Tuesday 27 December 2022 **
80
Respect for oldies wouldn’t go amiss
John Humphrys on the boomers whose ‘lived experience’ counts for nothing
INSIDE
Hammers
Energy
hammered
Saka-inspired
Arsenal turn on
companies
second-half style
Sport hoarding
customers’
Sparkling
billions
repartee Telegraph investigation finds direct debits
rising even when accounts are in credit
The Royal By Investigations Team
family’s secret and Ben Smith
ENERGY companies are hoarding
jewellery code almost £2 billion of customers’ cash
amid the cost of living crisis, The Daily
Features Telegraph can disclose.
Gas and electricity suppliers are
increasing customers’ direct debit pay-
ments, even when they are thousands of
pounds in credit, an investigation has
found. Some firms have been accused of
using the money as a cheap source of
finance while many British households
struggle to make ends meet.
Last night, Christine Farnish, a for-
mer member of the Ofgem board, criti-
cised the watchdog for allowing energy
firms to behave in this way.
Writing for The Telegraph, Ms Far-
nish – who quit earlier this year in a row
over changes to the way the energy
price cap is set – said “energy firms are
Midlife reboot allowed to put their metaphorical hand
into a customer’s pocket and use
advance customer payments to fund
part 2 their own businesses”.
Energy bills have almost doubled
over the past year, going from an aver-
How to stay age of £1,277 a year in October 2021 to
£2,500 currently. The true cost is even
in love when higher, but is being held down by gov-
ernment support.
Customers have been encouraged to
you’re married cut their energy usage to save money.
However, s ome providers have
Features increased some users’ direct debits
even if they are in substantial credit, an
investigation found.
The Telegraph is aware of more than a
dozen households whose energy com-
panies have put up their monthly pay-
ments automatically, even though they
are more than £1,000 in credit.
One customer, who handed EDF
more than £2,300 for energy she has
not yet used, said that she had barely
turned on her heating this winter but
still faced an increase in payments.
After being contacted by reporters at
this newspaper, the company apolo-
gised and lowered the customer’s pay-
ments. This advance payment is almost
A load of the same as the average household’s
annual energy bill, under the Govern-
rubbish
What really Gove has designs on a return to traditional architecture
happens to our By Daniel Martin
DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR
Xmas recycling TRADITIONAL architecture should be
revived to encourage support for new
Features
housing, Michael Gove has said.
The Levelling-Up Secretary has
backed the establishment of a new
national school to promote beautiful
urban design, as part of an attempt to
persuade the public to accept more
developments.
He supported the conclusions of a
NEWS
Activists accuse hunt
is away of slashing van tyres
Puzzles 18 A hunt in South Dorset has warned its
followers not to engage with saboteurs
TV listings 27 after its members were accused of
slashing tyres as meets gathered for
Weather 28 Boxing Day. Thousands joined hunts
for the first time in two years without
pandemic restrictions, the Countryside
ISSN-0307-1235
Alliance said. The Hunt Saboteurs
;0Y+Y;?>)>) MHNE
Association accused hunters in South
Dorset of vandalising one of their vans
and another vehicle belonging to other
activists in an attempt to stop them
interrupting a hunt.
Page 6
telegraph.co.uk
ment’s cap. The Telegraph analysed
companies’ most recent financial state-
ments and used their “deferred income”
as a proxy for customer credit balances,
if no more granular detail was given.
This same methodology was used in
a recent report commissioned by Ofgem
from Oxera, an analysis firm.
Centrica, the owner of British Gas,
held around £588 million of money that
customers had paid in advance. While it
is the highest figure for any company,
Centrica has made a point of stating
publicly that it “ringfences” these
funds, so the money is not used as work-
ing capital.
The Telegraph found that many firms,
including Octopus and Ovo, held more
than £100 million in customer credit,
while Shell held £45 million.
Octopus said it did not use customer
credit balances to fuel growth, but
MERSEYSIDE POLICE/PA
admitted that it did use some money to
offset the bills that other customers had
run up but were yet to pay. Shell uses
customer credit balances as working
capital, but said it did not rely on them
and had access to the funding it needed
from other sources.
Ofgem has said that firms must raise
the alarm if customer credit balances
account for more than half of their total
assets, the point at which they are seen
to be overstretched. None of the firms
whose credit balances are disclosed in
this article exceeded this threshold.
An Ofgem spokesman said it con-
sulted widely on its reforms which
struck “the balance between improving
the energy retail sector’s resilience,
keeping costs down for customers and
encouraging innovation as we transi-
tion to home-grown cheaper energy”.
Octopus and Ovo said customers
owed them more money than they owed
to customers, and that those in credit
could withdraw their funds at any point.
An EDF spokesman said the company
did not “use credit balances to fund busi-
ness growth” and that the regulator had
recently concluded there “were ‘no sig-
nificant issues’ with the way it manages
its customers’ direct debit calculations”.
Reports: Page 5
report by the Policy Exchange think
tank for a school of urban design and
architecture to tackle the “mediocrity”
of British town planning.
He said too many British towns were
being let down by “insipid” planning,
which he blamed for much of the oppo-
sition to new housing developments.
Mr Gove made the intervention after
Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister,
watered down key planning legislation
in response to rebellions by backbench
MPs. Mr Sunak was forced to abandon
NEWS
Gender rumpus over
Little Women author
The author of Little Women, the classic
feminist novel, likely did not identify as
a woman, it has been claimed. Dr
Gregory Eiselein, president of the
Louisa May Alcott Society, has claimed
the author was non-binary in an article
for The New York Times. “I am certain
that Alcott never fitted a binary
sex-gender model,” said Dr Eiselein. He
does not go as far as to suggest that
Alcott was transgender, a claim made
by Peyton Thomas, a trans man and
novelist, in the same article.
Page 9
BRITAIN ’S BE ST Q UALIT Y NEWSPAPER
Tributes to gun victim Elle
Elle Edwards has been named as the 26-year-old woman who was shot dead at the Lighthouse Inn in Wallasey Village, near
Liverpool, on Christmas Eve. Her family and friends spent Boxing Day paying tribute to her. Report: Page 7
Tills are alive in high streets amid rail chaos
By Daniel Capurro
HIGH streets led the revival of Boxing
Day sales as shoppers flocked to local
towns rather than cities amid train
strikes.
The RMT union’s walkout, which
was due to end this morning, led to rail
services being cancelled across the
country. However, bargain hunters
were not deterred, with footfall at shops
up 50 per cent on last year by midday,
according to analysts Springboard.
Fine weather is thought to have
boosted the “bounceback”, while ana-
lysts noted last year’s sales fell on a Sun-
day, with shorter shopping hours.
Diane Wehrle, Springboard’s insights
director, said: “I was expecting around 15
nationally set house building targets,
and to lift the ban on new onshore wind
turbines.
In a foreword to the Policy Exchange
report, Mr Gove said: “Much of the
opposition to new housing develop-
ments is often grounded in a fear that
the quality of the new buildings and
places created will be deficient and
therefore detrimental to existing neigh-
bourhoods and properties.
“If a general improvement in the
standard of design reassures the general
WORLD
German spy ‘turned’
by Russia post-invasion
Germany’s spy agency fears Moscow
was able to turn one of its agents after
the outbreak of war in Ukraine, it has
emerged. The agent, who worked for
the BND, Germany’s foreign
intelligence service, is believed to have
had access to secret information from
Britain’s GCHQ spy agency and the
US’s National Security Agency. The
alleged double agent, identified only as
Carsten L, was arrested on suspicion of
treason in Berlin last Wednesday, and
remanded in custody.
Page 13
No 52,135
Features
per cent, but nothing like 50 per cent. So
it is very surprising, but very encourag-
ing … It demonstrates that when people
can go out shopping, they do.”
Shoppers appeared to stay close ot
home rather than taking trains amid the
strikes. Coastal towns are enjoying a
resurgence following the pandemic,
with footfall at 84 per cent of 2019 lev-
els. Historic towns are back at 73 per
cent of pre-pandemic levels and market
towns at 72 per cent.
In comparison, regional cities have
only 60 per cent as many shoppers as
they did before Covid. Shops in cities
were hit harder than those in towns
during the pandemic years, research by
the Centre for Cities think tank has
found. Working from home and fewer
public that this will in fact not be the
case, then they may be less likely to
oppose it.”
The think tank report said the new
school would not be “biased” against
traditional styles of architecture, which
are popular with the public. Current
university departments tend to focus on
modern design.
The school would complement exist-
ing qualification routes for architects,
planners, engineers, designers and
other built environment professionals
COMMENT
Michael Nazir-Ali
We must not
forget about
the world’s
persecuted
Christians
Page 16
£2.
commuters are thought to have caused
the reduction. “The bigger cities seem
to be doing OK, which they hadn’t been
in the run-up to Christmas because of
the rail strikes,” Ms Wehrle said.
Pre-December, footfall had been as
much as 90 per cent of 2019 levels, she
said, but once the train strikes began
the shortfall widened again.
While central London saw the big-
gest increase in footfall, where it was up
139 per cent on last year, outer London
is closer to returning to pre-Covid lev-
els. The outer boroughs are just 13 per
cent off the footfall of three years ago.
Most Tube lines were running yester-
day, unaffected by the strikes.
The UK is in the middle of the third
Continued on Page 5
and would offer nationally recognised
vocational certificates.
In the foreword, Mr Gove said: “While
the tradition of great architecture con-
tinues to flourish, all too frequently in
Britain the places around it do not.
“We must do all we can to ensure a
new generation of built environment
professionals are armed with the best
skills and techniques possible to enable
them to go out and build beautiful, sus-
tainable places in which people and
communities can thrive.”
BUSINESS
Umunna role linked to
Royal Mail ‘takeover’
A Czech energy tycoon who trade
union leaders claim is plotting a
takeover of Royal Mail is being advised
by Chuka Umunna, The Daily
Telegraph can disclose. The former
Labour leadership hopeful, a leading
critic of Royal Mail’s privatisation
while he was a front-bench MP, has
been hired by Vesa Equity, the
investment business of investor Daniel
Kretinsky. Mr Umunna is working with
Vesa in his role as managing director
and division head at JP Morgan.
Page 19
2 **
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‘Scandalous’ Army
housing in line of fire
Ministers could ditch deal
with Pinnacle after service
families speak out about
shoddy living conditions
By Danielle Sheridan DEFENCE EDITOR
MINISTERS are considering scrapping
the housing contract for military
accommodation after families were
forced to spend Christmas in mould-
infested homes.
The Daily Telegraph understands that
Alex Chalk, the minister for defence
procurement, said the Government
Full steam ahead
GWR’s
Heavyweight
freight locomotive
No. 2857 pictured
near Bewdley,
Worcestershire, on
the Severn Valley
Railway yesterday
as it embarks on a
Mince Pie Special
to Kidderminster.
The locomotive
was built in 1918.
No. 2857 is in the
last full month of
its current boiler
certificate, after
which it will be
stored until its
next overhaul.
Half of all rail services from
busiest stations have been hit
By Louisa Clarence-Smith
MORE than half of all train services
departing from 15 of the UK’s busiest
stations have been delayed or disrupted
this year, analysis has found.
Rail delay and cancellation data from
the performance-tracking site OnTime-
Trains showed that Manchester Oxford
Road was the station where passengers
had suffered the most severe delays,
according to research by The Guardian.
Almost half of trains departing from
the station were delayed and more than
one in 10 were cancelled in the year to
18 December.
The analysis, which looked at the 100
busiest stations in the UK, found that
rail passengers were delayed or dis-
rupted on more than half of all train ser-
vices departing from 15 of the UK’s
busiest stations.
Overall, stations in the north and
Midlands tended to suffer proportion-
ately more delays and cancellations.
Coventry was the second worst-per-
forming station for severity of delays,
with 63 per cent of journeys delayed
and 5 per cent cancelled.
East Croydon was the worst-perform-
ing station in London, followed by St
Pancras and then Blackfriars.
The scale of delays faced by passen-
gers came as train travel was suspended
News
“may well scrap the contract” that was
awarded to Pinnacle Group by the Min-
istry of Defence (MoD) last year.
The minister, who has been in post
s i n c e O c t o b e r, i s a l s o s a i d t o
have instructed the MoD’s Permanent
Secretary to conduct an internal inves-
tigation into how the contract was
signed off.
It comes after hundreds of Armed
Forces personnel were forced to speak
out about the “scandalous” living condi-
tions they have endured this winter,
from broken boilers to a lack of running
water. Others have told this newspaper
how they have been on hold for hours –
some with sick children – waiting to
on Boxing Day because of strikes. Some
Tube lines in London were also affected
by industrial action.
The RMT union’s latest walkout is
due to end this morning. The union has
scheduled further strike dates in Janu-
ary, while the Aslef union, which repre-
sents train drivers across 15 rail
companies, is preparing to strike on 5
January.
Despite the disruption to services,
rail fares are to rise at their fastest rate
63%
The proportion of trains departing from
Coventry station that were delayed. Six
per cent of journeys were cancelled
for a decade. Ticket price increases will
rise at a maximum of 5.9 per cent, aban-
doning a link to inflationary measures
for the first time since the industry’s pri-
vatisation in the 1990s. Price increases
will come into force on March 5.
The Rail Delivery Group, a member-
ship body for the rail industry, has
blamed the delays and cancellations on
the long-term impact of the pandemic
on staff numbers, as well as extreme
weather events and rail strikes.
speak to someone at Pinnacle, only to
be told that it is not possible to send
someone out to help.
Heledd Kendrick, founder of the
Recruit For Spouses social enterprise,
said: “This is one step too far. When a
military family is hundreds, sometimes
thousands of miles away from friends
and family, potentially with a serving
member deployed or away during
Christmas, the least that should be pro-
vided is a number to call who can help
with any urgent housing issues.
“We have heard some horrendous
stories over the past few weeks and
young children’s lives have been put at
risk as a result of weak leadership.” Ms
Dated police cars
slammed as ‘unfit’
for emergencies
By Daily Telegraph Reporter
THE oldest police car in operation is 36
years old, new data has revealed.
West Yorkshire Constabulary is using
a vehicle dating to 1986 while more than
1,500 cars in use by forces across the
country are over 10 years old.
Freedom of Information Act requests
revealed that five forces have cars that
are more than 20 years old, leading to a
warning that old cars might not be fit
for an emergency.
The figures, from 28 police forces in
England, Wales and Scotland, were
uncovered by the Liberal Democrats.
The party’s home affairs spokesman,
Alistair Carmichael, said: “People would
be shocked to learn the police still own
a vehicle from 1986. How can a car past
its prime be reliable in an emergency?”
The information released to the Lib
Dems does not reveal what policing
tasks the vehicles are used for.
The other forces with vehicles dating
back 20 years or more were Avon and
Somerset, Suffolk, Police Scotland and
Hertfordshire.
The latest funding settlement will see
police in England and Wales in line for a
below-inflation increase in resources.
Under the provisional settlement, the
Home Office said forces will receive an
extra£287 million in 2023-24.
Kendrick said families felt as if they had
been “blatantly ignored”, despite living
in freezing conditions with “mould
growing everywhere”.
The £144 million contract awarded to
Pinnacle, which serves families living in
49,000 military properties, came into
force in April. The property manage-
ment provider, whose accounts record
its highest paid director as earning
£320,000 last year, up from £291,000
the previous year, is the main point of
contact for families to report issues
with their accommodation. All property
maintenance is then outsourced to Vivo
and Amey, which subsequently employ
local tradesmen to carry out repairs.
On Dec 17, Ben Wallace, the Defence
Secretary, tweeted that he had “directed
those responsible for accommodation
services to up their game”.
However, military families said that
many in their community were “stag-
gered” it had taken until then for him to
publicly speak out on the issue.
Lucy Thomas, a military wife who
recently met with Michael Gove –
whose Surrey Heath constituency has
the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
on its patch along – with other families
Labinjo-Hughes family say
surprise visits will cut deaths
By Louisa Clarence-Smith
THE family of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes
have called for suspected abusers of
young children to face surprise visits
from social workers as they warn that
major reforms are needed to prevent
more deaths.
Six-year-old Arthur was poisoned,
starved and beaten by his father and
stepmother before he died in 2020.
Arthur’s stepmother, Emma Tustin,
coached him on what to say before a
planned visit by Solihull social services
two months before his death.
Now Arthur’s cousin, Bernie Dixon,
40, who is setting up a charity to cam-
paign for improved protection of chil-
dren, wants unannounced visits by
social workers to be enforced in cases
involving children under the age of 10.
She told The Guardian that she feared
more young children would die without
a “total reform of social services”.
She said she “knows the perpetrators
are responsible” and did not directly
blame the social workers involved but
believed that better training and
resources could have saved him.
Ms Dixon expressed frustration over
reports of other children being killed
after suffering from abuse or neglect,
such as Star Hobson, Logan Mwangi
and Kyrell Matthews.
Tuesday 27 December 2022 The Daily Telegraph
to discuss the issues regarding Pinna-
cle. She said: “It shouldn’t take a constit-
uency MP to have to be so active on the
issue, but Michael Gove has been fan-
tastic and made a huge difference.”
One military spouse cited how the
new contract downgraded the response
time for loss of heating or hot water
from being an “emergency” and war-
ranting a response in 24 hours, to
“urgent”, allowing 48 working hours for
a response.
The Telegraph understands a senior
civil servant warned the Defence Infra-
structure Organisation at the time of the
contract change that this would be an
issue come the winter. Another defence
source added: “There was a lack of
proper due diligence as to whether the
contract was right and the provider able
to do it properly.”
An MoD spokesman said: “£350 mil-
lion has been invested over the past two
years to improve Service Family Accom-
modation, over and above maintenance
costs, with over 14,000 homes receiv-
ing some form of upgrade. A further
£176 million is being invested in the
2022-23 for improvements to a further
20 per cent of homes most in need.”
JACK BOSKETT
“It makes me speechless,” she said. “I
feel the same about any child, and it
feels like the list is going on. It just feels
like everyone wants to talk about it, but
nobody wants to do any action or make
any significant change.”
Arthur’s Angels, which is being
established by the family in Arthur’s
memory, has already campaigned for
social workers to be given body cam-
eras to record visits.
Tustin was jailed for life in 2021 with
a minimum term of 29 years for murder.
‘It feels like everyone
wants to talk about it,
but nobody wants to make
any significant change’
Arthur’s father, Thomas Hughes, is
serving 24 years for manslaughter, a
sentence increased on appeal.
An inspection of child protection ser-
vices in Solihull, commissioned in the
wake of Arthur’s murder, found a “sig-
nificant number” of vulnerable young-
sters in the area were still waiting too
long for their cases to be assessed.
Inspectors said the Local Safeguard-
ing Children Partnership had com-
pleted a rapid review and interim
actions were taken to improve services.
NEWS BULLETIN
Police and coroner look
into toddler’s pool death
POLICE are working with a coroner to
investigate the death of a four-year-old
unnamed boy at a Center Parcs resort
on Christmas Eve.
The sub-tropical swimming pool in
the leisure complex at Longleat, Wilts,
was closed due to a “serious medical
incident” but reopened on Christmas
Day morning.
Police said: “A post-mortem will take
place in due course. However, at this
time there are not believed to be any
suspicious circumstances and our
thoughts remain with the family at this
difficult time.”
10th victim of Jersey flats
blast dies in hospital
A woman injured in an explosion at a
block of flats in Jersey earlier this
month died in hospital on Christmas
Day – the 10th victim of the tragedy.
The blast, which took place just after
4am on December 10, destroyed the
building in St Helier. Kathleen
McGinness, 73, had lived in an adjacent
building to the one that collapsed.
Jersey police chief Robin Smith said
he was “incredibly sad” to confirm
another fatality.
He added: “This incident has been
incredibly challenging for everyone
involved and I’d like to praise the
families for their stoicism in the face of
such tragic circumstances.”
Three die after vehicles
collide in Co Tyrone
Three people have been killed and
four children hurt in a road crash in
Co Tyrone. A fourth adult was taken
to hospital following the smash in
Dungannon Road, close to Cookstown,
yesterday afternoon.
The Northern Ireland Ambulance
Service said it got a call around 3.30pm
about a two-vehicle collision.
It sent two rapid response
paramedics, four emergency crews
and one non-emergency crew. The air
ambulance team was also called out.
A spokesman for the Police Service
of Northern Ireland said Dungannon
Road was shut in both directions from
the Tullyhogue roundabout.
It takes 90 days to win
over partner’s parents
It may be love at first sight for some
couples, but their parents take three
months to decide if they like their
child’s partner, a study has found.
The average parent takes 90 days to
judge whether a new boyfriend or
girlfriend is suitable for their offspring,
according to a poll of 2,000 mothers
and fathers with children over 18.
The survey, by thortful, found that
25 per cent of parents made an
“immediate decision” upon first
meeting the new partners, with the
remainder mulling it over for between
one and six months.
The biggest taboos were “being
disrespectful” or getting drunk.
Medieval toad-stone ring
fetches magical £16,000
A rare medieval toad-stone ring, once
believed to have held magical powers,
has sold for £16,250 after a woman
found it in an old jewellery box.
The anonymous seller from Essex, in
her 70s, thought it might fetch £30.
Toad stones, once thought to have
come from the heads of toads, were
often made into charms.
But they are actually the button-like
teeth of a prehistoric fish.
Auctioneers’ specialist Catriona
Smith said: “I knew straight away what
the toad stone was. In 40 years in the
jewellery trade I have never seen one
before, and suspected I never would.”
is a member of the
Independent
Press Standards
Organisation (IPSO) and we subscribe
to its Editors’ Code of Practice. If you
have a complaint about editorial
content, please visit www.telegraph.
co.uk/editorialcomplaints or write to
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satisfied with our response, you may
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Palace Road, London, SW1W 0DT
The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 27 December 2022 *** 3

News

Queen keeps her head as history given chop

Lady Jane Grey dodges
the executioner’s axe in
Amazon series that recasts
her as comic adventurer
By Anita Singh
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
THE story of Lady Jane Grey is one of
the most tragic in royal history: queen
for just nine days and executed at the The new show is
age of 17. based on the
Her death is recorded in a dramatic bestselling young
painting by Paul Delaroche, one of the adult novel by
most visited works at The National Gal- Cynthia Hand,
lery in London. above. The
However, a new television series will Execution of Lady
present a drastically different take. Jane Grey, 1833,
My Lady Jane will rewrite the tale as a by Paul Delaroche,
historical comedy in which the young left
heroine avoids the executioner’s axe
and instead has a life full of romance
and adventure.
Amazon Prime Video is making the
series and hopes it will be a hit to rival
Netflix’s Emily in Paris.
Emily Bader, an American actress,
will portray Lady Jane, with British
stars Anna Chancellor, Rob Brydon,
Dominic Cooper and Jim Broadbent
taking supporting roles as aristocrats.
The message of the show, according
to the marketing, is that “even doomed
heroines can save themselves”.
The new series is based on a young
adult fantasy novel and New York Times
bestseller by Cynthia Hand, a US

‘I hated that this awesome

person had such a tragic
end. So I thought, “Hey, I
could turn it into comedy”’
author, who said her aim was to “revise
history”.
Hand has said: “I’d always wanted to
write a novel about Lady Jane Grey,
who was a strong-willed, bookish teen-
age girl in 16th century England who
had the misfortune to become queen,
but only for nine days and then she had
her head chopped off.
“I always loved studying Jane Grey’s
story in history except for the ending. I Culture
hated that this awesome person had Newsletter
such a tragic end. So I thought, ‘Hey, The best arts
I’m a writer. I can give her a different
ending. I could even turn her tragedy
features, reviews
into a comedy,’” she told Publishers and stories you
Weekly. won’t find
The series, which is filming in the UK anywhere else
and due to be broadcast late next year, telegraph.co.uk/
is part of a trendd for rewriting female culturenewsletter
characters from m history – both real and
imagined – as feisty
eisty heroines for the ing a 1986 romantic
rom film starring Helena
TikTok generation.
ion. Bonham Car Carter, and Delaroche’s 19th Queen for nine days Attempt to maintain Protestant rule failed but she was a martyr for centuries
Netflix’s recent
nt remake of Persua- century portrait,
por which showed the
sion turned quietet Anne Elliot into a execution taking
ta place indoors rather Lady Jane, a Tower Green. At by Protestant Jane next in line popular support charged with high her husband were
Fleabag-style comedy
omedy character, Tower Green.
than on Tow great-niece of her execution on nobles including to the throne. and abandoned treason, to which beheaded on Feb
giving knowing g looks to camera But the Amazon
A show is the first to Henry VIII, was Feb 12 1554, her the Duke of However, both their plans, with she pleaded 12 1554, followed
and swigging wine ine straight from replace the real story with something proclaimed last words were: Northumberland, Henry VIII’s will Lady Jane’s father, guilty. 11 days later by
the bottle, while le Dickinson on entirely fictional.
fict Queen on July 10 “Lord, into thy who wanted a and an Act of the Duke of The execution her father.
Apple TV+ reimagined
imagined poet The success
succ of the novel in the US 1553 following the hands I commend monarch who Parliament Suffolk, was suspended Her death was
Emily Dickinson on as a cool prompted Hand and her co-authors, death of her my spirit.” would steer declared Mary persuading her to and Lady Jane followed by a
teen playing air guitar. Brodi Ashton
Ash and Jodi Meadows, to teenage cousin, Lady Jane may England away Tudor, Henry’s relinquish the might have bloody
Previous depictions
ictions of launch a series rewriting the sto- Edward VI. only have been from Catholicism. daughter by throne. survived, had her suppression of
Lady Jane have ve been ries of ffamous women, including She was swiftly Queen for nine Northumber- Catherine of While Suffolk father not chosen Protestantism
noted for historical
torical Mary, Queen of Scots and Mary overthrown by days, but for land and others Aragon, to be the was shown mercy to take part in the under Mary,
inaccuracies, includ-
nclud- Shelley.
Shel Mary I, daughter centuries she succeeded in legitimate heir. and pardoned, anti-Catholic leading Lady Jane
In My Plain Jane, they of Henry VIII and remained a having the young Despite Lady Jane and her Wyatt’s rebellion to become a
American actress s Emily imagine that Jane Eyre was
im Catherine of prominent and dying Edward proclaiming her husband were the following powerful icon for
Bader will star as
s Lady real and a friend of Charlotte
re Aragon, and Protestant martyr. VII change his Queen, the kept locked in the year. England’s
Jane in the new show Brontë, the book’s author.
B imprisoned at She was used will to place Lady plotters lacked Tower of London Lady Jane and Protestants.

A television oddity that pushes farce to ridiculous new levels

Television fathom the process by which people
sat down and thought: “You know
what we should do with Prince
Prince Andrew: Andrew’s disastrous Newsnight
interview about his friendship with
The Musical convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein?
“Set it to music. And cast a drag
Channel 4
queen called Baga Chipz as Margaret
Thatcher.”
★★★★★ I think we can all agree that the
world did not need this programme.
By Anita Singh
And yet if you watch it, the sheer
‘Andrew’s with his very funny two-minute
send-ups of The Crown (he played
lack every character). He is a genuine
of self- talent, and the songs here are far better
than they have any right to be.
awareness The Epstein story is grim and yet the
Newsnight interview was
is the show’s unintentionally comical in both its
running details (the inability to sweat, the
Woking branch of Pizza Express) and
joke’ Dim Bulb Andy’s rock solid belief that
it had all gone brilliantly. The musical
Enfield is Tony Blair. As Andrew,
Hodgson has a rubbish wig. They all
look completely stupid, on purpose.
The script stays away from anything
legally tricky (Virginia Giuffre, say).
There is nobody playing Ghislaine
Maxwell. Instead, after a rousing
opening number which also features
Emily Maitlis and her ego (“His excuses
are a joke and yet I’m stifling my
laughter/‘Cos with TV gold like this I
know I’m guaranteed a Bafta”) we go
‘The world Andrew’s lack of self-awareness is
the show’s running joke. His song
did not need about the Newsnight debacle is called I
this. Yet if Nailed It. He considers himself to be
brilliant, talented and the handsome
you watch one in the family.
The musical suggests that he’s a
it, the sheer useful idiot, making the other family
silliness members look good by comparison;
one song is titled You’re Always Going
may just win To Need An Andrew.
you over’ It’s irreverent; a television oddity,

L
et’s start with the
acknowledgement that Prince
Andrew: The Musical is in terrible
taste. Of course it is. It’s a musical
about Prince Andrew. I can’t begin to
silliness of it may just win you over. leans into the farcical elements. back in time. There’s a soaring and plenty of people will hate it.
That, and the strength of the lyrics and No one remotely attempts to look or romantic number involving Andrew But it’s no more ridiculous than the
music written by Kieran Hodgson, who sound like the people they’re playing. and Fergie, plus recaps of his heyday as man himself.
also stars as Andrew. During lockdown, Charles is played by a black a Falklands hero and of Blair offering Prince Andrew: The Musical airs on
Hodgson went viral on social media comedian, Munya Chawawa. Harry him the role of trade envoy. Thursday Dec 29 at 9pm on Channel 4

Red carpet mavens took first King’s Christmas message

steps at Kensington Palace
By Victoria Ward
ROYAL CORRESPONDENT
THE parade of glamorous dresses on
the red carpet can be considered a pretty
but otherwise frivolous spectacle.
But the sartorial choices made by
women for their moment in the spot-
light have long been used as a vehicle to
claim a space, be noticed and deliver
subtle political messages.
An exhibition at Kensington Palace
next year will explore the origins of red
carpet couture, revealing how the royal
court of the Georgian era paved the way
for women to use fashion to elevate
themselves within society.
“Crown to Couture” will be the larg-
est exhibition ever staged at the palace,
with more than 200 objects on display
throughout the state apartments.
Contemporary gowns worn by high-
profile celebrities including Lizzo, Lady
Gaga and Billie Eilish will be displayed
gives BBC edge in ratings
“at its most busy, exciting and politically By Daily Telegraph Reporter Paying tribute to her, the King thanked
and culturally important”. the public for their “deeply touching”
She added: “Just as the designers of MORE people watched the King’s condolences, saying: “Christmas is a
today dress celebrity royalty for impor- Christmas message than the late particularly poignant time for all of us
tant public events, Kensington Palace Queen’s last one on the BBC. who have lost loved ones.”
was home to the original red carpet of This year’s annual festive broadcast But unlike previous Christmas mes-
the Georgian court.” was wat c he d b y an average of sages, the King only briefly referenced
Ms Putnam conceived of the idea 8.1 million viewers on BBC One, the other members of the Royal family.
when she noticed the parallels between according to the broadcaster. Only the Prince and Princess of Wales
the lavish red carpet spectacle at the Last year, the late Queen’s Christmas were mentioned by name, while the
Met Gala in New York and the Georgian broadcast was watched by 7.4 million Duke and Duchess of Sussex were not
court. Back then, an eye-catching dress viewers on the BBC. acknowledged at all. No family photo-
could get you noticed by the King or The King’s pre-recorded address to graphs were in shot.
Queen, she said. Similarly today, celeb- the nation mirrored the late Queen’s Other BBC hits included Strictly
rities use gowns to make an entrance, well-established template, with a per- Come Dancing’s Christmas Special,
claim attention and generate stories. sonal reflection on the year touching on with an average audience of 5.4 million
On display will be the ornate Thom current issues and with a Christian viewers. The BBC secured the top six
Browne cape that Lizzo wore to this framework. most-watched programmes on Christ-
year’s Met Gala, which took 1,200 hours In his message, he sympathised with mas Day and was the biggest channel of
to embroider, and a green gown worn families struggling with the cost-of- the day, the broadcaster said.
by Lady Gaga to the 2020 MTV Awards, living crisis and spoke about the “great Michael McIntyre’s Christmas Wheel
its vast skirt not dissimilar to the size anxiety and hardship” experienced by was the third most-watche d
and scale of dresses worn at the palace many trying to “pay their bills”. programme, securing 4.8 million
centuries beforehand. The central theme was a celebration viewers, closely followed by Call The
TERRY HARRIS

alongside historic costumes.
Polly Putnam, curator at Historic
Royal Palaces, said the exhibition would
demonstrate the similarities in the fash-
ion “rules” set out by high society
designers, drawing comparisons
between the present day and the 18th
century, when Kensington Palace was
In the Georgian era, politics was
heavily influenced by “who you knew
and the gossip you heard,” Ms Putnam
said. A visit to court during this period
was therefore a way “to see people and
be seen” and as such, the royal court
became the beating heart of politics.
“Crown to Couture” opens on April 5.
of “selfless dedication”, a value embod-
ied by the Queen, and he praised the
actions of individuals, charities and
faith groups supporting those in need.
Festive feast The Queen Consort travels to Wood Farm, He delivered the historic Christmas
on the Royal family’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk, to broadcast from the Quire of St George’s
join the traditional Boxing Day shoot for lunch. Chapel at Windsor Castle, mirroring the
late Queen’s 1999 festive address.
Midwife with 4.5 million.
BBC soap EastEnders’ Christmas Day
episode, which saw Danny Dyer’s char-
acter Mick Carter killed off, appeared in
the top 10 with 3.2 million viewers.
Charlotte Moore, the BBC’s chief con-
tent officer, said the ratings capped off
an “incredible centenary year”.
4 ** Tuesday 27 December 2022 The Daily Telegraph

News
Home working
means you’re
more likely to be
stuck in meeting
By Daily Telegraph Reporter
EMPLOYEES are having extra – but
shorter – meetings since working from
home became commonplace, a study
found.
Scientists discovered meetings hap-
pened 59 per cent more frequently this
year compared with 2020, rising from
five to eight meetings a week per
employee.
Researchers from the University of
Texas, Austin also discovered time
spent in remote meetings has shrunk by
25 per cent, from 43 minutes per meet-
ing in 2020 to 33 minutes in 2022.
Work patterns have become much
more spontaneous too, with unsched-
uled one-on-one meetings more than
trebling between 2020 and 2022, the
study found.
Group numbers in each meeting
dropped by half, reportedly primarily

‘Remote workers may be

beginning to compensate
for the loss of in-person
interactions’
driven by more people setting up one-
on-one meetings instead. An average of
20 employees sat in each meeting pre-
pandemic, which fell to 10 in 2022.
Zoom, Microsoft Teams and WebEx
metadata from the meetings in 10 global
organisations across a variety of fields
was gathered for the study.
Andrew Brodsky, assistant professor
of management at McCombs School of
SIMON DAWSON/NO 10 DOWNING STREET

Business at the University of Texas,

Austin, said the data ran counter to
arguments that working from home
made employees less engaged.
He told the Harvard Business Review:
“There have been substantial concerns
that employees are missing out on the
casual and spontaneous rich interac-
tions that happen in-person, but these
findings indicate that remote employ-
ees may be beginning to compensate
for the loss of those interactions by Game of fetch James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, meets Davey the springer spaniel, a search and rescue dog, as the Merseyside and Lancashire
increasingly having impromptu meet- Fire and Rescue service demonstrate their teams’ capabilities at the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.
ings remotely.”

May warns PM of migrant curb ‘loopholes’

Former prime minister
stresses importance of
‘world-leading protections’
for vulnerable people
By Daniel Martin
DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR
RISHI SUNAK has been warned by The-
resa May that efforts to tighten modern
slavery laws to prevent migrants using
them to avoid being deported risked
creating other loopholes that could be
exploited.
The former prime minister, who
championed the “world-leading protec-
tions” for victims of modern-day slav- asylum applications on the basis that age to find your way out of that and look of paper. So it’s making sure that, in deal- sound money and sound public
e r y, w a r n e d M r S u n a k a g a i n s t they have come from a “safe” country. to somebody for help, the chances are ing with problems that are identified, we finances. But I think what we’ve seen
unintende d conse quences as he The Modern Slavery Act was intro- you probably haven’t got a piece of paper don’t create other problems.” already with the new Chancellor and a
attempts to prevent the rules being duced by Mrs May during her time as or a written statement from somebody to Meanwhile, official figures showed new Prime Minister is taking the pro-
exploited. home secretary to protect vulnerable say ‘you’ve been in slavery’. The evi- 90 people crossed the Channel in two cess of re-establishing that reputation.
The Prime Minister has promised to people from exploitation, domestic ser- small boats on Christmas Day. They And I think from everything we’ve seen
“raise the threshold someone must vitude or being trafficked for sex. ‘We need to ensure we were the first crossings recorded since from Rishi so far that actually, he’s going
meet to be considered a modern slave” Mrs May told BBC Radio 4’s PM: “We Dec 21 and take the provisional total for to be able to turn that round by the next
and “remove the gold-plating” in the need to ensure we don’t reduce our don’t reduce our world- migrants making the dangerous jour- election. I see that we can in – those two
system. world-leading protections for victims of leading protections for ney from France this year to 45,756. years – show people that a Conservative
Suella Braverman, the Home Secre- modern slavery.” Mrs May said she believed Mr Sunak government can be on their side and
tary, has claimed the laws are being She added: “It’s important not – inad- victims of modern slavery’ would win the next election after per- that he can turn it round and we can win
“abused by people gaming the system” vertently – to create another potential suading the public the Conservatives that election.”
to stay in the UK when they would other- loophole. So, for example, there’s talk of dence comes gradually. If you are some- were economically credible again. Mrs May also warned that many
wise face being deported. Mr Sunak and requiring more evidence from individu- body who is being brought by a criminal Asked about the fortunes of her women were put off from standing as
Mrs Braverman are working on propos- als. gang who are abusing the system, and party, she said: “There’s no doubt that MPs because of “utterly appalling”
als to fast-track the return of Albanian “If you’re somebody who’s been traf- they know there needs to be a piece of the mini-Budget had an impact on the online abuse. She said she had received
migrants by making it easier to reject ficked here as a sex slave, and you man- paper, they probably will provide a piece Conservative Party’s reputation for death threats.

Hunt’s stealth taxes

to hit middle-class
Minister replaced by Musk
families over 10 years photo in Twitter page hack
By Daily Telegraph Reporter By Daniel Martin
MIDDLE-CLASS families will be up to THE Education Secretary’s Twitter
£40,000 worse off over the next 10 account was changed to feature a pic-
years as a result of Jeremy Hunt’s stealth ture of Elon Musk in an apparent hack.
taxes to plug the hole in government Several posts promoting a cryptocur-
finances. rency once backed by the billionaire
The Chancellor’s plan to freeze also appeared on Gillian Keegan’s
income tax thresholds until at least account on Christmas Day.
2028, announced in the autumn state- Yesterday, the pictures and posts had
ment last month, has dragged thou- been removed but the original picture
sands of families into paying tax while had not been put back.
earnings fail to keep pace with inflation. Ms Keegan’s Twitter page still
Research from the House of Com- described her as the MP for Chichester
mons library, revealed in The Times, and Education Secretary.
found a family with two earners on The account replied to scores of
£60,000 a year each will be £40,880 tweets to promote a fake event hosted
worse off over the next decade than if by Mr Musk’s companies Twitter and The Education Secretary’s account was
income tax thresholds had risen in line Tesla, claiming that there will be “a spe- changed to feature a picture of Elon Musk
with inflation. cial giveaway for all our fans and the
Mr Hunt and his allies believe the crypto community”. to a similar hack.
raid is necessary but experts say it could The link has the tag line: “Elon Musk Two months ago it emerged that a
PHIL WILKINSON FOR THE TELEGRAPH

doom Britain to a cycle of higher taxes. — GET FREE DOGE, BTC & ETC!” phone belonging to Liz Truss, the for-
For example, The Times found that a This refers to Dogecoin, a cryptocur- mer prime minister and foreign secre-
worker earning £60,000 a year will pay rency launched as a joke in 2013, but tary, was apparently hacked by Russia.
more than £134,000 in income tax dur- that once soared in value by more than Agents working for Vladimir Putin
ing the next decade, which is a tax bill 18 18,000 per cent, when Mr Musk regu- allegedly hacked her personal phone
per cent higher than it would have been larly praised it. during the summer Conservative lead-
had the thresholds not been frozen. Other tweets refer to anyone who ership campaign, gaining access to
The analysis, commissioned by the owns the cryptocurrency as “a Doge- details of negotiations with key interna-
Liberal Democrats, found that lower- coin warrior fighting for the future”. tional allies.
earning workers will also be affected Based on the tweets, it appears that Last year it emerged that the mobile
and that someone on an average salary Heart of glass Artist Alison Kinnaird holds up the figure of a child at the heart of her War Ms Keegan’s account was hacked at phone numbers of both Boris Johnson
of around £33,000 will pay an extra Memorial installation in Midlothian inspired by the names of conflicts throughout history. around 7.30pm on Christmas Day. Ear- and Dominic Raab had been listed
£4,040 in income tax. lier this year the British Army fell victim online for several years.

Prime Minister urged to give care workers pay parity with nurses
By Daniel Martin way to do that was pay parity with NHS employed by private companies, have abroad or whether they are home are fit to leave but can’t because the care

RISHI SUNAK came under pressure

from Conservatives to give care workers
a pay rise last night, just as he is refusing
demands to increase pay for nurses.
Damian Green, the former deputy
prime minister, said the care system
risked collapse unless care workers
were paid as much as nurses.
Mr Green, who is chairman of the all-
party parliamentary group on adult
social care, said the country desperately
needed more care staff – and the only
nurses.
The call comes as the Prime Minister
continues to resist demands to increase
not decided to go on strike.
Mr Green, who was in charge of
social care policy when he was Theresa
£23,000 grown. And when we get them, we need
to keep them. The way to do that is to
have salary parity with the NHS.”
isn’t available in their community.”
Megan Fisher, of the GMB women’s
campaign unit, said: “Care workers do
nurses’ pay with inflation. May’s deputy, suggested the extra pay Average annual earnings of care workers. Last night, Liz Kendall, the shadow crucial work every day, but too often
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) could be afforded in the long run This compares with £33,384, which is care minister, said: “The Conservatives’ they are underpaid.”
wants an increase of 19 per cent, and a because if everyone had an extra year of the average wage of a nurse failure to fix social care has left people A Department of Health and Social
series of strikes are under way in a push healthy life, then the NHS and care sys- across the country without the support Care spokesman said: “We prioritised
to achieve this. tem would save £60 billion. they need and care workers are leaving social care in the Autumn Statement,
The RCN said the average wage of a He also called on Mr Sunak to build should make more use of technology in droves. making up to £7.5 billion available over
British nurse was £33,384, while care more sheltered housing to allow older such as virtual assistants or internet- “Without the staff, millions will con- the next two years to support social care
workers earn about £23,000 on aver- people to downsize and make it easier connected fridges. tinue to go without care and this has a services and discharge, which will help
age. for younger people to get on the hous- Mr Green said: “We need more care knock-on impact on the NHS, where local authorities address waiting lists,
Care workers, most of whom are ing ladder. He added that care providers workers, whether they come from hospital beds are filled by patients who low fee rates, and workforce pressures.”
The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 27 December 2022 *** 5

News

Strikes force New Year revellers to stay home

Pubs and restaurants
report cancellations of
bookings but sales of
sparkling wine surge
By Daily Telegraph Reporter
NEW Year’s Eve is likely to be spent at
home for many after a month of strikes
disrupted festive plans.
Supermarkets have reported surging
sales of bucks fizz and prosecco ahead
of Dec 31, while party bookings are
lower than usual.
UKHospitality said that nearly one in
three pub and restaurant reservations
had been cancelled through December.
Kate Nicholls, the industry body’s chief
executive, blamed ongoing rail strikes
for the cancellations and said that book-
ings for the 31st were “softer than nor-
mal” as the public tried to save money.
“In a normal year, December is
around 120, 130 per cent of what you’d
get in a usual month’s trading,” she said.
“It looks as though December has been
just a normal month.”
The RMT, the largest rail union, is
scheduled to end its third national rail
strike in December this morning and is
set to launch another wave of walkouts
next month. Although there are no
strikes scheduled for New Year’s Eve,
waves of disruption are believed to have
put people off travelling.
January and February are usually
lean periods for hospitality, with trad-
ing perhaps 70 to 80 per cent what it is
the rest of the year.
“With the cost of living further sup-
‘Owners are pressing demand and spend you’ve got
that double whammy of not getting
now asking some cash in the tills [in December] and
if they can the danger of having a lower take in Jan-
uary and February,” said Ms Nicholls.
make She said customers had been put off
by high inflation and soaring energy
enough to bills, which in turn led to them cutting
pay utility back on spending.
While the public have not been book-
bills before ing nights out, they have been stocking
opening up for festivities at home. Asda, the
supermarket, reported a surge in sales
their doors’ of bucks fizz, with purchases in Decem-
ber nearly doubling from last year to
282,000 bottles. The supermarket also
sold over a million bottles of prosecco.
Although partygoers have adapted,
pubs and restaurants have been left
vulnerable just as the quieter trading
period is set to begin and they face their
own crisis. Pubs and restaurants hoping
to build up some funds over the holiday
period were likely to have been disap-
pointed by a quieter December than
usual, said Ms Nicholls.
Running costs are soaring despite
businesses not fully recovering from the
pandemic. Energy bills have risen from
the fourth highest cost for businesses to
the second highest, adding up to more
than rent and business rates combined.
Ms Nicholls said owners were now
asking themselves if they could get
enough money to pay their utility bills
before opening their doors and turning
on the heating.
The British Beer and Pub Associa-
tion, which represents pub owners,
warned in August that thousands of
pubs would close without help from the
Government. Ministers have set a
‘With the maximum unit price for business’
energy bills which will run until March.
cost of living While it has absorbed much of the spike
further in energy prices, it still leaves busi-
nesses paying significantly more than
suppressing they were before 2020.
Energy is only one factor. Beer prices
demand have also risen, but many publicans feel
you’ve got unable to charge customers more
because of their own shrinking budgets.
a double According to UKHospitality, account-
whammy’ ing for inflation, overall revenue is
down 28 per cent across the UK since
2019, with London down 37 per cent
and the City of London, a hub for offices,
still 46 per cent down on its pre-
pandemic levels.
The organisation previously forecast
that its members were due to lose
£1.5  billion on strike days in December
because of lost custom.

Shoppers boost
sales in towns
but spending
levels are down
Continued from Page 1
national rail strike this month by work-
ers from the RMT union, which began
on Christmas Eve and was scheduled to
end this morning. Disruption from the
strikes is expected to last for days, with
another round of strikes to follow from
Jan 3 and engineering works scheduled
across many lines in the interim.
Logistical difficulties due to the
strikes may have changed plans for fam-
ilies who would otherwise stay with rel-
atives for several days.
The British Retail Consortium
warned earlier: “Rail strikes will limit
both shopper and commuter traffic at a
time when footfall is still recovering
from the pandemic.
“For many retailers, the weeks run-
ning up to Christmas, and post-Christ-
mas sales, are the most important sales
period of the year.”
Retail parks have lagged behind in
the bounceback from Covid, in part
because such locations do not offer the
same dining and entertainment experi-
ence as high streets.
“People want to go out for a meal and
you can’t necessarily do that in a retail
park,” said Ms Wehrle.
The shopping surge came despite
warnings that the cost of living crisis
would hit overall spending. This week,
Barclaycard said it expected the average
shopper to spend £229 in the post-
Christmas sales, down £19 on last year.
Although this remains a cause for
concern for retailers hit by rising costs
and shrinking budgets, it needn’t mean
fewer people visiting shops.
Ms Wehrle said tighter budgets were
likely to actually boost the number of
people heading to shops because they
needed to make sure they were spend-
ing their money well.
ANDY RAIN/SHUTTERSTOCK

“When people have a lower budget,

they tend to be more discerning, and
therefore want to see potential pur-
chases in the physical world rather than
online. They become more cautious.
“They are also warier of having to
send things back and potentially pay for
the postage.” A Selfridges worker waits for the call from management to open the doors yesterday morning as hundreds of shoppers queue outside the store on Oxford Street, central London, as the sales begin

Customers’ bills put up despite being thousands of pounds in credit

By Investigations Team But the company would not reconsider, say sorry, and to arrange setting her dog decided to scrap the idea, conclud- keeps customer credit balances in a sep- tomer money have since collapsed, and
and Ben Smith instead telling her that she should get a monthly payments at the right amount.” ing that it would be “untargeted”. arate account. Ofgem has refused to disclose how
smart meter, which increased her frus- But despite this resolution, an inves- The chief executive of Centrica, Documents published by Ofgem much is held by the remainder.
WHEN Stacey Dickens saw her energy tration further. tigation by The Telegraph has found evi- which owns British Gas, said the show that in November 2021, energy An investigation by The Telegraph has
direct debit had risen to £500 a month, “They’ve got all these recorded mes- dence that what happened to Ms decision was “reckless” and an “abdica- companies held £3.2 billion of customer found that the figure stands at close to
her first thought was panic. sages about turning off the lights, clos- Dickens is not an isolated example. tion of responsibility by the regulator”. money between them. However, many £2 billion, with the true amount proba-
Despite it being winter, the business ing the doors, have a shorter shower”, More than a dozen people who are in Unlike most energy firms, Centrica which were sitting on large sums of cus- bly much higher because it includes
executive still hasn’t turned on the cen- she said. “I’m doing all of that, but it’s credit by more than £1,000 each have companies that only publish figures
tral heating and had been using hot not making no difference whatsoever had their direct debits increased by from the spring – when customer credit
water bottles and a fire to keep warm. because they are not basing the bill on their energy companies. Credit checks How to make sure you are billed correctly balances are at their lowest.
Her house, in Skipton, North York- how much I use, but a forecast that is Whilst it makes sense that the Ofgem has said it will ask companies
shire, is old and draughty and so
throughout autumn she had been tak-
ing steps to keep her energy consump-
ridiculously out.
“I asked them to give the credit back,
amount of money sitting in customers’
accounts will fluctuate during the year,
with less energy being used in the sum-
Q I think my
energy
supplier has
with your own
readings. It is
reasonable for
photographs of
the readings. The
supplier should
last statement is
based on a
reading, rather
to report their customer credit balances
each month and reserves the right to act
if the figure exceeds half of the compa-
tion down – or so she thought, until she Stacey Dickens mer and more in the winter, the issue of increased my firms to expect send you a than an estimate. ny’s total assets.
saw the money being taken from her believes bill payers how companies are using the money direct debits by you to use more decision letter or Suppliers “Instead of a complete ban, we’re set-
bank account at the end of last month. should be allowed to has been the focus of criticism. too much. What energy in winter, a “letter of generally insist ting a threshold to avoid suppliers
But when she contacted her supplier, request the return of Ofgem, the industry regulator, has can I do? but not to assume deadlock” within you keep enough overly relying on these credit funds,”
EDF, the situation became more confus-
ing. Ms Dickens discovered she was
more than £2,300 in credit – almost the
their money. ‘I could
put it in an ISA and
earn money on it’
highlighted the potential for “customer
harm” and asked whether companies
are sufficiently resilient if they are
A Direct debits
are usually
based on the
consumption will
be as high as last
year if you’re
eight weeks.

Q I have a large
amount of
money on
account to pay for
at least the next
Ofgem said in a statement. “Should sup-
pliers not comply with our financial
resilience rules, we are leaving open the
same amount as the current energy cap, dependent on their users’ money. energy you are turning the credit. How can I month’s energy, chance to instruct individual suppliers
which is supposed to equate to the aver- In June, Jonathan Brearley, the chief expected to use thermostat down. get it back? and will only to ring-fence customer credit balances.”
age annual bill. Why then had her
monthly direct debit gone up from
£300 a month to more than £500?
but they weren’t receptive at all,” said
Ms Dickens, 41.
After being contacted by The Daily
executive of Ofgem, said some compa-
nies were using the money “like an
interest-free credit card”.
over a year, so ask
your supplier how
they calculated
If you’re not
happy with your
supplier’s
A Contact your
energy
supplier, ensuring
credit you the
excess. However,
if you have excess
But while this might be of some com-
fort, for customers like Ms Dickens, an
energy company sitting on substantial
The customer service agent replied Telegraph, the company apologised and Last year, Ofgem consulted on the the figure. calculation, ask that you have an credit, they funds seems to be unfair.
that prices had risen and asked for a lowered her payments to £200 a month. idea to ring-fence consumer money – an They must give them to bring up-to-date meter should return this “They have complete control and
reading, which the financial services A spokesman said: “We’re sorry that apparently sensible move given either you a clear your payments in reading to hand if promptly. If you are earning interest on my money”, she
executive was unable to provide because estimated meter readings were used the taxpayer or energy customers gen- explanation, line with your you don’t have a are unhappy with said. “It’s almost £2,500, I could put
she was calling from her parents’ house. instead of Ms Dickens’s actual meter erally end up footing the bill if a com- including the usage. If they smart meter. Most their response, that in an ISA and earn money on it
She told them the bill increase didn’t readings, which led to a further direct pany goes bust. meter readings won’t, submit a suppliers will only you can complain instead. I can cushion this, but for some
make any sense, given she effectively debit increase. We have now corrected Surprisingly – given Mr Brearley’s they used, which formal complaint, process a request to the energy people, especially [around] Christmas,
had many months’ usage in her account. this and have contacted Ms Dickens to earlier comment – last month the watch- you can compare including for a refund if the ombudsman. it could be the final straw.”

Regulator is wrong to let energy families have no idea that part of their
energy direct debits are used to
provide cheap financing for their
supplier, rather than actually paying
the bill (almost certainly the case this
winter as we all try to economise).
Worse still, customers’ money has
not been safeguarded in energy
balances) were picked up by others
and ended up on all our bills.
Ofgem is introducing reforms to the
retail market. Renewable Obligation

firms keep a hand in our pockets for energy consumed.

Anything to help ease the burden on
Commentary consumers should surely be grabbed
with both hands.
It is therefore surprising that Ofgem,
the energy regulator, decided last
month not to fully protect customer
By Christine Farnish money collected in advance and used
by some energy firms to provide
managers have to segregate customer
money from their own funds and
protect it. Yet energy firms are allowed
to put their metaphorical hand into a
customer’s pocket and use advance
customer payments to fund their own
businesses. Rather than customer
credit balances averaging zero over a
In part this derives from the energy
sector’s arcane metering, billing and
payment systems. Despite the
Government’s target to install smart
meters in all homes by 2020, the job is
far from complete. Half of us still have
old meters which need to be manually
read and converted into a bill, and it’s
easier and cheaper for firms to
estimate bills rather than read meters.
Estimates are supposed to be based on
past consumption and the cost of
because policy makers believed that
competition was necessary to
challenge the power of large
incumbents. A requirement for robust
balance sheets was seen as a barrier to
entry, deterring new players from
coming into the market. A blind eye
was turned to the use of customer
funds as working capital.
The fact that suppliers could access
customer credit balances to cover their
running costs created an incentive for
risky behaviour before the crisis hit,
monies owed to Government will be
ringfenced and firms will need to hold
more capital. But the over-collection
and misuse of customer monies is not
being banned because “it would result
in inactive capital”. The fact that this is
our money seems to have been lost in
the desire to support firms in today’s
challenging market.
Ofgem is required by law to protect
the consumer interest. Its approach to
consumer credit balances raises
questions about how it does that job.

N
ot a day passes without news of working capital for their own use. year, as bills are smoothed between buying gas or electricity in the market. causing many to fail. They could make
the hardship caused by the The protection of client money is a winter and summer, many suppliers It’s hard, however, for customers to money in the good times, but if the Christine Farnish is a former Ofgem
impact of energy bills on fundamental principle of financial accrue significant customer balances. judge whether the estimate is going got tough and they went bust, board member and former chairman of
stretched household budgets. services regulation. Banks and fund It’s my guess that hard-pressed reasonable or whether it “over eggs” their outstanding debts (eg credit statutory watchdog Consumer Focus
6 *** Tuesday 27 December 2022 The Daily Telegraph

News

Activists claim hunt slashed tyres to stop protest

Countryside Alliance
calls for calm as
thousands turn out for
Boxing Day hunting
By Emma Gatten
ENVIRONMENT EDITOR
A HUNT in South Dorset has warned its
followers not to engage with saboteurs
after its members were accused of
slashing tyres as meets gathered for
Boxing Day.
Thousands joined hunts across the
country yesterday for the first time in
two years without any pandemic-
related restrictions, the Countryside
Alliance (CA) said.
The biggest day in the hunting calen-
dar also brought opposition from sabo-
teurs, including a group in Dorset who
said their tyres had been slashed to stop
them interrupting the local hunt.
The Hunt Saboteurs Association
blamed hunters in South Dorset, who
they said had vandalised one of their
vans and another vehicle belonging to
local animal rights activists.
In response, South Dorset Hunt said:
“We condemn any illegal activity and
remind our followers that they should
not engage with anti-hunt activists.”

Anti-hunt activists
in south Dorset say
the tyres on their
vehicles have been
slashed to stop them
from interrupting a
local hunt

The British Hound Sports Association

said: “Further to the allegations made
by anti-hunt activists, we would
encourage anyone with information to
assist in any enquiry.
“We do not condone illegal activity
by anybody and regularly remind hunt
supporters not to be provoked by the
behaviour of anti-hunt activists.”
Hunting has remained a source of
sometimes violent tension in rural
communities, despite the killing of
foxes being outlawed by a Labour
government in 2004.
JACOB KING/PA WIRE

Yesterday Labour promised to

toughen up laws if it comes to power by
outlawing “trail hunting”, the practice
of sending hounds after an artificial
scent, which it said was a “smoke-
screen” for fox hunting.
The CA said more than 200 packs of Riders and hounds The motion was rejected by town
hounds took part in Boxing Day meets at the annual councillors in March.
outside pubs and in town centres across North Cotswold A petition also called for a meet in
the country yesterday, despite efforts to Boxing Day hunt Ledbury, Herefordshire, to be banned.
block hunts from going ahead. in Broadway, Polly Portwin, the CA’s director of the
Anti-hunt campaigners had brought Worcestershire, campaign for hunting, said: “Boxing
a town council motion to try to stop an Day meets bring thousands of people
event in the town square in Tiverton,
one of several
being held across together, be it families, friends, neigh-
Devon, described by the CA as “one of the country over bours or those within our community
the larger towns that routinely hosts the festive period who may otherwise be isolated over the
meets”. festive period.
“Hunts play an important role in
rural life, with Boxing Day meets offer-
ing the public a chance to watch hunts
showcase their hounds, horses and trail
hunting activities.”
She said that many of those who
attended Boxing Day meets in public
places “will have been supporting local
cafes, shops and pubs which opened
their doors to coincide with the hunt’s
presence”.
An anti-hunting group yesterday said ‘Behind all kills in November and the first week of
there were more than 300 incidents of December.
hunt havoc or illegal hunting between the finery Emma Judd, head of campaigns at the
Nov 1 and Dec 7. is a so-called campaign group said: “People will see
The League Against Cruel Sports said the hunts out today and not know that
the figures show the “negative impact” sport that behind the finery is a so-called sport
that hunting has on wildlife and rural that sees many public lives endangered
communities.
sees many on the roads and railways and livestock
The group said there were 78 reports public lives frightened by out-of-control hounds.
of a fox being visibly pursued, with “In some cases domestic pets have
eight reported kills and three suspected
endangered’ been killed.”

‘Rogues’ who shoot birds of prey should be

handed over to police, says Lord Botham
By Emma Gatten
ENVIRONMENT EDITOR
GROUSE shooting communities need to
police anyone who goes “rogue” and
illegally shoots birds of prey, Lord
Botham has said.
The peer, a long-time supporter of
grouse shooting, made the remarks dur-
ing his appearance as guest editor on
the Boxing Day edition of Radio 4’s
Today programme.
He was questioned by presenter
Amol Rajan about reports of raptors,
including hen harriers and golden
GRANT FALVEY/LNP
whatever situation or workplace you’re
in. There’s always going to be a rogue
once in a while. The good news is that
now we are getting on top of that.”
He added: “You get the odd idiot,
what can you do about them? We
have to take control ourselves and
police our own moors and the moors
around us.”
Raptor persecution was at its second-
highest level on record last year, accord-
ing to a report last month by the Royal
Society for the Protection of Birds.
The bird crime 2021 report found 108
confirmed incidents of bird of prey per-
Richard Bailey, a gamekeeper from the
Peak District Moorland Group, who said
a well-managed grouse moor was a
“blueprint for conservation”.
The piece was met with criticism
from some conservationists, including
Mark Avery, who co-founded campaign
group Wild Justice alongside Chris
‘You get the odd idiot,
so what can we do about
them? We have to take
control of our moors’
tively tacking these crimes. It is
abundantly clear the industry cannot
self-police, and their declaration in Jan-
uary 2020 of ‘zero-tolerance’ for these
crimes contrasts markedly with the
unprecedented number of confirmed
raptor persecution incidents since.
“The RSPB and others advocate for
licensing of driven grouse shooting to
drive up environmental standards,
reduce habitat damage and curb illegal
killing of raptors.”
When he was elevated to the House
of Lords in 2020, Lord Botham said he
would make it his mission to “speak up

eagles, being illegally killed on grouse
moors.
Lord Botham said the problem was a
few “rogues”, who should be subject to
reproach within the community.
He said: “If I saw someone shooting a
Pint and a pack Nigel Farage at the Old Surrey Burstow bird of prey, I would be the first to hand
and West Kent Boxing Day hunt in Kent. them over to police.
“You’re always going to get a rogue in
secution in the UK, including 80 in Eng-
land.
The charity said it had found a “mass
grave” of birds of prey down a well on a
pheasant shoot in Wiltshire, and a poi-
soned golden eagle on a grouse shoot-
ing estate in Scotland that it said had a
history of raptor persecution.
Today featured an interview with
Packham, the television wildlife pre-
senter and naturalist.
Mr Avery dismissed the segment as a
“puff piece for grouse shooting”.
An RSPB spokesman said: “The lack
of any meaningful accountability of
those responsible for raptor persecu-
tion remains the key obstacle to effec-
for ordinary rural folk” and dismissed
the RSPB as an “eco-woke group”.
The Boxing Day edition of the Today
programme guest edited by Lord
Botham, who played cricket for Eng-
land between 1976 and 1992, also
addressed his work for leukaemia char-
ities, and his views on Brexit and the
future of the sport.

Health and safety warnings stick an oar into annual raft race
By Louisa Clarence-Smith to getting out there again – but we can’t ‘One year,
have people going nuts and chucking
HUNDREDS of spectators at an annual stuff about. we had a
Boxing Day raft race were told not to “If anyone gets hurt, that’s the kind of bloke turn
throw eggs or flour because of fears the thing that could get us shut down... One
event could be shut down over health year, we had a bloke turn up with a up with a
and safety breaches. shopping trolley full of eggs to throw.
In previous years, participants have We confiscated the lot and donated
shopping
been pelted with eggs and bags filled them to a food bank.” trolley full
with flour. Racers traditionally returned He also said that the organisers “don’t
fire with water pistols. have the money to pay for a clean up”.
of eggs to
Stephen Eyres, head organiser, told This year marked the race’s 61st anni- throw’
the BBC: “We are really looking forward versary and raised money for the Royal
National Lifeboat Institution. It was
started by scuba diving friends who
wanted to find something to do in the
winter and has raised more than
£150,000 since it started.
The event was cancelled in 2019 after
floods and didn’t go ahead in 2020
because of Covid restrictions.
Teams of rafters took part in the race
on the River Derwent in Matlock, Der-
byshire. Photos posted on social media
appeared to show that this year’s event
had passed without incident. Many raft-
ers wore fancy dress costumes includ-
i n g Fa th e r C h r i s t m a s , B a t m a n ,
Superman and Vikings.
Pete Goodenough, a spectator, wrote
on Facebook: “Bunches of loonies in
fancy dress splashing down a freezing
cold river, cheered on by hundreds of
spectators. How very British.”
Paul Reeves, from the Environment
Agency, urged spectators to “please
share a thought for the environment
and wildlife and enjoy the day without
throwing missiles”.
‘On any He said: “On any other day of the
year, people wouldn’t go throwing litter
other day in the river and we’re asking them not
of the year, to do it on Boxing Day either. It may be
intended as fun but it can really harm
people the environment.”
The Environment Agency has previ-
wouldn’t ously warned that if plastic or paper
go throwing bags enter the watercourse, they pose a
real threat to local wildlife. In previous
litter in the years there have been sightings of water
river’ birds near the floating flour bags follow-
ing the Boxing Day event.

Phone is no substitute for a compass on hikes Lifeboat’s Christmas launch is false alarm
By India McTaggart ies get drained “very, very quickly” in He continued by urging people to By Daily Telegraph Reporter ‘Our dedicated volunteers the station for a debrief, the charity said.
cold weather. “adventure smart” and to always check It is the first time anyone can remember
LAKE DISTRICT rescuers have warned On Christmas Day seven volunteers online safety advice before setting off A LIFEBOAT crew has warned the pub- leave family celebrations the Whitby lifeboat launching on
people not to rely on mobile phones from Langdale and Ambleside Moun- on a walk. lic not to set off distress flares in non- at a moment’s notice Christmas Day.
while walking and reminded them to tain Rescue went to help a walker who Mr Warren also warned people to be emergencies after it launched a rescue Mr Fields said: “Thank you to our
always bring a compass. had fallen in what they described as a aware of the dangers of cold water, after mission on Christmas Day for the first to save lives at sea’ dedicated volunteers who leave their
The rescue team said they had “challenging rescue”. Overall, there are an increase in the popularity of paddle- time in living memory. family celebrations at a moment’s notice
attended 606 callouts this year up until some 400 mountain rescue volunteers boarding. Volunteers at the Royal National Life- the same call. The coastguard immedi- to save lives at sea. We couldn’t do what
yesterday morning, which is just under across the Lake District. Last summer a man drowned after boat Institution (RNLI) station in ately requested a launch and the life- we do without their commitment.”
their busiest year on record. Mr Warren told the BBC: “It’s nearly falling into Ullswater in the Lake Whitby, Yorkshire, interrupted their boat crew searched the harbour area. The coxswain, who was on annual
Richard Warren, from the Lake Dis- as busy as our busiest year which was District while paddleboarding. festive family celebrations after the boat The RNLI said it had launched the leave when he spotted the flare, said: “If
trict Search and Mountain Rescue Asso- 2021 with 681 callouts. I would expect Olumide Favour Giwa, 26, from team’s younge st memb er, Andy lifeboat because of strong winds and it you spot a distress flare you’re back on
ciation, said that “your apps that will that by the end of the year we will be on Rochdale, Greater Manchester, got into Brighton, spotted a flare as he was walk- wanted to search the area beyond the duty in an instant.
help get you off a mountain will just die” around 620. It’s been a very busy year. difficulty near Aira Point, on Aug 7. His ing through the seaside town. end of the pier to be certain that there “We think it had been let off as a cel-
and stressed the need to carry a com- “We had a very busy January last year body was found following a four-day He alerted the coastguard and cox- was no vessel in distress. ebration rather than in distress. We
pass and map, calling it “critical”. so we just keep our fingers crossed peo- search that involved the use of sonar swain Howard Fields, who had also seen After a thorough search, the volun- would like to remind people to only use
Mr Warren added that phone batter- ple are listening to the safety messages.” equipment and aircraft. the flare from his home and was making teers were stood down and returned to red flares in an emergency.”
The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 27 December 2022 ** 7

News

‘Special
daughter,
you will
never be gone’
who instead of enjoying their tradi-
As detectives make two tional Boxing Day celebrations spent it
laying flowers at the scene of the crime.
arrests, tributes have been Friends described Ms Edwards as
paid to Elle Edwards, shot someone who brought “laughs and hap-
dead in a Merseyside pub piness” into people’s lives. Those who
were at the pub that evening described
By Danielle Sheridan feeling “numb” when they learned she
had been shot.
IOANNIS ALEXOPOULOS/LNP; MERSEYSIDE POLICE/PA WIRE

THEY were the words of every parents’
worst nightmare. On a small white card
embellished with delicate pink flowers,
the bereaved parents of Elle Edwards
had written a final message to their
daughter: the “light” of their lives.
“You will never be gone,” they had
written on a note pinned to a bouquet of
flowers left at the scene where their
26-year-old daughter had been killed on
Christmas Eve.
A heart-shaped plaque bearing a pink
and green floral design, read: “Special
Daughter, the happiness you brought in
your own special way, will be remem-
bered with love each and every day.”
Ms Edwards had been celebrating the
festive season with her sister and
friends at the Lighthouse Inn in Walla-
sey Village on the Wirral, Merseyside,
shortly after 11.50pm, when she was
shot in the head. Another man remains
in a critical condition and three others
have been injured. Ms Edwards was
taken to Arrowe Park hospital, where
she succumbed to her injuries. Police
do not currently think she was targeted.
Merseyside Police said her family
have been left “devastated and incon-
solable”.
Last night detectives arrested two
people in connection with the murder
of Ms Edwards.
A 30-year-old man from Tranmere
has been arrested on suspicion of mur-
der and attempted murder, and a
19-year-old woman from Rock Ferry has
been arrested on suspicion of conspir-
acy to murder. The two suspects have
been taken into custody where they will
be questioned by detectives.
News of Ms Edward’s death has sent
shockwaves through the community,
They told Sky News they initially
thought the gunfire was festive fire-
works as the incident happened just
before midnight, but they said things
soon changed and “automatically
everyone just stopped”.
Asked what memories they had of
their friend, they described her as “so
funny”, adding: “There was never a time
when we’ve been out where we’ve not
had a ball.”
As the sound of gunshots rang out in
the pub, her friends described seeing
her on the floor as people tried to help
her: “You just feel hopeless, you can’t
help, you can’t do anything.
“It happened so fast, I can’t get it out Family and friends “Heaven gained the most beautiful
of my head. I wish we could have done of Elle Edwards, angel. We are all heartbroken, thinking
more, but there was nothing else we below right, spent of all of your family right now, Elle.”
could have done.” Boxing Day laying According to The Liverpool Echo,
Staff at Nova Studio, where Ms flowers at the hundreds of have commented on a post
Edwards worked as a beautician, said scene of her death on the private Facebook group, sending
they were “absolutely lost for words” their tributes to Ms Edwards and
following her death. describing their fear as the news came
Writing on Instagram, they said: through. One parent said their child was
at the pub when the shooting took place
and gave CPR to Ms Edwards.
They wrote: “This is just so tragic. My
daughter was there giving CPR with
another girl until help arrived. My heart
goes out to the families.” Others
described the young woman as a “hero”
and a “brave, selfless young lady” for
her efforts on the night.
Another parent wrote: “My daughter
and her friend were in the pub and both
are traumatised. Thoughts are with
families involved. So horrendous.”
Dame Angela Eagle, the MP for the
constituency, said it was a “well-heeled”
area and that she was shocked by the
violence.
“There was no proof that the shoot-
ing of Elle Edwards was linked to organ-
ised crime in Liverpool,” she said.
“We know that for many years there’s
been a serious and organised crime
issue with firearms involved over the
river [in Liverpool].”
Dame Angela said: “It’s really, really
important, if you have any information
that might lead to the conviction of
someone who has been so reckless, ‘We believe
please come forward and tell the police
what you know,” she said. that the
Speaking at a press conference on gunman
Sunday, Det Supt Sue Coombs said: “We
believe that the gunman fired shots fired
towards the front entrance of the pub.
“We know that minutes later, a dark-
shots
coloured vehicle, possibly an A-class towards
Mercedes, was seen to leave the pub car
park, so we are particularly keen to
the front
speak to that male and anybody who entrance
knows anything about that vehicle.”
Last night, Merseyside Police con- of the pub’
firmed it had arrested six people on the
Wirral amid a “high visibility police
presence”.
They said officers had been in Birken-
head, Woodchurch and Wallasey over
Christmas Day and Boxing Day and had
visited a number of licensed premises,
as well as carrying out two open land
searches in the borough.
The six people were arrested on sus-
picion of a number of offences includ-
ing drink-driving, drug-driving and
being in possession of controlled drugs.
8 *** Tuesday 27 December 2022 The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 27 December 2022 *** 9

News

Little Women
writer ‘may not
have identified
as a woman’
US academic says he is
certain Louisa May Alcott
did not fit into a ‘binary
sex-gender model’
By Daniel Capurro
THE author of Little Women, the classic
feminist novel, likely did not identify as
a woman, it has been claimed.
Louisa May Alcott wrote the semi-
autobiographical book in 1868 and it
quickly gained popularity among
young women of the period thanks to
its depictions of non-traditional
womanhood and realist style.
The author’s own life, however, may
have been even less traditional than
those of her characters.
Dr Gregory Eiselein, president of the
Louisa May Alcott Society, has claimed
the author was non-binary in an article
for The New York Times. “I am certain
that Alcott never fitted a binary sex-
gender model,” said Dr Eiselein, a
professor at Kansas State University.
He does not go as far as to suggest
that Alcott was transgender, a claim
made by Peyton Thomas, a trans man
and novelist, in the same article.
Academics have refrained from
making this argument, saying it would
be inappropriate to use terminology
that only developed in the 20th century
to describe Alcott’s 19th-century life.
Some scholars, however, such as Prof
Susan Stryker an expert in gender and
women’s studies at the University of
Arizona, have suggested that “people
have felt in remarkably similar ways to
contemporary transgender people”,
throughout history.
body. So who exactly is guilty of ‘Sex is a
social construct’ here?” The case for
Alcott not identifying as a woman rests
on a number of journal entries, letters
and interviews from the author.
She is believed to have gone by the
name Lou among her friends and family
and to have referred to herself variously
as a “man”, a “gentleman” and a “papa”.
In particular, proponents point to her
saying late in her life: “I am more than
half-persuaded that I am a man’s soul,
put by some freak of nature into a
woman’s body”.
However, in the same interview she
then went on to say “I have fallen in love
in my life with so many pretty girls and
never once the least bit with any man,”
which has led other scholars to argue
that Alcott was a lesbian.
While she also once wrote in her
journal “I long to be a man,” this was out
of a desire to fight in the American Civil
War, in which she served as a nurse.
Among the most popular characters
in Little Women is Jo March, a tomboy
who refuses to abide by what society
expects of her and whom Alcott based
on herself. Early on, she declares: “I
can’t get over my disappointment in not
being a boy.”
Jo’s popularity has endured through
the decades, with JK Rowling saying of
the character in 2012: “My favourite lit-
erary heroine is Jo March.
“It is hard to overstate what she meant
to a small, plain girl called Jo, who had a
hot temper and a burning ambition to be
a writer”.
Jo was also a central character in the
2019 film adaption of the novel, played
by Saoirse Ronan and directed by
Greta Gerwig. Gerwig said that the
character had moulded her life and that
JON SUPER FOR THE TELEGRAPH

Mr Thomas previously drew the ire of she deliberately depicted her as

tennis legend Martina Navratilova
when he made claims that Alcott was a
trans man.
Ms Navratilova, who came out as gay
in 1981, tweeted: “Do you have any idea
how hard you would try to convince me
I am trans if I were born 50 years later?
I would be 15 years old and you would
be telling me I was trapped in the wrong
CREDIT
androgynous.
The film’s ending also alluded to the
idea that Alcott was forced to have Jo
March marry a man by her publisher.
However, as with Alcott, the focus on
the character has mostly been on her
sexuality and scholars have avoided
labelling her trans.
It has been suggested that Alcott was
Clowning around Madeline Schofield, 73, practises her skills at a session for over-60s at Rochdale’s Skylight Circus Arts, in
a transcendentalist, believing that there Greater Manchester. It teaches circus skills to people of all ages, including children, and groups that include LGBTQ
was no division between the spiritual teenagers, the disabled and refugee families, aiming to improve mobility, fitness, co-ordination, confidence and teamwork.
and the physical
The 19th-century New England
movement was epitomised by the
nature writer Henry David Thoreau and
the intellectual Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Alcott, from Concord, Massachusetts,
Escaped pigs sow fear as they hog seaside town’s walkways
grew up knowing the two men as well
as other prominent transcendentalists. By Daily Telegraph Reporter encountered the “big animals”, saying owner, Sam Hagen, and that they had rehomed after the holiday village was
“Emerson, Thoreau and Louisa’s they “weren’t aggressive” and were just passed on the concerns from residents. sold, but that they were still in pens on
father, Bronson, all believed that human A TRIO of feral pigs are on the loose in a “getting on with what they were doing”. Another resident said she bumped the land.
beings were fundamentally spirits who seaside town, leaving residents wary of However, he added: “Any animal like into the animals while walking her dogs. “They keep breaking out of the pen
happened to be in a particular physical unexpected wild encounters. that, that’s provoked, obviously will and Carole Blake told the BBC: “I had and walking around Silloth,” she said,
form,” her biographer Dr John Matteson The animals are said to have been for- can turn.” three pigs walking towards me in the adding that she was “worried about
said. aging around Silloth in Cumbria for The pigs are believed to have escaped black dark. I managed to move a bit their welfare” and had contacted Cum-

“But that the spirit should not be weeks, according to residents. Some from farmland near Solway Holiday faster than the pigs and they just carried bria Police about it.
limited, that the spirit has an obligation have said they were scared after being Park, Wigton, which was recently sold. on heading into Silloth – they were just The force said it had been informed
Louisa May Alcott: ‘I am more than to develop itself according to its own “confronted” by the pigs in the dark. The new park owners said that the strolling along, quite happy.” that the animals had been contained
half-persuaded that I am a man’s soul’ unique genius.” Adam Pearson, a resident, said he had land still belonged to the previous She believed the animals were being and police were no longer required.

Face facts: men just have less empathy, say scientists in global study
By Sarah Knapton SCIENCE EDITOR
IN HARPER LEE’s To Kill A Mocking-
bird, it is Atticus Finch who advises his
children that they can never really
know a person “until you climb into his
skin and walk around in it”.
Yet according to a new study by Cam-
bridge University, it is women who are
much better than men at putting them-
selves in the shoes of others.
The finding was based on testing of
more than 300,000 people from 57
countries who were asked to look at pic-
tures of the eye region of a face and pick
a word that describes how the subject
was feeling, such as “tentative” or
“sarcastic”.
Across the world, women on average
scored higher on the assessment –
known as the eyes test.
Dr David Greenberg, the lead scien-
tist on the study, a Zuckerman Scholar
at Bar-Ilan University and honorary
research associate at Cambridge Uni-
versty, said: “Our results provide some
of the first evidence that the well-
known phenomenon – that females are
on average more empathic than males –
is present in a wide range of countries
across the globe. It’s only by using very
large data sets that we can say this with
confidence.”
The ability to interpret and under-
stand another person’s mind and see
their perspective is known as the theory
of mind, or cognitive empathy, and is
thought to be crucial for leadership,
communication and identifying the
needs of others.
The new study, the largest to date
looking into sex differences in cognitive
empathy, showed that females on aver-
age scored significantly higher than
males in 36 countries, and similar to
males in 21 countries, on the eyes test.
There was no country where males on
average scored significantly higher
than females on the eyes test and the
team found that, globally, performance
increased through adolescence and
declined slightly across adulthood for
both sexes.
“This study clearly demonstrates a
largely consistent sex difference across
countries, languages, and ages,” said Dr
Carrie Allison, director of applied
research at the Autism Research Centre
at Cambridge University.
“This raises new questions for future
research about the social and biological
factors that may contribute to the
observed on-average sex difference in
cognitive empathy.”
Researchers did find that in more
prosperous, free and individualistic
s o cie tie s, the female advantage
declined, with men catching up slightly.
For example, the UK, Switzerland,
Australia and Denmark had some of the
smallest differences between men and
women.
In contrast, women consistently
scored higher in countries that were
more state-orientated and less individ-
ualistic, such as Saudi Arabia. The
researchers say the sex differences in
cognitive empathy may result from
both biological and social factors.
Professor Sir Simon Baron-Cohen,
director of the Autism Research Centre
at Cambridge University, who devel-
oped the eyes test, said: “Studies of on-
average sex differences say nothing
about an individual’s mind or aptitudes,
since an individual may be typical or
atypical for their sex.”
The research was published in the
journal Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences.

Return of rare bumblebee Migratory birds shun the Med

causes a buzz on south coast
By Daily Telegraph Reporter
ONE of the UK’s most threatened
bumblebees has been rediscovered at a
site in Devon.
The brown-banded carder bee popu-
lation has declined because of habitat
loss as it requires open, flower-rich
grasslands where wildflowers thrive,
says charity Buglife.
In 2022, the bee was rediscovered at
Prawle Point, in the South Hams, for the
first time since 1978. Conservationists
said it was a “fantastic and highly impor-
tant find”.
A project called Life on the Edge,
which is a multi-partner scheme, aims
to restore populations of some of the
UK’s rarest invertebrates and plants
living along the south Devon coast
between Berry Head and Wembury,
in favour of winter in Britain
Prawle Point for the first time since By Emma Gatten
1978.” ENVIRONMENT EDITOR
The species has also recently been
rediscovered in the north of the county. WARMER weather and more gardeners
Rob Skinner, Life on The Edge pro- feeding their birds is encouraging Med-
ject manager at the South Devon Area of iterranean warblers to winter in the UK,
Outstanding Natural Beauty, said: “This ornithologists say.
is a fantastic and highly important find. Blackcaps, a type of warbler about
It shows that our Life on the Edge the size of a robin, typically return to
project is already delivering, boosting southern Europe for the winter, having
spent the warmer months in the UK
The brown-banded during breeding season.
carder bee has been But increasing numbers of the birds
found in Devon for are remaining in the country during
the first time since winter, according to the British Trust
1978. Naturalists say for Ornithology (BTO).
it is a ‘highly Scientists from the BTO, Oxford Uni-
important find’ versity and the Max Planck Institute in
Munich made the discovery with data
from 600 blackcaps that were fitted
our knowledge of these special insects. with unique colour combinations of
ALAMY LIVE NEWS
switching their wintering location are
unknown, previous work by the BTO
suggests it may be down to changing
weather patterns that mean winters are
getting warmer, and garden bird feed-
ing becoming more widespread, help-
ing the birds survive.
The decade from 2011 to 2020 was
1.1C warmer than the 1961-1990 average,
according to the Met Office, which has
predicted that by 2040 sub-zero days
may be a thing of the past in most of
southern England.
The BTO is now looking for more vol-
unteers to help track the birds in their
gardens and increase their understand-
ing of the new migratory patterns.
“When these wintering blackcaps
first arrive in the UK, they feed in the
wider countryside, only moving into
gardens as the winter deepens,” said

including the last known colony of the
six-banded nomad bee.
Hayley Herridge, Life on the Edge
conservation officer, said: “This recent
discovery as part of a wider rare inver-
tebrate survey on the south Devon
coast, is our headline news of the
summer. We are delighted that a
species lost, has been rediscovered at
We look forward to more finds as the easily identifiable leg rings by volun- Rob Jaques from the BTO.
project develops.” teers over four years. “Our network of garden bird watch-
The nascent scheme has been funded The leg rings allowed researchers to ers – who keep a weekly record of the
by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, track sightings of the birds as they birds using their gardens – are well-
Devon Environment Foundation and returned to their breeding grounds. A placed to collect new information on
Milkywire. If the project succeeds in
Oh, deery me This bedraggled red deer in Glencoe further 30 blackcaps were fitted with these birds, but we need to increase the
securing a second round of funding yesterday perhaps looks fed up with the heavy snow tiny tracking devices that provided number of gardens being covered, so
from the National Lottery, it will run that fell on higher ground in the Scottish Highlands. detailed route information. we can increase our understanding of
from April 2024 until 2029. While the exact reasons for the birds this unexpected behaviour.”
10 **
Vaccine for
Strep A closer
after crucial
discovery
Antibody that uses two
‘arms’ to latch on could be
key to immunity against
the deadly infection
By Sarah Knapton SCIENCE EDITOR
A VACCINE for Strep A is on the hori-
zon after scientists discovered a crucial
bacteria-fighting antibody in a recov-
ered patient.
Until now, researchers have strug-
gled to produce an effective vaccine
against Strep A, with all attempts failing
to prevent an infection that can be
deadly in some people.
Scientists at Lund University, in Swe-
den, studied the blood of patients who
had recovered from a serious infection
to see if there was something special
about their immune system.
In one patient, they found a special
antibody that could be the key to pro-
ducing a vaccine.
Antibodies look like a capital “Y” and
usually grasp on to an invader using just
one “arm”, acting like a flag which tells
the rest of the immune system to take
action.
But the antibody in the recovered
patient latched on using both its arms,
which scientists found was vital for
mounting a strong immune response.
When only one arm was attached,
Step A was able to mount effective
countermeasures, effectively blocking
bacteria-killing cells from clearing out
the infection.
Dr Wael Bahnan, the study author, an
immunologist at Lund University, said:
“This opens up possibilities where pre-
vious vaccine attempts have failed and
means that the antibody we used has
the potential to protect against infec-
tion.”
Strep A is a bacterium that can be
found in the throat or skin. For most
people, it lives in their bodies without
causing illness.
It mainly spreads through coughs,
sneezes or open cuts and symptoms can
include: high temperature, swollen
glands and an aching body, sore throat
(including tonsillitis), headache, nau-
sea, vomiting, muscle aches and scarlet
fever (a rash that feels rough to the
News
touch). But it can also cause the deadly
condition iGAS (Invasive Group A
Streptococcus).
Most recent figures from the UK
Health Security Agency show that this
year there have been 94 deaths from
iGAS infections across England since
Sept 12, including 21 children under the
age of 18.
In the last peak in 2017-2018, an out-
break caused the deaths of 27 children
over the entire winter.
Infections can only be treated with
antibiotics, but there is an ongoing
shortage, with about six times more
prescriptions issued than normal at this
time of year.
There are also fears that Strep A may
become resistant to treatment, leading
scientists to look for another solution.
Previously, doctors have used the
blood plasma from recovered patients
to treat severe infections, with some
success, so experts knew that some peo-
‘This discovery opens
up possibilities where
previous vaccine
attempts have failed’
ple do make powerful antibodies
against an infection.
The team isolated the antibody they
found and tested it in animals, and
found that it was able to trigger a strong
immune response against the Strep A
infection.
Researchers believe that previous
vaccine attempts have failed because
they relied on a single attachment.
They have now applied for a patent
and are hoping to eventually create a
vaccine.
Pontus Nordenfelt, study author and
an associate professor at Lund, said:
“Normally, an antibody binds via one of
its two Y arms to its target protein at a
single site, regardless of which of the
two arms is used for binding.
“But what we have seen – and this is
vital information – is that the two Y
arms can recognise and hook on to two
different places on the same target pro-
tein.”
The results were published in EMBO
Molecular Medicine.
Kris Thompson and Iboyla Adam lost their toddler Hailey, far right, after Wigan Infirmary told them to take her home
Toddler with virus dies after busy hospital sends her home
By Daily Telegraph Reporter
A HOSPITAL having one of its busiest
ever Sundays sent a sick toddler home
where she died in her sleep hours later.
Hailey Thompson, who was 22
months old, had a virus diagnosed on
December 18 but her parents were told
to give her fluids and paracetamol
instead of antibiotics.
Early the next day, the parents, Kris
Thompson, 32, and Iboyla Adam, 35,
found her unresponsive in her bed-
room. Mr Thompson carried out CPR
before a paramedic took over but,
despite being rushed to Wigan Infir-
mary, she died.
An investigation has been launched
following her parents’ complaints that
Hailey’s case was not taken seriously
enough.
“We can’t believe we have lost our lit-
tle girl,” said Mr Thompson of Wigan,
Greater Manchester. “It all happened so
Diversity and inclusion experts
take bigger slice of NHS pay bill
By Lizzie Roberts
HEALTH CORRESPONDENT
NHS trusts are spending more than
£8.2 million a year on diversity and
inclusion jobs.
The figures, revealed through free-
dom of information requests, relate to
just 70 of the 125 acute hospital trusts
across England, suggesting the scale of
the spending could be far higher.
It comes after job adverts posted by
16 trusts in one month alone revealed
they would cost the taxpayer more than
£700,000 annually.
The new data show that the 70 trusts
are employing 187 people in equality,
diversity and inclusion (EDI) roles,
almost three per employer.
In total the 187 jobs are costing the
NHS up to £8,220,783 a year.
It has emerged that NHS interview-
ers who hire a white person have been
told to explain why they did not give the
job to an ethnic minority candidate.
The Royal Free Hospital in north
London has adopted a policy requiring
interview panels to justify themselves
Toot sweet Andrew Carlisle, who played at the King’s
proclamation, sounds a few bugle notes to banish the post-
Christmas blues at Hillsborough Fort, Northern Ireland.
Tuesday 27 December 2022 The Daily Telegraph
quickly. Something in her body took
control of her.”
Hailey first suffered a cough and
runny nose on December 7. A GP pre-
scribed her antibiotics which were
stopped after she had an allergic reac-
tion. After another appointment a week
later, the family were told she needed
Calpol instead of antibiotics because it
was a viral infection.
The next day, Mr Thompson found
her panting in bed and took her to A&E
whenever a shortlisted ethnic minority
candidate is not appointed to a role.
They have been told to write to the
chief executive of the hospital’s trust
within 10 working days explaining why
the white candidate was better-suited.
A spokesman for Royal Free London
said: “We are committed to having a
diverse workforce and we seek to
ensure all candidates, irrespective of
their ethnicity, have equal opportuni-
ties to work at the Royal Free London.”
It comes as the NHS warned it faced
a £7 billion funding shortfall and could
be forced to cut services due to inflation
and the cost of this year’s pay award.
The Government then announced an
extra £6.6 billion of funding over the
next two years in the Autumn State-
ment for the NHS. But experts said the
increase would not account for rising
inflation and other unexpected costs.
Some of the hospital trusts which
replied to requests about diversity jobs
said they employed up to 10 people in
such roles. King’s College Hospital NHS
Foundation Trust has nine staff work-
ing in EDI roles, Manchester University
SWNS
after being told there was a two-hour
wait for an ambulance.
The doctor tested Hailey’s blood
pressure and was unable to check her
tonsils so told the family to go home,
where she went straight to sleep.
Her parents were told to keep her
hydrated and dosed with Calpol and, if
she had not improved in three days, to
bring her back to A&E.
Less than 24 hours later, she was
found unresponsive in her bed.
NHS Foundation Trust has nine filled,
while the Northern Care Alliance NHS
Foundation Trust has at least nine
employees in such roles.
The three trusts’ spending on the EDI
roles accounts for 16 per cent (up to
£1.3 million) of the total.
King’s College Hospital also has the
highest paid individual employee in a
diversity role, with one member of staff
earning up to £128,600 a year.
It comes as Steve Barclay, the Health
Secretary, last month ordered a crack-
down on diversity jobs in the NHS amid
fears of the costs of “woke box ticking”.
Meanwhile, the health service is bat-
tling to bring down a backlog of 7.2 mil-
lion people waiting to start treatment.
John O’Connell, chief executive of
the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpay-
ers will be shocked at the scale of the
diversity industry in the NHS. While
patients battle for every appointment
and operation, woke warriors consume
ever more resources.”
Data revealed that NHS England
employed 33 staff in EDI roles, with sal-
aries totalling around £2 million a year.
Recruitment firms
cashing in as NHS
struggles for staff
By Daily Telegraph Reporter
MIDDLEMEN are charging the NHS
half a billion pounds a year to provide
agency staff. The premium, paid on top
of high wages to locum nurses and doc-
tors, was revealed by a Daily Mail audit.
Recruitment firms have boasted of
making record profits due to increased
demand for NHS services post-pan-
demic, with one director alone earning
more than £500,000 last year.
While the NHS faces a staffing crisis
with shortfalls of 12,000 hospital doc-
tors and more than 50,000 nurses and
midwives, locums have been increas-
ingly called upon to fill rota holes.
NHS England spent £3 billion of its
£136 billion budget on agency staff this
year, the audit found.
Locums can be called upon to work
anywhere from a single day to a month.
Theresa Villiers, a Tory former Cabi-
net minister, told the Daily Mail: “This
is shocking and it has to stop. These
funds should be devoted to patient care.
“The NHS and the Government need
to get these costs down. This is ripping
off the taxpayer and the NHS.”
The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 27 December 2022 *** 11

News

Surgeon faked patient records to avoid weekend work

By Louisa Clarence-Smith
A HEART surgeon faked patient records
so he did not have to work on weekends
after he got married, an employment
tribunal has heard.
Mike Poullis, who started working
for the NHS in 1999, would routinely
visit patients admitted to hospital under
his care on Sundays. He would mark
their chest for the surgery, discuss the
procedure and complete a form saying
he had discussed the operation with the
patient. However, from 2015, after he
got married, he started completing the
safeguarding pre-op paperwork on Fri-
days without seeing patients, despite
saying he had done so on the form.
Mr Poullis did this for nearly 100
patients, which could have led to errors
in surgery, the tribunal heard.
He was employed at Liverpool Heart
and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation
Trust, first as a cardiothoracic surgeon
and later as a cardiac surgeon.
After his actions came to light, Mr
Poullis was investigated and sacked for
gross misconduct. He filed a claim for
unfair dismissal, which was thrown out
earlier this month.
On one Friday in April 2017, working
as a cardiothoracic surgeon, the tribu-
nal heard that Mr Poullis completed a
site-verification procedure form for a
patient without seeing them, discussing
their surgery or marking their chest.
He cancelled the surgery because he
“couldn’t find his handwritten notes”,
which his supervisor didn’t think was a
valid reason and began to investigate.
They sent an email to bosses saying
the procedure form had been “wrong
on a number of counts and could have
led to an error”, the tribunal was told.
In August 2017, Mr Poullis applied for
a clinical excellence award, stating that
he went into the hospital on Sundays to
see and mark his patients and that this
was an example of his excellence in
practice.
The following month it was decided
that Mr Poullis would become a full-
time cardiac surgeon.
However, other thoracic surgeons at
the practice submitted a group com-
plaint over concerns that issues in his
work would extend to his new role. This
led to an internal investigation into Mr
Poullis, which found there was a “lack
of trust”, handovers were “sketchy”, and
there were an “inordinate amount of
cancellations” by the surgeon.
He received a written warning at the
end of the investigation and was invited
to a disciplinary meeting in October
2018.
The tribunal heard that Mr Poullis
said in the meeting: “I used to come in
on a Sunday, it was not paid, and go
through the site markings and forms
which resulted in there being no critical
incidents on the Monday. I tried not to
come in on Sunday and do this and did it
on Friday for the Monday patients.”
Employment Judge Jane Aspinall said
of falsifying the procedure records:
“This was disingenuous of him … The
Tribunal finds as a fact [Mr Poullis] did
these things, that they amounted to a
repudiatory breach of contract and that
it follows that taken together they cross
the repudiatory line.”
Mr Poullis has been approached for
comment.

Police officer
pretended she
had cancer to
take time off
By Daily Telegraph Reporter
A POLICE detective has admitted gross
misconduct after she faked cancer to
get out of work.
Detective Sergeant Vikki Costello,
who worked for Kent Police, falsely
claimed to be suffering from cervical
cancer to take time off.
The officer repeatedly told her
employer and colleagues she was
unwell, pretended she was undergoing
treatment and even submitted sick
notes.
After her deception was discovered,
the officer refused to release her medi-
cal records or any evidence to prove she
was being treated for cancer. She also
declined to be interviewed or respond
to any questions, Kent Police said.
A misconduct hearing earlier this
month at Kent Police HQ in Gravesend
heard: “[DS Costello] falsely claimed to
be suffering from cancer with the result
that her workload was reduced and she
was allowed time off for treatment due
to her claim that she was unwell.”
However, the hearing was told she
had expressed remorse for her actions
and admitted the deception.
Eileen Herlihy, chairman of the mis-
conduct hearing, said: “We find that the
officer repeatedly and falsely claimed to
be suffering from cancer which she
knew to be untrue.
“ We f i n d th a t h e r b ehav io u r
RUSSELL SACH FOR THE TELEGRAPH

breached the standards of professional

behaviour in respect of honesty and
integrity and discreditable conduct.”
The panel concluded in their find-
ings, published this week, by saying
that had the officer not resigned, she
would have been dismissed.
The hearing panel added that Ms Cos-
tello was suffering from anxiety, which
was shown in her sick notes and occu-
pational health records. Roar materials Sculptor Alison Crowther, of Sussex, carves an oak trunk which mimics fossilised scale trees found in coal seams on Chinese mountains that
Kent Police said much of this was have given rise to myths that dragons lived there. The 8ft-tall artwork, carved from a single tree, is destined for a “nature biome” in Saudi Arabia.
owing to her claimed cancer diagnosis.

Boss who refused WFH requests

guilty of sexual discrimination
By Daily Telegraph Reporter
A BOSS with “traditional” family values
was guilty of sexual discrimination
against his employee by refusing to let
him work at home, a tribunal has found.
Ian Coll was chief executive of ARH
UK, an equipment hire company, and
managed Andre Bailey, who worked in
sales. Mr Coll’s “traditional” view on
family dynamics resulted in a “discrim-
inatory pattern of behaviour” lasting 12
months, a judge ruled.
In September 2019, Mr Bailey asked
Mr Coll for time off to care for his son
who was ill, as his wife was not able to
do so. The panel heard that Mr Coll
replied: “You’re joking, aren’t you? She
should be doing it, shouldn’t she? It’s
her job.”
When the pandemic began in March
2020, the tribunal heard that Mr Coll
was “initially supportive” of Mr Bailey’s
request for flexible working to help sup-
port his wife, whose brother had
recently died, in caring for their son.
However, Mr Coll then “complained”
and “required” him to work despite
being on furlough, accusing Mr Bailey
of treating it like a holiday.
The tribunal heard Mr Bailey’s work-
ing relationship with Mr Coll “deterio-
rated” after his return to work in July
2020. When Mr Bailey made another
request for “flexible” work so he could
“be there for his family”, the panel heard
Mr Coll said Mr Bailey’s wife should be
doing it because “she’s the mum”.
The panel heard that when Mr Bailey
made another request to work at home,
Mr Coll told him his job was “working
for ARH – not looking after his son”.
Upon his final plea for adjustments to
be made so he could help with child-
care, Mr Bailey asked why he could not
work from home more, to which Mr
Coll told him to “just leave it”.
The panel found Mr Coll held “tradi-
tional” views of family dynamics,
proven by a text in which he called Mr
Bailey the “main breadwinner”.
Mr Bailey was “visibly upset” when
giving evidence and said being denied
the chance to help with childcare had
“aversely affected” his relationship.
Employment Judge Paul Humble
said: “The tribunal found that Mr Coll
held a traditional view as to Mr Bailey
and his wife’s respective roles to the
effect that Mr Bailey, as the man of the
family, was obligated to focus on his
work and it was his wife’s role was to
focus upon the childcare.”
The judge found Mr Coll’s “refusal” to
consider Mr Bailey for flexible working
showed “less favourable treatment”
than if he had been a woman. “On that
basis, the tribunal find that there was
sex discrimination,” he added.
For injury to feelings, Mr Bailey was
awarded £9,900 plus interest of £2,376.
Additionally, his claim of unauthor-
ised deduction from wages succeeded
and he was given £6,100 for unpaid
bonuses, £3,500 for unpaid furlough
wages and £4,230 of accrued holiday
pay, totalling £13,830. In total, Mr Bai-
ley was awarded £26,106.

All’s fair...
Fairground artist
Joby Carter has
lovingly restored
the rides of his
traditional
vintage Carters
Steam Fair.
Featured is a
JEFF GILBERT FOR THE TELEGRAPH

Gavioli & Cie

fairground organ
his father bought
from The Who’s
Roger Daltrey.

Detectorists’ silver treasures stolen from museum

By India McTaggart
HISTORICAL artefacts stolen from a
“locked office” in a museum’s care may
deter metal detectorists and archaeolo-
gists from logging their finds, an expert
has said.
Officers have arrested a 31-year-old
man in connection with the theft of
important archaeological finds, includ-
ing a hoard of Roman treasure, that
were left with the Museum of Lanca-
shire in Preston for safekeeping and
were meant to have been in a locked
and secure unit.
The treasures, including 28 Roman
silver coins and a silver ingot, were
unearthed earlier this year by two metal
detectorists in Rutland and were sup-
posed to be sent to the British Museum
for assessment and valuation.
The incident could have worrying
consequences for the legitimacy of the
British Museum’s portable antiquities
scheme and the Government’s process
for administering treasure finds fairly,
an expert has warned.
Andy Brockman, a writer specialis-
ing in investigating heritage crime, said:
“There is concern among metal detec-
torists and archaeologists over this
investigation that go to the heart of trust
in the portable antiquities scheme.”
12 *** Tuesday 27 December 2022 The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 27 December 2022 *** 13

World news
Meat magnate
who criticised
Putin’s war dies
after hotel fall
By Nataliya Vasilyeva
A RUSSIAN sausage magnate who
briefly criticised Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine has died after falling from the
third-floor window of a luxury hotel in
India.
Pavel Antov was a member of
Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party
and a multi-millionaire, having founded
one of the country’s largest sausage
makers. He was reportedly on a trip to
celebrate his upcoming 66th birthday
when he was found lying in a pool of
blood outside the Hotel Sai Interna-
tional in Rayagada, in the southern state
of Odisha.
An unnamed police official told
India’s NDTV news outlet they sus-
pected that he took his own life after
becoming depressed about the death of
his friend, who was found dead in the
same hotel.
Vladimir Bidenov was found uncon-
scious in his hotel room on Thursday,
surrounded by empty wine bottles.
Antov was the founder of Vladimir
Standard, a major meat producer, and
had a declared annual income of just
under £130 million.
In July, he posted a story on his What-
sApp messaging app, criticising Russia’s
missile attacks on Kyiv as “terrorism”.
He was referring to reports of a girl that
had been pulled from rubble after her
house had been shelled.
Shortly afterwards, Antov apologised
PIERRE CROM/GETTY

for the post and said it had been posted

by someone else. He said he was “a sup-
porter of the president and my coun-
try’s patriot” and “shared the goals” of
the Kremlin’s invasion.
Alexei Idamkin, Russia’s consul gen-
eral in Calcutta, told the Tass news Home comforts Kolia Cerga, a singer, gives a festive performance for Ukrainian soldiers from the 59th brigade near the frontline in Donetsk. Catholic
agency that there was no foul play in the Ukrainians celebrate Christmas on Dec 25, as the Orthodox Christmas on Jan 7 is considered a Russian tradition.
lawmaker’s death.

German spy ‘leaked war secrets to Moscow’

ny’s foreign intelligence service, the
‘Double agent’ reportedly BND, is believed to have had access to
secret information about the Ukraine
had access to confidential war from Britain’s GCHQ spy agency
Western intelligence and the US’s National Security Agency.
about Ukraine conflict The alleged double agent, identified
only as Carsten L in accordance with
By Nick Squires Germany privacy regulations, was
arrested on suspicion of treason in Ber-
GERMANY’S spy agency fears that lin last Wednesday, and remanded in
Moscow was able to turn one of its custody after appearing before a judge.
agents in the months after the out- Security sources are now investigat-
break of war in Ukraine, it has ing the possibility that the agent was
emerged. blackmailed into betraying Germany,
The agent, who worked for Germa- the German news programme Tage-
schau reported. If confirmed, the
recruiting of an agent in the aftermath
of the invasion in February would rep-
resent a coup for Russia and a blow to
Western intelligence.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office said
the intelligence operative had passed
“state secrets” to a Russian spy agency.
“The accused is suspected of state
treason,” prosecutors said in a state-
ment. “In 2022, he transmitted infor-
mation that he had obtained in the
course of his professional activities to
Russian intelligence services.”
The double agent passed on German
intelligence assessments of the fight-
ing in Ukraine to Moscow, news out-
lets reported. Neither the BND nor
federal prosecutors would comment
on the claims, but previously said the
investigation was ongoing.
Commenting on the arrest last
week, Robert Habeck, Germany’s
vice-chancellor, called the case “par-
ticularly alarming”.
The alleged double agent was a sen-
ior official in a surveillance unit of the
BND, according to Focus Online news.
It said that one of his responsibilities
was to analyse information obtained
through wiretaps and he also had
access to wiretap operations by other
Western security services, including
in the UK and US.
Wolfgang Kubicki, vice chairman of
the FDP party and a member of the rul-
ing coalition, said he was concerned
that the scandal could affect ties
between the BND and its counterparts
overseas. “If information could get to
Russia from the BND, that will make
cooperation with our partners even
more difficult,” he told the financial
daily Handelsblatt. German authori-
ties have warned for several years that
Russia has stepped up its efforts to
penetrate intelligence circles, and
have conducted several investigations
into Russian espionage since the war
broke out on Feb 24.
“With Russia, we are dealing with
an actor where we must reckon with
its ruthlessness and willingness to be
violent,” said Bruno Kahl, head of the
BND intelligence agency.
Last month, a German man was
handed a suspended sentence for pass-
ing information to Russian intelligence
services while working as a reserve
officer for the German army.

Drone attack on air base deep

inside Russia leaves three dead
By Nataliya Vasilyeva civilian infrastructure were harmed in foreign minister, said his government
and Lila Randall the attack. wanted a peace summit by the end of
Engels air base is located near the city February, preferably at the United
THREE troops died in a drone attack on of Saratov, more than 400 miles from Nations with Antonio Guterres, the UN
a military airfield deep inside Russia the front lines in Ukraine. Earlier this secretary-general, as a possible mediator.
yesterday. month, a blast there damaged two Tu- “Every war ends in a diplomatic way,”
It was the second time that the Engels 95s and wounded two people. he said. “Every war ends as a result of
air base had come under attack by long- On the same day, Russia accused the actions taken on the battlefield and
range drone, in an apparent attempt to Ukraine of carrying out a separate at the negotiating table.”
disrupt the Kremlin’s bombing cam- attack on the Dyagilevo airfield, near Asked about whether it would invite
paign against Ukraine’s cities and Russia to the summit, Mr Kuleba said
energy infrastructure. ‘Every war ends as a that first that country would need to be
The air base houses Tu-95 and Tu-160 seated to be prosecuted for war crimes
nuclear-capable strategic bombers, result of the actions taken at an international court, for example.
which have been deployed to attack on the battlefield and at Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a
power stations. statement that Russia should be
“A Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehi- the negotiating table’ removed from the UN, where Moscow
cle (drone) was shot down at low alti- can veto any resolution as a permanent
tude while approaching the Engels the city of Ryazan. Three people were member of the Security Council. It said
military airfield in the Saratov region,” killed in the suspected attack and six Russia “illegally occupies the seat of the
said the Russian Defence ministry. injured when a fuel tanker exploded. USSR in the UN Security Council” since
“Three Russian servicemen of the Ukraine has not accepted responsi- the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.
technical staff who were at the airfield bility for the attacks but Yurii Ihnat, the Meanwhile, the Belarusian military
were fatally wounded as a result of fall- Ukrainian air force spokesman, said said Russia’s nuclear-capable Iskander
ing drone wreckage.” Monday’s incident was a “consequence ballistic missiles and S-400 air defence
Roman Busargin, the governor of of what Russia is doing on our land”. systems had been deployed in Belarus
Saratov Oblast, said no residents or Yesterday Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s and were ready to use.

Skripal poisoning
journalist put on
Kremlin wanted list
By Nataliya Vasilyeva
RUSSIA has put a journalist who helped
identify the Kremlin agents believed to
be behind the poisoning of Russian dis-
sident Sergei Skripal on a wanted list.
Christo Grozev, chief Russia investi-
gator at Bellingcat, a Netherlands-based
news website, appeared on Russia’s
searchable online database yesterday.
MARK EDWARD HARRIS/ZUMA PRESS WIRE/SHUTTERSTOCK

RIA Novosti, Russia’s state-owned

news agency, quoted a security source
who said the Bulgarian-born journalist
had been added to the list for “discred-
iting the Russian armed forces”, a law
that Russia passed early in its war with
Ukraine, allowing it to go after anyone
who contradicted the Kremlin’s official
narrative of the invasion.
Mr Grozev rose to prominence after
helping to solve the attempted murder
of Russian opposition leader Alexei
Navalny and his work on the investiga-
tion into the Salisbury poisonings. He
has also conducted extensive research
into Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine.
Christmas smacker A Ukrainian soldier on 10-day leave Mr Grozev said on Twitter: “For years
from duty kisses his daughter yesterday for the first time they’ve made it clear they are scared of
in almost a year in the west Ukraine city of Lviv. our work and would stop at nothing to
make it go away.”
14 ***
South Korean jet
crashes trying to
destroy drones
from Pyongyang
Mishap mars military
response after North Korea
sends five spies in the sky
across the border
By Simina Mistreanu
A SOUTH Korean warplane crashed
yesterday as it scrambled to intercept a
group of North Korean drones, includ-
ing one that flew over Seoul.
At least five drones crossed the
Korean border, prompting South Korea
to scramble fighter jets and attack heli-
copters, which fired warning shots at
the intruding drones.
One of the jets, a KA-1 light attack
plane, crashed during takeoff in Hoeng-
seong county, about 85 miles east of
Seoul, defence officials said.
Images carried by South Korean
media showed military police covering
the wreckage of the warplane with blue
tarpaulin.
The two pilots managed to eject
safely and were treated at hospital. The
military did not say what caused the
crash.
While most of the drones were
detected above the western areas of
Gimpo, Paju and Ganghwa Island, one
flew all the way to the northern part of
Seoul in a move South Korean officials
said was meant to cause “disruption” to
the South.
The intrusion was the first of its kind
in five years and led to the temporary
suspension of civilian flights at Seoul
airports.
The attack helicopters fired a com-
bined 100 shots at the drones, but failed
to shoot them down, according to the
defence ministry.
The South’s joint chiefs of staff (JCS)
said it limited its operations to avoid any
damage to civilians.
There were no reports of damage on
the ground.
Maj Gen Lee Seung-o, director of
operations at the JCS, said: “This is a
clear act of provocation by North Korea
that encroached upon our territorial air.
Our military will respond thoroughly
and sternly to such a North Korean
provocation going forward.”
The South responded by sending its
own manned and unmanned vehicles to
border areas, including aircraft that
crossed into the North to carry out
surveillance operations, such as
World news
taking photographs of “key enemy
military facilities”, according to the
JCS.
The military said one of the drones
returned to the North after about three
hours of flight in the South, while the
others disappeared from the South’s
radars.
Civilian flights at Incheon and Gimpo
airports were suspended for about an
hour yesterday afternoon following a
request from the military, a transporta-
tion ministry official said.
North Korea has previously touted its
drone program, and the regime is
believed to have an estimated 1,000
drones, some with reconnaissance
capabilities.
Among them is the “Banghyun”
series, thought to be made based on an
imported Chinese D-4 drone system.
Others include the “durumi” multi-
purpose drone, believed to be capable
of both surveillance and attack mis-
sions.
Observers fear the drones could
1,000
The estimated number of drones –
some with reconnaissance capabilities
– that North Korean is believed to have
carry chemical and biological weapons
for use in potential terrorist attacks.
Experts said they were low-tech but
could be considered a potential security
threat.
Gen Lee said the North Korean
drones were small, with wingspans of
about two metres, but he gave no fur-
ther details, including what equipment,
if any, they were carrying.
In 2014, two North Korean surveil-
lance drones flew over Seoul before
crashing.
In 2017, the North caught Seoul off
ERWIN GUCCI/SOLENT NEWS
guard by sending a drone equipped
with a camera that took photos of a US
military base operating a THAAD mis-
sile defence system.
The incursion comes amid height-
ened tensions on the Korean Peninsula,
after the North on Friday fired two
short-range ballistic missiles and two
medium-range ballistic missiles five
days earlier, according to South Korean
officials, adding to an unprecedented
year of weapons testing.
Fish out of water An arowana fish leaps out of the water to hunt an oriental whip snake – a
mildly venomous species that tends to live among tree branches. Erwin Gucci captured the
action in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia.
Freedom for impounded sex
dolls after Seoul lifts import ban
By Nick Squires
A BAN on the import of full-body sex
dolls has been ended in South Korea
after years of debate over how much
the government should interfere in
private lives.
Until now, customs officials have
promptly seized them as soon as they
arrived from overseas, decreeing they
harm the country’s “beautiful traditions
and public morals”.
More than 1,000 sex dolls imported
over the past four years are languishing
in detention.
But the life-size figures can now look
forward to feeling the sun on their
silicone skin after the Korea Customs
Service reversed its previous ban.
In a statement, it said it based its
decision on the views of relevant
government agencies, including the
ministry of gender equality and
family, as well as a review of recent
court rulings.
In 2019, the Supreme Court decreed
China scraps zero-Covid
quarantine for new arrivals
By Simina Mistreanu
CHINA will scrap quarantine measures
for overseas arrivals from January 8,
health officials announced yesterday,
after nearly three years of strict
pandemic border restrictions.
The downgrade d containment
measures for Covid-19 were announced
by the National Health Commission
(NHC) in an online notice.
Travellers will only need a PCR test
taken 48 hours before entering China.
It is the latest move by Beijing to
loosen its zero-Covid regime, after it
abruptly dropped mandatory testing
and lockdowns earlier this month.
The NHC said: “Quarantine measures
will no longer be taken against inbound
travellers and goods.”
Since March 2020, all arriving pas-
sengers had to undergo at least two
weeks of mandatory centralised quar-
antine, later increased to three weeks.
Xi Jinping, the Chinese president,
yesterday urged officials to take steps to
protect lives in his first public remarks
on Covid since Beijing loosened restric-
tions.
Studies estimate that about one
million people could die over the next
Tuesday 27 December 2022 The Daily Telegraph
that life -size sex dolls could be
imported.
But its decision was in effect blocked
by the customs service, which withheld
customs clearance for the dolls and
impounded them.
Lee Sang-jin, the former head of a
South Korean firm that imports sex
dolls, welcomed the decision, although
‘There are various types of
people who use sex dolls,
including those who need
them for artistic purposes’
he said it had happened “a bit late”. He
added: “We thought our people’s rights
to seek happiness and use sex dolls in
their private lives have been restricted
by the state.
“There are various types of people
who use sex dolls, including those
who are sexually alienated or those
who need them for artistic purposes.”
few months. Many people are now
grappling with shortages of medicine,
while emergency medical facilities are
strained by an influx of unvaccinated
elderly patients.
Mr Xi said: “Covid-19 prevention and
control in China are facing a new situa-
tion and new tasks. We should launch
the patriotic health campaign in a more
targeted way, fortify a community line
of defence for epidemic prevention and
control, and effectively protect people’s
lives, safety and health.”
Hospitals and crematoriums have
been overflowing with Covid patients
and victims. The NHC is stopping daily
announcements of nationwide infection
and death statistics.
Low vaccination rates are thought to
be partly responsible for the rapid
spread of Covid since restrictions were
dropped. Most people have never been
exposed to the coronavirus.
People are flocking to Macau for
We s t e r n - m a d e m R NA v a c c i n e s ,
unavailable in mainland China.
China offers its citizens only inacti-
vated-virus shots, an older technology,
made domestically by Sinopharm and
Sinovac. They produce fewer antibodies
than mRNA jabs.
Nuclear shelter
sales in Japan
skyrocket amid
fears of war
By Julian Ryall in Tokyo
JAPANESE people are investing in fall-
out shelters to protect their families
from a nuclear attack as fears grow of a
full-blown conflict with either North
Korea or China in the coming years.
Specialist firms that construct
nuclear shelters and bunkers are
reporting a sharp increase in both
inquiries and purchases from ordinary
people concerned about the deteriorat-
ing security situation in north-east Asia.
The Japan Nuclear Shelter Associa-
tion used to receive a few calls a week,
according to Takahiro Kawashima, a
worker for the company.
But now they get a couple of inquiries
every day as attitudes around security
change.
H e t o l d The Daily Teleg raph:
“Because of the nuclear attacks on Hiro-
shima and Nagasaki in the closing days
of the [Second World] War, the topic of
another atomic weapon being used
against Japan has been taboo.
“The result is that people did not
want to buy them, designers never put
any effort into creating them and there
‘It is clear that Japan’s three
neighbouring nuclear
powers are a long way from
being liberal democracies’
are no detailed standards set by the gov-
ernment.
“Tensions between China and Tai-
wan are rising and it is clear that Japan’s
three neighbouring nuclear powers are
a long way from being liberal democra-
cies.
“At the same time, North Korea has
already successfully tested nuclear war-
heads and has in recent months fired
dozens of missiles, including some that
have gone over Japan.”
The Ukraine war has also raised the
threat of nuclear conflict, he said.
Demand is even higher in northern
parts of the country, particularly since
two North Korean intermediate-range
ballistic missiles crossed Japanese terri-
tory before falling into the Pacific in
November, triggering the rarely used
national J-Alert system.
Tetsushi Nakamura, president of
Aomori-base d construction firm
Growth View, said business has been
brisk since it introduced a home-use
fallout shelter in July.
He receives a dozen or more calls a
day and sells at least one of the Y6.6 mil-
lion (£39,000) units a week.
Each unit is 107 sq ft with walls lined
with lead panels that are nearly 3.5
inches thick. Each shelter can sustain a
family of four for up to two weeks.
Mr Lee declined to elaborate on
what form such artistic purposes might
take.
While South Korea does produce its
own sex dolls, those manufactured
abroad are seen as being of higher
quality and more desirable.
Companies that import sex dolls have
in the past taken the customs service
to court to demand the return of their
goods.
But if the dolls were kept locked up in
warehouses for too long, their silicone
would degrade and they became unus-
able, Mr Lee said.
Yesterday’s decision goes one step
further from a decree issued by the
customs service in July, when it said it
would allow sex toys that depict
particular body parts but not full-body
dolls.
In May 2020, a South Korean football
club was left embarrassed after placing
sex dolls in the stands to replace the
crowds that were absent due to the
Covid pandemic.
Brazil foils bomb
plot aimed at Lula’s
inauguration
By Our Foreign Staff
POLICE have arrested a man in Brazil
after he allegedly planted explosives in
a fuel truck, hoping to sow “chaos”
before Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s presi-
dential inauguration.
The man, identified as George Wash-
ington de Oliveira Sousa, was held on
terrorism charges and is a supporter of
Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s outgoing hard-
Right president.
The arrest came after the truck’s
driver found the device on Saturday
morning near the airport in the capital
city of Brasilia, where Lula will be
sworn in on January 1.
Mr Oliveira Sousa confessed to
authorities that the bomb was part of a
plan to “start chaos” and “prevent the
establishment of communism in Brazil”,
according to the local media.
He said the idea was hatched with
other Bolsonaro supporters who have
been protesting outside the army head-
quarters in Brasilia, calling for a mili-
tary intervention to prevent Lula from
assuming power.
Police said they found an arsenal of
weapons in Mr Oliveira Sousa’s apart-
ment, according to a newspaper.
 The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 27 December 2022 *** 15

World news

EU red tape could sink Norman reinvasion

Attempt to recreate voyage
across Channel by William
the Conqueror must see
off challenge from Brussels
By Henry Samuel in Paris
WHEN William the Conqueror set off
from Normandy to invade England in
1066, his fleet of wooden ships was
blown back to France by storms that
nearly put paid to his ambitions.
Nearly 1,000 years later, a project to
sail a replica of La Mora, the flagship of
his vast fleet, across the Channel is
facing an equally formidable challenge:
EU bureaucracy.
It may not look like a “pleasure boat”,
but project managers rebuilding the
Viking-style longship say its size means
it comes under that category and there-
fore is subject to EU safety regulations.
That means the ship will only be able
to leave France if the EU certifies it is fit
to sail on the Channel, according to its
makers. “European standards obviously
do not take into account 11th-century
ships,” said Marc Ronet, a naval archi-
tect who is overseeing the project and
who drew up the initial plans for La
Mora II. “However, La Mora’s 111ft
length makes it a ‘large pleasure boat’.
We are working with the [European
Commission’s] maritime affairs to find
technical solutions to meet current
safety standards.”
Mr Ronet said the original boat was a
narrow, shallow Viking-type warship,
powered by oar and a 180sq yard sail. It
was so fast that after setting sail from
Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme on the evening
of Sept 27 1066, William had time to
tuck into breakfast with wine before the
rest of his fleet, which was carrying
more than 7,000 men and 2,000 horses,
caught up the next morning.
The fleet landed at Pevensey in East
Sussex later that day and went on to
defeat King Harold at the Battle of Hast-
ings on Oct 14. William, Duke of Nor-
mandy, became William the Conqueror,
King of England.
The reconstruction of La Mora is
intended to be as authentic as possible
and is part of a €13 million (£11 million)
experimental archaeology project
housed at the port of Honfleur. With a
striped red and gold sail and the papal
banner on its masthead, La Mora is a key
feature of the Bayeux tapestry, the 230ft
embroidered account of the Norman
Conquest. With no original plans of the
ship, builders have little to go on other
than its depiction in the tapestry.
To recreate the ship as accurately as
possible, the historical society has
teamed up with specialists in Norman
and maritime archaeology history,
naval architects and marine carpenters.
It will also work with the Roskilde
Museum of Denmark, which has rebuilt
several replica ships since the discovery
of 11th-century wrecks in Skuldelev in
1962. The reconstruction will also take
inspiration from an ongoing project to
build a medieval castle in Burgundy
using 13th-century techniques.
“Marine carpenters will have to
relearn these techniques that are no
longer used today,” said Mr Ronet.
The exhibition space will tell the
wider story of Norman history, includ-
ing the invasion of southern Italy. It is
hoped that the project will attract
200,000 tourists a year and, assuming
it passes EU rules, will be ready to sail
the Channel in 2027 to mark the 1,000th
anniversary of William’s birth.

Hundreds
march through
Paris in protest
at Kurd killings
By Our Foreign Staff
HUNDREDS of people marched in Paris
yesterday to pay tribute to three Kurds
shot dead in France’s capital last week.
The suspect, a retired train driver
identified by French media as William
M, was yesterday charged with murder
and remanded into custody, a judicial
source said.
The attack at a Kurdish cultural cen-
tre and a nearby hairdresser on Friday
caused panic in the city’s 10th district,
home to a large Kurdish population.
The 60-year-old suspect confessed to
a “pathological” hatred of foreigners
and had been held in a psychiatric facil-
ity before being returned to police cus-
tody on Sunday, authorities said.
He has a history of weapons offences
and had been released on bail earlier
this month. Last year, he was charged
with racist violence after allegedly stab-
bing migrants and slashing their tents
with a sword in a park in eastern Paris.
Three others were wounded in last
week’s attack but none were in a life-
threatening condition.
The violence brought back memories
of three unsolved murders of Kurds in
2013 that many people blame on Turkey.
Many Kurds expressed anger at the
French security services, saying they
had done little to prevent the shooting.
Several hundred people marched in
the 10th district yesterday, chanting
“our martyrs do not die” in Kurdish and
demanding “truth and justice”.
REUTERS/SARAH MEYSSONNIER

“We decided to come as soon as we

heard about Friday’s terrorist attack,”
one young woman told AFP, declining
to give her name for fear of reprisals.
“We are afraid of the Turkish com-
munity and secret services.”
Small altars bearing candles, flowers
and photographs of the three victims
Protesters in Paris demand ‘truth and justice’ after the attack that left three Kurds dead and three more injured. The alleged killer, who has been charged with murder, said he had a ‘pathological’ hatred of foreigners were put up on the pavement.

Hit Netflix series feeds ambition

of relocating to the city of love
By Vivian Song IN PARIS
BRITONS appear to be thirsting for a
life in the city of love, with the hit Netf-
lix series Emily in Paris leading to a
sharp rise in inquiries about relocating
there.
Online searches for “moving to Paris”
soared more than 1,400 per cent last
week, with most of those made in the
days after the third series launched on
Dec 21, according to GetAgent, an estate
agent comparison website.
Compared with the same period the
previous year, searches were up 314 per
cent, GetAgent added.
The show follows the life of Emily
Cooper, a Chicago marketing executive
who lands her dream job in Paris and
‘Many expats move to live
their Parisian dream of
doing shopping at markets
and cooking French food’
before long has a handsome man falling
at her feet. The first season in 2020
garnered some 58 million views
worldwide in the month after its debut,
making it Netflix’s most popular series
of that year.
Despite this season failing to excite
critics, British viewers remain seduced
by a life on the continent.
Marc Foujols, president of the Cham-
ber of Notaries of Greater Paris, said the
show added to growing interest among
Britons about a move to Paris after a tur-
bulent year of politics and amid the cost
of living crisis in the UK. He told Le Par-
isien: “We are indeed noticing more
requests for rentals in Paris than a year
ago from the British.”
Susie Hollands, founder of real estate
agency Vingt Paris, said her company
had also seen an increase in demand for
apartments, but mostly from American
women in their 20s.
Among older expats, many still move
to France “to live their Parisian dream
of going to the market, doing their
shopping on foot, cooking French
food”, she said. Like younger crowds,
they too were “looking to learn French
so they can meet their neighbours and
make friends like in the series”.

Snowstorm kills dozens in ‘war zone’ Buffalo

By David Millward
US CORRESPONDENT
AT LEAST 27 people have been killed in
Buffalo, New York, during the worst
snowstorm in decades, which has
turned the city into a “war zone”.
“This is a war with mother nature,
and she has been hitting us with every-
thing she has,” Kathy Hochul, New
York’s governor, said yesterday. “It is
like a war zone. The vehicles along the
sides of the roads are shocking.”
“Certainly it is the blizzard of the cen-
tury,” she said, adding it was “way too
early to say this is at its completion,”
with more snow forecast for Monday
and some communities getting inun-
dated with more than three feet of fresh
snow overnight.
There are fears the death toll could
rise once rescuers reach the worst-hit
areas, where cars have been trapped
and many roads remain impassable.
Many residents are stuck in shelters and
nursing homes are running out of food.
It is estimated that 12,000 people are
without electricity.
Police reported two cases of looting
and there were unconfirmed reports on
social media of other incidents.
“This is the worst storm probably in
AFP
our lifetime and maybe in the history of
the city, and it’s not the end” said Mark
Poloncarz, an Erie County executive.
Mr Poloncarz added that several of
those who died were found in their cars,
and others who were trying to shovel
snow had “cardiac-related events”. A
27-year-old man died from carbon mon-
oxide poisoning after heavy snow
blocked a furnace.
Buffalo residents laid bare the chaos
which the storm had wrought on the
state’s second-largest city.
“We just got back into our house. We
did the mile trek to get there. The snow
is so heavy that snow ploughs can’t get
through,” Lauren Wickert, a Buffalo res-
ident, told the Daily Telegraph.
“There are abandoned cars every-
where, no one is listening to the driving
ban. Some are using regular cars, which
is just insane.”
It is estimated that at least 55 people
across the US have been killed in the
snowstorm which blanketed the US
from the Rio Grande in the south to the
Great Lakes in the north.
Deaths have been recorded in 12
states: Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Ken-
tucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska,
New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee
and Wisconsin.
The cold snap caused chaos at Amer-
ica’s airports, with more than 1,200
flights cancelled.
According to the National Weather
Service, hazardous conditions will con-
tinue for another day.
“Much of the eastern US will remain

in a deep freeze before a moderating

Rescuers have struggled to reach vehicles trapped in the snow in downtown Buffalo trend sets in today,” it said.
16 ***
Not even festive
charm can save
us from terrible
customer service
MELANIE MCDONAGH
T
he thing about
customer service now
is friendly informality,
no? No more stale Mr, Mrs
and Miss when you call
them up, let alone Sir and
Madam. Nope, it’s straight to
Melanie, thank you, and it’s
Cheers as a sign off. This
may just about work if your
exchanges with the
company in question are
unproblematic; quite
another if there’s a
combative aspect to it.
A few days ago, I had just
such an encounter with the
Irish telecoms firm, Eir, the
equivalent of BT. What I
wanted to know was, why
hadn’t my broadband
service been sorted in the
three days since I reported
it, and why was my landline
still not working when I was
told that an engineer would
be out to have a look at it?
Come to think of it, why had
the problem not been
resolved since July when I
last reported that nothing
worked?
The first man I spoke to
on the technical side was
charm itself; he called me
Melanie from the off. He
observed that someone had
been to look at my system,
only he hadn’t come to the
door, and he had indeed
found a fault with the line. A
new modem would be sent
pronto. (It didn’t come.)
When he got to the formula
to close the conversation, “Is
there anything else I can
help you with today?” we
both just laughed.
The second man in
customer relations, with
whom I wished to discuss
why I was paying for a
service I wasn’t getting, also
called me Melanie, but a
certain froideur crept in
early on. Why no refund?
Because, he said, the
protocol was that refunds
could only be given when
normal service had been
resumed. Well, I said, given
I’d been waiting since July,
how long might that take?
Frostily, he suggested that
if I kept on repeating myself
he’d have to terminate the
conversation. At this point
the Yuletide spirit was
pretty well absent, so by the
Comment
time I asked him whom I
should discuss the protocol
with, we’d dropped the
Melanie, and when I asked
him for his name, he said,
reluctantly, it was John. And
no, he wasn’t allowed to give
his surname.
In these circumstances,
the illusory friendliness of
being on Christian name
terms is, I’d say, just
annoying. Far better to keep
a distance between
customer and operative. Sir
and Madam would have
suited me just fine.
‘ Just as the nation is
turning the remains of
the Christmas lunch into
curry, someone at English
Heritage has worked out
that this is the 500th
anniversary of the arrival of
the turkey here. Bad timing,
really, given that this year,
the birds that hadn’t died of
avian flu were kept indoors
to stop them catching it. Not
so free range then.
In the circumstances, I
thought it only right to go
traditional and have a nice
rib of beef instead. So I paid
over fifty quid for my joint
– and then I found myself in
Tesco on Christmas Eve at
the time when they sell off
turkeys cheap. There it was,
a bronze bird purporting to
be free range, going for half
price. I seized it, rejoicing,
and bore it home.
Say what you will about
turkey, there are few better
vehicles for bread sauce
and stuffing. The roast beef
can wait.
‘ So, you think it’s all
over? An end to
overeating, holly and ivy
and entertaining? Nope.
There are 12 whole days of
this, culminating with the
Three Kings coming to baby
Jesus on January 6.
Traditionally, the Christmas
season goes on until the
Purification of the Virgin at
Candlemas, February 2. So
there go Veganuary and Dry
January. Yippee.
READ MORE at
telegraph.co.uk/opinion
To order prints or signed copies of any Telegraph cartoon, go to telegraph.co.uk/prints-cartoons or call 0191 603 0178 ‹ readerprints@telegraph.co.uk
Putin may have failed, but the West
is unprepared for what comes next
Our leaders risk repeating
the mistakes of the 1930s,
when we could have done
more to prevent WWII
RICHARD
DANNATT
T
hose who thought at this time
last year that Vladimir Putin
would not invade Ukraine, or
believed that he was crazy were he to
do so, had overlooked seeing the
situation from his perspective. To him,
his decision to invade was entirely
logical, although, unknown to him, the
basis of his special military operation
was fatally flawed from the outset.
In 1989, Putin, an unreformed KGB
colonel, watched his beloved Soviet
Union and Warsaw Pact crumble in the
face of the unity of the West and Nato.
In the early 1990s, he watched the
debate as to whether the Donbas
would be part of Russia or Ukraine.
Over the next two decades, he watched
as the political leadership in Kyiv
flip-flopped from being pro-West or
pro-Kremlin. In 2013, he watched as
the West ducked its red cards over his
intervention in Syria and concluded
that it was weak and poorly led.
In 2014, he acted – annexing Crimea
– and then watched again as the West
made only limp protest against his
actions. Thereafter, he supported and
nourished the separatist forces in the
Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and
then, in August 2021, watched the
abject failure of the West’s 20-year
engagement in Afghanistan as Kabul
Don’t forget about the persecuted Christians
MICHAEL
NAZIR-ALI
F
or many Christians in the Middle
East, South and East Asia and in
West Africa, Christmas has hardly
been a time of love, joy and peace. It
has been rather a time of increased fear
of attack and arrest, of foreboding and
fear. Even as the number of Christians
continues to grow globally, in some
parts of the world their numbers are
threatened by persecution at
unprecedented levels, dwarfing even
the ancient persecutions of the Roman
and Persian empires.
In Iraq and Syria, the Christian
population has halved. In Iraq, I have
visited many refugee camps where
churches looked after not only
Christians but Yazidis and other
persecuted groups as well. Happily,
with an improved security situation, at
least in Northern Iraq, some Christians
and Yazidis are returning to their
ancestral lands, for example on the
Nineveh Plains. Schools, however,
have to be rebuilt, fields rendered safe
from mines and fresh seed supplied for
returning the land to agricultural use.
was abandoned. At that point he
became certain that the West was
weak and rudderless. On February 24
2022, he acted again, ordering his
special military operation.
Detailed commentary over the past
10 months has explained how the
Russians were humiliated early in their
campaign. Their resort to Soviet-era
massed artillery tactics to grind their
way into Ukraine has again been
thwarted by determined, Western-
enabled Ukrainian counter attacks.
Now, in the cold of winter, the
battlefield has stabilised with both
sides preparing new offensives in the
weeks and months to come.
On the evidence shown, any new
Russian offensive is likely to fail, while
the highly motivated and increasingly
well-trained Ukrainians could entirely
shatter Russian morale. However, the
question remains: even if a Russian
withdrawal from Ukraine (including
Crimea) were to be forced on them,
would the Kremlin change its attitude
to the West, whether or not Putin were
to be replaced? After all, it was not just
Putin who thought that Ukraine should
forever be part of a greater Russia.
So, when can the West ever trust
Russia again? When do economic
sanctions get lifted? How can
European countries ensure that they
never allow themselves to become so
trade-entangled and energy-
dependent on Russia again? These are
the uncomfortable questions that
Nato, US and European leaders must
struggle with. The realistic conclusion
that will have to be accepted, albeit
expensively, is that the West must
continue to stand solidly together and
firmly deter any further Russian
expansionist aspirations.
As in the Cold War, Nato has no
ambition to attack Russia, yet the
experiences of this year demonstrate
In Syria, I have been with families
who have lost young men, executed for
refusing to convert to Islam on the
orders of extremist organisations
linked to Al Qae’da. Ancient churches
and monasteries have been
systematically devastated and bishops,
priests and lay people kidnapped,
murdered and held for ransom. Among
many, there is no love lost for Assad
and the Ba’ath Party, but almost no one
– Christian, Muslim, Yazidi or Druze –
wants the extremists to prevail.
Those in power in the Middle East
are not angels and whatever we may
say about the Sisi regime’s crackdown
on free speech and other freedoms,
there is no denying that the situation of
Christians in Egypt has improved, with
more churches and ancillary buildings
being built or restored than at any time
perhaps since the 7th century Islamic
conquest.
In Israel, Christian numbers remain
stable, but there is no telling what
pressures there will be for churches
and Christian institutions with the new
hard-Right government coming into
office. In Palestinian-administered
areas, Christians are more and more
under pressure both from Israeli
restrictions on mobility and from
extreme Islamicists. In my own
lifetime, the Christian population of
beyond doubt that Russia must be
contained and persuaded to accept its
place within the rules-based
international order that has been
carefully crafted since the Second
World War. But with trust gone, the
West now has no responsible option
other than to guarantee its own
security by increased defence
spending and strong forward deterrent
deployments along the lengthy
borders with Russia – borders soon to
be extended when Sweden and
Finland join Nato.
For the United Kingdom, the review
of the 2021 Integrated Review of our
foreign, security and defence policies
must surely conclude that increased
investment in our land forces should
rise up the priority list. The brutal war
in Ukraine has shown that, while high
technology modern weapons are
battle-transformative, there is no
substitute for determined and gritty
action on the ground between soldiers,
which is battle-determining.
If our country is to play its full part
within Nato’s forward deterrence, then
an increase in the size and capability of
our land forces must be funded. The
debate for early next year is whether
this comes from a change of priorities
within foreign and defence policy or
whether it is through a rise in the
defence budget.
It is a remarkable comparison that,
in the inter-war years of the 1930s,
there was concern that the British
Army could no longer deploy a Corps
into the field; today it cannot deploy
even a single Division. Such capability
poverty is no deterrent – one wonders
if history is doomed to repeat itself.
The 2021 Integrated Review also
placed much emphasis on overall
national resilience. Defence of the
territorial integrity of the UK is one
facet of resilience but so is much else.
Bethlehem has changed from 80 per
cent to around 20 per cent.
The official figures for Christians in
Iran show a sharp decline in numbers.
Only Armenians, Assyrians and
Chaldeans can be recognised as
“Christian”. They now constitute less
than 1 per cent of Iran’s population.
Farsi-speaking Muslims are not
allowed to convert to another religion
although followers of other religions
can convert to Islam at any time. In
spite of such restrictions, record
numbers of Farsi speakers have
become Christian. This may be
because of a widespread
disillusionment with the Ayatollahs’
version of Shi’a Islam or of a powerful
spiritual experience in a dream, a
vision or a healing or because they
have been given a Bible to read.
In Pakistan, Christians continue to
be targets of the systemic misuse of the
country’s draconian blasphemy laws.
Once a complaint, however frivolous,
has been made, there is little that can
be done to prevent arrest, long periods
of detention and being sentenced to
death, before appeals to the higher
courts and the possible setting aside of
convictions.
At Christmas time and other feasts,
churches and Christian localities are
under greater risk of terrorist attack or
Tuesday 27 December 2022 The Daily Telegraph
As an island state, the need for
resilience in our supply chains for food
READ MORE at and commodities is obvious, but so too
telegraph.co.uk/ is our ability to weather a pandemic
opinion like Covid. Indeed, in the face of a cost
of living crisis caused not least by the
war in Ukraine, resilience also means
the ability for civil society to function
effectively during industrial disputes.
“Resort to the military” has often been
the knee-jerk reaction, but with the
size of the Armed Forces so much
reduced, the previous spare capacity to
step in to bail out the Government is
not so readily available.
It was therefore with much
anticipation that the frequently
postponed UK Government
Resilience Framework was published
last week. It is based around three
core principles – one of which is that
prevention rather than cure is
preferred whenever possible. That is
a good start (albeit a blindingly
obvious statement) but prevention
comes at a cost. The crisis in the NHS
could have been averted if the social
care nettle had been grasped, but
successive governments have found
that too expensive.
So, back to the war in Ukraine
and its consequences. If Russia is to
be contained and European security
If Russia is guaranteed, then there is a price to
pay. Did policymakers in the 1930s
to be look at Europe sufficiently through
contained Hitler’s eyes? Have we looked at
Europe sufficiently through Putin’s
and eyes? Prevention is indeed better
European than cure and deterrence is
infinitely better than war. Always
security remember: parsimony in the 1930s
guaranteed, nearly resulted in disaster in 1940 –
now we must not allow history to
then there is repeat itself.
a price to General The Lord Dannatt is a former
pay chief of the General Staff
mob violence. This naturally casts a
shadow over the celebrations.
READ MORE at Anti-Christian attacks in Nigeria are
telegraph.co.uk/ now not limited to the Islamic north.
opinion They are spreading down southwards
as Fulani herdsmen, threatened by
desertification, seek pasture and come
up against mainly Christian farming
communities. The targeting of
churches, especially during worship,
shows, however, that this age old battle
between pastoralists and farmers has a
strongly religious element to it.
We can go on. But now to the
question: what can we do to help? Here
are a few suggestions: write to the
embassies concerned and to your MP.
Write also to the UN Human Rights
Council. Give to agencies, like Aid to
the Church in Need, Christian
Solidarity or Open Doors, that are
working with persecuted
communities. If you can, go and visit
these communities either privately or
as part of a church or NGO delegation.
Raise awareness in the churches, the
press and on social media. The
persecuted inspire us to constancy in
our own faith and resilience in adverse
circumstances, whatever their cause.
Michael Nazir-Ali is a former Bishop of
Rochester and now a prelate in the
Catholic Church
The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 27 December 2022
ESTABLISHED 1855
A critical year ahead
for the Conservatives
T
here are three years in English and British
history when we had three kings: 1066, 1483
and 1936. Quiz masters can now add 2022 to
the years when we have had three prime ministers
– 1827 and 1834 among them.
The past 12 months will be seen as one of the
most remarkable periods in recent politics whose
implications are yet to be fully felt. On this day last
year, the seeds of Boris Johnson’s demise were
already germinating. His relationship with his
parliamentary party, despite delivering an 80-seat
majority in December 2019, had been damaged by
the goings on in No 10.
Although disgruntlement about the Downing
Street operation had been apparent almost from
the moment Mr Johnson became prime minister, it
seemed to subside after the departure of chief
adviser Dominic Cummings, whose relationship
with MPs was poisonous. But a number of events
were to come together that would result in a coup
against Mr Johnson before the summer was out.
The handling of the Owen Paterson affair was
arguably the genesis of his woes.
Mr Johnson sought to defend the former cabinet
minister from a 30-day suspension from the
Commons for taking about half a million pounds
from two companies and seeking to influence
government policy. Tory MPs were placed on a
three-line whip to oppose the recommendation of
the Commons standards commissioner and the
attendant Commons committee to penalise Mr
Paterson. Having done so, Mr Johnson then
reversed his position, forcing his colleague’s
resignation from Parliament, thereby triggering a
by-election in a once safe Tory seat that the party
lost to the Lib Dems on a swing of 34 points.
Had Mr Johnson dealt with this matter
differently, he might yet still be in No 10. His
difficulty was that it was not about policy, which
can be finessed to cover internal disagreement, but
party management.
Having won such a resounding election victory
just two years earlier, Mr Johnson drew the fateful
and erroneous conclusion that he was in
possession of a personal mandate – one that could
not be gainsaid by his party, only the electorate. As
a keen observer of British politics, as a journalist
and MP, he should have known this was a
dangerous principle to espouse. A prime minister
wields great power but is in office by dint of his or
her leadership of the biggest party in the House of
Commons, a position that can be terminated, as
Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May, Mr Johnson and
Liz Truss have all discovered.
Two other by-election defeats in previously safe
seats deepened the unease among MPs always
anxious about their prospects for staying in
Parliament. All of this took place against the final
wind-down of the pandemic lockdown measures
which many Tories felt had been too harshly
applied for too long. The discovery that in No 10
itself the restrictions had not been observed as
rigidly as was insisted upon for the rest of the
country saw MPs reeling from the anger of their
constituents over the double standards apparently
on show.
It was this fateful concatenation of
incompetence, drift, Cabinet frustration,
deepening personal enmities and backbench jitters
that left Mr Johnson so vulnerable despite his
election-winning credentials. When the end came
– over the inept handling of a relatively minor
internal party disciplinary matter rather than some
spectacular denouement – it was a bathetic
conclusion to a stellar political career. Mr
Johnson’s colleagues had had enough and resigned
in numbers, leaving him with no option but to step
down despite a somewhat forlorn attempt to keep
the show going.
He spent the next few months trying to ensure
his nemesis Rishi Sunak would not enter No 10 and
appeared to have succeeded in that endeavour
when Ms Truss was chosen. But Mr Sunak had won
the backing of more MPs than her, which was
always going to be a serious handicap should she
put a foot wrong.
As it turned out Ms Truss, and her chancellor,
did more than that. The political and economic
disaster of their one and only mini-Budget spooked
the party’s backbenchers once again and within 44
days Ms Truss was out – having already sacked her
chancellor in a bid to save her job – the shortest-
serving prime minister in history.
So much had happened in British politics since
the Brexit vote in 2016 that these events perhaps
appeared less extraordinary than they should have
done. To witness the defenestration of two prime
ministers within the space of a few months was
unprecedented in modern times, even if job
security was somewhat less certain in the 18th and
19th centuries. Until things settled down with the
appointment of Mr Sunak, the strength and
credibility of both the Government and the
Conservative Party had been ravaged. Labour,
which had found it hard to make a dent in the Tory
poll lead despite all the mishaps, suddenly found
itself 30 points or more ahead.
Only the failure so far of Sir Keir Starmer to cut
through personally with voters in the way that
Tony Blair did 25 years ago gives the Conservatives
hope. Mr Johnson and then Ms Truss were
removed by Tory MPs to avoid this eventuality
arising, a possible landslide defeat of 1997
proportions. Mr Sunak has fewer than two years to
rescue his party from a repeat of that debacle.
Today’s celebrity ‘guest editors’ are an insult to hard-working BBC staff
SIR – I spent nearly 30 years at the BBC,
mainly in an editorial role in the radio
newsroom – which included the night
we joined the Common Market – and
later on Today, Radio 1, Radio 4 and in
news management.
If “guest editors”including Lord
Botham and Jamie Oliver had been
suggested, especially when I was
deputy editor on Today, I would have
had to resign or take annual holiday. It
is an insult to BBC editorial staff,
especially those on the lower levels
who might one day hope to edit a
programme.
After all, many of us would love to be
a guest speaker of the House of
Commons, guest chancellor of the
Exchequer or even guest manager of
Arsenal or Manchester United. In the
latter role, I personally could rant and
rave at the referee and the opposition
with the best (or worst) of them.
However, these posts are fortunately
left to the professionals. Why can’t the
BBC be the same?
Alan Ashton
Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire
We accept letters
by post, fax and Bittersweet realities
email only. Please
include name, SIR – Lt Col Julian Crowe’s comment
address, work and (Letters, December 26), about last
home telephone buying Bendicks Bittermints 30 years
numbers. ago and being disappointed with the
quality of today’s offering, reminded
111 Buckingham me of one of our customers who
Palace Road, claimed to be “a regular”. However, his
London conversation showed he had last been
SW1W 0DT in our shop in 1947. Similarly, people
proudly tell me how they support our
FAX local pub, then it turns out that they
020 7931 2878 visit once every year on their wedding
anniversary.
EMAIL We have had many customers who
dtletters@ bought their oysters and smoked
telegraph.co.uk salmon only at Christmas, but
expected the fishmongers to be there
FOLLOW year after year. Perhaps if Lt Col Crowe
Telegraph Letters had bought his bittermints more
on Twitter regularly, the manufacturers could
@LettersDesk afford to return to better quality.
Elizabeth Jones
Buckland St Mary, Somerset
SIR – I am sorry that Lt Col Crowe was
disappointed by his bittermints, but he
should not be surprised that the
manufacturer is cutting costs if people
buy them only once or twice in a
lifetime.
Lionel Anderson
Peniscola, Castellon, Spain
Happy accidents
SIR – Living in my first flat, I had
occasion to visit Bill, a retired naval
commander on the floor above. A
delightful man, he invited me in and
said: “You are just in time.” (Letters,
December 22.) It was 11am and sherry
was served.
Whenever I subsequently visited,
which was often, I was delighted to be
just in time: 1pm was white wine, 4pm
sherry, 5pm red wine, 6pm pink gin
(my favourite) and whisky after.
“Chippy, chippy” was always the toast.
John Hopkins
Beckenham, Kent
SIR – A great aunt, who was absolutely
teetotal, was asked one Christmas Day
if she would like a second helping of
Christmas pudding. “No thank you,”
she replied, “but I would like a second
helping of the white sauce.” It was
laced with brandy, so I imagine her
afternoon nap was quite lengthy.
Janice Clay
Haslemere, Surrey
Festive delight
SIR – Finally, the perfect Christmas
presents (Features, December 23): four
pairs of socks and a bottle of port.
Bernard Kerrison
London SW4
Hunting appeals to our most natural sensibilities
CLIVE ASLET
T different from that of foxhunting in
NOTEBOOK
I
n the southern states of the US, rice
farmers used to be plagued by the
arrival of migratory birds, just as
their crop was ready. The aptly named
ricebirds – otherwise bobolink, a kind
of blackbird – were a particular
menace, descending in great, densely
packed flocks that cast a shadow on the
landscape they flew over. They bobbed
on the water of the flooded rice fields,
feeding on the heads of the plants
which were presented conveniently at
beak height.
By the time they left, when the rice
had been too hard to digest, they might
have eaten a quarter of the crop. The
only consolation was that they could
be shot in great numbers as a
“delicious morsel” for a “dainty
supper”, according to one 1890s
landowner.
Rice, as I discovered on a visit to
North Carolina earlier this year, isn’t
grown on the scale that it used to be,
but the way of life associated with it,
particularly duck hunting, exerts a
strong appeal. This is not hunting as
we understand it, although horses are
still the best means to approach the
prey and dogs find the quarry. There is
a whole paraphernalia of clothing,
camouflage and guns, and, from
photographs, I could immediately
understand the appeal.
SIR – In the 1980s the television
channels used to make an effort at
Christmas. As a result, I often bought a
blank tape or two for the video
recorder to save a film or other
programme that, in pre-streaming
days I might have missed.
What a waste of money that turned
out to be. Those same programmes are
still stuffing out the schedules today,
interspersed only with game shows
and soap operas whose formats and
plots would have been familiar, and
stale, to my long-deceased parents.
Is there any originality to be found
on the free public service channels
anymore? If so, I have failed to find it.
Christopher Thompson
Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire
SIR – My wife and I watched The Boy,
the Mole, the Fox and the Horse on BBC 1
(review, December 25) and it was the
best Christmas treat we have had for
years.
This short film should be essential
viewing for adults and children and
adults, and should have us all thinking
King Charles at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral at Saint George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle
Let’s have high hopes for King Charles’s reign
SIR – Not once did King Charles
mention sustainability in his first
Christmas broadcast. I was so very
relieved. Instead, he was eloquent
and uncontroversial. I was
pleasantly surprised that he is
following in his mother’s footsteps.
Christopher Hunt
Swanley, Kent
SIR – It seems some were concerned
that King Charles failed to make a
Cards help keep the remotest friendships alive
SIR – We moved many times in our life
as my husband was a civil engineer,
and made good friends at every home.
Cards at Christmas (Letters,
December 23) have always been a very
welcome way of keeping in touch and
hearing important news. I would hate
my house to be bereft of them at this
time of year. They remind me of old
friends, especially an American we
hosted more than 30 years ago when
she was singing in a choir.
Jacqueline Davies
Norton, Kent
SIR – As a young staff nurse in the early
1980s, working on a surgical ward I
nursed an elderly patient for four
months. His wife could not travel, so
the ward telephone was a vital source
of comfort for them both, and, at my
patient’s insistence, I would discuss his
care with her.
After my patient’s return home we
received a thank you letter from his
wife and news of his death. I replied,
passing on our condolences, and this
Superficially, this world looked very
Britain – more homespun, less
formalised. But really, the two fulfil the
same human urge to reconnect with
the deep past. Through hunting,
people whose weekday lives might be
spent in city offices could enjoy a
simpler state of existence, exposed to
the elements, following a pursuit that
is, in one form or another, as old as
human life itself.
Our species has always hunted and a
knowledge of landscape, weather and
wildlife is just as important to those
who hunt now as it was to remote
ancestors.
People whose weekday
lives might be spent in city
offices could enjoy a
simpler state of existence
Even after the hunting ban, the
sport arouses strong passions. Boxing
Day meets are a particular target for
saboteurs, even if the form of hunting
now allowed usually involves
following a trail that has been laid
beforehand rather than chasing a wild
animal. In the US, duck hunting also
has its opponents, although the scale of
the American landscape makes it
difficult to disrupt.
And yet I cannot help feeling that
the two sides have something in
common. The anti-hunting brigade are
often proponents of rewilding, the
movement that (perhaps misguidedly)
Letters to the Editor
more about others and less about
ourselves. The fact that it had two
60-somethings sobbing by the end
showed its impact.
Ray Powell
Shefford, Bedfordshire
SIR – What a shame your columnists
find Christmas such a trial and how sad
that so few seem to enjoy the company
of others. “Saturday” on December 24
was all about “survival”, “pressure”,
“anxiety”, “killing relatives”, “you’re
knackered” and “avoiding the blues”.
I hope they rose above their
negativity and were, after all, able to
share in the reciprocal enjoyment that
many of us experience at this time.
Vivienne King
Ipswich, Suffolk
SIR – Christmas Day television proved
to be as boring offering as usual.
Thankfully, I had two days’ worth of
Daily Telegraphs to keep me
entertained on the special day.
Dominic Shelmerdine
London SW3
IAN SHAW/ALAMY
comment about Prince Harry and
his wife in his speech (“The King’s
silence on the Duke and Duchess of
Sussex sends a powerful message”,
report, December 26).
I suggest, instead, they should
direct their concern to the people
with the problems to which he did
refer. Particularly the Ukrainians in
their own country and here with us.
Peter Dimery
Newport, Monmouthshire
was the start of a rewarding 30-year
Christmas card correspondence that
was not hindered by a 40-year age gap
or never meeting in person.
Jane Bradwell
Twickenham, Middlesex
SIR – While serving in Hong Kong in
1988, I bought my then girlfriend a
pearl necklace. Ever since, for 34
years, the jewellers, Winnie and Tony,
have sent me a Christmas card.
I hope the necklace, wherever it
may be, has lasted as long as their
heroic commitment to customer
goodwill.
Michael McGinty
Pinner, Middlesex
SIR – Although I don’t celebrate
Christmas, colleagues at work insisted
on sending me cards. I kept then
returned them the following year with
the “to” and “from” reversed. Some of
them saw the funny side of it.
Bill Ashton
Stockport, Cheshire
seeks to return parts of Britain to a
supposed state of grace, before
humans got their controlling hands on
it. Climate change provides them with
another reason for putting the clock
back. Surely there is an atavistic
impulse at work here.
Hunt saboteurs are not obvious
figures of romance – unlike the
cavaliers who jump hedges, each one
of whom is inwardly Prince Rupert of
the Rhine – but they are also nostalgic
for a vanished or vanishing world of
nature. It is an irony that foxhunting
would have disappeared in time,
without legislation, because the pace
of urban development means that the
open countryside which it is possible
to hunt over is rapidly shrinking. That
ought to distress the anti-hunt lobby as
much as their enemies.
‘ An extraordinary thing has
‘ At this time of year, the whole
world seems to be swept up in a
kind of communal nostalgia, expressed
in the rituals that are repeated. One of
our Christmas traditions, started (for
reasons that I can’t now remember)
when the children were young and
now continued as a sacred rite, is to
saw off the end of the Christmas tree
on January 6 and write the date on it.
We therefore should have a hearth
piled with Christmas tree stumps, duly
labelled in Sharpie, had I been able to
find them when I got out the other
decorations.
Perish the thought that any of these
would go into the wood-burning stove,
but that is another icon of the season.
We don’t actually worship this glorious
*** 17
The case for Ulez
SIR – As health experts and
professionals with many years’
combined experience studying the
impact of air pollution on patients, we
are in full support of extending the
Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) to
cover the whole of London (report,
December 25).
Getting the most polluting vehicles
off the roads, as well as providing
financial support for those who need it
to make this transition, is one of the
most effective ways to reduce
emissions from road transport and
improve air quality. This is what the
Ulez does.
The UK has the highest death rate
from lung conditions in Western
Europe, and London’s toxic air is firmly
at the heart of this crisis.
Air pollution across the capital is still
breaching legal limits and it far
exceeds safer World Health
Organisation guidelines. In 2019, toxic
air contributed to more than 4,000
premature deaths in London. The
highest number of premature deaths
each year due to toxic air is in outer
London boroughs such as Barnet,
Bromley and Croydon, which the Ulez
does not currently cover.
Improving air quality will also help
to reduce health inequities. Research
has shown that children living in the
most polluted areas of London develop
smaller lungs, and an increasing body
of evidence shows the link between
breathing in toxic air and developing
heart disease, lung disease and
dementia.
Bold action is needed to tackle the
huge health burden of air pollution,
and we commend the Mayor of London
for taking this important step.
Kevin Fenton
President, Faculty of Public Health
Sarah Woolnough
Chief executive, Asthma and Lung UK
Martin Machray
NHS England, London
Dr Josephine Sauvage
Sustainability Network NHS England
Professor Stephen Holgate
Special adviser on air quality, Royal
College of Physicians
Professor Frank J Kelly
Imperial College London
and 17 others; see telegraph.co.uk
Tom Watson atones
SIR – The former Labour deputy
leader’s words of remorse in his
maiden speech in the Lords (“Tom
Watson apologises for pushing false
sex abuse claims against Lord Brittan”,
report, December 22) struck the right
note.
Lord Watson of Wyre Forest’s many
merits include admiration of Stanley
Baldwin, who coined the phrase
“one-nationism”. He now promises to
champion police reform on a cross-
party basis. It is a subject I have raised
several times, with strong support
from his Labour colleagues, and he
must now join us.
Our target is the Home Office, which
must, among other things, give Sir
Mark Rowley the extra powers he
needs to purge the Met of corrupt and
underperforming officers, and end the
astonishing state of affairs that permits
a former chief constable, facing a gross
misconduct hearing after a damning
independent report, to retain a senior
police role. I hope Lord Watson’s
apology will be noted on the episcopal
benches of the Lords.
Lord Lexden
London SW1
Artisan ace
SIR – We are great fans of oatcakes from
Adamsons of Pittenweem and the Stag
Bakeries of Stornoway (Letters,
December 24), but cheese is best with a
good artisan bread.
Alasdair HM Adam
Dollar, Clackmannanshire
heat source, but it deserves to become
one of the household gods, given the
succour it provides at this time of high
energy bills.
The scent of wood smoke,
sometimes associated with trees I have
chopped down in the garden, is one of
those Proustian teleports guaranteed
to transport me to a bobble-hat
wearing walk down the frosty lanes of
childhood.
Wood burners are under attack from
the joyless apparatchiks of the nanny
state who do not believe modern
Britons can be trusted not to burn or
suffocate themselves when lighting a
fire. Have they no soul?
entered – or returned to – my
life: sketching. After a break of quite
literally half a century, I took up
pencil, brush and sketchbook again
in October. Despite a never to be
forgotten A in Art A-level, I dropped
what had been a schoolboy passion
on going to university, since there
were so many people who were
better at it.
Now, as I look forward to 2023, with
strikes looming and the economy in
rags, I am glad to have rediscovered an
activity that has no interface with the
modern world. A little like hunting, a
little like our wood-burning stove.
FOLLOW Clive Aslet on Twitter
@CliveAslet; READ MORE at telegraph.
co.uk/opinion
18 *** Tuesday 27 December 2022 The Daily Telegraph

Puzzles, Mind Games & Telegraph Toughie

 Business
The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 27 December 2022 ** 19

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M A R K E T S - Friday’s Close CURRENCIES COMMODITIES

FTSE 100 DOW JONES  FTSE 250

i
18830.08
+68.01 (+0.36pc) £$
i Property pressure
7550
BIGGEST
33500
GOLD  After mortgage costs

$1797.80
FTSE All Share 4083.66 Rate
7500 RISER i +4.41 (+0.11pc) nearly tripled over the
7450
Smith (DS) 33250
FTSE All Share Yield 3.58
1.2061 past year, what to expect
7400 324½p 33000
j
FTSE Eurotop 100
-0.01
3330.59
Change
+0.32¢ (£1491)
in the housing market
7350 +5½ (+1.72pc) j -4.25 (-0.13pc) +5.74 (+0.32pc) Page 21
32750
Nikkei 225 26235.25
i
7300
BIGGEST Don’t panic!
FALLER j -272.62 (-1.03pc) £€ Solid fundamentals should
7250
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Pearson
32500
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri BRENT CRUDE 

$83.92
EURO STOXX 50 3817.01 Rate
j ensure the economic
937⅝p
-6.28 (-0.16pc)
i
52WkHigh 7687.27
i
52WkHigh 36952.65
S&P 500 3844.82
1.1363 shocks pass and provide a
52WkLow 6707.62 52WkLow 28660.94
-8.00 (-0.85pc) i +22.43 (+0.59pc) Change springboard for recovery
7473.01 Yield 3.64pc -0.01 33203.93 Nasdaq 10497.86 +0.15¢ (February)
+3.73 (+0.05pc) P/E ratio 17.04 0.00 +176.44 (+0.53pc) i +21.74 (+0.21pc) +2.94 (+3.63pc) Kallum Pickering
Get the latest markets info, share prices and create a portfolio at telegraph.co.uk/markets-hub Page 22 Page 22 Page 20

Ex-Labour
frontbencher
advises Royal
Mail investor
Chuka Umunna hired by
Czech billionaire Daniel
Křetínský who has a 23pc
stake in the postal service
By Oliver Gill
CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT
A CZECH energy tycoon that trade
union leaders claim is plotting a take-
over of Royal Mail is being advised by
Chuka Umunna, The Daily Telegraph
can disclose.
The former Labour leadership hope-
ful, who was a prominent critic of Royal
Mail’s privatisation while a front-bench
MP, has been hired by Vesa Equity, the
investment business of billionaire
investor Daniel Křetínský .
Mr Umunna is working with Vesa in
his role as managing director and divi-
sion head at JP Morgan, a position he
has held since early 2021. He is advising
Mr Křetínský on his British interests,
which include a 23pc stake in Royal
Mail, a 10pc shareholding in Sainsbury’s
and joint ownership of Premier League
football club West Ham United.
Mr Křetínský, whose net worth of
$5.3bn (£4.4bn) emanates from owning
the largest energy group in Central
Europe, has been accused by postal
unions of pushing for either a takeover
or break-up of Royal Mail.
Dave Ward, head of the Communica-
tion Workers Union, has also alleged
that Mr Křetínský is behind the acceler-
ating pace of change at Royal Mail,
which includes plans to axe six-days-a-
week letter deliveries.
The accusations come as Royal Mail
battles the worst industrial dispute
since privatisation, with postal workers
striking in protest over pay and working
practice reforms.
Mr Křetínský is nicknamed the
“Czech sphinx” because of a lack of
public statements and his intentions at
Royal Mail are unclear.
Mr Umunna’s involvement leaves
him open to accusations of hypocrisy.
The former MP, who left Parliament in
2019, previously argued that David
Cameron’s privatisation of Royal Mail in
2013 would “destroy the UK’s universal
postal service”.
He said in 2013: “There’s no way
private companies can maintain six-
day-a-week deliveries to every single
address in the UK.
“Maintaining the Royal Mail in public
ownership gives the taxpayer an ongo-
ing direct interest of universal postal
services in this country … and it ensures
the taxpayer gets to share in the upside
of modernisation and the increased
profits which Royal Mail delivers.”
Mr Umunna joined JP Morgan as head
of environmental, social, and corporate
governance across Europe, the Middle
East and Africa last year following a
political career in which he repeatedly
attacked the banking sector. He criti-
cised “reckless remuneration encour-
aging risky behaviour” in the years
following the global financial crisis.
Representatives for JP Morgan and
Mr Umunna declined to comment.
Finsbury, the public relations com-
pany founded by Brexit critic Roland
Rudd, is also advising Mr Křetínský .
Like Mr Umunna, Finsbury has historic
ties to the Labour Party. Mr Rudd cam-
paigned on behalf of Lord Mandelson
during the early 2000s and went on to
advise Sir Tony Blair after he left office.
Although Finsbury was sold to adver-
tising giant WPP more than two dec-
ades ago, Mr Rudd is still its chairman.
Mr Křetínský , who also owns power
stations in Britain, remains an enigma
to many. He rarely gives interviews,
despite owning parts of the Czech The US-based augmented reality company is seeking to raising $450m to develop its headsets, which sell for more than $3,000 and are mainly aimed at industry customers
media and a stake in France’s Le Monde.
He began stakebuilding in Royal Mail
three years ago and was cleared to con-
tinue buying shares following an inves-
Saudis take control of virtual reality company Magic Leap
tigation by the Business Department.
Josef Kotrba, who leads accountancy By Matthew Field Founded in 2010 by US entrepreneur Leap 2, went on sale in September this (PIF) took a stake of more than 50pc in
giant Deloitte in the Czech Republic, Rony Abovitz, the company made a year in an effort to revive interest. The the business, giving it overall majority
said in 2020: “He is the definition of SAUDI ARABIA has taken control of splash in 2015 with a teaser for its aug- headset costs $3,299 and is mostly control. The accounts said: “As of
rationality and lack of emotion. He is American augmented reality company mented reality glasses that caused a aimed at industry customers. November 2022, the PIF is entitled to
very analytical and does a lot of the Magic Leap, The Daily Telegraph can surge in interest in the company. The new headset is often used by appoint four of the eight directors of the
financial analysis himself. reveal, as the company taps up investors Headquartered in Florida, Magic businesses to visualise design or con- board of Magic Leap.”
“The exception to this non-emotional for a further $450m (£373m). Leap partnered with New Zealand’s struction work or by medical profes- In August, it had $223m in cash and
and analytical way of investing is the Magic Leap, which has raised $4bn in Weta Workshop, known for its motion sionals who can use the headset for was continuing to seek further invest-
money he has put into football. He is a debt and equity funding but never capture work on The Lord of the Rings surgical planning. ment. Saudi Arabia led a $400m fund-
passionate football fan.” turned a profit, has been developing a films, on games for its headset. Video According to accounts for its Euro- ing round for Magic Leap in 2018.
Mr Křetínský owns Czech football pair of goggles designed to impose games for its augmented reality goggles pean division, Magic Leap raised $150m Other tech companies are also spend-
club Sparta Prague. He acquired a 21pc virtual images across the real world. included Dr Grordbort’s Invaders, fea- in preferred convertible stock and ing billions trying to make augmented
stake in West Ham in 2021 with an Despite raising funds from Google, turing the voice of Stephen Fry. $300m in debt “to date in 2022”. The and virtual reality devices mainstream.
option to buy out the club’s long-term China’s Alibaba and US telecoms giant However, its product, the Magic Leap funding has not previously been dis- Apple is rumoured to be working on
owners David Gold and David Sullivan AT&T, Magic Leap has struggled to turn One, enjoyed only modest sales when it closed. It follows a $500m raise in 2021. augmented reality glasses and a virtual
at a later date. its vision of hi-tech digital glasses into was released in 2018. The company cut During the course of its recent fund- reality headset, which could be revealed
Finsbury declined to comment, as did reality. At one stage it was valued at more than 1,000 jobs in the pandemic. ing rounds, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign next year. Magic Leap did not respond
representatives for Mr Křetínský. more than $4bn. The headset’s successor, the Magic wealth fund, Public Investment Fund to requests for comment.

Regulator to pay Comparethemarket £4.8m after ruling overturned

By James Warrington
THE competition watchdog has been
forced to hand £4.8m of taxpayer cash
to Comparethemarket after a ruling
about home insurance deals was over-
turned, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
The Comp etition and Markets
Authority (CMA) has been ordered to
pay the price comparison website’s
costs after losing a legal battle over a
fine it tried to hand down.
The CMA fined Comparethemarket
£17.9m in November 2020 over com-
plaints it had prevented insurers from
offering cheaper deals on rival sites.
But the ruling was overturned in
August, with a tribunal concluding
there had been no adverse effect on
competition and criticising the CMA’s
investigation.
The Telegraph understands the two
sides have now reached a settlement
agreement, with the CMA agreeing to
pay costs of about £4.8m.
The CMA is a non-ministerial govern-
ment department funded by the
Treasury, meaning the agreement will
impact taxpayer-funded budgets.
The settlement is a setback for Sarah
Cardell, the new CMA chief executive
who took over the top job this month.
It is likely to renew criticism of the
regulator, which think tanks and senior
Whitehall figures fear is stifling growth
by smothering deal making.
Comparethemarket’s
advertising
campaign is fronted
by Aleksandr Orlov
and his meerkat pals
The dispute revolved around Compa-
rethemarket ’s use of contractual
restrictions on home insurers that pre-
vented the website from being under-
cut. The watchdog ruled that these
so-called “most favoured nation”
clauses, used between 2015 and 2017,
made it harder for rivals to compete, as
they were unable to offer lower prices.
It found that home insurance compa-
nies were also more likely to pay higher
commission rates to comparison sites,
which could in turn push up premiums.
At the time, Comparethemarket,
whose parent company is BGL, said it
“fundamentally disagreed” with the
decision and filed an appeal.
In a landmark verdict this summer,
the Competition Appeals Tribunal
(CAT) sided with Comparethemarket,
which is known for its meerkat mascot
Aleksandr Orlov who uses the catch-
phrase “simples”.
The judicial body ruled that the most
favoured nation clauses had no adverse
impact on competition. It found no
evidence these clauses impacted the
commission paid by insurers to price
comparison sites or the premiums paid
by consumers.
A CMA spokesman said: “The CMA
has reached an agreement with BGL to
pay an agreed amount of the legal costs
involved. This is intended to be final
and to bring the matter to a close.
“The CMA will continue to investi-
gate suspected breaches of competition
law, which is there to protect busi-
nesses and consumers.
“It’s therefore appropriate for the
CMA to defend its position and, whilst
the majority of appeals are quashed,
this appeal was upheld.”
Mark Bailie, chief executive of Com-
parethemarket, said: “Although I am
naturally pleased with the Competition
Appeals Tribunal’s decision and with
this subsequent agreement with the
CMA, my main focus is on continuing to
help our customers get the savings they
deserve at a time when the role of price
comparison websites is more critical
than ever.”
The CMA has faced criticism for its
increasingly interventionist approach,
particularly to tech firms, amid fears
that the aggressive stance could make
Britain a less attractive market for inter-
national businesses.
Whitehall officials have called on the
CMA to focus on ending consumer rip-
offs, rather than intervening in deals
that could help drive economic growth.

Oxford professors raise £15m to build private lab
By Gareth Corfield
AN OXFORD technology start-up has
secured £15m for a new artificial intelli-
gence lab thanks to financial backing
from Japan’s biggest insurance group.
Mind Foundry, an AI company set up
by two Oxford University professors, is
partnering with Aioi Nissay Dowa
Insurance (ANDI).
The investment comes shortly after
the insurer hired 150 people to expand
its British base in North Tyneside.
Researchers at the Oxford-based lab
will help create new insurance models
for driverless cars.
The company said its initial research
will focus on whether software algo-
rithms and sensors in driverless cars
can cut road risks to insurable levels.
Critics have said current self-driving
car technology is more dangerous than
some makers claim. US regulators are
investigating Elon Musk’s Tesla over its
Autopilot software, which officials sus-
pect may have contributed to crashes.
Keisuke Niiro, ANDI’s president, said:
“Insurance was born in the UK and
Bubbles rationed for Valentine’s Day
breakthroughs of many kinds have their By Alexa Philips “We haven’t got enough following booming demand
origin here, so it’s the perfect place for champagne to sell,” Mr for the past two years.
our new hub of innovation.” FE A R S that champagne Drappier told France’s BFM Earlier this year the boss of
Brian Mullins, Mind Foundry’s chief bottles could run out before Business television channel. Moët Hennessy, the world’s
executive, added: “ANDI shares our V a l e n t i n e ’s D a y h a v e “We limit sales a little bit biggest producer of cham-
aspirations and understands the impor- prompted producers to start to make sure we have enough pagne, warned that it was
tance of digital transformation working rationing sales, a vineyard at Christmas, for Jan 1 and for “running out of stock”.
with – not against – society, and we will boss has said. Valentine’s Day next year.” Philippe Schaus said
also benefit from the University of Michel Drappier, head of Mr Drappier claimed other Americans had taken advan-
Oxford’s rich ecosystem.” the family-run Drappier champagne houses were also tage of the strong dollar to
Mind Foundry was started in 2016 Champagne, has b eg un setting aside to stock avoid snap up bottles of French
and recorded a loss of £16m in 2021, rationing its bottles to ensure shortages. Without action, fizz, raising the spectre of
having brought forward a £10m loss it does not run out before champagne “could be absent shortages over the festive
from 2020. Feb 14. from the shelves,” he warned, season.
20 ***
Business comment
Matthew
Lynn
Five reasons
why we can
be optimistic
about 2023
Britain has just suffered one of its
worst years economically but
there were some bright spots that
provide a glimmer of hope
S
terling crashed to its lowest level ever. We
went through four chancellors and three
prime ministers. Taxes rose to their highest
level in 70 years, real wages fell at the fastest rate
in decades and inflation pushed up the cost of a
typical Christmas dinner by 10pc. Oh, and to top
it all off, a wave of strikes brought the country to
a standstill.
As we look back on the last 12 months, there is
not much to cheer about. It is possible there have
been worse years for the British economy but
you would have to spend a lot of time looking
through the history books to find them.
And yet, just as the very worst Christmas
romcom on Netflix might have one or two funny
moments, or the team at the bottom of the
Premier League might still have a half-decent
centre-back, even a complete basket case of an
economy can still get a few things right. So given
that we are still in the festive season, here are five
reasons to still feel optimistic about the outlook
for Britain over the year ahead.
First, despite all the obstacles the Government
throws in their way, entrepreneurs are still setting
up businesses. Although there was a small net
decline in the total number of businesses in 2022,
the number of companies with employees – rather
than sole operators – rose by 32,000, or 2.3pc.
That is the real measure, since the rest are mainly
self-employed people managing their tax affairs.
Entrepreneurs are even getting a tiny bit of
extra help. Just about the only good bits to
survive Kwasi Kwarteng’s car-crash mini-Budget
were the increased allowances for the Seed and
Enterprises Investment Schemes, both of which
have been funnelling record amounts of money
into start-ups. These schemes have also helped
create networks of specialist Angel investors who
can spot which new ideas to back and help them
through the difficult first few years. Not all of
these early stage businesses will turn into the
new Dyson or Ineos – but one or two might.
Second, some of our biggest companies are
getting their act together.
GSK finally split out its consumer unit into
Haleon, creating two new businesses valued at
£60bn and £30bn respectively. Both will now be
far more focused. Unilever is
‘For a set to draft in a new chief
executive after years of
country to getting so bogged down in
social activism it forgot how
do well, its to grow. Shell has
biggest consolidated its
headquarters in London and
companies is pushing into green
have to energy. And if HSBC can
find a way of making its
perform’ Asian and European units fit
together it may well soon
find a way of making its global strategy work.
For a country to do well, its biggest companies
have to perform and there are signs that Britain’s
major conglomerates are turning a corner.
Third, we have more unicorns – as tech
start-ups worth more than $1bn (£828m) are
known – than ever. According to the newsletter
Sifted, another 11 British companies joined that
elite group during the past year, more than any
other country in Europe (France was in second
place with eight, followed by Germany on six).
The increase came despite the collapse of tech
stocks and the pressure on venture capital
funding that inevitably followed.
Newly anointed British unicorns this year
included the payments company SumUp and the
payments infrastructure provider Paddle. These
are all turning into substantial businesses with
real futures and the potential to generate lots of
wealth and jobs.
Fourth, the FTSE 100 is back. Ever since the
start of the century, the index of leading British
companies has been the dog of the global
markets. With its collection of tired energy,
mining and pharma giants, and some domestic
retailers who are struggling to adapt to the 21st
century, it has underperformed all its main rivals.
But this year was different. It just about eked
out a 0.01pc gain for 2022 (depending on what
happens over the rest of this week), while the S&P
500 dropped by 20pc, the Nasdaq by 32pc and
Germany’s Dax by 12.5pc.
As interest rates rise, investor attitudes
towards commodities, finance and
pharmaceuticals are shifting. These are all
industries where the British market is relatively
strong. If the FTSE continues to outperform,
global investors may become interested in the
UK once again – and perhaps even put more
money into the country.
Finally, this year we started to normalise
interest rates.
After the cost of money was slashed close to
zero following the financial crisis of 2008, it
looked as if we might well never get back to
asking people to pay to borrow again – at least in
the lifetime of anyone around now.
And yet this year, we started to return to what
would have been considered normal for most of
the last 300 years, with rates going up to 3.5pc.
Funnily enough the sky didn’t fall in and,
although there are plenty of predictions of a
crash in the housing market, it hasn’t happened
yet and may not.
One thing is for certain. Charging people to
borrow, and rewarding them to save, will make for
a healthier economy, and every baby step we can
take towards getting back there is for the better.
True, there is still a heck of a lot that is wrong
with the British economy. Taxes are way too high
and deliver little in the way of value for money
when it comes to public services. Incentives have
been broken, investment has fallen and too few
people are working. It is a mess.
Even so, it is worth keeping in mind that at
least a few things are going right – and so long as
that is true not all hope is lost.
Don’t panic: this crisis will be over
by summer if banks don’t overreact
KALLUM
NG
PICKERING
Solid fundamentals should
ensure that the economic
shocks pass and provide a
springboard for recovery
A
global energy crisis, surging
inflation, domestic political
chaos, a bond market panic and a
sharp monetary tightening: 2022 will
go down in the history books as one of
the hard years.
With a recession now unfolding as
winter draws in while strikes disrupt
the lives of many people, it is
unsurprising that the general mood is
deeply pessimistic.
By many accounts, Britain is now on
course for a long period of economic
pain. This seems a bit far-fetched. The
mere fact that the opening sentence to
this piece would not look out of place
in an article from 1979 or 1990 should
provide a dose of comfort.
Then, as now, a toxic cocktail of risks
produced a painful recession and dire
warnings that the British economy was
destined for years of serious trouble.
But beyond the immediate
downturns, the reality could hardly
have been more different. With some
sensible policy adjustments and a bit of
good fortune, Britain boomed in the
decades that followed the 1979 and
1990 crises.
In economics, as in life, present
circumstances often do not provide a
useful guide to the future.
Whenever times get tough, it is easy
to forget that boom-bust cycles are
normal. Easy too to forget that the big
swings in mood that track such
gyrations rarely fully match
fundamentals.
RUSSELL SACH
Heat pumps alone won’t save us from a freezing winter
ANGELA
NEEDLE
We must keep our energy
options open which is why
installing hydrogen-ready
boilers makes sense
T
he gas switchover of the 1960s
and 1970s from “town gas” to
natural gas was one of the
greatest infrastructure challenges in
this country’s history.
At the time, a debate raged over
whether to stick with coal-based gas or
use the new North Sea resource.
Arguments against natural gas ranged
from saying it was too expensive, it was
difficult to move around and it was
more combustible.
Fast forward 50 years and the same
talking points are rearing their heads
again as we discuss how to heat our
homes for a greener future.
The loudest voices will tell you the
silver bullet must be heat pumps. They
insist that all our homes should be
heated and run only on electricity,
supplied by renewable means. A
no-brainer with no alternative
required, they would have you think.
The costs associated with upgrading
the grid to accommodate the extra
electricity is barely mentioned and the
fact that about half of all electricity
generated during the recent cold snap
was with gas, because there was hardly
a breath of wind, is conveniently
overlooked.
Proponents of heat pumps are
In this column in July, I warned that
Britain would fall into recession over
winter, but that fundamentals were
broadly solid. For now, this remains an
accurate assessment.
Unlike in 2008, for instance, our
present troubles are not the result of
structural problems. This is not a
normal corrective recession that
follows a credit or investment fuelled
boom.
Instead, what we are suffering is a
contraction produced by a serious
exogenous shock – namely the global
energy disruptions following Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine. Compounded by
tight money and domestic policy
uncertainty, sky-high inflation is badly
hurting households and businesses.
Although the incoming data
suggests Britain is by now in recession,
the evidence suggests this downturn is
consistent with a pullback rather than
a plunge in economic activity. By and
large, the situation may even be
slightly less bad initially than feared.
Consumer confidence seems to have
bottomed in September while in
recent months the PMIs have been
moving sideways at levels consistent
with a slow-paced contraction.
Even though the latest vintage of
GDP data for the third quarter showed
the economy shrank by 0.3pc, rather
than 0.2pc as previously estimated, the
Bank of England now expects the
economy to contract by just 0.1pc in
the fourth quarter, versus a previous
estimate of a 0.3pc fall.
The Bank is probably a bit too
optimistic about the fourth quarter
judging by the sharp hit to housing
market activity. The situation will
probably worsen at the start of next
year when the lagged impact of tight
money policies fully hits demand.
As a result, Britain is probably on
course for a peak-to-trough fall in real
GDP of no more than 2pc. It could even
be significantly less.
That would be well-below the 4-5pc
average for downturns since the early
certainly right to say they will have a
major role in our future home energy
system. But hydrogen also has an
important role to play in offering
people choice and security of supply.
Heat pump supporters who believe
there is no other way should ask
themselves: why is the Government so
insistent on talking about hydrogen if
all our problems are solved by heat
pumps? Why are the boiler
manufacturers, who also produce heat
pumps, welcoming discussion of
hydrogen home heating?
The issue with going all in on
renewable electricity is that it can be
vulnerable to shocks. Something else
has to step in when there’s not enough
wind. That something else has to be
ready and waiting all the time.
We will need to use gas in the future
and we should be looking at low-
carbon options such as hydrogen.
This month, the Government
launched a consultation on whether all
newly installed boilers – of which an
expected 10m will go into homes over
the next decade – should be
“hydrogen-ready”.
This means they will be able to run
on the natural gas we use today but
will also be able to run on the
hydrogen gas we could use in the
future. They will cost the same, fit in
the same spot and run in the same way
as your boiler does now.
In the Government’s own words,
ensuring all new boilers installed from
2026 are hydrogen-ready is “a low
regrets action in terms of impacts to
consumers”.
When town gas switched to natural
gas, it took the industry a decade to roll
out. Like the switch to HD television or
bringing mobile phone signals to all
parts of the country, any mass change
1970s. Although America and the
eurozone seem to be coping a bit
better, the balance of evidence for
these regions is also consistent with a
winter recession in Europe and
softening economic activity in the
United States.
Inflation likely peaked in Britain at
an eye watering 11.1pc in October. In
November, it dropped to a still-
punishing 10.7pc. But the good news is
that the pace of inflation eased by more
than markets had predicted.
Although the outlook for inflation
remains uncertain and will depend a
lot upon the course of the ongoing
recession and global commodity
prices, the most likely scenario is that
price pressures will ease fast through
the middle of next year as the base
effects of this year’s energy price surge
washes out.
What remains is the smaller part of
the inflation problem caused by robust
nominal demand and rapid growth in
private sector wages. But the
disinflationary forces of recession and
tighter financial conditions will surely
sort that problem out.
Although wage growth looks set to
slow over the medium term, an even
larger drop in inflation should end the
real income squeeze for most
households within a year.
Cash-flush businesses seem more
worried about long-run labour
shortages than they are about the
near-term economic shock. As a result,
they are likely to continue to hoard
labour through the downturn rather
than shedding workers to cut costs.
This limits the risk of a major
unemployment surge that could leave
lasting scars, as well as a sudden
plunge in wages that extends the cost
of living shock.
The calmer situation in financial
markets since Rishi Sunak became
Prime Minister in October also helps.
Even though the Bank raised
interest rates in November and
December, interest rates on
takes time. That is why it’s so important
to start the conversation on hydrogen
now, even if hydrogen-ready boilers
won’t go on sale for a few more years.
The industry is convinced that now
is the time to start the discussion. That
is why we have come together to form
the Hello Hydrogen collective because
we know we cannot sit on our hands.
We are made up of Britain’s gas
networks, boiler and heat pump
manufacturers, and energy
organisations. All agree that
continuing to use natural gas will not
be an option if we are to reach our
carbon emission targets.
But we also know that we must
bring consumers along with us if they
are to embrace a future that no longer
uses the blue flames we’ve been used
to since the 1970s.
We know that reaching for the
thermostat is virtually reflexive,
getting a flame on the hob is expected
and running a hot bath is much
needed. Hydrogen can help to ensure
these everyday activities continue to
be as instant as they are now.
However, not all in Westminster
agree that hydrogen for home heating
has a significant future. A recent report
by the science and technology
committee of MPs gave a more
cautious view, saying its use in homes
is likely to be “limited rather than
widespread”.
The reason it could be limited is
because homes that use hydrogen are
likely to be in so-called “industrial
clusters” – sites where hydrogen will
be made and used for high-energy
industries. These hubs would cover as
much as 40pc of homes connected to
the gas network.
So the question remains: what
happens to those limited number of
Tuesday 27 December 2022 The Daily Telegraph
‘The most
likely
government debt as well as mortgages
have fallen back from their highs.
Global financial markets view Sunak
scenario is
that price
and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt as safe
stewards. Alongside our well
capitalised banks, broader financial
stability provides the necessary
pressures springboard for recovery once the
will ease fast energy and interest rate shocks fade.
through the A reasonable base case seems to be
that the worst will be over by early
middle of summer, and that the green shoots of
next year’ recovery will be visible by September.
Beyond an uncertain outlook for
geopolitics, the key risk to this hopeful
scenario remains central banks.
Having reacted far too late to
inflation in 2021, they turned suitably
aggressive in 2022. Next year, the risk
is that they go too far and over-tighten.
Policymakers at the US Federal
Reserve and the European Central
Bank recently dialled up their
hawkishness despite growing evidence
that inflationary pressures are rolling
over. While the Bank of England sounds
less aggressive, the risk is that it will
follow the lead of these major central
banks and hike well into 2023 instead
of stopping in February as it should.
Europe is already in recession and
America seems to be heading into one.
Central banks that excessively throttle
financial conditions will run the risk of
a needlessly deep shock.
In that scenario, monetary policy
would need to be eased aggressively in
late 2023 to restart growth and prevent
a bout of deflation. But even then, the
bigger hit next year would merely be a
prelude to the rebound of 2024.
In the current climate of fear, such
commentary can sound overly
optimistic. But it hinges on the
well-established fact that when the
fundamentals are sound, as they are,
economic shocks generally pass
without leaving much damage in
their wake.
Kallum Pickering is senior economist at
Berenberg Bank
Burning ambition
John Barrowdale
uses a blowtorch as
he works on the
boiler of the
Canadian Pacific.
The Merchant Navy
class locomotive is
being restored by a
small team of
volunteers and staff
at the Watercress
Line in Ropley,
Hants. They aim to
have the former
Southern Railways
train – originally
built in 1914 – back
on the rails by the
end of next year
with the help of a
£1.5m National
Lottery Heritage
grant.
homes? Do they get a choice or must
they only have a heat pump?
And what do we say to those who
cannot fit a heat pump or don’t have a
spare £15,000 for the cost of one?
The millions of households living in
Georgian terraced homes or city
centre flats will struggle to affordably
Economic fit a heat pump. Do we tell them to hold
Intelligence tight and a different electricity solution
will come along?
For unique insight
What should a landlord do when it
into the world’s
economic issues,
comes to upgrading a boiler in their
property? Increase rents to cover the
sign up to our cost of a heat pump? Or turn to a
Economic practical solution such as a hydrogen-
Intelligence ready boiler?
newsletter, The point is this: we must have a
choice. One glove will never fit all. We
by Ambrose need to look at all the options and stop
Evans-Pritchard telling people they can only have one.
and Jeremy The industry has a choice: continue
Warner to fit gas boilers or fit hydrogen-ready
telegraph.co.uk/ ones. We think doing the latter is a
ei-newsletter win-win situation and have committed
to the new boilers remaining the same
price as current ones.
I completely understand that change
can be difficult for many. We are
generally cautious of the new. We ask
questions and want to gather
information. We want ease and
convenience.
But without change, we would still
be using town gas. And if we are ever
to reduce the carbon emissions of the
future – of which residential properties
make up 26pc of all Britain’s emissions
– we need to be open to debate, willing
to work together and recognise that a
future with choice is the only rational
way forward.
Dr Angela Needle is campaign director
for Hello Hydrogen and director of
strategy at Cadent
The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 27 December 2022
High mortgage
rates and a slump
in the market will
make 2023 tough
Melissa Lawford
spells out the
difficulties faced by
homeowners and
buyers in the
turbulent year ahead
H
ouse prices will slump in 2023
as high mortgage rates crunch
buyers’ budgets and bring sales
to a 12-year low, analysts have warned.
From peak to trough, values will fall
by 12pc, according to both Capital
Economics and Oxford Economics
research consultancies. Lloyds bank,
Pantheon Macroeconomics and the
Centre for Economics and Business
Research have each forecast an 8pc
fall. Nationwide building society
expects a 5pc drop but, in a worst-case
scenario, it said values could plunge
by 30pc. So how will soaring rates
affect the market and how far might
house prices fall?
Growth is fast being eroded
Between August and November, the
average UK property shed £9,963 in
value – a drop of 3.6pc, according to
Nationwide. The house price growth
that was recorded this year is now
being eroded fast. Home values in
November were up only 3.2pc
compared with the start of the year, as
the curve of the pandemic property
boom starts to nosedive. Transaction
levels are also about to tank. Savills has
forecast there will be only 870,000
sales in 2023, the first time the number
has dropped below 900,000 since
2011. There will be 606,000 fewer
sales than in 2021.
There are lead indicators that show a
clear downward trend. There were
58,977 mortgage approvals for home
purchases in October, says the Bank of
England. Excluding 2020 when the
market was in lockdown, this was the
lowest number recorded since 2013.
*** 21
Business
The end of cheap debt
The market is undergoing a sea change
now that the era of cheap debt is over.
At the start of December in 2021, the
average two-year fixed mortgage rate
was 2.34pc, according to Moneyfacts, a
data company. A year later, that rate
was nearly three times higher, at
6.01pc. In just a year, the annual
interest bill for a borrower with a
typical £200,000 loan has jumped
from £4,680 to £12,020.
As a result, the share of a median
joint-household income needed to
cover the mortgage payments on a
typical home with a 20pc deposit has
soared from 25.7pc to 40pc, according
to Capital Economics. The property
market is now the most unaffordable it
has been since October 2007 – just
before house prices fell by one fifth.
The mortgage market outlook has
improved dramatically since the
September mini-Budget. Rates have
cooled since they peaked in October
– but they are far from what
homeowners have become used to and
can afford. As a result, much higher
rates will undoubtedly hit prices, says
Andrew Wishart, of Capital
Economics. “While the current level of
house prices was sustainable when
mortgage rates were 2pc, that’s not the
case at 5pc, 4pc or even 3pc.”
‘What will fall. Sellers may also become more something of a white knight – lender ‘It is now Now, homeowners have been stress-
The impact of higher rates motivated. UK Finance, the lender forbearance. The Financial Conduct tested far more vigorously, and lenders
High mortgage rates hit new buyers by define the body, estimates that 1.8m homeowners Authority has already planned ingrained in are likely to be even more generous.
reducing the amount that they are able market is will come to the end of fixed-rate guidance that will include letting lenders’ “It is now ingrained in lenders’
to borrow. “What will define the mortgages in 2023. They will get hit by borrowers switch temporarily to psyches that they must use
housing market is affordability at the affordability vastly higher rates when they interest-only payment plans without psyches forbearance,” says Philip Shaw, of
point of purchase. Borrowers simply refinance, and so there may be a need needing to have a clear repayment Investec financial services.
haven’t got the buying power,” says
at the point to sell up, creating a spike in the supply plan. “It is the big difference between
that they Another key factor that will
Lucian Cook, of Savills. A jump in of purchase. of properties for sale. now and the downturns in the 1990s must use determine levels of forced sales will be
mortgage rates from 2pc to 6pc cuts a The blow will be acute for the and during the financial crisis – the the labour market. Unemployment is
typical borrower’s loan size by 35pc,
Borrowers 500,000 borrowers coming to the end extent to which the banks and the
forbearance’ forecast to rise from its near-record
says property website Zoopla. Many haven’t got of two-year fixes. These homeowners regulators will go with forbearance. low of 3.7pc, but the forecasts so far
buyers will be unable to borrow at all will see their mortgage rate increase The ability for lenders to offer interest- have been conservative.
as they will fail lenders’ affordability the buying by 4 percentage points, according to only is going to be really critical to “In order to see a 30pc house price
checks, which are based on their power’ Pantheon. For a homeowner with a what happens,” says Cook. drop, we would have to see a
standard variable rate (plus at least one £200,000 loan, that means monthly During the housing downturn of the significant amount of stressed selling.
percentage point). As SVRs are pegged interest payments will jump by £667. early 1990s, hundreds of thousands of We don’t think that’s likely because
to the Bank Rate, affordability checks homes were repossessed by banks, even if unemployment hits 5pc, that
will become even harder to pass next Saving grace which in turn triggered even deeper will still be low by historical
year as the Bank Rate rises, even if Yet analysts are not forecasting mass price falls. During the financial crisis, standards,” says Robert Gardner,
fixed-rate mortgage rates continue to repossessions. The housing market has banks repossessed far fewer homes. of Nationwide.
22 ** Tuesday 27 December 2022 The Daily Telegraph

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Yield% Bunds T-Bonds 1500 750 Cropper J 885* — 1.1 62.3 3301 1691½ Admiral 2106 +28 7.0 6.3 185 138⅞ HICL Infrastructure ● 162* -¼ 5.1 164 934⅞ 610⅝ Fresnillo 872⅝ +1⅝ 2.5 18.4 1730 1110 Smith WH ● 1478 -19½ 0.6 -23.6 1820 1020 Churchill China 1175 — 2.4 31.1 100⅜ 67⅝ BMW € 83½ +¼ 6.9 3.2
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The share prices, price-earnings ratios and dividend yields 1642 1323 Smiths Gp 1590½ -2½ 2.5 6.0 309⅞ 201⅜ Legal & General 250⅝ +½ 7.5 7.3 790 610⅜ JPM Claverh'se 698 -2 4.6 700 39⅛ 19⅞ Capita 24⅞ +⅝ — 29.2 58 24 Futura Medical 50¼ -¾ — -27.4 19⅞ 14½ Deutsche Tele € 18⅞ -⅛ 3.7 1.2
below are supplied by Interactive Data (Europe) Ltd. The Oil & Gas +0.62%
yields are calculated using historic dividend payments 404⅜ 238⅛ Smith (DS) 324½* +5½ 5.0 15.9 704⅜ 501 Phoenix 611¾ +4¼ 8.1 -7.1 95 70¼ JPM Eur G&I 85½* +⅛ 4.8 97 20¾ 12½ Carillion # 14¼ — — 0.5 57 24⅝ Hornby 28½ — — 32.0 104⅝ 77½ Heineken € 89⅛ -⅛ 1.6 4.0
divided by the closing share price multiplied by 100.
4198 2415 Smurfit Kappa 3078 +22 3.5 13.3 1342¼ 782⅜ Prudential 1116½ +17 1.3 -17.3 675 408½ JPM Japanese ● 457* -½ 1.4 483 504⅜ 329⅞ BP 478⅞ +1 4.2 15.4 6520 3986 DCC 4067 -17 4.4 12.8 588 180½ James Halstead 198 +8½ 3.9 20.4 758½ 535 LVMH € 673¾ -10¼ 1.8 2.0
16390 9008 Spirax 10680 +135 1.3 33.6 1742½ 904⅝ St James Place 1091 +4 5.1 20.5 493 301 JPM Jpn SmCp G&I 329 +2 4.9 353 262 183 Capricorn Ener ● 258¾ +7¾ — 1.7 162⅜ 71⅛ De La Rue 80 +¾ — 7.3 1434¼ 637⅜ Jet2 994 -5¼ 0.3 -6.8 52¾ 38¾ LafargeHolcim SFr 48⅛ +½ 4.6 1.7
Aerospace & defence -0.41%
52 week 1556 1006⅛ Videndum ● 1052 +12 3.7 18.7 1380 735 JPM Mid Cap 879 +4 3.4 990 37⅜ 17 EnQuest 21⅞ +⅜ — -0.7 366 168⅝ Essentra ● 241½ — 2.6 27.1 106 69½ LifeScienceREIT 72½ -¼ 5.5 103 8¼ 5¼ Lufthansa € 8⅛ … — —
Investment trusts +0.27%
High Low (p) Stock Price (p) +/- Yld P/E 1936½ 1312 Weir 1673½ +5 1.5 16.8 822⅜ 459¼ Land Secs 618¼* +1⅜ 6.3 — 356½ 152¾ Hunting 332 +½ 2.2 -2.8 3689 2242 Experian 2807 -8 1.6 26.6 574 210 Mpac Group 285 — — 17.5 5¾ 4⅛ Nokia OYJ € 4⅜ … 1.8 3.6
52 week
High Low (p) Stock Price (p) +/- Yld NAV
371⅜ 262¼ Babcock Intl ● 291⅝ +2⅝ — 9.0 146 99 Lowland Inv 122 — 5.0 130 161¼ 62¾ Petrofac 72 -1 — -1.7 13640 8602 Ferguson 10285* +35 2.1 18.4 746⅝ 206 MS Intl 745* +275 1.3 24.1 28⅝ 22 Michelin € 26⅝ +⅝ 4.2 2.3
Food producers +0.13%
869⅜ 533 BAE Systems 855 -6⅝ 3.0 15.5 1507½ 1042 3i 1315½* -5½ 3.8 1454 241 156¾ Majedie 190¼ -1¾ 4.5 241 2557 1833⅜ Shell 2366½ +14 3.5 11.0 1198¾ 578⅜ Homeserve 1197 +1 0.6 30.3 350 170 Numis 193⅜* +⅜ 7.0 15.6 217¼ 166⅝ Pernod Ricard € 185 -1⅛ 2.2 1.5
396¼ 240¼ QinetiQ ● 365⅜ -¼ 2.0 23.3 2181 1223 Ass Brit Fds 1587* +18½ 2.8 17.9 368½ 281½ 3i Infrastructure ● 325½* +2 3.3 320 428⅝ 272⅛ Mtn Currie Port 296 +2 1.4 300 255 102 Wood Grp (John) ● 135 -⅜ — -7.9 5788 3485 Intertek Group 3998 +33 2.6 22.4 207 84¾ Premier Miton 102 +1 9.8 15.6 33⅞ 12⅛ Philips (Kon) € 14⅛ +½ 6.0 1.5
129⅝ 64½ Rolls–Royce 91⅝ +⅝ — 63.7 2706 1403½ Coca–Cola HBC 1950½ — 3.2 19.4 104½ 83¼ Aberdeen Diversified 94* +1 6.0 115 278½ 158⅜ Mercantile InvTr ● 193⅝* — 3.6 222 305⅞ 111¼ IWG ● 159¾ +3½ — -7.9 55 23⅝ SRT Marine Sys 46½ -1 — -13.2 158 93⅝ Siemens € 128½ … 3.3 1.1
Pharmaceuticals -0.50%
153¼ 111 Senior 125 -2 0.2 21.5 3888 2548 Cranswick ● 3040* -22 2.5 17.2 644 476¼ Aberdeen New India 552 -2 0.2 670 592 480 Merchants Tst ● 558 +1 4.9 550 167 69 Johnson Serv 98½ +2⅝ 0.8 65.7 107¼ 37 Tribal Gp 45⅝ — 2.9 13.4 37⅝ 18⅜ Societe Gen € 23⅝ +¼ 7.0 3.6
1257 495⅜ Hilton Food ● 553 +6 5.2 12.3 1048 867⅞ Alliance Trust ● 937* +1 2.5 981 193 145 MomentumM-A V 153½ — 4.7 157 11540 8214 AstraZeneca 11238 -68 2.0 — 82⅛ 44¾ MITIE Gp ● 77⅞* — 2.7 21.6 53¾ 13 Union Jack Oil 29 — — -34.9 19⅜ 11⅛ Stellantis € 13¼ +⅛ 8.0 0.7
Banks -0.08%
208 100½ REA Hldgs 105 — — -37.2 361½ 199⅜ Allianz Tech Trust ● 206½ — — 229 1394 875 Monks ● 949 +3½ 0.2 1055 5395 2487½ Dechra Pharma ● 2628 -22 1.7 48.9 586⅝ 441¼ Rentokil 514⅝ +⅜ 1.3 36.3 7½ 1¾ Xtract Resources 1¾ -⅛ — -4.4 131⅛ 74¼ Thales € 118⅝ -1⅞ 2.2 2.4
219⅝ 132 Barclays 157¾ +⅝ 4.0 17.9 4249½ 3267½ Unilever 4214 +1 3.5 20.6 514 345 Asia Dragon Trust 422 +2 1.5 469 937⅜ 715 Murray Income ● 833 — 4.4 887 5110 2186 Genus ● 3000 +8 1.1 48.0 498½ 325 Ricardo Gp 475 — 2.2 34.4 1660 863 Young & Co – A 1040 +16 2.0 17.7 60½ 43⅝ Total € 59¼ +¼ 4.6 2.2
1488 872 Close Bros ● 1053 -6 6.3 9.5 386⅝ 204½ Baillie Giff China 267½ +3½ 2.7 289 1352 1090 Murray Intl ● 1330 — 4.1 1313 3408⅛ 1280⅞ GSK 1452¾* -2 4.2 13.3 892 418⅛ Robt Walters 528 — 4.1 11.4 890 535 Young & Co – N/V 640 +21 3.2 16.3 19⅞ 13⅛ UBS AG SFr 17¼ +¼ 3.0 3.6
Gas & Water +0.32%
567¼ 434¾ HSBC 510¼ -2 4.4 9.9 150 73½ Baillie Giff Euro Gwth 86⅞ — 0.8 100 68 53½ Northern 2 VCT 55* — 6.5 58 2266 1174½ Hikma ● 1545½ -28½ 3.0 10.2 49¼ 27 SIG 30¼ +¾ — -1.3 The Alternative Investment Market is for young and growing 33½ 18⅞ Veolia Environ € 23⅞ — 4.2 0.7
companies. Shares may carry higher risks than those with a
56 38⅛ Lloyds Bk Gp 46 -⅛ 4.6 6.1 97⅛ 65¾ Centrica 96¾ +1½ 1.0 4.7 124¼ 68½ Balanced Comm Prp 86⅝* — 5.5
● 140 101¼ 83½ Northern 3 VCT 85* — 5.9 90 1858 1052 Indivior ● 1818 -6 — 15.7 199 118⅞ Serco Group ● 156¾ +⅛ 1.6 6.3 full quotation, and may be difficult to sell. 281¼ 145½ Volkswagen € 148⅝ +2¾ 5.0 3.9
284⅜ 196⅞ NatWest Group 264½ -⅛ 4.5 -40.1 1198 735 Pennon Gp ● 883 +1 4.5 — 125⅝ 90⅞ Bankers Invstmt Tst ●99⅛ +⅛ 2.3 108 69½ 57 Nthn Venture 58½* — 6.8 62 1683 707¾ Travis P ● 901¾ +6¼ 4.3 -91.5
Property +0.86% Recent issues
293 193⅜ Santander 246½ +1 3.2 14.0 3228 2167⅜ Severn Trent 2652* +1 3.9 -75.3 1217⅝ 722⅜ Biotech Growth 940 +20 — 1022 375½ 286⅜ Pacific Assets 352 -5 0.5 376 52 week
Telecommunications +0.03% Americans +0.54%
641 431¼ Standard Ch 625 — 1.7 12.3 1186⅞ 813¼ Utd Utilities 986¾* -3⅜ 4.5 -118.9 151 95 BlackRockEnrgy&Res 136* +½ 3.2 137 353 229¼ Pantheon ● 259 +½ — 479 22¾ 14⅛ Alina Hldgs 16½ — — 26 High Low (p) Stock Price (p) +/- Yld P/E
52 week
High Low Stock Price +/- GrsYd Cvr
140 114 BlckRock FroInv 130 +1 4.5 140 202 143¼ PremierMitonGlb 155½* — 4.5 179 72⅜ 47⅜ Assura ● 53⅞* +⅝ 5.8 — 201⅜ 110½ BT Group 114 -⅜ 6.8 8.8 ⅜ ⅛ Hellenic Dynmcs ⅛ … — —
Beverages -0.43% General financial -0.15%
708 396 BlckRck Grt Euro 465 +1 1.4 493 2780 1928 RIT Cap Ptnrs ● 2080 +30 1.8 2454 1760 938½ Big Yellow Gp ● 1141 — 3.8 — 2530 1262 Telecom Plus ● 2220 +5 2.9 49.2 98⅛ 33½ Alcoa $ 44 +⅛ 0.9 1.5 MedCaw Invest 10½ — — —
4110 3282½ Diageo 3647½ -15½ 2.1 26.0 301⅝ 177¾ Ashmore ● 230¼ -2⅜ 7.3 17.2 206 164 BlckRck Inc&Grth 191 — 3.8 203 329 283 Ruffer Inv Pref ● 310½ -1½ 0.9 306 563¾ 317¾ Brit Land 394⅛* +2⅜ 5.9 — 141⅝ 83¼ Vodafone 83⅞* +⅛ 9.4 13.2 199½ 130⅝ Amer Express $ 146⅞ +1½ 1.4 4.8 31½ 30 Smarttech247 30 — — —
500 166¼ Bridgepoint Grp ● 189⅞ +⅛ 4.0 11.9 457 329 BlackRock Latin 378 — 5.5 420 510¾ 366½ Schroder Asian TR 412 +9 2.1 431 235 130¼ CLS Hldgs ● 151¾ +1⅜ 5.2 5.2 50⅛ 29¼ BankAmerica $ 32½ +⅛ 2.7 3.6
Chemicals +0.61% Tobaccos -0.15%
1399½ 735⅝ Hargreaves L 850⅝ +6¾ 4.7 13.6 215 183¼ BlckRckSustAmerInc 195* -3½ 4.1 205 548 434 Scot American ● 507 +2 2.7 498 67 42¾ Cap&Regional 60 +1¼ 8.3 — 229⅝ 113 Boeing $ 188⅞ +⅝ — —
10330 5862 Croda Intl 6646 +28 1.6 28.9 883 646¾ IG Group ● 786 — 5.6 6.6 2190 1162 BlackRock Small ● 1340 -2 2.7 1552 1358⅝ 670⅝ Scot Mortgage 721⅝ +4⅝ 0.5 809 3592¼ 1783 Derwent Ldn ● 2348 +26 3.3 — 3645 2700½ Brit Am Tob 3316½* -3 6.6 11.2 241⅞ 160⅝ Caterpillar $ 239⅞ +2⅜ 2.0 2.9
2536 1650 Johnson Mat ● 2106* +11 3.7 19.8 2242 937 IntermediateCp ● 1135* — 7.3 6.1 988 478 BlkRk Throg Tst ● 591 +1 1.8 613 242 207 Sec Tst of Scot 223* +2 2.7 223 790 388⅛ Gt Portland Est ● 499⅜* +2¾ 2.5 — 2185 1434¼ Imp Brands 2082* -8 6.8 12.5 189⅝ 115⅜ Chevron $ 177⅛ +5⅛ 3.2 3.1
2502 1522 Victrex ● 1609 +33 3.7 18.4 541⅜ 336¼ Investec ● 511¾* +2¾ 5.4 9.8 805 524 BlackRock Wld M ● 689* — 6.3 687 2040 1120 Smithson Inv Tst ● 1304 +22 — 1394 323 202¾ Grainger ● 259⅜ +4⅜ 2.3 8.4 59⅞ 41¾ Coca–Cola Euro $ 54⅞ … 3.1 1.1
Transport +1.33%
128 51¾ IP Group ● 57¼ … 2.1 3.3 1140 888 Brunner 1010 +18 2.1 1146 502⅞ 263 TR Property ● 300½* — 4.9 323 40¼ 17 Hammerson ● 23¾ +¼ 1.7 — 85⅝ 67⅞ Colgate Palm $ 79⅜ +⅛ 2.4 1.2
Construction +0.09%
2255 692 Liontrust ● 1070* +14 6.7 11.0 4151¼ 3015 Caledonia ● 3575* -5 1.8 5021 180⅜ 128⅝ Tmpletn Em Mt ● 145⅝* — 3.3 168 472½ 292¼ Helical 335½* +9½ 3.4 4.6 531⅜ 173⅝ Int'l Dist Service ● 211⅛ +3¼ 9.5 3.4 85⅛ 49½ DuPontDeNemrs $ 68¼ +¾ 1.9 2.4
350¾ 207¾ Balfour Beatty ● 342⅝ +1¾ 2.8 16.1 39½ 32¼ Lon. Fin. & Inv. 37 — 3.1 -26.4 180¼ 92⅞ Capital&Count ● 104⅝ +2⅜ 1.7 30.8 83 64⅜ Troy Inc & Gr 69¼ — 2.9 71 1460 744½ Safestore ● 939½ +13 2.9 — 445 276½ Redde Northgate ● 418* +2 5.4 10.1 114⅝ 60⅜ Exxon Mobil $ 108¼ +2⅜ 3.4 0.4
765⅛ 313 Barratt Dev 403¾ -1¼ 9.1 8.0 8612 6230 Lon Stock Ex 7130 -58 1.4 59.3 427 363¼ City of Lon ● 409½ +1½ 4.9 400 126¼ 115 UIL Fin ZDP 2024 125 — — 127 1472 750 Savills ● 836½ +11½ 4.2 8.0 426½ 270½ Wincanton 344½* +7 3.6 8.9 47⅜ 23⅞ Foot Locker $ 35⅛ +⅜ 4.6 2.8
3441 1572 Bellway ● 1931½* +6 7.2 9.8 230 159¼ M&G 187⅛ +⅞ 9.8 56.7 232⅛ 147½ CQS Nat Res G & I 198½ — 2.8 231 118½ 104 UIL Fin ZDP 2026 114½ — — 126 1508 669¼ Segro 760 +3¾ 3.3 — 103¾ 59⅞ Gen Electric $ 82 +¼ 0.4 14.7 Market data based on Friday’s Close
Travel & Leisure -0.10%
4918 3120 Berkeley Grp 3836 +9 0.6 9.2 277 177¼ Man Group ● 217¾ -⅛ 5.3 7.6 300 214 CT Glbl Mgd G 231 — — 231 227½ 196 Utilico Emerg 207 +2 3.9 239 182⅜ 123½ Town Centre 155* +2 3.2 — 417⅞ 264½ Home Depot $ 317⅜ +1¼ 2.4 2.0 Bold FTSE100 Stocks ● FTSE250 Stocks
349 225 Boot H 233 -2 2.7 11.0 369¾ 130 Provident Fin 185¾ +5¼ 9.1 -5.6 149 112 CT Glbl Mgd I 120½* — 5.5 120 256 199¾ Witan ● 220 +2 2.6 233 251¾ 120⅛ Tritax Big Box ● 138¼ +1¼ 4.8 240 1604 482⅞ Carnival ● 580 +8¾ — -0.8 221⅞ 166⅝ Honeywell $ 214½ +2¼ 1.9 1.9 * Ex-dividend † Ex-scrip ‡ Ex-all
§ Ex-rights # Suspended
56 32 Costain 38½ +½ — -18.3 181 82 Quilter ● 92⅞ +1½ 6.2 8.5 520 375½ CT Priv Eq Ord 427 +7 5.8 711 3645 2820 Worldw HealthTr ● 3260* +15 0.8 3482 178 101¾ Warehouse REIT ● 107¼* +3 6.1 152 729¼ 276⅞ easyJet ● 340¾ +3 — -15.2 41½ 24⅛ HP $ 26¾ … 3.9 2.9
Cover relates to the previous year’s dividend.
4024 2736½ CRH 3270 -5½ 3.1 12.0 2230 1426⅛ Rathbones Grp ● 2065 +35 4.0 15.5 101 66⅜ CT Property Trust 68* +1¼ 5.9 122 Net Asset Values © 2022 Morningstar Estimated at previous 893 335¼ Workspace Gp ● 435¾ +⅝ 5.3 — 1774½ 994⅝ Entain 1310½ +2½ 0.6 30.8 153¼ 115½ IBM $ 141 … 4.7 0.2 Yields are net of basic rate tax.
day's close see www.Morningstar.co.uk. Data is provided for information purposes only and is not
1272 621⅞ Grafton Gp ● 791 +⅜ 4.0 5.5 2873⅜ 1900 S & U 2145 -5 6.0 6.9 345 256 CT UK Cap & Inc 296½ -½ 4.0 298 145⅝ 83¾ FirstGroup ● 101¼* +⅝ 2.7 1.7 56¼ 24⅝ Intel $ 26 … 5.6 2.2 intended for trading purposes. Speak with a financial
advisor before using any data to make transactions.
2600 1330 Morgan Sindall ● 1526 +24 6.2 7.2 596¾ 348 Schroders 438⅛ +4 4.7 11.7 95 71 CT UKHighIncTst 82½ — 6.6 89 12365 7340 Flutter Entrtmt 11500 -45 — -48.6 50¼ 30¾ Intl Paper $ 34¾ +¼ 5.3 2.8

Winners & Losers - Friday’s Close Major price changes FTSE 100 - Friday’s Close World market indices - Friday’s Close Exchange rates £ > € Rate 1.1363 Change +0.15¢ £ > $ Rate 1.2061 Change +0.32¢
© Transport 1.33 Risers 58 Volume Close Change Fallers 40 Volume Close Change Index Change
© Smith (DS) 1.40m 324½ 1.72pc ª Pearson 0.38m 937⅝ -0.85pc ª Australia All Ordinaries 7287.80 -47.40 -0.65pc Tourist £1 = Sterling £1 = 1 Euro = 1 Dollar =
© AIM 1.29 © Pershing Square 0.07m 2890 1.58pc ª Lon Stock Ex 0.14m 7130 -0.81pc © Brazil Bovespa 109697.57 +2146.05 +2.00pc Australia Aus $ 1.7076 1.7999 1.5840 1.4924
© Centrica 7.08m 96¾ 1.55pc ª B&MEurValRtl 0.66m 408¾ -0.80pc ª China Shanghai Composite 3045.87 -8.56 -0.28pc Canada Can $ 1.5654 1.6385 1.4419 1.3585
© Mining 0.92
© Prudential 4.19m 1116½ 1.55pc ª Natl Grid 1.95m 989⅝ -0.80pc ª France CAC General 6504.90 -13.07 -0.20pc Denmark Krone 8.0423 8.4501 7.4363 7.0064
© Anglo Amer 0.85m 3249½ 1.42pc ª BAE Systems 2.33m 855 -0.77pc © Germany DAX 13940.93 +26.86 +0.19pc Euro € 1.0847 1.1363 … 0.9422
© Property 0.86
© Admiral 0.19m 2106 1.35pc ª Frasers Group 0.14m 728 -0.75pc ª Hong Kong Hang Seng 19593.06 -86.16 -0.44pc Hong Kong HK $ 8.9373 9.4121 8.2828 7.8041
© Insurance 0.64 © Spirax-Sarco Eng 0.04m 10680 1.28pc ª Auto Trader Grp 0.92m 518¼ -0.69pc ª India BSE S&P SENSEX 59845.29 -980.93 -1.61pc India Rupee 88.1500 99.9394 87.9488 82.8650
© Airtel Africa 3.20m 112¾ 1.26pc ª Burberry 0.69m 2004 -0.69pc ª Japan Nikkei 26235.25 -272.62 -1.03pc Israel Shekels 3.7958 4.2239 3.7171 3.5023
© Oil & Gas 0.62 © Rio Tinto 2.02m 5808 1.20pc ª IntContl Hotels 0.16m 4725 -0.65pc ª Singapore Straits Times 3257.70 -11.83 -0.36pc Japan Yen 152.3700 160.2237 141.0003 132.8500
© Ass Brit Fds 0.54m 1587 1.18pc ª AstraZeneca 0.44m 11238 -0.60pc ª Spain Madrid SE 823.57 -0.22 -0.03pc Kuwait Dinar … 0.3696 0.3252 0.3065
© Chemicals 0.61 © Endeavour Mg 0.08m 1771 0.97pc ª SSE 0.65m 1707 -0.52pc © Switzerland SMI Index 10804.68 +30.04 +0.28pc New Zealand NZ $ 1.7881 1.9180 1.6879 1.5903
© Schroders 0.44m 438⅛ 0.92pc ª Aviva 1.23m 444 -0.45pc © USA Dow Jones 33203.93 +176.44 +0.53pc Norway Krone 11.3200 11.9177 10.4878 9.8815
© Engineering / Industrial 0.55
© Intertek 0.14m 3998 0.83pc ª 3i 0.68m 1315½ -0.42pc © USA Nasdaq 10497.86 +21.74 +0.21pc Pakistan Rupee 256.6800 272.1453 239.4937 225.6500
© Taylor Wimpey 4.96m 103⅛ 0.83pc ª DCC 0.06m 4067 -0.42pc Saudi Arabia Riyal 4.2428 4.5354 3.9912 3.7605
© Healthcare 0.53
© Hargrve Lans 0.25m 850⅝ 0.81pc ª Diageo 3.21m 3647½ -0.42pc Singapore $ 1.5179 1.6290 1.4336 1.3507
ª Travel & Leisure -0.10 © Smith&Neph 0.57m 1105½ 0.73pc ª Ocado Group 0.40m 626⅝ -0.41pc Commodities summary - Friday’s Close South Africa Rand 19.3700 20.5104 18.0496 17.0063
© Smurfit Kappa 0.05m 3078 0.72pc ª Flutter Entrtmt 0.10m 11500 -0.39pc Sweden Krona 12.0500 12.6972 11.1738 10.5279
ª Information technology -0.11 © Phoenix 0.32m 611¾ 0.69pc ª HSBC 19.35m 510¼ -0.39pc Price Change Switzerland Franc 1.0716 1.1258 0.9907 0.9335
© Melrose Ind 1.88m 131 0.65pc ª RELX 0.89m 2299 -0.39pc © Gold per troy oz $1797.80 +5.74 +0.32pc Thailand Baht 37.5100 41.8831 36.8580 34.7275
© Rolls Royce 8.15m 91⅝ 0.64pc ª Imp Brands 0.47m 2082 -0.38pc © Silver per troy oz £19.67 +0.10 +0.50pc UAE Dirham 4.1591 4.4291 3.8977 3.6724
ª General financial -0.15
© Scot Mort Inv Tst 0.57m 721⅝ 0.64pc ª Sainsbury 1.55m 219¼ -0.36pc © Krugerrand £1509.91 +3.02 +0.20pc UK £ … … 0.8800 0.8292
© British Land 0.75m 394⅛ 0.61pc ª Utd. Utilities 0.48m 986¾ -0.34pc © New Sovereign £342.43 +0.75 +0.22pc USA $ 1.1527 1.2061 1.0614 …
ª Tobaccos -0.15
© Maples £1510.07 +0.91 +0.06pc Tourist rates for indication use only. www.travelex.co.uk
ª Media -0.25
Results Roundup Previously Published * (1) © Platinum per oz £848.53 +34.56 +4.25pc
Company Turnover(£) Pre - tax(£) EPS(p) DIV(p) Pay Day XD © Palladium per oz £1453.86 +57.02 +4.08pc Money & Rates
Carnival* Fin 12.2bn (1.9bn) -6.1m (-9.5m) -516.000 (-846.000) 0.000 (0.000) – – © Copper† grade A £6946.77 +80.03 +1.17pc
ª Aerospace & defence -0.41
Cellular Goods Fin 28.9m (–) -6.0m (-3.3m) -1.183 (-0.962) n/a (n/a) – – ª Tin† high grade £19849.10 -11.24 -0.06pc RPI (1987=100) Nov 358.30 +0.6pc +14.0pc
Gfinity Fin 5.3m (5.7m) -4.2m (-4.1m) 0.400 (0.400) n/a (n/a) – – © Lead† £1872.56 +47.39 +2.60pc RPIX (Target 2.5pc) Nov 358.80 +1.7 +13.5pc
ª Beverages -0.43
Indus Gas $ Int 27.4m (27.1m) 22.8m (23.0m) 7.000 (9.000) n/a (n/a) – – © Zinc† special high grade £2470.36 +35.41 +1.45pc CPI (2015=100 target 2pc) Nov 126.70 +0.4pc +10.7pc

ª Pharmaceuticals -0.50 Kodal Minerals Int – (–) -491k (-373k) -0.290 (-0.240) n/a (n/a) – – ª Aluminium† high grade £1986.15 -2.37 -0.12pc Halifax house price index Nov 492.50 -2.3pc +4.7pc
Mineral & Financial Investments Fin 1.3m (1.4m) 899k (997k) 2.500 (2.700) n/a (n/a) – – © Nickel† £24707.74 +324.99 +1.33pc

ª Electricity -0.57 Online Blockchain Fin 107k (65k) -1.1m (25k) -8.910 (0.250) 0.000 (0.000) – – ª Baltic Dry Index* 1515.00 -135.00 -8.18pc Bank Rate 3.50pc Nationwide Base Mortgage Rate 5.00pc
Panthera Resources $ Int – (–) -1.4m (-1.9m) -1.000 (-2.000) n/a (n/a) – – © Wheat per tonne £236.50 +0.50 +0.21pc 1 month 3.47pc US Fed Funds 4.25-4.50pc
SME Credit Realisation Fund Int – (–) 8.0m (7.6m) 21.960 (7.480) n/a (n/a) – – © Brent Crude Feb settlement $83.92 +2.94 +3.63pc 3 months 3.81pc US Long Bonds Yld 3.81pc
Walker Crips Group Int 16.1m (15.7m) 145k (54k) 0.270 (0.100) 0.250 (0.300) Jan 20 Jan 05 6 months 4.34pc European base rate 2.50pc
*Copyright Baltic Exchange Information Services Ltd. †Data provided by the London Metal Exchange.

Mid Change Mid Change Mid Change Mid Change Mid Change Mid Change Mid Change Mid Change
Name Init chge Sell Buy on day Name Init chge Sell Buy on day Name Init chge Sell Buy on day Name Init chge Sell Buy on day Name Init chge Sell Buy on day Name Init chge Sell Buy on day Name Init chge Sell Buy on day Name Init chge Sell Buy on day

Long-Term Global Equity 0% 289.28 -3.31 Discretionary Unit Fund Global Growth Acc 4.25 4256 … Jupiter Monthly Alt Inc L Inc – *27.7 +0.0437 Charity Multi Asset Acc – 10531.44 -65.65
Asian Income 0% 127.3 -1.36 No 1, Poultry, London EC2R 8JR. 020 7415 4130 Global Strategic Cap Acc† 5.00 299.6 … Jupiter Multi Asst Inc L Acc – *96.27 -0.4396 Charity Multi Asset Dis – 88.13 -0.55
Continental European 0% 209.5 -1.97 Maitland Discretionary Inc 3.00 1640.797424 … Global Technology A Acc 5.00 2575 … Jupiter Multi Asst Inc L Inc – *49.52 -0.2261 Eqty Inv Chrties GBP Inc – 1465.94 -7.18

AXA Investment Managers UK Global Dynamic Bd 0% 84.77 -0.03 Inst UK IDX Opp Tr – 111.8489 … Jupiter Multi Asst I & G L Inc – 94.07 -0.6638 Eqty Inv Chrties GBP Acc – 28875.68 -141.24
Limited Global High Yield Bd 0% 74.47 +0.02 Multi-Mgr Abs Ret A Acc 5.00 160.4 … Jupiter N.American Inc L Acc – 196.11 -2.8449 †CAR - Net Income reinvested.
7 Newgate Street, London, EC1A 7NX
BNY Mellon Fund Managers Jupiter Unit Trust Managers Ltd
www.axaframlington.com Cust Svs: 0845 777 5511 Investors: 0800 614330 Brokers: 08085 660000 Global Opportunities 0% 256.1 -3.63 Fundsmith LLP Multi-Mgr Active A Acc† 5.00 248.6 -1 The Zig Zag Building, 70 Victoria Street, London, Jupiter N.American Inc L Inc – 150.31 -2.1806
www.bnymellonim.co.uk, SW1E 6SQ Natwest Investment Funds
clientservices@bnymellon.com International Bd 0% 104.23 -0.50 PO Box 10846, Chelmsford, Essex, CM99 2BW. Multi-Mgr Distbn A Inc 5.25 123.8 … 020 3817 1000 Jupiter Responsible Inc L Acc – 123.12 -0.6947 (RBS Collective Investment Funds Ltd)
BNY Mellon Investment Funds (ICVC) 0330 123 1815
Amer Gwth Acc – 1070 -20.00 Multi-Asset Bal 0% 156.69 -1.40 Multi-Mgr Divrsfd A Acc – 85.56 … Jupiter Responsible Inc L Inc – 66 -0.3724 PO Box 249, York YO90 1ZY
www.fundsmith.co.uk enquiries@fundsmith.co.uk
Sterling Income Shares 0117 940 3848
Biotech Acc – 261.2 -0.60 Mult-Asset Div Return 0% 135.09 -0.76 Multi-Mgr Inc&Gwth A Acc 5.00 184.2 … Jupiter Abslt Rtn L Acc – *32.53 +0.0115 Jupiter Strategic Bond L Acc – *93.56 -0.2924
Clean Economy R Acc – 1022 -21.00 Global Income 0% 253.48 -2.22 Mult-Asset Growth 0% 232.3 -2.11 Fundsmith Equity T Acc – 571.72 -0.0674 Multi-Mgr Inc&Gwth A Inc 5.25 144.2 … Jupiter Asian Fd L Inc – 908.95 -12.8447 Jupiter Strategic Bond L Inc – *53.69 -0.1678 Global Bond Fund Inc – 83.76 …
Emerg Mkts Acc – 263.0 -3.10 Corporate Bond 0% 79.4 -0.12 Oriental 0% 183.82 -2.40 Fundsmith Equity T Inc – 521.71 -6.16 Multi-Mgr Mangd A Acc† 5.00 304.5 -1 Jupiter Asian Inc L Acc – 182.21 -2.5758 Jupiter UK Growth L Inc – 244.58 -2.0819 Mangd Eqty Grwth Fnd Acc – 118.6 …
FinTech R Acc – 723.4 -10.00 Equity Inc 0% 146.1 -1.17 Real Return A 0% 106.77 … Multi-Mgr Mangd A Inc† 5.00 294.7 -1 Jupiter Asian Inc L Inc – 140.44 -1.9855 Jupiter UK Smaller Cos Eq L Acc– 342.75 -0.8583 Mangd Grwth Fund Inc – 110.1 …
Global Tech – 183.2 -4.70 Equity Inc Booster 0% 92.97 -0.74 UK Equity Fund 0% 138.62 -1.03 Sterling Bond Acc† 4.25 201.1 … Jupiter China L Acc – 98.88 -0.7390 Jupiter UK Special Sits L Inc – 197.6 -0.9649 Mangd Grwth Fund Acc – 113.9 …
Global Thematics R GBP Acc – 1970 -26.00 Glob Abs Ret 0% 107.81 -0.23 UK Income 0% 138.75 -1.04 Sterling Bond Inc† 4.25 55.2 … Jupiter China L Inc – 92.03 -0.6878 Jupiter US Sm&Md Inst I Acc – 80.99 … UK Eqty Fund Acc – 113.7 …
Health Acc – 3007 -9.00 Glob Multi-Strat 0% 113.43 -0.47 UK Opportunities 0% 149.4 -1.12 Strategic Bond A Inc 4.00 104 … Jupiter Corp Bond L Inc – *50.28 -0.0836 Jupiter US Sm&Md Cap Ret Acc– 74.46 … UK Eqty Fund Inc – 100.2 …
Japan R GBP Acc – 572.2 -8.70 Inflation-Linked Corp Bd 0% 107.44 +0.39 US Opportunities 0% 276.99 -5.87 Guinness Global Investors UK Absolute Return A Acc 5.00 165.1 … Jupiter Eco L Inc – 514.26 -8.5436
18 Smith Square, London, SW1P 3HZ Marks & Spencer Unit Trust
Managed Balanced Acc – 444.9 -4.30 Long-Term Global Equity 0% 382.55 -4.38 Emerging Income 0% 98.15 … www.guinnessgi.com UK Alpha A Acc† 5.25 133.2 … Jupiter European L Inc – 2678.31 -32.1438
Management Ltd
Managed Income Acc – 176.8 … Asian Income 0% 207.39 … Global Dynamic Bd Inc 0% 0.8817 … +44(0)20 7222 5703 UK Smaller Cos A ACC 5.00 787.8 … Jupiter Euro Inc L Acc – 85.016292 … Kings Meadow, Chester, CH99 9UT
0870 333 1835
Managed Income Incf – 92.57 -0.03 European Opps 0% 317.01 -2.99 Global Emerging Mkts 0% 198.02 -2.64 Sustainable Energy Acc† – 23.3116 -0.3298 UK Equity Income A Inc 5.00 515.9 … Jupiter Euro Inc L Inc – 49.786986 …
Monthly Inc Inc – 237.4 -0.80 Global Dynamic Bd 0% 88 -0.04 Global Equity Fund 0% 254.47 -3.47 Global Innovators Acc† – 24.0309 -0.315 UK Index Opps Tst A Acc – 111.2275 … Jupiter Euro Special Sits L Acc – 418.97 -5.1215 High Income Inc – *86.43 86.43 …
Monthly Inc Acc – 704.5 -2.40 Global High Yield Bd 0% 46.93 +0.01 Multi Asset Inc 0% 120.1 -0.86 Global Equity Inc† – 18.5714 -0.018 US Growth A Acc 5.00 1584 … Jupiter Fin Opp L Inc – *694.31 -6.3487 High Income Acc – *239.4 239.4 …
UK Growth Acc – 325.9 -1.70 Global Opportunities 0% 390.12 -5.53 †Available as an ISA †Available as an ISA Jupiter Fund Of Inv Tsts L Inc – *292.13 -0.8139 UK Select Port Inc – *327.3 327.3 …
Carvetian Capital Management *677.4
UK Select Opps R Inc – 1868 -14.00 International Bd 0% 226.91 -1.08 Jupiter Global Emg Mkts L Acc – 62.23 -0.8631 UK Selection Port – 677.4 …
Limited
UK Select Opps R Acc – 3582 -26.00 Multi-Asset Bal 0% 237.96 -2.13 Admin: Stuart House, St John's St, Jupiter Global Finl Innov L Acc – *93.54 -0.7884 UK 100 Co's Fund Inc – 219.7 219.7 …
Peterborough PE1 5DD *93.08
UK Smllr Cos Acc – 277.1 -0.20 Mult-Asset Div Return 0% 174.12 … Dealing & Enquiries: 0345 850 0255 Jupiter Growth & Inc L Inc – -0.7495 UK 100 Co's Fund Acc – 443.4 443.4 …
AXA IM Funds www.axa-im.co.uk
Mult-Asset Growth 0% 1156.88 -10.53 Janus Henderson Investors Jupiter Income Trust L Inc – 495.16 -3.0057 W'wide Man Inc – 542 …
Oriental 0% 904.22 -11.81 Generation Fd 5.00 874.5 … PO Box 9023 Chelmsford, CM99 2WB Jupiter India L Acc – 139.93 -5.8126 W'wide Man Acc – 921.4 …
Enquiries: 0800 832 832
J.P. Morgan Asset Management
Real Return A 0% 120.12 -0.13 Sand Aire FENIX Bal Inc 5.00 172.8 … Website: www.janushenderson.com 60 Victoria Embankment, London, EC4Y 0JP Jupiter Japan Inc L Acc – 136.85 -1.6908
Clients:0800 204020.Brokerline 0800 727770
UK Equity Fund 0% 820.73 -6.15 Jupiter Japan Inc L Inc – 96.43 -1.1914
Consistent Unit Trust *225.87
UK Income 0% 69.76 -0.53 Asia Pac Cap Gwth A Acc 5.00 1124 … JPM Ems C Net Dis – 161.9000 -1.8000 Jupiter Merlin Bal Prtfo L Acc – +0.1332
Management Co Ltd
Blue Whale Capital UK Opportunities 0% 299.44 -2.26 Admin: Stuart House, St John's St, Asian Dividend Income Inc 5.00 80.01 … JPM Japan C Net Acc – 287.3000 -4.4000 Jupiter Merlin Bal Prtfo L Inc – *142.04 +0.0838
0345 307 3439 Peterborough PE1 5DD *60.41
US Opportunities 0% 302.97 -6.42 Dealing & Client Services 0345 850 8818 Cautious Managed A Acc 5.00 276.8 … JPM Natural Res C Net ACC – 1066.0000 -17.0000 Jupiter Merlin Con Port L Acc – -0.2199
www.bluewhale.co.uk B Shares M&G Securities Ltd
Cautious Managed A Inc 5.00 137.4 … JPM UK Equity Core E Acc – *429.6000 -2.8000 Jupiter Merlin Con Port L Inc – *46.33 -0.1686 PO Box 9039, Chelmsford, CM99 2XG
Blue Whale Growth R Acc – 153.79 -3.77 Global Income 0% 205.65 … Opportunities Unit Tst Inc 0% 61.95 … China Opps A Acc 5.00 1232 … JPM UK Equity Core E Inc – *64.2400 -0.4200 Jupiter Merlin Grth Prtfo L Acc– 519.81 -4.0709 Enq: 0800 390 390. UT Deal: 0800 328 3196

Corporate Bond 0% 96.2 -0.14 Opportunities Unit Tst Acc 0% 167.1 … Emerg Mkts Opps A Acc 5.00 190.4 … JPM US Eq Inc C Net – *422.7000 -4.1000 Jupiter Merlin Grth Prtfo L Inc – 505.18 -3.9563 Charibond Chrties Fxd Int Acc – 3865.69 -1.32
Equity Inc 0% 109.08 -0.87 Practical Invest Inc 5.00 235.5 235.5 -1.1 European Growth A Acc† 5.25 284.9 … JPM US Eq Inc C Net Dis – *449.5000 -4.4000 Jupiter Merlin Inc Prtfo L Acc – 333.88 -1.4973 Charibond Chrties Fxd Int Dis – 108.58 -0.04 Funds data based on Friday’s Close
Equity Inc Booster 0% 73 -0.58 Practical Invest Acc 5.00 1475 1475 -7 European Sel Opps A Acc 5.00 2134 … JPM US Select C Net Acc – 738.7000 -12.3000 Jupiter Merlin Inc Prtfo L Inc – 134.09 -0.6013
*881.9000 Initial charge:
Glob Abs Ret 0% 108.21 -0.23 Fixed Int Mthly Inc A Inc 4.25 17.55 … JPM US Sm Cos Gwth C Net Ac– -13.9000 Jupiter Merlin WW Prtfo L Inc – 367.09 -3.5890
This charge in percentage terms is included in the purchase
Glob Multi-Strat 0% 114.11 -0.47 Global Care Growth A Inc 4.50 448.4 … Jupiter Merlin WW Prtfo L Acc – 367.07 -3.5888 price of the units. It is levied by the unit trust manager to cover
administrative costs and commissions.
Inflation-Linked Corp Bd 0% 107.71 +0.39 Global Equity Inc A Inc† 5.25 65.29 … Jupiter Monthly Alt Inc L Acc – *129.92 +0.2052
* Denotes Ex-dividend ‡ Denotes Suspended
The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 27 December 2022
Why investors should be
praying that central banks
cut interest rates in 2023
RUSS MOULD
QUESTOR
STOCK PICKS
It’s the first principle
of investment: that
no one should accept
a return below what
is offered by cash
and government
bonds – on any asset
Read Questor’s rules of investment before
you follow our tips: telegraph.co.uk/go/
questorrules; telegraph.co.uk/questor
Sanctions force
Sberbank to make
UAE withdrawal
One of Russia’s biggest banks has been
forced to shut its office in the United
Arab Emirates (UAE) due to sanctions
pressure.
Alexander Vedyakhin, first deputy
chairman at Sberbank, said the lender
was facing “constraints on our
SberInvest Middle East office in Abu
Dhabi” and would close it in the first
three months of next year.
Sberbank is one of several major
Russian banks to have been blocked
from the international Swift payments
system following Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine.
Mr Vedyakhin said Sberbank would
continue serving clients in the UAE
and that talks were under way with
Chinese regulators about opening an
office there.
C
entral banks have pushed
through 355 interest rate
increases in 2022 and made just 15
cuts, according to the website cbrates.
com. Global stock and bond markets
have sagged and investors are praying
that central bankers reverse course and
start to cut the cost of money in 2023.
This is because the direction of
interest rates is vitally important to
how investors allocate their capital
between different assets. The return
available on cash, and by extension
the “risk-free” rate available on
government bonds, sets the reference
point by which the attractiveness or
otherwise of all asset types is judged.
The risk-free rate
For much of the past decade, bullish
investors have argued that share prices
should rise because record low interest
rates and government bond yields
mean “there is no alternative”. To get
any sort of return on their money, they
had to look to different, riskier assets.
The test now is whether higher
returns on cash and government
bonds incline them to take less risk and
demand lower prices for riskier assets,
because they feel they do not need
them quite so badly. Savers must also
take inflation into account: it is “real”,
post-inflation returns that matter.
The yield offered by a government-
issued bond is usually seen as the
Chinese traders
pressed to return
as Covid surges
Chinese finance companies are rushing
staff back to the office as a huge wave of
Covid-19 infections causes operational
issues across the sector.
Sinolink Securities has asked staff
who are off sick or home quarantined
for seven days to return to work if they
no longer show Covid symptoms,
while those who have family infected
but have not tested positive themselves
have also been told to return.
Another fund-management firm has
dropped a previous requirement that
staff can only return to the office with a
negative Covid test result within 72
hours, Bloomberg reported.
A Sinolink spokesman said the
company was focused on employee
well-being, workplace safety and
business continuity.
GILT EDGED risk-free rate for investors in that
country because, in principle, the
1672 government concerned will not default
The last time Britain on its liabilities. It will always be able
defaulted was 350 to make the interest payments on time
years ago, under the and return the initial investment once
‘Stop of Exchequer’ the bond matures, even if it must print
in reign of Charles II money to do so.
The last time Britain defaulted was in
1672, under the “Stop of Exchequer” in
the reign of King Charles II, and the 10-
year gilt yield is usually seen as the risk-
free rate for British investors. At the
time of writing, the 10-year gilt yields
3.6pc. This is the minimum nominal
annual return on any investment that
any investor should accept.
Risk and return
Any other investments carry more risk
so the investor should demand more
from them.
Investment-grade corporate bonds
should yield more than government
bonds because companies can and do
go bust and management teams can
do silly things. High-yield (or “junk”)
corporate bonds should yield more
than investment-grade bonds because
the companies that issue them are more
indebted and the risk of bankruptcy
and default is higher.
Shares should offer the prospect of
higher total returns than junk debt,
because share prices go down as well
as up, while a junk bond will offer
YIN LIQIN/CHINA NEWS SERVICE VIA GETTY
On the runway The first C919, China’s homegrown large
passenger aircraft, prepares for its 100-hour test flight at
Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport yesterday.
Business
10-year gilt yield
5
%
4
3
2
1
0
2018 2019 2020
predetermined interest payments and ‘Investment-
return of the initial investment if all
goes well. The returns demanded by grade bonds
investors to compensate themselves for should yield
the (additional) risks will therefore, in
theory, move relative to the gilt yield, more than
which in turn will be influenced by
government
central banks’ official interest rates.
The price must be right
bonds
For shares, this can mean paying a
because
lower valuation, or multiple of earnings companies
and cash flow, and perhaps demanding
a higher dividend yield (achieved by can go bust
buying at a lower share price). and bosses
Remember that the total return
from a share is determined by capital can do silly
return plus dividend yield and the things’
capital return will be, in crude terms,
a function of earnings growth and
the multiple of earnings you pay for
that earnings growth. In its simplest
form, this can be seen in the price-
Toyota sets monthy Bloomberg refutes
car record despite talk of acquiring
supply concerns Wall Street Journal
Toyota’s production hit a record high
last month but the world’s biggest
carmaker warned that a persistent
shortage of semiconductors and surges
of Covid cases in China meant future
supply was uncertain.
The manufacturer made 833,104
vehicles in November, up 1.5pc from a
year earlier. Global sales hit 796,484
vehicles, a year-on-year rise of 2.9pc.
Solid demand from areas such as
North America helped Toyota’s
overseas output rise by 3.8pc last
month to 566,930. Domestic output
fell by 3.3pc during the same period.
Toyota previously cut its global
production target for this financial
year and adopted a modest outlook for
profits because of ongoing shortages of
chips and car parts.
*** 23
2021 2022
to-earnings (p/e) ratio. Earnings will
go up (or down), depending on the
business cycle, the company’s place
in the economy and the acumen of
its bosses. The price, or multiple,
paid can be affected by many things,
including the company’s finances and
managerial competence, as well as
the predictability and reliability of its
operations and financial performance.
Interest rates will have a big say in
the multiple too. If rates and gilt yields
are rising, investors may feel less
inclined or obliged to take more risk
with shares and other assets when safer
options are offering better returns, at
least on a pre-inflation basis. As a result
they may decide to pay lower prices
and multiples, and that is why stock
markets can slide as rates rise.
Russ Mould is investment director at
AJ Bell, the stockbroker
Michael Bloomberg has denied reports
that he is interested in buying the par-
ent company of the Wall Street Journal,
which is owned by Rupert Murdoch.
A spokesman for his company,
Bloomberg, said on Twitter it has “no
interest” in acquiring Dow Jones or
The Washington Post, which is owned
by Jeff Bezos. Mr Bloomberg retweeted
the post, which said: “There have been
no conversations with anyone or either
organisation about an acquisition.”
Axios, a news website, had reported
Mr Bloomberg was interested in
acquiring one of the newspapers.
Sources also told Reuters last week
that Mr Bloomberg has expressed a
desire to own a “big-name newspaper”,
but had not reached out to Mr Murdoch
about a potential purchase.
24 *** Tuesday 27 December 2022 The Daily Telegraph

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0XFKORYHGKXVEDQGRI$QQHIDWKHURI
6DUDKDQG7LPRWK\DQGJUDQGIDWKHURI
Sir William Purves, Chairman, 6DPDQWKD-RVKXD/ROD0DLV\DQG
HSBC Holdings, 1990-98, is 91; -DPHV$ORYHURIUXJE\ZKRZLOOEH
Lord Sterling of Plaistow, JUHDWO\PLVVHG
Chairman, Peninsular and Oriental
Steam Navigation Company,
1983-2005, 88; the Rt Rev Michael
Turnbull, Bishop of Durham,
1994-2003, 87; Mr Hugh
Arbuthnott, former diplomat, 86;
Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach,
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Studies, 1991-2000, 81; Miss
Kathryn Wade, Director, English
National Ballet School, 1992-2004,
77; Miss Janet Street-Porter,
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Miss Polly Toynbee, journalist, 76;
Prof Sir Gordon Duff, former
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Today is the anniversary of the
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Legal news
Mr Robert Bright, KC, and Mr
Jonathan Richards have been
appointed Justices of the High
Court. These appointments will
take effect from Jan 11, 2023.
They will be known as Mr
Justice Bright and Mr Justice
Richards.
The appointments fill vacancies
in the High Court following
elevations to the Court of Appeal
and confirmed retirements.
Judge Deborah Frances Taylor
retired as a Senior Circuit Judge
with effect from Dec 17, 2022.
District Judge Paul Ronald
Gardner retired from the District
Bench with effect from Dec 17,
2022.
Bridge news
Players in clubs from Ireland,
Northern Ireland, Scotland and
Wales have played in the Celtic
simultaneous pairs, writes Julian
Pottage, Bridge Correspondent.
There were four sets of deals,
with winners are as follows:
Monday: 1st Nicola O’Dowd and
Dara Voyles (Declan Byrne,
Ireland), 74.60%; and 2nd Jo
Fitzgerald and Amy Flahive
(Ballinhasig, Ireland), 69.78%.
Tuesday: 1st David Scannell and
Eion MacNeil (Galway, Ireland),
71.81%; 2nd Paul Clinch and Iain
Walker (Regent, Ireland), 70.58%;
and 3rd Reg Drysdale and Jean
Mole (Berwick, Scotland), 66.94%.
Wednesday: 1st Katherine
Lennon and Johanne Powell
(Galway), 71.58%; and 2nd Adam
Mesbur and Nick Fitzgibbon
(Regent) 71.24%.
Thursday: 1st Paddy Byrne and
Mary Clancy (Fermoy, Ireland),
69.41%; and 2nd Herbie Rowley
and Norman Turner (Aberaeron,
Ceredigion, Wales), 68.42%.
LONDON, WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 27, 1922
AT THE ZOO.
THE BOXING DAY
CROWD.
From A Correspondent
Even on wet Bank Holidays the Zoo is crowded,
the gardens providing shelter as well as enter-
tainment. Yesterday was a perfect day for a visit
to Regent’s Park, and from quite an early hour
queues formed outside the various entrances to
the menagerie. It is a different class of public that
visits the Zoo on Boxing Day from that which fre-
quents the gardens on August Bank Holiday, on
Whit Monday, and even on Easter Monday, when
the holiday-makers are primarily out to enjoy a
day in the open, and with the possible exception
of the monkeys and riding animals take little
interest in the exhibits. Yesterday the large fam-
ily parties which are so much in evidence at
Christmas time appeared to take an intelligent
interest in the collection. The majority arrived
early, determined on making a detailed inspec-
tion of as many of the houses and enclosures as
possible. The Zoo is not open to the public on
Christmas Day. As a result the animals that
depend on having their rations supplemented by
the public had hearty appetites, and gave visitors
provided with buns and other delicacies a spe-
cially enthusiastic welcome. The bears as usual
caused great amusement by their comic antics in
their attempts to appeal to the generosity of the
public. There are always a large number of young
bears on exhibit, the Zoological Society being
constantly presented with these quaint crea-
tures. Their irresistible charm is well known to
all animal dealers, who import and sell large
numbers. The “Teddy Bears” are, however, not
so tractable as they would appear, and as a rule,
after a very few days, their owners are on their
knees to the Zoo authorities begging them to
take their new acquisition off their hands. One of
the smallest bears on exhibit at the present time
must have shown himself in his true colours in
record time, for after spending only one night
with his new master he was at an early hour on
the following morning transported to Regent’s
Park in a taxicab and presented to the Society.
The old favourites, such as Sam and Barbara,
the polar bears, Micky, the chimpanzee (the
father of the Zoo, who yesterday spent his
25th Boxing Day in Regent’s Park), and
Lucky, the large Indian elephant, had a host
of admirers. Elephant-riding is suspended
during the winter months, but the elephants
were, nevertheless, a great source of delight.
Lucky was a special favourite, owing to the
intelligent manner in which he restored to
visitors the buns and biscuits, which, as a
result of bad marksmanship, fell alike out of
his reach and theirs, in the passage which
separates his compartment from that of the
public. The trick is accomplished by the ani-
mal pointing his trunk at the biscuits and
buns, and blowing them along the floor of
the house back to the persons who have
thrown them.
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Of the new-comers the baby sea lion, born in the
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gardens in the late summer, the large snowy owl, an
inhabitant of the Arctic regions which was caught
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last month in mid-Atlantic, 300 miles out at sea, and
the baby African rhinoceros, which arrived last
week, had most admirers. The young rhino is very
wild, and will not allow his keepers to enter the
Personal
cage. In his savage disposition he differs from his
predecessor, an African rhino, who was a great
attraction on his arrival some ten years ago owing
to his devotion to his attendant, a little native boy Text for the day Birthdays
who had come to England with him. As soon as this
boy went out of sight the animal showed great signs
of distress, giving vent to piercing screams; and on +,0+$7+*RGH[DOWHGZLWKKLVULJKW
KDQGWREHD3ULQFHDQGD6DYLRXUIRUWR &+5,6723+(50266b:LVKLQJ\RXD
the boy’s reappearance there was a demonstration JLYHUHSHQWDQFHWR,VUDHODQG 9HU\+DSS\%LUWKGD\)URPDOO\RXU
of joy. Many visitors appeared interested in the wild
IRUJLYHQHVVRIVLQV IULHQGVDW7KH7HOHJUDSK[[[
turkeys, natives of Mexico and British Honduras, $FWV 2QOLQHUHI
and compared them with the less fortunate birds
that had appeared at their tables on the previous
day. Wild turkeys are larger than any of the domes-
tic breeds, the latter, contrary to the general rule,
having degenerated under domestication. General personal
There is always an interesting show in the rep-
tile house, and at the present time it houses the
finest and most representative collection of
snakes that has ever been exhibited. The
attraction “par excellence” was a cage contain-
ing two 25ft long reticulated pythons, the
bulging form of one of these monsters indicat-
ing a satisfying Christmas fare. The prize for
malignity of expression was awarded to the
puff adder, a highly poisonous South African
snake which has a habit of inflating its body to
a large size, and hissing violently with each
inhalation and expulsion of breath. It had a
rival in its neighbour, a fine Mexican rattle-
snake, which could be quite plainly heard rat-
tling through the thick plate glass of its cage.
The rattle of these snakes consists of a number
of hollow segments of dry, horny skin fitting
into one another, and the rattling sounds are
produced merely by shaking the apparatus, as
the reptile does when disturbed. Some of the
public were yesterday overheard expressing
the belief that the age of these snakes could be
told by the size of the rattle, each segment rep-
resenting a year. This is an error, as an addi-
tional segment is added after each shedding of
the skin, the shedding taking place three or
four times a year, whilst a number of segments
are continually being lost owing to wear and
tear. At birth the snake has merely a small but-
ton to represent the rattle. In previous years
the giant tortoises hibernated from the end of
October to the end of March. Owing to the
improved heating apparatus with which the
reptile and tortoise houses have recently been
fitted, these century-old animals have chosen
to keep awake, and yesterday they were to be
observed feeding on the cabbages with which
they had been supplied. The largest of these
tortoises, believed to have been born during
the reign of Queen Anne, has developed a taste
for buns, and during the summer months will
follow visitors holding paper bags round his
enclosure, attracting their attention by butt-
ing violently against the rails of his paddock.

Midshipman I. Boughton- G. Rowing, Midshipman D. Scoot, Officer Cadet J. Young.

Britannia graduations
The Countess of Wessex was the
guest of honour and took the
salute at the Lord High Admirals
Passing Out Parade held at
Britannia Royal Naval College on
Dec 15, 2022. Adml Sir Ben Key,
First Sea Lord and Chief of the
Naval Staff, was present. A list of
officers who passed out follows:
Royal Navy
Surg Lt B, Atkin, Surg Lt A,
Darrah, Surg Lt S. Elphick, Surg
Lt E. Rayner, Surg Lt I. Guy, Surg
Lt J. Jackson, Surg Lt S. Jones,
Surg Lt C. Moore, Surg Lt M.
Sibley, Surg Lt J. Talbot, Surg Lt J.
Sinclair-Williams, Surg Lt Z.
Dyer, Surg Lt H. Sinclair, Lt G.
Champion, Sub-Lt J. Adams,
Sub-Lt D. Broom, Sub-Lt F. Cox,
Sub-Lt C. Edgar, Sub-Lt T.
Fenwick, Sub-Lt G. Gillespie,
Sub-Lt T. Goy, Sub-Lt R. Green,
Sub-Lt M. Hallam, Sub-Lt C.
Hedley, Sub-Lt K. Lyth, Sub-Lt E.
Maddy, Sub-Lt N. Morgan, Sub-Lt
P. Nelson, Sub-Lt R. Nicholson,
Sub-Lt A. Peacock, Sub-Lt M.
Talbot, Sub-Lt K. Waldram,
Sub-Lt T. Watson, Sub-Lt B. Wild,
Sub-Lt G. Williams, Sub-Lt D.
Woods, Midshipman J. Abbott,
Midshipman T. Ackling,
Midshipman M. Aldread,
Midshipman J. Andrews,
Midshipman M. Arliss,
Midshipman K. Balderstone,
Midshipman L. Belcourt,
Midshipman E. Bennett,
Midshipman J. Bennett,
Midshipman P. Bingham,
Bond, Midshipman O. Bourne,
Midshipman J. Brito,
Midshipman C. Buchanan,
Midshipman S. Bullivant,
Midshipman R. Bywater,
Midshipman J. Cardinal,
Midshipman J. Cardrick,
Midshipman T. Cave,
Midshipman E. Clear,
Midshipman E. Connellan,
Midshipman L. Dallamore,
Midshipman J. Devine,
Midshipman O. Douglas,
Midshipman E. Forrest-Jones,
Midshipman A. Glen,
Midshipman M. Griffin,
Midshipman L. Gooding,
Midshipman S. Hardie,
Midshipman A.L. Hayes,
Midshipman A.N. Hayes,
Midshipman M. Hetherington,
Midshipman J. Houlberg,
Midshipman T. James,
Midshipman S. Jones,
Midshipman C. Lawson,
Midshipman E. Ledger,
Midshipman O. Lee, Midshipman
G. MacGregor, Midshipman C.
McKenzie, Midshipman G.
Mclaughlin, Midshipman H.
Mear, Midshipman S. Micklefield,
Midshipman A. Mileham,
Midshipman A. Miller,
Midshipman W. Moorby,
Midshipman N. Mumtaz,
Midshipman J. O’Neill,
Midshipman M. O’Neill,
Midshipman D. Osborn,
Midshipman H. Parker,
Midshipman R. Parker,
Midshipman D. Parsons,
Midshipman H. Parsons,
Midshipman K. Rana,
Midshipman A. Ray, Midshipman
Midshipman E. Sheldon,
Midshipman F. Sleet,
Midshipman E. Smith,
Midshipman W. Strange,
Midshipman W. Stuart,
Midshipman J. Taylor,
Midshipman O. Temporal,
Midshipman V. Wilcox,
Midshipman J. Williams,
Midshipman M. Williams.
QARNNS
Sub-Lt K. Brammer, Sub-Lt E.
Haynes, Sub-Lt M. Spink.
Chaplains
Chaplain S, Burke, Chaplain S.
Crosslett, Chaplain O. Street.
Warrant Officer
Commissioning Programme
Lt S Boulton, Lt D. Britchford,
Lt S. Crew, Lt M. Edwards, Lt C.
Lines, Lt S. Lynch, Lt P.
Moonan, Lt D. Pearce, Lt S.
Redford, Lt N. Shirlow, Lt R.
Thompson, Lt M. Turnbull, Lt
A. Von Bennigsen, RM.
Royal Fleet Auxiliary
3/O(LS)(T) H. Severn, Officer
Cadet S. Bunyan, Officer Cadet
W. Cole, Officer Cadet S. Files,
Officer Cadet G. Haynes, Officer
Cadet N. Harrison, Officer Cadet
G. Langley, Officer Cadet R.
Macleod, Officer Cadet S.
Meredith, Officer Cadet J.
Metcalf, Officer Cadet P.
Metherell, Officer Cadet I.
NG-Thomas, Officer Cadet N.
Phillips, Officer Cadet O.
Ross-Jewell, Officer Cadet O.
Smith, Officer Cadet G. Vertessy,
Royal Navy of Oman
Midshipman M. Al Balushi,
Midshipman A. Al Bulushi,
Midshipman A. Al Farsi,
Midshipman I. Al Harrasi,
Midshipman A. Al Harthi,
Midshipman M. Al Hinaai,
Midshipman A. Al Huseini,
Midshipman O. Al Kaabi,
Midshipman A. Al Saadi,
Midshipman S. Al Saliteni,
Midshipman K. Al Salmi,
Midshipman F. Al Shaqsi,
Midshipman F. Al Sinani,
Midshipman S. Al Yaqoubi.
Qatari Emiri Navy
Sub-Lt N. Al Fadala, Sub-Lt M. Al
Hajri, Sub-Lt M. Al Jabri, Sub-Lt
F. Al Khayarin, Sub-Lt H. Al Yafei,
Sub-Lt Y. Al Darwish, Sub-Lt Al
Mohannadi.
Indonesian Navy
Sub-Lt R. Djuhaeri.
Royal Brunei Navy
Lt Jnr A. Aziz.
Ghanaian Navy
Sub-Lt M. Faidoo.
Gambian Navy
Midshipman M. Jallow.
Bangladesh Navy
Sub-Lt A.M. Riyad.
Trinidad and Tobago Navy
Midshipman J. Ramcharan
Royal Bahrain Naval Force
Sub-Lt H. Albufalah.
The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 27 December 2022 *** 25

Obituaries

Ivor Faulconer Chris Boucher

Forward-thinking scriptwriter
Fleet Air Arm pilot who flew the Walrus amphibian biplane during the Second World War for Doctor Who and Blake’s 7

L C
IEUTENANT IVOR FAULCONER, days of flying and all it entailed, both HRIS BOUCHER, the
who has died aged 101, was one of the excitement and the writer of intelligent
the last surviving pilots to have understandable danger that was taken science-fiction and
flown the Walrus amphibian biplane for granted back then.” surprising thrillers, who has
and a founding member of the Royal After Eton, Faulconer read died aged 79, was in many
Air Squadron. Geography at New College, Oxford ways a television talent
In December 1941, Faulconer was but, with flying in his blood, he ahead of his time; he
appointed senior pilot of two Walrus volunteered for the Fleet Air Arm in contributed three of the

in the battleship King George V,
flagship of the Home Fleet. “On board
KGV there were two admirals, six
captains, 19 commanders and 27
lieutenant-commanders,” he recalled.
“At times, although I was only a very
junior sub-lieutenant, technically I
was a head of department and, as such,
I had direct access to the captain.
When we were going to fly, I had to go
up to the bridge and he would ask me,
‘Where do you want me to steer the
ship?’ and later, ‘How did I do?’ ”
The ungainly looking Supermarine
Walrus was an amphibious biplane
with a single pusher engine, reckoned
to be one of the noisiest, coldest and
most uncomfortable of aircraft, yet it
came from the same stable as
R J Mitchell’s better-known Spitfire.
Manufactured at Woolston,
Southampton, the Walrus first flew in
1933, and though thought inelegant it
was a rugged aeroplane which saw
postwar service as an air-sea-rescue
plane until the advent of the
helicopter in the 1950s.
The Walruses embarked in King
George V in wartime for spotting,
reconnaissance and anti-submarine
warfare and were the first front-line
naval aircraft to be fitted with radar.
When launched by catapult,
Faulconer recalled, “You went from
0 to 50 mph in about 20 yards. You had
to make friends with the gunnery
officer who fired the rocket, because if
the ship was rolling, you could be
pointing downhill.”
The Walrus was affectionately
known as the “steam pigeon” from the
steam produced by water striking the
hot Pegasus engine.
Based in the Orkneys and in Iceland,
Faulconer was on several hunts for
German capital ships, on convoy
escort in the Atlantic and Arctic
Oceans, and was in KGV when she ran
down the destroyer Punjabi on May 1
1942.
He also participated in the Battle of
the Barents Sea on December 31 1942
when the Kriegsmarine’s failure to
inflict significant losses on convoy
JW 51B so infuriated Hitler that he
gave the order that German naval
strategy should concentrate on U-boat
rather than surface warfare.
In early 1943, Faulconer
volunteered to become a night fighter
pilot, flying the two-seat Fairey
Fulmar, which had been withdrawn
from service as a day fighter. Deployed
at sea to repel shadowers, but with too
little experience of night-time
deck-landing, Faulconer suffered two
able to tear a telephone directory in
half.
Ivor’s mother was a pioneer aviatrix
and a friend of the “Flying Duchess” of
Bedford, and as a boy he would help
prepare for visits by his mother’s
aviation friends to the family home,
Nottlers, St Albans, by pegging out
sheets to mark the landing ground. He
recalled: “The great thing was not to
get one’s head cut off by the propeller,
and I always remember being waved
away as pilots taxied in.”
To accommodate 15 aircraft at an air
display at Nottlers in 1933, the fence
between two fields had to be taken
down, and young Faulconer witnessed
wing-walkers and an aerobatic display
by the circumnavigator Mrs Victor
Faulconer: above accidents. The first was on February 2 Bruce in her black-and-white
right, aboard a 1944, when he hit the barrier on board chequered biplane. The event was
Tiger seaplane and the escort carrier Ravager. The spread over two days and several of
landing a two-seat
second, more serious, was on March 3 the pilots stayed in the house, where
Fairey Fulmar and,
above, the 1944, when he hit the round-down (at their whisky consumption was
aftermath of one of the after end of the flightdeck) of the prodigious.
his night-flying escort carrier Nairana. Laconically he Sometimes Faulconer was put in a
accidents recorded: “The aircraft broke in half. speedboat on the Welsh Harp
Luckily, the half we were in stayed Reservoir in north London, where his
onboard.” mother used to practise bombing him
Ivor Christopher Faulconer was with bags of flour. Once, young Ivor
born on March 27 1921 at Munden went to chapel with his riding clothes
House, Watford, the third son of under his choir surplice, and as soon
Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Cholmley as the service was over he dashed out,
Faulconer and his wife, Elsie Holland- threw off the surplice and headed for
Hibbert. the playing fields, where his father
He was educated at Scaitcliffe in was waiting in a hired Leopard Moth
Surrey before going to Eton in 1934, to take him hunting with the
where George Lyttelton was his Fitzwilliam in Huntingdon.
housemaster: Lyttelton, he “Overall,” he wrote, “I had a very
remembered, had huge hands and was privileged introduction to the early
July 1940. He trained in Miles
Magisters, Hawker Hinds and Hawker
Harts at Luton and Netheravon, before
learning to fly Supermarine Walruses
at the Royal Motor Yacht Club at
Sandbanks, Dorset. Advanced training
took place at Milford Haven, where he
practised landing in the slick created
by a parent ship, which remained
underway at about 14 knots, and took
about two minutes.
Demobbed in January 1946,
Faulconer became a jobbing
stockbroker but continued flying with
the RAF Reserve, and he bought a
half-share of a Tiger Moth. When a
friend converted one of these to a
seaplane, he used to borrow it to
commute to his weekend home at
Fishbourne in the Isle of Wight.
In 1966 a chance meeting with Peter
Vanneck, who had been a midshipman
in KGV, led to the founding of the Air
Squadron. Vanneck had transferred to
the RAF and had retired as an air
commodore before becoming Lord
Mayor of London. Over dinner with
Vanneck, Tony Cayzer, Hugh Astor
(whom Faulconer had known at
Oxford), Douglas Bader and Faulconer,
the idea was mooted of forming the
Air Squadron, and each attendee was
encouraged to invite another person
into the squadron, which gained its
royal title in 2016.
The Royal Air Squadron is now a
vigorous charity which works with
young people and supports the armed
services and a wide range of aviation
activity, including aviation meets.
Faulconer’s memoir, Take to the Air:
Reminiscences of a WW2 FAA Pilot, was
self-published in 2014. His flying
logbook has not survived but he is
thought to have completed more than
100 carrier launches with around 20 at
night, flown some 1,500 hours during
the war, and about the same number
postwar, in 40 different aircraft types.
He was married three times, first in
1947 to Anne Fleming (divorced in
1969), secondly, in 1969, to Daphne
Breakwell (née Atkinson), who died in
1989, and thirdly, in 1992, to Anne
Oliver,
She survives him, along with two
daughters and a son of the first
marriage, and many stepchildren.
Faulconer was sustained by his
Christian faith, and by meditation,
which was, he observed, not
necessarily the best way for everyone,
but it was the best way he had found.
Ivor Faulconer, born March 27 1921,
died October 1 2022
COURTESY OF FAMILY
most thoughtful and original
Doctor Who serials of the
1970s, as well as creating the
companion Leela, a valiant
savage from a primitive tribe
who struck a blow for He also wrote for Shoestring,
feminism. Bergerac, and for Dave Allen
By the mid-1970s there
was an effort in Doctor Who whodunnit. The result, “The
productions to avoid the Robots of Death” (also 1977),
Time Lord’s companion is adored by fans for its
being there as a “screamer” elegant menace and richly
or decorative foil to the imagined alien society. In
hero, and Leela was 2013 the Telegraph’s resident
modelled, according to Doctor Who expert Gavin
Boucher, on the Palestinian Fuller rated it No 15 in his list
terrorist Leila Khaled. of the 50 greatest Doctor Who
Christopher Franklin stories, noting that Boucher
Boucher was born in had been influenced by
Maldon, Essex, on February Agatha Christie’s Ten Little
15 1943, the son of Simpson Indians. Boucher was also
Roy Boucher, a director of inspired by Desmond
Calor Gas, and Alexandra, Morris’s writing and the
née Wheeler, a florist. He notion of “body language”, to
was brought up in the create svelte but
Plymouth Brethren, but expressionless humanoid
embraced atheism after a robot servants.
friend died from meningitis. Several decades before
After Maldon Grammar Artificial Intelligence
School Chris drove to India became a theme of the
in his Morris Minor, then genre, Boucher’s literate
sailed to Australia, spending jitters about machine
a year as a railway worker. intelligence echoed the
Back in England he became work of contemporary
a junior executive with Calor science fiction authors such
Gas, who sponsored him as Clifford Simak. His third
through an Economics script for the series, “Image
degree at Essex University. of the Fendahl”, was an
Soon married and with a equally compelling trek into
growing family, he turned folklore and superstition.
down a place at the London Robert Holmes
Film School, but remained recommended Boucher as
eager to break into script editor for the BBC’s
television and in 1970 sent sci-fi series Blake’s 7 (1979-81),
some three-line “quickies” a role which allowed him,
on spec to the BBC revue with glee, to leave his job
Braden’s Week. They were with Calor Gas. As well as
bought for £5 each and by writing nine episodes, he
the final series in 1972, he proved an incisive script
had a £25-a-week contract, editor, juggling Blake’s 7 with
an agent, regular work on work on the superior crime
The Dave Allen Show, and a drama Shoestring; he wrote
sitcom pilot in production the final episode, “The
for Yorkshire Television, Dangerous Game”, in which
Slater’s Day, about a PR firm the titular detective races
trying to brighten up the against the clock to intercept
image of an undertaker a consignment of lethal toys
whose business is dying. and avert a Christmas
In 1976 his agent tragedy. Boucher also
suggested he pitch to Doctor worked on Juliet Bravo and
Who. He had been a science- The Bill, and spend three
fiction fan since boyhood, years on Bergerac, for which
and his grown-up thinking he wrote another Christmas
and combative dialogue gem, the spooky 1986
appealed to the script editor feature-length “Fires in the
Robert Holmes, who Fall”.
commissioned “The Face of In later years, Boucher

Jim Stewart
Evil”. Despite his atheism, wrote a number of Doctor
Boucher was fascinated by Who and Blake’s 7 book and
how religions and societies audio drama spin-offs.
evolve, although the script’s Chris Boucher married
original title, “The Day God Lynda Macklin in 1966; they
Went Mad”, was changed to had three sons.
Southern Soul pioneer who founded Stax Records in Memphis with his sister Estelle Axton avoid controversy.
He was then

J
Chris Boucher, born
IM STEWART, who has died aged in 1960. With the $5,000 they got for established, with major hits by Sam and commissioned to write a February 15 1943, died
92, was the founder of Stax selling the master to Atlantic Records Dave, and Eddie Floyd’s Knock on futuristic country-house December 11 2022
Records, the Memphis-based in New York, Stewart recorded Carla Wood. The Stax studio and musicians
record label that in the 1960s pioneered Thomas’s Gee Whiz (Look at his Eyes), were also pressed into service for other
the development of what became which reached the US Top 10 in 1961. It artists signed directly to Atlantic,
known as Southern Soul, recording and was soon followed by another hit, You notably Don Covay and Wilson Pickett,
promoting such artists as Otis Redding, Don’t Miss Your Water, by another local whose hit In the Midnight Hour was
Sam and Dave, Carla Thomas, Eddie artist, William Bell, who would go on to co-written by Pickett and Cropper.
Floyd and Isaac Hayes. record for Stax for the next eight years. The Stax sound so impressed The
Through the 1960s and 1970s there The foundation for Stax lay in the Beatles that in 1966 the group asked
were two magnetic poles in black unusually close collaboration between Stewart to produce their next album in
American music: in the north, Motown; white and black musicians at a time Memphis. Financial disagreements
and in the south, Stax. The contrast when Memphis was still a segregated torpedoed the idea, and Revolver was
could hardly have been more striking. city. The house band on early records instead produced at Abbey Road.
While Motown’s recordings tended was comprised of two black musicians, But by 1968 Stax was faced with
towards up-tempo dance songs or the keyboard player Booker T Jones mounting difficulties. In December
MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES

romantic ballads with sweetened
arrangements, and were made with a
keen eye on the young, white audience,
the classic Southern Soul form, essayed
by Stax, was more gritty and visceral,
made for an older black audience and
dealing with more adult themes.
Motown was a well-oiled hit factory,
while the records at Stax were the
result of a much more organic, earthy
process – built on a funky backbeat
from the label’s house band, Booker T
and the MGs (standing for “Memphis
group”). While the sign outside
Motown read “Hitsville USA”, the
marquee at Stax declared “Soulsville
USA”.
James Frank Stewart was born in
Middleton, rural west Tennessee, on
July 29 1930, the son of a bricklayer and
farmer and a homemaker.
After two years in the US Army he
studied Law at the Memphis State
University, then worked at Memphis’s
First National Bank, playing fiddle in a
country music band, the Canyon
Cowboys, at the weekends.
Stewart recognised his limitations as
a musician, but had ambitions to be a
producer. In 1957, on recording
equipment set up in the garage of his
wife’s uncle, he recorded a country
tune, Blue Roses, with some local
musicians.
With money raised from his older
sister Estelle Axton mortgaging her
home, the pair founded a label,
Satellite, recording local country and
rockabilly artists in a studio located in a
storage unit at the nearby town of
Brunswick.
In 1960 Stewart opened a new studio
in a converted cinema in a working-
class area of south Memphis that was
undergoing a demographic shift from
white to African-American, and
established Stax, the name combining
his and Estelle’s surnames.
and drummer Al Jackson, and two
white musicians, the bass-player
Donald “Duck” Dunn, and guitarist
Steve Cropper
As Estelle Axton explained: “What
our music was built on was feeling –
with a mixture of the black and white
musicians together getting that feel.”
Stax’s most notable discovery was
Otis Redding the sometime singer and
full-time bus driver for Johnny Jenkins
and the Pinetoppers, a group from
Stewart, above, Macon, Georgia, who had been booked
second left, with, for a demo session in 1962. Jenkins did
l-r, Otis Redding, not impress, and at the end of the
Carla Thomas,
session Redding, who had spent the
Rufus Thomas and
Booker T Jones;
day twiddling his thumbs, pleaded to
right, with Stax be given a chance to audition.
executive Al Bell, “Everybody was tired and a couple of
left, and Isaac the musicians had already left,” Stewart
Hayes told Robert Gordon. “It was like, ‘Well,
we gotta do this. The guy’s been sitting
here waiting all day, let’s see what he
sounds like’. ”
Redding sat down at the piano and
asked Cropper to play some “church
chords”. “And we started playing,”
Cropper recalled, “and he started
singing These Arms of Mine, and I know
my hair lifted about three inches. I
couldn’t believe this guy’s voice.”
Within a matter of days Stewart had
Until this point, Stewart’s focus was signed Redding to Stax’s subsidiary
country music, but the pool of black label, Volt. These Arms of Mine, a ballad
talent in the neighbourhood quickly in the tortured Southern Soul style, was
changed that. originally released as the B-side to a
“We didn’t sit down and say ‘we’re song called Hey Hey Baby, a Little
going with black music’, ” Stewart Richard-style shouter thought to be
recalled. “ ‘R&B’ was a foreign word to more commercial.
me. It happened quickly, but not in a It was two months – in which time
manner that was conscious and direct. Hey Hey Baby appeared to have
It was striking an emotional fire with vanished without trace – before a
me and that was all I was going by.” Nashville disc jockey, John R, flipped
Stewart’s first excursion into R&B the record and started playing These
was one of the last songs on Satellite, Arms of Mine on constant rotation. It
’Cause I Love You, recorded by a local went on to sell 800,000 copies.
disc jockey, Rufus Thomas, and his By the mid-1960s, following
daughter Carla, and which became a hit Redding’s success, Stax was firmly
1967 Otis Redding died in a plane crash.
Four months later, Martin Luther King
was shot dead in Memphis, bringing a
chill to what had hitherto been
harmonious relations between blacks
and whites at Stax.
At the same time, the distribution
deal with Atlantic came to an end – with
the discovery that the contract
contained a small-print clause handing
Atlantic the ownership of all Stax’s
Atlantic-distributed recordings
between 1960 and 1967. Stewart was
mortified.
In May 1968 he sold the company to
Gulf & Western Industries, a Michigan
company manufacturing automobile
parts, which a year earlier had
purchased Paramount Pictures, for
more than $4 million. Stewart
continued as president of the company,
while the former Stax marketing
executive Al Bell became vice president
and a co-owner. Bell embarked on an
aggressive drive to build up a portfolio
of new artists, most notably Isaac
Hayes, Johnnie Taylor and the Staple
Singers.
In 1972 Bell bought out Stewart’s
share in the company. With the money,
Stewart, who was 43, effectively
retired, purchasing a vacation home in
Miami, along with a 52ft sailing boat. At
the same time he pledged a personal
guarantee to loan money to Stax if the
company ran into trouble. In 1975 the
label filed for bankruptcy, despite the
half a million dollars that Stewart had
put into the company to try and save it.
Devastated, Stewart retreated from
view. In 2002 he was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,cited as
“the creator of the ultimate R&B label”.
Jim Stewart is survived by two
daughters and a son.
Jim Stewart, born July 29 1930, died
December 5 2022
26 ***
Last night on television Benji Wilson
A spine-tingling coda to
TV’s most treasured show
Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jones as laconic pair Andy and Lance in Detectorists
I
t’s been five years since we last
caught up with Lance and Andy, aka
the stars of Detectorists (BBC Two),
and the highest compliment that can
be paid is that they haven’t changed
a bit. A feature-length Christmas
special sensibly eschewed festivities
altogether, instead taking up with
TV’s most laconic pairing much
as we left them – together, in a field,
with their metal detectors.
Except this time the search wasn’t
fruitless. Lance (Toby Jones) and Andy
(Mackenzie Crook) reckoned they
might have chanced on an unknown
medieval battlefield, 10 acres of prime
paydirt as Lance put it, with one eye
always on a life-changing haul. There
might even be gold in them there hills.
The question was who to tell – and
when – about what they’d unearthed.
Naturally, all attempts to keep
secrets from their comrades at the
Danebury Metal Detectorists Club
failed completely. Moreover, the Scout
hut where the DMDC meet was in
urgent need of repair: Lance and Andy
were in prime position to help out,
should they so choose.
Thus began a story that was
essentially the same one Detectorists
has always told: of pots of gold at the
end of rainbows, of subtle faultlines in
friendships, of individual greed versus
collective good and of how people can
Television & Radio
change, but generally don’t. In
particular the path of Andy and
Becky’s (Rachael Stirling) relationship
over the years we’ve been away was
beautifully drawn, a merry-go-round
of hope and disappointment; but
every performance spoke of actors
relishing being back with characters
they’ve tended and loved.
And then there was the ending,
a simply spine-tingling piece of
television that charted the existence
of a key artefact in the episode through
the ages, using animation,
reconstruction, tapestry, the whole
shebang. It was completely out of
keeping with all that had gone before
(Detectorists moves with tortoise-like
speed and assurance) and yet it
worked. I had been wondering what
prompted writer and director Crook
to come back to his great creation –
there weren’t any gaping story holes to
fill or cliffhangers to unhang at the end
of the third series five years ago. This
might have been the answer: a bravura
sequence that concertina’d history and
reminded us that there is treasure all
around us, for those with eyes to see it.
T
he opening sequences of this
year’s Death in Paradise
Christmas special (BBC One)
were full of promise. It was Christmas
time on Saint Marie, meaning Neville
(Ralf Little) prat-falling over a
Christmas tree and turkey by the
seaside – tick. Don Warrington as
Commissioner Selwyn Patterson was
doing his very best grumpy crab
impression and yet it looked as if a cold
case from the 1970s might give us a
window into his inscrutable past. Best
of all, Derry Girls’ wonderful Siobhán
McSweeney was our festive guest star,
playing a busybody true-crime
podcaster called Jennifer Langan
who’d come to Saint Marie on a lead.
And then, just as I’d sat back with a
plate of mince pies and put myself into
energy save mode, they only went and
killed McSweeney off. Now I realise
that after Spooks, Game of Thrones and
all the others, there is a chapter in the
book of good screenwriting that says
killing off your best character early
doors is a neat trick. That audiences
will forever be on tenterhooks
wondering who you might bump off
next. That if “no one is safe” then
everyone is both suspect and target,
and so on. But, to put it politely, Death
in Paradise is not blessed with a huge
amount of interesting characters, and
McSweeney’s was one of them. She
should have been driving Neville and
team up the wall with her meddling.
Instead she was brown bread.
That left us with more than an hour
of the televisual equivalent of the
Lighthouse Family – middle of the
road, instantly forgettable, soporific
pap. They threw just about everything
at it in a bid to retain interest –
identical twins; a love interest for
Neville so underwritten that she might
as well have been wearing a T-shirt
saying “love interest”; Les Dennis as
a dodgy stage psychic – and it was still
as uninspiring as an Austin Metro.
By uninspiring I mean the drip-feed
of information to suit the narrative
(“I’ve been going through the files and
I noticed…”), the infuriating habit of
characters thinking out loud in order
to dole out exposition, and plot twists
so ridiculous I did wonder if this was
supposed to be a meta-comedy.
It wasn’t. It was supposed to be
consoling, Boxing Day, always-sunny-
somewhere light entertainment. Fine
if you fancied a nap, dull as a January
commute if you didn’t.
Detectorists ★★★★★
Death in Paradise ★★
What to watch
MAYFLIES
BBC Scotland, 10pm/BBC iPlayer
Tony Curran and Martin Compston play lifelong friends Tully and Jimmy
W ith its superficially
downbeat premise,
Mayflies seems an odd
choice as the centrepiece of
the BBC’s Christmas drama
schedule. But its perceptive,
elegiac tone and tender
portrayal of families both
biological and chosen may
sit well during that post-
festive period of taking
stock. Adapted by Andrea
Gibb from Andrew
O’Hagan’s critically
acclaimed novel, it joins
lifelong pals Jimmy (Martin
ARTS
Coppélia
BBC Two, 6.15pm
The Léo Delibes ballet
is given a science-fiction
twist for the screen in this
magical, part-animated
reimagining, as the
deleterious impact of
sinister, seductive cosmetic
surgeon Dr Coppelius
(Vito Mazzeo) prompts
young Swan (Michaela
DePrince) to dig a little
deeper into the story of the
man who has transformed
her small town for the
worse. Darcey Bussell stars
as the mayor, with a new
score by Maurizio Malagnini
and choreography from
Ted Brandsen.
Radio choice Gerard O’Donovan
Faroe Islands Sound Walk
Radio 3, 4pm
One of the highlights of
Radio 3’s Yuletide is explorer
and author Horatio Clare’s
three-part atmospheric
audio-adventure walking in
the Faroes, the 18-island
archipelago lying 200 miles
northwest of Scotland in the
Atlantic. Clare records
natural sound and his own
RADIO 1
FM 97.6-99.8MHZ
6.00am Radio 1 Anthems 6.00pm
Radio 1’s Future Sounds with Clara
Amfo 8.00 Radio 1’s Future Artists
with Jack Saunders 10.00 Radio 1’s
Power Down Playlist with Sian Eleri
11.00 Annie Nightingale Presents
1.00am Radio 1’s Drum & Bass Mix
1.30 Radio 1’s Drum & Bass Mix 2.00
Radio 1 Relax in Love 3.00 Radio 1
Instrumental 4.00 Radio 1 Relax 5.00
- 6.00am Radio 1 Dance
RADIO 2
FM 88-90.2MHZ
6.30am The Gary Davies Breakfast
Show 9.30 DJ Spoony 12.00 Tina
Daheley 2.00pm Anita Rani 4.00 OJ
Borg 6.30 OJ Borg’s Half Wower 7.00
The Best of Radio 2’s Piano Room. Ken
Bruce looks back at 2022’s Radio 2
Piano Room performances 9.00 Radio
2 All Stars 10.00 Trevor Nelson’s
Magnificent 7 10.30 Trevor Nelson’s
Rhythm Nation 12.00 Radio 2
Unwinds with Angela Griffin 3.00am
Radio 2 in Concert: Duran Duran 4.00
- 6.30am Early Breakfast Show
RADIO 3
FM 90.2-92.4MHZ
6.30am Breakfast 9.00 Essential
Classics 12.00 Composer of the Week:
More One Hit Wonders 1.00pm Radio
3 Lunchtime Concert 2.00 Afternoon
Concert 4.00 Faroe Islands Sound
Walk See Radio choice 5.00 New
Generation Artists 6.15 Words and
Music 7.30 Proms at Christmas 2022.
Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto
9.25 Proms at Christmas 2022.
Cynthia Erivo pays tribute to the
Compston) and Tully (Tony
Curran) as they deal with
the latter’s terminal cancer
diagnosis. While Jimmy
got out of their Scottish
hometown and has made it
as an author, Tully stayed
behind to become a teacher;
they look back on how their
difficult adolescence found
release in one pivotal
weekend in Manchester, and
consider their futures. Tully
is reluctant to undergo
chemotherapy and wants to
die on his own terms –
Michaela DePrince is the swan
in a reimagining of Coppélia
DOCUMENTARY
Lucky!
Discovery+
Bernie Ecclestone may be
an acquired taste, but his
drive and ambition, even
responses to the land and
seascape, and the music
and language of this place,
whose roots lie deep in
Nordic culture. In today’s
final programme he travels
on to southern island
Suðuroy, where he
experiences in full the
Faroes’ famous fog, and
enjoys more music from
violinist Angelika Nielsen
and pianist Kristian Blak.
female singers who inspired her 11.00
Night Tracks 12.30am - 6.30am
Through the Night
RADIO 4
FM 92.4-94.6MHZ; LW 198KHZ
6.00am Today 9.00 Room 5 9.30
Flight of the Ospreys 9.45 Book of the
Week: Giving Up the Ghost 9.45 LW:
Daily Service 10.00 Woman’s Hour
11.00 Phantoms in the Brain 11.30
Laura Barton’s Notes on Music 12.00
News 12.01pm LW: Shipping Forecast
12.04 The New Gurus 12.32 Sliced
Bread 12.57 Weather 1.00 The World
at One 1.45 Causing a Scene 2.00 The
Archers 2.15 Drama: The Dark Is
Rising 3.00 Short Cuts 3.30 A
Thorough Examination with Drs Chris
and Xand: Can I Change? 4.00 Bad
Blood: The Story of Eugenics 4.30
Great Lives. Manchester United
manager Sir Matt Busby 5.00 PM.
News headlines with Carolyn Quinn
5.54 LW: Shipping Forecast 5.57
Weather 6.00 Six O’Clock News 6.15
Just William: The Great Performer. By
Richmal Crompton 6.30 The Cold
Swedish Winter 7.00 The Archers 7.15
Add to Playlist. With trumpet player
Laura Jurd and operatic tenor Nicky
Spence 8.00 Christmas Recycled
8.40 In Touch 9.00 All in the Mind
9.30 Room 5 9.59 Weather 10.00
The World Tonight 10.45 Book at
Bedtime: Marple: Three New Stories
11.00 Lights Out See Radio choice
11.30 Only After Dark 12.00 News
and Weather 12.15am Wild Bond
12.30 Book of the Week: Giving Up the
Ghost 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.00
As World Service 5.20 Shipping
Forecast 5.30 News Briefing 5.43
Prayer for the Day 5.45 Farming Today
5.58 - 6.00am Tweet of the Day
Tuesday 27 December 2022 The Daily Telegraph
“make death proud to take
us,” in the words of
Shakespeare’s Cleopatra –
but not before marrying his
partner (Ashley Jensen), an
event both bursting with joy
and underpinned by regret.
It’s delicately told and
beautifully played, with
a flawless post-punk
soundtrack. For viewers in
Scotland, episode two airs
tomorrow at 10pm, while
BBC One shows the two-part
series tomorrow and
Thursday. Gabriel Tate
in his 10th decade, remain
startling. This eight-part
series from producer
Manish Pandey (Senna)
uses extensive behind-the-
scenes access to tell both
his story and that of
Formula 1, the sport whose
profile and finances he
transformed.
Lionesses: When Football
Came Home
Sky Documentaries, 9pm
English football’s greatest
achievement since 1966
receives the forensic
documentary treatment it
deserves, as players and
coaching staff look back on
the Lionesses’ deserved
triumph in the 2022
Women’s Euros.
Lights Out
Radio 4, 11pm
An atmospheric edition
about a radio amateur in
Kyiv. Before the Russian
invasion of Ukraine,
Volodymyr Gurtovy used to
enjoy going deep into the
pine forests near the capital,
setting up treetop antennas,
using a fishing rod to catch
signals from radio amateurs
RADIO 5 LIVE
MW 693 & 909KHZ
6.00am 5 Live Breakfast 9.00 Adrian
Chiles 11.00 Naga Munchetty
1.00pm Steffan Powell 4.00 5 Live
Drive 7.00 5 Live Sport 8.00 5 Live
Sport: The Tuesday Night Club 10.00
Nick Bright 1.00am Dotun Adebayo
5.00 - 6.00am Wake Up to Money
CLASSIC FM
FM 99.9-101.9MHZ
6.00am More Music Breakfast 9.00
The Classic FM Hall of Fame Feast
1.00pm The Classic FM Hall of Fame
Feast 5.00 Katie Breathwick 8.00
Classical Music Unboxed. The ultimate
bluffer’s guide to classical music
10.00 Smooth Classics 1.00am -
6.00am Jonathan Ray
WORLD SERVICE
DIGITAL ONLY
8.00am News 8.06 People Fixing the
World 8.30 The Dark Is Rising 8.50
Witness History 9.00 The Newsroom
9.30 The Documentary 10.00 News
10.06 The Arts Hour 11.00 The
Newsroom 11.30 In the Studio 12.00
News 12.06pm Outlook 12.50
Witness History 1.00 The Newsroom
1.30 Discovery 2.00 Newshour 3.00
News 3.06 People Fixing the World
3.30 World Business Report 4.00
BBC OS 6.00 News 6.06 Outlook
6.50 Witness History 7.00 The
Newsroom 7.30 Sport Today 8.00
News 8.06 The Documentary 8.30
Digital Planet 9.00 Newshour 10.00
The Newsroom 10.20 Sports News
10.30 World Business Report 11.06
People Fixing the World 11.30 In the
Studio 12.00 News 12.06am The
DRAMA
Riptide
Channel 5, 9pm
Jo Joyner and Peter “Shane
from Neighbours” O’Brien
star as Alison and Sean,
whose life of luxury and
marital bliss in coastal
Australia is interrupted
by his son’s hostility, her
daughter’s problems settling
and the shared opposition of
their exes. Then Sean goes
for a swim – a decision
which may prove ill-advised.
FACTUAL
Countryfile
BBC One, 8pm
Margherita Taylor visits the
Scottish Highland farm
township of Auchindrain
to get into the spirit of
a traditional Burns Night
Lioness Chloe Kelly: When
Football Came Home
and discovers that, for its
hard-working residents,
Christmas was once just
a normal day.
Britain’s Poshest
Designer Outlet:
Inside Bicester Village
Channel 5, 9pm
How can high-end designer
fashion be sold at rock-
bottom prices? Experts,
insiders and former
employees spill the beans
on Oxfordshire’s Bicester
Village, one of Britain’s
most successful outlets.
Miriam Margolyes:
Australia Unmasked
BBC Two, 9pm; NI, 9.30pm
After her excellent two-
parter Almost Australian,
Miriam Margolyes returns
Down Under to investigate
how the Aussie principle
of the “fair go” is reflected
in real life, from polo
matches to “bogan
burnouts”, beginning on the
island of Tasmania. GT
in distant countries. Now, in
an apartment empty since
his wife and two children
fled Kyiv to escape the war,
he has become a different
kind of listener, intercepting
Russian military radio
signals, warning his
neighbours to hide in
shelters even before the
sirens sound, and running
a surgery fixing radios so
that others can do the same.
Arts Hour 1.00 News 1.06 Business
Matters 2.00 The Newsroom 2.30 The
Compass – Bhopal 3.06 Outlook 3.50
Witness History 4.00 The Newsroom
4.30 The Documentary: The Fake
Paralympians 5.00 - 8.00am
Newsday
RADIO 4 EXTRA
DIGITAL ONLY
6.00am Trueman and Riley 6.30 A
Charles Paris Mystery: Star Trap 7.00
Last Christmas 7.15 Good News
Stories 7.30 Ed Reardon’s Week 8.00
The Goon Show 8.30 Little Blighty on
the Down 9.00 Who Goes There? 9.30
No Commitments 10.00 Emile Zola –
His Masterpiece 11.00 Trueman and
Riley 11.30 A Charles Paris Mystery:
Star Trap 12.00 Last Christmas
12.15pm Good News Stories 12.30 Ed
Reardon’s Week 1.00 The Goon Show
1.30 Little Blighty on the Down 2.00
Who Goes There? 2.30 No
Commitments 3.00 Emile Zola – His
Masterpiece 4.00 Trueman and Riley
4.30 A Charles Paris Mystery: Star
Trap 5.00 Last Christmas 5.15 Good
News Stories 5.30 Ed Reardon’s Week
6.00 The Goon Show 6.30 Little
Blighty on the Down 7.00 Who Goes
There? 7.30 No Commitments 8.00
TED Radio Hour 8.50 Inheritance
Tracks 9.00 Hilarious Histories –
What’s So Funny About the Past?
10.00 Comedy Club 12.00 Emile Zola
– His Masterpiece 1.00am Trueman
and Riley 1.30 A Charles Paris
Mystery: Star Trap 2.00 Last
Christmas 2.15 Good News Stories
2.30 Ed Reardon’s Week 3.00 The
Goon Show 3.30 Little Blighty on the
Down 4.00 Who Goes There? 4.30 No
Commitments 5.00 - 6.00am The
Piper’s Chair
The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 27 December 2022 *** 27

Today’s television

Main channels
BBC One
6.00 am Breakfast (S) 7.35 Match of the
Day (R) (S) 9.00 Attenborough: 60
Years in the Wild (AD) (R) (S) 10.00
FILM: Missing Link (2019) (S) 11.30
FILM: The NeverEnding Story (1984)
(S)
1.00 pm BBC News at One; Weather (S)
1.15 Regional News; Weather (S)
1.25 FILM: Trolls Holiday in Harmony
(2021) (S)
1.45 FILM: How to Train Your Dragon:
The Hidden World (2019) (AD) (S)
3.20 FILM: How to Train Your Dragon:
Homecoming (2019) Animated
drama with the voice of Jay Baruchel
(AD) (S)
3.45 FILM: Ghostbusters II (1989)
Supernatural comedy sequel starring
Bill Murray (S)
5.25 Pointless Celebrities (R) (S)
6.15 BBC News at Six; Weather (S)
6.35 Regional News; Weather (S)
6.45 The Weakest Link (S)
BBC Two
6.10 am FILM: Sign Zone: Trolls: World
Tour (2020) Animated adventure with
the voices of Anna Kendrick and
Justin Timberlake (AD) (S) (SL) 7.35
Snow Babies (AD) (R) (S) 8.35 Jay’s
Yorkshire Workshop (R) (S) 9.35
FILM: The Adventures of Robin Hood
(1938) Swashbuckling adventure
starring Errol Flynn (S) 11.15 Homes
Under the Hammer (AD) (R) (S)
12.15 pm Bargain Hunt: Food and Drink
Special (AD) (R) (S)
1.00 Great British Railway Journeys
(AD) (R) (S)
1.30 FILM: Hello, Dolly! (1969) Period
musical starring Barbra Streisand (S)
3.50 FILM: Funny Girl (1968) Musical
biopic of Fanny Brice starring Barbra
Streisand See Film choice (S)
6.15 Coppélia A modern take on the
much-loved ballet by Delibes
See What to watch (S)
ITV1
6.00 am CITV 9.25 FILM: Over the Hedge
(2006) Animated comedy with the
voice of Bruce Willis (AD) (S) 11.00
FILM: Rio (2011) Animated comedy
with the voice of Jesse Eisenberg
(AD) (S)
12.50 pm News; Weather (S)
12.55 Regional News; Weather (S)
1.00 Gino’s Italian Christmas Feast (AD)
(R) (S)
1.30 FILM: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
(1982) Sci-fi fantasy starring Henry
Thomas See Film choice (AD) (S)
3.45 Live Gallagher Premiership Rugby
Union Harlequins v Bristol Bears
(kick-off 4.15pm) (S)
6.30 Tipping Point: Best Ever Finals (R)
(S)
FV Freeview FS Freesat (AD) Audio description (R) Repeat (S) Subtitles (SL) In-vision signing
Channel 4
6.10 am Countdown (R) (S) 6.50 The King
of Queens (AD) (R) (S) 7.15 The King
of Queens (AD) (R) (S) 7.40
Everybody Loves Raymond (AD) (R)
(S) 8.05 Everybody Loves Raymond
(AD) (R) (S) 8.35 The Simpsons (AD)
(R) (S) 9.00 The Simpsons (AD) (R)
(S) 9.30 The Simpsons (AD) (R) (S)
9.55 The Simpsons (AD) (R) (S)
10.25 The Simpsons (AD) (R) (S)
10.55 The Simpsons (AD) (R) (S)
11.20 The Simpsons (AD) (R) (S)
11.50 FILM: Lemony Snicket’s A
Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)
Comedy starring Jim Carrey (S)
1.55 pm Chateau DIY at Christmas (R)
2.55 The Snowman: The Film That
Changed Christmas (AD) (R) (S)
4.00 The Snowman (AD) (R) (S)
4.35 A Place in the Sun (S)
5.35 Channel 4 News (S)
6.05 Extraordinary Escapes at
Christmas with Sandi Toksvig (R)
Channel 5
6.00 am Milkshake! 9.15 Entertainment
News on 5 (S) 9.20 FILM: Murder at
the Gallop (1963, b/w) Miss Marple
mystery starring Margaret Rutherford
(S) 11.05 FILM: Oklahoma! (1955)
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical
Western with Gordon MacRae (S)
1.55 FILM: Hook (1991) Peter Pan
adventure starring Robin Williams (S)
4.50 FILM: The Goonies (1985) Family
adventure starring Sean Astin (S)
6.55 5 News Update (S)
Film choice
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
ITV1, 1.30pm ★★★★★
Joyous family drama of the first rank
– and it celebrated 40 years this
month. As you know, unless you
have just arrived from another planet,
it’s about a boy (Henry Thomas) who
must help an adorable alien return
home. Any viewer not reduced to sobs
is advised to report to their GP to
check that their heart is working.
Among Steven Spielberg’s finest films,
this is truly timeless cinema.

Funny Girl (1968)

BBC Two, 3.50pm ★★★★★

EastEnders
7.30 EastEnders Sam tries to convince
Phil to give Kat another chance (AD)
(S)
8.00 Countryfile Margherita Taylor
discovers the roots of New Year and
Burns’ Night in Scotland See What
to watch (S)
Miriam Margolyes: Australia Unmasked
7.30 Richard Osman’s Festive House of
Games Brian Conley, Scarlett
Moffatt, Anneka Rice and Phil Wang
test their skills (S)
8.00 Only Connect Two teams from
previous series take part (S)
8.30 Christmas University Challenge
Graduates of the University of Bristol
play former students of the University
of Cardiff (S)
The Voice Kids
7.00 Regional News; Weather (S)
7.10 News; Weather (S)
7.30 Emmerdale Chas questions Cain
(AD) (S)
8.30 The Voice Kids Round two of the
blind auditions gets under way (S)
Christmas at Harewood House
7.00 Christmas at Harewood House Life
at Harewood House, one of England’s
finest Treasure Houses (AD) (R) (S)
8.00 Escape to the Chateau at
Christmas The Strawbridges prepare
their festive celebrations. Last in the
series (AD) (R) (S)
Riptide
7.00 World’s Strongest Man 2022
Action from heat one (S)
7.55 5 News Update (S)
8.00 Britain’s Poshest Designer Outlet:
Inside Bicester Village Experts
uncover the secrets of Bicester
Village's success See What to
watch (S)
Barbara Streisand won an Oscar for
Best Actress for this spellbinding turn.
She plays comedian Fanny Brice,
a rising-star who must follow her
heart and head to get what she wants;
including Nicky (Omar Sharif).
Standout song Don’t Rain on My
Parade is a musical theatre classic.
There’s more Streisand with the
delightful Hello, Dolly! on beforehand
at 1.30pm.

9.00 FILM: 1917 (2019) Premiere. War
drama starring Dean-Charles
Chapman See Film choice (AD) (S)
10.50 BBC News (S)
11.15 Regional News; Weather 11.20 Tokyo
Vice 12.15am Tokyo Vice 1.25
Blankety Blank Christmas Special
2.00 The Great British Sewing Bee:
Celebrity Christmas Special 3.05 -
6.00am News
9.00 Miriam Margolyes: Australia
Unmasked New series. Miriam
Margolyes explores the unique
Australian ethos of 'the Fair Go'
See What to watch (AD) (S)
10.00 Frankie Boyle’s 2022 New World
Order The comedian returns with his
end of year special (S)
10.45 QI XL (S)
11.30 Lady Gaga at the BBC 12.30am Pride
Hits at the BBC 1.30 Sign Zone:
Gardeners’ World Winter Specials
2.30 Sign Zone: The Best Christmas
Food Ever 3.15 Sign Zone: How To
with John Wilson 3.45 Sign Zone:
How To with John Wilson 4.15 -
6.35am This Is BBC Two
10.00 News; Weather (S)
10.20 Billy Connolly: It’s Been a Pleasure
Celebration of the comedian’s
greatest stand-up performances (AD)
(R) (S)
11.35 Gallagher Premiership Rugby Union
Highlights 12.35am Shop: Ideal
World 3.00 The Cube Christmas
Special 4.00 Unwind with ITV 5.05 -
6.00am Ainsley’s Food We Love
9.00 First Dates at Christmas A jeweller
and a portrait artist are among this
year’s Christmas dates (AD) (S)
10.00 The Lateish Show with Mo
Gilligan: Christmas Special (S)
11.05 FILM: Micky Flanagan: The Out Out
Tour (2011) 12.05am Out and Proud
in Football 12.15 FILM: The
Untouchables (1987) Gangster thriller
starring Kevin Costner 2.20 FILM:
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
Thriller starring Harrison Ford 4.35
George Clarke’s Old House, New
Home 5.25 Food Unwrapped 5.55 -
6.35am Countdown
9.00 Riptide New series. Psychological
thriller, starring Jo Joyner
See What to watch (S)
10.00 Dolly Parton: 20 Greatest
Moments (R) (S)
11.55 Dolly, Kenny & Friends: Greatest Hits
12.55am Entertainment News on 5
1.00 The LeoVegas Live Casino
Show 3.00 Entertainment News on 5
3.10 World’s Funniest TV Ads with
Jason Manford 4.05 Henry VIII: Rise
of a Tyrant 4.50 Divine Designs 5.20
Paw Patrol 5.30 Paw Patrol 5.45 Pip
and Posy 5.50 - 6.00am Pip and
Posy
1917 (2019)
BBC One, 9pm ★★★
Sam Mendes’s drama (which scooped
three Oscars, and was nominated for
a further seven) follows two British
soldiers, played by George MacKay
and Dean-Charles Chapman, on a
death-defying no-man’s-land scramble
to deliver a message that could save
1,600 lives. It’s presented in just two
extended tracking shots that heighten
the urgency of the battlefield. Benedict
Cumberbatch and Harry Styles co-star.

Freeview, satellite and cable
BBC Four
FV 9 FS 173 SKY 116 VIRGIN 107
7.00 pm Winter Walks
7.30 Great Continental Railway
Journeys
8.00 Royal Institution Christmas
Lectures with Dame Sue
Black
9.00 One Foot in the Grave
10.00 Tutti Frutti
11.00 Tutti Frutti
12.00 Nature: The Classical
Collection
1.00 am Hope Street
1.45 Winter Walks
2.15 Great Continental Railway
Journeys
2.45 - 3.45am Royal Institution
Christmas Lectures with
Dame Sue Black
ITV2
10.55am FILM: Annie (2014) Musical
starring Quvenzhane Wallis 1.15pm
Family Fortunes 2.15 Alan Carr’s Epic
Gameshow – Celebrity Special 3.20
FILM: Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster
Vacation (2018) Animated sequel
featuring the voice of Adam Sandler
5.15 FILM: The Amazing Spider-Man 2
(2014) Superhero adventure sequel
starring Andrew Garfield 8.00 FILM:
Aquaman (2018) Adventure starring
Jason Momoa 10.45 Family Guy 11.45
American Dad! 12.40am Shopping
with Keith Lemon 1.40 All American
3.15-4.10am Dress to Impress
E4
Noon The Big Bang Theory 2.00pm
FILM: The Karate Kid (1984) Martial
arts drama starring Ralph Macchio and
Pat Morita 4.25 Rude(ish) Tube Shorts
4.35 Modern Family 5.30 The Big
Bang Theory 7.30 Modern Family 9.00
Gogglebox Festive Special 10.35
Naked Attraction 11.40 First Dates at
Christmas 2021 12.45am The
Inbetweeners 1.50 Made in Chelsea:
Bonjour Baby 2.45 Summer House
3.35-4.25am The Inbetweeners
More4
11.05am Find It, Fix It, Flog It 1.10pm
Heir Hunters 3.10 Four in a Bed 5.50
ITV3
FV 10 FS 115 SKY 119 VIRGIN 117
11.40 am FILM: Carry On Doctor
(1967) C
1.30 pm FILM: Carry On Behind
(1975)
3.20 FILM: Carry On Up the Jungle
(1970) Comedy starring Sid
James
5.10 FILM: Carry On at Your
Convenience (1971) Comedy
starring Sid James
7.00 Heartbeat
8.00 Doc Martin
10.00 DCI Banks
10.55 DCI Banks
11.55 Angela Black
12.55 am Agatha Christie’s Poirot
3.10 - 4.55am FILM: Carry On
Don’t Lose Your Head (1966)
Comedy starring Sid James
Chateau DIY at Christmas 6.55
Escape to the Chateau at Christmas
7.55 Grand Designs 9.00 Highclere:
Behind the Scenes at Christmas 10.00
Christmas at Chatsworth House 2019
11.05 FILM: Bridge of Spies (2015) A
lawyer is hired to defend a Soviet spy,
an assignment that leads to a prisoner
exchange. Steven Spielberg’s fact-
based Cold War drama with Tom Hanks
and Mark Rylance 1.50-3.55am 24
Hours in A&E
Dave
Noon James May’s Cars of the People
1.00pm QI XL 2.00 Would I Lie to
You? 4.00 Top Gear India Special 6.00
Richard Osman’s House of Games
6.40 QI XL 7.40 Would I Lie to You?
9.00 QI 10.20 Would I Lie to You?
11.00 Live at the Moth Club 12.00
Have I Got a Bit More News for You
1.00am Mock the Week 1.40 QI 2.15
Would I Lie to You? 2.45-4.00am Mel
Giedroyc: Unforgivable
Sky Sports Main Event
Noon Live World Darts Championship.
Live coverage of session one on day 10
at Alexandra Palace in London,
featuring three third-round matches
4.30pm Live EFL. Bolton Wanderers v
Derby County (kick-off 3.00pm). Live
coverage of the League One match at
University of Bolton Stadium 5.00
ITV4
FV 26 FS 117 SKY 120 VIRGIN 118
10.00 am British Touring Car
Championship Season Review
12.10 pm The Derby Through the
Years
12.30 ITV Racing: Live from
Kempton. Coverage from
Kempton Park and Chepstow
3.30 FILM: Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid (1969)
5.45 River Monsters
6.15 River Monsters
6.45 FILM: The Mummy (1999)
9.00 FILM: Die Hard (1988)
11.45 All Elite Wrestling: Rampage
12.55 am Auto Mundial
1.25 Motorsport Mundial
1.55 Driving Force
2.55 Driving Force
3.55 - 4.45am Isle of Man TT
Live EFL. Reading v Swansea City
(kick-off 5.15pm). Live coverage of the
Championship match at Select Car
Leasing Stadium 7.30 Live World
Darts Championship. Live coverage of
session two on day 10 at Alexandra
Palace in London, featuring three
third-round matches 11.00 Sky Sports
News 12.00 Live: Total Access. A
round-up of the latest NFL news 1.00-
5.00am Sky Sports News
Sky Sports Premier
League
Noon The Football Show 12.30pm
The Football Show 1.00 Premier
League Years 3.00 PL Greatest Games
4.00 Premier League Best Goals 5.00
Premier League 100 Club 6.00
Premier League Legends 6.30 PL
Legends: Ruud van Nistelrooy 7.00
Soccer AM: The Best Bits 7.30 Premier
League 100 Club 8.00 Gary Neville’s
Soccerbox 9.00 Soccer AM: The Best
Bits 9.30 Premier League 100:
Michael Owen 10.00 Class of ’92: Full
Time 11.00 PL Retro 1.00am Premier
League Years 3.00-4.00am PL
Greatest Games
BT Sport 1
Noon Rugby Stories 1.00pm Live:
Allianz Women Premier ‘15s.
Harlequins Women v Bristol Bears
Women (kick-off 1.30pm). Coverage of
Sky Max
SKY 113 VIRGIN 122
10.30 am TV’s Greatest Gameshows
12.30 pm The ‘80s: Cinema’s
Greatest Decade
1.30 The Midwich Cuckoos
2.45 The Midwich Cuckoos
3.45 The Midwich Cuckoos
4.45 The Midwich Cuckoos
5.45 The Midwich Cuckoos
6.45 The Midwich Cuckoos
7.45 The Midwich Cuckoos
9.00 Dynamo: Beyond Belief
12.00 We’re Here
1.10 am The ‘80s: Cinema’s
Greatest Decade
2.05 Micah Richards’ Player Pranks
2.35 Jurassic Greatest Moments:
Jurassic Park to Jurassic
World
3.35 - 4.00am Road Wars
the match from The Stoop 3.45 Live
Gallagher Premiership Rugby Union.
Harlequins v Bristol Bears (kick-off
4.15pm). Coverage of the match from
Twickenham Stadium 6.30 Scottish
Football Extra 7.00 ESPN FC Presents:
Gab & Juls 7.30 ChatterBox 8.30
Scottish Football Extra 9.00 WWE
Monday Night Raw 11.30 Premier
League Stories 12.00 WWE NXT
Highlights 1.00am Live: WWE NXT.
Wrestling coverage as the next
generation of Superstars showcase
their talents 3.15 Scottish Football
Extra 3.45-4.00am What I Wore
Sky History
Noon D-Day: The Light of Dawn
2.00pm History’s Greatest Mysteries
8.00 Titanic: A Dead Reckoning 9.00
The Bermuda Triangle Enigma 10.00
Alien Autopsy: The Search for Answers
11.00 Crusaders 12.00 Mountain Men
1.00am History’s Greatest Mysteries
3.00-4.00am Titanic: A Dead
Reckoning
Sky Arts
11.05am Comedy Legends 12.05pm
Andre Rieu: Welcome to My World 1.05
Cirque du Soleil: Mystery of Mystere
2.30 Frank Sinatra & Gene Kelly: Ol’
Blue Eyes Is Back 3.45 A Swingin’
Christmas with Len Phillips Swing
Orchestra 5.10 The Agatha Christie
FV Freeview FS Freesat (AD) Audio description (R) Repeat (S) Subtitles (SL) In-vision signing
Sky Atlantic
SKY 108
11.00 am The Gilded Age
12.35 pm The Gilded Age
1.35 The Gilded Age
2.40 The Gilded Age
3.45 The Gilded Age
4.45 The Gilded Age
5.50 The Gilded Age
6.50 The Gilded Age
7.50 The Gilded Age
9.00 Game of Thrones
10.05 Game of Thrones
11.10 Game of Thrones
12.15 am I Hate Suzie Too
1.20 Winning Time: The Rise of the
Lakers Dynasty
2.25 Mare of Easttown
3.35 - 4.05am In Treatment
Hour 6.10 Alfred Hitchcock Presents
7.10 The Beach Boys: Endless
Harmony 9.25 George Harrison: Living
in the Material World 1.25-4.00am
Ringo Starr: Ringo at the Ryman
Sky Cinema Premiere
24 hours, including at:
Noon Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of
Dumbledore (2022) Fantasy adventure
starring Eddie Redmayne 2.25pm
Firestarter (2022) Thriller starring Zac
Efron and Ryan Kiera Armstrong 4.15
The Amazing Maurice (2022) Animated
adventure featuring the voices of Hugh
Laurie and Emilia Clarke 6.05 The Bad
Guys (2022) Animated adventure
featuring the voice of Sam Rockwell
8.00 Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of
Dumbledore (2022) Fantasy adventure
starring Eddie Redmayne 10.25
Boxing Day (2021) Comedy starring
Aml Ameen 12.20am Firestarter
(2022) Thriller starring Zac Efron and
Ryan Kiera Armstrong 2.00 Der Kaiser
(2022) Biopic starring Klaus
Steinbacher 3.50-5.35am Inbetween
Girl (2021) Drama starring Emma
Galbraith
PBS America
10.55am Muhammad Ali 1.00pm
Beautiful Serengeti 1.50 Love Wins
Over Hate 3.00 The Vietnam War
12.00 Love Wins Over Hate 1.15am
Film4
FV 14 FS 300 SKY 313 VIRGIN 428
11.00 am Megamind (2010)
12.55 pm Fantastic Mr Fox (2009)
2.35 Tooth Fairy (2010)
4.40 Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
(1993)
6.50 Knight and Day (2010)
Comedy adventure with Tom
Cruise and Cameron Diaz
9.00 Mission: Impossible – Ghost
Protocol (2011) Action
adventure sequel starring
Tom Cruise
11.40 American Made (2017) Fact-
based comedy drama starring
Tom Cruise
1.55 - 4.00am Escape from New
York (1981) Sci-fi action
adventure starring Kurt
Russell
Beautiful Serengeti 2.00-6.00am
Teleshopping
Talking Pictures TV
24 hours, including at:
11.55am Christmas Under Fire
12.10pm FILM: Kind Hearts and
Coronets (1949, b/w) Ealing black
comedy starring Alec Guinness 2.20
Discover Britain by Train 2.30
Sherlock Holmes 3.00 FILM:
Operation Third Form (1966) Children’s
adventure starring Kevin Bennett 4.00
FILM: The Bold and the Brave (1956,
b/w) Second World War drama starring
Mickey Rooney 5.45 Look at Life 6.00
Scotland Yard 6.35 FILM: The House
In Marsh Road (1960, b/w) A novelist
having an affair with his assistant
plots to murder his wife so he can
inherit her house – not realising it is
haunted. Horror starring Tony Wright
and Patricia Dainton 8.00 Maigret
9.05 FILM: The Cheap Detective
(1978) A private eye sets out to prove
he is innocent of his former partner’s
murder. Detective spoof starring Peter
Falk 11.00 Public Eye 12.00 Cellar
Club with Caroline Munro 12.05am
FILM: The Mad Magician (1954) Horror
starring Vincent Price 1.35 Cellar Club
with Caroline Munro 1.40 FILM:
House of the Gorgon (2019) Horror
starring Caroline Munro 3.15 Cellar
Club with Caroline Munro 3.20-
Variations
Drama Northern Ireland
FV 20 FS 158 SKY 143 VIRGIN 130 BBC One: No variations
BBC Two: 9.00pm The Blame Game
Noon The Bill 9.30 Miriam Margolyes: Australia
1.00 pm Classic EastEnders Unmasked 10.30 Frankie Boyle’s 2022
1.40 Classic EastEnders New World Order 11.15 - 11.30pm Barra
2.20 The Green Green Grass on the Bann
3.00 The Green Green Grass UTV: No variations
3.40 Porridge
4.20 Porridge Scotland
5.00 Persuasion
BBC One: 7.30 - 8.00pm River City
7.00 Miss Marple 11.20 EastEnders 11.50 Tokyo Vice
9.00 Father Brown 12.45am Tokyo Vice 1.50 - 3.05am
10.00 New Tricks Blankety Blank Christmas Special
11.20 Hustle BBC Scotland: 7.15pm Music Vault
12.40 am New Tricks 8.00 Antiques Roadshow 9.00 The
2.00 Taggart Moments That Made Elaine C Smith 9.30
3.00 - 4.00am A Place to Call Two Doors Down 10.00 Mayflies 11.00
Home River City 11.30 Lawrence Chaney’s
Homecoming Queens midnight Close
STV: 4.00 - 5.05am Night Vision
Wales
BBC One: No variations
5.25am FILM: House of Mortal Sin BBC Two: No variations
(1976) Horror starring Anthony Sharp ITV1 Wales: No variations
GOLD ITV1 Regions
11.40am Only Fools and Horses No variations
9.00pm Death on the Tyne 11.00 The
Cockfields Christmas Special 12.00
S4C
Peep Show 1.05am Knowing Me,
6.00am Cyw 12.00 Adre 12.30pm
Knowing Yule – With Alan Partridge
Gwyliau Gartref 1.00 Ceffylau Cymru
2.15 Victoria Wood 2.45 The
1.30 Pen/Campwyr 2.00 Only Boys
Cockfields Christmas Special 3.35-
Aloud 3.00 Radio Fa’ma 4.00 Awr Fawr:
4.00am Peep Show Bing 4.10 Awr Fawr: Cymylaubychain
4.20 Awr Fawr: Octonots 4.35 Awr
Yesterday Fawr: Ein Byd Bach Ni 4.45 Awr Fawr:
Sigldigwt 5.00 Stwnsh 5.30 Rygbi
Noon Sahara with Michael Palin Indigo Prem 7.50 Newyddion S4C a’r
2.00pm Sounds of the Sixties 3.00 Tywydd 8.00 Pobol y Cwm 8.30 Rownd
Sounds of the Seventies 4.00 Bangers a Rownd 9.00 Priodas Pum Mil 10.00
and Cash 8.00 Great British Railway Heliwr 11.05 - 11.40pm Dan Do
Journeys 9.00 Bangers and Cash
11.00 Abandoned Engineering 12.00
Great British Railway Journeys
1.00am Impossible Railways 3.00-
6.00am Teleshopping
Discovery
Noon Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail
6.00pm Garage Rehab 7.00 Diesel
Brothers 8.00 Outback Truckers 9.00
Gold Rush: White Water 10.00 Gold
Rush: The Dirt 11.00 Naked and Afraid
12.00 Expedition Bigfoot 1.00am
Gold Rush: White Water 2.00 Gold
Rush: The Dirt 3.00-4.00am Alaska:
The Last Frontier
28 *** Tuesday 27 December 2022 The Daily Telegraph

Weather & Crosswords

Nature notes

Ian most costly

disaster of 2022
The 10 most damaging storms, floods
and droughts in 2022 each cost at least
$3 billion (£2.5 billion) in a
“devastating” year on the frontline of
climate change, a report shows.
Christian Aid has named the worst
climate-related disasters of the year, as
the world has seen more intense
storms, downpours and droughts
driven by rising global temperatures as
a result of human activity.
Hurricane Ian had the biggest
financial impact of $100 billion, when it
hit the US and Cuba in September.
The hurricane led to 130 deaths and
displaced more than 40,000 people, a
report from the aid agency said.
The biggest impact in terms of
human costs were the Pakistan floods
from June to September, which
scientists found were significantly
more likely because of climate change.
It caused 1,739 deaths and displaced
seven million people, and cost roughly
$30 billion dollars, Christian Aid said.*