after he complained about the way I ironed his shirts, he does his own and the children’s, too.”

However, Wrightman still does more than half of the unpaid tasks, partly because she works from home. “It is probably the rub in our marriage. As long as women are held responsible for running the household it will hold them back in their careers,” she said.

Daisy Sands, head of policy and campaigns at the Fawcett Society, a charity for women’s rights, said she welcomed the reduction in the time women spend on unpaid work in the home but the gap between

employment and unpaid work remained a big concern.

“Women still take on a range of responsibilities, from care for the elderly to childcare, and it is one of the big hindrances standing in the way of economic equality,” she said. “The pay gap between men and women is small in their twenties but it jumps to 24% in the forties.”

The solution, according to Gershuny, is to subsidise childcare and allow couples to stagger their paid work to free them to care for their children.

Following the example of Sweden, the government has already committed to introducing a year of shared leave for new parents by April.

There is a sting in the tail.

Although the study showed that women in Sweden do the smallest proportion, 58%, of unpaid work, so many of them work full-time that they end up putting in more hours overall than men. They account for 52% of all hours worked, compared with 48% for men.

In Spain, where women are lumbered with 74% of unpaid work, the position is reversed and overall women put in fewer hours than men.

Additional reporting: Anna Mikhailova.

This is what sham feminism looks like, Camilla Cavendish, Focus, page 14

This looks like Trouble for boys-only clubs Richard Brooks ARTS EDITOR

FOR centuries men have had their members-only clubs, from the Garrick in London’s West End to the golf courses of Muirfield in East Lothian and Royal St George’s in Kent. But this week sees the opening of a new club, Trouble, that is aimed at women.

“It’s where women will have a space of their own,” said founding member Rachel Fisher, a head of policy at the National Housing Federation.

“We need a nexus point for women to meet regularly in the way that men meet at the pub or golf course to form their alliances.”

The club will be open every day offering women a place to meet, drink, eat and talk as well as listen to a regular programme of female speakers.

In the first month these include the Labour MP Stella Creasy, Eni Aluko, the England women’s footballer, the classicist Mary Beard, the playwright Bonnie Greer and the economist Alison Wolf.

Trouble, which is based in central London, hopes to attract women from all professions, particularly in areas such as technology, IT, architecture and planning where men have traditionally dominated.

“It’s a myth that technology is for boys and that the female

brain does not work that way,” said Kathryn Parsons, chief executive of Decoded, the digital learning company, and another Trouble founder.

She points to Martha Lane Fox, who co-founded the online travel company lastminute.com, and Joanna Shields, now a government digital adviser.

“We still need a club for women, although we won’t exclude male guests. But it should be a playful sort of club — not stuffy,” said Parsons.

Only the 131-year-old University Women’s Club in Mayfair, central London, has given women their own meeting place and dining rooms.

Parsons: ‘club will be playful’

NEWS INBRIEF Father shot dead Catchiest song Police are hunting two gunmen who shot dead Pragaret Singh, 35, a father of three, as he closed his shop in Openshaw, Greater Manchester, on Friday.

A police spokesman said: “We believe his death was the result of trying to protect his business from armed robbers, during which he was shot at least twice.”

In Borough, southeast London, an 18-year-old man was fatally stabbed outside a shop.

People take on average just 2.29 seconds to recognise Wannabe, the 1996 single

by Spice Girls, making it Britain’s catchiest song.

Using data from 12,000 people, the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester found Lou Bega’s Mambo No 5 was the second catchiest tune followed by Eye of the Tiger

by Survivor.

The top 10 catchiest tracks can be heard at: thesundaytimes.co.uk/news

02.11.14 / 9 SIMON HILDREW/SOLENT

A feather in his cap or a spanner in the works? Farage’s sister and mother pose for charity Nigel Farage’s political opponents have long described him as bonkers. Now it turns out his mum is starkers.

Barbara Stevens, 74, who lives around the corner from her son, the Ukip leader, in the Kent village of Downe, has emerged as a calendar belle who gaily stripped off for charity on behalf of her local Women’s Institute.

Stevens was in her late sixties when she first posed in pearls and a safety helmet, with her feminine assets concealed behind a hydraulic drill. Over the years she appeared several more times for the Downe Dames calendar group, most notably in 2009, when a body artist painted roses across her shoulders and down her legs.

She also seems to have recruited Farage’s half-sister, Melanie Thomas, 43, who appears in the 2009 calendar dressed as Pocahontas, the American Indian princess.

Farage’s critics have pointed out Pocahontas moved to England in 1616, so could be classified as an immigrant.

Editorial, page 18

ST DIGITAL Slideshow: view more of the calendar girls Go to tablet edition or thesundaytimes.co.uk/news

Ukip accuses Tories over ‘poll smear’ Tim Shipman and Richard Kerbaj UKIP and the Tories traded legal threats and allegations of dirty tricks last night over the by-election in Rochester and Strood.

Mark Reckless, the Ukip candidate, accused a company run by Jim Messina, the former Barack Obama aide who has been hired by the Tories, of

conducting “push polling”.

The company was said to have asked voters about an incident in which Reckless missed a budget vote because he was drunk in a Commons bar.

The Tories hit back, threatening to sue for defamation.

This newspaper has seen an email written by Reckless to his team on October 15 about a call that day from a woman who said she worked for Messina

Quantitative Research (MQR), the polling guru’s firm.

Reckless says that when the woman realised who she was speaking to “she said there was a question which she didn’t think was appropriate to ask me and giggled”. He says the woman said the question was about how “I missed a vote”.

MQR said: “These allegations are baseless . . . and it is disappointing they would be

levelled. MQR is an independent research company that holds itself to the highest professional standards.”

Grant Shapps, the Tory chairman, said last month that the party was “absolutely not” using pollsters to attack the Ukip candidate.

Douglas Carswell, the Ukip MP, has now written to Shapps saying: “You denied that the Conservative party was invol-

ved in aggressive, Americanstyle push polling in Rochester . . . There is evidence that the Conservative party is linked to . . . MQR, who has been making such phone calls in Rochester.”

Richard Burrows, 69, from Upnor, near Rochester, said he was contacted by a pollster and asked: “Are you aware that Mark Reckless missed a very important vote because he was in the bar?”

The Tories accused Ukip of “peddling lies”, suggesting the call to Burrows was made by the pollster Survation, which published a survey on October 4 that did ask whether voters would think worse of Reckless if they knew about the drinking incident.

A Conservative spokesman said: “There has been no push polling by us or on our behalf.

We have categorically never

asked that question. Survation have asked that question.”

Danny Pattenden, 49, from Rochester said he was phoned on Thursday by a woman who said she worked for MQR. When The Sunday Times called her number, a recorded message said: “You were called today by MQR to participate in an opinion poll.”

A voter called Alex, 42, produced his phone records prov-

ing he was called three times on Thursday by the same number.

Neither voter was asked about Reckless’s drinking but the calls show that MQR is polling in Rochester.

There is no evidence that this workwascommissionedbythe Conservatives. A spokesman for Shapps said: “Grant stands by what he said. He would take legal action against Carswell if he calls him a liar.”

NEWS

10 FRANCESCO GUIDICINI

Rylance back as rebel with a Saxon cause Richard Brooks ARTS EDITOR

Mark Rylance is to play a guerrilla fighting William the Conqueror after he bought the film and TV options for The Wake, which is written in a version of old English

HIS portrayal of a drug-addled but charismatic waster in Jez Butterworth’s hit play Jerusalem won Mark Rylance rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic.

Now the actor and former artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre is to bring a rebel from 900 years earlier to the screen after buying the film and TV option to a book about a gang of Anglo-

Saxon fighters waging guerrilla war against the Normans.

Rylance will play Buccmaster, a wife-beating, foulmouthed tenant farmer from the Lincolnshire fens who takes up arms against William the Conqueror’s army in 1066 in a screen adaptation of Paul Kingsnorth’s novel The Wake.

The book, written in what Kingsnorth calls “a shadow tongue” — a version of old English updated to be comprehensible today — has won widespread acclaim and made it onto the long list for the Man Booker prize. Although it was not shortlisted it did receive an honourable mention at the awards last month.

Rylance, a fan of Kingsnorth’s other works, including One No, Many Yeses about the anti-globalisation movement, helped fund publication of The Wake by the crowdfunding book firm Unbound after seeing extracts online.

Shakespeare Road,thecompany that he runs with his wife, the composer Claire van Kampen, now plans to turn the book into a TVseries with both British and American backing.

Colin Callender, the Britishborn former head of HBOfilms, will be executive producer, and Peter Kosminsky, who directed Rylance in The Government Inspector and in the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s historical novel Wolf Hall, which will be screened next year, is tipped to direct.

“Paul has recreated the Norman invasion of England so vividly that I immediately wanted to see and hear a filmed version,” said Rylance.

The main character, Buccmaster of Holland, bears many similarities to Rylance’s best known role as Johnny “Rooster” Byron, the strutting drug-dealing roguereliving his glory days from his caravan in Jerusalem. Both are bloodyminded individuals kicking against an establishment that is too powerful for them.

In The Wake, Buccmaster takes up arms against the Normans after they destroy his farm and kill his sons. “[The book] tells of the death of an old way of living, from the viewpoint of the losers, and is suffused with sadness,” said John Self reviewing The Wake for The Sunday Times in August.

“Yet this most forcefully historical of novels is also full of relevance. Buccmaster’s fury comes from fear of losing all he knows, and being a stranger in his own land.”

Rylance, who is now preparing to play the lead in a Steven Spielberg production of Roald Dahl’s The BFG, said: “Paul’s visceral language and thrilling storytelling should translate into something as original as the book.

“I would hope a filmed version will share with a wide audience Paul’s acute observations about the way human beings behave when everything we know changes, and when the old gods fall.”

A veteran of the anti-road protests in the early 1990s, Kingsnorth worked briefly for Greenpeace and was deputy editor of The Ecologist magazine. He began writing his book in contemporary English. “But I changed my mind and wrote in the language of that time as it seemed to flow better,” he explained.

The screen adaptation will stick to the language of the book. Rylance read extracts at the Hay festival last May. “Quite a few people have told me that the language is easier to comprehend when spoken, which bodes well for the screen version,” said Kingsnorth.

“I will admit that while writing The Wake I fantasised about a screen version and Mark playing Buccmaster. It’s a dream now come true.”

While the hardback version of The Wake has sold only about 7,000 copies in the UKover the past six months, it will come out in paperback early next year.

Start your car with heartbeat Robin Henry A PERSON’S heartbeat could soon be used to unlock doors, start cars and access bank accounts, thanks to new software being tested by financial firms.

MasterCard is among the companies funding a trial of a hi-tech bracelet that reads the wearer’s electrocardiogram (ECG) as an alternative to asking for a Pin number or password.

A human ECG is more distinctive — and harder to forge — than a fingerprint, said the developer of the technology.

The precise rhythm of a person’s heartbeat varies according to factors including the position of the heart in relation to other organs and its size and shape.

The bracelet, called the Nymi band, takes an initial series of readings to create a distinct “wave pattern” identifying that person’s ECG. Even if the individual alternates between a resting heartbeat and a racing one the shape of the wave pattern is recognisable as his or hers.

Unlike a fingerprint sensor or an iris scan, the device can take a reading without the wearer interacting with it.

The technology started life as a research project at Toronto

University before raising £9m in funding from companies including MasterCard to test how the bracelets worked in practice.

Balaji Gopalan, a director of Bionym, the maker of the Nymi band, believes the software could revolutionise the way people shop, work and handle their finances.

“Anywhere you go, the bracelet will identify you to other devices, which could be the payments wallet on your smartphone, or in future, cash machines, cars and computers,” said Gopalan.

“As well as financial services companies, we have had interest from employers who want to test it in the workplace as a replacement for entry passes, expenses cards and computer logins. There’s a lot of possible applications.

“It’s also mugger-proof because the bracelet forms a circular electrical circuit that wipes the device when disconnected — that is, taken off,” he said.

Jamie Cowper, a leading member of the Fido (Fast Identity Online) Alliance, a consortium of software giants that explores new innovations in online security, said the device was a further sign of the “postpassword era”. @robin_henry

Access in a heartbeat

Electrocardiograms (ECGs) could be used to access cars, computers or cash-points 1 Bracelet records wearer's unique ECG pattern

2 Device remotely communicates with a cash machine, replacing the need for a Pin number or bank card

02.11.14 / 11

A satellite Kremlin on British TV

Mobile operators face order to fix signal ‘notspots’ Tim Shipman POLITICAL EDITOR

AA GILL The propaganda on the new channel Russia Today tells us more about Moscow’s fears than our faults

Anissa Naouai and Erin Ade are among the presenters on Russia Today, backed by Vladimir Putin, inset, which claims to report stories the western media ignores

RUSSIA TODAY launched its London-based English channel on Thursday. Not with a fanfare but with a conspiracy theory.

It is going to tell us the truths that the rest of the news media and vested interests are hiding from us: the under-reported.

Here I should admit a personal interest. I am a member of the corrupted, scaremongering, corporate lackey press that hides these truths. I feel better now.

The station was like most other rolling TVnews platforms, with glossy idents, musical motifs and subtitle bars. It looked a bit like those Soviet copies of western technology from “the cold old

days” of Concordski and Zil saloons. Almost the same, but not quite.

The English-language presenters seemed to have been gathered from Alan Sugar’s rejects, self-possessed men and women who spend too much time worrying about their hair and poshing up their estuary accents.

I badly wanted it to be presented by drawling, uncomfortably gay, Cambridge types with baggy eyes and Brylcreemed scalps. “This is Guy Burgess reporting from Rochester; back to Kim in the studio.”

What was a surprise was how blatantly partisan the news was. The experts and

commentators were unapologetically Putinesque in their interpretation.

The news that Russia Today specialises in is quite pointed: stories and features about Ukraine, showing deliveries of Russian humanitarian aid and telling me how cryptofascist the Kiev regime is.

There is the story of the burning of a Kiev cinema that was holding an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) film festival. “No one was hurt,” said the newscaster with a frisson of regret.

Programmes are also punctuated with bizarre advertising: Calgon, a cleaner for washing machines; Gaviscon, for indigestion; and E45, an

eczema cream. They are all made by RB, a consumer goods firm that — I can no longer hide this truth — is based in Slough.

What is most telling is that the channel specialises in stories that the western press ignores, and yet what is conspicuously missing is stories about Russia.

On the Freesat network and Sky menus you will find regional news channels from all over the world — China, Africa, India, America and the Middle East — all concentrating on their own areas in the not unjustified assumption that that’s what people will be tuning in to see.

Russia Today concentrates on the fixing of oil prices,

unrest in the EU, the duplicity of America and the poor old RAF chasing harmless Antonovs, suspecting them of being Russian invaders.

The West, I was told, is paranoid about Russian aggression.

If only we could see how foolish we look from the outside.

The news it chooses to broadcast and how it spins it says more about the broadcaster than about the news itself. So Russia Today’s running order is full of conspiracy theories that plainly reflect Moscow’s worries about its own unspoken news.

This is a channel whose naively transparent spin plainly comes from a state that is not used to or comfortable

with free information. But its concomitant lack of guile makes it rather refreshing. The propaganda is so inexpertly camouflaged.

Russia Today will feature the MP George Galloway; for someone accused of having been Saddam’s apologist, working for Russia will be no stretch.

But my favourite story of the day was about Pamir, a white clawed bear who performed kung fu in a zoo. In so many ways a brilliant metaphor for Russia, its news network and its president.

This is Russia Today, bringing you no news at all about, er, Russia, Dominic Lawson, page 18

MOBILE phone operators will be forced by law to let customers switch to rivals’ signals to plug blackspots in coverage, under plans to be unveiled this week.

Sajid Javid, the culture secretary, said he wanted legislation to set up a “national roaming” plan that would allow customers to switch to another network if their own was not available, as now happens when they are abroad.

Ministers believe the proposal will benefit about 1m customers in up to 20% of the country where the mobile signal is poor.

Javid decided to step in after the leading mobile phone companies refused to co-operate. Under the plans the operators will be forced to share mobile phone masts in rural areas where there is poor coverage so customers’ phones can find the strongest signal, regardless of which firm it belongs to.

Some parts of rural Britain have just one or two mobile phone networks available.

And in “notspots” there is no signal at all.

In July, Javid revealed that he wants to see a “national roaming” plan to tackle “partial notspots” where coverage is poor. He used a speech in the House of Commons to say that he wants “operators in the UK to go further”.

Javid pointed out that French visitors to the UK get better coverage than residents because the terms of international roaming allow their phones to switch between signals, while British customers are stuck with their own network.

In September the mobile

phone operators had rejected the proposals. They complained that the plans would punish firms that have invested in improving their networks and remove any incentive to build new phone masts in remote areas.

A senior government official revealed that the threat of legislation to force their hand will be published as part of a public consultation document to be released early this week.

The source said: “We’re

keen on a national roaming plan. We’ve talked to the mobile phone networks and told them to come up with a plan. The secretary of state is pretty frustrated that they have failed to do so.

“We’ve given them numerous opportunities to find a solution. The lack of movement from the mobile phone operators means we now need a legislative option to deal with the issue of partial notspots.”

Last year all four network providers — EE, O2, Three and Vodafone — backed government plans to invest up to £150m in bringing a signal to 99% of the UK.

NEWS

12 ESTATE OF KEITH MORRIS/FRANCESCO GUIDICINI

British banker held over two murders Alan Copps

Gabrielle Drake, who is behind the book about her brother Nick, says the internet has helped his music reach a huge new audience. She remembers ‘a sweet brother who was such fun when younger’

Diary demons of lost singer Drake Richard Brooks ARTS EDITOR

HIS music has been cited by performers such as Paul Weller and Robert Smith, lead singer of The Cure, as a major influence on their work, while his other famous fans include the Hollywood star Brad Pitt.

Now, almost 40 years after his death from a drug overdose at the age of 26, a new book about the cult folk singer Nick Drake reveals the desperate attempts his family made to help him through the depression that marked his short life.

The book, Nick Drake: Remembered For a While, was put together by his sister, the actress Gabrielle Drake. It includes poignant entries from diaries kept over three years by her father, Rodney, as Drake’s mental state declined, in part due to the poor reception that

his music received while he was alive.

Talking for the first time about her brother’s illness, the actress, who starred in TV series including Crossroads and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, said he was “like someone possessed”. She also defended their parents against criticism that they did not do enough to help him.

“Articles and books said my parents were negligent and believed Nick had thrown away all the education they had spent on him . . . That could not be more wrong ,” she said.

Drake had recorded four tracks for his planned fourth album when he took 30 antidepressant tablets in November 1974. The first three albums had sold poorly but the last, Pink Moon, received more critical interest and by the mid-1980s Drake was being

credited as an influence by musicians such as Peter Buck, the guitarist with REM. His popularity rose when Pink Moon was used in a commercial by Volkswagen in 1999 and fans of his lyrical style include Pitt, who narrated a BBC radio documentary about the musician in 2004.

Gabrielle Drake said: “The internet has helped his music reach a new and huge audience. The intimacy of his songs comes over better this way.”

The book, to be published this week by John Murray, contains childhood photographs of Drake and includes a tribute from Monty Don, the gardener, who credits Drake’s music with helping him to battle depression.

Gabrielle Drake said her brother’s illness started manifesting itself at university. “I think it began at Cambridge

where he was not that happy.

There is no real evidence of recreational drugs leading him into a downward spiral. He took some but was not an addict,” she said.

“Obviously he was very disappointed that his LPs did not sell that well. But I simply think some people are predisposed to depression. Various thingstook Nick down that route.”

She believes Drake never lost his virginity, explaining in part his detached lyrical style: “A few girlfriends, yes, but he put women on a pedestal. If he had fallen in love there would have been sex. I’m also sure he was not gay. I just think sex was not important for him.”

For the last two years of his life Drake lived with his parents in Warwickshire and it is the extracts from the diary of that time that his father kept that are among the most poignant

partsofthebook.InMarch1972 Rodney Drake wrote: “Bad day with Nick. Came down late in the evening and berated Molly [his mother] for not leaving him alone which was ‘all he wanted’.”

By June, shortly after the release of Pink Moon, Rodney Drake wrote: “Seems clear he wants to give up music. He spoke of Christianity and becoming a Catholic to control forces of evil.”

A month later the diary refers to Drake “talking despondently about being insane . . . Seemed utterly despondent and sat with closed eyes or head in hands.”

By 1974, however, the entries appear more hopeful.

“Nick and Birdy [the family nickname for Gabrielle] had a talk and he told her he was hoping to form a super-group,” the diary records in March.

The book quotes a letter to Drake’s parents from his aunt, who visited him in August. She wrote: “Take heart, my darling ones—itmaystillbeaverylong dark tunnel but there does seem light at the end.”

Three months later Drake was dead.

Gabrielle Drake, who was filming in Bristol when she heard the news, said: “What I’d like to remember was a sweet brother who was such fun when younger.

“What I’m so happy about now is that his music is with a new generation.”

A BRITISH banker was last night in police custody in Hong Kong following the discovery of two dead women at his luxury apartment.

Police said the 29-year-old man was being questioned in connection with a double murder and that the flat, on the 31st floor of the J Residence in the Wan Chai district, was covered in blood.

According to reports in the South China Morning Post newspaper, one of the victims was found naked in the living room with her throat slashed. Hours later, as officers searched the apartment, the body of a second woman was found stuffed into a suitcase on the balcony.

The women, aged in their twenties and of Asian origin, are believed to be sex workers. Reports suggested that they had been killed several days apart because the body found in the suitcase was badly decomposed.

“She was nearly decapitated and her hands and legs were bound with ropes,” a police source was quoted as saying. “She was naked and wrapped in a towel before being stuffed into the suitcase.”

The passport of the woman

in the suitcase was found at the scene but police have released no details of the victims.

“We believe the body had been dead for quite some time,” said Wan Siu-hung, the district’s assistant police commander, adding that there had been an eight-hour gap between the discovery of the bodies.

Reports said police had found a knife at the scene along with a small quantity of cocaine in the living room.

Post-mortem examinations will be conducted to confirm the cause of death.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: “We can confirm that a British national has been arrested in Hong Kong. We are in touch with the local police and stand ready to provide consular assistance.”

Wan Chai, which is popular with expat bankers, boasts office blocks, parks, hotels and an international conference and exhibition centre, but is also home to a red-light district that first emerged in the 1950s.

Hong Kong has low levels of violent crime. According to police statistics, there were just 14 murders in the territory of 7m people during the first half of this year.

TYRONE SIU

ST DIGITAL Listen to three of Nick Drake’s finest songs Go to tablet edition or thesundaytimes.co.uk/news

The body of one of the victims is removed from the scene

02.11.14 / 13

Hospitals urged to discharge ‘lucrative’ autistic patients Marie Woolf WHITEHALL EDITOR

THOUSANDS of people with autism and other learning difficulties are being cared for in “inappropriate” hospitals when they should be living at home or in their own communities,aleakedNHSinquiryhas found.

The report, commissioned

by Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, calls for the NHS to “act with urgency”

to discharge up to 3,000 people with autism and severe mental disabilities who are living in hospitals, including psychiatric institutions.

Itwarnsthattherearesometimes cash incentives for hospitals to keep mentally disabled patients, whose care can cost up to £3,000 a week, in hospital. The report calls for an end to the system where institutions “may be financially incentivised to keep as many beds full for as long as possible”

and for financial incentives to be introduced to discharge them.

The inquiry, written by a team chaired by Sir Stephen Bubb, chief executive of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, accuses the government of missing targets drawn up to discharge patients after widespread abuse of patients at Winterbourne View private hospital near Bristol was exposed. After mentally disabled

patients were filmed in 2011 by BBC1’s Panorama being assaulted by carers, the government promised to remove all patients who were “inappropriately placed in hospital”.

The report, a draft of which has been leaked to The Sunday Times, says: “That pledge was not met — indeed the number ofpeopleinthisgroupinhospitals is now higher than it was.”

It adds that it is “not acceptable in the 21st century for thousands of people to be living

in hospitals when with the right support they could be living in the community”.

Last month The Sunday Times revealed how thousands of autistic and mentally disabled adults, children and pensioners are living on wards, and that hundreds regard the hospitals as their home. More than 600 are “lost” in psychiatric and other hospitals, and audits revealthatnooneknowswhois paying their bills. Hospitals are not aware of the area from

which more than 900 patients with learning disabilities came.

The Bubb report says that too many mentally disabled patients and their families are embroiled in “an exhausting battle against the system” to secure their discharge.

Michelle Daly, founder of the Warrior Mums blog for parents of children with special needs, said she knows of dozens of parents trying to get their children out of hospital to their homes or into community

Yummy! Snap, crackle and a drop of arsenic Hannah Summers SOME of Britain’s most popular products, including Kellogg’s Rice Krispies and Heinz baby rice, exceed proposed EU arsenic limits, an investigation has discovered.

Tests on 81 rice products found 58% exceeded recommended limits for children expected to come into force next summer. A handful had higher arsenic levels than are being proposed for adults.

Under the new rules, which have the support of the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA), manufacturers may have to reformulate their products or remove them from supermarket shelves.

Inorganic arsenic is found naturally in plants, but rice retains comparatively high levels of the poison. While small quantities are not harmful to humans, experts say exposure to high levels over prolonged periods can lead to cancer or heart disease.

Levels of arsenic in water are highly regulated, but there are currently no such rules for arsenic in foods. The EU proposal would stipulate that rice products should contain no more than 200 parts arsenic per billion (ppb) for adults and 100ppb for children and babies.

Among the products tested for Channel 4’s Dispatches programme by the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast was Organix’s organic wholegrain baby rice, which was found to have maximum arsenic levels of 268ppb.

Boots baby organic rice cakes measured up to 162ppb, Organix wholegrain banana porridge had up to 142ppb and

Heinz smooth baby rice recorded a maximum level of 129ppb.

Organic original puffed rice cereal made by Kallo Foods recorded the highest level of 323ppb and Wafle ryzowe natural rice cakes made by Sonko had a top level of 212ppb.

Other products with high arsenic levels included Biona’s rice cakes with quinoa (196ppb) and Kellogg’s Rice Krispies (188ppb). The scores represent the highest levels found during a series of tests.

Professor Andy Meharg, a food safety expert who has spent 15 years investigating arsenic in rice, wants tougher limits. “The European Union is going to set standards for arsenic levels in baby rice at 100 parts per billion. To my estimation that is far too high. It should be at least half that,” he tells Dispatches, Rice: How Safe is our Food?, to be broadcast tomorrow night. “The limits are set so as not to disrupt thericetrade ratherthan onthe risk to human health.”

Britons consume five times more rice than they did 40 years ago. While it is rich in fibre, protein and vitamins, it is the only common food item with high levels of arsenic, although content varies dependingon thewhere it is from.

Italian brown rice, for example, has 160ppb, red rice from France has 310ppb but basmati rice from India contains just 40ppb.

The FSA said the EU’s proposed limits, which could still be subject to change, are based on “evidence both of risk to human health and of the levels of inorganic arsenic in rice and what can be reasonably achieved”.

Dr Diane Benford, head of the FSA’s toxicology unit, said: “The risks are related to longterm exposure and as limits take effect ... the average longterm exposure will reduce.”

The NHS already advises parents not to feed rice milk, which is often used for those who are lactose-intolerant, to under-fives.

Kellogg’s said it has been informed that its cereals are not categorised as foods for infants and children. It said it expects maximum arsenic levels for puffed rice, which it understands will be applied to its products and which are still under discussion, would be around 300ppb.

“The testing we have done shows the levels are within the limits of the most up-to-date proposals we have seen,” it said. The company would continue to work with government agencies, scientists and others in the food industry to review the data on this topic, it added.

Heinz and Organix said they were aware of the EU proposals and would quickly apply controls as and when necessary.

Boots said it “will continue to work closely with our suppliers and regulatory experts to ensure that our baby food is safe and fully complies with any future regulations”. Kallo Foods, Sonko and Biona did not respond to requests for comment.

The Rice Association, which represents the British rice sector, said there was “no health risk associated with regular consumption of rice purchased in the UK”. It said recent tests on 700 rice samples from 20 different sources had found that 99% conformed to the proposed EU arsenic limits. @hansummers

settings near where they live.

“It is very difficult to get disabled children out of state care.

Many are detained under the Mental Capacity Act,” she said.

“People with autism are being assessed for psychiatric problems when they don’t have them, and are living in psychiatric hospitals with drug addicts and people with serious mental problems. A lot of parents want their children home or nearby but there aren’t the places in the community.”

Mentally disabled vanish in hospital The Sunday Times revelation

Smart tags will track criminals round the clock Tim Shipman POLITICAL EDITOR

What you’re eating Products found to contain the highest levels of inorganic arsenic 1

Parts per billion

Organic original puffed rice cereal by Kallo Foods

323

2

Organic wholegrain baby rice by Organix

268

3

Wafle ryzowe natural rice cakes by Sonko

212

4

Rice cakes with quinoa by Biona

196

5

Rice Krispies by Kellogg's

188

Baby products with the highest levels 1

Organic wholegrain baby rice by Organix

268

2

Baby organic rice cakes by Boots

162

3

Organic wholegrain banana porridge by Organix

142

4

Organic baby rice by Nutriceal

142

5

Smooth baby rice by Heinz

129

All figures apply to the highest concentration of inorganic arsenic found from multiple tests on each product

Proposed new EU limits There are currently no regulations for levels of arsenic in food

For adults

200

parts arsenic per billion

For children and babies

100 ppb

CONVICTED criminals will be monitored through GPS tags 24 hours a day from next month following a spate of crimes committed by offenders on day release.

The probation service is shortly to take delivery of a new generation of tags that ministers hope will allow them to track the movements of criminals given community punishments or released from prison on licence.

The plans were approved Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, after public outrage over the case of Michael Wheatley, a serial armed robber known as “Skull Cracker”.

Wheatley stole £18,350 at gunpoint from a branch of the Chelsea building society in Sunbury, Surrey, in May this year while on day release from Standford Hill prison on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.

Wheatley, whose record includes 23 previous convictions for robbery, two for attempted robbery and 18 for relatedfirearmsoffences,was arrested after five days on the run and then jailed for life.

Existing tags allow the authorities to confirm only that an offender is at a designated address during a curfew. The new tags will allow their movements to be monitored around the clock.

The scheme was first suggested in January and senior government sources say the tags are now ready to deploy.

Ministers hope they will deter career criminals from returning to a life of crime when they are released on licence.

The trackers, which use the network of global positioning system satellites, will also help to enforce restrictions on child sex offenders who are banned from going near schools. They have

also been tried out as a way of monitoring psychiatric patients.

A senior Whitehall source said: “We don’t want to end temporary licence because it’s an important part of getting people to transition to life outside prison.

“At the moment, someone who is let out for a few hours to work in a charity shop who doesn’t turn upback in prison — you’ll be able to see that they’re sitting at the local pub down the road. Once one of these new tags is on, it stays on for 24 hours, bed, bath, the lot.”

A total of 1,000 new tags

Wheatley: armed robbery will be available from next month with a further 2,000 available early next year. By the end of 2015, everyone out on temporary licence should be on one of the new tags.

Nearly 500,000 temporary licences are issued to prisoners each year and some 21,000 offenders are electronically monitored at any one time.

Of those, about 57% are serving community sentences, 29% are on bail awaiting trial, and 14% are prisoners out on early release programmes.

KAYA MAR

Carrot grates on Osborne at Tory awayday Tim Shipman POLITICAL EDITOR

Osborne appeared unamused by jokes about his Kaya Mar portrait

WHEN Conservative MPs were invited to a country retreat for a Tory awayday last week, David Cameron and George Osborne hoped the gathering would help boost flagging morale among their backbenchers.

But the prime minister and chancellor got more than they had bargained for when MPs chose to cheer themselves up by ridiculing their bosses.

Osborne and Cameron were relentlessly teased for their physique, their social class and their habit of hanging out with a clique of admiring allies.

The chancellor sat stonyfaced as Sir Alan Duncan, the former aid minister, launched into an after-dinner speech commenting on his recent weight-loss regime and his economic policies, producing an extraordinary portrait by artist Kaya Mar of Osborne naked and clutching a carrot.

According to MPs present, Duncan pointed to the chancellor’s stomach and said it had been subject to recent cuts, and praised the fact that his real gut was not suffering from “quantitative easing” like the one in the portrait. Duncan suggested the carrot represented tax cuts being brandished for voters.

“George was sitting to the side. He did not appear to find it as amusing as Alan,” one MP remarked. “With Hallowe’en upon us, it was ghoulishly

authentic. There was, though, quite a lot of sympathy around for the carrot.”

Osborne’s allies were also in the line of fire from Philip Davies, the Eurosceptic MP for Shipley who participated in a game of Just a Minute compered by Gyles Brandreth, the television personality and former Conservative whip.

Appearing alongside other Conservative wits, Davies interrupted one of his competitors and complained: “You’re

so far up Osborne’s backside you can see Matt Hancock’s feet.” Hancock, the selfconfident business and energy minister, has been a close ally of the chancellor since he worked for him in opposition.

Davies also had fun at Cameron’s expense, launching into one of his Just a Minute monologues with the phrase: “I aspire to be a member of the Chipping Norton set,” before mocking the prime minister’s Oxfordshire social circle.

Previous Tory awaydays have been marred by claims of bed-hopping between MPs but Michael Gove, the chief whip, ended the evening by saying: “I wish you a good night. The only MPs sleeping together tonight will be Mark Lancaster and Caroline Dineage.” The couple married in February.

The MPs also heard presentations by their top strategists Lynton Crosby and Jim Messina. @shippersunbound

FOCUS

14

CAMILLA CAVENDISH Being pictured in a slogan T-shirt for a glossy magazine is far from what the suffragettes meant by ‘deeds not words’. So how do you fight for women’s rights now?

T

his week you can become a feminist for £45. Some might think that’s a bit — how shall I put it? — cheap. Especially since it involves buying a T-shirt saying “This is what a feminist looks like”, designed by Whistles for Elle magazine.

Elle’s first “feminism” issue — a concept I struggled to get my head around — features Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg, Benedict Cumberbatch and other blokes wearing this T-shirt. Most look as though they can’t believe their luck in scoring such an easy piece of positive publicity. The magazine did not ask them what they are actually doing to promote equality — although the lovely Cumberbatch is certainly promoting himself in an eight-page feature.

I’m quite prepared to accept that an enlightened man can be a feminist and that feminism needs to shed its man-hating image. But the suffragette motto was “deeds not words”. Taking a selfie in a piece of “statement” clothing is a far cry from chaining yourself to a railing.

What turned this glossy gimmick into T-shirtgate was David Cameron’s refusal to put on said item, despite being asked to do so, Elle claims, five times. Miliband and

Nick Clegg, top, and Ed Miliband, above, wore these T-shirts for a magazine shoot, but David Cameron refused to do so ELLE MAGAZINE/JANE MINGAY/GETTY

Clegg agreed “without hesitation”, according to the magazine’s editor-in chief, “but it seems the prime minister still has an issue with the word ‘feminist’”.

Maybe he just has an issue with helping to promote a glib marketing campaign when he is supposed to be worrying about terrorism. Or maybe he worries that the term will be used against him. Last year,

when asked by Red magazine if he was a feminist, he said: “I don’t know what I’d callmyself.It’suptootherstoattachlabels.

But I believe men and women should be treated equally.”

Later he said: “What I should have said is, if that means equal rights for women, then yes... I am a feminist.”

His nervousness about saying some-

thing so straightforward is understandable when you look at the waves of self-righteous fuming unleashed by T-shirtgate.

Harriet Harman, deputy leader of the Labour party, defied Commons rules to wear the T-shirt at last Wednesday’s prime minister’s questions.“This is what a feminist will look like at Prime Minister’s Questions today,” she tweeted. To which I could only think: no, this is what a shameless opportunist will look like.

What point, I wonder, do these people think they are making? Harman has fought for women’s rights for years. So why is she helping to promote a magazine that makes its money by fuelling women’s insecurities and then selling them antiageing creams?

Daisy Sands, the feisty head of policy and campaigns at the Fawcett Society, says the point of the T-shirt is that “it encapsulates anyone who chooses to self-identify as a feminist. It’s about supporting equality — there’s no checklist.” The T-shirt was inventedbyFawcett10yearsagotocounter the idea that feminists were “fat, ugly, man-hating and couldn’t get a boyfriend ... It was a narrative that was damaging the feminist brand.”

This echoes the findings of The Vagenda magazine that young women increasingly think of feminism as angry, offputting and full of jargon, such as “intersectionality” (which means the way that different systems of oppression interconnect).

The feminist movement is becalmed, partly because some of the battles really have been won. Go to #iamnotafeminist on Twitter and you can find women railing against positive discrimination, such as the recent German proposal to force companiestogiveathirdofnon-executiveboardroom seats to women. These are selfconfident women who say they want to be defined by their brains, not their ovaries.

So rebranding feminism may make sense. The Fawcett Society is thrilled with the publicity it has achieved by teaming up with Elle. But the results are perplexing.

Launching the actress Emma Watson as “the fresh face of feminism”, and then dressing her so skimpily that it borders on the humiliating, is crass. And I seriously wonder what message the fashion spread of a geisha-like lady wearing a padlocked leather collar would send to my sons if they saw it. It is not one of equality and respect.

Fawcett campaigns to get more women into parliament, to close the pay gap and to increase awareness of the growing numbers of women who are stuck in low-paid work. Sands is scathing about this government’s record on economic equality.

If they are so critical of the coalition, why did they want the deputy prime minister to sport the T-shirt? “Oh, Nick Clegg is wearing the T-shirt in a personal capacity,” Sands says, surprisingly. “He has driven the parental-leave agenda.”

But the society’s most trenchant criticism of the government is the spending cuts, which it says have disproportionately affectedwomen.Isn’tCleggpartlyresponsible for that? “He does his work as an individual within the confines of his power.”

Oh. So why did they ask Cameron to wear the T-shirt? Would that also have been in a personal capacity?

“Well, obviously it would be perceived as he’s the prime minister — perhaps that’s why he’s more reticent,” she says. There is a pause. “It was about opening a debate,” she says, with admirable honesty.

As gesture politics go, this feels lightweight. And confusing. What exactly is modern feminism?

Watson says: “Women should feel free ... to do what they want, to be true to themselves, to have the opportunities to

LAUNCHING THE ACTRESS EMMA WATSON AS ‘THE FRESH FACE OF FEMINISM’, THEN DRESSING HER SO SKIMPILY THAT IT BORDERS ON THE HUMILIATING, IS CRASS

Women’s war of words The mother of all feminist T-shirt slogans was probably “We can do it!”, from the American wartime propaganda poster featuring Rosie the Riveter, a symbol of female production workers.

Then came a long line of polite, proud, funny and occasionally offensive catchphrases and war cries.

The publishable ones included:

DON’T CALL ME GIRL! OUT OF THE KITCHENS, INTO THE WORLD NO HISTORY WITHOUT HER STORY RIOTS NOT DIETS IF YOU CAN BAKE A CAKE, YOU CAN MAKE A BOMB MENSTRUATE WITH PRIDE! I’M THE FEMINIST YOUR MOTHER WARNED YOU ABOUT! I BATHE IN MALE TEARS IF THEY CAN PUT ONE MAN ON THE MOON, WHY NOT ALL OF THEM?

develop.” I can certainly agree with that.

But she also says that “feminism is not prescriptive. All we are here to do is to give you a choice.” That makes me furious.

There is a strand of thinking today which argues that women have won when we can opt to wear flats instead of heels.

Thatweareliberatedwhenwehavechoice.

But there are times when we must be prescriptive. We must abhor, unequivocally, the mistreatment of women. That mistreatment is growing in some parts of our country — but those parts are being airbrushed out of the picture.

If modern feminism is to mean anything, it must grip by the throat two of the greatest threats to equality in our society.

The first is the failure to value and properly reward the caring roles which are so vital to the functioning of our society. These still tend to be the preserve of women, whether they are looking after an elderly parent or driving from one home to another on an unforgiving zero-hours contract. (The Fawcett is campaigning on this.) The second — newer and still woefully taboo — is religious fundamentalism.

I wonder what Millicent Garrett Fawcett, the pioneering English suffragist, wouldhavethoughtofforcedmarriageand honour killings. Of state schools that segregate girls and believe female teachers are unclean. Of female circumcision carried out in back rooms on London housing estates, despite the leaflets in Arabic in every London council office — as if exhortation would make any difference. I know someone who recently sheltered an Asian girl who had run away from an arranged marriage and was convinced her family would kill her. In 21st-century Britain she felt her only option was to go into hiding.

If we accept “culture” as an excuse for misogyny, if we take refuge in leaflets, we will unravel 200 years of feminist advance.

Our hard-won rights become meaningless if they apply only to part of the population.

We won the battle against the misogynist side of Catholicism and the anti-abortion movement in this country; now we must win the battle against the misogynist side of Islam. Modern feminism is not worth much unless it can tackle the subjugation of far too many women in Britain.

Thereisalongwaytogo.Oneofthemost shocking conversations I have had this year was with Alexis Jay, the academic whose report on sexual exploitation in Rotherham suggested 1,400 girls had been abused by men of largely Pakistani heritage. Jay believes the kind of abuse being reported by white girls there is also taking place within the Pakistani community.

She has been told this by Muslim women’s support groups who are too frightened to say these things when men are in the room.

Modern feminism must give those women a voice. It must celebrate women such as Maryam Namazie, the Iranianborn human rights activist, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born campaigner.

The latest issue of Elle magazine does feature some wonderful female campaigners, but those names are notably absent.

I don’t want to sound po-faced. And railing against the paucity of women in parliament or on boards is useful although it brings you up against the fact that many women choose not to fulfil those roles. As the businesswoman Lynne Franks put it at a McKinsey seminar I attended: who wants to sit on a boring board anyway?

Previous generations fought for something more profound than the right to nag blokes into wearing a T-shirt. Modern feminists must reclaim the motto of “deeds not words”. We must take the fight to where it is most needed — which is a long way away from glossy magazines.

02.11.14 / 15 PHOTOMONTAGE: RUSSEL HERNEMAN

THE GREAT FACE OFF

S

triding onto a stage festooned with American flags and amid raucous applause from Republican voters perched on hay bales, John Ellis Bush — better known as Jeb — sounded every inch a presidential candidate.

“This is a historic election that’s going to make a huge difference in the future of our country,” he told the enthusiastic crowd. He talked of “theclimateofpessimismthatexists because of failed policies in Washington DC” and added, to a wave of applause: “We need to start fixing some big things.”

The former Florida governor, who is the son of George HW Bush, the 41st US president, and the brother of George W Bush, the 43rd, was in an arena at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on the latest stop of a cross-country tour to stump up votes for Republican candidates.

The “historic election” he referred to was ostensibly Tuesday’s midterm congressional vote, but this week’s poll also amounts to the starting gun for the 2016 race for the White House.

Campaigning across the American heartland has provided Bush, 61, with the opportunity to roadtest a presidential message and to gauge the depth of his potential support. With Republicans poised to capture the six Senate seats they need to seize back overall control of Congress, Barack Obama’s presidency is on the brink of crisis and attention is already turning to who might replace him.

Jeb Bush has long been coy about his presidential intentions but now both his father and brother — known in the family as “41” and “43” — are said to be pushing him hard to try to become “45” (Obama is the 44th president).

With the Democrats all but certain to pick Hillary Clinton, wife

As the starting gun sounds for the 2016 presidential race, Jeb Bush is squaring up to Hillary Clinton in a clash of two political dynasties, writes Toby Harnden

of the former president Bill Clinton, as their 2016 nominee — and potentially America’s first female president — Bush is edging towards a similarly historic candidacy that could set up a titanic clash between America’s two most powerful modern political dynasties.

Jeb’s son George P Bush, 38, who has his own political ambitions and is set to be elected as the Texas land commissioner on Tuesday, said last weekend that his father was “more than likely” to run.

A month ago George “Dubya” Bush — seven years younger and three inches shorter than his 6ft 3in brother — said: “I think [Jeb] wants to be president. I think he’d be a great president. He understands what it’s like to be president.”

In Colorado Bush seemed eager to join the fight. He referred obliquely but witheringly to Clinton as “a candidate, a former secretary of state” who had told liberal Democrats in

THE BIG CHALLENGE FOR JEB BUSH WOULD BE: IS HE ONLY HIS FATHER’S SON AND BROTHER’S BROTHER? MOST WHO KNOW HIM SAY HE’S HIS OWN MAN

Massachusetts recently: “Don’t let anybody tell you it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs.”

Taking deliberate aim at the wife of the man who in 1992 denied his father a second White House term, Bush mocked his likely rival’s grasp of basic economics. Clinton’s statement was “breathtaking”, he said, because “the problem in America today is that not enough jobs are being created”. The only new jobs, he said, “are created by businesses”.

Bush last faced the voters 12 years ago when he was re-elected governor of the key presidential swing state of Florida by a 13% margin.

Obama won the White House in 2008 in no small part owing to voter weariness after eight years of Dubya. Lingering “Bush fatigue” remains a problem for Jeb and there are concerns in Republican circles that he is now a rusty campaigner.

He is also on the moderate wing of a party that has been pushed to the right by the populist Tea Party.

Bush has supported immigration reform that could grant citizenship to many who have entered the United States illegally. He also backs the national educational standards, Common Core, which many Americans regard as an unacceptable federal incursion into school systems administered by individual states.

These moves are viewed with deep suspicion by conservatives and the right-wing Republicans among Bush’s potential 2016 rivals are already taking pot shots at him.

“We need to learn from history,” said Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a Tea Party hero assembling a presidential bid, last week. Choosing a centrist such as Bush to bear the Republican standard, Cruz argued, would lead to defeat, as it had with Mitt Romney in 2012: “If we run another candidate like [Romney], Hillary Clinton will be the next president.”

In Bush family lore, 1994 was the year when the wrong son won.

George Dubya was unexpectedly elected governor of Texas while Jeb, the most intellectual of the four brothers and the favourite son politically, was defeated in Florida.

That set Dubya on the road to the presidency and pushed Jeb into his shadow. Alex Castellanos, a veteran Republican consultant who worked on Jeb Bush’s 1994 campaign and remains close to him, reflected that this history might be unfinished: “Who knows?Maybe the fates were saving Jeb for a different job at a different time.”

SUPPORTERS hope Jeb will restore pride in the Bush family name after the two previous presidencies ended badly. Voters turned on George HW Bush in 1992 after he broke a “no new taxes” pledge and, 16 years later, Dubya’s unfinished wars sank him to a 25% popularity rating, ushering in the age of Obama.

“Americans love our brands and when they disappoint us we like them repaired,” Castellanos said.

While no credible Democrat challenger to Clinton has emerged, the potential Republican field is perhaps 20 strong, signalling the mostopenandperhapsmostchaotic primary contest for decades.

The party establishment has yet to coalesce around a favoured son after souring on Chris Christie, the brash New Jersey governor, following the “Bridgegate” scandal, in which his staff exacted petty retribution against local officials by arranging roadworks to block traffic on a bridge into New York.

Anewgenerationofsenatorssuch as Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Cruz are vying for national attention, but they are as untested as Obama was initially. The Republican money men are looking instead at the

party’s state governors and former governors.

“They want somebody who is a competent, managerial, disciplined candidate to go up against Hillary,” said Rick Wilson, a Republican operative from Florida with ties to the Bush family stretching back to George HW’s 1988 presidential campaign. “Jeb has an amazing track record as governor for two terms. They look at him and think: this is a guy that doesn’t lose his temper, doesn’t shoot from the lip.”

Bush, who has said he will decide whether he is running by the end of the year, can draw from the experience of his father and brother and get a campaign organisation established within days. “He’s got a national finance network,” said a Republican consultant aligned with another candidate. “He can raise $90m [£56m] at the drop of a hat.

Why wouldn’t he run?”

The man likely to organise a Bush 2016 campaign would be from outside the family’s inner circle. Mike Murphy masterminded Jeb’s 1998 Florida win and has been a writer and producer in Hollywood.

Murphy is an irreverent, outspoken figure who has never been reticentaboutcriticisingtheRepublican party. After installing Jeb as governor, he became senior strategist for Senator John McCain during the “Straight Talk Express” campaign that nearly derailed George W Bush in the 2000 primaries.

“The big challenge for Jeb Bush would be: is he only his father’s son and his brother’s brother?” said Castellanos, who is close to Murphy, his former business partner.

“Most folks who know Jeb will tell you he’s a different guy, his own man.”

UNTIL this summer, the person holding Bush back from running for

the White House was said to be Columba, his Mexican-born wife of 40 years. Shy and averse to the political limelight, she is now understood to have given her blessing.

His fluent Spanish could be a big advantage in attracting a growing demographic group that has slipped in its support for Republicans from 40% in 2004 to just 27% two years ago. “Hillary Clinton doesn’t speak a lick of Spanish,” said Wilson. “Jeb is letter perfect.”

Polls already show Bush at the head of the Republican pack and he would enter the race as the frontrunner, starving Christie of establishment support and eclipsing Rubio, his fellow Floridian. But even his strongest supporters acknowledge that he faces a fierce battle to win crucial Republican primaries and caucuses in conservative states such as Iowa and South Carolina.

“He’d be a terrific president,” said Ron Kaufman, a Republican

Jeb Bush with his wife, Columba

elder statesman and Bush family confidant, adding that Bush would be able to articulate “big ideas and big solutions” and be the “happy warrior” his party needed: “But he knowshe’sgoingtohaveahardtime getting there.”

Bush himself has fretted about getting into “the vortex of the mud fight” and wanting to campaign “joyfully” without being tied to “all the convention of the politics of the here and now”.

Being a Bush carries enormous advantages,Wilsonsaid:“Dynasties are not just about name ID. They’re also about inherited and collected wisdom that gets passed down.

“We’re at the point where the people who worked for Bush [Sr] in 1988 have grandchildren working in politics. The Bushes are good to their people and loyalty breeds loyalty in this business.”

In the Obama years there has been a growing nostalgia for the presidencyofGeorgeHWBush,who is now 90 and in failing health, and even a reappraisal of Dubya in the light of Obama’s tainted popularity.

Among Republicans at the Colorado rally there was by no means unanimity about Bush’s prospects.

Patti Michel, a retired teacher, said: “I love the Bushes. They have a lot of integrity. They’re good people, family people.” But she added: “It’d be great to have a fresh face, somebody totally out of the blue.”

Jay Ledbetter, 63, a businessman and commercial pilot, believed that “Jeb would make a fine president”, even though his stance on immigration was problematic: “But if his last name was Smith, that would help. We in America don’t like kings and queens. We have a little resistance to coronations.”

America lies paralysed by the election monster that never sleeps, Amanda Foreman, page 20

FOCUS

16

Please, Sir .. .

I want to board

CHARLOTTE GRIFFIN

My place of salvation

After years of decline and despite past horror stories, Britain’s boarding schools are enjoying a resurgence, fuelled by children’s quest for adventure, write Tim Rayment and Sian Griffiths

W

hen Charlotte Griffin met and married a former publicschool boy she was so strongly against

boarding schools she asked for a promise that their unborn children would not be sent to one before at least the age of 13. Two years ago, with her sons aged 8 and 10, she changed her mind.

Home was just a few miles from the children’s school in northwest London but the stress of getting them to and from their activities, then getting them to do their homework, made family time far from

relaxed. Going to the park after school was unthinkable and letting them play with friends was also hard because other families had busy lives, too.

“I literally had an epiphany,” said Griffin, a design consultant who yearned for the formative chats with her children that she had enjoyed with her own mother when young. “The whole thing just felt completely crazy. Now they are at board-

ing school I still manage to see an awful lot of them and it’s not in a stressed state driving through London. It’s working really well for all of us.”

Griffin, 47, discovered that with parental visits twice a week to see school events, and frequent trips home, her “exceptionally cuddly” boys loved being modern boarders. Family relationships improved as well. “I opened my mind to something I had a completely closed mind about, and it paid off,” she said.

The school she and husband Andrew chose for Marcus, now 10, and Sebastian, 12, was the £25,953-a-year Summer Fields in Oxford, the prep school to which the Duchess of Cornwall, it was revealed last week, now regrets sending her son, Tom Parker Bowles.

The duchess’s son has grown up to become a vocal member of a generation of privileged parents turning their back on boarding for their own youngsters. David Cameron and the author and environmental campaigner George Monbiot are among many parents who chose day schools for their offspring instead.

When his daughter turned seven last month, Parker Bowles, a food writer, reminded his mother that “you sent me away [to boarding school] eight months after [his daughter’s age].” His mother was “slightly appalled, saying she’d never do it again”, he said. Summer Fields, he alleged, had been “a hotbed of all the sorts of things that are coming out now”, including one master who liked to join the boys in their morning shower. The school is now facing a lawsuit about the alleged behaviour of former masters.

Yet rising numbers of British children are still choosing to board, partly propelled by the fictional example of Harry Potter at Hogwarts.

With the schools claiming to have changed since the austere era of cold dormitories, meagre food and predatory staff, a new generation gap is emerging between reluctant parents put off by horror stories and determined to be engaged with their children’s upbringing, and their offspring, longing for boarding adventures.

BOARDING has had a bad press in recent years. The great British boarding schools, many of them single-sex establishments such as Eton, Harrow and Winchester, are still hugely sought after internationally, including by Russian oligarchs who know they are a passport to Oxford and Cambridge. But some have been rocked by sexual abuse scandals.

More than 20 schools face crippling compensation claims from dozens of victims who have come forward in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal. They include some of the country’s most expensive feepaying schools and institutions, attended by the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, the London mayor, Boris Johnson, and the former prime minister, Tony Blair. The allegations range from rape to fondling and date from the 1950s to the present day.

Many expect several preparatory schools will be forced to close.

Today’s parents are also worried about the emotional toll boarding can take. A 2011 paper in the British Journal of Psychotherapy introduced a new condition, “boarding school syndrome”, to describe problems seen in adults sent away at an early age.

Its author, Professor Joy Schaverien, says children who grow up among people who do not love them can turn into outwardly successful adults who struggle to communicate emotions or form intimate relationships.

Yet boarding school numbers are on the rise again after a long decline, with the

total figure for boarders now up to 68,453, despite a fall since last year of more than 10% in overseas students, who make up a third of boarders. This overall rise reflects British demand.

There is no denying that boarding has changed. Cosy bedrooms, the presence of pets and flexible accommodation allowing many younger pupils to board part-time make it a different experience from the one recalled by Parker Bowles and his peers.

Schools market themselves as places where busy working families can drop off youngsters who will be free to make friends, grow in independence and enjoy an unprecedented variety of activities.

There are also 38 state boarding schools, many of them rated academically outstanding.

“Tom Parker Bowles’s experience was a long time ago,” said Robin Fletcher, director of the Boarding Schools’ Association. “I was a boarder at Rugby 35 years ago and although I enjoyed it, my dorm had no carpets, no curtains and virtually no heating. The pastoral care was left to 18-year-old prefects.

“Now boarding houses are full of Travelodge-style rooms, with colourful duvets and posters; they are absolutely lovely. There are housemasters and housemistresses on hand all the time. That is a massive change.”

“The biggest spike is among girls aged seven to nine,” said Christian Heinrich, headmaster of Cumnor House School in West Sussex, whose alumni include the presenter Piers Morgan, the Sunday Times columnist Dominic Lawson and the actress Rebecca Hall, and which regularly sends pupils to Eton, Harrow and Winchester.

One reason for the rise, said Heinrich a few years ago, is that in many dual-income families parents were working longer hours. They preferred to send even their youngest children away to board rather than rely on a hodgepodge of nannies and babysitters.

Heinrich ended the practice of having younger children overnight soon after he arrived a decade ago. But at other schools the biggest growth in numbers has been among boarders under 10, some as young as seven.

At Handcross Park School in West Sussex four years ago there were just six boarders in the 50-pupil house for seven to

120,000 Number of boarders

100,000

80,000

Source: Independent Schools Council

1987

60,000 2013

When I read Tom Parker Bowles’s comments last week about not wanting to send his children to boarding school, it brought back a vivid memory: my three-year-old self, clad in a pair of natty tartan trousers, waiting forlornly at the end of a long gravel drive.

I was waiting for my parents to pick me up from my boarding school, an imposing Victorian institution called High Trees near Dorking, Surrey. After a while it dawned on me that all the other boys had been collected: I was on my own, save for a kindly teacher.

Believing my parents had forgotten me, I wet my prized tartans.

On the face of it I should be in Parker Bowles’s camp on the issue of sending children to boarding school: he went when he was seven and the experience left him convinced that he does not want the same for his own offspring.

But I’m not. There are compelling reasons why boarding school can be a terrible idea — mainly, the emotional deprivation and lack of privacy — but it can, for some children, be a life-saver.

My childhood was unconventional, to say the least. My mother was a flamboyant, sexy, Jewish businesswoman who liked to dress up in leopardskin two-pieces and drive Mercedes sports cars.

Life at home was entertaining but far from stable. After she divorced my father, she married a private detective called Dennis. I was fond of him and was unsettled, to put it mildly, when she divorced him, re-married him, and then divorced him again, all in the space of five years.

She then had several short-lived affairs, one with a gay waiter, before her pièce de résistance in the mid-1970s: turning our home into the UK’s first hotel for homosexuals.

She wanted to call it “Homolulu” but settled on “the Nonsuch Park Hotel”.

Coming home in the school holidays was disconcerting. I never knew who my mother would be with or what room I would be in.

Boarding school became an island of stability in my sea of volatility. Like Parker Bowles, I wouldn’t want my three-year-old son to board, unless he was a teenager and begging to leave home.

But for me, boarding school was a salvation.

Jonathan Maitland, pictured, is a writer and broadcaster. His debut play, Dead Sheep, opens at the Park Theatre in London in April

13-year-olds. Today it is full, with a waiting list.

“Boarding has had an awful press,” said Graeme Owton, the school’s headmaster.

“It has been quite damaging, but a lot of parents once they visit realise how much things have changed. I was a boarder at a school in Dorset from the age of 10.

Boarding then was very different. You wouldn’t see your parents for three weeks or more.”

SOME are unconvinced. Monbiot was sent to boarding school aged eight, and he now believes that early boarding damages children and stunts their emotions.

Tom Perry, a marketing consultant, was one of five boys abused by the then headmaster Peter Wright at Caldicott Preparatory School in Buckinghamshire, where Clegg was also a pupil. Earlier this year Wright was sentenced to eight years in jail.

Perry, who arrived at the school in 1963 when he was eight and left when he was 13, said last week: “I am a posh dad but under no circumstances would I have sent one of my children to boarding school. I would rather have opened my veins.”

His daughter Lucy, 20, and son George, 22, attended day schools. “All that has changed since the 1960s in boarding schools are the carpets and curtains,” said Perry. “No parent can be sure what is happening to their child.”

For Martin Smith, 45, and his wife Christina, 43, both pilots, boarding has been a lifesaver. “We didn’t want to be one of those families with a patchwork of childcare provision in the evening, with five different people involved in picking up and looking after the children,” said Martin, whose children Joseph, 8, and Lauren, 10, are at Handcross Park. Joseph started at seven.

“It was very difficult for us to leave a seven-year-old. The day they started, we dropped them off then both flew out of the country on work. We had far more tears than they did.”

At first Joseph did not want to be there.

Now it is a different story. “It’s better than beingathome,”hesaid.“There’slotstodo.

It was hard at the beginning but then I made some friends with people in my dorm. Now one of my favourite things is going to the sports hall.”

Far from the traditional idea of “packing them off to boarding school”, the parents of modern boarders have to fight a sense of loss. For Griffin, there is no guilt — she knows that boarding is perfect for Marcus and Sebastian.

She has had to work on herself, however, to deal with the empty house.

She says that for some parents, who like to manage every aspect of their children’s lives, it is too much to ask.

“It’s a dream world for a child,” she said.

“But there are some mothers who cannot cope.”

COMMENT

02.11.14 / 17

Breathe deeply, Nick – you’re not the only loser to turn to drugs

I

t is sad but nonetheless a fact of life that people in the very pit of despair, in the slough of despond, or the despond of Slough, sometimes turn to drugs in the desperate hope that this will help them through a difficult time. We all need a crutch of some kind when reality smacks us around the face, cackling its head off at our all-too-human ineptitude.

And as a society, I think we should be understanding and sympathetic when this happens. People turn to drugs when there is nothing left in their lives, when the alternatives are too bleak even to contemplate. What they need, I think, is care — and love and counselling.

So let’s go easy on Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats. Faced with a grim procession of opinion polls that suggest the number of people in the UK now thinking of voting Lib Dem stands at about nine — not 9%, just nine,and most of them close friends and family of Nick himself — it would be wrong of us to be sanctimonious about the fact that they have consequently taken refuge in drugs.

It is, after all, a familiar story. It is not just the grime-encrusted northern Untermensch, surrounded by slavering pitbulls, mainlining skag into their eyeballs, or whatever. Sometimes it is terribly nice and affluent middle-class people who use drugs on what we might call a recreational basis.

Nick and the Liberal Democrats have decided that our approach to illegal drugs does not work and have disinterred that very old notion of decriminalisation. Clegg, slightly in the manner of someone out of their box on crystal meth, has insisted that the Conservatives are “frightened” of reforming the drug laws and pursue an “outdated” policy regarding narcotics.

This follows a government report that suggests there is scant correlation between banging people up for possessing drugs and a reduction in drug use. This poisonous and largely irrelevant guff was swallowed whole not just by

ROD LIDDLE 0 Anyway — never mind Ukip. Coming up fast on the rails in the opinion polls is the vibrant and controversial Islamic State, with their exciting videos and terribly now black flags.

A poll for Populus reveals that one in seven young British adults feels “warmly” towards Isis.

The experts suggest this is part of the anti-politics sentiment expressed by towering intellectuals such as Russell Brand. The kids are sick of Westminster, innit, and wish for a more vigorous approach to political issues of the day, especially if they involve decapitation.

Perhaps they should let that suffusing “warmth” envelop them as they head off to the Turkish-Syrian border, with a copy of Brand’s Revolution in their backpacks, and maybe some acne cream.

ST DIGITAL Liddle’s Got Issues: the Rochester and Strood by-election Go to tablet edition or thesundaytimes.co.uk/liddle

Nick Clegg, but also by the BBC (apparently at the Lib Dems’ behest). This latter, impeccably liberal institution asserted that decriminalisation has worked in Portugal — which I suppose it has, if you consider a huge rise in drug use among young people a success. Keeps them off the streets, anyway.

One assumes that Clegg had a peek, from behind his hands, at the latest opinion polls and saw that the Lib Dems had now been overtaken even by the Greens. And he wanted to tap into that young and vigorously incoherent, antipolitics agenda appropriated by the Green party and the likes of that colossus Russell Brand. “What do they like, these lunatics?” he thought to himself.

“Drugs, and world peace, man. We’ll go with that.”

Either that or Clegg hoped that if a quarter of the electorate were zonked to kingdom come next May, perhaps slightly more of them would be either deranged enough, or absent-minded enough, to vote Lib Dem. This is shaping up to be a fascinating election, no? If you enjoy seeing stuff in the abstract. A new opinion poll has suggested that the Labour party will be as good as wiped out in Scotland, losing all but four of its 40 MPs to the Scottish National party. Scotland will be lost to you come May, Mr Miliband — and the north of England a little further down the line. All those Labour votes which for so long have been taken for granted, now being hungrily swallowed up north of the border by the Nats and increasingly, south of the border, by Ukip. Nigel Farage’s entertaining insurrectionists remain stubbornly high in the polls — 18% or 19% at present — and may climb still higher when they win Rochester and Strood, as is likely.

All of them — the Greens, Ukip, the SNP — are in their different ways benefiting from a national loathing of the London political consensus; its aloofness, its banalities, its insouciance.

There may be a few more politicians from the main three parties turning to narcotics next May.

MY WEEK COLIN HEGARTY

Subtract the Square Mile, add a square root and you get No 10, kids PRIME MINISTER’S QUESTION TIME

This year I was nominated for teacher of the year in the technology category at the Teaching Awards. The BBC broadcast the awards and asked me if I minded going along to the House of Commons with my family to do some extra pre-recorded filming last week. We were given a full tour and just as we were walking out of the door they said we could also pop across to No 10. I was shown round the Cabinet Room and sat in the prime minister’s chair and then, out of the blue, David Cameron walked in and said, “Is there a Mr Hegarty in the room? I’m here to give him this award for being a teacher of the year.” It was a total surprise — they had completely fooled me.

ACCOUNTANCY FINALLY DIDN’T ADD UP

Getting the award was a bit of a shock because I never thought I’d be a teacher.

After graduating I followed the corporate path, working as an accountant in the City. Accountancy had seemed a good career choice so I joined Deloitte and became a tax manager.

The company offered corporate responsibility schemes so I signed up to be a mentor at a school in Bethnal Green, east London, every Wednesday lunchtime. I loved helping the children and the teachers seemed to love their jobs. Back at the office I looked at people who were above me and saw they got a total buzz out of what they were doing. I never had that. I also realised Wednesdays were becoming my favourite day at work. It was teaching that gave me that buzz and I wanted more, so after six years in the City I decided to retrain as a teacher.

CALCULATED DECISION

Maybe I always knew I had it in me to be a teacher. I was born and brought up in Kilburn, northwest London, which is in Brent, the same borough as my current school, Preston Manor in Wembley. My parents had always told me education was the key to success. I went to the London Oratory in Fulham and I got 11 A*s and an A in my GCSEs. I got the A in information technology, my worst mark, which is pretty odd given that I’m now being recognised for my use of technology.

I got four As at A-level and won a place to study maths at Oxford; I was the first person in my family to go to

The former accountant who quit the City for the classroom has picked up a teacher of the year award, presented to him by David Cameron at Downing Street

university. I found it very difficult at first — I didn’t have a clue what was going on and I was on the verge of quitting — but I dug in and got through. I had an amazing tutor called Peter Neumann: watching him and seeing how he explained things inspired me. In the end I got a first.

At my wedding my best man said in his speech that I had taught him GCSE maths because I always explained it simply. At Deloitte I used to enjoy managing projects and showing the newer staff the ropes. I left the City in August 2009 and that September enrolled to do a postgraduate certificate in education at King’s College London.

A year later I was a teacher. I never really knew if I was doing the right thing — you never do. The first day in front of a class you’re absolutely in bits.

Sweaty palms, quivering voice — terrifying. I was petrified.

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

Many people think a classroom is a docile environment in comparison with the City but it’s absolutely the other way round.

At Deloitte I needed intellectual energy, but at a school you need emotional energy as well. You have to be human rather than a professional machine.

In training you’re taught not to “smile before Christmas”, but I think a teacher needs to be true to themselves. I get to know all my pupils’ names, their birthdays, their favourite sports — I know everything about them. Knowing them individually is the key to success.

You get a great feeling out of helping a child to understand something. In my spare time I’ve set up a website and YouTube channel where I post video tutorials (which have had more than 2m views). A child messaged me through YouTube saying he was doing really badly at school because he had Asperger’s. He felt he was good at maths but didn’t think he could do well. His school thought he was a lost cause. He started watching my videos and teaching himself and now he’s at college.

I’ve made a lot of sacrifices that I don’t think are appropriate for everyone — staying up late to make videos, for example. It wouldn’t be right to ask every teacher to do this because the day job is ridiculously hard as it is. I simply had spare time on my hands.

As told to Alicia Burrell. hegartymaths.com

MILIBAND POLL SLUMP

JOEL GOODMAN

A Ripping idea for surviving the bomb Blue-sky thinking, as they say.

Back in 1982 a Home Office official suggested that if Britain were ever to be largely evaporated in a Soviet nuclear attack, the survivors should be led by a government comprised of psychopaths. (Yes, as opposed to politicians.)

Jane Hogg’s excellent suggestion came during Exercise Regenerate, when — at a tricksy moment in the Cold War — civil servants gathered to decide how best we might cope with annihilation. Jane reckoned psychopaths were incredibly clever and less likely to be glumly affected by people dropping dead all around them from radiation sickness etc.

The two most prominent psychopaths of the day were Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, and Dennis Nilsen. I think that would constitute a rather fractious and potentially fissiparous coalition, even less stable than the one we have now, arguably. But they’re both still alive, thankfully — so if ever that button is pushed...

Please vote for me!

It’s sad to see someone beg

Ed shows his brass neck Poor old Ed Miliband. On a walkabout in Manchester, the Labour leader noticed a beggar in a headscarf sitting on the pavement, holding out a cup. He also noticed that he himself was surrounded by photographers.

What to do? Placate the left of his party by giving the woman a large sum of money and perhaps inviting her to stay at his home over the Christmas period? Or

try to pick up some of those Ukip votes by kicking her, or maybe setting her on fire with a cigarette lighter?

Plainly terrified, Ed chose the middle ground by dropping a 2p coin into her cup and disdained even to make eye contact with the indigent. Labour later denied that it was just 2p. But it was; you can see it clearly in the photograph. Not nearly enough for a bacon sandwich.

Quick, someone call the World Health Organisation. It seems the Russians have discovered the cause of the ebola virus — homosexuals.

This remarkable scientific breakthrough was spotted by Vitaly Milonov, a St Petersburg politician, who has demanded that the boss of Apple, Tim Cook, should never be allowed to enter his benighted and corrupt country.

Mr Cook spoke out last week about his joy in being gay. Vitaly immediately said he should be banned from the country for life, adding: “What could he bring us?

The ebola virus, Aids, gonorrhoea?”

Perhaps it is the case that this terrifying virus spontaneously springs into life whenever Judy Garland is singing, or when men spend a lot of time on personal grooming products.

Who knows?

NEWS

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Don’t scuttle from Afghanistan

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s the Union Jack was finally lowered over Camp Bastion last week, Britain’s 13-year war in Afghanistan came to a poignant end.

With poppies flooding the nation ahead of Remembrance Day, it is a fitting time to pay tribute to the 453 service personnel who died, the thousands injured and all of those who fought so valiantly to take Afghanistan back from the Taliban.

They and their families can look upon their work with great pride. The country has held democratic elections for the first time in its history. It is no longer the safe haven for terrorists that it once was. But for how long?

Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, acknowledged last week there is “no guarantee” of Afghanistan’s stability. Nato is relying on Afghan troops to keep the country out of Taliban hands, but those troops will need continued support. The scale of the challenge is reflected in David Cameron’s deliberations over keeping a esidual force in Afghanistan after the formal withdrawal of Nato combat troops.

As we report in today’s News Review, it is important not to learn the wrong lessons from the conflict. The West’s intervention in Afghanistan was marked by both mission creep and mission confusion. President George W Bush was apt to invade in haste and nation-build at leisure. But the premature scuttle from Iraq in 2011 by his successor, President Barack Obama, was a swing too far in the other direction. That, coupled with the West’s failure to curb the disastrous sectarianism of Nouri al-Maliki, when he was prime minister, fostered the growth of Isis, also known as Islamic State, into the hideous monster it has become.

It is imperative that the West’s halfscuttle from Afghanistan does not lead to a similar outcome. President Obama is reducing US forces to less than 10,000 by the year’s end and withdrawing all troops by 2016. Yet since March Afghan security

forces have lost more than 4,000 men (another 11 died yesterday). That is more fatalities than America endured in the 13 years of its Afghan campaign.

Stability does not require permanent occupation but a long-term commitment to support. The precedent is clear. In 1989 the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan, but continued to supply economic and military aid. It was only in 1992, when Boris Yeltsin abandoned President Mohammad Najibullah, that the country descended into civil war. This conflict was so bloody that many Afghans allowed the Taliban to restore order, however unpleasant the regime. Al-Qaeda followed.

This pattern is being repeated in Libya.

The victory rhetoric of western leaders after the fall of Colonel Muammar Gadaffi has given way to an uneasy silence about a country in disarray. Tunisia is now the only “Arab spring” nation functioning as anything remotely like a stable democracy.

The West needs to play a long game in these countries. That does not always have to mean boots on the ground, but it should mean a strategic use of aid and shrewd deals with tribal chiefs. Writing in The Times last week, the former SAS commander Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Williams asserted that the British military operation in Helmand had been badly planned and led. He suggested that the scope of military operations had been extended “beyond the limit of the nation’s ability to support them”.

His critique should be taken seriously.

Britain, while it was embroiled in Iraq, sent too small a force to Afghanistan with a shifting strategy. This makes the bravery of our troops only more remarkable. And recent swingeing defence cuts have raised very real questions about what our armed forces are capable of today.

Realism and vigilance must ensure we are not abandoning Afghanistan to chaos once again. We owe it to all those who lost their lives that their sacrifice was not in vain.

Labour pains in Scotland, Tory troubles with Ukip

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f Ed Miliband was hoping that Ukip would do his job for him — in terms of smoothing his path to a majority in May — two Scottish polls last week will have made him think again.

Certainly Ukip is likely to take Rochester and Strood from the Tories in the by-election later this month. But the apparent collapse of Scottish Labour is potentially devastating.

The Labour party strenuously denies that it is running a 35% strategy: relying on the voters who stuck with Labour in 2010, plus some Liberal Democrat refugees, to enable it to squeak to victory. But Mr Miliband’s leftist script suggests that this is indeed his strategy. And the vagaries of the British electoral system mean that Labour can win a parliamentary majority with a mere 35% of the vote.

What he cannot afford to do, therefore, is to lose votes in his heartlands. Yet this is now a real and present danger. Last week an Ipsos Mori poll in Scotland found only 23% of voters would back Labour if a general election were held then, while 52% would back the Scottish National party. A YouGov poll put the figures at 27% for Labour and 43% for the SNP. This suggests Labour could lose at least 30 of its 41 Scottish seats at Westminster, perhaps more.

Mr Miliband has been accused of treating Scottish Labour like a “branch office” by

Johann Lamont, the leader of Scottish Labour who resigned last month. To be fair, Labour’s local leadership has been undistinguished. But Ms Lamont’s claims do give the impression of a central operation which has been woefully unresponsive.

With the general election only seven months away it has never been less clear as to how voters will behave. There is often a swing back to an incumbent British government in the last few months before a general election. Yet incumbents across the world are also feeling the heat. In September Sweden’s centre-right government was toppled, after a surge in votes for an anti-immigration party let the centre left Social Democrats limp in.

This is the outcome that Mr Miliband is hoping for in Britain. But conventional wisdom is being upended everywhere. The assumption had been that Scottish voters would support the SNP when electing representatives for Holyrood, but would swing to Labour when choosing an MP: that is what happened in 2010, when twice as many people voted Labour as SNP. Today this looks a deeply complacent assumption.

Mr Mliband may come to regret the narrowness of his electoral strategy. Our YouGov poll today also shows that his personal ratings are now lower even than those of Nick Clegg. In the heat of a general election campaign that could prove fatal.

This is Russia Today, bringing you no news at all about, er, Russia

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t is hard to establish just how much the Russian people are robbed and impoverished by the system of bribes and gangsterism that characterises their domestic economy. It would be a good subject for an investigative news station. Perhaps one called Russia Today. But RT, as it is known these days, is funded by the Kremlin, whose occupant Vladimir Putin is at the apex of that system and has been efficiently strangling the independent media in Russia.

What RT has just done is to start 30 hours a week of “exclusive” British news coverage on its existing channel with a UK broadcasting licence. This, it claimed, would be “slicing through the rampant corruption that stalks through public and private sector alike”.

British rampant corruption, that is: the sort that, if you prove it, will earn you prizes at black-tie journalism awards dinners rather than a bullet in the back of the head.

Who is the main presenter of this cutting-edge investigative work? Bill Dod. This — you may not know — is someone who usedtopresentregionalprogrammesforwhat is now ITV Anglia (think Alan Partridge) before going into “corporate television”. That is where those who leave mainstream broadcasters sometimes end up to keep paying the mortgage, making programmes funded entirely by businesses wanting to push their message. And now it’s the Kremlin paying Dod to present its line.

This is not so crude as simply to say that everything in the Russian garden is rosy. The point, rather, will be to demonstrate how dismal things are in the channel’s host country. Frankly, we in the British media do a pretty good job of this already, but every now and then we do slip in a good-news story about the UK. That’s where RT will be a breath of foulersmelling air. Don’t expect the slightest respite from a diet of unremitting sourness. On the first day of this allegedly “new” station (actually it’s just a rebranded version of the existing output) the main stories on its website were “Psychopaths to maintain order after massive nuke attack — Home Office docs”, “UK police slammed for using anti-terror laws to uncover secret sources”, “British aid money funding corruption overseas” and “Brits genetically programmed to be grumpy”. All these were in fact repackaged versions of gloomy stories already served up by British newspapers.

Where RT offers something truly different — to judge from its record to date — is in giving wider currency to some of the conspiracy theories that the Kremlin uses, or even originates, to create confusion and demoralisation in the West. For example, its Spanish version floated the idea that ebola might be the product of a CIA experiment gone wrong.

This is a 21st-century tweak on one of the most successful KGB disinformation campaigns, Operation Infektion, which spread the idea that the CIA had created Aids. The campaign’s main purpose was to stir up hostility towards US military bases, which were portrayedasthecauseofAidsoutbreaksinthe

DOMINIC LAWSON local population. In fact it was the Russians who were infecting what we might term the information biosphere, which can also have fatal consequences: Thabo Mbeki, the Moscow-indoctrinated former South African president, refused to accept the true causes of the disease, resulting in countless more avoidable deaths from the disease among his countrymen.

Nowadays, with social media and the internet, such information viruses can be spread much more rapidly. Thus immediately after the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over territory held by Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin used its media outlets to give wider currency to bizarre conspiracy theories; one of them was that the bodies that had fallen out of the sky

THE NEW CHANNEL PRESENTS ITSELF AS UNIQUELY INFLUENTIAL WHEN IN FACT IT IS A MINNOW from MH17 were not victims of the rebels (who had already shot down Ukrainian military transport planes) but bloodless corpses collected for this purpose by anti-Russian forces from the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that had disappeared months earlier.

The fact that such “stories” can be believed by only the most abjectly credulous of conspiracy theorists is not a problem for the Kremlin. The point is to muddy the informational waters and create a sense of confusion where otherwise the awkward truth would be seen more clearly. This is what is really intended by the RT slogan “Question more”.

Unlike in the days of the KGB (Putin’s erstwhileemployer),theRussianpropaganda

ATTICUS

ROLAND WHITE

Psst. Wanna see MPs in rubber?

Spitting Image may return Here’s something that will put a bit of extra bite into next year’s general election: Spitting Image could be back.

Puppeteers Roger Law and Peter Fluck have been talking to the show’s producer, John Lloyd, about reviving the satirical series, last seen in 1996, perhaps online.

“You’d be surprised how often today’s politicians tell me they wish Spitting Image was still airing,” said Lloyd, speaking at an exhibition of pottery

by Law at the Sladmore Gallery in central London.

“As they point out, it made their predecessors instantly recognisable and helped engage the young in the political process.

“Some people say that today’s politicians are bland but I disagree. I think Nigel Farage, Boris and Ed Miliband — to name just three — would all make great Spitting Image puppets.”

You can be nice about Gove’s weight, or Nott

Naked ambition You might be surprised to learn that Nigel Farage is not the most colourful and outgoing member of his immediate family.

That honour belongs to his mother who has been stripping off for charity.

It has been revealed that Barbara Stevens, 74, has posed for a number of risqué calendars organised by the Women’s Institute. (Has the WI ever considered the shock value of producing a calendar in which all its members wear clothes? What a novelty item that would be.)

Mrs Stevens obviously understands the importance of political symbolism. In one

picture she poses tastefully behind some lavender pots. Purple lavender, of course, to show her support for Nigel and all the other boys in Ukip. In another photograph she covers up with a bunch of highly traditional English roses. In yet another she is holding a spanner and posing artfully behind a piece of hydraulic machinery, presumably to show her support for the ordinary working man.

At a time when all the political parties are strapped for cash, can you think of a more effective way to raise funds for Ukip? Send money now — or Nigel will start stripping.

effort is not designed to suggest an alternative formofgovernmenttotheWest.Insteaditjust seeks to exploit existing disenchantment withtheestablishedpoliticalparties,whichis why Putin seems so popular with the far right in Europe and even America, among whom the Russian president’s anti-homosexual legislation is seen as especially attractive.

Yet some on the left simultaneously buy the idea that Putin is in the vanguard of “antifascism”, reflexively accepting Kremlin propaganda that Kiev is under the control of “neo-Nazis”. One such is that faithful apologist for Stalinism, Seumas Milne of The Guardian. Last week the newspaper published his article extolling Putin’s Russia as “a global necessity” to counter American power, which had recently been “justifying dictatorship over people and countries”. As Milne noted, these were Putin’s words, spoken before foreign journalists and academics in “a session I chaired”.

Clearly Milne is one mainstream British journalist Putin felt he could depend upon. It made me think nostalgically of Richard Gott, who 20 years ago resigned from The Guardian after The Spectator (which I then edited) revealed that he had been paid “expenses” by the KGB for various journalistic services. I hope Milne made sure that his trip to Russia was paid for by The Guardian.

Milne wrote, almost wistfully, of the fact that when the Soviet Union was around, America had “respect for power”. Of course that is exactly what Putin wants to restore — and in the grand old Russian tradition that “respect” is meant to be synonymous with fear. Unfortunately for the Kremlin, while military adventurism in Crimea and Ukraine does create fear, it is a poor substitute for economic strength.

The reason the Soviet Union collapsed was not that America “won the Cold War” — a myth propagated by the Pentagon, among others — but that its economy imploded. The finalblowwastheoilglutofthe1980s,leading to falling crude prices (it was the world’s largest producer). Now, something similar may be happening again.

That is why I am less agitated than some by the RT phenomenon: it too presents itself as uniquely influential — “the only major UK news broadcaster headquartered near the corridors of power ... the views from our studio reach directly to the City of London and the corporate power of Canary Wharf” — when in fact it is a media minnow. According to the latest figures from the Broadcasting Audience Research Board, RT in the UK has a daily audience of less than 90,000: such obscure channels as Zing, Viva and Rishtey are more popular.

So when I called Ofcom to ask if it holds RT to the standards that it expects from broadcasters such as the BBC, the watchdog’s official remarked that “we do take into account the nature of its audience”.

Sorry, Bill Dod, you were bigger news at Anglia — and more innocently employed making corporate television. dominic.lawson@sunday-times.co.uk

Michael Gove has famously struggled with his weight.

The chief whip tried the Atkins diet, and once took up early-morning exercise to “drop two dress sizes in six weeks”.

But is it now time for a more austere regime?

Sir John Nott, who was Margaret Thatcher’s defence secretary, has noticed that Michael has been piling on the pounds again. He even says the former education secretary is “beginning to resemble” Kim Jong-un.

How rude. And certainly not wise to get on the wrong side of the North Korean leader.

0 David Cameron can’t win (don’t get too excited, Ed). He has long faced claims that he is lazy. Now he is accused of starting work too early. Lord Steel, the former Liberal leader, says the prime minister was wrong to make a 7am statement after the Scottish referendum.

“Nobody, not even the Prime Minister, should be out at seven in the morning making pronouncements,” says Steel, who once stopped Paddy Ashdown calling him at 6am. Steel was lucky. According to my Lib Dem sources, 6am is rather late for Lord Ashdown.

0 We stand on the threshold of anarchy.

Under a plan debated by the Lords last week, shops will soon be able to sell knitting yarn by whatever weight or length takes their fancy.

The knitting public is currently protected from free market chaos by the Weights and Measures (Knitting Yarns) Order 1988. I promise I’m not making this up.

Under this EU-inspired regulation, yarn must be sold in 12 different weights, from 25g to 1,000g. Now, I fear, the order is to be repealed.

Note how the EU has been vigilant in stamping out unregulated yarn for the past 26 years. Nigel Farage must be feeling pretty small right now.

0 Sensitive members of the Lords might wonder why people make unkind jokes about their age. Here’s a clue. The Lords has just two members under the age of 40, it’s been revealed. But there are 29 peers over 90, and a further 136 in their eighties. The oldest, at 97, is the former chancellor Denis Healey.

The latest figures were issued after an inquiry by Lord Tyler, who as plain Paul Tyler was a Lib Dem MP. At only 73, he is a young whippersnapper.

0 Another election pledge from Labour: Liam Byrne has promised to make his own coffee if he joins the government next year.

There was great hilarity in 2008 when it was discovered that Byrne, as Cabinet Office minister, had presented civil servants with an 11-page memo that included his daily coffee order (cappuccino on arrival and an espresso at 3pm). Chastened, he tells Total Politics magazine: “I think I would probably make the coffee, rather than order the coffee.”

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Sacrificing the lamb in Woolf’s clothing hurts only the abuse victims

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ull disclosure: I’ve attended a small dinner with Lord Brittan and his wife at an embassy, although I doubt that either of them can remember the event.

I have interviewed Brittan many times in his roles as a cabinet minister, European commissioner and Tory grandee. I also rented a house for a decade from someone who stood for parliament for Ukip.

Do these encounters make me an inappropriate person to write this column or another one about the fortunes of Nigel Farage’s merry band? That’s for readers and the editor to decide but I would hope not. In most areas of endeavour some passing familiarity with the field in which you are working is considered useful.

Yetpastassociationsandtheaspersions being cast about them have made it impossible to find an effective chairman for the Independent Panel Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, established in July by the home secretary, Theresa May. May’s opponents and rivals will relish the awkward hour she faces in the Commons tomorrow explaining why losing two chairwomen of an investigation isn’t carelessness. But those who are turning the panel into a political football aren’t just preventing it from getting on with

ADAM BOULTON work. By their own admission they have also undermined its credibility. Rather than helping the victims they purport to champion, they risk reducing the chance that this investigation sheds any further light on shocking allegations.

The panel was set up in response to a panic sparked by a number of separate cases of child abuse — Jimmy Savile, the grooming and abuse of young people in English towns, historic charges against the late Cyril Smith MP

andrumoursofEstablishmentcover-ups.

Most of these matters have been or are still being investigated independently by the police and the institutions implicated in the scandals. The home secretary set up the “independent overarching inquiry” in response to a public campaign backed by a cross-section of MPs . Most of them had either encountered serious child abuse in their constituency work or are independent spirits prone to believe in Establishment conspiracies.

May established two inquiries — the general historic investigation that is struggling to get off the ground and a targeted investigation by Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC, into charges of a Home Office cover-up of a “dossier” of allegations provided in the 1980s by the then Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens. Brittan, the then home secretary, categorically denies that he suppressed such a dossier.

Wanless has experience as a senior civil servant and the cover-up claims were previously being investigated by Mark Sedwill, permanent secretary at the Home Office. So May expected Wanless to conclude his work in “8-10 weeks”. That took us to mid-September. This weekend the government would only confirm that Wanless would report “in due course”.

Since Wanless has the job of investi-

gating the allegations against Brittan, why should an association with him be a problem for the chairmen of a wideranging inquiry expected to last years?

Yet the first chairwoman of the panel, Baroness Butler-Sloss, went because her brother Michael Havers had been a government colleague of Brittan. The second, Fiona Woolf, had the misfortune to be on dinner-party terms with the Brittans, who were her neighbours, and to have been economical with the details of their socialising.

Here again specific allegations and generalised concerns are blending poisonously.Overtly,SimonDanczukMP demanded Woolf’s head because she is in his view a “tame Establishment figure”.

There is abiding hostility on the Labour side to members of the Thatcher government, including Brittan, as demonstrated during the opposition debate marking the 30th anniversary of the miners’ strike last Tuesday. But Jimmy Hood, the National Union of Mineworkers’ veteran and MP for Lanark and Hamilton East, went further: “The current exposé of Sir Leon Brittan, the then home secretary,” he told MPs, “with accusations of improper conduct with children will not come as a surprise to the striking miners of 1984.”

Hood spoke under parliamentary

privilege and such matters have never been openly aired. They are not what the inquiry was set up to investigate.

Some child abuse campaigners want the panel to change what it does. Even as he emerged from his meeting at the Home Officetoannouncetheboycottthatforced Woolf out, Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, suggested that the panel should be reconstituted as a judicial inquiry with increased powers.

May set up a non-statutory panel, modelled on the inquiry into the Hillsboroughdisaster,sothatitcould,shesaid, act quickly and flexibly with witnesses and evidence. She promised its status would be upgraded if the chairwoman requested it. Swift decisive action by the crisis-hit panel is now out of the question.

Officials at No 10 already warn that it will be difficult to find a third person to head the panel — let alone pass the “confirmationhearing”concededtoKeithVaz, who heads the home affairs committee.

Political prejudice dictated that the chair of a child abuse inquiry would be a woman. The two ousted chairwomen both rose to the top against the odds of their generation and gender — ButlerSloss as a High Court judge, Woolf as a corporate lawyer and lord mayor of

London. No one has questioned their integrity yet both have been chewed up and spat out by political machinations fuelled by unsubstantiated allegations against other people.

In any case their private connections were surely offset by the other eight members of the panel: five women and three men, including child abuse victims, lawyers, academics and a social worker. It is difficult to argue that such a group represents “the Establishment”.

As public confidence in politicians’ authority erodes, they reach out to panels to deal with intractable problems. Iraq?

Send for Chilcot. And even before we get those findings there are demands for an inquiry into the Afghan adventure as well.

We may be cynical about what such inquiries find out, let alone whether their recommendations are ever acted on. But they are for the most part honest attempts to produce answers.

In crying for Woolf’s head the interested parties and political opportunists opposing her really were crying wolf in the proverbial sense — alerting the nation to a problem that was not really there, making it less likely that the horrors of historic sexual abuse will ever be properly and convincingly exposed. @adamboultonsky

A Qatari assist puts Islamists 1-0 up in the terror tournament

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hink of Qatar and not much comes to mind: a swanky airline, ownership of prestige western assets and the prospect of hosting the 2022 World Cup, which in turn draws other giant brands as sponsors. Last week, however, Downing Street added something much more sinister to the list: “The importance of all countries working to tackle extremism and support to terrorist organisations.” This was code for the message David Cameron had delivered over lunch to its visiting emir: stop Qataris funding Salafist extremists.

Qatar, which is part of America’s anti-Isis coalition, says it will punish charities passing money to Islamist extremists, but David Cohen, the American Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, has accused it of failing to do so. Is this Gulf statelet so rich that it can act with impunity?

The £100bn Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and the related Qatar Holding have acquired a vast portfolio of assets throughout Europe. In the UK they include Harrods, the Shard, the Olympic Park and Chelsea Barracks, plus big stakes in the stock exchange and Sainsbury’s. In Germany the QIA is a major shareholder in Deutsche Bank, the Volkswagen Group, the construction company Hochtief and the engineering giant Siemens. In France it owns the department store Printemps and Paris SaintGermain football club. These buy a lot of elite suck-up support locally.

Investments that prove ill advised (few do) don’t matter when the QIA is replenished with £19bn-£25bn a year from sales of liquid natural gas. Qatar is the world’s largest exporter, and it also has 25bn barrels of crude oil reserves.

Qatar is not content to be the Gulf’s benign equivalent of Switzerland. It has long sought to use its wealth to propagate a hardline version of Islam by bankrolling and hosting that strain’s extremists. It sees the TV station Al Jazeera, which has separate Arabic and English channels, as the media arm of these global ambitions.

It is the links with violent Islamist groups that are most concerning. In 2012 the emir, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who abdicated last year in favour of his 33-year-old son Tamim, ostentatiously dispersed £250m on the Hamas regime, money that was allegedly used to buy arms and build the attack tunnels that the Israel Defence Forces destroyed in the 50 days of Operation Protective Edge.

Throughout the Egyptian-led ceasefire negotiations, Qatar tried to stiffen Hamas’s intransigence, for it needs Hamas’s survival so it can profit from the good influence it claims to exert on such terrorist organisations.

Doha, Qatar’s capital, hosts Hamas’s political supremo, Khaled Meshaal. While ordinary Gazans salvage basic belongings from the ruins of their homes, Meshaal enjoys air-conditioning, a gym and a heated swimming pool in

www.geraldscarfe.com

MICHAEL BURLEIGH his Doha quarters, as well he might with a personal fortune estimated at £1.6bn. Much of this is derived from a Hamas tithe on goods passing through the tunnels connecting Egyptian Sinai with Gaza.

Hamas is one of several Islamist groups that Qatar has cultivated to magnify its influence by riding what it mistook as the Islamist wave of the future in the wake of the Arab spring. Doha’s Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs

AS GAZANS SALVAGE BELONGINGS FROM THEIR RUINED HOMES, THE POLITICAL SUPREMO OF HAMAS ENJOYS A LIFE OF LUXURY IN DOHA hosts the octogenarian Egyptian TV theologian Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a spiritual influence on the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2009 he said on Arabic Al Jazeera that Hitler managed “to put the Jews in their place — even though they exaggerated the issue — this was divine punishment for them . . . Allah willing, the next time will be at the hands of the believers”. Some of Qaradawi’s associates ordered and funded al-Qaeda attacks inside Iraq and regard Isis’s cruel rampage as “great victories”.

Investing in Islamist militant political groups is not as predictable as buying the Italian fashion house Valentino or renting out the Shard. Qatar heavily backed the Islamist regime of Mohamed

Morsi in Egypt. When he was overthrown, English-language Al Jazeera entered a state of mourning. Last year Qatar invited the Afghan Taliban to open an office in Doha, but were then embarrassed when their guests flew their black banner over it.

Similarly, Qatar’s meddling emirs underestimated the resilience of the Iranian and Russian-backed Assad regime in Syria, when their middlemen plumped for the al-Qaedalinked Jabhat al-Nusra, which has since found itself squeezed by both Assad and Isis. Although there is no evidence linking Qatar with the genocidal nihilists of Isis, it must know that arms and money can drift this way or that.

These connections between Qatar and Islamist groups depend on intermediaries. In a curious linking of a charitable front organisation, football and terrorism, the US Treasury said last year that a former Qatar FA chairman, Abdul Rahman Omeir al-Naimi — founder of the al-Karama (“dignity”) human rights organisation — had been a major financier of al-Qaeda operations. He is an associate of Ahmed al-Dakki, who has been proscribed in the United Arab Emirates for attempting to found an Islamic party while running a jihadist training camp in Syria. Qatar backs Libya Dawn, an armed gang that recently captured Tripoli and set fire to the main airport.

Since such manoeuvres incur the wrath of conservative states such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Qatar has reinsured itself with the US. It hosts the forward headquarters of Central Command and the massive US air force al-Udeid base and buys a lot of American arms. This has not prevented rifts in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, of which it was a founder member.

While Qatar lines up with Turkey in backing “revolutionary” Islamist regimes, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE support the status quo. This March, Bahrain joined Saudi Arabia and the UAE in withdrawing ambassadors from Doha to protest against Qatar’s wider subversive influence. Known for playing a straight bat, the UAE has had enough of Qatar’s duplicitous and maverick behaviour. In July it detained three Qatari spies.

Qatar actively supports Islamist movements and, at a minimum, some of its citizens and honoured guests bankroll terrorist organisations with apparent impunity. It also has abused and coerced those desperate enough to work on its £77bn World Cup projects. By the time the whistle blows at the opening game, an estimated 4,000 construction workers will have died.

In recent decades Qatar has indulged in a massive branding exercise so that the lustre of its acquisitions somehow rubs off on it. But as Qatar becomes more prominent, so the brands it has bought should be careful that this parasitic association does not sully them.

Camilla Cavendish appears in Focus, page 14

The great rock’n’roll swindle: having to stay alive and flog yourself to death

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ive fast. Die young. Stay pretty.

That has always been the rock star’s lot: scissor-kicked down in their peak; for ever immortalised in grainy black and white images stuck to student bedroom walls. The legend preserved, the bad skin, coke bloat and halitosis consigned to history.

Twenty-seven used to be the age at which to go. Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones — and so many more that rock conspiracists have long theorised about it being a “cursed” age for musicians.

SPEAKEASY

KRISSI MURISON

New research banishes that theory, however — rock and pop stars do die earlier than the rest of us but only by an average of 20 rather than 50 years.

Good news, yes? Hardly. At least in the old days you got to go down in a blaze of

tragic, crazy glory. Now you have to wait until you’re late middle-aged, arthritic and riddled with heart disease before you’re allowed to hobble off stage left, joining the other OAPs in the Big Backstage.

In a study of nearly 13,000 expired music industry figures, a researcher at Sydney University found that rock gods were most likely to croak in their late fifties, goddesses in their early sixties.

Drugs, alcohol and the general wear and tear of touring were cited as key factors, although suicide, homicides and accidents also ranked significantly higher than in the general population.

No wonder nobody grows up dreaming of being a rock star any more. Until last week, a glamorous exit was the only thing that it still had going for it. There are certainly few perks left in the “active” years.

Young Fathers are a Scottish hip hop trio whose debut album, Dead, was named the best British record of the past 12 months at the Mercury music prize on Wednesday. They are at the top of their game, the cream of creative endeavour that this country has to offer. Yet, at the time of their collecting the prize, Dead had sold just 2,386 copies.

Life sure isn’t what it was. Albums

don’t shift in the volumes they used to, so musicians are forced to work harder and for longer, which means endless touring and promotion.

You can’t just retire to the south of France for three years to “work on a new direction” like you used to.

In fact, you can’t retire, full stop. Even if you do make it to 65. These days they’ll keep wheeling you out to work right up until when the clock runs out.

Pink Floyd, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin are the record companies’ great white hopes to save Q4 — the run-up to Christmas when the industry could traditionally expect its strongest

sales, but which now relies on the silver-pound panic-buying of new albums by old favourites living on borrowed time.

I would still take it, though: being a rock star, I mean. Despite the graceless decline, early grave, endless reunion tours and all those godawful West End musicals they now insist on making about you, the Great Gig in the Sky still sounds better than the open plan office that’s waiting up there for the rest of us.

Even if all they’re playing these days is dad rock, at least you can blot it out at the free bar.

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here used to be a television advertisement for Cointreau, many aeons ago, which played on the repressed frostiness — frigidity, really — of British women and on the thaw that might be effected by exposure to French men.

I’m reminded of it every Saturday night when I sit down to Strictly Come Dancing and cheer on Judy Murray until I’m practically hoarse. I’ve never thought especially lovingly of her in the past in her guise as tennis coach — the raptor stare, the unsettling neatness and precision of movement as though of a rather beautiful bird of prey, the stern, unsmiling demeanour.

She seemed perfectly fine, but you didn’t get the impression of a person brimming over with warmth, let alone keen to laugh gaily and kick her legs in the air.

My usual test of public figures is: would I want to go to the pub with them? And in Murray’s case the answer was: what would be the point? I couldjusttalktosomeicecubes instead.

It is therefore fairly extraordinary that the impression I have of Murray today is of exactly such a person: kicking her legs in the air while she is reclined over Anton Du Beke’s back during the charleston, laughing almost all the time, improbably tactile and warm, clearly having the most fantastic time.

She can’t dance for toffee — the fluidity of her newfound manner hasn’t yet reached her poor limbs — but it doesn’t matter: this thawing, or flowering, is a joy to watch, and the voting public is so far in agreement with me. We’d all go to the pub with her now, plus she’s probably a demon on the karaoke.

Murray’s unbuttoning adds to her appeal: we like her more for it and don’t respect her any less — a clearly awesome tennis coach remains an awesome tennis coach, just a more likeable one who has large swathes of the country rooting for her.

So I was interested to read last week that Andy Murray’s feelings towards his mother’s dancing career are not marked by unbridled enthusiasm. His brother Jamie tweeted a picture of himself watching the television while cringing from behind the sofa when the show kicked off in September, but at least he made it to the studio to watch his mother a week ago.

Judy Murray is not going to win Strictly Come Dancing, but she doesn’t care because she’s enjoying herself

INDIA KNIGHT

Lighten up, Andy — Judy’s having fun and it’s your turn to cheer Even though Judy has said that she would love Andy to come and cheer her on in the flesh — which doesn’t seem much to ask, really, given that she has not only trained him up but also cheered him on tirelessly for about 9m years — it doesn’t look as if this will be happening any time soon because of his international tennis commitments.

Asked if he was planning on nipping along to show his support some time, he said: “I’m looking forward to being in my own home and in my own bed rather than watching some very average dancing.”

He added that he had seen only two of his mother’s six dances (why? Is his internet broken?) and noted — fondly, to be fair — that “she’s having a good time: that’s the most important thing”.

It’s interesting, isn’t it?

Taught by his mother that winning is everything, he can’t quite get his head round the

JUDY MURRAY HAS EARNED THE RIGHT TO CLOMP AROUND A DANCEFLOOR, BEAMING, WHILE HER SONS WHOOP HER TO THE RAFTERS

idea that Judy is not going to win but doesn’t care because she’s having such a laugh.

For Andy Murray — and his brother — this is like being forced to watch dad dancing but on a massively public scale, as if your father were celebrating his 55th with a robust, and robustly awkward, bit of jigging-about that somehow ended up being broadcast to the nation. You’d be mortified and they both clearly are, too.

They need to get over it.

Aside from anything else, this is a question of filial duty — an unfashionable concept but an important one nonetheless.

Judy Murray has devoted her life to her sons, and she’s the one who got them started on their stellar trajectory. She has earned the right to clomp around a dancefloor, beaming, while they whoop her to the rafters.

My own theory is that Judy’s sons are dismayed in the way that children — even adult ones

GUY LEVY/BBC

— often are when their parent, quite late in life, does something wildly atypical. “But,” they splutter, “that’s not the way we do things.”

Andy Murray in particular is the anti-sportsman, all about impassivity and restraint. He got that from somewhere: his mother, one assumes. Now she’s wearing beaded dresses and feathers in her hair and

trying to wiggle her hips; she’s blushing coquettishly; she’s laughing all the time.

It’s marvellous to see: she’s Mums Gone Wild (without the sleaze) and her children don’t quite know what to do with it.

Here’s some advice: 1) take a leaf out of her new book and observe that people don’t like you less because you behave like a human being

with emotions; 2) understand that there’s a way of making those emotions public that doesn’t take away from your private sense of self.

Aged 55, Judy Murray seems to have grasped this perfectly.

She’s still got a lot to teach her sons. If they have any sense, they should hotfoot it to the front row as soon as possible. @indiaknight

n Enid Blyton is having a

resurgence. The Oscarwinning film director Sam Mendes is bringing her Faraway Tree series to the screen; the production company Working Title has optioned all 21 of the Famous Five books for adaptation; the Old Vic theatre is planning a musical of the same; and Hodder has published new editions of her books, edited for a modern audience.

I don’t quite know what I make of this. By all means remove the wicked golliwogs from the stories for younger children, but I’m not sure about making changes to the language: surely altering “fellow” to “old man” and “Mercy me!” to “Oh no!” is not strictly necessary. Plus, “awful swotter” is much better than the new “bookworm”.

Children are perfectly able to contextualise language and to understand that things were different in “the olden days”. Also, it seems odd to make a fuss about “jolly” — an excellent and underused word — and leave in Dick and Fanny.

Despite all that, I’m delighted by this avalanche of good Blyton news. When I was a child our local bookshop refused to stock her on the grounds that her work was racist, classist and all the other –ists. This missed the point that Blyton got entire generations reading — still true today, I think, of a significant number of children — and that she never underestimated the power of a rigid moral universe, where the good are good and the bad deserve everything they get.

She has been out in the cold for far too long. Give a child who is just learning to read a copy of The Magic Faraway Tree and you’ll see what I mean.

n Apparently Downton

Abbey is responsible for the return of the starched collar. We’ll take this one with a pinch of salt: it’s not just that I haven’t seen a starched collar recently, but I have never seen a starched collar in my entire life.

America lies paralysed by the election monster that never sleeps

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uring a 14-hour flight from China last week, I confess to having watched Emily Blunt and Tom Cruise’s sci-fi adventure flick Edge of Tomorrow. It was research, you understand. For those of us living through yet another mid-term election this week, the film’s tagline “Live. Die. Repeat” has particular meaning.

Cruise’s character is caught in an endless time-loop, as are American voters.

As soon as one two-year cycle is finished, the campaigning begins for the next. Between the four-year presidential terms, the sixyear Senate terms, and the two-year terms in the House of Representatives, there is never a moment’s respite.

Voters have had enough. Even though this year is theoretically full of drama and excitement — with the Republicans set to win back control of Congress — only two-thirds of registered voters say they are certain to go to the polls. That’s down from three-quarters in 2006.

Just like Ms Blunt, I want to hunt down the monster that’s forcing us to live every day as though it’s a general election.

And when I do, I’m going to make it watch endless loops of every election ad since 1975.

Then, I’ll order it to try driving through Manhattan when the president is in town for one of his frequent fundraisers (more than 400 nationally since 2009).

Finally, I’ll make it apply for health insurance, a job, a green card, a credit card, a loan and all the other dysfunctional and overly complicated processes of American life that congressional inaction (because every year is an election year) has made worse. If that doesn’t cause a multi-neurotronic explosion, then frankly we’re trapped.

Which we are anyway.

I’m not claiming that the old days were better. In the

AMANDA FOREMAN 19th century the system was a lot worse. Until 1842, many states used a system called general-ticket voting, where people voted for the party rather than the candidate. The winning side then filled all the congressional seats in that state. It meant that a party with only 50.1% of the popular vote could control 100% of the seats. Compared with that, I suppose you could say things have improved.

In fact the phenomenon of the perpetual campaign started only in the 1970s. It was then that the two parties lost control of the nomination process, and winning the primaries and caucuses became the only route to winning the presidential nomination. The first person to notice the change was an aide in Jimmy Carter’s election campaign team, who observed in a much-quoted memo, “Governing with public approval requires a continuing political campaign.”

One big part of the problem, contrary to what party hacks would have us believe, is that the permanent campaign is the product of several causes, not just one single factor such as superPac money or union power.

The Founding Fathers had

POLITICIANS ARE FRIGHTENED OF ANGERING A HANDFUL OF FANATICS

very firm ideas about the kind of country they wanted to create. To ensure that politicians would remain answerable to the electorate, they mandated short election cycles and no term limits. This was what radicals in England such as Major John Cartwright and John Horne Tooke were also advocating at the time, and no doubt it seemed a sensible alternative to political domination by elite party faction.

By itself, I suppose, the two-year cycle is more onerous than poisonous, but in combination with other factors it’s positively lethal.

Forcing politicians to begin their re-election campaign the day after winning office doesn’t increase their responsiveness to the electorate, it merely produces paralysis. As I write, Congress has funded the government only until mid-December. No one was willing to debate the budget just before the elections. As it is, the 113th Congress has the dubious honour of passing the least number of bills in 60 years.

Another cause is the exquisite science of gerrymandering. No country is immune from the practice, but the US enjoys preeminence in the field. The Founding Fathers were not above a little gerrymandering themselves, but it was Elbridge Gerry, the governor of Massachusetts in 1812, who inspired the term after he redrew the state’s legislative districts in a blatantly partisan way. The resulting electoral map had all kinds of strange shapes, including one district that looked like a salamander, hence the term “gerrymander”.

The obvious effect of gerrymandering is stasis. In

2004, for example, not one of California’s 53 districts changed hands. But the other effect is to make the party primaries the only elections that count. This forces candidates to appeal to the most ideologically committed voters. For Republicans, that’s why the party is often saddled with various loony-toon extremists who live, eat and pray with other like-minded loonies, and who don’t care what the majority of the country thinks.

On a practical level, having the primary system dictate national party politics means that vast swathes of reform can’t be carried out because many politicians are frightened of angering a handful of fanatics in their district. This is why the Republicans can’t come up with a sensible plan for immigration, and the Democrats can’t talk about fracking. It’s also why the number of House and Senate bills reconciled in committee has gone from 66 in 1995 to none in 2014.

Finally, there’s the rising cost of the permanent campaign, which necessarily leads to politicians having to devote more of their time to fundraising. It also makes them beholden to outside donors who often have their own agendas. The paradox is that parties are spending more and more for marginal advantages. In 2012, Democrats were massively outspent by Republicans in 24 of the most competitive races for the House, and they still managed to win them. Yet the dreary attack ads, the intrusive phone calls and the cash-for-photo-ops disguised as dinner invitations just keep on coming — even though they turn off voters in droves.

If there really were a monster responsible for this madness it would have been killed a thousand times by now. But alas, systems are like ghosts, neither living nor dead. @dramandaforeman

02.11.14 / 21 PROFILE ANDRE BALAZS

The king of flings finds room for a pop princess

A bill before the Lords this week offers the terminally ill a more dignified end, says Michael Holroyd

The playboy hotelier, as famous for his serial starry girlfriends as for hot properties such as the Chiltern Firehouse, is said to be dating Kylie Minogue

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hat is Kylie Minogue thinking?

Papped, beaming, arm in arm last week with the obelisk-jawed, hyper-connected multimillionaire playboy Andre Balazs, the pop star had reason to pause. Minogue, who has known the hotelier for years and is rumoured to be his newest girlfriend, must know that he changes relationships with the same restless zeal with which he opens restaurants, spas and hyper-luxury “residences” on both sides of the Atlantic.

Sincehisdivorce10yearsagofromthedynasticmodellingagentKatieFord,the57-year-oldhashadflings— confirmed or merely suspected — with A-listers including Sharon Stone, Cameron Diaz (who was spotted giving him a “neck rub” in Hollywood), Naomi Campbell, Renée Zellweger, the artist and heiress Daphne Guinness and, perhaps most surprisingly, CourtneyLove, the former junkie andwidow of theNirvana singer Kurt Cobain.

None has kissed and told, so the private Balazs is an enigma. Four years ago a public shouting-match with a tearful Love was reported, but she later insisted: “He can be a bad boy but he loves me. His manners are impeccable ... He has properties everywhere and has given me the key to his apartment. But what is better than living in his hotel?”

What indeed? When he’s in London, Balazs does just that at his fantastically successful Chiltern Firehouse establishment. Balazs reportedly gave Pippa Middleton, who was said to be “all giggles and hair-flicks” in his company, a double-cheeked kiss in the venue’s restaurant. Middleton also once accepted a flight to Balazs’s Hamptons estate aboard Willa, his lip-red, eight-seat, Bond villain-style seaplane.

He lives on a vast estate in upstate New York called the Locusts-on-Hudson, once owned by a porn baron; a former stripper is buried there. Balazs and the Pulp Fiction star Uma Thurman, who he dated after his divorce from Ford, shared the property with a chihuahua named Gilles. They built on it an organic farm that supplies eggs, meat and vegetables to his East Coast restaurants. At one of these an attractive woman in a yellow dress is employed to sell eggs by the half-dozen; her official job title is “egg girl”.

Almost everyone who meets Balazs likes him. He was born in Budapest, where his father, Endre, was a talented ophthalmologist. The family moved first to Sweden, where the teenage Balazs developed a continuing appreciation for public bathing and spas, and later to Cambridge, Massachusetts, when his father took a job at Harvard medical school.

Balazs joined the Bullingdonesque Quill and Dagger society at Cornell, which ranks congressmen, bankers and industrialists among its alumni. His first job was to co-found a biotechnology company with his parents in the early 1980s. This later went public and was sold in 2000 for a reported $738m (about £460m today). His passion, however, was for creating spaces where people could enjoy themselves.

“There was a big dichotomy between the life I was leading,” he later said, “and everything I was interested in. I had a desire to merge work and private life.” In his late twenties he made his first investment in a New York nightclub, MK. With its “parlour bedroom”, stuffed dobermans and wall-mounted 19th-century pornographic photos, it became one of the most influential and successful clubs of its day.

He married Ford in 1985: her mother, Eileen, had foundedtheFordModelsagencyinthe1940s,launching the age of the supermodel. The couple have two daughters, Alessandra, 23, and Isabel, 19.

While they were married he turned his attentions to Chateau Marmont, an absurd and very Californian hotel in the style of a turreted Loire Valley chateau. Greta Garbo lived there for a time, Led Zeppelin rode their motorcycles through the lobby and John Belushi overdosed in one of its bungalows after snorting cocaine with Robin Williams. When Balazs bought it in 1990, it was shabby and unfashionable. He rebuilt it from scratch, keeping vintage elements and adding new fea-

At the bitter end our pets get a better deal than us

I’VE BEEN TO PLACES WHERE I CRY IF IT’S PHYSICALLY UGLY. I’D GET OUT AT THE AIRPORT IN LOS ANGELES AND IT WAS SO LONELY. I WOULD LITERALLY CRY

tures that looked winningly old. “A lot of it is creating a fantasy,” he said, “that everything feels authentic.”

The experience coloured his later work. “I often compare putting a hotel together to old-time movie production,” he has said. “You come up with a storyline; you hire the writer, the director, the stars, the set designer.”

He now owns nine hotels in and around New York, Los Angeles, Miami and London, as well as four swish “residences” with apartments costing tens of millions of dollars. Rupert Murdoch and his then wife, Wendi Deng, lived at Balazs’s Mercer hotel in New York for several months before buying their Manhattan apartment.

“We want something like that style,” said Deng later.

The Chiltern Firehouse conquered Britain overnight.

Repurposing one of the capital’s first dedicated fire stations in the sedate and not especially fashion-led district of Marylebone, he created London’s most popular venue even before it opened. More or less any celebrity you could name visited in the first few weeks, including David and Victoria Beckham, Kate Moss, Orlando Bloom, Nigella Lawson, Ellie Goulding, Lindsay Lohan, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and David and Samantha Cameron. Its backers include Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, and Renzo Rosso, founder of the Diesel fashion label.

Balazs is occasionally spotted jogging around nearby Regent’s Park in a velour tracksuit. But the Firehouse has had its problems. It appears just as popular with fluorescent reality-TV nobodies as with superstars. Over the summer it received just two out of five stars after a hygiene inspection. Disgruntled chefs told the press the place was “inefficient and badly run”. Westminster council has received dozens of complaints from neighbours about the noise. “Sometimes it’s like lightning with the flashes from the paparazzi,” said one resident.

Another claimed the previously quiet street resembled “a scene from Men in Black” when John Kerry, the US secretary of state, visited the restaurant along with Princess Eugenie and their respective security teams.

Balazs himself, with characteristic empathy and tact, has admitted things are not entirely right at the venue.

“ItlooksliketheFourthofJulyouttheresometimes,”he said. “I understand why it’s irritating as hell.”

None of this appears to be slowing the venue down.

This weekend the photographer Mario Testino is believed to have booked out all its 26 bedrooms to celebrate his 60th birthday. But if the brightest flame burns for the briefest moment, how much longer will the Chiltern keep pulling in the moths?

A long time. Balazs inspires fevered adulation, thanks to his gimlet eye, the genial heat of his personality and his willingness to lavish sex appeal on almost every place he opens. Red is his signature colour: lip-shaped pillows kiss the beds in his Standard chain of hotels.

Rooms within the same “concept” offer guests condoms instead of sewing kits. “We’ll put up with your banging if you put up with ours,” ran one advertisement for the first Standard, inviting guests to stay while the property was being built.

More than sex, his intuitive understanding of design mayalsobeunique.“I’vebeentoplaceswhereIcryifit’s physically ugly,” he has said. “I’d get out at the airport in LA and it was so lonely. Such a place without a soul.

There was no place to go. I would literally cry.”

Few men sob over bad architecture, still fewer who are as swarthily, smoothly masculine as Balazs. His attention to detail would be comical if it were not so deep-rooted and effective. It has included precisely controlling the scent that lingers in his hotel lobbies — black moss, leather and tea — and choosing the towel rails for the bathrooms. “He is so fabulously detail-oriented that it could drive some people crazy,” one leading stylist has said.

Today Balazs inhabits a barely credible universe where power and celebrity mingle, back-scratch and fuse. He is a social arachnid, spinning connections and snaring royalty, politicians, actors, pop stars, the pulchritudinous and new and old money, while building a delicate edifice of well-designed, beautiful places where these people can eat, sleep and make love.

“What we try to create are experiences,” Balazs has said. “It’s the experience, ultimately, that is the product.” Something, perhaps, for Kylie to think about.

n some ways I envy the dogs with which I was brought up in my grandparents’ house. Almost everything they wanted was taken care of — and when they became seriously ill, too ill to recover and lead enjoyable lives, the vet came along and, without pain or fear, they were quickly “put to sleep”.

It was sad but satisfactory. My grandfather’s death, on the other hand, was slow, painful, agonising to watch and shockingly awful for him. I remember it as being deeply unsatisfactory. Today I look back and envy those dogs their easy passage and wish for something equivalent for myself.

The arguments against human beings having something equivalent to these animal rights are sometimes bewildering. Some say there is a god who would not permit assisted suicide and would send anyone who indulged in such practices to hell.

Apparently, though they have the mysterious gift of consciousness, animals are without souls. In my view they are fortunate. When I was a child among the dogs, I thought we were divinely separated because dog spelt god backwards.

Another argument, wholly secular, is the claim that people are after my money (such as it is) and would like an opportunity to kill me in order to benefit financially from my death.

A money-saturated culture tends to favour such extreme opinions. To those who have such a low and pessimistic view of human nature as to believe that murder would prevail in the country if assisted suicide was made legal, I reply that, by all means, bring anyone who shortens the life of a friend or relative for money to court accused of murder.

Prison, we are often told, is a great preventative of crime — so let it prevent the wrongful use of such a change in the law. I have a sense, however, that some of those who oppose genuine assisted suicide would also champion bringing back the death penalty. Such are the paradoxes of human beings.

I urge those who support voluntary euthanasia and wish the law to be changed to contact anyone they may know in the House of Lords, asking her or him to support the Assisted Dying Bill for the terminally ill at the forthcoming committee stage. The safeguards and amendments of the bill, which passed its second reading in July, will be scrutinised and debated in detail, clause by clause, by a committee of the whole Lords on Friday.

This process is essential as it meets the challenge of the Supreme Court by allowing parliament to reach a consensus on how the law should be changed for those who are terminally ill and wish to die.

Individuals, of course, may make living wills in a lawyer’s office and also obtain advice from Dignity in Dying. As for myself I would not want the machine that was keeping me artificially alive simply switched off so that I die of gradual suffocation: I want the quick injection, please.

I remember how my mother died on the bars the hospital nurse had erected round her bed. She died in desperation as she lay, in agony over these bars, trying to escape dying in this way.

I will never forget it, nor will I forget the kindly remarks made by the matron to my mother’s friends who rang up to ask how she was. She had died peacefully, the matron told them, with her son beside her.

Such things are said out of kindness but they often mislead us as to facts. We all understand that some doctors will not wish to assist their patients in dying — and this would be perfectly within their code of conduct. But not every doctor has this opinion. And it is useful to tell your GP privately what your wish is so he may register it in your file.

Idonotseek, of course, to makevoluntaryeuthanasia in any sense compulsory and certainly no one should be bullied into it. That is a criminal offence. But I do not believe that our bishops in the House of Lords should go to the opposite extreme by collectively voting against what is by law voluntary.

After all there are many interpretations of all religions (what Christ called “many mansions”) and they should allow the individual conscience to make a judgment. Years ago I wrote to a previous Archbishop of Canterbury, putting forward this line of argument. I never received an answer. So I can claim to have silenced him. But that is no use to anyone.

At Westminster there is talk and more talk about having a referendum on Europe, the ins and outs of which few of us understand. Voluntary euthanasia we can all understand whether we are for it or against it. So let us have a referendum, free from party politics, about that. And let’s have it soon — I can’t wait for ever.

Sir Michael Holroyd is a patron of Dignity in Dying

The yoghurt pot conundrum consigns common sense to landfill

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CHARLES CLOVER

hat you do with a yoghurt pot when its job is done has become a talking point across Britain. In one area it may be that you have no option but to sling the pot, unwashed, into the black refuse bag, because the council recycles plastic bottles but not pots and trays. In another you are meant to lovingly wash out the pot and stick it in a clear bag for segregated plastics or maybe put it in a bin for a mix of dry “recyclables” with paper and cans.

The point here is that in 400 areas in England alone what you are meant to do is different, which means that each time an individual goes to work or school, or takes a holiday, or visits a relative in another part of the country, they have to learn another system. If in doubt you have to go for the black refuse bag.

I seem to have spent the summer extracting mountains of plastic bottles that the carers of an elderly relative think go in with the refuse and extracting

drinks cans that visiting teenagers seem to think go in our plastic recycling bins.

In doing this I have come to the realisation that if I have to waste this much time sorting out the muddle, then monumental amounts of time are being wasted in every household and workplace across the country.

Recycling used to be the principled individual’s response to the thoughtless waste of a consumer society. And so it was when recycling schemes were voluntary; then people campaigned to have statutory ones. That was 25 years ago. Now recycling has grown into a publicly funded ball of confusion that mystifies everyone, precisely because it is organised locally.

As a select committee of MPs has pointed out, confusion is the main reason that recycling rates, once growing steeply, are now flattening out at 43.2% and are in danger of dropping.

Three issues unite householders. The first is confusion about what can and cannot be recycled. Nobody understands,

for instance, which types of plastic are recyclable. The reality is that most are.

But the landfill tax is levied by weight and plastics are light, so some councils shortsightedly collect very little of them.

In fact a ton of plastic is more valuable than a ton of steel .

A second issue is cynicism about whether recyclables are actually recycled.

Most people are unaware of the amazing success stories that deserve replication — for example, the London company that recycles waste food containers into foodgrade packaging for Marks & Spencer. In isolated cases cynicism is justified. Too much computer waste ends up scrapped without valuable metals being extracted.

An estimated ton of gold goes to landfill every year.

The result of confusion, cynicism and inadequate public information is that a proportion of all recyclables ends up contaminated. MPs say only 24% of householders are recycling “correctly.”

The immediate result is that we all pay too much council tax. Landfill tax ensures

that. In the longer term, we miss out on the benefits that recycling could bring to our economy.

Countries that are better at recycling have found ways of making people “pay per throw” or give local tax rebates to the virtuous, but we haven’t. The prize is a circular, or “closed loop”, economy, where all waste is a raw material that home-grown industries can process back into goods. It has been estimated that a circular economy could generate 50,000 jobs in Britain and bring in £10bn in investment, boosting GDP by £3bn.

What has gone wrong? In England the government’s priority is to “move towards” a circular economy rather than actually to achieve one. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has “stepped back” from directing waste policy where it considers businesses are better placed to act. It has no targets for recycling, whereas Scotland and Wales are surging towards 70% recycling of domestic waste by 2025.

Wales is already on 54%. The reason:

clear direction and standardised best practice for recycling schemes.

The lack of that kind of leadership isn’t just Defra’s fault, however. There is an even more substantial obstacle to progress over the road in the shape of Eric Pickles, the communities secretary.

Statistics show the best local authorities for recycling have certain things in common — one of them being fortnightly refuse collections. Despite all the evidence, Pickles gives grants to councils that keep weekly collections.

It is increasingly clear that we need to straighten out all this confusion, not just because the cost of doing so is far less than the fines we will face if we don’t.

European targets say we must recycle 50% of our domestic waste by 2020.

It also happens to be the right thing to do. Twenty-five years ago we were the dirty man of Europe, running out of holes into which to tip all our rubbish. We have seen great progress since. It would be a tragedy to give up now. charles.clover@sunday-times.co.uk

NEWS

22 / LETTERS on the world stage, but we are still part of the G7 and Nato.

It saddens me that this European experiment has not been a success, as I have been a defender of it for 40 years.

Mike Hunter Bosham, West Sussex

The Sunday Times 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF Email letters@sunday-times.co.uk

LETTERS

CALLED TO ACCOUNT

Would it not be prudent for the prime minister to request a copy of the latest audited accounts before contributing £1.7bn to the EU budget? This should buy him some time.

John Farrow Newport, Gwent

AND EMAIL

WAR FOOTING

Europeans must join forces to stop flow of illegal migrants IT MAY seem heartless, but letting in illegal immigrants is unacceptable and is causing grave concern in every host nation (“The promised land”, Magazine, and “Merkel: I will block PM on immigrants”, News, last week).

The vast amount of aid the UK distributes must be used to contain the population growth and religious outrages that are prevalent in the countries from where many of these individuals have come.

As the people traffickers become more sophisticated, what is now a trickle will soon become uncontrollable. Sadly Europe must unite to deport illegals to their home countries in order to break this culture of, and belief in, easy access.

Bill Westsmith Cobham, Surrey

CARD SHARP

Identity cards go a long way towards resolving this problem.

Most Europeans are astonished the British do not have them.

Sue Cormack Edinburgh

CRITICAL MASS

If the eurozone economies continue to stagnate, and if the UK’s finances receive a shot in the arm from the exploitation of shale gas and oil, along with increased export revenues and even greater development of industrial investment, how would opponents of a measured system of controlling migration propose to deal with millions of potential immigrants from the rest of the EU? The only country in a similar position is Norway, and there is no prospect of it surrendering

PASCAL ROSSIGNOL

its border controls in the foreseeable future.

Richard Elsy Carlisle

SAFETY CATCH

It should be clarified that asylum seekers cannot claim jobseeker’s allowance until the claim for asylum is determined, though they may get some support from the government.

An asylum seeker also needs permission to work, which is often refused.

Sally Goldman London NW6

NO FAVOURS

Why should Europe’s leaders be expected to help David Cameron (“Back off, Europe, and cut Cameron some slack”, Editorial, last week)? If they want Britain to stay in an

French riot police remove stowaways bound for Britain from a lorry at the Calais ferry terminal

unreformed EU, then making life tough for Cameron and encouraging votes for Ukip is likely to lead to a Labour or a Labour-Liberal Democrat government that would be committed to staying in the EU. David Lancaster Guernsey

OUTSIDE CHANCE

The billions we contribute to the EU budget would be better spent on reducing our debt and expanding into emerging markets. There is no reason we cannot negotiate trade deals with our European neighbours from outside the EU, as others do.

We can maintain military alliances and co-operate on terrorism and criminal issues, as America does. We are being warned we will lose influence

Your correspondent Mark Kozlowski says of the Poles that “we fight in your wars” (“European migrants are part of the fabric of British society”, Letters, last week). While the contributions the Poles made in wartime are appreciated, it should not be forgotten that the reason we entered into “our war” was that Adolf Hitler invaded Poland.

Derrick Salmon London NW8

HOME AND AWAY

Kozlowski writes that the presence of European migrants upsets many British nationals, but plenty of us can see the advantages of eastern European workers settling here.

Large numbers of them are talented and contribute to the UK’s financial growth, but I wonder why they don’t use their skills to help improve the economies of their homelands.

What will happen to these nations if the majority of their talented young people make it an ambition to settle here?

R Roberts Chester

Not so fast on green belt, HS2 THE chairman of the HS2 project, Sir David Higgins, would have us believe that because of the railway’s high speed it will enable people to commute to London from Birmingham quicker, which apparently means that we can build lots of houses in the Midlands and save the green belt around the capital.

Is destroying the Chilterns and other beautiful parts of Britain a sensible way to save the green belt? Is the green belt round Birmingham any less valuable than the one round London? Does he really expect rail users to make the journey into central Birmingham before a second commute to London?

Higgins should say that the sole aim of HS2 is to enable businesspeople to get to the capital city more quickly and in more comfort at everyone else’s expense. And there are not

enough of them to fill 18 trains an hour in each direction, hence the need for commuters.

The £50bn budget should be used to fix the existing problems of commuter overcrowding and to make better connections between Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Hull.

Peter Edwards Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire

REGENERATION GAME

I do so agree with Higgins. Our borough council in Guildford, Surrey, is proposing to build large numbers of houses on green-belt land and to lay waste the villages on the edge of the Surrey Hills.

Rather than constructing yet more homes in the overpopulated south of England, we need to regenerate parts of the country that desperately need new jobs.

Christopher Tailby By email

CLASS PUNISHMENT FOR TERM-TIME ABSENCE

I was never quite sure what the former education secretary Michael Gove was trying to solve with his near-complete ban on term-time absence (“Victory for parents over holiday ban”, News, last week). It was an overreaction to a minor problem involving a few parents that punished the majority.

Ted Coffin, Salisbury

SCHOOL’S OUT

In the frenzy over parents taking children out of school before the holidays, it is astonishing nothing was said when pupils were sent back to their families’ countries of origin for months in term time.

Rita Bobbin, Hitchin, Hertfordshire

HOLIDAY MOOD

There are many good reasons to take pupils out of class during term, but some parents do not want their lives messed up by their children, so they take holidays regardless of a child’s wellbeing.

Graham Ward, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire

Putting Russell Brand in his place WELL done for the brilliant critiques by Christopher Hart and Camilla Long of the attention-seeking conspiracy theorist Russell Brand (“How Russell wants to change the world”, Books, and “Hush, Russell. I won’t be told what to think by a prancing perm on a stick”, Comment, last week). Long asks, “Is there any escape from Russell Brand?” Yes — deny him the oxygen of publicity he so obviously craves. Who would

read his rantings other than those entering their teens?

Keith Giles Middlesbrough

Points

expedition to Borneo. He got a job offer, only for it to be withdrawn when they discovered his age. Under-16s can work for up to eight hours on a Saturday but for only two hours on Sundays.

Lisa Jenner Gloucester

NOT ISLAMIC, NOT A STATE

We should avoid giving legitimacy to the self-styled Islamic State. It is not true to Islam and it is not a state but an insurgency. Islam’s leaders worldwide have condemned its teachings. The name Islamic State carries with it the implied threat of waging war against non-Muslims.

John Morrell Farnham Common Buckinghamshire

ESTABLISHED CREDENTIALS

The fuss about whether Fiona Woolf is part of the Establishment is ludicrous (“The lord mayor’s street is paved with problems”, Profile, last week). Anybody who has the knowledge, skill, experience and character to lead an inquiry of this sort will be part of the Establishment.

Colin Angwin London W14

COUNTING THE HOURS

I couldn’t agree more with Karren Brady that weekend jobs are an important way to develop skills not available in the classroom (“You’re hired — as long as you’ve had a Saturday job, says Brady”, News, and “The world of work starts with a Saturday job”, Editorial, last week).

However, there is another obstacle in their way in addition to those mentioned.

My 15-year-old son has been trying to find a Sunday job to fund a World Challenge

WORD GAMES

I wonder if Long saw the irony in complaining about Brand’s use of words such as “autodidact” and “hegemony” while herself writing about his “mincing tintinnabulations”.

Peter Saunders Salisbury

UNEQUAL RIGHTS

Eleanor Mills (“Saying ‘I do’ matters for Brad and me”, News Review, last week) is correct to emphasise that marriage is a formal commitment, and to express concern about the suggestion that the same principles of property redistribution should be applicable to married and unmarried couples. She ignores, however, research suggesting that a majority of cohabiting couples believe that the law will treat them as though they are married after a certain period of time. This belief may cause them to attach no legal significance to the marriage ceremony. In 2007 the Law Commission proposed a nuanced property redistribution scheme that sought to address the problem while taking account of the

LEARNING THE SCRIPT

I saw Brand’s Newsnight interview with Jeremy Paxman and it seemed to me he had learnt a few words and phrases and proceeded to trot them out. It was like watching someone make a Lego construction. He clicked the words and phrases together as though he was determined to get them in at all costs, regardless of their aptness.

Walter Houser London SW14

fact a cohabiting couple had not gone through a marriage ceremony. The proposal fell on deaf ears, even though the Labour government of the time was much less marriage-obsessed than the coalition Tories are today.

Dr Brian Sloan Lecturer and Fellow in Law, Robinson College, Cambridge

BAD YEAR FOR POTWALLOPERS

Courting the vote of “potwallopers” — men with a hearth large enough to boil a pan of water over a fire — as advocated by Roland White (Atticus, October 19), would be a doomed strategy for the Liberal Democrats, something that in their current plight they might wish to avoid.

Atticus is wrong that the liberal Whigs extended the vote to potwallopers in 1832. It was abolished under the Reform Act of that year, so any former potwallopers are unlikely to feel gratitude to the Whigs and their Lib Dem descendants.

Harry Webster, Katie Clarke, Natasha Lewis, Chad Wrenn and Chris Delaney (aged 16) Waseley Hills High School Birmingham

GIN TRAP Letters should arrive by midday on Thursday and include the full address and a daytime and an evening telephone number. Please quote date, section and page number. We may edit letters, which must be exclusive to The Sunday Times

Gadzooks! Fifty quid for a bottle of gin (“Make mine a London gin with a dash of conservation, by juniper”, Charles Clover, October 19)?

In its heyday it was: “Drunk for a penny, dead drunk for twopence, clean straw for nothing.”

Dr William Larkworthy Malaucène, France

Corrections and clarifications In “Starbucks hit by probe into sweetheart tax deal with Dutch” (Business, last week) we said the American company reduced its taxable profits in overseas markets by legally funnelling royalty payments through its Dutch division. It has stopped doing this as of September, having moved its European headquarters to Britain. We apologise for the error.

Complaints about inaccuracies in all sections of The Sunday Times, should be addressed to complaints@sunday-times.co.uk or Complaints, The Sunday Times, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF. In addition, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) will examine formal complaints about the editorial content of UK newspapers and magazines. Please go to our website for full details of how to lodge a complaint.

Birthdays

Anniversaries

Danny Cipriani, rugby player, 27; Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man, 87; Keith Emerson, keyboard player, 70; Shere Hite, feminist, 72; Alan Jones, racing driver, 68; KD Lang, singer, 53; Nelly, rapper, 40; Stefanie Powers, actress, 72; Ken Rosewall, tennis player, 80; David Schwimmer, actor, 48; Bruce Welch, guitarist, 73

1755 birth of Marie-Antoinette; 1917 Balfour Declaration, stating British support for “the establishment in Palestine of a homeland for the Jewish people”; 1950 playwright George Bernard Shaw dies; 1959 M1 opens; 1960 Penguin Books cleared of obscenity for publishing Lady Chatterley’s Lover; 1982 launch of Channel 4

WORLD NEWS

02.11.14 / 23 SIPA/REX

West Berliners tear down the wall on November 11, 1989 as East German police look on

Going, going ... communism gone Twenty-five years ago this month, Peter Millar was there when the Berlin Wall fell and there too when freedom swept on to Prague and the Baltic. He relives those astonishing days IT WAS the birthday party from hell. For hours 77-year-old Erich Honecker, the hardline dictator of the Kremlin’s most faithful fiefdom, stood to attention, his hand raised in a stiff salute, as the East German army strutted past.

The German Democratic Republic was celebrating its 40th anniversary. Reporting the parade for The Sunday Times, I watched as Honecker was fraternally embraced cheek-to-cheek by Mikhail Gorbachev.

He had no idea it was a Judas kiss. Nor did anyone on that chill Saturday evening in October 1989 realise that within days Honecker would be ousted, within weeks the Berlin Wall would come tumbling down (the 25th anniversary is next Sunday) and in two years the Soviet Union itself would cease to exist.

As the East German and Soviet leaders headed to an anniversary dinner after the parade, crowds of East Berliners converged on the city centre, waving banners and shouting “Gorby, Gorby”.

They saw in Gorbachev the herald of a long overdue loosening of the socialist straitjacket. For weeks unrest had been growing in East German cities.

Honecker was not listening, however. From the Alexanderplatz headquarters of the police, serried ranks of men in full riot gear charged out to enforce order.

So many developments in the 1980s had led inexorably to thismoment:Poland’sSolidarity free trade union, Hungary’s “goulash communism” with its blind eye to private enterprise and porous borders and, most crucially, Gorbachev’s retreat from empire.

Within minutes the East Berliners shouting his name were running scared as the police laid in to them. I ran, too, every bit as scared.

The police pursued us, batons flailing, into the run-

Peter Millar surveys the remnants of the border fence in 1990 down streets of inner-city Prenzlauer Berg. Lights came on in the upper windows of the six-storey tenement blocks as the inhabitants leant out to shout abuse. Grannies dropped precious eggs on policemen’s heads.

I knew the back streets well, having lived in Prenzlauer Berg in my mid-twenties as a foreign correspondent, but I was trapped with several hundred others near Schönhauser Allee station. The police backed up two armoured prison vans with their doors opened like iron jaws and used truncheons to force us inside.

In a floodlit police yard in the distant suburbs we were hurled against tiled walls, legs apart, truncheons run roughly up the inside leg. It was time to produce my passport. I was taken away to an upstairs office and interrogated overnight by two“plainclothespolice”,then driven to the frontier and expelled.

Two days later 70,000 peaceful demonstrators challenged the regime again in Leipzig, marching past the opera house and the city’s Stasi headquarters. Gorbachev, back in Moscow, crucially refused Honecker’s request to send Soviet troops who were garrisoned nearby.

Within little more than a week, courtesy of dual nationality, I was back in East Berlin.

The border guards I had known for years let me through the

Wall with no more than a quizzical glance. Neither they nor I was aware that earlier that evening in a palace putsch, Honecker had been forced out of office.

His successor, Egon Krenz, a party hack dubbed “Horseface”, was an inept crisis manager. After three weeks of indecision his reformed politburo agreed to allow East Germans to apply “freely” for visas to visit the West.

At a press conference on the evening of November 9, the politburo member making the announcement, Günter Schabowski, messed it up. He said that East Germans would be allowed to cross the border.

Asked when, he shrugged: “Immediately.”

This was misinterpreted as the unconditional opening of the frontier. East Berliners disbelieved it but flocked to the wall to see for themselves.

The Bornholmer Strasse checkpoint in Prenzlauer Berg wasoverwhelmedbyhundreds of citizens demanding passage to the West. With barely a half dozen border guards and no other orders, the local commander let out a few at a time.

East Berliners, watching West Berlin television as usual, saw live scenes of their fellow citizens crossing the Wall. The hundreds became thousands.

The guards had only two choices: a Tiananmen-style massacre or opening the gates.

They took the line of least

resistance. Bureaucratic even in extremis, the border guards at Bornholmer Strasse would not let me join the flood to the West. As a foreigner I could only use Checkpoint Charlie.

The situation there was just as chaotic. East Berliners were massed on one side, West Berliners on the other.

I pushed my way through, past the hapless armed guards, into the West. My hair was tousled by cheering crowds who thrust a beer can into my hand and said: “Welcome to freedom.”

I joined the biggest party in the world. On the Kurfürstendamm, West Berlin’s glitziest boulevard, I met East Berlin friends.

They broke open bottles of sparkling wine they had brought with them, unable to afford prices in the West. But on that night, in every bar, East Berliners drank free.

We partied until dawn, then staggered home across the Wall, none of us truly believing that by dusk the barriers would not be closed again. But already the Trabant cars were flowing across no man’s land the length of the inner-German border.

The Wall stayed open.

Other communist dominos began to fall with astonishing rapidity. Within two weeks the Wall was being dismantled.

With no clear idea what the future would bring, I was in Prague.TheCzechoslovakshad long since taken to the streets, backed by leading dissidents from the arts, against a diehard communist regime.

The Magic Lantern theatre in the city centre became an unofficial forum for debate for the intellectual leaders of the growing revolution. On the evening of November 24, when a “human chain” protest on the streets was planned, the slight figure of Vaclav Havel, the playwright, sat on the stage musing over the events in Berlin.

All of a sudden I saw a student dash up and whisper in his ear. Havel looked stunned, disbelieving, then smiled. “I have to tell you that the leadership of the Communist party have resigned,” he announced.

The news sparked spontaneous celebrations that I still recall as one of the most magical nights of my life. In an attempt to put it into words, I

The good old dictatorship days Christopher Goodwin BERLIN

AS THE anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall approaches, Germans and foreign visitors to the city are queuing up to experience a nostalgic view of the former East Germany.

Listening to a tape of an interrogation by the Stasi or driving a Trabant simulator through a workers’ model housing estate can bring back warm and fuzzy feelings even for former citizens.

The DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) Museum in Berlin, which shows everyday life as well as state repression and

surveillance, is one of the most popularr tourist attractions with more than 500,000 visitors a year. ey In a recent survey 59% of the citizens of the any, former East Germany, especially people over 60, oud of the said they were proud eir reviled achievements of their former country and its communist way of life.

Visitors to the museum can see how East German ated and children were educated indoctrinated, how much workers earned and could ple did on buy and what people holiday — nudism was e films popular and there are

of comrades frolicking naked on beaches.

“Show “Showing everyday life is important to explain ho the how DDR was able to survive for 40 Ro years,” said Robert mu Rückel, the museum project manager. “Yes, the DDR was a dictatorship, but you can’t explain sh everything just by showing the Stasi and the Berlin Wall.”

In the years after the wall

Witt: favoured by Stasi

fell, the East’s socialist values and its often inferior products, such as the smoke-belching, plastic Trabant, were denounced and thrown on the scrap heap. Even people’s heroes had their haloes smashed, such as Katarina Witt, the Olympic ice skater, when files were released showing that the feared Stasi had treated her favourably.

Yet now, in a supermarket close to Alexanderplatz, you can once again buy Vita Cola, the anti-capitalist soft drink, and at an online store you can even order Held der Arbeit Duschbad — Hero of Labour shower gel. @stforeign

framed a sentence of almost Proustian length that tried to mimic the joyful momentum of that evening.

“A hands-across-Prague protest designed as a human chain became instead a merry dance, a living tableau from a Bruegel painting, as laughing, skipping people in warm mufflers and long scarves formed an endless twisting snake around the trees, through the snowy park, up to the floodlit spires, the castle itself and the archbishop’s palace, then helter-skelter, slithered giggling down steep, slippery, narrow cobbled streets and, holding hands with exaggerated formality in a pastiche mazurka,

passed across the 15th-century Charles Bridge, watched by stern statues of all the saints, and on to Wenceslas Square.”

The story was not yet wholly over. On Christmas Day the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife were shot by firing squad after fleeing a violent revolt in Bucharest.

By March 1990 I was in Lithuania watching the barricades go up in the centre of the capital, Vilnius, as it became the first of the Soviet Baltic republics to declare independence from Moscow. Latvia and Estonia soon followed suit. The Russians sent in tanks, but again Gorbachev declined to unleash a massacre.

By August the following year I was sitting on barricades in Moscow itself, after the rest of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)had begun to fall apart and a group of hardline communists staged a coup against Gorbachev.

It lasted barely three days, stalled by his old rival, Boris Yeltsin.

I have vivid memories of young Russians in torn jeans and stolen police caps playing guitars and singing protest songs in anticipation of a brave new world.

Unfortunately, a quarter of a century on, it has not all turned out like that. The old Soviet satellitesintheeasternblocand

the three Baltic republics have embraced democracy and the West. Russia and Belarus have not. Ukraine’s fate is still unresolved.

The events of 1989 seemed, to a large extent, the end of a European civil war that had begun with the old pre-1914 empires tearing at each other a century ago. But we are still living with the aftershocks.

Extracted from 1989 The Berlin Wall: My Part in its Downfall

by Peter Millar, published in a new updated 25th anniversary edition by Arcadia Books at £9.99. Copies can be ordered for £9.49, including postage, from The Sunday Times bookshop on 0845 271 2135

NEWS

Britain ‘must step up fight’ against Isis

24 / WORLD NEWS

As 50 men and women die in another massacre, a key US official is urging allies to do more to stop the jihadists, write Nicola Smith and Tim Ripley ONE of America’s top intelligence officials has called on Britain to offer more in the fight against Isis, as reports yesterday said the terrorist group had murdered at least 50 men and women belonging to a tribe that had resisted its advance on Baghdad.

The latest massacre brings to at least 300 the number of Albu Nimr tribespeople killed last week in Anbar, Iraq’s largest province, where Isis, also known as Islamic State, now controls 80% of the territory.

A tribal leader said the killings took place near the village of Ras al-Maa north of the provincial capital Ramadi. The toll was confirmed by the Anbar governor’s office. A security official said a mass grave containing 35 bodies had been discovered.

Members of the Albu Nimr tribe had held out for weeks against besieging Isis forces but ran out of fuel, food and ammunition, with no sign that Iraqi forces were able to rescue them.

Mike Rogers, a Republican congressman who chairs a committee overseeing 17 US intelligence agencies, made his plea for more British help as he warned about the formidable firepower Isis has built up.

The US believes the group’s arsenal now includes armoured vehicles, tanks, surfaceto-air missiles and possibly even helicopters.

“This is a terrorist organisation that nowhasan army.That makes them incredibly dangerous. They want more territory. So this romantic notion that we can just contain them to what they have is a bit Pollyanna-ish,” Rogers said.

Much of the jihadist group’s equipment, some of it American-made, was captured from local military forces as Isis

US put on notice as China flaunts its nuclear subs Michael Sheridan FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT

Congressman Mike Rogers, below right, says Isis fighters have seized a large amount of equipment in Iraq and Syria and are now in control of formidable firepower AP

occupied vast swathes of territory in eastern Syria and western Iraq, he said.

“What we know is that the areas which they have raided and taken control of have a host of weapons which are deadly on a field of combat,” Rogers said in an interview with The Sunday Times.

Analysts were shocked by the speed at which Isis took much of northern Iraq, including the country’s second largest city, Mosul, after the Iraqi army fled this summer.

“We would estimate that anywhere between a third to a half of the Iraqi army is in good fighting condition,” Rogers added. But Isis could still be pushed back with limited support from western forces. “We are going to have to leverage up the capabilities of the Peshmerga [Kurdish militia], of Iraqi forces, of rebel groups in Syria, and one of the best immediate ways is to have our special capability soldiers and intelligence officials down range with them,” he said.

“This whole debate about whether that is a boot on the ground or not is a complete

waste of time. We’re not talking about brigades and divisions and battalions.

Nobody’s called for that, and if we do this right, up front, we won’t need those.”

Britain needed to step up its involvement, Rogers said.

“We’ve all decided that this is a national security threat for our home countries. Now let’s try to find a way to strategically defeat it. We need Britain participating in the Syrian piece of this, this is where the nest of Daesh [Arabic for Isis] is.

“Can you imagine Winston Churchill going to the House of Commons and saying, ‘Here’s the five things I won’t do to beat Nazi Germany in their rage across western Europe?’”

Rogers’s comments come at a time when a frightening picture

is emerging of the scale of Isis’s advanced weaponry. Last week theGermanintelligenceagency, the BND, warned the Berlin —parliament’s intelligence committee that Isis possessed surface-to-air missiles, known as man-portable air defence systems, or Manpads.

The weapons are powerful enough to shoot down the US-led coalition’s jet fighters mounting airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. The safety of commercial planes landing and taking off at Baghdad international airport could also be compromised.

In an ominous sign of Isis’s growing ability to counter air operations, the militant group used shoulder-fired missiles to down two Iraqi military attack helicopters near the refinery town of Baiji last month.

Isis propaganda videos and local news reports have also shown weapons including T-55 and T-72 battle tanks, 122mm self-propelled guns and BM-21 multiple rocket launchers with a range of up to 19 miles.

As well as sophisticated artillery and small arms, Isis revealed last week in a video of the captured British journalist John Cantlie, taken in the besieged northern Syrian town of Kobane, that it now possesses surveillance drones.

Aerial footage of the town, which has been under siege since mid-September, was shown to claim that Isis is winning the battle against local Kurdish defence forces and reinforcements sent by the Iraqi Peshmerga and the Free Syrian Army.

Peshmerga reinforcements who had travelled via Turkey were arriving in Kobane yesterday to bolster the fight against Isis. They brought badly needed heavy weapons including artillery, machine guns and anti-tank missiles.

But as they prepared to take on the extremists, there was news of a heavy blow to the moderate Syrian rebels who the US regards as a key ally in the battle against Isis. Reports

said Jabhat al-Nusra, an extremist group linked to al-Qaeda, had ousted a more moderate faction from the front line in Idlib province, northwestern Syria.

A recent report obtained by The Sunday Times reveals that the Ministry of Defence is also concerned that Isis may be capable of deploying chemical weapons.

As Royal Marines prepared for a possible mission to rescue thousands of minority Yazidis from Isis in northern Iraq in August, the MoD ordered them to be supplied with chemical warfare protection suits.There have been reports that chlorine gas was used in attacks on the Iraqi police last month and of a mysterious chemical deployed against civilians in Kobane.

David Kay, a former UN weapons inspector, recently expressed concern that Isis could get its hands on stocks of sarin and mustard gas.

Isis’s mastery of traditional battlefield tactics also makes it difficult to defeat, said Michael Stephens, of the Royal United Services Institute. “They are the most advanced militant group apart from Hezbollah [of Lebanon]. They are stronger thananyarmythey’vecomeup against. They’ve been a traditional army for a while.”

Isis operated as a “light mechanised force, where they rely on speed and agility”, he said. “I think that their structure and their order of battle and their tactics make it extremely difficult.” @niccijsmith

CHINA has sent one of its nuclear-powered submarines on a pioneering voyage across the Indian Ocean and will soon join an elite club by staging its first mission by a submarine loaded with nuclear missiles.

The expansion of China’s naval capability is a signal of its role as a rising power, putting America on notice just as President Barack Obama heads to Beijing to attend a regional summit with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping.

In striking contrast, America will not have a single aircraft carrier on station in east Asia for up to four months next year because of budget restrictions and navy commitments in the Middle East, according to reports in the Japanese press.

Security policymakers in Japan and the US are privately voicing their concern that China or North Korea could seize the opportunity to stage military action, the Nikkei news service reported.

It quoted Japanese and US officials as saying the USS George Washington, based in the port of Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, will leave for extensive maintenance and will not be replaced until the USS Ronald Reagan takes up duty next year.

Now the Chinese submarine fleet, long cloaked in secrecy, has adopted a conspicuous profile. “China is revealing its nuclear submarine force for domestic audiences and the international community to gain a better knowledge of this force,” said a Chinese defence ministry spokesman, Yang Yujun.

China has five nuclearpowered submarines, three of which will be armed later this year with JL-2 nuclear

ballistic missiles with a range of 4,600 miles, according to the Pentagon.

The Indian Ocean voyage by one of the submarines, which has not been publicly identified, took it to the shores of the Middle East, demonstrating the long reach of China’s fleet.

Chinese defence officials disclosed the mission in advance to foreign military attachés, apparently seeking to send a message about their capabilities, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Once the missiles are installed, China will have a credible, sea-based nuclear deterrent, joining the US, Russia, Britain and France. It also has a fleet of 51 conventional diesel-electric submarines.

The naval buildup is a prime concern for the conservative Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who will join Obama and other leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-Operation meeting. Months of diplomacy have not yet yielded an agreement for Abe to meet Xi privately, such is the hostility and distrust between Japan and China.

Obama will meet Xi alone during the summit for several rounds of talks on security issues, ranging from North Korea’s nuclear weapons to the Iranian atomic programme and the turmoil in the Middle East.

Seeking insurance, other Asian nations have reacted to the rise of Chinese seapower by spending more on weapons and trying to keep the Americans close.

For its part, the US says China is behaving aggressively in the region and raising the risk of a clash.

“The effect of what they are doing is to destabilise the situation,” said Daniel Russel, a senior US official. @stforeign YIN HAIYANG

Soldiers guard a nuclear submarine in Qingdao, northern China

WORLD NEWS

02.11.14 / 25

Apple boss leads American business out of closet Iain Dey NEW YORK

Cook: ‘Being gay is among the greatest gifts God has given me’

SHORTLY after 10am last Thursday, Jonathan Lovitz’s website crashed after being bombarded with traffic. The decision by Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, to declare publicly that he was gay prompted a flood of inquiries to StartOut, Lovitz’s network for openly gay entrepreneurs.

“Tim Cook is a gamechanger,” said Lovitz, whose group has 12,000 members,

mostly in New York and San Francisco. “A role model now exists for every gay entrepreneur in America to aspire to.”

Although prominent gay figureheads have emerged from the realms of entertainment, politics and even sport, Cook, 54, is the first big star of the macho American business world to reveal that he is gay.

“This is not the boss of just any big company who has come out, this is the boss of Apple,” said Todd Sears, the head of Out Leadership, a pres-

sure group for gay executives.

“Not only is Apple the biggest company in the world by market value, but its technology is in people’s hands all over the world.”

Cook has always guarded his privacy. When he was promoted to the top job at Apple three years ago, just before the death of its founder, Steve Jobs, insiders questioned whether he could cope with the exposure that went with the job.

He was accidentally outed on live television in June by a

panellist on the American business channel CNBC. As the video clip spread on the internet, Cook remained silent — but made a point of being photographed at the San Francisco Pride march a few days later.

“While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now,” Cook wrote in Bloomberg Businessweek magazine.

“Soletmebeclear:I’mproudto be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.”

Praise for Cook’s decision came within minutes of the news. Lloyd Blankfein, head of Goldman Sachs, was among the first to congratulate him, declaring that his news would “resonate powerfully”. Former president Bill Clinton said simply: “My hat’s off to you.”

Even Ted Cruz, the Republican senator who has led opposition to gay marriage, grudgingly acknowledged that Cook was entitled to live his life as he pleased, before adding that he loved his iPhone.

The only negative remarks came from the Russian politician Vitaly Milonov, who called for Cook to be “banned for life” from visiting the country.

American attitudes to sexuality are changing fast. Nonetheless, 53% of gay Americans remain in the closet at work, according to a survey by the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group. Chad Griffin, its president, said Cook’s decision “will save countless lives”.

In 29 American states there is no explicit ban on discrimi-

nation against gay people at work. “Tim Cook’s generous move will help change these laws,” said Trevor Burgess, chief executive of C1 Bank, the first openly gay boss of a US bank.

In the technology industry, there are a few prominent gay figures such as Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal. Yet of the 15,000 US publicly traded companies, only three have openly gay chief executives.

Rod Liddle , page 17 @iaindey JUSTIN JIN

Putin annexes oligarchs’ wealth Mark Franchetti MOSCOW

THE Kremlin has launched a campaign to rein in Russia’s wealthy elite in a move that is creating a backlash of discontent against Vladimir Putin.

The government has proposed new tax laws that will seriously limit the ability of the country’s moneyed classes to hide their wealth abroad.

The legislation will seek to clamp down on companies and individuals using offshore tax havens and make Russian citizens liable for tax at home regardless of which country they earn their income in.

The measures are aimed at the wealthiest Russians, who systematically seek to move their assets and often their families abroad because they lack confidence in a system that can trample over private property rights when individuals fall out of favour with the authorities.

Putin is attempting to stem the country’s disastrous capital flight as the Russian economy slides into recession for the first time since he became president 14 years ago.

Aggravated by punitive western sanctions imposed on Russia because of the crisis in Ukraine, the economic downturn has led to capital flight rocketing this year to an estimated £60bn — double last year’s figure.

Aside from an attempt to increase revenue, the crackdown is also the latest Kremlin move to whip up patriotic fer-

vour by putting pressure on the rich to invest at home. The populist move, which will play well with ordinary Russians deeply resentful of the corruption and fabulous fortunes of the elite, is creating mounting alarm among the rich.

They are already worried about a new law passed last month that requires Russians to declare to the authorities whether they possess a foreign passport. Once people come forward the law is widely expected to be used to impose restrictions on citizens with dual nationality.

The wealthy are likely to be most affected, having gone to great lengths to secure foreign passports as a gateway to the West as a safety precaution in case they fall foul of the authorities.

“As Russia closes in on itself, there’s a very clear feeling that things are going to get tougher for the elite, that there will be far less room for manoeuvre,”

said a top Moscow banker with a second home in Belgravia.

“And if there’s one thing the rich don’t like it’s when you try to box them in and take away the freedom their money buys.”

Putin,whoisrumouredtobe fantastically rich and under whose watch a small group of close associates have become multibillionaires, is angered by the eagerness with which many Russian entrepreneurs create complex offshore corporate ownership structures, especially in Cyprus.

The Kremlin leader is concerned by the loss of tax revenue and regards the movement of assets abroad as “unpatriotic”. The new tax law proposals follow sharp falls in the price of oil, Russia’s main source of revenue.

Pressure on Russians to move assets and corporate structures back from abroad has intensified in the wake of the Ukraine crisis, which

exposed the vulnerability of Russian-owned overseas assets to western sanctions.

In September Arkady Rotenberg, a close associate of Putin’s since the days when the two were young men and judo sparring partners, had assets worth £30m seized in Italy after his name was added to a US and European Union travel ban. The assets included a luxury hotel in the centre of Rome, bank accounts, company shares and property in Sardinia.

Members of the country’s wealthy elite are also growing concerned by restrictions that are gradually being imposed on Russians travelling abroad. Law enforcement and intelligence officers, defence ministry staff and even prison warders are among 4m state officials who are now in effect banned from travelling abroad.

Officially the restriction, which is strongly reminiscent of Soviet-era travel bans, was introduced to prevent state secrets from being divulged.

But critics warn that it is part of a wider trend to control citizens and prevent them from becoming “corrupted” by being exposed to the West.

Even students at the interior ministry’s academy are now forced to hand in their passports, and lawmakers are discussing bringing in a travel ban on anyone who has unpaid traffic fines.

“It is far easier to cultivate the image of the country as a besieged fortress when military personnel, the police and

Russians rich enough to afford luxuries such as furs are angry about the clampdown by Vladimir Putin, far left, on wealth being sent abroad intelligence agencies are unable to see the outside world with their own eyes,” wrote Vladimir Ryzhkov, a former opposition MP. Since Russia’s controversial seizure of Crimea and the crisis in Ukraine, Putin’s approval rating among ordinary Rus-

sians has shot to more than 80%. But among the elite, instead of euphoria there is mounting discontent and apprehension over the virulently anti-western course Putin has set the country on.

“Nationalism, self-isolation, anti-Americanism, sanc-

tions, foreign investment plummeting and Russia as a pariah state, things like this are a disaster for a wealthy businessman who has property in America and Britain and whose children go to a British private school,” said a Russian tycoon worth hundreds of millions of

pounds, who recently moved to London.

“Most wealthy Russians are horrified by what’s happening under Putin. They don’t dare speak out for fear of losing everything. But nothing lasts for ever — not even fear.” @stforeign

NEWS

26 / WORLD NEWS

Survivors back from brink to lead ebola fight Tommy Trenchard FREETOWN

Amadu Dalton Kabia, a former laboratory technician, is among hundreds of people who have recovered from ebola in Sierra Leone

TOMMY TRENCHARD

FOR many days Amadu Dalton Kabia was sure he would die. As the ambulance carrying him to the ebola treatment centre in Kenema, Sierra Leone, set off in September, his mother collapsed while his brothers sobbed with grief. The family knew that few make it back from such journeys.

But two months later Kabia, 24, is very much alive, and thanks to the, at least shortterm, immunity that survivors

gain, he is helping the fight against the disease that nearly killed him.

Increasing numbers of ebola survivors, many of them with medical training, are joining the struggle to control the outbreak that has killed 1,500 people in the small west African country and infected thousands more. Almost 800 people have now recovered, and they are bringing experience and credibility to an overstretched ebola response.

For Kabia, a former laboratory technician at a hospital in the town of Waterloo, it is personal. Two colleagues who contracted the disease, including a close friend, Millicent, diedintheirfirstfewdaysatthe Kenema government hospital.

Passing Millicent’s bed on the way to the bathroom, Kabia had tried to encourage her. “I told her she had to buck up . . . and to have faith in God,” he said. But when he passed on his way back, she was dead.

“God gave me courage,” he told me, sitting on the porch of his small concrete house in the village of Kissi Town while his mother fussed around him. For two weeks Kabia had fought for his life. Often he recited a prayer he had made up: “Dear God, let this ebola not be the end of my life. Let it become my testimony to tell others.”

That is exactly what he has been doing. Eventually discharged on September 17, Kabia spent his time informing people about ebola even before it became his job. He would intervene when he saw overcrowded taxis, or people being too tactile. “Sometimes they are annoyed with me, but some people correct their behaviour,” he said.

At the hospital in Kenema, walls are plastered with messages of condolence. Throughout July and August it became a hotbed of ebola transmission and health staff bore the brunt.

Dozenswereinfectedandmany died, including the country’s leading virologist, Dr Sheik Umar Khan.

Two months on, with a semblance of normal life returning, Kenema finds itself with a pool of medical survivor-volunteers who are perfectly suited to fighting the disease. Not only do they have the knowledge and the experience of having been ebola patients themselves, but the mere fact they lived sends a powerful message to those undergoing treatment.

Most importantly, the antibodies that developed as they overcame the virus have left them with immunity to this strain of the disease, according to the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières .

Kabia was subsequently taken on by the Red Cross, which is struggling to convince suspicious people in western Sierra Leone of the dangers of the disease and how to avoid it.

“Survivors are just more credible than us,” said Yvette Mve of the Red Cross. “They lead by example and they give

Coup has new chief A second military chief has taken power in Burkina Faso, making him the African country’s third leader since Friday, writes Loksan Harley in Ouagadougou.

Colonel Isaac Zida yesterday appeared to have secured the backing of rival officers after a power struggle following President Blaise Compaoré’s resignation last week.

The army took power on Thursday after a violent coup saw the president, who had ruled for 27 years, forced to flee to the Ivory Coast. He quit the next day. At least three people were killed as demonstrators ransacked the national assembly and other government buildings.

The military chief of staff, General Honoré Traoré, who had previously declared himself interim president, yesterday appeared to recognise Zida’s authority.

The coup left parts of the capital in flames

ebola more clarity.” Fear of hospitals, often seen as places of no return, is still pervasive.

But the volunteers’ enthusiasm to join the fight may not be enough. Analysis by the Africa Governance Initiative (AGI) shows that ebola is spreading up to nine times faster in parts of Sierra Leone than it was two months ago.

In early September in the rural areas around the capital, Freetown, an average of 1.3 cases a day were being reported. There are now an average of 12 new cases. In Freetown itself there are 14 cases being reported each day, six times the September rate.

By contrast, the pace of new cases appears to have slowed in neighbouring Liberia. “The pace of the spread in rural Sierra Leone shows we still have no time to lose if we’re going to get on top of this,” said Nick Thompson, AGI’s chief executive. @tommytrenchard

WORLD NEWS INBRIEF Football funeral Huge crowds of colourfully dressed mourners turned out for the funeral in Durban of South Africa’s football captain, Senzo Meyiwa, who was murdered last Sunday when burglars broke into his girlfriend’s home near Johannesburg. The 27-yearold goalkeeper was seen as an inspiring figure and many of the mourners wore T-shirts bearing his picture.

Egypt jails men over gay wedding Eight Egyptian men, convicted of “inciting debauchery” after they were seen in an internet video apparently celebrating a same-sex wedding on a Nile river boat, were sentenced to three years in jail each by a court in Cairo.

Dhaka blackout hits millions Millions of homes, factories and hospitals and even the prime minister’s residence in Dhaka were plunged into darkness for several hours yesterday when a power line carrying electricity from India into Bangladesh failed.

W E AT H E R

02.11.14 / 27

Mother sees PM knifed by Hollande

Children wave the flag of the Donetsk People’s Republic, of which Aleksandr Zakharchenko, below left, with singing Russian MP Iosif Kobzon, is set to be elected president

Matthew Campbell PARIS

Poll charade to seal Ukraine split MIKHAIL POCHUYEV/MAXIM ZMEYEV

Bojan Pancevski IT IS a one-horse race organised by armed thugs, but the election taking place today in Ukrainian territories controlled by Russian-backed militias will formalise the country’s partition.

Pro-Russian militants are organising elections in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions that will lead to the establishment of a new statelet — Novorossiya, or New Russia — which will be recognised only by Moscow.

The development means that the war between Ukrainian forces and separatist militias backed by Russian troops, which has killed more than 4,000 since April, will end without a formal peace treaty.

The new entity, Novorossiya — a reference to the territory’s name during tsarist times, which was first mentioned by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in April — will

resemble Transnistria in Moldova or Abkhazia in Georgia, both Russian satellites unrecognised by the rest of the world. Kiev and western capitals have denounced the elections as illegal, but the Kremlin has said it will accept the outcome. Politicians from both camps are secretly negotiating a demarcation line.

Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, is negotiating with Putin, as well as with the Russian leader’s confidant, Vladislav Surkov, according to Ukraine government sources.

Simultaneous talks are talking place between Sergei Ivanov, Putin’s chief of staff, and Boris Lozhkin, his Ukrainian counterpart. The Russian military is also taking part in negotiations, even though Moscow denies any involvement in Ukraine.

The talks aim to establish a new border between the separatist-held territories and those under Kiev’s control,

along with a 10-mile buffer zone free from artillery bombardment.

In Donetsk, the regional capital that had more than 1m inhabitants before the war, the only candidate actively seeking the post of president is Aleksandr Zakharchenko, a local electrician turned warlord. Zakharchenko, 38, leads the paramilitary separatist group Oplot and is the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.

He took over in August from Alexandr Borodai, a Russian, in order to give the separatist authority a veneer of local involvement.

“These are historic times — we are creating a new country!

It’s an insane goal,” Zakharchenko told a rally recently.

At another rally he said that under his government elderly voters would be able to “travel to Australia at least once a year to shoot a dozen kangaroos on safari”. Zakharchenko’s two

token rivals, Yury Sivokonenko, a martial arts instructor, and a businessman, Alexander Kofman, are virtually unknown to voters and have not campaigned.

A hastily assembled elect-

RUSSIA

UKRAINE

Novorossiya

Selydove Donetsk Karlivka 50 miles

oral commission has been struggling to maintain a semblance of legality in an attempt to avoid the international derision that followed a chaotic referendum in May, which involved armed mili-

tants stuffing cardboard boxes with ballot papers.

“Our job is to legitimise the Donetsk People’s Republic,” said Roman Lyagin — the Donetsk election commissioner, who is accompanied by an armed escort at all times.

In the neighbouring Luhansk People’s Republic, candidates did not appear to be campaigning. The streets were filled with billboards showing paramilitary fighters and civilians with the motto “All friends will be there”.

Larissa Airapetian, one of the candidates, told the Russian press agency Tass that she was not campaigning.

“There are so many problems in healthcare and in our country in general, that indulging in self-promotion would be totally unscrupulous because there’s so much work to be done,” she said.

The two “republics” will eventually be merged into a single entity, separatist leaders

say. Some hint that they want to join up with Russia, while others claim they want an independent state.

“It’s new Russia. Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Odessa were not part of Ukraine in tsarist times, they were transferred in 1920,” Putin said in a televised address in April.

“Why? God knows. Then for various reasons these areas were gone, and the people stayed there — we need to encourage them to find a solution.”

Russian celebrities have travelled to Donetsk to show support for the separatists.

Iosif Kobzon, a 77-year-old Russian MP and singer lauded as “Russia’s Frank Sinatra”, was joined on stage by Zakharchenkolastweekataconcertin Donetsk. As the uniformed militant struggled to stay in tune. Kobzon said: “It’s fine — I’m an even worse soldier than you are a singer.” @bopanc

ALREADY France’s most unpopular president on record, François Hollande has now been accused of displaying a sadistic streak for publicly humiliating Manuel Valls, his reformist prime minister, in front of Valls’s mother.

Behind Hollande’s affable, cheerful exterior there lurks a cruel and ruthless politician, according to journalists who have followed him.

That dark side was on display last month when he invited Valls, a popular and ambitious figure, to the Elysée Palace to bestow the Légion d’Honneur upon him.

Far from signalling the esteem in which Hollande holds the Spanish-born Valls, it is common practice for presidents to decorate their prime ministers. Valls, 52, knowing that Luisangela Galfetti, his Swiss-Italian mother, would be proud, invited her to the ceremony.

She watched from the front row with Valls’s wife, Anne Gravoin, a concert violinist, as Hollande delivered a speech laden with double meaning and a coded warning that the president was the boss and would not tolerate any challenge.

In what Le Figaro described as the “coup de grâce”, Hollande evoked Valls’s admiration of Georges Clémenceau, France’s First World War leader. “He did not become president of the republic,” Hollande said.

“But you can succeed without being president of the republic.”

Valls has infuriated Socialists by teaming up with a former investment banker, Emmanuel Macron, the economy minister, to tilt the government to the right and shrink the country’s generous welfare state.

Valls prompted outrage from the hard left recently by predicting the death of the Socialists unless they abandoned their leftist dogma. In an added insult,

he suggested that the party rebranded, just as Labour did under Tony Blair.

A government minister told Le Figaro newspaper that Hollande had enjoyed cutting Valls down to size — particularly in front of his mother.

“She never goes out,” the minister was quoted as saying. “Her son made her come to the Elysée because of that decoration. In spite of everything, it counts for him. And there, in front of his mother, Hollande cut his hamstrings. And he did it while laughing.”

Valls is not expected to forget such a slight. He seems to believe Hollande should follow Gerhard Schröder, who reformed the German economy as

Hollande and Valls: no love lost chancellor a decade ago, but lacks the courage.

There is speculation that Valls may resign as prime minister, announcing that he has been prevented from making the changes he wanted.

This would set him up as a challenger to Hollande in 2017. He would be better off resigning before regional elections next year when the Socialists are expected to fare badly, a defeat for which Valls risks being blamed.

But according to some commentators, the left is doomed in 2017, whoever the candidate — thanks to Hollande. In which case Valls might have to wait until 2022. His mother, no doubt, will be just as proud. @mcinparis

WEATHER Around the world Amsterdam Athens Auckland Bangkok Barcelona Beijing Belgrade Berlin Bogota Boston Brussels Budapest Buenos Aires Cairo Calgary Cape Town Caracas Casablanca Chicago Dubai Dublin Geneva

16 19 20 33 22 14 11 17 19 9 17 9 18 29 5 28 32 24 11 35 11 14

Gibraltar Guatemala Helsinki Hong Kong Istanbul Jersey Johannesburg La Paz Lagos Lima Lisbon London Los Angeles Madrid Mexico City Miami Moscow Nairobi New Delhi New Orleans New York Oslo

f s c th f s f s dr r f c dr f sn s f f f s f f

21 21 10 30 13 15 25 15 31 22 19 16 19 20 21 21 0 27 30 18 10 12

Panama Paris Prague Rio de Janeiro Rome San Francisco Santiago Seoul Seychelles Singapore Stockholm Sydney Tel Aviv Tenerife Tokyo Toronto Trinidad Tunis Venice Vienna Warsaw Washington DC

s dr r f c sh f sh f c s sh f s f f f f s s f r

30 17 14 31 20 20 20 14 30 32 12 20 28 27 24 7 32 23 17 12 11 12

th sh f f s s s s f f c s f s f s s s s c f s

Key: c=cloud, dr=drizzle, ds=dust storm, f=fair, fg=fog, g=gales, h=hail, m=mist, r=rain, sh=showers, sl=sleet, sn=snow, s=sun, th=thunder, w=windy

The UK last week Warmest by day Gravesend, Kent (Friday) 24C

Coldest by night Eskdalemuir, Dumfries/Galloway (Wednesday) -2C

Wettest Kinlochewe, Wester Ross (Sunday) 108mm

Sun/lights/moon

Sunniest Wattisham, Suffolk (Tuesday) 8.6hrs

The sky at night

Aberdeen

rises sets/on 07:22 16:22

off rises 07:25 14:39

sets 01:06

Belfast

07:27

16:45

07:29 14:52

01:25

Birmingham

07:05

16:36

07:07 14:33

01:11

Bristol

07:05

16:41

07:06 14:36

01:15

Cardiff

07:07

16:44

07:09 14:38

01:17

Cork

07:30

17:04

07:32 15:00

01:40

Dublin

07:24

16:50

07:26 14:52

01:28

Glasgow

07:25

16:35

07:27 14:46

01:16

London

06:55

16:32

06:57 14:26

01:05

Manchester

07:09

16:34

07:11

14:36

01:11

Newcastle

07:11

16:27

07:13

14:34

01:06

Norwich

06:52

16:23

06:54 14:21

00:57

Plymouth

07:08

16:51

07:10

01:23

14:41

Mars, the brightest object low down in the SSW at nightfall, sinks to the SW horizon by 19:15. The Moon stands in the SE at nightfall and slips from Aquarius into Moon Pisces overnight. By midnight tonight, phase Orion the Hunter is unmistakable in the SE below Taurus the Bull and the iconic Pleiades or Seven Sisters star cluster. The bright Moon lies below and right of the Pleiades on Friday evening and close to Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus, on Saturday. A line through Orion’s Belt points down to the brightest star Sirius. Jupiter, brighter still, rises in the ENE before midnight and climbs to stand high in the S, and to the right of the Sickle of Leo, just before dawn. By then, Mercury is the brightest object low in the ESE, 5° above-left of the bright star Spica in Virgo.

Alan Pickup

Today’s weather UK forecast

London, southeast England and East Anglia will be mainly cloudy with outbreaks of rain. Some brightness will break through in places in the afternoon, however. The rest of southern England, along with much of the Midlands and Wales will see overnight rain clearing eastwards to leave sunshine and showers, some heavy. Northern parts of England will have occasional showers. Northern Ireland and Scotland will be windy with sunny intervals and showers, these strongest in the west

17

N Wales, NW England, Isle of Man Some sunshine, but showers will become frequent and strong in places. Brisk southwesterly winds.

Max 11C to 14C. Tonight, wet and windy. Min 5C to 8C

20 9 19

Italy will have a dry and mainly sunny day

21 21 10

20 23

26

The eastern Mediterranean will see sunshine The Low Countries and Germany will have a fine day with variable amounts of cloud and some sun, after a misty start in places.

Scandinavia will see rain and hill snow moving east

12

12

rough

Monday: Breezy, with showers or longer spells of rain across many areas. Max 12C

15

moderate

Tuesday: Some sunshine at times. A risk of scattered heavy showers. Max 12C

12 42

10

15 moderate

rough

moderate

10

9

10

17

12

12

moderate

moderate

Wednesday: Sunny intervals, but with isolated showers near coastal regions. Max 12C

14

8

16

Thursday: Rain spreading gradually eastwards. Becoming quite windy. Max 12C

11

moderate

10

11

11

11

10

20 rough

moderate

10

N Ireland, Republic of Ireland Sun and isolated showers. Rain in many areas by the evening. Strengthening southwesterly winds. Max 9C to 12C. Tonight, wet and windy. Min 3C to 6C

11

10

11

10

11

10

16

Scotland Blue skies and squally showers, some persistent. Fresh southwesterly winds. Max 9C to 12C. Tonight, rain arriving. Min 3C to 6C

France will see bursts of persistent rain moving eastwards across various northern, central and western regions. Largely fine with brighter intervals elsewhere

12

10

24

Channel Is, SW and Cent S England, S Wales Blustery showers. Fresh southwesterly winds.

Max 11C to 14C. Tonight, wet and windy. Min 6C to 9C

Spain will see overnight mist lifting to leave many areas dry with sunny periods. However, thundery rain will move across northern regions through the day

0

moderate 7

Midlands, E Anglia, E England Rain for a time before this clears to showers, some heavy. Brisk southwesterly winds. Mild. Max 12C to 15C. Tonight, rain arriving later. Min 6C to 9C

Cent N and NE England A wet start in places, followed by brighter intervals and showers later. Brisk southwesterly winds. Max 12C to 15C. Tonight, rain arriving later.

Min 5C to 8C

20

7

moderate

London, SE England Mainly overcast with outbreaks of rain. However, it will turn brighter at times during the afternoon. Fresh southwesterly winds. Mild. Max 13C to 16C. Tonight, rain arriving later. Min 9c to 12C

Northern Portugal will cloud over with some showery rain. Southern parts of the country will be generally dry with a few spells of sunshine 17

28 rough

Regional forecasts

Europe 12

The week ahead

11

28

13 Wind speeds in MPH

10

11

11 13

13

rough 26

rough

Friday: Turning drier and brighter towards the east, but still wet for most. Max 13C

8

moderate

Saturday: Fine in places before showers become fairly widespread again. Max 13C

Ghost of summer stalks Hallowe’en WE WILL be lucky to see temperatures reach the dizzy heights of 23C again this year. What a treat it has been for children enjoying a halfterm break from school.

Even without the warm finale, provisional figures issued by the Met Office for October 1-28 show it has been mild. The year as a whole is panning out to be a warm one, as nine out of the ten months have had above-average temperatures, August being the anomaly.

Early last week rain was the big story across the northwest. A “waving front”, which sits in a zone of light winds, had brought heavy rain to the Highlands, and in Achnagart 334mm, well over 13in, fell from October 22-28.

The result was flooding and landslides. In

ISOBEL LANG

contrast, drier, clearer air was drawn up on southerly winds across southeast England and East Anglia, bringing a beautifully sunny start to half-term and temperatures 7C above the seasonal average.

Hallowe’en brought a treat, with summery

warmth and a high of 23.6C at Kew Gardens in west London and Gravesend, Kent. It was the warmest Hallowe’en day on record by 4C. November is bringing Atlantic weather systemsandadip in temperatures.Tomorrowand Tuesday temperatures will continue to fall, with highs of 9-12C. Showers may fall as sleet or snow over northern hills. An area of more prolonged rainfall with gales possible may spill over from France. Nights will turn calmer and clearer, with frost in the north on Tuesday night and more widely on Wednesday night.

Bonfire Night looks chilly and clear for many. Expect a changeable end to the week: blustery winds and less in the way of frost.

Isobel Lang is a Sky News forecaster

28

THE SUNDAY TIMES

thesundaytimes.co.uk

02.11.14

Sport AT YOUR SERVICE

Raonic faces Djokovic in Paris showdown p10

02.11.2014 SECTION 2 BUSINESS PAGES 17-28

GRAEME SOUNESS

Manchester giants crying out for fresh tactics p6 IAN MACNICOL

TUG OF WAR

Man City target Gerrard as Liverpool fight to keep captain Losing his way: Steven Gerrard takes on Mehdi Abeid, who produced an outstanding display in his first Premier League start as Newcastle United defeated Liverpool 1-0. Gerrard has been out of form and there is speculation that he could leave Anfield

Martin Hardy

AT ST JAMES’ PARK

MANUEL PELLEGRINI is ready to spark a fight for the services of Steven Gerrard, the Liverpool captain.

Gerrard, who played poorly in his side’s 1-0 defeat at Newcastle United yesterday, has admitted there is uncertainty regarding his future at Anfield, with his contract set to run out at the end of the season.

Talks have still to start for the 34-

year-old to sign what could be his final contract at Anfield, where he has served his full career. That has opened the door for a rival bid and Pellegrini, the Manchester City manager, has said the player’s age would not deter a possible deal to take Gerrard to the Etihad stadium.

City showed in the summer that they are prepared to shop throughout the transfer market to strengthen their squad, when they landed the former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard on a

loan deal after his move to New York.

Lampard was 36 when he joined City.

He has made sufficient impact for the club to feel comfortable about a move for his former England teammate.

“I don’t ever rate players on their age,” said Pellegrini. “It depends on the money they cost and the number of years they have [on their contract]. But like Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard is a top player and he can continue at a high level for a couple more years.”

Gerrard has never won the Premier

League title and Liverpool’s dismal defeat at St James’ Park, to an Ayoze Perez goal, has left them 12 points behind leaders Chelsea, only 10 games into the season.

Jose Mourinho came close to landing the midfielder for Chelsea in 2005, when Real Madrid also wanted him.

Gerrard admitted before Liverpool’s home Champions League tie with Real Madrid that he could one day regret having turned down the Spanish giants.

Brendan Rodgers’ side have

struggled to adapt after the loss of star striker Luis Suarez to Barcelona in the summer. The Liverpool manager vowed last night to fight to hold on to Gerrard, the former England captain.

“I had a meeting with Steven’s representative explaining the situation,” said Rodgers. “I very much want him to be a part of what we are doing here. He’s been a brilliant captain for me. I relayed that to the ownership.

“I’m sure he will go away with that and hopefully his representative will

organise a deal. Steven is very much part of what I’m doing here. He’s a unique player, a unique talent.”

It remains to be seen if Pellegrini will step up his interest in Gerrard, who could commit to a pre-contract agreement with another club in two months’ time. City were restricted in their spending this summer because of Uefa’s Financial Fair Play rules. >>PREMIER LEAGUE REPORTS | PAGES 2-5

Mourinho berates ‘quiet’ Chelsea fans Hamilton feels the heat in Texas Ian Hawkey AT STAMFORD BRIDGE

JOSE MOURINHO, the Chelsea manager, believes Chelsea are finding it difficult to hit top form at Stamford Bridge because it is “like playing in an empty stadium”.

Despite his side’s 2-1 win against Queens Park Rangers, which kept them four points clear of Southampton at the top of the Premier League, Mourinho confessed to being disappointed with his side, as well as the fans.

“At this moment it’s difficult for us to play at home,” Mourinho said.

“Playing here is like playing

in an empty stadium. The team then starts playing like it’s a quiet, soft game at home. It’s difficult to get that strong start where the players, team and fans at Stamford Bridge [are all together].

“I was looking around and it was empty, but not in terms of people because it was obviously full. That was frustrating.”

Mourinho, who criticised his bit-part players for their performances in the midweek Capital One Cup tie against Shrewsbury, was also unhappy with the intensity shown by his side against struggling Rangers.

Mourinho: expected more from his table-topping side

“My team didn’t play well or well enough or so well as I was expecting,” he said.

Mourinho added: “We had periods of good football, not consistently. I was expecting more. I’m happy with the points. I think we deserved [the points], no doubt. But one thing is deserve and another thing is deserve and play very, very well, which we didn’t. With our quality I would expect us to be stronger and to get a different result.”

Chelsea scored an excellent opening goal through Oscar before Charlie Austin backheeled Rangers’ equaliser.

Eden Hazard hit their 75th-minute winner from the penalty spot. >>HAZARD TOO HOT FOR QPR | PAGE 2

Mark Hughes IN AUSTIN, TEXAS

NICOROSBERG snatched pole position from his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton for this evening’s United States Grand Prix at Austin, Texas.

Hamilton leads the German by 17 points in the Formula One drivers’ championship — but Rosberg’s qualifying lap of 1min 36.067sec was 0.3sec faster than the Englishman, inset. Valtteri Bottas was third in the Williams, with his teammate Felipe Massa in fourth.

Including today’s race, there are three grands prix left — they go to Brazil this week and the season concludes in Abu

Dhabi on November 23. There are 25 points for the winner of the next two races, with double points awarded in Abu Dhabi.

But it is events off the track that are dominating the sport. With more than 100,000 spectators expected at the circuit today, Formula One’s finances came under the microscope as Caterham and Marussia failed to make the grid after going into administration last week.

Lotus, Sauber and Force India threatened to boycott the race in protest at what they claim are huge financial inequalities within F1. They allege that the sport is split, with a small group of elite teams rolling in money, while those at the back of the

grid struggle to survive. If Caterham and Marussia fail to find buyers, 350 staff will lose their jobs.

Last year, Ferrari were the sport’s highest paid team, receiving almost £100m from Bernie Ecclestone and CVC Capital Partners, the controlling shareholder — even though they didn’t win either the drivers’ or constructors’ championships. Between them, Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes receive 60% of the pot. And in 2013, Marussia received “only” £7m. The leading teams pay millions to hire their drivers, but Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado actually pays his team millions of pounds to pilot their car. >>QUALIFYING REPORT | PAGE 11

SPORT

2 / F O OT B A L L / B A R C L AY S P R E M I E R S H I P

Everton fail to seize their chance after Shelvey sees red 0 0 0

CHAMPIONSHIP FOCUS HUDDERSFIELD

3

Tom Bell

NOTTM FOREST

LYNCH PILES ON MISERY FOR FOREST

JOEL LYNCH took just 43 seconds to score against his former club as Nottingham Forest slumped to defeat against Huddersfield at the John Smith’s stadium.

The centre-back, who moved to Huddersfield from the City Ground in 2012, got the ball rolling when, unmarked, he headed Jack Robinson’s long throw into the net for his first goal of the season. A diving header from Nakhi Wells and a 20-yard drive from on-loan Wigan forward Grant Holt, inset, either side of half-time ensured Chris Powell’s side went a seventh match without defeat. The result was a dismal one for Stuart Pearce’s Forest, however. The early pacesetters have now gone nine matches without a win.

WIGAN

3

FULHAM

EVERTON

AT GOODISON PARK

3

TWO SENT OFF AS RUIZ SAVES FULHAM

WIGAN and Fulham shared six goals and two red cards in a thriller at the DW stadium. The home side led through Adam Forshaw’s early penalty but trailed at the break as Lasse Vigen Christensen and then Bryan Ruiz scored inside five minutes for Fulham in Kit Symons’ first game as their permanent manager.

Wigan equalised through Roger Espinoza early in the second half. After Fulham’s Ross McCormack had been sent off for a second bookable offence, Wigan thought they had won it when substitute Shaun Maloney struck with his first touch with eight minutes to go. But former Wigan player Hugo Rodallega was then tripped inside the area by Leon Barnett, who was also shown a red card by referee James Adcock. After a lengthy delay, Ruiz kept his cool to ensure honours ended even. For Wigan it was a fourth successive home draw.

ROMELU LUKAKU hurled himself full length as an open goal gaped but could not connect. It had taken until the game’s final action to confirm what had appeared to be the case all along: Everton were not quite at the races.

Ross Barkley had made it his mission to conjure something in the final moments and his approach work enabled Samuel Eto’o to square for Lukaku. Swansea City, though, had driven Everton to distraction and hung on for a point that Garry Monk, their head coach, felt was especially well earned.

After a week in which he

SWANSEA

had escaped sanction for his “cheating” claim at Stoke City and had Federico Fernandez’s red card in the League Cup at Liverpool rescinded, it was fitting that officialdom gave Monk something to think about. Here, it was an unspotted first-half handball

by Antolin Alcaraz of Everton.

But, after a Jonjo Shelvey sending-off that Monk said

2

CHELSEA Oscar 32 Hazard 75 pen

Austin 62

Cahill

Terry

Hoilett Yun

Oscar

VETOKELE SENDS CHARLTON FANS DELIRIOUS

ROTHERHAM

0

MIDDLESBRO’

3

BORO CRUISE AS BOWERY RED CARD ANGERS EVANS

ROTHERHAM manager Steve Evans described the sending off of Jordan Bowery for kicking out at George Friend just four minutes and 18 seconds after coming on as a substitute as ‘an absolutely shocking, awful, woeful, disgraceful, abject decision’.

Aitor Karanka’s side are third in the table after they dominated the game. Patrick Bamford, inset, on loan from Chelsea, opened the scoring with a precise shot in the eighth minute with Yanick Wildschut doubling the lead 11 minutes later. Lee Tomlin rounded off the scoring three minutes from time, easing into the penalty area before sending a low shot past Adam Collin into the bottom left corner of the net.

BLACKPOOL

0

IPSWICH

2

CLARK STARTS OFF WITH A DEFEAT

LEE CLARK’S reign as Blackpool boss began with a defeat as goals in either half from David McGoldrick and Daryl Murphy handed Ipswich victory at Bloomfield Road. The struggling Seasiders sacked Jose Riga on Monday having won just one out of 15 games in all competitions this season, with 11 defeats coming during that spell. Former Birmingham manager Clark was appointed on Thursday but failed to inspire an immediate upturn in fortunes for the Championship’s bottom side, who fell behind on 26 minutes. McGoldrick opened the scoring with a shot from six yards for his fifth league goal of the season.

Blackpool struggled to make any impression on the Ipswich goal and Murphy added the second after 61 minutes for the visitors, who registered their first win since September 27. It was his eighth goal of the season.

ROUND-UP

RAMPANT BOURNEMOUTH LEAP INTO SECOND PLACE

BOURNEMOUTH climbed to second in the Championship after beating Brighton 3-2 for their fifth straight league win. Ernie Howe’s side went in front after 25 minutes when Gordon Greer headed a Simon Francis cross past his own keeper. Brighton hit back through Adriano Colunga. Marc Pugh restored the home side’s lead before Sam Baldock scored his first goal for Brighton. Lewis Dunk brought down Callum Wilson and substitute Yann Kermorgant scored from the spot. Two goals from Rudy Gestede helped Blackburn defeat Reading to record a third successive league win. Gestede’s 17th-minute header from Ben Marshall’s cross gave Adam Federici no chance in the Reading goal. Jordan Obita’s teasing low cross left Glenn Murray to tap in a deserved equaliser just before the break. A superb Marshall curling free-kick gave Blackburn the lead again in the 55th minute before Gestede powered in a third.

Swansea City: Fabianski 6; Rangel 6, Fernandez 7, Williams 7, Taylor 5; Shelvey 5, Ki 6; Routledge 5, Sigurdsson 6 (Carroll 75min), Montero 5 (Dyer 79min); Bony 7 (Gomis 60min, 6).

STEPHEN POND

Henry

Dunne

Caulker

Vargas Isla

Green

Ian Hawkey

T

Hazard

Fer

Star man: Richard Dunne (QPR) Referee: M Jones

CHARLTON manager Bob Peeters praised the impact of substitute Igor Vetokele after he salvaged his side a point. The Belgian was introduced midway through the second half and he struck the equaliser 20 minutes from time when he turned in Rhoys Wiggins’ driven cross. The hosts were transformed in the second half after Royston Drenthe’s inspired display in the opening period had put Sheffield Wednesday in control at The Valley. But the Dutchman’s 27th-minute strike was cancelled out by Vetokele, who returned from injury to score his seventh goal of the season. Peeters said of his star forward: ‘As soon as I called him to get ready to come on, I think the whole stadium went delirious.’ Wednesday manager Stuart Gray said: ‘I’m just disappointed because I feel that we have thrown two points away.’

Everton: Howard 6; Coleman 6, Alcaraz 6 (Besic 32min, 6), Jagielka 6, Baines 7; McCarthy 8, Barry 6; McGeady 7 (Lukaku 68min, 6), Naismith 5 (Pienaar 68min, 6), Barkley 7; Eto’o 7.

Filipe Luis

Costa

Sandro

4-4-1-1

1

Star man: James McCarthy (Everton) Yellow cards: Everton: Barry, Besic Swansea: Williams, Shelvey, Sigurdsson, Bony Red card: Swansea: Shelvey Referee: K Friend Attendance: 39,149

Fabregas

Austin

1

teams get behind the ball. We had enough attacking players — sometimes you can have too many.”

For Monk, this testified to his team’s commitment. “I said to the boys, ‘You’ll probably never earn a harder point’. I’m very proud,”

Courtois

4-2-3-1

Willian

SHEFF WED

Shelvey: sent off after impeding James McCarthy

minutes gone Everton were galvanised when the energetic James McCarthy took Lukaku’s return pass and was impeded by Shelvey. Kevin Friend, the referee, produced his second yellow card and a red.

There were still chances in stoppage time even before Lukaku’s last slide. One fell to Steven Pienaar near the penalty spot, his shot rebounding too awkwardly for Lukaku. The Belgian was frustrated again by Ashley Williams’ interception.

“It was probably less open than I expected,” Martinez said. “The way we worked the ball wasn’t quick enough, we lacked our normal tempo that we can use to score when

1

QPR

Matic

CHARLTON

Then came Alcaraz’s block.

“I didn’t know you were allowed to play with two goalkeepers,” Monk said. “I thought it was a great save, strong wrist — something I’ll be showing my keepers.”

Alcaraz was later forced off with a shoulder injury.

Roberto Martinez, his manager, expects to lose him “for a long spell”.

With 72

Hazard too hot for QPR Ivanovic

First strike: Royston Drenthe gives Wednesday the lead

was merited, grievance was overruled by pride in only a second clean sheet in 21 away league games.

Stalemate hardly looked on the cards when Ki Sungyueng and Gylfi Sigurdsson set up a chance inside five minutes for Wilfried Bony, which he sent wide. But neither side could seize the moment.

Barkley had a shot deflected, Aiden McGeady made Lukasz Fabianski make a hash of another and Leighton Baines sent a free kick just wide.

AT STAMFORD BRIDGE

he rest of the Premier League sometimes has to search with forensic tools to find a damaging weakness in its leaders, but after an hour yesterday it looked as if one bad Chelsea habit might have turned chronic. As they did against the two Manchester clubs, Chelsea let go of a 1-0 lead, this time at home to the penultimate club in the table.

The difference, against Queens Park Rangers, was that Chelsea had half an hour to restore logic to a contest they had governed. They also felt a powerful sense of outrage, even before Charlie Austin’s equaliser, that they had not already put the outcome beyond argument. The winning goal did come, from a penalty earned and converted by the determined Eden Hazard.

Oscar had given Chelsea a half-time lead with a stylish goal and though there will be those on the Rangers staff tantalised by the period they were drawing 1-1, they should take some encouragement for having limited Chelsea to one goal from open play.

Rangers defended with a mixture of belligerence and calm against a Chelsea side restored to something like full strength. Diego Costa had returned after an absence of four matches and in the course of the first 10 minutes he provided a mini-masterclass of why he is so appreciated by colleagues.

Oscar, the beneficiary of a Costa pass, put an effort wide of

Attendance: 41,486

goal, as did Branislav Ivanovic, meeting a Willian cross. Costa, shielding the ball cleverly, had opened up the space for Willian by drawing markers to him.

Naturally, Cesc Fabregas waspleasedtoseeCostabackas the principal target for his passing. Their symbiosis is as strong a reason as any why Jose Mourinho’s team are top of the league, and they combined neatly to establish Chelsea’s advantage. Costa played a short ball to his fellow Spain international, who saw Oscar making a threatening move into the inside-right channel. The Brazilian opted to strike hard, and first time, from a challenging angle, across Green. He instinctively selected the correct implement, too: the outside of his right boot.

Chelsea had earned their lead, though the goal was worse than QPR’s Richard Dunne, especially, and Steven Caulker deserved.

“Dunne’s been outstanding for us,” said the Rangers manager, Harry Redknapp. Both centre-halves had closed down the difficult Costa impressively for the first half-hour and Hazard, for all his eagerness, hadbeensteeredawayfromthe areas where he might have hurt Rangers more.

As Chelsea were blunted, they showed occasional signs of porousness. Vargas, Rangers’s nimble Chilean, made a couple of eye-catching runs, the first of which eked out a rare first-half chance, Austin heading Junior Hoilett’s centre over the crossbar.

It would be a while before Austin had so much as a scent of another goalscoring opportu-

SEE THE GOALS AND HIGHLIGHTS FROM CHELSEA v QPR

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Pocket rocket: Brazilian midfielder Oscar, right, celebrates with Cesc Fabregas after scoring the opening goal in Chelsea’s 2-1 victory nity. When it did fall to him, he showed remarkable presence of mind. With his back to goal, LeroyFer’srathermiscuedshot flew at him; Austin deflected it off his heel with what appeared clever purposefulness, with Thibaut Courtois unsighted. It was Austin’s third Premier League goal in five days.

How long could Rangers hold their unlikely parity? Not quite 10 minutes. Chelsea’s wastefulness led to a palpable, though controlled, fury about their play.

Hazard evidently felt it and upped still further his endeavours. Darting towards the Rangers penalty area, he was

tripped by Sandro. Green diverted Oscar’s subsequent free-kick wide. Accelerating away from Vargas, Hazard was toppled once again, this time just inside the penalty area. He took the spot-kick himself to restore the lead.

The outcome seemed just about safe when the Belgian

star withdrew, replaced by Ramires, to respectful and relieved applause.

Chelsea: Courtois 8, Ivanovic 8, Cahill 8, Terry 8, Luis 7, Matic 7, Fabregas 8, Willian 7 (Drogba 64min), Oscar 8, Hazard 8 (Ramires 90min), Costa 7 (Schurrle 78min) QPR: Green 8, Isla 6, Dunne 8, Caulker 8, Yun 7, Vargas 7, Henry 7, Sandro 7, Hoilett 6 (Zamora 60min, 6), Fer 7 (Traore 84min), Austin 7

Jones sees off ailing Leeds Watford move ahead of pack Mario Risoli AT CARDIFF CITY STADIUM

ANOTHER change in the dugout, the fourth in the past five months, but the script remained unchanged for Leeds as their winless run extended to six weeks and seven games.

Neil Redfearn, removed as caretaker manager earlier in the season despite collecting 10 points out of 12, has been given a second chance by the club’s controversial owner, Massimo Cellino, who dismissed Darko Milanic the previous weekend after just 32 days in charge. Redfearn, who signed a 12-month contract before the game, was unable to stop the recent decline against a Cardiff side gradually improving under new manager, Russell Slade.

Leeds were organised and industrious in the first half but lost their defensive discipline and allowed Bruno Ecuele Manga to score his first

CARDIFF CITY Ecuele Manga 61, Macheda 67, Jones 83

LEEDS UNITED Mowatt 77

3 1

goal for Cardiff after his £5m arrival from Belgian club Lorient last summer.

Federico Macheda extended the home side’s lead but Alex Mowatt cut the deficit before, seven minutes from time, Leeds conceded a farcical third goal when a mix-up between goalkeeper Marco Silvestri and defender Giuseppe Bellusci ended in a simple finish for Cardiff substitute Kenwyne Jones.

In the first half, Leeds restricted Slade’s side to longrange efforts. The contest turned in the 61st minute when Sean Morrison flicked

Craig Noone’s ball to Manga who then wrong-footed Silvestri with a clever header.

Cardiff’s second, struck by Macheda six minutes later, was tinged with fortune, the striker’s shot beating Silvestri after deflecting off Jason Pearce.

Mowatt revived the contest after 77 minutes with a fine effort after being set up by Souleymane Doukara but Leeds’ hopes of a rousing finale were ended by Jones.

Star man: Bruno Ecuele Manga (Cardiff City) Yellow cards: Cardiff City: Ralls, Jones Leeds United: Pearce, Berardi, Mowatt Referee: A Woolmer Attendance: 24,220 Cardiff City: Marshall 6, Brayford 6, Manga 7, Morrison 7, Fabio 6, Noone 6, Whittingham 6, Gunnarsson 6, Pilkington 5 (Ralls 46min, 6), Macheda 6 (Jones 75min), Le Fondre 6 (Morrison 81min) Leeds United: Silvestri 6, Berardi 6 (Byram 85min), Bellusci 6, Pearce 6, Warnock 6, Doukara 6, Bianchi 6 (Sloth 75min), Cook 6, Mowatt 6, Antenucci 6, Morison 6 (Dawson 69min)

Alec Shilton AT VICARAGE ROAD

WATFORD are unbeaten in nine matches and are top of the Sky Bet Championship after coming back from a goal down to win, further strengthening their promotion credentials But Millwall, despite claiming that no one likes them, might gain a few more admirers on the evidence of their display and should not be dragged into the kind of relegation scrap they had to endure last season.

They took the lead when Scott McDonald slid a pass to Martyn Woolford, whose feint in the box was enough to trick the defender Joel Ekstrand into going to ground before he fired in.

The hosts almost replied within moments when Juan Carlos Paredes hit the outside of the post, but the equaliser came in the 36th minute.

Odion Ighalo forced a fine

WATFORD

Vydra 36, Tozser 45+4, Munari 64

MILLWALL Woolford 12

3 1

save from David Forde that led to a corner, which Watford looked to have wasted, but Keith Andrews’ lofted pass with the outside of his foot found Matej Vydra, who managed to get a touch to beat Forde, despite appearing to have run past the ball.

For the vast majority of matches Ricardo Fuller, the Millwall forward, moves as if he is trying to shake off an injury, but one particular burst of pace caught out Ekstrand, who was fortunate not to concede a penalty when he lunged at the Jamaica international.

The next penalty claim was Watford’s and although it was also rejected, they were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box after Alan Dunne had fouled Troy Deeney. Daniel Tozser opted to smash it at goal and Byron Webster sprinted out of the defensive wall, creating the gap that the ball flew through and into the net.

The Hornets made sure of victory in the 64th minute as Vydra’s cutback was driven into the bottom corner by Gianni Munari.

Star man: Daniel Tozser (Watford) Yellow cards: Millwall: Forde, Dunne, Briggs, Williams, Fuller Watford: Hoban Referee: R Madley Attendance: 17,000 Watford: Gomes 6, Paredes 7, Bassong 5 (Hoban 32min, 6), Ekstrand 4, Pudil 6 (Doyley 79min), Munari 7, Tozser 7, Andrews 7, Ighalo 7, Vydra 7 (Dyer 72min), Deeney 6 Millwall: Forde 7, Wilkinson 6, Webster 6, Dunne 6, Briggs 6 (Malone 60min), Williams 6, Upson 6, Martin 7 (O’Brien 83min), McDonald 6, Woolford 7, Fuller 7 (Gueye 70min)

02.11.14 / 3

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ANDREW YATES

SEE THE GOAL AND HIGHLIGHTS FROM NEWCASTLE v LIVERPOOL

Rowett sees signs of revival WOLVES

BIRMINGHAM

0 0

Nick Townsend AT MOLINEUX

It’s there in black and white: Ayoze Perez punishes a mistake by Alberto Moreno to score for Newcastle, earning them a deserved victory over a lifeless Liverpool team. It was the third win in a week for Alan Pardew’s back-to-form team

Newcastle prove their mettle Martin Hardy AT ST JAMES’ PARK

I

t was a sight that said so much about Newcastle, as a football club, as a team and even, perhaps, as a city: two fans, dressed as the grim reaper, joyfully waving a banner that read: “Pardew, back from the dead.”

The sign bounced with them in their delight, a few feet from the Newcastle dugout after the referee, Andre Marriner, had blown the final whistle to signify the conclusion of another mind-boggling week at St James’ Park.

Pardew was gone by then, having hurried down a tunnel that a few weeks ago offered sanctuary from the baying mob calling for his blood. It has to be remembered how dark the mood then was around the club. A poor start to the season had left Newcastle at the foot of the Premier League table and the grim reaper would have been like an old aunt popping round for a chat for Pardew.

The Newcastle manager looked dead and buried.

What he left behind him when he generously, and wisely — for there is still rehabilitation to follow his near-death experience — exited stage left was a scene of triumph. On the field a group of players were locked in an impromptu huddle. They have

recovered from that desperate start to the season and found, deep in their character, a nerve that few people suspected they held.

Other players raced to join them. Among them was Remy Cabella, the big-money signing from France in the summer whose role yesterday was that of cameo, coming on as a substitute for Sammy Ameobi — gangling brother of the former Newcastle forward Shola — who had run himself to a standstill.

In the stands, as the clock ticked down, Mike Ashley, the club owner, wore a wry smile.

He has inspired much of the head-scratching that has taken place over the past seven years at the club, but even he has had to take a back seat during the past seven days.

Newcastle had won three games in 19 before they arrived at White Hart Lane on Sunday last week. At half-time they looked beaten, but from there has come the most stunning of revivals. They beat Tottenham, won at Manchester City in the Capital One Cup, with a bit to spare as well, and carried that momentum into yesterday’s game. They deservedly saw off a Liverpool side who look a sorry, jaded shadow of the ebullient team who raced into contention for the Premier League title last season.

Liverpool could not cope

NEWCASTLE

Perez 73

1 Krul

4-2-3-1 Taylor

Janmaat

Coloccini

Colback

Balotelli

Moreno

4-2-3-1

Dummett

Abeid Sissoko

Obertan

Henderson

0

LIVERPOOL

Allen Lovren

Coutinho

Mignolet

Star man: Mehdi Abeid (Newcastle) Yellow cards: Newcastle: Janmaat, Taylor, Colback, Sissoko

with Newcastle’s new-found pace, or the aggression they have added to their game.

When a Pardew team — and the fact that phrase is back in anyone’s vocabulary is hugely significant — get in the face of the opposition, they do well.

Liverpool looked like a boxer desperately hunting for a corner to take a breather. There were times when Newcastle smothered them.

Liverpool’s passing game had no oxygen. By half-time their only escape had been a

Ameobi

Cisse

Gerrard Skrtel

Sterling Johnson

Liverpool: Skrtel, Lovren, Henderson Referee: A Marriner Attendance: 52,166

well-struck Steven Gerrard corner that was headed over by Martin Skrtel. A stadium that was so conflicted a month ago, when fans held SackPardew.com banners, roared their team forward.

Gabriel Obertan has epitomised the turnaround, but he was forced off after 27 minutes after damaging his thigh as he charged forward. In place of Obertan, the young winger Rolando Aarons caused problems for the Liverpool defence.

He was used and moved con-

tinually. It contrasted with the isolated Raheem Sterling.

In the 37th minute Glen Johnson headed a Papiss Cisse effort off his own goal-line. At theheartofNewcastle’sdisplay was a midfield duo of Jack Colback and Mehdi Abeid, who cost next to nothing. They ran the game.

Abeid was starting his first Premier League game but it did not show — he was excellent.

Abeid clashed with Mario Balotelli just past the hour. It was the most productive part of Balotelli’s afternoon. There cannot be many opportunities left. When a pass from the leftback, Alberto Moreno, did not fall to his feet, Balotelli began arguing with his teammate. He barely moved. The game went on. Brendan Rodgers’ patience wore thin. “Turn around,” he instructed the forward.

It has been a story of turnarounds for these two clubs.

Liverpool could not get any grip on the game, just as they have not got a grip on their season. Newcastle kicked down the slope towards the Gallowgate end, built steam and found another victory.

Ayoze Perez scored the winner at Tottenham, then picked up two awards at Spain’s Liga de Futbol presentation in midweek. At halftimehecameonforCisseandin the 73rd minute, after a Moussa Sissoko run and an error from

PARDEW EVADES THE GRIM REAPERS

Newcastle United’s form was not a laughing matter a few weeks ago when they were languishing at the bottom of the table and the fans were calling for Alan Pardew to be sacked. But a run of three successive league victories — four in all competitions — means that even the Toon Army have rediscovered their sense of humour, as a couple of Halloween stragglers showed at St James’ Park yesterday.

Liverpool’s fourth defeat is one more than Newcastle have suffered this season.

Moreno, he struck. There was jubilation.

Three minutes later Perez linked with Cabella and only Simon Mignolet’s feet prevented a second. It did not matter. One month shy of the fourth anniversary of his arrival at Newcastle, Alan Pardew had another win over

Liverpool, as he had that day.

Back from the dead indeed.

Newcastle: Krul 7, Janmaat 7, Taylor 7, Coloccini 7, Dummett 8, Abeid 8, Colback 8, Obertan 6 (Aarons 27min, 7), Sissoko 7, Ameobi 8 (Cabella 66min), Cisse 6 (Perez h-t, 7) Liverpool: Mignolet 6, Johnson 6, Skrtel 7, Lovren 6, Moreno 5, Gerrard 5, Allen 6 (Borini 66min), Henderson 6, Sterling 5, Coutinho 5 (Lambert 80min), Balotelli 3 MARTIN RICKETT

Downing seals gutsy fightback by Hammers 2 2 John Aizlewood

AT BRITANNIA STADIUM

NOT one to reach for the clouds when the stars might be available, Sam Allardyce — recent job insecurity forgotten for now — declared that if his West Ham team are to qualify for Europe, they “have to go to Stoke and win”.

In the event and the absence of an actual victory, they scored something of a moral one, clawing back a two-goal deficit against a Stoke City team who seemed unassailable when Mame Biram Diouf added to Victor Moses’s opener.

Outside of a pre-season tour, Europe may be a step too far for West Ham, but there is an iron fist behind their new velvet gloves. “Our quality shone through,” said a relieved Allardyce. “The better teams can take something when they don’t play as they want to and we didn’t play as we wanted to.”

STOKE CITY

Moses 33, Diouf 56

WEST HAM UTD Valencia 60, Downing 73

Allardyce responded to the absence of free-scoring shoulder-injury victim Diafra Sakho by bolstering his midfield with Cheikhou Kouyate, rather than deploying Mauro Zarate or Carlton Cole and sticking with the two-striker approach that had catalysed his team’s revival. When Cole replaced the out-of-sorts Morgan Amalfitano for the second half, West Ham were back to type and the game eventually turned.

Stoke were stymied by their customary suspensions — this week, Phil Bardsley and Peter Crouch — and their inability

to see out a game. “We were excellent throughout, but I’m still scratching my head, wondering why we haven’t got three points,” sighed manager Mark Hughes, who pronounced his 51st birthday “not particularly happy”.

With Victor Moses switching from left to right at will and joining Jonathan Walters and Geoff Cameron in tormenting the hapless Aaron Cresswell, Stoke began well. A sweet Walters dummy let in Cameron who crossed low, only for James Collins to foil Bojan with a crunching tackle. Collins distinguished himself again with a flying block to halt Steven N’Zonzi’s drive. West Ham were further traumatised when Winston Reid hobbled off after tangling with N’Zonzi.

In contrast to Stoke’s effervescence, West Ham were the West Ham of September rather than October. Enner Valencia was a forlorn, disconnected figure without his Senegalese sidekick and when they first conceded, they conceded sloppily.

Cameron’s long throw hardly evoked Rory Delap, but when Stewart Downing’s weak clearing header allowed Cameron a chance to cross, Moses leapt above Carl Jenkinson to head downwards. Diouf laid it into the path of Bojan, whose drive was half-stopped by Collins.

The West Ham defence parted for Moses to bundle the ball onto the post. It hit him on the way out and bobbled home for his first Stoke goal.

It could have been more

FOOTBALL RESULTS | PAGES 14-15

when a delightful piece of skill from Cameron put in Diouf.

Stoke’s own Senegal international twisted around Collins and shot, only for Adrian to stick out a leg and prod it wide. That moment “gave us the opportunity to get something out of the game” said Allardyce.

Immediately after the break, a long ball found Walters, who beat Cresswell twice before crossing for Diouf to outjump Collins and head Stoke’s second goal. Just when all seemed lost, West Ham woke up. Stoke froze when they appealed for a foul after a manly Alex Song tackle on Diouf. “The referee should have stopped the game there and then,” claimed Hughes.

“It was a poor, dangerous, out-of-control challenge.”

Downing hurtled down the right, two Stoke defenders misjudged his cross’s flight and the unmarked Valencia’s diving header flew past Begovic. There were 22

Making a point: Stewart Downing celebrates his equalising goal seconds between Song’s lunge and Valencia’s goal. Stoke’s Diouf and N’Zonzi spurned chances and the home side began to quiver. When West Ham next threatened, Valencia wriggled past more lackadaisical defending and his slightly mis-hit cross was lashed home by Downing.

Begovic and Cole squared up to each other like classroom warriors; Adrian took a terrible clattering from Walters when collecting a high ball. Yet, Stoke were

mostly superior and, as Allardyce coyly admitted: “Maybe our point wasn’t deserved, but it was wellearned.”

Star man: Victor Moses (Stoke) Yellow cards: Stoke:Sidwell West Ham: Collins Referee: C Foy Attendance: 27,174 Stoke City: Begovic 6, Cameron 7, Shawcross 6, Wilson 6, Pieters 6, N’Zonzi 6, Sidwell 6, Walters 7, Bojan 7 (Adams 82min), Moses 7, Diouf 7 West Ham Utd: Adrian 7, Jenkinson 5, Collins 7, Reid 6 (Tomkins 24min 6), Cresswell 4, Noble 5 (Nolan 68min), Song 6, Kouyate 6, Downing 7, Valencia 7, Amalfitano 4 (Cole h-t 6)

A WEEK ago, Birmingham were clueless, defenceless and had been goalless for three games. It has taken Gary Rowett one game to correct two of those deficiencies. And while they rarely looked likely to arrest Wolves’ surge towards the Premier League with an unlikely victory, the foundations for a revival were evident.

Whatever restorative treatment Rowett brought from Burton Albion, where he had been a player, assistant, caretaker and manager since 2009, it had an immediate effect as the former Birmingham player brought stability and credibility to his new team.

After City’s 8-0 home humiliation at the hands of Bournemouth, a fervent home crowd arrived anticipating that Kenny Jackett’s side would fill their boots in similar fashion. But a disciplined, resolute rearguard confounded the hosts’ attacking ambitions and ensured that Jackett’s men were restricted to few opportunities. It was the first goalless draw in this fixture since 1915.

Michael Morrison, on loan from Charlton, was one of four changes made

by Rowett from last week and was a crucial component of Birmingham’s resistance movement. “The centrebacks were brilliant,” said Rowett, who has returned to take charge of the club

Rowett: positive influence for whom he made 106 appearances. He added: “It was a fresh start. We had a solid base and, yes, we will have to show more quality on the ball, but this was a decent day one.”

Jackett said: “We made hard work of breaking Birmingham down. We huffed and puffed, but didn’t do enough going forward.”

A few fans on both sides marred a Remembrance Day minute’s silence before the start. “If we’ve upset or offended anybody, I do apologise,” said the Wolves manager.

Wolves fashioned little when they did break free of the City defensive grip in the first half. A Leon Clarke header and a Michael Jacobs effort were all that troubled Darren Randolph, the Birmingham keeper.

After the break, Wanderers ramped up the pressure but James Henry’s cross forced a save from Randolph, who then plunged at the feet of Clarke to save.

City could have misappropriated three points on the hour when the defender Jonathan Grounds rose to head David Cotterill’s cross, but Carl Ikeme saved to prevent a potential injustice.

Star man: Michael Morrison (Birmingham) Yellow cards: Wolves: Clarke Birmingham: Caddis, Davis, Thomas Referee: A Taylor Attendance: 25,135 Wolverhampton Wanderers: Ikeme 6, Doherty 6, Batth 7, Ebanks-Landell 6, McDonald 6, Evans 6, Henry7, Clarke 6 (Sagbo 79min), Jacobs 6 (Sako 56min, 6), McAlinden 6 (Edwards 56min, 7) Birmingham City: Randolph 7, Grounds 6, Robinson 7, Morrison 8, Caddis 6, Gleeson 7, Arthur 6 (Shea 64min), Shinnie 6 (Reilly 66min), Davis 6, Cotterill 6, Donaldson 7 (Thomas 77min)

SPORT

4 / F O OT B A L L / B A R C L AY S P R E M I E R S H I P

Football Shorts West Brom profit from Cambiasso’s misfortune RODGERS ‘SHOULD HAVE STRENGTHENED BACKROOM STAFF’ RENE MEULENSTEEN, the former Manchester United coach, says Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is paying the price for not strengthening his backroom staff.

Liverpool are 12 points behind leaders Chelsea and have lost their past two Champions League group games. Meulensteen, who was first-team coach at United for five years under Sir Alex Ferguson, said: ‘Brendan Rodgers’ biggest failure is that he’s not invested in his staff.’ The Dutchman, 50, who helped United win three Premier League titles, one Champions League, two League Cups and one Club World Cup, before a two-month spell as manager of Fulham, added that Rodgers, inset, should have appointed someone with Champions League experience before the start of the season. ‘Playing in the Premier League and the Champions League, it’s a different rhythm that requires a different style of training and a different management strategy through the week.’

Paul Rowan AT KING POWER STADIUM

WEST BROMWICH ALBION are the “Pride of the Midlands”, as their ecstatic fans pointed out at the end, and Leicester are a worried lot, surrendering their unbeaten record at the Kingpower and failing to score for the fourth time in five matches since they knocked a handful past Manchester United in September.

They might consider themselves unlucky yesterday as it took a bizarre Esteban Cambiasso own goal to hand all three points to West Brom, but they did look like a struggling outfit for the entire game. Matters could take a further turn for the worse

LEICESTER CITY

WEST BROM Cambiasso og 47

0 1

should the FA take a dim view of a blatant elbow by their centre-half, Marcin Wasilewski, on the England hopeful, Saido Berahino, in the 65th minute as the two men ran for a ball.

Leonardo Ulloa, Leicester’s £8m signing from Brighton who had made a blistering start to the season, paid the price for his and the team’s poor performance of late by

deadball line was intended to link back up with Brunt, but Wes Morgan, the centre-half, intervened with a diving header, only to watch the ball ricochet off the legs of Cambiasso and back past Kasper Schmeichel in the Leicester goal.

The goal injected some life into a game in which both teams seemingly slumbered their way through the opening 45 minutes.

Other than a Brunt effort blasted over the

being left on the bench, but Leicester still appeared clueless when it came to creating chances.

Only Cambiasso looked capable of playing the composed football that might have sapped Albion’s considerable energy, so it was ironic that the Argentinian should be the fall guy.

His own goal came two minutes after the break as the away side produced a rare dangerous move. Chris Brunt ran with purpose at the Leicester defence and played in Berahino. His cutback into the box from the

Cambiasso: Own goal was decisive

bar in the 40th minute after Stephane Sessegnon had burnt off Morgan, neither side registered a proper chance or a piece of quality of any note in the opening period.

Cambiasso’s goal allowed Albion to defend deeply and Leicester went more direct, but could create only one clear opportunity in the 77th minute. Ulloa, on as a substitute for David Nugent, got in a dangerous cross from the right that the Albion midfielder, Craig Gardner, could only help into his own box as he attempted a clearance, and while Andy King was free from about six yards out, he could only head the ball straight at a grateful Ben Foster in the Albion goal.

“I was pleased with the fact

that we were more solid and more disciplined than last week,” the Leicester manager, Nigel Pearson, said.

“The work ethic was there but we didn’t create many opportunities. We have the players to compete at this level and it was a set of unfortunate circumstances that allowed West Brom to win.”

Star man: Joleon Lescott (West Bromwich) Yellow card: West Brom: Gardner Referee: S Attwell Attendance: 31,819 Leicester City: Schmeichel 6, De Laet 5, Wasilewski 5, Morgan 6, Konchesky 6, Drinkwater 5 (Powell, 81min), Cambiasso 7, King 5, Nugent 6 (Ulloa 68min), James 5, Vardy 5 (Wood 81min) West Bromwich Albion: Foster 5, Wisdom 6, Dawson 6, Lescott 7, Pocognoli 6 (Gamboa, 90min), Dorrans 6, Gardner 6, Morrison 6, Brunt 6, Sessegnon 6 (Yacob, 81min), Berahino 6 (Anichebe, 88min) CRAIG BROUGH

ROCHDALE END PRESTON’S WINNING RUN

DEFENCE WITH MEAN STREAK

SEE THE GOAL AND HIGHLIGHTS FROM HULL V SOUTHAMPTON

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0 Southampton’s season gets better. This is their best-ever start to a top-flight campaign with 22 points from their opening 10 matches.

0 The five goals Southampton have conceded are the fewest in the top four divisions and they have kept an unrivalled six Premier League clean sheets.

PRESTON’S eight-game winning run came to an end with a 3-0 defeat at Rochdale in League One. Goals from Jack O’Connell, Ian Henderson, above right, and Matt Done made it three wins in a row for the hosts. Leaders Bristol City moved five points clear of Preston as they maintained their unbeaten start with a 1-0 win against Oldham, thanks to Kieran Agard’s 57th-minute goal.

SHREWSBURY’S LATE, LATE SHOW SHREWSBURY, who lost to a late Chelsea goal in their Capital One Cup tie on Wednesday, turned the tables on Dagenham & Redbridge as Liam Lawrence scored their winner from the penalty spot five minutes into stoppage time for a 2-1 win. Billy Bingham’s early opener for the Essex side was cancelled out by a 70th-minute equaliser from Andy Mangan, inset.

Shrewsbury won despite having Jermaine Grandison dismissed early in the second half. Luton dropped off the top of League Two as their seven-game winning league run was ended by a 1-1 draw at Exeter.

PLAYER GETS 50-YEAR BAN RICARDO FERREIRA, a Switzerland-based amateur footballer, has been handed a 50-year ban after kicking a ball in the referee’s face and spraying him with water.

Portugal Futebol Clube defender Ferreira has already served a 45-game ban for assaulting opposition players. ‘I had expected one or two years maximum. But 50 years? Football’s my life,’ Ferreira, 28, said.

ENGLAND WOMEN OUTSELL MEN AT WEMBLEY ENGLAND WOMEN will play in front of a larger Wembley crowd in their upcoming friendly against Germany than watched Roy Hodgson’s men tackle Norway at the national stadium. About 41,000 have now been sold for the game on November 23. The men’s friendly against Norway on September 3 was watched by 40,181, the smallest Wembley crowd for a senior England game since the stadium was rebuilt. There are expectations that the women’s game will be watched by more than 50,000.

SOUTH AFRICA REMEMBERS SLAIN CAPTAIN A CROWD of 30,000 turned out for the funeral of South African goalkeeper and captain Senzo Meyiwa, inset, who was murdered last weekend.

Meyiwa, 27, was gunned down by an intruder while visiting his girlfriend south-east of Johannesburg. The funeral ceremony at Durban’s Moses Mabhida stadium was broadcast live on television yesterday.

Meyiwa’s coffin, covered in the national flag, was driven into the stadium, followed by his Orlando Pirates teammates and officials.

DRAXLER OUT FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR JULIAN DRAXLER, Schalke’s attacking midfielder, will be out for the rest of the year after sustaining a thigh injury in their 1-0 win over Augsburg on Friday. The 21-yearold Germany World Cup winner lasted only 11 seconds from the start of the Bundesliga game before pulling a thigh muscle,.’ Horst Heldt, Schalke’s sports director, said: ‘It looks like it’s very serious.’

FOOTBALL ON TV THIS WEEK TODAY: Manchester City v Manchester United (Prem) 12.30pm, Sky Sports 1, ko 1.30pm; Aston Villa v Tottenham (Prem) 3.30pm, Sky Sports 1, ko 4pm.

MONDAY: Crystal Palace v Sunderland (Prem) 7pm, Sky Sports 1, ko 8pm; Ross County v Aberdeen (Scots Prem) 7.30pm, BT Sport 1, ko 7.45.

TUESDAY: Arsenal v Anderlecht (Champs League) 7pm, Sky Sports 5, ko 7.45pm; Real Madrid v Liverpool (Champs League) 7.30pm, ITV, ko 7.45pm.

WEDNESDAY: Manchester City v CSKA Moscow (Champs League) 6pm, Sky Sports 1, ko 7.45pm; Maribor v Chelsea (Champs League) 7.30pm, Sky Sports 1, ko 7.45pm.

THURSDAY: Asteras Tripolis v Tottenham (Europa League) 5.30pm, ITV4, ko 6pm; Everton v Lille (Europa League) 8pm, ITV4, ko 8.05pm.

FRIDAY: Warrington v Exeter (FA Cup) 7.30pm, BBC2, ko 7.55pm; Bolton v Wigan (Champ) 7.30pm, Sky Sports 1, 8pm; Motherwell v Dundee Utd (Scots Prem) 7.30pm, BT Sport 1, ko 7.45pm.

SATURDAY: Derby Co v Wolves (Champ) midday, Sky Sports 1, ko 12.15pm; Liverpool v Chelsea (Prem League) midday, BT Sport 1, ko 12.45pm; QPR v Man City (Prem League) 4.45pm, Sky Sports 1, ko 5.30pm.

Tough nut to crack: Morgan Schneiderlin challenges Hull’s Abel Hernandez as Southampton maintain their good start to the season thanks to Victor Wanyama’s third-minute goal and strong defending

Saints go marching on Ron Clarke

T

AT KC STADIUM

he clocks may have gone back but Southampton continue to go forward with precision timing as their blistering and unexpected start to the season continues. This latest victory, their seventh in their past eight games, leaves all those predicting an implosion having to wait just a little longer.

Among the glowing statistics it is probably the case for the defence that is the most impressive. Here we are in November and they have still only conceded five goals. It is the best record in all four divisions and shows a remarkably strong foundation.

Despite some sporadic fluency from a largely hesitant Hull, the visitors never really looked in danger of being breached all afternoon. Once again, Jose Fonte and Toby Alderweireld were simply outstanding at the back.

Of course, it helps when you

get an early cushion courtesy of what turned out to be the winning goal after just two minutes.

Robbie Brady rolled the ball back to his goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic and then watched as he kicked the clearance straight to Victor Wanyama.

Standing about 35 yards out, Wanyama had a lot to do but he showed quick thinking to control the ball in an instant and curl an audacious shot into the left-hand corner of the net.

It was an astonishing start for what is turning out to be an astonishing team but it was unfortunate for Jakupovic, who is third choice but continues to stand in because of injuries.

The England manager Roy Hodgson was one of the spectators who could, and should, have seen more goals from Southampton but there were two incredible missed opportunities late in the game.

First substitute Sadio Mane stabbedtheballintotheground from the edge of the six-yard box and then the normally

0

HULL CITY

SOUTHAMPTON Wanyama 3

Jakupovic

3-5-1-1

McShane

Chester Diame

Livermore Ben Arfa

Elmohamady

Davies

Huddlestone

Brady

Hernandez

Tadic

Long

Pelle

Schneiderlin Bertrand

1

Wanyama

Alderweireld

4-3-3

Davis Fonte

Clyne

Forster

Star man: Jose Fonte (Southampton) Yellow card: Hull City: Diame

prolific Graziano Pelle, again from close range, put his attempt into the side netting when it looked easier to score.

Although it was not entirely comfortable for the visitors, the result never really looked in

Referee: M Atkinson Attendance: 22,828

doubt. Hull huffed and puffed, although not always in the right direction with too many passes going sideways, and rarely threatened.

Abel Hernandez and Mohamed Diame worked well

together to create the odd chance and Hatem Ben Arfa, given his first home start, was full of his usual bustle.

At one stage in the second half, Brady ran with the ball almost in a straight line from one sideof thefieldtotheother, leaving the Hull manager Steve Bruce scratching his head in frustration. It summed up the home side’s afternoon.

The players left the field to chants of “We’re going to win the league” from the travelling supporters.

When asked afterwards if his side were title contenders, the Southampton manager Ronald Koeman had a rueful smile and said: “Maybe, why not?” He added: “We have a good team and showed that again today. The team’s performance was incredible. We have good possibilities to play in Europe. You never know.”

Koeman said Wanyama’s goal was “incredible”. “He played an amazing game today.

The team has incredible spirit and very good ambition. That makes it an easy job,” he said.

“We had a lot of changes [in

the summer] but we brought good players in and they are adapting very fast. I am proud of that because that means a lot for the coach.”

Bruce also praised the visitors. He said: “They are a very good team and it is no fluke they are near the top of the division. It doesn’t help when you concede an early goal but the manager deserves a pat on the back. The longer it went, the worse we became.

We huffed and puffed and nothing came of it. It’s a terrific finish but a horrible mistake by us. To hit it first time was great on their behalf but awful for us.

He had sympathy for Jakupovic: “He has done so well, waited patiently for his chance and after that he pulled off some good saves.”

Hull City: Jakupovic 5, McShane 5 (Aluko 64min), Davies 5, Chester 5, Elmohamady 6, Huddlestone 6, Diame 7, Livermore 6, Brady 6, Ben Arfa 6, Hernandez 6 Southampton: Forster 6, Clyne 7, Alderweireld 7, Fonte 8, Bertrand 7, Davis 7, Schneiderlin 7, Wanyama 7, Long 7 (Maine 61min), Pelle 7, Tadic 7 (Cork 81min)

Dallas produces Hollywood ending to dislodge Derby 2 1 Rob Maul

AT GRIFFIN PARK

UNABLE TO get a ticket to watch QPR at Chelsea yes terday, Joey Barton informed his 2.75m Twitter followers that he would head six miles across west London to visit Griffin Park. What the rumbustious midfielder witnessed was a terrific contest.

This was Championship football at its tremendous best, full of commitment, intensity, endeavour, drama, controversy and, for dispossessed league leaders Derby County, a tough examination of their promotion credentials.

Andre Gray cancelled out Chris Martin’s first-half goal and then, in the fourth minute

BRENTFORD

Gray 49 Dallas 90+4

DERBY COUNTY

Martin 27

of stoppage time, substitute Stuart Dallas struck a sensational winner for a deserving home victory.

“It’s nice to see my players be rewarded for their secondhalf performance,” said Mark Warburton, the Brentford manager. “Not in an arrogant way but we’ve proved that we are a match for anybody.

We’ve showed we can more than handle ourselves.”

In the first league meeting between the two sides for 21 years, it was Derby who struck first.

Brentford made a hash of the clearance, Rams rightback Cyrus Christie won the ball and noticed his fellow full-back Craig Forsyth down the left channel where there was plenty of space to attack.

The cross by Forsyth found its intended target and Scotland forward Martin, as he often does so expertly in these situations, guided the ball past Bees goalkeeper David Button for his 10th league goal of the season.

Four minutes into the second half the narrative of the match changed completely. The Derby defence inexplicably parted when the

outstanding Moses Odubajo ran unopposed and unchallenged with the ball. His late pass was sufficiently weighted for Gray to bend his shot beyond goalkeeper Jack Butland for the equaliser.

Buoyed by that moment of magic, Brentford pressed for the winner. On 67 minutes Gray hit the post before Dallas provided a stunning finale that the Bees’ play warranted.

“Credit to Brentford, they kept working, running and pressing and playing football — it

was one of those games that could have gone either way in the second half,” said Derby manager Steve McClaren. “We have to lick our wounds and I want a reaction on Tuesday [against Huddersfield]. It was an intense game. No excuses from our part. I have no complaints about any decisions.”

There was a contentious flashpoint in the final 10 minutes: Martin and Brentford centre-back Tony Craig clashed, with the latter clutching his

Dallas: scored last-gasp winner

head as he fell to the floor.

While he received medical treatment, the former received obscenities from the home support and was shown a yellow card. Neither manager afterwards said they saw the incident properly.

Star man: Moses Odubajo (Brentford) Yellow cards: Brentford: Proschwitz, Douglas, Judge Derby: Buxton, Dawkins, Martin, Mascarell Referee: C Berry Attendance: 10,608 Brentford Button 7, Odubajo 9, Dean 7, Craig 7, Bidwell 6, Diagouraga 7, Douglas 6, Jota 6 (Pritchard 66min), Toral 6 (Dallas 66), Judge 6, Gray 7 (Proschwitz 75min) Derby County: Butland 6, Christie 6, Keogh 6, Buxton 6, Forsyth 6, Hendrick 6, Mascarell 5, Bryson 5 (Hughes 58min, 6), Russell 5 (Coutts 78min), Martin 6, Dawkins 6 (Ibe 63min)

02.11.14 / 5

Bale will ‘make Madrid better’

STUART MACFARLANE

SEE THE GOALS AND HIGHLIGHTS FROM ARSENAL v BURNLEY

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EUROPEAN ROUND-UP

SCOTTISH ROUND-UP

Peter Wilson CARLO ANCELOTTI, the Real Madrid coach, last night rejected suggestions that Gareth Bale will struggle to get back into his side after they secured an 11th consecutive win in all competitions with a 4-0 success at Granada.

The Welshman has missed the European champions’ past five games because of a muscle injury with Isco and James Rodriguez impressing in his absence.“Everyone thinks that Bale is a problem, but I think he is a player that will help us to be even better,” said Ancelotti.

Rodriguez took his tally for Madrid to six goals in 17 games as he scored twice, including a sensational volley. Cristiano Ronaldo continued his incredible form by scoring in his 12th consecutive match for Madrid to open the scoring and also set up Karim Benzema with a backheel for the visitors’ third goal.

Ancelotti could afford the luxury of replacing Isco and Luka Modric in the second-half to keep them fresh for the visit of Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday. However, right-

Celtic leapfrog rivals with win Peter Game JOHN GUIDETTI’S ninth goal in seven games was enough to seal Celtic’s fifth consecutive win, 1-0 against Inverness Caledonian Thistle. The visitors, though, were angry that the goal stood.

The Swede scored on a 49th-minute counterattack but Thistle were furious with the referee, Craig Thomson, for missing what they claimed was a pull on the shirt of Danny Williams

by Scott Brown when he won possession.

Celtic survived a late onslaught as poor finishing cost the visitors, allowing Ronny Deila’s side to move above them in the Scottish Premiership.

Dundee United returned to the top with a 3-0 win against St Mirren at Tannadice.Goals from Paul Paton, Nadir Ciftci and Charlie Telfer helped the Tayside club to leapfrog Hamilton to round off a successful week, having clinched their place in the semi-final of the League Cup in midweek.

Hamilton needed a stoppage-time equaliser from Tony Andreu to salvage a 3-3 draw at home against Partick Thistle.

Two goals in a minute from Darian McKinnon

Talking balls A speaking ball with sensors can tell you how hard it was hit, how much spin you gave it and at what point of the surface your boot connected Driving P19

Breakthrough: Alexis Sanchez proved his worth to Arsenal, striking twice to take his tally to 10 this season, while Calum Chambers added another as Burnley’s search for their first win continues

Sanchez steals the show Brian Glanville AT EMIRATES STADIUM

Rodriguez: wonderful volley back Dani Carvajal is a doubt after limping off in the first-half to be replaced by former Liverpool defender Alvaro Arbeloa.

Andre Villas-Boas’ Zenit St Petersburg won for the 10th time in 12 matches to go seven points clear of CSKAMoscow at the top of the Russian league after beating their title rivals 1-0. Javi Garcia, the former Manchester City and Real Madrid midfielder, hit the winner against the defending champions, who meet Garcia’s former club City in the Champions League this week.

Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain scored with an acrobatic volley, his fifth goal in three league games, to set them on the way to a 2-0 win against Roma in Serie A. Higuain set up the second for Jose Callejon.

In the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich defeated Borussia Dortmind 2-1 last night. Marco Reus, linked with a possible move to Bayern, opened the scoring before goals from Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben won it for Bayern.

W

hat both managers, Arsène Wenger of Arsenal and Sean Dyche of Burnley, agreed was that Arsenal’s Chilean attacker Alexis Sanchez had been quite outstanding.

Indeed in the first half against a Burnley side with strictly limited ambition, he alone seemed likely to break their resistance and bring the goal which Arsenal were still seeking when it came to half time. “Forget about all the qualities he’s got,” Dyche said, “he was non stop today.”

Wenger observed Sanchez’s efforts for his first goal were “the result of determination rather than doing something technical”. He has the attributes of a “fighter” emphasising that Sanchez, with all his skills, is “physically strong”.

In the first half, it was Sanchez who constantly threatened the Burnley defence.

Operating then from the left flank late in a frustrating first half for Arsenal, he cut inside from the left to unleash a ferocious right-footed drive which Tom Heaton, Burnley’s brave and resilient goalkeeper did well to keep out.

On 36 minutes, Sanchez hit another well-struck shot which tore just over the bar and

five minutes later neatly served

by Santi Cazorla, his equally powerful shot from the left, was blocked by the brave goalkeeper.

You wondered whether Arsenal’s big German World Cup-winning centre- back Per Mertesacker, might not have had a valid point when he spoke of the team’s failings after this victory.

Mertesacker reflected: “We arenotatourbestfootballwise.

We lack a few things. I think that we have to do better with our own possession, not to lose so many balls and play more in wide areas.”

Yesterday Sanchez, who moved more into the middle in the second half, showed in the first half just how much profit could be made on the flank, while very late in the game, to the huge delight of the Arsenal fans, Theo Walcott came on, and quickly showed just how much he can do on the flanks too.

Walcott had barely arrived when he forced Heaton into a glorious one-handed save and a minute later crossed to his fellow substitute Lukas Podolski whose searing shot rebounded from high up the post.

Does this mean that Arsenal have now emerged from a somewhat indifferent and frustrating period during which they were embarrass-

3

ARSENAL

Sanchez 70, 90 Chambers 72

Szczesny

4-4-2 Chambers

Mertesacker

Monreal

Flamini

Oxlade-Chamberlain

Arteta

Sanchez

Arfield Ward

0

BURNLEY

BUR NL EY

FO OTBAL

L

UB CL

Cazorla

Welbeck

Sordell

Ings

Jones

Marney

Shackell

Duff

4-4-1-1

Gibbs

Boyd Trippier

Heaton

Star man: Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) Yellow card: Burnley: Boyd

ingly beaten in Dortmund?

They still seem unlikely to challenge for a Barclays Premier League title that they have not won for a decade.

On Tuesday in the Champions League against Anderlecht, who outplayed them in their first encounter, Wenger expects that Jack Wilshire, with his variety of intelligent passes, may be fit to play.

The fact is that Burnley were never able to extend Arsenal in this match. Realistic to a degree, the Burnley manager

Referee: C Pawson Attendance: 60,012

admitted that his team, on which the club spent a mere £6m, could never meet the likes of Arsenal and their stars on level terms. “It’s a big test against the top sides,” he said, “but it’s not impossible.”

Yet one Burnley player at least never gave up the ghost and that was their striker Danny Ings, who played in the hole for most of the first half but moved further upfield in the second.

Irrelevant though it might have been in the post-match

analysis, for him and Burnley the very last dangerous attempt of the game was his when Arsenal’s Wojciech Szczesny virtually untroubled thus far in the game, was obliged to make an urgent dive at his feet.

The second half began with Arsenal looking far more incisive. On 59 minutes, a shot on the turn by Cazorla was ably dealt with by Heaton and indeed the Burnley goal did not fall for 70 minutes.

It was then that Arsenal’s young right-back Calum Chambers crossed, and Sanchez rose to head the ball past Heaton who could do nothing about it.

It seemed inevitable then that Burnley, as limited as they were to the rarest of counter attacks, were never going to save this game.

Arsenal’s second goal came when Danny Welbeck, lively and ubiquitous in the first half, had a shot blocked by the much put upon Heaton only for Chambers to follow up and drive home.

Now the pressure was continuous on a Burnley team that inevitably appeared to be tiring, though their manager was reluctant to admit it.

From a corner by Cazorla, Welbeck had a shot blocked in the goalmouth by the keeper.

But on 82 minutes away surprisingly went Burnley and

PREMIER LEAGUE Chelsea Southampton Man City Arsenal West Ham Swansea Liverpool Man Utd Everton West Brom Newcastle Stoke Hull Tottenham Aston Villa C Palace Leicester Sunderland QPR Burnley

P W 10 8 10 7 9 5 10 4 10 5 10 4 10 4 9 3 10 3 10 3 10 3 10 3 10 2 9 3 9 3 9 2 10 2 9 1 10 2 10 0

D 2 1 2 5 2 3 2 4 4 4 4 3 5 2 1 3 3 5 1 4

L Pts 0 26 2 22 2 17 1 17 3 17 3 15 4 14 2 13 3 13 3 13 3 13 4 12 3 11 4 11 5 10 4 9 5 9 3 8 7 7 6 4

Ings had his shot beaten down

by Szczesny. Walcott and Podolskibothcameclosetoscoring within a minute while on 89 minutes Aaron Ramsey, who had come on as a substitute, forced a last resilient save at full stretch by Heaton.

Arsenal: Szczesny 6, Chambers 6, Mertesacker 6, Monreal 6, Gibbs 6, Oxlade-Chamberlain 6 (Podolski 82min), Cazorla 7, Arteta 6 (Ramsey 64min, 6), Flamini 6, Sanchez, Welbeck 7 (Walcott 82min) Burnley: Heaton 8, Trippier 6, Duff 7, Shackell 7, Ward 6, Boyd 5, Marney 6 (Chalobah 80min), Jones 6, Arfield 5, Ings 7, Sordell 5 (Jutkiewicz 69min, 5)

Guidetti: Celtic winner and Danny Redmond put the home side in control but Grant Gillespie diverted Jordan McMillan’s strike into his own net to make it 2-1. James Craigen’s shot brought the sides level in the 68th minute and Christie Elliott’s shot looked set to seal a win for Partick until Andreu came to the rescue.

Dundee saw off Kilmarnock 3-1 at Rugby Park. Greg Stewart gave them the lead just before the break with David Clarkson doubling the advantage soon after.

Alexei Eremenko pulled a goal back for Kilmarnock before Stewart hit a second deep in stoppage time.

Kris Boyd’s strike late in the first half gave Rangers a 1-0 win at Dumbarton in the Scottish Cup fourth round.

Celtic and Rangers will resume hostilities after a gap of almost three years after being drawn together in the Scottish League Cup semi-finals. Holders Aberdeen will meet Dundee United.

I hate refs for many reasons but watching Ed Sheeran isn’t one of them Mark Clattenburg’s punishment is absurd. There are far more important things to worry us WERE you aware that in the Premier League, the match officials must travel to and from each game together? The ref, the two people we used to call linesmen, the fourth official — all in the same vehicle. I didn’t know that, until last week. One of those wonderful little nuggets of trivia you pick up along life’s rich journey and which you store away in the vague hope it might prove useful. Like it being OK to shoot a Welshman in the grounds of Hereford cathedral, or something. Or that geese are incapable of sneezing.

So there they all are — the

officials, not the geese — in the car, speeding along the M62 for the Manchester derby game. Maybe singing Bohemian Rhapsody, like in that scene from Wayne’s World. Do you suppose the ref always gets to drive? The rules, dreamed up by Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the referees’ governing body, do not stipulate who drives, or the sort of car they must use, just that they must all travel together even if they really hate each other.

The reason given is to preserve the “security” and “integrity” of the officials. I

Rod Liddle am not sure about the security bit — would you feel secure in a car driven by, say, Kevin Friend? He’d almost certainly miss the appropriate motorway exit and instead drive off some ramp into the Manchester Ship Canal (I base this observation on his performance at The Den a few seasons back).

I suppose “integrity” refers to the fact that if they’re all together in one car they are

less likely to be tempted by some shady Singaporean bloke waving vast wads of wonga at them and with an instruction to book Robin van Persie in the third minute exactly.

As it happens, referees in the lower leagues — what we used to call non-league football — are also required to travel to games together in the same car. But the implication in this case is that it will provide cost savings to the clubs, whom, later in the day, they will cheerfully enrage with dubious decisions.

They are also required to take the shortest possible route to fixtures — although an exception is made if this route passes through a “large conurbation”, on account of possible traffic congestion. In this instance the officials are given latitude — they may bypass the large conurbation, quite possibly by utilising a “ring road”.

It’s all there, in black and

white, in the rule book. My own perspective is that the more hugely fatuous rules there are attending to the management of any sport, the less agreeable that sport must be. In European tournament fixtures, incidentally, there is no stipulation about driving in the same car. But officials are required to be at the ground two days before kick-off.

I know all this stuff because I looked it up, after the strange and disquieting case of Mark Clattenburg. As soon as Clattenburg had finished officiating in the game at the Hawthorns between West Brom and Crystal Palace, he jumped in his car and sped off to Newcastle to watch Ed Sheeran in concert. He did not travel with his three colleagues.

As a consequence, Clattenburg has been dropped for a week and is not officiating in any games this weekend. And there is more trouble afoot for the bloke,

because while speeding up the motorway desperate to see the incalculably boring gingerish singer-songwriter warbling one of his anodyne corporate hits, Clattenburg either made a call, or took a call, from the Crystal Palace manager, Neil Warnock. This is another breach of protocol.

My guess, and it is only a guess, is that Neil was interested in Clattenburg’s

decision to award a penalty to West Brom in stoppage time, thus denying his side the three points they probably deserved. Or the challenge on the Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni by Craig Dawson, which came close, in my book, to GBH. Warnock told the press after the game that he didn’t want to criticise the referee because he had had “a cracking game” but nonetheless had “made two or three really bad mistakes”. So I guess the conversation was about that sort of stuff, rather than a genial inquiry as to what Mark expected to be in Ed Sheeran’s set-list for the evening. Clattenburg could thus be banned for even longer.

As a partisan football fan, rather than a wise and unbiased expert on the national game, I do not much like any referee. They all hate my club and have been told by the FA to ensure we are never

promoted to the Premier League, and they follow these instructions to the letter (I kid you not — that really is the view held by quite a few of my fellow Millwall fans). But Clattenburg seems to me the best of the bunch and I hugely approved of his snarky putdown to Adam Lallana, who had been shouting his mouth off in a game.

“You are very different now, since you’ve played for England — you never used to be like this,” Clattenburg is alleged to have said.

I don’t have a problem with Clattenburg not travelling with his colleagues, even if it was to watch Sheeran. Nor do I mind him talking to Warnock, or Colin as he is anagrammatically known.

What difference does it make?

PGMOL should stick to censuring refs when they are useless, not for a minor infraction of their stupid rules.

Clattenburg is being done an injustice.

SPORT

6 / F O OT B A L L / B A R C L AY S P R E M I E R L E A G U E SIMON STACPOOLE

LINDSEY PARNABY

Looking up: Gus Poyet insists that he feels no pressure

There’s no need to panic - Poyet

NO DEFENCE

Sunderland manager believes team will escape the bottom three, writes Martin Hardy THE BELIEF that there was a missed opportunity at Sunderland during the summer grows ever stronger. They are back in the bottom three. They did not invest in enough quality in the summer. There is a sense of unrest from Gus Poyet, the man who inspired a miracle at the Stadium of Light last season and wanted greater change and greater control. It seemed reasonable.

Without Poyet, Sunderland would be in the Championship. More than £70m of their income came from being a Premier League club. The parachute payment may have grown to a four-year £60m fund, but it is dwarfed by what is happening in the Premier League. Poyet does not appear a man who will happily embark on a perennial relegation struggle.

In January he clashed with the Sunderland board after a heavy defeat at Tottenham. It was a damaging row but the run to the League Cup final and, more significantly, the one that brought four wins and a draw in five games bought time. Poyet was flattered by alleged interest from West Ham. It came to nothing and he signed a new, two-year contract, but Fabio Borini did not arrive and Jack Colback, Phil Bardsley and Marcos Alonso left for nothing.

It is of significance that they were mentioned on the eve of tomorrow night’s visit to Crystal Palace, a game whose importance has risen dramatically after punishing defeats to Southampton and Arsenal put Sunderland into the bottom three.

“It is a problem that we have been there for four years, fighting for that,” says Poyet. “It is my challenge to change that — to not have the feeling at this football club or the city, that we are going to be always fighting down there. But things have happened, as I said. We have a smaller squad, the key players that have been doing well they are not there, there are other ones who need to take responsibility and perform a little bit better — if it’s Jack Rodwell or it’s Adam Johnston, or it’s no mistakes at the back. You put that all together and you are in the bottom three. There is nothing to hide. At the

moment, I don’t want to be negative.

“I know it is not good, and I am disappointed to be in the bottom three, very disappointed. I don’t like it, I didn’t expect it, but that is the reality. The table, I am sorry, I know people say the opposite, but the table never lies. We got safe last year because we won four and drew one of the last five games.

“You need more than luck then, you need another miracle, and I am not looking for miracles. No more.

“The group of players that played together at the end of the season clicked on the pitch, and that’s the most important part. They knew each other exactly and had something special. Now Marcos Alonso, Jack Colback and Fabio Borini are not here.”

Once more in the northeast we return to cold, hard statistics. Sunderland have won one game in their past eight. These are punishing runs, and as yet, just over a year into his reign, Poyet admirably refuses to accept it will be common place under him.

He is under the microscope after losing 8-0 at Southampton and 2-0 at home to Arsenal. “Now, after these two games, everything is a doubt. It is normal. I am not worried,” Poyet says. “I just want to play another game and make sure the team is there. The players need to get better but it is easier to get better when you are winning. You cannot ask every single one to show what they are capable of when the team are not playing well or making terrible mistakes.

“I don’t want to complicate things yet. I will let you know when. At the moment I want basics — to go back to basics and make sure we are a proper team on the pitch, difficult to play, no mistakes, take your chances, don’t give nothing away.

“I would like to be lucky every now and then, but you cannot be asking for luck when you are making the mistakes we have made in the past two games.”

ON TV TOMORROW Crystal Palace v Sunderland 7pm Sky Sports 1, kick-off 8pm

Soft centre: Vincent Kompany is one of the best central defenders in the Premier League, and has been outstanding for City, but they are conceding goals because he doesn’t have a settled partner

Today’s Manchester derby will feature two imbalanced teams crying out for fresh tactics

W

e could see plenty of goals in today’s Manchester derby at the Etihad stadium, but will that be down to the attacking strengths of City and United or the defensive weaknesses that undermine them? Both are imbalanced, imperfect teams at the moment, failing to strike the correct blend between scoring goals and preventing them.

United started the season with three at the back, then ditched that after a defeat and two draws in their opening three league games. Although they have recently been more stable defensively, they haven’t kept a clean sheet in their past five matches and there are several weaknesses to address.

They still need a better right-back than Rafael da Silva, and another centreback. It can’t be another Phil Jones from Blackburn or Chris Smalling from Fulham, neither of whom has stepped forward and said, “this is my spot” in defence.

Jonny Evans is still the best of United’s centre-backs but it sometimes seems he plays one game then misses five through injury. Until that settles down, he can never claim a permanent spot either. In January, United can’t buy people who are going to be ready for them in a few years’ time. They already have enough promising centre-halves. They must buy the finished article.

If we go back to the start of

August, Louis van Gaal said he wouldn’t be disappointed if United didn’t sign any more players. That was when things were going well in the United States during pre-season, but what followed was a scattergun approach. It was perhaps a combination of Ed Woodward, the chief executive, being criticised heavily last year for not making any big signings for David Moyes, and that slow start to the season when they lost to Swansea at home then drew at Sunderland and Burnley.

On the back of those results, they have taken what they felt was the best available, but not necessarily what they needed, and they are trying to shoehorn people into postions that are not natural for them.

Was it a coincidence that theirmostsolidperformanceof

Graeme Souness the season — I thought Chelsea would pick them off and they didn’t —came last weekend with only one striker playing?

United looked quite compact, but was that because they weren’t shoehorning three centre-forwards into their team? That’s a good question to ask Van Gaal.

If they want to be difficult to play against and beat, United are going to have to sacrifice one, if not two, from Falcao, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie. When United were at their best, they would often play Rooney in the wide areas and Ronaldo in the middle in

big games because they knew they couldn’t trust Ronaldo to track back.

City face a similar dilemma if they persist with a 4-4-2. You can play it if you have four working midfielders and one of the strikers is willing to drop on to the playmaker or sitting midfield player in the opposition team when they have the ball. We played that way successfully at Liverpool, when Kenny Dalglish would give us a fifth midfielder at times, but it only takes one of that unit not to be working for it all to break down.

That’s what happens to City in Europe. They have conceded six goals in their past three matches and have failed to keep a clean sheet in their three Champions League games so far. They were getting torn to bits by Roma at home until Manuel Pellegrini brought on James Milner for Jesus Navas.

Milner has to start all the big games from now on. A winger like Navas is great when you are controlling the game and on the front foot, but when it comes to tight games you need four workers in there because everyone floods the midfield today.

Navas wouldn’t get through the front door at Chelsea’s training ground because he’s not Jose Mourinho’s type. Juan Mata’s the same. They are good players with the ball but don’t do enough when they haven’t got it. Navas stands wide all the time, waiting for others to win the ball and get it to him, which leavesahellofagapfromhimto the nearest midfield player.

Wide players in a 4-4-2 have to

NAVAS WOULDN’T GET THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR AT CHELSEA’S TRAINING GROUND. HE’S NOT MOURINHO’S TYPE OF PLAYER — NOR IS MATA

GRAEME SOUNESS ON TODAY’S KEY BATTLES AT THE ETIHAD Yaya Toure v Marouane Fellaini

If Toure is fit and in the mood, how do you keep him quiet? United may use Fellaini’s strength to counteract the Ivorian, inset. A note of caution: the Belgian played in both of last season’s Manchester derbies and Toure scored in each.

Sergio Aguero v Marcos Rojo/Chris Smalling

As well as Rojo and Smalling, inset, did against Didier Drogba last week, can they stop Aguero? His movement is cute.

Rojo will have played against him many times in training with Argentina — and been frightened by him many times, too.

Robin van Persie v the left flank of City’s defence

I cannot see Van Persie getting much joy from Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta on the right of City’s defence, but the United striker, inset, could well exploit uncertainty on the left, where different players have been tried. A back four has to work as a unit.

be disciplined. They have to be box-to-box. They have to play narrow when you haven’t got the ball. That tells you what I think of Navas standing out on the touchline.

City have to be more solid in midfield. Milner has to play, as does Fernando, and Pellegrini has to come up with a system for the big games in Europe and the Premier League, where they have Yaya Toure and David Silva in the middle with a screen behind them. City have to start cautious and see how it pans out. If you are bossing it with that approach and picking the opposition off, great. If you have to chase it later on, get your wingers into the game or add another forward.

I would also like to see Pellegrini figure out his best back four and stick with it. Joe Hart had a punch on the nose last year when he was left out of the team, but that will only stand him in good stead. He’s still a young man in goalkeeping terms and will be a far stronger character today than he was 12 months ago because of it.

Vincent Kompany needs a settled partner. He had a good second half to last season with Martin Demichelis, but they tried to improve on that by signing Eliaquim Mangala for £32m. He looks as if he is in the same camp as Jones and Smalling and will need time to adapt to the English game. In the meantime, Kompany is suffering.

City have the best rightback in the league in Pablo Zabaleta, but at left-back, depending on how he sees a game, Pellegrini alternates Aleksandar Kolarov and Gael Clichy. That must be confusing for them and the players they are playing beside. A back four hastobeasettled,cohesiveunit but both Manchester clubs are still looking for that base to build on. They are also struggling to get the balance right in front of it.

02.11.14 / 7

ROJO ON RED ALERT

Argentinian knows he will have to be at his best to keep Sergio Aguero quiet. By Ian Hawkey

M

arcos Rojo had been anticipating a preliminary joust with Sergio Aguero on Friday afternoon, the kind they have become accustomed to in practice sessions with Argentina. The pair were due to spread a little glitter around Ardwick, share their expertise with aspiring local coaches and young players at Manchester College. The red star, Rojo showed up. The blue, Aguero, did not.

Word reached those expecting City’s leading goalscorer that Aguero had another appointment, a let-down for the teenagers gathered at the site. Rojo, who lives near Aguero, just outside Manchester. “I was expecting to see Sergio here,” said the United defender. Perhaps the absentee was avoiding his likely marker in the weekend’s main event, United versus City at Ol dTrafford this afternoon? “Yeah, he’s just scared,” said Rojo with a smile.

Jokes apart, Rojo freely admits that United’s defending has not been the most intimidating aspect of their football since he joined the club in the summer, fresh from a revelatory World Cup, where he won a runners-up medal, and from a standout season at Sporting Portugal, who finished runners-up in their league. In his first half-dozen Premier League outings, United have kept a clean sheet just once. But then “Marquitos” Rojo didn’t join United for their caginess. “In every game, we know there is an obligation for us to go for the win. That implies an element of risk,” he explains. “You do have to play high up the pitch and take your chances.”

Rojo talks like a natural Red. He is a defender with a swashbuckling spirit, the sort who can make a clearance in his own penalty area in a tight World Cup match using a “rabona” — the manoeuvre where you hook one foot behind the calf of your other leg to strike the ball — and for whom supporters of his Argentina have now developed his own, specific variation on a

traditional song. “How do you feel Brazil?” it goes, “that Rojo scores a goal in your World Cup?” The next lines celebrate his dribbling, his scoring, his daring rabona, and the chant finishes with a punch: “Marquitos is better than Pele.”

To hear Argentina supporters bellowing that out in June and July felt like a breakthrough for Rojo, who turned 24 shortly after the tournament. He had come into the World Cup one of the more doubted players in the national squad, a long way short of the status of an Aguero, or an Angel Di Maria, his United colleague, and a frequently questioned part of a back line that included the more seasoned City players Pablo Zabaleta and Martin

AGUERO CAN BE OVERCOME BUT WE HAVE TO PLAY A TOUGH GAME. CLOSE MARKING, STRONG TACKLES Demichelis. But the then Argentina coach, Alex Sabella, had known Rojo as a teenager at the Estudiantes club, liked his vigour and appreciated his versatility.

For Argentina, Sabella had Rojo playing at left-back, a position that had for some years been problematic in the national team, and where Sabella had used him in club football. His education has principally been in the middle of the defence. His preference?

“I really like both roles,” Rojo replies. “I think that the manager here [Louis van Gaal] knows that and he knew that when he brought me here I could play both as a centreback and as a full-back, on the left. At the moment I have been

playing as a central defender. I feel very comfortable with that, but I’d be equally happy if I were to be switched to fullback.”

He anticipates extensive, vigilant movement around his zones this afternoon, principally because of Aguero, who, it can be assumed, will honour today’s appointment and apply to it the sort of elusiveness that gains him so much professional admiration. Rojo and Aguero, or “Marquitos” and “Kun”, as they know one another, have never faced one another, but three years sharing space for Argentinabreedsacertainintimacy and insight.

First the praise: “I know him pretty well and he’s a great, great player,” enthuses Rojo.

“He moves very effectively in the penalty area, he’s very fast and a great finisher.”

“Everyone knows he is a very quick player and can get into dangerous positions and inflict damage. You need to be very focused throughout the 90 minutes.”

Now the antidote. Here’s how to stymie him: “You have to make sure you know exactly where he is all the time, try to keep him under control. You need to stick close to him, stay very concentrated. He can be overcome, but it’s going to take a great effort and needs some firmness.”

Could Rojo elaborate on the “firmness”? “Well, you always play to the maximum. I don’t mean go crunching in, but we’re going to have to play a tough game, the way he does, with close marking, strong tackles.”

It is, after all, a proper city derby, the sort of fixture that generates a particular heat.

Rojo knows the hazards. A year ago this week, he was shown a red card in a Lisbon derby, a 4-3 cup defeat for his Sporting against Benfica.

He expects the United captain, Wayne Rooney, to describe to him and the several other United players preparing for their maiden Mancunian mash-up the special significance of the occasion.

“Of course everyone knows it’s very important to the people of Manchester, for the fans on both sides. The skipper, I imagine, will talk to us, the new players about how important it is. Historically, I suppose, you would say that United have been superior, but it’s up to us to make sure that’s the case again. We have to work very hard at that. It’s a big test.

Awin would be very important for confidence.”

MICHAEL REGAN/GABRIEL PIKO

Argentinians to the fore Five members of Argentina’s World Cup silver-medal squad could be involved in the Manchester derby, four of them in direct contests.

Marcos Rojo, who signed for United from Sporting Portugal in the summer, expects to come up against Sergio Aguero, the City striker.

Pablo Zabaleta, City’s right-back, has responsibility for policing another United newcomer, Angel di Maria, when Di Maria takes up position on his favoured left flank.

Zabaleta, Aguero and Di Maria were all teammates in

Battle cry: United’s versatile defender Marcos Rojo is gearing up for his first Manchester derby It is politic for Rojo to take the long-term view of Manchester’s club hierarchy, to measure status over decades rather than recent years. But the fact is that the visitors today are the Premier League champions, and theirs is currently the city’s only venue where you can watch midweek football in Europe’s elite competition.

Did Rojo feel sure that he had chosen the city’s ascendant

club? “United is an important club not just in England,” he replied, firmly, “but in the whole world. Isn’t it?”

0 First-team players from both Manchester clubs were on hand

to take part in a Premier League Kicks session between City in the Community and the Manchester United Foundation at the Manchester College in Ardwick.

ON TV TODAY MANCHESTER CITY v MANCHESTER UTD 12.30PM SKY SPORTS 1, KICK-OFF 1.30PM

Trust in me, says Pellegrini — it worked last time City manager reminds critics of his success as he considers bid for Gerrard. By Martin Hardy MANUEL PELLEGRINI has called for more respect for his achievements at Manchester City ahead of a critical fourday period in his tenure as manager.

He has also revealed he would consider the possibility of making a move for Steven Gerrard if the Liverpool captain’s contractual situation is not handled well at Anfield, because of the limiting implications of Financial Fair Play on his side. Pellegrini

admitted moves for both Angel di Maria and Radamel Falcao, who both ended up at today’s derby opponents Manchester United, were ruled out in the summer because of the restrictive nature of FFP. City face Louis van Gaal’s new-look United for the first time having lost two of their past three matches and with a crucial Champions League match on the horizon. Defeat

by CSKA Moscow at home on Wednesday would leave them

facing elimination at the group stage for the third time in four seasons.

Pellegrini, however, hit out at the criticism he has faced and pointed to the two trophies he has won as proof his methods are successful.

“My methods should be more trusted,” he said. “Do City-in-crisis headlines annoy me? No, I am used to knowing about such things when you don’t win with an important team, but it doesn’t matter. We won two titles. We are going to continue exactly in the same way. I said it last year at the same moment when everyone was talking about the way we played — that we cannot play with two strikers, that we defend very bad — but finally we won the Premier League and the League Cup. The way I evaluate myself and this

team is never to be comfortable to win only one or two titles. You must continue to grow every year, you must try to continue being the most successful team. Maybe this year we’ve had a lot of distractions that no one can see but it doesn’t matter. The pressure is the same. My pressure is the same.

“United has a lot of stories over the last years of winning an important amount of titles but maybe football is in the present and I think in the last two or

three years, we have done better.”

Pellegrini , whose transfer activity this summer was restricted further

by Uefa sanctions for breaching FFP rules, sees Gerrard as a potential way to steer clear of problems in the future. “I don’t ever rate players on their age. It depends on the money they cost and the number of years they have [on their contract]. But, like Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard is a top player and he can continue at a high level for a couple more years. It’s the same answer for

Pellegrini: says he does not feel under more pressure

Falcao as it is for Di Maria. We couldn’t do the loan [for Falcao] because we didn’t have the space to put him in the squad list for the Champions League.

“Also, the amount of money for this club was too much when you have Financial Fair Play behind you. In that regard, I don’t think we have any questions about the summer. We did well because we did all that we could.

“It is never over [in the Champions League] because maybe Bayern will beat Roma, so Roma will still have four points and we will still have two points [if City lose to CSKA]. I think in this group the final will be in Rome but it is more difficult if you don’t win here at home.”

Falcao will again miss out through injury, as will City playmaker David Silva.

Argentina’s 2008 Olympic squad. A Di Maria goal in the final against Nigeria won the gold medal.

Martin Demichelis, Zabaleta and Rojo were all in Argentina’s defence in the World Cup final defeat by Germany, while Aguero, inset right with Rojo, was a second-half substitute in attack.

Willy Caballero, the City goalkeeper, won a gold medal with Argentina at the 2004 Olympics, where teammate Carlos Tevez, formerly of City and United, was the competition’s leading scorer.

SPORT

IAN KINGTON

8 / R U G BY

BARBARIANS

AUSTRALIA

36 40

Stephen Jones RUGBY CORRESPONDENT AT TWICKENHAM

T

he age-old love affair between rugby and the Barbarians is often seen to be cooling to the point of termination. They have, at times, struggled for relevance in the modern game and their matches can lack a balance between the old attacking glory and the modern trend to make a few tackles.

And then you get days like this. There were 11 tries scored, and very few were not earned the hard way, with good approach and yet also the most delightful attacking skills. In the end, it was all that Australia could do to hold off a sensational Barbarian comeback that could easily have yielded the winning try after the clock had run down.

It was all deeply satisfying.

The crowd was given as 53,568, althoughyoureally do want the person who added it up to calculate your bank balance, because there were large empty segments of the stadium. But the romance of the black and white jersey was amply illustrated with the reception the Barbarians received on taking the field and the support they were given throughout. With respect, I very much doubt if many had even heard of half the Barbarian team, which was essentially based on third and fourth-choice players from New Zealand. But it was enough that they were Barbarians and clearly there to gild the tradition.

And afterwards we knew all about them. Francis Saili, a young Auckland centre, gave a glorious performance in midfield, bouncing off the likes of Tim Nanai-Williams, Frank Halai and the Australian Nick Cummins. Saili and company had glorious skills and optimism, and the rest of the team backed them up with tackling, heart and soul.

To be perfectly fair, Australia were in some ways as big a scratch combination as the opposition. Michael Cheika, their new coach, has had only a few sessions in charge and less

Holding on tight: Australia captain Matt Hodgson is held short of the tryline by former England prop Matt Stevens in an exciting match that briefly looked like becoming a procession for the tourists until a late rally from the Barbarians

Saili keeps the fires burning than half the starting team yesterday are likely to start against Wales on Saturday in the first of the tourists’ four Tests.

Yet even though it was a decent run out, they will surely be disappointed.

Quade Cooper and Will Genia could not orchestrate nearly as well as Saili and his mates. Henry Speight the latest Fijian to be stolen away by Australia, hardly found a yard of space

and the illustrious Israel Folau was barely involved.

Indeed, the main impetus came later on when the rather limited Bernard Foley came on to give it some shape and the highly-impressive back-row, Sean McMahon, tried to turn the tide with some steaming runs. But Australia did enter into the spirit of it, and Cheika was happy, at least on the surface, at the end. But the

impression you were left with in this match involving so many nationalities, was not the strength of Australia or England, but the awesome depth of talent available in New Zealand. It was hard to believe watching the Barbarian backs and back row that none of them are wanted on the current New Zealand tour. But England did have a beacon, sort of. Matt Stevens, the former Bath, Sara-

cens and England prop, is currently playing in his native South Africa. He is not at his least weighty at present, and when he picked the ball off his toes with great deftness early on he had to do so by a roundabout route. But he did show what a useful, powerful and honest player he has always been. He had an influence on the match and it was heady for him to have thundered around Twickenham one more time.

The opening stages of any Barbarians game are worrying until you are sure that it is going to be a contest. Reassurance came early because, with Stevens contributing with his handling, the Barbarians worked Halai over in the right corner for a regal opening try — and the elegant wing could have scored again almost immediately had he not made a hash of a fly-hack near the Australian line.

But there was another joy

later in the half when a lovely pass from Saili put Steven Luatua through the gap and, as the move wore on, Saili made another lovely pass to set up a try for Adam Thomson.

Australia were lucky to be 14-12 ahead at half-time. Sam Carter was allowed to run on and score when both the naked eye and the battery of camera shots available to the television official indicated that Saia Fainga’a had knocked on earlier in the move. But Australia did better when powerful work around the fringes sent Benn Robinson over.

Even then, you doubted that the Barbarians would keep firing and by this time the powerful Tevita Kuridrani had become more influential in the Australian midfield, once bursting through to score.

However, Saili came again with a delightful chip and chase, and the television match official this time correctly concluded

the talented young man had scored. And remarkably, the conversion and the penalty from Colin Slade put the Barbarians ahead.

Again, there was the temptation to think Australia would pull clear, and memorable tries

by Foley and McMahon duly saw them lead 40-22, and apparently still with gas in the tank. But now it was time for the “Honey Badger”, as Cummins is known to his public.

First, he came up the middle onto the most gorgeous blind top pass from Nanai-Williams, an instant of action which made the ticket price worth it by itself. Just after that, Marnitz Boshoff finished off another splendid move that heavily involved Cummins, and suddenly the barbarians were only two points behind.

Rugby can be a funny old game sometimes, full of quirks and traditions. The Barbarians can be a funny old lot, full of

traditions which have outlived their usefulness. But you would needtohaveaPuritanheartnot to have felt entertained by both teams at Twickenham yesterday, and in the person of Francis Saili we found that youth and tradition can still form a happy relationship.

Star man: Francis Saili (Barbarians) Scorers: Barbarians: Tries: Halai 15, Thomson 27, Saili 48, Cummins 74, Boshoff 78 Cons: Slade (2), Boshoff (2) Pen: Slade Australia: Tries: Carter 25, Robinson 31, Kuridrani 47, Horne 56, Foley 64, McMahon 67 Cons: Cooper (3), Foley (2) Referee: J Peyper (South Africa) Attendance: 53,568 Barbarians: T Nanai-Williams, F Halai, J de Jongh (JTuculet 59min), F Saili, N Cummins, C Slade (M Boshoff 69min), T Cubelli (S Pretorius 58min), M Stevens (T du Toit 50min), J Parsons (M Schwalger 50min), A Ta’avao (L Adriaanse 51min), D Bird, A Kellock, A Thomson (H Brussow 52min), M Todd, S Luatua.

Australia: I Folau, HSpeight, T Kuridrani, M Toomua (C LealiIfano 65min) , R Horne, QCooper (BFoley 55min), W Genia, B Robinson (J Slipper 54min), S Fainga’a (J Hanson 55min), BAlexander (S Kepu 60min), S Carter (W Skelton 58min), J Horwill, S Higginbotham (SMcMahon 21min), MHodgson, B McCalman.

All systems go for Cheika’s men ELEVEN tries and enough excitement for the entire month of November, Australia’s win against the Barbarians was about as far from the intensity of international pressure as it gets. Quite what Warren Gatland and Stuart Lancaster would have made of this thrilling jamboree is anyone’s guess.

There was a great deal of Australian talk of systems. At half-time Michael Cheika, the new man in charge of the Wallabies, mentioned “system of play in attack and defence”. After the match, the captain for the day, Matt Hodgson, discussed how the team had stuck to their system. With the Barbarians running rampant and threatening to steal the match from under their noses, this is one of the hardest systems to crack.

One of the aspects of the Australian game Hodgson praised was the “new of style of physical football”. The Wallabies hardly had a reputation for flimsiness in the past but, in the shape of Tevita Kuridrani, maybe there is a clue as to what Cheika aspires to. The outsized centre was the biggest threat on the field with the ball in hand — and I mean biggest.

Not only is he a massive man but he moves with pace and balance. Every time he carried the ball he conquered the gain line. His combination of pace and power was the foundation for Australia’s first-half tries and his searing solo effort in the second half stamped his authority on the game.

The outside-centre position looks like the gateway to the attacking threats the Wallabies intend

Stuart Barnes

AT TWICKENHAM

to roll out in the month ahead and the years to come. On the right wing, Henry Speight had a quiet international debut but he is another huge presence with pace and attitude. When Speight settles into the Test arena outside Kuridrani defences are going to be coming from the field battered and bruised. Behind these two is the languid presence of Israel Folau. He did not impose himself on

Twickenham but he is a bigmatch player and Wales will need to beware his size, speed and unerring eye for the gap in Cardiff next week.

On the other flank, Rob Horne is developing from a confrontational outside centre into a left wing of real physical dimensions. Horne was a hard man for the Barbarians to handle and whoever England field opposite him in a month’s time will have to be on their guard.

Australia seem to be operating a system where the nine, 10 and 12 play the role of distributors while the two wings, the outside centre and the full-back are hardrunning threats. That may be the system Cheika is attempting to impose on his squad of players, even though elements of the Australian game were a long way from perfect yesterday.

At half-back, Will Genia and Quade Cooper are longterm prospects. The PETER TARRY

Wallaby on the run: Sam Carter shrugs off Colin Slade’s tackle

illustrious Queensland Reds combination are coming back to the highest levels of rugby after a lengthy separation.

Injury and loss of form have seen these two superstars of the southern hemisphere fade from the spotlight. Neither looked comfortable when the lights came on at Twickenham. Indeed, Genia at times seemed caught in those lights.

Cheika will be plotting their return to Twickenham probably a year, not a month, from now. And in the meantime Bernard Foley, who came off the bench yesterday to replace Cooper, is more likely to be the flyhalf who acts as the trigger to the heavy artillery Australia possesses out wide. At scrum-half Nick Phipps, Foley’s New South Wales partner, will surely start in Cardiff next week. The Wallabies looked sharper when Foley added solid structure to a shape that too often unravelled.

Up front, the Barbarians did not test the muchdebated Australian scrum.

Indeed, when James Slipper and Sekope Kepu emerged from the bench their ballcarrying around the field increased Australia’s tempo.

There may be question marks about the Wallaby scrum but not about the quality of their footballers.

It is highly unlikely that an even earlier replacement on the field, Sean McMahon, will play a great part in the autumn internationals but this young flanker made a marvellous impression with his hard running, his pace and his edge. He looked pretty special.

Australia’s rebuilding work has begun.

02.11.14 / 9 DAVID ROGERS

DAN MULLAN

BREAKING THE CODE

What Burgess already possesses

An amazing ability to carry the ball across the gain line in attack and a capacity to create carnage with the power of his defence

Path blocked: Gloucester’s Mark Atkinson is halted in his tracks

What he needs to learn

When and when not to hit a breakdown and how to keep his defensive shape in a sport of constant recycling

Sluggish Exeter wake up at last

Rugby league successes in union

Brad Thorn Thorn is a man of iron will whose determination and professionalism made him an All Black hero Jason Robinson A league legend whose exploits with England and the Lions mark him as the greatest of all English code converts Sonny Bill Williams The All Blacks have a stack of fine centres but as soon as he became available Steve Hansen called him to his squad

Martin Johnson AT SANDY PARK

Rugby league failures in union

Mark Gasnier Lauded as one of the great recent Australian league centres but only remembered as one of the most mediocre backs to play for Stade Français Lee Smith L eft the 13-a-side code with two tries in a Grand Final only to return after failing to make any impression at Wasps Chev Walker League fan Brian Ashton saw something special in the 24-yearold and signed him for Bath. Even Ashton got the odd judgment call wrong

SLAMMIN’ SAM Impact player: Sam Burgess is surely destined to make a huge impression at Bath and it will suprise nobody to see him line up in England’s opening match of the World Cup next year

They won’t know what’s hit them when the Bath man gets into his stride. By Stuart Barnes

S

am Burgess will make his debut for England on August 15, 2015. Just over one month later, on September 18, he will line up against Fiji at Twickenham when England’s World Cup campaign kicks off.

Fiji might not know what has hit them. The rest of England will. The 25-year-old, who stands 6ft 5in and weighs 18st 4lb has the potential to overtake Jason Robinson as the most famous English rugby league convert.

Robinson joined Sale in November 2000, was capped in February 2001 and was a Lion by the summer. Burgess’s trajectory could be even more dramatic with the World Cup the tantalising prospect for the man who was unveiled by Bath on Thursday.

Let’s get the negatives out of the way. It is easiest to convert from league to union as a fullback or winger. Those are the positions where raw talent is maximised and technical appreciation minimised, not that Robinson did not have his share of early difficulties with his new code. I recall a game at Gloucester where he was continually turned with kicks behind him. Every time he beat one or two chasers but the third would bring him down and, isolated, Robinson would concede the penalty.

He was not ready for Test rugby when he came off the bench against Italy but Clive Woodward was ready to back

something special over tried experience. I said Robinson would not play for England in his first season, conservative fool that I was.

This time there shall be no suchmistake.Burgesshaswhat it takes. Andy Farrell may have struggled to get to grips with the union code but he was nearer the end than the beginning of his career and did not bring Burgess’s pure dynamite.

Everyone with an interest in Bath or England knows the story of the dislocated cheekbone and damaged eye socket

sustained in the first minute of the National Rugby League final. Everybody knows he was man of the match despite an injury that, according to one Sydney surgeon, could have cost him his eye.

The line between bravery and madness is a thin one in the world of sport and one that some Sydney surgeons will never understand. Burgess may have been a bad example in the world of the sanitised but there is an element of the crazed in some of the great sports stars. Would anyone who was “normal” have prepared themselves for their career as Jonny Wilkinson did?

Would anyone keep taking the poundings on the floor that Richie McCaw does, Test match after Test match? These are abnormal characters. These are heroes.

Hemightbeaman mountain but Burgess’s attitude will be as

ENGLAND DON’T HAVE MEN WHO CAN BREAK OPEN A GAME — BURGESS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DO PRECISELY THAT

important to his new club as any of his formidable physical ones. Bath are not the softies they once were but they have yet to achieve the week-in, week-out determination to win. The Yorkshireman will give them what the Australians like to call “that bit of mongrel”. It’s a lot of mongrel actually, but we won’t quibble.

England have plenty of “mongrel” but they don’t have men capable of breaking open a game. Burgess has the potential to do exactly that with his capacity to win collision after collision, carrying the ball and the defensive game to the opposition.

It will not be easy for him to master the art of the breakdown in a matter of months as say, Brian O’Driscoll did, but just as back rows are selected with a balance of individual strengths and weakness in mind, so a team should be able

FROM BRADFORD TO BATH VIA SYDNEY: THE RISE AND RISE OF SAM BURGESS 0 Sam Burgess was born on December 14, 1988, in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

His father, Mark, played and coached rugby league 0 A league fan and Bradford supporter as a boy, Sam also loved watching Wigan’s Andy Farrell — now a member of England’s rugby union coaching team 0 Burgess joined Bradford and made his Super League debut as a 17-year-old prop 0 His father died in 2007 after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease 0 He made his debut for Great Britain later that year at the age of 18, scoring a try in a 20-14 win against New Zealand. The last player to

make such an impact was his hero, Farrell, 14 years earlier 0 Asked about a possible switch of codes to union in 2009, Burgess said: ‘I played a little bit of rugby union when I was younger but I’m definitely on the side of league’ 0 Burgess received a phone call in 2009 from ‘Russell — Russell Crowe from South Sydney’. After he and his mother, Julie, were invited to the Robin Hood film set in Derbyshire, Sam agreed to move to South Sydney

Rabbitohs, the league side co-owned by Gladiator star Crowe 0 His Rabbitohs debut ended in defeat but the Englishman’s power and pace soon won over Australian fans.

Burgess’ fearsome tackling also got him into disciplinary trouble 0 Sam and his younger brothers, George and Tom, were included in the England squad for the 2013 rugby league World Cup 0 The three Burgess boys,

plus Luke, became the first set of four brothers to play in the same Australian side for more than a century. South Sydney beat Wests Tigers 32-18 0 Sam agreed in February to switch codes and join Bath.

Before leaving Sydney, he was on the winning side in the Grand Final against Canterbury and was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal as man of the match, despite playing almost 80 minutes with a broken cheekbone. He was voted international rugby league player of the year 0 His Australian girlfriend, the television presenter Phoebe Hooke, inset, is expected to join him in Bath

to tweak its game and personnel to accommodate a match winner elsewhere.

At Bath there is great excitement and debate about how he will fit in. The West Countrymen have the best centre combination in the country in Kyle Eastmond and Jonathon Joseph. But the prospect of Burgess mixing and matching with the fleet feet of Eastmond is as enthralling for Bath fans as it is terrifying for opponents.

Joseph would make a magnificent winger, slipping infield from the blindside to benefit from the holes Burgess will bash (and then offload — boy, can he ever offload) and the subtle prying of George Ford. Joseph may even evolve into an international winger.

He has all the attributes.

Chat with Andy Farrell about defence. He believes the sheer will to get up, again and again, to make the next smash, is as important as any system.

Burgess doesn’t need any help from union in this particular aspect of the game.

England may dumbfound us with dazzling attack next week but their best hope of beating New Zealand and South Africa in 2015 is by overpowering them physically. The All Blacks are about pace, the Springboks power. You have to overwhelm the one, stand toe to toe with the other. Burgess gives England the capacity to send a midfield of Farrell, Burgess and Tuilagi into battle.

If a balanced team continues to elude England it is an obvious option to send out an array of skilled steamrollers. Burgess blew Sonny Bill Williams away in league. He can explode onto the scene with equally dramatic effect in union. The Six Nations may come too soon, but his name will be on that team sheet for August 15, the “friendly with France”. Make a date with the big man.

THE sponsors’ website prefix of “coveted” to the LV Cup is a trifle inflated for a competition mainly treated as a vehicle for blooding fringe players and resting regulars.

If Exeter Chiefs do indeed covet the trophy they won on this same ground back in March, they kept it well hidden for most of yesterday’s opening pool game at Sandy Park.

However, having lurched between the listless and clueless, the Chiefs finally roused themselves for a pulsating final quarter, and stole the game in dramatic fashion with a converted penalty try with 90 seconds left on the clock.

Even then there was still time for the prospect of Gloucester stealing the game back again in overtime, when fly half Aled Thomas had a downwind penalty from 45 metres. However, it bounced the wrong way for Gloucester after striking an upright, allowing Exeter, by the narrowest of margins, to begin their defence with an opening pool victory.

Quite why the Chiefs began so dozily is a bit of a mystery. When they weren’t missing tackles they were turning the ball over, and they appeared to have no idea at all how to best utilise the strong first-half wind at their backs.

Gloucester centre Mark Atkinson twice waltzed through gaping midfield holes without having a hand laid on him, and only a conceded penalty and a poor pass prevented the visitors from scoring two tries in the opening 10 minutes. Chiefs were also giving away many penalties, and it eventually resulted in a yellow card for prop Brett Sturgess.

It was a tactical mistake, in that Gloucester took the lead with a try from No 8 Gareth Evans five minutes from half time with the home side a man down. On the plus side, though, it was

EXETER CHIEFS GLOUCESTER

28 27

a commercial success, in that the PA announcer was able to plug both the miscreant’s personal sponsor, plus the sponsor of the sin bin, as Sturgess trudged from the field.

Gloucester might have put the game to bed with time up in the first half. However, a short pass from scrum-half Dan Robson was plucked out of the air by centre Adam Hughes, and he sprinted 70 metres to tie the scores at 10-10 at half time.

Chiefs were still not with it when the second half began, No 9 Dave Lewis getting caught in possession on his own 22. A a loose ball was picked up by centre Bill Meakes to go over for Gloucester.

A Fetu’u Vainikolo try for Exeter was quickly cancelled out by one from Yann Thomas for the visitors, but it was all Chiefs in the final quarter, and after Gloucester’s front row kept going down at the scrum a few metres from the try line, the ref’s patience with them finally ran out.

Star man: Fetu’u Vainikolo (Exeter) Scorers: Exeter: Try: Hughes 40, Vainikolo 55, penalty try 79 Cons: Sweeney (2) Pens: Sweeney (3) Gloucester:Try: Evans 35, Meakes 44, Y Thomas 61 Cons: A Thomas (3) Pens: A Thomas (2) Yellow card:Exeter: Sturgess Referee: S Harding (RFU) Attendance: 8,712 Exeter: J Arnott (T Hendrickson 64min); F Vainikoko (JArnott 70min), MBodilly, A Hughes, TJames; C Sweeney, D Lewis (S Townsend 69min); BSturgess (C Rimmer 48min), LCowan-Dickie (G Bateman 62min), A Brown (J Stanley 48min, A Brown 75min), DMumm (capt), J Sexton, JScraysbrook, S Simmonds (J Conlon 62min), S Skinner Gloucester: S McColl; S Monahan, BMeakes, MAtkinson, TIsaacs; A Thomas, DRobson; YThomas, DDawidiuk (A Lutui 57min), SKnight (S Puafisi 57min), EStooke, JHudson (capt), RMoriarty, DThomas, GEvans (J Batley 56min, T Hicks 58min)

LV CUP ROUND-UP Sale Sharks returned to winning ways with a lastgasp 32-29 home victory over Wasps in the LV Cup. The Manchester outfit scored four tries through Alberto de Marchi, Josh Beaumont, Viliami Fihaki and Charlie Ingall. Wasps levelled the scores at 2929, before Nick Macleod’s three-pointer snatched victory for Sale.

Leicester secured a hardfought 17-16 win over

London Irish at the Madejski Stadium.

Miles Benjamin and Robert Barbieri scored the Tigers’ two tries, with Tommy Bell converting both.

Bath debutant Max Northcote-Green scored two tries as the home side brushed aside London Welsh 47-7.

Northampton beat Newcastle 37-23 in the late kick-off game.

JAMES BOUNCES BACK

BASKETBALL LeBron James scored 36 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat Chicago Bulls 114108 in overtime. James, inset, who returned to Cleveland in the summer after four successful years with Miami Heat, had a disappointing homecoming on the previous evening, when the Cavaliers were beaten by the New York Knicks. He bounced back in style in Chicago, scoring eight points in the extra period, while Derrick Rose got 20 points for the Bulls. ‘It was an opportunity to go out and redeem ourselves, and I was happy with the outcome,’ said James.

INDIA WANT PAYBACK FROM WEST INDIES

CRICKET India want West Indies to pay £26m compensation for pulling out of their tour last month. It came to a halt after the fourth one-day international in Dharamsala due to a dispute over the touring players’ contracts. India’s board, the BCCI, argues that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is liable for its financial losses and wants a reply to its claim later this month. The India team are scheduled to visit the Caribbean in February and March 2016, but the BCCI said all future tours to the West Indies would be suspended because of the row.

BENOIT TESSIER

SPORT

Sports round-up

Big hit in

FINAL TOP EIGHT FOR LONDON

10 / TENNIS

Novak Djokovic (Ser)

Age 27 ATP World Tour Finals appearances: 7 (Champion 2008, 2012, 2013)

PARIS

Roger Federer (Swi)

Age 33 Appearances: 12 (Champion 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2011)

Stan Wawrinka (Swi) Age 29 Appearances: 1

Andy Murray (GB)

Age 27 Appearances: 5

Kei Nishikori (Jap)

Age 24 Appearances: 0

Tomas Berdych (Cze) Age 29 Appearances: 4

Marin Cilic (Cro)

Age 26 Appearances: 0

Milos Raonic (Can)

Age 23 Appearances: 0

NEW ZEALAND SQUEEZE PAST SAMOA

Late show: Shaun Kenny-Dowall gets the winning try

RUGBY LEAGUE New Zealand needed a late try from Shaun Kenny-Dowall to beat Samoa 14-12 at the Four Nations tournament. Samoa, who went close to defeating England last week, were 8-6 ahead at halftime after tries from Tautau Moga and Daniel Vidot.

Joey Leilua claimed a third try but scores from Jason Nightingale and Kenny-Dowall denied Samoa a win as they paid the price for poor kicking in Whangarei.

HALSALL STRIKES GOLD

SWIMMING Fran Halsall won two medals at the Fina World Cup in Singapore as the British team enjoyed a good opening day. Halsall, 24, picked up gold in the 50m freestyle and silver in the 50m backstroke. Her teammates Siobhan-Marie O’Connor (200m individual medley) and Andrew Willis (200m breaststroke) won silver, and there were bronzes for Georgia Davies (50m backstroke), Jazz Carlin (800m freestyle), Adam Barrett (100m freestyle) and Liam Tancock (100m individual medley). The meeting finishes today.

ICE ALERT FOR SAILORS

SAILING An ice exclusion zone has been imposed at the Volvo Ocean Race after a large iceberg was spotted near the route of the first leg from Spain to South Africa. The competitors are now in the South Atlantic, midway between Brazil and Cape Town. The zone was set up to keep them clear of the iceberg, which is said to be as big as an office block. Boats risk penalties if they get too close. Abu Dhabi Ocean Race, skippered by Briton Ian Walker, inset, is the race leader.

WILLIAMS IN HOSPITAL

FORMULA ONE Sir Frank Williams is being treated in hospital for what has been described as routine treatment for a pressure sore on his back. The 72-year-old has been quadriplegic since a road accident in 1986. His daughter Claire, the deputy team principal, missed the US Grand Prix to be with him at Stoke Mandeville. The team said: ‘They’ve decided hospital is the best place for routine treatment and he is responding well ... he is expected to be in hospital for a couple of weeks while they keep an eye on him.’

LEWIS CHASES PARK

GOLF Stacy Lewis shot a third-round 64 to narrow the gap on leader Inbee Park at the Taiwan Championship in Taipei. The American, inset, is 17 under par and joint second with Shanshan Feng of China. Park, who shot 62 in the second round, is four shots clear on 195. At the CIMB Classic on the PGA Tour, Americans Kevin Na and Ryan Moore share the lead at 12 under. Spain’s Sergio Garcia has a share of second place in Kuala Lumpur.

GIANTS GO TOP ICE HOCKEY Belfast Giants moved to the top of the Elite League with a 4-1 home win against Braehead Clan. Clint Peacock scored twice as the Giants halted the Clan’s winning run.

ALLEN REACHES CHINESE FINAL SNOOKER Mark Allen clinched a thrilling 9-8 win over Mark Williams at the International Championship in Chengdu, writes Hector Nunns. Allen, inset, will face Ricky Walden today for a first prize of £125,000. He knocked in breaks of 92, 71, 52, 54, 105, 55, 77 and 67 before a crucial last clearance of 26 to the pink in the decider after Williams missed the last red. The Northern Ireland player said: ‘It was probably the best match I have ever been involved in – we both played well and it was a shame there had to be a loser. I want another title but Ricky is playing well and it will be tough.’

Williams said: ‘I can’t grumble, you won’t see too many better matches than that. I have played really well, the best for years, but Mark played very well too. In the end in the decider it is a fraction of an inch that has stopped me getting to the final, with that last red wobbling in the jaws of the pocket and staying there. I’m sure I would have won if that had gone in but it must have been a great match to watch, as it was to play in.’

WHAT A RESULT FOR SKELTON RACING What A Warrior, ridden by Harry Skelton and trained by his brother Dan, won the United House Gold Cup Handicap Chase at Ascot. The 7-1 shot beat Black Thunder by half a length, with Merry King third. Sign Of Victory, with Barry Geraghty on board, won the William Hill Handicap.

Fast track: 23-year-old Milos Raonic will play in his second Masters series final today but will find world No 1 Novak Djokovic a tougher prospect after an easy ride in the semi-finals against Tomas Berdych

The man with the 150mph serve stands in the way of Djokovic in today’s final. By Barry Flatman

A

week remains before the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals begin for the fifth time at London’s O2 arena and, just as it did a year ago, as well as 12 months before that, it would take a brave man to maintain Novak Djokovic is not the player most likely to prevail.

Life could currently not be more fruitful for Djokovic. He became a father for the first time 12 days ago and today bids to win the 20th Masters 1,000 series title of his exemplary career at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. Thereafter, he will set his sights on winning the year-ending climax of the men’s game for the fourth time, in doing so completing a hat-trick of back-to-back victories on the south bank of the River Thames.

Djokovic is not totally invincible on an indoor court at this time of year — it just appears that way — and when he steps into the spotlight this afternoon at the cavernous Palais Omnisports in Bercy his confidence will be buoyant after registering his 26th victory in

succession playing indoors.

Today he faces arguably the most deadly server on the men’s tour, the seventh seed Milos Raonic, who proved himself the calmer competitor against the vastly more experienced Tomas Berdych in yesterday’s first semi-final and demonstrated he was more than able to maintain his focus after producing what he described was the performance of his life to beat Roger Federer on Friday.

Raonic beat Berdych 6-3 3-6 7-5 in a match that lasted two hours and eight minutes.

Djokovic required just a fraction of that time to follow on from his Friday-night elimination of Andy Murray to beat Kei Nishikori 6-2 6-3, declaring that he feels fresh and motivated after not dropping a set all week.

“I know Milos is one of the best servers in the game and repeatedly sends the ball down close to 150mph but I think I will be ready for him. I know he is a complete player now and has very good momentum after beating Federer and Berdych back-to-back, but I’m

very happy with my game right now.” Djokovic has his sights firmly set on ending the year as the world’s top-ranked player for the third time in his career.

He has a lead of more than 1,500 points over Roger Federer, who looked so threatening after winning the pair’s last confrontation in Shanghai last month. After Federer’s surprise exit in Paris against Raonic, it will take a massive mathematical change around for the Serb to be unseated at the Tour Finals in London.

Unquestionably, Raonic will offer far sterner resistance than did Nishikori, who appeared physically unable to face the challenge of returning to court just 19 hours after guaranteeing his place in London’s select eight by beating David Ferrer in three arduous sets.

Nishikori was, of course, the player who subjected Djokovic to the most unexpected upset of his year in the US Open semi-final a couple of months ago but yesterday’s cakewalk for the Serb was a completely different story.

In September, the New York temperatures and humidity were torturous and the 24-year-old Japanese showed himself to be a player of both resilience and skill. Under a Parisian roof, things could not have been more different climatically or in the way the ball flew.

“Kei was not at his best physically, we could all see

that,” said Djokovic. “It is tough to come out and play when you finished your match earlier the same day but I knew what I had to do and, most importantly, served very well.”

Raonic will today contest only the second Masters series final of his career and he cannot possibly expect a repeat of the charity he received against fifth-seeded Berdych. Before the Czech arrives in London in midweek to prepare for the O2, he will want to purge all traces of the feeble manner in which he threw away his opportunity and folded at the end of the match.

Berdych is by far the more experienced man and seemed to have wrenched momentum away from his opponent with a solid showing in the second set.

Yet, for some reason probably only known to himself,hesuddenly appeared beset by nerves at the climax of the match and played the game of an absolute beginner to usher Raonic through.

Raonic looked rock solid on his own delivery, letting just one point slip on his first serve during the entire deciding set.

Successive Berdych double faults were followed by an errant forehand that flew long to hand his opponent two relatively cheap match points.

Only one was required as Berdych completed his display of generosity with another concluding unforced error.

“I got a little bit fortunate at

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the end of match,” admitted Raonic, whose hopes of qualifying for London seemed to have diminished earlier in the week. However, by his own admission, Friday afternoon’s quarter-final win over Federer was the match of his career so far and he was determined not to experience an emotional letdown in the aftermath.

Raonic continued: “Sure, there was a lot of motivation for me to make London but, oddly, there was no sense of relaxation once that win against Federer secured my place. I put myself under enormous pressure to maintain my mental and physical focus going in there today.

“The important thing was I

kept focusing on my serve because I know that’s where my game comes from and it seemed to work.”

Djokovic has faced Raonic three times previously and has won every time. Two of those matches have come this year, with the Canadian managing to win the initial set in Rome but then falling in straight sets just a couple of weeks later in the French Open at Roland Garros.

ON TV TODAY Novak Djokovic v Milos Raonic 2pm Sky Sports 3 RICHARD STANTON

Teenager books date with legends Young Briton wins chance to play on Sir Richard Branson’s island. By Barry Flatman THE TENNIS ladder of success has many exacting and demanding rungs and no upward step comes without toil and determination, as legends of the game such as Bjorn Borg and Boris Becker know from their own experiences. Borg and Becker know each one of those rungs, gathering 17 Grand Slam singles titles between them on their way to the top.

For youngsters barely into their teens, the ascent has not even begun yet and the climb looks incredibly steep. Yet at the age of 13 Olivia Elliott has won an opportunity her peers can only view with incredulity as she prepares for the trip of a lifetime to a Caribbean playground of billionaires.

Elliott distinguished herself as the most promising young female tennis player of her age in the United Kingdom in a recent tournament staged by the Virgin Active chain of tennis and health clubs. As a result, later this month she

will represent Britain against the United States.

This is no ordinary fixture.

Hosted by Sir Richard Branson on his Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands, entry to the Necker Cup is by invitation and the guest list is headed by Borg and Becker and features other champions such as Kim Clijsters, Jennifer Capriati, Bob and Mike Bryan, the 2012 Wimbledon winner Marion Bartoli and this summer’s runner-up, Eugenie Bouchard.

Apart from playing against a youngster who won selection in a similar competition in the US, Elliott will practise with all the top players and intends to use the experience to gather some specialist knowledge to help her fledging career. “What an opportunity, it all sounds so exciting,” said the youngster from Flitwick, Bedfordshire, who is a member of the Junior Tennis Coaching (JTC) squad based at Virgin Active’s Northwood Riverside Club in

Middlesex. “Look at some of those names. It seems unreal that I will be hitting tennis balls with them on the practice courts.”

Will she be star-struck?

“Oh no, I don’t think so,” she says. “I’m quite a confident kid really and happy to ask anybody questions. For anyone who wants to become a top-flight tennis player, you would be dumb not to find out what makes them all tick and be champions.”

Admittedly on a slightly lower scale, Elliott is used to daily interaction with some of Britain’s tennis celebrities. At JTC she is coached by Jo Durie, the former world No5, her long-time coach Alan Jones and David Felgate, the man who guided Tim Henman

LOOK AT SOME OF THE NAMES. IT SEEMS UNREAL THAT I WILL BE HITTING TENNIS BALLS WITH THEM

to the world’s top 10. Until recently Borna Coric, who this week entered the ATP World Tour’s top 100 at the age of 17, and the WTA’s current world No 84, Donna Vekic, trained alongside her at Northwood.

JTC was founded by the venture capitalist Clive Sherling and his wife Sally.

Sherling, a former chairman of the Football Foundation, was also vice-chairman of Wembley stadium for 10 years during its rebuilding.

Three years ago he turned his back on football. Instead he decided to invest in tennis, first backing the Australian Bernard Tomic before deciding to pump a six-figure sum each year into JTC. “I’m delighted to see Olivia get recognition so early on,” said Sherling. “I watched her playing in the national 12 and under championships at Bournemouth and remember telling David [Felgate] I was really excited by what I saw.

She clearly has something.”

Olivia’s coaches all agree.

“Getting this trip to the Necker Cup is a reflection of the hard work Olivia has put in since she came to us,” said Jones. “Now we are looking forward to exciting things in her future but Olivia knows there is a long way to go and the hard work is only going to get harder.”

Durie has been aware of

Early riser: Olivia Elliott is making an impression at the age of 13 Olivia since she was 8 years old and accompanied her elder brother James on a tennis trip to La Manga, Spain.

“You could see Olivia was potentially something special and now she is a very exciting prospect,” said Durie.

“She is already quite mature physically and hits the ball very hard. The thing for her will be learning to control her power because sometimes the people standing behind the fence around the court are in danger as she can be so wayward.”

With her tall, athletic stature and long blonde hair, it is easy to draw parallels with Maria Sharapova and the world No 2 is the player Elliott would most like to emulate. “I like the Sharapova attitude on

court, she has a great determination to win and I don’t mind the grunting,” she said. “In fact I’m being coached to do it because when you breathe out like that you relieve the tension.”

This week Elliott was runner-up to a girl more than three years her senior in the final of a junior event in Shrewsbury open to 18-yearolds and under, and on Tuesday she makes her international debut for Britain in a 14 and under match against France at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton.

For the future, take note of the name. For the time being, simply envy her as she heads to Necker Island and wish her luck on that first step up that ladder.

M OT O R R A C I N G

02.11.14 / 11 RICHARD CASTKA

CLIVE MASON

French connection: Alexander Levy on his way to a 63

Levy laughing all way to bank The French golfer goes for his third victory of the season in China today, writes Nick Pitt GOLF

LEWIS SECONDBEST

American nightmare: Lewis Hamilton repeatedly locked his brakes during qualifying for the US Grand Prix and finished second-quickest, 0.3sec slower than teammate and pole-setter Nico Rosberg

The battle for the F1 drivers’ title is overshadowed by a financial crisis, writes Mark Hughes

T

he demise of Caterham and Marussia within days of each other has highlighted growing concerns about Formula One’s finances as the surviving nine teams gathered for the American Grand Prix in Austin.

However, as far as the big teams are concerned there is no problem to be addressed, let alone any need to find a solution.

The reaction of sport’s main players highlights where the problemlies.“Theywereteams that were adding little to the show and going around with the begging bowls out,” was how they summed it up, with the implication that the loss of the four slowest cars from the back of the grid does not represent a serious problem for the sport.

The response of Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, seemed to sum up how many felt. “In our case we are representing a multi-national car company. This is a branding exercise, and we are showcasing our technology. [But] if you look at Marussia and Caterham, when they joined the sport it was entrepreneurs deciding to join F1 and maybe underestimating what it meant joining that field.

“This is the pinnacle of motor racing and if you want to compete at the pinnacle you need to have the resources to compete there.”

The small teams argue that the mixture of large manufacturer-backed teams and smaller independents is essential for the continued stability of F1, to prevent it becoming vulnerable to corporate boardroom decisions to withdraw.

The problem is that the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren have negotiated a much greater proportion of the income generated by the sport than the minnows and the introduction this year of new hybrid engine technology has increased annual engine bills from £5m to £18m. This has been enough to push Caterham and Marussia over the brink.

Gerard Lopez, boss of the

independent Lotus team, makes a case for all the small teams when he says: “It’s OK to say you shouldn’t spend more than you have. But certain decisions on budget are forced upon you — just by the fact that that’s what the market is giving you. If I take the example of Marussia and Caterham, knowing what they must have paid for the engine this year and what they have paid for developing around that engine, I guarantee that in the budgets they had, there was not a lot left, so it’s not like they had a choice.

“The distribution model of revenues is completely wrong.

Some teams get paid more just for showing up than the annual budgets of the small teams.

Something is wrong with the system and it cannot be allowed to happen. Now is not the time to be talking about it but the time to be acting. The birth of the new engines happened when we started talking about cutting costs and so forth. Yet the new engine —

WHEN YOU HAVE THREE BIG TEAMS THAT ARE PAYING OUT A FORTUNE TO GET BEATEN, WHAT HAPPENS THEN?

which from a technology perspective is a great thing — saw the costs passed on to all the teams. In our case, between the engine and development we probably spent something like $50m. That’s not cost-cutting in our books, that’s throwing money out the window.”

But as much as Lopez and other team principals are crying out for action on cost controls and re-aligned income distribution, neither the sport’s governing body nor the commercial owners appear inclined to listen. When a spokesman refused to rule out a suggestion that three teams could boycott this race, it was to draw attention to their plight rather than a serious suggestion. If that did happen and the grid fell below 16 cars it would vilate agreements between the sport’s owners and the promoters.

The bigger picture was forgotten for an hour during qualifying around the track in Austin, where Nico Rosberg underlined that he is still

STANDINGS

TODAY’S UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX GRID 1

N Rosberg (Ger, Mercedes)

1:36.067

10

A Sutil (Ger, Sauber)

1:38.810

2

L Hamilton (GB, Mercedes)

1:36.443

11

P Maldonado (Ven, Lotus)

1:38.467

3

V Bottas (Fin, Williams)

1:36.906

12

S Perez (Mex, Force India)

1:38.554

4

F Massa (Bra, Williams)

1:37.205

13

N Hulkenberg (Ger, Force India)

1:38.598

5

D Ricciardo (Aus, Red Bull)

1:37.244

14

D Kvyat (Rus, Toro Rosso)

1:38.699

6

F Alonso (Spa, Ferrari)

1:37.610

15

J Vergne (Fra, Toro Rosso)

1:39.250

7

J Button (GB, McLaren)

1:37.655

16

E Gutierrez (Mex, Sauber)

1:39.555

8

K Magnussen (Den, McLaren)

1:37.706

17

S Vettel (Ger, Red Bull)

1:39.621

9

K Raikkonen (Fin, Ferrari)

1:37.804

18

R Grosjean (Fra, Lotus)

1:39.679

Drivers’ standings 1 L Hamilton 291pts 2 N Rosberg 274 3 D Ricciardo 199 4 V Bottas 145 5 S Vettel 143 6 F Alonso 141 7 J Button 94 8 N Hulkenberg 76 Constructors’ standings 1 Mercedes 565 2 Red Bull 342 3 Williams 216 4 Ferrari 188 5 McLaren 143 6 Force India 123

fighting for this championship, with a superb lap to take pole position ahead of Lewis Hamilton, his Mercedes teammate. “I arrived with a car that I was happy with. It was quite a challenge because the track was changing all the time with the wind and temperature,” he said. Championship leader Hamilton was frustrated after repeatedly locking his brakes.

“I struggled. The left brake temperature was always lower than the right and it kept locking. But even without that I’m not sure I could have done Nico’s time.”

Hamilton and the team were looking to identify the cause of the problem for it could affect him in the race. Williams locked up the second row with Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull and Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari. Jenson Button takes a five-place penalty for a gearbox change and will start the race from 12th place.

Sebastian Vettel starts his Red Bull from the pit lane after incurring engine and gearbox change penalties.

Without the lower budget Marussia and Caterham teams propping up the back, Lotus’ Romain Grosjean — second here last year – found himself at the end of the pack, emphasising the point of Force India’s Vijay Mallya when he said: “When no small teams are left and you have only four big teams and three of them are getting beat, paying a fortune to get beat, what happens then?”

ON TV TODAY US Grand Prix 7pm Sky Sports F1, race starts 8pm Highlights 10.30pm, BBC1

WHEN Jamie Donaldson fired an approach shot to tap-in distance on the 15th hole at Gleneagles just over a month ago to beat Keegan Bradley and secure victory for Europe in the Ryder Cup, he called it “the wedge shot of my life”.

The Welshman hit an even better one yesterday, albeit in less exalted and public circumstances. On the 16th hole of his third round at the BMW Masters in Shanghai, Donaldson’s wedge shot landed nine inches beyond and a little to the side of the hole, and spun back as if held by string, to disappear for an eagle two.

That single shot, the highlight of his wonderful 10-under-par round of 62, gave Donaldson a chance of making today’s final round a little more interesting.

Until then, it had all seemed like a procession to victory for the tournament leader, Alexander Levy of France.

Of all those in pursuit, including several of Donaldson’s Ryder Cup teammates, it was only Donaldson who was able to keep pace with a young man who is in the form of his life.

Levy, in a league of his own thus far with rounds of 65, 66 and 63, leads at 22 under par. Donaldson is four strokes behind, with Marcel Siem one further back and Justin Rose in fourth place at 15 under par.

At 7,600 yards, and with little run on the fairways after three days of damp conditions, the course at the Lake Malaren club was playing long, which suited Levy who can hit his drives 300 yards with monotonous regularity, but the scoring was remarkably low.

Two or even three under par was just not good enough to make progress up the leaderboard. Indeed, Nicolas Colsaerts, the halfway leader by a stroke from Levy, shot a oneover-par 73 that left him nine shots adrift, his chances of victory surely gone.

Donaldson apart, the honours fell to Levy. It was not just his scintillating score of 63, with nine birdies and nine pars, that impressed, but the way that he expressed joy and style as well as substance.

As is his way, he was smiling all afternoon and chatting merrily with his playing partners, Colsaerts,

of Belgium, and Romain Wattel, another promising Frenchman.

Wattel and Levy have been friends since their days in junior golf. Since they are sharing a room at the current event, they have hardly been out of each other’s sight for a day.

However, they will be separated today since Wattel’s third-round 71 dropped him down to a share of seventh place with Graeme McDowell at seven under par.

Levy played quickly and without fuss and attacked the course all the way.

Every drive was fired long and straight; his iron shots were struck cleanly and purely and his putting was excellent.

It was the stuff of dreams.

“I played amazing golf,” Levy said in his clear but limited English. “I’m very surprised with myself.”

At 24, and in his second season on the European Tour, Levy is clearly a star in the making. Should he finish the task today, it will be his third win this year.

Levy won the Volvo Open, also in China, in April, by four strokes with a 19under-par score. He added the Portugal Masters last month, an event that was reduced to 36 holes because of incessant rain. Levy shot rounds of 63 and 61 in Portugal and was 19 under par.

“In China, it’s very target golf,” he said. “I like that.”

When he looks to the future, as he did earlier in the week, he makes the Ryder Cup of 2018, to be held in Versailles, as a specific target, and suggests that there might be two or three French players in Europe’s team. With Victor Dubuisson established as one of the world’s best young players and Levy rapidly ascending to that status, such a prospect seems likely.

For the moment, Levy knows that he must continue to attack or risk being overtaken because very low scores are there for the taking. But win or lose, the admirable Frenchman is in the right frame of mind and will take some beating.

“I’m going to enjoy it,” he said.

ON TV TODAY BMW Masters, final round

6am Sky Sports 4, Highlights, 6.30pm, Sky Sports 4

SPORT

1 2 / S P O RT JOHN GILES

Moody Menorah back to his best to see off favourite Silviniaco Conti’s lacklustre run at Wetherby opens the door for rival, writes Andrew Longmore THE turn of the month saw the first real jousts of the new jumping season and it was not too early for a few big reputations to be hard hit on both sides of the Irish Sea. Silviniaco Conti, Boston Bob and At Fishers Cross, all topclass horses expected to play a major part in the narrative of the season, were well beaten and though there were excuses in all cases, ranging from the state of the ground to the time of the year, several trainers were left looking more than a little bemused.

Paul Nicholls, the champion trainer, has spent much of the summer scratching his head

about the way his best chaser, Silviniaco Conti, faded out of the places after leading the field over the last fence in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March.

One conclusion was that the eight-year-old was better suited to a flatter track than Cheltenham, but despite jumping neatly and fluently all the way in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby yesterday, Silviniaco Conti, the even money favourite, never managed to shake off a posse of pursuers coming into the home straight and again faded disappointingly over the last two fences as first Double Ross

and then, decisively, the idiosyncratic Menorah swept past him.

Mindful of his next assignment in the Betfair Chase at Haydock Park, Noel Fehily did not give Silviniaco Conti a tough time thereafter but fifth place behind the 8-1 winner Menorah, who provided Philip Hobbs and Richard Johnson with their second successive major Saturday winner, was not the sort of preparation that Nicholls had in mind for his King George winner.

“He ran a bit lazy in front,” said Nicholls. “Noel thought he got a bit tired from the back of the third-last. He probably needs a real fast

end-to-end gallop like the King George and he may now need a run to improve him.”

Menorah’s erratic form has caused Hobbs to pull out a few hairs in recent years but the resurgence of the Hobbs and Johnson team, who have endured a frustrating time recently, has been one of the features of the season so far.

Menorah has always possessed huge talent when the ground is right and the mood takes him, but he bounded clear of a top-class field with all the enthusiasm of a novice in his first victory over three miles.

“I suppose we’re going to have to start thinking about King Georges and races like that,” said the always taciturn

Last night’s Breeders’ Cup For a report on last night’s Breeders’ Cup meeting see our tablet edition or go to thesundaytimes.co.uk/sport

HOOP DREAMS

trainer. Taquin Du Seuil, one of the leading novices of last season, plugged on into second, proving at least to the satisfaction of his trainer, Jonjo O’Neill, that he stays three miles. He will take on Silviniaco Conti again in the Betfair Chase.

At Fishers Cross, third in the World Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, never really got in a blow on Cole Harden, who profited from an enterprising ride from Gavin Sheehan to take the Grade 2 bet365 Hurdle.

Nicholls’s mood would have been lightened by the stout performance of Rocky Creek in the opening Grade One chase of the season at Down Royal, which produced an eye-catching pillar-to-post win for Road To Riches, trained by Noel Meade.

The way the second-season chaser skipped over his fences and simply galloped more

experienced campaigners like Boston Bob and First Lieutenant into the ground confirmed both his superior fitness after a busy summer and his growing confidence under Paul Carberry, and he might well be a force in the major chases this season.

Rocky Creek, fifth in the Grand National, kept on well to chase the winner home.

Nicholls also had to be content with second in the big race of the afternoon at Ascot, though it was a case of the apprentice bettering the master as What A Warrior, trained by Dan Skelton, just outlasted Nicholls’s Black Thunder in the United House Gold Cup Handicap Chase.

Until last season, Skelton, the son of Olympic showjumper Nick Skelton, was a pivotal member of Nicholls’s backroom team at Ditcheat, but with his brother Harry as stable jockey Skelton launched out on his own last season and already has

One jump ahead: Menorah and Richard Johnson take command enjoyed remarkable success.

“I learnt from the master that you’ve got to have a plan,” he said Dan Skelton after What A Warrior’s game front-running victory. “Once he’d won at Ludlow, we had this race in mind. I’m delighted for my connections but I’m also gutted I had to beat Paul because I know Black Thunder’s owners so well CHRISTIAN PETERSEN

Aussies head for series defeat CRICKET Amlan Chakraborty AUSTRALIA were bowled out for 261 and finished the third day of the second and final Test trailing Pakistan by 370 runs. It left Pakistan on the verge of their first series win against the visitors in 20 years.

Resuming on 22 for one after Pakistan had declared their first innings on 570 for six, Australia lost four wickets in the morning session and three more after lunch at Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed stadium.

Pakistan polished them off after tea but did not enforce the follow-on.

Mitchell Marsh was Australia’s top scorer, making 87 before being caught by Rahat Ali off the bowling of Imran Khan.

Australia, who were thrashed in the first Test in Dubai, lost their top order before lunch. David Warner chased a short and wide delivery from Rahat Ali to find the point fielder and depart on 19.

There was never any doubt about Glenn Maxwell’s aggression but he fell after a brisk 37 off 28 balls. He stepped out to smash Zulfiqar Babar over the long-off boundary for a six and charged out again

Popular team sports such as basketball may at last be about to get the funding they deserve

U

K Sport’s decision to review the way it distributes its annual £100m of government and national lottery funding is to be welcomed.

During the next three months the body responsible for dispensing taxpayers’ money to elite athletes will consult with various stakeholders and evaluate its findings by February next year.

After the dismal performance of the Great Britain team at the Atlanta Olympics 18 years ago it was obvious something needed to be done. One gold medal for a sport-loving developed country with a population at that point of 58 million people represented a staggering underachievement and since those 1996 Games things have got much better.

Back then Britain finished 36th in the medal table, between Ethiopia and Belarus.

There was a dramatic improvement at Sydney four years later, slight regression at Athens 2004 and spectacular improvement since then. Third place in the Olympic medal table at London two years ago was a magnificent effort and provided apparent vindication of UK Sport’s funding policy.

Since then UK Sport has basked in the glory of Britain’s athletes knowing that its “no compromise” policy to funding had delivered more gold medals than even the optimists anticipated. This would be easy to applaud if gold medals were all that mattered but they present a misleading picture of Britain’s worth as a sporting nation.

When one strips away the glossy veneer it is easy to see the cost of channelling so much energy and funding into the pursuit of medals.

For example, participation in sport in Britain has fallen since London 2012; so much for a home Olympics inspiring a nation to get out and exercise.

Earlier this year the European Commission published a report on sport and physical activity.

The percentage of Britons who never exercise or play sport is 35. In Sweden the figure is 9%, 14% in Denmark and 15% in Finland.

Britons are not nearly active enough. There isn’t enough sport and physical exercise in our state schools, there aren’t

David Walsh

CHIEF SPORTS WRITER enough affordable facilities for older people and there isn’t nearly enough recognition of the idea that everyone has the righttoengageinsport.Instead too much emphasis has been placed on the elite level and a growingexploitationofsportas a way of building a stronger “nation brand”.

When confronted with the problems that lie beneath the elite surface, UK Sport’s response has been to insist participation levels and related problems are not part of its remit, that it exists solely to help top athletes win Olympic and other major championship medals. This has been a convenient way of absolving itself of all responsibility.

If gold medals are everything, team sports are doomed because the cost of preparing a team to win at the Olympics is prohibitive. In the modern jargon, they provide a poor return on investment. Team GB performed outstandingly at London 2012 but only one GB team actually won a medal, a bronze in the ladies hockey.

In a culture where gold medals are everything UKSport has targeted the sports that offer the best chance of a return on their investment. Track cycling was alwaysgoing tobe abeneficiary of this policy. How many countries have a velodrome and a well-funded programme that provides proper support to athletes in a highly technical discipline? Very few.

What Sir Dave Brailsford achieved with the track cyclists was immense but without huge backing it would not have been possible. Britain have achieved significant success in sailing, rowing and equestrianism in recent Olympics partly because they are sports confined mostly to the developed

too.” The next, more ambitious, plan for What A Warrior is the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury this month.

Never one to be left out on winter Saturdays, Nicky Henderson will also have to aim higher with Sign Of A Victory, who oozed class under Barry Geraghty in winning the William Hill Handicap Hurdle at Ascot.

Marsh: top-scored with 87

Poor relations: UK Sport is reviewing its ‘no compromise’ policy of funding medal hopefuls, which has hindered the encouraging progress of Britain’s basketball team world and are not as global as sports such as athletics, football and basketball. But they have delivered medals and they are big winners in UK Sport’s game.

This raises the issue of fairness in British society and the equality of sporting opportunity. Most people agree that every child should have access

to sport but it is now a matter of fact that those children who attend independent feepaying schools are between five and six times more likely to win an Olympic medal than children who attend state schools.

If you pay the private school fee you get a superior sporting experience. When you then

emerge as one of the country’s most promising rowers or sailor or horse riders, there is a good chance UK Sport will fund you all the way to the Olympics. And so the inequality perpetrated by our two-tier educational system is exacerbated by UK Sport’s funding policy.

The daftness of this

approach was shown by the body’s decision to cut off all fundingtobasketballbecauseit couldn’t see that sport winning a medal in Rio two years from now.

This decision had serious ramifications for a sport that had been making excellent progress in the international arena and it sent out a message

HOW DAVID WALSH LED THE PROTEST OVER FUNDING OF ELITE SPORT

David Walsh, chief sports writer of The Sunday Times, has led the way in questioning the pursuit of medals by funding elite sport at the expense of more popular activities. In July, he questioned the decision to commit more than £30m of funding to winter Olympians. He wrote: ‘You don’t need to be the sports minister to

know medals are easier to win in skeleton or curling than in, say, basketball. But this doesn’t seem to matter. If tiddlywinks became an Olympic sport we’d be in there . . . probably with £6.5m funding for the nation’s best tiddlywinker.’

A week later he highlighted the plight of basketball in this country — a sport enjoyed

by millions, often in inner-city areas — which had its funding cut to nothing. He said its players are ‘always from diverse backgrounds, black and white, a few haves, plenty of have-nots. Basketball can’t help the medal count because it competes in a global sport with an estimated 450m participants.’

that was patently unfair and anti-sport.

Basketball is not like equestrianism or sailing or rowing, it is played in inner cities across the world and Olympic medals are exceedingly hard to win.

Even in Britain, where there is no winning tradition in basketball, the numbers who play are impressive and the social demographic even more so.

Basketball is the only sport in Britain where the majority of participants are drawn from black and minority ethnic communities.

UK Sport told basketball it wasn’t a realistic medal prospect in Rio and therefore would not receive a penny.

That meant more funding for the rowers, sailors and horse riders, not to mention our burgeoning Winter Olympics team. This pursuit of gold medals to the exclusion of fair play and common sense simply has to end and hopefully this UK Sport review will be the beginning of that.

to play against the spin but had his off-stump removed.

Nathan Lyon survived several leg-before appeals but Pakistan refused to waste reviews on a nightwatchman. Rahat finally ended Lyon’s 85ball vigil, pushing one through his bat and pad to claim his second wicket.

Pakistan did not hesitate, however, to seek a review to dismiss Steve Smith, who was hit on the pad by a Babar delivery and was out without scoring.

Michael Clarke offered some resistance but after repeatedly failing to middle Imran’s reverse-swinging balls, the captain had his middle stump removed on 47 by one that curved back from outside off stump and through the bat-pad gap.

Brad Haddin made 10 before Yasir Shah claimed his wicket and then dismissed Mitchell Johnson without scoring. Marsh was next out, followed immediately by Peter Siddle, who made 28.

Pakistan were 61 for two at the close, having lost Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez.

0Scoreboard, p15

02.11.14 / 13 JEFF J MITCHELL

RYAN PIERSE

On the up: Archibald is the rising star of British track cycling

Teen tearaway targets Rio gold Scotland’s Katie Archibald has always been ahead of the rest.

Andrew Longmore reports CYCLING

PICK AND MIX

Crossing new boundaries: mixed sport relays and races have been popular in triathlon, which England won, inset in Glasgow in July, as well as in swimming, sailing and modern pentathlon

Mixed sport is a big hit in a range of sports and will take off in the Olympics. By Andrew Longmore

T

HE significance of one medal at the last Olympics was rather lost in the celebrations of Team GB’s overall triumph.

After all, Andy Murray and Laura Robson “only” won silver in the mixed doubles at tennis. It was not the result but the event that was important.

The return of one of the most traditional forms of the game to the Olympics, for the first time in 88 years, was regarded at the time merely as a nod to history and to the lawns of middle England. But mixed sport is now at the forefront of the International Olympic Committee’s move to broaden the appeal of Olympic sports and further integrate men’s and women’s sport.

In the past four years swimming, diving, modern pentathlon and triathlon have introduced mixed team events or relays at elite level. Sailing has gone a step further by including a class for a mixed pair, the multi-hull Nacra 17, at the next Games in Rio. What next? A mixed 4 x 100m relay on the track? Mixed golf?

“Why not?” says Sir Craig Reedie, the British representative on the IOC’s executive board. “It’s all part of being seen as more flexible, more modern and more attractive to young people and families.

International federations are being encouraged by the IOC to look at this very closely.”

Mixed sport ticks many boxes for the IOC. It is different, gives smaller nations a chance of a medal, particularly in sports such as swimming, helps to equalise the number of male and female athletes at the Games — 56-44% in London — brings more attention to women’s sport and makes a stronger connection between elite and grassroots sport. It also revives the idea, rather lost in the recent cold-eyed pursuit of gold, that sport can be fun, even at the highest level.

Mixed events have become a feature of the Youth Olympics

and have worked their way up to elite level. The recent European swimming championships included a mixed 4x100m medley relay (two women, two men) and next year’s world championships could include two mixed relays, medley and freestyle. At the Commonwealth Games the new mixed triathlon relay, a regular event at world championships, was deemed a huge success by spectators and athletes.

Modern pentathlon, desperate to hold its place on the Olympic schedule and therefore a good barometer of future demands, held its first mixed relay — a sort of T20 version of the full pentathlon — at the 2011 world championships.

“It adds another dimension to the sport and it’s exciting,” says Chris Spice, performance director of GB swimming. “In some events it can be ‘same old, same old’, but a mixed relay is harder to predict. The fans like

IT ADDS ANOTHER DIMENSION AND ENGAGES THE WHOLE FAMILY. MIXED SPORT IS VERY MUCH PART OF THE FUTURE FOR THE IOC

that, so do the media. It’s a way to engage the whole family. I think we’ll see more mixed events come on to the Olympic programme and for me as a coach that’s very exciting.”

In triathlon, the order is fixed—girl,boy,girl,boy—but therearetacticaldecisionstobe made about how best to balance the different strengths of the athletes over a shortened course. The added twist in a mixed relay in the pool is that while the stroke order is fixed, the positioning of the swimmers is not. Any one of the quartet, male or female, can swim any leg, which makes the race tactically interesting.

“Generally the men swim the breaststroke, which is the longest leg but, apart from that, it’s up in the air,” says Spice.

“At the Europeans, we opened up a gap of three or four seconds on the Germans and the French, but we didn’t know howmuchofagapweneeded.”

FOUR POSSIBLE MIXED OLYMPIC EVENTS Athletics: 4 x 100m relay

Imagine a Jamaican line-up of Veronica CampbellBrown, Yohan Blake, Shelly-Ann FraserPryce and Usain Bolt, inset, world and Olympic champions all, taking to the track

Track cycling: Madison

The Madison, where teams of two slingshot each

other into the race, is no longer on the Olympic schedule, but a mixed event would surely help to revive it.

A British duo of Mark Cavendish and Laura Trott, inset?

Golf: pairs

At the recent Youth Olympics in Nanjing, the mixed event produced the most

dramatic finish of the Games, a victory for the Swedish pair on the final hole. Otherwise golf at the Olympics is just another tournament

Shooting: mixed teams

The first European Games in Baku next year, promoted by the European

Olympic Committee, features four mixed team events in rifle, air pistol, trap and skeet. Up to 1984, when women only events were introduced, all Olympic events were open to men and women, though the men usually won. A mixed event would be an obvious next step

It proved enough as GB won.

“I remember in my hockey playing days there were mixed teams and whole families would play. Now there’s some access to that spirit at the elite level. There’s still that fun element, but it’s a chance to win another medal so mixed relays will be subject to the same level of scrutiny as any other discipline,” says Spice.

When the Nacra 17 class was added to the Olympic programme the demand for the new boats initially outstripped supply. All the quotas for major regattas are full already.

“It’s a new discipline for everybody so it’s more of a level playing field and that helps some of the developing nations,” says Stephen Park, the GB sailing team manager.

“As a coach, having a mixed crew is another challenge, trying to get the people with the right skills in the right boats. Getting on well appears to be more important than in same-sex crews, male or female.”

In the early stages, Park allowed the sailors to choose their own crews, but when the squad was recently reduced to three crews there was some judicious mixing and matching. The old way, man at the helm barking instructions, is not necessarily best. “At the first regatta, the first five boats all had female helms,” says Park. “A few months later, the first five all had male helms.”

Park issurethat mixed sailing is here to stay. “It’s been really well received,” he says. “The crews enjoy it. It’s different.”

Importantly for the IOC, the format is familiar to many couples who go sailing every weekend. Far from being a relic of the past, mixed doubles is very much the future for Olympic sport.

ONE indelible image emerges from the early career of Katie Archibald, the newest rising star of Britain’s track cycling team.

It is of Archibald pedalling for her life round the flat grass tracks of theHighland Games, pursued — because, as the only girl in the field, she was given a half-lap start — by a peloton of middle-aged Scots, who, more often than not, were still chasing in vain by the finishing line.

“I was about 15 or 16 and had a ponytail at the time, so it was clear who the girl was,” Archibald recalls.

“They gave me a large head start but they didn’t realise I could pedal a bit. I feel quite guilty now because I wasn’t paying my parents for petrol or lunch or anything but I still pocketed the prize money.”

Her biggest purse was £50. “My clothes money,” she says. “They were proper Highland Games, tossing the caber, running races and Highland dancers, all that. I didn’t really have the right tyres on my bike so there were a few wipe-outs, but it was fun. I suppose I was a professional bike racer even back then.”

The experience helped when she took the giant step up to one of the most successful teams in Olympic sport. Two years ago, Archibald was being recommended to the academy programme in Scotland; shortly after, she won the national junior pursuit title and was invited to attend the GB Academy in Manchester.

“I was put in the box room at the house for the Academy riders,” she says.

“It didn’t have a bed so I knew it was a bit lastminute. It was all fairly terrifying at first. On the track it was: ‘OK, which line do we take?’ and trying to listen to the shouts of the other riders. If someone says ‘hold’ you slow down, if they say ‘squeeze’ you go harder. I thought they said ‘easy’ not ‘squeeze’ so I slowed down.

“Do we share milk in the house? Do we eat dinner

VOTE FOR YOUR TEAM OF THE YEAR

THE SHORTLIST of finalists for the 2014 Sunday Times and Sky Sports Sportswomen of the Year Awards has been confirmed – and the British public have the opportunity to vote for the leading female sports team of this year. Now in their 27th year, the awards celebrate the outstanding contribution to sport made by elite performers, coaches, administrators, community volunteers and inspirational female figures. On the evening of Wednesday, November 19, the awards will be broadcast live on Sky Sports for the second successive year. And readers of The Sunday Times can get involved by voting online for their Team of the Year. A fourteam shortlist has been drawn up to celebrate the achievements of Britain’s successful collective efforts

HOW TO VOTE

The online voting process, which opens today, will close at midday on Tuesday, November 11. The winner will be announced at the awards ceremony. A panel of judges met last week to select shortlists for five of the seven awards To submit your online vote visit:

thesundaytimes.co.uk/swoty2014

ENGLAND CRICKET TEAM

Led superbly by captain Charlotte Edwards, the England cricket team retained the women’s Ashes after a 10-8 points victory over Australia in the multi-format series. After wins in 1996 and 2008, this was only the third time in 80 years that England had won the Ashes Down Under

ENGLAND RUGBY UNION TEAM

Having lost in the previous three finals, England made amends this year by lifting the rugby World Cup for the first time in 20 years. They beat Canada 21-9 in Paris in August with top scorer Emily Scarratt playing a starring role in the final by scoring 16 points, including a crucial late try

The shortlist of finalists for 2014 THE SUNDAY TIMES & SKY SPORTS SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR

Charlotte Dujardin, Fran Halsall, Laura Massaro, Jo Pavey, Joanna Rowsell, Lizzy Yarnold

YOUNG SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR

Dina Asher-Smith, Claudia Fragapane, Morgan Lake, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor

DISABILITY SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR

Libby Clegg, Kelly Gallagher & guide Charlotte Evans, Stephanie Slater, Jordanne Whiley

GREAT BRITAIN 4X100M ATHLETICS RELAY SQUAD

Britain’s leading female sprinters were one of the sporting success stories of the summer. They became European champions in Zurich, won bronze at the Commonwealth Games behind Jamaica and Nigeria – and twice broke the 34year national 4x100m record

COMMUNITY AWARD

ROWERS HELEN GLOVER & HEATHER STANNING

The London Olympic champions resumed their partnership this year – and once again it proved to be a winning combination. The rowing partners blitzed the coxless pairs field at the world championships in August in a world record time

Emma Brown (member of Hat-Trick Project, Newcastle), Sue Frett (founder of Surrey branch of the Special Olympics GB), Esther Matthews (coach at Green Star Canoe Club, Doncaster), Nicole Napier (sports activities team leader, activeNewham, east London) 6 Winnersofthe LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD andthe HELEN ROLLASON AWARD FOR INSPIRATION will be announced on the evening The Sportswomen of the Year Awards are supported by The Sunday Times Wine Club, Sport and Recreation Alliance, UK Sport, Sport England and the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation

together? When new girls come up now, I try to remember the little things that scared me.”

Nothing much seems to scare Archibald once she is on her bike. She is already a world champion in the team pursuit, and at the recent European Championships joined Laura Trott, Elinor Barker and Jo Rowsell to take the team title before adding a second gold to her tally in the pursuit.

This week, at the opening world cup of the season in Guadalajara, Mexico, the focus of the 20-year-old from Milngavie, near Glasgow, might switch to the Omnium. Archibald’s long-term goal is to win gold in the team pursuit in Rio, but being chosen as a natural replacement for Laura Trott in the six-event Omnium is a reflection of her versatility and her growing status within the GB squad. “I feel comfortable as one of the strong riders now.”

If Rowsell’s opening half lap is the fastest in the team and Trott’s second half is, in Archibald’s words, “insanely fast”, Archibald boasts the fastest overall lap.

She has also learnt to adapt her almost freakish one-lap pace to the requirements of the team: at the start, picking up the tempo in mid-race or pushing hard at the close. Either way, the numbers have confirmed what the pursuing Scots at the Highland Games knew long ago — the girl with the ponytail has a deceptively powerful engine.

“My dad was a miler and my brother is a 400m swimmer so I guess along with the team pursuit we’re all in the three-to-fiveminute basket,” she says.

“It’s a whole lot of hard work, a whole lot of nurture but there’s a bit of nature in there as well.”

Archibald was a swimmer too in her early days, a breaststroker in the great Scottish tradition.

“I’m not sure what interested me as a swimmer now I look back at it,” she says. “It was just habit, I suppose. Perhaps that was why I ended up falling out of one sport and into another.”

SPORTSWOMEN ON SKY SPORTS This week on Sportswomen we welcome Sport England CEO Jennie Price, who will talk to us about a new £10m investment called “This Girl Can” - designed to get more women aged 14-40 exercising. Following the first Women’s Sport Conference hosted by Helen Grant and the Women in Sport charity this week, we review the key areas of development the conference identified and look at where women’s sport goes from here.

Elsewhere, we announce the winner of October’s Sportswoman of the Month vote and remind viewers about how they can vote for their Team of the Year for the Sunday Times and Sky Sports Sportswomen of the Year Awards. Sportswomen is live on Sky Sports News HQ on Tuesday at 1130, repeated at 7pm on Sky Sports 4 that evening before being available On Demand and on Sky Living on Sunday at 10am. You can join in the discussion on Twitter using #Sportswomen or download the podcast at www.skysports.com/podcast

SPORT

14

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE ARSENAL 3 BURNLEY 0 Sanchez 70, 90+1 Chambers 72 HT: 0-0 Att: 60,012 Arsenal: Szczesny, Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs, Arteta (Ramsey 63), Flamini, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Walcott 80), Sanchez, Cazorla, Welbeck (Podolski 80). Subs Not Used: Rosicky, Sanogo, Martinez, Bellerin Burnley: Heaton, Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Ward, Boyd, Marney (Chalobah 80), Jones, Arfield, Ings, Sordell (Jutkiewicz 69). Subs not used: Mee, Wallace, Kightly, Gilks, Keane. Booked: Boyd Referee: C Pawson (South Yorkshire) CHELSEA 2 QPR 1 Oscar 32 Austin 62 Hazard 75 (pen) HT: 1-0 Att: 41,486 Chelsea: Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Luis, Fabregas, Matic, Willian (Drogba 64), Oscar, Hazard (Ramires 90), Costa (Schurrle 78). Subs not used: Zouma, Ake, Salah, Cech QPR: Green, Isla, Dunne, Caulker, Yun, Vargas, Henry, Sandro, Hoilett (Zamora 60), Fer (Traore 84), Austin. Subs Not Used: Hill, Phillips, WrightPhillips, Kranjcar, Murphy Referee: M Jones (Cheshire) EVERTON 0 SWANSEA 0 HT: 0-0 Att: 39,149 Sent off: Shelvey (Swansea) 72 Everton: Howard, Coleman, Alcaraz (Besic 32), Jagielka, Baines, McCarthy, Barry, McGeady (Lukaku 68), Naismith (Pienaar 68), Barkley, Eto’o. Subs not used: Robles, Hibbert, Atsu, Osman. Booked: Barry, Besic Swansea: Fabianski, Rangel, Fernandez, Williams, Taylor, Shelvey, Ki, Routledge, Sigurdsson (Carroll 76), Montero (Dyer 79), Bony (Gomis 61). Subs not used: Emnes, Tremmel, Bartley, Shephard. Booked: Shelvey, Bony, Williams, Sigurdsson Referee: K Friend (Leics)

HULL 0

SOUTHAMPTON 1 Wanyama 3 HT: 0-1 Att: 22,828 Hull: Jakupovic, Chester, McShane (Aluko 64), Davies, Elmohamady, Livermore, Diame, Huddlestone, Brady (Quinn 83), Ben Arfa (Robertson 72), Hernandez. Subs not used: Rosenior, Meyler, Maguire, Watson. Booked: Diame Southampton: Forster, Clyne, Fonte, Alderweireld, Bertrand, Steven Davis, Wanyama, Schneiderlin, Long (Mane 62), Pelle, Tadic (Cork 81). Subs not used: Kelvin Davis, Yoshida, Gardos, Mayuka, Reed Referee: M Atkinson (W Yorkshire) LEICESTER 0

WEST BROM 1 Cambiasso (og) 47 HT: 0-0 Att: 31,819 Leicester: Schmeichel, De Laet, Wasilewski, Morgan, Konchesky, Cambiasso, Drinkwater (Powell 81), James, King, Vardy (Wood 81), Nugent (Ulloa 68). Subs not used: Hammond, Moore, Mahrez, Smith West Brom: Foster, Wisdom, Dawson, Lescott, Pocognoli (Gamboa 90), Morrison, Gardner, Dorrans, Sessegnon (Yacob 81), Brunt, Berahino (Anichebe 88). Subs not used: Myhill, Mulumbu, McAuley, Samaras. Booked: Gardner Referee: S Attwell (Warwicks) NEWCASTLE 1 LIVERPOOL 0 Perez Gutierrez 73 HT: 0-0 Att: 52,166 Newcastle: Krul, Janmaat, Steven Taylor, Coloccini, Dummett, Abeid, Colback, Obertan (Aarons 27), Sissoko, Ameobi (Cabella 66), Cisse (Perez 46). Subs not used: Ryan Taylor, Gouffran, Haidara, Elliot. Booked: Steven Taylor, Sissoko, Janmaat, Colback Liverpool: Mignolet, Johnson, Skrtel, Lovren, Sterling, Gerrard, Henderson, Allen (Borini 66), Moreno, Coutinho (Lambert 80), Balotelli. Subs

not used: Brad Jones, Toure, Manquillo, Lallana, Can. Booked: Skrtel, Henderson, Lovren Referee: A Marriner (W Midlands) STOKE 2 WEST HAM 2 Moses 33 Valencia 60 Diouf 56 Downing 73 HT: 1-0 Att: 27,174 Stoke: Begovic, Cameron, Shawcross, Wilson, Pieters, Nzonzi, Sidwell, Walters, Bojan (Adam 82), Moses, Diouf. Subs not used: Muniesa, Ireland, Arnautovic, Dionatan, Assaidi, Sorensen.

Booked: Sidwell West Ham: Adrian, Jenkinson, Collins, Reid (Tomkins 24), Cresswell, Noble (Nolan 68), Song, Kouyate, Downing, Valencia, Amalfitano (Cole 46). Subs not used: Jarvis, Zarate, O’Brien, Jaaskelainen. Booked: Collins Referee: C Foy (Merseyside)

Leading goalscorers 9: Costa (Chelsea); Aguero (Man City) 7: Sanchez (Arsenal); Berahino (West Brom) 6: Pelle (Southampton); Sakho (West Ham) 5: Ulloa (Leicester); Austin (QPR) 4: Lukaku (Everton); Naismith (Everton); Jelavic (Hull); Cisse (Newcastle); Bony (Swansea); Chadli (Tottenham); Diame (Hull)

Next fixtures Today: Aston Villa v Tottenham (4pm); Man City v Man Utd (1.30pm) Tomorrow: C Palace v Sunderland (8pm) Saturday (3pm unless stated): Burnley v Hull; Liverpool v Chelsea (12.45pm); Man Utd v C Palace; QPR v Man City (5.30pm); Southampton v Leicester; West Ham v Aston Villa Sunday: Sunderland v Everton (1.30pm); Swansea v Arsenal (4pm); Tottenham v Stoke (1.30pm); West Brom v Newcastle (1.30pm)

Total

Home

Away

P W D L F A P W D L F A P W D L F A GD Pts 1 CHELSEA

10 8 2 0 26 10 5 5 0 0 13 3 5 3 2 0 13 7 +16 26

2 SOUTHAMPTON 10 7 1 2 21 5 5 4 1 0 15 1 5 3 0 2 6 4 +16 22 3 MAN CITY

9 5 2 2 19 10 4 2 1 1 8 4 5 3 1 1 11 6

+9 17

4 ARSENAL

10 4 5 1 18 11 5 2 3 0 10 6 5 2 2 1 8 5

+7 17

5 WEST HAM

10 5 2 3 19 14 5 3 0 2 8 6 5 2 2 1 11 8

+5 17

6 SWANSEA

10 4 3 3 13 10 5 3 1 1 8 3 5 1 2 2 5 7

+3 15

CRAWLEY TN 1 McLeod 68 HT: 0-1

CREWE 1 Cooper 19 Att: 2,329

10 4 2 4 13 13 5 2 2 1 5 4 5 2 0 3 8 9

0 14

9 3 4 2 16 13 5 3 1 1 10 5 4 0 3 1 6 8

+3 13

CUP KING KANE COULD GET STARTING ROLE FOR TOTTENHAM

9 EVERTON

10 3 4 3 19 17 5 1 2 2 10 11 5 2 2 1 9 6

+2 13

10 WEST BROM

10 3 4 3 13 13 5 1 3 1 10 8 5 2 1 2 3 5

0 13

11 NEWCASTLE

10 3 4 3 11 15 5 2 2 1 7 7 5 1 2 2 4 8

-4 13

12 STOKE

10 3 3 4 10 12 5 2 1 2 5 5 5 1 2 2 5 7

-2 12

13 HULL

10 2 5 3 13 14 5 1 2 2 7 8 5 1 3 1 6 6

-1 11

14 TOTTENHAM

9 3 2 4 11 13 5 2 0 3 6 6 4 1 2 1 5 7

-2 11

TOTTENHAM manager Mauricio Pochettino has started his league career at White Hart Lane with a worse record after nine matches than predecessors Tim Sherwood, Andre Villas-Boas and Harry Redknapp.

Aston Villa, having lost five straight league games without scoring, hope to avoid Ipswich’s 1995 Premier League record of seven successive defeats without a goal. Villa are without Alan Hutton but Nathan Baker could return from a hamstring injury. Harry Kane, inset, who has scored eight cup goals for Tottenham this season, could get his first league start of the campaign.

15 ASTON VILLA

9 3 1 5 4 14 4 1 1 2 2 6 5 2 0 3 2 8 -10 10

16 C PALACE

9 2 3 4 13 16 4 1 1 2 4 5 5 1 2 2 9 11

-3 9

PALACE TRIO READY TO RETURN AGAINST SUNDERLAND

17 LEICESTER

10 2 3 5 11 16 5 1 3 1 10 9 5 1 0 4 1 7

-5 9

18 SUNDERLAND 9 1 5 3 8 17 5 1 3 1 6 6 4 0 2 2 2 11

-9 8

DAMIEN DELANEY is back after suspension while Scott Dann and James McArthur could also return to the Crystal Palace side for the visit of Sunderland, who have conceded 10 goals in their past two league games. Steven Fletcher should be fit for Gus Poyet’s struggling side.

There are usually plenty of goals in Monday televised games at Selhurst Park, so it should be worth tuning in.

19 QPR

10 2 1 7 9 20 5 2 1 2 7 6 5 0 0 5 2 14 -11

7

20 BURNLEY

10 0 4 6 5 19 5 0 2 3 3 9 5 0 2 3 2 10 -14 4

OTHER FOOTBALL

CARDIFF 3 LEEDS UTD 1 Ecuele Manga 61 Mowatt 77 Macheda 67 Jones 83 HT: 0-0 Att: 24,220 Cardiff: Marshall, Brayford, Ecuele Manga, Sean Morrison, Da Silva, Pilkington (Ralls 46), Gunnarsson, Whittingham, Noone, Macheda (Jones 75), Le Fondre (Ravel Morrison 81). Subs not used: Connolly, Maynard, Moore, Gabbidon. Booked: Ralls, Jones Leeds Utd: Silvestri, Berardi (Byram 85), Bellusci, Pearce, Warnock, Cook, Bianchi (Sloth 76), Mowatt, Doukara, Morison (Dawson 69), Antenucci. Subs not used: Montenegro, Stuart Taylor, Tonge, Cooper.

Booked: Pearce, Berardi, Mowatt Referee: A Woolmer (Northmptonshire) CHARLTON 1 SHEFF WED 1 Vetokele 70 Drenthe 27 HT: 0-1 Att: 16,850 Charlton: Henderson, Solly, Ben Haim, Bikey, Wiggins, Cousins, Buyens, Jackson (Wilson 81), Ahearne-Grant (Gudmundsson 46), Moussa (Vetokele 65), Tucudean.

Subs not used: Onyewu, Harriott, Fox, Pope Sheff Wed: Westwood, Palmer, Lees, Loovens, Mattock (Dielna 34), Maguire, Semedo, Helan, Maghoma (Coke 62), Drenthe (Taylor-Fletcher 73), Nuhiu. Subs not used: May, McCabe, Lee, Kirkland Referee: A D’Urso (Essex) HUDDERSFIELD 3 NOTTM FOREST 0 Lynch 1, Wells 20 Holt 54 HT: 2-0 Att: 15,317 Huddersfield: Smithies, Smith, Hudson, Lynch, Robinson, Scannell (Ward 87), Coady, Butterfield, Bunn, Wells (Peltier 81), Holt (Paterson 90). Subs not used: Dixon, Gerrard, Murphy, Wallace. Booked: Coady Nottm Forest: Darlow, Lichaj (Hunt 60), Mancienne, Lascelles, Fox, Vaughan (Osborn 60), Tesche (Christopher Burke 61), Antonio, Lansbury, Ince, Assombalonga. Subs not used: Harding, Veldwijk, Paterson, De Vries. Booked: Lichaj, Fox Referee: A Davies (Hampshire) ROTHERHAM 0

MIDDLESBROUGH 3 Bamford 8, Wildschut 19 Tomlin 87 HT: 0-2 Att: 11,282 Sent off: Bowery (Rotherham) 31 Rotherham: Collin, Richardson, Morgan, Arnason, Broadfoot, Taylor (Smallwood 46), Green, Frecklington, Pringle (Derbyshire 46), Revell (Bowery 26), ClarkeHarris. Subs not used: Loach, Hall, Milsom, Swift.

Booked: Green, Clarke-Harris

Middlesbrough: Konstantopoulos, Nsue, Ayala, Gibson, Friend (Husband 88), Reach, Leadbitter, Clayton, Wildschut, Garcia (Tomlin 60), Bamford (Vossen 73).

Subs not used: Fredericks, Whitehead, Veljkovic, Mejias Referee: M Russell (Hertfordshire) WATFORD 3 MILLWALL 1 Vydra 36 Woolford 12 Tozser 45+4, Munari 64 HT: 2-1 Att: 17,000 Watford: Gomes, Paredes, Bassong (Hoban 32), Ekstrand, Pudil (Doyley 80), Munari, Tozser, Andrews, Ighalo, Vydra (Dyer 72), Deeney. Subs not used: McGugan, Forestieri, Murray, Bond. Booked: Hoban Millwall: Forde, Wilkinson, Webster, Dunne, Briggs (Malone 60), Williams, Upson, Martin (O’Brien 83), McDonald, Woolford, Fuller (Gueye 70). Subs not used: Shittu, Beevers, Chaplow, King. Booked: Forde, Briggs, Fuller, Dunne, Williams Referee: R Madley (West Yorkshire) WIGAN 3 FULHAM 3 Forshaw 9 (pen) Christensen 30 Espinoza 54, Maloney 82 Ruiz 36, 88 (pen) HT: 1-2 Att: 12,084 Sent off: Barnett (Wigan) 85; McCormack (Fulham) 77 Wigan: Carson, Tavernier, Barnett, Kiernan, Figueroa, Forshaw, Cowie, Huws (McClean 62), Espinoza (Ramis 87), McManaman (Maloney 81), Fortune. Subs not used: Nicholls, Waghorn, Kvist Jorgensen, Delort. Booked: McManaman, McClean Fulham: Bettinelli, Zverotic, Bodurov, Burn, Stafylidis, Parker, Christensen, Williams (Dembele 84), Ruiz, Rodallega, McCormack. Subs not used: Kiraly, Hutchinson, Roberts, Woodrow, Hyndman, David.

Booked: Bodurov, McCormack Referee: J Adcock (Notts) WOLVES 0 BIRMINGHAM 0 HT: 0-0 Att: 25,135 Wolves: Ikeme, Doherty, Batth, Ebanks-Landell, Rowe, McDonald, Evans, Henry, Jacobs (Sako 56), McAlinden (Edwards 56), Clarke (Sagbo 79). Subs not used: Stearman, Saville, van La Parra, Flatt. Booked: Clarke Birmingham: Randolph, Caddis, Morrison, Robinson, Grounds, Gleeson, Davis, Cotterill, Shinnie (Reilly 66), Arthur (Shea 64), Donaldson (Thomas 77). Subs not used: Eardley, Hall, Doyle, Brown. Booked: Davis, Thomas, Caddis Referee: A Taylor (Cheshire)

Played Friday

NORWICH 2 Jerome 12, 61 HT: 1-0

BOLTON 1 Lee 86 Att: 26,070

Total

Home

P W D

L

1 WATFORD

15 8

2 29 16 8

2 BOURNEMOUTH

5

F

A

P W D 5

3

L

Away F

A

0 20 9

P W D

L

F

A

7

3

2

2

9

7

GD

Pts

15 8

3

4 31 16 8

5

1

2 13 8

7

3

2

2 18 8

+15 27

3 MIDDLESBROUGH 15 8

3

4 22 12 7

3

2

2 12 6

8

5

1

2 10 6

+10 27

4 WOLVES

6

2 21 15 8

5

2

1

11 6

7

2

4

1 10 9

+6 27

15 7

HT: 1-1

BURY 2 CAMBRIDGE UTD 0 Adams 13, Rose 28 HT: 2-0 Att: 3,704 Bury: Lainton, Jones, Cameron, Mills, McNulty, Adams, Etuhu, Soares, Mayor (Tutte 46), Lowe (Duffus 72), Rose (Kennedy 67). Subs not used: Jalal, Hussey, Sedgwick, Thompson. Booked: Soares, Duffus Cambridge Utd: Dunn, Tait, Coulson, Nelson, Greg Taylor, Chadwick (Naylor 55), Champion, Simpson (Hughes 54), Donaldson, Elliott (Dunk 46), Appiah. Subs not used: Norris, Hurst, Bobby Joe Taylor, Bird. Booked: Donaldson, Coulson Referee: G Horwood (Bedfordshire) CHELTENHAM 0

YORK 1 De Girolamo 43 HT: 0-1 Att: 2,469 Cheltenham: Carson, Brown, Deaman (Bancessi 46), Elliott, Vaughan, Hanks (De Vita 40), Jason Taylor, Richards, Braham-Barrett, Marquis (Harrison 59), Gornell. Subs not used: Haworth, Gould, Black, SterlingJames. Booked: Hanks, Marquis York: Cisak, McCoy, McCombe, Lowe, Ilesanmi, Meikle, Penn (Summerfield 77), Montrose, Coulson, De Girolamo (Hyde 66), Burton (Brunt 88). Subs not used: Parslow, Straker, Platt, Ingham Referee: G Ward (Surrey) DAGENHAM & R 1 SHREWSBURY 2 Bingham 6 Mangan 70, Lawrence 90+5 (pen) HT: 1-0 Att: 1,698 Sent off: Grandison (Shrewsbury) 49 Dagenham & R: Cousins, Batt, Saah, Doe, Green, Boucaud (Partridge 60), Bingham, Labadie, Yusuff (Murphy 75), Cureton (Chambers 70), Porter. Subs not used: O’Brien, Connors, Goldberg, Hemmings. Booked: Porter, Bingham, Doe Shrewsbury: Leutwiler, Grimmer, Grandison, Goldson, Knight-Percival, Demetriou, Woods, Lawrence (Griffith 90), Grant (Wesolowski 90), Collins, Akpa Akpro

WALSALL 2 Jones (og) 16 Bradshaw 64 (pen) Att: 5,884

(Mangan 46). Subs not used: Ellis, Vernon, Halstead, Clark. Booked: Leutwiler, Lawrence.

Referee: D Sheldrake (Surrey) EXETER 1 LUTON 1 Nichols 72 (pen) Griffiths 3 HT: 0-1 Att: 5,400 Exeter: Pym, Wheeler, Ribeiro, Butterfield, Woodman, Oakley, Bennett, Grimes, Davies (Noble 55), Keohane (Sercombe 56), Cummins (Nichols 71). Subs not used: Hamon, Riley-Lowe, Tillson, Jay. Booked: Butterfield Luton: Tyler, Harriman, McNulty, Wilkinson, Griffiths (Lacey 74), Drury, Doyle, Jonathan Smith, Howells (Guttridge 63), Cullen (Miller 81), Benson. Subs not used: Rooney, Justham, Whalley, Stevenson. Booked: Doyle Referee: D Whitestone (Northmptonshire) HARTLEPOOL 2 NEWPORT CO 2 Walker 80 Zebroski 38 Duckworth 87 O’Connor 57 HT: 0-1 Att: 3,172 Sent off: Sandell (Newport Co) 66 Hartlepool: Flinders, Duckworth, Collins, Harrison, Austin, Featherstne, Walker, Woods (Schmeltz 63), Franks, Harewood, Wyke. Subs not used: Brobbel, Hawkins, Richards, Jones, Smith, Crooks. Booked: Woods, Austin, Harrison Newport Co: Day, Jones, Yakubu, Hughes, Sandell, Minshull, Flynn, Porter (Klukowski 61), Obeng, O’Connor (Loveridge 79), Zebroski. Subs not used: Pidgeley, Feely, Tancock, Collins, Patten. Booked: Sandell Referee: M Brown (East Yorkshire) MANSFIELD 1 SOUTHEND 2 Palmer 78 Leonard 17, Worrall 69 HT: 0-1 Att: 2,719 Mansfield: Studer, Marsden, Riley, Sendles-White, Beevers, Carr (Bell 60), Murray, McGuire (Clements 54), Taylor, Bingham, Oliver (Palmer 70). Subs not used: Lambe, Thomas, Evtimov. Booked: McGuire Southend: Bentley, White, Sokolik, Prosser, BinnomWilliams, Leonard, Deegan, Timlin, Worrall, Corr, Weston (Coulthirst 84). Subs not used: Thompson, Atkinson, Hurst, Bolger, Payne, Paul Smith. Booked: Sokolik Referee: G Sutton (Lincolnshire) NORTHAMPTON 2 Mohamed 32, Nicholls 90+4 HT: 1-0

Notts Co: Carroll, Dumbuya, Edwards, Hollis, Adams, Ismail, Jones (Wroe 80), Noble, McLaughlin (Murray 67), Garry Thompson (Harrad 58), Petrasso. Subs not used: McKenzie, Spiess, Traore, Cranston. Booked: Hollis Walsall: O’Donnell, Purkiss, Downing, James Chambers, Taylor, Cook (Benning 81), Adam Chambers, Cain, Forde, Sawyers (Manset 86), Bradshaw (Grimes 86). Subs not used: O’Connor, Mantom, Baxendale, MacGillivray.

Booked: Downing Referee: S Hooper (Wiltshire) PETERBOROUGH 1 SCUNTHORPE 2 Washington 57 L Williams 14, Santos (og) 64 HT: 0-1 Att: 6,275 Peterborough: Alnwick, Santos, Burgess, Baldwin (Washington 40), Smith, Bostwick, McCann (Jermaine Anderson 58), Newell, Taylor, James (McEvoy 75), Mendez-Laing. Subs not used: Oztumer, Ferdinand, Zakuani, Henry. Booked: Bostwick Scunthorpe: Slocombe, O’Neill, Boyce, Llera, Marcus Williams, Madden, Bishop, Osbourne, McSheffrey, Luke Williams (McAllister 86), Taylor (Kee 72). Subs not used: Myrie-Williams, Hawkridge, Adelakun, Weaver, Wootton.

Booked: Luke Williams, McSheffrey, Bishop.

Referee: D Bond (Lancashire) ROCHDALE 3 PRESTON 0 O’Connell 28, Henderson 32 Done 61 HT: 2-0 Att: 6,102 Rochdale: Conrad Logan, Bennett (Lancashire 82), Eastham, O’Connell, Tanser, Lund, Hery (Rafferty 82), Rose, Henderson, Dawson, Done, Lancashire (Andrew 88). Subs not used: Noble-Lazarus, Diba Musangu, Camps. Booked: O’Connell, Bennett Preston: Jones, Wiseman, Clarke, Huntington, Buchanan, Welsh (Browne 66), Kilkenny (King 84), Humphrey, Gallagher, Robinson (Kevin Davies 54), Garner. Subs not used: Laird, Reid, Stuckmann, Brownhill. Booked: Welsh, Huntington Referee: P Tierney (Lancashire) SHEFF UTD 0 BARNSLEY 1 Winnall 56 HT: 0-0 Att: 24,495 Sheff Utd: Howard, Alcock, McCarthy, McEveley, Harris, Campbell-Ryce (Flynn 81), Wallace (McNulty 59), Doyle, Murphy, Scougall, Baxter (Porter 86). Subs not used: Basham, McGahey, Reed, Turner Barnsley: Turnbull, Cranie, Ramage, Nyatanga, Dudgeon, Berry, Hourihane, Bailey, Williams, Winnall (Hemmings 85), Cole (Bree 90). Subs not used: Treacy, Davies, Mvoto, Lita, Trotta. Booked: Dudgeon, Turnbull Referee: S Mathieson (Cheshire)

AFC WIMBLEDON 0 Att: 4,548

Northampton: Archer, Tozer, Cresswell, Robertson, Newey, D’Ath, Murdoch, Byrom, Mohamed (Langmead 90), Toney (Sinclair 66), O’Toole (Nicholls 67). Subs not used: Duke, Carter, Collins, Ravenhill

AFC Wimbledon: Shea, Fuller (Oakley 90), Barrett, Frampton, Smith, Francomb (Sutherland 67), Moore (Azeez 67), Bulman, Rigg, Tubbs, Akinfenwa. Subs not used: Bennett, Kennedy, Nicholson, McDonnell.

Referee: J Linington (Isle of Wight) OXFORD UTD 1 WYCOMBE 2 Hylton 37 (pen) Hayes 53, Murphy 62 HT: 1-0 Att: 7,552 Oxford Utd: Clarke, Riley, Mullins, Wright, HolmesDennis, Potter (Roberts 68), Whing, Collins (O’Dowda 77), Rose, Hylton, Barnett. Subs not used: Meades, Raynes, George Long, Jakubiak, Howard. Booked: Collins, Hylton Wycombe: Ingram, Jombati, Pierre, Mawson, Jacobson, Bloomfield (Kretzschmar 86), Scowen, Murphy, Wood, Hayes (Rowe 90), Craig (Ephraim 51). Subs not used: Lewis, Richardson, McClure, Walker. Booked: Mawson, Jacobson, Jombati Referee: T Robinson (West Sussex) PORTSMOUTH 3 CARLISLE 0 Westcarr 2, Storey 26, Hollands 74 HT: 2-0 Att: 15,533 Sent off: White (Carlisle) 90 Portsmouth: Jones, Wynter, Devera, Robinson, Shorey, Wallace (Close 88), Dunne, Hollands, Holmes, Westcarr (Taylor 79), Storey (Tarbuck 82). Subs not used: Ertl, Poke, Atangana, Butler. Booked: Hollands, Tarbuck Carlisle: Hanford, White, Meppen-Walter (Robson 46), Anderson, Grainger, Potts, Dempsey, Marrow, Brough (Amoo 63), Iliev (Asamoah 46), Beck. Subs not used: Sweeney, Dicker, Symington, Eccles. Booked: Grainger, Potts, Marrow Referee: C Sarginson (Staffordshire) TRANMERE 2 STEVENAGE 2 Jennings 66 Ihiekwe (og) 14 Ihiekwe 90+6 Barnard 64 HT: 0-1 Att: 5,456 Tranmere: Fon Williams, Donacien, Ihiekwe, Holness, Holmes (Richards 71), Laird, Jennings, Power, Gnanduillet, Odejayi (Donnelly 71), Johnson (Ridehalgh 58). Subs not used: Bell-Baggie, Kirby, Ramsbottom, Thompson. Booked: Gnanduillet Stevenage: Day, Henry, Ashton (Deacon 76), Wells, Charles, Lee, Whelpdale, McAllister, Barnard, Adams (Okimo 63), Beardsley (Walton 27). Subs not used: Sam Beasant, Pett, Jebb, Clarke. Booked: Whelpdale, Wells Referee: Seb Stockbridge (Tyne & Wear)

Played Friday

ACCRINGTON ST 2 Joyce 5 (pen), McCartan 11 HT: 2-0

MORECAMBE 1 Mullin 51 Att: 1,710

1h L 1h 2 1a 1a L 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

+9 25

P W D L F A GD Pts

1 DUNDEE UTD

12 8 1 3 22 13

2 HAMILTON

12 7 3 2 22 10 +12 24

2 GATESHEAD

1 BARNET

19 13 3 3 43 14 +29 42 18 9 6 3 30 22

3 CELTIC

11 7 2 2 23 7

+16 23

3 HALIFAX TN

18 9 5 4 30 18 +12 32

+8 33

5 DERBY

15 7

5

3 25 14 7

3

3

1 12 6

8

4

2

2 13 8

+11 26

15 7

5

3 24 13 8

3

4

1 13 8

7

4

1

2 11 5

+11 26

7 BLACKBURN

15 7

4

4 24 21 8

4

3

1 15 10 7

3

1

3

9 11

+3 25

4 INVERNESS CT

12 7 2 3 15 9

+6 23

4 BRISTOL ROV

18 9 5 4 21 16

8 IPSWICH

15 6

6

3 22 16 7

4

2

1

2

4

2 11 11

+6 24

5 KILMARNOCK

12 6 2 4 15 13

+2 20

5 WOKING

17 9 4 4 30 17 +13 31

15 5

8

2 17 16 8

4

4

0 11 7

7

1

4

2

6

9

+1 23

6 DUNDEE

12 5 4 3 17 14

+3 19

6 FOREST GREEN

18 8 7 3 25 18

15 5

7

3 23 19 7

3

3

1 15 9

8

2

4

2

8 10

+4 22

7 ABERDEEN

11 6 1 4 17 15

+2 19

7 GRIMSBY

18 8 6 4 32 14 +18 30

8 ST JOHNSTONE

12 4 1 7 9 15

-6 13

8 EASTLEIGH

17 8 5 4 30 24

+6 29

9 PARTICK

11 3 3 5 16 16

0 12

9 KIDDERMINSTER

18 8 5 5 24 18

+6 29

-11 8

10 MACCLESFIELD

18 7 8 3 21 15

+6 29

11 WREXHAM

18 8 4 6 22 20

+2 28

12 TORQUAY

17 8 3 6 30 21

+9 27

13 LINCOLN C

18 6 5 7 29 31

-2 23

14 CHESTER

18 7 2 9 20 30 -10 23

9 CHARLTON 10 NOTTM FOREST

11 5

8

11 CARDIFF

15 6

4

5 21 18 8

6

0

2 16 10 7

0

4

3

5

8

+3 22

12 BRENTFORD

15 6

4

5 18 20 8

4

3

1 12 9

7

2

1

4

6 11

-2 22

13 SHEFF WED

15 4

8

3 12 12 7

1

4

2

6

8

3

4

1

9

6

0 20

3

14 HUDDERSFIELD

15 5

5

5 22 25 8

3

3

2 12 11

7

2

2

3 10 14

-3 20

10 ST MIRREN

12 2 2 8 10 21

15 READING

15 5

3

7 19 26 7

4

1

2 14 10 8

1

2

5

5 16

-7 18

11 MOTHERWELL

12 2 1 9 7 21 -14

16 MILLWALL

15 4

5

6 15 19 7

3

2

2

8

1

3

4

6 11

-4 17

17 ROTHERHAM

15 4

5

6 15 21 8

3

2

3

9 12 7

1

3

3

6

9

-6 17

12 ROSS CO

11 1 2 8 9 28 -19 5

18 WIGAN

15 3

7

5 17 18 8

2

5

1

11 7

1

2

4

6 11

-1 16

9

8

7

19 LEEDS UTD

15 4

4

7 15 21 7

3

2

2

7

5

8

1

2

5

8 16

-6 16

20 FULHAM

15 4

3

8 22 28 7

3

1

3

9

4

8

1

2

5 13 24

-6 15

21 BRIGHTON

15 2

7

6 15 19 7

1

4

2

7

8

8

1

3

4

8 11

-4 13

22 BIRMINGHAM

15 2

6

7 12 28 7

1

2

4

5 16 8

1

4

3

7 12

-16 12

23 BOLTON

15 3

2 10 14 26 7

2

2

3 10 11 8

1

0

7

4 15

-12 11

24 BLACKPOOL

15 1

3 11 8 24 8

1

1

6

0

2

5

4 13

-16

4 11

7

6

Tuesday (7.45pm unless stated): Birmingham v Watford; Bolton v Cardiff (8pm); Brighton v Wigan; Derby v Huddersfield; Ipswich v Wolves; Leeds Utd v Charlton; Middlesbrough v Norwich; Millwall v Blackburn; Reading v Rotherham (8pm); Sheff Wed v Bournemouth. Wednesday: Fulham v Blackpool (8pm); Nottm Forest v Brentford (7.45pm)

Total 1 BRISTOL C

Home

CELTIC 1 Guidetti 49 HT: 0-0 DUNDEE UTD 3 Paton 45 Ciftci 56 Telfer 73 HT: 1-0 HAMILTON 3 MacKinnon 22 Redmond 23 Andreu 90+4 HT: 2-1 KILMARNOCK 1 Eremenko 76

P W D

L

16 10 6

0 33 17 8

F

A

P W D 6

2

0 16 7

L

F

A

P W D

L

8

4

0 17 10

4

F

A

GD

Pts

+16 36

2 PRESTON

15 9

4

2 28 16 8

5

3

0 17 9

7

4

1

2 11 7

+12 31

3 MK DONS

14 8

3

3 29 16 7

5

1

1 17 7

7

3

2

2 12 9

+13 27

4 ROCHDALE

15 8

2

5 29 15 8

3

2

3 10 6

7

5

0

2 19 9

+14 26

5 SWINDON

15 7

5

3 31 19 7

3

3

1 17 11 8

4

2

2 14 8

+12 26

6 NOTTS CO

15 7

5

3 22 14 8

3

2

3 11 10 7

4

3

0 11 4

+8 26

7 PETERBOROUGH

16 8

2

6 25 19 8

4

2

2 13 10 8

4

0

4 12 9

+6 26

8 SHEFF UTD

15 8

2

5 22 19 7

4

1

2

6

8

4

1

3 13 13

+3 26

9 OLDHAM

16 6

7

3 23 18 8

5

2

1 14 9

8

1

5

2

9

9

+5 25

10 FLEETWOOD TN

16 6

4

6 18 16 8

4

4

0 11 6

8

2

0

6

7 10

+2 22

9

11 CHESTERFIELD

16 5

5

6 23 24 8

3

3

2 11 10 8

2

2

4 12 14

-1 20

12 BARNSLEY

15 5

4

6 23 24 7

2

1

4 14 16 8

3

3

2

9

8

-1 19

9 12

-2 19

13 PORT VALE

16 5

4

7 22 24 8

3

2

3 13 12 8

2

2

4

14 BRADFORD C

16 5

4

7 20 22 8

2

1

5

9 13 8

3

3

2 11 9

15 CRAWLEY TN

16 5

4

7 15 25 8

4

1

3

8 12 8

1

3

4

16 WALSALL

16 4

6

6 14 16 8

3

3

2

9

8

1

3

17 DONCASTER

14 5

3

6 14 21 7

1

3

3

5 10 7

4

0

18 COLCHESTER

16 4

5

7 22 24 8

2

2

4 10 13 8

2

19 COVENTRY

16 4

5

7 20 27 8

4

2

2 12 12 8

20 LEYTON ORIENT

16 3

7

6 17 22 8

0

3

5

5

6 13 8

-2 19

7 13

-10 19

4

5 11

-2 18

3

9 11

-7 18

3

3 12 11

-2 17

0

3

5

8 15

-7 17

3

4

1

11 9

-5 16 -11 15

21 SCUNTHORPE

16 4

3

9 19 30 8

2

1

5

7 14 8

2

2

4 12 16

22 GILLINGHAM

16 3

5

8 14 22 8

3

3

2

9

8

0

2

6

5 14

-8 14

23 YEOVIL

16 3

5

8 12 26 8

1

4

3

5 12 8

2

1

5

7 14

-14 14

24 CREWE

16 4

2 10 13 32 8

3

0

5

8 16 8

1

2

5

5 16

-19 14

8

Tuesday: Swindon v Preston (7.45pm). Nov 14: Barnsley v Colchester (7.45pm). Nov 15 (3pm unless stated): Coventry v Notts Co; Crewe v Chesterfield; Doncaster v Sheff Utd; Gillingham v L Orient; Oldham v Crawley (1pm); Port Vale v Rochdale; Preston v Bradford C; Scunthorpe v MK Dons; Swindon v Bristol C; Walsall v Peterborough; Yeovil v Fleetwood

Total

Home

P W D

L

F

A

P W D

1 WYCOMBE

16 9

5

2 23 12 8

4

3

2 LUTON

16 9

4

3 19 11 8

5

L

Away F

A

P W D

L

1 10 6

8

5

2

1 13 6

1

2 10 4

8

4

3

1

9

7

+8 31

F

A

GD

Pts

6

+11 32

3 SHREWSBURY

16 9

3

4 25 12 8

7

1

0 19 3

8

2

2

4

9

+13 30

4 BURY

16 9

3

4 26 17 8

7

0

1 16 5

8

2

3

3 10 12

+9 30

5 BURTON ALB

16 9

2

5 21 20 8

5

1

2 10 7

8

4

1

3 11 13

+1 29

6 PLYMOUTH

16 8

3

5 18 9

8

6

1

1 13 2

8

2

2

4

5

7

+9 27

7 SOUTHEND

16 7

4

5 16 14 8

3

3

2

8

4

1

3

8

9

+2 25

8 NEWPORT CO

16 6

6

4 20 16 8

4

3

1 14 9

8

2

3

3

6

7

+4 24

9 PORTSMOUTH

16 6

5

5 18 16 8

5

2

1 15 6

8

1

3

4

3 10

+2 23

10 MORECAMBE

16 7

2

7 18 17 8

3

2

3

8 10 8

4

0

4 10 7

+1 23

11 EXETER

16 6

5

5 19 19 8

2

4

2 10 10 8

4

1

3

12 ACCRINGTON ST

16 7

2

7 24 27 8

5

1

2 13 9

8

2

13 CHELTENHAM

16 6

4

6 15 18 8

3

3

2

7

8

3

14 CAMBRIDGE UTD

16 6

3

7 26 20 8

4

0

4 16 9

8

15 NORTHAMPTON

16 6

3

7 25 23 8

4

1

3 16 12 8

16 STEVENAGE

16 6

3

7 21 24 8

5

0

3 12 9

17 AFC WIMBLEDON 16 5

5

6 22 25 8

3

3

8

5

9

0 23

1

5 11 18

-3 23

1

4

7 11

-3 22

2

3

3 10 11

+6 21

2

2

4

9 11

+2 21

8

1

3

4

9 15

-3 21

2 14 11 8

2

2

4

8 14

-3 20 -5 19

8

9

9

18 MANSFIELD

16 5

4

7 14 19 8

4

1

3

8

8

1

3

4

5 11

19 OXFORD UTD

16 4

4

8 18 23 8

3

2

3 10 8

8

1

2

5

8 15

-5 16

20 YORK

16 2

9

5 14 20 8

0

6

2

6

8

2

3

3

8 12

-6 15

8

7

INVERNESS CT 0 Att: 42,553 ST MIRREN 0

Att: 6,808 PARTICK 3 McMillan 32 Craigen 68, 72 Att: 2,855 DUNDEE 3 Stewart 44, 90+4 Clarkson 51 Att: 4,481

HT: 0-1

Played Friday MOTHERWELL 1 Ainsworth 13 Att: 2,531

William Hill Scottish Cup Third round

Away

21 DAG & RED

16 4

3

9 19 27 8

2

0

6

8 13 8

2

3

3 11 14

22 CARLISLE

16 4

3

9 20 30 8

3

2

3 14 14 8

1

1

6

6 16

-10 15

-8 15

23 TRANMERE

16 2

6

8 15 22 8

1

4

3

8 10 8

1

2

5

7 12

-7 12

24 HARTLEPOOL

16 3

3 10 12 27 8

1

3

4

5 11 8

2

0

6

7 16

-15 12

Nov 14: Cambridge v Northampton (7.45pm). Nov 15 (3pm unless stated): AFC Wimbledon v Dag & Red; Carlisle v Accrington St; Luton v Tranmere; Morecambe v Bury (2.30pm); Plymouth v Portsmouth (12.05pm); Shrewsbury v Mansfield; Southend v Hartlepool; Stevenage v Cheltenham; York v Oxford Utd. Nov 16: Newport v Exeter (3pm). Nov 17: Wycombe v Burton (7.45pm)

POOLS Full-time Match No.

P W D L F A GD Pts

6 NORWICH

SKY BET LEAGUE TWO BURTON ALB 1 PLYMOUTH 1 MacDonald 32 R Reid 70 (pen) HT: 1-0 Att: 3,083 Burton Alb: Lyness, Edwards, Sharps, Cansdell-Sherriff, McCrory, Palmer (McGurk 68), Akins, Bell (Lenihan 76), Weir, MacDonald (Harness 79), Beavon. Subs not used: McLaughlin, Knowles, Slade, Blyth Plymouth: McCormick, Nelson, McHugh (Cox 60), Hartley, O’Connor (Banton 65), Mellor, Bobby Reid, Kellett, Blizzard (Smalley 60), Reuben Reid, Alessandra.

Subs not used: Bittner, Norburn, Morgan, Harvey.

Booked: O’Connor, Cox, Banton Referee: C Breakspear (Surrey)

SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP VANARAMA CONFERENCE

+13 29

ST JOHNSTONE 2 O’Halloran 40, 80 HT: 1-1

Crawley Tn: Ashdown, Oyebanjo, Leacock, Walsh, Sadler, Edwards, Keane, Young, Henderson (Harrold 46), Simpson, McLeod. Subs not used: Jensen, Bradley, Smith, Banya, Bawling, Tomlin Crewe: Garratt, Leigh, Dugdale, Davis, Guthrie, Turton, Atkinson, Baillie, Cooper (Haber 88), Haynes (Jones 76), Brandy (Saunders 88). Subs not used: Shearer, Johnston, Waters, Ng Referee: B Malone (Wiltshire) FLEETWOOD TN 1 GILLINGHAM 0 Hitchcock 3 HT: 1-0 Att: 2,951 Fleetwood Tn: Maxwell, McLaughlin, Pond, Jordan, Crainey, Evans, Southern, Hughes, Morris (Andrew 90), Hitchcock, Dobbie (Sarcevic 74). Subs not used: Roberts, Lucas, Blair, Haughton, Hornby-Forbes Gillingham: Bywater, Legge, Egan, Hause, Hoyte (McGlashan 57), Pritchard, Loft (Dack 67), Doughty, Martin, Kedwell (Norris 67), McDonald. Subs not used: Nelson, Fish, Hessenthaler, Dickenson Referee: T Harrington (Cleveland) LEYTON ORIENT 2 COVENTRY 2 Cuthbert 54, Simpson 70 O’Brien 35, 90+1 HT: 0-1 Att: 5,464 Leyton Orient: Woods, Cuthbert, Clarke, Baudry, Omozusi, McAnuff, Wright (Pritchard 77), Bartley, Cox, Simpson, Plasmati (Batt 77). Subs not used: Sawyer, Lee, Kashket, Grainger, Dagnall. Booked: Wright, Batt Coventry: Burge, Willis, Johnson (Webster 8), Martin, Haynes, O’Brien, Barton, Fleck, Finch (Maddison 86), Madine, Nouble, Webster (Jackson 80). Subs not used: McQuoid, Miller, Tudgay, Allsop. Booked: Fleck, Barton, Burge Referee: J Simpson (Lancashire) MK DONS 2 SWINDON 1 Alli 51, Kay 59 Obika 6 HT: 0-1 Att: 9,494 MK Dons: Martin, Spence, McFadzean, Kay, Lewington, Powell, Potter, Reeves (Carruthers 70), Alli, Bowditch (Baker 80), Afobe (Grigg 86). Subs not used: Flanagan, Randall, McLoughlin, Hickford. Booked: McFadzean, Potter, Bowditch, Kay, Lewington Swindon: Foderingham, Nathan Thompson, Turnbull, Stephens, Byrne, Louis Thompson (Williams 71), Kasim (Gladwin 90), Luongo, Bell (Toffolo 63), Michael Smith, Obika. Subs not used: Reeves, Barthram, Belford, Rodgers. Booked: Louis Thompson, Michael Smith, Stephens Referee: E Ilderton (Tyne & Wear) NOTTS CO 1 G Thompson 31

VICTORY for Manchester City would give them a fourth straight win against Manchester United for the first time since December 1970. A loss, though, would mean their first back-to-back Premier League defeats under Manuel Pellegrini. City will be without David Silva but Yaya Toure should be fit.

Wayne Rooney returns from suspension for United, who are without Radamel Falcao.

7 LIVERPOOL

SKY BET LEAGUE ONE BRADFORD C 1 DONCASTER 2 Stead 45+4 Wabara 59, Main 69 HT: 1-0 Att: 13,348 Bradford C: Pickford, Darby, Davies, Sheehan, Meredith, Halliday (Dolan 79), Knott (McBurnie 90), Yeates, Morais, Hanson, Stead (Clarke 58). Subs not used: Williams, Kennedy, Routis, Mottley-Henry. Booked: Davies Doncaster: Johnstone, Wabara, McCullough, Butler, Evina (Wakefield 41), Bennett (Forrester 57), Keegan, Wellens, Coppinger, Tyson, Main (Robinson 82). Subs not used: Furman, McCombe, Marosi, De Val Fernandez.

Booked: Evina, Wellens, Keegan Referee: K Wright (Cambridgeshire) BRISTOL C 1 OLDHAM 0 Agard 57 HT: 0-0 Att: 12,696 Bristol C: Fielding, Ayling, Flint, Williams, Little, Elliott, Freeman (Wagstaff 90), Smith, Bryan, Agard (Emmanuel-Thomas 87), Wilbraham. Subs not used: El-Abd, Richards, Cunningham, Burns, Pack. Booked: Williams, Freeman Oldham: Rachubka, Brian Wilson (Brown 73), James Wilson, Kusunga, Mills, Kelly, Jones, Dayton (Winchester 73), Philliskirk, Forte (Poleon 64), Ibehre. Subs not used: Etheridge, Dieng, Mellor, Bove. Booked: James Wilson Referee: P Gibbs (West Midlands) CHESTERFIELD 0 YEOVIL 0 HT: 0-0 Att: 6,462 Chesterfield: Lee, Darikwa, Raglan, Margreitter, Jones, Morsy, Gobern (Ryan 81), Gardner (O’Shea 61), Banks (Johnson 62), Clucas, Doyle. Subs not used: Humphreys, Boco, Ariyibi, Hunt. Booked: Darikwa, Lee Yeovil: Steer, Clarke, Nugent, Arthurworrey, Davis, Grant (Hayter 74), Edwards, Foley, Dawson, Berrett, Moore (Hiwula 35). Subs not used: Weale, Moloney, LeitchSmith, Nana Ofori-Twumasi, Hoskins Referee: O Langford (W Midlands) COLCHESTER 1 PORT VALE 2 Sears 79 Marshall 56, Daniel 60 HT: 0-0 Att: 3,571 Colchester: Walker, Hewitt, Kent, Eastman, Clohessy, Moncur, Fox (Szmodics 67), Massey, Sears, Watt, Healey (Bonne 66). Subs not used: Gordon, Lewington, Lawrence, Lokko, Eastmond. Booked: Hewitt, Eastman Port Vale: Neal, Yates, Duffy, Streete, McGivern, Birchall, Lines, O’Connor, Marshall (Dodds 78), N’Guessan (Daniel 59), Williamson. Subs not used: Panayiotou, Johnson, Brown, Veseli, Slew. Booked: Marshall, McGivern, Neal, O’Connor Referee: T Kettle (Rutland)

CITY AIMING FOR FOUR IN A ROW

8 MAN UTD

SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP BLACKBURN 3 READING 1 Gestede 17, 68, Marshall 55 Murray 44 HT: 1-1 Att: 14,237 Blackburn: Steele, Baptiste, Hanley, Duffy, Olsson, Cairney, Evans, Williamson (Tunnicliffe 46), Marshall (Conway 86), Rhodes, Gestede (Varney 81). Subs not used: Henley, Kilgallon, Dunn, Eastwood. Booked: Evans, Varney Reading: Federici, Gunter, Pearce, Cooper, Obita, Blackman, Akpan (Williams 76), Norwood, Taylor (Mackie 61), Robson-Kanu (Cox 61), Murray. Subs not used: Stephen Kelly, Ferdinand, Pogrebnyak, Andersen.

Booked: Obita, Akpan, Cooper Referee: C Boyeson (E Yorkshire) BLACKPOOL 0 IPSWICH 2 McGoldrick 26, Murphy 61 HT: 0-1 Att: 10,918 Blackpool: Lewis, Daniels, Clarke, Rentmeister, Dunne (Orlandi 65), McMahon, Lundstram, Joan Oriol (Zoko 58), Ranger, Miller, Delfouneso (Blackman 75). Subs not used: Cywka, Mellis, Parish, Oriol Ipswich: Bialkowski, Chambers, Smith, Berra, Mings, Bishop (Tabb 69), Skuse (Anderson 52), Hyam, Murphy, McGoldrick (Sammon 81), Hunt. Subs not used: Bajner, Henshall, Clarke, Ambrose. Booked: Hyam Referee: A Haines (Tyne & Wear) BOURNEMOUTH 3 BRIGHTON 2 Greer (og) 25, Pugh 38 Colunga 28 Kermorgant 76 Baldock 60 HT: 2-1 Att: 10,166 Bournemouth: Boruc, Francis, Elphick, Cook, Daniels, Arter, Surman, Ritchie (Fraser 63), Pitman (Kermorgant 63), Pugh, Wilson (Gosling 94). Subs not used: Camp, Rantie, Harte, Smith. Booked: Cook, Daniels, Kermorgant Brighton: Al Habsi, Hughes (Calderon 13), Greer, Dunk, Bennett, Gardner, Holla, Forster-Caskey, Teixeira, Baldock (Mackail-Smith 73), Colunga (Lua Lua 63).

Subs not used: Chicksen, McCourt, Ince, Walton.

Booked: Bennett, Forster-Caskey, Teixeira, Calderon, Lua Lua Referee: K Stroud (Hampshire) BRENTFORD 2 DERBY 1 Gray 49, Dallas 90+4 Martin 27 HT: 0-1 Att: 10,608 Brentford: Button, Odubajo, Dean, Craig, Bidwell, Douglas, Toral (Dallas 66), Judge, Diagouraga, Jota (Pritchard 66), Gray (Proschwitz 75). Subs not used: Saunders, Bonham, Smith, Tarkowski. Booked: Douglas, Judge, Proschwitz Derby: Butland, Christie, Keogh, Buxton, Forsyth, Bryson (Hughes 58), Mascarell, Hendrick, Russell (Coutts 78), Martin, Dawkins (Ibe 63). Subs not used: Eustace, Roos, Best, Shotton. Booked: Buxton, Dawkins, Martin, Mascarell Referee: C Berry (Surrey)

Big matches to come

ANNAN ATH 3 Weatherson 20, 41 McColm 58 HT: 2-1 ARBROATH 2 McManus 22 (pen) McBride 66 HT: 1-0

LIVINGSTON 2 Keaghan Jacobs 13 Mullen 83 Att: 560 NAIRN CO 1 Webb 88 Att: 682

AYR 1 Donnelly 34 HT: 1-1 DUMBARTON 0

ALLOA 1 Buchanan 29 Att: 784 RANGERS 1 Boyd 45+1 HT: 0-1 Att: 1,878 EAST FIFE 2 BERWICK 3 S Smith 12 Dargo 10, 36 Walker 45 L Currie 56 (pen) HT: 2-2 Att: 477 Sent off: Beaton 75, Walker 89; McAleer 90+1 (all East Fife) EDINBURGH C 2 BRORA RGRS 3 McFarland 2 Williamson 6 Dunn 72 Morrison 23 Greig 43 HT: 1-3 Att: 601 Sent off: Allum (Edinburgh C) 63 ELGIN 4 BO’NESS UTD 4 Nicolson 16 Anderson 53 Cameron 25, 36 Walker 59 Sutherland 71 Gribben 61 A Scott 82 HT: 3-0 Att: 858 FORFAR 1 COWDENBEATH 3 Hilson 30 Hughes 11 S Higgins 26 Milne 64 HT: 1-2 Att: 592 HURLFORD 1 STIRLING 1 Kean 10 C Smith 78 HT: 1-0 Att: 551 Sent off: Wedderburn (Stirling) 76 LINLITHGOW ROSE 0 RAITH ROV 2 Conroy 68 (pen) Watson 86 HT: 0-0 Att: 2,250 GK MORTON 0 AIRDRIEONIANS 0 HT: 0-0 Att: 1,420 Sent off: McKee (Gk Morton) 64 PETERHEAD 0 STRANRAER 1 Longworth 61 HT: 0-0 Att: 430 Sent off: Donaldson (Peterhead) 63 QUEEN’S PARK 1 ALBION ROV 2 Burns 90 Gemmell 45, 51 HT: 0-1 Att: 438 SPARTANS 2 Motion 14 (pen), 72 (pen) HT: 1-0 Sent off: Sivewright (Spartans) 90+2 STENHOUSEMUIR 1 D McCormack (og) 34 HT: 1-0

CLYDE 0 Att: 611 BRECHIN 2 McAusland 52 Barr 83 (pen) Att: 451

Press & Journal Highland League Buckie Thistle 0 Inverurie Loco Works 2; Cove Rgrs 3 Deveronvale 0; Forres Mechanics 2 Strathspey Thistle 1; Fraserburgh 4 Keith 1; Huntly 0 Formartine Utd 6; Rothes 1 Turriff Utd 4; Wick Acad 3 Fort William 0

Scottish Sun Lowland League East Kilbride 2 Gretna 2008 3; Edinburgh Univ 0 BSC Glasgow 2; Gala Fairydean 1 Preston Ath 1; Threave Rov 3 Selkirk 1; Whitehill Welfare 1 Dalbeattie Star 2

Danske Bank Irish Premiership Ballinamallard Utd 0 Portadown 2; Coleraine 4 Institute 0; Crusaders 3 Warrenpoint Tn 0; Dungannon Swifts 1 Cliftonville 3; Glenavon 1 Linfield 2; Glentoran 4 Ballymena 0

Belfast Telegraph Irish Championship First Division: Ballyclare 4 Armagh C 0; Dundela 3 Bangor 3; Lisburn Distillery 1 Dergview 1

Corbett Sports Welsh Premier League Carmarthen 0 Bangor C 2; Gap Connah’s Quay 1 Port Talbot 1; Rhyl 0 Bala Tn 1

3 1h 1a 1h 1h 3 1h 2 1a 1h 3 1a 1h 2 1a 3 1h 3 1h 1a 1a 1h 1a 3 1h 1a 1a 3 3 1a 1h 1a 1h 3 1h 3 1a 1a 2 1a 1a 2 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49

14Fourteen Southern Amateur League Second Division: Carshalton 1 Crouch End Vampires 1 Third Division: AFC Oldsmiths 2 Westminster 5; Esthameians 2 Kew 0

+5 32 +7 31

15 BRAINTREE TN

18 6 3 9 20 21

-1 21

16 ALDERSHOT

18 5 6 7 19 21

-2 21

17 SOUTHPORT

18 5 4 9 19 30 -11 19

18 WELLING UTD

18 4 6 8 23 27

-4 18

19 DOVER ATH

18 5 3 10 20 29

-9 18

20 ALTRINCHAM

18 5 3 10 17 34 -17 18

21 DARTFORD

18 3 7 8 17 27 -10 16

22 ALFRETON TN

18 5 1 12 17 36 -19 16

23 NUNEATON TN

18 4 3 11 14 31 -17 15

24 AFC TELFORD UTD

18 2 4 12 22 41 -19 10

AFC TELFORD UTD 0

BRISTOL ROV 1 Clarke 50 HT: 0-0 Att: 2,860 Sent off: Monkhouse (Bristol Rov) 87 ALDERSHOT 1 GATESHEAD 2 Holman 66 Ramshaw 49, 90+1 HT: 0-0 Att: 1,679 ALTRINCHAM 0 ALFRETON TN 1 Graham 20 HT: 0-1 Att: 960 BRAINTREE TN 0 WOKING 0 HT: 0-0 Att: 876 EASTLEIGH 3 CHESTER 2 Strevens 26, Fleetwood 60 (pen) McConville 78 McAllister 65 James 90+3 HT: 1-0 Att: 1,306 Sent off: Beckwith (Eastleigh) 38; M Hughes (Chester) 38 FOREST GREEN 3 LINCOLN C 3 Norwood 69 (pen), 71 Sam-Yorke 9 Bennett 90+4 Ledsham 40, Burrow 62 HT: 0-2 Att: 1,379 GRIMSBY 3 DARTFORD 0 Magnay 13, Arnold 38 John-Lewis 87 (pen) HT: 2-0 Att: 3,116 KIDDERMINSTER 2 TORQUAY 1 Johnson 4, Nicholson 26 Downes 89 HT: 2-0 Att: 2,081 NUNEATON TN 1 MACCLESFIELD 1 Dawson 90+2 Turnbull 50 HT: 0-0 Att: 853 SOUTHPORT 2 DOVER ATH 2 Marsden 11 Payne 1 Connor 17 Francis 70 HT: 2-1 Att: 1,398 WELLING UTD 1 BARNET 2 Healy 44 Akinde 25, 90+1 HT: 1-1 Att: 906 WREXHAM 0 HALIFAX TN 0 HT: 0-0 Att: 3,421 North: Barrow 1 Guiseley 0; Boston Utd 3 AFC Fylde 1; Brackley 1 Colwyn Bay 1; Bradford PA 2 Tamworth 4; Gainsborough 3 Chorley 4; Harrogate Tn 2 Stockport Co 1; Leamington 2 Worcester 2; Lowestoft Tn 0 Gloucester 3; North Ferriby Utd 4 Oxford C 3; Solihull Moors 3 Hyde 0; Stalybridge 0 Hednesford 5. Leading standings: 1 Barrow 14-32; 2 AFC Fylde 14-31; 3 Solihull Moors 15-27; 4 Chorley 14-27; 5 Hednesford 16-25 South: Basingstoke 1 Chelmsford 2; Bath C 2 St Albans 0; Bishop’s Stortford 1 Hemel Hempstead 3; Concord Rgrs 2 Weston-s-M 0; Eastbourne Boro 1 Bromley 4; Farnborough 1 Gosport Boro 4; Staines Tn 0 Ebbsfleet Utd 2; Wealdstone 1 Maidenhead Utd 1; Whitehawk 0 Havant & W 0. Leading standings: 1 Basingstoke Tn 13-27; 2 Boreham Wood 13-25; 3 Ebbsfleet Utd 14-24; 4 Bromley 13-24; 5 Havant & W 14-23

FA Vase First round: Colne 2 Shildon 3; Bootle 2 Barton Tn OB 5; North Shields 4 AFC Emley 2; Daisy Hill 0 Atherton Collieries 8; Marske Utd 5 Winterton Rgrs 0; Bishop Auckland 3 Holker OB 0; Bottesford Tn 1 Ryhope CW 1; Selby Tn 2 Seaham Red Star 4; St Helens Tn 3 Yorkshire Amateur 1; Sunderland RCA 1 Handsworth Parramore 0; Bedlington Terriers 1 Whitley Bay 4; AFC Darwen 1 Maine Road 2; Winsford Utd 2 Tadcaster Alb 3; Consett 2 Silsden 1; West Didsbury & Chorlton 1 Glossop North End 2; Gedling MW 0 AFC Mansfield 2; Long Eaton Utd 0 Worksop Tn 3; Walsall Wood 3 AFC Bridgnorth 2; Borrowash Vics 2 Belper Utd 1; Pegasus Juniors 4 Aston 0; Boldmere St Michaels 2 Thurnby Nirvana 4; Rocester 3 Brocton L6 Bromsgrove Sporting 3 Nuneaton Griff 2; Blidworth Welfare 0 Willenhall Tn 2; Southam Utd 1 Cleethorpes Tn 5; Shepshed Dynamo 5 Oadby Tn 0; Dunkirk 7 Graham St Prims 2; Gornal Ath 3 Studley 2; Wellington 2 Bolehall Swifts 3; Welwyn Garden C 1 Peterborough Sports 2; Eton Manor 0 St Margaretsbury 1; Deeping Rgrs 1 Wivenhoe Tn 0; Woodbridge Tn 0 Huntingdon Tn 3; Irchester Utd 0 Fakenham Tn 4; Oxhey Jets 4 Tower Hamlets 1; Kirkley & Pakefield 2 Colney Heath 3; Saffron Walden Tn 2 Whitton Utd 1; Hertford Tn 1 Stanway Rov 1 (Stanway Rov won 6-5 on pens); Holbeach Utd 2 Gorleston 0; Sun Postal Sports 3 Harefield Utd 1; Berkhamsted 0 Kings Langley 3; Peterborough Northern Star 1 Stotfold 0; AFC Kempston Rov 3 Felixstowe & Walton Utd 1; AFC Dunstable 5 Haverhill Boro 2; Enfield 1893 0 Tring Ath 4; Godmanchester Rov 0 Yaxley 0; Waltham Forest 1 Great Yarmouth Tn 2; Wembley 3 Bowers & Pitsea 2; London Colney 2 Baldock Tn 1; Colliers Wood Utd 4 Ringmer 3 (AET); Chessington & Hook 1 Camberley Tn 1; Eastbourne Tn 1 Erith & Belvedere 1; Hassocks 3 Corinthian 1; Littlehampton Tn 4 Guildford C 2; Ashford Tn (Middx) 2 Loxwood 3; Lingfield 5 Epsom & Ewell 1; Raynes Park Vale 1 Westfield 3; Chertsey Tn 1 Horley Tn 2; Lordswood 0 Knaphill 1; Greenwich Boro 6 Hailsham Tn 1; Tunbridge Wells 3 Rochester Utd 1; Erith Tn 4 Banstead Ath 1; Pagham 2 Spelthorne Sports 1; Thatcham Tn 1 Flackwell Heath 4; Bradford Tn 5 Malmesbury Victoria 3; Ardley Utd 1 Chippenham Park 2; Hook Norton 0 Newport (IoW) 2; Ringwood Tn 1 United Services Portsmouth 3; Windsor 1 Highworth Tn 4; Holmer Green 2 Ascot Utd 2; Verwood Tn 2 Fareham Tn 0; Calne Tn 1 Bridport 2 (AET); Melksham Tn 1 Highmoor Ibis 1; Thame Utd 2 Chinnor 1; Bemerton Heath Harlequins 2 Cowes Sports 0; Farnham Tn 3 Abingdon Utd 3 (AET); AFC Portchester 2 Reading Tn 1; Folland Sports 2 Sherborne Tn 1; AFC St Austell 4 Saltash Utd 0; Plymouth Parkway 4 Tuffley Rov 2; Buckland Ath 1 Longwell Green 0 (AET); St Blazey 4 Gillingham Tn 1; Welton Rov 3 Brimscombe & Thrupp 1; Newquay 1 Slimbridge 3; Odd Down 4 Falmouth Tn 3; Bristol Manor Farm 3 Radstock Tn 0; West Allotment Celtic 2 Runcorn Tn 4; Guisborough Tn 3 Billingham Synthonia 1; Ellistown & Ibstock Utd L Hanley Tn L; AFC Wulfrunians 0 Heanor Tn 0; Ipswich Wands 1 Cockfosters 0; Arundel 0 Phoenix Sports 2; Winchester C 0 Horndean 3; Shepton Mallet 2 Brislington 1; Dronfield Tn 2 Chadderton 1. Today (3pm): 1874 Northwich v Ashton Tn; Shaw Lane Aquaforce v Runcorn Linnets; Horsham YMCA v Bedfont Sports; Fisher v Crawley Down; Gatwick Mickleover Royals v Eccleshall

02.11.14 / 15 GENERAL RESULTS TV Matches

HU LEI LIV AR AS B CH CP MA NE QP EV MA ER TON URN SE E AL TON LL CIT CEST ERPO N CIT N UN WCAS R NA AC LEY LSEA VIL ER ITE Y L E OL Y TLE LA D

ARSENAL ASTON VILLA BURNLEY CHELSEA C PALACE EVERTON HULL CITY LEICESTER LIVERPOOL MAN CITY MAN UNITED NEWCASTLE QPR SOUTHAMPTON STOKE CITY SUNDERLAND SWANSEA TOTTENHAM WEST BROM WEST HAM

SO ST SU SW T WE WE OK UT ND AN OTTE S S HA ER NH T BR T HA SE MP E CIT L A A OM M A Y TON M ND

31/1 3-0 25/4 2-1 28/2 2-2 10/2 4/4 2-2 22/1113/1226/12 3/12 10/1 18/4 9/5 1-1 24/5 14/3 0-3 24/5 7/2 1/1 2/5 2-1 7/12 17/1 0-2 20/12 0-0 18/4 24/11 21/2 28/12 21/3 2/11 3/3 9/5 1-3 17/1 1-3 8/11 25/4 26/12 14/3 0-0 2/12 10/1 13/12 16/5 0-0 28/2 4/4 7/2 1-3 11/4 29/11 2-0 3-0 21/2 2/5 11/2 13/12 2-0 9/5 31/1 18/4 10/1 2-1 14/3 4/4 24/5 4-2 3/12 22/1126/12 21/2 2/12 0-0 1-2 31/1 25/4 2-0 23/11 4/4 9/5 10/2 14/3 26/1213/12 3/11 24/5 10/1 18/4 1-3 2-2 3-0 18/4 3-6 2-3 3/12 21/2 7/2 10/1 25/4 14/3 15/12 4/4 26/12 9/5 0-0 24/5 17/1 22/11 2/5 10/2 9/5 21/3 2-0 1/1 28/12 18/4 2-4 24/5 31/1 21/2 0-1 1-1 3/3 20/1223/11 6/12 2-2 1-1 10/1 2-2 28/2 7/2 2-2 14/3 2/12 13/12 5-3 2/5 24/5 9/5 17/1 22/11 18/4 26/12 0-1 4/4 21/12 0-1 3/3 8/11 16/5 1-1 0-0 1/1 28/2 21/3 11/4 2/5 2-1 29/11 6/12 28/12 10/2 2-1 31/1 17/1 25/4 28/12 1-1 20/12 6/12 7/2 4/3 3-1 2/11 21/2 9/5 24/5 0-1 1/1 22/11 4-1 21/3 18/4 16/5 4/4 10/2 1-1 8/11 2-1 29/11 31/1 14/12 11/4 26/12 4-0 10/1 2/12 28/2 1-2 14/3 2/5 2-1 21/3 28/2 1/1 6/12 3-3 28/12 2-2 1-0 1-0 0-2 4/3 22/11 17/1 7/2 21/12 25/4 18/4 9/5 24/5 3/3 2-0 6/12 11/4 28/12 21/3 0-1 29/11 2-3 8/11 17/1 16/5 7/2 2-2 1-0 1/1 28/2 20/12 25/4 1/1 16/5 21/3 28/12 3/3 20/12 11/4 8/11 21/2 30/11 8/12 4-0 2-1 1-0 8-0 31/1 25/4 0-0 10/2 6/12 0-1 22/1122/12 21/3 4/3 28/2 0-1 24/5 11/2 1/1 1-0 31/1 18/4 25/4 2-1 9/5 28/12 2-2 0-2 14/3 31/1 29/11 11/4 9/11 26/12 16/5 10/1 3/12 1-1 4/4 10/2 2/5 3-1 0-0 2-2 21/2 13/12 9/11 26/12 1-0 17/1 29/11 11/4 4/4 2-0 14/3 16/5 21/2 2-2 2/12 0-1 2/5 7/2 14/12 3-0 10/1 7/2 11/4 20/12 1/1 6/12 30/11 16/5 21/3 0-3 2/5 28/12 1-2 4-0 1-0 8/11 17/1 4/3 0-1 21/2 29/1113/12 4-0 16/5 2-2 0-2 10/1 11/4 25/4 26/12 2-2 9/11 4/4 28/2 14/3 2-2 10/2 31/1 2/12 28/12 8/11 2/5 3/3 28/2 16/5 17/1 20/12 3-1 2-1 7/2 29/11 2-0 1-3 11/4 21/3 7/12 0-1 1/1

EUROPEAN FOOTBALL Spain Atletico Madrid 4 Cordoba 2; Barcelona L Celta Vigo L; Granada 0 Real Madrid 4; Real Sociedad L Malaga L. Played Friday: Deportivo La Coruna 1 Getafe 2. Today: Athletic Bilbao v Sevilla (11am); Elche v Espanyol (8pm); Levante v Almeria (6pm); Villarreal v Valencia (4pm). Tomorrow: Rayo Vallecano v Eibar (7.45pm) Real Madrid Atletico Madrid Barcelona Sevilla Valencia Celta Vigo Malaga Villarreal Getafe Rayo Vallecano Espanyol Eibar Almeria Granada Athletic Bilbao Deportivo La Coruna Real Sociedad Cordoba Elche Levante

P W 10 8 10 7 9 7 9 7 9 6 9 4 9 4 9 4 10 4 9 3 9 2 9 2 9 2 10 2 9 2 10 2 9 1 10 0 9 1 9 1

D 0 2 1 1 2 4 3 2 1 2 4 4 3 3 2 2 3 5 2 2

L 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 5 4 3 3 4 5 5 6 5 5 6 6

F 37 19 23 17 20 16 11 13 8 11 9 9 7 6 6 12 10 8 8 4

A 10 9 3 9 8 11 8 9 14 16 10 11 10 17 12 21 14 18 21 23

Pts 24 23 22 22 20 16 15 14 13 11 10 10 9 9 8 8 6 5 5 5

Leading goalscorers: 17: Ronaldo (Real Madrid). 9: Neymar (Barcelona). 7: Bacca (Sevilla); Messi (Barcelona). 6: Larrivey (Celta Vigo). 5: Agudo Duran (Celta Vigo); Benzema(Real Madrid). 4: Alcacer Garcia (Valencia); Bale (Real Madrid); Baptistao (Rayo Vallecano); Bueno (Rayo Vallecano); Stuani (Espanyol)

Italy Empoli 0 Juventus 2; Napoli 2 Roma 0; Parma L Inter Milan L. Today: AC Milan v Palermo (7.45pm); Chievo v Sassuolo (2pm); Sampdoria v Fiorentina (2pm); Torino v Atalanta (2pm); Udinese v Genoa (2pm). Tomorrow: Cesena v Verona (6pm); Lazio v Cagliari (8pm) P W 10 8 10 7

Juventus Roma

D 1 1

L F 1 18 2 16

A Pts 4 25 6 22

Napoli 10 5 3 2 19 12 18 Lazio 9 5 1 3 16 9 16 AC Milan 9 4 4 1 18 12 16 Sampdoria 9 4 4 1 9 5 16 Udinese 9 5 1 3 11 9 16 Inter Milan 9 4 3 2 15 10 15 Genoa 9 4 3 2 10 8 15 Fiorentina 9 3 4 2 9 6 13 Verona 9 3 3 3 10 15 12 Torino 9 3 2 4 7 9 11 Sassuolo 9 2 4 3 10 15 10 Cagliari 9 2 3 4 14 12 9 Palermo 9 2 3 4 9 17 9 Atalanta 9 2 2 5 4 11 8 Empoli 10 1 4 5 10 18 7 Cesena 9 1 3 5 6 15 6 Chievo 9 1 1 7 6 15 4 Parma 9 1 0 8 12 21 3 Leading goalscorers: 8: Callejon (Napoli). 6: Honda (AC Milan); Tevez (Juventus). 5: Cassano (Parma); Di Natale (Udinese); Djordjevic (Lazio); Higuain(Napoli); Icardi (Inter Milan). 4: Babacar (Fiorentina); Destro (Roma); Ekdal (Cagliari); Gabbiadini (Sampdoria); Matri (Genoa); Osvaldo (Inter Milan); Quagliarella (Torino); Sau (Cagliari)

Germany Bayern Munich L Borussia Dortmund L; Hamburg 1 Bayer Leverkusen 0; Hanover 1 Eintracht Frankfurt 0; Mainz 1 Werder Bremen 2; Stuttgart 0 Wolfsburg 4.

Played Friday: Schalke 1 Augsburg 0. Today: Cologne v Freiburg (4.30pm); Borussia M’gladbach v Hoffenheim (2.30pm); Paderborn v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm) P W D L F A Pts Bayern Munich 9 6 3 0 21 2 21 Wolfsburg 10 6 2 2 20 9 20 Borussia M’gladbach 9 4 5 0 12 4 17 Hoffenheim 9 4 5 0 13 7 17 Bayer Leverkusen 10 4 4 2 17 15 16 Hanover 10 5 1 4 7 11 16 Mainz 10 3 5 2 13 12 14 Schalke 10 4 2 4 14 13 14 Paderborn 9 3 3 3 13 12 12 Cologne 9 3 3 3 7 7 12 Augsburg 10 4 0 6 11 12 12 Eintracht Frankfurt 10 3 3 4 17 19 12

Hertha Berlin 9 3 2 4 14 16 11 Hamburg 10 2 3 5 4 12 9 Stuttgart 10 2 3 5 14 23 9 Borussia Dortmund 9 2 1 6 10 15 7 Werder Bremen 10 1 4 5 12 24 7 Freiburg 9 0 5 4 8 14 5 Leading goalscorers: 6: Gotze (Bayern Munich); Meier (Eintracht Frankfurt). 5: Kruse (Borussia M’gladbach); Okazaki (Mainz). 4: Bellarabi (Bayer Leverkusen); Di Santo (Werder Bremen); Elyounoussi (Hoffenheim); Huntelaar (Schalke); Lewandowski (Bayern Munich); Son (Bayer Leverkusen)

France Guingamp L Bastia L; Lille L St Etienne L; Lorient 1 Paris St Germain 2; Metz L Caen L; Montpellier L Evian L; Nice L Lyon L. Played Friday: Monaco 1 Reims 1.

Today: Bordeaux v Toulouse (4pm); Marseille v Lens (8pm); Nantes v Rennes (1pm) P W D L F A Pts Marseille 11 8 1 2 25 9 25 Paris St Germain 12 6 6 0 23 8 24 Lyon 11 6 2 3 21 9 20 St Etienne 11 6 2 3 11 10 20 Nantes 11 5 4 2 10 7 19 Bordeaux 11 5 3 3 16 13 18 Monaco 12 5 3 4 14 13 18 Nice 11 5 2 4 16 15 17 Rennes 11 4 3 4 13 13 15 Metz 11 4 3 4 10 10 15 Lille 11 4 3 4 8 9 15 Reims 12 4 3 5 12 21 15 Toulouse 11 4 2 5 13 15 14 Montpellier 11 4 2 5 9 11 14 Caen 11 3 3 5 12 12 12 Lens 11 3 2 6 10 13 11 Lorient 12 3 1 8 10 16 10 Bastia 11 2 4 5 9 16 10 Evian 11 3 1 7 11 20 10 Guingamp 11 3 0 8 8 21 9 Leading goalscorers: 10: Gignac (Marseille). 8: Lacazette (Lyon). 6: Ben Yedder (Toulouse); Alves (Nice). 5: Cavani (Paris St Germain); Ibrahimovic (Paris St Germain); Ntep Madiba (Rennes); Rodrigues (Paris St Germain). 4: Diabate (Bordeaux); Falcon (Metz); Fekir (Lyon); Rolan (Bordeaux); Wass (Evian)

Holland Ajax L Dordrecht L; Feyenoord L PEC Zwolle L; PSV Eindhoven L ADO Den Haag L; Twente L Heerenveen L. Today: AZ Alkmaar v Excelsior (1.30pm); Go Ahead Eagles v Heracles Almelo (1.30pm); Groningen v NAC Breda (3.45pm); Utrecht v Vitesse Arnhem (11.30am); Willem II Tilburg v Cambuur Leeuwarden (1.30pm) P W D L F A Pts PSV Eindhoven 10 8 0 2 30 8 24 Ajax 10 6 2 2 20 12 20 Feyenoord 10 5 2 3 15 7 17 PEC Zwolle 10 5 2 3 18 14 17 Heerenveen 10 4 4 2 15 11 16 Cambuur Leeuwarden 10 4 4 2 17 14 16 Vitesse Arnhem 10 4 3 3 26 18 15 Twente 10 3 6 1 17 12 15 Willem II Tilburg 10 5 0 5 15 15 15 AZ Alkmaar 10 4 2 4 15 17 14 Groningen 10 4 2 4 12 17 14 Excelsior 10 3 4 3 13 16 13 Utrecht 10 4 1 5 13 19 13 Go Ahead Eagles 10 3 2 5 14 20 11 ADO Den Haag 10 2 4 4 14 17 10 NAC Breda 10 2 4 4 14 25 10 Dordrecht 10 1 2 7 9 23 5 Heracles Almelo 10 1 0 9 14 26 3 Leading goalscorers: 8: Kramer (ADO Den Haag); Uth (Heerenveen). 6: Castaignos (Twente); Depay (PSV Eindhoven); Maher (PSV Eindhoven); Ogbeche (Cambuur Leeuwarden); Vejinovic (Vitesse Arnhem) Greece: Asteras Tripolis L Olympiacos L; Platanias 0 PAS Giannina 0; Veria 2 Panionios 2. Today: Ergotelis v PAOK Salonika (1pm); Niki Volos v Kerkyra (3.15pm); Panathinaikos v Atromitos Athens (5.30pm); Panetolikos v Xanthi (3.15pm); Panthrakikos v OFI (3.15pm). Tomorrow: Kalloni v Levadiakos (5.30pm) Turkey: Akhisar Belediyespor 1 Trabzonspor 1; Bursaspor 3 Sivasspor 0; Genclerbirligi 1 Istanbul Basaksehir 0. Played Friday: Galatasaray 2 Kasimpasa SK 1. Today: Besiktas v Fenerbahce (5pm); Caykur Rizespor v Kayseri Erciyesspor (11.30am); Gaziantepspor v Mersin Idmanyurdu (11.30am).

Tomorrow: Eskisehirspor v Balikesirspor (5pm); Konyaspor v Kardemir Karabukspor (6pm)

William Hill Scottish Cup: Third round: East Stirling v Dunfermline Ath (3pm) Vanarama Conference: South: Hayes & Yeading v Sutton Utd (3pm) Kick-off 7.45pm unless stated

Tomorrow

Scottish Premiership: Ross Co v Aberdeen

Tuesday

Champions League: Group A: Juventus v Olympiakos; Malmo FF v Atletico Madrid. Group B: FC Basel v Ludogorets Razgrad; Real Madrid v Liverpool.

Group C: Benfica v Monaco; Zenit St Petersburg v Bayer Leverkusen (5pm). Group D: Arsenal v Anderlecht; Borussia Dortmund v Galatasaray Scottish Championship: Cowdenbeath v Rangers Vanarama Conference: Braintree Tn v Grimsby; Lincoln C v Altrincham

Wednesday Champions League: Group E: Bayern Munich v Roma; Man City v CSKA Moscow. Group F: Ajax v Barcelona; Paris St Germain v APOEL Nicosia.

Group G: NK Maribor v Chelsea; Sporting Lisbon v Schalke. Group H: Ath Bilbao v FC Porto; Shakhtar Donetsk v BATE Borisov

Thursday

Europa League (8.05pm unless stated): Group A (6pm): Apollon Limassol v Borussia M’gladbach; Zurich v Villarreal. Group B (6pm): Copenhagen v Club Bruges; HJK Helsinki v Torino. Group C (6pm): Asteras Tripolis v Tottenham; Besiktas v Partizan Belgrade.

Group D (6pm): Astra Giurgiu v Celtic; Dinamo Zagreb v Red Bull Salzburg. Group E: Dinamo Moscow v Estoril Praia (5pm); Panathinaikos v PSV Eindhoven (6pm). Group F: Qarabag v Dnipro (5pm); St Etienne v Inter Milan (6pm). Group G: Feyenoord v HNK Rijeka; Sevilla v Standard Liege. Group H: Everton v Lille; Wolfsburg v Krasnodar. Group I: Napoli v Young Boys; Sparta Prague v Slovan Bratislava. Group J: Dynamo Kiev v Aalborg; Rio Ave v Steaua Bucharest. Group K: Fiorentina v PAOK Salonika; Guingamp v Dinamo Minsk. Group L: Lokeren v Trabzonspor; Legia Warsaw v Metalist Kharkiv

Friday

Sky Bet Championship: Bolton v Wigan (8pm) FA Cup: First round: Warrington Tn v Exeter (7.55pm) Scottish Premiership: Motherwell v Dundee Utd

Kick-off 3pm unless stated

Saturday

Sky Bet Championship: Birmingham v Cardiff; Brighton v Blackburn; Derby v Wolves (12.15pm); Fulham v Huddersfield; Ipswich v Watford; Leeds Utd v Blackpool; Middlesbrough v Bournemouth; Millwall v Brentford; Nottm Forest v Norwich; Reading v Charlton; Sheff Wed v Rotherham FA Cup: First round: Barnet v Wycombe; Barnsley v Burton Alb; Basingstoke Town v AFC Telford Utd; Bromley v Dartford; Bury v Hemel Hempstead Tn; Cambridge Utd v Fleetwood Tn; Cheltenham v Swindon; Crewe v Sheff Utd; Dag & Red v Southport; Dover Ath v Morecambe; Eastleigh v Lincoln C; Gillingham v Bristol C; Grimsby v Oxford Utd; Hartlepool v East Thurrock Utd; Luton v Newport Co; Mansfield v Concord Rgrs; Northampton v Rochdale; Notts Co v Accrington St; Oldham v Leyton Orient; Peterborough v Carlisle; Plymouth v AFC Fylde; Port Vale v MK Dons; Southend v Chester; Tranmere v Bristol Rov; Walsall v Shrewsbury; Weston-s-M v Doncaster; Wrexham v Woking; Yeovil v Crawley Tn; York v AFC Wimbledon Scottish Premiership: Dundee v ST Johnstone; Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Hamilton; Kilmarnock v Ross Co; ST Mirren v Partick Scottish Championship: Alloa v Livingston; Cowdenbeath v Hibernian; Hearts v Raith Rov; Queen of South v Dumbarton; Rangers v Falkirk

Scottish League One: Airdrieonians v Stenhousemuir; Brechin v Stirling; Morton v Forfar; Peterhead v Dunfermline Ath; Stranraer v Ayr Scottish League Two: Arbroath v Queen’s Park; East Fife v Albion Rov; East Stirling v Berwick; Elgin v Annan Ath; Montrose v Clyde Vanarama Conference: North: AFC Fylde v Leamington; Chorley v Boston Utd; Colwyn Bay v Bradford PA; Gloucester C v Harrogate Tn; Guiseley v Lowestoft Tn; Hednesford Tn v Barrow; Hyde v Gainsborough Trinity; Oxford C v Stalybridge Celtic; Stockport v Brackley Tn; Tamworth v North Ferriby Utd; Worcester C v Solihull Moors. South: Boreham Wood v Wealdstone; Bromley v Bishop’s Stortford; Ebbsfleet Utd v Bath C; Havant & W v Concord Rangers; Maidenhead Utd v Basingstoke Town; St Albans C v Whitehawk; Sutton Utd v Eastbourne Boro

Sunday

FA Cup: First round: Blyth Spartans v Altrincham (2pm); Braintree Tn v Chesterfield (2pm); Coventry v Worcester C (2pm); Halifax Tn v Bradford C (noon); Forest Green v Scunthorpe (2pm); Gosport Boro v Colchester (2pm); Portsmouth v Aldershot (2pm); Stevenage v Maidstone Utd (2pm); TBC v Gateshead (2pm) Scottish Premiership: Aberdeen v Celtic (12.30pm)

TODAYS RACECARDS Carlisle Going: Soft - Good to Soft in places

1.00 1 35-60 2 3

133-2 51/

4 5

21220-5

6 7 8

P0/0-F 0-04 3

9 10 3/ 11 /131212 3/41113 22/2 14 246-6

Celebration Of Paul Crozier’s Life Novices Hurdle £3,249: 2m 4f (14) ASTAROLAND 10 J Candlish4-10-12.............P Carberry (3) BANDIT COUNTRY 22 (S) J O’Neill5-10-12.........A P McCoy CARRYONREGARDLESS 595 (S) T Easterby6-10-12................................................................D Cook DUNCOMPLAINING 296 W Kinsey5-10-12.....P Buchanan FLY HOME HARRY 23 (S) G Swinbank5-10-12.......................................................P Moloney KILQUIGGAN 15 A Thomson6-10-12......................B Harding KWO NESHE 20 J M Jefferson4-10-12...................B Hughes MOUNT BECKHAM 23 Miss C Cannon(Ire) 5-10-12......................................A Thornton MR HOPEFUL D McCain5-10-12.....................................A Lane O MA LAD 15 J J Quinn6-10-12.............................D C Costello OTAGO TRAIL 225 (S) Miss V Williams6-10-12..............................................A Coleman RED DANAHER 245 (G) Mrs S Smith7-10-12.........R Mania UISGE BEATHA 22 Miss L Russell6-10-12.......C Nichol (3) WARRIORS TALE 15 N Richards5-10-12...........W Renwick

Betting: 3-1 Bandit Country, 9-2 Uisge Beatha, 11-2 O Ma Lad, 13-2 Otago Trail, 10-1 Mr Hopeful, 11-1 Fly Home Harry, 14-1 Carryonregardless, Duncomplaining, Warriors Tale, 20-1 Kilquiggan, Red Danaher, 22-1 Kwo Neshe, 40-1 Mount Beckham, 50-1 Astaroland

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

2 3 4 5 6

2 3

10

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Betting: 5-1 The Last Samuri, 6-1 Shantou Magic, Warden Hill, 7-1 Big Water, 8-1 Josies Orders, 10-1 Astigos, Key To The West, Morning Reggie, Straidnahanna, 12-1 Beauboreen, 14-1 Son Of Suzie, 25-1 Bright Abbey

Free Daily Racing Tips @ 2.05 Handicap bookmakers.co.uk Novices’ Hurdle £3,249: 2m 1f (12)

1 32/ MR STEEL 581 (BF) Miss V Williams7-11-12.....A Coleman 2 2000-5 OBISTAR 24 (P) D Pipe4-11-7..............................T Scudamore 3 60-10U YOURHOLIDAYISOVER 15 (C,D,S) P Holmes7-11-6..................................................................J Kington 4 3334-3 SPANISH FLEET 23 J Wade6-11-2..........................B Hughes 5 64650- KHELAC 39 (B) M D Hammond4-10-13...........J Colliver (5) 6 233U-3 SCIMON TEMPLAR 172 (P) Pauline Robson6-10-11..............................................W Renwick 7 663623 CATCHTHEMOONLIGHT 28 (H) Miss L Russell6-10-11.................................................D R Fox (3) 8 66040- LACHLAN MOR 200 W S Coltherd5-10-8................R Mania 9 4554-0 BARABOY 169 F Murtagh4-10-8......................G Watters (5) 10 0/06P0 WILLIE WHISTLE 15 (T) M Barnes5-10-6......M J McAlister 11 6050-6 BE A DREAMER 176 Mrs S Smith6-10-6........C Bewley (7) 12 /P-055 WATCHMEGO 22 (T) M Barnes6-10-0.........S Mulqueen (7) Betting: 9-4 Obistar, 9-2 Mr Steel, Scimon Templar, 13-2 Catchthemoonlight, 10-1 Yourholidayisover, 12-1 Spanish Fleet, 14-1 Be A Dreamer, 16-1 Baraboy, Khelac, 20-1 Lachlan Mor, 33-1 Willie Whistle, 66-1 Watchmego

Cumberland Handicap Chase 2.35 £12,512: 3m 2f (11) 1 410P-5 FILL THE POWER 15 (G,S) Mrs S Smith8-11-12....R Mania 2

11113- TUTCHEC 231 (CD,S) N Richards7-11-11...............B Harding

231P-2 ORANGE NASSAU 23 (D,G,S) C Longsdon8-11-10............................................................N Fehily 65-41F THE PANAMA KID 105 (B,D,G,S) J Jefferson10-11-8............................................................B Hughes 06513- BALLYOLIVER 195 (CD,S) Miss V Williams10-11-8..............................................L Treadwell P23/0- GROVE PRIDE 345 (S) H Daly9-11-7......................R Johnson 342/1- GLOBAL POWER 364 (CD,S) O Sherwood8-11-7...............................................................L Aspell 13/1P- SOUDAIN 329 (S) S Gollings8-11-6..................T Scudamore P4-122 SETTLEDOUTOFCOURT 30 (G,S) Miss L Russell8-11-1..........................................................C Nichol P3344- BALLYPATRICK 203 (S) M Channon8-11-1........A Thornton 4P11-4 FRANK THE SLINK 173 (CD,S) M Hammond8-10-10...................................................W Renwick

Geoffrey McLean Handicap Hurdle 3.10 £12,512: 2m 4f (10) 1 3P40-0 TAP NIGHT 46 (C,D,G,S)

7

10132- WARDEN HILL 225 (BF,G,S) M Channon6-11-8............................................................B Hughes 11440- SHANTOU MAGIC 233 (S) C Longsdon7-11-8........N Fehily 21110- THE LAST SAMURI 212 (D,S) D McCain6-11-3............................................................J M Maguire 11000- JOSIES ORDERS 191 (S) Jonjo O’Neill6-11-3......A P McCoy F111P- KEY TO THE WEST 323 (D,S) D Dennis7-11-0....B Harding 12140- BEAUBOREEN 225 (C,D,S) J Candlish7-10-11..L Treadwell 34263- ASTIGOS 210 (BF,S) Miss V Williams7-10-7.......A Coleman 31156- SON OF SUZIE 193 (S) F O’Brien6-10-7...........C Shoemark 2P24-2 STRAIDNAHANNA 15 (S) Mrs S Smith5-10-7.........R Mania 223-42 BIG WATER 148 (C,S) G A Swinbank6-10-7........P Moloney 2140-6 BRIGHT ABBEY 23 (F,G) Mrs D Sayer6-10-5........H Brooke 631-FF MORNING REGGIE 14 (S) O Sherwood5-10-3.........L Aspell

Cricket

Pakistan v Australia: Second Test (Abu Dhabi, day three of five): Overnight: Pakistan 570-6 dec (Younis Khan 213, Ali Azhar 109,Misbah ul-Haq 101). Australia 22-1.

Australia First Innings D A Warner c Shah b Ali 19 N M Lyon b Ali 15 G J Maxwell b Babar 37 M J Clarke b Khan 47 S P D Smith lbw b Babar 0 M R D Marsh c Ali b Khan 87 B J D Haddin b Shah 10 M G D Johnson c Mohammad Hafeez b Shah 0 P M D Siddle c Shah b Mohammad Hafeez 28 M A D Starc not out 0 Extras (lb6 nb7 pens 0) 13 Total (67.2 overs) 261 Fall: 1-21, 2-34, 3-75, 4-97, 5-100, 6-164, 7-193, 8-199, 9-261 Bowling: Khan 14-1-60-3; Mohammad Hafeez 5.20-13-1; Babar 25-5-94-2; Ali 9-0-41-2; Shah 14-247-2 Pakistan Second Innings Ahmed Shehzad b Johnson 14 Mohammad Hafeez c Starc b Johnson 3 Ali Azhar not out 21 Younis Khan not out 16 Extras (b5 lb2 pens 0) 7 Total 2 wkts, 21 overs) 61 Fall: 1-14, 2-21 To bat: Misbah ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed, Zulfiqar Babar,Yasir Shah, Imran Khan.

Bowling: Johnson 3-0-29-2; Lyon 10-3-19-0; Starc 5-2-6-0; Siddle 3-3-0-0

Golf

US PGA Tour CIMB Classic (Kuala Lumpur) Leaders after third round (US unless stated): 204 K Na 69 68 67, R Moore 68 69 67. 205 B Hurley III 67 67 71, S Garcia (Sp) 69 68 68. 207 Sang-moon Bae (S Kor) 71 68 68, G Woodland 71 70 66, K Chappell 69 68 70, K Streelman 68 68 71. 208 B De Jonge 70 73 65, C Smith (Aus) 70 69 69, J Overton 68 69 71, A Que (Phil) 67 72 69, P Reed 70 70 68. 209 Seung-yul Noh (S Kor) 68 69 72, P Meesawat (Thai) 68 71 70, J Senden (Aus) 72 68 69. 210 D Love III 68 71 71. 211 D Lee (NZ) 69 69 73, B Stuard 67 72 72, G Chalmers (Aus) 75 68 68, L Westwood (Eng) 72 65 74. 212 P Casey (Eng) 73 68 71, H Matsuyama (Jap) 70 70 72, L Guthrie 73 68 71, R Sabbatini (SA) 70 72 70, S Stallings 69 76 67, C Schwartzel (SA) 74 70 68, N Thompson 69 73 70. 213 S Lewton (Eng) 74 69 70, R Goosen (SA) 74 70 69, J Dufner 74 70 69, D Lingmerth (Swe) 68 72 73, J Blixt (Swe) 69 69 75, W MacKenzie 69 73 71, R Ishikawa (Jap) 69 71 73, M Weir (Can) 73 68 72, B Horschel 72 68 73, J Byrd 70

8 9

Miss L Russell7-11-12..............................................T Scudamore 1152P- FLICKA WILLIAMS 267 (D,G,S) T Coyle7-11-7.................................................................D C Costello 312P0- YESYOUCAN 212 (C,D,G,S) B Ellison9-11-3...............D Cook 02606- ALAIVAN 212 (S) Jonjo O’Neill8-11-3.....................A P McCoy 3F24-4 HIT THE TOP 10 (S) Mrs S Smith7-11-1......................R Mania 3114P- WALDORF SALAD 205 (D,S) Miss V Williams6-10-11..............................................A Coleman 6U0-31 PHOENIX RETURNS 30 (D,G,S) G Swinbank6-10-8.........................................................P Moloney 310520 BELL WEIR 22 (D,G,S) Mrs D Sayer6-10-8............H Brooke 10-260 GRANARUID 10 (P,C,D,G,S) Alison Hamilton11-10-7 T Hamilton 42P12- ONE FOR HARRY 192 (D,S) N Richards6-10-7.............................................................B Harding

Betting: 100-30 Yesyoucan, 9-2 One For Harry, 13-2 Alaivan, Phoenix Returns, 8-1 Granaruid, Waldorf Salad, 11-1 Bell Weir, Tap Night, 12-1 Hit The Top, 20-1 Flicka Williams

3.45 1 /21112 U11113 212B44 12U465 224506

-41310

Colin Parker Memorial Intermediate Chase (Listed Race) £15,661: 2m 4f (6) EDUARD 204 (C,D,G,S) N Richards6-11-12..........B Harding HOLYWELL 212 (P,D,G,S) J O’Neill7-11-12...........A P McCoy MANY CLOUDS 212 (CD,S) O Sherwood7-11-6......L Aspell GREEN FLAG 204 (D,BF,G,S) Miss L Russell7-11-2..................................................P Buchanan UP TO SOMETHING 236 (T,P,C,D,G,S) C Longsdon6-11-2...............................................................N Fehily ME AND BEN 15 (T,D,G,S) F O’Brien7-11-1.......C Shoemark

Betting: 15-8 Holywell, 2-1 Eduard, 4-1 Many Clouds, 7-1 Green Flag, 10-1 Up To Something, 20-1 Me And Ben

4.15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Iron will: American Kevin Na watches his approach shot in Kuala Lumpur 74 69. 214 C Wi (S Kor) 72 70 72, P Perez 72 73 69, H Slocum 71 73 70, J Knutzon 72 70 72. 215 C Stroud 70 74 71, T Immelman (SA) 74 70 71, M Putnam 71 72 72, J Vegas (Ven) 74 71 70. 216 K Stanley 76 71 69, K J Choi (S Kor) 71 74 71, M Every 69 73 74, R Karlberg (Swe) 65 76 75, A Lahiri (India) 74 72 70.

217 M Leishman (Aus) 74 72 71, T Merritt 72 75 70.

218 S Bowditch (Aus) 71 73 74, A Lascuna (Phil) 72 72 74, B Garnett 70 75 73, T Wilkinson (NZ) 68 79 71 European Tour BMW Masters (Shanghai): Leaders after third round (GB & Ire unless stated): 194 A Levy (Fr) 65 66 63. 198 J Donaldson 68 68 62. 199 M Siem (Ger) 68 66 65. 201 J Rose 72 65 64. 203 E Grillo (Arg) 66 68 69, N Colsaerts (Bel) 66 64 73.

204 R Wattel (Fr) 66 67 71, G McDowell 67 69 68.

205 R Karlsson (Swe) 69 70 66, M Ilonen (Fin) 70 66 69, R Fisher 70 67 68, R Palmer (US) 70 67 68, J Luiten (Hol) 72 69 64, B Grace (SA) 68 66 71, G Coetzee (SA) 71 67 67. 206 R Ramsay 70 68 68, T Bjorn (Den) 68 67 71, E Els (SA) 69 68 69, D Fichardt (SA) 69 68 69. 207 S Lowry 70 66 71, F Zanotti (Par) 70 68 69, Dong Su (China) 70 69 68, B Wiesberger (Aut) 72 69 66. 208 V Dubuisson (Fr) 70 70 68, D Willett 71 70 67, R Sterne (SA) 68 70 70. 209 G Fdez-Castano (Sp) 72 68 69. 210 Seung-hyuk Kim (S Kor) 70 71 69, Shao-cai He (China) 71 71 68, O Wilson 68 73 69, O Fisher 71 69 70, T Jaidee (Thai) 71 70 69, T Olesen (Den) 70 70 70, R Cabrera Bello (Sp) 74 66 70, M Hoey 70 68 72, E Molinari (It) 70 71 69. 211 T Hatton 73 67 71, D Howell 74 71 66, E Pepperell 72 69 70. 212 T Aiken (SA) 72 68 72, H Otto (SA) 71 71 70. 213 R Bland 72 68 73, C Kirk (US) 73 72 68, Zeyu He (China) 73 71 69, M A Carlsson (Swe) 73 72 68, S Gallacher 72 69 72, I Poulter 74 69 70, M Baldwin 73 71 69214 Hao-Tong Li (China) 69 71 74, F Molinari (It) 69 74 71, J-M Olazabal (Sp) 71 70 73, M Warren

70 72 72, M Orum Madsen (Den) 69 74 71, Mu Hu (China) 69 71 74 LPGA Taiwan Championship (Taipei): Leaders after third round (US unless stated): 195 Inbee Park (S Kor) 64 62 69. 199 S Lewis 67 68 64, Shanshan Feng (China) 64 65 70. 203 A Munoz (Sp) 68 66 69. 204 So yeon Ryu (S Kor) 66 70 68. 205 M Uribe (Col) 71 67 67, L Ko (NZ) 69 65 71, B Lang 70 67 68. 206 Eun Hee Ji (S Kor) 67 71 68, A Yang (S Kor) 70 68 68.

207 Mirim Lee (S Kor) 72 62 73, T Suwannapura (Thai) 70 69 68. 208 Mi hyang Lee (S Kor) 68 70 70, In Kyung Kim (S Kor) 67 71 70, A Uehara (Jap) 70 66 72, S Gal (Ger) 71 68 69, M Harigae 72 71 65. 209 Chella Choi (S Kor) 70 66 73, C Masson (Ger) 72 70 67, B Mozo (Sp) 72 68 69, Na Yeon Choi (S Kor) 68 68 73, P Lindberg (Swe) 69 71 69, L Diaz 68 71 70, C Ciganda (Sp) 70 69 70, L Salas 72 68 69, K Kaufman 71 68 70. 210 J E Shadoff (Eng) 72 66 72, M Alex 71 68 71, M Wie 68 70 72, L Vedel (Den) 66 68 76, J Granada (Par) 72 69 69, C Kung (Tai) 69 71 70.

Westcliff 34 Guernsey 17. First DIvision: North: Barking 29 Colchester 34; Chingford 28 Ipswich 19; Eton Manor 54 Brentwood 5; Old Priorians 27 North Walsham 19; Ruislip 24 Luton 12; Thurrock 12 Letchworth Garden City 37; Woodford 16 Romford & Gidea Park 41.

South: Basingstoke 18 Hove 23; Chobham 56 Gosport & Fareham 0; Cobham 16 Brighton 15; Dover 13 Charlton Park 20; Guildford 18 Sidcup 17; Sutton & Epsom 31 Havant 27; Twickenham 13 Wimbledon 23.

Second Division: North East: Braintree 7 Diss 55; Campion 23 Rochford Hundred 24; Holt 15 Enfield Ignatians 22; Norwich 46 South Woodham Ferrers 17; Old Cooperians 11 Chelmsford 58; Saffron Walden 30 Basildon 13. North West: Hammersmith & Fulham 44 Old Merchant Taylors’ 15; Hampstead 32 Tabard 22; Harpenden 52 Staines 12; Harrow 53 St Albans 12; Hemel Hempstead 27 HAC 33; Old Haberdashers 23 Chiswick 10. South East: Crowborough 16 Beckenham 19; Deal & Betteshanger 29 Tunbridge Wells 29; Maidstone 65 Old Colfeians 17; Thanet Wanderers 7 Medway 52. South West: Effingham & Leatherhead 19 KCS Old Boys 25; Farnham 3 London Cornish 41; Old Alleynians 35 Tottonians 27; Old Reigatian 18 Tadley 19; Portsmouth 19 Weybridge Vandals 41; Warlingham 10 Winchester 18 South West: SSE National League Three: Barnstaple 13 Newton Abbot 13; Bournemouth 20 Hornets 27; Brixham 27 Bracknell 26; Exmouth 42 Old Centralians 20; Old Redcliffians 27 Oxford Harlequins 29; Redingensians 24 Old Patesians 20; Weston-superMare 36 Chard 7. First Division: East: Bletchley 20 Reading 28; Buckingham 10 Newbury Blues 21; Chippenham 48 Maidenhead 13; Devizes 5 Leighton Buzzard 35; Trowbridge 6 Towcestrians 37; Windsor 39 Swindon 17; Witney 15 Grove 14. West: Avonmouth Old Boys 34 Ivybridge 31; Bideford 23 Drybrook 22; North Petherton 27 Clevedon 21; St Austell 13 Camborne 6; Wells 8 Cleve 31

SWALEC Welsh Championship: Blackwood 30 Narberth 41 Bridgend Ath 13 Pontypool 16 Cardiff Met 19 Llanharan 18 Glynneath 25 Tondu 21 Newbridge 9 Merthyr 15 Swansea 6 Bargoed 27 Tata Steel 20 RGC 1404 13 SWALEC Welsh National League: First Division: East: Garndiffaith 20 Penallta 29 Glamorgan Wanderers 44 Fleur De Lys 8 Nelson 30 Blaenavon 21 Rhiwbina 41 Cardiff HSOB 22 Risca 21 Rumney 26 Senghenydd 29 Llanishen 18. West: Amman Utd 20 Gorseinon 17 Ammanford 47 Felinfoel 19 Kidwelly 51 Carmarthen Ath 10 Llangennech 39 Whitland 16 Loughor 12 Newcastle Emlyn 18 Tenby Utd 21 Crymych 13. North: Bro Ffestiniog 15 Llandudno 11 Caernarfon 35 Denbigh 17 Cobra 26 Bethesda 24 Mold 15 Bala 10 Pwllheli 12 Nant Conwy 10 Ruthin 22 Dolgellau 1

Ice Hockey

NHL: Calgary 4 Nashville 3, Columbus 1 Toronto 4, Dallas 1 Anaheim 2, Detroit 5 Los Angeles 2

Snooker

International Championship (Chengdu, China): SemiFinal: M Allen (N Ire) bt M Williams (Wal) 9-8

Tennis

ATP BNP Paribas Masters (Paris): Semi-finals: M Raonic (Can) bt Tomas Berdych (Cz) 6-3 3-6 7-5, N Djokovic (Serb) bt K Nishikori (Jap) 6-2 6-3 WTA Qatar Airways Tournament Of Champions (Sofia, Bulgaria) Semi-final: A Petkovic (Ger) bt G Muguruza (Sp) 6-1 6-4

RUGBY RESULTS Rugby union Killik Cup Barbarians

36

Australia

40

47 28 16 37 32

London Welsh Gloucester Leicester Newcastle Wasps

7 27 17 23 29

LV= Cup Bath Exeter London Irish Northampton Sale

SSE National League One

Blackheath 34 Macclesfield 0 Coventry 33 Esher 31 Ealing Trailfinders 50 Hartpury College 17 Fylde 42 Blaydon 24 Loughborough Students 25 Cinderford 15 Old Albanian 31 Wharfedale 7 Rosslyn Park 28 Richmond 15 Tynedale 19 Darlington Mowden Park 53. League Two: North: Caldy 29 Otley 22 Chester 30 Birmingham & Solihull 18 Harrogate 21 Sedgley Park 19 Huddersfield 27 Broadstreet 14 Hull Ionians 43 Preston Grasshoppers 15 Leicester Lions 39 Hull 17 Luctonians 7 Ampthill 29 Stourbridge 62 Stockport 7.

South: Bishops Stortford 30 Shelford 21; Cambridge 50 Lydney 20; Canterbury 28 Henley 30; Clifton 20 Chinnor 38; Launceston 21 Southend 22; Old Elthamians 19 Dorking 39; Taunton 31 Dings Crusaders 19; Worthing 12 Redruth 10 North: SSE National League Three: Cleckheaton 31 Burnage 12; Firwood Waterloo 66 Westoe 5; Huddersfield YMCA 36 Lymm 19; Rossendale 31 Sheffield Tigers 26; Sale 43 Billingham 19; Sandal 22 Morley 17; Wirral 39 Beverley 29. First Division: East: Horden 10 Wheatley Hills 43; Ilkley 32 Bradford & Bingley 13; Percy Park 59 Northern 20; Pocklington 31 Driffield 17; Rochdale 27 Dinnington 5; Sheffield 27 Old Crossleyans 22; West Hartlepool 27 Alnwick 13. West: Broughton Park 27 Kendal 21; Eccles 13 Wilmslow 23; Kirkby Lonsdale 35 Bolton 7; Vale of Lune 25 Carlisle 20; Warrington 21 Penrith 14; Widnes 44 New Brighton 24; Wigton 22 Birkenhead Park 31 Midlands: SSE National League Three: Bromsgrove 12 Nuneaton 24; Burton 13 Longton 24; Dudley Kingswinford 17 Lichfield 24; Old Halesonians 68 Bournville 8; Scunthorpe 25 Sandbach 50; South Leicester 33 Peterborough Lions 22; Sutton Coldfield 26 Hinckley 29. First Division: West: Barkers Butts 27 Silhillians 22; Berkswell & Balsall 7 Newport 59; Crewe and Nantwich 39 Leek 22; Earlsdon 20 Kenilworth 34; Walsall 27 Stratford Upon Avon 27; Whitchurch 26 Stoke on Trent 30; Worcester Wanderers 7 Hereford 15. East: Bedford Athletic 42 Market Rasen & Louth 7; Belgrave 18 Mansfield 24; Bugbrooke 5 Kettering 16; Derby 18 Ilkeston 34; Paviors 15 Old Northamptonians 47; Spalding 26 Newark 53; Syston 37 Huntingdon & District 14 London & South East: SSE National League Three: Amersham & Chiltern 20 Westcombe Park 33; Barnes 33 Tring 9; Bury St Edmunds 36 Tonbridge Juddian 14; Gravesend 18 Chichester 22; Hertford 23 East Grinstead 16; London Irish Wild Geese 40 CS Rugby 1863 34;

Guinness PRO12 Cardiff Blues Scarlets Ulster Ospreys Glasgow Munster Ulster Leinster Connacht Scarlets Edinburgh Cardiff Blues NG Dragons Zebre Benetton Treviso

24 L L P W 7 7 7 6 7 5 6 4 7 4 7 4 6 2 7 2 7 1 6 1 6 1 7 0

Munster Zebre NG Dragons D L F 0 0 209 0 1 193 0 2 158 1 1 156 0 3 184 1 2 105 2 2 139 1 4 92 1 5 148 0 5 95 0 5 74 0 7 76

A 95 127 101 76 112 128 124 182 200 131 146 207

Principality Building Society Welsh Premiership

Bridgend Carmarthen Quins Ebbw Vale Neath Newport Pontypridd

13 27 14 32 30 16

Llandovery Cardiff Rugby Aberavon Cross Keys Llanelli Bedwas

T 21 22 15 17 21 11 17 8 14 8 7 6

28 L L Pts 30 27 23 22 21 18 14 11 8 7 5 1

48 9 9 19 19 13

BT Scottish Premiership

Edinburgh Acads 5 Melrose 16 Gala 14 Ayr 32 Glasgow Hawks 20 Heriot’s 18 Hawick 31 Currie 31 Stirling County 29 Boroughmuir 18 Scottish National League: First Division: Aberdeen Grammar 64 Hillhead/Jordanhill 3; GHA 29 Biggar 19; Jed-Forest 10 Selkirk 31; Marr 46 Kelso 14; Peebles 6 Watsonians 17; Stewart’s Melville FP 22 Dundee HSFP 20 Scottish Championship: League A: Aberdeenshire 76 Ardrossan Acads 24 Greenock Wanderers 17 Cartha QP 19 Hamilton 33 Falkirk 18 Howe of Fife 111 Livingston 0 Musselburgh 23 Kirkcaldy 11 Whitecraigs 67 Haddington 19. League B: Dumfries 31 Preston Lodge FP 8; East Kilbride 26 RHC 21; Hawick YM 59 Dunfermline 11; Murrayfield Wanderers 17 Lasswade 39; Perthshire 23 Irvine 23; West of Scotland 49 Dalziel 11

Ulster Bank Irish League First Division: Section A Ballynahinch 33 St Mary’s College 13 Cork Constitution 6 Young Munster 9 Lansdowne 10 UCD 19 Old Belvedere 22 Dolphin 22 Terenure College 14 Clontarf 9 Section B: Galwegians 22 Ballymena 23 Garryowen 8 Dublin University 14 Malone 23 UL Bohemian 10 Shannon 21 Belfast Harlequins 26

Rugby league

Gillette Four Nations series

New Zealand New Zealand England Samoa Australia

P 2 1 2 1

14 W 2 1 0 0

Samoa D L 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1

F 44 32 38 12

12 A Pts 24 4 26 2 46 0 30 0

National Conference Premier Division playoffs Siddal West Hull

20 8

Castleford Lock Lane 16 Wath Brow Hornets 22

RACING RESULTS

Betting: 9-2 Orange Nassau, 6-1 Ballyoliver, Ballypatrick, Global Power, 7-1 Tutchec, 10-1 Grove Pride, Settledoutofcourt, 12-1 Fill The Power, Soudain, The Panama Kid, 14-1 Frank The Slink

Download Free App @ 1.30 Handicap bookmakers.co.uk Novices’ Limited Chase £6,498: 2m 4f (12) 1

NBA: Chicago 108 Cleveland 114, Indiana 89 Memphis 97, Los Angeles Lakers 111 Los Angeles Clippers 118, Milwaukee 93 Philadelphia 81, Phoenix 94 San Antonio 89, Sacramento 103 Portland 94 BBL Cup: Quarter-Finals: Newcastle 83 Leeds 66, Sheffield 91 Cheshire 84, Worcester 82 Bristol 90

Minor

FIXTURES Today

LA SENG SIN

Basketball

Ratten Row “Junior” Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race £1,625: 1m 6f (14) 03 BLEU ET OR D McCain10-12...................................J M Maguire EARLY BOY Andrew Crook10-12..........................J Kington (3) EMRYS D O’Meara10-12...............................................A P McCoy MICKLEGATE RUN G A Swinbank10-12................P Moloney PARKIE BOY W Amos10-12..........................................H Brooke SACKETT Mrs D Sayer10-12........................................B Hughes VIRNON S Corbett10-12........................................J Corbett (10) CORECZKA Miss C Cannon(Ire) 10-5....................C Nichol (3) COUP DE VENT Miss S Hall10-5...............................R Johnson HONEYCHILE RYDER Mrs D Sayer10-5...............E Sayer (5) MILLY BALOO T Easterby10-5....................................B Harding THEATRE ACT C Grant10-5..................................D O’Regan (7) TURTLEPLEX Michael Smith10-5...................................D Cook VERONA OPERA S Crawford(Ire) 10-5................P Buchanan

Betting: 3-1 Micklegate Run, 4-1 Bleu Et Or, 9-2 Verona Opera, 11-1 Emrys, 12-1 Theatre Act, 14-1 Milly Baloo, Sackett, 16-1 Coreczka, Honeychile Ryder, Turtleplex, 20-1 Parkie Boy, 22-1 Coup De Vent, Virnon, 25-1 Early Boy

Huntingdon Going: Good to Soft - Good in places

12.45 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

U3 6 634 563

U6

Cambridge Magazine November Winter Ladies’ Day Juvenile Hurdle £3,899: 2m 110y (11) FENNANN 30 (B) G L Moore10-12............................J E Moore FERNGROVE 36 J Portman10-12..................................D Jacob GLADSTONE 14 W Greatrex10-12...........................G Sheehan LOVING YOUR WORK 20 G Baker10-12..................A Tinkler OFFICER DRIVEL 28 (H) J Best10-12.........................................................S Twiston-Davies RAVENOUS 14 (P) J Snowden10-12...........................B Powell WORTHY SPIRIT 18 (H) A Wintle10-12....................A Wedge NYANZA 23 A King10-5.......................................W Hutchinson PRETTY MOBILE 30 P Webber10-5.........................J Greenall STONEHAM 16 M Channon10-5................................C O’Farrell SYMPHONY OF PEARLS 10 (H) D Burchell10-5......................................................................R Dunne

Betting: 7-4 Nyanza, 5-1 Fennann, Ravenous, 13-2 Gladstone, 7-1 Officer Drivel, 10-1 Loving Your Work, 14-1 Stoneham, 20-1 Pretty Mobile, 25-1 Ferngrove, 100-1 Symphony Of Pearls, Worthy Spirit Michael Quinlan Memorial Novices’ 1.15 Chase £6,498: 2m 4f 110y (6) 1 452141 A TAIL OF INTRIGUE 28 (C,G)

I Williams6-11-7.............................................................W Kennedy 2 3403-2 CHRIS PEA GREEN 16 (C,S) G L Moore5-11-2................................................................J E Moore 3 4034-4 KAYAAN 168 (G,S) Mrs P Sly7-11-2.......................K K Woods 4 2311- PARADISE VALLEY 195 (C,G) M Channon5-11-2..........................................................G Sheehan 5 /630-P ST IGNATIUS 28 A Bailey7-11-2........................J Akehurst (7) 6 /10P-F UN ACE 16 (S) K Bailey6-11-2..........................................D Bass Betting: 2-1 Chris Pea Green, 11-4 Un Ace, 3-1 Paradise Valley, 7-2 A Tail Of Intrigue, 20-1 Kayaan, 66-1 St Ignatius

Thelma Joan Arnold Claiming Hurdle 1.50 £2,274: 2m 110y (14) 1 554511 HAWDYERWHEESHT 8 (T,D,G)

D Dennis6-11-8.................................................S Twiston-Davies 2 023402 GUD DAY 3 (T,P,D,G,S) F O’Brien6-11-4........Miss A Stirling 3 15-552 SHORT TAKES 39 (B,D,F,S) D McCain6-11-4.........N Slatter 4 341601 STREET ENTERTAINER 3 (B,T,D,G) D Pipe7-11-4......................................................................C O’Farrell 5 433312 KAYFTON PETE 24 (D,F,G,S) C Pogson8-11-2......A Pogson 6 0/2104 CLASSIC COLORI 34 (H,D,F) M Keighley7-11-0.....................................................W Hutchinson 7 6P12P- ARRAYAN 233 (B,D,BF,S) A Dunn9-10-12.............A Wedge 8 /3400- SWAMPFIRE 184 (D,G,S) F J Brennan6-10-10......B Powell 9 -P11FP ADMIRAL HAWKE 28 (D,G) B Ellison8-10-8........H Skelton 10 3/00-0 BRILLIANT BARCA 133 (T,D,G) Sheena West6-10-8...................................................M Goldstein 11 EPSOM FLYER 5 P Phelan4-10-8.............................J E Moore 12 6-04PP NEWFORGE HOUSE 8 D Burchell6-10-8.................R Dunne 13 0-06 MAKE A FUSS 62 G Enright5-10-3..........................H Haynes 14 033150 RECWAY LASS 11 (B,T,D,G) Mrs S Leech6-10-1..............................................................K Moore Betting: 4-1 Admiral Hawke, 5-1 Street Entertainer, 11-2 Swampfire, 7-1 Arrayan, 8-1 Short Takes, 9-1 Brilliant Barca, Hawdyerwheesht, 12-1 Classic Colori, Kayfton Pete, 14-1 Gud Day, 16-1 Recway Lass, 25-1 Newforge House, 50-1 Epsom Flyer, 100-1 Make A Fuss

Macer Gifford Handicap Chase 2.20 £6,498: 2m 110y (9) 1 -51232 TO THE SKY 13 (D,F)

J Snowden6-12-0................................................W Featherstone 2 6-0534 UNFORGETTABLE 21 (T,CD,G,S) P Bowen11-11-12.................................................................C Poste 3 -03154 STEEL SUMMIT 106 (G) D Dennis5-11-10..............................................S Twiston-Davies 4 0-60P1 TOPTHORN 24 (P,D,G,S) M Bosley8-11-8...................Z Baker 5 32BP-5 BIN END 159 (P,D,F,G,S) F J Brennan8-11-5........F De Giles 6 26F-25 SHADY LANE 164 A King7-11-4......................W Hutchinson

7

P0-P45 MOUNT WELCOME 54 (T,D,F,G,S) Miss L Davis10-11-2........................................................A Pogson 5-3253 STAR PRESENTER 11 (P,BF) P Webber6-10-13...........................................................P Brennan 9 335-0P DOCTOR RIC 145 (F,S) N Gifford9-10-8..................T Cannon

8

Betting: 9-2 Shady Lane, To The Sky, 5-1 Star Presenter, Topthorn, 7-1 Steel Summit, 8-1 Unforgettable, 10-1 Bin End, Mount Welcome, 16-1 Doctor Ric William Hill On The Move Novices’ 2.55 Hurdle £5,198: 2m 4f 110y (12) 1 004-51 CLOONACOOL 27 (G) Mrs P Robeson5-11-5..........B Powell 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

/F14-1 ORDO AB CHAO 19 (CD,S) A King5-11-5......W Hutchinson ALDWICK BAY 28 P Bowen6-10-12........................J E Moore /51S-1 BAKU BAY 184 (G,S) Ali Stronge6-10-12....................J Doyle 11-BPF BALLINCURRIG 25 (T,D,G,S) D Skelton8-10-12.............................................................H Skelton 1 GENERAL MONTGOMERY 152 (F) N Mulholland5-10-12......................................................M Quinlan 45- MAZURATI 195 B Case5-10-12......................................D Jacob U336-6 PYRSHAN 19 G McPherson5-10-12.....................................S Twiston-Davies 0-FU SEQUOIA FOREST 172 B Pauling5-10-12.......... H Beswick 35- SUPERIOR FIRE 218 C Longsdon4-10-12..............A Tinkler 63-3 TOO MUCH TOO SOON 168 P Webber5-10-12...........................................................P Brennan 0/005- SOLSTICE DAWN 336 P Winks6-10-5.....................R Winks

Betting: 2-5 Ordo Ab Chao, 6-1 Ballincurrig, 10-1 Baku Bay, 12-1 General Montgomery, 14-1 Cloonacool, 16-1 Superior Fire, Too Much Too Soon, 25-1 Mazurati, 66-1 Aldwick Bay, Pyrshan, 150-1 Sequoia Forest, Solstice Dawn Roy Hall 70th Birthday Handicap 3.30 Hurdle £3,249: 3m 2f (13) 1 11-040 ROC DE GUYE 8 (H,P,G,S) H J Evans9-11-12.....B Poste (5) 2

/43332 FLASH CRASH 17 (V,T) J Best5-11-12.....................................................S Twiston-Davies 3 00-344 VENDREDI TROIS 17 (H) Miss E Lavelle5-11-6.......R O’Dea 4 41UP-P ELEGANT OLIVE 28 (CD,S) H Tett11-11-2..................H Frost 5 F5-635 IT’S OSCAR 19 (P) H J Evans7-11-2.........................M Quinlan 6 P-40P3 FLEMI TWO TOES 19 (B,C,S) Mrs S Humphrey8-11-2...................................................J Quinlan 7 1315/3 GIVEITACHANCE 17 (T,G,S) Miss C Dyson7-11-2....................................................N Scholfield 8 300/04 ICEMAN GEORGE 62 (V,C,G) D Quinn10-10-13............................................................P Brennan 9 5-3233 SPANISH FORK 4 (B,S) Sheena West5-10-10.................................................M Goldstein 10 62FU46 HELAMIS 9 D Quinn4-10-5......................................W Kennedy 11 53P60- CARMELA MARIA 250 (P,D,G,S) M Sowersby9-10-5................................................................A Nicol 12 3415-U SEA CADET 28 (P,C,F,G,S) Mrs L Mongan12-10-2....................................................T Cannon 13 P000-0 OAK WOOD 17 J Upson6-10-0.....................................D Crosse Betting: 9-2 Flemi Two Toes, Vendredi Trois, 5-1 Flash Crash, 13-2 Giveitachance, Spanish Fork, 8-1 Elegant Olive, 10-1 Carmela Maria, It’s Oscar, 14-1 Sea Cadet, 25-1 Helamis, Iceman George, 33-1 Roc De Guye, 100-1 Oak Wood

Hill Bet And Watch 4.00 William Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race £1,560: 2m 110y (11) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

603 03 4 3 6 3-54

ASPECIALPRESENT A Wintle4-11-0...................R Hatch (5) BARTERS HILL B Pauling4-11-0.....................................D Bass COCHINILLO 275 B Case5-11-0....................................D Jacob LITTLE WINDMILL 163 N King4-11-0..............T Whelan (3) MR MCGUINESS 85 Mrs R Gasson4-11-0..........B Poste (5) NATIVE MOUNTAIN 25 F O’Brien5-11-0...............P Brennan TOWERING 177 N Henderson5-11-0.........................A Tinkler WOOTSTEPS 25 J Upson6-11-0..................................D Crosse DAISIE RAYMOND 64 C Smith6-10-7..............W Kavanagh SIMPLY ROUGE P Niven4-10-7...............................G Sheehan SOEUR DE ROIS P Kirby4-10-7................................A Nicol (5)

Betting: 100-30 Cochinillo, 7-2 Towering, 5-1 Daisie Raymond, Mr McGuiness, 9-1 Soeur De Rois, 10-1 Little Windmill, 14-1 Native Mountain, Simply Rouge, 16-1 Aspecialpresent, 20-1 Barters Hill, 100-1 Wootsteps

Newmarket Going: Good to soft 12.20 (7f) 1 Suffused (W Twiston-Davies, 8/1); 2 Colour Party (10/1); 3 Frenzified (25/1). Also ran: Dream Job 7/2 fav. 15 ran. ½l, 1¼l. R Charlton.

Tote: £11.50; £3.90, £2.80, £9.70. Exacta: £99.80. CSF: £81.40. Trifecta: £1,355.40 12.50 (1m 1f) 1 Rotherwick (A Kirby, 5/2 fav); 2 Triple Dip (25/1); 3 Mywayalways (10/1). 7 ran. NR: Secateur. 1¾l,/ 1¼l. P Cole. Tote: £3.50; £1.60, £6.60. Exacta: £91.60. CSF: £54.67. Tricast: £498.12. Trifecta: £609.70 1.25 (1m) 1 Irish Rookie (D Sweeney, 10/1); 2 Lady Of Dubai (15/8 fav); 3 Kodiva (25/1). 8 ran.

NR: Ms Eboracum. ½l, 1l. M Meade. Tote: £10.80; £2.70, £1.10, £5.10. Exacta: £29.80. CSF: £28.23.

Trifecta: £215.20 2.00 (1m) 1 Dream Walker (D Swift, 14/1); 2 Bancnuanaheireann (11/2); 3 Ginger Jack (4/1).

Also ran: Donncha 7/4 fav. 9 ran. NR: Stormy Paradise. Hd, sh hd. B Elllison. Tote: £16.40; £3.80, £2.50, £2.00. Exacta: £94.70. CSF: £88.38.

Tricast: £372.25. Trifecta: £797.40 2.35 (1m 2f) 1 Air Pilot (G Lee, 15/8); 2 Sudden Wonder (11/2); 3 Mutakayyef (5/4 fav). 6 ran. 2l, nk. R Beckett. Tote: £2.50; £1.20, £2.70. Exacta: £10.00. CSF: £11.97. Trifecta: £24.60 3.10 (1m) 1 French Navy (A Kirby, 2/1); 2 Fire Ship (16/1); 3 Bronze Angel (13/8 fav).

8 ran. Nk, 2¾l. C Appleby. Tote: £2.80; £1.20, £3.50, £1.10. Exacta: £32.40. CSF: £33.11.

Trifecta: £123.10 3.45 (7f) 1 Maggie Pink (A Rawlinson, 6/1); 2 Showboating (5/1 fav); 3 Chiswick Bey (8/1). 11 ran. 2l, 3l. M Appleby. Tote: £5.60; £2.30, £2.10, £2.90. Exacta: £36.60. CSF: £35.25. Tricast: £246.73. Trifecta: £332.00 4.15 (7f) 1 Personal Touch (P Hanagan, 7/2); 2 Al Muheer (20/1); 3 Good Authority (10/1). Also ran: Tiger Jim 2/1 fav. 10 ran. Nk, 1¾l. R Fahey.

Tote: £4.20; £1.40, £4.70, £2.40. Exacta: £100.30. CSF: £75.23. Tricast: £668.11. Trifecta: £926.80. Jackpot: Not won (pool of £10,681.16 c/f to Carlisle today) Placepot: £493.70

Quadpot: £18.10

Ascot Going: Good (good to soft in places) 12.40 (2m 3f 110yd hdle) 1 Tara Road (B Geraghty, 11/2 fav); 2 Lightentertainment (6/1); 3 Coup De Grace (8/1). 14 ran. Ns, 3¼l. R Curtis.

Tote: £5.90; £2.30, £2.30, £3.20. Exacta: £38.90. CSF: £34.93. Tricast: £265.21.

Trifecta: £514.20 1.15 (2m hdle) 1 Jolly’s Cracked It (N Scholfield, 11/4); 2 Clondaw Banker (7/4 fav); 3 Light Well (25/1). 8 ran. 3¼l, 8l. H Fry. Tote: £3.80; £1.40, £1.30, £4.30. Exacta: £9.70. CSF: £8.26.

Trifecta: £165.10 1.45 (2m 3f ch) 1 The Clock Leary (A Coleman, 12/1); 2 Cocktails At Dawn (5/2 fav); 3 Garrahalish (6/1). 8 ran. 11l, 6l. V Williams. Tote: £17.10; £3.70, £1.40, £2.10. Exacta: £63.20. CSF: £42.15. Tricast: £200.55. Trifecta: £556.50 2.20 (2m 1f ch) 1 Ulck Du Lin (S Bowen, 9/2 co/fav); 2 Claret Cloak (13/2); 3 Christopher Wren (25/1). Also ran: Bellenos, Next Sensation 9/2 co/favs. 9 ran. ¾l, 8l. P Nicholls. Tote: £5.00; £1.80, £2.30, £4.10. Exacta: £40.00. CSF: £33.51.

Tricast: £650.08. Trifecta: £1,079.30 3.00 (2m hdle) 1 Sign Of A Victory (B Geraghty, 15/8 fav); 2 Dawalan (16/1); 3 Baradari (14/1). 11 ran. ½l, 3¼l. N Henderson. Tote: £2.60; £1.30, £3.30, £4.20. Exacta: £25.00. CSF: £31.64.

Tricast: £321.59. Trifecta: £473.80

3.35 (3m ch) 1 What A Warrior (H Skelton, 7/1); 2 Black Thunder (8/1); 3 Merry King (9/1). Also ran: Le Bec 9/2 fav. 15 ran. D Skelton. ½l, 6l. Tote: £8.30; £2.60, £3.30, £3.10. Exacta: £85.90. CSF: £61.29. Tricast: £520.67. Trifecta: £1,136.20 4.05 (2m) 1 Wilberdragon (C Deutsch, 16/1); 2 Desilvano (33/1); 3 Chapel Hall (11/10 fav). 12 ran.

2¼l, 2½l. C Longsdon. Tote: £22.00;£4.20, £5.00, £1.40. Exacta: £1057.50. CSF: £442.71. Trifecta: £2,347.40 Placepot: £131.80 Quadpot: £48.30

Wetherby Going: Good (good to soft in places) 12.55 (2m 110yd hdle) 1 The Grey Taylor (R Johnson, 17/2); 2 Chieftain’s Choice (7/2); 3 Rock A Doodle Doo (10/1). Also ran: Taj Badalandabad 11/4 fav. 17 ran. ½l, 9l. S Gollings. Tote: £9.60; £2.90, £2.20, £3.30. Exacta: £47.60. CSF: £37.57.

Trifecta: £440.30 1.30 (2m ch) 1 Solar Impulse (N Fehily, 10/11 fav); 2 Turn Over Sivola (9/2); 3 Pair Of Jacks (4/1). 6 ran. NR: Katachenko. 1¾l, 21l. P Nicholls. Tote: £1.80; £1.20, £2.10. Exacta: £4.20. CSF: £5.38.

Trifecta: £12.20 2.05 (2m 110yd hdle) 1 Aurore D’estruval (A McCoy, 10/11 fav); 2 Emily Gray (9/4); 3 Bonne Fee (8/1). 5 ran. NR: Gold Chain. 10l, 2½l. J Quinn.

Tote: £1.70; £1.10, £1.80. Exacta: £3.00. CSF: £3.08. Trifecta: £8.30 2.40 (3m 1f hdle) 1 Cole Harden (G Sheehan, 9/4); 2 Medinas (8/1); 3 At Fishers Cross (4/7 fav).

3 ran. 8l, 2½l. W Greatrex. Tote: £3.10. Exacta: £8.70. CSF: £11.05. Trifecta: £11.90 3.15 (3m 1f ch) 1 Menorah (R Johnson, 8/1); 2 Taquin Du Seuil (100/30); 3 Double Ross (11/1).

Also ran: Silviniaco Conti evens fav. 7 ran. 4l, sh hd.

P Hobbs. Tote: £7.70; £3.20, £2.40. Exacta: £31.80. CSF: £33.48. Trifecta: £175.30 3.50 (2m 4f hdle) 1 Secrete Stream (B Hughes, 7/2 jt/fav); 2 Shimla Dawn (9/1); 3 Embsay Crag (12/1). Also ran: Shadarpour 7/2 jt/fav. 10 ran.

3½l, 3l. J Jefferson. Tote: £4.30; £1.90, £3.70, £3.50. Exacta: £34.30. CSF: £34.03. Tricast: £336.21. Trifecta: £417.10 4.20 (3m 1f ch) 1 Kaysersberg (G Sheehan, 5/4 fav); 2 Blakemount (11/4). 3 ran. 8l. W Greatrex. Tote: £2.50. CSF: £4.47. Exacta: £3.30. Trifecta: £4.40 Placepot: £121.30 Quadpot: £38.20

Ayr Going: Good to soft (soft in places back straight) 1.05 (2m hdle) 1 Ardnahoe (K Renwick, 15/8 fav); 2 Bobs Lady Tamure (7/2); 3 Knocklayde Sno Cat (14/1). 11 ran. 3¼l, 1¼l. D McCain. Tote: £3.5 0; £1.40, £1.40, £3.30. Exacta: £9.60. CSF: £8.56. Trifecta: £73.40 1.40 (2m 4f 110yd ch) 1 Redpender (T Kelly, 2/1 fav); 2 Carlos Fandango (3/1); 3 Harrys Whim (8/1).

6 ran. 4l, 7l. J Moffatt. Tote: £3.00; £1.20, £2.90.

Exacta: £10.40. CSF: £8.94. Trifecta: £63.20 2.15 (3m 110yd hdle) 1 Top Billing (B Harding, 3/1 jt/fav); 2 Quel Elite (13/2); 3 Wellforth (15/2). Also ran: Bescot Springs 3/1 jt/fav. 7 ran. 5l, 8l. N Richards. Tote: £3.30; £1.70, £4.10. Exacta: £19.80. CSF: £21.57 2.50 (3m 1f ch) 1 Presenting Junior (K Renwick, 11/10 fav); 2 Outlaw Tom (7/1); 3 Strike Fast (8/1).

4 ran. NR: The Friary, Ballyben. 2¼l, 41l. M Todhunter. Tote: £1.90. Exacta: £4.50. CSF: £7.38.

Trifecta: £10.60 3.25 (2m 110yd ch) 1 Definite Dream (P Moloney, 7/4 fav); 2 Too Cool To Fool (7/1); 3 Authinger (6/1). 5 ran. 1¼l, 6l. E Williams. Tote: £2.30; £1.40, £2.10. Exacta: £14.00. CSF: £13.09.

Trifecta: £53.30

4.00 (2m hdle) 1 Fisher (B Harding, 9/1); 2 Circus Star (12/1); 3 Voyage A New York (7/1).

Also ran: Lord Wishes 9/4 fav. 7 ran. NR: Master Red. 3l, 1¾l. J Quinn. Tote: £4.90; £2.90, £4.90.

Exacta: £57.00. CSF: £99.79. Tricast: £801.22.

Trifecta: £244.80 4.30 (1m 6f) 1 Another Bill (B Harding, 5/2 jtfav); 2 Verona Opera (5/2 jt-fav); 3 Verni (14/1).

10 ran. 2¼l, 10l. N Richards. Tote: £2.80; £1.40, £1.50, £3.30. Exacta: £10.50. CSF: £8.31.

Trifecta: £108.80 Placepot: £288.50 Quadpot: £29.20

Down Royal Going: Yielding (good in places) 12.45 (2m hdle) 1 Scooping (C Maxwell, 50/1); 2 Dai Bando (11/2); 3 Verawal (7/1). Also ran: Tarabiyn 5/4 fav. 13 ran. E Delany. 3¾l, 6l. Tote: €209.10; €16.90, €1.90, €2.30. Exacta: €1,129.60. CSF: €301.71 1.20 (2m hdle) 1 Rock The World (R Power, 11/4); 2 Velvet Maker (11/8 fav); 3 Minella Berry (8/1); 4 Fruits Of Glory (33/1). 16 ran. NR: Hootie. 4¾l, 3¼l.

J Harrington. Tote: €3.70; €1.50, €1.40, €2.30.

Exacta: €11.10. CSF: €6.93 1.55 (2m hdle) 1 Stocktons Wing (M Walsh, 6/1); 2 Fethard Player (10/1); 3 Waxies Dargle (7/1); 4 Run With The Wind (33/1). Also ran: Art Of Payroll, Valmy Baie 5/1 jt/favs. 16 ran. NR: Shadow Catcher. 1¾l, 4¾l. C O’Brien. Tote: €6.40; €2.30, €3.20, €2.10, €3.30. CSF: €67.28.

Tricast: €454.98 2.30 (3m ch) 1 Road To Riches (P Carberry, 9/2); 2 Rocky Creek (9/2); 3 Boston Bob (9/4 fav). 8 ran. 11l, 18l. N Meade. Tote: €5.00; €1.60, €1.60, €1.30. Exacta: €26.00. CSF: €25.66 3.05 (2m 4f ch) 1 Don Cossack (B Cooper, 6/4); 2 Wonderful Charm (8/11 fav); 3 Burn And Turn (9/1). 3 ran. NR: Carlingford Lough. 8½l, 54l. G Elliott. Tote: €2.00. Exacta: €3.50. CSF: €3.08 3.40 (3m ch) 1 Vasco Du Mee (P Carberry, 2/1 fav); 2 Milan Breeze (8/1); 3 City Of Doral (8/1). 7 ran. 31l, 3l. G Elliott. Tote: €3.00; €1.90, €2.10.

Exacta: €15.80. CSF: €18.60 4.10 (2m) 1 Round Tower (J Barry, 20/1); 2 Danielle’s Journey (5/1); 3 Rushvale (50/1).

Also ran: Rock Of Glenstal, Belle Of The Moor 7/2 jt-favs. 13 ran. Hd, 1l. K Thornton. Tote: €40.20; €10.60, €2.10, €12.60. Exacta: €379.30.

CSF: €116.22

This week Today: Carlisle (1pm); Huntingdon (12.45pm); Cork (1.10pm); Naas (12.55pm) Tomorrow: Kempton Park (1pm); Plumpton (12.50pm); Wolverhampton (A/W, 2.15pm) Tuesday: Exeter (1.15pm); Kempton Park (A/W, 4.25pm); Redcar (1pm); Southwell (A/W, 1.10pm); Fairyhouse (12.55pm) Wednesday: Chepstow (1.10pm); Kempton Park (A/W, 4.30pm); Nottingham (1.20pm); Warwick (1pm); Dundalk (6.15pm) Thursday: Musselburgh (1pm); Fakenham (12.50pm); Towcester (1.10pm); Wolverhampton (A/W, 4.20pm); Thurles (12.55pm) Friday: Musselburgh (1pm); Fontwell Park (1.10pm); Hexham (12.50pm); Wolverhampton (A/W, 4.20pm); Dundalk (6.10pm) Saturday: Doncaster (12.40pm); Kelso (12.30pm); Sandown Park (12.45pm); Wincanton (12.20pm); Naas (12.25pm) Flat meetings in bold

SPORT

16 / COMMENT

02.11.14 MATTHEW CHILDS

LETTERS

Hugh McIlvanney THE VOICE OF SPORT

Send your letters to: The Sports Editor, The Sunday Times, 1 London Bridge St London SE1 9GF email: sportletters@sunday-times.co.uk

MANCHESTER CITY ARE NOT A CONVINCING ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE PREMIER LEAGUE

Anthony Snook writes (last week) that Lance Armstrong ‘probably didn’t harm anyone but himself’. What about the corruption of fellow riders? He was merciless in dealing with individuals who questioned his methods. He did great harm to the reputation of cycling.

John Noland, Derby

T

here are times when the habitual preening of the Premier League jars disconcertingly with the unglamorous reality of club results in Europe, like a carnation buttonhole pinned on dungarees. The overall record at the highest level of continental competition is not particularly poor but it is more than patchy enough to mock the incessant repetition of unqualified declarations that England has the best league in world football.

That stubborn lack of qualification is the problem. If the cheerleaders contented themselves with claiming possession of the most popular league, then the immensely lucrative global television contracts attracted by this country’s top division would justify their assertions. It might bedifficulttocontradictthemif they argued that the Premier League is, in terms of week-toweek intensity throughout the fixture list, usually more competitive than any of its major counterparts.

They are inclined, however, to dispense with all niceties of definition, describing it simply and smugly as the best. Some of us, perhaps pedantically, believe such a rating should be reserved for the league with the best teams and the best players.

The very notion that application of those basic criteria could identify the Premier League as a nonpareil is outlandish. Obviously its teams have been outstanding in certain years, notably when Manchester United and Chelsea contested the Champions League final of 2008.

But in the 22 full seasons of existence the Premier League has shared with the Champions League, English clubs have won the European title four times, while the representa-

What planet is Mr Snook on? Armstrong was and remains a malign influence on a sport almost ruined and yet to recover credibility.

The long-term damage to many cyclists who used a cocktail of chemicals under Armstrong’s baleful influence is sadly assured.

Paul Evans, Herringswell, Suffolk

High expectations: Manchester City have a host of well-paid players such as Edin Dzeko but are struggling to make any impression on the Champions League

League left trailing tives of Germany have had three successes, challengers from Italy five and the standard-bearers of La Liga (Real Madrid and Barcelona) an impressive seven. Boasts about the Premier League should be tempered by those statistics.

Yet there seems to be something in the air around our football that encourages hyperbole concerning the domestic game. A few weeks ago Arsène Wenger, betraying his reputation for well-judged comments, said: “When you look at the top-quality players that come into the Premier League, we have all the best attacking players in Europe here.” No doubt the Arsenal

manager was employing exaggeration to make a point but his statement was too ridiculous to be taken seriously. From Spain alone, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez should have impinged on his thinking sufficiently to prevent his tongue from going wild, especially since Ronaldo, Bale and Suarez all left these shores to play in La Liga.

Hopes that the Premier League will move at least a little closer to its more fervent eulogists’ assessment of its eminence remain alive in this season’s Champions League, which stages another series of matches this week. Chelsea

and Arsenal already look safe bets to progress from their groups and even Liverpool, who were slaughtered by Real Madrid at Anfield and must expect a painful night at the Bernabeu on Tuesday, may yet find Ludogorets and Basel accommodating enough to let them advance from Group B. Predictably, the most significant worries are attached to Manchester City. As reigning English champions, and winners of the national title in two of the past three seasons, they should offer a convincing advertisement for the Premier League. But their form, here and abroad, has been erratic and there is clear danger that

felling of Foreman in the eighth round, left indelible images in the mind. But equally vivid in my recollections is the time spent with him in his villa beside the Zaire River later on the day of the fight. With only my friend and fellow journalist Ken Jones and three of Ali’s household staff sharing the experience, I listened for nearly two-and-a-half hours as the recrowned champion talked through the details of his triumph.

He confirmed that the riskladen willingness to remain for lengthy spells under bombardment on the ropes before releasing swift flurries of punches, the policy celebrated ever since as ropea-dope, wasn’t a longpremeditated strategy. It was, even more impressively,

adopted when he found himself “a bit winded” after trying to dance around Foreman in the first round.

The flawless diamond of his nerve and the imaginative range of his skills enabled him, at 32 and with his physical gifts blatantly eroded by his 1967-70 exile from boxing, to frustrate and then overwhelm a seemingly invincible 25-year-old who had violently disposed of the only men who had at that point beaten Ali, Joe Frazier and Ken Norton.

Recalling Muhammad Ali’s vibrant, endlessly articulate presence in that villa, it’s heart-rending to contemplate the twilight of mute, inexorable infirmity with which Parkinson’s Syndrome (brought on by punches to the head) would begin to envelop

Champions League are the team threatening to be dominant on the home scene. Maybe it is over-optimistic to suggest that Chelsea can overcome all the obstacles likely to be put in their way by such as Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain but in his management career Jose Mourinho has upset far more daunting odds. No opponent can confront him without a measure of trepidation. He is sometimes too offensively, damagingly provocative to be admired. But his mastery of his trade is one component of the Premier League about which boasting would be understandable.

Grappling campaign is long overdue

Day Ali shook the world Having got back in harness after a prolonged absence involving running repairs at the hands of the medical profession, I found memories of more vigorous days stirred last week by the 40th anniversary of the most remarkable sports event I ever covered.

Such a definition of the world heavyweight title fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire, during the early hours of an October morning in 1974 is pretty much superfluous, since it provided an exotic zenith to Ali’s career and cemented his status as the most extraordinary and captivating figure in the entire history of sport.

What he did in the Stade du 20 Mai, the drama that climaxed with the decisive

their experience of the Champions League will continue to be miserable.

Of course, though they have gained just two points from three group matches, they are capable of extricating themselves from their awkward predicament. They must if they are to escape being branded serial underachievers in Europe. Their chances will be improved if leading players, particularly Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure, jettison the tendency to make peculiar excuses for bad performances.

Few will dispute that England’s most viable contenders in this year’s

Muhammad Ali: diamond nerve him less than a decade later.

Does he regret committing himself to an activity as punishing as boxing, which gave him both unique glory and almost half a lifetime of severely diminished capacities? It seems probable that he doesn’t. But for some of us there’s an unavoidable sense of guilt about being so thrilled by the little wars that cost him so much.

Allies in a cause are always welcome, no less so when their intense commitment to it has been surprisingly delayed. For at least a decade and a half my contributions to these pages have recurringly contained bitter demands for decisive action against the plague of shirtpulling and wrestling-style manhandling that has long had an intolerably disfiguring effect on professional football.

“Get a grip on all this grappling” (2004) was typical of the headings on pieces that sometimes included official promises of a clampdown on offenders.

Of course, no worthwhile improvement emerged. So it

is pleasing to note that the Daily Mail sports section has launched a spirited campaign calling for stringent measures to combat the sickening, rarely punished prevalence of such behaviour in penalty boxes.

Wrestling has become so much the wretched norm that players bristle with indignation on the isolated occasions when they are penalised for the habit of locking opponents in holds worthy of Hulk Hogan.

If the loud voice of the Daily Mail helps to toughen referees’ responses, we will all have cause to be grateful.

Having had plenty of practice, I’ll be adding a growl or two.

I’ve played, refereed and/or coached basketball pretty much all my life. I wanted to thank David Walsh for his articles re UK Sport’s ridiculous method of funding and how it’s impacted basketball. As you pointed out, it’s popular among all groups (regardless of class, race and creed). The reality is very few people get to compete at an elite level.

It’s daft not to fund the grass roots of sports like basketball. Thanks again for playing your part in highlighting the stupidity of what UK Sport was up to.

Kevin Maxwell, Maxwell Communications Sorry that Ian Poulter is ‘shocked and disappointed’ to be called a ‘little girl’ by US PGA president Ted Bishop. That is just about the mildest thing that can be said about the outspoken golfer who delights in making crass comments about the game that earns him a fortune. It beggars belief that anyone should be sacked for such a remark.

Mike Hunter, via email Am I missing something?

My understanding is that Ted Bishop likened Poulter to a ‘lil girl’. I don’t see that he said there was anything wrong with being a girl, merely that little girls act differently to big boys.

Tom Bryan, via email In his otherwise comprehensive report on Northampton v Ospreys, it’s a shame Nick Pitt didn’t see fit to mention one of the most cynical acts I’ve seen on a rugby field: Northampton were in a virtually unassailable lead when, at a ruck, a Northampton forward trapped an Ospreys forward’s foot in what can only be described as an unrelenting wrestler’s legscissors grip. Despite struggling to free himself, the Ospreys man was penalised for not rolling away.

Colin Drury, Vale of Glamorgan Last week’s report on Ulster v Toulon by Stuart Barnes

told us very little about the action on the field and was disrespectful of the European champions. They scored 23 points to win the match, yet there was no narrative on the scorers or how they achieved it.

Instead we had a ramble about Ireland’s possible national selection problems.

Julian Thomas, Colwall, Herefordshire A great deal was made of whether Andy Murray qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals. Why? It makes relatively little difference to the world rankings and the money to be earned in London makes no difference to the top players. Would it not be better for Murray to finish the season early, get some rest then start his pre-season training a little earlier, so he is ready for the Australian Open?

Lisa Scott, Edinburgh Thank you, David Walsh. At last a journalist is prepared to describe accurately Steven Gerrard’s performances (last week).

He has become the current ‘elephant in the room’, almost beyond criticism.

Joe Kirrane, west London

What an excellent article by David Walsh spelling out how far Liverpool’s star has fallen this season and taking on the sacred cow that is Steven Gerrard. For more than 20 years Liverpool have flattered to deceive.

Their current malaise comes nowhere near matching their impressive history.

Iain Rodger, London Much is being made of Mario Balotelli’s lack of goals during his opening period as a Liverpool player. To add a little perspective, Peter Crouch, an England international, did not score for 18 games before he opened his account with a ‘fluke’ against Wigan.

Rowan Gorrie, Ramsbottom Player ratings can tend towards the conservative, although one might not want to humiliate a player by giving him 0 points. At the other end of the scale, I remember watching Yakubu score a hat-trick for Everton, winning the game practically single-handed. He only got a rating of 9/10: perhaps it was because he did not defend enough.

Terence Connell, Liverpool

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Business 02.11.2014

FIFTY YEARS OF BUSINESS

PRICE CUTTER

Andy Clarke, Asda chief executive INTERVIEW p25

LOANS STAR

ROLE MODEL

Business Bank finally opens its doors p26

Why we need women engineers p24

Leahy: Tesco lost its way — but the worst could be over Oliver Shah TESCOhas lost its sense of identity and its connection with customers, according to Sir Terry Leahy, the chain’s former chief executive.

In comments that will be seen as veiled criticism of his successor, Leahy said Britain’s biggest grocer had “focused too much on what it isn’t, rather than remembering what it is and working with that”.

“What it is, is a very big brand in the centre of the market, and clearly if you’re weak in the centre you can get attacked from all sides,” Leahy said. “But if you’re strong in the centre and doing what you do well, it’s a good place to be — you can attract customers from all parts of the market.”

The 58-year-old, who chairs the discount chainB&M Retail, went on to predict that the big four super-

markets “may have seen the worst”, with wagegrowth returning andthe oil price falling. Tesco could surprise the industry with its speed of recovery under Dave Lewis, he said.

Leahy was speaking on a hushhush conference call arranged by Bank of America Merrill Lynch for City clients. Traders are desperate for insight into Tesco, with some hedge funds having made millions from short-selling the shares.

His comments come as Tesco faces the biggest crisis in its 95-year history. Philip Clarke, who took over from Leahy in 2011, was ousted amid a slump in trading brought on by the fading popularity of out-oftown shopping and the rise of discounters such as Aldi and Lidl.

Lewis joined in September, just weeks before a whistleblower led the supermarket to admit its firsthalf profits had been overstated by

£263m. Eight senior managers have been suspended, Sir Richard Broadbent has resigned as chairman and the Serious Fraud Office has opened a criminal investigation.

Britain’s No 4 grocer, Morrisons, is also having a tough time and is forecast to report a 6% fall in quarterly sales next week.

A top-10 investor said the chief executive, Dalton Philips, was sending “mixed messages” after

The Sunday Times revealed the prices of 107 staple items had risen despite his pledge to make them permanently cheaper.

“We’ll be looking for some clarity on the pricing strategy,” the fund manager said.

Leahy said Tesco was at its best when it used insight into consumer behaviour to innovate and respond totrends.“Perhapsithasn’temphasised that enough, used that

strength enough,” he said. “And it’s interesting, listening to Dave Lewis . . . To the extent he’s had an opportunity, he has emphasised the need to focus on customers.”

Leahy believes the improving economy has started to provide a “more favourable backdrop” for the middle market. “Clearly the ecommerce [retailers] and discounters have had a strong period of growth,

Continued on page 18 uu

BRETT D COVE

Cable tells FTSE giants to plug ’diversity deficit’ One in five directors must come from ethnic minorities by 2020, demands business secretary Kiki Loizou VINCE CABLE is about to launch a drive to secure more boardroom places in blue-chip companies for ethnic minorities.

The business secretary wants one in five FTSE 100 directors to come from non-white groups within five years. He hopes to mirror the success of the campaign to put more women onto the boards of big businesses.

However, Cable’s proposal is bound to stoke controversy: if the 20% target is met, it will mean that the proportion of ethnic minorities on FTSE 100 boards is greater than their percentage of the population.

Figures for England and Wales in 2011 show that 86% of the population was white and 80.5% white British.Thesecond-largestcategory was Asian or British Asian at 7.5%.

“I know race is an ambiguous

concept,” said Cable, “but it is about recognising that when you’re describing board composition, it is something that has to be taken into account.”

In February, a study of 10,000 executives revealed that more than half the FTSE 100 companies had no non-whites at board level and twothirds had no full-time executive directors from ethnic minorities.

In response, Cable enlisted the help of the comedian Lenny Henry and the former head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Trevor Phillips, to devise a plan to promote ethnic diversity at the top of companies. The Financial Reporting Council has just added “race” to the corporate governance code’s definition of diversity.

“You have to have targets, otherwise nobody will know if you’ve achieved anything,” said Cable.

One of the initiatives announced

next month will be a mentoring scheme for FTSE 100 companies, which hopes to help ethnic minorities climb the corporate ladder.

“We want British business leadership to look like modern Britain rather than Britain in the 1950s,” said Phillips, who co-wrote the February report on boardroom diversity. It was followed by research by Business in the Community, a charity, which found that in 2012 just 6% of top management positions and 7.9% of management positions were held by black, Asian and ethnic minorities.

Phillips added: “Bear in mind 77% of what FTSE 100 companies earn is made outside Britain.”

The campaign, to be launched next month, may later be extended to FTSE 250 businesses, he said. “If the black person comes from Botswana rather than Brixton, that’s fine.”

City headhunters said that the plans would not weaken corporate governance. Samuel Johar of Buchanan Harvey & Co said the effect of the campaign would be like that of the review by Lord Davies of Abersoch into the Number of women non-executive directors.

“It has been a scramble to find people, but overall the quality of boards has improved,” Johar said.

The bank that Vince built, page 26

Bid to save Helter-Skelter Oliver Shah THE City’s skyline is set to undergo another dramatic change after new backers came forward for a skyscraper on which construction stalled eight years ago.

A consortium led by the French fund manager Axa is in talks to revive the Pinnacle — also known as the Helter-Skelter because of its twisting design — a neighbour of the Cheesegrater and the Gherkin.

Axa, which is understood to be

fronting a handful of powerful overseas investors, has offered to buy the site from current owners, Arab Investments and the Saudi Arabian wealth fund Sedco, and fund the 63-storey tower’s construction.

The talks, revealed by EuroProperty magazine, could herald the rescue of the Square Mile’s biggest white elephant. Plans for the Pinnacle were unveiled to great fanfare in 2006, but the development faltered as the credit crunch struck.

Underpressurefromtheirlender,

HSH Nordbank, they drafted in the property consultant CBRE to find a buyer last year.

Almost £400m has already been spent on the Pinnacle’s foundations and the first seven storeys. The lack of progress since then has led to the project being nicknamed the Stump.

Sources said Axa’s consortium was expected to apply for revised planning permission to make the building more practical. Completion is unlikely until late 2018.

Xstrata founder targets Anglo deal

Family dinner: Gordon Ramsay with his wife Tana and daughter Matilda

Danny Fortson

Ramsay to sell stake Celebrity chef offers share in restaurants GORDON RAMSAY is cooking up a deal to sell a 50% stake in his restaurant empire, writes Matthew Goodman.

The celebrity chef is working with advisers at BDO to find an investor willing to help fund the expansion of a business that includes Bread Street Kitchen in the City and his Chelsea flagship. It is anticipated that a deal could value the company at up to £80m.

A sale would cap a remarkable comeback for Ramsay, who almost lost control of his business during the recession. He injected millions into it to

stave off administration. The chef and Stuart Gillies, managing director of the group, have cut costs and closed unprofitable ventures overseas.

Last year Kavalake, the holding company for the restaurants, delivered earnings before interest, tax and other charges of £5m from sales of almost £45m.

Ramsay and Gillies have embarked on a fresh wave of international expansion, opening several venues in Las Vegas and returning to Asia. The chef is taking Bread Street Kitchen to Hong Kong

Continued on page 18 uu

MINING tycoon Mick Davis has entered the fray again, tabling a multibillion pound offer for a big chunk of Anglo American’s empire.

The bid, thought to have been made in recent weeks, is the latest attempt by the former boss of FTSE 100 mining giant Xstrata to launch his new vehicle, X2 Resources.

Davis, who sold Xstrata last year to Glencore for $27bn, has raised $4.8bn (£3bn) from a handful of investors to set up a diversified mining giant.

The Anglo bid marks the second time he has tried to prise away assets from one of the world’s top miners to form the heart of his new venture.

BHP Billiton rejected a similar bid and has instead decided to spin off aluminium, coal, nickel and manganese operations into a new $12bn listed company.

The 56-year-old South African is not the only suitor knocking on Anglo’s door. It is understood that Warburg Pincus, the private equity giant who this year hired Peter Kukielski, Arcelor Mittal’s former mining chief, has also made an approach for some of the £18bn giant’s assets.

Mark Cutifani took over at Anglo’s chief executive a year and a half ago with a mandate to lash costs, sell assets and knock the company into shape after years of underperformance. He has already announced plans to sell a big part of its historic platinum mining operation in South Africa and launched an auction for copper mines in Chile.

It is thought that Davis has tabled a proposal that includes the copper minesaswellasaraftofotheroperations, including its Brazilian nickel mines and some coal assets.

Industry sources said Cutifani was much more likely to run auctions for unwanted assets than to accept a bid from Davis that includes businesses he does not intend to sell.

Davis is the most prominent of a gaggle of executives who have set up funds to take advantage of an expected deluge of asset sales by the big miners. Others include Roger Agnelli, the former head of Brazilian iron ore producer Vale, who created B&A Mineracao, and Aaron Regent, who used to run Barrick Gold and whohaslaunchedMagrisResources.

Several of the new funds have struggled because the biggest companies have yet to significantly downsize.

BUSINESS

18

BUSINESS DIGEST The chain’s global profit was £2.6bn last year

Top shareholder backs StanChart boss Sands Ben Laurance

Ikea puts together 11% increase in UKsales Ikea’s UK sales topped £1.4bn in the year to August, the company announced this weekend.

The 11.3% rise suggests the Swedish retailer has dodged the problem of declining shopper visits to big stores that has hit companies such as B&Q and Homebase.

Gillian Drakeford, head of Ikea in the UK, said: “What is really encouraging is that this growth has come from

our existing businesses, not relying on a bricks-andmortar expansion scheme.”

Ikea said it had ploughed money into its children’s and living-room departments.

The company made £2.6bn profits worldwide last year. In the past it has been criticised for its tax arrangements, which see some of its UK profits siphoned off abroad in the form of royalty payments to a sister company.

PETER SANDS, the beleaguered chief executive of banking giant Standard Chartered, received public backing this weekend from the lender’s second-largest shareholder.

Sands and chairman Sir John Peace are under intense pressure following a profit warning last week and a slump in the share price.

However, Martin Gilbert, chief executive of Aberdeen Asset Management, which controls 8.4% of Standard Chartered, yesterday leapt to Sands’ defence.

Gilbert said: “We believe

Second-biggest investor in emerging markets bank backs chief despite big share price fall that the management, led by Sir John Peace and Peter Sands, should be given the opportunity to address the bank’s current issues and deal with them now.

“We don’t believe there is anything fundamentally wrong with the bank and we are looking forward to hearing details of the turn-

around plans.” Standard Chartered is due to spell out proposals later this month.

The bank’s largest shareholder, the Singaporean state fund Temasek with an 18% stake, is thought to be broadly supportive of current management and is not agitating for change. Shares in Standard Chartered suffered a

double blow last week. The bank issued a profit warning on Tuesday — the third in a year. Then, on Thursday, it emerged that a US investigation into alleged sanctionsbusting had been reopened.

The shares lost more than 15% over the week.

Gilbert’s support came as it emerged that the bank faces the threat of having to swallow further bad debts after fresh signs emerged of financial distress at one of its big corporate clients.

The risk of further losses stems from a loan granted in 2012 to Indonesian coal tycoon Samin Tan. He borrowed $1bn from Standard

Chartered to buy a share stake in mining group Bumi At the end of March, the bank was still owed just under $700m.

The bank has a claim over 54m Asia Resource Minerals shares, but that provides little comfort: at Friday’s closing price, the stake in the London company was worth just £21.4m, which is equivalent to $34.2m.

INSIDE Time runs out for boss of Standard Chartered FOCUS, PAGE 21 TOM STOCKILL

In fashion: profits at Selfridges increased 12.3%

Greene King closes in on takeover Greene King, the maker of Old Speckled Hen ale, is preparing to unveil an agreed £720m takeover of rival pub operator Spirit. The two companies have been locked in talks for several weeks and hope to announce a deal before the Takeover Panel’s deadline on Tuesday.

The enlarged company would run an estate of more than 3,000 pubs and bring together chains such as Hungry Horse and Chef & Brewer. Spirit rejected a counterbid from Irish cider maker C&C Group, which is closely monitoring the situation.

Bidders to p-p-p pick up a Penguin Multibillion-pound takeover bids for United Biscuits are expected to be submitted to the company’s private equity owners this weekend.

The buyout firms PAI Partners and Blackstone, which own United Biscuits, have been exploring a sale or listing of the company, which makes Penguin chocolate biscuits and Jaffa cakes. US-based Kellogg’s, Canada’s Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund, which owns Burton’s Biscuits, and Turkish group Ulker are all expected to make offers.

It is believed the company could be sold for as much as £2bn.

Crunch talks on Welsh refinery The owner of the Murco oil refinery in Milford Haven was locked in crunch talks this weekend to finalise its sale to Klesch Group. The deal was announced by Murphy Oil in July.

Klesch’s period of exclusivity ended on Friday night.

Westons’ super fare Selfridges posts record sales Selfridges has revealed record sales and profits in its 10th year of ownership under the Canadian branch of the Weston family, writes Oliver Shah.

The luxury department chain, which has a flagship store on London’s Oxford Street and branches in Birmingham and Manchester, saw sales rise 10.4% to £1.2bn last year. Operating profits increased 12.3% to £150m.

Anne Pitcher, managing director, said there had been significant growth in online takings and international spending during the period. She said she was cautiously optimistic about the prospects for this Christmas, adding: “Really the story is that strong domestic growth is helping offset a slowdown in that extremely high rate of growth in international spending.”

Chairman Galen Weston, who beat the Scottish entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter to take Selfridges private in 2003, said he was pleased with the progress it had made since then.

His side of the Weston family, which also owns Brown Thomas in Ireland and Loblaw supermarkets in Canada, is spending £300m refurbishing Selfridges’ Oxford Street store.

Matthew Goodman NATIONALLOTTERY operator Camelot enjoyed a surge in profits last year while ticket sales and the amount awarded to good causes both fell.

Accounts for Camelot UKLotteries, responsible for running games in Britain, reveal profits attributable to shareholders reached £58.5m in the year to March, up from £54.6m the previous year.

The amount handed to good causes was £1.75bn, 26% of total sales of £6.7bn. That was down from the £1.95bn awarded a year earlier, which represented 28% of sales.

The jump in earnings was even more stark at Camelot’s parent company, which includes a number of other subsidiaries. Premier Lotteries Investments UK delivered pre-tax profits of £26.5m last year, a 66% increase on the £16m it achieved over the previous 12 months.

Camelot’s owner, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, received dividends of £56.7m for the year to March, taking the total to more than £220m since it bought the lottery operator in 2010 for £389m.

Camelot defended the rise in profits, saying £58.5m was a “very modest amount” compared to sales of £6.7bn, £1.75bn for good causes, and £3.6bn paid out in prize money. The company, which doubled the price of a Lotto ticket to £2 a year ago, also paid more than £800m in lottery duty to the Treasury.

Camelot’s performance last year was its second best ever, after a record 2012-13. It said one reason for the fall was a drop in the number of rollover Euromillions draws.

Camelot has become more open about the pay of directors after a row over transparency last year prompted by a Sunday Times story. The accounts reveal that outgoing chief executive Dianne Thompson received total pay of £2.1m last year, the same amount that she received the previous year.

The company said that Thompson, who leaves this month after 14 years as chief executive, would not be receiving a golden goodbye but declined to reveal how much she would be paid this year.

The lottery operator said it would be “inappropriate” to reveal details of her pay until its accounts had been audited and published.

Celebrate with a business debate

Europe dithers on QE Ben Laurance THE European Central Bank faces pressure to launch a programme of full-blown quantitative easing (QE) at its monthly meeting this week — but economists expect any move will be postponed until next year at the earliest.

On Friday, the Bank of Japan stunned markets by expanding its stimulus programme just days after the US Federal Reserve ended its own QE scheme. The Fed started QE in the wake of the 20072008 financial crisis.

The ECB is acutely aware that economies in the Eurozone are now so sluggish that there is a risk of deflation.

Ignazio Visco, a member of the ECB governing council,

Camelot profit up despite sales fall

Mario Draghi: stimulus signal said last week: “We are not in deflation but we cannot ignore the concrete risk of it.”

ECB president Mario Draghi has signalled the bank should be providing more in the way of economic stimulus, interest rates having already been cut to virtually zero. But QE is opposed by some Eurozone members, notably Germany.

The ECB is due to start buying asset-backed securities this month and more details are expected after Thursday’s meeting.

IN TWO weeks we will be celebrating two 50th birthdays: our own and that of London Business School.

We will bring together leading executives, industrialists and economists to look back at the past half-century and answer the question: Has Britain Been Great for Business? The debate, chaired by our Economics Editor David Smith, will feature: Lord(Terry)Burns,chairman of Santander UK. A former Treasury mandarin, Burns has served as chairman of Marks & Spencer and Channel 4.

0 Carolyn McCall, chief executive of easyJet. McCall, who formerly led Guardian Media Group, has transformed the profitability — and punctuality — of the budget airline.

Jim Ratcliffe, chairman of Ineos. Ratcliffe has built a mul-

tibillion-pound chemicals company.

0 Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP. Sorrell has turned WPP into the world’s leading marketing agency.

The debate will be held in The News Building at London Bridge on Tuesday, November 11. A limited number of tickets are available at £25 each. To book go to mytimesplus.co.uk.

‘Right leadership could save Tesco’

Ramsay carves off slice of his empire

uu Continued from page 17 and that growth will continue, but it may not be at quite the same rate as before. You may start to see a situation where the hugely disruptive effect of poorer consumers and [dis– count]competitorsstartstobe accommodated by the main players and they start to respond to it.”

The former Tesco boss said analysts “may be surprised how quickly you could see signs of improvement in [Tes– co]. It’s very responsive to the

uu Continued from page 17 and has operations in the Middle East and Europe.

Gillies said in June that there was “no reason why we can’t do 50 new restaurants over the next five years”.

Ramsay, who declined to comment on the sale, has continued to expand his presence in London. This year the 47-year-old chef bought the site of Aubergine in Chelsea, where he made his name more than two decades ago.

right leadership and the right marketing strategy.”

In an interview with The Sunday Times today, Asda’s chief executive, Andy Clarke, says it was “more than just surprising” how rivals such as Tesco had allowed prices to drift up since the downturn.

“It can only be that others were benefiting from an inflated position rather than reinvesting back in custo– mers,” he says.

Big fella who beat rivals to price-cutting punch, page 25

Restaurants have proved attractive for private equity buyers in recent years.

Graphite Capital has backed Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, the duo behind leading London venues such as the Wolseley and Brasserie Zédel, and taken a stake in Hawksmoor steakhouses.

Prezzo, the high-street Italian chain, is in talks with two private equity suitors.

Several other operators are likely to be sold in coming months, including Yo! Sushi.

02.11.14 / 19 NICK HARVEY

Warm weather leaves M&S feeling the chill Analysts fear a further fall in clothing revenues — but big worry is that food sales have stalled at high street stalwart Oliver Shah MARKS& SPENCER is braced for a double dose of bad news this week as it reports a fall in clothing sales and a slowdown in its food business.

The high street bellwether is believed to have been hit hard by the unusually warm autumn weather, which prompted a rare profit warning from Next last week as jumpers and coats remained unsold.

Analysts expect M&S to announce a 3.7% fall in like-forlike general merchandise sales in the three months to the end of September — worse than the 1% drop previously forecast — and growth of just 0.2% in food sales.

Signs of stagnation in food are significant because it has been the bright spot at M&S during three years of sliding fashion sales.

The warm weather comes on

top of teething troubles with M&S’s new website, which is understood to have seen online sales reverse at an alarming rate for several weeks in July.

The company’s board, led by chief executive Marc Bolland and chairman Robert Swannell, is expected to conduct a round of meetings to reassure investors their turnaround plan is not running into serious trouble.

Simon Irwin, an analyst at Credit Suisse, said: “Earnings momentum has been negative for four years, and with expectations [for the second half of M&S’s financial year] already quite demanding, we see little in either the external environment or selfhelp agenda to suggest that this is about to change.”

Irwin said he was concerned about the impact of sterling’s strengthening on M&S’s interna-

INSIDE Asda’s big fella who cut prices first in battle with discounters INTERVIEW, PAGE 25

HEDGE funds have been building stakes in chip designer CSR amid speculation that there could be a new £1.5bn-plus bid for the London-listed company.

CSR — formerly known as Cambridge Silicon Radio — last month agreed to sell itself to America’s Qualcomm, one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies, for 900p a share or £1.56bn. It had previously had talks with another American company, Microchip Technology.

Late last week it emerged York CapitalManagement,ahedgefund that specialises in betting on takeover situations, raised its shareholding in CSR to 1.39% while GLG, now part of Man Group, increased its stake to 1.45%.

TIG, also known as Tiedemann Investment Group, an American hedge fund that focuses on investing in takeovers, owns a further 1.26% of CSR, which designs parts for Bluetooth devices.

While many analysts believe Qualcomm is paying a high price for CSR, some sources believe a

Drone drivers put London in sights Danny Fortson A COMPANY that trains people to fly drones is set to land on the London Stock Exchange.

Strat Aero, which runs a pilot instruction centre in Roswell, New Mexico, hopes to capitalise on the booming demand for unmanned aerial vehicles, which are used for everything from dropping bombs in war zones to monitoring food crops and providing aerial shots in films.

The company, based at Gatwick, plans to raise up to £1m in a share offering on AIM, the junior market, which could value it at £6m.

Beaufort Securities is handling the deal.

The use of drones has rocketed in recent years, especially by the US military, which has used them to make bombing and

surveillance flights in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In America, farmers are lobbying for regulations to be relaxed so they can use them to collect data on their crops. Drones are already used in Japan and elsewhere by the agriculture industry.

In September, the Federal Aviation Administration approved drones for use in television and film, the first commercial application in America. The military and law enforcement markets alone could reach $82bn (£51bn) by 2025, according to the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, a trade body.

Strat Aero is led by chief executive Russell Peck, an American former airline pilot, and chairman Graham Peck, who used to fly for the Royal Navy. The cash will be used for working capital and to buy more equipment.

rival bidder could still trump the offer. In part, this is because Microchip Technology has still not formally ruled itself out from a bid.

Analysts, have also tipped semi-conductor manufacturer Broadcom as potential buyer.

Broadcom, based in California, makes semiconductors for the wirelessandbroadbandindustries.

City sources said a rival bidder for CSR has plenty of time to trump Qualcomm’s bid as regulatory approval for the deal is expected to take several months. CSR shares closed on Friday at 837.4p.

Polished performer Saudi retailer snaps up Models Own A range of nail varnishes and lipsticks popular with celebrities, such as Pixie Lott, is to be bought by the largest retailer in Saudi Arabia, write Ben Harrington and Matthew Goodman.

Fawaz Alhokair, which owns the Marks & Spencer franchise in the oil-rich kingdom, last week agreed a deal to buy Models Own for about £20m. The sale will deliver a fortune to its shareholders, the largest of which are founders Mark Rodol, former chief executive of the Ministry of Sound dance music operation, and his brother, Steven.

The brothers, who were advised on the deal by Bluebox Corporate Finance, set up Models Own five years ago with the idea of making and selling cheap but trendy nail varnish and lipstick for fashionconscious women. They will continue to run the business, which generates a turnover of about £8m and could grow to 100 shops in Britain.

Fawaz Alhokair is understood to be keen to begin selling the brand at its shopping malls in Saudi Arabia.

As well as Marks & Spencer, it holds franchises for a string of leading retail names, including Gap and Zara.

Vultures take aim at builder Oliver Shah ATRIO of vulture funds has tabled a bid for Avant Homes, the housebuilder formerly known as Gladedale.

Alchemy Partners, Angelo GordonandAvenueCapitalare understood to have offered about £170m for the company, which is being sold by Lloyds Banking Group. KPMG is believed to be advising them.

Lloyds inherited stakes in a messy array of property businesses through its 2009 takeover of HBOS, whose thenhead of corporate lending, Peter Cummings, invested heavily in the sector. Gladedale imploded after a wild acquisition spree by its former boss, Remo Dipre, and was always seen as the bank’s most troublesome housebuilder.

However, as Avant it has started to recover under chief executive Neil Fitzsimmons, the former Redrow boss, and chairman Keith Hamill, who

Investor cheers Ophir’s swoop Danny Fortson

tional business, saying it might have to give up some profits to help franchisees keep prices competitive in local currencies, and pointed out that there was “little prospect for anything meaningful” in the way of extra dividends or share buybacks.

Analysts at Citi, one of M&S’s house brokers, said its 800 stores would continue to drag on the company as sales migrate online.

On clothing, a top-20 shareholder said: “We’re always waiting for it to be better, it should be better, but it’s not better.

They’re always pushing it out.

“The stock hasn’t done terribly, it’s been relatively defensive because of the food side, so I don’t think people are angry.They maybe just don’t have very high expectations.”

Investors are also waiting for news on a replacement for finance director Alan Stewart, who left to joinsupermarket group Tesco.

Hedgies chip away at CSR Ben Harrington

Shake it: Pixie Lott is a fan of Models Own nail varnish

Lloyds hoped to bag £200m for Avant, back in the black last year previously chaired the stockbroker Tullett Prebon.

Lloyds hired investment bankers at Rothschild to put the business up for sale late last year. Several private equity firms looked at it as well as trade buyers including Galliford Try, but the Alchemy consortium is understood to

be the only party to have made an offer. The bid is lower than Lloyds’ price target of £200m.

Sources emphasised the bank was not under pressure to sell andcoulddecidetokeepAvant onger if the talks fail.

Avant’s sales reached £220m in 2013 and it returned to the black. Its sites are mostly

in the Midlands, northern England and Scotland.

Private equity firms and hedgefundshavescrambledto buy housebuilders since the soaraway float of Crest Nicholson, which was revived by the American distressed debt fund Värde Partners.

GSO Capital, a subsidiary of Blackstone, bought into Miller Group, Patron Capital and Legal&GeneraltookoverCala, and Oaktree Capital picked up Countryside. All were previously owned by Lloyds.

Some of the buyers are already looking to cash in. GSO sold Miller’s construction business in the summer and tried to float the rest of the company for £450m, but pulledthedeallastmonthamid choppy market conditions.

The sector has surged back to life, thanks in part to government initiatives. Last month Bellway, one of the big listed players, reported a 75% jump in pre-tax profits.

THE biggest investor in Salamander Energy has urged the £275m oil explorer to accept an all-share merger offer from rival Ophir Energy.

Salamander last week confirmed a report in The Sunday Times that it had received two takeover bids, from Londonlisted explorer Ophir and Cepsa, the Abu Dhabi-owned oil giant. Cepsa has teamed up with Jynwel Capital, a Hong Kong private equity firm.

Salamander, which has assets in Thailand and Indonesia, did not reveal the terms of either approach but said that it was, “in discussions with both Ophir and the Cepsa consortium”.

It is understood that RS Investment, a San Franciscobased fund manager that owns 14% of Salamander’s stock, supports the Ophir bid. RS is the third biggest investor in Ophir with a near 10%holding.

Ophir has made a huge gas discovery off Tanzania but it is years from production.

A takeover of Salamander, whose prize asset is the Bualuang oil field in Thailand, would give it a steady source of cash flow.

As of last week, Salamander said that Cepsa had not confirmed “any offer will be forthcoming”. The news leak could make a deal difficult.

Salamander’s stock jumped 30% to 106p, giving it a value of £275m.

Shares in Ophir, which had proposed an all-share takeover, tumbled 17%. The price swings have led to an impasse, with Salamander demanding an improved exchange ratio and Ophir unwilling to budge from its original offer, pitched at about 105p.

This year Salamander turned down a bid from Cepsa, thought to have valued its shares at about 145p.

Instead it agreed in July to sell a 40%share in Bualuang for $280m to Sona Petroleum, a Malaysian investment vehicle.

Since then the price of oil has fallen and investors have gone sour on oil producers.

The Sona sale must be approved by both companies’ shareholders.

Fantasy football game for a float Matthew Goodman A FANTASY football company is working on plans for a £10m stock market float.

Participants in games run

by Picklive act as a manager, choosingateambasedonreallife players, and score points depending on how well the players do in actual matches.

Unlike traditional fantasy sports, which run over the course of an entire season, Picklive runs games over a single match.

Fantasy sports games have proved especially popular inAmerica. The market there is estimated to be worth more than $2bn (£1.3bn), with 33.5m players taking part.

Picklive, founded in 2010, plans to raise £5m from an AIMlisting to help finance its growth plans and is expected to achieve a market value of £10m once it floats. The company plans to complement its

presence in football, baseball and American football with a big push into sports such as cricket and basketball.

It also hopes to form partnerships with other betting operators to help expand into new markets. Last year, London-based Picklive formed a tie-up with Sportech, the British company best known for running the football pools, which has a strong presence in America.

Picklive believes it will benefitfromthetrendfor“second-screen” entertainment, where viewers watch television and another device, such as an iPad, at the same time.

The gaming company is headed by chief executive David Galan, who took on the role after acquiring it two years ago with his business partner Kfir Kugler. They are being advised on the planned listing by ZAI Corporate Finance.

BUSINESS

20

Barclays turns corner with a little help from Carney

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ntony Jenkins, Barclays’ impassive chief executive, is not given to displays of emotion. This weekend, however, he is probably doing a passable imitation of the laughing policeman.

The reason is the market’s reaction to the Bank of England’s new rules on capital reserves, which were announced on Friday afternoon. Barclays had third-quarter results the day before.

The numbers were decent enough, good news for a lender that has been adept at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The market’s reaction was muted, however, and commentators concentrated on a profits dip at the investment bank division.

Jenkins, however, told all who would listen that the Bank’s announcement, which we revealed last weekend, was the key moment. His verdict was that no sane investor would buy ahead of such a make-or-break moment.

In the event it was more make than break. The Bank was more lenient than some had predicted, setting a leverage ratio for British lenders of 4.05%. This means banks will have to hold this proportion of equity against their total balance sheet; at present they operate at 3%. They won’t have to hit the higher

AGENDA

DOMINIC O’CONNELL

BUSINESS EDITOR

target until 2019. Barclays may be eventually held to a tougher target for important institutions of 4.95%. This was music to Jenkins’s ears — Barclays has steadily increased its ratio to 3.5% and thinks it will exceed 4% in two years. Investors also liked what they heard, and the shares, which closed at 240.8p, were up 7% on the day.

This goes some way to addressing the market’s estrangement from Barclays.

Investors were wary of a bank that seemed error-prone to say the least.

Two years ago it was pummelled after being the first big institution to admit to

Homebuilding remains weak...

discount to its book value, the way the market calculates its underlying worth, while Jenkins thinks it should trade at a premium to book, north of 300p a share.

For this to happen there must be a few more quarters like the last one, with the investment bank coming back on song. If he needed it, Jenkins will, from next year, have a new chairman to keep his nose to the grindstone — John McFarlane of Aviva, who has a reputation for dispensing with executives who dilly dally.

again when it emerged that the American regulatory system were considering reopening an investigation into Standard’s breaching of US sanctions against Iran.

The share price is now more than 50% down from its peak. Standard has a credibility problem. The way chairman Sir John Peace has handled the sanctions issue has been poor. And chief executive Peter Sands has yet to convince investors the bank is being

Standard’s ship is listing

Barclays Share price

STAYING with banks, compare Barclays with Standard Chartered. Six years ago, with the financial system in turmoil, Barclays sought support from friends in the Middle East, with consequences that are still being worked out. Standard Chartered sailed serenely on. Its profits continued to grow.

Now the tables have turned. As Barclays’ shares bounced last week, Standard’s were going in the other direction. On Tuesday it admitted second-half profits were likely to fall — in part because some of the chunky loans it extended to a handful of clients in its Asian heartland may turn sour.

Then two days later, they tanked

Libor-rigging and lost its chairman and chief executive in quick succession. It is still under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office over the fundraising that spared it a bailout.

Jenkins made a hash of his first attempt at a strategic redirection, and had a second go earlier this year with a plan called Transform. The big idea was to trim the investment bank, and get it more in balance with the retail and commercial business. Last week’s results showed that work was bearing fruit. The estrangement is not over yet, however. Barclays still trades at a

200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000

Source: CLG and ONC

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and there are fewer small firms ready to build...

12,000

SME House builders SME defined as 100 units or less per year

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1 Source: NHBC

1980

0 1990

2000

8

0

4 22

8 20

12 18

16

16 14

20

24 12

28 10

2010

Politicians find housing nettle too hard to grasp

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redictably, there were many headlines last week after the news from the Land Registry that house prices fell 0.2% in September in England and Wales. There have also been interventions from members of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, which suggest the outcome of the MPC meeting this week is predictable, and Bank rate will stay on hold.

While in the short term the housing market and MPC decisions are often linked, the long-term issues for housing are more important and policies attract strong opinions.

Many people think Britain builds too many houses, or builds them in the wrong places. Others believe we clearly build too few, and that’s why young people find it so hard to buy homes. Politicians respond with short-term answers — local councillors reject developments, central government introduces scheme after scheme to help first-time buyers. The first of these tactics restricts supply, while the second often boosts demand. Confounding the rational economist, both are popular.

The sad truth is that these easy measures are both pretty much wrong. To tackle the problems in the housing market, we must work harder to boost supply and to dampen demand. All the main parties support the key goals of increased housing supply, opportunities for home ownership and decent housing for all, housing policies have been largely ineffective in recent decades.

In many places, especially London, there is a housing affordability crisis for less well-paid workers and a shortage of social housing for poorer families. Struggling households are often cheek by jowl with those who have accumulated big gains in their housing wealth. Meanwhile, particularly in southeast England, residents’ groups are formed to oppose developments of all sizes, from those in back gardens to new settlements away from existing towns. But do we really build too little? If so, why are there signs now that the housing market is slowing down?

The latest population estimate is that about 220,000 more households a year want somewhere to live in England. How-

KATE BARKER ECONOMIC OUTLOOK ever, since 2008 the number of new homes built annually has averaged little over half that number. Even in the five years prior to that, before the financial crisis took hold, the average was only about 160,000. So in just the past decade, new housing supply fell short by about 900,000 on this simple measure. In addition, rising household income has been a powerful driver of demand for housing space(notonlymoredwellings—wewant larger rooms if we can afford them).

One result is an additional 40,000 young adults a year still living with their parents. Maybe this isn’t a significant social problem, but it does limit their ability to move to find a job. Of more acute concern is the rising rate of overcrowding in the private rented sector, and it is families in this accommodation who are most likelytobestrugglingtomeettheirhousing costs. Many are in inadequate properties that they can still barely afford.

There is a widening gulf between those who can afford to buy a home from their own resources (or with help from “the bank of mum and dad”) and those trapped in increasingly costly rented accommodation. As this gulf grows, so does the bill we all pay for housing benefit.

250 240 230 220 210 Source: Thomson Datastream

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260

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200

Beware ‘Super’ Mario TWO days after America’s Federal Reserve housed its QE guns, Japan fired a full broadside. The Bank of Japan roughly doubled its programme, saying it would buy back $712bn worth of government bonds a year.

This is max-strength Abenomics — the stimulus policy named after prime minister Shinzo Abe. He is desperate to avoid another deflationary spiral of the kind that consigned Japan to its “lost decade” in the 1990s.

Europe also faces the spectre of deflation and this week its central bank meets to decide how to stave it off. Will it follow Japan’s lead and go QE-mad?

Not likely. “Super” Mario Draghi, the ECB’s president, is constrained by Germany’s reluctance. To date, the ECB has limited itself to small-scale asset purchases. But the siren-call of stimulus grows louder, and the horrors of deflation ever spookier. How long before Mario fires his big bazooka? dominic.oconnell@sunday-times.co.uk

Voters’ confidence is soaring...but for how much longer?

250,000

Housing units per year completed in England

p 270

transparent about the potential for further losses on bad loans and has a plan for steadying the ship. Neither man’s job looks secure.

Theeffectonhousepricesofthelowrate of new-builds appears over long periods.

In the short term, changes in credit conditions dominate. So the financial crisis, which squeezed household incomes and produced a sharp fall in mortgage lending, reduced effective demand for housing and new supply fell sharply. The prolonged weak market put many smaller housebuilders out of business, and the supply chain has struggled in the recovery.

Despite the introduction in 2012 of the National Planning Policy Framework, which is more supportive of development, new-builds remains well below pre-crisis levels. With landowners seeking high values when they sell, continued opposition to development, and a weakened industry, how can we tackle this problem effectively? The straitened public finances make it unlikely that the public sector can fund enough homes to fill this gap, even if supported by a more ambitious rate of new building by housing associations.

The Lyons review, published last month, pointed to part of the answer. We need more housing land to be identified in local plans, better co-operation between local authorities, encouragement for councils to act as lead developers where appropriate, and sites identified for new garden cities or garden suburbs. A wider range of the construction industry must be drawn into housebuilding.

Lyons also recommended a crossgovernment task force on housing, but this must cover issues beyond supply. We need to weigh up the environmental and social costs of continuing to develop mainly in the southeast, against the costs of a much more serious effort to spread economic activity across the country.

Also,we need to think again about the taxation of housing. It is perverse that on the one hand we worry about the potential environmental impact of new homes, yet on the other, there is a tax break for the investment returns from our houses.

Areformtotacklethis,suchascharging capital gains tax on house-price rises, rolled up through our lifetimes, would go far to rebalance demand and supply.

Such changes would also make the life of the MPC easier. Concern about the impact on those struggling with mortgage

payments is one reason for hesitancy by MPC members who are not yet voting to raise Bank rate. Looking ahead, household debt —which has not fallen far relative to household incomes even in the wake of the financial crisis — will remain a problem. If house prices continue to rise faster than incomes, inevitably we will have either an ever-higher level of household debt or a declining rate of owner-occupation.

Household debt will not be centre stage at this week’s MPC meeting, however, as the steps taken by the financial policy committee in the summer have helped to cool house-price rises in the short term.

Instead, recent speeches by several MPC members have clearly signalled their individual intentions to shift expectations of a Bank rate rise into 2015.

Their main worries are now signs of a slowdown in export markets — not just the eurozone, but also emerging markets — andthereappearanceofvolatilityinfinancial markets. With a split MPC vote last month, however, it is unlikely that this is a co-ordinated communication effort.

Bank rate staying lower for longer is bad news if it reflects a weaker economy. And it won’t resolve the underlying problems in the housing market, which give rise to big political choices. Politicians could face down the objections to development and pushupnewbuildingstronglyinthe“hot” economic regions. Or they could adopt the balanced approach to regional development and to demand and supply, which I advocate, including tax reform. Or they could muddle on, with housing becoming ever more costly, a falling rate of owneroccupation, and an increasingly unequal distribution of housing space — all the spare rooms will be for the better-off.

The housing nettle is very painful to grasp. More radical policies will pay off in the long run but, in the short run, new development and housing taxation are both very unpopular. The depressing conclusion is that we will continue to see worsening housing market inequality.

Dame Kate Barker is the author of Housing: Where’s the Plan (London Publishing Partnership) and a former member of the monetary policy committee David Smith is away

n a relatively few hours, Americans who have not already availed themselves of postal ballots or early voting will troop to the polls to elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives, 36 of the 100 senators, 36 governors and a host of politicians vying for local office. They will cast their votes when consumer confidence in the economy is at its highest level in about seven years. But a vast majority of Americans, although now more confident in the economy, also hold the seemingly contradictory view that their country is heading into its future on what pollsters call “the wrong track”.

As always, the signals are mixed. But taken as a whole they support the public’s optimism. The economy grew in the third quarter at an annual rate of 3.5%, the fourth of the most recent five quarters in which the growth rate has hit or exceeded 3.5%. True, it was defence spending and a drop in oil imports that accounted for a good part of the satisfactory growth. And true, too, spending on business equipment (+7.2%) and by consumers (+1.8%) grew more slowly than in the previous quarter, but such spending did grow.

The monetary policy committee of the Federal Reserve Board contributed a bit of joy when it announced after last week’s meeting, “economic activity is expanding at a moderate pace . . . [and] labour market conditions improved somewhat further . . . ”. The Fed did end its stimulative money-printing (QE3) programme, but offset any effect that might have by stating that it will deploy other tools in its monetary policy kit to hold interest rates at close to zero.

Then there are the anecdotal statistics that are useful supplements to the more closely followed government reports: 0 Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus accounted for an estimated 10% of all recent US economic growth, adding 0.3% to GDP. Innovation matters.

0 Petrol prices are plunging as new supply exceeds shrinking demand, putting cash into consumers’ pockets just as the holiday season starts. The rule of thumb is that every one cent per gallon price fall adds $1bn to consumer purchasing power. So the 30 cent drop in the past month gives consumers $30bn more to lavish on toys, apparel, and, of course, iPhones. And economists reckon that every $1 decline in petrol prices is associated with a 10% rise in sales of cars and trucks, especially of highly profitable, gas-guzzling SUVs and light trucks. Fracking matters.

0 Hundreds of thousands of holiday jobs are on offer — the seven largest retailers have 400,000 openings — and are proving so difficult to fill that employers are “bombarding customers’ inboxes and Twitter feeds with help wanted ads”, according to The Wall Street Journal. For retailers, some of which ring up between 25% and 50% of their annual sales in the next few months, Christmas matters.

0 Profits of leading corporations are up, and after violent gyrations that would do a belly dancer proud, the Standard & Poor’s share price index is more than 9%above the record level reached at the end of last year. To investors, profits matter.

Taken together, the economic news does explain the uptick in consumer confidence, although that confidence is dampened by gloomy economic news from Europe, China, Brazil, Russia and other countries in or on the edge of recession, by stagnant middle-class incomes, and by a job market that could be stronger. But all in all, the good economic news at home outweighs the bad news from faraway countries of which many Americans know very little, and stable incomes and a recovering job market are preferable to falling incomes and increasing layoffs.

Why, then, do most Americans think our country is on the wrong track? The improving economic outlook marches in parallel with a largely bipartisan fear that

the institutions of government are just not working.

The administrative branch, led by the president, can’t seem to protect our borders from an influx of children, or the president from intruders, or talk coherently about the threat of ebola.

The legislative branch, Congress, is dysfunctional. Republicans are fractured by a Tea Party that sees compromise as weakness, and Democrats are split between moderates appealing to independent voters and a left that is rallying the party’s “core” to keep the party on a “progressive” path in 2016.

Other institutions are also in ill-repute.

The once-vaunted secret service proved unable to prevent a dangerous intruder from penetrating the inner rooms of the White House, or an armed man with a criminal record from entering an elevator with the president. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, once the most widely respected government agency, fumbled its response to ebola,

IRWIN STELZER

AMERICAN ACCOUNT

unnerving the public. The Veterans Health Administration is unable to deliver adequate care to the nation’s veterans.

The Internal Revenue Service, always unloved but once thought to be impartial, became politicised and attacked conservative groups. The education system continues to graduate students unfit for the modern workforce.

So, voters will choose between their economic optimism, credit the president and Democrats who control the Senate, and pessimism about the very same Democrats’ ability to manage the nation’s governing institutions. Unless, of course, local issues on the ballots in many states prove decisive, and we end up with no clear national trend.

In Louisiana, energy issues dominate.

In Georgia and North Carolina, Democrats, in the words of the liberal New York Times, are “turning to racially charged messages” to get out the black vote. In Florida, Alaska, Washington and Oregon, and in the District of Columbia, voters will have an opportunity to decriminalise the sale of marijuana, as voters in Colorado have done. That should bring out scores of young, pro-Democratic voters who typically find voting in off-year elections intolerably burdensome, and to whom neither the economy nor the malfunctioning of government, nor which party controls the Senate, matters nearly as much as being able to attain the equivalent of Colorado’s fabled Rocky Mountain High.

The more important question is whether Tuesday’s voting will produce a political line-up capable of co-operating across the partisan divide. We’ll know soon.

Irwin Stelzer is a business adviser irwin@stelzer.com

FOCUS

TIME RUNS OUT FOR SANDS

Standard Chartered’s chief is struggling as his bank grapples with soaring bad debts and a falling share price, writes Ben Laurance

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s the global financial system threatened to go into meltdown six years ago, Peter Sands could afford to stand comfortably aloof from the panic. Sands — bespectacled and with the look of a particularly intense university professor — knew that his bank, Standard Chartered, need seek no government bailout.

While rivals were sucked down by the sub-prime implosion in America and Europe, his bank had profited from backing entrepreneurs in emerging markets. Its profits were still rising. Indeed, the former McKinsey consultant felt able to offer the Treasury advice on how the bailout of more troubled financial institutions might be orchestrated. As a new framework of banking regulation began to take shape, he was given space in the Financial Times to tell the world what was wrong with the proposals. That all seems a long time ago.

Now the bank — and Sands, who received more than £4m last year — are under intense pressure. Last week came a profit warning. It is beset by challenges from regulators in America. Some of the loans it was prepared to make when times were good are looking suspect. And the bank has contrived to assemble a client list whose cast of characters might reasonably be described as colourful.

That list includes Samin Tan, the Indonesian coal magnate who was intimately involved in the corporate disaster that was Nat Rothschild’s Bumi mining venture.

There is also Beny Steinmetz, the Israeli diamonds tycoon who is under investigation by the FBI for deals in Africa.

Add to the list Essar, the Indian conglomerate which is struggling to bring down its debts — reckoned to amount to about $14bn at the end of last year. And don’t forget Frank Timis, the London-based RomanianAustralian who is in charge of the financially stretched African Minerals and has a series of controversial business ventures behind him — as well as a couple of convictions for possessing heroin.

Crucially, all make — or lose — most or all of their money from mining and commodities. And now Standard Chartered’s willingness to commit itself to commodities and mining ventures is coming back to haunt it.

That willingness was a key factor behind a profit warning last week that helped send thebank’ssharepricetumbling.Addinthe news that Standard Chartered faces further — and potentially costly — investigation by US authorities for alleged sanctions-busting, and it has been a terrible few days for the bank.

In the past, the bank has quite openly

boasted that it aims to provide a large proportion of each corporate client’s financing: it places big bets. The loan to Samin Tan alone was for $1bn.

Unfortunately, until a couple of years ago,manyofthosebigbetswerewithclients whose financial strength depended on continuingstrongcommoditymarkets—justas commodity process were starting to fall.

In the first half of 2012, for example, it increased its exposure to mining and quarrying 75% year-on-year to more than $11bn, making that sector by far the largest in its wholesale bank.

FOR years, Standard Chartered was a darling of investors. For a full decade, it notcheduprecordresultsyearafteryear.Its heavy exposure to developing markets seemed to have served it well. No longer. In late 2010, Standard Chartered’s share price nudged towards £20. Last week, it fell below 950p.

Understandably, investors are restless.

Some analysts complain that Sands, chief executive since 2006, too rarely appears to have a grasp of detail; explanations of how exactly the bank plans to address its problems have so far been vague. Investors are being promised $400m of cost-cuts next year, but details are not yet available.

Andy Halford, recruited from Vodafone to replace the bank’s long-standing finance chief Richard Meddings who quit abruptly in January, started his new job only four months ago. “He hasn’t yet engaged with the market,” said one close observer of the company. “So far, all he has done is read out a couple of prepared scripts. It’s not that he has said anything wrong; he just hasn’t said anything.”

That leaves Sir John Peace, the chairman.

He has contrived to make 2014 his year for riling shareholders — at three FTSE 100 companies. He is chairman of luxury goods group Burberry. And until recently, he chaired the credit checking company Experian, a company he built up. Shareholders have registered their upset about the governance of all three businesses.

At Burberry, holders of more than half the company’s shares voted against a

I WOULDN’T FALL OFF MY CHAIR IF ONE OR OTHER OF THEM WERE GONE IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS

scheme to give incoming chief executive Christopher Bailey a huge share award.

When Peace anointed Experian chief executive Don Robert as his successor as chairman, almost one third of shareholders opposed him or abstained in the vote: it was in clear violation of the City code on corporate governance and even provoked criticism from the Institute of Directors. And at Standard Chartered, some 41% of investors voted against pay deals for the management team.

Added together, the repeated rebuffs from shareholders suggest that Peace — a former army officer, Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire and now aged 65 — has shown a striking lack of sensitivity to the City’s zeitgeist that is crucial for anyone chairing one top-100 company, let alone three of them.

Furthermore, when it comes to causing upset, Peace has previous form.

Most notably, he got himself — and Standard Chartered — into a fearful pickle after American regulators forced the company to shell out $670m in 2012 for breaking US sanctions against Iran and other states blacklisted by Washington.

Early last year Peace swatted away questions about the sanctions busting, breezily dismissing the bank’s misdeeds as mere “clerical errors”. He said there had been “no wilful act to avoid sanctions . . . mistakes are made.”

The Americans were furious. Peace, Sands and the then finance director Meddings, were summoned to Washington.

The bank had been guilty of far more than mere clerical errors, they were told. Peace was forced to issue a humiliating apology. His off-thecuff remarks had been “legally and factuallyincorrect”hetoldinvestors and staff; the bank had been responsible for “knowing and wilful criminal conduct.”

THE sanctions-busting affair continues to dog the bank.

In August this year, it paid out a further $300m after it was accused of alleged failures in a system to flag up additional “inappropriate” transactions. And last week, just as investors were trying to assess the latest profit warning and the gravity of Standard Chartered problems, there came a further blow.

It emerged that the US justice department and the Manhattan district attorney’s office are investigating whether they should take yet more action against the bank: the suspicion—nomorethanthatatthemoment — is that at the time of the 2012 settlement, Standard Chartered did not reveal the full extent of its dealings with Iran.

The bank itself merely says it is “co-op-

02.11.14 / 21 erating” . Whatever the outcome, it seems that it will be a while yet before the bank can draw a line under the affair.

As recently as June, Standard Chartered was trying to sound upbeat about its ability to restore its fortunes. In an inelegant piece of management consultant-speak, it told investors: “We are making good progress against our refreshed strategy . . . managing costs very tightly, disposing of non-core businesses and optimising the deployment of capital.”

Last week, the thrust — and, indeed, the language — initially seemed little changed.

Sands said: “We are executing our refreshed strategy, including reprioritising investments, exiting non-core businesses, de-risking certain portfolios and reallocating capital . . . We are taking further action on costs.”

So steady as she goes? Not a bit of it. In June, Standard Chartered said: “Profits in the second half are likely to be higher than in the same period last year.” But now? “We now expect profits in the second half will be lower,” it said last week.

Does the lowly share price fairly reflect Standard Chartered’s prospects? By some measures — shareholders’ funds on its balance sheet, for example — the bank seems strikingly undervalued. But there are two great unknowns.

Thefirstistheextentofanyfurtherpunishment that Standard Chartered is likely to receive from American regulators. Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services has taken an aggressive line with the bank.

In 2012, he branded Standard Chartered a “rogue institution . . . engaged in deceptive and fraudulent behaviour”. His attack prompted chancellor George Osborne to phone Tim Geithner, the US Treasury secretary, to complain. On this side of the Atlantic, there were suspicions that Standard Chartered had been the victim of an undeclared campaign to give non-US banks a hard time.

The second unknown is whether the latest provisions for corporate debts that turnsouraremerelythetipofaverymenacing iceberg. Is the $250m set aside in the most recent quarter a foretaste of things to come?

Ian Gordon, a banking industry analyst with Investec and a bull of the stock, points out that over the past five years or so, Standard Chartered has clocked up operating profits, excluding provisions, that are roughly seven times “impairment” charges — the amount it has set aside for loans unlikely to be repaid. That compares with a typical ratio or three or four times for other banks.

In other words, Standard Chartered has, in the recent past, done better than most.

Certainly, the latest quarter’s $250m provision is unwelcome — and compares with virtually nil for the equivalent three months of last year. But it is still only roughly four times underlying pre-provision profits — unwelcome, but not catastrophic. Nevertheless, investors are clearly worried — hence Standard Chartered’s sharp share price fall in the wake of last week’s statement. The company said its increased provisions “related to a small number of accounts, primarily in the corporate and institutional clients segment, some of which have been affected by weak commodity markets.”

Which companies are behind these “small number of accounts”? We don’t know – although the problems faced by clients such as Samin Tan, Essar and Timis are likely to be in the mix. It is thought that Tan still owes Standard Chartered about $600m, and his businesses have been hit by a tumbling coal price over the past two years.

Also under scrutiny is a $2bn-plus loan to India’s Essar. Loans such as these amount to more than small change — even for a bank the size of Standard Chartered.

Will Peace and Sands survive? I wouldn’tfalloffmychairifoneorother of them were gone in the next few months,” said one bank watcher, “And frankly, it wouldn’t do much harm to the share price if they were to go.”

BUSINESS

22

Astra stalked by the man with Viagra

Pascal Soriot, chief executive of Astra Zeneca, has transformed the company’s fortunes

Still in rival Pfizer’s sights, the British drugs giant remains in rude health, its boss says. Matthew Goodman reports

I

an Read was in defiant mood last Tuesday. The Scottishborn boss of Pfizer, the American drugs giant, seemed to suggest that despite a bruising, failed £54bn bid to buy smaller British rival Astra Zeneca this spring, he could try it all over again.

Without referring to the FTSE 100 company, Read told analysts and investors during a conference call to discuss quarterly earnings that Pfizer’s appetite for deals remains undiminished. “We are looking at bold ideas,” he said. “We are looking aggressivelyatusingbusinessdevelopment [mergers and acquisitions] and we have a sense of urgency.”

In just over three weeks, Read will be free to revive his efforts to buy Astra Zeneca. After the £54bn offer was rejected at the end of May, the Takeover Panel, the City’s deal watchdog, imposed a six-month cooling-off period. That expires on November 26. In the months since rejection, Astra has, if anything, become only more appealing.

American politicians, however, haveputplentyofhurdlesintheway.

One of the reasons Pfizer was so keen on Astra was that the acquisition could have been financed using its offshore cash pile and allowed it to redomicile to Britain, cutting its tax bill. It was one of several “inversion” deals attempted by American companies in the past few years. The loss of tax revenues provoked a backlash in Washington, which clamped down on such arrangements.

The legal changes have already claimed one scalp — they prompted AbbVie, another US drug giant, to scrap its agreed takeover of Shire, the London-listed maker of attention deficit disorder medications.

Many industry watchers have assumed that the failure of that transatlantic tie-up would also put the kibosh on a renewed Pfizer bid for Astra Zeneca. Few are betting on the deal being revived, particularly after Pfizer — which declined to

comment on the British company — announced an $11bn (£6.9bn) share buyback this month. When a business opts to use its cash this way, it is often a signal it has no significant acquisition plans.

Read, though, has done nothing to suggest that he thinks an offshore move is beyond Pfizer’s grasp.

Railing against the competitive disadvantage faced by American corporations because of their higher tax rates, he insisted last week that inversions remained a key weapon in his deals armoury and that lawmakers had not rendered impotent the Viagra-maker’s ability to stage one. “We still believe, on a case-bycase basis, there is meaningful value to be had from [them],” he said during the call with analysts.

And there are those in the City who believe Astra Zeneca should remain at the top of his shopping list.

“There are always other targets Pfizer could go after, but I think Astra Zeneca is head and shoulders above any other M&A candidate on the table,” said Andrew Baum, pharma analyst at Citigroup, the American bank. He has argued that the share buyback holds “zero significance” in the context of a possible fresh move on Britain’s second-biggest drug developer.

The bid speculation will no doubt prove an unwelcome headache for Pascal Soriot, Read’s counterpart at Astra Zeneca. The French drugs boss, who has quietly set about transforming the British company’s fortunes in the two years since taking charge, was outspoken in rejecting Pfizer’s bid last spring.

In part, he felt the deal was unsound because of all the uncertainty it would create, a stance that has been entirely vindicated by subsequent events in Washington and the associated fallout, such as the collapse of the Shire deal.

But Soriot’s misgivings about the proposed transaction are more deep-rooted than that. In one of the

TOM STOCKILL

mostwidely reported remarksofthe entire bid — and one, it ought to be said, treated with contempt by Read — the Astra Zeneca boss said he was worried that a takeover could delay getting new drugs to the patients who need them most.

The most remarkable aspect of the debate is that Astra Zeneca now has a slew of new medicines that the City seems genuinely excited about.

The final few years of Soriot’s predecessor David Brennan’s tenure were marred as one new experimental treatment after another

failed clinical trials. Under the Frenchman, who arrived from Swiss rival Roche, its portfolio of potential treatments has been transformed.

“New drugs are coming through better and faster than people had thought,” said Naresh Chouhan, pharma industry analyst at the stockbroker Liberum.

Soriot needs them to pay off. As part of the company’s defence, he outlined plans to increase sales to $45bn by 2023. That’s not far short of double the $25.7bn it achieved last

year. Bringing new drugs through development will be central to achieving what some analysts dismissed as an overly optimistic target at the time he unveiled his plans.

Despite the cynicism over the achievability of the goal, the market is excited about Astra Zeneca’s presence in immunotherapy, a relatively new approach to fighting cancer where drugs harness the body’s immune system to tackle the disease. Along with the likes of Roche and America’s Bristol-Myers Squibb, the British company is

regarded as having some of the most promising prospects in this innovative class of drugs.

In the months since Soriot saw off Pfizer, Astra Zeneca has presented encouraging data on its new range of cancer-fighting therapies at two important industry conferences, and delivered promising updates on several other new drugs.

Last month, European health watchdogs gave a thumbs-up to an ovarian cancer treatment, Olaparib.

There are also hopes that some of the medicines it has already brought to

market, such as Brilinta, a heart attack treatment, could be boosted by trials that would see their applicationsextended.Vitaldataonthatis due for publication within months.

Meanwhile, Soriot is expected to use Astra Zeneca’s own thirdquarter results this week, as well as an investor day later this month, to underscore the progress his company has made and reiterate why he felt that rejecting Pfizer was the correct response to the bid. He will argue that Astra’s own medicine seems to be working.

02.11.14 / 23

Ill wind blows turbines out of the water The energy giants decide that big offshore projects are not financially viable, reports Danny Fortson

A

s the barge steamed away from the TAG Energy Solutions factory on the Tees, Stuart Oakley knew his company’s days were numbered.

TAG specialised in making the 200ft-long foundation tubes for offshore wind turbines. On August 28, the last of its 650-ton tubes rolled off the line, destined for the Humber Gateway wind farm being built by energy giant Eon five miles off the Yorkshire coast.

Oakley, TAG’s former chief executive, did not have another contract to keep his workers busy. “We knew that without another order we were looking into the eyes of administration,” he said.

The Gateway contract was TAG’s first and last. In September the company laid off its remaining 74 staff; last month it went into administration.

TAG’s demise is indicative of more than just a start-up runningoutofluck.Itisanexample of what industry sources say is a dawning reality to which the governmentisloathtoadmit:13 years after the installation of the first offshore turbine in Blyth harbour in northeast England, the offshore wind industry is still struggling to take off. It may never.

This sounds counterintuitive.

Thanks to billions in taxpayer subsidies, more wind turbines churn above British waters than in the rest of the world combined. But behind the headline a more nuanced picture emerges.

IF THE GERMANS CAN BUILD AN INDUSTRIAL BASE, WHY THE HELL CAN’T WE? Siting wind turbines at sea is the priciest way to produce electricity. A modern gas-fired station of equal capacity can be built for one-fifth the price and run round the clock, unaffected by the uncertain nature of wind. Yet the Department of Energy and Climate Change put offshore wind power, with nuclear reactors, at the heart of its £200bn plan to replace fossil-fuelled power stations with cleaner alternatives.

These next-generation plants are wildly expensive but we will be compensated in three ways, the government has long argued.

One, Britain will slash its reliance on imported fuels and thus ensure greater “security of supply”; two, the revolution will bring with it a cornucopia of “green jobs”; and, three, carbon dioxide emissions will plummet.

All three promises now look shaky. Last week, National Grid revealed that going into this winter Britain has a “reserve margin” — a measure of the slack in the system — of just 4%, the lowest since 2007.

The squeeze has been created by the forced closure of polluting old plants and the unwillingness of industry to build new ones amid political meddling in the subsidies needed to underwrite them.

And what of all those green jobs? They certainly have not materialised in the way Gordon Brown envisaged when he predicted that 400,000 new posts would be created by Britain’s energy revolution.

For example, two-thirds of the £2bn spent on the soon-tobe-completed Gwynt y Mor project off Wales — the secondlargest wind farm in the world after the London Array — went to foreign companies.

The environmental benefits, meanwhile, remain unclear. In 2009, 30% of Britain’s power came from coal, the dirtiest form of generation. A total of 48% was generated by gas plants.Windaccountedfor3%.

Today the industry’s carbon intensity doesn’t appear to have improved markedly, even if overall emissions have fallen in line with consumption.

According to the trade body Energy UK, in September coal stations accounted for 34% of generation — four points up on five years ago — with 33% from gas and 3.2% from wind.

TAG’s collapse is poignant because of its heritage. For yearsitmadesubseaequipment for the oil and gas industry. The government’s apparent enthusiasm for offshore wind persuaded a pair of investors, Platina Partners and the Environmental Technologies Fund, to spend £20m in 2011 to overhaul it for the new age.

The high-flying policy has deliveredfarlessontheground.

TAG specialised in foundations.

Of the more than 5,500 wind turbines, onshore and at sea, that have been installed in Britain, the foundations of only 50 were fabricated here — including 16 TAG made for the Humber Gateway. The rest were shipped over from Germany, Holland and elsewhere.

Only this year did the government begin demanding at least 50%“UK content”as a condition of subsidy qualification. Oakley said: “Politicians can demand 50%, but there is nopremiumforUKcontentand they are not in a position to deliver on [that goal].”

Around the time TAG was undergoing its expensive overhaul, the Treasury had begun to take a keener interest in what the energy department was up to. George Osborne was alarmed at the cheques department mandarins were signing.

His solution was the levy control framework, which set a ceiling of £7.6bn on public funds available for subsidies for all renewable energy — solar and wind, biomass and geothermal — up to 2020.

Until now, offshore projects have secured deals guaranteeing them £155 or more for each megawatt hour produced — roughly three times the wholesale electricity price. The inflated rates were blended into household energy bills.

Led by the Treasury crackdown, the energy department has cut both the length of subsidy guarantees — from two decades to 15 years — and the level of support, from £155 per megawatt hour towards what will probably be about £140.

The aid cuts, ,which had been well flagged, convinced several energy giants to slash their offshore plans or pull out entirely.

Centrica completed its exit from all new projects in July when the British Gas owner binned its planned £4bn Celtic Array off Anglesey. Last month, RWE Innogy abandoned its Galloper scheme off the Suffolk coast after its partner SSE pulled out, as well as three others, citing insufficient financial returns.

Mark Powell, head of energy at the consultant AT Kearney, said: “The Treasury seems to be losing its stomach for supporting large-scale offshore wind development. Given growing concerns around energy affordability and UK competitiveness, one must start to question the future of [the industry].”

Noteveryoneisbaling out. In April the government identified five projects that will qualify for support. Together these have the capacity to power 3.1m homes and would cost about £10bn to build.

Beyond those the picture is less clear. The energy department last month released its “final budget notice”, in which it carved out just £235m for projects other than those already sanctioned. That leaves room for just one more farm.

There are still believers, however. Among them is Keith Anderson, Scottish Power’s chief executive, who last week opened the company’s £1.5bn West of Duddon Sands project in the Irish Sea. He said the half-dozen projects coming down the line are enough to ensure that the missing piece — a British supply chain — falls intoplace.“Thepipelineofnew

wind farms is as big as the entire German offshore sector.

If they can build an industrial base, why the hell can’t we?”

Siemens this year broke ground on a new turbine parts plant in Hull. If others do not follow, the British wind boom could go down as a monumental policy blunder.

With wind power still accounting for only 3.2% of Britain’s electricity, the country is heading into the winter with a tiny reserve generation margin of just 4%

BUSINESS

GABRIELA HASBUN

24

Women want to engineer a way in As the Royal Academy of Engineering gets its first female president, campaigners are setting out to tackle the shortage of women in the field, writes Kiki Loizou

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t her lively headquarters in Oakland, California, Debbie Sterling is sign– ing off yet another order for dolls from an overseas buyer. Since start– ing her toy business three years ago, Sterling has scored a hit with Goldie Blox — her blonde, blue-eyed figurine. Some British parents have paid three times the £20 cost of the toy to have it shipped to their daughters.

Goldie is not your standard doll.

She wears dungarees and a utility belt, and with games and short stories teaches girls aged 4-9 to build a wheel and axle and other contraptions that will solve problems for her friends and her dog Nacho.

“Most construction toys don’t have characters to get engaged with and that’s what girls care about,” said Sterling, 31, who graduated from Stanford University in 2005 with a degree in engineering.

The lack of women in her class and the stories of female peers inspired her to design a toy that couldhelpbringoutthecreativeside

of young girls. Her idea for Goldie Blox quickly won over consumers — and investors.

Through a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, Sterling raised more than £175,000 from 5,000 backers, including Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer and author of Lean In, a book on empowerment for working women. Private investors include Maxine Clark, co-founder of the retailer Build-A-Bear Workshop.

“There’s been a ton of demand from Britain,” said Sterling, who employs 30 staff. In September, Goldie arrived on the shelves of John Lewis and Hamleys. “Britain and America are lagging behind China, India and the Middle East in terms of women in engineering,” she added.

In fact, Britain lags behind Latvia, Sweden, Hungary, Ireland and many others when it comes to women engineers. A report this year by the Institute for Public Policy Research showed women account for just 7% of the professional engineering workforce. And the

Building reputation: Debbie Sterling’s Goldie Blox female builder and engineer doll has become a huge hit with young girls who love the character and the linked construction challenges industry requires 87,000 graduatelevel engineers each year until 2020.

The problem is that girls still shun sciences at school. According to the report, about 72,000 girls achieved grades A* to C in GCSE physics last year, but only 10% of these will go on to study the subject at A-level. It said the gender imbalance in science, technology, engineering and maths — the Stem subjects — begins after GCSEs, although girls who study maths and physics achieve better results than boys. Seeking to encourage girls to embrace science at 16 is too late, the report said.

“It’s important to start from an early age,” said Dame Ann Dowling, who in September became the first female president of the Royal Academy of Engineering. “Every five to seven-year-old thinks like an engineer. They think about the world around them and how it might be different. We want to build on that.”

Dowling’s father, an engineer, was a key factor in her pursuit of a maths degree and PhD in engi-

neering, she said. “My parents always encouraged me to be creative. I liked taking things apart and they were supportive even when I couldn’t put them back together.”

There were few women on her courses, but there was an advantage in this: “When I talked at conferences people remembered me . . . it probably helped me get international recognition.”

Dowling, 62, sits on the board of BPandtheDepartmentforBusiness, Innovation & Skills advisory board.

At Cambridge, where in 1998 she became the first female professor of engineering, 25% of engineering undergraduates are women (the national average is 15%). At Cambridge postgraduate level, 30% are female. “Employers are crying out for engineers. They are rewarding careersthatpaywell,”saidDowling.

Last month the Royal Academy of Engineering, with the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, ran a workshop for 120 pupils from 13 schools. They heard talks by employers and met female engi-

neers. “The fact that a woman can rise to be president of the Royal Academy of Engineering means that nobodycansaywomencan’tachieve things in the field,” said Dowling.

Another task is to create a culture that will allow female engineers, technologists and scientists to flourish in the workplace. “Companies need to ensure the culture is

YOUNG GIRLS NEED MORE FEMALE EXAMPLES IN SCIENCE TO LOOK UP TO AND BE INSPIRED BY

right for women to move up. Girls need positive role models to break social norms,” said Helen Wollaston, a director at Wise, a campaign to increase the share of women in the Stem workforce from 13% to 30% by 2020.

Wisehasdevelopeda10-stepplan for employers, signed up to by firms such as Rolls-Royce and Shell. It includes challenging sexism and promoting flexible working. “We need to make sure that once women are through the door, they can move on and up,” said Wollaston.

Angela Strank knows all about being a top scientist. “Role models and mentoring are key,” said Strank, chief scientist at BP. “Just as manyyoungboyswanttogrowupto be the next Professor Brian Cox or Sir David Attenborough, young girls need more female examples in science and engineering to look up to and be inspired by.”

Last month, BP launched its Ultimate Stem Challenge, a competition for 11 to 14-year-olds set to engage with 22,000 children in its first year.

It targets pupils before they make GCSE choices. Strank hopes that such initiatives will help to tackle the shortage of British engineers and the lack of women among them.

“Girls still see it as a career for clever boys. We must do much more to stop them excluding themselves from these career options at a young age.”

She was inspired by her father, an architect and engineer. “Many girls then were encouraged to follow careers as teachers, nurses, doctors or secretaries, but some careers, such as becoming a judge or joining the navy, were more or less closed to women,” she said. That’s not the case today — and Strank and other leading women in the field will hope toys such as Goldie Blox will add to the impetus for change.

ST DIGITAL Take a look at Goldie Blox’s ‘Princess Machine’ thesundaytimes.co.uk/business

Wall St titans battle over Herbalife ‘pyramid’ scheme Carl Icahn owns 17%; Bill Ackman says it’s a scam. One of them could lose a fortune, writes Iain Dey in New York LORENA wanted to lose weight. She had heard about Herbalife milk shakes, which promised miraculous results.

After talking to a sales agent, soon Lorena was not just drinking the shakes, but selling them, too. She paid $3,000 (£1,900) to become a “supervisor” who would recruit more sales agents.“They told me I could make $10,000 to $20,000 a month,” she said.

The promises, Lorena claims, came to nothing. All she is left with for her $3,000 investment is a stash of unwanted flu remedies and protein shakes.

She is one of dozens of Herbalife sales agents who claim the $5bn healthcare company — and sponsor of the LA Galaxy football team, for which David Beckham played — is running a giant pyramid scheme.

A former legal secretary claims she lost $25,000 in only a few months. A retired captain from the US Navy says he lost $45,000 in less than a year by paying for technology systems and sales videos that would supposedly boost his earnings potential but ultimately did nothing.

A team of private investigators has been pulling together these stories for two years. They are part of an aggressive campaign being run

by Bill Ackman, the silver-haired billionaire activist investor who has emerged as one of Wall Street’s brashest players since making a fortune during the financial crisis.

Ackman, 48, believes that Herbalife is a scam. His fund, Pershing SquareCapitalManagement,placeda $1bn bet two years ago that the health supplement supplier’s shares would crash. Ever since he has castigated the company on TV, at investment conferences, and through campaigning websites, spending some $50m on research work and fees.

He has accused Herbalife of breaking Chinese laws and falsifying accounts — as well as duping thousands of mostly poor and predominantly Latino sales reps into buying into a pyramid scheme.

A new front in the attack will open up this week alongside Herbalife’s third-quarter results. Ackman is planning to raise questions about the company’s accounting in Venezuela.

While Ackman has prompted an investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission, the campaign has been mostly a dud. In fact, since he first made his accusations, Herbalife’s shares have risen about 33%.

His claims have also pitched him into a direct battle with one of the toughest, richest, most formidable men on Wall Street — Carl Icahn.

The 78-year-old veteran of countless hostile takeovers and boardroom proxy battles, who is estimated to be worth $26bn, has become Herbalife’s biggest shareholder.

When Ackman’s initial attack causedadipintheshareprice,Icahn began to buy stock. He now owns 17% of the company and has five directors on the board.

“When Icahn started buying shares we assumed it was just because he thought they were cheap and had been oversold,” said a Wall Street analyst, “but now he’s locked in. He can’t sell out because he is an insider in the company. Only one of them can win this: Bill or Carl. I can’t see any middle ground.”

Icahn and Ackman have had countless bust-ups over the past 10 years. As a result of one disputed investment, Icahn ended up having to pay $4.5m plus interest to Ackman’s investors.

Ackman has always been mouthy. At high school his friends from the tennis team gave him a T-shirt that read “a closed mouth gathers no foot”.

His big success was betting on the

Fit kit: David Beckham in his days at LA Galaxy, sponsored by Herbalife collapse of the bond insurer MBIA during the financial crisis, which made him about $1bn. He has become increasingly vocal ever since, taking on high-profile retailers such as Target and JC Penney — not always successfully.

More recently he has drawn attention for backing the Canadian drug firm Valeant’s attempted takeover bid for Botox-maker Allergan.

He has just bought the $90m penthouse at the top of One57, the new luxury hotel and condominium

complex overlooking Central Park in New York — the tallest residential building in the western hemisphere.

He does not even plan to live there, or even let it — he will use it just as a party venue until someone offers him even more money for it.

Icahn is one of America’s original corporateraiders.Hehasbeeninthe public eye since his 1985 hostile takeover of the airline TWA. For many years the investor has been one of America’s top racehorse owners, winning the Breeders’ Cup.

He also sponsors New York’s prime athletics track, overlooking the East river. He even has a hospital named after him.

Early in the Herbalife campaign, Ackman and Icahn had several bust-ups on live TV. It became apparent that the dispute was about more than just a health supplement business.

Ackman said Icahn was “not a guy who keeps his word”, and one who “takes advantage of little people”.

Icahn retorted that he would not invest in Ackman’s fund if he was the “last man on earth”. Icahn added: “He’s the quintessential example that, on Wall Street, if you want a friend, get a dog.”

Over the summer, the two men made public apologies and “agreed to disagree” about Herbalife. They even hugged, briefly — on CNBC, the business television channel.

Shortly afterwards, Ackman made another concerted attempt to sink the company, giving a tearful three-hour presentation to 500 investors in a Manhattan hotel.

Although he referenced the Nazis and Enron and called Herbalife “a criminal enterprise”, the shares rose 25% during the speech.

Icahn is not the only big investor to have backed Herbalife. George Soros has a big shareholding, as does Bill Stiritz, the veteran private equity guru.

Analysts at investment banks including Barclays and Canaccord havebackedtheshares,arguingthat

even if some malpractice is uncovered by the regulators it will not drive the company out of business.

Herbalife’s own defence relies on a fairly dry argument. The legal definition of a pyramid scheme is one where no real products have been sold. There is no doubt that all the people who claim they were duped into becoming Herbalife sales agents did buy weight-loss powders and vitamin shakes.

The company has commissioned its own research which claims that 97% of the company’s products are bought by end consumers rather than hapless middlemen.

Some Wall Street insiders believe Ackman is now up against a deadline. His position in Herbalife’s shares is structured through options. An analysis of Herbalife’s share register suggests that these options expire on January 17 — leaving Ackman just 2½ months to see the company’s shares crash.

Sources close to Ackman suggested that these positions can easily be extended, however.

“Bill first took a position against MBIA in 2002,” said one friend.

“That took six years to come right, so he has form for going the distance.”

IN NEWS Apple boss to lead US business out of the closet WORLD NEWS, PAGE 25

For half a century we have broken the big stories and told you what is really going on in business. That’s why we are read by 58% of the top players*.

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02.11.14 / 25 TOM STOCKILL

OLIVER SHAH

INTERVIEW

Andy Clarke was quick to spot the threat from upstart rivals, cutting costs as well as prices.

How much higher up the food chain can he move the No 2 grocer?

C

an you work them?” Andy Clarke asks a member of staff who is wearing inflatable devil wings in the Hallowe’en aisle of Asda’s MiltonKeynes superstore. “Oliver’s really keen to see how they work,” he adds, deadpan, as she fiddles with a switch to make them flap up and down. The Asda boss gestures through gusts of fake smoke to rows of skeleton suits and pumpkin masks.

“We own Hallowe’en,” he says, “whether it’s confectionery or outfits. This is something we have developed with our parent, so it’s joint-sourcing with Wal-Mart, and it’s just flying.”

At a nightmarish time on the high street, Clarke is in relentless sales mode, extolling Asda’s low prices and the George fashion range as we tour the hulking retail shed next to MKDons’ football stadium.

“When you walk into our stores, I would hope a few things stand out in terms of environment,” he says. “There’s the interaction our colleagues have with customers — and we’ve got music in the background.

The other thing that stands out is price.

Everywhere you look, there’s price.”

He points down an aisle full of bright signs. “Price lock, £1, £1, £1, £1, £1. Not everything’s £1, but what’s important is customers feel really confident that if they pick something off the shelf, they almost don’t need to look at it because they know it’s going to be great value.”

He pauses. “Am I overselling?”

Having reacted faster to the threat posed by discount stores than his counterparts at the other three big grocers, Clarke has reason to feel buoyant. Two years ago, noticing the proliferation of chains such as Aldi, Lidl and B&M in down-at-heel areas, he commissioned an internal review into how Asda should adapt to changing shopping patterns. It led the supermarket to earmark £1bn for price cuts over five years and slash 1,570 management jobs.

Others have been moved into lowerpaying roles.

Clarke describes the redundancies as “the hardest decision I’ve had to take”, but says: “You’ve got to continue looking at your organisation and making sure you stay fit. One of the challenges is that you can gather plaque in your business and you need to have an exercise of going through and determining what’s the right organisation to have for the future.”

He refuses to rule out further job cuts.

“It’d be wrong of me to say this is forever,” he admits. “For now we’ve made the changes we’ve made because it’s right for the next part of our journey, but the market’s going to keep changing.”

We sit down for tea in the store cafe. Tall, beefy and smart-suited, Clarke has the stern-but-fair demeanour of a bobby on the beat. It’s no coincidence: his father was a policeman. “He’d have loved me to go into the police force as a cadet, but you don’t always follow in your father’s footsteps, do you? He was about the same size as me. He was a big fella.”

Clarke, who turns 51 in January, speaks in a steady Lincolnshire accent and answers questions carefully, having been burnt when a comment about food quality four years ago led to headlines suggesting a Gerald Ratner-style gaffe.

The bitter medicine he prescribed for Asda seems to be taking effect. Amid declining like-for-like sales at Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, Asda reported a 0.1% rise in the first quarter of the year and 0.5% in the second. According to the data firm Kantar Worldpanel, sales grew 1% in the 12 weeks to October 12, although they were down 0.7% in the final four weeks.

With Tesco the subject of a Serious Fraud

‘We’re seeing a structural change in the market,’ says Andy Clarke

Asda’s big fella who beat rivals to the price-cutting punch Office investigation, Morrisons reeling from years of poor performance, and Sainsbury’s starting to slip into reverse, why isn’t Asda doing far better?

“Well, we are doing well, given how tough the economy is,” Clarke replies.

“We’re performing ahead of our competitor set. The world of seeing mid-singledigit growth out of anybody in the sector has gone, certainly for the short term and maybe even for the medium term. So holding or growing market share is a good performance.It’s not great [but] we’re seeing a structural change in the market.”

Another question is why has it taken so long for Asda to pull away from the pack?

At the start of the downturn in 2008, analysts predicted its focus on price would make it a recession-beater as consumers traded down. Instead, Sainsbury’s emerged as the surprise winner of the big four, even briefly overtaking Asda as Britain’s No 2 supermarket.

“I guess you’ve got to take a look at how much of that was coming from inflated growth,” Clarke says, a pointed reference to rumours that Sainsbury’s had been cranking up prices of its own-brand lines.

“We took a position not to inflate prices [and] we took decisions earlier than everybody else in terms of getting out of gimmicks. By coming out of vouchering and more deeply discounting your price position, if you don’t compensate that with significant volume growth then you’re going to hold your like-for-like growth behind where it could be.”

In a veiled swipe at Sainsbury’s and Tesco, both of which charge more in convenience stores than in hypermarkets, Clarke adds: “We’re not inflating prices in multipleformats—we’vegotonepricefile.

Any channel, anywhere in the country, any format, you pay the same.”

According to analysts at Bernstein Research, Asda has been up to 8% cheaper than Tesco on brands in recent years, and up to 9% cheaper on own-label items.

Is Clarke worried about the prospect of a Tesco resurgence under new chief executive Dave Lewis, who is widely expected to be aggressive on price?

“Let’s see. Bring it on.”

The toughness of the remark is slightly undermined by the beeping of a mobility scooter as a customer reverses behind him.

Clarke smiles.

“Other people will do what they want to do. Our focus is on ensuring that we make ourselves a better Asda. There is lots of activity around us, lots of gimmicks and counterclaims, and I think what Dave

decides to do is what he wants to do with his own business . . . I guess, as a reflection point, I’m surprised how wide our price gap has become with our key competitors.

And that can only be that others were benefiting from an inflated position rather than reinvesting in customers.”

Clarke grew up in Margaret Thatcher’s home town of Grantham. His mother died from cancer when he was 11, and he and his two brothers were then raised by their father. He went to the town’s grammar school — also the alma mater of his predecessor at Asda, Andy Bond — and left with one O-level in 1980 after spending “far too much time on the rugby field”. Having worked part-time in the local branch of Fine Fare, eventually subsumed by Somerfield, he asked the manager for a job.

Clarke left for Morrisons two years later, and was a manager for a decade before moving to Asda. Another decade later he went to Matalan as chief operating officer, hopping to the frozen-food chain Iceland before returning to Leeds-based Asda as retail director in 2005. He rose through the ranks and replaced Bond in 2010. Insiders say they have been “pleasantly surprised” at how he has grown into the role.

Clarke now lives in east Yorkshire, his grandparents’ birthplace. With six children from two marriages, he knows about juggling time: he tries to avoid staying overnight when visiting London and makes an effort to “just balance a bit”. “If you can’t balance work and family, what message does it send to people in the organisation?” he says.

So he must be worried about the potential impact of legal action brought by the law firm Leigh Day. It is representing 400 Asda shopfloor workers, most of them women, who say they are underpaid compared with the mostly male warehouse staff. Late last month, Leigh Day said it had been approached by 19,000 Asda workers since publicising the case in April.

The story breaks after our interview, so Clarke phones to discuss it. “Once you get a no-win, no-fee law firm involved, it can escalate in terms of awareness,” he says.

The £4-an-hour pay difference quoted by Leigh Day is wrong, Clarke insists — it’s £2.

“This is an industry issue, not an Asda issue,” he adds. “They are fundamentally different environments. Distribution is driving fork-lift trucks and moving pallets andcases,generallyinacold environment, whereas a store is a very different place to work. This is about work, not gender.”

Back on retail, I ask Clarke whether one of the big four could fail under the intense

The life of Andy Clarke VITAL STATISTICS

Born: January 4, 1964 Status: married, six children School: King’s, Grantham Salary: £1.7m, including bonus Car: Land Rover Defender and Discovery — both black Home: Beverley, east Yorkshire Favourite book: Kane and Abel, by Jeffrey Archer Film: The Shawshank Redemption Music: Stereophonics Gadget: iPhone Last holiday: France Charity: Macmillan Cancer Support

WORKING DAY

Monday is Andy Clarke’s “early day”. The Asda chief executive leaves his house in east Yorkshire by 5.45am for the one-hour trip to head office in Leeds. On other days he leaves by 6.30am.

Clarke usually spends three days in Leeds, a day in London and a day visiting stores or suppliers. Once a week he has a video call with Shelley Broader, European boss of Wal-Mart, Asda’s American parent.

Once a month he tries to get home in time for dinner with his three younger children (he has another three from a previous marriage). “I don’t always make it, if I’m honest.”

DOWNTIME

Favourite music: Kelly Jones, front man of Stereophonics

Andy Clarke loves sport. He watches his 22-year-old son play for Newcastle University’s ice hockey team and follows rugby avidly, though he no longer takes to the pitch himself. “I did play last year and realised why I’d stopped. I mean, at 50, to be running around in a sevens tournament?”

competition created by Aldi and Lidl and the shift to online shopping.

“You’re not going to get me to comment on that,” he says, but continues: “When I first started, Presto was on the high street, and Fine Fare, and Safeway was one of the most prominent retailers in the superstore sector, and all of those businesses are no longer here.

“Why? Arguably because they were less competitive, or not as good as the other businesses around them . . . We’re in a world-class market, no doubt about that, and we have to make sure we’re better than everybody else.

“If that means somebody else finds it difficult to compete, who knows. You can draw a conclusion from that.”

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BUSINESS

26 / SMALL BUSINESS

The bank that Vince built finally opens its doors Whitehall needed to step in to fill the demand for loans that was not being met by the big institutions, the secretary of state tells Kiki Loizou

A

s Vince Cable took to the stage, the rumours were of an announcement that would change the face of British banking.

The business secretary did not mince his words. “Our leading banks are often anti-business,especiallyanti-smallbusiness.

They threw traditional relationship banking over the side and sold useless insurance and dodgy derivatives instead,” he told the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton two years ago.

“We need a new British business bank with a clean balance sheet and an ability to expand lending rapidly to the manufacturers, exporters and high-growth companies that power our economy . . . and we will have one.”

Now, the vision is a reality. Brussels has given the green light for the new bank — until now only a team of people within Cable’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills — to become an independent lender with a chief executive and board managing about £4bn of state cash.

“We’ve never had a friendly face of British banking for small businesses, the doors have always been semi-closed,” said Cable in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Times. “We have had negative lending ever since the banking crisis . . . we needed a gamechanger.”

To change the game, Cable started a bank that is not a traditional bank at all. The British Business Bank does not hold deposits or lend directly to companies. Instead it houses existing state funding

schemes for small and mediumsized enterprises, while pumping millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money into alternative financiers and debt and venture funds with strong track records.

The move has been a long time coming. Of all the G8 members, Britain has so far been the only country without an institution that deals with funding for small and medium-sized companies. President Eisenhower created America’s Small Business Administration in 1953, while Germany’s KfW has been piling government funds into small and medium-sized ventures for more than 60 years. France, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia all have their own versions.

So far more than 10 lenders, including equity and asset financiers, have received about £400m from the Business Bank. The Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme, which guarantees up to 75% of a bank loan for small companies, has been brought under its wing.

“We will run the EFG more efficiently and get much more through the door,” Cable said.

The EFG claims to have helped to lend £2.2bn to more than 25,000 small and medium-sized ventures to date since 2009.

The new bank has taken on the StartUp Loans scheme, a £150m programme that lends cheap cash to budding entrepreneurs for fledgling ventures. The scheme expects a default rate of between 30% - 40%.

“The Business Bank will run the old stuff in a more cohesive way and do innovative stuff as well,” said

Cable. Moreover, a budget of £600m is set to be used for a “wholesale guarantee” scheme, which hopes to encourage risk-taking by covering some losses incurred by lenders.

Talks are under way to bring about £100m of the Regional Growth Fund under the control of the Business Bank, which is headquartered in Sheffield. It currently has a board of 11 members, with 100 staff (half in London), and expects to take on another 20.

Keith Morgan, who spent almost five years managing taxpayers’ interests in Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley, is the chief executive. The chairman, Ron Emerson, is a veteran of international banking at Bank of America, Nomura and Standard Chartered.

“It’s frustrating because we still don’t have positive net flows, but I’d ratherwebuiltareputationforcompetence and the Business Bank becomes a permanent feature of the landscape,” said Cable.

For many, the new bank is a longawaited response to the consistent stream of disappointing lending figures. Lending to small companies was down yet again in the last quarter, this time by £400m, with only Lloyds and Santander showing signs of growth.

“I used to be highly critical in general of the banks, of the culture, of the interest rate mis-selling, of the past,” said Cable. “There are some positive things happening.

What’s inhibiting the banks is not bloody-mindedness, but the fact that they have risk ratios inherited as a result of the Basel regulation.”

For the first time in generations, he said, Britain is showing signs of a competitive lending sector. The rise of challenger banks such as Handelsbanken, Aldermore, Shawbrook and newcomer Atom, is creating waves, and alternative financiers are also making waves in the business-lending market.

A report from the innovation charity Nesta last year said that the alternative finance market grew from £492m in 2012 to £939m in 2013, and predicted it would hit

Business doctor IS DEMANDING A FIT NOTE A BREACH OF PRIVACY? TP writes: I have an employee who is increasingly absent from work. It started with him taking a Monday off, and now he calls in sick for two or three days at a time.

I have asked for a fit note, but he says it is private and he does not wish to disclose the problem. How should I proceed, and am I in breach of privacy rules by asking for a fit note or a medical report from the doctor?

Fit notes are not normally issued for periods of sicknes of fewer than seven calendar days, so it is unlikely your employee’s doctor would provide one unless he paid for it, writes Peter Done, managing director of Peninsula.

For periods of sicknes shorter than seven days, self-certification is usually required by employers. This means that the worker completes a form on their return to work, filling in the details of the absence and also the reason. This can make up part of the employer’s documentary evidence of the absence, which should be kept on the worker’s personnel file.

Asking for a fit note or a medical report, when appropriate, is not a breach of privacy on your part because you may not be able to fulfil your responsibilities to an employee with an illness or a health condition if you are not aware of the details.

However, there is legislation in place that means an employee must give consent for their medical records or a specific medical report to be made available to their employer.

You should explain that it may be in your worker’s best interests for him to tell you about the reasons for his absence because there may be things you can do in relation to his job that could help.

On the other hand, persistent absence is sufficient cause for disciplinary action to be taken against the employee, and it may be that you choose to address the situation in this way. This would mean sticking to your contractual disciplinary procedures, which is likely to include inviting him to a hearing so he can explain his behaviour. It may be that potential disciplinary action is enough to make the employee co-operate with you.

PRE-EMPTION RIGHTS HURDLE FOR FUNDING HC writes: I am a shareholder in a company that is looking to raise funds by issuing new share capital. The company

cannot take on further loans because of existing debt, and I am probably the only shareholder with funds to invest. We need to raise the finance relatively quickly, but I have been told there may be pre-emption rights. What will this mean, and can we avoid having to apply pre-emption rights?

Pre-emption rights are common in companies that have a number of independent investors, writes Jon Dawson, partner at Kingston Smith LLP. The existing shareholders effectively have the first opportunity to invest further to protect their interests from being diluted.

Statutory pre-emption rights exist under the Companies Act 2006.

However, these can be disapplied by including provisions in the company’s articles of association or the shareholders’ agreement. You should check whether this is the case, but it is not a standard clause in the model articles of association that many businesses adopt. Also, a company is not required to have a shareholders’ agreement, although it is advisable to do so, particularly where there are multiple investors.

If pre-emption rights do exist at your company, an offer should first be made to the existing shareholders, with the minimum period allowed for it to be accepted. This is 14 days for statutory pre-emption rights, but the articles may specify a different period.

As it will be in the best interests of the shareholders for the company to receive funds quickly so it can continue to operate, you may choose to override preemption rights. This can be done by a written resolution, which requires the agreement of 75% of the shareholders, or a deed of waiver, which requires unanimous agreement.

You may wish to consider amending the articles, again by written resolution, to avoid this happening in future, if the company is likely to require further capital.

Employment Law Experts

Kingston Smith LLP, the chartered accountant, and Peninsula, the employment law firm, can advise ownermanagers on their problems. Send your questions to Business Doctor, The Sunday Times, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF. Advice is given without legal responsibility. bizdoc@kingstonsmith.co.uk

Follow the money About £400m of taxpayers’ money for small business loans will be directed not through the high street banks, but through the new wave of alternative lenders and financiers that have sprung up in the wake of the credit crisis.

About £300m has already been allocated. The peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle has received £60m, while the rival platforms Zopa and Ratesetter have each taken £10m.

Money has also gone to debt funds. European Capital has received £50m, Beechbrook Mezzanine and Praesidian have each landed £30m, and BMS £15m.

Boost & Co, another debt fund, has received £20m, Shire, which provides asset finance, has taken £40m, and £10m has gone to Urica, a supply chain finance provider.

The invoice finance provider Market Invoice has been given £5m, as has Credit Asset Management, which specialises in asset finance.

Vince Cable promised to change the face of British banking. Two years on, his vision is being turned into hard cash

FRANCESCO GUIDICINI

£1.6bn this year. As a result, Cable has thrown his weight behind some of the brightest stars in financial technology and alternative finance.

The likes of Zopa, Funding Circle, Ratesetter and Market Invoice have won millions to lend through their peer-to-peer platforms.

The move is set to prove a smart one. The £5m given to Market Invoice, for example, has already earned a 14.2% return. As the money is being used for short-term finance, it is recycled every 45 days or so. The initial funds have so far translated into £30m of finance for small companies.

“Using peer-to-peer platforms is

indicative of a forward-thinking strategy at the British Business Bank,” said Anil Stocker, co-founder of Market Invoice. His company has raised more than £280m for small companies since its launch in 2010. “Traditional finance providers have grown apart from our small businesses. More than half of new business credit applications are rejected by banks.”

The Business Bank’s £60m investment in the peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle is earning it a return of 6.3%. So far, about £35m has been lent to more than 2,000 companies. “The average business that borrows through us is 10 years

old and the average director is a 55-year-old male. He’s used to going to the bank first,” said James Meekings, who co-founded Funding Circle four years ago.

To date, the platform has lent more than £400m to businesses.

“Our challenge is to let them know there are alternatives. The Business Bank instils more credibility in what we do. The government goes through strict due diligence with us, it gives people confidence,” said Meekings.

The competition from alternative players is welcomed even by high street banks. “More competition means better deals for customers,”

said Stephen Pegge from the small business banking division at Lloyds.

“It’s very competitive at the moment.

Businesses aren’t investing as fast as we want them to, so everyone is fighting over every bit of lending they can do.”

Pegge said the Business Bank should consider offering advisory services.“Itcouldsignpostto advice and guidance to help people prepare for investment. Independence from government gives it the edge to work to broad objectives.” He added: “There is a responsibility for all of us in the finance sector to ensure firms know the full range of finance that is available.”

The peer-to-peer lender Ratesetter received £10m from the Business Bank. “Banks are choosing the cautious route and |they aren’t lending to perfectly lendable propositions,” said Rhydian Lewis, the company’s co-founder.

Zopa, Britain’s first peer-to-peer lender, also received £10m from the Business Bank. “I’m not sure how much capacity the Business Bank will have,” said Giles Andrews, who founded Zopa in 2005. “Will it single-handedly fix lending to small companies? No, probably not. But it’s part of a narrative that everyone has to continue.”

Naming our ad agency after the patron saint of business said it all HOW I MADE IT

Fran Brosan Co-founder of Omobono

FRAN BROSAN had stepped into the lift with her ad agency colleagues Ben Dansie and Chris Butterworth when someone said: “Brosan Butterworth Dansie — that’s a good name for an agency.”

By the time the trio had emerged from the lift, they had agreed to start their own business, called — less of a mouthful — Omobono. They started the digital marketing agency in 2001, winning clients such as BP, Coca-Cola and Shell. “In the end we decided to name it after the patron saint of business [St Homobonus] as it’s memorable and more pertinent to what we do,” said Brosan.

Omobono, which employs 56 in Cambridge and Bristol, posted sales of £4.6m for the year to last December and profits in excess of £1m.

“Technology connects everything today and communication connects everyone,” said Brosan, who chairs the agency. “Our job is to combine the two.”

Omobono helps clients to manage their digital presence — whether it’s through engaging staff or retaining customers. “We advise how digital platforms can be used to strengthen those relationships,” she said. “Technology is fantastic but it can be a nightmare to use if people aren’t engaged.”

Brosan, 55, grew up in Godalming, Surrey, and attended Guildford High, an all-girls school, before moving to the sixth-form at Charterhouse. “There were 700 boys and only 30 girls so it was quite an eye-opener,” she said. “I learnt to keep my nerve.”

Her mother had been a medical social worker and her father was an engineer and a pioneer in the development of polytechnics in the 1970s. Brosan has two older sisters who work in accounting and psychiatry. “I think our parents wanted us to be an accountant, a lawyer and a doctor,” she said. “In Britain we’re very bad at talking to women about careers in

‘Fran Brosan made her name in the 1980s, when BMW gave her a new car every six months. ‘It was a blast, a different world to now’ business. We never suggest they start their own — it’s all about professions.”

Brosan studied English language and literature at Durham University and joined Charles Barker, then the world’s oldest PR firm, in London as a graduate trainee in 1981. In 1983 she joined the advertising agency WCRS, rising to board director and running accounts such as BMW and Laura Ashley. “It was a blast, a different world to now,” said Brosan, who was given a new BMW every six months. “The clients were fantastic, the boardinspirational,andwebuiltthemost successful brands today through print.”

With the birth of her first daughter, Brosan decided to slow down. In 1991 she worked part-time as a programme editor forBMWBusinessTelevision.Brosan,who now works four days a week, said: “As a mother you have to balance work and home life, or one part can go off the rails.”

In 1993 she moved to Cambridge to join Warman & Bannister as a business development manager. She was appointed managing director the following year and soon after met Dansie and Butterworth.

“Whenever we worked on a project

togetherwereallyenjoyeditandsodidour clients,” said Brosan. “That seemed like a good foundation for our own company.”

The three partners own all of Omobono: Brosan is chairwoman, Dansie, 45, is chief executive, and Butterworth, 48, is creative director. “We still work incredibly well together, though it happens less now we’re growing,” she said.

In 2001 the trio began brainstorming in Brosan’s basement in the village of Great Gransden to save on rent. They lived off savings, deciding not to pay themselves in the first three months of business. In

YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS SHOULD STAY AT IT AND EMBRACE CHANGE

2002 Omobono moved to its first office in Cambridge. “It wasn’t actually very inspiring looking out at a field full of sheep,” said Brosan. “We moved as soon as we could to somewhere commutable.”

After a steady start, the agency took a dramatic turn during the recession. By 2008 public sector clients were becoming scarce and Omobono began specialising in communications technology for multinationals. “We realised staff, and the service they provide, are driven by their experience of digital, so we embraced the opportunity,” she said.

Brosan plans to open an office in Chicago next year. “We weren’t successful overnight,” she said. “It took 13 years but now our pace and acceleration is greater than it’s ever been.”

She and her husband Sebastian Brunt, who owns a software company, have four daughters, aged 12 to 24. Her advice to young entrepreneurs is: “Stay at it and embrace change. Your business will develop and may morph into something you hadn’t anticipated.”

Hattie Williams

02.11.14 / 27

Databank FTSE 100

6,900 6,700

Hi-tech materials

6,100

Source: Thomson Datastream

2014

Current Change Change 12-month 12-month level on week % intraday high intraday low +2.47 -2.60 +2.50 +3.48 +2.72 +3.28 +7.34 +3.77 +2.52 +2.99 +2.99 +1.96 +2.48 +3.78 +5.12

6,866.05 3.51 3,670.10 17,390.52 2,018.05 4,582.90 16,321.17 10,009.08 4,581.12 1,401.53 25,240.15 5,640.54 334.40 27,865.83 2,420.18

Mabbitt, 52, joined in July last year to lead the company onto the stock market. He spent four years as managing director of the composite structural materials division at Umeco, leaving when it was taken over by a UScompany in 2012. Mabbitt previously held senior roles at a business acquired by Umeco, Advanced Composite Group. He studied engineering at Sheffield University.

THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

WORLD SHARE MARKETS 6,546.47 +157.74 3.37 -0.09 3,503.46 +85.37 17,390.52 +585.11 2,018.05 +53.47 4,630.74 +147.03 16,413.76 +1,122.12 9,326.87 +339.07 4,233.09 +104.19 1,351.96 +39.22 23,998.06 +695.86 5,505.02 +105.71 322.51 +7.80 27,865.83 +1,014.78 2,420.18 +117.90

Jon Mabbitt

6,310.29 3.22 3,369.59 15,615.55 1,761.64 3,919.23 13,960.05 8,788.81 4,033.18 1,242.68 21,436.70 5,101.48 301.51 20,217.39 2,004.34

Salamander Energy Findel SDL Renishaw Partnership Assurance Fallers q

Afren Standard Chartered SuperGroup Hochschild Mining Centamin

Friday close, p

Change on week, %

The annual results are due on Wednesday. The company is yet to generate revenues as it is still developing the technology. N+1 Singer, its house broker, has forecast a pre-tax loss of £2.2m for the year to the end of July, against an £800,000 reverse a year ago. However, the company recently announced a bigger cash pile than previously thought, at £8.5m.

THE RESULTS

106 264 393½ 1778 104½ Friday close, p

+32.1 +14.8 +12.8 +11.8 +11.8 Change on week, %

77¼ 9393/5 830 99 511/5

-18.5 -15.7 -12.9 -12.4 -10.8

Reason for change

148¼ 320 403½ 2223 422

Bid battle erupts Broker comment Director share buying Positive trading update Regulator drops probe

75 215¼ 253½ 1470 85

12-month high low

Reason for change

1691/3 1519 1,744 204 75

Disappointing update US re-opens Iran probe Profit warning Miners fall Miners fall

77¼ 9393/5 830 99 383/5

TOP 200 COMPANIES

Deeper losses

RANK BY MKT CAP

62 99 92 128 114 136 27 55 38 137 68 26 6 190 32 65 35 14 88 171 189 151 166 115 17 19 131 3 5 52 170

Aberdeen Asset Management Admiral Aggreko Alliance Amec Amlin Anglo American Antofagasta ARM Holdings Ashmore Ashtead Associated British Foods Astra Zeneca Atkins (WS) Aviva Babcock International BAE Systems Barclays Barratt Developments BBA Aviation Beazley Bellway Berendsen Berkeley BG BHP Billiton Booker BP British American Tobacco British Land Britvic

CHANGE 52-WEEK PRICE ONWK HIGH LOW YIELD

MKT CAP (£M) P/E

THE FUTURE

Debut revenues

434 1335 1522 462¾ 1040 455⅜ 1316½ 702½ 875 318½ 1044

+22½ 500 363¼ +59 1575 1195 –14 1774 1452 +17¾ 465¾ 426 +31 1262 990 +8 490¾ 410⅛ +8½ 1648 1226½ +9½ 959 661½ +58 1110 806 +7⅞ 410 288 +48½ 1059 636½

3.6 3.5 1.8 2.1 4.0 5.7 3.7 7.8 0.7 5.0 0.7

16.8 5,704 12.4 3,690 16.2 3,898 - 2,560 20.9 3,102 7.8 2,280 - 18,386 19.8 6,925 70.4 12,289 17.2 2,270 21.4 5,254

2754 4543½ 1357 521

+43 +216 +16 +14

1.1 3.6 2.3 2.8

34.6 21,802 48.3 57,365 14.1 1,358 13.2 15,356

1095 458⅝ 240¾

+22 1355 1021 2.1 +17⅛ 475 376 4.3 +14⅜ 296½ 207⅞ 2.7

24.9 5,499 79.2 14,478 3.2 39,544

418¾ 353⅝ 262 1749 1010 2280 1040 1610½ 140¼ 449

+8 451¾ 310⅝ +20 353⅝ 293 –¼ 280¼ 228 +45 1749 1351 +76 1128 894½ +23 2780 2061 –3 1351½ 1008½ –16½ 2096 1610½ +9¾ 171¾ 116¼ +16⅛ 523⅞ 416⅝

13.7 4,125 16.9 1,668 7.5 1,366 14.9 2,137 19.5 1,742 12.1 3,086 19.8 35,474 10.6 33,998 23.6 2,446 14.6 82,479

3547 728½ 680½

+184½ 3633½ 2881 4.0 +14½ 733 592½ 3.6 +38 777½ 585 2.6

3125 2208 4823½ 3267 1502 1225 535½ 412⅝

1.3 2.5 3.1 1.7 2.7 6.5 1.7 4.2 1.9 5.3

18.5 6.6 26.9

66,116 7,403 1,682

SALES AND OUTPUT

Latest monthly change (%)

Manufacturing output Retail sales (volume)

Gross domestic product

LETTERS

Send your letters, including full name and address, to: The Sunday Times, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF email: letters@sunday-times.co.uk

No need to raise interest rates just yet

IN HIS article last week (“MPC hawk: why I am voting for higher interest rates”) Ian McCafferty cites the economy’s diminishing spare capacity and the fact it is “getting back to normal” as grounds for higher interest rates. Both arguments are flawed.

The United Kingdom population continues its growth of recent years and — perhaps partly in consequence — productivity has fallen considerably below that of our European competitors and so offers scope for improvement.

These factors together create a potentially substantial source of additional capacity in support of continued economic growth.

Furthermore, the overall state of the economy is unlikely to approach historical normality in the foreseeable future, if only because of underlying fragility

+0.4 +0.4

-0.6 -0.1 +0.2 0 +0.1 +0.2

-65.05 -0.59 -0.78

1,165.69 1,012.31 85.20

1,376.15 1,189.90 114.76

1,165.69 1,012.31 85.20

INTEREST RATES/BONDS

THREE-MONTH MONEY-MARKET RATES (%) Change Current 12-month 12-month Official on week level high low short term UK 0.00 0.55 0.57 0.52 0.50 US 0.00 0.23 0.25 0.22 0.25 Japan 0.00 0.11 0.15 0.11 0.10 Euro 0.00 0.06 0.31 0.05 0.05

33 21 126 63 56 122

886 367½ 755 1695 1531

+24½ 947 –2½ 418 +36 755 +47 1695 +36 1544

785 356⅛ 414½ 1340 1374

3.5 2.6 1.9 1.9

11.0 15,230 14.9 29,855 - 2,737 27.1 5,666 21.2 6,795

341⅛ 1097 332½ 2488 536½ 302½ 1464 290⅞ 1359 1006 1386 2295 838 3494 2971 1838 276 395⅛ 594½ 843½ 1500 686½

+12¼ 392 315⅜ –52 1235 969½ +2⅞ 382⅞ 288¼ +139 2600 2090 +15½ 586½ 483⅝ +9¾ 363⅞ 286½ +71 1470 1223 +14⅞ 327¾ 254⅞ +39 1802 1267 +39 1053½ 891⅝ +11 1788 1266 +104 2633 1990 –7 857 477⅞ +85 3683 2732 +74 2971 2382 +66½ 2030 1709½ –½ 304⅛ 221⅜ +17⅝ 395⅛ 251¾ +5 822½ 577 +34 1014 763½ +62 1827 1200 +21½ 915 647

0.4 2.4 5.2 2.4 5.5 5.6 3.1 3.3 2.5 3.6 2.8 0.9 2.1 1.2 2.6 4.5 1.3 2.9 1.9 2.2 2.2

9.9 2,851 43.2 7,251 14.2 1,431 22.8 5,367 6.5 1,942 23.3 15,188 14.6 2,179 28.1 3,312 24.7 4,950 38.4 16,880 - 10,247 18.1 3,116 - 1,382 24.2 2,935 5.1 3,051 19.8 46,174 12.3 4,126 46.4 4,547 - 2,406 19.3 1,706 14.7 5,952 25.4 1,624

1051 129⅛ 938½ 112⅛ 402⅜ 697½ 323⅜ 255½ 318 1417½ 319⅞ 636 802 686½ 623 613 993½ 123¼

+8 1388 –¾ 145 +16½ 1270 +1 145⅞ +15⅜ 402⅜ –69 1031 +21⅞ 382½ +4½ 273½ +10⅜ 414⅞ +2 1690½ +2⅞ 377½ +39½ 679½ +22 925 +29 686½ +28½ 636½ +20 619 +50½ 1549 +5½ 156

2.1 2.2 2.3 0.4 6.5 3.5 2.4 5.6 3.0 1.3 3.3 1.2 1.7 3.1 2.1 2.0

18.6 1,346 -9.4 1,946 20.8 9,297 21.9 1,351 - 2,257 38.8 5,139 38.8 4,573 - 3,964 10.8 5,219 16.5 68,742 19.4 42,466 25.9 1,479 18.2 1,756 5.6 2,361 22.1 2,356 7.2 4,370 29.0 4,712 20.5 1,733

960 54⅜ 916 106⅜ 363 674½ 277 228 286½ 1324 297 538 740 555 543½ 489½ 851½ 110⅝

MKT CAP (£M)

RANK BY MKT CAP

133 162 98

CHANGE 52-WEEK PRICE ONWK HIGH LOW YIELD

Henderson 210¾ HICL Infrastructure 148⅛ Hikma Pharmaceuticals 1895 148 Hiscox 681 180 Home Retail 183¼ 142 Howden Join 342¼ 1 HSBC 639½ 127 ICAP 418½ 143 IG Group 601 107 IMI 1222 22 Imperial Tobacco 2711 110 Inchcape 695 120 Informa 481 116 Inmarsat 685 64 Intercontinental Hotels 2369 174 Intermediate Capital 410 85 Intertek 2722 49 International Airlines Group 409⅛ 81 Intu Properties 340⅜ 104 Investec 572 50 ITV 203 153 Jardine Lloyd Thompson 952½ 59 Johnson Matthey 2974 172 Jupiter Fund Management 357½ 54 Kingfisher 302½ 200 Lancashire Holdings 669 48 Land Securities 1107 37 Legal & General 231 9 Lloyds Banking Group 77⅛ 66 London Stock Exchange 2015 147 Man 123¾ 57 Marks & Spencer 406⅝ 100 Meggitt 451 125 Melrose 256 188 Mercantile IT 1417 103 Merlin Entertainments 352½ 185 Micro Focus International 992 163 Millen & Copthorne Hotels 568 177 Mitchells & Butlers 380 93 Mondi 1053 101 Morrison Supermarkets 154¾ 199 National Express 249

+13 270¼ 184½ 3.8 +2⅝ 148⅜ 128⅝ 4.8

P/E

MKT CAP (£M)

27.1 -

2,388 1,851

+82 1900 1170 +39 737⅝ 626 +8½ 223¼ 159½ +8¼ 392 288¼ +9⅝ 703 589 +6 458⅝ 342¾ +4½ 652½ 560½ +33 1608 1135 +128 2774 2182 +30½ 695½ 556½ +7⅞ 573½ 445⅞ –1 771 666 +152 2622¾ 1922 +17¾ 485¼ 366 +156 3332 2440

0.6 1.1 1.8 1.6 4.3 5.2 3.8 3.0 4.2 2.5 3.9 3.9 1.8 4.9 1.6

20.9 3,762 10.6 2,167 29.1 1,491 19.1 2,212 13.1 122,143 27.1 2,713 14.9 2,198 17.1 3,317 37.8 25,946 14.8 3,161 23.5 2,904 46.8 3,070 36.2 5,593 11.5 1,626 22.5 4,392

+25⅞ 454½ 316⅛ +9⅜ 348⅜ 275½ +37½ 572 384⅛ +5⅜ 222 169½ +12½ 1095 905 +93 3440 2743 +16⅜ 436¾ 318 +9⅝ 444⅛ 289⅛ +25½ 820 591½ +23 1107 927 +8⅜ 243½ 204⅝ +⅜ 86¼ 70⅞

4.2 3.1 1.7 2.8 1.9 3.5 3.2 1.2 2.7 4.0 -

13.9 8,341 5.6 4,463 15.7 3,509 20.8 8,184 19.1 2,085 17.8 6,259 20.7 1,636 13.1 7,164 11.7 1,272 7.8 8,749 14.7 13,716 - 55,050

+99 2015 +3⅝ 126 –7½ 511 +8½ 572½ +4⅜ 328½ +28 1664 –5⅞ 391½ –22 1012¾

1.3 3.7 4.1 2.8 3.2 2.8 1.9

32.4 72.2 12.6 17.2 20.9 19.8 20.3

5,493 2,174 6,649 3,634 2,744 1,372 3,573 1,385

+2½ 605 543 2.3 +20⅛ 491¼ 325⅝ +50 1123 904½ 2.7

8.5 11.6 14.1

1,843 1,564 3,867

+2¼ 281½ 151⅝ 8.4 +17½ 304⅞ 220 4.0

26.2

3,614 1,274

1432⅜ 80⅜ 383⅞ 423⅞ 236¼ 1341 328⅝ 677⅞

Change on week +0.01 +0.06 -0.02 -0.05

Current level

12-month high

12-month low

-0.01 +0.01 +0.30 -0.01 +4.16

1.60 1.28 87.80 1.25 112.30

1.72 1.28 89.00 1.39 112.30

1.59 1.18 82.40 1.25 98.67

Dollar/pound Euro/pound Sterling index Dollar/euro Yen/dollar

-1.2 -0.1 +0.4 +0.4 +0.3 +0.2

-7.4 -0.4 +2.3 +1.2 +1.2 +0.8

Latest Latest threemonth month change 1,972,000 -154,000

Annual change -538,000

INDICATOR OF THE WEEK %6

American GDP by quarter

4 2 0

Source: US Bureau of Economic Analysis

2011

RANK BY MKT CAP

CHANGE 52-WEEK PRICE ONWK HIGH LOW YIELD

P/E

MKT CAP (£M)

18 41 179 43 42 109 80 102 169 154 155 195 113 16 176 196 105 15 39 161 198 139 191 106 152 13 145 30 141 24

926 +35 926 746 6445 –55 7215 5335 248⅝ +14½ 617 220½ +8¾ 209⅜ 169½ 193½ 1170 +31 1352 998 833½ +31 833½ 631 1463 +67 1471 1136 1060 –8 1463 962 753 +15 786½ 619 706 –63½ 836½ 579 515 +46¾ 684 463⅛ –8½ 355⅜ 251½ 257⅞ 2123 –34 2284 1549 1442½ +68½ 1455 1204 369 +7½ 398 337 –2⅜ 236⅝ 193 201⅞ 3678 –333 5235 3608 5250 +269 5495 4537 1027 +49 1027 854½ 197¼ +18 234½ 165½ 1778 +188 2223 1470 +4⅝ 133 101½ 123⅛ 676½ +15½ 713 544 476 +9⅛ 547½ 454⅛ 2110 +42 2805 1981 2971½ –41 3627½ 2946½ 1402 +46 1402 1235 843 +48 1289 779½ 2555 +66 2894 2352

4.4 2.0 4.1 4.1 3.4 3.6 7.0 2.6 1.0 1.9 4.0 2.3 2.0 2.0 0.7 2.6 2.4 1.8 2.2 1.8 2.0 4.1 1.3 3.8 2.1 2.6 1.8

14.0 16.6 18.2 34.8 21.5 14.0 11.4 5.3 17.2 21.7 10.1 18.9 17.3 17.2 20.0 20.2 22.1 28.6 15.0 21.2 20.4 11.8 24.6 15.2 6.9 22.6

34,923 9,885 1,542 9,492 9,591 3,279 4,474 3,606 1,693 2,072 2,005 1,340 3,103 37,020 1,582 1,302 3,409 37,909 11,734 1,862 1,294 2,245 1,357 3,351 2,086 42,012 2,190 15,902 2,219

388 2235½ 2312½ 441⅛ 483¼ 3525 167⅞ 377⅝ 245½ 2411 243½ 380⅛ 297⅝ 1996 716 4163 264⅝ 1057

5.2 4.9 2.0 1.7 3.0 6.8 2.4 1.2 3.8 3.5 3.8 1.7 0.2 3.2 1.6

-5.3 14.2 14.7 3.4 -7.4 28.1 31.5 17.6 6.7 18.4 6.8 11.0 6.5 25.8 17.4 30.6

24,505 88,140 56,434 4,412 4,901 56,690 1,864 4,097 4,696 6,534 2,999 2,822 1,635 4,781 1,989 24,543 2,489 9,438

2 8 84 72 7 160 89 76 58 118 124 173 74 156 23 129 44

National Grid Next Ocado Old Mutual Pearson Pennon Persimmon Petrofac Phoenix Group Holdings Playtech Polymetal International Premier Oil Provident Prudential PZ Cussons QinetiQ Randgold Resources Reckitt Benckiser Reed Elsevier Regus Renishaw Rentokil Initial Restaurant Group Rexam Rightmove Rio Tinto RIT Capital Partners Rolls-Royce Rotork Royal Bank Of Scotland Royal Dutch Shell A Royal Dutch Shell B Royal Mail RSA Ins SAB Miller Saga Sage Sainsbury, J Schroders Scottish Mortgage Segro Serco Severn Trent Shaftesbury Shire Smith (DS) Smith & Nephew

Current 12-month 12-month level high low 2.25 3.07 2.20 2.34 3.00 2.20 0.45 0.74 0.45 0.84 1.96 0.84

Change on week

-2

GOVERNMENT FINANCES Latest monthly Previous monthly Year to figure (£bn) figure (£bn) date (£bn) UNEMPLOYMENT PSNB ex banks (2014-15) 11.3 11.7 58.0 Global trade balance -1.9 -3.1 -18.9 Labour Force Survey figure

Morningstar

BUSINESS

12-month low

Gold ($/troy oz) Silver (p/troy oz) Brent crude oil ($/barrel)

Latest monthly Previous Annual change (%) change (%) change (%)

+3.9 Raw materials and fuel +2.7 Factory-gate prices Retail prices index Latest quarterly Previous quarterly Annual Consumer prices index change (%) change (%) change (%) Consumer prices (inc housing costs) +0.7 +0.9 +3.0 Average earnings

P/E

157 46 192 138 70 78 91 69 4 12 181 165 134 135 86 75 167

Previous Annual PRICES AND PAY change (%) change (%)

+0.1 -0.3

CHANGE 52-WEEK PRICE ONWK HIGH LOW YIELD

53 183 67 158 34 146 108 71 28 40 112 187 119 117 11 87 79 132 168 60 175 193

12-month high

CURRENCIES

The materials specialist is investing heavily to capitalise on the expected demand for graphene products. “The long-term growth potential is undiminished,” analysts at N+1 Singer wrote in a note in September. They predict that the company will generate its first sales next year, pencilling in revenues of £400,000 and then £1.4m the following year.

RANK BY MKT CAP

BSkyB BT BTG Bunzl Burberry Capital & Counties Property Capita Carillion Carnival Catlin Centrica Close Brothers Cobham Coca Cola HBC Compass CRH Croda CSR DCC Derwent London Diageo Direct Line Insurance Dixons Carphone Drax Dunelm EasyJet Essentra Euromoney Institutional Investor Evraz Experian First Group Foreign & Colonial Fresnillo Friends Life G4S GKN Glaxo Smith Kline Glencore Grafton Group Units Greene King Great Portland Estates Halma Hammerson Hargreaves Lansdown Hays

Current level

UK US Japan Germany

UK ECONOMY

12-month high low

Change on week

10-YEAR BOND YIELD (%)

BIGGEST SHARE MOVEMENTS Risers p

COMMODITIES

This is one of several AIM-listed businesses working with graphene, a new material with a wide range of possible applications. Applied Graphene Materials has developed a technique for manufacturing high-specification graphene that can be used in paints and lubricants. The business, spun out of Durham University, floated a year ago at 155p a share. The closing price on Friday was 282½p.

THE BUSINESS

6,300

FTSE 100 FTSE All-Share yield (%) FTSE All-Share Dow Jones Industrial S&P 500 Nasdaq Composite Tokyo Nikkei 225 Frankfurt Dax Paris CAC 40 FTSE Eurofirst 300 Hang Seng Australia All Ordinaries Dow Jones Global Bombay Sensex Shanghai Composite

Steve Jobs’s successor Tim Cook acknowledges his homosexuality in public for the first time

BRIEFING APPLIED GRAPHENE MATERIALS

6,500

2013

BEING GAY HAS GIVEN ME . . . THE SKIN OF A RHINOCEROS, WHICH COMES IN HANDY WHEN YOU’RE THE CEO OF APPLE

+23¾ 388 295½ +38½ 2453 2013½ +25½ 2592 2096 –16½ 615 390 +16⅜ 573 91⅜ +167½ 3740 2661 +17 188 148⅜ +10⅞ 435½ 337 +7¼ 414½ 224¾ +102 2727 2146 +16 243½ 189⅛ +12⅞ 380⅛ 319¼ +15 557 277 +8 2000 1637 +14 716 582 +113 5455 2654 +14½ 355¼ 238 +75½ 1100 797

12

13

14

-4

America’s economy continues to motor ahead, figures showed last week. In the three months to September, GDP increased at an annual rate of 3.5%, capping the strongest six-month period of expansion since 2003.

Output was boosted by a rise in defence spending and a fall in imports, although the strength of the dollar could dent exports in coming months, economists warned.

RANK BY MKT CAP

CHANGE 52-WEEK PRICE ONWK HIGH LOW YIELD

P/E

MKT CAP (£M)

77 194 150 149 95

1165 1125 1802 2850

+13 +33 +87 +70

3.4 2.7 2.3 2.0

20.0 15.2 15.3 21.6

4,595 1,343 2,142 2,156

644½ 1599 387 393⅝ 939½

+14½ 922 574 +63 1599 1300 –4½ 399¼ 344⅛ +6⅝ 421½ 334⅜ –175⅜ 1519 939½

5.3 2.3 4.0 5.2

22.1 3,857 48.0 15,590 17.1 2,224 15.3 9,414 9.2 23,209

745 300 606 118⅜ 770½

+65 +13⅝ +26 +2⅜ +33

622 248½ 576½ 101¼ 631

2.1 3.6 4.3 0.5 1.3

26.2 99.8 11.6 13.9 22.2

577½ 173½ 124⅛ 396⅞ 146⅜ 1652 398½ 485¾ 569 2514 854½ 822 1694 207¼ 2283 4364 360½

+11½ 623½ 493½ +4¾ 368 168¾ +8⅞ 189 102½ +17¼ 435¼ 346 +⅛ 147⅛ 125⅞ +66 1982 1574 +33 450 330½ –8¾ 949 483⅞ +28 722½ 507 +108 2729 2306 +16½ 908 641½ –8½ 1191 775 +95 2026 1553 +6¾ 252¼ 184½ +33 2761 2050 +54 4487 3363 +7⅝ 410⅛ 320¼

1.2 8.5 4.0 4.5 1.8 3.3 2.3 4.7 3.4 4.0 4.3 2.5 9.2 1.8 1.5 3.2

- 1,875 16.4 14,101 -5.4 1,814 - 3,831 - 1,296 14.7 4,080 84.1 4,456 - 4,422 10.9 1,398 17.4 32,136 7.9 5,826 - 2,196 18.9 1,443 4.9 54,929 14.8 4,871 23.3 7,919 16.5 3,154

727½ 3317 662 1218

+38 727½ 636 2.1 +107 3531 3020 2.2 –6 818 634½ 1.9 +40 1383 1117 2.8

- 1,383 17.5 8,840 15.1 2,483 16.2 16,047

31 140 45 25 94 121 123 96 178 159 36 164 97 197 90 82 83 184 20 61 144 182 10 73 51 111 186 47 130 29

Smiths Smith WH Spectris Spirax-Sarco Sports Direct International SSE Stagecoach Standard Life Standard Chartered St James's Place Capital TalkTalk Tate & Lyle Taylor Wimpey Telecity Templeton Emerging Markets Tesco Thomas Cook 3i 3i Infrastructure Travis Perkins TUI Travel Tullow Oil UBM Unilever United Utilities Vedanta Resources Victrex Vodafone Weir Whitbread William Hill Witan Investment Trust Wolseley Wood WPP

1525 1121 1227 901 2561 1643 3101 2561

879½ 333 821 131 806

3,863 2,865 2,832 3,852 1,562

Price/earnings ratios are based on historic data, with yield and p/e values calculated from the most recent reported dividends and earnings per share, using trailing 12-month figures. 52-week highs and lows are end of day.

FTSE 100 companies shown in bold type

brought about by accelerating structural changes and intensifying competition internationally.

Low and falling inflation in the UK and in most developed economies points firmly to the need for continued low interest rates. Any pockets of financial instability that may arise (for example, excessive inflation of regional property prices) can easily be dealt with through the increased range of micromanagement weaponry now at the Bank of England’s disposal without affecting interest rates.

Peter Reeves Hove

Bank branches beat an unsafe internet

ITIS a short-sighted policy to close bank branches, as it is a foregone conclusion that within the next 5 to 10 years it will become impossible to do financial transactions over the internet due to the lack of security.

At present, antivirus services are just one step ahead of the hackers and fraudsters, but this will not continue. Online banking will become unsafe and customers will return to over-the-counter trans– actions.

There are, and always will be, financial dealings that need to be done in person in a bank. They should be opening branches, not closing them.

Robin Linger Wirral

A holiday bonus for the financially illiterate

I AM appalled at the flow of legal decisions requiring companies to pay an average of previously earned bonuses and overtime for those going on holiday.

As I understand it, an individual agrees to work for specified terms for a given remuneration. Holiday entitlement is part of the basic package set out by the employer. The cost of the holiday pay is therefore

included. On top of that, some employees are offered overtime, or commission, which they are paid.

It is apparent from the rulings that these employees are deemed incapable of saving for their holidays, as those paid a wage or salary with no extras do. Why? If the bonus-earning employees are so financially illiterate, it would seem appropriate the employer be asked to “hold back” holiday pay and then pay this out when the holidays arise. I can see no reason why an employer should pay overtime or commission during a holiday period when none has been earned.

Come on, judiciary. It really is time you started living in the real world rather than in an ivory tower.

Nick Hoskins Epsom

Tesco ‘well governed’? I don’t buy it

THE chairman of Tesco claims it has been “well governed” . . . until now (“Tesco chief buys time as chairman walks plank”, last week)? Surely “well governed” has no exceptions? Factual information has been abused by someone’s behaviour; whether it has been covered up or ignored is hardly a claim for being “well governed”.

Cliff Moggs Sonning Eye

EU should revert to a simple free market

ALEX SALMOND says the EU is the best thing since sliced bread? Cut the bureaucracy, cut the banal onesize-fits-all economics and return to good old simple trade across Europe without boundaries, allowing the free market to work.

It might just surprise the electorate how simple a solution that might be.

Peter Wright West Kilbride

THE WEEK IN REVIEW THE Serious Fraud Office is to investigate Tesco over the £263m in overstated profits that led to eight senior executives being suspended.

Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis and his chief financial officer Alan Stewart have been granted options worth £5.5m to compensate for benefits they lost on moving from Unilever and Marks & Spencer respectively, while investors demanded they drop nonexecutive directorships at BSkyB and Diageo.

Twenty-five of Europe’s biggest banks failed stress tests to measure their ability to withstand a crisis, with 14 of them short of enough capital to satisfy the European Central Bank.

Profits atemerging markets bank Standard Chartered fell 16% to $1.53bn in the quarter to the end of September, against $1.83bn a year earlier, forcing chief executive Peter Sands to offer more than $400m in cuts next year.

Barclays set aside £500m for possible fines from alleged

rigging of foreign exchange markets, as it announced that profits in the three months to September rose 15% to £1.59bn.

Royal Bank of Scotland set aside £400m against possible fines for forex rigging, while reporting a third-quarter profit of £1.27bn.

America’s Federal Reserve put an end to its five-year, $4.5 trillion quantitative easing programme, showing confidence in the outlook for the world’s largest economy.

The Dow Jones IndustrialAverage soared to a record 17,390.52.

Profits at oil giant BP for the three months to the end of September fell 18% to $3bn as payouts for the Gulf of Mexico disaster rose and sanctions against Russia bit.

High street retailer Next downgraded its annual profit forecast for the first time since 1998, blaming September’s balmy weather. Fashion house SuperGroup issued a profit warning for the same reason.

Fiat Chrysler is to float 10%

of Ferrari on a European stock market in the coming months, part of a £37bn rescue plan for the car maker.

Chris Viehbacher was dismissed as chief executive of French drugs giant Sanofi after antagonising trade unions and government ministers, and falling out with his own board.

The World Economic Forum ranked Britain 26th in the world — below Rwanda and Moldova in a gender equality league table.

Former DuPont boss “Chad”Holliday will succeed Jorma Ollila as chairman of Royal Dutch Shell next year.

A former Lloyds TSB retail banking chief, Dennis Holt, has been appointed chairman of the Co-operative Bank.

Sir Ronnie Grierson, the Warburgs banker appointed to run Harold Wilson’s Industrial Reorganisation Corporation — in the hope he might prevent it from doing too much harm by its interventions to create “national champions” — has died aged 93.

BUSINESS

28

02 . 11 . 14

PRUFROCK

OLIVER SHAH

Boss strikes it rich without oil IT’S time to unveil the latest winner of our Brass Balls Award for executive compensation.

Step forward Peter Hill. The Oxford-educatedlawyer-cumoil boss runs an exploration company whose name you probably won’t know — Global Petroleum.

Despite its expansive name, the London and Sydney-listed outfit’s operations are confined to a licence in Namibia that it has not drilled, a minority share in a field off Mozambique and, of course, a head office in Berkeley Square, Mayfair.

Since Hill, 58, the former deals supremo at Norwegian oil giant Statoil, took over in Sep-

tember 2011, Global’s shares have plummeted by 80%. As of Friday the company was worth only £5.7m.

Despite its diminutive size, in the past three years Global has paid Hill £750,000 in cash and handed him £270,000 in options. Given the lowly share price, these won’t be paying out anytime soon. In the meantime, the company has burned through £4m in cash and generated negligible turnover.

Global’s chairman, John van der Welle, said the board was “absolutely behind Peter”, before adding: “Our message is, bear with us. It takes time to find the right deal.”

AIM minnow is really well connected COMPANIES wanting to list on AIM, London’s junior stock market, usually have a hard task persuading big names to get involved. Not so the People’s Operator, an ethical mobile phone company set up

by Andrew Rosenfeld, the property tycoon and Labour party donor who was caught up in the cash for honours scandal in 2006. It has already

INSIDE THE CITY

Twins clean up in the kitchen THEtwins behind Joseph Joseph, the colourful kitchenware brand whose products sit next to many an Aga in London’s trendy Notting Hill, are cooking on gas.

Twins Antony and Richard Joseph, 40, took home nearly £1.3m last year after sales rose 12.6% to £40m and pre-tax profits also increased.

Richard says it was a year of slow-and-steady progress.

“We’d love to be doing more in the US, and we’re investing in the management team there,” he adds.

Joseph Joseph was spawned when the brothers’ father tried — and failed — to get them to work in the family business, which made toughened glass for cooker hobs.

Antony and Richard live on the same street in London, so it’s no surprise they split the dividend neatly — £640,000 each.

DANNY FORTSON

Sweet and sour for Dairy Crest

Hot stuff: Richard and Antony Joseph with their kitchenware

0 WHAT do you do if the bank puts too much money in your account — and what if it’s nearly £1m? I might be tempted to race off to Monaco and tell them the cheque’s in the post.

That’s roughly what Credit Suisse claims Joseph Galbraith, an American hedge fund manager, has done. It mistakenly paid $1.5m into his fund and is suing to get it back. Galbraith is said to be in Monaco, having renounced his US citizenship. In an email to an American reporter, he said the accusations were “ridiculous, bordering on laughable”. No sign of the $1.5m yet.

Big name: Sean Parker

Could Klein be Dimon geezer?

recruited Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, as co-chairman, and now Sean Parker, of Napster and Facebook fame, is joining the board. Who’s next? Madonna?

WHAT next for superbanker Michael Klein, midwife to the decade’s biggest deals, including Glencore-Xstrata and the UK bank bailout? Last week it was reported that rivals thought he should get back together with Glencore’s Ivan Glasenberg for a tilt at Rio Tinto. I suspect the rivals would rather have the work themselves.PerhapsKleinmightreturntoWallStreet.IhearJPMorgan’s bossJamieDimonislookingforabig-hitter.Kleinwouldfitthebill.

Break out the bubbly MAGNUMS all round at Berry Bros & Rudd, the St James’s wine merchant with City grandee Sir Simon Robertson and Smiths chief Philip Bowman among its directors.

It made a profit of £115,000 last year after a slip into the red the year before.

The swings and roundabouts don’t seem to make much difference to the Berry and Rudd families, who received an £831,000 dividend, roughly the same as last year.

FANCY a bottle of raspberry jam doughnut milk shake? Me neither. It appears we are in the minority, though.

Dairy Crest, the milk giant behind Cathedral City cheese and Clover spread, has had a rough ride of late. Its core liquid milk business is losing money, crushed between high costs and supermarket price wars. Yet its Frijj flavoured milk drinks — other options include banana, chocolate and vanilla — is among a handful of brands that have offset, if only partially, the curdling of its milk operation.

The shares closed on Friday at 416½p, down a fifth in a year. Things don’t look like they will improve fast.

Britain is awash with milk. Like so many ills of the world, Vladimir Putin carries much blame. Russia is a big importer of dairy products, and sanctions have hit this trade.

That surplus has given the supermarkets, which are tearing pieces out of each other to gain market share, an even greater power than usual to slash prices for milk, a key lure for customers.

Dairy Crest has already cut the prices it pays to farmers three times this year.

When chief executive Mark Allen unveils half-year figures this week, JPMorgan expects a £2m fall in profit from that side of the business, which represents 70%of group turnover.

There are two ways Allen is making up for the shortfall. One is boosting the marketing behind its branded products such as Frijj and Cathedral City. In these still straitened times people will pay a bit extra for their favourite brands.

The other is cost-cutting. In September Dairy Crest said it was closing two sites, a glass bottling dairy in Hanworth, west London, and a cream plant in Chard, Somerset — part of a

scheme to carve out more than £20m in operating costs.

JP Morgan has slapped on a 480p target. To get there, Dairy Crest will need a bit of help, some of which is materialising. The falling oil price could ease energy costs and boost consumers’ disposable incomes. And if Putin comes in from the cold, it wouldn’t hurt.

The stock has a 6%dividend yield and, if you don’t mind waiting a bit for the recovery, its recent swoon seems to make for a decent entry point. Buy.

Afren THE investment case for Afren is much less clear. Shares in the FTSE 250 oil explorer have halved since an “unauthorised payments”scandal erupted in July. The Nigeria-focused company is now sans chief executive and operations head.

Dairy Crest Share price

p 600 560 520 480 440 400

Source: Thomson Datastream

2013 2014

360

More worrying than the management vacuum is the big drop in production the company revealed last week at its Ebok field, accounting for two-thirds of group sales.

There have long been concerns that Afren was taking too much oil too quickly. Push it too far and vital reservoir pressure plummets, making it even harder to maintain output. Afren blamed the slump on bad weather and pipeline problems. Watch this space. danny.fortson@sunday-times.co.uk

Surcharge on imports puts 6d on a bottle of sherry and port IN The Sunday Times Business News of November 1, 1964, Peter Wilsher reported on rising prices and protests: Repercussions of the government’s 15% import surcharge spread far, angrily and wide during the week. Yesterday’s developments and today’s price announcements include: 0 Mercedes cars: cost of the

small 220 unchanged, rest up by between £33 and £230.

0 Chemicals: Industry hastily gathering team to lobby the government on easing import regulations for acrylonitrile and other important products not made in Britain.

0 Harvey’s of Bristol: Port and “Bristol Cream” sherry up by 6d (2½p) a bottle. Table wines

stay the same “for the moment”.

Tom Margerison reported on a plane that “may fly — but how can it pay?”: “How we get a situation in which you spend £120m on supersonic aircraft and don’t help anybody else is a thing which surprises me. I think it needs a little investigation.” So said the late Lord

FIFTY YEARS OF BUSINESS

Brabazon in 1962 when the Anglo-French Concorde pro– ject to build a supersonic airliner was first announced. The cost has now gone up to nearly £300m. And last week the investigation began.

For most experts now believe that, though the Concorde might fly successfully from Europe to the United

States in 3½ hours, its chances of commercial success are extremely slim. These views have been given to Mr Harold Wilson , whose decision to send Mr Roy Jenkins, minister of aviation, for urgent talks with the French has set the cat among the pigeons.

The City editor Anthony Vice reported on a new mail order

giant: Montague Burton — “The Tailor of Taste” — will enter the mail order business in the new year. After several months of investigation, a decision to go ahead has now been taken, and senior staff are being recruited.

Mail order is a notoriously hard branch of retailing to break into. Burton’s plan,

almost certainly, will be to find a small established company in the business to take over and use as a nucleus.

Beside its tailoring shops, Burton owns the Peter Robinson fashion stores. It also has a big stake — approaching 30% — in Wallis & Co (Costumiers) which runs the very with-it Wallis Shop chain.